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| author | www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> | 2025-12-20 04:55:35 -0800 |
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| committer | www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> | 2025-12-20 04:55:35 -0800 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/77511-0.txt b/77511-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fa83105 --- /dev/null +++ b/77511-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12044 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77511 *** +Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. + + + + +[Illustration: E. W. HOWE] + + + + + Travel Letters + _from_ + New Zealand + Australia + AND + Africa + By E. W. HOWE + + [Illustration] + CRANE & COMPANY, TOPEKA, KANSAS + + + + + Copyright 1913 + By Crane & Company + Topeka + + + + + TRAVEL LETTERS + _from_ + NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA, AND AFRICA + + + + + TRAVEL LETTERS + FROM NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA, + AND AFRICA. + + + + +SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1913.—This is written in the Pacific ocean, on +the ship “Sonoma,” two days out of Sydney, Australia, where we expect +to land next Monday. We have been on the ship seventeen days, and the +passengers and servants seem as familiar as people with whom we have +associated many years. In the main, we have had a pleasant voyage, +although the weather was somewhat boisterous the first few days out of +San Francisco. We stopped eight hours at Honolulu, and five hours at +Pago Pago, in the Samoa Islands. There was an elaborate celebration +on board on Christmas day, which included a big dinner, speeches, and +a dance, and we also had a similar New Year celebration, although we +actually had no New Year’s day. At a late hour on the 31st of December +we crossed the 180th meridian, and, when we awoke the following +morning, the date was January 2, 1913. Ships sailing westward drop a +day on crossing the 180th meridian, and ships going eastward add a +day. In traveling toward the sun, the day increases in length, and, in +a trip around the world, this increase amounts to exactly twenty-four +hours. Every day we set our watches back from twenty to thirty minutes, +and when we reach Canton, Ohio, on our return, this daily increase +in the day’s length will have amounted to the day we dropped. In +traveling eastward, you set your watch forward every day, and, on +completion of your journey around the world, you will have gained +a day.... Few young people travel; only the old or middle-aged +seem able to afford it, while only the young are able to enjoy it. +Adelaide, my niece, is the only youngster on the ship, and, although +she never saw the sea until this trip, she is thoroughly enjoying it. +She was ill in a quiet, ladylike way two or three days, but now she +has forgotten all about the motion, and dreads to leave the “Sonoma” +at Sydney. The stewardess calls her “dear,” but invariably refers to +me as “Mr. Works.” I am trying to get even by inventing a new name for +the stewardess every time I speak to her. Her name is Mrs. Coombs, but +I began by calling her Mrs. Ashton, and followed it with Mrs. Bullard, +Mrs. Comstock, Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Everett, and on down the alphabet until +I now call her Mrs. Wheeler. James, the room steward, and George, our +dining-room steward, know my name, but to the stewardess I am always +Mr. Works. She is an American, but most of the crew are English, or +Australians, outside the captain and his chief officers. It is ship +gossip that the first officer is a very able man, but so ill-natured +that he has never been given a ship, although an older man than the +captain. It is important to understand your trade, but if you hope to +get into fast company, you must also be polite. + + * * * * * + +Among the passengers is a life insurance man named Adams, en route +to Australia to protest because of unfriendly legislation. His wife +has been seasick almost continuously, and the women say he keeps her +sick because of too much kindness: that the moment she gets a little +better, he stuffs her with unsuitable food, and thus brings on another +spell. He has heard somewhere that champagne is good for seasickness, +and keeps her full half the time. But however mistaken he may be in +his treatment, he is certainly an attentive husband, and the men +are proud of him. It is a beautiful sight to see this good husband +modestly taking the air on deck, after devoting hours to his sick +wife. His duty is to his wife, and he does not seem to care for other +people. The women take turns in going down to sit with his wife. It +was Adelaide’s turn this afternoon, and the good husband walked awhile +with me on deck. He says that a good many years ago there was a demand +from total abstainers that they be given a better life-insurance rate +than smokers and patrons of barrooms. The rate was granted, but, after +long experience, the experts of the Equitable and Mutual life companies +found that the death-rate among total abstainers was slightly greater +than the average death-rate among all classes. + + * * * * * + +Another interesting passenger as far as Honolulu was the manager of a +sugar plantation who receives $18,000 a year salary. He spent several +years in Porto Rico and in the Hawaiian Islands, but is now opening a +plantation in Mexico. He frequently has two thousand employees, and, +as they are constantly scheming to get the best of him, he delights +in scheming to get the best of them. He told me he had been marked +for assassination several times, but had always heard of it. He +finds that when any body of men engage in a disreputable transaction, +several of them are always anxious to turn informers, and secure a +reward. An informer nearly always asks a thousand dollars, but he will +usually compromise, and take two hundred. If you engage in any kind of +dirty work, remember that some one will know about it, and sell you +out.... The sugar man says that reliable Mexicans tell him that +during the thirty-two years Diaz was president of Mexico, he ordered +forty thousand men shot, and that he didn’t make a mistake in a single +case. + + * * * * * + +The “Sonoma” is a ten-thousand-ton ship, and has been in the Australian +trade only a few months since it was rebuilt last winter. It ran +between San Francisco and Sydney several years ago, but the owners +claimed the business did not pay, so the three ships in the line lay +in San Francisco bay a long time. Then the owners decided to try it +again, and the ships were rebuilt, and fitted with oil-burners. This is +the fifth voyage of the “Sonoma” since the owners changed their minds. +A good deal of the trade has been lost, and the employees are very +polite, with a view of recovering the lost business. We have enough +fuel oil on board to run the ship to Sydney and back to Honolulu. We +all like the ship, except that it is a great roller. The other night, +while the passengers were at dinner, a big roll sent the dishes and +food into heaps on the floor, and those on deck were shot against the +rail with great force. + + * * * * * + +Captain Trask is a very pleasant man, and most of the passengers know +him. Some captains, particularly those on the Atlantic, see very +little of the passengers, but on the Pacific, captains have little to +do, and are more genial. On the Atlantic, there is always something +for captains to do. Ships are seen frequently, and if it isn’t ships, +it is fog. But the Pacific is very lonely; a ship is rarely seen here, +although we have seen one on this voyage: the “Ventura,” the sister +ship of the “Sonoma.” We met the “Ventura” on Christmas day, two days +out of Honolulu, but it went by like a race-horse, and we saw little +of it.... Adelaide sits on Captain Trask’s left, a lady with a maid +having secured the coveted place on his right. He likes to talk, and +we are already in possession of many of his reminiscences. He learned +his trade as most Americans do—from the ground up, and went to sea +as a common sailor when fifteen years old. By degrees he learned the +technical side of his trade, and has been around the world many times +in sailing-ships. He is a big fellow, and I imagine he has quelled +many a mutiny with his fists. Occasionally, early in the morning, +I catch him punching the bag on deck, and no other man on board is +equally expert at it. Not long ago, the crew of the “Sonoma” mutinied +at Sydney, in trying to enforce some rule of the union, and he landed +sixty-two of them in jail. He took the ship back to San Francisco with +a new and inexperienced crew, and reached port on time. He is very +good-natured now, but I imagine that, on occasion, he would be real +rough, and I shall behave myself while on board.... Poets love to +use the expression, “As true as the needle to the pole,” but Captain +Trask says the needle is not true to the pole, and does not point +toward it. It isn’t the pole that attracts the needle of the compass, +but the Magnetic North. A good many degrees west of the pole there is +a great magnetic mountain, and this, and not the pole, attracts the +needle by which mariners guide their ships. The pole has no attraction +whatever for the needle of the compass. + + * * * * * + +Stories told by the captain at dinner: In Australia there once lived +a very rich and very eccentric old bachelor. A certain old maid was +very anxious to capture him, and pursued him so steadily that there was +considerable talk among the neighbors. On one occasion the old bachelor +gave a reception at his home, and the old maid was one of the guests. +During the evening, the old bachelor invited the old maid to walk on +the terrace. She thought he was about to propose. + +“You have a beautiful place here,” she said to him, as they walked +about in the moonlight. + +“Yes,” he said, “yet it lacks one thing. But for that, I would be a +very fortunate and happy man.” + +The old maid thought she had him; that he could mean but one thing: the +refining influence of a wife. + +“And what is that?” she asked, coyly. + +“Water,” the old bachelor replied. + +Australia is a very dry country, and the average Australian longs for +water as you long for money.... The captain says dogs never do +well at sea; that they soon get fits, and die. In order to have good +health, a dog must have grass to eat. But cats do well at sea. When +the captain was master of a sailing vessel, he owned a cat which made +three voyages around the world with him. He tells of the smart tricks +of this cat as you tell of the smart tricks of your dog. While his +ship was once tied up at the London docks, the cat was prowling around +other vessels, and one of them carried it three miles away, to another +loading-dock. The crew mourned the cat as dead, but one day he turned +up: he had found his way back to the ship through three miles of +London’s streets.... The captain says there is nothing in the story +that rats will desert a sinking ship; he never knew a ship to go down +that was not full of rats. In the Indian ocean he once came across an +abandoned ship, and went aboard of it. He found the deck covered with +rats that had starved to death. He tried to burn the ship, as it was a +menace to navigation, but failed. Six months later, two thousand miles +away, he ran across the same dangerous, drifting hulk. This time he +succeeded in burning it.... Captain Trask says that in the old days +of wooden sailing-ships the rats frequently gnawed holes in the bottom, +in seeking water. They could hear the rush of water outside, and, not +knowing it was salt water, worked toward it. When a ship was known to +be full of rats, they were watered regularly, to prevent their sinking +it. + + * * * * * + +Captain Trask says that on one of his voyages in a sailing-ship, he +was in company every day with another vessel forty-seven days. The +ships were of about equal size, and bound in the same direction. On +another occasion, he left New York with a cargo of wheat, bound for +Liverpool. Another sailing-ship went out of the harbor at the same +time, bound also for Liverpool. They did not sight each other during +the entire voyage, but arrived at Liverpool at almost the same +hour.... The captain says that after a sailor has been ashore a few +weeks, he finds the first part of a voyage very irksome, but after +that he doesn’t care; he has spent six weeks beating around Cape Horn +without minding it much. Frequently a bad wind will undo all that has +been accomplished in weeks of hard work. But that is part of the game, +and sailors usually take it philosophically.... But a story is told +of one captain who fought two months to round Cape Horn, where the +current and the wind flow in a south-easterly direction three hundred +days of the year. He was finally compelled to put back to Buenos Aires +for provisions. Again he struggled for two months without rounding the +cape, and again he put back to Buenos Aires for provisions; but while +lying in the harbor, he killed himself. Thereupon the first officer +took command, and rounded the Cape without the loss of an unnecessary +day, the wind and current being favorable for the first time in months. + + * * * * * + +At two o’clock one afternoon, Old Neptune came aboard the “Sonoma,” +the ship having crossed the equator early in the morning. Neptune was +dressed in a fantastic way, and followed by a numerous train, including +his wife, several policemen, a physician, a barber, etc. A recorder +read a long proclamation, and the passengers took pictures. It had been +rumored that all those who had not crossed the line before, and could +not produce a certificate showing they had been across, would be shaved +with a wooden razor, and ducked in the swimming-tank. There was a good +deal of nervousness among the passengers, but it turned out that the +ceremony only referred to new members of the crew. About a dozen of +these were operated on, greatly to the amusement of the passengers +gathered on the upper deck. A platform had been erected beside the +swimming-tank, and the victims were seated on this, one by one. First +they were examined by the doctor, and given a huge pill. Then they +were lathered with a paste made of flour and water, and shaved with a +huge wooden razor. This being completed, the victim was thrown into +the tank, and ducked. Sometimes the victim fought, and this caused +great amusement. One of the passengers, a young athlete, went through +the ceremony, to amuse his friends, and he pulled the barber into the +tank. This angered the barber, and he began a rough tussle with the +passenger. The passenger was getting the best of it, when another +member of the crew went to the barber’s assistance. A friend of the +passenger, who had been perched in the rigging, watching the exercises, +climbed down hurriedly, and was preparing to go to his friend’s +assistance, when a word from the captain stopped the row; but for a +time it looked as though there might be a fight between passengers and +crew. A young member of the crew who was being shaved, became gay, and +also pushed the barber into the tank. There was a shout of merriment, +and when the young fellow was chased and brought back to the platform, +he continued his joke, and pushed the doctor in. This caused the barber +to strike the young fellow, which brought forth a round of hissing from +the passengers looking on. Altogether, the affair was pretty rough, but +everything soon calmed down, and Neptune and his lady, and the doctor, +and the barber and his assistant, and the policemen, marched around +the deck and took up a collection. A collection was also taken up by a +passenger for the twelve new members of the crew who had been ducked. +Neptune was represented by a tall young fellow we had seen scrubbing +the decks every morning. He wore a grotesque costume, and represented +his part very cleverly, as did the others. Soon after Neptune and his +court had counted the money taken in the collection, the big whistle +blew for a fire drill, and we had quite a busy afternoon. + + * * * * * + +We had rather a pleasant Christmas, in spite of hot weather. Christmas +eve we went to bed in sweltering rooms, with electric fans going, and +slept without covering. At dinner next day we found the dining-room +prettily decorated. We had turkey with cranberry sauce, plum pudding, +pumpkin pie, etc. A good deal of champagne was ordered, as it costs +but $2.75 per quart on a ship sailing to a foreign port, as against +$4.50 at the average restaurant. The captain’s health having been +proposed, he made a speech in which he complimented England, America, +Santa Claus, and the passengers. He also said the “Sonoma” had been +talked about unjustly by officers of a rival line. How readily rivals +in any calling talk about each other!... While cracking nuts, we began +throwing little rolls of paper at each other. This soon filled the +room with colored strips of paper, and the waiters got about with +difficulty. The captain began the paper-throwing, which was accepted +as license by the others. While still seated in the dining-room, the +second-cabin passengers passed through the aisles in a procession, +the captain having given them permission to dance on the main deck. +They brought a good violinist and piano-player with them, and the +dancing and music continued until midnight. There is a larger company +in the second-cabin than in the first, and they are much livelier. +One woman, a professional whistler, gave a performance, and attracted +great applause. She is on her way to Australia to fill an engagement. +The pianist is a young newspaper man from Chicago.... Maud Powell, +possibly the best woman violinist living, was a first-cabin passenger +to Honolulu, but she did no playing, although she was agreeable and +much liked by the passengers. My room is on the upper deck, near +where the deck piano is located, and early one morning Miss Powell’s +accompanist played awhile; to exercise his fingers a little, I imagine. +It was really a remarkable performance, and I enjoyed it almost alone. +Miss Powell was entered on the passenger list as Mrs. Turner, her +married name, and her husband accompanied her, as business manager. + + * * * * * + +Nearly all the passengers on the “Sonoma” are old travelers. On +the Atlantic you meet many people who have never been over before, +but Australia is out of the way, and is usually visited only by +old travelers. Several people I have talked with have been nearly +everywhere, and one man is making his seventh trip around the +world.... We often have three or four rainstorms and rainbows in a +day. A squall of rain came up this afternoon very suddenly, but in +five minutes we were admiring the rainbow that accompanied it. + + * * * * * + +We have a wonderful country in the United States, but we pay very +little attention to ships. I heard the captain say at dinner today +that the United States sends only twelve passenger ships to foreign +countries, the “Sonoma” being one of them, whereas England sends +eleven thousand. Germany comes next with five thousand, and little +Japan has five hundred. Our decline in shipping began with the Civil +War; we have given our attention to building up the country, and +neglected ship-building. The captain says that many of our rich men are +interested in foreign ship lines, and that they impudently maintain a +lobby in Washington to fight every measure intended to benefit domestic +shipping. Our financiers will in time gain control of many of the big +foreign ship companies; this, in the captain’s judgment, will be the +final solution of the problem. + + * * * * * + +The Atlantic ocean is small compared with the great bulk of the +Pacific. Immense fields of water never parted by the cut-water of +a ship or steamer lie between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn. +Perhaps half of the Pacific is as yet unexplored and uncharted. In the +lonely South Seas lie the Samoa islands, two of which belong to the +United States. The “Sonoma” stopped at one of these on the 29th, and +we found the harbor at Pago Pago exceedingly pretty. The captain said +we should reach Pago Pago at 4 P. M., and at 3:50 P. M. we +went ashore. The “Sonoma” makes its time as accurately as a railroad +train. Two hours before, the island had been in sight, and long before +turning into the harbor we skirted the island so closely that we could +see children waving at us from the shore. The island is mountainous, +but along the shore were many villages of grass-covered houses, and +many groves of cocoanut trees. The harbor of Pago Pago is completely +land-locked, and has deep water, but the mountains surrounding it are +very high, and we found the weather very warm. As we approached the +dock we passed the little gunboat “Princeton,” the captain of which +acts as governor of American Samoa. His crew comprises the defensive +force, except that fifty natives are employed by our government to act +as police. These men receive a dollar a day, and the sons of the most +aristocratic native chiefs are anxious to enlist. The entire native +population of Tutuila and Manua, the two islands we control, is seven +thousand, whereas the total white population is only a hundred. This is +made up largely of the crew of the “Princeton.” Mail is received from +home only once a month, and as the “Sonoma” was their Christmas boat, +you can imagine that nearly all of the white population greeted our +landing. Packages of newspapers were thrown out before the lines were +made fast, and soon there was cheering: we brought the news that the +naval school at Annapolis won the football game from Hartford. Mingling +with the white men and women of the naval establishment were hundreds +of natives, who looked a good deal like our Indians, except that they +were better dressed. One swell we saw was barefoot, and carried a cane. +The officers told us he was the head chief of a village. Sometimes +the villages are not half a mile apart, but every one has a chief. +Three native villages were in sight from the deck of the ship when we +landed. The best building in Pago Pago is the house of the governor, +which occupies a sightly position on top of a hill overlooking the sea +and harbor. There are perhaps a dozen houses for the officers and men, +and these, with a cold storage and electric-light plant, coal bunkers, +and a small custom-house, make up the naval station. In addition to +the “Princeton,” we found two or three smaller boats in the harbor. +These had come from the other islands after freight and mail from the +“Sonoma.” The “Dawn” I shall long remember as the dirtiest boat I have +ever seen. It runs to Apia, fifty miles away. Apia is controlled by +the Germans, and is much larger than Pago Pago. You may recall that a +good many years ago several gunboats were loafing in Apia harbor when +a great storm came up. Two gunboats belonging to the United States +and two belonging to Germany went ashore, and a good many sailors +were drowned. The incident was one of the big sensations at the time. +Robert Louis Stevenson is buried near Apia, and he wrote that the Samoa +islands furnish the finest climate in the world.... We spent five +hours at Pago Pago, walking about and visiting with the naval officers +and their families. Most of them came to the islands on the “Sonoma,” +and a dozen or more of them dined with us. The government has built a +reservoir in the hills back of the town, and water is piped to all of +the houses occupied by the officers. The naval people were so glad to +see us that they permitted us to fill the ship’s water tanks without +charge. There are two or three American girls visiting married sisters +in Pago Pago, and they told us they had not tired of the place after an +experience of several months. All of them came over on the “Sonoma,” +and they hurried on board to see their friend, the captain. He dined +at the executive mansion. Governor Crose’s lady had peanut soup, and +the captain said it was not only new, but very good. She also had fried +chicken, mashed potatoes, apple salad, and several other things the +captain could not remember when questioned next morning at breakfast, +although he spoke particularly of home-made butter. The governor owns +the cow we saw tied on the hillside near the executive mansion.... +Hundreds of the natives were permitted to come on board the “Sonoma.” +Usually they give a dance on the parade ground, and assess the +passengers twenty-five cents each, but the day being Sunday, the +missionaries objected to the usual dance being given. However, Adelaide +and I saw the dance. When we came in from one of our three excursions +on shore, we found sixty or seventy native women and girls in the +ladies’ saloon of the ship, and they were coaxing each other to dance; +it reminded me of a country party when the different guests are coaxed +to sing. Two sailors from the “Princeton” wandered in, and one of them +was coaxed to play the piano for the dancing. He played awhile, but as +no one danced, he finally quit in disgust. Then a native girl, after +much giggling and coaxing, was persuaded to play, and three or four of +the girls danced. Two of them were particularly good; so Adelaide and +I saw the much-discussed Samoan dance, in spite of the missionaries. +But we were the only passengers present; the others were ashore +looking at postal cards. The dance will be given at the approaching San +Francisco exposition, a speculator having arranged already for a Samoan +village. I am certain I saw three hundred natives on board during our +stay at Pago Pago. When I went down to the barber shop to get shaved +before dinner, I found the room packed with native women looking at +the barber’s wares. A ship barber operates a little store, and his +wares include toilet articles, clothing, medicines, confectionery, plug +tobacco, etc. I don’t know that the Samoan women chew plug tobacco, +but I saw a good many of them smoking. By-the-way, the barber on the +“Sonoma” was barber on the “Siberia” when I went to Japan several years +ago. + + * * * * * + +The afternoon we left Honolulu a new passenger came aboard, and I saw +him first in the smoking-room. He was very plain, and I thought it my +duty to be nice to him. He was agreeable enough, but not much disposed +to talk. Later I learned that he is a member of the British Parliament, +and that he has twenty-eight pieces of luggage. He is traveling with +a doctor, and woman nurse, as he is not well. Ship gossip is to the +effect that he is a son of Sir John Lister, a noted Englishman who +has done much in a scientific way. Listerine was named for Sir John +Lister. I do not see many talk to the British celebrity, except his +doctor. His nurse has been seasick ever since coming on board, and she +cannot be of much use to her employer. The man sits almost opposite +me at the table, and I am satisfied that if anyone should look at him +steadily, he would leave the dining-room. He is very plain, and knows +it, in which respect he is different from Andrew Carnegie. He is known +as “Mr. Lister,” and is going to South Africa to hunt lions. At first, +the passengers picked at him a good deal, but during the long voyage to +Sydney he became one of the most popular men on board, largely because +he is quiet and well-behaved. + + * * * * * + +One of the passengers is an Australian who lived for a time in +South Africa, and made money in mining. Disposing of his holdings +to advantage, he went to Oregon, and engaged in apple-growing. It +is very interesting to hear him tell of his experiences. He knew +nothing about apple-growing when he went to Oregon, but “picked up” +a practical knowledge of the business through experience. One of his +“experiences” was losing $40,000 in buying a bad orchard. This taught +him caution, and later he made money. His apple-pickers are compelled +to wear gloves, and to twist rather than pull fruit from the trees. His +specialty is buying orchards of shiftless owners, and reviving them. I +heard him say last night that there were two sure ways of making money +in the United States: the best is apple-growing, and the second is +sheep-raising. It interested me greatly to hear that a man might learn +a new business and make a success of it in three or four years, as this +man did in the apple business.... Captain Trask has great contempt +for the modern sailor; he says any old woman of fifty could do the work +of a sailor these days, but in the old days of sailing-ships, seamen +were compelled to work very hard, and their trade was a difficult one. +The sailors on the “Sonoma,” almost without exception, wear blue +overalls, and not the wide pantaloons you associate with sailor-men. + + * * * * * + +There is a wireless apparatus on board, and every day news of no +importance is posted in the companionway. The night before Christmas, +when we were twenty-four hundred miles out, a good many passengers sent +messages to friends.... When you sit on your porches at home, on +summer evenings, you hear locusts in the trees. Old-fashioned colored +people call them jar-bugs. The wireless, when in operation, sounds +exactly like a locust buzzing: a good many of the passengers have +remarked the similarity. There are two operators, one of whom is always +on duty. One of them is a tall young fellow who does great stunts in +the swimming-pool, and the other looks and talks exactly as Lieutenant +Rowan did when he carried that famous message to Garcia. + + * * * * * + +We had an enjoyable time at our New Year celebration. First there was +an elaborate dinner, followed by a concert and dance, participated in +by the second-cabin passengers. At the conclusion of the concert, we +all joined hands and sang, “Should Old Acquaintance be Forgot?” When +the dancing began, quadrilles soon became the fashion, and the affair +reminded me of “a good time” among neighbors who had known each other +many years. Most of the talent for the concert was furnished by the +second-cabin, although the best two numbers came from first-class +passengers. Refreshments were passed around, and the gayety continued +until after midnight. Late in the evening, some one tied down the +ship’s big whistle, and the trouble was not located for five minutes. +Members of the crew also got up a grotesque parade, headed by the young +man who blows a cornet three times a day to announce when meals are +ready. Between quadrilles, the passengers stood at the rail, and looked +at the Southern Cross, and found it rather disappointing; near it is a +false cross which looks rather better than the genuine. The Southern +Cross is seen only in the far South, and down here everything in the +heavens is new to Northern eyes. Stars are more numerous than at home, +and the night of the dance the heavens were particularly clear, and the +sea very smooth. Further on, in South Africa, the nights are said to +be so brilliant that it is possible to read comfortably by moonlight. +During the dance and concert, the first-class passengers became so well +acquainted with those in the second-cabin that they now go down to +visit them, which they are at liberty to do, although the second-cabin +passengers cannot come up on our deck without a special invitation +from the captain or purser. Once a week the captain dines in the +second-cabin. The food is about the same in the two dining-rooms, but +our location is amidships, while the second is far aft, and the motion +is more pronounced. The difference in fare is considerable, amounting +to one-quarter or a third. + + * * * * * + +One of the most interesting men on board is J. L. Dwyer, secretary of +native affairs in American Samoa, and chief district judge. He is on +his way to Sydney, on a vacation. Judge Dwyer has been in Pago Pago +five years. When he arrived, he found a king ruling over the island of +Manua, but he managed to amicably dispose of His Majesty by making him +a district judge. The king lived in a five-room house, and Judge Dwyer +says he was a man of intelligence, and ruled justly, but he abdicated +quietly, and, as district judge, did all he could for his people for +a salary of $25 a month. The king died a year or two ago, but left a +daughter, now twenty years old, who will be married shortly to a white +clerk in a store at Pago Pago. The clerk gave Judge Dwyer $50 with +which to buy a wedding ring in Sydney, and the judge says I may help +select it. I have never before been on equally intimate terms with +royalty.... The Samoan men believe it beneath their dignity to be +annoyed by anything a woman does, so there are almost no quarrels among +them on account of jealousy. But if a Samoan woman becomes jealous of +another woman, trouble may be expected promptly.... The natives +have no income except from the sale of copra, which is the dried meat +of the cocoanut. Traders formerly robbed them unmercifully, so the +United States Government now attends to the selling of copra, without +expense to the natives. The income from this source amounts to $20 per +inhabitant per year.... In going into Pago Pago, we saw a great +many churches; every village seemed to have at least two. Judge Dwyer +says there are too many churches in the islands. Many of the preachers +are natives, and much of the money obtained from copra is sent away to +missionary societies, for evangelistic work in other communities. Five +of our second-cabin passengers were Mormon missionaries for Pago Pago. +The missionaries are thrifty: I was told that every big institution in +the Hawaiian islands is owned by a descendant of the old missionaries. +But there is little in the Samoan islands to develop; almost no +agricultural land, and the little there is (in the vicinity of Apia) +is in the hands of Chinese. At Pago Pago, all vegetables come from San +Francisco, 4,400 miles away. A monthly paper is printed in Pago Pago, +by the government, and distributed gratuitously among the natives. One +column out of eight is devoted to English local news.... In the two +American islands in Samoa there are but four vehicles, and these are +two-wheel carts. There are no agricultural implements, and no farms. +Wealth is calculated by the number of cocoanut trees a man owns. The +trees are worth $5 each, and the nuts from each tree average about $1 +per year in value. The waters surrounding the islands produce many food +fish, but the natives do not much care for them. There are a good many +pigs of an inferior breed, and some of these run wild, and are hunted +with dogs. The only other game in the island are wild pigeons, though +there is talk that wild cattle may be found on Tutuila island, a story +Judge Dwyer does not believe. Every little while the natives hunt the +wild cattle, but never find them. Sugar-cane is grown in Samoa, but is +used for no other purpose than to thatch the queer circular houses of +the natives.... A village chief is simply the village mayor, and is +elected annually. Occasionally the elections are very exciting, and +fraud freely resorted to, but in the main the Samoans are a peaceful +people, and fairly honest.... It is impossible to get away from +taxes, and the Samoan head of a family pays 270 pounds of copra as his +annual contribution to the state. This is all used to pay local chiefs, +and none of it goes to the United States.... Communism is practiced +by the people, and when a man earns $20 a month working as a servant +in an American household, he is compelled to divide with members of +his family, but the industrious Samoans are tiring of this plan, and +resort to all sorts of subterfuges to avoid dividing their wages.... +Pago Pago is a beautiful place for naval lieutenants to take their +brides, and it was delightful to spend five hours in the American +colony there, but we have no more use for it than we have for Guam, or +the Philippines. The supplies come from San Francisco, and cost a great +deal; coal costs $13 a ton for the cruises of the “Princeton,” but our +government does not receive ten cents a day income from American Samoa. +In our career of conquest in Samoa, we have not robbed the Samoans; +they have robbed us. + + * * * * * + +At breakfast-time on the morning of December 31, we passed Turtle +island, of the Fiji group. We could see smoke ashore, and that was +about all. The 180th meridian crosses one of these islands, and the +captain says a native has a house on the line. In one end of his house +the day of the week is Thursday, while in the other end it is Friday. + + * * * * * + +Most of the passengers are English. Among the Americans is a Chicago +doctor named Beeson, who greatly interests me. Dr. Beeson has a son +who is thirty years old, and when the father is away the son attends +to his business, as the son is also a doctor. When the father returns, +the son will take a trip. Harry Clay Blaney and wife, who toured the +country for years in a play called “Across the Pacific,” are also +interesting passengers. Mr. Blaney and his brother Charles operate +theatres in New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Jersey City, and in other +cities, in addition to owning several road shows. Mrs. Blaney is an +actress, but is very domestic, and spends most of her time sitting on +deck doing fancy work. + + + + +SUNDAY, JANUARY 5.—We celebrated our approach to Sydney, +Australia, by running into a storm. I have never seen worse weather +at sea. Heavy seas continually broke over the prow, and at breakfast +only one woman appeared in the dining-room. It will surprise you to +learn that this lone woman was Adelaide, the farmer’s daughter. The +gentlemen gave her quite a reception, but I wasn’t there to witness +it: I was sick in bed. Women are very much more subject to seasickness +than men, as a rule.... The night before the storm, we had another +impromptu dance, and Adelaide, who never danced in her life, danced the +lancers with Judge Dwyer, chief judge of American Samoa. There were +two sets, and a good-natured doctor from London called the figures +in an amusing way. I hear it frequently remarked that we have a very +agreeable passenger list; not a disagreeable person on the list. At +the captain’s dinner the captain made another speech, in which he threw +us gorgeous bouquets. + + + + +MONDAY, JANUARY 6.—The captain said we should see land on the morning +of the 6th, at 8 o’clock. At almost exactly that hour, land appeared +off the starboard beam (I take this to mean off to the right). When +land first appears at sea, it is very faint, and is only distinguished +from clouds with difficulty. At 10 A. M. we were in plain sight of +Sydney’s famous harbor, and saw other ships entering ahead of us. A +half an hour later, we took on a pilot, and at 11 o’clock we stopped at +quarantine to wait for a doctor. When this official came, we found him +a huge man who would create a sensation in a museum. After the usual +inspection, the “Sonoma” steamed toward her dock, eight miles away, +and we had an opportunity to see the harbor.... In reading, you are +almost constantly in sight of the statement that Sydney has the finest +harbor in the world, and, after you have seen it, you are disposed +to admit the truth of the statement. After passing in from the sea, +a ship travels eight or ten miles to the city docks, and the course +winds around through hills almost large enough to be called mountains. +On either side are bays, and everywhere on top of the hills you see +houses with red tile roofs. Sydney is a city of more than seven hundred +thousand, and has doubled its population in the past twenty-five +years. It is only a question of a few years until Sydney has a million +population, and is destined to become one of the great cities of the +world. Its houses are nearly all built of a native stone of yellow +cast. Through this wonderful harbor we steamed slowly, and finally +landed at noon, as the captain said we would. + + + + +TUESDAY, JANUARY 7.—This morning we employed a messenger boy to show +us around Sydney. The boy is fourteen years old, and was educated +in English schools. He talks no other language than English, but we +could not understand half he said: there is this marked difference +in American and English pronunciation. Sydney is an English city, +and its signs are in English, but we do not understand many of them. +Australia is not only an English colony, but the people of its larger +towns have a dialect of their own. Sydney is a fine city, but looks +more like Manchester or Liverpool than it looks like London. There +are no sky-scrapers here, in the American sense; one of the Sydney +newspapers wanted to build a sky-scraper, and occupy it as an office, +but Parliament would not permit it. Everywhere you see American goods, +and signs calling attention to them, and Bud Atkinson’s American Wild +West is giving exhibitions daily in one of the parks. It seemed queer +to me that an exhibition of this character should be granted permission +to exhibit in one of the parks; imagine an Australian Wild West in +Central Park in New York. And I do not recall Bud Atkinson as a noted +American in the Wild West line. This show came over a month ago, in the +ship ahead of ours. I should say a jump of three weeks is a tolerably +big one. This is the summer season here, and the show will return to +the United States in April.... In the fruit stores in Sydney you +see strawberries, cantaloupes, peaches, green corn, tomatoes, etc. +At home you hear a good deal about low prices in Australia. I only +know I paid fifty cents each for cantaloupes, which are known as Rock +Melons here, but they are particularly large and fine. Strawberries +were fifty cents a quart, but they were extra good. I am told that the +people here do not care much for Rock Melons. The melons we bought we +carried to a restaurant, and the woman who served them had never tasted +melons, and thought we had queer taste.... A thing that attracted +our attention in Sydney was an unusually large number of young women. +At one of the bathing-beaches I saw a party of twelve, and nine of +them were young women. We entered Sydney harbor early Monday morning, +and the bathing-beaches were already crowded; there seems to be more +merrymaking here than in American cities. On Monday and Tuesday the +parks were crowded, as were the bathing-beaches. And the parks here +are wonderfully fine, and the zoölogical garden I visited was the best +I have ever seen. The impudent English sparrows may be seen here in +great numbers, and in the parks they enter the cages of rare birds and +rob them of their feed.... Adelaide is very polite, but she says +the people here look funny to her; that it is a constant source of +amusement to her to walk the streets and see the people. She says the +women wear afternoon dresses in the morning, on the street. Along the +docks this morning, we came upon a big crowd witnessing the departure +of a ship. Half the women wore fancy white dresses, and big picture +hats.... The residences here do not seem to be numbered, but each +has a name; a flat with four occupants will have four names, and a +double house will have two. Out in the suburbs, little houses of two +and three rooms will have tremendously big names. And we passed through +miles of suburbs where every house seemed to be new: there is no doubt +that Sydney is growing rapidly.... An attraction here at one of the +theatres is “Faust,” of which America tired years ago. “Marguerite” is +exploited after the fashion of “Little Eva” in an “Uncle Tom” show, and +somehow it looks ridiculous. “Faust” is a ridiculous play, so far as +that goes, and the story of “Marguerite” foolish. One of the bills now +being shown in Sydney represents “Marguerite” being transported alive +into heaven, by angels, in spite of the devil, who is flying along with +the angels, and snorting fire.... We hear in the United States that +there are no labor troubles in Australia; that everything is settled +by arbitration. But I see much more about labor troubles in the Sydney +papers than I ever see in the papers of America. One of the unions now +making trouble is that of the Rabbit Trappers. You may think I made +that up, but I didn’t: there is really such a union here, and it is +just now prominent because of some sort of controversy. Many years ago +rabbits were imported to Australia, to afford sport for the people. +Conditions are so favorable for rabbits here that they soon became a +great pest. Farmers are now compelled to fence against rabbits, and +millions of the animals are caught, frozen, and sent to the London +market.... At least one of the leading newspapers here, _The +Morning Telegraph_, denounces unionism, saying it was originally in the +interest of workingmen, but lately it has become political despotism, +and union labor leaders political adventurers. “Capital,” said _The +Telegraph_, in an editorial this morning, “will leave Australia, +and go where labor is not a political despot.” I do not know of a +leading paper in the United States that would care to print a similar +editorial. Plenty of such editorials are printed in the United States, +but in trade papers, and not in leading daily newspapers. + + + + +WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8.—We sailed at noon today for Auckland, New +Zealand, on the ship “Maheno.” It is about the size of the “Sonoma;” +six thousand tons.... We are accomplishing so much by law now +that I suggest the adoption of a law providing that no ship of +less than twelve thousand tons be permitted to carry passengers; a +six-thousand-ton ship is too small. Adelaide drew seat No. 13 at the +table, but I did worse than that: I drew two men in my room. I resent +two men in my room as I do going to jail, but resentment did me no +good; the ship is crowded, and I was compelled to stand it. But what +do you think happened to Adelaide, who occupies seat No. 13 at the +table? She has a room to herself.... One of the men in my room +is a New-Yorker named Bond, an importer who has a branch house in +Sydney. The man with him is one of his traveling salesmen. Mr. Bond +is an old traveler, and has made this trip many times. He hates the +“Maheno,” and predicts a disagreeable experience. He says the “Maheno” +can kick up a rough sea when the weather is fine, and that there is +nothing commendable about the boat except that it usually gets across +in a little less than four days.... You can never know what it +means to be crowded until you have been one of three in a steamship +stateroom. It was a disagreeable experience, getting to bed, which +we attempted at 8:30, as the weather was rough. After I was in bed +with my two roommates, I began thinking: “Suppose one of them should +snore!” I am a bad sleeper at best, and the thought of a snoring man +in my room all night set my nerves on edge.... The opportunity was +too good to be neglected. Mr. Bond and his friend talked business +awhile, another thing I am not accustomed to in my sleeping-room, and +then Mr. Bond began snoring. For years, people around me have paid +attention to my nerves, because I am a bad sleeper, and I resented this +snoring as a spoilt child does when whipped by a neighbor. I stood it +until midnight, and then I crawled out of bed, found a bath-robe and +slippers, and spent the night on a sofa in the music-room. + + + + +THURSDAY, JANUARY 9.—A ship is no place for an early riser. A ship +bed becomes unbearable to me by 5 A. M., and half an hour later I am +on deck. I can’t sit in the music-room or smoking-room, because the +stewards are cleaning up, and when I walk the decks I am in the way +of sailors who are washing them with hose. In addition, the early +riser never has his shoes shined, and gets no early breakfast in bed. +On a ship, the servants will not respect you if you do anything for +yourself.... The second passenger to appear on deck was a woman; +possibly she had a snorer in her room, too. Much to my surprise, the +woman calmly proceeded, after seating herself in a deck chair, to put +on her stockings. They say women always sit on the floor when they put +on their stockings, but this woman didn’t.... Bare legs are quite +common here. The fourteen-year-old messenger boy who showed us about +in Sydney wore stockings only a few inches long, and above them his +legs were bare to his knees. This is the rule with boys and girls, +and their legs are sunburned and cracked, and often covered with +pimples.... So far as I know, all the passengers on the “Maheno” are +Australians or New Zealanders, except ourselves and Mr. Bond, and we +expect him to quit speaking to us because I do not enjoy his snoring. +At home I have always had members of my family bluffed because of my +nervousness, but here everyone seems to think it perfectly absurd that +snoring should disturb me.... I hear the passengers talking about +“the bush.” In our country we call it the “short-grass country;” both +mean the frontier. I have always been interested in Australia because +Abel Magwitch made his money there. Charles Dickens created this man +out of his fancy, but no character was ever more real to me. There +is something about the old fellow that appeals to me as Falstaff or +Macbeth never did, and to my mind “Great Expectations” is the greatest +book ever written. Abel Magwitch made his money in Australia in sheep, +and at the Sydney hotels you see sheep farmers from “the bush” who are +timidly spending their money. Australia is an ideal sheep country, +and fortunes are easily made, until there is a drouth. Then there is +neither water nor grass for the animals, and they die off in great +numbers. The last drouth occurred seven years ago, and thousands of +sheep sold at a shilling a head. Many of those who bought sheep at that +price, lost them all, and became bankrupt. But sheep are prolific, and +in two or three years after the drouth they seemed to be as numerous +as ever. It is said the Australians make money easily, and are much +like Americans. The New Zealanders are much like the Australians, +although the distance from Sydney to Auckland is thirteen hundred +miles.... Abel Magwitch was sent to Australia as a convict from +England, as Australia was formerly a penal colony, but that was many +years ago; Australia is now one of the most prosperous countries in the +world, and it has been of great use to mankind because it has tried so +many experiments in trying to make the common lot easier. Many of the +advanced political notions in the United States came from Australia +and New Zealand. The per-capita wealth is higher in those countries +than in any other; there is more wealth in other countries, but it is +not so evenly distributed among the people as in Australia and New +Zealand. The government owns most of the public utilities, and no one +can help remarking the fine system of street-railway in Sydney. For +short distances the fare is two cents, and the fare increases after +passing certain limits. I am told that in some lines of business there +is a holiday at Christmas here, lasting two weeks. There is no severely +cold weather, and the people are not compelled to spend a great deal +for fuel. Wages are not as high as with us, but living is cheaper. I +had heard so much of the low cost of beef in Australia that I inquired +the price at several markets. The best cuts sold at twenty cents per +pound: altogether, meat is cheaper than in the United States, but the +difference is not so great as I expected it to be.... Everything +indicates that the Australians are good people, and hospitable, +enterprising, and intelligent; I have only admiration for them, until +they begin to talk. Then their pronunciation is a reproach to me. I +have always called it Austraylia; they call it Austrylia. “Well, old +chap,” I heard a man say to a friend in Sydney, on parting, “tyke +care of yourself!”... There is a woman on this ship with three little +children. To look at her, she seems like any other worthy woman: +devoted, unselfish, kind, polite, and always busy. But when you hear +her talk, it is different from anything you ever heard. There are two +little girls on board, and they are very kind to the mother with three +children. It is very nice to see them caring for the baby, and running +errands for the tired mother, but as soon as they begin to talk they +do not seem so much like little girls you have known. “I was a bit +groggy meself yesterday,” I heard one of them say to the mother. She +meant that she was seasick.... The English themselves do not agree +on pronunciations; Cambridge University authorizes one pronunciation of +many words, and Oxford another. I can understand how dialects originate +with people speaking the same language, and who do not associate +much with each other except locally, but the English and American see +enough of each other to get together in pronunciation. + +[Illustration: Captain Feeding his Pet + +Transferring Passengers in a Basket at Sea + +The Landing Stage, Beira + +The Dock at Pago Pago + +Christmas at Sea] + + + + +FRIDAY, JANUARY 10.—Last night I laid my case before the chief steward, +and he said he would fix me up; that he would take me out of 27, where +Mr. Bond devotes the nights to snoring, and put me in No. 7, with +Mr. Martin. I went to bed in No. 7, complimenting the chief steward +for his disposition to please the passengers, but in ten minutes Mr. +Martin began snoring, and I spent the night trying to decide if his +snore was not rather more rasping than that of Mr. Bond. At a late +hour I dressed and retreated again to a sofa in the music-room. But +I have not lost my temper; I am rather disposed, on the contrary, to +laugh at myself for spending a large amount of money in an attempt to +have a “good time.”... The sea has been smooth today and we are all +much more comfortable, although I do not believe anyone is getting his +money’s worth. About the only excitement on board is the fact that a +flock of albatross are following us. I have always understood that +albatross are rather scarce at sea, but certainly twenty are in sight +as I write this. They often fly within twenty feet of the ship, and we +have opportunity to examine them carefully. They follow the ship for +hours without moving a wing; they seem to fly by taking advantage of +the wind.... We saw several whales today, and the captain, at whose +table we sit, says he once ran into one, and was compelled to back out +of it. + + + + +SATURDAY, JANUARY 11.—A story one always hears on approaching New +Zealand: In a strait near the coast is a fish known as “Pilot Jack,” +which escorts every ship through, except one. Some years ago a +passenger on a certain ship fired at the fish, and wounded it. The +fish disappeared for several months, but finally it appeared again, +and resumed its old habits of piloting ships through the strait; but +it never shows itself when the ship appears from the deck of which it +was fired upon. The shooting incident caused the New Zealand Parliament +to pass an act protecting “Pilot Jack.” The fish is about twenty feet +long, and photographs showing it swimming ahead of ships are common. +These photographs, it seems to me, are faked, and made specially to +sell to tourists. Seamen do not know why “Pilot Jack” appears whenever +a ship invades his territory, but certain it is that he does appear, +and swims ahead of the ship several miles. The captain of the “Maheno” +says it is possible “Pilot Jack” likes to rub his back on the bottom +of ships, and thus get rid of certain annoying parasites. Another +theory is that the fish simply plays about the ships, which is not +improbable; I have myself seen dolphins play in the waves thrown up by +the prow of a ship, and keep it up several minutes at a time.... +Last night I sent a wireless message to the Grand Hotel at Auckland, +engaging accommodations on my arrival there. I was compelled to pay $2 +for the service, and sign an agreement that I would not ask recovery +in case the message was not delivered.... No one seems to know much +about the albatross which are following us. A sailor told me that if +an albatross should light on the water, it couldn’t get up again. Ten +minutes later, I saw twenty of them alight on the water, apparently +fight over something thrown from the ship, and then get up again. The +sailors once caught an albatross, and concluded to take it to the +zoölogical garden at Sydney, but it became seasick, and was such a +nuisance that they knocked it in the head and threw it overboard. A +passenger once jumped from the “Sonoma,” with a view of committing +suicide. A number of albatross were following the ship and they picked +the man’s eyes out before a boat could reach him. Although very +beautiful and graceful, the bird is said to be a disgusting vulture. +Where or how it lives no one seems to know; but it is certain that it +will follow a ship night and day from Wellington to Cape Horn, a trip +of three weeks. It is not seen when land is in sight; it seems to sail +about the lonely ocean as easily as a zephyr, and the stronger the +head-wind, the easier it sails against it.... There is a peculiar +character on board at whom everyone laughs. For awhile I feared he +might be a fool American, but he turned out to be a New Zealand school +teacher. He wears a tall hat and clerical clothes, and everyone +supposed for a time that he was a missionary. One day he went after +his music, and began singing in the ladies’ parlor. He cannot sing, +and cannot play the piano, although he attempts both. A crowd soon +gathered, and vigorously applauded when he concluded “The Lost Chord.” +The howling of a dog, accompanied by a child banging on a piano, +would not have been worse, and it was so ridiculous that the man was +asked to sing again. He readily consented, and attempted a tenor aria +from “The Messiah.” The passengers now call the man “the professor,” +and two or three times a day he is asked to sing. He always complies +promptly. There are half a dozen excellent musicians on board, and when +they sing or play, “the professor” is plainly bored. He seems more +like a character from a play or book than a real man, and is mild and +inoffensive. I talked awhile with him today, and found him an educated +man, and apparently quite intelligent, but he is not able to understand +that he cannot sing, or play the piano; he cannot realize that all the +passengers are making fun of him. I suppose all of us are made fun of +when we do not know it, but the case of “the professor” is more than +usually glaring. A concert is being arranged for tonight, as this is +the last day of the voyage, and “the professor” has been put on the +programme, to avoid hurting his feelings. Last night he was the only +man on board who dressed for dinner; he put on a swallow-tailed coat +much too long for him, and looked odd in other particulars. And after +all the trouble he went to, in dressing for dinner, he was compelled to +dine at the second sitting. He is a small man, with smooth, white face, +and wears his dark hair quite long. The passengers are learning to like +him, for he is evidently a gentleman, but none of us can understand +why the man so readily consents to make a fool of himself. Perhaps the +other passengers make fools of themselves, too, and are as unconscious +of it as “the professor.” When not playing or singing, he carries an +algebra about, and works problems. He has two pairs of spectacles, +and is constantly changing them, and forgetting in which pocket he +placed the pair he wishes to use next.... I am very proud of +the men on this ship, they are so modest and well-behaved. I hear no +swearing, or rude talk, and there is almost no drinking at table or +in the smoking-room. The three men I have roomed with are quiet, and +genteel, and I should admire them very much did they not snore. I am +certain Mr. Martin was annoyed because I was put in with him, but he is +so considerate of me that I can almost forgive his bad habit. I think +he knows he snores, and when I hear him threshing about in his bed, +I almost conclude he is keeping awake in order that he may not annoy +me. He is an elderly man, and frequently gets up in the night, but he +does it so quietly that I rarely hear him.... A man I supposed to +be an Episcopal rector turns out to be a Presbyterian preacher named +Thompson. He is an Englishman, but was educated at Yale, and now has +a charge in a small town in New Zealand. I walk the decks with him a +good deal. He says he has been taking a vacation, and that, during his +idleness, he has been thinking a great deal. + +“Many times,” he said, “I asked myself the question: ‘In view of +modernism, what is the best thing to do for my people?’ and I always +came to the conclusion that there is nothing better for any of us +than fairness, politeness, temperance, and industry; I could come to +no other conclusion than that the oldest and simplest doctrine is the +best.” + +Another passenger is a little man who rides running horses in races. +The Australians are very fond of racing, and the favorite riders are +noted and prosperous men. All of them are small; this man has a wife +almost twice his size. Some of them become as noted as Nat Goodwin, +the actor, and marry as often. A little intelligence and coolness at +a critical moment will often win a race, and the noted jockeys are +usually men of intelligence. The man showed me a number of scars, +the result of accidents. In racing in Australia, the horses jump +hurdles, and often fall.... At 3 o’clock this afternoon we passed +the “Three Kings,” barren islands without a light, which have caused +many shipwrecks. An hour later we sighted the coast of New Zealand, +and followed it throughout the night.... This evening we had a +concert in the music-room, lasting two hours. This is a great country +for amateur singing; every traveler seems to carry music, and on the +slightest provocation will go to his room and get it. In addition to +singing and piano-playing, we had four recitations; the recitation +habit seems respectable here.... A New York traveling-man says the +fashions in New Zealand and Australia are always a year or two behind +New York, and that goods going out of style in the United States are +just coming in here. Goods that are unsalable in New York, because they +are out of fashion, may be picked up at low prices, and sold here at +a good profit, according to the New York traveling-man, who has been +visiting Australia and New Zealand for fifteen years. + + + + +SUNDAY, JANUARY 12.—At daylight this morning we passed into a +land-locked gulf, and continued in it all the way to Auckland. At 8 +o’clock, while at breakfast, the suburbs of Auckland began to appear, +but we did not get through the custom-house and go ashore until two +hours later. We hurried to the Grand Hotel, where we had ordered +rooms by wireless, paying two dollars for the service. The manager +said he had not received the message, therefore had not reserved +the rooms. While he was talking, he excused himself to attend to a +telephone call. On his return, he said our wireless message had just +been telephoned him from the ship. That is the service you get from +the much-advertised wireless. Later I met an officer of the ship on +the street, and he said I was entitled to a return of my money, but +I will never get it; on paying for the service two days ago, I was +compelled to sign an agreement not to ask for my money back in case +no service was rendered.... The manager of the Grand recommended +the Royal, which is under the same management. At the Royal we found a +woman clerk so polite that we liked the place at once. When she called +a boy to show us our rooms, she called him “Buttons.” This young man +took us up in a primitive elevator, which stuck, and the servants were +compelled to pull us out. When we finally reached our rooms, we liked +them, and probably we are as well off here as we would have been at +the Grand.... All the hotels in Auckland, with five unimportant +exceptions, are owned by a Jew named Ernest Davis. He owns hotels in +other places, and they are all compelled to sell Hancock beer, as +Davis also owns the Hancock brewery. One hears a good deal here about +the five free hotels of Auckland. Freedom in this case means freedom +to sell any beer the manager chooses to buy. In the United States, +breweries own saloons, but I have never before heard of breweries +owning hotels.... The Royal is very modest in its charges; we pay +ten shillings and sixpence per day each for accommodations. This means +$2.62 a day for room, three regular meals, early morning tea, and +supper at 10 P. M. And the hotel is really good; I do not care for +anything better, although the rooms are old-fashioned, and the elevator +does not work half the time. When you want anything, you step into the +hall and push a button marked Maid’s Bell. When the maid appears, you +order hot water for shaving, or whatever it may be you need. There +are four bathrooms near my room, which include needle and douche +baths. The New Zealanders are fond of bathing, and there is never a +lack of bathrooms in their hotels.... I have before referred to +the fact that women out here wear afternoon and evening dresses in the +morning; I believe I would have noticed the custom had not Adelaide +called my attention to it. When the ship landed this morning, a pretty +woman we admired, dressed in white satin and white kid slippers for +the occasion.... On our way up-town, we passed a store labeled the +Clobbery. The stock seemed to consist of gents’ furnishing goods. +Perhaps an English friend can tell you where the word Clobbery comes +from; I never heard of it before.... After dinner, we walked about +the streets of Auckland. Adelaide wore what is known at home as a +“Peter Thompson suit,” and it attracted so much attention that I asked +her to return to the hotel and change it. There were great crowds +on the streets, and they seemed to think Adelaide was a member of a +lady brass band of which I was director. She took off the “Peter +Thompson,” and put on a gray suit made by a man tailor in Kansas City, +but she still looked funny to the people, for they continued to stare +at her. She wore a Panama hat for which I paid $12 (marked down from +$20), and I thought she looked pretty well, but she was a sight to many +of the people of Auckland.... We heard a brass band, and walked +that way. It turned out to be a Salvation Army band of thirty men. The +players wore red coats, and played like professionals. The men and +women in the procession were much more decent-looking than members of +the Salvation Army at home. There were no guitars, and no tambourines; +the music was furnished by an excellent band of thirty men. It was a +very respectable outfit in every way, and finally disappeared into a +theatre. In Auckland, Sunday theatricals are prohibited, and religious +services are held in every theatre twice on Sunday. In the early +evening, while on the streets, we encountered the big Salvation Army +band again; also, the Mission band. I was told that the Mission was +much like the Salvation Army, except that it was more modest. The +Mission had a good band of twenty-four men, and a little organ, which +two men carried. After a selection by the band, there was singing, with +organ accompaniment. The song was entitled, “Just the Same Jesus,” and +was so simple, and repeated so often, that I was soon able to sing it +with the others. The leader asked for people to give their experiences, +and a good many stepped into the middle of the ring, and talked briefly +and modestly. One old fellow was a particularly good talker, and said +he had been a soldier in the Civil War in the United States, and +traveled all over the world, but had always found Jesus his friend in +time of trouble. As each speaker ceased, the same song was sung, “Just +the Same Jesus,” and I joined with the others in the singing. Presently +the leader came to me, and said: + +“You are evidently a religious man, and a stranger. Won’t you make a +few remarks?” + +[Illustration: Maunganui River + +Pool of Bathers, Whakarewarewa + +A Galaxy of Maori Beauty + +A Maori Girl + +Native House, New Zealand] + +I excused myself, and he then asked the band to play.... When we +walked up the street, in front of every theatre we found men announcing +special religious services. In front of the theatres, also, were +choirs singing religious songs as the people went in, precisely as at +a street fair in America, a party of the performers will come out to +the front to assist the ticket-seller in attracting a crowd. The New +Zealanders are evidently a very religious people; I have been hearing +church bells all day. Everything is closed tight except drug stores +and restaurants.... Both bands I have mentioned had only brass +instruments; no clarinets. In each one I noticed that there were cornet +players who could play an octave higher than the score, and thus get +what we used to call “the clarinet tone” when I played in brass bands +in country towns. I have never seen as respectable a Salvation Army +outfit as I saw in Auckland, and the Mission outfit was still better +looking.... As in Australia, January is like July or August in New +Zealand; snow is unknown about Auckland. All the vegetables and fruits +are at their best here now, and the bathing-beaches are crowded.... +On the “Sonoma” I heard the steward say that when anything came from +New Zealand, it was always the very best. We have found the butter +particularly excellent, and the mutton is better than the turkey.... +An American I met today says that in New Zealand it is no uncommon +thing to see girls of fourteen with complete sets of false teeth; that +something in the water here is very hard on teeth. + + + + +MONDAY, JANUARY 13.—The meals and rooms at the Hotel Royal are so +good that we are almost ashamed to accept them at $2.62 per day each. +The taxi system here is also very agreeable. In most cities, taxis +are disreputable-looking vehicles you are almost ashamed to ride in. +Here they are new automobiles of different makes, and they cannot be +distinguished from private vehicles. Today we rode about in a Cadillac +of 1913 model that had been in service only three weeks. The charge +was $3.12 per hour. At home the Cadillac costs about $2,000; here it +costs a third more. The driver told us he paid forty cents a gallon +for gasoline (known as petrol here); we pay about eighteen cents a +gallon. An exposition will be opened here in nine or ten months, and +the buildings are being erected in a park adjoining the city. We went +out in the Cadillac to see them, and it was very pleasant to hear the +sound of the open muffler again, for Auckland is a very hilly city. +One park we visited consists of four hundred acres, and it was given +to the city by Sir John Logan Campbell. Before he died, citizens of +Auckland erected a statue in his honor, and he was present at the +unveiling, which seemed to me rather unusual. From the top of a +mountain in this park, we could see across New Zealand. The country is +nearly a thousand miles long, and has an average width of one hundred +and fifty miles, but at Auckland the width is only seven miles. The +city will soon extend across the isthmus, and there is already talk of +digging a canal.... Auckland is accustomed to giving. One of the +handsomest and largest structures here is a Y. M. C. A. building, and +near it is a Y. W. C. A. building. The campaign in which the money was +raised for these two buildings must have been a strenuous one.... +Workingmen’s clubs are common here. I have often wondered that we +do not see them in the United States.... A few days ago, the New +Zealand Press Association, which answers to our Associated Press, sent +out a telegram which offended labor-union men. Thereupon the firemen in +an Auckland ferry service went on strike, and greatly inconvenienced +the public. The firemen had no quarrel with their employers, but quit +work because their dignity had been offended by the newspapers. The +newspapers of Australia and New Zealand criticise the labor unions +much more freely than do the newspapers of the United States. Here +business houses are compelled by law to close on certain days, and the +workingmen have become so powerful that they have divided into two +parties, and are fighting each other. Many New Zealanders have told me +that the big fight is yet to come, and that this fight will be between +the people and the labor unions.... I went into a meat market +today, and inquired prices. A rib roast of beef costs twelve cents a +pound; a sirloin roast, fourteen cents. Round steak costs thirteen +cents a pound; the butcher told me he rarely sold a sirloin steak, +but when he does, he gets twenty cents a pound for it. Leg of mutton +sells for twelve cents a pound, and mutton chops, thirteen. Pork chops +are sixteen cents a pound, and ham and bacon twenty-four cents. The +butcher makes a difference in price when a customer has meat delivered +and charged. Butchers at home do not make this distinction; the man +who pays cash, and carries his purchase home, is charged as much as +the patron who runs an account, and has everything delivered. The beef +here is inferior to ours; there is no such thing in New Zealand as +corn-fed cattle.... We also visited a dry-goods store, and, so far +as Adelaide was able to judge, prices were not much lower than at home. +Besides, everything seemed out of style.... In Atchison, market +gardeners sell tomato and cabbage plants growing in boxes. Today we +saw plants grown in exactly the same way in front of Auckland grocery +stores, as this is the season for making garden here.... I have +never seen better-looking horses anywhere than I see in Auckland. They +are usually of the Clydesdale strain. All sorts of live-stock seem +well fed and well bred.... This is a poor trip, compared with the +trip through Japan, China, India, etc. There the people dress and look +different; here the people are so much like those at home that we do +not seem to have been away, if we can forget the pronunciations.... +In the poorer quarters of Auckland, we saw a meal advertised for twelve +cents. It consisted of tea, bread and butter, and fish.... Anything +that sells for a nickel at home, is six cents here. I had my shoes +shined at a street stand today, and the price was six cents. There is +no five-cent piece in English currency, but there is a six-cent silver +piece. There is nothing here answering to our ten-cent piece except the +sixpence, which is worth twelve cents. There are five and ten-cent +stores here, but their prices are six and twelve cents.... When we +want a guide, we get a boy from the hotel, who is known as “Buttons.” +At meal-times, his business is to go through the dining-room, and +take orders for liquor. He also sings in the vested choir in the +largest Episcopal church in town. We passed his church yesterday, and +he offered to take us in and introduce us to the pastor, but we were +compelled to decline the honor, owing to lack of time. Wherever I go, +I employ boy guides. They know the interesting places, and point them +out, but have no problems to discuss as men have.... A sign we see +here frequently is “Private Bar.” What is a private bar? Does it mean +a bar operated by a man who has a saloon for his own private use, and +a bartender who waits on no one else?... In the bar connected with +the Hotel Royal are two girl bartenders, and they are good-looking, +stylish girls.... A big store near our hotel is operated by “John +Court, Limited.” That word Limited is frequently seen abroad, and +seems to mean the same thing as “Incorporated” with us.... At home, +we have a saying that oysters are good only in the months which have +an “r” in them. Here, oysters are at their best in April, May, June, +July and August, and out of season in the months which have an “r” in +them.... In an early walk this morning, I saw a man riding a horse, +and driving a big bunch of sheep and cattle through the streets. He was +assisted by three of the cleverest shepherd dogs I have ever seen, and +it was a sight well worth seeing. During the same walk I ran across a +man who was selling rabbits from a cart. He told me the rabbits had +been trapped the day before, and shipped to Auckland by rail. He sold +two young rabbits for a shilling, or twelve cents each, and called +out as he drove along: “Wild rabbits; wild rabbits.” In Australia, +rabbits have become so numerous that they are a menace and a danger, +but this Auckland rabbit-seller told me that in New Zealand the supply +of rabbits is not equal to the demand.... New Zealand is not an old +country; its history really dates from about 1840. Although Captain +Cook, in 1769, discovered and explored the two islands composing New +Zealand, its real history did not begin until almost a century later, +when the native Maoris, after a war lasting eleven years, concluded a +treaty with the English. Australia and New Zealand, although nominally +English colonies, are as free and independent as any countries in the +world. + + + + +TUESDAY, JANUARY 14.—We have devoted this day to a railroad journey +from Auckland to Rotorua, the center of the Lake district. Here are +located the geysers which are said to rival those in Yellowstone +Park. Here are located, also, famous baths, and Rotorua is probably +the most noted watering-place in Australasia.... The railway station +in Auckland is located next to the postoffice, and very properly, +since the government owns the railway as well as the postoffice. No +trains are run at night, as a rule, and none on Sunday, except an +important mail train between Auckland and Wellington. The railway is +a narrow-gauge, and we traveled on it very comfortably from 10 A. M. +until 6 P. M. At noon, luncheon was served in a dining-car, and at 3:30 +P. M. the dining-car servants announced afternoon tea. When we gave our +tickets to the conductor, he said “Thank you;” over here, when a hotel +waiter shows you the bill of fare, and you say you will take soup, he +always says “Thank you.”... For miles and miles we saw nothing but +pasture land, and cattle and sheep; a hundred sheep, probably, to ten +cattle. In a railroad journey of eight hours, we saw only half a dozen +cultivated fields. These were devoted to oats and turnips. Oats were +in the shock, and we saw several orchards containing ripe fruit. But +mainly we saw pastures. The country is beautiful, and it is prosperous, +but its prosperity comes mainly from sheep. At several places we saw +this sign: “Poison laid for dogs.”... All the stations are named for +the original Maori settlers, as many of our towns have Indian names. +At many stations we saw the Maoris in considerable numbers.... I do +not believe there is a shingle roof in New Zealand; the roofs of the +cheaper houses are of corrugated iron while the roofs of the better +class houses are of red tile. Nearly all the houses in the country have +fireplaces, and most of them are built of sheet-iron. The winters here +are very mild, and a little fire in a grate is all that is needed. New +Zealand is a wonderful stock-raising country, because of its mild +winters.... In the smoking-car of the train, the spittoons were holes +in the floor, with a brass top of the regulation spittoon pattern.... +In Australia and New Zealand you see the sign “No smoking” very much +oftener than anywhere else in the world.... There is no prairie land +in New Zealand. There is a bush to be cleared off all the farm land; +I don’t know what it is, but it looks like scrub cedar. All along the +route we saw this burning; that seems to be one method of clearing +land here. And after the land is cleared, it must be heavily manured; +at one country town I saw a store sign which announced dry goods, +artificial manures, iron mongery, etc. There is as much evidence of +prosperity here as in the best sections of the Middle West, and you +wonder where it comes from, since you see almost nothing but sheep. +I didn’t see a poverty-stricken looking house all day, nor at any of +the dozens of stopping-places did I see anyone who seemed to be poor.. +.. About 2 P. M. we approached the mountains, and traveled in them +until we reached the summit, and ran rapidly down the other side. Near +the top we encountered several sawmills, but they were rather small +affairs. At 5 P. M. we began seeing, in the distance, steam ascending +from geysers. At 6 P. M. we steamed into Rotorua. The railroad stops +here, and all the passengers left the crowded train. There are dozens +of boarding-houses and hotels; excellent accommodations may be had +for $10.50 a week, and the Grand, the best hotel, charges only $3.12 +a day for board and room. The baths rival the best in the most famous +watering-places of the Old World, and many spouting geysers may be +seen in an hour’s walk. In addition, Rotorua has a beautiful lake, and +anyone can catch fish in it; so, little wonder that the town is growing +rapidly. + + + + +WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15.—At 10 o’clock this morning we left for a trip +on the lake. There were about a dozen other passengers in the motor +boat, and in half an hour most of them were seasick, as the wind was +blowing a gale. Our destination was a famous spring eight miles away. +This spring heads a river so large that we sailed in it in a boat. The +water gushes up from a great hole, and with such force that a coin +will not sink in it. The flow is twelve million gallons in twenty-four +hours, and the water as cold as ice. From the wonderful spring, we +went through a wonderful river to a wonderful fall. Three other boats +accompanied us; tourists are as common here as they are in Egypt. +At the wonderful fall, we ate lunch. The Grand Hotel sent a hamper +along, and we ate while sitting on a cliff overlooking the mighty +rush of water. At the fall we left the boat, and took a stage back to +Rotorua, stopping on the way at a thermal center of great interest: +Tikitere. An Irishman married a Maori woman who owns the place, and he +insists upon charging fifty cents admission. This is the only sight +in the district for which a charge is made; the Irishman is smarter +than the New Zealand government, and every visitor is compelled to +pay two shillings, or miss one of the best sights in the district. +Tikitere covers several acres, and is mainly devoted to boiling mud +springs. There are thousands of these springs, some of them not much +larger than your hand, and some of them big enough to float a ship. +Imagine a loblolly of mud boiling violently, and you have the main +idea. At one place there are cold and hot springs within five feet of +each other. Near them is a fall of hot water from two boiling lakes. +Then we drove to Blue Lake, an extinct crater filled with water of a +perfect blue, and returned to the hotel at 6 P. M., badly sunburned +as a result of our trip on the lake and in the stage-coach.... +When I tell people I had no sleep on the “Maheno” because of snoring +gentlemen, they say, “Let me tell you what they did to me.” And then +they relate inconveniences suffered on different ships. But in spite of +these uncomfortable incidents of travel, nothing can keep the people +at home.... The stage in which we traveled today was pulled by five +horses: two wheelers, and three hitched side by side ahead of them. The +roads were so dusty that the driver was frequently compelled to stop, +and wait until he could see his way.... Speaking of differences in +the English language at home and abroad: opposite my room at the Grand +Hotel is a livery and bait stable. Rotorua is a great place for livery +and bait stables, owing to the tourist trade. From my window early in +the morning, I see men and women coming from the different bath-houses, +with towels over their arms. Frequently stages drive up in front of +the hotel, and passengers depart for sights quite distant from the +town. There are a good many automobiles, also, and we shall travel in +these quite extensively when we leave Rotorua to see the other sights +in the district. On an average, there are fifteen hundred visitors in +Rotorua, and a resident population of 2,500. The great watering-places +in Europe are insignificant compared with this place, because of the +variety of natural baths procurable here. The government has spent +$200,000 on a bathhouse, and surrounded it with a very beautiful garden +in which sweet peas are now in bloom. This is also the home of the +gladioli; I see these flowers everywhere in splendid profusion. In the +park surrounding the government bathhouse are several spouting geysers, +steam whistlers, sulphur springs, etc. Outside the park grounds may be +seen many sanitariums, with invalids on the porches. There is nothing +as effective in restoring health as natural hot springs, and the +variety is so great here that I wonder the visiting population is not +much larger than fifteen hundred. + + + + +THURSDAY, JANUARY 16.—The Maoris, or native inhabitants of New +Zealand, look very much like our Indians, and have most of their +characteristics. They are lazy and shiftless, but good fighters, which +will be generally recognized as a trait of the North-American Indians. +At the photograph galleries we see pictures of beautiful Maori girls, +but none are to be seen in the native villages, two of which are +located near Rotorua. In both of these are hot springs, and the natives +use them for cooking, heating their houses, and for bathing. In the +hot springs are placed pots containing meat and vegetables, and the +springs are then covered over with old gunny-sacks until the cooking +is complete. The women also do their washing in the same way; the +clothes are boiled in a hot spring, and then soaped and rubbed in a +stream of cooler water. While the women are washing, their children are +bathing in warm pools near by. The houses are built over hot springs, +and in cool weather the warmth is found very agreeable. A few feet away +from the hot springs may be found a geyser in constant eruption, or +which erupts every ten minutes, every hour, every day, or every month. +Yesterday all the geysers were going, but most of them were quiet +today. The district where I saw the native village covers many acres, +in a depression between mountains, and is marked by white patches which +look like old lime-kilns. These white patches were made by the geysers; +the water is strongly impregnated with lime, and the steam and spray +give everything touched a coating of white. We saw great holes in the +earth filled with blue water, and the bottom as white as snow. Not far +away would be found another geyser; a great loblolly of mud, boiling +lazily. Beside a rushing stream of cold water we saw a hot spring, and +heard the old story that a man might stand in one spot, catch a trout, +and boil it. A Maori woman was our guide, and we greatly admired her +beautiful voice. She was elderly, and ugly, but her voice was soft and +musical. She took us to a native Maori fort, and pointed out a sort of +bird-box situated on top of a pole. This was a Spirit House; a spirit +lived in it, and, when danger threatened, the spirit would speak in a +loud voice, and tell the people what the danger was, and when it would +appear. + +“Most ladies and gentlemen do not believe it,” the Maori woman said. + +I asked her if she believed it, and she replied in her broken English: +“I used to did.” She said that when she was a child, her people always +put food in the spirit house for the spirit, but that lately the custom +is going out of fashion. In the village are Catholic and Episcopal +churches; the Catholic priest is a native Maori, and the church is +heated in cool weather from a hot spring beneath it.... The Maoris +were originally cannibals, but the guide said they ate each other, and +did not bother the whites much. In one place we visited here, we saw +forks made of human bones.... We called at the guide’s home, and saw +one of the tin fireplaces which are seen in seven-tenths of the poorer +houses. They cost about $8 put up, and are used for cooking purposes, +as well as for heating. They burn out, after a time, but a tinner will +rivet in a patch for a small charge. They are certainly very much +cheaper than the stone and brick fireplaces we have. A native Maori +village looks much like a negro suburb in an American town, but the +Maoris are not black; they look like Indians and have straight hair. +Some of the women have their lips tattooed, to indicate submission +to their husbands, but there is a Suffragette movement on here, as +elsewhere, and the Maori woman who showed us about laughed scornfully +at the notion that woman is inferior to man.... Just then we came +to a place called the Frog Pond: a mud lake, and there is just enough +steam below to cause particles of mud to jump like frogs. Near by, in a +hole in the earth, the escaping steam made a sound like the croaking of +frogs. The Maori woman described these things, and then walked on in +silence, with a mean look in her eyes; she was evidently still thinking +of the foolish women of her race who tattoo their lips to indicate +submission to their husbands. I didn’t have a very good time after +the woman suffrage question came up, and was glad that we soon after +reached the last sight on the list. When women look at me in that funny +way indicating that I impose on them, I am thoroughly uncomfortable. So +we walked back to the entrance to the geyser field, and took a carriage +to Rotorua. On the way, we met dozens of other carriages containing +visitors; here people are always departing for a trip, or returning +from one, and when the sights are exhausted they go on to Wairakei, +where there is another collection of geysers, hot springs, etc. Between +trips, they take baths, and there is a great variety to choose from; no +other place in the world has as many different baths as Rotorua, but +the town is not easily reached, and it doesn’t attract as many people +as Hot Springs, Arkansas, which has only simple hot springs; no chain +of lakes, no wonderful fishing, no oil baths, no geysers, and no mud +baths, as has Rotorua.... There are only two geyser fields in the +world; the other is in Yellowstone Park, in the United States. So far +as I am able to judge, the geysers in Yellowstone Park are much finer. +There are no terraces here, as in the Yellowstone, and in every way +the Yellowstone district seems superior. But in a way, they are much +alike. The geysers here are undoubtedly losing their force; citizens +tell me they can see a difference from year to year. I have not seen a +geyser so far more than ten or twelve feet high, but I saw many big +ones in the Yellowstone. All the geysers were going yesterday, and it +is said some of them shot steam and hot water into the air to a height +of forty feet, but I was on the lake trip yesterday, and did not see +the big geyser display which everyone is talking about today. But in +the Yellowstone you can see a big geyser display any day; indeed, Old +Faithful goes off every hour, and shoots steam and hot water 150 to +200 feet into the air. Here soap is frequently put into the geysers, +to make them show off for visitors, but this is not necessary in the +Yellowstone. This district had terraces until a few years ago, when +they blew up, and now there are no others like those in Yellowstone +Park. Besides, the Yellowstone district is much wilder and grander +than the Hot Lake district of New Zealand. This is a wonderful place, +but the Yellowstone is much more wonderful, it seems to me.... We +are the only Americans at the hotel, and, except that a St. Paul man +was here two months ago, we are the only Americans who have been here +in a long time, the manager says.... In the fine park surrounding +the government bathhouse, this afternoon, we saw dozens of games +going. There was bowling, tennis, archery, cricket, and croquet, but +principally bowling. In this game a good many elderly men participated; +it is an old man’s game, but lately young men are playing it. The +lawn was as smooth as a floor, and the game seemed to be to roll +wooden balls to a goal. The men over here carry the wooden balls, when +traveling, and engage in the game at different places. I had never +seen the game before, and watched it for an hour. The players were +very polite and genteel, but all had the pronunciation which seems so +queer to us. I have seen no golf here, but I am rarely out of sight +of a tennis court; that seems to be the universal game.... The +New Zealand government has been so successful in business that it is +now branching out; it is operating a tourist agency in opposition to +Thos. Cook & Son, who have offices all over the world. People living +off the main lines of travel cannot realize how valuable travelers +are. In Europe, many cities devote millions of dollars to securing +tourist travel, and find that it pays. Paris spends millions annually +in this way, and rival cities are lately doing a good deal in the same +direction; it is generally said that Berlin is now a rival of Paris in +attractions for travelers. At this little town of Rotorua, a train-load +of tourists arrives every day, and without them the town would not +amount to much. + + + + +FRIDAY, JANUARY 17.—In Rotorua, a great deal is made of the native +women who act as guides. One hears of Maggie, the guide, before +reaching the town, but we did not see her; she became so famous that +an Englishman married her, and she is now living unhappily in London. +But there are many others here, for the profession is easily learned; +after one trip through the geyser field, I am certain I would be +competent to act as a guide. The native woman who accompanied us +pointed out several holes where people had fallen in and lost their +lives. She says that when a man falls in a hot pool, he disappears, and +nothing is ever seen of him again, except his liver; in a few hours +after the man disappears, his liver is seen floating on the surface, +and is recovered. This is the sort of information possessed by the +guides. A native woman fell into one hot crater, and the guides say her +screaming can still be heard. I listened attentively, and the hissing +steam made a noise at times which sounded something like a woman’s +scream.... In the warm pools, boys and girls swim together, stark +naked. The entrance to the geyser field is over a bridge spanning a +roaring stream, and girls fourteen and fifteen years old jump from +this bridge into the water, if pennies are thrown as an inducement. +The jump is a high one, and I saw no boys making it. In one warm pool +where naked boys and girls were in bathing we saw a little white girl, +but the guide did not know her, and could not explain how she came +there.... Every visitor to New Zealand soon remarks that the women +do not care much about their feet or figures. Still, their waists and +feet do not seem larger than they should be; perhaps women in other +parts of the world unnaturally pinch themselves.... Tourists do all +sorts of queer things. One woman who sits at our table carries her own +tea and teapot, and another carries her own bread.... A rumor came +to the hotel today that the big geysers were spouting, and there was +hurrying among the guests, but the rumor proved only partly true; the +spouting lasted only a few minutes, and the guests of the Grand did not +see it. Last Wednesday, when we were on the lake trip, the big geysers +spouted nine hours, breaking all records. A bulletin board is displayed +in the hotel office, and this is used to keep the guests informed as +to the doings of the geysers.... There seems to be no doubt that we +look funny. In walking about, we hear people say to each other, as we +pass, “They are Americans.” They say it softly, and do not think we +hear it, for the people here are very polite; but we do hear it, and +we remark that people stare at us when they think we are not looking. +We undoubtedly look odd to them. I wonder if our talk sounds as funny +to them as theirs sounds to us?... Wages are not as high here as in +the United States, but we often hear the statement made that this is +more than compensated for by the lower cost of living. We went into +a grocery store today, and inquired prices. Potatoes sell at three +cents a pound; cabbage, eight cents a head; green peas, thirty-two +cents a peck; sugar, six cents a pound; flour, $3 per hundred pounds; +bread, eight cents a loaf; crackers, twelve cents a pound; tomatoes and +peaches, twenty-four cents per two-pound can; eggs, forty-two cents +per dozen; butter, twenty-eight cents a pound. An inferior watermelon +costs seventy-five cents; round steak, eighteen cents a pound; leg of +mutton, twelve cents; loin of mutton, ten. But prices are higher here +than in the average New Zealand town, as not much is produced in this +vicinity. The grocer said freight rates were extortionate, although +the railroad is owned by the government. The apples displayed were +from California, but I did not know the variety, although the grocer +asked me the question.... You frequently see here tin cans labeled +“Pratt’s benzine;” but if you examine the label closely, you note that +it is supplied by the Standard Oil Co., of New York.... Although +lake trout are caught in great quantities here, it is against the law +to sell them. We saw a man come in today with as many rainbow trout +as he and two boys could carry. Lake trout are not particularly good +fish. Brook trout are possibly the best fish in the world, but the +lake trout are larger, and coarser; we have seen them here weighing +twenty-two pounds, but the average is nearer three pounds. In one +pool at Rotorua, thousands of trout may be seen swimming around, and +children feed them with bread crumbs.... Some of the grazing land in +New Zealand, after it has been cleared, manured, and seeded to grass, +becomes very valuable. It is worth as high as $400 an acre. Choice land +is worth an equal amount in Australia, but in both Australia and New +Zealand there is plenty of land that may be had for almost nothing; +but it is worth no more than is charged for it.... It is generally +believed that the original New Zealanders, the original Hawaiians, and +the people living in the islands between, came from the same general +stock. The language was evidently the same at one time, and has been +corrupted into dialects. The native New Zealanders are exactly like +our American Indians, in appearance; perhaps they are all of the same +original stock. The people of Samoa look like the Hawaiians, the +Mexicans and the Indians; and the people of the South Sea islands +were such adventurous navigators that the Samoan group is also known +as the Navigator Islands, and probably many centuries ago the islands +extended much nearer to the mainland of North America than at present. +The surface of the earth is constantly changing; where lofty mountain +ranges once existed, are now vast level plains; our present tropics +were once in the frigid zone, and many islands that once existed +have disappeared. No doubt the original inhabitants of North America +found their way there from the westward, by means which we cannot +now clearly understand.... New Zealand was originally a very poor +country; it had almost no animals, and its vegetation was scanty. All +the sheep, cattle, horses, hogs, fowls, deer, etc., were brought here; +when Captain Cook was killed in the Hawaiian islands, by natives, he +had been distributing live-stock in the islands of the South Seas, to +benefit the inhabitants. Trout are now plentiful in the clear and rapid +streams of New Zealand, but they were brought here. Before the American +Revolution there were plenty of hogs in Australia, New Zealand, and the +South Sea islands. The natives traded hogs to the sailors for knives, +nails, hatchets, etc., and these hogs had been introduced by white men, +at great expense and trouble. The white man has always been trying to +help his more backward dark-skinned brother. + + + + +SATURDAY, JANUARY 18.—Rotorua, with all its charms, becomes very +tiresome after a few days. A second visit to the geyser fields is like +seeing a play a second time, and we are impatient to move on. The first +time you see fifteen-year-old girls, scantily dressed, diving for +pennies, it is a startling sight, but in a little while you do not care +for it. When two Maori women meet, they rub their foreheads together. +That ceremony interested me for a time, but it does not now, and we +leave here tomorrow.... When we first arrived, the manager said: +“I will seat you in the dining-room with an American.” The man was +exactly like an American, but he actually came from Vancouver, B. C. +Canadians are more like Americans than any other people.... I have +not seen such a thing as door or window screens in New Zealand. This is +the middle of summer, and flies are numerous, but no attempt is made +to keep them out. I dislike to pass a meat market, because I always +encounter great swarms of flies. They have ice here, but do not use it +much.... We visited a moving-picture theatre this afternoon, and it +was exactly like the moving-picture shows at home; ridiculous plays +of the melodrama order, made in America, and an orchestra consisting +of a piano-player who plays with tremendous force. As we came away +from the moving-picture show we passed the smallest hotel in town, +and of course it was known as “The Palace.”... I have never seen such +magnificent sweet pea blooms as I have seen here, and they are now +at their best. Roses also seem to do particularly well here, and we +visited a rose garden today which would have done credit to California. +There was an acre or more of roses, and all the varieties seemed to +be different. The garden is owned by the government, which does all +sorts of things over here, and is cared for by convicts.... We have +had no mail from home in five weeks. The people at the American naval +station at Pago Pago, Samoa, receive mail only once a month, and say +they do not mind it; that mail every day is a daily worry, whereas if +you receive mail but once a month your worries are greatly reduced. +You are always expecting important mail which never arrives, and a +daily mail, they say, is really a nuisance.... One of the baths here +is known as a Spout bath. You go down into a cave, and water falls +on you from six feet above. The water comes from one of the boiling +springs, cooled to an endurable temperature by the addition of a stream +from a cold lake. Water is conducted from the lakes in trenches to +the baths. The water in the Spout bath has a good deal of oil in it, +and is said to be particularly good for rheumatism. But the worst +case of rheumatism I ever saw was in front of the Spout bathhouse. +A native man was so crippled with it that he moved as slowly as a +snail, and was a pitiful object.... There arrived at this hotel +today a man and wife I had known on the “Sonoma.” He is a fine old +gentleman who lives in a country town in Ohio, but he has at least one +habit to which his wife seriously objects. They sat opposite us in +the dining-room, and I noticed that the old gentleman parted his hair +behind, in the old-fashioned way. And it seemed, also, that he used +hair oil, for regularly three times a day I heard his wife mumbling a +protest because of this hair-oil habit. And tonight at dinner the wife +appeared alone, and was seated at our table, as the manager knew we +were acquaintances. Presently the old gentleman appeared; he had been +indulging in his favorite dissipation, hair oil, and his wife at once +noticed it, and mumbled a protest. The old gentleman pays no attention +to her; indeed, he does not pay much attention to anyone, as he is a +very quiet man. On the “Sonoma” he was an early riser, as I was, and +usually he barely spoke to me when I appeared. But I saw him quite +animated one morning. He was seated on deck, looking out at the sea, +and, soon after I sat down near him, he burst out into a tirade against +the farmers with whom he did business as a country merchant thirty or +forty years ago. He said that in the old day he bought wrapping-twine +of farmers, and that almost invariably he found a stone in the middle +of each ball. One conspicuous offender was an old Baptist deacon. +On one occasion, when this man came into the store after sugar, the +merchant placed in the scoop, with the sugar, a number of stones taken +from balls of twine purchased of the deacon. The deacon watched the +performance, but never said a word; he knew he was guilty, and calmly +took his medicine.... I have witnessed many amateur performances, +but the most amusing one I saw in Rotorua this evening. It was an +entertainment given by native Maoris, and the women guides had been +selling tickets several days. The accompaniments were played on an +accordion, and twenty-five persons took part in some of the numbers. +Twelve young girls sang, and among them I noticed a number of the +fifteen-year-old divers who had jumped for my pennies yesterday at the +bridge marking the entrance to the geyser field. Fourteen men gave +a war dance, and about that number of women gave a “hooche-kooche.” +The entire performance was of this character, and so poor that it +was amusing. After appearing on the stage, the performers came down +to seats in the audience, as amateurs do everywhere, and laughed and +giggled. Every act was applauded, and every performer had an encore +number. One of the men who appeared in the war dance must have been +seventy years old; rather venerable, I thought, for an amateur. We +stood it for an hour, because there was absolutely nothing else to do. +The English pickle and jam manufacturers, and tradesmen of every kind, +claim notable patrons, therefore I was not surprised to find this on +the programme: “Patronized by Lord Kitchener, Madame Melba, and many +other distinguished visitors.” The performance closed with the song, +“God Save the King,” and a dance. The audience was small, and composed +entirely of whites, but out in front of the hall were hundreds of +Maoris lounging about. + + + + +SUNDAY, JANUARY 19.—I write this by the light of a tallow candle in a +little hotel twenty-four miles from Rotorua. We came here today by a +circuitous route, and saw many wonders on the way. The hotel at which +I am a guest tonight exists to accommodate visitors to the Waiotapu +valley geysers, and these I shall see tomorrow morning, and proceed +to Wairakei, twenty-seven miles, by motor in the afternoon. The names +here are something dreadful; one place we visited yesterday is called +Whakarewarewa, but people refer to it familiarly as Whak.... We left +Rotorua at 8:15 this morning, by stage. We had seats with the driver, +which, in staging, is an honor equal to a seat at the captain’s table +on a ship. We had a pleasant drive of three hours through mountains, +passing Green and Blue lakes on the way. One lake is really green +and the other is really blue, and both may be seen at the same time +from a high place on the stage road. At Green lake we encountered a +photographer, who, after taking our picture, accompanied us down to +a buried town. While we were looking at these ruins, which occupied +us possibly half an hour, the photographer developed and printed +the picture, and took orders from certainly ten of the fourteen +passengers.... In 1886 this section was visited by an earthquake. +A tract of country nineteen miles long was affected, and 135 people, +mostly natives, were killed. After taking a look at the town buried +in 1886, we drove a mile, and embarked on a launch for a ride of +eight miles. Then we walked over a mountain, and embarked on another +launch for a ride of six miles across White lake. This lake is really +a crater, and in spots the water is boiling hot. For some reason, +the water is nearly as white as milk, and in the crumbling walls +surrounding the lake are hundreds of smoking geysers. The place looks +like a lake in purgatory, and the country surrounding it is as desolate +and barren as can be imagined. On this ride we passed the site of the +terraces, or mammoth hot springs, which were destroyed by the eruption +twenty-six years ago. When we landed, we met another party, going the +route we had come, and, as soon as we disembarked, they went on board, +and left us. We found an old guide waiting for us, and started on a +walk of three miles through a lava-bed. We were always in sight of +smoking springs and geysers. At one place we were compelled to ford a +considerable stream, and the guide carried the women across.... The +guide was much the smartest man of his profession we have seen. Just +how accurate his information is, I do not know. He says that most of +the great processes in geology are carried on by internal fires in the +earth, and that what we see on the surface here is constantly going +on, on a very much larger scale, deeper down. The water from every +cool, limpid spring is sent to the surface by the same forces that +cause the mud lakes to bubble and growl; the water of every cold spring +was originally steam, and the water was cleaned of impurities on its +long journey to the surface.... The geyser field of New Zealand is +more than a hundred miles long, and during our journey of twenty-four +miles today we were rarely out of sight of smoking springs. But the +most curious thing we have seen is the White lake, which occupies a +crater caused by the earthquake of 1886. The lake has no outlet, and, +until a few years ago, was a mud geyser. Then it began to fill with +hot water from below. In spots the water is only warm at the surface, +but in many places it is boiling.... The end of our three-mile walk +was a government rest-house. Here we found a carriage awaiting us, and +we drove seven miles to the hotel where we are spending the night. A +storm was threatening when we arrived at the rest-house, and we were +anxious to hurry on, but the English people with us insisted on having +their afternoon tea, and we were forced to wait for them.... Part of +the country over which we traveled today looked like the lake district +of Scotland; the first lake on which we traveled reminded me of Loch +Katrine, and the stage road to it was something like the Trossachs. +But after we reached the lake where the water is white, and occupying +a crater smoking all around the edges, we saw something we had never +seen the like of before.... Wild blackberries are a pest in this +section. We saw hundreds of acres of wild blackberry bushes during +our drive today, the berries just ripening. The best way to get rid +of the bushes, the driver said, was to put goats among them.... +This lava district was formerly considered worthless. Some years ago +a man leased fifteen thousand acres of it from the government, at a +rental of £29 per year, or $145. He burned off the bush, sowed a lot of +clover seed, and is now getting rich from sheep.... When I arrived +at this hotel I was very dirty and dusty, from riding on two stages +on dusty roads. So I asked the proprietor for a bath. He gave me a +towel, and called a boy, who led me to a creek two hundred yards down +the hill. The water was warm, and, after warning me not to go above +or below into very hot water, the boy left me to enjoy my swim.... +On a ship, an American is always interested in seeing the English +passengers going to their morning baths. They are seen in all the halls +and on all the decks, barefooted, and wearing pajamas. But early this +morning, at the Grand Hotel in Rotorua, I saw a still more unusual +sight. An Englishman came out of the hotel at 7:30 wearing slippers +on bare feet, and dressed only in pajamas. I supposed he was going to +one of the hotel bathrooms, but instead of that, he walked out on the +streets of Rotorua, and calmly proceeded to one of the big bath-houses +three or four blocks away. He was dressed exactly as I represent him; +bareheaded, and smoking a pipe.... While taking an early walk this +morning, I encountered the courthouse in Rotorua. Here are some of the +signs on the office doors: “Stipendiary Magistrate;” “Registrar of Old +Age Pensions;” “Vaccination Inspector;” “Registrar of Deaths, Births +and Marriages.” The office hours of the different officials were: +Saturdays, 10 A. M. to noon; week days, 10 A. M. to 1 P. M., 2 P. M. +to 4 P. M. Counting holidays, that is an average of about four hours +a day for New Zealand officials.... At the moving-picture shows +here the best seats are 36 cents, and a seat on a bench in the extreme +rear of the hall costs 12 cents.... In a Rotorua paper I picked up +last night, I saw a statement that a man had been fined $125 “for sly +grog-selling.” That is what we call “bootlegging.” + + + + +MONDAY, JANUARY 20.—I awoke this morning at 5 o’clock, and found +the sun coming up. You have perhaps noted that the sun is not up at +5 A. M. on the 20th of January in our part of the world. While the +days are very warm here, the nights are quite cool; at 5 A. M. I was +quite cold in bed, and awoke to look for more covering.... I read +myself to sleep last night, very comfortably, by the light of a tallow +candle. Electric lights do not seem to be absolutely necessary to the +comfort of mankind.... In riding over the mountains here, I find +great tracts of flourishing pine trees which have been planted by the +government. Convicts did the work. By this means, the barren mountains +are being changed into a living green.... Late last night, a man +somewhere about the hotel engaged in singing; alcoholic singing, I +judged. The vulgar rich are generously abused, but I have noticed that +the higher priced the hotel, the more polite the guests are.... But +while this little hotel in the mountains of New Zealand is somewhat +primitive, I prefer it to the best steamship that ever existed. For +breakfast this morning we had soft-boiled eggs, toast and coffee, with +mutton chops and bacon offered. That is enough for anyone. But on a +ship you are offered a hundred things you do not want, by professional +waiters who are wondering how much of a gratuity they can coax out +of you. The breakfast this morning was served by a girl who, barring +her pronunciation, seemed real nice. She expects no tip; she expects +her pay from the proprietor, whom I have heard her refer to as Mr. +Hickey. And while my room is small, I at least haven’t two snoring +gentlemen in with me.... A young gentleman who ate breakfast with +me has charge of the local postoffice, and says there are several big +sheep ranches in the vicinity, from which he gets a good deal of mail. +The sheep here are well bred, and not at all like the range sheep of +the United States.... While writing in my room last night I felt a +shock, and thought some object had fallen about the hotel. This morning +I learned it was an earthquake; we had three shocks during the night. +Near this place is a place called Earthquake Flat. In passing it the +stage-drivers rest their teams a few minutes, and give the passengers +a chance to experience an earthquake shock. Ten minutes never goes by +at that point without one. At Rotorua, one night we were there, sixty +earthquake shocks were noted from 6 P. M. to 6 A. M.... This morning, +in walking through the Waiotapu geyser field, we had a satisfactory +guide; a native Maori. He didn’t say much, and, if we wanted to know +about anything, asked him about it. Yesterday we had a guide who talked +incessantly, and he was a bore. He was an Englishman, and we were glad +to get rid of him. Adelaide refused to go out to the geyser field this +morning; she is tired seeing them, as they are all much alike.... +At 1 P. M. today we left Waiotapu for Wairakei, in a seven-passenger +Napier automobile. The distance is twenty-seven miles, over a mountain +road, and we ran it in two hours, with the usual rests for tea. The +roads were good, and the ride enjoyable. The Napier is an English +six-cylinder car, and the driver was very capable and agreeable.... +Arriving at the hotel at Wairakei, we found the most gallant man in the +world. He runs a hotel consisting of a number of detached buildings. In +the main one he has _two_ toilet-rooms for women, with modern plumbing, +but the men are compelled to content themselves with a toilet-room of +the country-hotel pattern, located out in the yard, near the stables, +and it is very filthy, and filled with big blue flies. Another law +I suggest is, that no man be allowed to conduct a hotel until he is +able to provide proper toilet facilities. The hotel at Wairakei is +located near a geyser field. Another difference between Yellowstone +Park and the New Zealand geyser country is that in the Yellowstone +you find modern hotels; that at the Norris geyser basin is a palace. +Here, after leaving Rotorua, we found the hotels primitive, and not +very comfortable.... There are many deer in New Zealand; also +wild cattle, wild pigs, California quail, pheasants, etc. Several +times I have seen California quail along the country roads.... A +remarkable thing we saw yesterday was a mud volcano; a small mountain, +in the center of which was a boiling mud spring. The spring is +constantly throwing out mud, and thus the mountain grows steadily in +height.... To be a Maori, is to be a pensioner. The natives employ +smart lawyers to bring all sorts of claims against the government, and +these win often enough to be profitable. The lands the natives own +are uncultivated, and the natives are a drawback to the country. All +of which is very much American Indian.... Over here the government +does everything, including selling tickets to tourists. The government +owns the town of Rotorua, and brings it water and light from waterfalls +in the neighboring mountains.... If you are a bad sleeper, do not +travel. I was awake at 4 o’clock this morning, and there was not the +slightest noise about the hotel from that hour until 7:15, when I heard +an alarm clock go off. You don’t know what it is to be really lonesome +unless you have spent a sleepless night in a strange hotel in a strange +country.... A man came in this evening from Lake Taupo, with a big +catch of trout. Some of the fish were very thin in flesh; so thin that +they were worthless. It is said fish are so plentiful in the lake that +there is not enough for them to eat. Most of the fish weighed from +six to seven pounds.... We hear of geysers that shoot steam and +hot water fifteen hundred feet in the air, but we have seen no geyser +here more than thirty feet high. The big sights are always just over +when I come along.... At this hotel, when you wish to take a bath, +you go out to the manager’s office, and find a key hanging beside the +door. This key opens a door down in the canyon, back of the hotel. +The bath consists of a great pool of hot water. There is no roof over +the pool, but it is fenced in. Within the enclosure, also, is a pool +of cold water, into which you may plunge after a hot bath. Certain +hours are devoted to gentlemen, and certain hours to ladies.... +Rooms in this hotel are also lighted with candles, and I dislike to +blow out my candle and go to bed, as I can smell the extinguished wick +half the night.... The food in New Zealand is universally good; +we have come to the conclusion that the New Zealanders are famous +cooks.... We find a good many private cars touring in this section, +as the government devotes much attention to roads, which are generally +excellent, barring the terrible dust. Yesterday we met a little Ford +machine, and it seemed to be kicking up about as much dust as any of +them.... The rainfall here is greater than in the best agricultural +sections of the United States, but the bulk of the rain falls in +winter, whereas our moisture is better distributed over the growing +season. + + + + +TUESDAY, JANUARY 21.—We have made three trips today, looking at the +wonders in the Wairakei field; we have devoted at least nine hours to +sightseeing, which is not a bad day’s work. One of the wonders is the +Blow Hole; a great hole on top of a mountain out of which steam pours +constantly, and with a great noise. This is called the safety-valve +of New Zealand. Surrounding it we found a number of empty four-gallon +oil tins; cans in which old Rockefeller had shipped gasoline to +this country. The driver of our carriage threw these cans into the +blow-hole, and the steam shot them out again. The noise reminded me +of steam being blown out of a locomotive boiler, in preparation for +washing it. There are no hot springs or geysers within four or five +miles of the Blow Hole; it is a solitary attraction, and the steam +ascending from it may be seen many miles.... Although the big +terraces were covered up by the earthquake of 1886, we have seen two +or three small and imperfect ones. As you walk through the Wairakei +valley you notice that the earth is red, and green, and yellow, and +white, and blue in places. The guide gave me a card on which he had +made many colors with mud; it reminded me of a painter’s color-card. +All this is like the Yellowstone, and everything here is much like +the geyser fields in our greatest national park, but it seems to me +that the Yellowstone is much superior, in every way. Facilities for +getting about are much the same, and prices about the same, but the +hotel accommodations in the Yellowstone are undoubtedly better.... +At one place in Wairakei valley, steam pours out of a number of small +holes in the earth. Bottles are placed beside the steam holes in +such a way that an incessant whistling is kept up, in half a dozen +different keys. At another place, what sounds like cannonading may be +heard deep in the earth; in another, at the bottom of a lake, you may +hear what sounds like a blacksmith hammering on an anvil. As you walk +along, the earth sounds hollow to the tread, and every little while +there is a cave-in, and a new hot spring or geyser appears.... I +have spoken several times, in a good-natured way, of the difference +in American and English pronunciation. A change may not be expected; +indeed, I think the difference is becoming greater all the time, since +the English children have a worse pronunciation than their parents. We +have been traveling several days with a father and mother and two young +daughters. The father and mother pronounce their words almost as we +do, but both the daughters have a brogue that is the most pronounced I +have heard. I hope I have written good-naturedly of the differences in +pronunciation, for I like the people I meet. Most of the travelers are +New Zealanders or Australians, but I can’t tell them from the English, +except that the New Zealanders and Australians frequently criticise the +English to me. They say, for one thing, that young Englishmen who have +nothing to do, come over here, and set a bad example; that here, young +people are expected to work, and are not much respected unless they +do. Many New Zealanders have told me that they have too many holidays; +too many amusements.... I hear exactly the same talk here of high +taxes and public extravagance that I hear at home, and I am told that +politicians are about as mischievous, active and troublesome in New +Zealand as elsewhere. At home, we hear a great deal about the value of +the single-tax system. New Zealand has that system, and today I heard a +Wellington lawyer criticising it very severely. It is a single tax in +theory only, since New Zealand has about as many different forms of +taxation as any other country. New Zealand has tried more experiments +than we have, but gets no better results from its laws than we get. It +is attacking the trusts, just as we are doing, and the trusts continue +to flourish; there are some things you can’t do by law, and New Zealand +can’t accomplish the impossible any more than we can. I hear that +compulsory arbitration worked for a time, as I hear that a week, or +month, or year, before I came, the geysers shot three hundred feet in +the air; but it is positively known that the country now has as many +and as ridiculous strikes as any other, and the best geysers have done +only twenty or thirty feet in my presence. The New Zealand railroads +are primitive compared with ours, and their rates higher; yet they have +government ownership, which many Americans say would solve the railroad +problem. New Zealanders do not say their methods are better than ours; +on the contrary, they regard the United States with a great deal of +respect, and know that we are far in the lead. New Zealanders have +the same respect for the United States that you find in Kansas City +for Chicago; we are the Big Boy in the family of nations, and nobody +seriously disputes it. Some foreigners make fun of us, because they are +envious, but the New Zealanders do not.... Men are about the same +everywhere: the native who today drove me to see a wonderful rapids in +a river, said he knew the best fishing-hole in the entire stream, and +wanted me to remain over tomorrow, and go fishing with him. But I do +not intend to do it; I have no confidence in tips—particularly fishing +tips. The same native, in showing us the rapids, pointed out several +deep caves along the rough path we were compelled to climb, in getting +the best view of the rapids. + +“Maybe dead man in there,” he said, pointing to the deepest of the +caves. “Stay tomorrow, and we’ll look.” + +But I could not be persuaded by this tempting offer, and leave tomorrow +for a trip that will keep me busy from 6 A. M. until 12 P. M. If anyone +is finding fault because I am idle, I hope that day’s work will satisfy +them. + + + + +WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22.—Continuing our pleasure trip, we started +at 6 o’clock this morning, and traveled almost continuously until +midnight—by stage, boat, and railroad train. Our destination was +Taumarunui, and when we arrived there at midnight, we left an order +with the hotel clerk to be called at 5:30, to catch a boat on the +celebrated Waunganui river for Pipiriki.... The first stage of our +journey today was by coach to Lake Taupo, seven miles. On the way, we +passed several waterfalls and geysers, but as we had been called at 5 +o’clock, we were sleepy, and did not much enjoy them. At seven o’clock +we were at Taupo, where we took a boat for a ride of twenty-six miles +across the lake. There were only five passengers, and the pilot read +most of the three hours, looking up from his book occasionally to see +that the boat was going right. When we were out an hour, he asked all +of us if we were going on by stage. We said we were, whereupon he +produced a little cage containing a pigeon. Writing the figure “5” on +a thin piece of paper, he fastened this to the bird’s leg by means of a +light wire, and the bird was released. This is the means used every day +to notify the stage people, eighteen miles away, how many passengers +are coming. The bird has been in use two years, and never fails. If +the boat has a big load of passengers, two or more stages are made +ready, but the day we crossed, one was sufficient. In some islands, a +regular carrier-pigeon post is maintained, the pilot told me.... We +landed at a little Maori village at 10 A. M., and found a five-horse +stage waiting for us, the carrier-pigeon having delivered the message +entrusted to it. We picked up several passengers here, and when we +started over the mountain, the top of which showed patches of snow, +the coach carried fourteen, including the driver. We called at a house +in the village and picked up a very fat Maori woman, two children, and +two men. The woman said good-by to all the women and girl children in +the house by rubbing her forehead against theirs, and considerable +time was required for this ceremony. When we finally started, a light +rain was falling, which continued until 7 P. M., when we reached the +railroad. Three passengers had paid extra for seats with the driver, +and all of them were soaked, while those of us on the inside were +protected. During the stage ride from 10 A. M. to 7 P. M., we passed +through a wild, mountainous country, and saw almost no houses. We +stopped twice to change horses, and both times the passengers drank +tea in a little hut warmed by a fire in one of the tin fireplaces so +common here. The tea was boiled in the fireplaces by the hostlers of +the stage company, and we gave them what we pleased. I drank tea four +times today: at breakfast, at noon, in the afternoon, and at dinner at +7 o’clock.... Wherever there was a house, the people came out to see +the stage go by. At two or three places we saw pigs of the Arkansas +razor-back variety; there is no corn here, and pigs do not amount to +much. The passengers were all New Zealanders, and they told us they +knew we were from the United States as soon as they saw us. They said +they could always tell English and Americans. And then we told them we +knew they were New Zealanders, and not English, because we had heard +them abusing the English. When you see a man who is exactly like an +Englishman, but who abuses the English, you may know he is from New +Zealand or Australia. A woman and her daughter who were passengers +told us New Zealanders always admired Americans; particularly American +women. All the passengers, except the Maoris, were making about the +same trip we were making, and we had met several of them at different +places, and become acquainted. In traveling, it is almost allowable +to speak to anyone.... At 7 o’clock in the evening we reached +the railroad at Waiora, and waited an hour and twenty minutes for a +train to Taumarunui. This is the only night train operated in New +Zealand, and connects its two most important cities: Wellington and +Auckland.... It is a universal custom at hotels here, when a servant +serves you, to say “Thank you.” A waiter will hand you a bill of fare, +and you indicate that you will take soup, whereupon the waiter says +“Thank you.” When the waiter brings the soup, you say “Thank you.” +The people here are much politer to servants than Americans.... +Ten minutes before midnight we landed at Taumarunui, which is a +switch-engine town; I heard a switch-engine puffing in the yards nearly +all night. A town that has a railroad switch-engine is a grade above +the ordinary electric-light town.... Soon after we entered the train +at Waiora, the conductor entered our car, and asked: “Anyone from +Waiora?” Then those of us who had entered the train at that station, +handed him our tickets. In America, railway conductors have a way of +tagging passengers. I should think it would be easy here to steal a +ride. Stations are not called, and there is no train porter, so when we +arrived at Taumarunui we were compelled to hunt up the conductor and +ask him if that was our station. + + + + +THURSDAY, JANUARY 23.—The Waunganui river is known as “the Rhine of +New Zealand.” We journeyed down this river eleven hours today, and +it was the big event of our stay in New Zealand. The Waunganui river +is a series of rapids, and during the eleven hours of the journey +we were always in a crooked mountain gorge. We saw no farm land, no +settlements; nothing but wild mountain scenery, and a rapid, roaring +river sometimes not more than forty feet wide. The boat in which we +traveled was a very narrow one; not so wide as a street-car, but +probably sixty feet long, and supplied with powerful engines. In going +down some of the rapids the engines were stopped, and occasionally +reversed. The government has spent a great deal of money in improving +the river, and the only houses we saw were occupied by river workers. I +have made a trip down the St. Lawrence, and I think we passed through +one rapids, which was thought to be remarkable; but today we passed +through hundreds. And the boats didn’t poke along; they ran like +racehorses, and every minute missed great rocks by only a few feet. +Probably no other river trip in the world is equal to this one. About +11 A. M. we changed to a boat of a little heavier draught, and about +noon we stopped at a houseboat for lunch. This houseboat is a complete +hotel, and many people stop there a day or two in the journey up or +down—usually down, for very few people make the slow journey upstream. +We had forty-six passengers, and this number packed the boat, it was +so small. I am certain that every five minutes during the eleven-hour +journey, we passed a waterfall. Some of the mountain scenery is really +fine, and we were twisting and turning all the time. We knew seven +or eight of the passengers, having met them at various places during +the present trip. At 6 P. M. we reached Pipiriki, which consists of a +fine hotel perched on top of a mountain. It has electric lights and +modern conveniences, and is a joy after some of the hotels in the +geyser district.... Although the Waunganui is called the Rhine of +New Zealand, it is not at all like the Rhine of Germany. It is not +so large, and the country through which it passes is very much more +rugged. The Rhine is lined with old castles and towns, whereas in +traveling down the Waunganui all day you do not see a single town, and +only a few cheap houses occupied by river laborers.... The boat +on which we were passengers had one very handy employee. He handled +baggage, and also served tea in the afternoon. When we stopped for +lunch at the houseboat he assisted in waiting on the tables, and when +we reached the hotel at Pipiriki he helped wait on the tables. He also +assisted with the ropes when the boat landed, which it did a few times, +to throw mail out on the bank where there was no town, no houses, and +no people in sight. It also delivered a little freight in the same way, +and one passenger landed at a lonely place and disappeared in the bush. + + + + +FRIDAY, JANUARY 24.—We were aroused at 4:30 this morning, and departed +at 5:30 to complete the journey down the river to the railroad and +the sea. The lower portion of the Waunganui is as interesting as the +upper; although we rode in a larger boat, there were as many rapids +today as yesterday—the road was covered, but the pilot was compelled +to follow it as closely as a chauffeur follows an automobile road. One +rapids was so narrow and crooked that the only way to get through was +to trust to luck, and bump through. The captain was the pilot in all +the critical places, but at least three other men seemed to know the +river, and took turns at the wheel. One of them was a Maori dude, with +fancy clothes, and every native along the way waved at him. The pilot +was also the engineer; the men down below had nothing to do but keep +up steam. Beside the pilot was a throttle whereby he shut off steam, +reversed, went half speed, or full speed; he did not ring bells for +the guidance of an engineer below, but had complete control of the +power himself. I never before saw a steamboat so rigged.... Two +or three hours after leaving Pipiriki, we began to see evidences of +civilization; including a cemetery. For several days we had been in +the wilds where a cemetery was not seen. The river still ran through +mountains, but we stopped frequently, and took on mail and passengers. +At some places the boat ran its nose into the bank for a moment, a +deck hand jumped to the shore and grabbed a mail sack hanging on a +stick, and then we backed into the stream. At other places we stopped +at villages, and took on wool, fruit, passengers, and sheep-dogs. A +good sheep-dog is worth $50 in New Zealand. At some of these places +passengers on the boat would call out to men ashore and ask them: “Got +your wool out yet?” At one lonely place several native women came +aboard, and they said good-by to dozens of women at the landing in the +peculiar Maori way. When we pulled out we saw those on shore riding up +the hills, on horseback, followed by a lot of dogs. There were many +native passengers, and they occupied one section of the boat; whether +this was a sort of “Jim Crow” arrangement, or whether the natives +preferred being together, I do not know. At breakfast I did not see +any of the natives at the tables.... We passed a boat coming up, +and our captain called out to the pilot: “Water twenty-one, Jake; look +out for Wintoni shoal.” We passed the boat on the left, instead of on +the right, which is the custom with all traffic here. It was cold on +the river early in the morning, and we hugged the smokestack, but by +ten o’clock the weather was quite warm.... There were several very +small men on board; race-riders. They seemed to have been making the +tour of the geyser district, and I judged they were on their way to +Wellington, where there will be racing next week. People living in the +United States cannot realize how popular horse-racing is out here. Nor +can they realize how popular the tea-drinking habit is. Every railroad +train stops at frequent intervals, to afford the passengers opportunity +to drink tea. At the hotels, when the maids bring us tea early in the +morning, and we do not take it, you cannot imagine how astonished they +look.... Another impressive thing in this country is the fact that +all the people are very polite. I haven’t seen a rude person since +arriving in New Zealand, and, in addition, they are all well-dressed +and prosperous-looking. I have met one drunken man, but he was polite +in spite of the load he carried.... On a boat a few days ago we met +a bride and groom, and have been traveling with them since. They had +with them every day a little newspaper, printed in a town of which I +had never heard, and, as I saw them consulting it frequently, I knew +it contained their wedding notice. I managed to get hold of the paper +this morning, while they were at breakfast, and read the notice. It was +the usual thing. A Miss Ruth Simpson played the wedding march; there +were flower girls, a wedding breakfast, etc.; the bride was one of our +most amiable young ladies, and the groom one of our most promising +young business men; the bride threw her bouquet, and it was caught by +one of her bridesmaids: I greatly enjoyed reading the wedding notice +of our friends, whom we had come to know very well, and who were very +nice. It’s the same old thing all the world over.... At 11 A. M. +we passed out of the rapids, and the river became broader. At noon we +came to Waunganui, a town of fourteen thousand. Here we took a train +for Wellington. The train was packed, and I hate a crowd. The farming +country between Waunganui and Wellington is probably as good as there +is in New Zealand, which isn’t saying much. Every three or four miles +we saw a field of oats or turnips. In between, we saw sheep in hilly +pastures. There are more sheep here than I ever dreamed of; and I +doubt if there is a black sheep in New Zealand: anyway, I haven’t seen +one.... On the train was a father who could take care of a baby, +but the mother was perfectly helpless with it.... The dining-car +on the train is run by the government, and no doubt the waiters take +civil-service examinations. When we reached the dining-car there was +almost nothing left, owing to the crowd, but the waiter said he could +get us a chop. Here, mutton chops are as common as bacon or ham in the +United States.... At 7:20 P. M. we arrived in Wellington, after +passing through a number of tunnels, and stopping at many seaside +resorts. We went to the Grand Hotel, the best we have encountered since +leaving San Francisco. Early tomorrow we shall call on Thos. Cook & +Son, tourist agents, and see what they desire us to do next. + + + + +SATURDAY, JANUARY 25.—The first thing we do when we reach a strange +town is to walk around and look at it, after being comfortably settled +in a hotel. Later, we hire a messenger boy, as guide, and go riding. +We like Wellington better than we liked Auckland, and we were in love +with that town. The Grand Hotel is really excellent, yet the price is +only $3.12 a day, which includes three regular meals, supper at 9 P. +M., early morning tea, afternoon tea, and room. The house has a good +elevator service, electric lights, and plenty of baths. My room looks +out on the main street of Wellington, and has a little stone balcony +in front. Across the street is the barroom of the Empire Hotel, with +two lady bartenders. I amuse myself watching them. They are stylishly +dressed, and it is funny to see them step up to the bar and ask a man +what he will have.... We swing along the streets in comfortable +fashion, and hope that drinking tea four times a day causes us to +look Colonial, if not English, but when we step into a store and +ask a price, the clerk replies, “Ten and six; that is, two dollars +and sixty-two cents.” Which causes us to realize that our gait, our +manner, our clothes and our talk are still plainly marked: “American.” +We went into a dry-goods store this morning, and Adelaide bought a +pair of gloves. The price was three and six (about half the price we +would have paid at home), and I gave the clerk what I thought was +the exact change. As I walked out, I was thinking the English system +of money is easy to learn. When we were in the street, a girl came +running after us with a shilling change.... Railroad trains run +through one of the busiest streets of Wellington, and this morning +we saw a train start for the races. It consisted of half a dozen +passenger coaches, and twelve flat cars provided with board seats. +One of the passenger cars was a sleeper. This is the capital of the +country. Think of the government owning the railways in the United +States, and, in Washington, D. C., compelling the people to ride on +flat cars. I imagine that “Tax Payer,” and “Citizen,” to say nothing +of “Old Soldier,” and “Vox Populi,” would write stinging letters to +the newspapers.... There is a paper printed here called “Truth,” +and I venture the opinion that it is the biggest liar in the Dominion. +The last issue has a leader entitled “Christ—Cæsar—Napoleon.” Under +such a title a writer might lie abominably.... In Australia, a Mr. +Beeby was recently elected to the legislative assembly against the +wishes of the labor unions. Mr. Beeby challenged the right of the labor +unions to order his every political act, and become the keeper of his +conscience. So he appealed to the people, and told the labor men to +go to the devil. They made a tremendous fight against Mr. Beeby, and +said he was trying to take bread out of the mouths of starving people, +etc., although he was really a very fair and sensible friend of the +working class. The result was a surprise; Mr. Beeby won, although by a +small majority. The Wellington _Times_ of this morning, speaking of Mr. +Beeby’s success, says: + +“There is a good deal of hostility to the labor element, because of its +disregard of the best traditions of constitutional government.” + +It was a fair and square fight between conservative people and the +labor unions, and the people won. There is a great deal of the same +sentiment everywhere in New Zealand and Australia; the people believe +the labor unions have become more exacting than circumstances warrant, +and that some day, somewhere, the limit will be reached.... This +has been a very enjoyable day, because there are no sights to see. +Fortunately Thos. Cook & Son didn’t want us to go to the South Islands +to see the glaciers; they say we haven’t time. We have walked about +in a leisurely way today, and, living far from the sea, the docks +attract us everywhere. This afternoon we engaged in conversation with +an officer of a ship sailing to London by way of South America, and +he took us all over it. He said sea-travel is safer now than ever +before, because of the “Titanic” disaster; that every seaman is more +careful.... Last night, two bands went by the hotel. The players +were neatly uniformed, and there were at least sixty men in the two +organizations. They were Mission bands; the Mission is a rival of the +Salvation Army, but a little quieter in its methods. The Salvation +Army also has a large band here, and both play in the streets every +evening. The papers give advance notice of the location of the +concerts, and large crowds gather to hear the music. The bands are +very creditable; nothing amateurish about them.... The men who work +in the slaughter-houses here are on strike, and the papers of this +morning say that the Farmers’ Union has adopted resolutions condemning +the slaughter-house employees for failure to accept arbitration.... +In this country, when a newspaper prints a telegram, it prints the +day and hour the telegram was received, as a guarantee that it was +received by wire. If an editor prints a faked telegram, he is liable +to fine and imprisonment. The idea isn’t a bad one. The government has +lately ordered an investigation of the wireless telegraph business. +The people desire to know just what is actually being accomplished +by wireless. I shall watch the investigation with interest; I should +like to know, too.... Tomatoes are generally sold here at fruit +stores. Which revives the old conundrum: “Is the tomato a fruit +or vegetable?”... A place in Wellington is known as “The American +Lounge.” It is a soda-water place, and this sign appears in the window: +“Coca-Cola; something entirely new in New Zealand.” The soda fountain +is a small one-spout affair that a suburban grocer in America would +not tolerate.... In one of the suburbs, this afternoon, children +followed us, as though we were Chinese. “They are American people,” +the children said, apparently not knowing that we could understand +what they said. An old gentleman reprimanded the children, and +apologized for their conduct.... The race track is twenty miles +from Wellington, as there is not enough level land in the vicinity to +accommodate a mile track, and most of the people are out there this +afternoon. We were walking in the wholesale district at 3 P. M., and, +looking in every direction, were able to see only five people; and +they were hurrying to the railroad station. Wellington is very hilly, +and mountains are only a stone’s-throw from its main streets.... +Yesterday a man named James Cole brought an action against his wife, +Fanny, because she failed to properly support him. Cole said he +was unable to work because of an accident, whereas his wife had a +profitable fish-supper business. Counsel asked Cole: + +“How high are you able to lift your arm since the accident which you +say disabled you?” + +Applicant lifted his arm nearly up to his shoulder. + +“How far could you lift it before the accident?” counsel for Mrs. Cole +asked. + +“Oh, up to here,” Mr. Cole replied, holding the arm high over his head. +Whereupon the magistrate dismissed the case. All of which appears in +the Wellington _Times_ of this morning; in the local news, and not in +the joke department.... We have a mandolin orchestra at this hotel, +and the leader is an old gentleman who looks like a member of the +Supreme Court of the United States whose picture I have often seen, but +whose name I have forgotten. He plays to the lady guests as the first +violinist does in a Paris café, and is altogether a very interesting +character. + + + + +SUNDAY, JANUARY 26.—Australia has nothing to show tourists except a +few caves; New Zealand has the geyser district, and a glacier or two, +but there is nothing of predominant interest in either country, as you +will find in Egypt, or India, and in many other countries. The natives +here are not interesting; they remind you a good deal of country-town +negroes in the United States, although in a way they are superior to +the negroes, and superior to our Indians. After the Maoris have seen +the stage, the boat or the railroad train go by, they have apparently +completed their work for the day. In the old countries, the tourists +are interesting; but there are few tourists here: we have seen only New +Zealanders and Australians out for a holiday. Of brides and grooms we +have seen hundreds; if a woman never gets another one, she usually gets +a trip when she is married. We have seen a few Englishmen, but they +are usually here looking for opportunity to make money, not to spend +it.... Wherever I have seen natives I have detected a peculiar odor. +An Auckland woman with whom we traveled in the mountains, says the odor +comes from dried shark-meat, which the natives are always eating.... +Last night, while looking out of my window at the lady bartenders in +the Empire Hotel, directly across the street, a negro man went by. He +is the only negro I have seen since leaving home. He was well-dressed, +and seemed to be prosperous.... The streets are somewhat narrow in +Wellington, and the Empire Hotel, across the way, greatly interests +me; I am more familiar with its guests than with the guests of the +Grand. And as soon as darkness sets in, I can see the lady bartenders; +the electric lights in the barroom render their every act visible. To +me it is indescribably funny to see a woman working on the inside of +a bar. Last night a patron gave one of the two a bouquet of flowers, +and she handled it as gracefully as a society queen.... In the +United States, a hotel or restaurant waiter looks almost as tough as +a hackdriver, but here they are fine-appearing men. Many of them are +elderly; they seem to have spent their lives as waiters. The man who +waits on us in the dining-room of the Grand might be a congressman, +so far as looks go, and I have never before known an equally capable +man of his calling. How the Grand affords it all at three dollars a +day, I cannot understand. The price is 12 and 6, which appears to be +$3.12 in our money, but it is really $3, since a shilling is worth +only twenty-four cents. The Grand is the best hotel in Wellington, and +probably in the Dominion. Wellington is full of hotels, and probably +the competition is so strong that the Grand is compelled to keep +its prices down.... New Zealand pays a good deal of attention to +tourists, and the government extensively advertises the hot lakes and +the glaciers; it also has a bureau for selling travelers tickets, +and owns resorts, boat lines, etc. But it pays little attention to +immigration, as Australia does. Australia does much more for immigrants +than the United States, giving them cheap fares to the country, reduced +freight rates, etc., and when they arrive, special attention is paid +them by a government department created for that purpose. The United +States gets more immigrants than any other country, without inducements +of any kind on the part of the government: news of the country paying +the best wages, and offering the best inducements, will find its way +everywhere.... Wirth’s Greatest Show on Earth is billed here. One +of its stars is Hillary Long, “the talk of America,” although I do not +remember to have heard of him there. Another of Wirth’s stars is Young +Buffalo Bill, who competes with Australian cowboys in mastering wild +horses and cattle.... The offices of the New Zealand government are +housed in what is said to be the largest wooden building in the world. +Wellington has many fine structures of stone, but the government +buildings were constructed years ago, and are mainly of wood.... +This is as sleepy a town on Sunday as I have ever visited. This morning +we went down to breakfast at 8:30, and dined alone. At noon, the maid +had not yet cleaned up our rooms. But it is just as bad across the +street, at the Empire Hotel, into the rooms of which I can look. The +beds were not made there at noon, either; indeed, in one room a man was +still in bed. The lady bartenders at the Empire are not on duty today; +the blinds are down in the bar, and the lady bartenders are probably +patronizing some of the numerous excursions we saw advertised in the +morning papers. The day is not only Sunday, but rain began falling in +the afternoon, and we had no other amusement than watching the bored +guests at the Empire.... The maid came in at 2 P. M. to clean up my +room, and a fine lot of gossip she brought. She says that one of the +girls employed in the office of the Grand died last night, and that the +hotel force is demoralized. The girl’s body was taken to the morgue +this morning, and the maid thinks the papers will be full of it in the +morning. When a man dies, it seems to be regular, but when a woman +dies there is a chance for suspicion, particularly if she has been to +Sydney three months before on a vacation. The maid also says that the +lady bartenders at the Empire, across the street, kiss their customers. +Lady bartenders, as a class, according to the maid, do not stand very +high socially, a statement I can easily accept.... The maid says an +American stopped at the Grand several months ago, and every time he met +her, he said: “Go to h—l.” I did not recognize this as an American +trait: to tell ladies, without provocation, to go to h—l.... In +New Zealand or Australia (or in England, for that matter) the first +thing an American notices is the queer pronunciation of words by the +residents. I have mentioned this before, but mention it again because I +have just come across this statement by Rudyard Kipling: + +“The American I have heard up to the present is a tongue as distinct +from English as Patagonian.” + +From which I imagine that our pronunciations also jar on English +ears. I believe I can take their own dictionary, and convince the +English that they do not obey its rules of pronunciation. There is not +the slightest authority in any English dictionary for many of their +pronunciations. The pronunciation of the English people is arbitrary; +there is no authority for much of it, as there is no authority for +the cockney dialect. At one place on this trip we met two old-maid +high-school teachers, and they almost spoke good English. And this is +a rule that may be depended upon: the educated English have a better +pronunciation than the uneducated. The pronunciation of Americans is +nearly always the same, but the English do not themselves use the +same pronunciations. Perhaps it is an intonation or quality of the +voice, or an inflection, but it is a fact that frequently an American +understands them with difficulty. For several days we traveled with an +English barrister, a very polite gentleman, and we frequently sat with +him at hotel, steamboat and dining-car tables. Half the time we could +not understand him. And he found equal difficulty in understanding +us, unless we spoke slowly and distinctly. Kipling says the American +language has nothing in common with English except the auxiliary verbs, +the name of the Creator, and damn. + + + + +MONDAY, JANUARY 27.—Although New Zealand is supposed to be an English +colony, there are no English soldiers here. A few soldiers are seen in +Wellington, but they belong to New Zealand regiments. The young man who +showed us about today is seventeen years old, and what we would call +an A. D. T. messenger boy. But the telegraph business is a government +monopoly here, and this young man is a government employee. There is +a mild system of compulsory military service. The young man says he +belongs to a military company of postoffice and telegraph employees, +and that they drill one hour every week. All young men are compelled to +belong to a similar company, from fourteen to twenty-five years of age. +They compose a military reserve, and never go into actual camp. New +Zealand also has a navy, which is about as much of a joke as its army. +Australia, being larger, has a larger establishment, but the system +is the same: New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania are exactly alike so +far as politics, sheep, and labor unions are concerned. Tasmania is +a little place, but it has mighty questions to settle. The Tasmania +legislative assembly has been in a deadlock several years, and none of +the big questions could be settled. An election was held recently, to +break the deadlock; and again the assembly is a tie. Politically, the +colonies remind one a little of Cuba, where the political pot boils +rather more steadily than anywhere else in the world.... The real +event of today has been the arrival of Dr. Beeson, of Chicago, with +whom we traveled three weeks on the “Sonoma.” I seem to have known him +always; he is my dearest friend, and the meeting apparently pleased him +as much as it did me.... In the celebration following my meeting +with Dr. Beeson, we went down into the Grand barroom, where we found +two bars, exactly alike, on opposite sides of a big room. An old maid +known as Polly served us; a younger woman called ‘Arriet presided at +the bar across the room. Polly was very amiable, and talked to us +about our trip; I suppose she has been a bartender ever since she +was eighteen, and attractive, and that was a long time ago. It will +surprise you to know that she reminded me of a school teacher; she was +as well-behaved as a school teacher, and had a bossy way that is always +associated in my mind with the school-room. The Doctor and I talked of +going over to see the lady bartenders at the Empire, but Polly coaxed +us out of the notion. Liquor is sold here almost entirely by women; the +custom of barmaids is more general in New Zealand, I am told, than in +England.... Every morning and evening I buy a newspaper. The news +is mainly from London, or local; I have not seen a telegram from the +United States. Which is not so surprising: you might read the American +papers a long time without seeing a telegram from New Zealand.... +Wellington has a fine street-car system; considerably better than St. +Joseph, Mo., a city of about the same size. One line runs through a +tunnel under a mountain to a bathing-beach; another climbs one of the +great hills, where are located many fine residences. There are several +short cable lines running up the steep mountains. In addition to this +means of communication, there are many boats running around and across +the harbor, to bathing-beaches and suburbs. Wellington is as fine a +town as St. Joseph, and the suburbs of Wellington look better. The +streets and roads here are superior to those in the Missouri city, and +I saw a grocery store here today that St. Joseph cannot equal.... +There is a probability of a strike among the cab-drivers here. The +drivers are demanding that passengers handle their own baggage. The +city has taken a hand, and decided that it is the duty of cab-drivers +to place the baggage of passengers on their cabs; whereupon the Cab +Drivers’ Union inquired, in a resolution, “Why should not passengers +handle their own luggage?” A district delegate has arrived from +Auckland, and last night delivered a fiery speech about the starving +poor, the insolent rich, the disposition of capital to wring the last +drop of blood from the people, etc., and it will be known in a day +or two whether I shall be compelled to carry my own trunks when I go +to the ship.... This town is known as Windy Wellington, because +the wind blows so steadily. One story is that you may always tell a +Wellington man, wherever he may be: when he turns a street corner, he +grabs his hat, to keep it from blowing away. Wellington people also +have a story on Sydney; they say that when they visit that city they +pin a tag on their coats, which reads: “I am much pleased with your +harbor.” Sydney people are very proud of their harbor, and Auckland +and Wellington are very jealous, as both the last named cities have +beautiful harbors, though neither is as large as that at Sydney.... +A gentleman who sits at our table at the hotel lived for six months +at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and thinks it a very fine town. He lives +in New Zealand now, but Lancaster pleased him very much. Chicago +scared him; he was there one night, and the next morning the papers +reported six murders. As soon as Dr. Beeson arrived, Chicago had a +more capable defender, and I withdrew, to enjoy the scrimmage.... +Chinese are admitted to New Zealand on payment of $1,500 per head, and +a good many of them run fruit and vegetable stores here.... As the +maid predicted, the Monday morning papers mentioned the death at the +Grand Hotel Saturday night, but they handled the item very cautiously, +saying that the circumstances were suspicious, and that an inquest was +necessary.... No doubt the people at the Empire are much exercised; +unless I am much mistaken, the people of the Empire are saying: “That +rotten outfit across the street is getting what it deserves.” You can’t +expect anyone to be fair with his rival in business. + + + + +TUESDAY, JANUARY 28.—We took a long street-car ride this morning, and +paid sixteen cents for one journey which would have cost only five +cents in an American city. But you can ride a short distance for two +cents. The fare increases two cents per section. Whether our plan of +five cents for a street-railway ride, long or short, is better or worse +than this, I do not know. There are no transfers here; if you travel +on three different lines, you pay three fares.... Every morning our +waiter at the hotel brings us hot cakes, although we do not order them. +We discovered the reason today: on the bill of fare they are called +“hot cakes, American style.” It is the waiter’s way of announcing that +he knows we are Americans.... When you order soft-boiled eggs here, +they are brought to you in the shell, and you eat them out of egg cups. +This morning I asked the waiter to break mine in a glass, which he +did, but he also put in pepper and salt, and stirred them up.... +This has been a very chilly day, and the Wellington people are going +about wearing overcoats and straw hats. A woman on the street-car +informed us that today has been as cold as the weather ever gets here, +at any season. At one of the beaches we saw the surf rolling in a very +boisterous and menacing way, as the wind was blowing almost a gale. But +flowers are in bloom, and vegetables growing in gardens. The vegetable +gardens here are in the hands of Chinese, and are wonderfully neat; +almost as wonderful as the gardens about Paris, where the gardeners +remove the original dirt, and make a new soil.... We hear complaints +everywhere of the labor unions. On a street-car today we engaged in +conversation with an elderly woman who said she was born in Wellington, +and who complained bitterly of the unions, which cause constant +disturbances in all branches of business. This was surprising to me, in +New Zealand, where we have heard everything is so amiable. I hear the +same thing every time I talk with New Zealand people. “It is too much +of a good thing,” they say. Possibly it is like our tariff: originally +a good thing, it has been overdone, and all of us are now compelled to +pay tribute in the shape of a heavy tax.... When we began talking +with the woman, she said: “I take it that you are Americans.” We always +hear that.... We have discovered that among its other attractions, +the Grand Hotel has a roof garden. Even the Chicago doctor is surprised +at the excellence of the hotel; and the price is only $3 a day each, +including meals and rooms. We have concluded that the necessities of +life, on an average, are about one-quarter cheaper here than in the +United States. While there are no great tracts of farming land in the +vicinity of Wellington or Auckland, near Christchurch, on the other +island, there are said to be plains one hundred miles long. People here +say that mutton is the one meat they never tire of; and mutton is very +plentiful and very cheap.... The New Zealander who sits at our table +is a very bold man, to hear him talk. I told him of my experience with +snoring men, on the “Maheno,” and he says that under such circumstances +he would have raised a row with the disturbers. But I think that +possibly he is like many others I have known: a great talker, rather +than a great hero. He tells an amusing story of a friend he once +invited to his home for a visit of a fortnight. The friend turned out +to have the loudest and most disagreeable snore ever heard in New +Zealand, and no one in the house slept during the two weeks the visitor +was there.... The tipping evil is not as great in New Zealand as +it is in many places; the servants here have heard of the custom, but +they do not mob travelers who fail to fee them satisfactorily.... +The greatest need at present, in all parts of the world, is a library +of books of simple information, simply written. Today I bought a book +on Africa, by Sir H. H. Johnston. The introduction is interesting, but +the remaining hundreds of pages contain a lot of technical information +that no one wants. My impression is that Sir H. H. Johnston wrote +the introduction, and the remaining pages were taken from old books +on the subject. Cyclopedias are made in the same way. Some time ago +I read the confession of a cyclopedia editor. He says such books are +full of errors, because of the habit of copying, and that there is +too little independent investigation. He relates that as an editor he +once invented a man, a “noted clergyman,” and sent a “story” about +him to the printers. The “story” passed the scrutiny of all the other +editors, and was about to be made up into the pages of the cyclopedia, +when the joker took it out. That is the way historical books are +printed; they are too long, very dull, full of errors, written in a +ponderous style that repels readers, and lacking in the simplicity and +terseness necessary for the understanding of the average reader. There +are several “libraries” of “universal knowledge,” and not one of them +is half as good, as useful or as entertaining as it could have been +made. The lack in all these books is simplicity; the professors write +in fear of the criticism of other professors, and not for busy people. +In this book on Africa, about all I found of interest was a statement +that the Australoid type of man is almost certainly the parent of the +white man in Europe and Asia. The Australoid, represented at present by +the indigenous population of Australia (a chocolate-colored people, +rather than black) comes nearest of all living men to the basal stock +of our race, and behind him lies a long vista of semi-humanity till +apehood is reached. This was a new statement to me.... The human +genus was evolved somewhere in Asia, most probably in India, according +to the best authority. This was a long time ago; human remains at least +five hundred thousand years old have been found in the Rhine basin near +Heidelberg, and it is believed the race is much older in Asia. But the +original man was a black man, or a yellow man; the white man originated +much later, and, according to Sir H. H. Johnston, he originated in +Australia. So I am visiting the home of my remote ancestors. While +man is very old, he ceased only twenty-five or thirty thousand years +ago—this is only a guess of scientists, but the best information we +have—to live in an absolutely savage condition as a mere hunter of +other animals. The present civilized man gradually developed from a +start made probably thirty thousand years ago. It was the white man who +made this start toward civilization, and he originated in Australia, if +Sir H. H. Johnston knows what he is talking about. The white man has +always been an adventurer, and, in the course of ages, spread over the +earth. + + + + +WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29.—The New Zealander who sits at our table, and who +lived awhile at Lancaster, Pa., said at breakfast this morning: + +“The people of the United States are the smartest in the world. No +doubt about it. In everything worthy and desirable, they are ahead of +any other people.” + +This man was born in England, and lived in London many years, but is +lately living in New Zealand. He believes the “Pennsylvania Dutch” +he knew at Lancaster to be the best type of people he ever knew, and +regrets that all the people of the United States are not more like +them.... This gentleman also showed us how the English and Scotch +eat oatmeal porridge. They salt it, but never use sugar. In the left +hand they hold a cup of milk, and into this they dip a spoonful +of porridge before eating it.... It seems there was a blizzard +yesterday; the thermometer got down to fifty-six above. But we went +about in our usual summer clothing, and did not know it was a blizzard +until this morning’s papers appeared.... In the botanical garden, +this morning, I believe I saw the finest display of flowers I have +ever seen. You hear much of the famous gardens of Japan, but I have +never seen a Japanese garden as beautiful as that I saw this morning. +The Japanese gardens are grotesque rather than beautiful. On the way +back to town we visited a big department store, and remained an hour, +watching the crowds. Doctor Beeson and I followed Adelaide around among +the crowds of women, and enjoyed the experience. There was a special +sale on, and postal cards had been reduced to a cent each. The store +was a big one, but not nearly so large as the big ones in Kansas City. +All the clerks were girls, and it was about the usual thing in special +sales, except that prices were in pounds, shillings and pence.... In +the public places here, we see this sign very frequently: “Citizens, +protect your own property.” That is, everything belongs to the people, +therefore why destroy anything? Some people are natural vandals, but +people of a little culture and refinement never are.... In New +Zealand, a woman has no interest in her husband’s real-estate. If a +man desires to transfer a piece of real property here, his wife’s +signature to the deed is not necessary, as is the case in the United +States. Still women have full suffrage in New Zealand.... Not only +the talk is unintelligible here at times, but I see advertisements in +the English newspapers I can’t understand. Here is an exact copy of an +advertisement in the Wellington _Post_ of this date: + + WANTED—A General. Apply Mrs. Focke, 210 The Terrace. + +If you know what Mrs. Focke wants, you know more than I do. Here is +another advertisement from the same newspaper: + + FOR SALE—Butchery business; going concern; average weekly killing, 6 + bodies and 30 small. Victor E. Smith, Box 59, Fielding. + +I haven’t the remotest notion what the advertisement means.... +The newspapers here, of course, have taken after the street-railway +company. They demand a universal fare of two cents, instead of two +cents a section. It seems impossible to run a newspaper anywhere +without abusing the street-railway. One correspondent of _The Post_ +says the street-car company is entitled to take in only enough to pay +actual running expenses, as the increasing value of the property is +profit enough.... At luncheon today, our waiter at the Grand Hotel +brought me an extra dish. “American pork and beans,” he announced +triumphantly. They never let me forget for a moment that I am an +American, or that they have caught me at it.... The dry-goods men +here are as big talkers as they are anywhere. In _The Post_ of this +afternoon, James Smith, Limited, offers a special sale in summer goods. +Here is one price he quotes: + + “Ladies’ one-piece washing frocks, in various colors, good value at + 18_s._ 6_d._; carry your choice away tomorrow at 5_s._ 11_d._” + +It seems that any sane woman would know that an article now offered +at 5_s._ 11_d._ (or $1.42) was never good value at 18_s._ 6_d._ (or +$4.62). If James Smith ever sold an article at $4.62 and has now cut +it to $1.42, he is a robber, and no woman should patronize him. Yet +his store will be crowded with women tomorrow, and many of them will +buy dry goods they do not need, at prices that afford James Smith, +Limited, a fair profit. The manner in which smart merchants fool the +women with special sales should receive attention at the next meeting +of Congress.... Bob Fitzsimmons, the prizefighter, came from New +Zealand, and I think he is rather more popular at home than Melba is in +Australia, where she was born. Indeed, I have heard Melba “picked at” a +good deal, while Fitz is generally pointed to with pride. + + + + +THURSDAY, JANUARY 30.—A hair-cut and shave at the best shop in +Wellington costs twenty-four cents. If a man buys a ticket, and pays in +advance, for $1.50 he can get a shave every morning for a month, and +one hair-cut.... On my way to the barber’s this morning I saw this +sign: “Mrs. Jew, private hotel.” Here is another sign I saw: “Jerusalem +& Son, jewelers and New Zealand green-stone merchants.” While waiting +in the barber shop I saw this advertisement in a newspaper: “Wanted—A +Rabbiter; also a saw doctor. Apply to F. P. Welch, Masterton.”... My +friend who lived for a time in Lancaster, Pa., and who so greatly +admires the “Pennsylvania Dutch,” told of a funny experience this +morning. When he first landed in the United States he went into a +barber shop, to be shaved. The barber asked him if he wanted a shampoo. +The New Zealander, thinking that this was merely a politeness, said he +did. Then the barber asked him if he would have a face massage, and the +New Zealander accepted that offer, as well as several others, all the +while thinking of the politeness of the American barbers. Finally, when +the barber presented his bill for $2.90, there was a row, and the New +Zealander denounced us all as robbers.... This New Zealander, whom I +shall call Mr. A., was very indignant when I told him about the snoring +man on the ship, and has been telling ever since what should be done to +a man who travels about to disturb his fellow-men. “A man who snores,” +said Mr. A., “should remain at home.” Mr. A. is a nervous man himself, +and believes that a snoring man should in some way be prohibited. I +noticed that Dr. Beeson, my friend from Chicago, did not fully accept +Mr. A.’s opinion, and, when we are alone, the Doctor is disposed to +rake Mr. A. over the coals. This has convinced me that the Doctor is +a snoring man, so at nearly every meal I induce Mr. A. to abuse the +man who is so impolite as to go to bed in a room with two others and +snore all night. The Doctor and Mr. A. were at first quite friendly, +but lately they quarrel most of the time. “That man,” the Doctor said +to me today, and referring to Mr. A., “is getting on my nerves.” The +Doctor frequently comes up to my room to smoke a cigar, and sometimes +I send out for a second cigar, that I may enjoy the aroma of the +tobacco, but this is the only weak thing I do, so far as my resolution +to quit tobacco is concerned. I no longer temporize; I do not chew +toothpicks, or gum, or plug tobacco; I have quit off short, and find it +easier. If you are trying to quit tobacco, quit entirely, and do not +aggravate yourself with cardamon seed, cloves, no-tobac, or anything +else.... I am going away tomorrow, but Mr. A. and the Doctor will +remain another week, and after I am gone, and no longer able to keep +them apart, I expect them to have a fight, about snoring.... The +Doctor is going home by way of South America direct, and will round +Cape Horn. He said last evening, while smoking in my room: “Well, I now +have absolutely nothing to do for forty-eight days, except to send one +cablegram at Buenos Aires.” His statement was a very good illustration +of the idleness of travelers. He does not like traveling by sea, but +says it does him good, although he does not observe the good effect +until he has been at home some time. He will be nineteen days at sea, +without sight of land; an experience I will have between Australia +and South Africa.... An Englishman I met here today was laughing +at Americans because they call one horse a “team.” He was also amused +because Americans eat pie in the middle of a meal. That is the way +many of the stories about Americans originate: they are made up. I have +lived in America considerably more than half a century, and never knew +anyone to refer to one horse as a “team,” or eat pie in the middle of +a meal.... There is a young man staying at this hotel who doesn’t +seem to know much. “I don’t believe,” said Mr. A. today, “that he is +a full shilling.” Meaning, “I don’t believe he has good sense.” This +young fellow is a “remittance man;” he has a rich father in England, +and receives a remittance every month—he is kept in New Zealand in the +hope that he will get killed, or drink himself to death.... The +officers of small ships, since the big “Titanic” went down, frequently +ask travelers: “Well, are you satisfied now that a big ship can sink?” +Sailors, like other men, are jealous.... A traveling Englishman is +never satisfied unless he shows his pajamas all over a ship or hotel. +This morning, at 7:20, I left my room to go down on the street for a +walk before breakfast. In the hall I found an Englishman, dressed in +pajamas only, quietly drinking tea from a tray held by a maid. + + + + +FRIDAY, JANUARY 31.—At 4:20 this afternoon we left the Grand Hotel, +and went on board the “Maunganui,” advertised to sail for Sydney at 5. +The Chicago doctor went with us, and said he should be very lonesome +after our departure. He says he intends to amuse himself by trimming +up Mr. A., the gentleman who lived awhile at Lancaster, Pa. This +gentleman has very positive notions about everything, particularly +about Americans, and the Doctor says he intends to talk the Chicago +language to him after we go. “I didn’t like to say anything rough while +Miss Adelaide was at the table,” the Doctor said, “but I’ll be mad +anyway, because of your going, and he’ll hear from me.” In addition +to his liberal notions about punishing men who snore, Mr. A. “makes +up” stories about Americans. He says, for example, that when he was in +Chicago, the hotel bell-boy who guided him to his room took hold of +his coat, looked at it critically, and said: “What funny clothes you +Englishmen wear.” The Doctor is certain no such thing ever happened, +at Chicago or elsewhere, and proposes to say so to the hero of the +incident.... The “Maunganui” is a large ship, nearly new, but +instead of two men in my room I found three. The ship has two parlors, +very large and fine, the floors covered with Turkish rugs, but its +staterooms are very small, and most of them are provided with four +beds; and extra beds are made in the dining-room. There are twice as +many passengers on the ship as there should be; there are almost as +many at the second sitting in the dining-saloon as at the first.... +Very much to our surprise, Mr. A. came down to see us off, and, on +hearing that I was to occupy a room with three others, said he wouldn’t +stand it; that there was a way of avoiding such disagreeable things, +and that he always found it. The Doctor nudged me, and, when the row +starts, this big talk will probably come up, also. Mr. A. says he has +already spoken to the head waiter at the Grand, and given him notice +that our places at his table must be taken by pleasant people.... +Owing to an extra amount of freight, the ship did not get away until 7 +o’clock; the Doctor and Mr. A. left at 6, and, the last we saw of them, +they seemed to be getting along amicably.... We finished dinner in +time to go on deck and see the ship leave the harbor. A heavy wind had +been blowing several days, and we expected bad weather outside, but in +this we were disappointed; the sea was as calm as I have ever seen it, +and we walked the decks until ten o’clock. Adelaide is not so lucky +this trip, and has three women in her room.... The piano-playing +began within an hour after dinner, and most of the players were young +men. There are more amateur musicians in this section, probably, than +in any other part of the world.... Two of the passengers, young +Englishmen, are wearing smoking-jackets with their initials embroidered +on the left arm. It is an entirely new idea, and it does not seem +improbable that other Englishmen will adopt it.... Travel between +New Zealand and Australia is enormous. The boats of the Union Steamship +Co. are always crowded. And, in saying your prayers at night, ask for +a special curse on the Union Steamship Co., as well as on the Standard +Oil Co., and the Eastman Kodak Co. It is a monopoly, and does just as +it pleases; and it pleases to put four men in a room nine by ten feet, +which I regard as a greater outrage than that Decoration day, or Arbor +day, or Flag day, are not more generally observed. + + + + +SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1.—I have spent this day in bed, seasick. Early +this morning we ran into a rough sea, and not one passenger in twenty +appeared at breakfast. Fortunately, the three others in my room are +very polite gentlemen, but this did not prevent them from being ill, +and four sick men in a room nine by ten feet, with one small window, +and that closed, is not pleasant. In our room there is not so much as +a chair to sit on, and not as many hooks as one man requires for his +clothing, on retiring; I have no hooks at all in my berth, and, when +I went to bed, was compelled to pile my clothes on the bed, or under +it. There is one washbowl for four men, and, after two have used it, +the water in this runs out. And this on the largest and finest ship +sailing out of New Zealand. And I paid $5 in addition to the usual +tariff, in order that I might have better than the average first-class +passenger. I have never before seen four persons placed in a room on a +steamship; it occasionally happens that the sofa is used for a third +passenger, when a ship is badly crowded, but on the Atlantic this is +rare; passengers won’t stand it. But here, six are often placed in +first-class cabins, and there does not seem to be much protest. The +newspapers are always abusing the railroads, which actually supply very +good accommodations; I wonder they do not have something to say about +the steamships. The two parlors on the “Maunganui” must be 100 feet +long, and as broad as the ship itself; yet they are rarely occupied by +more than a dozen, while four people are forced to occupy a room nine +by ten. The smoking-room is a fine apartment, and the halls are wide +and airy, but the cabins are disgracefully small. If an American is +unwise enough to travel, he should not visit this part of the world, +where the ships are all small, and where there does not seem to be the +slightest protest against four or six in a cabin. The new and fast +ships on the Atlantic travel from New York to Queenstown in almost +the time required to travel from Australia to New Zealand, for the +ships here are slow as well as small. The distances here are great; +in Europe, a trip of seven hours, which includes crossing the English +channel, takes you from London to Paris. A night takes you from Paris +to Switzerland, and another night to Rome. All the big sights there +are comparatively close together; but the time from San Francisco to +Australia is three weeks, and, if you go by boat from Sydney, the time +to South Africa is four weeks. If you have a notion to visit this part +of the world, give it up. The people here are always polite, but it +is a country an American will find himself familiar with. The Maori +wars in New Zealand were like our Indian wars, and the bush-rangers in +Australia were like our Western cattle thieves, gamblers, and gun-men. +There is nothing picturesque here, as there is in Japan, which may be +reached from San Francisco in four days’ less time than is required +to reach Australia. Besides, very large ships sail from San Francisco +to Japan and China, whereas only small ships sail from San Francisco +to Australia or New Zealand.... It is my experience that there +is always something unpleasant about a ship. Every ship has some +peculiarity of motion at sea, and one trip does not accustom you to +another. I waited a week in New Zealand in order to cross in the big +“Maunganui,” but the worst spell of seasickness I ever had was in one +of the “Maunganui’s” rooms. And three other gentlemen, all experienced +travelers, joined me in it, and we grunted, and growled, and swore all +day. I refer to this ship as a big one; its tonnage is 7,800; a boat +twice as large is considered rather small on the Atlantic. And the idea +that the Pacific is smooth and the Atlantic violent, is a fiction. Both +are violent at times, and one is not much worse than the other. This +is the most favorable season, and we have had much bad weather.... +My part of stateroom 15, for which I paid a stiff price, is about as +big as a coffin. Next thing, they will put a cot in the space between +the four beds, and sell it to a silly man who thinks there is joy in +traveling, and discovers his mistake after actually trying it. I am +as finicky and fussy as an old maid when it comes to sleeping, but my +indignation over four in a room does me no good; no one else seems to +object to it. I suppose I will next draw a room for six; but I don’t +care—I should as soon have the whole ship’s company in with me as +three.... One is treated better everywhere than at sea. In order to +travel comfortably, a man should be married, and have his wife with +him. Then he could have her in a room with him, and impose on her, as +usual.... A woman traveling incognito, and occupying my bed on this +ship, would not be shocked by the three other men in the room. They are +polite, clean, decent, and considerate. They are Australian commercial +travelers, and this morning one of them told an “American story,” +for my benefit. A man was standing on a street corner in Chicago, +vigorously puffing a big cigar. A good man approached him, and said: + +“Do you realize the waste of smoking? How many cigars do you smoke a +day?” + +The smoker estimated the number at fifteen, and said he had been +smoking at least twenty years. + +“Had you saved that money,” the good man said, “you might have owned +that sky-scraper,” pointing to a big building across the street. + +“Do you smoke?” the smoker asked the good man. + +“Certainly not,” was the indignant answer. + +“Do you own that sky-scraper?” + +“No.” + +“Well,” replied the smoker, puffing complacently on his cigar, “I do.” + + + + +SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2.—This has been as fine a day as I have ever +experienced on a ship. As a rule, the weather is better far out at +sea than near land. Yesterday the passengers were confined to their +rooms, and everywhere one might hear them trying to get rid of that +last meal, but today they are all on deck. It is a polite and agreeable +company, and the ship is fine, but I still dislike the sea. I don’t +care much for close contact with a lot of people, however polite and +agreeable they may be. It is pleasant enough to be in a crowd for an +hour or two, and note human characteristics, but four or five days +of it is too much.... From the time you start on a trip until you +return, you have the same things to eat. Bills of fare on ships are +exactly alike, and hotels copy the ships. I am offered a great variety +of food on the “Maunganui,” but do not care for it: at dinner today I +ordered a plate of soup, and lamb with mint sauce, although the bill +of fare showed a very great variety. Meals are announced in the usual +way: by a man playing a cornet. The man on the “Maunganui” is unusual +in that he plays a part of a selection at every meal, and poses while +playing.... In this country, the uglier the man, the more sheep he +owns. The ugliest man I have ever seen is on board, and he is said to +be the sheep king of New Zealand. It is no unusual thing for a man in +New Zealand or Australia to own thirty or forty thousand sheep.... +This evening, after dinner, I was amused in watching a smart young +fellow in the second-cabin. The second-cabin deck is separated from +ours by a rail containing this notice: “Second-cabin passengers not +allowed forward of this.” The smart young fellow was amusing a number +of companions by walking around the first-cabin deck. His companions +thought he was extremely devilish, and laughed boisterously when he +returned safely. I sat near them, and could hear their conversation. +The bold young man said that if anyone would give him a shilling, he +would go up the stairs to the next deck, and spend it in the first +cabin smoking-room. The shilling was produced, and I saw the young man +disappear up the stairway. Then he offered to speak to the captain for +another shilling, and disappeared for that purpose, but whether he +did it or not, I do not know. The young men were having a tremendous +lot of fun without harming anyone.... Last night there was almost +continuous piano-playing in the big parlor of the ship. A man or +woman was waiting all the time, with music, for a chance at the piano; +it reminded me of passengers waiting around the bathrooms during +the rush hour. Two young girls, sisters, sat in the room the entire +evening. They pretended to be reading, but they were really watching +and talking about people, and their short, quick remarks to each other +probably contained a good deal of ginger.... When you can’t do +anything else to a boy, you can make him wash his face. There is a +man on board with a son seven or eight years old, and certainly every +hour I hear the father say to the son: “Go to your room, sir, and wash +your face. And use a little extra soap on your hands.”... Seasickness +is no disgrace. Governor Crose, of American Samoa, and who is also +captain of the warship “Princeton,” told me that he is often seasick; +and he has been a sailor twenty-five years.... I heard a man making +a long explanation today, and I knew he was not telling the truth; an +explanation is never the truth, on sea or land.... A lonesome old +woman on board attracts the attention of all the passengers. I talked +to her awhile this afternoon, and she made one remark I’ll never forget. + +“My children,” she said, “are already reconciled to my death.” + +She is traveling alone, is ill, and occupies a room with three young +women who don’t want her in with them, and she is very wretched. +Will your children be reconciled to your death by the time you are +sixty-five or seventy? Probably; maybe earlier. + + + + +MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3.—A man on board was born in Warsaw, New York, but +has been in business in Sydney for the past thirty years. He says +the Australian and New Zealand newspapers are habitually unfair with +events in the United States. He often writes to the editors, and +corrects their blunders, but they refuse to print his letters. The +papers frequently print references to American crooks arriving in +Australasia which are palpably unfair and untrue; on one occasion the +American obtained a letter from the police authorities saying that +certain thieves referred to as Americans, were not Americans, but not +a newspaper in Australia would print the American’s indignant denial. +All American news in the Australian and New Zealand papers comes from +London, although it might be easily obtained direct from American +papers. American news coming by way of London is of course unreliable. +He says that the middle-class people here admire Americans, but that +the Imperialists do not, and always misrepresent them. I asked him what +he meant by the term “Imperialist.” + +“Well,” he replied, “an Australian or New Zealander will go to London, +and be entertained at dinner by a cheap duke or knight. After that, +he is an Imperialist, and talks of England as ‘back home.’ Admiration +for the rich is often ridiculous, but it is nothing compared with +admiration for a title.” + +I asked him how the general prosperity here compared with the average +prosperity in America. He replied that the farmers here are more +prosperous generally than the farmers of New York state. + +“But,” I said to him, “the farmers of New York state are not typical +American farmers. Our typical farmers are found in Iowa, Kansas, +Nebraska, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Oklahoma, and states of that +class.” + +“I have heard of the great prosperity of Kansas farmers,” he said; +“our farmers are not as prosperous as the Kansas farmers are said to +be. And our farmers do not live as well as yours. Not on one farm in +fifty here will you find a vegetable garden or fruit tree; I should say +your farmers are much superior to ours in culture, too. Certainly the +educational test is higher in your rural communities than it is with +us. Your working-people, in my judgment, earn better wages than ours.” + +Here, as elsewhere, the railroads are considered fair game for every +swindler. This man says that a few months ago there was a railroad +accident in Australia, and three hundred and forty-three claims for +damages were filed. Investigation revealed the fact that there were but +two hundred and fifty-one passengers on the wrecked train.... One +prominent fault here is overcrowding. You notice it on every railroad +train, in every ship, and in every hotel. Crowding is barbarism. +The railroads, although owned by the government, do not run enough +trains. The ship on which this is written is crowded beyond the legal +or safe limit.... Possibly you do not know that the casings of +American “wieners” come from Australian or South-American sheep. +I met a traveling-man the other day who sells nothing but sausage +casings; mainly sheep entrails, and his house has branches nearly +everywhere. The most interesting thing in the world is business, but +it is neglected by magazines and newspapers for scandal or foolish +fiction.... There is a good deal of excitement here now over what +is called “American blight,” which affects fruit. My American friend +who lives in Sydney says he secured undoubted evidence that the +blight existed in Tasmania in 1832, and does not come from America, +but the newspapers will not print his evidence.... I can easily +understand that everything American is unfairly treated by the papers +of Australia. We in America are grossly unfair with everything +English, not because we desire to be, but because we do not know any +better. I grossly exaggerate that which I do not understand, and so +does everyone.... The fine weather continues, and all day the sea +has been as smooth as a pond. I am in good humor today, but I am +still of the opinion that four men in a steamship room nine by ten +is an outrage. You cannot realize its discomfort until you have had +experience.... Late last night, while sitting in the music-room of +the ship “Maunganui,” a steward came in to collect the steamer rugs +scattered about. The steward told me that for several months he has +averaged $35 a week in tips. The ship is always crowded; this trip +there were ninety people at the second sitting in the dining-room. As +a result, the stewards have a double number in the dining-room and a +double number in the staterooms. I doubt if the captain makes more +than the most popular and capable stewards on his ship. A passenger +told me that he frequently sees the stewards of the “Maunganui” riding +in motor cars in Sydney, and drinking champagne with lady friends in +the expensive restaurants. The steward said that when he starts on +a trip, he can look over the passengers in his care and tell almost +exactly what he will get in tips when the ship lands. He showed me +a $5 gold-piece which one man had given him, although the usual tip +is $1.25. Why did that passenger give $5? Largely because he was a +fool, I should say, for ship servants rarely do anything special for +passengers. The steward told me, also, that the tourists are the +best pay; that commercial men demand a good deal of service, and tip +lightly, whereas all tourists tip liberally, whether they receive any +special attention or not. As soon as a tourist goes on a ship, he +begins inquiring concerning the tipping customs, and if he asks the +barber, or an officer, he is advised to be liberal. There is a law +in New Zealand which prohibits ship employees from working more than +eight hours a day.... One of the passengers is a man named Willis, +Speaker of the New South Wales House of Parliament. He is accompanied +by his wife, two young lady daughters, and a son. All of them ate at +the second sitting in the dining-room. I was told by several passengers +that Willis is very unpopular; he certainly received no attention on +board. In Australia there are only two political parties: the Labor +and the Liberal. Willis, it is said, was a Liberal for years, and then +switched to Labor, although he is not a workingman; on the contrary, +he is well off. Many people regard him as a political adventurer, but +they all credit him with unusual cleverness. I predict that some of +these days he will get even with the Union Steamship Co. for putting +him at the second sitting in the dining-room. I heard an American +woman say lately that New Zealand women wear funny shoes and corsets. +The Speaker’s women-folks do; for several days I thought Willis was +a prosperous sheep farmer going to Sydney to spend his money. The +women of Australia lack the good taste in dress that distinguishes the +women of countries less prosperous.... Young children are better +behaved here than in the United States; they “mind” better, and lack +the impudence which distinguishes so many children with us.... The +population of New Zealand does not increase; that country does not +hustle for immigrants, as Australia does. Besides, a good many of the +New Zealand sheep farmers are going to Argentina, in South America, one +of the wonders of modern times, and more favorable for sheep-raising +than this section. Wellington, a fine town, and the capital of New +Zealand, does not grow; when I was there, the old wooden capitol was +being repaired, and will probably be used another forty years. The +population of New Zealand is only a million; but for that matter big +Australia has only five times as many, almost one-half of them being in +the big cities on the coast. The interior of Australia is hot, and its +inhabitants hug the coast. + + + + +TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4.—The greatest pleasure of this day consisted of +leaving the ship. At 8 o’clock this morning I had another sight of +Sydney’s famous harbor, and at 9 we landed and went to the Australia +Hotel, where we saw another fine sight: several Americans. We found Mr. +and Mrs. Harry Clay Blaney, the New York theatrical people, there, and +several others we knew on the “Sonoma.” The Blaneys leave next Saturday +for the Philippine Islands and China, by a ship of twenty-seven hundred +tons; it is so small that it cannot accommodate more than two dozen +first-class passengers. Nothing could induce me to take that trip; the +ship is too small. I leave on the 12th for Durban, in South Africa, on +the “Anchises,” a ship of 12,000 tons, and have been grumbling because +it is not larger.... Another American I met there is W. B. Knight, +born in New York state, and reared in the Standard Oil Co. family +at Cleveland, Ohio. He is now connected with the Texas company, but +received all his training with the Standard. There is a great deal of +romance connected with Mr. Knight’s business career. He has lived in +Persia, India, China, Japan, Australia, the Straits Settlements, and +half a dozen other strange places. His wife is the daughter of another +wandering oil man, and they were married at Canton, China, at the +American Legation, by a preacher from Pennsylvania. His wife is with +him here, and they are both anxious to get home: both declare that this +is their last trip—that they are tired of hotel, ship and railroad +life. Mr. Knight said to me: “I am now an opponent of the Standard Oil +Co., but have no hesitancy in saying that the manner in which that +company is persecuted by the government is a disgrace. I have been +intimate with Standard affairs a quarter of a century, and have never +known the company to be guilty of a disreputable or dishonest act. The +company with which I have been connected a year, the Texas company, is +composed almost entirely of men trained by the Standard, and we are +trying to do what the Standard has done. We are the opposition, but our +business methods are no better than those of the Standard.” + + + + +WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5.—I am almost persuaded that Sydney is one of +the handsomest cities I have ever visited. One of its numerous bays +extends so far in the interior that it is called a river. We traveled +up it today by boat for an hour and a half, and all the way saw +handsome homes, and attractive coves. Returning, we came by electric +car most of the way, and saw another interesting part of the city. +While waiting for a car, we went into a little place for a drink. We +ordered what seemed to be ginger ale, and it was cold; it is warmer in +Australia than in New Zealand, and the people have learned the value +of ice. “In America, you would call it pop,” the woman said. There is +no doubt here as to our identity.... The weather today has been +as hot as we ever get it on the Fourth of July. And this the 5th of +February.... In the United States there is a great rivalry as to +the best five-cent cigar. Here the manufacturers of six-cent cigars +make equally extravagant claims.... There is nothing serious the +matter with this country except that managers of steamships put four +in a room 9×10 feet. The officers of the ships do not sleep in any +such higgledy-piggledy fashion; they insist upon large single rooms +for themselves, but force four passengers into a room not big enough +for one. During the Spanish-American war, you may remember that the +American officers, including Theodore Roosevelt, rebelled against +certain regulations of their superiors. This rebellion they called a +round robin. This country needs a similar rebellion against four in the +same steamship room.... There are so many ferries in Sydney harbor +carrying people to different suburbs along the bays that occasionally +incoming steamships are held up during rush hours, in order that the +ferry traffic may not be interfered with. This usually happens between +7:30 and 8 in the morning.... Wherever English print is in use, you +will see the name of Theodore Roosevelt. He knows more of the art of +securing free advertising than any other living man. In a morning paper +I find a Melbourne dispatch saying the Minister for Home Affairs has +received a letter from Mr. Roosevelt. A part of the letter is quoted, +as follows: + +“There is nothing that would give me more pleasure than to visit +Australia. I cannot imagine any American seriously interested in the +affairs of his country and of the world who would not feel himself +fortunate to visit your great commonwealth. You have been pioneers +along many paths of social and industrial reform. I have personally +a very great admiration for the Australian people. One of my prized +hunting companions in Africa was an Australian,” etc., etc. + +In the same newspaper I find the following from New Zealand: + +“The High Commissioner for New Zealand said he was proud that the +Dominion had led the way in presenting a battleship to the British +Empire. Mr. James Allen, Minister for Defense, said New Zealand would +not be satisfied until she gave both men and ships.” + +What may be said of New Zealand may be said of Australia. Is it +pioneering in social or industrial reform for a peaceful country to +build battleships, and present them to a quarrelsome king thousands +of miles away?... This afternoon I went to a theatre, and saw moving +pictures of the Panama canal. The pictures have packed the house for +weeks; they are doing much to increase respect here for American +energy and ability. The comments I heard around me were extremely +gratifying. Never in the history of the world has a great work been +carried on as energetically, as economically or as intelligently as +at Panama. These pictures prove the smartness of the Yankee, and +the actual accomplishment at Panama is as great as the big talk +about the smart Yankee has ever been.... In this city of Sydney +there is a big department store operated by the Anthony Hordern Co. +Anthony Hordern was a plodder who built up a great business, and died +from overwork at sixty-four. The business is now managed by heads +of departments trained by Anthony Hordern, but his two sons own it. +A floor-walker told me today that the store employs four thousand +people, and has fifteen acres of floor space. I do not know just how +much an Australian’s statements should be discounted; the average at +home is about one-third. The store has a special sale on now, which is +attracting great crowds, as special sales seem to everywhere. Wherever +I go here, floor-walkers step up and ask if I have been waited on, +whereupon I reply that I am simply a visitor looking about, etc. In +most cases the floor-walker will show me around; at Anthony Hordern’s +today, he mentioned Marshall Field’s place in Chicago, and at once +labeled me as an American. The Anthony Hordern store is very large, +but not half as big as the Marshall Field store. And it isn’t half as +fine. The Hordern store looks old-fashioned; the ceilings are low, +and the place isn’t very neat—I don’t know exactly what the trouble +is, but I was compelled to tell the floor-walker, a very polite man, +that it wasn’t in the Marshall Field class.... At sea, I become +angry, and half the time won’t take my bath, or shave, or dress for +dinner, but when I am on land, I am good-natured, and thoroughly enjoy +going about. It is a joy for me to poke around a strange town. On our +return to Sydney we employed the same boy who showed us about on our +first visit; we liked the little man, although we could not understand +half he said. At the Anthony Hordern store today, we wanted to go up +to the art department, but the elevator man could not understand my +pronunciation of the word Art. The boy had heard the floor-walker +recommend that we visit the Art department, so he pronounced the word +Art, and the elevator man understood him.... The floor-walker wanted +to introduce me to young Anthony Hordern, but I asked to be excused. No +doubt the son was like a sailor on the “Sonoma:” Captain Trask said he +wasn’t worth much except to play the part of “Neptune” when the ship +crossed the line.... I am good-natured now, and intend to dress for +dinner tonight, and drink coffee in the Winter Garden afterwards, but +as soon as I go on board the “Anchises” at Adelaide, I expect to be +mad again. The sea knocks me, and I can’t help it. And it will knock +you, if you fool with it, and have lived in a prairie country a good +deal.... Adelaide has been much interested in the fact that there is +a smart city in Australia named Adelaide; it is at this town we take +ship for South Africa. She has also been interested in Cape Howe, and +Lord Howe Island; but I called her attention to a historical fact today +which had previously escaped her. It seems that in the early days, one +of the famous bush-rangers was Michael Howe, a convict who had been +a sailor. He was sent here to serve seven years for robbery, but he +escaped, and joined a band of bush-rangers. He soon became their chief, +and ruled like a tyrant. He was also very haughty, calling himself +“the governor of the range.” The governor of the colony he called +“the governor of the town.” A price was placed on the head of Michael +Howe, and one day a sailor named Worral, also a convict, brought it +in. Worral received the promised reward, and was sent back to England +a free man. No convicts have been sent to Australia from England since +1868.... You may think I grumble about ships a good deal. You mainly +hear grumbling on shipboard. Whoever tells the truth will confess that +he didn’t have a very good time at sea. When I went on the trip to the +West Indies, I did so well that I fancied I was becoming a sad sea-dog. +This experience induced me to undertake the present journey; but I know +now that my sea-legs are wobbly. I can get along well enough on land +anywhere, but I do not understand the ways of ocean-going crews, or of +those strange persons who pretend to like ship voyages. + + + + +THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6.—This morning we went with the Blaneys to inspect +the “Prince Waldemar,” the little ship on which they will sail next +Saturday for the Philippine Islands and China. Except that it is small, +we were delighted with it. The servants are Japanese, and the sailors +of a brown race with which we are not familiar. The Blaneys have a +stateroom with two windows; it is so large that the chief steward of +the “Maunganui” would have crowded at least six into it. Never travel +on a popular ship, or fall in love with a beautiful woman who has many +admirers. The servants of the “Prince Waldemar” were as grateful for +a little attention as an old maid. The boat is said to have excellent +management, but it is only half as big as the “Sonoma,” and the +“Sonoma” is a pony. The “Prince Waldemar” is a 2,700-ton boat; the +“Anchises,” on which we sail for South Africa, is 12,000 tons. Any ship +under 17,000 tons is a crime. There are no real ships in Australian +waters; if a real ship should visit Sydney, people would come from New +Zealand, and travel four and six in a room, to look at it. A ship of +12,000 tons is referred to as a “Leviathan of the Deep” in the papers +here. The “Baltic,” on which I crossed the Atlantic not very long ago, +is a 38,000-ton ship; and, when the weather is rough, it is none too +large. The Hamburg-American company is building a ship almost twice +as large as the “Baltic.”... Near the “Prince Waldemar” lay +the “Ventura,” sister ship of the “Sonoma,” and which sails for San +Francisco next Saturday. We went on board, and it was like a visit +home, as it is exactly like the “Sonoma” in every detail. We showed +our “Sonoma” pictures, and soon had members of the crew interested. +Among other pictures, we had one of the “Ventura,” taken at sea when +we passed it on Christmas day. The American flag was displayed at the +ship’s peak, and it looked as good to us as it probably looks to an old +soldier on Decoration Day.... We meet traveling acquaintances every +day. This morning we met Mr. Adams, the life insurance man, whose wife +was so ill on the “Sonoma,” and who was so devoted to her that the men +were proud of him. “I am staying at the Wentworth,” he said; “it is +twice as good as the Australia.” The Australia Hotel is the best in +Australasia (which includes New Zealand), and of course many hotels +are said to be superior to it. Mr. Adams is meeting his wife’s kin for +the first time, but I neglected to ask him if he suited.... We also +met the Sandersons. We greatly admired Mrs. Sanderson, in spite of the +fact that she is English. She was coming over to meet her husband’s +people for the first time, and we predicted she would be satisfactory; +but she was fearful—people are so particular in cases of that kind. +Mr. Sanderson, however, told me that his folks dearly love his wife. +Mr. Sanderson is the man who operates apple orchards in Oregon, and +they leave for home on Saturday, on the “Ventura.”... At 7:40 in +the evening we resumed The Traveler’s Trot, and departed by train for +Melbourne, 585 miles. The railroad is standard gauge, and the sleeper +very good. As usual, we found the train crowded. Melbourne is almost +as large as Sydney, yet there is but one railroad between the two +cities, and this runs but one train a day: a train in three sections, +leaving at 7:40, 8 and 9:30 P. M. Between Kansas City and Chicago +there are at least five direct lines, and each line runs numerous +through trains daily: morning, noon, and night. The government lines +do not pay as high wages as our privately owned lines. The train on +which I traveled between Sydney and Melbourne is the best in Australia; +it may be compared with the Pennsylvania Limited between Chicago and +New York. The conductor, or guard, received $3 a day. The engineer +received $3.75 a day, and the fireman $1.75. Engineers on freight +trains here receive as low as $3 a day. The wages of similar employees +in the United States are certainly double.... The train made good +time, and I slept better than I usually sleep in a sleeping-car. The +sleeper was not gaudy and heavy like a Pullman, but it did very well. +The only attendant was a white man, who made up the beds as well as +took the tickets. The sleeping-car fare from 8 P. M. to 7 A. M. (when +we changed to cars of another gauge), was $2.50. The charge for a +similar service in the United States is universally $2. The train fare +was about two and a half cents a mile; in Kansas, the universal charge +for first-class passengers is two cents a mile. The time was rather +fast, but as the cars were light, the train was noisy and unsteady. +The people in Australia are more accustomed to Americans than are +New Zealanders, and we do not attract so much attention, but they +immediately spot us as Americans. I have never in my life, anywhere, +met as many polite people as I have met here and in New Zealand; I +believe I have said this before, but I wish to repeat and emphasize +the statement.... I think I detect a slight difference between New +Zealand and Australia: the last named is more prosperous, and does +everything a little better. Australians have a little of the swagger +and strut you detect in Chicago people, whereas New Zealanders are as +modest as people living in St. Louis, or any other less prosperous and +enterprising city. + + + + +FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7.—In the wash-room of the sleeping-car, early this +morning, I met an American, a Boston man, who has been a gentleman +farmer in Australia for twelve years. He told me he owned 52,000 acres +of land, and that whereas he came here with nothing twelve years ago, +he would not take a million and a half dollars for what he owns now. +He originally visited the country on business, thought he detected +great possibilities, and came here to live. He didn’t know corn from +barley when he began, but applied business rules to farming, and has +succeeded. I expressed surprise as to his large land-holding, whereupon +he told me that in the interior there are sheep farms five hundred +miles square, or as big as the state of Kansas. This land is leased +from the government at a penny an acre. Artesian wells three thousand +feet deep are being bored, and these wells are greatly improving the +arid districts. There are plenty of stock farms in Australia 150 to 200 +miles square.... The Boston man pays a good deal of attention to +dairying, although he is interested in all branches of farming: fruit, +vegetables, grain, stock, etc., and employs 280 men. Farm wages are +lower here, judging from what he told me, than in the United States. He +has no renters on his land; he calls that “the lazy, shiftless way.” +He says the people here do not know the meaning of hard work; that +they work only five days a week, and have very short hours, whereas he +has always worked long hours every day; and it agrees with him, for he +is stout, and looks exactly like a prosperous business man. He owns +thousands of sheep and cattle; and if I did not make an error in my +notes, he told me he made $175,000 from his land last year. I remember +the statement particularly because he had just been telling me about +an income tax lately imposed, and which hit him hard. One tract of his +land, 2,500 acres, cost him $150,000, counting an irrigation plant +which he built; but lately he refused $225,000 for it. He predicts +that as soon as Americans find out the opportunities for making money +here, they will come in flocks. He told me of one piece of land that +is worth $400 an acre, and which has been producing corn at the rate +of 100 bushels per acre for sixty-five years, without manuring. This +is choice land in a choice district, and perhaps the statement is +exaggerated, as we exaggerate when we talk of forty bushels of wheat +per acre, or seventy of corn. The country through which we were passing +looked very dry, but the American said it was good land; the famous +chocolate land of Australia, so named because the soil has a reddish +cast. “We have been having a drouth for two months,” he said, “and +the dry weather is good for the land.” He talked a good deal about +“sour” and “sweet” soil. I said the expressions were new to me, and my +companion laughingly replied that he was forgetting all he ever knew +about America; he made me think of an Englishman who had traveled a +good deal in America, and had the rough edges worn off. At several of +the stations through which we passed we saw a great deal of wheat piled +on the ground, in three-bushel sacks. We also saw numerous twelve-ox +teams along the country roads, hauling sacked wheat to market. Wheat +is harvested here in a fashion which seems better than our way. A +machine slightly larger than our harvester is used. This machine pulls +the heads off the wheat, and threshes them; the grain is then put into +sacks, and dumped on the ground, as our harvesters dump the twine-bound +sheaves. A number of Australian gentlemen farmers had joined the +conversation by this time, and they all assured me that such a thing +as a thresher is almost unknown here. Asked where the machine came +from that harvested and threshed the wheat in one operation, they said +they were supplied by the International Harvester Co., of America; +also, by an English company. I was compelled to confess I had never +seen such a machine, or heard of one. Along the road I saw numerous +wheat-fields which had evidently been treated in the manner indicated; +the grain heads had been frayed off, and the stalks left standing, for +sheep pasturage. The gentlemen farmers told me of one man who had tried +a new experiment in wheat-raising. He cleared his land, but did not +break, or plow it, as we say; instead, he drilled in his wheat on the +unbroken land, and followed the drill with some sort of farm implement +which slightly covered the seed; possibly it was a harrow—I did not +quite understand the term used. The season was exceptionally favorable, +and the wheat made an average of thirteen bushels per acre. The land +on which the experiment was tried was worth about $25 an acre. The +rainfall here varies from six to sixty inches, but the heavy rainfall +usually comes in torrents, when it is not needed. In the center of the +country, at points farthest from the coast, there is almost no rain +at all. We were passing through what is possibly the best section of +Australia, and it looked very dry to me; I saw almost no rivers or +creeks. It reminded me of India, or Colorado, or California, but my +traveling acquaintances said: “Ah, yes; it looks dry now, after two +months of drouth, but when the rain comes it will look as green as your +country.” I said: “It is evident that you run fewer sheep per acre here +than in New Zealand.” They admitted it, but said the volcanic soil +of New Zealand was much inferior to the chocolate soil of Australia; +New Zealand has more rain than Australia, but not as good a soil, a +fact I had myself noticed.... Wheat piled on the ground in sacks, +seemed very shiftless to me. I saw no grain elevators, such as we +have, and when the wheat is shipped, it is loaded in open box cars; no +protection from the weather. But in spite of many evidences of a dry +country, you see many evidences of prosperity here, too. Australia is +almost as big as the United States, but has only five million people; +it doesn’t need to feed a dozen sheep per acre. I also heard much of +irrigation projects, and the country seems to be booming.... At 8 +A. M. we changed to another train; to a railroad with a gauge of five +feet three inches. The standard gauge of the world is four feet eight +and a half inches; the usual narrow-gauge is three feet six inches. The +train on the broad-gauge—5 feet 3 inches—had a diner, but we could not +get in, so we ate breakfast at a railway restaurant. The broad-gauge +train also had a parlor car, in which we had reserved seats, and were +very comfortable. We stopped every two or three hours, to permit the +passengers to drink tea. The train was a fine one, but it could not be +compared with our best trains, and was badly crowded, as is the usual +custom over here in all public places. At ten minutes after one in the +afternoon, we reached Melbourne. + + + + +SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8.—At Sydney, we had heard of 107 in the shade at +Melbourne, but found the weather very pleasant. In a very gentlemanly +sort of way, Melbourne and Sydney are jealous of each other. They +are of about the same size, with Sydney in the lead, and forging +ahead rapidly; but Melbourne has the capital, and this is a bone of +contention. To get rid of it, there is a plan to build a capital in the +interior, as we built Washington to patch up the quarrel between cities +anxious for the national capital. But Melbourne will indefinitely +delay building a capital city in the sage-brush of the interior; I +have heard this guess made many times.... I have been particularly +pleased with the hotels in Australia and New Zealand, and am inclined +to believe that Menzie’s, in Melbourne, is the best of the lot. I +have a telephone in my room, and a big wide bed, and the meals are +surprisingly good. The price is $3.60 per day, including everything. +I was recently at the Sherman House, in Chicago, and paid $3.50 per +day for a room. What we call “the European plan” is almost unknown +at hotels here.... Melbourne is a better town than I expected to +find it. Its citizens admit that Sydney is larger, and growing more +rapidly; indeed, I have heard them say Sydney will continue to grow +more rapidly, as it has a better country around it. But Melbourne is +a beautiful city, and Sydney has nothing to match its St. Kilda Road. +This is a great driveway leading from the city to a sort of Coney +Island. This driveway is lined with flowers, green grass and beautiful +homes. And I did not see a bathing-beach in Sydney as handsome as St. +Kilda beach. Melbourne has wider streets than Sydney, and seems to be +more modern. “Don’t you think,” one man asked me, “that Melbourne is +more like one of your American cities than Sydney?” The people here +are as familiar as the people of New Zealand with the fact that we are +Americans, but they see more Americans, and are not so much interested +in them. Every man I talk with reminds me that I am an American; always +politely. I went yesterday to see about my baggage. “Don’t you find +our system almost identical with yours in the United States?” the +very agreeable and accommodating baggage agent asked. And the system +of handling baggage here is the same as our system.... I think the +people of Melbourne are sick and tired hearing of Sydney’s beautiful +harbor; particularly as Melbourne’s harbor is not very large. There +is a great bay here, but it is not a harbor; it is almost as much of +an open roadstead as Manila bay.... Melbourne has cable cars, but +the system was not adopted because of hills, for the city is almost +flat. I enjoyed riding again in the front end of a grip-car, as I +used to do in the old days in Kansas City. On one line, the fare is +six cents per passenger for riding the shortest distance. I saw one +short electric line; also, one horse-car line.... Years ago, the +boomers declared that Melbourne needed a Convention hall, and one was +finally built, after every citizen had been bored for a contribution, +and soundly abused because he did not give more. Now the boomers are +kept busy to find use for the hall. This month it is the scene of a +Manufacturers’ exhibition, and I saw a good many interesting things +there yesterday afternoon. There is an aquarium in connection; and at +this place I saw the most interesting thing I have seen since leaving +home—a monkey mother with a baby four or five weeks old. Monkeys always +interest me, but this monkey with a baby was so much like a human +mother that I watched her half an hour. The monkey baby was not well, +and the mother watched over it precisely as a human mother would have +done. Occasionally the baby played with its toes, as you have seen +human babies do. The mother gave all her attention to the baby; she did +not neglect it for a moment. There is a human quality about monkeys +that always attracts me. One I saw this morning at the zoölogical +garden was an old chap, and he was frowsy and irritable, as old men +are, and the younger ones were afraid of him, and scampered out of his +way.... We are still meeting “Sonoma” passengers; we encountered +one at this hotel last night—a Mr. Smart, a London publisher. Another +passenger on the “Sonoma” is a newspaper man here, but we have not +yet seen him.... The eggs used at Menzie’s hotel are labeled. +The two I had for breakfast were marked with a rubber stamp in this +fashion: “A. J. Paine, The Sisters, Teremo; February 6, 1913.”... +This morning, while at St. Kilda beach, we looked at the many ships in +Port Melbourne, and distinguished a big blue funnel. It belonged to the +“Anchises,” of the Blue Funnel line, and we will live on it for three +weeks, beginning next Wednesday. It started from Sydney a week ago, but +we will join it at Adelaide, for which city it sails tonight.... I +was talking today with an intelligent Australian, and he says that in +three or four years the cost of living here has increased one-fourth, +owing to the advancing prices for labor.... In both Sydney and +Melbourne, I found crowds around employment agencies. This surprised +me; I thought every man who wanted work here, had it.... In coming +from Sydney by rail, we saw hundreds of piano-boxes along the way. +Each box contained an advertisement for the Steck piano. It was a new +use for empty piano-boxes.... Here, when a doctor charges a big +fee for an operation, the newspapers make a fuss about it. The Sydney +papers were full of a sensation of this kind the day I left there. It +is a fashion that might be copied by American papers; great outrages +are perpetrated by some doctors in the United States, and nothing +is said about it.... I have heard a great deal about rabbits in +Australia; they are said to be so numerous as to be a curse. Still, +while riding through the country yesterday on a railroad train, I saw +two boys out hunting. One of them had three rabbits, and the other +had four. Considering the rabbit stories I have heard, I thought the +number quite modest. At another place, I saw a boy out hunting, and he +had but one rabbit. Australia looks about as I expected it to look, +except the rabbits.... At the zoölogical garden in Melbourne, there +is an exhibit labeled: “American Cats.” And that’s exactly what they +are: plain cats, such as you see around any American home.... At +4:15 we drove to the station, and a quarter of an hour later left for +Adelaide, capital of South Australia; distance, 508 miles. The train +is a better one than that running between Sydney and Melbourne, and +we were told that the sleeper in which we had engaged berths would go +through. The railroad is owned by the government, and the gauge is five +feet three inches; eight and a half inches wider than our standard +gauge. But the cars do not seem wider than ours, and certainly they +were not so heavy. The rails were also light, although the train made +good time. There was a dining-car attached, and at 6 o’clock we had an +excellent dinner, at 96 cents each. There were only four others in the +dining-car, and we had compartments to ourselves in the sleeping-car. +The compartments are for two, but travel here is always light Saturday +night, I am told. With a room to myself, I began almost having a good +time, particularly as I have become accustomed to the pronunciations +of the people, and they no longer distress me. On the dining-car bill +of fare, this was printed: “Waiters are not permitted to accept tips, +on pain of dismissal.” But when I offered our waiter a tip, he ran +the risk of dismissal, and took it.... The trainmen told me that +they are often compelled to work sixteen hours a day, and that they +receive a shilling an hour: that is, for a day of sixteen hours, $3.84. +Government ownership of railways is certainly a mistake, so far as the +men are concerned. The government can bluff employees easier than a +private employer.... I shall always remember the town of Ballarat, +the largest interior town in Australia, with a population of 40,000. +It was at this town that I lost my luck, and a man was assigned to my +compartment. But Adelaide’s luck continued, and she had a compartment +to herself all the way. In addition to having towns named for her, she +is lucky in other ways. I never have towns named for me; you never +heard of a town named Ed., did you?... We passed through one section +of country which seemed to be noted for potato-growing. I remember we +reached it after climbing a mountain of considerable height, and the +potato-fields continued many miles. This must be the best section of +Australia, since the railroad did not run more than thirty to sixty +miles from the sea, which supplies the few rains Australia has. But +the country looked very dry, and the soil thin.... We see no barns +on the farms; in the United States, travelers remark that the barns +are often huge, and the residences pitifully small. Possibly one +explanation is that stock run out all winter here; it is not necessary +to house them, or winter-feed. But the fact remains that Australia has +no country like the best parts of Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, +Wisconsin, Ohio, or a dozen other states that might be mentioned. +Australia somehow reminds me of California, where an exceptionally +clever people have made a great deal out of a semi-arid country. The +farmers I know pay little attention to agricultural reports. The +Australian farmers do, and greedily devour everything printed that +concerns their business.... The dining-car in which we ate dinner +has two sections: first and second-class. We paid four shillings for +dinner, and the second-class passengers paid two. + + + + +SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9.—When I awoke this morning, the train was running +rapidly through the bleakest country I have seen in Australia or New +Zealand. This is the land settlers are encouraged to “take up,” and +improve. It did not look to be worth ten dollars a quarter-section, +but occasionally I saw a settler’s cabin. A trainman told me that the +original settler rarely did well, but that the man who bought him out +for almost nothing, often did quite well. Suddenly we came in sight +of the Murray river, the only considerable stream in Australia, and +navigable for small boats a thousand miles above where I saw it. +Soon after, we crossed the river at a little town, and stopped for +breakfast. From the railroad bridge I saw several steamboats, and +rather extensive facilities for loading and unloading freight.... +Remember that in passing through the bleak, dry country referred to +above, we were not fifty miles from the sea, and that the rainfall +decreases toward the interior of the country.... This morning we +began seeing plenty of rabbits; many times, forty or fifty were in view +at the same time, and we are now satisfied.... A gentleman on the +train who lives in the Fiji Islands, says that not long ago there, +more than thirty-six inches of rain fell in one day; the government +rain-gauge records thirty-six inches, but this filled, and ran over. +It is a pity that the industrious Australians cannot have some of the +rain that goes to waste in the Fiji Islands, where the inhabitants +are shiftless.... Our first view of Adelaide was from a mountain, +where the railroad runs. It is a city of 180,000, the capital of South +Australia, and located on an extensive plain, between the sea and the +mountain. Adelaide is not located on the sea, as I had imagined; its +shipping is done at Port Adelaide, twelve miles away. We reached the +city at 10 A. M., and went to the Grand Central Hotel, a large, new +place, but we were almost the only guests; at one time, we saw only two +others in the dining-room, and never more than fifteen. The dining-room +is very large and very fine, and a good orchestra plays for dinner, +but there are almost no guests. On our floor we see no one; we have +it to ourselves. We like the quiet, but the proprietor of the hotel +must be suffering. We asked a waiter for an explanation, and he said +Saturday, Sunday and Monday are usually quiet days. The town is much +like the hotel; it is not crowded. Here, as elsewhere in Australia and +New Zealand, the people are exceptionally polite. We were standing on +the street this afternoon, somewhat confused about the proper car to +take, when a policeman stepped up and asked if he could do anything +for us. I do not know where the people learned their exceptional +politeness; they certainly did not learn it from the mother country, +England.... In this dry country, people like to hover around the +words “river” and “creek.” In a morning paper, I looked at a list of +towns, and the first three were Tennant’s Creek, Brock’s Creek, and +Powell’s Creek.... The newspapers here are very prosperous, as they +are lately all over the world. Their great prosperity, I am told, has +come within the past twenty years, and that is true everywhere. One +Adelaide paper prints a department entitled: “Fifty Years Ago,” a brief +résumé of events half a century old. One item reads: “A special harvest +holiday train will leave Kapunda for Adelaide on Thursday, on account +of the Agricultural Society’s exhibition,” etc.; so it seems that +Adelaide is not at all youthful.... An advertisement in the morning +paper read: “Wanted—Position by bird scorer.”... Over here, the word +Trust, which we despise, is used without the slightest delicacy. The +street-railway company is unblushingly called the Tramway Trust in its +own announcements. And just now there is some excitement because the +Tramway Trust, in a disagreement with its employees, refused to accept +arbitration. All the papers are full of labor-trouble news. It seems to +me that in the United States we do not hear half as much about labor +disturbances as we hear here. Every workingman who is not on strike, +is discussing one, with a view of forcing another increase in wages. +But labor rioting is not as frequent or serious here as in the United +States; there are practically no “scabs” to assault—it is a rare thing +to find a working man or woman who does not belong to a union. + + + + +MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10.—No country in the world makes more of parks, +gardens and hospitals than Australia. And probably no other country +makes as much of the Salvation Army. About the first thing I saw on +my arrival in Adelaide was a street meeting of the Salvation Army, +a feature of which was a good brass band of forty men. Two other +things travelers from the United States will notice here: drouth and +prosperity. I have seen no poor people; no evidence of poverty—yet how +dry the weather is! In the section of country where I live, we have +had two very dry summers in the past thirty-five years; but during +those summers the country did not look as parched as the country looks +everywhere in Australia.... About the only vegetables we get at +the hotels here are potatoes, cabbage, and canned beans. Tomatoes are +served occasionally, but they are smaller than those we get at home, +and not so good. On the streets, we see many carts selling fruit, +including strawberries.... The city of Adelaide and the young lady +in whose honor it was named, are very much alike in one particular; +both are very quiet. We see no crowds here: we had plenty of room on +the train coming here, we have plenty of room in the hotel, and we +have plenty of room on the streets when we ride or walk about. This +afternoon we went riding in an automobile, and everywhere we found it +quiet and dusty. There are no crowds on the street-cars; and it may +be mentioned incidentally that the street-railway system of Adelaide +could not be more complete than it is. One may go to any nook or corner +of the city in a clean electric car, and one line runs to a seaside +resort, a distance of eight or nine miles. Fare, ten cents. All the +cities in Australia have better street-railway accommodations than +the country has steam-railway accommodations; it seems to me that +the steam railways are not as numerous or efficient as the country +demands, whereas I have everywhere remarked the excellence of +street-railways.... In the United States, the privately owned railways +cross the country from north to south, and from east to west, but +the government-owned railways have not done as much for Australia. +Comparing Australia with the United States, there is no railway across +the continent, whereas we have five or six systems; nor is there a +railway here crossing the continent from north to south. The Australian +railways fringe the populous coast for a distance of fourteen or +fifteen hundred miles; they take few risks, and do not attempt to make +fruitful districts out of arid districts, as do the privately owned +railways in the United States. Our railways have done more to develop +the country than the government has done. Nor do the government-owned +railways in Australia move perishable freight more promptly: at many +stations along the road from Sydney to Adelaide, I heard complaints +because the railway company did not provide cars in which to ship +wheat piled on the ground. And when a car is provided, it is a small +open flat-car, and does not hold much more than a big wagon. So far as +I have been able to make out, railway rates are a little higher here +than in the United States, and the service very much poorer.... We +think we notice that women are rather better dressed in Australia than +in New Zealand, and possibly a little better looking.... In every +hotel dining-room here, we are always given ice-water; the waiters have +heard that Americans like it. + + + + +TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11.—I celebrated my arrival in Adelaide with a slight +illness, and the hotel people took quite an interest in me. The manager +sent his regards, and wanted to know how I was, and when I went to the +bath-room I usually met the maid, who spoke to me by name, and hoped +I was better. Hotel servants here always know the names of guests. +Adelaide took very good care of me, assisted by the maid on our floor. +I told them that if they looked after me as faithfully as Mr. Adams +looked after his wife on the “Sonoma,” I should feel satisfied. Mr. +Adams was an honor to his sex; his wife was ill from the time she left +Honolulu until her arrival in Sydney, and during all that time Mr. +Adams was a marvel of devotion; even the women said he should really +take a little rest. But he would never leave his wife’s side except +when the women went down to sit with her; and even then, he walked +about the decks in an obscure place, and didn’t seem to be longing for +pleasure or company. And Mr. Adams was no amateur husband; he told me +he had been married before. There was something about Mr. Adams which +convinced me that, had opportunity presented, he could have played a +stiff game of cards in the smoking-room, and bluffed his competitors +to a standstill, but with a sick wife on his hands he was gentleness +itself. He didn’t propose to be talked about by the women on board, and +I think he was the hero of that particular voyage of the “Sonoma.”... +This has been as hot a day as I have ever experienced anywhere, and +the tea-drinking has been enormous. At 4 o’clock in the afternoon we +were attracted by a sign reading, “Strawberries and cream,” and the +place was crowded with women shoppers drinking tea. No one was buying +ice-cream, or the “American soda-water” advertised, but all were +drinking tea; every woman was served with a pot, and usually she drank +two cups. This is the universal rule here; tea in the afternoon. When +we went back to the hotel, the girl clerk was taking her afternoon tea, +which had been brought to her from the kitchen. By-the-way, business +is picking up at the Grand Central; thirty-one came in to luncheon +today. The hotel could easily accommodate three hundred. All the other +hotels we have visited have been crowded. Before I leave Adelaide +I must ask some one what the trouble is with the Grand Central. +Perhaps one trouble is, it has rooms with baths, and other up-to-date +improvements.... The best exhibit at the Adelaide zoölogical garden +is the roses; I doubt if the famous rose show at Portland, Oregon, +can show a greater variety or finer flowers. It seems to me that +one-half of the area of Adelaide is taken up with parks, zoölogical +gardens, botanical gardens, hospitals, museums, playgrounds, and other +public utilities, and in the mountains not far away is a national park +of thousands of acres. The people here do not neglect exercise or +amusement. You see almost as many people in the parks on Monday as on +Sunday.... Another peculiarity here is that in all small orchestras +the flute is used instead of the clarinet. I have not heard a clarinet +in Australasia, whereas every orchestra in the United States has one. +Music is about the same everywhere; we hear the same music here that we +might hear at home, in London, Japan, India, or elsewhere. One evening, +at dinner, the orchestra played “Every Little Movement Has a Meaning +of Its Own,” which is heard everywhere in America, and we coaxed the +leader to play it again, for the luxury of being homesick. All the +hotel orchestras seem to be paid by the guests; anyway, we always put +something in a plate we find in front of the leader.... We find few +American publications in Australia. The _Ladies’ Home Journal_ we see +in nearly all bookstores, and somewhere we found a real-estate agent +displaying the _Journal’s_ pictures of houses properly and improperly +painted. The _Saturday Evening Post_ is seen less frequently, and +the _American Magazine_ and _Cosmopolitan_ occasionally. A lady in +New Zealand told me she read the _Ladies’ Home Journal_ regularly, +and greatly admired it, and that it is well known among the women of +her country. We see few American books at the bookstores; the bulk +of them are published in England.... We are becoming tolerably +tired of the kangaroo. Every city has a zoölogical garden, and a big +collection of kangaroos. Also, a big collection of an animal called +the Wallaby, which is so near like the kangaroo that a tired, hurried +and indifferent traveler does not distinguish one from the other. Then +there is the kangaroo rat, and the kangaroo idea is carried out in two +or three other ways.... We Americans shouldn’t laugh too heartily +because Australia was originally a penal colony. In the days prior +to 1776, England, instead of keeping evil-doers in prison at home, +sent them to work on the farms or plantations in America. After the +Revolution, when convicts could no longer be sent to America, they +were sent to Australia. In 1787, ten ships were sent to Australia. The +ships contained a thousand persons, eight hundred of them convicts, +both men and women, and the remainder were soldiers and marines to +guard them. The fleet landed at the present site of Sydney, and thus +that fine city of more than half a million people was founded.... +The boomerang, of which we hear much, is a native Australian weapon +made of hard wood. It is made in peculiar shape, and the black fellows +(according to the story) throw it in such a wonderful way that it hits +the object it is aimed at, and returns to the hand of the thrower. I +doubt the story; such a feat as that described is impossible. We have +seen no native blacks here, and they are scarce in the interior.... +The years 1839 and 1840 were years of terrible drouth in Australia, +and cattle and sheep were killed for their hides and tallow. Ten years +later came a drouth still more terrible. Then in February came a day +which is remembered as Black Thursday. The wind had been blowing a hot +gale for days, and somehow a fire started. This swept over the parched +earth with relentless fury, and the country was almost burned up; +forest trees, farm-houses, wild animals, cattle and sheep, and many +men, women and children, were consumed. When rain finally came, it came +in such torrents that nearly everything left by the fire was swept +away by floods. Australia has always had a battle with drouth and hot +winds, but has steadily prospered in spite of these drawbacks. Its +people are learning what to do, and what not to do, and great tracts of +land formerly worthless are now productive. This is true everywhere; +it is true in our own western states and territories. In the United +States the rain belt is not extending westward, but the intelligence +belt is.... The shop windows of a strange city are an interesting +exhibit to a traveler; they are a complete history of the industrial +habits of the inhabitants. The most interesting window I have seen +in Adelaide contains photographs of amateur Lady Bathers. A clever +genius who runs a bathing-house at the beach offered prizes of twenty +guineas to the Lady Bathers receiving the greatest number of votes for +perfection of figure. A great many young women who had a secret notion +that they had Great Shapes, entered the contest, and an enterprising +photographer is displaying pictures of the leading contestants. All +the contestants must have visited the gallery and posed for pictures +in bathing costumes. All of them pose in imitation of some classic +figure, and the result is very amusing, for an amateur showing her +figure is quite as amusing as an amateur appearing in a concert or in +a dramatic performance. Some of the figures are so bad that you wonder +their owners ever thought they were good, and all the poses are so +awkward that the display is extremely amusing. You have no doubt been +familiar with contests where young ladies ran for prizes as the most +beautiful woman, or the most popular woman, in town, and wondered that +the contestants considered themselves either beautiful or popular, but +women running a race for perfection of figure, and submitting their +charms to the public, is a still more amazing performance. + + + + +WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12.—An unusual thing in Australian towns is that +seed stores sell a great variety of flowering plants; instead of buying +sweet pea seeds here, you buy sweet pea plants five of six inches +high. At one store in Adelaide, I saw a dozen different varieties of +plants put up in small bunches, and offered at reasonable prices.... +Australia and New Zealand are very Progressive, when active and +powerful labor unions are concerned, but not a great deal is done +for the quiet and patient farmers; there are no rural mail routes in +either country.... There are more banks, trust companies, loan +companies, etc., in Australian cities, it seems to me, than elsewhere. +In some sections of the large towns I see almost nothing but financial +institutions for blocks.... The people here not only know I am from +the United States, but they know what section I am from. “You are +not a New-Yorker?” a gentleman said to me this morning. I told him I +was from Kansas. “My guess was Denver,” he said. He came within five +hundred miles of locating me.... At all the hotels, we have noticed +that the maids have false teeth. There is something in the water that +is injurious to teeth; you see advertisements in the papers offering +a remedy. In Australia, probably you see three times as many women +with full sets of false teeth as you see elsewhere. And dentists here +are like dentists everywhere, in that their false teeth can always +be promptly detected.... The duck-bill, interesting because it is +an egg-laying mammal, is found in Australia. It is supposed that at +one time all mammals were egg-laying; later, these early mammals were +replaced by more highly organized descendants. The duck-bill has a bill +like a duck, fur like a mole, webbed feet, and is about as large as a +terrier dog. It burrows in the bank, as a muskrat does, and thousands +of learned men have journeyed to Australia to see it, as an interesting +and rare link in the chain of life. An ant-eater having a bear-like +snout, and also an egg-laying mammal, is found in Australia. Egg-laying +mammals are found nowhere else in the world.... I have heard it said +that the women of Australia are a year or two behind New York or London +in the fashions. I do not know as to that, but it is certainly true +that the shop girls in Adelaide are just adopting the big bunches of +hair with which American shop girls disfigured their heads a good many +months ago.... At 4 o’clock this afternoon we walked to the railroad +station, and took a train for the Outer Harbor, to go on board the +“Anchises.” The distance is fourteen miles, and the train made so many +stops that we did not get our first sight of the ship until an hour +later. It was lying not a hundred yards from the station where we left +the train, and we went aboard at once. The Outer Harbor is a lonely +place; nothing there except a railroad station and a loading-dock. +Most of the passengers had joined the ship at Sydney or Melbourne, +and looked us over critically as we walked up the gang-plank. I +found I had a large room to myself, on the upper deck, and Adelaide +had one just like it. Our baggage having been sent in the morning, +we found it waiting for us in our rooms. There are 120 first-class +passengers; no second-class, and no steerage. The ship is two years +old, 508 feet long, with an unusual beam (which means width, and width +means steadiness at sea), and altogether we are well pleased.... +An old gentleman and his wife attracted our particular attention +because so many had come to see them off. There were many children and +grandchildren, and after the whistle had warned all visitors to go +ashore, we stood beside the old gentleman and his wife at the rail, +looking at the crowd. A woman in the crowd below was evidently a +married daughter of the old couple we admired, and she had a nurse girl +with her, and the nurse girl was carrying a baby. + +“Mother,” the married daughter called out, softly, “did you say good-by +to Daisy?” + +Daisy was the nurse girl, and the fine old mother said she had said +good-by to Daisy, but, to make it good measure, she said good-by to her +again.... My room is considerably larger than the one I shared with +three others on the “Maunganui.” I have two chairs, a clothes closet, +and a chest of drawers, all of which were lacking on the “Maunganui.” +On that ship I hadn’t a single hook on which to hang my clothing; in my +room on the “Anchises” there are fifteen hooks. If I live fifty years +longer, at the end of the forty-ninth year I shall still be telling +with indignation of my room on the “Maunganui.” Four men in a room nine +by ten feet is as bad as asking four men to use one bathtub at the same +time.... At exactly 6 P. M. we got away as advertised. + + + + +THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13.—When we awoke this morning, rain was falling, +and a heavy sea running, but owing to the ship’s unusual width, 60 +feet, we did not mind the motion, and went down to breakfast in good +humor. One of the stewards informs me that he has worked on many ships, +and that the “Anchises” is the steadiest of them all. The weather is +bad, but not many are seasick.... A lady at our table has five +children and two nurses with her. “And,” added her husband, “at sea, +five are quite enough.” These children are all boys, except one, and +this girl is known as Tom, she is such a Tom-boy. The girl knows +nothing about girls, and has never played with them, and the mother is +rather glad of it: usually a Tom-boy humiliates a mother.... The +passengers are very nice; a better lot than we met on the “Maheno” or +“Maunganui.” Most of them are making the long journey to England.... +We are now in the great Australian Bight, which, on the map, makes +Australia look upside down. The rough weather of the voyage is usually +encountered in the Bight.... In 1806, a certain Captain Bligh was +appointed governor of Australia. This is the Bligh associated with the +mutiny of the ship “Bounty,” one of the most thrilling stories of the +sea. Some time prior to 1806, Bligh, as commander of H. M. S. “Bounty,” +was sent to the South Sea Islands after trees and plants to be taken +to the West Indies; the English have always been noted for trying to +improve their possessions. I have forgotten the name of the island +where Bligh went with the “Bounty,” but will call it Island No. 1. He +remained there a considerable time; long enough for his sailors to +become well acquainted with the natives. Finally, when the “Bounty” +sailed for the West Indies, the sailors were mutinous, as they had made +friends in Island No. 1, and did not wish to leave. Captain Bligh was +a hard man, and, noting the discontent of the sailors, gave them extra +duties; if there was nothing else for them to do, he made them polish +the anchor. One night, as Captain Bligh sat in his cabin, he was seized +from behind by three sailors. He was bluntly told to get into one of +the small boats, and row where he pleased; the sailors said they were +going back to their native wives and friends at Island No. 1. Seventeen +members of the crew, including all the officers, chose to go with the +captain, and, with a scant supply of water and provisions, were set +adrift in an open boat. Captain Bligh was cruel and ill-tempered, but +an able seaman, and, after a voyage of four thousand miles, landed +on the coast of Java. Most of his companions died as a result of the +hardships through which they passed.... But the history of the +mutineers is still more interesting. They returned to Island No. 1 +in the “Bounty,” and, collecting their wives and other particular +friends among the natives, set sail for a remote island one of them +knew about. I have forgotten the name of this island, too, though it is +possibly Pitcairn, but I shall call it Island No. 2. Arriving at Island +No. 2, the “Bounty” was burned, after being robbed of all its guns, +furniture and supplies.... The mutineers quarreled a good deal among +themselves; mainly about women. Every sailor had two or three wives, +and the natives of Island No. 1 did not get along very well with the +natives of Island No. 2. Many murders were committed, and at the end +of twenty years only two of the original mutineers remained. These two +had scores of half-breed children, many of them grown.... One day a +sailing-ship stopped at Island No. 2, the first seen there since the +mutineers landed, many years before. The captain knew the story of the +“Bounty,” and rightly guessed that the two old sailors must have been +members of the mutinous crew. On his return to England, he reported his +discovery, and gave the authorities a chart by which the lonely island +might be found. Soon after, a ship was dispatched to arrest and bring +back the only two of the mutineers remaining.... After a voyage of +months, the captain of the ship returned to England and made a strange +report. He said he found the two mutineers had become preachers, and +were doing wonderfully good work among the natives. The two old men +had entire control of the island, and controlled it in the interest of +decency and civilization; having become old, the last of the mutineers +had quit quarreling over women, and were looking carefully after their +stomachs and souls. The captain of the ship concluded it was best +to let the two old men alone; and the English government shared his +opinion. A few years later, the old men died, greatly to the regret of +a large number of half-breed relatives. Captain Trask, of the “Sonoma,” +once called at Island No. 2, when in command of a sailing-ship, and +met both of the old mutineers; it was Captain Trask who told me the +story I have briefly outlined.... Captain Bligh also had trouble as +governor of Australia. He quarreled with nearly everybody, and finally +was deposed by force. On his promise to return to England direct, he +went aboard a waiting vessel; but he broke his word, and sailed to +Tasmania instead. There he tried to force the people to receive him +back as governor, but they soon grew tired of him, and forced him to +leave the island. The result of it all was that Captain Bligh was made +governor of Australia again, but for only twenty-four hours; the king +probably realized that Bligh was quarrelsome, and no one was punished +much for impudence to him. Finally Bligh was made an admiral, and that +probably satisfied him.... The early days of Australia, when Bligh +was governor, were very rough. The convict settlers had little fear and +no respect for anyone, and did about as they pleased. In those days, +drunkenness and crime were rampant, and the only way to make money was +to sell whisky, pistols and bowie-knives. + + + + +FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14.—Rain fell again this morning, but the sea is +smoother, and we have an excellent prospect of getting out of the +Bight without serious trouble. After passing out of the Bight we shall +enter a section of the ocean where the air is said to be particularly +pure and invigorating; it comes from the pole without contamination +with land, and many old, nervous men come to take a whiff of it on +the advice of physicians.... Every morning we are offered iced +watermelon for breakfast. It is said to be an American idea, but I +have never heard of it before.... Every passenger is assigned to a +place in a lifeboat, in case of emergency. I think this is a new idea +since the sinking of the “Titanic.” I found this notice in my room: +“IMPORTANT.—Your boat is No. 8 port. At your earliest convenience +please make yourself acquainted with the position of your boat station. +The boat station numbers are marked on the promenade deck rail, +immediately below each boat, and your boat station is there. If the +emergency arises, go to your boat station, and submit yourself to the +orders of the man in charge.”... Adelaide has been assigned to boat +No. 2 port, so that in case of emergency we shall be separated; she +might land on one island, and I on another. I find that the gentleman +and wife who have five children and two nurses, are also assigned to +my lifeboat, No. 8. But I shall not think of the necessity of spending +days or weeks in an open boat with a family of five children; it would +be worse than my experience on the “Maunganui.”... There is an +Eurasian on board. He is supposed to be as good as anybody, but there +seems to be a prejudice against him. An Eurasian is the son or daughter +of an European and Asiatic; the term particularly applies to the +offspring of natives and whites in India. Some of the Eurasian women +are very handsome, but their social position is so bad that many of the +more sensitive ones commit suicide.... The “Anchises” is not fast; +its run from noon on Thursday to noon today was only 326 miles. The +ship has one custom which is entirely new to me: the time is changed +every time a watch goes off duty. At sea, the watch consists of the +officer and men in charge at any particular time. As a result, the +time changes three or four times a day. On most ships the clock in +the companion way is set back or forward at midnight, and there is not +another change for twenty-four hours. + + + + +SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15.—People living in a dry country a long way from +the sea do not realize that it covers three-quarters of the surface of +the earth. Ninety-six per cent of the water in the ocean is pure fresh +water, yet so great is the bulk of sea-water that the total amount +of salt dissolved in it, if deposited in a layer over the surface of +the land, would make a bed over four hundred feet thick.... No one +is able to say what is the source of the salt in the ocean. Probably +the sea has always been salt, having become so when first the waters +gathered on the surface of the globe; but all rivers that flow over +the land carry salt, which they have obtained from the rocks and soil, +so the sea is probably becoming saltier all the time, just as some +lakes without outlet are being transformed to salt seas.... Off +the coast of Australia for fifty or a hundred miles, the sea is two +hundred to four hundred feet deep, but the depth grows greater as you +leave the land, and between Australia and Africa, in places, the depth +is more than five and a half miles, being greater than the elevation +of the highest land above the sea-level. It has been calculated that +the average depth of the ocean is more than 12,000 feet. The plains +of the ocean bottom are the most extensive in the world. Here and +there these plains are relieved by single peaks, like Bermuda, or +groups of peaks, like the Hawaiian Islands.... On the bottom of +the ocean there is a constant rain of sediment, formed by the death of +animals which have taken carbonate of lime from the waters, and built +it into shells and skeletons, which, when they die, falls to the sea +bottom. The sea-bed is made of an ooze chiefly composed of remnants of +these shells.... The cause of waves is friction of the wind. Waves +rarely rise more than twenty or thirty feet; waves sixty feet high +have been noted, counting from the lowest point of the trough to the +highest point of the crest, but this is very unusual. A wave of large +dimensions affects the sea to a depth of two or three hundred feet, and +may last for a long time after its cause has disappeared; travelers +in ships often run into a rough sea when the sun is shining brightly, +and there is no wind. These big waves also cause destruction on the +beaches, and the shore-line is always being worn away.... In most +parts of the earth, the tide rises twice each day; every twelve hours +and twenty-five minutes there is a high tide, with a low tide between. +At Key West the tide rises only two or three feet; in some other places +the tide rises sixty feet, and comes in as fast as a man can run. It +is believed that in some way the tide is caused by the moon.... +The sea is more interesting than the surface of the earth, but its +story is scarcely intelligible to those who have not been trained in +the alphabet of zoölogical technicalities. I read a book today about +the sea, and have a headache from trying to understand it. All our +rain comes from the ocean; it is said that the evaporation of the Red +Sea amounts to eight feet per year, owing to the great heat of the +countries surrounding it. One of the most important facts that has +been established by modern investigation of the sea is, that there is +no region in its vast extent that is devoid of life. Strange animals +are found at the greatest depth the trawls of man have penetrated, and +very wonderful are some of the forms of life found. The three great +laws of nature are self-protection, food, and reproduction, and here +the sea has wonderful tales to tell. Some sea animals reproduce by +simply dropping a piece of their body, and other forms of marine life +are so low that we can barely understand that it is life. There is a +fish which hides from enemies by shaking its fins in such a manner as +to scatter a considerable quantity of sand over its body. Another fish +poisons its enemies; another gives a strong electric shock. Many fish +are colored like the bottom of the sea, to escape their enemies; others +resemble sea-weeds. And the sea is a vast slaughter-house; fish feed +upon one another, and constant warfare is going on. The whelk attacks +and devours animals as large as itself; hidden in the recesses of the +whelk’s mouth there is a ribbon beset with numerous sharp little teeth, +which, by a complicated mechanism, can be worked backwards and forwards +in such a manner that it can bore a hole through very thick and dense +shells; and, the soft parts being reached, a tube is protruded which +dissolves and sucks them up into the animal’s stomach. Certain of the +cuttle-fishes, as they pass slowly through the water from one point to +another, are able to change the color of the skin so as to resemble +the color of the rocks or weeds which are below them. Another very +interesting feature presented by these animals is their ability to +discharge suddenly a cloud of inky substance into the water, and are +thus able to escape pursuit.... The corals are so numerous that they +build great islands, very much as bees construct honeycomb. Some of +these coral reefs are highly colored; when seen from a boat through two +or three feet of water, they look more like a flower-bed than a mass +of animals. The corals are so abundant that rocky islands hundreds of +miles in extent are composed of their shells and skeletons.... You +have heard of the phosphorescent light often seen on the surface of +the sea. This light is caused by millions of little animals which emit +a light, and they are so numerous that it is frequently possible to +read at midnight on the deck of a ship. The same little animals may be +seen in the water of your bath, if taken on shipboard at night.... +On certain parts of the coast of the Samoan Islands, where we were +a few weeks ago, the Palolo worm appears in great abundance in the +early morning hours of one or two days at the beginning of the third +quarter of the moon, in the months of October and November. As the +worm is regarded as a very great delicacy by the natives, the days of +its appearance are looked upon as the red-letter days of the year. It +appears just at the beginning of dawn, in countless millions, on a date +which may be accurately foretold by those familiar with the moon’s +phases. As soon as the sun appears, the millions of worms disappear, +and are not heard of again until another year.... There are fish +that fly, as every traveler by sea can attest, and it is to avoid the +bonito that the flying-fish leave the water. The bonito is able to leap +fifteen feet into the air, which ability it acquired in pursuing its +favorite food.... The largest existing animal, the blue whale, +is found in the sea, and it attains the enormous length of eighty-six +feet. Although living in the sea, the blue whales are air-breathers. +They are able, however, to hold their breath for a considerable time +under water. When they come to the surface to renew the air supply +in their lungs, they first make a violent expiratory effort from the +nostril, and drive a column of spray many feet into the air above them. +This phenomenon is called “spouting,” and whalers are thus able to +locate the animals. The skin of whales is often beset with barnacles, +some species of which are found nowhere else but on these mammals. +Parasitism is very common in the sea, and sometimes as many as four +animals are found dependent on each other.... Some sea-water animals +can only be induced to live in the aquarium when the water is kept +as pure as it is in the open sea; on the other hand, several of the +crustacea seem to flourish best in stinking and putrescent pools.... +It is a fact generally accepted by learned men, that all animals are +originally derived from ancestors that lived in the sea. In the birds +and reptiles, as well as in the mammals, many things clearly indicate +that their ancestors in remote periods, lived in water, and not on +dry land. And when we consult the botanists, and find that they agree +that all plants must have had a marine origin also, the case for the +sea being the original home of all living organisms may be said to be +complete.... We cannot tell in what form life first appeared upon +the earth. Whether the unstable living substance called protoplasm was +in the earliest conditions of the earth formed spontaneously by the +chance combination of its elements, or whether some germ or other made +a hazardous journey through space from another planet enwrapped in +the casing of a meteorite, are questions upon which no light has yet +been thrown by scientific observation or speculation. The majority of +scholars believe that life originated at the bottom of shallow waters, +or on the surface of the seas. Several naturalists believe that some +free-swimming form of jelly-fish was the ancestor, and that from this +simple start came, by millions of years of evolution, every living +thing. + + + + +SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16.—The tallest man I have ever seen in private life +turns out to be a clergyman of the Church of England, and early this +morning he conducted holy communion in the music-room, which was +attended by about a dozen women. At 11 A. M. he held another service, +which attracted twenty-five or thirty. Both services were announced by +tolling the dinner-gong like a church-bell. We call the tall man our +pastor, and he will seem quite like it after we have been associated +with him all the way to Durban. I have spent Sunday on three other +ships, but no religious services were held.... Every Englishman, +before he has known an American long, refers to the amusing manner in +which Americans eat green corn off the cob. I suppose that seeing a +room full of Americans eating corn off the cob is a funny sight that +only foreigners can appreciate. An Englishman who sits at our table, +and who lives at Johannesburg, says roasting-ears are widely grown in +South Africa, and that Englishmen there eat them in American fashion. +In Australia, I noted that green corn is sold in fruit stores, as a +rarity; I never saw it at the vegetable markets, or in the grocery +stores. Australian and New Zealand gardeners do not raise the variety +of vegetables we have in the United States.... There are fifteen +children and a phonograph on board, so we do not lack for noise. The +children are better behaved than American children, and under more +control; the phonograph is of American make, a Victor, with wooden +horn. There are five nurses with the children; one of them is employed +by the tall clergyman. American clergymen are not so prosperous, as a +rule, that they travel with nurses.... It is so dull on board that +last evening the passengers went down to dinner at seven o’clock, and +remained at the tables until 8:10. The “Anchises” is introducing an +innovation which pleases me: it gives the passengers better rooms, +and less to eat. We have plenty, but on some ships there is so much +to eat that the passengers are tempted beyond resistance, and eat too +much.... We have been passing the western point of Australia today, +and the sea has been rough. But the “Anchises” has such a gentlemanly +roll that we do not mind it. The ship has ten thousand tons of cargo +in its hold, and cannot skip about as do ships lightly loaded. From +Adelaide to Albany, the western point of Australia, there is no +railroad. The distance is twelve or fourteen hundred miles. Had the +government kept out of the railroad business, private capital would +have built that gap long ago, and passengers from Australia to South +Africa might avoid four days of sea-travel. We followed the ship by +rail from Sydney, and would have followed it to Albany, had there +been a railroad to that place from Adelaide.... The weather has +been chilly, but the latter part of this week we will run into warm +weather, which will continue until we reach home. As a result of the +raw, chilly weather, and no heat anywhere on the ship, I had a siege +with neuralgia, an entirely new experience for me. The only thing to +do was to go to bed and cover up well, with a hot-water bag to my +jaw. Fortunately I have the best steward I have ever drawn on a ship, +and he paid me a good deal of attention.... A young Englishman who +sits at our table tells a terrible story of Business. He says that in +Johannesburg, South Africa, where he lives, he is often compelled to +take thirty drinks a day, or lose trade. I would like to tell him what +I think of the statement, but do not care to start a row on board. Any +man who says he is forced to drink intoxicants or lose trade, tells +a silly falsehood. A drinking man usually admires a man who doesn’t +drink. The men who have been most successful in business have not +been noted as boozers. But while I didn’t tell the young man what I +thought of his statement, an elderly Englishman did. “The Americans,” +the elderly Englishman said, “are the smartest business men in the +world, and they do not drink as much as we do. And the drinking habit +in America is becoming more unpopular every day, and will finally +become disreputable.” I have noticed that while most Englishmen “pick” +at Americans, they really have a high opinion of them.... I have +spent part of the day reading a book entitled, “Around Cape Horn.” +It is a common sailor’s experience in sailing from San Francisco to +Liverpool. For weeks the ship had terrible weather; it seemed that +wreck was inevitable almost every hour of the voyage. I am of the +opinion that the writer made the voyage much worse than it really was, +in order that he might have a tale that would appeal to publishers. I +have spent many weeks at sea, on many ships, but have never experienced +any of the rough weather this writer tells about. I have experienced +much disagreeable weather at sea, but I have never seen a ship in any +danger of swamping. The stories of storms at sea remind me of stories +of battles. There will be a perfect rain of shot and shell; pandemonium +will reign, and, from the book account, it would seem that not a single +man could live to tell the tale. But when the casualties are listed, +it is found that only two men were slightly wounded. What a terrific +affair the Battle of Manila Bay was! Yet not a single man in Admiral +Dewey’s fleet was struck by shot or shell, although the engagement +lasted for hours.... The man who has a wife and five children, and +two nurses, on board, was talking to me today. + +“I suppose you have heard,” he said, “that a young man may marry, and +his expenses will be less than before; in short, that two may live on +less than one?” + +I replied that I had heard the story. + +“Well,” he said, “there is nothing in it.” + +From noon yesterday until noon today, the ship’s run was only 312 +miles. There was once a famous American sailing-ship, the “Red Jacket,” +which did a better average than that for ten consecutive days. But it +must have had a great run of luck. Sailingships often make less than +a hundred miles a day, and, when the wind is very unfavorable, lose +in twenty-four hours all they have made in three or four days.... +We are followed every day by the albatross: great birds which sail +for hours against the wind without moving a wing. The sailors say +that the young, after reaching a certain age, and being made very +fat, are deserted by their parents, and have nothing to eat for six +months. At the end of that time they are able to fly, and seek food +for themselves.... In the smoking-room today I heard a man say +that every vicious person may be detected by looking at his ears. If +the tops of his ears are as low as his eyes, look out for him; he is +dangerous. + + + + +MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17.—The manner in which the male passengers on ships +drink coffee in the smoking-room, after dinner, has been getting on +my nerves; but just as I was working up a fine case of indignation, +I found the custom did not prevail on the “Anchises.” On this ship +those men who wish coffee after dinner, drink it in the dining-room, +and none is served in the smoking-room. You cannot realize how unusual +this new rule is unless you have seen the smoking-rooms of many ships +filled with men drinking coffee after dinner. I wonder the captain +of the “Anchises” dared order the change, but I have not heard any +complaints.... Among our acquaintances are a Mr. and Mrs. Steele, +of Sydney. Mr. Steele has been married twice, and talks a good deal +about his daughter in London, and his son in Philadelphia. Some +widowers who have married again, speak of “our” children, while others +say “my” children; just as some men who have been married twice are +always talking about it, while others keep quiet, and let you find out +about their second marriage if you can. I don’t think Mrs. Steele likes +the manner in which he talks about his son in Philadelphia, and his +daughter in London, preferring that he say “our” son in Philadelphia +and “our” daughter in London. Stepchildren also amuse me; they try +so hard to show respect for pa’s new wife, or ma’s new husband, and +fail so lamentably. There is always something unusual in a second +marriage.... This is our sixth full day on the “Anchises.” Had we +been on a fast boat on the Atlantic, we should be landing tomorrow. +But this is a long trip, and we are only fairly getting started: we +shall not land at Durban until a week from next Monday. Those who came +on at Sydney have already been on board fifteen days, and, if they are +going to Liverpool, they still have thirty-two days of it. A gentleman +and his wife who are at our table came on board at Melbourne, and they +will be on board forty-seven days.... Every woman in Australia and +New Zealand wears a bracelet watch; the custom seems to be universal. +In the United States women wear watches attached to chains of one +shape or another, but here it is a universal custom for women to wear +watches set in a bracelet on the left wrist.... I believe this is +the dullest trip I have ever undertaken, and almost scream with horror +when I realize that I shall not see land for another thirteen days. +Fortunately we have not been seasick; the “Anchises” is a wonderfully +steady boat. But it is as dull on board as on a back street in a +country town. Part of the passengers sit on one side of the main deck +and part on the other, while some of them sit on the upper or boat +deck. All of us walk about a good deal for exercise, and I think we +tire of seeing each other go ’round and ’round. One restless woman is +going most of the time, and I often hear the others growl: “If that +woman would only sit down!” I fear we shall engage in fist fights +before we reach Durban.... Two highly respectable spinsters from +Australia have attracted my attention. On deck and in the dining-room +they are so well behaved that I marvel at them; but this afternoon +they became desperate, and left their side of the deck and came over +to our side. And at dinner tonight I saw the bolder one looking about +the dining-room, hoping to see something to talk about. If these highly +respectable women are becoming reckless at the end of six days, what +will they be doing in thirteen days more?... A Sports Committee was +organized today, to Keep Something Going On. But ship games are about +as uninteresting as a Salvation Army street service. A subscription +was taken up, to raise money with which to buy prizes for the winners +of the games, and I heard it hinted that the promoters expect others +to do the giving. There was no great demand for Sports, except in the +minds of three or four men. It’s a good deal that way on land when a +celebration is held, or a new church built, or money raised for a Y. M. +C. A. building. I predict that the Sports Committee will not greatly +relieve the dullness. One of the games is a special form of cricket +arranged for the sea. A regular game of cricket is so dull that some +of our most noted humorists have laughed at it, but sea cricket is much +worse.... I was talking today with an Englishman who has lived in +Australia a long time, and who married an Australian woman. He says it +pleases Australians to be told they are like Americans, and it makes +them very angry to be told that they are like the English. He confirms +what I have noticed everywhere; that Australians and New Zealanders +“pick” at the English constantly.... I am beginning to believe I +can see a difference between the colonists and the English, although I +couldn’t at first. A woman today told me of her troubles with servants +in Australia, and her troubles are exactly like those I hear women +complain of at home. There are English nurse girls and Australian nurse +girls on board, but they do not mix. The English girls wear nurses’ +costumes, but the Australian girls say that is beneath their dignity. +One of these Australian nurse girls is not more than twenty years old, +and has a full set of false teeth. There are many “American dentists” +in Australia (one was shot by his office girl in Melbourne while I was +there), and I judge they have a great deal to do. + + + + +TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18.—I read a good deal, as the ship has an excellent +library; frequently I take out two books a day. One I read this morning +is entitled, “The Cruise of the ‘Falcon.’” In 1880, an Englishman +named E. F. Knight conceived the notion of taking a long voyage in a +small yacht called the “Falcon.” The vessel was only forty-two feet +long and thirteen feet wide, yet he cruised in it for twenty months, +going from England to South America, and thence to the West Indies, +where he sold his boat, and took a steamer home. The crew consisted of +Knight and three friends, and a boy. One of these friends, Jerdein, +had been an officer on a P. & O. liner, and was a skilled navigator +and seaman, while Knight was an amateur yachtsman of considerable +experience; but the other two, Andrews and Arnand, were landlubbers. +The boy was fifteen years old, and had been to sea several times. On +the way to South America they stopped at several islands, and had a +prosperous and agreeable voyage. Their undertaking was thought to be a +foolhardy one, and the newspapers at the time devoted much space to the +voyage, but the little “Falcon” turned out to be quite fast, and rode +the seas well; two thousand miles were made in ten consecutive days +off the coast of South America. Five months were devoted to a trip up +the Parana and Paraguay rivers. At Buenos Aires, Jerdein, Andrews and +Arnand concluded that they had had enough of it, and quit the little +boat. Knight was not discouraged, and hired three Italian sailors, in +addition to the boy. With these he put to sea, and had a very rough +voyage.... There are two islands called Trinidad; one of them in +the West Indies, and the other off the coast of lower South America. +Knight determined to visit the latter island, and had a very remarkable +experience. The landing was bad, and he found the island an unwholesome +and inhospitable place. At one spot on the island he found a great lot +of wreckage; it looked as though many foundered ships had drifted in +there and gone to pieces. He believed treasure might be found in the +wreckage, but the weather was stormy, and he did not know what moment +the “Falcon” might be compelled to sail away for safety, so he gave up +the treasure, and left the island, where he spent three or four very +uncomfortable days. From Trinidad he went to Bahia, and to the Amazon, +meeting with all sorts of adventures, finally landing at Barbadoes, +where he sold the “Falcon,” and sailed for home on a steamship.... I +suppose Knight elaborated his dangers and adventures; talkers do this, +and I see no reason why writers should not. Many of his most remarkable +stories he had second-hand; the wonderful incidents recorded happened +a day, or a week, or a month, after he arrived at certain places. +This is true of most very remarkable circumstances; the narrators do +not say they witnessed them, but gentlemen they had every reason to +believe truthful told them the stories, etc. Dozens of men have told +me of the famous pilot-fish of New Zealand, which pilots all ships +through a certain channel. None of these gentlemen have actually seen +the pilot-fish at work, but they met a gentleman only last week, or +the week before, who had seen it. By-the-way, a recent Sydney paper +says the famous pilot-fish has not been seen in six months; it is +feared that he has been killed by the crew of some whaling-ship.... +Another favorite story is of the fogs in London, yet I have never +seen anyone who has witnessed one of these fogs. And the _Scientific +American_ stated not long ago that the old-fashioned London fog has +disappeared; that one has not been seen in a good many years.... +Speaking of whalers, it is generally agreed that in the old days when +that industry was flourishing and profitable, the Yankees were the +smartest men at the business. Indeed, when an English firm built and +equipped a whaling-ship, Yankees were employed to teach the English +crew the business. I have been grumbling a little because of this +voyage of nineteen days. The old whalers used to be gone three years +on their voyages; sometimes they did not see land for ten months at a +time. Capturing a whale was as dangerous as a naval battle. The sailors +went after it in small boats, and a whale was rarely captured under +six or seven hours.... The sea is supposed to be very dangerous. +As a matter of fact, a sea voyage is not as dangerous as a railroad +journey. Take a hundred thousand people who travel a given number of +hours by rail, and compare them with a hundred thousand who travel a +like number of hours by sea, and those traveling by sea will have very +much the best of it, so far as safety is concerned. Indeed, going to +sea is safer than staying at home. Ever remark the great number of +people who are killed around home? The newspapers are full of dreadful +accidents occurring in quiet, rural communities where life is supposed +to be particularly safe. Every time a farmer hitches up a team, he runs +a risk. A buggy-ride is dangerous; the hold-back straps are liable +to break, in going down hill; and a buggy running onto the heels +of a horse is almost sure to cause an accident. And public streets +and roads are more dangerous than ever since automobiles became so +numerous.... In seacoast towns everywhere may be seen thousands of +old men who have spent their lives at sea almost without accident. +An insurance company regards a seaman as a safe risk; as safe as a +farmer. It isn’t the danger that should keep you off the sea; it is +seasickness, and four in a room 9×10 feet. Nor is it the expense that +should keep you off the sea. For this voyage of practically twenty days +I pay $150; or $7.50 a day. It would cost that at a New York hotel for +room and board. And there are sea voyages much cheaper than this one: +there is a White Star boat running between Sydney and London, by way of +South Africa, which charges about $5 a day for the journey. It combines +first, second and third-class into one class, but is said to be very +fair. + + + + +WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19.—We are the only Americans on board the +“Anchises,” although a passenger from London once met an American +who lived in Connecticut. The Londoner asked me today if I knew his +Connecticut friend. I was compelled to confess I did not know him, +although the London man said his friend was one of the prominent men +of that part of the world.... It seems we are not a musical crowd; +although a concert has been announced for the night before we reach +Durban, there is no one to play the piano. I suggested to a member +of the Sports Committee that some of us might learn, as we would +have ample time, but he did not believe my scheme practical. A man +on board has a graphophone, with sixty records, and this is going a +good deal. Last night he loaned the machine to his nurse girl, and she +gave a concert on the lower deck for the benefit of the crew. One +of the firemen plays the violin, and the laundry girls, stewardesses +and nurse girls danced with members of the crew. It was a bright +moonlight night, and this social event attracted more attention than +anything else we have had on board. There was a euchre tournament in +the smoking-room, but it did not attract as much attention as the +dance. Euchre is called a “nigger’s game” here; it is said to be so +simple that niggers can learn it.... Women are in the smoking-room +of the “Anchises” constantly, but some captains do not allow this: +they say the smoking-room is for men, and that if women are allowed in +the room, some of the men will keep out.... The Eurasian on board +speaks no English, and, in addition, has had toothache for more than +a week. Toothache is one of the dangers of the sea. Captain Trask +told me that he once suffered seven weeks with toothache, when on a +sailing-ship, and was not free from pain a moment during all that +time. On a sailing-ship there is no doctor; the captain doctors the +sailors when they become ill, and usually he doesn’t know much about +medicine.... We have had an unusually smooth sea today, but the +weather has been cloudy; we have not had a clear day since leaving +Adelaide, although the sun occasionally shows itself for a short +time.... The English people are as crazy about cricket as Americans +are about baseball. A man who attends all cricket games, and knows all +the fine points, is called a “barracker.” But he does not abuse the +players, as do our baseball fans; a “barracker” seems to be more of a +gentleman than a “fan.”... I don’t believe I look at the sea more than +once a day; usually, when I get up in the morning, I look out the +window, and remark that the sea is smoother or rougher than yesterday, +but that is about all. I have never seen anything beautiful or unusual +at sea, except one evening when on the “Sonoma.” I was leaning over +the rail forward, as the sun was setting. The rays of the setting sun +were reflected in the waves rolled up by the prow of the ship; I could +see all the colors of the rainbow, and the effect was very unusual +and beautiful. But as a rule, the sea is never majestic, though it +is frequently what the English call “nasty.”... This is our seventh +day out, and we have not seen a sail or ship. One day we saw a black +spot which might have been smoke from a steamer, but that is all. +Even the albatross have deserted us, and we are as lonely as lonely +can be. The members of the Sports Committee are working hard to Keep +Something Going On, but they are not meeting with any great success. +It is amusing to see them hunt up players for the different games. The +head of the Sports Committee is a fine old gentleman named Irons, a +friend of ours, and we find a good deal of amusement in watching him +worry around like the man who proposed a picnic which isn’t going very +well. We try to take the Sports Committee seriously, since the other +passengers would probably think us “funny” if we did not (if they do +not already entertain that suspicion), but as a matter of fact the +Sports Committee is a joke to us. “Well,” one member of the committee +said to me this evening, “it has been a strenuous day.” I thought it +the dullest day I ever experienced anywhere. We hear this evening that +our friend Mr. Irons, head of the Sports Committee, is in bed as a +result of the excitement of the day, and we are laughing at him, in +which his wife joins us.... It is at least clean at sea; no dust and +no dirt. If it were not for the idea of it, you might wear a collar a +week at sea.... Somewhere out in this wilderness there is said to +be a large island where the women greatly outnumber the men; of six +hundred adults, five hundred are women. I have forgotten the name of +the place, but I have heard the men talk about it a good deal. On this +island, the men do nothing, and the women wait upon them with great +cheerfulness. A man is at liberty to have as many wives as he pleases; +the men tell very amusing stories about life on the island, and usually +they tell them in the presence of the women, to adorn a moral. This +paradise for men is known in a general way as “The Island,” and I am of +the opinion that it is an invention of some man who has dreamed of such +a place, after being imposed upon a good deal by women and girls. + + + + +THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20.—In Australia, what we call a tramp is known as a +“Sundowner,” because of his habit of appearing at sundown, and asking +for a night’s entertainment.... The best thing we have to eat on the +ship is oatmeal, which is served every morning for breakfast. I have +been neglecting this nutritious and palatable food for years, having +drifted off to new breakfast foods extensively advertised, but I shall +drift back to the Old Reliable, as I find it surprisingly good.... +Opposite me on deck today sat a woman reading an English magazine. On +the front cover was an advertisement of “Black and White” whisky. The +magazine was about the size of our _Ladies’ Home Journal_; imagine that +fine publication with a whisky advertisement occupying two-thirds of +the front cover page.... A passenger named Grice was telling this +morning of an uncomfortable experience. He was riding after cattle on +the plains of Australia, when his horse fell over an ant-hill. The +horse broke its neck, and fell on the man in such a way as to pin him +to the ground. After six or seven hours, help arrived. There was no +surgeon in the district, and the man was carried to Melbourne, 180 +miles. Here he was operated on seven times, and is just out of the +hospital, where he spent eight months. He is on his way to Mombasa, +in Africa, to hunt. When surgeons and hospitals are mentioned, I find +that the Mayos, of Rochester, Minnesota, are known everywhere.... +I have heard that some men, when they return from a long trip abroad, +are very conceited about it, and talk too much of their experiences. +In case I am so fortunate as to return from this trip, I shall be very +modest, and greatly admire those who had sense enough to remain at +home. How I admire Uncle Bruce, of Potato Hill farm, who has nothing +to do this winter except haul manure from town for his next year’s +crop! What good things he has to eat down at the farm-house! And what +an appetite he has! I wish I could change places with him. For dinner +today we had venison and pheasant, but they tasted like leather. Game +kept a long time isn’t fit to eat.... Last night there was a dance +on deck, and members of the Sports Committee were indignant because of +the small attendance. “We have worked hard to provide amusement,” they +said, “and almost no one is dancing.” It has probably never occurred +to the members of the Sports Committee that they are a nuisance rather +than a blessing. It would be very much pleasanter on board if a Gay +Time had never been thought of. I do not care to dance; nor do I care +to have members of the Sports Committee urge me to dance. If I care to +play quoits, or any other of the deck games, I do not need a Sports +Committee to urge me. The members of the Sports Committee think it an +outrage that Adelaide does not dance, and look at me reproachfully. +I tell them I had nothing to do with it; that her parents are church +members, and do not believe in dancing. This also greatly astonishes +them. It wouldn’t surprise me if the members of the Sports Committee +did not finally get into trouble with some of the other passengers +who want to be let alone. I hear a good deal of grumbling in the +smoking-room from men who are being constantly urged to dance, take +part in the concert, play skittles, or quoits, or deck billiards, or +sea croquet. The members of the Sports Committee remind me of five +or six men who decide that a town needs another lodge, and bore all +the other citizens to join. Wherever you go, on land or sea, you find +impudent men who urge others to do things there is no necessity for +doing. Our pastor, the tall clergyman heretofore mentioned, is far more +considerate of us than members of the Sports Committee. Sunday morning +he sends a steward about the deck tolling a gong, to give notice that +religious services will shortly be held in the music-room; but those +who do not care to attend are not reprimanded by the holy man for +absence. I thoroughly dislike a man who is forever protesting because +others do not accept his notions, or admire whatever he happens to +admire. Always remember that what you regard as the greatest thing +in the world may be regarded as the most useless by many worthy and +intelligent people. + + + + +FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21.—On this ship are eighteen thousand frozen +sheep carcasses, en route from Australia to London. In order to +keep this meat properly, great refrigerators are necessary. This +frozen-meat trade is the source of Australia’s prosperity; before +it was inaugurated, Australian sheep were not worth much except for +their wool and tallow; old-timers in Australia remember when a sheep +carcass might be bought for a shilling. This frozen-meat trade is also +carried on between South America and England, and the result is that +the English have cheap meat. The people of the United States might +have cheap meat, also, were it not for the tariff. Our admiration +for the farmer is so great that we pay a third or half more for meat +than is necessary, in order that the farmer may receive high prices +for his live-stock. When an American goes to a meat market, would he +cheerfully pay thirty cents instead of twenty for a piece of meat were +it not for his Statesmen? I have always doubted that the people see the +advantage of a high tariff; it is the Statesmen who are able to figure +it out.... The men who thought of the frozen-meat scheme did a +lot for humanity, but probably no one knows who they are; hundreds of +men had a little to do with it.... The captain says a ship loaded +with frozen meat arrives in England from Australia or South America +every day of the year.... The “Anchises,” on its last voyage out to +Australia, was in a great storm in the Bay of Biscay, and the ship’s +doctor was seasick four days. “Tell me,” I said to the doctor today, +“how a big storm at sea looks.” “Blessed if I know,” he replied; “I was +sick in bed; I didn’t see anything of it.”... My dining-room steward +says the captain is always sick for a day or two after leaving port, +but the other ship employees deny this. They say that on leaving port +the captain has his meals served in his room, which is near the bridge, +and thus the story of seasickness started.... We have had a bad sea +all day, with drizzling rain. Not many are sick, owing to the ship’s +unusual steadiness. It rolls and pitches, but gently, and I wonder +the “Anchises” is not famous the world over for its unusual sea-going +qualities. Some ships cut up at sea, however carefully they were built, +while occasionally one will prove unusually steady. The “Maunganui” was +a big ship, and very handsome, but it had a certain little movement of +its own that was atrocious. While lying in my bed, the ship came up +under me in such a way as to make me feel as though I were hanging on a +clothesline, with the back of my head dangling against my heels.... +The English have many customs and pronunciations I do not understand. +How much do you suppose a hundredweight is in England? Not a hundred +pounds, but a hundred and twelve pounds. A ton, consequently, is not +2,000 pounds, but 2,240 pounds; and this system bothers every country +with which England does business. The English also use the term guinea +in reckoning money, although there is no such coin, nor is English +paper money issued in guineas. A guinea is as much more than $5 as a +pound is less. If the people of the United States should invent a slang +term meaning $1.03, and occasionally use it in reckoning money, instead +of the dollar, it would be about the same thing as the English custom +of occasionally dragging out the word guinea, and using it, to confuse +strangers.... Some Americans say, “Don’t you know?” in conversation, +and it is a very bad habit, since the term is meaningless, and soon +gets on the nerves of the listener. The English make fun of the +expression, and represent all Americans as saying “Don’t you know?” It +is a fact that too many of them do. But Australians add, “You see” to +their statements a great deal. I believe a majority of the Australians +say “Yis,” instead of “Yes,” and they have many other oddities of +speech which grate on the nerves of Americans, who believe in pure as +well as free speech.... On a rough night, the squeaks in a ship +sleeping-room are worth mentioning. Last night as I lay in bed, I made +note of the squeaks, and could distinctly count four different ones: +two for each pitch, and two for each roll. When the weather is fine, +there is no strain on the ship, and the squeaks disappear.... This +morning at 10 o’clock the captain made a calculation, and said the time +in Atchison was 10 P. M. Thursday night. He showed me how he figured +it. Atchison is in 96 degrees longitude; therefore it is six hours and +twenty-four minutes _behind_ Greenwich time. The ship today is in 80 +degrees longitude, and therefore five hours and twenty minutes _ahead_ +of Greenwich. To be exact, the difference in time between Atchison +and the position of the ship today is eleven hours and forty-four +minutes.... The lady who has five children and two nurses on board +says that babies should be made to mind when six months old. I told her +that in America we did not begin spanking that young; that our rule was +to spank girl babies at eight months, and boy babies at one year.... +Which recalls the fact that I have lately been reading R. A. Wallace’s +“Malay Archipelago.” Wallace spent several years in that section in +hunting the orang-utan, the monkey-like animal which is most like man. +One day he killed an adult female, and found that it had a baby six or +seven weeks old. This he tried to raise, hoping to present it to the +British Museum. He found the baby orang-utan very much like a human +baby. It cried for food, or when uncomfortable, and became so badly +spoilt that he was compelled to spank it when it became four or five +months old. Unfortunately the little orang-utan contracted an illness +about this time, and all Professor Wallace could do was not sufficient +to save its life. + + + + +SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22.—A howling gale has been raging all day. On the +upper deck this afternoon, many of the passengers were soaked by a +wave which came aboard. The wind is following us, and pushing the +ship along; the sailors say that a head-wind would have resulted in as +bad a day as is usually seen at sea. The decks are slippery, and those +who go out are in constant danger of being soaked with spray. For a +wonder, I am not seasick, and spent my time talking with passengers who +have visited strange places. One man lived for a time in one of the +remote islands of the Malay archipelago, where the natives wear very +little clothing, and he says the men have the handsomest figures he +has ever seen; that the marble figures in art galleries do not equal +living examples in Borneo. The figures of the men are much superior to +the figures of the women. Occasionally a very young girl will have a +good figure, but never equal to a boy of the same age; men of thirty +have splendid figures, whereas women of that age have no figures at +all.... A bird known as the hornbill is found in Borneo. When the +female has laid a sufficient number of eggs, the male seals her up +in the nest, which is in a hollow tree, and compels her to sit until +germination takes place. While the female is a prisoner, the male feeds +her faithfully. Another bird deposits its eggs in a pile, covers them +over with sand, and leaves hatching to the sun. A half-dozen hens will +place their eggs in the same pile. When the eggs are hatched, the young +are immediately able to look after themselves.... In some of the +islands of the archipelago there are no judges, courts, or policemen, +yet the natives are well behaved, and crime is almost unknown. This, my +informant says, is probably the natural state of man; wherever crime +is rampant among savages, it has usually been introduced by members of +civilized races. In a state of nature, a man soon learns that if he +expects his rights, he must respect the rights of others; therefore if +he desires peaceable possession of his house, or his cattle, or his +wives, he must respect the property rights of others. Crime seems to be +the product of civilization, and not of savagery.... Captain Warrall +says there is nothing in the story that he becomes seasick every time +he leaves port. But he says it is a fact that when he goes to sea after +a long stay on land, he suffers with a headache for several hours. +This headache is due to the motion of the ship, and he believes most +sea-going men are affected in the same way. The second engineer told +me he had the same experience as the captain, and my room steward says +that on leaving London or Sydney he always gets a headache, which +does not entirely disappear until the second day out.... In the +old days when I was a reporter on the Atchison _Globe_, I thought it +a good item when I found a farmer’s boy with forty rabbits. I found a +better rabbit story than that today. On this ship are one hundred and +eighty thousand frozen rabbits, en route for London, every one of them +trapped. Rabbits in our country are ruined by being shot; we have never +learned the art of trapping them. I have been familiar with rabbits +all my life, but never knew a man who could trap them. In Australia, +rabbit-catching is a trade, and the rabbit-catchers have a union, which +was raising quite a disturbance while I was there, by threatening a +strike. The rabbits caught in Australia and shipped to England bring +in a tremendous sum of money annually; I have forgotten the figures, +but the total is enormous. Rabbits were imported into Australia by +members of an energetic Sports Committee. In the early days certain of +the citizens of Australia said: “Our people have no amusement; let us +import rabbits from England, that there may be something to hunt.” So +a Sports Committee was formed, and members of it held public meetings, +and passed subscription papers, and abused those who did not give. As a +result of it all, rabbits were imported from England, and they are now +a far greater pest than English sparrows are in the United States. + + + + +SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23.—Our tall pastor conducted Holy Communion services +at 7 o’clock this morning, in the music-room. There were four present: +the pastor, his wife, his nurse maid, and myself. I am a very early +riser, and this service was the only thing going on; besides, I +nearly always sympathize with a small attendance. Our pastor carries +two uniforms with him; a white one fringed with black, and another +entirely of black, which he wore this morning. I am inclined to believe +that he is Low Church. The most animated and vicious church row I +was ever familiar with started because a certain pastor insisted on +using wafers in his communion service, whereas a bossy woman in the +congregation preferred bread. Bread is Low Church; wafers represent +the High, I am told.... Although only three persons attended the +communion service, out of a total of possibly three hundred on the +ship, our pastor does not go around making sneering remarks about his +efforts not being appreciated, as do members of the Sports Committee. +I am inclined to believe that the tall pastor is right. The communion +service was advertised by posting notice of it on the bulletin +board. The passengers know about hell, and about its rewards offered +by the church; the pastor is quite right in letting them alone. As +old-fashioned children used to say, you can lead a horse to water, but +you can’t make him drink.... We feel tonight that we are almost +within sight of Durban; we are still more than two thousand miles away, +but we should be there in six more days, and we shall not mind the +last two or three, in making preparations to land. The sun came out +this afternoon, and the sea is smoother, so that we are all feeling +better.... Back of the smoking-room there is a balcony where the +passengers often sit. The young engineers also come up from the deck +below, and sit in the balcony at times, when off duty. I have become +acquainted with a number of them, and ask them questions about the +sea. They explained to me where the Pacific ocean ends, and the Indian +ocean begins. The line is somewhere in the vicinity of Melbourne, so +that Australia is partly in the Indian ocean and partly in the Pacific. +Flowing eastward from Africa, there is a great current. After reaching +the vicinity of Melbourne and Tasmania the current turns, and flows +westward five or six thousand miles. The two currents are a thousand +miles apart. The “Anchises” came out in the current flowing eastward, +and did not stop at Durban, but, on its homeward voyage, it is in the +current flowing westward. The engineers say this current probably +caused the Indian ocean to be distinguished from the Pacific.... + At dinner tonight, the decline of American shipping came up. “When +I went to sea as a boy,” Captain Warrall said, “the American clipper +ships were the pride and envy of all seamen. They could sail all +around the English, and the Maine Yankees could do it today, as they +have repeatedly proven in the international yacht races. I often think +it is incorrect to speak of the decline of American shipping. Some +of the finest ships afloat should carry the stars-and-stripes, since +they are owned and controlled by American capitalists. Were it not for +the American policy of protection, the seas would glisten with the +stars and stripes. As a famous American says, ‘There’s a Reason’ for +American cargoes being carried in foreign ships. The reason is that +English seamen receive about half as much pay as your seamen receive. +The fact that you Yankees do not own ships is really another of your +cute tricks; you get your carrying done cheaper in another way.”... A +citizen of Melbourne was at the table, and he said he saw the fleet of +American warships come into that harbor a few years ago. He spoke very +highly of the crews; he was on the streets of Melbourne constantly, and +saw thousands of American sailors, but did not see one who was drunk +or rude. It is the commonest sort of thing here to hear both English +and Colonists speak in the highest possible terms of America and the +American people.... I frequently hear this, too: “You Americans +give tips too liberally.” So far as I am concerned, I only conform to +a custom established by the English. I give because it is the custom, +and give no more than seems to be necessary to prevent a riot. The +English also have an exaggerated notion of tipping in America. One of +them told me today that he understood that when a bell-boy took a guest +to a room in an American hotel, he was impudent unless he received a +dollar. Nothing in the story, of course; and many of the other stories +told of Americans over here are equally untrue and absurd.... On the +“Maunganui,” in which I sailed from New Zealand to Australia, there +was no concert. But an active, meddlesome man could have arranged one, +and organized a Sports Committee to unnecessarily bother at least +three-fourths of the passengers. Behave yourself, and let others alone, +is a good rule.... At 3 o’clock this afternoon a woman slipped into +the music-room, and began singing, playing her own accompaniments. +There is nothing quite so absurd as an amateur singer who cannot sing +much, and who is quavery and uncertain. This woman was very bad, and I +understand she is to appear at the Grand Concert arranged by the Sports +Committee. + + + + +MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24.—There is a sick woman on board, and the other +women pay her a great deal of attention. Two of them attend her +constantly, in her room and on deck, and a dozen others would gladly +do as much, if opportunity presented. Another woman passenger looks +after the sick woman’s two children.... There is also a sick man on +board. He is very ill, and I doubt if he will live to reach Liverpool. +Occasionally, on fine days, a steward brings him on deck, where he +looks pale and unhappy, and pants for breath, but as a rule he is +confined to his stuffy room, where no one sees him except the doctor. +I have never seen a sick man more completely neglected, whereas the +woman passenger who is ill receives every possible attention. The women +say the sick man prefers to be let alone, but I don’t believe it. The +sick man is a tragedy in loneliness. He came out on the “Anchises” +from London, hoping the voyage would benefit him, but it has harmed +him instead.... The sky is very brilliant at night, and we see many +shooting stars; and every time we see a shooting star we wish that +Mr. Riley will fall overboard. Mr. Riley is indulging in a great big +drunk, and I hear he has borrowed money from half the men on board, +promising to pay on arrival at Durban. Mr. Riley is a very active +member of the Sports Committee, and prominent in everything except the +Holy Communion services held every Sunday morning. I do not believe he +has heard of these, as he gambles in the smoking-room until a late hour +every night, and does not get up very early. If Mr. Riley should hear +of the early communion service in the music-room, he would certainly +advise the tall pastor as to its ceremonies, for he offers advice in +everything else. My room is near the bar, and I never go to it that +I do not hear Mr. Riley calling on the barkeeper to hurry along the +grog. Mr. Riley also has a very irritating laugh, and I have come to +dislike him as much as a menagerie monkey dislikes a boy. Last night +there was a dance held near my room, and this, in addition to Mr. +Riley and the bar, kept me awake until long after midnight.... “Of +course you know why the men wear colored socks,” a man said to me on +deck last night. “It is because colored socks do not show dirt, and +can be worn until they are filthy. I wear white socks, and probably +change them oftener than any other passenger on the ship, but I think +I am a marked man because of my white socks. I often catch the other +passengers looking at my feet in wonder.” I asked him if he also wore +a night-gown, instead of pajamas, and he said he did, whereupon we +organized a club, as I also wear white socks and a night-gown. Pajamas +do not seem enough of a change from pants and shirts, and I cannot +sleep in them; and colored socks irritate my ankles.... On the ship, +children are almost universally called kids, or kiddies, another form +of bad English which Americans deplore. There are eighteen children on +board, and the ship resembles a nursery. Even the stewards privately +complain of the incessant racket. This morning most of the passengers +shifted to the port side of the deck, but we remained on the starboard +side, because all of the children went with the crowd. “You must be +enjoying a quiet and pleasant day,” the deck steward said to us. A good +many of the passengers had their chairs shifted back to the starboard +side, and I heard them grumbling about the noise; from which I am led +to believe that if the passengers spoke their minds freely, a protest +would go up to the captain about Mr. Riley, the Sports Committee, and +the “kiddies.”... A passenger was telling today of a man he once knew +in Melbourne who took thirty drinks of whisky a day. Finally, during +an illness, the doctor advised him that he must be more temperate; +that twenty drinks a day were enough. The man tried twenty drinks a +day, but the almost total abstinence from alcohol killed him.... A +prominent citizen of Sydney, with whom I talk a great deal, says many +of his fellow-citizens believe that if the government had kept out of +railroad building, and left it to private enterprise, the country would +have many more miles of railroad, and double its present population. +Considering the resources of the country, the railroad facilities of +Australia are insignificant. There are half a dozen different railroads +running finer trains in little Kansas than may be seen in Australia. +And both freight and passenger rates are lower in Kansas than in +Australia; service is better, and the employees receive higher wages. +There is something wrong with the Australian railways, and I believe it +is government ownership. + + + + +TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25.—Today we had a cricket match between members of +the crew and the passengers. Score, 29 to 27, in favor of the crew. +The features of the game were: 1. The batting of Mr. Connell, who sits +at our table; 2. The bowling (which means pitching) of Mr. Connell; 3. +The bad playing of Mr. Riley, whom we hate; 4. The appearance of a Mr. +May, a passenger, as a barracker for the crew. A barracker in cricket +means the same thing as a fan in baseball, and Mr. May’s line of talk +in making fun of the passenger players was very good. I coached him a +little in baseball talk, and the mean way in which he said, “Take him +out!” when a pitcher was hit freely, was quite a pleasant reminder of +home.... One of the players in the ship’s team was the young man +who appears when you press a button in the smoking-room; in short, he +is one of two bartenders employed on the “Anchises.” This young man +was a particularly good pitcher. The best batter on the ship’s team +was the second officer. There is a democracy in sport which levels all +rank. The game lasted nearly two hours, and I picked up a smattering +of the rules. There are eleven players on a side, and each player must +take his turn at batting; but the best pitchers of the team may do +all the pitching. Before a batter is out, the pitcher must knock down +the wicket with the ball; sometimes a batter knocks the ball about a +long time before he is out. Mr. Connell, who sits at our table, made +nineteen scores before they got him out, and batted three-quarters of +an hour.... A good many of the passengers are mining men from South +Africa. Among these is a man who was born in America, but who has lived +among Englishmen so long that he cannot be distinguished from them. He +married an English woman, and has three children who have a very rich +brogue. The man told me today that he very naturally fell into the ways +of the English within a year after going to South Africa, and that +now our pronunciations amuse him as much as they amuse the English. +He plays cricket, likes it better than baseball, and pitches with the +peculiar twist which distinguishes the English game.... This evening +I saw a man sitting on deck apparently curling his moustache. Later it +developed that he was getting a string around an aching tooth; this +accomplished, he pulled the tooth with a single jerk. He said to me: +“In a year or two I shall have them all out, and put in a full set +of good teeth.” All the people here seem to look forward to the time +when they will have all their teeth out, and put in a full set of the +kind supplied by dentists. One of the first things you notice here is +the great number of people with full sets of false teeth. I believe I +could name a dozen comparatively young women on this ship who have no +teeth of their own.... We have been in the South-east trade-winds +several days; the smoke from our funnels is always ahead of us. On +this track the wind blows in the same direction for months at a time; +there is also a current flowing with the wind. A thousand miles south +of us, the current flows eastward, and the winds blow eastward as +steadily as they blow westward here.... There is gossip on board +to the effect that the two women passengers who have been nursing the +sick woman, have quarreled. The invalid is carried on deck every fine +day, and reclines on a cot, and it has been remarked that one of her +volunteer nurses has disappeared; she is sulking in her room over +some affront offered her by the other volunteer nurse. The passengers +are much interested in the row. The nurse who is still on duty will +leave the ship next Sunday, at Durban, and her rival will have a clear +field during the run of nearly three weeks to Liverpool. The invalid +was injured in a hunting accident; her horse fell while going over a +hedge. She is a particularly nice woman, and one of the amusements on +deck is to visit with her as much as the nurses will allow. And she +has a baby boy called “Captain,” who is loved by everybody.... On +deck this afternoon, a woman ordered her two boys to go to their room, +and wash their faces. Much to my surprise, they did it. In America, +when a woman tells her child to do anything, he attempts to argue her +out of the notion, and usually succeeds. The children on the ship are +somewhat annoying; not because they do not mind well, but because +they are left to themselves. Their mothers are generally members of +the Sports Committee, and their nurses are flirting with members of +the crew. There is one very noisy youngster who is rapidly driving me +to distraction. She has a nurse, but I have not seen the nurse all +day.... The mother of a ten-year-old boy on board says he does not +know anything about money; that he can’t tell a shilling from a penny. +At home, a boy of that age would be packing a newspaper route, and know +all about money. I particularly admired Captain Trask, of the “Sonoma,” +because he told me two of his sons were carrying newspaper routes. +That’s the way to bring up a boy in town; buy him a newspaper route by +the time he is nine or ten years old, and let him learn who is good, +and who is not.... Mr. Riley, who has not yet fallen overboard, +although all of us have wished it on every shooting star since leaving +Adelaide, believes he is the life of the ship, and a general favorite, +although I believe I have never known anyone to be more generally +disliked. He is always half-drunk, and thinks that is the proper thing +on shipboard. There is a disagreeable smell about a steady drinker, +and Mr. Riley has it in a very marked degree. I once heard him say to +a modest, gentlemanly man with whom he was arguing: “You must confess +that you admire a good fellow who spends his money more than you +admire the saving, industrious man who doesn’t.”... Mr. Riley is +that sort of a fool; and that sort is the very worst kind. The man Mr. +Riley was arguing with made a stinging reply, but Mr. Riley is usually +so drunk that he doesn’t know it when repartee goes against him.... +Next to our table in the dining-room sit a father and mother and their +grown son. Every morning the wife and mother gives her orders to her +men-folks for the day, and points out what they did the day before that +was displeasing. They talk in low tones, but we can generally hear what +they say. The son seems to be the principal culprit, as he is paying +attention to a certain Miss Helen the mother does not like; but the +husband is well trained, for I have noticed that he takes his orders +humbly. + + + + +WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26.—This evening members of the crew gave a concert +on deck, for the amusement of the passengers. The concert did not +begin until 9 o’clock, as most of the performers are waiters in the +dining-room, and they were compelled to “do up” their work before +starting.... As is common at amateur concerts, the stage was the +best part of it. There were elaborate lighting effects, including +footlights, and much nice furniture, and palms, had been loaned for the +occasion. As usual, the disturbance was not ten feet from my door; as a +matter of fact, I loaned my cabin for a dressing-room. Toward the sea, +the space above the rail was covered with flags, and the result was a +very elaborate little theatre. Steamerchairs were arranged in rows +for the convenience of the passengers, and these chairs are much more +comfortable than theatre chairs. As is customary at such events here, +there was a chairman: John Adams, the chief engineer, who announced the +numbers, although elaborate programmes had been printed, and sold at +a shilling each. Mr. Adams sat near the stage, with a table in front +of him, and on the table was a pitcher of water and a tumbler. “The +first item on the programme,” Mr. Adams announced, “will be a song by +W. Mansbridge, entitled ‘Captain Ginjah, O. T.’” An American would have +said, “The first number on the programme,” but here they always say +“The first item on the programme.”... W. Mansbridge turned out to be +the steward who has charge of Adelaide’s room, and we were quite proud +of his performance, as he was called back twice. The affair throughout +was considerably better than the average amateur concert in a town the +size of Atchison. The young man who waits on us in the dining-room +appeared as a female impersonator, but was very awkward; in fact, about +the worst of the lot. He thought he must “act natural,” and walk about, +and all the performers had the same notion. Another of the singers was +the assistant barkeeper who had distinguished himself the day before in +a cricket match. But he was painfully frightened, when singing before +an audience, and could not show off a voice which was really quite +good. A dining-room steward named R. Morris was positively clever; if +he had a little training, he could make a living as an actor-singer, +as he has an excellent voice, and is young and good-looking. J. S. +Tait, the purser’s clerk, appeared in a series of crayon sketches which +were very good. Another clever performer was W. A. Dalton, who, I +believe, is storekeeper.... At the conclusion of the entertainment, +Mr. Adams, the chairman, proposed a vote of thanks to Miss Woodburn, a +passenger, who had volunteered as accompanist. Thereupon the chairman +of the Sports Committee made a speech, and endorsed the motion to +adopt a vote of thanks to Miss Woodburn; indeed, he moved a vote of +thanks not only to Miss Woodburn, but to the captain, crew, etc. At +mention of his name, Captain Warrall, who had come down quietly from +the upper deck, slipped out; I don’t think he cares much about mingling +with the passengers. Anyhow, he acts bored when with them, and we +do not see much of him. But the proposition of the chairman of the +Sports Committee was adopted, and, this being accomplished, we sang +“God Save the King,” and went to bed, or to the smoking-room, or to +walk the decks. “God Save the King” is sung at the conclusion of every +entertainment here, including dances; it is the same air as our “My +Country, ’Tis of Thee.” But the words are different; the English words +begin: “God save our gracious king, long live our noble king. Send him +victorious, happy and glorious, long to reign over us. God save the +king.” While we stole the tune from the English, they stole it from the +Germans; so it is to the Germans that both Americans and English should +apologize.... Mr. Riley, of course, attended the concert, and, being +drunk, and knowing most of the songs on the programme, sang as loudly +as the performers, very much to the disgust of the passengers. A good +many have threatened to “speak” to Mr. Riley, and tell him plainly that +he is a nuisance, but so far no one has done so, and he is still of the +opinion that all of us will greatly miss him when he leaves the ship at +Durban.... I have had neuralgia in the face several days, and the +ship doctor said to me: “When a man has used tobacco many years, and +quits, the effect upon his system is very great. Try smoking two strong +cigars.” I had his prescription filled at the bar, and enjoyed an +exquisite pleasure; cigars never tasted so good before. I hoped that I +had lost my taste for them, but found I hadn’t. The men were very much +amused over the doctor’s prescription. Did the cigars do the neuralgia +any good? The pain stopped within five minutes after I began smoking, +and has not returned since. I smoked only two, and I shall not smoke +again except on the advice of a physician. + + + + +THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27.—I find that Mr. May, the fine old gentleman +who was attended by so many friends when he embarked at Adelaide, is +manufacturer of May’s Complete Harvester, the Australian machine which +strips off the heads of wheat. This machine also threshes the wheat, +or separates it from the husks, and, within an hour after cutting, +the grain is ready to be sent to market. At home we cut wheat with a +binder, which drops it in sheaves. These sheaves are then set up in the +field to dry, and, in a few days, stacked. After the stack has gone +through a sweat, a thresher is sent for, and the grain made ready for +market. Some farmers thresh out of the field, within a few weeks after +cutting, but old-fashioned farmers prefer stacking. The Australian +way seems very much better than our way, and Mr. May says that with +his machine, wheat may be harvested at an expense of only 25 cents an +acre for labor. The May machine sells for from four to six hundred +dollars, cuts from five to eight feet, and is drawn by from four to +six horses. The machine has cut as high as thirty acres in a day, +with everything running favorably, and has been in practical use in +Australia for twelve years. There is waste in any method, but Mr. May +says his complete harvester saves as large a per cent of the wheat as +the best machine manufactured in America. He told me of a farmer with +400 acres of wheat who harvested it with the assistance of a man and a +boy. It is probable that the May machine would not work satisfactorily +in our section, although it might prove successful in the dry districts +further west. Mr. May admits that his complete harvester is a success +only when the wheat is very dry and very ripe. A little dampness would +necessitate the use of the older-fashioned binder.... Mr. May says +wheat-growing in Australia has been revolutionized by the discovery +that the land needed phosphate. This was supplied at a cost of about +$2 an acre, and the wheat yield doubled. Virgin land is now fertilized +with phosphate, which is drilled in with the wheat. The discovery that +the land needed additional phosphate was made by a young scientist in +an agricultural college; farmers everywhere should pay more attention +to the doings of agricultural colleges, horticultural societies, etc.... +Another great machine invented in Australia is the jump plow. Much +of the land in Australia is full of either stumps or stones. The jump +plow jumps the stumps or stones by means of a clever device, the main +feature of which is a hinge attachment. Most of the Australian plows +are in gangs of six to twelve, all of them supplied with the jump +attachment.... So far as I was able to judge from what Mr. May said, +our wheat yield is one-third or one-fourth greater per acre, without +fertilizer, than the wheat yield of Australia; but our land costs a +third more.... In Australia, when a young woman is called upon +regularly by a young man, he is known as a “follower.” In the section +of country where I live, he would be called the young woman’s “steady,” +or steady company.... Nine-tenths of the passengers on this ship +are Australians or New Zealanders, en route to England, and most of +them will return home by way of the United States, a route considerably +shorter than by way of Cape Town or the Suez Canal. Most of them have +interviewed me about routes, and I am now getting even with those +American railroads against which I have grudges.... Today we are +off the southern coast of Madagascar, but a drizzly rain is falling, +and we cannot see a half-mile from the ship. At noon the distance to +Durban is about the distance from New York to Chicago, which is made +by railroad train in eighteen hours, but we shall not make it under +three days and nights, as we steam only 330 miles a day. This is our +fifteenth day at sea, without sight of land, and neither of our double +engines has stopped once since they were started at Adelaide.... +I believe I admire our tall pastor as much as anyone on board. He +lets us all alone, and does not ask us if we read the Bible, and say +our prayers. To let people alone is the most agreeable thing you can +do for them.... When you send a wireless telegram at sea, you are +compelled to sign the following agreement: “No company concerned in the +forwarding of this telegram shall be liable for any loss, injury, or +damage from non-transmission or non-delivery or neglect, in relation +to this telegram, or delay, or error, or omission in the transmission +thereof, through whatever cause such non-transmission, non-delivery, +neglect, delay, error or omission shall have occurred. Having read +the above conditions, I request that this telegram may be forwarded +according to said conditions, by which I agree to be bound.”... Under +that agreement, the wireless operator might tear up every telegram, +and senders would have no redress. A wireless contract is as one-sided +as the contract you sign when you buy a steamship ticket. When I +bought two tickets for Durban from Adelaide, I was compelled to sign a +contract which relinquished every right I have in law. If the captain +sees fit, he may change his destination from Durban to Capetown or +Montevideo, and not go to Durban at all. In case he should conclude to +go to London direct, and not stop at any South-African port, I agreed +to pay him the price of two tickets between Durban and London. If for +any reason he finds it necessary or convenient to put into any other +port, to make repairs, I agreed to pay my board while such repairs were +being made. If the captain should take a dislike to me, and put me +off on the coast of Madagascar, I agreed not to ask damages for the +inconvenience when I purchased my tickets. Fortunately, these cutthroat +contracts are almost never enforced, but they could be enforced should +necessity arise. + + + + +FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28.—This has been the most miserable day I have ever +spent at sea. A steady rain began falling at daylight, and continued +without intermission until evening. The passengers were driven from +the upper deck, and congregated on one side of the main deck, where +the children made more noise than ever. The dampness was of the +penetrating kind that reached our clothing and our rooms, and we could +not be comfortable anywhere.... About five o’clock the rain ceased, +and a boy went about beating a gong. This was notice of a meeting of +the general Sports Committee in the music-room, to decide whether the +fancy dress ball arranged for tonight should be given up on account of +the rain. The vote was in favor of going ahead with it. The sailors +at once began arranging the dry side of the deck into a ball-room, +and the passengers were forced to go to their cabins, or sit in the +smoking-room.... The fancy dress ball proved to be more creditable +than was anticipated. Those who took part wore their costumes to +dinner at 7 o’clock, and the children, nurses and stewards gathered +in the main hallway to see them go in. There were about twenty-five +costumes in all, nearly all of them made on board. One young woman +appeared as “Topsy,” and her feet were bare. Women usually dislike +to show their feet, and there was a good deal of surprise expressed +because this woman appeared with nothing much on except a dress made of +coarse sacking. She not only appeared barefooted in the dining-room, +but danced in her bare feet. Afterwards the passengers voted on the +best costume, and “Topsy” won the second prize, the first going to an +English actor who appeared as Cardinal Wolsey.... Mr. Riley borrowed +a greasy suit of working-clothes from a sailor, and, appearing at +the dance as a Sundowner, or tramp, it became necessary to take him +away.... The gents who appeared in fancy dresses talked about the +ball until 1:30 A. M., as amateur actors talk about the performance, +and of course this talk centered around the bar. As my room adjoins the +bar, I heard the talk and the accompanying rattle of glasses. So my +disagreeable day began at 5:30 A. M., and ended at 1:30 the following +morning. I shall long remember February 28, 1913. + + + + +SATURDAY, MARCH 1.—On the lower deck this morning there was a Pillow +Fight, arranged by the Sports Committee. A spar, or smooth pole, was +fixed about six feet from the deck. Beneath the spar was arranged a net +made of heavy sail-cloth. Two men climbed out on the pole, and fought +with pillows, the aim of each man being to knock his opponent off. The +participants were not permitted to hold to the pole with their hands, +and they fell off very easily. This was the only really amusing thing +arranged by the Sports Committee at many meetings announced by the +disagreeable beating of a gong. The passengers witnessed the pillow +fights from the deck above, and screamed with laughter. The sea was +rough, and every player got one or more tumbles into the net.... +Soon after the pillow fight, I got even with members of the Sports +Committee. They were standing on the weather side of the lower deck, +displaying their usual gravity in superintending a foolish game, when +a big wave came over the side and soaked them all. This was even +funnier than the pillow fight, and the passengers enjoyed it quite +as much.... The storm which began with rain yesterday morning, +increased in violence as the day wore on, and it was soon necessary +to suspend the sports. By noon, the sea was much rougher than it has +been at any time since we left Adelaide on the 12th of last month. The +passengers dreaded to go to their rooms, as all portholes were closed; +so the stewards found it necessary to distribute the little tin affairs +which add to the discomfort of a sea voyage.... Throughout the day I +did not feel the slightest discomfort because of the terrific motion, +and for the first time witnessed a storm at sea from the deck of a +ship. On a quiet day the sea is very uninteresting, but on a rough day +it is wonderful; the waves seem to fight each other and the ship. Ten +or twelve of the passengers had gone to the upper deck to finish some +foolish deck game, when a wave swept over them. The ship reeled from +the blow, and we saw the water pouring in torrents from the roof of +the deck where we sat. Then down the stairway came not only a flood of +water, but the soaked passengers who had been playing the foolish game. +They were as wet as though they had been in swimming without removing +their clothing. The same wave poured water into the skylight over the +dining-room, and flooded everything. After that, passengers were not +permitted on the storm side of either deck.... Late in the afternoon +I went to my room to take a nap. In order to get about the ship, it +was necessary to catch a quiet moment, and then take a run. I soon +went to sleep after reaching my room, but was awakened by a tremendous +rattle and bang in the bar, next door. A big roll had sent most of the +glassware crashing to the floor, and Mr. Riley will be compelled to +drink out of bottles. It was a great comfort to me to get even with +the barroom.... The stewards say the approach to the coast of +South Africa is always rough. The passengers are saying that the storm +will be very much worse during the night; that a sailor told them so, +but the chief engineer told me that a wireless message announces that +the weather at Durban is calm, and that we shall certainly run out of +the storm during the night.... At dinner, not half the passengers +were in their places, but Adelaide and I occupied our usual seats at +table, although we had a difficult time getting down the two stairways +to the dining-room. The dishes were fenced up, so that they could not +roll off the tables, and the portholes were under water at every roll +of the ship. The sick man who has been seen on deck nearly every day +of the voyage, surprised us all by appearing at dinner for the first +time, although he was almost literally carried down the stairways, +and across the dining-room floor. The diners at the two centre tables +were forced to go to other tables, owing to a crash in the skylight +above, and a downpour of water. But in spite of all this confusion, +Mr. Connell, a very calm and well-informed man who sits at my table, +interested me by telling of something he had read during the day. At +the battle of Waterloo, in 1812, less than 170,000 men were engaged. +The battle lasted twelve hours, yet the casualties amounted to 61,000. +The battle of Lule-Burgas, fought between the Bulgarians and Turks in +1912, lasted five days, and, although 300,000 men took part with modern +implements of war, the casualties amounted to only 35,000. We moderns +have more effective weapons than the ancients, but seem afraid to use +them. The modern man has more sense than bravery. The old savage man +had a fool notion that it was bravery to fight for a ruler, but modern +man has discovered that bravery is to fight for himself, and meet his +ordinary difficulties with patience and fairness. The prizefighter is +brave in that he is able to stand a great deal of punishment, but in +private life he is not very nice, and often keeps a saloon and whips +his wife.... At dinner, Mr. Connell also told me that in Australia, +where the women have full suffrage, the wives of the workingmen often +vote against their husbands. In a certain election of 1911, the Labor +party demanded the adoption of a measure that would result in many +strikes and much disturbance. It was believed that the measure would +carry by a large majority, but the wives of the labor men generally +voted for peace, and the measure demanded by their husbands was +defeated by two to one. + +[Illustration: A Caravan at rest + +A Native Sledge + +Cultivating Land, Egypt + +Mohammedan Procession + +Natives and Hut] + + + + +SUNDAY, MARCH 2.—I passed out of sight of land at Adelaide, South +Australia, at 7:20 on the evening of February 12, and picked it up +again at 7 o’clock this morning, when I awoke and looked out of the +window to see how the weather was. The land was South Africa. The +voyage we have just completed takes the passenger out of sight of land +longer than any other now being made in steamships. There are longer +voyages, but on none of them is the passenger out of sight of land for +eighteen days. And during the eighteen days we did not see a ship; no +signs of life whatever, except a few birds and a few flying-fish. It +was a monotonous, dreary experience I do not care to repeat.... +South Africa, as seen in the vicinity of Durban, is mountainous, and +the mountains are covered with verdure.... By 8:30, Durban could be +plainly seen, and it did not look unlike a portion of Sydney, with its +residences scattered over the hills, and almost every house covered +with red tile roofing imported from France.... The officers said we +should tie up at the dock by ten o’clock, and that is exactly what we +did, although we did not reach the hotel until nearly noon. The delay +was caused, it was said, by the slowness of the doctor and the customs +officer, but I did not see the doctor at all, and the customs officer, +when I finally got to him, did not open one of my packages. However, he +charged me $3.75 duty on a portable typewriter which I cannot learn to +use, having so long been accustomed to a different key-board. Once out +of the customs house, we called two negro ricksha men, and were soon +on our way to the Marine Hotel; we avoided the Royal because we had +heard Mr. Riley say he intended to stop there. Most of the passengers +will spend the night ashore, as a relief from the long experience +with ship beds and ship fare. The negro ricksha men who pulled us to +the hotel wore cow-horns on their heads, and pieces of leopard skin +on their backs. The rickshas were marked: “For Europeans only,” and +the negroes carried us to the hotel on a keen trot, for a shilling +each. Our men carried cow-bells, which they rang frequently as warning +for pedestrians to get out of the way.... I have not lately been +surprised as agreeably as I am in Durban. Instead of being a rough, +crude place, it is one of the finest cities I have ever seen. The hotel +at which we are staying is as fine in every way as the Australia in +Sydney, a city of over half a million, and the price is the same: $3.60 +per day, including everything. The town hall in Durban is almost as +fine as the capital in some of the Australian states; and this town of +sixty thousand people, half of them black, has parks, business blocks, +zoölogical gardens, and private residences that would do credit to any +city of any size anywhere. We hired a new Overland automobile, driven +by an intelligent Englishman, and although gasoline costs forty cents a +gallon here, the charge was only $3 an hour. He took us to one of the +finest bathing-beaches I have seen anywhere, and many of the hotels +around it would be creditable in Atlantic City. Durban is tropical, and +the luxuriant growths of flowers and plants reminded us of Honolulu. +Another thing I did not know about Durban is that it has thousands of +Hindus; citizens of India. All the servants at the hotel where we are +staying are Hindus, and wear the picturesque costumes seen in India; +during our ride today we saw literally thousands of these people, +and almost as many women and children as men. In certain sections of +Durban you see only Hindus, and temples are almost as numerous as +churches in other sections of the town. All sorts of strange shops +are kept by men with strange names; and all the Indians we saw look +much more prosperous than their relatives in India. The Hindus were +brought here by the English a good many years ago, under indenture +and promise to return them to India at the end of a certain number of +years, but they liked the country, and most of them did not care to +return. There are upwards of a hundred thousand of them in Natal, but +their importation is now prohibited. The Hindus are like the Chinese +in that they are willing to work and behave, and their entrance to +most countries is therefore prohibited.... We passed a sugar mill +during our automobile ride today, and were told that all the workmen +in the mill, and in the great fields of cane surrounding it, were +Hindus, or coolies. Just now the cane is being cut and hauled to the +mills.... At lunch today, we saw the waiters serving roasting-ears. +On the bill of fare they are called Mealie Cobs. We ordered some, and +the waiter offered to cut the corn from the cob. I ate mine in true +American fashion, but Adelaide had hers cut off the cob. The variety +was Early Adams, and it wasn’t very sweet. The best thing they have +at this fine hotel is pineapple. They also have alligator pears. The +best alligator pears grow in the Samoa Islands, and we had them on the +“Sonoma,” but did not care for them. They are eaten with pepper and +salt and vinegar and oil; an alligator pear is more vegetable than +fruit. Today we also had mangoes, which resemble the American paw-aw, +but they are much better fruit. You peel them, and eat them as you do +green corn, the seed representing the cob.... This being Sunday, +we saw two Salvation Army meetings on the street. All the “soldiers” +were negroes, and there was the usual drum in the centre of the circle, +and the usual pleas for money.... Now that I am out of Australia, +and off the “Anchises,” which carried Australian water, I am free to +drink all the water I want. I saw so many false teeth in Australia, and +heard so frequently that the bad teeth of the Australians were due to +the water, that I never took a drink that my teeth didn’t ache.... +We learned this evening that all the money Mr. Riley spent in gambling +and drinking was loaned him by a Mr. Wilson, who came ashore this +afternoon, and is trying hard to get his money. At a late hour, Mr. +Riley had not been able to satisfy his creditor. You meet strange +characters on ships. Think of a man going to sea without money, and +being financed by a stranger.... We knew a woman on the ship who was +so unhappy because of a big waist that she imagined her husband was +mean to her, and she told a good many of the women that were it not +for her children, she would seek forgetfulness by enclosing her head +in a pillow-slip, and inhaling chloroform.... Durban had a small +harbor which did very well in the days of small ships, but when big +ships became fashionable the town was compelled to spend millions in +improvements. The result is that ships drawing thirty feet can tie up +at its docks. Good coal is found not far from Durban, and its coal +trade is very important. Much of the coal used on the railways in India +comes from Durban, and every ship coming this way coals here.... +Before going to bed tonight, we went down in front of the hotel, called +a ricksha, and went for a ride to the beach to cool off. The negro who +pulled us was a huge fellow wearing a pair of cow-horns as a sort of +head-dress; seven-tenths of the hundreds of ricksha men wear the same +amusing head-dress. Our man trotted all the way to the beach and back, +up hill and down. It is a considerable task for a man to pull a buggy +and two passengers for nearly an hour, and always keep up a trot. On +our return to the hotel at 10 P. M., the man did not seem very tired. +The road to the beach was lined with hundreds of other people riding in +rickshas, and there were many ricksha stands on the way. At the beach +we saw thousands of people sitting around in chairs, or dining, or +listening to music. Some of the restaurants had moving-picture shows +to attract customers. And it seems to me I never saw such big rollers +as came in from the Indian ocean at Durban beach. Four years ago this +beach was a dreary piece of sand. Durban has lately been spending money +like a drunken sailor, and has made it pay. + + + + +MONDAY, MARCH 3.—Owing to a tremendous rain and wind storm, we have +been confined all day to our rooms at the hotel. Yesterday was bright +and fine, and we were rather disposed to laugh at the statement that +this is the rainy season in South Africa; but the storm today has +given us more confidence in the guide-books. The wind was so strong +that the “Anchises,” lying at its dock, twice broke its hawsers, and +was only saved from drifting by the prompt use of the anchors. The +passengers who were ashore found it very difficult to get back to the +ship, and from our windows at the hotel we could see that the wind +was doing considerable damage.... And this in spite of the finest, +largest and brightest rainbow I have ever seen, this morning.... +White women are scarce in South Africa. In the big dining-room of the +Marine Hotel, at dinner tonight, all the guests were men, except four. +Englishmen come to this country as Americans go to the Klondike.... +The Marine Hotel introduces one feature that is entirely new to me; +dinner is commenced with a _hors-d’œuvre_—a sort of salad of pickled +fish, as an appetizer. Then follows the regular dinner, starting with +soup. When a king dines, he begins with a _hors-d’œuvre_, the head +waiter says.... One of the ricksha men who stands in front of the +hotel has carried us three times, and regards us as his property. When +we appear, he runs up to us, and bows almost to the ground; if other +ricksha men appear, he pushes them angrily away. The negroes here are +exactly like our negroes, except that they talk Kaffir; we have not +seen any who are able to speak English easily. The negro women wear +their hair in a peculiar way, and many of them dress as the men do. +The ricksha men who stand in front of the hotel are always laughing +and talking in a noisy, good-natured way. There are several tribes +of negroes here, and all of them have different characteristics in +dress.... Before Durban’s present harbor was completed, passengers +disembarked from ships in baskets. The big ships, not being able to +come into the harbor, were met outside by tenders. Passengers leaving +the ship were locked in a huge basket, and this basket was hoisted over +the side with a steam winch, and lowered to the deck of the tender +rolling alongside. This method of embarking and disembarking is still +used at many points along the coast, and we shall test it on our way +to Zanzibar.... The amateur humorist is a great task not only in +private life, but in books as well. Today I bought a book to obtain +information of the East Coast route to England, but found it so full +of jokes that I could get no information out of it. Every man, when he +writes or talks, thinks he must use a great many jokes; everyone seems +to make too much of the fun, fun, fun, and laugh, laugh, laugh idea. I +often wish people were more serious.... My next ship journey will be +up the East Coast of Africa to Aden, and thence through the Red Sea to +the Mediterranean and Naples. I have spent considerable of my time in +Durban in arranging for a cabin to myself on the German ship. Occupying +a room with three others is the red flag that brings out the bull in +my nature. I not only object to other men in a room with me, but I +don’t like them very well in the hall outside. I am particular about +having things of my own, and in the list, a sleeping-room is near the +top.... In this fine hotel, it is impossible to get a good cup of +coffee, and I drink tea instead, although I abominate tea. I have not +had a decent cup of coffee in nearly three months. As I am accustomed +at home to the best coffee in the world, the deprivation is a severe +one. I have no doubt that all the hotels where I have lately been a +guest use the best coffee obtainable, but their way of making it is +not my way. You get the best coffee at home because it is made your +way.... As in coffee, so it is in politics, religion, the choice of +a wife, and a hundred other things: what suits others does not suit +you. You want coffee made your way; and you are entitled to it.... I +do not say my way of making coffee is the best, but I do say it suits +me better than any other way I have ever tried. I venture to say that +nine out of ten guests at every hotel abuse the coffee.... Every +morning at 6:30 there is a rap on my door. I look out, and find a Hindu +servant with tea. I tell him I do not want tea, but would appreciate +hot water for shaving. This the Hindu cannot understand, so I now take +the tea, and shave with it.... I was on the “Anchises” so long that +I almost used up a cake of shaving-soap. I wonder I didn’t get the +scurvy; they say that is the scourge of a long sea voyage. + + + + +TUESDAY, MARCH 4.—This day opened with genuine inauguration weather; +the storm of yesterday continued all night, and seemed as fierce as +ever at 8 A. M.... The Natal _Mercury_ of this morning devoted a +full page to the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson, as president. It +also printed an editorial of a column and a quarter entitled, “The +Future of America,” which was funny because of absurd statements. +“Rural America,” the editorial says, “knows little of decent roads, +well-organized police, or mail facilities, and consists largely of +wide-spreading areas that do not contain one human being to the square +mile.”... If newspapers print such statements about America, is it any +wonder that the English people have absurd notions of the Americans? +The editorial views with alarm the race problem in America; it also +fears that the American people are today where the Romans were just +before the decline began.... The Natal _Mercury_ contains sixteen +eight-column pages, and is a more creditable newspaper than will be +found in the average American town of 32,000 population. Durban has +66,000, but 34,000 are negroes who do not read or speak English. +Nine pages of the _Mercury’s_ issue of this morning are devoted to +advertising; the people of all the British colonies seem to be well +trained in newspaper advertising. Although the _Mercury_ prints eight +columns about the inauguration of America’s new president (most of it +absurd, but probably not more absurd than would be my comments on a +similar event in Africa), it says nothing about the “Anchises” breaking +from its moorings during yesterday’s storm, or of its detention in the +harbor. The local news is badly handled in all the papers I see over +here; the people do not seem to care for local news, so long as they +get telegrams from England.... Durban people are just now excited +because His Majesty’s Ship “New Zealand” will arrive in a day or two. +This is the battleship of dreadnought type which was built with New +Zealand money, and presented to the English government. Canada will +give three battleships to the English, and Australia three. All the +other English colonies have been called upon to show their love for +the mother country in a similar way; and this really amounts to an +order. India, Ceylon, Africa, and all the other countries controlled +by Great Britain, must assist the English in keeping ahead of Germany +in the race for naval supremacy. It seems an absurd situation to me, +but possibly I know as little about it as the editorial writer on +the Natal _Mercury_ knows about America. (NOTE.—Since the above was +written, Canada has balked, and refused to vote money for English +battleships.)... Some writers say that Africa is the Coming Country; +that thousands of years hence, when Europe and America have become as +dry as India or the Sahara desert, Africa will be about right, and +contain cities like New York and London. By that time, New York and +London will have been deserted, as old Memphis, Thebes and Babylon are +now deserted. This is said to be the history of the world: Countries +wear out like men; the country around the Red Sea was once fertile +and populous, but is now a desert, owing to slowly changing climatic +conditions; the world is so old that mountain ranges have been worn +level with the surrounding plains by the wind, rain, heat and cold +of many centuries. This is what will finally happen to our Rocky +Mountains. The country where we live was once tropical, and it will +become tropical again, in the course of time. The one thing we do +not realize is the great age of the world, having long been taught +that it is ten or twelve thousand years old. It is more than ten or +twelve million years old; some geologists say its age is certainly +forty or fifty million years.... My father left Indiana because +he believed fever and ague would always be a pest. Indiana is now one +of our finest states. Africa is getting rid of the sleeping sickness, +of the mysterious fly which causes death, of fever and ague, and of +other menaces to health; it is said that South Africa has shown a +greater development in the past twenty years than any other country +has ever shown in a similar length of time. Johannesburg is as fine +a town as Kansas City, and almost as large. Durban is a wonder, and +Capetown claims to be a health resort. This in South Africa only, +whereas the real growth in the future, many believe, will come from +East Africa.... The mythical “Cape to Cairo” railway extends from +the Cape of Good Hope, in South Africa, to Cairo, in North Africa, or +Egypt. Capetown has built a railroad far into the interior, northward, +and Cairo has built far into the interior, southward; some day it will +be possible for travelers to go from Capetown to Cairo by rail. I am +going from Capetown to Cairo, but, the “Cape to Cairo” line still +being a dream, I shall go to Victoria Falls by rail, and thence to +Beira, where I will take a German ship for a long journey to Port Said, +the Mediterranean entrance to the Suez Canal, and only a few miles +from Cairo.... I have been compelled to quit eating roasting-ears +American fashion at the Marine Hotel in Durban. The Hindu waiters stood +around and watched me in surprise, and other guests were also greatly +interested. Finally a strange man appeared at the entrance, and seemed +to be studying the lights with a view of getting a moving-picture of +the performance; so I now have my corn cut off the cob, which is the +universal practice here.... The “Anchises” will not get away for +Capetown and London until noon on Thursday. The chief engineer and +doctor dined at our hotel tonight, with two of the lady passengers, +and they told us that when the ship left Adelaide, it was followed by +a pigeon, which was no doubt attracted by the grains of wheat on deck. +The first night out, the pigeon probably rested in the rigging; anyway +it was flying about the ship the second morning. Then it was too late +to go back, and the bird has been adopted by the crew. It flies about +the ship while at sea, but soon returns to the deck or rigging. It has +become quite tame, and will take food from anyone, and grumble for +more, as pet pigeons do. The sailors thought the bird would leave them +at Durban, but it didn’t make up with the other pigeons that called to +see it, and will probably accompany the “Anchises” to Liverpool.... +Mr. Riley slept on board last night, as he is in love with a married +woman who detests him. His ticket read to Durban only, but he will +probably attempt to go on to Capetown, in order that he may further +enjoy drunkenness, love, and the Sports Committee. + +[Illustration: Street in Durban, South Africa + +Labor Day Parade, Johannesburg + +Pritchard Street, Johannesburg + +Port Said + +Port Said Port] + + + + +WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5.—Rain has fallen three days in succession. Until +Monday last, there had been a drouth so long and severe that the mealie +crop is said to be ruined. Mealie is the name given corn here; wheat +is called corn. The farmers in South Africa grow two crops of corn per +year, and export a great deal to London. I saw the statement in print +recently that the Argentine Republic, in South America, exports more +corn than the United States. We raise much more corn than Argentine, +but use most of it, whereas Argentine uses very little.... This +afternoon, in spite of the rain, we visited a steam whaling-ship lying +in the harbor. Twenty similar vessels make headquarters in Durban, and +the whales caught are converted into oil in six factories located on +the seashore, at a point so distant that the smell is not objectionable +to the town-people. All whales caught are brought into Durban harbor; +then loaded on flat cars, and sent down to the factories.... In +1911, the luckiest boat in the Durban whaling-fleet caught two hundred +whales; in 1912, the lucky boat caught only one hundred. The boat +with the least luck caught only sixty in 1912, as whales are becoming +scarcer. Last month, the boat I visited caught only one whale; the +month before eight—three of the eight were caught in one day. In +certain whaling-grounds off the coast of South America, fourteen whales +have been caught in one day by one ship. A fifty-six foot sperm whale +is said to be worth $1,750. The stock of the local whaling-companies +is quoted every day by the Durban papers, and the best of them pay +big dividends.... The whaler I visited is a seventy-ton affair, a +small ship compared with the 10,000 tons of the “Anchises.” The captain +of the whaler showed us about, and he looked like a carpenter or +other mechanic who calls at your house to do a job of work. But he is +compelled to understand navigation as well as the captain of a liner, +and pass the same examination. He brought the ship from England, a +voyage of fifty-nine days. Its engines can make only about ten miles an +hour, and its boilers require only eight tons of coal per twenty-four +hours. There is a crew of ten men, including mate, engineer, gunner, +and cook. In these ships, whales are not chased in small boats; when +a whale is sighted, it is pursued by the ship, under full steam. At +a distance of fifty or a hundred yards, a harpoon is fired into the +whale from a good-sized cannon. There is a time fuse attached to the +harpoon, and this explodes a bomb which should kill the whale. A chain +is then attached to its tail, and the carcass is towed to the rendering +works in Durban. When a harpoon is fastened in a whale, and the bomb +does not explode properly, it sometimes makes a run, and pulls the +ship as easily as it might pull a row-boat. In such a case, another +harpoon is fired into it as soon as opportunity offers. Frequently the +whale breaks the great rope which attaches the harpoon to the ship. +The reader will probably understand that a two-inch rope is attached +to the harpoon fired from the cannon, and if the harpoon hits fairly, +the whale is hooked and handled as a fisherman handles a small fish +with a light line. If the whale runs away, the rope is let out slowly, +being kept just taut enough to prevent breaking. If the whale rushes +toward the ship the rope is hauled in rapidly, with a steam winch, as +a fisherman reels in his line. If the bomb explodes inside the whale, +as intended, it is usually killed at once, but this does not always +happen, and then a fight is necessary. At Durban, the whaling-ships +usually go out at 4 o’clock every morning, and return after nightfall. +The captain is also the pilot, and he took me up on the bridge. I +have never before been on the bridge of a ship; on a liner, it is a +violation of law for a passenger to go on the bridge. The captain also +took me down to his cabin, which is reached by a ladder. The mate, +engineer and gunner occupy the cabin with him, and it is the darkest +and worst ventilated place I have ever visited. Two of the beds are +simply holes-in-the-wall, and the rooms of the gunner and mate are +the funniest holes ever occupied by men. The ladder leading to the +officers’ quarters was so steep and slippery that Adelaide was afraid +to attempt to go down. The captain invited me to go out with him next +Friday, and I accepted; but when the time comes, I suppose I will back +out. He says he often has visitors, and that a good many of them have +seen whales caught. In the best season for whaling, a whale is caught +every day, and always within fifteen or twenty miles of Durban. If +the weather is stormy, the whaling-ships do not go out, as nothing +can be done in rough weather. The captain, who is a Norwegian, also +invited us to stay for dinner, but we declined, although we saw the +dinner on the table. It consisted of boiled beef and potatoes, bread +and butter, dried-apple sauce, and tea.... On the way to visit the +whaling-ship we passed the Durban courthouse. It was surrounded by +negroes. The inferior races everywhere have a passion for going to law. +To go to law a good deal—to have confidence in the justice dealt out by +lawyers and judges—is everywhere a sign of feeble intelligence.... +There are only 90,000 whites in all of Natal, and 300,000 natives. The +Hindus number about 180,000, and lately the whites are refusing them +license to do business. If they are willing to work as laborers, for +low wages, well and good, but if they attempt to engage in business +for themselves, they are to be told that business is for Europeans +only.... The present storm is the worst in two years. This afternoon +I went past the harbor, and saw great waves dashing over the sea-wall +and lighthouse. I also saw four ships lying outside, waiting to get +in, and a number inside waiting to get out. No ship has passed in or +out of Durban harbor since the arrival of the Atchison hoodoo, and +forty bath-houses at the beach were demolished by the waves Tuesday +morning.... A man who has lived here fifty-four years tells me that +while this section is very good for agriculture, lung fever carries off +so many cattle and horses as to seriously threaten the stock-raising +industry.... When a native African woman marries, she mixes clay +with her wool, and makes a circular dome out of it which looks like a +stove-pipe hat tilted on the back of the head. This head-dress forces +the woman to sleep on a wooden pillow, as the Japanese women do, since +the hair when once put up is not taken down for months.... The Natal +_Mercury_, a Durban paper I buy every morning, contained the following +amusing telegram in its issue for today: “London, March 4.—Reuter’s +correspondent in Washington telegraphs that Dr. W. Wilson has arrived +there, preparatory to his induction into the presidency. Suffragists +have been debarred from participating in the presidential procession. +Numbers of the demonstrators paraded yesterday, and women mounted on +horseback helped the police to clear the route.” This was all the +paper contained about the inauguration, although issued the day after +the inauguration took place, and the editor’s motto is: “The Natal +_Mercury_ prints _all_ the news _all_ the time.” All American news +in the Australian, New Zealand and South-African papers is equally +brief and absurd. Little wonder that the English and Americans do +not understand each other.... From the window of my room at the +hotel, I can look into the office of a big wholesale house across the +street. Every afternoon, the bookkeepers and stenographers may be +seen drinking tea. A cup of tea at four o’clock in the afternoon is a +universal custom here. Sometimes bread and butter or cakes are served +with it.... Nearly opposite our hotel is an apartment house where a +great many negro servants are employed, and a crowd of them may usually +be seen in front of the servant’s entrance. They are so far away that +while we can hear them talk, we cannot hear what they say, and they act +so much like our negroes that they seem to be talking English, although +they are not. Negroes have been taken to almost every portion of the +earth, and speak nearly all languages. In some of the islands of the +West Indies they speak only French, having never heard anything else. +In English colonies they speak English, but do not use the broad R, as +do the negroes in our Southern states. Probably millions of them speak +Arabic. Many of them are Mohammedans, and many of them speak Hebrew. +But wherever you see them, they have the same good-natured, care-free +way. In Africa, there are dozens of different tribal languages in +use among the blacks, but in foreign countries the young negroes +soon forget their mother-tongue. Probably among all the millions of +negroes in the United States, not one has the remotest knowledge of the +original language of his ancestors. The Hindus, Chinese, Japanese and +Hebrews always retain their own language and religion, in whatever part +of the world they may live, but the negroes soon adopt the language +of the people with whom their lot is cast, and become Methodists, +Mohammedans, Catholics or Hebrews in religion with equal facility. + + + + +THURSDAY, MARCH 6.—Yesterday it was said the storm was the worst in +two years; today it is said to be the worst in ten years. In spite +of the pouring rain, we hired covered rickshas this morning and +went out to the beach, where we found the angry waves destroying +the beautiful place. The storm had attracted an enormous crowd, the +people coming by street-railway, and all of them were soaked, while +we were dry and warm in our covered rickshas, with oilcloth aprons +in front. The restaurants, curio shops, moving-picture shows, etc., +were under water, and some of them were being torn to pieces. Every +little while a string of bath-houses went into the sea. The great +board walk along the beach was smashed into kindling-wood, and holes +were dug in the asphalt street in front of it. Great boulders from the +breakwater were rolled up on the beach, and deposited on the floors +of the restaurants. Coolies were running about in droves, trying to +lash down some of the smaller buildings, under the direction of white +men, but the coolies were afraid, and the mad excitement everywhere +reminded me of the lack of order at a fire. Not far offshore, the big +White Star ship “Medic” was anchored, unable to get into the harbor. +This ship left Australia a few days after we did, and we know some +of the passengers. We could plainly see the ship pitch and roll, and +swing ‘round its anchor. Further down were a number of other ships +unable to land their passengers, and to the right, inside the harbor, +we could see the blue funnels of the “Anchises.” And all this loss, +disturbance and inconvenience to thousands simply to keep the Atchison +hoodoo indoors four days in succession.... We watched the angry sea +for an hour, the water occasionally washing under our rickshas, and +were so dry and comfortable in spite of the rain that we determined to +visit the Hindu market, down-town. The Hindu population of Durban is +greater than the total population of Atchison, and certain sections +of the city are devoted to them. There are certainly twice as many +Hindu stores in Durban as there are stores of all kinds in Atchison. +We saw large wholesale establishments owned and operated by Hindus, +and devoted entirely to Hindu trade. There were dozens of jewelers’ +shops, where were displayed beautiful things made of gold, silver, +ivory, brass, etc., and in all of these shops we saw Indian artisans +at work. They squat in front of a pot of charcoal, and manufacture +beautiful ornaments with tools of the most primitive kind. Hindu women +wear beautiful jewelry; everything an Indian woman owns she wears in +her nose, on her wrists, in her ears, and on her ankles, in the form +of exquisitely made jewelry of gold and silver. One woman we saw had +a silver bracelet on each wrist, and the bracelets were certainly four +inches wide. On the front porches of the poorest houses sat workers in +gold and silver, and all of them were very skillful. When there was +a brief let-up in the rain, we left the rickshas, and entered these +interesting workshops and stores.... Then we went to the Hindu +market where vegetables, fruits, meat, etc., are sold. The market is +an enormous place, occupying the greater part of a block. In addition +to food, jewelry and fancy goods are also sold at this market, and +we saw one stall devoted to the sale of Hindu books; copies of the +Indian paper printed in Durban were also displayed. We were the only +whites in the place; all the others in the crowd were natives of +India. The vegetables were small, and many of the fruits we did not +recognize. The stall-keepers knew we were visitors, and not buyers, +and were very polite.... Adjoining the Hindu market, and almost +as large, was the native or negro market. Two-thirds of this place +was devoted to an enormous negro restaurant. The negroes did not seem +to have much for sale, except rice and curry, and this was sold in +the restaurant, at so much per bowl. I am certain I saw four or five +hundred men eating in this native restaurant; and how they talked +and laughed! We frequently stopped and listened to the roar, which +reminded us of a women’s reception, magnified twenty or thirty times. +The white market-master told me that the blacks had acquired the habit +of buying their supplies of the Hindus, and that the Hindus next door +occasionally repaid the favor by buying meals in the negro restaurant. +But I saw no negroes in the Indian market, and no Indians in the negro +restaurant. The Hindus were very quiet, serious and busy, but the +negroes were very idle and noisy. The native or negro market made me +think of a negro church festival. In the negro market we saw thirty +native doctors. These men sold roots and herbs said to be good for +various ailments; with every purchase, they gave medical advice free. +The thirty doctors sat together, squatted on the floor in front of the +roots and herbs they were offering, and seemed more intelligent than +those around them.... In the Indian market, the thing that attracted +my particular attention was that sheep heads were displayed at all the +meat stalls, and every head was bloody and dirty, just as it came from +the butcher’s hands. Sheep feet, equally dirty, were also displayed. In +India the traveler sees a great many shops devoted to the sale of cheap +candy, cut in square, triangular and round pieces. All of it is highly +colored; pink, green, blue, brown, etc., and seems to be of the nature +of our “fudge.” The same shops are seen in the Hindu section of Durban, +as the Hindus are constantly eating sweets; this is their dissipation, +instead of drinking intoxicants. Nearly everything I saw of unusual +interest in India, I saw repeated in the Hindu quarter of Durban, +but the Hindus here seem much more prosperous than the same class in +India.... I speak of all the Indians in Durban as Hindus, but as a +matter of fact many of them are Mohammedans; my waiter at the Marine +Hotel is a Mohammedan, but my chamber-man is a Hindu. There is not much +difference between them racially, but the Mohammedans always seem +quicker and brighter.... We also visited a Kaffir brewery, where is +manufactured the beer of which Kaffirs are so fond. The head-man is an +Englishman, and Kaffir beer is manufactured under public control, to +prevent the blacks drinking the white man’s fire-water.... While +visiting the Hindu stores, we noted that the keepers had borrowed one +idea from the whites: they had signs out announcing “Specially low +prices for a few days only;” “Great clearing-out sale now in progress,” +etc.... Durban has an excellent system of street-railways, and +the suburban lines do an express business. At almost every stop the +motorman gives a package to a negro servant who seems to be expecting +it, and, if no servant appears, the conductor carries the package into +a house. The charge is two cents per package. If you buy tickets, you +can ride on the Durban street-cars for three cents a section; some +long street-car rides we took cost us twelve cents each.... This is +our fifth day in Durban. The first day was bright, but a storm of rain +and wind began Sunday night, and has continued ever since. As I write +this in my room, water is dropping from the ceiling; probably every +roof in town is leaking. I have just placed a washbowl on the bed to +keep the bed dry for tonight; in case the rain lets up. (P. S.—Since +writing the above, two white maids and two Indian men have moved me +into another room.) If the rain would only cease, we should probably +find South Africa very much more interesting than Australia or New +Zealand.... The policemen of Durban are negroes, and they have the +most serious and important expressions I have ever seen on the faces +of men. And a serious, important expression on the face of a barefoot +man always amuses me. Anyone with grave duties to perform should, it +seems to me, wear shoes.... There is a ricksha stand near the hotel, +and every ricksha man carries a cow-bell, which he rings while on the +road to warn pedestrians to get out of the way. These bells tinkle half +the night, and remind me of a pasture wherein every cow is a bell-cow, +and all of them vigorously fighting flies.... A good many American +manufacturers seem to be establishing branches in London. I bought a +bottle of Pond’s Extract in Durban, and found that it was manufactured +by the Pond’s Extract Co., 65 Great Russell street, London. I bought a +set of auto-strop razor blades, and found that they, also, came from +London. Still, at the stores I find a great many familiar articles +with only good old U. S. A. on them.... The charge here for an +ordinary ricksha ride is six cents. If I am compelled to go up-town +on an errand, the ricksha man waits, and when I return to the hotel, +I pay him a sixpence, or twelve cents. In coming back from town this +afternoon, I faced a terrific head-wind, with beating rain, and the +ricksha man was almost stalled. But the price was only six cents each +way.... I cannot recall having seen a single mulatto in this town; +all the negroes seem to be of pure blood. Whatever else may be said of +Englishmen, they seem to be particular in their social relations.... +At seven o’clock this evening, the storm was worse than it has been at +any time since Monday morning. The evening paper says the “Anchises” +got away at 4 o’clock this afternoon, and at this writing is probably +doing a dance off the coast that the passengers will remember as long +as they live. The wind has been blowing a gale four days, and the sea +must be a thing to be dreaded by this time. + + + + +FRIDAY, MARCH 7.—The destruction being wrought by the waves at the +beach has attracted crowds daily, but a good many did not get to see it +until this morning, when the storm had considerably abated. Those who +went to the beach today were disappointed because no great destruction +was taking place, and abused the street-railway, which had charged +them three cents for the ride out. I predict that at the next meeting +of the town council, several additional measures will be introduced to +Make It Hot for the street-railway, which had no great show to offer at +the beach this morning. People have already forgotten the magnificent +sight the company offered them at the beach on Tuesday, Wednesday and +Thursday, for a charge of only three cents, including the ride out. +I rode out today and was satisfied; I always get along with +street-railways, as it seems to me they offer a good service at a very low +price.... The captain and gunner of the whaling-ship on which I +agreed to make a trip today, called on me at the hotel, and said it +would be impossible to catch a whale even if one should be sighted, +owing to rough seas, therefore they would not go out. I took the two +sailor-men down to the fine smoking-room of the Marine Hotel, and they +seemed ill at ease while smoking the cigars and drinking the beverages +I provided. They are rough men, but two better fellows I have not met +during the trip. I don’t suppose I ever had any actual intention of +going out with them, but they thought I had, and came up to the hotel +to tell me the ship could not go out today.... I regret to notice +that in the papers today are references to three attempted assaults on +white women by negroes. A Mr. Maurice Evans lectured in Durban last +night on a recent visit to the United States, and we intended going, +but were prevented by a heavy rain. Mr. Evans traveled through our +Southern states, and made a special study of the negro question. He +says our failure to solve the race problem is due to attempts in the +North to make the negro an equal, whereas the negro is not the equal of +the white man, and cannot be made such. Mr. Evans thinks our Southern +whites would solve the race problem if the Northern whites would let +them alone. The papers quote him as saying that an examination of a +thousand, or ten thousand, average negro skulls will show that the +negro is deficient in brain-power, and that he must be treated as an +inferior; kindly and fairly, but always as an inferior, and subject to +strict regulations. The South-African system of treating the negro is +paternal; he is regarded as a ward. And in the papers of a few days +ago, I saw a statement that a law was being urged which would provide +a heavy fine for any white man who leased land to a negro, or gave +him possession of land in any other way; by gift, purchase, lease, +or renting arrangement. Wherever you find whites and blacks living +in the same community, there is a race problem. One of the papers of +this date, speaking of Mr. Evans’s lecture, says: “It is impossible +not to be struck with the sadness and feeling of something approaching +despair which seem to have been the chief impressions left on Mr. Evans +by his experiences in the southern portion of the United States.”... +In South Africa a dentist does not call himself a “doctor.” I saw this +sign today: “Mr. Alfred Geary, surgeon dentist.”... I don’t suppose +any white family in South Africa is so poor that it cannot afford a +negro servant. Negro men are almost universally employed as house +servants, and not negro women. Many boys are employed to take care of +children. Most of the negroes who come to Durban from the interior have +two or more wives. These they leave at home, to work in the fields. +The English residents say it is best not to teach the negro servants +the English language; that a better plan is for employers to learn +Kaffir. An English-speaking negro servant demands more wages than one +who speaks only Kaffir, and usually drifts to Johannesburg, the boom +town of the Transvaal. A capable, all-around man servant gets $2 a +week, and he is able to cook well, and do all sorts of housework. The +servants become fond of their employers, and frequently remain with +them for years. The negroes are said to be more honest than the Hindus; +all the whites I have talked with have referred to the Hindus as +thieves. But any visitor may see that the Indians are a more important +class than the negroes. The Indians own many big business houses, and +at the Hindu market I saw great quantities of fruits and vegetables; +but almost nothing in the negro market, next door, except tobacco, +which the negroes raise because they are fond of it. Although the +English say one Kaffir is worth ten Indians, they admit that Indians +are employed almost exclusively on the big sugar and tea plantations, +where the workmen must be painstaking and reliable. My impression is +that the whites are a little jealous of the Indians, and find the +negroes more easily controlled.... Early this morning the skies +brightened, and we expected a return of pleasant weather, but while we +were at breakfast, the downpour of rain began for the fifth successive +day. Since Sunday night the rainfall has amounted to nearly seventeen +inches.... Natal, of which Durban is the largest town, is one of the +states of the South-African federation. It is not so large as Kansas, +being 350 miles one way, and 150 the other. Natal has 1,200 miles of +railway, and corn, which is the easiest grown of all the cereals, is +the staple crop. Sugar-cane, tea, alfalfa, ostriches, sheep, turkeys, +nearly all the tropical fruits, and hogs, cattle and horses, are also +produced. The planting season for corn lasts three months, instead of +about eighteen days, as with us. The rainfall is 42 inches per year. +The bulk of the farms are of 200 to 1,000 acres, and many stock farms +are much larger. Land in Natal is worth from four dollars an acre up. +Natal farm laborers receive $4 a month, and Indians about the same. It +is expected that hail will destroy everything in the way of crops every +fourth or fifth year. It is asserted that the European death-rate in +Durban in 1910 was less than seven per thousand, as compared with a +death-rate of fourteen per thousand in England and Wales in 1908.... +The Dutch settled in the vicinity of Capetown in 1652, but the +English claimed they ran up the British flag on the site of that town +in 1620. There has always been friction between the Dutch (or Boers) +and English. This culminated in the war of 1899‒1902, which cost the +English 25,000 lives and a billion and a quarter dollars. The Boers had +possibly 40,000 soldiers in the field, while the English had near a +quarter of a million. The Boers were hardy pioneers, and the fight they +put up is still regarded as one of the wonders of the world. Only the +Transvaal, and later the Orange Free State, fought the English during +the Boer war; Natal and Cape Colony were loyal to the British.... +The English have also been compelled to fight the Zulus for possession +of South Africa. The present peace with the Boers and natives will +probably prove lasting, although I occasionally hear predictions to +the contrary.... Six years before Columbus discovered America, a +bold adventurer named Diaz rounded the Cape of Good Hope, but means +of communication were slow in those days, and Diaz’s discovery of a +water route to India was not known until several years after the death +and disgrace of Columbus.... All South Africa is now in an amicable +federation, except Rhodesia, and this will probably come in before +many years. Other parts of Africa are controlled by the Germans, the +British, the Belgians, the French, the Italians, the Portuguese, etc. +Africa is an enormous country; almost as large as all of North America, +and, in its remotest sections, civilization is getting a hold. More +pioneering is being done in Africa today than in any other country, +and, for many years to come, Africa will occupy a prominent place in +the world’s news.... I can remember very distinctly when Stanley +“discovered” Dr. Livingstone in the country I shall visit shortly in +comfortable railway trains, and the railway has now been built four +hundred miles beyond Victoria Falls. Stanley’s first expedition into +Africa was a newspaper sensation, financed by the New York _Herald_, +as Dr. Livingstone was not lost, and, when Stanley “found” him, was +engaged quietly in making maps of the interior. + + + + +SATURDAY, MARCH 8.—We spent this day traveling from Durban to +Johannesburg. The distance is four hundred and eighty-three miles, and +we were twenty-four hours and a half on the way, as we left Durban at +5:50 last night, and arrived here at 6:20 this evening. The distance +from New York to Chicago is about a thousand miles, and the best trains +on the Pennsylvania and New York Central make it in twenty hours. +Formerly they made it in eighteen hours, but the speed was so great +that travelers complained. The train on which we traveled today was +the Limited, and as good as there is in South Africa. The track is +narrow-gauge, and, as seems the rule on all railroads operated by the +government, the train was crowded, though we had no cause to complain; +we were given a compartment to ourselves, without extra charge. When +we arrived at the station last night, we found a placard on the window +of a compartment, announcing that it was reserved for “Mr. and Miss +Howe.” The compartment would have easily seated four. It was provided +with a washstand, and was practically as good as a compartment on a +Pullman. At ten o’clock, a white porter appeared with two bundles of +bed-clothing, sealed. Breaking the seals, he made up two beds about +as they are made up on a Pullman. Then the porter presented me with +two tickets, for which I paid sixty cents each. The tickets read: +“South African Railways. No. 98029. Bedding ticket. From Durban to +Johannesburg. Date, 3-7-13. Train No. 192. Amount paid 2. 6. This +ticket must be handed to passenger on payment of charge.”... This is +the sleeping-car system in South Africa; two had a compartment in a +sleeping-car twenty-four hours and a half for $1.20. The Pullman charge +for a service not much better would have been $9, instead of $1.20. +There was a dining-car on the train, and the charge for dinner was 75 +cents, and for lunch and breakfast, sixty cents each. The meals were +good, but the car was always packed at meal-times, and the force of +waiters not large enough. Tea was served in our compartment at 7 A. +M. and 4 P. M.... I have never enjoyed a railroad ride more than I +enjoyed the ride from Durban to Johannesburg. The weather was cool, and +there was no dust. We left Durban in a pouring rain, but this morning +the rain ceased, and by noon the sun was shining. For hours we passed +through a prairie country which greatly resembled eastern Kansas as +it was forty or fifty years ago. I saw thousands and thousands of +acres of what seemed to be old-fashioned prairie grass, and when there +was a cultivated field it was nearly always devoted to corn. I saw a +good deal of hay-making in progress, and in every case the hay-rake +was pulled by a yoke of oxen. In several places, negro laborers were +cutting oats, and the harvester was also pulled by oxen. This was the +rule in the early days in eastern Kansas; many of the older farmers +will remember when oxen were used almost entirely for farm work. If I +were dissatisfied with my present location (which I am not), I should +have no hesitancy in locating in South Africa after seeing that part +of it lying between Durban and Johannesburg. The country looks like +the best portions of the United States, and not one-tenth of it seems +to be cultivated. We saw a good many sheep, but not one-hundredth part +as many as we saw in Australia and New Zealand, although the grass was +much better. Altogether, the impression left on my mind was this: A +surprisingly good country, and very little advantage taken of it.... +I doubt if I saw a corn-field of fifty acres; the patches were all +small, and weedy. In most cases the stalks of the field corn were as +small as the stalks of our sweet corn. The farming is mostly done by +negroes; either as independent farmers, or as farm laborers. If some +of the corn farmers of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas had this +land, it would produce better crops.... This refers mainly to Natal. +The rainfall is less toward Johannesburg: I thought I could notice a +difference when we crossed into the Transvaal a little before noon +today. Toward Johannesburg, there is more stock-raising; the country +looks much like Kansas two hundred miles west of the Missouri river. +Still, the Transvaal looks better than the best parts of Australia +I saw. But in Australia, the very best is made of everything, while +here shiftlessness is the rule. The natives (negroes) live in round, +grass-covered huts, and are a shiftless lot. If other portions of +Africa are as promising agriculturally as Natal and the Transvaal (and +certain parts are said to be better), I can easily believe it has +a great future. But it should be remembered that this is the rainy +season; in a few months the country will look brown and parched. +There is plenty of rain along the coast, but in the interior, people +long for rain as they do in Australia.... At one place along the +road, we saw a family of Kaffirs going to town in a light wagon +to which was attached three yoke of oxen. Goats and donkeys, the +live-stock of shiftless men everywhere, were quite numerous along the +way.... Near Durban we saw young corn and young bananas growing +together. A half-dozen miles from Durban we saw a huge sugar-mill, and +surrounding it a Hindu village in which there were several strange +temples to strange gods. The foundation of one of these temples had +been undermined by rain lasting six days, and was toppling over in +the mud.... At many of the stations we saw American agricultural +machinery on freight cars or on station platforms.... At one station +there was a creamery which looked much like a similar establishment +in the United States; at most stations, negro boys sold milk to the +passengers at a penny a glass.... The cattle here are queer-looking; +they are shorter than ours, and usually have enormous horns. I saw no +highly bred cattle, but the native cattle were always fat, and grazing +in grass up to their knees. Some of the oxen come from Madagascar, and +have great humps on their backs. Oxen are as generally worked on farms +here as horses are at home; frequently cows are worked with them, and +when a cow works under the yoke, her calf usually travels beside her. +In the middle of nearly every string of work-oxen, you see a pair of +yearlings or two-year-olds being worked to “break” them. Donkeys are +also extensively worked here; no disease attacks the donkey, whereas +cattle often die as do our hogs with cholera, and I frequently saw ten +to twelve donkeys working to one wagon.... Soon after passing into +the Transvaal, I noticed that much of the prairie land seemed somewhat +stony. What we call “nigger-heads” were numerous; reddish-looking +stones worn into the shape of circular beehives, by long exposure to +the weather. These turned out to be ant-hills, so hardened by long +exposure to the weather that they will turn a bullet; during the late +war, the Boers used them for protection. There are countless billions +and trillions of ants here, and you are never out of sight of their +hills in the Transvaal. In some places the ant-hills are so large that +the natives chase out the ants, and use the hills for houses.... +The fences in the prairie country are always of wire, and the posts +of iron, and sod houses, most of them tumbling down, are as common +as they were in western Kansas thirty years ago.... The Transvaal +is that section to which the Boers made their great trek, owing to +friction with the English along the coast. In the Transvaal was later +discovered the Johannesburg gold mines, and it was the owners of these +mines who brought on the Boer war. Should Kansas and Nebraska go to +war with England, it would not be a much more remarkable performance +than the Transvaal and Orange Free State fighting England, and forcing +it to put a quarter of a million men in the field. Early this morning +we passed through Ladysmith, famous because of the long siege, and +throughout the day we have seen occasional relics of the war; mainly +cemeteries wherein were buried English soldiers, and we also saw lone +monuments erected in memory of special heroes. Mr. and Mrs. May, the +fine old people we saw embark on the “Anchises” at Adelaide, and whom +we knew on the long voyage to Durban, had a son killed in the Boer +war, as Australia and New Zealand, as well as Canada, sent troops to +help the English suppress the terrible Boers. We had heard Mrs. May +say her son was buried at Sanderton, and we passed through that town, +and saw the cemetery where the young soldier was buried.... The +country between Durban and Johannesburg is what Americans call rolling. +Small mountains are occasionally seen in the distance, but the general +effect is like our prairie country. At one place we crossed a divide by +means of a switch-back, and two engines were usually attached to our +train.... Two hours before we left Durban, we saw the warship “New +Zealand” come into the harbor. Immediately on landing, sixty of the +officers and men left for Johannesburg, and were accommodated in three +sleepers and a dining-car on our train. Hundreds of people gathered at +the stations to see the sailor-men, and Johannesburg will entertain +them lavishly.... A gentleman told me today of a farm in South +Africa which is eight miles square. Plenty of good land can be bought +here at $6 an acre, and the English government, much as it is abused, +is as good as any in the world.... At 5 P. M. we had our first +glimpse of Johannesburg: small mountains of white rock taken out of the +different mines, and which are known as “the Johannesburg Alps.” We +stopped at suburbs and switched around for more than an hour before we +finally left the train at the greatest gold-mining camp in the world, +at 6:20 P. M. + + + + +SUNDAY, MARCH 9.—Johannesburg was a pleasant surprise, as was Durban; +it is a new, clean city of 237,000 inhabitants, and up-to-date in all +respects. The population is about equally divided between whites and +blacks. It has department stores as big as Kansas City, and last night +the main streets were so crowded that it was almost impossible to get +along. Although this is a boom town, something like but greater than +our Cripple Creek, prices are not unreasonable. I am staying at the +Langham Hotel, which is excellent in every way. The price is $3.60 +per day, including three regular meals, and coffee at 7 A. M. and +tea at 4 P. M. An orchestra plays in the dining-room during dinner. +The waiters are imposing-looking Germans, wearing green coats, brass +buttons, and knee-breeches. Altogether it is as satisfactory a hotel +as we have encountered; and we were very fond of the Marine at Durban, +and of the Grand at Wellington.... Johannesburg is not situated in +the mountains, although it has hills something like the bluffs along +the Missouri river. The main town is on a flat, and the surrounding +hills add an agreeable variety. There is an excellent system of street +railway, and the price is three cents per section; the fare to the +zoölogical garden is fifteen cents. This garden shows most of the game +animals of Africa, in addition to as handsome a display of flowers as +one cares to see. A peculiarity of the flowers here is that they are +almost without scent. While coming in from the zoo this morning, the +conductor, when taking my fare, asked: + +“What part of the country do you come from?” + +I told him from the United States. + +“I know that,” he replied; “but what section? I am from Georgia.” + +This man was James Brady, who served in the Spanish-American war, and +came over here to serve in the Boer war in a spirit of adventure. +Strange as it may seem, many men like soldiering, and the risk of +battle. One can hardly refer to James Brady as a patriot; he was simply +a restless young fellow who wanted excitement.... Johannesburg’s +principal streets are well paved, and they are brilliantly illuminated +at night. I believe the town has a greater number of handsome homes, +in proportion to population, than any other city I am familiar with. +It startles an American to hear that another country has the “greatest +in the world” in anything, but South Africa leads the world in gold +production because of Johannesburg. The town is only thirty years old, +but there is nothing crude about it. Like all exceedingly prosperous +towns, its women are homely; in this respect, it reminds one of Kansas +City and Chicago. The handsomest women are always found in dull towns +like Quincy, Illinois, and Burlington, Iowa. By-the-way, “Burlington” +is a popular word in the English colonies, for some reason. In +Wellington and Sydney there are handsome restaurants called “The +Burlington;” somewhere else I saw a big arcade of the same name, and in +London a monthly magazine is called “The Burlington.”... All printed +matter in the Transvaal intended for the public, such as railway +time-tables, is printed in German as well as in English. Which is not +surprising, since the Boers outnumber the English more than three to +one.... An American negro would scream his head off in Johannesburg. +The negro here is not allowed to ride on the street-railways, nor is +he allowed on the sidewalks. A system of Jim Crow cars was tried when +the street-railways were first built, but the blacks wanted to ride +with the whites, so they were ordered to keep off the cars altogether. +A negro servant may ride on a street-car with his master, but he must +sit in a modest place pointed out by the conductor. A negro servant +may live in quarters in his master’s yard, but if he has a family, and +works for himself, he must live in Blacktown.... The Boers were more +strict with the blacks than are the English. On Sundays, the streets +are black with natives, as there are more than 100,000 in Johannesburg, +but not a great many are seen on week days; in the enormous crowds I +saw on the streets last night, I remarked the absence of negroes.... +The white men here usually speak highly of the honesty of the blacks. +If the blacks find a dishonest one, they promptly report him to the +“boss.”... A thing that soon attracts your attention in Johannesburg +is the great number of negroes who own bicycles. Being refused +admission to the street-cars, they buy bicycles. But the old Boers +wouldn’t permit the blacks to ride bicycles.... Although the natives +are treated so harshly, I saw the statement in print lately that +they possess more than one-third of all the cattle in Cape Colony, +one-fourth of the sheep, produce three-fifths of all the corn, and +own one-third of all the plows. As they are excellent workers, they +are really a valuable asset.... The Hindus are not popular around +Johannesburg; everywhere I have been in South Africa, the Hindus are +severely criticised.... In the Cape Colony, the negroes can vote, +and have many other privileges not accorded them in the Transvaal. +There are thousands of mulattoes in Cape Colony, but very few in the +Transvaal. In Cape Colony, the negroes have about as many privileges +as negroes have in the northern sections of the United States, but in +most other portions of South Africa they have fewer privileges than +the negroes of Mississippi or Alabama. A white lawyer with whom I +lately talked, says the race problem here is really a very serious one. +Many university educated negroes are coming to Africa from the United +States, and making trouble. The lawyer also said that the African M. +E. Church is a source of much trouble, and that there has been serious +talk of prohibiting it in the Transvaal.... During my stay in +Johannesburg, the papers reported a meeting of the South-African Native +National Congress. Fifteen chiefs and 200 other delegates were present. +The chairman delivered his address in English, and it was interpreted +into several native languages. “Gentlemen,” said the speaker, “this +land is ours, inalienable, a God-given birthright. We do not begrudge +others a fair share in its treasures, but in so doing we do not propose +to suffer our inalienable rights to be encroached upon. More than +is adequate and just to our reasonable progress and well-being we +do not ask, but that we demand with all the strength of our being.” +Continuing, he said that he did not consider the natives were being +treated fairly by the government. In some respects they were subjected +to “an intolerable state of slavery.” They were denied a voice in the +country’s government, even in legislation bearing upon their own life +and people. They were fettered by pass laws, while illiterate men who +could scarcely writes their names, and whose knowledge of the world’s +history was limited “to the bare kopjes of their own backveld,” were +entrusted with the power of governing the natives and their land. The +government of the land granted to Indians, Chinese, Syrians, and other +such races, regardless of character, an unrestricted liberty to travel, +to trade, and to purchase land, while they (the natives) were denied +all such privileges. (Applause.) + + + + +MONDAY, MARCH 10.—Johannesburg is possibly the most prosperous town in +the world. There are six or seven thousand English and American miners +employed on the Rand, or gold reef, which is fifty miles long and one +mile wide. Johannesburg is the centre of this great gold district, and +the white miners make big wages; they are all either foremen or mine +contractors, and some of them make $500 a month; $350 a month pay to a +white miner is not at all unusual. The real work is done by the negro +miners, who are brought here from all over Africa under what amounts to +indenture. More than a hundred thousand of these are employed in the +mines, and they receive an average of sixty cents a day, and board. +They live at the mines, in great boarding-houses which accommodate, +in many cases, two thousand. No women are allowed in these compounds, +and the miners themselves may only leave the compounds with special +permits. By law, the negroes cannot be worked more than eight hours a +day in the mines, and none are accepted as workmen who do not agree +to remain at least six months. The white bosses have “stand around” +jobs; they do no actual labor. The best white miners in the world are +found here, because of the high pay. The gold-bearing rock is hoisted +to the surface from a depth, in some cases, of four thousand feet. It +is then run through stamp-mills, and crushed, and the gold extracted +by the cyanide process. The mountains of lime-rock seen all along the +Rand are composed of the gold-bearing rock after the gold has been +extracted; in some cases, these dumps are being worked over, the old +process of extracting gold having been wasteful. This broken rock is +used for concrete work and for street paving, and the mine-owners will +pay to have it hauled off their premises.... On the streets this +morning I again met James Brady, the Atlanta, Georgia, man whom I met +yesterday while he was working as a street-car conductor. As this is +his lay-off day, he spent considerable time with us. He says conductors +and motormen average about $100 a month. He complained a good deal of +the high cost of living in Johannesburg, but it developed that prices +are not much higher here than in Atchison. + +“Think of it,” he said, “a good porterhouse steak costs a shilling a +pound here.” + +Investigation will reveal that the best steaks cost twenty-four cents a +pound in Atchison. The best bacon costs thirty cents a pound here; that +is the price in Atchison, next door to eight or nine packing-houses. +Mr. Brady has not been in Atlanta, Georgia, for fourteen years, and +said to me: + +“In Atlanta, we could buy good butter for fifteen cents a pound.” + +I told him he could not do it now, and he was greatly surprised to +hear of the manner in which prices have advanced all over the United +States.... We took a street-car ride, and the price was fifteen +cents each going out, and fifteen cents each coming back, or ninety +cents out and back for three of us. It was the longest street-car +ride possible in Johannesburg; five sections, at three cents a +section.... Last Fourth of July, Brady put an American flag on his +trolley-pole, and it remained there peacefully from 6:30 in the morning +until noon. At that hour an inspector ordered it down. Brady refused +to take it down, and was suspended for three days. There is another +American on the line, a motorman, and he tongue-lashed the inspector, +and was also suspended for three days.... Brady’s father was Captain +in a Georgia company in the rebellion; five of his sons were killed in +the battle of Manassas. Of the one hundred men who originally composed +the elder Brady’s company, five returned safe and sound at the end of +the war. The others were killed, crippled, or died from illness.... +You perhaps imagine that because the English whipped the Boers, the +English control the Transvaal. As a matter of fact, the present local +government, elected by the people, is Boer. The Boers in politics are +called Nationalists; the English are called Unionists, and at the +recent election the Nationalists won. There is a Labor party here, +also, but it is not as strong as it is in Australia, New Zealand, +or England itself. The Boer members of parliament are in a big row +among themselves. One leader believes in reconciling the differences +between the Boers and English, while the other is a fire-eater. The +conservative man is much more popular among the Boers, apparently, than +the fire-eater.... The Boers frequently quarrel among themselves. +There are two branches of the Dutch Reformed Church, and several years +ago the warring factions armed, and almost engaged in civil war, over +the interpretation of a passage of scripture.... Johannesburg has +recently opened a new and very handsome public market on the site of +the old Coolie village. The plague broke out among the Coolies, so +their village was burned, and now the blacks live in a section further +out. Hindus, negroes, Chinese and Malays live there; no white resident +is permitted in the village, nor is a Hindu or other black permitted +to live in any other section of Johannesburg. Dr. Gregory, a Hindu who +was educated in Edinburgh and who married a Scotch wife, had a large +practice among the whites, but when the order came segregating the +blacks, he was compelled to move from his handsome house down-town +to the dirty Coolie village. There are ten to fifteen thousand blacks +in this village, and many of the Hindus are rich; but they are not +allowed to ride on the street-cars which pass their doors. In Durban, +many of the Hindus are gardeners; here, they buy fruit and vegetables, +and peddle them in various parts of town, from small carts.... +There is a Jew market in Johannesburg which is very peculiar. It is +an open field, on valuable ground owned by the city, and everything +in the way of household goods, clothing, etc., is displayed in the +open air. Nearly everything offered is second-hand, and is bought by +negroes. The market occupies an entire block, and I found it very +interesting.... At the markets here, eggs that are guaranteed fresh, +sell at three shillings, or 72 cents, per dozen, while “farm eggs” are +sold at forty-two cents. Penguin eggs are collected in large numbers +from the islands around the coast, and their consumption in Cape Town +in certain seasons exceeds that of the domestic fowl. The penguin eggs +are palatable, nutritious, and easily digestible; the “white” is of +a sea-green color, the egg is twice the size of the usual hen’s egg, +and must be boiled twenty minutes. These eggs are sent all over South +Africa, and to London. Speaking of eggs, one morning at the Langham +Hotel I saw a guest bring two eggs to the dining-room, call a waiter, +and give orders as to how the eggs should be cooked. In a few minutes +the man came in to breakfast, and the eggs were brought in from the +kitchen.... Today I passed a place called an “American restaurant.” +This sign was displayed: “A complete meal, including a glass of beer, +one shilling.”... Another peculiarity of the English: When they drive, +they turn to the left, on meeting another driver; but on the sidewalk, +when they meet another pedestrian, they turn to the right. + + + + +TUESDAY, MARCH 11.—At the meat shops in Johannesburg, pickled beef feet +are sold as pickled pigs’ feet are sold in America.... The morning +newspapers of Johannesburg sell at six cents each. The best newspapers +of New York and Chicago sell at one cent. The Transvaal _Leader_ of +this morning says the rain at Durban continues, and that the storm is +the worst since 1858. When I was there, it was said at first that the +storm was the worst in two years; then it was said it was the worst +in ten years, and now the statement is telegraphed broadcast that the +storm at Durban is the worst in fifty-five years. It is wonderful +what the Atchison hoodoo can do in the way of disturbing nature. The +weather in Johannesburg is fine. The days are somewhat warm, but the +nights are quite cool. Except a light shower this afternoon, which +was agreeable, there has been no rain since our arrival.... The +Transvaal _Leader_ has one department I have never seen in any other +newspaper. Every morning it prints a list of the loaded railway cars +received in Johannesburg the day before. Imagine a Chicago paper +printing something like the following: “Yesterday there were received +in Chicago the following loaded freight cars: Illinois Central, Nos. +100282, 287689, 159867, 829217,” etc., followed by two dozen or more +railways represented in the city. Such a list would take up as much +space as the baseball scores.... We have cantaloupes every day at +the hotel, and they are surprisingly good. The varieties are new to +us. We also have roasting-ears, and the proprietor tells me they cost +six to eight cents a dozen, in quantities.... Four of the guests at +this hotel we knew as passengers on the “Anchises.”... Warned by the +example of Australia, South Africa has prohibited the importation of +rabbits, except that they are permitted in one small island near the +coast.... The fire department made an exhibition run today to amuse +the sailors from the warship “New Zealand,” a favorite trick in all +American country towns. The apparatus here is motor-driven, new, and +of the best.... All the street and railway laborers, and laborers +generally, are negroes, and they receive an average of $22 a month. +A negro laborer in the United States receives more than twice that. +The Georgia man I met on Sunday says the South-African negroes are no +better laborers than the negroes of the South. If the South-African +government should decide that the prosperity of the country depended +upon the negroes working for a shilling a day, such a law would be +passed, without regard to the Rights of Man. Chinese labor was tried +in the Johannesburg mines, and at one time there were more than 50,000 +Chinese in the country. The Chinese gradually demanded more wages, and +as a result they were ordered to leave South Africa, a fate which is +now overtaking the Hindus. Many employers of labor favor inviting the +Chinese to come back. I saw a statement in a newspaper today that if +American miners’ wages were paid along the Rand, the mines would show +a loss instead of a profit.... The Transvaal _Advertiser_ of this +morning printed a table showing that the gold output of the Rand for +February was 734,122 ounces, worth a little more than fifteen and a +half million dollars. The same table shows that the average profits +of the Rand gold mines amount to $170,000 per day. In South Africa, +184,000 men are employed in the gold mines, 8,000 in the coal mines, +and 35,000 in the diamond mines. Practically all these miners are +native negroes, so that the negroes are the source of the country’s +prosperity. The negroes are compelled to work for whatever the whites +decide is necessary to keep the country’s industries flourishing. In +many places here, the blacks outnumber the whites fifty to one, but +the blacks must work for whatever wages the whites are willing to pay. +If they do not, the whites say the blacks are in rebellion again, and +send for British soldiers.... The Transvaal _Leader_, the paper I +buy every morning for six cents, prints a summary of the news in every +issue, and I often remark how little real news there is, considering +that the _Leader_ devotes twelve nine-column pages to it. As a matter +of fact, there isn’t a great deal of real news; the best the newspaper +men can do is to make gossip interesting.... The passion for England +here is very marked; the bulk of the reading matter in the _Leader_ +seems to be telegrams or correspondence from London. An Englishman +will locate in the United States, and at once become an American, +but in South Africa, New Zealand or Australia, he is more English +than he was in England.... When the new market-house was built +in Johannesburg, it was so far out of the way that people wouldn’t +patronize it, although it was a magnificent structure 668x230 feet. +Thereupon the street-railway company went to the rescue, built a line +past the new market-house, and gave free transfers to and from it on +all lines. These were the first transfers ever issued in Johannesburg, +and the people are already inquiring: “Why can’t transfers be issued +in other cases?” I predict that this enterprise on the part of the +street-railway company will result in grumbling and agitation that will +finally force free transfers generally. The street-railway receipts +here now amount to more than an average of $100 per car daily, but with +the entering-wedge referred to above, look out for a howl for lower +fares. The people here have never experienced the joy of fighting the +street-railway, and, when they get at it, they will like it as much as +do people in American towns.... All the people in foreign countries +have, I think, an exaggerated notion of the prosperity prevailing +in the United States. Most of the young men I meet are anxious to +emigrate, and they believe conditions in the United States are better +than they really are. Ours is a great country, but hard work and +poverty are not unknown in the best parts of it.... This morning +we called at an office building to see a number of Americans who have +been exiled in South Africa many years. An ex-American took us around +and introduced us to ex-Americans in the various offices. We looked +so “raw” that our conductor was immensely amused. He said to another +ex-American, the manager of a bank: + +“And yet they are surprised that people everywhere know they are +Americans!” + +I suppose we are called “raw Yankees” here, as we at home call new +arrivals from the old country “raw Dutch.” Our conductor in the office +building told us later that the elevator man said to him, after our +departure: + +“Excuse me, sir, but were those people Americans?” + +“No,” the ex-American replied, “they were Russians. Why do you ask if +they were Americans?” + +“Because, sir,” the elevator man replied, “I couldn’t understand them +when they inquired for you.” + +When people talk to us, they talk slowly, and use a good many signs, +as we do at home when talking to foreigners.... But so far as looks +go, I think I have solved the problem. Today I bought a London hat, and +wear it with the rim turned down in the back, instead of turned down in +front. I imagine that people now say of us: + +“The man looks all right, but who is the frowzy-looking woman with him?” + +The leading ladies’ tailor in Kansas City is a German named Mendelsohn. +If Mendelsohn could hear the criticism his suits attract in South +Africa, he would go crazy.... Speaking of the English habit of +turning the hat-brim down behind, instead of down in front, as +American men wear their soft hats, some Englishmen in Africa go to +an extreme, and wear the brim of their hats turned down all the way +’round.... At home, I have noticed the quiet amusement with which +a German-American regards a raw Dutchman who has just landed. I think +the Americans we meet here regard us in the same way. They are polite, +and glad to see us, but they are undoubtedly amused at our appearance, +our ways and our talk.... A peculiarity of Johannesburg is that coal +mines are operated within sight of the gold mines; and in no other gold +camp is fuel so convenient. + + + + +WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12.—The first Americans we met in Johannesburg are +interested in banking, life insurance and real-estate, and occupy +a fine building of their own on a down-town corner. One of them is +T. W. Schlessinger, formerly of New York. Eight years ago he was a +life insurance solicitor. Today he is the controlling power in five +different important companies, and we hear it said that within two or +three years he may be the leading man of Johannesburg. I. F. Atterbury, +manager of the African Realty Trust, is not only an American, but he +comes from St. Joseph, Missouri, which we can see from Potato Hill +Farm. And what still further endeared him to us is the fact that his +wife also comes from St. Joseph. Nineteen years ago Mr. Atterbury was +a real-estate agent in St. Joseph, and, as the town was dull at that +time, he was greatly interested in the prosperity reports that came in +every little while from Johannesburg, South Africa. After his arrival +here, he made money, but lost it during the business panic following +the Boer war. During a part of the war, he was acting United States +consul at Pretoria. When the war closed, he again engaged in the +real-estate business in Johannesburg, and has long been a part of the +“American influence” that undoubtedly exists here.... Soon after we +met Mr. Atterbury, we all started out in an automobile to call on his +wife. But we found her out; she had gone to call on an American friend, +Mrs. Mark Cary, in one of the suburbs. So we went out there, on the way +passing through many of the most wonderful sections of this wonderful +town. Mrs. Atterbury and Mrs. Cary had gone down-town, we found, on +arriving at the Cary home, so we sat down on the veranda and waited for +them. Both Mr. and Mrs. Cary are from California, and their home is +one of the show places of Johannesburg; because of its lavish display +of flowers, for one reason. The maid served tea on the veranda, and +the time passed pleasantly and rapidly in listening to Mr. Atterbury +talk of South Africa. He looks like a typical American, in spite of his +nineteen years’ continuous residence here.... Presently Mrs. Cary +and Mrs. Atterbury arrived from down-town, and Mrs. Atterbury said to +us: + +“I haven’t lost my American accent, have I?” + +And she hadn’t; nor had Mrs. Cary, which is not surprising, since she +visited her home in California last year. But poor Mrs. Atterbury has +been here nineteen years. + +“Isham,” she said to her husband, with genuine American enthusiasm, +“I’m going home with them. May I?” When I took a kodak picture of the +party, Mrs. Atterbury wondered that she “didn’t break the camera,” +which no one will dispute is the genuine American language. Over here, +people use the term “You see,” a good deal, which is equivalent to +our “Don’t you know?” An Englishman says, “We can’t have the ocean in +London, you see,” while an American says, “He was the smarter man, +and had it all his own way, don’t you know?” Mr. Atterbury used the +expression “You see” a few times, but otherwise we talked only the +Kansas-Missouri-California language. At 1 P. M. we left for town, the +driver nearly running over everybody on the way. + +“The only trouble with this man,” Mr. Atterbury said, “is that he runs +too fast, and I can do nothing with him.” + +Was there ever a man who could control his automobile driver?... South +Africa is the paradise of the lover of flowers. At a recent flower +show in Pretoria, one hundred and seventy different varieties of roses +were exhibited. But all flowers here are almost without scent, which +is true of all countries where flowers are particularly abundant and +grown without trouble.... Grass-seed is not sown broadcast here, +but is drilled in, in rows. If well watered, it spreads and covers the +ground. The grass-seed most generally used comes from Florida, or of +a variety which originated in Florida.... The “American influence” +has been very marked in Johannesburg. Indeed, had it not been for an +American, probably the Rand (pronounced “Rond”) would be abandoned +today, instead of producing a daily profit of nearly $200,000. In 1885 +the mines apparently “played out,” and it was John Hays Hammond, an +American engineer, who encouraged mine-owners to dig deep, and strike +the vein further down. The Johannesburg ore is of low grade, much +of it averaging only $4 per ton, while a little of it is worth $25. +The ore from the great Homestake mine at Lead City, South Dakota, is +worth only half as much, yet many fortunes have been taken from this +mine. The Homestake mine at Lead City is the real source of the Hearst +magazines and newspapers.... A good many years ago, three thousand +American mining engineers were employed along the Rand, and a few of +the best ones received from fifty to seventy-five thousand dollars a +year, but now the number employed does not exceed four hundred. I have +heard it hinted that as soon as the Americans taught the English how +to mine and extract the gold from the Rand ores, there were bickerings +over salaries, and the Americans went elsewhere. The American mining +engineers are highly regarded for many reasons, but especially because +of their quickness and cleverness in meeting difficulties. I have also +heard it hinted that the existence of the Kimberley diamond mines +is due to an American. Johannesburg is more like an American town +than any other we have seen. This is another result of the “American +influence;” the business methods here are snappy, after the American +fashion.... Mr. Atterbury says that the raw native, taken from the +farm and trained, makes a very efficient and faithful servant, but that +the missionary negro is no account. Mr. Atterbury says that a bishop of +the Methodist Church who had done much work in Africa, once said to him: + +“I don’t know that I have ever actually converted a native to a better +life. The natives so easily forget my teaching that I am sometimes +troubled with the fear that all my work has been in vain.” + +Wherever I go, I hear grave doubts expressed as to the missionary +experiment.... Most of the Americans I meet here were originally in +sympathy with the English, so far as the Boer war was concerned, but +ended by being in sympathy with the Boers.... There is a man here +named Sir Abe Bailey. It seems to me that a man with a title should +not be called “Abe,” but “Sir Cecil,” or “Sir Chauncey,” or something +else equally euphonious.... Natives are publicly whipped here, +when they do not behave. And when a native is killed in the mines or +elsewhere, the papers do not print his name; they refer to him simply +as a “native.”... This evening we dined with Mr. and Mrs. Atterbury +and their young gentleman son, Manfred, at the Grand National Hotel, +where they live. Manfred Atterbury was born in Maysville, Missouri, +but came here as a baby, and has never been back to the country +of his birth. He is exactly like an American boy, except that he +occasionally uses the expression, “You see,” which is used so much +over here that I am contracting the habit myself. He has attended +English and Boer schools, and, like the Texas congressman, doesn’t know +where he is at. His mother, who took charge of her son’s education, +as good mothers do, tells some amusing stories about it. One day the +boy was sent to the foot of his class for pronouncing “Chicago” as +it is pronounced everywhere in the United States. The teacher said +the correct pronunciation was “Chic-a-go.” The young man also got +in trouble because he pronounced “Ohio” as he had heard his father +and mother pronounce it: the teacher said the correct pronunciation +is “O-e-o.” The teacher was an Oxford man, and the English school +books in use named only four American seaports—none at all on the +Pacific. The history in use devoted only seven lines to the American +Revolution, treating it as a trifling affair in which the English +_gave_ the Americans their independence.... (When Americans abuse +the English, it is customary for them to say, “Of course the English +are, in many respects, a great people.” Mr. Atterbury said it at this +stage of the conversation.)... Probably you know that in England and +its colonies, the song, “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow,” is sung very +frequently, particularly at banquets and other places where grog is +passed around. Mrs. Atterbury says that once an equal suffrage meeting +was held in the banqueting-room of the Grand National. Only women +attended, and they frequently sang, “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” An +equal suffrage meeting was being held in the banqueting-room of the +Grand National the night I was there, but, greatly to our surprise, no +windows were smashed. Several stout ladies appeared who, I thought, +certainly had rocks under their aprons, but the meeting was quiet, and +the noticeable protuberances turned out to be the middle-age spread +instead of rocks.... The American party finally broke up at 10:20 +P. M., with a statement from Mrs. Atterbury that an English paper here +lately referred to an incident as happening in America in “the state of +Cincinnati.”... We handled the English rather roughly, but I venture +to say they get even; indeed, taking one roast with another, no doubt +they are far ahead of us. I intend to have an American party at my +hotel on Friday evening, and Mark Cary will have another on Saturday, +when we will again attempt to catch up with the English. When the +English roast us, I hope they are as fair as we are, and frequently say: + +“Of course, in some respects the Americans are a remarkable people. No +one will care to deny that.” + + + + +THURSDAY, MARCH 13.—This morning Mr. Atterbury found it necessary to +go twenty miles into the country, to look at a farm, and took us with +him. R. A. Davis, government horticulturist for South Africa, also +accepted an invitation to go. Mr. Davis was born in England, but spent +several years in California; he says he learned all he knows about +horticulture in California, as that state is undoubtedly headquarters +for horticultural information. In his way, he is as noted an expert +as our F. D. Coburn, and it was a privilege to spend several hours +in the country with him. Here is a South-African apple story I had +direct from Mr. Davis. His son has an apple orchard of three acres, +containing three hundred trees ten years old. Last year the younger Mr. +Davis sold his apples for ten thousand dollars, or more than $3,000 +an acre. These figures are gross; the cost of picking and marketing +the fruit was fifteen per cent. We had two punctures during the ride, +and Mr. Davis told me another big South-African story while the driver +made repairs. The most prosperous farming country in the world is the +ostrich district in Cape Colony; instead of owning one automobile, as +do our successful corn and wheat farmers, the ostrich farmers own two +and three automobiles each. The best ostrich country is known as the +Oudtshoorn district, and is probably 70×60 miles in extent. Mr. Davis +told of one irrigated farm of four hundred acres and 1,800 birds for +which an offer of $560,000 was lately refused. The ostrich farmers are +nearly all Boers, although many Jews live in the district to trade in +the feathers. It is said that more than one hundred of the farmers in +the bird district are worth more than $250,000 each. Alfalfa is grown +extensively. One acre of alfalfa will graze five ostriches, and the +average ostrich will annually produce feathers worth $25. Ostriches are +raised in California and elsewhere, but conditions for ostrich farming +are nearest perfection in South Africa. A good many ostriches run wild +in Africa, but feathers from the wild birds are not good. Ostrich eggs +or living birds cannot be taken out of South Africa, and some growers +have fancy strains of birds that are worth from $2,000 to $2,500 per +pair. One South-African ostrich king has devoted so much time to +ostriches, and lived among them so long, that both Mr. Davis and Mr. +Atterbury agreed that he had grown to look like an ostrich.... Mr. +Davis says South Africa is a better fruit country than California, +and that it will produce better oranges with less effort.... The +two punctures caused us to be late, and Mr. Atterbury’s automobile +driver, whom he called Bristow, fairly flew over the ground. I sat on +the back seat with Mr. Atterbury and Mr. Davis, while Adelaide rode +in front with the driver. Mr. Atterbury frequently tapped Bristow on +the back with his cane, and said: “Too fast!” and Bristow slowed up +for a time, but in a few minutes would be running faster than ever. +The South-African roads are naturally good, as they are in western +Kansas. Our road lay along the railway, and every mile or two there was +a stone block-house, erected by the English during the Boer war, for +the protection of the railroad. This line of block-houses extends from +Capetown to a point four hundred miles beyond Johannesburg, a distance +of something like fourteen hundred miles. The Boer war almost ruined +South Africa, and resulted in the death of 25,000 English soldiers, +and probably 4,000 Boer soldiers. In the concentration camps of the +English, it is said 22,000 Boer women and children died, because of +conditions which resembled the conditions under Weyler in Cuba. England +spent millions and almost billions in the war; yet it was brought on by +a handful of alien Jews. War is the most wicked, senseless thing men +engage in.... No one disputes that the Boers were terrible fighters. +Mr. Davis recalled a limerick composed by an English soldier during the +war. It ran in this way: “There was an old Boer who hid in a trench +with a bullet-proof lid. And when the English came nigh, he said with +a sigh, ‘I can bag the whole lot’—and he did.”... South Africa does +not encourage immigration. The Boers are in control, and they do not +want new-comers, since they know that the immigrants must come mainly +from England, and that every immigrant means another vote against +them.... Mr. Davis told me that New Zealanders are much more +popular in England than Australians; the Australians have entirely too +much admiration for the United States to suit England.... The flower +we call cosmos grows wild here; we saw many acres in full bloom.... +Wherever we have been in South Africa, evidences of prosperity are +abundant. The country is growing rapidly, and every man who can afford +it is buying a piece of land with a view of putting out an orchard. +Almost in sight of Johannesburg, good fruit land may be bought for $25 +an acre. I make this statement on the authority of Mr. Atterbury, a +practical real-estate man.... Possibly you think of the Boer farmers +of South Africa as hard-working men. As a matter of fact, they are all +gentlemen farmers; they do not go into the fields, and do hard manual +labor, as do our farmers—no one works here except the negroes. Mr. +Atterbury often goes into the country to look at land, and says he +usually finds the Boer farmers sitting around the house, talking with +the neighbors. Occasionally they go out into their fields, to see that +the negroes are working properly, but they are above manual labor. +During the morning, we met a good many Boer farmers with ox teams of +from three to a dozen span; but the farmers always rode in the wagons, +while their negroes walked and drove. In working ox teams here, a negro +boy always walks ahead, and leads the head span, while two negro men +walk behind, and use whips.... We returned to Johannesburg at 2 P. +M., undecided whether to call the driver “Bristow, the Aviator,” or +“Flying Bristow.” + + + + +FRIDAY, MARCH 14.—Yesterday evening, in company with Mr. and Mrs. +Atterbury, we left Johannesburg for Pretoria, capital of the Transvaal +and of the South-African United States. The distance is thirty-eight +miles, and the road good. Flying Bristow made the trip in an hour and +three minutes. Thirty-eight miles an hour in an automobile does not +sound very fast, but ride it over country roads in South Africa, and +you will agree that it is a terrific pace. I never before traveled +at such a speed in an automobile. There are many hills on the way to +Pretoria, and Flying Bristow crept up these, as the Atterbury machine +is not a good hill-climber. It is a Talbott, made in England, and +during the past two years has traveled 40,000 miles in attending to the +affairs of the African Realty Trust, of which Mr. Atterbury is general +manager. On a level, and down the hills, I have no doubt we traveled +fifty miles an hour yesterday afternoon. Mrs. Atterbury rode in front, +but had no more influence with Bristow than has her husband. When we +stepped out of the machine at Pretoria, I remarked to Mr. and Mrs. +Atterbury that we had just had a very speedy ride, whereupon Flying +Bristow smilingly said that Mr. Schlessinger, his other employer, +would consider our pace a slow one. So Mr. Schlessinger seems to be +responsible for Flying Bristow. And if Mr. Schlessinger doesn’t look +out, he won’t live to see his five institutions take a high place in +South-African finance, for Bristow undoubtedly drives too fast. He has +never had an accident, but one is coming to him, and I sincerely hope +that when it arrives, neither Mr. Atterbury nor Mr. Schlessinger will +be in the machine.... Mr. and Mrs. Atterbury spent a good many +months in Pretoria during the Boer war; part of the time Mr. Atterbury +was American consul. On one occasion the English shelled the Boer +forts nearly all day, and every shell passed over the Atterbury home; +one exploding shell broke a window in the American consulate. Mr. and +Mrs. Atterbury say that a shell, in passing high above you, shrieks +and screams like a living thing in distress. They know Pretoria as +well as you know the town in which you live, so that we had excellent +guides in our visit to the capital.... I had a room on the second +floor of the Grand Hotel, facing the old Boer capital just across the +street. During the war, President Krueger (Oom Paul) and members of +the war board met daily in a room just opposite my room; people used +to sit on the hotel veranda and watch the war board in session. We +visited the modest home of President Krueger this morning, and the +care-taker showed us over the one-story house. In one of the nine rooms +is displayed three hundred bouquets of immortelles sent to Oom Paul’s +funeral. A few of the bouquets were made of solid silver, and a few +of beads; in addition to these, many of which were sent by kings and +princes, three hundred bouquets of perishable flowers were sent. Oom +Paul (Uncle Paul) died in Switzerland, having been compelled to leave +his country during the war, but his body is buried in Pretoria. Mrs. +Krueger died in the house we visited. She was a plain old woman, the +wife of a farmer, and refused to go to Holland or Switzerland when it +seemed impossible to prevent Pretoria falling into the hands of the +British. Not only Lord Roberts, but Lord Kitchener, were compelled to +come to South Africa and take personal charge of the campaign against +the Boers. Mr. and Mrs. Atterbury saw Lord Roberts ride into Pretoria +at the head of his troops. Across the street from Oom Paul’s residence +is the church where he often preached, for he hated the devil almost as +much as he hated the English.... The Boers were wonderful soldiers, +and, being in their own country, they had a great advantage over the +English. When they captured English prisoners, they didn’t know what +to do with them, so turned them loose. It is related that General +DeWett captured a certain English regiment three times, and this fact +caused that particular regiment to be known as “DeWett’s Own.”... +Pretoria has 65,000 people, and is a beautiful city. A new capitol +building is approaching completion, at a cost, everything counted, of +nearly ten million dollars. It is an enormous and beautiful structure +of marble and granite, situated on a hill overlooking the city. The +erection of this building is bitterly resented by the English as a +useless waste of money, but the Boers are in control of the government, +and for sentimental reasons insist upon this enormous structure at +Pretoria, Oom Paul’s late capital. An Englishman told me lately that +the Pretoria capitol will cost two-thirds as much as Westminster, +the seat of the English parliament.... I speak of Pretoria as the +capital of the United States of South Africa. As a matter of fact, +it is only the administrative capital, as the South-African congress +meets at Capetown, while the South-African supreme court sits at +Bloemfontein. The capital is thus divided between three cities. Our +Washington is the capital of one hundred million people, whereas +there are only eight million in all South Africa: one million whites, +and seven million colored. The United States has nearly twice as many +negroes as South Africa.... I am told that the average negro here +does not pay much attention to liberty and the pursuit of happiness; +he takes whatever is offered him and says nothing, but the negroes of +the Basuto tribe are disposed to criticise English methods. The Basutos +are well armed, and it is said could put an army of twenty thousand +horsemen in the field on a few days’ notice. It is the Basutos who are +expected to finally make the English trouble, and, when they begin, +they may have the assistance of many other negroes, and the sympathy +of the Boers.... When the Boers of the Transvaal and the Orange +Free State fought the English, it is well known that they expected the +assistance of the Cape Colony Dutch; but the Cape Colony Dutch, who +are very numerous and very rich, got cold feet, and failed to show +up at the first battle. But for the promise of the Cape Colony Dutch +to join, there would have been no Boer war; and had they joined, the +war would still be going on.... On our way to Pretoria, we passed +a big camp of English soldiers. All English soldiers will shortly be +removed from South Africa, the country being so peaceful that they are +no longer needed. We also passed over one of the battlefields of the +Boer war, which is now a peaceful pasture devoted to cattle.... A +son of Wm. E. Gladstone is governor-general of South Africa, and lives +in Pretoria.... Pretoria has the finest zoölogical garden in South +Africa. It was established by the Boers, and has since been fostered +and improved by the English. It contains a rhinoceros, and the animal +is so tame that the children feed it. But how viciously these animals +charged Colonel Roosevelt in his articles in Scribner’s Magazine!... +The zoo is not only interesting because of its rare animals, but is +located in one of the handsomest flower gardens I have ever seen. Next +door is a museum containing many South-African curios.... At 2:30 in +the afternoon we left Pretoria in a drizzling rain, which continued all +the way to Johannesburg. Owing to slippery roads and no chains, Flying +Bristow did not reach Johannesburg until about 4 o’clock. + + + + +SATURDAY, MARCH 15.—This evening we were guests at the home of Mr. and +Mrs. Mark Cary, both formerly of California. They employ four native +servants, all Zulus. Seven years ago, they were in Durban for some +time, and a Zulu boy named Abel became attached to Mr. Cary. Soon after +their return to Johannesburg, there was a knock at their kitchen door. +Mr. Cary opened the door, and there stood Abel. + +“Your Durban boy has come to work for you,” Abel said. + +And he has been with the Carys ever since, as cook. He receives $22 +a month, having become an expert. Abel lives with the other servants +in a detached house in the yard, and each receives the following +rations: A half-loaf of bread per day; one can condensed milk per week; +one quarter-pound of tea per week; two pounds of sugar per week; +two pounds of corn-meal per week; fresh meat once a week. This meat +consists of a shilling’s worth of “boy’s meat,” probably a pound and a +half of beef, which is boiled with vegetables, usually carrots, which +the Zulus love. The black servants here are known as “boys,” and the +butchers sell a special kind of meat for them, which is called “boy’s +meat.” Mrs. Cary serves out the servants’ rations once a week, and +her grocer puts up the tea in quarter-pound packages, the sugar in +two-pound packages, etc. The food is cooked in Mrs. Cary’s kitchen, +but eaten in the detached house where the servants live.... While +we were at the dinner table I expressed a desire to see Abel, the +cook, and Mrs. Cary sent for him by Sampson, the waiter. Abel came, +bowing and smiling, into the room, remained a few moments, and then +disappeared in confusion. He is a single man, about thirty years old, +and is now saving up his money to get married.... Sampson, the +waiter, is a black man of about the same age, and has been married +some time. He gave fifteen cows for his wife. She lives somewhere in +Zululand, and Sampson sees her only once a year. Among the Zulus, a +family of girls is valuable, as the father can always sell them at a +good price. Sampson is one of the most capable waiters I have ever seen +at a private dinner, or at a dinner of any other kind. He is very quiet +in his movements, and, when he offers anything to the guests, he stands +at a very respectful distance. While idle, and standing behind his +mistress, he looks so respectful, and so concerned about the dinner, +that all guests must admire him as much as I did. When I saw him, +he wore a suit of white duck, made in American fashion. In addition +to waiting on the table, Sampson does the washing and ironing, and +assists the garden boy in caring for the flowers, the vegetables and +the chickens. At the usual private dinner, you observe the lady of the +house keeping a sharp eye on the waiter, although apparently engaging +freely in conversation, but Sampson was so capable that Mrs. Cary was +not at all nervous. When I am a guest at a private dinner, it makes +me feel more natural and at home to see things go wrong occasionally, +but Abel and Sampson did such excellent team work that there was not +the slightest friction to comfort me.... The Cary servants are kept +busy constantly, and they will cheerfully work until eleven o’clock at +night, if necessary. They are entitled to a vacation of ten days every +year, but Abel, the cook, has been away but once in six years. Every +time they leave the house they must have a pass, certifying that they +are good boys, regularly employed, etc. Every negro you see on the +streets of Johannesburg has a pass; otherwise he is liable to arrest. +The blacks pay two shillings a month to the government for this pass +privilege, and when a white man employs a new servant from the country, +he must have him registered at the office of the police. Mrs. Cary says +her negro boys particularly dislike nagging; and I think this is a +characteristic of every human male, white, black, red or yellow, that +ever drew the breath of life.... Mr. Cary has in his employ a negro +man who has six wives. This man works in Mr. Cary’s office down-town, +but lives with the other servants at the Cary home. He says he often +whips his wives, on general principles. He cheerfully takes orders +from Mr. Cary, but it humiliates him to take orders from Mrs. Cary; +having six wives of his own, it irritates him to be ordered around by +a woman.... Sampson, the waiter, does the sweeping and scrubbing +in the Cary home, but the beds are made and looked after by a white +maid. Mrs. Cary has a very handsome flower garden, and a special boy +is regularly employed to look after it. As it is in bloom summer and +winter, he is kept very busy, even with the occasional assistance of +Sampson. The Carys have an automobile, but the driver is a white man; +blacks are not allowed to run automobiles here.... It is related +that the negroes were once greatly excited in Johannesburg over a rumor +of a Kaffir uprising. One woman said to her black boy: + +“You wouldn’t kill your missus, would you?” + +“Oh, no,” the boy replied; “boy next door kill you, and I kill his +missus.” + +The affair, it seemed, had all been arranged, and very delicately at +that. This boy’s name was “Machinery.” The blacks take any name they +hear used among the whites, and “Machinery” is a very common name in +Johannesburg.... At the Cary home, when I was there, domestic ducks, +baked, were a part of the dinner. A considerable quantity was left +after all had been served. + +“Will you get what is left over?” I asked Mrs. Cary. + +“You bet I will,” she laughingly replied, using an American expression +to amuse the American guests. With our black servants at home, they +always get what is left over from a dinner, but in a South-African +home, the servants get only what is served out to them at the +beginning of every week.... Everywhere in America, women believe +that there is nothing better for a salad than a whole tomato on lettuce +leaves, and Durkee’s yellow dressing poured over the tomato. Mrs. Cary +had it, except that Abel made the dressing. We also had apple pie, and +Abel’s crust, made of beef suet and butter, would have done credit to +any cook.... Mrs. Cary says that when she announced her engagement +to a man in South Africa, all her friends inquired: + +“Is he a missionary?” + +People at home have a vague notion that all the whites in South Africa +are missionaries, but I have seen none, and heard little of their +operations.... We went to the Cary home in a rain-storm, and it was +still raining when we returned to the hotel at 10 o’clock at night. +Four years ago, rain fell here forty-two days and nights, according to +citizens of Johannesburg. This, it seems to me, breaks the record by +two days. The rain here is very erratic, and usually falls at the wrong +time. The rainfall for the past twenty years has averaged twenty-six +inches, but the rainfall is nine inches short this season.... The +rain continues at Durban, and when the warship “New Zealand” left for +Australia late this afternoon, there was a downpour of rain, and the +crowd on the docks was therefore small.... Four years ago, on the +17th of August, ten inches of snow, the first ever seen here, fell in +Johannesburg, and all business was suspended while the people engaged +in snowballing. + + + + +SUNDAY, MARCH 16.—This afternoon I attended a baseball game in +Johannesburg; a deciding game between clubs which had won six games +each. The players were nearly all miners from California and Colorado. +There were probably seven hundred spectators present, and although most +of them were Americans, only one of them wore an American hat. I was +the one exception, and some were disposed to guy that when I passed +in front of the grandstand. The hat generally worn by the men here +is a fuzzy affair made in London, and many of them are of a greenish +color. The hat can be wrapped up and put in a traveling-bag, and is +generally worn with the brim turned down all the way ‘round. A great +many caps are also worn.... The game was exactly like a very good +amateur game in the United States, except that several of the players +were elderly. One player, a doctor, was as old and fat as I am, and +I’m in no condition to play baseball. I was told that this doctor is +the enthusiast who keeps the game going in Johannesburg. Two of the +grayheads were about the best players in the game; one of them was +a man named Wilson, and he was a noted base-stealer. One player was +called “Denver.” “Come to life, Denver,” a spectator cried, when he +went to bat, and “Denver” didn’t do a thing but smash the ball on the +nose for a home run. Another player was called “C. C.,” and I found +that his nickname was “Cripple Creek,” the name of the American mining +camp he came from. One of the pitchers was called “Texas,” and he won +the game, 6 to 4. American baseball slang was constantly coming from +the spectators, and I could have easily imagined myself in an American +town had the men present worn different hats. I looked over the +audience a good many times, and it seemed that every man present had in +some way lost a little of his American identity. In the chaffing from +the grandstand, English pronunciations could be detected, though every +man around me was probably an American.... An unusual feature of the +game was that almost no boys were present. When a foul went over the +fence, some one would remark: “Another boy in,” but the only baseball +enthusiasts here are grown men who have played the game, or seen fine +exhibitions of it, in the United States. No admission was charged, but +a man took up a collection to pay expenses, just as is done at games +in the smaller country towns of the United States.... We ate lunch +today with an American family, and they told us that the most famous +girls’ school in South Africa is at Wellington, Cape Colony. It is run +by two American women, and most of the better class girls in South +Africa are educated there. All the teachers are American women, and +the result is that all the students acquire many American ways, habits +and pronunciations. It is generally said here that this Wellington +school is doing more to Americanize South Africa than any other single +influence.... American life insurance men stand very high all over +the world. A South-African life insurance man told me today that every +new feature of foreign companies is borrowed from America.... +Possibly you will remember that years ago, Prince Napoleon, a son of +the Empress Eugenie, was killed by savages. This occurred in Natal, of +which Durban is the seaport. The young prince came out here with an +English regiment, in a spirit of adventure. The Zulus cut this regiment +to pieces; the catastrophe was almost as complete as was the Custer +massacre on the Little Big Horn river, in Montana, in 1876.... +The original Dutch who settled in South Africa were the same sort of +people who settled in New York, and called the place New Amsterdam. +The settlement of the Dutch in Cape Colony and in New York occurred +at about the same time.... The word “Boer” means farmer, but it +is applied to all descendants of the old Dutch stock.... American +residents here greatly regret the exaggerated scandals constantly +appearing in American papers. In America, a decent man is often abused +unjustly and untruthfully, whereas in England the great scandals +with plenty of foundation, are usually hushed up. The newspapers and +magazines of England and its colonies are not as independent as the +American press, and more generally owned by “the interests.” This +statement will, I believe, be generally admitted by the English. The +American press is not only free; it often carries freedom too far, +and prints unjust and untruthful criticisms. These publications are +read by Englishmen, and Americans living abroad never hear the last of +them.... The tea habit being general in the English colonies, there +are a great many tea-rooms. One was raided in Johannesburg last night, +and a large number of arrests made. Think of a tea-room being raided by +the police!... But here is something still more unusual: An Episcopal +rector in Capetown attempted to introduce High Mass into his services, +and the controversy has reached the newspapers. The vestrymen are +against High Mass, but the pastor stands firm, and says he is within +his rights. + + + + +MONDAY, MARCH 17.—We have spent this day in the old Dutch town of +Bloemfontein, capital of the Orange Free State in the days before the +Boer war. It has thirty thousand inhabitants, a little more than half +of them negroes. Polly’s Hotel Cecil, where we are staying, is very +comfortable, and the price is only $3 a day. I came to the Hotel Cecil +on the recommendation of a Boer lawyer I met on the train. He lives +somewhere in the interior, and is here to attend a sitting of the +supreme court. The lawyer is the first Boer I have become acquainted +with; he was a Boer soldier during the war, and, being taken prisoner, +was sent to India, where he remained eighteen months. The Orange Free +State had no grievance against the English, but went to war because +it had a defensive alliance with the Transvaal. Although Oom Paul is +a famous figure in history, he was quarrelsome and unreasonable; he +made many demands of the English that a proud people could not decently +grant. But when the war began, the Orange Free State became the centre +of hostilities, and all the men between the ages of seventeen and +seventy were drafted. The English couldn’t afford to lose, and they +burned houses and destroyed fields as ruthlessly as did Sheridan in +the Shenandoah valley. It was a terrible affair, but Oom Paul, with +his excess of piety and patriotism, undoubtedly dragged an unwilling +people to the slaughter. President Steyn was not as well known as +President Krueger, but he was a better man, and better balanced. Steyn, +who is still living here, but in ill-health, is a highly educated +man, whereas Krueger could barely write his own name.... Owing to +Easter, the railroads are now selling tickets at half-fare, so that +we traveled here for two cents a mile each. This is the regular fare +in Kansas, where we are not blessed, or cursed, with government-owned +railways.... The Orange Free State, formerly a republic, is now +a state in the South-African union. It has seventeen members of +parliament, and sixteen of them are Boers. The seventeenth is a Boer, +but a supporter of all English measures. Some of the sixteen Boer +members are sons of English fathers, so that it will be seen that +politics makes strange bedfellows in South Africa, too.... A Boer +farmer does not pay his negro farm hand to exceed $2.50 a month. In +addition, the farm hand receives enough corn-meal to keep him, and such +other food as he can pick up. Corn-meal is the staple food on the farms +here, for Boers as well as negroes. The Boers are always expressing +indignation because the English are spoiling the negroes by paying +them big wages. The Englishman who drove us about this morning in a +Ford automobile, at $2.50 an hour, pays a negro man $10 a month, and +the negro boards himself. Such liberality as this greatly irritates +the Boers. And this town negro has almost nothing to do; he only cares +for six horses, two carriages and an automobile. The Englishman who +drove the automobile talked all the time, and his talk was mainly +abuse of the Boers.... I have frequently remarked that the English +are very unreliable in their pronunciations. Some of them refer to a +horse as a ’orse, while others pronounce the word as we do. In London, +there is a famous place, the Hotel Cecil. It is universally called the +Hotel Sessil in London, but in Bloemfontein, the capital of an English +colony, there is a hotel of the same name, and it is called Hotel +Cecil; the word pronounced as it is spelled.... I don’t know how +it is generally, but on Monday, March 17, 1913, Bloemfontein, Orange +Free State, South Africa, was the dullest town I have ever visited. +The handsome stores were empty, and I wondered that the merchants did +not close up. In dull towns, pretty women are always numerous, and we +saw more pretty women in Bloemfontein than in any other town in South +Africa.... I believe I have frequently remarked in these letters +that South Africa is the laziest country in the world for white people. +Today I saw a negro driving a public carriage. Beside him sat a white +man, who collected the fares, and managed things; but the white man +would not consent to do the actual work of driving. When a white +mechanic accepts a job here, he asks, “Where are the boys?” meaning, +“Where are the negroes to do the work under my direction?” The labor +problem has solved itself in South Africa. When a tolerably good man +will work for thirty-seven cents a day, and board himself, an employer +really has no room for complaint.... In Bloemfontein, negro women +are employed as chambermaids at our hotel; elsewhere we have seen only +chamber-men, who worked under the direction of white maids. The negro +men are more industrious in South Africa than the women, now that +they are civilized, but in the old days of savagery, the women did +most of the work.... Near Bloemfontein is a fort large enough to +accommodate four thousand English soldiers, but the place is almost +deserted; England no longer fears war in South Africa.... The window +in my room looks into an open-air theatre; I can see everything that +goes on on the stage, and hear everything that is said. I went to bed +tonight before the show was half over. Educational films of great +value may be had, but manufacturers of films say the people prefer +the foolish melodramas with which you are all familiar in connection +with moving-picture shows. Sometimes I fear that the general run of +the people have wretchedly poor taste. The main show tonight was built +around a woman tight-rope walker. This woman was a society queen, but +her father met with reverses, and she became a tight-rope walker in a +circus, refusing to marry a high-born and wealthy lover because of the +change in her fortunes. The high-born and wealthy lover was entrusted +with an important mission; to carry certain valuable papers, and a girl +clerk of an opposition concern was employed to follow him and secure +the papers. The girl clerk fell in love with the man, and refused to +rob him, but became a fury when he met his former sweetheart, the +tight-rope walker, in a circus. The girl clerk caused the high-born +man to be kidnapped, and locked in a top room in a fourteen-story +building, but the tight-rope walker rescued him by rigging up a rope +to the building opposite, and carrying him on her back. It was an +idiotic performance an hour and a half long, but the people in the +audience greatly enjoyed it.... My friend, the Boer lawyer, says +the Orange Free State is much more prosperous now than before the war, +although for two years afterwards it seemed hopelessly wrecked. But the +British government loaned the people money, and they soon recovered. +The Boer lawyer made another statement that surprised me; he said that +taxes are lower now than when the Orange Free State was a republic, +and that every citizen has as many liberties as he had then, and more +opportunities to prosper. This is rather an unusual statement for a +captured subject of a republic to make about a government headed by +a king.... I never knew until the Boer lawyer told me that a good +many Boers—possibly forty—have been given titles by the English king. +The chief justice of the South-African supreme court, which meets at +Bloemfontein, is a “Lord,” and there are many inferior titles, such +as “Sir.”... The negroes of Bloemfontein are compelled to live in +what the English call “locations;” that is, in villages where there +are no whites. We visited one of these today, and found the blacks +had all kinds of shops, restaurants, hotels, etc. In front of one of +the grocery stores was about the biggest pile of watermelons I have +ever seen.... The vegetable market of Bloemfontein is in the public +square of the town, and the vegetables are hauled in with ox teams. +Negro women pick up the droppings of the cattle, and take the stuff +home in baskets and pans carried on their heads. Reaching home, they +plaster it against the sides of their houses to dry, and afterwards +use it for fuel. Every negro woman I saw engaged in this unusual +occupation carried a baby on her back. The negroes breed like rabbits, +but the infant mortality among them is large. + + + + +TUESDAY, MARCH 18.—This morning at 9 o’clock we left Bloemfontein +by train for Kimberley. The hotel porter carried our baggage into a +compartment for four, and said: + +“You are to have this to yourselves all day. I have arranged it.” + +I thought it was simply the talk of a somewhat fresh but obliging hotel +porter; but he didn’t do a thing but deliver the goods. And, what is +more, the train conductor frequently came into our compartment, and +pointed out the sights of interest.... I have known railroad men +all my life, and been familiar with their practice of buying butter +and eggs on the line, where they are cheaper, and carrying them home. +The railroad men of South Africa do the same thing; the conductor told +me that he buys eggs along the line at thirty cents a dozen when they +are frequently 75 cents at the division point where he lives. He also +buys his meat out in the country; a dressed sheep weighing eighty +pounds costs him $4.80, so that he gets his meat at six cents a pound. +Sometimes potatoes sell in South Africa at $11.50 for a sack of 165 +pounds, and poor people pay three cents for every potato they buy in +small quantities. On this run the conductor makes a round trip of 210 +miles a day, which occupies him eleven hours. He says he earns about +$120 a month, but in order to do this, he is compelled to get in forty +days in a month. The engineer makes $5 for a day’s work of eleven +hours.... On the way we passed a flock of thirty or forty ostriches +grazing in a field, like cattle, but this isn’t considered a very good +ostrich country. We also passed through the Paardeburg battle-field, +on the Modder river, where General Cronje surrendered 4,000 men to a +superior force of British. There are two cemeteries on the field, in +which are buried the English and Boer soldiers who were killed in the +battle. The Modder river battle-field does not look unlike the Custer +battle-field on the Little Big Horn river in Montana. Indeed, the +country between Bloemfontein and Kimberley does not look unlike the +dry country in Montana.... We saw almost no cultivated fields on +the way, but a great many cattle, and a few sheep. There is not a town +between Bloemfontein and Kimberley: it is a frontier country, and the +railroad has been in operation only four or five years. A man I met on +the train says that in his section of the Orange Free State the soil +is black and rich, and that fine crops of corn are raised; but I have +seen no such country. He lives in a country town of 800 people, off the +railroad, and says he pays only fourteen cents a pound for the best +beef, while butter sells at 24 cents, and eggs at from 18 to 30 cents. +In his country, the Boer women do their own cooking, but hire negroes +to wait on them, and do the rough work. An ordinary negro house servant +receives $4 a month; a particularly good one, $1.25 per week.... +Kimberley, as you approach it by railroad, looks like Johannesburg, +though it is much smaller. You see the same mountains around the +mines, but at Kimberley the mountains are composed of blue mud that +has been taken from the mines, washed for diamonds, and then piled up +in waste heaps. The country is not unlike that around Johannesburg: +large hills in every direction, and a rolling desolate country between +them. Kimberley has warmer weather than Johannesburg, and we struck +it on a tremendously hot day.... The first thing you notice at +Kimberley is the great number of mulattoes, whereas there are almost +none at Johannesburg or Durban.... I was told at Johannesburg that +the hotels at Kimberley were abominable; they were so generally abused +that I hoped to find them better than their reputation, but the Royal +Palace, which I was told was the best, is the worst hotel I have ever +patronized. And in an advertisement, I read that the Royal Palace was +the “Hotel de luxe” of Kimberley. I am writing this in my room by the +light of a tallow candle, as the electric light refuses to work. The +hall servants (negro women) are the most slovenly creatures I have ever +seen, and there does not seem to be any head to the place; I don’t +know who runs it, but whoever he is, he doesn’t give much time to his +job.... There are probably a half-dozen really excellent hotels at +Bloemfontein; some of them only half patronized. Will some one please +tell me why one of the good hotels at Bloemfontein, an insignificant +country town, was not built at busy, hustling, prosperous +Kimberley?... Johannesburg is a modern, beautiful city; Kimberley is +a mining camp, with narrow, irregular streets. It has many good shops, +but many of the people said to me: + +“No one lives in Kimberley because he likes the town; we only remain +here to make money.” + +Johannesburg people are proud of their town, and they have reason to +be, but Kimberley people are always apologetic. The population is +thirty thousand, a large number of the inhabitants being negroes and +Hindus. The rich mine-owners have race-tracks, clubs and resorts, +but cannot be very comfortable, owing to the dust and the heat. The +few Americans I have seen here are tanned until they are as brown as +Indians, and they do not say much in praise of the town except that it +is the greatest diamond camp in existence. + + + + +WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19.—The De Beers Company represents one of the +greatest corporations in the world. You hear of De Beers in every +conversation when in Kimberley. De Beers owns private cars for use +on the railways; De Beers gives millions to public enterprises, and +to the government; De Beers owns parks, hotels, street-railways, and +eight of the greatest diamond mines in the world.... De Beers was a +Dutch farmer on whose land diamonds were found. He never made much out +of the discovery, and has been dead a good many years, but, like our +John Brown, his soul goes marching on. Cecil Rhodes and Alfred Beit +were the real geniuses of Kimberley and its diamond fields, and they +are represented in monuments here, but De Beers is heard of much more +frequently because his name was given to the trust which took over the +mines.... Diamonds were originally discovered in South Africa in +1867, by some Dutch children playing on the Orange river. Three years +later, the great Kimberley deposit was found, and now the output is +twenty-seven million dollars a year. It is a saying around Kimberley +that if the De Beers company should put on the market all the diamonds +it has on hand and could produce, diamonds would sell at a shilling a +gallon, but the De Beers company only sells as many as it can get a +good price for. Diamond-mining, according to experts, will continue +at Kimberley for at least a hundred years; it has not been thought +necessary to make figures beyond that time. South Africa produces +ninety-five per cent of the diamonds of the world, and the De Beers +company is the principal factor in the diamond-production of South +Africa. The De Beers company does not represent the De Beers family, +but many noted English and French capitalists, with a sprinkling of +Americans; the diamond trust is one great trust in which Americans have +little interest.... Originally, the diamond mines at Kimberley were +divided into thousands of claims, 31×31 feet, but Cecil Rhodes saw that +diamonds would soon become very cheap unless conditions were changed; +so by hook and by crook he formed the great De Beers trust, which now +produces only as many diamonds as the world will pay high prices for. +Prosperous America takes the greater part of the output, and dull +times in America means dull times in Kimberley. Alpheus Williams, an +American, is general manager of the De Beers company, and many of the +officials under him are Americans. There are other diamond mines in +South Africa, including alluvial diggings, and the Premier mine near +Pretoria, where was found the great Cullinan diamond, which weighed, +before cutting, 3,025 carats, or a pound and a quarter. But Kimberley +is the centre, and will remain so, unless other discoveries are made. +At the end of 1908, it was estimated that eleven tons of diamonds, +valued at $350,000,000, had been found at Kimberley. Diamonds weighing +over an ounce are not infrequent; the largest found at Kimberley +weighed over four ounces.... Before the passage of the Diamond Trade +Act, thefts amounted to five million dollars a year, but the De Beers +company regulated stealing as well as output, and the losses are now +insignificant.... The finest diamond-cutting is lately being done +in New York, and not in Amsterdam, as formerly. The diamonds cut in +New York show more fire than diamonds cut in Amsterdam; they have a +greater number of facets, and represent finer and better work. Cutting +adds forty per cent to the value of diamonds, and an attempt is being +made to put a tax of 20 per cent on all uncut diamonds sent out of +South Africa. No cutting is done here, and the passage of such a law +would add enormously to the country’s labor roll.... The average +man, in thinking of a diamond mine at Kimberley, imagines a great open +hole in the earth, and thousands of men working at the bottom of it. +As a matter of fact, no such mining is now done in Kimberley, although +visitors may see great holes in which such mining was formerly carried +on. Diamonds are now mined very much as gold is mined. Shafts are +sunk to great depths in the earth, and drifts run in every direction +from the bottom. Some of these shafts are more than three thousand +feet deep, and the diamond dirt is hoisted and treated very much as +gold-bearing rock is hoisted and treated.... Diamonds are found in +blue dirt, in what the miners call “pipes.” These pipes are the craters +of extinct volcanoes, and taper toward the bottom like a funnel. The +pipes are round, as may be seen in the old open workings, some of +which are a thousand feet deep. The deepest working in any “pipe” is +now at a depth of three thousand feet, but a diamond drill has been +sent down a thousand feet further without the blue dirt giving out; +so no one knows how deep they are.... The old open holes in the +ground were found very expensive to work at a depth of eight hundred +or a thousand feet, so the blue dirt is now hoisted by means of modern +cages operating in timbered shafts, as coal is hoisted; down below, +drifts are run, and the blue dirt hauled to the hoisting-shafts as is +done in coal-mining. As the blue dirt is exhausted, the shafts are sunk +deeper, and drifts run lower down. The “pipe” at the biggest diamond +mine at Kimberley is three hundred yards across at the top, and, as I +have already said, this tapers toward the bottom like the funnel you +use in pouring vinegar into a jug. The Premier mine, near Pretoria, +is very much larger than any mine at Kimberley, being eight hundred +yards across at the top. This great Premier mine, which you hear +little of, mines forty thousand tons of blue dirt per day, and employs +twelve thousand men, as against twenty thousand employed in all the +Kimberley mines. The Premier dirt, however, is worth only one dollar +per ton, whereas that at Kimberley averages something like three +times as much.... Briefly, the process of finding the diamonds is +as follows: The blue dirt in which the diamonds are found is brought +to the surface precisely as coal is hoisted, and mined in about the +same way. It is then placed in little iron cars, and hauled to a level +field, where it is spread over the surface to a depth of two feet. This +is done to permit the weather to disintegrate the dirt, and render its +washing easier. Today I saw a field of four thousand acres covered with +this blue dirt. It will remain out in the weather a year before it is +treated in the washing-mills.... You might pause a moment and think +of that four-thousand-acre field, covered to a depth of two feet with +the blue dirt in which diamonds are found. The four-thousand-acre field +I saw represented the output of only one mine; there are eight in the +Kimberley district, only two of which are known to be duffers, as they +say here; that is, of little value.... And you may rest assured that +this four-thousand-acre field is carefully guarded; it is surrounded +with a barbed wire fence fourteen feet high, and on top of the fence +are four wires spread out in such a way that no one could possibly +climb over. At night, the fence is illuminated with electric lights, +and there is a patrol of armed guards day and night. But you might be +turned loose in the four-thousand-acre field, and not find a diamond in +a year; the process of finding them is very intricate, expensive, and +difficult. Many of the natives who work in the diamond mines have never +seen a diamond: they see only the blue dirt.... After the blue dirt +has lain out in the weather a year, and been plowed up at intervals +with steam plows, that all portions of it may have a chance at the +sun, it is washed in enormous mills, and reduced in the proportion +of one to four million: that is, for every pound of diamonds found, +four million pounds of blue dirt are mined, hoisted, exposed in the +field a year, and then run through the washing-mills.... In these +washing-mills, the blue dirt is first crushed between rollers, and then +run through shaking washing-pans three different times. What is left is +then taken in cars to another mill, called the pulsator, and here the +precious dirt is again washed three times. Finally the diamonds and the +heavier pebbles remaining after six washings, go in a stream of water +over a shaking-pan, the bottom of which is covered with vaseline. The +diamonds stick to the vaseline, for some reason yet unexplained, while +the pebbles roll away with the water. The diamonds on the screen are +then easily collected and sorted. Some of the sorters, greatly to my +surprise, were negroes in charge of white men.... Today I saw the +result of one day’s washing from one mine; a pile of rough diamonds, +many of them as small as pin-heads. One of them was said to be worth +a thousand dollars. Dozens were of fairly good size, but the bulk of +them were very small. These small diamonds will be used in cutting the +big ones. There were many straw-colored diamonds, and some of them +were black; the black ones will be used in diamond drills. It seemed +to me that there were half a pint of these diamonds; Adelaide says +a pint. But anyway, three or four thousand men, aided by the most +enormous machines I have ever seen, work a day, and turn out—what? A +half-pint or pint of bright stones of no actual value except in cutting +glass and in diamond drills. The diamonds when found are in all sorts +of shapes, but some of them look somewhat like diamonds after they +have been cut. When taken out of the washing-machines they look like +ordinary rock crystals; but they do not flash or sparkle. Cutting gives +them that quality. The De Beers company last year made ten million +dollars profit, I am told, and I am also told that one gold mine at +Johannesburg last year made half that amount.... The mining of the +blue dirt is done by natives who live in compounds, or quarters, and +who are never permitted to leave the place until they quit, or are +discharged; but no native is employed who will not agree to work at +least four months. Today I visited one of these compounds, occupied by +2,500 natives. The place looked to be a thousand feet square. In the +centre is a place where the men bathe after coming from underground. +The houses where the men sleep form the square, and thirty men are +provided with sleeping-bunks in one room. The bunks are in tiers, three +deep, and reminded me of my quarters on the ship “Maunganui” between +Wellington and Sydney.... In front of the houses the men do their +cooking, at open fires, with wood furnished by the company. The men +earn an average of eighty-two cents a day each, and are compelled to +board themselves. They usually live in messes, one man in the mess +doing the cooking for a week. The company has stores in the compound +where all sorts of provisions may be had at about cost.... The men +come from the interior, and, when they arrive, are given a number. +This number is retained until the man quits, or is discharged. There +is a system of piece work, and some of the men make $1.25 a day. +The eight-hour system prevails, but the system of team work is such +that all the men work steadily; the company sees to it that there are +no shirkers. So the De Beers company has the services of excellent +workmen at an average cost of eighty-two cents a day. There is a +modern hospital in the compound, and men who are injured are treated +free, and, in addition, receive their usual wages while laid up. The +compound is much cleaner than an ordinary negro village, and many of +the men remain with the company for years.... There is a good deal +of water in the Kimberley mines. In one of them, 25,000 gallons an hour +is pumped without trouble from a depth of 1,500 feet.... The blue +dirt is hauled from the mine to the field, where it is exposed to the +weather for a year, in iron cars holding about a ton each. The cars are +pulled by an endless cable, and one of the sights of Kimberley is these +cars going and coming without attendance on a double-track railway two +or three miles long. The cars run in bunches of three, about twenty +yards apart, and reminded me of ants coming and going.... When the +blue dirt is ready to be treated, it is hauled to the washing-mills in +the same cars, and in the same way. At the washing-mills there is a +large residue known to contain no diamonds, and this is carried to the +top of the dump and thrown away, and thus are formed the gray mounds +seen around the town of Kimberley.... The Transvaal government +has an interest in the Premier diamond mine near Pretoria, and gets +sixty per cent of its profits. The government’s share amounts to two +and a half million dollars a year. Whenever a diamond mine shows a +disposition to amount to a good deal, the De Beers company buys it. +The stockholders in the De Beers company have gradually acquired a +large interest in the Premier mine, so that there is a “gentlemen’s +agreement” in the disposition of diamonds.... A great deal of +hauling is done from Kimberley to points off the railroad, and donkey +teams are used in freighting. Every time I go on the streets I see +donkey teams of ten to fourteen span hitched to enormous freight +wagons. The donkey teams are usually driven by three Kaffirs.... The +favorite vegetable in South Africa seems to be cabbage. At the public +markets I see particularly big stacks of it, but little else. In the +public market of Kimberley, vegetables are placed on the ground; I saw +string beans lying on the ground, in the filth of the market-place, +this morning.... Kimberley is very dusty and dirty. The days are +about as hot now as they are at home in July and August, but the nights +are much cooler. An American woman who has lived in South Africa +nineteen years, says she has never slept a night without blankets over +her.... I was frequently told in Kimberley I should look up a man +named Brink, the only man in the town who could give away diamonds, if +so disposed, and not be responsible to anyone. I did not see Brink, but +I saw a man who sent me permits which enabled me to see most points +of interest. The De Beers officials are very polite to visitors, and +anyone who comes recommended may easily see all there is to see.... +Kimberley has one long business street which is very creditable, but +outside of that the town does not look very well. Rain is very scarce, +much scarcer than at Johannesburg, and when the wind blows, all doors +must be closed, owing to the dust from the mine dumps. It is much +hotter here in summer than in Johannesburg, and general conditions of +living worse. I shouldn’t mind living in Johannesburg, but I don’t +believe I could be content in Kimberley. + + + + +THURSDAY, MARCH 20.—Today we traveled from Kimberley to Bloemfontein, +and the same polite conductor was in charge of the train. He not only +gave us a compartment to ourselves, but presented me with a Zulu +war-club which I am bringing home as a souvenir. When the Zulus go +to Kimberley to work in the mines they are not allowed to take their +war-clubs into the compounds, and sell them at low prices. The one I +have is a fancy affair, and probably the late owner worked on it for +two weeks. It looks as though it has been in action, and has probably +cracked a good many heads.... We were compelled to wait nearly three +hours at Bloemfontein for a train to Johannesburg, and dined at Polly’s +Hotel Cecil. Mr. Polly is a model hotel man, and knows his business +so well that his place is constantly crowded, while the opposition +hotel, just across the street, and a newer and larger place, is almost +deserted. It is surprising what a clever man can do to a dull one; if +Mr. Polly wants the larger and newer hotel, my prediction is that he +will have it in six months.... We walked about Bloemfontein for +an hour in the moonlight. I like this town, because it is dull, and +the people are consequently polite. I have always been accustomed to +dull towns, and like St. Louis better than Chicago because St. Louis +people are not so struck on themselves. Every citizen of Chicago is as +badly spoilt as a pretty woman.... It being the night before Good +Friday, which is a holiday here, there was a rush of passengers for +Johannesburg, and the friendly conductor could not get us a compartment +to ourselves. But I was quartered with two very interesting and polite +men in a compartment for four, and rather enjoyed the night ride.... +Let the passenger conductors on American railroads prepare to scream +with horror and indignation over an incident I am about to relate. The +train on which we rode from Bloemfontein to Johannesburg was composed +of twelve coaches, nearly all of them used as sleepers at night. The +conductor not only took up the tickets, and looked after the train, +but he acted as porter in all the sleepers, and made up the beds. The +crowd was so large that we did not get our beds made up until midnight, +although we left Bloemfontein at nine o’clock. We paid sixty cents +each for the use of the beds, when we finally got them. The beds were +done up in separate bundles, two sheets, two pillows and two blankets +in each bundle, and the conductor of the passenger train was compelled +to take these out of lockers, and change all the seats into beds. He +had no help whatever, and all the time he was at work, passengers were +snarling at him in an impudent way. I have never before seen anything +like it anywhere. At every station the conductor was compelled to go +out to the platform, and, when the train started, he didn’t say “All +aboard,” but “All seats.” Translated, “All seats” means: “The train +is about to start; all passengers take their seats.”... After we got +to bed at midnight, country boys were constantly racing through the +corridor outside, and looking into our compartment for seats. We could +not lock the door, and, although the train was crowded when we left +Bloemfontein, we took on passengers at every station. In American +sleeping-cars, you engage a sleeping-berth in advance, and after +bedtime the cars are quiet; no racing through the aisles. Here you take +your chance of getting a bed. A similar train on an American railway +would have had a train conductor, a Pullman conductor, and a porter in +each sleeping-car. The door of our compartment was thrown open a dozen +times during the night, but my two companions, important mining men, +were accustomed to it, and were not annoyed. The beds were narrow, +but clean and comfortable; I had no fault to find except the racing +of country boys through the corridors. There were three of us in a +compartment that would have seated eight. I suppose the country boys +had a right to chase us out, and demand that five of them be given +seats in the compartment, but fortunately they did not do it, and we +slept a little toward morning. + + + + +FRIDAY, MARCH 21.—We returned to Johannesburg at 8 o’clock this +morning, and it was a little like getting home. We found two excellent +rooms awaiting us at the Langham, as the proprietor expected us, and we +soon forget the discomforts of the night ride. We found an invitation +to dinner awaiting us at the hotel, and among other agreeable guests +we met at this agreeable affair was Edwin N. Gunsaulus, American +consul. Mr. Gunsaulus of course keeps in touch with American affairs, +and he gave us a good deal of news from home. The consul is a cousin +of Rev. Frank Gunsaulus, the noted American preacher and lecturer, +and comes from a town in Ohio smaller than Atchison. Another fact +that endeared him to me is that he formerly ran a weekly newspaper, +and was editor, publisher, business manager, reporter, and one of +the type-setters.... I may as well tell here of the reprehensible +conduct of an American now a resident of Johannesburg. I refer to Isham +F. Atterbury, formerly of St. Joseph, Missouri, but now manager of the +African Realty Trust. I expect the American women to be as indignant +over his conduct as the American passenger conductors will be over +the treatment of the conductor of the train on which we traveled last +night. Mr. and Mrs. Atterbury were also guests at the dinner, and the +story I shall relate of Mr. Atterbury’s conduct I had first-hand from +his wife’s lips. Mr. Gunsaulus also heard the story, and I called his +attention to it particularly by recommending that, as American consul, +he do something about it.... The story is as follows: For years Mrs. +Atterbury kept house, and slaved, as American women do, in preparing +delicacies for her husband to eat, in order that she might keep him +good-natured. But human endeavor has a limit, and Mrs. Atterbury’s +slaving for her husband’s comfort finally resulted in a collapse, and +a trip to a sanitarium. After her partial recovery, they went to an +English boarding-house, which Mrs. Atterbury declares is worse than an +American boarding-house, to live. And here is where Mr. Atterbury’s +baseness developed: _he ate as heartily of the boarding-house fare as +he had ever eaten of his wife’s cooking_.... Although the incident +happened years ago, Mrs. Atterbury is still mad about it. “And,” she +added, in telling of her wrongs, “some people say I am a pretty fair +cook. After that, I quit the kitchen for good, and have been boarding +ever since.”... Their young gentleman son, Manfred Atterbury, is +afraid to take sides in the controversy, but he did say that his father +doesn’t pay much attention to what he eats; that when he goes to the +table he usually carries American newspapers or magazines with him, +and doesn’t eat anything at all unless his attention is called to the +fact that the body requires a certain amount of nourishment.... The +American women I meet here all say American men are more considerate +of their wives than the men of any other nation. I believe that at +home we men are rather unpopular as husbands, and that our conduct +attracts a good deal of unfavorable criticism from American wives; +but abroad we are everywhere toasted because of our devotion to our +women-folks.... At the dinner tonight, an American woman said: +“Another reason I want to go home: I want to see pretty girls again.” +There are not many pretty women over here, whereas America is full of +them; particularly in dull towns.... Another guest at the dinner +tonight was H. T. Hofmeyer, a prominent Boer lawyer of Johannesburg, +and who has just served two terms as mayor. He is much interested in +American newspapers, magazines, books, and citizens. The ex-mayor and +Mr. Gunsaulus, the American consul, were quite impatient with me +because I had arranged to leave Johannesburg at 10 P. M. on Monday +evening, whereas they said no train left at that hour. So we all took +a walk to the railroad station, to get the facts. It turned out that I +was right about it, and the consul and Mr. Hofmeyer walked all the way +home with me, in explaining how they happened to be mistaken.... +Merchants everywhere work the words “reduction” and “cut prices,” +for all they are worth. Wherever we have been, we have encountered +“reduction” sales, and merchants side by side abuse each other in the +placards displayed. “This is a real reduction sale,” one placard read; +“do not be deceived by false pretenses elsewhere.” One shoe store in +Johannesburg displays this sign: “Shoes for next to nothing.” Every +storekeeper thinks he is a public benefactor, because of his low prices. + + + + +SATURDAY, MARCH 22.—When I left home I was told that the name of this +town is pronounced Yohonnesburg by its citizens, but I find that they +call it “Joburg” almost universally.... In Durban, the best people +ride in rickshas; here, these vehicles are used very sparingly. A law +has been passed whereby their use will be entirely prohibited in two +years. It is claimed that the ricksha men become overheated while +running, and contract consumption.... A sign frequently seen in +Johannesburg reads: “This house and stand for sale.” It is equivalent +to “This house and lot for sale.”... I was out this afternoon with +five Americans, and at 4 P. M. we went into an enormous place to drink +a cup of tea. There were certainly fifty girl waiters, and hundreds of +customers. The tea-room included a long balcony above the sidewalk, and +similar places are very numerous in Joburg. I am told that tea-drinking +is one English habit American residents soon acquire.... The +ordinary natives work long hours here. This evening I heard a boss +say to a gang of street laborers: “Remember that we begin work Monday +morning at 5:30, not at 6:30.”... There are fourteen annual holidays +here, observed by the whites as religiously as we observe Christmas, +Thanksgiving, and the Fourth of July, but the natives do not seem +to participate in them. If there is anything in having an abundant +supply of cheap labor, South Africa should flourish.... Over in +Missouri, many of the farmers have private graveyards. I find a similar +custom among the Boer farmers in South Africa.... A big sign I saw +at Bloemfontein contained this imprint: “D. Jones, writer.” Meaning +that D. Jones was the sign-writer who made it. Near the Hotel Cecil +in Bloemfontein I also saw this sign: “Hotel Cecil Toilet Club.” You +might guess a week without guessing what the sign meant: the place +was the hotel barber shop.... At hotels, I always hate to see the +sign, “Fire Escape;” somehow it disturbs me. But the proprietor of the +Langham thought up something more delicate; instead of the words “Fire +Escape,” he uses “Emergency Exit.”... I am always meeting queer +people; I met a woman lately who said she would as soon drink a cup of +castor oil as a cup of rich cream. + + + + +SUNDAY, MARCH 23.—Johannesburg and Kimberley have experienced the +usual high life incident to all boom camps. While great fortunes have +been made, much money has been lost, and suicide is almost as common +here as in Monte Carlo. Barney Barnato, one of the conspicuous figures +in both camps, committed suicide at sea, by jumping overboard while +en route to England. But his act was not due to lack of money, as he +was rich at the time, and was just completing the finest residence in +South Africa. The building is now used as a school; it was a gift for +school purposes from the Barnato estate.... Barney Barnato came to +South Africa as a circus clown; his real name was Barnett Isaacs, and +he was a Hebrew. “Barney Barnato” was his circus name, and it stuck to +him in the days of his prosperity, when he became a diamond broker, +and married a “Cape woman;” that is, a negress. She was of light +color, but so dark that she was never received socially. Kimberley and +Johannesburg can forgive much in a woman, if she has money, but Mrs. +Barnato was never forgiven. It is said here that she lived with Barnato +before she was married to him, and he sent her to London to dispose +of diamonds acquired illegally. Instead of depositing the money in a +London bank in Barnato’s name, she deposited it in her own name, and +Barnato was compelled to marry her to get his own money.... Barnato +prospered greatly, and when Cecil Rhodes and Alfred Beit organized +the great De Beers Consolidated Company, they were compelled to treat +with him, as he owned many of the best claims. He was made a life +director in the De Beers Company, and the evidence is that he was +popular, and a good fellow. All the big interests here have holdings +in Johannesburg as well as at Kimberley, so the towns are closely +related.... In the days immediately following the Jameson raid, and +just preceding the Boer war, Paul Krueger was an autocrat, and very +unfair with the big English interests in Johannesburg, which is in the +Transvaal. Krueger was then president of the Transvaal republic, and +you hear it stated in whispers to this day that Barney Barnato, or +some one for him, hired an adventurer named Von Veldtheim, a Londoner, +to assassinate Krueger. In a quarrel Von Veldtheim killed Wolf Joel, +Barnato’s uncle. Von Veldtheim was arrested, and while he was in jail, +awaiting trial, Barnato committed suicide, fearing, it is said, that +Von Veldtheim would tell the whole story when tried for his life. But +Von Veldtheim plead self-defense, and was acquitted by the Boer courts. +He returned to London, and again attempted to blackmail members of the +De Beers Company. The English courts sent him to jail, and he is there +now.... Cecil Rhodes was the best man of the lot, and he did much +for South Africa, as he had ideals greater than making money. Rhodes +was a bachelor, and, like many men of big schemes, a hard drinker. His +death was due, I have often heard, to heavy drinking. He is buried at +Bulawayo, in Rhodesia, which he placed on the map, and which is named +for him. Alfred Beit was a financial man, and not a great deal can +be said for him except that he was very capable, and accumulated an +enormous fortune.... Of the original crowd of boomers, Dr. Jameson +is about the only one still living, and he is everywhere highly spoken +of. He was originally Cecil Rhodes’s physician, but had business +ability, and, with the patronage of Rhodes, soon became an important +figure in South Africa. It was this man who headed the Jameson raid, +intended to turn the Transvaal republic into an English colony, but +the Boers captured him and his men in less time than it would take to +write the story. Jameson and his chief lieutenants were sentenced to +death, and Cecil Rhodes, who really inspired the raid, got them off. +This was accomplished by the payment of money to the Boer chiefs, +and there was so much of it that you hear of Paul Krueger’s buried +treasure almost as frequently as you hear of Captain Kidd’s. The row +over the Jameson raid finally resulted in the Boer war, and the flight +of President Krueger to Switzerland, where he died. There is still a +good deal of friction between the English and Boers: an English paper +issued this morning complains that at an agricultural fair to be opened +in Johannesburg this week, only fifteen per cent of the exhibitors are +Boers.... The week beginning with Easter is a holiday week, and the +crowd in Johannesburg is so large now that tents have been erected in +many places to accommodate the visitors. The streets this afternoon +were packed, and certainly nineteen out of twenty were men. This is a +man’s country.... The American consul told me today that he does not +hear much of missionaries in this section, except of a few Mormons, who +are unpopular because of the notion, probably mistaken, that they teach +polygamy. We called at the consul’s office today, and were much pleased +with the many pictures we saw there of American saints: Washington, +Lincoln, McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, etc.... In going down +in the elevator at the Langham hotel today, I saw a cheap book the +elevator boy had been reading. Picking it up, I saw that the title was: +“Buffalo’s Bill’s Warning.” So it seems American literature, which is +said to be unknown abroad, is getting a start. + + + + +MONDAY, MARCH 24.—This evening we had six American guests at dinner at +our hotel: Mr. Gunsaulus, the American consul at Johannesburg; Mr. and +Mrs. Atterbury and their son Manfred, and Mr. and Mrs. Mark Cary. Mr. +Cary had been at Capetown and Durban during our stay in Johannesburg, +but returned late this afternoon, and drove direct from the train to +the hotel. The hotel orchestra, as a compliment to our party, played +American rag time. At 9:30 P. M. the entire party walked with us to +the railway station, where we were to take a train for Bulawayo, en +route to Victoria Falls. Our baggage had been sent to the station in +advance, and we carried nothing except an enormous package of American +newspapers: copies of the Chicago _Tribune_ and New York _World_.... +The train did not get away until 10:25 P. M., being late, but our +friends remained until we departed. I tried to coax them to go home, +but they wouldn’t do it; when people are very nice to me it makes me as +uncomfortable as when they are not nice enough.... When we arrived +at the station we found a chart displayed against a wall showing that +“Mr. and Miss Howe” had been assigned to a compartment large enough +for four, and from the interest Mr. Gunsaulus and Mr. Atterbury took in +the matter, I imagined they had a good deal to do with securing this +very agreeable and unusual concession.... I should like to have the +pleasure of entertaining Mrs. Atterbury, particularly, when she makes +her long-delayed visit home. She has been away nineteen years, and +if ever there was a true patriot, she is one; her enjoyment at being +among Americans again would be worth witnessing. She is always talking +of “going home,” and telling of the many nice people she knows there, +and nothing would please me more than to assist in realizing, as far +as possible, all her present expectations. Isham, her husband, has +been promising a long time to take her home “next year,” but she now +declares that if he doesn’t keep his promise by March 1, 1914, she will +go alone. We spent half our time in Johannesburg with the Atterburys; +in addition to innumerable meals we ate with them, they gave us one +dinner at which we had four kinds of wine. So if her friends in St. +Joe will let me know the date of her arrival, I will be at the station +to welcome her.... Soon after the train conductor looked at our +tickets, he proceeded to lug two huge bags of bed-clothing into our +compartment, and make up two beds. We paid $1.20 for the use of the +bed-clothing two nights; the charge would have been the same for one +night. So that we will have a large compartment to ourselves two nights +and a day, and pay only $1.20 above the regular fare. The beds were +comfortable, though somewhat narrow, but we slept as well, I imagine, +as people usually do on a sleeping-car. On our door and on our window +were placards announcing that the compartment was reserved, and we were +not disturbed during the journey. The South-African sleeping-cars are +not at all bad, except that the train conductor has so much to do that +he cannot keep them as clean as they should be. The conductor did not +polish my shoes at night, but I knew he was very busy, and overlooked +his neglect.... On one or two trains we have been on, there was a +man who helped the conductor, but on at least two crowded trains on +which we traveled, the conductor has had no help whatever in making +up the beds; the most curious thing I have ever noted in railroad +travel. There is a guard on the train, who is what we call a brakeman, +but he does not assist the conductor in the chamber-work. When these +conductors are taking the tickets, they are as haughty as are American +conductors, but when they begin lugging in sheets, pillows and +mattresses, they are as humble as the most timid traveler could wish. + + + + +TUESDAY, MARCH 25.—This is written on the Imperial Mail train, on the +line of South-African railway extending from Capetown to Victoria Falls +and beyond. This will eventually become the “Cape to Cairo” railway, +extending from Capetown, on the seacoast in South Africa, to Cairo, in +Egypt. You may recall that Colonel Roosevelt, on his famous hunting +trip in Africa, went by rail as far as he could, and then tramped +through the wild country to the end of the line extending south from +Egypt, and then went to Cairo. Alfred Beit, one of the bonanza kings +of Johannesburg and Kimberley, left six million dollars to be used in +completing the gap between the African and Egyptian lines. When the +“Cape to Cairo” line is finally completed, it will become as famous as +the line from Moscow, in Russia, to a port on the Sea of Japan. This +line was built by the Russians, and the distance from Moscow to Japan +is now made in comfortable trains in ten days. Think of ten days of +continuous travel in the same coaches, in the same train, and on the +same railway! Great as is America, it has nothing like it; although we +are talking of a line from New York to Buenos Aires, in South America. +Thousands of miles of the proposed line are in operation, but there are +gaps in Central and South America so difficult that it may never be +completed, while the “Cape to Cairo” line may be a reality within the +next twenty years.... Always remember that in South Africa there is +no rich, black soil such as you see in Illinois, Iowa, eastern Kansas, +and other of our best states. At least, I have not seen any. The soil +in Africa is usually thin and red, and stones abound nearly everywhere. +No part of Africa has as reliable a rainfall as the best parts of the +United States. But nevertheless there is a fascination about this +frontier country to an American; were I a younger man, probably the +“spirit of the Veldt” would appeal to me more strongly than it does. +All sorts of problems, including irrigation and dry-farming, are being +worked out here. I have seen little country in Africa that looks any +better than Kansas looks two hundred miles from the river, and the +trouble is lack of a dependable rainfall. Along the coast there is so +much rain that sugar-cane is grown without irrigation, and there is +much good country, but today, eight hundred miles from the coast, we +are in a dry, mountainous district which reminds one of Arizona.... +Today we are seeing blanket negroes; native blacks who wear nothing but +blankets, still a habit with some of our Indians. Between the lonely +stations, we see native villages which seem as primitive as anything +Africa can produce; at the stations, also, we see some negro men and +women dressed as well as our best negroes at home. This morning we saw +negro beggars for the first time: black children ran beside the train +at a stopping-place, and, patting their stomachs, indicated that they +were hungry, as a means of inducing the passengers to throw pennies to +them.... At the stations, also, we see strong, capable Englishmen. +These are the men who are engaged in working out the South-African +problems, and they are undoubtedly making progress.... The white +race can only flourish in certain parts of Africa; in sections four +thousand feet or more above sea-level. Other portions of country +must be left, for a long time at least, to the natives. Just what +proportion of Africa is 4,000 feet or more above sea-level, I do not +know, but I have seen the proportion stated as one-fourth in a certain +section.... Most of the native male children we are seeing today +are entirely naked, and their parents wear nothing but blankets when +they come out to see the train go by; no doubt they wear less when +not under observation.... Tomorrow morning we will leave the train +at Bulawayo, for a two-days stay. This town is in Rhodesia, which +is as big as half of Europe. All of this immense territory belongs +to and is administered by a British company, and is not a member of +the South-African union. In Rhodesia there are 25,000 Europeans and +a million natives. The head of every native family is compelled to +pay the British company an annual tax of $5, with $2 extra for each +additional wife. Many of the native men who work in the mines in +Johannesburg and Kimberley came from the poor villages we are seeing +today. The villages are all alike: the houses are straw-covered huts, +and the inhabitants seem to be as poor as people can be. The native +men only work as a means of buying wives.... When Abel and Sampson +return home, they probably return to wretched villages such as we +are seeing today. Abel and Sampson are the servants at the home of +Mr. and Mrs. Mark Cary, in Johannesburg. Abel has a sweetheart, and +is saving money to buy her of her father. She is probably a fourteen +or fifteen-year-old girl living in a village such as we are seeing +today.... Since leaving Sydney, Australia, six weeks ago, we haven’t +seen an American traveler. They seem to be very scarce in this part +of the world. At one of the diamond mines we visited in Kimberley, +there was a book in which all visitors registered. We looked through +twenty or more pages without finding a visitor registered from the +United States.... I have seen only two bunches of ostriches on the +trip; the second this morning near Mafeking. This town was conspicuous +during the Boer war, because of the operations of General Baden-Powell. +It is a pretty and important place, and has railroad shops, as the +Johannesburg branch joins the main line there. It has 1,400 people, +but near it is a native town with three times as many.... In some +places along the line, the soil is so thin that the railroad dump +is made of stones; there is not enough dirt for the purpose. The +telegraph poles and ties are of iron, which indicates the lack of +timber. The track is excellent, and the train runs rapidly. We have +become so accustomed to the narrow-gauge that we do not notice the +difference.... The dining-car on this train is clean, and the meals +very good. When we went in for the first meal, we were told to pay +at the end of the journey; so tomorrow morning I will pay for three +meals. Which is another unusual incident of railroad travel. We notice +here that hotel and train employees always know our names. When we +went into the dining-car for lunch to day, the waiter asked if we +were Mr. and Miss Howe. Being informed that we were, the man escorted +us to a table that had been reserved. We are charged seventy-two +cents for lunch and dinner, and sixty cents for breakfast.... In +Johannesburg and Kimberley, we frequently saw the native miners going +to the station to take trains for their homes. Here at nearly every +station we see native miners who have completed their visit home, and +are going back to work.... In one little valley we passed through +were a good many fields of kaffir corn, and in every case the workers +were women and children. Possibly the men were away working in the +mines.... The country in which we are traveling this afternoon is +eleven hundred miles from Capetown, and the track is not fenced. The +occasional bunches of goats and cattle—I see no sheep—seem to love the +railroad track, and the engineer is compelled to slow up, and drive +them off with his whistle.... This evening we are about as far in +the interior of Africa from Capetown as the Mississippi river is from +New York, and are beginning to have trouble with dust. I believe I have +never been bothered with dust as I am here; but we cannot see it—it +seems to be a part of the air.... We passed within thirty miles +of Serome, containing thirty thousand people, and one of the largest +native towns in South Africa. The chief of this tribe does not allow +liquor to be sold in his territory, and is quite progressive. He rules +over a territory a hundred miles square. In his town of Serome there +are a good many white storekeepers and traders, who buy corn, skins, +etc., and ship them to the railroad by ox teams. Serome is in a vast +territory known as the “Protectorate;” the British government protects +the natives in their right to rule through chiefs. British officials, +usually army officers, are scattered throughout the territory, to +advise and really rule the chiefs. The natives have their own petty +courts, but the superior courts are British. We are well out of the +Boer territory now. The Boers once planned to annex the vast territory +now known as Rhodesia, which fact caused Cecil Rhodes to hurry into +the country with an armed force, and claim it for the British.... +The tracks of the South-African railway are uniformly good, and as +night approached, the weather became cooler. The dust we experienced +earlier in the day came from a desert where discomfort is always +experienced.... At one place, we saw a negro hoeing corn in a field, +stark naked. Whether the negro was man or woman, I could not tell at +the distance, but as women do most of the field work here, I fear it +was a woman, and that I saw a very improper sight while innocently +endeavoring to broaden my mind by travel.... Railroad grading is +done here with pick and shovel, and not with horse or steam scrapers. +At one station a long siding was being put in, and the necessary cut +was being made by negroes who used only picks and shovels.... The +passengers on this train, which is a Limited, are a nice lot, and very +polite. Although all men are supposed to be equal, the difference +between the passengers on a Limited train and the passengers on an +excursion train is very marked. The difference between the patrons of a +first and second-class hotel may also be noted without difficulty. + + + + +WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26.—The distance from Mafeking to Bulawayo is 485 +miles, and our train made it in twenty-four hours. If there is a +town between Mafeking and Bulawayo, we passed through it during the +night; we stopped at a good many lonely stations, but saw no towns. +And we passed but one train on the way: a passenger train coming from +Victoria Falls.... We arrived at Bulawayo this morning at 9:30, on +time to the second, although we left Johannesburg and Mafeking late. +We were taken to the Grand Hotel in an automobile, of which the hotel +porter was the driver, and the manager met us with the question: “Mr. +and Miss Howe?” You travel by schedule here, and your coming is known +in advance.... Last night the weather was chilly, although the +afternoon was almost insufferably hot and dusty. All day yesterday we +traveled through a country covered with scrubby trees; trees so bent +and twisted that they looked as though they had rheumatism in every +limb and joint. This morning we awoke in Rhodesia, and the country +improved in character, though the land was still of the Arizona kind +rather than of the Iowa or eastern Kansas kind. In Rhodesia we saw +larger cornfields than we saw yesterday, but the fields were many miles +apart. Corn is the staple crop all over Africa, but the corn I have +seen was small.... Africa is an enormous country; when it comes to +size, we must take off our hats to it. But nine hundred miles in the +interior, you do not find a city like Chicago; the fourth or fifth city +in the world, and built up from agriculture. Africa was known before +Columbus discovered America; had it been as rich agriculturally as +North America, the negroes would have been chased out by farmers as +promptly as the Indians were chased out of North America. In Africa +today there are negro tribes as wild as were the wildest tribes +hundreds of years ago. There is here a tribe known as the Bushmen. +Their language is a collection of clicks and grunts, these last, absent +in the other African dialects, being said to bear a resemblance to the +different cries of the baboon. The Bushman is so much like the baboon +that he has no conception of right or wrong; it is as impossible to +civilize him as it is impossible to civilize the monkey. He is the +missing link between the monkey most like man, and the human animal. He +can no more understand the rights of property than can the lion or the +jackal; theft is not a crime with him, because he cannot appreciate +that theft is wrong. So it has been found necessary to drive him to +the wildest and most inaccessible sections of the country, and, when +he appears in civilization, is hunted as ruthlessly as are cunning and +dangerous wild animals. No Bushman has ever been known to cultivate +a field; he lives entirely by hunting animals, wild berries, roots, +etc., and no white man has ever been able to understand the Bushman’s +language.... Africa is behind us in civilization because its land +is poorer. In many of our best states it was possible in early times, +before fences were introduced, to plow a furrow hundreds of miles +long, and every foot of the land represented a rich, deep, black soil +that would produce marvelous crops without irrigation or fertilizing. +There is no such land in Africa; the abundance of such land in North +America explains why it has a hundred million progressive people, and +is everywhere known as the best country the sun shines on. Possibly +modesty should cause us to boast less, but the big talk we use in +Fourth of July addresses is not far from the truth.... Do Americans +boast a good deal? On the contrary, I sometimes fear they habitually +deny nearly every good thing that may be said about their country. +In Johannesburg I was given a big bundle of American newspapers and +magazines, and read them in coming here. I saw no boasting; on the +contrary, I read dozens of sensational scandals that were in the +main baseless. One worthy and useful old gentleman, I read, is being +harassed by an impudent investigating committee, although so ill that +he cannot speak above a whisper. I read that a prominent American +manufacturer, who certainly deserves well of his country, has been +sentenced to jail and fined $50,000, on a charge that seems trifling. +I read of a case wherein a negro assaulted a worthy white woman in +the South. The papers are determined to make out that the woman was +assaulted and cut with a knife by her husband, who caught her flirting +with another man. The woman and her husband, and all their friends +who were about them at the time, swear in court that the assault was +committed by a mulatto, whom none of them knew; there is no sworn +evidence whatever to the contrary. It was rumored for months before +the trial began that a newspaper reporter was smuggled into the office +of the prosecuting attorney when the husband and wife were examined, +soon after the assault, and that the reporter heard the husband say +incriminating things to his wife, during the temporary absence of the +prosecuting attorney; but at the trial, the reporter was a witness, +and swore to no such incident. At this distance, it looks as though +the gossips have the assistance of the courts and the newspapers in +making good their vicious and untruthful tales.... Is this boasting? +Is it not, on the contrary, making ourselves mean when we are usually +creditable and decent?... To a hurried visitor, Bulawayo seems even +handsomer, and duller, than Bloemfontein, the old Dutch town in the +Orange Free State which I admired so much. The Grand Hotel here is +excellent, and the town clean and handsome, but I see little business +going on. It may be that the farmers come in some other day in the +week, but I wonder at and enjoy the quietness in Bulawayo. So far I +have seen no great number of pretty women, who always distinguish a +dull town, but possibly they have been kept in by a rain which began +falling soon after my arrival. Work is in progress here on a government +building which would do credit to a state capital in America, but this +not the capital of Rhodesia; that honor belongs to Salisbury, three +hundred miles away. The new building will be occupied by officials of +the British company which owns Rhodesia, and the postoffice.... When +the Union Pacific Railway was built, in the days immediately following +the Civil War, the government gave the company a strip of land on both +sides of the track, as a reward for developing the country. In like +manner, the English government gave Rhodesia to certain capitalists, +except that in this case the capitalists govern the country; they +collect taxes, try criminals, hang them when necessary, collect +customs, and otherwise administer public affairs. The police and +militia of Rhodesia serve the Rhodesia company; when a man buys public +land, he buys it of the Rhodesia company; but back of the Rhodesia +company, John Bull is a silent but powerful figure, and nothing can be +done without his approval and consent. India was governed many years by +the East India company, but finally Victoria was made Empress of India. +Rhodesia will eventually become a member of the South-African union, +certainly; it may be even closer than that to the British crown.... +Flies and mosquitoes terrorize me in Africa. There is a fly here which +gives the dreaded Sleeping Sickness with its bite, and there is a +mosquito which gives you typhoid. I strike at both insects as promptly +as the average man strikes at a moth miller when around home. I +never knew a man so dignified that he wouldn’t take a smash at a moth +miller.... The Bulawayo newspaper, issued this morning, tells of the +depredations of lions in the surrounding country. Several cattle and +one native were killed. Let American country editors think of exciting +country correspondence of that kind. + + + + +THURSDAY, MARCH 27.—Thirty miles from Bulawayo is a district known as +the Matopo Hills, one hundred miles long by twenty-five broad. During +the Matabele rebellion of 1896‒7, these rough hills of granite proved +impregnable when occupied by the natives, as they are full of passes +and gigantic caves, and occasional fertile but almost inaccessible +valleys. Cecil Rhodes loved this district, because of its wildness, +and one of his last requests was that his body be buried on top of the +highest of the Matopo Hills. We visited his grave today, during the +course of an automobile ride. There is no monument over his grave; a +simple flat stone covers it. Two hundred feet away, and on top of the +same hill, is a monument “In Memory of Brave Men.” It is a huge affair +of granite, in memory of Major Allan Wilson and his party, who fell on +the Shangaui river in 1893. It is a common habit of discreet men to +erect handsome monuments over the graves of foolhardy adventurers, and +call them brave. Thousands of men lost their lives in order that Cecil +Rhodes might become noted, and be the subject of statues at Kimberley, +Johannesburg, Bulawayo, etc. Other noted men have sacrificed the +lives of their followers with equal recklessness.... On the four +sides of the notable monument near Rhodes’s grave are bronze panels +showing scenes from various campaigns in Rhodesia; the figures are +of heroic size, and executed with so much faithfulness by John Tweed +that many of the faces may be recognized.... From Rhodes’s grave, +the Matopo Hills may be seen in all their remarkable desolation. The +place looks like hell with the fires out; like the world upside down. +Rhodes had a model farm of 115,000 acres just outside the Hills, and +spent $150,000 on an irrigating dam. He expected this dam to irrigate +2,000 acres, but it actually irrigates less than 700. Rhodes spent +considerable time on this farm, and frequently went to the high hill +where his body was afterwards buried. In moods of despondency, when he +knew his illness must soon result in death, he spent several moonlight +nights on the spot where his grave is now located. Several attendants +accompanied him, but he said little to them; he silently looked around +at what is probably the most majestic scene of desolation in the world. +Rhodes was less than fifty when he died, and his thoughts about the +vanities of life would have been exceedingly interesting in print. He +was one of the remarkable characters of recent history, and I shall +long remember him; especially because of a statue erected in his memory +at the crossing of two principal streets in Bulawayo. This statue is +a wonderfully lifelike reproduction of a man, and I have repeatedly +looked at it with more interest than I usually look at works of +art.... On the journey to the Matopo Hills, we saw frequent bunches +of wild baboons; in one lot there must have been twenty or thirty. +These animals are a nuisance to farmers, as they kill sheep; it is +therefore necessary to hunt them with dogs.... On the way to the +Matopo Hills is a hotel. We ate lunch there on our return trip, and a +bride and groom started out ahead of us, in an automobile. We finally +overtook them, but the bride and groom were utterly unconscious of our +presence, and hugged and kissed most of the way to Bulawayo. A mother +and daughter, traveling acquaintances, accompanied us, and the daughter +was particularly interested in the actions of the bride and groom. +Later, when we punctured a tire, and stopped for repairs, the girl +confessed that she is to be married in a few weeks. She is the daughter +of a big farmer in the Transvaal, and will marry a young banker. A +banker is as particular about marrying a rich woman as an army officer. +Ever know a banker or an army officer to marry a poor girl?... The +bride and groom in front of us greatly interested our party, and we +laughed until our sides ached. They were fooling the driver of their +automobile, but utterly unconscious of five spectators in the rear. In +fooling one man, you are usually unconscious of several others who are +watching you. + +[Illustration: Block House used by the English in the Boer War + +Entrance to Suez Canal + +Native children, South Africa + +Native Village, Rhodesia + +An African King meeting with his Cabinet] + + + + +FRIDAY, MARCH 28.—The mother and daughter with whom we have been +traveling several days, Mrs. and Miss Meek, live fifteen miles off +the railroad between Durban and Johannesburg, on a farm of twenty +thousand acres. Mr. Meek, the husband and father, goes in principally +for sheep, of which he has many thousand head, but he does general +farming as well, and has two hundred and fifty natives on his farms, +counting women and children. These live in small villages or kraals +on the land, and both Mrs. Meek and her daughter speak the Kaffir +language. Some of the Kaffir men on the Meek farm have six wives; +the farm foreman has that number, and Mrs. Meek says he is a very +reliable and capable man, in spite of his love affairs. The foreman has +twenty-eight children, and each of his six wives lives in a different +hut. When he takes a new wife, there is no marriage ceremony; he simply +invites his friends to a wedding feast, which the other wives prepare. +He buys his wives, usually paying ten head of cattle each; there are +no love preliminaries, except that occasionally a young girl comes to +the foreman’s kraal, and remains until he takes her as his wife. He +is a prosperous man, and prosperous men are everywhere popular with +the girls. The wives of the foreman get along very well together; +they have always been accustomed to the system of plural wives, and +do not seem to object to it. The children living in the kraals, Mrs. +Meek says, are very healthy; more so than white children living in +modern houses in the same vicinity. The grass-covered huts in which +the natives live are less liable to leak in rainy weather than the +houses of the whites, which are almost universally covered in South +Africa with corrugated iron. Mr. Meek pays his native workmen about +$2.50 per month, and board, providing they are reliable and steady. +Their board consists of a certain amount of shelled corn; about all +they eat is corn-meal porridge, and their idea of luxury is to have +brown sugar to sprinkle over it. Most of them have gardens, and Mr. +Meek loans them oxen and plows for cultivating them. A young native boy +who herds cattle gets seventy-two cents a month. The native workmen +employed on the Meek farm have their porridge ground and cooked by a +native employed for the purpose, who never gives them too much, because +the work of grinding corn in a handmill is a considerable task, and +this task falls to the cook. The natives on the farm go to church once +on Sunday, but they seem to attend the services as a means of seeing +and being seen rather than because they are religious. A railroad is +building toward Mr. Meek’s farm, and lately he refused $20 an acre +for it. I am somewhat confused about the yield of corn per acre in +South Africa, as the people always say a field yields so many bags per +morgen; a morgen being a little over two acres, and a bag holding a +little less than three bushels. But it may be safely stated that the +yield of corn in no part of South Africa is equal to the yield in the +corn belt in our section. Disastrous drouths are also very common; corn +has been almost a failure for the past three seasons. I have not seen a +good field of corn in South Africa. But Mr. Meek is a very prosperous +farmer, because of his sheep, cattle and horses. He also milks a good +many cows, and sends the cream to the railroad, “five hours” from his +farm: distances are always computed here by hours, and not by miles. +Five miles from his farm-house is a country village without a railroad, +and there he does his “trading.” He is making an exhibit of stock at +the Johannesburg fair, and his wife and daughter are very anxious to +know whether they took any prizes.... Mr. Meek was born of English +parents, but has never been to England. During the war he would not +fight the English, and he would not fight the Boers, as his wife is of +Dutch descent. So he left home, and went into Natal. His wife remained +on the farm throughout the war, and was constantly surrounded by troops +of the contending forces. Once, when they had an artillery battle, +the shells flew over her house for hours; some of the shells fell in +her door-yard, and, exploding, tore down fences and outhouses. Her +children were away at school when the war began, and did not come home +for eighteen months. Mrs. Meek managed to smuggle a good deal of the +farm live-stock into Natal, where her husband received it and cared +for it on land rented for the purpose. In smuggling sheep and cattle +out of the country, Mrs. Meek’s main reliance was the native foreman, +the wretch who has six wives; he was as faithful and efficient as it +is possible for a servant to be. Occasionally the English talked of +sending Mrs. Meek to the concentration camp, and burning her house, but +she was always able to coax them out of the notion.... She has a +native cook, a man, and pays him a dollar a week. The native women do +her washing and ironing, and do it very well, for a dollar a week; in +addition, they clean and sweep.... Mrs. Meek has never heard of a +divorce among the natives on the farm where she lives. The men of some +native tribes are married in church, by a negro preacher; in such a +case, they are compelled to pay two shillings for a license, but this +civilized plan is so expensive and troublesome that it is not popular. +Besides, when a man is married in church, and pays two shillings for a +license, he is liable to arrest if he marries another wife. + + + + +SATURDAY, MARCH 29.—We are at the far-famed Victoria Falls today, and +traveled here from Bulawayo at the terrific pace of fourteen miles +an hour. The conductor on the train wore a natty white suit, but did +not make up the beds, though he sold the bedding tickets; the actual +chambermaid was a very black native boy. I do not understand why +sleeping-car porters are permitted on some night trains, and not on +others.... I was in a sleeping compartment with a captain in the +English army, who is on his way to a station in the interior, seventy +miles from Victoria Falls. There, in company with another army officer, +he will rule a district, assisted by a few native police. He says +hunting is excellent where he is going, and he showed me his assortment +of guns; including one specially intended for elephants.... The +country between Bulawayo and Victoria Falls (280 miles) looks superior +to that between Mafeking and Bulawayo, but we ran into the inevitable +desert, and suffered considerably from dust. As we approached the falls +the country became rougher, and an hour before we finally left the +train we could see a cloud of mist hanging over the great cataract. +When the train stopped at Victoria Falls station—the railroad runs +four hundred miles beyond this point—we could hear the roar which will +be in our ears constantly until we leave next Wednesday at 1 P. M.... +There is no town at the Falls; only a hotel, a rambling, comfortable +affair which can accommodate two hundred people. The charge is $5.25 +per day each. Five miles away is the town of Livingstone, capital +of North-west Rhodesia, but it has only a handful of inhabitants. +From my room at the hotel I can see the famous railroad bridge which +spans the Zambesi river just below the falls, and passing my window +are wet and bedraggled people who have been through the Rain Forest. +In order to see the falls to best advantage, it is necessary to go +through the Rain Forest and get a ducking. Many of those who arrived +on our train at 7 o’clock this morning will return at 1 o’clock this +afternoon, thus avoiding a delay here of four days; after the train +leaves this afternoon, there will not be another train until next +Wednesday.... I doubt if anyone has ever seen, or ever will see, +all of Victoria Falls. It may only be seen in pieces, and the spray +will always hide much of the great spectacle from the most industrious +visitor; whereas Niagara may be seen in a single glance, in all its +majesty. Victoria Falls is a mile long; about twice as long as Niagara, +and four hundred feet high, whereas Niagara makes a leap of only 162 +feet.... Every time I looked at Victoria Falls, there was usually +an Englishman present to inquire: “Well, what about it?” Meaning, “How +does it compare with your Niagara?” The two falls are not alike, and +cannot be compared; both are wonderful in a different way. Niagara is +situated within a few miles of Buffalo, New York, one of the largest +and busiest cities of the United States, and surrounded by a fertile +and well-settled country. Niagara is in the center of parks, hotels, +mills, street-railways, and civilization of many other varieties; an +American bride who is not taken to Niagara on her wedding trip, may +get a divorce on that ground, if the fact is presented to a court of +proper jurisdiction, but Victoria is in a wild country in the mountains +of Africa, seventeen hundred miles from Capetown, and Capetown is +nineteen days from London, and twenty-nine from New York. Niagara makes +a straight leap, whereas Victoria is more of a cataract. At Niagara, +a great solid wall of sea-green water pours over a precipice; here, +the force of the fall is broken in many places by huge rocks—at one +place the fall is separated by a wooded island, and there are many +other smaller breaks. At Niagara, the river above the fall is clean +and swift, with no rocks. At Victoria, the river above the fall is +broken into a thousand different islands; it looks like a shallow river +overflowing in brush and timber land after a torrent of rain, and much +of the water pouring over the falls is yellow and dirty.... Victoria +Falls is in shape like a huge capital T; the falls represented by the +top of the letter, and the outlet by the stem. The water pours into +a great pool a mile long, and escapes by a narrow outlet not more +than 150 feet wide in places. The water pours into the pool with a +roar that may be heard twenty-eight miles, and stirs up a spray that +causes constant rain to fall in its immediate territory. This spray is +so great that it looks like a cloud against the sky, and may be seen +before you hear the roar of the falls.... Yet the water from this +great pool escapes almost as quietly as water from an undisturbed lake. +After the water escapes from the great pool below the falls, through +the stem of the letter T, it makes a turn at right angles, and sweeps +around like the capital letter U; yet there is no great disturbance in +any part of the outlet from the falls. At Niagara, the whirlpool rapids +is one of the world’s wonders; at Victoria, the river a few hundred +feet below the falls seems to be navigable—it does not look unlike the +Waunganui river in New Zealand, down which we traveled in boats. I +believe one of the Waunganui river boats could come up the gorge below +Victoria Falls.... Every visitor, after looking at the wall of water +pouring over the falls, asks the same question: “What becomes of the +water?” Dr. Livingstone, who discovered the falls, asked the question. +I was with a party of four when I first saw the falls, and all agreed +that, in places, the river a few hundred feet below was not more than +fifty feet wide, although the guidebooks say the width is greater. And +this narrow river is not greatly disturbed a few yards below the great +Victoria Falls; there is no swirling, leaping rapids, as may be seen +four or five miles below Niagara. When looking at Victoria Falls, very +much more water seems to pour over the brink than at Niagara; when +looking at the river below, you are disposed to think the quantity is +much less—as a matter of fact, the quantity is about the same, with +Niagara a little in the lead.... At Niagara, you may see the falls +from an electric car, and go down the Niagara river on top of the +hills, and return beside the whirlpool rapids; but seeing Victoria is +much more difficult. For nearly a mile you walk in what seems a pouring +rain, but which is actually spray from the falls. Most visitors put +on old clothes at the hotel, and quietly submit to the ducking; on +their return, they take a hot bath, put on dry clothing, and sit +on the verandas, and talk about the wonderful trip. During this walk +of half a mile in pouring rain from the spray of the falls, you pass +through what is called the Rain Forest. As rain is always falling, +the vegetation is luxuriant, but not as luxuriant as I had expected. +The path through the rain forest is always wet; sometimes you step +into water over your shoe-tops, and the trees are always dripping; you +cannot see the falls to the best advantage without passing through this +Rain Forest, and you cannot make this trip without becoming as wet as +though you had plunged into a lake with your clothes on. During this +trip you frequently stand not a hundred feet from the falls, and the +spray coming up from the pool is so thick that you cannot see a hundred +feet beyond you. And all the time the great roar is in your ears, and +the rain shifting with the wind. The sun nearly always shines here, +and on this trip along the edge of the falls you may see a thousand +rainbows; I am sure I saw that many today.... The Rain Forest is +not down in the canyon, as one might imagine; it is on a level with +the top of the falls, and sometimes not a hundred feet away from it. +Imagine a street one mile long, and 400 feet below sidewalks on either +side. One sidewalk represents the Rain Forest. Opposite you is Victoria +Falls pouring into the chasm below, and causing a spray which shifts +with the wind, and not only drenches you, but hides much of your view. +The Rain Forest is simply the other side of the falls, and, to travel +its entire length, you must make a detour, and cross the narrow outlet +of the falls chasm by means of the rail road bridge.... The bridge +below the falls is the highest in the world, and in walking across +it you are 420 feet above the water in the gorge below. When it was +being built, in 1903‒5, it was frequently described in the magazines +as one of the great wonders of engineering. The bridge is of one span +only, of the cantilever type, and 610 feet in length. From the bridge, +the hotel, a half-mile away, and near the edge of the canyon, is in +plain view. The bridge-tender is a negro boy, and visitors pay him a +shilling each to cross and return.... The present is known as the +wet season, and, the Zambesi river being at a high stage, the falls +is rather more gorgeous now than it will be later on, when the river +is lower. The Zambesi is one of the great rivers of Africa, and is +referred to in a big way as we refer to the Mississippi or Missouri; +citizens here frequently refer to “the vast territory south of the +Zambesi,” as the Mississippi and Missouri rivers are dividing-lines +in the United States.... The falls were discovered by Dr. David +Livingstone in 1854, and named in honor of Queen Victoria. Livingstone +died in Africa, of the fever. He had faithful friends among his native +followers, and when they found him dead, they embalmed his body as best +they could, and carried it fifteen hundred miles to the sea, whence it +was taken to England, and buried in Westminster Abbey.... The hills +around Victoria Falls are covered with a growth of inferior timber, and +this continues until the end of the railway is reached, 400 miles to +the north.... It is estimated that nearly a million and a quarter +of visitors see Niagara every year; barely two thousand see Victoria +Falls annually, owing to its location far in the interior of Africa. +In order to reach the falls from the sea at Durban, we were compelled +to travel five days and nights by railroad train.... It is said the +fall is 420 feet. It does not seem so great, because the lower part +is hidden in the spray arising from the chasm into which the water +drops. But while you cannot appreciate the unusual fall, you can easily +appreciate that the fall is a mile wide, although broken all along the +edge by islands and huge rocks. In thinking of Victoria Falls don’t +imagine it a solid sheet of water a mile long, falling 420 feet. The +falls are broken into a thousand different streams, and some of them +strike rocks in the wall and break into spray.... I was not greatly +moved when I first saw the falls, but felt that the sight was worth +coming a long distance to see. Pictures of the falls are deceiving, +as are pictures of everything. In taking pictures of Victoria Falls, +photographers look for the fine views; the commoner aspects of the +cataract are rarely photographed. I recall a noted photograph of the +falls which is one of the most majestic things I have ever seen in +pictures; but in order to take it, the photographer was compelled +to climb down a cliff by means of ropes; so the picture is really +unnatural.... There are thirty or forty guests at this hotel, and +I have talked with most of them. They all seem to be well satisfied +with the trip, but none of them rave about the falls as do the writers +in the guidebooks.... No one seems to know the depth of water in +the narrow gorge through which the water from the falls is discharged; +soundings of 150 feet have been made without touching bottom. + +[Illustration: Rhodes Memorial, Kimberley + +Rhodes’ Grave + +Victoria Falls Bridge + +Naval Station, Pago Pago + +Rhodes Statue, Bulawayo] + + + + +SUNDAY, MARCH 30.—Today we again walked to the Falls from the hotel, +a distance of half a mile. Captain Mosley, of the British army, +who shared a sleeping apartment with me on the train coming here, +accompanied us. The captain is changing his station, and has with him +four hunting-dogs and a black boy who has been his cook seven years. +This black boy accompanied us on the walk, to exercise the dogs, and +on the way, the dogs in ranging about, encountered a bunch of baboons. +The captain and black boy ran into the woods, toward the big noise the +fight stirred up, and I followed them, arriving just in time to see the +dogs whipped, and the baboons scamper up the trees. The captain says +the dogs would have been killed had they found full-grown male baboons, +instead of small-sized females and young ones. Baboons are a great +nuisance all over this section. They have almost human intelligence, +and are very adroit thieves. I have been told that baboons will attack +a woman, if they find her alone, but that they have great respect +for men, whom they associate with a gun. Near the hotel is a camp of +soldiers, and they have a tame baboon. They also have a tame deer of a +variety not much larger than a jack rabbit. The soldiers pick up the +deer, and stand it on a table. There are dozens of different kinds of +buck here, ranging from the size of a rabbit to the size of an ox. +The soldiers told me that plenty of reed buck may be found within +four miles of the Falls, but this is the closed season, and one of +the duties of the soldiers is to protect the game. Last night one of +the soldiers saw a leopard prowling around the camp. A few days ago a +lion was killed within a few miles of the falls; the man who killed +it brought in the skull and hide, and received a bounty of $7.50. +Lions destroy a great deal of game, and the government pays for their +destruction. The soldiers patrol a district 100 miles square, and say +they rarely hear of lions attacking a man; they hear lions nearly every +night, but rarely see them, as the animals are as sly as our foxes. +The corporal with whom I talked says that during an experience of +seven years in this section, he never personally knew a lion to attack +man. He has heard of such cases, but you all know how common it is to +hear stories that are not true.... The British captain with whom +I spend a good deal of time, walking about, or sitting on the hotel +veranda, is one of the quietest men I have ever known. He has always +lived among soldiers, having been born in Benares, India, where his +father was an officer in the English army. He lived there until he +was twelve years old. Benares is as old as Babylon; when old Babylon +was a flourishing city, Benares was in existence, and has remained +a city continuously ever since, while Babylon has been completely +destroyed, and its location almost forgotten. The captain tells of his +experiences, when I question him, but is very reticent in speaking of +the numerous forays in which he has engaged. I have no doubt he has had +many thrilling experiences as a big-game hunter, but I cannot induce +him to say much about them.... Another Englishman, named Green, who +is with us a good deal, talks enough for half a dozen. He is a business +man at Sheffield, England, and says that in case of war between England +and Germany, the United States should assist England. Indeed, Mr. +Green thinks the United States should even now present England with a +battleship, and assist in “bluffing” Germany, as New Zealand has done. +One of the ladies present asked me: + +“What are England and Germany quarreling about?” + +“They have no quarrel,” I replied. “They are simply bullies +strutting around and daring each other to fight. I have forgotten +the exact number, but we will say for illustration that England +had a hundred battleships, and Germany fifty. Germany ordered two +additional battleships built, and England immediately ordered four +new dreadnoughts. And this ridiculous proceeding has been kept up for +years; England is pledged to build two warships for every one built +by Germany. The two countries have nothing to quarrel about, but the +English declare they must have twice as many battleships as Germany, +and the Germans say they must have as many battleships as England. And +an apparently intelligent Englishman named Green says that in case this +foolish contest finally results in war between the two countries, the +United States should quit agriculture, and mining, and manufacturing, +and trade, and assist England, simply because the Americans and English +read the same language, although they understand each other with +difficulty when they talk.” + +The Victoria Falls Hotel is owned by the railroad company, and when you +visit the falls you will have no fault to find with it. Two hundred +guests could be easily entertained, but I doubt if there are two dozen +here now, as this is the dull season. Fall begins in this section +with April, and visitors are most numerous during the cool weather. +The most terrible cold-weather story I have heard here is that ice +sometimes forms at night during the terrific cold prevailing in July +and August.... The present temporary buildings of the Victoria +Falls Hotel are to be replaced shortly with permanent buildings to +cost $150,000. But in the present temporary buildings, guests willing +to pay the price may have rooms with private bath, and during the +worst weather the nights are cool. My bed is covered with a mosquito +netting, as is the universal rule here, instead of putting netting +at the windows and doors, but I have heard no mosquitos.... The +Mr. Green referred to above has been looking at land in Africa with +a view of buying for friends in England. English people have a great +deal of cold, damp, foggy weather, and they hear much of the glorious +sunshine of Africa; so Mr. Green’s report as to the possibilities of +farming here will influence a good many. His report will not be very +favorable. He has spent weeks in the different farming districts, and +says he found farmers suffering from a three-years drouth. One man had +a splendid prospect for corn, and thought the harvest would make him +rich. Suddenly the hot winds came on, and in a few days the crop was +ruined. This man offered his farm of 7,000 acres for sale at a dollar +an acre; Mr. Green says he can buy millions of acres at that price, but +will not advise his friends to take it, as the rainfall is uncertain, +and the country infested with ants, ticks, flies dangerous to stock, +etc. Possibly these pests will disappear in time; certain districts +formerly dangerous are now free from the cattle-fly.... Mr. Green +says that in many of the best sections of England, agricultural land +can be bought at $50 an acre; the choicest at from $100 to $150 per +acre. This statement particularly interested me because that is about +the range at which land sells in the district where I live. I had +always imagined that land in England sold at much higher prices than +in Atchison county, Kansas, fifteen hundred miles west of the sea at +New York.... Mr. Green says that last January, in his section of +England, there were only five days without rain; last summer, he saw +only fourteen bright days. There is plenty of sunshine and plenty of +dry weather in Africa, but Mr. Green says he will not recommend the +country to his neighbors. + + + + +MONDAY, MARCH 31.—This morning a dozen guests from the hotel, including +the two travelers from Kansas, took a boat trip of fifteen or twenty +miles on the Zambesi river above the falls. After a walk of half an +hour we embarked in a large gasoline launch, and ascended the river +until about noon, when we went ashore on an island, and explored it +until lunch was ready at 12:30. A Hindu servant, with a native helper, +accompanied us from the hotel, carrying two large hampers, and they +prepared tea, and served an excellent lunch.... The Zambesi river +above the falls is a wide, rambling affair, full of islands, and so +shallow that the course of our launch was marked for several miles. +When we finally landed, it was because we could go no further on +account of a rapids. The river contains more water than the Missouri +or Mississippi river, I should say, but is not navigable. At places +it is said to be a mile and three-quarters wide. A river in this dry +country is a novelty, and people make long excursions to see the +Zambesi. On either side there is a line of hills which do not look +unlike the hills bordering the Missouri river, but the valley is +covered with trees and brush, as was the case in the Missouri “bottom” +fifty years ago. On the Zambesi, the river valley seems to shift from +one side to the other, instead of being confined always to the east +side, as is the case with the Missouri river in its entire course. The +trees along the Zambesi are of a stunted variety; along the African +railways, a fairly large tree attracts almost as much attention as a +river. The African trees are not large and graceful, as are our maples, +oaks, walnuts, etc. One of the wonders here is a cream-of-tartar tree +which measures ninety-eight feet in circumference. It is actually a +dozen stunted trees growing in a bunch, but it is regarded as a wonder, +and every visitor carves his initials in the bark.... Hippopotami +are quite dangerous above the falls, as they upset boats in a spirit +of mischief. They are being shot, and two were killed the day before +we went up the river. Some time ago four tourists rowed on the river, +in small boats. Hippos upset both boats, and two of the tourists +went over the falls; the other two drifted against islands, and were +rescued. It was a man and a woman who were rescued, strangers to each +other, but the tragedy made them friends, and a few days ago they were +married.... There are also crocodiles in the river, and they are +also a nuisance. The man who ran the launch lives on the hotel farm, +and says that since August last, crocodiles have captured twenty of the +farm cattle. The cattle go to the river to drink, or to stand in the +water during the heat of the day, and the crocodiles, some of which are +eighteen feet long, drag them in. One of the soldiers from the camp +near the hotel shot a crocodile while we were on the river.... I +heard a curious discussion while we were eating luncheon on the island. +An Englishman, a church member, had great respect for missionaries. All +the others were residents of Africa, and their testimony was against +them. One man said the superintendent of a penitentiary told him +recently that ninety per cent of the convicts had been “converted” by +missionaries. A mining man testified that negroes who had been under +the influence of missionaries were nearly always less honest and less +useful than natives who had had no such experience. A woman who lived +on a South-African farm of 20,000 acres gave similar testimony, as +did an army man who had served in Africa since the Boer war. Wherever +I have gone, I have heard the missionary experiment denounced by +white residents. I am taking no part in the controversy, but record +as a remarkable fact that in Africa, China, Japan, India, etc., the +testimony of white residents is nearly always against the missionary +experiment. Every traveler remarks this, and comments on it.... This +morning at 3 o’clock a rifle-shot rang out back of the hotel; one of +the soldiers in the camp saw a leopard prowling around, and shot at it. +A photographer living near the hotel has a cow, a calf and a donkey, +and every night these are carefully locked up in pole fences that are +leopard-proof.... This morning, when I awoke, I found a gentle rain +falling in front of my room at the hotel. It turned out to be mist from +the falls. This mist shifts with the wind, and in whatever direction +we walk we run into it occasionally. At points quite distant from the +falls it amounts to only a mist, or a very gentle rain, but at other +places there is a heavy downpour. Along certain walls of the canyon +below the cataract, dozens of waterfalls may be seen, and these are +fed by the mists rising from the falls. There is seldom an hour during +the day that a rainbow may not be seen from the hotel veranda. During +moonlight nights a lunar rainbow may be seen which, experts say, shows +one color not seen in the rainbow in daylight.... I was looking over +the hotel register today, and ran across this entry: “Mrs. Annie E. +McConnell, U. S. A.” I made some remark about finding a visitor from +home, and the clerk said, laughingly: + +“That woman became lost, and fourteen of us spent half of one night +hunting her.” + +The paths around the hotel and falls are very well defined, but +travelers may easily become confused after nightfall. + + + + +TUESDAY, APRIL 1.—On a public desk at the Victoria Falls Hotel is kept +a book marked “Suggestions.” Visitors are expected to write in it +how they liked the falls, and suggest improvements of the service. I +suggest that the average visitor does not care to spend four days here, +as he is now compelled to do. I have found the last two days hanging +heavily on my hands. The hotel at the falls is excellent, considering +that it is a long way from its source of supplies, but trains are +slow, and the cars dusty and crowded. The average train is composed +of compartment cars, with a corridor running along one side. These +corridors are so narrow that two persons cannot pass in them, and it is +quite a task to go through a train in reaching the dining-car. I have +never in my life seen such dirty cars as they have in South Africa, but +this is partly owing to the terrible dust which prevails everywhere; +another explanation is that, as a rule, one porter is expected to clean +all the cars, and in some cases there is no porter. But the trainmen +are always polite, and the tracks good. The dining-cars would be +satisfactory were they not overcrowded. Traveling in South Africa has +been easier than I expected, and the hotels better, but some of the +dust in the railway cars might be easily removed; the addition of one +Kaffir and one broom to each train would prove a great help.... Near +the railway station live two men who deal in curios. Both are hunters, +and both are interesting, and I spend a good deal of time with them; +but they hate each other in a way that is scandalous. There never was +such a thing as rivals in business getting along. They try hard not to +say anything against each other, but their enmity crops out in every +conversation. One of them is married, and has his wife and baby here, +and a bishop will arrive tomorrow to baptize the baby. The other man is +a bachelor, and is trying hard to catch a leopard while I am here, in +an American steel trap. Leopards prowl about the hotel every night, +and several hunters have told me that a leopard is a more dangerous +animal than a lion. A leopard is like a bulldog: he hasn’t sense enough +to know about danger.... The dreaded tsetse-fly is found in this +vicinity, and cases of sleeping sickness are not unknown. I had always +imagined that a man suffering with sleeping sickness became drowsy, +and slept a great deal, but residents say that, while the patient is +drowsy, he cannot sleep, and is very restless. They describe sleeping +sickness as resembling consumption in many ways.... In the vicinity +of the curio shop is a police camp, in charge of a corporal. The +police patrol this district, and this morning I saw a white soldier +start out on a trek to last two weeks. He rode a mule, as horses do +not thrive in this country. Two pack donkeys were led by two natives; +one a cook, and the other an enlisted police officer. The two natives +will walk during the entire journey, and one of them will carry a gun. +The patrol officer told me he would travel about eighteen miles a day, +starting every morning about five, resting from nine to three, and then +traveling from three until nightfall. He rarely makes more than three +miles an hour, as the donkeys are slow, and the sand deep. Wherever +you walk here, you are compelled to wade through sand; sand is the +soil in most parts of Africa.... The patrol officer calls at every +house he encounters, and asks the owner to report any disorder in his +neighborhood. The patrol officer did not carry a tent, and I asked him +why. “Because,” he answered, “we don’t need it; there will be no rain.” +After the short rainy season, the welcome patter of rain is not heard +for nine months.... The engineer who attends to the electric-light +plant at the Victoria Falls Hotel is an intelligent young fellow who, +with a brother, tried farming in a remote district in Rhodesia. They +are about starving; they would have starved had not this brother gone +to work. The other brother lives alone on the farm, and at intervals +comes to the hotel for supplies provided by his brother. They will +eventually desert their farm, without much doubt.... The young +soldiers at the police camp are industrious hunters, and one of them +says he lately killed a crocodile on the railroad bridge which crosses +the Zambesi river below the falls. Crocodiles often travel considerable +distances from the river; in returning to water, this one by accident +struck the railroad track, and was following it across the bridge. The +soldiers at the camp have all sorts of pets, including monkeys, which +they pick up when young, and tame. They irrigate a considerable garden +with water carried from the river by natives. This section must be a +terrific place when the weather is at its worst; it is at its best now, +and we stand it with difficulty. + + + + +WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2.—We said good-by to Victoria Falls this afternoon +at 1:10, and left by train for the East Coast. Captain Moseley came +to the station to see us, bringing all his hunting-dogs with him. +Tomorrow morning at 3 o’clock he leaves for his new station in the +interior, traveling in a wagon drawn by eight yoke of oxen and driven +by two negroes. One of the negroes will sit up all night, to watch the +grazing cattle, and guard the camp, and every afternoon he will sleep +in the wagon. Ox teams travel very slowly, and the captain will walk +most of the way, and hunt as he goes along. A negro servant accompanies +him as cook, and will remain with him at the new station. His nearest +white neighbors will be sixty miles away, and he does not expect to +receive mail more than once in three months.... The train is not +crowded, for a wonder, and we were given a double compartment thrown +into one. Our traveling acquaintances, Mrs. Meek and her daughter +Bettie, are still with us, and they have equally good accommodations. +The South-African railway men take good care of you when it is +possible.... The Bishop arrived at the Falls this morning, and +baptized the photographer’s baby. A young curate came with him, and sat +on the veranda and drank five highballs in quick succession. But the +incident, like women smoking cigarettes in public, attracted no comment +here. The Bishop is a genial man, and was soon surrounded by the women. +The women dearly love an ordinary preacher, but to talk to a Bishop is +an event in a church-worker’s life she never forgets.... During the +dry season, full-grown cattle may be bought in parts of South Africa at +$10 a head.... When I went into the hotel dining-room for breakfast +this morning, the head waiter informed me in a whisper that a few fresh +eggs had just been received from the hotel farm, and advised me to +order soft-boiled eggs. This head waiter was born in the West Indies, +and some of the men under him are Hindus, some of them negroes, and +some of them Portuguese.... This is written on a piece of railroad +track seventy-four miles long without a single curve, which is not a +very big story: in Argentine, South America, there is a similar piece +of track twice as long.... Possibly the reader imagines that ‘way +over here I am a stranger in a strange land. As a matter of fact, I +know nearly every passenger on this train; also, the conductor, and +the waiters in the dining-car. I came up with the trainmen, and I +spent four days with the passengers at Victoria Falls. All of them are +either English or Colonials; no Americans except ourselves. Awhile +ago, the conductor came into my compartment to visit awhile. He is an +Englishman, but astonished me by saying that he likes German ships +better than English ships. On English ships, he says, visitors are +looked at with suspicion, whereas visitors are always welcome on a +German ship. The conductor will go through with us to Beira, from +Bulawayo, and has promised to do his best for us in the way of securing +accommodations on the train. Englishmen who live out here soon have +their sharp edges worn off, and become more agreeable.... There +are certain American things that seem to be universal. Wherever we +go, we see Eastman’s kodaks, National cash registers, Selig’s moving +pictures, Colgate’s perfumes and soap, Chamberlain’s cough syrup, the +_Ladies’ Home Journal_, Robert Chambers’s books, and Mr. Rockefeller’s +gasoline.... It costs a good deal of money to have washing done +over here, and we are wondering over the fact that the most reasonable +laundry bill we have paid was at the Victoria Falls Hotel, where we +expected nothing but highway robbery. When we registered at that +hotel, the manager said he had two rooms reserved for us. They were +double rooms, excellently located. Mrs. Meek and her daughter slept in +one room, on two small beds, and they are grumbling because they were +charged exactly what we were charged. It is so unusual for me to get +the best of it that I am rather enjoying their indignation.... I +have often heard of the extreme brightness of the nights in Africa. I +cannot see that they are any brighter than the nights at home, except +that there are a good many more prominent stars. In the north, we hear +a great deal of the Southern Cross. We see it every night, but consider +it insignificant. We are on the opposite side of the earth from Kansas, +and the constellations we see there cannot be seen here. Pope, the +Englishman, in describing great distance, wrote: “Far as the polar walk +or milky way.” The people in Africa don’t understand the sentence: the +milky way cannot be seen here, nor is our big dipper visible.... +Tonight at ten o’clock, before going to bed, I went forward into the +dining-car to get a drink of water, and found the car full of men +drinking; a custom more common in this country than at home. The +English laugh at our American habit of drinking ice-water. There is a +certain Hot Water much worse, known as John Barleycorn, and Englishmen +drink too much of it.... Poor Mrs. Atterbury, who has lived in South +Africa nineteen years without a sight of her old home in St. Joseph, +Missouri, says she longs to go home in order that she may again see +pretty girls and babies. Mrs. Meek, our traveling acquaintance, who has +always lived in the Transvaal, admits that pretty girls and babies +are scarce here. They do not seem to thrive in this climate. Another +peculiarity is that nearly all the women have black hair; a blonde with +blue eyes is a great rarity in Africa. When a woman’s hair isn’t black +in Africa, it is a fiery red.... The country between Victoria Falls +and Bulawayo seems to be better developed than the country between +Bulawayo and Mafeking. This afternoon, eighty or a hundred miles from +the falls, we stopped at quite a coal-mining town, and saw great rows +of coke ovens. + + + + +THURSDAY, APRIL 3.—In order to reach the sea at Beira, we were +compelled to travel back to Bulawayo from Victoria Falls, and remain +there from 7:30 A. M. until 10:30 P. M. We devoted the day to an +automobile ride, and visited the Khami ruins, fifteen miles from the +town.... Many centuries ago, Africa was inhabited by a race far +superior in intelligence to the present native negroes. These people +left the country hurriedly, for some reason, and it was one of their +deserted towns we visited today. Some learned investigators say the +ruined and deserted cities were built long before the Christian era, +probably in the time of Solomon, and that the gold with which Solomon’s +temple was adorned, amounting in value to ten million dollars, was +mined in Africa. There seems to be no doubt that the gold mines in +Rhodesia were worked many centuries ago; the workers in the mines today +find unmistakable evidence of previous occupation.... The ruins we +visited are scattered over a good many acres, along a river in which +there is only stagnant water. Some of the more extensive buildings seem +to have been used for defense. These are of stone, without mortar, +and hundreds of feet of the walls are in as good condition as they +ever were. There are great cisterns for holding water and grain, and +modern builders say the cement was probably made on the ground, by +a process of which they have no knowledge. Some of the cisterns, if +cleaned out, would probably hold water today. Many relics have been +picked up about the place, which may be seen in a museum at Bulawayo, +and these indicate that the inhabitants were nearly as far advanced +as the ancient Egyptians; they were able to smelt metals, and they +had various kinds of domestic utensils, pottery, implements of war, +etc. The people of Khami knew something of dentistry, of medicine, and +of astronomy. Five hundred ruins or vestiges of former buildings are +found in Rhodesia, extending over an area 800 by 700 miles, and all +these are undoubtedly much older than Columbus, and probably older +than Christ.... Recently ruins have been found in Thibet very +much older than the ruins in Egypt, and, as investigations are more +carefully made, the fact becomes more apparent that no one has yet been +able to realize how old the world actually is.... In going to the +Khami ruins, we passed hundreds of negro women walking into Bulawayo +and carrying vegetables, chickens, firewood, etc. They were all naked +above the waist, and invariably carried their loads on their heads; +one woman carried a watermelon in this unusual way. The chickens were +carried in rough home-made baskets.... The ruined city of Khami is +in a wild and desolate country. On the way there, we saw only one or +two farm-houses occupied by white men, and not many native huts. The +country looked dry and worthless, and the roads were badly washed by +torrential rains. The ruins are located in hills, and the day was so +hot that we did not climb up to several of the most extensive-looking +fortresses. Nothing is positively known about Khami; who the people +were who built the town, when it was built, how long occupied, or when +deserted, is pure conjecture. + + + + +FRIDAY, APRIL 4.—We should have left Bulawayo last night at 10:30, but +the train was late, and we did not get away until after 1 o’clock this +morning. By the time we got our beds made, it was almost time to get up +for breakfast. This is the first time we have found a train more than +a few minutes late in either Australia, New Zealand, or Africa.... +I awoke at daylight in the prettiest country we have seen in Africa; +a country as handsome as the prairies of Illinois must have been a +hundred years ago. Thousands of acres of gently rolling prairie land, +but it looks better than it really is. In 1896 the dreaded rinderpest +killed all the cattle and game in this section, and carts stood idle +in the roads because there were no oxen to move them; the air was +rendered offensive by the stench from dead animals. Whether you try to +raise stock, fruit or corn here, you have pests to deal with, and they +seem to be more persistent and numerous than pests are elsewhere. We +hear of great drouths, and of the people paying a shilling a gallon +for water. Some of the towns have built electric-light plants, but +often there is no water for the engines, and people use candles for +illuminating. Enterprising men build modern hotels in the towns, but +frequently there is no water for the modern baths, and the guests do +well to get enough water to drink.... Another pest here is white +ants. They kill forest trees, and undermine the foundations of houses; +they devour furniture and clothing—yet the country is so fair that +it seems a pity to turn it over to desolation. On the line between +Bulawayo and Salisbury there are a good many towns, including one +built around the best gold mine in Rhodesia. And how the people turned +out to see the train come in! At one place we estimated that there +must have been five hundred around the station. Trains travel over +the line only two or three times a week, and people seem to come from +great distances in the country to see the trains go by. But between +the stations there were millions of acres of land as wild as it was in +the days of Adam.... Early in the morning our English passengers +walked about in pajamas when we stopped at stations; Englishmen love +that sort of thing. At Victoria Falls they visited the Rain Forest in +pajamas, and in Johannesburg I was told that on Sundays and holidays, +pajamas are worn around houses and yards until lunch-time. Englishmen +show their pajamas so much that I cordially hate that particular form +of night-dress; Englishmen have the same passion for running around +in pajamas that American boys have for running around in baseball +suits.... In spite of occasional calamities such as 115 in the +shade, and drinking-water selling at a shilling a gallon, Rhodesia is +progressive, and encourages every enterprise. I have been frequently +told here that the United States agricultural bulletins are the best +in the world, and that they are read with interest in Rhodesia. +Another statement you hear frequently in Africa: “They have adopted +the American method;” but the trouble is, they haven’t the American +means to work with.... A London man told me today that he buys +_Harper’s Magazine_ regularly for two cents, although Americans are +asked thirty-five cents for it. A good many of the American magazines +sell their surplus copies in London at ridiculously low prices.... +The negroes in the most civilized portions of Africa practice +witchcraft, and the authorities are compelled to closely watch the +native doctors and priests, to prevent outrages and murders.... We +arrived in Salisbury at 5:30 in the evening, and remained there four +hours; railroad trains make long stops at stations here without any +apparent reason, unless it is that the engineer, station-master and +guard cannot agree on starting. The first preliminary for starting a +train in Africa is for the station-master to ring a hand-bell. Next +the guard blows a tin whistle, to indicate that he is ready, and the +engineer then blows a blast on the steam whistle. I have heard these +preliminaries gone through with a dozen times before the train finally +started; when the station-master is ready, the engineer isn’t, and when +both these officials are ready to start, the guard isn’t. When the +guard is ready, the engineer and station-master seem to conclude to +let him wait awhile. And so, after a time, they begin all over again, +and, in the course of fifteen minutes, finally get away.... There +is an English woman on the train who is leaving Africa because of bad +health. Her husband is also an invalid, as a result of the fever; in +addition, he lost everything he brought to the country. This woman says +there is a plague for everything in Africa. We walked about Salisbury +with her, while waiting for the train to depart at 9:30 P. M., and the +town seemed as disconsolate as our traveling acquaintance.... I ate +dinner in Salisbury at a little restaurant, and shall always remember +the place, because of two very pretty girl waiters, and because of the +large number of young men who came in to flirt with them. + + + + +SATURDAY, APRIL 5.—Soon after breakfast this morning, we passed out +of Rhodesia into Portuguese East Africa, at a little town the name of +which I have forgotten. A Portuguese customs officer came on board, +but did not bother us, beyond asking if we had either pistols or +guns in our luggage. Being assured that we had not, he bowed very +politely, and departed. The governor of Portuguese East Africa joined +us at this station, traveling in a private car with his wife and a +party of friends. A number of ladies and gentlemen had gathered to +say good-by to the governor and his lady, and I shall never forget +the politeness of these people. Our compartment was within a few feet +of the observation end of the private car, but the Portuguese never +saw us, while other people on the train stared at us as though we +were very odd specimens of humanity.... Soon after passing into +Portuguese territory, the railroad ran through mountains, and the +ride was interesting all the way to Beira, which town we reached at +9:30 P. M. This section is tropical, and bananas and cocoanuts grow +in profusion. Near one town we saw hundreds of acres of growing corn; +and it was much better corn than we had been seeing in Rhodesia and +other parts of South Africa. It wasn’t such corn as we grow, but it +was probably half as good as an ordinary crop in eastern Kansas. I +estimated one field I saw at four or five hundred acres; there were +several others of fifty to a hundred acres. But the fields were +widely separated. In eastern Kansas every foot of the land is devoted +to crops, or pasture, or orchard, but here the occasional fields of +corn were separated by miles of wild land. There is more rain in this +section than in the vicinity of Bulawayo or Victoria Falls, and the +stations on the railway more numerous.... As evening approached, +we noticed that in the native villages, pots were boiling at open +fires in front of the huts. Cook-stoves are unknown among the natives, +and they have very little to eat except corn-meal mush. They make an +intoxicating liquor out of corn-meal, and their holidays are largely +devoted to revelry. The natives nearly all have cows, and drink a good +deal of milk, first letting it sour, and become what we call clabber. +Some of the greatest scientists claim that the free use of clabber-milk +will preserve life well beyond a hundred years. The primitive races +which live longest are liberal users of sour milk, which is claimed +to destroy an intestinal bacteria very fatal to human life.... +The line of railroad to the sea at Beira was built to get cattle to +market from the fly district, Natal and the Cape having quarantined +against cattle in Rhodesia and other districts subject to disease. +The line from Bulawayo is seven hundred miles long, and operated +through Portuguese territory by special concession. It passes through +as interesting a country as we have seen in Africa.... At seven +o’clock in the evening we passed into a swampy country, and mosquitoes +became a pest. These were the dangerous mosquitoes, and we fought them +viciously. And all day the weather had been oppressively hot.... +At 9:30 P. M. we reached Beira, and had to pass our baggage through +the custom-house. This ceremony concluded, we went to the Savoy Hotel +in what they call a “trolley” here. A narrow-gauge street-railway has +been laid all over Beira, but cars are not operated either by electric +or horse power. Every citizen owns his own car, a small, light affair +pushed by negro men. On the principal streets there are three tracks, +and there is a system by which traffic is regulated. When we went +up-town in a passenger trolley, the hotel porter came along behind, +with our baggage on a freight trolley. Freight of every kind is carried +to every part of Beira by these street-railway lines, and there are +little steam locomotives which handle heavy freight at night. Beira +is a Portuguese town, and passing through it at night on a trolley +pushed by two negro men, was an unusual experience. When we reached the +postoffice, the mail trolleys were unloading, and we were compelled to +wait several minutes.... Reaching the Savoy Hotel, which is modern +and comfortable, we went out on the veranda in front of our rooms, and +saw the German ship “Burgermeister,” brilliantly lighted up, lying in +the harbor. We shall go on board tomorrow, and remain twenty-four days, +until we reach Naples, in Italy. + + + + +SUNDAY, APRIL 6.—This morning we took a ride around Beira on a trolley +pushed by a negro man. The site of Beira is a sandbar reclaimed from +the sea, and there is not a horse in the town; indeed, there is not a +horse within a hundred and fifty miles of Beira, owing to the horse +disease. There are no mule or ox-drawn vehicles, and no automobiles, +owing to the streets of sand, so the queer street-railway supplies all +transportation. There are cement sidewalks, but in the middle of the +street the sand is ankle-deep.... The town looks like Manila, in a +way, except that it is not so large. Banana and cocoanut trees grow +everywhere in dooryards, as do the bright red flowers common in the +tropics. Every house is raised six or seven feet above the ground, for +additional coolness, and under many houses we saw natives cooking meals +at open fires. In front of nearly every house was a private trolley; +we saw hundreds of them during the ride. They were usually for two +passengers, and covered, for the sun is always very hot here. I should +say the average private trolley costs fifteen or twenty dollars, and +has four light iron wheels. One man may easily lift a trolley off +the track, which is the manner of disposing of them when not in use. +As the town grows, the street-railway tracks are extended, and many +house-owners build private lines to their premises. It is the most +curious thing I have seen on the trip; I had never before seen + street-railways of this kind, or heard of them. There is a bathing-beach +here, and it can be reached only by these peculiar hand-pushed cars. +The street-railway lines extend not only to every residence section, +but to every business section, and to the railroad yards as well as to +the ship docks. The lines were built by the city, and were not very +expensive, as the rails are light. The up-keep is provided for by an +annual tax paid by every trolley-owner for the privilege of using +the tracks. Many business men have several trolleys; one or more for +their own use, one or more for the use of their families, and one or +more for freight purposes. Although the streets of Beira are composed +entirely of sand, the sand is heavy, and does not blow about as dust. +The weather last night was cool, but the days are very hot.... +The Savoy Hotel at Beira overlooks the sea, and its grounds would be +flooded at high tide but for the protection afforded by a sea-wall. +One might sit on the back porches of the hotel, and fish in the sea. +The waiters are native boys wearing white coats, and dresses such as +women wear. A black man wearing a coat and dress is a queer sight, and +I know of nothing in towns more unusual than Beira. It is thoroughly +Portuguese, and everything is quaint and picturesque. Beira has a +very bad reputation; you hear up the line that everything that is +disagreeable will happen to you there, but we rather liked the place. +The hotel was good, and the people polite; we encountered nothing +disagreeable at Beira except tremendously hot weather.... We went +aboard the “Burgermeister” at 2 P. M., and sailed two hours later. A +Cape Town theatrical man named Sam Marks, had a letter of introduction +to us from traveling acquaintances, and secured us seats at table with +his wife and three other English-speaking people. So everything was +very pleasant until Adelaide went down to her room to dress for dinner. +She found that she had been assigned to a cabin with a Portuguese +woman and a little baby. The woman cannot speak English, and has a +Kaffir man nurse for the baby. The Kaffir man is in the woman’s room +most of the time looking after the baby, and was there when Adelaide +went down to dress. The chief steward, when the matter was called to +his attention, was sorry, but proposed no other remedy than to keep +the negro boy out. We then took the matter up with the captain, who +speaks very good English, and he arranged it by giving Adelaide a room +to herself.... No religious services were held on board in honor of +the day, but a dance was held on deck, in the evening. The ship band +plays a concert every morning at 10:30, and every evening at 9 the +orchestra plays.... When we left Beira, the sea was as smooth as a +millpond. At 10 P. M. a wireless telegram announced that a bad storm +was raging there. For several days we have had intensely hot weather, +but at sea we found a delightfully cool breeze, and Captain Ulrich says +that at this season we should have smooth seas and agreeable weather +all the way to Naples.... The passengers are mainly Germans, as this +is a German ship. There are a few English, a few Colonials, and a few +Portuguese, but we are the only Americans. In the steerage there is +a great mingling of races, including Hindus, negroes and Arabs. These +people bring their own bedding, and do their own cooking. As soon as +the freight was stored away, and the forward hatchway covered, the +steerage passengers settled down for the night, and produced their +bedding and cooking utensils. Some of them eat rice, and some of them +eat corn-meal mush, but all of them eat with their fingers. Somewhere +a fire is provided where they may cook their food, and plenty of water +may be had at a convenient faucet. The firemen are Arabs, and they +mingle with the steerage passengers. I had always imagined that an Arab +was fond of ease, and lazy, but Captain Ulrich says they are the most +reliable firemen to be had, and the most efficient. + + + + +MONDAY, APRIL 7.—We have spent a good part of this day lying off +Chindi, a decaying town at the mouth of the Zambesi river. We arrived +at 9 A. M., and anchored in the open sea, where we rolled and pitched +gently until 4:30 P. M. It seems the “Burgermeister” is ahead of time, +and the tender did not come off until 2:30 P. M. It brought two hundred +negro boys, sixteen to eighteen years old, and entirely naked except +that each one wore a cloth about the loins. These boys had been sent +to work on sugar plantations by labor agents, who received a pound +each for finding them. But the boys soon contracted dysentery, and +are being sent home. When the tender came alongside, many of the boys +were seasick, and some of them crying. They were transferred from the +tender to the ship in a huge basket, ten or twelve at a time. Many of +the boys had sore feet, having walked to Chindi from the plantations +where they were employed. All of them were thin in flesh, and nine out +of ten had no baggage; nothing to eat out of, and nothing to sleep on: +no possession whatever except a loin-cloth, and some of these were +made of grass, or of old matting. The slaves of olden days could not +have presented a much worse spectacle. These boys worked on the sugar +plantations at $1.75 per month. Counting interest on money invested, +and taking into consideration the fact that old slaves must be cared +for, that is cheaper than owning slaves.... Ten white passengers +also came out on the tender, and of course these were brought on board +before the negroes. The passenger basket is a huge wicker affair in +which six to ten persons are locked. Then it is hoisted, by means of +a donkey engine, from the tender to the deck of the ship, or _vice +versa_. Sometimes, when passengers are disembarking, and the basket +is being lowered to the deck of the tender, the waves send the tender +upward quickly, and the passengers get a bad jolt. In the open sea, +the small tenders roll and knock about so much that this method of +handling passengers is necessary. Several children were brought on +board, and in every case they screamed with fright. But if the tackle +holds, the method is safe enough.... The “Burgermeister” is the best +ship we have been on since leaving home. The food is abundant, and well +cooked, and the service excellent in all respects. Captain Ulrich is +the youngest captain I have ever seen on a steamship; he is not more +than forty years old, and probably under that age. He is a famous man +on the line because of the dignified interest he takes in passengers. +He told me last night that during the present trip he hadn’t had an +hour of bad weather; and he left Hamburg February 25, and came through +the dreaded Bay of Biscay and the stormy English channel.... Chindi +is the port of entry for Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia, and the +Zambesi river enters the ocean there. Small boats ply on the river, +and there are sugar plantations in the interior. It is generally +believed that Chindi will be greatly harmed by a new railroad to be +built from Beira.... Nyasaland is one of the modern achievements in +colonization. Although in the heart of the Dark Continent, and given +over only a few years ago to the most appalling barbarism, it now has +a railway service, settlements lit by electricity, vast tracts of land +under scientific cultivation, an improved wagon-road 100 miles long, a +stable government, and cheap land, on which may be grown corn, cotton, +and tobacco. I hear even at this distance of one planter who made +$10,000 in one year from tobacco.... In order to reach Nyasaland at +present, travelers leave ships five miles off Chindi, being transferred +to tenders in baskets. At Chindi they take small boats for Port Herald, +two hundred miles up the Zambesi river. The negro engineers on these +steamboats get $3.75 a month. The captain of the boat is a white man, +and an engineer, but natives have learned his trade, and now do all +the work in the engine-room. This is true all over Africa: the white +men show the negroes, and the negroes pick up all the trades. At +Port Herald begins a railroad one hundred and thirteen miles long, +with very stiff grades, running into the interior. There are only +four white men employed on the line: the general manager, the traffic +superintendent, the chief accountant, and the locomotive foreman. +All the telegraphers are negroes, and do their work well for $2.50 a +month. In order to become telegraphers, it was necessary for them to +learn to read and write English. The head boy in the general offices of +the railway, a very capable clerk, gets $3.75 a month. The locomotive +engineers are Hindus, and receive $30 a month; but the firemen are all +negroes, and receive but $3.75 a month. All the firemen are capable of +running engines, and do run them at times. It is only a question of a +few years until negroes succeed the high-priced Hindus as locomotive +engineers. The section reached by the railroad is devoted largely to +tobacco and cotton. One planter has five hundred acres in tobacco, +and employs eight hundred natives; it is estimated there that tobacco +requires a man and a half to every acre. These natives receive $1.25 +a month and board, but their board costs only two cents a day; they +eat only corn-meal, which costs a dollar a hundred pounds as a rule. +That amounts to less than $2 a month for a good workman. A tobacco +planter in Nyasaland is satisfied if he gets five hundred pounds of +cured tobacco per acre, one-third of the yield in the United States, +and he sells it on an average for seven or eight cents a pound. You +would think his freight bill would eat up his profits, but he pays +only half a cent a pound for transporting his crop to London. The +rate is purposely made very low, to encourage tobacco-growing. It is +not equally low on second-class merchandise in other parts of Africa; +that rate from Capetown to Bulawayo, a merchant told me, is four +cents a pound.... Food is very cheap in the interior of Africa. In +Nyasaland, a half-dozen chickens may be bought for twenty-four cents. +A young man on board is an employee of the Eastern Telegraph Co., and +is being transferred to Zanzibar. He says he has chicken so frequently +that he despises it; his associates lately joined him in a protest to +the company against chicken. The chickens here are small and tough: +every native raises chickens, which are compelled to pick up a living: +they are not fed. The natives do not eat them, but carry them great +distances to market.... The whisky used by the natives is made of +corn, by a very simple process. They crush the grains of corn, pour +water over the mass, and allow it to ferment. Then they add water, +and put it away in earthen jars until needed.... One of the most +interesting men on board is an official of the British company which +built the railroad from Port Herald, two hundred miles up the Zambesi +river from Chindi, into Nyasaland. He is going to England for his +vacation; the ships are all crowded now, as this is the favorite season +for the exiles to go home. He says the English cotton and tobacco +planters in Nyasaland are not very prosperous; they make a living, but +not much more. They are pioneers, and pioneers rarely make a great +deal of money. This man is named Metcalf, and had an attack of the +African fever today. He dosed himself with quinine, and, going to bed, +covered himself with blankets. There he perspired and suffered until +the attack wore off. Many of the passengers of the “Burgermeister” are +invalids going home to recuperate after an experience with the climate +of Africa. + + + + +TUESDAY, APRIL 8.—It is fortunate I am not seasick, and laid up, for +my cabin window looks out on the deck where the steerage passengers +are. Early this morning I heard a babel of voices, and supposed all the +negro boys were on deck, and talking at the same time. Looking out of +my window, I discovered that fifteen or twenty Hindus were doing all +the talking, while the two hundred negro boys were sitting around in +perfect silence. The steerage passengers can look into my room, if so +disposed, and often do. Before I finished dressing, the two hundred +negro boys were fed. Each was given three ship biscuits, and weak tea +was provided for those who could get to it. When the boys gathered +around the teakettle, they reminded me of pigs around a swill-trough. +The stronger boys drank the tea from cups made out of the hollow of +their hands, and the weaker ones, or runts, got none. Several of the +boys were living skeletons, and had evidently been very ill. I threw +an apple to one of the runts, but he had never seen that kind of fruit +before, and I was compelled to inform him by means of signs that it was +good to eat.... Six of the boys sat together, and divided everything +given them. I was told that they were brothers, although there wasn’t +a year’s difference in their ages. Their father probably has a dozen +wives, as polygamy is practiced by nearly all the natives.... While +the negro boys were scrambling for the scant food provided by the +steamship company, the other deck passengers were eating breakfasts of +their own providing. In one place, six Hindu men were eating, seated +in a circle; they seemed to be traveling together. In every party of +Hindus, one of the number seems to be a half-servant, and he waits +on the others. Several of the negro passengers are dressed like the +Hindus, and do not seem to know any other language than Hindu. Other +parties of diners on the deck were Arabs, and all ate with their +fingers. Yesterday, as soon as the ship anchored off Chindi, the Hindus +began fishing, the pastime of lazy people everywhere. All of them had +hooks and lines in their baggage, and the cook provided them with +fresh meat for bait. A dozen or more fish were caught, of a variety +resembling our catfish. One Hindu family caught three fish, which were +“cleaned” for dinner in the dirtiest manner imaginable. I saw the Hindu +mother finally prepare the fish for the fire, and this was the way she +did it: Each piece of fish was dusted with curry powder before going in +the pot, as we dust fish in cracker-meal for frying. Then she put in +a few pieces of potato and onion, and a crushed mass of some sort of +vegetable. The woman’s hands being covered with curry and the crushed +vegetable referred to above, she washed them in water, and poured the +water into the pot with the fish. Then the half-servant took the pot +away, and evidently placed it on the stove of the crew cook. In an hour +he brought it back, and the mess was allowed to cool, after which the +six members of the family gathered around, and ate with their fingers. +The mother made a drink in the following manner: A little condensed +milk was poured into a dirty washbasin nearly full of water. Sugar was +added, and this beverage was passed about, and drank with a relish. +One member of the family was a girl of fourteen, rather pretty, but +dirty beyond description. A boy of eleven was also very good-looking. +The mother, after dinner, lit a cigarette, and handed it occasionally +to her husband, who took a few puffs, and handed it back to his +wife.... Speaking of smoking cigarettes, last evening Adelaide and I +sat with a party on deck to drink coffee after dinner. There were five +ladies in the party, and Adelaide was the only one who did not smoke a +cigarette with the coffee.... The poorer class of Hindus seem to be +the laziest class of people in the world; the poverty of the people of +India is due more to shiftlessness than to British oppression.... +The weather has been superb all day, and land in sight nearly all the +time. + + + + +WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9.—Shortly after breakfast this morning, we went +ashore at the old Portuguese town of Mozambique, and wandered about +until the big ship whistle warned us, at 1 P. M., to go on board. +When we went down the ship’s side to enter the small boats which +carry passengers ashore at a shilling each, we were mobbed by the +Arab boatmen, who were quarreling over our patronage. They fought +viciously, and many of them fell into the sea, but we had had no +excitement for several days, and rather liked the commotion. There +were certainly two boatmen for every passenger, and the noise they made +was tremendous.... Mozambique is Moorish in design, and I greatly +enjoyed my visit there. The streets are narrow and crooked, and the +houses hundreds of years old; in some of them may still be seen the +windows of mica with which they were originally fitted. Everywhere +are the most delightful little parks, and wherever you go in the town +you cannot see your way out, as the streets are crooked, and you see +only queer old houses with thick walls of stucco. In most towns the +streets are straight; there are long rows of houses on either side, +and the streets end in a distant view of the country. But Mozambique +apparently tries to hide the fact that it is a small town, so no street +runs straight for more than a block or two, when it turns; thus you +are constantly in a maze of houses. The streets are not more than +thirty feet wide, and as all doors are open, owing to the intense heat, +the visitor gains an intimate idea of the habits of the people. The +Portuguese are related to the Spanish, so their houses have interior +courts, and these are provided with gardens or fountains, when water +can be had. I have never seen anything more quaint than the shops of +Mozambique; it is a small, dull town, and its people are therefore +polite. Seven out of ten of the inhabitants are negroes, but the +negroes live in a location to themselves, and their houses are almost +as unusual as the houses in the white town, for they differ from all +the other negro huts I have seen in Africa.... Mozambique has an old +fort, and the stones with which it is built were brought from Portugal +in the rude ships of three or four hundred years ago. Its cannon are +falling to pieces from rust, and I doubt if there is a big gun in the +place that could be fired; but a Portuguese garrison is maintained +there, and we were compelled to give up our cameras before going in—the +soldiers feared we might take pictures of the fortification and sell +them to their enemies. Portugal is the weakest of all nations, and has +always been kicked about. It is unprogressive and poor, and people +out here have very little more respect for the Portuguese than they +have for the Kaffirs. Brazil once belonged to the Portuguese, and +it became such a prosperous country that the court left Lisbon and +located in Rio de Janeiro; the colony became greater than the mother +country. But the inevitable revolution soon came, and Brazil is no +longer a Portuguese colony, although there are more Portuguese there +than in Portugal. Portuguese East Africa will become independent as +soon as it wants independence.... The old fort in Mozambique has +been assaulted and captured by the Arabs many times. This section was +formerly the center of the slave trade. The Arabs began stealing the +natives of East Africa and selling them as slaves, but the Portuguese +saw that the traffic was profitable, and the two rivals for supremacy +in what became a world industry, often clashed. It is related that +on one occasion the Arabs besieged Mozambique fort many months, and +when the garrison surrendered, only three of its defenders were left. +There are no better fighters than the Arabs; they made up the armies +with which Mahomet and his successors almost captured the world. The +Mohammedan influence is still strong here; everywhere we see black men +wearing the red cap which indicates the Mohammedan. Occasionally the +red fez is supplanted by a white embroidered cap, indicating that its +owner has visited Mecca, the holy city. On the ship, most of the deck +passengers are Mohammedans, and we often see them at their prayers. +A Mohammedan is as proud of his religion as a Salvation Army man, +and when he is not praying, he reads the Koran with as much interest +as a Christian Scientist reads “Science and Health.” As Christians +say of the Bible, and Christian Scientists say of Mrs. Eddy’s book, +every reading of the Koran displays new beauties.... Among our deck +passengers, the only one who has been to Mecca is a big negro, and he +is as devout as a Methodist class-leader. He has a prayer-rug, and +seems to loan it to the Indians. Both the negroes and Indians should +be ashamed to accept the Mohammedan religion, for it is a mark left on +them by conquerors. Mohammedan Indians associate freely with negroes, +but the Indians who have remained true to Hinduism do not.... In +the history of the human race, probably more cruelty was practiced in +the slave trade between Mozambique and Zanzibar than anywhere else in +the world. And the negroes in the interior do not seem to be any more +capable of defense now than they were when anyone was at liberty to +enslave them. Human slavery is no longer practiced, either because of +civilization among the stronger races, or because it doesn’t pay. Why +should a planter go to the expense of buying slaves when he can hire a +black laborer for $2 a month, and confine him to quarters, and make him +work as many hours as he chooses? This is done in British territory +all over Africa.... In Mozambique we visited the public market, +and found that many of the negro women had their faces whitened like +circus clowns, in order to look like white people. Adelaide weighs +only a hundred pounds, and has rather a small waist, and all the negro +women thought her waist was disgracefully small. One of them asked +if she might measure it with a string. Permission being granted, and +the measurement made, the string was passed around, and attracted a +babble of disgusted comment from black ladies with the middle-age +spread.... Young chickens were sold at the market at eighteen cents +each, and everything else was equally cheap. Mozambique is built on a +coral island, three miles from the mainland, and everything is brought +in by boats.... The Englishman is a grave sort of person, and has +little sense of humor, but Sammy Marks, the theatrical man, made me +laugh today. In walking about Mozambique, we came across a school in +which forty children of all races were reciting in chorus to an Arab +teacher seated on the floor. “Children,” Mr. Marks said to them, “don’t +you know this is a free day? Sammy Marks is in town, and you can take +your books and go home.” Some of the children understood the words +“free day,” apparently, for after a little preliminary chatter, every +child in the room dashed out the front door, leaving the teacher to +wonder what had happened. The English are great in commerce and war, +but I never before knew one who had a real sense of humor.... One +of the passengers on the “Burgermeister” is a Frenchman, and as he +sits at our table, we know him very well. He is an old traveler, and +knows how to handle ship servants. He eats more food, and drinks more +wine, than any other human being I have ever been acquainted with. +But he is a very polite man, and speaks German as well as French, so +that he is of the greatest assistance when I get into difficulty with +the German waiters. He is always buying champagne, and has five or +six boxes of cigars in his cabin. He usually has not only his waiter +hovering over him when in the dining-room, but the chief steward as +well, and his capacity for getting what he wants is so great that he +amuses me, although an electrical engineer at the same table is mad at +him, and talks about a personal encounter.... I visited Mozambique +with Sammy Marks, the theatrical manager from Capetown, and theatrical +men are usually able to get what is coming to them. But Sammy Marks +could not find a ricksha for hire in Mozambique. We saw plenty of +rickshas, but were told that they were privately owned. Just as we +acknowledged that rickshas were an impossibility in Mozambique, along +came the Frenchman in one. Learning that Mrs. Marks and Adelaide were +very tired, he gallantly turned his vehicle over to them. He went away +for a few minutes, but soon came back riding in another ricksha, and +continued with us in it until we returned to the boat-landing. Mrs. +Marks speaks French like a native, having been born in Paris, and when +I make a remark at table that interests her, she translates it to the +Frenchman. One day I was asked to tell an “American story,” and it +happened to greatly amuse Mr. and Mrs. Marks. The Frenchman did not +catch the “story,” saying I talked too fast in telling it. Thereupon +Mrs. Marks translated it, and the Frenchman was convulsed with +laughter. Mrs. Marks telling my “story” in French, and the Frenchman +listening seriously and intently, was a very amusing experience to +me.... When we were ready to return to the ship, we found the tide +out, and the Arab boatmen carried us to their boats. One boatman, in +carrying a very fat woman, stumbled and fell in the water, and the fat +woman was soaked.... Arriving at the “Burgermeister,” my boatman +demanded 800 reis for carrying two of us to the town and back. The +amount startled me, but it turned out that 800 reis amounts to only +ninety-six cents in American money.... A Portuguese gentleman +became a passenger on the “Burgermeister” at Mozambique, and a number +of friends came aboard to say good-by. They were so busy drinking in +the smoking-room that they did not note the whistle which blew for +visitors to depart; so when we were a mile out, we were compelled to +stop, and signal for a tug to come after them. As the visitors departed +each one embraced his friend again, with great deliberation. Meanwhile +Captain Ulrich was walking the bridge, swearing like a pirate. Just +when it was thought the captain would explode with indignation, he was +told that the mail had not been sent on board, and he was actually +compelled to turn the huge ship around and return to the harbor, where +we whistled ten minutes before the sleepy Portuguese put off in a boat +to see what the noise was about. We were delayed an hour and a half by +the sleepy Portuguese, and nearly everyone on board is cursing them. +The Portuguese are everywhere regarded as slow and unenterprising, +and countries controlled by them do not prosper.... I shall long +remember Mozambique as the quaintest town I have ever visited. I had +never heard of it, therefore it was a surprise. + + + + +THURSDAY, APRIL 10.—I awoke very early this morning, and found +unloading in progress at Port Amelia. The deck passengers were up, as +it was necessary to disturb them in order to remove the hatches and +get at the cargo. But when we are at sea, the deck passengers divide +the space over the forward hatch, and make rooms for themselves with +bundles and boxes. Some of them have carpets in their bundles, and +nearly all of them have bedding. A tarpaulin forms a covering over +them, and at night their quarters are lighted by a bunch of electric +lights. It is surprising how well these deck passengers get along, +and how comfortable they are. They may buy supplies of the ship +steward, and seem to have plenty to eat. Most of them are going back +to India, which is not far away from this coast. It was from India +that the small Arab boats came, after the Mohammedan conquest, and +made slaves of hundreds of thousands of the people of the East Coast +of Africa.... Here is an exact description of a dinner I saw six +Indians eat yesterday evening: They squatted around a large pan of +rice, which had been cooking most of the afternoon on the galley stove. +In the centre of the rice was placed a small pan containing a yellow +liquid; probably curry. In the curry-pan was a spoon, and the diners +used this spoon to ladle out the curry into the rice. Each man covered +the portion of rice in front of him with curry, and then stirred up +the mass with his fingers, in order that the curry might be thoroughly +mixed with the rice. The diners were very polite; when one of them +used the spoon, he passed it on to the man next to him. The rice and +curry being thoroughly mixed, the diners made it into balls with their +fingers, and put it in their mouths. During the meal they discussed the +gossip of the day in the most animated manner, as do diners who have +many articles of food, served with plate and silver. One old Hindu in +the party doesn’t seem to be very well, and he soon retired from the +circle, and three others followed him not long after, but two young +fellows remained until both pans were scraped clean. Civilized men eat +a great variety of food, but the more primitive races do not seem to +care for it.... Port Amelia is located in the finest harbor I have +seen in Africa, but it is in the wilds, and does not amount to much. +The place was founded by a major in the English army, who had been +cashiered for bad conduct. He sold his rights to a British company, +which secured a franchise for a railroad to Lake Nyanza, and hopes +to finally be able to finance the venture. Any story of the American +frontier may be duplicated in Africa; adventurers are bold, and capital +timid. Several Arab boats which seemed to be hundreds of years old, +came off after cargo. These boats do not exceed sixty or seventy feet +in length, and sail all along the coast and to India. Several of the +passengers accompanied Captain Ulrich ashore before breakfast. The +captain is an enthusiastic photographer, and takes pictures in natural +colors with an ordinary camera. Anyone may do it by using the special +plates which are sold in most trade centres. The captain sells his +pictures in Germany for very good prices.... Port Amelia was a short +horse, and soon curried, and by 10 A. M. we were out at sea again, +being entertained by a Hindu fakir who obtained permission to come up +on our deck. This man has been my neighbor ever since I came aboard at +Beira; he is camped on deck, with his family, in front of my window. He +has a wife, a daughter of fourteen, a son of twenty, and a son of nine, +and an old retainer who seems to be half cook and half assistant. My +neighbor proved to be the cleverest man of his class I had ever seen. +The collection amounted to only $2.50, and the old man was considerably +disappointed, saying he did better in the second-cabin the day before. +The son of twenty attempted a trick, but failed to do it, and was +hooted by the passengers. Then the father attempted it, and succeeded +without any difficulty. The old fakir knew me, having seen me in my +room many times, from his quarters on deck, and addressed most of his +conversation to me while doing his tricks. He talks a little of half +a dozen languages, and Sammy Marks, the theatrical manager, says the +old fellow would prove a drawing card at any theatre.... There is a +woman on board who is said to resemble the late Queen Victoria. I think +she started the story herself, as she seems very proud of the alleged +resemblance.... The people on this ship are much politer, and much +quieter, than were the passengers on the English ship “Anchises,” on +which we sailed from Australia to South Africa. The English go crazy +about ship sports, and greatly annoy those who want to be quiet, but +the Germans are more considerate of others. + + + + +FRIDAY, APRIL 11.—We have spent this day in the open sea. Usually we +are in sight of land, but if there has been any in sight today I have +not seen it. There was a rain-storm this morning, but it soon passed +away. This is our fifth day out, but the sea has been remarkably +smooth; I have never seen it equally gracious, either on the Pacific +or the Atlantic. We have not had enough motion to disturb the weakest +stomach, and I shall always remember the Indian ocean with gratitude. +The weather has been hot, but usually we can find enough breeze to +be comfortable. A good many slept on deck last night, finding their +cabins stuffy.... The leader of the band and orchestra is a waiter +in the dining-room. I cannot understand why a man able to lead a very +good orchestra with a violin, and a very good band with a cornet, is +compelled to work as a waiter. The bass player in both organizations +is our table steward, and he is very capable, although he cannot speak +a word of English.... There are eight at our table. One was born in +France, one in Alsace-Lorraine, one in Scotland, one in England, one +in Wales, one in Spain, and two in America. One of the ladies traveled +three years in India and two in Australia, with a circus owned by +her husband, and did a riding act. She is now a widow, and conducts +a riding-school in Johannesburg. One of the men is a Johannesburg +electrical engineer, on his way to America to study late developments +in the science. Another is Sammy Marks, a theatrical manager, who will +shortly open a new theatre at Nairobi, British East Africa. This town +is 350 miles inland from Mombasa, and on the way there he will pass by +rail through as good a game country as there is in Africa. His wife +looks and talks like an American girl, and, being accused of it by me, +replied that she was glad of it. She was born in Paris, but has lived +in Africa since she was a little girl. Still another man at our table +is the Frenchman before referred to, one of the politest and oddest +characters I have ever known. He is an automobile agent, and told me +that on his present trip he sold eighty-five machines in Africa. He +doesn’t like the Germans on the ship, and makes them all the trouble +he possibly can. One day at dinner he ordered fish, and six different +kinds of meat, which he nibbled at, and sent away. He always drinks +two kinds of wine at dinner, and sometimes three. He keeps the waiter +so busy that the others at the table complain of neglect. The food +on the “Burgermeister” is surprisingly good and abundant.... I +suppose there was never a chief steward on an ocean-going vessel who +was not a mean man. He it is who must say “no” when passengers become +unreasonable. When a woman complains to a retail grocer of one of his +clerks, the grocer sides with the woman, but at heart he believes +the clerk was right. It is the same way when a passenger complains +to the captain of the chief steward: the captain is sympathetic, but +believes the steward is right. Our chief steward is a big, good-natured +man, and while we are all in league against him, we are disposed to +like him. The captain is not only the youngest man I have ever seen +in command of a ship, but the best-looking. The chief officer is not +over thirty years old. All the members of the crew are young, and +speak enough English to “get along” after a fashion with the English +passengers. One woman ordered a cup of tea, and the waiter brought +her two bottles of whisky, opened. Another woman ordered a plate of +crackers, and the waiter brought her a whisky and soda. These are +cases you hear of; I have had no trouble, and congratulate myself +that I chose a German ship instead of an English one. There is a +quiet gentility about the passengers I greatly admire. I heard before +coming on board that there would be no English-speaking passengers. +Nearly all of them speak English, and the bill of fare is printed in +English, as well as in German. The African trip is not an advisable +one, owing to the great distances, but anyone who makes it in spite +of my advice to the contrary, should go home by the East Coast in a +German boat.... There are a large number of young men on board, +and all of them well-behaved. There are only two girls on board, +and only ten women altogether. The orchestra plays every night, and +there is usually dancing; the five dancing women receive a lot of +attention.... The feeling between the English and Germans is more +intense than I expected to find it. When an Englishman asked me what +would be the attitude of the United States in case of war between +Germany and England, I was amused, but since then a dozen have asked +me the same question. They all seem to think the United States +should assist the English. On one of the ships of the German East +Africa line, a few weeks ago, there was an incident which might have +precipitated the long-talked of war between Germany and England. Among +the passengers were several Englishmen; one of them with a title. On +this line it is a habit among the women to drink coffee after dinner +in the smoking-room. The Englishmen did something that was considered +offensive by the German women, and, the captain hearing of it, he +promptly called the Englishmen to account. The Englishmen were furious; +particularly the one with a title. He said the women had no business +in the smoking-room; that he had done nothing offensive, and would not +be corrected by anyone, captain or no captain. The captain also had +a temper, and he replied that if a titled Englishman didn’t know the +ordinary rules of politeness, he would teach him. The two men glared +at each other a few moments, and the incident was closed, but it +might easily have resulted in serious trouble; if the captain had put +Sir Thomas in irons, an international complication might have arisen +speedily. The Germans have hasty tempers, and are slow to apologize; +the same thing may be said of the English, and both have a very good +opinion of their fighting ability; with Germany rather in the lead +in conceit, since the Boer war.... This morning the band played a +selection which closed with “God Save the King.” Two Englishmen who sat +near me, arose to their feet, and stood until the hymn was finished. +Yesterday the band played “The Watch on the Rhine,” but the Germans +paid no attention to it; they did not even applaud. Last night the band +played “The American Patrol,” closing with “The Star-Spangled Banner,” +but the two Americans on board paid the air no special attention.... +A printed notice was placed on the bulletin board this afternoon, +stating that Law mass will be celebrated in the ladies’ parlor next +Sunday, at 10:30 A. M. There was great curiosity to know the meaning of +Law mass. Being a printer, and accustomed to the mistakes of printers, +I was able to solve the riddle: the printer should have set up the +word “low” instead of “law.” The mystery was nothing more than a +typographical error.... There is a bride and groom on board, and the +fact that one or the other is sulking most of the time has attracted a +good deal of attention.... One passenger has attracted everyone’s +admiration because he is a fine walker. Most people walk in a very +awkward manner, but this man, a Portuguese count, walks with so much +grace as to attract compliments.... At 9 o’clock tonight we came to +Zanzibar, and were at once surrounded by the usual crowd of screaming +boatmen. Near us was anchored the steamer for Bombay, and the Hindu +deck passengers packed up and departed. I shall miss them every morning +when I look out of my window; they came to know me, I was so close a +neighbor. The Hindu juggler was my favorite: he had a far-away look +that would have become a mystic. The big negro Mohammedan who took so +much pride in his prayers also stood high in my estimation, as he was a +very dignified and quiet man. I went down to the gang-plank, and said +good-by to these two as they disembarked carrying their pans and pots, +and boxes and bundles.... Some of the passengers went ashore, but +I remained and listened to the band concert, and watched the unusual +scene of activity about the ship. The men engaged in unloading are +mainly Mohammedan negroes, and they make more noise and do less work +than any other workmen I know anything about. They not only scream all +the time, but keep up a sort of song. At intervals they all quit the +work on which they are engaged and clap their hands in unison. + + + + +SATURDAY, APRIL 12.—Zanzibar is unusual in many ways, but not as +unusual as I expected it to be. I measured several of its streets this +morning, and found them nine feet wide. These were mainly residence +streets; the principal business streets are a little wider, and +automobiles run in them. I met a gentleman named Hay in Zanzibar, an +official of the cable company, and called at his home several times. +He lives in the queerest house I have ever seen. It fronts on the sea, +and was built and occupied many years by an Arab gentleman. The house +is enormous in size, and some of its rooms must be thirty or forty feet +square; it amused me immensely to see a dining-table, set for two, in +the centre of the enormous dining-room; Mr. Hay has no children, and +he and his wife are the sole occupants of the big house, except that +four native servants slip about as quietly as mice. In the centre +of the house is an enormous court, open to the sunlight, and when I +visited the place we used to run across this, to avoid sunstroke. The +bath-room of the house is another large room, with a depression and +drain in the cement floor; every floor in the house is of cement and +the walls of rough stucco plastered outside and inside. The water +for bathing is carried to the Hay home by negro women, and for this +service they receive three shillings a month, or seventy-two cents. +The women carry the water on their heads, in Standard Oil tins, and +have the best figures in the world, because of their habit of carrying +loads on their heads. In the Hay house, as in all the other homes +in Zanzibar, there is a roof garden, where the dwellers go when the +nights are excessively hot. The Hay servants receive $1.25 a month, +and board themselves. Mr. Hay told me they were great thieves; most +of the other white people I met in Africa spoke highly of the honesty +of the blacks. The approach to the house is a crooked street nine +feet wide, and the front door an elaborate affair of bronze. An Arab +invests a great deal of his money in his front door, as river pilots +are said to invest most of their money in watch chains. This queer, +rambling house rents for $20 a month. While sitting on its veranda, +looking out to sea, a warship lying only a few hundred yards away +fired a salute of a dozen guns, and caused Adelaide to scream, as +the guns were pointed directly at us.... Mr. Hay has lived on the +edge of the east fifteen or twenty years, as an employee of the cable +company, and says that in his bachelor days he never shaved or put on +socks except when a ship was expected in the harbor. The arrival of a +ship in these far-away places is a big event to the white residents, +as they nearly always dine aboard, and hear gossip from home.... +Zanzibar, the town, is not as large as I expected to find it. I don’t +know how many blacks are scattered over Zanzibar island, which is 50 +miles long and 25 broad, but the total white population amounts to less +than one hundred and fifty. Of white women and girls, there are only +fifteen; and all of them smoke cigarettes, one citizen told me. When I +meet a woman over here who smokes cigarettes, I am usually told that +her husband is coaxing her to quit the habit. While in Zanzibar, the +subject of women smoking cigarettes came up, and several men said to +me: “My sisters never smoke; they would as soon think of cutting their +throats.” I have rarely known a woman cigarette-smoker who did not +tell me that her husband objected. Nice women smoke, but they would be +nicer if they didn’t. Cigarette-smoking in women seems to be associated +more or less with drinking: I sat in a party one night, at one of our +stopping-places, and one woman drank five highballs, in addition to +smoking nearly a box of cigarettes.... There is one narrow, crooked +street in Zanzibar which is occupied entirely by Hindus. The street is +so narrow that a carriage cannot be driven through it, and the shops +of the tradesmen are very small; a merchant may sit in the middle of +his shop, and reach everything it contains. Many of the occupants +of the street are jewelers, and manufacture very wonderful articles +with very simple tools. Leading off the street referred to are other +narrow streets, and there is nothing more curious in Cairo or Delhi. +Prices are actually very high in Zanzibar, unless you haggle with the +merchants. One woman who was asked $35 for a cat’s-eye, finally paid +$5 for it; another was asked $7.50 for an opal, and got it for $1.25. +A professional horse-trader might do well as a shopper in Zanzibar, +but the ordinary traveler is robbed. In San Francisco are curio stores +displaying eastern goods five times larger than any similar store in +Zanzibar. And in San Francisco the one-price system prevails. There +are still larger stores in New York for the sale of curious things +of Japanese, Indian or Chinese manufacture, and the merchants are +reliable, whereas if you attempt to buy anything in Zanzibar, you +usually deal with a rogue.... I had an automobile ride in Zanzibar +I shall always remember. We drove across the island, a distance of +twenty-four miles, and were almost constantly passing through native +villages. The natives of Zanzibar seem to be more prosperous than the +other negroes we have seen, and they have adopted all the customs of +the strange races they meet here. Everywhere we saw negro women hiding +their faces behind veils, a custom learned from the Hindus. We also saw +negro women with gold buttons in their noses, rings on their toes, and +bracelets on their ankles; they had seen these customs practiced by +other women, and adopted them, without any particular reason.... I +believe I saw more cocoanut trees on Zanzibar island than I ever before +saw anywhere; and everywhere the people were preparing copra, the +dried meat of the cocoanut. Copra produces an oil used in soap-making, +and is in brisk demand. Wherever we go here we get the disagreeable +smell of copra; it reminds one of very rancid butter.... We also +passed through many miles of clove trees. Ninety per cent of all the +cloves produced in the world are raised on Zanzibar island, where +conditions are just right. Cloves are widely used in the manufacture +of perfumes; in nearly every perfume is a little of the oil of clove. +The clove trees are eighteen to twenty-five feet high, and do not +look unlike orange trees. The crop is gathered by native women and +children, and finds its way to every portion of the world. The island +of Zanzibar is not unlike the island of Ceylon, of which it reminded +me. Rice is extensively grown, and the banana and mango flourish, as +do mosquitoes, malaria, donkeys, goats, and the inclination to go +naked all the year ’round. Returning from the automobile trip, we were +late, and the driver, a Hindu, tore like mad through the streets of +the native villages. We lit our lamps at a native village, and entered +Zanzibar after nightfall. Riding through the narrow streets of this old +town after night, in an automobile, was an experience I shall always +remember, for Zanzibar reminds every visitor of the towns described in +“The Arabian Nights.” It is a typical Arabian town, and there seems to +be a mystery and a romance behind every door. The town was ruled for +hundreds of years by a Sultan, until the English took charge. There is +still a sultan, who receives a salary from the English government, but +some day he will be deposed, and there will be no further pretense of +a Sultan having anything to do with the government. The old palace of +the Sultan—an ugly affair which looks like a boarding-house—is used for +offices by the British. Near the palace is the harem, now deserted, +since the present Sultan has but one wife. The Sultan who had trouble +with the English was educated in England, and spent much of his time, +and all of his revenues, in Paris. One day an English gunboat sailed +into the harbor, and the captain told the gay Sultan that he had been +ousted. The Sultan resented the high-handed proceeding, and sent word +to the defenders of his dignity to sink the English gunboat and put +the insolent captain in the dungeon. There was an old fort near the +palace, on the walls of which were mounted a few rusty iron cannon. The +defenders of the Sultan tried to fire these at the English gunboat, but +they burst, one by one, and almost wiped out the Sultan’s defensive +force. The captain of the English gunboat then began dropping shells +into the palace, and, with one solid shot, sank the Sultan’s navy: a +small vessel which carried four guns. The last remnants of this wreck +were being removed from the harbor the day I was at Zanzibar.... +Near the middle of the town is a place called “The Gardens.” It was +formerly the bathing resort of the wives of the Sultan. The place +is now used as a town hall, and I went there with Sammy Marks, the +theatrical manager, who wished to engage it for an attraction. He paid +twelve shillings for the use of the hall. Dances are also held in the +hall; the bathing-pool is covered with planks when the hall is rented. +On other days, the bathing-pool, formerly the resort of the Sultan’s +wives, is used by the school-boys, and scattered around the hall I saw +a good many pieces of gymnastic apparatus.... Our summer weather is +never as hot as the hot weather of Africa. Whenever we go ashore we +carry a sunshade, and, with that protection, suffer more from heat than +we ever suffer at home.... After our return from the automobile +trip, Mr. and Mrs. Hay were our guests for dinner on the ship. They +remained until nearly midnight, listening to the band concert, and +“visiting.” Their boatman was anxious to go ashore, but Mr. Hay dared +him to; there is a law here that a native boatman who takes a passenger +out to a ship, must wait until the passenger is ready to return.... +This afternoon we drank tea with an English official on the other side +of the island. The official invited in several other Englishmen and +their wives. The Englishmen were very polite, but I have never felt +more uncomfortable in my life. I didn’t know when we started on the +automobile ride that there was to be a function; it was arranged as an +agreeable surprise by Mrs. Hay. I am sure the polite Englishmen enjoyed +the parting as much as we did.... Dozens of native guides came on +board last night and this morning, offering their services. Most of +them had big names; one called himself George Washington, another +Abraham Lincoln, another Oliver Cromwell, etc. But one quiet, modest +negro said to the passengers: + +“Me Poor Charley.” + +And Poor Charley was a favorite; everyone who needed a guide tried to +engage him. + + + + +SUNDAY, APRIL 13.—England and Germany are not far apart in East Africa. +We left Zanzibar, which is in British territory, at 5 A. M. this +morning. Four hours later we were in Dar-es-Salaam, the capital of +German East Africa. I shall remember this place particularly because +the ship entered its harbor through an entrance which did not seem to +be more than two hundred feet wide in one place, and because of the +great number of Germans who came aboard, and remained all day, and +nearly all night, drinking beer and singing songs. Most of our German +visitors wore uniforms; Germany uses more uniforms than any other +country in the world, population considered. We went ashore at 9 A. M., +and found a very pretty modern town with the usual fifty blacks to one +white. There is a hotel at this place which is considered a wonder, and +a good many of the passengers went there for lunch or dinner.... +All the time we were walking about, black ricksha boys followed us, +and finally they proved a blessing when a rain came up; we entered the +vehicles, and went to the hotel, where we found a lot of our passengers +drinking beer on the verandas.... Cocoanut trees grow in great +profusion here, and on one I counted fifty-four nuts. I have always had +a notion that four or five nuts is a pretty good average for a cocoanut +tree. + + + + +MONDAY, APRIL 14.—We have been in three different towns today: +Dar-es-Salaam, Zanzibar, and Tanga. We left Dar-es-Salaam at daylight, +and stopped at Zanzibar for the mails at about 10 A. M., remaining an +hour. Several of our friends came on board, but none of the passengers +went ashore. Dozens of Indian merchants came out to the ship, and +worked rapidly, as they expected the whistle to blow any moment. The +passengers also shopped rapidly, having heard that goods might be had +at low prices during this brief shopping period. Hundreds of purchases, +mostly of useless trifles, were made. Most travelers are as particular +to buy presents for all their friends as they are to remember them at +Christmas-time. When the whistle finally blew, there was a scramble +of merchants and their assistants to get into the little boats, and +one man was compelled to jump and swim for it. Many of the passengers +ordered clothing of the Zanzibar tailors, on Saturday, which was +delivered today. A pants and coat of white duck, so generally worn +here, cost $2.50 for the best quality, and as low as $1.75 a suit for +lighter material. The ladies also ordered skirts, and the charge was +$2.25.... At 11 A. M. we left Zanzibar, and six hours later were at +Tanga, also in German East Africa. We have made very little progress in +the last three days, our time being devoted to loading freight. But I +think we took on most of all at Tanga. All through the night the steam +winches were going, and they did not cease work until after breakfast. +One gang of men slept while the other worked. The forward winches are +not many feet from my cabin window, and all through the night there +was a tremendous racket, but, greatly to my surprise, I slept fairly +well.... The usual uniformed Germans came on board at Tanga, and +visited our officers. At Dar-es-Salaam and Tanga every vacant berth +on the ship was filled with a German, and several are sleeping in the +music-room. Five of the new passengers are babies, and several of the +others are Kaffir nurses. One of these nurses is a man with whiskers, +and certainly six feet high. To see him caring for a baby is very +amusing. Still another new passenger is a Kaffir girl, a nurse, but +she is so scantily dressed that she has been refused the run of the +upper decks.... A young German girl left the ship at Tanga, and we +hear she is engaged to the ship doctor. Their love affair has been the +subject of much gossip, and when the girl left for shore in a small +boat she wept bitterly. Bets of two to one are freely offered that the +engagement will not result in marriage.... There is general relief +because a young bull, which has been on board ever since we left Beira, +departed on a scow at Tanga, after being lifted over the sides by the +steam winches. The bull seemed to understand that he was about to get +rid of his long confinement in a narrow box, and behaved very decently +while being unloaded.... The trip up the east coast of Africa is +distinguished because of its many stops, but this makes it a long trip. +We are becoming tired, and did not go ashore at Tanga. + + + + +TUESDAY, APRIL 15.—There must be a tremendous amount of cargo on this +boat. We ceased loading at Tanga at 9 o’clock this morning, and at 5 +P. M. began again at Mombasa. At 5:15 we went down the stairway at +the side of the ship, and a fight began among the boatmen over our +patronage. The negro crew of row-boat No. 5 won, and we went ashore, +stopping on the way at the “Adolph Woerner,” lying in the harbor. +Landing, we walked a block to the street-railway, which is one of +the queer affairs called a “trolley” over here, although there is no +trolley. The street-railway runs from the port, called Killindini, to +Mombasa, a mile and a half away, and only handcars, pushed by native +men, are operated. There is a double track, with branches to every +important section of Mombasa. Every citizen of importance owns one +or more handcars, called “trolleys,” and these are lifted off the +track when not in use, and you see them standing everywhere about the +town. The fare up-town by trolley is not five cents, as is the case +in the United States, where the people are mercilessly robbed by the +corporations; the fare is forty-eight cents per passenger, after 6 P. +M., and twenty-four cents during the day. Three men pushed our trolley, +and, when they came to a piece of down-hill track, they all rode. We +had employed a black boy as guide at the landing, at thirty-six cents +an hour, and when we struck an up-hill piece of track, the guide also +helped push. Thus with four men we got along very well, and were soon +in the heart of old Mombasa, said to have been besieged oftener than +any other town in the world; which is a pretty good story, if true, for +there is fairly accurate authority for the statement that Jerusalem +has been besieged and taken fifty times.... The trolley system of +Mombasa stops at the postoffice; we left our car there, and walked +into the old part of the town. In Zanzibar the streets were crooked, +but in the old section of Mombasa the buildings seem to have been +built without any order whatever. There are no streets; only spaces +between the buildings, and these are very narrow. The inhabitants +of the section through which we passed at about 6 P. M. are mainly +people from India, and thousands of children were playing about the +narrow passages, or in the quaint shops, which were almost as small as +shops set up by children at play. It was almost dark, and the usual +illumination in the average shop was a lantern. The shopkeepers wore +turbans, and all sorts of strange clothing, and there was a touch of +every country except the country I am most familiar with. I could not +have named one-tenth of the articles displayed in the shops, and in +one place a phonograph was playing Hindu airs as strange to me as the +old town of Mombasa. We went to a market where hundreds of people were +quarreling over food prices, and where the people seemed to come out +of foreign books rather than out of real life. Occasionally we came +across a wholesale house, and in the offices of these we saw Hindus +working at typewriters. Drinking-shops abounded, and out of these came +drunken men who leered at us impudently and curiously. There were a +good many native hotels with guests sitting idly about. Mothers ran +everywhere hunting their children, and the streets, not much wider +than our sidewalks, were crowded with jabbering, gesticulating men +and women who seemed to us to be rather ill-natured.... We passed +an old fort which looked as large as Edinburgh castle, in Scotland; +Mombasa is a big town, and prosperous, and its institutions are on +a large scale. The guide said there was a still more interesting +fort fifteen minutes away, and we went there by trolley. The fort +is situated on the seashore, and only a ruin, but it looked very +interesting in the moonlight. The old cannon used in defense of the +place, I don’t know how many centuries ago, were still looking grimly +out of ruined portholes, and just below the portholes the waves were +tumbling noisily, as if anxious to climb up the rocks and complete the +ruin of the place. Near the old fort was a lighthouse, flashing its +signals out to sea, and directly in front of the lighthouse was the +wreck of a steamship. The tide was out, and we went on board for a few +minutes. There is probably nothing which so completely depicts ruin +and desolation as a wrecked ship, lying on its side, and stripped of +everything of value by vandals and the sea. We also climbed up to the +lighthouse tower, and the keeper showed us the mechanism. It was the +first lighthouse I have ever inspected at close quarters; usually they +are located on rocks hard to get to.... When we went back to town, +neither English nor German money would satisfy the trolley-boys, so I +went into the shop of a money-changer, and paid twelve cents for enough +Indian rupees to satisfy my creditors. The three trolley-boys who had +taken us to the old fort took us to the landing, at a breakneck speed. +One of the three rode all the time, and they relieved each other at the +work of pushing. When the grade was down hill, they all rode. Down one +long hill we must have traveled at the rate of thirty miles an hour. +When we left the trolley, we were seized upon by a boatman who had +wandered from the landing to get the first chance at ship passengers +returning from town. + +“Promise me, master,” he said; “me No. 67.” We promised, and followed +him to the landing. Other boatmen constantly joined our procession, +and we were soon in the center of a howling, fighting mob, but we had +promised No. 67, and were faithful to him. At first, he was one to a +hundred, but as we neared the landing, his three companions came to +his assistance, and we were finally able to go aboard No. 67. I sat +in the stern, and handled the tiller-ropes, and the ride out to the +ship was cool and enjoyable.... Arriving at the ship, we found it +surrounded with freight barges, and loading in furious progress. Eight +steam winches were at work, four forward and four aft, and hundreds +of screaming natives were swarming over the barges and down in the +hold where the freight was being stored. A man who lives in this part +of the world, and is familiar with it, says that when the natives are +talking, they are at work; when they are quiet, he stirs them up with +a stick, for he knows they are loafing. The loading on the forward +deck was not ten feet from my cabin, and the quartermaster assured me +it would go on all night. At 10: 30 there was a short rest, and the +native workers swarmed up from below, and over from the barges, to be +fed. The crew cook gave them pans of either rice or corn-meal mush, I +could not tell which, and the men sat around in groups, and ate it with +their fingers. The deck passengers, who have comfortable quarters over +the hatchway when we are at sea, scatter everywhere when the hatches +are uncovered, and loading is in progress.... I was much interested +in a negro man who had two wives. The women had little babies of +about the same age, and the husband seemed as fond of one wife as of +the other. The husband was a young man, perhaps twenty-five, and his +wives were still younger. The black babies were much better behaved +than the white ones in the first-cabin. Since the arrival of the five +white babies, the “Burgermeister” has been turned into a nursery. Some +mothers are disposed to be apologetic when their children annoy others, +but the mothers on the “Burgermeister” look at the other passengers +as though they are a mean lot for not assisting in taking care of the +babies. When a baby cries in my presence, I somehow feel as though I +made it cry. I learned the various processes of caring for babies in +bringing up my own, but had I not learned the art long ago, I might +learn it all on board the “Burgermeister,” from intimate association +with it. All the babies are German, except one Portuguese.... I +was more interested in Mombasa than in Zanzibar. It is larger, and +has better public buildings of every kind. The general impression +is that Mombasa has a bright future, while Zanzibar seems to be as +large as it can ever hope to be.... The known history of Mombasa +began a thousand years ago, but many say this section was settled, +and was the scene of fierce wars, long before the Christian era. It +has been Portuguese territory and Arab territory, and they quarreled +and fought over it constantly until the British took possession, and +told both contending factions to behave themselves. If the old forts +in Mombasa could talk, they might tell tales of bloodshed and cruelty +that would startle modern mankind.... Mombasa is the port of entry +for the vast territory of Uganda, a name which calls up memories of +Livingstone, Speke, Grant, and Stanley. The railroad beginning here +runs to Victoria Lake. It was this railroad on which Roosevelt made +his trip into the interior, riding on the cowcatcher much of the +way, and being in constant sight of big game. I have seen no wild +game except one pheasant, and a good many baboons, but it is all +around us, a few miles in the interior.... Imaginative writers draw +beautiful word-pictures of this country and its future, but the facts +are that it is a country beset with many pests and difficulties. I +have talked with men from many sections of it, but they do not tell +stories of wonderful prosperity. On the contrary, they tell stories +of hot weather, of natural difficulties to be overcome, and of hard +pioneering. Whoever lives here must not expect health; he must “go +home” as frequently as possible, to recuperate, as do our soldiers in +the Philippines. There are as many undeveloped “natural resources” in +the Philippine Islands as in Africa; the greatest difference is that +the African natives are better workers than the Filipinos, and not +so much attention is paid to their liberties as we are paying to the +liberties of the Filipinos.... This section is known locally as +“British East.” Some say British East Africa is a better country than +Cape Colony or Natal, or the Transvaal, or the Orange Free State, but +the general evidence is that it is not.... The “Burgermeister” has +a wonderful cargo in its hold. This morning I saw a lot of ivory come +on board, and asked an official what else we carried to the markets +of the world. We have rubber, cloves, Colombo roots, ginelda wood for +tanning, chrome ore, a great lot of copper ore, gum copal, copra, +cocoanut fiber, carianda seeds, great quantities of bullock and goat +hides, ostrich feathers, wool, raw cotton, coffee, tobacco, cotton +seed, cotton-seed oil in barrels, etc. A great deal more freight was +offered than the ship could accommodate, and much was left in the +barges after the “Burgermeister’s” hold was full. This freight comes +from the interior, and was brought to the coast by rail, by river, and +by bullock team; it does not represent the product of a section, but +of a continent.... We were told on coming on board last night that +an American and his wife had been added to the passenger list during +our absence. I looked the man over, and at once offered to bet two to +one that he was not an American. He wore a green hat, with the brim +turned down all the way ’round. No American ever wore a green hat, or +wore it with the brim turned down in that fashion. Besides, he smokes a +pipe all the time, and carries a bag of tobacco attached to his belt; +an English custom.... We lost nearly all of our friends at Mombasa. +Many of the passengers are new, and we must start all over in becoming +acquainted. Nine out of ten are Germans; there is an English line of +boats plying on the East Coast, and the English prefer their own ships. +Whoever travels out here will notice friction between the English and +Germans.... In spite of every cabin on the ship being full, and in +spite of the long delays in loading freight, the chief steward feeds us +well; it is not too much to say that the food is as good as may be had +on the best ships of the fine Atlantic fleet. While in port, we have +so many visitors that we are crowded, but at sea, we settle down, and +do very well.... There are several cases of the plague at Mombasa, +but not much attention is paid to them. The plague is always a pest +here, and occasionally it gets a big start; not long ago, Zanzibar was +a closed port for six months, and visitors were compelled to remain +there until the quarantine was raised. The Zanzibar hotel is a very +bad one, and a good many of the visitors hired houses and cooks, and +lived very comfortably.... Nearly all the natives of Mombasa are +Mohammedans, and when we passed through the town just after darkness +set in, it seems to me I saw thousands of men praying in the mosques. I +have never seen a Mohammedan woman praying; with people of that faith, +it seems to be the men who are religious. Among Protestants, you will +find ten religious women to one religious man.... The old fort at +Mombasa was once besieged thirty-three months, and when the garrison +finally surrendered the victors found only eleven men and three women +to butcher.... The Uganda State Railway begins at Mombasa, and runs +to Lake Victoria, source of the river Nile. On the way is Niarobi, +probably the most promising town in British East Africa. It was to +Niarobi Sammy Marks was going, to open a new theatre. Nearly all the +way to the lake, big game is constantly in sight from the railway +carriages. Lake Victoria is the second largest in the world, only Lake +Superior being larger. A trip of five days is provided on Victoria +Lake, in large and comfortable ships, which are occasionally out of +sight of land. It is in this section where ten thousand natives died +within a year from the terrible sleeping sickness, which is so fatal +that the government is now forcing the blacks to leave the infected +district.... On the railroad to Victoria Lake is Tsavo station, +where a pair of man-eating lions devoured thirty-three natives during +the construction work. Colonel Patterson wrote a book about “The Man +Eaters of Tsavo,” and its fame is worldwide. The terror of the native +workmen on the railway finally became so great that work was suspended +for a time. Then one of the engineers fixed up an iron cage, and spent +five nights in it. The second night he shot one of the lions, another +the third night, and the last one the fifth night. A good many hunters +in Africa laugh at the Tsavo story as greatly exaggerated; indeed, +I have heard it openly stated here that the Lion Lie is one of the +greatest jokes in Africa. Every hunter, the African people say, takes +home a fierce lion lie, and the world has come to believe thousands of +big stories about these animals that are ridiculous. + + + + +WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16.—At noon today we left Mombasa for Aden; no more +stops for five or six days. Loading at Mombasa continued without +interruption for eighteen hours, and when the colored laborers went +away on barges, they cheered because of the completion of their long +task.... Outside the harbor, we encountered the first motion of +the voyage, and several of the passengers went to bed. The motion was +not great, but it was the first we have had. We had been wondering +what the “Burgermeister” would do in case of heavy weather, and found +her specialty is a pitch. The pitch is far more agreeable than the +roll.... We had been told by the captain to expect the hottest +weather of the voyage between Mombasa and Aden, but found the weather +cooler at Mombasa than at any other stopping-place, and at sea there +were actually spots on deck that were too cool.... At Mombasa we +took on an entirely new lot of deck passengers, and lost a number +who greatly interested me. One was a negro boy of fourteen, whom a +woman passenger was taking to Nairobi as a servant. She met him on +the streets of Mozambique, and, being attracted by his fair promises, +took him on board. The boy claimed to be able to speak five languages +in addition to “Kitchen Kaffir.” This is a language which all Kaffirs +understand, and it is the native language usually learned by whites. +I have a notion that a half-savage boy of fourteen speaking five +languages, speaks some of them very imperfectly.... The captain, +or some one for him, has suppressed the six babies on board. Nearly +all of them have male nurses, and these negro men, who are traveling +on deck-passage tickets, almost monopolized the first-cabin deck. +They had cribs and fences in which they confined their charges, and +getting about was almost impossible. There was so much grumbling that +the babies and nurses have been sent to the deck below, and we see no +more of them, although we can hear them. The halls of the baby deck are +encumbered with all sorts of nursing-bottles and other apparatus of +that nature, and we are compelled to wade through it when we go to our +rooms.... The lower class of Hindus are the filthiest people in the +world, judging from what I see of them on the lower deck, where a good +many of them are located as passengers. I cannot avoid seeing all their +domestic arrangements, and their indifference to dirt is amazing. I +notice that a good many of the negroes in Africa have adopted the Hindu +religion, having learned it from the Indians, who come to the East +Coast in great swarms. Religion naturally appeals to the negro, and +he adopts any form of it which attracts his fancy. But the great bulk +of the negroes on the East Coast are Mohammedans, having learned that +doctrine from the Arabs who sold them into slavery. You would think the +negroes would detest the Mohammedan religion and the Arabs, but they +do not. Many of the natives who are unmistakably Africans, claim to +be Arabs, and this evening I saw six Mohammedan negroes saying their +prayers at the same time. They observed me watching them, and took +particular pains to “show off.” One of them had a string of beads of +the kind used by the Catholics, and I am certain that he had picked +up this addition to his Mohammedan religion from the Catholics. All +religions become badly mixed by their different forms appealing to +other sects.... The orchestra played a concert on deck this evening, +for the first time in several days; we have been so busy loading +cargo that there was no time to think of music.... I find that we +took on an American passenger at Mombasa; A. B. Hepburn, of the Chase +National Bank, of New York, and Comptroller of Currency under President +Harrison. He has been hunting in the Niarobi section, and told me he +was the only one in his outfit who did not get the fever. + + + + +THURSDAY, APRIL 17.—We crossed the equator at noon today, and are once +more in our proper hemisphere. There were no exercises; usually the +sailors engage in foolishness, and scare those who have not crossed +before, by threatening to duck them in the swimming-tank. There is not +a great deal of foolishness on German ships; on the English ships, +so much is made of sports that many passengers seriously object. I +selected a German ship instead of an English because I was thoroughly +disgusted with the Sports Committee on the “Anchises.” Every hour of +the day, almost, on the “Anchises,” a boy went about beating a gong, to +announce another meeting of the Sports Committee, which arranged for +potato races, sack races, and other silly performances. Nothing of that +kind on the “Burgermeister;” the passengers are genteel and quiet, and +let each other alone.... The English universally speak of the tomato +as “tomahto.” If that pronunciation is correct, why do they speak of +the potato as “potayto?” If “tomahto” is a correct pronunciation, +“potahto” is also better than “potayto.”... I notice that nearly +everyone speaks a little English. We have on board Germans, Russians, +Portuguese, Chinese, Belgians, French, Arabs, Hindus, and Kaffirs, and +all of them speak English, more or less. English will soon become the +universal language; there is no need of Esperanto, a language I have +never heard of anyone speaking. A band of reformers are urging that +all races learn Esperanto, in order that all men may have a common +language, but Esperanto is not making much progress.... Owing to the +crowd in the dining-room, my bath-room steward assists in waiting at +my table. He is a very capable and agreeable man; every morning when I +go to the bath-room, he says: “Good morning, please.”... I believe +that every woman on board, with one notable exception from Kansas, +smokes cigarettes. Young women walk about the decks alone, smoking, +and it always seems to me to be foolish. The fact that Adelaide does +not smoke, causes a good deal of favorable comment among the men. “I +may be old-fashioned,” I have heard many men say, “but I don’t like +to see women smoke.”... We have heard no American news for weeks, +except that J. Pierpont Morgan’s body has arrived in New York. I see +this announcement in every newspaper I pick up; when a cablegram is +received here, the newspapers warm it over for days.... In the +cablegram announcing Morgan’s death, the impression was given that he +had a bad stomach, and starved to death. The passengers talk a good +deal about this very rich man starving to death.... An Englishman +whom I know very well, and who talks Kaffir, takes a good deal of +interest in the negro passenger who has two wives. Today we went down +to the lower deck, and discussed matrimony with the man. Asked if the +system of plural marriages pleased him, he replied that if he had it +to do over, he wouldn’t marry at all. It seems that all the Kaffirs +who are deck passengers try to flirt with the man’s two wives, and he +is very uncomfortable. He says he showed his respect for women in a +practical way, by marrying two of them; that he pays their fare on the +present journey, but that a lot of young fellows expect his wives to +neglect him in order that they may amuse them. There is a good deal +of the same thing in the first-cabin, and several wives make their +husbands very uncomfortable by flirting with the young men.... The +barber on this ship charges only twelve cents for a shave; the price on +all other ships I know anything about is double that amount.... The +Germans and English have talked of fighting so long that I almost hope +they will finally be punished by getting at it. War is so unnecessary, +atrocious and wicked that every nation that even talks about it should +be punished.... This morning we passed an Arab dhow. It was not +more than sixty feet long, yet vessels of this type have been sailing +these seas for centuries. They have but one sail, and a crew of only +four or five men, but they are often entrusted with valuable cargoes. +They are stoutly but crudely built, and the one deck is covered with +straw thatch. The captain of an Arab dhow has no scientific knowledge +of navigation, and no instruments to take the sun, yet he knows the +currents and the stars, and makes as good time as modern sailing-ships. +Captain Ulrich looked at the dhow through his glass this morning, and +said the captain was taking every advantage of wind and current, and +that the most able navigator could not do better. Ships of exactly this +type were used thousands of years ago, and some I have seen along this +coast looked to be fully that old. An Arab dhow has no conveniences +whatever, yet they carry passengers as well as freight. Passengers +and crew live together under the single roof of thatch, and cook and +live in the most primitive manner. If the Arabs are not the dirtiest +people in the world, only the lower order of Hindus can wrest that +distinction from them.... Many of the passengers who came on board +at German East Africa ports, are half sick, and say they have had +enough of the African climate. I hear no praise of rural Africa from +those who have lived there; there are prosperous and healthy people +around Capetown and Durban, and in the Transvaal and Orange Free State, +but the interior of the country is grievously afflicted with dry +weather and serious physical pests. + + + + +FRIDAY, APRIL 18.—We have not been in sight of land for several days, +but the sea remains calm, and the weather cool; nothing going on except +the band concert at 10:30 A. M., and the orchestra concert at 9 P. +M. After the last-named event, we walk around awhile, and then go to +bed.... There are two amateurs on board who are returning from a +hunting trip, and on the aft deck they have a number of trophies. A +majority of the male passengers live in Africa, and have hunted a great +deal, so the two amateurs do not attract much attention. Leopards are +the great pest of the country, as they are very numerous. One man told +me this morning that only a few weeks ago, a leopard killed a negro boy +in his hunting camp. No hunting story is more than half true, so I do +not pay much attention to them. A hunter offered me a pair of buffalo +horns today, but I refused the offer; they were not worth the trouble +of carrying them home.... Captain Ulrich, of the “Burgermeister,” +does not sit at the head of the centre table in the dining-room, but +occupies a side seat at a side table.... Men object to wearing +evening clothes because of the stiff shirt. Soft shirts with pleated +fronts are generally worn with dress suits on the “Burgermeister,” and +they are said to be the latest in London. A coat and vest of white +duck, the coat as short as a waiter’s jacket, are also substituted +for the black coat and vest.... Every little while I meet a man +who says he prefers second-class to first class on a ship, because of +the lack of formality in the second-cabin. At Victoria Falls I became +acquainted with a man, and saw him again today on the second-cabin +deck. He says the informality there is so pronounced that some of the +Englishmen spend half the morning in the smoking-room wearing nothing +but pajamas. That, it seems to me, is carrying informality too far. +When a man travels in the second-cabin, he does it to save money, and +not because it is “more democratic.” I hate democracy when it amounts +to impoliteness and rudeness, as is frequently the case.... There is +a burly German officer on board in whom I am much interested, because +of the scars on his head and face. The scars were evidently received in +a student duel at the university, and I should like to see the bully +boy who decorated him so artistically.... I hear it stated every +hour of the day that Africa is a country of “great promise.” It seems +to me that Africa has been “promising” long enough, and should cease +being a game country. The United States turned the buffalo ranges into +farms; Africa would also get rid of its game if there were any demand +for its land from agriculturists. + + + + +SATURDAY, APRIL 19.—Today we are off Samoliland, the most worthless +part of Africa. It is controlled by the Italians, and is about as +savage as it ever was. There is one seaport in Samoliland, but steamers +rarely touch there, as it has no business.... The weather, which +we expected to be very hot in this part of the world, remains cool. +You often miss it when you expect misfortune.... There is a young +Canadian on board named Goult. It was at first reported that he was +an American, and he does look like one, as all Canadians do. He and +his wife have been on a hunting trip into the interior of Africa. +They had an outfit consisting of one hundred and fifty native men, +who packed their supplies and tents. The natives carried their own +food, which consisted of several thousand pounds of corn-meal; in +addition to this, they had meat when game was killed. The hunt lasted +nearly four months, and very few of the men deserted. When a native +porter deserts, he loses all pay coming to him; besides, he is liable +to arrest and imprisonment. Mr. Goult had a professional guide and +hunter with him, who organized and managed his outfit. They killed four +lions, but no elephants, although other game was fairly plentiful. +Mr. Goult says game animals in this section are infested with a tick +which renders them disgusting at times. Mrs. Goult told me this evening +that she suffered no hardship; that roughing it in Canada is very much +rougher.... The band on the “Burgermeister” is a very good one; much +better than is usually found on ships, and the leader has excellent +taste in choosing his selections. And this man is a waiter in the +dining-room, and young and good-looking.... The “Burgermeister” is +a slow ship, and makes about fifteen miles an hour: only half as much +as some of the big liners on the Atlantic. The Atlantic is the dandy of +oceans: no other has equally fine ships. But on the fast ships of the +Atlantic there is a vibration from the engines that is disagreeable. +The slow ships are much more comfortable than the fast ones. And the +Atlantic is also the bully of oceans; a voyage without rough weather +is rare. If the Atlantic were as smooth as the Indian ocean from Beira +to Aden, people would hear less of seasickness.... The captain is +taking home with him a baby deer that certainly does not weigh a pound +and a half. It is not as big as a rabbit, as it belongs to a family +of deer noted for diminutive size. The captain amused the passengers +this evening by feeding his baby with a bottle. First the captain smelt +of the bottle, to see that the milk was not sour. The baby has been +ill, and the ship doctor has been attending to it.... By-the-way, +the doctor has been behaving very well since his sweetheart left the +boat at Tanga. The women expected him to be gay, but he has been very +quiet and thoughtful, and the men are proud of him.... There is +nothing lazier or duller than a voyage in quiet seas. At one time this +afternoon, every passenger on my side of the deck was asleep. + + + + +SUNDAY, APRIL 20.—We were awakened this morning by the ship’s band +playing hymns in the halls. Soon after I went on deck, land appeared, +the first we have seen in four days, and we remained in sight of +it all day. Between us and land a ship was steaming southward, and +a school of porpoises also appeared, disturbing the sea for miles. +They were as lazy as the natives, and jumped in a leisurely, slow +way that amused us. About noon, Cape Guardafui appeared. Guardafui +is the most eastern extremity of the African continent, and when we +rounded it about noon, we were in the Arabian sea, and the ship’s +prow was pointing toward home: due west. The rocky point around which +we turned to enter the Arabian Sea, bears a striking resemblance to +a huge crouching lion, when viewed from a distance. We passed quite +near the shore, but saw no signs of life: nothing but a desolate +waste of sand and rock.... After rounding Guardafui, we were in +the Gulf of Aden, which looks small on the map, but we shall steam on +its surface thirty hours, out of sight of land, before reaching Aden +and the entrance to the Red Sea. We are now in that section referred +to by Kipling as “East of Suez:” land of poor crops, poverty and +misery. A few days’ sail to the east from Guardafui, and the traveler +reaches India, where ignorance is worshipped as mystery, and where +men of the tenth or hundredth generation know no more than did their +fathers.... Africa is larger than North America; it is almost as +large as the American continent, and is controlled by such enlightened +natives as England, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and Portugal, yet +from one end of the country to the other there is no such thing as a +public school for the natives. Indeed, I have heard many Englishmen +openly declare that education is the ruination of the native. I don’t +dispute the statement; I only call attention to two different ideas +of the importance of education. In the Philippine Islands, in Guam, +in Porto Rico, in Honolulu, in Cuba, we are insisting upon education +as the solution of the native problem; over here, the powers insist +that education only makes the native problem worse. At home, we are +called upon to contribute money with which to send missionaries to +the heathen. Over here, where the heathen lives, the whites almost +universally say that the missionary causes useless trouble. I am +not trying to settle the question, or argue it: I am merely calling +attention to a queer phase of it.... A gentleman told me today +that in Portuguese East Africa, where he lives, there is a Catholic +mission in charge of French priests. In the chapel, there are huge +oil paintings showing pictures of hell. The devil is represented as +a negro. In one picture, a native is dying, and hundreds of fiends +surround his bed, waiting until life is extinct, that they may torture +him. There is education of this sort in Africa, but no school-house +for the natives.... Religious services were held in the dining-room +at five o’clock this afternoon, conducted by a German. The full band +was used instead of an organ; the preacher would line a hymn, and then +those present would sing it, accompanied by the band.... The ship’s +library contains books printed in German, English, French, Portuguese, +and Dutch, which will give you an idea of the different nationalities +patronizing this line. + + + + +MONDAY, APRIL 21.—At 9 o’clock this evening we came to Aden, in Arabia, +said to be the hottest town in the world. Every drop of water used +there is condensed from the sea, although there is a white population +of two thousand, including English soldiers, and an Arab population +of forty thousand. There is a tradition that rain fell at Aden three +years ago, and that every roof in town leaked, but previous to that +time no rain had fallen in the town or its vicinity for many years; +many of its elderly citizens had never seen a rain-storm, and looked +with wonder upon the one which fell three years ago. Aden is located +on a rock seventeen hundred feet high, and this rock may be seen far +out at sea. The town is an important coaling station, and the English +have tremendous fortifications—almost equal to Gibraltar—in the rocks. +The harbor is a large one, and almost land-locked, and we thought +the place a very pretty one, by moonlight. Although Aden has such a +bad reputation for hot weather, the evening was delightfully cool. +We were not permitted to land, owing to the plague, but our ship was +promptly surrounded by Arabs in boats, who bartered with the passengers +until after midnight. The Arabs had ostrich feathers, cigarettes, +post-cards, and dozens of other articles to sell, and these they sent +up the ship’s side in baskets, for the inspection of the passengers. +If the passengers were interested in the goods offered, they asked +the price, said it was too much, and offered half; then the dealer +became excited, and screamed back that he wouldn’t take it, although +he often did. There were dozens of these boats, and the uproar was so +incessant that sleep was impossible. The ostrich feathers offered +were poor, and those who bought, even at greatly reduced prices, were +probably worsted.... The old town of Aden dates back to the days of +Tyre and Sidon, and was a celebrated commercial centre long before our +Christian era; for many centuries it has been a fortified town because +of its strategetical position. From the eleventh to the thirteenth +centuries it did an enormous trade with China, India and Egypt, and +its market was the clearing-house of that day for the treasures of +the East. For tens of centuries, Aden has been the cockpit of fierce +fights for ascendency amongst the Arabs, Abyssinians, Persians, Turks, +and Egyptians.... A gentleman who lives at Aden says he pays $20 a +month for water, which is delivered at his door in tank-wagons drawn by +camels. Some of the numerous shops in Aden sell nothing but condensed +and bottled water, and the price in quantity is usually a dollar per +hundred gallons.... Many years ago, great tanks were built at Aden, +to catch the precious rainfall, but these have not been in use for many +years, although tourists usually visit them.... Aden is a great +camel market, and much of the famous Mocha coffee is shipped from +this point. There is just one industry in the town: the manufacture +of cigarettes, which is in the hands of Greeks, and who bring their +tobacco duty-free from Turkey and Egypt. The walls of the houses are +built of a cheap concrete, and plastered.... A third-class passenger +on the “Burgermeister” is a little German girl, five years old, +traveling alone. She was brought on board at Dar-es-Salaam, to be taken +back to Germany. Her mother died three days before, and her father was +somewhere in the interior, trying to make a fortune. The little girl’s +mother arrived in Dar-es-Salaam only a week before her death. Now the +child is very ill, and it is not believed she will live to reach her +friends in Germany. The women passengers are doing all they can for the +child, but she cries almost constantly for her mother, and not much can +be done for her. + + + + +TUESDAY, APRIL 22.—This morning at 11 o’clock we entered the Red Sea, +through the Straits of Bab el Mandeb. The straits are about ten miles +wide, and are made narrower at the entrance to the Red Sea by Perim +Island, which the English have fortified. On our right, Asia; on the +left, Africa,—two continents in sight. The Red Sea is a great highway +for ships since the completion of the Suez Canal; ships for India, +China, Japan, Ceylon, Australia and Africa now pass this way. From 7 +o’clock this morning until 3 P. M. we passed fourteen ships: six were +in sight at one time. Most of them passed us so closely that we could +read their names.... All over the world, you hear how terribly hot +and disagreeable a passage through the Red Sea is. I have been through +it twice, and both voyages were cool and pleasant. Ask anyone who +has been through the Red Sea, and he will tell you he had a pleasant +voyage, but those who have not made the trip, say it is dreadful. If +you have a head-wind, they say, the voyage is endurable, but if you +have a following wind,—well, passengers can’t stand it, and beg the +captain to run the other way for a time, and give them some relief. +We have a following wind today,—that is, the smoke from our funnels +is ahead of us,—but we find the weather more agreeable than it was at +Beira, or other points on the east coast of Africa.... We are rarely +out of sight of land, and this afternoon we passed the Arabian town of +Mokka. We spell it Mocha, and famous coffee comes from its vicinity. +Mocha coffee is like the Blue Point oyster; it is very rare, and there +are many imitations. The town of Mocha has no harbor, and ships rarely +call there, so the little coffee it produces is sent to Aden. Further +up the coast is the town of Jiddah. It is from this place that pilgrims +start for Mecca, sacred city of the Mohammedans. Only one white man +has ever visited Mecca, as white people are not allowed in the place. +This man, an English officer named Burton, disguised himself as an +Arab physician. He spent several years in familiarizing himself with +the Mohammedan religion and the Arab language. After his preparations +were complete, he shipped as a deck passenger at Suez and successfully +deceived the dozens of real Arabs and Mohammedans with whom he was +intimately associated. The pilgrims to Mecca from Jiddah are cruelly +robbed by the Arabs through whose country they must pass, and the party +Burton traveled with had one pitched battle with the thieves. Burton +wrote a book telling of his experiences, and I know of nothing more +interesting in the way of adventure. A railroad is now being built to +Mecca, if it has not been actually completed, and Jiddah will lose +much of its former importance. War and slavery are common in most of +the Arab towns along the Red Sea, and it is dangerous for ships to +send parties ashore, unless heavily armed. During the hot, dry season, +many of these towns are entirely deserted; the inhabitants go into the +mountains, and remain there until the weather becomes endurable. The +Red Sea has a shore-line of more than three thousand miles, yet the +country surrounding it is so worthless that there is almost no town of +importance on its shores, and no river runs into it. There is no rain +in the vicinity of the Red Sea, and it loses eight feet every year +from evaporation, which must be made up from other seas where there is +more rain and less heat.... You hear a great deal of the “Mysticism +of the East.” This mysticism is as foolish as the doggerel used by +children when they count the buttons on your coat: “Rich man, poor man, +beggar man, thief; doctor lawyer, merchant chief,” etc. Mysticism never +means anything. The West solves riddles, and discovers how to produce +a hundred bushels of corn per acre: the East pays great attention to +Mysticism, and has more poor, dirty and ignorant people than any other +part of the world. When the plague breaks out in the East, as a result +of foolish pilgrimages to Mecca or Benares, the pilgrims say the plague +is a part of the Mysticism of the East, and continue to drink holy +and dirty water. But the men of the West have a better doctrine: its +chief tenet is, “Clean Up,” and the plague disappears before it.... +All our deck passengers left us at Aden. Men who spend half their +time saying their prayers do not flourish in the great world west of +Suez.... The passengers spend a good deal of their time in reading. +I often hear them talking of the books they are reading. “How do you +like it?” one will ask. “Oh,” the other will reply, “it serves to kill +time, but is rather foolish.” What queer things you find in books! And +how much alike many of the famous ones are. “Adam Bede,” “The Manxman,” +and “The Scarlet Letter,” were all written around an “idea” that is +unnatural, unclean and absurd. + + + + +WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23.—We are in a wider part of the Red Sea today, and +are not meeting so many ships; the few we have seen have been far away. +Yesterday we were in a part of the sea almost as narrow as a river, and +we could not avoid meeting all passing vessels. At one time last night +so many brilliantly lighted ships were in sight that we were reminded +of a night parade of electrical features at a celebration.... We +have had a strong head-wind all day which travelers pray for in the +Red Sea, and toward evening the “Burgermeister” acquired considerable +motion.... The English passengers on board organized a Sports +Committee this morning, and are now busily engaged in arranging +for such elevating sports as “In a Pig’s Eye,” “Are You There?” +potato-races for women, etc. The traveling Englishman has lately +gone crazy about ship sports; he is like a Methodist who believes in +sanctification by baptism: he will talk of nothing else, and insists +on arguing the question with you. In England, only cheap people at +country fairs engage in such sports, but on English ships, dukes and +princes are expected to take part, for the honor of Old England. The +German passengers are not enlisting for the sports, but the English +urge them to take part to the point of annoyance.... I have heard +none of the passengers mention the fact that the water in the Red Sea +is not red; the fact that the water in the Red Sea is blue, now seems +to be generally known.... A passenger in the third-class is very +ill, and the ship doctor, and a German military doctor who volunteered +his services, decided that the man has malaria of the head. Malaria +is so common in the tropics that now they have it in the head.... +A peculiar thing about the “Burgermeister” is that several of the +gentlemen passengers wear white socks. Somewhere on this trip I met a +man who was irritable because his white socks attracted attention. He +should be on the “Burgermeister,” where they are quite common.... +I heard a woman make a remarkable statement last night. She said: “I +have been traveling four months, and have not seen a single married man +attempt to flirt; all the flirting I have seen has been done by married +women with young men.” I submit the statement as unusual, without +comment.... The dance last night was a failure; the orchestra played +several numbers which did not attract any dancers at all, and only +five couples danced during the entire evening. All the women dancers +were married, and their husbands sat around and frowned at the young +fellows who were dancing with them. There is nothing in the notion that +husbands want their wives to be very popular with other men.... +During the concert this evening, the tall negro man nurse who has +whiskers, appeared with a bottle of milk, and submitted it to the +inspection of his employer. The woman smelt and then tasted the milk; +it seemed satisfactory, for she gave it back to the tall Kaffir, and he +disappeared, probably to feed his charge. + + + + +THURSDAY, APRIL 24.—I awoke early this morning because of a strange and +unusual sensation. I feared I might be catching the fever, or plague, +but later discovered I was cold. A chilly head-wind was blowing, and +this in the Red Sea, which rumor says is as hot as a furnace! The +passengers went about wearing overcoats all day. At 2:30 P. M. we +passed out of the tropics.... For two days we have been in that part +of the Red Sea which is two hundred miles wide, and have not seen many +ships; but tonight we were in a narrow part, and four ships were in +sight at one time. All of them were small; there are many ships in the +east, but no very big ones. If one of the big ships of the Atlantic +should appear at Bombay or Colombo, people would travel hundreds of +miles to see it.... The general impression in America is that an +English lord is an effeminate little man who only knows enough to +carry an eyeglass in one eye. As a matter of fact, some of them seem +to be quite useful and manly. Lord Delamere is one of the conspicuous +figures in the development of British East Africa, and has done much +for that country. In addition, he is the world’s greatest lion-hunter. +Up to 1911, he had killed seventy lions, single-handed. Of the first +forty-nine he shot, not one escaped. No other lion-hunter has a record +half as good as Lord Delamere. + +[Illustration: Street-Car in East Africa + +Ricksha Boy, South Africa + +Car to Kimberley Diamond Mines + +Bullock Teams, Victoria Falls + +Transport Wagons, Rhodesia] + +Another useful man in Africa is Lord Carnworth, who is an extensive +farmer, as is Lord Delamere. Both these men engage in expensive +agricultural experiments for the general good. Lord Carnworth lately +wrote a book entitled, “A Colony in the Making.” It displays a +wonderful knowledge of British East Africa. Among other things, he +says the American hunters who come here are game hogs, and places Mr. +Roosevelt in that class. He also speaks jestingly of the dangers of +hunting in Africa. The terrible rhino, which in books is never content +unless he has a hunter impaled on his single terrible horn, is not +thought to be dangerous by hunters who live in this country.... In +his book, Lord Carnworth discusses the native labor question quite +frankly. He says what practically all the whites here say: that the +missionaries are doing no good—that their converts are worse than the +unconverted negroes. I quote his exact language: + +“Inevitably but unfortunately the mission-educated native does not bear +a good name, either among his fellow natives or among Europeans. It is, +alas, a very generally accepted fact that one should beware of mission +servants, who almost invariably lie, drink and steal.” + +Speaking of Roosevelt reminds me that in German East Africa I saw +his hunting book, translated into German, on sale at the bookstores. +Everyone knows of him, and around Mombasa all the natives say with +pride that they saw him. There are dozens of big-game hunters on this +boat; most of them know men who were with Roosevelt, and one of them +was in Roosevelt’s party for a time. They all say Roosevelt was very +popular in Africa, but that Kermit, his son, was cordially despised. +Roosevelt himself, they say, is a thorough sportsman, and a man of +undoubted courage. He is not considered a particularly good shot, but +they say he is the luckiest hunter who ever handled a gun. Besides, +everything was specially arranged for his hunt. Not only all the white +residents, but all the native chiefs, did what they could to locate +game for him; he did not have the trouble of the usual hunter. It is +further said over here that Roosevelt was a great talker, and that +he would quit hunting any time to tell about his well-known theories +for bettering humanity.... It is also agreed that hunters are very +unpopular among the actual residents of Africa; not that the residents +object to the game being killed, but every hunter requires a large +number of natives for his outfit, and these are drawn mainly from the +farms, where labor is scarce, and badly needed. There are millions of +native men able to work, but most of them won’t work. In the native +settlements, the hard labor is mainly performed by the women, children, +and old men; the stalwart fellows who would do the work in a civilized +community, strut about covered with grease, looking for fights with +other tribes. The whites say these idlers should be made to work; that +it is better that they work for a shilling a day than spend their time +in idleness and mischief, and I would not be surprised to hear that the +British have adopted a Vagrancy Act to reach the loafers. + + + + +FRIDAY, APRIL 25.—One of the passengers plays the piano a good +deal, and plays it well, and I have just learned that he is a noted +lion-hunter. That is the funniest combination I have ever heard of; a +piano-player who is a lion-hunter.... There is on board a captain +in the British army, and a captain in the German army. You would think +they would affiliate, but they do not; on the contrary, they glare +at each other. The German captain wears his uniform a good deal, and +as the British captain does not, I am satisfied that he thinks the +German is lacking in taste.... Among the passengers are two elderly +men married to young wives; Germans who occupy official positions of +some kind in German East Africa. They are the most loving couples on +board; the old husbands always have their arms about their wives when +on deck. If there is any one thing particularly fitted for privacy, it +is love. I think the old gentlemen believe that the other passengers +talk about them—and they do—and want to show them that their young +wives are satisfied.... We have been having Sports today, the +English gentlemen having had their way.... Every little while two +men dash by with their legs tied together. They are practicing for the +three-legged race, and have already run over two babies and one negro +boy nurse. In the Ladies’ Potato Race, two women fell headlong, and the +exhibition of dry goods was as indelicate as that seen in a dry-goods +window to show new spring underwear. There is something wrong with +every woman’s figure, and a potato-race brings out the irregularities. + + + + +SATURDAY, APRIL 26.—We reached Suez at 1:30 this afternoon, after a +chilly ride through the narrow end of the Red Sea, which is known as +the Gulf of Suez. All morning, land was in sight on both sides, and +lighthouses on lonely islands were frequent. At 3 o’clock this morning +we passed Mount Sinai. I have asked about half the passengers what +happened on Mount Sinai to make it famous, and they don’t know.... +Three hours before reaching Suez we saw a steamship that had gone +ashore during the night. Another vessel was assisting it, and we did +not stop.... We had a long wait at Suez before being admitted to +the canal. The port doctor, a woman, amused us by coming on board, +and marshaling us in the music-room for inspection. As our names +were called, we walked past the doctor, and she looked at us in a +manner intended to be searching. I was called out as “Herr Howe,” +while Adelaide answered to “Fraulein Howe.”... We had a scheme to +go to Cairo by special train from Suez, and rejoin the ship at Port +Said, but the authorities would not let us land, owing to our taking +on a dozen or more Arab firemen at Aden, where there is plague. But +dozens of Egyptians surrounded the ship, in little boats, and offered +us all sorts of articles, which they sent up for our inspection in +baskets. One ship went into the canal ahead of us, having been waiting +longer, and a dozen or more boats came out carrying mud from the canal +dredgers. Finally a launch appeared, bringing the long-expected pilot, +and at 5:30 P. M. we steamed slowly into the canal, passing within a +few hundred feet of the main streets of Suez. In an hour, we passed +two freight steamers, and they gave us right of way, as ours is a +mail-boat.... The Suez Canal, as everyone knows, runs through the +Egyptian desert, and the desolation on the Arabian side interested me +greatly. The canal requires so many workmen that it is fringed with +residences of one sort and another; some are boat-houses, some are +huts, and some are sightly stations. And every quarter of a mile there +seems to be a dredge, to keep the channel the required depth. Every +foot of the canal, on both sides, is being lined with stone, and for +this work a great many Egyptian laborers are required.... On the +Egyptian side there is a fresh-water canal, supplied from the Nile, +and this is used to irrigate a considerable stretch of country. With +a glass, we could see a good many typical Egyptian farm-houses, and +Egyptian agricultural life in various stages; but on the Arabian side, +there was the lonely desert you have seen in pictures and read about. +At one place we saw a caravan of camels in camp for the night: the +drivers in one group, and the camels in another. At another place we +saw a jackal among the little hills composed of dirt from the canal. +The animal was gaunt and ugly, and looked at the ship indifferently. +There was a great deal to see, but the sun was declining rapidly, and +at 7:30, when we left the deck and went down to dinner, we could see +nothing fifty feet beyond the lighted decks.... There was to be a +dance after dinner, beginning at 9 o’clock, but the night was cold, and +before that hour the travelers from Kansas went to bed; just as the +ship entered one of the lakes which form thirty miles of the canal. In +this lake we steamed at full speed, whereas in the canal proper we +had been running at five miles an hour. At Suez, we took on a special +lighting apparatus; not a headlight, but a searchlight. This was +attached to our prow, and lighted our way.... The engineer of the +“Burgermeister,” a fat German we all admire, sat on deck while we were +passing through the canal, reading a newspaper. I asked him how often +he had been through, and he guessed that he had made the trip seventy +times. His ship makes four trips a year around Africa. + + + + +SUNDAY, APRIL 27.—When I went on deck at 5:30 this morning, the sun was +just peeping out of the Mediterranean, and Port Said was in sight. I +was the only passenger on deck, and although I expected Adelaide every +moment, she did not appear until we were tied up in Port Said, an hour +and a half later; the Suez Canal greatly excited me, although I had +been through it before, but it did not greatly excite Adelaide. Half a +dozen Arab sailboats, loaded with coal, passed in the canal; they had +the peculiar sails seen on boats on the Nile, and were so old that I +wondered they did not fall to pieces. On the larger boats were three +men, and two on the smaller ones. The masts were very tall, and in this +flat country the sails catch enough wind to push the boats along.... +When Adelaide appeared at 7:30, I proposed that we go ashore before +breakfast. She agreed to the proposition, and we were walking the +streets of Port Said ten minutes later, as the ship was tied up within +a hundred feet of the principal street.... Port Said is said to be +a very high-priced and dishonest town, but the boatman charged only +six cents each to take us to land, and the price of a carriage is only +fifty cents an hour. We engaged a guide, because one followed us, and +began explaining things, and we could not get rid of him. Besides, he +said his price was only a shilling an hour. In no other town we have +visited have we found prices as low as in Port Said, which has a worse +reputation than any other town in the world. Port Said has regulations +for the protection of visitors, and enforces them. When you go ashore, +you do not pay the boatman, who may charge you any price he sees fit, +but you pay an official at the landing. Get rid of the notion printed +everywhere that Port Said is “tough.” In addition to being an orderly +place, it is very interesting. Sunday is not observed in the town, for +two reasons: 1. Ships arrive and send passengers ashore nearly every +hour of every day, and these want supplies on Sunday the same as on +other days; 2. The sixty thousand inhabitants are mainly Mohammedans, +and they have no Sunday.... There were several other ships in the +harbor, and the streets were crowded at 8 A. M. In front of one café, +an orchestra of fifteen men and women was playing, and playing well. +Most of the shops are devoted to tourist trade, but we visited an Arab +market instead of the curio stores. The older portion of Port Said is +as purely Egyptian as Cairo, and as dirty and oriental. The streets are +narrow, and the houses high, and the native shops are as interesting as +they are anywhere. Our guide was an Arab, and took us to his church: a +Mohammedan mosque, which we could not enter without putting coverings +on our feet. Everywhere we heard exploding fire-crackers; today is some +sort of Mohammedan festival.... We received a lot of mail from home; +the first in more than four months. After getting our mail, we lost +interest in Port Said, and went back to the ship to read our letters. +We found these so interesting that at 10:30, when the “Burgermeister” +left for Naples, we barely glanced at the famous statue to Ferdinand de +Lesseps which adorns the entrance to the canal. + + + + +MONDAY, APRIL 28.—We are approaching the Blessed Country of Bad +Weather again. This morning the sky is as threatening as it is on the +morning when you give a picnic, and when you wish it would do one +thing or the other. No country can amount to much without bad weather: +the trouble with Africa and Arizona is too much fine weather.... +The Mediterranean, which we all dreaded, was as smooth last night +as a millpond, and shows no disposition today to change its pacific +character.... The first thing you think of, on boarding a ship, is +that funny people travel. We meet a few nice, normal, sane people, +but most of them are freaks. On every ship we meet the foolish son of +a rich man, who is allowed to travel to keep him away from home. The +woman traveler is nearly always peculiar; she is usually an old widow +with money, and as ugly as she is cranky. There is a professional +traveler always met with who has no sense, and very little politeness, +but he has been everywhere. It is a mistake to imagine that only +rich and agreeable people are met in traveling. The best people remain +at home; we have met neither dukes nor princesses on the trip, and very +few we remember from one ship to another.... There is a kind of +traveler who annoys you by his looks. A man of this type came on board +at Port Said. He is a faded-out old rat with gold teeth, very thin and +sandy hair, and a waxed moustache. He is quite impatient because he has +not created a flutter on board, since it is plain to be seen that he +has traveled a great deal; he is not content to wait a few days, until +news of his exploits gets about easily and naturally.... Another +man came on board at Port Said who is accompanied by a wife and three +daughters. The ship is crowded, and this man, who is paying five fares, +sleeps on the floor! People are that foolish about traveling. People +generally are as crazy and disagreeable about traveling as the English +are about Sports.... The women have great respect for the bishop +of their church, but they have greater respect for a woman traveling +with a maid. Every woman believes she is entitled to a maid. There is a +woman on board who has one. The other women say she is the slouchiest +dressed person on the ship. You may say that is envy, but it isn’t: +it’s the truth.... When you buy anything, pay for it in cash. It +is so easy to sign a check, or have it charged. When the passengers +buy wines, they sign their names to a slip of paper, and settle once +a week. One of the amusing things on board is to see the men studying +their bar bills. Every passenger thinks he has been robbed, but his +signature confronts him for every item, and he cannot get a fair start +at indignation.... The New York banker, Mr. Hepburn, mentioned +elsewhere as returning from a hunt, does not have much confidence in +the future of Africa. It has too many pests and too much dry weather, +he says. Besides, much of the country is volcanic, and the soil a thin +vegetable and leaf mold. Mr. Hepburn says that while hunting, one of +his guides was an Englishman who was once a member of parliament, with +an income of $60,000 a year. But he went the pace, and spent his money, +and is now a guide in Africa at $5 a day. Another guide in the Hepburn +party was a man named Cunningham, who was attached to the Roosevelt +expedition. Cunningham is a very noted man, and receives $400 a month +for his services. Although Mr. Hepburn is a New York banker, a former +comptroller of the currency, and noted big-game hunter, it is so dull +on board that he spends a good deal of his time teaching Adelaide card +tricks. He is an elderly man, and so modest and polite that we regard +him as a credit to his country.... A party of eight came on board +at Port Said, and I am glad they are not Americans. They are English +or Colonials, and have taken the ship. They are very superior in three +particulars: 1. They went to Port Said two weeks ago in the “Tabora,” a +larger and newer ship than the “Burgermeister;” 2. They were in Cairo +four days; 3. They have been in Palestine. They sit together in the +dining-room, and every other word they use is “Tabora,” a leviathan of +8,000 tons. These people are going to London, and this is their first +trip. There are three girls in the party, all of them in love with one +sweet young man, and they hold his hand on deck. The other passengers +look at them in astonishment, if not disgust. Americans are said to be +“loud.” I don’t believe they are half as bad as they are reported to +be. A German ship captain once said to me: “The Americans are, as a +rule, our best behaved passengers, followed by the Germans. The worst +behaved are the English.”... In the traveling I have done, I have seen +few “loud” Americans, but I have seen many “loud” English. And it is +the English who criticise us most. + +[Illustration: A case of middle-age spread in Africa + +Native Workmen, Kimberley Diamond Mine + +Traveling by Machillas on the Zambesi + +Native Village in German East Africa + +Khami Ancient Ruins] + + + + +TUESDAY, APRIL 29.—We have seen no land since leaving Port Said, +except that we passed the island of Crete. Some say we passed it last +evening, and some say we passed it this morning: it has been pointed +out to me twice, and both sights of it were very hazy.... Ships +are not seen as frequently in the Mediterranean as in the Red Sea; we +have seen but one steamship in two days—a big P. & O. liner en route +to India. On the Red Sea, a half-dozen were frequently in sight at one +time. The explanation is that the Mediterranean is wide, and ships +keep a considerable distance from each other, whereas the Red Sea is +often almost as narrow as a river.... There are two women on board +from Johannesburg, but they did not know each other there; indeed, +they had never heard of each other before coming on board. Each says +of the other: “I cannot imagine who she can be.”... When a German +leaves the ship’s table, he bows very politely to those passengers +remaining. I believe this very pretty custom is confined entirely to +the Germans.... The barkeeper has been humiliated, and relieved +from duty; I don’t know what his offense was, but I hear he is charged +with becoming impatient while on duty. The Germans say that when a +man is employed to serve the public, impatience is a gross offense, +and I agree with them. For a day or two, the barkeeper did nothing, +and was the most contrite and penitent human being I have ever seen, +but this morning he appeared as a waiter in the dining-room, and is +trying hard to regain the favor of the chief steward.... There are +many foolish things for men to do, but probably the most foolish is +to buy champagne. Every day at dinner I see dozens of men pay three +or four dollars for a bottle of champagne, simply to “act smart.” +Boys are not the only ones who “act smart” in company, and force +their parents to whip them.... The passenger who has his wife and +three daughters with him attracts a great deal of attention from the +men. His women-folks have four pieces of fancy work under way all the +time; think of that man’s dry-goods bills! And I cannot sleep at night +from thinking what his laundry bill must be. There is a laundry on +board, operated by Chinese, who do excellent work, but their prices +are something to talk about. I sent out a little dab of washing the +other day, and the bill was $6. I pay for waists for only one woman, +whereas that other man must pay for waists for four. It should be +against the law for any man to take care of four women.... The +New York banker who is returning from a hunting trip in Africa, is +a director in the Texas company, which is trying to become as great +a robber as the Standard Oil Co. He told me today that a few months +ago his company let a contract to an American firm for an additional +tank steamer, at $590,000. A foreign builder offered to build exactly +the same ship for $380,000. The Texas company was compelled to pay +forty per cent additional because of our policy of protection. What +becomes of that additional $210,000? Does it go to American labor?... +Most of it, probably. When you pay high prices for meat, the farmer +is being benefited; when the Texas company pays a high price for a +ship, the workmen who fashion the ship, and mine the steel that goes +into it, are benefited. Taxes, however collected, mean a burden to the +consumer. When you pay twenty cents for an article which formerly cost +ten cents, three cents of the excess goes to the workman, and seven +cents of the excess is charged by the American politician for cost of +collection. It is the workers who pay taxes and the tremendous cost of +collection.... I have frequently spoken in these notes of hearing +the English everywhere compliment America. The notion that foreigners +sneer at us, is a mistaken one. In the London _Telegraph_, a copy of +which I picked up today, I read a page reference to the death of J. +Pierpont Morgan. + +“The field of the American financier,” the article said, “is a country +sixty times the area of England, the most richly endowed territory +in the world, inhabited by ninety millions of the most energetic +wealth-producers on the face of the globe.” + +In the same article I read that Mr. Morgan once called on the German +Kaiser. Afterwards the Kaiser said he was surprised to find Mr. Morgan +“not well informed regarding the philosophical development of nations.” +I often think the philosopher is an unimportant man; he looks into +the future, and sees many things that are not there. The philosopher +is a recluse; a thinker. He hides away from mankind, and writes books +about subjects he does not know much about. J. P. Morgan knew mankind +intimately, and benefited it because of his knowledge. He made bets +that the people would do certain things at certain times, and became +rich because of the accuracy of his knowledge; yet he is accused of +knowing nothing about “the philosophical development of nations”! He +had a tremendous fund of practical knowledge, and that beats all the +philosophy in the world. Morgan believed that in the human family, +character was everything; that character was the basis of all credit, +and that the simple doctrine of good conduct for its own sake, is the +greatest religion in the world. How superior Morgan’s simple religion +was to the Hindu’s philosophy! Morgan was an humble citizen, yet he +accomplished more than did Kaiser Wilhelm, a philosopher and a king. A +nation fought Morgan continuously and bitterly, yet he was undoubtedly +a public benefactor. Wilhelm had the love of a great nation, yet he +undoubtedly talks too much, and has been repeatedly humiliated for the +habit. Wilhelm is great in spite of his indiscretions, being a king; +but J. P. Morgan was great in spite of the fact that he lacked the +friendship of his own nation, and was compelled to do his good work in +the face of bitter and often malicious opposition. + + + + +WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30.—When I went on deck this morning, several of the +passengers were ahead of me, gazing at mountains off to the right: +Italy. By 9 o’clock we were close to the shore, and with a glass could +see many villages still in ruins from the earthquake of five years ago. +The sides of the mountains were terraced, and used as vineyards. In one +place, in a canyon far up the mountain, we saw a village which seemed +to have been built around an old castle. We were approaching the Strait +of Messina, and ships were as numerous as they were in the narrowest +part of the Red Sea; at one time, seven sailing-ships were in sight, +and several steamers. Presently, on the left, Sicily appeared, and we +gazed at Sicily awhile, and then went over to the other deck and looked +at Italy, unable to decide which was the more interesting. Both are +very mountainous, and much alike. Villages are thick, not only along +the shore, but the sides of the mountain are spotted with them, and in +both Italy and Sicily we saw many curious old castles and monasteries. +On both sides, also, we saw many ruins from the earthquake, although +they seemed to be rather more numerous in Sicily than in Italy.... +Just before entering the Strait at the narrowest part, where it is +only two miles wide, we saw the town of Messina, which was almost +completely destroyed by the earthquake of 1908. Hundreds of the wrecked +houses seem never to have been rebuilt, and they present a scene of +desolation, but around them many new houses have been built. This is +also true on the Italian coast. Many of these new houses were sent from +America, ready to set up. Messina had a population of eighty thousand. +Its old citadel was not destroyed, and we saw a good many ships in its +harbor. Opposite Messina is the Italian town of Riggio, which is six +or seven hundred years older than the Christian era. On both sides of +the Strait we could see broad streams (perfectly dry as a result of a +recent drouth) coming from the mountains.... The captain said we +should be in the most interesting part of the Strait at 1 P. M., the +lunch hour, and ordered lunch postponed half an hour. His prediction +was exactly verified, and nothing could have driven the passengers from +the decks at 1 P. M., there was so much to see.... At 4 P. M. we +came to Stromboli, a volcanic island in the sea. Captain Ulrich said he +would pass on the south side of the mountain, that we might better see +the volcano; the distance was greater, but this change in the ship’s +course enabled us to get a very fine sight of Stromboli. From the +south side we saw the crater, and the smoke pouring out of it in great +volume. There is no lighthouse on Stromboli, as the volcano furnishes +a red glare by which mariners steer their course at night. You would +think people would keep away from a lonely island in the sea which +smokes all the time, and is liable to erupt, and destroy everything for +many miles around, but they don’t. We saw two villages on Stromboli: +one of them of good size. The larger one is located a considerable +distance from the crater, but the other is not a thousand feet from +the track of the lava as it descends to the sea. And these smoking +volcanoes not only bark; they bite. Only a few miles away is Messina, +where eighty thousand people were destroyed only five years ago. In the +other direction is Vesuvius, which has taken a greedy toll of human +life for many years; the last time in 1906. + + + + +THURSDAY, MAY 1.—I have seen many prettier sights than the far-famed +Bay of Naples. Many people say a look at the bay caused them to forget +the frets and worries of life, but I had no such feeling. We arrived +early in the morning, when the town was partly hidden in mists, +but later I saw the bay in bright sunshine, from several points of +advantage, but it did not greatly impress me. The Bay of Naples is +so large that it is not a harbor, therefore a breakwater has been +constructed, and behind this our ship anchored, in company with a good +many others.... I have spoken elsewhere of English becoming the +universal language. This morning I heard the Italian pilot telling +the captain of the ship a piece of war news. The pilot talked broken +English. A Frenchman, a Portuguese, a Belgian and a Hollander gathered +to hear the war news, and they all understood English.... After the +usual medical inspection, which always seems ineffective and useless in +the first-cabin, the passengers were allowed to land. We went to the +Hotel Vesuve, where I had been before, and were given two excellent +rooms overlooking the bay. In front of the hotel was a street, and +then the sea, and from my window I watched the fishermen at work; +they were so close that I could have hailed them, and asked what sort +of fish they were taking out of the nets. Directly in front of our +windows was an old castle and fort, and soldiers were always passing +in or out of the gate. The Hotel Vesuve is the best of the dozens at +which we have stopped, and the price is only thirty-six francs per +day; that is, we have two of the best rooms in one of the best hotels +in Italy, and the price is $3.60 per day each, including meals. Living +at the hotels in South Africa is pioneering compared with living at +the Hotel Vesuve in Naples. Living at hotels is a joke at home, but +living at the Hotel Vesuve in Naples makes a man think of breaking up +housekeeping.... Adelaide thinks Naples is the most delightful town +we have seen; and the list of towns we have visited includes Pompeii, +which was destroyed by an eruption from Mount Vesuvius in the year 79. +It was so completely covered up by ashes that its site was forgotten, +and it lay neglected for seventeen hundred years. Then the work of +digging it out began, and is still in progress, and will continue for +many years to come. Pompeii existed long before Naples; it was an old +city when Christ was born, and was a seaside resort of the Romans. +Probably everyone has read the story of Pompeii, and I shall not print +it again, except to express my astonishment over the fact that much +of the finest art work in the world today was found in the ruins of +Pompeii; the moderns have not been able to equal it. Everything of +interest found in the ruins may now be seen in the museum at Naples. +The people of Pompeii had excellent plumbing at the time of the +eruption; probably the ancients thousands of years earlier knew much +that we now call modern. In the museum at Naples may be seen jewelry +from Pompeii that would pass for an exhibit made in 1913; patterns +are the same, and the work equally good. The implements used today by +dentists and doctors may also be seen among the relics from Pompeii. +There is an ugly instrument known as the speculum, which may be seen +in drug stores and doctors’ offices; I have no doubt it was used too +much three thousand or more years ago, for I saw one in the museum at +Naples. It was found in the ruins of Pompeii, and it is exactly like +the instrument used too much today.... I will mention another thing +about Pompeii the general reader may not know. The Romans and Greeks +who occupied the town were a dissolute, pleasure-loving lot, and they +left many relics that are shown to men only. In the big museum at +Naples, there is one room probably forty feet long, and half as wide. +In it are preserved literally thousands of disreputable things found +in Pompeii. They include statuary and pictures in mosaics. I heard a +woman say lately that she despised Pompeii so much that she did not +enjoy her visit to the place; probably her husband had told her what he +saw in the Dirty Room, and she hated the people who formerly occupied +the deserted houses and streets. The people are certainly improving +in morals all the time; we are not as good as we should be now, but +we are better in every respect than the ancients were. I often wonder +that the ancients, who believed in so many gods, were not scared into +better conduct.... Pompeii is reached by railroad train from Naples. +If you take an express train, the twenty miles may be traveled in half +an hour. Electric cars also run there, but they make many stops, and +are much slower. When you are in Pompeii, you are near Vesuvius, the +mountain which has destroyed so many lives. It is particularly peaceful +just now, and I saw no smoke issuing from the crater. Seven years ago +it went on a rampage, and destroyed several villages and six or seven +hundred lives. At that time the mountain lost three hundred feet of +its top, and is so insignificant-looking now that a good many visitors +to Naples do not make the journey to the summit, which is easily +accomplished by electric and cog railway. A mountain near Vesuvius is +now higher than Vesuvius itself, but the wicked old pile will grow, +and no doubt will erupt at some time in the future, and kill thousands +again. Stromboli, which we saw yesterday, is a much more impressive +sight at present than Vesuvius. + + + + +FRIDAY, MAY 2.—It has been said a good many times that Italy has too +many churches and royal palaces. Naples has two royal palaces, although +the king lives at Rome. One is in town, and the other in the country, +near the sea. We visited the king’s town palace, as it is open to +the public two days of the week. There are eight hundred rooms in +the place, and twelve hundred servants care for it.... A room in +a king’s palace is usually a huge affair, probably 100x50 feet, with +an oval ceiling, and great chandeliers containing candles specially +manufactured for royalty. The furniture in each room is of a different +pattern; fancy chairs and divans made of gilt and brocade. No palace +seems to have been made as a place of residence for a family, but for +show, and intrigue, and murder, and dancing, and alarms, and riots. +Most of the famous murders in history have taken place in palaces. Not +far from the king’s town palace in Naples is an old palace now occupied +by soldiers as a barracks. It is a dirty place, but we were taken to +the upper rooms where are preserved relics of royalty nearly a thousand +years old. These include a chapel, decorated by artists of great fame. +Then we were taken down a winding stairway into a terrible place where +dead bodies were displayed in coffins. The dead bodies in the coffins +were those of princes, and cardinals, and all of them had died violent +deaths. One cardinal had an expression of agony on his face which +will haunt me for months; he had been smothered in the most inhuman +way. The bodies we saw were dressed in the magnificent clothing they +wore when they were murdered. This sight was seen in a noisome hole +underground, and was so terrible that Adelaide almost cried when she +begged me to take her out. We had a guide with us, and a warder from +the castle, but neither of them could tell us much about the place, +except that it is a relic of Spanish occupation in the eleventh and +twelfth centuries.... In thinking of the magnificence of palaces and +castles, always remember the terrible murders that have disgraced them. +A king fills us common people with awe, but he always has a brother, an +uncle, a cousin, or some other near relative who knows that he deserves +death. I think I have longed for nearly everything else, but I never +longed to be a king, nor would I care to live in a palace with twelve +hundred servants, any one of whom would poison me for two dollars and +promise of a postoffice.... On the way to the king’s town palace +we passed through the old part of Naples; a district of tall houses, +all of them crowded with poor people. The street was very narrow, and +the sun was almost obscured by clothes newly washed, and drying in the +sunlight. The wash-lines ran across the streets, and were so thick that +I thought the sight the most curious I had ever seen. The streets were +so crowded with children that we got through them with difficulty, and +every little while some one who had been to America, hailed us in bad +English. The lower floor of every house was nearly always occupied with +a little shop, in which a family also lived. In one of these places, +a little child was lying dead. The body was surrounded with candles, +and five women sat in the room. For some reason, the mother of the +child wanted us to look at it; she came out into the street, weeping, +and made motions indicating that she wanted us to go in, which we did. +The guide said the woman’s husband was in America, and that she felt a +friendly interest in us on that account.... The street was a steep +one; so steep that we went down it by means of broad steps. I have +seen a street almost exactly like it in Jerusalem. The cross-streets +were narrower and steeper than the main street we traveled, and I +was almost disposed to agree with Adelaide that Naples is the most +interesting place we have visited.... James Gordon Bennett, of the +New York _Herald_, issues an edition of his paper in Paris, and it is +sold all over Europe by street peddlers. Twenty times a minute we were +offered a copy of the _Herald_; the peddlers knew we were Americans, +and were so insistent that I always carried a copy of the paper in my +pocket, to show them I had one. They also sold the New York _Times_, +and I carried a copy of that paper, too.... Flowers grow in great +profusion in Italy, and are sold by street peddlers who are hanging +onto your carriage half the time. I bought fifteen very fine roses, +on one occasion, for ten cents.... The Italian lire and the French +franc are of the same value, twenty cents, and the franc circulates +everywhere in Italy, as the lire circulates everywhere in France. If +you ask for Italian money in Italy, you are as apt to get francs as +lires.... Prices may have advanced abroad, as at home, but I doubt +if the advance has been as great. Adelaide needed a pair of gloves, and +the price at one of the best shops in Naples was fifty cents a pair. +The same gloves would cost $1.50 at home.... You hear a great deal +about tips abroad: how the servants mob you at hotels, etc. The tip +nuisance is worse in New York than it is in Naples; besides, larger +tips are exacted in New York. Carriage-hire here is less than half +what it is in New York, and when I land in that American city I shall +pay for rooms at the Waldorf-Astoria more than I paid for rooms and +meals at the Hotel Vesuve. And Naples is one of the greatest resorts in +Europe, and the Hotel Vesuve is one of the best hotels in Naples.... +We expressed a desire to see the San Carlos theatre, one of the most +famous in the world, and the guide promptly took us there, and had it +lighted up for our special benefit. I was willing to give the theatre +man forty cents, but our man said twenty cents was enough, and that +was what we paid. The cathedral in Naples is also a famous place, +built in imitation of St. Peters, in Rome. And it is a very good +imitation. The guide took us through this church, and never gave the +priest guides more than half a franc, or ten cents each. I suppose he +robbed us a good deal, but I never caught him at it. You are always +hearing that when you shop in Naples, the shopkeeper is compelled to +add something to the price for the guide. One day the guide left us +for a few minutes, in a famous arcade, and we found prices the same as +when the guide was along. English is spoken nearly everywhere in Naples +and throughout Italy, because so many of its citizens have been to the +United States.... The Italian girls are nearly all good-looking +when young, but after they are married and have children, most of them +become too fat. I have always thought it a good joke on a man to marry +a girl weighing a hundred pounds, and have her increase her weight +to two hundred, or two hundred and fifty. And the joke on the man is +particularly good if his daughters, on reaching fifteen or sixteen, are +also very fat. + + + + +SATURDAY, MAY 3.—I had intended sailing from Naples on the North +German-Lloyd ship “Princess Irene,” a favorite, but when I reached +Cook’s office I found the ship crowded. I was offered the second +officer’s room, if I paid $60 extra, but in pursuance of my vow to +avoid favorites in future, I concluded to travel to New York on the +French ship “Canada.” This ship is new, and has not yet had time to +become a favorite, so I secured very much better accommodations +at a lower price than was demanded for the German boat.... In +Cairo, Egypt, is a famous hotel known as Shepherd’s. There are at +least four hotels in Cairo better than Shepherd’s; there are half +a dozen just as good, and another half-dozen where you may secure +satisfactory accommodations. Avoid favorites of every kind, if you +wish fair treatment.... Wherever a traveler goes, he encounters +free advertising for the United States, but I saw a stars-and-stripes +sight in Naples this afternoon that greatly impressed me. The “Canada” +and “Princess Irene” were docked side by side, and as both were to +sail at 6 P. M. for New York, both displayed the American flag. When +I went to the dock at 4 P. M., the decks of both ships were black +with emigrants, and they were still going up the gangways as thick as +ants. When Adelaide and I went aboard the “Canada,” the sailors were +compelled to clear a way for us to the first-class decks, where there +were fifty passengers, as compared with three or four hundred in the +second-cabin, and nearly two thousand in the steerage. Once on the +upper decks of the “Canada,” we could see a similar crowd of emigrants +on the “Princess Irene,” which lay alongside, and the emigrants kept +coming until six o’clock, when the big whistle blew, and the gang-plank +was drawn in. Three ships left Naples for New York today, and all of +them were crowded with emigrants. And this doesn’t happen occasionally; +it is of daily occurrence—not only here, but in many other ports. In +every part of the world the people know about the United States, and +go there in constantly increasing crowds, although South Africa, and +Australia, and South America, and New Zealand, and Canada, and many +other countries, are offering inducements to immigrants.... We got +away a little after 6:30 o’clock, and found the sea kind again; this +is our twenty-fifth day at sea without discomfort. There was a shower +of rain just before we left Naples, which drove to cover the thousands +of weeping women who had come to the dock to see friends depart, but +outside the bay the sea was calm. Ten or fifteen poor children were +on the dock, begging the passengers for pennies, but the rain didn’t +bother them. There was one boy who could turn handsprings, but while he +was showing off his accomplishment, the other children got the pennies. +The moral is, attend to business, and don’t show off. + + + + +SUNDAY, MAY 4.—When we awoke this morning, the “Canada” was lying in +the harbor of Palermo, in Sicily, where it spent the day in taking on +more emigrants. As the ship was to remain until evening, we went ashore +at 8:30 for the day, accompanied by an old gentleman of seventy-six, +who acted as guide.... I have neglected Palermo in my reading; +I knew almost nothing about it. I didn’t know it contained another +palace belonging to the king of Italy, and about four hundred thousand +people.... A few men are natural-born gentlemen. Our old guide was +such a man. He lived in the United States, as a young man, and we were +much pleased with him.... In Italian and Sicilian towns, nearly +every family owns a milk goat. These goats are sent to the country, +to graze, and are brought in every night and morning to be milked. We +drove up-town in Palermo just as the milk goats were being collected by +the herd boys. The goats know where they belong, and often climb two or +three flights of stairs, to be milked. Milch cows are also driven into +town, and milked in the streets. The calves accompany their mothers, +and to insure that they will not get lost, are tied to their mother’s +tail. There is a certain brand of Italian cattle, and they have not +changed since the days of the Romans; every section of the Old World +has its particular kind of cattle. In South Africa we saw a good many +queer-looking cattle from Madagascar, imported after the rinderpest +had killed nearly everything in Africa. In Egypt we saw another kind. +India has another variety, and the Scotch and Irish also have varieties +of their own. In the United States we are constantly improving cattle, +and have no favorite except the best.... Although we visited Palermo +on Sunday, the public market was in full blast. One man was making a +tremendous outcry to attract attention to his beef. He said it was very +cheap; the price was thirty-two cents a pound. Beef is very high-priced +in Sicily, and so are fish, but poultry is quite cheap.... Palermo +has a wonderful cathedral, and the guide took us there, during a mass. +There was a large choir of men and boys, and an archbishop conducted +the service. The old guide was a devout Catholic, and frequently +crossed himself while in the cathedral, but he took us through the +worshipers, to look at the different wonders, and the worshipers didn’t +seem to mind it, or pay any attention to us. Occasionally we stopped, +afraid to go on, but the old guide motioned for us to come on, and we +walked among kneeling women to join our conductor. There were several +chapels in the place, all of which were shown us, but the big service +finally became so interesting that we spent a quarter of an hour in +witnessing it. We saw many very old priests in the enormous building, +and our guide seemed to know all of them; indeed, he seemed to know +everybody everywhere, and to be universally respected. There were +certain valuable relics and jewels belonging to the cathedral. In order +to see these the guide conducted us into apartments which seemed to +be private, and occupied by a considerable number of clericals. The +guide knew all these men, and they bowed to him respectfully.... +Then he took us to the private grounds of a count. The gatekeeper +saluted our old guide with great respect, and, as we strolled about +the grounds, the guide was at liberty to pick fruits and flowers for +Adelaide. He next took us to a very old church, where we saw a quaint +lot of monks. These queer men knew our guide, too, and he took snuff +with one of them who opened a door to what seemed to be subterranean +vaults of some kind. We walked down several long flights of steps, and +entered a place where thousands of dead bodies were displayed. Many +of the bodies were in coffins with glass tops or sides, but most of +them were fastened against the stone walls. The guide said the bodies +were buried for a year or two, and then taken up, and displayed in +this queer way. There was nothing offensive about the place, except as +thousands of grinning skulls are offensive. The guide did not know how +many bodies were displayed in the place, but I should say the number +was far above ten thousand. Some of the bodies were of infants, some of +old men, some of young girls, some of priests. I had never before seen +anything like it, nor did I know any such thing existed in Palermo or +elsewhere.... Then we went to the royal palace, built in 1132, and +which is occupied once or twice in a decade by the King of Italy and +his family. We went into the private rooms of the king and queen, and +saw their beds, and their baths; we saw the kitchen, and dining-room, +as well as the state apartments. And all the palace attendants were +very respectful to our old guide; he was permitted to roam about +with us without restraint. Once, when he wanted to show us a certain +apartment, he took a key out of a private drawer, and we walked a long +way down one of the battlements to a tower where the room was.... +But the best thing we saw during the day was the chapel of the old +palace. It was a wonderful piece of art work, the entire interior being +covered with valuable paintings and more valuable mosaic work. This +chapel was in the class of the wonders to be seen in India. We visited +it twice, and both times services were in progress. As we had done at +the cathedral, the guide conducted us among the kneeling worshipers, +and he knew every priest and monk he encountered, and they all spoke +to him respectfully. I don’t believe I have ever seen anything that +attracted me more than this chapel, built in the eleventh century. +The interior is of marble, and the decorations of mosaic work laid +in designs cut in the marble.... At 1 P. M. we rested at a little +hotel on the side of the mountain overlooking Palermo. The old guide +knew the proprietor, who waited on us himself, and tried hard to give +satisfaction. We had macaroni cooked in Italian style, fish, wine, +and quite a hearty lunch, but the charge for four of us—including the +guide and driver—was a little less than $1.40. Then we went on up the +mountain to a wonderful old church in a wonderful old town, the name of +which I have forgotten. It was a feast day of some kind, and a great +celebration was being held in the wonderful old town. The streets were +packed with the merrymakers, and all sorts of hawkers were selling all +sorts of articles that were queer to us. On our way down the mountain +we saw a wonderful valley devoted to lemon orchards. The owner of one +of these orchards lived several years in St. Louis, and, knowing we +were Americans, invited us to see his lemon crop. The lemons were just +ready to pick, and the yield was very good, apparently. The proprietor +told me he had twelve acres; that the land was worth $1,000 an acre; +and that all of his lemons were shipped to the United States. He was +much interested in a rumor that the new president, Mr. Wilson, would +remove the duty on lemons, but I was compelled to confess I did not +know anything about it. As it was Sunday, all of the farmer’s family, +including his wife and children, and hired men followed us about. +There were two boys in the family, and they climbed trees, and loaded +Adelaide down with various kinds of fruit. The lemon orchard, I +noticed, is irrigated, but neither the proprietor nor the guide could +tell me where the water came from. Usually it comes from wells, and is +raised with sweeps turned by donkeys and horses.... We returned to +the docks at 5:10 P. M., after eight very delightful hours in Palermo. +The boatman was waiting, and the old guide went aboard with us, +carrying Adelaide’s great collection of fruits and flowers. During our +absence we had taken on six hundred more steerage passengers, and their +friends surrounded the ship, in boats. In half an hour the big ship +backed out of the harbor, and pointed its nose for New York. + + + + +MONDAY, MAY 5.—I think every man believes his “luck” is atrocious, +and that he rarely gets an “even break.” But I am perfectly satisfied +with what they have done to me on the “Canada.” It is a new ship of +fourteen thousand tons, and there are only fifty passengers in the +first-cabin. As a result, we have plenty of room, and the officers +give us whatever we want. I have a room to myself on the best deck, +and Adelaide has another just like it next door. Between our rooms +there is a private bath, which has been turned over to us for good +measure. On most ships the beds are hard. On the “Canada,” our beds are +provided with springs, and we have real bedsteads. I have two windows +in my room, and Adelaide has two in hers; our bath-room is as big as a +stateroom, and is provided with a shower-bath, in addition to the usual +tub.... In the dining-room, we have a table to ourselves; a small +table for two, with a side electric light, in addition to the ceiling +lights. On our table twice a day are quart bottles of red and white +wine, always full. This wine is free; it is a feature of all French +boats. The cooking is the best I have ever enjoyed on a steamship +or hotel, and the attendance perfect. Our waiter is a Frenchman who +speaks almost no English, but the chief steward (a German, by-the-way) +speaks English, and sees that we are not neglected. The meals are +French, except that we have an English breakfast; which means that we +have eggs, chops, fish, bacon, etc. On the continent, breakfast almost +universally consists of coffee, bread and butter, and jam. At the fine +Hotel Vesuve, in Naples, we had this sort of breakfast, although we +could have eggs if we called for them. In Paris it is almost impossible +to get anything to eat before noon, except at hotels patronized by +Americans and English.... Our rooms are in charge of a woman; we +see a man in overalls occasionally, but the woman is in charge. On +German ships, the dining-room stewards not only care for the rooms, +but play in the band; on the “Canada,” waiters in the dining-room have +nothing to do with the sleeping-rooms.... The first-class passengers +have two big decks. In the rear of the upper deck is a handsome +smoking-room. At the rear of the next deck below, the deck on which +our rooms are located, is a music-room. At the other end of the deck +is a writing-room. Just below the writing-room, and reached by a grand +stairway, is the dining-room. All these rooms are very handsome, as the +ship is less than a year old.... What do we pay for all this luxury +and magnificence? Less per day than we paid on the “Maunganui,” between +Wellington and Sydney, where I shared a room 9×10 with three others. +Adelaide shared a room of similar size on the “Maunganui” with three +other women. The “Maunganui” was a favorite; the “Canada” is a new and +unknown ship struggling for recognition from the traveling public. +Moral: Keep away from favorites; they will always impose on you.... +Another pleasant thing about the “Canada” is that there is not a single +Englishman on board. There is no Sports Committee, no loud talk, and no +noise. About half the first-cabin passengers are Americans, and they +are so well-behaved that I am proud of them. The others are French and +Italian, and they are also quiet and modest.... When we look down +on the lower decks, we see a seething mass of humanity: Italian and +Sicilian emigrants. Fortunately the weather is fine, and most of them +are on deck; only a few of them are seasick. Some people can’t go on a +millpond without becoming sick, and we have a few of this sort in the +first-cabin. The three or four hundred passengers in the second-cabin +we cannot see, as they are on a deck under ours.... This morning I +saw four barbers at work among the emigrants; barbers who are going +to the United States to work at their trade. The barbers charge four +cents for shaving, and six cents for hair-cutting. The barber in the +first-cabin charges only fifteen cents for a shave, and he is a good +workman. The emigrants eat on deck, now that the weather is fine. Each +one seems to get a loaf of bread, and a bucket containing soup and +meat. A cheap wine is also given them; also macaroni. They are well +treated, as the Italian government has a commissioner on board to look +after their interests. This commissioner sits on the captain’s right +in the dining-room, and has one of the best rooms on the ship.... +The emigrants are all poor people, but very wasteful, now that they +have plenty. Every day enough bread is wasted on their deck to feed +dozens of people, and this is swept up and thrown overboard by the +sailors.... These emigrants are objectionable, in one way. In case +of a panic, we would all go to the bottom. Nothing could control them, +and we haven’t enough boats to float twenty-five hundred people, even +if order were maintained. But the “Princess Irene,” the favorite, is +carrying even more emigrants than the “Canada.” I have never before +been on a ship where the decks were black with emigrants; there are +a few hundred on nearly every ship, but the crowd on the “Canada” +frightens me. + + + + +TUESDAY, MAY 6.—The weather remains fine, and the sea is as smooth +as we found it in the Red Sea, or on the east coast of Africa. The +Mediterranean narrows up at its western end, as we approach Gibraltar, +and becomes a great harbor. At six o’clock this evening we were +within a few hundred yards of the mountainous coast of Spain. The +Mediterranean being narrow at this point, we are seeing many ships: +seven were in sight at one time this evening. + + + + +WEDNESDAY, MAY 7.—At 4:30 this morning, a steward knocked on my door, +and said: + +“Gibraltar.” + +I climbed out of bed, hurried into a little clothing, and went on deck. +Daylight was faintly appearing. On the right, two or three hundred +yards away, was the rock of Gibraltar, where the English have a huge +fortification which is said to be so old as to be a joke. No one is +allowed in the fortification, but it is common report that the big +guns are so old and rusty that it would be dangerous to fire them. The +rock of Gibraltar is an island, and puts out into the sea. Behind it +is the town of the same name; a place as big as Atchison. The picture +of Gibraltar shown in advertisements of the Prudential Life Insurance +Company looks exactly like it, except that the bay and town behind +the rock are not shown accurately. Half-way up the rock of Gibraltar +was a light, and a long shelf; I suppose the shelf is a part of the +fortification. In the town were occasional clusters of electric lights, +as may be seen in any modern town just as daylight is appearing, and I +could see a lighthouse on the African shore off to the left. Creeping +through the straits were a number of ships, one of them within two or +three hundred feet of the “Canada.” Then I went back to bed. I aroused +Adelaide, and told her of the sight on the opposite side of the ship, +but she concluded not to get up.... Soon after breakfast, we passed +Tangier, and left Africa for good. We have been in sight of Africa +almost constantly since March 2, when we landed at Durban. During +the twenty-four days we were on the “Burgermeister,” we were out of +sight of it a few days after leaving Port Said, but this morning we +saw the African continent again, at its north-western end, at Tangier, +in Morocco.... An hour later, we were out of sight of land in +the Atlantic ocean, which Adelaide had been afraid of, but there was +little motion, and the weather was warmer and brighter than it has been +since leaving Port Said. The barber, when he shaved me this morning, +predicted rough weather when we get behind the Azores, but certainly +we are having beautiful weather now, and have had it continuously +for thirty-two days.... There is an American on board who said to +me this morning: “I shall never travel at sea again. Wherever you go +by ship, travel is rendered disagreeable by the English. The English +are intensely disagreeable to me, and in future I shall keep away +from them. They are the most impolite people in the world, and do +not realize that everything English is not perfect. They pronounce +words wrong, and regard you with pity if you pronounce the same words +correctly. The English are headed for a big tumble. You and I will not +live to see it, but Canada and Australia will throw off the English +yoke. That will encourage India, and Africa, and many other countries, +to do the same thing. England is seeing its best days right now; let +the Englishmen swagger while they may. The English remind me of a +big trust: they paid too much for their various possessions, and are +bound to ‘bust.’”... I do not feel that bad about the English, but I +certainly remark that the “Canada” is much quieter than it would be +were a majority of the passengers sons of John Bull. So far, I have not +seen a single passenger running around in pajamas. + + + + +THURSDAY, MAY 8.—Our magnificent French cook had macaroni for dinner +today, and, while I liked it better than the Italian way of preparing +it, I did not like it so well as the American way. Italian macaroni +did not please my taste. It was not cooked enough, to begin with, and +had the tomato sauce baked into it. It is a sight to see Italians +eat macaroni. It is cooked in long strings, and the Italians poke it +into their mouths in a fashion that is not at all pleasing.... Six +whales were in sight at one time this afternoon, and probably there +were many more in the school we did not see. An hour later, we ran into +the biggest lot of porpoises I have ever seen. They were quite close +to the ship, on both sides of it, and seemed to be following us. A +porpoise looks like a fish weighing twenty-five to forty pounds, and +leaps entirely out of the water when in a sportive mood. Jumping out of +the water is probably a fish’s method of taking a bath.... We have +our chairs on the upper or hurricane deck, and, when we take a walk, +pass the wireless room, where an operator sits all day and night with +receivers at his ears, to catch any call that may be in the air. When +the operator reads, he has the receivers fastened to his ears, and I +have seen him eating dinner in his room when rigged up in the same +queer way.... A dove has been following the ship several days. It is +very tired, and this morning I saw it attempt to light on the waves; +then it fluttered up into the rigging, and rested there awhile.... +Near the entrance to the dining-room there is a notice in French and +English. Among other things, it says the management will appreciate the +courtesy if passengers dress for luncheon and dinner. We are wondering +what a proper dress for luncheon is. The rules also say that dogs are +not allowed on board, but one has the run of the ship; and, since he is +the only nuisance on board, we wonder that the officers stand for it. +I never cared much for those who go crazy about dogs. Senator Vest, of +Missouri, once wrote a false and sentimental tribute to dogs, and the +Dog People were so much encouraged by it that they are very pronounced +nuisances everywhere. No one has a right to keep a dog that is a +nuisance to others; whoever does not know this is unfair and impolite +in other ways.... The big ship “Canada” is doing a very fair job of +pitching this afternoon, but we have been at sea so long that we do not +mind it. There is a noticeable thinning-out on the steerage deck. So +far, we have been at sea fifty-three days since leaving San Francisco, +and have been seasick only four or five days. We were sick three days +on the Pacific, and two between Australia and New Zealand, but during +the last forty-seven days at sea we have experienced no inconvenience. +I sleep at night as I never slept before in my life; there is just +enough motion to rock me to sleep.... In Italy, a traveler from the +United States wonders at the general use of wine. All classes drink it, +and it is very cheap; I bought a bottle of very good wine in Naples +for six cents. The poor people use it instead of gravy or milk; on the +ship, I see emigrants soaking their bread in wine. Every vacant plot +of ground in Naples is devoted to grapes and vegetables. In the heart +of the town, wherever you find a vacant lot, you find a garden. I have +never seen anything growing in Italy except vegetables and fruit; I +wonder where the wheat comes from with which they make macaroni? The +Italians say American flour makes better bread than the Italian flour, +but inferior macaroni. The Italians are poor, as a rule, but nearly +all of them are fat; particularly the women. The poor people of Italy +do not eat meat once a week; the Italian emigrants on the ship get it +twice a day. But they are very wasteful of it, and complain as much as +though they had always been accustomed to the very best. One of the +officers says that on the last trip, the ship was compelled to bring +back twenty-two emigrants who failed to pass the examination in New +York. The charge against one man was that he had been a professional +beggar. This man made a great deal of trouble during the voyage to +New York; he was always finding fault with the food, although it was +abundant. I asked the officer why the ship gave the emigrants so much +food that they threw it overboard; his reply was that the Italian +commissioner on board insisted on a liberal supply, and the captain +was at his mercy. The emigrants are pretty well crowded in their +sleeping quarters; one hundred and fifty men sleep in one room, in a +bed which runs up in broad tiers. If the owners of the English ships +running between Australia and New Zealand ever hear of this, they will +die of mortification because of their moderation in putting only four +in a room.... We had a moving-picture show last night, with the +explanatory lecture in French.... The barber who shaves me every +morning says he has been going to sea a good many years, but never +started on a voyage on Friday; that a ship never leaves its initial +port on Friday. The barber is mistaken. For thirty years or more, the +P. & O. line has sent a ship out of London every Friday. Nine-tenths +of all you hear is untrue. The barber also says that the famous +expression, “See Naples and die,” is founded on a play on words. In +the bay of Naples there is an island called Morreai, which in Italian, +means something connected with death. The original saying was, “See +Naples and Morreai,” but in a spirit of levity the English translated +the saying, “See Naples and die.” + + + + +FRIDAY, MAY 9.—This afternoon we passed the “Lusiana,” an Italian +emigrant ship also bound for New York. The “Lusiana” left Naples a +day before we did, but it is slow, and we overhauled it. We passed +it within a hundred yards, and marveled at the manner in which it +pitched and rolled; probably the big “Canada” was cutting up in a +similar manner, viewed from the decks of the “Lusiana,” which were +black with emigrants. The emigrants did a good deal of cheering as we +passed.... The “Canada” is also a faster ship than the “Princess +Irene,” the favorite, and we are hoping that we may overtake it, and +jeer at the passengers. The “Princess Irene” had a start of nearly +twenty-four hours, as it did not stop at Palermo.... By-the-way, as +we left the “Lusiana” behind, I caught the geographies in a ridiculous +error. They all say that at sea, the last sight of a disappearing +vessel is the top of its masts; which proves, the geographies say, that +the world is round. The curvature of the earth is something like an +inch to the mile, so that the funnels of a ship would not disappear +under five hundred miles, if one could see that far. Three hours after +we passed the “Lusiana,” it was a mere speck on the horizon, but we +could plainly see its hull. After it had entirely disappeared from view +by the naked eye, we could see its hull with the aid of glasses. The +ships were probably fifteen miles apart when we finally lost sight of +the “Lusiana,” and the difference between them, in the curvature of the +earth, did not exceed fifteen inches.... The hull of the “Canada” is +white, and it must have presented a very pretty sight to the passengers +on the “Lusiana,” who were all of one class: emigrants. But down below, +the “Canada” is probably a little untidy. Everything below its two +top decks is crowded with emigrants, and they are not very clean. In +the evening, they sing a great deal; a trombone-player, en route to +New York to join an Italian band, leads with his instrument. Among +the first-class passengers is an Italian opera-singer who is about as +good as any of the second-rate tenors at the Metropolitan Opera House, +and he sings every evening.... Nearly all the emigrants seem to +wear home-made socks and shoes. Most of them are young men; I doubt +if there are two hundred women in the entire lot. Many of them have +been over before, and will return home when outdoor work ceases next +winter, as the price of the passage is only $25. The weather is chilly, +and the emigrants sit on deck wrapped in blankets furnished them by +the steamship company. In addition to a blanket, each is given a sack +stuffed with straw, and on these they sleep. Nearly all of them eat +in groups on deck, and this morning I saw them pouring olive oil into +tin cups containing either coffee and bread, or wine and bread, I could +not tell which.... I write this at a table in a little alcove on +deck, and the screaming of the emigrants as they excitedly talk to +each other amounts to a roar. This noise is in my ears continuously, +except when I go to my room, which is amidships, and far removed from +the emigrant decks forward and aft.... The cooking on the ship +continues to astonish us, it is so excellent. So far, we have not had +a dish duplicated at lunch or dinner. You would think anyone could +scramble eggs; it may be difficult to unscramble them, as the late J. +P. Morgan once observed, but there should be little difference in the +process of scrambling them. I am fond of scrambled eggs, and have been +eating them all my life, but the manner in which they are prepared in +the “Canada’s” kitchen is new and delightful. This morning I asked the +chief steward to take Adelaide into the kitchen, to learn the chef’s +secret of scrambling eggs. Adelaide says one secret of his delicious +cooking is that everything is reeking in butter. It is possible that +a German or English crew would suit me better than the French crew +of the “Canada,” when it comes to the general work of the ship, but +the kitchen and dining-room, and sleeping-rooms, are better managed +on this ship than on any other with which I have been familiar on two +voyages around the world, and three shorter trips by sea. I do not want +any better accommodations than I have on the “Canada.”... Much as I +admire the Germans, I cannot help noting that their language does not +_sound_ as well as French or Italian. To a man who does not understand +languages, the German sounds worst of all, unless it is the Russian. +On the “Burgermeister,” where we heard German constantly for more than +three weeks, we used to laugh at its funny sounds. I know of no uglier +sounding word than the German word “yaw,” which means “yes.” If I were +a young man, and should propose to a young and beautiful German girl, +and she should reply with what poets say is the sweetest of all words, +yaw, I should feel disposed to run away to South America, or South +Africa, or some other country where it is too hot.... I have never +known anyone to struggle quite so hard against baldness as the barber +on the “Canada.” When his hair is in order, it looks all right, but +the other morning, while I was being shaved, the window blew open, and +the barber’s hair went to pieces. He is bald, but has cultivated a lot +of long hair on the side of his head which he combs over his baldness. +The wind threw this long hair out of place, and as it flapped around, +the barber was as flustrated as an old maid suddenly discovered in her +night-gown.... Speaking of the barber reminds me that he says all +the officers of the “Canada,” except the captain, wanted more pay, +a few months ago, and walked out just before the ship was to sail +from Marseilles. The ship had a big lot of passengers aboard, but the +general manager was stubborn, and he fooled around for a week before +he could find another set of officers.... We hear on the upper deck +that the six hundred Sicilians among the emigrants are not as good +workers as the fourteen hundred Italians; and that in addition to +being lazy, the Sicilians use a knife with very little provocation. In +Sicily, you hear a great deal of the vendetta, wherein a man will knife +another man who is a second cousin to an enemy.... This morning we +passed the Azore islands, where Columbus stopped on his famous voyage. +Usually the “Canada” passes between the islands, and quite close to +shore, but owing to rain and mist we passed on the longer and safer +course. + + + + +SATURDAY, MAY 10.—It turned out just as the barber predicted: Behind +the Azores we encountered rough seas, and the big ship “Canada” has +been jumping today like a greyhound. The wind is blowing heavily, +and there is an occasional shower of rain. After every shower, there +is a rainbow; one of them made a bow over the stern of the ship, and +followed us for fifteen minutes. We were late for breakfast this +morning, but the steward said we were the first ones in, and no others +came while we were there. We have suffered no inconvenience from the +rough weather, except that we became tired of bracing ourselves. The +sailors dislike rough weather; they do not become seasick, but rough +weather at sea is disagreeable, as it is on land, and results in gloomy +thoughts and bad tempers. Rough weather rolls you about in your bed +at night, and the most experienced sailor cannot sleep as well as +he can when the weather is good.... I have frequently mentioned +the barber. On every ship, the barber shop is headquarters for news. +In the days before newspapers, people went to the barber-shops for +the gossip of the day. The “Canada’s” barber is a German, but speaks +French and English. He lived in London four years, and told me today +that he found, after learning English in London, that Americans could +not understand him very well. Which corroborates my statement that +the people of the United States and the English do not speak the same +language.... The man on the “Canada” who has least to do is the +barkeeper. I have not seen a single drink ordered in the dining-room. +On the “Burgermeister,” nearly everyone ordered something from the bar +at luncheon and dinner, and paid extra for it, but on the “Canada,” +two kinds of wine are furnished free. The profit from liquor on the +German ship must have been enormous. Two kinds of keg beer, light and +dark, were sold, and nearly everybody drank one or the other. The +weather was very warm nearly all the time I was on the “Burgermeister,” +and the cold beer was particularly agreeable. But on the “Canada,” I +have not seen the barkeeper fill a half-dozen orders. The weather is +chilly, and we wear our heaviest winter clothing; besides, there is no +German beer on draught.... This is the sixth day out, and we have +had strawberries every day. It is surprising how fresh and palatable +the cook manages to make everything taste. We are paying about seven +dollars a day each for our accommodations on this ship, which include +two rooms on the best deck, a private bath, three of the best meals +I have ever eaten, and bouillon at 11 A. M., and tea at 4 P. M. We +would be charged about the same price in the second-class on the big +Atlantic liners. The “Canada” is a new ship, working for a reputation; +that is the only explanation I know of. Anyone going abroad, by taking +this line, sees Palermo, in Sicily, and Naples, in Italy, on the way, +landing finally at Marseilles, in France. Some of the other ships of +the line stop at Lisbon, in Portugal, and at the Azores, also.... +You can pay almost any price for accommodations at sea. It is said +John Jacob Astor paid $5,000 for accommodations on the “Titanic,” and +the management didn’t do a thing but drown him. He had three or four +rooms, two baths, a private dining-room, etc. Speaking of J. J. Astor +reminds me that he made financial mistakes, as well as the rest of us. +In closing up his estate it was found that he had ten million dollars +worth of securities which were practically worthless. But Astor could +drive a hard bargain, on occasion. He once found a man who was hard up, +and who wanted to sell a yacht which cost half a million dollars. The +yacht was new, and the man thought he ought to have $450,000 for it. +But Astor finally got it for $90,000.... There is a man on board +who is the best newspaper scholar I have ever known. He is familiar +with everything that has appeared in the newspapers for the past twenty +or thirty years. I have posted myself on the news of the past five +months by talking to him. He is very entertaining, and quite modest; +he frequently says: “I know nothing about it myself; I only know what +I read in the newspapers.” I have never before known a man quite like +him.... We have dinner at 6:30 on the “Canada,” but the passengers +never come into the dining-room until a quarter of an hour later, when +the _table d’hôte_ dinner begins. At the fine Hotel Vesuve, in Naples, +the dinner hour was 7:30, but the guests were always a quarter of an +hour late.... Our guide in Naples was a rather sullen American, +and we learned today that he was formerly a very rich man. His father +died seven years ago, and left him a fortune, but he ran through with +it, and is now a guide, at $2 a day. He spent most of his money in +Monte Carlo, at the gambling-tables. This information I get from the +newspaper scholar, quoted above, who is an old traveler. He says he +knows the guide well, but refused to give me his name. I have the +guide’s card, but the newspaper scholar says it is not his real name. + + + + +SUNDAY, MAY 11.—The bad weather continues, and we cannot take our usual +walks. We sit in a protected place on the upper deck, wrapped in rugs, +and talk about getting home. Adelaide has decided that she does not +care to remain in New York long; that she wants to get home as soon +as possible; so if we reach that city Thursday night, as expected, +Friday afternoon will see us on a railroad train headed westward.... +While on the Pacific ocean, I met a life insurance man named Adams, +who told me that he traveled constantly, and that his expenses, afloat +and ashore, averaged $11 a day. He kept no expense account, he said; +at the end of the year he charged the company $11 a day for expenses, +and that was almost exactly what he spent. Today I made a calculation, +and found that the present trip has cost us $11 a day each, almost to a +penny. So if you want to know what traveling costs, here is an estimate +you may depend upon. This means rapid traveling, by railroad and +steamship, and sightseeing in the towns with the assistance of a guide. +The estimate includes the purchases a traveler is compelled to make, +and cannot be reduced much unless you travel second-class, and deny +yourself many things. At Palermo, we hired a guide, and drove about +nearly all day in a new two-horse carriage, with liveried driver. The +expense was considerable, but we saw dozens of things that those who +did not take a guide and carriage, failed to see.... A stewardess +on the “Canada” has enormous feet. She is rather a pretty woman, but +her feet are much too big. Americans have smaller feet than any other +race.... There is a young man on board who has a tremendous lot of +hair, which he never combs. There is something peculiar about him, +and today we found out what it is: he is an artist.... There is a +woman on board who left New York in February, a bride. She said to +me today: “I’m not happy; but I’m as happy as married women usually +are, and am content.” I’ve been thinking about the statement, and have +almost concluded that she is a smart woman. Isn’t she smarter than the +woman who marries, expects to be happy, is disappointed, and becomes +sour over her disappointment?... I see that Edward Bok, editor of the +_Ladies’ Home Journal_, is offering prizes to husbands who will write +the best articles under this title: “Why I Wanted My Wife to Become +My Wife.” The prize articles will be written by sentimentalists who +will write, not the truth, but what the editor wants. The husbands +who know the truth about marriage, rarely tell it.... A man on +board is a great reader, and gets a new book out of the library every +day. He sits near me on deck, and frequently criticises the authors +of the books he reads. Still, it is easier to be a great critic than +it is to be a great author.... This man knows many things I never +heard of. He says he once knew a boy only seven years old who was an +ordained preacher in the Methodist church. I knew better, but I did not +argue with him. I’ve quit arguing; I hear foolish statements every day +without contradicting them. In the smoking-room today I heard a man say +that a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church need not be a priest, and +that a cardinal might marry if he chose. Another man said Mark Twain +was once a preacher, and had a regular charge. + + + + +MONDAY, MAY 12.—This has been the most disagreeable day of the voyage. +The wind blew a hurricane, but shifted so frequently that it kept the +sea down, although it was so bad that most of the passengers were ill. +The captain, when he came down to breakfast, said to the few present: +“I’m sorry.” Meaning the weather; he had promised us a fine voyage. +The captain is a very polite man; when he comes into the dining-room, +in the morning, he speaks to most of the passengers, and goes about to +shake hands with some of them. He is very solicitous of those who are +ill, but Captain Trask, of the American ship “Sonoma,” thought it a +disgrace to be seasick, and would barely speak to any of his passengers +so afflicted. He used to say he was never seasick in his life, and +that seasickness was “just a notion.”... Adelaide, the farmer’s +daughter, does not mind the terrific motion of the ship, but I have a +slight headache, and do not care to eat much.... The barber says +conditions down among the emigrants are bad. Most of them are in bed, +in rooms containing hundreds. All the married couples occupy one large +room, and sleep in their clothes. The unmarried women occupy another +large room, and the unmarried men another. There are tables down below, +where the emigrants may eat their food, but they eat on deck when the +weather will permit. For breakfast they are given a soup thick with +vegetables, and coffee; for dinner and supper they have boiled meat, +potatoes, macaroni, onions, wine, and bread. They are given so much to +eat that we all note the manner in which they waste it.... During +the worst of the storm today, a large woman sitting on deck attempted +to go below. She foolishly attempted to descend an open stairway, and +the wind blew her skirts over her head. This rendered her hysterical, +and she began screaming. Seven stewards were required to carry her to +her room, from which retreat she sends word on deck that she is so +humiliated that we will not see her again.... Owing to the storm, +our run was cut down to 368 miles today. The storm seemed very serious +to us, but on the log, the officers described it simply as: “Rough sea; +north-west gale.” + + + + +TUESDAY, MAY 13.—At 10 o’clock this morning we ran into a smooth sea, +and the sun struggled out. By 11 A. M. all the emigrants were on deck, +chattering as usual.... The chief steward gave us declaration +blanks at breakfast; which means we are nearing New York.... We +are in communication today with five other steamships, and Cape Race. +The cost of a wireless message of ten words to the United States is +marked on the bulletin board as $3.80.... Every day of the voyage +we have had a different fish for dinner; apparently as fresh as when +caught. I shall long remember the King fish as the best of the lot. +The butter is also surprisingly fresh, considering the fact that no +farmers can come in with a fresh supply. I shall always remember my +voyage on the “Canada” as the most endurable I have ever made; and +in my time I have been a passenger on two dozen different ships. The +passengers are quiet and polite, and there has been no talk of Sports; +no games of any kind are played, and it has been an ideal voyage in +all respects, except two days of bad weather.... The barber, a +German, intends to quit. He says he likes the French crew; that he +gets along better with them than he got along with his own countrymen +on some boats, but he is not earning as much as he thinks he should. +A small passenger list is pleasant for the passengers, but disastrous +to the ship’s employees.... We had artichokes for dinner today. I +wonder where the idea originated that they are good to eat? They seem +to be very popular in Italy; I saw great stacks of them in Naples +and Palermo.... One of the women passengers appeared at dinner +tonight wearing an automobile bonnet and gauntlet gloves. I do not +bother myself much about taste in women’s dress, but that shocked me. +Another woman passenger is too ill to appear in the dining-room for +her meals, but is able to sit in the smoking-room every evening, and +puff cigarettes. I’ll never become accustomed to women smoking.... +The young man who paints pictures in oil, and who has a shock of hair +which he never combs, is extremely good-natured. Which means that he +can’t paint much. A genius is always cross and impolite.... The +emigrants are not allowed to buy beer, so those in the second-cabin buy +it, and hand it over to the emigrants. I cannot see much difference +between the passengers in the second-cabin and the emigrants. Many of +the second-cabin passengers have friends among the emigrants, and visit +them a good deal. Two of the second-cabin passengers are young French +girls, accompanied by their mother. We hear they are going to the +United States to get rich husbands. The opinion prevails abroad that +America is full of rich men who will take nearly anything in the way +of a wife. It is a mistake. America has more attractive girls than any +other country, and half of them are compelled to get jobs.... The +Americans in the first-cabin live mainly in New York and Boston; we are +the only Westerners.... One of the passengers in the first-cabin is +a woman with two children. She has perfect manners, and is no doubt a +good woman, but I have somehow got the notion that her husband doesn’t +appreciate her at her true value. The other women say she is All Soul, +but probably her husband thinks that is the trouble with her; I never +knew a spiritual woman to please any man except her pastor. I am +satisfied that within a few hours after her arrival home, she will say +to her husband: “I would like to have a private talk with you.” + + + + +WEDNESDAY, MAY 14.—The man who intends to quit traveling because he +meets so many disagreeable Englishmen, said to me today: “An Englishman +is as crazy to know everything that is going on as a young Jew +traveling-man. And what annoys me is that the Americans submit tamely +to criticism from the English. Every day you see English criticism of +Americans in books and newspapers, but the Americans never strike back. +It isn’t true that Americans attract attention abroad because of their +rudeness; nine-tenths of the charges made against American travelers +are invented by the English. Ask any American who has traveled, and you +will find he dislikes the English. The English do not like Americans, +and Americans might as well throw off their reserve, and admit that +they do not like the English.”... The captain said this afternoon +that the “Princess Irene,” the favorite, is only twelve miles ahead +of us, and that we shall probably pass it tomorrow night.... About +sunset, there was great cheering on the steerage deck. Some one had +reported land in sight, but the report proved untrue.... There is +a very fat Italian woman in the first-cabin, and she has a very fat +daughter. Her husband is a passenger in the second-cabin. + + + + +THURSDAY, MAY 15.—At the Captain’s Dinner this evening, free champagne +was served, in addition to the two kinds of wine we have had free +twice a day since leaving Naples. The captain, whose name is Bouleuc, +made a speech in broken English. Sometime tonight we shall reach +New York, and cast anchor until daylight, when the doctor, customs +officers and immigration officers will come on board to see if they +can find anything suspicious.... People are as proud of ability +to speak French as they are proud of art or musical culture. I know +an American woman on board who has been reading French books all the +way from Naples; yet she confessed to me that she knows very little +French. She simply wanted the reputation (which she did not deserve) of +being a French scholar. An American man whom I know very well, sharply +criticises the French of a woman who sits at the captain’s table, and +who talks constantly and volubly in French with the captain. Yet the +man confessed to me that he knows only enough French to “get along.”... +We thought of remaining up until we could see the lights of New +York, but abandoned the idea at 9:30, and went to bed. + + + + +FRIDAY, MAY 16.—When I awoke this morning, the “Canada” was lying off +Sandy Hook, in company with eight other ships that had arrived during +the night, and were waiting for the port officers. Among the ships was +the “Princess Irene,” the Favorite. It had a start of twenty-four +hours, as it did not stop at Palermo, but we arrived as soon as it +did.... We landed at 10 A. M., and greatly admired every man, woman, +child and building we saw. The first thing we did was to make a dash +for the Pennsylvania Station, where we arranged to leave for Home at +5 P. M.... What a wonderful building the Pennsylvania Station is! +Nothing else like it in the world; except a few blocks away, where may +be found the New York Central Station, which is still finer.... +I showed Adelaide as much of New York as I could from 10 A. M. to 5 +P. M. In Johannesburg, we paid fifteen cents street-car fare each +to the zoölogical gardens. In New York, we went three or four times +the distance for five cents, on the way passing under a great river. +This is some of the Robbery to which we Americans are compelled to +submit.... When we wanted a lunch, we went into a beautiful place, +and paid sixty-five cents for all two healthy Americans cared to eat. +This in wicked, extravagant New York.... Some of the buildings we +saw were thirty-eight stories high, and the streets through which +we passed cannot be duplicated anywhere.... We wanted a guide to +show us about quickly. We secured a bright young man from the Postal +Telegraph Co. He was polite, intelligent and capable. What do you +suppose this Robber Corporation charged us for his services? Thirty +cents an hour.... Soon after we left the Pennsylvania Station, our +train passed under the Hudson river, and emerged in New Jersey. This +state is not a fair sample of the country in which we live, but how we +enjoyed seeing it! The green at Home is a healthier and better-looking +green than the green in the tropics. + + + + +SATURDAY, MAY 17.—We have spent this day passing through Ohio and +Indiana. They are better states than New Jersey, and our enthusiasm is +increasing. We are passengers on an all-steel train, and in no other +country in the world are equally good railroad accommodations to be +had.... Early in the afternoon, nearly a thousand miles from the +sea, we came to the fourth or fifth city of the world: Chicago. An +American we saw last in New Zealand, Dr. Beeson, met us at this place. +Our social relations are rapidly improving. + + + + +SUNDAY, MAY 18.—This morning, when the conductor came in to take my +tickets, he said: + +“Why, hello!” + +I knew him: we were getting almost in sight of Home. When we went into +the dining-car, the negro waiter spoke to us by name.... Shortly +afterwards, the conductor sat down beside us, and, looking out of the +south window, said: + +“I never knew before you could see Potato Hill so plainly from this +side of the river.” + +Then the Pullman conductor came in, and said: + +“The next station is Atchison.” + + + +Transcriber’s Notes. + +1. Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical + errors. + +2. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77511 *** diff --git a/77511-h/77511-h.htm b/77511-h/77511-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d7fe04 --- /dev/null +++ b/77511-h/77511-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,14388 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + Travel Letters from New Zealand, Australia and Africa. | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +.small {font-size: 75%;} +.smaller {font-size: 90%;} +.normal {font-size: 100%;} +.large {font-size: 120%;} +.xlarge {font-size: 150%;} +.xxlarge {font-size: 175%;} + +hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 2em;} +.x-ebookmaker hr.chap { display: none; visibility: hidden;} +hr.r10 {width: 10%; margin-left: 40%; margin-right: 40%;} +hr.full {width: 95%; margin-left: 2.5%; margin-right: 2.5%;} + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} + +.pagenum {visibility: visible; + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.left-indent {margin-left: 2em;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:small; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77511 ***</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/cover.jpg" width="500" alt="Cover."> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<br> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i-001.jpg" alt="Portrait of E. W. HOWE" width="400" height="552"> +<div class="caption">E. W. HOWE</div> +</div> +<br> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<br> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i-title.jpg" alt="Title Page." width="500" height="846"> +</div> +<br> +<h1><span class="xxlarge">Travel Letters</span><br> +<span class="small"><i>from</i></span><br> +<span class="xlarge">New Zealand</span><br> +<span class="xlarge">Australia</span><br> +<span class="small">AND</span><br> +<span class="xlarge">Africa</span> +</h1> +<div class="center xlarge">By E. W. HOWE</div> + +<br> +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-002a.png" width="125" height="125" alt="Publisher’s Motif."> +</div> +<br> + +<div class="center large">CRANE & COMPANY, TOPEKA, KANSAS +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="center normal">Copyright 1913<br> +By Crane & Company<br> +Topeka</div> +<br> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<h2> +<span class="xxlarge">Travel Letters</span><br> +<span class="small"><i>from</i></span><br> +<span class="xlarge">NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA,</span><br> +<span class="xlarge">AND AFRICA</span> +</h2> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 5]</span></p> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>TRAVEL LETTERS<br> +FROM NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA, AND AFRICA. +</h2> +</div> + +<hr class="r10"> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1913.—This is written in the Pacific ocean, on +the ship “Sonoma,” two days out of Sydney, Australia, where we expect +to land next Monday. We have been on the ship seventeen days, and the +passengers and servants seem as familiar as people with whom we have +associated many years. In the main, we have had a pleasant voyage, +although the weather was somewhat boisterous the first few days out of +San Francisco. We stopped eight hours at Honolulu, and five hours at +Pago Pago, in the Samoa Islands. There was an elaborate celebration +on board on Christmas day, which included a big dinner, speeches, and +a dance, and we also had a similar New Year celebration, although we +actually had no New Year’s day. At a late hour on the 31st of December +we crossed the 180th meridian, and, when we awoke the following +morning, the date was January 2, 1913. Ships sailing westward drop a +day on crossing the 180th meridian, and ships going eastward add a +day. In traveling toward the sun, the day increases in length, and, in +a trip around the world, this increase amounts to exactly twenty-four +hours. Every day we set our watches back from twenty to thirty minutes, +and when we reach Canton, Ohio, on our return, this daily increase +in the day’s + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 6]</span> + +length will have amounted to the day we dropped. In traveling eastward, +you set your watch forward every day, and, on completion of your +journey around the world, you will have gained a day.... Few young +people travel; only the old or middle-aged seem able to afford it, +while only the young are able to enjoy it. Adelaide, my niece, is the +only youngster on the ship, and, although she never saw the sea until +this trip, she is thoroughly enjoying it. She was ill in a quiet, +ladylike way two or three days, but now she has forgotten all about +the motion, and dreads to leave the “Sonoma” at Sydney. The stewardess +calls her “dear,” but invariably refers to me as “Mr. Works.” I am +trying to get even by inventing a new name for the stewardess every +time I speak to her. Her name is Mrs. Coombs, but I began by calling +her Mrs. Ashton, and followed it with Mrs. Bullard, Mrs. Comstock, Mrs. +Davis, Mrs. Everett, and on down the alphabet until I now call her Mrs. +Wheeler. James, the room steward, and George, our dining-room steward, +know my name, but to the stewardess I am always Mr. Works. She is an +American, but most of the crew are English, or Australians, outside +the captain and his chief officers. It is ship gossip that the first +officer is a very able man, but so ill-natured that he has never been +given a ship, although an older man than the captain. It is important +to understand your trade, but if you hope to get into fast company, you +must also be polite.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>Among the passengers is a life insurance man named Adams, en route +to Australia to protest because of unfriendly legislation. His wife +has been seasick almost + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 7]</span> + +continuously, and the women say he keeps her sick because of too much +kindness: that the moment she gets a little better, he stuffs her +with unsuitable food, and thus brings on another spell. He has heard +somewhere that champagne is good for seasickness, and keeps her full +half the time. But however mistaken he may be in his treatment, he is +certainly an attentive husband, and the men are proud of him. It is a +beautiful sight to see this good husband modestly taking the air on +deck, after devoting hours to his sick wife. His duty is to his wife, +and he does not seem to care for other people. The women take turns in +going down to sit with his wife. It was Adelaide’s turn this afternoon, +and the good husband walked awhile with me on deck. He says that a +good many years ago there was a demand from total abstainers that they +be given a better life-insurance rate than smokers and patrons of +barrooms. The rate was granted, but, after long experience, the experts +of the Equitable and Mutual life companies found that the death-rate +among total abstainers was slightly greater than the average death-rate +among all classes.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>Another interesting passenger as far as Honolulu was the manager of a +sugar plantation who receives $18,000 a year salary. He spent several +years in Porto Rico and in the Hawaiian Islands, but is now opening a +plantation in Mexico. He frequently has two thousand employees, and, +as they are constantly scheming to get the best of him, he delights +in scheming to get the best of them. He told me he had been marked +for assassination several times, but had always heard of + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 8]</span> + +it. He finds that when any body of men engage in a disreputable +transaction, several of them are always anxious to turn informers, and +secure a reward. An informer nearly always asks a thousand dollars, but +he will usually compromise, and take two hundred. If you engage in any +kind of dirty work, remember that some one will know about it, and sell +you out.... The sugar man says that reliable Mexicans tell him that +during the thirty-two years Diaz was president of Mexico, he ordered +forty thousand men shot, and that he didn’t make a mistake in a single +case.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>The “Sonoma” is a ten-thousand-ton ship, and has been in the Australian +trade only a few months since it was rebuilt last winter. It ran +between San Francisco and Sydney several years ago, but the owners +claimed the business did not pay, so the three ships in the line lay +in San Francisco bay a long time. Then the owners decided to try it +again, and the ships were rebuilt, and fitted with oil-burners. This is +the fifth voyage of the “Sonoma” since the owners changed their minds. +A good deal of the trade has been lost, and the employees are very +polite, with a view of recovering the lost business. We have enough +fuel oil on board to run the ship to Sydney and back to Honolulu. We +all like the ship, except that it is a great roller. The other night, +while the passengers were at dinner, a big roll sent the dishes and +food into heaps on the floor, and those on deck were shot against the +rail with great force.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>Captain Trask is a very pleasant man, and most of the passengers know +him. Some captains, particularly + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 9]</span> + +those on the Atlantic, see very little of the passengers, but on the +Pacific, captains have little to do, and are more genial. On the +Atlantic, there is always something for captains to do. Ships are seen +frequently, and if it isn’t ships, it is fog. But the Pacific is very +lonely; a ship is rarely seen here, although we have seen one on this +voyage: the “Ventura,” the sister ship of the “Sonoma.” We met the +“Ventura” on Christmas day, two days out of Honolulu, but it went by +like a race-horse, and we saw little of it.... Adelaide sits on +Captain Trask’s left, a lady with a maid having secured the coveted +place on his right. He likes to talk, and we are already in possession +of many of his reminiscences. He learned his trade as most Americans +do—from the ground up, and went to sea as a common sailor when fifteen +years old. By degrees he learned the technical side of his trade, and +has been around the world many times in sailing-ships. He is a big +fellow, and I imagine he has quelled many a mutiny with his fists. +Occasionally, early in the morning, I catch him punching the bag on +deck, and no other man on board is equally expert at it. Not long ago, +the crew of the “Sonoma” mutinied at Sydney, in trying to enforce some +rule of the union, and he landed sixty-two of them in jail. He took +the ship back to San Francisco with a new and inexperienced crew, and +reached port on time. He is very good-natured now, but I imagine that, +on occasion, he would be real rough, and I shall behave myself while on +board.... Poets love to use the expression, “As true as the needle +to the pole,” but Captain Trask says the needle is not true to the +pole, and does not point + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 10]</span> + +toward it. It isn’t the pole that attracts the needle of the compass, +but the Magnetic North. A good many degrees west of the pole there is +a great magnetic mountain, and this, and not the pole, attracts the +needle by which mariners guide their ships. The pole has no attraction +whatever for the needle of the compass.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>Stories told by the captain at dinner: In Australia there once lived +a very rich and very eccentric old bachelor. A certain old maid was +very anxious to capture him, and pursued him so steadily that there was +considerable talk among the neighbors. On one occasion the old bachelor +gave a reception at his home, and the old maid was one of the guests. +During the evening, the old bachelor invited the old maid to walk on +the terrace. She thought he was about to propose.</p> + +<p>“You have a beautiful place here,” she said to him, as they walked +about in the moonlight.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” he said, “yet it lacks one thing. But for that, I would be a +very fortunate and happy man.”</p> + +<p>The old maid thought she had him; that he could mean but one thing: the +refining influence of a wife.</p> + +<p>“And what is that?” she asked, coyly.</p> + +<p>“Water,” the old bachelor replied.</p> + +<p>Australia is a very dry country, and the average Australian longs for +water as you long for money.... The captain says dogs never do well +at sea; that they soon get fits, and die. In order to have good health, +a dog must have grass to eat. But cats do well at sea. When the captain +was master of a sailing vessel, he owned a cat which made three voyages +around the world with him. He tells of the smart tricks of this + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 11]</span> + +cat as you tell of the smart tricks of your dog. While his ship was +once tied up at the London docks, the cat was prowling around other +vessels, and one of them carried it three miles away, to another +loading-dock. The crew mourned the cat as dead, but one day he turned +up: he had found his way back to the ship through three miles of +London’s streets.... The captain says there is nothing in the story +that rats will desert a sinking ship; he never knew a ship to go down +that was not full of rats. In the Indian ocean he once came across an +abandoned ship, and went aboard of it. He found the deck covered with +rats that had starved to death. He tried to burn the ship, as it was a +menace to navigation, but failed. Six months later, two thousand miles +away, he ran across the same dangerous, drifting hulk. This time he +succeeded in burning it.... Captain Trask says that in the old days +of wooden sailing-ships the rats frequently gnawed holes in the bottom, +in seeking water. They could hear the rush of water outside, and, not +knowing it was salt water, worked toward it. When a ship was known to +be full of rats, they were watered regularly, to prevent their sinking +it.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>Captain Trask says that on one of his voyages in a sailing-ship, he +was in company every day with another vessel forty-seven days. The +ships were of about equal size, and bound in the same direction. On +another occasion, he left New York with a cargo of wheat, bound for +Liverpool. Another sailing-ship went out of the harbor at the same +time, bound also for Liverpool. They did not sight each other during +the entire + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 12]</span> + +voyage, but arrived at Liverpool at almost the same hour.... The +captain says that after a sailor has been ashore a few weeks, he finds +the first part of a voyage very irksome, but after that he doesn’t +care; he has spent six weeks beating around Cape Horn without minding +it much. Frequently a bad wind will undo all that has been accomplished +in weeks of hard work. But that is part of the game, and sailors +usually take it philosophically.... But a story is told of one +captain who fought two months to round Cape Horn, where the current +and the wind flow in a south-easterly direction three hundred days of +the year. He was finally compelled to put back to Buenos Aires for +provisions. Again he struggled for two months without rounding the +cape, and again he put back to Buenos Aires for provisions; but while +lying in the harbor, he killed himself. Thereupon the first officer +took command, and rounded the Cape without the loss of an unnecessary +day, the wind and current being favorable for the first time in +months.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>At two o’clock one afternoon, Old Neptune came aboard the “Sonoma,” +the ship having crossed the equator early in the morning. Neptune was +dressed in a fantastic way, and followed by a numerous train, including +his wife, several policemen, a physician, a barber, etc. A recorder +read a long proclamation, and the passengers took pictures. It had been +rumored that all those who had not crossed the line before, and could +not produce a certificate showing they had been across, would be shaved +with a wooden razor, and ducked in the swimming-tank. There was a good +deal + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 13]</span> + +of nervousness among the passengers, but it turned out that the +ceremony only referred to new members of the crew. About a dozen of +these were operated on, greatly to the amusement of the passengers +gathered on the upper deck. A platform had been erected beside the +swimming-tank, and the victims were seated on this, one by one. First +they were examined by the doctor, and given a huge pill. Then they +were lathered with a paste made of flour and water, and shaved with a +huge wooden razor. This being completed, the victim was thrown into +the tank, and ducked. Sometimes the victim fought, and this caused +great amusement. One of the passengers, a young athlete, went through +the ceremony, to amuse his friends, and he pulled the barber into the +tank. This angered the barber, and he began a rough tussle with the +passenger. The passenger was getting the best of it, when another +member of the crew went to the barber’s assistance. A friend of the +passenger, who had been perched in the rigging, watching the exercises, +climbed down hurriedly, and was preparing to go to his friend’s +assistance, when a word from the captain stopped the row; but for a +time it looked as though there might be a fight between passengers and +crew. A young member of the crew who was being shaved, became gay, and +also pushed the barber into the tank. There was a shout of merriment, +and when the young fellow was chased and brought back to the platform, +he continued his joke, and pushed the doctor in. This caused the barber +to strike the young fellow, which brought forth a round of hissing from +the passengers looking on. Altogether, the affair was pretty rough, but +everything + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 14]</span> + +soon calmed down, and Neptune and his lady, and the doctor, and the +barber and his assistant, and the policemen, marched around the deck +and took up a collection. A collection was also taken up by a passenger +for the twelve new members of the crew who had been ducked. Neptune +was represented by a tall young fellow we had seen scrubbing the decks +every morning. He wore a grotesque costume, and represented his part +very cleverly, as did the others. Soon after Neptune and his court had +counted the money taken in the collection, the big whistle blew for a +fire drill, and we had quite a busy afternoon.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>We had rather a pleasant Christmas, in spite of hot weather. Christmas +eve we went to bed in sweltering rooms, with electric fans going, and +slept without covering. At dinner next day we found the dining-room +prettily decorated. We had turkey with cranberry sauce, plum pudding, +pumpkin pie, etc. A good deal of champagne was ordered, as it costs +but $2.75 per quart on a ship sailing to a foreign port, as against +$4.50 at the average restaurant. The captain’s health having been +proposed, he made a speech in which he complimented England, America, +Santa Claus, and the passengers. He also said the “Sonoma” had been +talked about unjustly by officers of a rival line. How readily rivals +in any calling talk about each other! ... While cracking nuts, we began +throwing little rolls of paper at each other. This soon filled the +room with colored strips of paper, and the waiters got about with +difficulty. The captain began the paper-throwing, which was accepted +as license by the others. While + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 15]</span> + +still seated in the dining-room, the second-cabin passengers passed +through the aisles in a procession, the captain having given them +permission to dance on the main deck. They brought a good violinist +and piano-player with them, and the dancing and music continued until +midnight. There is a larger company in the second-cabin than in the +first, and they are much livelier. One woman, a professional whistler, +gave a performance, and attracted great applause. She is on her way +to Australia to fill an engagement. The pianist is a young newspaper +man from Chicago.... Maud Powell, possibly the best woman violinist +living, was a first-cabin passenger to Honolulu, but she did no +playing, although she was agreeable and much liked by the passengers. +My room is on the upper deck, near where the deck piano is located, +and early one morning Miss Powell’s accompanist played awhile; to +exercise his fingers a little, I imagine. It was really a remarkable +performance, and I enjoyed it almost alone. Miss Powell was entered on +the passenger list as Mrs. Turner, her married name, and her husband +accompanied her, as business manager.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>Nearly all the passengers on the “Sonoma” are old travelers. On +the Atlantic you meet many people who have never been over before, +but Australia is out of the way, and is usually visited only by +old travelers. Several people I have talked with have been nearly +everywhere, and one man is making his seventh trip around the +world.... We often have three or four rainstorms and rainbows in a +day. A squall of rain came + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 16]</span> + +up this afternoon very suddenly, but in five minutes we were admiring +the rainbow that accompanied it.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>We have a wonderful country in the United States, but we pay very +little attention to ships. I heard the captain say at dinner today +that the United States sends only twelve passenger ships to foreign +countries, the “Sonoma” being one of them, whereas England sends +eleven thousand. Germany comes next with five thousand, and little +Japan has five hundred. Our decline in shipping began with the Civil +War; we have given our attention to building up the country, and +neglected ship-building. The captain says that many of our rich men are +interested in foreign ship lines, and that they impudently maintain a +lobby in Washington to fight every measure intended to benefit domestic +shipping. Our financiers will in time gain control of many of the big +foreign ship companies; this, in the captain’s judgment, will be the +final solution of the problem.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>The Atlantic ocean is small compared with the great bulk of the +Pacific. Immense fields of water never parted by the cut-water of +a ship or steamer lie between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn. +Perhaps half of the Pacific is as yet unexplored and uncharted. In the +lonely South Seas lie the Samoa islands, two of which belong to the +United States. The “Sonoma” stopped at one of these on the 29th, and +we found the harbor at Pago Pago exceedingly pretty. The captain said +we should reach Pago Pago at 4 P.M., and at 3:50 P.M. we +went ashore. The “Sonoma” makes + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 17]</span> + +its time as accurately as a railroad train. Two hours before, the +island had been in sight, and long before turning into the harbor we +skirted the island so closely that we could see children waving at us +from the shore. The island is mountainous, but along the shore were +many villages of grass-covered houses, and many groves of cocoanut +trees. The harbor of Pago Pago is completely land-locked, and has +deep water, but the mountains surrounding it are very high, and we +found the weather very warm. As we approached the dock we passed the +little gunboat “Princeton,” the captain of which acts as governor of +American Samoa. His crew comprises the defensive force, except that +fifty natives are employed by our government to act as police. These +men receive a dollar a day, and the sons of the most aristocratic +native chiefs are anxious to enlist. The entire native population of +Tutuila and Manua, the two islands we control, is seven thousand, +whereas the total white population is only a hundred. This is made up +largely of the crew of the “Princeton.” Mail is received from home only +once a month, and as the “Sonoma” was their Christmas boat, you can +imagine that nearly all of the white population greeted our landing. +Packages of newspapers were thrown out before the lines were made +fast, and soon there was cheering: we brought the news that the naval +school at Annapolis won the football game from Hartford. Mingling with +the white men and women of the naval establishment were hundreds of +natives, who looked a good deal like our Indians, except that they were +better dressed. One swell we saw was barefoot, and carried a cane. The +officers told us he was the head + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 18]</span> + +chief of a village. Sometimes the villages are not half a mile apart, +but every one has a chief. Three native villages were in sight from +the deck of the ship when we landed. The best building in Pago Pago is +the house of the governor, which occupies a sightly position on top +of a hill overlooking the sea and harbor. There are perhaps a dozen +houses for the officers and men, and these, with a cold storage and +electric-light plant, coal bunkers, and a small custom-house, make +up the naval station. In addition to the “Princeton,” we found two +or three smaller boats in the harbor. These had come from the other +islands after freight and mail from the “Sonoma.” The “Dawn” I shall +long remember as the dirtiest boat I have ever seen. It runs to Apia, +fifty miles away. Apia is controlled by the Germans, and is much larger +than Pago Pago. You may recall that a good many years ago several +gunboats were loafing in Apia harbor when a great storm came up. Two +gunboats belonging to the United States and two belonging to Germany +went ashore, and a good many sailors were drowned. The incident was one +of the big sensations at the time. Robert Louis Stevenson is buried +near Apia, and he wrote that the Samoa islands furnish the finest +climate in the world.... We spent five hours at Pago Pago, walking +about and visiting with the naval officers and their families. Most of +them came to the islands on the “Sonoma,” and a dozen or more of them +dined with us. The government has built a reservoir in the hills back +of the town, and water is piped to all of the houses occupied by the +officers. The naval people were so glad to see us that they permitted +us to fill the ship’s water tanks without + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 19]</span> + +charge. There are two or three American girls visiting married sisters +in Pago Pago, and they told us they had not tired of the place after an +experience of several months. All of them came over on the “Sonoma,” +and they hurried on board to see their friend, the captain. He dined +at the executive mansion. Governor Crose’s lady had peanut soup, and +the captain said it was not only new, but very good. She also had fried +chicken, mashed potatoes, apple salad, and several other things the +captain could not remember when questioned next morning at breakfast, +although he spoke particularly of home-made butter. The governor owns +the cow we saw tied on the hillside near the executive mansion.... +Hundreds of the natives were permitted to come on board the “Sonoma.” +Usually they give a dance on the parade ground, and assess the +passengers twenty-five cents each, but the day being Sunday, the +missionaries objected to the usual dance being given. However, Adelaide +and I saw the dance. When we came in from one of our three excursions +on shore, we found sixty or seventy native women and girls in the +ladies’ saloon of the ship, and they were coaxing each other to dance; +it reminded me of a country party when the different guests are coaxed +to sing. Two sailors from the “Princeton” wandered in, and one of them +was coaxed to play the piano for the dancing. He played awhile, but as +no one danced, he finally quit in disgust. Then a native girl, after +much giggling and coaxing, was persuaded to play, and three or four of +the girls danced. Two of them were particularly good; so Adelaide and +I saw the much-discussed Samoan dance, in spite of the missionaries. +But we + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 20]</span> + +were the only passengers present; the others were ashore +looking at postal cards. The dance will be given at the approaching San +Francisco exposition, a speculator having arranged already for a Samoan +village. I am certain I saw three hundred natives on board during our +stay at Pago Pago. When I went down to the barber shop to get shaved +before dinner, I found the room packed with native women looking at +the barber’s wares. A ship barber operates a little store, and his +wares include toilet articles, clothing, medicines, confectionery, plug +tobacco, etc. I don’t know that the Samoan women chew plug tobacco, +but I saw a good many of them smoking. By-the-way, the barber on the +“Sonoma” was barber on the “Siberia” when I went to Japan several years +ago.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>The afternoon we left Honolulu a new passenger came aboard, and I saw +him first in the smoking-room. He was very plain, and I thought it my +duty to be nice to him. He was agreeable enough, but not much disposed +to talk. Later I learned that he is a member of the British Parliament, +and that he has twenty-eight pieces of luggage. He is traveling with +a doctor, and woman nurse, as he is not well. Ship gossip is to the +effect that he is a son of Sir John Lister, a noted Englishman who +has done much in a scientific way. Listerine was named for Sir John +Lister. I do not see many talk to the British celebrity, except his +doctor. His nurse has been seasick ever since coming on board, and she +cannot be of much use to her employer. The man sits almost opposite +me at the table, and I am satisfied that if anyone should look at him +steadily, he + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 21]</span> + +would leave the dining-room. He is very plain, and knows it, in which +respect he is different from Andrew Carnegie. He is known as “Mr. +Lister,” and is going to South Africa to hunt lions. At first, the +passengers picked at him a good deal, but during the long voyage to +Sydney he became one of the most popular men on board, largely because +he is quiet and well-behaved.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>One of the passengers is an Australian who lived for a time in +South Africa, and made money in mining. Disposing of his holdings +to advantage, he went to Oregon, and engaged in apple-growing. It +is very interesting to hear him tell of his experiences. He knew +nothing about apple-growing when he went to Oregon, but “picked up” +a practical knowledge of the business through experience. One of his +“experiences” was losing $40,000 in buying a bad orchard. This taught +him caution, and later he made money. His apple-pickers are compelled +to wear gloves, and to twist rather than pull fruit from the trees. His +specialty is buying orchards of shiftless owners, and reviving them. I +heard him say last night that there were two sure ways of making money +in the United States: the best is apple-growing, and the second is +sheep-raising. It interested me greatly to hear that a man might learn +a new business and make a success of it in three or four years, as this +man did in the apple business.... Captain Trask has great contempt +for the modern sailor; he says any old woman of fifty could do the work +of a sailor these days, but in the old days of sailing-ships, seamen +were compelled to work very hard, and their trade was a difficult one. +The + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 22]</span> + +sailors on the “Sonoma,” almost without exception, wear blue overalls, +and not the wide pantaloons you associate with sailor-men.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>There is a wireless apparatus on board, and every day news of no +importance is posted in the companionway. The night before Christmas, +when we were twenty-four hundred miles out, a good many passengers sent +messages to friends.... When you sit on your porches at home, on +summer evenings, you hear locusts in the trees. Old-fashioned colored +people call them jar-bugs. The wireless, when in operation, sounds +exactly like a locust buzzing: a good many of the passengers have +remarked the similarity. There are two operators, one of whom is always +on duty. One of them is a tall young fellow who does great stunts in +the swimming-pool, and the other looks and talks exactly as Lieutenant +Rowan did when he carried that famous message to Garcia.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>We had an enjoyable time at our New Year celebration. First there was +an elaborate dinner, followed by a concert and dance, participated in +by the second-cabin passengers. At the conclusion of the concert, we +all joined hands and sang, “Should Old Acquaintance be Forgot?” When +the dancing began, quadrilles soon became the fashion, and the affair +reminded me of “a good time” among neighbors who had known each other +many years. Most of the talent for the concert was furnished by the +second-cabin, although the best two numbers came from first-class +passengers. Refreshments were passed around, and + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 23]</span> + +the gayety continued until after midnight. Late in the evening, some +one tied down the ship’s big whistle, and the trouble was not located +for five minutes. Members of the crew also got up a grotesque parade, +headed by the young man who blows a cornet three times a day to +announce when meals are ready. Between quadrilles, the passengers stood +at the rail, and looked at the Southern Cross, and found it rather +disappointing; near it is a false cross which looks rather better than +the genuine. The Southern Cross is seen only in the far South, and +down here everything in the heavens is new to Northern eyes. Stars are +more numerous than at home, and the night of the dance the heavens +were particularly clear, and the sea very smooth. Further on, in South +Africa, the nights are said to be so brilliant that it is possible +to read comfortably by moonlight. During the dance and concert, the +first-class passengers became so well acquainted with those in the +second-cabin that they now go down to visit them, which they are at +liberty to do, although the second-cabin passengers cannot come up on +our deck without a special invitation from the captain or purser. Once +a week the captain dines in the second-cabin. The food is about the +same in the two dining-rooms, but our location is amidships, while the +second is far aft, and the motion is more pronounced. The difference in +fare is considerable, amounting to one-quarter or a third.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>One of the most interesting men on board is J. L. Dwyer, secretary of +native affairs in American Samoa, and chief district judge. He is on +his way to Sydney, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 24]</span> + +on a vacation. Judge Dwyer has been in Pago Pago five years. When +he arrived, he found a king ruling over the island of Manua, but he +managed to amicably dispose of His Majesty by making him a district +judge. The king lived in a five-room house, and Judge Dwyer says he +was a man of intelligence, and ruled justly, but he abdicated quietly, +and, as district judge, did all he could for his people for a salary +of $25 a month. The king died a year or two ago, but left a daughter, +now twenty years old, who will be married shortly to a white clerk in a +store at Pago Pago. The clerk gave Judge Dwyer $50 with which to buy a +wedding ring in Sydney, and the judge says I may help select it. I have +never before been on equally intimate terms with royalty.... The +Samoan men believe it beneath their dignity to be annoyed by anything +a woman does, so there are almost no quarrels among them on account +of jealousy. But if a Samoan woman becomes jealous of another woman, +trouble may be expected promptly.... The natives have no income +except from the sale of copra, which is the dried meat of the cocoanut. +Traders formerly robbed them unmercifully, so the United States +Government now attends to the selling of copra, without expense to the +natives. The income from this source amounts to $20 per inhabitant per +year.... In going into Pago Pago, we saw a great many churches; +every village seemed to have at least two. Judge Dwyer says there are +too many churches in the islands. Many of the preachers are natives, +and much of the money obtained from copra is sent away to missionary +societies, for evangelistic work in other communities.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 25]</span></p> + +<p>Five of our second-cabin passengers were Mormon missionaries for +Pago Pago. The missionaries are thrifty: I was told that every big +institution in the Hawaiian islands is owned by a descendant of +the old missionaries. But there is little in the Samoan islands to +develop; almost no agricultural land, and the little there is (in +the vicinity of Apia) is in the hands of Chinese. At Pago Pago, all +vegetables come from San Francisco, 4,400 miles away. A monthly +paper is printed in Pago Pago, by the government, and distributed +gratuitously among the natives. One column out of eight is devoted to +English local news.... In the two American islands in Samoa there +are but four vehicles, and these are two-wheel carts. There are no +agricultural implements, and no farms. Wealth is calculated by the +number of cocoanut trees a man owns. The trees are worth $5 each, +and the nuts from each tree average about $1 per year in value. The +waters surrounding the islands produce many food fish, but the natives +do not much care for them. There are a good many pigs of an inferior +breed, and some of these run wild, and are hunted with dogs. The only +other game in the island are wild pigeons, though there is talk that +wild cattle may be found on Tutuila island, a story Judge Dwyer does +not believe. Every little while the natives hunt the wild cattle, but +never find them. Sugar-cane is grown in Samoa, but is used for no other +purpose than to thatch the queer circular houses of the natives.... +A village chief is simply the village mayor, and is elected annually. +Occasionally the elections are very exciting, and fraud freely resorted +to, but in the main the Samoans are a + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 26]</span> + +peaceful people, and fairly honest.... It is impossible to get away +from taxes, and the Samoan head of a family pays 270 pounds of copra +as his annual contribution to the state. This is all used to pay local +chiefs, and none of it goes to the United States.... Communism is +practiced by the people, and when a man earns $20 a month working as +a servant in an American household, he is compelled to divide with +members of his family, but the industrious Samoans are tiring of this +plan, and resort to all sorts of subterfuges to avoid dividing their +wages.... Pago Pago is a beautiful place for naval lieutenants to +take their brides, and it was delightful to spend five hours in the +American colony there, but we have no more use for it than we have +for Guam, or the Philippines. The supplies come from San Francisco, +and cost a great deal; coal costs $13 a ton for the cruises of the +“Princeton,” but our government does not receive ten cents a day income +from American Samoa. In our career of conquest in Samoa, we have not +robbed the Samoans; they have robbed us.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>At breakfast-time on the morning of December 31, we passed Turtle +island, of the Fiji group. We could see smoke ashore, and that was +about all. The 180th meridian crosses one of these islands, and the +captain says a native has a house on the line. In one end of his house +the day of the week is Thursday, while in the other end it is Friday.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>Most of the passengers are English. Among the Americans is a Chicago +doctor named Beeson, who + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 27]</span> + +greatly interests me. Dr. Beeson has a son who is thirty years old, and +when the father is away the son attends to his business, as the son is +also a doctor. When the father returns, the son will take a trip. Harry +Clay Blaney and wife, who toured the country for years in a play called +“Across the Pacific,” are also interesting passengers. Mr. Blaney +and his brother Charles operate theatres in New York, Philadelphia, +Brooklyn, Jersey City, and in other cities, in addition to owning +several road shows. Mrs. Blaney is an actress, but is very domestic, +and spends most of her time sitting on deck doing fancy work.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, JANUARY 5.—We celebrated our +approach to Sydney, Australia, by running into a storm. I have never +seen worse weather at sea. Heavy seas continually broke over the prow, +and at breakfast only one woman appeared in the dining-room. It will +surprise you to learn that this lone woman was Adelaide, the farmer’s +daughter. The gentlemen gave her quite a reception, but I wasn’t there +to witness it: I was sick in bed. Women are very much more subject to +seasickness than men, as a rule.... The night before the storm, we +had another impromptu dance, and Adelaide, who never danced in her +life, danced the lancers with Judge Dwyer, chief judge of American +Samoa. There were two sets, and a good-natured doctor from London +called the figures in an amusing way. I hear it frequently remarked +that we have a very agreeable passenger list; not a disagreeable person + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 28]</span> + +on the list. At the captain’s dinner the captain made another speech, +in which he threw us gorgeous bouquets.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, JANUARY 6.—The captain said we +should see land on the morning of the 6th, at 8 o’clock. At almost +exactly that hour, land appeared off the starboard beam (I take this +to mean off to the right). When land first appears at sea, it is very +faint, and is only distinguished from clouds with difficulty. At 10 +A.M. we were in plain sight of Sydney’s famous harbor, and saw other +ships entering ahead of us. A half an hour later, we took on a pilot, +and at 11 o’clock we stopped at quarantine to wait for a doctor. +When this official came, we found him a huge man who would create a +sensation in a museum. After the usual inspection, the “Sonoma” steamed +toward her dock, eight miles away, and we had an opportunity to see +the harbor.... In reading, you are almost constantly in sight of +the statement that Sydney has the finest harbor in the world, and, +after you have seen it, you are disposed to admit the truth of the +statement. After passing in from the sea, a ship travels eight or ten +miles to the city docks, and the course winds around through hills +almost large enough to be called mountains. On either side are bays, +and everywhere on top of the hills you see houses with red tile roofs. +Sydney is a city of more than seven hundred thousand, and has doubled +its population in the past twenty-five years. It is only a question of +a few years until Sydney has a million population, and is destined to +become + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 29]</span> + +one of the great cities of the world. Its houses are nearly all built +of a native stone of yellow cast. Through this wonderful harbor we +steamed slowly, and finally landed at noon, as the captain said we +would.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, JANUARY 7.—This morning we +employed a messenger boy to show us around Sydney. The boy is fourteen +years old, and was educated in English schools. He talks no other +language than English, but we could not understand half he said: there +is this marked difference in American and English pronunciation. +Sydney is an English city, and its signs are in English, but we do not +understand many of them. Australia is not only an English colony, but +the people of its larger towns have a dialect of their own. Sydney +is a fine city, but looks more like Manchester or Liverpool than it +looks like London. There are no sky-scrapers here, in the American +sense; one of the Sydney newspapers wanted to build a sky-scraper, and +occupy it as an office, but Parliament would not permit it. Everywhere +you see American goods, and signs calling attention to them, and Bud +Atkinson’s American Wild West is giving exhibitions daily in one of +the parks. It seemed queer to me that an exhibition of this character +should be granted permission to exhibit in one of the parks; imagine an +Australian Wild West in Central Park in New York. And I do not recall +Bud Atkinson as a noted American in the Wild West line. This show came +over a month ago, in the ship ahead of ours. I should say a jump of +three weeks + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 30]</span> + +is a tolerably big one. This is the summer season here, and the show +will return to the United States in April.... In the fruit stores +in Sydney you see strawberries, cantaloupes, peaches, green corn, +tomatoes, etc. At home you hear a good deal about low prices in +Australia. I only know I paid fifty cents each for cantaloupes, which +are known as Rock Melons here, but they are particularly large and +fine. Strawberries were fifty cents a quart, but they were extra good. +I am told that the people here do not care much for Rock Melons. The +melons we bought we carried to a restaurant, and the woman who served +them had never tasted melons, and thought we had queer taste.... A +thing that attracted our attention in Sydney was an unusually large +number of young women. At one of the bathing-beaches I saw a party of +twelve, and nine of them were young women. We entered Sydney harbor +early Monday morning, and the bathing-beaches were already crowded; +there seems to be more merrymaking here than in American cities. On +Monday and Tuesday the parks were crowded, as were the bathing-beaches. +And the parks here are wonderfully fine, and the zoölogical garden I +visited was the best I have ever seen. The impudent English sparrows +may be seen here in great numbers, and in the parks they enter the +cages of rare birds and rob them of their feed.... Adelaide is very +polite, but she says the people here look funny to her; that it is a +constant source of amusement to her to walk the streets and see the +people. She says the women wear afternoon dresses in the morning, on +the street. Along the docks this morning, we came upon a big crowd +witnessing the departure of a + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 31]</span> + +ship. Half the women wore fancy white dresses, and big picture +hats.... The residences here do not seem to be numbered, but each +has a name; a flat with four occupants will have four names, and a +double house will have two. Out in the suburbs, little houses of two +and three rooms will have tremendously big names. And we passed through +miles of suburbs where every house seemed to be new: there is no doubt +that Sydney is growing rapidly.... An attraction here at one of the +theatres is “Faust,” of which America tired years ago. “Marguerite” is +exploited after the fashion of “Little Eva” in an “Uncle Tom” show, and +somehow it looks ridiculous. “Faust” is a ridiculous play, so far as +that goes, and the story of “Marguerite” foolish. One of the bills now +being shown in Sydney represents “Marguerite” being transported alive +into heaven, by angels, in spite of the devil, who is flying along with +the angels, and snorting fire.... We hear in the United States that +there are no labor troubles in Australia; that everything is settled +by arbitration. But I see much more about labor troubles in the Sydney +papers than I ever see in the papers of America. One of the unions now +making trouble is that of the Rabbit Trappers. You may think I made +that up, but I didn’t: there is really such a union here, and it is +just now prominent because of some sort of controversy. Many years ago +rabbits were imported to Australia, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 19]</span> + +to afford sport for the people. Conditions are so favorable for rabbits +here that they soon became a great pest. Farmers are now compelled to +fence against rabbits, and millions of the animals are caught, frozen, +and sent to the London market.... At + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 32]</span> + +least one of the leading newspapers here, <i>The Morning Telegraph</i>, +denounces unionism, saying it was originally in the interest of +workingmen, but lately it has become political despotism, and union +labor leaders political adventurers. “Capital,” said <i>The Telegraph</i>, +in an editorial this morning, “will leave Australia, and go where labor +is not a political despot.” I do not know of a leading paper in the +United States that would care to print a similar editorial. Plenty of +such editorials are printed in the United States, but in trade papers, +and not in leading daily newspapers.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, JANUARY 8.—We sailed at noon +today for Auckland, New Zealand, on the ship “Maheno.” It is about the +size of the “Sonoma;” six thousand tons.... We are accomplishing +so much by law now that I suggest the adoption of a law providing +that no ship of less than twelve thousand tons be permitted to carry +passengers; a six-thousand-ton ship is too small. Adelaide drew seat +No. 13 at the table, but I did worse than that: I drew two men in my +room. I resent two men in my room as I do going to jail, but resentment +did me no good; the ship is crowded, and I was compelled to stand it. +But what do you think happened to Adelaide, who occupies seat No. 13 +at the table? She has a room to herself.... One of the men in my +room is a New-Yorker named Bond, an importer who has a branch house in +Sydney. The man with him is one of his traveling salesmen. Mr. Bond is +an old traveler, and has made this trip many + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 33]</span> + +times. He hates the “Maheno,” and predicts a disagreeable experience. +He says the “Maheno” can kick up a rough sea when the weather is fine, +and that there is nothing commendable about the boat except that it +usually gets across in a little less than four days.... You can +never know what it means to be crowded until you have been one of three +in a steamship stateroom. It was a disagreeable experience, getting to +bed, which we attempted at 8:30, as the weather was rough. After I was +in bed with my two roommates, I began thinking: “Suppose one of them +should snore!” I am a bad sleeper at best, and the thought of a snoring +man in my room all night set my nerves on edge.... The opportunity +was too good to be neglected. Mr. Bond and his friend talked business +awhile, another thing I am not accustomed to in my sleeping-room, and +then Mr. Bond began snoring. For years, people around me have paid +attention to my nerves, because I am a bad sleeper, and I resented this +snoring as a spoilt child does when whipped by a neighbor. I stood it +until midnight, and then I crawled out of bed, found a bath-robe and +slippers, and spent the night on a sofa in the music-room.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, JANUARY 9.—A ship is no place for an early riser. A ship +bed becomes unbearable to me by 5 A. M., and half an hour later I am +on deck. I can’t sit in the music-room or smoking-room, because the +stewards are cleaning up, and when I walk the decks I am in the way +of sailors who are washing them with + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 34]</span> + +hose. In addition, the early riser never has his shoes shined, and gets +no early breakfast in bed. On a ship, the servants will not respect you +if you do anything for yourself.... The second passenger to appear +on deck was a woman; possibly she had a snorer in her room, too. Much +to my surprise, the woman calmly proceeded, after seating herself in a +deck chair, to put on her stockings. They say women always sit on the +floor when they put on their stockings, but this woman didn’t.... +Bare legs are quite common here. The fourteen-year-old messenger boy +who showed us about in Sydney wore stockings only a few inches long, +and above them his legs were bare to his knees. This is the rule with +boys and girls, and their legs are sunburned and cracked, and often +covered with pimples.... So far as I know, all the passengers on +the “Maheno” are Australians or New Zealanders, except ourselves and +Mr. Bond, and we expect him to quit speaking to us because I do not +enjoy his snoring. At home I have always had members of my family +bluffed because of my nervousness, but here everyone seems to think +it perfectly absurd that snoring should disturb me.... I hear the +passengers talking about “the bush.” In our country we call it the +“short-grass country;” both mean the frontier. I have always been +interested in Australia because Abel Magwitch made his money there. +Charles Dickens created this man out of his fancy, but no character +was ever more real to me. There is something about the old fellow +that appeals to me as Falstaff or Macbeth never did, and to my mind +“Great Expectations” is the greatest book ever written. Abel Magwitch +made + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 35]</span> + +his money in Australia in sheep, and at the Sydney hotels you +see sheep farmers from “the bush” who are timidly spending their +money. Australia is an ideal sheep country, and fortunes are easily +made, until there is a drouth. Then there is neither water nor grass +for the animals, and they die off in great numbers. The last drouth +occurred seven years ago, and thousands of sheep sold at a shilling +a head. Many of those who bought sheep at that price, lost them all, +and became bankrupt. But sheep are prolific, and in two or three years +after the drouth they seemed to be as numerous as ever. It is said the +Australians make money easily, and are much like Americans. The New +Zealanders are much like the Australians, although the distance from +Sydney to Auckland is thirteen hundred miles.... Abel Magwitch was +sent to Australia as a convict from England, as Australia was formerly +a penal colony, but that was many years ago; Australia is now one of +the most prosperous countries in the world, and it has been of great +use to mankind because it has tried so many experiments in trying to +make the common lot easier. Many of the advanced political notions in +the United States came from Australia and New Zealand. The per-capita +wealth is higher in those countries than in any other; there is more +wealth in other countries, but it is not so evenly distributed among +the people as in Australia and New Zealand. The government owns most of +the public utilities, and no one can help remarking the fine system of +street-railway in Sydney. For short distances the fare is two cents, +and the fare increases after passing certain limits. I am told that in +some lines of business there + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 36]</span> + +is a holiday at Christmas here, lasting two weeks. There is no severely +cold weather, and the people are not compelled to spend a great deal +for fuel. Wages are not as high as with us, but living is cheaper. I +had heard so much of the low cost of beef in Australia that I inquired +the price at several markets. The best cuts sold at twenty cents per +pound: altogether, meat is cheaper than in the United States, but the +difference is not so great as I expected it to be.... Everything +indicates that the Australians are good people, and hospitable, +enterprising, and intelligent; I have only admiration for them, until +they begin to talk. Then their pronunciation is a reproach to me. I +have always called it Austraylia; they call it Austrylia. “Well, old +chap,” I heard a man say to a friend in Sydney, on parting, “tyke care +of yourself!” ... There is a woman on this ship with three little +children. To look at her, she seems like any other worthy woman: +devoted, unselfish, kind, polite, and always busy. But when you hear +her talk, it is different from anything you ever heard. There are two +little girls on board, and they are very kind to the mother with three +children. It is very nice to see them caring for the baby, and running +errands for the tired mother, but as soon as they begin to talk they +do not seem so much like little girls you have known. “I was a bit +groggy meself yesterday,” I heard one of them say to the mother. She +meant that she was seasick.... The English themselves do not agree +on pronunciations; Cambridge University authorizes one pronunciation of +many words, and Oxford another. I can understand how dialects originate +with people speaking the same language, and who do not associate +much with each other except locally, but the English and American see +enough of each other to get together in pronunciation.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<br> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i-039.jpg" alt="Various Photographs." width="600" height="369"> +</div> +<div class="caption center">Captain Feeding his Pet    /     +Transferring Passengers in a Basket at Sea +<br> +The Landing Stage, Beira +<br> +The Dock at Pago Pago    /    Christmas at Sea +</div> +<br> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<br> +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 37]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, JANUARY 10.—Last night I laid +my case before the chief steward, and he said he would fix me up; +that he would take me out of 27, where Mr. Bond devotes the nights to +snoring, and put me in No. 7, with Mr. Martin. I went to bed in No. +7, complimenting the chief steward for his disposition to please the +passengers, but in ten minutes Mr. Martin began snoring, and I spent +the night trying to decide if his snore was not rather more rasping +than that of Mr. Bond. At a late hour I dressed and retreated again to +a sofa in the music-room. But I have not lost my temper; I am rather +disposed, on the contrary, to laugh at myself for spending a large +amount of money in an attempt to have a “good time.” ... The sea +has been smooth today and we are all much more comfortable, although +I do not believe anyone is getting his money’s worth. About the only +excitement on board is the fact that a flock of albatross are following +us. I have always understood that albatross are rather scarce at sea, +but certainly twenty are in sight as I write this. They often fly +within twenty feet of the ship, and we have opportunity to examine +them carefully. They follow the ship for hours without moving a wing; +they seem to fly by taking advantage of the wind.... We saw several +whales today, and the captain, at whose table we sit, says he once ran +into one, and was compelled to back out of it.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 38]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, JANUARY 11.—A story one always +hears on approaching New Zealand: In a strait near the coast is a fish +known as “Pilot Jack,” which escorts every ship through, except one. +Some years ago a passenger on a certain ship fired at the fish, and +wounded it. The fish disappeared for several months, but finally it +appeared again, and resumed its old habits of piloting ships through +the strait; but it never shows itself when the ship appears from the +deck of which it was fired upon. The shooting incident caused the New +Zealand Parliament to pass an act protecting “Pilot Jack.” The fish is +about twenty feet long, and photographs showing it swimming ahead of +ships are common. These photographs, it seems to me, are faked, and +made specially to sell to tourists. Seamen do not know why “Pilot Jack” +appears whenever a ship invades his territory, but certain it is that +he does appear, and swims ahead of the ship several miles. The captain +of the “Maheno” says it is possible “Pilot Jack” likes to rub his back +on the bottom of ships, and thus get rid of certain annoying parasites. +Another theory is that the fish simply plays about the ships, which is +not improbable; I have myself seen dolphins play in the waves thrown up +by the prow of a ship, and keep it up several minutes at a time.... +Last night I sent a wireless message to the Grand Hotel at Auckland, +engaging accommodations on my arrival there. I was compelled to pay $2 +for the service, and sign an agreement that I would not ask recovery +in case the message was not delivered.... No one seems to know much +about the albatross which are following us. A sailor told me that if an +albatross should light on the water, it couldn’t + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 39]</span> + +get up again. Ten minutes later, I saw twenty of them alight on the +water, apparently fight over something thrown from the ship, and then +get up again. The sailors once caught an albatross, and concluded to +take it to the zoölogical garden at Sydney, but it became seasick, +and was such a nuisance that they knocked it in the head and threw +it overboard. A passenger once jumped from the “Sonoma,” with a view +of committing suicide. A number of albatross were following the +ship and they picked the man’s eyes out before a boat could reach +him. Although very beautiful and graceful, the bird is said to be a +disgusting vulture. Where or how it lives no one seems to know; but it +is certain that it will follow a ship night and day from Wellington +to Cape Horn, a trip of three weeks. It is not seen when land is in +sight; it seems to sail about the lonely ocean as easily as a zephyr, +and the stronger the head-wind, the easier it sails against it.... +There is a peculiar character on board at whom everyone laughs. For +awhile I feared he might be a fool American, but he turned out to be a +New Zealand school teacher. He wears a tall hat and clerical clothes, +and everyone supposed for a time that he was a missionary. One day +he went after his music, and began singing in the ladies’ parlor. He +cannot sing, and cannot play the piano, although he attempts both. A +crowd soon gathered, and vigorously applauded when he concluded “The +Lost Chord.” The howling of a dog, accompanied by a child banging on a +piano, would not have been worse, and it was so ridiculous that the man +was asked to sing again. He readily consented, and attempted a tenor +aria from “The Messiah.” The + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 40]</span> + +passengers now call the man “the professor,” and two or three times a +day he is asked to sing. He always complies promptly. There are half a +dozen excellent musicians on board, and when they sing or play, “the +professor” is plainly bored. He seems more like a character from a play +or book than a real man, and is mild and inoffensive. I talked awhile +with him today, and found him an educated man, and apparently quite +intelligent, but he is not able to understand that he cannot sing, or +play the piano; he cannot realize that all the passengers are making +fun of him. I suppose all of us are made fun of when we do not know +it, but the case of “the professor” is more than usually glaring. A +concert is being arranged for tonight, as this is the last day of the +voyage, and “the professor” has been put on the programme, to avoid +hurting his feelings. Last night he was the only man on board who +dressed for dinner; he put on a swallow-tailed coat much too long for +him, and looked odd in other particulars. And after all the trouble +he went to, in dressing for dinner, he was compelled to dine at the +second sitting. He is a small man, with smooth, white face, and wears +his dark hair quite long. The passengers are learning to like him, for +he is evidently a gentleman, but none of us can understand why the +man so readily consents to make a fool of himself. Perhaps the other +passengers make fools of themselves, too, and are as unconscious of it +as “the professor.” When not playing or singing, he carries an algebra +about, and works problems. He has two pairs of spectacles, and is +constantly changing them, and forgetting in which pocket he placed the +pair he wishes to use next. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 41]</span> + + ... I am very proud of the men on this ship, they are so modest +and well-behaved. I hear no swearing, or rude talk, and there is +almost no drinking at table or in the smoking-room. The three men I +have roomed with are quiet, and genteel, and I should admire them very +much did they not snore. I am certain Mr. Martin was annoyed because I +was put in with him, but he is so considerate of me that I can almost +forgive his bad habit. I think he knows he snores, and when I hear him +threshing about in his bed, I almost conclude he is keeping awake in +order that he may not annoy me. He is an elderly man, and frequently +gets up in the night, but he does it so quietly that I rarely hear +him.... A man I supposed to be an Episcopal rector turns out to be +a Presbyterian preacher named Thompson. He is an Englishman, but was +educated at Yale, and now has a charge in a small town in New Zealand. +I walk the decks with him a good deal. He says he has been taking a +vacation, and that, during his idleness, he has been thinking a great +deal.</p> + +<p>“Many times,” he said, “I asked myself the question: ‘In view of +modernism, what is the best thing to do for my people?’ and I always +came to the conclusion that there is nothing better for any of us +than fairness, politeness, temperance, and industry; I could come to +no other conclusion than that the oldest and simplest doctrine is the +best.”</p> + +<p>Another passenger is a little man who rides running horses in races. +The Australians are very fond of racing, and the favorite riders are +noted and prosperous men. All of them are small; this man has a wife +almost twice his size. Some of them become as noted + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 42]</span> + +as Nat Goodwin, the actor, and marry as often. A little intelligence +and coolness at a critical moment will often win a race, and the noted +jockeys are usually men of intelligence. The man showed me a number of +scars, the result of accidents. In racing in Australia, the horses jump +hurdles, and often fall.... At 3 o’clock this afternoon we passed +the “Three Kings,” barren islands without a light, which have caused +many shipwrecks. An hour later we sighted the coast of New Zealand, +and followed it throughout the night.... This evening we had a +concert in the music-room, lasting two hours. This is a great country +for amateur singing; every traveler seems to carry music, and on the +slightest provocation will go to his room and get it. In addition to +singing and piano-playing, we had four recitations; the recitation +habit seems respectable here.... A New York traveling-man says the +fashions in New Zealand and Australia are always a year or two behind +New York, and that goods going out of style in the United States are +just coming in here. Goods that are unsalable in New York, because they +are out of fashion, may be picked up at low prices, and sold here at +a good profit, according to the New York traveling-man, who has been +visiting Australia and New Zealand for fifteen years.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, JANUARY 12.—At daylight this +morning we passed into a land-locked gulf, and continued in it all +the way to Auckland. At 8 o’clock, while at breakfast, the suburbs of +Auckland began to appear, but we did + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 43]</span> + +not get through the custom-house and go ashore until two hours later. +We hurried to the Grand Hotel, where we had ordered rooms by wireless, +paying two dollars for the service. The manager said he had not +received the message, therefore had not reserved the rooms. While he +was talking, he excused himself to attend to a telephone call. On his +return, he said our wireless message had just been telephoned him +from the ship. That is the service you get from the much-advertised +wireless. Later I met an officer of the ship on the street, and he +said I was entitled to a return of my money, but I will never get +it; on paying for the service two days ago, I was compelled to sign +an agreement not to ask for my money back in case no service was +rendered.... The manager of the Grand recommended the Royal, which +is under the same management. At the Royal we found a woman clerk +so polite that we liked the place at once. When she called a boy to +show us our rooms, she called him “Buttons.” This young man took +us up in a primitive elevator, which stuck, and the servants were +compelled to pull us out. When we finally reached our rooms, we liked +them, and probably we are as well off here as we would have been at +the Grand.... All the hotels in Auckland, with five unimportant +exceptions, are owned by a Jew named Ernest Davis. He owns hotels in +other places, and they are all compelled to sell Hancock beer, as +Davis also owns the Hancock brewery. One hears a good deal here about +the five free hotels of Auckland. Freedom in this case means freedom +to sell any beer the manager chooses to buy. In the United States, +breweries own saloons, but I have never + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 44]</span> + +before heard of breweries owning hotels.... The Royal is very +modest in its charges; we pay ten shillings and sixpence per day each +for accommodations. This means $2.62 a day for room, three regular +meals, early morning tea, and supper at 10 P.M. And the hotel is +really good; I do not care for anything better, although the rooms +are old-fashioned, and the elevator does not work half the time. When +you want anything, you step into the hall and push a button marked +Maid’s Bell. When the maid appears, you order hot water for shaving, or +whatever it may be you need. There are four bathrooms near my room, +which include needle and douche baths. The New Zealanders are fond of +bathing, and there is never a lack of bathrooms in their hotels.... +I have before referred to the fact that women out here wear afternoon +and evening dresses in the morning; I believe I would have noticed +the custom had not Adelaide called my attention to it. When the ship +landed this morning, a pretty woman we admired, dressed in white satin +and white kid slippers for the occasion.... On our way up-town, we +passed a store labeled the Clobbery. The stock seemed to consist of +gents’ furnishing goods. Perhaps an English friend can tell you where +the word Clobbery comes from; I never heard of it before.... After +dinner, we walked about the streets of Auckland. Adelaide wore what +is known at home as a “Peter Thompson suit,” and it attracted so much +attention that I asked her to return to the hotel and change it. There +were great crowds on the streets, and they seemed to think Adelaide was +a member of a lady brass band of which I was director. She took off + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 45]</span> + +the “Peter Thompson,” and put on a gray suit made by a man tailor +in Kansas City, but she still looked funny to the people, for they +continued to stare at her. She wore a Panama hat for which I paid $12 +(marked down from $20), and I thought she looked pretty well, but +she was a sight to many of the people of Auckland.... We heard +a brass band, and walked that way. It turned out to be a Salvation +Army band of thirty men. The players wore red coats, and played like +professionals. The men and women in the procession were much more +decent-looking than members of the Salvation Army at home. There were +no guitars, and no tambourines; the music was furnished by an excellent +band of thirty men. It was a very respectable outfit in every way, and +finally disappeared into a theatre. In Auckland, Sunday theatricals are +prohibited, and religious services are held in every theatre twice on +Sunday. In the early evening, while on the streets, we encountered the +big Salvation Army band again; also, the Mission band. I was told that +the Mission was much like the Salvation Army, except that it was more +modest. The Mission had a good band of twenty-four men, and a little +organ, which two men carried. After a selection by the band, there was +singing, with organ accompaniment. The song was entitled, “Just the +Same Jesus,” and was so simple, and repeated so often, that I was soon +able to sing it with the others. The leader asked for people to give +their experiences, and a good many stepped into the middle of the ring, +and talked briefly and modestly. One old fellow was a particularly good +talker, and said he had been a soldier in the Civil War in the United +States, and traveled + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 46]</span> + +all over the world, but had always found Jesus his friend in +time of trouble. As each speaker ceased, the same song was sung, “Just +the Same Jesus,” and I joined with the others in the singing. Presently +the leader came to me, and said:</p> + +<p>“You are evidently a religious man, and a stranger. Won’t you make a +few remarks?”</p> + +<br> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i-048.jpg" alt="Various Photographs." width="600" height="370"> +</div> +<div class="caption center"> +Maunganui River    /    Pool of Bathers, Whakarewarewa +<br> +A Galaxy of Maori Beauty +<br> +A Maori Girl    /    Native House, New Zealand +</div> +<br> + +<p>I excused myself, and he then asked the band to play.... When we +walked up the street, in front of every theatre we found men announcing +special religious services. In front of the theatres, also, were +choirs singing religious songs as the people went in, precisely as at +a street fair in America, a party of the performers will come out to +the front to assist the ticket-seller in attracting a crowd. The New +Zealanders are evidently a very religious people; I have been hearing +church bells all day. Everything is closed tight except drug stores +and restaurants.... Both bands I have mentioned had only brass +instruments; no clarinets. In each one I noticed that there were cornet +players who could play an octave higher than the score, and thus get +what we used to call “the clarinet tone” when I played in brass bands +in country towns. I have never seen as respectable a Salvation Army +outfit as I saw in Auckland, and the Mission outfit was still better +looking.... As in Australia, January is like July or August in New +Zealand; snow is unknown about Auckland. All the vegetables and fruits +are at their best here now, and the bathing-beaches are crowded.... +On the “Sonoma” I heard the steward say that when anything came from +New Zealand, it was always the very best. We have + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 47]</span> + +found the butter particularly excellent, and the mutton is better than +the turkey.... An American I met today says that in New Zealand it +is no uncommon thing to see girls of fourteen with complete sets of +false teeth; that something in the water here is very hard on teeth.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, JANUARY 13.—The meals and +rooms at the Hotel Royal are so good that we are almost ashamed to +accept them at $2.62 per day each. The taxi system here is also very +agreeable. In most cities, taxis are disreputable-looking vehicles +you are almost ashamed to ride in. Here they are new automobiles +of different makes, and they cannot be distinguished from private +vehicles. Today we rode about in a Cadillac of 1913 model that had been +in service only three weeks. The charge was $3.12 per hour. At home the +Cadillac costs about $2,000; here it costs a third more. The driver +told us he paid forty cents a gallon for gasoline (known as petrol +here); we pay about eighteen cents a gallon. An exposition will be +opened here in nine or ten months, and the buildings are being erected +in a park adjoining the city. We went out in the Cadillac to see them, +and it was very pleasant to hear the sound of the open muffler again, +for Auckland is a very hilly city. One park we visited consists of four +hundred acres, and it was given to the city by Sir John Logan Campbell. +Before he died, citizens of Auckland erected a statue in his honor, and +he was present at the unveiling, which seemed to + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 48]</span> + +me rather unusual. From the top of a mountain in this park, we could +see across New Zealand. The country is nearly a thousand miles long, +and has an average width of one hundred and fifty miles, but at +Auckland the width is only seven miles. The city will soon extend +across the isthmus, and there is already talk of digging a canal.... +Auckland is accustomed to giving. One of the handsomest and largest +structures here is a Y. M. C. A. building, and near it is a Y. W. C. +A. building. The campaign in which the money was raised for these two +buildings must have been a strenuous one.... Workingmen’s clubs +are common here. I have often wondered that we do not see them in the +United States.... A few days ago, the New Zealand Press Association, +which answers to our Associated Press, sent out a telegram which +offended labor-union men. Thereupon the firemen in an Auckland ferry +service went on strike, and greatly inconvenienced the public. The +firemen had no quarrel with their employers, but quit work because +their dignity had been offended by the newspapers. The newspapers of +Australia and New Zealand criticise the labor unions much more freely +than do the newspapers of the United States. Here business houses are +compelled by law to close on certain days, and the workingmen have +become so powerful that they have divided into two parties, and are +fighting each other. Many New Zealanders have told me that the big +fight is yet to come, and that this fight will be between the people +and the labor unions.... I went into a meat market today, and +inquired prices. A rib roast of beef costs twelve cents a pound; a +sirloin roast, fourteen + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 49]</span> + +cents. Round steak costs thirteen cents a pound; the butcher told me he +rarely sold a sirloin steak, but when he does, he gets twenty cents a +pound for it. Leg of mutton sells for twelve cents a pound, and mutton +chops, thirteen. Pork chops are sixteen cents a pound, and ham and +bacon twenty-four cents. The butcher makes a difference in price when +a customer has meat delivered and charged. Butchers at home do not +make this distinction; the man who pays cash, and carries his purchase +home, is charged as much as the patron who runs an account, and has +everything delivered. The beef here is inferior to ours; there is no +such thing in New Zealand as corn-fed cattle.... We also visited +a dry-goods store, and, so far as Adelaide was able to judge, prices +were not much lower than at home. Besides, everything seemed out of +style.... In Atchison, market gardeners sell tomato and cabbage +plants growing in boxes. Today we saw plants grown in exactly the +same way in front of Auckland grocery stores, as this is the season +for making garden here.... I have never seen better-looking horses +anywhere than I see in Auckland. They are usually of the Clydesdale +strain. All sorts of live-stock seem well fed and well bred.... +This is a poor trip, compared with the trip through Japan, China, +India, etc. There the people dress and look different; here the people +are so much like those at home that we do not seem to have been away, +if we can forget the pronunciations.... In the poorer quarters of +Auckland, we saw a meal advertised for twelve cents. It consisted of +tea, bread and butter, and fish.... Anything that sells for a nickel +at + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 50]</span> + +home, is six cents here. I had my shoes shined at a street stand today, +and the price was six cents. There is no five-cent piece in English +currency, but there is a six-cent silver piece. There is nothing here +answering to our ten-cent piece except the sixpence, which is worth +twelve cents. There are five and ten-cent stores here, but their prices +are six and twelve cents.... When we want a guide, we get a boy from +the hotel, who is known as “Buttons.” At meal-times, his business is to +go through the dining-room, and take orders for liquor. He also sings +in the vested choir in the largest Episcopal church in town. We passed +his church yesterday, and he offered to take us in and introduce us to +the pastor, but we were compelled to decline the honor, owing to lack +of time. Wherever I go, I employ boy guides. They know the interesting +places, and point them out, but have no problems to discuss as men +have.... A sign we see here frequently is “Private Bar.” What is a +private bar? Does it mean a bar operated by a man who has a saloon for +his own private use, and a bartender who waits on no one else? ... +In the bar connected with the Hotel Royal are two girl bartenders, and +they are good-looking, stylish girls.... A big store near our hotel +is operated by “John Court, Limited.” That word Limited is frequently +seen abroad, and seems to mean the same thing as “Incorporated” with +us.... At home, we have a saying that oysters are good only in the +months which have an “r” in them. Here, oysters are at their best in +April, May, June, July and August, and out of season in the months +which have an “r” in them.... In an early walk this morning, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 51]</span> + +I saw a man riding a horse, and driving a big bunch of sheep and cattle +through the streets. He was assisted by three of the cleverest shepherd +dogs I have ever seen, and it was a sight well worth seeing. During +the same walk I ran across a man who was selling rabbits from a cart. +He told me the rabbits had been trapped the day before, and shipped to +Auckland by rail. He sold two young rabbits for a shilling, or twelve +cents each, and called out as he drove along: “Wild rabbits; wild +rabbits.” In Australia, rabbits have become so numerous that they are +a menace and a danger, but this Auckland rabbit-seller told me that in +New Zealand the supply of rabbits is not equal to the demand.... +New Zealand is not an old country; its history really dates from +about 1840. Although Captain Cook, in 1769, discovered and explored +the two islands composing New Zealand, its real history did not begin +until almost a century later, when the native Maoris, after a war +lasting eleven years, concluded a treaty with the English. Australia +and New Zealand, although nominally English colonies, are as free and +independent as any countries in the world.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, JANUARY 14.—We have devoted this +day to a railroad journey from Auckland to Rotorua, the center of the +Lake district. Here are located the geysers which are said to rival +those in Yellowstone Park. Here are located, also, famous baths, and +Rotorua is probably the most noted watering-place in Australasia.... +The railway station in Auckland is located + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 52]</span> + +next to the postoffice, and very properly, since the government owns +the railway as well as the postoffice. No trains are run at night, as +a rule, and none on Sunday, except an important mail train between +Auckland and Wellington. The railway is a narrow-gauge, and we traveled +on it very comfortably from 10 A.M. until 6 P.M. At noon, luncheon +was served in a dining-car, and at 3:30 P.M. the dining-car servants +announced afternoon tea. When we gave our tickets to the conductor, he +said “Thank you;” over here, when a hotel waiter shows you the bill of +fare, and you say you will take soup, he always says “Thank you.” ... +For miles and miles we saw nothing but pasture land, and cattle and +sheep; a hundred sheep, probably, to ten cattle. In a railroad journey +of eight hours, we saw only half a dozen cultivated fields. These +were devoted to oats and turnips. Oats were in the shock, and we saw +several orchards containing ripe fruit. But mainly we saw pastures. The +country is beautiful, and it is prosperous, but its prosperity comes +mainly from sheep. At several places we saw this sign: “Poison laid +for dogs.” ... All the stations are named for the original Maori +settlers, as many of our towns have Indian names. At many stations we +saw the Maoris in considerable numbers.... I do not believe there +is a shingle roof in New Zealand; the roofs of the cheaper houses are +of corrugated iron while the roofs of the better class houses are of +red tile. Nearly all the houses in the country have fireplaces, and +most of them are built of sheet-iron. The winters here are very mild, +and a little fire in a grate is all that is needed. New Zealand is a +wonderful stock-raising + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 53]</span> + +country, because of its mild winters.... In the smoking-car of the +train, the spittoons were holes in the floor, with a brass top of the +regulation spittoon pattern.... In Australia and New Zealand you +see the sign “No smoking” very much oftener than anywhere else in the +world.... There is no prairie land in New Zealand. There is a bush +to be cleared off all the farm land; I don’t know what it is, but it +looks like scrub cedar. All along the route we saw this burning; that +seems to be one method of clearing land here. And after the land is +cleared, it must be heavily manured; at one country town I saw a store +sign which announced dry goods, artificial manures, iron mongery, etc. +There is as much evidence of prosperity here as in the best sections +of the Middle West, and you wonder where it comes from, since you see +almost nothing but sheep. I didn’t see a poverty-stricken looking house +all day, nor at any of the dozens of stopping-places did I see anyone +who seemed to be poor.... About 2 P.M. we approached the mountains, +and traveled in them until we reached the summit, and ran rapidly down +the other side. Near the top we encountered several sawmills, but they +were rather small affairs. At 5 P.M. we began seeing, in the distance, +steam ascending from geysers. At 6 P.M. we steamed into Rotorua. +The railroad stops here, and all the passengers left the crowded +train. There are dozens of boarding-houses and hotels; excellent +accommodations may be had for $10.50 a week, and the Grand, the best +hotel, charges only $3.12 a day for board and room. The baths rival +the best in the most famous watering-places of the Old World, and many +spouting geysers + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 54]</span> + +may be seen in an hour’s walk. In addition, Rotorua +has a beautiful lake, and anyone can catch fish in it; so, little +wonder that the town is growing rapidly.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, JANUARY 15.—At 10 o’clock this +morning we left for a trip on the lake. There were about a dozen other +passengers in the motor boat, and in half an hour most of them were +seasick, as the wind was blowing a gale. Our destination was a famous +spring eight miles away. This spring heads a river so large that we +sailed in it in a boat. The water gushes up from a great hole, and with +such force that a coin will not sink in it. The flow is twelve million +gallons in twenty-four hours, and the water as cold as ice. From the +wonderful spring, we went through a wonderful river to a wonderful +fall. Three other boats accompanied us; tourists are as common here as +they are in Egypt. At the wonderful fall, we ate lunch. The Grand Hotel +sent a hamper along, and we ate while sitting on a cliff overlooking +the mighty rush of water. At the fall we left the boat, and took a +stage back to Rotorua, stopping on the way at a thermal center of great +interest: Tikitere. An Irishman married a Maori woman who owns the +place, and he insists upon charging fifty cents admission. This is the +only sight in the district for which a charge is made; the Irishman is +smarter than the New Zealand government, and every visitor is compelled +to pay two shillings, or miss one of the best sights in the district. +Tikitere covers several acres, and is mainly devoted + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 55]</span> + +to boiling mud springs. There are thousands of these springs, some +of them not much larger than your hand, and some of them big enough +to float a ship. Imagine a loblolly of mud boiling violently, and +you have the main idea. At one place there are cold and hot springs +within five feet of each other. Near them is a fall of hot water from +two boiling lakes. Then we drove to Blue Lake, an extinct crater +filled with water of a perfect blue, and returned to the hotel at 6 +P.M., badly sunburned as a result of our trip on the lake and in the +stage-coach.... When I tell people I had no sleep on the “Maheno” +because of snoring gentlemen, they say, “Let me tell you what they +did to me.” And then they relate inconveniences suffered on different +ships. But in spite of these uncomfortable incidents of travel, nothing +can keep the people at home.... The stage in which we traveled today +was pulled by five horses: two wheelers, and three hitched side by side +ahead of them. The roads were so dusty that the driver was frequently +compelled to stop, and wait until he could see his way.... Speaking +of differences in the English language at home and abroad: opposite my +room at the Grand Hotel is a livery and bait stable. Rotorua is a great +place for livery and bait stables, owing to the tourist trade. From +my window early in the morning, I see men and women coming from the +different bath-houses, with towels over their arms. Frequently stages +drive up in front of the hotel, and passengers depart for sights quite +distant from the town. There are a good many automobiles, also, and we +shall travel in these quite extensively when we leave Rotorua to see +the other + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 56]</span> + +sights in the district. On an average, there are fifteen hundred +visitors in Rotorua, and a resident population of 2,500. The great +watering-places in Europe are insignificant compared with this +place, because of the variety of natural baths procurable here. The +government has spent $200,000 on a bathhouse, and surrounded it with +a very beautiful garden in which sweet peas are now in bloom. This +is also the home of the gladioli; I see these flowers everywhere in +splendid profusion. In the park surrounding the government bathhouse +are several spouting geysers, steam whistlers, sulphur springs, etc. +Outside the park grounds may be seen many sanitariums, with invalids +on the porches. There is nothing as effective in restoring health as +natural hot springs, and the variety is so great here that I wonder the +visiting population is not much larger than fifteen hundred.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, JANUARY 16.—The Maoris, or +native inhabitants of New Zealand, look very much like our Indians, and +have most of their characteristics. They are lazy and shiftless, but +good fighters, which will be generally recognized as a trait of the +North-American Indians. At the photograph galleries we see pictures of +beautiful Maori girls, but none are to be seen in the native villages, +two of which are located near Rotorua. In both of these are hot +springs, and the natives use them for cooking, heating their houses, +and for bathing. In the hot springs are placed pots containing meat and +vegetables, and the springs are then covered over with old gunny-sacks +until the cooking is complete. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 57]</span> + +The women also do their washing in the same way; the clothes are boiled +in a hot spring, and then soaped and rubbed in a stream of cooler +water. While the women are washing, their children are bathing in warm +pools near by. The houses are built over hot springs, and in cool +weather the warmth is found very agreeable. A few feet away from the +hot springs may be found a geyser in constant eruption, or which erupts +every ten minutes, every hour, every day, or every month. Yesterday all +the geysers were going, but most of them were quiet today. The district +where I saw the native village covers many acres, in a depression +between mountains, and is marked by white patches which look like old +lime-kilns. These white patches were made by the geysers; the water is +strongly impregnated with lime, and the steam and spray give everything +touched a coating of white. We saw great holes in the earth filled with +blue water, and the bottom as white as snow. Not far away would be +found another geyser; a great loblolly of mud, boiling lazily. Beside +a rushing stream of cold water we saw a hot spring, and heard the old +story that a man might stand in one spot, catch a trout, and boil it. A +Maori woman was our guide, and we greatly admired her beautiful voice. +She was elderly, and ugly, but her voice was soft and musical. She took +us to a native Maori fort, and pointed out a sort of bird-box situated +on top of a pole. This was a Spirit House; a spirit lived in it, and, +when danger threatened, the spirit would speak in a loud voice, and +tell the people what the danger was, and when it would appear.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 58]</span></p> + +<p>“Most ladies and gentlemen do not believe it,” the Maori woman said.</p> + +<p>I asked her if she believed it, and she replied in her broken English: +“I used to did.” She said that when she was a child, her people always +put food in the spirit house for the spirit, but that lately the custom +is going out of fashion. In the village are Catholic and Episcopal +churches; the Catholic priest is a native Maori, and the church is +heated in cool weather from a hot spring beneath it.... The Maoris +were originally cannibals, but the guide said they ate each other, and +did not bother the whites much. In one place we visited here, we saw +forks made of human bones.... We called at the guide’s home, and saw +one of the tin fireplaces which are seen in seven-tenths of the poorer +houses. They cost about $8 put up, and are used for cooking purposes, +as well as for heating. They burn out, after a time, but a tinner will +rivet in a patch for a small charge. They are certainly very much +cheaper than the stone and brick fireplaces we have. A native Maori +village looks much like a negro suburb in an American town, but the +Maoris are not black; they look like Indians and have straight hair. +Some of the women have their lips tattooed, to indicate submission +to their husbands, but there is a Suffragette movement on here, as +elsewhere, and the Maori woman who showed us about laughed scornfully +at the notion that woman is inferior to man.... Just then we came +to a place called the Frog Pond: a mud lake, and there is just enough +steam below to cause particles of mud to jump like frogs. Near by, in a +hole in the earth, the escaping steam made a sound like the croaking of +frogs. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 59]</span> + +The Maori woman described these things, and then walked on in +silence, with a mean look in her eyes; she was evidently still thinking +of the foolish women of her race who tattoo their lips to indicate +submission to their husbands. I didn’t have a very good time after +the woman suffrage question came up, and was glad that we soon after +reached the last sight on the list. When women look at me in that funny +way indicating that I impose on them, I am thoroughly uncomfortable. So +we walked back to the entrance to the geyser field, and took a carriage +to Rotorua. On the way, we met dozens of other carriages containing +visitors; here people are always departing for a trip, or returning +from one, and when the sights are exhausted they go on to Wairakei, +where there is another collection of geysers, hot springs, etc. Between +trips, they take baths, and there is a great variety to choose from; no +other place in the world has as many different baths as Rotorua, but +the town is not easily reached, and it doesn’t attract as many people +as Hot Springs, Arkansas, which has only simple hot springs; no chain +of lakes, no wonderful fishing, no oil baths, no geysers, and no mud +baths, as has Rotorua.... There are only two geyser fields in the +world; the other is in Yellowstone Park, in the United States. So far +as I am able to judge, the geysers in Yellowstone Park are much finer. +There are no terraces here, as in the Yellowstone, and in every way +the Yellowstone district seems superior. But in a way, they are much +alike. The geysers here are undoubtedly losing their force; citizens +tell me they can see a difference from year to year. I have not seen a +geyser so far more than ten + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 60]</span> + +or twelve feet high, but I saw many big ones in the Yellowstone. All +the geysers were going yesterday, and it is said some of them shot +steam and hot water into the air to a height of forty feet, but I was +on the lake trip yesterday, and did not see the big geyser display +which everyone is talking about today. But in the Yellowstone you can +see a big geyser display any day; indeed, Old Faithful goes off every +hour, and shoots steam and hot water 150 to 200 feet into the air. Here +soap is frequently put into the geysers, to make them show off for +visitors, but this is not necessary in the Yellowstone. This district +had terraces until a few years ago, when they blew up, and now there +are no others like those in Yellowstone Park. Besides, the Yellowstone +district is much wilder and grander than the Hot Lake district of New +Zealand. This is a wonderful place, but the Yellowstone is much more +wonderful, it seems to me.... We are the only Americans at the +hotel, and, except that a St. Paul man was here two months ago, we +are the only Americans who have been here in a long time, the manager +says.... In the fine park surrounding the government bathhouse, this +afternoon, we saw dozens of games going. There was bowling, tennis, +archery, cricket, and croquet, but principally bowling. In this game +a good many elderly men participated; it is an old man’s game, but +lately young men are playing it. The lawn was as smooth as a floor, +and the game seemed to be to roll wooden balls to a goal. The men over +here carry the wooden balls, when traveling, and engage in the game at +different places. I had never seen the game before, and watched it for +an hour. The players were + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 61]</span> + +very polite and genteel, but all had the pronunciation which seems so +queer to us. I have seen no golf here, but I am rarely out of sight +of a tennis court; that seems to be the universal game.... The +New Zealand government has been so successful in business that it is +now branching out; it is operating a tourist agency in opposition to +Thos. Cook & Son, who have offices all over the world. People living +off the main lines of travel cannot realize how valuable travelers +are. In Europe, many cities devote millions of dollars to securing +tourist travel, and find that it pays. Paris spends millions annually +in this way, and rival cities are lately doing a good deal in the same +direction; it is generally said that Berlin is now a rival of Paris in +attractions for travelers. At this little town of Rotorua, a train-load +of tourists arrives every day, and without them the town would not +amount to much.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, JANUARY 17.—In Rotorua, a great +deal is made of the native women who act as guides. One hears of +Maggie, the guide, before reaching the town, but we did not see her; +she became so famous that an Englishman married her, and she is now +living unhappily in London. But there are many others here, for the +profession is easily learned; after one trip through the geyser field, +I am certain I would be competent to act as a guide. The native woman +who accompanied us pointed out several holes where people had fallen in +and lost their lives. She says that when a man falls in a hot pool, he +disappears, and nothing + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 62]</span> + +is ever seen of him again, except his liver; in a few hours after the +man disappears, his liver is seen floating on the surface, and is +recovered. This is the sort of information possessed by the guides. A +native woman fell into one hot crater, and the guides say her screaming +can still be heard. I listened attentively, and the hissing steam made +a noise at times which sounded something like a woman’s scream.... +In the warm pools, boys and girls swim together, stark naked. The +entrance to the geyser field is over a bridge spanning a roaring +stream, and girls fourteen and fifteen years old jump from this bridge +into the water, if pennies are thrown as an inducement. The jump is a +high one, and I saw no boys making it. In one warm pool where naked +boys and girls were in bathing we saw a little white girl, but the +guide did not know her, and could not explain how she came there.... +Every visitor to New Zealand soon remarks that the women do not care +much about their feet or figures. Still, their waists and feet do not +seem larger than they should be; perhaps women in other parts of the +world unnaturally pinch themselves.... Tourists do all sorts of +queer things. One woman who sits at our table carries her own tea and +teapot, and another carries her own bread.... A rumor came to the +hotel today that the big geysers were spouting, and there was hurrying +among the guests, but the rumor proved only partly true; the spouting +lasted only a few minutes, and the guests of the Grand did not see it. +Last Wednesday, when we were on the lake trip, the big geysers spouted +nine hours, breaking all records. A bulletin board is displayed in the +hotel office, and this + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 63]</span> + +is used to keep the guests informed as to the doings of the +geysers.... There seems to be no doubt that we look funny. In +walking about, we hear people say to each other, as we pass, “They are +Americans.” They say it softly, and do not think we hear it, for the +people here are very polite; but we do hear it, and we remark that +people stare at us when they think we are not looking. We undoubtedly +look odd to them. I wonder if our talk sounds as funny to them as +theirs sounds to us? ... Wages are not as high here as in the United +States, but we often hear the statement made that this is more than +compensated for by the lower cost of living. We went into a grocery +store today, and inquired prices. Potatoes sell at three cents a +pound; cabbage, eight cents a head; green peas, thirty-two cents a +peck; sugar, six cents a pound; flour, $3 per hundred pounds; bread, +eight cents a loaf; crackers, twelve cents a pound; tomatoes and +peaches, twenty-four cents per two-pound can; eggs, forty-two cents +per dozen; butter, twenty-eight cents a pound. An inferior watermelon +costs seventy-five cents; round steak, eighteen cents a pound; leg of +mutton, twelve cents; loin of mutton, ten. But prices are higher here +than in the average New Zealand town, as not much is produced in this +vicinity. The grocer said freight rates were extortionate, although +the railroad is owned by the government. The apples displayed were +from California, but I did not know the variety, although the grocer +asked me the question.... You frequently see here tin cans labeled +“Pratt’s benzine;” but if you examine the label closely, you note that +it is supplied by the Standard Oil Co., of + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 64]</span> + +New York.... Although lake trout are caught in great quantities +here, it is against the law to sell them. We saw a man come in today +with as many rainbow trout as he and two boys could carry. Lake trout +are not particularly good fish. Brook trout are possibly the best fish +in the world, but the lake trout are larger, and coarser; we have seen +them here weighing twenty-two pounds, but the average is nearer three +pounds. In one pool at Rotorua, thousands of trout may be seen swimming +around, and children feed them with bread crumbs.... Some of the +grazing land in New Zealand, after it has been cleared, manured, and +seeded to grass, becomes very valuable. It is worth as high as $400 an +acre. Choice land is worth an equal amount in Australia, but in both +Australia and New Zealand there is plenty of land that may be had for +almost nothing; but it is worth no more than is charged for it.... +It is generally believed that the original New Zealanders, the original +Hawaiians, and the people living in the islands between, came from +the same general stock. The language was evidently the same at one +time, and has been corrupted into dialects. The native New Zealanders +are exactly like our American Indians, in appearance; perhaps they +are all of the same original stock. The people of Samoa look like the +Hawaiians, the Mexicans and the Indians; and the people of the South +Sea islands were such adventurous navigators that the Samoan group is +also known as the Navigator Islands, and probably many centuries ago +the islands extended much nearer to the mainland of North America than +at present. The surface of the earth is constantly changing; where lofty + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 65]</span> + +mountain ranges once existed, are now vast level plains; our present +tropics were once in the frigid zone, and many islands that once +existed have disappeared. No doubt the original inhabitants of North +America found their way there from the westward, by means which we +cannot now clearly understand.... New Zealand was originally a +very poor country; it had almost no animals, and its vegetation was +scanty. All the sheep, cattle, horses, hogs, fowls, deer, etc., were +brought here; when Captain Cook was killed in the Hawaiian islands, +by natives, he had been distributing live-stock in the islands of +the South Seas, to benefit the inhabitants. Trout are now plentiful +in the clear and rapid streams of New Zealand, but they were brought +here. Before the American Revolution there were plenty of hogs in +Australia, New Zealand, and the South Sea islands. The natives traded +hogs to the sailors for knives, nails, hatchets, etc., and these hogs +had been introduced by white men, at great expense and trouble. The +white man has always been trying to help his more backward dark-skinned +brother.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, JANUARY 18.—Rotorua, with all +its charms, becomes very tiresome after a few days. A second visit +to the geyser fields is like seeing a play a second time, and we are +impatient to move on. The first time you see fifteen-year-old girls, +scantily dressed, diving for pennies, it is a startling sight, but in +a little while you do not care for it. When two Maori women meet, they +rub their foreheads together. That ceremony + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 66]</span> + +interested me for a time, but it does not now, and we leave here +tomorrow.... When we first arrived, the manager said: “I will seat +you in the dining-room with an American.” The man was exactly like +an American, but he actually came from Vancouver, B.C. Canadians +are more like Americans than any other people.... I have not seen +such a thing as door or window screens in New Zealand. This is the +middle of summer, and flies are numerous, but no attempt is made to +keep them out. I dislike to pass a meat market, because I always +encounter great swarms of flies. They have ice here, but do not use it +much.... We visited a moving-picture theatre this afternoon, and it +was exactly like the moving-picture shows at home; ridiculous plays of +the melodrama order, made in America, and an orchestra consisting of a +piano-player who plays with tremendous force. As we came away from the +moving-picture show we passed the smallest hotel in town, and of course +it was known as “The Palace.” ... I have never seen such magnificent +sweet pea blooms as I have seen here, and they are now at their best. +Roses also seem to do particularly well here, and we visited a rose +garden today which would have done credit to California. There was an +acre or more of roses, and all the varieties seemed to be different. +The garden is owned by the government, which does all sorts of things +over here, and is cared for by convicts.... We have had no mail from +home in five weeks. The people at the American naval station at Pago +Pago, Samoa, receive mail only once a month, and say they do not mind +it; that mail every + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 67]</span> + +day is a daily worry, whereas if you receive mail but once a month +your worries are greatly reduced. You are always expecting important +mail which never arrives, and a daily mail, they say, is really a +nuisance.... One of the baths here is known as a Spout bath. You +go down into a cave, and water falls on you from six feet above. The +water comes from one of the boiling springs, cooled to an endurable +temperature by the addition of a stream from a cold lake. Water is +conducted from the lakes in trenches to the baths. The water in the +Spout bath has a good deal of oil in it, and is said to be particularly +good for rheumatism. But the worst case of rheumatism I ever saw was +in front of the Spout bathhouse. A native man was so crippled with it +that he moved as slowly as a snail, and was a pitiful object.... +There arrived at this hotel today a man and wife I had known on the +“Sonoma.” He is a fine old gentleman who lives in a country town +in Ohio, but he has at least one habit to which his wife seriously +objects. They sat opposite us in the dining-room, and I noticed that +the old gentleman parted his hair behind, in the old-fashioned way. And +it seemed, also, that he used hair oil, for regularly three times a day +I heard his wife mumbling a protest because of this hair-oil habit. +And tonight at dinner the wife appeared alone, and was seated at our +table, as the manager knew we were acquaintances. Presently the old +gentleman appeared; he had been indulging in his favorite dissipation, +hair oil, and his wife at once noticed it, and mumbled a protest. The +old gentleman pays no attention to her; indeed, he does not pay much +attention to anyone, as he is a very quiet + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 68]</span> + +man. On the “Sonoma” he was an early riser, as I was, and usually he +barely spoke to me when I appeared. But I saw him quite animated one +morning. He was seated on deck, looking out at the sea, and, soon after +I sat down near him, he burst out into a tirade against the farmers +with whom he did business as a country merchant thirty or forty years +ago. He said that in the old day he bought wrapping-twine of farmers, +and that almost invariably he found a stone in the middle of each ball. +One conspicuous offender was an old Baptist deacon. On one occasion, +when this man came into the store after sugar, the merchant placed in +the scoop, with the sugar, a number of stones taken from balls of twine +purchased of the deacon. The deacon watched the performance, but never +said a word; he knew he was guilty, and calmly took his medicine.... +I have witnessed many amateur performances, but the most amusing one I +saw in Rotorua this evening. It was an entertainment given by native +Maoris, and the women guides had been selling tickets several days. The +accompaniments were played on an accordion, and twenty-five persons +took part in some of the numbers. Twelve young girls sang, and among +them I noticed a number of the fifteen-year-old divers who had jumped +for my pennies yesterday at the bridge marking the entrance to the +geyser field. Fourteen men gave a war dance, and about that number +of women gave a “hooche-kooche.” The entire performance was of this +character, and so poor that it was amusing. After appearing on the +stage, the performers came down to seats in the audience, as amateurs +do everywhere, and laughed and giggled. Every + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 69]</span> + +act was applauded, and every performer had an encore number. One of +the men who appeared in the war dance must have been seventy years +old; rather venerable, I thought, for an amateur. We stood it for an +hour, because there was absolutely nothing else to do. The English +pickle and jam manufacturers, and tradesmen of every kind, claim +notable patrons, therefore I was not surprised to find this on the +programme: “Patronized by Lord Kitchener, Madame Melba, and many other +distinguished visitors.” The performance closed with the song, “God +Save the King,” and a dance. The audience was small, and composed +entirely of whites, but out in front of the hall were hundreds of +Maoris lounging about.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, JANUARY 19.—I write this by +the light of a tallow candle in a little hotel twenty-four miles +from Rotorua. We came here today by a circuitous route, and saw many +wonders on the way. The hotel at which I am a guest tonight exists to +accommodate visitors to the Waiotapu valley geysers, and these I shall +see tomorrow morning, and proceed to Wairakei, twenty-seven miles, by +motor in the afternoon. The names here are something dreadful; one +place we visited yesterday is called Whakarewarewa, but people refer +to it familiarly as Whak.... We left Rotorua at 8:15 this morning, +by stage. We had seats with the driver, which, in staging, is an honor +equal to a seat at the captain’s table on a ship. We had a pleasant +drive of three hours through mountains, passing Green + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 70]</span> + +and Blue lakes on the way. One lake is really green +and the other is really blue, and both may be seen at the same time +from a high place on the stage road. At Green lake we encountered a +photographer, who, after taking our picture, accompanied us down to +a buried town. While we were looking at these ruins, which occupied +us possibly half an hour, the photographer developed and printed +the picture, and took orders from certainly ten of the fourteen +passengers.... In 1886 this section was visited by an earthquake. +A tract of country nineteen miles long was affected, and 135 people, +mostly natives, were killed. After taking a look at the town buried +in 1886, we drove a mile, and embarked on a launch for a ride of +eight miles. Then we walked over a mountain, and embarked on another +launch for a ride of six miles across White lake. This lake is really +a crater, and in spots the water is boiling hot. For some reason, +the water is nearly as white as milk, and in the crumbling walls +surrounding the lake are hundreds of smoking geysers. The place looks +like a lake in purgatory, and the country surrounding it is as desolate +and barren as can be imagined. On this ride we passed the site of the +terraces, or mammoth hot springs, which were destroyed by the eruption +twenty-six years ago. When we landed, we met another party, going the +route we had come, and, as soon as we disembarked, they went on board, +and left us. We found an old guide waiting for us, and started on a +walk of three miles through a lava-bed. We were always in sight of +smoking springs and geysers. At one place we were compelled to ford a +considerable stream, and the guide carried the women across.... The + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 71]</span> + +guide was much the smartest man of his profession we have seen. Just +how accurate his information is, I do not know. He says that most of +the great processes in geology are carried on by internal fires in the +earth, and that what we see on the surface here is constantly going +on, on a very much larger scale, deeper down. The water from every +cool, limpid spring is sent to the surface by the same forces that +cause the mud lakes to bubble and growl; the water of every cold spring +was originally steam, and the water was cleaned of impurities on its +long journey to the surface.... The geyser field of New Zealand is +more than a hundred miles long, and during our journey of twenty-four +miles today we were rarely out of sight of smoking springs. But the +most curious thing we have seen is the White lake, which occupies a +crater caused by the earthquake of 1886. The lake has no outlet, and, +until a few years ago, was a mud geyser. Then it began to fill with +hot water from below. In spots the water is only warm at the surface, +but in many places it is boiling.... The end of our three-mile walk +was a government rest-house. Here we found a carriage awaiting us, and +we drove seven miles to the hotel where we are spending the night. A +storm was threatening when we arrived at the rest-house, and we were +anxious to hurry on, but the English people with us insisted on having +their afternoon tea, and we were forced to wait for them.... Part of +the country over which we traveled today looked like the lake district +of Scotland; the first lake on which we traveled reminded me of Loch +Katrine, and the stage road to it was something like the Trossachs. +But after we + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 72]</span> + +reached the lake where the water is white, and occupying a crater +smoking all around the edges, we saw something we had never seen the +like of before.... Wild blackberries are a pest in this section. We +saw hundreds of acres of wild blackberry bushes during our drive today, +the berries just ripening. The best way to get rid of the bushes, the +driver said, was to put goats among them.... This lava district was +formerly considered worthless. Some years ago a man leased fifteen +thousand acres of it from the government, at a rental of £29 per year, +or $145. He burned off the bush, sowed a lot of clover seed, and is now +getting rich from sheep.... When I arrived at this hotel I was very +dirty and dusty, from riding on two stages on dusty roads. So I asked +the proprietor for a bath. He gave me a towel, and called a boy, who +led me to a creek two hundred yards down the hill. The water was warm, +and, after warning me not to go above or below into very hot water, the +boy left me to enjoy my swim.... On a ship, an American is always +interested in seeing the English passengers going to their morning +baths. They are seen in all the halls and on all the decks, barefooted, +and wearing pajamas. But early this morning, at the Grand Hotel in +Rotorua, I saw a still more unusual sight. An Englishman came out of +the hotel at 7:30 wearing slippers on bare feet, and dressed only in +pajamas. I supposed he was going to one of the hotel bathrooms, but +instead of that, he walked out on the streets of Rotorua, and calmly +proceeded to one of the big bath-houses three or four blocks away. He +was dressed exactly as I represent him; bareheaded, and smoking a +pipe.... While taking + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 73]</span> + +an early walk this morning, I encountered the courthouse in Rotorua. +Here are some of the signs on the office doors: “Stipendiary +Magistrate;” “Registrar of Old Age Pensions;” “Vaccination Inspector;” +“Registrar of Deaths, Births and Marriages.” The office hours of the +different officials were: Saturdays, 10 A.M. to noon; week days, 10 +A.M. to 1 P.M., 2 P.M. to 4 P.M. Counting holidays, that is an +average of about four hours a day for New Zealand officials.... +At the moving-picture shows here the best seats are 36 cents, and a +seat on a bench in the extreme rear of the hall costs 12 cents.... +In a Rotorua paper I picked up last night, I saw a statement that a +man had been fined $125 “for sly grog-selling.” That is what we call +“bootlegging.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, JANUARY 20.—I awoke this morning +at 5 o’clock, and found the sun coming up. You have perhaps noted +that the sun is not up at 5 A.M. on the 20th of January in our part +of the world. While the days are very warm here, the nights are quite +cool; at 5 A.M. I was quite cold in bed, and awoke to look for more +covering.... I read myself to sleep last night, very comfortably, +by the light of a tallow candle. Electric lights do not seem to be +absolutely necessary to the comfort of mankind.... In riding over +the mountains here, I find great tracts of flourishing pine trees +which have been planted by the government. Convicts did the work. +By this means, the barren mountains are being changed into a living +green.... + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 74]</span> + +Late last night, a man somewhere about the hotel engaged in singing; +alcoholic singing, I judged. The vulgar rich are generously abused, +but I have noticed that the higher priced the hotel, the more polite +the guests are.... But while this little hotel in the mountains of +New Zealand is somewhat primitive, I prefer it to the best steamship +that ever existed. For breakfast this morning we had soft-boiled eggs, +toast and coffee, with mutton chops and bacon offered. That is enough +for anyone. But on a ship you are offered a hundred things you do not +want, by professional waiters who are wondering how much of a gratuity +they can coax out of you. The breakfast this morning was served by a +girl who, barring her pronunciation, seemed real nice. She expects no +tip; she expects her pay from the proprietor, whom I have heard her +refer to as Mr. Hickey. And while my room is small, I at least haven’t +two snoring gentlemen in with me.... A young gentleman who ate +breakfast with me has charge of the local postoffice, and says there +are several big sheep ranches in the vicinity, from which he gets a +good deal of mail. The sheep here are well bred, and not at all like +the range sheep of the United States.... While writing in my room +last night I felt a shock, and thought some object had fallen about the +hotel. This morning I learned it was an earthquake; we had three shocks +during the night. Near this place is a place called Earthquake Flat. In +passing it the stage-drivers rest their teams a few minutes, and give +the passengers a chance to experience an earthquake shock. Ten minutes +never goes by at that point without one. At Rotorua, one night we were + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 75]</span> + +there, sixty earthquake shocks were noted from 6 P.M. to 6 A.M.... +This morning, in walking through the Waiotapu geyser field, we had a +satisfactory guide; a native Maori. He didn’t say much, and, if we +wanted to know about anything, asked him about it. Yesterday we had a +guide who talked incessantly, and he was a bore. He was an Englishman, +and we were glad to get rid of him. Adelaide refused to go out to +the geyser field this morning; she is tired seeing them, as they are +all much alike.... At 1 P.M. today we left Waiotapu for Wairakei, +in a seven-passenger Napier automobile. The distance is twenty-seven +miles, over a mountain road, and we ran it in two hours, with the +usual rests for tea. The roads were good, and the ride enjoyable. The +Napier is an English six-cylinder car, and the driver was very capable +and agreeable.... Arriving at the hotel at Wairakei, we found the +most gallant man in the world. He runs a hotel consisting of a number +of detached buildings. In the main one he has <i>two</i> toilet-rooms for +women, with modern plumbing, but the men are compelled to content +themselves with a toilet-room of the country-hotel pattern, located out +in the yard, near the stables, and it is very filthy, and filled with +big blue flies. Another law I suggest is, that no man be allowed to +conduct a hotel until he is able to provide proper toilet facilities. +The hotel at Wairakei is located near a geyser field. Another +difference between Yellowstone Park and the New Zealand geyser country +is that in the Yellowstone you find modern hotels; that at the Norris +geyser basin is a palace. Here, after leaving Rotorua, we found the +hotels primitive, and not very comfortable.... + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 76]</span> + +There are many deer in New Zealand; also wild cattle, wild pigs, +California quail, pheasants, etc. Several times I have seen California +quail along the country roads.... A remarkable thing we saw +yesterday was a mud volcano; a small mountain, in the center of which +was a boiling mud spring. The spring is constantly throwing out mud, +and thus the mountain grows steadily in height.... To be a Maori, is +to be a pensioner. The natives employ smart lawyers to bring all sorts +of claims against the government, and these win often enough to be +profitable. The lands the natives own are uncultivated, and the natives +are a drawback to the country. All of which is very much American +Indian.... Over here the government does everything, including +selling tickets to tourists. The government owns the town of Rotorua, +and brings it water and light from waterfalls in the neighboring +mountains.... If you are a bad sleeper, do not travel. I was awake +at 4 o’clock this morning, and there was not the slightest noise about +the hotel from that hour until 7:15, when I heard an alarm clock go +off. You don’t know what it is to be really lonesome unless you have +spent a sleepless night in a strange hotel in a strange country.... +A man came in this evening from Lake Taupo, with a big catch of trout. +Some of the fish were very thin in flesh; so thin that they were +worthless. It is said fish are so plentiful in the lake that there is +not enough for them to eat. Most of the fish weighed from six to seven +pounds.... We hear of geysers that shoot steam and hot water fifteen +hundred feet in the air, but we have seen no geyser here more than +thirty feet high. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 77]</span> + +The big sights are always just over when I come along.... At this +hotel, when you wish to take a bath, you go out to the manager’s +office, and find a key hanging beside the door. This key opens a door +down in the canyon, back of the hotel. The bath consists of a great +pool of hot water. There is no roof over the pool, but it is fenced in. +Within the enclosure, also, is a pool of cold water, into which you may +plunge after a hot bath. Certain hours are devoted to gentlemen, and +certain hours to ladies.... Rooms in this hotel are also lighted +with candles, and I dislike to blow out my candle and go to bed, as I +can smell the extinguished wick half the night.... The food in New +Zealand is universally good; we have come to the conclusion that the +New Zealanders are famous cooks.... We find a good many private +cars touring in this section, as the government devotes much attention +to roads, which are generally excellent, barring the terrible dust. +Yesterday we met a little Ford machine, and it seemed to be kicking up +about as much dust as any of them.... The rainfall here is greater +than in the best agricultural sections of the United States, but the +bulk of the rain falls in winter, whereas our moisture is better +distributed over the growing season.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, JANUARY 21.—We have made three +trips today, looking at the wonders in the Wairakei field; we have +devoted at least nine hours to sightseeing, which is not a bad day’s +work. One of the wonders is the Blow Hole; a great hole on top of a +mountain out of + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 78]</span> + +which steam pours constantly, and with a great noise. This is called +the safety-valve of New Zealand. Surrounding it we found a number +of empty four-gallon oil tins; cans in which old Rockefeller had +shipped gasoline to this country. The driver of our carriage threw +these cans into the blow-hole, and the steam shot them out again. The +noise reminded me of steam being blown out of a locomotive boiler, in +preparation for washing it. There are no hot springs or geysers within +four or five miles of the Blow Hole; it is a solitary attraction, and +the steam ascending from it may be seen many miles.... Although the +big terraces were covered up by the earthquake of 1886, we have seen +two or three small and imperfect ones. As you walk through the Wairakei +valley you notice that the earth is red, and green, and yellow, and +white, and blue in places. The guide gave me a card on which he had +made many colors with mud; it reminded me of a painter’s color-card. +All this is like the Yellowstone, and everything here is much like the +geyser fields in our greatest national park, but it seems to me that +the Yellowstone is much superior, in every way. Facilities for getting +about are much the same, and prices about the same, but the hotel +accommodations in the Yellowstone are undoubtedly better.... At one +place in Wairakei valley, steam pours out of a number of small holes in +the earth. Bottles are placed beside the steam holes in such a way that +an incessant whistling is kept up, in half a dozen different keys. At +another place, what sounds like cannonading may be heard deep in the +earth; in another, at the bottom of a lake, you may hear what sounds +like a blacksmith hammering + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 79]</span> + +on an anvil. As you walk along, the earth sounds hollow to the tread, +and every little while there is a cave-in, and a new hot spring or +geyser appears.... I have spoken several times, in a good-natured +way, of the difference in American and English pronunciation. A change +may not be expected; indeed, I think the difference is becoming greater +all the time, since the English children have a worse pronunciation +than their parents. We have been traveling several days with a +father and mother and two young daughters. The father and mother +pronounce their words almost as we do, but both the daughters have +a brogue that is the most pronounced I have heard. I hope I have +written good-naturedly of the differences in pronunciation, for I +like the people I meet. Most of the travelers are New Zealanders or +Australians, but I can’t tell them from the English, except that the +New Zealanders and Australians frequently criticise the English to +me. They say, for one thing, that young Englishmen who have nothing +to do, come over here, and set a bad example; that here, young people +are expected to work, and are not much respected unless they do. Many +New Zealanders have told me that they have too many holidays; too many +amusements.... I hear exactly the same talk here of high taxes and +public extravagance that I hear at home, and I am told that politicians +are about as mischievous, active and troublesome in New Zealand as +elsewhere. At home, we hear a great deal about the value of the +single-tax system. New Zealand has + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 80]</span> + +that system, and today I heard a Wellington lawyer criticising it very +severely. It is a single tax in theory only, since New Zealand has +about as many different forms of taxation as any other country. New +Zealand has tried more experiments than we have, but gets no better +results from its laws than we get. It is attacking the trusts, just +as we are doing, and the trusts continue to flourish; there are some +things you can’t do by law, and New Zealand can’t accomplish the +impossible any more than we can. I hear that compulsory arbitration +worked for a time, as I hear that a week, or month, or year, before +I came, the geysers shot three hundred feet in the air; but it is +positively known that the country now has as many and as ridiculous +strikes as any other, and the best geysers have done only twenty or +thirty feet in my presence. The New Zealand railroads are primitive +compared with ours, and their rates higher; yet they have government +ownership, which many Americans say would solve the railroad problem. +New Zealanders do not say their methods are better than ours; on the +contrary, they regard the United States with a great deal of respect, +and know that we are far in the lead. New Zealanders have the same +respect for the United States that you find in Kansas City for Chicago; +we are the Big Boy in the family of nations, and nobody seriously +disputes it. Some foreigners make fun of us, because they are envious, +but the New Zealanders do not.... Men are about the same everywhere: +the native who today drove me to see a wonderful rapids in a river, +said he knew the best fishing-hole in the entire stream, and wanted me +to remain over tomorrow, and go fishing with him. But I do not intend +to do it; I have no confidence in tips—particularly fishing tips. The +same native, in showing + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 81]</span> + +us the rapids, pointed out several deep caves along the rough path we +were compelled to climb, in getting the best view of the rapids.</p> + +<p>“Maybe dead man in there,” he said, pointing to the deepest of the +caves. “Stay tomorrow, and we’ll look.”</p> + +<p>But I could not be persuaded by this tempting offer, and leave tomorrow +for a trip that will keep me busy from 6 A.M. until 12 P.M. If anyone +is finding fault because I am idle, I hope that day’s work will satisfy +them.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, JANUARY 22.—Continuing our +pleasure trip, we started at 6 o’clock this morning, and traveled +almost continuously until midnight—by stage, boat, and railroad train. +Our destination was Taumarunui, and when we arrived there at midnight, +we left an order with the hotel clerk to be called at 5:30, to catch a +boat on the celebrated Waunganui river for Pipiriki.... The first +stage of our journey today was by coach to Lake Taupo, seven miles. +On the way, we passed several waterfalls and geysers, but as we had +been called at 5 o’clock, we were sleepy, and did not much enjoy them. +At seven o’clock we were at Taupo, where we took a boat for a ride of +twenty-six miles across the lake. There were only five passengers, +and the pilot read most of the three hours, looking up from his book +occasionally to see that the boat was going right. When we were out an +hour, he asked all of us if we were going on by stage. We said we were, +whereupon he produced a little cage containing a + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 82]</span> + +pigeon. Writing the figure “5” on a thin piece of paper, he fastened +this to the bird’s leg by means of a light wire, and the bird was +released. This is the means used every day to notify the stage people, +eighteen miles away, how many passengers are coming. The bird has +been in use two years, and never fails. If the boat has a big load of +passengers, two or more stages are made ready, but the day we crossed, +one was sufficient. In some islands, a regular carrier-pigeon post +is maintained, the pilot told me.... We landed at a little Maori +village at 10 A. M., and found a five-horse stage waiting for us, the +carrier-pigeon having delivered the message entrusted to it. We picked +up several passengers here, and when we started over the mountain, +the top of which showed patches of snow, the coach carried fourteen, +including the driver. We called at a house in the village and picked +up a very fat Maori woman, two children, and two men. The woman said +good-by to all the women and girl children in the house by rubbing her +forehead against theirs, and considerable time was required for this +ceremony. When we finally started, a light rain was falling, which +continued until 7 P.M., when we reached the railroad. Three passengers +had paid extra for seats with the driver, and all of them were soaked, +while those of us on the inside were protected. During the stage ride +from 10 A.M. to 7 P.M., we passed through a wild, mountainous country, +and saw almost no houses. We stopped twice to change horses, and both +times the passengers drank tea in a little hut warmed by a fire in +one of the tin fireplaces so common here. The tea was boiled in the +fireplaces by the hostlers of the stage + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 83]</span> + +company, and we gave them what we pleased. I drank tea four +times today: at breakfast, at noon, in the afternoon, and at dinner at +7 o’clock.... Wherever there was a house, the people came out to see +the stage go by. At two or three places we saw pigs of the Arkansas +razor-back variety; there is no corn here, and pigs do not amount to +much. The passengers were all New Zealanders, and they told us they +knew we were from the United States as soon as they saw us. They said +they could always tell English and Americans. And then we told them we +knew they were New Zealanders, and not English, because we had heard +them abusing the English. When you see a man who is exactly like an +Englishman, but who abuses the English, you may know he is from New +Zealand or Australia. A woman and her daughter who were passengers +told us New Zealanders always admired Americans; particularly American +women. All the passengers, except the Maoris, were making about the +same trip we were making, and we had met several of them at different +places, and become acquainted. In traveling, it is almost allowable +to speak to anyone.... At 7 o’clock in the evening we reached +the railroad at Waiora, and waited an hour and twenty minutes for a +train to Taumarunui. This is the only night train operated in New +Zealand, and connects its two most important cities: Wellington and +Auckland.... It is a universal custom at hotels here, when a servant +serves you, to say “Thank you.” A waiter will hand you a bill of fare, +and you indicate that you will take soup, whereupon the waiter says +“Thank you.” When the waiter brings the soup, you say “Thank you.” + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 84]</span> + +The people here are much politer to servants than Americans.... +Ten minutes before midnight we landed at Taumarunui, which is a +switch-engine town; I heard a switch-engine puffing in the yards nearly +all night. A town that has a railroad switch-engine is a grade above +the ordinary electric-light town.... Soon after we entered the train +at Waiora, the conductor entered our car, and asked: “Anyone from +Waiora?” Then those of us who had entered the train at that station, +handed him our tickets. In America, railway conductors have a way of +tagging passengers. I should think it would be easy here to steal a +ride. Stations are not called, and there is no train porter, so when we +arrived at Taumarunui we were compelled to hunt up the conductor and +ask him if that was our station.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, JANUARY 23.—The Waunganui +river is known as “the Rhine of New Zealand.” We journeyed down this +river eleven hours today, and it was the big event of our stay in New +Zealand. The Waunganui river is a series of rapids, and during the +eleven hours of the journey we were always in a crooked mountain gorge. +We saw no farm land, no settlements; nothing but wild mountain scenery, +and a rapid, roaring river sometimes not more than forty feet wide. +The boat in which we traveled was a very narrow one; not so wide as a +street-car, but probably sixty feet long, and supplied with powerful +engines. In going down some of the rapids the engines were stopped, and +occasionally reversed. The government has spent a great + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 85]</span> + +deal of money in improving the river, and the only houses we saw were +occupied by river workers. I have made a trip down the St. Lawrence, +and I think we passed through one rapids, which was thought to be +remarkable; but today we passed through hundreds. And the boats didn’t +poke along; they ran like racehorses, and every minute missed great +rocks by only a few feet. Probably no other river trip in the world +is equal to this one. About 11 A.M. we changed to a boat of a little +heavier draught, and about noon we stopped at a houseboat for lunch. +This houseboat is a complete hotel, and many people stop there a day +or two in the journey up or down—usually down, for very few people +make the slow journey upstream. We had forty-six passengers, and this +number packed the boat, it was so small. I am certain that every five +minutes during the eleven-hour journey, we passed a waterfall. Some of +the mountain scenery is really fine, and we were twisting and turning +all the time. We knew seven or eight of the passengers, having met +them at various places during the present trip. At 6 P.M. we reached +Pipiriki, which consists of a fine hotel perched on top of a mountain. +It has electric lights and modern conveniences, and is a joy after some +of the hotels in the geyser district.... Although the Waunganui is +called the Rhine of New Zealand, it is not at all like the Rhine of +Germany. It is not so large, and the country through which it passes is +very much more rugged. The Rhine is lined with old castles and towns, +whereas in traveling down the Waunganui all day you do not see a single +town, and only a few cheap houses occupied by river laborers.... The + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 86]</span> + +boat on which we were passengers had one very handy employee. He +handled baggage, and also served tea in the afternoon. When we stopped +for lunch at the houseboat he assisted in waiting on the tables, and +when we reached the hotel at Pipiriki he helped wait on the tables. +He also assisted with the ropes when the boat landed, which it did a +few times, to throw mail out on the bank where there was no town, no +houses, and no people in sight. It also delivered a little freight +in the same way, and one passenger landed at a lonely place and +disappeared in the bush.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, JANUARY 24.—We were aroused +at 4:30 this morning, and departed at 5:30 to complete the journey +down the river to the railroad and the sea. The lower portion of +the Waunganui is as interesting as the upper; although we rode in a +larger boat, there were as many rapids today as yesterday—the road +was covered, but the pilot was compelled to follow it as closely as +a chauffeur follows an automobile road. One rapids was so narrow and +crooked that the only way to get through was to trust to luck, and bump +through. The captain was the pilot in all the critical places, but at +least three other men seemed to know the river, and took turns at the +wheel. One of them was a Maori dude, with fancy clothes, and every +native along the way waved at him. The pilot was also the engineer; the +men down below had nothing to do but keep up steam. Beside the pilot +was a throttle whereby he shut off steam, reversed, went half speed, or +full speed; + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 87]</span> + +he did not ring bells for the guidance of an engineer below, but had +complete control of the power himself. I never before saw a steamboat +so rigged.... Two or three hours after leaving Pipiriki, we began +to see evidences of civilization; including a cemetery. For several +days we had been in the wilds where a cemetery was not seen. The river +still ran through mountains, but we stopped frequently, and took on +mail and passengers. At some places the boat ran its nose into the +bank for a moment, a deck hand jumped to the shore and grabbed a mail +sack hanging on a stick, and then we backed into the stream. At other +places we stopped at villages, and took on wool, fruit, passengers, and +sheep-dogs. A good sheep-dog is worth $50 in New Zealand. At some of +these places passengers on the boat would call out to men ashore and +ask them: “Got your wool out yet?” At one lonely place several native +women came aboard, and they said good-by to dozens of women at the +landing in the peculiar Maori way. When we pulled out we saw those on +shore riding up the hills, on horseback, followed by a lot of dogs. +There were many native passengers, and they occupied one section of the +boat; whether this was a sort of “Jim Crow” arrangement, or whether the +natives preferred being together, I do not know. At breakfast I did not +see any of the natives at the tables.... We passed a boat coming up, +and our captain called out to the pilot: “Water twenty-one, Jake; look +out for Wintoni shoal.” We passed the boat on the left, instead of on +the right, which is the custom with all traffic here. It was cold on +the river early in the morning, and we hugged the smokestack, but by + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 88]</span> + +ten o’clock the weather was quite warm.... There were several very +small men on board; race-riders. They seemed to have been making the +tour of the geyser district, and I judged they were on their way to +Wellington, where there will be racing next week. People living in the +United States cannot realize how popular horse-racing is out here. Nor +can they realize how popular the tea-drinking habit is. Every railroad +train stops at frequent intervals, to afford the passengers opportunity +to drink tea. At the hotels, when the maids bring us tea early in the +morning, and we do not take it, you cannot imagine how astonished they +look.... Another impressive thing in this country is the fact that +all the people are very polite. I haven’t seen a rude person since +arriving in New Zealand, and, in addition, they are all well-dressed +and prosperous-looking. I have met one drunken man, but he was polite +in spite of the load he carried.... On a boat a few days ago we met +a bride and groom, and have been traveling with them since. They had +with them every day a little newspaper, printed in a town of which I +had never heard, and, as I saw them consulting it frequently, I knew +it contained their wedding notice. I managed to get hold of the paper +this morning, while they were at breakfast, and read the notice. It was +the usual thing. A Miss Ruth Simpson played the wedding march; there +were flower girls, a wedding breakfast, etc.; the bride was one of our +most amiable young ladies, and the groom one of our most promising +young business men; the bride threw her bouquet, and it was caught by +one of her bridesmaids: I greatly enjoyed reading the wedding + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 89]</span> + +notice of our friends, whom we had come to know very well, and who +were very nice. It’s the same old thing all the world over.... At +11 A. M. we passed out of the rapids, and the river became broader. At +noon we came to Waunganui, a town of fourteen thousand. Here we took +a train for Wellington. The train was packed, and I hate a crowd. The +farming country between Waunganui and Wellington is probably as good as +there is in New Zealand, which isn’t saying much. Every three or four +miles we saw a field of oats or turnips. In between, we saw sheep in +hilly pastures. There are more sheep here than I ever dreamed of; and I +doubt if there is a black sheep in New Zealand: anyway, I haven’t seen +one.... On the train was a father who could take care of a baby, +but the mother was perfectly helpless with it.... The dining-car +on the train is run by the government, and no doubt the waiters take +civil-service examinations. When we reached the dining-car there was +almost nothing left, owing to the crowd, but the waiter said he could +get us a chop. Here, mutton chops are as common as bacon or ham in +the United States.... At 7:20 P.M. we arrived in Wellington, after +passing through a number of tunnels, and stopping at many seaside +resorts. We went to the Grand Hotel, the best we have encountered since +leaving San Francisco. Early tomorrow we shall call on Thos. Cook & +Son, tourist agents, and see what they desire us to do next.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 90]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, JANUARY 25.—The first thing we do when we reach a strange +town is to walk around and look at it, after being comfortably settled +in a hotel. Later, we hire a messenger boy, as guide, and go riding. +We like Wellington better than we liked Auckland, and we were in love +with that town. The Grand Hotel is really excellent, yet the price is +only $3.12 a day, which includes three regular meals, supper at 9 P. +M., early morning tea, afternoon tea, and room. The house has a good +elevator service, electric lights, and plenty of baths. My room looks +out on the main street of Wellington, and has a little stone balcony +in front. Across the street is the barroom of the Empire Hotel, with +two lady bartenders. I amuse myself watching them. They are stylishly +dressed, and it is funny to see them step up to the bar and ask a man +what he will have.... We swing along the streets in comfortable +fashion, and hope that drinking tea four times a day causes us to +look Colonial, if not English, but when we step into a store and +ask a price, the clerk replies, “Ten and six; that is, two dollars +and sixty-two cents.” Which causes us to realize that our gait, our +manner, our clothes and our talk are still plainly marked: “American.” +We went into a dry-goods store this morning, and Adelaide bought a +pair of gloves. The price was three and six (about half the price we +would have paid at home), and I gave the clerk what I thought was +the exact change. As I walked out, I was thinking the English system +of money is easy to learn. When we were in the street, a girl came +running after us with a shilling change.... Railroad trains run +through one of the busiest streets of Wellington, and this morning + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 91]</span> + +we saw a train start for the races. It consisted of half a dozen +passenger coaches, and twelve flat cars provided with board seats. +One of the passenger cars was a sleeper. This is the capital of the +country. Think of the government owning the railways in the United +States, and, in Washington, D. C., compelling the people to ride on +flat cars. I imagine that “Tax Payer,” and “Citizen,” to say nothing +of “Old Soldier,” and “Vox Populi,” would write stinging letters to +the newspapers.... There is a paper printed here called “Truth,” +and I venture the opinion that it is the biggest liar in the Dominion. +The last issue has a leader entitled “Christ—Cæsar—Napoleon.” Under +such a title a writer might lie abominably.... In Australia, a Mr. +Beeby was recently elected to the legislative assembly against the +wishes of the labor unions. Mr. Beeby challenged the right of the labor +unions to order his every political act, and become the keeper of his +conscience. So he appealed to the people, and told the labor men to +go to the devil. They made a tremendous fight against Mr. Beeby, and +said he was trying to take bread out of the mouths of starving people, +etc., although he was really a very fair and sensible friend of the +working class. The result was a surprise; Mr. Beeby won, although by a +small majority. The Wellington <i>Times</i> of this morning, speaking of Mr. +Beeby’s success, says:</p> + +<p>“There is a good deal of hostility to the labor element, because of its +disregard of the best traditions of constitutional government.”</p> + +<p>It was a fair and square fight between conservative people and the +labor unions, and the people won. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 92]</span> + +There is a great deal of the same sentiment everywhere in New Zealand +and Australia; the people believe the labor unions have become more +exacting than circumstances warrant, and that some day, somewhere, +the limit will be reached.... This has been a very enjoyable day, +because there are no sights to see. Fortunately Thos. Cook & Son +didn’t want us to go to the South Islands to see the glaciers; they +say we haven’t time. We have walked about in a leisurely way today, +and, living far from the sea, the docks attract us everywhere. This +afternoon we engaged in conversation with an officer of a ship sailing +to London by way of South America, and he took us all over it. He said +sea-travel is safer now than ever before, because of the “Titanic” +disaster; that every seaman is more careful.... Last night, two +bands went by the hotel. The players were neatly uniformed, and there +were at least sixty men in the two organizations. They were Mission +bands; the Mission is a rival of the Salvation Army, but a little +quieter in its methods. The Salvation Army also has a large band here, +and both play in the streets every evening. The papers give advance +notice of the location of the concerts, and large crowds gather to +hear the music. The bands are very creditable; nothing amateurish +about them.... The men who work in the slaughter-houses here are +on strike, and the papers of this morning say that the Farmers’ Union +has adopted resolutions condemning the slaughter-house employees for +failure to accept arbitration.... In this country, when a newspaper +prints a telegram, it prints the day and hour the telegram was +received, as a guarantee that + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 93]</span> + +it was received by wire. If an editor prints a faked telegram, he +is liable to fine and imprisonment. The idea isn’t a bad one. The +government has lately ordered an investigation of the wireless +telegraph business. The people desire to know just what is actually +being accomplished by wireless. I shall watch the investigation with +interest; I should like to know, too.... Tomatoes are generally +sold here at fruit stores. Which revives the old conundrum: “Is the +tomato a fruit or vegetable?” ... A place in Wellington is known as +“The American Lounge.” It is a soda-water place, and this sign appears +in the window: “Coca-Cola; something entirely new in New Zealand.” +The soda fountain is a small one-spout affair that a suburban grocer +in America would not tolerate.... In one of the suburbs, this +afternoon, children followed us, as though we were Chinese. “They +are American people,” the children said, apparently not knowing that +we could understand what they said. An old gentleman reprimanded the +children, and apologized for their conduct.... The race track is +twenty miles from Wellington, as there is not enough level land in the +vicinity to accommodate a mile track, and most of the people are out +there this afternoon. We were walking in the wholesale district at 3 +P.M., and, looking in every direction, were able to see only five +people; and they were hurrying to the railroad station. Wellington +is very hilly, and mountains are only a stone’s-throw from its main +streets.... Yesterday a man named James Cole brought an action +against his wife, Fanny, because she failed to properly support him. +Cole said he was unable to work because + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 94]</span> + +of an accident, whereas his wife had a profitable fish-supper business. +Counsel asked Cole:</p> + +<p>“How high are you able to lift your arm since the accident which you +say disabled you?”</p> + +<p>Applicant lifted his arm nearly up to his shoulder.</p> + +<p>“How far could you lift it before the accident?” counsel for Mrs. Cole +asked.</p> + +<p>“Oh, up to here,” Mr. Cole replied, holding the arm high over his head. +Whereupon the magistrate dismissed the case. All of which appears in +the Wellington <i>Times</i> of this morning; in the local news, and not in +the joke department.... We have a mandolin orchestra at this hotel, +and the leader is an old gentleman who looks like a member of the +Supreme Court of the United States whose picture I have often seen, but +whose name I have forgotten. He plays to the lady guests as the first +violinist does in a Paris café, and is altogether a very interesting +character.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, JANUARY 26.—Australia has nothing +to show tourists except a few caves; New Zealand has the geyser +district, and a glacier or two, but there is nothing of predominant +interest in either country, as you will find in Egypt, or India, and in +many other countries. The natives here are not interesting; they remind +you a good deal of country-town negroes in the United States, although +in a way they are superior to the negroes, and superior to our Indians. +After the Maoris have seen the stage, the boat or the railroad train go +by, they have apparently completed their work + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 95]</span> + +for the day. In the old countries, the tourists are interesting; +but there are few tourists here: we have seen only New Zealanders +and Australians out for a holiday. Of brides and grooms we have +seen hundreds; if a woman never gets another one, she usually gets +a trip when she is married. We have seen a few Englishmen, but they +are usually here looking for opportunity to make money, not to spend +it.... Wherever I have seen natives I have detected a peculiar odor. +An Auckland woman with whom we traveled in the mountains, says the odor +comes from dried shark-meat, which the natives are always eating.... +Last night, while looking out of my window at the lady bartenders in +the Empire Hotel, directly across the street, a negro man went by. He +is the only negro I have seen since leaving home. He was well-dressed, +and seemed to be prosperous.... The streets are somewhat narrow in +Wellington, and the Empire Hotel, across the way, greatly interests +me; I am more familiar with its guests than with the guests of the +Grand. And as soon as darkness sets in, I can see the lady bartenders; +the electric lights in the barroom render their every act visible. To +me it is indescribably funny to see a woman working on the inside of +a bar. Last night a patron gave one of the two a bouquet of flowers, +and she handled it as gracefully as a society queen.... In the +United States, a hotel or restaurant waiter looks almost as tough as +a hackdriver, but here they are fine-appearing men. Many of them are +elderly; they seem to have spent their lives as waiters. The man who +waits on us in the dining-room of the Grand might be a congressman, so +far as looks go, and + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 96]</span> + +I have never before known an equally capable +man of his calling. How the Grand affords it all at three dollars a +day, I cannot understand. The price is 12 and 6, which appears to be +$3.12 in our money, but it is really $3, since a shilling is worth +only twenty-four cents. The Grand is the best hotel in Wellington, and +probably in the Dominion. Wellington is full of hotels, and probably +the competition is so strong that the Grand is compelled to keep +its prices down.... New Zealand pays a good deal of attention to +tourists, and the government extensively advertises the hot lakes and +the glaciers; it also has a bureau for selling travelers tickets, +and owns resorts, boat lines, etc. But it pays little attention to +immigration, as Australia does. Australia does much more for immigrants +than the United States, giving them cheap fares to the country, reduced +freight rates, etc., and when they arrive, special attention is paid +them by a government department created for that purpose. The United +States gets more immigrants than any other country, without inducements +of any kind on the part of the government: news of the country paying +the best wages, and offering the best inducements, will find its way +everywhere.... Wirth’s Greatest Show on Earth is billed here. One +of its stars is Hillary Long, “the talk of America,” although I do not +remember to have heard of him there. Another of Wirth’s stars is Young +Buffalo Bill, who competes with Australian cowboys in mastering wild +horses and cattle.... The offices of the New Zealand government are +housed in what is said to be the largest wooden building in the world. +Wellington has many fine structures of stone, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 97]</span> + +but the government buildings were constructed years ago, and are mainly +of wood.... This is as sleepy a town on Sunday as I have ever +visited. This morning we went down to breakfast at 8:30, and dined +alone. At noon, the maid had not yet cleaned up our rooms. But it is +just as bad across the street, at the Empire Hotel, into the rooms of +which I can look. The beds were not made there at noon, either; indeed, +in one room a man was still in bed. The lady bartenders at the Empire +are not on duty today; the blinds are down in the bar, and the lady +bartenders are probably patronizing some of the numerous excursions +we saw advertised in the morning papers. The day is not only Sunday, +but rain began falling in the afternoon, and we had no other amusement +than watching the bored guests at the Empire.... The maid came in +at 2 P.M. to clean up my room, and a fine lot of gossip she brought. +She says that one of the girls employed in the office of the Grand +died last night, and that the hotel force is demoralized. The girl’s +body was taken to the morgue this morning, and the maid thinks the +papers will be full of it in the morning. When a man dies, it seems +to be regular, but when a woman dies there is a chance for suspicion, +particularly if she has been to Sydney three months before on a +vacation. The maid also says that the lady bartenders at the Empire, +across the street, kiss their customers. Lady bartenders, as a class, +according to the maid, do not stand very high socially, a statement I +can easily accept.... The maid says an American stopped at the Grand +several months ago, and every time he met her, he said: “Go to h—l.” I +did not recognize + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 98]</span> + +this as an American trait: to tell ladies, without provocation, to go +to h—l.... In New Zealand or Australia (or in England, for that +matter) the first thing an American notices is the queer pronunciation +of words by the residents. I have mentioned this before, but mention +it again because I have just come across this statement by Rudyard +Kipling:</p> + +<p>“The American I have heard up to the present is a tongue as distinct +from English as Patagonian.”</p> + +<p>From which I imagine that our pronunciations also jar on English +ears. I believe I can take their own dictionary, and convince the +English that they do not obey its rules of pronunciation. There is not +the slightest authority in any English dictionary for many of their +pronunciations. The pronunciation of the English people is arbitrary; +there is no authority for much of it, as there is no authority for +the cockney dialect. At one place on this trip we met two old-maid +high-school teachers, and they almost spoke good English. And this is +a rule that may be depended upon: the educated English have a better +pronunciation than the uneducated. The pronunciation of Americans is +nearly always the same, but the English do not themselves use the +same pronunciations. Perhaps it is an intonation or quality of the +voice, or an inflection, but it is a fact that frequently an American +understands them with difficulty. For several days we traveled with an +English barrister, a very polite gentleman, and we frequently sat with +him at hotel, steamboat and dining-car tables. Half the time we could +not understand him. And he found equal difficulty in understanding +us, unless we spoke slowly and + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 99]</span> + +distinctly. Kipling says the American language has nothing in common +with English except the auxiliary verbs, the name of the Creator, and +damn.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, JANUARY 27.—Although New Zealand is supposed to be an English +colony, there are no English soldiers here. A few soldiers are seen in +Wellington, but they belong to New Zealand regiments. The young man who +showed us about today is seventeen years old, and what we would call +an A. D. T. messenger boy. But the telegraph business is a government +monopoly here, and this young man is a government employee. There is +a mild system of compulsory military service. The young man says he +belongs to a military company of postoffice and telegraph employees, +and that they drill one hour every week. All young men are compelled to +belong to a similar company, from fourteen to twenty-five years of age. +They compose a military reserve, and never go into actual camp. New +Zealand also has a navy, which is about as much of a joke as its army. +Australia, being larger, has a larger establishment, but the system +is the same: New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania are exactly alike so +far as politics, sheep, and labor unions are concerned. Tasmania is +a little place, but it has mighty questions to settle. The Tasmania +legislative assembly has been in a deadlock several years, and none of +the big questions could be settled. An election was held recently, to +break the deadlock; and again the assembly is a tie. Politically, the +colonies remind one a little of Cuba, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 100]</span> + +where the political pot boils rather more steadily than anywhere else +in the world.... The real event of today has been the arrival of +Dr. Beeson, of Chicago, with whom we traveled three weeks on the +“Sonoma.” I seem to have known him always; he is my dearest friend, and +the meeting apparently pleased him as much as it did me.... In the +celebration following my meeting with Dr. Beeson, we went down into +the Grand barroom, where we found two bars, exactly alike, on opposite +sides of a big room. An old maid known as Polly served us; a younger +woman called ‘Arriet presided at the bar across the room. Polly was +very amiable, and talked to us about our trip; I suppose she has been +a bartender ever since she was eighteen, and attractive, and that was +a long time ago. It will surprise you to know that she reminded me of +a school teacher; she was as well-behaved as a school teacher, and had +a bossy way that is always associated in my mind with the school-room. +The Doctor and I talked of going over to see the lady bartenders at +the Empire, but Polly coaxed us out of the notion. Liquor is sold here +almost entirely by women; the custom of barmaids is more general in New +Zealand, I am told, than in England.... Every morning and evening I +buy a newspaper. The news is mainly from London, or local; I have not +seen a telegram from the United States. Which is not so surprising: you +might read the American papers a long time without seeing a telegram +from New Zealand.... Wellington has a fine street-car system; +considerably better than St. Joseph, Mo., a city of about the same +size. One line runs through a tunnel under a + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 101]</span> + +mountain to a bathing-beach; another climbs one of the great hills, +where are located many fine residences. There are several short cable +lines running up the steep mountains. In addition to this means of +communication, there are many boats running around and across the +harbor, to bathing-beaches and suburbs. Wellington is as fine a town +as St. Joseph, and the suburbs of Wellington look better. The streets +and roads here are superior to those in the Missouri city, and I saw a +grocery store here today that St. Joseph cannot equal.... There is +a probability of a strike among the cab-drivers here. The drivers are +demanding that passengers handle their own baggage. The city has taken +a hand, and decided that it is the duty of cab-drivers to place the +baggage of passengers on their cabs; whereupon the Cab Drivers’ Union +inquired, in a resolution, “Why should not passengers handle their +own luggage?” A district delegate has arrived from Auckland, and last +night delivered a fiery speech about the starving poor, the insolent +rich, the disposition of capital to wring the last drop of blood from +the people, etc., and it will be known in a day or two whether I shall +be compelled to carry my own trunks when I go to the ship.... This +town is known as Windy Wellington, because the wind blows so steadily. +One story is that you may always tell a Wellington man, wherever he may +be: when he turns a street corner, he grabs his hat, to keep it from +blowing away. Wellington people also have a story on Sydney; they say +that when they visit that city they pin a tag on their coats, which +reads: “I am much pleased with your harbor.” Sydney people are very +proud of their harbor, and + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 102]</span> + +Auckland and Wellington are very jealous, as both the last named +cities have beautiful harbors, though neither is as large as that at +Sydney.... A gentleman who sits at our table at the hotel lived +for six months at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and thinks it a very fine +town. He lives in New Zealand now, but Lancaster pleased him very much. +Chicago scared him; he was there one night, and the next morning the +papers reported six murders. As soon as Dr. Beeson arrived, Chicago had +a more capable defender, and I withdrew, to enjoy the scrimmage.... +Chinese are admitted to New Zealand on payment of $1,500 per head, and +a good many of them run fruit and vegetable stores here.... As the +maid predicted, the Monday morning papers mentioned the death at the +Grand Hotel Saturday night, but they handled the item very cautiously, +saying that the circumstances were suspicious, and that an inquest was +necessary.... No doubt the people at the Empire are much exercised; +unless I am much mistaken, the people of the Empire are saying: “That +rotten outfit across the street is getting what it deserves.” You can’t +expect anyone to be fair with his rival in business.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, JANUARY 28.—We took a long street-car ride this morning, and +paid sixteen cents for one journey which would have cost only five +cents in an American city. But you can ride a short distance for two +cents. The fare increases two cents per section. Whether our plan of +five cents for a street-railway ride, long or short, is better or worse +than this, I do not know.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 103]</span></p> + +<p>There are no transfers here; if you travel on three different lines, +you pay three fares.... Every morning our waiter at the hotel +brings us hot cakes, although we do not order them. We discovered the +reason today: on the bill of fare they are called “hot cakes, American +style.” It is the waiter’s way of announcing that he knows we are +Americans.... When you order soft-boiled eggs here, they are brought +to you in the shell, and you eat them out of egg cups. This morning I +asked the waiter to break mine in a glass, which he did, but he also +put in pepper and salt, and stirred them up.... This has been a very +chilly day, and the Wellington people are going about wearing overcoats +and straw hats. A woman on the street-car informed us that today has +been as cold as the weather ever gets here, at any season. At one of +the beaches we saw the surf rolling in a very boisterous and menacing +way, as the wind was blowing almost a gale. But flowers are in bloom, +and vegetables growing in gardens. The vegetable gardens here are in +the hands of Chinese, and are wonderfully neat; almost as wonderful +as the gardens about Paris, where the gardeners remove the original +dirt, and make a new soil.... We hear complaints everywhere of the +labor unions. On a street-car today we engaged in conversation with an +elderly woman who said she was born in Wellington, and who complained +bitterly of the unions, which cause constant disturbances in all +branches of business. This was surprising to me, in New Zealand, where +we have heard everything is so amiable. I hear the same thing every +time I talk with New Zealand people. “It is too much of a good + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 104]</span> + +thing,” they say. Possibly it is like our tariff: originally a good +thing, it has been overdone, and all of us are now compelled to pay +tribute in the shape of a heavy tax.... When we began talking with +the woman, she said: “I take it that you are Americans.” We always hear +that.... We have discovered that among its other attractions, the +Grand Hotel has a roof garden. Even the Chicago doctor is surprised +at the excellence of the hotel; and the price is only $3 a day each, +including meals and rooms. We have concluded that the necessities of +life, on an average, are about one-quarter cheaper here than in the +United States. While there are no great tracts of farming land in the +vicinity of Wellington or Auckland, near Christchurch, on the other +island, there are said to be plains one hundred miles long. People here +say that mutton is the one meat they never tire of; and mutton is very +plentiful and very cheap.... The New Zealander who sits at our table +is a very bold man, to hear him talk. I told him of my experience with +snoring men, on the “Maheno,” and he says that under such circumstances +he would have raised a row with the disturbers. But I think that +possibly he is like many others I have known: a great talker, rather +than a great hero. He tells an amusing story of a friend he once +invited to his home for a visit of a fortnight. The friend turned out +to have the loudest and most disagreeable snore ever heard in New +Zealand, and no one in the house slept during the two weeks the visitor +was there.... The tipping evil is not as great in New Zealand as it +is in many places; the servants here have heard of the custom, but they +do not mob travelers who fail to fee + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 105]</span> + +them satisfactorily.... The greatest need at present, in all parts +of the world, is a library of books of simple information, simply +written. Today I bought a book on Africa, by Sir H. H. Johnston. The +introduction is interesting, but the remaining hundreds of pages +contain a lot of technical information that no one wants. My impression +is that Sir H. H. Johnston wrote the introduction, and the remaining +pages were taken from old books on the subject. Cyclopedias are made +in the same way. Some time ago I read the confession of a cyclopedia +editor. He says such books are full of errors, because of the habit of +copying, and that there is too little independent investigation. He +relates that as an editor he once invented a man, a “noted clergyman,” +and sent a “story” about him to the printers. The “story” passed the +scrutiny of all the other editors, and was about to be made up into the +pages of the cyclopedia, when the joker took it out. That is the way +historical books are printed; they are too long, very dull, full of +errors, written in a ponderous style that repels readers, and lacking +in the simplicity and terseness necessary for the understanding of the +average reader. There are several “libraries” of “universal knowledge,” +and not one of them is half as good, as useful or as entertaining as it +could have been made. The lack in all these books is simplicity; the +professors write in fear of the criticism of other professors, and not +for busy people. In this book on Africa, about all I found of interest +was a statement that the Australoid type of man is almost certainly the +parent of the white man in Europe and Asia. The Australoid, represented +at present by the indigenous + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 106]</span> + +population of Australia (a chocolate-colored people, rather than +black) comes nearest of all living men to the basal stock of our race, +and behind him lies a long vista of semi-humanity till apehood is +reached. This was a new statement to me.... The human genus was +evolved somewhere in Asia, most probably in India, according to the +best authority. This was a long time ago; human remains at least five +hundred thousand years old have been found in the Rhine basin near +Heidelberg, and it is believed the race is much older in Asia. But the +original man was a black man, or a yellow man; the white man originated +much later, and, according to Sir H. H. Johnston, he originated in +Australia. So I am visiting the home of my remote ancestors. While +man is very old, he ceased only twenty-five or thirty thousand years +ago—this is only a guess of scientists, but the best information we +have—to live in an absolutely savage condition as a mere hunter of +other animals. The present civilized man gradually developed from a +start made probably thirty thousand years ago. It was the white man who +made this start toward civilization, and he originated in Australia, if +Sir H. H. Johnston knows what he is talking about. The white man has +always been an adventurer, and, in the course of ages, spread over the +earth.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, JANUARY 29.—The New Zealander +who sits at our table, and who lived awhile at Lancaster, Pa., said at +breakfast this morning:</p> + +<div class="smaller left-indent">“The people of the United States are +the smartest + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 107]</span> + +in the world. No doubt about it. In everything worthy and desirable, +they are ahead of any other people.”</div> + +<p>This man was born in England, and lived in London many years, but is + +lately living in New Zealand. He believes the “Pennsylvania Dutch” +he knew at Lancaster to be the best type of people he ever knew, and +regrets that all the people of the United States are not more like +them.... This gentleman also showed us how the English and Scotch +eat oatmeal porridge. They salt it, but never use sugar. In the left +hand they hold a cup of milk, and into this they dip a spoonful +of porridge before eating it.... It seems there was a blizzard +yesterday; the thermometer got down to fifty-six above. But we went +about in our usual summer clothing, and did not know it was a blizzard +until this morning’s papers appeared.... In the botanical garden, +this morning, I believe I saw the finest display of flowers I have +ever seen. You hear much of the famous gardens of Japan, but I have +never seen a Japanese garden as beautiful as that I saw this morning. +The Japanese gardens are grotesque rather than beautiful. On the way +back to town we visited a big department store, and remained an hour, +watching the crowds. Doctor Beeson and I followed Adelaide around among +the crowds of women, and enjoyed the experience. There was a special +sale on, and postal cards had been reduced to a cent each. The store +was a big one, but not nearly so large as the big ones in Kansas City. +All the clerks were girls, and it was about the usual thing in special +sales, except that prices were in pounds, shillings and pence.... In +the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 108]</span> + +public places here, we see this sign very frequently: “Citizens, +protect your own property.” That is, everything belongs to the people, +therefore why destroy anything? Some people are natural vandals, but +people of a little culture and refinement never are.... In New +Zealand, a woman has no interest in her husband’s real-estate. If a +man desires to transfer a piece of real property here, his wife’s +signature to the deed is not necessary, as is the case in the United +States. Still women have full suffrage in New Zealand.... Not only +the talk is unintelligible here at times, but I see advertisements in +the English newspapers I can’t understand. Here is an exact copy of an +advertisement in the Wellington <i>Post</i> of this date:</p> + +<div class="smaller left-indent">WANTED—A General. Apply Mrs. Focke, +210 The Terrace.</div> + +<p>If you know what Mrs. Focke wants, you know more than I do. Here is +another advertisement from the same newspaper:</p> + +<div class="smaller left-indent">FOR SALE—Butchery business; going +concern; average weekly killing, 6 bodies and 30 small. Victor E. +Smith, Box 59, Fielding.</div> + +<p>I haven’t the remotest notion what the advertisement means.... +The newspapers here, of course, have taken after the street-railway +company. They demand a universal fare of two cents, instead of two +cents a section. It seems impossible to run a newspaper anywhere +without abusing the street-railway. One correspondent of <i>The +Post</i> says the street-car company is entitled to take in only enough +to pay actual running expenses, as the increasing value of the property +is profit enough.... At luncheon today, our waiter at the Grand +Hotel brought me an extra dish. “American pork and beans,” he announced +triumphantly. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 109]</span> + +They never let me forget for a moment that I am an American, or that +they have caught me at it.... The dry-goods men here are as big +talkers as they are anywhere. In <i>The Post</i> of this afternoon, +James Smith, Limited, offers a special sale in summer goods. Here is +one price he quotes:</p> + +<div class="smaller left-indent">“Ladies’ one-piece washing frocks, in +various colors, good value at 18<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>; carry your choice +away tomorrow at 5<i>s.</i> 11<i>d.</i>”</div> + +<p>It seems that any sane woman would know that an article now +offered at 5<i>s.</i> 11<i>d.</i> (or $1.42) was never good value +at 18<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> (or $4.62). If James Smith ever sold an +article at $4.62 and has now cut it to $1.42, he is a robber, and no +woman should patronize him. Yet his store will be crowded with women +tomorrow, and many of them will buy dry goods they do not need, at +prices that afford James Smith, Limited, a fair profit. The manner in +which smart merchants fool the women with special sales should receive +attention at the next meeting of Congress.... Bob Fitzsimmons, the +prizefighter, came from New Zealand, and I think he is rather more +popular at home than Melba is in Australia, where she was born. Indeed, +I have heard Melba “picked at” a good deal, while Fitz is generally +pointed to with pride.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, JANUARY 30.—A hair-cut and +shave at the best shop in Wellington costs twenty-four cents. If a man +buys a ticket, and pays in advance, for $1.50 he can get a shave every +morning for a month, and one hair-cut.... On my way to the barber’s +this + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 110]</span> + +morning I saw this sign: “Mrs. Jew, private hotel.” Here is another +sign I saw: “Jerusalem & Son, jewelers and New Zealand green-stone +merchants.” While waiting in the barber shop I saw this advertisement +in a newspaper: “Wanted—A Rabbiter; also a saw doctor. Apply to F. P. +Welch, Masterton.” ... My friend who lived for a time in Lancaster, +Pa., and who so greatly admires the “Pennsylvania Dutch,” told of a +funny experience this morning. When he first landed in the United +States he went into a barber shop, to be shaved. The barber asked him +if he wanted a shampoo. The New Zealander, thinking that this was +merely a politeness, said he did. Then the barber asked him if he +would have a face massage, and the New Zealander accepted that offer, +as well as several others, all the while thinking of the politeness +of the American barbers. Finally, when the barber presented his bill +for $2.90, there was a row, and the New Zealander denounced us all as +robbers.... This New Zealander, whom I shall call Mr. A., was very +indignant when I told him about the snoring man on the ship, and has +been telling ever since what should be done to a man who travels about +to disturb his fellow-men. “A man who snores,” said Mr. A., “should +remain at home.” Mr. A. is a nervous man himself, and believes that +a snoring man should in some way be prohibited. I noticed that Dr. +Beeson, my friend from Chicago, did not fully accept Mr. A.’s opinion, +and, when we are alone, the Doctor is disposed to rake Mr. A. over the +coals. This has convinced me that the Doctor is a snoring man, so at +nearly every meal I induce Mr. A. to abuse the man who is so impolite as + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 111]</span> + +to go to bed in a room with two others and snore all night. The Doctor +and Mr. A. were at first quite friendly, but lately they quarrel most +of the time. “That man,” the Doctor said to me today, and referring to +Mr. A., “is getting on my nerves.” The Doctor frequently comes up to +my room to smoke a cigar, and sometimes I send out for a second cigar, +that I may enjoy the aroma of the tobacco, but this is the only weak +thing I do, so far as my resolution to quit tobacco is concerned. I no +longer temporize; I do not chew toothpicks, or gum, or plug tobacco; +I have quit off short, and find it easier. If you are trying to quit +tobacco, quit entirely, and do not aggravate yourself with cardamon +seed, cloves, no-tobac, or anything else.... I am going away +tomorrow, but Mr. A. and the Doctor will remain another week, and after +I am gone, and no longer able to keep them apart, I expect them to have +a fight, about snoring.... The Doctor is going home by way of South +America direct, and will round Cape Horn. He said last evening, while +smoking in my room: “Well, I now have absolutely nothing to do for +forty-eight days, except to send one cablegram at Buenos Aires.” His +statement was a very good illustration of the idleness of travelers. He +does not like traveling by sea, but says it does him good, although he +does not observe the good effect until he has been at home some time. +He will be nineteen days at sea, without sight of land; an experience +I will have between Australia and South Africa.... An Englishman I +met here today was laughing at Americans because they call one horse a +“team.” He was also amused because Americans eat + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 112]</span> + +pie in the middle of a meal. That is the way many of the stories +about Americans originate: they are made up. I have lived in America +considerably more than half a century, and never knew anyone to refer +to one horse as a “team,” or eat pie in the middle of a meal.... +There is a young man staying at this hotel who doesn’t seem to know +much. “I don’t believe,” said Mr. A. today, “that he is a full +shilling.” Meaning, “I don’t believe he has good sense.” This young +fellow is a “remittance man;” he has a rich father in England, and +receives a remittance every month—he is kept in New Zealand in the +hope that he will get killed, or drink himself to death.... The +officers of small ships, since the big “Titanic” went down, frequently +ask travelers: “Well, are you satisfied now that a big ship can sink?” +Sailors, like other men, are jealous.... A traveling Englishman is +never satisfied unless he shows his pajamas all over a ship or hotel. +This morning, at 7:20, I left my room to go down on the street for a +walk before breakfast. In the hall I found an Englishman, dressed in +pajamas only, quietly drinking tea from a tray held by a maid.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, JANUARY 31.—At 4:20 this +afternoon we left the Grand Hotel, and went on board the “Maunganui,” +advertised to sail for Sydney at 5. The Chicago doctor went with us, +and said he should be very lonesome after our departure. He says he +intends to amuse himself by trimming up Mr. A., the gentleman who lived +awhile at Lancaster, Pa. This gentleman + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 113]</span> + +has very positive notions about everything, particularly about +Americans, and the Doctor says he intends to talk the Chicago language +to him after we go. “I didn’t like to say anything rough while Miss +Adelaide was at the table,” the Doctor said, “but I’ll be mad anyway, +because of your going, and he’ll hear from me.” In addition to his +liberal notions about punishing men who snore, Mr. A. “makes up” +stories about Americans. He says, for example, that when he was in +Chicago, the hotel bell-boy who guided him to his room took hold of +his coat, looked at it critically, and said: “What funny clothes you +Englishmen wear.” The Doctor is certain no such thing ever happened, +at Chicago or elsewhere, and proposes to say so to the hero of the +incident.... The “Maunganui” is a large ship, nearly new, but +instead of two men in my room I found three. The ship has two parlors, +very large and fine, the floors covered with Turkish rugs, but its +staterooms are very small, and most of them are provided with four +beds; and extra beds are made in the dining-room. There are twice as +many passengers on the ship as there should be; there are almost as +many at the second sitting in the dining-saloon as at the first.... +Very much to our surprise, Mr. A. came down to see us off, and, on +hearing that I was to occupy a room with three others, said he wouldn’t +stand it; that there was a way of avoiding such disagreeable things, +and that he always found it. The Doctor nudged me, and, when the row +starts, this big talk will probably come up, also. Mr. A. says he has +already spoken to the head waiter at the Grand, and given him notice +that our places at his table must be + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 114]</span> + +taken by pleasant people.... Owing to an extra amount of freight, +the ship did not get away until 7 o’clock; the Doctor and Mr. A. left +at 6, and, the last we saw of them, they seemed to be getting along +amicably.... We finished dinner in time to go on deck and see the +ship leave the harbor. A heavy wind had been blowing several days, and +we expected bad weather outside, but in this we were disappointed; +the sea was as calm as I have ever seen it, and we walked the decks +until ten o’clock. Adelaide is not so lucky this trip, and has three +women in her room.... The piano-playing began within an hour +after dinner, and most of the players were young men. There are more +amateur musicians in this section, probably, than in any other part +of the world.... Two of the passengers, young Englishmen, are +wearing smoking-jackets with their initials embroidered on the left +arm. It is an entirely new idea, and it does not seem improbable that +other Englishmen will adopt it.... Travel between New Zealand and +Australia is enormous. The boats of the Union Steamship Co. are always +crowded. And, in saying your prayers at night, ask for a special curse +on the Union Steamship Co., as well as on the Standard Oil Co., and the +Eastman Kodak Co. It is a monopoly, and does just as it pleases; and it +pleases to put four men in a room nine by ten feet, which I regard as +a greater outrage than that Decoration day, or Arbor day, or Flag day, +are not more generally observed.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 115]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1.—I have spent this +day in bed, seasick. Early this morning we ran into a rough sea, and +not one passenger in twenty appeared at breakfast. Fortunately, the +three others in my room are very polite gentlemen, but this did not +prevent them from being ill, and four sick men in a room nine by ten +feet, with one small window, and that closed, is not pleasant. In our +room there is not so much as a chair to sit on, and not as many hooks +as one man requires for his clothing, on retiring; I have no hooks at +all in my berth, and, when I went to bed, was compelled to pile my +clothes on the bed, or under it. There is one washbowl for four men, +and, after two have used it, the water in this runs out. And this on +the largest and finest ship sailing out of New Zealand. And I paid $5 +in addition to the usual tariff, in order that I might have better +than the average first-class passenger. I have never before seen four +persons placed in a room on a steamship; it occasionally happens +that the sofa is used for a third passenger, when a ship is badly +crowded, but on the Atlantic this is rare; passengers won’t stand it. +But here, six are often placed in first-class cabins, and there does +not seem to be much protest. The newspapers are always abusing the +railroads, which actually supply very good accommodations; I wonder +they do not have something to say about the steamships. The two parlors +on the “Maunganui” must be 100 feet long, and as broad as the ship +itself; yet they are rarely occupied by more than a dozen, while four +people are forced to occupy a room nine by ten. The smoking-room is a +fine apartment, and the halls are wide and airy, but the cabins are +disgracefully + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 116]</span> + +small. If an American is unwise enough to travel, he should not visit +this part of the world, where the ships are all small, and where there +does not seem to be the slightest protest against four or six in a +cabin. The new and fast ships on the Atlantic travel from New York to +Queenstown in almost the time required to travel from Australia to New +Zealand, for the ships here are slow as well as small. The distances +here are great; in Europe, a trip of seven hours, which includes +crossing the English channel, takes you from London to Paris. A night +takes you from Paris to Switzerland, and another night to Rome. All +the big sights there are comparatively close together; but the time +from San Francisco to Australia is three weeks, and, if you go by boat +from Sydney, the time to South Africa is four weeks. If you have a +notion to visit this part of the world, give it up. The people here +are always polite, but it is a country an American will find himself +familiar with. The Maori wars in New Zealand were like our Indian wars, +and the bush-rangers in Australia were like our Western cattle thieves, +gamblers, and gun-men. There is nothing picturesque here, as there is +in Japan, which may be reached from San Francisco in four days’ less +time than is required to reach Australia. Besides, very large ships +sail from San Francisco to Japan and China, whereas only small ships +sail from San Francisco to Australia or New Zealand.... It is my +experience that there is always something unpleasant about a ship. +Every ship has some peculiarity of motion at sea, and one trip does not +accustom you to another. I waited a week in New Zealand in order to +cross in the big “Maunganui,” + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 117]</span> + +but the worst spell of seasickness I ever had was in one of the +“Maunganui’s” rooms. And three other gentlemen, all experienced +travelers, joined me in it, and we grunted, and growled, and swore all +day. I refer to this ship as a big one; its tonnage is 7,800; a boat +twice as large is considered rather small on the Atlantic. And the idea +that the Pacific is smooth and the Atlantic violent, is a fiction. Both +are violent at times, and one is not much worse than the other. This +is the most favorable season, and we have had much bad weather.... +My part of stateroom 15, for which I paid a stiff price, is about as +big as a coffin. Next thing, they will put a cot in the space between +the four beds, and sell it to a silly man who thinks there is joy in +traveling, and discovers his mistake after actually trying it. I am +as finicky and fussy as an old maid when it comes to sleeping, but my +indignation over four in a room does me no good; no one else seems to +object to it. I suppose I will next draw a room for six; but I don’t +care—I should as soon have the whole ship’s company in with me as +three.... One is treated better everywhere than at sea. In order to +travel comfortably, a man should be married, and have his wife with +him. Then he could have her in a room with him, and impose on her, as +usual.... A woman traveling incognito, and occupying my bed on this +ship, would not be shocked by the three other men in the room. They are +polite, clean, decent, and considerate. They are Australian commercial +travelers, and this morning one of them told an “American story,” for +my benefit. A man was standing on a street + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 118]</span> + +corner in Chicago, vigorously puffing a big cigar. A good man +approached him, and said:</p> + +<p>“Do you realize the waste of smoking? How many cigars do you smoke a +day?”</p> + +<p>The smoker estimated the number at fifteen, and said he had been +smoking at least twenty years.</p> + +<p>“Had you saved that money,” the good man said, “you might have owned +that sky-scraper,” pointing to a big building across the street.</p> + +<p>“Do you smoke?” the smoker asked the good man.</p> + +<p>“Certainly not,” was the indignant answer.</p> + +<p>“Do you own that sky-scraper?”</p> + +<p>“No.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” replied the smoker, puffing complacently on his cigar, “I +do.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, FEBRUARY 2.—This has been as +fine a day as I have ever experienced on a ship. As a rule, the weather +is better far out at sea than near land. Yesterday the passengers were +confined to their rooms, and everywhere one might hear them trying to +get rid of that last meal, but today they are all on deck. It is a +polite and agreeable company, and the ship is fine, but I still dislike +the sea. I don’t care much for close contact with a lot of people, +however polite and agreeable they may be. It is pleasant enough to be +in a crowd for an hour or two, and note human characteristics, but four +or five days of it is too much.... From the time you start on a trip +until you return, you have the same things to eat. Bills of fare on +ships are exactly alike, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 119]</span> + +and hotels copy the ships. I am offered a great variety of food on +the “Maunganui,” but do not care for it: at dinner today I ordered a +plate of soup, and lamb with mint sauce, although the bill of fare +showed a very great variety. Meals are announced in the usual way: +by a man playing a cornet. The man on the “Maunganui” is unusual in +that he plays a part of a selection at every meal, and poses while +playing.... In this country, the uglier the man, the more sheep he +owns. The ugliest man I have ever seen is on board, and he is said to +be the sheep king of New Zealand. It is no unusual thing for a man in +New Zealand or Australia to own thirty or forty thousand sheep.... +This evening, after dinner, I was amused in watching a smart young +fellow in the second-cabin. The second-cabin deck is separated from +ours by a rail containing this notice: “Second-cabin passengers not +allowed forward of this.” The smart young fellow was amusing a number +of companions by walking around the first-cabin deck. His companions +thought he was extremely devilish, and laughed boisterously when he +returned safely. I sat near them, and could hear their conversation. +The bold young man said that if anyone would give him a shilling, he +would go up the stairs to the next deck, and spend it in the first +cabin smoking-room. The shilling was produced, and I saw the young man +disappear up the stairway. Then he offered to speak to the captain for +another shilling, and disappeared for that purpose, but whether he +did it or not, I do not know. The young men were having a tremendous +lot of fun without harming anyone.... Last night there was almost +continuous piano-playing in the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 120]</span> + +big parlor of the ship. A man or woman was waiting all the time, with +music, for a chance at the piano; it reminded me of passengers waiting +around the bathrooms during the rush hour. Two young girls, sisters, +sat in the room the entire evening. They pretended to be reading, +but they were really watching and talking about people, and their +short, quick remarks to each other probably contained a good deal of +ginger.... When you can’t do anything else to a boy, you can make +him wash his face. There is a man on board with a son seven or eight +years old, and certainly every hour I hear the father say to the son: +“Go to your room, sir, and wash your face. And use a little extra soap +on your hands.” ... Seasickness is no disgrace. Governor Crose, of +American Samoa, and who is also captain of the warship “Princeton,” +told me that he is often seasick; and he has been a sailor twenty-five +years.... I heard a man making a long explanation today, and I knew +he was not telling the truth; an explanation is never the truth, on sea +or land.... A lonesome old woman on board attracts the attention of +all the passengers. I talked to her awhile this afternoon, and she made +one remark I’ll never forget.</p> + +<p>“My children,” she said, “are already reconciled to my death.”</p> + +<p>She is traveling alone, is ill, and occupies a room with three young +women who don’t want her in with them, and she is very wretched. +Will your children be reconciled to your death by the time you are +sixty-five or seventy? Probably; maybe earlier.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 121]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, FEBRUARY 3.—A man on board was +born in Warsaw, New York, but has been in business in Sydney for the +past thirty years. He says the Australian and New Zealand newspapers +are habitually unfair with events in the United States. He often writes +to the editors, and corrects their blunders, but they refuse to print +his letters. The papers frequently print references to American crooks +arriving in Australasia which are palpably unfair and untrue; on one +occasion the American obtained a letter from the police authorities +saying that certain thieves referred to as Americans, were not +Americans, but not a newspaper in Australia would print the American’s +indignant denial. All American news in the Australian and New Zealand +papers comes from London, although it might be easily obtained direct +from American papers. American news coming by way of London is of +course unreliable. He says that the middle-class people here admire +Americans, but that the Imperialists do not, and always misrepresent +them. I asked him what he meant by the term “Imperialist.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” he replied, “an Australian or New Zealander will go to London, +and be entertained at dinner by a cheap duke or knight. After that, +he is an Imperialist, and talks of England as ‘back home.’ Admiration +for the rich is often ridiculous, but it is nothing compared with +admiration for a title.”</p> + +<p>I asked him how the general prosperity here compared with the average +prosperity in America. He replied that the farmers here are more +prosperous generally than the farmers of New York state.</p> + +<p>“But,” I said to him, “the farmers of New York + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 122]</span> + +state are not typical American farmers. Our typical farmers are found +in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Oklahoma, and +states of that class.”</p> + +<p>“I have heard of the great prosperity of Kansas farmers,” he said; +“our farmers are not as prosperous as the Kansas farmers are said to +be. And our farmers do not live as well as yours. Not on one farm in +fifty here will you find a vegetable garden or fruit tree; I should say +your farmers are much superior to ours in culture, too. Certainly the +educational test is higher in your rural communities than it is with +us. Your working-people, in my judgment, earn better wages than ours.”</p> + +<p>Here, as elsewhere, the railroads are considered fair game for every +swindler. This man says that a few months ago there was a railroad +accident in Australia, and three hundred and forty-three claims for +damages were filed. Investigation revealed the fact that there were but +two hundred and fifty-one passengers on the wrecked train.... One +prominent fault here is overcrowding. You notice it on every railroad +train, in every ship, and in every hotel. Crowding is barbarism. +The railroads, although owned by the government, do not run enough +trains. The ship on which this is written is crowded beyond the legal +or safe limit.... Possibly you do not know that the casings of +American “wieners” come from Australian or South-American sheep. +I met a traveling-man the other day who sells nothing but sausage +casings; mainly sheep entrails, and his house has branches nearly +everywhere. The most interesting thing in the world is business, but + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 123]</span> + +it is neglected by magazines and newspapers for scandal or foolish +fiction.... There is a good deal of excitement here now over what +is called “American blight,” which affects fruit. My American friend +who lives in Sydney says he secured undoubted evidence that the +blight existed in Tasmania in 1832, and does not come from America, +but the newspapers will not print his evidence.... I can easily +understand that everything American is unfairly treated by the papers +of Australia. We in America are grossly unfair with everything +English, not because we desire to be, but because we do not know any +better. I grossly exaggerate that which I do not understand, and so +does everyone.... The fine weather continues, and all day the sea +has been as smooth as a pond. I am in good humor today, but I am +still of the opinion that four men in a steamship room nine by ten +is an outrage. You cannot realize its discomfort until you have had +experience.... Late last night, while sitting in the music-room of +the ship “Maunganui,” a steward came in to collect the steamer rugs +scattered about. The steward told me that for several months he has +averaged $35 a week in tips. The ship is always crowded; this trip +there were ninety people at the second sitting in the dining-room. As +a result, the stewards have a double number in the dining-room and a +double number in the staterooms. I doubt if the captain makes more +than the most popular and capable stewards on his ship. A passenger +told me that he frequently sees the stewards of the “Maunganui” riding +in motor cars in Sydney, and drinking champagne with lady friends in +the expensive restaurants. The + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 124]</span> + +steward said that when he starts on a trip, he can look over the +passengers in his care and tell almost exactly what he will get in +tips when the ship lands. He showed me a $5 gold-piece which one man +had given him, although the usual tip is $1.25. Why did that passenger +give $5? Largely because he was a fool, I should say, for ship servants +rarely do anything special for passengers. The steward told me, also, +that the tourists are the best pay; that commercial men demand a good +deal of service, and tip lightly, whereas all tourists tip liberally, +whether they receive any special attention or not. As soon as a tourist +goes on a ship, he begins inquiring concerning the tipping customs, +and if he asks the barber, or an officer, he is advised to be liberal. +There is a law in New Zealand which prohibits ship employees from +working more than eight hours a day.... One of the passengers is a +man named Willis, Speaker of the New South Wales House of Parliament. +He is accompanied by his wife, two young lady daughters, and a son. All +of them ate at the second sitting in the dining-room. I was told by +several passengers that Willis is very unpopular; he certainly received +no attention on board. In Australia there are only two political +parties: the Labor and the Liberal. Willis, it is said, was a Liberal +for years, and then switched to Labor, although he is not a workingman; +on the contrary, he is well off. Many people regard him as a political +adventurer, but they all credit him with unusual cleverness. I predict +that some of these days he will get even with the Union Steamship Co. +for putting him at the second sitting in the dining-room. I heard an +American woman say lately that New Zealand + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 125]</span> + +women wear funny shoes and corsets. The Speaker’s women-folks do; +for several days I thought Willis was a prosperous sheep farmer +going to Sydney to spend his money. The women of Australia lack the +good taste in dress that distinguishes the women of countries less +prosperous.... Young children are better behaved here than in +the United States; they “mind” better, and lack the impudence which +distinguishes so many children with us.... The population of New +Zealand does not increase; that country does not hustle for immigrants, +as Australia does. Besides, a good many of the New Zealand sheep +farmers are going to Argentina, in South America, one of the wonders of +modern times, and more favorable for sheep-raising than this section. +Wellington, a fine town, and the capital of New Zealand, does not grow; +when I was there, the old wooden capitol was being repaired, and will +probably be used another forty years. The population of New Zealand is +only a million; but for that matter big Australia has only five times +as many, almost one-half of them being in the big cities on the coast. +The interior of Australia is hot, and its inhabitants hug the coast.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, FEBRUARY 4.—The greatest +pleasure of this day consisted of leaving the ship. At 8 o’clock this +morning I had another sight of Sydney’s famous harbor, and at 9 we +landed and went to the Australia Hotel, where we saw another fine +sight: several Americans. We found Mr. and Mrs. Harry Clay Blaney, the +New + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 126]</span> + +York theatrical people, there, and several others we knew on the +“Sonoma.” The Blaneys leave next Saturday for the Philippine Islands +and China, by a ship of twenty-seven hundred tons; it is so small that +it cannot accommodate more than two dozen first-class passengers. +Nothing could induce me to take that trip; the ship is too small. I +leave on the 12th for Durban, in South Africa, on the “Anchises,” +a ship of 12,000 tons, and have been grumbling because it is not +larger.... Another American I met there is W. B. Knight, born in New +York state, and reared in the Standard Oil Co. family at Cleveland, +Ohio. He is now connected with the Texas company, but received all his +training with the Standard. There is a great deal of romance connected +with Mr. Knight’s business career. He has lived in Persia, India, +China, Japan, Australia, the Straits Settlements, and half a dozen +other strange places. His wife is the daughter of another wandering oil +man, and they were married at Canton, China, at the American Legation, +by a preacher from Pennsylvania. His wife is with him here, and they +are both anxious to get home: both declare that this is their last +trip—that they are tired of hotel, ship and railroad life. Mr. Knight +said to me: “I am now an opponent of the Standard Oil Co., but have no +hesitancy in saying that the manner in which that company is persecuted +by the government is a disgrace. I have been intimate with Standard +affairs a quarter of a century, and have never known the company to +be guilty of a disreputable or dishonest act. The company with which +I have been connected a year, the Texas company, is composed almost +entirely + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 127]</span> + +of men trained by the Standard, and we are trying to do what the +Standard has done. We are the opposition, but our business methods are +no better than those of the Standard.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5.—I am almost +persuaded that Sydney is one of the handsomest cities I have ever +visited. One of its numerous bays extends so far in the interior that +it is called a river. We traveled up it today by boat for an hour and +a half, and all the way saw handsome homes, and attractive coves. +Returning, we came by electric car most of the way, and saw another +interesting part of the city. While waiting for a car, we went into a +little place for a drink. We ordered what seemed to be ginger ale, and +it was cold; it is warmer in Australia than in New Zealand, and the +people have learned the value of ice. “In America, you would call it +pop,” the woman said. There is no doubt here as to our identity.... +The weather today has been as hot as we ever get it on the Fourth of +July. And this the 5th of February.... In the United States there is +a great rivalry as to the best five-cent cigar. Here the manufacturers +of six-cent cigars make equally extravagant claims.... There is +nothing serious the matter with this country except that managers of +steamships put four in a room 9×10 feet. The officers of the ships do +not sleep in any such higgledy-piggledy fashion; they insist upon large +single rooms for themselves, but force four passengers into a room not +big enough for one. During the Spanish-American war, you may remember +that the American + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 128]</span> + +officers, including Theodore Roosevelt, rebelled against certain +regulations of their superiors. This rebellion they called a round +robin. This country needs a similar rebellion against four in the +same steamship room.... There are so many ferries in Sydney harbor +carrying people to different suburbs along the bays that occasionally +incoming steamships are held up during rush hours, in order that the +ferry traffic may not be interfered with. This usually happens between +7:30 and 8 in the morning.... Wherever English print is in use, you +will see the name of Theodore Roosevelt. He knows more of the art of +securing free advertising than any other living man. In a morning paper +I find a Melbourne dispatch saying the Minister for Home Affairs has +received a letter from Mr. Roosevelt. A part of the letter is quoted, +as follows:</p> + +<p>“There is nothing that would give me more pleasure than to visit +Australia. I cannot imagine any American seriously interested in the +affairs of his country and of the world who would not feel himself +fortunate to visit your great commonwealth. You have been pioneers +along many paths of social and industrial reform. I have personally +a very great admiration for the Australian people. One of my prized +hunting companions in Africa was an Australian,” etc., etc.</p> + +<p>In the same newspaper I find the following from New Zealand:</p> + +<p>“The High Commissioner for New Zealand said he was proud that the +Dominion had led the way in presenting a battleship to the British +Empire. Mr. James Allen, Minister for Defense, said New Zealand would +not be satisfied until she gave both men and ships.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 129]</span></p> + +<p>What may be said of New Zealand may be said of Australia. Is it +pioneering in social or industrial reform for a peaceful country to +build battleships, and present them to a quarrelsome king thousands +of miles away? ... This afternoon I went to a theatre, and saw moving +pictures of the Panama canal. The pictures have packed the house for +weeks; they are doing much to increase respect here for American +energy and ability. The comments I heard around me were extremely +gratifying. Never in the history of the world has a great work been +carried on as energetically, as economically or as intelligently as +at Panama. These pictures prove the smartness of the Yankee, and +the actual accomplishment at Panama is as great as the big talk +about the smart Yankee has ever been.... In this city of Sydney +there is a big department store operated by the Anthony Hordern Co. +Anthony Hordern was a plodder who built up a great business, and died +from overwork at sixty-four. The business is now managed by heads +of departments trained by Anthony Hordern, but his two sons own it. +A floor-walker told me today that the store employs four thousand +people, and has fifteen acres of floor space. I do not know just how +much an Australian’s statements should be discounted; the average at +home is about one-third. The store has a special sale on now, which is +attracting great crowds, as special sales seem to everywhere. Wherever +I go here, floor-walkers step up and ask if I have been waited on, +whereupon I reply that I am simply a visitor looking about, etc. In +most cases the floor-walker will show me around; at Anthony Hordern’s +today, he mentioned Marshall Field’s + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 130]</span> + +place in Chicago, and at once labeled me as an American. The Anthony +Hordern store is very large, but not half as big as the Marshall +Field store. And it isn’t half as fine. The Hordern store looks +old-fashioned; the ceilings are low, and the place isn’t very neat—I +don’t know exactly what the trouble is, but I was compelled to tell +the floor-walker, a very polite man, that it wasn’t in the Marshall +Field class.... At sea, I become angry, and half the time won’t +take my bath, or shave, or dress for dinner, but when I am on land, I +am good-natured, and thoroughly enjoy going about. It is a joy for me +to poke around a strange town. On our return to Sydney we employed the +same boy who showed us about on our first visit; we liked the little +man, although we could not understand half he said. At the Anthony +Hordern store today, we wanted to go up to the art department, but +the elevator man could not understand my pronunciation of the word +Art. The boy had heard the floor-walker recommend that we visit the +Art department, so he pronounced the word Art, and the elevator man +understood him.... The floor-walker wanted to introduce me to young +Anthony Hordern, but I asked to be excused. No doubt the son was like a +sailor on the “Sonoma:” Captain Trask said he wasn’t worth much except +to play the part of “Neptune” when the ship crossed the line.... I +am good-natured now, and intend to dress for dinner tonight, and drink +coffee in the Winter Garden afterwards, but as soon as I go on board +the “Anchises” at Adelaide, I expect to be mad again. The sea knocks +me, and I can’t help it. And it will knock you, if you fool with it, +and have lived + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 131]</span> + +in a prairie country a good deal.... Adelaide has been much +interested in the fact that there is a smart city in Australia named +Adelaide; it is at this town we take ship for South Africa. She has +also been interested in Cape Howe, and Lord Howe Island; but I called +her attention to a historical fact today which had previously escaped +her. It seems that in the early days, one of the famous bush-rangers +was Michael Howe, a convict who had been a sailor. He was sent here to +serve seven years for robbery, but he escaped, and joined a band of +bush-rangers. He soon became their chief, and ruled like a tyrant. He +was also very haughty, calling himself “the governor of the range.” +The governor of the colony he called “the governor of the town.” A +price was placed on the head of Michael Howe, and one day a sailor +named Worral, also a convict, brought it in. Worral received the +promised reward, and was sent back to England a free man. No convicts +have been sent to Australia from England since 1868.... You may +think I grumble about ships a good deal. You mainly hear grumbling on +shipboard. Whoever tells the truth will confess that he didn’t have +a very good time at sea. When I went on the trip to the West Indies, +I did so well that I fancied I was becoming a sad sea-dog. This +experience induced me to undertake the present journey; but I know +now that my sea-legs are wobbly. I can get along well enough on land +anywhere, but I do not understand the ways of ocean-going crews, or of +those strange persons who pretend to like ship voyages.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 132]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6.—This morning we +went with the Blaneys to inspect the “Prince Waldemar,” the little ship +on which they will sail next Saturday for the Philippine Islands and +China. Except that it is small, we were delighted with it. The servants +are Japanese, and the sailors of a brown race with which we are not +familiar. The Blaneys have a stateroom with two windows; it is so large +that the chief steward of the “Maunganui” would have crowded at least +six into it. Never travel on a popular ship, or fall in love with a +beautiful woman who has many admirers. The servants of the “Prince +Waldemar” were as grateful for a little attention as an old maid. The +boat is said to have excellent management, but it is only half as big +as the “Sonoma,” and the “Sonoma” is a pony. The “Prince Waldemar” is a +2,700-ton boat; the “Anchises,” on which we sail for South Africa, is +12,000 tons. Any ship under 17,000 tons is a crime. There are no real +ships in Australian waters; if a real ship should visit Sydney, people +would come from New Zealand, and travel four and six in a room, to look +at it. A ship of 12,000 tons is referred to as a “Leviathan of the +Deep” in the papers here. The “Baltic,” on which I crossed the Atlantic +not very long ago, is a 38,000-ton ship; and, when the weather is +rough, it is none too large. The Hamburg-American company is building a +ship almost twice as large as the “Baltic.” ... Near the “Prince +Waldemar” lay the “Ventura,” sister ship of the “Sonoma,” and which +sails for San Francisco next Saturday. We went on board, and it was +like a visit home, as it is exactly like the “Sonoma” in every detail. +We showed our “Sonoma” pictures, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 133]</span> + +and soon had members of the crew interested. Among other pictures, we +had one of the “Ventura,” taken at sea when we passed it on Christmas +day. The American flag was displayed at the ship’s peak, and it looked +as good to us as it probably looks to an old soldier on Decoration +Day.... We meet traveling acquaintances every day. This morning we +met Mr. Adams, the life insurance man, whose wife was so ill on the +“Sonoma,” and who was so devoted to her that the men were proud of +him. “I am staying at the Wentworth,” he said; “it is twice as good +as the Australia.” The Australia Hotel is the best in Australasia +(which includes New Zealand), and of course many hotels are said to +be superior to it. Mr. Adams is meeting his wife’s kin for the first +time, but I neglected to ask him if he suited.... We also met the +Sandersons. We greatly admired Mrs. Sanderson, in spite of the fact +that she is English. She was coming over to meet her husband’s people +for the first time, and we predicted she would be satisfactory; but +she was fearful—people are so particular in cases of that kind. Mr. +Sanderson, however, told me that his folks dearly love his wife. Mr. +Sanderson is the man who operates apple orchards in Oregon, and they +leave for home on Saturday, on the “Ventura.” ... At 7:40 in the +evening we resumed The Traveler’s Trot, and departed by train for +Melbourne, 585 miles. The railroad is standard gauge, and the sleeper +very good. As usual, we found the train crowded. Melbourne is almost as +large as Sydney, yet there is but one railroad between the two cities, +and this runs but one train a day: a train in three sections, leaving +at 7:40, 8 and 9:30 P.M. Between + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 134]</span> + +Kansas City and Chicago there are at least five direct lines, and each +line runs numerous through trains daily: morning, noon, and night. +The government lines do not pay as high wages as our privately owned +lines. The train on which I traveled between Sydney and Melbourne +is the best in Australia; it may be compared with the Pennsylvania +Limited between Chicago and New York. The conductor, or guard, received +$3 a day. The engineer received $3.75 a day, and the fireman $1.75. +Engineers on freight trains here receive as low as $3 a day. The wages +of similar employees in the United States are certainly double.... +The train made good time, and I slept better than I usually sleep in a +sleeping-car. The sleeper was not gaudy and heavy like a Pullman, but +it did very well. The only attendant was a white man, who made up the +beds as well as took the tickets. The sleeping-car fare from 8 P.M. +to 7 A.M. (when we changed to cars of another gauge), was $2.50. The +charge for a similar service in the United States is universally $2. +The train fare was about two and a half cents a mile; in Kansas, the +universal charge for first-class passengers is two cents a mile. The +time was rather fast, but as the cars were light, the train was noisy +and unsteady. The people in Australia are more accustomed to Americans +than are New Zealanders, and we do not attract so much attention, +but they immediately spot us as Americans. I have never in my life, +anywhere, met as many polite people as I have met here and in New +Zealand; I believe I have said this before, but I wish to repeat and +emphasize the statement.... I think I detect a slight difference +between New Zealand + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 135]</span> + +and Australia: the last named is more prosperous, and does +everything a little better. Australians have a little of the swagger +and strut you detect in Chicago people, whereas New Zealanders are as +modest as people living in St. Louis, or any other less prosperous and +enterprising city.</p> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, FEBRUARY 7.—In the wash-room +of the sleeping-car, early this morning, I met an American, a Boston +man, who has been a gentleman farmer in Australia for twelve years. +He told me he owned 52,000 acres of land, and that whereas he came +here with nothing twelve years ago, he would not take a million and a +half dollars for what he owns now. He originally visited the country +on business, thought he detected great possibilities, and came here +to live. He didn’t know corn from barley when he began, but applied +business rules to farming, and has succeeded. I expressed surprise as +to his large land-holding, whereupon he told me that in the interior +there are sheep farms five hundred miles square, or as big as the state +of Kansas. This land is leased from the government at a penny an acre. +Artesian wells three thousand feet deep are being bored, and these +wells are greatly improving the arid districts. There are plenty of +stock farms in Australia 150 to 200 miles square.... The Boston man +pays a good deal of attention to dairying, although he is interested +in all branches of farming: fruit, vegetables, grain, stock, etc., and +employs 280 men. Farm wages are lower here, judging from what he told +me, than in the United States. He has no + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 136]</span> + +renters on his land; he calls that “the lazy, shiftless way.” He says +the people here do not know the meaning of hard work; that they work +only five days a week, and have very short hours, whereas he has always +worked long hours every day; and it agrees with him, for he is stout, +and looks exactly like a prosperous business man. He owns thousands of +sheep and cattle; and if I did not make an error in my notes, he told +me he made $175,000 from his land last year. I remember the statement +particularly because he had just been telling me about an income tax +lately imposed, and which hit him hard. One tract of his land, 2,500 +acres, cost him $150,000, counting an irrigation plant which he built; +but lately he refused $225,000 for it. He predicts that as soon as +Americans find out the opportunities for making money here, they will +come in flocks. He told me of one piece of land that is worth $400 an +acre, and which has been producing corn at the rate of 100 bushels +per acre for sixty-five years, without manuring. This is choice land +in a choice district, and perhaps the statement is exaggerated, as we +exaggerate when we talk of forty bushels of wheat per acre, or seventy +of corn. The country through which we were passing looked very dry, +but the American said it was good land; the famous chocolate land of +Australia, so named because the soil has a reddish cast. “We have been +having a drouth for two months,” he said, “and the dry weather is good +for the land.” He talked a good deal about “sour” and “sweet” soil. +I said the expressions were new to me, and my companion laughingly +replied that he was forgetting all he ever knew about America; he made +me + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 137]</span> + +think of an Englishman who had traveled a good deal in America, and +had the rough edges worn off. At several of the stations through +which we passed we saw a great deal of wheat piled on the ground, in +three-bushel sacks. We also saw numerous twelve-ox teams along the +country roads, hauling sacked wheat to market. Wheat is harvested +here in a fashion which seems better than our way. A machine slightly +larger than our harvester is used. This machine pulls the heads off +the wheat, and threshes them; the grain is then put into sacks, and +dumped on the ground, as our harvesters dump the twine-bound sheaves. A +number of Australian gentlemen farmers had joined the conversation by +this time, and they all assured me that such a thing as a thresher is +almost unknown here. Asked where the machine came from that harvested +and threshed the wheat in one operation, they said they were supplied +by the International Harvester Co., of America; also, by an English +company. I was compelled to confess I had never seen such a machine, +or heard of one. Along the road I saw numerous wheat-fields which had +evidently been treated in the manner indicated; the grain heads had +been frayed off, and the stalks left standing, for sheep pasturage. The +gentlemen farmers told me of one man who had tried a new experiment +in wheat-raising. He cleared his land, but did not break, or plow it, +as we say; instead, he drilled in his wheat on the unbroken land, and +followed the drill with some sort of farm implement which slightly +covered the seed; possibly it was a harrow—I did not quite understand +the term used. The season was exceptionally favorable, and the wheat +made an average of thirteen + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 138]</span> + +bushels per acre. The land on which the experiment was tried was +worth about $25 an acre. The rainfall here varies from six to sixty +inches, but the heavy rainfall usually comes in torrents, when it is +not needed. In the center of the country, at points farthest from the +coast, there is almost no rain at all. We were passing through what +is possibly the best section of Australia, and it looked very dry to +me; I saw almost no rivers or creeks. It reminded me of India, or +Colorado, or California, but my traveling acquaintances said: “Ah, yes; +it looks dry now, after two months of drouth, but when the rain comes +it will look as green as your country.” I said: “It is evident that +you run fewer sheep per acre here than in New Zealand.” They admitted +it, but said the volcanic soil of New Zealand was much inferior to the +chocolate soil of Australia; New Zealand has more rain than Australia, +but not as good a soil, a fact I had myself noticed.... Wheat piled +on the ground in sacks, seemed very shiftless to me. I saw no grain +elevators, such as we have, and when the wheat is shipped, it is loaded +in open box cars; no protection from the weather. But in spite of many +evidences of a dry country, you see many evidences of prosperity here, +too. Australia is almost as big as the United States, but has only +five million people; it doesn’t need to feed a dozen sheep per acre. +I also heard much of irrigation projects, and the country seems to be +booming.... At 8 A.M. we changed to another train; to a railroad +with a gauge of five feet three inches. The standard gauge of the world +is four feet eight and a half inches; the usual narrow-gauge is three +feet six inches. The train on the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 139]</span> + +broad-gauge—5 feet 3 inches—had a diner, but we could not get in, so we +ate breakfast at a railway restaurant. The broad-gauge train also had a +parlor car, in which we had reserved seats, and were very comfortable. +We stopped every two or three hours, to permit the passengers to drink +tea. The train was a fine one, but it could not be compared with our +best trains, and was badly crowded, as is the usual custom over here +in all public places. At ten minutes after one in the afternoon, we +reached Melbourne.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8.—At Sydney, we had +heard of 107 in the shade at Melbourne, but found the weather very +pleasant. In a very gentlemanly sort of way, Melbourne and Sydney are +jealous of each other. They are of about the same size, with Sydney in +the lead, and forging ahead rapidly; but Melbourne has the capital, +and this is a bone of contention. To get rid of it, there is a plan to +build a capital in the interior, as we built Washington to patch up the +quarrel between cities anxious for the national capital. But Melbourne +will indefinitely delay building a capital city in the sage-brush of +the interior; I have heard this guess made many times.... I have +been particularly pleased with the hotels in Australia and New Zealand, +and am inclined to believe that Menzie’s, in Melbourne, is the best of +the lot. I have a telephone in my room, and a big wide bed, and the +meals are surprisingly good. The price is $3.60 per day, including +everything. I was recently at the Sherman House, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 140]</span> + +in Chicago, and paid $3.50 per day for a room. What we call “the +European plan” is almost unknown at hotels here.... Melbourne is a +better town than I expected to find it. Its citizens admit that Sydney +is larger, and growing more rapidly; indeed, I have heard them say +Sydney will continue to grow more rapidly, as it has a better country +around it. But Melbourne is a beautiful city, and Sydney has nothing +to match its St. Kilda Road. This is a great driveway leading from the +city to a sort of Coney Island. This driveway is lined with flowers, +green grass and beautiful homes. And I did not see a bathing-beach in +Sydney as handsome as St. Kilda beach. Melbourne has wider streets +than Sydney, and seems to be more modern. “Don’t you think,” one man +asked me, “that Melbourne is more like one of your American cities than +Sydney?” The people here are as familiar as the people of New Zealand +with the fact that we are Americans, but they see more Americans, and +are not so much interested in them. Every man I talk with reminds me +that I am an American; always politely. I went yesterday to see about +my baggage. “Don’t you find our system almost identical with yours +in the United States?” the very agreeable and accommodating baggage +agent asked. And the system of handling baggage here is the same as +our system.... I think the people of Melbourne are sick and tired +hearing of Sydney’s beautiful harbor; particularly as Melbourne’s +harbor is not very large. There is a great bay here, but it is not a +harbor; it is almost as much of an open roadstead as Manila bay.... +Melbourne has cable cars, but the system was not adopted because of + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 141]</span> + +hills, for the city is almost flat. I enjoyed riding again in the +front end of a grip-car, as I used to do in the old days in Kansas +City. On one line, the fare is six cents per passenger for riding the +shortest distance. I saw one short electric line; also, one horse-car +line.... Years ago, the boomers declared that Melbourne needed a +Convention hall, and one was finally built, after every citizen had +been bored for a contribution, and soundly abused because he did not +give more. Now the boomers are kept busy to find use for the hall. +This month it is the scene of a Manufacturers’ exhibition, and I saw +a good many interesting things there yesterday afternoon. There is an +aquarium in connection; and at this place I saw the most interesting +thing I have seen since leaving home—a monkey mother with a baby four +or five weeks old. Monkeys always interest me, but this monkey with a +baby was so much like a human mother that I watched her half an hour. +The monkey baby was not well, and the mother watched over it precisely +as a human mother would have done. Occasionally the baby played with +its toes, as you have seen human babies do. The mother gave all her +attention to the baby; she did not neglect it for a moment. There is +a human quality about monkeys that always attracts me. One I saw this +morning at the zoölogical garden was an old chap, and he was frowsy +and irritable, as old men are, and the younger ones were afraid of +him, and scampered out of his way.... We are still meeting “Sonoma” +passengers; we encountered one at this hotel last night—a Mr. Smart, a +London publisher. Another passenger on the “Sonoma” is a newspaper man +here, but we have not yet seen him. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 142]</span> + +... The eggs used at Menzie’s hotel are labeled. The two I had for +breakfast were marked with a rubber stamp in this fashion: “A. J. +Paine, The Sisters, Teremo; February 6, 1913.” ... This morning, +while at St. Kilda beach, we looked at the many ships in Port +Melbourne, and distinguished a big blue funnel. It belonged to the +“Anchises,” of the Blue Funnel line, and we will live on it for three +weeks, beginning next Wednesday. It started from Sydney a week ago, but +we will join it at Adelaide, for which city it sails tonight.... I +was talking today with an intelligent Australian, and he says that in +three or four years the cost of living here has increased one-fourth, +owing to the advancing prices for labor.... In both Sydney and +Melbourne, I found crowds around employment agencies. This surprised +me; I thought every man who wanted work here, had it.... In coming +from Sydney by rail, we saw hundreds of piano-boxes along the way. Each +box contained an advertisement for the Steck piano. It was a new use +for empty piano-boxes.... Here, when a doctor charges a big fee for +an operation, the newspapers make a fuss about it. The Sydney papers +were full of a sensation of this kind the day I left there. It is a +fashion that might be copied by American papers; great outrages are +perpetrated by some doctors in the United States, and nothing is said +about it.... I have heard a great deal about rabbits in Australia; +they are said to be so numerous as to be a curse. Still, while riding +through the country yesterday on a railroad train, I saw two boys +out hunting. One of them had three rabbits, and the other had four. +Considering the rabbit + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 143]</span> + +stories I have heard, I thought the number quite modest. At another +place, I saw a boy out hunting, and he had but one rabbit. Australia +looks about as I expected it to look, except the rabbits.... At +the zoölogical garden in Melbourne, there is an exhibit labeled: +“American Cats.” And that’s exactly what they are: plain cats, such +as you see around any American home.... At 4:15 we drove to the +station, and a quarter of an hour later left for Adelaide, capital of +South Australia; distance, 508 miles. The train is a better one than +that running between Sydney and Melbourne, and we were told that the +sleeper in which we had engaged berths would go through. The railroad +is owned by the government, and the gauge is five feet three inches; +eight and a half inches wider than our standard gauge. But the cars do +not seem wider than ours, and certainly they were not so heavy. The +rails were also light, although the train made good time. There was a +dining-car attached, and at 6 o’clock we had an excellent dinner, at 96 +cents each. There were only four others in the dining-car, and we had +compartments to ourselves in the sleeping-car. The compartments are for +two, but travel here is always light Saturday night, I am told. With a +room to myself, I began almost having a good time, particularly as I +have become accustomed to the pronunciations of the people, and they no +longer distress me. On the dining-car bill of fare, this was printed: +“Waiters are not permitted to accept tips, on pain of dismissal.” But +when I offered our waiter a tip, he ran the risk of dismissal, and took +it.... The trainmen told me that they are often compelled to work +sixteen hours a day, and + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 144]</span> + +that they receive a shilling an hour: that is, for a day of sixteen +hours, $3.84. Government ownership of railways is certainly a mistake, +so far as the men are concerned. The government can bluff employees +easier than a private employer.... I shall always remember the +town of Ballarat, the largest interior town in Australia, with a +population of 40,000. It was at this town that I lost my luck, and a +man was assigned to my compartment. But Adelaide’s luck continued, and +she had a compartment to herself all the way. In addition to having +towns named for her, she is lucky in other ways. I never have towns +named for me; you never heard of a town named Ed., did you? ... We +passed through one section of country which seemed to be noted for +potato-growing. I remember we reached it after climbing a mountain +of considerable height, and the potato-fields continued many miles. +This must be the best section of Australia, since the railroad did +not run more than thirty to sixty miles from the sea, which supplies +the few rains Australia has. But the country looked very dry, and the +soil thin.... We see no barns on the farms; in the United States, +travelers remark that the barns are often huge, and the residences +pitifully small. Possibly one explanation is that stock run out all +winter here; it is not necessary to house them, or winter-feed. But +the fact remains that Australia has no country like the best parts +of Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio, or a dozen +other states that might be mentioned. Australia somehow reminds me of +California, where an exceptionally clever people have made a great deal +out of a semi-arid country. The farmers I know pay little + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 145]</span> + +attention to agricultural reports. The Australian farmers do, and +greedily devour everything printed that concerns their business.... +The dining-car in which we ate dinner has two sections: first and +second-class. We paid four shillings for dinner, and the second-class +passengers paid two.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, FEBRUARY 9.—When I awoke this +morning, the train was running rapidly through the bleakest country I +have seen in Australia or New Zealand. This is the land settlers are +encouraged to “take up,” and improve. It did not look to be worth ten +dollars a quarter-section, but occasionally I saw a settler’s cabin. A +trainman told me that the original settler rarely did well, but that +the man who bought him out for almost nothing, often did quite well. +Suddenly we came in sight of the Murray river, the only considerable +stream in Australia, and navigable for small boats a thousand miles +above where I saw it. Soon after, we crossed the river at a little +town, and stopped for breakfast. From the railroad bridge I saw several +steamboats, and rather extensive facilities for loading and unloading +freight.... Remember that in passing through the bleak, dry country +referred to above, we were not fifty miles from the sea, and that the +rainfall decreases toward the interior of the country.... This +morning we began seeing plenty of rabbits; many times, forty or fifty +were in view at the same time, and we are now satisfied.... A +gentleman on the train who lives in the Fiji Islands, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 146]</span> + +says that not long ago there, more than thirty-six inches of rain +fell in one day; the government rain-gauge records thirty-six inches, +but this filled, and ran over. It is a pity that the industrious +Australians cannot have some of the rain that goes to waste in the Fiji +Islands, where the inhabitants are shiftless.... Our first view of +Adelaide was from a mountain, where the railroad runs. It is a city of +180,000, the capital of South Australia, and located on an extensive +plain, between the sea and the mountain. Adelaide is not located on the +sea, as I had imagined; its shipping is done at Port Adelaide, twelve +miles away. We reached the city at 10 A. M., and went to the Grand +Central Hotel, a large, new place, but we were almost the only guests; +at one time, we saw only two others in the dining-room, and never more +than fifteen. The dining-room is very large and very fine, and a good +orchestra plays for dinner, but there are almost no guests. On our +floor we see no one; we have it to ourselves. We like the quiet, but +the proprietor of the hotel must be suffering. We asked a waiter for +an explanation, and he said Saturday, Sunday and Monday are usually +quiet days. The town is much like the hotel; it is not crowded. Here, +as elsewhere in Australia and New Zealand, the people are exceptionally +polite. We were standing on the street this afternoon, somewhat +confused about the proper car to take, when a policeman stepped up and +asked if he could do anything for us. I do not know where the people +learned their exceptional politeness; they certainly did not learn it +from the mother country, England.... In this dry country, people +like to hover around the words “river” + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 147]</span> + +and “creek.” In a morning paper, I looked at a list of towns, and +the first three were Tennant’s Creek, Brock’s Creek, and Powell’s +Creek.... The newspapers here are very prosperous, as they are +lately all over the world. Their great prosperity, I am told, has +come within the past twenty years, and that is true everywhere. One +Adelaide paper prints a department entitled: “Fifty Years Ago,” a brief +résumé of events half a century old. One item reads: “A special harvest +holiday train will leave Kapunda for Adelaide on Thursday, on account +of the Agricultural Society’s exhibition,” etc.; so it seems that +Adelaide is not at all youthful.... An advertisement in the morning +paper read: “Wanted—Position by bird scorer.” ... Over here, the word +Trust, which we despise, is used without the slightest delicacy. The +street-railway company is unblushingly called the Tramway Trust in its +own announcements. And just now there is some excitement because the +Tramway Trust, in a disagreement with its employees, refused to accept +arbitration. All the papers are full of labor-trouble news. It seems to +me that in the United States we do not hear half as much about labor +disturbances as we hear here. Every workingman who is not on strike, +is discussing one, with a view of forcing another increase in wages. +But labor rioting is not as frequent or serious here as in the United +States; there are practically no “scabs” to assault—it is a rare thing +to find a working man or woman who does not belong to a union.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 148]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, FEBRUARY 10.—No country in the +world makes more of parks, gardens and hospitals than Australia. And +probably no other country makes as much of the Salvation Army. About +the first thing I saw on my arrival in Adelaide was a street meeting of +the Salvation Army, a feature of which was a good brass band of forty +men. Two other things travelers from the United States will notice +here: drouth and prosperity. I have seen no poor people; no evidence of +poverty—yet how dry the weather is! In the section of country where I +live, we have had two very dry summers in the past thirty-five years; +but during those summers the country did not look as parched as the +country looks everywhere in Australia.... About the only vegetables +we get at the hotels here are potatoes, cabbage, and canned beans. +Tomatoes are served occasionally, but they are smaller than those +we get at home, and not so good. On the streets, we see many carts +selling fruit, including strawberries.... The city of Adelaide and +the young lady in whose honor it was named, are very much alike in one +particular; both are very quiet. We see no crowds here: we had plenty +of room on the train coming here, we have plenty of room in the hotel, +and we have plenty of room on the streets when we ride or walk about. +This afternoon we went riding in an automobile, and everywhere we found +it quiet and dusty. There are no crowds on the street-cars; and it may +be mentioned incidentally that the street-railway system of Adelaide +could not be more complete than it is. One may go to any nook or corner +of the city in a clean electric car, and one line runs to a seaside +resort, a distance of eight or nine miles.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 149]</span></p> + +<p>Fare, ten cents. All the cities in Australia have better street-railway +accommodations than the country has steam-railway accommodations; it +seems to me that the steam railways are not as numerous or efficient as +the country demands, whereas I have everywhere remarked the excellence +of street-railways.... In the United States, the privately owned +railways cross the country from north to south, and from east to west, +but the government-owned railways have not done as much for Australia. +Comparing Australia with the United States, there is no railway across +the continent, whereas we have five or six systems; nor is there a +railway here crossing the continent from north to south. The Australian +railways fringe the populous coast for a distance of fourteen or +fifteen hundred miles; they take few risks, and do not attempt to make +fruitful districts out of arid districts, as do the privately owned +railways in the United States. Our railways have done more to develop +the country than the government has done. Nor do the government-owned +railways in Australia move perishable freight more promptly: at many +stations along the road from Sydney to Adelaide, I heard complaints +because the railway company did not provide cars in which to ship wheat +piled on the ground. And when a car is provided, it is a small open +flat-car, and does not hold much more than a big wagon. So far as I +have been able to make out, railway rates are a little higher here than +in the United States, and the service very much poorer.... We think +we notice that women are rather better dressed in Australia than in New +Zealand, and possibly a little better looking.... In every + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 150]</span> + +hotel dining-room here, we are always given ice-water; the waiters have +heard that Americans like it.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, FEBRUARY 11.—I celebrated my +arrival in Adelaide with a slight illness, and the hotel people took +quite an interest in me. The manager sent his regards, and wanted to +know how I was, and when I went to the bath-room I usually met the +maid, who spoke to me by name, and hoped I was better. Hotel servants +here always know the names of guests. Adelaide took very good care +of me, assisted by the maid on our floor. I told them that if they +looked after me as faithfully as Mr. Adams looked after his wife on the +“Sonoma,” I should feel satisfied. Mr. Adams was an honor to his sex; +his wife was ill from the time she left Honolulu until her arrival in +Sydney, and during all that time Mr. Adams was a marvel of devotion; +even the women said he should really take a little rest. But he would +never leave his wife’s side except when the women went down to sit +with her; and even then, he walked about the decks in an obscure +place, and didn’t seem to be longing for pleasure or company. And Mr. +Adams was no amateur husband; he told me he had been married before. +There was something about Mr. Adams which convinced me that, had +opportunity presented, he could have played a stiff game of cards in +the smoking-room, and bluffed his competitors to a standstill, but with +a sick wife on his hands he was gentleness itself. He didn’t propose to +be talked about by the women on board, and I think he was + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 151]</span> + +the hero of that particular voyage of the “Sonoma.” ... This +has been as hot a day as I have ever experienced anywhere, and the +tea-drinking has been enormous. At 4 o’clock in the afternoon we +were attracted by a sign reading, “Strawberries and cream,” and the +place was crowded with women shoppers drinking tea. No one was buying +ice-cream, or the “American soda-water” advertised, but all were +drinking tea; every woman was served with a pot, and usually she drank +two cups. This is the universal rule here; tea in the afternoon. When +we went back to the hotel, the girl clerk was taking her afternoon tea, +which had been brought to her from the kitchen. By-the-way, business +is picking up at the Grand Central; thirty-one came in to luncheon +today. The hotel could easily accommodate three hundred. All the other +hotels we have visited have been crowded. Before I leave Adelaide +I must ask some one what the trouble is with the Grand Central. +Perhaps one trouble is, it has rooms with baths, and other up-to-date +improvements.... The best exhibit at the Adelaide zoölogical garden +is the roses; I doubt if the famous rose show at Portland, Oregon, +can show a greater variety or finer flowers. It seems to me that +one-half of the area of Adelaide is taken up with parks, zoölogical +gardens, botanical gardens, hospitals, museums, playgrounds, and other +public utilities, and in the mountains not far away is a national park +of thousands of acres. The people here do not neglect exercise or +amusement. You see almost as many people in the parks on Monday as on +Sunday.... Another peculiarity here is that in all small orchestras +the flute is used instead of the clarinet. I + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 152]</span> + +have not heard a clarinet in Australasia, whereas every orchestra in +the United States has one. Music is about the same everywhere; we hear +the same music here that we might hear at home, in London, Japan, +India, or elsewhere. One evening, at dinner, the orchestra played +“Every Little Movement Has a Meaning of Its Own,” which is heard +everywhere in America, and we coaxed the leader to play it again, for +the luxury of being homesick. All the hotel orchestras seem to be paid +by the guests; anyway, we always put something in a plate we find +in front of the leader.... We find few American publications in +Australia. The <i>Ladies’ Home Journal</i> we see in nearly all bookstores, +and somewhere we found a real-estate agent displaying the <i>Journal’s</i> +pictures of houses properly and improperly painted. The <i>Saturday +Evening Post</i> is seen less frequently, and the <i>American Magazine</i> +and <i>Cosmopolitan</i> occasionally. A lady in New Zealand told me she +read the <i>Ladies’ Home Journal</i> regularly, and greatly admired it, +and that it is well known among the women of her country. We see few +American books at the bookstores; the bulk of them are published in +England.... We are becoming tolerably tired of the kangaroo. Every +city has a zoölogical garden, and a big collection of kangaroos. Also, +a big collection of an animal called the Wallaby, which is so near like +the kangaroo that a tired, hurried and indifferent traveler does not +distinguish one from the other. Then there is the kangaroo rat, and +the kangaroo idea is carried out in two or three other ways.... We +Americans shouldn’t laugh too heartily because Australia + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 153]</span> + +was originally a penal colony. In the days prior to 1776, England, +instead of keeping evil-doers in prison at home, sent them to work +on the farms or plantations in America. After the Revolution, when +convicts could no longer be sent to America, they were sent to +Australia. In 1787, ten ships were sent to Australia. The ships +contained a thousand persons, eight hundred of them convicts, both men +and women, and the remainder were soldiers and marines to guard them. +The fleet landed at the present site of Sydney, and thus that fine city +of more than half a million people was founded.... The boomerang, of +which we hear much, is a native Australian weapon made of hard wood. +It is made in peculiar shape, and the black fellows (according to the +story) throw it in such a wonderful way that it hits the object it is +aimed at, and returns to the hand of the thrower. I doubt the story; +such a feat as that described is impossible. We have seen no native +blacks here, and they are scarce in the interior.... The years 1839 +and 1840 were years of terrible drouth in Australia, and cattle and +sheep were killed for their hides and tallow. Ten years later came +a drouth still more terrible. Then in February came a day which is +remembered as Black Thursday. The wind had been blowing a hot gale for +days, and somehow a fire started. This swept over the parched earth +with relentless fury, and the country was almost burned up; forest +trees, farm-houses, wild animals, cattle and sheep, and many men, women +and children, were consumed. When rain finally came, it came in such +torrents that nearly everything left by the fire was swept away by + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 154]</span> + +floods. Australia has always had a battle with drouth and hot winds, +but has steadily prospered in spite of these drawbacks. Its people +are learning what to do, and what not to do, and great tracts of +land formerly worthless are now productive. This is true everywhere; +it is true in our own western states and territories. In the United +States the rain belt is not extending westward, but the intelligence +belt is.... The shop windows of a strange city are an interesting +exhibit to a traveler; they are a complete history of the industrial +habits of the inhabitants. The most interesting window I have seen +in Adelaide contains photographs of amateur Lady Bathers. A clever +genius who runs a bathing-house at the beach offered prizes of twenty +guineas to the Lady Bathers receiving the greatest number of votes for +perfection of figure. A great many young women who had a secret notion +that they had Great Shapes, entered the contest, and an enterprising +photographer is displaying pictures of the leading contestants. All +the contestants must have visited the gallery and posed for pictures +in bathing costumes. All of them pose in imitation of some classic +figure, and the result is very amusing, for an amateur showing her +figure is quite as amusing as an amateur appearing in a concert or in +a dramatic performance. Some of the figures are so bad that you wonder +their owners ever thought they were good, and all the poses are so +awkward that the display is extremely amusing. You have no doubt been +familiar with contests where young ladies ran for prizes as the most +beautiful woman, or the most popular woman, in town, and wondered that +the contestants considered themselves either beautiful + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 155]</span> + +or popular, but women running a race for perfection of figure, and +submitting their charms to the public, is a still more amazing +performance.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12.—An unusual +thing in Australian towns is that seed stores sell a great variety +of flowering plants; instead of buying sweet pea seeds here, you buy +sweet pea plants five of six inches high. At one store in Adelaide, +I saw a dozen different varieties of plants put up in small bunches, +and offered at reasonable prices.... Australia and New Zealand are +very Progressive, when active and powerful labor unions are concerned, +but not a great deal is done for the quiet and patient farmers; there +are no rural mail routes in either country.... There are more +banks, trust companies, loan companies, etc., in Australian cities, +it seems to me, than elsewhere. In some sections of the large towns I +see almost nothing but financial institutions for blocks.... The +people here not only know I am from the United States, but they know +what section I am from. “You are not a New-Yorker?” a gentleman said to +me this morning. I told him I was from Kansas. “My guess was Denver,” +he said. He came within five hundred miles of locating me.... At +all the hotels, we have noticed that the maids have false teeth. +There is something in the water that is injurious to teeth; you see +advertisements in the papers offering a remedy. In Australia, probably +you see three times as many women with full sets of false teeth as you +see elsewhere. And dentists here are like dentists everywhere, in that + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 156]</span> + +their false teeth can always be promptly detected.... The +duck-bill, interesting because it is an egg-laying mammal, is found +in Australia. It is supposed that at one time all mammals were +egg-laying; later, these early mammals were replaced by more highly +organized descendants. The duck-bill has a bill like a duck, fur +like a mole, webbed feet, and is about as large as a terrier dog. It +burrows in the bank, as a muskrat does, and thousands of learned men +have journeyed to Australia to see it, as an interesting and rare link +in the chain of life. An ant-eater having a bear-like snout, and also +an egg-laying mammal, is found in Australia. Egg-laying mammals are +found nowhere else in the world.... I have heard it said that the +women of Australia are a year or two behind New York or London in the +fashions. I do not know as to that, but it is certainly true that the +shop girls in Adelaide are just adopting the big bunches of hair with +which American shop girls disfigured their heads a good many months +ago.... At 4 o’clock this afternoon we walked to the railroad +station, and took a train for the Outer Harbor, to go on board the +“Anchises.” The distance is fourteen miles, and the train made so many +stops that we did not get our first sight of the ship until an hour +later. It was lying not a hundred yards from the station where we left +the train, and we went aboard at once. The Outer Harbor is a lonely +place; nothing there except a railroad station and a loading-dock. +Most of the passengers had joined the ship at Sydney or Melbourne, and +looked us over critically as we walked up the gang-plank. I found I had +a large room to myself, on the upper deck, and Adelaide had one just +like + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 157]</span> + +it. Our baggage having been sent in the morning, +we found it waiting for us in our rooms. There are 120 first-class +passengers; no second-class, and no steerage. The ship is two years +old, 508 feet long, with an unusual beam (which means width, and width +means steadiness at sea), and altogether we are well pleased.... +An old gentleman and his wife attracted our particular attention +because so many had come to see them off. There were many children and +grandchildren, and after the whistle had warned all visitors to go +ashore, we stood beside the old gentleman and his wife at the rail, +looking at the crowd. A woman in the crowd below was evidently a +married daughter of the old couple we admired, and she had a nurse girl +with her, and the nurse girl was carrying a baby.</p> + +<p>“Mother,” the married daughter called out, softly, “did you say good-by +to Daisy?”</p> + +<p>Daisy was the nurse girl, and the fine old mother said she had said +good-by to Daisy, but, to make it good measure, she said good-by to her +again.... My room is considerably larger than the one I shared with +three others on the “Maunganui.” I have two chairs, a clothes closet, +and a chest of drawers, all of which were lacking on the “Maunganui.” +On that ship I hadn’t a single hook on which to hang my clothing; in my +room on the “Anchises” there are fifteen hooks. If I live fifty years +longer, at the end of the forty-ninth year I shall still be telling +with indignation of my room on the “Maunganui.” Four men in a room nine +by ten feet is as bad as asking four men to use one bathtub at the same +time.... At exactly 6 P.M. we got away as advertised.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 158]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13.—When we awoke this +morning, rain was falling, and a heavy sea running, but owing to the +ship’s unusual width, 60 feet, we did not mind the motion, and went +down to breakfast in good humor. One of the stewards informs me that +he has worked on many ships, and that the “Anchises” is the steadiest +of them all. The weather is bad, but not many are seasick.... A +lady at our table has five children and two nurses with her. “And,” +added her husband, “at sea, five are quite enough.” These children +are all boys, except one, and this girl is known as Tom, she is such +a Tom-boy. The girl knows nothing about girls, and has never played +with them, and the mother is rather glad of it: usually a Tom-boy +humiliates a mother.... The passengers are very nice; a better lot +than we met on the “Maheno” or “Maunganui.” Most of them are making +the long journey to England.... We are now in the great Australian +Bight, which, on the map, makes Australia look upside down. The rough +weather of the voyage is usually encountered in the Bight.... In +1806, a certain Captain Bligh was appointed governor of Australia. This +is the Bligh associated with the mutiny of the ship “Bounty,” one of +the most thrilling stories of the sea. Some time prior to 1806, Bligh, +as commander of H. M. S. “Bounty,” was sent to the South Sea Islands +after trees and plants to be taken to the West Indies; the English +have always been noted for trying to improve their possessions. I have +forgotten the name of the island where Bligh went with the “Bounty,” +but will call it Island No. 1. He remained there a considerable time; +long enough for his sailors + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 159]</span> + +to become well acquainted with the natives. Finally, when the “Bounty” +sailed for the West Indies, the sailors were mutinous, as they had made +friends in Island No. 1, and did not wish to leave. Captain Bligh was +a hard man, and, noting the discontent of the sailors, gave them extra +duties; if there was nothing else for them to do, he made them polish +the anchor. One night, as Captain Bligh sat in his cabin, he was seized +from behind by three sailors. He was bluntly told to get into one of +the small boats, and row where he pleased; the sailors said they were +going back to their native wives and friends at Island No. 1. Seventeen +members of the crew, including all the officers, chose to go with the +captain, and, with a scant supply of water and provisions, were set +adrift in an open boat. Captain Bligh was cruel and ill-tempered, but +an able seaman, and, after a voyage of four thousand miles, landed +on the coast of Java. Most of his companions died as a result of the +hardships through which they passed.... But the history of the +mutineers is still more interesting. They returned to Island No. 1 +in the “Bounty,” and, collecting their wives and other particular +friends among the natives, set sail for a remote island one of them +knew about. I have forgotten the name of this island, too, though it is +possibly Pitcairn, but I shall call it Island No. 2. Arriving at Island +No. 2, the “Bounty” was burned, after being robbed of all its guns, +furniture and supplies.... The mutineers quarreled a good deal among +themselves; mainly about women. Every sailor had two or three wives, +and the natives of Island No. 1 did not get along very well with the +natives of Island No. 2. Many + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 160]</span> + +murders were committed, and at the end of twenty years only two of +the original mutineers remained. These two had scores of half-breed +children, many of them grown.... One day a sailing-ship stopped at +Island No. 2, the first seen there since the mutineers landed, many +years before. The captain knew the story of the “Bounty,” and rightly +guessed that the two old sailors must have been members of the mutinous +crew. On his return to England, he reported his discovery, and gave +the authorities a chart by which the lonely island might be found. +Soon after, a ship was dispatched to arrest and bring back the only +two of the mutineers remaining.... After a voyage of months, the +captain of the ship returned to England and made a strange report. He +said he found the two mutineers had become preachers, and were doing +wonderfully good work among the natives. The two old men had entire +control of the island, and controlled it in the interest of decency and +civilization; having become old, the last of the mutineers had quit +quarreling over women, and were looking carefully after their stomachs +and souls. The captain of the ship concluded it was best to let the two +old men alone; and the English government shared his opinion. A few +years later, the old men died, greatly to the regret of a large number +of half-breed relatives. Captain Trask, of the “Sonoma,” once called +at Island No. 2, when in command of a sailing-ship, and met both of +the old mutineers; it was Captain Trask who told me the story I have +briefly outlined.... Captain Bligh also had trouble as governor of +Australia. He quarreled with nearly everybody, and finally was deposed +by + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 161]</span> + +force. On his promise to return to England direct, he went aboard a +waiting vessel; but he broke his word, and sailed to Tasmania instead. +There he tried to force the people to receive him back as governor, but +they soon grew tired of him, and forced him to leave the island. The +result of it all was that Captain Bligh was made governor of Australia +again, but for only twenty-four hours; the king probably realized that +Bligh was quarrelsome, and no one was punished much for impudence to +him. Finally Bligh was made an admiral, and that probably satisfied +him.... The early days of Australia, when Bligh was governor, were +very rough. The convict settlers had little fear and no respect for +anyone, and did about as they pleased. In those days, drunkenness and +crime were rampant, and the only way to make money was to sell whisky, +pistols and bowie-knives.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, FEBRUARY 14.—Rain fell again +this morning, but the sea is smoother, and we have an excellent +prospect of getting out of the Bight without serious trouble. After +passing out of the Bight we shall enter a section of the ocean where +the air is said to be particularly pure and invigorating; it comes from +the pole without contamination with land, and many old, nervous men +come to take a whiff of it on the advice of physicians.... Every +morning we are offered iced watermelon for breakfast. It is said to +be an American idea, but I have never heard of it before.... Every +passenger is assigned to a place in a + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 162]</span> + +lifeboat, in case of emergency. I think this is a new idea since +the sinking of the “Titanic.” I found this notice in my room: +“IMPORTANT.—Your boat is No. 8 port. At your earliest convenience +please make yourself acquainted with the position of your boat station. +The boat station numbers are marked on the promenade deck rail, +immediately below each boat, and your boat station is there. If the +emergency arises, go to your boat station, and submit yourself to the +orders of the man in charge.” ... Adelaide has been assigned to boat +No. 2 port, so that in case of emergency we shall be separated; she +might land on one island, and I on another. I find that the gentleman +and wife who have five children and two nurses, are also assigned to +my lifeboat, No. 8. But I shall not think of the necessity of spending +days or weeks in an open boat with a family of five children; it would +be worse than my experience on the “Maunganui.” ... There is an +Eurasian on board. He is supposed to be as good as anybody, but there +seems to be a prejudice against him. An Eurasian is the son or daughter +of an European and Asiatic; the term particularly applies to the +offspring of natives and whites in India. Some of the Eurasian women +are very handsome, but their social position is so bad that many of the +more sensitive ones commit suicide.... The “Anchises” is not fast; +its run from noon on Thursday to noon today was only 326 miles. The +ship has one custom which is entirely new to me: the time is changed +every time a watch goes off duty. At sea, the watch consists of the +officer and men in charge at any particular time. As a result, the time +changes three or four times a day.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 163]</span></p> + +<p>On most ships the clock in the companion way is set back or forward at +midnight, and there is not another change for twenty-four hours.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15.—People living in +a dry country a long way from the sea do not realize that it covers +three-quarters of the surface of the earth. Ninety-six per cent of the +water in the ocean is pure fresh water, yet so great is the bulk of +sea-water that the total amount of salt dissolved in it, if deposited +in a layer over the surface of the land, would make a bed over four +hundred feet thick.... No one is able to say what is the source +of the salt in the ocean. Probably the sea has always been salt, +having become so when first the waters gathered on the surface of +the globe; but all rivers that flow over the land carry salt, which +they have obtained from the rocks and soil, so the sea is probably +becoming saltier all the time, just as some lakes without outlet are +being transformed to salt seas.... Off the coast of Australia for +fifty or a hundred miles, the sea is two hundred to four hundred feet +deep, but the depth grows greater as you leave the land, and between +Australia and Africa, in places, the depth is more than five and a half +miles, being greater than the elevation of the highest land above the +sea-level. It has been calculated that the average depth of the ocean +is more than 12,000 feet. The plains of the ocean bottom are the most +extensive in the world. Here and there these plains are relieved by +single peaks, like Bermuda, or groups of peaks, like + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 164]</span> + +the Hawaiian Islands.... On the bottom of +the ocean there is a constant rain of sediment, formed by the death of +animals which have taken carbonate of lime from the waters, and built +it into shells and skeletons, which, when they die, falls to the sea +bottom. The sea-bed is made of an ooze chiefly composed of remnants of +these shells.... The cause of waves is friction of the wind. Waves +rarely rise more than twenty or thirty feet; waves sixty feet high +have been noted, counting from the lowest point of the trough to the +highest point of the crest, but this is very unusual. A wave of large +dimensions affects the sea to a depth of two or three hundred feet, and +may last for a long time after its cause has disappeared; travelers +in ships often run into a rough sea when the sun is shining brightly, +and there is no wind. These big waves also cause destruction on the +beaches, and the shore-line is always being worn away.... In most +parts of the earth, the tide rises twice each day; every twelve hours +and twenty-five minutes there is a high tide, with a low tide between. +At Key West the tide rises only two or three feet; in some other places +the tide rises sixty feet, and comes in as fast as a man can run. It +is believed that in some way the tide is caused by the moon.... +The sea is more interesting than the surface of the earth, but its +story is scarcely intelligible to those who have not been trained in +the alphabet of zoölogical technicalities. I read a book today about +the sea, and have a headache from trying to understand it. All our +rain comes from the ocean; it is said that the evaporation of the Red +Sea amounts to eight feet per year, owing to the great heat of the +countries surrounding it. One + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 165]</span> + +of the most important facts that has been established by modern +investigation of the sea is, that there is no region in its vast +extent that is devoid of life. Strange animals are found at the +greatest depth the trawls of man have penetrated, and very wonderful +are some of the forms of life found. The three great laws of nature +are self-protection, food, and reproduction, and here the sea has +wonderful tales to tell. Some sea animals reproduce by simply dropping +a piece of their body, and other forms of marine life are so low +that we can barely understand that it is life. There is a fish which +hides from enemies by shaking its fins in such a manner as to scatter +a considerable quantity of sand over its body. Another fish poisons +its enemies; another gives a strong electric shock. Many fish are +colored like the bottom of the sea, to escape their enemies; others +resemble sea-weeds. And the sea is a vast slaughter-house; fish feed +upon one another, and constant warfare is going on. The whelk attacks +and devours animals as large as itself; hidden in the recesses of the +whelk’s mouth there is a ribbon beset with numerous sharp little teeth, +which, by a complicated mechanism, can be worked backwards and forwards +in such a manner that it can bore a hole through very thick and dense +shells; and, the soft parts being reached, a tube is protruded which +dissolves and sucks them up into the animal’s stomach. Certain of the +cuttle-fishes, as they pass slowly through the water from one point to +another, are able to change the color of the skin so as to resemble +the color of the rocks or weeds which are below them. Another very +interesting feature presented by these animals is their ability to +discharge suddenly a cloud of inky substance + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 166]</span> + +into the water, and are thus able to escape pursuit.... The corals +are so numerous that they build great islands, very much as bees +construct honeycomb. Some of these coral reefs are highly colored; when +seen from a boat through two or three feet of water, they look more +like a flower-bed than a mass of animals. The corals are so abundant +that rocky islands hundreds of miles in extent are composed of their +shells and skeletons.... You have heard of the phosphorescent light +often seen on the surface of the sea. This light is caused by millions +of little animals which emit a light, and they are so numerous that +it is frequently possible to read at midnight on the deck of a ship. +The same little animals may be seen in the water of your bath, if +taken on shipboard at night.... On certain parts of the coast of +the Samoan Islands, where we were a few weeks ago, the Palolo worm +appears in great abundance in the early morning hours of one or two +days at the beginning of the third quarter of the moon, in the months +of October and November. As the worm is regarded as a very great +delicacy by the natives, the days of its appearance are looked upon as +the red-letter days of the year. It appears just at the beginning of +dawn, in countless millions, on a date which may be accurately foretold +by those familiar with the moon’s phases. As soon as the sun appears, +the millions of worms disappear, and are not heard of again until +another year.... There are fish that fly, as every traveler by sea +can attest, and it is to avoid the bonito that the flying-fish leave +the water. The bonito is able to leap fifteen feet into the air, which +ability it acquired in pursuing its favorite food....</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 167]</span></p> + +<p>The largest existing animal, the blue whale, is found in the sea, and +it attains the enormous length of eighty-six feet. Although living in +the sea, the blue whales are air-breathers. They are able, however, +to hold their breath for a considerable time under water. When they +come to the surface to renew the air supply in their lungs, they first +make a violent expiratory effort from the nostril, and drive a column +of spray many feet into the air above them. This phenomenon is called +“spouting,” and whalers are thus able to locate the animals. The skin +of whales is often beset with barnacles, some species of which are +found nowhere else but on these mammals. Parasitism is very common in +the sea, and sometimes as many as four animals are found dependent on +each other.... Some sea-water animals can only be induced to live in +the aquarium when the water is kept as pure as it is in the open sea; +on the other hand, several of the crustacea seem to flourish best in +stinking and putrescent pools.... It is a fact generally accepted +by learned men, that all animals are originally derived from ancestors +that lived in the sea. In the birds and reptiles, as well as in the +mammals, many things clearly indicate that their ancestors in remote +periods, lived in water, and not on dry land. And when we consult the +botanists, and find that they agree that all plants must have had a +marine origin also, the case for the sea being the original home of +all living organisms may be said to be complete.... We cannot tell +in what form life first appeared upon the earth. Whether the unstable +living substance called protoplasm was in the earliest conditions of +the earth formed spontaneously by the chance + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 168]</span> + +combination of its elements, or whether some germ or other made a +hazardous journey through space from another planet enwrapped in the +casing of a meteorite, are questions upon which no light has yet been +thrown by scientific observation or speculation. The majority of +scholars believe that life originated at the bottom of shallow waters, +or on the surface of the seas. Several naturalists believe that some +free-swimming form of jelly-fish was the ancestor, and that from this +simple start came, by millions of years of evolution, every living +thing.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, FEBRUARY 16.—The tallest man +I have ever seen in private life turns out to be a clergyman of the +Church of England, and early this morning he conducted holy communion +in the music-room, which was attended by about a dozen women. At 11 +A.M. he held another service, which attracted twenty-five or thirty. +Both services were announced by tolling the dinner-gong like a +church-bell. We call the tall man our pastor, and he will seem quite +like it after we have been associated with him all the way to Durban. +I have spent Sunday on three other ships, but no religious services +were held.... Every Englishman, before he has known an American +long, refers to the amusing manner in which Americans eat green corn +off the cob. I suppose that seeing a room full of Americans eating corn +off the cob is a funny sight that only foreigners can appreciate. An +Englishman who sits at our table, and who lives at Johannesburg, says +roasting-ears are widely grown in South Africa, and that + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 169]</span> + +Englishmen there eat them in American fashion. In Australia, I noted +that green corn is sold in fruit stores, as a rarity; I never saw it +at the vegetable markets, or in the grocery stores. Australian and New +Zealand gardeners do not raise the variety of vegetables we have in +the United States.... There are fifteen children and a phonograph +on board, so we do not lack for noise. The children are better behaved +than American children, and under more control; the phonograph is of +American make, a Victor, with wooden horn. There are five nurses with +the children; one of them is employed by the tall clergyman. American +clergymen are not so prosperous, as a rule, that they travel with +nurses.... It is so dull on board that last evening the passengers +went down to dinner at seven o’clock, and remained at the tables until +8:10. The “Anchises” is introducing an innovation which pleases me: it +gives the passengers better rooms, and less to eat. We have plenty, but +on some ships there is so much to eat that the passengers are tempted +beyond resistance, and eat too much.... We have been passing the +western point of Australia today, and the sea has been rough. But the +“Anchises” has such a gentlemanly roll that we do not mind it. The ship +has ten thousand tons of cargo in its hold, and cannot skip about as +do ships lightly loaded. From Adelaide to Albany, the western point of +Australia, there is no railroad. The distance is twelve or fourteen +hundred miles. Had the government kept out of the railroad business, +private capital would have built that gap long ago, and passengers +from Australia to South Africa might avoid four days of sea-travel. We +followed + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 170]</span> + +the ship by rail from Sydney, and would have followed it to Albany, had +there been a railroad to that place from Adelaide.... The weather +has been chilly, but the latter part of this week we will run into warm +weather, which will continue until we reach home. As a result of the +raw, chilly weather, and no heat anywhere on the ship, I had a siege +with neuralgia, an entirely new experience for me. The only thing to +do was to go to bed and cover up well, with a hot-water bag to my +jaw. Fortunately I have the best steward I have ever drawn on a ship, +and he paid me a good deal of attention.... A young Englishman who +sits at our table tells a terrible story of Business. He says that in +Johannesburg, South Africa, where he lives, he is often compelled to +take thirty drinks a day, or lose trade. I would like to tell him what +I think of the statement, but do not care to start a row on board. Any +man who says he is forced to drink intoxicants or lose trade, tells +a silly falsehood. A drinking man usually admires a man who doesn’t +drink. The men who have been most successful in business have not been +noted as boozers. But while I didn’t tell the young man what I thought +of his statement, an elderly Englishman did. “The Americans,” the +elderly Englishman said, “are the smartest business men in the world, +and they do not drink as much as we do. And the drinking habit in +America is becoming more unpopular every day, and will finally become +disreputable.” I have noticed that while most Englishmen “pick” at +Americans, they really have a high opinion of them.... I have spent +part of the day reading a book entitled, “Around Cape Horn.” It is a +common + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 171]</span> + +sailor’s experience in sailing from San Francisco to +Liverpool. For weeks the ship had terrible weather; it seemed that +wreck was inevitable almost every hour of the voyage. I am of the +opinion that the writer made the voyage much worse than it really was, +in order that he might have a tale that would appeal to publishers. I +have spent many weeks at sea, on many ships, but have never experienced +any of the rough weather this writer tells about. I have experienced +much disagreeable weather at sea, but I have never seen a ship in any +danger of swamping. The stories of storms at sea remind me of stories +of battles. There will be a perfect rain of shot and shell; pandemonium +will reign, and, from the book account, it would seem that not a single +man could live to tell the tale. But when the casualties are listed, +it is found that only two men were slightly wounded. What a terrific +affair the Battle of Manila Bay was! Yet not a single man in Admiral +Dewey’s fleet was struck by shot or shell, although the engagement +lasted for hours.... The man who has a wife and five children, and +two nurses, on board, was talking to me today.</p> + +<p>“I suppose you have heard,” he said, “that a young man may marry, and +his expenses will be less than before; in short, that two may live on +less than one?”</p> + +<p>I replied that I had heard the story.</p> + +<p>“Well,” he said, “there is nothing in it.”</p> + +<p>From noon yesterday until noon today, the ship’s run was only 312 +miles. There was once a famous American sailing-ship, the “Red Jacket,” +which did a better average than that for ten consecutive days. But it +must have had a great run of luck. Sailingships + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 172]</span> + +often make less than a hundred miles a day, and, when the wind is very +unfavorable, lose in twenty-four hours all they have made in three or +four days.... We are followed every day by the albatross: great +birds which sail for hours against the wind without moving a wing. The +sailors say that the young, after reaching a certain age, and being +made very fat, are deserted by their parents, and have nothing to eat +for six months. At the end of that time they are able to fly, and seek +food for themselves.... In the smoking-room today I heard a man say +that every vicious person may be detected by looking at his ears. If +the tops of his ears are as low as his eyes, look out for him; he is +dangerous.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, FEBRUARY 17.—The manner in which +the male passengers on ships drink coffee in the smoking-room, after +dinner, has been getting on my nerves; but just as I was working up +a fine case of indignation, I found the custom did not prevail on +the “Anchises.” On this ship those men who wish coffee after dinner, +drink it in the dining-room, and none is served in the smoking-room. +You cannot realize how unusual this new rule is unless you have seen +the smoking-rooms of many ships filled with men drinking coffee after +dinner. I wonder the captain of the “Anchises” dared order the change, +but I have not heard any complaints.... Among our acquaintances are +a Mr. and Mrs. Steele, of Sydney. Mr. Steele has been married twice, +and talks a good deal about his daughter in London, and + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 173]</span> + +his son in Philadelphia. Some widowers who have married again, speak of +“our” children, while others say “my” children; just as some men who +have been married twice are always talking about it, while others keep +quiet, and let you find out about their second marriage if you can. I +don’t think Mrs. Steele likes the manner in which he talks about his +son in Philadelphia, and his daughter in London, preferring that he say +“our” son in Philadelphia and “our” daughter in London. Stepchildren +also amuse me; they try so hard to show respect for pa’s new wife, or +ma’s new husband, and fail so lamentably. There is always something +unusual in a second marriage.... This is our sixth full day on the +“Anchises.” Had we been on a fast boat on the Atlantic, we should be +landing tomorrow. But this is a long trip, and we are only fairly +getting started: we shall not land at Durban until a week from next +Monday. Those who came on at Sydney have already been on board fifteen +days, and, if they are going to Liverpool, they still have thirty-two +days of it. A gentleman and his wife who are at our table came on board +at Melbourne, and they will be on board forty-seven days.... Every +woman in Australia and New Zealand wears a bracelet watch; the custom +seems to be universal. In the United States women wear watches attached +to chains of one shape or another, but here it is a universal custom +for women to wear watches set in a bracelet on the left wrist.... +I believe this is the dullest trip I have ever undertaken, and almost +scream with horror when I realize that I shall not see land for another +thirteen days. Fortunately we have not been seasick; the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 174]</span> + +“Anchises” is a wonderfully steady boat. But it is as dull on board as +on a back street in a country town. Part of the passengers sit on one +side of the main deck and part on the other, while some of them sit on +the upper or boat deck. All of us walk about a good deal for exercise, +and I think we tire of seeing each other go ’round and ’round. One +restless woman is going most of the time, and I often hear the others +growl: “If that woman would only sit down!” I fear we shall engage +in fist fights before we reach Durban.... Two highly respectable +spinsters from Australia have attracted my attention. On deck and in +the dining-room they are so well behaved that I marvel at them; but +this afternoon they became desperate, and left their side of the deck +and came over to our side. And at dinner tonight I saw the bolder one +looking about the dining-room, hoping to see something to talk about. +If these highly respectable women are becoming reckless at the end of +six days, what will they be doing in thirteen days more? ... A Sports +Committee was organized today, to Keep Something Going On. But ship +games are about as uninteresting as a Salvation Army street service. +A subscription was taken up, to raise money with which to buy prizes +for the winners of the games, and I heard it hinted that the promoters +expect others to do the giving. There was no great demand for Sports, +except in the minds of three or four men. It’s a good deal that way on +land when a celebration is held, or a new church built, or money raised +for a Y. M. C. A. building. I predict that the Sports Committee will +not greatly relieve the dullness. One of the games is a special form of +cricket arranged for + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 175]</span> + +the sea. A regular game of cricket is so dull that some of our +most noted humorists have laughed at it, but sea cricket is much +worse.... I was talking today with an Englishman who has lived in +Australia a long time, and who married an Australian woman. He says it +pleases Australians to be told they are like Americans, and it makes +them very angry to be told that they are like the English. He confirms +what I have noticed everywhere; that Australians and New Zealanders +“pick” at the English constantly.... I am beginning to believe I +can see a difference between the colonists and the English, although I +couldn’t at first. A woman today told me of her troubles with servants +in Australia, and her troubles are exactly like those I hear women +complain of at home. There are English nurse girls and Australian nurse +girls on board, but they do not mix. The English girls wear nurses’ +costumes, but the Australian girls say that is beneath their dignity. +One of these Australian nurse girls is not more than twenty years old, +and has a full set of false teeth. There are many “American dentists” +in Australia (one was shot by his office girl in Melbourne while I was +there), and I judge they have a great deal to do.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, FEBRUARY 18.—I read a good deal, +as the ship has an excellent library; frequently I take out two books a +day. One I read this morning is entitled, “The Cruise of the ‘Falcon.’” +In 1880, an Englishman named E. F. Knight conceived the notion of +taking a long voyage in a small yacht called the “Falcon.” + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 176]</span> + +The vessel was only forty-two feet long and thirteen feet wide, yet he +cruised in it for twenty months, going from England to South America, +and thence to the West Indies, where he sold his boat, and took a +steamer home. The crew consisted of Knight and three friends, and a +boy. One of these friends, Jerdein, had been an officer on a P. & +O. liner, and was a skilled navigator and seaman, while Knight was +an amateur yachtsman of considerable experience; but the other two, +Andrews and Arnand, were landlubbers. The boy was fifteen years old, +and had been to sea several times. On the way to South America they +stopped at several islands, and had a prosperous and agreeable voyage. +Their undertaking was thought to be a foolhardy one, and the newspapers +at the time devoted much space to the voyage, but the little “Falcon” +turned out to be quite fast, and rode the seas well; two thousand miles +were made in ten consecutive days off the coast of South America. Five +months were devoted to a trip up the Parana and Paraguay rivers. At +Buenos Aires, Jerdein, Andrews and Arnand concluded that they had had +enough of it, and quit the little boat. Knight was not discouraged, and +hired three Italian sailors, in addition to the boy. With these he put +to sea, and had a very rough voyage.... There are two islands called +Trinidad; one of them in the West Indies, and the other off the coast +of lower South America. Knight determined to visit the latter island, +and had a very remarkable experience. The landing was bad, and he found +the island an unwholesome and inhospitable place. At one spot on the +island he found a great lot of wreckage; it looked as though many + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 177]</span> + +foundered ships had drifted in +there and gone to pieces. He believed treasure might be found in the +wreckage, but the weather was stormy, and he did not know what moment +the “Falcon” might be compelled to sail away for safety, so he gave up +the treasure, and left the island, where he spent three or four very +uncomfortable days. From Trinidad he went to Bahia, and to the Amazon, +meeting with all sorts of adventures, finally landing at Barbadoes, +where he sold the “Falcon,” and sailed for home on a steamship.... I +suppose Knight elaborated his dangers and adventures; talkers do this, +and I see no reason why writers should not. Many of his most remarkable +stories he had second-hand; the wonderful incidents recorded happened +a day, or a week, or a month, after he arrived at certain places. +This is true of most very remarkable circumstances; the narrators do +not say they witnessed them, but gentlemen they had every reason to +believe truthful told them the stories, etc. Dozens of men have told +me of the famous pilot-fish of New Zealand, which pilots all ships +through a certain channel. None of these gentlemen have actually seen +the pilot-fish at work, but they met a gentleman only last week, or +the week before, who had seen it. By-the-way, a recent Sydney paper +says the famous pilot-fish has not been seen in six months; it is +feared that he has been killed by the crew of some whaling-ship.... +Another favorite story is of the fogs in London, yet I have never +seen anyone who has witnessed one of these fogs. And the <i>Scientific +American</i> stated not long ago that the old-fashioned London fog has +disappeared; that one has not been seen in a good many years.... +Speaking + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 178]</span> + +of whalers, it is generally agreed that in the old days when that +industry was flourishing and profitable, the Yankees were the smartest +men at the business. Indeed, when an English firm built and equipped +a whaling-ship, Yankees were employed to teach the English crew the +business. I have been grumbling a little because of this voyage of +nineteen days. The old whalers used to be gone three years on their +voyages; sometimes they did not see land for ten months at a time. +Capturing a whale was as dangerous as a naval battle. The sailors +went after it in small boats, and a whale was rarely captured under +six or seven hours.... The sea is supposed to be very dangerous. +As a matter of fact, a sea voyage is not as dangerous as a railroad +journey. Take a hundred thousand people who travel a given number of +hours by rail, and compare them with a hundred thousand who travel a +like number of hours by sea, and those traveling by sea will have very +much the best of it, so far as safety is concerned. Indeed, going to +sea is safer than staying at home. Ever remark the great number of +people who are killed around home? The newspapers are full of dreadful +accidents occurring in quiet, rural communities where life is supposed +to be particularly safe. Every time a farmer hitches up a team, he runs +a risk. A buggy-ride is dangerous; the hold-back straps are liable +to break, in going down hill; and a buggy running onto the heels +of a horse is almost sure to cause an accident. And public streets +and roads are more dangerous than ever since automobiles became so +numerous.... In seacoast towns everywhere may be seen thousands of +old men + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 179]</span> + +who have spent their lives at sea almost without accident. An insurance +company regards a seaman as a safe risk; as safe as a farmer. It isn’t +the danger that should keep you off the sea; it is seasickness, and +four in a room 9×10 feet. Nor is it the expense that should keep you +off the sea. For this voyage of practically twenty days I pay $150; or +$7.50 a day. It would cost that at a New York hotel for room and board. +And there are sea voyages much cheaper than this one: there is a White +Star boat running between Sydney and London, by way of South Africa, +which charges about $5 a day for the journey. It combines first, second +and third-class into one class, but is said to be very fair.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19.—We are the only +Americans on board the “Anchises,” although a passenger from London +once met an American who lived in Connecticut. The Londoner asked me +today if I knew his Connecticut friend. I was compelled to confess I +did not know him, although the London man said his friend was one of +the prominent men of that part of the world.... It seems we are not +a musical crowd; although a concert has been announced for the night +before we reach Durban, there is no one to play the piano. I suggested +to a member of the Sports Committee that some of us might learn, as we +would have ample time, but he did not believe my scheme practical. A +man on board has a graphophone, with sixty records, and this is going a +good deal. Last night he loaned the machine to his nurse girl, and she +gave a concert on the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 180]</span> + +lower deck for the benefit of the crew. One +of the firemen plays the violin, and the laundry girls, stewardesses +and nurse girls danced with members of the crew. It was a bright +moonlight night, and this social event attracted more attention than +anything else we have had on board. There was a euchre tournament in +the smoking-room, but it did not attract as much attention as the +dance. Euchre is called a “nigger’s game” here; it is said to be so +simple that niggers can learn it.... Women are in the smoking-room +of the “Anchises” constantly, but some captains do not allow this: +they say the smoking-room is for men, and that if women are allowed in +the room, some of the men will keep out.... The Eurasian on board +speaks no English, and, in addition, has had toothache for more than +a week. Toothache is one of the dangers of the sea. Captain Trask +told me that he once suffered seven weeks with toothache, when on a +sailing-ship, and was not free from pain a moment during all that +time. On a sailing-ship there is no doctor; the captain doctors the +sailors when they become ill, and usually he doesn’t know much about +medicine.... We have had an unusually smooth sea today, but the +weather has been cloudy; we have not had a clear day since leaving +Adelaide, although the sun occasionally shows itself for a short +time.... The English people are as crazy about cricket as Americans +are about baseball. A man who attends all cricket games, and knows all +the fine points, is called a “barracker.” But he does not abuse the +players, as do our baseball fans; a “barracker” seems to be more of a +gentleman than a “fan.” ... I don’t believe I look at the sea more than +once a day; + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 181]</span> + +usually, when I get up in the morning, I look out the window, and +remark that the sea is smoother or rougher than yesterday, but that +is about all. I have never seen anything beautiful or unusual at sea, +except one evening when on the “Sonoma.” I was leaning over the rail +forward, as the sun was setting. The rays of the setting sun were +reflected in the waves rolled up by the prow of the ship; I could see +all the colors of the rainbow, and the effect was very unusual and +beautiful. But as a rule, the sea is never majestic, though it is +frequently what the English call “nasty.” ... This is our seventh +day out, and we have not seen a sail or ship. One day we saw a black +spot which might have been smoke from a steamer, but that is all. Even +the albatross have deserted us, and we are as lonely as lonely can be. +The members of the Sports Committee are working hard to Keep Something +Going On, but they are not meeting with any great success. It is +amusing to see them hunt up players for the different games. The head +of the Sports Committee + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 182]</span> + +is a fine old gentleman named Irons, a friend of ours, and we find a +good deal of amusement in watching him worry around like the man who +proposed a picnic which isn’t going very well. We try to take the +Sports Committee seriously, since the other passengers would probably +think us “funny” if we did not (if they do not already entertain that +suspicion), but as a matter of fact the Sports Committee is a joke +to us. “Well,” one member of the committee said to me this evening, +“it has been a strenuous day.” I thought it the dullest day I ever +experienced anywhere. We hear this evening that our friend Mr. Irons, +head of the Sports Committee, is in bed as a result of the excitement +of the day, and we are laughing at him, in which his wife joins +us.... It is at least clean at sea; no dust and no dirt. If it were +not for the idea of it, you might wear a collar a week at sea.... +Somewhere out in this wilderness there is said to be a large island +where the women greatly outnumber the men; of six hundred adults, five +hundred are women. I have forgotten the name of the place, but I have +heard the men talk about it a good deal. On this island, the men do +nothing, and the women wait upon them with great cheerfulness. A man +is at liberty to have as many wives as he pleases; the men tell very +amusing stories about life on the island, and usually they tell them in +the presence of the women, to adorn a moral. This paradise for men is +known in a general way as “The Island,” and I am of the opinion that +it is an invention of some man who has dreamed of such a place, after +being imposed upon a good deal by women and girls.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20.—In Australia, +what we call a tramp is known as a “Sundowner,” because of his habit +of appearing at sundown, and asking for a night’s entertainment.... +The best thing we have to eat on the ship is oatmeal, which is served +every morning for breakfast. I have been neglecting this nutritious and +palatable food for years, having drifted off to new breakfast foods +extensively advertised, but I shall drift back to the Old Reliable, as +I find it surprisingly good.... Opposite me on deck today sat a woman + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 183]</span> + +reading an English magazine. On the front cover was an advertisement +of “Black and White” whisky. The magazine was about the size of our +<i>Ladies’ Home Journal</i>; imagine that fine publication with a whisky +advertisement occupying two-thirds of the front cover page.... A +passenger named Grice was telling this morning of an uncomfortable +experience. He was riding after cattle on the plains of Australia, +when his horse fell over an ant-hill. The horse broke its neck, and +fell on the man in such a way as to pin him to the ground. After six +or seven hours, help arrived. There was no surgeon in the district, +and the man was carried to Melbourne, 180 miles. Here he was operated +on seven times, and is just out of the hospital, where he spent eight +months. He is on his way to Mombasa, in Africa, to hunt. When surgeons +and hospitals are mentioned, I find that the Mayos, of Rochester, +Minnesota, are known everywhere.... I have heard that some men, when +they return from a long trip abroad, are very conceited about it, and +talk too much of their experiences. In case I am so fortunate as to +return from this trip, I shall be very modest, and greatly admire those +who had sense enough to remain at home. How I admire Uncle Bruce, of +Potato Hill farm, who has nothing to do this winter except haul manure +from town for his next year’s crop! What good things he has to eat down +at the farm-house! And what an appetite he has! I wish I could change +places with him. For dinner today we had venison and pheasant, but they +tasted like leather. Game kept a long time isn’t fit to eat.... Last +night there was a dance on deck, and members of the Sports Committee +were indignant + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 184]</span> + +because of the small attendance. “We have worked hard to provide +amusement,” they said, “and almost no one is dancing.” It has probably +never occurred to the members of the Sports Committee that they are +a nuisance rather than a blessing. It would be very much pleasanter +on board if a Gay Time had never been thought of. I do not care to +dance; nor do I care to have members of the Sports Committee urge me +to dance. If I care to play quoits, or any other of the deck games, I +do not need a Sports Committee to urge me. The members of the Sports +Committee think it an outrage that Adelaide does not dance, and look +at me reproachfully. I tell them I had nothing to do with it; that +her parents are church members, and do not believe in dancing. This +also greatly astonishes them. It wouldn’t surprise me if the members +of the Sports Committee did not finally get into trouble with some +of the other passengers who want to be let alone. I hear a good deal +of grumbling in the smoking-room from men who are being constantly +urged to dance, take part in the concert, play skittles, or quoits, or +deck billiards, or sea croquet. The members of the Sports Committee +remind me of five or six men who decide that a town needs another +lodge, and bore all the other citizens to join. Wherever you go, on +land or sea, you find impudent men who urge others to do things there +is no necessity for doing. Our pastor, the tall clergyman heretofore +mentioned, is far more considerate of us than members of the Sports +Committee. Sunday morning he sends a steward about the deck tolling a +gong, to give notice that religious services will shortly be held in +the music-room; but those who do + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 185]</span> + +not care to attend are not reprimanded by the holy man for +absence. I thoroughly dislike a man who is forever protesting because +others do not accept his notions, or admire whatever he happens to +admire. Always remember that what you regard as the greatest thing +in the world may be regarded as the most useless by many worthy and +intelligent people.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, FEBRUARY 21.—On this ship are +eighteen thousand frozen sheep carcasses, en route from Australia +to London. In order to keep this meat properly, great refrigerators +are necessary. This frozen-meat trade is the source of Australia’s +prosperity; before it was inaugurated, Australian sheep were not worth +much except for their wool and tallow; old-timers in Australia remember +when a sheep carcass might be bought for a shilling. This frozen-meat +trade is also carried on between South America and England, and the +result is that the English have cheap meat. The people of the United +States might have cheap meat, also, were it not for the tariff. Our +admiration for the farmer is so great that we pay a third or half more +for meat than is necessary, in order that the farmer may receive high +prices for his live-stock. When an American goes to a meat market, +would he cheerfully pay thirty cents instead of twenty for a piece of +meat were it not for his Statesmen? I have always doubted that the +people see the advantage of a high tariff; it is the Statesmen who are +able to figure it out.... The men who thought of the frozen-meat + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 186]</span> + +scheme did a lot for humanity, but probably no one knows who they are; +hundreds of men had a little to do with it.... The captain says a +ship loaded with frozen meat arrives in England from Australia or South +America every day of the year.... The “Anchises,” on its last voyage +out to Australia, was in a great storm in the Bay of Biscay, and the +ship’s doctor was seasick four days. “Tell me,” I said to the doctor +today, “how a big storm at sea looks.” “Blessed if I know,” he replied; +“I was sick in bed; I didn’t see anything of it.” ... My dining-room +steward says the captain is always sick for a day or two after leaving +port, but the other ship employees deny this. They say that on leaving +port the captain has his meals served in his room, which is near the +bridge, and thus the story of seasickness started.... We have had +a bad sea all day, with drizzling rain. Not many are sick, owing to +the ship’s unusual steadiness. It rolls and pitches, but gently, and +I wonder the “Anchises” is not famous the world over for its unusual +sea-going qualities. Some ships cut up at sea, however carefully +they were built, while occasionally one will prove unusually steady. +The “Maunganui” was a big ship, and very handsome, but it had a +certain little movement of its own that was atrocious. While lying +in my bed, the ship came up under me in such a way as to make me +feel as though I were hanging on a clothesline, with the back of my +head dangling against my heels.... The English have many customs +and pronunciations I do not understand. How much do you suppose a +hundredweight is in England? Not a hundred pounds, but a hundred and +twelve pounds.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 187]</span></p> + +<p>A ton, consequently, is not 2,000 pounds, but 2,240 pounds; and this +system bothers every country with which England does business. The +English also use the term guinea in reckoning money, although there is +no such coin, nor is English paper money issued in guineas. A guinea is +as much more than $5 as a pound is less. If the people of the United +States should invent a slang term meaning $1.03, and occasionally use +it in reckoning money, instead of the dollar, it would be about the +same thing as the English custom of occasionally dragging out the word +guinea, and using it, to confuse strangers.... Some Americans say, +“Don’t you know?” in conversation, and it is a very bad habit, since +the term is meaningless, and soon gets on the nerves of the listener. +The English make fun of the expression, and represent all Americans +as saying “Don’t you know?” It is a fact that too many of them do. +But Australians add, “You see” to their statements a great deal. I +believe a majority of the Australians say “Yis,” instead of “Yes,” and +they have many other oddities of speech which grate on the nerves of +Americans, who believe in pure as well as free speech.... On a rough +night, the squeaks in a ship sleeping-room are worth mentioning. Last +night as I lay in bed, I made note of the squeaks, and could distinctly +count four different ones: two for each pitch, and two for each roll. +When the weather is fine, there is no strain on the ship, and the +squeaks disappear.... This morning at 10 o’clock the captain made a +calculation, and said the time in Atchison was 10 P.M. Thursday night. +He showed me how he figured it. Atchison is in 96 degrees longitude; + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 188]</span> + +therefore it is six hours and twenty-four minutes <i>behind</i> Greenwich +time. The ship today is in 80 degrees longitude, and therefore five +hours and twenty minutes <i>ahead</i> of Greenwich. To be exact, the +difference in time between Atchison and the position of the ship today +is eleven hours and forty-four minutes.... The lady who has five +children and two nurses on board says that babies should be made to +mind when six months old. I told her that in America we did not begin +spanking that young; that our rule was to spank girl babies at eight +months, and boy babies at one year.... Which recalls the fact that I +have lately been reading R. A. Wallace’s “Malay Archipelago.” Wallace +spent several years in that section in hunting the orang-utan, the +monkey-like animal which is most like man. One day he killed an adult +female, and found that it had a baby six or seven weeks old. This he +tried to raise, hoping to present it to the British Museum. He found +the baby orang-utan very much like a human baby. It cried for food, or +when uncomfortable, and became so badly spoilt that he was compelled +to spank it when it became four or five months old. Unfortunately +the little orang-utan contracted an illness about this time, and all +Professor Wallace could do was not sufficient to save its life.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22.—A howling gale +has been raging all day. On the upper deck this afternoon, many of +the passengers were soaked by a wave which came aboard. The wind is +following us, and pushing the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 189]</span> + +ship along; the sailors say that a head-wind would have resulted in as +bad a day as is usually seen at sea. The decks are slippery, and those +who go out are in constant danger of being soaked with spray. For a +wonder, I am not seasick, and spent my time talking with passengers who +have visited strange places. One man lived for a time in one of the +remote islands of the Malay archipelago, where the natives wear very +little clothing, and he says the men have the handsomest figures he +has ever seen; that the marble figures in art galleries do not equal +living examples in Borneo. The figures of the men are much superior to +the figures of the women. Occasionally a very young girl will have a +good figure, but never equal to a boy of the same age; men of thirty +have splendid figures, whereas women of that age have no figures at +all.... A bird known as the hornbill is found in Borneo. When the +female has laid a sufficient number of eggs, the male seals her up +in the nest, which is in a hollow tree, and compels her to sit until +germination takes place. While the female is a prisoner, the male feeds +her faithfully. Another bird deposits its eggs in a pile, covers them +over with sand, and leaves hatching to the sun. A half-dozen hens will +place their eggs in the same pile. When the eggs are hatched, the young +are immediately able to look after themselves.... In some of the +islands of the archipelago there are no judges, courts, or policemen, +yet the natives are well behaved, and crime is almost unknown. This, my +informant says, is probably the natural state of man; wherever crime +is rampant among savages, it has usually been introduced by members of +civilized races. In a state of + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 190]</span> + +nature, a man soon learns that if he expects his rights, he must +respect the rights of others; therefore if he desires peaceable +possession of his house, or his cattle, or his wives, he must respect +the property rights of others. Crime seems to be the product of +civilization, and not of savagery.... Captain Warrall says there is +nothing in the story that he becomes seasick every time he leaves port. +But he says it is a fact that when he goes to sea after a long stay on +land, he suffers with a headache for several hours. This headache is +due to the motion of the ship, and he believes most sea-going men are +affected in the same way. The second engineer told me he had the same +experience as the captain, and my room steward says that on leaving +London or Sydney he always gets a headache, which does not entirely +disappear until the second day out.... In the old days when I was a +reporter on the Atchison <i>Globe</i>, I thought it a good item when I found +a farmer’s boy with forty rabbits. I found a better rabbit story than +that today. On this ship are one hundred and eighty thousand frozen +rabbits, en route for London, every one of them trapped. Rabbits in +our country are ruined by being shot; we have never learned the art +of trapping them. I have been familiar with rabbits all my life, but +never knew a man who could trap them. In Australia, rabbit-catching is +a trade, and the rabbit-catchers have a union, which was raising quite +a disturbance while I was there, by threatening a strike. The rabbits +caught in Australia and shipped to England bring in a tremendous sum +of money annually; I have forgotten the figures, but the total is +enormous. Rabbits were imported into Australia + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 191]</span> + +by members of an energetic Sports Committee. In the early days certain +of the citizens of Australia said: “Our people have no amusement; +let us import rabbits from England, that there may be something to +hunt.” So a Sports Committee was formed, and members of it held public +meetings, and passed subscription papers, and abused those who did not +give. As a result of it all, rabbits were imported from England, and +they are now a far greater pest than English sparrows are in the United +States.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, FEBRUARY 23.—Our tall pastor +conducted Holy Communion services at 7 o’clock this morning, in the +music-room. There were four present: the pastor, his wife, his nurse +maid, and myself. I am a very early riser, and this service was the +only thing going on; besides, I nearly always sympathize with a small +attendance. Our pastor carries two uniforms with him; a white one +fringed with black, and another entirely of black, which he wore this +morning. I am inclined to believe that he is Low Church. The most +animated and vicious church row I was ever familiar with started +because a certain pastor insisted on using wafers in his communion +service, whereas a bossy woman in the congregation preferred bread. +Bread is Low Church; wafers represent the High, I am told.... +Although only three persons attended the communion service, out of a +total of possibly three hundred on the ship, our pastor does not go +around making sneering remarks about his efforts not being + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 192]</span> + +appreciated, as do members of the Sports Committee. I am inclined +to believe that the tall pastor is right. The communion service +was advertised by posting notice of it on the bulletin board. +The passengers know about hell, and about its rewards offered by +the church; the pastor is quite right in letting them alone. As +old-fashioned children used to say, you can lead a horse to water, but +you can’t make him drink.... We feel tonight that we are almost +within sight of Durban; we are still more than two thousand miles away, +but we should be there in six more days, and we shall not mind the +last two or three, in making preparations to land. The sun came out +this afternoon, and the sea is smoother, so that we are all feeling +better.... Back of the smoking-room there is a balcony where the +passengers often sit. The young engineers also come up from the deck +below, and sit in the balcony at times, when off duty. I have become +acquainted with a number of them, and ask them questions about the +sea. They explained to me where the Pacific ocean ends, and the Indian +ocean begins. The line is somewhere in the vicinity of Melbourne, so +that Australia is partly in the Indian ocean and partly in the Pacific. +Flowing eastward from Africa, there is a great current. After reaching +the vicinity of Melbourne and Tasmania the current turns, and flows +westward five or six thousand miles. The two currents are a thousand +miles apart. The “Anchises” came out in the current flowing eastward, +and did not stop at Durban, but, on its homeward voyage, it is in the +current flowing westward. The engineers say this current probably +caused the Indian ocean to be distinguished from the Pacific....</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 193]</span></p> + +<p>At dinner tonight, the decline of American shipping came up. “When +I went to sea as a boy,” Captain Warrall said, “the American clipper +ships were the pride and envy of all seamen. They could sail all around +the English, and the Maine Yankees could do it today, as they have +repeatedly proven in the international yacht races. I often think it +is incorrect to speak of the decline of American shipping. Some of the +finest ships afloat should carry the stars-and-stripes, since they +are owned and controlled by American capitalists. Were it not for the +American policy of protection, the seas would glisten with the stars +and stripes. As a famous American says, ‘There’s a Reason’ for American +cargoes being carried in foreign ships. The reason is that English +seamen receive about half as much pay as your seamen receive. The +fact that you Yankees do not own ships is really another of your cute +tricks; you get your carrying done cheaper in another way.” ... A +citizen of Melbourne was at the table, and he said he saw the fleet of +American warships come into that harbor a few years ago. He spoke very +highly of the crews; he was on the streets of Melbourne constantly, and +saw thousands of American sailors, but did not see one who was drunk +or rude. It is the commonest sort of thing here to hear both English +and Colonists speak in the highest possible terms of America and the +American people.... I frequently hear this, too: “You Americans give +tips too liberally.” So far as I am concerned, I only conform to a +custom established by the English. I give because it is the custom, and +give no more than seems to be necessary to prevent a riot. The English +also + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 194]</span> + +have an exaggerated notion of tipping in America. One of them told me +today that he understood that when a bell-boy took a guest to a room +in an American hotel, he was impudent unless he received a dollar. +Nothing in the story, of course; and many of the other stories told +of Americans over here are equally untrue and absurd.... On the +“Maunganui,” in which I sailed from New Zealand to Australia, there +was no concert. But an active, meddlesome man could have arranged one, +and organized a Sports Committee to unnecessarily bother at least +three-fourths of the passengers. Behave yourself, and let others alone, +is a good rule.... At 3 o’clock this afternoon a woman slipped into +the music-room, and began singing, playing her own accompaniments. +There is nothing quite so absurd as an amateur singer who cannot sing +much, and who is quavery and uncertain. This woman was very bad, and I +understand she is to appear at the Grand Concert arranged by the Sports +Committee.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, FEBRUARY 24.—There is a sick +woman on board, and the other women pay her a great deal of attention. +Two of them attend her constantly, in her room and on deck, and a dozen +others would gladly do as much, if opportunity presented. Another woman +passenger looks after the sick woman’s two children.... There is +also a sick man on board. He is very ill, and I doubt if he will live +to reach Liverpool. Occasionally, on fine days, a steward brings him on +deck, where he looks pale and unhappy, and pants for breath, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 195]</span> + +but as a rule he is confined to his stuffy room, where no one sees +him except the doctor. I have never seen a sick man more completely +neglected, whereas the woman passenger who is ill receives every +possible attention. The women say the sick man prefers to be let alone, +but I don’t believe it. The sick man is a tragedy in loneliness. He +came out on the “Anchises” from London, hoping the voyage would benefit +him, but it has harmed him instead.... The sky is very brilliant at +night, and we see many shooting stars; and every time we see a shooting +star we wish that Mr. Riley will fall overboard. Mr. Riley is indulging +in a great big drunk, and I hear he has borrowed money from half the +men on board, promising to pay on arrival at Durban. Mr. Riley is a +very active member of the Sports Committee, and prominent in everything +except the Holy Communion services held every Sunday morning. I do not +believe he has heard of these, as he gambles in the smoking-room until +a late hour every night, and does not get up very early. If Mr. Riley +should hear of the early communion service in the music-room, he would +certainly advise the tall pastor as to its ceremonies, for he offers +advice in everything else. My room is near the bar, and I never go to +it that I do not hear Mr. Riley calling on the barkeeper to hurry along +the grog. Mr. Riley also has a very irritating laugh, and I have come +to dislike him as much as a menagerie monkey dislikes a boy. Last night +there was a dance held near my room, and this, in addition to Mr. Riley +and the bar, kept me awake until long after midnight.... “Of course +you know why the men wear colored socks,” a man said + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 196]</span> + +to me on deck last night. “It is because colored socks do not show +dirt, and can be worn until they are filthy. I wear white socks, and +probably change them oftener than any other passenger on the ship, but +I think I am a marked man because of my white socks. I often catch the +other passengers looking at my feet in wonder.” I asked him if he also +wore a night-gown, instead of pajamas, and he said he did, whereupon +we organized a club, as I also wear white socks and a night-gown. +Pajamas do not seem enough of a change from pants and shirts, and I +cannot sleep in them; and colored socks irritate my ankles.... On +the ship, children are almost universally called kids, or kiddies, +another form of bad English which Americans deplore. There are eighteen +children on board, and the ship resembles a nursery. Even the stewards +privately complain of the incessant racket. This morning most of the +passengers shifted to the port side of the deck, but we remained on the +starboard side, because all of the children went with the crowd. “You +must be enjoying a quiet and pleasant day,” the deck steward said to +us. A good many of the passengers had their chairs shifted back to the +starboard side, and I heard them grumbling about the noise; from which +I am led to believe that if the passengers spoke their minds freely, +a protest would go up to the captain about Mr. Riley, the Sports +Committee, and the “kiddies.” ... A passenger was telling today of a +man he once knew in Melbourne who took thirty drinks of whisky a day. +Finally, during an illness, the doctor advised him that he must be more +temperate; that twenty drinks a day were enough. The man tried twenty +drinks a day, but + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 197]</span> + +the almost total abstinence from alcohol killed him.... A prominent +citizen of Sydney, with whom I talk a great deal, says many of his +fellow-citizens believe that if the government had kept out of railroad +building, and left it to private enterprise, the country would have +many more miles of railroad, and double its present population. +Considering the resources of the country, the railroad facilities of +Australia are insignificant. There are half a dozen different railroads +running finer trains in little Kansas than may be seen in Australia. +And both freight and passenger rates are lower in Kansas than in +Australia; service is better, and the employees receive higher wages. +There is something wrong with the Australian railways, and I believe it +is government ownership.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, FEBRUARY 25.—Today we had a +cricket match between members of the crew and the passengers. Score, +29 to 27, in favor of the crew. The features of the game were: 1. The +batting of Mr. Connell, who sits at our table; 2. The bowling (which +means pitching) of Mr. Connell; 3. The bad playing of Mr. Riley, whom +we hate; 4. The appearance of a Mr. May, a passenger, as a barracker +for the crew. A barracker in cricket means the same thing as a fan in +baseball, and Mr. May’s line of talk in making fun of the passenger +players was very good. I coached him a little in baseball talk, and +the mean way in which he said, “Take him out!” when a pitcher was hit +freely, was quite a pleasant reminder of home.... One + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 198]</span> + +of the players in the ship’s team was the young man who appears +when you press a button in the smoking-room; in short, he is one +of two bartenders employed on the “Anchises.” This young man was a +particularly good pitcher. The best batter on the ship’s team was the +second officer. There is a democracy in sport which levels all rank. +The game lasted nearly two hours, and I picked up a smattering of +the rules. There are eleven players on a side, and each player must +take his turn at batting; but the best pitchers of the team may do +all the pitching. Before a batter is out, the pitcher must knock down +the wicket with the ball; sometimes a batter knocks the ball about a +long time before he is out. Mr. Connell, who sits at our table, made +nineteen scores before they got him out, and batted three-quarters of +an hour.... A good many of the passengers are mining men from South +Africa. Among these is a man who was born in America, but who has lived +among Englishmen so long that he cannot be distinguished from them. He +married an English woman, and has three children who have a very rich +brogue. The man told me today that he very naturally fell into the ways +of the English within a year after going to South Africa, and that +now our pronunciations amuse him as much as they amuse the English. +He plays cricket, likes it better than baseball, and pitches with the +peculiar twist which distinguishes the English game.... This evening +I saw a man sitting on deck apparently curling his moustache. Later it +developed that he was getting a string around an aching tooth; this +accomplished, he pulled the tooth with a single jerk. He said to me: +“In a year or two I shall + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 199]</span> + +have them all out, and put in a full set of good teeth.” All the people +here seem to look forward to the time when they will have all their +teeth out, and put in a full set of the kind supplied by dentists. One +of the first things you notice here is the great number of people with +full sets of false teeth. I believe I could name a dozen comparatively +young women on this ship who have no teeth of their own.... We have +been in the South-east trade-winds several days; the smoke from our +funnels is always ahead of us. On this track the wind blows in the same +direction for months at a time; there is also a current flowing with +the wind. A thousand miles south of us, the current flows eastward, and +the winds blow eastward as steadily as they blow westward here.... +There is gossip on board to the effect that the two women passengers +who have been nursing the sick woman, have quarreled. The invalid is +carried on deck every fine day, and reclines on a cot, and it has +been remarked that one of her volunteer nurses has disappeared; she +is sulking in her room over some affront offered her by the other +volunteer nurse. The passengers are much interested in the row. The +nurse who is still on duty will leave the ship next Sunday, at Durban, +and her rival will have a clear field during the run of nearly three +weeks to Liverpool. The invalid was injured in a hunting accident; her +horse fell while going over a hedge. She is a particularly nice woman, +and one of the amusements on deck is to visit with her as much as the +nurses will allow. And she has a baby boy called “Captain,” who is +loved by everybody.... On deck this afternoon, a woman ordered her + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 200]</span> + +two boys to go to their room, and wash their faces. Much to my +surprise, they did it. In America, when a woman tells her child to +do anything, he attempts to argue her out of the notion, and usually +succeeds. The children on the ship are somewhat annoying; not because +they do not mind well, but because they are left to themselves. Their +mothers are generally members of the Sports Committee, and their +nurses are flirting with members of the crew. There is one very +noisy youngster who is rapidly driving me to distraction. She has a +nurse, but I have not seen the nurse all day.... The mother of a +ten-year-old boy on board says he does not know anything about money; +that he can’t tell a shilling from a penny. At home, a boy of that +age would be packing a newspaper route, and know all about money. I +particularly admired Captain Trask, of the “Sonoma,” because he told me +two of his sons were carrying newspaper routes. That’s the way to bring +up a boy in town; buy him a newspaper route by the time he is nine or +ten years old, and let him learn who is good, and who is not.... +Mr. Riley, who has not yet fallen overboard, although all of us have +wished it on every shooting star since leaving Adelaide, believes he +is the life of the ship, and a general favorite, although I believe I +have never known anyone to be more generally disliked. He is always +half-drunk, and thinks that is the proper thing on shipboard. There is +a disagreeable smell about a steady drinker, and Mr. Riley has it in +a very marked degree. I once heard him say to a modest, gentlemanly +man with whom he was arguing: “You must confess that you admire a good +fellow who spends his money more + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 201]</span> + +than you admire the saving, industrious man who doesn’t.” ... Mr. +Riley is that sort of a fool; and that sort is the very worst kind. +The man Mr. Riley was arguing with made a stinging reply, but Mr. +Riley is usually so drunk that he doesn’t know it when repartee goes +against him.... Next to our table in the dining-room sit a father +and mother and their grown son. Every morning the wife and mother gives +her orders to her men-folks for the day, and points out what they did +the day before that was displeasing. They talk in low tones, but we +can generally hear what they say. The son seems to be the principal +culprit, as he is paying attention to a certain Miss Helen the mother +does not like; but the husband is well trained, for I have noticed that +he takes his orders humbly.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26.—This evening +members of the crew gave a concert on deck, for the amusement of the +passengers. The concert did not begin until 9 o’clock, as most of the +performers are waiters in the dining-room, and they were compelled +to “do up” their work before starting.... As is common at amateur +concerts, the stage was the best part of it. There were elaborate +lighting effects, including footlights, and much nice furniture, and +palms, had been loaned for the occasion. As usual, the disturbance was +not ten feet from my door; as a matter of fact, I loaned my cabin for +a dressing-room. Toward the sea, the space above the rail was covered +with flags, and the result was a very elaborate little theatre.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 202]</span></p> + +<p>Steamerchairs were arranged in rows for the convenience of the +passengers, and these chairs are much more comfortable than theatre +chairs. As is customary at such events here, there was a chairman: +John Adams, the chief engineer, who announced the numbers, although +elaborate programmes had been printed, and sold at a shilling each. +Mr. Adams sat near the stage, with a table in front of him, and on the +table was a pitcher of water and a tumbler. “The first item on the +programme,” Mr. Adams announced, “will be a song by W. Mansbridge, +entitled ‘Captain Ginjah, O. T.’” An American would have said, “The +first number on the programme,” but here they always say “The first +item on the programme.” ... W. Mansbridge turned out to be the +steward who has charge of Adelaide’s room, and we were quite proud of +his performance, as he was called back twice. The affair throughout was +considerably better than the average amateur concert in a town the size +of Atchison. The young man who waits on us in the dining-room appeared +as a female impersonator, but was very awkward; in fact, about the +worst of the lot. He thought he must “act natural,” and walk about, and +all the performers had the same notion. Another of the singers was the +assistant barkeeper who had distinguished himself the day before in a +cricket match. But he was painfully frightened, when singing before an +audience, and could not show off a voice which was really quite good. A +dining-room steward named R. Morris was positively clever; if he had a +little training, he could make a living as an actor-singer, as he has +an excellent voice, and is young and good-looking.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 203]</span></p> + +<p>J. S. Tait, the purser’s clerk, appeared in a series of crayon +sketches which were very good. Another clever performer was W. A. +Dalton, who, I believe, is storekeeper.... At the conclusion of +the entertainment, Mr. Adams, the chairman, proposed a vote of thanks +to Miss Woodburn, a passenger, who had volunteered as accompanist. +Thereupon the chairman of the Sports Committee made a speech, and +endorsed the motion to adopt a vote of thanks to Miss Woodburn; indeed, +he moved a vote of thanks not only to Miss Woodburn, but to the +captain, crew, etc. At mention of his name, Captain Warrall, who had +come down quietly from the upper deck, slipped out; I don’t think he +cares much about mingling with the passengers. Anyhow, he acts bored +when with them, and we do not see much of him. But the proposition +of the chairman of the Sports Committee was adopted, and, this being +accomplished, we sang “God Save the King,” and went to bed, or to +the smoking-room, or to walk the decks. “God Save the King” is sung +at the conclusion of every entertainment here, including dances; it +is the same air as our “My Country, ’Tis of Thee.” But the words are +different; the English words begin: “God save our gracious king, long +live our noble king. Send him victorious, happy and glorious, long +to reign over us. God save the king.” While we stole the tune from +the English, they stole it from the Germans; so it is to the Germans +that both Americans and English should apologize.... Mr. Riley, of +course, attended the concert, and, being drunk, and knowing most of the +songs on the programme, sang as loudly as the performers, very much to +the disgust of the passengers.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 204]</span></p> + +<p>A good many have threatened to “speak” to Mr. Riley, and tell him +plainly that he is a nuisance, but so far no one has done so, and he +is still of the opinion that all of us will greatly miss him when he +leaves the ship at Durban.... I have had neuralgia in the face +several days, and the ship doctor said to me: “When a man has used +tobacco many years, and quits, the effect upon his system is very +great. Try smoking two strong cigars.” I had his prescription filled at +the bar, and enjoyed an exquisite pleasure; cigars never tasted so good +before. I hoped that I had lost my taste for them, but found I hadn’t. +The men were very much amused over the doctor’s prescription. Did the +cigars do the neuralgia any good? The pain stopped within five minutes +after I began smoking, and has not returned since. I smoked only two, +and I shall not smoke again except on the advice of a physician.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27.—I find that Mr. +May, the fine old gentleman who was attended by so many friends when he +embarked at Adelaide, is manufacturer of May’s Complete Harvester, the +Australian machine which strips off the heads of wheat. This machine +also threshes the wheat, or separates it from the husks, and, within an +hour after cutting, the grain is ready to be sent to market. At home we +cut wheat with a binder, which drops it in sheaves. These sheaves are +then set up in the field to dry, and, in a few days, stacked. After the +stack has gone through a sweat, a thresher is sent for, and the grain +made ready for + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 205]</span> + +market. Some farmers thresh out of the field, within a few weeks after +cutting, but old-fashioned farmers prefer stacking. The Australian +way seems very much better than our way, and Mr. May says that with +his machine, wheat may be harvested at an expense of only 25 cents an +acre for labor. The May machine sells for from four to six hundred +dollars, cuts from five to eight feet, and is drawn by from four to +six horses. The machine has cut as high as thirty acres in a day, +with everything running favorably, and has been in practical use in +Australia for twelve years. There is waste in any method, but Mr. May +says his complete harvester saves as large a per cent of the wheat as +the best machine manufactured in America. He told me of a farmer with +400 acres of wheat who harvested it with the assistance of a man and a +boy. It is probable that the May machine would not work satisfactorily +in our section, although it might prove successful in the dry districts +further west. Mr. May admits that his complete harvester is a success +only when the wheat is very dry and very ripe. A little dampness would +necessitate the use of the older-fashioned binder.... Mr. May says +wheat-growing in Australia has been revolutionized by the discovery +that the land needed phosphate. This was supplied at a cost of about +$2 an acre, and the wheat yield doubled. Virgin land is now fertilized +with phosphate, which is drilled in with the wheat. The discovery that +the land needed additional phosphate was made by a young scientist in +an agricultural college; farmers everywhere should pay more attention +to the doings of agricultural colleges, horticultural societies, etc.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 206]</span></p> + +<p> ... Another great machine invented in Australia is the jump plow. +Much of the land in Australia is full of either stumps or stones. The +jump plow jumps the stumps or stones by means of a clever device, the +main feature of which is a hinge attachment. Most of the Australian +plows are in gangs of six to twelve, all of them supplied with the jump +attachment.... So far as I was able to judge from what Mr. May said, +our wheat yield is one-third or one-fourth greater per acre, without +fertilizer, than the wheat yield of Australia; but our land costs a +third more.... In Australia, when a young woman is called upon +regularly by a young man, he is known as a “follower.” In the section +of country where I live, he would be called the young woman’s “steady,” +or steady company.... Nine-tenths of the passengers on this ship +are Australians or New Zealanders, en route to England, and most of +them will return home by way of the United States, a route considerably +shorter than by way of Cape Town or the Suez Canal. Most of them have +interviewed me about routes, and I am now getting even with those +American railroads against which I have grudges.... Today we are off +the southern coast of Madagascar, but a drizzly rain is falling, and we +cannot see a half-mile from the ship. At noon the distance to Durban is +about the distance from New York to Chicago, which is made by railroad +train in eighteen hours, but we shall not make it under three days and +nights, as we steam only 330 miles a day. This is our fifteenth day +at sea, without sight of land, and neither of our double engines has +stopped once since they were started at Adelaide.... I believe + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 207]</span> + +I admire our tall pastor as much as anyone on board. He lets us +all alone, and does not ask us if we read the Bible, and say our +prayers. To let people alone is the most agreeable thing you can do +for them.... When you send a wireless telegram at sea, you are +compelled to sign the following agreement: “No company concerned in the +forwarding of this telegram shall be liable for any loss, injury, or +damage from non-transmission or non-delivery or neglect, in relation +to this telegram, or delay, or error, or omission in the transmission +thereof, through whatever cause such non-transmission, non-delivery, +neglect, delay, error or omission shall have occurred. Having read +the above conditions, I request that this telegram may be forwarded +according to said conditions, by which I agree to be bound.” ... +Under that agreement, the wireless operator might tear up every +telegram, and senders would have no redress. A wireless contract is as +one-sided as the contract you sign when you buy a steamship ticket. +When I bought two tickets for Durban from Adelaide, I was compelled to +sign a contract which relinquished every right I have in law. If the +captain sees fit, he may change his destination from Durban to Capetown +or Montevideo, and not go to Durban at all. In case he should conclude +to go to London direct, and not stop at any South-African port, I +agreed to pay him the price of two tickets between Durban and London. +If for any reason he finds it necessary or convenient to put into +any other port, to make repairs, I agreed to pay my board while such +repairs were being made. If the captain should take a dislike to me, +and put me off on the coast of Madagascar, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 208]</span> + +I agreed not to ask damages for the inconvenience when I purchased +my tickets. Fortunately, these cutthroat contracts are almost never +enforced, but they could be enforced should necessity arise.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, FEBRUARY 28.—This has been the +most miserable day I have ever spent at sea. A steady rain began +falling at daylight, and continued without intermission until evening. +The passengers were driven from the upper deck, and congregated on one +side of the main deck, where the children made more noise than ever. +The dampness was of the penetrating kind that reached our clothing and +our rooms, and we could not be comfortable anywhere.... About five +o’clock the rain ceased, and a boy went about beating a gong. This was +notice of a meeting of the general Sports Committee in the music-room, +to decide whether the fancy dress ball arranged for tonight should be +given up on account of the rain. The vote was in favor of going ahead +with it. The sailors at once began arranging the dry side of the deck +into a ball-room, and the passengers were forced to go to their cabins, +or sit in the smoking-room.... The fancy dress ball proved to be +more creditable than was anticipated. Those who took part wore their +costumes to dinner at 7 o’clock, and the children, nurses and stewards +gathered in the main hallway to see them go in. There were about +twenty-five costumes in all, nearly all of them made on board. One +young woman appeared as “Topsy,” and her feet were bare. Women usually + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 209]</span> + +dislike to show their feet, and there was a good deal of surprise +expressed because this woman appeared with nothing much on except a +dress made of coarse sacking. She not only appeared barefooted in the +dining-room, but danced in her bare feet. Afterwards the passengers +voted on the best costume, and “Topsy” won the second prize, the first +going to an English actor who appeared as Cardinal Wolsey.... Mr. +Riley borrowed a greasy suit of working-clothes from a sailor, and, +appearing at the dance as a Sundowner, or tramp, it became necessary +to take him away.... The gents who appeared in fancy dresses talked +about the ball until 1:30 A.M., as amateur actors talk about the +performance, and of course this talk centered around the bar. As my +room adjoins the bar, I heard the talk and the accompanying rattle of +glasses. So my disagreeable day began at 5:30 A. M., and ended at 1:30 +the following morning. I shall long remember February 28, 1913.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, MARCH 1.—On the lower deck this +morning there was a Pillow Fight, arranged by the Sports Committee. A +spar, or smooth pole, was fixed about six feet from the deck. Beneath +the spar was arranged a net made of heavy sail-cloth. Two men climbed +out on the pole, and fought with pillows, the aim of each man being to +knock his opponent off. The participants were not permitted to hold +to the pole with their hands, and they fell off very easily. This was +the only really amusing thing arranged by the Sports Committee at many +meetings announced by the disagreeable beating + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 210]</span> + +of a gong. The passengers witnessed the pillow fights from the deck +above, and screamed with laughter. The sea was rough, and every player +got one or more tumbles into the net.... Soon after the pillow +fight, I got even with members of the Sports Committee. They were +standing on the weather side of the lower deck, displaying their usual +gravity in superintending a foolish game, when a big wave came over +the side and soaked them all. This was even funnier than the pillow +fight, and the passengers enjoyed it quite as much.... The storm +which began with rain yesterday morning, increased in violence as +the day wore on, and it was soon necessary to suspend the sports. By +noon, the sea was much rougher than it has been at any time since we +left Adelaide on the 12th of last month. The passengers dreaded to go +to their rooms, as all portholes were closed; so the stewards found +it necessary to distribute the little tin affairs which add to the +discomfort of a sea voyage.... Throughout the day I did not feel +the slightest discomfort because of the terrific motion, and for the +first time witnessed a storm at sea from the deck of a ship. On a quiet +day the sea is very uninteresting, but on a rough day it is wonderful; +the waves seem to fight each other and the ship. Ten or twelve of the +passengers had gone to the upper deck to finish some foolish deck game, +when a wave swept over them. The ship reeled from the blow, and we saw +the water pouring in torrents from the roof of the deck where we sat. +Then down the stairway came not only a flood of water, but the soaked +passengers who had been playing the foolish game. They were as wet as +though they had been in swimming without + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 211]</span> + +removing their clothing. The same wave poured water into the skylight +over the dining-room, and flooded everything. After that, passengers +were not permitted on the storm side of either deck.... Late in +the afternoon I went to my room to take a nap. In order to get about +the ship, it was necessary to catch a quiet moment, and then take a +run. I soon went to sleep after reaching my room, but was awakened by +a tremendous rattle and bang in the bar, next door. A big roll had +sent most of the glassware crashing to the floor, and Mr. Riley will +be compelled to drink out of bottles. It was a great comfort to me to +get even with the barroom.... The stewards say the approach to +the coast of South Africa is always rough. The passengers are saying +that the storm will be very much worse during the night; that a sailor +told them so, but the chief engineer told me that a wireless message +announces that the weather at Durban is calm, and that we shall +certainly run out of the storm during the night.... At dinner, not +half the passengers were in their places, but Adelaide and I occupied +our usual seats at table, although we had a difficult time getting down +the two stairways to the dining-room. The dishes were fenced up, so +that they could not roll off the tables, and the portholes were under +water at every roll of the ship. The sick man who has been seen on deck +nearly every day of the voyage, surprised us all by appearing at dinner +for the first time, although he was almost literally carried down the +stairways, and across the dining-room floor. The diners at the two +centre tables were forced to go to other tables, owing to a crash in +the skylight above, and a downpour of water.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 212]</span></p> + +<p>But in spite of all this confusion, Mr. Connell, a very calm and +well-informed man who sits at my table, interested me by telling of +something he had read during the day. At the battle of Waterloo, +in 1812, less than 170,000 men were engaged. The battle lasted +twelve hours, yet the casualties amounted to 61,000. The battle of +Lule-Burgas, fought between the Bulgarians and Turks in 1912, lasted +five days, and, although 300,000 men took part with modern implements +of war, the casualties amounted to only 35,000. We moderns have more +effective weapons than the ancients, but seem afraid to use them. +The modern man has more sense than bravery. The old savage man had a +fool notion that it was bravery to fight for a ruler, but modern man +has discovered that bravery is to fight for himself, and meet his +ordinary difficulties with patience and fairness. The prizefighter is +brave in that he is able to stand a great deal of punishment, but in +private life he is not very nice, and often keeps a saloon and whips +his wife.... At dinner, Mr. Connell also told me that in Australia, +where the women have full suffrage, the wives of the workingmen often +vote against their husbands. In a certain election of 1911, the Labor +party demanded the adoption of a measure that would result in many +strikes and much disturbance. It was believed that the measure would +carry by a large majority, but the wives of the labor men generally +voted for peace, and the measure demanded by their husbands was +defeated by two to one.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<br> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i-219.jpg" alt="Various Photographs." width="600" height="370"> +</div> +<div class="caption center"> +A Caravan at rest    /    A Native Sledge +<br> +Cultivating Land, Egypt +<br> +Mohammedan Procession    /    Natives and Hut +</div> +<br> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 213]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, MARCH 2.—I passed out of +sight of land at Adelaide, South Australia, at 7:20 on the evening +of February 12, and picked it up again at 7 o’clock this morning, +when I awoke and looked out of the window to see how the weather was. +The land was South Africa. The voyage we have just completed takes +the passenger out of sight of land longer than any other now being +made in steamships. There are longer voyages, but on none of them +is the passenger out of sight of land for eighteen days. And during +the eighteen days we did not see a ship; no signs of life whatever, +except a few birds and a few flying-fish. It was a monotonous, dreary +experience I do not care to repeat.... South Africa, as seen in the +vicinity of Durban, is mountainous, and the mountains are covered with +verdure.... By 8:30, Durban could be plainly seen, and it did not +look unlike a portion of Sydney, with its residences scattered over the +hills, and almost every house covered with red tile roofing imported +from France.... The officers said we should tie up at the dock by +ten o’clock, and that is exactly what we did, although we did not reach +the hotel until nearly noon. The delay was caused, it was said, by the +slowness of the doctor and the customs officer, but I did not see the +doctor at all, and the customs officer, when I finally got to him, did +not open one of my packages. However, he charged me $3.75 duty on a +portable typewriter which I cannot learn to use, having so long been +accustomed to a different key-board. Once out of the customs house, we +called two negro ricksha men, and were soon on our way to the Marine +Hotel; we avoided the Royal because we had + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 214]</span> + +heard Mr. Riley say he intended to stop there. Most of the passengers +will spend the night ashore, as a relief from the long experience +with ship beds and ship fare. The negro ricksha men who pulled us to +the hotel wore cow-horns on their heads, and pieces of leopard skin +on their backs. The rickshas were marked: “For Europeans only,” and +the negroes carried us to the hotel on a keen trot, for a shilling +each. Our men carried cow-bells, which they rang frequently as warning +for pedestrians to get out of the way.... I have not lately been +surprised as agreeably as I am in Durban. Instead of being a rough, +crude place, it is one of the finest cities I have ever seen. The hotel +at which we are staying is as fine in every way as the Australia in +Sydney, a city of over half a million, and the price is the same: $3.60 +per day, including everything. The town hall in Durban is almost as +fine as the capital in some of the Australian states; and this town of +sixty thousand people, half of them black, has parks, business blocks, +zoölogical gardens, and private residences that would do credit to any +city of any size anywhere. We hired a new Overland automobile, driven +by an intelligent Englishman, and although gasoline costs forty cents a +gallon here, the charge was only $3 an hour. He took us to one of the +finest bathing-beaches I have seen anywhere, and many of the hotels +around it would be creditable in Atlantic City. Durban is tropical, and +the luxuriant growths of flowers and plants reminded us of Honolulu. +Another thing I did not know about Durban is that it has thousands of +Hindus; citizens of India. All the servants at the hotel where we are +staying are Hindus, and wear the picturesque + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 215]</span> + +costumes seen in India; during our ride today we saw literally +thousands of these people, and almost as many women and children as +men. In certain sections of Durban you see only Hindus, and temples +are almost as numerous as churches in other sections of the town. All +sorts of strange shops are kept by men with strange names; and all +the Indians we saw look much more prosperous than their relatives in +India. The Hindus were brought here by the English a good many years +ago, under indenture and promise to return them to India at the end +of a certain number of years, but they liked the country, and most of +them did not care to return. There are upwards of a hundred thousand +of them in Natal, but their importation is now prohibited. The Hindus +are like the Chinese in that they are willing to work and behave, and +their entrance to most countries is therefore prohibited.... We +passed a sugar mill during our automobile ride today, and were told +that all the workmen in the mill, and in the great fields of cane +surrounding it, were Hindus, or coolies. Just now the cane is being +cut and hauled to the mills.... At lunch today, we saw the waiters +serving roasting-ears. On the bill of fare they are called Mealie Cobs. +We ordered some, and the waiter offered to cut the corn from the cob. +I ate mine in true American fashion, but Adelaide had hers cut off +the cob. The variety was Early Adams, and it wasn’t very sweet. The +best thing they have at this fine hotel is pineapple. They also have +alligator pears. The best alligator pears grow in the Samoa Islands, +and we had them on the “Sonoma,” but did not care for them. They are +eaten with pepper and salt and vinegar and oil; an + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 216]</span> + +alligator pear is more vegetable than fruit. Today we also had mangoes, +which resemble the American paw-aw, but they are much better fruit. You +peel them, and eat them as you do green corn, the seed representing the +cob.... This being Sunday, we saw two Salvation Army meetings on +the street. All the “soldiers” were negroes, and there was the usual +drum in the centre of the circle, and the usual pleas for money.... +Now that I am out of Australia, and off the “Anchises,” which carried +Australian water, I am free to drink all the water I want. I saw so +many false teeth in Australia, and heard so frequently that the bad +teeth of the Australians were due to the water, that I never took a +drink that my teeth didn’t ache.... We learned this evening that all +the money Mr. Riley spent in gambling and drinking was loaned him by a +Mr. Wilson, who came ashore this afternoon, and is trying hard to get +his money. At a late hour, Mr. Riley had not been able to satisfy his +creditor. You meet strange characters on ships. Think of a man going +to sea without money, and being financed by a stranger.... We knew +a woman on the ship who was so unhappy because of a big waist that she +imagined her husband was mean to her, and she told a good many of the +women that were it not for her children, she would seek forgetfulness +by enclosing her head in a pillow-slip, and inhaling chloroform.... +Durban had a small harbor which did very well in the days of small +ships, but when big ships became fashionable the town was compelled to +spend millions in improvements. The result is that ships drawing thirty +feet can tie up at its docks. Good coal is found not far + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 217]</span> + +from Durban, and its coal trade is very important. Much of the coal +used on the railways in India comes from Durban, and every ship coming +this way coals here.... Before going to bed tonight, we went down in +front of the hotel, called a ricksha, and went for a ride to the beach +to cool off. The negro who pulled us was a huge fellow wearing a pair +of cow-horns as a sort of head-dress; seven-tenths of the hundreds of +ricksha men wear the same amusing head-dress. Our man trotted all the +way to the beach and back, up hill and down. It is a considerable task +for a man to pull a buggy and two passengers for nearly an hour, and +always keep up a trot. On our return to the hotel at 10 P.M., the man +did not seem very tired. The road to the beach was lined with hundreds +of other people riding in rickshas, and there were many ricksha stands +on the way. At the beach we saw thousands of people sitting around in +chairs, or dining, or listening to music. Some of the restaurants had +moving-picture shows to attract customers. And it seems to me I never +saw such big rollers as came in from the Indian ocean at Durban beach. +Four years ago this beach was a dreary piece of sand. Durban has lately +been spending money like a drunken sailor, and has made it pay.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, MARCH 3.—Owing to a tremendous +rain and wind storm, we have been confined all day to our rooms at the +hotel. Yesterday was bright and fine, and we were rather disposed to +laugh at the statement that this is the rainy season in South Africa; +but the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 218]</span> + +storm today has given us more confidence in the guide-books. The wind +was so strong that the “Anchises,” lying at its dock, twice broke its +hawsers, and was only saved from drifting by the prompt use of the +anchors. The passengers who were ashore found it very difficult to +get back to the ship, and from our windows at the hotel we could see +that the wind was doing considerable damage.... And this in spite +of the finest, largest and brightest rainbow I have ever seen, this +morning.... White women are scarce in South Africa. In the big +dining-room of the Marine Hotel, at dinner tonight, all the guests +were men, except four. Englishmen come to this country as Americans go +to the Klondike.... The Marine Hotel introduces one feature that +is entirely new to me; dinner is commenced with a <i>hors-d’œuvre</i>—a +sort of salad of pickled fish, as an appetizer. Then follows the +regular dinner, starting with soup. When a king dines, he begins with a +<i>hors-d’œuvre</i>, the head waiter says.... One of the ricksha men who +stands in front of the hotel has carried us three times, and regards us +as his property. When we appear, he runs up to us, and bows almost to +the ground; if other ricksha men appear, he pushes them angrily away. +The negroes here are exactly like our negroes, except that they talk +Kaffir; we have not seen any who are able to speak English easily. +The negro women wear their hair in a peculiar way, and many of them +dress as the men do. The ricksha men who stand in front of the hotel +are always laughing and talking in a noisy, good-natured way. There +are several tribes of negroes here, and all of them have different +characteristics in dress.... Before Durban’s + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 219]</span> + +present harbor was completed, passengers disembarked from ships in +baskets. The big ships, not being able to come into the harbor, were +met outside by tenders. Passengers leaving the ship were locked in a +huge basket, and this basket was hoisted over the side with a steam +winch, and lowered to the deck of the tender rolling alongside. This +method of embarking and disembarking is still used at many points +along the coast, and we shall test it on our way to Zanzibar.... +The amateur humorist is a great task not only in private life, but in +books as well. Today I bought a book to obtain information of the East +Coast route to England, but found it so full of jokes that I could get +no information out of it. Every man, when he writes or talks, thinks +he must use a great many jokes; everyone seems to make too much of the +fun, fun, fun, and laugh, laugh, laugh idea. I often wish people were +more serious.... My next ship journey will be up the East Coast of +Africa to Aden, and thence through the Red Sea to the Mediterranean and +Naples. I have spent considerable of my time in Durban in arranging +for a cabin to myself on the German ship. Occupying a room with three +others is the red flag that brings out the bull in my nature. I not +only object to other men in a room with me, but I don’t like them very +well in the hall outside. I am particular about having things of my +own, and in the list, a sleeping-room is near the top.... In this +fine hotel, it is impossible to get a good cup of coffee, and I drink +tea instead, although I abominate tea. I have not had a decent cup of +coffee in nearly three months. As I am accustomed at home to the best +coffee in the world, the deprivation is a severe + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 220]</span> + +one. I have no doubt that all the hotels where I have lately been a +guest use the best coffee obtainable, but their way of making it is +not my way. You get the best coffee at home because it is made your +way.... As in coffee, so it is in politics, religion, the choice of +a wife, and a hundred other things: what suits others does not suit +you. You want coffee made your way; and you are entitled to it.... I +do not say my way of making coffee is the best, but I do say it suits +me better than any other way I have ever tried. I venture to say that +nine out of ten guests at every hotel abuse the coffee.... Every +morning at 6:30 there is a rap on my door. I look out, and find a Hindu +servant with tea. I tell him I do not want tea, but would appreciate +hot water for shaving. This the Hindu cannot understand, so I now take +the tea, and shave with it.... I was on the “Anchises” so long that +I almost used up a cake of shaving-soap. I wonder I didn’t get the +scurvy; they say that is the scourge of a long sea voyage.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, MARCH 4.—This day opened with +genuine inauguration weather; the storm of yesterday continued all +night, and seemed as fierce as ever at 8 A.M.... The Natal <i>Mercury</i> +of this morning devoted a full page to the inauguration of Woodrow +Wilson, as president. It also printed an editorial of a column and a +quarter entitled, “The Future of America,” which was funny because of +absurd statements. “Rural America,” the editorial says, “knows little +of decent + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 221]</span> + +roads, well-organized police, or mail facilities, and consists +largely of wide-spreading areas that do not contain one human being +to the square mile.” ... If newspapers print such statements about +America, is it any wonder that the English people have absurd notions +of the Americans? The editorial views with alarm the race problem in +America; it also fears that the American people are today where the +Romans were just before the decline began.... The Natal <i>Mercury</i> +contains sixteen eight-column pages, and is a more creditable newspaper +than will be found in the average American town of 32,000 population. +Durban has 66,000, but 34,000 are negroes who do not read or speak +English. Nine pages of the <i>Mercury’s</i> issue of this morning are +devoted to advertising; the people of all the British colonies seem +to be well trained in newspaper advertising. Although the <i>Mercury</i> +prints eight columns about the inauguration of America’s new president +(most of it absurd, but probably not more absurd than would be my +comments on a similar event in Africa), it says nothing about the +“Anchises” breaking from its moorings during yesterday’s storm, or of +its detention in the harbor. The local news is badly handled in all the +papers I see over here; the people do not seem to care for local news, +so long as they get telegrams from England.... Durban people are +just now excited because His Majesty’s Ship “New Zealand” will arrive +in a day or two. This is the battleship of dreadnought type which was +built with New Zealand money, and presented to the English government. +Canada will give three battleships to the English, and Australia three. +All the other + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 222]</span> + +English colonies have been called upon to show their love for the +mother country in a similar way; and this really amounts to an order. +India, Ceylon, Africa, and all the other countries controlled by +Great Britain, must assist the English in keeping ahead of Germany +in the race for naval supremacy. It seems an absurd situation to me, +but possibly I know as little about it as the editorial writer on +the Natal <i>Mercury</i> knows about America. (NOTE.—Since the above was +written, Canada has balked, and refused to vote money for English +battleships.) ... Some writers say that Africa is the Coming Country; +that thousands of years hence, when Europe and America have become as +dry as India or the Sahara desert, Africa will be about right, and +contain cities like New York and London. By that time, New York and +London will have been deserted, as old Memphis, Thebes and Babylon are +now deserted. This is said to be the history of the world: Countries +wear out like men; the country around the Red Sea was once fertile +and populous, but is now a desert, owing to slowly changing climatic +conditions; the world is so old that mountain ranges have been worn +level with the surrounding plains by the wind, rain, heat and cold +of many centuries. This is what will finally happen to our Rocky +Mountains. The country where we live was once tropical, and it will +become tropical again, in the course of time. The one thing we do not +realize is the great age of the world, having long been taught that +it is ten or twelve thousand years old. It is more than ten or twelve +million years old; some geologists say its age is certainly forty or +fifty million years.... My father left + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 223]</span> + +Indiana because he believed fever and ague would always be a pest. +Indiana is now one of our finest states. Africa is getting rid of the +sleeping sickness, of the mysterious fly which causes death, of fever +and ague, and of other menaces to health; it is said that South Africa +has shown a greater development in the past twenty years than any other +country has ever shown in a similar length of time. Johannesburg is as +fine a town as Kansas City, and almost as large. Durban is a wonder, +and Capetown claims to be a health resort. This in South Africa only, +whereas the real growth in the future, many believe, will come from +East Africa.... The mythical “Cape to Cairo” railway extends from +the Cape of Good Hope, in South Africa, to Cairo, in North Africa, or +Egypt. Capetown has built a railroad far into the interior, northward, +and Cairo has built far into the interior, southward; some day it will +be possible for travelers to go from Capetown to Cairo by rail. I am +going from Capetown to Cairo, but, the “Cape to Cairo” line still +being a dream, I shall go to Victoria Falls by rail, and thence to +Beira, where I will take a German ship for a long journey to Port Said, +the Mediterranean entrance to the Suez Canal, and only a few miles +from Cairo.... I have been compelled to quit eating roasting-ears +American fashion at the Marine Hotel in Durban. The Hindu waiters stood +around and watched me in surprise, and other guests were also greatly +interested. Finally a strange man appeared at the entrance, and seemed +to be studying the lights with a view of getting a moving-picture of +the performance; so I now have my corn cut off the cob, which + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 224]</span> + +is the universal practice here.... The “Anchises” will not get away +for Capetown and London until noon on Thursday. The chief engineer and +doctor dined at our hotel tonight, with two of the lady passengers, +and they told us that when the ship left Adelaide, it was followed by +a pigeon, which was no doubt attracted by the grains of wheat on deck. +The first night out, the pigeon probably rested in the rigging; anyway +it was flying about the ship the second morning. Then it was too late +to go back, and the bird has been adopted by the crew. It flies about +the ship while at sea, but soon returns to the deck or rigging. It has +become quite tame, and will take food from anyone, and grumble for +more, as pet pigeons do. The sailors thought the bird would leave them +at Durban, but it didn’t make up with the other pigeons that called to +see it, and will probably accompany the “Anchises” to Liverpool.... +Mr. Riley slept on board last night, as he is in love with a married +woman who detests him. His ticket read to Durban only, but he will +probably attempt to go on to Capetown, in order that he may further +enjoy drunkenness, love, and the Sports Committee.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<br> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i-228.jpg" alt="Various Photographs." width="600" height="366"> +</div> +<div class="caption center"> +Street in Durban, South Africa    /    Labor Day Parade, Johannesburg +<br> +Pritchard Street, Johannesburg +<br> +Port Said    /    Port Said Port +</div> +<br> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 225]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, MARCH 5.—Rain has fallen +three days in succession. Until Monday last, there had been a drouth +so long and severe that the mealie crop is said to be ruined. Mealie +is the name given corn here; wheat is called corn. The farmers in +South Africa grow two crops of corn per year, and export a great deal +to London. I saw the statement in print recently that the Argentine +Republic, in South America, exports more corn than the United States. +We raise much more corn than Argentine, but use most of it, whereas +Argentine uses very little.... This afternoon, in spite of the +rain, we visited a steam whaling-ship lying in the harbor. Twenty +similar vessels make headquarters in Durban, and the whales caught are +converted into oil in six factories located on the seashore, at a point +so distant that the smell is not objectionable to the town-people. All +whales caught are brought into Durban harbor; then loaded on flat cars, +and sent down to the factories.... In 1911, the luckiest boat in the +Durban whaling-fleet caught two hundred whales; in 1912, the lucky boat +caught only one hundred. The boat with the least luck caught only sixty +in 1912, as whales are becoming scarcer. Last month, the boat I visited +caught only one whale; the month before eight—three of the eight were +caught in one day. In certain whaling-grounds off the coast of South +America, fourteen whales have been caught in one day by one ship. A +fifty-six foot sperm whale is said to be worth $1,750. The stock of the +local whaling-companies is quoted every day by the Durban papers, and +the best of them pay big dividends.... The whaler I visited is a +seventy-ton affair, a small ship compared with the 10,000 tons of the +“Anchises.” The captain of the whaler showed us about, and he looked +like a carpenter or other mechanic who calls at your house to do a job +of work. But he is compelled to understand navigation as well as the +captain of a liner, and pass the same examination. He brought the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 226]</span> + +ship from England, a voyage of fifty-nine days. Its engines can make +only about ten miles an hour, and its boilers require only eight tons +of coal per twenty-four hours. There is a crew of ten men, including +mate, engineer, gunner, and cook. In these ships, whales are not chased +in small boats; when a whale is sighted, it is pursued by the ship, +under full steam. At a distance of fifty or a hundred yards, a harpoon +is fired into the whale from a good-sized cannon. There is a time fuse +attached to the harpoon, and this explodes a bomb which should kill +the whale. A chain is then attached to its tail, and the carcass is +towed to the rendering works in Durban. When a harpoon is fastened in +a whale, and the bomb does not explode properly, it sometimes makes a +run, and pulls the ship as easily as it might pull a row-boat. In such +a case, another harpoon is fired into it as soon as opportunity offers. +Frequently the whale breaks the great rope which attaches the harpoon +to the ship. The reader will probably understand that a two-inch rope +is attached to the harpoon fired from the cannon, and if the harpoon +hits fairly, the whale is hooked and handled as a fisherman handles +a small fish with a light line. If the whale runs away, the rope is +let out slowly, being kept just taut enough to prevent breaking. If +the whale rushes toward the ship the rope is hauled in rapidly, with +a steam winch, as a fisherman reels in his line. If the bomb explodes +inside the whale, as intended, it is usually killed at once, but this +does not always happen, and then a fight is necessary. At Durban, the +whaling-ships usually go out at 4 o’clock every morning, and return +after nightfall. The captain + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 227]</span> + +is also the pilot, and he took me up on the bridge. I have never +before been on the bridge of a ship; on a liner, it is a violation +of law for a passenger to go on the bridge. The captain also took me +down to his cabin, which is reached by a ladder. The mate, engineer +and gunner occupy the cabin with him, and it is the darkest and +worst ventilated place I have ever visited. Two of the beds are +simply holes-in-the-wall, and the rooms of the gunner and mate are +the funniest holes ever occupied by men. The ladder leading to the +officers’ quarters was so steep and slippery that Adelaide was afraid +to attempt to go down. The captain invited me to go out with him next +Friday, and I accepted; but when the time comes, I suppose I will back +out. He says he often has visitors, and that a good many of them have +seen whales caught. In the best season for whaling, a whale is caught +every day, and always within fifteen or twenty miles of Durban. If the +weather is stormy, the whaling-ships do not go out, as nothing can be +done in rough weather. The captain, who is a Norwegian, also invited +us to stay for dinner, but we declined, although we saw the dinner on +the table. It consisted of boiled beef and potatoes, bread and butter, +dried-apple sauce, and tea.... On the way to visit the whaling-ship +we passed the Durban courthouse. It was surrounded by negroes. The +inferior races everywhere have a passion for going to law. To go to law +a good deal—to have confidence in the justice dealt out by lawyers and +judges—is everywhere a sign of feeble intelligence.... There are +only 90,000 whites in all of Natal, and 300,000 natives. The Hindus +number about 180,000, and lately + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 228]</span> + +the whites are refusing them license to do business. If they are +willing to work as laborers, for low wages, well and good, but if they +attempt to engage in business for themselves, they are to be told +that business is for Europeans only.... The present storm is the +worst in two years. This afternoon I went past the harbor, and saw +great waves dashing over the sea-wall and lighthouse. I also saw four +ships lying outside, waiting to get in, and a number inside waiting +to get out. No ship has passed in or out of Durban harbor since the +arrival of the Atchison hoodoo, and forty bath-houses at the beach +were demolished by the waves Tuesday morning.... A man who has +lived here fifty-four years tells me that while this section is very +good for agriculture, lung fever carries off so many cattle and horses +as to seriously threaten the stock-raising industry.... When a +native African woman marries, she mixes clay with her wool, and makes +a circular dome out of it which looks like a stove-pipe hat tilted on +the back of the head. This head-dress forces the woman to sleep on a +wooden pillow, as the Japanese women do, since the hair when once put +up is not taken down for months.... The Natal <i>Mercury</i>, a Durban +paper I buy every morning, contained the following amusing telegram +in its issue for today: “London, March 4.—Reuter’s correspondent in +Washington telegraphs that Dr. W. Wilson has arrived there, preparatory +to his induction into the presidency. Suffragists have been debarred +from participating in the presidential procession. Numbers of the +demonstrators paraded yesterday, and women mounted on horseback helped +the police to clear the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 229]</span> + +route.” This was all the paper contained about the inauguration, +although issued the day after the inauguration took place, and the +editor’s motto is: “The Natal <i>Mercury</i> prints <i>all</i> the news <i>all</i> +the time.” All American news in the Australian, New Zealand and +South-African papers is equally brief and absurd. Little wonder that +the English and Americans do not understand each other.... From the +window of my room at the hotel, I can look into the office of a big +wholesale house across the street. Every afternoon, the bookkeepers and +stenographers may be seen drinking tea. A cup of tea at four o’clock in +the afternoon is a universal custom here. Sometimes bread and butter +or cakes are served with it.... Nearly opposite our hotel is an +apartment house where a great many negro servants are employed, and a +crowd of them may usually be seen in front of the servant’s entrance. +They are so far away that while we can hear them talk, we cannot hear +what they say, and they act so much like our negroes that they seem to +be talking English, although they are not. Negroes have been taken to +almost every portion of the earth, and speak nearly all languages. In +some of the islands of the West Indies they speak only French, having +never heard anything else. In English colonies they speak English, +but do not use the broad R, as do the negroes in our Southern states. +Probably millions of them speak Arabic. Many of them are Mohammedans, +and many of them speak Hebrew. But wherever you see them, they have +the same good-natured, care-free way. In Africa, there are dozens of +different tribal languages in use among the blacks, but in foreign +countries the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 230]</span> + +young negroes soon forget their mother-tongue. Probably among all the +millions of negroes in the United States, not one has the remotest +knowledge of the original language of his ancestors. The Hindus, +Chinese, Japanese and Hebrews always retain their own language and +religion, in whatever part of the world they may live, but the negroes +soon adopt the language of the people with whom their lot is cast, and +become Methodists, Mohammedans, Catholics or Hebrews in religion with +equal facility.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, MARCH 6.—Yesterday it was +said the storm was the worst in two years; today it is said to be the +worst in ten years. In spite of the pouring rain, we hired covered +rickshas this morning and went out to the beach, where we found the +angry waves destroying the beautiful place. The storm had attracted an +enormous crowd, the people coming by street-railway, and all of them +were soaked, while we were dry and warm in our covered rickshas, with +oilcloth aprons in front. The restaurants, curio shops, moving-picture +shows, etc., were under water, and some of them were being torn to +pieces. Every little while a string of bath-houses went into the sea. +The great board walk along the beach was smashed into kindling-wood, +and holes were dug in the asphalt street in front of it. Great boulders +from the breakwater were rolled up on the beach, and deposited on the +floors of the restaurants. Coolies were running about in droves, trying +to lash down some of the smaller buildings, under the direction + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 231]</span> + +of white men, but the coolies were afraid, and the mad excitement +everywhere reminded me of the lack of order at a fire. Not far +offshore, the big White Star ship “Medic” was anchored, unable to get +into the harbor. This ship left Australia a few days after we did, and +we know some of the passengers. We could plainly see the ship pitch +and roll, and swing ‘round its anchor. Further down were a number of +other ships unable to land their passengers, and to the right, inside +the harbor, we could see the blue funnels of the “Anchises.” And all +this loss, disturbance and inconvenience to thousands simply to keep +the Atchison hoodoo indoors four days in succession.... We watched +the angry sea for an hour, the water occasionally washing under our +rickshas, and were so dry and comfortable in spite of the rain that we +determined to visit the Hindu market, down-town. The Hindu population +of Durban is greater than the total population of Atchison, and certain +sections of the city are devoted to them. There are certainly twice +as many Hindu stores in Durban as there are stores of all kinds in +Atchison. We saw large wholesale establishments owned and operated +by Hindus, and devoted entirely to Hindu trade. There were dozens of +jewelers’ shops, where were displayed beautiful things made of gold, +silver, ivory, brass, etc., and in all of these shops we saw Indian +artisans at work. They squat in front of a pot of charcoal, and +manufacture beautiful ornaments with tools of the most primitive kind. +Hindu women wear beautiful jewelry; everything an Indian woman owns she +wears in her nose, on her wrists, in her ears, and on her ankles, in +the form of exquisitely made + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 232]</span> + +jewelry of gold and silver. One woman we saw had a silver bracelet on +each wrist, and the bracelets were certainly four inches wide. On the +front porches of the poorest houses sat workers in gold and silver, and +all of them were very skillful. When there was a brief let-up in the +rain, we left the rickshas, and entered these interesting workshops +and stores.... Then we went to the Hindu market where vegetables, +fruits, meat, etc., are sold. The market is an enormous place, +occupying the greater part of a block. In addition to food, jewelry +and fancy goods are also sold at this market, and we saw one stall +devoted to the sale of Hindu books; copies of the Indian paper printed +in Durban were also displayed. We were the only whites in the place; +all the others in the crowd were natives of India. The vegetables were +small, and many of the fruits we did not recognize. The stall-keepers +knew we were visitors, and not buyers, and were very polite.... +Adjoining the Hindu market, and almost as large, was the native or +negro market. Two-thirds of this place was devoted to an enormous negro +restaurant. The negroes did not seem to have much for sale, except +rice and curry, and this was sold in the restaurant, at so much per +bowl. I am certain I saw four or five hundred men eating in this native +restaurant; and how they talked and laughed! We frequently stopped +and listened to the roar, which reminded us of a women’s reception, +magnified twenty or thirty times. The white market-master told me that +the blacks had acquired the habit of buying their supplies of the +Hindus, and that the Hindus next door occasionally repaid the favor by +buying meals in the negro + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 233]</span> + +restaurant. But I saw no negroes in the Indian market, and no Indians +in the negro restaurant. The Hindus were very quiet, serious and busy, +but the negroes were very idle and noisy. The native or negro market +made me think of a negro church festival. In the negro market we saw +thirty native doctors. These men sold roots and herbs said to be good +for various ailments; with every purchase, they gave medical advice +free. The thirty doctors sat together, squatted on the floor in front +of the roots and herbs they were offering, and seemed more intelligent +than those around them.... In the Indian market, the thing that +attracted my particular attention was that sheep heads were displayed +at all the meat stalls, and every head was bloody and dirty, just as +it came from the butcher’s hands. Sheep feet, equally dirty, were also +displayed. In India the traveler sees a great many shops devoted to the +sale of cheap candy, cut in square, triangular and round pieces. All +of it is highly colored; pink, green, blue, brown, etc., and seems to +be of the nature of our “fudge.” The same shops are seen in the Hindu +section of Durban, as the Hindus are constantly eating sweets; this is +their dissipation, instead of drinking intoxicants. Nearly everything I +saw of unusual interest in India, I saw repeated in the Hindu quarter +of Durban, but the Hindus here seem much more prosperous than the same +class in India.... I speak of all the Indians in Durban as Hindus, +but as a matter of fact many of them are Mohammedans; my waiter at the +Marine Hotel is a Mohammedan, but my chamber-man is a Hindu. There is +not much difference between them racially, but the Mohammedans + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 234]</span> + +always seem quicker and brighter.... We also visited a Kaffir +brewery, where is manufactured the beer of which Kaffirs are so +fond. The head-man is an Englishman, and Kaffir beer is manufactured +under public control, to prevent the blacks drinking the white man’s +fire-water.... While visiting the Hindu stores, we noted that +the keepers had borrowed one idea from the whites: they had signs +out announcing “Specially low prices for a few days only;” “Great +clearing-out sale now in progress,” etc.... Durban has an excellent +system of street-railways, and the suburban lines do an express +business. At almost every stop the motorman gives a package to a negro +servant who seems to be expecting it, and, if no servant appears, the +conductor carries the package into a house. The charge is two cents per +package. If you buy tickets, you can ride on the Durban street-cars +for three cents a section; some long street-car rides we took cost us +twelve cents each.... This is our fifth day in Durban. The first day +was bright, but a storm of rain and wind began Sunday night, and has +continued ever since. As I write this in my room, water is dropping +from the ceiling; probably every roof in town is leaking. I have just +placed a washbowl on the bed to keep the bed dry for tonight; in case +the rain lets up. (P. S.—Since writing the above, two white maids and +two Indian men have moved me into another room.) If the rain would only +cease, we should probably find South Africa very much more interesting +than Australia or New Zealand.... The policemen of Durban are +negroes, and they have the most serious and important expressions I +have ever seen on + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 235]</span> + +the faces of men. And a serious, important expression on the face of +a barefoot man always amuses me. Anyone with grave duties to perform +should, it seems to me, wear shoes.... There is a ricksha stand near +the hotel, and every ricksha man carries a cow-bell, which he rings +while on the road to warn pedestrians to get out of the way. These +bells tinkle half the night, and remind me of a pasture wherein every +cow is a bell-cow, and all of them vigorously fighting flies.... A +good many American manufacturers seem to be establishing branches in +London. I bought a bottle of Pond’s Extract in Durban, and found that +it was manufactured by the Pond’s Extract Co., 65 Great Russell street, +London. I bought a set of auto-strop razor blades, and found that +they, also, came from London. Still, at the stores I find a great many +familiar articles with only good old U. S. A. on them.... The charge +here for an ordinary ricksha ride is six cents. If I am compelled to +go up-town on an errand, the ricksha man waits, and when I return to +the hotel, I pay him a sixpence, or twelve cents. In coming back from +town this afternoon, I faced a terrific head-wind, with beating rain, +and the ricksha man was almost stalled. But the price was only six +cents each way.... I cannot recall having seen a single mulatto in +this town; all the negroes seem to be of pure blood. Whatever else +may be said of Englishmen, they seem to be particular in their social +relations.... At seven o’clock this evening, the storm was worse +than it has been at any time since Monday morning. The evening paper +says the “Anchises” got away at 4 o’clock this afternoon, and + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 236]</span> + +at this writing is probably doing a dance off the coast that the +passengers will remember as long as they live. The wind has been +blowing a gale four days, and the sea must be a thing to be dreaded by +this time.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, MARCH 7.—The destruction being +wrought by the waves at the beach has attracted crowds daily, but a +good many did not get to see it until this morning, when the storm +had considerably abated. Those who went to the beach today were +disappointed because no great destruction was taking place, and abused +the street-railway, which had charged them three cents for the ride +out. I predict that at the next meeting of the town council, several +additional measures will be introduced to Make It Hot for the street- +railway, which had no great show to offer at the beach this morning. +People have already forgotten the magnificent sight the company offered +them at the beach on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, for a charge of +only three cents, including the ride out. I rode out today and was +satisfied; I always get along with street-railways, as it seems to me +they offer a good service at a very low price.... The captain and +gunner of the whaling-ship on which I agreed to make a trip today, +called on me at the hotel, and said it would be impossible to catch a +whale even if one should be sighted, owing to rough seas, therefore +they would not go out. I took the two sailor-men down to the fine +smoking-room of the Marine Hotel, and they seemed ill at ease while +smoking the cigars and drinking the beverages I provided.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 237]</span></p> + +<p>They are rough men, but two better fellows I have not met during +the trip. I don’t suppose I ever had any actual intention of going out +with them, but they thought I had, and came up to the hotel to tell +me the ship could not go out today.... I regret to notice that in +the papers today are references to three attempted assaults on white +women by negroes. A Mr. Maurice Evans lectured in Durban last night on +a recent visit to the United States, and we intended going, but were +prevented by a heavy rain. Mr. Evans traveled through our Southern +states, and made a special study of the negro question. He says our +failure to solve the race problem is due to attempts in the North to +make the negro an equal, whereas the negro is not the equal of the +white man, and cannot be made such. Mr. Evans thinks our Southern +whites would solve the race problem if the Northern whites would let +them alone. The papers quote him as saying that an examination of a +thousand, or ten thousand, average negro skulls will show that the +negro is deficient in brain-power, and that he must be treated as an +inferior; kindly and fairly, but always as an inferior, and subject to +strict regulations. The South-African system of treating the negro is +paternal; he is regarded as a ward. And in the papers of a few days +ago, I saw a statement that a law was being urged which would provide +a heavy fine for any white man who leased land to a negro, or gave +him possession of land in any other way; by gift, purchase, lease, or +renting arrangement. Wherever you find whites and blacks living in the +same community, there is a race problem. One of the papers of this +date, speaking of Mr. Evans’s + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 238]</span> + +lecture, says: “It is impossible not to be struck with the sadness and +feeling of something approaching despair which seem to have been the +chief impressions left on Mr. Evans by his experiences in the southern +portion of the United States.” ... In South Africa a dentist does +not call himself a “doctor.” I saw this sign today: “Mr. Alfred Geary, +surgeon dentist.” ... I don’t suppose any white family in South +Africa is so poor that it cannot afford a negro servant. Negro men are +almost universally employed as house servants, and not negro women. +Many boys are employed to take care of children. Most of the negroes +who come to Durban from the interior have two or more wives. These they +leave at home, to work in the fields. The English residents say it +is best not to teach the negro servants the English language; that a +better plan is for employers to learn Kaffir. An English-speaking negro +servant demands more wages than one who speaks only Kaffir, and usually +drifts to Johannesburg, the boom town of the Transvaal. A capable, +all-around man servant gets $2 a week, and he is able to cook well, and +do all sorts of housework. The servants become fond of their employers, +and frequently remain with them for years. The negroes are said to +be more honest than the Hindus; all the whites I have talked with +have referred to the Hindus as thieves. But any visitor may see that +the Indians are a more important class than the negroes. The Indians +own many big business houses, and at the Hindu market I saw great +quantities of fruits and vegetables; but almost nothing in the negro +market, next door, except tobacco, which the negroes raise because they + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 239]</span> + +are fond of it. Although the English say one Kaffir is worth ten +Indians, they admit that Indians are employed almost exclusively on the +big sugar and tea plantations, where the workmen must be painstaking +and reliable. My impression is that the whites are a little jealous of +the Indians, and find the negroes more easily controlled.... Early +this morning the skies brightened, and we expected a return of pleasant +weather, but while we were at breakfast, the downpour of rain began for +the fifth successive day. Since Sunday night the rainfall has amounted +to nearly seventeen inches.... Natal, of which Durban is the largest +town, is one of the states of the South-African federation. It is not +so large as Kansas, being 350 miles one way, and 150 the other. Natal +has 1,200 miles of railway, and corn, which is the easiest grown of all +the cereals, is the staple crop. Sugar-cane, tea, alfalfa, ostriches, +sheep, turkeys, nearly all the tropical fruits, and hogs, cattle and +horses, are also produced. The planting season for corn lasts three +months, instead of about eighteen days, as with us. The rainfall is +42 inches per year. The bulk of the farms are of 200 to 1,000 acres, +and many stock farms are much larger. Land in Natal is worth from four +dollars an acre up. Natal farm laborers receive $4 a month, and Indians +about the same. It is expected that hail will destroy everything in +the way of crops every fourth or fifth year. It is asserted that the +European death-rate in Durban in 1910 was less than seven per thousand, +as compared with a death-rate of fourteen per thousand in England and +Wales in 1908.... The Dutch settled in the vicinity of Capetown + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 240]</span> + +in 1652, but the English claimed they ran up the British flag on the +site of that town in 1620. There has always been friction between the +Dutch (or Boers) and English. This culminated in the war of 1899‒1902, +which cost the English 25,000 lives and a billion and a quarter +dollars. The Boers had possibly 40,000 soldiers in the field, while the +English had near a quarter of a million. The Boers were hardy pioneers, +and the fight they put up is still regarded as one of the wonders of +the world. Only the Transvaal, and later the Orange Free State, fought +the English during the Boer war; Natal and Cape Colony were loyal to +the British.... The English have also been compelled to fight the +Zulus for possession of South Africa. The present peace with the Boers +and natives will probably prove lasting, although I occasionally hear +predictions to the contrary.... Six years before Columbus discovered +America, a bold adventurer named Diaz rounded the Cape of Good Hope, +but means of communication were slow in those days, and Diaz’s +discovery of a water route to India was not known until several years +after the death and disgrace of Columbus.... All South Africa is +now in an amicable federation, except Rhodesia, and this will probably +come in before many years. Other parts of Africa are controlled by +the Germans, the British, the Belgians, the French, the Italians, the +Portuguese, etc. Africa is an enormous country; almost as large as +all of North America, and, in its remotest sections, civilization is +getting a hold. More pioneering is being done in Africa today than in +any other country, and, for many years to come, Africa will occupy a +prominent place in the world’s news. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 241]</span> + +... I can remember very distinctly when Stanley “discovered” Dr. +Livingstone in the country I shall visit shortly in comfortable railway +trains, and the railway has now been built four hundred miles beyond +Victoria Falls. Stanley’s first expedition into Africa was a newspaper +sensation, financed by the New York <i>Herald</i>, as Dr. Livingstone was +not lost, and, when Stanley “found” him, was engaged quietly in making +maps of the interior.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, MARCH 8.—We spent this day +traveling from Durban to Johannesburg. The distance is four hundred +and eighty-three miles, and we were twenty-four hours and a half on +the way, as we left Durban at 5:50 last night, and arrived here at +6:20 this evening. The distance from New York to Chicago is about a +thousand miles, and the best trains on the Pennsylvania and New York +Central make it in twenty hours. Formerly they made it in eighteen +hours, but the speed was so great that travelers complained. The train +on which we traveled today was the Limited, and as good as there is in +South Africa. The track is narrow-gauge, and, as seems the rule on all +railroads operated by the government, the train was crowded, though we +had no cause to complain; we were given a compartment to ourselves, +without extra charge. When we arrived at the station last night, we +found a placard on the window of a compartment, announcing that it was +reserved for “Mr. and Miss Howe.” The compartment would have easily +seated four. It was provided with + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 242]</span> + +a washstand, and was practically as good as a compartment on a +Pullman. At ten o’clock, a white porter appeared with two bundles of +bed-clothing, sealed. Breaking the seals, he made up two beds about +as they are made up on a Pullman. Then the porter presented me with +two tickets, for which I paid sixty cents each. The tickets read: +“South African Railways. No. 98029. Bedding ticket. From Durban to +Johannesburg. Date, 3-7-13. Train No. 192. Amount paid 2. 6. This +ticket must be handed to passenger on payment of charge.” ... This +is the sleeping-car system in South Africa; two had a compartment in +a sleeping-car twenty-four hours and a half for $1.20. The Pullman +charge for a service not much better would have been $9, instead of +$1.20. There was a dining-car on the train, and the charge for dinner +was 75 cents, and for lunch and breakfast, sixty cents each. The meals +were good, but the car was always packed at meal-times, and the force +of waiters not large enough. Tea was served in our compartment at 7 A. +M. and 4 P.M.... I have never enjoyed a railroad ride more than I +enjoyed the ride from Durban to Johannesburg. The weather was cool, and +there was no dust. We left Durban in a pouring rain, but this morning +the rain ceased, and by noon the sun was shining. For hours we passed +through a prairie country which greatly resembled eastern Kansas as it +was forty or fifty years ago. I saw thousands and thousands of acres +of what seemed to be old-fashioned prairie grass, and when there was +a cultivated field it was nearly always devoted to corn. I saw a good +deal of hay-making in progress, and in every case the hay-rake was +pulled by a yoke of + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 243]</span> + +oxen. In several places, negro laborers were cutting oats, and the +harvester was also pulled by oxen. This was the rule in the early days +in eastern Kansas; many of the older farmers will remember when oxen +were used almost entirely for farm work. If I were dissatisfied with +my present location (which I am not), I should have no hesitancy in +locating in South Africa after seeing that part of it lying between +Durban and Johannesburg. The country looks like the best portions of +the United States, and not one-tenth of it seems to be cultivated. +We saw a good many sheep, but not one-hundredth part as many as we +saw in Australia and New Zealand, although the grass was much better. +Altogether, the impression left on my mind was this: A surprisingly +good country, and very little advantage taken of it.... I doubt if +I saw a corn-field of fifty acres; the patches were all small, and +weedy. In most cases the stalks of the field corn were as small as +the stalks of our sweet corn. The farming is mostly done by negroes; +either as independent farmers, or as farm laborers. If some of the +corn farmers of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas had this land, +it would produce better crops.... This refers mainly to Natal. +The rainfall is less toward Johannesburg: I thought I could notice a +difference when we crossed into the Transvaal a little before noon +today. Toward Johannesburg, there is more stock-raising; the country +looks much like Kansas two hundred miles west of the Missouri river. +Still, the Transvaal looks better than the best parts of Australia I +saw. But in Australia, the very best is made of everything, while here +shiftlessness is the rule. The natives (negroes) + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 244]</span> + +live in round, grass-covered huts, and are a shiftless lot. If other +portions of Africa are as promising agriculturally as Natal and the +Transvaal (and certain parts are said to be better), I can easily +believe it has a great future. But it should be remembered that this +is the rainy season; in a few months the country will look brown and +parched. There is plenty of rain along the coast, but in the interior, +people long for rain as they do in Australia.... At one place along +the road, we saw a family of Kaffirs going to town in a light wagon +to which was attached three yoke of oxen. Goats and donkeys, the +live-stock of shiftless men everywhere, were quite numerous along the +way.... Near Durban we saw young corn and young bananas growing +together. A half-dozen miles from Durban we saw a huge sugar-mill, and +surrounding it a Hindu village in which there were several strange +temples to strange gods. The foundation of one of these temples had +been undermined by rain lasting six days, and was toppling over in +the mud.... At many of the stations we saw American agricultural +machinery on freight cars or on station platforms.... At one station +there was a creamery which looked much like a similar establishment +in the United States; at most stations, negro boys sold milk to the +passengers at a penny a glass.... The cattle here are queer-looking; +they are shorter than ours, and usually have enormous horns. I saw no +highly bred cattle, but the native cattle were always fat, and grazing +in grass up to their knees. Some of the oxen come from Madagascar, and +have great humps on their backs. Oxen are as generally worked on farms +here as horses are at + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 245]</span> + +home; frequently cows are worked with them, and when a cow works under +the yoke, her calf usually travels beside her. In the middle of nearly +every string of work-oxen, you see a pair of yearlings or two-year-olds +being worked to “break” them. Donkeys are also extensively worked here; +no disease attacks the donkey, whereas cattle often die as do our hogs +with cholera, and I frequently saw ten to twelve donkeys working to one +wagon.... Soon after passing into the Transvaal, I noticed that much +of the prairie land seemed somewhat stony. What we call “nigger-heads” +were numerous; reddish-looking stones worn into the shape of circular +beehives, by long exposure to the weather. These turned out to be +ant-hills, so hardened by long exposure to the weather that they will +turn a bullet; during the late war, the Boers used them for protection. +There are countless billions and trillions of ants here, and you are +never out of sight of their hills in the Transvaal. In some places +the ant-hills are so large that the natives chase out the ants, and +use the hills for houses.... The fences in the prairie country are +always of wire, and the posts of iron, and sod houses, most of them +tumbling down, are as common as they were in western Kansas thirty +years ago.... The Transvaal is that section to which the Boers made +their great trek, owing to friction with the English along the coast. +In the Transvaal was later discovered the Johannesburg gold mines, and +it was the owners of these mines who brought on the Boer war. Should +Kansas and Nebraska go to war with England, it would not be a much more +remarkable performance than the Transvaal + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 246]</span> + +and Orange Free State fighting England, and forcing it to put a +quarter of a million men in the field. Early this morning we passed +through Ladysmith, famous because of the long siege, and throughout +the day we have seen occasional relics of the war; mainly cemeteries +wherein were buried English soldiers, and we also saw lone monuments +erected in memory of special heroes. Mr. and Mrs. May, the fine old +people we saw embark on the “Anchises” at Adelaide, and whom we knew +on the long voyage to Durban, had a son killed in the Boer war, as +Australia and New Zealand, as well as Canada, sent troops to help the +English suppress the terrible Boers. We had heard Mrs. May say her son +was buried at Sanderton, and we passed through that town, and saw the +cemetery where the young soldier was buried.... The country between +Durban and Johannesburg is what Americans call rolling. Small mountains +are occasionally seen in the distance, but the general effect is like +our prairie country. At one place we crossed a divide by means of a +switch-back, and two engines were usually attached to our train.... +Two hours before we left Durban, we saw the warship “New Zealand” come +into the harbor. Immediately on landing, sixty of the officers and +men left for Johannesburg, and were accommodated in three sleepers +and a dining-car on our train. Hundreds of people gathered at the +stations to see the sailor-men, and Johannesburg will entertain them +lavishly.... A gentleman told me today of a farm in South Africa +which is eight miles square. Plenty of good land can be bought here at +$6 an acre, and the English government, much as it is abused, is as good + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 247]</span> + +as any in the world.... At 5 P.M. we had our first glimpse of +Johannesburg: small mountains of white rock taken out of the different +mines, and which are known as “the Johannesburg Alps.” We stopped at +suburbs and switched around for more than an hour before we finally +left the train at the greatest gold-mining camp in the world, at 6:20 +P.M.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, MARCH 9.—Johannesburg was a +pleasant surprise, as was Durban; it is a new, clean city of 237,000 +inhabitants, and up-to-date in all respects. The population is about +equally divided between whites and blacks. It has department stores as +big as Kansas City, and last night the main streets were so crowded +that it was almost impossible to get along. Although this is a boom +town, something like but greater than our Cripple Creek, prices are not +unreasonable. I am staying at the Langham Hotel, which is excellent +in every way. The price is $3.60 per day, including three regular +meals, and coffee at 7 A.M. and tea at 4 P.M. An orchestra plays in the +dining-room during dinner. The waiters are imposing-looking Germans, +wearing green coats, brass buttons, and knee-breeches. Altogether it +is as satisfactory a hotel as we have encountered; and we were very +fond of the Marine at Durban, and of the Grand at Wellington.... +Johannesburg is not situated in the mountains, although it has hills +something like the bluffs along the Missouri river. The main town is on +a flat, and the surrounding hills + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 248]</span> + +add an agreeable variety. There is an excellent system of street +railway, and the price is three cents per section; the fare to the +zoölogical garden is fifteen cents. This garden shows most of the game +animals of Africa, in addition to as handsome a display of flowers as +one cares to see. A peculiarity of the flowers here is that they are +almost without scent. While coming in from the zoo this morning, the +conductor, when taking my fare, asked:</p> + +<p>“What part of the country do you come from?”</p> + +<p>I told him from the United States.</p> + +<p>“I know that,” he replied; “but what section? I am from Georgia.”</p> + +<p>This man was James Brady, who served in the Spanish-American war, +and came over here to serve in the Boer war in a spirit of adventure. +Strange as it may seem, many men like soldiering, and the risk of +battle. One can hardly refer to James Brady as a patriot; he was simply +a restless young fellow who wanted excitement.... Johannesburg’s +principal streets are well paved, and they are brilliantly illuminated +at night. I believe the town has a greater number of handsome homes, +in proportion to population, than any other city I am familiar with. +It startles an American to hear that another country has the “greatest +in the world” in anything, but South Africa leads the world in gold +production because of Johannesburg. The town is only thirty years old, +but there is nothing crude about it. Like all exceedingly prosperous +towns, its women are homely; in this respect, it reminds one of Kansas +City and Chicago. The handsomest women are always found in dull towns +like Quincy, Illinois, and Burlington, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 249]</span> + +Iowa. By-the-way, “Burlington” is a popular word in the English +colonies, for some reason. In Wellington and Sydney there are handsome +restaurants called “The Burlington;” somewhere else I saw a big arcade +of the same name, and in London a monthly magazine is called “The +Burlington.” ... All printed matter in the Transvaal intended for the +public, such as railway time-tables, is printed in German as well as in +English. Which is not surprising, since the Boers outnumber the English +more than three to one.... An American negro would scream his head +off in Johannesburg. The negro here is not allowed to ride on the +street-railways, nor is he allowed on the sidewalks. A system of Jim +Crow cars was tried when the street-railways were first built, but the +blacks wanted to ride with the whites, so they were ordered to keep off +the cars altogether. A negro servant may ride on a street-car with his +master, but he must sit in a modest place pointed out by the conductor. +A negro servant may live in quarters in his master’s yard, but if he +has a family, and works for himself, he must live in Blacktown.... +The Boers were more strict with the blacks than are the English. On +Sundays, the streets are black with natives, as there are more than +100,000 in Johannesburg, but not a great many are seen on week days; +in the enormous crowds I saw on the streets last night, I remarked the +absence of negroes.... The white men here usually speak highly of +the honesty of the blacks. If the blacks find a dishonest one, they +promptly report him to the “boss.” ... A thing that soon attracts +your attention in Johannesburg is the great number of negroes who own + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 250]</span> + +bicycles. Being refused admission to the street-cars, they buy +bicycles. But the old Boers wouldn’t permit the blacks to ride +bicycles.... Although the natives are treated so harshly, I saw +the statement in print lately that they possess more than one-third +of all the cattle in Cape Colony, one-fourth of the sheep, produce +three-fifths of all the corn, and own one-third of all the plows. As +they are excellent workers, they are really a valuable asset.... +The Hindus are not popular around Johannesburg; everywhere I have been +in South Africa, the Hindus are severely criticised.... In the +Cape Colony, the negroes can vote, and have many other privileges not +accorded them in the Transvaal. There are thousands of mulattoes in +Cape Colony, but very few in the Transvaal. In Cape Colony, the negroes +have about as many privileges as negroes have in the northern sections +of the United States, but in most other portions of South Africa they +have fewer privileges than the negroes of Mississippi or Alabama. A +white lawyer with whom I lately talked, says the race problem here +is really a very serious one. Many university educated negroes are +coming to Africa from the United States, and making trouble. The +lawyer also said that the African M. E. Church is a source of much +trouble, and that there has been serious talk of prohibiting it in the +Transvaal.... During my stay in Johannesburg, the papers reported +a meeting of the South-African Native National Congress. Fifteen +chiefs and 200 other delegates were present. The chairman delivered +his address in English, and it was interpreted into several native +languages. “Gentlemen,” said the speaker, “this land + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 251]</span> + +is ours, inalienable, a God-given birthright. We do not begrudge others +a fair share in its treasures, but in so doing we do not propose to +suffer our inalienable rights to be encroached upon. More than is +adequate and just to our reasonable progress and well-being we do +not ask, but that we demand with all the strength of our being.” +Continuing, he said that he did not consider the natives were being +treated fairly by the government. In some respects they were subjected +to “an intolerable state of slavery.” They were denied a voice in the +country’s government, even in legislation bearing upon their own life +and people. They were fettered by pass laws, while illiterate men who +could scarcely writes their names, and whose knowledge of the world’s +history was limited “to the bare kopjes of their own backveld,” were +entrusted with the power of governing the natives and their land. The +government of the land granted to Indians, Chinese, Syrians, and other +such races, regardless of character, an unrestricted liberty to travel, +to trade, and to purchase land, while they (the natives) were denied +all such privileges. (Applause.)</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, MARCH 10.—Johannesburg is +possibly the most prosperous town in the world. There are six or seven +thousand English and American miners employed on the Rand, or gold +reef, which is fifty miles long and one mile wide. Johannesburg is +the centre of this great gold district, and the white miners make big +wages; they are all either foremen or mine contractors, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 252]</span> + +and some of them make $500 a month; $350 a month pay to a white miner +is not at all unusual. The real work is done by the negro miners, who +are brought here from all over Africa under what amounts to indenture. +More than a hundred thousand of these are employed in the mines, and +they receive an average of sixty cents a day, and board. They live at +the mines, in great boarding-houses which accommodate, in many cases, +two thousand. No women are allowed in these compounds, and the miners +themselves may only leave the compounds with special permits. By +law, the negroes cannot be worked more than eight hours a day in the +mines, and none are accepted as workmen who do not agree to remain at +least six months. The white bosses have “stand around” jobs; they do +no actual labor. The best white miners in the world are found here, +because of the high pay. The gold-bearing rock is hoisted to the +surface from a depth, in some cases, of four thousand feet. It is then +run through stamp-mills, and crushed, and the gold extracted by the +cyanide process. The mountains of lime-rock seen all along the Rand are +composed of the gold-bearing rock after the gold has been extracted; +in some cases, these dumps are being worked over, the old process of +extracting gold having been wasteful. This broken rock is used for +concrete work and for street paving, and the mine-owners will pay to +have it hauled off their premises.... On the streets this morning I +again met James Brady, the Atlanta, Georgia, man whom I met yesterday +while he was working as a street-car conductor. As this is his lay-off +day, he spent considerable time with us. He says conductors and motormen + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 253]</span> + +average about $100 a month. He complained a good deal of the high cost +of living in Johannesburg, but it developed that prices are not much +higher here than in Atchison.</p> + +<p>“Think of it,” he said, “a good porterhouse steak costs a shilling a +pound here.”</p> + +<p>Investigation will reveal that the best steaks cost twenty-four +cents a pound in Atchison. The best bacon costs thirty cents a pound +here; that is the price in Atchison, next door to eight or nine +packing-houses. Mr. Brady has not been in Atlanta, Georgia, for +fourteen years, and said to me:</p> + +<p>“In Atlanta, we could buy good butter for fifteen cents a pound.”</p> + +<p>I told him he could not do it now, and he was greatly surprised to +hear of the manner in which prices have advanced all over the United +States.... We took a street-car ride, and the price was fifteen +cents each going out, and fifteen cents each coming back, or ninety +cents out and back for three of us. It was the longest street-car +ride possible in Johannesburg; five sections, at three cents a +section.... Last Fourth of July, Brady put an American flag on his +trolley-pole, and it remained there peacefully from 6:30 in the morning +until noon. At that hour an inspector ordered it down. Brady refused +to take it down, and was suspended for three days. There is another +American on the line, a motorman, and he tongue-lashed the inspector, +and was also suspended for three days.... Brady’s father was Captain +in a Georgia company in the rebellion; five of his sons were killed in +the battle of Manassas. Of the one hundred men who originally + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 254]</span> + +composed the elder Brady’s company, five returned safe and sound at +the end of the war. The others were killed, crippled, or died from +illness.... You perhaps imagine that because the English whipped +the Boers, the English control the Transvaal. As a matter of fact, the +present local government, elected by the people, is Boer. The Boers in +politics are called Nationalists; the English are called Unionists, and +at the recent election the Nationalists won. There is a Labor party +here, also, but it is not as strong as it is in Australia, New Zealand, +or England itself. The Boer members of parliament are in a big row +among themselves. One leader believes in reconciling the differences +between the Boers and English, while the other is a fire-eater. The +conservative man is much more popular among the Boers, apparently, than +the fire-eater.... The Boers frequently quarrel among themselves. +There are two branches of the Dutch Reformed Church, and several years +ago the warring factions armed, and almost engaged in civil war, over +the interpretation of a passage of scripture.... Johannesburg has +recently opened a new and very handsome public market on the site of +the old Coolie village. The plague broke out among the Coolies, so +their village was burned, and now the blacks live in a section further +out. Hindus, negroes, Chinese and Malays live there; no white resident +is permitted in the village, nor is a Hindu or other black permitted +to live in any other section of Johannesburg. Dr. Gregory, a Hindu who +was educated in Edinburgh and who married a Scotch wife, had a large +practice among the whites, but when the order came segregating the +blacks, he was compelled + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 255]</span> + +to move from his handsome house down-town to the dirty Coolie village. +There are ten to fifteen thousand blacks in this village, and many +of the Hindus are rich; but they are not allowed to ride on the +street-cars which pass their doors. In Durban, many of the Hindus are +gardeners; here, they buy fruit and vegetables, and peddle them in +various parts of town, from small carts.... There is a Jew market in +Johannesburg which is very peculiar. It is an open field, on valuable +ground owned by the city, and everything in the way of household goods, +clothing, etc., is displayed in the open air. Nearly everything offered +is second-hand, and is bought by negroes. The market occupies an entire +block, and I found it very interesting.... At the markets here, +eggs that are guaranteed fresh, sell at three shillings, or 72 cents, +per dozen, while “farm eggs” are sold at forty-two cents. Penguin eggs +are collected in large numbers from the islands around the coast, and +their consumption in Cape Town in certain seasons exceeds that of the +domestic fowl. The penguin eggs are palatable, nutritious, and easily +digestible; the “white” is of a sea-green color, the egg is twice the +size of the usual hen’s egg, and must be boiled twenty minutes. These +eggs are sent all over South Africa, and to London. Speaking of eggs, +one morning at the Langham Hotel I saw a guest bring two eggs to the +dining-room, call a waiter, and give orders as to how the eggs should +be cooked. In a few minutes the man came in to breakfast, and the eggs +were brought in from the kitchen.... Today I passed a place called +an “American restaurant.” This sign was displayed: “A complete meal, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 256]</span> + +including a glass of beer, one shilling.” ... Another peculiarity of +the English: When they drive, they turn to the left, on meeting another +driver; but on the sidewalk, when they meet another pedestrian, they +turn to the right.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, MARCH 11.—At the meat shops +in Johannesburg, pickled beef feet are sold as pickled pigs’ feet are +sold in America.... The morning newspapers of Johannesburg sell +at six cents each. The best newspapers of New York and Chicago sell +at one cent. The Transvaal <i>Leader</i> of this morning says the rain at +Durban continues, and that the storm is the worst since 1858. When I +was there, it was said at first that the storm was the worst in two +years; then it was said it was the worst in ten years, and now the +statement is telegraphed broadcast that the storm at Durban is the +worst in fifty-five years. It is wonderful what the Atchison hoodoo +can do in the way of disturbing nature. The weather in Johannesburg is +fine. The days are somewhat warm, but the nights are quite cool. Except +a light shower this afternoon, which was agreeable, there has been no +rain since our arrival.... The Transvaal <i>Leader</i> has one department +I have never seen in any other newspaper. Every morning it prints +a list of the loaded railway cars received in Johannesburg the day +before. Imagine a Chicago paper printing something like the following: +“Yesterday there were received in Chicago the following loaded freight +cars: Illinois Central, Nos. 100282, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 257]</span> + +287689, 159867, 829217,” etc., followed by two dozen or more railways +represented in the city. Such a list would take up as much space as +the baseball scores.... We have cantaloupes every day at the hotel, +and they are surprisingly good. The varieties are new to us. We also +have roasting-ears, and the proprietor tells me they cost six to +eight cents a dozen, in quantities.... Four of the guests at this +hotel we knew as passengers on the “Anchises.” ... Warned by the +example of Australia, South Africa has prohibited the importation of +rabbits, except that they are permitted in one small island near the +coast.... The fire department made an exhibition run today to amuse +the sailors from the warship “New Zealand,” a favorite trick in all +American country towns. The apparatus here is motor-driven, new, and +of the best.... All the street and railway laborers, and laborers +generally, are negroes, and they receive an average of $22 a month. +A negro laborer in the United States receives more than twice that. +The Georgia man I met on Sunday says the South-African negroes are no +better laborers than the negroes of the South. If the South-African +government should decide that the prosperity of the country depended +upon the negroes working for a shilling a day, such a law would be +passed, without regard to the Rights of Man. Chinese labor was tried +in the Johannesburg mines, and at one time there were more than 50,000 +Chinese in the country. The Chinese gradually demanded more wages, and +as a result they were ordered to leave South Africa, a fate which is +now overtaking the Hindus. Many employers of labor favor inviting the +Chinese to come back.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 258]</span></p> + +<p>I saw a statement in a newspaper today that if American miners’ +wages were paid along the Rand, the mines would show a loss instead of +a profit.... The Transvaal <i>Advertiser</i> of this morning printed a +table showing that the gold output of the Rand for February was 734,122 +ounces, worth a little more than fifteen and a half million dollars. +The same table shows that the average profits of the Rand gold mines +amount to $170,000 per day. In South Africa, 184,000 men are employed +in the gold mines, 8,000 in the coal mines, and 35,000 in the diamond +mines. Practically all these miners are native negroes, so that the +negroes are the source of the country’s prosperity. The negroes are +compelled to work for whatever the whites decide is necessary to +keep the country’s industries flourishing. In many places here, the +blacks outnumber the whites fifty to one, but the blacks must work +for whatever wages the whites are willing to pay. If they do not, the +whites say the blacks are in rebellion again, and send for British +soldiers.... The Transvaal <i>Leader</i>, the paper I buy every morning +for six cents, prints a summary of the news in every issue, and I often +remark how little real news there is, considering that the <i>Leader</i> +devotes twelve nine-column pages to it. As a matter of fact, there +isn’t a great deal of real news; the best the newspaper men can do is +to make gossip interesting.... The passion for England here is very +marked; the bulk of the reading matter in the <i>Leader</i> seems to be +telegrams or correspondence from London. An Englishman will locate in +the United States, and at once become an American, but in South + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 259]</span> + +Africa, New Zealand or Australia, he is more English than he was in +England.... When the new market-house was built in Johannesburg, +it was so far out of the way that people wouldn’t patronize it, +although it was a magnificent structure 668x230 feet. Thereupon the +street-railway company went to the rescue, built a line past the new +market-house, and gave free transfers to and from it on all lines. +These were the first transfers ever issued in Johannesburg, and the +people are already inquiring: “Why can’t transfers be issued in other +cases?” I predict that this enterprise on the part of the street- +railway company will result in grumbling and agitation that will +finally force free transfers generally. The street-railway receipts +here now amount to more than an average of $100 per car daily, but with +the entering-wedge referred to above, look out for a howl for lower +fares. The people here have never experienced the joy of fighting the +street-railway, and, when they get at it, they will like it as much as +do people in American towns.... All the people in foreign countries +have, I think, an exaggerated notion of the prosperity prevailing +in the United States. Most of the young men I meet are anxious to +emigrate, and they believe conditions in the United States are better +than they really are. Ours is a great country, but hard work and +poverty are not unknown in the best parts of it.... This morning we +called at an office building to see a number of Americans who have been +exiled in South Africa many years. An ex-American took us around and +introduced us to ex-Americans in the various offices.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 260]</span></p> + +<p>We looked so “raw” that our conductor was immensely amused. He said +to another ex-American, the manager of a bank:</p> + +<p>“And yet they are surprised that people everywhere know they are +Americans!”</p> + +<p>I suppose we are called “raw Yankees” here, as we at home call new +arrivals from the old country “raw Dutch.” Our conductor in the office +building told us later that the elevator man said to him, after our +departure:</p> + +<p>“Excuse me, sir, but were those people Americans?”</p> + +<p>“No,” the ex-American replied, “they were Russians. Why do you ask +if they were Americans?”</p> + +<p>“Because, sir,” the elevator man replied, “I couldn’t understand +them when they inquired for you.”</p> + +<p>When people talk to us, they talk slowly, and use a good many signs, +as we do at home when talking to foreigners.... But so far as looks +go, I think I have solved the problem. Today I bought a London hat, and +wear it with the rim turned down in the back, instead of turned down in +front. I imagine that people now say of us:</p> + +<p>“The man looks all right, but who is the frowzy-looking woman with +him?”</p> + +<p>The leading ladies’ tailor in Kansas City is a German named +Mendelsohn. If Mendelsohn could hear the criticism his suits attract in +South Africa, he would go crazy.... Speaking of the English habit of +turning the hat-brim down behind, instead of down in front, as American +men wear their soft hats, some Englishmen in Africa go to an extreme, +and wear the brim of their hats turned down all the way ’round.... +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 261]</span></p> + +<p>At home, I have noticed the quiet amusement with which a +German-American regards a raw Dutchman who has just landed. I think the +Americans we meet here regard us in the same way. They are polite, and +glad to see us, but they are undoubtedly amused at our appearance, our +ways and our talk.... A peculiarity of Johannesburg is that coal +mines are operated within sight of the gold mines; and in no other gold +camp is fuel so convenient.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, MARCH 12.—The first Americans +we met in Johannesburg are interested in banking, life insurance and +real-estate, and occupy a fine building of their own on a down-town +corner. One of them is T. W. Schlessinger, formerly of New York. +Eight years ago he was a life insurance solicitor. Today he is the +controlling power in five different important companies, and we hear +it said that within two or three years he may be the leading man of +Johannesburg. I. F. Atterbury, manager of the African Realty Trust, is +not only an American, but he comes from St. Joseph, Missouri, which +we can see from Potato Hill Farm. And what still further endeared him +to us is the fact that his wife also comes from St. Joseph. Nineteen +years ago Mr. Atterbury was a real-estate agent in St. Joseph, and, +as the town was dull at that time, he was greatly interested in the +prosperity reports that came in every little while from Johannesburg, +South Africa. After his arrival here, he made money, but lost it during +the business panic following the Boer + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 262]</span> + +war. During a part of the war, he was acting United States consul at +Pretoria. When the war closed, he again engaged in the real-estate +business in Johannesburg, and has long been a part of the “American +influence” that undoubtedly exists here.... Soon after we met Mr. +Atterbury, we all started out in an automobile to call on his wife. +But we found her out; she had gone to call on an American friend, Mrs. +Mark Cary, in one of the suburbs. So we went out there, on the way +passing through many of the most wonderful sections of this wonderful +town. Mrs. Atterbury and Mrs. Cary had gone down-town, we found, on +arriving at the Cary home, so we sat down on the veranda and waited for +them. Both Mr. and Mrs. Cary are from California, and their home is +one of the show places of Johannesburg; because of its lavish display +of flowers, for one reason. The maid served tea on the veranda, and +the time passed pleasantly and rapidly in listening to Mr. Atterbury +talk of South Africa. He looks like a typical American, in spite of his +nineteen years’ continuous residence here.... Presently Mrs. Cary +and Mrs. Atterbury arrived from down-town, and Mrs. Atterbury said to +us:</p> + +<p>“I haven’t lost my American accent, have I?”</p> + +<p>And she hadn’t; nor had Mrs. Cary, which is not surprising, since +she visited her home in California last year. But poor Mrs. Atterbury +has been here nineteen years.</p> + +<p>“Isham,” she said to her husband, with genuine American enthusiasm, +“I’m going home with them. May I?” When I took a kodak picture of the +party, Mrs. Atterbury wondered that she “didn’t break the camera,” + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 263]</span> + +which no one will dispute is the genuine American language. Over here, +people use the term “You see,” a good deal, which is equivalent to +our “Don’t you know?” An Englishman says, “We can’t have the ocean in +London, you see,” while an American says, “He was the smarter man, +and had it all his own way, don’t you know?” Mr. Atterbury used the +expression “You see” a few times, but otherwise we talked only the +Kansas-Missouri-California language. At 1 P.M. we left for town, the +driver nearly running over everybody on the way.</p> + +<p>“The only trouble with this man,” Mr. Atterbury said, “is that he +runs too fast, and I can do nothing with him.”</p> + +<p>Was there ever a man who could control his automobile driver? ... +South Africa is the paradise of the lover of flowers. At a recent +flower show in Pretoria, one hundred and seventy different varieties of +roses were exhibited. But all flowers here are almost without scent, +which is true of all countries where flowers are particularly abundant +and grown without trouble.... Grass-seed is not sown broadcast here, +but is drilled in, in rows. If well watered, it spreads and covers the +ground. The grass-seed most generally used comes from Florida, or of +a variety which originated in Florida.... The “American influence” +has been very marked in Johannesburg. Indeed, had it not been for an +American, probably the Rand (pronounced “Rond”) would be abandoned +today, instead of producing a daily profit of nearly $200,000. In 1885 +the mines apparently “played out,” and it was John Hays Hammond, an +American engineer, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 264]</span> + +who encouraged mine-owners to dig deep, and strike the vein further +down. The Johannesburg ore is of low grade, much of it averaging +only $4 per ton, while a little of it is worth $25. The ore from +the great Homestake mine at Lead City, South Dakota, is worth only +half as much, yet many fortunes have been taken from this mine. The +Homestake mine at Lead City is the real source of the Hearst magazines +and newspapers.... A good many years ago, three thousand American +mining engineers were employed along the Rand, and a few of the best +ones received from fifty to seventy-five thousand dollars a year, but +now the number employed does not exceed four hundred. I have heard +it hinted that as soon as the Americans taught the English how to +mine and extract the gold from the Rand ores, there were bickerings +over salaries, and the Americans went elsewhere. The American mining +engineers are highly regarded for many reasons, but especially because +of their quickness and cleverness in meeting difficulties. I have also +heard it hinted that the existence of the Kimberley diamond mines is +due to an American. Johannesburg is more like an American town than any +other we have seen. This is another result of the “American influence;” +the business methods here are snappy, after the American fashion.... +Mr. Atterbury says that the raw native, taken from the farm and +trained, makes a very efficient and faithful servant, but that the +missionary negro is no account. Mr. Atterbury says that a bishop of the +Methodist Church who had done much work in Africa, once said to him:</p> + +<p>“I don’t know that I have ever actually converted + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 265]</span> + +a native to a better life. The natives so easily forget my teaching +that I am sometimes troubled with the fear that all my work has been in +vain.”</p> + +<p>Wherever I go, I hear grave doubts expressed as to the missionary +experiment.... Most of the Americans I meet here were originally in +sympathy with the English, so far as the Boer war was concerned, but +ended by being in sympathy with the Boers.... There is a man here +named Sir Abe Bailey. It seems to me that a man with a title should +not be called “Abe,” but “Sir Cecil,” or “Sir Chauncey,” or something +else equally euphonious.... Natives are publicly whipped here, +when they do not behave. And when a native is killed in the mines or +elsewhere, the papers do not print his name; they refer to him simply +as a “native.” ... This evening we dined with Mr. and Mrs. Atterbury +and their young gentleman son, Manfred, at the Grand National Hotel, +where they live. Manfred Atterbury was born in Maysville, Missouri, +but came here as a baby, and has never been back to the country of his +birth. He is exactly like an American boy, except that he occasionally +uses the expression, “You see,” which is used so much over here that +I am contracting the habit myself. He has attended English and Boer +schools, and, like the Texas congressman, doesn’t know where he is at. +His mother, who took charge of her son’s education, as good mothers +do, tells some amusing stories about it. One day the boy was sent to +the foot of his class for pronouncing “Chicago” as it is pronounced +everywhere in the United States. The teacher said the correct +pronunciation was “Chic-a-go.” The young man also got in trouble + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 266]</span> + +because he pronounced “Ohio” as he had heard his father and mother +pronounce it: the teacher said the correct pronunciation is “O-e-o.” +The teacher was an Oxford man, and the English school books in use +named only four American seaports—none at all on the Pacific. The +history in use devoted only seven lines to the American Revolution, +treating it as a trifling affair in which the English <i>gave</i> the +Americans their independence.... (When Americans abuse the English, +it is customary for them to say, “Of course the English are, in many +respects, a great people.” Mr. Atterbury said it at this stage of +the conversation.) ... Probably you know that in England and its +colonies, the song, “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow,” is sung very +frequently, particularly at banquets and other places where grog is +passed around. Mrs. Atterbury says that once an equal suffrage meeting +was held in the banqueting-room of the Grand National. Only women +attended, and they frequently sang, “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” An +equal suffrage meeting was being held in the banqueting-room of the +Grand National the night I was there, but, greatly to our surprise, no +windows were smashed. Several stout ladies appeared who, I thought, +certainly had rocks under their aprons, but the meeting was quiet, and +the noticeable protuberances turned out to be the middle-age spread +instead of rocks.... The American party finally broke up at 10:20 +P.M., with a statement from Mrs. Atterbury that an English paper here +lately referred to an incident as happening in America in “the state of +Cincinnati.” ... We handled the English rather roughly, but I venture +to say they get + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 267]</span> + +even; indeed, taking one roast with another, no doubt they are far +ahead of us. I intend to have an American party at my hotel on Friday +evening, and Mark Cary will have another on Saturday, when we will +again attempt to catch up with the English. When the English roast us, +I hope they are as fair as we are, and frequently say:</p> + +<p>“Of course, in some respects the Americans are a remarkable people. +No one will care to deny that.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, MARCH 13.—This morning Mr. +Atterbury found it necessary to go twenty miles into the country, +to look at a farm, and took us with him. R. A. Davis, government +horticulturist for South Africa, also accepted an invitation to go. +Mr. Davis was born in England, but spent several years in California; +he says he learned all he knows about horticulture in California, as +that state is undoubtedly headquarters for horticultural information. +In his way, he is as noted an expert as our F. D. Coburn, and it was +a privilege to spend several hours in the country with him. Here is +a South-African apple story I had direct from Mr. Davis. His son has +an apple orchard of three acres, containing three hundred trees ten +years old. Last year the younger Mr. Davis sold his apples for ten +thousand dollars, or more than $3,000 an acre. These figures are gross; +the cost of picking and marketing the fruit was fifteen per cent. We +had two punctures during the ride, and Mr. Davis told me another big +South-African story while the driver made + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 268]</span> + +repairs. The most prosperous farming country in the world is the +ostrich district in Cape Colony; instead of owning one automobile, as +do our successful corn and wheat farmers, the ostrich farmers own two +and three automobiles each. The best ostrich country is known as the +Oudtshoorn district, and is probably 70×60 miles in extent. Mr. Davis +told of one irrigated farm of four hundred acres and 1,800 birds for +which an offer of $560,000 was lately refused. The ostrich farmers are +nearly all Boers, although many Jews live in the district to trade in +the feathers. It is said that more than one hundred of the farmers in +the bird district are worth more than $250,000 each. Alfalfa is grown +extensively. One acre of alfalfa will graze five ostriches, and the +average ostrich will annually produce feathers worth $25. Ostriches are +raised in California and elsewhere, but conditions for ostrich farming +are nearest perfection in South Africa. A good many ostriches run wild +in Africa, but feathers from the wild birds are not good. Ostrich eggs +or living birds cannot be taken out of South Africa, and some growers +have fancy strains of birds that are worth from $2,000 to $2,500 per +pair. One South-African ostrich king has devoted so much time to +ostriches, and lived among them so long, that both Mr. Davis and Mr. +Atterbury agreed that he had grown to look like an ostrich.... Mr. +Davis says South Africa is a better fruit country than California, and +that it will produce better oranges with less effort.... The two +punctures caused us to be late, and Mr. Atterbury’s automobile driver, +whom he called Bristow, fairly flew over the ground. I sat on the back +seat with Mr. Atterbury + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 269]</span> + +and Mr. Davis, while Adelaide rode in front with the driver. Mr. +Atterbury frequently tapped Bristow on the back with his cane, and +said: “Too fast!” and Bristow slowed up for a time, but in a few +minutes would be running faster than ever. The South-African roads are +naturally good, as they are in western Kansas. Our road lay along the +railway, and every mile or two there was a stone block-house, erected +by the English during the Boer war, for the protection of the railroad. +This line of block-houses extends from Capetown to a point four hundred +miles beyond Johannesburg, a distance of something like fourteen +hundred miles. The Boer war almost ruined South Africa, and resulted in +the death of 25,000 English soldiers, and probably 4,000 Boer soldiers. +In the concentration camps of the English, it is said 22,000 Boer women +and children died, because of conditions which resembled the conditions +under Weyler in Cuba. England spent millions and almost billions in the +war; yet it was brought on by a handful of alien Jews. War is the most +wicked, senseless thing men engage in.... No one disputes that the +Boers were terrible fighters. Mr. Davis recalled a limerick composed +by an English soldier during the war. It ran in this way: “There was +an old Boer who hid in a trench with a bullet-proof lid. And when the +English came nigh, he said with a sigh, ‘I can bag the whole lot’—and +he did.” ... South Africa does not encourage immigration. The Boers +are in control, and they do not want new-comers, since they know that +the immigrants must come mainly from England, and that every immigrant +means another vote against them.... Mr. Davis + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 270]</span> + +told me that New Zealanders are much more popular in England than +Australians; the Australians have entirely too much admiration for +the United States to suit England.... The flower we call cosmos +grows wild here; we saw many acres in full bloom.... Wherever we +have been in South Africa, evidences of prosperity are abundant. The +country is growing rapidly, and every man who can afford it is buying +a piece of land with a view of putting out an orchard. Almost in sight +of Johannesburg, good fruit land may be bought for $25 an acre. I +make this statement on the authority of Mr. Atterbury, a practical +real-estate man.... Possibly you think of the Boer farmers of South +Africa as hard-working men. As a matter of fact, they are all gentlemen +farmers; they do not go into the fields, and do hard manual labor, as +do our farmers—no one works here except the negroes. Mr. Atterbury +often goes into the country to look at land, and says he usually finds +the Boer farmers sitting around the house, talking with the neighbors. +Occasionally they go out into their fields, to see that the negroes +are working properly, but they are above manual labor. During the +morning, we met a good many Boer farmers with ox teams of from three +to a dozen span; but the farmers always rode in the wagons, while +their negroes walked and drove. In working ox teams here, a negro boy +always walks ahead, and leads the head span, while two negro men walk +behind, and use whips.... We returned to Johannesburg at 2 P. M., +undecided whether to call the driver “Bristow, the Aviator,” or “Flying +Bristow.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 271]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, MARCH 14.—Yesterday evening, +in company with Mr. and Mrs. Atterbury, we left Johannesburg for +Pretoria, capital of the Transvaal and of the South-African United +States. The distance is thirty-eight miles, and the road good. Flying +Bristow made the trip in an hour and three minutes. Thirty-eight miles +an hour in an automobile does not sound very fast, but ride it over +country roads in South Africa, and you will agree that it is a terrific +pace. I never before traveled at such a speed in an automobile. There +are many hills on the way to Pretoria, and Flying Bristow crept up +these, as the Atterbury machine is not a good hill-climber. It is a +Talbott, made in England, and during the past two years has traveled +40,000 miles in attending to the affairs of the African Realty Trust, +of which Mr. Atterbury is general manager. On a level, and down the +hills, I have no doubt we traveled fifty miles an hour yesterday +afternoon. Mrs. Atterbury rode in front, but had no more influence +with Bristow than has her husband. When we stepped out of the machine +at Pretoria, I remarked to Mr. and Mrs. Atterbury that we had just had +a very speedy ride, whereupon Flying Bristow smilingly said that Mr. +Schlessinger, his other employer, would consider our pace a slow one. +So Mr. Schlessinger seems to be responsible for Flying Bristow. And +if Mr. Schlessinger doesn’t look out, he won’t live to see his five +institutions take a high place in South-African finance, for Bristow +undoubtedly drives too fast. He has never had an accident, but one is +coming to him, and I sincerely hope that when it arrives, neither Mr. +Atterbury nor Mr. Schlessinger will be in the machine.... Mr. and +Mrs. Atterbury + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 272]</span> + +spent a good many months in Pretoria during the Boer war; part of the +time Mr. Atterbury was American consul. On one occasion the English +shelled the Boer forts nearly all day, and every shell passed over the +Atterbury home; one exploding shell broke a window in the American +consulate. Mr. and Mrs. Atterbury say that a shell, in passing high +above you, shrieks and screams like a living thing in distress. They +know Pretoria as well as you know the town in which you live, so that +we had excellent guides in our visit to the capital.... I had a room +on the second floor of the Grand Hotel, facing the old Boer capital +just across the street. During the war, President Krueger (Oom Paul) +and members of the war board met daily in a room just opposite my room; +people used to sit on the hotel veranda and watch the war board in +session. We visited the modest home of President Krueger this morning, +and the care-taker showed us over the one-story house. In one of the +nine rooms is displayed three hundred bouquets of immortelles sent to +Oom Paul’s funeral. A few of the bouquets were made of solid silver, +and a few of beads; in addition to these, many of which were sent +by kings and princes, three hundred bouquets of perishable flowers +were sent. Oom Paul (Uncle Paul) died in Switzerland, having been +compelled to leave his country during the war, but his body is buried +in Pretoria. Mrs. Krueger died in the house we visited. She was a +plain old woman, the wife of a farmer, and refused to go to Holland or +Switzerland when it seemed impossible to prevent Pretoria falling into +the hands of the British. Not only Lord Roberts, but Lord Kitchener, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 273]</span> + +were compelled to come to South Africa and take personal charge of the +campaign against the Boers. Mr. and Mrs. Atterbury saw Lord Roberts +ride into Pretoria at the head of his troops. Across the street from +Oom Paul’s residence is the church where he often preached, for he +hated the devil almost as much as he hated the English.... The +Boers were wonderful soldiers, and, being in their own country, they +had a great advantage over the English. When they captured English +prisoners, they didn’t know what to do with them, so turned them +loose. It is related that General DeWett captured a certain English +regiment three times, and this fact caused that particular regiment +to be known as “DeWett’s Own.” ... Pretoria has 65,000 people, +and is a beautiful city. A new capitol building is approaching +completion, at a cost, everything counted, of nearly ten million +dollars. It is an enormous and beautiful structure of marble and +granite, situated on a hill overlooking the city. The erection of +this building is bitterly resented by the English as a useless waste +of money, but the Boers are in control of the government, and for +sentimental reasons insist upon this enormous structure at Pretoria, +Oom Paul’s late capital. An Englishman told me lately that the Pretoria +capitol will cost two-thirds as much as Westminster, the seat of +the English parliament.... I speak of Pretoria as the capital of +the United States of South Africa. As a matter of fact, it is only +the administrative capital, as the South-African congress meets at +Capetown, while the South-African supreme court sits at Bloemfontein. +The capital is thus divided between three cities. Our Washington is the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 274]</span> + +capital of one hundred million people, whereas there are only eight +million in all South Africa: one million whites, and seven million +colored. The United States has nearly twice as many negroes as South +Africa.... I am told that the average negro here does not pay much +attention to liberty and the pursuit of happiness; he takes whatever is +offered him and says nothing, but the negroes of the Basuto tribe are +disposed to criticise English methods. The Basutos are well armed, and +it is said could put an army of twenty thousand horsemen in the field +on a few days’ notice. It is the Basutos who are expected to finally +make the English trouble, and, when they begin, they may have the +assistance of many other negroes, and the sympathy of the Boers.... +When the Boers of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State fought the +English, it is well known that they expected the assistance of the Cape +Colony Dutch; but the Cape Colony Dutch, who are very numerous and very +rich, got cold feet, and failed to show up at the first battle. But for +the promise of the Cape Colony Dutch to join, there would have been no +Boer war; and had they joined, the war would still be going on.... +On our way to Pretoria, we passed a big camp of English soldiers. +All English soldiers will shortly be removed from South Africa, the +country being so peaceful that they are no longer needed. We also +passed over one of the battlefields of the Boer war, which is now a +peaceful pasture devoted to cattle.... A son of Wm. E. Gladstone is +governor-general of South Africa, and lives in Pretoria.... Pretoria +has the finest zoölogical garden in South Africa. It was established by +the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 275]</span> + +Boers, and has since been fostered and improved by the English. It +contains a rhinoceros, and the animal is so tame that the children feed +it. But how viciously these animals charged Colonel Roosevelt in his +articles in Scribner’s Magazine! ... The zoo is not only interesting +because of its rare animals, but is located in one of the handsomest +flower gardens I have ever seen. Next door is a museum containing many +South-African curios.... At 2:30 in the afternoon we left Pretoria +in a drizzling rain, which continued all the way to Johannesburg. +Owing to slippery roads and no chains, Flying Bristow did not reach +Johannesburg until about 4 o’clock.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, MARCH 15.—This evening we +were guests at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Mark Cary, both formerly of +California. They employ four native servants, all Zulus. Seven years +ago, they were in Durban for some time, and a Zulu boy named Abel +became attached to Mr. Cary. Soon after their return to Johannesburg, +there was a knock at their kitchen door. Mr. Cary opened the door, and +there stood Abel.</p> + +<p>“Your Durban boy has come to work for you,” Abel said.</p> + +<p>And he has been with the Carys ever since, as cook. He receives $22 +a month, having become an expert. Abel lives with the other servants +in a detached house in the yard, and each receives the following +rations: A half-loaf of bread per day; one can condensed milk per week; +one quarter-pound of tea per week; two + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 276]</span> + +pounds of sugar per week; two pounds of corn-meal per week; fresh meat +once a week. This meat consists of a shilling’s worth of “boy’s meat,” +probably a pound and a half of beef, which is boiled with vegetables, +usually carrots, which the Zulus love. The black servants here are +known as “boys,” and the butchers sell a special kind of meat for +them, which is called “boy’s meat.” Mrs. Cary serves out the servants’ +rations once a week, and her grocer puts up the tea in quarter-pound +packages, the sugar in two-pound packages, etc. The food is cooked in +Mrs. Cary’s kitchen, but eaten in the detached house where the servants +live.... While we were at the dinner table I expressed a desire +to see Abel, the cook, and Mrs. Cary sent for him by Sampson, the +waiter. Abel came, bowing and smiling, into the room, remained a few +moments, and then disappeared in confusion. He is a single man, about +thirty years old, and is now saving up his money to get married.... +Sampson, the waiter, is a black man of about the same age, and has +been married some time. He gave fifteen cows for his wife. She lives +somewhere in Zululand, and Sampson sees her only once a year. Among the +Zulus, a family of girls is valuable, as the father can always sell +them at a good price. Sampson is one of the most capable waiters I +have ever seen at a private dinner, or at a dinner of any other kind. +He is very quiet in his movements, and, when he offers anything to +the guests, he stands at a very respectful distance. While idle, and +standing behind his mistress, he looks so respectful, and so concerned +about the dinner, that all guests must admire him as much as I did. +When I saw him, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 277]</span> + +he wore a suit of white duck, made in American fashion. In addition +to waiting on the table, Sampson does the washing and ironing, and +assists the garden boy in caring for the flowers, the vegetables and +the chickens. At the usual private dinner, you observe the lady of the +house keeping a sharp eye on the waiter, although apparently engaging +freely in conversation, but Sampson was so capable that Mrs. Cary was +not at all nervous. When I am a guest at a private dinner, it makes +me feel more natural and at home to see things go wrong occasionally, +but Abel and Sampson did such excellent team work that there was not +the slightest friction to comfort me.... The Cary servants are kept +busy constantly, and they will cheerfully work until eleven o’clock at +night, if necessary. They are entitled to a vacation of ten days every +year, but Abel, the cook, has been away but once in six years. Every +time they leave the house they must have a pass, certifying that they +are good boys, regularly employed, etc. Every negro you see on the +streets of Johannesburg has a pass; otherwise he is liable to arrest. +The blacks pay two shillings a month to the government for this pass +privilege, and when a white man employs a new servant from the country, +he must have him registered at the office of the police. Mrs. Cary says +her negro boys particularly dislike nagging; and I think this is a +characteristic of every human male, white, black, red or yellow, that +ever drew the breath of life.... Mr. Cary has in his employ a negro +man who has six wives. This man works in Mr. Cary’s office down-town, +but lives with the other servants at the Cary home. He says he often +whips his wives, on + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 278]</span> + +general principles. He cheerfully takes orders from Mr. Cary, but it +humiliates him to take orders from Mrs. Cary; having six wives of his +own, it irritates him to be ordered around by a woman.... Sampson, +the waiter, does the sweeping and scrubbing in the Cary home, but the +beds are made and looked after by a white maid. Mrs. Cary has a very +handsome flower garden, and a special boy is regularly employed to +look after it. As it is in bloom summer and winter, he is kept very +busy, even with the occasional assistance of Sampson. The Carys have an +automobile, but the driver is a white man; blacks are not allowed to +run automobiles here.... It is related that the negroes were once +greatly excited in Johannesburg over a rumor of a Kaffir uprising. One +woman said to her black boy:</p> + +<p>“You wouldn’t kill your missus, would you?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, no,” the boy replied; “boy next door kill you, and I kill his +missus.”</p> + +<p>The affair, it seemed, had all been arranged, and very delicately at +that. This boy’s name was “Machinery.” The blacks take any name they +hear used among the whites, and “Machinery” is a very common name in +Johannesburg.... At the Cary home, when I was there, domestic ducks, +baked, were a part of the dinner. A considerable quantity was left +after all had been served.</p> + +<p>“Will you get what is left over?” I asked Mrs. Cary.</p> + +<p>“You bet I will,” she laughingly replied, using an American +expression to amuse the American guests. With our black servants +at home, they always get what is left over from a dinner, but in a +South-African home, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 279]</span> + +the servants get only what is served out to them at the beginning of +every week.... Everywhere in America, women believe that there is +nothing better for a salad than a whole tomato on lettuce leaves, and +Durkee’s yellow dressing poured over the tomato. Mrs. Cary had it, +except that Abel made the dressing. We also had apple pie, and Abel’s +crust, made of beef suet and butter, would have done credit to any +cook.... Mrs. Cary says that when she announced her engagement to a +man in South Africa, all her friends inquired:</p> + +<p>“Is he a missionary?”</p> + +<p>People at home have a vague notion that all the whites in South +Africa are missionaries, but I have seen none, and heard little of +their operations.... We went to the Cary home in a rain-storm, +and it was still raining when we returned to the hotel at 10 o’clock +at night. Four years ago, rain fell here forty-two days and nights, +according to citizens of Johannesburg. This, it seems to me, breaks +the record by two days. The rain here is very erratic, and usually +falls at the wrong time. The rainfall for the past twenty years has +averaged twenty-six inches, but the rainfall is nine inches short this +season.... The rain continues at Durban, and when the warship “New +Zealand” left for Australia late this afternoon, there was a downpour +of rain, and the crowd on the docks was therefore small.... Four +years ago, on the 17th of August, ten inches of snow, the first ever +seen here, fell in Johannesburg, and all business was suspended while +the people engaged in snowballing.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 280]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, MARCH 16.—This afternoon I +attended a baseball game in Johannesburg; a deciding game between clubs +which had won six games each. The players were nearly all miners from +California and Colorado. There were probably seven hundred spectators +present, and although most of them were Americans, only one of them +wore an American hat. I was the one exception, and some were disposed +to guy that when I passed in front of the grandstand. The hat generally +worn by the men here is a fuzzy affair made in London, and many of +them are of a greenish color. The hat can be wrapped up and put in a +traveling-bag, and is generally worn with the brim turned down all the +way ‘round. A great many caps are also worn.... The game was exactly +like a very good amateur game in the United States, except that several +of the players were elderly. One player, a doctor, was as old and fat +as I am, and I’m in no condition to play baseball. I was told that this +doctor is the enthusiast who keeps the game going in Johannesburg. Two +of the grayheads were about the best players in the game; one of them +was a man named Wilson, and he was a noted base-stealer. One player +was called “Denver.” “Come to life, Denver,” a spectator cried, when +he went to bat, and “Denver” didn’t do a thing but smash the ball on +the nose for a home run. Another player was called “C. C.,” and I found +that his nickname was “Cripple Creek,” the name of the American mining +camp he came from. One of the pitchers was called “Texas,” and he won +the game, 6 to 4. American baseball slang was constantly coming from +the spectators, and I could have easily imagined myself in an + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 281]</span> + +American town had the men present worn different hats. I looked over +the audience a good many times, and it seemed that every man present +had in some way lost a little of his American identity. In the chaffing +from the grandstand, English pronunciations could be detected, though +every man around me was probably an American.... An unusual feature +of the game was that almost no boys were present. When a foul went +over the fence, some one would remark: “Another boy in,” but the only +baseball enthusiasts here are grown men who have played the game, or +seen fine exhibitions of it, in the United States. No admission was +charged, but a man took up a collection to pay expenses, just as is +done at games in the smaller country towns of the United States.... +We ate lunch today with an American family, and they told us that +the most famous girls’ school in South Africa is at Wellington, Cape +Colony. It is run by two American women, and most of the better class +girls in South Africa are educated there. All the teachers are American +women, and the result is that all the students acquire many American +ways, habits and pronunciations. It is generally said here that this +Wellington school is doing more to Americanize South Africa than any +other single influence.... American life insurance men stand very +high all over the world. A South-African life insurance man told me +today that every new feature of foreign companies is borrowed from +America.... Possibly you will remember that years ago, Prince +Napoleon, a son of the Empress Eugenie, was killed by savages. This +occurred in Natal, of which Durban is the seaport. The young prince +came out + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 282]</span> + +here with an English regiment, in a spirit of adventure. The Zulus +cut this regiment to pieces; the catastrophe was almost as complete +as was the Custer massacre on the Little Big Horn river, in Montana, +in 1876.... The original Dutch who settled in South Africa were +the same sort of people who settled in New York, and called the +place New Amsterdam. The settlement of the Dutch in Cape Colony and +in New York occurred at about the same time.... The word “Boer” +means farmer, but it is applied to all descendants of the old Dutch +stock.... American residents here greatly regret the exaggerated +scandals constantly appearing in American papers. In America, a decent +man is often abused unjustly and untruthfully, whereas in England +the great scandals with plenty of foundation, are usually hushed up. +The newspapers and magazines of England and its colonies are not as +independent as the American press, and more generally owned by “the +interests.” This statement will, I believe, be generally admitted by +the English. The American press is not only free; it often carries +freedom too far, and prints unjust and untruthful criticisms. These +publications are read by Englishmen, and Americans living abroad +never hear the last of them.... The tea habit being general in the +English colonies, there are a great many tea-rooms. One was raided in +Johannesburg last night, and a large number of arrests made. Think of a +tea-room being raided by the police! ... But here is something still +more unusual: An Episcopal rector in Capetown attempted to introduce +High Mass into his services, and the controversy has reached the +newspapers. The + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 283]</span> + +vestrymen are against High Mass, but the pastor stands firm, and says +he is within his rights.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, MARCH 17.—We have spent this day +in the old Dutch town of Bloemfontein, capital of the Orange Free State +in the days before the Boer war. It has thirty thousand inhabitants, +a little more than half of them negroes. Polly’s Hotel Cecil, where +we are staying, is very comfortable, and the price is only $3 a day. +I came to the Hotel Cecil on the recommendation of a Boer lawyer I +met on the train. He lives somewhere in the interior, and is here to +attend a sitting of the supreme court. The lawyer is the first Boer I +have become acquainted with; he was a Boer soldier during the war, and, +being taken prisoner, was sent to India, where he remained eighteen +months. The Orange Free State had no grievance against the English, but +went to war because it had a defensive alliance with the Transvaal. +Although Oom Paul is a famous figure in history, he was quarrelsome and +unreasonable; he made many demands of the English that a proud people +could not decently grant. But when the war began, the Orange Free State +became the centre of hostilities, and all the men between the ages of +seventeen and seventy were drafted. The English couldn’t afford to +lose, and they burned houses and destroyed fields as ruthlessly as did +Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley. It was a terrible affair, but Oom +Paul, with his excess of piety and patriotism, undoubtedly dragged an +unwilling people to the slaughter. President Steyn was + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 284]</span> + +not as well known as President Krueger, but he was a better man, and +better balanced. Steyn, who is still living here, but in ill-health, +is a highly educated man, whereas Krueger could barely write his own +name.... Owing to Easter, the railroads are now selling tickets at +half-fare, so that we traveled here for two cents a mile each. This is +the regular fare in Kansas, where we are not blessed, or cursed, with +government-owned railways.... The Orange Free State, formerly a +republic, is now a state in the South-African union. It has seventeen +members of parliament, and sixteen of them are Boers. The seventeenth +is a Boer, but a supporter of all English measures. Some of the sixteen +Boer members are sons of English fathers, so that it will be seen that +politics makes strange bedfellows in South Africa, too.... A Boer +farmer does not pay his negro farm hand to exceed $2.50 a month. In +addition, the farm hand receives enough corn-meal to keep him, and such +other food as he can pick up. Corn-meal is the staple food on the farms +here, for Boers as well as negroes. The Boers are always expressing +indignation because the English are spoiling the negroes by paying them +big wages. The Englishman who drove us about this morning in a Ford +automobile, at $2.50 an hour, pays a negro man $10 a month, and the +negro boards himself. Such liberality as this greatly irritates the +Boers. And this town negro has almost nothing to do; he only cares for +six horses, two carriages and an automobile. The Englishman who drove +the automobile talked all the time, and his talk was mainly abuse of +the Boers.... I have frequently remarked that the English are very +unreliable + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 285]</span> + +in their pronunciations. Some of them refer to a horse as a ’orse, +while others pronounce the word as we do. In London, there is a famous +place, the Hotel Cecil. It is universally called the Hotel Sessil in +London, but in Bloemfontein, the capital of an English colony, there +is a hotel of the same name, and it is called Hotel Cecil; the word +pronounced as it is spelled.... I don’t know how it is generally, +but on Monday, March 17, 1913, Bloemfontein, Orange Free State, South +Africa, was the dullest town I have ever visited. The handsome stores +were empty, and I wondered that the merchants did not close up. In +dull towns, pretty women are always numerous, and we saw more pretty +women in Bloemfontein than in any other town in South Africa.... +I believe I have frequently remarked in these letters that South +Africa is the laziest country in the world for white people. Today I +saw a negro driving a public carriage. Beside him sat a white man, +who collected the fares, and managed things; but the white man would +not consent to do the actual work of driving. When a white mechanic +accepts a job here, he asks, “Where are the boys?” meaning, “Where are +the negroes to do the work under my direction?” The labor problem has +solved itself in South Africa. When a tolerably good man will work for +thirty-seven cents a day, and board himself, an employer really has no +room for complaint.... In Bloemfontein, negro women are employed as +chambermaids at our hotel; elsewhere we have seen only chamber-men, +who worked under the direction of white maids. The negro men are +more industrious in South Africa than the women, now that they are +civilized, but + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 286]</span> + +in the old days of savagery, the women did most of the work.... +Near Bloemfontein is a fort large enough to accommodate four thousand +English soldiers, but the place is almost deserted; England no longer +fears war in South Africa.... The window in my room looks into an +open-air theatre; I can see everything that goes on on the stage, +and hear everything that is said. I went to bed tonight before the +show was half over. Educational films of great value may be had, but +manufacturers of films say the people prefer the foolish melodramas +with which you are all familiar in connection with moving-picture +shows. Sometimes I fear that the general run of the people have +wretchedly poor taste. The main show tonight was built around a woman +tight-rope walker. This woman was a society queen, but her father +met with reverses, and she became a tight-rope walker in a circus, +refusing to marry a high-born and wealthy lover because of the change +in her fortunes. The high-born and wealthy lover was entrusted with +an important mission; to carry certain valuable papers, and a girl +clerk of an opposition concern was employed to follow him and secure +the papers. The girl clerk fell in love with the man, and refused to +rob him, but became a fury when he met his former sweetheart, the +tight-rope walker, in a circus. The girl clerk caused the high-born +man to be kidnapped, and locked in a top room in a fourteen-story +building, but the tight-rope walker rescued him by rigging up a rope to +the building opposite, and carrying him on her back. It was an idiotic +performance an hour and a half long, but the people + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 287]</span> + +in the audience greatly enjoyed it.... My friend, the Boer lawyer, +says the Orange Free State is much more prosperous now than before the +war, although for two years afterwards it seemed hopelessly wrecked. +But the British government loaned the people money, and they soon +recovered. The Boer lawyer made another statement that surprised me; +he said that taxes are lower now than when the Orange Free State was a +republic, and that every citizen has as many liberties as he had then, +and more opportunities to prosper. This is rather an unusual statement +for a captured subject of a republic to make about a government headed +by a king.... I never knew until the Boer lawyer told me that a good +many Boers—possibly forty—have been given titles by the English king. +The chief justice of the South-African supreme court, which meets at +Bloemfontein, is a “Lord,” and there are many inferior titles, such +as “Sir.” ... The negroes of Bloemfontein are compelled to live in +what the English call “locations;” that is, in villages where there +are no whites. We visited one of these today, and found the blacks +had all kinds of shops, restaurants, hotels, etc. In front of one of +the grocery stores was about the biggest pile of watermelons I have +ever seen.... The vegetable market of Bloemfontein is in the public +square of the town, and the vegetables are hauled in with ox teams. +Negro women pick up the droppings of the cattle, and take the stuff +home in baskets and pans carried on their heads. Reaching home, they +plaster it against the sides of their houses to dry, and afterwards use +it for fuel. Every negro + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 288]</span> + +woman I saw engaged in this unusual occupation carried a baby on her +back. The negroes breed like rabbits, but the infant mortality among +them is large.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, MARCH 18.—This morning at 9 +o’clock we left Bloemfontein by train for Kimberley. The hotel porter +carried our baggage into a compartment for four, and said:</p> + +<p>“You are to have this to yourselves all day. I have arranged it.”</p> + +<p>I thought it was simply the talk of a somewhat fresh but obliging +hotel porter; but he didn’t do a thing but deliver the goods. And, what +is more, the train conductor frequently came into our compartment, and +pointed out the sights of interest.... I have known railroad men +all my life, and been familiar with their practice of buying butter +and eggs on the line, where they are cheaper, and carrying them home. +The railroad men of South Africa do the same thing; the conductor told +me that he buys eggs along the line at thirty cents a dozen when they +are frequently 75 cents at the division point where he lives. He also +buys his meat out in the country; a dressed sheep weighing eighty +pounds costs him $4.80, so that he gets his meat at six cents a pound. +Sometimes potatoes sell in South Africa at $11.50 for a sack of 165 +pounds, and poor people pay three cents for every potato they buy in +small quantities. On this run the conductor makes a round trip of 210 +miles a day, which occupies him eleven hours. He says he earns about + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 289]</span> + +$120 a month, but in order to do this, he is compelled to get in forty +days in a month. The engineer makes $5 for a day’s work of eleven +hours.... On the way we passed a flock of thirty or forty ostriches +grazing in a field, like cattle, but this isn’t considered a very good +ostrich country. We also passed through the Paardeburg battle-field, +on the Modder river, where General Cronje surrendered 4,000 men to a +superior force of British. There are two cemeteries on the field, in +which are buried the English and Boer soldiers who were killed in the +battle. The Modder river battle-field does not look unlike the Custer +battle-field on the Little Big Horn river in Montana. Indeed, the +country between Bloemfontein and Kimberley does not look unlike the +dry country in Montana.... We saw almost no cultivated fields on +the way, but a great many cattle, and a few sheep. There is not a town +between Bloemfontein and Kimberley: it is a frontier country, and the +railroad has been in operation only four or five years. A man I met on +the train says that in his section of the Orange Free State the soil +is black and rich, and that fine crops of corn are raised; but I have +seen no such country. He lives in a country town of 800 people, off the +railroad, and says he pays only fourteen cents a pound for the best +beef, while butter sells at 24 cents, and eggs at from 18 to 30 cents. +In his country, the Boer women do their own cooking, but hire negroes +to wait on them, and do the rough work. An ordinary negro house servant +receives $4 a month; a particularly good one, $1.25 per week.... +Kimberley, as you approach it by railroad, looks like Johannesburg, +though it is much smaller. You see the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 290]</span> + +same mountains around the mines, but at Kimberley the mountains are +composed of blue mud that has been taken from the mines, washed for +diamonds, and then piled up in waste heaps. The country is not unlike +that around Johannesburg: large hills in every direction, and a rolling +desolate country between them. Kimberley has warmer weather than +Johannesburg, and we struck it on a tremendously hot day.... The +first thing you notice at Kimberley is the great number of mulattoes, +whereas there are almost none at Johannesburg or Durban.... I was +told at Johannesburg that the hotels at Kimberley were abominable; +they were so generally abused that I hoped to find them better than +their reputation, but the Royal Palace, which I was told was the best, +is the worst hotel I have ever patronized. And in an advertisement, +I read that the Royal Palace was the “Hotel de luxe” of Kimberley. I +am writing this in my room by the light of a tallow candle, as the +electric light refuses to work. The hall servants (negro women) are +the most slovenly creatures I have ever seen, and there does not seem +to be any head to the place; I don’t know who runs it, but whoever he +is, he doesn’t give much time to his job.... There are probably a +half-dozen really excellent hotels at Bloemfontein; some of them only +half patronized. Will some one please tell me why one of the good +hotels at Bloemfontein, an insignificant + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 291]</span> + +country town, was not built at busy, hustling, prosperous +Kimberley? ... Johannesburg is a modern, beautiful city; Kimberley is +a mining camp, with narrow, irregular streets. It has many good shops, +but many of the people said to me:</p> + +<p>“No one lives in Kimberley because he likes the town; we only remain +here to make money.”</p> + +<p>Johannesburg people are proud of their town, and they have reason +to be, but Kimberley people are always apologetic. The population is +thirty thousand, a large number of the inhabitants being negroes and +Hindus. The rich mine-owners have race-tracks, clubs and resorts, +but cannot be very comfortable, owing to the dust and the heat. The +few Americans I have seen here are tanned until they are as brown as +Indians, and they do not say much in praise of the town except that it +is the greatest diamond camp in existence.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, MARCH 19.—The De Beers +Company represents one of the greatest corporations in the world. You +hear of De Beers in every conversation when in Kimberley. De Beers owns +private cars for use on the railways; De Beers gives millions to public +enterprises, and to the government; De Beers owns parks, hotels, street- +railways, and eight of the greatest diamond mines in the world.... +De Beers was a Dutch farmer on whose land diamonds were found. He never +made much out of the discovery, and has been dead a good many years, +but, like our John Brown, his soul goes marching on. Cecil Rhodes and +Alfred Beit were the real geniuses of Kimberley and its diamond fields, +and they are represented in monuments here, but De Beers is heard of +much more frequently because his name was given to the trust which took +over the mines.... Diamonds were originally discovered + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 292]</span> + +in South Africa in 1867, by some Dutch children playing on the Orange +river. Three years later, the great Kimberley deposit was found, and +now the output is twenty-seven million dollars a year. It is a saying +around Kimberley that if the De Beers company should put on the market +all the diamonds it has on hand and could produce, diamonds would sell +at a shilling a gallon, but the De Beers company only sells as many +as it can get a good price for. Diamond-mining, according to experts, +will continue at Kimberley for at least a hundred years; it has not +been thought necessary to make figures beyond that time. South Africa +produces ninety-five per cent of the diamonds of the world, and the +De Beers company is the principal factor in the diamond-production +of South Africa. The De Beers company does not represent the De +Beers family, but many noted English and French capitalists, with a +sprinkling of Americans; the diamond trust is one great trust in which +Americans have little interest.... Originally, the diamond mines +at Kimberley were divided into thousands of claims, 31×31 feet, but +Cecil Rhodes saw that diamonds would soon become very cheap unless +conditions were changed; so by hook and by crook he formed the great +De Beers trust, which now produces only as many diamonds as the world +will pay high prices for. Prosperous America takes the greater part of +the output, and dull times in America means dull times in Kimberley. +Alpheus Williams, an American, is general manager of the De Beers +company, and many of the officials under him are Americans. There are +other diamond mines in South Africa, including alluvial diggings, and + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 293]</span> + +the Premier mine near Pretoria, where was found the great Cullinan +diamond, which weighed, before cutting, 3,025 carats, or a pound and a +quarter. But Kimberley is the centre, and will remain so, unless other +discoveries are made. At the end of 1908, it was estimated that eleven +tons of diamonds, valued at $350,000,000, had been found at Kimberley. +Diamonds weighing over an ounce are not infrequent; the largest found +at Kimberley weighed over four ounces.... Before the passage of the +Diamond Trade Act, thefts amounted to five million dollars a year, +but the De Beers company regulated stealing as well as output, and +the losses are now insignificant.... The finest diamond-cutting is +lately being done in New York, and not in Amsterdam, as formerly. The +diamonds cut in New York show more fire than diamonds cut in Amsterdam; +they have a greater number of facets, and represent finer and better +work. Cutting adds forty per cent to the value of diamonds, and an +attempt is being made to put a tax of 20 per cent on all uncut diamonds +sent out of South Africa. No cutting is done here, and the passage of +such a law would add enormously to the country’s labor roll.... +The average man, in thinking of a diamond mine at Kimberley, imagines +a great open hole in the earth, and thousands of men working at the +bottom of it. As a matter of fact, no such mining is now done in +Kimberley, although visitors may see great holes in which such mining +was formerly carried on. Diamonds are now mined very much as gold is +mined. Shafts are sunk to great depths in the earth, and drifts run in +every direction from the bottom. Some of these shafts + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 294]</span> + +are more than three thousand feet deep, and the diamond dirt is +hoisted and treated very much as gold-bearing rock is hoisted and +treated.... Diamonds are found in blue dirt, in what the miners call +“pipes.” These pipes are the craters of extinct volcanoes, and taper +toward the bottom like a funnel. The pipes are round, as may be seen +in the old open workings, some of which are a thousand feet deep. The +deepest working in any “pipe” is now at a depth of three thousand feet, +but a diamond drill has been sent down a thousand feet further without +the blue dirt giving out; so no one knows how deep they are.... +The old open holes in the ground were found very expensive to work +at a depth of eight hundred or a thousand feet, so the blue dirt is +now hoisted by means of modern cages operating in timbered shafts, as +coal is hoisted; down below, drifts are run, and the blue dirt hauled +to the hoisting-shafts as is done in coal-mining. As the blue dirt +is exhausted, the shafts are sunk deeper, and drifts run lower down. +The “pipe” at the biggest diamond mine at Kimberley is three hundred +yards across at the top, and, as I have already said, this tapers +toward the bottom like the funnel you use in pouring vinegar into a +jug. The Premier mine, near Pretoria, is very much larger than any +mine at Kimberley, being eight hundred yards across at the top. This +great Premier mine, which you hear little of, mines forty thousand +tons of blue dirt per day, and employs twelve thousand men, as against +twenty thousand employed in all the Kimberley mines. The Premier dirt, +however, is worth only one dollar per ton, whereas that at Kimberley +averages something + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 295]</span> + +like three times as much.... Briefly, the process of finding the +diamonds is as follows: The blue dirt in which the diamonds are found +is brought to the surface precisely as coal is hoisted, and mined in +about the same way. It is then placed in little iron cars, and hauled +to a level field, where it is spread over the surface to a depth of +two feet. This is done to permit the weather to disintegrate the dirt, +and render its washing easier. Today I saw a field of four thousand +acres covered with this blue dirt. It will remain out in the weather a +year before it is treated in the washing-mills.... You might pause +a moment and think of that four-thousand-acre field, covered to a +depth of two feet with the blue dirt in which diamonds are found. The +four-thousand-acre field I saw represented the output of only one mine; +there are eight in the Kimberley district, only two of which are known +to be duffers, as they say here; that is, of little value.... And +you may rest assured that this four-thousand-acre field is carefully +guarded; it is surrounded with a barbed wire fence fourteen feet high, +and on top of the fence are four wires spread out in such a way that +no one could possibly climb over. At night, the fence is illuminated +with electric lights, and there is a patrol of armed guards day and +night. But you might be turned loose in the four-thousand-acre field, +and not find a diamond in a year; the process of finding them is very +intricate, expensive, and difficult. Many of the natives who work in +the diamond mines have never seen a diamond: they see only the blue +dirt.... After the blue dirt has lain out in the weather a year, and +been plowed up at intervals with steam plows, that all portions of it +may + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 296]</span> + +have a chance at the sun, it is washed in enormous mills, and +reduced in the proportion of one to four million: that is, for every +pound of diamonds found, four million pounds of blue dirt are mined, +hoisted, exposed in the field a year, and then run through the +washing-mills.... In these washing-mills, the blue dirt is first +crushed between rollers, and then run through shaking washing-pans +three different times. What is left is then taken in cars to another +mill, called the pulsator, and here the precious dirt is again washed +three times. Finally the diamonds and the heavier pebbles remaining +after six washings, go in a stream of water over a shaking-pan, the +bottom of which is covered with vaseline. The diamonds stick to the +vaseline, for some reason yet unexplained, while the pebbles roll away +with the water. The diamonds on the screen are then easily collected +and sorted. Some of the sorters, greatly to my surprise, were negroes +in charge of white men.... Today I saw the result of one day’s +washing from one mine; a pile of rough diamonds, many of them as small +as pin-heads. One of them was said to be worth a thousand dollars. +Dozens were of fairly good size, but the bulk of them were very small. +These small diamonds will be used in cutting the big ones. There were +many straw-colored diamonds, and some of them were black; the black +ones will be used in diamond drills. It seemed to me that there were +half a pint of these diamonds; Adelaide says a pint. But anyway, three +or four thousand men, aided by the most enormous machines I have ever +seen, work a day, and turn out—what? A half-pint or pint of bright +stones of no actual value except in cutting glass and + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 297]</span> + +in diamond drills. The diamonds when found are in all sorts of shapes, +but some of them look somewhat like diamonds after they have been +cut. When taken out of the washing-machines they look like ordinary +rock crystals; but they do not flash or sparkle. Cutting gives +them that quality. The De Beers company last year made ten million +dollars profit, I am told, and I am also told that one gold mine at +Johannesburg last year made half that amount.... The mining of the +blue dirt is done by natives who live in compounds, or quarters, and +who are never permitted to leave the place until they quit, or are +discharged; but no native is employed who will not agree to work at +least four months. Today I visited one of these compounds, occupied by +2,500 natives. The place looked to be a thousand feet square. In the +centre is a place where the men bathe after coming from underground. +The houses where the men sleep form the square, and thirty men are +provided with sleeping-bunks in one room. The bunks are in tiers, three +deep, and reminded me of my quarters on the ship “Maunganui” between +Wellington and Sydney.... In front of the houses the men do their +cooking, at open fires, with wood furnished by the company. The men +earn an average of eighty-two cents a day each, and are compelled to +board themselves. They usually live in messes, one man in the mess +doing the cooking for a week. The company has stores in the compound +where all sorts of provisions may be had at about cost.... The men +come from the interior, and, when they arrive, are given a number. This +number is retained until the man quits, or is discharged. There is a +system + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 298]</span> + +of piece work, and some of the men make $1.25 a day. The eight-hour +system prevails, but the system of team work is such that all the men +work steadily; the company sees to it that there are no shirkers. +So the De Beers company has the services of excellent workmen at an +average cost of eighty-two cents a day. There is a modern hospital +in the compound, and men who are injured are treated free, and, in +addition, receive their usual wages while laid up. The compound is much +cleaner than an ordinary negro village, and many of the men remain +with the company for years.... There is a good deal of water in +the Kimberley mines. In one of them, 25,000 gallons an hour is pumped +without trouble from a depth of 1,500 feet.... The blue dirt is +hauled from the mine to the field, where it is exposed to the weather +for a year, in iron cars holding about a ton each. The cars are pulled +by an endless cable, and one of the sights of Kimberley is these cars +going and coming without attendance on a double-track railway two or +three miles long. The cars run in bunches of three, about twenty yards +apart, and reminded me of ants coming and going.... When the blue +dirt is ready to be treated, it is hauled to the washing-mills in the +same cars, and in the same way. At the washing-mills there is a large +residue known to contain no diamonds, and this is carried to the top +of the dump and thrown away, and thus are formed the gray mounds seen +around the town of Kimberley.... The Transvaal government has an +interest in the Premier diamond mine near Pretoria, and gets sixty per +cent of its profits. The government’s share amounts to two and a half +million dollars a year. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 299]</span> + +Whenever a diamond mine shows a disposition to amount to a good +deal, the De Beers company buys it. The stockholders in the De Beers +company have gradually acquired a large interest in the Premier mine, +so that there is a “gentlemen’s agreement” in the disposition of +diamonds.... A great deal of hauling is done from Kimberley to +points off the railroad, and donkey teams are used in freighting. Every +time I go on the streets I see donkey teams of ten to fourteen span +hitched to enormous freight wagons. The donkey teams are usually driven +by three Kaffirs.... The favorite vegetable in South Africa seems +to be cabbage. At the public markets I see particularly big stacks of +it, but little else. In the public market of Kimberley, vegetables are +placed on the ground; I saw string beans lying on the ground, in the +filth of the market-place, this morning.... Kimberley is very dusty +and dirty. The days are about as hot now as they are at home in July +and August, but the nights are much cooler. An American woman who has +lived in South Africa nineteen years, says she has never slept a night +without blankets over her.... I was frequently told in Kimberley I +should look up a man named Brink, the only man in the town who could +give away diamonds, if so disposed, and not be responsible to anyone. I +did not see Brink, but I saw a man who sent me permits which enabled me +to see most points of interest. The De Beers officials are very polite +to visitors, and anyone who comes recommended may easily see all there +is to see.... Kimberley has one long business street which is very +creditable, but outside of that the town does not look very well. Rain + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 300]</span> + +is very scarce, much scarcer than at Johannesburg, and when the wind +blows, all doors must be closed, owing to the dust from the mine dumps. +It is much hotter here in summer than in Johannesburg, and general +conditions of living worse. I shouldn’t mind living in Johannesburg, +but I don’t believe I could be content in Kimberley.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, MARCH 20.—Today we traveled +from Kimberley to Bloemfontein, and the same polite conductor was in +charge of the train. He not only gave us a compartment to ourselves, +but presented me with a Zulu war-club which I am bringing home as a +souvenir. When the Zulus go to Kimberley to work in the mines they +are not allowed to take their war-clubs into the compounds, and sell +them at low prices. The one I have is a fancy affair, and probably the +late owner worked on it for two weeks. It looks as though it has been +in action, and has probably cracked a good many heads.... We were +compelled to wait nearly three hours at Bloemfontein for a train to +Johannesburg, and dined at Polly’s Hotel Cecil. Mr. Polly is a model +hotel man, and knows his business so well that his place is constantly +crowded, while the opposition hotel, just across the street, and a +newer and larger place, is almost deserted. It is surprising what a +clever man can do to a dull one; if Mr. Polly wants the larger and +newer hotel, my prediction is that he will have it in six months.... +We walked about Bloemfontein for an hour in the moonlight. I like this +town, because it is dull, and the people are consequently polite. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 301]</span> + +I have always been accustomed to dull towns, and like St. Louis better +than Chicago because St. Louis people are not so struck on themselves. +Every citizen of Chicago is as badly spoilt as a pretty woman.... +It being the night before Good Friday, which is a holiday here, there +was a rush of passengers for Johannesburg, and the friendly conductor +could not get us a compartment to ourselves. But I was quartered with +two very interesting and polite men in a compartment for four, and +rather enjoyed the night ride.... Let the passenger conductors on +American railroads prepare to scream with horror and indignation over +an incident I am about to relate. The train on which we rode from +Bloemfontein to Johannesburg was composed of twelve coaches, nearly all +of them used as sleepers at night. The conductor not only took up the +tickets, and looked after the train, but he acted as porter in all the +sleepers, and made up the beds. The crowd was so large that we did not +get our beds made up until midnight, although we left Bloemfontein at +nine o’clock. We paid sixty cents each for the use of the beds, when +we finally got them. The beds were done up in separate bundles, two +sheets, two pillows and two blankets in each bundle, and the conductor +of the passenger train was compelled to take these out of lockers, and +change all the seats into beds. He had no help whatever, and all the +time he was at work, passengers were snarling at him in an impudent +way. I have never before seen anything like it anywhere. At every +station the conductor was compelled to go out to the platform, and, +when the train started, he didn’t say “All aboard,” but “All seats.” +Translated, “All seats” means: “The + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 302]</span> + +train is about to start; all passengers take their seats.” ... +After we got to bed at midnight, country boys were constantly racing +through the corridor outside, and looking into our compartment for +seats. We could not lock the door, and, although the train was crowded +when we left Bloemfontein, we took on passengers at every station. In +American sleeping-cars, you engage a sleeping-berth in advance, and +after bedtime the cars are quiet; no racing through the aisles. Here +you take your chance of getting a bed. A similar train on an American +railway would have had a train conductor, a Pullman conductor, and a +porter in each sleeping-car. The door of our compartment was thrown +open a dozen times during the night, but my two companions, important +mining men, were accustomed to it, and were not annoyed. The beds were +narrow, but clean and comfortable; I had no fault to find except the +racing of country boys through the corridors. There were three of us in +a compartment that would have seated eight. I suppose the country boys +had a right to chase us out, and demand that five of them be given +seats in the compartment, but fortunately they did not do it, and we +slept a little toward morning.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, MARCH 21.—We returned to +Johannesburg at 8 o’clock this morning, and it was a little like +getting home. We found two excellent rooms awaiting us at the Langham, +as the proprietor expected us, and we soon forget the discomforts of +the night ride. We found an invitation to dinner awaiting us at the +hotel, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 303]</span> + +and among other agreeable guests we met at this agreeable affair +was Edwin N. Gunsaulus, American consul. Mr. Gunsaulus of course +keeps in touch with American affairs, and he gave us a good deal of +news from home. The consul is a cousin of Rev. Frank Gunsaulus, the +noted American preacher and lecturer, and comes from a town in Ohio +smaller than Atchison. Another fact that endeared him to me is that he +formerly ran a weekly newspaper, and was editor, publisher, business +manager, reporter, and one of the type-setters.... I may as well +tell here of the reprehensible conduct of an American now a resident of +Johannesburg. I refer to Isham F. Atterbury, formerly of St. Joseph, +Missouri, but now manager of the African Realty Trust. I expect the +American women to be as indignant over his conduct as the American +passenger conductors will be over the treatment of the conductor of the +train on which we traveled last night. Mr. and Mrs. Atterbury were also +guests at the dinner, and the story I shall relate of Mr. Atterbury’s +conduct I had first-hand from his wife’s lips. Mr. Gunsaulus also +heard the story, and I called his attention to it particularly by +recommending that, as American consul, he do something about it.... +The story is as follows: For years Mrs. Atterbury kept house, and +slaved, as American women do, in preparing delicacies for her husband +to eat, in order that she might keep him good-natured. But human +endeavor has a limit, and Mrs. Atterbury’s slaving for her husband’s +comfort finally resulted in a collapse, and a trip to a sanitarium. +After her partial recovery, they went to an English boarding-house, +which Mrs. Atterbury declares is worse than an American + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 304]</span> + +boarding-house, to live. And here is where Mr. Atterbury’s baseness +developed: <i>he ate as heartily of the boarding-house fare as he had +ever eaten of his wife’s cooking</i>.... Although the incident happened +years ago, Mrs. Atterbury is still mad about it. “And,” she added, +in telling of her wrongs, “some people say I am a pretty fair cook. +After that, I quit the kitchen for good, and have been boarding ever +since.” ... Their young gentleman son, Manfred Atterbury, is afraid +to take sides in the controversy, but he did say that his father +doesn’t pay much attention to what he eats; that when he goes to the +table he usually carries American newspapers or magazines with him, +and doesn’t eat anything at all unless his attention is called to the +fact that the body requires a certain amount of nourishment.... The +American women I meet here all say American men are more considerate +of their wives than the men of any other nation. I believe that at +home we men are rather unpopular as husbands, and that our conduct +attracts a good deal of unfavorable criticism from American wives; +but abroad we are everywhere toasted because of our devotion to our +women-folks.... At the dinner tonight, an American woman said: +“Another reason I want to go home: I want to see pretty girls again.” +There are not many pretty women over here, whereas America is full of +them; particularly in dull towns.... Another guest at the dinner +tonight was H. T. Hofmeyer, a prominent Boer lawyer of Johannesburg, +and who has just served two terms as mayor. He is much interested in +American newspapers, magazines, books, and citizens. The ex-mayor and +Mr. Gunsaulus, the American + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 305]</span> + +consul, were quite impatient with me because I had arranged to leave +Johannesburg at 10 P.M. on Monday evening, whereas they said no train +left at that hour. So we all took a walk to the railroad station, to +get the facts. It turned out that I was right about it, and the consul +and Mr. Hofmeyer walked all the way home with me, in explaining how +they happened to be mistaken.... Merchants everywhere work the +words “reduction” and “cut prices,” for all they are worth. Wherever +we have been, we have encountered “reduction” sales, and merchants +side by side abuse each other in the placards displayed. “This is a +real reduction sale,” one placard read; “do not be deceived by false +pretenses elsewhere.” One shoe store in Johannesburg displays this +sign: “Shoes for next to nothing.” Every storekeeper thinks he is a +public benefactor, because of his low prices.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, MARCH 22.—When I left home +I was told that the name of this town is pronounced Yohonnesburg +by its citizens, but I find that they call it “Joburg” almost +universally.... In Durban, the best people ride in rickshas; here, +these vehicles are used very sparingly. A law has been passed whereby +their use will be entirely prohibited in two years. It is claimed +that the ricksha men become overheated while running, and contract +consumption.... A sign frequently seen in Johannesburg reads: “This +house and stand for sale.” It is equivalent to “This house and lot for +sale.” ... I was out this + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 306]</span> + +afternoon with five Americans, and at 4 P.M. we went into an enormous +place to drink a cup of tea. There were certainly fifty girl waiters, +and hundreds of customers. The tea-room included a long balcony above +the sidewalk, and similar places are very numerous in Joburg. I am +told that tea-drinking is one English habit American residents soon +acquire.... The ordinary natives work long hours here. This evening +I heard a boss say to a gang of street laborers: “Remember that we +begin work Monday morning at 5:30, not at 6:30.” ... There are +fourteen annual holidays here, observed by the whites as religiously +as we observe Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the Fourth of July, but +the natives do not seem to participate in them. If there is anything +in having an abundant supply of cheap labor, South Africa should +flourish.... Over in Missouri, many of the farmers have private +graveyards. I find a similar custom among the Boer farmers in South +Africa.... A big sign I saw at Bloemfontein contained this imprint: +“D. Jones, writer.” Meaning that D. Jones was the sign-writer who made +it. Near the Hotel Cecil in Bloemfontein I also saw this sign: “Hotel +Cecil Toilet Club.” You might guess a week without guessing what the +sign meant: the place was the hotel barber shop.... At hotels, I +always hate to see the sign, “Fire Escape;” somehow it disturbs me. +But the proprietor of the Langham thought up something more delicate; +instead of the words “Fire Escape,” he uses “Emergency Exit.” ... I +am always meeting queer people; I met a woman lately who said she would +as soon drink a cup of castor oil as a cup of rich cream.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 307]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, MARCH 23.—Johannesburg and +Kimberley have experienced the usual high life incident to all boom +camps. While great fortunes have been made, much money has been lost, +and suicide is almost as common here as in Monte Carlo. Barney Barnato, +one of the conspicuous figures in both camps, committed suicide at +sea, by jumping overboard while en route to England. But his act was +not due to lack of money, as he was rich at the time, and was just +completing the finest residence in South Africa. The building is now +used as a school; it was a gift for school purposes from the Barnato +estate.... Barney Barnato came to South Africa as a circus clown; +his real name was Barnett Isaacs, and he was a Hebrew. “Barney Barnato” +was his circus name, and it stuck to him in the days of his prosperity, +when he became a diamond broker, and married a “Cape woman;” that is, +a negress. She was of light color, but so dark that she was never +received socially. Kimberley and Johannesburg can forgive much in a +woman, if she has money, but Mrs. Barnato was never forgiven. It is +said here that she lived with Barnato before she was married to him, +and he sent her to London to dispose of diamonds acquired illegally. +Instead of depositing the money in a London bank in Barnato’s name, +she deposited it in her own name, and Barnato was compelled to marry +her to get his own money.... Barnato prospered greatly, and when +Cecil Rhodes and Alfred Beit organized the great De Beers Consolidated +Company, they were compelled to treat with him, as he owned many of the +best claims. He was made a life director in the De Beers Company, and +the evidence + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 308]</span> + +is that he was popular, and a good fellow. All the big interests here +have holdings in Johannesburg as well as at Kimberley, so the towns are +closely related.... In the days immediately following the Jameson +raid, and just preceding the Boer war, Paul Krueger was an autocrat, +and very unfair with the big English interests in Johannesburg, which +is in the Transvaal. Krueger was then president of the Transvaal +republic, and you hear it stated in whispers to this day that Barney +Barnato, or some one for him, hired an adventurer named Von Veldtheim, +a Londoner, to assassinate Krueger. In a quarrel Von Veldtheim killed +Wolf Joel, Barnato’s uncle. Von Veldtheim was arrested, and while he +was in jail, awaiting trial, Barnato committed suicide, fearing, it is +said, that Von Veldtheim would tell the whole story when tried for his +life. But Von Veldtheim plead self-defense, and was acquitted by the +Boer courts. He returned to London, and again attempted to blackmail +members of the De Beers Company. The English courts sent him to jail, +and he is there now.... Cecil Rhodes was the best man of the lot, +and he did much for South Africa, as he had ideals greater than making +money. Rhodes was a bachelor, and, like many men of big schemes, a hard +drinker. His death was due, I have often heard, to heavy drinking. +He is buried at Bulawayo, in Rhodesia, which he placed on the map, +and which is named for him. Alfred Beit was a financial man, and not +a great deal can be said for him except that he was very capable, +and accumulated an enormous fortune.... Of the original crowd of +boomers, Dr. Jameson is about the only one still living, and he is +everywhere highly + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 309]</span> + +spoken of. He was originally Cecil Rhodes’s physician, but had +business ability, and, with the patronage of Rhodes, soon became an +important figure in South Africa. It was this man who headed the +Jameson raid, intended to turn the Transvaal republic into an English +colony, but the Boers captured him and his men in less time than it +would take to write the story. Jameson and his chief lieutenants were +sentenced to death, and Cecil Rhodes, who really inspired the raid, got +them off. This was accomplished by the payment of money to the Boer +chiefs, and there was so much of it that you hear of Paul Krueger’s +buried treasure almost as frequently as you hear of Captain Kidd’s. The +row over the Jameson raid finally resulted in the Boer war, and the +flight of President Krueger to Switzerland, where he died. There is +still a good deal of friction between the English and Boers: an English +paper issued this morning complains that at an agricultural fair to +be opened in Johannesburg this week, only fifteen per cent of the +exhibitors are Boers.... The week beginning with Easter is a holiday +week, and the crowd in Johannesburg is so large now that tents have +been erected in many places to accommodate the visitors. The streets +this afternoon were packed, and certainly nineteen out of twenty were +men. This is a man’s country.... The American consul told me today +that he does not hear much of missionaries in this section, except +of a few Mormons, who are unpopular because of the notion, probably +mistaken, that they teach polygamy. We called at the consul’s office +today, and were much pleased with the many pictures we saw there of +American saints: Washington, Lincoln, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 310]</span> + +McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, etc.... In going down in the +elevator at the Langham hotel today, I saw a cheap book the elevator +boy had been reading. Picking it up, I saw that the title was: +“Buffalo’s Bill’s Warning.” So it seems American literature, which is +said to be unknown abroad, is getting a start.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, MARCH 24.—This evening we had +six American guests at dinner at our hotel: Mr. Gunsaulus, the American +consul at Johannesburg; Mr. and Mrs. Atterbury and their son Manfred, +and Mr. and Mrs. Mark Cary. Mr. Cary had been at Capetown and Durban +during our stay in Johannesburg, but returned late this afternoon, and +drove direct from the train to the hotel. The hotel orchestra, as a +compliment to our party, played American rag time. At 9:30 P.M. the +entire party walked with us to the railway station, where we were to +take a train for Bulawayo, en route to Victoria Falls. Our baggage had +been sent to the station in advance, and we carried nothing except +an enormous package of American newspapers: copies of the Chicago +<i>Tribune</i> and New York <i>World</i>.... The train did not get away until +10:25 P.M., being late, but our friends remained until we departed. I +tried to coax them to go home, but they wouldn’t do it; when people are +very nice to me it makes me as uncomfortable as when they are not nice +enough.... When we arrived at the station we found a chart displayed +against a wall showing that “Mr. and Miss Howe” had been assigned to a +compartment + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 311]</span> + +large enough for four, and from the interest Mr. Gunsaulus and Mr. +Atterbury took in the matter, I imagined they had a good deal to +do with securing this very agreeable and unusual concession.... +I should like to have the pleasure of entertaining Mrs. Atterbury, +particularly, when she makes her long-delayed visit home. She has +been away nineteen years, and if ever there was a true patriot, she +is one; her enjoyment at being among Americans again would be worth +witnessing. She is always talking of “going home,” and telling of +the many nice people she knows there, and nothing would please me +more than to assist in realizing, as far as possible, all her present +expectations. Isham, her husband, has been promising a long time to +take her home “next year,” but she now declares that if he doesn’t keep +his promise by March 1, 1914, she will go alone. We spent half our +time in Johannesburg with the Atterburys; in addition to innumerable +meals we ate with them, they gave us one dinner at which we had four +kinds of wine. So if her friends in St. Joe will let me know the date +of her arrival, I will be at the station to welcome her.... Soon +after the train conductor looked at our tickets, he proceeded to lug +two huge bags of bed-clothing into our compartment, and make up two +beds. We paid $1.20 for the use of the bed-clothing two nights; the +charge would have been the same for one night. So that we will have a +large compartment to ourselves two nights and a day, and pay only $1.20 +above the regular fare. The beds were comfortable, though somewhat +narrow, but we slept as well, I imagine, as people usually do on a +sleeping-car. On our door and + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 312]</span> + +on our window were placards announcing that the compartment was +reserved, and we were not disturbed during the journey. The +South-African sleeping-cars are not at all bad, except that the train +conductor has so much to do that he cannot keep them as clean as they +should be. The conductor did not polish my shoes at night, but I knew +he was very busy, and overlooked his neglect.... On one or two +trains we have been on, there was a man who helped the conductor, but +on at least two crowded trains on which we traveled, the conductor has +had no help whatever in making up the beds; the most curious thing I +have ever noted in railroad travel. There is a guard on the train, who +is what we call a brakeman, but he does not assist the conductor in the +chamber-work. When these conductors are taking the tickets, they are +as haughty as are American conductors, but when they begin lugging in +sheets, pillows and mattresses, they are as humble as the most timid +traveler could wish.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, MARCH 25.—This is written on +the Imperial Mail train, on the line of South-African railway extending +from Capetown to Victoria Falls and beyond. This will eventually become +the “Cape to Cairo” railway, extending from Capetown, on the seacoast +in South Africa, to Cairo, in Egypt. You may recall that Colonel +Roosevelt, on his famous hunting trip in Africa, went by rail as far as +he could, and then tramped through the wild country to the end of the +line extending south from Egypt, and then went to Cairo. Alfred + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 313]</span> + +Beit, one of the bonanza kings of Johannesburg and Kimberley, left six +million dollars to be used in completing the gap between the African +and Egyptian lines. When the “Cape to Cairo” line is finally completed, +it will become as famous as the line from Moscow, in Russia, to a port +on the Sea of Japan. This line was built by the Russians, and the +distance from Moscow to Japan is now made in comfortable trains in ten +days. Think of ten days of continuous travel in the same coaches, in +the same train, and on the same railway! Great as is America, it has +nothing like it; although we are talking of a line from New York to +Buenos Aires, in South America. Thousands of miles of the proposed line +are in operation, but there are gaps in Central and South America so +difficult that it may never be completed, while the “Cape to Cairo” +line may be a reality within the next twenty years.... Always +remember that in South Africa there is no rich, black soil such as you +see in Illinois, Iowa, eastern Kansas, and other of our best states. At +least, I have not seen any. The soil in Africa is usually thin and red, +and stones abound nearly everywhere. No part of Africa has as reliable +a rainfall as the best parts of the United States. But nevertheless +there is a fascination about this frontier country to an American; were +I a younger man, probably the “spirit of the Veldt” would appeal to me +more strongly than it does. All sorts of problems, including irrigation +and dry-farming, are being worked out here. I have seen little country +in Africa that looks any better than Kansas looks two hundred miles +from the river, and the trouble is lack of a dependable rainfall. Along +the coast there is so + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 314]</span> + +much rain that sugar-cane is grown without irrigation, and there is +much good country, but today, eight hundred miles from the coast, we +are in a dry, mountainous district which reminds one of Arizona.... +Today we are seeing blanket negroes; native blacks who wear nothing but +blankets, still a habit with some of our Indians. Between the lonely +stations, we see native villages which seem as primitive as anything +Africa can produce; at the stations, also, we see some negro men and +women dressed as well as our best negroes at home. This morning we saw +negro beggars for the first time: black children ran beside the train +at a stopping-place, and, patting their stomachs, indicated that they +were hungry, as a means of inducing the passengers to throw pennies to +them.... At the stations, also, we see strong, capable Englishmen. +These are the men who are engaged in working out the South-African +problems, and they are undoubtedly making progress.... The white +race can only flourish in certain parts of Africa; in sections four +thousand feet or more above sea-level. Other portions of country +must be left, for a long time at least, to the natives. Just what +proportion of Africa is 4,000 feet or more above sea-level, I do not +know, but I have seen the proportion stated as one-fourth in a certain +section.... Most of the native male children we are seeing today +are entirely naked, and their parents wear nothing but blankets when +they come out to see the train go by; no doubt they wear less when not +under observation.... Tomorrow morning we will leave the train at +Bulawayo, for a two-days stay. This town is in Rhodesia, which is as +big as half of Europe. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 315]</span> + +All of this immense territory belongs to and is administered by a +British company, and is not a member of the South-African union. In +Rhodesia there are 25,000 Europeans and a million natives. The head +of every native family is compelled to pay the British company an +annual tax of $5, with $2 extra for each additional wife. Many of +the native men who work in the mines in Johannesburg and Kimberley +came from the poor villages we are seeing today. The villages are all +alike: the houses are straw-covered huts, and the inhabitants seem to +be as poor as people can be. The native men only work as a means of +buying wives.... When Abel and Sampson return home, they probably +return to wretched villages such as we are seeing today. Abel and +Sampson are the servants at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Mark Cary, in +Johannesburg. Abel has a sweetheart, and is saving money to buy her of +her father. She is probably a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl living +in a village such as we are seeing today.... Since leaving Sydney, +Australia, six weeks ago, we haven’t seen an American traveler. They +seem to be very scarce in this part of the world. At one of the diamond +mines we visited in Kimberley, there was a book in which all visitors +registered. We looked through twenty or more pages without finding +a visitor registered from the United States.... I have seen only +two bunches of ostriches on the trip; the second this morning near +Mafeking. This town was conspicuous during the Boer war, because of the +operations of General Baden-Powell. It is a pretty and important place, +and has railroad shops, as the Johannesburg branch joins the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 316]</span> + +main line there. It has 1,400 people, but near it is a native town +with three times as many.... In some places along the line, the +soil is so thin that the railroad dump is made of stones; there is +not enough dirt for the purpose. The telegraph poles and ties are of +iron, which indicates the lack of timber. The track is excellent, and +the train runs rapidly. We have become so accustomed to the narrow- +gauge that we do not notice the difference.... The dining-car on +this train is clean, and the meals very good. When we went in for the +first meal, we were told to pay at the end of the journey; so tomorrow +morning I will pay for three meals. Which is another unusual incident +of railroad travel. We notice here that hotel and train employees +always know our names. When we went into the dining-car for lunch to +day, the waiter asked if we were Mr. and Miss Howe. Being informed that +we were, the man escorted us to a table that had been reserved. We are +charged seventy-two cents for lunch and dinner, and sixty cents for +breakfast.... In Johannesburg and Kimberley, we frequently saw the +native miners going to the station to take trains for their homes. Here +at nearly every station we see native miners who have completed their +visit home, and are going back to work.... In one little valley we +passed through were a good many fields of kaffir corn, and in every +case the workers were women and children. Possibly the men were away +working in the mines.... The country in which we are traveling this +afternoon is eleven hundred miles from Capetown, and the track is not +fenced. The occasional bunches of goats and cattle—I see no sheep—seem +to + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 317]</span> + +love the railroad track, and the engineer is compelled to slow up, +and drive them off with his whistle.... This evening we are about +as far in the interior of Africa from Capetown as the Mississippi +river is from New York, and are beginning to have trouble with dust. +I believe I have never been bothered with dust as I am here; but +we cannot see it—it seems to be a part of the air.... We passed +within thirty miles of Serome, containing thirty thousand people, and +one of the largest native towns in South Africa. The chief of this +tribe does not allow liquor to be sold in his territory, and is quite +progressive. He rules over a territory a hundred miles square. In his +town of Serome there are a good many white storekeepers and traders, +who buy corn, skins, etc., and ship them to the railroad by ox teams. +Serome is in a vast territory known as the “Protectorate;” the British +government protects the natives in their right to rule through chiefs. +British officials, usually army officers, are scattered throughout +the territory, to advise and really rule the chiefs. The natives have +their own petty courts, but the superior courts are British. We are +well out of the Boer territory now. The Boers once planned to annex the +vast territory now known as Rhodesia, which fact caused Cecil Rhodes +to hurry into the country with an armed force, and claim it for the +British.... The tracks of the South-African railway are uniformly +good, and as night approached, the weather became cooler. The dust we +experienced earlier in the day came from a desert where discomfort is +always experienced.... At one place, we saw a negro hoeing corn in a +field, stark naked. Whether the negro was man or woman, I + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 318]</span> + +could not tell at the distance, but as women do most of the field work +here, I fear it was a woman, and that I saw a very improper sight +while innocently endeavoring to broaden my mind by travel.... +Railroad grading is done here with pick and shovel, and not with horse +or steam scrapers. At one station a long siding was being put in, +and the necessary cut was being made by negroes who used only picks +and shovels.... The passengers on this train, which is a Limited, +are a nice lot, and very polite. Although all men are supposed to be +equal, the difference between the passengers on a Limited train and the +passengers on an excursion train is very marked. The difference between +the patrons of a first and second-class hotel may also be noted +without difficulty.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, MARCH 26.—The distance from +Mafeking to Bulawayo is 485 miles, and our train made it in twenty-four +hours. If there is a town between Mafeking and Bulawayo, we passed +through it during the night; we stopped at a good many lonely stations, +but saw no towns. And we passed but one train on the way: a passenger +train coming from Victoria Falls.... We arrived at Bulawayo this +morning at 9:30, on time to the second, although we left Johannesburg +and Mafeking late. We were taken to the Grand Hotel in an automobile, +of which the hotel porter was the driver, and the manager met us with +the question: “Mr. and Miss Howe?” You travel by schedule here, and +your coming is known in advance.... Last + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 319]</span> + +night the weather was chilly, although the afternoon was almost +insufferably hot and dusty. All day yesterday we traveled through a +country covered with scrubby trees; trees so bent and twisted that they +looked as though they had rheumatism in every limb and joint. This +morning we awoke in Rhodesia, and the country improved in character, +though the land was still of the Arizona kind rather than of the Iowa +or eastern Kansas kind. In Rhodesia we saw larger cornfields than we +saw yesterday, but the fields were many miles apart. Corn is the staple +crop all over Africa, but the corn I have seen was small.... Africa +is an enormous country; when it comes to size, we must take off our +hats to it. But nine hundred miles in the interior, you do not find a +city like Chicago; the fourth or fifth city in the world, and built up +from agriculture. Africa was known before Columbus discovered America; +had it been as rich agriculturally as North America, the negroes would +have been chased out by farmers as promptly as the Indians were chased +out of North America. In Africa today there are negro tribes as wild as +were the wildest tribes hundreds of years ago. There is here a tribe +known as the Bushmen. Their language is a collection of clicks and +grunts, these last, absent in the other African dialects, being said to +bear a resemblance to the different cries of the baboon. The Bushman is +so much like the baboon that he has no conception of right or wrong; it +is as impossible to civilize him as it is impossible to civilize the +monkey. He is the missing link between the monkey most like man, and +the human animal. He can no more understand the rights of property than +can the lion or the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 320]</span> + +jackal; theft is not a crime with him, because he cannot appreciate +that theft is wrong. So it has been found necessary to drive him to +the wildest and most inaccessible sections of the country, and, when +he appears in civilization, is hunted as ruthlessly as are cunning and +dangerous wild animals. No Bushman has ever been known to cultivate +a field; he lives entirely by hunting animals, wild berries, roots, +etc., and no white man has ever been able to understand the Bushman’s +language.... Africa is behind us in civilization because its land +is poorer. In many of our best states it was possible in early times, +before fences were introduced, to plow a furrow hundreds of miles +long, and every foot of the land represented a rich, deep, black soil +that would produce marvelous crops without irrigation or fertilizing. +There is no such land in Africa; the abundance of such land in North +America explains why it has a hundred million progressive people, and +is everywhere known as the best country the sun shines on. Possibly +modesty should cause us to boast less, but the big talk we use in +Fourth of July addresses is not far from the truth.... Do Americans +boast a good deal? On the contrary, I sometimes fear they habitually +deny nearly every good thing that may be said about their country. +In Johannesburg I was given a big bundle of American newspapers and +magazines, and read them in coming here. I saw no boasting; on the +contrary, I read dozens of sensational scandals that were in the +main baseless. One worthy and useful old gentleman, I read, is being +harassed by an impudent investigating committee, although so ill that +he cannot speak above a whisper. I read that a + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 321]</span> + +prominent American manufacturer, who certainly deserves well of his +country, has been sentenced to jail and fined $50,000, on a charge +that seems trifling. I read of a case wherein a negro assaulted a +worthy white woman in the South. The papers are determined to make +out that the woman was assaulted and cut with a knife by her husband, +who caught her flirting with another man. The woman and her husband, +and all their friends who were about them at the time, swear in court +that the assault was committed by a mulatto, whom none of them knew; +there is no sworn evidence whatever to the contrary. It was rumored for +months before the trial began that a newspaper reporter was smuggled +into the office of the prosecuting attorney when the husband and wife +were examined, soon after the assault, and that the reporter heard the +husband say incriminating things to his wife, during the temporary +absence of the prosecuting attorney; but at the trial, the reporter +was a witness, and swore to no such incident. At this distance, it +looks as though the gossips have the assistance of the courts and the +newspapers in making good their vicious and untruthful tales.... +Is this boasting? Is it not, on the contrary, making ourselves mean +when we are usually creditable and decent? ... To a hurried visitor, +Bulawayo seems even handsomer, and duller, than Bloemfontein, the old +Dutch town in the Orange Free State which I admired so much. The Grand +Hotel here is excellent, and the town clean and handsome, but I see +little business going on. It may be that the farmers come in some other +day in the week, but I wonder at and enjoy the quietness in Bulawayo. So + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 322]</span> + +far I have seen no great number of pretty women, who always +distinguish a dull town, but possibly they have been kept in by a rain +which began falling soon after my arrival. Work is in progress here +on a government building which would do credit to a state capital in +America, but this not the capital of Rhodesia; that honor belongs to +Salisbury, three hundred miles away. The new building will be occupied +by officials of the British company which owns Rhodesia, and the +postoffice.... When the Union Pacific Railway was built, in the days +immediately following the Civil War, the government gave the company a +strip of land on both sides of the track, as a reward for developing +the country. In like manner, the English government gave Rhodesia +to certain capitalists, except that in this case the capitalists +govern the country; they collect taxes, try criminals, hang them when +necessary, collect customs, and otherwise administer public affairs. +The police and militia of Rhodesia serve the Rhodesia company; when +a man buys public land, he buys it of the Rhodesia company; but back +of the Rhodesia company, John Bull is a silent but powerful figure, +and nothing can be done without his approval and consent. India was +governed many years by the East India company, but finally Victoria +was made Empress of India. Rhodesia will eventually become a member of +the South-African union, certainly; it may be even closer than that to +the British crown.... Flies and mosquitoes terrorize me in Africa. +There is a fly here which gives the dreaded Sleeping Sickness with its +bite, and there is a mosquito which gives you typhoid. I strike at both +insects as promptly as the average man + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 323]</span> + +strikes at a moth miller when around home. I never knew a man so +dignified that he wouldn’t take a smash at a moth miller.... The +Bulawayo newspaper, issued this morning, tells of the depredations +of lions in the surrounding country. Several cattle and one native +were killed. Let American country editors think of exciting country +correspondence of that kind.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, MARCH 27.—Thirty miles from +Bulawayo is a district known as the Matopo Hills, one hundred miles +long by twenty-five broad. During the Matabele rebellion of 1896‒7, +these rough hills of granite proved impregnable when occupied by the +natives, as they are full of passes and gigantic caves, and occasional +fertile but almost inaccessible valleys. Cecil Rhodes loved this +district, because of its wildness, and one of his last requests was +that his body be buried on top of the highest of the Matopo Hills. +We visited his grave today, during the course of an automobile ride. +There is no monument over his grave; a simple flat stone covers it. +Two hundred feet away, and on top of the same hill, is a monument “In +Memory of Brave Men.” It is a huge affair of granite, in memory of +Major Allan Wilson and his party, who fell on the Shangaui river in +1893. It is a common habit of discreet men to erect handsome monuments +over the graves of foolhardy adventurers, and call them brave. +Thousands of men lost their lives in order that Cecil Rhodes might +become noted, and be the subject of statues at Kimberley, Johannesburg, +Bulawayo, etc. Other noted men have + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 324]</span> + +sacrificed the lives of their followers with equal +recklessness.... On the four sides of the notable monument near +Rhodes’s grave are bronze panels showing scenes from various campaigns +in Rhodesia; the figures are of heroic size, and executed with +so much faithfulness by John Tweed that many of the faces may be +recognized.... From Rhodes’s grave, the Matopo Hills may be seen +in all their remarkable desolation. The place looks like hell with +the fires out; like the world upside down. Rhodes had a model farm +of 115,000 acres just outside the Hills, and spent $150,000 on an +irrigating dam. He expected this dam to irrigate 2,000 acres, but it +actually irrigates less than 700. Rhodes spent considerable time on +this farm, and frequently went to the high hill where his body was +afterwards buried. In moods of despondency, when he knew his illness +must soon result in death, he spent several moonlight nights on the +spot where his grave is now located. Several attendants accompanied +him, but he said little to them; he silently looked around at what is +probably the most majestic scene of desolation in the world. Rhodes +was less than fifty when he died, and his thoughts about the vanities +of life would have been exceedingly interesting in print. He was one +of the remarkable characters of recent history, and I shall long +remember him; especially because of a statue erected in his memory +at the crossing of two principal streets in Bulawayo. This statue is +a wonderfully lifelike reproduction of a man, and I have repeatedly +looked at it with more interest than I usually look at works of +art.... On the journey to the Matopo Hills, we saw frequent bunches +of wild baboons; in + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 325]</span> + +one lot there must have been twenty or thirty. These animals are a +nuisance to farmers, as they kill sheep; it is therefore necessary +to hunt them with dogs.... On the way to the Matopo Hills is a +hotel. We ate lunch there on our return trip, and a bride and groom +started out ahead of us, in an automobile. We finally overtook them, +but the bride and groom were utterly unconscious of our presence, +and hugged and kissed most of the way to Bulawayo. A mother and +daughter, traveling acquaintances, accompanied us, and the daughter was +particularly interested in the actions of the bride and groom. Later, +when we punctured a tire, and stopped for repairs, the girl confessed +that she is to be married in a few weeks. She is the daughter of a big +farmer in the Transvaal, and will marry a young banker. A banker is as +particular about marrying a rich woman as an army officer. Ever know +a banker or an army officer to marry a poor girl? ... The bride and +groom in front of us greatly interested our party, and we laughed until +our sides ached. They were fooling the driver of their automobile, but +utterly unconscious of five spectators in the rear. In fooling one man, +you are usually unconscious of several others who are watching you.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<br> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i-335.jpg" alt="Various Photographs." width="600" height="370"> +</div> +<div class="caption center"> +Block House used by the English in the Boer War    /    Entrance to Suez Canal +<br> +Native children, South Africa +<br> +Native Village, Rhodesia    /     +An African King meeting with his Cabinet +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, MARCH 28.—The mother and daughter +with whom we have been traveling several days, Mrs. and Miss Meek, live +fifteen miles off the railroad between Durban and Johannesburg, on a +farm of twenty thousand acres. Mr. Meek, the husband and father, goes + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 326]</span> + +in principally for sheep, of which he has many thousand head, but he +does general farming as well, and has two hundred and fifty natives on +his farms, counting women and children. These live in small villages +or kraals on the land, and both Mrs. Meek and her daughter speak the +Kaffir language. Some of the Kaffir men on the Meek farm have six +wives; the farm foreman has that number, and Mrs. Meek says he is +a very reliable and capable man, in spite of his love affairs. The +foreman has twenty-eight children, and each of his six wives lives in a +different hut. When he takes a new wife, there is no marriage ceremony; +he simply invites his friends to a wedding feast, which the other wives +prepare. He buys his wives, usually paying ten head of cattle each; +there are no love preliminaries, except that occasionally a young girl +comes to the foreman’s kraal, and remains until he takes her as his +wife. He is a prosperous man, and prosperous men are everywhere popular +with the girls. The wives of the foreman get along very well together; +they have always been accustomed to the system of plural wives, and +do not seem to object to it. The children living in the kraals, Mrs. +Meek says, are very healthy; more so than white children living in +modern houses in the same vicinity. The grass-covered huts in which the +natives live are less liable to leak in rainy weather than the houses +of the whites, which are almost universally covered in South Africa +with corrugated iron. Mr. Meek pays his native workmen about $2.50 per +month, and board, providing they are reliable and steady. Their board +consists of a certain amount of shelled corn; about all they eat is +corn-meal porridge, and their idea of luxury is to have + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 327]</span> + +brown sugar to sprinkle over it. Most of them have gardens, and Mr. +Meek loans them oxen and plows for cultivating them. A young native boy +who herds cattle gets seventy-two cents a month. The native workmen +employed on the Meek farm have their porridge ground and cooked by a +native employed for the purpose, who never gives them too much, because +the work of grinding corn in a handmill is a considerable task, and +this task falls to the cook. The natives on the farm go to church once +on Sunday, but they seem to attend the services as a means of seeing +and being seen rather than because they are religious. A railroad is +building toward Mr. Meek’s farm, and lately he refused $20 an acre +for it. I am somewhat confused about the yield of corn per acre in +South Africa, as the people always say a field yields so many bags per +morgen; a morgen being a little over two acres, and a bag holding a +little less than three bushels. But it may be safely stated that the +yield of corn in no part of South Africa is equal to the yield in the +corn belt in our section. Disastrous drouths are also very common; corn +has been almost a failure for the past three seasons. I have not seen a +good field of corn in South Africa. But Mr. Meek is a very prosperous +farmer, because of his sheep, cattle and horses. He also milks a good +many cows, and sends the cream to the railroad, “five hours” from his +farm: distances are always computed here by hours, and not by miles. +Five miles from his farm-house is a country village without a railroad, +and there he does his “trading.” He is making an exhibit of stock at +the Johannesburg fair, and his wife and daughter are very anxious to +know whether they took + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 328]</span> + +any prizes.... Mr. Meek was born of English parents, but has never +been to England. During the war he would not fight the English, and he +would not fight the Boers, as his wife is of Dutch descent. So he left +home, and went into Natal. His wife remained on the farm throughout +the war, and was constantly surrounded by troops of the contending +forces. Once, when they had an artillery battle, the shells flew over +her house for hours; some of the shells fell in her door-yard, and, +exploding, tore down fences and outhouses. Her children were away at +school when the war began, and did not come home for eighteen months. +Mrs. Meek managed to smuggle a good deal of the farm live-stock into +Natal, where her husband received it and cared for it on land rented +for the purpose. In smuggling sheep and cattle out of the country, +Mrs. Meek’s main reliance was the native foreman, the wretch who has +six wives; he was as faithful and efficient as it is possible for a +servant to be. Occasionally the English talked of sending Mrs. Meek to +the concentration camp, and burning her house, but she was always able +to coax them out of the notion.... She has a native cook, a man, and +pays him a dollar a week. The native women do her washing and ironing, +and do it very well, for a dollar a week; in addition, they clean and +sweep.... Mrs. Meek has never heard of a divorce among the natives +on the farm where she lives. The men of some native tribes are married +in church, by a negro preacher; in such a case, they are compelled +to pay two shillings for a license, but this civilized plan is so +expensive and troublesome that it is not popular. Besides, when a man +is married + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 329]</span> + +in church, and pays two shillings for a license, he is liable to arrest +if he marries another wife.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, MARCH 29.—We are at the +far-famed Victoria Falls today, and traveled here from Bulawayo at the +terrific pace of fourteen miles an hour. The conductor on the train +wore a natty white suit, but did not make up the beds, though he sold +the bedding tickets; the actual chambermaid was a very black native +boy. I do not understand why sleeping-car porters are permitted on some +night trains, and not on others.... I was in a sleeping compartment +with a captain in the English army, who is on his way to a station in +the interior, seventy miles from Victoria Falls. There, in company +with another army officer, he will rule a district, assisted by a few +native police. He says hunting is excellent where he is going, and he +showed me his assortment of guns; including one specially intended for +elephants.... The country between Bulawayo and Victoria Falls (280 +miles) looks superior to that between Mafeking and Bulawayo, but we ran +into the inevitable desert, and suffered considerably from dust. As we +approached the falls the country became rougher, and an hour before we +finally left the train we could see a cloud of mist hanging over the +great cataract. When the train stopped at Victoria Falls station—the +railroad runs four hundred miles beyond this point—we could hear the +roar which will be in our ears constantly until we leave next Wednesday +at 1 P.M.... There is no town at the Falls; only a + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 330]</span> + +hotel, a rambling, comfortable affair which can accommodate two +hundred people. The charge is $5.25 per day each. Five miles away is +the town of Livingstone, capital of North-west Rhodesia, but it has +only a handful of inhabitants. From my room at the hotel I can see +the famous railroad bridge which spans the Zambesi river just below +the falls, and passing my window are wet and bedraggled people who +have been through the Rain Forest. In order to see the falls to best +advantage, it is necessary to go through the Rain Forest and get a +ducking. Many of those who arrived on our train at 7 o’clock this +morning will return at 1 o’clock this afternoon, thus avoiding a delay +here of four days; after the train leaves this afternoon, there will +not be another train until next Wednesday.... I doubt if anyone has +ever seen, or ever will see, all of Victoria Falls. It may only be seen +in pieces, and the spray will always hide much of the great spectacle +from the most industrious visitor; whereas Niagara may be seen in a +single glance, in all its majesty. Victoria Falls is a mile long; about +twice as long as Niagara, and four hundred feet high, whereas Niagara +makes a leap of only 162 feet.... Every time I looked at Victoria +Falls, there was usually an Englishman present to inquire: “Well, what +about it?” Meaning, “How does it compare with your Niagara?” The two +falls are not alike, and cannot be compared; both are wonderful in a +different way. Niagara is situated within a few miles of Buffalo, New +York, one of the largest and busiest cities of the United States, and +surrounded by a fertile and well-settled country. Niagara is in the +center of parks, hotels, mills, street-railways, and civilization + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 331]</span> + +of many other varieties; an American bride who is not taken to Niagara +on her wedding trip, may get a divorce on that ground, if the fact +is presented to a court of proper jurisdiction, but Victoria is in a +wild country in the mountains of Africa, seventeen hundred miles from +Capetown, and Capetown is nineteen days from London, and twenty-nine +from New York. Niagara makes a straight leap, whereas Victoria is more +of a cataract. At Niagara, a great solid wall of sea-green water pours +over a precipice; here, the force of the fall is broken in many places +by huge rocks—at one place the fall is separated by a wooded island, +and there are many other smaller breaks. At Niagara, the river above +the fall is clean and swift, with no rocks. At Victoria, the river +above the fall is broken into a thousand different islands; it looks +like a shallow river overflowing in brush and timber land after a +torrent of rain, and much of the water pouring over the falls is yellow +and dirty.... Victoria Falls is in shape like a huge capital T; the +falls represented by the top of the letter, and the outlet by the stem. +The water pours into a great pool a mile long, and escapes by a narrow +outlet not more than 150 feet wide in places. The water pours into the +pool with a roar that may be heard twenty-eight miles, and stirs up a +spray that causes constant rain to fall in its immediate territory. +This spray is so great that it looks like a cloud against the sky, +and may be seen before you hear the roar of the falls.... Yet the +water from this great pool escapes almost as quietly as water from an +undisturbed lake. After the water escapes from the great pool below the +falls, through the stem of the letter T, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 332]</span> + +it makes a turn at right angles, and sweeps around like the capital +letter U; yet there is no great disturbance in any part of the outlet +from the falls. At Niagara, the whirlpool rapids is one of the world’s +wonders; at Victoria, the river a few hundred feet below the falls +seems to be navigable—it does not look unlike the Waunganui river +in New Zealand, down which we traveled in boats. I believe one of +the Waunganui river boats could come up the gorge below Victoria +Falls.... Every visitor, after looking at the wall of water pouring +over the falls, asks the same question: “What becomes of the water?” +Dr. Livingstone, who discovered the falls, asked the question. I was +with a party of four when I first saw the falls, and all agreed that, +in places, the river a few hundred feet below was not more than fifty +feet wide, although the guidebooks say the width is greater. And this +narrow river is not greatly disturbed a few yards below the great +Victoria Falls; there is no swirling, leaping rapids, as may be seen +four or five miles below Niagara. When looking at Victoria Falls, very +much more water seems to pour over the brink than at Niagara; when +looking at the river below, you are disposed to think the quantity is +much less—as a matter of fact, the quantity is about the same, with +Niagara a little in the lead.... At Niagara, you may see the falls +from an electric car, and go down the Niagara river on top of the +hills, and return beside the whirlpool rapids; but seeing Victoria is +much more difficult. For nearly a mile you walk in what seems a pouring +rain, but which is actually spray from the falls. Most visitors put on +old clothes at the hotel, and quietly submit to the ducking; on their + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 333]</span> + +return, they take a hot bath, put on dry clothing, and sit on the +verandas, and talk about the wonderful trip. During this walk of half a +mile in pouring rain from the spray of the falls, you pass through what +is called the Rain Forest. As rain is always falling, the vegetation +is luxuriant, but not as luxuriant as I had expected. The path through +the rain forest is always wet; sometimes you step into water over your +shoe-tops, and the trees are always dripping; you cannot see the falls +to the best advantage without passing through this Rain Forest, and you +cannot make this trip without becoming as wet as though you had plunged +into a lake with your clothes on. During this trip you frequently stand +not a hundred feet from the falls, and the spray coming up from the +pool is so thick that you cannot see a hundred feet beyond you. And all +the time the great roar is in your ears, and the rain shifting with +the wind. The sun nearly always shines here, and on this trip along +the edge of the falls you may see a thousand rainbows; I am sure I +saw that many today.... The Rain Forest is not down in the canyon, +as one might imagine; it is on a level with the top of the falls, +and sometimes not a hundred feet away from it. Imagine a street one +mile long, and 400 feet below sidewalks on either side. One sidewalk +represents the Rain Forest. Opposite you is Victoria Falls pouring into +the chasm below, and causing a spray which shifts with the wind, and +not only drenches you, but hides much of your view. The Rain Forest is +simply the other side of the falls, and, to travel its entire length, +you must make a detour, and cross the narrow outlet of the falls chasm +by means of the rail + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 334]</span> + +road bridge.... The bridge below the falls is the highest in the +world, and in walking across it you are 420 feet above the water in +the gorge below. When it was being built, in 1903‒5, it was frequently +described in the magazines as one of the great wonders of engineering. +The bridge is of one span only, of the cantilever type, and 610 feet +in length. From the bridge, the hotel, a half-mile away, and near the +edge of the canyon, is in plain view. The bridge-tender is a negro boy, +and visitors pay him a shilling each to cross and return.... The +present is known as the wet season, and, the Zambesi river being at a +high stage, the falls is rather more gorgeous now than it will be later +on, when the river is lower. The Zambesi is one of the great rivers of +Africa, and is referred to in a big way as we refer to the Mississippi +or Missouri; citizens here frequently refer to “the vast territory +south of the Zambesi,” as the Mississippi and Missouri rivers are +dividing-lines in the United States.... The falls were discovered by +Dr. David Livingstone in 1854, and named in honor of Queen Victoria. +Livingstone died in Africa, of the fever. He had faithful friends among +his native followers, and when they found him dead, they embalmed +his body as best they could, and carried it fifteen hundred miles to +the sea, whence it was taken to England, and buried in Westminster +Abbey.... The hills around Victoria Falls are covered with a growth +of inferior timber, and this continues until the end of the railway is +reached, 400 miles to the north.... It is estimated that nearly a +million and a quarter of visitors see Niagara every year; barely two +thousand see Victoria Falls annually, owing + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 335]</span> + +to its location far in the interior of Africa. In order to reach the +falls from the sea at Durban, we were compelled to travel five days +and nights by railroad train.... It is said the fall is 420 feet. +It does not seem so great, because the lower part is hidden in the +spray arising from the chasm into which the water drops. But while you +cannot appreciate the unusual fall, you can easily appreciate that the +fall is a mile wide, although broken all along the edge by islands and +huge rocks. In thinking of Victoria Falls don’t imagine it a solid +sheet of water a mile long, falling 420 feet. The falls are broken +into a thousand different streams, and some of them strike rocks in +the wall and break into spray.... I was not greatly moved when I +first saw the falls, but felt that the sight was worth coming a long +distance to see. Pictures of the falls are deceiving, as are pictures +of everything. In taking pictures of Victoria Falls, photographers look +for the fine views; the commoner aspects of the cataract are rarely +photographed. I recall a noted photograph of the falls which is one of +the most majestic things I have ever seen in pictures; but in order to +take it, the photographer was compelled to climb down a cliff by means +of ropes; so the picture is really unnatural.... There are thirty +or forty guests at this hotel, and I have talked with most of them. +They all seem to be well satisfied with the trip, but none of them rave +about the falls as do the writers in the guidebooks.... No one seems +to know the depth of water in the narrow gorge through which the water +from the falls is discharged; soundings of 150 feet have been made +without touching bottom.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<br> +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i-344.jpg" alt="Various Photographs." width="600" height="369"> +</div> +<div class="caption center"> +Rhodes Memorial, Kimberley    /    Rhodes’ Grave +<br> +Victoria Falls Bridge +<br> +Naval Station, Pago Pago    /     +Rhodes Statue, Bulawayo +</div> +<br> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 336]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, MARCH 30.—Today we again +walked to the Falls from the hotel, a distance of half a mile. Captain +Mosley, of the British army, who shared a sleeping apartment with me +on the train coming here, accompanied us. The captain is changing +his station, and has with him four hunting-dogs and a black boy who +has been his cook seven years. This black boy accompanied us on the +walk, to exercise the dogs, and on the way, the dogs in ranging about, +encountered a bunch of baboons. The captain and black boy ran into the +woods, toward the big noise the fight stirred up, and I followed them, +arriving just in time to see the dogs whipped, and the baboons scamper +up the trees. The captain says the dogs would have been killed had they +found full-grown male baboons, instead of small-sized females and young +ones. Baboons are a great nuisance all over this section. They have +almost human intelligence, and are very adroit thieves. I have been +told that baboons will attack a woman, if they find her alone, but that +they have great respect for men, whom they associate with a gun. Near +the hotel is a camp of soldiers, and they have a tame baboon. They also +have a tame deer of a variety not much larger than a jack rabbit. The +soldiers pick up the deer, and stand it on a table. There are dozens +of different kinds of buck here, ranging from the size of a rabbit to +the size of an ox. The soldiers told me that plenty of reed buck may be +found within four miles of the Falls, but this is the closed season, +and one of the duties of the soldiers is to protect the game. Last +night one of the soldiers saw a leopard prowling around the camp. A few +days ago a lion was killed + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 337]</span> + +within a few miles of the falls; the man who killed it brought in +the skull and hide, and received a bounty of $7.50. Lions destroy a +great deal of game, and the government pays for their destruction. +The soldiers patrol a district 100 miles square, and say they rarely +hear of lions attacking a man; they hear lions nearly every night, but +rarely see them, as the animals are as sly as our foxes. The corporal +with whom I talked says that during an experience of seven years in +this section, he never personally knew a lion to attack man. He has +heard of such cases, but you all know how common it is to hear stories +that are not true.... The British captain with whom I spend a good +deal of time, walking about, or sitting on the hotel veranda, is one of +the quietest men I have ever known. He has always lived among soldiers, +having been born in Benares, India, where his father was an officer in +the English army. He lived there until he was twelve years old. Benares +is as old as Babylon; when old Babylon was a flourishing city, Benares +was in existence, and has remained a city continuously ever since, +while Babylon has been completely destroyed, and its location almost +forgotten. The captain tells of his experiences, when I question him, +but is very reticent in speaking of the numerous forays in which he has +engaged. I have no doubt he has had many thrilling experiences as a +big-game hunter, but I cannot induce him to say much about them.... +Another Englishman, named Green, who is with us a good deal, talks +enough for half a dozen. He is a business man at Sheffield, England, +and says that in case of war between England and Germany, the United +States should assist England. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 338]</span> + +Indeed, Mr. Green thinks the United States should even now present +England with a battleship, and assist in “bluffing” Germany, as New +Zealand has done. One of the ladies present asked me:</p> + +<p>“What are England and Germany quarreling about?”</p> + +<p>“They have no quarrel,” I replied. “They are simply bullies +strutting around and daring each other to fight. I have forgotten +the exact number, but we will say for illustration that England +had a hundred battleships, and Germany fifty. Germany ordered two +additional battleships built, and England immediately ordered four +new dreadnoughts. And this ridiculous proceeding has been kept up for +years; England is pledged to build two warships for every one built +by Germany. The two countries have nothing to quarrel about, but the +English declare they must have twice as many battleships as Germany, +and the Germans say they must have as many battleships as England. And +an apparently intelligent Englishman named Green says that in case this +foolish contest finally results in war between the two countries, the +United States should quit agriculture, and mining, and manufacturing, +and trade, and assist England, simply because the Americans and English +read the same language, although they understand each other with +difficulty when they talk.”</p> + +<p>The Victoria Falls Hotel is owned by the railroad company, and when +you visit the falls you will have no fault to find with it. Two hundred +guests could be easily entertained, but I doubt if there are two dozen +here now, as this is the dull season. Fall begins in + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 339]</span> + +this section with April, and visitors are most numerous during the +cool weather. The most terrible cold-weather story I have heard +here is that ice sometimes forms at night during the terrific cold +prevailing in July and August.... The present temporary buildings +of the Victoria Falls Hotel are to be replaced shortly with permanent +buildings to cost $150,000. But in the present temporary buildings, +guests willing to pay the price may have rooms with private bath, and +during the worst weather the nights are cool. My bed is covered with +a mosquito netting, as is the universal rule here, instead of putting +netting at the windows and doors, but I have heard no mosquitos.... +The Mr. Green referred to above has been looking at land in Africa with +a view of buying for friends in England. English people have a great +deal of cold, damp, foggy weather, and they hear much of the glorious +sunshine of Africa; so Mr. Green’s report as to the possibilities of +farming here will influence a good many. His report will not be very +favorable. He has spent weeks in the different farming districts, and +says he found farmers suffering from a three-years drouth. One man had +a splendid prospect for corn, and thought the harvest would make him +rich. Suddenly the hot winds came on, and in a few days the crop was +ruined. This man offered his farm of 7,000 acres for sale at a dollar +an acre; Mr. Green says he can buy millions of acres at that price, but +will not advise his friends to take it, as the rainfall is uncertain, +and the country infested with ants, ticks, flies dangerous to stock, +etc. Possibly these pests will disappear in time; certain districts +formerly dangerous are now free from the cattle-fly. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 340]</span> + + ... Mr. Green says that in many of the best sections of England, +agricultural land can be bought at $50 an acre; the choicest at from +$100 to $150 per acre. This statement particularly interested me +because that is about the range at which land sells in the district +where I live. I had always imagined that land in England sold at much +higher prices than in Atchison county, Kansas, fifteen hundred miles +west of the sea at New York.... Mr. Green says that last January, in +his section of England, there were only five days without rain; last +summer, he saw only fourteen bright days. There is plenty of sunshine +and plenty of dry weather in Africa, but Mr. Green says he will not +recommend the country to his neighbors.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, MARCH 31.—This morning a dozen +guests from the hotel, including the two travelers from Kansas, took +a boat trip of fifteen or twenty miles on the Zambesi river above the +falls. After a walk of half an hour we embarked in a large gasoline +launch, and ascended the river until about noon, when we went ashore +on an island, and explored it until lunch was ready at 12:30. A Hindu +servant, with a native helper, accompanied us from the hotel, carrying +two large hampers, and they prepared tea, and served an excellent +lunch.... The Zambesi river above the falls is a wide, rambling +affair, full of islands, and so shallow that the course of our launch +was marked for several miles. When we finally landed, it was because we +could go no further on account of a rapids. The river + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 341]</span> + +contains more water than the Missouri or Mississippi river, I should +say, but is not navigable. At places it is said to be a mile and +three-quarters wide. A river in this dry country is a novelty, and +people make long excursions to see the Zambesi. On either side there +is a line of hills which do not look unlike the hills bordering the +Missouri river, but the valley is covered with trees and brush, as was +the case in the Missouri “bottom” fifty years ago. On the Zambesi, +the river valley seems to shift from one side to the other, instead +of being confined always to the east side, as is the case with the +Missouri river in its entire course. The trees along the Zambesi are +of a stunted variety; along the African railways, a fairly large tree +attracts almost as much attention as a river. The African trees are +not large and graceful, as are our maples, oaks, walnuts, etc. One of +the wonders here is a cream-of-tartar tree which measures ninety-eight +feet in circumference. It is actually a dozen stunted trees growing +in a bunch, but it is regarded as a wonder, and every visitor carves +his initials in the bark.... Hippopotami are quite dangerous above +the falls, as they upset boats in a spirit of mischief. They are being +shot, and two were killed the day before we went up the river. Some +time ago four tourists rowed on the river, in small boats. Hippos upset +both boats, and two of the tourists went over the falls; the other two +drifted against islands, and were rescued. It was a man and a woman +who were rescued, strangers to each other, but the tragedy made them +friends, and a few days ago they were married.... There are also +crocodiles in the river, and they are also a nuisance. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 342]</span> + +The man who ran the launch lives on the hotel farm, and says that +since August last, crocodiles have captured twenty of the farm cattle. +The cattle go to the river to drink, or to stand in the water during +the heat of the day, and the crocodiles, some of which are eighteen +feet long, drag them in. One of the soldiers from the camp near the +hotel shot a crocodile while we were on the river.... I heard a +curious discussion while we were eating luncheon on the island. An +Englishman, a church member, had great respect for missionaries. All +the others were residents of Africa, and their testimony was against +them. One man said the superintendent of a penitentiary told him +recently that ninety per cent of the convicts had been “converted” by +missionaries. A mining man testified that negroes who had been under +the influence of missionaries were nearly always less honest and less +useful than natives who had had no such experience. A woman who lived +on a South-African farm of 20,000 acres gave similar testimony, as +did an army man who had served in Africa since the Boer war. Wherever +I have gone, I have heard the missionary experiment denounced by +white residents. I am taking no part in the controversy, but record +as a remarkable fact that in Africa, China, Japan, India, etc., the +testimony of white residents is nearly always against the missionary +experiment. Every traveler remarks this, and comments on it.... This +morning at 3 o’clock a rifle-shot rang out back of the hotel; one of +the soldiers in the camp saw a leopard prowling around, and shot at it. +A photographer living near the hotel has a cow, a calf and a donkey, +and every night these are carefully + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 343]</span> + +locked up in pole fences that are leopard-proof.... This morning, +when I awoke, I found a gentle rain falling in front of my room at +the hotel. It turned out to be mist from the falls. This mist shifts +with the wind, and in whatever direction we walk we run into it +occasionally. At points quite distant from the falls it amounts to only +a mist, or a very gentle rain, but at other places there is a heavy +downpour. Along certain walls of the canyon below the cataract, dozens +of waterfalls may be seen, and these are fed by the mists rising from +the falls. There is seldom an hour during the day that a rainbow may +not be seen from the hotel veranda. During moonlight nights a lunar +rainbow may be seen which, experts say, shows one color not seen in +the rainbow in daylight.... I was looking over the hotel register +today, and ran across this entry: “Mrs. Annie E. McConnell, U. S. A.” I +made some remark about finding a visitor from home, and the clerk said, +laughingly:</p> + +<p>“That woman became lost, and fourteen of us spent half of one night +hunting her.”</p> + +<p>The paths around the hotel and falls are very well defined, but +travelers may easily become confused after nightfall.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, APRIL 1.—On a public desk at +the Victoria Falls Hotel is kept a book marked “Suggestions.” Visitors +are expected to write in it how they liked the falls, and suggest +improvements of the service. I suggest that the average visitor does +not care to spend four days here, as he is now compelled to do. I have + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 344]</span> + +found the last two days hanging heavily on my hands. The hotel at the +falls is excellent, considering that it is a long way from its source +of supplies, but trains are slow, and the cars dusty and crowded. The +average train is composed of compartment cars, with a corridor running +along one side. These corridors are so narrow that two persons cannot +pass in them, and it is quite a task to go through a train in reaching +the dining-car. I have never in my life seen such dirty cars as they +have in South Africa, but this is partly owing to the terrible dust +which prevails everywhere; another explanation is that, as a rule, one +porter is expected to clean all the cars, and in some cases there is no +porter. But the trainmen are always polite, and the tracks good. The +dining-cars would be satisfactory were they not overcrowded. Traveling +in South Africa has been easier than I expected, and the hotels better, +but some of the dust in the railway cars might be easily removed; the +addition of one Kaffir and one broom to each train would prove a great +help.... Near the railway station live two men who deal in curios. +Both are hunters, and both are interesting, and I spend a good deal of +time with them; but they hate each other in a way that is scandalous. +There never was such a thing as rivals in business getting along. They +try hard not to say anything against each other, but their enmity crops +out in every conversation. One of them is married, and has his wife and +baby here, and a bishop will arrive tomorrow to baptize the baby. The +other man is a bachelor, and is trying hard to catch a leopard while I +am here, in an American steel trap. Leopards prowl about the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 345]</span> + +hotel every night, and several hunters have told me that a leopard is +a more dangerous animal than a lion. A leopard is like a bulldog: he +hasn’t sense enough to know about danger.... The dreaded tsetse-fly +is found in this vicinity, and cases of sleeping sickness are not +unknown. I had always imagined that a man suffering with sleeping +sickness became drowsy, and slept a great deal, but residents say that, +while the patient is drowsy, he cannot sleep, and is very restless. +They describe sleeping sickness as resembling consumption in many +ways.... In the vicinity of the curio shop is a police camp, in +charge of a corporal. The police patrol this district, and this morning +I saw a white soldier start out on a trek to last two weeks. He rode +a mule, as horses do not thrive in this country. Two pack donkeys +were led by two natives; one a cook, and the other an enlisted police +officer. The two natives will walk during the entire journey, and one +of them will carry a gun. The patrol officer told me he would travel +about eighteen miles a day, starting every morning about five, resting +from nine to three, and then traveling from three until nightfall. He +rarely makes more than three miles an hour, as the donkeys are slow, +and the sand deep. Wherever you walk here, you are compelled to wade +through sand; sand is the soil in most parts of Africa.... The +patrol officer calls at every house he encounters, and asks the owner +to report any disorder in his neighborhood. The patrol officer did not +carry a tent, and I asked him why. “Because,” he answered, “we don’t +need it; there will be no rain.” After the short rainy season, the +welcome patter of rain is not heard for nine months.... + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 346]</span> + +The engineer who attends to the electric-light plant at the Victoria +Falls Hotel is an intelligent young fellow who, with a brother, tried +farming in a remote district in Rhodesia. They are about starving; +they would have starved had not this brother gone to work. The other +brother lives alone on the farm, and at intervals comes to the hotel +for supplies provided by his brother. They will eventually desert +their farm, without much doubt.... The young soldiers at the police +camp are industrious hunters, and one of them says he lately killed a +crocodile on the railroad bridge which crosses the Zambesi river below +the falls. Crocodiles often travel considerable distances from the +river; in returning to water, this one by accident struck the railroad +track, and was following it across the bridge. The soldiers at the camp +have all sorts of pets, including monkeys, which they pick up when +young, and tame. They irrigate a considerable garden with water carried +from the river by natives. This section must be a terrific place when +the weather is at its worst; it is at its best now, and we stand it +with difficulty.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, APRIL 2.—We said good-by to +Victoria Falls this afternoon at 1:10, and left by train for the East +Coast. Captain Moseley came to the station to see us, bringing all his +hunting-dogs with him. Tomorrow morning at 3 o’clock he leaves for his +new station in the interior, traveling in a wagon drawn by eight yoke +of oxen and driven by two negroes. One of the negroes will sit up all +night, to watch the grazing + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 347]</span> + +cattle, and guard the camp, and every afternoon he will sleep in the +wagon. Ox teams travel very slowly, and the captain will walk most +of the way, and hunt as he goes along. A negro servant accompanies +him as cook, and will remain with him at the new station. His nearest +white neighbors will be sixty miles away, and he does not expect to +receive mail more than once in three months.... The train is not +crowded, for a wonder, and we were given a double compartment thrown +into one. Our traveling acquaintances, Mrs. Meek and her daughter +Bettie, are still with us, and they have equally good accommodations. +The South-African railway men take good care of you when it is +possible.... The Bishop arrived at the Falls this morning, and +baptized the photographer’s baby. A young curate came with him, and sat +on the veranda and drank five highballs in quick succession. But the +incident, like women smoking cigarettes in public, attracted no comment +here. The Bishop is a genial man, and was soon surrounded by the women. +The women dearly love an ordinary preacher, but to talk to a Bishop is +an event in a church-worker’s life she never forgets.... During the +dry season, full-grown cattle may be bought in parts of South Africa at +$10 a head.... When I went into the hotel dining-room for breakfast +this morning, the head waiter informed me in a whisper that a few fresh +eggs had just been received from the hotel farm, and advised me to +order soft-boiled eggs. This head waiter was born in the West Indies, +and some of the men under him are Hindus, some of them negroes, and +some of them Portuguese.... This + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 348]</span> + +is written on a piece of railroad track seventy-four miles long +without a single curve, which is not a very big story: in Argentine, +South America, there is a similar piece of track twice as long.... +Possibly the reader imagines that ‘way over here I am a stranger in a +strange land. As a matter of fact, I know nearly every passenger on +this train; also, the conductor, and the waiters in the dining-car. I +came up with the trainmen, and I spent four days with the passengers +at Victoria Falls. All of them are either English or Colonials; no +Americans except ourselves. Awhile ago, the conductor came into my +compartment to visit awhile. He is an Englishman, but astonished me +by saying that he likes German ships better than English ships. On +English ships, he says, visitors are looked at with suspicion, whereas +visitors are always welcome on a German ship. The conductor will +go through with us to Beira, from Bulawayo, and has promised to do +his best for us in the way of securing accommodations on the train. +Englishmen who live out here soon have their sharp edges worn off, +and become more agreeable.... There are certain American things +that seem to be universal. Wherever we go, we see Eastman’s kodaks, +National cash registers, Selig’s moving pictures, Colgate’s perfumes +and soap, Chamberlain’s cough syrup, the <i>Ladies’ Home Journal</i>, Robert +Chambers’s books, and Mr. Rockefeller’s gasoline.... It costs a good +deal of money to have washing done over here, and we are wondering over +the fact that the most reasonable laundry bill we have paid was at the +Victoria Falls Hotel, where we expected nothing but highway robbery. +When we registered + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 349]</span> + +at that hotel, the manager said he had two rooms reserved for us. +They were double rooms, excellently located. Mrs. Meek and her +daughter slept in one room, on two small beds, and they are grumbling +because they were charged exactly what we were charged. It is so +unusual for me to get the best of it that I am rather enjoying their +indignation.... I have often heard of the extreme brightness of the +nights in Africa. I cannot see that they are any brighter than the +nights at home, except that there are a good many more prominent stars. +In the north, we hear a great deal of the Southern Cross. We see it +every night, but consider it insignificant. We are on the opposite side +of the earth from Kansas, and the constellations we see there cannot +be seen here. Pope, the Englishman, in describing great distance, +wrote: “Far as the polar walk or milky way.” The people in Africa don’t +understand the sentence: the milky way cannot be seen here, nor is our +big dipper visible.... Tonight at ten o’clock, before going to bed, +I went forward into the dining-car to get a drink of water, and found +the car full of men drinking; a custom more common in this country than +at home. The English laugh at our American habit of drinking ice-water. +There is a certain Hot Water much worse, known as John Barleycorn, +and Englishmen drink too much of it.... Poor Mrs. Atterbury, who +has lived in South Africa nineteen years without a sight of her old +home in St. Joseph, Missouri, says she longs to go home in order that +she may again see pretty girls and babies. Mrs. Meek, our traveling +acquaintance, who has always lived in the Transvaal, admits that pretty +girls and babies + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 350]</span> + +are scarce here. They do not seem to thrive in this climate. Another +peculiarity is that nearly all the women have black hair; a blonde with +blue eyes is a great rarity in Africa. When a woman’s hair isn’t black +in Africa, it is a fiery red.... The country between Victoria Falls +and Bulawayo seems to be better developed than the country between +Bulawayo and Mafeking. This afternoon, eighty or a hundred miles from +the falls, we stopped at quite a coal-mining town, and saw great rows +of coke ovens.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, APRIL 3.—In order to reach +the sea at Beira, we were compelled to travel back to Bulawayo from +Victoria Falls, and remain there from 7:30 A.M. until 10:30 P.M. We +devoted the day to an automobile ride, and visited the Khami ruins, +fifteen miles from the town.... Many centuries ago, Africa was +inhabited by a race far superior in intelligence to the present native +negroes. These people left the country hurriedly, for some reason, +and it was one of their deserted towns we visited today. Some learned +investigators say the ruined and deserted cities were built long +before the Christian era, probably in the time of Solomon, and that +the gold with which Solomon’s temple was adorned, amounting in value +to ten million dollars, was mined in Africa. There seems to be no +doubt that the gold mines in Rhodesia were worked many centuries ago; +the workers in the mines today find unmistakable evidence of previous +occupation.... The ruins we visited are scattered over a good + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 351]</span> + +many acres, along a river in which there is only stagnant water. Some +of the more extensive buildings seem to have been used for defense. +These are of stone, without mortar, and hundreds of feet of the walls +are in as good condition as they ever were. There are great cisterns +for holding water and grain, and modern builders say the cement was +probably made on the ground, by a process of which they have no +knowledge. Some of the cisterns, if cleaned out, would probably hold +water today. Many relics have been picked up about the place, which +may be seen in a museum at Bulawayo, and these indicate that the +inhabitants were nearly as far advanced as the ancient Egyptians; they +were able to smelt metals, and they had various kinds of domestic +utensils, pottery, implements of war, etc. The people of Khami knew +something of dentistry, of medicine, and of astronomy. Five hundred +ruins or vestiges of former buildings are found in Rhodesia, extending +over an area 800 by 700 miles, and all these are undoubtedly much older +than Columbus, and probably older than Christ.... Recently ruins +have been found in Thibet very much older than the ruins in Egypt, +and, as investigations are more carefully made, the fact becomes more +apparent that no one has yet been able to realize how old the world +actually is.... In going to the Khami ruins, we passed hundreds of +negro women walking into Bulawayo and carrying vegetables, chickens, +firewood, etc. They were all naked above the waist, and invariably +carried their loads on their heads; one woman carried a watermelon in +this unusual way. The chickens were carried in rough home-made baskets. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 352]</span> + +... The ruined city of Khami is in a wild and desolate country. On +the way there, we saw only one or two farm-houses occupied by white +men, and not many native huts. The country looked dry and worthless, +and the roads were badly washed by torrential rains. The ruins are +located in hills, and the day was so hot that we did not climb up to +several of the most extensive-looking fortresses. Nothing is positively +known about Khami; who the people were who built the town, when it was +built, how long occupied, or when deserted, is pure conjecture.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, APRIL 4.—We should have left +Bulawayo last night at 10:30, but the train was late, and we did not +get away until after 1 o’clock this morning. By the time we got our +beds made, it was almost time to get up for breakfast. This is the +first time we have found a train more than a few minutes late in either +Australia, New Zealand, or Africa.... I awoke at daylight in the +prettiest country we have seen in Africa; a country as handsome as the +prairies of Illinois must have been a hundred years ago. Thousands +of acres of gently rolling prairie land, but it looks better than it +really is. In 1896 the dreaded rinderpest killed all the cattle and +game in this section, and carts stood idle in the roads because there +were no oxen to move them; the air was rendered offensive by the stench +from dead animals. Whether you try to raise stock, fruit or corn here, +you have pests to deal with, and they seem to be more persistent and +numerous than pests are elsewhere. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 353]</span> + +We hear of great drouths, and of the people paying a shilling a gallon +for water. Some of the towns have built electric-light plants, but +often there is no water for the engines, and people use candles for +illuminating. Enterprising men build modern hotels in the towns, but +frequently there is no water for the modern baths, and the guests do +well to get enough water to drink.... Another pest here is white +ants. They kill forest trees, and undermine the foundations of houses; +they devour furniture and clothing—yet the country is so fair that +it seems a pity to turn it over to desolation. On the line between +Bulawayo and Salisbury there are a good many towns, including one +built around the best gold mine in Rhodesia. And how the people turned +out to see the train come in! At one place we estimated that there +must have been five hundred around the station. Trains travel over +the line only two or three times a week, and people seem to come from +great distances in the country to see the trains go by. But between +the stations there were millions of acres of land as wild as it was in +the days of Adam.... Early in the morning our English passengers +walked about in pajamas when we stopped at stations; Englishmen love +that sort of thing. At Victoria Falls they visited the Rain Forest in +pajamas, and in Johannesburg I was told that on Sundays and holidays, +pajamas are worn around houses and yards until lunch-time. Englishmen +show their pajamas so much that I cordially hate that particular form +of night-dress; Englishmen have the same passion for running around in +pajamas that American boys have for running around in baseball suits. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 354]</span> + +... In spite of occasional calamities such as 115 in the shade, and +drinking-water selling at a shilling a gallon, Rhodesia is progressive, +and encourages every enterprise. I have been frequently told here that +the United States agricultural bulletins are the best in the world, and +that they are read with interest in Rhodesia. Another statement you +hear frequently in Africa: “They have adopted the American method;” but +the trouble is, they haven’t the American means to work with.... A +London man told me today that he buys <i>Harper’s Magazine</i> regularly for +two cents, although Americans are asked thirty-five cents for it. A +good many of the American magazines sell their surplus copies in London +at ridiculously low prices.... The negroes in the most civilized +portions of Africa practice witchcraft, and the authorities are +compelled to closely watch the native doctors and priests, to prevent +outrages and murders.... We arrived in Salisbury at 5:30 in the +evening, and remained there four hours; railroad trains make long stops +at stations here without any apparent reason, unless it is that the +engineer, station-master and guard cannot agree on starting. The first +preliminary for starting a train in Africa is for the station-master to +ring a hand-bell. Next the guard blows a tin whistle, to indicate that +he is ready, and the engineer then blows a blast on the steam whistle. +I have heard these preliminaries gone through with a dozen times before +the train finally started; when the station-master is ready, the +engineer isn’t, and when both these officials are ready to start, the +guard isn’t. When the guard is ready, the engineer and station-master +seem to conclude to let him wait awhile. And + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 355]</span> + +so, after a time, they begin all over again, and, in the course of +fifteen minutes, finally get away.... There is an English woman on +the train who is leaving Africa because of bad health. Her husband +is also an invalid, as a result of the fever; in addition, he lost +everything he brought to the country. This woman says there is a plague +for everything in Africa. We walked about Salisbury with her, while +waiting for the train to depart at 9:30 P.M., and the town seemed as +disconsolate as our traveling acquaintance.... I ate dinner in +Salisbury at a little restaurant, and shall always remember the place, +because of two very pretty girl waiters, and because of the large +number of young men who came in to flirt with them.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, APRIL 5.—Soon after breakfast +this morning, we passed out of Rhodesia into Portuguese East Africa, at +a little town the name of which I have forgotten. A Portuguese customs +officer came on board, but did not bother us, beyond asking if we had +either pistols or guns in our luggage. Being assured that we had not, +he bowed very politely, and departed. The governor of Portuguese East +Africa joined us at this station, traveling in a private car with his +wife and a party of friends. A number of ladies and gentlemen had +gathered to say good-by to the governor and his lady, and I shall never +forget the politeness of these people. Our compartment was within a +few feet of the observation end of the private car, but the Portuguese +never saw us, while other people on the train stared + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 356]</span> + +at us as though we were very odd specimens of humanity.... Soon +after passing into Portuguese territory, the railroad ran through +mountains, and the ride was interesting all the way to Beira, which +town we reached at 9:30 P.M. This section is tropical, and bananas and +cocoanuts grow in profusion. Near one town we saw hundreds of acres of +growing corn; and it was much better corn than we had been seeing in +Rhodesia and other parts of South Africa. It wasn’t such corn as we +grow, but it was probably half as good as an ordinary crop in eastern +Kansas. I estimated one field I saw at four or five hundred acres; +there were several others of fifty to a hundred acres. But the fields +were widely separated. In eastern Kansas every foot of the land is +devoted to crops, or pasture, or orchard, but here the occasional +fields of corn were separated by miles of wild land. There is more rain +in this section than in the vicinity of Bulawayo or Victoria Falls, and +the stations on the railway more numerous.... As evening approached, +we noticed that in the native villages, pots were boiling at open +fires in front of the huts. Cook-stoves are unknown among the natives, +and they have very little to eat except corn-meal mush. They make an +intoxicating liquor out of corn-meal, and their holidays are largely +devoted to revelry. The natives nearly all have cows, and drink a good +deal of milk, first letting it sour, and become what we call clabber. +Some of the greatest scientists claim that the free use of clabber-milk +will preserve life well beyond a hundred years. The primitive races +which live longest are liberal users of sour milk, which is claimed to +destroy an intestinal + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 357]</span> + +bacteria very fatal to human life.... The line of railroad to the +sea at Beira was built to get cattle to market from the fly district, +Natal and the Cape having quarantined against cattle in Rhodesia and +other districts subject to disease. The line from Bulawayo is seven +hundred miles long, and operated through Portuguese territory by +special concession. It passes through as interesting a country as we +have seen in Africa.... At seven o’clock in the evening we passed +into a swampy country, and mosquitoes became a pest. These were the +dangerous mosquitoes, and we fought them viciously. And all day the +weather had been oppressively hot.... At 9:30 P.M. we reached +Beira, and had to pass our baggage through the custom-house. This +ceremony concluded, we went to the Savoy Hotel in what they call a +“trolley” here. A narrow-gauge street-railway has been laid all over +Beira, but cars are not operated either by electric or horse power. +Every citizen owns his own car, a small, light affair pushed by negro +men. On the principal streets there are three tracks, and there is +a system by which traffic is regulated. When we went up-town in a +passenger trolley, the hotel porter came along behind, with our baggage +on a freight trolley. Freight of every kind is carried to every part +of Beira by these street-railway lines, and there are little steam +locomotives which handle heavy freight at night. Beira is a Portuguese +town, and passing through it at night on a trolley pushed by two negro +men, was an unusual experience. When we reached the postoffice, the +mail trolleys were unloading, and we were compelled to wait several +minutes.... Reaching the Savoy + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 358]</span> + +Hotel, which is modern and comfortable, we went out on the veranda +in front of our rooms, and saw the German ship “Burgermeister,” +brilliantly lighted up, lying in the harbor. We shall go on board +tomorrow, and remain twenty-four days, until we reach Naples, in +Italy.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, APRIL 6.—This morning we +took a ride around Beira on a trolley pushed by a negro man. The +site of Beira is a sandbar reclaimed from the sea, and there is not +a horse in the town; indeed, there is not a horse within a hundred +and fifty miles of Beira, owing to the horse disease. There are no +mule or ox-drawn vehicles, and no automobiles, owing to the streets +of sand, so the queer street-railway supplies all transportation. +There are cement sidewalks, but in the middle of the street the sand +is ankle-deep.... The town looks like Manila, in a way, except +that it is not so large. Banana and cocoanut trees grow everywhere in +dooryards, as do the bright red flowers common in the tropics. Every +house is raised six or seven feet above the ground, for additional +coolness, and under many houses we saw natives cooking meals at open +fires. In front of nearly every house was a private trolley; we saw +hundreds of them during the ride. They were usually for two passengers, +and covered, for the sun is always very hot here. I should say the +average private trolley costs fifteen or twenty dollars, and has four +light iron wheels. One man may easily lift a trolley off the track, +which is the manner of disposing of them when not in use. As the town +grows, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 359]</span> + +the street-railway tracks are extended, and many house-owners build +private lines to their premises. It is the most curious thing I have +seen on the trip; I had never before seen street-railways of this +kind, or heard of them. There is a bathing-beach here, and it can be +reached only by these peculiar hand-pushed cars. The street-railway +lines extend not only to every residence section, but to every business +section, and to the railroad yards as well as to the ship docks. The +lines were built by the city, and were not very expensive, as the rails +are light. The up-keep is provided for by an annual tax paid by every +trolley-owner for the privilege of using the tracks. Many business +men have several trolleys; one or more for their own use, one or more +for the use of their families, and one or more for freight purposes. +Although the streets of Beira are composed entirely of sand, the sand +is heavy, and does not blow about as dust. The weather last night +was cool, but the days are very hot.... The Savoy Hotel at Beira +overlooks the sea, and its grounds would be flooded at high tide but +for the protection afforded by a sea-wall. One might sit on the back +porches of the hotel, and fish in the sea. The waiters are native +boys wearing white coats, and dresses such as women wear. A black +man wearing a coat and dress is a queer sight, and I know of nothing +in towns more unusual than Beira. It is thoroughly Portuguese, and +everything is quaint and picturesque. Beira has a very bad reputation; +you hear up the line that everything that is disagreeable will happen +to you there, but we rather liked the place. The hotel was good, and +the people polite; we encountered nothing disagreeable at Beira except + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 360]</span> + +tremendously hot weather.... We went aboard the “Burgermeister” +at 2 P.M., and sailed two hours later. A Cape Town theatrical man +named Sam Marks, had a letter of introduction to us from traveling +acquaintances, and secured us seats at table with his wife and three +other English-speaking people. So everything was very pleasant until +Adelaide went down to her room to dress for dinner. She found that she +had been assigned to a cabin with a Portuguese woman and a little baby. +The woman cannot speak English, and has a Kaffir man nurse for the +baby. The Kaffir man is in the woman’s room most of the time looking +after the baby, and was there when Adelaide went down to dress. The +chief steward, when the matter was called to his attention, was sorry, +but proposed no other remedy than to keep the negro boy out. We then +took the matter up with the captain, who speaks very good English, and +he arranged it by giving Adelaide a room to herself.... No religious +services were held on board in honor of the day, but a dance was held +on deck, in the evening. The ship band plays a concert every morning +at 10:30, and every evening at 9 the orchestra plays.... When we +left Beira, the sea was as smooth as a millpond. At 10 P.M. a wireless +telegram announced that a bad storm was raging there. For several days +we have had intensely hot weather, but at sea we found a delightfully +cool breeze, and Captain Ulrich says that at this season we should have +smooth seas and agreeable weather all the way to Naples.... The +passengers are mainly Germans, as this is a German ship. There are a +few English, a few Colonials, and a few Portuguese, but + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 361]</span> + +we are the only Americans. In the steerage there is a great mingling of +races, including Hindus, negroes and Arabs. These people bring their +own bedding, and do their own cooking. As soon as the freight was +stored away, and the forward hatchway covered, the steerage passengers +settled down for the night, and produced their bedding and cooking +utensils. Some of them eat rice, and some of them eat corn-meal mush, +but all of them eat with their fingers. Somewhere a fire is provided +where they may cook their food, and plenty of water may be had at a +convenient faucet. The firemen are Arabs, and they mingle with the +steerage passengers. I had always imagined that an Arab was fond of +ease, and lazy, but Captain Ulrich says they are the most reliable +firemen to be had, and the most efficient.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, APRIL 7.—We have spent a good +part of this day lying off Chindi, a decaying town at the mouth of +the Zambesi river. We arrived at 9 A. M., and anchored in the open +sea, where we rolled and pitched gently until 4:30 P.M. It seems the +“Burgermeister” is ahead of time, and the tender did not come off until +2:30 P.M. It brought two hundred negro boys, sixteen to eighteen years +old, and entirely naked except that each one wore a cloth about the +loins. These boys had been sent to work on sugar plantations by labor +agents, who received a pound each for finding them. But the boys soon +contracted dysentery, and are being sent home. When the tender came +alongside, many of the boys were seasick, and some of them crying. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 362]</span> + +They were transferred from the tender to the ship in a huge basket, +ten or twelve at a time. Many of the boys had sore feet, having +walked to Chindi from the plantations where they were employed. All +of them were thin in flesh, and nine out of ten had no baggage; +nothing to eat out of, and nothing to sleep on: no possession whatever +except a loin-cloth, and some of these were made of grass, or of old +matting. The slaves of olden days could not have presented a much +worse spectacle. These boys worked on the sugar plantations at $1.75 +per month. Counting interest on money invested, and taking into +consideration the fact that old slaves must be cared for, that is +cheaper than owning slaves.... Ten white passengers also came out +on the tender, and of course these were brought on board before the +negroes. The passenger basket is a huge wicker affair in which six +to ten persons are locked. Then it is hoisted, by means of a donkey +engine, from the tender to the deck of the ship, or <i>vice versa</i>. +Sometimes, when passengers are disembarking, and the basket is being +lowered to the deck of the tender, the waves send the tender upward +quickly, and the passengers get a bad jolt. In the open sea, the small +tenders roll and knock about so much that this method of handling +passengers is necessary. Several children were brought on board, and +in every case they screamed with fright. But if the tackle holds, the +method is safe enough.... The “Burgermeister” is the best ship we +have been on since leaving home. The food is abundant, and well cooked, +and the service excellent in all respects. Captain Ulrich is the +youngest captain I have ever seen on a + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 363]</span> + +steamship; he is not more than forty years old, and probably under +that age. He is a famous man on the line because of the dignified +interest he takes in passengers. He told me last night that during +the present trip he hadn’t had an hour of bad weather; and he left +Hamburg February 25, and came through the dreaded Bay of Biscay and +the stormy English channel.... Chindi is the port of entry for +Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia, and the Zambesi river enters the ocean +there. Small boats ply on the river, and there are sugar plantations +in the interior. It is generally believed that Chindi will be greatly +harmed by a new railroad to be built from Beira.... Nyasaland is +one of the modern achievements in colonization. Although in the heart +of the Dark Continent, and given over only a few years ago to the most +appalling barbarism, it now has a railway service, settlements lit +by electricity, vast tracts of land under scientific cultivation, an +improved wagon-road 100 miles long, a stable government, and cheap +land, on which may be grown corn, cotton, and tobacco. I hear even +at this distance of one planter who made $10,000 in one year from +tobacco.... In order to reach Nyasaland at present, travelers leave +ships five miles off Chindi, being transferred to tenders in baskets. +At Chindi they take small boats for Port Herald, two hundred miles up +the Zambesi river. The negro engineers on these steamboats get $3.75 +a month. The captain of the boat is a white man, and an engineer, +but natives have learned his trade, and now do all the work in the +engine-room. This is true all over Africa: the white men show the +negroes, and the negroes pick up all the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 364]</span> + +trades. At Port Herald begins a railroad one hundred and thirteen +miles long, with very stiff grades, running into the interior. There +are only four white men employed on the line: the general manager, +the traffic superintendent, the chief accountant, and the locomotive +foreman. All the telegraphers are negroes, and do their work well for +$2.50 a month. In order to become telegraphers, it was necessary for +them to learn to read and write English. The head boy in the general +offices of the railway, a very capable clerk, gets $3.75 a month. The +locomotive engineers are Hindus, and receive $30 a month; but the +firemen are all negroes, and receive but $3.75 a month. All the firemen +are capable of running engines, and do run them at times. It is only a +question of a few years until negroes succeed the high-priced Hindus as +locomotive engineers. The section reached by the railroad is devoted +largely to tobacco and cotton. One planter has five hundred acres in +tobacco, and employs eight hundred natives; it is estimated there +that tobacco requires a man and a half to every acre. These natives +receive $1.25 a month and board, but their board costs only two cents +a day; they eat only corn-meal, which costs a dollar a hundred pounds +as a rule. That amounts to less than $2 a month for a good workman. +A tobacco planter in Nyasaland is satisfied if he gets five hundred +pounds of cured tobacco per acre, one-third of the yield in the United +States, and he sells it on an average for seven or eight cents a pound. +You would think his freight bill would eat up his profits, but he pays +only half a cent a pound for transporting his crop to London. The rate +is purposely made very low, to encourage tobacco-growing. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 365]</span> + +It is not equally low on second-class merchandise in other parts of +Africa; that rate from Capetown to Bulawayo, a merchant told me, is +four cents a pound.... Food is very cheap in the interior of Africa. +In Nyasaland, a half-dozen chickens may be bought for twenty-four +cents. A young man on board is an employee of the Eastern Telegraph +Co., and is being transferred to Zanzibar. He says he has chicken so +frequently that he despises it; his associates lately joined him in a +protest to the company against chicken. The chickens here are small +and tough: every native raises chickens, which are compelled to pick +up a living: they are not fed. The natives do not eat them, but carry +them great distances to market.... The whisky used by the natives is +made of corn, by a very simple process. They crush the grains of corn, +pour water over the mass, and allow it to ferment. Then they add water, +and put it away in earthen jars until needed.... One of the most +interesting men on board is an official of the British company which +built the railroad from Port Herald, two hundred miles up the Zambesi +river from Chindi, into Nyasaland. He is going to England for his +vacation; the ships are all crowded now, as this is the favorite season +for the exiles to go home. He says the English cotton and tobacco +planters in Nyasaland are not very prosperous; they make a living, but +not much more. They are pioneers, and pioneers rarely make a great deal +of money. This man is named Metcalf, and had an attack of the African +fever today. He dosed himself with quinine, and, going to bed, covered +himself with blankets. There he perspired and suffered until + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 366]</span> + +the attack wore off. Many of the passengers of the “Burgermeister” are +invalids going home to recuperate after an experience with the climate +of Africa.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, APRIL 8.—It is fortunate I am +not seasick, and laid up, for my cabin window looks out on the deck +where the steerage passengers are. Early this morning I heard a babel +of voices, and supposed all the negro boys were on deck, and talking at +the same time. Looking out of my window, I discovered that fifteen or +twenty Hindus were doing all the talking, while the two hundred negro +boys were sitting around in perfect silence. The steerage passengers +can look into my room, if so disposed, and often do. Before I finished +dressing, the two hundred negro boys were fed. Each was given three +ship biscuits, and weak tea was provided for those who could get to it. +When the boys gathered around the teakettle, they reminded me of pigs +around a swill-trough. The stronger boys drank the tea from cups made +out of the hollow of their hands, and the weaker ones, or runts, got +none. Several of the boys were living skeletons, and had evidently been +very ill. I threw an apple to one of the runts, but he had never seen +that kind of fruit before, and I was compelled to inform him by means +of signs that it was good to eat.... Six of the boys sat together, +and divided everything given them. I was told that they were brothers, +although there wasn’t a year’s difference in their ages. Their father +probably has a dozen wives, as polygamy is practiced by nearly + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 367]</span> + +all the natives.... While the negro boys were scrambling for the +scant food provided by the steamship company, the other deck passengers +were eating breakfasts of their own providing. In one place, six Hindu +men were eating, seated in a circle; they seemed to be traveling +together. In every party of Hindus, one of the number seems to be +a half-servant, and he waits on the others. Several of the negro +passengers are dressed like the Hindus, and do not seem to know any +other language than Hindu. Other parties of diners on the deck were +Arabs, and all ate with their fingers. Yesterday, as soon as the ship +anchored off Chindi, the Hindus began fishing, the pastime of lazy +people everywhere. All of them had hooks and lines in their baggage, +and the cook provided them with fresh meat for bait. A dozen or more +fish were caught, of a variety resembling our catfish. One Hindu family +caught three fish, which were “cleaned” for dinner in the dirtiest +manner imaginable. I saw the Hindu mother finally prepare the fish +for the fire, and this was the way she did it: Each piece of fish was +dusted with curry powder before going in the pot, as we dust fish in +cracker-meal for frying. Then she put in a few pieces of potato and +onion, and a crushed mass of some sort of vegetable. The woman’s hands +being covered with curry and the crushed vegetable referred to above, +she washed them in water, and poured the water into the pot with the +fish. Then the half-servant took the pot away, and evidently placed it +on the stove of the crew cook. In an hour he brought it back, and the +mess was allowed to cool, after which the six members of the family +gathered around, and ate with their fingers. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 368]</span> + +The mother made a drink in the following manner: A little condensed +milk was poured into a dirty washbasin nearly full of water. Sugar was +added, and this beverage was passed about, and drank with a relish. +One member of the family was a girl of fourteen, rather pretty, but +dirty beyond description. A boy of eleven was also very good-looking. +The mother, after dinner, lit a cigarette, and handed it occasionally +to her husband, who took a few puffs, and handed it back to his +wife.... Speaking of smoking cigarettes, last evening Adelaide and I +sat with a party on deck to drink coffee after dinner. There were five +ladies in the party, and Adelaide was the only one who did not smoke a +cigarette with the coffee.... The poorer class of Hindus seem to be +the laziest class of people in the world; the poverty of the people of +India is due more to shiftlessness than to British oppression.... +The weather has been superb all day, and land in sight nearly all the +time.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, APRIL 9.—Shortly after +breakfast this morning, we went ashore at the old Portuguese town of +Mozambique, and wandered about until the big ship whistle warned us, at +1 P.M., to go on board. When we went down the ship’s side to enter the +small boats which carry passengers ashore at a shilling each, we were +mobbed by the Arab boatmen, who were quarreling over our patronage. +They fought viciously, and many of them fell into the sea, but we had +had no excitement for several days, and rather liked the commotion. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 369]</span> + +There were certainly two boatmen for every passenger, and the noise +they made was tremendous.... Mozambique is Moorish in design, and +I greatly enjoyed my visit there. The streets are narrow and crooked, +and the houses hundreds of years old; in some of them may still be seen +the windows of mica with which they were originally fitted. Everywhere +are the most delightful little parks, and wherever you go in the town +you cannot see your way out, as the streets are crooked, and you see +only queer old houses with thick walls of stucco. In most towns the +streets are straight; there are long rows of houses on either side, +and the streets end in a distant view of the country. But Mozambique +apparently tries to hide the fact that it is a small town, so no street +runs straight for more than a block or two, when it turns; thus you +are constantly in a maze of houses. The streets are not more than +thirty feet wide, and as all doors are open, owing to the intense heat, +the visitor gains an intimate idea of the habits of the people. The +Portuguese are related to the Spanish, so their houses have interior +courts, and these are provided with gardens or fountains, when water +can be had. I have never seen anything more quaint than the shops of +Mozambique; it is a small, dull town, and its people are therefore +polite. Seven out of ten of the inhabitants are negroes, but the +negroes live in a location to themselves, and their houses are almost +as unusual as the houses in the white town, for they differ from all +the other negro huts I have seen in Africa.... Mozambique has an old +fort, and the stones with which it is built were brought from Portugal +in the rude ships of three or + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 370]</span> + +four hundred years ago. Its cannon are falling to pieces from rust, +and I doubt if there is a big gun in the place that could be fired; but +a Portuguese garrison is maintained there, and we were compelled to +give up our cameras before going in—the soldiers feared we might take +pictures of the fortification and sell them to their enemies. Portugal +is the weakest of all nations, and has always been kicked about. It +is unprogressive and poor, and people out here have very little more +respect for the Portuguese than they have for the Kaffirs. Brazil once +belonged to the Portuguese, and it became such a prosperous country +that the court left Lisbon and located in Rio de Janeiro; the colony +became greater than the mother country. But the inevitable revolution +soon came, and Brazil is no longer a Portuguese colony, although there +are more Portuguese there than in Portugal. Portuguese East Africa will +become independent as soon as it wants independence.... The old fort +in Mozambique has been assaulted and captured by the Arabs many times. +This section was formerly the center of the slave trade. The Arabs +began stealing the natives of East Africa and selling them as slaves, +but the Portuguese saw that the traffic was profitable, and the two +rivals for supremacy in what became a world industry, often clashed. It +is related that on one occasion the Arabs besieged Mozambique fort many +months, and when the garrison surrendered, only three of its defenders +were left. There are no better fighters than the Arabs; they made up +the armies with which Mahomet and his successors almost captured the +world. The Mohammedan influence is still strong here; everywhere + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 371]</span> + +we see black men wearing the red cap which indicates the Mohammedan. +Occasionally the red fez is supplanted by a white embroidered cap, +indicating that its owner has visited Mecca, the holy city. On the +ship, most of the deck passengers are Mohammedans, and we often see +them at their prayers. A Mohammedan is as proud of his religion as a +Salvation Army man, and when he is not praying, he reads the Koran with +as much interest as a Christian Scientist reads “Science and Health.” +As Christians say of the Bible, and Christian Scientists say of Mrs. +Eddy’s book, every reading of the Koran displays new beauties.... +Among our deck passengers, the only one who has been to Mecca is a +big negro, and he is as devout as a Methodist class-leader. He has a +prayer-rug, and seems to loan it to the Indians. Both the negroes and +Indians should be ashamed to accept the Mohammedan religion, for it is +a mark left on them by conquerors. Mohammedan Indians associate freely +with negroes, but the Indians who have remained true to Hinduism do +not.... In the history of the human race, probably more cruelty +was practiced in the slave trade between Mozambique and Zanzibar than +anywhere else in the world. And the negroes in the interior do not seem +to be any more capable of defense now than they were when anyone was at +liberty to enslave them. Human slavery is no longer practiced, either +because of civilization among the stronger races, or because it doesn’t +pay. Why should a planter go to the expense of buying slaves when he +can hire a black laborer for $2 a month, and confine him to quarters, +and make him work as many hours as he chooses? This is done in + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 372]</span> + +British territory all over Africa.... In Mozambique we visited +the public market, and found that many of the negro women had their +faces whitened like circus clowns, in order to look like white people. +Adelaide weighs only a hundred pounds, and has rather a small waist, +and all the negro women thought her waist was disgracefully small. +One of them asked if she might measure it with a string. Permission +being granted, and the measurement made, the string was passed around, +and attracted a babble of disgusted comment from black ladies with +the middle-age spread.... Young chickens were sold at the market +at eighteen cents each, and everything else was equally cheap. +Mozambique is built on a coral island, three miles from the mainland, +and everything is brought in by boats.... The Englishman is a grave +sort of person, and has little sense of humor, but Sammy Marks, the +theatrical man, made me laugh today. In walking about Mozambique, we +came across a school in which forty children of all races were reciting +in chorus to an Arab teacher seated on the floor. “Children,” Mr. Marks +said to them, “don’t you know this is a free day? Sammy Marks is in +town, and you can take your books and go home.” Some of the children +understood the words “free day,” apparently, for after a little +preliminary chatter, every child in the room dashed out the front door, +leaving the teacher to wonder what had happened. The English are great +in commerce and war, but I never before knew one who had a real sense +of humor.... One of the passengers on the “Burgermeister” is a +Frenchman, and as he sits at our table, we know him very well. He is + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 373]</span> + +an old traveler, and knows how to handle ship servants. He eats more +food, and drinks more wine, than any other human being I have ever been +acquainted with. But he is a very polite man, and speaks German as well +as French, so that he is of the greatest assistance when I get into +difficulty with the German waiters. He is always buying champagne, and +has five or six boxes of cigars in his cabin. He usually has not only +his waiter hovering over him when in the dining-room, but the chief +steward as well, and his capacity for getting what he wants is so great +that he amuses me, although an electrical engineer at the same table +is mad at him, and talks about a personal encounter.... I visited +Mozambique with Sammy Marks, the theatrical manager from Capetown, and +theatrical men are usually able to get what is coming to them. But +Sammy Marks could not find a ricksha for hire in Mozambique. We saw +plenty of rickshas, but were told that they were privately owned. Just +as we acknowledged that rickshas were an impossibility in Mozambique, +along came the Frenchman in one. Learning that Mrs. Marks and Adelaide +were very tired, he gallantly turned his vehicle over to them. He went +away for a few minutes, but soon came back riding in another ricksha, +and continued with us in it until we returned to the boat-landing. +Mrs. Marks speaks French like a native, having been born in Paris, and +when I make a remark at table that interests her, she translates it to +the Frenchman. One day I was asked to tell an “American story,” and it +happened to greatly amuse Mr. and Mrs. Marks. The Frenchman did not +catch the “story,” saying I talked too fast in telling it. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 374]</span> + +Thereupon Mrs. Marks translated it, and the Frenchman was convulsed +with laughter. Mrs. Marks telling my “story” in French, and the +Frenchman listening seriously and intently, was a very amusing +experience to me.... When we were ready to return to the ship, we +found the tide out, and the Arab boatmen carried us to their boats. One +boatman, in carrying a very fat woman, stumbled and fell in the water, +and the fat woman was soaked.... Arriving at the “Burgermeister,” my +boatman demanded 800 reis for carrying two of us to the town and back. +The amount startled me, but it turned out that 800 reis amounts to only +ninety-six cents in American money.... A Portuguese gentleman became +a passenger on the “Burgermeister” at Mozambique, and a number of +friends came aboard to say good-by. They were so busy drinking in the +smoking-room that they did not note the whistle which blew for visitors +to depart; so when we were a mile out, we were compelled to stop, and +signal for a tug to come after them. As the visitors departed each one +embraced his friend again, with great deliberation. Meanwhile Captain +Ulrich was walking the bridge, swearing like a pirate. Just when it was +thought the captain would explode with indignation, he was told that +the mail had not been sent on board, and he was actually compelled to +turn the huge ship around and return to the harbor, where we whistled +ten minutes before the sleepy Portuguese put off in a boat to see +what the noise was about. We were delayed an hour and a half by the +sleepy Portuguese, and nearly everyone on board is cursing them. The +Portuguese are everywhere regarded as slow and unenterprising, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 375]</span> + +and countries controlled by them do not prosper.... I shall long +remember Mozambique as the quaintest town I have ever visited. I had +never heard of it, therefore it was a surprise.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, APRIL 10.—I awoke very early +this morning, and found unloading in progress at Port Amelia. The deck +passengers were up, as it was necessary to disturb them in order to +remove the hatches and get at the cargo. But when we are at sea, the +deck passengers divide the space over the forward hatch, and make rooms +for themselves with bundles and boxes. Some of them have carpets in +their bundles, and nearly all of them have bedding. A tarpaulin forms a +covering over them, and at night their quarters are lighted by a bunch +of electric lights. It is surprising how well these deck passengers +get along, and how comfortable they are. They may buy supplies of the +ship steward, and seem to have plenty to eat. Most of them are going +back to India, which is not far away from this coast. It was from India +that the small Arab boats came, after the Mohammedan conquest, and +made slaves of hundreds of thousands of the people of the East Coast +of Africa.... Here is an exact description of a dinner I saw six +Indians eat yesterday evening: They squatted around a large pan of +rice, which had been cooking most of the afternoon on the galley stove. +In the centre of the rice was placed a small pan containing a yellow +liquid; probably curry. In the curry-pan was a spoon, and the diners +used this + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 376]</span> + +spoon to ladle out the curry into the rice. Each man covered the +portion of rice in front of him with curry, and then stirred up the +mass with his fingers, in order that the curry might be thoroughly +mixed with the rice. The diners were very polite; when one of them +used the spoon, he passed it on to the man next to him. The rice and +curry being thoroughly mixed, the diners made it into balls with their +fingers, and put it in their mouths. During the meal they discussed the +gossip of the day in the most animated manner, as do diners who have +many articles of food, served with plate and silver. One old Hindu in +the party doesn’t seem to be very well, and he soon retired from the +circle, and three others followed him not long after, but two young +fellows remained until both pans were scraped clean. Civilized men eat +a great variety of food, but the more primitive races do not seem to +care for it.... Port Amelia is located in the finest harbor I have +seen in Africa, but it is in the wilds, and does not amount to much. +The place was founded by a major in the English army, who had been +cashiered for bad conduct. He sold his rights to a British company, +which secured a franchise for a railroad to Lake Nyanza, and hopes +to finally be able to finance the venture. Any story of the American +frontier may be duplicated in Africa; adventurers are bold, and capital +timid. Several Arab boats which seemed to be hundreds of years old, +came off after cargo. These boats do not exceed sixty or seventy feet +in length, and sail all along the coast and to India. Several of the +passengers accompanied Captain Ulrich ashore before breakfast. The +captain is an enthusiastic photographer, and takes pictures in natural + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 377]</span> + +colors with an ordinary camera. Anyone may do it by using the special +plates which are sold in most trade centres. The captain sells his +pictures in Germany for very good prices.... Port Amelia was a short +horse, and soon curried, and by 10 A.M. we were out at sea again, being +entertained by a Hindu fakir who obtained permission to come up on our +deck. This man has been my neighbor ever since I came aboard at Beira; +he is camped on deck, with his family, in front of my window. He has +a wife, a daughter of fourteen, a son of twenty, and a son of nine, +and an old retainer who seems to be half cook and half assistant. My +neighbor proved to be the cleverest man of his class I had ever seen. +The collection amounted to only $2.50, and the old man was considerably +disappointed, saying he did better in the second-cabin the day before. +The son of twenty attempted a trick, but failed to do it, and was +hooted by the passengers. Then the father attempted it, and succeeded +without any difficulty. The old fakir knew me, having seen me in my +room many times, from his quarters on deck, and addressed most of his +conversation to me while doing his tricks. He talks a little of half +a dozen languages, and Sammy Marks, the theatrical manager, says the +old fellow would prove a drawing card at any theatre.... There is a +woman on board who is said to resemble the late Queen Victoria. I think +she started the story herself, as she seems very proud of the alleged +resemblance.... The people on this ship are much politer, and much +quieter, than were the passengers on the English ship “Anchises,” on +which we sailed from Australia to South Africa. The English + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 378]</span> + +go crazy about ship sports, and greatly annoy those who want to be +quiet, but the Germans are more considerate of others.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, APRIL 11.—We have spent this day +in the open sea. Usually we are in sight of land, but if there has been +any in sight today I have not seen it. There was a rain-storm this +morning, but it soon passed away. This is our fifth day out, but the +sea has been remarkably smooth; I have never seen it equally gracious, +either on the Pacific or the Atlantic. We have not had enough motion +to disturb the weakest stomach, and I shall always remember the Indian +ocean with gratitude. The weather has been hot, but usually we can find +enough breeze to be comfortable. A good many slept on deck last night, +finding their cabins stuffy.... The leader of the band and orchestra +is a waiter in the dining-room. I cannot understand why a man able to +lead a very good orchestra with a violin, and a very good band with +a cornet, is compelled to work as a waiter. The bass player in both +organizations is our table steward, and he is very capable, although +he cannot speak a word of English.... There are eight at our table. +One was born in France, one in Alsace-Lorraine, one in Scotland, one +in England, one in Wales, one in Spain, and two in America. One of +the ladies traveled three years in India and two in Australia, with a +circus owned by her husband, and did a riding act. She is now a widow, +and conducts a riding-school in Johannesburg. One of the men is + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 379]</span> + +a Johannesburg electrical engineer, on his way to America to study +late developments in the science. Another is Sammy Marks, a theatrical +manager, who will shortly open a new theatre at Nairobi, British East +Africa. This town is 350 miles inland from Mombasa, and on the way +there he will pass by rail through as good a game country as there +is in Africa. His wife looks and talks like an American girl, and, +being accused of it by me, replied that she was glad of it. She was +born in Paris, but has lived in Africa since she was a little girl. +Still another man at our table is the Frenchman before referred to, +one of the politest and oddest characters I have ever known. He is +an automobile agent, and told me that on his present trip he sold +eighty-five machines in Africa. He doesn’t like the Germans on the +ship, and makes them all the trouble he possibly can. One day at dinner +he ordered fish, and six different kinds of meat, which he nibbled +at, and sent away. He always drinks two kinds of wine at dinner, +and sometimes three. He keeps the waiter so busy that the others at +the table complain of neglect. The food on the “Burgermeister” is +surprisingly good and abundant.... I suppose there was never a +chief steward on an ocean-going vessel who was not a mean man. He it +is who must say “no” when passengers become unreasonable. When a woman +complains to a retail grocer of one of his clerks, the grocer sides +with the woman, but at heart he believes the clerk was right. It is +the same way when a passenger complains to the captain of the chief +steward: the captain is sympathetic, but believes the steward is right. +Our chief steward is a big, good-natured man, and while + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 380]</span> + +we are all in league against him, we are disposed to like him. The +captain is not only the youngest man I have ever seen in command of a +ship, but the best-looking. The chief officer is not over thirty years +old. All the members of the crew are young, and speak enough English +to “get along” after a fashion with the English passengers. One woman +ordered a cup of tea, and the waiter brought her two bottles of whisky, +opened. Another woman ordered a plate of crackers, and the waiter +brought her a whisky and soda. These are cases you hear of; I have had +no trouble, and congratulate myself that I chose a German ship instead +of an English one. There is a quiet gentility about the passengers I +greatly admire. I heard before coming on board that there would be no +English-speaking passengers. Nearly all of them speak English, and the +bill of fare is printed in English, as well as in German. The African +trip is not an advisable one, owing to the great distances, but anyone +who makes it in spite of my advice to the contrary, should go home by +the East Coast in a German boat.... There are a large number of +young men on board, and all of them well-behaved. There are only two +girls on board, and only ten women altogether. The orchestra plays +every night, and there is usually dancing; the five dancing women +receive a lot of attention.... The feeling between the English and +Germans is more intense than I expected to find it. When an Englishman +asked me what would be the attitude of the United States in case of war +between Germany and England, I was amused, but since then a dozen have +asked me the same question. They all seem to think the United States + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 381]</span> + +should assist the English. On one of the ships of the German East +Africa line, a few weeks ago, there was an incident which might have +precipitated the long-talked of war between Germany and England. Among +the passengers were several Englishmen; one of them with a title. On +this line it is a habit among the women to drink coffee after dinner +in the smoking-room. The Englishmen did something that was considered +offensive by the German women, and, the captain hearing of it, he +promptly called the Englishmen to account. The Englishmen were furious; +particularly the one with a title. He said the women had no business +in the smoking-room; that he had done nothing offensive, and would not +be corrected by anyone, captain or no captain. The captain also had +a temper, and he replied that if a titled Englishman didn’t know the +ordinary rules of politeness, he would teach him. The two men glared +at each other a few moments, and the incident was closed, but it +might easily have resulted in serious trouble; if the captain had put +Sir Thomas in irons, an international complication might have arisen +speedily. The Germans have hasty tempers, and are slow to apologize; +the same thing may be said of the English, and both have a very good +opinion of their fighting ability; with Germany rather in the lead +in conceit, since the Boer war.... This morning the band played a +selection which closed with “God Save the King.” Two Englishmen who sat +near me, arose to their feet, and stood until the hymn was finished. +Yesterday the band played “The Watch on the Rhine,” but the Germans +paid no attention to it; they did not even applaud. Last night the band +played + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 382]</span> + +“The American Patrol,” closing with “The Star-Spangled Banner,” but +the two Americans on board paid the air no special attention.... A +printed notice was placed on the bulletin board this afternoon, stating +that Law mass will be celebrated in the ladies’ parlor next Sunday, +at 10:30 A.M. There was great curiosity to know the meaning of Law +mass. Being a printer, and accustomed to the mistakes of printers, +I was able to solve the riddle: the printer should have set up the +word “low” instead of “law.” The mystery was nothing more than a +typographical error.... There is a bride and groom on board, and the +fact that one or the other is sulking most of the time has attracted a +good deal of attention.... One passenger has attracted everyone’s +admiration because he is a fine walker. Most people walk in a very +awkward manner, but this man, a Portuguese count, walks with so much +grace as to attract compliments.... At 9 o’clock tonight we came to +Zanzibar, and were at once surrounded by the usual crowd of screaming +boatmen. Near us was anchored the steamer for Bombay, and the Hindu +deck passengers packed up and departed. I shall miss them every morning +when I look out of my window; they came to know me, I was so close a +neighbor. The Hindu juggler was my favorite: he had a far-away look +that would have become a mystic. The big negro Mohammedan who took so +much pride in his prayers also stood high in my estimation, as he was a +very dignified and quiet man. I went down to the gang-plank, and said +good-by to these two as they disembarked carrying their pans and pots, +and boxes and bundles.... Some of the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 383]</span> + +passengers went ashore, but I remained and listened to the band +concert, and watched the unusual scene of activity about the ship. The +men engaged in unloading are mainly Mohammedan negroes, and they make +more noise and do less work than any other workmen I know anything +about. They not only scream all the time, but keep up a sort of song. +At intervals they all quit the work on which they are engaged and clap +their hands in unison.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, APRIL 12.—Zanzibar is unusual +in many ways, but not as unusual as I expected it to be. I measured +several of its streets this morning, and found them nine feet wide. +These were mainly residence streets; the principal business streets +are a little wider, and automobiles run in them. I met a gentleman +named Hay in Zanzibar, an official of the cable company, and called +at his home several times. He lives in the queerest house I have ever +seen. It fronts on the sea, and was built and occupied many years by an +Arab gentleman. The house is enormous in size, and some of its rooms +must be thirty or forty feet square; it amused me immensely to see a +dining-table, set for two, in the centre of the enormous dining-room; +Mr. Hay has no children, and he and his wife are the sole occupants of +the big house, except that four native servants slip about as quietly +as mice. In the centre of the house is an enormous court, open to the +sunlight, and when I visited the place we used to run across this, to +avoid sunstroke. The bath-room of the house + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 384]</span> + +is another large room, with a depression and drain in the cement floor; +every floor in the house is of cement and the walls of rough stucco +plastered outside and inside. The water for bathing is carried to +the Hay home by negro women, and for this service they receive three +shillings a month, or seventy-two cents. The women carry the water +on their heads, in Standard Oil tins, and have the best figures in +the world, because of their habit of carrying loads on their heads. +In the Hay house, as in all the other homes in Zanzibar, there is a +roof garden, where the dwellers go when the nights are excessively +hot. The Hay servants receive $1.25 a month, and board themselves. Mr. +Hay told me they were great thieves; most of the other white people I +met in Africa spoke highly of the honesty of the blacks. The approach +to the house is a crooked street nine feet wide, and the front door +an elaborate affair of bronze. An Arab invests a great deal of his +money in his front door, as river pilots are said to invest most of +their money in watch chains. This queer, rambling house rents for $20 +a month. While sitting on its veranda, looking out to sea, a warship +lying only a few hundred yards away fired a salute of a dozen guns, +and caused Adelaide to scream, as the guns were pointed directly at +us.... Mr. Hay has lived on the edge of the east fifteen or twenty +years, as an employee of the cable company, and says that in his +bachelor days he never shaved or put on socks except when a ship was +expected in the harbor. The arrival of a ship in these far-away places +is a big event to the white residents, as they nearly always dine +aboard, and hear gossip from home.... + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 385]</span> + +Zanzibar, the town, is not as large as I expected to find it. I don’t +know how many blacks are scattered over Zanzibar island, which is 50 +miles long and 25 broad, but the total white population amounts to less +than one hundred and fifty. Of white women and girls, there are only +fifteen; and all of them smoke cigarettes, one citizen told me. When I +meet a woman over here who smokes cigarettes, I am usually told that +her husband is coaxing her to quit the habit. While in Zanzibar, the +subject of women smoking cigarettes came up, and several men said to +me: “My sisters never smoke; they would as soon think of cutting their +throats.” I have rarely known a woman cigarette-smoker who did not +tell me that her husband objected. Nice women smoke, but they would be +nicer if they didn’t. Cigarette-smoking in women seems to be associated +more or less with drinking: I sat in a party one night, at one of our +stopping-places, and one woman drank five highballs, in addition to +smoking nearly a box of cigarettes.... There is one narrow, crooked +street in Zanzibar which is occupied entirely by Hindus. The street is +so narrow that a carriage cannot be driven through it, and the shops +of the tradesmen are very small; a merchant may sit in the middle of +his shop, and reach everything it contains. Many of the occupants +of the street are jewelers, and manufacture very wonderful articles +with very simple tools. Leading off the street referred to are other +narrow streets, and there is nothing more curious in Cairo or Delhi. +Prices are actually very high in Zanzibar, unless you haggle with the +merchants. One woman who was asked $35 for a cat’s-eye, finally + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 386]</span> + +paid $5 for it; another was asked $7.50 for an opal, and got it for +$1.25. A professional horse-trader might do well as a shopper in +Zanzibar, but the ordinary traveler is robbed. In San Francisco are +curio stores displaying eastern goods five times larger than any +similar store in Zanzibar. And in San Francisco the one-price system +prevails. There are still larger stores in New York for the sale of +curious things of Japanese, Indian or Chinese manufacture, and the +merchants are reliable, whereas if you attempt to buy anything in +Zanzibar, you usually deal with a rogue.... I had an automobile +ride in Zanzibar I shall always remember. We drove across the island, +a distance of twenty-four miles, and were almost constantly passing +through native villages. The natives of Zanzibar seem to be more +prosperous than the other negroes we have seen, and they have adopted +all the customs of the strange races they meet here. Everywhere we +saw negro women hiding their faces behind veils, a custom learned +from the Hindus. We also saw negro women with gold buttons in their +noses, rings on their toes, and bracelets on their ankles; they had +seen these customs practiced by other women, and adopted them, without +any particular reason.... I believe I saw more cocoanut trees on +Zanzibar island than I ever before saw anywhere; and everywhere the +people were preparing copra, the dried meat of the cocoanut. Copra +produces an oil used in soap-making, and is in brisk demand. Wherever +we go here we get the disagreeable smell of copra; it reminds one of +very rancid butter.... We also passed through many miles of clove +trees. Ninety per cent of all the cloves produced + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 387]</span> + +in the world are raised on Zanzibar island, where conditions are just +right. Cloves are widely used in the manufacture of perfumes; in nearly +every perfume is a little of the oil of clove. The clove trees are +eighteen to twenty-five feet high, and do not look unlike orange trees. +The crop is gathered by native women and children, and finds its way +to every portion of the world. The island of Zanzibar is not unlike +the island of Ceylon, of which it reminded me. Rice is extensively +grown, and the banana and mango flourish, as do mosquitoes, malaria, +donkeys, goats, and the inclination to go naked all the year ’round. +Returning from the automobile trip, we were late, and the driver, a +Hindu, tore like mad through the streets of the native villages. We lit +our lamps at a native village, and entered Zanzibar after nightfall. +Riding through the narrow streets of this old town after night, in an +automobile, was an experience I shall always remember, for Zanzibar +reminds every visitor of the towns described in “The Arabian Nights.” +It is a typical Arabian town, and there seems to be a mystery and a +romance behind every door. The town was ruled for hundreds of years by +a Sultan, until the English took charge. There is still a sultan, who +receives a salary from the English government, but some day he will +be deposed, and there will be no further pretense of a Sultan having +anything to do with the government. The old palace of the Sultan—an +ugly affair which looks like a boarding-house—is used for offices by +the British. Near the palace is the harem, now deserted, since the +present Sultan has but one wife. The Sultan who had trouble with the +English was educated in + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 388]</span> + +England, and spent much of his time, and all of his revenues, in Paris. +One day an English gunboat sailed into the harbor, and the captain +told the gay Sultan that he had been ousted. The Sultan resented the +high-handed proceeding, and sent word to the defenders of his dignity +to sink the English gunboat and put the insolent captain in the +dungeon. There was an old fort near the palace, on the walls of which +were mounted a few rusty iron cannon. The defenders of the Sultan tried +to fire these at the English gunboat, but they burst, one by one, and +almost wiped out the Sultan’s defensive force. The captain of the +English gunboat then began dropping shells into the palace, and, with +one solid shot, sank the Sultan’s navy: a small vessel which carried +four guns. The last remnants of this wreck were being removed from the +harbor the day I was at Zanzibar.... Near the middle of the town +is a place called “The Gardens.” It was formerly the bathing resort +of the wives of the Sultan. The place is now used as a town hall, and +I went there with Sammy Marks, the theatrical manager, who wished to +engage it for an attraction. He paid twelve shillings for the use of +the hall. Dances are also held in the hall; the bathing-pool is covered +with planks when the hall is rented. On other days, the bathing-pool, +formerly the resort of the Sultan’s wives, is used by the school-boys, +and scattered around the hall I saw a good many pieces of gymnastic +apparatus.... Our summer weather is never as hot as the hot weather +of Africa. Whenever we go ashore we carry a sunshade, and, with that +protection, suffer more from heat than we ever suffer at home.... +After + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 389]</span> + +our return from the automobile trip, Mr. and Mrs. Hay were our guests +for dinner on the ship. They remained until nearly midnight, listening +to the band concert, and “visiting.” Their boatman was anxious to go +ashore, but Mr. Hay dared him to; there is a law here that a native +boatman who takes a passenger out to a ship, must wait until the +passenger is ready to return.... This afternoon we drank tea with an +English official on the other side of the island. The official invited +in several other Englishmen and their wives. The Englishmen were very +polite, but I have never felt more uncomfortable in my life. I didn’t +know when we started on the automobile ride that there was to be a +function; it was arranged as an agreeable surprise by Mrs. Hay. I am +sure the polite Englishmen enjoyed the parting as much as we did.... +Dozens of native guides came on board last night and this morning, +offering their services. Most of them had big names; one called himself +George Washington, another Abraham Lincoln, another Oliver Cromwell, +etc. But one quiet, modest negro said to the passengers:</p> + +<p>“Me Poor Charley.”</p> + +<p>And Poor Charley was a favorite; everyone who needed a guide tried +to engage him.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, APRIL 13.—England and Germany +are not far apart in East Africa. We left Zanzibar, which is in +British territory, at 5 A.M. this morning. Four hours later we were in +Dar-es-Salaam, the capital of + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 390]</span> + +German East Africa. I shall remember this place particularly because +the ship entered its harbor through an entrance which did not seem to +be more than two hundred feet wide in one place, and because of the +great number of Germans who came aboard, and remained all day, and +nearly all night, drinking beer and singing songs. Most of our German +visitors wore uniforms; Germany uses more uniforms than any other +country in the world, population considered. We went ashore at 9 A. M., +and found a very pretty modern town with the usual fifty blacks to one +white. There is a hotel at this place which is considered a wonder, and +a good many of the passengers went there for lunch or dinner.... +All the time we were walking about, black ricksha boys followed us, +and finally they proved a blessing when a rain came up; we entered the +vehicles, and went to the hotel, where we found a lot of our passengers +drinking beer on the verandas.... Cocoanut trees grow in great +profusion here, and on one I counted fifty-four nuts. I have always had +a notion that four or five nuts is a pretty good average for a cocoanut +tree.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, APRIL 14.—We have been in three +different towns today: Dar-es-Salaam, Zanzibar, and Tanga. We left +Dar-es-Salaam at daylight, and stopped at Zanzibar for the mails +at about 10 A. M., remaining an hour. Several of our friends came +on board, but none of the passengers went ashore. Dozens of Indian +merchants came out to the ship, and worked rapidly, as they expected +the whistle to blow any moment. The + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 391]</span> + +passengers also shopped rapidly, having heard that goods might be had +at low prices during this brief shopping period. Hundreds of purchases, +mostly of useless trifles, were made. Most travelers are as particular +to buy presents for all their friends as they are to remember them at +Christmas-time. When the whistle finally blew, there was a scramble +of merchants and their assistants to get into the little boats, and +one man was compelled to jump and swim for it. Many of the passengers +ordered clothing of the Zanzibar tailors, on Saturday, which was +delivered today. A pants and coat of white duck, so generally worn +here, cost $2.50 for the best quality, and as low as $1.75 a suit for +lighter material. The ladies also ordered skirts, and the charge was +$2.25.... At 11 A.M. we left Zanzibar, and six hours later were at +Tanga, also in German East Africa. We have made very little progress in +the last three days, our time being devoted to loading freight. But I +think we took on most of all at Tanga. All through the night the steam +winches were going, and they did not cease work until after breakfast. +One gang of men slept while the other worked. The forward winches are +not many feet from my cabin window, and all through the night there +was a tremendous racket, but, greatly to my surprise, I slept fairly +well.... The usual uniformed Germans came on board at Tanga, and +visited our officers. At Dar-es-Salaam and Tanga every vacant berth +on the ship was filled with a German, and several are sleeping in the +music-room. Five of the new passengers are babies, and several of the +others are Kaffir nurses. One of these nurses is a man with + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 392]</span> + +whiskers, and certainly six feet high. To see him caring for a baby is +very amusing. Still another new passenger is a Kaffir girl, a nurse, +but she is so scantily dressed that she has been refused the run of the +upper decks.... A young German girl left the ship at Tanga, and we +hear she is engaged to the ship doctor. Their love affair has been the +subject of much gossip, and when the girl left for shore in a small +boat she wept bitterly. Bets of two to one are freely offered that the +engagement will not result in marriage.... There is general relief +because a young bull, which has been on board ever since we left Beira, +departed on a scow at Tanga, after being lifted over the sides by the +steam winches. The bull seemed to understand that he was about to get +rid of his long confinement in a narrow box, and behaved very decently +while being unloaded.... The trip up the east coast of Africa is +distinguished because of its many stops, but this makes it a long trip. +We are becoming tired, and did not go ashore at Tanga.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, APRIL 15.—There must be a +tremendous amount of cargo on this boat. We ceased loading at Tanga at +9 o’clock this morning, and at 5 P.M. began again at Mombasa. At 5:15 +we went down the stairway at the side of the ship, and a fight began +among the boatmen over our patronage. The negro crew of row-boat No. 5 +won, and we went ashore, stopping on the way at the “Adolph Woerner,” +lying in the harbor. Landing, we walked a block to the street-railway, +which + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 393]</span> + +is one of the queer affairs called a “trolley” over here, although +there is no trolley. The street-railway runs from the port, called +Killindini, to Mombasa, a mile and a half away, and only handcars, +pushed by native men, are operated. There is a double track, with +branches to every important section of Mombasa. Every citizen of +importance owns one or more handcars, called “trolleys,” and these +are lifted off the track when not in use, and you see them standing +everywhere about the town. The fare up-town by trolley is not five +cents, as is the case in the United States, where the people are +mercilessly robbed by the corporations; the fare is forty-eight +cents per passenger, after 6 P. M., and twenty-four cents during the +day. Three men pushed our trolley, and, when they came to a piece of +down-hill track, they all rode. We had employed a black boy as guide at +the landing, at thirty-six cents an hour, and when we struck an up-hill +piece of track, the guide also helped push. Thus with four men we got +along very well, and were soon in the heart of old Mombasa, said to +have been besieged oftener than any other town in the world; which is +a pretty good story, if true, for there is fairly accurate authority +for the statement that Jerusalem has been besieged and taken fifty +times.... The trolley system of Mombasa stops at the postoffice; +we left our car there, and walked into the old part of the town. In +Zanzibar the streets were crooked, but in the old section of Mombasa +the buildings seem to have been built without any order whatever. There +are no streets; only spaces between the buildings, and these are very +narrow. The inhabitants of the section through which we passed at about + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 394]</span> + +6 P.M. are mainly people from India, and thousands of children were +playing about the narrow passages, or in the quaint shops, which were +almost as small as shops set up by children at play. It was almost +dark, and the usual illumination in the average shop was a lantern. The +shopkeepers wore turbans, and all sorts of strange clothing, and there +was a touch of every country except the country I am most familiar +with. I could not have named one-tenth of the articles displayed in the +shops, and in one place a phonograph was playing Hindu airs as strange +to me as the old town of Mombasa. We went to a market where hundreds of +people were quarreling over food prices, and where the people seemed to +come out of foreign books rather than out of real life. Occasionally +we came across a wholesale house, and in the offices of these we saw +Hindus working at typewriters. Drinking-shops abounded, and out of +these came drunken men who leered at us impudently and curiously. There +were a good many native hotels with guests sitting idly about. Mothers +ran everywhere hunting their children, and the streets, not much wider +than our sidewalks, were crowded with jabbering, gesticulating men and +women who seemed to us to be rather ill-natured.... We passed an old +fort which looked as large as Edinburgh castle, in Scotland; Mombasa +is a big town, and prosperous, and its institutions are on a large +scale. The guide said there was a still more interesting fort fifteen +minutes away, and we went there by trolley. The fort is situated on +the seashore, and only a ruin, but it looked very interesting in the +moonlight. The old cannon used in defense of the place, I don’t know +how + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 395]</span> + +many centuries ago, were still looking grimly out of ruined portholes, +and just below the portholes the waves were tumbling noisily, as if +anxious to climb up the rocks and complete the ruin of the place. +Near the old fort was a lighthouse, flashing its signals out to sea, +and directly in front of the lighthouse was the wreck of a steamship. +The tide was out, and we went on board for a few minutes. There is +probably nothing which so completely depicts ruin and desolation as a +wrecked ship, lying on its side, and stripped of everything of value by +vandals and the sea. We also climbed up to the lighthouse tower, and +the keeper showed us the mechanism. It was the first lighthouse I have +ever inspected at close quarters; usually they are located on rocks +hard to get to.... When we went back to town, neither English nor +German money would satisfy the trolley-boys, so I went into the shop +of a money-changer, and paid twelve cents for enough Indian rupees to +satisfy my creditors. The three trolley-boys who had taken us to the +old fort took us to the landing, at a breakneck speed. One of the three +rode all the time, and they relieved each other at the work of pushing. +When the grade was down hill, they all rode. Down one long hill we +must have traveled at the rate of thirty miles an hour. When we left +the trolley, we were seized upon by a boatman who had wandered from +the landing to get the first chance at ship passengers returning from +town.</p> + +<p>“Promise me, master,” he said; “me No. 67.” We promised, and +followed him to the landing. Other boatmen constantly joined our +procession, and we were soon in the center of a howling, fighting mob, +but we + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 396]</span> + +had promised No. 67, and were faithful to him. At first, he was one to +a hundred, but as we neared the landing, his three companions came to +his assistance, and we were finally able to go aboard No. 67. I sat +in the stern, and handled the tiller-ropes, and the ride out to the +ship was cool and enjoyable.... Arriving at the ship, we found it +surrounded with freight barges, and loading in furious progress. Eight +steam winches were at work, four forward and four aft, and hundreds of +screaming natives were swarming over the barges and down in the hold +where the freight was being stored. A man who lives in this part of the +world, and is familiar with it, says that when the natives are talking, +they are at work; when they are quiet, he stirs them up with a stick, +for he knows they are loafing. The loading on the forward deck was not +ten feet from my cabin, and the quartermaster assured me it would go +on all night. At 10: 30 there was a short rest, and the native workers +swarmed up from below, and over from the barges, to be fed. The crew +cook gave them pans of either rice or corn-meal mush, I could not tell +which, and the men sat around in groups, and ate it with their fingers. +The deck passengers, who have comfortable quarters over the hatchway +when we are at sea, scatter everywhere when the hatches are uncovered, +and loading is in progress.... I was much interested in a negro man +who had two wives. The women had little babies of about the same age, +and the husband seemed as fond of one wife as of the other. The husband +was a young man, perhaps twenty-five, and his wives were still younger. +The black babies were much better behaved than the white ones + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 397]</span> + +in the first-cabin. Since the arrival of the five white babies, the +“Burgermeister” has been turned into a nursery. Some mothers are +disposed to be apologetic when their children annoy others, but the +mothers on the “Burgermeister” look at the other passengers as though +they are a mean lot for not assisting in taking care of the babies. +When a baby cries in my presence, I somehow feel as though I made it +cry. I learned the various processes of caring for babies in bringing +up my own, but had I not learned the art long ago, I might learn it +all on board the “Burgermeister,” from intimate association with it. +All the babies are German, except one Portuguese.... I was more +interested in Mombasa than in Zanzibar. It is larger, and has better +public buildings of every kind. The general impression is that Mombasa +has a bright future, while Zanzibar seems to be as large as it can ever +hope to be.... The known history of Mombasa began a thousand years +ago, but many say this section was settled, and was the scene of fierce +wars, long before the Christian era. It has been Portuguese territory +and Arab territory, and they quarreled and fought over it constantly +until the British took possession, and told both contending factions +to behave themselves. If the old forts in Mombasa could talk, they +might tell tales of bloodshed and cruelty that would startle modern +mankind.... Mombasa is the port of entry for the vast territory of +Uganda, a name which calls up memories of Livingstone, Speke, Grant, +and Stanley. The railroad beginning here runs to Victoria Lake. It +was this railroad on which Roosevelt made his trip into the interior, +riding on the cowcatcher + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 398]</span> + +much of the way, and being in constant sight of big game. I have seen +no wild game except one pheasant, and a good many baboons, but it is +all around us, a few miles in the interior.... Imaginative writers +draw beautiful word-pictures of this country and its future, but the +facts are that it is a country beset with many pests and difficulties. +I have talked with men from many sections of it, but they do not tell +stories of wonderful prosperity. On the contrary, they tell stories +of hot weather, of natural difficulties to be overcome, and of hard +pioneering. Whoever lives here must not expect health; he must “go +home” as frequently as possible, to recuperate, as do our soldiers in +the Philippines. There are as many undeveloped “natural resources” in +the Philippine Islands as in Africa; the greatest difference is that +the African natives are better workers than the Filipinos, and not +so much attention is paid to their liberties as we are paying to the +liberties of the Filipinos.... This section is known locally as +“British East.” Some say British East Africa is a better country than +Cape Colony or Natal, or the Transvaal, or the Orange Free State, but +the general evidence is that it is not.... The “Burgermeister” has +a wonderful cargo in its hold. This morning I saw a lot of ivory come +on board, and asked an official what else we carried to the markets +of the world. We have rubber, cloves, Colombo roots, ginelda wood for +tanning, chrome ore, a great lot of copper ore, gum copal, copra, +cocoanut fiber, carianda seeds, great quantities of bullock and goat +hides, ostrich feathers, wool, raw cotton, coffee, tobacco, cotton +seed, cotton-seed oil in barrels, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 399]</span> + +etc. A great deal more freight was offered than the ship +could accommodate, and much was left in the barges after the +“Burgermeister’s” hold was full. This freight comes from the interior, +and was brought to the coast by rail, by river, and by bullock team; it +does not represent the product of a section, but of a continent.... +We were told on coming on board last night that an American and his +wife had been added to the passenger list during our absence. I looked +the man over, and at once offered to bet two to one that he was not +an American. He wore a green hat, with the brim turned down all the +way ’round. No American ever wore a green hat, or wore it with the +brim turned down in that fashion. Besides, he smokes a pipe all the +time, and carries a bag of tobacco attached to his belt; an English +custom.... We lost nearly all of our friends at Mombasa. Many +of the passengers are new, and we must start all over in becoming +acquainted. Nine out of ten are Germans; there is an English line of +boats plying on the East Coast, and the English prefer their own ships. +Whoever travels out here will notice friction between the English and +Germans.... In spite of every cabin on the ship being full, and in +spite of the long delays in loading freight, the chief steward feeds us +well; it is not too much to say that the food is as good as may be had +on the best ships of the fine Atlantic fleet. While in port, we have so +many visitors that we are crowded, but at sea, we settle down, and do +very well.... There are several cases of the plague at Mombasa, but +not much attention is paid to them. The plague is always a pest here, +and occasionally it gets + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 400]</span> + +a big start; not long ago, Zanzibar was a closed port for six months, +and visitors were compelled to remain there until the quarantine was +raised. The Zanzibar hotel is a very bad one, and a good many of the +visitors hired houses and cooks, and lived very comfortably.... +Nearly all the natives of Mombasa are Mohammedans, and when we passed +through the town just after darkness set in, it seems to me I saw +thousands of men praying in the mosques. I have never seen a Mohammedan +woman praying; with people of that faith, it seems to be the men who +are religious. Among Protestants, you will find ten religious women +to one religious man.... The old fort at Mombasa was once besieged +thirty-three months, and when the garrison finally surrendered the +victors found only eleven men and three women to butcher.... The +Uganda State Railway begins at Mombasa, and runs to Lake Victoria, +source of the river Nile. On the way is Niarobi, probably the most +promising town in British East Africa. It was to Niarobi Sammy Marks +was going, to open a new theatre. Nearly all the way to the lake, +big game is constantly in sight from the railway carriages. Lake +Victoria is the second largest in the world, only Lake Superior being +larger. A trip of five days is provided on Victoria Lake, in large and +comfortable ships, which are occasionally out of sight of land. It is +in this section where ten thousand natives died within a year from the +terrible sleeping sickness, which is so fatal that the government is +now forcing the blacks to leave the infected district.... On the +railroad to Victoria Lake is Tsavo station, where a pair of man-eating +lions devoured thirty-three natives + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 401]</span> + +during the construction work. Colonel Patterson wrote a book about “The +Man Eaters of Tsavo,” and its fame is worldwide. The terror of the +native workmen on the railway finally became so great that work was +suspended for a time. Then one of the engineers fixed up an iron cage, +and spent five nights in it. The second night he shot one of the lions, +another the third night, and the last one the fifth night. A good many +hunters in Africa laugh at the Tsavo story as greatly exaggerated; +indeed, I have heard it openly stated here that the Lion Lie is one +of the greatest jokes in Africa. Every hunter, the African people +say, takes home a fierce lion lie, and the world has come to believe +thousands of big stories about these animals that are ridiculous.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, APRIL 16.—At noon today we +left Mombasa for Aden; no more stops for five or six days. Loading at +Mombasa continued without interruption for eighteen hours, and when +the colored laborers went away on barges, they cheered because of the +completion of their long task.... Outside the harbor, we encountered +the first motion of the voyage, and several of the passengers went +to bed. The motion was not great, but it was the first we have had. +We had been wondering what the “Burgermeister” would do in case of +heavy weather, and found her specialty is a pitch. The pitch is far +more agreeable than the roll.... We had been told by the captain to +expect the hottest weather of the voyage between + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 402]</span> + +Mombasa and Aden, but found the weather cooler at Mombasa than at +any other stopping-place, and at sea there were actually spots on +deck that were too cool.... At Mombasa we took on an entirely new +lot of deck passengers, and lost a number who greatly interested me. +One was a negro boy of fourteen, whom a woman passenger was taking +to Nairobi as a servant. She met him on the streets of Mozambique, +and, being attracted by his fair promises, took him on board. The boy +claimed to be able to speak five languages in addition to “Kitchen +Kaffir.” This is a language which all Kaffirs understand, and it is +the native language usually learned by whites. I have a notion that +a half-savage boy of fourteen speaking five languages, speaks some +of them very imperfectly.... The captain, or some one for him, +has suppressed the six babies on board. Nearly all of them have male +nurses, and these negro men, who are traveling on deck-passage tickets, +almost monopolized the first-cabin deck. They had cribs and fences +in which they confined their charges, and getting about was almost +impossible. There was so much grumbling that the babies and nurses +have been sent to the deck below, and we see no more of them, although +we can hear them. The halls of the baby deck are encumbered with all +sorts of nursing-bottles and other apparatus of that nature, and we +are compelled to wade through it when we go to our rooms.... The +lower class of Hindus are the filthiest people in the world, judging +from what I see of them on the lower deck, where a good many of them +are located as passengers. I cannot avoid seeing all their domestic +arrangements, and + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 403]</span> + +their indifference to dirt is amazing. I notice that a good many of the +negroes in Africa have adopted the Hindu religion, having learned it +from the Indians, who come to the East Coast in great swarms. Religion +naturally appeals to the negro, and he adopts any form of it which +attracts his fancy. But the great bulk of the negroes on the East +Coast are Mohammedans, having learned that doctrine from the Arabs who +sold them into slavery. You would think the negroes would detest the +Mohammedan religion and the Arabs, but they do not. Many of the natives +who are unmistakably Africans, claim to be Arabs, and this evening I +saw six Mohammedan negroes saying their prayers at the same time. They +observed me watching them, and took particular pains to “show off.” +One of them had a string of beads of the kind used by the Catholics, +and I am certain that he had picked up this addition to his Mohammedan +religion from the Catholics. All religions become badly mixed by their +different forms appealing to other sects.... The orchestra played +a concert on deck this evening, for the first time in several days; +we have been so busy loading cargo that there was no time to think of +music.... I find that we took on an American passenger at Mombasa; +A. B. Hepburn, of the Chase National Bank, of New York, and Comptroller +of Currency under President Harrison. He has been hunting in the +Niarobi section, and told me he was the only one in his outfit who did +not get the fever.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 404]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, APRIL 17.—We crossed the +equator at noon today, and are once more in our proper hemisphere. +There were no exercises; usually the sailors engage in foolishness, +and scare those who have not crossed before, by threatening to duck +them in the swimming-tank. There is not a great deal of foolishness +on German ships; on the English ships, so much is made of sports that +many passengers seriously object. I selected a German ship instead of +an English because I was thoroughly disgusted with the Sports Committee +on the “Anchises.” Every hour of the day, almost, on the “Anchises,” +a boy went about beating a gong, to announce another meeting of the +Sports Committee, which arranged for potato races, sack races, and +other silly performances. Nothing of that kind on the “Burgermeister;” +the passengers are genteel and quiet, and let each other alone.... +The English universally speak of the tomato as “tomahto.” If that +pronunciation is correct, why do they speak of the potato as “potayto?” +If “tomahto” is a correct pronunciation, “potahto” is also better than +“potayto.” ... I notice that nearly everyone speaks a little English. +We have on board Germans, Russians, Portuguese, Chinese, Belgians, +French, Arabs, Hindus, and Kaffirs, and all of them speak English, more +or less. English will soon become the universal language; there is no +need of Esperanto, a language I have never heard of anyone speaking. +A band of reformers are urging that all races learn Esperanto, in +order that all men may have a common language, but Esperanto is not +making much progress.... Owing to the crowd in the dining-room, my +bath-room steward + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 405]</span> + +assists in waiting at my table. He is a very capable and agreeable +man; every morning when I go to the bath-room, he says: “Good morning, +please.” ... I believe that every woman on board, with one notable +exception from Kansas, smokes cigarettes. Young women walk about the +decks alone, smoking, and it always seems to me to be foolish. The fact +that Adelaide does not smoke, causes a good deal of favorable comment +among the men. “I may be old-fashioned,” I have heard many men say, +“but I don’t like to see women smoke.” ... We have heard no American +news for weeks, except that J. Pierpont Morgan’s body has arrived in +New York. I see this announcement in every newspaper I pick up; when a +cablegram is received here, the newspapers warm it over for days.... +In the cablegram announcing Morgan’s death, the impression was given +that he had a bad stomach, and starved to death. The passengers talk +a good deal about this very rich man starving to death.... An +Englishman whom I know very well, and who talks Kaffir, takes a good +deal of interest in the negro passenger who has two wives. Today we +went down to the lower deck, and discussed matrimony with the man. +Asked if the system of plural marriages pleased him, he replied that if +he had it to do over, he wouldn’t marry at all. It seems that all the +Kaffirs who are deck passengers try to flirt with the man’s two wives, +and he is very uncomfortable. He says he showed his respect for women +in a practical way, by marrying two of them; that he pays their fare on +the present journey, but that a lot of young fellows expect his wives +to neglect him in order that + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 406]</span> + +they may amuse them. There is a good deal of the same thing in the +first-cabin, and several wives make their husbands very uncomfortable +by flirting with the young men.... The barber on this ship charges +only twelve cents for a shave; the price on all other ships I know +anything about is double that amount.... The Germans and English +have talked of fighting so long that I almost hope they will finally be +punished by getting at it. War is so unnecessary, atrocious and wicked +that every nation that even talks about it should be punished.... +This morning we passed an Arab dhow. It was not more than sixty feet +long, yet vessels of this type have been sailing these seas for +centuries. They have but one sail, and a crew of only four or five men, +but they are often entrusted with valuable cargoes. They are stoutly +but crudely built, and the one deck is covered with straw thatch. The +captain of an Arab dhow has no scientific knowledge of navigation, +and no instruments to take the sun, yet he knows the currents and the +stars, and makes as good time as modern sailing-ships. Captain Ulrich +looked at the dhow through his glass this morning, and said the captain +was taking every advantage of wind and current, and that the most able +navigator could not do better. Ships of exactly this type were used +thousands of years ago, and some I have seen along this coast looked +to be fully that old. An Arab dhow has no conveniences whatever, yet +they carry passengers as well as freight. Passengers and crew live +together under the single roof of thatch, and cook and live in the most +primitive manner. If the Arabs are not the dirtiest people in + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 407]</span> + +the world, only the lower order of Hindus can wrest that distinction +from them.... Many of the passengers who came on board at German +East Africa ports, are half sick, and say they have had enough of the +African climate. I hear no praise of rural Africa from those who have +lived there; there are prosperous and healthy people around Capetown +and Durban, and in the Transvaal and Orange Free State, but the +interior of the country is grievously afflicted with dry weather and +serious physical pests.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, APRIL 18.—We have not been in +sight of land for several days, but the sea remains calm, and the +weather cool; nothing going on except the band concert at 10:30 A. M., +and the orchestra concert at 9 P. M. After the last-named event, we +walk around awhile, and then go to bed.... There are two amateurs +on board who are returning from a hunting trip, and on the aft deck +they have a number of trophies. A majority of the male passengers live +in Africa, and have hunted a great deal, so the two amateurs do not +attract much attention. Leopards are the great pest of the country, as +they are very numerous. One man told me this morning that only a few +weeks ago, a leopard killed a negro boy in his hunting camp. No hunting +story is more than half true, so I do not pay much attention to them. +A hunter offered me a pair of buffalo horns today, but I refused the +offer; they were not worth the trouble of carrying them home.... +Captain Ulrich, of the “Burgermeister,” does + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 408]</span> + +not sit at the head of the centre table in the dining-room, but +occupies a side seat at a side table.... Men object to wearing +evening clothes because of the stiff shirt. Soft shirts with pleated +fronts are generally worn with dress suits on the “Burgermeister,” and +they are said to be the latest in London. A coat and vest of white +duck, the coat as short as a waiter’s jacket, are also substituted +for the black coat and vest.... Every little while I meet a man +who says he prefers second-class to first class on a ship, because of +the lack of formality in the second-cabin. At Victoria Falls I became +acquainted with a man, and saw him again today on the second-cabin +deck. He says the informality there is so pronounced that some of the +Englishmen spend half the morning in the smoking-room wearing nothing +but pajamas. That, it seems to me, is carrying informality too far. +When a man travels in the second-cabin, he does it to save money, and +not because it is “more democratic.” I hate democracy when it amounts +to impoliteness and rudeness, as is frequently the case.... There is +a burly German officer on board in whom I am much interested, because +of the scars on his head and face. The scars were evidently received in +a student duel at the university, and I should like to see the bully +boy who decorated him so artistically.... I hear it stated every +hour of the day that Africa is a country of “great promise.” It seems +to me that Africa has been “promising” long enough, and should cease +being a game country. The United States turned the buffalo ranges into +farms; Africa would also get rid of its game if there were any demand +for its land from agriculturists.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 409]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, APRIL 19.—Today we are off +Samoliland, the most worthless part of Africa. It is controlled by +the Italians, and is about as savage as it ever was. There is one +seaport in Samoliland, but steamers rarely touch there, as it has no +business.... The weather, which we expected to be very hot in this +part of the world, remains cool. You often miss it when you expect +misfortune.... There is a young Canadian on board named Goult. It +was at first reported that he was an American, and he does look like +one, as all Canadians do. He and his wife have been on a hunting trip +into the interior of Africa. They had an outfit consisting of one +hundred and fifty native men, who packed their supplies and tents. The +natives carried their own food, which consisted of several thousand +pounds of corn-meal; in addition to this, they had meat when game was +killed. The hunt lasted nearly four months, and very few of the men +deserted. When a native porter deserts, he loses all pay coming to +him; besides, he is liable to arrest and imprisonment. Mr. Goult had a +professional guide and hunter with him, who organized and managed his +outfit. They killed four lions, but no elephants, although other game +was fairly plentiful. Mr. Goult says game animals in this section are +infested with a tick which renders them disgusting at times. Mrs. Goult +told me this evening that she suffered no hardship; that roughing it in +Canada is very much rougher.... The band on the “Burgermeister” is +a very good one; much better than is usually found on ships, and the +leader has excellent taste in choosing his selections. And this man is +a waiter in the dining-room, and young and good-looking. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 410]</span> + + ... The “Burgermeister” is a slow ship, and makes about fifteen +miles an hour: only half as much as some of the big liners on the +Atlantic. The Atlantic is the dandy of oceans: no other has equally +fine ships. But on the fast ships of the Atlantic there is a vibration +from the engines that is disagreeable. The slow ships are much more +comfortable than the fast ones. And the Atlantic is also the bully of +oceans; a voyage without rough weather is rare. If the Atlantic were as +smooth as the Indian ocean from Beira to Aden, people would hear less +of seasickness.... The captain is taking home with him a baby deer +that certainly does not weigh a pound and a half. It is not as big as +a rabbit, as it belongs to a family of deer noted for diminutive size. +The captain amused the passengers this evening by feeding his baby +with a bottle. First the captain smelt of the bottle, to see that the +milk was not sour. The baby has been ill, and the ship doctor has been +attending to it.... By-the-way, the doctor has been behaving very +well since his sweetheart left the boat at Tanga. The women expected +him to be gay, but he has been very quiet and thoughtful, and the men +are proud of him.... There is nothing lazier or duller than a voyage +in quiet seas. At one time this afternoon, every passenger on my side +of the deck was asleep.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, APRIL 20.—We were awakened this +morning by the ship’s band playing hymns in the halls. Soon after I +went on deck, land appeared, the first + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 411]</span> + +we have seen in four days, and we remained in sight of it all day. +Between us and land a ship was steaming southward, and a school of +porpoises also appeared, disturbing the sea for miles. They were as +lazy as the natives, and jumped in a leisurely, slow way that amused +us. About noon, Cape Guardafui appeared. Guardafui is the most eastern +extremity of the African continent, and when we rounded it about noon, +we were in the Arabian sea, and the ship’s prow was pointing toward +home: due west. The rocky point around which we turned to enter the +Arabian Sea, bears a striking resemblance to a huge crouching lion, +when viewed from a distance. We passed quite near the shore, but saw +no signs of life: nothing but a desolate waste of sand and rock.... +After rounding Guardafui, we were in the Gulf of Aden, which looks +small on the map, but we shall steam on its surface thirty hours, out +of sight of land, before reaching Aden and the entrance to the Red +Sea. We are now in that section referred to by Kipling as “East of +Suez:” land of poor crops, poverty and misery. A few days’ sail to the +east from Guardafui, and the traveler reaches India, where ignorance +is worshipped as mystery, and where men of the tenth or hundredth +generation know no more than did their fathers.... Africa is larger +than North America; it is almost as large as the American continent, +and is controlled by such enlightened natives as England, Germany, +France, Italy, Belgium and Portugal, yet from one end of the country to +the other there is no such thing as a public school for the natives. +Indeed, I have heard many Englishmen openly declare that education is +the ruination of + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 412]</span> + +the native. I don’t dispute the statement; I only call attention to +two different ideas of the importance of education. In the Philippine +Islands, in Guam, in Porto Rico, in Honolulu, in Cuba, we are insisting +upon education as the solution of the native problem; over here, the +powers insist that education only makes the native problem worse. +At home, we are called upon to contribute money with which to send +missionaries to the heathen. Over here, where the heathen lives, the +whites almost universally say that the missionary causes useless +trouble. I am not trying to settle the question, or argue it: I am +merely calling attention to a queer phase of it.... A gentleman told +me today that in Portuguese East Africa, where he lives, there is a +Catholic mission in charge of French priests. In the chapel, there are +huge oil paintings showing pictures of hell. The devil is represented +as a negro. In one picture, a native is dying, and hundreds of fiends +surround his bed, waiting until life is extinct, that they may torture +him. There is education of this sort in Africa, but no school-house +for the natives.... Religious services were held in the dining-room +at five o’clock this afternoon, conducted by a German. The full band +was used instead of an organ; the preacher would line a hymn, and then +those present would sing it, accompanied by the band.... The ship’s +library contains books printed in German, English, French, Portuguese, +and Dutch, which will give you an idea of the different nationalities +patronizing this line.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 413]</span></p> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, APRIL 21.—At 9 o’clock this +evening we came to Aden, in Arabia, said to be the hottest town in +the world. Every drop of water used there is condensed from the sea, +although there is a white population of two thousand, including +English soldiers, and an Arab population of forty thousand. There is a +tradition that rain fell at Aden three years ago, and that every roof +in town leaked, but previous to that time no rain had fallen in the +town or its vicinity for many years; many of its elderly citizens had +never seen a rain-storm, and looked with wonder upon the one which fell +three years ago. Aden is located on a rock seventeen hundred feet high, +and this rock may be seen far out at sea. The town is an important +coaling station, and the English have tremendous fortifications—almost +equal to Gibraltar—in the rocks. The harbor is a large one, and almost +land-locked, and we thought the place a very pretty one, by moonlight. +Although Aden has such a bad reputation for hot weather, the evening +was delightfully cool. We were not permitted to land, owing to the +plague, but our ship was promptly surrounded by Arabs in boats, who +bartered with the passengers until after midnight. The Arabs had +ostrich feathers, cigarettes, post-cards, and dozens of other articles +to sell, and these they sent up the ship’s side in baskets, for the +inspection of the passengers. If the passengers were interested in +the goods offered, they asked the price, said it was too much, and +offered half; then the dealer became excited, and screamed back that +he wouldn’t take it, although he often did. There were dozens of these +boats, and the uproar was so incessant that sleep was impossible. The +ostrich feathers + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 414]</span> + +offered were poor, and those who bought, even at greatly reduced +prices, were probably worsted.... The old town of Aden dates back to +the days of Tyre and Sidon, and was a celebrated commercial centre long +before our Christian era; for many centuries it has been a fortified +town because of its strategetical position. From the eleventh to +the thirteenth centuries it did an enormous trade with China, India +and Egypt, and its market was the clearing-house of that day for +the treasures of the East. For tens of centuries, Aden has been the +cockpit of fierce fights for ascendency amongst the Arabs, Abyssinians, +Persians, Turks, and Egyptians.... A gentleman who lives at Aden +says he pays $20 a month for water, which is delivered at his door in +tank-wagons drawn by camels. Some of the numerous shops in Aden sell +nothing but condensed and bottled water, and the price in quantity +is usually a dollar per hundred gallons.... Many years ago, great +tanks were built at Aden, to catch the precious rainfall, but these +have not been in use for many years, although tourists usually visit +them.... Aden is a great camel market, and much of the famous Mocha +coffee is shipped from this point. There is just one industry in the +town: the manufacture of cigarettes, which is in the hands of Greeks, +and who bring their tobacco duty-free from Turkey and Egypt. The walls +of the houses are built of a cheap concrete, and plastered.... +A third-class passenger on the “Burgermeister” is a little German +girl, five years old, traveling alone. She was brought on board at +Dar-es-Salaam, to be taken back to Germany. Her mother died three days +before, and her father was + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 415]</span> + +somewhere in the interior, trying to make a fortune. The little girl’s +mother arrived in Dar-es-Salaam only a week before her death. Now the +child is very ill, and it is not believed she will live to reach her +friends in Germany. The women passengers are doing all they can for the +child, but she cries almost constantly for her mother, and not much can +be done for her.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, APRIL 22.—This morning at 11 +o’clock we entered the Red Sea, through the Straits of Bab el Mandeb. +The straits are about ten miles wide, and are made narrower at the +entrance to the Red Sea by Perim Island, which the English have +fortified. On our right, Asia; on the left, Africa,—two continents in +sight. The Red Sea is a great highway for ships since the completion +of the Suez Canal; ships for India, China, Japan, Ceylon, Australia +and Africa now pass this way. From 7 o’clock this morning until 3 P.M. +we passed fourteen ships: six were in sight at one time. Most of them +passed us so closely that we could read their names.... All over the +world, you hear how terribly hot and disagreeable a passage through +the Red Sea is. I have been through it twice, and both voyages were +cool and pleasant. Ask anyone who has been through the Red Sea, and he +will tell you he had a pleasant voyage, but those who have not made the +trip, say it is dreadful. If you have a head-wind, they say, the voyage +is endurable, but if you have a following wind,—well, passengers can’t +stand it, and beg the captain to run the other way for a time, and give +them + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 416]</span> + +some relief. We have a following wind today,—that is, the smoke from +our funnels is ahead of us,—but we find the weather more agreeable than +it was at Beira, or other points on the east coast of Africa.... +We are rarely out of sight of land, and this afternoon we passed the +Arabian town of Mokka. We spell it Mocha, and famous coffee comes +from its vicinity. Mocha coffee is like the Blue Point oyster; it is +very rare, and there are many imitations. The town of Mocha has no +harbor, and ships rarely call there, so the little coffee it produces +is sent to Aden. Further up the coast is the town of Jiddah. It is +from this place that pilgrims start for Mecca, sacred city of the +Mohammedans. Only one white man has ever visited Mecca, as white +people are not allowed in the place. This man, an English officer +named Burton, disguised himself as an Arab physician. He spent several +years in familiarizing himself with the Mohammedan religion and the +Arab language. After his preparations were complete, he shipped as a +deck passenger at Suez and successfully deceived the dozens of real +Arabs and Mohammedans with whom he was intimately associated. The +pilgrims to Mecca from Jiddah are cruelly robbed by the Arabs through +whose country they must pass, and the party Burton traveled with had +one pitched battle with the thieves. Burton wrote a book telling of +his experiences, and I know of nothing more interesting in the way of +adventure. A railroad is now being built to Mecca, if it has not been +actually completed, and Jiddah will lose much of its former importance. +War and slavery are common in most of the Arab towns along the Red Sea, +and it is dangerous for ships to + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 417]</span> + +send parties ashore, unless heavily armed. During the hot, dry season, +many of these towns are entirely deserted; the inhabitants go into the +mountains, and remain there until the weather becomes endurable. The +Red Sea has a shore-line of more than three thousand miles, yet the +country surrounding it is so worthless that there is almost no town of +importance on its shores, and no river runs into it. There is no rain +in the vicinity of the Red Sea, and it loses eight feet every year +from evaporation, which must be made up from other seas where there is +more rain and less heat.... You hear a great deal of the “Mysticism +of the East.” This mysticism is as foolish as the doggerel used by +children when they count the buttons on your coat: “Rich man, poor man, +beggar man, thief; doctor lawyer, merchant chief,” etc. Mysticism never +means anything. The West solves riddles, and discovers how to produce +a hundred bushels of corn per acre: the East pays great attention to +Mysticism, and has more poor, dirty and ignorant people than any other +part of the world. When the plague breaks out in the East, as a result +of foolish pilgrimages to Mecca or Benares, the pilgrims say the plague +is a part of the Mysticism of the East, and continue to drink holy +and dirty water. But the men of the West have a better doctrine: its +chief tenet is, “Clean Up,” and the plague disappears before it.... +All our deck passengers left us at Aden. Men who spend half their +time saying their prayers do not flourish in the great world west of +Suez.... The passengers spend a good deal of their time in reading. +I often hear them talking of the books they are reading. “How do you +like it?” one will ask. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 418]</span> + +“Oh,” the other will reply, “it serves to kill time, but is rather +foolish.” What queer things you find in books! And how much alike many +of the famous ones are. “Adam Bede,” “The Manxman,” and “The Scarlet +Letter,” were all written around an “idea” that is unnatural, unclean +and absurd.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, APRIL 23.—We are in a wider +part of the Red Sea today, and are not meeting so many ships; the +few we have seen have been far away. Yesterday we were in a part of +the sea almost as narrow as a river, and we could not avoid meeting +all passing vessels. At one time last night so many brilliantly +lighted ships were in sight that we were reminded of a night parade +of electrical features at a celebration.... We have had a strong +head-wind all day which travelers pray for in the Red Sea, and toward +evening the “Burgermeister” acquired considerable motion.... The +English passengers on board organized a Sports Committee this morning, +and are now busily engaged in arranging for such elevating sports as +“In a Pig’s Eye,” “Are You There?” potato-races for women, etc. The +traveling Englishman has lately gone crazy about ship sports; he is +like a Methodist who believes in sanctification by baptism: he will +talk of nothing else, and insists on arguing the question with you. In +England, only cheap people at country fairs engage in such sports, but +on English ships, dukes and princes are expected to take part, for the +honor of Old England. The German passengers are not enlisting for the +sports, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 419]</span> + +but the English urge them to take part to the point of +annoyance.... I have heard none of the passengers mention the fact +that the water in the Red Sea is not red; the fact that the water in +the Red Sea is blue, now seems to be generally known.... A passenger +in the third-class is very ill, and the ship doctor, and a German +military doctor who volunteered his services, decided that the man has +malaria of the head. Malaria is so common in the tropics that now they +have it in the head.... A peculiar thing about the “Burgermeister” +is that several of the gentlemen passengers wear white socks. Somewhere +on this trip I met a man who was irritable because his white socks +attracted attention. He should be on the “Burgermeister,” where they +are quite common.... I heard a woman make a remarkable statement +last night. She said: “I have been traveling four months, and have +not seen a single married man attempt to flirt; all the flirting I +have seen has been done by married women with young men.” I submit the +statement as unusual, without comment.... The dance last night was +a failure; the orchestra played several numbers which did not attract +any dancers at all, and only five couples danced during the entire +evening. All the women dancers were married, and their husbands sat +around and frowned at the young fellows who were dancing with them. +There is nothing in the notion that husbands want their wives to be +very popular with other men.... During the concert this evening, the +tall negro man nurse who has whiskers, appeared with a bottle of milk, +and submitted it to the inspection of his employer. The woman smelt and + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 420]</span> + +then tasted the milk; it seemed satisfactory, for she gave it back to +the tall Kaffir, and he disappeared, probably to feed his charge.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, APRIL 24.—I awoke early this +morning because of a strange and unusual sensation. I feared I might +be catching the fever, or plague, but later discovered I was cold. A +chilly head-wind was blowing, and this in the Red Sea, which rumor says +is as hot as a furnace! The passengers went about wearing overcoats all +day. At 2:30 P.M. we passed out of the tropics.... For two days we +have been in that part of the Red Sea which is two hundred miles wide, +and have not seen many ships; but tonight we were in a narrow part, and +four ships were in sight at one time. All of them were small; there are +many ships in the east, but no very big ones. If one of the big ships +of the Atlantic should appear at Bombay or Colombo, people would travel +hundreds of miles to see it.... The general impression in America is +that an English lord is an effeminate little man who only knows enough +to carry an eyeglass in one eye. As a matter of fact, some of them seem +to be quite useful and manly. Lord Delamere is one of the conspicuous +figures in the development of British East Africa, and has done much +for that country. In addition, he is the world’s greatest lion-hunter. +Up to 1911, he had killed seventy lions, single-handed. Of the first +forty-nine he shot, not one escaped. No other lion-hunter has a record +half as good as Lord Delamere.</p> + +<br> +<div class="figcenter"> <img src="images/i-435.jpg" alt="Various Photographs." +width="600" height="367"> +</div> +<div class="caption center"> +Street-Car in East Africa    /     +Ricksha Boy, South Africa +<br> +Car to Kimberley Diamond Mines +<br> +Bullock Teams, Victoria Falls    /     +Transport Wagons, Rhodesia +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 421]</span></p> + +<p>Another useful man in Africa is Lord Carnworth, who is an extensive +farmer, as is Lord Delamere. Both these men engage in expensive +agricultural experiments for the general good. Lord Carnworth lately +wrote a book entitled, “A Colony in the Making.” It displays a +wonderful knowledge of British East Africa. Among other things, he +says the American hunters who come here are game hogs, and places Mr. +Roosevelt in that class. He also speaks jestingly of the dangers of +hunting in Africa. The terrible rhino, which in books is never content +unless he has a hunter impaled on his single terrible horn, is not +thought to be dangerous by hunters who live in this country.... In +his book, Lord Carnworth discusses the native labor question quite +frankly. He says what practically all the whites here say: that the +missionaries are doing no good—that their converts are worse than the +unconverted negroes. I quote his exact language:</p> + +<p>“Inevitably but unfortunately the mission-educated native does not +bear a good name, either among his fellow natives or among Europeans. +It is, alas, a very generally accepted fact that one should beware of +mission servants, who almost invariably lie, drink and steal.”</p> + +<p>Speaking of Roosevelt reminds me that in German East Africa I saw +his hunting book, translated into German, on sale at the bookstores. +Everyone knows of him, and around Mombasa all the natives say with +pride that they saw him. There are dozens of big-game hunters on this +boat; most of them know men who were with Roosevelt, and one of them +was in Roosevelt’s party for a time. They all say Roosevelt + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 422]</span> + +was very popular in Africa, but that Kermit, his son, was cordially +despised. Roosevelt himself, they say, is a thorough sportsman, and +a man of undoubted courage. He is not considered a particularly good +shot, but they say he is the luckiest hunter who ever handled a gun. +Besides, everything was specially arranged for his hunt. Not only all +the white residents, but all the native chiefs, did what they could to +locate game for him; he did not have the trouble of the usual hunter. +It is further said over here that Roosevelt was a great talker, and +that he would quit hunting any time to tell about his well-known +theories for bettering humanity.... It is also agreed that hunters +are very unpopular among the actual residents of Africa; not that the +residents object to the game being killed, but every hunter requires a +large number of natives for his outfit, and these are drawn mainly from +the farms, where labor is scarce, and badly needed. There are millions +of native men able to work, but most of them won’t work. In the native +settlements, the hard labor is mainly performed by the women, children, +and old men; the stalwart fellows who would do the work in a civilized +community, strut about covered with grease, looking for fights with +other tribes. The whites say these idlers should be made to work; that +it is better that they work for a shilling a day than spend their time +in idleness and mischief, and I would not be surprised to hear that the +British have adopted a Vagrancy Act to reach the loafers.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 423]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, APRIL 25.—One of the passengers +plays the piano a good deal, and plays it well, and I have just learned +that he is a noted lion-hunter. That is the funniest combination I have +ever heard of; a piano-player who is a lion-hunter.... There is on +board a captain in the British army, and a captain in the German army. +You would think they would affiliate, but they do not; on the contrary, +they glare at each other. The German captain wears his uniform a good +deal, and as the British captain does not, I am satisfied that he +thinks the German is lacking in taste.... Among the passengers are +two elderly men married to young wives; Germans who occupy official +positions of some kind in German East Africa. They are the most loving +couples on board; the old husbands always have their arms about their +wives when on deck. If there is any one thing particularly fitted for +privacy, it is love. I think the old gentlemen believe that the other +passengers talk about them—and they do—and want to show them that their +young wives are satisfied.... We have been having Sports today, the +English gentlemen having had their way.... Every little while two +men dash by with their legs tied together. They are practicing for +the three-legged race, and have already run over two babies and one +negro boy nurse. In the Ladies’ Potato Race, two women fell headlong, +and the exhibition of dry goods was as indelicate as that seen in a +dry-goods window to show new spring underwear. There is something +wrong with every woman’s figure, and a potato-race brings out the +irregularities.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 424]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, APRIL 26.—We reached Suez at +1:30 this afternoon, after a chilly ride through the narrow end of the +Red Sea, which is known as the Gulf of Suez. All morning, land was in +sight on both sides, and lighthouses on lonely islands were frequent. +At 3 o’clock this morning we passed Mount Sinai. I have asked about +half the passengers what happened on Mount Sinai to make it famous, +and they don’t know.... Three hours before reaching Suez we saw +a steamship that had gone ashore during the night. Another vessel +was assisting it, and we did not stop.... We had a long wait at +Suez before being admitted to the canal. The port doctor, a woman, +amused us by coming on board, and marshaling us in the music-room for +inspection. As our names were called, we walked past the doctor, and +she looked at us in a manner intended to be searching. I was called +out as “Herr Howe,” while Adelaide answered to “Fraulein Howe.” ... +We had a scheme to go to Cairo by special train from Suez, and rejoin +the ship at Port Said, but the authorities would not let us land, owing +to our taking on a dozen or more Arab firemen at Aden, where there +is plague. But dozens of Egyptians surrounded the ship, in little +boats, and offered us all sorts of articles, which they sent up for +our inspection in baskets. One ship went into the canal ahead of us, +having been waiting longer, and a dozen or more boats came out carrying +mud from the canal dredgers. Finally a launch appeared, bringing the +long-expected pilot, and at 5:30 P.M. we steamed slowly into the canal, +passing within a few hundred feet of the main streets of Suez. In an +hour, we passed two freight + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 425]</span> + +steamers, and they gave us right of way, as ours is a mail-boat.... +The Suez Canal, as everyone knows, runs through the Egyptian desert, +and the desolation on the Arabian side interested me greatly. The canal +requires so many workmen that it is fringed with residences of one sort +and another; some are boat-houses, some are huts, and some are sightly +stations. And every quarter of a mile there seems to be a dredge, +to keep the channel the required depth. Every foot of the canal, on +both sides, is being lined with stone, and for this work a great many +Egyptian laborers are required.... On the Egyptian side there is a +fresh-water canal, supplied from the Nile, and this is used to irrigate +a considerable stretch of country. With a glass, we could see a good +many typical Egyptian farm-houses, and Egyptian agricultural life in +various stages; but on the Arabian side, there was the lonely desert +you have seen in pictures and read about. At one place we saw a caravan +of camels in camp for the night: the drivers in one group, and the +camels in another. At another place we saw a jackal among the little +hills composed of dirt from the canal. The animal was gaunt and ugly, +and looked at the ship indifferently. There was a great deal to see, +but the sun was declining rapidly, and at 7:30, when we left the deck +and went down to dinner, we could see nothing fifty feet beyond the +lighted decks.... There was to be a dance after dinner, beginning at +9 o’clock, but the night was cold, and before that hour the travelers +from Kansas went to bed; just as the ship entered one of the lakes +which form thirty miles of the canal. In this lake we steamed at full +speed, whereas in the canal + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 426]</span> + +proper we had been running at five miles an hour. At Suez, we took on +a special lighting apparatus; not a headlight, but a searchlight. This +was attached to our prow, and lighted our way.... The engineer of +the “Burgermeister,” a fat German we all admire, sat on deck while we +were passing through the canal, reading a newspaper. I asked him how +often he had been through, and he guessed that he had made the trip +seventy times. His ship makes four trips a year around Africa.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, APRIL 27.—When I went on +deck at 5:30 this morning, the sun was just peeping out of the +Mediterranean, and Port Said was in sight. I was the only passenger on +deck, and although I expected Adelaide every moment, she did not appear +until we were tied up in Port Said, an hour and a half later; the Suez +Canal greatly excited me, although I had been through it before, but it +did not greatly excite Adelaide. Half a dozen Arab sailboats, loaded +with coal, passed in the canal; they had the peculiar sails seen on +boats on the Nile, and were so old that I wondered they did not fall +to pieces. On the larger boats were three men, and two on the smaller +ones. The masts were very tall, and in this flat country the sails +catch enough wind to push the boats along.... When Adelaide appeared +at 7:30, I proposed that we go ashore before breakfast. She agreed +to the proposition, and we were walking the streets of Port Said ten +minutes later, as the ship was tied up within a hundred feet of the +principal street.... Port Said is said to be a very + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 427]</span> + +high-priced and dishonest town, but the boatman charged only six +cents each to take us to land, and the price of a carriage is only +fifty cents an hour. We engaged a guide, because one followed us, and +began explaining things, and we could not get rid of him. Besides, he +said his price was only a shilling an hour. In no other town we have +visited have we found prices as low as in Port Said, which has a worse +reputation than any other town in the world. Port Said has regulations +for the protection of visitors, and enforces them. When you go ashore, +you do not pay the boatman, who may charge you any price he sees fit, +but you pay an official at the landing. Get rid of the notion printed +everywhere that Port Said is “tough.” In addition to being an orderly +place, it is very interesting. Sunday is not observed in the town, for +two reasons: 1. Ships arrive and send passengers ashore nearly every +hour of every day, and these want supplies on Sunday the same as on +other days; 2. The sixty thousand inhabitants are mainly Mohammedans, +and they have no Sunday.... There were several other ships in the +harbor, and the streets were crowded at 8 A.M. In front of one café, +an orchestra of fifteen men and women was playing, and playing well. +Most of the shops are devoted to tourist trade, but we visited an Arab +market instead of the curio stores. The older portion of Port Said is +as purely Egyptian as Cairo, and as dirty and oriental. The streets are +narrow, and the houses high, and the native shops are as interesting as +they are anywhere. Our guide was an Arab, and took us to his church: a +Mohammedan mosque, which we could not enter without + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 428]</span> + +putting coverings on our feet. Everywhere we heard exploding +fire-crackers; today is some sort of Mohammedan festival.... We +received a lot of mail from home; the first in more than four months. +After getting our mail, we lost interest in Port Said, and went back +to the ship to read our letters. We found these so interesting that at +10:30, when the “Burgermeister” left for Naples, we barely glanced at +the famous statue to Ferdinand de Lesseps which adorns the entrance to +the canal.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, APRIL 28.—We are approaching +the Blessed Country of Bad Weather again. This morning the sky is as +threatening as it is on the morning when you give a picnic, and when +you wish it would do one thing or the other. No country can amount to +much without bad weather: the trouble with Africa and Arizona is too +much fine weather.... The Mediterranean, which we all dreaded, was +as smooth last night as a millpond, and shows no disposition today +to change its pacific character.... The first thing you think of, +on boarding a ship, is that funny people travel. We meet a few nice, +normal, sane people, but most of them are freaks. On every ship we meet +the foolish son of a rich man, who is allowed to travel to keep him +away from home. The woman traveler is nearly always peculiar; she is +usually an old widow with money, and as ugly as she is cranky. There +is a professional traveler always met with who has no sense, and very +little politeness, but he has been + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 429]</span> + +everywhere. It is a mistake to imagine that only rich and agreeable +people are met in traveling. The best people remain at home; we have +met neither dukes nor princesses on the trip, and very few we remember +from one ship to another.... There is a kind of traveler who annoys +you by his looks. A man of this type came on board at Port Said. He +is a faded-out old rat with gold teeth, very thin and sandy hair, and +a waxed moustache. He is quite impatient because he has not created a +flutter on board, since it is plain to be seen that he has traveled a +great deal; he is not content to wait a few days, until news of his +exploits gets about easily and naturally.... Another man came on +board at Port Said who is accompanied by a wife and three daughters. +The ship is crowded, and this man, who is paying five fares, sleeps on +the floor! People are that foolish about traveling. People generally +are as crazy and disagreeable about traveling as the English are about +Sports.... The women have great respect for the bishop of their +church, but they have greater respect for a woman traveling with a +maid. Every woman believes she is entitled to a maid. There is a woman +on board who has one. The other women say she is the slouchiest dressed +person on the ship. You may say that is envy, but it isn’t: it’s the +truth.... When you buy anything, pay for it in cash. It is so easy +to sign a check, or have it charged. When the passengers buy wines, +they sign their names to a slip of paper, and settle once a week. One +of the amusing things on board is to see the men studying their bar +bills. Every passenger thinks he has been robbed, but his signature + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 430]</span> + +confronts him for every item, and he cannot get a fair start at +indignation.... The New York banker, Mr. Hepburn, mentioned +elsewhere as returning from a hunt, does not have much confidence in +the future of Africa. It has too many pests and too much dry weather, +he says. Besides, much of the country is volcanic, and the soil a thin +vegetable and leaf mold. Mr. Hepburn says that while hunting, one of +his guides was an Englishman who was once a member of parliament, with +an income of $60,000 a year. But he went the pace, and spent his money, +and is now a guide in Africa at $5 a day. Another guide in the Hepburn +party was a man named Cunningham, who was attached to the Roosevelt +expedition. Cunningham is a very noted man, and receives $400 a month +for his services. Although Mr. Hepburn is a New York banker, a former +comptroller of the currency, and noted big-game hunter, it is so dull +on board that he spends a good deal of his time teaching Adelaide card +tricks. He is an elderly man, and so modest and polite that we regard +him as a credit to his country.... A party of eight came on board +at Port Said, and I am glad they are not Americans. They are English +or Colonials, and have taken the ship. They are very superior in three +particulars: 1. They went to Port Said two weeks ago in the “Tabora,” a +larger and newer ship than the “Burgermeister;” 2. They were in Cairo +four days; 3. They have been in Palestine. They sit together in the +dining-room, and every other word they use is “Tabora,” a leviathan of +8,000 tons. These people are going to London, and this is their first +trip. There are three girls in the party, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 431]</span> + +all of them in love with one sweet young man, and they hold his hand +on deck. The other passengers look at them in astonishment, if not +disgust. Americans are said to be “loud.” I don’t believe they are half +as bad as they are reported to be. A German ship captain once said +to me: “The Americans are, as a rule, our best behaved passengers, +followed by the Germans. The worst behaved are the English.” ... In +the traveling I have done, I have seen few “loud” Americans, but I +have seen many “loud” English. And it is the English who criticise us +most.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<br> <div class="figcenter"> <img src="images/i-444.jpg" alt="Various Photographs." +width="600" height="370"> </div> + +<div class="caption center"> +A case of middle-age spread in Africa +    /     +Native Workmen, Kimberley Diamond Mine +<br> +Traveling by Machillas on the Zambesi +<br> +Native Village in German East Africa +    /     +Khami Ancient Ruins +</div> +<br> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, APRIL 29.—We have seen no +land since leaving Port Said, except that we passed the island of +Crete. Some say we passed it last evening, and some say we passed it +this morning: it has been pointed out to me twice, and both sights +of it were very hazy.... Ships are not seen as frequently in the +Mediterranean as in the Red Sea; we have seen but one steamship in +two days—a big P. & O. liner en route to India. On the Red Sea, a +half-dozen were frequently in sight at one time. The explanation is +that the Mediterranean is wide, and ships keep a considerable distance +from each other, whereas the Red Sea is often almost as narrow as a +river.... There are two women on board from Johannesburg, but they +did not know each other there; indeed, they had never heard of each +other before coming on board. Each says of the other: “I cannot imagine +who she can be.” ... When a German leaves the ship’s table, he bows +very politely + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 432]</span> + +to those passengers remaining. I believe this very pretty custom +is confined entirely to the Germans.... The barkeeper has been +humiliated, and relieved from duty; I don’t know what his offense +was, but I hear he is charged with becoming impatient while on duty. +The Germans say that when a man is employed to serve the public, +impatience is a gross offense, and I agree with them. For a day or +two, the barkeeper did nothing, and was the most contrite and penitent +human being I have ever seen, but this morning he appeared as a waiter +in the dining-room, and is trying hard to regain the favor of the +chief steward.... There are many foolish things for men to do, but +probably the most foolish is to buy champagne. Every day at dinner I +see dozens of men pay three or four dollars for a bottle of champagne, +simply to “act smart.” Boys are not the only ones who “act smart” in +company, and force their parents to whip them.... The passenger +who has his wife and three daughters with him attracts a great deal +of attention from the men. His women-folks have four pieces of fancy +work under way all the time; think of that man’s dry-goods bills! And +I cannot sleep at night from thinking what his laundry bill must be. +There is a laundry on board, operated by Chinese, who do excellent +work, but their prices are something to talk about. I sent out a little +dab of washing the other day, and the bill was $6. I pay for waists for +only one woman, whereas that other man must pay for waists for four. It +should be against the law for any man to take care of four women.... +The New York banker who is returning from a hunting + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 433]</span> + +trip in Africa, is a director in the Texas company, which is trying +to become as great a robber as the Standard Oil Co. He told me today +that a few months ago his company let a contract to an American firm +for an additional tank steamer, at $590,000. A foreign builder offered +to build exactly the same ship for $380,000. The Texas company was +compelled to pay forty per cent additional because of our policy of +protection. What becomes of that additional $210,000? Does it go to +American labor? ... Most of it, probably. When you pay high prices +for meat, the farmer is being benefited; when the Texas company pays +a high price for a ship, the workmen who fashion the ship, and mine +the steel that goes into it, are benefited. Taxes, however collected, +mean a burden to the consumer. When you pay twenty cents for an article +which formerly cost ten cents, three cents of the excess goes to the +workman, and seven cents of the excess is charged by the American +politician for cost of collection. It is the workers who pay taxes and +the tremendous cost of collection.... I have frequently spoken in +these notes of hearing the English everywhere compliment America. The +notion that foreigners sneer at us, is a mistaken one. In the London +<i>Telegraph</i>, a copy of which I picked up today, I read a page reference +to the death of J. Pierpont Morgan.</p> + +<p>“The field of the American financier,” the article said, “is a +country sixty times the area of England, the most richly endowed +territory in the world, inhabited by ninety millions of the most +energetic wealth-producers on the face of the globe.”</p> + +<p>In the same article I read that Mr. Morgan once + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 434]</span> + +called on the German Kaiser. Afterwards the Kaiser said he was +surprised to find Mr. Morgan “not well informed regarding the +philosophical development of nations.” I often think the philosopher +is an unimportant man; he looks into the future, and sees many things +that are not there. The philosopher is a recluse; a thinker. He hides +away from mankind, and writes books about subjects he does not know +much about. J. P. Morgan knew mankind intimately, and benefited it +because of his knowledge. He made bets that the people would do certain +things at certain times, and became rich because of the accuracy +of his knowledge; yet he is accused of knowing nothing about “the +philosophical development of nations”! He had a tremendous fund of +practical knowledge, and that beats all the philosophy in the world. +Morgan believed that in the human family, character was everything; +that character was the basis of all credit, and that the simple +doctrine of good conduct for its own sake, is the greatest religion in +the world. How superior Morgan’s simple religion was to the Hindu’s +philosophy! Morgan was an humble citizen, yet he accomplished more than +did Kaiser Wilhelm, a philosopher and a king. A nation fought Morgan +continuously and bitterly, yet he was undoubtedly a public benefactor. +Wilhelm had the love of a great nation, yet he undoubtedly talks too +much, and has been repeatedly humiliated for the habit. Wilhelm is +great in spite of his indiscretions, being a king; but J. P. Morgan was +great in spite of the fact that he lacked the friendship of his own +nation, and was compelled to do his good work in the face of bitter and +often malicious opposition.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 435]</span> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, APRIL 30.—When I went on deck +this morning, several of the passengers were ahead of me, gazing at +mountains off to the right: Italy. By 9 o’clock we were close to the +shore, and with a glass could see many villages still in ruins from the +earthquake of five years ago. The sides of the mountains were terraced, +and used as vineyards. In one place, in a canyon far up the mountain, +we saw a village which seemed to have been built around an old castle. +We were approaching the Strait of Messina, and ships were as numerous +as they were in the narrowest part of the Red Sea; at one time, seven +sailing-ships were in sight, and several steamers. Presently, on the +left, Sicily appeared, and we gazed at Sicily awhile, and then went +over to the other deck and looked at Italy, unable to decide which +was the more interesting. Both are very mountainous, and much alike. +Villages are thick, not only along the shore, but the sides of the +mountain are spotted with them, and in both Italy and Sicily we saw +many curious old castles and monasteries. On both sides, also, we saw +many ruins from the earthquake, although they seemed to be rather more +numerous in Sicily than in Italy.... Just before entering the Strait +at the narrowest part, where it is only two miles wide, we saw the town +of Messina, which was almost completely destroyed by the earthquake of +1908. Hundreds of the wrecked houses seem never to have been rebuilt, +and they present a scene of desolation, but around them many new houses +have been built. This is also true on the Italian coast. Many of these +new houses were sent from America, ready to set up. Messina had a +population of eighty thousand. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 436]</span> + +Its old citadel was not destroyed, and we saw a good many ships in its +harbor. Opposite Messina is the Italian town of Riggio, which is six +or seven hundred years older than the Christian era. On both sides of +the Strait we could see broad streams (perfectly dry as a result of a +recent drouth) coming from the mountains.... The captain said we +should be in the most interesting part of the Strait at 1 P.M., the +lunch hour, and ordered lunch postponed half an hour. His prediction +was exactly verified, and nothing could have driven the passengers from +the decks at 1 P.M., there was so much to see.... At 4 P.M. we came +to Stromboli, a volcanic island in the sea. Captain Ulrich said he +would pass on the south side of the mountain, that we might better see +the volcano; the distance was greater, but this change in the ship’s +course enabled us to get a very fine sight of Stromboli. From the +south side we saw the crater, and the smoke pouring out of it in great +volume. There is no lighthouse on Stromboli, as the volcano furnishes +a red glare by which mariners steer their course at night. You would +think people would keep away from a lonely island in the sea which +smokes all the time, and is liable to erupt, and destroy everything for +many miles around, but they don’t. We saw two villages on Stromboli: +one of them of good size. The larger one is located a considerable +distance from the crater, but the other is not a thousand feet from +the track of the lava as it descends to the sea. And these smoking +volcanoes not only bark; they bite. Only a few miles away is Messina, +where eighty thousand people were destroyed only five years ago. In the +other direction is Vesuvius, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 437]</span> + +which has taken a greedy toll of human life for many years; the last +time in 1906.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, MAY 1.—I have seen many +prettier sights than the far-famed Bay of Naples. Many people say a +look at the bay caused them to forget the frets and worries of life, +but I had no such feeling. We arrived early in the morning, when the +town was partly hidden in mists, but later I saw the bay in bright +sunshine, from several points of advantage, but it did not greatly +impress me. The Bay of Naples is so large that it is not a harbor, +therefore a breakwater has been constructed, and behind this our ship +anchored, in company with a good many others.... I have spoken +elsewhere of English becoming the universal language. This morning I +heard the Italian pilot telling the captain of the ship a piece of war +news. The pilot talked broken English. A Frenchman, a Portuguese, a +Belgian and a Hollander gathered to hear the war news, and they all +understood English.... After the usual medical inspection, which +always seems ineffective and useless in the first-cabin, the passengers +were allowed to land. We went to the Hotel Vesuve, where I had been +before, and were given two excellent rooms overlooking the bay. In +front of the hotel was a street, and then the sea, and from my window +I watched the fishermen at work; they were so close that I could have +hailed them, and asked what sort of fish they were taking out of the +nets. Directly in front of our windows was an old castle and fort, and + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 438]</span> + +soldiers were always passing in or out of the gate. The Hotel Vesuve is +the best of the dozens at which we have stopped, and the price is only +thirty-six francs per day; that is, we have two of the best rooms in +one of the best hotels in Italy, and the price is $3.60 per day each, +including meals. Living at the hotels in South Africa is pioneering +compared with living at the Hotel Vesuve in Naples. Living at hotels +is a joke at home, but living at the Hotel Vesuve in Naples makes a +man think of breaking up housekeeping.... Adelaide thinks Naples is +the most delightful town we have seen; and the list of towns we have +visited includes Pompeii, which was destroyed by an eruption from Mount +Vesuvius in the year 79. It was so completely covered up by ashes that +its site was forgotten, and it lay neglected for seventeen hundred +years. Then the work of digging it out began, and is still in progress, +and will continue for many years to come. Pompeii existed long before +Naples; it was an old city when Christ was born, and was a seaside +resort of the Romans. Probably everyone has read the story of Pompeii, +and I shall not print it again, except to express my astonishment +over the fact that much of the finest art work in the world today was +found in the ruins of Pompeii; the moderns have not been able to equal +it. Everything of interest found in the ruins may now be seen in the +museum at Naples. The people of Pompeii had excellent plumbing at the +time of the eruption; probably the ancients thousands of years earlier +knew much that we now call modern. In the museum at Naples may be seen +jewelry from Pompeii that would pass for an exhibit made in 1913; +patterns + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 439]</span> + +are the same, and the work equally good. The implements used today by +dentists and doctors may also be seen among the relics from Pompeii. +There is an ugly instrument known as the speculum, which may be seen +in drug stores and doctors’ offices; I have no doubt it was used too +much three thousand or more years ago, for I saw one in the museum at +Naples. It was found in the ruins of Pompeii, and it is exactly like +the instrument used too much today.... I will mention another thing +about Pompeii the general reader may not know. The Romans and Greeks +who occupied the town were a dissolute, pleasure-loving lot, and they +left many relics that are shown to men only. In the big museum at +Naples, there is one room probably forty feet long, and half as wide. +In it are preserved literally thousands of disreputable things found +in Pompeii. They include statuary and pictures in mosaics. I heard a +woman say lately that she despised Pompeii so much that she did not +enjoy her visit to the place; probably her husband had told her what he +saw in the Dirty Room, and she hated the people who formerly occupied +the deserted houses and streets. The people are certainly improving in +morals all the time; we are not as good as we should be now, but we are +better in every respect than the ancients were. I often wonder that the +ancients, who believed in so many gods, were not scared into better +conduct.... Pompeii is reached by railroad train from Naples. If +you take an express train, the twenty miles may be traveled in half an +hour. Electric cars also run there, but they make many stops, and are +much slower. When you are in Pompeii, you are near Vesuvius, the + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 440]</span> + +mountain which has destroyed so many lives. It is particularly peaceful +just now, and I saw no smoke issuing from the crater. Seven years ago +it went on a rampage, and destroyed several villages and six or seven +hundred lives. At that time the mountain lost three hundred feet of +its top, and is so insignificant-looking now that a good many visitors +to Naples do not make the journey to the summit, which is easily +accomplished by electric and cog railway. A mountain near Vesuvius is +now higher than Vesuvius itself, but the wicked old pile will grow, +and no doubt will erupt at some time in the future, and kill thousands +again. Stromboli, which we saw yesterday, is a much more impressive +sight at present than Vesuvius.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, MAY 2.—It has been said a good +many times that Italy has too many churches and royal palaces. Naples +has two royal palaces, although the king lives at Rome. One is in town, +and the other in the country, near the sea. We visited the king’s town +palace, as it is open to the public two days of the week. There are +eight hundred rooms in the place, and twelve hundred servants care for +it.... A room in a king’s palace is usually a huge affair, probably +100x50 feet, with an oval ceiling, and great chandeliers containing +candles specially manufactured for royalty. The furniture in each room +is of a different pattern; fancy chairs and divans made of gilt and +brocade. No palace seems to have been made as a place of residence for +a family, but for show, and intrigue, and murder, and dancing, + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 441]</span> + +and alarms, and riots. Most of the famous murders in history have +taken place in palaces. Not far from the king’s town palace in Naples +is an old palace now occupied by soldiers as a barracks. It is a +dirty place, but we were taken to the upper rooms where are preserved +relics of royalty nearly a thousand years old. These include a chapel, +decorated by artists of great fame. Then we were taken down a winding +stairway into a terrible place where dead bodies were displayed in +coffins. The dead bodies in the coffins were those of princes, and +cardinals, and all of them had died violent deaths. One cardinal had +an expression of agony on his face which will haunt me for months; he +had been smothered in the most inhuman way. The bodies we saw were +dressed in the magnificent clothing they wore when they were murdered. +This sight was seen in a noisome hole underground, and was so terrible +that Adelaide almost cried when she begged me to take her out. We had a +guide with us, and a warder from the castle, but neither of them could +tell us much about the place, except that it is a relic of Spanish +occupation in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.... In thinking of +the magnificence of palaces and castles, always remember the terrible +murders that have disgraced them. A king fills us common people with +awe, but he always has a brother, an uncle, a cousin, or some other +near relative who knows that he deserves death. I think I have longed +for nearly everything else, but I never longed to be a king, nor would +I care to live in a palace with twelve hundred servants, any one of +whom would poison me for two dollars and promise of a postoffice.... +On + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 442]</span> + +the way to the king’s town palace we passed through the old part of +Naples; a district of tall houses, all of them crowded with poor +people. The street was very narrow, and the sun was almost obscured by +clothes newly washed, and drying in the sunlight. The wash-lines ran +across the streets, and were so thick that I thought the sight the most +curious I had ever seen. The streets were so crowded with children that +we got through them with difficulty, and every little while some one +who had been to America, hailed us in bad English. The lower floor of +every house was nearly always occupied with a little shop, in which a +family also lived. In one of these places, a little child was lying +dead. The body was surrounded with candles, and five women sat in the +room. For some reason, the mother of the child wanted us to look at +it; she came out into the street, weeping, and made motions indicating +that she wanted us to go in, which we did. The guide said the woman’s +husband was in America, and that she felt a friendly interest in us +on that account.... The street was a steep one; so steep that we +went down it by means of broad steps. I have seen a street almost +exactly like it in Jerusalem. The cross-streets were narrower and +steeper than the main street we traveled, and I was almost disposed to +agree with Adelaide that Naples is the most interesting place we have +visited.... James Gordon Bennett, of the New York <i>Herald</i>, issues +an edition of his paper in Paris, and it is sold all over Europe by +street peddlers. Twenty times a minute we were offered a copy of the +<i>Herald</i>; the peddlers knew we were Americans, and were so insistent +that I always + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 443]</span> + +carried a copy of the paper in my pocket, to show them I had one. They +also sold the New York <i>Times</i>, and I carried a copy of that paper, +too.... Flowers grow in great profusion in Italy, and are sold by +street peddlers who are hanging onto your carriage half the time. I +bought fifteen very fine roses, on one occasion, for ten cents.... +The Italian lire and the French franc are of the same value, twenty +cents, and the franc circulates everywhere in Italy, as the lire +circulates everywhere in France. If you ask for Italian money in Italy, +you are as apt to get francs as lires.... Prices may have advanced +abroad, as at home, but I doubt if the advance has been as great. +Adelaide needed a pair of gloves, and the price at one of the best +shops in Naples was fifty cents a pair. The same gloves would cost +$1.50 at home.... You hear a great deal about tips abroad: how the +servants mob you at hotels, etc. The tip nuisance is worse in New York +than it is in Naples; besides, larger tips are exacted in New York. +Carriage-hire here is less than half what it is in New York, and when I +land in that American city I shall pay for rooms at the Waldorf-Astoria +more than I paid for rooms and meals at the Hotel Vesuve. And Naples +is one of the greatest resorts in Europe, and the Hotel Vesuve is one +of the best hotels in Naples.... We expressed a desire to see the +San Carlos theatre, one of the most famous in the world, and the guide +promptly took us there, and had it lighted up for our special benefit. +I was willing to give the theatre man forty cents, but our man said +twenty cents was enough, and that was what we paid. The cathedral in +Naples is also a famous + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 444]</span> + +place, built in imitation of St. Peters, in Rome. And it is a very good +imitation. The guide took us through this church, and never gave the +priest guides more than half a franc, or ten cents each. I suppose he +robbed us a good deal, but I never caught him at it. You are always +hearing that when you shop in Naples, the shopkeeper is compelled to +add something to the price for the guide. One day the guide left us +for a few minutes, in a famous arcade, and we found prices the same as +when the guide was along. English is spoken nearly everywhere in Naples +and throughout Italy, because so many of its citizens have been to the +United States.... The Italian girls are nearly all good-looking +when young, but after they are married and have children, most of them +become too fat. I have always thought it a good joke on a man to marry +a girl weighing a hundred pounds, and have her increase her weight +to two hundred, or two hundred and fifty. And the joke on the man is +particularly good if his daughters, on reaching fifteen or sixteen, are +also very fat.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, MAY 3.—I had intended sailing +from Naples on the North German-Lloyd ship “Princess Irene,” a +favorite, but when I reached Cook’s office I found the ship crowded. +I was offered the second officer’s room, if I paid $60 extra, but in +pursuance of my vow to avoid favorites in future, I concluded to travel +to New York on the French ship “Canada.” This ship is new, and has +not yet had time to become a favorite, so I secured very much better +accommodations + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 445]</span> + +at a lower price than was demanded for the German boat.... In +Cairo, Egypt, is a famous hotel known as Shepherd’s. There are at +least four hotels in Cairo better than Shepherd’s; there are half +a dozen just as good, and another half-dozen where you may secure +satisfactory accommodations. Avoid favorites of every kind, if you wish +fair treatment.... Wherever a traveler goes, he encounters free +advertising for the United States, but I saw a stars-and-stripes sight +in Naples this afternoon that greatly impressed me. The “Canada” and +“Princess Irene” were docked side by side, and as both were to sail at +6 P.M. for New York, both displayed the American flag. When I went to +the dock at 4 P.M., the decks of both ships were black with emigrants, +and they were still going up the gangways as thick as ants. When +Adelaide and I went aboard the “Canada,” the sailors were compelled to +clear a way for us to the first-class decks, where there were fifty +passengers, as compared with three or four hundred in the second-cabin, +and nearly two thousand in the steerage. Once on the upper decks of the +“Canada,” we could see a similar crowd of emigrants on the “Princess +Irene,” which lay alongside, and the emigrants kept coming until six +o’clock, when the big whistle blew, and the gang-plank was drawn in. +Three ships left Naples for New York today, and all of them were +crowded with emigrants. And this doesn’t happen occasionally; it is of +daily occurrence—not only here, but in many other ports. In every part +of the world the people know about the United States, and go there in +constantly increasing crowds, although South Africa, and Australia, and + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 446]</span> + +South America, and New Zealand, and Canada, and many other countries, +are offering inducements to immigrants.... We got away a little +after 6:30 o’clock, and found the sea kind again; this is our +twenty-fifth day at sea without discomfort. There was a shower of +rain just before we left Naples, which drove to cover the thousands +of weeping women who had come to the dock to see friends depart, but +outside the bay the sea was calm. Ten or fifteen poor children were +on the dock, begging the passengers for pennies, but the rain didn’t +bother them. There was one boy who could turn handsprings, but while he +was showing off his accomplishment, the other children got the pennies. +The moral is, attend to business, and don’t show off.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, MAY 4.—When we awoke this +morning, the “Canada” was lying in the harbor of Palermo, in Sicily, +where it spent the day in taking on more emigrants. As the ship was to +remain until evening, we went ashore at 8:30 for the day, accompanied +by an old gentleman of seventy-six, who acted as guide.... I have +neglected Palermo in my reading; I knew almost nothing about it. I +didn’t know it contained another palace belonging to the king of +Italy, and about four hundred thousand people.... A few men are +natural-born gentlemen. Our old guide was such a man. He lived in the +United States, as a young man, and we were much pleased with him.... +In Italian and Sicilian towns, nearly every family owns a milk goat. +These goats are sent to the country, to + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 447]</span> + +graze, and are brought in every night and morning to be milked. We +drove up-town in Palermo just as the milk goats were being collected by +the herd boys. The goats know where they belong, and often climb two or +three flights of stairs, to be milked. Milch cows are also driven into +town, and milked in the streets. The calves accompany their mothers, +and to insure that they will not get lost, are tied to their mother’s +tail. There is a certain brand of Italian cattle, and they have not +changed since the days of the Romans; every section of the Old World +has its particular kind of cattle. In South Africa we saw a good many +queer-looking cattle from Madagascar, imported after the rinderpest +had killed nearly everything in Africa. In Egypt we saw another kind. +India has another variety, and the Scotch and Irish also have varieties +of their own. In the United States we are constantly improving cattle, +and have no favorite except the best.... Although we visited Palermo +on Sunday, the public market was in full blast. One man was making a +tremendous outcry to attract attention to his beef. He said it was very +cheap; the price was thirty-two cents a pound. Beef is very high-priced +in Sicily, and so are fish, but poultry is quite cheap.... Palermo +has a wonderful cathedral, and the guide took us there, during a mass. +There was a large choir of men and boys, and an archbishop conducted +the service. The old guide was a devout Catholic, and frequently +crossed himself while in the cathedral, but he took us through the +worshipers, to look at the different wonders, and the worshipers didn’t +seem to mind it, or pay any attention to us. Occasionally we stopped, +afraid to go + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 448]</span> + +on, but the old guide motioned for us to come on, and we walked among +kneeling women to join our conductor. There were several chapels in +the place, all of which were shown us, but the big service finally +became so interesting that we spent a quarter of an hour in witnessing +it. We saw many very old priests in the enormous building, and our +guide seemed to know all of them; indeed, he seemed to know everybody +everywhere, and to be universally respected. There were certain +valuable relics and jewels belonging to the cathedral. In order to +see these the guide conducted us into apartments which seemed to be +private, and occupied by a considerable number of clericals. The guide +knew all these men, and they bowed to him respectfully.... Then he +took us to the private grounds of a count. The gatekeeper saluted our +old guide with great respect, and, as we strolled about the grounds, +the guide was at liberty to pick fruits and flowers for Adelaide. He +next took us to a very old church, where we saw a quaint lot of monks. +These queer men knew our guide, too, and he took snuff with one of them +who opened a door to what seemed to be subterranean vaults of some +kind. We walked down several long flights of steps, and entered a place +where thousands of dead bodies were displayed. Many of the bodies were +in coffins with glass tops or sides, but most of them were fastened +against the stone walls. The guide said the bodies were buried for a +year or two, and then taken up, and displayed in this queer way. There +was nothing offensive about the place, except as thousands of grinning +skulls are offensive. The guide did not know how many bodies were +displayed + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 449]</span> + +in the place, but I should say the number was far above ten thousand. +Some of the bodies were of infants, some of old men, some of young +girls, some of priests. I had never before seen anything like it, nor +did I know any such thing existed in Palermo or elsewhere.... Then +we went to the royal palace, built in 1132, and which is occupied once +or twice in a decade by the King of Italy and his family. We went +into the private rooms of the king and queen, and saw their beds, and +their baths; we saw the kitchen, and dining-room, as well as the state +apartments. And all the palace attendants were very respectful to our +old guide; he was permitted to roam about with us without restraint. +Once, when he wanted to show us a certain apartment, he took a key +out of a private drawer, and we walked a long way down one of the +battlements to a tower where the room was.... But the best thing we +saw during the day was the chapel of the old palace. It was a wonderful +piece of art work, the entire interior being covered with valuable +paintings and more valuable mosaic work. This chapel was in the class +of the wonders to be seen in India. We visited it twice, and both +times services were in progress. As we had done at the cathedral, the +guide conducted us among the kneeling worshipers, and he knew every +priest and monk he encountered, and they all spoke to him respectfully. +I don’t believe I have ever seen anything that attracted me more +than this chapel, built in the eleventh century. The interior is of +marble, and the decorations of mosaic work laid in designs cut in the +marble.... At 1 P.M. we rested at a little hotel on the side of the +mountain overlooking + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 450]</span> + +Palermo. The old guide knew the proprietor, who waited on us himself, +and tried hard to give satisfaction. We had macaroni cooked in Italian +style, fish, wine, and quite a hearty lunch, but the charge for four of +us—including the guide and driver—was a little less than $1.40. Then +we went on up the mountain to a wonderful old church in a wonderful +old town, the name of which I have forgotten. It was a feast day of +some kind, and a great celebration was being held in the wonderful +old town. The streets were packed with the merrymakers, and all sorts +of hawkers were selling all sorts of articles that were queer to us. +On our way down the mountain we saw a wonderful valley devoted to +lemon orchards. The owner of one of these orchards lived several years +in St. Louis, and, knowing we were Americans, invited us to see his +lemon crop. The lemons were just ready to pick, and the yield was very +good, apparently. The proprietor told me he had twelve acres; that +the land was worth $1,000 an acre; and that all of his lemons were +shipped to the United States. He was much interested in a rumor that +the new president, Mr. Wilson, would remove the duty on lemons, but I +was compelled to confess I did not know anything about it. As it was +Sunday, all of the farmer’s family, including his wife and children, +and hired men followed us about. There were two boys in the family, +and they climbed trees, and loaded Adelaide down with various kinds +of fruit. The lemon orchard, I noticed, is irrigated, but neither the +proprietor nor the guide could tell me where the water came from. +Usually it comes from wells, and is raised with sweeps turned by +donkeys and horses.... We + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 451]</span> + +returned to the docks at 5:10 P.M., after eight very delightful hours +in Palermo. The boatman was waiting, and the old guide went aboard with +us, carrying Adelaide’s great collection of fruits and flowers. During +our absence we had taken on six hundred more steerage passengers, and +their friends surrounded the ship, in boats. In half an hour the big +ship backed out of the harbor, and pointed its nose for New York.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, MAY 5.—I think every man believes +his “luck” is atrocious, and that he rarely gets an “even break.” But I +am perfectly satisfied with what they have done to me on the “Canada.” +It is a new ship of fourteen thousand tons, and there are only fifty +passengers in the first-cabin. As a result, we have plenty of room, and +the officers give us whatever we want. I have a room to myself on the +best deck, and Adelaide has another just like it next door. Between our +rooms there is a private bath, which has been turned over to us for +good measure. On most ships the beds are hard. On the “Canada,” our +beds are provided with springs, and we have real bedsteads. I have two +windows in my room, and Adelaide has two in hers; our bath-room is as +big as a stateroom, and is provided with a shower-bath, in addition to +the usual tub.... In the dining-room, we have a table to ourselves; +a small table for two, with a side electric light, in addition to the +ceiling lights. On our table twice a day are quart bottles of red and +white wine, always full. This wine is free; it is a feature of all +French boats. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 452]</span> + +The cooking is the best I have ever enjoyed on a steamship or hotel, +and the attendance perfect. Our waiter is a Frenchman who speaks +almost no English, but the chief steward (a German, by-the-way) speaks +English, and sees that we are not neglected. The meals are French, +except that we have an English breakfast; which means that we have +eggs, chops, fish, bacon, etc. On the continent, breakfast almost +universally consists of coffee, bread and butter, and jam. At the fine +Hotel Vesuve, in Naples, we had this sort of breakfast, although we +could have eggs if we called for them. In Paris it is almost impossible +to get anything to eat before noon, except at hotels patronized by +Americans and English.... Our rooms are in charge of a woman; we +see a man in overalls occasionally, but the woman is in charge. On +German ships, the dining-room stewards not only care for the rooms, +but play in the band; on the “Canada,” waiters in the dining-room have +nothing to do with the sleeping-rooms.... The first-class passengers +have two big decks. In the rear of the upper deck is a handsome +smoking-room. At the rear of the next deck below, the deck on which +our rooms are located, is a music-room. At the other end of the deck +is a writing-room. Just below the writing-room, and reached by a grand +stairway, is the dining-room. All these rooms are very handsome, as the +ship is less than a year old.... What do we pay for all this luxury +and magnificence? Less per day than we paid on the “Maunganui,” between +Wellington and Sydney, where I shared a room 9×10 with three others. +Adelaide shared a room of similar size on the “Maunganui” + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 453]</span> + +with three other women. The “Maunganui” was a favorite; the “Canada” is +a new and unknown ship struggling for recognition from the traveling +public. Moral: Keep away from favorites; they will always impose on +you.... Another pleasant thing about the “Canada” is that there +is not a single Englishman on board. There is no Sports Committee, +no loud talk, and no noise. About half the first-cabin passengers +are Americans, and they are so well-behaved that I am proud of them. +The others are French and Italian, and they are also quiet and +modest.... When we look down on the lower decks, we see a seething +mass of humanity: Italian and Sicilian emigrants. Fortunately the +weather is fine, and most of them are on deck; only a few of them are +seasick. Some people can’t go on a millpond without becoming sick, +and we have a few of this sort in the first-cabin. The three or four +hundred passengers in the second-cabin we cannot see, as they are on a +deck under ours.... This morning I saw four barbers at work among +the emigrants; barbers who are going to the United States to work at +their trade. The barbers charge four cents for shaving, and six cents +for hair-cutting. The barber in the first-cabin charges only fifteen +cents for a shave, and he is a good workman. The emigrants eat on deck, +now that the weather is fine. Each one seems to get a loaf of bread, +and a bucket containing soup and meat. A cheap wine is also given them; +also macaroni. They are well treated, as the Italian government has a +commissioner on board to look after their interests. This commissioner +sits on the captain’s right in the dining-room, and has one of the best +rooms + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 453]</span> + +on the ship.... The emigrants are all poor people, but very +wasteful, now that they have plenty. Every day enough bread is wasted +on their deck to feed dozens of people, and this is swept up and thrown +overboard by the sailors.... These emigrants are objectionable, in +one way. In case of a panic, we would all go to the bottom. Nothing +could control them, and we haven’t enough boats to float twenty-five +hundred people, even if order were maintained. But the “Princess +Irene,” the favorite, is carrying even more emigrants than the +“Canada.” I have never before been on a ship where the decks were black +with emigrants; there are a few hundred on nearly every ship, but the +crowd on the “Canada” frightens me.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, MAY 6.—The weather remains fine, +and the sea is as smooth as we found it in the Red Sea, or on the east +coast of Africa. The Mediterranean narrows up at its western end, as +we approach Gibraltar, and becomes a great harbor. At six o’clock this +evening we were within a few hundred yards of the mountainous coast of +Spain. The Mediterranean being narrow at this point, we are seeing many +ships: seven were in sight at one time this evening.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, MAY 7.—At 4:30 this morning, a +steward knocked on my door, and said:</p> + +<p>“Gibraltar.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 455]</span></p> + +<p>I climbed out of bed, hurried into a little clothing, and went +on deck. Daylight was faintly appearing. On the right, two or three +hundred yards away, was the rock of Gibraltar, where the English have a +huge fortification which is said to be so old as to be a joke. No one +is allowed in the fortification, but it is common report that the big +guns are so old and rusty that it would be dangerous to fire them. The +rock of Gibraltar is an island, and puts out into the sea. Behind it +is the town of the same name; a place as big as Atchison. The picture +of Gibraltar shown in advertisements of the Prudential Life Insurance +Company looks exactly like it, except that the bay and town behind +the rock are not shown accurately. Half-way up the rock of Gibraltar +was a light, and a long shelf; I suppose the shelf is a part of the +fortification. In the town were occasional clusters of electric lights, +as may be seen in any modern town just as daylight is appearing, and I +could see a lighthouse on the African shore off to the left. Creeping +through the straits were a number of ships, one of them within two or +three hundred feet of the “Canada.” Then I went back to bed. I aroused +Adelaide, and told her of the sight on the opposite side of the ship, +but she concluded not to get up.... Soon after breakfast, we passed +Tangier, and left Africa for good. We have been in sight of Africa +almost constantly since March 2, when we landed at Durban. During the +twenty-four days we were on the “Burgermeister,” we were out of sight +of it a few days after leaving Port Said, but this morning we saw +the African continent again, at its north-western end, at Tangier, in +Morocco.... An hour later, we + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 456]</span> + +were out of sight of land in the Atlantic ocean, which Adelaide had +been afraid of, but there was little motion, and the weather was warmer +and brighter than it has been since leaving Port Said. The barber, when +he shaved me this morning, predicted rough weather when we get behind +the Azores, but certainly we are having beautiful weather now, and have +had it continuously for thirty-two days.... There is an American +on board who said to me this morning: “I shall never travel at sea +again. Wherever you go by ship, travel is rendered disagreeable by the +English. The English are intensely disagreeable to me, and in future +I shall keep away from them. They are the most impolite people in the +world, and do not realize that everything English is not perfect. They +pronounce words wrong, and regard you with pity if you pronounce the +same words correctly. The English are headed for a big tumble. You and +I will not live to see it, but Canada and Australia will throw off the +English yoke. That will encourage India, and Africa, and many other +countries, to do the same thing. England is seeing its best days right +now; let the Englishmen swagger while they may. The English remind me +of a big trust: they paid too much for their various possessions, and +are bound to ‘bust.’” ... I do not feel that bad about the English, +but I certainly remark that the “Canada” is much quieter than it would +be were a majority of the passengers sons of John Bull. So far, I have +not seen a single passenger running around in pajamas.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 457]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, MAY 8.—Our magnificent French +cook had macaroni for dinner today, and, while I liked it better than +the Italian way of preparing it, I did not like it so well as the +American way. Italian macaroni did not please my taste. It was not +cooked enough, to begin with, and had the tomato sauce baked into +it. It is a sight to see Italians eat macaroni. It is cooked in long +strings, and the Italians poke it into their mouths in a fashion that +is not at all pleasing.... Six whales were in sight at one time +this afternoon, and probably there were many more in the school we +did not see. An hour later, we ran into the biggest lot of porpoises +I have ever seen. They were quite close to the ship, on both sides +of it, and seemed to be following us. A porpoise looks like a fish +weighing twenty-five to forty pounds, and leaps entirely out of the +water when in a sportive mood. Jumping out of the water is probably a +fish’s method of taking a bath.... We have our chairs on the upper +or hurricane deck, and, when we take a walk, pass the wireless room, +where an operator sits all day and night with receivers at his ears, +to catch any call that may be in the air. When the operator reads, he +has the receivers fastened to his ears, and I have seen him eating +dinner in his room when rigged up in the same queer way.... A dove +has been following the ship several days. It is very tired, and this +morning I saw it attempt to light on the waves; then it fluttered up +into the rigging, and rested there awhile.... Near the entrance +to the dining-room there is a notice in French and English. Among +other things, it says the management will appreciate the courtesy if +passengers + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 458]</span> + +dress for luncheon and dinner. We are wondering what a proper dress +for luncheon is. The rules also say that dogs are not allowed on board, +but one has the run of the ship; and, since he is the only nuisance on +board, we wonder that the officers stand for it. I never cared much for +those who go crazy about dogs. Senator Vest, of Missouri, once wrote a +false and sentimental tribute to dogs, and the Dog People were so much +encouraged by it that they are very pronounced nuisances everywhere. +No one has a right to keep a dog that is a nuisance to others; whoever +does not know this is unfair and impolite in other ways.... The big +ship “Canada” is doing a very fair job of pitching this afternoon, +but we have been at sea so long that we do not mind it. There is a +noticeable thinning-out on the steerage deck. So far, we have been at +sea fifty-three days since leaving San Francisco, and have been seasick +only four or five days. We were sick three days on the Pacific, and +two between Australia and New Zealand, but during the last forty-seven +days at sea we have experienced no inconvenience. I sleep at night as I +never slept before in my life; there is just enough motion to rock me +to sleep.... In Italy, a traveler from the United States wonders at +the general use of wine. All classes drink it, and it is very cheap; +I bought a bottle of very good wine in Naples for six cents. The poor +people use it instead of gravy or milk; on the ship, I see emigrants +soaking their bread in wine. Every vacant plot of ground in Naples is +devoted to grapes and vegetables. In the heart of the town, wherever +you find a vacant lot, you find a garden. I have never seen anything +growing in + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 459]</span> + +Italy except vegetables and fruit; I wonder where the wheat comes +from with which they make macaroni? The Italians say American flour +makes better bread than the Italian flour, but inferior macaroni. +The Italians are poor, as a rule, but nearly all of them are fat; +particularly the women. The poor people of Italy do not eat meat once +a week; the Italian emigrants on the ship get it twice a day. But they +are very wasteful of it, and complain as much as though they had always +been accustomed to the very best. One of the officers says that on the +last trip, the ship was compelled to bring back twenty-two emigrants +who failed to pass the examination in New York. The charge against one +man was that he had been a professional beggar. This man made a great +deal of trouble during the voyage to New York; he was always finding +fault with the food, although it was abundant. I asked the officer why +the ship gave the emigrants so much food that they threw it overboard; +his reply was that the Italian commissioner on board insisted on +a liberal supply, and the captain was at his mercy. The emigrants +are pretty well crowded in their sleeping quarters; one hundred and +fifty men sleep in one room, in a bed which runs up in broad tiers. +If the owners of the English ships running between Australia and New +Zealand ever hear of this, they will die of mortification because +of their moderation in putting only four in a room.... We had +a moving-picture show last night, with the explanatory lecture in +French.... The barber who shaves me every morning says he has been +going to sea a good many years, but never started on a voyage on +Friday; that a ship never leaves its + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 460]</span> + +initial port on Friday. The barber is mistaken. For thirty years or +more, the P. & O. line has sent a ship out of London every Friday. +Nine-tenths of all you hear is untrue. The barber also says that the +famous expression, “See Naples and die,” is founded on a play on +words. In the bay of Naples there is an island called Morreai, which +in Italian, means something connected with death. The original saying +was, “See Naples and Morreai,” but in a spirit of levity the English +translated the saying, “See Naples and die.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, MAY 9.—This afternoon we passed +the “Lusiana,” an Italian emigrant ship also bound for New York. The +“Lusiana” left Naples a day before we did, but it is slow, and we +overhauled it. We passed it within a hundred yards, and marveled at +the manner in which it pitched and rolled; probably the big “Canada” +was cutting up in a similar manner, viewed from the decks of the +“Lusiana,” which were black with emigrants. The emigrants did a good +deal of cheering as we passed.... The “Canada” is also a faster ship +than the “Princess Irene,” the favorite, and we are hoping that we may +overtake it, and jeer at the passengers. The “Princess Irene” had a +start of nearly twenty-four hours, as it did not stop at Palermo.... +By-the-way, as we left the “Lusiana” behind, I caught the geographies +in a ridiculous error. They all say that at sea, the last sight of +a disappearing vessel is the top of its masts; which proves, the +geographies say, that the world is round. The curvature + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 461]</span> + +of the earth is something like an inch to the mile, so that the +funnels of a ship would not disappear under five hundred miles, if one +could see that far. Three hours after we passed the “Lusiana,” it was +a mere speck on the horizon, but we could plainly see its hull. After +it had entirely disappeared from view by the naked eye, we could see +its hull with the aid of glasses. The ships were probably fifteen miles +apart when we finally lost sight of the “Lusiana,” and the difference +between them, in the curvature of the earth, did not exceed fifteen +inches.... The hull of the “Canada” is white, and it must have +presented a very pretty sight to the passengers on the “Lusiana,” +who were all of one class: emigrants. But down below, the “Canada” +is probably a little untidy. Everything below its two top decks is +crowded with emigrants, and they are not very clean. In the evening, +they sing a great deal; a trombone-player, en route to New York to +join an Italian band, leads with his instrument. Among the first-class +passengers is an Italian opera-singer who is about as good as any of +the second-rate tenors at the Metropolitan Opera House, and he sings +every evening.... Nearly all the emigrants seem to wear home-made +socks and shoes. Most of them are young men; I doubt if there are two +hundred women in the entire lot. Many of them have been over before, +and will return home when outdoor work ceases next winter, as the price +of the passage is only $25. The weather is chilly, and the emigrants +sit on deck wrapped in blankets furnished them by the steamship +company. In addition to a blanket, each is given a sack stuffed with +straw, and on these they sleep. + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 462]</span> + +Nearly all of them eat in groups on deck, and this morning I saw them +pouring olive oil into tin cups containing either coffee and bread, or +wine and bread, I could not tell which.... I write this at a table +in a little alcove on deck, and the screaming of the emigrants as they +excitedly talk to each other amounts to a roar. This noise is in my +ears continuously, except when I go to my room, which is amidships, and +far removed from the emigrant decks forward and aft.... The cooking +on the ship continues to astonish us, it is so excellent. So far, we +have not had a dish duplicated at lunch or dinner. You would think +anyone could scramble eggs; it may be difficult to unscramble them, +as the late J. P. Morgan once observed, but there should be little +difference in the process of scrambling them. I am fond of scrambled +eggs, and have been eating them all my life, but the manner in which +they are prepared in the “Canada’s” kitchen is new and delightful. This +morning I asked the chief steward to take Adelaide into the kitchen, to +learn the chef’s secret of scrambling eggs. Adelaide says one secret of +his delicious cooking is that everything is reeking in butter. It is +possible that a German or English crew would suit me better than the +French crew of the “Canada,” when it comes to the general work of the +ship, but the kitchen and dining-room, and sleeping-rooms, are better +managed on this ship than on any other with which I have been familiar +on two voyages around the world, and three shorter trips by sea. I do +not want any better accommodations than I have on the “Canada.” ... +Much as I admire the Germans, I cannot help noting that their language + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 463]</span> + +does not <i>sound</i> as well as French or Italian. To a man who does not +understand languages, the German sounds worst of all, unless it is the +Russian. On the “Burgermeister,” where we heard German constantly for +more than three weeks, we used to laugh at its funny sounds. I know of +no uglier sounding word than the German word “yaw,” which means “yes.” +If I were a young man, and should propose to a young and beautiful +German girl, and she should reply with what poets say is the sweetest +of all words, yaw, I should feel disposed to run away to South America, +or South Africa, or some other country where it is too hot.... I +have never known anyone to struggle quite so hard against baldness as +the barber on the “Canada.” When his hair is in order, it looks all +right, but the other morning, while I was being shaved, the window +blew open, and the barber’s hair went to pieces. He is bald, but has +cultivated a lot of long hair on the side of his head which he combs +over his baldness. The wind threw this long hair out of place, and as +it flapped around, the barber was as flustrated as an old maid suddenly +discovered in her night-gown.... Speaking of the barber reminds me +that he says all the officers of the “Canada,” except the captain, +wanted more pay, a few months ago, and walked out just before the ship +was to sail from Marseilles. The ship had a big lot of passengers +aboard, but the general manager was stubborn, and he fooled around for +a week before he could find another set of officers.... We hear +on the upper deck that the six hundred Sicilians among the emigrants +are not as good workers as the fourteen hundred Italians; and that in +addition to being + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 464]</span> + +lazy, the Sicilians use a knife with very little provocation. In +Sicily, you hear a great deal of the vendetta, wherein a man will knife +another man who is a second cousin to an enemy.... This morning we +passed the Azore islands, where Columbus stopped on his famous voyage. +Usually the “Canada” passes between the islands, and quite close to +shore, but owing to rain and mist we passed on the longer and safer +course.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, MAY 10.—It turned out just +as the barber predicted: Behind the Azores we encountered rough seas, +and the big ship “Canada” has been jumping today like a greyhound. The +wind is blowing heavily, and there is an occasional shower of rain. +After every shower, there is a rainbow; one of them made a bow over +the stern of the ship, and followed us for fifteen minutes. We were +late for breakfast this morning, but the steward said we were the first +ones in, and no others came while we were there. We have suffered no +inconvenience from the rough weather, except that we became tired of +bracing ourselves. The sailors dislike rough weather; they do not +become seasick, but rough weather at sea is disagreeable, as it is on +land, and results in gloomy thoughts and bad tempers. Rough weather +rolls you about in your bed at night, and the most experienced sailor +cannot sleep as well as he can when the weather is good.... I have +frequently mentioned the barber. On every ship, the barber shop is +headquarters for news. In the days before newspapers, people went to +the barber-shops + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 465]</span> + +for the gossip of the day. The “Canada’s” barber is a German, but +speaks French and English. He lived in London four years, and told me +today that he found, after learning English in London, that Americans +could not understand him very well. Which corroborates my statement +that the people of the United States and the English do not speak the +same language.... The man on the “Canada” who has least to do is the +barkeeper. I have not seen a single drink ordered in the dining-room. +On the “Burgermeister,” nearly everyone ordered something from the bar +at luncheon and dinner, and paid extra for it, but on the “Canada,” +two kinds of wine are furnished free. The profit from liquor on the +German ship must have been enormous. Two kinds of keg beer, light and +dark, were sold, and nearly everybody drank one or the other. The +weather was very warm nearly all the time I was on the “Burgermeister,” +and the cold beer was particularly agreeable. But on the “Canada,” I +have not seen the barkeeper fill a half-dozen orders. The weather is +chilly, and we wear our heaviest winter clothing; besides, there is no +German beer on draught.... This is the sixth day out, and we have +had strawberries every day. It is surprising how fresh and palatable +the cook manages to make everything taste. We are paying about seven +dollars a day each for our accommodations on this ship, which include +two rooms on the best deck, a private bath, three of the best meals I +have ever eaten, and bouillon at 11 A. M., and tea at 4 P.M. We would +be charged about the same price in the second-class on the big Atlantic +liners. The “Canada” is a new ship, working for a reputation; that is +the only + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 466]</span> + +explanation I know of. Anyone going abroad, by taking this line, sees +Palermo, in Sicily, and Naples, in Italy, on the way, landing finally +at Marseilles, in France. Some of the other ships of the line stop at +Lisbon, in Portugal, and at the Azores, also.... You can pay almost +any price for accommodations at sea. It is said John Jacob Astor paid +$5,000 for accommodations on the “Titanic,” and the management didn’t +do a thing but drown him. He had three or four rooms, two baths, a +private dining-room, etc. Speaking of J. J. Astor reminds me that +he made financial mistakes, as well as the rest of us. In closing +up his estate it was found that he had ten million dollars worth of +securities which were practically worthless. But Astor could drive a +hard bargain, on occasion. He once found a man who was hard up, and who +wanted to sell a yacht which cost half a million dollars. The yacht +was new, and the man thought he ought to have $450,000 for it. But +Astor finally got it for $90,000. ... There is a man on board who +is the best newspaper scholar I have ever known. He is familiar with +everything that has appeared in the newspapers for the past twenty +or thirty years. I have posted myself on the news of the past five +months by talking to him. He is very entertaining, and quite modest; +he frequently says: “I know nothing about it myself; I only know what +I read in the newspapers.” I have never before known a man quite like +him.... We have dinner at 6:30 on the “Canada,” but the passengers +never come into the dining-room until a quarter of an hour later, when +the <i>table d’hôte</i> dinner begins. At the fine Hotel Vesuve, in Naples, +the dinner hour was + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 467]</span> + +7:30, but the guests were always a quarter of an hour late.... Our +guide in Naples was a rather sullen American, and we learned today +that he was formerly a very rich man. His father died seven years +ago, and left him a fortune, but he ran through with it, and is now a +guide, at $2 a day. He spent most of his money in Monte Carlo, at the +gambling-tables. This information I get from the newspaper scholar, +quoted above, who is an old traveler. He says he knows the guide well, +but refused to give me his name. I have the guide’s card, but the +newspaper scholar says it is not his real name.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, MAY 11.—The bad weather +continues, and we cannot take our usual walks. We sit in a protected +place on the upper deck, wrapped in rugs, and talk about getting home. +Adelaide has decided that she does not care to remain in New York +long; that she wants to get home as soon as possible; so if we reach +that city Thursday night, as expected, Friday afternoon will see us on +a railroad train headed westward.... While on the Pacific ocean, +I met a life insurance man named Adams, who told me that he traveled +constantly, and that his expenses, afloat and ashore, averaged $11 a +day. He kept no expense account, he said; at the end of the year he +charged the company $11 a day for expenses, and that was almost exactly +what he spent. Today I made a calculation, and found that the present +trip has cost us $11 a day each, almost to a penny. So if you want to +know what traveling costs, here is an estimate you may depend + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 468]</span> + +upon. This means rapid traveling, by railroad and steamship, and +sightseeing in the towns with the assistance of a guide. The estimate +includes the purchases a traveler is compelled to make, and cannot be +reduced much unless you travel second-class, and deny yourself many +things. At Palermo, we hired a guide, and drove about nearly all day +in a new two-horse carriage, with liveried driver. The expense was +considerable, but we saw dozens of things that those who did not take a +guide and carriage, failed to see.... A stewardess on the “Canada” +has enormous feet. She is rather a pretty woman, but her feet are much +too big. Americans have smaller feet than any other race.... There +is a young man on board who has a tremendous lot of hair, which he +never combs. There is something peculiar about him, and today we found +out what it is: he is an artist.... There is a woman on board who +left New York in February, a bride. She said to me today: “I’m not +happy; but I’m as happy as married women usually are, and am content.” +I’ve been thinking about the statement, and have almost concluded that +she is a smart woman. Isn’t she smarter than the woman who marries, +expects to be happy, is disappointed, and becomes sour over her +disappointment? ... I see that Edward Bok, editor of the <i>Ladies’ +Home Journal</i>, is offering prizes to husbands who will write the best +articles under this title: “Why I Wanted My Wife to Become My Wife.” +The prize articles will be written by sentimentalists who will write, +not the truth, but what the editor wants. The husbands who know the +truth about marriage, rarely tell it.... A man on + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 469]</span> + +board is a great reader, and gets a new book out of the library every +day. He sits near me on deck, and frequently criticises the authors +of the books he reads. Still, it is easier to be a great critic than +it is to be a great author.... This man knows many things I never +heard of. He says he once knew a boy only seven years old who was an +ordained preacher in the Methodist church. I knew better, but I did not +argue with him. I’ve quit arguing; I hear foolish statements every day +without contradicting them. In the smoking-room today I heard a man say +that a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church need not be a priest, and +that a cardinal might marry if he chose. Another man said Mark Twain +was once a preacher, and had a regular charge.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">M</span>ONDAY, MAY 12.—This has been the most +disagreeable day of the voyage. The wind blew a hurricane, but shifted +so frequently that it kept the sea down, although it was so bad that +most of the passengers were ill. The captain, when he came down to +breakfast, said to the few present: “I’m sorry.” Meaning the weather; +he had promised us a fine voyage. The captain is a very polite man; +when he comes into the dining-room, in the morning, he speaks to most +of the passengers, and goes about to shake hands with some of them. +He is very solicitous of those who are ill, but Captain Trask, of the +American ship “Sonoma,” thought it a disgrace to be seasick, and would +barely speak to any of his passengers so afflicted. He used to say he +was never seasick in his life, and that seasickness + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 470]</span> + +was “just a notion.” ... Adelaide, the farmer’s daughter, does not +mind the terrific motion of the ship, but I have a slight headache, and +do not care to eat much.... The barber says conditions down among +the emigrants are bad. Most of them are in bed, in rooms containing +hundreds. All the married couples occupy one large room, and sleep in +their clothes. The unmarried women occupy another large room, and the +unmarried men another. There are tables down below, where the emigrants +may eat their food, but they eat on deck when the weather will permit. +For breakfast they are given a soup thick with vegetables, and coffee; +for dinner and supper they have boiled meat, potatoes, macaroni, +onions, wine, and bread. They are given so much to eat that we all +note the manner in which they waste it.... During the worst of the +storm today, a large woman sitting on deck attempted to go below. She +foolishly attempted to descend an open stairway, and the wind blew +her skirts over her head. This rendered her hysterical, and she began +screaming. Seven stewards were required to carry her to her room, from +which retreat she sends word on deck that she is so humiliated that +we will not see her again.... Owing to the storm, our run was cut +down to 368 miles today. The storm seemed very serious to us, but on +the log, the officers described it simply as: “Rough sea; north-west +gale.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>UESDAY, MAY 13.—At 10 o’clock this +morning we ran into a smooth sea, and the sun struggled out. By + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 471]</span> + +11 A.M. all the emigrants were on deck, chattering as usual.... +The chief steward gave us declaration blanks at breakfast; which means +we are nearing New York.... We are in communication today with +five other steamships, and Cape Race. The cost of a wireless message +of ten words to the United States is marked on the bulletin board as +$3.80.... Every day of the voyage we have had a different fish for +dinner; apparently as fresh as when caught. I shall long remember the +King fish as the best of the lot. The butter is also surprisingly +fresh, considering the fact that no farmers can come in with a fresh +supply. I shall always remember my voyage on the “Canada” as the most +endurable I have ever made; and in my time I have been a passenger on +two dozen different ships. The passengers are quiet and polite, and +there has been no talk of Sports; no games of any kind are played, +and it has been an ideal voyage in all respects, except two days of +bad weather.... The barber, a German, intends to quit. He says he +likes the French crew; that he gets along better with them than he got +along with his own countrymen on some boats, but he is not earning as +much as he thinks he should. A small passenger list is pleasant for +the passengers, but disastrous to the ship’s employees.... We had +artichokes for dinner today. I wonder where the idea originated that +they are good to eat? They seem to be very popular in Italy; I saw +great stacks of them in Naples and Palermo.... One of the women +passengers appeared at dinner tonight wearing an automobile bonnet and +gauntlet gloves. I do not bother myself much about taste in women’s +dress, but + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 472]</span> + +that shocked me. Another woman passenger is too ill to appear in the +dining-room for her meals, but is able to sit in the smoking-room +every evening, and puff cigarettes. I’ll never become accustomed to +women smoking.... The young man who paints pictures in oil, and who +has a shock of hair which he never combs, is extremely good-natured. +Which means that he can’t paint much. A genius is always cross and +impolite.... The emigrants are not allowed to buy beer, so those in +the second-cabin buy it, and hand it over to the emigrants. I cannot +see much difference between the passengers in the second-cabin and +the emigrants. Many of the second-cabin passengers have friends among +the emigrants, and visit them a good deal. Two of the second-cabin +passengers are young French girls, accompanied by their mother. We +hear they are going to the United States to get rich husbands. The +opinion prevails abroad that America is full of rich men who will take +nearly anything in the way of a wife. It is a mistake. America has +more attractive girls than any other country, and half of them are +compelled to get jobs.... The Americans in the first-cabin live +mainly in New York and Boston; we are the only Westerners.... One of +the passengers in the first-cabin is a woman with two children. She has +perfect manners, and is no doubt a good woman, but I have somehow got +the notion that her husband doesn’t appreciate her at her true value. +The other women say she is All Soul, but probably her husband thinks +that is the trouble with her; I never knew a spiritual woman to please +any man except her pastor. I am satisfied that within a few hours after + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 473]</span> + +her arrival home, she will say to her husband: “I would like to have a +private talk with you.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">W</span>EDNESDAY, MAY 14.—The man who intends +to quit traveling because he meets so many disagreeable Englishmen, +said to me today: “An Englishman is as crazy to know everything that +is going on as a young Jew traveling-man. And what annoys me is that +the Americans submit tamely to criticism from the English. Every day +you see English criticism of Americans in books and newspapers, but +the Americans never strike back. It isn’t true that Americans attract +attention abroad because of their rudeness; nine-tenths of the charges +made against American travelers are invented by the English. Ask any +American who has traveled, and you will find he dislikes the English. +The English do not like Americans, and Americans might as well throw +off their reserve, and admit that they do not like the English.” ... +The captain said this afternoon that the “Princess Irene,” the +favorite, is only twelve miles ahead of us, and that we shall probably +pass it tomorrow night.... About sunset, there was great cheering on +the steerage deck. Some one had reported land in sight, but the report +proved untrue.... There is a very fat Italian woman in the +first-cabin, and she has a very fat daughter. Her husband is a passenger in +the second-cabin.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 474]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">T</span>HURSDAY, MAY 15.—At the Captain’s Dinner +this evening, free champagne was served, in addition to the two kinds +of wine we have had free twice a day since leaving Naples. The captain, +whose name is Bouleuc, made a speech in broken English. Sometime +tonight we shall reach New York, and cast anchor until daylight, when +the doctor, customs officers and immigration officers will come on +board to see if they can find anything suspicious.... People are as +proud of ability to speak French as they are proud of art or musical +culture. I know an American woman on board who has been reading French +books all the way from Naples; yet she confessed to me that she knows +very little French. She simply wanted the reputation (which she did +not deserve) of being a French scholar. An American man whom I know +very well, sharply criticises the French of a woman who sits at the +captain’s table, and who talks constantly and volubly in French with +the captain. Yet the man confessed to me that he knows only enough +French to “get along.”... We thought of remaining up until we could +see the lights of New York, but abandoned the idea at 9:30, and went to +bed.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">F</span>RIDAY, MAY 16.—When I awoke this +morning, the “Canada” was lying off Sandy Hook, in company with eight +other ships that had arrived during the night, and were waiting for the +port officers. Among the ships was the “Princess Irene,” the Favorite. +It had + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 475]</span> + +a start of twenty-four hours, as it did not stop at Palermo, but we +arrived as soon as it did.... We landed at 10 A. M., and greatly +admired every man, woman, child and building we saw. The first thing +we did was to make a dash for the Pennsylvania Station, where we +arranged to leave for Home at 5 P.M.... What a wonderful building +the Pennsylvania Station is! Nothing else like it in the world; except +a few blocks away, where may be found the New York Central Station, +which is still finer.... I showed Adelaide as much of New York as +I could from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. In Johannesburg, we paid fifteen cents +street-car fare each to the zoölogical gardens. In New York, we went +three or four times the distance for five cents, on the way passing +under a great river. This is some of the Robbery to which we Americans +are compelled to submit.... When we wanted a lunch, we went into +a beautiful place, and paid sixty-five cents for all two healthy +Americans cared to eat. This in wicked, extravagant New York.... +Some of the buildings we saw were thirty-eight stories high, and the +streets through which we passed cannot be duplicated anywhere.... +We wanted a guide to show us about quickly. We secured a bright +young man from the Postal Telegraph Co. He was polite, intelligent +and capable. What do you suppose this Robber Corporation charged us +for his services? Thirty cents an hour.... Soon after we left the +Pennsylvania Station, our train passed under the Hudson river, and +emerged in New Jersey. This state is not a fair sample of the country +in which we live, but + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 476]</span> + +how we enjoyed seeing it! The green at Home is a healthier and +better-looking green than the green in the tropics.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>ATURDAY, MAY 17.—We have spent this +day passing through Ohio and Indiana. They are better states than New +Jersey, and our enthusiasm is increasing. We are passengers on an +all-steel train, and in no other country in the world are equally good +railroad accommodations to be had.... Early in the afternoon, nearly +a thousand miles from the sea, we came to the fourth or fifth city of +the world: Chicago. An American we saw last in New Zealand, Dr. Beeson, +met us at this place. Our social relations are rapidly improving.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/i-newchap.png" width="200" height="20" alt=""> +</div> +<br> + +<p><span class="large">S</span>UNDAY, MAY 18.—This morning, when the +conductor came in to take my tickets, he said:</p> + +<p>“Why, hello!”</p> + +<p>I knew him: we were getting almost in sight of Home. When we went +into the dining-car, the negro waiter spoke to us by name.... +Shortly afterwards, the conductor sat down beside us, and, looking out +of the south window, said:</p> + +<p>“I never knew before you could see Potato Hill so plainly from this +side of the river.”</p> + +<p>Then the Pullman conductor came in, and said:</p> + +<p>“The next station is Atchison.”</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="transnote"> +<p><span class="smcap">Transcriber’s Notes.</span></p> +<p> 1. Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical + errors.</p> +<p> 2. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="full"> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77511 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/77511-h/images/cover.jpg b/77511-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b9faa8 --- /dev/null +++ b/77511-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/77511-h/images/i-001.jpg b/77511-h/images/i-001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..219d1f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/77511-h/images/i-001.jpg diff --git a/77511-h/images/i-002a.png b/77511-h/images/i-002a.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c6ad02 --- /dev/null +++ b/77511-h/images/i-002a.png diff --git a/77511-h/images/i-039.jpg b/77511-h/images/i-039.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ba59f1 --- /dev/null +++ b/77511-h/images/i-039.jpg diff --git a/77511-h/images/i-048.jpg b/77511-h/images/i-048.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ff7f0c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/77511-h/images/i-048.jpg diff --git a/77511-h/images/i-219.jpg b/77511-h/images/i-219.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..55edc3b --- /dev/null +++ b/77511-h/images/i-219.jpg diff --git a/77511-h/images/i-228.jpg b/77511-h/images/i-228.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..20eb97f --- /dev/null +++ b/77511-h/images/i-228.jpg diff --git a/77511-h/images/i-335.jpg b/77511-h/images/i-335.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..aafba5f --- /dev/null +++ b/77511-h/images/i-335.jpg diff --git a/77511-h/images/i-344.jpg b/77511-h/images/i-344.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c77889 --- /dev/null +++ b/77511-h/images/i-344.jpg diff --git a/77511-h/images/i-435.jpg b/77511-h/images/i-435.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bd38666 --- /dev/null +++ b/77511-h/images/i-435.jpg diff --git a/77511-h/images/i-444.jpg b/77511-h/images/i-444.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b73acc5 --- /dev/null +++ b/77511-h/images/i-444.jpg diff --git a/77511-h/images/i-newchap.png b/77511-h/images/i-newchap.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..651ca64 --- /dev/null +++ b/77511-h/images/i-newchap.png diff --git a/77511-h/images/i-title.jpg b/77511-h/images/i-title.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9efbcdc --- /dev/null +++ b/77511-h/images/i-title.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c72794 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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