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diff --git a/39718-8.txt b/39718-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e6ca41 --- /dev/null +++ b/39718-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8166 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Wanderings of a Spiritualist, by Arthur Conan Doyle + +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 Wanderings of a Spiritualist + +Author: Arthur Conan Doyle + +Release Date: May 17, 2012 [EBook #39718] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WANDERINGS OF A SPIRITUALIST *** + + + + +Produced by Dianna Adair, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + + Transcriber's Note: + + Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal signs=. + Obvious punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected. + + + + Illustration: _Photo: Stirling, Melbourne._ ON THE WARPATH IN + AUSTRALIA, 1920-21. + + + +_THE +WANDERINGS OF A +SPIRITUALIST_ + +BY +SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE + +AUTHOR OF +"THE NEW REVELATION," "THE VITAL MESSAGE," ETC. + +"Aggressive fighting for the right is +the noblest sport the world affords." + +_Theodore Roosevelt._ + +HODDER AND STOUGHTON +LIMITED LONDON + + + + +_By SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE_ + + +THE NEW REVELATION + + Ninth Edition. Cloth, 5/. net.. Paper, 2/6 net. + + "This book is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's confession of faith, very + frank, very courageous and very resolute ... the courage and + large-mindedness of this book deserve cordial recognition."--DAILY + CHRONICLE. "It is a book that demands our respect and commands our + interest.... Much more likely to influence the opinion of the + general public than 'Raymond' or the long reports of the Society + for Psychical Research."--DAILY NEWS. + + +THE VITAL MESSAGE + + Tenth Thousand. Cloth, 5/. + + "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The New Revelation' was his confession + of faith. 'The Vital Message' seeks to show our future relations + with the Unseen World."--DAILY CHRONICLE. "... it is a clear, + earnest presentation of the case, and will serve as a useful + introduction to the subject to anyone anxious to learn what the new + Spiritualists claim for their researches and their faith.... Sir + Arthur writes with evident sincerity, and, within the limits of his + system, with much broad-mindedness and toleration."--DAILY + TELEGRAPH. "A splendid propaganda book, written in the author's + telling and racy style, and one that will add to his prestige and + renown."--TWO WORLDS. + + +SPIRITUALISM AND RATIONALISM + + + WITH A DRASTIC EXAMINATION OF MR. JOSEPH M'CABE + + Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's trenchant reply to the criticisms of + Spiritualism as formulated by Mr. Joseph M'Cabe. + Paper, 1/. net. + +_HODDER & STOUGHTON, Ltd., London, E.C.4_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +CHAPTER I 9 + +The inception of the enterprise.--The Merthyr Séance.--Experience +of British lectures.--Call from Australia.--The Holborn +luncheon.--Remarkable testimony to communication.--Is individual +proof necessary?--Excursion to Exeter.--Can Spiritualists continue +to be Christians?--Their views on Atonement.--The party on the +"Naldera." + +CHAPTER II 24 + +Gibraltar.--Spanish right versus British might.--Relics of +Barbary Rovers, and of German militarists.--Ichabod!--Senegal +Infantry.--No peace for the world.--Religion on a liner.--Differences +of vibration.--The Bishop of Kwang-Si.--Religion in China.--Whisky +in excelsis.--France's masterpiece.--British errors.--A procession +of giants.--The invasion of Egypt.--Tropical weather.--The +Russian Horror.--An Indian experiment.--Aden.--Bombay.--The +Lambeth encyclical. A great novelist.--The Mango trick.--Snakes.--The +Catamarans.--The Robber Castles of Ceylon.--Doctrine of +Reincarnation.--Whales and Whalers.--Perth.--The Bight. + +CHAPTER III 60 + +Mr. Hughes' letter of welcome.--Challenges.--Mr. Carlyle +Smythe.--The Adelaide Press.--The great drought.--The wine +industry.--Clairvoyance.--Meeting with Bellchambers.--The +first lecture.--The effect.--The Religious lecture.--The +illustrated lecture.--Premonitions.--The spot light.--Mr. +Thomas' account of the incident.--Correspondence.--Adelaide +doctors.--A day in the Bush,--The Mallee fowl.--Sussex in +Australia.--Farewell to Adelaide. + +CHAPTER IV 84 + +Speculations on Paul and his Master.--Arrival at Melbourne.--Attack +in the Argus.--Partial press boycott.--Strength of the movement.--The +Prince of Wales.--Victorian football. Rescue Circle in +Melbourne.--Burke and Wills' statue.--Success of the +lectures.--Reception at the Auditorium.--Luncheon of the British +Empire League.--Mr. Ryan's experience.--The Federal Government.--Mr. +Hughes' personality.--The mediumship of Charles Bailey.--His alleged +exposure.--His remarkable record.--A test sitting.--The Indian +nest.--A remarkable lecture.--Arrival of Lord Forster.--The +future of the Empire.--Kindness of Australians.--Prohibition. +--Horse-racing.--Roman Catholic policy. + +CHAPTER V 114 + +More English than the English.--A day in the Bush.--Immigration.--A +case of spirit return.--A séance.--Geelong.--The lava +plain.--Good-nature of General Ryrie.--Bendigo.--Down a gold +mine.--Prohibition v. Continuance.--Mrs. Knight MacLellan. +--Nerrin.--A wild drive.--Electric shearing.--Rich sheep stations. +--Cockatoo farmers.--Spinnifex and Mallee.--Rabbits.--The +great marsh. + +CHAPTER VI 136 + +The Melbourne Cup.--Psychic healing.--M. J. Bloomfield.--My +own experience.--Direct healing.--Chaos and Ritual.--Government +House Ball.--The Rescue Circle again.--Sitting with Mrs. +Harris.--A good test case.--Australian botany.--The land of +myrtles.--English cricket team.--Great final meeting in Melbourne. + +CHAPTER VII 151 + +Great reception at Sydney.--Importance of Sydney.--Journalistic +luncheon.--A psychic epidemic.--Gregory.--Barracking.--Town +Hall reception.--Regulation of Spiritualism.--An ether +apport.--Surfing at Manly.--A challenge.--Bigoted opponents.--A +disgruntled photographer.--Outing in the harbour.--Dr. Mildred +Creed.--Leon Gellert.--Norman Lindsay.--Bishop Leadbeater.--Our +relations with Theosophy.--Incongruities of H.P.B.--Of D.D. Home. + + +CHAPTER VIII 176 + +Dangerous fog.--The six photographers.--Comic +Advertisements.--Beauties of Auckland.--A Christian +clergyman.--Shadows in our American relations.--The +Gallipoli Stone.--Stevenson and the Germans.--Position of +De Rougemont.--Mr. Clement Wragge.--Atlantean +theories.--A strange psychic.--Wellington the windy.--A +literary oasis.--A Maori séance.--Presentation. + +CHAPTER IX 198 + +The Anglican Colony.--Psychic dangers.--The learned dog.--Absurd +newspaper controversy.--A backward community.--The Maori +tongue.--Their origin.--Their treatment by the Empire.--A +fiasco.--The Pa of Kaiopoi.--Dr. Thacker.--Sir Joseph Kinsey.--A +generous collector.--Scott and Amundsen.--Dunedin.--A genuine +medium.--Evidence.--The Shipping strike.--Sir Oliver.--Farewell. + +CHAPTER X 223 + +Christian origins.--Mithraism.--Astronomy.--Exercising +boats.--Bad news from home.--Futile strikes.--Labour +Party.--The blue wilderness.--Journey to Brisbane.--Warm +reception.--Friends and Foes.--Psychic experience +of Dr. Doyle.--Birds.--Criticism on Melbourne--Spiritualist +Church.--Ceremony.--Sir Matthew Nathan.--Alleged repudiation of +Queensland.--Billy tea.--The bee farm.--Domestic service in +Australia.--Hon. John Fihilly.--Curious photograph by the State +photographer.--The "Orsova." + +CHAPTER XI 255 + +Medlow Bath.--Jenolan Caves.--Giant skeleton.--Mrs. +Foster Turner's mediumship.--A wonderful prophecy.--Final +results.--Third sitting with Bailey.--Failure of State +Control.--Retrospection.--Melbourne presentation.--Crooks.--Lecture +at Perth.--West Australia.--Rabbits, sparrows and sharks. + +CHAPTER XII 280 + +Pleasing letters.--Visit to Candy.--Snake and Flying Fox.--Buddha's +shrine.--The Malaya.--Naval digression.--Indian trader. +--Elephanta.--Sea snakes.--Chained to a tombstone.--Berlin's escape. +--Lord Chetwynd.--Lecture in the Red Sea.--Marseilles. + +CHAPTER XIII 303 + +The Institut Metaphysique.--Lecture in French.--Wonderful +musical improviser.--Camille Flammarion.--Test of materialised +hand.--Last ditch of materialism.--Sitting with Mrs. Bisson's medium, +Eva.--Round the Aisne battlefields.--A tragic intermezzo. +--Anglo-French Rugby match.--Madame Blifaud's clairvoyance. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +On the War-Path in Australia, 1920-1921 _Frontispiece_ + + _Facing page_ + +How This Book was Written 9 + +The God-Speed Luncheon in London. On this occasion +250 out of 290 Guests rose as testimony that they +were in Personal touch with their Dead 16 + +The Wanderers, 1920-1921 72 + +Bellchambers and the Mallee Fowl. "Get along with +you, do" 80 + +Melbourne, November, 1920 96 + +A Typical Australian Back-Country Scene by H. J. +Johnstone, a Great Painter Who Died Unknown. +Painting in Adelaide National Gallery 128 + +At Melbourne Town Hall, November 12th, 1920 144 + +The People of Turi's Canoe, after a Voyage of Great +Hardship, at last Sight the Shores of New Zealand. +From a Painting by C. F. Goldie and L. G. A. Steele 208 + +Laying Foundation Stone of Spiritualist Church at +Brisbane 240 + +Curious Photographic Effect referred to in Text. +Taken by the Official Photographer, Brisbane. +"Absolutely mystifying" is his Description 252 + +Our Party _en route_ to the Jenolan Caves, January 20th, +1921. In Front of Old Court House in which Bushrangers were +Tried 256 + +Denis with a Black Snake at Medlow Bath 264 + + + + + TO MY WIFE. + + + THIS MEMORIAL OF A JOURNEY WHICH + HER HELP AND PRESENCE CHANGED + FROM A DUTY TO A PLEASURE. + + A. C. D. + + _July 18/21._ + + + + Illustration: HOW THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN. + + + + +CHAPTER I + + The inception of the enterprise.--The Merthyr Séance.--Experience + of British lectures.--Call from Australia.--The Holborn + luncheon.--Remarkable testimony to communication.--Is individual + proof necessary?--Excursion to Exeter.--Can spiritualists continue + to be Christians?--Their views on Atonement.--The party on the + "Naldera." + + +This is an account of the wanderings of a spiritualist, geographical and +speculative. Should the reader have no interest in psychic things--if +indeed any human being can be so foolish as not to be interested in his +own nature and fate,--then this is the place to put the book down. It +were better also to end the matter now if you have no patience with a +go-as-you-please style of narrative, which founds itself upon the +conviction that thought may be as interesting as action, and which is +bound by its very nature to be intensely personal. I write a record of +what absorbs my mind which may be very different from that which appeals +to yours. But if you are content to come with me upon these terms then +let us start with my apologies in advance for the pages which may bore +you, and with my hopes that some may compensate you by pleasure or by +profit. I write these lines with a pad upon my knee, heaving upon the +long roll of the Indian Ocean, running large and grey under a grey +streaked sky, with the rain-swept hills of Ceylon, just one shade +greyer, lining the Eastern skyline. So under many difficulties it will +be carried on, which may explain if it does not excuse any slurring of a +style, which is at its best but plain English. + +There was one memorable night when I walked forth with my head throbbing +and my whole frame quivering from the villa of Mr. Southey at Merthyr. +Behind me the brazen glare of Dowlais iron-works lit up the sky, and in +front twinkled the many lights of the Welsh town. For two hours my wife +and I had sat within listening to the whispering voices of the dead, +voices which are so full of earnest life, and of desperate endeavours to +pierce the barrier of our dull senses. They had quivered and wavered +around us, giving us pet names, sweet sacred things, the intimate talk +of the olden time. Graceful lights, signs of spirit power had hovered +over us in the darkness. It was a different and a wonderful world. Now +with those voices still haunting our memories we had slipped out into +the material world--a world of glaring iron works and of twinkling +cottage windows. As I looked down on it all I grasped my wife's hand in +the darkness and I cried aloud, "My God, if they only knew--if they +could only know!" Perhaps in that cry, wrung from my very soul, lay the +inception of my voyage to the other side of the world. The wish to serve +was strong upon us both. God had given us wonderful signs, and they were +surely not for ourselves alone. + +I had already done the little I might. From the moment that I had +understood the overwhelming importance of this subject, and realised how +utterly it must change and chasten the whole thought of the world when +it is whole-heartedly accepted, I felt it good to work in the matter and +understood that all other work which I had ever done, or could ever do, +was as nothing compared to this. Therefore from the time that I had +finished the history of the Great War on which I was engaged, I was +ready to turn all my remaining energies of voice or hand to the one +great end. At first I had little of my own to narrate, and my task was +simply to expound the spiritual philosophy as worked out by the thoughts +and experiences of others, showing folk so far as I was able, that the +superficial and ignorant view taken of it in the ordinary newspapers did +not touch the heart of the matter. My own experiences were limited and +inconclusive, so that it was the evidence of others which I quoted. But +as I went forward signs were given in profusion to me also, such signs +as were far above all error or deception, so that I was able to speak +with that more vibrant note which comes not from belief or faith, but +from personal experience and knowledge. I had found that the wonderful +literature of Spiritualism did not reach the people, and that the press +was so full of would-be jocosities and shallow difficulties that the +public were utterly misled. Only one way was left, which was to speak to +the people face to face. This was the task upon which I set forth, and +it had led me to nearly every considerable city of Great Britain from +Aberdeen to Torquay. Everywhere I found interest, though it varied from +the heavier spirit of the sleepy cathedral towns to the brisk reality of +centres of life and work like Glasgow or Wolverhampton. Many a time my +halls were packed, and there were as many outside as inside the +building. I have no eloquence and make profession of none, but I am +audible and I say no more than I mean and can prove, so that my +audiences felt that it was indeed truth so far as I could see it, which +I conveyed. Their earnestness and receptiveness were my great help and +reward in my venture. Those who had no knowledge of what my views were +assembled often outside my halls, waving banners and distributing +tracts, but never once in the course of addressing 150,000 people, did I +have disturbance in my hall. I tried, while never flinching from truth, +to put my views in such a way as to hurt no one's feelings, and although +I have had clergymen of many denominations as my chairmen, I have had +thanks from them and no remonstrance. My enemies used to follow and +address meetings, as they had every right to do, in the same towns. It +is curious that the most persistent of these enemies were Jesuits on the +one side and Evangelical sects of the Plymouth Brethren type upon the +other. I suppose the literal interpretation of the Old Testament was the +common bond. + +However this is digression, and when the digressions are taken out of +this book there will not be much left. I get back to the fact that the +overwhelming effect of the Merthyr Séance and of others like it, made my +wife and myself feel that when we had done what we could in Britain we +must go forth to further fields. Then came the direct invitation from +spiritual bodies in Australia. I had spent some never-to-be-forgotten +days with Australian troops at the very crisis of the war. My heart was +much with them. If my message could indeed bring consolation to bruised +hearts and to bewildered minds--and I had boxes full of letters to show +that it did--then to whom should I carry it rather than to those who had +fought so splendidly and lost so heavily in the common cause? I was a +little weary also after three years of incessant controversy, speaking +often five times a week, and continually endeavouring to uphold the +cause in the press. The long voyage presented attractions, even if there +was hard work at the end of it. There were difficulties in the way. +Three children, boys of eleven and nine, with a girl of seven, all +devotedly attached to their home and their parents, could not easily be +left behind. If they came a maid was also necessary. The pressure upon +me of correspondence and interviews would be so great that my old friend +and secretary, Major Wood, would be also needed. Seven of us in all +therefore, and a cheque of sixteen hundred pounds drawn for our return +tickets, apart from outfit, before a penny could be entered on the +credit side. However, Mr. Carlyle Smythe, the best agent in Australia, +had taken the matter up, and I felt that we were in good hands. The +lectures would be numerous, controversies severe, the weather at its +hottest, and my own age over sixty. But there are compensating forces, +and I was constantly aware of their presence. I may count our adventures +as actually beginning from the luncheon which was given us in farewell a +week or so before our sailing by the spiritualists of England. Harry +Engholm, most unselfish of men, and a born organiser among our most +unorganised crowd, had the matter in hand, so it was bound to be a +success. There was sitting room at the Holborn Restaurant for 290 +people, and it was all taken up three weeks before the event. The +secretary said that he could have filled the Albert Hall. It was an +impressive example of the solidity of the movement showing itself for +the moment round us, but really round the cause. There were peers, +doctors, clergymen, officers of both services, and, above all, those +splendid lower middle class folk, if one talks in our material earth +terms, who are the spiritual peers of the nation. Many professional +mediums were there also, and I was honoured by their presence, for as I +said in my remarks, I consider that in these days of doubt and sorrow, a +genuine professional medium is the most useful member of the whole +community. Alas! how few they are! Four photographic mediums do I know +in all Britain, with about twelve physical phenomena mediums and as many +really reliable clairvoyants. What are these among so many? But there +are many amateur mediums of various degrees, and the number tends to +increase. Perhaps there will at last be an angel to every church as in +the days of John. I see dimly the time when two congregations, the +living and those who have passed on, shall move forward together with +the medium angel as the bridge between them. + +It was a wonderful gathering, and I only wish I could think that my own +remarks rose to the height of the occasion. However, I did my best and +spoke from my heart. I told how the Australian visit had arisen, and I +claimed that the message that I would carry was the most important that +the mind of man could conceive, implying as it did the practical +abolition of death, and the reinforcement of our present religious views +by the actual experience of those who have made the change from the +natural to the spiritual bodies. Speaking of our own experiences, I +mentioned that my wife and I had actually spoken face to face beyond all +question or doubt with eleven friends or relatives who had passed over, +their direct voices being in each case audible, and their conversation +characteristic and evidential--in some cases marvellously so. Then with +a sudden impulse I called upon those in the audience who were prepared +to swear that they had had a similar experience to stand up and testify. +It seemed for a moment as if the whole audience were on their feet. _The +Times_ next day said 250 out of 290 and I am prepared to accept that +estimate. Men and women, of all professions and social ranks--I do not +think that I exaggerated when I said that it was the most remarkable +demonstration that I had ever seen and that nothing like it had ever +occurred in the City of London. + +It was vain for those journals who tried to minimise it to urge that in +a Baptist or a Unitarian assembly all would have stood up to testify to +their own faith. No doubt they would, but this was not a case of faith, +it was a case of bearing witness to fact. There were people of all +creeds, Church, dissent, Unitarian and ex-materialists. They were +testifying to an actual objective experience as they might have +testified to having seen the lions in Trafalgar Square. If such a public +agreement of evidence does not establish a fact then it is indeed +impossible, as Professor Challis remarked long ago, to prove a thing by +any human testimony whatever. I confess that I was amazed. When I +remember how many years it was before I myself got any final personal +proofs I should have thought that the vast majority of Spiritualists +were going rather upon the evidence of others than upon their own. And +yet 250 out of 290 had actually joined hands across the border. I had no +idea that the direct proof was so widely spread. + +I have always held that people insist too much upon direct proof. What +direct proof have we of most of the great facts of Science? We simply +take the word of those who have examined. How many of us have, for +example, seen the rings of Saturn? We are assured that they are there, +and we accept the assurance. Strong telescopes are rare, and so we do +not all expect to see the rings with our own eyes. In the same way +strong mediums are rare, and we cannot all expect to experience the +higher psychic results. But if the assurance of those who have carefully +experimented, of the Barretts, the Hares, the Crookes, the Wallaces, the +Lodges and the Lombrosos, is not enough, then it is manifest that we are +dealing with this matter on different terms to those which we apply to +all the other affairs of science. It would of course be different if +there were a school of patient investigators who had gone equally deeply +into the matter and come to opposite conclusions. Then we should +certainly have to find the path of truth by individual effort. But such +a school does not exist. Only the ignorant and inexperienced are in +total opposition, and the humblest witness who has really sought the +evidence has more weight than they. + + Illustration: THE GOD-SPEED LUNCHEON IN LONDON. On this occasion + 250 out of 290 guests rose as testimony that they were in personal + touch with their dead. + +After the luncheon my wife made the final preparations--and only ladies +can tell what it means to fit out six people with tropical and +semi-tropical outfits which will enable them for eight months to stand +inspection in public. I employed the time by running down to Devonshire +to give addresses at Exeter and Torquay, with admirable audiences at +both. Good Evan Powell had come down to give me a last séance, and I had +the joy of a few last words with my arisen son, who blessed me on my +mission and assured me that I would indeed bring solace to bruised +hearts. The words he uttered were a quotation from my London speech at +which Powell had not been present, nor had the verbatim account of it +appeared anywhere at that time. It was one more sign of how closely our +words and actions are noted from the other side. Powell was tired, +having given a sitting the night before, so the proceedings were short, +a few floating lights, my son and my sister's son to me, one or two +greetings to other sitters, and it was over. + +Whilst in Exeter I had a discussion with those who would break away from +Christianity. They are a strong body within the movement, and how can +Christians be surprised at it when they remember that for seventy years +they have had nothing but contempt and abuse for the true light-bearers +of the world? Is there at the present moment one single bishop, or one +head of a Free Church, who has the first idea of psychic truth? Dr. +Parker had, in his day, so too Archdeacons Wilberforce and Colley, Mr. +Haweis and a few others. General Booth has also testified to spiritual +communion with the dead. But what have Spiritualists had in the main +save misrepresentation and persecution? Hence the movement has +admittedly, so far as it is an organised religion--and it has already +360 churches and 1,000 building funds--taken a purely Unitarian turn. +This involves no disrespect towards Him Whom they look upon as the +greatest Spirit who ever trod the earth, but only a deep desire to +communicate direct without intermediary with that tremendous centre of +force from and to whom all things radiate or return. They are very +earnest and good men, these organised religious Spiritualists, and for +the most part, so far as my experience goes, are converts from +materialism who, having in their materialistic days said very properly +that they would believe nothing which could not be proved to them, are +ready now with Thomas to be absolutely wholehearted when the proof of +survival and spirit communion has actually reached them. There, however, +the proof ends, nor will they go further than the proof extends, as +otherwise their original principles would be gone. Therefore they are +Unitarians with a breadth of vision which includes Christ, Krishna, +Buddha and all the other great spirits whom God has sent to direct +different lines of spiritual evolution which correspond to the different +needs of the various races of mankind. Our information from the beyond +is that this evolution is continued beyond the grave, and very far on +until all details being gradually merged, they become one as children of +God. With a deep reverence for Christ it is undeniable that the +organised Spiritualist does not accept vicarious atonement nor original +sin, and believes that a man reaps as he sows with no one but himself to +pull out the weeds. It seems to me the more virile and manly doctrine, +and as to the texts which seem to say otherwise, we cannot deny that the +New Testament has been doctored again and again in order to square the +record of the Scriptures with the practice of the Church. Professor +Nestle, in the preface to a work on theology (I write far from books of +reference), remarks that there were actually officials named +"Correctores," who were appointed at the time of the Council of Nicæa +for this purpose, and St. Jerome, when he constructed the Vulgate, +complains to Pope Damasus that it is practically a new book that he is +making, putting any sin arising upon the Pope's head. In the face of +such facts we can only accept the spirit of the New Testament fortified +with common sense, and using such interpretation as brings most +spiritual strength to each of us. Personally, I accept the view of the +organised Spiritual religion, for it removes difficulties which formerly +stood between me and the whole Christian system, but I would not say or +do anything which would abash those others who are getting real +spiritual help from any sort of Christian belief. The gaining of +spirituality and widening of the personality are the aims of life, and +how it is done is the business of the individual. Every creed has +produced its saints and has to that extent justified its existence. I +like the Unitarian position of the main Spiritual body, however, because +it links the movement up with the other great creeds of the world and +makes it more accessible to the Jew, the Mohammedan or the Buddhist. It +is far too big to be confined within the palings of Christianity. + +Here is a little bit of authentic teaching from the other side which +bears upon the question. I take it from the remarkable record of Mr. +Miller of Belfast, whose dialogues with his son after the death of the +latter seem to me to be as certainly true as any case which has come to +my notice. On asking the young soldier some question about the exact +position of Christ in religion he modestly protested that such a +subject was above his head, and asked leave to bring his higher guide to +answer the question. Using a fresh voice and in a new and more weighty +manner the medium then said:-- + +"I wish to answer your question. Jesus the Christ is the proper +designation. Jesus was perfect humanity. Christ was the God idea in Him. +Jesus, on account of His purity, manifested in the highest degree the +psychic powers which resulted in His miracles. Jesus never preached the +blood of the lamb. The disciples after His ascension forgot the message +in admiration of the man. The Christ is in every human being, and so are +the psychic forces which were used by Jesus. If the same attention were +given to spiritual development which you give to the comfort and growth +of your material bodies your progress in spiritual life would be rapid +and would be characterised by the same works as were performed by Jesus. +The one essential thing for all on earth to strive after is a fuller +knowledge and growth in spiritual living." + +I think that the phrase, "In their admiration of the man they forgot His +message," is as pregnant a one as I ever heard. + +To come back then to the discussion at Exeter, what I said then and feel +now is that every Spiritualist is free to find his own path, and that as +a matter of fact his typical path is a Unitarian one, but that this in +no way obscures the fact that our greatest leaders, Lodge, Barrett, +Ellis Powell, Tweedale, are devoted sons of the Church, that our +literature is full of Christian aspiration, and that our greatest +prophet, Vale Owen, is a priest of a particularly sacerdotal turn of +mind. We are in a transition stage, and have not yet found any common +theological position, or any common position at all, save that the dead +carry on, that they do not change, that they can under proper physical +conditions communicate with us, and that there are many physical signs +by which they make their presence known to us. That is our common +ground, and all beyond that is matter of individual observation and +inference. Therefore, we are not in a position to take on any +anti-Christian agitation, for it would be against the conscience of the +greater part of our own people. + +Well, it is clear that if I do not begin my book I shall finish it +before I have begun, so let me end this chapter by saying that in +despite of all superstition we started for Australia in the good ship +"Naldera" (Capt. Lewellin, R.N.R.), on Friday, August 13th, 1920. As we +carried two bishops in addition to our ominous dates we were foredoomed +by every nautical tradition. Our party were my dear, splendid wife, who +has shared both my evidence and my convictions. She it is who, by +breaking up her household, leaving her beloved home, breaking the +schooling of her children, and venturing out upon a sea voyage, which of +all things she hates, has made the real sacrifice for the cause. As to +me, I am fond of change and adventure, and heartily agree with President +Roosevelt when he said that the grandest sport upon earth is to champion +an unpopular cause which you know to be true. With us were Denis, +Malcolm and Baby, concerning whom I wrote the "Three of them" sketches +some years ago. In their train was Jakeman, most faithful of maids, and +in mine Major Wood, who has been mixed up in my life ever since as young +men we played both cricket and football in the same team. Such was the +little party who set forth to try and blow that smouldering glow of +truth which already existed in Australia, into a more lively flame. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + Gibraltar.--Spanish right versus British might.--Relics of Barbary + Rovers, and of German militarists.--Ichabod! Senegal Infantry.--No + peace for the world.--Religion on a liner.--Differences of + vibration.--The Bishop of Kwang-Si.--Religion in China.--Whisky in + excelsis.--France's masterpiece.--British errors.--A procession of + giants.--The invasion of Egypt.--Tropical weather.--The Russian + Horror.--An Indian experiment.--Aden.--Bombay.--The Lambeth + encyclical.--A great novelist.--The Mango trick.--Snakes.--The + Catamarans.--The Robber Castles of Ceylon.--Doctrine of + Reincarnation.--Whales and Whalers.--Perth.--The Bight. + + +We had a favourable journey across the Bay and came without adventure to +Gibraltar, that strange crag, Arabic by name, African in type, Spanish +by right, and British by might. I trust that my whole record has shown +me to be a loyal son of the Empire, and I recognise that we must have a +secure line of communications with the East, but if any change could +give us Ceuta, on the opposite African coast, instead of this outlying +corner of proud old Spain, it would be good policy as well as good +morality to make the change. I wonder how we should like it if the +French held a garrison at Mount St. Michael in Cornwall, which would be +a very similar situation. Is it worth having a latent enemy who at any +time might become an active one, or is it wiser to hold them to us by +the memory of a great voluntary act of justice? They would pay, of +course, for all quays, breakwaters and improvements, which would give us +the money to turn Ceuta into a worthy substitute, which could be held +without offending the pride of a great nation, as old and proud as +ourselves. The whole lesson of this great war is that no nation can do +what is unjust with impunity, and that sooner or later one's sin will +find one out. How successful seemed all the scheming of Frederick of +Prussia! But what of Silesia and of Poland now? Only on justice can you +build with a permanent foundation, and there is no justice in our tenure +of Gibraltar. We had only an hour ashore, a great joy to the children, +and carried away a vague impression of grey-shirted Tommies, swarthy +loungers, one long, cobblestoned street, scarlet blossoms, and a fine +Governor's house, in which I picture that brave old warrior, +Smith-Dorrien, writing a book which will set all the critics talking, +and the military clubs buzzing a year or two from now. I do not know if +he was really forced to fight at Le Cateau, though our sympathies must +always go to the man who fights, but I do feel that if he had had his +way and straightened the salient of Ypres, there would have been a +mighty saving of blood and tears. There were sentimental reasons against +it, but I can think of no material ones--certainly none which were worth +all the casualties of the Salient. I had only one look at the place, and +that by night, but never shall I forget the murderous loop, outlined by +star shells, nor the horrible noises which rose up from that place of +wrath and misery. + +On August 19th we were running up the eastern Spanish coast, a most +desolate country of high bare cliffs and barren uplands, studded with +aged towers which told of pirate raids of old. These Mediterranean shore +dwellers must have had a hellish life, when the Barbary Rover was +afloat, and they might be wakened any night by the Moslem yell. Truly, +if the object of human life was chastening by suffering, then we have +given it to each other in full measure. If this were the only life I do +not know how the hypothesis of the goodness of God could be sustained, +since our history has been one hardly broken record of recurring +miseries, war, famine, and disease, from the ice to the equator. I +should still be a materialist, as I was of yore, if it were not for the +comfort and teaching from beyond, which tells me that this is the +worst--far the worst--and that by its standard everything else becomes +most gloriously better, so long as we help to make it so. "If the boys +knew what it was like over here," said a dead soldier, "they would just +jump for it." He added however, "If they did that they would surely miss +it." We cannot bluff Providence, or short-circuit things to our liking. + +We got ashore once more at Marseilles. I saw converted German merchant +ships, with names like "Burgomeister Müller," in the harbour, and +railway trucks with "Mainz-Cöln" still marked upon their flanks--part +of the captured loot. Germany, that name of terror, how short is the +time since we watched you well-nigh all-powerful, mighty on land, +dangerous on the sea, conquering the world with your commerce and +threatening it with your arms! You had everything, numbers, discipline, +knowledge, industry, bravery, organisation, all in the highest--such an +engine as the world has never seen. And now--Ichabod! Ichabod! Your +warships lie under the waves, your liners fly the flags of your enemies, +your mother Rhine on either bank hears the bugles of your invaders. What +was wanting in you to bring you to such a pass? Was it not spirituality? +Had not your churches become as much a department of State as the Post +Office, where every priest and pastor was in State pay, and said that +which the State ordained? All other life was at its highest, but +spiritual life was dead, and because it was dead all the rest had taken +on evil activities which could only lead to dissolution and corruption. +Had Germany obeyed the moral law would she not now be great and +flourishing, instead of the ruin which we see? Was ever such an object +lesson in sin and its consequence placed before the world? But let us +look to it, for we also have our lesson to learn, and our punishment is +surely waiting if we do not learn it. If now after such years we sink +back into old ruts and do not make an earnest effort for real religion +and real active morality, then we cumber the ground, and it is time that +we were swept away, for no greater chance of reform can ever come to +us. + +I saw some of the Senegal troops in the streets of Marseilles--a whole +battalion of them marching down for re-embarkation. They are fierce, +hard soldiers, by the look of them, for the negro is a natural fighter, +as the prize ring shows, and these have long service training upon the +top of this racial pugnacity. They look pure savages, with the tribal +cuts still upon their faces, and I do not wonder that the Germans +objected to them, though we cannot doubt that the Germans would +themselves have used their Askaris in Europe as well as in Africa if +they could have done so. The men who had as allies the murderers of the +Armenians would not stick at trifles. I said during the war, and I can +clearly see now, that the way in which the war was fought will prove +hardly second to the war itself as a misfortune to the human race. A +clean war could end in a clean peace. But how can we ever forget the +poison gas, the Zeppelin bombardments of helpless cities, the submarine +murders, the scattering of disease germs, and all the other atrocities +of Germany? No water of oblivion can ever wash her clean. She had one +chance, and only one. It was to at once admit it all herself and to set +to work purging her national guilt by punishing guilty individuals. +Perhaps she may even now save herself and clear the moral atmosphere of +the world by doing this. But time passes and the signs are against it. +There can be no real peace in the world until voluntary reparation has +been made. Forced reparation can only make things worse, for it cannot +satisfy us, and it must embitter them. I long for real peace, and +should love to see our Spiritualist bodies lead the van. But the time is +not yet and it is realities we need, not phrases. + +Old travellers say that they never remember the Mediterranean so hot. We +went down it with a following breeze which just neutralised our own head +wind, the result being a quivering tropical heat. With the Red Sea +before us it was no joke to start our trials so soon, and already the +children began to wilt. However, Major Wood kept them at work for the +forenoons and discipline still flourished. On the third day out we were +south of Crete, and saw an island lying there which is surely the same +in the lee of which Paul's galley took refuge when Euroclydon was +behaving so badly. I had been asked to address the first-class +passengers upon psychic religion that evening, and it was strange indeed +to speak in those waters, for I knew well that however ill my little +pip-squeak might compare with that mighty voice, yet it was still the +same battle of the unseen against the material, raging now as it did +2,000 years ago. Some 200 of the passengers, with the Bishop of +Kwang-Si, turned up, and a better audience one could not wish, though +the acoustic properties of the saloon were abominable. However, I got it +across, though I was as wet as if I had fallen overboard when I had +finished. I was pleased to learn afterwards that among the most keen of +my audience were every colored man and woman on the ship, Parsees, +Hindoos, Japanese and Mohammedans. + +"Do you believe it is true?" they were asked next day. + +"We _know_ that it is true," was the answer, and it came from a lady +with a red caste-mark like a wafer upon her forehead. So far as I could +learn she spoke for all the Eastern folk. + +And the others? At least I set them talking and thinking. I heard next +morning of a queue of six waiting at the barber's all deep in +theological discussion, with the barber himself, razor in hand, joining +warmly in. "There has never been so much religion talked on a P. & O. +ship since the line was started," said one old traveller. It was all +good-humoured and could do no harm. Before we had reached Port Said all +my books on the subject were lent out to eager readers, and I was being +led aside into remote corners and cross-questioned all day. I have a +number of good psychic photographs with me, some of them of my own +taking, and all of them guaranteed, and I find these valuable as making +folk realise that my words do in truth represent realities. I have the +famous fairy photos also, which will appear in England in the Christmas +number of the _Strand_. I feel as if it were a delay-action mine which I +had left behind me. I can imagine the cry of "Fake!" which will arise. +But they will stand investigation. It has of course nothing to do with +Spiritualism proper, but everything which can shake the mind out of +narrow, material grooves, and make it realise that endless worlds +surround us, separated only by difference of vibration, must work in the +general direction of truth. + +"Difference of Vibration"--I have been trying lately to get behind mere +words and to realise more clearly what this may mean. It is a +fascinating and fruitful line of thought. It begins with my electric fan +whizzing over my head. As it starts with slow vibration I see the little +propellers. Soon they become a dim mist, and finally I can see them no +more. But they are there. At any moment, by slowing the movement, I can +bring them back to my vision. Why do I not see it all the time? Because +the impression is so fast that my retina has not time to register it. +Can we not imagine then that some objects may emit the usual light +waves, long enough and slow enough to leave a picture, but that other +objects may send waves which are short and steep, and therefore make so +swift an impression that it is not recorded? That, so far as I can +follow it, is what we mean by an object with a higher rate of vibration. +It is but a feeling out into the dark, but it is a hypothesis which may +serve us to carry on with, though the clairvoyant seems to be not a +person with a better developed physical retina, but rather one who has +the power to use that which corresponds with the retina in their own +etheric bodies which are in harmony with etheric waves from outside. +When a man can walk round a room and examine the pictures with the back +of his head, as Tom Tyrrell has done, it is clear that it is not his +physical retina which is working. In countless cases inquirers into +magnetic phenomena have caused their subjects to read with various parts +of their bodies. It is the other body, the etheric body, the +"spiritual" body of Paul, which lies behind all such phenomena--that +body which is loose with all of us in sleep, but only exceptionally in +waking hours. Once we fully understand the existence of that deathless +etheric body, merged in our own but occasionally detachable, we have +mastered many a problem and solved many a ghost story. + +However, I must get back to my Cretan lecture. The bishop was +interested, and I lent him one of the Rev. Charles Tweedale's pamphlets +next day, which shows how sadly Christianity has wandered away from its +early faith of spiritual gifts and Communion of Saints. Both have now +become words instead of things, save among our ranks. The bishop is a +good fellow, red and rough like a Boer farmer, but healthy, breezy, and +Apostolic. "Do mention his kind grey eyes," says my wife. He may die a +martyr yet in that inland diocese of China--and he would not shrink from +it. Meanwhile, apart from his dogma, which must be desperately difficult +to explain to an educated Chinaman, he must always be a centre of +civilisation and social effort. A splendid fellow--but he suffers from +what all bishops and all cardinals and all Popes suffer from, and that +is superannuation. A physiologist has said that few men can ever +entertain a new idea after fifty. How then can any church progress when +all its leaders are over that age? This is why Christianity has +stagnated and degenerated. If here and there one had a new idea, how +could it survive the pressure of the others? It is hopeless. In this +particular question of psychic religion the whole order is an +inversion, for the people are ahead of the clergy and the clergy of the +bishops. But when the laymen lead strongly enough the others will follow +unless they wish to see the whole Church organisation dissolve. + +He was very interesting upon the state of Christianity in China. +Protestantism, thanks to the joint British and American Missions, is +gaining upon Roman Catholicism, and has now far outstripped it, but the +Roman Catholic organisations are very wealthy on account of ancient +valuable concessions and well-invested funds. In case of a Bolshevist +movement that may be a source of danger, as it gives a reason for +attack. The Bishop made the very striking remark that if the whites +cleared right out of China all the Christian Churches of divers creeds +would within a generation merge into one creed. "What have we to do," +they say, "with these old historical quarrels which are hardly +intelligible to us? We are all followers of Christ, and that is enough." +Truly, the converted seem far ahead of those who converted them. It is +the priesthoods, the organisations, the funds and the vested interests +which prevent the Churches from being united. In the meanwhile ninety +per cent. of our population shows what it thinks by never entering into +a church at all. Personally, I can never remember since I reached +manhood feeling myself the better for having gone into one. And yet I +have been an earnest seeker for truth. Verily, there is something deep +down which is rotten. It is want of fact, want of reality, words +instead of things. Only last Sunday I shuddered as I listened to the +hymns, and it amazed me to look around and see the composed faces of +those who were singing them. Do they think what they are saying, or does +Faith atrophy some part of the brain? We are "born through water and +blood into the true church." We drink precious blood. "He hath broken +the teeth in their jaw." Can such phrases really mean anything to any +thoughtful man? If not, why continue them? You will have your churches +empty while you do. People will not argue about it--they will, and do, +simply stay away. And the clergy go on stating and restating incredible +unproved things, while neglecting and railing at those which could be +proved and believed. On our lines those nine out of ten could be forced +back to a reconsideration of their position, even though that position +would not square with all the doctrines of present-day Christianity, +which would, I think, have offended the early Christians as much as it +does the earnest thinkers of to-day. + +Port Said came at last, and we entered the Suez Canal. It is a shocking +thing that the entrance to this, one of the most magnificent of the +works of man, are flanked by great sky advertisements of various brands +of whisky. The sale of whisky may or may not be a tolerable thing, but +its flaunting advertisements, Dewar, Johnny Walker, and the rest, have +surely long been intolerable. If anything would make me a total +prohibitionist those would. They are shameless. I do not know if some +middle way could be found by which light alcoholic drinks could +remain--so light that drunkenness would be hardly possible--but if this +cannot be done, then let us follow the noble example of America. It is +indeed shameful to see at the very point of the world where some noble +sentiment might best be expressed these huge reminders of that which has +led to so much misery and crime. To a Frenchman it must seem even worse +than to us, while what the abstemious Mohammedan can think is beyond my +imagination. In that direction at least the religion of Mohammed has +done better than that of Christ. If all those Esquimaux, South Sea +Islanders and others who have been converted to Christianity and then +debauched by drink, had followed the prophet instead, it cannot be +denied that their development would have been a happier and a higher +one, though the cast-iron doctrines and dogmas of the Moslem have +dangers of their own. + +Has France ever had the credit she deserves for the splendid faith with +which she followed that great beneficent genius Lesseps in his wonderful +work? It is beautiful from end to end, French in its neatness, its +order, its exquisite finish. Truly the opposition of our people, both +experts and public, was a disgrace to us, though it sinks into +insignificance when compared with our colossal national stupidity over +the Channel tunnel. When our descendants compute the sums spent in +shipping and transhipping in the great war, the waste of merchant ships +and convoys, the sufferings of the wounded, the delay in +reinforcements, the dependence upon the weather, they will agree that +our sin had found us out and that we have paid a fitting price for our +stupidity. Unhappily, it was not our blind guides who paid it, but it +was the soldier and sailor and taxpayer, for the nation always pays +collectively for the individual blunder. Would a hundred million pounds +cover the cost of that one? Well can I remember how a year before war +was declared, seeing clearly what was coming, I sent three memoranda to +the Naval and Military authorities and to the Imperial Council of +Defence pointing out exactly what the situation would be, and especially +the danger to our transports. It is admitted now that it was only the +strange inaction of the German light forces, and especially their want +of comprehension of the possibilities of the submarine, which enabled +our Expeditionary Force to get across at all, so that we might have lost +the war within the first month. But as to my poor memoranda, which +proved so terribly correct, I might as well have dropped them into my +own wastepaper basket instead of theirs, and so saved the postage. My +only convert was Captain, now General, Swinton, part inventor of the +tanks, who acted as Secretary to the Imperial Defence Committee, and who +told me at the time that my paper had set him thinking furiously. + +Which leads my thoughts to the question of the torpedoing of merchant +vessels by submarines. So sure was I that the Germans would do this, +that after knocking at official doors in vain, I published a sketch +called "Danger," which was written a year before the war, and depicted +all that afterwards occurred, even down to such small details as the +ships zig-zagging up Channel to escape, and the submarines using their +guns to save torpedoes. I felt as if, like Solomon Eagle, I could have +marched down Fleet Street with a brazier on my head if I could only call +people's attention to the coming danger. I saw naval officers on the +point, but they were strangely blind, as is shown by the comments +printed at the end of "Danger," which give the opinions of several +admirals pooh-poohing my fears. Among others I saw Captain Beatty, as he +then was, and found him alive to the possible danger, though he did not +suggest a remedy. His quiet, brisk personality impressed me, and I felt +that our national brain-errors might perhaps be made good in the end by +the grit that is in us. But how hard were our tasks from our want of +foresight. Admiral Von Capelle did me the honour to say during the war, +in the German Reichstag, that I was the only man who had prophesied the +conditions of the great naval war. As a matter of fact, both Fisher and +Scott had done so, though they had not given it to the public in the +same detail--but nothing had been done. We know now that there was not a +single harbour proof against submarines on our whole East Coast. Truly +the hand of the Lord was over England. Nothing less could have saved +her. + +We tied up to the bank soon after entering the Canal, and lay there most +of the night while a procession of great ships moving northwards swept +silently past us in the ring of vivid light cast by their searchlights +and our own. I stayed on deck most of the night to watch them. The +silence was impressive--those huge structures sweeping past with only +the slow beat of their propellers and the wash of their bow wave on +either side. No sooner had one of these great shapes slid past than, +looking down the Canal, one saw the brilliant head light of another in +the distance. They are only allowed to go at the slowest pace, so that +their wash may not wear away the banks. Finally, the last had passed, +and we were ourselves able to cast off our warps and push southwards. I +remained on deck seeing the sun rise over the Eastern desert, and then a +wonderful slow-moving panorama of Egypt as the bank slid slowly past us. +First desert, then green oases, then the long line of rude +fortifications from Kantara downwards, with the camp fires smoking, +groups of early busy Tommies and endless dumps of stores. Here and to +the south was the point where the Turks with their German leaders +attempted the invasion of Egypt, carrying flat-bottomed boats to ford +the Canal. How they were ever allowed to get so far is barely +comprehensible, but how they were ever permitted to get back again +across one hundred miles of desert in the face of our cavalry and +camelry is altogether beyond me. Even their guns got back untaken. They +dropped a number of mines in the Canal, but with true Turkish +slovenliness they left on the banks at each point the long bamboos on +which they had carried them across the desert, which considerably +lessened the work of those who had to sweep them up. The sympathies of +the Egyptians seems to have been against us, and yet they have no desire +to pass again under the rule of the Turk. Our dominion has had the +effect of turning a very poor country into a very rich one, and of +securing some sort of justice for the fellah or peasant, but since we +get no gratitude and have no trade preference it is a little difficult +to see how we are the better for all our labours. So long as the Canal +is secure--and it is no one's interest to injure it--we should be better +if the country governed itself. We have too many commitments, and if we +have to take new ones, such as Mesopotamia, it would be well to get rid +of some of the others where our task is reasonably complete. "We never +let the youngsters grow up," said a friendly critic. There is, however, +I admit, another side to the question, and the idea of permitting a +healthy moral place like Port Said to relapse into the hotbed of +gambling and syphilis which it used to be, is repugnant to the mind. +Which is better--that a race be free, immoral and incompetent, or that +it be forced into morality and prosperity? That question meets us at +every turn. + +The children have been delighted by the fish on the surface of the +Canal. Their idea seems to be that the one aim and object of our +excursion is to see sharks in the sea and snakes in Australia. We did +actually see a shark half ashore upon a sandbank in one of the lower +lakes near Suez. It was lashing about with a frantic tail, and so got +itself off into deep water. To the west all day we see the very wild and +barren country through which our ancestors used to drive upon the +overland route when they travelled by land from Cairo to Suez. The smoke +of a tiny mail-train marks the general line of that most desolate road. +In the evening we were through the Canal and marked the rugged shore +upon our left down which the Israelites pursued their way in the +direction of Sinai. One wonders how much truth there is in the +narrative. On the one hand it is impossible to doubt that something of +the sort did occur. On the other, the impossibility of so huge a crowd +living on the rare wells of the desert is manifest. But numbers are not +the strong point of an Oriental historian. Perhaps a thousand or two may +have followed their great leader upon that perilous journey. I have +heard that Moses either on his own or through his wife was in touch with +Babylonian habits. This would explain those tablets of stone, or of +inscribed clay burned into brick, which we receive as the Ten +Commandments, and which only differ from the moral precepts of other +races in the strange limitations and omissions. At least ten new ones +have long been needed to include drunkenness, gluttony, pride, envy, +bigotry, lying and the rest. + +The weather grows hotter and hotter, so that one aged steward who has +done 100 voyages declares it to be unique. One passenger has died. +Several stewards have collapsed. The wind still keeps behind us. In the +midst of all this I had an extensively signed petition from the second +class passengers that I should address them. I did so, and spoke on deck +for forty minutes to a very attentive audience which included many of +the officers of the ship. I hope I got my points across to them. I was a +sad example of sweated labour when I had finished. My wife tells me that +the people were impressed. As I am never aware of the presence of any +individual when I am speaking on this subject I rely upon my wife's very +quick and accurate feminine impressions. She sits always beside me, +notes everything, gives me her sympathetic atmosphere which is of such +psychic importance, and finally reports the result. If any point of mine +seems to her to miss its mark I unhesitatingly take it out. It interests +me to hear her tell of the half-concealed sneer with which men listen to +me, and how it turns into interest, bewilderment and finally something +like reverence and awe as the brain gradually realises the proved truth +of what I am saying, which upsets the whole philosophy on which their +lives are built. + +There are several Australian officers on board who are coming from the +Russian front full of dreadful stories of Bolshevist atrocities, seen +with their own eyes. The executioners were Letts and Chinese, and the +instigators renegade Jews, so that the Russians proper seem to have been +the more or less innocent dupes. They had dreadful photographs of +tortured and mutilated men as corroboration. Surely hell, the place of +punishment and purgatorial expiation, is actually upon this earth in +such cases. One leader seems to have been a Sadic madman, for after +torturing his victims till even the Chinese executioners struck, he +would sit playing a violin very exquisitely while he gloated over their +agonies. All these Australian boys agree that the matter will burn +itself out, and that it will end in an immense massacre of Jews which +may involve the whole seven millions now in Russia. God forbid, but the +outlook is ominous! I remember a prophecy which I read early in the war +that a great figure would arise in the north and have power for six +years. If Lenin was the great figure then he has, according to the +prophet, about two years more to run. But prophecy is fitful, dangerous +work. The way in which the founders of the Christian faith all foretold +the imminent end of the world is an example. What they dimly saw was no +doubt the destruction of Jerusalem, which seems to have been equally +clear to Ezekiel 600 years before, for his picture of cannibalism and +dispersion is very exact. + +It is wonderful what chances of gaining direct information one has +aboard a ship of this sort, with its mixed crowd of passengers, many of +them famous in their own lines. I have already alluded to the officers +returning from Russia with their prophecies of evil. But there are many +other folk with tales of deep interest. There is a Mr. Covell, a solid +practical Briton, who may prove to be a great pioneer, for he has made +farming pay handsomely in the very heart of the Indian plains. Within a +hundred miles of Lucknow he has founded the townlet of Covellpore, +where he handles 3,000 acres of wheat and cotton with the aid of about +the same number of natives. This is the most practical step I have ever +heard of for forming a real indigenous white population in India. His +son was with him, going out to carry on the work. Mr. Covell holds that +the irrigation of the North West of India is one of the greatest wonders +of the world, and Jacob the engineer responsible. I had never heard of +him, nor, I am ashamed to say, had I heard of Sir Leonard Rogers, who is +one of those great men like Sir Ronald Ross, whom the Indian Medical +Service throws up. Rogers has reduced the mortality of cholera by +intravenous injections of hypertonic saline until it is only 15 per +cent. General Maude, I am informed, would almost certainly have been +saved, had it not been that some false departmental economy had withheld +the necessary apparatus. Leprosy also seems in a fair way to yielding to +Rogers' genius for investigation. + +It is sad to hear that this same Indian Medical Service which has +produced such giants as Fayrer, Ross, and Rogers is in a fair way to +absolute ruin, because the conditions are such that good white +candidates will no longer enter it. White doctors do not mind working +with, or even under, natives who have passed the same British +examinations as themselves, but they bar the native doctor who has got +through a native college in India, and is on a far lower educational +level than themselves. To serve under such a man is an impossible +inversion. This is appreciated by the medical authorities at home, the +word is given to the students, and the best men avoid the service. So +unless a change is made, the end is in sight of the grand old service +which has given so much to humanity. + +Aden is remarkable only for the huge water tanks cut to catch rain, and +carved out of solid rock. A whole captive people must have been set to +work on so colossal a task, and one wonders where the poor wretches got +water themselves the while. Their work is as fresh and efficient as when +they left it. No doubt it was for the watering, not of the population, +but of the Egyptian and other galleys on their way to Punt and King +Solomon's mines. It must be a weary life for our garrison in such a +place. There is strange fishing, sea snakes, parrot fish and the like. +It is their only relaxation, for it is desert all round. + +Monsoon and swell and drifting rain in the Indian Ocean. We heard that +"thresh of the deep sea rain," of which Kipling sings. Then at last in +the early morning the long quay of Bombay, and the wonderful crowd of +men of every race who await an incoming steamer. Here at least half our +passengers were disgorged, young subalterns, grey colonels, grave +administrators, yellow-faced planters, all the fuel which is grown in +Britain and consumed in the roaring furnace of India. So devoted to +their work, so unthanked and uncomprehended by those for whom they work! +They are indeed a splendid set of men, and if they withdrew I wonder how +long it would be before the wild men of the frontier would be in +Calcutta and Bombay, as the Picts and Scots flowed over Britain when the +Roman legions were withdrawn. What view will the coming Labour +governments of Britain take of our Imperial commitments? Upon that will +depend the future history of great tracts of the globe which might very +easily relapse into barbarism. + +The ship seemed lonely when our Indian friends were gone, for indeed, +the pick of the company went with them. Several pleased me by assuring +me as they left that their views of life had been changed since they +came on board the "Naldera." To many I gave reading lists that they +might look further into the matter for themselves. A little leaven in +the great lump, but how can we help leavening it all when we know that, +unlike other creeds, no true Spiritualist can ever revert, so that while +we continually gain, we never lose. One hears of the converts to various +sects, but one does not hear of those who are driven out by their +narrow, intolerant doctrines. You can change your mind about faiths, but +not about facts, and hence our certain conquest. + +One cannot spend even a single long day in India without carrying away a +wonderful impression of the gentle dignity of the Indian people. Our +motor drivers were extraordinarily intelligent and polite, and all we +met gave the same impression. + +India may be held by the sword, but it is certainly kept very carefully +in the scabbard, for we hardly saw a soldier in the streets of this, +its greatest city. I observed some splendid types of manhood, however, +among the native police. We lunched at the Taj Mahal Hotel, and got back +tired and full of mixed impressions. + +Verily the ingenuity of children is wonderful. They have turned their +active minds upon the problem of paper currency with fearsome results. +Baby writes cheques in quaint ways upon odd bits of paper and brings +them to me to be cashed. Malcolm, once known as Dimples, has made a +series of pound and five pound notes of his own. The bank they call the +money shop. I can trace every sort of atavism, the arboreal, the cave +dweller, the adventurous raider, and the tribal instinct in the child, +but this development seems a little premature. + +Sunday once more, and the good Bishop preaching. I wonder more and more +what an educated Chinaman would make of such doctrines. To take an +example, he has quoted to-day with great approval, the action of Peter +in discarding the rite of circumcision as a proof of election. That +marked, according to the Bishop, the broad comprehensive mind which +could not confine the mercies of God to any limited class. And yet when +I take up the oecumenical pronouncement from the congress of Anglican +bishops which he has just attended, I find that baptism is made the +test, even as the Jews made circumcision. Have the bishops not learned +that there are millions who revere the memory of Christ, whether they +look upon him as God or man, but who think that baptism is a senseless +survival of heathendom, like so many of our religious observances? The +idea that the Being who made the milky way can be either placated or +incensed by pouring a splash of water over child or adult is an offence +to reason, and a slur upon the Divinity. + +Two weary days upon the sea with drifting rain showers and wonderful +scarlet and green sunsets. Have beguiled the time with W. B. Maxwell's +"Lamp and the Mirror." I have long thought that Maxwell was the greatest +of British novelists, and this book confirms me in my opinion. Who else +could have drawn such fine detail and yet so broad and philosophic a +picture? There may have been single books which were better than +Maxwell's best--the "Garden of Allah," with its gorgeous oriental colour +would, for example, make a bid for first place, but which of us has so +splendid a list of first class serious works as "Mrs. Thompson," "The +Rest Cure," "Vivian," "In Cotton Wool," above all, "The Guarded +Flame"--classics, every one. Our order of merit will come out very +differently in a generation or so to what it stands now, and I shall +expect to find my nominee at the top. But after all, what's the odds? +You do your work as well as you can. You pass. You find other work to +do. How the old work compares with the other fellow's work can be a +matter of small concern. + +In Colombo harbour lay H.M.S. "Highflyer," which we looked upon with the +reverence which everybody and everything which did well in the war +deserve from us--a saucy, rakish, speedy craft. Several other steamers +were flying the yellow quarantine flag, but our captain confided to me +that it was a recognised way of saying "no visitors," and did not +necessarily bear any pathological meaning. As we had nearly two days +before we resumed our voyage I was able to give all our party a long +stretch on shore, finally staying with my wife for the night at the +Galle Face Hotel, a place where the preposterous charges are partly +compensated for by the glorious rollers which break upon the beach +outside. I was interested in the afternoon by a native conjurer giving +us what was practically a private performance of the mango-tree trick. +He did it so admirably that I can well understand those who think that +it is an occult process. I watched the man narrowly, and believe that I +solved the little mystery, though even now I cannot be sure. In doing it +he began by laying several objects out in a casual way while hunting in +his bag for his mango seed. These were small odds and ends including a +little rag doll, very rudely fashioned, about six or eight inches long. +One got accustomed to the presence of these things and ceased to remark +them. He showed the seed and passed it for examination, a sort of large +Brazil nut. He then laid it among some loose earth, poured some water on +it, covered it with a handkerchief, and crooned over it. In about a +minute he exhibited the same, or another seed, the capsule burst, and a +light green leaf protruding. I took it in my hands, and it was certainly +a real bursting mango seed, but clearly it had been palmed and +substituted for the other. He then buried it again and kept raising the +handkerchief upon his own side, and scrabbling about with his long brown +fingers underneath its cover. Then he suddenly whisked off the +handkerchief and there was the plant, a foot or so high, with thick +foliage and blossoms, its root well planted in the earth. It was +certainly very startling. + +My explanation is that by a miracle of packing the whole of the plant +had been compressed into the rag doll, or little cloth cylinder already +mentioned. The scrabbling of the hands under the cloth was to smooth out +the leaves after it was freed from this covering. I observed that the +leaves were still rather crumpled, and that there were dark specks of +fungi which would not be there if the plant were straight from nature's +manufactory. But it was wonderfully done when you consider that the man +was squatting in our midst, we standing in a semi-circle around him, +with no adventitious aid whatever. I do not believe that the famous Mr. +Maskeleyne or any of those other wise conjurers who are good enough +occasionally to put Lodge, Crookes and Lombroso in their places, could +have wrought a better illusion. + +The fellow had a cobra with him which he challenged me to pick up. I did +so and gazed into its strange eyes, which some devilry of man's had +turned to a lapis lazuli blue. The juggler said it was the result of its +skin-sloughing, but I have my doubts. The poison bag had, I suppose, +been extracted, but the man seemed nervous and slipped his brown hand +between my own and the swaying venomous head with its peculiar +flattened hood. It is a fearsome beast, and I can realise what was told +me by a lover of animals that the snake was the one creature from which +he could get no return of affection. I remember that I once had three in +my employ when the "Speckled Band" was produced in London, fine, lively +rock pythons, and yet in spite of this profusion of realism I had the +experience of reading a review which, after duly slating the play, wound +up with the scathing sentence, "The performance ended with the +production of a palpably artificial serpent." Such is the reward of +virtue. Afterwards when the necessities of several travelling companies +compelled us to use dummy snakes we produced a much more realistic +effect. The real article either hung down like a pudgy yellow bell rope, +or else when his tail was pinched, endeavoured to squirm back and get +level with the stage carpenter, who pinched him, which was not in the +plot. The latter individual had no doubts at all as to the dummy being +an improvement upon the real. + +Never, save on the west coast of Africa, have I seen "the league-long +roller thundering on the shore," as here, where the Indian Ocean with +its thousand leagues of momentum hits the western coast of Ceylon. It +looks smooth out at sea, and then you are surprised to observe that a +good-sized boat has suddenly vanished. Then it scoops upwards once more +on the smooth arch of the billow, disappearing on the further slope. The +native catamarans are almost invisible, so that you see a row of +standing figures from time to time on the crest of the waves. I cannot +think that any craft in the world would come through rough water as +these catamarans with their long outriggers can do. Man has made few +more simple and more effective inventions, and if I were a younger man I +would endeavour to introduce them to Brighton beach, as once I +introduced ski to Switzerland, or auto-wheels to the British roads. I +have other work to do now, but why does not some sportsman take the +model, have it made in England, and then give an exhibition in a gale of +wind on the south coast. It would teach our fishermen some possibilities +of which they are ignorant. + +As I stood in a sandy cove one of them came flying in, a group of +natives rushing out and pulling it up on the beach. The craft consists +only of two planks edgewise and lengthwise. In the nine-inch slit +between them lay a number of great twelve-pound fish, like cod, and tied +to the side of the boat was a ten-foot sword fish. To catch that +creature while standing on a couple of floating planks must have been +sport indeed, and yet the craft is so ingenious that to a man who can at +a pinch swim for it, there is very small element of danger. The really +great men of our race, the inventor of the wheel, the inventor of the +lever, the inventor of the catamaran are all lost in the mists of the +past, but ethnologists have found that the cubic capacity of the +neolithic brain is as great as our own. + +There are two robbers' castles, as the unhappy visitor calls them, +facing the glorious sea, the one the Galle Face, the other the Mount +Lavinia Hotel. They are connected by an eight-mile road, which has all +the colour and life and variety of the East for every inch of the way. +In that glorious sun, under the blue arch of such a sky, and with the +tropical trees and flowers around, the poverty of these people is very +different from the poverty of a London slum. Is there in all God's world +such a life as that, and can it really be God's world while we suffer it +to exist! Surely, it is a palpable truth that no one has a right to +luxuries until every one has been provided with necessities, and among +such necessities a decent environment is the first. If we had spent +money to fight slumland as we spent it to fight Germany, what a +different England it would be. The world moves all the same, and we have +eternity before us. But some folk need it. + +A doctor came up to me in the hotel and told me that he was practising +there, and had come recently from England. He had lost his son in the +war, and had himself become unsettled. Being a Spiritualist he went to +Mrs. Brittain, the medium, who told him that his boy had a message for +him which was that he would do very well in Colombo. He had himself +thought of Ceylon, but Mrs. B. had no means of knowing that. He had +obeyed the advice thus given, and was glad that he had done so. How much +people may miss by cutting themselves away from these ministers of +grace! In all this opposition to Spiritualism the punishment continually +fits the crime. + +Once again we shed passengers and proceeded in chastened mood with +empty decks where once it was hard to move. Among others, good Bishop +Banister of Kwang-si had gone. I care little for his sacramental and +vicarious doctrines, but I am very sure that wherever his robust, +kindly, sincere personality may dwell is bound to be a centre of the +true missionary effort--the effort which makes for the real original +teaching of his Master, submission to God and goodwill to our fellow +men. + +Now we are on the last lap with nothing but a clear stretch of salt +water between our prow and West Australia. Our mission from being a sort +of dream takes concrete form and involves definite plans. Meanwhile we +plough our way through a deep blue sea with the wind continually against +us. I have not seen really calm water since we left the Canal. We carry +on with the usual routine of ship sports, which include an England and +Australia cricket match, in which I have the honour of captaining +England, a proper ending for a long if mediocre career as a cricketer. +We lost by one run, which was not bad considering our limited numbers. + +Posers of all sorts are brought to me by thoughtful inquirers, which I +answer when I can. Often I can't. One which is a most reasonable +objection has given me a day's thought. If, as is certain, we can +remember in our next life the more important incidents of this one, why +is it that in this one we can remember nothing of that previous +spiritual career, which must have existed since nothing can be born in +time for eternity? Our friends on the other side cannot help us there, +nor can even such extended spiritual visions as those of Vale Owen clear +it up. On the whole we must admit that our Theosophical friends, with +whom we quarrel for their absence of evidence, have the best attempt at +an explanation. I imagine that man's soul has a cycle which is complete +in itself, and all of which is continuous and self conscious. This +begins with earth life. Then at last a point is reached, it may be a +reincarnation, and a new cycle is commenced, the old one being closed to +our memory until we have reached some lofty height in our further +journey. Pure speculation, I admit, but it would cover what we know and +give us a working hypothesis. I can never excite myself much about the +reincarnation idea, for if it be so, it occurs seldom, and at long +intervals, with ten years spent in the other spheres for one spent here, +so that even admitting all that is said by its supporters it is not of +such great importance. At the present rate of change this world will be +as strange as another sphere by the time we are due to tread the old +stage once more. It is only fair to say that though many spiritualists +oppose it, there is a strong body, including the whole French Allan +Kardec school, who support it. Those who have passed over may well be +divided upon the subject since it concerns their far future and is a +matter of speculation to them as to us. + +Thrasher whales and sperm whales were seen which aroused the old whaling +thrill in my heart. It was the more valuable Greenland whale which I +helped to catch, while these creatures are those which dear old Frank +Bullen, a childlike sailor to the last, described in his "Cruise of the +Cachelot." How is it that sailors write such perfect English. There are +Bullen and Conrad, both of whom served before the mast--the two purest +stylists of their generation. So was Loti in France. There are some +essays of Bullen's, especially a description of a calm in the tropics, +and again of "Sunrise seen from the Crow's Nest," which have not been +matched in our time for perfection of imagery and diction. They are both +in his "Idyls of the Sea." If there is compensation in the beyond--and I +know that there is--then Frank Bullen is in great peace, for his whole +earthly life was one succession of troubles. When I think of his cruel +stepmother, his dreadful childhood, his life on a Yankee blood ship, his +struggles as a tradesman, his bankruptcy, his sordid worries, and +finally, his prolonged ill-health, I marvel at the unequal distribution +of such burdens. He was the best singer of a chanty that I have ever +heard, and I can hear him now with his rich baritone voice trolling out +"Sally Brown" or "Stormalong." May I hear him once again! Our dear ones +tell us that there is no great gap between what pleases us here and that +which will please us in the beyond. Our own brains, had we ever used +them in the matter, should have instructed us that all evolution, +spiritual as well as material, must be gradual. Indeed, once one knows +psychic truth, one can, reasoning backwards, perceive that we should +unaided have come to the same conclusions, but since we have all been +deliberately trained not to use our reason in religious matters, it is +no wonder that we have made rather a hash of it. Surely it is clear +enough that in the case of an artist the artistic nature is part of the +man himself. Therefore, if he survives it must survive. But if it +survives it must have means of expression, or it is a senseless thing. +But means of expression implies appreciation from others and a life on +the general lines of this one. So also of the drama, music, science and +literature, if we carry on they carry on, and they cannot carry on +without actual expression and a public to be served. + +To the east of us and just beyond the horizon lie the Cocos Islands, +where Ross established his strange little kingdom, and where the _Emden_ +met its end--a glorious one, as every fair minded man must admit. I have +seen her stern post since then in the hall of the Federal Parliament at +Melbourne, like some fossil monster, once a terror and now for children +to gaze at. As to the Cocos Islands, the highest point is, I understand, +about twenty feet, and tidal waves are not unknown upon the Pacific, so +that the community holds its tenure at very short and sudden notice to +quit. + +On the morning of September 17th a low coast line appeared upon the port +bow--Australia at last. It was the edge of the West Australian State. +The evening before a wireless had reached me from the spiritualists of +Perth saying that they welcomed us and our message. It was a kind +thought and a helpful one. We were hardly moored in the port of +Fremantle, which is about ten miles from the capital, when a deputation +of these good, kind people was aboard, bearing great bunches of wild +flowers, most of which were new to us. Their faces fell when they +learned that I must go on in the ship and that there was very little +chance of my being able to address them. They are only connected with +the other States by one long thin railway line, 1,200 miles long, with +scanty trains which were already engaged, so that unless we stuck to the +ship we should have to pass ten days or so before we could resume our +journey. This argument was unanswerable, and so the idea of a meeting +was given up. + +These kind people had two motors in attendance, which must, I fear, have +been a strain upon their resources, for as in the old days the true +believers and practical workers are drawn from the poor and humble. +However, they certainly treated us royally, and even the children were +packed into the motors. We skirted the Swan River, passed through the +very beautiful public park, and, finally, lunched at the busy town, +where Bone's store would cut a respectable figure in London, with its +many departments and its roof restaurant. It was surprising after our +memories of England to note how good and abundant was the food. It is a +charming little town, and it was strange, after viewing its settled +order, to see the mill where the early settlers not so very long ago had +to fight for their lives with the black fellows. Those poor black +fellows! Their fate is a dark stain upon Australia. And yet it must in +justice to our settlers be admitted that the question was a very +difficult one. Was colonisation to be abandoned, or were these brave +savages to be overcome? That was really the issue. When they speared the +cattle of the settlers what were the settlers to do? Of course, if a +reservation could have been opened up, as in the case of the Maoris, +that would have been ideal. But the noble Maori is a man with whom one +could treat on equal terms and he belonged to a solid race. The +Aborigines of Australia were broken wandering tribes, each at war with +its neighbours. In a single reservation they would have exterminated +each other. It was a piteous tragedy, and yet, even now in retrospect, +how difficult it is to point out what could have been done. + +The Spiritualists of Perth seem to be a small body, but as earnest as +their fellows elsewhere. A masterful looking lady, Mrs. McIlwraith, +rules them, and seems fit for the part. They have several mediums +developing, but I had no chance of testing their powers. Altogether our +encounter with them cheered us on our way. We had the first taste of +Australian labour conditions at Fremantle, for the men knocked off at +the given hour, refusing to work overtime, with the result that we +carried a consignment of tea, meant for their own tea-pots, another +thousand miles to Adelaide, and so back by train which must have been +paid for out of their own pockets and those of their fellow citizens. +Verily, you cannot get past the golden rule, and any breach of it brings +its own punishment somehow, somewhere, be the sinner a master or a man. + +And now we had to cross the dreaded Bight, where the great waves from +the southern ice come rolling up, but our luck was still in, and we went +through it without a qualm. Up to Albany one sees the barren irregular +coast, and then there were two days of blue water, which brought us at +last to Adelaide, our port of debarkation. The hour and the place at +last! + + + + +CHAPTER III + + Mr. Hughes' letter of welcome.--Challenges.--Mr. Carlyle + Smythe.--The Adelaide Press.--The great drought.--The wine + industry.--Clairvoyance.--Meeting with Bellchambers.--The first + lecture.--The effect.--The Religious lecture.--The illustrated + lecture.--Premonitions.--The spot light.--Mr. Thomas' account of + the incident.--Correspondence.--Adelaide doctors.--A day in the + Bush.--The Mallee fowl.--Sussex in Australia.--Farewell to + Adelaide. + + +I was welcomed to Australia by a hospitable letter from the Premier, Mr. +Hughes, who assured me that he would do what he could to make our visit +a pleasant one, and added, "I hope you will see Australia as it is, for +I want you to tell the world about us. We are a very young country, we +have a very big and very rich heritage, and the great war has made us +realise that we are Australians, proud to belong to the Empire, but +proud too of our own country." + +Apart from Mr. Hughes's kind message, my chief welcome to the new land +came from Sydney, and took the queer form of two independant challenges +to public debate, one from the Christian Evidence Society, and the other +from the local leader of the materialists. As the two positions are +mutually destructive, one felt inclined to tell them to fight it out +between themselves and that I would fight the winner. The Christian +Evidence Society, is, of course, out of the question, since they regard +a text as an argument, which I can only accept with many qualifications, +so that there is no common basis. The materialist is a more worthy +antagonist, for though he is often as bigotted and inaccessible to +reason as the worst type of Christian, there is always a leaven of +honest, open-minded doubters on whom a debate might make an impression. +A debate with them, as I experienced when I met Mr. MacCabe, can only +follow one line, they quoting all the real or alleged scandals which +have ever been connected with the lowest forms of mediumship, and +claiming that the whole cult is comprised therein, to which you counter +with your own personal experiences, and with the evidence of the cloud +of witnesses who have found the deepest comfort and enlarged knowledge. +It is like two boxers each hitting the air, and both returning to their +respective corners amid the plaudits of their backers, while the general +public is none the better. + +Three correspondents headed me off on the ship, and as I gave each of +them a long separate interview, I was a tired man before I got ashore. +Mr. Carlyle Smythe, my impresario, had also arrived, a small alert +competent gentleman, with whom I at once got on pleasant terms, which +were never once clouded during our long travels together upon our tour. +I was fortunate indeed to have so useful and so entertaining a +companion, a musician, a scholar, and a man of many varied experiences. +With his help we soon got our stuff through the customs, and made the +short train journey which separates the Port of Adelaide from the +charming city of that name. By one o'clock we were safely housed in the +Grand Central Hotel, with windows in place of port holes, and the roar +of the trams to take the place of the murmurs of the great ocean. + +The good genius of Adelaide was a figure, already almost legendary, one +Colonel Light, who played the part of Romulus and Remus to the infant +city. Somewhere in the thirties of last century he chose the site, +against strong opposition, and laid out the plan with such skill that in +all British and American lands I have seen few such cities, so pretty, +so orderly and so self-sufficing. When one sees all the amenities of the +place, botanical gardens, zoological gardens, art gallery, museum, +university, public library and the rest, it is hard to realise that the +whole population is still under three hundred thousand. I do not know +whether the press sets the tone to the community or the community to the +press, but in any case Adelaide is greatly blessed in this respect, for +its two chief papers the _Register_ and the _Advertiser_, under Sir +William Sowden and Sir Langdon Bonython respectively, are really +excellent, with a worldwide Metropolitan tone. + +Their articles upon the subject in which I am particularly interested, +though by no means one-sided, were at least informed with knowledge and +breadth of mind. + +In Adelaide I appreciated, for the first time, the crisis which +Australia has been passing through in the shape of a two-years drought, +only recently broken. It seems to have involved all the States and to +have caused great losses, amounting to millions of sheep and cattle. The +result was that the price of those cattle which survived has risen +enormously, and at the time of our visit an absolute record had been +established, a bullock having been sold for £41. The normal price would +be about £13. Sheep were about £3 each, the normal being fifteen +shillings. This had, of course, sent the price of meat soaring with the +usual popular unrest and agitation as a result. It was clear, however, +that with the heavy rains the prices would fall. These Australian +droughts are really terrible things, especially when they come upon +newly-opened country and in the hotter regions of Queensland and the +North. One lady told us that she had endured a drought in Queensland +which lasted so long that children of five had never seen a drop of +rain. You could travel a hundred miles and find the brown earth the +whole way, with no sign of green anywhere, the sheep eating twigs or +gnawing bark until they died. Her brother sold his surviving sheep for +one shilling each, and when the drought broke had to restock at 50s. a +head. This is a common experience, and all but the man with savings have +to take to some subordinate work, ruined men. No doubt, with +afforestation, artesian wells, irrigation and water storage things may +be modified, but all these things need capital, and capital in these +days is hard to seek, nor can it be expected that capitalists will pour +their money into States which have wild politicians who talk lightly of +past obligations. You cannot tell the investor that he is a bloated +incubus one moment, and go hat in hand for further incubation the next. +I fear that this grand country as a whole may suffer from the wild ideas +of some of its representatives. But under it all lies the solid +self-respecting British stuff, which will never repudiate a just debt, +however heavily it may press. Australians may groan under the burden, +but they should remember that for every pound of taxation they carry the +home Briton carries nearly three. + +But to return for a moment to the droughts; has any writer of fiction +invented or described a more long-drawn agony than that of the man, his +nerves the more tired and sensitive from the constant unbroken heat, +waiting day after day for the cloud that never comes, while under the +glaring sun from the unchanging blue above him, his sheep, which +represent all his life's work and his hopes, perish before his eyes? A +revolver shot has often ended the long vigil and the pioneer has joined +his vanished flocks. I have just come in contact with a case where two +young returned soldiers, demobilised from the war and planted on the +land had forty-two cattle given them by the State to stock their little +farm. Not a drop of water fell for over a year, the feed failed, and +these two warriors of Palestine and Flanders wept at their own +helplessness while their little herd died before their eyes. Such are +the trials which the Australian farmer has to bear. + +While waiting for my first lecture I do what I can to understand the +country and its problems. To this end I visited the vineyards and wine +plant of a local firm which possesses every factor for success, save the +capacity to answer letters. The originator started grape culture as a +private hobby about 60 years ago, and now such an industry has risen +that this firm alone has £700,000 sunk in the business, and yet it is +only one of several. The product can be most excellent, but little or +any ever reaches Europe, for it cannot overtake the local demand. The +quality was good and purer than the corresponding wines in +Europe--especially the champagnes, which seem to be devoid of that +poison, whatever it may be, which has for a symptom a dry tongue with +internal acidity, driving elderly gentlemen to whisky and soda. The +Australian product, taken in moderate doses, seems to have no poisonous +quality, and is without that lime-like dryness which appears to be the +cause of it. If temperance reform takes the sane course of insisting +upon a lowering of the alcohol in our drinks, so that one may be +surfeited before one could be drunken, then this question of good mild +wines will bulk very largely in the future, and Australia may supply one +of the answers. With all my sympathy for the reformers I feel that wine +is so useful a social agent that we should not abolish it until we are +certain that there is no _via media_. The most pregnant argument upon +the subject was the cartoon which showed the husband saying "My dear, it +is the anniversary of our wedding. Let us have a second bottle of ginger +beer." + +We went over the vineyards, ourselves mildly interested in the vines, +and the children wildly excited over the possibility of concealed +snakes. Then we did the vats and the cellars with their countless +bottles. We were taught the secrets of fermentation, how the wonderful +Pasteur had discovered that the best and quickest was produced not by +the grape itself, as of old, but by the scraped bloom of the grape +inserted in the bottle. After viewing the number of times a bottle must +be turned, a hundred at least, and the complex processes which lead up +to the finished article, I will pay my wine bills in future with a +better grace. The place was all polished wood and shining brass, like +the fittings of a man-of-war, and a great impression of cleanliness and +efficiency was left upon our minds. We only know the Australian wines at +present by the rough article sold in flasks, but when the supply has +increased the world will learn that this country has some very different +stuff in its cellars, and will try to transport it to their tables. + +We had a small meeting of spiritualists in our hotel sitting-room, under +the direction of Mr. Victor Cromer, a local student of the occult, who +seems to have considerable psychic power. He has a small circle for +psychic development which is on new lines, for the neophytes who are +learning clairvoyance sit around in a circle in silence, while Mr. +Cromer endeavours by mental effort to build up the thought form of some +object, say a tree, in the centre of the room. After a time he asks each +of the circle what he or she can see, and has many correct answers. +With colours in the same way he can convey impressions to his pupils. It +is clear that telepathy is not excluded as an explanation, but the +actual effect upon the participants is according to their own account, +visual rather than mental. We had an interesting sitting with a number +of these developing mediums present, and much information was given, but +little of it could be said to be truly evidential. After seeing such +clairvoyance as that of Mr. Tom Tyrell or others at home, when a dozen +names and addresses will be given together with the descriptions of +those who once owned them, one is spoiled for any lesser display. + +There was one man whom I had particularly determined to meet when I came +to Australia. This was Mr. T. P. Bellchambers, about whom I had read an +article in some magazine which showed that he was a sort of humble +Jeffries or Thoreau, more lonely than the former, less learned than the +latter, who lived among the wild creatures in the back country, and was +on such terms with our humble brothers as few men are ever privileged to +attain. I had read how the eagle with the broken wing had come to him +for succour, and how little birds would sit on the edge of his pannikin +while he drank. Him at all cost would we see. Like the proverbial +prophet, no one I met had ever heard of him, but on the third day of our +residence there came a journalist bearing with him a rudely dressed, +tangle-haired man, collarless and unkempt, with kind, irregular features +and clear blue eyes--the eyes of a child. It was the man himself. "He +brought me," said he, nodding towards the journalist. "He had to, for I +always get bushed in a town." + +This rude figure fingering his frayed cap was clearly out of his true +picture, and we should have to visit him in his own little clearing to +see him as he really was. Meanwhile I wondered whether one who was so +near nature might know something of nature's more occult secrets. The +dialogue ran like this: + +"You who are so near nature must have psychic experiences." + +"What's psychic? I live so much in the wild that I don't know much." + +"I expect you know plenty we don't know. But I meant spiritual." + +"Supernatural?" + +"Well, we think it is natural, but little understood." + +"You mean fairies and things?" + +"Yes, and the dead." + +"Well, I guess our fairies would be black fairies." + +"Why not?" + +"Well, I never saw any." + +"I hoped you might." + +"No, but I know one thing. The night my mother died I woke to find her +hand upon my brow. Oh, there's no doubt. Her hand was heavy on my brow." + +"At the time?" + +"Yes, at the very hour." + +"Well, that was good." + +"Animals know more about such things." + +"Yes." + +"They see something. My dog gets terrified when I see nothing, and +there's a place in the bush where my horse shies and sweats, he does, +but there's nothing to see." + +"Something evil has been done there. I've known many cases." + +"I expect that's it." + +So ran our dialogue. At the end of it he took a cigar, lighted it at the +wrong end, and took himself with his strong simple backwoods atmosphere +out of the room. Assuredly I must follow him to the wilds. + +Now came the night of my first lecture. It was in the city hall, and +every seat was occupied. It was a really magnificent audience of two +thousand people, the most representative of the town. I am an +embarrassed and an interested witness, so let me for this occasion quote +the sympathetic, not to say flattering account of the _Register_. + + "There could not have been a more impressive set of circumstances + than those which attended the first Australian lecture by Sir + Arthur Conan Doyle at the Adelaide Town Hall on Saturday night, + September 25th. The audience, large, representative and thoughtful, + was in its calibre and proportions a fitting compliment to a world + celebrity and his mission. Many of the intellectual leaders of the + city were present--University professors, pulpit personalities, + men eminent in business, legislators, every section of the + community contributed a quota. It cannot be doubted, of course, + that the brilliant literary fame of the lecturer was an attraction + added to that strange subject which explored the 'unknown drama of + the soul.' Over all Sir Arthur dominated by his big arresting + presence. His face has a rugged, kindly strength, tense and earnest + in its grave moments, and full of winning animation when the sun of + his rich humour plays on the powerful features." + + "It is not altogether a sombre journey he makes among the shadows, + but apparently one of happy, as well as tender experiences, so that + laughter is not necessarily excluded from the exposition. Do not + let that be misunderstood. There was no intrusion of the slightest + flippancy--Sir Arthur, the whole time, exhibited that attitude of + reverence and humility demanded of one traversing a domain on the + borderland of the tremendous. Nothing approaching a theatrical + presentation of the case for Spiritualism marred the discourse. It + was for the most part a plain statement. First things had to be + said, and the explanatory groundwork laid for future development. + It was a lucid, illuminating introduction." + + "Sir Arthur had a budget of notes, but after he had turned over a + few pages he sallied forth with fluent independence under the + inspiration of a vast mental store of material. A finger jutted out + now and again with a thrust of passionate emphasis, or his big + glasses twirled during moments of descriptive ease, and + occasionally both hands were held forward as though delivering + settled points to the audience for its examination. A clear, + well-disciplined voice, excellent diction, and conspicuous + sincerity of manner marked the lecture, and no one could have found + fault with the way in which Sir Arthur presented his case." + + "The lecturer approached the audience in no spirit of impatient + dogmatism, but in the capacity of an understanding mind seeking to + illumine the darkness of doubt in those who had not shared his + great experiences. He did not dictate, but reasoned and pleaded, + taking the people into his confidence with strong conviction and a + consoling faith. 'I want to speak to you to-night on a subject + which concerns the destiny of every man and woman in this room,' + began Sir Arthur, bringing everybody at once into an intimate + personal circle. 'No doubt the Almighty, by putting an angel in + King William Street, could convert every one of you to + Spiritualism, but the Almighty law is that we must use our own + brains, and find out our own salvation, and it is not made too easy + for us.'" + +It is awkward to include this kindly picture, and yet I do not know how +else to give an idea of how the matter seemed to a friendly observer. I +had chosen for my theme the scientific aspect of the matter, and I +marshalled my witnesses and showed how Professor Mayo corroborated +Professor Hare, and Professor Challis Professor Mayo, and Sir William +Crookes all his predecessors, while Russell Wallace and Lombroso and +Zollner and Barrett, and Lodge, and many more had all after long study +assented, and I read the very words of these great men, and showed how +bravely they had risked their reputations and careers for what they knew +to be the truth. I then showed how the opposition who dared to +contradict them were men with no practical experience of it at all. It +was wonderful to hear the shout of assent when I said that what struck +me most in such a position was its colossal impertinence. That shout +told me that my cause was won, and from then onwards the deep silence +was only broken by the occasional deep murmur of heart-felt agreement. I +told them the evidence that had been granted to me, the coming of my +son, the coming of my brother, and their message. "Plough! Plough! +others will cast the seed." It is hard to talk of such intimate matters, +but they were not given to me for my private comfort alone, but for that +of humanity. Nothing could have gone better than this first evening, and +though I had no chairman and spoke for ninety minutes without a pause, I +was so upheld--there is no other word for the sensation--that I was +stronger at the end than when I began. A leading materialist was among +my audience. "I am profoundly impressed," said he to Mr. Smythe, as he +passed him in the corridor. That stood out among many kind messages +which reached me that night. + + Illustration: _Photo: Stirling, Melbourne._ THE WANDERERS, 1920-21. + +My second lecture, two nights later, was on the Religious aspect of the +matter. I had shown that the phenomena were nothing, mere material +signals to arrest the attention of a material world. I had shown also +that the personal benefit, the conquest of death, the Communion of +Saints, was a high, but not the highest boon. The real full flower of +Spiritualism was what the wisdom of the dead could tell us about their +own conditions, their present experiences, their outlook upon the secret +of the universe, and the testing of religious truth from the viewpoint +of two worlds instead of one. The audience was more silent than before, +but the silence was that of suspense, not of dissent, as I showed them +from message after message what it was exactly which awaited them in the +beyond. Even I, who am oblivious as a rule to my audience, became aware +that they were tense with feeling and throbbing with emotion. I showed +how there was no conflict with religion, in spite of the +misunderstanding of the churches, and that the revelation had come to +extend and explain the old, even as the Christ had said that he had much +more to tell but could not do it now. "Entirely new ground was +traversed," says my kindly chronicler, "and the audience listened +throughout with rapt attention. They were obviously impressed by the +earnestness of the speaker and his masterly presentation of the theme." +I cannot answer for the latter but at least I can for the former, since +I speak not of what I think but of what I know. How can a man fail to be +earnest then? + +A few days later I followed up the lectures by two exhibitions of +psychic pictures and photographs upon a screen. It was certainly an +amazing experience for those who imagined that the whole subject was +dreamland, and they freely admitted that it staggered them. They might +well be surprised, for such a series has never been seen, I believe, +before, including as it does choice samples from the very best +collections. I showed them the record of miracle after miracle, some of +them done under my very eyes, one guaranteed by Russell Wallace, three +by Sir William Crookes, one of the Geley series from Paris, two of Dr. +Crawford's medium with the ecto-plasm pouring from her, four +illustrating the absolutely final Lydia Haig case on the island of +Rothesay, several of Mr. Jeffrey's collection and several also of our +own Society for the Study of Supernormal Pictures, with the fine +photograph of the face within a crystal. No wonder that the audience sat +spellbound, while the local press declared that no such exhibition had +ever been seen before in Australia. It is almost too overwhelming for +immediate propaganda purposes. It has a stunning, dazing effect upon the +spectators. Only afterwards, I think, when they come to turn it all over +in their minds, do they see that the final proof has been laid before +them, which no one with the least sense for evidence could reject. But +the sense for evidence is not, alas, a universal human quality. + +I am continually aware of direct spirit intervention in my own life. I +have put it on record in my "New Revelation" that I was able to say that +the turn of the great war would come upon the Piave months before that +river was on the Italian war map. This was recorded at the time, before +the fulfilment which occurred more than a year later--so it does not +depend upon my assertion. Again, I dreamed the name of the ship which +was to take us to Australia, rising in the middle of the night and +writing it down in pencil on my cheque-book. I wrote _Nadera_, but it +was actually _Naldera_. I had never heard that such a ship existed until +I visited the P. & O. office, when they told me we should go by the +_Osterley_, while I, seeing the _Naldera_ upon the list, thought "No, +that will be our ship!" So it proved, through no action of our own, and +thereby we were saved from quarantine and all manner of annoyance. + +Never before have I experienced such direct visible intervention as +occurred during my first photographic lecture at Adelaide. I had shown a +slide the effect of which depended upon a single spirit face appearing +amid a crowd of others. The slide was damp, and as photos under these +circumstances always clear from the edges when placed in the lantern, +the whole centre was so thickly fogged that I was compelled to admit +that I could not myself see the spirit face. Suddenly, as I turned away, +rather abashed by my failure, I heard cries of "There it is," and +looking up again I saw this single face shining out from the general +darkness with so bright and vivid an effect that I never doubted for a +moment that the operator was throwing a spot light upon it, my wife +sharing my impression. I thought how extraordinarily clever it was that +he should pick it out so accurately at the distance. So the matter +passed, but next morning Mr. Thomas, the operator, who is not a +Spiritualist, came in great excitement to say that a palpable miracle +had been wrought, and that in his great experience of thirty years he +had never known a photo dry from the centre, nor, as I understood him, +become illuminated in such a fashion. Both my wife and I were surprised +to learn that he had thrown no ray upon it. Mr. Thomas told us that +several experts among the audience had commented upon the strangeness of +the incident. I, therefore, asked Mr. Thomas if he would give me a note +as to his own impression, so as to furnish an independant account. This +is what he wrote:-- + + _"Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide._ + + "_In Adelaide, on September 28th, I projected a lantern slide + containing a group of ladies and gentlemen, and in the centre of + the picture, when the slide was reversed, appeared a human face. On + the appearance of the picture showing the group the fog incidental + to a damp or new slide gradually appeared covering the whole slide, + and only after some minutes cleared, and then quite contrary to + usual practice did so from a central point just over the face that + appeared in the centre, and refused even after that to clear right + off to the edge. The general experience is for a slide to clear + from the outside edges to a common centre. Your slide cleared only + sufficiently in the centre to show the face, and did not, while the + slide was on view, clear any more than sufficient to show that + face. Thinking that perhaps there might be a scientific + explanation to this phenomenon, I hesitated before writing you, and + in the meantime I have made several experiments but have not in any + one particular experiment obtained the same result. I am very much + interested--as are hundreds of others who personally witnessed the + phenomenon._" + +Mr. Thomas, in his account, has missed the self-illuminated appearance +of the face, but otherwise he brings out the points. I never gave +occasion for the repetition of the phenomenon, for in every case I was +careful that the slides were carefully dried beforehand. + +So much for the lectures at Adelaide, which were five in all, and left, +as I heard from all sides, a deep impression upon the town. Of course, +the usual abusive messages poured in, including one which wound up with +the hearty words: "May you be struck dead before you leave this +Commonwealth." From Melbourne I had news that before our arrival in +Australia at a public prayer meeting at the Assembly Hall, Collins +Street, a Presbyterian prayed that we might never reach Australia's +shores. As we were on the high seas at the time this was clearly a +murderous petition, nor could I have believed it if a friend of mine had +not actually been present and heard it. On the other hand, we received +many letters of sympathy and thanks, which amply atoned. "I feel sure +that many mothers, who have lost their sons in the war, will, wherever +you go, bless you, as I do, for the help you have given." As this was +the object of our journey it could not be denied that we had attained +our end. When I say "we," I mean that such letters with inquiries came +continually to my wife as well as myself, though she answered them with +far greater fullness and clearness than I had time to do. + +Hotel life began to tell upon the children, who are like horses with a +profusion of oats and no exercise. On the whole they were wonderfully +good. When some domestic crisis was passed the small voice of Malcolm, +once "Dimples," was heard from the darkness of his bed, saying, "Well, +if I am to be good I must have a proper start. Please mammie, say one, +two, three, and away!" When this ceremony had been performed a still +smaller voice of Baby asked the same favour, so once more there was a +formal start. The result was intermittent, and it is as well. I don't +believe in angelic children. + +The Adelaide doctors entertained me to dinner, and I was pleased to meet +more than one who had been of my time at Edinburgh. They seemed to be a +very prosperous body of men. There was much interesting conversation, +especially from one elderly professor named Watson, who had known Bully +Hayes and other South Sea celebrities in the semi-piratical, +black-birding days. He told me one pretty story. They landed upon some +outlying island in Carpentaria, peopled by real primitive blacks, who +were rounded up by the ships crew on one of the peninsulas which formed +the end of the island. These creatures, the lowest of the human race, +huddled together in consternation while the white men trained a large +camera upon them. Suddenly three males advanced and made a speech in +their own tongue which, when interpreted, proved to be an offer that +those three should die in exchange for the lives of the tribe. What +could the very highest do more than this, and yet it came from the +lowest savages. Truly, we all have something of the divine, and it is +the very part which will grow and spread until it has burned out all the +rest. "Be a Christ!" said brave old Stead. At the end of countless æons +we may all reach that point which not only Stead but St. Paul also has +foreshadowed. + +I refreshed myself between lectures by going out to Nature and to +Bellchambers. As it was twenty-five miles out in the bush, inaccessible +by rail, and only to be approached by motor roads which were in parts +like the bed of a torrent, I could not take my wife, though the boys, +after the nature of boys, enjoy a journey the more for its roughness. It +was a day to remember. I saw lovely South Australia in the full beauty +of the spring, the budding girlhood of the year, with all her winsome +growing graces upon her. The brilliant yellow wattle was just fading +upon the trees, but the sward was covered with star-shaped purple +flowers of the knot-grass, and with familiar home flowers, each subtly +altered by their transportation. It was wild bush for part of the way, +but mostly of the second growth on account of forest fires as much as +the woodman's axe. Bellchambers came in to guide us, for there is no one +to ask upon these desolate tracks, and it is easy to get bushed. Mr. +Waite, the very capable zoologist of the museum, joined the party, and +with two such men the conversation soon got to that high nature talk +which represents the really permanent things of material life--more +lasting than thrones and dynasties. I learned of the strange storks, the +"native companions" who meet, 500 at a time, for their stately balls, +where in the hush of the bush they advance, retreat, and pirouette in +their dignified minuets. I heard of the bower birds, who decorate their +homes with devices of glass and pebbles. There was talk, too, of the +little red beetles who have such cunning ways that they can fertilise +the insectivorous plants without being eaten, and of the great ants who +get through galvanised iron by the aid of some acid-squirting insect +which they bring with them to the scene of their assault. I heard also +of the shark's egg which Mr. Waite had raped from sixty feet deep in +Sydney Harbour, descending for the purpose in a diver's suit, for which +I raised my hat to him. Deep things came also from Bellchambers' store +of knowledge and little glimpses of beautiful humanity from this true +gentleman. + +"Yes," he said, "I am mostly vegetarian. You see, I know the beasts too +well to bring myself to pick their bones. Yes, I'm friends with most of +them. Birds have more sense than animals to my mind. They understand you +like. They know what you mean. Snakes have least of any. They don't get +friendly-like in the same way. But Nature helps the snakes in queer +ways. Some of them hatch their own eggs, and when they do Nature +raises the temperature of their bodies. That's queer." + + Illustration: _Photo: W. G. Smith, Adelaide._ BELLCHAMBERS AND THE + MALLEE FOWL. "GET ALONG WITH YOU, DO!" + +I carried away a mixed memory of the things I had seen. A blue-headed +wren, an eagle soaring in the distance; a hideous lizard with a huge +open mouth; a laughing jackass which refused to laugh; many more or less +tame wallabies and kangaroos; a dear little 'possum which got under the +back of my coat, and would not come out; noisy mynah birds which fly +ahead and warn the game against the hunter. Good little noisy mynah! All +my sympathies are with you! I would do the same if I could. This +senseless lust for killing is a disgrace to the race. We, of England, +cannot preach, for a pheasant battue is about the worst example of it. +But do let the creatures alone unless they are surely noxious! When Mr. +Bellchambers told us how he had trained two ibises--the old religious +variety--and how both had been picked off by some unknown local +"sportsman" it made one sad. + +We had a touch of comedy, however, when Mr. Bellchambers attempted to +expose the egg of the Mallee fowl, which is covered a foot deep in +mould. He scraped into the mound with his hands. The cock watched him +with an expression which clearly said: "Confound the fellow! What is he +up to now?" He then got on the mound, and as quickly as Bellchambers +shovelled the earth out he kicked it back again, Bellchambers in his +good-humoured way crying "Get along with you, do!" A good husband is the +Mallee cock, and looks after the family interests. But what we humans +would think if we were born deep underground and had to begin our career +by digging our way to the surface, is beyond imagination. + +There are quite a clan of Bellchambers living in or near the little +pioneer's hut built in a clearing of the bush. Mrs. Bellchambers is of +Sussex, as is her husband, and when they heard that we were fresh from +Sussex also it was wonderful to see the eager look that came upon their +faces, while the bush-born children could scarce understand what it was +that shook the solid old folk to their marrow. On the walls were old +prints of the Devil's Dyke and Firle Beacon. How strange that old Sussex +should be wearing out its very life in its care for the fauna of young +Australia. This remarkable man is unpaid with only his scanty holding +upon which to depend, and many dumb mouths dependent upon him. I shall +rejoice if my efforts in the local press serve to put his affairs upon a +more worthy foundation, and to make South Australia realise what a +valuable instrument lies to her hand. + +Before I left Adelaide I learned many pleasing things about the +lectures, which did away with any shadow cast by those numerous +correspondents who seemed to think that we were still living under the +Mosaic dispensation, and who were so absent-minded that they usually +forgot to sign their names. It is a curious difference between the +Christian letters of abuse and those of materialists, that the former +are usually anonymous and the latter signed. I heard of one man, a lame +stockman, who had come 300 miles from the other side of Streaky Bay to +attend the whole course, and who declared that he could listen all +night. Another seized my hand and cried, "You will never know the good +you have done in this town." Well, I hope it was so, but I only regard +myself as the plough. Others must follow with the seed. Knowledge, +perseverance, sanity, judgment, courage--we ask some qualities from our +disciples if they are to do real good. Talking of moral courage I would +say that the Governor of South Australia, Sir Archibald Weigall with +Lady Weigall, had no hesitation in coming to support me with their +presence. By the end of September this most successful mission in +Adelaide was accomplished, and early in October we were on our way to +Melbourne, which meant a long night in the train and a few hours of the +next morning during which we saw the surface diggings of Ballarat on +every side of the railway line, the sandy soil pitted in every direction +with the shallow claims of the miners. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + Speculations on Paul and his Master.--Arrival at Melbourne.--Attack + in the Argus.--Partial press boycott.--Strength of the + movement.--The Prince of Wales.--Victorian football.--Rescue Circle + in Melbourne.--Burke and Wills' statue.--Success of the + lectures.--Reception at the Auditorium.--Luncheon of the British + Empire League.--Mr. Ryan's experience.--The Federal + Government.--Mr. Hughes' personality.--The mediumship of Charles + Bailey.--His alleged exposure.--His remarkable record.--A second + sitting.--The Indian nest.--A remarkable lecture.--Arrival of Lord + Forster.--The future of the Empire.--Kindness of + Australians.--Prohibition.--Horse-racing.--Roman Catholic policy. + + +One cannot help speculating about those great ones who first carried to +the world the Christian revelation. What were their domestic ties! There +is little said about them, but we should never have known that Peter had +a wife were it not for a chance allusion to his mother-in-law, just as +another chance allusion shows us that Jesus was one of a numerous +family. One thing can safely be said of Paul, that he was either a +bachelor or else was a domestic bully with a very submissive wife, or he +would never have dared to express his well known views about women. As +to his preaching, he had a genius for making a clear thing obscure, even +as Jesus had a genius for making an obscure thing clear. Read the +Sermon on the Mount and then a chapter of Paul as a contrast in styles. +Apart from his style one can reconstruct him as a preacher to the extent +that he had a powerful voice--no one without one could speak from the +historic rocky pulpit on the hill of Mars at Athens, as I ascertained +for myself. The slope is downwards, sound ascends, and the whole +conditions are abominable. He was certainly long-winded and probably +monotonous in his diction, or he could hardly have reduced one of his +audience to such a deep sleep that he fell out of the window. We may add +that he was a man of brisk courage in an emergency, that he was subject +to such sudden trances that he was occasionally unaware himself whether +he was normal or not, and that he was probably short-sighted, as he +mistook the person who addressed him, and had his letters usually +written for him. At least three languages were at his command, he had an +intimate and practical knowledge of the occult, and was an authority +upon Jewish law--a good array of accomplishments for one man. + +There are some points about Paul's august Master which also help in a +reconstruction of Himself and His surroundings. That His mother was +opposed to His mission is, I think, very probable. Women are dubious +about spiritual novelties, and one can well believe that her heart ached +to see her noble elder son turn from the sure competence of His father's +business at Nazareth to the precarious existence of a wandering +preacher. This domestic opposition clouded Him as one can see in the +somewhat cold, harsh words which He used to her, and his mode of address +which began simply as "Woman." His assertion to the disciples that one +who followed His path had to give up his family points to the same +thing. No doubt Mary remained with the younger branches at Nazareth +while Jesus pursued His ministry, though she came, as any mother would, +to be near Him at the end. + +Of His own personality we know extraordinarily little, considering the +supreme part that He played in the world. That He was a highly trained +psychic, or as we should say, medium, is obvious to anyone who studies +the miracles, and it is certainly not derogatory to say that they were +done along the line of God's law rather than that they were inversions +of it. I cannot doubt also that he chose his apostles for their psychic +powers--if not, on what possible principle were they selected, since +they were neither staunch nor learned? It is clear that Peter and James +and John were the inner circle of psychics, since they were assembled +both at the transfiguration and at the raising of Jairus' daughter. It +is from unlearned open-air men who are near Nature that the highest +psychic powers are obtained. It has been argued that the Christ was an +Essene, but this seems hard to believe, as the Essenes were not only +secluded from the world, but were certainly vegetarians and total +abstainers, while Jesus was neither. On the other hand baptism was not a +Jewish rite, and his undergoing it--if He did, indeed, undergo it--marks +Him as belonging to some dissenting sect. I say "if He did" because it +is perfectly certain that there were forgeries and interpolations +introduced into the Gospels in order to square their teaching with the +practice of the Church some centuries later. One would look for those +forgeries not in the ordinary narrative, which in the adult years bears +every mark of truth, but in the passages which support ceremonial or +tributes to the Church--such as the allusions to baptism, "Unless a man +be born again," to the sacrament, "This is my body, etc.," and the whole +story of Ananias and Sapphira, the moral of which is that it is +dangerous to hold anything back from the Church. + +Physically I picture the Christ as an extremely powerful man. I have +known several famous healers and they were all men who looked as if they +had redundant health and strength to give to others. His words to the +sick woman, "Who has touched me? Much power" (_dunamis_ is the word in +the original Greek) "has gone out of me," show that His system depended +upon His losing what He gave to others. Therefore He was a very strong +man. The mere feat of carrying a wooden cross strong enough to bear a +man from Jerusalem to Calvary, up a hill, is no light one. It is the +details which convince me that the gospel narrative is correct and +really represents an actual event. Take the incident during that sad +journey of Simon of Cyrene having helped for a time with the cross. Why +should anyone invent such a thing, putting an actual name to the person? +It is touches of this kind which place the narrative beyond all +suspicion of being a pure invention. Again and again in the New +Testament one is confronted with incidents which a writer of fiction +recognises as being beyond the reach of invention, because the inventor +does not put in things which have no direct bearing upon the matter in +hand. Take as an example how the maid, seeing Peter outside the door +after his escape from prison, ran back to the guests and said that it +was his angel (or etheric body) which was outside. Such an episode could +only have been recorded because it actually occurred. + +But these be deep waters. Let me get back to my own humble experiences, +these interpolated thoughts being but things which have been found upon +the wayside of our journey. On reaching Melbourne we were greeted at the +station by a few devoted souls who had waited for two trains before they +found us. Covered with the flowers which they had brought we drove to +Menzies Hotel, whence we moved a few days later to a flat in the Grand, +where we were destined to spend five eventful weeks. We found the +atmosphere and general psychic conditions of Melbourne by no means as +pleasant or receptive as those of Adelaide, but this of course was very +welcome as the greater the darkness the more need of the light. If +Spiritualism had been a popular cult in Australia there would have been +no object in my visit. I was welcome enough as an individual, but by no +means so as an emissary, and both the Churches and the Materialists, in +most unnatural combination, had done their best to make the soil stony +for me. Their chief agent had been the _Argus_, a solid, stodgy paper, +which amply fulfilled the material needs of the public, but was not +given to spiritual vision. This paper before my arrival had a very +violent and abusive leader which attracted much attention, full of such +terms as "black magic," "Shamanism," "witchcraft," "freak religion," +"cranky faith," "cruelty," "black evil," "poison," finishing up with the +assertion that I represented "a force which we believe to be purely +evil." This was from a paper which whole-heartedly supports the liquor +interest, and has endless columns of betting and racing news, nor did +its principles cause it to refuse substantial sums for the advertising +of my lectures. Still, however arrogant or illogical, I hold that a +paper has a perfect right to publish and uphold its own view, nor would +I say that the subsequent refusal of the _Argus_ to print any answer to +its tirade was a real breach of the ethics of journalism. Where its +conduct became outrageous, however, and where it put itself beyond the +pale of all literary decency, was when it reported my first lecture by +describing my wife's dress, my own voice, the colour of my spectacles, +and not a word of what I said. It capped this by publishing so-called +answers to me by Canon Hughes, and by Bishop Phelan--critics whose +knowledge of the subject seemed to begin and end with the witch of +Endor--while omitting the statements to which these answers applied. +Never in any British town have I found such reactionary intolerance as +in this great city, for though the _Argus_ was the chief offender, the +other papers were as timid as rabbits in the matter. My psychic +photographs which, as I have said, are the most wonderful collection +ever shown in the world, were received in absolute silence by the whole +press, though it is notorious that if I had come there with a comic +opera or bedroom comedy instead of with the evidence of a series of +miracles, I should have had a column. This seems to have been really due +to moral cowardice, and not to ignorance, for I saw a private letter +afterwards in which a sub-editor remarked that he and the chief +leader-writer had both seen the photographs and that they could see no +possible answer to them. + +There was another and more pleasing side to the local conditions, and +that lay in the numbers who had already mastered the principles of +Spiritualism, the richer classes as individuals, the poorer as organised +churches. They were so numerous that when we received an address of +welcome in the auditorium to which only Spiritualists were invited by +ticket, the Hall, which holds two thousand, was easily filled. This +would mean on the same scale that the Spiritualists of London could fill +the Albert Hall several times over--as no doubt they could. Their +numbers were in a sense an embarrassment, as I always had the fear that +I was addressing the faithful instead of those whom I had come so far to +instruct. On the whole their quality and organisation were +disappointing. They had a splendid spiritual paper in their midst, the +_Harbinger of Light_, which has run for fifty years, and is most ably +edited by Mr. Britton Harvey. When I think of David Gow, Ernest Oaten, +John Lewis and Britton Harvey I feel that our cause is indeed well +represented by its press. They have also some splendid local workers, +like Bloomfield and Tozer, whole-hearted and apostolic. But elsewhere +there is the usual tendency to divide and to run into vulgarities and +extravagances in which the Spiritual has small share. Discipline is +needed, which involves central powers, and that in turn means command of +the purse. It would be far better to have no Spiritual churches than +some I have seen. + +However, I seem to have got to some of my final conclusions at Melbourne +before I have begun our actual experience there. We found the place +still full of rumours and talk about the recent visit of the Prince of +Wales, who seems to have a perfect genius for making himself popular and +beloved. May he remain unspoiled and retain the fresh kindliness of his +youth. His success is due not to any ordered rule of conduct but to a +perfectly natural courtesy which is his essential self and needs no +effort. Our waiter at the hotel who had waited upon him remarked: "God +never made anything nearer to Nature than that boy. He spoke to me as he +might have spoken to the Governor." It was a fine tribute, and +characteristic of the humbler classes in this country, who have a vigour +of speech and an independence of view which is very refreshing. Once as +I passed a public house, a broken old fellow who had been leaning +against the wall with a short pipe in his mouth, stepped forward to me +and said: "I am all for civil and religious liberty. There is plenty of +room for your cult here, sir, and I wish you well against the bigots." I +wonder from what heights that old fellow had fallen before he brought up +against the public house wall? + +One of my first afternoons in Melbourne was spent in seeing the final +tie of the Victorian football cup. I have played both Rugby and Soccer, +and I have seen the American game at its best, but I consider that the +Victorian system has some points which make it the best of +all--certainly from the spectacular point of view. There is no off-side, +and you get a free kick if you catch the ball. Otherwise you can run as +in ordinary Rugby, though there is a law about bouncing the ball as you +run, which might, as it seemed to me, be cut out without harming the +game. This bouncing rule was put in by Mr. Harrison who drew up the +original rules, for the chivalrous reason that he was himself the +fastest runner in the Colony, and he did not wish to give himself any +advantage. There is not so much man-handling in the Victorian game, and +to that extent it is less dramatic, but it is extraordinarily open and +fast, with none of the packed scrums which become so wearisome, and with +linesmen who throw in the ball the instant it goes out. There were +several points in which the players seemed better than our best--one was +the accurate passing by low drop kicking, very much quicker and faster +than a pass by hand. Another was the great accuracy of the place kicking +and of the screw kicking when a runner would kick at right angles to his +course. There were four long quarters, and yet the men were in such +condition that they were going hard at the end. They are all, I +understand, semi-professionals. Altogether it was a very fine display, +and the crowd was much excited. It was suggestive that the instant the +last whistle blew a troop of mounted police cantered over the ground and +escorted the referees to the safety of the pavilion. + +I began at once to endeavour to find out the conditions of local +Spiritualism, and had a long conversation with Mr. Tozer, the chairman +of the movement, a slow-talking, steady-eyed man, of the type that gets +a grip and does not easily let go. After explaining the general +situation, which needs some explanation as it is full of currents and +cross-currents caused by individual schisms and secessions, he told me +in his gentle, earnest way some of his own experiences in his home +circle which corroborate much which I have heard elsewhere. He has run a +rescue circle for the instruction of the lower spirits who are so +material that they can be reached more easily by humanity than by the +higher angels. The details he gave me were almost the same as those +given by Mr. MacFarlane of Southsea who had a similar circle of which +Mr. Tozer had certainly never heard. A wise spirit control dominates the +proceedings. The medium goes into trance. The spirit control then +explains what it is about to do, and who the spirit is who is about to +be reformed. The next scene is often very violent, the medium having to +be held down and using rough language. This comes from some low spirit +who has suddenly found this means of expressing himself. At other times +the language is not violent but only melancholy, the spirit declaring +that he is abandoned and has not a friend in the universe. Some do not +realise that they are dead, but only that they wander all alone, under +conditions they could not understand, in a cloud of darkness. + +Then comes the work of regeneration. They are reasoned with and +consoled. Gradually they become more gentle. Finally, they accept the +fact that they are spirits, that their condition is their own making, +and that by aspiration and repentance they can win their way to the +light. When one has found the path and has returned thanks for it, +another case is treated. As a rule these errant souls are unknown to +fame. Often they are clergymen whose bigotry has hindered development. +Occasionally some great sinner of the past may come into view. I have +before me a written lament professing to come from Alva, the bigoted +governor of the Lowlands. It is gruesome enough. "Picture to yourself +the hell I was in. Blood, blood everywhere, corpses on all sides, +gashed, maimed, mutilated, quivering with agony and bleeding at every +pore! At the same time thousands of voices were raised in bitter +reproaches, in curses and execrations! Imagine the appalling spectacle +of this multitude of the dead and dying, fresh from the flames, from the +sword, the rack, the torture chambers and the gibbet; and the +pandemonium of voices shrieking out the most terrible maledictions! +Imagine never being able to get away from these sights and sounds, and +then tell me, was I not in hell?--a hell of greater torment than that to +which I believed all heretics were consigned. Such was the hell of the +'bloody Alva,' from which I have been rescued by what seems to me a +great merciful dispensation of Almighty God." + +Sometimes in Mr. Tozer's circle the souls of ancient clerics who have +slumbered long show their first signs of resuscitation, still bearing +their old-world intolerance with them. The spirit control purports to be +a well-educated Chinaman, whose presence and air of authority annoy the +ecclesiastics greatly. The petrified mind leads to a long period of +insensibility which means loss of ground and of time in the journey +towards happiness. I was present at the return of one alleged Anglican +Bishop of the eighteenth century, who spoke with great intolerance. When +asked if he had seen the Christ he answered that he had not and that he +could not understand it. When asked if he still considered the Christ to +be God he threw up his hand and shouted violently, "Stop! That is +blasphemy!" The Chinese control said, "He stupid man. Let him wait. He +learn better"--and removed him. He was succeeded by a very noisy and +bigoted Puritan divine who declared that no one but devils would come to +a séance. On being asked whether that meant that he was himself a devil +he became so abusive that the Chinaman once more had to intervene. I +quote all this as a curious sidelight into some developments of the +subject which are familiar enough to students, but not to the general +public. It is easy at a distance to sneer at such things and to ask for +their evidential value, but they are very impressive to those who view +them at closer quarters. As to evidence, I am informed that several of +the unfortunates have been identified in this world through the +information which they gave of their own careers. + +Melbourne is a remarkable city, far more solid and old-established than +the European visitor would expect. We spent some days in exploring it. +There are few cities which have the same natural advantages, for it is +near the sea, with many charming watering places close at hand, while +inland it has some beautiful hills for the week-end villas of the +citizens. Edinburgh is the nearest analogy which I can recall. Parks and +gardens are beautiful, but, as in most British cities, the public +statues are more solid than impressive. The best of them, that to Burke +and Wills, the heroic explorers, has no name upon it to signify who the +two figures are, so that they mean nothing at all to the casual +observer, in spite of some excellent bas-reliefs, round the base, which +show the triumphant start and the terrible end of that tragic but +successful journey, which first penetrated the Continent from south to +north. Before our departure I appealed in the press to have this +omission rectified and it was, I believe, done. + + Illustration: _Photo: Stirling, Melbourne._ MELBOURNE, NOVEMBER, + 1920. + +Mr. Smythe, my agent, had been unfortunate in being unable to secure one +of the very few large halls in Melbourne, so we had to confine ourselves +to the Playhouse which has only seating for about 1,200. Here I +opened on October 5th, following my lectures up in the same order as in +Adelaide. The press was very shy, but nothing could have exceeded the +warmth and receptivity of my hearers. Yet on account of the inadequate +reports of the press, with occasional total suppression, no one who was +not present could have imagined how packed was the house, or how +unanimous the audience. + +On October 14th the Spiritualists filled the Auditorium and had a +special service of welcome for ourselves. When I went down to it in the +tram, the conductor, unaware of my identity, said, when I asked to be +put down at the Auditorium, "It's no use, sir; it's jam full an hour +ago." "The Pilgrims," as they called us, were in special seats, the +seven of us all in a line upon the right of the chair. Many kind things +were said, and I replied as best I might. The children will carry the +remembrance of that warm-hearted reception through their lives, and they +are not likely to forget how they staggered home, laden with the flowers +which were literally heaped upon them. + +The British Empire League also entertained my wife and myself to lunch, +a very select company assembling who packed the room. Sir Joseph Cook, +Federal Chancellor of the Exchequer, made a pleasant speech, recalling +our adventures upon the Somme, when he had his baptism of fire. In my +reply I pulled the leg of my audience with some success, for I wound up +by saying, very solemnly, that I was something greater than Governments +and the master of Cabinet Ministers. By the time I had finished my +tremendous claims I am convinced that they expected some extravagant +occult pretension, whereas I actually wound up with the words, "for I am +the man in the street." There was a good deal of amusement caused. + +Mr. Thomas Ryan, a very genial and capable member of the State +Legislature, took the chair at this function. He had no particular +psychic knowledge, but he was deeply impressed by an experience in +London in the presence of that remarkable little lady, Miss Scatcherd. +Mr. Ryan had said that he wanted some evidence before he could accept +psychic philosophy, upon which Miss Scatcherd said: "There is a spirit +beside you now. He conveys to me that his name is Roberts. He says he is +worried in his mind because the home which you prepared for his widow +has not been legally made over to her." All this applied to a matter in +Adelaide. In that city, according to Mr. Ryan, a séance was held that +night, Mr. Victor Cromer being the medium, at which a message came +through from Roberts saying that he was now easy in his mind as he had +managed to convey his trouble to Mr. Ryan who could set it right. When +these psychic laws are understood the dead as well as the living will be +relieved from a load of unnecessary care; but how can these laws be +ignored or pooh-poohed in the face of such instances as this which I +have quoted? They are so numerous now that it is hardly an exaggeration +to say that every circle of human beings which meets can supply one. + +Mr. Hughes was good enough to ask me to meet the members of the Federal +Government at lunch, and the experience was an interesting one, for here +round one small table were those who were shaping the course of this +young giant among the nations. They struck me as a practical hard-worked +rough-and-ready lot of men. Mr. Hughes dominated the conversation, which +necessarily becomes one-sided as he is very deaf, though his opponents +say that he has an extraordinary knack of hearing what he is not meant +to hear. He told us a series of anecdotes of his stormy political youth +with a great deal of vivacity, the whole company listening in silence. +He is a hard, wiry man, with a high-nosed Red Indian face, and a good +deal of healthy devilry in his composition--a great force for good +during the war. + +After lunch he conducted me through the library, and coming to a +portrait of Clemenceau he cried: "That's the man I learned to admire in +Europe." Then, turning to one of Wilson, he added, "And that's the man I +learned to dislike." He added a number of instances of Wilson's +ignorance of actual conditions, and of his ungenial coldness of heart. +"If he had not been so wrapped in himself, and if he had taken Lodge or +some other Republican with him, all could have easily been arranged." I +feel that I am not indiscreet in repeating this, for Hughes is not a man +who conceals his opinions from the world. + +I have been interested in the medium Bailey, who was said to have been +exposed in France in 1910. The curious will find the alleged exposure +in "Annals of Psychical Science," Vol. IX. Bailey is an apport +medium--that is to say, that among his phenomena is the bringing of +objects which are said to come from a distance, passing through the +walls and being precipitated down upon the table. These objects are of +the strangest description--Assyrian tablets (real or forged), tortoises, +live birds, snakes, precious stones, &c. In this case, after being +searched by the committee, he was able to produce two live birds in the +séance room. At the next sitting the committee proposed an obscene and +absurd examination of the medium, which he very rightly resented and +refused. They then confidently declared that on the first occasion the +two live birds were in his intestines, a theory so absurd that it shakes +one's confidence in their judgment. They had, however, some more solid +grounds for a charge against him, for they produced a married couple who +swore that they had sold three such birds with a cage to Bailey some +days before. This Bailey denied, pointing out that he could neither +speak French, nor had he ever had any French money, which Professor +Reichel, who brought him from Australia, corroborated. However, the +committee considered the evidence to be final, and the séances came to +an end, though Colonel de Rochas, the leading member, wound up the +incident by writing: "Are we to conclude from the fraud that we have +witnessed that all Bailey's apports may have been fraudulent? I do not +think so, and this is also the opinion of the members of the committee, +who have had much experience with mediums and are conversant with the +literature of the subject." + +Reading the alleged exposure, one is struck, as so often in such cases, +with its unsatisfactory nature. There is the difficulty of the language +and the money. There is the disappearance of the third bird and the +cage. Above all, how did the birds get into the carefully-guarded seance +room, especially as Bailey was put in a bag during the proceedings? The +committee say the bag may not have been efficient, but they also state +that Bailey desired the control to be made more effective. Altogether it +is a puzzling case. On my applying to Bailey himself for information, he +declared roundly that he had been the victim of a theological plot with +suborned evidence. The only slight support which I can find for that +view is that there was a Rev. Doctor among his accusers. I was told +independently that Professor Reichel, before his death in 1918, came +also to the conclusion that there had been a plot. But in any case most +of us will agree with Mr. Stanford, Bailey's Australian patron, that the +committee would have been wise to say nothing, continue the sittings, +and use their knowledge to get at some more complete conclusion. + +With such a record one had to be on one's guard with Mr. Bailey. I had a +sitting in my room at the hotel to which I invited ten guests, but the +results were not impressive. We saw so-called spirit hands, which were +faintly luminous, but I was not allowed to grasp them, and they were +never further from the medium than he could have reached. All this was +suspicious but not conclusive. On the other hand, there was an attempt +at a materialisation of a head, which took the form of a luminous patch, +and seemed to some of the sitters to be further from the cabinet than +could be reached. We had an address purporting to come from the control, +Dr. Whitcombe, and we also had a message written in bad Italian. On the +whole it was one of those baffling sittings which leave a vague +unpleasant impression, and there was a disturbing suggestion of cuffs +about those luminous hands. + +I have been reading Bailey's record, however, and I cannot doubt that he +has been a great apport medium. The results were far above all possible +fraud, both in the conditions and in the articles brought into the room +by spirit power. For example, I have a detailed account published by Dr. +C. W. McCarthy, of Sydney, under the title, "Rigid Tests of the Occult." +During these tests Bailey was sealed up in a bag, and in one case was +inside a cage of mosquito curtain. The door and windows were secured and +the fire-place blocked. The sitters were all personal friends, but they +mutually searched each other. The medium was stripped naked before the +séance. Under these stringent conditions during a series of six sittings +138 articles were brought into the room, which included eighty-seven +ancient coins (mostly of Ptolemy), eight live birds, eighteen precious +stones of modest value and varied character, two live turtles, seven +inscribed Babylonian tablets, one Egyptian Scarabæus, an Arabic +newspaper, a leopard skin, four nests and many other things. It seems +to me perfect nonsense to talk about these things being the results of +trickery. I may add that at a previous test meeting they had a young +live shark about 1-1/2 feet long, which was tangled with wet seaweed and +flopped about on the table. Dr. McCarthy gives a photograph of the +creature. + +My second sitting with Bailey was more successful than the first. On his +arrival I and others searched him and satisfied ourselves he carried +nothing upon him. I then suddenly switched out all the lights, for it +seemed to me that the luminous hands of the first sitting might be the +result of phosphorised oil put on before the meeting and only visible in +complete darkness, so that it could defy all search. I was wrong, +however, for there was no luminosity at all. We then placed Mr. Bailey +in the corner of the room, lowered the lights without turning them out, +and waited. Almost at once he breathed very heavily, as one in trance, +and soon said something in a foreign tongue which was unintelligible to +me. One of our friends, Mr. Cochrane, recognised it as Indian, and at +once answered, a few sentences being interchanged. In English the voice +then said that he was a Hindoo control who was used to bring apports for +the medium, and that he would, he hoped, be able to bring one for us. +"Here it is," he said a moment later, and the medium's hand was extended +with something in it. The light was turned full on and we found it was a +very perfect bird's nest, beautifully constructed of some very fine +fibre mixed with moss. It stood about two inches high and had no sign of +any flattening which would have come with concealment. The size would be +nearly three inches across. In it lay a small egg, white, with tiny +brown speckles. The medium, or rather the Hindoo control acting through +the medium, placed the egg on his palm and broke it, some fine albumen +squirting out. There was no trace of yolk. "We are not allowed to +interfere with life," said he. "If it had been fertilised we could not +have taken it." These words were said before he broke it, so that he was +aware of the condition of the egg, which certainly seems remarkable. + +"Where did it come from?" I asked. + +"From India." + +"What bird is it?" + +"They call it the jungle sparrow." + +The nest remained in my possession, and I spent a morning with Mr. +Chubb, of the local museum, to ascertain if it was really the nest of +such a bird. It seemed too small for an Indian sparrow, and yet we could +not match either nest or egg among the Australian types. Some of Mr. +Bailey's other nests and eggs have been actually identified. Surely it +is a fair argument that while it is conceivable that such birds might be +imported and purchased here, it is really an insult to one's reason to +suppose that nests with fresh eggs in them could also be in the market. +Therefore I can only support the far more extended experience and +elaborate tests of Dr. McCarthy of Sydney, and affirm that I believe Mr. +Charles Bailey to be upon occasion a true medium, with a very +remarkable gift for apports. + +It is only right to state that when I returned to London I took one of +Bailey's Assyrian tablets to the British Museum and that it was +pronounced to be a forgery. Upon further inquiry it proved that these +forgeries are made by certain Jews in a suburb of Bagdad--and, so far as +is known, only there. Therefore the matter is not much further advanced. +To the transporting agency it is at least possible that the forgery, +steeped in recent human magnetism, is more capable of being handled than +the original taken from a mound. Bailey has produced at least a hundred +of these things, and no Custom House officer has deposed how they could +have entered the country. On the other hand, Bailey told me clearly that +the tablets had been passed by the British Museum, so that I fear that I +cannot acquit him of tampering with truth--and just there lies the great +difficulty of deciding upon his case. But one has always to remember +that physical mediumship has no connection one way or the other with +personal character, any more than the gift of poetry. + +To return to this particular séance, it was unequal. We had luminous +hands, but they were again within reach of the cabinet in which the +medium was seated. We had also a long address from Dr. Whitcombe, the +learned control, in which he discoursed like an absolute master upon +Assyrian and Roman antiquities and psychic science. It was really an +amazing address, and if Bailey were the author of it I should hail him +as a master mind. He chatted about the Kings of Babylon as if he had +known them all, remarked that the Bible was wrong in calling Belthazar +King as he was only Crown Prince, and put in all those easy side +allusions which a man uses when he is absolutely full of his subject. +Upon his asking for questions, I said: "Please give me some light as to +the dematerialisation and subsequent reassembly of an object such as a +bird's nest." "It involves," he answered, "some factors which are beyond +your human science and which could not be made clear to you. At the same +time you may take as a rough analogy the case of water which is turned +into steam, and then this steam which is invisible, is conducted +elsewhere to be reassembled as visible water." I thought this +explanation was exceedingly apt, though of course I agree that it is +only a rough analogy. On my asking if there were libraries and +facilities for special study in the next world, he said that there +certainly were, but that instead of studying books they usually studied +the actual objects themselves. All he said was full of dignity and +wisdom. It was curious to notice that, learned as he was, Dr. Whitcombe +always referred back with reverence to Dr. Robinson, another control not +present at the moment, as being the real expert. I am told that some of +Dr. Robinson's addresses have fairly amazed the specialists. I notice +that Col. de Rochas in his report was equally impressed by Bailey's +controls. + +I fear that my psychic experiences are pushing my travels into the +background, but I warned the reader that it might be so when first we +joined hands. To get back to the earth, let me say that I saw the +procession when the new Governor-General, Lord Forster, with his +charming wife, made their ceremonial entry into Melbourne, with many +workman-like Commonwealth troops before and behind their carriage. I +knew Lord Forster of old, for we both served upon a committee over the +Olympic Games, so that he gave quite a start of surprised recognition +when his quick eye fell upon my face in the line of spectators. He is a +man who cannot fail to be popular here, for he has the physical as well +as the mental qualities. Our stay in Melbourne was afterwards made more +pleasant by the gracious courtesy of Government House for, apart from +attending several functions, we were invited to a special dinner, after +which I exhibited upon a screen my fairy portraits and a few of my other +very wonderful psychic photographs. It was not an occasion when I could +preach, but no quick intelligence could be brought in contact with such +phenomena without asking itself very seriously what lay behind them. +When that question is earnestly asked the battle is won. + +One asks oneself what will be the end of this system of little viceroys +in each State and a big viceroy in the Capital--however capable and +excellent in themselves such viceroys may be. The smaller courts are, I +understand, already doomed, and rightly so, since there is no need for +them and nothing like them elsewhere. There is no possible purpose that +they serve save to impose a nominal check, which is never used, upon +the legislation. The Governor-Generalship will last no doubt until +Australia cuts the painter, or we let go our end of it, whichever may +come first. + +Personally, I have no fear of Britain's power being weakened by a +separation of her dominions. Close allies which were independent might +be a greater source of moral strength than actual dependencies. When the +sons leave the father's house and rule their own homes, becoming fathers +in turn, the old man is not weakened thereby. Certainly I desire no such +change, but if it came I would bear it with philosophy. I hope that the +era of great military crises is for ever past, but, if it should recur, +I am sure that the point of view would be the same, and that the starry +Union Jack of the great Australian nation would still fly beside the old +flag which was its model. + +If one took a Machiavelian view of British interests one would say that +to retain a colony the surest way is not to remove any danger which may +threaten her. We conquered Canada from the French, removing in +successive campaigns the danger from the north and from the west which +threatened our American colonies. When we had expended our blood and +money to that end, so that the colonies had nothing to fear, they took +the first opportunity to force an unnecessary quarrel and to leave us. +So I have fears for South Africa now that the German menace has been +removed. Australia is, I think, loyal to the core, and yet self-interest +is with every nation the basis of all policy, and so long as the British +fleet can guard the shores of the great empty northern territories, a +region as big as Britain, Germany, France and Austria put together, they +have need of us. There can be no doubt that if they were alone in the +world in the face of the teeming millions of the East, they might, like +the Siberian travellers, have to throw a good deal to the wolves in +order to save the remainder. Brave and capable as they are, neither +their numbers nor their resources could carry them through a long +struggle if the enemy held the sea. They are natural shots and soldiers, +so that they might be wiser to spend their money in a strategic railway +right across their northern coast, rather than in direct military +preparations. To concentrate rapidly before the enemy was firmly +established might under some circumstances be a very vital need. + +But so long as the British Empire lasts Australia is safe, and in twenty +years' time her own enlarged population will probably make her safe +without help from anyone. But her empty places are a danger. History +abhors a vacuum and finds some one to fill it up. I have never yet +understood why the Commonwealth has not made a serious effort to attract +to the northern territories those Italians who are flooding the +Argentine. It is great blood and no race is the poorer for it--the blood +of ancient Rome. They are used to semitropical heat and to hard work in +bad conditions if there be only hope ahead. Perhaps the policy of the +future may turn in that direction. If that one weak spot be guarded then +it seems to me that in the whole world there is no community, save only +the United States, which is so safe from outside attack as Australia. +Internal division is another matter, but there Australia is in some ways +stronger than the States. She has no negro question, and the strife +between Capital and Labour is not likely to be so formidable. I wonder, +by the way, how many people in the United States realise that this small +community lost as many men as America did in the great war. We were +struck also by the dignified resignation with which this fact was faced, +and by the sense of proportion which was shown in estimating the +sacrifices of various nations. + +We like the people here very much more than we had expected to, for one +hears in England exaggerated stories of their democratic bearing. When +democracy takes the form of equality one can get along with it, but when +it becomes rude and aggressive one would avoid it. Here one finds a very +pleasing good fellowship which no one would object to. Again and again +we have met with little acts of kindness from people in shops or in the +street, which were not personal to ourselves, but part of their normal +good manners. If you ask the way or any other information, strangers +will take trouble to put you right. They are kindly, domestic and +straight in speech and in dealings. Materialism and want of vision in +the broader affairs of life seem to be the national weakness, but that +may be only a passing phase, for when a nation has such a gigantic +material proposition as this continent to handle it is natural that +their thoughts should run on the wool and the wheat and the gold by +which it can be accomplished. I am bound to say, however, that I think +every patriotic Australian should vote, if not for prohibition, at least +for the solution which is most dear to myself, and that is the lowering +of the legal standard of alcohol in any drink. We have been shocked and +astonished by the number of young men of decent exterior whom we have +seen staggering down the street, often quite early in the day. The +Biblical test for drunkenness, that it was not yet the third hour, would +not apply to them. I hear that bad as it is in the big towns it is worse +in the small ones, and worst of all in the northern territories and +other waste places where work is particularly needed. It must greatly +decrease the national efficiency. A recent vote upon the question in +Victoria only carried total abstinence in four districts out of about +200, but a two-third majority was needed to do it. On the other hand a +trial of strength in Queensland, generally supposed to be rather a rowdy +State, has shown that the temperance men all combined can out-vote the +others. Therefore it is certain that reform will not be long delayed. + +The other curse of the country, which is a real drag upon its progress, +is the eternal horse-racing. It goes on all the year round, though it +has its more virulent bouts, as for example during our visit to this +town when the Derby, the Melbourne Cup, and Oaks succeeded each other. +They call it sport, but I fear that in that case I am no sportsman. I +would as soon call the roulette-table a sport. The whole population is +unsettled and bent upon winning easy money, which dissatisfies them +with the money that has to be worked for. Every shop is closed when the +Cup is run, and you have lift-boys, waiters and maids all backing their +fancies, not with half-crowns but with substantial sums. The danger to +honesty is obvious, and it came under our own notice that it is not +imaginary. Of course we are by no means blameless in England, but it +only attacks a limited class, while here it seems to the stranger to be +almost universal. In fact it is so bad that it is sure to get better, +for I cannot conceive that any sane nation will allow it to continue. +The book-makers, however, are a powerful guild, and will fight tooth and +nail. The Catholic Church, I am sorry to say, uses its considerable +influence to prevent drink reform by legislation, and I fear that it +will not support the anti-gamblers either. I wonder from what hidden +spring, from what ignorant Italian camarilla, this venerable and in some +ways admirable Church gets its secular policy, which must have central +direction, since it is so consistent! When I remember the recent +sequence of world events and the part played by that Church, the attack +upon the innocent Dreyfus, the refusal to support reform in the Congo, +and finally the obvious leaning towards the Central Powers who were +clearly doomed to lose, one would think that it was ruled by a Council +of lunatics. These matters bear no relation to faith or dogma, so that +one wonders that the sane Catholics have not risen in protest. No doubt +the better class laymen are ahead of the clergy in this as in other +religious organisations. I cannot forget how the Duke of Norfolk sent me +a cheque for the Congo Reform Movement at the very time when we could +not get the Catholic Church to line up with the other sects at a Reform +Demonstration at the Albert Hall. In this country also there were many +brave and loyal Catholics who took their own line against Cardinal +Mannix upon the question of conscription, when that Cardinal did all +that one man could do to bring about the defeat of the free nations in +the great war. How he could face an American audience afterwards, or how +such an audience could tolerate him, is hard to understand. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + More English than the English.--A day in the Bush.--Immigration.--A + case of spirit return.--A Séance.--Geelong.--The lava + plain.--Good-nature of General Ryrie.--Bendigo.--Down a gold + mine.--Prohibition v. Continuance.--Mrs. Knight + MacLellan.--Nerrin.--A wild drive.--Electric shearing.--Rich sheep + stations.--Cockatoo farmers.--Spinnifex and Mallee.--Rabbits.--The + great marsh. + + +In some ways the Australians are more English than the English. We have +been imperceptibly Americanised, while our brethren over the sea have +kept the old type. The Australian is less ready to show emotion, cooler +in his bearing, more restrained in applause, more devoted to personal +liberty, keener on sport, and quieter in expression (as witness the +absence of scare lines in the papers) than our people are. Indeed, they +remind me more of the Scotch than the English, and Melbourne on a +Sunday, without posts, or Sunday papers, or any amenity whatever, is +like the Edinburgh of my boyhood. Sydney is more advanced. There are +curious anomalies in both towns. Their telephone systems are so bad that +they can only be balanced against each other, for they are in a class by +themselves. One smiles when one recollects that one used to grumble at +the London lines. On the other hand the tramway services in both towns +are wonderful, and so continuous that one never hastens one's step to +catch a tram since another comes within a minute. The Melbourne trams +have open bogey cars in front, which make a drive a real pleasure. + +One of our pleasant recollections in the early days of our Melbourne +visit was a day in the bush with Mr. Henry Stead and his wife. My +intense admiration for the moral courage and energy of the father made +it easy for me to form a friendship with his son, who has shown the +family qualities by the able way in which he has founded and conducted +an excellent journal, _Stead's Monthly_. Australia was lucky ever to get +such an immigrant as that, for surely an honest, fearless and +clear-headed publicist is the most valuable man that a young country, +whose future is one long problem play, could import. We spent our day in +the Dandenong Hills, twenty miles from Melbourne, in a little hostel +built in a bush clearing and run by one Lucas, of good English cricket +stock, his father having played for Sussex. On the way we passed Madame +Melba's place at Lilydale, and the wonderful woods with their strange +tree-ferns seemed fit cover for such a singing bird. Coming back in +Stead's light American car we tried a short cut down roads which proved +to be almost impossible. A rather heavier car ahead of us, with two +youths in it, got embedded in the mud, and we all dismounted to heave it +out. There suddenly appeared on the lonely road an enormous coloured +man; he looked like a cross between negro and black fellow. He must +have lived in some hut in the woods, but the way his huge form suddenly +rose beside us was quite surprising. He stood in gloomy majesty +surveying our efforts, and repeating a series of sentences which +reminded one of German exercises. "I have no jack. I had a jack. Some +one has taken my jack. This is called a road. It is not a road. There is +no road." We finally levered out the Australian car, for which, by the +way, neither occupant said a word of thanks, and then gave the black +giant a shilling, which he received as a keeper takes his toll. On +looking back I am not sure that this slough of despond is not carefully +prepared by this negro, who makes a modest income by the tips which he +gets from the unfortunates who get bogged in it. No keeper ever darted +out to a trap quicker than he did when the car got stuck. + +Stead agreed with me that the Australians do not take a big enough view +of their own destiny. They--or the labour party, to be more exact--are +inclined to buy the ease of the moment at the cost of the greatness of +their continental future. They fear immigration lest it induce +competition and pull down prices. It is a natural attitude. And yet that +little fringe of people on the edge of that huge island can never +adequately handle it. It is like an enormous machine with a six +horsepower engine to drive it. I have a great sympathy with their desire +to keep the British stock as pure as possible. But the land needs the +men, and somewhere they must be found. I cannot doubt that they would +become loyal subjects of the Empire which had adopted them. I have +wondered sometimes whether in Lower California and the warmer States of +the Union there may not be human material for Australia. Canada has +received no more valuable stock than from the American States, so it +might be that another portion of the Union would find the very stamp of +man that Queensland and the north require. The American likes a big +gamble and a broad life with plenty of elbow-room. Let him bring his +cotton seeds over to semi-tropical Australia and see what he can make of +it there. + +To pass suddenly to other-worldly things, which are my mission. People +never seem to realise the plain fact that one positive result must +always outweigh a hundred negative ones. It only needs one single case +of spirit return to be established, and there is no more to be said. +Incidentally, how absurd is the position of those wiseacres who say +"nine-tenths of the phenomena are fraud." Can they not see that if they +grant us one-tenth, they grant us our whole contention? + +These remarks are elicited by a case which occurred in 1883 in +Melbourne, and which should have converted the city as surely as if an +angel had walked down Collins Street. Yet nearly forty years later I +find it as stagnant and material as any city I have ever visited. The +facts are these, well substantiated by documentary and official +evidence. Mr. Junor Browne, a well-known citizen, whose daughter +afterwards married Mr. Alfred Deakin, subsequently Premier, had two +sons, Frank and Hugh. Together with a seaman named Murray they went out +into the bay in their yacht the "Iolanthe," and they never returned. The +father was fortunately a Spiritualist and upon the second day of their +absence, after making all normal inquiries, he asked a sensitive, Mr. +George Spriggs, formerly of Cardiff, if he would trace them. Mr. Spriggs +collected some of the young men's belongings, so as to get their +atmosphere, and then he was able by psychometry to give an account of +their movements, the last which he could see of them being that they +were in trouble upon the yacht and that confusion seemed to reign aboard +her. Two days later, as no further news was brought in, the Browne +family held a séance, Mr. Spriggs being the medium. He fell into trance +and the two lads, who had been trained in spiritual knowledge and knew +the possibilities, at once came through. They expressed their contrition +to their mother, who had desired them not to go, and they then gave a +clear account of the capsizing of the yacht, and how they had met their +death, adding that they had found themselves after death in the exact +physical conditions of happiness and brightness which their father's +teaching had led them to expect. They brought with them the seaman +Murray, who also said a few words. Finally Hugh, speaking through the +medium, informed Mr. Browne that Frank's arm and part of his clothing +had been torn off by a fish. + +"A shark?" asked Mr. Browne. + +"Well, it was not like any shark I have seen." + +Mark the sequel. Some weeks later a large shark of a rare deep-sea +species, unknown to the fishermen, and quite unlike the ordinary blue +shark with which the Brownes were familiar, was taken at Frankston, +about twenty-seven miles from Melbourne. Inside it was found the bone of +a human arm, and also a watch, some coins, and other articles which had +belonged to Frank Browne. These facts were all brought out in the papers +at the time, and Mr. Browne put much of it on record in print before the +shark was taken, or any word of the missing men had come by normal +means. The facts are all set forth in a little book by Mr. Browne +himself, called "A Rational Faith." What have fraudulent mediums and all +the other decoys to do with such a case as that, and is it not perfectly +convincing to any man who is not perverse? Personally, I value it not so +much for the evidence of survival, since we have that so complete +already, but for the detailed account given by the young men of their +new conditions, so completely corroborating what so many young officers, +cut off suddenly in the war, have said of their experience. "Mother, if +you could see how happy we are, and the beautiful home we are in, you +would not weep except for joy. I feel so light in my spiritual body and +have no pain, I would not exchange this life for earth life even it were +in my power. Poor spirits without number are waiting anxiously to +communicate with their friends when an opportunity is offered." The +young Brownes had the enormous advantage of the education they had +received from their father, so that they instantly understood and +appreciated the new conditions. + +On October 8th we had a séance with Mrs. Hunter, a pleasant middle-aged +woman, with a soft South of England accent. Like so many of our mediums +she had little sign of education in her talk. It does not matter in +spiritual things, though it is a stumbling block to some inquirers. +After all, how much education had the apostles? I have no doubt they +were very vulgar provincial people from the average Roman point of view. +But they shook the world none the less. Most of our educated people have +got their heads so crammed with things that don't matter that they have +no room for the things that do matter. There was no particular success +at our sitting, but I have heard that the medium is capable of better +things. + +On October 13th I had my first experience of a small town, for I went to +Geelong and lectured there. It was an attentive and cultured audience, +but the hall was small and the receipts could hardly have covered the +expenses. However, it is the press report and the local discussion which +really matter. I had little time to inspect Geelong, which is a +prosperous port with 35,000 inhabitants. What interested me more was the +huge plain of lava which stretches around it and connects it with +Melbourne. This plain is a good hundred miles across, and as it is of +great depth one can only imagine that there must be monstrous cavities +inside the earth to correspond with the huge amount extruded. Here and +there one sees stunted green cones which are the remains of the +volcanoes which spewed up all this stuff. The lava has disintegrated on +the surface to the extent of making good arable soil, but the harder +bits remain unbroken, so that the surface is covered with rocks, which +are used to build up walls for the fields after the Irish fashion. Every +here and there a peak of granite has remained as an island amid the +lava, to show what was there before the great outflow. Eruptions appear +to be caused by water pouring in through some crack and reaching the +heated inside of the earth where the water is turned to steam, expands, +and so gains the force to spread destruction. If this process went on it +is clear that the whole sea might continue to pour down the crack until +the heat had been all absorbed by the water. I have wondered whether the +lava may not be a clever healing process of nature, by which this soft +plastic material is sent oozing out in every direction with the idea +that it may find the crack and then set hard and stop it up. Wild +speculation no doubt, but the guess must always precede the proof. + +The Australians are really a very good-natured people. It runs through +the whole race, high and low. A very exalted person, the Minister of +War, shares our flat in the hotel, his bedroom being imbedded among our +rooms. This is General Sir Granville Ryrie, a famous hero of Palestine, +covered with wounds and medals--a man, too, of great dignity of bearing. +As I was dressing one morning I heard some rather monotonous whistling +and, forgetting the very existence of the General, and taking it for +granted that it was my eldest boy Denis, I put my head out and said, +"Look here, old chap, consider other people's nerves and give up that +rotten habit of whistling before breakfast." Imagine my feelings when +the deep voice of the General answered, "All right, Sir Arthur, I will!" +We laughed together over the incident afterwards, and I told him that he +had furnished me with one more example of Australian good humour for my +notes. + +On October 13th I was at the prosperous 50,000 population town of +Bendigo, which every one, except the people on the spot, believes to +have been named after the famous boxer. This must surely be a world +record, for so far as my memory serves, neither a Grecian Olympic +athletic, nor a Roman Gladiator, nor a Byzantine Charioteer, has ever +had a city for a monument. Borrow, who looked upon a good honest +pugilist as the pick of humanity, must have rejoiced in it. Is not +valour the basis of all character, and where shall we find greater +valour than theirs? Alas, that most of them began and ended there! It is +when the sage and the saint build on the basis of the fighter that you +have the highest to which humanity can attain. + +I had a full hall at Bendigo, and it was packed, I am told, by real +old-time miners, for, of course, Bendigo is still the centre of the gold +mining industry. Mr. Smythe told me that it was quite a sight to see +those rows of deeply-lined, bearded faces listening so intently to what +I said of that destiny which is theirs as well as mine. I never had a +better audience, and it was their sympathy which helped me through, for +I was very weary that night. But however weary you may be, when you +climb upon the platform to talk about this subject, you may be certain +that you will be less weary when you come off. That is my settled +conviction after a hundred trials. + +On the morning after my lecture I found myself half a mile nearer to +dear Old England, for I descended the Unity mine, and they say that the +workings extend to that depth. Perhaps I was not at the lowest level, +but certainly it was a long journey in the cage, and reminded me of my +friend Bang's description of the New York elevator, when he said that +the distance to his suburban villa and his town flat was the same, but +the one was horizontal and the other perpendicular. + +It was a weird experience that peep into the profound depths of the +great gold mine. Time was when the quartz veins were on the surface for +the poor adventurer to handle. Now they have been followed underground, +and only great companies and costly machinery can win it. Always it is +the same white quartz vein with the little yellow specks and threads +running through it. We were rattled down in pitch darkness until we came +to a stop at the end of a long passage dimly lit by an occasional +guttering candle. Carrying our own candles, and clad in miner's costume +we crept along with bent heads until we came suddenly out into a huge +circular hall which might have sprung from Doré's imagination. The +place was draped with heavy black shadows, but every here and there was +a dim light. Each light showed where a man was squatting toad-like, a +heap of broken debris in front of him, turning it over, and throwing +aside the pieces with clear traces of gold. These were kept for special +treatment, while the rest of the quartz was passed in ordinary course +through the mill. These scattered heaps represented the broken stuff +after a charge of dynamite had been exploded in the quartz vein. It was +strange indeed to see these squatting figures deep in the bowels of the +earth, their candles shining upon their earnest faces and piercing eyes, +and to reflect that they were striving that the great exchanges of +London and New York might be able to balance with bullion their output +of paper. This dim troglodyte industry was in truth the centre and +mainspring of all industries, without which trade would stop. Many of +the men were from Cornwall, the troll among the nations, where the tools +of the miner are still, as for two thousand years, the natural heritage +of the man. Dr. Stillwell, the geologist of the company, and I had a +long discussion as to where the gold came from, but the only possible +conclusion was that nobody knew. We know now that the old alchemists +were perfectly right and that one metal may change into another. Is it +possible that under some conditions a mineral may change into a metal? +Why should quartz always be the matrix? Some geological Darwin will come +along some day and we shall get a great awakening, for at present we +are only disguising our own ignorance in this department of knowledge. I +had always understood that quartz was one of the old igneous primeval +rocks, and yet here I saw it in thin bands, sandwiched in between clays +and slates and other water-borne deposits. The books and the strata +don't agree. + +These smaller towns, like the Metropolis itself, are convulsed with the +great controversy between Prohibition and Continuance, no reasonable +compromise between the two being suggested. Every wall displays posters, +on one side those very prosperous-looking children who demand that some +restraint be placed upon their daddy, and on the other hair-raising +statements as to the financial results of restricting the publicans. To +the great disgust of every decent man they have run the Prince into it, +and some remark of his after his return to England has been used by the +liquor party. It is dangerous for royalty to be jocose in these days, +but this was a particularly cruel example of the exploitation of a +harmless little joke. If others felt as I did I expect it cost the +liquor interest many a vote. + +We had another séance, this time with Mrs. Knight MacLellan, after my +return from Bendigo. She is a lady who has grown grey in the service of +the cult, and who made a name in London when she was still a child by +her mediumistic powers. We had nothing of an evidential character that +evening save that one lady who had recently lost her son had his +description and an apposite message given. It was the first of several +tests which we were able to give this lady, and before we left Melbourne +she assured us that she was a changed woman and her sorrow for ever +gone. + +On October 18th began a very delightful experience, for my wife and I, +leaving our party safe in Melbourne, travelled up country to be the +guests of the Hon. Agar Wynne and his charming wife at their station of +Nerrin-Nerrin in Western Victoria. It is about 140 miles from Melbourne, +and as the trains are very slow, the journey was not a pleasant one. But +that was soon compensated for in the warmth of the welcome which awaited +us. Mr. Agar Wynne was Postmaster-General of the Federal Government, and +author of several improvements, one of which, the power of sending long +letter-telegrams at low rates during certain hours was a triumph of +common sense. For a shilling one could send quite a long communication +to the other end of the Continent, but it must go through at the time +when the telegraph clerk had nothing else to do. + +It was interesting to us to find ourselves upon an old-established +station, typical of the real life of Australia, for cities are much the +same the world over. Nerrin had been a sheep station for eighty years, +but the comfortable verandahed bungalow house, with every convenience +within it, was comparatively modern. What charmed us most, apart from +the kindness of our hosts, was a huge marsh or lagoon which extended for +many miles immediately behind the house, and which was a bird +sanctuary, so that it was crowded with ibises, wild black swans, geese, +ducks, herons and all sorts of fowl. We crept out of our bedroom in the +dead of the night and stood under the cloud-swept moon listening to the +chorus of screams, hoots, croaks and whistles coming out of the vast +expanse of reeds. It would make a most wonderful hunting ground for a +naturalist who was content to observe and not to slay. The great morass +of Nerrin will ever stand out in our memories. + +Next day we were driven round the borders of this wonderful marsh, Mr. +Wynne, after the Australian fashion, taking no note of roads, and going +right across country with alarming results to anyone not used to it. +Finally, the swaying and rolling became so terrific that he was himself +thrown off the box seat and fell down between the buggy and the front +wheel, narrowly escaping a very serious accident. He was able to show us +the nests and eggs which filled the reed-beds, and even offered to drive +us out into the morass to inspect them, a proposal which was rejected by +the unanimous vote of a full buggy. I never knew an answer more +decidedly in the negative. As we drove home we passed a great gum tree, +and half-way up the trunk was a deep incision where the bark had been +stripped in an oval shape some four foot by two. It was where some +savage in days of old had cut his shield. Such a mark outside a modern +house with every amenity of cultured life is an object lesson of how two +systems have over-lapped, and how short a time it is since this great +continent was washed by a receding wave, ere the great Anglo-Saxon tide +came creeping forward. + +Apart from the constant charm of the wild life of the marsh there did +not seem to be much for the naturalist around Nerrin. Opossums bounded +upon the roof at night and snakes were not uncommon. A dangerous +tiger-snake was killed on the day of our arrival. I was amazed also at +the size of the Australian eels. A returned soldier had taken up fishing +as a trade, renting a water for a certain time and putting the contents, +so far as he could realise them, upon the market. It struck me that +after this wily digger had passed that way there would not be much for +the sportsman who followed him. But the eels were enormous. He took a +dozen at a time from his cunning eel-pots, and not one under six pounds. +I should have said that they were certainly congers had I seen them in +England. + +I wonder whether all this part of the country has not been swept by a +tidal wave at some not very remote period. It is a low coastline with +this great lava plain as a hinterland, and I can see nothing to prevent +a big wave even now from sweeping the civilisation of Victoria off the +planet, should there be any really great disturbance under the Pacific. +At any rate, it is my impression that it has actually occurred once +already, for I cannot otherwise understand the existence of great +shallow lakes of salt water in these inland parts. Are they not the +pools left behind by that terrible tide? There are great banks of sand, +too, here and there on the top of the lava which I can in no way +account for unless they were swept here in some tremendous world-shaking +catastrophe which took the beach from St. Kilda and threw it up at +Nerrin. God save Australia from such a night as that must have been if +my reading of the signs be correct. + + Illustration: A TYPICAL AUSTRALIAN BACK-COUNTRY SCENE. By H. J. + Johnstone, a great painter who died unknown. (Painting in Adelaide + National Gallery.) + +One of the sights of Nerrin is the shearing of the sheep by electric +machinery. These sheep are merinos, which have been bred as +wool-producers to such an extent that they can hardly see, and the wool +grows thick right down to their hoofs. The large stately creature is a +poor little shadow when his wonderful fleece has been taken from him. +The electric clips with which the operation is performed, are, I am +told, the invention of a brother of Garnet Wolseley, who worked away at +the idea, earning the name of being a half-crazy crank, until at last +the invention materialised and did away with the whole slow and clumsy +process of the hand-shearer. It is not, however, a pleasant process to +watch even for a man, far less a sensitive woman, for the poor creatures +get cut about a good deal in the process. The shearer seizes a sheep, +fixes him head up between his knees, and then plunges the swiftly-moving +clippers into the thick wool which covers the stomach. With wonderful +speed he runs it along and the creature is turned out of its covering, +and left as bare as a turkey in a poulterer's window, but, alas, its +white and tender skin is too often gashed and ripped with vivid lines of +crimson by the haste and clumsiness of the shearer. It was worse, they +say, in the days of the hand-shearer. I am bound to say, however, that +the creature makes no fuss about it, remains perfectly still, and does +not appear to suffer any pain. Nature is often kinder than we know, even +to her most humble children, and some soothing and healing process seems +to be at work. + +The shearers appear to be a rough set of men, and spend their whole time +moving in gangs from station to station, beginning up in the far north +and winding up on the plains of South Australia. They are complete +masters of the situation, having a powerful union at their back. They +not only demand and receive some two pounds a day in wages, but they +work or not by vote, the majority being able to grant a complete +holiday. It is impossible to clip a wet sheep, so that after rain there +is an interval of forced idleness, which may be prolonged by the vote of +the men. They work very rapidly, however, when they are actually at it, +and the man who tallies most fleeces, called "the ringer," receives a +substantial bonus. When the great shed is in full activity it is a +splendid sight with the row of stooping figures, each embracing his +sheep, the buzz of the shears, the rush of the messengers who carry the +clip to the table, the swift movements of the sorters who separate the +perfect from the imperfect wool, and the levering and straining of the +packers who compress it all into square bundles as hard as iron with 240 +pounds in each. With fine wool at the present price of ninety-six pence +a pound it is clear that each of these cubes stands for nearly a hundred +pounds. + +They are rich men these sheep owners--and I am speaking here of my +general inquiry and not at all of Nerrin. On a rough average, with many +local exceptions, one may say that an estate bears one sheep to an acre, +and that the sheep may show a clear profit of one pound in the year. +Thus, after the first initial expense is passed, and when the flock has +reached its full, one may easily make an assessment of the owner's +income. Estates of 10,000 acres are common, and they run up to 50,000 +and 60,000 acres. They can be run so cheaply that the greater part of +income is clear profit, for when the land is barb-wired into great +enclosures no shepherds are needed, and only a boundary rider or two to +see that all is in order. These, with a few hands at lambing time, and +two or three odd-job men at the central station, make up the whole +staff. It is certainly the short cut to a fortune if one can only get +the plant running. + +Can a man with a moderate capital get a share of these good things? +Certainly he can if he have grit and a reasonable share of that luck +which must always be a factor in Nature's processes. Droughts, floods, +cyclones, etc., are like the zero at Monte Carlo, which always may turn +up to defeat the struggling gamester. I followed several cases where +small men had managed to make good. It is reckoned that the man who gets +a holding of from 300 to 500 acres is able on an average in three years +to pay off all his initial expenses and to have laid the foundations of +a career which may lead to fortune. One case was a London baker who knew +nothing of the work. He had 300 acres and had laid it out in wheat, +cows, sheep and mixed farming. He worked from morning to night, his wife +was up at four, and his child of ten was picking up stones behind the +furrow. But he was already making his £500 a year. The personal equation +was everything. One demobilised soldier was doing well. Another had come +to smash. Very often a deal is made between the small man and the large +holder, by which the latter lets the former a corner of his estate, +taking a share, say one-third, of his profits as rent. That is a plan +which suits everyone, and the landlord can gradually be bought out by +the "cockatoo farmer," as he is styled. + +There is a great wool-clip this year, and prices in London are at record +figures, so that Australia, which only retains 17 per cent. of her own +wool, should have a very large sum to her credit. But she needs it. When +one considers that the debt of this small community is heavier now than +that of Great Britain before the war, one wonders how she can ever win +through. But how can anyone win through? I don't think we have fairly +realised the financial problem yet, and I believe that within a very few +years there will be an International Council which will be compelled to +adopt some such scheme as the one put forward by my friend, Mr. +Stilwell, under the name of "The Great Plan." This excellent idea was +that every nation should reduce its warlike expenditure to an absolute +minimum, that the difference between this minimum and the 1914 pre-war +standard should be paid every year to a central fund, and that +international bonds be now drawn upon the security of that fund, +anticipating not its present amount but what it will represent in fifty +years' time. It is, in fact, making the future help the present, exactly +as an estate which has some sudden great call upon it might reasonably +anticipate or mortgage its own development. I believe that the salvation +of the world may depend upon some such plan, and that the Council of the +League of Nations is the agency by which it could be made operative. + +Australia has had two plants which have been a perfect curse to her as +covering the land and offering every impediment to agriculture. They are +the Spinnifex in the West and the Mallee scrub in the East. The latter +was considered a hopeless proposition, and the only good which could be +extracted from it was that the root made an ideal fire, smouldering long +and retaining heat. Suddenly, however, a genius named Lascelles +discovered that this hopeless Mallee land was simply unrivalled for +wheat, and his schemes have now brought seven million acres under the +plough. This could hardly have been done if another genius, unnamed, had +not invented a peculiar and ingenious plough, the "stump-jump plough," +which can get round obstacles without breaking itself. It is not +generally known that Australia really heads the world for the ingenuity +and efficiency of her agricultural machinery. There is an inventor and +manufacturer, MacKay, of Sunshine, who represents the last word in +automatic reapers, etc. He exports them, a shipload at a time, to the +United States, which, if one considers the tariff which they have to +surmount, is proof in itself of the supremacy of the article. With this +wealth of machinery the real power of Australia in the world is greater +than her population would indicate, for a five-million nation, which, by +artificial aid, does the work normally done by ten million people, +becomes a ten-million nation so far as economic and financial strength +is concerned. + +On the other hand, Australia has her hindrances as well as her helps. +Certainly the rabbits have done her no good, though the evil is for the +moment under control. An efficient rabbiter gets a pound a day, and he +is a wise insurance upon any estate, for the creatures, if they get the +upper-hand, can do thousands of pounds' worth of damage. This damage +takes two shapes. First, they eat on all the grass and leave nothing at +all for the sheep. Secondly, they burrow under walls, etc., and leave +the whole place an untidy ruin. Little did the man who introduced the +creature into Australia dream how the imprecations of a continent would +descend upon him. + +Alas! that we could not linger at Nerrin; but duty was calling at +Melbourne. Besides, the days of the Melbourne Cup were at hand, and not +only was Mr. Wynne a great pillar of the turf, but Mr. Osborne, owner of +one of the most likely horses in the race, was one of the house-party. +To Melbourne therefore we went. We shall always, however, be able in our +dreams to revisit that broad verandah, the low hospitable façade, the +lovely lawn with its profusion of scented shrubs, the grove of towering +gum trees, where the opossums lurked, and above all the great marsh +where with dark clouds drifting across the moon we had stolen out at +night to hear the crying of innumerable birds. That to us will always be +the real Australia. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + The Melbourne Cup.--Psychic healing.--M. J. Bloomfield.--My own + experience.--Direct healing.--Chaos and Ritual.--Government House + Ball.--The Rescue Circle again.--Sitting with Mrs. Harris.--A good + test case.--Australian botany.--The land of myrtles.--English + cricket team.--Great final meeting in Melbourne. + + +It was the week of weeks in Melbourne when we returned from Nerrin, and +everything connected with my mission was out of the question. When the +whole world is living vividly here and now there is no room for the +hereafter. Personally, I fear I was out of sympathy with it all, though +we went to the Derby, where the whole male and a good part of the female +population of Melbourne seemed to be assembled, reinforced by +contingents from every State in the Federation. A fine handsome body of +people they are when you see them _en masse_, strong, solid and capable, +if perhaps a little lacking in those finer and more spiritual graces +which come with a more matured society. The great supply of animal food +must have its effect upon the mind as well as the body of a nation. Lord +Forster appeared at the races, and probably, as an all round sportsman, +took a genuine interest, but the fate of the Governor who did not take +an interest would be a rather weary one--like that kind-hearted Roman +Emperor, Claudius, if I remember right, who had to attend the +gladiatorial shows, but did his business there so as to distract his +attention from the arena. We managed to get out of attending the famous +Melbourne Cup, and thereby found the St. Kilda Beach deserted for once, +and I was able to spend a quiet day with my wife watching the children +bathe and preparing for the more strenuous times ahead. + +One psychic subject which has puzzled me more than any other, is that of +magnetic healing. All my instincts as a doctor, and all the traditional +teaching of the profession, cry out against unexplained effects, and the +opening which their acceptance must give to the quack. The man who has +paid a thousand pounds for his special knowledge has a natural distaste +when he sees a man who does not know the subclavian artery from the +pineal gland, effecting or claiming to effect cures on some quite +unconventional line. And yet ... and yet! + +The ancients knew a great deal which we have forgotten, especially about +the relation of one body to another. What did Hippocrates mean when he +said, "The affections suffered by the body the soul sees with shut +eyes?" I will show you exactly what he means. My friend, M. J. +Bloomfield, as unselfish a worker for truth as the world can show, tried +for nearly two years to develop the medical powers of a clairvoyant. +Suddenly the result was attained, without warning. He was walking with a +friend in Collins Street laughing over some joke. In an instant the +laugh was struck from his lips. A man and woman were walking in front, +their backs towards Bloomfield. To his amazement he saw the woman's +inner anatomy mapped out before him, and especially marked a rounded +mass near the liver which he felt intuitively should not be there. His +companion rallied him on his sudden gravity, and still more upon the +cause of it, when it was explained. Bloomfield was so certain, however, +that the vision was for a purpose, that he accosted the couple, and +learned that the woman was actually about to be operated on for cancer. +He reassured them, saying that the object seemed clearly defined and not +to have widespread roots as a cancer might have. He was asked to be +present at the operation, pointed out the exact place where he had seen +the growth, and saw it extracted. It was, as he had said, innocuous. +With this example in one's mind the words of Hippocrates begin to assume +a very definite meaning. I believe that the surgeon was so struck by the +incident that he was most anxious that Bloomfield should aid him +permanently in his diagnoses. + +I will now give my own experience with Mr. Bloomfield. Denis had been +suffering from certain pains, so I took him round as a test case. +Bloomfield, without asking the boy any questions, gazed at him for a +couple of minutes. He then said that the pains were in the stomach and +head, pointing out the exact places. The cause, he said, was some slight +stricture in the intestine and he proceeded to tell me several facts of +Denis's early history which were quite correct, and entirely beyond his +normal knowledge. I have never in all my experience of medicine known so +accurate a diagnosis. + +Another lady, whom I knew, consulted him for what she called a "medical +reading." Without examining her in any way he said: "What a peculiar +throat you have! It is all pouched inside." She admitted that this was +so, and that doctors in London had commented upon it. By his clairvoyant +gift he could see as much as they with their laryngoscopes. + +Mr. Bloomfield has never accepted any fees for his remarkable gifts. +Last year he gave 3,000 consultations. I have heard of mediums with +similar powers in England, but I had never before been in actual contact +with one. With all my professional prejudices I am bound to admit that +they have powers, just as Braid and Esdaile, the pioneers of hypnotism, +had powers, which must sooner or later be acknowledged. + +There are, as I understand it, at least two quite different forms of +psychic healing. In such cases as those quoted the result may be due +only to subtle powers of the human organism which some have developed +and others have not. The clairvoyance and the instinctive knowledge may +both belong to the individual. In the other cases, however, there are +the direct action and advice of a wise spirit control, a deceased +physician usually, who has added to his worldly stock of knowledge. He +can, of course, only act through a medium--and just there, alas, is the +dangerous opening for fraud and quackery. But if anyone wishes to study +the operation at its best let him read a tiny book called "One thing I +know," which records the cure of the writer, the sister of an Anglican +canon, when she had practically been given up by doctors of this world +after fifteen years of bed, but was rescued by the ministrations of Dr. +Beale, a physician on the other side. Dr. Beale received promotion to a +higher sphere in the course of the treatment, which was completed by his +assistant and successor. It is a very interesting and convincing +narrative. + +We were invited to another spiritual meeting at the Auditorium. +Individuality runs riot sometimes in our movement. On this occasion a +concert had been mixed up with a religious service and the effect was +not good, though the musical part of the proceedings disclosed one young +violinist, Master Hames, who should, I think, make a name in the world. +I have always been against ritual, and yet now that I see the effect of +being without it I begin to understand that some form of it, however +elastic, is necessary. The clairvoyance was good, if genuine, but it +offends me to see it turned off and on like a turn at a music hall. It +is either nonsense or the holy of holies and mystery of mysteries. +Perhaps it was just this conflict between the priest with his ritual and +the medium without any, which split the early Christian Church, and +ended in the complete victory of the ritual, which meant the extinction +not only of the medium but of the living, visible, spiritual forces +which he represented. Flowers, music, incense, architecture, all tried +to fill the gap, but the soul of the thing had gone out of it. It must, +I suppose, have been about the end of the third century that the process +was completed, and the living thing had set into a petrifaction. That +would be the time no doubt when, as already mentioned, special +correctors were appointed to make the gospel texts square with the +elaborate machinery of the Church. Only now does the central fire begin +to glow once more through the ashes which have been heaped above it. + +We attended the great annual ball at the Government House, where the +Governor-General and his wife were supported by the Governors of the +various States, the vice-regal party performing their own stately +quadrille with a dense hedge of spectators around them. There were few +chaperons, and nearly every one ended by dancing, so that it was a +cheerful and festive scene. My friend Major Wood had played with the +Governor-General in the same Hampshire eleven, and it was singular to +think that after many years they should meet again like this. + +Social gaieties are somewhat out of key with my present train of +thought, and I was more in my element next evening at a meeting of the +Rescue Circle under Mr. Tozer. Mr. Love was the medium and it was +certainly a very remarkable and consistent performance. Even those who +might imagine that the different characters depicted were in fact +various strands of Mr. Love's subconscious self, each dramatising its +own peculiarities, must admit that it was a very absorbing exhibition. +The circle sits round with prayer and hymns while Mr. Love falls into a +trance state. He is then controlled by the Chinaman Quong, who is a +person of such standing and wisdom in the other world, that other lower +spirits have to obey him. The light is dim, but even so the +characteristics of this Chinaman get across very clearly, the rolling +head, the sidelong, humorous glance the sly smile, the hands crossed and +buried in what should be the voluminous folds of a mandarin's gown. He +greets the company in somewhat laboured English and says he has many who +would be the better for our ministrations. "Send them along, please!" +says Mr. Tozer. The medium suddenly sits straight and his whole face +changes into an austere harshness. "What is this ribald nonsense?" he +cries. "Who are you, friend?" says Tozer. "My name is Mathew Barret. I +testified in my life to the Lamb and to Him crucified. I ask again: What +is this ribald nonsense?" "It is not nonsense, friend. We are here to +help you and to teach you that you are held down and punished for your +narrow ideas, and that you cannot progress until they are more +charitable." "What I preached in life I still believe." "Tell us, +friend, did you find it on the other side as you had preached?" "What do +you mean?" "Well, did you, for example, see Christ?" There was an +embarrassed silence. "No, I did not." "Have you seen the devil?" "No, I +have not." "Then, bethink you, friend, that there may be truth in what +we teach." "It is against all that I have preached." A moment later the +Chinaman was back with his rolling head and his wise smile. "He good +man--stupid man. He learn in time. Plenty time before him." + +We had a wonderful succession of "revenants." One was a very dignified +Anglican, who always referred to the Control as "this yellow person." +Another was an Australian soldier. "I never thought I'd take my orders +from a 'Chink,'" said he, "but he says 'hist!' and by gum you've got to +'hist' and no bloomin' error." Yet another said he had gone down in the +_Monmouth_. "Can you tell me anything of the action?" I asked. "We never +had a chance. It was just hell." There was a world of feeling in his +voice. He was greatly amused at their "sky-pilot," as he called the +chaplain, and at his confusion when he found the other world quite +different to what he had depicted. A terrifying Ghurkha came along, who +still thought he was in action and charged about the circle, upsetting +the medium's chair, and only yielding to a mixture of force and +persuasion. There were many others, most of whom returned thanks for the +benefit derived from previous meetings. "You've helped us quite a lot," +they said. Between each the old Chinese sage made comments upon the +various cases, a kindly, wise old soul, with just a touch of mischievous +humour running through him. We had an exhibition of the useless +apostolic gift of tongues during the evening, for two of the ladies +present broke out into what I was informed was the Maori language, +keeping up a long and loud conversation. I was not able to check it, but +it was certainly a coherent language of some sort. In all this there +was nothing which one could take hold of and quote as absolutely and +finally evidential, and yet the total effect was most convincing. I have +been in touch with some Rescue Circles, however, where the identity of +the "patients," as we may call them, was absolutely traced. + +As I am on the subject of psychic experiences I may as well carry on, so +that the reader who is out of sympathy may make a single skip of the +lot. Mrs. Susanna Harris, the American voice-medium, who is well known +in London, had arrived here shortly after ourselves, and gave us a +sitting. Mrs. Harris's powers have been much discussed, for while on the +one hand she passed a most difficult test in London, where, with her +mouth full of coloured water, she produced the same voice effects as on +other occasions, she had no success in Norway when she was examined by +their Psychic Research Committee; but I know how often these +intellectuals ruin their own effects by their mental attitude, which +acts like those anti-ferments which prevent a chemical effervescence. We +must always get back to the principle, however, that one positive result +is more important than a hundred negative ones--just as one successful +demonstration in chemistry makes up for any number of failures. We +cannot command spirit action, and we can only commiserate with, not +blame, the medium who does not receive it when it is most desired. +Personally I have sat four times with Mrs. Harris and I have not the +faintest doubt that on each of these occasions I got true psychic +results, though I cannot answer for what happens in Norway or +elsewhere. + + Illustration: AT MELBOURNE TOWN HALL, NOVEMBER 12TH, 1920. + + +Shortly after her arrival in Melbourne she gave us a séance in our +private room at the hotel, no one being present save at my invitation. +There were about twelve guests, some of whom had no psychic experience, +and I do not think there was one of them who did not depart convinced +that they had been in touch with preternatural forces. There were two +controls, Harmony, with a high girlish treble voice, and a male control +with a strong decisive bass. I sat next to Mrs. Harris, holding her hand +in mine, and I can swear to it that again and again she spoke to me +while the other voices were conversing with the audience. Harmony is a +charming little creature, witty, friendly and innocent. I am quite ready +to consider the opinion expressed by the Theosophists that such controls +as Harmony with Mrs. Harris, Bella with Mrs. Brittain, Feda with Mrs. +Leonard, and others are in reality nature-spirits who have never lived +in the flesh but take an intelligent interest in our affairs and are +anxious to help us. The male control, however, who always broke in with +some final clinching remark in a deep voice, seemed altogether human. + +Whilst these two controls formed, and were the chorus of the play, the +real drama rested with the spirit voices, the same here as I have heard +them under Mrs. Wriedt, Mrs. Johnson or Mr. Powell in England, intense, +low, vibrating with emotion and with anxiety to get through. Nearly +everyone in the circle had communications which satisfied them. One +lady who had mourned her husband very deeply had the inexpressible +satisfaction of hearing his voice thanking her for putting flowers +before his photograph, a fact which no one else could know. A voice +claiming to be "Moore-Usborne Moore," came in front of me. I said, +"Well, Admiral, we never met, but we corresponded in life." He said, +"Yes, and we disagreed," which was true. Then there came a voice which +claimed to be Mr. J. Morse, the eminent pioneer of Spiritualism. I said, +"Mr. Morse, if that is you, you can tell me where we met last." He +answered, "Was it not in '_Light_' office in London?" I said, "No, +surely it was when you took the chair for me at that great meeting at +Sheffield." He answered, "Well, we lose some of our memory in passing." +As a matter of fact he was perfectly right, for after the sitting both +my wife and I remembered that I had exchanged a word or two with him as +I was coming out of _Light_ office at least a year after the Sheffield +meeting. This was a good test as telepathy was excluded. General Sir +Alfred Turner also came and said that he remembered our conversations on +earth. When I asked him whether he had found the conditions beyond the +grave as happy as he expected he answered, "infinitely more so." +Altogether I should think that not less than twenty spirits manifested +during this remarkable séance. The result may have been the better +because Mrs. Harris had been laid up in bed for a week beforehand, and +so we had her full force. I fancy that like most mediums, she habitually +overworks her wonderful powers. Such séances have been going on now for +seventy years, with innumerable witnesses of credit who will testify, as +I have done here, that all fraud or mistake was out of the question. And +still the men of no experience shake their heads. I wonder how long they +will succeed in standing between the world and the consolation which God +has sent us. + +There is one thing very clear about mediumship and that is that it bears +no relation to physical form. Mrs. Harris is a very large lady, tall and +Junoesque, a figure which would catch the eye in any assembly. She has, +I believe, a dash of the mystic Red Indian blood in her, which may be +connected with her powers. Bailey, on the other hand, is a little, +ginger-coloured man, while Campbell of Sydney, who is said to have +apport powers which equal Bailey, is a stout man, rather like the late +Corney Grain. Every shape and every quality of vessel may hold the +psychic essence. + +I spend such spare time as I have in the Melbourne Botanical Gardens, +which is, I think, absolutely the most beautiful place that I have ever +seen. I do not know what genius laid them out, but the effect is a +succession of the most lovely vistas, where flowers, shrubs, large trees +and stretches of water, are combined in an extraordinary harmony. Green +swards slope down to many tinted groves, and they in turn droop over +still ponds mottled with lovely water plants. It is an instructive as +well as a beautiful place, for every tree has its visiting card attached +and one soon comes to know them. Australia is preeminently the Land of +the Myrtles, for a large proportion of its vegetation comes under this +one order, which includes the gum trees, of which there are 170 +varieties. They all shed their bark instead of their leaves, and have a +generally untidy, not to say indecent appearance, as they stand with +their covering in tatters and their white underbark shining through the +rents. There is not the same variety of species in Australia as in +England, and it greatly helps a superficial botanist like myself, for +when you have learned the ti-tree, the wild fig tree and the gum trees, +you will be on terms with nature wherever you go. New Zealand however +offers quite a fresh lot of problems. + +The Melbourne Cricket Club has made me an honorary member, so Denis and +I went down there, where we met the giant bowler, Hugh Trumble, who left +so redoubtable a name in England. As the Chela may look at the Yogi so +did Denis, with adoring eyes, gaze upon Trumble, which so touched his +kind heart that he produced a cricket ball, used in some famous match, +which he gave to the boy--a treasure which will be reverently brought +back to England. I fancy Denis slept with it that night, as he certainly +did in his pads and gloves the first time that he owned them. + +We saw the English team play Victoria, and it was pleasant to see the +well-known faces once more. The luck was all one way, for Armstrong was +on the sick list, and Armstrong is the mainstay of Victorian cricket. +Rain came at a critical moment also, and gave Woolley and Rhodes a +wicket which was impossible for a batsman. However, it was all good +practice for the more exacting games of the future. It should be a fine +eleven which contains a genius like Hobbs, backed by such men as the +bustling bulldog, Hendren, a great out-field as well as a grand bat, or +the wily, dangerous Hearne, or Douglas, cricketer, boxer, above all +warrior, a worthy leader of Englishmen. Hearne I remember as little more +than a boy, when he promised to carry on the glories of that remarkable +family, of which George and Alec were my own playmates. He has ended by +proving himself the greatest of them all. + +My long interval of enforced rest came at last to an end, when the race +fever had spent itself, and I was able to have my last great meeting at +the Town Hall. It really was a great meeting, as the photograph of it +will show. I spoke for over two hours, ending up by showing a selection +of the photographs. I dealt faithfully with the treatment given to me by +the _Argus_. I take the extract from the published account. "On this, +the last time in my life that I shall address a Melbourne audience, I +wish to thank the people for the courtesy with which we have been +received. It would, however, be hypocritical upon my part if I were to +thank the Press. A week before I entered Melbourne the _Argus_ declared +that I was an emissary of the devil (laughter). I care nothing for that. +I am out for a fight and can take any knocks that come. But the _Argus_ +refused to publish a word I said. I came 12,000 miles to give you a +message of hope and comfort, and I appeal to you to say whether three or +four gentlemen sitting in a board-room have a right to say to the people +of Melbourne, 'You shall not listen to that man nor read one word of +what he has to say.' (Cries of 'Shame!') You, I am sure, resent being +spoon-fed in such a manner." The audience showed in the most hearty +fashion that they did resent it, and they cheered loudly when I pointed +out that my remarks did not arise, as anyone could see by looking round, +from any feeling on my part that my mission had failed to gain popular +support. It was a great evening, and I have never addressed a more +sympathetic audience. The difficulty always is for my wife and myself to +escape from our kind well-wishers, and it is touching and heartening to +hear the sincere "God bless you!" which they shower upon us as we pass. + +This then was the climax of our mission in Melbourne. It was marred by +the long but unavoidable delay in the middle, but it began well and +ended splendidly. On November 13th we left the beautiful town behind us, +and embarked upon what we felt would be a much more adventurous period +at Sydney, for all we had heard showed that both our friends and our +enemies were more active in the great seaport of New South Wales. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + Great reception at Sydney.--Importance of Sydney.--Journalistic + luncheon.--A psychic epidemic.--Gregory.--Barracking.--Town Hall + reception.--Regulation of Spiritualism.--An ether apport.--Surfing + at Manly.--A challenge.--Bigoted opponents.--A disgruntled + photographer.--Outing in the Harbour.--Dr. Mildred Creed.--Leon + Gellert.--Norman Lindsay.--Bishop Leadbeater.--Our relations with + Theosophy.--Incongruities of H.P.B.--Of D.D. Home. + + +We had a wonderful reception at Sydney. I have a great shrinking from +such deputations as they catch you at the moment when you are exhausted +and unkempt after a long journey, and when you need all your energies to +collect your baggage and belongings so as to make your way to your +hotel. But on this occasion it was so hearty, and the crowd of faces +beamed such good wishes upon us that it was quite a pick-me-up to all of +us. "God bless you!" and "Thank God you have come!" reached us from all +sides. My wife, covered with flowers, was hustled off in one direction, +while I was borne away in another, and each of the children was the +centre of a separate group. Major Wood had gone off to see to the +luggage, and Jakeman was herself embedded somewhere in the crowd, so at +last I had to shout, "Where's that little girl? Where's that little +boy?" until we reassembled and were able, laden with bouquets, to reach +our carriage. The evening paper spread itself over the scene. + +"When Sir Conan Doyle, his wife and their three children arrived from +Melbourne by the express this morning, an assembly of Spiritualists +accorded them a splendid greeting. Men swung their hats high and +cheered, women danced in their excitement, and many of their number +rushed the party with rare bouquets. The excitement was at its highest, +and Sir Conan being literally carried along the platform by the pressing +crowds, when a digger arrived on the outskirts. 'Who's that?' he asked +of nobody in particular. Almost immediately an urchin replied, 'The +bloke that wrote "Sherlock Holmes."' When asked if the latter gentleman +was really and irretrievably dead the author of his being remarked, +'Well, you can say that a coroner has never sat upon him.'" + +It was a grand start, and we felt at once in a larger and more vigorous +world, where, if we had fiercer foes, we at least had warm and +well-organised friends. Better friends than those of Melbourne do not +exist, but there was a method and cohesion about Sydney which impressed +us from the first day to the last. There seemed, also, to be fewer of +those schisms which are the bane of our movement. If Wells' dictum that +organisation is death has truth in it, then we are very much alive. + +We had rooms in Petty's Hotel, which is an old-world hostel with a very +quiet, soothing atmosphere. There I was at once engaged with the usual +succession of journalists with a long list of questions which ranged +from the destiny of the human soul to the chances of the test match. +What with the constant visitors, the unpacking of our trunks, and the +settling down of the children, we were a very weary band before evening. + +I had no idea that Sydney was so great a place. The population is now +very nearly a million, which represents more than one-sixth of the whole +vast Continent. It seems a weak point of the Australian system that 41 +per cent. of the whole population dwell in the six capital cities. The +vital statistics of Sydney are extraordinarily good, for the death rate +is now only twelve per thousand per annum. Our standard in such matters +is continually rising, for I can remember the days when twenty per +thousand was reckoned to be a very good result. In every civic amenity +Sydney stands very high. Her Botanical Gardens are not so supremely good +as those of Melbourne, but her Zoo is among the very best in the world. +The animals seem to be confined by trenches rather than by bars, so that +they have the appearance of being at large. It was only after Jakeman +had done a level hundred with a child under each arm that she realised +that a bear, which she saw approaching, was not really in a state of +freedom. + +As to the natural situation of Sydney, especially its harbour, it is so +world-renowned that it is hardly necessary to allude to it. I can well +imagine that a Sydney man would grow homesick elsewhere, for he could +never find the same surroundings. The splendid landlocked bay with its +numerous side estuaries and its narrow entrance is a grand playground +for a sea-loving race. On a Saturday it is covered with every kind of +craft, from canoe to hundred-tonner. The fact that the water swarms with +sharks seems to present no fears to these strong-nerved people, and I +have found myself horrified as I watched little craft, manned by boys, +heeling over in a fresh breeze until the water was up to their gunwales. +At very long intervals some one gets eaten, but the fun goes on all the +same. + +The people of Sydney have their residences (bungalows with verandahs) +all round this beautiful bay, forming dozens of little townlets. The +system of ferry steamers becomes as important as the trams, and is +extraordinarily cheap and convenient. To Manly, for example, which lies +some eight miles out, and is a favourite watering place, the fare is +fivepence for adults and twopence for children. So frequent are the +boats that you never worry about catching them, for if one is gone +another will presently start. Thus, the whole life of Sydney seems to +converge into the Circular Quay, from which as many as half a dozen of +these busy little steamers may be seen casting off simultaneously for +one or another of the oversea suburbs. Now and then, in a real cyclone, +the service gets suspended, but it is a rare event, and there is a +supplementary, but roundabout, service of trams. + +The journalists of New South Wales gave a lunch to my wife and myself, +which was a very pleasant function. One leading journalist announced, +amid laughter, that he had actually consulted me professionally in my +doctoring days, and had lived to tell the tale, which contradicts the +base insinuation of some orator who remarked once that though I was +known to have practised, no _living_ patient of mine had ever yet been +seen. + +Nothing could have been more successful than my first lecture, which +filled the Town Hall. There were evidently a few people who had come +with intent to make a scene, but I had my audience so entirely with me, +that it was impossible to cause real trouble. One fanatic near the door +cried out, "Anti-Christ!" several times, and was then bundled out. +Another, when I described how my son had come back to me, cried out that +it was the devil, but on my saying with a laugh that such a remark +showed the queer workings of some people's minds, the people cheered +loudly in assent. Altogether it was a great success, which was repeated +in the second, and culminated in the third, when, with a hot summer day, +and the English cricketers making their debut, I still broke the record +for a Town Hall matinée. The rush was more than the officials could cope +with, and I had to stand for ten long minutes looking at the audience +before it was settled enough for me to begin. Some spiritualists in the +audience struck up "Lead, Kindly Light!" which gave the right note to +the assemblage. Mr. Smythe, with all his experience, was amazed at our +results. "This is no longer a mere success," he cried. "It is a triumph. +It is an epidemic!" Surely, it will leave some permanent good behind it +and turn the public mind from religious shadows to realities. + +We spent one restful day seeing our cricketers play New South Wales. +After a promising start they were beaten owing to a phenomenal +first-wicket stand in the second innings by Macartney and Collins, both +batsmen topping the hundred. Gregory seemed a dangerous bowler, making +the ball rise shoulder high even on that Bulli wicket, where midstump is +as much as an ordinary bowler can attain. He is a tiger of a man, +putting every ounce of his strength and inch of his great height into +every ball, with none of the artistic finesse of a Spofforth, but very +effective all the same. We have no one of the same class; and that will +win Australia the rubber unless I am--as I hope I am--a false prophet. I +was not much impressed either by the manners or by the knowledge of the +game shown by the barrackers. Every now and then, out of the mass of +people who darken the grass slopes round the ground, you hear a raucous +voice giving advice to the captain, or, perhaps, conjuring a fast bowler +to bowl at the wicket when the man is keeping a perfect length outside +the off stump and trying to serve his three slips. When Mailey went on, +because he was slow and seemed easy, they began to jeer, and, yet, you +had only to watch the batsman to see that the ball was doing a lot and +kept him guessing. One wonders why the neighbours of these bawlers +tolerate it. In England such men would soon be made to feel that they +were ill-mannered nuisances, I am bound to testify, however, that they +seem quite impartial, and that the English team had no special cause for +complaint. I may also add that, apart from this cricketing peculiarity, +which is common to all the States, the Sydney crowd is said to be one of +the most good-humoured and orderly in the world. My own observation +confirms this, and I should say that there was a good deal less +drunkenness than in Melbourne, but, perhaps the races gave me an +exaggerated impression of the latter. + +On Sunday, 28th, the spiritualists gave the pilgrims (as they called us) +a reception at the Town Hall. There was not a seat vacant, and the sight +of these 3,500 well-dressed, intelligent people must have taught the +press that the movement is not to be despised. There are at least 10,000 +professed spiritualists in Sydney, and even as a political force they +demand consideration. The seven of us were placed in the front of the +platform, and the service was very dignified and impressive. When the +great audience sang, "God hold you safely till we meet once more," it +was almost overpowering, for it is a beautiful tune, and was sung with +real feeling. In my remarks I covered a good deal of ground, but very +particularly I warned them against all worldly use of this great +knowledge, whether it be fortune telling, prophecies about races and +stocks, or any other prostitution of our subject. I also exhorted them +when they found fraud to expose it at once, as their British brethren +do, and never to trifle with truth. When I had finished, the whole +3,500 people stood up, and everyone waved a handkerchief, producing a +really wonderful scene. We can never forget it. + +Once more I must take refuge behind the local Observer. "The scene as +Sir Arthur rose will be long remembered by those who were privileged to +witness it. A sea of waving handkerchiefs confronted the speaker, +acclaiming silently and reverently the deep esteem in which he was held +by all present. Never has Sir Arthur's earnestness in his mission been +more apparent than on this occasion as he proceeded with a heart to +heart talk with the spiritualists present, offering friendly criticisms, +sound advice, and encouragement to the adherents of the great movement. + +"'He had got,' he said, 'so much into the habit of lecturing that he was +going to lecture the spiritualists.' With a flash of humour Sir Arthur +added: 'It does none of us any harm to be lectured occasionally. I am a +married man myself' (laughter). 'I would say to the spiritualists', "For +Heaven's sake keep this thing high and unspotted. Don't let it drop into +the regions of fortune telling and other things which leave such an ugly +impression on the public mind, and which we find it so difficult to +justify. Keep it in its most religious and purest aspect." At the same +time, I expressed my view that there was no reason at all why a medium +should not receive moderate payment for work done, since it is +impossible, otherwise, that he can live. + +Every solid spiritualist would, I am sure, agree with me that our whole +subject needs regulating, and is in an unsatisfactory condition. We +cannot approve of the sensation mongers who run from medium to medium +(or possibly pretended medium) with no object but excitement or +curiosity. The trouble is that you have to recognise a thing before you +can regulate it, and the public has not properly recognised us. Let them +frankly do so, and take us into counsel, and then we shall get things on +a solid basis. Personally, I would be ready to go so far as to agree +that an inquirer should take out a formal permit to consult a medium, +showing that it was done for some definite object, if in return we could +get State recognition for those mediums who were recommended as genuine +by valid spiritual authorities. My friends will think this a reactionary +proposition, but none the less I feel the need of regulation almost as +much as I do that of recognition. + +One event which occurred to me at Sydney I shall always regard as an +instance of that fostering care of which I have been conscious ever +since we set forth upon our journey. I had been over-tired, had slept +badly and had a large meeting in the evening, so that it was imperative +that I should have a nap in the afternoon. My brain was racing, however, +and I could get no rest or prospect of any. The second floor window was +slightly open behind me, and outside was a broad open space, shimmering +in the heat of a summer day. Suddenly, as I lay there, I was aware of a +very distinct pungent smell of ether, coming in waves from outside. With +each fresh wave I felt my over-excited nerves calming down as the sea +does when oil is poured upon it. Within a few minutes I was in a deep +sleep, and woke all ready for my evening's work. I looked out of the +window and tried to picture where the ether could have come from; then I +returned thanks for one more benefit received. I do not suppose that I +am alone in such interpositions, but I think that our minds are so +centred on this tiny mud patch, that we are deaf and blind to all that +impinges on us from beyond. + +Having finished in Sydney, and my New Zealand date having not yet +arrived, we shifted our quarters to Manly, upon the sea coast, about +eight miles from the town. Here we all devoted ourselves to +surf-bathing, spending a good deal of our day in the water, as is the +custom of the place. It is a real romp with Nature, for the great +Pacific rollers come sweeping in and break over you, rolling you over on +the sand if they catch you unawares. It was a golden patch in our +restless lives. There were surf boards, and I am told that there were +men competent to ride them, but I saw none of Jack London's Sun Gods +riding in erect upon the crest of the great rollers. Alas, poor Jack +London! What right had such a man to die, he who had more vim and +passion, and knowledge of varied life than the very best of us? Apart +from all his splendid exuberance and exaggeration he had very real roots +of grand literature within him. I remember, particularly, the little +episodes of bygone days in "The Jacket." The man who wrote those could +do anything. Those whom the American public love die young. Frank +Norris, Harold Frederic, Stephen Crane, the author of "David Harum," and +now Jack London--but the greatest of these was Jack London. + +There is a grand beach at Manly, and the thundering rollers carry in +some flotsam from the great ocean. One morning the place was covered +with beautiful blue jelly-fish, like little Roman lamps with tendrils +hanging down. I picked up one of these pretty things, and was just +marvelling at its complete construction when I discovered that it was +even more complete than I supposed, for it gave me a violent sting. For +a day or two I had reason to remember my little blue castaway, with his +up-to-date fittings for keeping the stranger at a distance. + +I was baited at Sydney by a person of the name of Simpson, representing +Christianity, though I was never clear what particular branch of +religion he represented, and he was disowned by some leaders of +Christian Thought. I believe he was president of the Christian Evidence +Society. His opposition, though vigorous, and occasionally personal, was +perfectly legitimate, but his well-advertised meeting at the Town Hall +(though no charge was made for admission) was not a success. His +constant demand was that I should meet him in debate, which was, of +course, out of the question, since no debate is possible between a man +who considers a text to be final, and one who cannot take this view. My +whole energies, so much needed for my obvious work, would have been +frittered away in barren controversies had I allowed my hand to be +forced. I had learned my lesson, however, at the M'Cabe debate in +London, when I saw clearly that nothing could come from such +proceedings. On the other hand, I conceived the idea of what would be a +real test, and I issued it as a challenge in the public press. "It is +clear," I said, "that one single case of spirit return proves our whole +contention. Therefore, let the question be concentrated upon one, or, if +necessary, upon three cases. These I would undertake to prove, producing +my witnesses in the usual way. My opponent would act the part of hostile +counsel, cross-examining and criticising my facts. The case would be +decided by a majority vote of a jury of twelve, chosen from men of +standing, who pledged themselves as open-minded on the question. Such a +test could obviously only take place in a room of limited dimensions, so +that no money would be involved and truth only be at stake. That is all +that I seek. If such a test can be arranged I am ready for it, either +before I leave, or after I return from New Zealand." This challenge was +not taken up by my opponents. + +Mr. Simpson had a long tirade in the Sydney papers about the evil +religious effects of my mission, which caused me to write a reply in +which I defined our position in a way which may be instructive to +others. I said:-- + +"The tenets which we spiritualists preach and which I uphold upon the +platform are that any man who is deriving spirituality from his creed, +be that creed what it may, is learning the lesson of life. For this +reason we would not attack your creed, however repulsive it might seem +to us, so long as you and your colleagues might be getting any benefit +from it. We desire to go our own way, saying what we know to be true, +and claiming from others the same liberty of conscience and of +expression which we freely grant to them. + +"You, on the other hand, go out of your way to attack us, to call us +evil names, and to pretend that those loved ones who return to us are in +truth devils, and that our phenomena, though they are obviously of the +same sort as those which are associated with early Christianity, are +diabolical in their nature. This absurd view is put forward without a +shadow of proof, and entirely upon the supposed meaning of certain +ancient texts which refer in reality to a very different matter, but +which are strained and twisted to suit your purpose. + +"It is men like you and your colleagues who, by your parody of +Christianity and your constant exhibition of those very qualities which +Christ denounced in the Pharisees, have driven many reasonable people +away from religion and left the churches half empty. Your predecessors, +who took the same narrow view of the literal interpretation of the +Bible, were guilty of the murder of many thousands of defenceless old +women who were burned in deference to the text, 'Suffer no witch to +live.' Undeterred by this terrible result of the literal reading, you +still advocate it, although you must be well aware that polygamy, +slavery and murder can all be justified by such a course. + +"In conclusion, let me give you the advice to reconsider your position, +to be more charitable to your neighbours, and to devote your redundant +energies to combating the utter materialism which is all round you, +instead of railing so bitterly at those who are proving immortality and +the need for good living in a way which meets their spiritual wants, +even though it is foreign to yours." + +A photographer, named Mark Blow, also caused me annoyance by announcing +that my photographs were fakes, and that he was prepared to give £25 to +any charity if he could not reproduce them. I at once offered the same +sum if he could do so, and I met him by appointment at the office of the +evening paper, the editor being present to see fair play. I placed my +money on the table, but Mr. Blow did not cover it. I then produced a +packet of plates from my pocket and suggested that we go straight across +to Mr. Blow's studio and produce the photographs. He replied by asking +me a long string of questions as to the conditions under which the Crewe +photographs were produced, noting down all my answers. I then renewed my +proposition. He answered that it was absurd to expect him to produce a +spirit photograph since he did not believe in such foolish things. I +answered that I did not ask him to produce a spirit photograph, but to +fulfil his promise which was to produce a similar result upon the plate +under similar conditions. He held out that they should be his own +conditions. I pointed out that any school boy could make a half-exposed +impression upon a plate, and that the whole test lay in the conditions. +As he refused to submit to test conditions the matter fell through, as +all such foolish challenges fall through. It was equally foolish on my +part to have taken any notice of it. + +I had a conversation with Mr. Maskell, the capable Secretary of the +Sydney spiritualists, in which he described how he came out originally +from Leicester to Australia. He had at that time developed some power of +clairvoyance, but it was very intermittent. He had hesitated in his mind +whether he should emigrate to Australia, and sat one night debating it +within himself, while his little son sat at the table cutting patterns +out of paper. Maskell said to his spirit guides, mentally, "If it is +good that I go abroad give me the vision of a star. If not, let it be a +circle." He waited for half an hour or so, but no vision came, and he +was rising in disappointment when the little boy turned round and said, +"Daddy, here is a star for you," handing over one which he had just cut. +He has had no reason to regret the subsequent decision. + +We had a very quiet, comfortable, and healthy ten days at the Pacific +Hotel at Manly, which was broken only by an excursion which the Sydney +spiritualists had organised for us in a special steamer, with the +intention of showing us the glories of the harbour. Our party assembled +on Manly Pier, and the steamer was still far away when we saw the +fluttering handkerchiefs which announced that they had sighted us. It +was a long programme, including a picnic lunch, but it all went off with +great success and good feeling. It was fairly rough within the harbour, +and some of the party were sea sick, but the general good spirits rose +above such trifles, and we spent the day in goodly fellowship. On Sunday +I was asked to speak to his congregation by Mr. Sanders, a very +intelligent young Congregational Minister of Manly, far above the level +of Australasian or, indeed, British clerics. It was a novel experience +for me to be in a Nonconformist pulpit, but I found an excellent +audience, and I hope that they in turn found something comforting and +new. + +One of the most interesting men whom I met in Australia was Dr. Creed, +of the New South Wales Parliament, an elderly medical man who has held +high posts in the Government. He is blessed with that supreme gift, a +mind which takes a keen interest in everything which he meets in life. +His researches vary from the cure of diabetes and of alcoholism (both of +which he thinks that he has attained) down to the study of Australian +Aborigines and of the palæontology of his country. I was interested to +find the very high opinion which he has of the brains of the black +fellows, and he asserts that their results at the school which is +devoted to their education are as high as with the white Australians. +They train into excellent telegraphic operators and other employments +needing quick intelligence. The increasing brain power of the human race +seems to be in the direction of originating rather than of merely +accomplishing. Many can do the latter, but only the very highest can do +the former. Dr. Creed is clear upon the fact that no very ancient +remains of any sort are to be found anywhere in Australia, which would +seem to be against the view of a Lemurian civilisation, unless the main +seat of it lay to the north where the scattered islands represent the +mountain tops of the ancient continent. Dr. Creed was one of the very +few public men who had the intelligence or the courage to admit the +strength of the spiritual position, and he assured me that he would help +in any way. + +Another man whom I was fortunate to meet was Leon Gellert, a very young +poet, who promises to be the rising man in Australia in this, the +supreme branch of literature. He served in the war, and his verses from +the front attain a very high level. His volume of war poems represents +the most notable literary achievement of recent years, and its value is +enhanced by being illustrated by Norman Lindsay, whom I look upon as one +of the greatest artists of our time. I have seen three pictures of his, +"The Goths," "Who Comes?" and "The Crucifixion of Venus," each of which, +in widely different ways, seemed very remarkable. Indeed, it is the +versatility of the man that is his charm, and now that he is turning +more and more from the material to the spiritual it is impossible to say +how high a level he may attain. Another Australian whose works I have +greatly admired is Henry Lawson, whose sketches of bush life in "Joe +Wilson" and other of his studies, remind one of a subdued Bret Harte. He +is a considerable poet also, and his war poem, "England Yet," could +hardly be matched. + +Yet another interesting figure whom I met in Sydney was Bishop +Leadbeater, formerly a close colleague of Mrs. Besant in the +Theosophical movement, and now a prelate of the so-called Liberal +Catholic Church, which aims at preserving the traditions and forms of +the old Roman Church, but supplementing them with all modern spiritual +knowledge. I fear I am utterly out of sympathy with elaborate forms, +which always in the end seem to me to take the place of facts, and to +become a husk without a kernel, but none the less I can see a definite +mission for such a church as appealing to a certain class of mind. +Leadbeater, who has suffered from unjust aspersion in the past, is a +venerable and striking figure. His claims to clairvoyant and other +occult powers are very definite, and so far as I had the opportunity of +observing him, he certainly lives the ascetic life, which the +maintenance of such power demands. His books, especially the little one +upon the Astral Plane, seem to me among the best of the sort. + +But the whole subject of Theosophy is to me a perpetual puzzle. I asked +for proofs and spiritualism has given them to me. But why should I +abandon one faith in order to embrace another one? I have done with +faith. It is a golden mist in which human beings wander in devious +tracks with many a collision. I need the white clear light of knowledge. +For that we build from below, brick upon brick, never getting beyond +the provable fact. There is the building which will last. But these +others seem to build from above downwards, beginning by the assumption +that there is supreme human wisdom at the apex. It may be so. But it is +a dangerous habit of thought which has led the race astray before, and +may again. Yet, I am struck by the fact that this ancient wisdom does +describe the etheric body, the astral world, and the general scheme +which we have proved for ourselves. But when the high priestess of the +cult wrote of this she said so much that was against all our own +spiritual experience, that we feel she was in touch with something very +different from our angels of light. Her followers appreciate that now, +and are more charitable than she, but what is the worth of her occult +knowledge if she so completely misread that which lies nearest to us, +and how can we hope that she is more correct when she speaks of that +which is at a distance? + +I was deeply attracted by the subject once, but Madame Blavatsky's +personality and record repelled me. I have read the defence, and yet +Hodgson and the Coulombs seem to me to hold the field. Could any +conspiracy be so broad that it included numerous forged letters, trap +doors cut in floors, and actually corroborative accounts in the books of +a flower seller in the bazaar? On the other hand, there is ample +evidence of real psychic powers, and of the permanent esteem of men like +Sinnett and Olcott, whom none could fail to respect. It is the attitude +of these honourable men which commends and upholds her, but sometimes +it seems hard to justify it. As an example, in the latter years of her +life she wrote a book, "The Caves and Jungles of Hindustan," in which +she describes the fearsome adventures which she and Olcott had in +certain expeditions, falling down precipices and other such escapes. +Olcott, like the honest gentleman he was, writes in his diary that there +is not a word of truth in this, and that it is pure fiction. And yet, +after this very damaging admission, in the same page he winds up, "Ah, +if the world ever comes to know who was the mighty entity, who laboured +sixty years under that quivering mask of flesh, it will repent its cruel +treatment of H. P. B., and be amazed at the depth of its ignorance." +These are the things which make it so difficult to understand either her +or the cult with which she was associated. Had she never lived these men +and women would, as it seems to me, have been the natural leaders of the +spiritualist movement, and instead of living in the intellectual +enjoyment of far-off systems they would have concentrated upon the +all-important work of teaching poor suffering humanity what is the +meaning of the dark shadow which looms upon their path. Even now I see +no reason why they should not come back to those who need them, and help +them forward upon their rocky road. + +Of course, we spiritualists are ourselves vulnerable upon the subject of +the lives of some of our mediums, but we carefully dissociate those +lives from the powers which use the physical frame of the medium for +their own purposes, just as the religious and inspired poetry of a +Verlaine may be held separate from his dissipated life. Whilst upon this +subject I may say that whilst in Australia I had some interesting +letters from a solicitor named Rymer. All students of spiritualism will +remember that when Daniel Home first came to England in the early +fifties he received great kindness from the Rymer family, who then lived +at Ealing. Old Rymer treated him entirely as one of the family. This +Bendigo Rymer was the grandson of Home's benefactor, and he had no love +for the great medium because he considered that he had acted with +ingratitude towards his people. The actual letters of his father, which +he permitted me to read, bore out this statement, and I put it on record +because I have said much in praise of Home, and the balance should be +held true. These letters, dating from about '57, show that one of the +sons of old Rymer was sent to travel upon the Continent to study art, +and that Home was his companion. They were as close as brothers, but +when they reached Florence, and Home became a personage in society +there, he drifted away from Rymer, whose letters are those of a splendid +young man. Home's health was already indifferent, and while he was laid +up in his hotel he seems to have been fairly kidnapped by a +strong-minded society lady of title, an Englishwoman living apart from +her husband. For weeks he lived at her villa, though the state of his +health would suggest that it was rather as patient than lover. What was +more culpable was that he answered the letters of his comrade very +rudely and showed no sense of gratitude for all that the family had done +for him. I have read the actual letters and confess that I was chilled +and disappointed. Home was an artist as well as a medium, the most +unstable combination possible, full of emotions, flying quickly to +extremes, capable of heroisms and self-denials, but also of vanities and +ill-humour. On this occasion the latter side of his character was too +apparent. To counteract the effect produced upon one's mind one should +read in Home's Life the letter of the Bavarian captain whom he rescued +upon the field of battle, or of the many unfortunates whom he aided with +unobtrusive charity. It cannot, however, be too often repeated--since it +is never grasped by our critics--that the actual character of a man is +as much separate from his mediumistic powers, as it would be from his +musical powers. Both are inborn gifts beyond the control of their +possessor. The medium is the telegraph instrument and the telegraph boy +united in one, but the real power is that which transmits the message, +which he only receives and delivers. The remark applies to the Fox +sisters as much as it does to Home. + +Talking about Home, it is astonishing how the adverse judgment of the +Vice-Chancellor Gifford, a materialist, absolutely ignorant of psychic +matters, has influenced the minds of men. The very materialists who +quote it, would not attach the slightest importance to the opinion of an +orthodox judge upon the views of Hume, Payne, or any free-thinker. It is +like quoting a Roman tribune against a Christian. The real facts of the +case are perfectly clear to anyone who reads the documents with care. +The best proof of how blameless Home was in the matter is that of all +the men of honour with whom he was on intimate terms--men like Robert +Chambers, Carter Hall, Lord Seaton, Lord Adare and others--not one +relaxed in their friendship after the trial. This was in 1866, but in +1868 we find these young noblemen on Christian-name terms with the man +who would have been outside the pale of society had the accusations of +his enemies been true. + +Whilst we were in Sydney, a peculiar ship, now called the "Marella," was +brought into the harbour as part of the German ship surrender. It is +commonly reported that this vessel, of very grandiose construction, was +built to conduct the Kaiser upon a triumphal progress round the world +after he had won his war. It is, however, only of 8,000 tons, and, +personally, I cannot believe that this would have had room for his +swollen head, had he indeed been the victor. All the fittings, even to +the carpet holders, are of German silver. The saloon is of pure marble, +eighty by fifty, with beautiful hand-painted landscapes. The smoke-room +is the reproduction of one in Potsdam Palace. There is a great swimming +bath which can be warmed. Altogether a very notable ship, and an index, +not only of the danger escaped, but of the danger to come, in the form +of the super-excellence of German design and manufacture. + +Our post-bag is very full, and it takes Major Wood and myself all our +time to keep up with the letters. Many of them are so wonderful that I +wish I had preserved them all, but it would have meant adding another +trunk to our baggage. There are a few samples which have been rescued. +Many people seemed to think that I was myself a wandering medium, and I +got this sort of missive: + + "DEAR SIR,--_I am very anxious to ask you a question, trusting you + will answer me. What I wish to know I have been corresponding with + a gentleman for nearly three years. From this letter can you tell + me if I will marry him. I want you to answer this as I am keeping + it strictly private and would dearly love you to answer this + message if possible, and if I will do quite right if I marry him. + Trusting to hear from you soon. Yours faithfully----._ + + _P.S.--I thoroughly believe in Spirit-ualism._" + +Here is another. + + "HONORED SIR,--_Just a few lines in limited time to ask you if you + tell the future. If so, what is your charges? Please excuse no + stamped and ad. envelope--out of stamps and in haste to catch mail. + Please excuse._" + +On the other hand, I had many which were splendidly instructive and +helpful. I was particularly struck by one series of spirit messages +which were received in automatic writing by a man living in the Bush in +North Queensland and thrown upon his own resources. They were +descriptive of life in the beyond, and were in parts extremely +corroborative of the Vale Owen messages, though they had been taken long +prior to that date. Some of the points of resemblance were so marked and +so unusual that they seem clearly to come from a common inspiration. As +an example, this script spoke of the creative power of thought in the +beyond, but added the detail that when the object to be created was +large and important a band of thinkers was required, just as a band of +workers would be here. This exactly corresponds to the teaching of Vale +Owen's guide. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + Dangerous fog.--The six photographers.--Comic + advertisements.--Beauties of Auckland.--A Christian + clergyman.--Shadows in our American relations.--The Gallipoli + Stone.--Stevenson and the Germans.--Position of De Rougemont.--Mr. + Clement Wragge.--Atlantean theories.--A strange + psychic.--Wellington the windy.--A literary Oasis.--A Maori + Séance.--Presentation. + + +My voyage to New Zealand in the _Maheno_ was pleasant and uneventful, +giving me four days in which to arrange my papers and look over the many +manuscripts which mediums, or, more often, would-be mediums, had +discharged at me as I passed. Dr. Bean, my Theosophic friend, who had +been somewhat perturbed by my view that his people were really the +officers of our movement who had deserted their army, formed an +officers' corps, and so taken the money and brains and leadership away +from the struggling masses, was waiting on the Sydney Quay, and gave me +twelve books upon his subject to mend my wicked ways, so that I was +equipped for a voyage round the world. I needed something, since I had +left my wife and family behind me in Manly, feeling that the rapid +journey through New Zealand would be too severe for them. In Mr. Carlyle +Smythe, however, I had an admirable "cobber," to use the pal phrase of +the Australian soldier. + +Mr. Smythe had only one defect as a comrade, and that was his +conversation in a fog. It was of a distinctly depressing character, as I +had occasion to learn when we ran into very thick weather among the +rocky islands which make navigation so difficult to the north of +Auckland. Between the screams of the siren I would hear a still small +voice in the bunk above me. + +"We are now somewhere near the Three Kings. It is an isolated group of +rocks celebrated for the wreck of the _Elingamite_, which went ashore on +just such a morning as this." (Whoo-ee! remarked the foghorn). "They +were nearly starved, but kept themselves alive by fish which were caught +by improvised lines made from the ladies' stay-laces. Many of them +died." + +I lay digesting this and staring at the fog which crawled all round the +port hole. Presently he was off again. + +"You can't anchor here, and there is no use stopping her, for the +currents run hard and she would drift on to one of the ledges which +would rip the side out of her." (Whoo-ee! repeated the foghorn). "The +islands are perpendicular with deep water up to the rocks, so you never +know they are there until you hit them, and then, of course, there is no +reef to hold you up." (Whoo-ee!) "Close by here is the place where the +_Wairarapa_ went down with all hands a few years ago. It was just such a +day as this when she struck the Great Barrier----" + +It was about this time that I decided to go on deck. Captain Brown had +made me free of the bridge, so I climbed up and joined him there, +peering out into the slow-drifting scud. + +I spent the morning there, and learned something of the anxieties of a +sailor's life. Captain Brown had in his keeping, not only his own career +and reputation, but what was far more to him, the lives of more than +three hundred people. We had lost all our bearings, for we had drifted +in the fog during those hours when it was too thick to move. Now the +scud was coming in clouds, the horizon lifting to a couple of miles, and +then sinking to a few hundred yards. On each side of us and ahead were +known to be rocky islands or promontories. Yet we must push on to our +destination. It was fine to see this typical British sailor working his +ship as a huntsman might take his horse over difficult country, now +speeding ahead when he saw an opening, now waiting for a fogbank to get +ahead, now pushing in between two clouds. For hours we worked along with +the circle of oily lead-coloured sea around us, and then the grey veil, +rising and falling, drifting and waving, with danger lurking always in +its shadow. There are strange results when one stares intently over such +a sea, for after a time one feels that it all slopes upwards, and that +one is standing deep in a saucer with the rim far above one. Once in the +rifts we saw a great ship feeling her way southwards, in the same +difficulties as ourselves. She was the _Niagara_, from Vancouver to +Auckland. Then, as suddenly as the raising of a drop-curtain, up came +the fog, and there ahead of us was the narrow path which led to safety. +The _Niagara_ was into it first, which seemed to matter little, but +really mattered a good deal, for her big business occupied the Port +Authorities all the evening, while our little business was not even +allowed to come alongside until such an hour that we could not get +ashore, to the disappointment of all, and very especially of me, for I +knew that some of our faithful had been waiting for twelve hours upon +the quay to give me a welcoming hand. It was breakfast time on the very +morning that I was advertised to lecture before we at last reached our +hotel. + +Here I received that counter-demonstration which always helped to keep +my head within the limits of my hat. This was a peremptory demand from +six gentlemen, who modestly described themselves as the leading +photographers of the city, to see the negatives of the photographs which +I was to throw upon the screen. I was assured at the same time by other +photographers that they had no sympathy with such a demand, and that the +others were self-advertising busybodies who had no mandate at all for +such a request. My experience at Sydney had shown me that such +challenges came from people who had no knowledge of psychic conditions, +and who did not realise that it is the circumstances under which a +photograph is taken, and the witnesses who guarantee such circumstances, +which are the real factors that matter, and not the negative which may +be so easily misunderstood by those who have not studied the processes +by which such things are produced. I therefore refused to allow my +photographs to pass into ignorant hands, explaining at the same time +that I had no negatives, since the photographs in most cases were not +mine at all, so that the negatives would, naturally, be with Dr. +Crawford, Dr. Geley, Lady Glenconnor, the representatives of Sir William +Crookes, or whoever else had originally taken the photograph. Their +challenge thereupon appeared in the Press with a long tirade of abuse +attached to it, founded upon the absurd theory that all the photos had +been taken by me, and that there was no proof of their truth save in my +word. One gets used to being indirectly called a liar, and I can answer +arguments with self-restraint which once I would have met with the toe +of my boot. However, a little breeze of this sort does no harm, but +rather puts ginger into one's work, and my audience were very soon +convinced of the absurdity of the position of the six dissenting +photographers who had judged that which they had not seen. + +Auckland is the port of call of the American steamers, and had some of +that air of activity and progress which America brings with her. The +spirit of enterprise, however, took curious shapes, as in the case of +one man who was a local miller, and pushed his trade by long +advertisements at the head of the newspapers, which began with abuse of +me and my ways, and ended by a recommendation to eat dessicated corn, or +whatever his particular commodity may have been. The result was a comic +jumble which was too funny to be offensive, though Auckland should +discourage such pleasantries, as they naturally mar the beautiful +impression which her fair city and surroundings make upon the visitor. I +hope I was the only victim, and that every stranger within her gates is +not held up to ridicule for the purpose of calling attention to Mr. +Blank's dessicated corn. + +I seemed destined to have strange people mixed up with my affairs in +Auckland, for there was a conjuror in the town, who, after the fashion +of that rather blatant fraternity, was offering £1,000 that he could do +anything I could do. As I could do nothing, it seemed easy money. In any +case, the argument that because you can imitate a thing therefore the +thing does not exist, is one which it takes the ingenuity of Mr. +Maskelyne to explain. There was also an ex-spiritualist medium +(so-called) who covered the papers with his advertisements, so that my +little announcement was quite overshadowed. He was to lecture the night +after me in the Town Hall, with most terrifying revelations. I was +fascinated by his paragraphs, and should have liked greatly to be +present, but that was the date of my exodus. Among other remarkable +advertisements was one "What has become of 'Pelorus Jack'? Was he a lost +soul?" Now, "Pelorus Jack" was a white dolphin, who at one time used to +pilot vessels into a New Zealand harbour, gambolling under the bows, so +that the question really did raise curiosity. However, I learned +afterwards that my successor did not reap the harvest which his +ingenuity deserved, and that the audience was scanty and derisive. What +the real psychic meaning of "Pelorus Jack" may have been was not +recorded by the press. + +From the hour I landed upon the quay at Auckland until I waved my last +farewell my visit was made pleasant, and every wish anticipated by the +Rev. Jasper Calder, a clergyman who has a future before him, though +whether it will be in the Church of England or not, time and the Bishop +will decide. Whatever he may do, he will remain to me and to many more +the nearest approach we are likely to see to the ideal Christian--much +as he will dislike my saying so. After all, if enemies are given full +play, why should not friends redress the balance? I will always carry +away the remembrance of him, alert as a boy, rushing about to serve +anyone, mixing on equal terms with scallywags on the pier, reclaiming +criminals whom he called his brothers, winning a prize for breaking-in a +buckjumper, which he did in order that he might gain the respect of the +stockmen; a fiery man of God in the pulpit, but with a mind too broad +for special dispensations, he was like one of those wonderfully virile +creatures of Charles Reade. The clergy of Australasia are stagnant and +narrow, but on the other hand, I have found men like the Dean of Sydney, +Strong of Melbourne, Sanders of Manly, Calder of Auckland, and others +whom it is worth crossing this world to meet. + +Of my psychic work at Auckland there is little to be said, save that I +began my New Zealand tour under the most splendid auspices. Even Sydney +had not furnished greater or more sympathetic audiences than those +which crowded the great Town Hall upon two successive nights. I could +not possibly have had a better reception, or got my message across more +successfully. All the newspaper ragging and offensive advertisements had +produced (as is natural among a generous people) a more kindly feeling +for the stranger, and I had a reception I can never forget. + +This town is very wonderfully situated, and I have never seen a more +magnificent view than that from Mount Eden, an extinct volcano about 900 +feet high, at the back of it. The only one which I could class with it +is that from Arthur's Seat, also an extinct volcano about 900 feet high, +as one looks on Edinburgh and its environs. Edinburgh, however, is for +ever shrouded in smoke, while here the air is crystal clear, and I could +clearly see Great Barrier Island, which is a good eighty miles to the +north. Below lay the most marvellous medley of light blue water and +light green land mottled with darker foliage. We could see not only the +whole vista of the wonderful winding harbour, and the seas upon the east +of the island, but we could look across and see the firths which +connected with the seas of the west. Only a seven-mile canal is needed +to link the two up, and to save at least two hundred miles of dangerous +navigation amid those rock-strewn waters from which we had so happily +emerged. Of course it will be done, and when it is done it should easily +pay its way, for what ship coming from Australia--or going to it--but +would gladly pay the fees? The real difficulty lies not in cutting the +canal, but in dredging the western opening, where shifting sandbanks +and ocean currents combine to make a dangerous approach. I see in my +mind's eye two great breakwaters, stretching like nippers into the +Pacific at that point, while, between the points of the nippers, the +dredgers will for ever be at work. It will be difficult, but it is +needed and it will be done. + +The Australian Davis Cup quartette--Norman Brooks, Patterson, O'Hara +Wood and another--had come across in the _Maheno_ with us and were now +at the Grand Hotel. There also was the American team, including the +formidable Tilden, now world's champion. The general feeling of +Australasia is not as cordial as one would wish to the United States for +the moment. I have met several men back from that country who rather +bitterly resent the anti-British agitation which plays such a prominent +part in the American press. This continual nagging is, I am sorry to +say, wearing down the stolid patience of the Britisher more than I can +ever remember, and it is a subject on which I have always been sensitive +as I have been a life-long advocate of Anglo-American friendship, +leading in the fullness of time to some loose form of Anglo-American +Union. At present it almost looks as if these racial traitors who make +the artificial dissensions were succeeding for a time in their work of +driving a wedge between the two great sections of the English-speaking +peoples. My fear is that when some world crisis comes, and everything +depends upon us all pulling together, the English-speakers may +neutralise each other. There lies the deadly danger. It is for us on +both sides to endeavour to avoid it. + +Everyone who is in touch with the sentiment of the British officers in +Flanders knows that they found men of their own heart in the brave, +unassuming American officers who were their comrades, and often their +pupils. It is some of the stay-at-home Americans who appear to have such +a false perspective, and who fail to realise that even British +Dominions, such as Canada and Australia, lost nearly as many men as the +United States in the war, while Britain herself laid down ten lives for +every one spent by America. This is not America's fault, but when we see +apparent forgetfulness of it on the part of a section of the American +people when our wounds are still fresh, it cannot be wondered at that we +feel sore. We do not advertise, and as a result there are few who know +that we lost more men and made larger captures during the last two years +of the war than our gallant ally of France. When we hear that others won +the war we smile--but it is a bitter smile. + +Strange, indeed, are some of the episodes of psychic experience. There +came to me at my hotel in Auckland two middle-aged hard-working women, +who had come down a hundred miles from the back country to my lecture. +One had lost her boy at Gallipoli. She gave me a long post-mortem +account from him as to the circumstances of his own death, including the +military operations which led up to it. I read it afterwards, and it +was certainly a very coherent account of the events both before and +after the shell struck him. Having handed me the pamphlet the country +woman then, with quivering fingers, produced from her bosom a little +silver box. Out of this she took an object, wrapped in white silk. It +was a small cube of what looked to me like sandstone, about an inch each +way. She told me it was an apport, that it had been thrown down on her +table while she and her family, including, as I understood, the friend +then present, were holding a séance. A message came with it to say that +it was from the boy's grave at Gallipoli. What are we to say to that? +Was it fraud? Then why were they playing tricks upon themselves? If it +was, indeed, an apport, it is surely one of the most remarkable for +distance and for purpose recorded of any private circle. + +A gentleman named Moors was staying at the same hotel in Auckland, and +we formed an acquaintance. I find that he was closely connected with +Stevenson, and had actually written a very excellent book upon his +comradeship with him at Samoa. Stevenson dabbled in the politics of +Samoa, and always with the best motives and on the right side, but he +was of so frank and impetuous a nature that he was not trusted with any +inside knowledge. Of the German rule Mr. Moors says that for the first +twelve years Dr. Solf was as good as he could be, and did fair justice +to all. Then he went on a visit to Berlin, and returned "bitten by the +military bug," with his whole nature changed, and began to "imponieren" +in true Prussian fashion. It is surely extraordinary how all the +scattered atoms of a race can share the diseases of the central organism +from which they sprang. I verily believe that if a German had been alone +on a desert island in 1914 he would have begun to dance and brandish a +club. How many cases are on record of the strange changes and wild deeds +of individuals? + +Mr. Moors told me that he dropped into a developing circle of +spiritualists at Sydney, none of whom could have known him. One of them +said, "Above your head I see a man, an artist, long hair, brown eyes, +and I get the name of Stephens." If he was indeed unknown, this would +seem fairly evidential. + +I was struck by one remark of Mr. Moors, which was that he had not only +seen the natives ride turtles in the South Sea lagoons, but that he had +actually done so himself, and that it was by no means difficult. This +was the feat which was supposed to be so absurd when De Rougemont +claimed to have done it. There are, of course, some gross errors which +are probably pure misuse of words in that writer's narrative, but he +places the critic in a dilemma which has never been fairly faced. Either +he is a liar, in which case he is, beyond all doubt, the most realistic +writer of adventure since Defoe, or else he speaks the truth, in which +case he is a great explorer. I see no possible avoidance of this +dilemma, so that which ever way you look at it the man deserves credit +which he has never received. + +We set off, four of us, to visit Mr. Clement Wragge, who is the most +remarkable personality in Auckland--dreamer, mystic, and yet very +practical adviser on all matters of ocean and of air. + +On arriving at the charming bungalow, buried among all sorts of +broad-leaved shrubs and trees, I was confronted by a tall, thin figure, +clad in black, with a face like a sadder and thinner Bernard Shaw, dim, +dreamy eyes, heavily pouched, with a blue turban surmounting all. On +repeating my desire he led me apart into his study. I had been warned +that with his active brain and copious knowledge I would never be able +to hold him to the point, so, in the dialogue which followed, I +perpetually headed him off as he turned down bye paths, until the +conversation almost took the form of a game. + +"Mr. Wragge, you are, I know, one of the greatest authorities upon winds +and currents." + +"Well, that is one of my pursuits. When I was young I ran the Ben Nevis +Observatory in Scotland and----" + +"It was only a small matter I wished to ask you. You'll excuse my +directness as I have so little time." + +"Certainly. What is it?" + +"If the Maoris came, originally, from Hawaii, what prevailing winds +would their canoes meet in the 2,000 miles which they crossed to reach +New Zealand?" + +The dim eyes lit up with the joy of the problem, and the nervous fingers +unrolled a chart of the Pacific. He flourished a pair of compasses. + +"Here is Hawaii. They would start with a north-westerly trade wind. That +would be a fair wind. I may say that the whole affair took place far +further back than is usually supposed. We have to get back to astronomy +for our fixed date. Don't imagine that the obliquity of the ecliptic was +always 23 degrees." + +"The Maoris had a fair wind then?" + +The compasses stabbed at the map. + +"Only down to this point. Then they would come on the Doldrums--the calm +patch of the equator. They could paddle their canoes across that. Of +course, the remains at Easter Island prove----" + +"But they could not paddle all the way." + +"No; they would run into the south-easterly trades. Then they made their +way to Rarotonga in Tahiti. It was from here that they made for New +Zealand." + +"But how could they know New Zealand was there?" + +"Ah, yes, how did they know?" + +"Had they compasses?" + +"They steered by the stars. We have a poem of theirs which numbers the +star-gazer as one of the crew. We have a chart, also, cut in the rocks +at Hawaii, which seems to be the plot of a voyage. Here is a slide of +it." He fished out a photo of lines and scratches upon a rock. + +"Of course," said he, "the root of the matter is that missionaries from +Atlantis permeated the Pacific, coming across Central America, and left +their traces everywhere." + +Ah, Atlantis! I am a bit of an Atlantean myself, so off we went at +scratch and both enjoyed ourselves greatly until time had come to rejoin +the party and meet Mr. Wragge's wife, a charming Brahmin lady from +India, who was one of the most gracious personalities I have met in my +wanderings. The blue-turbaned, eager man, half western science, half +eastern mystic, and his dark-eyed wife amid their profusion of flowers +will linger in my memory. Mrs. Wragge was eager that I go and lecture in +India. Well, who knows? + +I was so busy listening to Mr. Wragge's Atlantean theories that I had no +chance of laying before him my own contribution to the subject, which +is, I think, both original and valid. If the huge bulk of Atlantis sank +beneath the ocean, then, assuredly, it raised such a tidal wave as has +never been known in the world's history. This tidal wave, since all sea +water connects, would be felt equally all over the world, as the wave of +Krakatoa was in 1883 felt in Europe. The wave must have rushed over all +flat coasts and drowned every living thing, as narrated in the biblical +narrative. Therefore, since this catastrophe was, according to Plato's +account, not very much more than 10,000 years ago there should exist +ample evidence of a wholesale destruction of life, especially in the +flatter lands of the globe. Is there such evidence? Think of Darwin's +account of how the pampas of South America are in places one huge +grave-yard. Think, also, of the mammoth remains which strew the Tundras +of Siberia, and which are so numerous that some of the Arctic islands +are really covered with bones. There is ample evidence of some great +flood which would exactly correspond with the effect produced by the +sinking of Atlantis. The tragedy broadens as one thinks of it. Everyone +everywhere must have been drowned save only the hill-dwellers. The +object of the catastrophe was, according to some occult information, to +remove the Atlantean race and make room for the Aryan, even as the +Lemurian had been removed to make room for the Atlantean. How long has +the Aryan race to run? The answer may depend upon themselves. The great +war is a warning bell perhaps. + +I had a talk with a curious type of psychic while I was in Auckland. He +claimed to be a psychologist who did not need to be put _en rapport_ +with his object by any material starting point. A piece of clothing is, +as a rule, to a psychometrist what it would be to a bloodhound, the +starting point of a chase which runs down the victim. Thus Van Bourg, +when he discovered by crystal gazing the body of Mr. Foxhall (I quote +the name from memory) floating in the Thames, began by covering the +table with the missing man's garments. This is the usual procedure which +will become more familiar as the public learn the full utility of a +psychic. + +This gentlemen, Mr. Pearman, was a builder by trade, a heavy, rather +uneducated man with the misty eye of a seer. He told me that if he +desired to turn his powers upon anything he had only to sit in a dim +room and concentrate his thought upon the matter, without any material +nexus. For example, a murder had been done in Western Australia. The +police asked his help. Using his power, he saw the man, a stranger, and +yet he _knew_ that it was the man, descending the Swan River in a boat. +He saw him mix with the dockmen of Fremantle. Then he saw him return to +Perth. Finally, he saw him take train on the Transcontinental Railway. +The police at once acted, and intercepted the man, who was duly +convicted and hanged. This was one of several cases which this man told +me, and his stories carried conviction with them. All this, although +psychic, has, of course, nothing to do with spiritualism, but is an +extension of the normal, though undefined, powers of the human mind and +soul. + +The reader will be relieved to hear that I did not visit Rotorua. An +itinerant lecturer upon an unpopular cause has enough hot water without +seeking out a geyser. My travels would make but an indifferent guide +book, but I am bound to put it upon record that Wellington is a very +singular city plastered upon the side of a very steep hill. It is said +that the plan of the city was entirely drawn up in England under the +impression that the site was a flat one, and that it was duly carried +out on the perpendicular instead of the horizontal. It is a town of fine +buildings, however, in a splendid winding estuary ringed with hills. It +is, of course, the capital, and the centre of all officialdom in New +Zealand, but Auckland, in the north, is already the greater city. + +I had the opportunity of spending the day after my arrival with Dr. +Morrice, who married the daughter of the late Premier, Sir R. Seddon, +whom I had known in years gone by. Their summer house was down the Bay, +and so I had a long drive which gave me an admirable chance of seeing +the wonderful panorama. It was blowing a full gale, and the road is so +exposed that even motors are sometimes upset by the force of the wind. +On this occasion nothing more serious befell us than the loss of Mr. +Smythe's hat, which disappeared with such velocity that no one was able +to say what had become of it. It simply was, and then it was not. The +yellow of the foreshore, the green of the shallows, the blue mottled +with purple of the deep, all fretted with lines of foam, made an +exhilarating sight. The whole excursion was a brief but very pleasant +break in our round of work. Another pleasant experience was that I met +Dr. Purdey, who had once played cricket with me, when we were very +young, at Edinburgh University. _Eheu fugaces!_ I had also the pleasure +of meeting Mr. Massey, the Premier, a bluff, strong, downright man who +impresses one with his force and sincerity. + +I had the privilege when I was at Wellington of seeing the first edition +of "Robinson Crusoe," which came out originally in three volumes. I had +no idea that the three-decker dated back to 1719. It had a delightful +map of the island which would charm any boy, and must have been drawn up +under the personal guidance of Defoe himself. I wonder that map has not +been taken as an integral part of the book, and reproduced in every +edition, for it is a fascinating and a helpful document. + +I saw this rare book in the Turnbull Library, which, under the loving +care of Mr. Anderson (himself no mean poet), is a fine little collection +of books got together by a Wellington man of business. In a raw young +land such a literary oasis is like a Gothic Cathedral in the midst of a +suburb of modern villas. Anyone can come in to consult the books, and if +I were a Wellingtonian I would certainly spend a good deal of time +there. I handled with fitting reverence a first edition of "Lyrical +Ballads," where, in 1798, Coleridge and Wordsworth made their entry hand +in hand into poetical literature. I saw an original Hakluyt, the book +which has sent so many brave hearts a-roving. There, too, was a precious +Kelmscott "Chaucer," a Plutarch and Montaigne, out of which Shakespeare +might have done his cribbing; Capt. Cook's manuscript "Diary," written +in the stiff hand of a very methodical man; a copy of Swinburne's "Poems +and Ballads," which is one of twenty from a recalled edition, and many +other very rare and worthy volumes carefully housed and clad. I spent a +mellow hour among them. + +I have been looking up all the old books upon the Maoris which I could +find, with the special intent of clearing up their history, but while +doing so I found in one rather rare volume "Old New Zealand," an account +of a Maori séance, which seems to have been in the early forties, and, +therefore, older than the Hydesville knockings. I only wish every honest +materialist could read it and compare it with the experiences which we +have, ourselves, independently reported. Surely they cannot persist in +holding that such identical results are obtained by coincidence, or that +fraud would work in exactly the same fashion in two different +hemispheres. + +A popular young chief had been killed in battle. The white man was +invited to join the solemn circle who hoped to regain touch with him. +The séance was in the dark of a large hut, lit only by the ruddy glow of +a low fire. The white man, a complete unbeliever, gives his evidence in +grudging fashion, but cannot get past the facts. The voice came, a +strange melancholy sound, like the wind blowing into a hollow vessel. +"Salutation! Salutation to you all! To you, my tribe! Family, I salute +you! Friends, I salute you!" When the power waned the voice cried, +"Speak to me, the family! Speak to me!" In the published dialogue +between Dr. Hodgson after his death and Professor Hyslop, Hodgson cries, +"Speak, Hyslop!" when the power seemed to wane. For some reason it would +appear either by vibrations or by concentrating attention to help the +communicator. "It is well with me," said the chief. "This place is a +good place." He was with the dead of the tribe and described them, and +offered to take messages to them. The incredulous white man asked where +a book had been concealed which only the dead man knew about. The place +was named and the book found. The white man himself did not know, so +there was no telepathy. Finally, with a "Farewell!" which came from high +in the air, the spirit passed back to immaterial conditions. + +This is, I think, a very remarkable narrative. If you take it as +literally true, which I most certainly do, since our experience +corroborates it, it gives us some points for reflection. One is that the +process is one known in all the ages, as our Biblical reading has +already told us. A second is that a young barbarian chief with no +advantages of religion finds the next world a very pleasant place, just +as our dead do, and that they love to come back and salute those whom +they have left, showing a keen memory of their earth life. Finally, we +must face the conclusion that the mere power of communication has no +elevating effect in itself, otherwise these tribes could not have +continued to be ferocious savages. It has to be united with the Christ +message from beyond before it will really help us upon the upward path. + +Before I left Wellington the spiritualists made me a graceful +presentation of a travelling rug, and I was able to assure them that if +they found the rug I would find the travelling. It is made of the +beautiful woollen material in which New Zealand is supreme. The +presentation was made by Mrs. Stables, the President of the New Zealand +Association, an energetic lady to whom the cause owes much. A greenstone +penholder was given to me for my wife, and a little charm for my small +daughter, the whole proceedings being marked with great cordiality and +good feeling. The faithful are strong in Wellington, but are much +divided among themselves, which, I hope, may be alleviated as a +consequence of my visit. Nothing could have been more successful than my +two meetings. The Press was splendidly sympathetic, and I left by a +night boat in high heart for my campaign in the South Island. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + The Anglican Colony.--Psychic dangers.--The learned dog.--Absurd + newspaper controversy.--A backward community.--The Maori + tongue.--Their origin.--Their treatment by the Empire.--A + fiasco.--The Pa of Kaiopoi.--Dr. Thacker.--Sir Joseph Kinsey.--A + generous collector.--Scott and Amundsen.--Dunedin.--A genuine + medium.--Evidence.--The shipping strike.--Sir Oliver.--Farewell. + + +I am afraid that the average Britisher looks upon New Zealand as one +solid island. If he had to cross Cook's Strait to get from the northern +to the southern half, he would never forget his lesson in geography, for +it can be as nasty a bit of water as is to be found in the world, with +ocean waves, mountain winds and marine currents all combining into a +horrible chaos. Twelve good hours separate Wellington in the north from +Lyttelton, which is the port of Christchurch in the south. A very short +railway joins the two latter places. My luck held good, and I had an +excellent passage, dining in Wellington and breakfasting in +Christchurch. It is a fine city, the centre of the famous Canterbury +grazing country. Four shiploads of people calling themselves the +Canterbury Pilgrims arrived here in 1852, built a cathedral, were +practically ruled over by Bishop Selwyn, and tried the successful +experiment of establishing a community which should be as Anglican as +New England is Nonconformist. The distinctive character has now largely +disappeared, but a splendid and very English city remains as a memorial +of their efforts. When you are on the green, sloping banks of the river +Avon, with the low, artistic bridges, it would not be hard to imagine +that you were in the Backs at Cambridge. + +At Christchurch I came across one of those little bits of psychic +evidence which may be taken as certainly true, and which can be +regarded, therefore, as pieces which have to be fitted into the jig-saw +puzzle in order to make the completed whole, at that far off date when a +completed whole is within the reach of man's brain. It concerns Mr. +Michie, a local Spiritualist of wide experience. On one occasion some +years ago, he practised a short cut to psychic power, acquired through a +certain method of breathing and of action, which amounts, in my opinion, +to something in the nature of self-hypnotisation. I will not give +details, as I think all such exercises are dangerous save for very +experienced students of these matters, who know the risk and are +prepared to take it. The result upon Mr. Michie, through some disregard +upon his part of the conditions which he was directed to observe, was +disastrous. He fell into an insidious illness with certain psychic +symptoms, and within a few months was reduced to skin and bone. Mr. +Michie's wife is mediumistic and liable to be controlled. One day an +entity came to her and spoke through her to her husband, claiming to be +the spirit of one, Gordon Stanley. He said: "I can sympathise with your +case, because my own death was brought about in exactly the same way. I +will help you, however, to fight against it and to recover." The spirit +then gave an account of his own life, described himself as a clerk in +Cole's Book Arcade in Melbourne, and said that his widow was living at +an address in Melbourne, which was duly given. Mr. Michie at once wrote +to this address and received this reply, the original of which I have +seen: + + _"Park Street, + "Melbourne._ + + "DEAR SIR,--_I have just received your strange--I must say, your + very strange letter. Yes, I am Mrs. Stanley. My husband did die two + years ago from consumption. He was a clerk in Cole's Arcade. I must + say your letter gave me a great shock. But I cannot doubt after + what you have said, for I know you are a complete stranger to me._" + +Shortly afterwards Mr. Stanley returned again through the medium, said +that his widow was going to marry again, and that it was with his full +approbation. The incident may be taken by our enemies as illustrating +the danger of psychic research, and we admit that there are forms of it +which should be approached with caution, but I do not think that mankind +will ever be warned off by putting a danger label upon it, so long as +they think there is real knowledge to be gained. How could the motor-car +or the aeroplane have been developed if hundreds had not been ready to +give their lives to pay the price? Here the price has been far less, and +the goal far higher, but if in gaining it a man were assured that he +would lose his health, his reason, or his life, it is none the less his +duty to go forward if he clearly sees that there is something to be won. +To meet death in conquering death is to die in victory--the ideal death. + +Whilst I was at Auckland Mr. Poynton, a stipendiary magistrate there, +told me of a dog in Christchurch which had a power of thought +comparable, not merely to a human being, but even, as I understood him, +to a clairvoyant, as it would bark out the number of coins in your +pocket and other such questions. The alternative to clairvoyance was +that he was a very quick and accurate thought-reader, but in some cases +the power seemed to go beyond this. Mr. Poynton, who had studied the +subject, mentioned four learned beasts in history: a marvellous horse in +Shakespeare's time, which was burned with its master in Florence; the +Boston skipper's dog; Hans, the Russian horse, and Darkie of +Christchurch. He investigated the latter himself, as one of a committee +of three. On the first occasion they got no results. On the second, +ninety per cent. of the questions were right, and they included sums of +addition, subtraction, etc. "It was uncanny," he wrote. + +I called, therefore, upon Mrs. McGibbon, the owner, who allowed me to +see the dog. He was a dark, vivacious fox terrier, sixteen years old, +blind and deaf, which obviously impaired his powers. In spite of his +blindness he dashed at me the moment he was allowed into the room, +pawing at me and trembling all over with excitement. He was, in fact so +excited that he was of little use for demonstration, as when once he +began to bark he could not be induced to stop. Occasionally he steadied +down, and gave us a touch of his true quality. When a half-crown was +placed before him and he was asked how many sixpences were in it, he +gave five barks, and four for a florin, but when a shilling was +substituted he gave twelve, which looked as if he had pennies in his +mind. On the whole the performance was a failure, but as he had raised +by exhibiting his gifts, £138 for war charities, I took my hat off to +him all the same. I will not imitate those psychic researchers who +imagine that because they do not get a result, therefore, every one else +who has reported it is a cheat or a fool. On the contrary, I have no +doubt that the dog had these powers, though age and excitement have now +impaired them. + +The creature's powers were first discovered when the son of the house +remarked one day: "I will give you a biscuit if you bark three times." +He at once did it. "Now, six times." He did so. "Now, take three off." +He barked three times once again. Since then they have hardly found any +problem he could not tackle. When asked how many males in the room he +always included himself in the number, but omitted himself when asked +how many human beings. One wonders how many other dogs have human brains +without the humans being clever enough to detect it. + +I had an amusing controversy in Christchurch with one of the local +papers, _The Press_, which represents the clerical interest, and, also, +the clerical intolerance of a cathedral city. It issued an article upon +me and my beliefs, severe, but quite within the limits of legitimate +criticism, quoting against me Professor Hyslop, "who," it said, "is +Professor of Logic at Columbia, etc." To this I made the mild and +obvious retort in the course of my lecture that as Professor Hyslop was +dead, _The Press_ went even further than I in saying that he "_is_ +Professor at Columbia." Instead of accepting this correction, _The +Press_ made the tactical error of standing by their assertion, and +aggravated it by head-lines which challenged me, and quoted my statement +as "typical of the inaccuracy of a Spiritualist." As I rather pride +myself on my accuracy, which has seldom been challenged, I answered +shortly but politely, as follows: + + "SIR,--_I am surprised that the news of the death of Professor + Hyslop has not reached New Zealand, and even more surprised that it + could be imagined that I would make such a statement on a matter so + intimately connected with the subject upon which I lecture without + being sure of my fact. I am reported as saying 'some years,' but, + if so, it was a slip of the tongue for 'some time.' The Professor + died either late last year or early in the present one._" + +I should have thought that my answer was conclusive, and would have +elicited some sort of apology; but instead of this, _The Press_ called +loudly upon me in a leading article to apologise, though for what I know +not, save that they asserted I had said "some years," whereas I claim +that I actually said "some time." This drew the following rather more +severe letter from me: + + "SIR,--_I am collecting New Zealand curiosities, so I will take + your leading article home with me. To get the full humour of it one + has to remember the sequence of events. In a leading article you + remarked that Professor Hyslop is Professor of Logic. I answered + with mild irony that he certainly is not, as he had been dead 'some + years' or 'some time'--which of the two is perfectly immaterial, + since I presume that in either case you would agree that he has + ceased to be Professor of Logic. To this you were rash enough to + reply with a challenging article with large head-lines, declaring + that I had blundered, and that this was typical of the inaccuracy + of Spiritualists. I wrote a gentle remonstrance to show that I had + not blundered, and that my assertion was essentially true, since + the man was dead. This you now tacitly admit, but instead of + expressing regret you ask for an apology from me. I have engaged + in much newspaper controversy, but I can truly say that I can + recall no such instance of effrontery as this._" + +This led to another leader and considerable abuse. + +The controversy was, however, by no means one-sided, in spite of the +shadow of the Cathedral. Mr. Peter Trolove is a man of wit as well as +knowledge, and wields a pretty pen. A strong man, also, is Dr. John +Guthrie, whose letter contains words so kindly that I must quote them: + + "_Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stands above it all, not only as a + courteous gentleman, but as a fair controversialist throughout. He + is, anyhow, a chivalrous and magnanimous personality, whether or + not his beliefs have any truth. Fancy quoting authorities against a + man who has spent great part of his life studying the subject, and + who knows the authorities better than all his opponents put + together--a man who has deliberately used his great gifts in an + honest attempt to get at truth. I do think that Christchurch has + some need to apologise for its controversialists--much more need + than our distinguished visitor has to apologise for what we all + know to be his honest convictions._" + +I have never met Dr. John Guthrie in the flesh, but I would thank him +here, should this ever meet his eye, for this kindly protest. + +It will be gathered that I succeeded at Christchurch in performing the +feat of waking up a Cathedral City, and all the ex-sleepers were +protesting loudly against such a disturbing inrush from the outer world. +Glancing at the head-lines I see that Bishop Brodie declared it to be "A +blasphemy nurtured in fraud," the Dean of Christchurch writes it down as +"Spiritism, the abrogation of Reason," the Rev. John Patterson calls it +"an ancient delusion," the Rev. Mr. North says it is "a foolish +Paganism," and the Rev. Mr. Ready opines that it is "a gospel of +uncertainty and conjecture." Such are the clerical leaders of thought in +Christchurch in the year 1920. I think of what the wise old Chinese +Control said of similar types at the Melbourne Rescue Circle. "He good +man but foolish man. He learn better. Never rise till he learn better. +Plenty time yet." Who loses except themselves? + +The enormous number of letters which I get upon psychic subjects--which +I do my best to answer--give me some curious sidelights, but they are +often confidential, and would not bear publication. Some of them are +from devout, but narrow Christians, who narrate psychic and prophetic +gifts which they possess, and at the same time almost resent them on the +ground that they are condemned by the Bible. As if the whole Bible was +not psychic and prophetic! One very long letter detailed a whole +succession of previsions of the most exact character, and wound up by +the conviction that we were on the edge of some great discovery. This +was illustrated by a simile which seemed very happy. "Have you noticed +a tree covered in spider webs during a fog? Well, it was only through +the law of the fog that we saw them. They were there all the time, but +only when the moisture came could we see them." It was a good +illustration. Many amazing experiences are detailed to me in every town +I visit, and though I have no time to verify them and go into details, +none the less they fit so accurately with the various types of psychic +cases with which I am familiar that I cannot doubt that such occurrences +are really very common. It is the injudicious levity with which they are +met which prevents their being published by those who experience them. + +As an amateur philologist of a superficial type, I am greatly interested +in studying the Maori language, and trying to learn whence these +wonderful savages came before their twenty-two terrible canoes came down +upon the unhappy land which would have been safer had as many shiploads +of tigers been discharged upon its beach. The world is very old, and +these folk have wandered from afar, and by many devious paths. Surely +there are Celtic traces both in their appearance, their character and +their language. An old Maori woman smoking her pipe is the very image of +an old Celtic woman occupied the same way. Their word for water is +_wei_, and England is full of Wye and Way river names, dating from the +days before the Germans arrived. Strangest of all is their name for the +supreme God. A name never mentioned and taboo among them, is Io. "J" +is, of course, interchangeable with "I," so that we get the first two +letters of Jove and an approximation of Jehovah. Papa is parent. +Altogether there is good evidence that they are from the same root as +some European races, preferably the Celts. But on the top of this comes +a whole series of Japanese combinations of letters, Rangi, Muru, Tiki, +and so forth, so that many of the place names seem pure Japanese. What +are we to make of such a mixture? Is it possible that one Celtic branch, +far away in the mists of time, wandered east while their racial brethren +wandered west, so that part reached far Corea while the others reached +Ireland? Then, after getting a tincture of Japanese terms and word +endings, they continued their migration, taking to the seas, and finally +subduing the darker races who inhabited the Polynesian Islands, so +making their way to New Zealand. This wild imagining would at least +cover the observed facts. It is impossible to look at some of the Maori +faces without realising that they are of European stock. + +I must interpolate a paragraph here to say that I was pleased, after +writing the above, to find that in my blind gropings I had come upon the +main conclusions which have been put forward with very full knowledge by +the well-known authority, Dr. McMillan Brown. He has worked out the very +fact which I surmised, that the Maoris are practically of the same stock +as Europeans, that they had wandered Japan-wards, and had finally taken +to the sea. There are two points of interest which show the date of +their exodus was a very ancient one. The first is that they have not +the use of the bow. The second is that they have no knowledge of metals. +Such knowledge once possessed would never have been lost, so it is safe +to say that they left Asia a thousand years (as a minimum) before +Christ, for at that date the use of bronze, at any rate, was widespread. +What adventures and vicissitudes this remarkable race, so ignorant in +some directions and so advanced in others, must have endured during +those long centuries. If you look at the wonderful ornaments of their +old war canoes, which carry a hundred men, and can traverse the whole +Pacific, it seems almost incredible that human patience and ingenuity +could construct the whole fabric with instruments of stone. They valued +them greatly when once they were made, and the actual names of the +twenty-two original invading canoes are still recorded. + + Illustration: THE PEOPLE OF TURI'S CANOE, AFTER A VOYAGE OF GREAT + HARDSHIP, AT LAST SIGHT THE SHORES OF NEW ZEALAND. From a painting + in the Auckland Art Gallery by C. F. Goldie and L. J. Steele. + +In the public gallery of Auckland they have a duplicate of one of these +enormous canoes. It is 87 feet in length and the thwarts are broad +enough to hold three or four men. When it was filled with its hundred +warriors, with the chief standing in the centre to give time to the +rowers, it must, as it dashed through the waves, have been a truly +terrific object. I should think that it represented the supreme +achievement of neolithic man. There are a series of wonderful pictures +of Maori life in the same gallery by Goldie and Steele. Of these I +reproduce, by permission, one which represents the starving crew of one +canoe sighting the distant shore. The engraving only gives a faint +indication of the effect of the vividly-coloured original. + +Reference has been made to the patient industry of the Maori race. A +supreme example of this is that every man had his tikki, or image of a +little idol made of greenstone, which was hung round his neck. Now, this +New Zealand greenstone is one of the hardest objects in nature, and yet +it is worn down without metals into these quaint figures. On an average +it took ten years to make one, and it was rubbed down from a chunk of +stone into an image by the constant friction of a woman's foot. + +It is said that the Tahungas, or priests, have much hereditary knowledge +of an occult sort. Their oracles were famous, and I have already quoted +an example of their séances. A student of Maori lore told me the +following interesting story. He was a student of Maori words, and on one +occasion a Maori chief let slip an unusual word, let us say "buru," and +then seemed confused and refused to answer when the Englishman asked the +meaning. The latter took it to a friend, a Tohunga, who seemed much +surprised and disturbed, and said it was a word of which a paheka or +white man should know nothing. Not to be beaten, my informant took it to +an old and wise chief who owed him a return for some favours. This chief +was also much exercised in mind when he heard the word, and walked up +and down in agitation. Finally he said, "Friend, we are both Christians. +You remember the chapter in the Bible where Jacob wrestled with an +angel. Well, this word 'buru' represents that for which they were +wrestling." He would say no more and there it had perforce to be left. + +The British Empire may be proud of their treatment of the Maoris. Like +the Jews, they object to a census, but their number cannot be more than +50,000 in a population of over a million. There is no question, +therefore, of our being constrained to treat them well. Yet they own +vast tracts of the best land in the country, and so unquestioned are +their rights that when they forbade a railway to pass down the centre of +the North Island, the traffic had to go by sea from Auckland until, at +last, after many years, it was shown to the chiefs that their financial +interests would be greatly aided by letting the railway through. These +financial interests are very large, and many Maoris are wealthy men, +buying expensive motor cars and other luxuries. Some of the more +educated take part in legislative work, and are distinguished for their +eloquence. The half-castes make a particularly fine breed, especially in +their youth, for they tend as they grow older to revert to the pure +Maori type. New Zealand has no national sin upon its conscience as +regards the natives, which is more, I fear, than can be said +whole-heartedly for Australia, and even less for Tasmania. Our people +never descended to the level of the old Congo, but they have something +on their conscience none the less. + +On December 18th there was some arrangement by which I should meet the +Maoris and see the historic Pa of Kaiopoi. The affair, however, was, I +am sorry to say, a fiasco. As we approached the building, which was the +village school room, there emerged an old lady--a very old lady--who +uttered a series of shrill cries, which I was told meant welcome, +though they sounded more like the other thing. I can only trust that my +informants were right. Inside was a very fine assemblage of atmospheric +air, and of nothing else. The explanation was that there had been a +wedding the night before, and that the whole community had been--well, +tired. Presently a large man in tweeds of the reach-me-down variety +appeared upon the scene, and several furtive figures, including a row of +children, materialised in corners of the big empty room. The visitors, +who were more numerous than the visited, sat on a long bench and waited +developments which refused to develop. My dreams of the dignified and +befeathered savage were drifting away. Finally, the large man, with his +hands in his pockets, and looking hard at a corner of the rafters, made +a speech of welcome, punctuated by long stops and gaps. He then, at our +request, repeated it in Maori, and the children were asked to give a +Maori shout, which they sternly refused to do. I then made a few feeble +bleats, uncertain whether to address my remarks to the level of the +large man or to that of the row of children. I ended by handing over +some books for their library, and we then escaped from this rather +depressing scene. + +But it was a very different matter with the Pa. I found it intensely +interesting. You could still trace quite clearly the main lines of the +battle which destroyed it. It lay on about five acres of ground, with +deep swamp all round save for one frontage of some hundreds of yards. +That was all which really needed defence. The North Island natives, who +were of a sterner breed than those of the South, came down under the +famous Rauparaha (these Maori names are sad snags in a story) and +besieged the place. One can see the saps and follow his tactics, which +ended by piling brushwood against the palings--please observe the root +"pa" in palings--with the result that he carried the place. Massacre +Hill stands close by, and so many of the defenders were eaten that their +gnawed bones covered the ground within the memory of living men. Such +things may have been done by the father of the elderly gentleman who +passes you in his motor car with his race glasses slung across his +chest. The siege of Kaiopoi was about 1831. Even on a fine sunlit day I +was conscious of that heavy atmosphere within the enclosure which +impresses itself upon me when I am on the scene of ancient violence. So +frightful an episode within so limited a space, where for months the +garrison saw its horrible fate drawing nearer day by day, must surely +have left some etheric record even to our blunt senses. + +I was indebted to Dr. Thacker, the mayor, for much kind attention whilst +in Christchurch. He is a giant man, but a crippled giant, alas, for he +still bears the traces of an injury received in a historic football +match, which left his and my old University of Edinburgh at the top of +the tree in Scotland. He showed me some curious, if ghastly, relics of +his practice. One of these was a tumour of the exact size and shape of a +boxing glove, thumb and all, which he cut out of the back of a boxer +who had lost a glove fight and taken it greatly to heart. Always on many +converging lines we come back to the influence of mind over matter. + +Another most pleasant friendship which I made in Christchurch was with +Sir Joseph Kinsey, who has acted as father to several successive British +Arctic expeditions. Scott and Shackleton have both owed much to him, +their constant agent, adviser and friend. Scott's dying hand traced a +letter to him, so unselfish and so noble that it alone would put Scott +high in the gallery of British worthies. Of all modern men of action +Scott seems to me the most lofty. To me he was only an acquaintance, but +Kinsey, who knew him well as a friend, and Lady Kinsey, who had all +Arctic exploration at her finger ends, were of the same opinion. + +Sir Joseph discussed the action of Amundsen in making for the pole. When +it was known that Amundsen was heading south instead of pursuing his +advertised intentions, Kinsey smelled danger and warned Scott, who, +speaking from his own noble loyalty, said, "He would never do so +dishonourable a thing. My plans are published and are known to all the +world." However, when he reached the ice, and when Pennell located the +"Fram," he had to write and admit that Kinsey was right. It was a sad +blow, that forestalling, though he took it like the man that he was. +None the less, it must have preyed upon the spirits of all his party and +weakened their resistance in that cruel return journey. On the other +hand Amundsen's expedition, which was conducted on rather less than a +sixth of the cost of the British, was a triumph of organisation, and he +had the good luck or deep wisdom to strike a route which was clear of +those great blizzards which overwhelmed Scott. The scurvy was surely a +slur upon our medical preparations. According to Stefansson, who knows +more of the matter than any living man, lime juice is useless, +vegetables are of secondary importance, but fresh animal food, be it +seal, penguin, or what you will, is the final preventive. + +Sir Joseph is a passionate and discriminating collector, and has but one +fault in collecting, which is a wide generosity. You have but to visit +him often enough and express sufficient interest to absorb all his +treasures. Perhaps my protests were half-hearted, but I emerged from his +house with a didrachm of Alexander, a tetradrachm of some Armenian +monarch, a sheet of rare Arctic stamps for Denis, a lump of native +greenstone, and a small nugget of gold. No wonder when I signed some +books for him I entered the date as that of "The Sacking of Woomeroo," +that being the name of his dwelling. The mayor, in the same spirit of +hospitality, pressed upon me a huge bone of the extinct Moa, but as I +had never failed to impress upon my wife the extreme importance of +cutting down our luggage, I could not face the scandal of appearing with +this monstrous impedimentum. + +Leaving Christchurch in the journalistic uproar to which allusion has +been made, our engagements took us on to Dunedin, which is reached by +rail in a rather tiring day's journey. A New Zealand train is excellent +while it is running, but it has a way of starting with an epileptic +leap, and stopping with a bang, which becomes wearisome after a while. +On the other hand this particular journey is beguiled by the fact that +the line runs high for two hours round the curve of the hills with the +Pacific below, so that a succession of marvellous views opens out before +you as you round each spur. There can be few more beautiful lines. + +Dunedin was founded in 1848 by a group of Scotsmen, and it is modelled +so closely upon Edinburgh that the familiar street names all reappear, +and even Portobello has its duplicate outside the town. The climate, +also, I should judge to be about the same. The prevailing tone of the +community is still Scottish, which should mean that they are sympathetic +with my mission, for nowhere is Spiritualism more firmly established now +than in Scotland, especially in Glasgow, where a succession of great +mediums and of earnest workers have built up a considerable +organisation. I soon found that it was so, for nowhere had I more +private assurances of support, nor a better public reception, the +theatre being filled at each lecture. In the intervals kind friends put +their motors at my disposal and I had some splendid drives over the +hills, which look down upon the winding estuary at the head of which the +town is situated. + +At the house of Mr. Reynolds, of Dunedin, I met one of the most powerful +clairvoyants and trance mediums whom I have tested. Her name is Mrs. +Roberts, and though her worldly circumstances are modest, she has never +accepted any money for her wonderful psychic gifts. For this I honour +her, but, as I told her, we all sell the gifts which God has given us, +and I cannot see why, and within reason, psychic gifts should not also +be placed within the reach of the public, instead of being confined to a +favoured few. How can the bulk of the people ever get into touch with a +good medium if they are debarred from doing so in the ordinary way of +business? + +Mrs. Roberts is a stout, kindly woman, with a motherly manner, and a +sensitive, expressive face. When in touch with my conditions she at once +gave the names of several relatives and friends who have passed over, +without any slurring or mistakes. She then cried, "I see an elderly lady +here--she is a beautifully high spirit--her name is Selina." This rather +unusual name belonged to my wife's mother, who died nearly two years +ago. Then, suddenly, becoming slightly convulsed, as a medium does when +her mechanism is controlled by another, she cried with an indescribable +intensity of feeling, "Thank God! Thank God to get in touch again! Jean! +Jean! Give my dear love to Jean!" Both names, therefore, had been got +correctly, that of the mother and the daughter. Is it not an affront to +reason to explain away such results by wild theories of telepathy, or by +anything save the perfectly plain and obvious fact that spirit communion +is indeed true, and that I was really in touch with that dead lady who +was, even upon earth, a beautifully high and unselfish spirit. I had a +number of other communications through Mrs. Roberts that night, and at a +second interview two days later, not one of which erred so far as names +were concerned. Among others was one who professed to be Dr. Russell +Wallace. I should be honoured, indeed, to think that it was so, but I +was unable to hit on anything which would be evidential. I asked him if +his further experience had taught him anything more about reincarnation, +which he disputed in his lifetime. He answered that he now accepted it, +though I am not clear whether he meant for all cases. I thanked him for +any spiritual help I had from him. His answer was "Me! Don't thank me! +You would be surprised if you knew who your real helpers are." He added, +"By your work I rise. We are co-workers!" I pray that it be so, for few +men have lived for whom I have greater respect; wise and brave, and +mellow and good. His biography was a favourite book of mine long before +I understood the full significance of Spiritualism, which was to him an +evolution of the spirit on parallel lines to that evolution of the body +which he did so much to establish. + +Now that my work in New Zealand was drawing to a close a very grave +problem presented itself to Mr. Smythe and myself, and that was how we +were to get back to our families in Australia. A strike had broken out, +which at first seemed a small matter, but it was accentuated by the +approach of Christmas and the fact that many of the men were rather +looking for an excuse for a holiday. Every day things became blacker. +Once before Mr. Smythe had been held up for four months by a similar +cause, and, indeed, it has become a very serious consideration for all +who visit New Zealand. We made a forced march for the north amid +constant rumours that far from reaching Australia we could not even get +to the North Island, as the twelve-hour ferry boats were involved in the +strike. I had every trust in my luck, or, as I should prefer to say, in +my helpers, and we got the _Maori_ on the last ferry trip which she was +sure to take. Up to the last moment the firemen wavered, and we had no +stewards on board, but none the less, to our inexpressible relief we got +off. There was no food on the ship and no one to serve it, so we went +into a small hostel at Lyttleton before we started, to see what we could +pick up. There was a man seated opposite to me who assumed the air of +laboured courtesy and extreme dignity, which is one phase of alcoholism. + +"'Scuse me, sir!" said he, looking at me with a glassy stare, "but you +bear most 'straordinary resemblance Olver Lodge." + +I said something amiable. + +"Yes, sir--'straordinary! Have you ever seen Olver Lodge, sir?" + +"Yes, I have." + +"Well, did you perceive resemblance?" + +"Sir Oliver, as I remember him, was a tall man with a grey beard." + +He shook his head at me sadly. + +"No, sir--I heard him at Wellington last week. No beard. A moustache, +sir, same as your own." + +"You're sure it was Sir Oliver?" + +A slow smile came over his face. + +"Blesh my soul--Conan Doyle--that's the name. Yes, sir, you bear truly +remarkable resemblance Conan Doyle." + +I did not say anything further so I daresay he has not discovered yet +the true cause of the resemblance. + +All the nerve-wracking fears of being held up which we endured at +Lyttleton were repeated at Wellington, where we had taken our passages +in the little steamer _Paloona_. In any case we had to wait for a day, +which I spent in clearing up my New Zealand affairs while Mr. Smythe +interviewed the authorities and paid no less than £141 war tax upon the +receipts of our lectures--a heavy impost upon a fortnight's work. Next +morning, with our affairs and papers all in order, we boarded our little +craft. + +Up to the last moment we had no certainty of starting. Not only was the +strike in the air, but it was Christmas Eve, and it was natural enough +that the men should prefer their own homes to the stokehole of the +_Paloona_. Agents with offers of increased pay were scouring the docks. +Finally our complement was completed, and it was a glad moment when the +hawsers were thrown off, and after the usual uncomfortable preliminaries +we found ourselves steaming in a sharp wind down the very turbulent +waters of Cook's Strait. + +The place is full of Cook's memory. Everywhere the great man has left +his traces. We passed Cook's Island where the _Endeavour_ actually +struck and had to be careened and patched. What a nerve the fellow had! +So coolly and deliberately did he do his work that even now his charting +holds good, I understand, in many long stretches of coast. Tacking and +wearing, he poked and pried into every estuary, naming capes, defining +bays, plotting out positions, and yet all the while at the mercy of the +winds, with a possible lee shore always before him, with no comrade +within hail, and with swarms of cannibals eyeing his little ship from +the beach. After I have seen his work I shall feel full of reverence +every time I pass that fine statue which adorns the mall side of the +great Admiralty building. + +And now we are out in the open sea, with Melbourne, Sydney and love in +front of our prow. Behind the sun sets in a slur of scarlet above the +olive green hills, while the heavy night fog, crawling up the valleys, +turns each of them into a glacier. A bright star twinkles above. Below a +light shines out from the gloom. Farewell, New Zealand! I shall never +see you again, but perhaps some memory of my visit may remain--or not, +as God pleases. + +Anyhow, my own memory will remain. Every man looks on his own country as +God's own country if it be a free land, but the New Zealander has more +reason than most. It is a lovely place, and contains within its moderate +limits the agricultural plains of England, the lakes and hills of +Scotland, the glaciers of Switzerland, and the fiords of Norway, with a +fine hearty people, who do not treat the British newcomer with ignorant +contempt or hostility. There are so many interests and so many openings +that it is hard to think that a man will not find a career in New +Zealand. Canada, Australia and South Africa seem to me to be closely +balanced so far as their attractions for the emigrant goes, but when one +considers that New Zealand has neither the winter of Canada, the +droughts of Australia, nor the racial problems of Africa, it does surely +stand supreme, though it demands, as all of them do, both labour and +capital from the newcomer. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + Christian origins.--Mithraism.--Astronomy.--Exercising boats.--Bad + news from home.--Futile strikes.--Labour Party.--The blue + wilderness.--Journey to Brisbane.--Warm reception.--Friends and + foes.--Psychic experience of Dr. Doyle.--Birds.--Criticism on + Melbourne.--Spiritualist Church.--Ceremony.--Sir Matthew + Nathan.--Alleged repudiation of Queensland.--Billy tea.--The bee + farm.--Domestic service in Australia.--Hon. John Fihilly.--Curious + photograph by the state photographer.--The "Orsova." + + +The voyage back from New Zealand to Melbourne was pleasant and +uneventful, though the boat was small and there was a sea rough enough +to upset many of the passengers. We were fortunate in our Captain, +Doorby, who, I found, was a literary confrère with two books to his +credit, one of them a record of the relief ship _Morning_, in which he +had served at the time of Scott's first expedition, the other a little +book, "The Handmaiden of the Navy," which gave some of his adventures +and experiences in the merchant service during the great war. He had +been torpedoed once, and had lost, on another occasion, nearly all his +crew with plague, so that he had much that was interesting to talk +about. Mr. Blake, of the _Strand Magazine_, was also on board. A +Unitarian Minister, Mr. Hale, was also a valuable companion, and we had +much discussion over the origins of Christianity, which was the more +interesting to me as I had taken advantage of the voyage to re-read the +Acts and Paul's Epistles. There are no documents which can be read so +often and yet reveal something new, the more so when you have that +occult clue which is needful before Paul can be understood. It is +necessary also to know something of Mythra worship and the other +philosophies which Paul had learned, and woven into his Christianity. I +have stated elsewhere my belief that all expressions about redemption by +blood, the blood of the lamb, etc., are founded upon the parallel of the +blood of the bull which was shed by the Mythra-worshippers, and in which +they were actually baptised. Enlarging upon this, Mr. Hale pointed out +on the authority, if I remember right, of Pfleiderer's "Christian +Origins," that in the Mythra service something is placed over the +candidate, a hide probably, which is called "putting on Mythra," and +corresponds with Paul's expression about "putting on Christ." Paul, with +his tremendous energy and earnestness, fixed Christianity upon the +world, but I wonder what Peter and those who had actually heard Christ's +words thought about it all. We have had Paul's views about Christ, but +we do not know Christ's views about Paul. He had been, as we are told by +himself, a Jewish Pharisee of the strictest type in his youth at +Jerusalem, but was a Roman citizen, had lived long at Tarsus, which was +a centre of Mithraism, and was clearly famous for his learning, since +Festus twitted him with it. The simple tenets of the carpenter and the +fishermen would take strange involved forms in such a brain as that. His +epistles are presumably older than the gospels, which may, in their +simplicity, represent a protest against his confused theology. + +It was an enjoyable voyage in the little _Paloona_, and rested me after +the whirlwind campaign of New Zealand. In large liners one loses in +romance what one gains in comfort. On a small ship one feels nearer to +Nature, to the water and even to the stars. On clear nights we had +magnificent displays of the Southern heaven. I profited by the +astronomical knowledge of Mr. Smythe. Here first I was introduced to +Alpha Centauri, which is the nearest fixed star, and, therefore, the +cobber to the sun. It is true that it is distant 3-1/2 years of light +travel, and light travels at about 182,000 miles a second, but when one +considers that it takes centuries for average starlight to reach us, we +may consider Alpha as snuggling close up to us for companionship in the +lonely wastes of space. The diamond belt of Orion looks homely enough +with the bright solitaire Sirius sparkling beside it, but there are the +Magellanic clouds, the scattered wisps torn from the Milky Way, and +there is the strange black space called the Coalsack, where one seems to +look right past all created things into a bottomless void. What would +not Galileo and all the old untravelled astronomers have given to have +one glimpse of this wondrous Southern display? + +Captain Doorby, finding that he had time in hand, ran the ship into a +small deserted bay upon the coast, and, after anchoring, ordered out +all the boats for the sake of practice. It was very well done, and yet +what I saw convinced me that it should be a Board of Trade regulation, +if it is not one already, that once, at least, near the beginning of +every long voyage, this should be compulsory. It is only when you come +to launch them that you really realise which of the davits is rusted up, +and which block is tangled, or which boat is without a plug. I was much +impressed by this idea as I watched the difficulties which were +encountered even in that secluded anchorage. + +The end of my journey was uneventful, but my joy at being reunited with +my family was clouded by the news of the death of my mother. She was +eighty-three years of age, and had for some years been almost totally +blind, so that her change was altogether a release, but it was sad to +think that we should never see the kind face and gracious presence again +in its old material form. Denis summed up our feelings when he cried, +"What a reception Grannie must have had!" There was never any one who +had so broad and sympathetic a heart, a world-mother mourning over +everything which was weak or oppressed, and thinking nothing of her own +time and comfort in her efforts to help the sufferers. Even when blind +and infirm she would plot and plan for the benefit of others, thinking +out their needs, and bringing about surprising results by her +intervention. For my own psychic work she had, I fear, neither sympathy +nor understanding, but she had an innate faith and spirituality which +were so natural to her that she could not conceive the needs of others +in that direction. She understands now. + +Whilst in the Blue Mountains I was forced to reconsider my plans on +account of the strike which has paralysed all coastal trade. If I should +be able to reach Tasmania I might be unable to return, and it would, +indeed, be a tragic situation if my family were ready to start for +England in the _Naldera_, and I was unable to join them. I felt, +therefore, that I was not justified in going to Tasmania, even if I were +able, which is very doubtful. It was sad, as it spoiled the absolute +completeness of my tour, but on the other hand I felt sure that I should +find plenty of work to do on the mainland, without taking so serious a +risk. + +It is a terrible thing to see this young country, which needs every hour +of time and every ounce of energy for its speedy development frittering +itself away in these absurd conflicts, which never give any result to +compare with the loss. One feels that in the stern contests of nations +one will arise which has economic discipline, and that none other could +stand against it. If the training of reorganised Germany should take +this shape she will conquer and she will deserve to conquer. It is a +monstrous abuse that Compulsory Arbitration Courts should be +established, as is the case in Australia, and that Unions should either +strike against their decisions, or should anticipate their decisions, as +in the case of these stewards, by forcing a strike. In such a case I +hold that the secretary and every other official of the Union should be +prosecuted and heavily fined, if not imprisoned. It is the only way by +which the community can be saved from a tyranny which is quite as real +as that of any autocrat. What would be said, for example, of a king who +cut off the islands of Tasmania and New Zealand from communication with +the outer world, deranging the whole Christmas arrangements of countless +families who had hoped to reunite? Yet this is what has been done by a +handful of stewards with some trivial grievance. A fireman who objects +to the cooking can hold up a great vessel. There is nothing but chaos in +front of a nation unless it insists upon being master in its own house, +and forbids either employed or employer to do that which is for the +common scathe. The time seems to be coming when Britons, the world over, +will have to fight for liberty against licence just as hard as ever they +fought for her against tyranny. This I say with full sympathy for the +Labour Party, which I have often been tempted to join, but have always +been repelled by their attempt to bully the rest of the State instead of +using those means which would certainly ensure their legitimate success, +even if it took some years to accomplish. There are many anomalies and +injustices, and it is only a people's party which can set them right. +Hereditary honours are an injustice, lands owned by feudal or royal gift +are an injustice, increased private wealth through the growth of towns +is an injustice, coal royalties are an injustice, the expense of the law +is a glaring injustice, the support of any single religion by the State +is an injustice, our divorce laws are an injustice--with such a list a +real honest Labour Party would be a sure winner if it could persuade us +all that it would not commit injustices itself, and bolster up labour +artificially at the expense of every one else. It is not organised +labour which moves me, for it can take care of itself, but it is the +indigent governesses with thirty pounds a year, the broken people, the +people with tiny pensions, the struggling widows with children--when I +think of all these and then of the man who owns a county I feel that +there is something deeply, deeply wrong which nothing but some great +strong new force can set right. + +One finds in the Blue Mountains that opportunity of getting alone with +real Nature, which is so healing and soothing a thing. The wild scrub +flows up the hillsides to the very grounds of the hotels, and in a very +few minutes one may find oneself in the wilderness of ferns and gum +trees unchanged from immemorial ages. It is a very real danger to the +young or to those who have no sense of direction, for many people have +wandered off and never come back alive--in fact, there is a specially +enrolled body of searchers who hunt for the missing visitor. I have +never in all my travels seen anything more spacious and wonderful than +the view from the different sandstone bluffs, looking down into the huge +gullies beneath, a thousand feet deep, where the great gum trees look +like rows of cabbages. I suppose that in water lies the force which, in +the course of ages, has worn down the soft, sandy rock and formed these +colossal clefts, but the effects are so enormous that one is inclined to +think some great earth convulsion must also have been concerned in their +production. Some of the cliffs have a sheer drop of over one thousand +feet, which is said to be unequalled in the world. + +These mountains are so precipitous and tortuous, presenting such a maze +to the explorer, that for many years they were a formidable barrier to +the extension of the young Colony. There were only about forty miles of +arable land from the coast to the great Hawkesbury River, which winds +round the base of the mountains. Then came this rocky labyrinth. At +last, in 1812, four brave and persevering men--Blaxland, Evans, +Wentworth and Lawson--took the matter in hand, and after many +adventures, blazed a trail across, by which all the splendid hinterland +was opened up, including the gold fields, which found their centre in +the new town of Bathurst. When one reflects that all the gold had to be +brought across this wilderness, with unexplored woodlands fringing the +road, it is no wonder that a race of bushrangers sprang into existence, +and the marvel is that the police should ever have been able to hunt +them down. So fresh is all this very vital history in the development of +a nation, that one can still see upon the trees the marks of the +explorers' axes, as they endeavoured to find a straight trail among the +countless winding gullies. At Mount York, the highest view-point, a +monument has been erected to them, at the place from which they got the +first glimpse of the promised land beyond. + +We had been told that in the tropical weather now prevailing, it was +quite vain for us to go to Queensland, for no one would come to listen +to lectures. My own belief was, however, that this subject has stirred +people very deeply, and that they will suffer any inconvenience to learn +about it. Mr. Smythe was of opinion, at first, that my audiences were +drawn from those who came from curiosity because they had read my +writings, but when he found that the second and the third meetings were +as full as the first, he was forced to admit that the credit of success +lay with the matter rather than with the man. In any case I reflected +that my presence in Brisbane would certainly bring about the usual Press +controversy, with a free ventilation of the subject, so we determined to +go. Mr. Smythe, for once, did not accompany us, but the very capable +lady who assists him, Miss Sternberg, looked after all arrangements. + +It was a very wearisome train journey of twenty-eight hours; tropically +hot, rather dusty, with a change in the middle, and the usual stuffiness +of a sleeper, which was superior to the ordinary American one, but below +the British standard. How the Americans, with their nice sense of +decency, can stand the awful accommodation their railway companies give +them, or at any rate, used to give them, is incomprehensible, but public +opinion in all matters asserts itself far less directly in America than +in Britain. Australia is half-way between, and, certainly, I have seen +abuses there in the management of trains, posts, telegrams and +telephones, which would have evoked loud protests at home. I think that +there is more initiative at home. For example, when the railway strike +threatened to throttle the country, the public rose to the occasion and +improvised methods which met the difficulty. I have not heard of +anything of the kind in the numerous strikes with which this community +is harassed. Any individual action arouses attention. I remember the +amusement of the Hon. Agar Wynne when, on arriving late at Melbourne, in +the absence of porters, I got a trolley, placed my own luggage on it, +and wheeled it to a cab. Yet we thought nothing of that when labour was +short in London. + +The country north of Sydney is exactly like the Blue Mountains, on a +lesser scale--riven ranges of sandstone covered with gum trees. I cannot +understand those who say there is nothing worth seeing in Australia, for +I know no big city which has glorious scenery so near it as Sydney. +After crossing the Queensland border, one comes to the Darling Downs, +unsurpassed for cattle and wheat. Our first impressions of the new State +were that it was the most naturally rich of any Australian Colony, and +the longer we were in it, the more did we realise that this was indeed +so. It is so enormous, however, that it is certain, sooner or later, to +be divided into a South, Middle, and North, each of which will be a +large and flourishing community. We observed from the railway all sorts +of new vegetable life, and I was especially interested to notice that +our English Yellow Mullein was lining the track, making its way +gradually up country. + +Even Sydney did not provide a warmer and more personal welcome than that +which we both received when we at last reached Brisbane. At Toowoomba, +and other stations on the way, small deputations of Spiritualists had +met the train, but at Brisbane the platform was crowded. My wife was +covered with flowers, and we were soon made to realise that we had been +misinformed in the south, when we were told that the movement was +confined to a small circle. + +We were tired, but my wife rose splendidly to the occasion. The local +paper says: "Carefully concealing all feelings of fatigue and tiredness +after the long and wearisome train journey from Sydney, Lady Doyle +charmed the large gathering of Spiritualists assembled at the Central +Railway Station on Saturday night, to meet her and her husband. In +vivacious fashion, Lady Doyle responded to the many enthusiastic +greetings, and she was obviously delighted with the floral gifts +presented to her on her arrival. To a press representative, Lady Doyle +expressed her admiration of the Australian scenery, and she referred +enthusiastically to the Darling Downs district and to the Toowoomba +Range. During her husband's absence in New Zealand, Lady Doyle and her +children spent a holiday in the Blue Mountains (New South Wales), and +were delighted with the innumerable gorgeous beauty spots there." + +After a short experience, when we were far from comfortable, we found +our way to the Bellevue Hotel, where a kindly old Irish proprietress, +Mrs. Finegan, gave us greater attention and luxury than we had found +anywhere up to then on the Australian continent. + +The usual press discussion was in full swing. The more bigoted clergy in +Brisbane, as elsewhere, were very vituperative, but so unreasonable and +behind their own congregations in knowledge and intelligence, that they +must have alienated many who heard them. Father Lane, for example, +preaching in the cathedral, declared that the whole subject was "an +abomination to the Lord." He does not seem to have asked himself why the +Lord gave us these powers if they are an abomination. He also declared +that we denied our moral responsibility to God in this life, a +responsibility which must have weighed rather lightly upon Father Lane +when he made so false a statement. The Rev. L. H. Jaggers, not to be +outdone in absurdity by Father Lane, described all our fellow-mortals of +India, China and Japan as "demoniacal races." Dr. Cosh put forward the +Presbyterian sentiment that I was Anti-Christ, and a serious menace to +the spiritual life of Australia. Really, when I see the want of all +truth and charity shown by these gentlemen, it does begin to convince me +of the reality of diabolical interference in the affairs of mankind, for +I cannot understand why, otherwise, such efforts should be made to +obscure, by falsehood and abuse, the great revelation and comfort which +God has sent us. The opposition culminated in an open letter from Dr. +Cosh in the _Mail_, demanding that I should define my exact views as to +the Trinity, the Atonement, and other such mysteries. I answered by +pointing out that all the religious troubles of the past had come from +the attempt to give exact definitions of things which were entirely +beyond the human power of thought, and that I refused to be led along so +dangerous a path. One Baptist clergyman, named Rowe, had the courage to +say that he was on my side, but with that exception I fear that I had a +solid phalanx against me. + +On the other hand, the general public were amazingly friendly. It was +the more wonderful as it was tropical weather, even for Brisbane. In +that awful heat the great theatre could not hold the people, and they +stood in the upper galleries, packed tightly, for an hour and a half +without a movement or a murmur. It was a really wonderful sight. Twice +the house was packed this way, so (as the Tasmanian venture was now +hopeless, owing to the shipping strike) I determined to remain in our +very comfortable quarters at the Bellevue Hotel, and give one more +lecture, covering fresh ground. The subject opens up so that I am sure I +could lecture for a week without repeating myself. On this occasion the +house was crowded once more. The theatrical manager said, "Well, if it +was comic opera in the season, it could not have succeeded better!" I +was rather exhausted at the end, for I spoke, as usual, with no +chairman, and gave them a full ninety minutes, but it was nearing the +end of my work, and the prospect of the quiet time ahead of us helped +me on. + +I met a kinsman, Dr. A. A. Doyle, who is a distinguished skin +specialist, in Brisbane. He knew little of psychic matters, but he had +met with a remarkable experience. His son, a splendid young fellow, died +at the front. At that moment his father woke to find the young soldier +stooping over him, his face quite close. He at once woke his wife and +told her that their son, he feared, was dead. But here comes a fine +point. He said to the wife, "Eric has had a return of the acne of the +face, for which I treated him years ago. I saw the spots." The next post +brought a letter, written before Eric's death, asking that some special +ointment should be sent, as his acne had returned. This is a very +instructive case, as showing that even an abnormal thing is reproduced +at first upon the etheric body. But what has a materialist to say to the +whole story? He can only evade it, or fall back upon his usual theory, +that every one who reports such occurrences is either a fool or a liar. + +We had a pleasant Sunday among the birds of Queensland. Mr. Chisholm, an +enthusiastic bird-lover, took us round to see two very large aviaries, +since the haunt of the wild birds was beyond our reach. Birds in +captivity have always saddened me, but here I found them housed in such +great structures, with every comfort included, and every natural enemy +excluded, that really one could not pity them. One golden pheasant +amused us, for he is a very conceited bird when all is well with him, +and likes to occupy the very centre of the stage, with the spot light +upon him, and a chorus of drab hens admiring him from the rear. We had +caught him, however, when he was moulting, and he was so conscious of +his bedraggled glories that he dodged about behind a barrel, and +scuttled under cover every time we tried to put him out. A fearful thing +happened one day, for a careless maid left the door ajar, and in the +morning seventy of the inmates were gone. It must have been a cruel blow +to Mr. Baldwin, who is devoted to his collection. However, he very +wisely left the door open, after securing the remaining birds, and no +less than thirty-four of the refugees returned. The fate of the others +was probably tragic, for they were far from the mountains which are +their home. + +Mr. Farmer Whyte, the very progressive editor of the _Daily Mail_, who +is miles ahead of most journalists in psychic knowledge, took us for an +interesting drive through the dense woods of One Tree Hill. Here we were +courteously met by two of the original owners, one of them an iguana, a +great, heavy lizard, which bolted up a tree, and the other a kangaroo, +who stood among the brushwood, his ears rotating with emotion, while he +gazed upon our halted car. From the summit of the hill one has a +wonderful view of the ranges stretching away to the horizon in all +directions, while at one's feet lies the very wide spread city. As +nearly every dwelling house is a bungalow, with its own little ground, +the Australian cities take up great space, which is nullified by their +very excellent tram services. A beautiful river, the Brisbane, rather +wider than the Thames, winds through the town, and has sufficient depth +to allow ocean steamers to come within cab-drive of the hotels. + +About this time I had the usual experience which every visitor to the +States or to the Dominions is liable to, in that his own utterances in +his letters home get into print, and boomerang back upon him. My own +feelings, both to the Australian people and their country, have been so +uniformly whole-hearted that I should have thought no mischief could be +made, but at the same time, I have always written freely that which I +was prepared to stand by. In this case, the extract, from a private +letter, removed from all modifying context, came through as follows: + + "Sir Conan Doyle, quoted in the _International Psychic Gazette_, in + referring to his 'ups and downs' in Australia, says: 'Amid the + "downs" is the Press boycott, caused partly by ignorance and want + of proportion, partly by moral cowardice and fear of finding out + later that they had backed the wrong horse, or had given the wrong + horse fair play. They are very backward, and far behind countries + like Iceland and Denmark in the knowledge of what has been done in + Spiritualism. They are dear folk, these Australians, but, Lord, + they want Spirituality, and dynamiting out of their grooves! The + Presbyterians actually prayed that I might not reach the country. + This is rather near murder, if they thought their rotten prayers + would avail. The result was an excellent voyage, but it is the + spiritual deadness of this place which gets on my nerves.'" + +This was copied into every paper in Australia, but it was soon +recognised that "this place" was not Australia, but Melbourne, from +which the letter was dated. I have already recorded how I was treated by +the leading paper in that city, and my general experience there was +faithfully reflected in my remarks. Therefore, I had nothing to +withdraw. My more extended experience taught me that the general level +of intelligence and of spirituality in the Australasian towns is as high +as in the average towns of Great Britain, though none are so far +advanced as towns like Manchester or Glasgow, nor are there the same +number of professional and educated men who have come forward and given +testimony. The thirst for information was great, however, and that +proved an open mind, which must now lead to a considerable extension of +knowledge within the churches as well as without. + +My remarks had been caused by the action of the _Argus_, but the _Age_, +the other leading Melbourne paper, seemed to think that its honour was +also touched, and had a very severe leading article upon my +delinquencies, and my alleged views, which was, as usual, a wild +travesty of my real ones. It began this article by the assertion that, +apparently, I still thought that Australia was inhabited by the +aborigines, before I ventured to bring forward such theories. Such a +remark, applied to a subject which has won the assent in varying degrees +of every one who has seriously examined it, and which has its foundation +resting upon the labours of some of the greatest minds in the world, did +not help me to recover my respect for the mentality and breadth of view +of the journals of Melbourne. I answered, pointing out that David Syme, +the very distinguished founder of the paper, by no means shared this +contempt to Spiritualism, as is shown by two long letters included in +his published Life. + +This attitude, and that of so many other objectors, is absolutely +unintelligible to me. They must know that this cult is spreading and +that many capable minds have examined and endorsed it. They must know, +also, that the views we proclaim, the continuance of happy life and the +practical abolition of death are, if true, the grandest advance that the +human race has ever made. And yet, so often, instead of saying, "Well, +here is some one who is supposed to know something about the matter. Let +us see if this grand claim can possibly be established by evidence and +argument," they break into insults and revilings as if something +offensive had been laid before them. This attitude can only arise from +the sluggish conservatism of the human brain, which runs easily in +certain well-worn grooves, and is horrified by the idea that something +may come to cause mental exertion and readjustment. + + Illustration: LAYING FOUNDATION STONE OF SPIRITUALIST CHURCH AT + BRISBANE. + +I am bound to add that the general public went out of their way to +show that their Press did not represent their views. The following +passage is typical of many: "The criticism which you have so justly +resented is, I am sure, not in keeping with the views of the majority of +the Australian people. In my own small sphere many of my friends have +been stirred deeply by your theories, and the inspiration in some cases +has been so marked that the fact should afford you satisfaction. We are +not all spiritually defunct. Many are quite satisfied that you are +giving your best for humanity, and believe that there is a tremendous +revelation coming to this weary old world." + +The Spiritualists of Brisbane, greatly daring, have planned out a church +which is to cost £10,000, trusting to those who work with us on the +other side to see the enterprise through. The possible fallacy lies in +the chance that those on the other side do not desire to see this +immense movement become a separate sect, but are in favour of the +peaceful penetration of all creeds by our new knowledge. It is on record +that early in the movement Senator Talmadge asked two different spirit +controls, in different States of the Union, what the ultimate goal of +this spiritual outburst might be, and received exactly the same answer +from each, namely, that it was to prove immortality and to unify the +Churches. The first half has been done, so far as survival implies +immortality, and the second may well come to pass, by giving such a +large common platform to each Church that they will learn to disregard +the smaller differences. + +Be this as it may, one could not but admire the faith and energy of Mr. +Reinhold and the others who were determined to have a temple of their +own. I laid the foundation stone at three in the afternoon under so +tropical a sun that I felt as if the ceremony was going to have its +immemorial accompaniment of a human sacrifice and even of a whole-burned +offering. The crowd made matters worse, but a friendly bystander with an +umbrella saved me from heat apoplexy. I felt the occasion was a solemn +one, for it was certainly the first Spiritual Church in the whole of +Queensland, and I doubt if we have many anywhere in Australia, for among +our apostolic gifts poverty is conspicuous. It has always amazed me how +Theosophists and Christian Scientists get their fine halls and +libraries, while we, with our zeal and our knowledge, have some bare +schoolroom or worse as our only meeting place. It reflects little credit +upon the rich people who accept the comforts we bring, but share none of +the burdens we bear. There is a kink in their souls. + +I spoke at some length, and the people listened with patience in spite +of the great heat. It was an occasion when I could, with propriety, lay +emphasis upon the restraint and charity with which such a church should +be run. The Brisbane paper reports me as follows: "I would emphasise +three things. Mind your own business; go on quietly in your own way; you +know the truth, and do not need to quarrel with other people. There are +many roads to salvation. The second point I would urge is that you +should live up to your knowledge. We know for certain that we live on +after death, that everything we do in this world influences what comes +after; therefore, we can afford to be unselfish and friendly to other +religions. Some Spiritualists run down the Bible, whereas it is from +cover to cover a spiritual book. I would like to see the Bible read in +every Spiritualistic Church with particular attention paid to the +passages dealing with occultism. The third point I would emphasise is +that you should have nothing to do with fortune-telling or anything of +that kind. All fortune-telling is really a feeling out in the dark. If +good things are going to happen to you be content to wait for them, and +if evil is to come nothing is to be gained by attempting to anticipate +it. My sympathies are with the police in their attitude to +fortune-tellers, whose black magic is far removed from the services of +our mediums in striving to bring comfort to those whose loved ones have +gone before. If these three things are lived up to, this church will be +a source of great brightness and happiness." + +Our work was pleasantly broken by an invitation to lunch with Sir +Matthew Nathan, at Government House. Sir Matthew impresses one as a man +of character, and as he is a financial authority he is in a position to +help by his advice in restoring the credit of Queensland. The matter in +dispute, which has been called repudiation, does not, as it seems to me, +deserve so harsh a term, as it is one of those cases where there are two +sides to the question, so equally balanced that it is difficult for an +outsider to pronounce a judgment. On the one hand the great squatters +who hold millions of acres in the State had received the land on +considerable leases which charged them with a very low rent--almost a +nominal one--on condition of their taking up and developing the country. +On the other hand, the Government say these leases were granted under +very different circumstances, the lessees have already done very well +out of them, the war has made it imperative that the State raise funds, +and the assets upon which the funds can be raised are all in the hands +of these lessees, who should consent to a revision of their agreements. +So stands the quarrel, so far as I could understand it, and the State +has actually imposed the increased rates. Hence the cry that they have +repudiated their own contract. The result of the squatters' grievance +was that Mr. Theodore, the Premier, was unable to raise money in the +London market, and returned home with the alternative of getting a +voluntary loan in the Colony, or of raising a compulsory loan from those +who had the money. The latter has an ugly sound, and yet the need is +great, and if some may be compelled to serve with their bodies I do not +see why some may not also be compelled to serve with their purses. The +assets of the Colony compare very favourably, I believe, with others, +for while these others have sold their lands, the Government of +Queensland has still the ownership of the main tracts of the gloriously +fertile country. Therefore, with an issue at 6-1/2 per cent., without +tax, one would think that they should have no difficulty in getting any +reasonable sum. I was cinemaed in the act of applying for a small share +in the issue, but I think the advertisement would have been of more +value to the loan, had they captured some one of greater financial +stability. + +The more one examines this alleged "repudiation" the less reason appears +in the charge, and as it has assuredly injured Queensland's credit, it +is well that an impartial traveller should touch upon it. The squatters +are the richer folk and in a position to influence the public opinion of +the world, and in their anxiety to exploit their own grievance they seem +to have had little regard for the reputation of their country. It is +like a man burning down his house in the hope of roasting some other +inmate of whom he disapproves. A conservative paper (the _Producer's +Review_, January 10th, 1921), says: "No living man can say how much +Queensland has been damaged by the foolish partisan statements that have +been uttered and published." The article proceeds to show in very +convincing style, with chapter and verse, that the Government has always +been well within its rights, and that a Conservative Government on a +previous occasion did the same thing, framing a Bill on identical lines. + +On January 12th my kinsman, Dr. Doyle, with his charming wife, took us +out into the bush for a billy tea--that is, to drink tea which is +prepared as the bushmen prepare it in their tin cans. It was certainly +excellent, and we enjoyed the drive and the whole experience, though +uninvited guests of the mosquito tribe made things rather lively for +us. I prayed that my face would be spared, as I did not wish to turn up +at my lecture as if I had been having a round with Dr. Cosh, and I react +in a most whole-hearted way to any attentions from an insect. The result +was certainly remarkable, be it coincidence or not, for though my hands +were like boxing-gloves, and my neck all swollen, there was not a mark +upon my face. I fancy that the hardened inhabitants hardly realise what +new chums endure after they are bitten by these pests. It means to me +not only disfigurement, but often a sleepless night. My wife and the +children seem to escape more lightly. I found many objects of interest +in the bush--among others a spider's web so strong that full-sized +dragon flies were enmeshed in it. I could not see the creature itself, +but it must have been as big as a tarantula. Our host was a large +landowner as well as a specialist, and he talked seriously of leaving +the country, so embittered was he by the land-policy of the Government. +At the same time, the fact that he could sell his estate at a fair price +seemed to imply that others took a less grave view of the situation. +Many of the richer classes think that Labour is adopting a policy of +deliberate petty irritation in order to drive them out of the country, +but perhaps they are over-sensitive. + +So full was our life in Brisbane that there was hardly a day that we had +not some memorable experience, even when I had to lecture in the +evening. Often we were going fourteen and fifteen hours a day, and a +tropical day at that. On January 14th we were taken to see the largest +bee-farm in Australia, run by Mr. H. L. Jones. Ever since I consigned +Mr. Sherlock Holmes to a bee farm for his old age, I have been supposed +to know something of the subject, but really I am so ignorant that when +a woman wrote to me and said she would be a suitable housekeeper to the +retired detective because she could "segregate the queen," I did not +know what she meant. On this occasion I saw the operation and many other +wonderful things which make me appreciate Maeterlinck's prose-poem upon +the subject. There is little poetry about Mr. Jones however, and he is +severely practical. He has numbers of little boxes with a store of +bee-food compressed into one end of them. Into each he thrusts a queen +with eight attendants to look after her. The food is enough to last two +months, so he simply puts on a postage stamp and sends it off to any one +in California or South Africa who is starting an apiary. Several hives +were opened for our inspection with the precaution of blowing in some +smoke to pacify the bees. We were told that this sudden inrush of smoke +gives the bees the idea that some great cataclysm has occurred, and +their first action is to lay in a store of honey, each of them, as a man +might seize provisions in an earthquake so as to be ready for whatever +the future might bring. He showed us that the queen, fed with some +special food by the workers, can lay twice her own weight of eggs in a +day, and that if we could find something similar for hens we could hope +for an unbroken stream of eggs. Clever as the bee is it is clearly an +instinctive hereditary cleverness, for man has been able to make many +improvements in its methods, making artificial comb which is better than +the original, in that it has cells for more workers and fewer drones. +Altogether it was a wonderful demonstration, which could be viewed with +comfort under a veil with one's hands in one's pockets, for though we +were assured they would not sting if they knew we would not hurt them, a +misunderstanding was possible. One lady spectator seemed to have a +sudden ambition to break the standing jump record, and we found that she +had received two stings, but Mr. Jones and his assistants covered their +hands with the creatures and were quite immune. A half-wild wallaby +appeared during our visit, and after some coyness yielded to the +fascination which my wife exercises over all animals, and fed out of her +hand. We were assured that this had never before occurred in the case of +any visitor. + +We found in Brisbane, as in every other town, that the question of +domestic service, the most important of all questions to a householder, +was very acute. Ladies who occupied leading positions in the town +assured us that it was impossible to keep maids, and that they were +compelled now to give it up in despair, and to do all their own house +work with such casual daily assistance as they could get. A pound a week +is a common wage for very inefficient service. It is a serious matter +and no solution is in sight. English maids are, I am sorry to say, +looked upon as the worst of all, for to all the other faults they add +constant criticism of their employers, whom they pronounce to be "no +ladies" because they are forced to do many things which are not done at +home. Inefficiency plus snobbishness is a dreadful mixture. Altogether +the lot of the Australian lady is not an easy one, and we admired the +brave spirit with which they rose above their troubles. + +This servant question bears very directly upon the Imperial puzzle of +the northern territory. A white man may live and even work there, but a +white woman cannot possibly run a household unless domestic labour is +plentiful. In that climate it simply means absolute breakdown in a year. +Therefore it is a mad policy which at present excludes so rigorously the +Chinese, Indians or others who alone can make white households possible. +White labour assumes a dog in the manger policy, for it will not, or +cannot, do the work itself, and yet it shuts out those who could do it. +It is an impossible position and must be changed. How severe and +unreasonable are the coloured immigrant laws is shown by the fact that +the experienced and popular Commander of the _Naldera_, Captain +Lewellin, was fined at Sydney a large sum of money because three Goa +Indians deserted from his ship. There is a great demand for Indian camel +drivers in the north, and this no doubt was the reason for the +desertion, but what a _reductio ad absurdum_ of the law which comes +between the demand and the supply, besides punishing an innocent victim. + +As usual a large number of psychic confidences reached us, some of +which were very interesting. One lady is a clairaudient, and on the +occasion of her mother falling ill she heard the words "Wednesday--the +fifteenth." Death seemed a matter of hours, and the date far distant, +but the patient, to the surprise of the doctors, still lingered. Then +came the audible message "She will tell you where she is going." The +mother had lain for two days helpless and comatose. Suddenly she opened +her eyes and said in a clear strong voice, "I have seen the mansions in +my father's house. My husband and children await me there. I could not +have imagined anything so exquisitely lovely." Then she breathed her +last, the date being the 15th. + +We were entertained to dinner on the last evening by the Hon. John +Fihilly, acting Premier of the Colony, and his wife. He is an Irish +labour leader with a remarkable resemblance to Dan O'Connell in his +younger days. I was pleased to see that the toast of the King was given +though it was not called for at a private dinner. Fihilly is a member of +the Government, and I tackled him upon the question of British emigrants +being enticed out by specious promises on the part of Colonial Agents in +London, only to find that no work awaited them. Some deplorable cases +had come within my own observation, one, an old Lancashire Fusilier, +having walked the streets for six months. He assured me that the +arrangements were now in perfect order, and that emigrants were held +back in the old country until they could be sure that there was a place +for them. There are so many out of work in Australia that one feels some +sympathy with those labour men who are against fresh arrivals. + +And there lies the great problem which we have not, with all our +experience, managed to master. On the one side illimitable land calling +for work. On the other innumerable workers calling for land. And yet the +two cannot be joined. I remember how it jarred me when I saw Edmonton, +in Western Canada, filled with out-of-workers while the great land lay +uninhabited. The same strange paradox meets one here. It is just the +connecting link that is missing, and that link lies in wise prevision. +The helpless newcomer can do nothing if he and his family are dumped +down upon a hundred acres of gum trees. Put yourself in their position. +How can they hope with their feeble hands to clear the ground? All this +early work must be done for them by the State, the owner repaying after +he has made good. Let the emigrant move straight on to a cleared farm, +with a shack-house already prepared, and clear instructions as to the +best crops, and how to get them. Then it seems to me that emigration +would bring no want of employment in its train. But the State must blaze +the trail and the public follow after. Such arrangements may even now +exist, but if so they need expansion and improvement, for they do not +seem to work. + +Before leaving Brisbane my attention was drawn to the fact that the +State photographer, when he took the scene of the opening of the loan, +had produced to all appearance a psychic effect. The Brisbane papers +recorded it as follows: -- + +"'It is a remarkable result, and I cannot offer any opinion as to what +caused it. It is absolutely mystifying.' Such was the declaration made +yesterday by the Government photographer, Mr. W. Mobsby, in regard to +the unique effect associated with a photograph he took on Thursday last +of Sir A. Conan Doyle. Mr. Mobsby, who has been connected with +photography since boyhood, explained that he was instructed to take an +official photograph of the function at which Sir A. Conan Doyle handed +over his subscription to the State Loan organiser. When he arrived, the +entrance to the building was thronged by a large crowd, and he had to +mount a stepladder, which was being used by the _Daily Mail_ +photographer, in order to get a good view of the proceedings. Mr. Mobsby +took only one picture, just at the moment Sir A. Conan Doyle was +mounting the steps at the Government Tourist Bureau to meet the Acting +Premier, Mr. J. Fihilly. Mr. Mobsby developed the film himself, and was +amazed to find that while all the other figures in the picture were +distinct the form of Sir A. Conan Doyle appeared enveloped in mist and +could only be dimly seen. The photograph was taken on an ordinary film +with a No. 3a Kodak, and careful examination does not in any way +indicate the cause of the sensational result." I have had so many +personal proofs of the intervention of supernormal agencies during +the time that I have been engaged upon this task that I am prepared to +accept the appearance of this aura as being an assurance of the presence +of those great forces for whom I act as a humble interpreter. At the +same time, the sceptic is very welcome to explain it as a flawed film +and a coincidence. + + Illustration: CURIOUS PHOTOGRAPHIC EFFECT REFERRED TO IN THE TEXT. + Taken by the Official Photographer, Brisbane, "Absolutely + mystifying" is his description. + +We returned from Brisbane to Sydney in the Orient Liner "Orsova," which +is a delightful alternative to the stuffy train. The sea has always been +a nursing mother to me, and I suppose I have spent a clear two years of +my life upon the waves. We had a restful Sunday aboard the boat, +disturbed only by the Sunday service, which left its usual effect upon +my mind. The Psalms were set to some unhappy tune, very different from +the grand Gregorian rhythm, so that with its sudden rise to a higher +level it sounded more like the neighing of horses than the singing of +mortals. The words must surely offend anyone who considers what it is +that he is saying--a mixture of most unmanly wailing and spiteful +threats. How such literature has been perpetuated three thousand years, +and how it can ever have been sacred, is very strange. Altogether from +first to last there was nothing, save only the Lord's Prayer, which +could have any spiritual effect. These old observances are like an iron +ball tied to the leg of humanity, for ever hampering spiritual progress. +If now, after the warning of the great war, we have not the mental +energy and the moral courage to get back to realities, we shall deserve +what is coming to us. + +On January 17th we were back, tired but contented, in the Medlow Bath +Hotel in the heart of the Blue Mountains--an establishment which I can +heartily recommend to any who desire a change from the summer heats of +Sydney. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + Medlow Bath.--Jenolan Caves.--Giant skeleton.--Mrs. Foster Turner's + mediumship.--A wonderful prophecy.--Final results.--Third sitting + with Bailey.--Failure of State Control.--Retrospection.--Melbourne + presentation.--Crooks.--Lecture at Perth.--West + Australia.--Rabbits, sparrows and sharks. + + +We recuperated after our Brisbane tour by spending the next week at +Medlow Bath, that little earthly paradise, which is the most restful +spot we have found in our wanderings. It was built originally by Mr. +Mark Foy, a successful draper of Sydney, and he is certainly a man of +taste, for he has adorned it with a collection of prints and of +paintings--hundreds of each--which would attract attention in any city, +but which on a mountain top amid the wildest scenery give one the idea +of an Arabian Nights palace. There was a passage some hundreds of yards +long, which one has to traverse on the way to each meal, and there was a +certain series of French prints, representing events of Byzantine +history, which I found it difficult to pass, so that I was often a late +comer. A very fair library is among the other attractions of this +remarkable place. + +Before leaving we spent one long day at the famous Jenolan Caves, which +are distant about forty-five miles. As the said miles are very +up-and-down, and as the cave exploration involves several hours of +climbing, it makes a fairly hard day's work. We started all seven in a +motor, as depicted by the wayside photographers, but Baby got sick and +had to be left with Jakeman at the half-way house, where we picked her +up, quite recovered, on our return. It was as well, for the walk would +have been quite beyond her, and yet having once started there is no +return, so we should have ended by carrying her through all the +subterranean labyrinths. The road is a remarkably good one, and +represents a considerable engineering feat. It passes at last through an +enormous archway of rock which marks the entrance to the cave +formations. These caves are hollowed out of what was once a coral reef +in a tropical sea, but is now sixty miles inland with a mountain upon +the top of it--such changes this old world has seen. If the world were +formed only that man might play his drama upon it, then mankind must be +in the very earliest days of his history, for who would build so +elaborate a stage if the play were to be so short and insignificant? + + Illustration: OUR PARTY EN ROUTE TO THE JENOLAN CAVES, JANUARY + 20TH, 1921, IN FRONT OF OLD COURT HOUSE IN WHICH BUSHRANGERS WERE + TRIED. + +The caves are truly prodigious. They were discovered first in the +pursuit of some poor devil of a bushranger who must have been hard put +to it before he took up his residence in this damp and dreary retreat. A +brave man, Wilson, did most of the actual exploring, lowering himself by +a thin rope into noisome abysses of unknown depth and charting out +the whole of this devil's warren. It is so vast that many weeks would be +needed to go through it, and it is usual at one visit to take only a +single sample. On this occasion it was the River Cave, so named because +after many wanderings you come on a river about twenty feet across and +forty-five feet deep which has to be navigated for some distance in a +punt. The stalactite effects, though very wonderful, are not, I think, +superior to those which I have seen in Derbyshire, and the caves have +none of that historical glamour which is needed in order to link some +large natural object to our own comprehension. I can remember in +Derbyshire how my imagination and sympathy were stirred by a Roman +lady's brooch which had been found among the rubble. Either a wild beast +or a bandit knew best how it got there. Jenolan has few visible links +with the past, but one of them is a tremendous one. It is the complete, +though fractured, skeleton of a very large man--seven foot four said the +guide, but he may have put it on a little--who was found partly imbedded +in the lime. Many ages ago he seems to have fallen through the roof of +the cavern, and the bones of a wallaby hard by give some indication that +he was hunting at the time, and that his quarry shared his fate. He was +of the Black fellow type, with a low-class cranium. It is remarkable the +proportion of very tall men who are dug up in ancient tombs. Again and +again the bogs of Ireland have yielded skeletons of seven and eight +feet. Some years ago a Scythian chief was dug up on the Southern +Steppes of Russia who was eight feet six. What a figure of a man with +his winged helmet and his battle axe! All over the world one comes upon +these giants of old, and one wonders whether they represented some race, +further back still, who were all gigantic. The Babylonian tradition in +our Bible says: "And there were giants in those days." The big primeval +kangaroo has grown down to the smaller modern one, the wombat, which was +an animal as big as a tapir, is now as small as a badger, the great +saurians have become little lizards, and so it would seem not +unreasonable to suppose that man may have run to great size at some +unexplored period in his evolution. + +We all emerged rather exhausted from the bowels of the earth, dazed with +the endless succession of strange gypsum formations which we had seen, +minarets, thrones, shawls, coronets, some of them so made that one could +imagine that the old kobolds had employed their leisure hours in +fashioning their freakish outlines. It was a memorable drive home in the +evening. Once as a bird flew above my head, the slanting ray of the +declining sun struck it and turned it suddenly to a vivid scarlet and +green. It was the first of many parrots. Once also a couple of kangaroos +bounded across the road, amid wild cries of delight from the children. +Once, too, a long snake writhed across and was caught by one of the +wheels of the motor. Rabbits, I am sorry to say, abounded. If they would +confine themselves to these primeval woods, Australia would be content. + +This was the last of our pleasant Australian excursions, and we left +Medlow Bath refreshed not only by its charming atmosphere, but by +feeling that we had gained new friends. We made our way on January 26th +to Sydney, where all business had to be settled up and preparations made +for our homeward voyage. + +Whilst in Sydney I had an opportunity of examining several phases of +mediumship which will be of interest to the psychic reader. I called +upon Mrs. Foster Turner, who is perhaps the greatest all-round medium +with the highest general level of any sensitive in Australia. I found a +middle-aged lady of commanding and pleasing appearance with a dignified +manner and a beautifully modulated voice, which must be invaluable to +her in platform work. Her gifts are so many that it must have been +difficult for her to know which to cultivate, but she finally settled +upon medical diagnosis, in which she has, I understand, done good work. +Her practice is considerable, and her help is not despised by some of +the leading practitioners. This gift is, as I have explained previously +in the case of Mr. Bloomfield, a form of clairvoyance, and Mrs. Foster +Turner enjoys all the other phases of that wonderful power, including +psychometry, with its application to detective work, the discerning of +spirits, and to a very marked degree the gift of prophecy, which she has +carried upon certain occasions to a length which I have never known +equalled in any reliable record of the past. + +Here is an example for which, I am told, a hundred witnesses could be +cited. At a meeting at the Little Theatre, Castlereagh Street, Sydney, +on a Sunday evening of February, 1914, Mrs. Turner addressed the +audience under an inspiration which claimed to be W. T. Stead. He ended +his address by saying that in order to prove that he spoke with a power +beyond mortal, he would, on the next Sunday, give a prophecy as to the +future of the world. + +Next Sunday some 900 people assembled, when Mrs. Turner, once more under +control, spoke as follows. I quote from notes taken at the time. "Now, +although there is not at present a whisper of a great European war at +hand, yet I want to warn you that before this year, 1914, has run its +course, Europe will be deluged in blood. Great Britain, our beloved +nation, will be drawn into the most awful war the world has ever known. +Germany will be the great antagonist, and will draw other nations in her +train. Austria will totter to its ruin. Kings and kingdoms will fall. +Millions of precious lives will be slaughtered, but Britain will finally +triumph and emerge victorious. During the year, also, the Pope of Rome +will pass away, and a bomb will be placed in St. Paul's Church, but will +be discovered in time and removed before damage is done." + +Can any prophecy be more accurate or better authenticated than that? The +only equally exact prophecy on public events which I can recall is when +Emma Hardinge Britten, having been refused permission in 1860 to deliver +a lecture on Spiritualism in the Town Hall of Atlanta, declared that, +before many years had passed, that very Town Hall would be choked up +with the dead and the dying, drawn from the State which persecuted her. +This came literally true in the Civil War a few years later, when +Sherman's army passed that way. + +Mrs. Foster Turner's gift of psychometry is one which will be freely +used by the community when we become more civilised and less ignorant. +As an example of how it works, some years ago a Melbourne man named +Cutler disappeared, and there was a considerable debate as to his fate. +His wife, without giving a name, brought Cutler's boot to Mrs. Turner. +She placed it near her forehead and at once got _en rapport_ with the +missing man. She described how he left his home, how he kissed his wife +good-bye, all the succession of his movements during that morning, and +finally how he had fallen or jumped over a bridge into the river, where +he had been caught under some snag. A search at the place named revealed +the dead body. If this case be compared with that of Mr. Foxhall, +already quoted, one can clearly see that the same law underlies each. +But what an ally for our C.I.D.! + +There was one pleasant incident in connection with my visit to Mrs. +Foster Turner. Upon my asking her whether she had any psychic impression +when she saw me lecturing, she said that I was accompanied on the +platform by a man in spirit life, about 70 years of age, grey-bearded, +with rugged eyebrows. She searched her mind for a name, and then said, +"Alfred Russell Wallace." Doctor Abbott, who was present, confirmed +that she had given that name at the time. It will be remembered that +Mrs. Roberts, of Dunedin, had also given the name of the great +Spiritualistic Scientist as being my coadjutor. There was no possible +connection between Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Roberts. Indeed, the +intervention of the strike had made it almost impossible for them to +communicate, even if they had known each other--which they did not. It +was very helpful to me to think that so great a soul was at my side in +the endeavour to stimulate the attention of the world. + +Two days before our departure we attended the ordinary Sunday service of +the Spiritualists at Stanmore Road, which appeared to be most reverently +and beautifully conducted. It is indeed pleasant to be present at a +religious service which in no way offends one's taste or one's +reason--which cannot always be said, even of Spiritualistic ones. At the +end I was presented with a beautifully illuminated address from the +faithful of Sydney, thanking me for what they were pleased to call "the +splendidly successful mission on behalf of Spiritualism in Sydney." "You +are a specially chosen leader," it went on, "endowed with power to +command attention from obdurate minds. We rejoice that you are ready to +consecrate your life to the spread of our glorious gospel, which +contains more proof of the eternal love of God than any other truth yet +revealed to man." So ran this kindly document. It was decorated with +Australian emblems, and as there was a laughing jackass in the corner, +I was able to raise a smile by suggesting that they had adorned it with +the picture of a type of opponent with whom we were very familiar, the +more so as some choice specimens had been observed in Sydney. There are +some gentle souls in our ranks who refrain from all retort--and morally, +they are no doubt the higher--but personally, when I am moved by the +malevolence and ignorance of our opponents, I cannot help hitting back +at them. It was Mark Twain, I think, who said that, instead of turning +the other cheek, he returned the other's cheek. That is my unregenerate +instinct. + +I was able, for the first time, to give a bird's-eye view of my tour and +its final results. I had, in all, addressed twenty-five meetings, +averaging 2,000 people in each, or 50,000 people in all. I read aloud a +letter from Mr. Carlyle Smythe, who, with his father, had managed the +tours of every lecturer of repute who had come to Australia during the +past thirty years. Mr. Smythe knew what success and failure were, and he +said: "For an equal number of lectures, yours has proved the most +prosperous tour in my experience. No previous tour has won such +consistent success. From the push-off at Adelaide to the great boom in +New Zealand and Brisbane, it has been a great dynamic progression of +enthusiasm. I have known in my career nothing parallel to it." + +The enemies of our cause were longing for my failure, and had, indeed, +in some cases most unscrupulously announced it, so it was necessary +that I should give precise details as to this great success, and to the +proof which it afforded that the public mind was open to the new +revelation. But, after all, the money test was the acid one. I had taken +a party of seven people at a time when all expenses were doubled or +trebled by the unnatural costs of travel and of living, which could not +be made up for by increasing the price of admission. It would seem a +miracle that I could clear this great bill of expenses in a country like +Australia, where the large towns are few. And yet I was able to show +that I had not only done so, after paying large sums in taxation, but +that I actually had seven hundred pounds over. This I divided among +Spiritual funds in Australia, the bulk of it, five hundred pounds, being +devoted to a guarantee of expenses for the next lecturer who should +follow me. It seemed to me that such a lecturer, if well chosen, and +properly guaranteed against loss, might devote a longer time than I, and +visit the smaller towns, from which I had often the most touching +appeals. If he were successful, he need not touch the guarantee fund, +and so it would remain as a perpetual source of active propaganda. Such +was the scheme which I outlined that night, and which was eventually +adopted by the Spiritualists of both Australia and New Zealand. + + Illustration: DENIS WITH A BLACK SNAKE AT MEDLOW BATH. + +On my last evening at Sydney, I attended a third séance with Charles +Bailey, the apport medium. It was not under test conditions, so that it +can claim no strict scientific value, and yet the results are worth +recording. It had struck me that a critic might claim that there was +phosphorescent matter inside the spectacle case, which seemed to be the +only object which Bailey took inside the cabinet, so I insisted on +examining it, but found it quite innocent. The usual inconclusive +shadowy appearance of luminous vapour was evident almost at once, but +never, so far as I could judge, out of reach of the cabinet, which was +simply a blanket drawn across the corner of the room. The Hindoo control +then announced that an apport would be brought, and asked that water be +placed in a tin basin. He (that is, Bailey himself, under alleged +control) then emerged, the lights being half up, carrying the basin over +his head. On putting it down, we all saw two strange little young +tortoises swimming about in it. I say "strange," because I have seen +none like them. They were about the size of a half-crown, and the head, +instead of being close to the shell, was at the end of a thin neck half +as long as the body. There were a dozen Australians present, and they +all said they had never seen any similar ones. The control claimed that +he had just brought them from a tank in Benares. The basin was left on +the table, and while the lights were down, the creatures disappeared. It +is only fair to say that they could have been removed by hand in the +dark, but on examining the table, I was unable to see any of those +sloppings of water which might be expected to follow such an operation. + +Shortly afterwards there was a great crash in the dark, and a number of +coins fell on to the table, and were handed to me by the presiding +control as a parting present. They did not, I fear, help me much with my +hotel bill, for they were fifty-six Turkish copper pennies, taken "from +a well," according to our informant. These two apports were all the +phenomena, and the medium, who has been working very hard of late, +showed every sign of physical collapse at the close. + +Apart from the actual production in the séance room, which may be +disputed, I should like to confront the honest sceptic with the +extraordinary nature of the objects which Bailey produces on these +occasions. They cannot be disputed, for hundreds have handled them, +collections of them have been photographed, there are cases full at the +Stanford University at California, and I am bringing a few samples back +to England with me. If the whole transaction is normal, then where does +he get them? I had an Indian nest. Does anyone import Indian nests? Does +anyone import queer little tortoises with long, thin necks? Is there a +depot for Turkish copper coins in Australia? On the previous sitting, he +got 100 Chinese ones. Those might be explained, since the Chinaman is +not uncommon in Sydney, but surely he exports coins, rather than imports +them. Then what about 100 Babylonian tablets, with legible inscriptions +in Assyrian, some of them cylindrical, with long histories upon them? +Granting that they are Jewish forgeries, how do they get into the +country? Bailey's house was searched once by the police, but nothing was +found. Arabic papers, Chinese schoolbooks, mandarins' buttons, tropical +birds--all sorts of odd things arrive. If they are not genuine, where do +they come from? The matter is ventilated in papers, and no one comes +forward to damn Bailey for ever by proving that he supplied them. It is +no use passing the question by. It calls for an answer. If these +articles can be got in any normal way, then what is the way? If not, +then Bailey has been a most ill-used man, and miracles are of daily +occurrence in Australia. This man should be under the strict, but +patient and sympathetic, control of the greatest scientific observers in +the world, instead of being allowed to wear himself out by promiscuous +séances, given in order to earn a living. Imagine our scientists +expending themselves in the examination of shells, or the classification +of worms, when such a subject as this awaits them. And it cannot await +them long. The man dies, and then where are these experiments? But if +such scientific investigation be made, it must be thorough and +prolonged, directed by those who have real experience of occult matters, +otherwise it will wreck itself upon some theological or other snag, as +did Colonel de Rochas' attempt at Grenoble. + +The longer one remains in Australia, the more one is struck by the +failure of State control. Whenever you test it, in the telephones, the +telegraphs and the post, it stands for inefficiency, with no possibility +that I can see of remedy. The train service is better, but still far +from good. As to the State ventures in steamboat lines and in banking, I +have not enough information to guide me. On the face of it, it is +evident that in each case there is no direct responsible master, and +that there is no real means of enforcing discipline. I have talked to +the heads of large institutions, who have assured me that the conduct of +business is becoming almost impossible. When they send an urgent +telegram, with a letter confirming it, it is no unusual thing for the +letter to arrive first. No complaint produces any redress. The maximum +compensation for sums lost in the post is, I am told, two pounds, so +that the banks, whose registered letters continually disappear, suffer +heavy losses. On the other hand, if they send a messenger with the +money, there is a law by which all bullion carried by train has to be +declared, and has to pay a commission. Yet the public generally, having +no standard of comparison, are so satisfied with the wretched public +services, that there is a continued agitation to extend public control, +and so ruin the well conducted private concerns. The particular instance +which came under my notice was the ferry service of Sydney harbour, +which is admirably and cheaply conducted, and yet there is a clamour +that it also should be dragged into this morass of slovenly +inefficiency. I hope, however, that the tide will soon set the other +way. I fear, from what I have seen of the actual working, that it is +only under exceptional conditions, and with very rigorous and +high-principled direction, that the State control of industries can be +carried out. I cannot see that it is a political question, or that the +democracy has any interest, save to have the public work done as well +and as economically as possible. When the capitalist has a monopoly, and +is exacting an undue return, it is another matter. + +As I look back at Australia my prayers--if deep good wishes form a +prayer--go out to it. Save for that great vacuum upon the north, which a +wise Government would strive hard to fill, I see no other external +danger which can threaten her people. But internally I am shadowed by +the feeling that trouble may be hanging over them, though I am assured +that the cool stability of their race will at last pull them through it. +There are some dangerous factors there which make their position more +precarious than our own, and behind a surface of civilisation there lie +possible forces which might make for disruption. As a people they are +rather less disciplined than a European nation. There is no large middle +or leisured class who would represent moderation. Labour has tried a +Labour Government, and finding that politics will not really alter +economic facts is now seeking some fresh solution. The land is held in +many cases by large proprietors who work great tracts with few hands, so +there is not the conservative element which makes the strength of the +United States with its six million farmers, each with his stake in the +land. Above all, there is no standing military force, and nothing but a +small, though very efficient, police force to stand between organised +government and some wild attempt of the extremists. There are plenty of +soldiers, it is true, and they have been treated with extreme +generosity by the State, but they have been reabsorbed into the civil +population. If they stand for law and order then all is well. On the +other hand, there are the Irish, who are fairly numerous, well organised +and disaffected. There is no Imperial question, so far as I can see, +save with the Irish, but there is this disquieting internal situation +which, with the coming drop of wages, may suddenly become acute. An +Australian should be a sober-minded man for he has his difficulties +before him. We of the old country should never forget that these +difficulties have been partly caused by his splendid participation in +the great war, and so strain every nerve to help, both by an enlightened +sympathy and by such material means as are possible. + +Personally, I have every sympathy with all reasonable and practical +efforts to uphold the standard of living in the working classes. At +present there is an almost universal opinion among thoughtful and +patriotic Australians that the progress of the country is woefully +hampered by the constant strikes, which are declared in defiance of all +agreements and all arbitration courts. The existence of Labour +Governments, or the State control of industries, does not seem to +alleviate these evil conditions, but may rather increase them, for in +some cases such pressure has been put upon the Government that they have +been forced to subsidise the strikers--or at least those sufferers who +have come out in sympathy with the original strikers. Such tactics must +demoralise a country and encourage labour to make claims upon capital +which the latter cannot possibly grant, since in many cases the margin +of profit is so small and precarious that it would be better for the +capitalist to withdraw his money and invest it with no anxieties. It is +clear that the tendency is to destroy the very means by which the worker +earns his bread, and that the position will become intolerable unless +the older, more level-headed men gain control of the unions and keep the +ignorant hot-heads in order. It is the young unmarried men without +responsibilities who create the situations, and it is the married men +with their women and children who suffer. A table of strikes prepared +recently by the _Manchester Guardian_ shows that more hours were lost in +Australia with her five or six million inhabitants than in the United +Kingdom with nearly fifty million. Surely this must make the Labour +leaders reconsider their tactics. As I write the stewards' strike, which +caused such extended misery, has collapsed, the sole result being a loss +of nearly a million pounds in wages to the working classes, and great +inconvenience to the public. The shipowners seem now in no hurry to +resume the services, and if their delay will make the strikers more +thoughtful it is surely to be defended. + +On February 1st we started from Sydney in our good old "Naldera" upon +our homeward voyage, but the work was not yet finished. On reaching +Melbourne, where the ship was delayed two days, we found that a Town +Hall demonstration had been arranged to give us an address from the +Victorian Spiritualists, and wish us farewell. It was very short notice +and there was a tram strike which prevented people from getting about, +so the hall was not more than half full. None the less, we had a fine +chance of getting in touch with our friends, and the proceedings were +very hearty. The inscription was encased in Australian wood with a +silver kangaroo outside and beautiful illuminations within. It ran as +follows: + +"We desire to place on permanent record our intense appreciation of your +zealous and self-sacrificing efforts, and our deep gratitude for the +great help you have given to the cause to which you have consecrated +your life. The over-flowing meetings addressed by you bear evidence of +the unqualified success of your mission, and many thousands bless the +day when you determined to enter this great crusade beneath the Southern +Cross.... In all these sentiments we desire to include your loyal and +most devoted partner, Lady Doyle, whose self-sacrifice equals or exceeds +your own." + +Personally, I have never been conscious of any self-sacrifice, but the +words about my wife were in no way an over-statement. I spoke in reply +for about forty minutes, and gave a synopsis of the state of the faith +in other centres, for each Australian State is curiously self-centred +and realises very little beyond its own borders. It was good for +Melbourne to know that Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and New Zealand were +quite as alive and zealous as themselves. + +At the end of the function I gave an account of the financial results +of my tour and handed over £500 as a guarantee fund for future British +lecturers, and £100 to Mr. Britton Harvey to assist his admirable paper, +_The Harbinger of Light_. I had already expended about £100 upon +spiritual causes, so that my whole balance came to £700, which is all +now invested in the Cause and should bring some good spiritual interest +in time to come. We badly need money in order to be able to lay our case +more fully before the world. + +I have already given the written evidence of Mr. Smythe that my tour was +the most successful ever conducted in his time in Australia. To this I +may add the financial result recorded above. In view of this it is worth +recording that _Life_, a paper entirely under clerical management, said: +"The one thing clear is that Sir Conan Doyle's mission to Australia was +a mournful and complete failure, and it has left him in a very +exasperated state of mind." This is typical of the perverse and +unscrupulous opposition which we have continually to face, which +hesitates at no lie in order to try and discredit the movement. + +One small incident broke the monotony of the voyage between Adelaide and +Fremantle, across the dreaded Bight. + +There have been considerable depredations in the coastal passenger trade +of Australia, and since the State boats were all laid up by the strike +it was to be expected that the crooks would appear upon the big liners. +A band of them came on board the _Naldera_ at Adelaide, but their +methods were crude, and they were up against a discipline and an +organisation against which they were helpless. One ruffian entered a +number of cabins and got away with some booty, but was very gallantly +arrested by Captain Lewellin himself, after a short hand-to-hand +struggle. This fellow was recognised by the detectives at Fremantle and +was pronounced to be an old hand. In the general vigilance and search +for accomplices which followed, another passenger was judged to be +suspicious and he was also carried away by the detectives on a charge of +previous forgery. Altogether the crooks came out very badly in their +encounter with the _Naldera_, whose officers deserve some special +recognition from the Company for the able way in which the matter was +handled. + +Although my formal tour was now over, I had quite determined to speak at +Perth if it were humanly possible, for I could not consider my work as +complete if the capital of one State had been untouched. I therefore +sent the message ahead that I would fit in with any arrangements which +they might make, be it by day or night, but that the ship would only be +in port for a few hours. As matters turned out the _Naldera_ arrived in +the early morning and was announced to sail again at 3 p.m., so that the +hours were awkward. They took the great theatre, however, for 1 p.m., +which alarmed me as I reflected that my audience must either be starving +or else in a state of repletion. Everything went splendidly, however. +The house was full, and I have never had a more delightfully keen set of +people in front of me. Of all my experiences there was none which was +more entirely and completely satisfactory, and I hope that it brought a +very substantial sum into the local spiritual treasury. There was quite +a scene in the street afterwards, and the motor could not start for the +crowds who surrounded it and stretched their kind hands and eager faces +towards us. It was a wonderful last impression to bear away from +Australia. + +It is worth recording that upon a clairvoyante being asked upon this +occasion whether she saw any one beside me on the platform she at once +answered "an elderly man with very tufted eyebrows." This was the marked +characteristic of the face of Russell Wallace. I was told before I left +England that Wallace was my guide. I have already shown that Mrs. +Roberts, of Dunedin, gave me a message direct from him to the same +effect. Mrs. Foster Turner, in Sydney, said she saw him, described him +and gave the name. Three others have described him. Each of these has +been quite independent of the others. I think that the most sceptical +person must admit that the evidence is rather strong. It is naturally +more strong to me since I am personally conscious of his intervention +and assistance. + +Apart from my spiritual mission, I was very sorry that I could not +devote some time to exploring West Australia, which is in some ways the +most interesting, as it is the least developed, of the States in the +Federation. One or two points which I gathered about it are worth +recording, especially its relation to the rabbits and to the sparrows, +the only hostile invaders which it has known. Long may they remain so! + +The battle between the West Australians and the rabbits was historical +and wonderful. After the creatures had become a perfect pest in the East +it was hoped that the great central desert would prevent them from ever +reaching the West. There was no water for a thousand miles. None the +less, the rabbits got across. It was a notable day when the West +Australian outrider, loping from west to east, met the pioneer rabbit +loping from east to west. Then West Australia made a great effort. She +built a rabbit-proof wire screen from north to south for hundreds of +miles from sea to sea, with such thoroughness that the northern end +projected over a rock which fringed deep water. With such thoroughness, +too, did the rabbits reconnoitre this obstacle that their droppings were +seen upon the far side of that very rock. There came another day of doom +when two rabbits were seen on the wrong side of the wire. Two dragons of +the slime would not have alarmed the farmer more. A second line was +built, but this also was, as I understand, carried by the attack, which +is now consolidating, upon the ground it has won. However, the whole +situation has been changed by the discovery elsewhere that the rabbit +can be made a paying proposition, so all may end well in this curious +story. + +A similar fight, with more success, has been made by West Australia +against the sparrow, which has proved an unmitigated nuisance +elsewhere. The birds are slowly advancing down the line of the +Continental Railway and their forward scouts are continually cut off. +Captain White, the distinguished ornithologist, has the matter in hand, +and received, as I am told, a wire a few weeks ago, he being in +Melbourne, to the effect that two sparrows had been observed a thousand +miles west of where they had any rights. He set off, or sent off, +instantly to this way-side desert station in the hope of destroying +them, with what luck I know not. I should be inclined to back the +sparrows. + +This Captain White is a man of energy and brains, whose name comes up +always when one enquires into any question of bird or beast. He has made +a remarkable expedition lately to those lonely Everard Ranges, which lie +some distance to the north of the desolate Nularbor Plain, through which +the Continental Railway passes. It must form one of the most dreadful +wastes in the world, for there are a thousand miles of coast line, +without one single stream emerging. Afforestation may alter all that. In +the Everard Ranges Captain White found untouched savages of the stone +age, who had never seen a white man before, and who treated him with +absolute courtesy and hospitality. They were a fine race physically, +though they lived under such conditions that there was little solid food +save slugs, lizards and the like. One can but pray that the Australian +Government will take steps to save these poor people from the sad fate +which usually follows the contact between the higher and the lower. + +From what I heard, West Australian immigrants are better looked after +than in the other States. I was told in Perth that nine hundred +ex-service men with their families had arrived, and that all had been +fitted into places, permanent or temporary, within a fortnight. This is +not due to Government, but to the exertions of a peculiar local Society, +with the strange title of "The Ugly Men." "Handsome is as handsome +does," and they seem to be great citizens. West Australia calls itself +the Cinderella State, for, although it covers a third of the Continent, +it is isolated from the great centres of population. It has a very +individual life of its own, however, with its gold fields, its shark +fisheries, its pearlers, and the great stock-raising plain in the north. +Among other remarkable achievements is its great water pipe, which +extends for four hundred miles across the desert, and supplies the +pressure for the electric machinery at Kalgurli. + +By a coincidence, the _Narkunda_, which is the sister ship of the +_Naldera_, lay alongside the same quay at Fremantle, and it was an +impressive sight to see these two great shuttles of Empire lying for a +few hours at rest. In their vastness and majesty they made me think of a +daring saying of my mother's, when she exclaimed that if some works of +man, such as an ocean-going steamer, were compared with some works of +God, such as a hill, man could sustain the comparison. It is the divine +spark within us which gives us the creative power, and what may we not +be when that is fully developed! + +The children were fishing for sharks, with a line warranted to hold +eighteen pounds, with the result that Malcolm's bait, lead, and +everything else was carried away. But they were amply repaid by actually +seeing the shark, which played about for some time in the turbid water, +a brown, ugly, varminty creature, with fine lines of speed in its +tapering body. "It was in Adelaide, daddy, not Fremantle," they protest +in chorus, and no doubt they are right. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + Pleasing letters.--Visit to Candy.--Snake and Flying Fox.--Buddha's + shrine.--The Malaya.--Naval digression.--Indian + trader.--Elephanta.--Sea snakes.--Chained to a tombstone.--Berlin's + escape.--Lord Chetwynd.--Lecture in the Red Sea.--Marseilles. + + +It was on Friday, February 11th, that we drew away from the Fremantle +wharf, and started forth upon our long, lonely trek for Colombo--a huge +stretch of sea, in which it is unusual to see a single sail. As night +fell I saw the last twinkling lights of Australia fade away upon our +starboard quarter. Well, my job is done. I have nothing to add, nor have +I said anything which I would wish withdrawn. My furrow gapes across two +young Continents. I feel, deep in my soul, that the seed will fall in +due season, and that the reaping will follow the seed. Only the work +concerns ourselves--the results lie with those whose instruments we are. + +Of the many kindly letters which bade us farewell, and which assured us +that our work was not in vain, none was more eloquent and thoughtful +than that of Mr. Thomas Ryan, a member of the Federal Legislature. "Long +after you leave us your message will linger. This great truth, which we +had long thought of as the plaything of the charlatan and crank, into +this you breathed the breath of life, and, as of old, we were forced to +say, 'We shall think of this again. We shall examine it more fully.' +Give us time--for the present only this, we are sure that this thing was +not done in a corner. Let me say in the few moments I am able to snatch +from an over-crowded life, that we realise throughout the land how deep +and far-reaching were the things of which you spoke to us. We want time, +and even more time, to make them part of ourselves. We are glad you have +come and raised our thoughts from the market-place to the altar." + +Bishop Leadbeater, of Sydney, one of the most venerable and picturesque +figures whom I met in my travels, wrote, "Now that you are leaving our +shores, let me express my conviction that your visit has done great good +in stirring up the thought of the people, and, I hope, in convincing +many of them of the reality of the other life." Among very many other +letters there was none I valued more than one from the Rev. Jasper +Calder, of Auckland. "Rest assured, Sir Arthur, the plough has gone +deep, and the daylight will now reach the soil that has so long been in +the darkness of ignorance. I somehow feel as if this is the beginning of +new things for us all." + +It is a long and weary stretch from Australia to Ceylon, but it was +saved from absolute monotony by the weather, which was unusually +boisterous for so genial a region. Two days before crossing the line we +ran into a north-western monsoon, a rather rare experience, so that the +doldrums became quite a lively place. Even our high decks were wet with +spindrift and the edge of an occasional comber, and some of the cabins +were washed out. A smaller ship would have been taking heavy seas. In +all that great stretch of ocean we never saw a sail or a fish, and very +few birds. The loneliness of the surface of the sea is surely a very +strange fact in nature. One would imagine, if the sea is really so +populous as we imagine, that the surface, which is the only fixed point +in very deep water, would be the gathering ground and trysting place for +all life. Save for the flying fish, there was not a trace in all those +thousands of miles. + +I suppose that on such a voyage one should rest and do nothing, but how +difficult it is to do nothing, and can it be restful to do what is +difficult? To me it is almost impossible. I was helped through a weary +time by many charming companions on board, particularly the Rev. Henry +Howard, reputed to be the best preacher in Australia. Some of his +sermons which I read are, indeed, splendid, depending for their effect +upon real thought and knowledge, without any theological emotion. He is +ignorant of psychic philosophy, though, like so many men who profess +themselves hostile to Spiritualism, he is full of good stories which +conclusively prove the very thing he denies. However, he has reached +full spirituality, which is more important than Spiritualism, and he +must be a great influence for good wherever he goes. The rest he will +learn later, either upon this side, or the other. + +At Colombo I was interested to receive a _Westminster Gazette_, which +contained an article by their special commissioner upon the Yorkshire +fairies. Some correspondent has given the full name of the people +concerned, with their address, which means that their little village +will be crammed with chars-à-banc, and the peace of their life ruined. +It was a rotten thing to do. For the rest, the _Westminster_ inquiries +seem to have confirmed Gardner and me in every particular, and brought +out the further fact that the girls had never before taken a photo in +their life. One of them had, it seems, been for a short time in the +employ of a photographer, but as she was only a child, and her duties +consisted in running on errands, the fact would hardly qualify her, as +_Truth_ suggests, for making faked negatives which could deceive the +greatest experts in London. There may be some loophole in the direction +of thought forms, but otherwise the case is as complete as possible. + +We have just returned from a dream journey to Candy. The old capital is +in the very centre of the island, and seventy-two miles from Colombo, +but, finding that we had one clear night, we all crammed ourselves (my +wife, the children and self) into a motor car, and made for it, while +Major Wood and Jakeman did the same by train. It was a wonderful +experience, a hundred and forty miles of the most lovely coloured +cinema reel that God ever released. I carry away the confused but +beautiful impression of a good broad red-tinted road, winding amid all +shades of green, from the dark foliage of overhanging trees, to the +light stretches of the half-grown rice fields. Tea groves, rubber +plantations, banana gardens, and everywhere the coconut palms, with +their graceful, drooping fronds. Along this great road streamed the +people, and their houses lined the way, so that it was seldom that one +was out of sight of human life. They were of all types and colours, from +the light brown of the real Singalese to the negroid black of the +Tamils, but all shared the love of bright tints, and we were delighted +by the succession of mauves, purples, crimsons, ambers and greens. Water +buffaloes, with the resigned and half-comic air of the London landlady +who has seen better days, looked up at us from their mudholes, and +jackal-like dogs lay thick on the path, hardly moving to let our motor +pass. Once, my lord the elephant came round a corner, with his soft, +easy-going stride, and surveyed us with inscrutable little eyes. It was +the unchanged East, even as it had always been, save for the neat little +police stations and their smart occupants, who represented the gentle, +but very efficient, British Raj. It may have been the merit of that Raj, +or it may have been the inherent virtue of the people, but in all that +journey we were never conscious of an unhappy or of a wicked face. They +were very sensitive, speaking faces, too, and it was not hard to read +the thoughts within. + +As we approached Candy, our road ran through the wonderful Botanical +Gardens, unmatched for beauty in the world, though I still give +Melbourne pride of place for charm. As we sped down one avenue an +elderly keeper in front of us raised his gun and fired into the thick +foliage of a high tree. An instant later something fell heavily to the +ground. A swarm of crows had risen, so that we had imagined it was one +of these, but when we stopped the car a boy came running up with the +victim, which was a great bat, or flying fox, with a two-foot span of +leathery wing. It had the appealing face of a mouse, and two black, +round eyes, as bright as polished shoe buttons. It was wounded, so the +boy struck it hard upon the ground, and held it up once more, the dark +eyes glazed, and the graceful head bubbling blood from either nostril. +"Horrible! horrible!" cried poor Denis, and we all echoed it in our +hearts. This intrusion of tragedy into that paradise of a garden +reminded us of the shadows of life. There is something very intimately +moving in the evil fate of the animals. I have seen a man's hand blown +off in warfare, and have not been conscious of the same haunting horror +which the pains of animals have caused me. + +And here I may give another incident from our Candy excursion. The boys +are wild over snakes, and I, since I sat in the front of the motor, was +implored to keep a look-out. We were passing through a village, where a +large lump of concrete, or stone, was lying by the road. A stick, about +five feet long, was resting against it. As we flew past, I saw, to my +amazement, the top of the stick bend back a little. I shouted to the +driver, and we first halted, and then ran back to the spot. Sure enough, +it was a long, yellow snake, basking in this peculiar position. The +village was alarmed, and peasants came running, while the boys, wildly +excited, tumbled out of the motor. "Kill it!" they cried. "No, no!" +cried the chauffeur. "There is the voice of the Buddhist," I thought, so +I cried, "No! no!" also. The snake, meanwhile, squirmed over the stone, +and we saw it lashing about among the bushes. Perhaps we were wrong to +spare it, for I fear it was full of venom. However, the villagers +remained round the spot, and they had sticks, so perhaps the story was +not ended. + +Candy, the old capital, is indeed a dream city, and we spent a long, +wonderful evening beside the lovely lake, where the lazy tortoises +paddled about, and the fireflies gleamed upon the margin. We visited +also the old Buddhist temple, where, as in all those places, the +atmosphere is ruined by the perpetual demand for small coins. The few +mosques which I have visited were not desecrated in this fashion, and it +seems to be an unenviable peculiarity of the Buddhists, whose +yellow-robed shaven priests have a keen eye for money. Beside the +temple, but in ruins, lay the old palace of the native kings. + +I wish we could have seen the temple under better conditions, for it is +really the chief shrine of the most numerous religion upon earth, +serving the Buddhist as the Kaaba serves the Moslem, or St. Peter's the +Catholic. It is strange how the mind of man drags high things down to +its own wretched level, the priests in each creed being the chief +culprits. Buddha under his boh tree was a beautiful example of sweet, +unselfish benevolence and spirituality. And the upshot, after two +thousand years, is that his followers come to adore a horse's tooth +(proclaimed to be Buddha's, and three inches long), at Candy, and to +crawl up Adam's Peak, in order to worship at a hole in the ground which +is supposed to be his yard-long footstep. It is not more senseless than +some Christian observances, but that does not make it less deplorable. + +I was very anxious to visit one of the buried cities further inland, and +especially to see the ancient Boh tree, which must surely be the doyen +of the whole vegetable kingdom, since it is undoubtedly a slip taken +from Buddha's original Boh tree, transplanted into Ceylon about two +hundred years before Christ. Its history is certain and unbroken. Now, I +understand, it is a very doddering old trunk, with withered limbs which +are supported by crutches, but may yet hang on for some centuries to +come. On the whole, we employed our time very well, but Ceylon will +always remain to each of us as an earthly paradise, and I could imagine +no greater pleasure than to have a clear month to wander over its +beauties. Monsieur Clemenceau was clearly of the same opinion, for he +was doing it very thoroughly whilst we were there. + +From Colombo to Bombay was a dream of blue skies and blue seas. Half +way up the Malabar coast, we saw the old Portuguese settlement of Goa, +glimmering white on a distant hillside. Even more interesting to us was +a squat battleship making its way up the coast. As we came abreast of it +we recognised the _Malaya_, one of that famous little squadron of Evan +Thomas', which staved off the annihilation of Beatty's cruisers upon +that day of doom on the Jutland coast. We gazed upon it with the +reverence that it deserved. We had, in my opinion, a mighty close shave +upon that occasion. If Jellicoe had gambled with the British fleet he +might have won a shattering victory, but surely he was wise to play +safety with such tremendous interests at stake. There is an account of +the action, given by a German officer, at the end of Freeman's book +"With the _Hercules_ to Kiel," which shows clearly that the enemy +desired Jellicoe to close with them, as giving them their only chance +for that torpedo barrage which they had thoroughly practised, and on +which they relied to cripple a number of our vessels. In every form of +foresight and preparation, the brains seem to have been with them--but +that was not the fault of the fighting seamen. Surely an amateur could +have foreseen that, in a night action, a star shell is better than a +searchlight, that a dropping shell at a high trajectory is far more +likely to hit the deck than the side, and that the powder magazine +should be cut off from the turret, as, otherwise, a shell crushing the +one will explode the other. This last error in construction seems to +have been the cause of half our losses, and the _Lion_ herself would +have been a victim, but for the self-sacrifice of brave Major Harvey of +the Marines. All's well that ends well, but it was stout hearts, and not +clear heads, which pulled us through. + +It is all very well to say let bygones be bygones, but we have no +guarantee that the old faults are corrected, and certainly no one has +been censured. It looks as if the younger officers had no means of +bringing their views before those in authority, while the seniors were +so occupied with actual administration that they had no time for +thinking outside their routine. Take the really monstrous fact that, at +the outset of a war of torpedoes and mines, when ships might be expected +to sink like kettles with a hole in them, no least provision had been +made for saving the crew! Boats were discarded before action, nothing +wooden or inflammable was permitted, and the consideration that +life-saving apparatus might be non-inflammable does not seem to have +presented itself. When I wrote to the Press, pointing this out with all +the emphasis of which I was capable--I was ready to face the charge of +hysteria in such a cause--I was gravely rebuked by a leading naval +authority, and cautioned not to meddle with mysteries of which I knew +nothing. None the less, within a week there was a rush order for +swimming collars of india rubber. _Post hoc non propter_, perhaps, but +at least it verified the view of the layman. That was in the days when +not one harbour had been boomed and netted, though surely a shark in a +bathing pool would be innocuous compared to a submarine in an anchorage. +The swimmers could get out, but the ships could not. + +But all this comes of seeing the white _Malaya_, steaming slowly upon +deep blue summer seas, with the olive-green coast of Malabar on the +horizon behind her. + +I had an interesting conversation on psychic matters with Lady Dyer, +whose husband was killed in the war. It has been urged that it is +singular and unnatural that our friends from the other side so seldom +allude to the former occasions on which they have manifested. There is, +I think, force in the objection. Lady Dyer had an excellent case to the +contrary--and, indeed, they are not rare when one makes inquiry. She was +most anxious to clear up some point which was left open between her +husband and herself, and for this purpose consulted three mediums in +London, Mr. Vout Peters, Mrs. Brittain, and another. In each case she +had some success. Finally, she consulted Mrs. Leonard, and her husband, +speaking through Feda, under control, began a long conversation by +saying, "I have already spoken to you through three mediums, two women +and a man." Lady Dyer had not given her name upon any occasion, so there +was no question of passing on information. I may add that the intimate +point at issue was entirely cleared up by the husband, who rejoiced +greatly that he had the chance to do so. + +Bombay is not an interesting place for the casual visitor, and was in a +state of uproar and decoration on account of the visit of the Duke of +Connaught. My wife and I did a little shopping, which gave us a glimpse +of the patient pertinacity of the Oriental. The sum being 150 rupees, I +asked the Indian's leave to pay by cheque, as money was running low. He +consented. When we reached the ship by steam-launch, we found that he, +in some strange way, had got there already, and was squatting with the +goods outside our cabin door. He looked askance at Lloyd's Bank, of +which he had never heard, but none the less he took the cheque under +protest. Next evening he was back at our cabin door, squatting as +before, with a sweat-stained cheque in his hand which, he declared, that +he was unable to cash. This time I paid in English pound notes, but he +looked upon them with considerable suspicion. As our ship was lying a +good three miles from the shore, the poor chap had certainly earned his +money, for his goods, in the first instance, were both good and cheap. + +We have seen the Island of Elephanta, and may the curse of Ernulphus, +which comprises all other curses, be upon that old Portuguese Governor +who desecrated it, and turned his guns upon the wonderful stone +carvings. It reminds me of Abou Simbel in Nubia, and the whole place has +an Egyptian flavour. In a vast hollow in the hill, a series of very +elaborate bas reliefs have been carved, showing Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, +the old Hindoo trinity, with all those strange satellites, the bulls, +the kites, the dwarfs, the elephant-headed giants with which Hindoo +mythology has so grotesquely endowed them. Surely a visitor from some +wiser planet, examining our traces, would judge that the human race, +though sane in all else, was mad the moment that it touched religion, +whether he judged it by such examples as these, or by the wearisome +iteration of expressionless Buddhas, the sacred crocodiles and +hawk-headed gods of Egypt, the monstrosities of Central America, or the +lambs and doves which adorn our own churches. It is only in the +Mohammedan faith that such an observer would find nothing which could +offend, since all mortal symbolism is there forbidden. And yet if these +strange conceptions did indeed help these poor people through their +journey of life--and even now they come from far with their +offerings--then we should morally be as the Portuguese governor, if we +were to say or do that which might leave them prostrate and mutilated in +their minds. It was a pleasant break to our long voyage, and we were +grateful to our commander, who made everything easy for us. He takes the +humane view that a passenger is not merely an article of cargo, to be +conveyed from port to port, but that his recreation should, in reason, +be considered as well. + +Elephanta was a little bit of the old India, but the men who conveyed us +there from the launch to the shore in their ancient dhows were of a far +greater antiquity. These were Kolis, small, dark men, who held the +country before the original Aryan invasion, and may still be plying +their boats when India has become Turanian or Slavonic, or whatever its +next avatar may be. They seem to have the art of commerce well +developed, for they held us up cleverly until they had extracted a rupee +each, counting us over and over with great care and assiduity. + +At Bombay we took over 200 more travellers. + +We had expected that the new-comers, who were mostly Anglo-Indians whose +leave had been long overdue, would show signs of strain and climate, but +we were agreeably surprised to find that they were a remarkably healthy +and alert set of people. This may be due to the fact that it is now the +end of the cold weather. Our new companions included many native +gentlemen, one of whom, the Rajah of Kapurthala, brought with him his +Spanish wife, a regal-looking lady, whose position must be a difficult +one. Hearne and Murrell, the cricketers, old playmates and friends, were +also among the new-comers. All of them seemed perturbed as to the unrest +in India, though some were inclined to think that the worst was past, +and that the situation was well in hand. When we think how splendidly +India helped us in the war, it would indeed be sad if a serious rift +came between us now. One thing I am very sure of, that if Great Britain +should ever be forced to separate from India, it is India, and not +Britain, which will be the chief sufferer. + +We passed over hundreds of miles of absolute calm in the Indian Ocean. +There is a wonderful passage in Frank Bullen's "Sea Idylls," in which +he describes how, after a long-continued tropical calm, all manner of +noxious scum and vague evil shapes come flickering to the surface. +Coleridge has done the same idea, for all time, in "The Ancient +Mariner," when "the very sea did rot." In our case we saw nothing so +dramatic, but the ship passed through one area where there was a great +number of what appeared to be sea-snakes, creatures of various hues, +from two to ten feet long, festooned or slowly writhing some feet below +the surface. I cannot recollect seeing anything of the kind in any +museum. These, and a couple of Arab dhows, furnished our only break in a +thousand miles. Certainly, as an entertainment the ocean needs cutting. + +In the extreme south, like a cloud upon the water, we caught a glimpse +of the Island of Socotra, one of the least visited places upon earth, +though so near to the main line of commerce. What a base for submarines, +should it fall into wrong hands! It has a comic-opera Sultan of its own, +with 15,000 subjects, and a subsidy from the British Government of 200 +dollars a year, which has been increased lately to 360, presumably on +account of the higher cost of living. It is a curious fact that, though +it is a great place of hill and plain, seventy miles by eighteen, there +is only one wild animal known, namely the civet cat. A traveller, Mr. +Jacob, who examined the place, put forward the theory that one of +Alexander the Great's ships was wrecked there, the crew remaining, for +he found certain Greek vestiges, but what they were I have been unable +to find out. + +As we approached Aden, we met the _China_ on her way out. Her +misadventure some years ago at the Island of Perim, has become one of +the legends of the sea. In those days, the discipline aboard P. & O. +ships was less firm than at present, and on the occasion of the birthday +of one of the leading passengers, the officers of the ship had been +invited to the festivity. The result was that, in the middle of dinner, +the ship crashed, no great distance from the lighthouse, and, it is +said, though this is probably an exaggeration, that the revellers were +able to get ashore over the bows without wetting their dress shoes. No +harm was done, save that one unlucky rock projected, like a huge spike, +through the ship's bottom, and it cost the company a good half-million +before they were able to get her afloat and in service once more. +However, there she was, doing her fifteen knots, and looking so saucy +and new that no one would credit such an unsavoury incident in her past. + +Early in February I gave a lantern lecture upon psychic phenomena to +passengers of both classes. The Red Sea has become quite a favourite +stamping ground of mine, but it was much more tolerable now than on that +terrible night in August when I discharged arguments and perspiration to +a sweltering audience. On this occasion it was a wonderful gathering, a +microcosm of the world, with an English peer, an Indian Maharajah, many +native gentlemen, whites of every type from four great countries, and a +fringe of stewards, stewardesses, and nondescripts of all sorts, +including the ship's barber, who is one of the most active men on the +ship in an intellectual sense. All went well, and if they were not +convinced they were deeply interested, which is the first stage. +Somewhere there are great forces which are going to carry on this work, +and I never address an audience without the feeling that among them +there may be some latent Paul or Luther whom my words may call into +activity. + +I heard an anecdote yesterday which is worth recording. We have a +boatswain who is a fine, burly specimen of a British seaman. In one of +his short holidays while in mufti, in Norfolk, he had an argument with a +Norfolk farmer, a stranger to him, who wound up the discussion by +saying: "My lad, what you need is a little travel to broaden your mind." + +The boatswain does his 70,000 miles a year. It reminded me of the doctor +who advised his patient to take a brisk walk every morning before +breakfast, and then found out that he was talking to the village +postman. + +A gentleman connected with the cinema trade told me a curious story +within his own experience. Last year a psychic cinema story was shown in +Australia, and to advertise it a man was hired who would consent to be +chained to a tombstone all night. This was done in Melbourne and Sydney +without the person concerned suffering in any way. It was very different +in Launceston. The man was found to be nearly mad from terror in the +morning, though he was a stout fellow of the dock labourer type. His +story was that in the middle of the night he had heard to his horror the +sound of dripping water approaching him. On looking up he saw an +evil-looking shape with water streaming from him, who stood before him +and abused him a long time, frightening him almost to death. The man was +so shaken that the cinema company had to send him for a voyage. Of +course, it was an unfair test for any one's nerves, and imagination may +have played its part, but it is noticeable that a neighbouring grave +contained a man who had been drowned in the Esk many years before. In +any case, it makes a true and interesting story, whatever the +explanation. + +I have said that there was an English peer on board. This was Lord +Chetwynd, a man who did much towards winning the war. Now that the storm +is over the public knows nothing, and apparently cares little, about the +men who brought the ship of State through in safety. Some day we shall +get a more exact sense of proportion, but it is all out of focus at +present. Lord Chetwynd, in the year 1915, discovered by his own personal +experiments how to make an explosive far more effective than the one we +were using, which was very unreliable. This he effected by a particular +combination and treatment of T.N.T. and ammonia nitrate. Having +convinced the authorities by actual demonstration, he was given a free +hand, which he used to such effect that within a year he was furnishing +the main shell supply of the army. His own installation was at +Chilwell, near Nottingham, and it turned out 19,000,000 shells, while +six other establishments were erected elsewhere on the same system. +Within his own works Lord Chetwynd was so complete an autocrat that it +was generally believed that he shot three spies with his own hand. +Thinking the rumour a useful one, he encouraged it by creating three +dummy graves, which may, perhaps, be visited to this day by pious +pro-Germans. It should be added that Lord Chetwynd's explosive was not +only stronger, but cheaper, than that in previous use, so that his +labours saved the country some millions of pounds. + +It was at Chilwell that the huge bombs were filled which were destined +for Berlin. There were 100 of them to be carried in twenty-five Handley +Page machines. Each bomb was capable of excavating 350 tons at the spot +where it fell, and in a trial trip one which was dropped in the central +courtyard of a large square building left not a stone standing around +it. Berlin was saved by a miracle, which she hardly deserved after the +irresponsible glee with which she had hailed the devilish work of her +own Zeppelins. The original hundred bombs sent to be charged had the +tails removed before being sent, and when they were returned it was +found to be such a job finding the right tail for the right bomb, the +permutations being endless, that it was quicker and easier to charge +another hundred bombs with tails attached. This and other fortuitous +matters consumed several weeks. Finally, the bombs were ready and were +actually on the machines in England, whence the start was to be made, +when the Armistice was declared. Possibly a knowledge of this increased +the extreme haste of the German delegates. Personally, I am glad it was +so, for we have enough cause for hatred in the world without adding the +death of 10,000 German civilians. There is some weight, however, in the +contention of those who complain that Germans have devastated Belgium +and France, but have never been allowed to experience in their own +persons what the horrors of war really are. Still, if Christianity and +religion are to be more than mere words, we must be content that Berlin +was not laid in ruins at a time when the issue of the war was already +decided. + +Here we are at Suez once again. It would take Loti or Robert Hichens to +describe the wonderful shades peculiar to the outskirts of Egypt. Deep +blue sea turns to dark green, which in turn becomes the very purest, +clearest emerald as it shallows into a snow-white frill of foam. Thence +extends the golden desert with deep honey-coloured shadows, stretching +away until it slopes upwards into melon-tinted hills, dry and bare and +wrinkled. At one point a few white dwellings with a group of acacias +mark the spot which they call Moses Well. They say that a Jew can pick +up a living in any country, but when one surveys these terrible wastes +one can only imagine that the climate has greatly changed since a whole +nomad people were able to cross them. + +In the Mediterranean we had a snap of real cold which laid many of us +out, myself included. I recall the Lancastrian who complained that he +had swallowed a dog fight. The level of our lives had been disturbed for +an instant by a feud between the children and one of the passengers who +had, probably quite justly, given one of them a box on the ear. In +return, they had fixed an abusive document in his cabin which they had +ended by the words, "With our warmest despisings," all signing their +names to it. The passenger was sportsman enough to show this document +around, or we should not have known of its existence. Strange little +souls with their vivid hopes and fears, a parody of our own. I gave baby +a daily task and had ordered her to do a map of Australia. I found her +weeping in the evening. "I did the map," she cried, between her sobs, +"but they all said it was a pig!" She was shaken to the soul at the +slight upon her handiwork. + +It was indeed wonderful to find ourselves at Marseilles once more, and, +after the usual unpleasant _douane_ formalities, which are greatly +ameliorated in France as compared to our own free trade country, to be +at temporary rest at the Hôtel du Louvre. + +A great funeral, that of Frederic Chevillon and his brother, was +occupying the attention of the town. Both were public officials and both +were killed in the war, their bodies being now exhumed for local honour. +A great crowd filed past with many banners, due decorum being observed +save that some of the mourners were smoking cigarettes, which "was not +handsome," as Mr. Pepys would observe. There was no sign of any +religious symbol anywhere. It was a Sunday and yet the people in the +procession seemed very badly dressed and generally down-at-heel and +slovenly. I think we should have done the thing better in England. The +simplicity of the flag-wrapped coffins was however dignified and +pleasing. The inscriptions, too, were full of simple patriotism. + +I never take a stroll through a French town without appreciating the +gulf which lies between us and them. They have the old Roman +civilisation, with its ripe mellow traits, which have never touched the +Anglo-Saxon, who, on the other hand, has his raw Northern virtues which +make life angular but effective. I watched a scene to-day inconceivable +under our rule. Four very smart officers, captains or majors, were +seated outside a café. The place was crowded, but there was room for +four more at this table on the sidewalk, so presently that number of +negro privates came along and occupied the vacant seats. The officers +smiled most good humouredly, and remarks were exchanged between the two +parties, which ended in the high falsetto laugh of a negro. These black +troops seemed perfectly self-respecting, and I never saw a drunken man, +soldier or civilian, during two days. + +I have received English letters which announce that I am to repeat my +Australian lectures at the Queen's Hall, from April 11th onwards. I +seem to be returning with shotted guns and going straight into action. +They say that the most dangerous course is to switch suddenly off when +you have been working hard. I am little likely to suffer from that. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + The Institut Metaphysique.--Lecture in French.--Wonderful musical + improviser.--Camille Flammarion.--Test of materialised hand.--Last + ditch of materialism.--Sitting with Mrs. Bisson's medium, + Eva.--Round the Aisne battlefields.--A tragic + intermezzo.--Anglo-French Rugby match.--Madame Blifaud's + clairvoyance. + + +One long stride took us to Paris, where, under the friendly and +comfortable roof of the Hôtel du Louvre, we were able at last to unpack +our trunks and to steady down after this incessant movement. The first +visit which I paid in Paris was to Dr. Geley, head of the Institut +Metaphysique, at 89, Avenue Niel. Now that poor Crawford has gone, +leaving an imperishable name behind him, Geley promises to be the +greatest male practical psychic researcher, and he has advantages of +which Crawford could never boast, since the liberality of Monsieur Jean +Meyer has placed him at the head of a splendid establishment with +laboratory, photographic room, lecture room, séance room and library, +all done in the most splendid style. Unless some British patron has the +generosity and intelligence to do the same, this installation, with a +man like Geley to run it, will take the supremacy in psychic advance +from Britain, where it now lies, and transfer it to France. Our nearest +approach to something similar depends at present upon the splendid +private efforts of Mr. and Mrs. Hewat MacKenzie, in the Psychic College +at 59, Holland Park, which deserve the support of everyone who realises +the importance of the subject. + +I made a _faux pas_ with the Geleys, for I volunteered to give an +exhibition of my Australian slides, and they invited a distinguished +audience of men of science to see them. Imagine my horror when I found +that my box of slides was in the luggage which Major Wood had taken on +with him in the "Naldera" to England. They were rushed over by +aeroplane, however, in response to my telegram, and so the situation was +saved. + +The lecture was a private one and was attended by Mr. Charles Richet, +Mr. Gabrielle Delanne, and a number of other men of science. Nothing +could have gone better, though I fear that my French, which is +execrable, must have been a sore trial to my audience. I gave them +warning at the beginning by quoting a remark which Bernard Shaw made to +me once, that when he spoke French he did not say what he wanted to say, +but what he could say. Richet told me afterwards that he was deeply +interested by the photographs, and when I noted the wonder and awe with +which he treated them--he, the best known physiologist in the world--and +compared it with the attitude of the ordinary lay Press, it seemed a +good example of the humility of wisdom and the arrogance of ignorance. +After my lecture, which covered an hour and a quarter, we were favoured +by an extraordinary exhibition from a medium named Aubert. This +gentleman has had no musical education whatever, but he sits down in a +state of semi-trance and he handles a piano as I, for one, have never +heard one handled before. It is a most amazing performance. He sits with +his eyes closed while some one calls the alphabet, striking one note +when the right letter sounds. In this way he spells out the name of the +particular composer whom he will represent. He then dashes off, with +tremendous verve and execution, upon a piece which is not a known +composition of that author, but is an improvisation after his manner. We +had Grieg, Mendelssohn, Berlioz and others in quick succession, each of +them masterly and characteristic. His technique seemed to my wife and me +to be not inferior to that of Paderewski. Needles can be driven through +him as he plays, and sums can be set before him which he will work out +without ceasing the wonderful music which appears to flow through him, +but quite independently of his own powers or volition. He would +certainly cause a sensation in London. + +I had the honour next day of meeting Camille Flammarion, the famous +astronomer, who is deeply engaged in psychic study, and was so +interested in the photos which I snowed him that I was compelled to +leave them in his hands that he might get copies done. Flammarion is a +dear, cordial, homely old gentleman with a beautiful bearded head which +would delight a sculptor. He entertained us with psychic stories all +lunch time. Madame Bisson was there and amused me with her opinion upon +psychic researchers, their density, their arrogance, their preposterous +theories to account for obvious effects. If she had not been a great +pioneer in Science, she might have been a remarkable actress, for it was +wonderful how her face took off the various types. Certainly, as +described by her, their far-fetched precautions, which irritate the +medium and ruin the harmony of the conditions, do appear very +ridiculous, and the parrot cry of "Fraud!" and "Fake!" has been sadly +overdone. All are agreed here that spiritualism has a far greater chance +in England than in France, because the French temperament is essentially +a mocking one, and also because the Catholic Church is in absolute +opposition. Three of their bishops, Beauvais, Lisieux and Coutances, +helped to burn a great medium, Joan of Arc, six hundred years ago, +asserting at the trial the very accusations of necromancy which are +asserted to-day. Now they have had to canonise her. One would have hoped +that they had learned something from the incident. + +Dr. Geley has recently been experimenting with Mr. Franek Kluski, a +Polish amateur of weak health, but with great mediumistic powers. These +took the form of materialisations. Dr. Geley had prepared a bucket of +warm paraffin, and upon the appearance of the materialised figure, which +was that of a smallish man, the request was made that the apparition +should plunge its hand into the bucket and then withdraw it, so that +when it dematerialised a cast of the hand would be left, like a glove +of solidified paraffin, so narrow at the wrist that the hands could not +have been withdrawn by any possible normal means without breaking the +moulds. These hands I was able to inspect, and also the plaster cast +which had been taken from the inside of one of them. The latter showed a +small hand, not larger than a boy's, but presenting the characteristics +of age, for the skin was loose and formed transverse folds. The +materialised figure had also, unasked, left an impression of its own +mouth and chin, which was, I think, done for evidential purposes, for a +curious wart hung from the lower lip, which would mark the owner among a +million. So far as I could learn, however, no identification had +actually been effected. The mouth itself was thick-lipped and coarse, +and also gave an impression of age. + +To show the thoroughness of Dr. Geley's work, he had foreseen that the +only answer which any critic, however exacting, could make to the +evidence, was that the paraffin hand had been brought in the medium's +pocket. Therefore he had treated with cholesterin the paraffin in his +bucket, and this same cholesterin reappeared in the resulting glove. +What can any sceptic have to say to an experiment like that save to +ignore it, and drag us back with wearisome iteration to some real or +imaginary scandal of the past? The fact is that the position of the +materialists could only be sustained so long as there was a general +agreement among all the newspapers to regard this subject as a comic +proposition. Now that there is a growing tendency towards recognising +its overwhelming gravity, the evidence is getting slowly across to the +public, and the old attitude of negation and derision has become +puerile. I can clearly see, however, that the materialists will fall +back upon their second line of trenches, which will be to admit the +phenomena, but to put them down to material causes in the unexplored +realms of nature with no real connection with human survival. This +change of front is now due, but it will fare no better than the old one. +Before quitting the subject I should have added that these conclusions +of Dr. Geley concerning the paraffin moulds taken from Kluski's +materialisation are shared by Charles Richet and Count de Gramont of the +Institute of France, who took part in the experiments. How absurd are +the efforts of those who were not present to contradict the experiences +of men like these. + +I was disappointed to hear from Dr. Geley that the experiments in +England with the medium Eva had been largely negative, though once or +twice the ectoplasmic flow was, as I understand, observed. Dr. Geley put +this comparative failure down to the fantastic precautions taken by the +committee, which had produced a strained and unnatural atmosphere. It +seems to me that if a medium is searched, and has all her clothes +changed before entering the seance room, that is ample, but when in +addition to this you put her head in a net-bag and restrict her in other +ways, you are producing an abnormal self-conscious state of mind which +stops that passive mood of receptivity which is essential. Professor +Hyslop has left it on record that after a long series of rigid tests +with Mrs. Piper he tried one sitting under purely natural conditions, +and received more convincing and evidential results than in all the +others put together. Surely this should suggest freer methods in our +research. + +I have just had a sitting with Eva, whom I cannot even say that I have +seen, for she was under her cloth cabinet when I arrived and still under +it when I left, being in trance the whole time. Professor Jules Courtier +of the Sorbonne and a few other men of science were present. Madame +Bisson experiments now in the full light of the afternoon. Only the +medium is in darkness, but her two hands protrude through the cloth and +are controlled by the sitters. There is a flap in the cloth which can be +opened to show anything which forms beneath. After sitting about an hour +this flap was opened, and Madame Bisson pointed out to me a streak of +ectoplasm upon the outside of the medium's bodice. It was about six +inches long and as thick as a finger. I was allowed to touch it, and +felt it shrink and contract under my hand. It is this substance which +can, under good conditions, be poured out in great quantities and can be +built up into forms and shapes, first flat and finally rounded, by +powers which are beyond our science. We sometimes call it Psychoplasm in +England, Richet named it Ectoplasm, Geley calls it Ideoplasm; but call +it what you will, Crawford has shown for all time that it is the +substance which is at the base of psychic physical phenomena. + +Madame Bisson, whose experience after twelve years' work is unique, has +an interesting theory. She disagrees entirely with Dr. Geley's view, +that the shapes are thought forms, and she resents the name ideoplasm, +since it represents that view. Her conclusion is that Eva acts the part +which a "detector" plays, when it turns the Hertzian waves, which are +too short for our observation, into slower ones which can become +audible. Thus Eva breaks up certain currents and renders them visible. +According to her, what we see is never the thing itself but always the +reflection of the thing which exists in another plane and is made +visible in ours by Eva's strange material organisation. It was for this +reason that the word Miroir appeared in one of the photographs, and +excited much adverse criticism. One dimly sees a new explanation of +mediumship. The light seems a colourless thing until it passes through a +prism and suddenly reveals every colour in the world. + +A picture of Madame Bisson's father hung upon the wall, and I at once +recognised him as the phantom which appears in the photographs of her +famous book, and which formed the culminating point of Eva's mediumship. +He has a long and rather striking face which was clearly indicated in +the ectoplasmic image. Only on one occasion was this image so developed +that it could speak, and then only one word. The word was "Esperez." + +We have just returned, my wife, Denis and I, from a round of the Aisne +battlefields, paying our respects incidentally to Bossuet at Meaux, +Fenelon at Château Thierry, and Racine at La Ferté Millon. It is indeed +a frightful cicatrix which lies across the brow of France--a scar which +still gapes in many places as an open wound. I could not have believed +that the ruins were still so untouched. The land is mostly under +cultivation, but the houses are mere shells, and I cannot think where +the cultivators live. When you drive for sixty miles and see nothing but +ruin on either side of the road, and when you know that the same thing +extends from the sea to the Alps, and that in places it is thirty miles +broad, it helps one to realise the debt that Germany owes to her +victims. If it had been in the Versailles terms that all her members of +parliament and journalists should be personally conducted, as we have +been, through a sample section, their tone would be more reasonable. + +It has been a wonderful panorama. We followed the route of the thousand +taxi-cabs which helped to save Europe up to the place where Gallieni's +men dismounted and walked straight up against Klück's rearguard. We saw +Belleau Wood, where the 2nd and 46th American divisions made their fine +debut and showed Ludendorff that they were not the useless soldiers he +had so vainly imagined. Thence we passed all round that great heavy sack +of Germans which had formed in June, 1918, with its tip at Dormans and +Château Thierry. We noted Bligny, sacred to the sacrifices of Carter +Campbell's 51st Highlanders, and Braithwaite's 62nd Yorkshire division, +who lost between them seven thousand men in these woods. These British +episodes seem quite unknown to the French, while the Americans have very +properly laid out fine graveyards with their flag flying, and placed +engraved tablets of granite where they played their part, so that in +time I really think that the average Frenchman will hardly remember that +we were in the war at all, while if you were to tell him that in the +critical year we took about as many prisoners and guns as all the other +nations put together, he would stare at you with amazement. Well, what +matter! With a man or a nation it is the duty done for its own sake and +the sake of its own conscience and self-respect that really counts. All +the rest is swank. + +We slept at Rheims. We had stayed at the chief hotel, the Golden Lion, +in 1912, when we were en route to take part in the Anglo-German +motor-car competition, organised by Prince Henry. We searched round, but +not one stone of the hotel was standing. Out of 14,000 houses in the +town, only twenty had entirely escaped. As to the Cathedral, either a +miracle has been wrought or the German gunners have been extraordinary +masters of their craft, for there are acres of absolute ruin up to its +very walls, and yet it stands erect with no very vital damage. The same +applies to the venerable church of St. Remy. On the whole I am prepared +to think that save in one fit of temper upon September 19th, 1914, the +guns were never purposely turned upon this venerable building. Hitting +the proverbial haystack would be a difficult feat compared to getting +home on to this monstrous pile which dominates the town. It is against +reason to suppose that both here and at Soissons they could not have +left the cathedrals as they left the buildings around them. + +Next day, we passed down the Vesle and Aisne, seeing the spot where +French fought his brave but barren action on September 13th, 1914, and +finally we reached the Chemin des Dames--a good name had the war been +fought in the knightly spirit of old, but horribly out of place amid the +ferocities with which Germany took all chivalry from warfare. The huge +barren countryside, swept with rainstorms and curtained in clouds, +looked like some evil landscape out of Vale Owen's revelations. It was +sown from end to end with shattered trenches, huge coils of wire and +rusted weapons, including thousands of bombs which are still capable of +exploding should you tread upon them too heavily. Denis ran wildly +about, like a terrier in a barn, and returned loaded with all sorts of +trophies, most of which had to be discarded as overweight. He succeeded, +however, in bringing away a Prussian helmet and a few other of the more +portable of his treasures. We returned by Soissons, which interested me +greatly, as I had seen it under war conditions in 1916. Finally we +reached Paris after a really wonderful two days in which, owing to Mr. +Cook's organisation and his guide, we saw more and understood more, +than in a week if left to ourselves. They run similar excursions to +Verdun and other points. I only wish we had the time to avail ourselves +of them. + +A tragic intermezzo here occurred in our Paris experience. I suddenly +heard that my brother-in-law, E. W. Hornung, the author of "Raffles" and +many another splendid story, was dying at St. Jean de Luz in the +Pyrenees. I started off at once, but was only in time to be present at +his funeral. Our little family group has been thinned down these last +two years until we feel like a company under hot fire with half on the +ground. We can but close our ranks the tighter. Hornung lies within +three paces of George Gissing, an author for whom both of us had an +affection. It is good to think that one of his own race and calling +keeps him company in his Pyrennean grave. + +Hornung, apart from his literary powers, was one of the wits of our +time. I could brighten this dull chronicle if I could insert a page of +his sayings. Like Charles Lamb, he could find humour in his own physical +disabilities--disabilities which did not prevent him, when over fifty, +from volunteering for such service as he could do in Flanders. When +pressed to have a medical examination, his answer was, "My body is like +a sausage. The less I know of its interior, the easier will be my mind." +It was a characteristic mixture of wit and courage. + +During our stay in Paris we went to see the Anglo-French Rugby match at +Coulombes. The French have not quite got the sporting spirit, and there +was some tendency to hoot whenever a decision was given for the English, +but the play of their team was most excellent, and England only won by +the narrow margin of 10 to 6. I can remember the time when French Rugby +was the joke of the sporting world. They are certainly a most adaptive +people. The tactics of the game have changed considerably since the days +when I was more familiar with it, and it has become less dramatic, since +ground is gained more frequently by kicking into touch than by the +individual run, or even by the combined movement. But it is still the +king of games. It was like the old lists, where the pick of these two +knightly nations bore themselves so bravely of old, and it was an object +lesson to see Clement, the French back, playing on manfully, with the +blood pouring from a gash in the head. Marshal Foch was there, and I +have no doubt that he noted the incident with approval. + +I had a good look at the famous soldier, who was close behind me. He +looks very worn, and sadly in need of a rest. His face and head are +larger than his pictures indicate, but it is not a face with any marked +feature or character. His eyes, however, are grey, and inexorable. His +kepi was drawn down, and I could not see the upper part of the head, but +just there lay the ruin of Germany. It must be a very fine brain, for in +political, as well as in military matters, his judgment has always been +justified. + +There is an excellent clairvoyante in Paris, Madame Blifaud, and I look +forward, at some later date, to a personal proof of her powers, though +if it fails I shall not be so absurd as to imagine that that disproves +them. The particular case which came immediately under my notice was +that of a mother whose son had been killed from an aeroplane, in the +war. She had no details of his death. On asking Madame B., the latter +replied, "Yes, he is here, and gives me a vision of his fall. As a proof +that it is really he, he depicts the scene, which was amid songs, flags +and music." As this corresponded with no episode of the war, the mother +was discouraged and incredulous. Within a short time, however, she +received a message from a young officer who had been with her son when +the accident occurred. It was on the Armistice day, at Salonica. The +young fellow had flown just above the flags, one of the flags got +entangled with his rudder, and the end was disaster. But bands, songs +and flags all justified the clairvoyante. + +Now, at last, our long journey drew to its close. Greatly guarded by the +high forces which have, by the goodness of Providence, been deputed to +help us, we are back in dear old London once more. When we look back at +the 30,000 miles which we have traversed, at the complete absence of +illness which spared any one of seven a single day in bed, the +excellence of our long voyages, the freedom from all accidents, the +undisturbed and entirely successful series of lectures, the financial +success won for the cause, the double escape from shipping strikes, and, +finally, the several inexplicable instances of supernormal, personal +happenings, together with the three-fold revelation of the name of our +immediate guide, we should be stocks and stones if we did not realise +that we have been the direct instruments of God in a cause upon which He +has set His visible seal. There let it rest. If He be with us, who is +against us? To give religion a foundation of rock instead of quicksand, +to remove the legitimate doubts of earnest minds, to make the invisible +forces, with their moral sanctions, a real thing, instead of mere words +upon our lips, and, incidentally, to reassure the human race as to the +future which awaits it, and to broaden its appreciation of the +possibilities of the present life, surely no more glorious message was +ever heralded to mankind. And it begins visibly to hearken. The human +race is on the very eve of a tremendous revolution of thought, marking a +final revulsion from materialism, and it is part of our glorious and +assured philosophy, that, though we may not be here to see the final +triumph of our labours, we shall, none the less, be as much engaged in +the struggle and the victory from the day when we join those who are our +comrades in battle upon the further side. + +_Printed in Great Britain by Wyman & Sons Ltd., London, Reading and Fakenham_ + + +"Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has given us a classic."--Sir W. Robertson +Nicoll + + * * * * * + +_The First Volume of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's +History of the War_ + +=THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN in FRANCE +and FLANDERS 1914= + +=With Maps, Plans and Diagrams. FOURTH EDITION= + +"After reading every word of this most fascinating book, the writer of +this notice ventures, as a professional soldier, to endorse the author's +claim, and even to suggest that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has understated +the value of a book which will be of enormous help to the student of +this wondrous war as a reliable framework for his further +investigations."--Colonel A. M. Murray, C.B., in the _Observer_. + +"A book which should appeal to every Briton and should shame those who +wish to make of none effect the deeds and sacrifices recounted in its +pages."--Professor A. F. Pollard in the _Daily Chronicle_ + + * * * * * + +_The Second Volume of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's +History of the War_ + +=THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN in FRANCE +and FLANDERS 1915= + +=With Maps, Plans and Diagrams. SECOND EDITION= + +"If any student of the war is in search of a plain statement, accurate +and chronological, of what took place in these dynamic sequences of +onslaughts which have strewn the plain of Ypres with unnumbered dead, +and which won for the Canadians, the Indians, and our own Territorial +divisions immortal fame, let him go to this volume. He will find in it +few dramatic episodes, no unbridled panegyric, no purple patches. But he +will own himself a much enlightened man, and, with greater knowledge, +will be filled with much greater pride and much surer +confidence."--_Daily Telegraph_ + + * * * * * + +_The Third Volume of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's +History of the War_ + +=THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN in FRANCE +and FLANDERS 1916= + +=With Maps, Plans and Diagrams= + +"We gave praise, and it was high, to the first and second volumes of +'The British Campaign in France and Flanders.' We can give the same to +the third, and more, too. For the whole of this volume is devoted to the +preliminaries and the full grapple of the Battle of the Somme--a theme +far surpassing everything that went before in magnitude and +dreadfulness, but also in inspiration for our own race and in profound +human import of every kind."--_Observer_ + + + +_The Fourth Volume of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's +History of the War_ + +=THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN in FRANCE +and FLANDERS 1917= + +=With Maps, Plans and Diagrams= + +"If Sir Arthur can complete the remaining two volumes with the same zest +and truth as is exhibited here, it will indeed be a work which every +student who fought in France in the Great War will be proud to possess +on his shelves."--_Sunday Times_ + +"It will find with others of the series a permanent place in all +military libraries as a reliable work of reference for future students +of the war."--_Observer_ + + * * * * * + +_The Fifth Volume of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's +History of the War_ + +=THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN in FRANCE +and FLANDERS January to July, 1918= + +=With Maps, Plans and Diagrams= + +"The history shows no abatement in vigour and readableness, but rather +the opposite, and a final volume describing the great counter-attack of +the Allies, leading to their final victory, will bring to a close a +series which, on its own lines, is unsurpassable."--_Scotsman_ + +"Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has stuck to his great work with admirable +assiduity.... He has produced an accurate and concise record of a +campaign the most glorious and the most deadly in all the history of the +British race, and a record well qualified to live among the notable +books of the language."--_Edinburgh Evening Dispatch_ + + * * * * * + +_The Sixth Volume of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's +History of the War_ + +=THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN in FRANCE +and FLANDERS July to November, 1918= + +=With Maps, Plans and Diagrams= + +"Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's concluding volume of the interim history of +the British Campaign on the West Front is as good as any of its +predecessors."--_Morning Post_ + +"Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'History of the British Campaign in France and +Flanders' is an authoritative work, which is destined for +immortality.... With full confidence in the historian, with +congratulations on a noble task accomplished, we open the sixth and +final volume."--_British Weekly_ + +HODDER & STOUGHTON LTD., Warwick Square, London, E.C.4 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wanderings of a Spiritualist, by +Arthur Conan Doyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WANDERINGS OF A SPIRITUALIST *** + +***** This file should be named 39718-8.txt or 39718-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/7/1/39718/ + +Produced by Dianna Adair, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +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. 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