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1 1

32X

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vilH TilR SUN

■■ V : . . i> JSi-.i I i.-vl! <. ' il ' vll'.l ^ I!n' • • \-

I ]{\S.\ - si \N! '■ ' * '

f ' -1 . '. i I

At^lM-

:\t*i'!v'ON

1 V* * !'■»■

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^m^p''

A RACE WITH THE SUN

A SIXir.KN MONTHS TorK I'KOM Cll ICAGO AROUX") TIIK WORLD
IIIROUOII MAMTor.A AND liKITISII COLUMlilA \\\ TIIK CA-
NADIAN 1' \( II'IC- OKKOON AND WASH INC TON —JAI'AN—
CHINA — SIAM — STRAITS SKT TI.K.M KNIS — liURMAlI -
INDIA — Ci;VI.ON-i;c.Vl'T—(iRF,I-:d:—TURKKV— ROD-
MANIA— I If NOARV- AUSTRIA— POLAND— TRANS-

CAi'CAsiA— Tiir: ( AsriAN si:a and tiil vol-

(iA RIVKR— Ri;sSIA— I'lNI.AND— SWKDKN—

NORWAN' - DI'.XMARK — PRUSSIA —

PARIS — LONDON AM) HOME

CARTER H. HARRISON

NEW YORK
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

CIIICAOO:

W. E. DIBBLE cSi CO.
1889

COI'VKIC.HT liV

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
1889

^ 1 /i

I ^ f ■' 'i

("1 L'^f

JAN 1 / 1966

Cbc ■ntnichctbocftcc press

Ul.-ctrutyin'UivW.i'.l'--,n.y
G. 1'. PutiKim's Snns

PREFACE.

Tx the :^uinmcr of 1887, haviiv^ laid aside the cares of pubHc
office continuously filled durini; fifteen and a half years, and
h-vini^' met with a s.ul bereavement which nearly snapped heart-
strin'^s, the writer, for the purpose of bridi^nng the chasm lyin;^f
between a laborious past and wli.it he hoped mi-;ht be a restful
future, started upon .1 tour of the world. For his comparif.ns he
had fohn W. Amber<,s the son of a trusted friend, and his own
son William Preston Harrison, ai^^etl resjiectively seventeen and
eighteen years.

On the eve of his departure two editorial friends urged him
to write letters on his travels for their papers. Recognizing
the dangerous effects of easy idleness after a life of labor, he had
alreadydetermined to keep for his children a full'and complete
traveller's book. As an experiment he ct)mmenced this in mani-
fold and in form of letters. His first letters being very kindly
received, he continued them, though forced to steal the time for
writing, and oftentimes finding the thing an onerous labor. lUit
this labor soon became one of love. What he saw he described
honestly, and gave his thoughts freely, hoping to make his
friends at home partakers of his happiness. After returning
many friends urged him to put his letters into book form.
To do this re(iuired more labor than the original writing, for he
had, for the sake of economy of sjiace. to cut out much.wliile yet
maintaining the epistolary style. He makes no pretensions to
literary merit, but asks from the public the same kindliness in
reading his letters, which he has felt in writing for them.

.^jpiMan

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1.

I'AGE

The Stan — Wiiuiipe^' ;iiiil Manitulin — 'I'liu Caiiailian Pacific Railroal — Sccii-ry

ill the UiHl^ic- aii'i tlic Sclkirks, ami cm tliu I'la^cr Kivcr . , . , I

CHAPTER H.

Timber — I'r'iductifpns ami l'c•culiaritit'^ nf Orej^oii ami Washington — Fmcst Tiro

anil Smoke — Scenery of <hc t'lihiinliia lo

CHAPTER nr.

M'lre aliout \\:i~hinL;ton — N'ictoria ami \'aiiccniver\ Island .

If)

CHAPTER IV.

Soil and Climate of the Northwestern Pacific Slope — \'ictoria and Ks<i\iiniaiill —

I ireen River Hot S])rinL;s, aiiil 'rrout K,

CHAPTER V.

A Run Hack into the Selkirks on a Locomotive — (Uaciers ami Avalanches —

Siamese Princes — Scenery at (ilacicr House 24

CHAPTER VI.

ln>ni \"aiKouver to \'nkohania — An Ocean \'oyai;e Likened to the \'ovaL;e of
I-ife — 1 he Risks of the Sea — Stormy Passatje — A 'I'yphoon — I'luckv lapanese
Sailors — ( itir Mishaps and Recoveries .....,,, 2ij

CHAPTER VII.

lieautiful aii.l P.i/arre Japan— Its Cheerful Men and Modest Immodest Women-
Its Mechanic^ and Pabies, Houses ami Cities ...... 41

CHAPTER VIII.

Kivers, Larm-, and l-'armeis of Jajian— h'urther Characteristics of its T'eoide—

It- Hotels, Fund, and Flowers . . . ;;

CHAPTER IX.

Speculation- uimii Japan — (jrcat 1 lykes
Education . . . . ,

Walls — Liliputian Trees — l-'eiiiale

Vlll

CONT/u\TS.

CHAPTER X. ,^„,

1 „ i',„1' Vow .1 Wi^L' UuKt— Ka|)lil

I'rugress — *-"'

CHAPTER XI.

... , , ,vr T,>l<io. its Ca-llc ana IVn^e l>..i'"l:^ii- - 1'-'^\^-^"'""'

— i-i>ii ..••■••■■■

CHAPTER Xn.

(Jiiiliing Japati

CHAPTER XHI.

Yan..T^c.Kian,-rhine^e Fnnnin.-li.h n,ul M..lc-,..f rn,cl,in,-An,c.,.n,-e
■,,,-,lK-Counm-Mi=.ioManc..(;alnolic..naiTo,cManl . .

CHAPTER XIV.

.■Innc^eCi.ies Houses, TempU-^, aivl Wo.kshops-'-'.'.t ^..1 l'^':^ K„.M>-Kln:i.-

int; l',.i.aatu-'u .'f Cam.m-llower l!o.ats-\Vomf n l'M,an.K.»->usin ■ m

CHAPTER XV.

Sian.-Ki.h S,Mi-Vast 1-nrcMs of ■rimbc-lian^kok-Vulluro. Katin- tl,. 1 )caa

-A Crcm.'ition— AiulieiiL-c uitli tlic King— Siainc-c ■rhfatri.' • -130

CHAPTER XVI.

.Singaport-lJotanicil (i.inlcn-A Sail thn-n-l. tl,f Khio-l.in-a .\r>lni.cla-,-Its

I-A>HiiMtf Beauty— Chicago MancI— The K'Hialor '49

CHAPTER XVH.

lluriiiali—ragoads— Working Klephants— The Irr.aw^achly River— I'aL-alin vith

V,()<|<) I'agoaas-^Mandakiy— Kxi|ui-.itc Kailice-.— The lliunK--e HH

CHAPTER XVni.

■The Ilooghly— Calcutta— Mount Kvcvtst- A Wonderful Railroad— .\ Dinner

with Uml Dufftrin, .and a State Hall '7^

CHAPTER XIX.

I Calcutta to r.enares-Thfe Holy City and I'ilgrinis— Sacred P.athing and burning

.Corpses — Sarnath and liuddhism — Lucknow and Cawnpore ... 192

CONTENTS.

CHAl'TKR XX.

Lahore to IVsliawiir — ('cnlral Asiaiiis — Wcslcni IliiiKilayas — Ca^liniir — A W'liu

Kiilf 2o2

CHAPTER XXI.

Iiulia'^ Vast l';!-! — .\ Ciloridiis MoiltTii Iiccil — |)cllii ami .\i;ra — l''.\(|tii'.iti.' Halls

ami TcMiilis — 'I'liu 'I'aj — KclluLtiniis ........ 213

CHAPTER WIT.

kLiiiarkahk' Mmnitains — .V Mode! Xativc City — MinKcys and IVaoicks — OM

Aiiilitr — .\ Kidu on an I'Muphant — Croccjdilts ..... 227

CHAPTEi. XXIIJ.

.Mmu-daliad — licantifnl Sarai-cnic Kcnirdns — \Vood-( '.uvijii; — ;\irclia^in!; Shau 1' —
\nli\c liiploniacy — lionibay — Towers of Silence — Klc|iluint.i — Thf 151I1 of
Icliriiary ............. 235

CHAPTER XXIV.

.\cnws thu lii'i'can — Karli I'avus — I'.cniUiful Women — llydcraliad — Old (i'.u.iuda

— Titanic Rocks — l-'.lcpliant Kidt- — ( 'liarniini; llos|iiiality .... 248

CHAPTER XXV.

Tutirorin — I'ondichciry — Tanjorc — Tricliinojioly and M.adur.-i — Hindoo 'I'dnplcs

— A l)L'liiihlful Kidu — Natives and their J )rcss ...... 2O0

149

CHAPTER XXVI.

Ceylon — The Cocoa I'alin the People's I'Viend — Tea, Coffee, and Cinchonas —
Cliarniinf; Mountain Retreat — Knglish Rule in India — Strictures on the
Kn_L;lislnnan's .Manners .......... 269

CHAPTER XXVII.

Cities lienealli the Indian ( V-ean — The Red Sea and its Sugi^estions— Sintjular

Weather — Suez Canal ........ "S:

I()I

17a

192

CHAPTER XXVIII.

An .\].ril Trip up the Nile— Deli^'htful Cliniati — Cairo Old and Xew— .\r.al)ic

Tnnilis — Coci.l Friday — Roolak .Museum — .Mother and llahe 3,000 Years tlld, 2S9

CHAPTER XXIX.

The Nile— Old .and New EgyiH— Kgyptian Houses— The IToddinj; Donkey—

Forbiilden Fruits — Kt;yptian I''arms — llc^.ders from an Ass .... 299

CHAPTER XXX.

I»r. Scldiemann— Thebes: its Temples and Tombs— Reautiful riclure-Writin"—

.\ Native I'east

308

Cusmo]
an

329

347

• 355

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXXI.

, ,1,. \ii„,nc Rich Art Treasures

Cciiistantly K>;luimc<l— nil.. 1 """>- . . . ■i\l

W.mderful Sunset— Karcufll, (Ircccc .•■•■■•

CHAPTER XXXn.

1 ivnntiful Vniiniadi — Custom-house — Snlonvm

:r ■.• r;::St:s::f l..;i-n.e SaU..u.He._'rUe -nn..

SuUan-I)ervishes.-:ThcBosphorus-^Vonaerfull■an,.rama . . • •

CHAPTER XXXHI.

The liosphorus-Across )iuI,aria-i:ueharest-Rou,.ania : its Veople, Appear-
ance, and rrocUictions

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Scenes- on T.ower D^nuLe-Huaa-Pesth-lieautiful \V„n.en-Mar,uerite tslan,
— Hungarian lierliv

CHAPTER XXXV.

Vi,,,a-Taxes-Thc Vice of Lottery-Austrian K.rby-Tips-KinK Strasse-
Museums — Environs

CHAPTER XXXVI.

RuntoMosc<m--\Varsaw-ThM'ule..-S<.biesld'sralaee-l'easants .

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Moscow-The Russo-Greek Church-Devoti.-n of tlie I'eople-Kussian Tea-
Restaurants— Tlie Kremlin— Uells—ralaces

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Princely Kindness-Ridi Prairie Lauds- Vcronij-Xecessity for Forest Protection
-The Cossacks- P.rave Children-Suullower the Russi.m Nil.lde- Rostof 011
the Don

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Vladikavkas— C'.rand Views of the Caucasus— A ( dorious Trip— Flouers— I'ruit—
Tillis Pretty and Interesting

CHAPTER XL.

The Caspian Sea— li.aku and its Marvellous Oil Wells— Petroleum as a k'uel-

Pialakhana—iV llurning Sea— -Natural C.as 417

CHAPTER XLI.

The \'olga River and Mighty Traliic—.\strakhan— Kazan— Xijni Novgorod-
Rafts— The People— The C.rcat Lair 429

364

374

3S2

394

403

CONTENTS.

317

329

347

• 355

CHAPTER XLII.

Frnm Xijni to "Ryliin'l; by River; Then by Rail to St. rctersburL; — lVtcrli..f :

its Hcaulilul I'uiuuains — The Meet ingof tlie Kmperors .... 44-,

CHAPTER XLHI.

St. Pclcr'.hiirc;— Poliicness and (iooil Nature of the Russians — Sunerl) (lalleries

lli-iniilane— Winler J 'alace— Winter Revelry— St. Isaac's Church — Ilhimina-
timi ;;! I'vierhiif ......

453

CHAPTER XLIV

Finlan<l— An Intcreslinf; Counlrv — Tlie Finns— Ti)rnca—Mi(Ini,;ht witliin tlu-
Arctic Circle— l'i.stin_L;—l''arniii;-— Tile Kelaticms of the Russians with their
CinKiuereil ^ulijects _jf^,i.

CHAPTER XLV.

Sail to Sweden— I'p'ncely Fellow \'oya-ers— Stockholm— The Swedes— I Fouie-like

Landscapes _^,j,^

304

374

3S2

CHAPTER XLvT.

\orwav— Maf,'nilicent Scenery— 'I'rustful T'eople — I'lcasinfj Simplicity — I'rettv

Log-li.ju-.e.s— Farming iu .Norway- Cdaeiers and Water-falls . . 4,^9

CH.VPTER XI. VH.

Chri-tiauia- \'ikiMi; Ships— Tla-leniarken-The Fiords— Climate of Xnruav-
>ldeiidid Roads— -iJelightful Tours — Mountani 1 fairies

■ 50J

CHAPTER XLVin.

Copenhagen- Thorwaldsen— Freilericksbori,'- Thrifty Danes— Run to I'.erlin—

llerlin in 1652 and Xow— Rellectious ^oj

394

403

■ 417

■ 429

CHAPTER XLIX.

A Lunch "en famille" with I'.ismarck— Charmini; Hospitality— Kindliness .if the

I'rince — AutoLr,apli> anil I'hotographs ^^4

CHAPTER L.

Tlambur-- An Intercstin;; City— (Quaint I lanover— Lean-to ( )ld Houses— Run to
Fiankfort — I'he Rhine

546

CHAPTER LI.

Wonderful, Fascinatins; I'aris- I,up,-,>vement-, of the Fmpire— Recollections of

L>ecember, 1S51 — Markets of I'aris ... = =

1«!

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER LIl-

Vicious I. .melon— Its 1 o{,s ii< i . ^ ^^^^

London, Crcat nn

Tortworth Court ami Dt-rkuleyta'tl^ . •

CHAPTER Un.

■v\- . 1 .,si- iliL- Race with tl'.'; Sun
Our Home Kui.-Niagara-\\c Lost the

56C'

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Tin-. (liu-.AT Sr.i.KiuK (;la(;ikk, (li.Acir.K Ilorsi;. Canadian I
Railway .

IlrUMI'l' RaNCK, I-lcKKV MnlNTAINS, WIl It CaNAOIAN PACIFIC R. R. ST/

TiiK CiiANcni.i.KR, Ottkr Taii. Rangk, Rocky Mountains. <'\n

rACIlIC RaII WAY

AVAI.ANCIIK SlIKI), SKI.KIUIC MolNTAINS. CANADIAN PAIiriC RaIIAVAV
Cl AlIKK IIorSK AN!) CikKAT (ll.Alll:K. CANADIAN r'ACIIIC RaIIWAY
IIl-.RMir MilTNTAIN, RnCKRs' 1'ass. Canaihan PAciric Rauavay
CicANiii' (. i;riAi;s (53 Fekt in Circimi f.kknck), Stani.ky Park, \'anci

P.khisii Coi.iMniA ........

f lull ;l. ASS I'lUS, \'.\NrorYF.R. PjRIIISH Col.lMDIA ....

.V Part OF jArANKSF. 'ri-.MPi.i;, XiKKo, Jai'an

l'r|i-\'.\MA, FRciM Tin; ToKAnm .......

flMi Sl'iNF, fMAin.S, NKAR XlKKd, JaTAN

Wa i-Si.-Ka r Paiwida, IIani^khk .......

Pii KMi.si; I.AiiiFS xi 'I'fa and Smukini:

I.ii.ii' ON riiF. I)ar|i;i.i.ini; Railroad

CoKi'^i. IN Canhis and (.'rkmaiion ON riiF Rank, Pi'.nares .
Indian WoMFN w rill FcKi. MADi: oiManfrf. ....
Till. 'I'aj I ROM iin Rnij;, Ai.ra

PAKSKI; ToWKR 01 SlI.KNCK, RoMllAY

(iRorp OF Hii.i. pFon.K OF Ckntra:. Fniiia

CiOlTRAS OF [IlNI 'rFMI'I.K, ^rADl•RA

TAl.ll'or PaI.M in lil.ooM, Cfyi.on

iNDlA-RlKKFR TKFFS, P.VRKDF.NI YA CiARDKN, Cf.YI.ON

Caiamaran I'lsiiiNc-lioAT uTi'ii OrTKi(;r;FR, Cfyi.on .

.\. IIan\ AN Trkf Straddi.inc. a Road, Ciai.on ....

RaMFSSFS II., KlNFIFFNTII DYNASTY. KNOWN AS SKSOSIRIS .
SfcTION OF Ol.l) WaI I.. CONSTANTINOI'LK

TiiK Krfmi.in,, .Moscow ...

MoFNT Kazhfk FROM Station IN Caucasi's Mountains

Russian " Troika"

STAT.Iil R AND WoMAN ClIURNINC, IIaII ID JaF.TKR, TN TIIFI.F.M ARKFN
Fl.MD.M., IROM .VasI.TRAKKFNF, IN THF TlIFI.KMAR KI'.N, XoRWAY .

IIlTTFRDAL ClIURCH. ThKI.F.M.\RKFN

xili

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ADi;

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Si)
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92
136
170
1S4
I./,

250
262
26,^
272
274
276
296

344
39')
406
466
5 "4
511
512-

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

CHAPTER I.

THE START— WINNIPEG AND MANITOBA— THE CANADIAN rACIFIC

RAILROAD— SCKNKKV IN THE ROCKIES, THE SELKIRKS

AND ON THE FKASEK RIVER.

^'ictoria, British Coliwibia, August 3, 1887.

Having resolved to make a race with the sun, around the world,
it became a matter of some moment the choice of route we should
pursue. We recognized the fact that Old Sol moved on a smooth
and beaten track. For countless cons he had moved majestically
along the same even road. No ups and downs ; no stations
v/here he has to stop to take food or water; comets feed his
nery chargers ; their tails, whisking around millions of miles, fan
their foaming flanks ; worn-out worlds drop into their mangers to
feed them, without the necessity of a halt ; asteroids and bursting
meteors furnish their driver with whip-cracks with which to en-
courage them to maintain their speed ; their own fiery nostrils
light them along their trackless path. Countless millions of ages
ago the mighty Eternal awoke them from their bcginninglcss
sleep whcji His fiat, " Let there be light," reverberating through-
out chaotic space, and rolling through its dark chasms and caves,
echoed from its frowning crags, caught and returned from limit-
less heights, was obeyed, and " Light was." Their next rest will
be when comes a crash of worlds, and the same Eternal shall
shout, in wrathful thunder, " It is ended."

Ours was an unequal task. We knew we would be handicapped,
not only from day to day, but from hour to hour ; we would have
mountains to climb, valleys to span, oceans to cross, and storms
and tempests to turn us from our road. We would have to pick
our course through countless obstacles by day, and to feel our
way among countless dangers by night. Knowing our rival would
be forced to travel a .lousand miles an hour within the tropics,
we determined to go far to the north, where contracted degrees
would reduce our mileage to nearly half of the tropical distance.

We therefore left Chicago for northern Manitoba. We ran
through wooded Wisconsin, rested a few hours at ambitious St.

J A RACE WITH THE SUN.

Paul dashed througli the great -rain fields of northern Minnc-
Tota e e ed he dominion^ of her mueh-jubileed Majesty, and
sSed on our race at high-boomed Winnipeg, on the 50th degree,

""Cthe wi!^; the •• boom '^it the capital of Manitoba wasnot^

ulative fever, would not have been commenced for years to come.
The city has many fine private buildings, a beautiful city hall, three
cle<'ant fire-engine houses, several well paved streets, and a mill
which turns ou't 900 barrels of Hour daily. The people resemble,
in dress and movements, the thriving, bustling populatioii of our
northwcstern States much more than they do the self-satisfiedand
slow-looking Canucks of Ontario and eastern Canada. At night
they walked about with pleasure-seeking energy, rather than
the listless, slow, aimless step of those we see along the railroads
which run among their brothers of the cast.

Manitoba,— by the way, they lay the accent upon the " o " in-
stead of on the final "a." though I suspect k to be wrong, for I
was told the compound word is " Manito " " ba " (God speaks),
from the Indian idea that the thunder is louder here than elsewhcr;,
— -Manil oa is a grand province. From the United States bound-
ary, stretching north and south about 150 miles, by 120 miles east
and west, it is a splendid small-grain country. The land is not held
by great individual owners or by syndicates, but in small holdings,
rarely larger than a section, and generally only a half. Tln^ farms
are better cultivated than in Minnesota. The fields aremu. i freer
from weeds, and the crops better than any thing we saw on our
way in the States, except in a small section near Crookston. Wc
were told the expectation was for an average crop of 25 bushels to
the acre. Some fields, we thought, in passing, would nearly
touch 40. At Winnipeg we boarded the Canadian Pacific.
For a considerable distance the country is perfectly flat, with a
soil of great depth ; ditches will make it all finely arable. From
Portage La Prairie westward the surface is undulating, often high-
rolling, and for 109 miles to Virden is as beautiful prairie as one
could wish to sec. North and south in this belt the same charac-
teristics, we were told by a well-informed gentleman, extended
from the United States line to the northern limits of the province.

What cunning chaps the Hudson Bay Company people were !
For long years they told the world that this was a region only fit
for fur-bearing animals. But now, since the iron horse has
snatched the reins from this great cormorant, we find this mighty
northwest a country capable of supporting millions of happy
agricultural people. Rivers abound, running in deep-cut banks,
into which the lowest and flattest land can be drained. Wood is

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not so far off that it cannot be had in sufificicnt quantities for domes-
tic purposes, and coal-fields lie so close to the rivers that coal can
be transported by water if the rail fails to do the work. In the
summer season the sun pours down a flood of heat. The nights
are cool now, and we were told arc always so. Years ago, when
the American cry was " 54° 40', or fight," I was a Whig, and
twitted the Democrats for coming down to 49*^. I now feel like
still twitting my old Democratic brethren of the past for not
standing up for 54° 40'. I am not very acquisitive of territory
for our country, but I confess to a strong feeling that Uncle Sam
ought to own from the Superior up to Alaska and on to the Pa-
cific. Let it not be understood that we would do any better for
the people than the Dominion is doing. They are thriving, and
the Canadian Pacific Company has built a road which none of our
transcontinental railroatls can surpass. It is thoroughly laid,
smooth, and finely ballasted. The depots or stations are built
with taste, and bridges are erected with great strength. In the
far west experimental farms are worked so as to give the emigrant
actual knowledge of what the soil is capable of producing.

After leaving Virden the country assumes less of a prairie ap-
pearance and more tiiat of a western plain, but sage-brush does
not commence for a long distance, and, in fact, is light at any
point 9n the road. Some 200 miles were passed by us at
night when we were generally asleep, but occasionally I would
look from my window, and was thus able to make a tolerably
accurate survey. The twilight of this latitude is so lo ig that the
traveller is enabled to see much which in more southern climes
would be lost in darkness. We left Winnipeg at 9:40 a.m., on
the 29th. Early on the 30th we were constantly at the windows
or on the platform. Indians were occasionally seen at the sta-
tions, decked in bright-colored blankets, and with faces painted
as heavily as those of watering-place belles. Their " tepees " (tents)
could be seen near by in groups of from four to ten. They all
had for sale horns of their old friend, the buffalo. Cattle ranches
are scattered over the country. Habitations, however, as we ran
westward, became scarce and ranches fewer. Many lakes were
passed covered with geese and duck. Sometimes we could see
young broods of the latter, of the size of quail, on small streams
not over twenty feet from our train. The plain was now the
" coteau de Missouri," but not arid as the same plain is on the
Northern Pacific road. The whole country is pleasantly green
with patches of " down " diversifying the landscape. Occasionally
we would see lakes with edges white with alkali running into
purple water-weed. Several of the small alkali ponds were dried
up and looked like plats of driven snow. The grass is short but
thick, and is of the prairie kind, with a variety resembling bufTalo
grass intermixed. Frequently for long stretches we would pass
among bush openings, which gave a park-like appearance to the

4 A RACE WITH THE SUN.

olain Several of the towns have from 400 to 800 inhabitants.
Two hiuulrcd and odd miles west of Winnipeg, at a yillap named
Moosomin, wc saw a lawn-tennis party and a couple of nickel-plated
bicycles ridden by ambitious young men, this too m the territory
of Assiniboia, north of western Dakota. _

All through the ride on the 30th we were in the region where
buffalo formerly abounded. Hundreds upon hundreds of their
old trails were deep furrowed into the prairie, crossing the road
from south to north. What countless thousands must, year after
year, have trodden in these furrows to have worn them so deep
into'thc dry hard soil. Now and then their bones would fleck
the prairie in white patches, and at the stations tons were ready
in huge piles for shipment east, to make handles for tooth-brushes
and bonc-cmst for soda fountains. It w.is sad to think of the vast
numbers of these old moiiarchs of the plains wliich liad been
slaughtered in mad love for killing. The poor Indians, relics of
former ages, who are now living upon tlie bounty of the conquer-
ing whites, do not so much arouse one's sympathies, as the wanton
de'^struction of the red man's friend— the bison— awakens disgust.
The Indian would not learn civili/atitm, and refused and refuses
to obey the order to earn bread by the sweat of the face. They
had to go for civilization's sake ; but the buffalo committed no
other crime than that of being the Indian's friend, and ofafford-
ing an easy target for the wanton murderer. Seventeen years ago
I passed on the Union Pacific through a herd of many tliousands
at Platte Station. Their beef was then jilenty and cheai) all
along the plains, and millions were yearly making their annual
migration. For hundreds of miles along the Canadian Pacific are
the countless trails they dug into a soil almost as hard as rock as
they marched, in single file, from pasturage to pasturage and from
water to water. Now, it is said, there are not over one or two
hundred wild buffalo in the whole land.

As we fly on westward the plain becomes browner and browner,
but rarely entirely loses its green, and everywhere there are damp
spots where it is of brightest emerald. The great j)lains on this
road have but little of the painful monotony which oppresses one
for such great distances on the other Pacific roads. The rolling
prairies seem to rise and fall like old ocean's swell, always the same,
but ever seeming to move and vary. One can watch the swell at
sea day after day and not grow weary. These plains affected me
much in the same way. I could traverse them again next week
with pleasure. They are always fresh to the eye. This of itself
will make this a favorite route for transcontinental tourists. In
the whole ride, too, we were only three or four times troubled by
dust, although we rode much of the time on the rear platform.
The dusty places were only of a few miles in extent.

At Medicine Hat, 600 miles west of Winnipeg, we crossed
the south fork of the Saskatchewan River. Here, and for a long

THE CHANCELLOR, OTTER TAIL RANGE, ROCKY MOUNTAINS. CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY

■JJU-

JiANFF AND ITS HOT SPRIXGS.

distance, it Is a .iavi.ifablc stream sdiue 400 yarils wide. Above
this place, 50 to itX) miles, are fine coal-fields. The coal looked
pure, and our dinin},f-car cook assured us it was the best-cooking
coal in America. Before night we should have seen the Rockies,
but did not, because of the smoky atmosphere. Sixty miles from
their foot lies Calgary, a town of 2.000 people, the centre of the
great ranch district, where ranches with many thousands of horses
abound. The grazing country is said to be very fine, and extends
far south down into Montana. The plains here are very hand-
some, and the bunch grass is prettily green. The land grows good
wheat but better grass.

At three o'clock on the morning of the 3i.st we reached the
sanitarium Hanff. We stopped over a day, anil took two baths,
one at tlie hot springs, temperature from ' 10^ to 120", said to
have the specific virtues of the Arkuisas springs, and sought
for the same class of diseases. I do no; think the bath produces
the heavy sweats produced by those of Arkansas, but still I had
to lie for half an iiour beft^-e I became dry enough to dress. Sev-
eral hundred feet below this spring are two others, within 100
feet of eacii other. One is in a cave or grotto, about 25 feet in
diameter, with a natural vaulted dome, say 30 feet high, as perfect
as if cut by the hammer. It is now entered by an artificial tunnel
100 feet long, antl is lighted by a small natur.i! oiiening at the
apex. In the grotto is a natatorium, surrounded by pretty stalac-
tites, with water five feet deep boiling up from the sanily bottom,
with a temperature of 95°. Cold water pours from a large sjiell-
shapcd stalactite in sufficient quantity to make a cold shower.
One can thus swim around in warm water, and then cool off his
upper body, while from his waist down he is in a warm bath. A
hundred feet from this is another large pool, 20 feet across, of
about the same depth, and being in the open air the warm water
can be seen bubbling up through the sands. Both this and the
Cave springs have streams flowing from them as large as a first-
class fire-engine could pump. The cave spring discharges at its
outlet without coloring the soil along the rivulet, while the other
makes, a white deposit. This is from a magnesiate of lime, impreg-
nated with iron and sulphur.

Banff is 2,400 feet above the sea, and is nestled down among
mountains rising over 5,000 feet above the hotel, all of them this
year with snow on their summits and far down the sides in the
deep gorges. The sanitarium and hotel of the railroad is upon
the bank of Bow River, a stream over 400 feet wide, of crystal
clearness, slightly whitened by glacier water. The river under the
hotel breaks through walls of rock two or more hundred feet high,
forming a succession of cascades or r.'.pids of 60 feet fall, in say,
140 yards. The views of snow-clad n.ountains, the river, the cas-
cades, and whirling pool below make the situation of the hotel one
of the finest I have ever seen. Trout abound in the river of all

6 A RACE WITH THE SUN.

angline sizes. A lake-trout was brought i;. from Devil's Lake,
12 miles oft, while we were there, weighing 43 Poun^s. Banff is
in the National Park of 260 square miles. With commendable
wisdom, the government is building throughout the park fine
roads laid out' bv skilled engineers. _

At three o'clock Monday morning we took the west-going tram,
and went to bed ; but the early light made us shorten our nap,
for we were in wildly grand scenery. Now we were rushing
throu"-h noblo passes on the mountain sides, then under precipices
lifting" thousands of feet above us. Snow-clad mountains were
ever standing like grand sentinels about our way. The engine
puffs and snorts as it pulls us up the steep grade. The snow
gorges crawl down nearer and nearer to us. The snowy peaks
seem piled one above the other far above us. The stream we
have climbed gets smaller and smaller, till at Mount Stephen we
ar' at the summit. 5.300 feet above the sea, while above us lift the
might\- rocky sides of the mountain, its peak almost over our
head, 8,200 foot abo\ e the rail. The Bow River here begins in a
little lake, while close by in a swamp is the fountain of the Kick-
i'lg Horso, down whose can^'ons wc must go for many a mile.
Hue starts the former, whose waters flow far away into Hudson's
Bay. There, almost within a stone's throw, starts the other to
carry Stephen's icy waters into the Pacific. Hour after hour wc
whirl along, in ever-rapid curving, down the .canyon. Lofty
mountains arc on either side in vast ]:)reci])ices. Wc look up upon
snow, now and then hardened into a glacier; we look down from
the rock-cut terrace, along which we bound, and sec a stream
of moving foam, now in cascade, then in rapids, never still enough
to lose its snowy froth. Hour after hour we are in scenes of
grandeur and beauty. I say beauty, for the white snow, the
foaming waters, the green trees—these are beautiful, while the
mountains, with their frowning precipices, their rocky pinnacles
piercing the blue sky, are grand. For 60 miles it is the same
wonderful scenery. Our little creek has become a river, nar-
row, but pouring towards the sea nearly as much water as flows
down the Ohio at ordinary summer stage.

At 9 o'clock our rushing, roaring river has emptied into the
Columbia, which has come up from the United States with its
milk-white glacier flood. It rolls in rapid current towards the
north, washing the foot of Mount Brown 20 miles away. It
will bend westward beyond the Selkirk range, at whose western
base we will cross it again, after having steamed nearly a 100
miles through yet grander scenery. U'e cross the river ; wc look
back and see the towering Rockies. We look forward and no
great way off lift the Selkirks. The ascent commences at once ;
first up the Beaver, which near the Columbia passes through a
gate one can scarcely believe to be of nature's fashioning. Two
vertical slate precipices, only a few feet thick, lift themselves up

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SCENERY IN THE S ELK IRKS.

like the framework of a portcullis, through which the little river
rushes. A door 20 feet wide, set against the gateway, would stop
the whole stream. Up this river, and then up Bear Creek we climb.
The river is at first a few feet beneath us. Up we go. The river
is a 100, then 400, then 1,000 feet below. Still up, till far be-
low us — 2,000 feet — now through timber, and then over the tops
of lofty firs, we see the stream winding through marshy grass,
which one of us insists is a wheat-field. VVe seem to hang on the
mountain's side. Now the road runs through tunnels ; then it is
timbered out over precipices.

We are soon in the heart of the mountains; far up their sides,
till the snow and rocks are met, arc magnificent forests of pine and
fir, with stems as straight as arrows. I said we were in the moun-
tains' heart. I was too quick. We soon will be, for we break
through a pass between two peaks clad in eternal snow. The
snow is nearly down to our level, which is here 4,300 feet above
the sea. See yonder white precipice ; it is the foot of a mighty
glacier, luindrcds of feet thick, and pushed down in hardened
stream from the upper peak yet far above and beyond its brow.
The scenery now is grand beyond the power of language to paint.
One glacier frowns upon another. To our right we pass tlie sum-
mit, and two miles on we reach the Glacier House, a Swiss chalet,
in front of which are pretty fountains throwing up icy jets ; and
apparently a few hundred yards away to our left, is a monster
glacier, with its foot not much above the level of the road. With
a glass we see mighty fissures cracking its surface. It bends over
the mountain like a falling curtain. We are told it is a mile and a
half wide, nine miles long, and 500 feet deep. Mount Sir Donald
is watching its slow descent. Far above the snow, his peak, shaped
like a diamond drill, pierces the blue sky 6,000 feet above us. We
have to bend our heads back to look at his pinnacle. The de-
scent is now down a silvery thread, called the Illecillewact River.
It tumbles in cascades, and as it tumbles it grows. We get down
hill by making iron loops. One could pitch a marble from the
window upon the track below, which we will reach after bending
as on the link of a chain. After a while the little silver thread has
become a foaming stream, then a rushing river, so strong that it
cuts its way between two perpendicular cliffs in a canyon appa-
rcnll}- not over 25 feet wide, but several hundred feet deep.
The river springs through this like a madman in a leap then
foams along for miles below. At last, after a run of seventy odd
miles through the Selkirk's, we emerge from them and cross the
Columbia, a stream greatly grown since we saw it last 100 miles
back.

After a while we enter another system of mountains — the Gold
range. The scenery in these would be glorious, but we are
satiated with grandeur, and are more delighted by the beautiful
lakes, along whose margins we run, than by the heights above us.

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

After leaving this range, wc arc upon waters which empty into
the Frazcr River. Before night we pass several beautiful lakes.
One of them, the Shuswap, is of very considerable extent ; we
run alono- its shores for over 50 miles. Its width vanes from one
to four o'r five miles. Peaks 2,000 to 3.000 feet high lift them-
selves above its waters, now by steep ascent, then by sloping
benches. Its waters are said to be full of fish ; we frequently saw

them rising.

The next morning we were upon the Trazer. Here wc had a
different character of scenery from any before seen. The road
runs along the bank of the river, perhaps loo feet above
the water, nearly all the time upon ledges cut into the rock or
upon the steeply descending sides of the mountains. Wc must
have gone through 30 tunnels, in length from a few hundred
feet to several hundreil yards, all cut through solid granite. The
river runs tiirough rocky canyons at the foot of mountains lifting
2,500 to 4,000 feet. P lany of them were of bare rock, others beau-
tifully treed. Behind these immediately along the river arc yet
higher peaks, more or less flecked with snow. Laughing brooks
and foaming streams are frecjuently crossed, coming down gorges
in bounding cascades. The Frazer is a mighty river of white
water rising 500 miles away among ranges covered with eternal
snows. It is joined where we struck it b\- the Thompson, itself a
noble stream. It flows in turbulent current, now several hundred
yards wide, then cutting its way through rocky doors not over
100 feet from jamb to jamb. Often for miles it rushes in fall almost
as fast as a cataract. Below each fall it whirls in angry pools ; on
nearly all the ledges jutting over these pools are frames of light
wood, on which the Indians' winter supply of salmon hangs like
red tobacco in a southern field. Indians are seen perched on
projecting ledges, scooping with a net, shaped like a tennis bat,
for finny beauties. Their fishing huts arc on nearly every green
spot. Here and there is seen a Chinese washing a little gold from
the sands. High on the opposite side of the river runs the road
built 28 years ago by the government to the Carabo mines, 400
miles away. It often runs at dizzy heights and is so narrow that
the stage-coach passengers must have been in constant alarm —
that is. if they were other than gold-seekers. For these fellows
would have ridden the devil barebacked, and never felt a tremor,
if the dust was at the journey's end. For 60 odd miles we ran
in and out of rock-hewn tunnels, over trestles, along ledges cut
from the solid rock, and over terraces built from many feet below.
The rushing river was ever some 50 to 200 feet below us, while
high over our heads and frowning from the opposite side of the
canyon the steep mountains lifted themselves to a height varying
from 2,500 to perhaps 4,000 feet. They were often rocky but-
tresses, their steep slopes covered with pines and firs. This canyon
is alone worth the trip, and, while it lacks the awful grandeur

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THE FRAZER RIVER. g

of the glaciercd peaks of the Rockies and Selkirks, yet, being
always so close to us, is more terrible and startling.

After leaving it we ran through forests of giant cedars — cedars
two to five feet in diameter. But, sad to say, these noble trees a
good part of the time stood like blackened spectres, and often
were but lofty stumps five or six to 30 feet high. What wild
havoc the firc-ficnd has been for years, and yet is, making in the
vast forests of the Pacific slope ! The air in the Selkirks was blue
with smoke, and so it was from their base to the end of the road.
The air even here on the south side of Vancouver Island is still
hazy. From our windows we ought to be able to sec Mount
Baker's snowy crest, far to the southeast, and the Olympian
mountains, only some 30 or 40 miles to the southwest. In-
stead of that, high hills only ten miles away are dimly seen as
bluish masses above the horizon. Millions of trees, such as would
be the admiration of people east of the Mississippi, are now burn-
ing ; millions upon millions of acres have been within the last five
years stripped of valuable forests, which east of the Rockies would
be worth many times more than all the gold produced within these
years on the whole Pacific coast, and yet many of the fires which
have destroyed such vast wealth have been started by mining
prospectors. They burn certain wealth not their own above the
ground, in the hope of finding uncertain signs of riches which may
become their own, but is now hidden beneath the surface.

And now from this beautiful land, where winter never freezes
and summer never parches ; where, though eight degrees north of
Chicago, the honeysuckle embowers the verandas and the rose-
bush is a small tree in the garden ; where the cherries are nearly
as large as plums, and the red raspberry is a pulpy monster;
where the young pine makes a good fishing-pole, and the fir is
taller than the mast of the largest ship ; where cedars are mon-
sters, and the balm of Gilead is like a big cotton-wood ; — from this
anomalous clime, good-morning.

«aii

CHAPTER II.

TTMBER-rROnUCTIONS AN1> riXUl-lAKITIES OF OREGON AND

WASmNGTON-1-OKKST-KIRES AND SMOKE-SCENERY

OF THE COIA-MTIA.

Green River, Hot Springs, IV. T., August 14, 1887.

PUGET Sound is one of the world's marvels. It lies like a mighty

antlcrcd formation. Its inlets and arms, running 20 to 60 miles

fnto the land, are never more than four or five miles broad

and are often not over a half mile, with a depth varying from 50

feet to hundreds of fathoms. The deep Nvater comes up close to

the shore, and oftentimes sheer up, so that the largest man-of-

var could tie to a forest tree whose roots are watered by the

ocean's brine. By the way. why is it that in the hast the salt

water of the sea prevents trees from growing anywhere near the

shore while out here the lower limbs of great trees are touched

at hioh tide^ The sound has but few harbors, because anchorage

is rarely to be had. Tlie longest cable will not permit an anchor

to reach bottom, and the tides will not let a ship tie to the shore.

At Tacoma the difference between low and high tide is over

^o feet. At the mouth of the Strait of Fuca it is less than

five feet ; but the tidal waves press into the narrow sound and

lift themselves up to nearly 30 feet in some of the inlets. The

meeting of the tides creates heavy, angry breakers.

Seattle and Tacoma are the great rival towns of the sound.
The discrimination against vhc former by the Northern Pacific
Railroad has made the dislike of Tacoma by the average Seattlean
something absolutely interesting. She is*-ying to get even, how-
ever, and' will soon have a road built along the east shorcof the
sound, to tap the Canadian Pacific near Vancouver, and will ulti-
mately cross the mountains to meet the Manitoba road, which is
expected to enter Helena this year, and will then stretch out for
the sound.

The trade of this region with the East will before long become
great, and the northwest of our land will offer greater commercial
attractions than does the orange-growing southwestern California.
There " the orange and citron is fairest fruit." But here the
mighty forests, which cover the lowlands as densely as the jungles
of the tropics, and climb the mountains until the snow-line is met,
can furnish the world with timber for centuries. But, unfortu-
nately, the people, while proud of their grand trees, seem to think

HERMIT MOUNTAIN, ROUERS' PASS. CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY.

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THE TIMBER SUPPLY OF PUGET SOUND.

them inexhaustible, and are each year burning in sheer wantonness
a half-century's supply. It is calculated that over a hundred
square miles of forest will be burnt this season.

The lumbermen, who ought to regard them as their great
wealth-producers, do not seem at all distressed at this terrible
destruction, for they say that fin-s do not destroy the timber, but
simply kill the trees. And that, after being killed, they remain
sound for several years' consumption, while tlie loggers get the
logs out much easier after the undergrowth has been burnt.
This is a selfish feeling, especially as it is known that if a forest
be thoroughly burnt j-oung pines and cedars do not spring up in
the future. It is the exception on this coast when young forests
follow a fire. The summers here are so dry that the delicate
seeds of the evergreen do not germinate as they would if rains
were even moderately frequent. The seeds cannot grow as they
would if protected by dense shades. The soil is burnt up. The
trees are so enormously large and their roots extend so close to
the surface, that after a fire there is nothing left but ashes from
four to six inches deep. No one who has not gone through the
forests of this coast can have any idea of the enormous amount of
timber growing upon a given surface. An old army officer told
us he had to make calculations as to the number of feet stand-
ing upon some land, and fixed it at 200,000 feet of sawed
lumber jjer acre, and that, too, where the trees were not large.
We have now had a good opportunity for seeing some of the
heaviest forests. We have fished along three streams, and have
found out by experience the great labor necessary to get through
the wood along water courses. The close proximity of one tree
to another, and their vast height, is simply marvellous. The
roots of one mingle with the roots of its neighbor. The trunks
stand four to six feet in diameter, and nearly 300 feet in height,
and could furnish saw-logs 180 to 230 feet long. I yesterday ran
mj- fishing-line arouml a cedar six feet from the ground, and found
it to be over 31 feet in circumference, or over ten feet in
diameter. There was another, not ten feet away, which was over
six feet in diameter. On the opposite side of the creek, on the steep
slope of a foothill, were some 20 acres of pines of vast height, all
three to five feet in diameter, and so close together that they
seemed almost a solid mass.

To reach the stream where we intended to commence fishing,
we had to cross about a quarter of a mile of bottom land, over
which a heavy wind had passed last year. The enormous trees
were thrown about in vast confusion. I walked along a huge log
to its upper end, and the weedy undergrowth appeared so solid
at the side that I supposed it was only a few inches deep. I
stepped ofT the log, which, as I thought, was there a foot thick, and
on the ground, when, lo ! I sank up to my shoulders in dense
growth. When fishing yesterday, our guide at a certain point

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arc fi^ui.iiiK-1' ""^ - - -

able tliiin a trout in a stream. Wlicii I i;ot home they were not
there. I supposed our ^niide would brii^i,^ tliem in. Presently he
arrived without them. Dusk and then dark came on. I wa.s
alarmed. Their whole fishin^'-Ljround from bridi^e to hotel, which
is on the bank of the river, was not in extent a mile. The f,aii(le
and I went up the railroad, and hallooet! as lou<ll\ as possible, I)ut
could Ljet no answer, and yet the river was nowhere ;i ([u.irter of
a mile'from the track. To reach it throiiijh the woods without a
torcii was nearly impossible, and to _l,'o ilown stream d.mL^erous at
nijjiit. We returned anil found the whole population in wild com-
motion. The women spoke of bears. Some men feared tliat, al-
thou;4h the deepest pools were not over head deep, yet they mi<,dit
have been sucked by the rapid current untler adrift. Others said
darkness had caui^h't them, und the\- had built a fire to camp for
the night.

We got up an expedition with a single obtainable lantern, bor-
roweil at the little railroad station. We walked up the tr.ick
until oj)posite the fishing-ground. We fired pistols. Xo answer.
We then fired a rifle. Its clear note cut the forest air, ami was
echoed back from the foot-hills, a half-mile off. But sweeter still
than the echo came a view halloo from Willie, and then the shrill
whistle of Johnii}-. The woods between them ami us liad been
burnt this season. W^' struck an liulian file, two before the lan-
tern and two bcliiiu!. A couple of hundred yards in we ^ot be-
wildered. We retrace'.! our steps ox'er logs as high as one's head,
down into holes oi ,.• nes iiearK- up to the knee, and again reached
the road and fired our guns. We heard an answer. I then sent
the party in, while I mountetl a stump to watch the lantern and
to guide them by my pistol-shots. In about a ([uarter of an liour
a volley of sliots told us the lost were found. In another quarter
of an hour we saw the light coming b.ick. John and W^illie had a
tale to tell. They had not hatl a clear knowledge of the length
of their fishing mute. They had nearlj- reached the hotel with-
out their knowledge. It began to grow dark, and they thought
it best to retrace their steps to the bridge. Darkness came on.
They calmly built a fire to wait till morning, or till they should
be found. Hoth were black from climbing burnt logs, and both
were forlorn in appearance, but happy in the possession of a new
experience. Their camp-fire was close to the bank of the rushing
stream, and its noise too great for them to iiear shouts, or even a
pistol-shot at first. Had they attempted to reach the road in the
dark they would have been half stripped and badly mangled.

•I

PECULIARITIES OF OREGON AND WASHINGTON. 13

Even with a liglit it took a quarter of an hour to make a fifth of
a mile.

Tlie hiniber of this region is reaching an enormous product.
One mill at Tacoma cuts 200,000 feet a day. There are a few
others as large, and everywhere heavy cutting establishments.
All lumber is shipjjcd as square timber, to be cut up near the
market. A few pieces have been shippi:d to .South Anuirica
120 feet in length. From 40 to 80 feet is not at all uncommon.
\Vc saw lumber going East stretching over the entire length of
two long cars. Logs are barked in the woods, then one end is
cut slightly sloping, so as to run easily over roots and skid roails.

Here wa^jes in the woods are high, good o.\ teamsters com-
manding .iver Sioo per month. It is not every man who
can get out of Buck and Hrindlc their entire muscular abil-
ity. A skilled teamster, with his thumb gouging a bull's
flank, can make the honest fellow almost crack his yoke. One
thing strikes the stranger as singular — that is. the enormous
height of the stumps. The pitch or turpentine of the trees lies
in the trunk si.\ to ten feet above the ground. The tree is felled
above this line. This is not entirely waste, for the saw will hardly
cut the timber in the stump, and when cut it is unsalable. Hy
the wa_\-, we heard of one tract of 160 acres, from which it is claimed
near!}- 700,000 feet of timber — board measure — wajicut from e.ich
acre, and of a single tree which cut 45,000 feet. We did not see
this, but have reason to believe the statement true.

In many respects (Oregon and Washington present anomalies.
Much Indian corn is grown in different parts of Oregon, not for
maturity, but to be consumed green. The ground is jjloughed,
the corn planteil, and in the majority of fields is not cultivated at
all. but left to work out its growth. If the season be good the
farmer makes money selling roasting ears ; if bad, he gets some
fodder. One good rain makes a crop on the whole coast, it mat-
ters not what the thing be. The rapidity of growth is aln;ost as
marvellous as is the size attained.

We boarded the train at Dallas, on the Columbia, in upper
Oregon, in a range of more or less wooded hills. In five hours wc
looked out of the window, and found oursch'es in a land where
not a tree could be seen, — not even a bush other than sage and
some of its congeners, and here and there a prickly pear. The
air was almost crisp in its dryness. The hills in the early morning
looked as if covered with a soft velvety growth ; the glass showed
thii to arise from the closely grown sage-brush. Between the
bushes was a low bunch-grass, growing out of an arid ash-colored
soil. Near the rivers the sands are absolutely movable, and are
carried in clouds by a stiff wind. Yet in this sandy desert toler-
ably fair crops grow without irrigation. We saw a huge rick of
xyc, unthreshed, put up for fodder, and were told it averaged two
and a half tons to the acre. About the junction of the Snake and

'):!

;■(

I '

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

Columbia rivers a more uninviting country ran hardly be
imagined, and vet in a little plantation of poplars set out from the
sliprin the spri'ng of icSS6, the young trees were four to eight feet
in height, and of full, bushy tops.- I measured one of the shoots
of thTs season; it was nearly five feet in length. We counted
twenty-eight shoots on one little tree. We dug into the dry sand,
and found moisture at seven inches. We ate watermelon from a
patch said not to have been watered this season. The melon was
quite large and well flavored, but the meat rather pithy, as is the
meat ofliU melons and apples raised on this coast, the result
probablv of abnormally rajjid growth.

Another remarkable' feature of this country is the meagreness
of the wheat and rye straw when compared to the amount of
grain produced. We saw quite a large field of wheat which hail
been harvested. From the light stubble we did not think over
ten bush.els coukl have been gathereii, but was assured the
whole field of over 30 acres had averaged 24. This is true, too,
of the great Walla Walla whe.it country, where 40 bushels
are often threshed from straw which an Eastern man wouki
think could not yield one fourth of the amount. 7"his fact
causes many superficial observers passing through the country
greatlj- to underr.ite the productiveness of the soil. A IMichigan-
der whom we met swore he would not giv'e one good farm in his
State lor all Oregon anil Washington Territorj- for agiicultural
purpo.ses. lie had only seen the standing crops, and therefrom
made his estim.ite of values. All fruit matures ra[)idly, ami is
often rather tasteless. Tiie green corn is insipid and the appies
lack flavor. The pears are cpiite good, and the plums and berries
delicious. I regret to say there appears to be a general lack of
energy among the people, and especially among the farmers. The
ground produces without much work. Stock live out-doors all
winter and grow fat on the grass, which nature turns into hay
without being cut. The farmers, therefore, grow careless, and
have a general look of lacking thrift.

We went to Oregon and Washington more to see the scenery
than to look at the people, or to examine into the sources of
wealth, but found every thing shrouded in smoke. At Portland
one could scarcely sc^ across the Willamette River, and the dust
was nearly half-ankle deep. It required a compass to find in what
direction Mount Mood was standing. We left Willamette in ^.
smoke which actually made our eyes smart, and from the park n
Portland the spires of the churches were merely spectral outlines.
Portland is a fine and handsome city. Ks business houses are
well built, and its residences comfortable-looking and embowered
in vines and shrubbery. But its glory seems to be gone. If the
rich men of the place do not soon bestir themselves, little Tacoma
and thrifty, pushing Seattle will soon catch and pass it. The
Chmese look prosperous and busy. The balance of the people

SCENERY OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER.

seem to be livini^ on past recollections, and that, too, though,
according to population, there are few places in America where
there is so much average we ilrh. The pcop!-- want some life beat
into them. I ask their pardon if I have reached a too rapid
opinion. I wonder if the smoke has not something to do with it.
The people are probably cured into abnormal steadiness. We
left the city well pleased with the pleasant people, but rubbing
our eyes as if we had been in a smoke-house. By the way, we
determined that Eastern packers should bring their pork here to
be cured. A house of wire gauze to keep the flies out would take
in smoke enough to cure hams and jerked beef, without any other
than that furnished by the forest fires.

We found the lower Columbia River so involved in sooty haze
that, when in the middle channel, we could barely see the two
shores. Ikit as we approached the cascades the atmosphere grew
clearer, and after passing tliem we were met by a wind from up
the stream, and were soon in full enjoyment of the beauty of this
incomparable river. The high mountains towered up, and the
rocks wore that indescribable purple-brown seen nowhere else.
Landscape after landscape was presented to our view, holding
us in silent rapture. ]\[an\- of them would be grand if they were
not so beautiful. One feels as he does when looking on a noble
woman with a madonna face. The majesty of her form is lost in
the angelic visage. The tints of the rocks and precipices are to
the other rocks what an Italian sky is to other blue skies. There
was just enough smoke to tone down the distant heights without
destroying a single outline. It supplied the softening effect
which the mists furnish in the Tyrol. Even Mount Hood
deigned to show us his sentinel peak, with his eternal snows and
his glaciered slopes; he seemed a monarch, disclaiming all com-
panionship. So spellbound were the passengers of our steamer
that they simply turned orce to glance at Mount Adam's grand
cone, far to the'north. We were satisfied ; we had seen what we
came to see, — the Columbia and Mount Hood.

CHAPTER III.

MORE AliOUT \VASIllM.l()-\— VICTORIA AND
\'AXCOUVER ISLAND.

Victoria, B. C, August 19, 1887.

Two weeks ago we first reached this pretty old town. 'V'c
were anxious to go to Alaska, but found tlie steamer woi.'d u ■.
leave before the 8th, to return to-day. liut our ship, the i<VA/. /,:
was scheduled to leave to-day for Japan. We might make A.ask.i
and return in time, but if fog should interfere for one day we
would get back too late. We were advised not to take tlie
chance. We therefore went ^^ Washington Territory and
Oregon; hurried through them more rapidly than we could have
wished ; got back here, and found that for some reason the /'dta-
via would not be here, but that the Piirt/iin woukl take her place
a week later. A whole week would, therefore, be on our hands,
and we were out of those regions where we could make profitable
excursions.

This morning when we went ilown to breakfast there sat some
friends who had gone over the Can.ulian Pacific with us. They
had been to Alaska, and did not have a single rainy or foggy
day. The trip before, the steamer had both rain ar.d fog. It
ought to have been our good-fortune to have been aboard, and to
have enjoyed what we so much desired, — this fine excursion
towards Behring Strait. Rut. sad to admit, my star had set.

By the way, it will be little singul.ir if we .should sail across the
miglit}' Pacific on the Partliia. Fourteen years ago last May I
stood at die Cunard docks, in Xcw York, and watched this ship
sail out with those who were dearest of .dl on earth to me, — my
wife and children. They had taken a position where I could see
them as long as possible. We waved our handkerchiefs until
they could no longer be seen. But still I watched until the good
ship was lost in the Narrows. I clutched a pile, which stood
above the pier, and in nervous distress tried to shake it. There
disappeared nearly all that made life dear to me. Between them
and eternity was a single plate. Would I ever see them again ?
Would _^they ever return to their native land? W!i could
answer? As I stood stnu'ning my red eyes — I had r /iied a
tear while with my dear ones, but when they were L-'or. . 1 broke
down and wept, not as a woman, but asa strong man '.an »-ecp, t»ars
which seem to be wrung from the very soul -a rough man passed

VANCOUVER ISLAND.

me. He saw my distress. Touching his hnt, he said, in gentle
tones which I can never cease to thank him for: "You have
friends on the Parthia, have n't you ? " "Yes, my wife and all
my children." " Don't be aggrieved, sir ; they will reach t'other
side. She is a stanch ship." And the good stevedore's eyes were
moist with real sympathy. The ship tvas stanch ; she bore
my loved ones to "t'other side." But one of them, and the
dearest, is still on the other side. She sleeps in her far-off " God's
acre." Her spirit took its last flight in 1876 among strangers;
warm-hearted Germans shed tears on her grave, and the eternal
liills of Thuringia look down upon her German resting-place. In
1874, I went over myself on the Parthia and spent the summer
with my family, and rekindled the friendship which many years
before, as a young man, I had formed for the German people.
Now I am on my way to Germany, to bring back my wife's
remains, to lay them by the side of her little ones who sleep in
Chicago's Gr:iC''lantl. I go with the sun and the Parthia steps in
to take tlie place of the .-.hip'which was to have carried me nearly
five thousand miles on my ji.uiiiey. I hail her as an omen of
good }-et to come. She is expected to-morrow, and we hope to
sail on her on the 25tii. Vv'c will lose a week from the time I hopi.'
to spend in the land of the Mikado. This week cannot be made
up, for climatic reasons may force us onward toward India before
fully doing Japan.

In a Former letter from here I said nothing of this pretty
place. Unlike others we have seen on the coast, it seems built to
stay. The bulk of the houses in the main town are of brick and
have a solid outlook. The streets are broad and well laid out and
paved, the road-beds being a heavy macadam of trap-rock, steam-
rolled.

The worthy mayor, Mr. h\Ml, drove us around yesterday, point-
ing out the points of interest. This island, V'ancouver, is about 300
miles long by 75 to 100 miles broad in the wider parts. It is moun-
tainous, and not adapted to a high cultivation, but has a soil which
will, when the great empire of the Pacific shall be in its glory,
furnish food for a lanTo population. It is throughout well wo'otled,
not with the vast-siyed timber of the main-land, but with trees
that would be considered fine in Michigan. It lias extensive
coal-fields, and yesterday I saw the man who from poverty actually
stumbled into a hugi; fortune. His foot was caught in the root
of a fallen tree, causing him to fall ; looking down he saw a piece
of coal, and thus discowred the fields ofNanaimo. The lucky
man, now a millionaire, with the aid of California capital has
built a railroad from this place, some 70 odd miles long, and the
town of Nanaimo is a flourishing place of over 3,000 people. The
road is pushing still on and, I think, has reached Comox, 60 miles
farther north. How few people in the eastern States or in Eng-
land have any conception of this Pacific country of the northwest !

■',?

A RACE I VT/f THE SUN.

The cunning Hudson Bay Company gave out to the world the
impression that the counlr) from Lake Superior to the mouth of
th.' Cohunbia and thence to the far-off north was the home of the
fur-bearing animals, and that only the trappers could gain a living
in it. This impression hastakcnsuch a deep hold, that those that
visit it are supposed to be visionary dreamers, or worse, when they
tell the world that this vast country is admirably fitted for the
home of man. A soil which produces of wheat from 30 to 45
bushels per acre; oats from 50 to ;o and potatoes from 125 to
2;- '■ si' Is ; this, too, on the better lands even of this island. On
the ind oats have threshed out, just within the United States

line, I 00 bushels, and I heard of potatoes running to 700.

Last week we stopped at the celebrated hop helds of I'ayallup,
in Washington Territory, and saw a field which had given 4,000
pounds per acre, and 1.600 pounds is the average yield of some
6.000 and more acres. The rich low grounds on White River, The
P)'allup, and several other streams average over 2,000 pounds jier
acre. We looked at th.c poles upon which were \ast crowns of white
hops, as yet not half grown, but as large as ripe ones grown in the
east, and I could not help feeling there was a vast amount of
personal liberty flowering about us, a.ul .hat a regular and large
hop-growth in Washington Territory would help to drive out
adulterated beer and alcoholic poison and prove the solution of
the temperance question. Pure and cheap beer will drive " rot-
gut " out of the world. The philanthropist will then cease to be
a prohibitionist, and the question will be taken out of politics.
The hop-growth of the Territory is simply in its infancy. We talked
with a man — John Meeker — who, a-foot, carried the first 20
roots into the liop region on his shoulders, when railroads were
scarcely dreamed of and t^lic stage-coach only tried to go to the
gold diggings. Meeker's father carried in a single bag the first
crop of hops to a local market ; that was done only 20 odd
years ago. Now the yield for this year will be about 50,000
bales, each bale weighing 180 pounds or thereabout.

Next month the harvest begins, and then from the far north,
nearly as far as Alaska, and from over the mountains will come
Lulians by the thousands to do the gathering and to earn from $2
to $3 a day. The squaws are the best pickers. At Seattle and
Tacoma their camps are already to be seen, and Siwash (Indian)
canoes dot the whole of Puget Sound, bearing their loads of six
to a dozen Indians, with prows turned toward the hop lands. We
certainly saw on the wacer or drawn upon the shore several
hundreds of the huge dug-outs, some of them nearly as big as the
war-galley of Homer's heroes. It is said to be worth a trip across
the country to see the great pic-nic of the pickers in the months of
September and October. The red pickers numbc- .several thou-
sands. They pitch their " shaks," or tents, in the streets, along
the banks of the streams, and up against the railroad tracks, and
gather by day and laugh and gamble by night.

•i^

world the
mouth of
mc of tlic
in a living
hose that
,hcn they
xl for the
30 to 45
im 125 to
land. On
:ed States

700.
I'ayallup,
k'cn 4,000

1 of some
!.ivcr, The
)un(ls i)cr
s of white
iwn in the
mount of
ami lart^e
:lrive out
:ilution of
rive " rot-
-■asc to be
f politics.
iVe talked
: first 20
)ads were
go to the
[ the first
Y 20 odd
It 50,000

far north,
will come
n from $2
cattle and
li (liulian)
ads of six
ands. We
'e several
big as the
:rip across
months of
eral thou-
:ets, along
racks, and

CHAPTER IV.

SOIL AM) CLIMATK OF XORl'l IWKSlKkX rACIFU; >I.()|'i: — \K' 1 ORIA
AM) ESQUIMAUI.r— CKEEN RIVER— HOT Sl'KINllS AM) TROi: T.

Victoria, B. C, August 21, 1887.

There is the home of a great future population in the north-
west ; I think I c.in see into the future, guided by what history
tells of the dense populations of the far past, that there will some
day be a great people in the cool northwest — greater than in hot
and dry California or in the more inhospitable regions just east of
the Rockies. Here in the vallejs and on the bulk of the plains is
an inexhaustible soil, which yields when irrigated, and in many
parts without irrigation, returns unknown in any other section of
the civilized world. This soil is practicall}' ine.xhaustible ; the
loam of the valleys is often over 100 feet deep ; the earth of the
l)l.iins seems to be a sort of volcanic ash, rich in all the ingreilients
which make the kernels of wheat and other cereals. On the
railro.id embankments one frequently sees stools of oats as rich
and green as is grown on an old stable yard. At (ireen River hot
springs, growing on the road-bed, which resemblctl ashy clay,
we counteil 226 berry-pods of oats on a stool from a single seed,
:ind 18 stalks from a timothy stool. The bank was eight
feet above the level of the land, and the soil composing the road-
bed was taken from a deep cut. There are millions of acres easily
to be irrigated. The mountains will furnish wood and timber for all
times, and in their bowels are all kinds of minerals. In the vast
depths of the sounds, bays, and inlets are the resorts of the count-
less finn)- tribes of earth's greatest ocean. I lere the fish come in
from the sea in endless profusion, and all of them thoroughly
fitted for food for man.

Harbors abound, capable of holding the fleets of the world.
And all along the coast from Fuca Strait up to Alaska are fiords
of vast depth running parallel to the ocean and constantlx- open-
ing into it by safe inlets, along which cheap steamers can go from
])oint to point without the danger of ever encountering a storm
which an Ohio craft may not meet. The Indian of Alaska comes
to Tacoma in his dug-out canoe with his whole family, and with
as little risk as one could run on a small river. The largest shi )
can steam in these inlets and salt rivers, without ever hitting upoi.
an unseen danger. There are no shoals and no hidden rocks; and

jg A MACE WITH THE SUN.

1 vessel can lay its broadside sheer up against the shore any-
whe^:? with no other danger than that of abras.on when hfted or

'"^^ft. whole northwest is of so grand a character
that eve'y thing east of the Rockies is comparatively tame. I do
S mean to detract from the beauties of our own sect.on. V o
here IS not a hill anywhere which does not furmsh. to my eye, a
ine of beauty. There is not a flowery prana- or a wavmg field of
ain which does not give delight. There .s not a gurglmg r.vule
Tvhi h does not sing in tones far sweeter than those of the most
!'ifted diva. But here there is more of >t all. and on so stupen-
dous a scale, that ours are to them what .a parlor melody is to a
grand chorus, or the eolia singing among the pme needles is to the
craiul artillery of the storm.

I look out of the window every few moments from m>
,viitin- table, and the low mountains of this island present to the
eves rPs f^ne outlines and as green and beautiful foothills as one
can' find anvwhere in the AUeghanies ; and yet these mountains
are bi>t pi<n'nies to those one could see to the south .n- west ol tins
hotel if the smoke would but blow away. 1 o see the gr.indeur
of this region one should come before July or after September.
Smoke is^lpt to be the rule in Jul)-, August, and September.
Even in these months the iiaze rather softens the near landscape
but it ; 'lies the mighty background.

This place ought to and ultimately will be to this coast what
Newport is to the east. The rocks along the seashore resemble
tho;-c at the plutocrat's heaven in Rhode Island, only they are
more numerous, and the bays and inlets would be the delight of
the lover of the oar. Some of the latter are little salt rivers along
which the rising or falling tide sends a current of two or three
miles an hour ; their shores are covered with beautiful trees, green
firs, spruces, and elders, and the red-barked a'rbutis bending its
gnarly branches among the green foliage, as smooth as if rubbed
down with sand paper and as red as if painted by the brush. The
wild roses grow as large as lilac bushes and often cover w^hole
acres. The royal navy yard of Esquimault looks as if its site had
been selected as much to please the eye as for its wonderful road-
stead. This roadstead resembles a beautiful lake of a coui)le of
thousand acres, almost circular, surrounded by wooded hills and
rounded trapite rocks, with an inlet of only a few hundred feet,
and opening from it a few small inferior arms. It is deep enough
to receive the largest iron-clad.

We were most kindly shown all of the store-rooms, the torpedo
rooms — in fact every thing which can be possibly exhibited to a
stranger. To Mr. Fell wi; were indebted for this courtesy. The
dr\'-dock is a huge one, in which the iron-clad Caroline was Ij'ing
to be cleaned. She filled but a small portion of the huge dock. It
is built of solid masonr)- and shows that the home government

ore any-
lifted or

:li;iracter
ic. I <.lo
)n. ]""or
iiy eye, a
t^ field of
il rivulet
the most
) stupen-
ly is to a
s is to the

from my
:nt to the
lis as one
louiitaiiis
est of this
•grandeur
.'pteinber.
jptember.
landscape

)ast what
resemble
they are
lelit^ht of
;ers al(in;4
) or three
ees, <;'reen
eiuliiii;- its
if rubbed
rush. The
vcr whole
s site had
rrful road-
couple of
hills and
ulretl feet,
ep enoui^h

le torpedo
bited to a
esy. The
was lyintj;
c dock. It
■)vernment

5
O

>•

■ ,t

;!,

A REMARKABLE CLIMATE.

does not intend, without a struggle, to abandon liritish America.
The Cormorant has just come out of dock. And the sullen,
dangerous-looking iron-clad Trhiviph, from which floats the
admiral's pennant, lies close by. We rowed out to see this great
ship. She is now a fifth-rate, but a few years ago was considered
an invulnerable monster. She has in her waist a sort of fort in
which are 14 huge guns, which could soon destroy any of our
fortifications, and her deck has long, small, many bullet-throwing
guns to rake an enemy's deck, some of them carrying a rifle-ball
3,000 yards. We were politely received and entertained in the
ward-rc)om by the captain and several lieutenants. This is the
head-cjuartcrs of the Pacific squadron, and the admiral, who
cruises from Alaska to Cape Horn, appreciates the variety of
climates his cruising ground affords him. He winters about the
equator and enjoys this glorious climate in the summer. Heads
of elk, mountain sheep, goats and deer surround his cabin,
and rugs of many kinds of skins, the trophies of his own hunting
excursions, prove him to be a hunter of the mountains as well as
of the seas, and that he is as ready to bring down the denizen of
the woods as his calling makes him to destroy man.

The dock here has cost over a million, and the ships and stores
of all kinds in this navy yard cost many millions. Will this ever
be ? Is man by his nature so pugnacious that these preparations
for killing must ever exist? Here in the torpedo house was a
torpedo boat, and another in the harbor, ready to destroy the
unwary. Each fish-looking torpedo, of which there are many, cost
about 82,500. This is but one of the many establishments be-
longing to England, and every nation has its own. And all for
the purpose of destroying him who we are told was made in God's
image I What is, is right. Man was made by his Maker and not
by the devil. There is but one God, and the only devil lives in
the hearts of his creatures. He intended it, and it is right. If
man did not kill his fellow-men he would so increase and multiply
that he would after a while do as the fishes of the sea — eat each
other. So he is permitted to kill in the name of liberty and of
religion to keep him from killing for meat.

The climate of this great region is to an eastern man even more
remarkable than its productions. The thermometer rarely falls
much below the freezing-point at Victoria, or anywhere west of
the Cascade range, and while tlie days are warm in summer they
are never hot, and so far at night we have required at least two
blankets throughout this month. Every cottage is covered with
honeysuckle or some climbing plant, which in the Chicago parks
have to be laid and covered in winter. And the ivy seems as
flourishing as at Washington City. There it is sometimes killed
by frost. Here it never is. A gentleman told me that at Seattle
he had gathered out-door roses during every month of the year.
The strawberry blooms early in April and the wild fruit is nearly

• it'

y^ A'/^c^ ;r/7v/ rj//-: srjv.

as large as our ordinary cultivated ones. Along the coast and up
to the heights of ilu; Cascades in Washington Territory and the
Selkirks in Ikitish L'tlunibia the air is full of humidity, except
during the summer months. Kast of the Cascades it is generally
very dry. When we were or. the Columbia at the mouth of Snake
River, Iwasama/.etl to find the thermometer, about 3 o'clock, over
100 in the shade. Tiie air was so drj- and free from all sul-
triness, that I did not feel the heat as being oppressive.

On the treeless plains, and among the whe.it fields of Walla
Walla, it rarely ever rains in summer, is never damp, yet. sjtrange
to tell, the peojjle suffer greatlv from rheumatisin. Judge Lang-
ford, whom we met at the Green River hot springs, tUclared he
considerctl his locality (Walla Walla) to be the natural home of
the tiread disease. The summer liryness explains, probably, why
we saw no mos(|uitoes in Oregon or Wasiiington TL-rritory, while
all the way from the eastern entrance to the Rockies, on the
Canadian Pacific, clear down to the co.ist, the pests kept us fight-
ing every evening, when the train would stop for a few moments.
We are now thinking of going back upon the road to spend the
time until the 25th. A gentleman wlm has just returned from
Harrison hot springs, about Co miles west of Vancouver, sa}'s
the mos(]uito has been terrible. I'^xen at Glacier House, in the
Selkirks, nearly 5,000 feet above the sea and right under the
huge glacier, some of our passengers were deterred from .stopi)ing
overnight, because they were so bad. and these were, as j-ct,
no bars in the house. And yet we fished in Washington Terri-
tory along several streams, some of them but a little above the
sea level, anil at hot springs, 1,400 feet up, and did not once .sec
enough mosquitoes to anno)' u^

It will be. or ought to be. grateful information to

our

tjood

ladies who battle so hard against the little pests of the bed, and
think they are the representatives of slovenliness, to learn that,
in the l^Iue IMountains. east of Walla Walla, if one leans against
a fir tree for a little while he will get the brutes on him. ' And
this in the clear, pure air of the pine woods.

We spent two days at the hot springs on Green River, in
W^ashington Territory. The water issues from a narrow fissure,
or, rather, seam, in the rock, which is a sort of trap. The seam
runs at an angle, perhaps of 25 degrees, and for several humlred
feet the hot water runs out in small streams, and near the sani-
tarium is sufficiently large to furnish enough for 50 to 100 bath-
tubs, and is elevated on the right bank of the rapid river suffi-
ciently to give a good fall to the hotel on the opposite side on a
bottom stretch, which is covered by monster trees. These have
been killed by fire and are now by slow tiegrees being cleared up.
It cost Si 50 V^^' •■^cie to clean up one of tliese forests to fit it for
cultivation or for grass.

I said the burning of the forests absolutely burnt the soil.

r i

NORTHERN PACIFIC SWITCHBACK.

t and up
and the
, except
ciierally
^[ Snake
ock, over
all sul-

if Walla

;jtran;j;e

:jc Lan^-

lared he

lonie of

)ly, why

ry, while

s. on the

: us fit^ht-

nonients.

pend the

lied from

\er, saj's

;e, in the

nder tlie

slojjpinj^"

[, as yet,

ow Terri-

d)o\e the

once see

our <^ooil
bed, and
jarn that,
ns against
im.

And

Kivcr, in
\v fissure.
The seam
1 hundred

the sani-

100 bath-
•iver sufifi-

side on a
hese have
:learcd up.
o fit it for

t tlie soil.

fiiKlni!^ we
and that below it was raining.

This statement requires a supplemental one. The first burning
only kills the trees. It is the second burning or clearing fire
which consumes the roots and soil. The fir and pine, as well as
the cedar, send out roots immediately under the surface. These,
a year or so after being killed, burn like peat earth, and in the
clearing fire the interlaced roots, and apparently the whole loamy
soil is turned to ash. If the projjrietors of these hot springs had
capital they would soon make the place a favorite resort for those
seeking health and pleasure. Hundreds of invalids now flock to
it, and, I was told by themselves, to their very great benefit.
We certainly enjoyed ourselves much, with the baths, the simple
fare, and the trout fishing in the rapid river.

The place is a few miles below the celebrated switch-back of
the Xorthern Pacific, which here plunges over the Cascade
Mountains by a succession of switches running zig-zag back and
forth at a dizzy height among the clouds.

Johnny called my attention, while going over this j)art of the
ro.ul to the tlense fog, ami was (juite amazed when
were running through a clout

The zig-zag system of switch-road is a tem])orary makeshift,
costing some §300,000 to hold the land grant, while a great
tunnel is being bored. When finished it will be the next long-
est one in America. It looks startling to sec our huge locomo-
tive — weighing, with tender, 104 tons — puffing and blowing far
above us at the head of our train, while below another was tug-
j,'iig and j)ushing. In a little while this would be changed, our
own engine wouKl be pushing us, while behind the other mon-
ster would be pulling. We C(ndd but feel ; (lOil help us if one of
the giants should lose eitlur wind or muscle, for then we would
soon dash down into eternity.

This is a fine pass for the tourist to go over and affords a
delightful sensation. It will be lost when the safer tunnel shall
pierce the mountain, and thus save this, to me, agreeable, if dan-
gerous trip. The Green River is splendid fishing ground, imd
one can soon fill a basket, some of the beauties weigh'ii.; several
pounds. They are caught of all lengths, from four o; 1 • inches
up to two feet. We were quite surprised to find these entirely
different from the bnwk trout of the east. It is rather a small,
dwarfed salmon, is flatter, and lacks the huge mouth of our
trout, and also lacks the thin, transparent cartilage, which makes
the mouth of those of a New I^ngland brook. A trout in the
east can pretty nearly swallow a fish of its own size. Not so
here. Nor have these the delicious flavor which I thought, as a
young angler, made this fish the height of good living.

To-night we shall steam over to Vancouver; it takes eight
hours. Thence we will take a run up the road, until the arrival
of the Partliia, before we again start on our race with the sun.

CMAPTKR V.

A RUN HACK INTO THE SKI.KIKKS ON A LOCOMOTIVK— (ll.AClKKS

AND AVALANIIIKS— SIAMKSK I'KINCKS— SCKNKK V AT

CI.ACIKK IIOI'SK.

Vancouro; //. C, Aiii^usi 27, 1887.

My letters are manifold copies of my journal, made as I write
my ideas, which are formed hastily in luirrying from place to
place. I must not be held as to the accuracy of some o' my
statements, nor as to the duration of impressions made up- ly
mind by what I see or hear.

In my last I stated that my star had set, and I was no n-.^er
lucky, because I had lost my trip to Alaska. V>\\i I picked up
my star aj^ain. On the 2 1st we left Victoria for this place, to
find what the Canadian Pacific people would do with us until the
Partltia should sail, and also to try to find our letters, which we
were sure good friends at home had written us, but none of which
had been forwanled. Letters were found, and Mr. Van Home,
the soul of this j^reat continental road, who happened to be just
arrived, i^ave us transportation to the heart of the Selkirks, 420
miles back, at Glacier House. VVc abandoned our fi;,hing excur-
sion to Harrison hot springs, and boarded the train for a longer
visit to the great glaciers. We were handsomely entertained
aboard the private car of Messrs. Edwin Walker, of Chicago, and
Easton, of La Crosse, who were returning, with their families,
from Alaska, and are all full of its glories. They ruide us full of
substantial good things, while proving that Seward was his coun-
try's benefactor when he gave §7,000,000 for the northwest cor-
ner of this continent. The mountains along the Frazer River
are now absolutely shrouded in smoke, and we all congratulated
ourselves that we had come down the great canyon over three
weeks before, when it was not so dense. We coi'id now scarcely
see the higher part of the foothills, less than a n.ile away. The
upper ranges were covered and unseen. But tne gorges of
the river were as grand as ever. We passed through the Gold
range and entered well into the .Selkirks before the pall was
lifted.

From Rivalstoke, on the Columbia, I rode on the locomotive
with jolly Billy Barnfather. May his face never be less round.
A few good Havanas made him as good a fellow as ever strode
an iron horse. A ride on a locomotive has to me always a fasci-

. f

RIDE ON A LOCOMOTIVE.

, 1887.

i I write
place to
le o'' my

I p. \y

nation. Rut in a t,'nind mountain country, around countless
curves, over lofty trestles, upon the ragged edge of fearful preci-
pices, and over deep gorges -such a ride is really glorious. We
had to climb up 2,700 feet in about 30 miles. Our horse, with
his tender, weighed nearly lOO tons. How he would puff and
snort, and sometimes almost plunge, to drag after him Ids
mighty load. One riding upon him, after a while, almost loses his
own identity, and becomes a part of the huge monster. Look-
ing forward upon the rails, merely silvery lines drawn upon the
road-bed, we forget these are any tling more than marks to
guide us on our way. The locomotive bends to the right or left
like a drunken man as we rush along the curves, and one feels like
a drunken man, who mil walk straight if he wishes, but finds it
pleasant to totter and zig-zag, so it be done not from necessity
but from agreeable volition. The rails ar^ but lines to guide, not
to control. And so, on we rush, never ([uitting the line a hair's-
breadth. Yonder is a monster barrier of rock right in our track.
Who "s afraid ? At it we rush headlong, and bore a tunnel
through the mass. See yon foaming stream, far down in a dark
gorge. We rush across it on a trestle as light as gauze-work, and
never tremble because of its being so fragile. How we careen
and climb I We reach a little level track. We spin along it with
a loud scream, and stop at a station as still as if we never knew a
motion. Miners and .oad-workers gather about our side, and,
while they admire, we are as quiet as a lamb, conscious of our
power. At last we reach the presence of eternal ice. We have
been three hinirs climbing a little over 40 miles. At Glacier
House we bid adieu to our friends in the private car, and, although
dead .igainst monopol)-, 1 cannot help feeling that it is not a bad
thing to be a railroad magnate, and rather doubt if I would burn
my jialace on wheels if one should ever happen to be given me.

Alaska may be grand, but when sitting on the piazza of the
beautiful little chalet hotel, called the Glacier House, and watch-
ing the sun climbing the mountains a. id rose-tinting the snows
which lie like a light mantle about these loft)' heights, and look-
ing u|) at the great glacier with its crevices of delicate green, and
the gray peaks of cc^ld rock which pierce the fjlue vault of heaven,
and hearing the mighty roar of the snow-white cataract, which
tumbles over 1,000 feet down the precipitous foothills a few
hundred yards before me ; when I sit in this wonderful val-
ley, nested down among huge mountains on every side, no
outlet to be seen, the lower mountain slopes covered with
eternal snows, and the gray rocks above the snows, these mon-
.ster peaks so nearly covering me that I must bend back my head
to look at them, — then I do not envy any one seeing other sights ;
these are enough for me, and I scarcely regret that our ship had
not come.

It is a delightful thing to sit at Interlaken as the sun sinks and

H; \

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

paints the pure brow of the Jiingfrau — Switz .Tland's pride and
<^lory. But thtic the Unpolluted Maiden is so far ofT that we
cannot become familiar with her. Here the mountains are so close,
that a bee-line drawn from wiierc I sit- would reach lofty peaks
and ragged brows in every direction, at distances varying from
two or'^tlirce to perhaps six- or eight miles. These mighty heights
are lifted a mile to a mile and a quarter higher than the road-bed.

The train from the east, meeting ours at Glacier House,
brought Prince Devawongse and his nephews, the little prince-
lings of Siam, and their suites. After a good dinner, we were all
soon in single file, and armed with improvised alpenstocks, off for
the great glacier which hangs over the head of the valley, and
runs down it nearly or quite a mile at a slight elevation above our
hotel. The newly cut pathway through dense forests and woody
dcbri' broui^iil down by avalanches, and over rough bridges span-
ning the foaming torrent, which issues from the glacier foot and
flows down the valley, is more picturesque than easily trodden.
The glacier, where we stood under it, was perhaps i2o tcet
deep. Rushing from ice caves are several torrents which
we calculated were bearing down fifty odd thousand cubic
feet jier minute, thus showing the great size of the snow or ice
field above. At one place our whole party of over 20 entered a
beautiful grottn. large enough to hold twice the number. yVbove
and around us were ceilings and walls of emerald green. The
Siamese kept up such a din, that we feared their voice would
cause masses of ice to tumble in upon us. In .Switzerland guiiles
forbid loud talking in such grottos. We made them finally un-
derstand this. We all cut and ate of the pure crystals, one of us
remarking they may have been formed more than a century ago.
No one has yet measured the speed of descent of this frozen
stream. The ice we were eating ma\- have fallen as snow before
Washington cut the cherry tree, or even before Columbus made
an egg stand on end. It was very pure and cold enough to be
very old. The little fledgelings of .Siamese loy^'lty were wontler-
fuUy delighted, and, like boys, begar, to cut steps into the sloping
side of the glacier to try cO climb it. I'\)r this purpose one
of their party had provided himself with a hatchet at the hotel.
The Lask, however, was abandoned when, in a half-hour, the) had
readied only a few feet

\\\ the w.iy, this is a very intelligent lot of y\siatic^ . The
brother of the king speaks Tnglish with considerable purity, and
the '.-oung princes well. They all have charming manners, and
seem fond of fun. They are to sail on the ParlJiiu, and we may
find theui not only agreeable but valupble co-voyagers in the
event we should conclude to visit Siam. If tlie prince will prom-
ise us a genuine elephant hunt, we will do it. Willie, wh.j is of
an anibitious turn, talks of falling in love with a Siamese princess,
but johnny says " no Siamese in mine."

pride and
iff that we
re so close,
afty peaks
ying from

t>- heights

road-bed.
■r House,
tie prince-

e were all
:ks, off for
'alley, and
above our
ind woody
dires span-
;r foot and
y trodden.
^ 1 20 feet
nts which
;ind cubic
now or ice
) entered a
:r. Above
■een. The
icc'- would
;inci guides

finally un-
., one of us
nitury ago.
this frozen
tiow bef<5re
nbus made
ough to be
:re wonder-
the sloping
Lnp( se one
; the hotel,
r, tliL) had

tic-. The
purity, and
mners, an"d
nd we may
^rers in the
: will prom-
:, who is of
se princess,

DOUGLASS FIRS, VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA,

I I

|il ii

A VALANCHES.

»1

Two miles up the road from the Glacier House is the summit
of the road in the Selkirk range. Here, from a small snowy gorge,
run the silvery streams which carry the waters to the east and to
the west. The one to the west becomes the Illeciliwaet River,
which, until it reaches the Columbia, is always a rapid mountain
torrent, affording the sightseer constant delight by its cascades
and deep canyons. The time is not far distant when tourists will
seek this locality as they now do the old scenery of Switzerland.
When one first sees the inclosed valley about this station, he is
not as much pleased by it as he will be after several days' sojourn
among its mountain fastnesses. Ho has entered it through so
much grand scenery, and his eye has become so accustomed
to nature's majestic works, that he looks upon this as simply a
part of the whole. Hut, after sleeping a night, he looks out in
the gniy morning upon the cold peaks, and then watches until
the sun begins to scatter delicate rose tints upon the snow-fields,
and after a while to ligliten up the old glacier, then he sees the
surrounding objects as a unit, and takes it in as one of the rare
spots to be visited and enjoyed. Walk in any direction for miles,
and the roar of cataracts is never absent, — scarcely has the sound
of one died out before another is heard. Tliere are a half-dozen
which give out the decj) bass undertones of a great fall.

We can stuil\- in the Selkirks the working;- nf the avalanche
better than in any other locality I have visited. The tracks of
hundreds can be seen from tiie railro"). Tlie fall of snow is
enormous. The air coming from the ot o\'cr the Cascades and
Gold range is surcharged with moisture. .irtlier wc^t it is con-
densed into rain. Mere it becomes snow, ami tlv fall is very
great, some winters we were told, reaching ::c<. or 40 feet.

It becomes piled in vast masses upon the mountain lieights.
The sun in February and March pours down great heat. It is
aided by the chenook winds, and loosens the snow masses in the
upper gorges. Down the snow rushes in avalanclve, reaching, it
is calculated, at times a speed of 100 miles per hour. The largc-t
timber is cut close to the ground or torn up b>- the roots. It
sweeps into the valley, piling its debris of rocks and trees to a
height of man)' feet. It sweeps to a considerable distance up the
slopes across the valley ; but its ilestruction is not confined to the
space the slide covers, for the rushing wind, pushed ahead of the
descending mass, strikes the trees on the hill opposite and mow.i
them down far above the foot of the avalanche.

One can see many acres covered with upturned trees, all lying
with their tops up-hill, as regularly as if they had fallen before the
axe of skilled choppers. We saw one of these places stripped by the
\vind covering many acres, the upper limit on a very steep foot-
hill being fully a (juarter of a mile above the valley! Often the
foothills have been denuded of trees for the width of a mile — not
the effect of one snow-slide, but of those of many years. The young

'-$.

, I 1

' I

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

trees and shrubs covering the stripped avalanche-tracks varying
in age from one to ten or many more years. In some places the
second "rowth has become quite fair timber. The slide cuts a
swath through the forest as sharp and well-dffined as the track of
a mower's scythe. One sees the old forests cut down to a line as
strai<Tht as if drawn to a rule. Then there may be a growth
of 10 or 12 years. That has again been cut into by a later
slide, and a third growth has sprung up. This, too, has been cut,
and a still later growth has followed. We saw one place where
we counted fiv: different cuttings, or mowings, of this sort, the
tracks covered by trees of different growths. In many places
there seem to be slides every year. In these, the very soil has
been carried away by the annually recurring avalanche. One sees
the track of a small slide not over 50 feet wide, and yet the
large trees have been cut down b)- it as if shaven. Sometimes
the track of the slide has been from some cause deflected at a
broad angle. In such places the trees had been thrown down to
a considerable distance below the turn by the wind, which did
not make the bend, as the snowy mass pushing behind it had
done. I said I rode much of our way back to (ilacier House on
the locomotive. (On the downward way I had a new exi)eriencc.
I rode on the cow-catcher from the time we struck the Thompson,
through the canyons of the Frazer, and on to Vancouver. It
was a delicious ride, free from dust and cinders, almost without a
rough motion — as if I were sliding along at furious pace on a
smooth surface, without any other motive power than that t)f
volition. The locomotive being behind, I almost forgot his huge
size, and felt I was simply skimming the road. It was by far the
most "lorious ride I have ever taken.

' 11

CHAPTER VI.

FROM VANCOUVER TO YOKOHAMA— AX OCEAN VOYAGE IJKENED
TO THE VOYAGE OK LIFE— THE RISKS OF THE SEA— STORMY
PASSAGE- A TYl'IIOON— PLUCKY JAPANESE SAILORS— OUR MIS-
HAPS AND RECOVERIES.

Steamship "Parthia," Pacific Ocean, Sept. ii, 1887.

This is Sunday morning, and, although yet a thousand miles
from Yokohama, I begin my ship letter for several good reasons.
In the first place the day commences beautifully; the sea is com-
paratively smooth ; the sliip rolls gently as she dips into or rises
from the trough of a small swell coming up from the south, and
by jioising a table upon the top of a valise, enabling it to rise and
fall with the ship's dip, I can write quite comfortably — almost the
first time it could be done for some ten days. Secondly, it being
Sunday, no one will drop in to propose *' a little game of draw."
Nor will any one pop in his head to find out if we wish to take a
bet on the ship's run, or on the length of the mikado's mustache.
One of our passengers is ready for a wager on any thing, from the
weight of a Japanese mosquito's wing to the height of the geyser
the'next whale will spout. Betting, repeating poetry by the yard
— doing it well, too, — and damning the fellow who named this the
Pacific Ocean has been the mania of Dr. S— — for the past ten
days. In short, I can have the day to myself.

But what shall I say? What can I write about the sea and the
passage? Every one who has been sufficiently lacking in brains
to write travellers" letters has written of the sea — the deep, darkly
blue sea. But, after all, if the bulk of the world's population be
idiots, why should not I join the procession? I can moralize
thus : A sea voyage is a fair epitome of the voyage of life of one
who has an abiding faith in a blessed immortality. The more
uneventful it be, the happier. Behind, all is left. On the other
side is the land of promise — the haven of rest ; a desolate Vvaste
covers ail tin, space between. If there be calms, then all is
blank — i.othing for the eye to rest upon ; nothing on which to
hinge a thought ; naught but stagnation and vacancy. If storms
arise anc' billows are piled mountain high, then there is exhilara-
tion, excitement, and awe, --a species of wild pleasure. But with
this, the bravest heart, realizing its utter powerlessness to battle
against nature's forces, so la', ishly demonstrated all around, can-
not help feeling a somewhat painful anxiety. Quiet and a restful

Ij ii

si-

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

sleep becomes an impossibility. But let there he an ordinary,
quiet sea, uitli its ili_L,niificd ground-swell ; a breeze, sufficient to
break the crest of the swell into white-caps, and to cause laugh-
ing, dancing ripples between, then one can watch A hour after
hour, day after day, and. though impatient of delay, never grow
weary. The clouds pass from horizon to zenith ami across the
sky in ever changing transformation, permitting the im.igination
to draw pictures in infinite forms, and to weave fancies in endless
variety. The ocean's swells roll toward one. ever the same, yet
one cannot resist the impressiiMi that each succeeding roll will
differ from the one before. The eternal motion is suggesti\-e of
life, and life with motion is never the same from one moment to
another. Life and motion make change a necessity. As one
watches wa\'e chasing wave, an effort is recpiireil to keep the
looker-on from expecting a variation. Let him give thought free
range, and then that most beneficent of (lod's gifts to man — hope
— will enable him to watch and dream, and, seeing no change, yet
ever hoping for change, he will watch ami watch with constant
interest.

So the pilgrim on the voj-age of life, knowing his haven of rest,
his harbor of refuge, lies at the end t)f the unknown path he is
treading, thankful for each tiay's blessing, pursuing the even tenor
of his way, ever occupied enough to repel th-'-t absolute re.st which
breeds rust of the brain and stagnation of the faculties, hears
sweet music in the sighing of the wind and a lullab)- in the buzz-
ing of the bee; drinks in sweet odors distilled by the morning
dews and exhaled by the commonest leaf; builds castles in
clouds, and sees fiery coursers in the cloud-shadows as the\
each other across the meadows and fields; IxlieviuL'

the
chase

-his is
in a

_. Iiopmg —
a happy anil prosperous voyage. Hut if his life "be eventful
race after wealth or a chase after renown in any of the walks of
life ; if he mingles in the world's storms, where men clash against
men, and people climb over shattereil fortunes or the blackened
names of others,— however surely he may climb the ladder, there is
over a rung higher than the one he has reached ; there is ever a
rung which is beyond his grasp. However often he may win in
the race, there is ever a goal which recedes as he ai)proaches it.

Some who go down ujjon the sea in ships feel a vague sort of
dread; but very many think themselves all safe when the>- lie
down upon one of the great greyhounds between New York' and
Liverpool. Our captain told me of a thing which illustrates the
dangers run even upon these well-managed monsters. One of the
most famous ones was several da\-s without an obscrvati. . v~)n
this account she was held down southward. .She was thought to
be south of Ireland. Officers were w.itching at night for'stars-
one of them was startled by seeing through a rift in the clouds a

planet rising off the beam, whereas it should have come up over
bow. Presently he saw, what he thought, the north .star;

THE NEW CAPTAIN.

ordinary,

fficient to

c lau^h-

lour after

ever L,^ro\v

cross tile

i;,nnation

in endless

same, yet

roll will

;csti\c of

onieiit to

As one

keep tlie

oui^lit free

lan — hope

hanL,re, yet

1 Constant

en of rest,

lath he is
e\en tenor

rest w hich
ties, hears

the l)n/.z-
L.' niorninLj
ties in the
they chase
)ini; — his is
entful in a
e walks of
ish at^ainst

blackened
ler, there is
e is ever a
ia)- win in
)aclus it.
;iie sort of
n they lie

^'ork and
itrates the
L)ne of the
iti. .. v^n
'hoii^iit to
: for stars;
c clouds a
ne up over
orth .star;

took an observation, and, on calculation on the basis that this
was the jiolestar, found the ship off the Scottish coast, and near
400 miles north of where they supposed her to be. The clouds
passiiiL^ off proved tiie observation to be correct. Her course was
ciianii^ed, and none but the owners ami oiTicers ever knew what a
wild race the greyhound had run. Tlie ship's metallic frame and
W(Mks had set the compass wild.

When we returned to X'ancouver from our run back into the
mountains to sail in the Parthia we found slie could not be ready
before the 29th. The hotels of the town are very poor, ami the
fine new house of the Canadian Pacific Railroad Company will
not be finished for some months. \Vc therefore resolved to make
a iiotel of the ship. On .^oinj^ to the state-room assit;ned us we
found it small and far aft, wliereas our room on the Initavia,
beiuL; one of the best, we were entitled to one of the best on this
ship, wiiicii had been substitutetl for tlie other. We positively
refused to accept the assii:fnincnt, but put our ba!^t:[age in one of
the better rooms, which we were told w.is held for the .Siamese
princes. The shore officer, wiio is char-^'ed with i^ettinj.; the ships
of this line ready for sea, was sent for. He conceded the justice
of our demand, but said he could do nothing; until the new caji-
tain should reach there from the east. He promised, however, if
we would rest (piiet he would see that wc should he thorouL^hly
satisfied. Under this assurance we each took a ljoolI r(joni and
awaitetl events.

On the mornini; of the 2"th we were readini^^ on deck v hen we
saw a tjueer compound between an En^ilish farmer and a towns-
man comincj from tiie railroad station, with a sailor's gait so roll-
ing that one would think he felt the pier beneath his feet flound-
ering in a rough sea. He looked not to the right nor to the left,
but marched over the gang-plank and up to dashing Captain
Brougli, who was standing upon the deck he iiad so many months
trod as its monarch, but was so soon to leave forever. The two
men shook hands. They were the old and the new captains.
The contrast between the two was amusing. Brougli. with his
magnificent physique, was dressed in an elegant business suit.
He wi. uld have been theadmiration of women and the envy of all
dudes. His own mirror always gives him an admiring gaze. The
other looked as if he liatl never seen a looking-glass, and did not

care a if he never saw one. His shoulders were of gr ..'at

width, and his chest as deep ;is that of a Devon bull. His body
was made for a six-footer, while his legs had beer sawed off for a
man of five feet. His clothes had been hastily picked up at a
slop-shop in Liverpool. His shoes had seen no blacking since he
left the deck of the Alaska, and on his well-shaped head was a
stove-pipe, built on a block which was unfashionable ten years
ago, and which had been ironed each spring for a half-dozen years.
In his hand he held a cotton umbrella. This was Captain Arnold,

Ii <i

A RACE WITH THE SUX.

the late first officer of the Ahska, and at one time of the
Arizona, who has the United States and several other medals
<Mven for saving life. When he came from his cabin the day we
sailed, dressed in his new captain's uniform, buttoned up so as to
hide the shortiiess of his legs, he was an extremely handsome
man. and looked every inch the captain of a great steamer. To-
day there is no passenger on this sliip who would not feel like
taking w\> a cudgel for Captain Arnold.

Arnold was first officer of the Arizona when she ran her nose
into an iceberg a few years ago, losing in the contest some 25
feet of her bow. As soon as the officers could get well upon
their feet tlicy piped up the men, and after finding them ail right
set to work to make repairs. All at once the whole crew was
missing. Arnold found them in the cabin on their knees, where
a clergyman had improvised a prayer-meeting. He went in with
a stick and drove them out with an oath, telling them to get the
ship riglit and then they might pniy to their heart's content. As
he was passing into the companion-way he met an old gentleman
coming up with his valise in one hand and an umbrella in the
other, as if seeking a hotel. A tips)- jjassenger who hail been in
the smoking-room at his cujis was coming down, and seeing the
old gentleman sang out in iliunken humor : " Have a cab, sir ? "

Oil the 27th Captain Webber gave us the half of the smoking-
room on deck, and placed some carpenters under our control to
fit the room upacconling to our own fanc)-. We rigged up three
berths in a room 9 by 12, with two windows on each side, a long
sofa, large mirror, ami. in fact, every thing to m.d<e us comfort-
able for a long voyage. The j)artition was stained, and Japanese
ornaments were hung upon the walls. M)- berth was run athwart
.ship, so as to leave the sofa free. The other room was fitted up
for I'rince Devauongse and the little Si.imese jjrincelings.

Thus we had a room rarely given to travellers — on deck —
plenty of fresh air and fine light. We have escaped all the un-
pleasant odors of the regular below-deck cabins, and .ilready
begin, with a sigh, to compare our quarters with those we will
probably have in the five or si.x sea voyages we must yet take
before touching our native land. I am suspicious our fine room
has gained for us the ill-will of other passengers who were not so
fortunate.

We pulled out from the pier at Vancouver on the 29th at 5.30
-V.M. in the rain. The fog which had covered the locality for
weeks was lifted and gave us a fine view of the picturesijue
mountains which environ the town. We reached Victoria at i,
and at 4.30 steamed away, having taken on the bulk of our })as-
scngers and obtained the .ship's clearance.

We steamed through the narrow strait of I'uca, having a
tolerably fair view of the liigh l.uids of the island to the north
and the snow-clad Olympians on the south, and ;it half past three

i il'l

S£A-S/CA'A'£SS.

^S|

took off our hats and made our bow to the mighty Pacific
Ocean, upon whose vast bosom we now for the first time found
ourselves. Our ship at once took her course — west, 14° south
— and, what will seem strange to the uninitiated, this course
never varied, in a run of 1,000 miles, more than a point or
two. carried us up from latitude 49° 30' to 51°, within 70
miles of tiie Aleutian Isles, and then varying not over two
points brought us, in a further run of 3,300 miles, down to
Yokohama, in latitude 35°. That is, this was the course as indi-
cated by the compass. But that mysterious variation of the
needle, which no one can yet explain, indicated what was very far
from the true course. Why this is so, and why the needle points
at all to the magnetic pole, will some time be known to man in
his wonderful march in science, unless he and his researches sliall
be too soon blotted out by some mighty cataclysm of nature.

During our first and second day's run we sighted the Abyssinia
and two schooners coming down from the Aleutian Isles, possi-
bly seal pirates, and had light-head winds but very rough seas.
Before the end of the third da\' nearly all of the 35 cabin
passengers were down with sea-sickness. The table was deserted
i)V all except three or four of the passengers. Johnny and
Willie were rueful and very pale about the gills. John soon
gave in, but Willie was unwilling to confess, and tried hard to
maintain the native hue of his resolution, until he heard that our
old se.i-tlog of a captain, who luul been from boyhood upon the
seas, confessed to feeling "that worst of all diseases, nausea, or a
|)ain about the lower regions of the bowels," and that the afore-
>aid captain laid the whole blame upon this "blasted peculiar
ocean." The two boys lay in their berths wishing thej'had never
seen salt water, and were as miserable specimens as Chicago ever
-cnt al)road. One acknowledged he wisheil he were at home, the
other that the P.icific were as dry as Sahara's trackless desert, and
that he were on an oasis as big as Atlam's fig-leaf, with no other
friend than one f.iithful ilromeilary. Poor boy! He was full of
pathos aiul bile, and would have poured out long Spenscrain an-
athemas against sea-sickness, had he not grown " inarticulate with
retching."

" I U- fi-ll lliat tliilliiii; liiMviiu'ss nf ho.irt

( ir latlR-r slimi;uli, uliidi, alas ! aUtiuls,
licyi.iid llif best aiHitlii'cary's art,

riio lo-.^ iif lovt.', llif In-achcry nf friends,
Ov tkatli (if llhi--i' wt- d.itc .111, wlic'ii a part

Of ii> dies willi llii-in, as uaili fund luipe ends.
Xo dculii lie wiudd liavc liffii mukIi mure [lathclic,
Hut llie sfa actiMl as a stnuig cineiic."

After the afternoon of tlie second day we had constantly rough
seas, even when the winds were light. They grew stronger day
by day, and scarcely varied from dead ahead. The swells grew
higher and higher, and our ship, though she rode the waves like a

: .'4^

vVk

■J

If;

■ I

\ ,

It j!

' I

A RACE WITH THE STN.

duck, could not help poking her nose into the monsters pouring
down upon her. The seas were generally from a decided southern
direction forcing us to take the trough.

My berth was built athwart sliip, and on the fifth night, in
the midst of a decided gale. I fouiui myself now standing on
my head and then on my feet. The seas rolled in continuously
from the south in mighty billows, and a cross-.sca came in over
the bows so that the ship now rolled until she stood almost u]xin
her beam ends, and then plungeil forwanl as if she intended to
run her bow clear under water. She would shake her head how-
ever and send the water washing in foam clear back to the stern.
Up she would ride the coming wave, and the wave she was leaving
behind would wash over her stern and then roll back nearly
20 feet above us. The main swells, coming from the south,
washed the decks from \nx- to aft. One of these dashed against
our ileck-house with such force that we feared we would be car-
ried into the sea. Some passengers, who could not bear to stay
below— shut in by skylights all canvassed and lashed, and hatches
battened down— were constantK' having to di>dge behind the
house (jr leap upon lockers.

On Tuesday, the 6th of the month, we all went to our berths
tired and sore from the two days' thumping we had receivetl.
Living up to my maxim, " to make the most of the present day.
and to hope for the morrow," I did hope that Wednesday, the
to-morrow, would bring us bright skies and smooth seas. Alas,
Tuesday had no morrow.

Wednesday never came.

It either got lost in the shuffle, or old Sol. seeing how wc were
handica])pe(l in our race with his imperial highness, took pity on
us, and instead of throwing Wednesday down so that it would
fall upon the deck of our ship, dropped it so carelessly that it got
tangled in the chain of the Aleutian Islands, which lies like a
necklace upon the bosom of the northern I'.icific. And there it
hangs and will hang forever. A liies non — a lost day. When
the captain took his sextant in hand and pulled the sun down
upon the horizcn to read his true reckoning upmi his fiery face,
he found that instead of Wednesday, the ^th of September, it
was Thursday, the <Sth ; the Thursday which had no yesterday,
for its day before was dead in its watery grave, in a pool a
little way north. 4,000 fathoms deep. We had passed the iSoth
degree of longitude. We were no longer west of Greenwich, but
were cast of it. Wc had one advantage. England can no longer
boast that it gets up in the morning before wc do. Wc are wide-
awake, and are now out of bed ten or eleven hours before John
Bull begins to rub his lazy eyes.

Sea-sickness had disappeared for a day or two. Hut the terrible
motion alluded to above sent some of the convalescents again to
bed. The boys were free, however, and enjoyed hugely the

sil
to

IV A I' /IS OF TJIK PACIFJC.

•grandeur of our surrouiulinj^s. I confess to fi'dint^ some little
anxiety, especially when seein;^' the hatches beinu; aj,Min b.ittened
tlouii. I had been in a storm, or rather stron<; ^'ale, on the At-
lantic ; had seen far strunj^er winds, and had heard tiuin howling'
far more fiercely thr(ni_i,'h the ri^'^iiiy ; had seen the sea mucli
whiter witli storm-foam, but had never seen such monster hij.
lows; had never seen waves lifted upon the horizon till they re-
sembled mountain peaks. I had once been in a seveii-d.iys' wind
which bordered upon a ^'ale, and hail felt the ship bending .uul
seeming to crack beneath my feet, whereas now this ship seemed
to be as far from any such intention as she ii.ul win n on a quiet
sea. Vet when I looked upon these mi^ht)- seas comin;^ in three
hu;4e monsters and ihen followed !))■ nine attending w.iter)' war-
riors, I could not help feeling' an awe, which intensified the ap-
[)reciation of the m.iLjnificent paiiorania, .iiul which forced me to
i'eel how impotent was man, when brouyht into contact with
nature's titanic forces.

t.)n all oce.ms, waves come in regular succession — three lari^e
and then nine smaller ones. 1 had often tried to verify this when
watchiii;^^ tliein upon the Atlantic, but had never been able to see
such uell-defmed e.\hibitioiis .is on the I'acific. The w.ives ^et far
liii^'her in a i^'iven wind, their crests are iiukIi farther ajjart, they
roll in more re^nilar columns, the hollows are better ilefmed and
extend I'or lousier di>tances. ()ftentimes one could look f.ir to the
south and then to the north, .uul see .i hollow looking like a valley
between mountain ranges. A wind .irises, which we feel is
.1 little affair, and yet in a very short t'me it will raise a heavy
swell, and the swell will live for a h ng time after the wind
has been lulled. The c.ii)tain. who has been on ocean steamers
tor _'3 }-cars, .says tiiat to him, loo, these characteristics were phiin
,111(1 emphatic. In his words : " It is wonderful how (piick this
oce.iii can get m.ul, <ind on what small provocation. The man
who nameii it I'acilic had not .seen it in these high latitudes."

riie r.ipid rising of the sea c.innot be better illu>tiated than by
st.iting tli.it one night we went to bed in .ilmost smootii w.iter.
The afternoon had been fine. Several of us had sat u[)on the
vessel's prow to watch an exipiisite sunset — a long silvery b.iiid
stretched along the western horizon, tinted here and there with
delicate orange. The entire horizon was perfectly marked.
Fleecy clouds .mil beautiful cumuli were spread overthe sky from
zenith to horizon. Tiie air hail for the first time a balmy feeling.
I'-very one s.iid : " (looil weather now till wc get in." I think the
doctor would have given heavy odds on the prospect. The next
morning we were up to sec a beautiful sunrise, l^y the way. the
few sunrises and sunsets wc have seen here have lacked almost
entirely any redness of hue. They generall)- are beautifully
silvery, with occasion. illy a little suspicion of (jrange. I sat down
to write. The wind was rising, and the ship's roll was increasing, but

>'.?:

' ' U

'Mr

-Tff

f|:

''} i

' f|

.\M'

/f /t/ic/-: ir/TJ/ 77//' .sr.\

my tabic upon a \a

Use so nearly counterbnlanceil the roll, that I

was t)

. ..blivioiis of any niarkeii chanjjc without. Johnny was asleep

the sofa by niv side. Thump! a biji sea strikes the ship;

r liouse, and 1 with dirtkulty escape takinj^r a

Tiie captain passed our wintlow, I cried :

water dashes upon ou

header over my

tabk

Wliat do you tiiink of this, captain

It beats -

Thi

don't

ii-> sort o

f tl

nnc on

the Atlantic. The ocean "ets mad

\- lunch." I fe.ir I

quicker than a co(<k->liop can ^a-t u]) a sixpc

will have to lay my >ty!us aside, for thinj^s look bad without, and

yet it is not four hours since we were in a quiet sea. I will .

It is now the ;ifternoon of Moiul.iy. . Just as I w.is writini; the
last sentence the shi[) ^Mve a fearful lurch. Jolinn\- w.is shot lu.id

forcn

lost across

the rciom and was met b\- the cushions between

his and Willie's berth. Willie

id flat on ilie floor. Dr. .S-

who was reading' H)ion, a

id 1 were thrown with the table and

vali.sc on toj) of the wa>h-stand on the other side of the nxiiii. It

was some time more

b^r

ore we cou

Id i\

ecover troni our C(jiilusi()n

And then what a wnck I The table was on the opposite top
berth, sofa cushions were oil to]) of the doctor ,ind mj'self. The

bed

was

in a mass amid the debris of an e.\-niavor and a Ne'

York tioctor. The water had rushed thiouj^h the crevices of tlu'
door and window, and onr-hoes.ind slippers were swim min:,rarf)u ml

in a surf bath ; a delicioi

joiHiLicl t)f I'reiieli ,L;r.ipes perv.ukd

t.ie

atmosphere, caused by the smashing; of some bottles of I'ontet
Canet ; books and camp-stools were j;oiiij; forv\ard and b.ick,
beatiiii^the old-time breakdowns of plantation dances. Of course
writing; was over.

So(jn hatchi's were battened down and skylii^lits \\ere canvased
and ia.;hed. We had fore and aft -ails up to .-teady the shij). the
foresail was torn into ribbons and the Dtlurs were " brought home."
The wind rose and rose. The sea was aiisolutily white, lookiiij^as
if covered with a miLjhtj' mantle of lace; the rollers comiiif^ in
were high, but not as much so as those of the 6th, for they were
fully 25 feet, but these seemed more angry. At 3 o'clock the log
showed ;i strong gale to have been blowing; at 5 the wind was
down, but seas were still high, and indeed continue so even now.
This ocean gets mad quick, but takes a long time to cool down.
The weather cools down (piickly, but the water beneath keeps up
its angry heat. All night the ship, which was compelled to keep
her course in the IkjIIow of the seas, rolled a id rolled, and few
peo[)lc had any sleep.

To-day all look wearied and sore from the 24 hou.-s' thumping.
I did not stand on my head, for on finding I could not follow the
captain's joke, and tack about during the night, over a week ago
we tore down my across-iiip berth and got "the carpenter to fix
up the long sofa so as to give mc a gooil" berth on it. Hut to our
tale. The captain and passengers have been discussing the gale,
and, from the shifting of the winds as it ran, he has come to the
conclusion that we were in the rim o

f a typl

loon.

m
h.
wi
se
at

A PLUCKY JAPANESE.

All the waiters, cooks, etc., are almond-tyecl ; the sailors, except
two boatswains, are Jap.mesc. And plucky fellows they are. About
(lark after yesterday's storm, the line wliich holds taut the fore-
mast's {;aff broke in one of the heavy lurches of the ship. The
{jaff is the heavy timber which supports the fore-and-aft sails.
Tliis was pitching terribly, and helped to intensify the ship's roll.

The captain rushed out. " What in is the matter with that

gaff? Send some one aloft to stay it." Presently the Jap-
anese boatswain's mate, (luru Muta (I want to remember the
jilucky fellow's name), went up to the masthead, ran a loose knot
.iround the chain which holds up the gaff, and let it slide down as
far as it would <^o. This was made fast below, and to some
extent steadied it. He then took aloft another line, climbed down
the chain to the end of the {^'.iff, and securely fastened a rope to
the point, and when it w.is made fast and taut belf)w slid down it
like a monkey. it was dark. The ship was heavily rolling,
h.iving been for the time thrown into the trouf^h sea. The gaff was
.it least 50 feet above the deck, and was being jerked like a whip
staff, to the right ;uul left — now over the sra on one side and then
as far over the sea on the other. The officers ail agreed that
sailors arc rarely called ujjon to perform more daring feats. Two
or three of us slipped into John's hand (this is his ship name) a
d<illar .apiece when he came down. With a brave leader the
officers of this ship say there is no danger into which these
fellows will not go.

Sept. \lt/i. — We have seen very little of life on our voyage so far.
One day, about the l>t. the sra was covered b}' myriads of Portu-
guese men-of-war. They were very small, none of them exceeding
two inches the longest way, but, with their little sails up and in
such vast numbers, they g.ive the sea the ajipearance of being
coveretl with whitisli blossoms. l're(|uinll)' there were eight or
ten to a s(juare yard. Wii.des spouting at a distance were seen
every day, and a few schools of porpoise have rolled in long lines
off our beam. Night btfoie last, after the storm was over, a fl)"-
ing fish about a foot long lauded on deck. I lis wing fiiis measured
over 20 inches from tip to tip. We had the winged adven-
turer fried foi breakfast, .md found him delicious. The flesh was
very white ami firm, .md reseinl)Ietl in llavor that of the I'.ug'ish
sole. All who t.isted it pronounced it \'\\\i:. We thought it ipiite
an event to breakf.ist on a fish which of its own acconl h.id
jumped into our fiying-p.in. .Some large birtls of the gull orchr.
d.irk in color, witli narrow bat like wings measuring fully four fr> t
from tip to tip. have been w itli us for many days. Their sa'ling
motion is simply oerfection. I li.ive watched one of them for a
half hour without seeing ,1 single decitled flapping motion of the
wings. They bend to the right ami then to the left, wheeling
several hundred yards from the ship, then dropping as far behind,
and, without any apparent exertion catch it, though it was running

I I :^

idiaisll

'■■ J

ip?

1
y «

!■.

I I

3«

A RACE WITH THE SIW.

fully 1 5 English miles per hour. Jud-ing from the way they
sail about us, I would sav they fly from 40 to 50 miles an hour,
and almost without a downward motion of the wrng. Some
officers say thc\- are albatrosses, but I have looked at one when
he was not over 30 feet away, and thouLjht his bill too much
pirreon-shaped. We have seen a few small albatrosses, but not
close to the ship. A few sharks have been seen, and cjuantities of
Mother Carey's chickens.

Yesterday 'a Japanese man-of-war passed within i couple of
miles from us. Being saluted, she asked from what port we came,
and slowly steamed out of sight. It made us all feel we were
not entirely out of the world. It is wonderful what small things
will interest jieople at sea. Long before the ship came near us
e\ery glass aboard was out, and conjectures innumerable were
made a^ to what and who she was. Doctor S. .said she was a
Russian bear, aiul advised the captain to send up American
culors. so as to keep him from hitting us with one of his iron
paws. Our one Engli.sh passenger looked as if he would like to
e.it a Yankee discipie of Ivsculapius.

When we s.iiled we exi)ected to take sea baths every day during
the voyage, ami adhered to the resolution for several days, but
found the water up near the Aleutians too cold for any beneficial
effect. The temperature sank down as low as 53 FahrenlidL. On
the morning of the I ith it went up to (xd tlegrees. and ^n the 13th
up to '2. This rapid change was owing to our having reached
the celebrated J.ipan stream, which pours up from Japan along
tlij Aleutian chain to the shores ol Al.i-ka, and then down ui)on
laitish Columbia. The loth was the first d.iy om- cmild trcid
the steamer's tleck in comfort without a warm overcoat. I am
now, on the 13th, sitting in my shiirt sleeves, \\\\<\. though all the
windows of our ileck-room are open. 1 .un in a decidetl perspir.i-
tion. \\'e are in latitiulc 36 degrees 57 minutes, .iiul within
400 miles of Yokoh.ima. We have onl}- 35 cabin passengers
and 40 or 50 Chinese in the stutirage. These l.ist are packed
like sardines in .i box. Tlu'ir mi-^erable hinks during our
roULfhest da\s were reall\- amusiiiL!. Some of th

bly flush in funds, but they spend as iittle as possible in going
home. Their American earnings .re to last them through life.

an atrreeable fa

lem are ])roba-

;ible in goin^

through life-

niil\-, and the table

saloon passengers ,ire
is a social g.ithering.

The .Siamese eat by themselves ; not from any disposition to
exclusiveness, but the table would nut .iccommodate us .dl at
once, and they natunilK- preferred being together. We find them
quite good fellows. The little princes are models of boyish
politeness. They have been in .Scotland a year ;iiul a '--If at
school, and are tlecidedly inteUigent for their ;i<^h's. I'rince
Devawongse is the brother of the king, the four \-oung princes tiie
King's children. The prince informed me to-day that tliey were all

-^a^

mti
but

of
dec

ref
the
wa-

<|U,

Ih.
dit
sai
litt

(
It i-
abh
sle,
tin
obel

THE SIAMESE PRINCES.

children of different motlier^^, none of them being of the chief wife
or (jiieen. He and one of his aides sleep in the room adjoining
ours. They all, however, spend the evenings and most of the
day n his v^abin when it is unpleasant to be out. Their amuse-
ment when on deck consi.st.s principally in shooting at a mark
with air-guns. To the smallest, who is not over nine years old,
they arc proficent marksmen. The suite ])ay great resp.-ct to,
but at the same time are thorougiily famili.ir with the jirince.and
when shooting or playing witii the shuffle-board delight to beat
him.

We notice, however, tiiat at night he and th'.' children are the
principal talkers. \Vc hear every thing said through our board
partition. Wiiile all s|)eak considerable Knglish, yet in their
intercourse the\' talk .Siamese. Tiie prince evident!)- finds no
difficulty in making his jokes appreciated. Like " Souter
Johnny." he " tells i)is queerest stories, his courtiers laugh in
ready chorus." lie seems very desirous of gaining information,
and to-day told us if we should go to Si.un he wt.uld do what he
could tt) make our time pleasant. lie is ,i man of considerable
information, and is evidently desirous that Si.un shouUl be among
the ])rogressiv"r nations of the East. lie is what with us would
be calli'd uiukrsizeil. but is well-knit and very graceful. In play-
ing shuttle-board he shows ])ractice in manual ixircisc, and with
his air-gun, at thr wnul, comes close to the bull's-eye. Altogether
one -.vould prunounct him a man of much intelligence and refine-
ment of feeling. M\(\ .i thorough giiitUnian in mam.ers.

The b())'s an^ (juite up to the average of boys of their agr in
intellect. All step like \<'ung martinets when using the pistol,
but an- thorough \-oungsters when at their sports. ( )ne d.iy one
(if the little fellows .uid I undertook a w.dk of two miles on the
deck. I h.ul to acknowledge he beat me 150 y.irds in the course.
When 1 told him he could have dom- still better, with polite
refmement he assured me he had done his best, and that he had
the .idvantage in h.iving rubber soles to his shoes, and therefore
w.is not entitled to the praise gi\en him for his fine walking
(jualities. The\' .dl dress in good taste and know how to deport
theniM-lves in Kurojiean costume. At home their dress is (piitc
different. To-day two of them, the smaller ones, came out in
sailor ilress, the uniform of their f.ither's )-.icht. Tl;ey were jolly
little tars.

Oh. the Pacific I the might)', the changeable, and mad Pacific I
It is all again white, and a strong iiead-wind is r.iising .1 consider-
able -ea. It is now the morning of the 14th. To-night we will
sleep in \'okohama. Hut 1 fe.ir we will get in too late to have a
fine view of I'uji, the great mountain which receives the first
tibeisance from travellers coming to Japan.

I., 1st night was hot and sultr)-. Tiie doctor bet a quarter there
would be musijuitoes aboard before morniii;^, even if we were over

:t''i'i^f|

I
J

. J

il ,

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

dc 20 of August and coming down to the 14th of September
: tempo ature of atmosphere has been day by day as follou.
7odc-rces.63. 60, 56,60. 56.60, 58. 55- 53. 53- 59-63. /^- ^3. 84. Ibc
Pterins been 60 degrees. 61, 58. 57. 55. 55. 55. 54- =4. 54. 54. .60,
fo -' 78 82 Although it has been generally too cold forbemg
oT;^;ck^ in comfort, yet^if we had to n.ake ch-ce of a^^^^^^^^^^
as cold as ours has been, or as warm as it is to-da> , we \\oulcl cer-
lainlv choosHl e cooler. One can pile on clothes to keep warm,
but it is impossible to lay off one's meat and sit up in bones
to keep cool.

I !

CHAPTER VII.

liEAlTII ri. ANI> lilZAKKt; JAI'AX— IIS CHEERFUL MEN AND MOD-

EST IMMODEST WOMEN— ITS MECHANICS AND BAIUES,

HOUSES AND CITIES.

Yokohama, Japan, September 30, 1887.

I WOULD write of the land of the Slio^un (Tycoon) that was ; of
the land of the Tcnshi (Mikado) that is. I would write of it, but
what and how ? Where can one find words to pen-picture a fairy-
land — where colors to touch up a glowin<; dreamland ? How shall
I c.itch and hold forms evolved by a kaleidoscope constantly
revolvinfj — forms made of myria !s of pieces all differintj from any
before conceived of — all colored in tints before unknown and un-
expected? One comprehends descriptions of things unseen and
unknown, through comparisons with things known. Here,
however, every thing so differs from the same thing elsewhere,
that comparisons can scarcely be made, and if attempted must
assume tlu' form of antithesis.

Jajian offers to the eye a land beautiful, soft, picturesque, antl
dreamy. And yet there is rarely to be seen a curvilinear profile
among its mountains and hills. Rarely do undulations mark the
sky line. All is peaked, notched, broken, jagged, and ruggei.!.
ri.iins. as such, are few and of comparatively small extent.
Mighty cones jjierce the sky, and the valleys are nowhere sloping
at\d wavy, gentle and soft. They are all canyons, gorges, and
rough chasms, ^'et, with this all true, her mountains delight and
rest the eye, aiul her v.illeys invite one to quiet rambles, and
make one long for a loving eye to look into, for a loving heart to
synip.ithi/.e with. Here nature started to make a land for the lair
of hideous monsters, ami eiuietl in making a l.iiul for dancing and
laughing fairies. No ocean once rolleil in vasty depths over the
land and, subsiiling, left it in mountain and hilly ranges, or in
sunny plains ami mellow valleys. X.iture conceived the island in
one of her angriest moods, and brought it forth in agonizing
labor. She rocked and reeled, shook and shrieketl in maternal
throes, and lined upon her olTsjiring the marks of her woes —
marks intendeil to terrif)' .ind to breed inteiisrst awe. Hut, like
all true mothers, she j'e.irned tow.ird the child of her sorn:>w, and
loved it for the suffering it had caused. vShe cuddled it upon
.1 mother's breast and w.irmeil it by ])uls.itions from a mother's
heart. She cicatrizetl its ugly scars, ami painted them in colors

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/< ^^c^ /F/r^ Ti/£ sow.

distilled from rainbow hues, and then spread over every deform-
ity a mantle of flowers and bloom. She wove t,'arlands and hung
them upon every precipice, and festooned with wreaths every
mountain crag. She broke the rushing torrents into feathery foam,
and sent them laughing, dancing, and singing on their short race
to the surging sea.

Japan is almost entirely of volcanic origin, and as far as we
have seen or heard, its ever\- part was thrown up from the bowels
of the earth in volcanic eruption. The eruptions did not cea.se,
however, when the molten rocks and hissing lava were ])ilecl into
rougli and craggy hili.- or lifted into mighty cones— one, two, and
nearly tliree miles high, —for then came showers of ashes of many
neutral tints, tinged with orange and vermilion, purple and ch.oco-
late-brown, ami covered the cr.iggy pinnacles with eart:i which is
pleasing to llie eye even where no vegetation <,jrr.\\s, making a
soil where noble forest trees, graceful shrub.-, clothed in bloom,
trailing anil climbing \ines. and flowers of many kinds and of in-
numerable dyes have fouiul a congenial home. Vegetation of
endless variety and o' tropical luxuriance is spread over mountain
and valley, hill and gorge, moulding the rough and jagged peak
into rouiuled liome and smoothing down the frightful gorge into
a smiling vallc)-. Nature repented of Iut angr)- conception and,
touching her whelp with a wand more powerful than l'ros|)ero's,
re.ired it into a K)ve-winning beauty.

The laiul abounds in gods — 80,000, we are told, — hitleous mon-
sters begotten of men's fears, born of the cpi. iking earth, and
breathing volcanic fires. JVsides these, then- are inan\' millions
of dead fathers, now w (ir^liippcd by their descendants as housc-
liold gods, .uiswering to the pmates of .incient Italy. To prevent
the pos.sibilit}' of the line of ;mcestral gotls being broken, p.irents
failing of st)ns have alw.iys had the rights of atloptioii.an .uloptetl
son becoming, by the act, imbued with the power of continuing
the line of iiis adopted f.ither. It is said that lliougli passion-
ately fond of their cliil ,reii. a parent immedi.ately invests the new
boy with all the senriniental characteristics of blood offspring. I lad
man never re.iched J.ipan's shores, the.'^e gods would have re-
m,>ineil unborn, ami the land would have been the home of
laughing fauns and of dancing, gau/y sprites.

Hut man came, along, long while ago, and erecteil himself into n
n.ition, when or before David harped and (i.inced before the ark of
the Lord. ;ind before the iron age of Rome w.is )xt in its cradle.
For 2,500 years we know that the nation h.is lived. Its men
have been l)e;ists of burden, and h.ive done the labor else-
where performed by the speechless brute and by the soulless
m.ichine. During ,ill these long ages they have toilei! from early
d.iwn to latest twilight— toileil for their bare food, clothes they
have had none and needed not, :ind yet to-day these men, while
cringing and f.iwning in tlu ir expression of -joliteness, are other-

THE JAPANESE WOMEN.

wise dignified and manly in their bearing, quick and graceful in
their movements, ambitious and greedy for knowledge, cheerful
and light in their mood. They drudge for a pittance, and spend
a part of the pittance in visiting and enjoying romantic localities,
wiiere hills and valleys speak in poetry, and streams and brooklets
ripple in song. Antl man's other and sweeter self — woman— she
wlio has hc-e ever been a thing to bo sold for a day, a month, a
year, or for life, at her father's will, and, whether as child, hand-
maid, concubine or wife, has had no will of her own —a very
slave! And yet this woman, but half covered in the field or upon
the road, and in tlie public bath as free from clothing as was
Maiden I'-ve when she blushed in bridal purity before her Adam
— this woman is smiling, sweet, co(juettish, plumj), and undulating,
and K^ems ever to be veiled by an invisible mantle of modesty.
Naked, she does not blusli, for she is not so for lewd purposes, or
for the purpose of attracting a look, and is not ash.imed of t'ne
moKl in which she was cast. She does not invite a ga/.e, and
seems not to know when one is given. Clothing she wears for
warmth and adornment, and not fcir concealment. an<l if she docs
blusli, it is because she has not about her the pretty things she
wears to win admir.'.tinn. As wife and mother, sh.e dotes on her
l)al)\ , anil is true to the man she deems her lord, whether he be
her iuisband for a week, a month, or for years. Formerly she was
often sold by her father for a longer or shorter period. Now,
under .i more generous l.iw, she is free, and jx't she oftimes
mortgages herself ftir a term of months or of years, to lighten the
burtleii of those who brought her into the world. ( )ften one
•^ives herself for a ilay or ;i week for a i)rice, and yet wears no
sign or look of a w.mton, ami, coming out of her bondage, takes
tlu' name .ind jjlace of wife, and bears the duties of mother, with
no scar upon her forehead, no blush of sh.une u|-<on her cheek,
;md no brazen smirk u|)on her lii)s. The l)ridal i).ith washes her
clean, and the niarri.ige ceremony wipes out the past. 'Ihe wife
is her husband's sol. ice ,ind sunshine. .She is in many res|)ects his
head servant, serves him at his meals, and yet her smile is his sun-
shine, and her pr.ittle his sweetest am^.sement.

Whence came lliese men and ihesi- women? h'roni what stock
did the)- s])ring? Of what r.ice an' they born? They .ire neither
M. day nor .Mongol. Tluy are neitlier .\r\-an nor Semitic. I'.ir off
iiere. for ages cut aloof from the world, the\' have m.in)' of the
in. irks of the Cauc.isi.m r.ice mixed with Mongolian, and resembling
the latter more than tluy do .my other. Hut the ilifference is
ni.irked, and the resembl.mce m.i\' l>e the n-sult of an origin
arising from like c.uises. The Mongoli.m Chinaman, wherever
jilaced, is a |)lodding, burrowing, conservative animal. The
Japanese is volatile, energetic, ami ])rogressive. The one is
s.ilurnine .md slow, the other is (piick and ever seeking the
joyous. How came they here? Is there anything reasonable in

5 'IM.

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A RACK WITH THE SUN.

the general idea that God started all living things in one original
pair of oach? Was Adam the fati\er of all men ? I do not believe
one drop of his blood flows in the veins of the heathen, cellar-
burr.Aving Chinese. When nature was ready for man, did not
God have gardens of F.den wherever he willed man should be?
There is nothing unfaithful in the thought. Were not the
Japanese tlie offsjiring of the foam which dashed upon their sea-
girt shore? I am no scientist, I am but a dreamer. Man was
made to laugh as well as to weep. He is foolish if he does not
lauj'h a great deal more than he weeps. He was made to dream
as well as to be awake. If he keeps his conscience clean, and
his liver in good conilition, his dreams will be rosy, even his
widc-a\rake dreams. I am happy when I dream, and dream I
will I Just now I dream of Jai)an— wonderful, poetic, bizarre,
beaiiJfui, grotesque, artistic, plodding, singing, weeping, laugh-
jn^r^ sighing, smiling, gentle, and loving, undcscribed and in-
describable Japan.

I closed my last letter on tlie morning of the 14th, expecting
to be in \'okohama that night. Hut voyagers propose, and on the
Pacific, according to my observation, do very little disposing.
Before noon we were in a strong wind, and dead aheatl. We
scarcely more than overcame the strong current which was run-
ning against us. We were all very much put out, but 1 did not
afterwards regret it. About three o'clock the clouds began to
scatter, and soon we had bright sunshine, but with a stiff wind.
Toward the south hea\y clouds were hanging. These took a
form rarely seen ; a dense mass. ai)paivnl!)- not a quarter of a
mile high, and leaden in color, moving eastward, slowly, but
evidently rolling and whirling in wild freii/y on a centre. Over
it all was a bright blue sk\'. It ni.ide a sort of jiori/on, so
distinctly outlined was its top. I'lastward and westward we eoulil
see its limits We tocik it to be not ovir 15 or 20 miles in
extent. Luckily, it did not come nearer our ship than three or

our mi

les. It was a small tjpln

)on,

and passed ])artlv over
The

son.

Yokohama, .uul was one of the most violent of the sea
whole storm was containeil in a cloud compact, distinct, a
ing lik

no roii-

e a low

b.-i

)f f.

We lay off ^\•(ldo bay until lii;lit the next day, and then
had a beautiful sail uj) to the cit}-. The bay is .1 very beautiful

e, and was white with the sails of the early fishermei

counted 2,^7 sails at one time from a single point on our deck.
Low mountains rose almost fioin the w.iter on e.ich shoix', .ill
green and treed. To our left was the small island V^ries, with
the volcano Idzu-no-C)shim.i, lifting from the sea 2,600 feet.
About his head was wra|)i)ed a turban of smoky mist, which
changed while we looked, into a conical cap, pointed high above.

ere was no

e visible, the smoke alone showing that the

mountain was an active volcano. At times it belches forth Hani!.

THE JINRICKISHA.

as well as vapor, and is said to be very grand. Villages were
planted under the hills, along the bay, and down upon the water,
and here and there picturesque houses on the brows. High in
the .listanco, with his perfect cone piercing the sky, mighty Fuji-
yama kept watch and ward over the land.

Fuji is the name, the affi.x Vama being placed as a mark of
distinction or honor, strictly interpreted Sir Fuji — the one grand
mountain. There are many others over 10,000 feet high ; this
cone, rising almost from a plain, is claimed to have been thrown
up when Jkwa Lake was sunk, smce the Japanese nation has
e.xisted, and was the act of the gods, to show that the island was
completed, and that the work was well done. Half-way down his
slope a belt of fleecy clouds hung like a graceful scarf thrown
around a fair woman's bosom.

Immediately after our ship dropped her anchor, swarms of
small, odd-looking boats, propelled by huge sculling oars and
manned by boatmen in every kind of costume, from the slender
clout-rag up to a coat of matting hung from the should':rs over
dusky forms, crowded about the .ship. There was hiiaking of
iiands among the passengers, g<K)d wishes for the future, and all
of U-; soon found ourselves upon J.ipanese — not Asiatic — terra
fir ma.

Passing the custom-hous(> almost pro foriiui we were whirl-
ing along the l)eautiful inind for the (irand Hotel, in jinricki-
shas. Parenthetically. 1 will say that all Asiatic cities with a
foreign quarter have along the water a sort of boulevaid. planted
with trees, broad, and well paved, the promenade of the foreign
population, and called a "bund," and I will further say that
the drantl Hotel would do credit to any luiroi)ean city. Its
rooms are large ami airy, its cuisine admirable, and its charges,
though high for Japan, would be cheaj) in America or England —
§3.50 a day, Japanese ruoney, e.ich dollar now worih 75 cents,
United States coin ; includetl in this is good claret.

I will now speak i)f the jinrickisha iman-|)owcr wagon\ so that
the term and its use may be full\- untlerstood when used here-
aftiT. It is a small, two-wheeled ct)vereil cart, not unlike a trot-
ting sulky, with light shafts united in front by a cross-bar. Its
body rests on two elliptical springs, with a lifting top like the
Americ.ui buggy. It is well cushioned and s])ring)-, and is drawn
by .1 man between the shafts, who pushes by a hand on each, and
when heavily loaded, by leaning against the bar which unites the
ends of the sh.ifts. They are ortlinarily propelled by a single
man, or where e.xtra speed is desireil or too much weight is im-
posed, by a second or even a thinl man. The second man pulls
in front by a strap over his shoulders, and by his hand pulling a
single trace ; occasionally the wagon is pushed from the rear by a
third one. With a single m.m the usual speed is about five
miles an hour on good roads and with light weight. With two

>• ,N

: i

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!•! I

../ A'.lC/': WITH THE SUN.

men riinnint; taiulL-m, I have made ten miles in an hour and 20
minutes. With two men to eacli waijon. our party ran from
Nikl<o to L'tsuiioMiiva. 23 miles, in four hours, witli two
short stops. The first twelve miles, a Ljener.ii down <,rrade. was
made without a sintjle halt. When we went up to \ii<k(), tlic
■ Made beini; an asceiidin^^ one, we took a little over five hours.
Each wauo'^i had in it a man and a heavy satchel. The cliar^c
for this run was each way Si--^> ^i wagon, or ninety-five cents our
money. The u^ual charges in cities are from eight tn ten cents
.1 run.'or ten cents per hour i)yd;iy, fifteen cents per hour at night
or in a rain. This price is ilouhled if an e.xtra man be taken. ^ It
i.s a charming mcnie of travelling, especi.illy in a city. Your
horse is told where to g<i, and he goes, without rein or instruction,
and with never ,1 grumble or .1 kick. The rider sits up in real
otiiiiii ciiiii (/(i^-iiitnii. The rider calls out " hi— i," when .in\- other
vehicle is in his w.i\-, or a pedestri.m does not give room. I-'.very
oni: moves out of the way pleasantlj', and with often .1 joke for
the ni.in and a smile for the rider.

Toliteness is the one niarkeil virtue of this i)eo])le not a
politeness of mere etiquette, though there is a great deal of tliat,
anil very .studied antl l.ibored it is— but a [joliteness evidently
coming from the heart, genuine and kitull)-, and extended to the
laborer as wi'll as to the gentleman. Women, children, ami light-
loaded nun ste]) aside with cheerful alacrit\- to let the poor jin-
rickisha man pass, which is most charming to behold. 1 1 he
ha[)])ens to jostle against one lie is met with. i joke. Not once
h.ive we yet seen .i sullen or angry look from any one who was
recpiested to give way. At home we would have been cursed or
blackguarded ilozeiis of times had we maile the runs here ilone
through densely crowded streets. When a large party is out in
jinrickishas thej' follow e.icli other in close proximity. If a
britlge. rut. or bad pLice is encounteretl. the foremost man utters
a cry, which is caught up by tiic iie.xt, .iiul so on to the last, each
evitleiitly trying to lighten the labor of the others. At night
each man carries a J.ipanese lantern. The effect of these in a
long train is very bright in a dark, unlightcd street, or on ,1 sub-
urban road bending along a hiU-siile. Aikled to this the jries of
the men, the meeting of .1 hundred others, all rushing, bending,
turning, and twisting in the tortuous lanes or n.irrow crowded
streets, you can readily .see how charming such a run must be.
The men in cities wear short, tight trunks from just above the
hip to the upper thigh. Tlie_\- start out with .1 sort of tunic or
shirt over the shoulders ; if the weather be warm they tiirow off
the upper covering as they run. In the country, instead of the
trunk, is sim])ly a clout about the loins, n.irrow and full in front,
running between the legs in little more than a ribbon, and caught
on a band over the hip. In full garb a part)- will start from a
village or town. As they run, one after .mother the men strip off

-7

JAPANESE HOUSES.

their li^ht upper ^;irmcnt, and arc stalwart, sweating Adams,
clothed with a scanty fi^-lcaf. This is done, too, in the cities, by
men drawing natives, or loaded vehicles, but is to a considerable ex-
tent avt)idetl by those who run for foreigners. In Tokio and here,
those about foreign localities wear the trunks and close-fitting
shirt, ahva\s blue, resenii)lii)g our undershirts. This garb is or-
dered by the authorities out of respect to foreign ideas. The
natives, thcnisclves, men or women, are not shocked bj- an almost
naked man, and fureigners soon grow accustomeil to it.

I matle m\' fastist run with a couple of splendiil fellows when
going at night tn call upon X'iscount Voshida, formerly Minister
to America. The distance was long. The men started out
clothed. When and how I did not oliserve, but .is the\' ran I
found them almost stark naked, ami reeking in sweat. It is
.1 novel sight to sec a dt>/en wagons with their 24 men
ahead of you, with calves of great muscularit}-, and legs finely
formed, only .1 little bowed, owing to the habit of fitting on their
li, lunches, in^te.id of on chairs. The streets lure are in m.my
localities tlensely packei.1, ami not oxer u feet witle. Lan-
terns hang before every store. People carr\- gay lanterns at
niL^ht. The)' nunc about a great de.il like bees about a hive.
The kurum.i (ricki>ha) men moving in ami out among these add
gre.itly to tlu- ])icturesqueness of the scene.

There are in \'okohama over 4,000 and in Tokio 27,000 of
tiiese w.igoiis under license, and in all J.ipan about 175.0OO.
Thus you can understand how imp(ntant a i)art the jinrickisha
pla)s. both in the ecimomic and in the scenic make-up of this
str.inge island. It is not generally known that this charming
little wagon ma\' bi; considered a gift ilirectly from heaven, and
that, too. through the intervention of an American. One of our
mission. iries at N.ig.is.iki having a wholesome dislike of h.ird
w, liking, invented the thing some 26 or more years ago.
His Yankee ingenuity took holil upon Jajianese fancy more
(|uickly than did his theology. The thing issupposeil to be purely
Jap.mese, and lias been to some extent adopted in all Eastern
lands.

You have often as children playetl at housekeeping, or some
other mimic ant! lilliputian make-believe of the doings of grown-
ii|) people. The first impression maile upon me of a Japanese
city was th.it the people were plaj'ing .it running a town. In the
native cpiarters of Yokohama ;ind in other towns, except in the
jiublic-building (piarters of Tokio, the streets arc mere lanes
in width. Thi-re are no sidewalks. The houses are mostly of one
story, and where of two the upper story is very low, the first
;ib(uit 10 feet and the other not over iS. They arc almost exclu-
sively of wood, ami from 10 to 14 feet in width. The first floor
is llush with the street. The m.ijority of the second stories, of
pure native style, arc set back from the front from 4 to 6 feet.

I'll •^'

'■•■Mi i < if\

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4,S

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

The first story is all open, the second closed in by lattice work.
Glass is rarely seen. The shop is simply the front part of the lower
story. First conies a space 4 or 5 feet wide on the tjround level,
then a raised platform, say from i to 2 feet in elevation, and

lore feet. On this is the work-shop or shop

riiiin

in-' back S, ro or n

for sale of i^oods. Jk'hind tiiis for livini; pio'i

noses IS

anotl

ler

sli.LjhtlN- raised portion, runnm^j

meet the re(iiiirenients, or in accordance w

iii'f back a greater or less distance to

ith the m -ans, of the

o\\ ner,
momen

lere are no

p.irtitions, yet the house can in a fe

ts be divided into several compartments.

The customer or visitor stops on the j^nound level, aiul leaves
liis c1ol;s. s.mdals, or shoes, and mounts the next platform in his
stocking's or bare feet. Tiiese upjier i)latforms are hi.i;hl>- ])olisheiI

.UK

.1 part

V co\erec

three b\- si.\ feet, and are

1 witli m.its. .All of the Litter .ire pr.iclic.dl)-
the unit of me.isureinent of floors and

w.dls. For ex.unple.a room is so many mats lar;^e. The polished
floors and mats, ire of scruiJuloiis cle.inliness. 1 lie shoe or s.md.il

is ni)t permitted to tre.id upon the

Tin

dealer a

nd 1

tomcr or visitor >it or scpKit iijion the first platform, smoke .1

pipe toijether, a

L'O

roue

h tl

leu' neL'o

tiatioiis or ch.it. 'Ihe

pipe, by the way, does not lu)ld more than a h.ilf-tliind)leful of
tt»bacco, and is'emptied in three to five ])uffs. ( )n the inner
platforms the f.imily reside. As I said, the whole is open wide to
tlie street. .\t nii^ht wooilen shutters .ue put up. c!o>in.^r the first
>hop. These are sometimes in solid wooden p.mels. but more
freiiuentlj- of lii;ht, open l.itlice-work. The iii)per i)l.ittorms are
divided into smaller compartments by putting' uj) panels like
window sashes, very li.^ht and prettily v.irnishecl. On one side of
this is pasted thin paper, liL^ht and tr.mslucint. Tlu-e p.uuls sit
or slide in grooves. Thus a house of sa\' \2 by J5, feet in.i)' in five
minutes be made into four or five separate rooms. The shutters
.uul papered p.mels .ire set u|) durin;^ the d.iy in recesses built for
the purpose in the outer w.ills of the house, l-.ach recess h.is in
front a slidinij duor. which closes up so as to hide it. The walls
of the house are of a single thickness of board, on which lij^ht
laths of bamboo are tacked, ami over this a coat of pl.ister is
spreati. AmoU'^ the better classes this i)laster is of lime, with
picked oakum in lieu of h.iir. In the poorer houses it is of imul
and str.iw. The coat of pl.ister is so thin that the whole wall is
not much over two inches thick, luer)- thini,' about a hou->e
is deliciously clean in a[)pearance, but there is no ])rotecti(jn for
the nose. The sense of smell here seems to be proof a<jainst bad
odors. All ni^ht soil is preserved .ind sent to the farms. Tluisa
traveller too often catches odors which are not by .my me.ms
agreeable. A true traveller, however, who is resolved to learn and
enjoy, soon finds that his olfactories rapidly become obtuse. To
any who c.innot school his senses and is m.ide uncomfortable by
the custom of ;i peo|)le visited, my .-idvice is to pack up traps and
go home, where he can be master of the situation.

Ff.y/ \rrcff.L\/cs.

4»

The streets being so narrow, the houses so small, the absence of
hcavv teams and wagons, tlic people all engaged in uh.it seems
such li^l't work, or in (.luin;^ heavy work in such a small way; the
masses moving back and forth, the swarm of men, women, and
children made me feel th.it I was among thousands of peopi' who
were i iiLj.iged in a g.inie of make-believe playing ;it keeping lown.
Ihere is no rush ami no hurry, exce])t anmng the jinrickishas.
The merchant is as deliber.ite when one enters to m. ike a purchase
.IS is the cit\- offici.il where the modern craze for civil-service
reform decei\es the wcll-me.iiiin;^ mugwump, lie iloes not seem
111 c.iri .in iiU.i wlutiier you purch.ise or not. if )'ou bow low. he
uill return \<iui --.ilutation Ijy bringing his brow almost to the
lloor. and tlifti u ut with an .iiii)ear.iiKe of p.itieiici- which would
become a ni.m who e.vincted ti> riv.il .Metiiuselah in lniigevity. If
you wish to purch.ise a st.ipie article, he has one price. ,ind docs
not seem t<i c.ire a b;u;bee whether \<ni purchase or not. If )'ou
be a curio hunter he will ask for his old bron/e. lacquer, or ivory
an exorbitant price, and is not a whit offended if you otler one
third of wliat lie .isked. If \ ou make no offer .md sl.irt awa\' he
will invite \'ou to make a bid. lb' will iKcl.in. tli.U the thing ..>st
iiiiii so much, tli.it it is 3lk) or i.ixx) ye.irs okl, and will iiid m
t. iking li.ilf or .1 tiiird of his fir>t deiii.ind, .iiid will bow to the lloor
in til, inks for your ]).itronage. Truthfulness is not a Japanese
\irtiie. His (ir.ice ,\rchbishop Osouf assured iiie that it coukl be
s.iid the m.isses were gre.it li.irs. .mil that ))oliteness might be put
down .is their single virtue. Weill it is a virtue, and it tells
II eveiy-d.iy life, .md if one cannot shut lies out by lock uul bolt,
one cm .it least stuff cotton in the e.irs ami avoid being too much
olTended by the vice, while enjo)ing the cheering effect of what
.ijipe.irs to be genuine politeness aiul good will,

rile bip.mese .ire tine meclianics. and. though sjuw and delib-
er.ite. d'> their work witli gre.it precisii^n and with e\(juisite finisli.
They do .ill work just oppositely to our mode, if it were possible
they would commence a house at the roof; iiuleed. it may be
^,iid this is often done. Tlie ordinary house has corner stud-
supports ; these being erected the roof is put on. ami the liouse is
then built under and up to it. Tiiey draw tlie pl.me toward them
in^,tead of pusiiing it from tliem. ,ind m.ike glue-joints for tlie
commonest purposes. They m.ike their mortises so exact that
w.iter c.mnot creep between tlu- joints. They use the saw by
cutting tow.ird the iiand in--te,id of from it. All saws are very
widi' iind have a straight ii.mdlc. and yet tliey will rip a plank
fifteen feet long so exacti\' and truly that a smoothing plane will
dress it down perfectly str.iight. I"'ew n.iils are used in the erec-
tion of houses. Corner-stuiis are mortised in to the sills so closely
lh.it they stand as if nailed .md ijolted. The plates are luld with
e(|u.il tightness. The siding i-- then set into grooves cut in tlie
studdings. When an old liouse is torn down its material, being

^ > ri

.;-<ii!4

i'lh

11''

.AT' hy ••

it
Iff

I",

<rr

5°

A RACE WITH THE Sl'X.

cons

\V(i

jrootl timber for otlicr purposes. One
sees a carpenter ripping,' up an olil sill or post for new

free from nails, becomes

tantly
rk. TIkiv are no -aw-m

size is rippei
contractor assu

my:

boar(

.._ ills to speak of. Timber of the Iar},'est

1 bv ini'-e hand-saws workid !>>• a sin^He man. A

^ ..reii me he had seen a io^^ '^w^ feet tlinui-li thus

t. He was a .Scotchman, and theri-fore told me tlu- truth. I
saw a 1<«^' quite three feet throu^'h beinj,' cut into incli

.•If

Ilu

•IS .ibout ten feet 1<

• ni

ind w.is l.iid on a

frame at an obi'iciue anj^ie. The sawyer sat under it .iiul cut

,' any of the bo.inU. Timber is hewn in the
r oc'ta^'ons. 1 Ik ii it dries |)erfectly, ami is

^ t'into b(Mrd-< on tlie j^rouiul where the house is beini;

erected. They do nice work in wood, but are slow. i'luir u .i

it up before removin

woods into s(ju.ires
'emr.dh' cu

are about 45 cen

ts a dav. When I use the term dtillarand cent I

pe.ik of the Jap.mese dollar and cent, one fi>urth li's-^, at present

v.iiue o

wou

f silver, th.m our mone\

niericaiis lure as^uri' me they

Id prefer paying' our wa;4e

.md

^'eltini,' the tlim^' ilone

promptly, than to await the tlil.itor>- movi'nient^ .1

n.l

ress o

f the ''ood and che.ip n.itive worknun.

ic conimo

tl stonework is ver\' (nu

liere is no sui

iw pn
h th

IIIL'

h wall on a n.itur.d betl. -Ml stones are cut and set in

as .1 roii;^

e.xact joints ; not in 1

all sh.ipes. R.nuloin

ine work, but cut to fit one iijx)!! .mother ii
rubble is. I believi'. the technical name for
this stvle. Brid^'es. piers, can. lis and mo.it w.ills ;ire thus built.

an
m

In Tnkio there are

d m.mj' of the stones are of ^jreat si/i

my miles of w.iIN. fnim 30 to 60 feet hi;;h, built of stones
wei^hiii;.^' from lOO pounds up to sever.il tons, .md all with
joints so nice ;ind true th.it no cement has been iised.;ind none is
ncccs.sary. It i^ ,1 wonder liowthe.se poor down-trodden ])eoplL-
have clone siu.
help them.

h v.ist work with no horses and no m.icliiiierv to

.\1I h

iiiliiu', or nearlv .ill. is done bv nun.

s.iw

a sinj^'le man ilrawin^' or pushing a load (jf near!)' 300 brick
to the new p.il.ice ;it Tokio from the dock over a mile ;iway.
At the castle hill, which is cpiite 100 feet high, several nu

assistetl

is. I common thini: to see twi

thre

e. or more men

pushing' .1 load such as a heavy dray horse would draw in .\meiic.i.
Two would be at the shaft, the others push. They step to a
word all the time. The shaft m.m would utter sonuthini; like
" seough " : the others would c.itch it and reply together
"seoughah." During the d.iy in (juarters where iie.ivy loac.s are
being drawn, or iieavy work being doiR-, some such cr\' as this is
hearil in every direction, though I will s.iy, parenthetic ill\-. that
one of the charms of these cities is the absence of loud and ileaf-
cning noises. All great cities of luirope and America have their
voices. One can almost imagine he recognizes .1 distinct, peculiar
voice in each. In the still of the night it is m.irked, and never
silent. A J.ipanese city after \2 o'clock seems to be absolutely
asleep. Ther? is no voice. It is as silent as the country, and

V-

hAi

cmi.l^KI X AX/) /.'.//.'//..S.

if one awakes in tl»c small lioiir-^ he iuars no sDund. All is
IiusIjliI aiul (juict. In sunic hn.ilitics, luiwcvcr, tlutc arc many
trees. In tliese lie licars the luim .md son;,' of insects; but this is
the voice of tlie count r)-, not of the city.

Kver\' cla>- of people seems eii^a^jid (I mean not tlu noble,
but tile people), and all a^es ilo their share towards the conunoii
su[)port. men. women, bo\s, and ^,'irls. C'hildren iiiuK r ten .ire
the merriest, iau^^hinijest. busiest little bodies im.ii^in.iljle. One
can almost pronounce this the par.ulise of the youn^'. Tiny arc
in .1 profusion I never saw elsewhere. Ihe)' are as thick as Hies,
,iMtl tlies here .ire a> .djundant as the sands ou the seashore.
Children are in the shops .md stores where their p.utnts an- at
work. Indeed, •■lie would .dmost think that in llu' finer stores
little ones arc kept tricked out in lluir nici->t to m.d<e tin places
■ittr.ictive. In tlv. streets the)' .ire runniii;^, skippin;^, .md jump-
ing everywhere. IJ.ibies .ire str.ipped to the b.ick.-. of tin ir
mothers, or of sisters scarcely l.ir^er th.in themselves. One often
sees ado/en or two boys .md i^irls undir ten at all sorts of play,
one h.ilf of them h.ivin;,' babie-^ on tluir b.icks. ( )ftentimes win n
the little niir>es are playing n-^ul.ir romps the liltie ones are
sound asleep, their he.uls li.mLjinj^ tlown .md lloppini; from ^ide
to --itlc as if their little necks would break.

Hire in front of tlu- luttel, when the tide w.is out. I saw hun-
dreils e.irly one morniuL; SLikin;^ mussels, mosses, aud sea-werd.
Little felhjws not o\ir ten. with b.ibies str.ipped to them, were
w.idin;.; .ibiiut i^.itlu riii_^ shell fish. When ll''\' wouUl stoop on
h.uuls an<l knee> the b.iby would .ilmost stand >n its he.id. I can
say I h.ue seen hundreds .mil h.i\e .is \( i lu ,ii<l t)Ut llir-e babies
cr)in;4.

Little ones of lu<i.ind three \ears sonutimes h.i\e dolls strapjjcil
to them. Not once li.ive I seen .i doll in the .irnis. The cliildnn
.ire nurses to a ^re.iter e.Ment in the ciuintr\' .md in vill.iL;es th.m
in the cities. For there the mothers are .it work in the fields.
In till- cities, where .i cert.iin .imount of educ.ilion is ne.irly
univers.il, ciiiUlreii o\er six \e.irs old are ,it school. We went
to .1 priv.ite school .it I'okio. Having left our shoes at the
entrance, we were kindl)' .md, in fact, r.ither proudl\- received
b)' the ti .idler .md his j^irl .issist.mt. In one room some y^
little ones were stpi.ilted down. The te.icher liad ui)om .i 1)1. ick-
board ;i translation frcjin one of our Readers. It w.is the story
of a little boy who did not like to ^o to school, but preferred to
play and ride the dunkey, ;it le.ist that is what our ^uiide s.iid it
was. I'arenthetic.ill) , I will here s.iy we h.ive in our employ the
casiiier of a wholesale tea-house. lie is a Cliristi.in, was educa-
ted at the mission school, spe.iks j^ood ICn^lish, .md is intelli^'ent.
lie desired a iiolid.iy. We p.iy him §40 a month .mil his e.\-
pensfs. He is our companion as well .is^aiide. Through his aid
we pet far more information than we wDuld from .m ordinary

i'. <

"i 4

!t •

I {

!• (

5, A RACi- WITH Tir: r.y.

uukk- ulio can say but little nu.rc in our language than is neces-
sary tn make purchases, r to carr>- one to places of interest.
We rarelv look into a -uide-book. Hut to return to our kinder-
• r iricn Tile teacher \Vouk! read a sentence, pointing to it. the
children repeating after him. He did thi. for a while in short
sentences, and then went over the wiiole. In perhaps 10 or 15
minutes the httle fellows all read the whole story aloud without
his assistant Tliev read and recite it in a sort of chant. Think
of it, my liti.- Irieiids, away off here m Japan, where 30 years
ago no foreigner, except, perhai)s. a Chinaman, had been for 300
years, a lot of little boys and girls, each in a gown little more
than .1 shirt or ni^luiobe, are learning the same lessons taught
you in the public schools.

Hut I ■.usi)ect it will interest the >-outhful )et more to tell how
these little fello'vs learn to write. In one room was a writing-
class. They. too. were small one — -ome, I thought, uiukr six.
The t)rder of tlie tenshi (mikado 1 i>. that none >-ounger ih.in
that age should go to school, but their parents smuggle them in
to kee]i them 'it uf mischief. They were all squatted in pairs at
.1 rough ini.iru. wliich served for a desk. Euch chikl had a lot of
iGUinrse oaper. utrth a string through >>nc end of the sheets. riii---
,i*i J. bwok. Diiea,- do not write with a pen, but with a sm.ill
ilMuwk.. like a waiEr-color brush, onl\- rather raiorc pointed. With
diH-tthey \v-rTti-..rawt from the left to the rrght ;ind on the ti.p of
tliu'pjiijaer. bat fln tile right sitle of the paper, from top to bot-
Etjm. Thcrr jtfit^rs resemb'e ilie chanictei^ seen on a tea-chest.
Till— use s.jfflif 4K Chinese diameters with their own letters.
Tin -■ -'i«gn^ e:OTTf*is not only a whole word, but now and then
-.liorr -■fniiitenc:^- It was funny to see a Ineginner making his h-t-
tisrs. ••♦irar iir* "''w eovered the iialf •>{ his sheet with oiu- or
two. Thr : wfo-d ,is if .1 web-t<xjtr(l bird or a cat had

steppird ^^^m Jair mk upon the copy. .Vntl one toddler hail
ne.irl} .is lauch aiik «-ni his face and hand> as upon his ])aper.
They tlo not use blorrtrrs or let t;fa.e fxiper dry : their writing
paper is poroufi. and suicks up the ink as fast ;is it is written.

After 10 or nz y^ .irs >' age. the poorer ciiikiren do their sli.ire
of work to support thtaiselves and their families. The\- work in
the fields and in the sainps, anil help their f.ithers to \>u\\ and
push. One -^ees a l2-yT2irs-old boy at an o;ir, doing his full share
ol the work of scuIHul while his father or employer jjushes the
other. Parents are de-oted to their children. Obedience .md
assistance are demanded of the latter tu their p.irents. If a 111,111
ilies before his -on is of age, the eldest son is exempteil from mil-
itary service, because he must take care of liis nuulier .md
j'ounger brother- .md sisters. In the evening one frequently
sees a man w.ilking wiih a b.ib)- in his arms. He is resting the
mother, or letting hi r prepare the evening meal.

In this cit\- there I- a popidation of al>oiit 140.000 ; in Tokio

1<J.I.\D MASSAGE oriiRATOKS.

about 1.300,000. Wc liavc been 011 the ^o .ill ilic time, atul as
yet li.ive not .seen a single begj,'ar and but one druriken man, al-
though .saki, a sort of rice brandy, is very cheap. I nunt'oned
this fact to the archl»ishop. lie laughed, and told nie that when
,1 J.ipanese got drunk he at once went to sleep. Hy the way, for
the benefit of those who met tiie good bishoj) when he w.is in
Chicago in l(S84. 1 will say I called upon him .ind hail a very
pleasant evening w ith him and Father Magawine. who w.is also
in Chicago. I bore to tiie bisliop ;i letter from I'"atiier Koles,
and was charmingly received ,inil pleasant!'/ ^ntert. lined. The
Catholic Church has baptized 2,000 within thi past year. There
are over 35.000 coinmunicants in the kingdom. The bishop
feels proud of, .ind th.mkfu! for. tiie success of his 65 priests.
They are all Frenchmen. ;ind are from the Acadeni) of the
.S.icred Heart in Paris.

1 said there were no beggars. Kven the blind here support
them.selves. They form a guild of massage rubbers. From
dark to I2 o'clock one can he.ir their fifes on the streets of every
town. Knowing who the p.ior fellows are, tiieir c.il! has a very
plaintive souiul. They walk the streets .ill alone, are never in
(Linger of being run over, and ^eem to h;;ve the good-will and
.issistance of all who meet them. It matters nut liow hurried a
jinrickisha m.m be, he never runs .igainst or jostles an " amina."
They eoine. when called, intn the houses, ;ind rub down p.iticnls
for 10 cents, taking from 30 to 4; minutes to do the thing. W'e
li.ive now used them siver.il tinu>, after a heav\- d.i)''s work, .md
find them fully e(iual to .my ])rofes-ion,il mas^age-oper.itor we have
tried at home. Indeeil. I like them better. They are very gentle
■md rapid in their movements, have soft h.uuls and ipiicken the cir-
eiil.ition witliout bruising or u'ritating the surface. Their ^nsc
of touch is ,10 keen tl. 1 they seem to find tlie ])arts of the
p.itient's body most nei;ding m.inipulatioii I h.id a slight ,it-
t.uk of sciatic... I could not speak a word of J.ipanese to tell
tiie " .imm.i " .\!i<ii' I wished him to do the most rubbing.
^'et he found it. The sciatic trou!)le passed aw.i\' in .1 il,i\' or
two. leaving .1 tenderius.; in the small of the back. M\' next
".imm.i" found the tender spot without .1 word fioni nu-. I'he
sense of touch told them where the .son, ness was l.iid. Would
it not bi a good tiling to teach our blind to perform such
duties, thereby making them self-sufporting ,ind far happier?
Nothing so conduces to h.i|)piness as a feeling of iiulepeiideiui' ;
.IS the knowledge tli.it we cm choose our own p.itlis and fe.ir-
lessK' tr.i\el them, looking to (lod. .md our own powers alone for
lielp. While, on the other ii md. .1 sense of helplessness tiepresses
,dio\e .ill thi;igs else, and d( presses ,ill the more when tlie sufferer
is conscifuis of no bodilj- p.iin. I",\istence then becomes ,1 spe-
cics of continuous nightmare. Tli.mk (\vA\ man cm. in time,
school himself iven .ig.iinst this dre.ul sorrow; but. oh, tlu' .iL'/my

'- ^i..

■i

#IK-

4' ?

j5*»

/f RACE WITH TJU- SUX.

of the lesson ! The blind arc, of all plusically well men and
women, tiie most liclples;; ami tlie most to be pitied. God, in
his infinite goodness, <,'enerally leavens their hearts with sweet
patience, and blesses them with the best of all visual powers —
the power to sec the green j)astures, the llowery meads, the
undul.iting hills, and smiling vallej-s oi the •■ternal world to
come. Ikit these sweet pictures of hope would be none the
less charming if the poor, sightless beiiigs were taught to earn
their dail\- bread. This is (lone in iieathen Japan, and should be
a lesson to the C"hristi,n:i world. t)f coi'r^c, in America their fees
should be in keeping with the general prices paid. I understand
they are fairly patronized here, and earn a fair livelihood. I sup-
pose it is true, for at a village I sent out for one. He c.ime in,
but was not b'ind, but was a hale man, anc a samuri in rani;, who
had adopted ;he blind man's .(vocation, there being a lack (pf the
blind in that locality. The s.mniri were the military and half-
noble class before the tenshi (mikado) broire the power of the
.shogun (tycoon), .ind stripped the daimiob of their feudal rank.

I
I

CHAPTER VIII.

KIVKKS. I ARMS AND lAKMl K^ ol j A i'AN — I I k 1 II i;k ( 1 1 AkA( TI-.R.

iMH^oi ii> r!;()i 1 i;— 1 1 s lioii-.is, looii am> mowkks.

///'<?(,'(', Japan, Octolnr 14, 1887.

i STAri:i> Diicc beforctli.it my letters lionu- wore manifold copies
from 111)' traveller's book of the impressions maile upon me by
thing's along the uaysitlc as we run rapidly thrcnigh a country.
Siicli impressions cannot be other than crude and, to a con-
sideral)le extent, ill digesteil. lint all I aim .it is to carr)' along
• lie re.ider with me, and, if possible, to iiiable him to see what wo
see and to enjo\ what we enjo)'. If I m.ike mistakes I can only
s.iy I do not aim to, and the mistakes are probably wh.it the
reader iiimself would h.ive made hail he been the tr.iveller. In
m\- former letter from this strange ci untry, in \w\ I'udeavor to
cn.il)le one to t.ike a bird's-eye view o' J.ipan. 1 fe.ir I may have
misled. I st.ited lh.it it was wholi}- of volc.mic origin, and that
there were but few pl.iins, and those of small extent. I'\)r the
purpose intended /. <•., to m.ike a picture — the statement was
proper. ( )n .1 toiiogr.ipiiical m.ip the islands w.)uld tluis appear.
There .ue, liowevei. in the f.ir north .and the far south stratified
forin.itions and a few in the centr.il portion, but these latter .ire
of nu't.iniorphic rocks, or the estu.iries of great rivers. Tiicrc arc,
too, some plains which are of consiiler.ible extent, eitlier along
the sea-coast or in the river vallej's. Some of these are ten to fif-
teen miles across near tiie sea. n.irrowiiig as tiuy run back until
tliey .ire lost in the mountains. ( )ne of the striking features of the
country i- the great number <;f rivers and tlifr size when compared
to their leMigth. The clim.ite is so humid .md the snow .md rain-
fall in the winter and spring so great, th.it the number .md size of
the streams are u holly disproportionate to the extent of the coun-
try drained, as conip.in-d with otlier countries one visits. Not
only is the rainf.ill great, but tlie dews are ver)- heavy. These
things make .1 const. iiitly moist e.irth, and cause streams to
aboun<l. In M.i>- ami June the volume of water brought to
the sea by the rivers is very great, and occasionally causes much
destruction by inund.itions when some of the restraining djkes
give way. It may safely be said, I think, that nearly all the broad
river valleys were originally .swamps and morasses. Hut huge
dykes varying from 10 to ^5 feet in height, erected at enormous

I i .-* >

I ' , ?»> i«i

'.. .. / 'I

i .1 * -I

u 1

r'-vr-

II f.^

,-/ A'.fc/-: 11777/ TJir. svy.

cost of labor, confine the streams to moderate ilinieiisions and
','ivo the country the bulk of its arable huul. which swarms with
a dense popul.itioii.

We arrived at this place late this afternoon. \\ e liave now
traverseil in jinrickishas :;oo miles of Japanese roads and about
lOO miles by rail. The latter we passed over— in both direction.s
—at a speed not ^neater than iS miles per hour. In other
words, we have moved slowly eiiou<;h to make minute observa-
tions of every thin}; .seen. We have been a month in the country,
and all the time anionic its people. We have p.issed tlirou},'h
13 towns and cities, with populati^Il^ of from 5,C)00 to 1.300,-

000 and tIirou5,'h many hamlets and villaf,u;s of 300 or 400 peo-
ple up to 2.000 and 3,000. We have passed vast acrca^a- of ciil-
tixated fieliis. ami seen many thousands of i)eople en^aj^^-d in
their daily avocations. We have slept in their houses and eaten
of their food. We have seen them reikin<^^ in sweat, but never
in ("ilth. Wi' have seen them in hilarious mirth, but ne\er once
in violent ani;er. We h.ive seen them in their nakedness, but
never once in .my tiling' like lewtlness. We h.ive setn them in
toilinj; poverty, but have uevtr seen a sinj;le look of sullennessor
of desi).ur. We have seen tluin in .abject poverty : we have never
.seen tiiem be.iji^in^ alms, excipt in a few in>.t.inces of total blind-
ness and decrepit a;.je. We have seen them in every wa\- shocking'
all ])reconceived ideas of decency and modesty, yet we have never
noticed a sin<;le look or e.\])res>ioii which would show tli.U any
one was aware thini,'s weri' beini; ilone which modotj- would for-
bid. We have seen children without .1 >t!tch of clothing coxeriii};
them, playing with children i^otten up in llu ir holid.iy finery.
We have >een .1 iiKui p.aise from his work, witli only a h.md's
breadth of cloth .d)out his loin-, and t.ilk w ith a neighbor in his
richest visiting' clothes, .ind tli'; n.ikul m.in wore as loft)- .1 mien
of di;L;nit\' .i-^ his comj>anion did in his robes. We h.ive met
woiiu-n in till highway naked down to the hi|)s, and s.iw no look
that betokened a single thouijht of >h.mie, and within a few luin-
dreil yards we would meet a be. luliful, well-clothed woman whose
eyes would drop in prttty modesty because we },Mve lur ,1 look of
invohint,ir\- admir.ition. There is here no such tliiiiL; ;i> conven-
tional decency or convention.il modesty. With ,1 liij^h civili/.i-
tion— in ni,in\- re->])ecls very hiidi— the people -till seini to be. to
a cert.iin extent, in a state fif .mim.d nature. Is the con-cieiice
scared, or has conscience nevir been .tu.ikened by a sense of sin?
The psycholo^'ist nui-t solvi' the problrni and answer the (piery ;

1 can not. I am still in a species of am.i.'.ement amont;' this incon-
sistent, this ^'re.it, this little, this brit;hl, yet !.jrovellin;4 and, to a
wistern m.in. immoral peo]^le.

E.ich

1 \ear, as 1 tjrow okler.

inu

t he t.

more and more strontrly returninj^ to me. Hvirn and bred

irm,

I find

irl_\- years
on

myself n ore interested in a.L,'riciiltiir,d pursuit

aiK

REChPTlO.X AT HOTEL.

productions, than in the works of groat cities. I shall, ii: accord-
ance witli iliis disposition, lievote some of.my writing to wh:it we
have seen and shall see of farming. Hut as we have seen this
farming not by going upon the farm, hut in i)assing through them.
it will not be amiss first to tell how we travel from tlay to liay.
I'"or this purpose, imagine us four luen seated in pretty little co\ -
ercd two-wheeleil siiring cirts, eacl; man witii a satchel between
his feet, and each cart drawn l)y two native, nearly naki'd. men.
We approach a village or town ; ami ' aviiig two pullers they dash
through it at a tremendous pace with a cry of warning now to a
pedestrian, tlu-n to a street vender, or to the drawer of another
cart ; every one good-iiaturciily gets out of the way of the for-
eigner and gives him a look of keen curiosity, never one of ilis-
courtesy. Tiuj children stare at the graj'-bearded man, and per-
haps crack a joke at his expense. The Japanese ari> a closely
shaven people, ami a full beard attracts attention and does not, I
suspect, win any admiration. The pretty young girls give a look
of kinilly interest to the two fair j'oung men of the p.'rty, ami
they both look conscious of deserving it. < )n we dasii at not far
from a ten-miles-per-hour gait. Suddenly the shafts </f the cart an
turned into a little Cf)urt before the best hotel of the town. '1 lie
place is in an immediate stir. The landlord comes forward with a
bow, or rather a suecission of bows. If we have one kuruina
(wagon) man tlu- landlord's hands reach to his thighs as he bi ws.
If we have two thev'go beiow the knees. often to the ankh^.a-- he
bends low at the lii])s.

Thi; 1. null. id)- is on lur knees on tlu raised plallorni of tiie
house, and l)o\vs till her forehe.id nearly touches the lloor. Just
!)( hind her are t\\<i or more pleasant-looking, and sometinus \(.-ry
pretty, handui. lids (waiter girls), prettilx' dressed and with most
el.ibor.itt' eoiffuri'. They bow as does the mistress. F.ver)- stnig-
gler and neighbor stops to see the strangers. We gel out on the
ground-floor, whiili is, in f.iet, but an extension of the street, .md
p.ivcd like it ; our luggage is t.d<en in. .in<l we at once take off our
shoes and le.ive them on this floor. In our stocking feet, o*" half-
slippers, m.ide ol hairy deerskin, we m^ount the raiseti jJatH-nn of
the housi-, which t^. say, two .md .i 'i.iif feet in elev.ition. and is
I>«autifull\' polisluil. .IS smooth, .is .my r. iscwooii juano, Tiu-se
fl'iors Afcv gener.illy bl.ick and liiglily l.u (|U' rrd. A shor. s.md.il,
or ( ;og is never .illowed to scr.itch or mar them.

( >ne of the w.iitrcsses at onie brings .i l.m|uered tray, on wliieii
is a small teapot and four linv teacup-, rin'^t much I.»rger than an
egg-hol<U:r \\'' t.M.h drink ilown a cup <»f \t-A^ Itt is ver^-weak:
feot wAf'X, ««)t l>»(Uing. has bi en poured <«•«:» the tc.i .ind is at
aniH'e p^hT'-H /into the cups. It Has at hast t'lm nient of being liot,
arvi*!. ti>«*];fU ireak. gives forth .i delicitte and delicious aroma.

TIk- wrhffl^ lower floor of the hotel is open to the street, leseTO-
Minj!. ;tn inh^datted sluil rather th.m .i house or system of rooms.

I t'-'

' <(

■ .:\

I e. I

/I RACE WITH THE SUN.

the kitchens fully visible, and the conkii\tj apparatus all ex-
1. This Inst is not very elaborate in small inns, consisting; of

posec

a stciie-

r earth-c<iv' red hearth, with small pit', over which are
two, three, or four tri])ods, or suspended from the ceiling; arc
chains, on w

WOO(

liich are hung the pots. The fire is of a few sticks of
1. or <if c'larco.il cnvi-red over with ashes when not used, and

quickl\- hrou;;ht to .1 flame In' a few small sticks or splinters
such (|'uickeiiiiii,^ of the fire imnudiatel)- follows the arrival of a

trave

Her. In the l.ir^a-r hotels there are several oviiilike stoves,

t hv a funnel-like

Tlicrc is no chimney, the smoke {,'oin},' ou
appar.itus thniui;h an ajjcrture above.

\\'e are then ennilueted up a verj- steep ■-t.iirw.i)- of perfectly
polisheil boards. We jiass aloijj; a sort of upper porch or long
gallerw .ind ari' shown our r(H*r«»s, or. r.ither. ro».)m, with a sort of
p.irtitioM ,ibo\e hanj;ing down one or more feet. Iktwi'en this
iiaiii^in;^ | rtititui aiul groovi.-s in the floor, light, pajjer-eoveri'ii
panels can. in ;i eou;>le of minutes, be inserted, so as to <livide the
one big room into iwn, three, or more smaller rooms, ;is the
exii'eni \' ma\' demand. The floors of rooms are .ill co\'ered with

while, innnaculateK-cle.in ui.ittin'

K re are 110 tables, t hairs,

or beds.

"wo w.iiter-girls

briiu

in four cusliions

.'lie

four, our guitle travelling with us .is 01, r < .pial. lie is intelligent
and a C'hristi.m. edue.ited by l)r. Hepburn, the Jap.mese schol.ir.
A small l.icipier platter, with a little bra/ier. is set before u-. It
cont.iins what would seem Tf» be .1 smooth mass of fine .ishes.
Hidden in the .ishes are .1 krw pieces of burning charcoal for us
to light our pipes from. Then ,1 fresh pot of ti;i is ser\i'd. .Shaw
(our guide) gois t<i the kitchen to show tlu'iii how to boil an v\jc

and to fr\- ,1 fish. Wrv

prttt)' w.iitresses l)ring ill four tra\'s with t

soon our supper is re.uly. and oiii tv^o

couple o

f boile(

iiid |)ieees o

f fisl

W(i covrnd

1 on e.icii tr.iv,

now Is, a
In one

bowl is a sort of veget.ible soup: it is m.ule of t.irro, mushroom^

a piece of radish, <ind a h.ilf-do/en otiu r odd ingredients, w liicli a

Jap.mese can enjoy, but which .111 American sw.illows oiil\ to

le n.itivescook almost exclusivel\- b\

w.inl o

'rim st.irvation.

boiling, in the other bowl is .1 souj). the main ingredient of which
is .1 half-cooked piece of fish. One girl h.is a l.irge. covered, l.ic(juer

3o,\, 'lolilmir

iliout a peck. This is filled with hot

nee,

She
e\' are

.scpiats beside it, and replenislK's our bowls as fast as th
emi)tied. We eat our boiled I'ggs. I'.veii ,1 native |.i|).inesr i 00k
has not )'et found how to get ;in\- odd-tasting tl

g tiling; inside of .1

unbroken egg-shell. \\\' e.it our fish, and do justice to tl

Terh,
butt

i])s we have brought with

lo.if of bre.id and a

le \\^:i.-
cm o'

er. This heljis out am.i/ingl)-. W".- jiojitely pntend to sw.il-

low a bowl of SOU]); Shaw helps' to gi i

besides his own. He declares it deliciou:-

ing grace can w ipe out the sin of such ;i fib. ( )ur sujiper is ended

Kvery thing is cleared away. If either of us has dropped a grain

.iw.i\' with one or two,
( )nly sovereign-reign-

HATtriXa VXDER niFFICVl.Tir.S.

of lice on the mat one of the girls picks it up witli the daintiest
of fingers.

Then comes in ;i ni;ui with ;i liuge pile of " futtms," a sort of
thick wadded comforter. TIksc are doubled and spread upon the
floor, one in each conip.utnient. fornn'ii by the separating grooves
in the lloor. Sonutinies the) bring slucts, but very rarely. A
Japanese robe, fresh and clean, is served, however, for each guest.
We cannot sleep on wooden pillows, so a comforter is foliled
across the heatl of the betl for a pillow. li)' the way, the Jap
uses a small rounded pillow of wood, about ten iiulu-s long and
live to si.\ inches high, with a depression into which the back of
the head and the nape <if the neck fits and rests. This prevents
the necessity of re-tlressing the hair each day. Women now, ,uul
men formerly diil, git \\\^ a ve'.y clabor.ite coiffure, which lasts for
several daj's, if not weeks. It takes several hours to get into i)er-
fect form the heav)- tresses ()f the women. Travellers frecpiently
git into romps with the hotel girls. The care with whicii the
latter gu.ird their heads is amusing.

Tiien the girls tell us the bath is ready, W'c each undress and
put on .1. robe. A girl to each of us shows us ti> the bath-rooms.
These are down-stairs, and h.ive only an open Japanese screen to
shut off till' ga/e of the habitues of the house. The tub is a
round woodi'ii \.it, about four feit ilei'p. \'ou put )i)ur foot in
to try the tempiTature. Vou nearly shriek. The girl l.uighs, .md
empties a pail of eold w.iter in. \'ou tinn wait for iier to go out.
.she doi's not butige. \'ou ean't, to sa\e )'ou, think of J.ipanese
eiiougii to tell her to go. I""in.dly, 1)\' a lot of awkward •^i'^ns, you
get her beyond tlie screen, but not .m inch farther. There she
st.inds and w.iits, .is innociiitl)" .is did good old I'.ve when Adam
]Mured into her willing e.irs his first declaration of undoing atfec-
liou. riure .ire things as well as times that tr\' men's souls, and
call for heroic courage. ( )ne cm scale the bristling wall, can
ni.irch into the mouth of ,i hot-lliroated cannon, car. mount the
scaffold with tile ■-hilling axe glistening in the >nn, cm tell the
girl he loves how he would win and ucir her. cm make a maiden
s|)t.-cch in the House of Kepresent.it i\ es, !)ut these are e,is\- t.isks
compared to that of getting int<i .i hot b.ith with a pretty Jajjan-
esf girl looking at you thr(nigh .i r.itt.m screen -looking .it }ou,
too, with .IS much Sdiij^Odii/ :\<. if she were seeing .i threeinonths-
old b.ii>y stripped of its little fl.innel shirt. I'inaily patience
gives out. you droj) your mbe .md jump in. (iood heavens!
the pail of cold w.iter did cool the thing, but the furnace at
the bottom of the tub is still adding ciloric. \'ou feel much
■is did the poor J.ipanese m.irt)'rs when, .i few huiulred ye.irs
.ago, the he.ithen wretches boiled them into grease. ^'ou
forget the girl and ever)- thing else, .and jump out thoroughly
clothed. /. (■.. in scirlel skin. The i)rett\- girl's music!
laugh rings in your ears, .md her soft mellow eves take it; the

Llli- ' il

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

luic of your lialf-boilcd carcass. All. tlicsc arc things which try

men's souls!

After the batii. p.irtitioiis arc drawn between tlic several com-
partments, and we lie down to sleei). The partitions are a sort of
very liL'ht sash, fitting' into the j,'roovcs above and below. In lieu
of Ldass, these sashes are glazed with translucent, thin paper, and
are so e'asil\- .idjusted that the ^''1^ i"i''<i-' f"""" rooms in as many
niimites. \Ve i,'et into a doze. Then we hear a noise as if two
or three frei^iit trains were beinj,' switched on the lloor. The
outside wooden screens which close the house are bein^j put in
around the balconv. I said the house is open on all sides, but at
bedtime it is all sluit wy by me.ms of slidint; screens, which liuriuj,'
the day are hidden in niches in the wall. Wy this time we begin
to itch! The\' say fleas .ibound in J;i|).in. I have not seen .isingle

one.

Ihit. when w.ikeful, imaj^'in.ition or re.di^v has made them
;il>nii» mr ill reckless reduiuiaiicv. At ! . We ^et to sleep,

crawl about me in reckless reduiidancv
and early the next morning take our breakfast.— about the s.uue
thint,' as'thc supper, with the addition of large bowls of tea pre-
pared, under Shaw's supervision, in I'.urope.m stjle. \Vi' pay our
bill, ant! iiere comes in, i sini^ul.ir fe.iture in J.iii.mese hotel science.
One ni^ht our bill will be three yen, the next night, in exactly the
same sort of house, the same accommod.itions will cost us six or
seven. I suppose the size of our bills vary with the elasticity
of conscience possessed by the several l.uidlords. All. however,
are che.ip compared with American charges, never as much as a
dollar and three (piarters for two meals and lodging. Our ji

kish.is are reaih', for ve en'M^ed them the night bifon

ric
men w

hob

rou'

^ht

r'tiun o\er the ro.ul. .iiul r.irel)' i'\er c<

tinue with us '.!;e seeoiul d.i y. We d.ish out of town to ne
perii'nc s ,is we hurry along.

le
m-

w ix-

I s.iid th.it the people in cities scom t(

pl.ijing at running .1

towr.. One feels the same way about the farmers. I'A'ery thi

IS on such a small scale, ;uu

1 is carrieil on with such

wondei

ful
iceness, that one can scarcely re.dize that farming here is not for
amusement, but i> the business of life, .ind .1 very e.uiust .ind li.ird
business at th.it. There ,ire no such things .is farm-houses: .ill
live in villages or towns. There are no such things as Ijarns or
out-houses in which to store cro])s. M.my f.irms are of one ,icre
in size, and very few of ten.

( )n one of these little holdinsjs the farmer will have his rice field

and a dozen other cro]i^
Althou<!

It r.iiiis s(

Evervwhere the re are irri'Mtint' ditch

fiek
b)- irrigation,
nuicli, no one relii's on natunil w.itirin'.;s.

.ich

I-

very thing is grown

The little fields .in

perfectly level. A farm of two or three acres will have .1 half-
dozen levels. In the fl.it v.illeys they all appear ne.irly the s.ime,
but in the u|)1kt valleys, ,ind on rolling ground, or on the iiill or
mount. lin sides, each field is .i terr.ice to itself. In the latter they
are of all shapes, often onl_\- .1 half-dozen feet wide, zig-zag, rouiul-

I. i ■

J A I' A M.SE FA R.MIXG.

iny, and in every imaginable shape to suit the configuration of the
land, so that each is perfectly level, ami will hold water. Thi-
water irrigating one field drops tlown to irrigate those below.

The farms all look like small market gardens near our cities.
The plow is useil only in a few localities, and then not for loosen-
ing the soil, but to tlirow up beils. \Vc have so far not seen a half
ilozen, and only near Kobe. All grounil is dug anti perfectly pre-
pared. The spade and fork arc- unknown, but si)ade-like and fork-
like hoes are wiekleil, as with us one uses the ordinary hoe. Not
,1 weetl is ever seen, and not a foot of grouml is w.isted. Hetwien
the rice patches the little ridges which confine the llooding waters
are planted with peas or st)me other crop. The land is all double
cropped. In May the wheat and bark)- is h.irvested. Immedi-
atel)' follows rice, corn, millet, or root crops. One sees rice, sweet
potatoes, egg-pl.uU, millet of several varieties, turnips, carrots,
tarro, beans, cotton, lilies, sipiash, sesamum, maize or Iniliancorn,
biukwheat, hemp, flax for white conlage. sugar cane, dishrag
pl.mt. tea plant, indigo, mulberry, pe,u' trees, and many other
v.irieties of food crops side by siile in little tiny fields and in .dl
stages of m.iturits', ami all of these on farms of from one to ten
acres. In the large low-l\iiig river valleys the rice fields are ap-
]).irentl\ of con^iiderable extent, but on close obser\Mtioii oiu: sees
tli.it v\k:\\ here few fielils are much over one eighth of .m acre in
si/.e, but all being on a common level present the appearance of
one of a few large fields. In one localit)' we saw te.i plantations
of several .icies, the possessions of .i single man, but these are ex-
ceptional. We s.iw rice being harvested near Tokiu a month ago,
,ind >'et even in this locality, where it is warmer, the bulk of the
crop is not yet ready for the sickle. October is the regtil.ir har-
\est month for this >l,iple. It is ///<• crop of the country, i-'oniier-
ly .ill rents .iml all taxes were paid in rice. A rich man's income
w.is s|)oken of as so mail)- sacks of rice. ;\ll lands belong to the
go\ernnie!it. I'mler the new and better s)-stem of government all
nut-, .iiul ta.xes are now paid in nione)-. h'ormerly a comparativel)'
few Daimios held the entire country in fief, paying to the govern-
ment so man)' sacks of rice. They let the lands to the tenants,
tithing iveiy thing, ami virtually owned the masses. The Daimios
are now .i thing of the past, .ind teii.ints p.iy fixed rents to persons
who rent from the government tracts of greater or less si/.e. The
f.irmer now, although he is bowcil down in abject poxirtw neither
feels like nor li.is the air of a sl.ive.

L.mds ,ire fertilized to some extent b\' applications of solid
manures, but the gre.it tlepciidence is u])on a li(iuid form. IC\ery
thing is saved th.it cm be made to emich the crop; ,il| night soil
is carefully preserved. Conveniences are erected along the high-
ways and byways, so as to prevent any waste. Coarse grass and
refuse straw is burnt, and the ,islu-s mixed in the vats. Deep
holes are .sometimes simply ilug in the ground, but more giner-

' 1

' 1v-

i ; I

r .;

■.r>

i It ;

.1'

■>

A RACE WITH Till. Sl'X.

ally pits, w.illid uitli stoiu' or umxl. arc sunken near every field.
Into tlii^ the manure in li(|uiii form is (lei)ositetl to rijjcn and per-
feet itself. Men. l)o\s, and women then carry it in p.dls on the
two ends of a bearini; p<ile to the fields, and with it water tlic
rjrowinj; cro|)s. When one mii ts one of these liipiid manure car-
riers on the ro.id it is s.ife to hold one's no-.c until the uiiuh^.ird
has been ^^lineil. Women and nun on their knees weed the fields
as at home \\v weed .i tin)' llowir-bt d.

As one crop i)e^iiis io ri|)en some other crop is pl.mted be-
tween t lie rows, so as to ^'et a j,'ood start before the outj^oin^;
one ha- been removed. I'".ven the tea plant.itiuns. when c(>n-i>t-
in^' of Ninall plants. lia\e turnips, carrots, .md other crops pl.mteil
betwee'n the rows.is soon as the Jul\ picking' is finislud. The peo-
pleseem to be wonderfidlveducati d a> to the rot.ition of tlu' crops,
and l.md u Inch h. IS been in cultivation for man)- centuries )et
proiluces marvellously l.iri;e crop return-. Thi-> ye.ir the people
will be well off. The rice crop is saiil to be .dniost unprece-
dented in the yield. This i- the one ^reat food crop for the
|.i]).in<-i-. Rice, li-h, and root.-, they live on; nie.it tlu-\- r.irely
ever t.i-te. They ".it the rool> of si'veral of the lilies which,
in America, are ijrown for orn.unent.ition. The waterddy ami
the lotus is cultiv.itetl to .i i^reat e.vteiit. where the l.imU .ire
low, ,ind c.imiot be ilraimd, not for the llowcr, but for fooil.
The i)opul,ition of J.ipan i- .ibout 37,tx)0,orK).ind is siij)pc,ited on
I I.J^S.txx) .an- of cultivated kinds, or about \z pir cent, nt the
wholi an .1 of the empiri', and exported, last Ve.ir. of the products
of tlu-e .icres, §2i.cxxj,(XX) of silk, SlS,cxx).cxX) of te.i-. .md nearly
$_;,5ao.cKX) of rice. The ex])ort of the l.i-t i- .iliiio-t. if not cn-
tirelv. tnChin.i. Of luTte. is exported, nearly SiS.ocxJ.ucx) went to
the United States.

Rice is all tr.ins|)l,intcd by hand in row - from five to ten inches
apart, .md in exact cluiks. The people cert.iinl\- destr\e much
for tlieii' UDtidt ifu! induslr\', .md n.iture h.is betii \'ery l.ivi-h in
her favor-. The w.iters h.ive .i boundles.- -ui)pl\- of fi-h. l'"i-h
.ind rice may be saiil to be the food of tile pei>ple. .md > el the
bountiful oce.m not only supi)lies her sh.tre of the food, but sup-
plies also a lar^'e amount of the manure which enriches the soil
to produce so abundantly. I'"ish for this purpo.-e arc c.irried to
cpiite lon^ distances into the interior.

riu' fort -ts of the mount. lins, too. ,ire \'er)' bountiful of nuts.
The chestnut is ,ibund.inl .uul of <^re;it si/.e. In all books I li.ive
read of this country the area of tlie isl.mds composing tiie em-
pire h.i- been fixed .it ne.irly I 70,0)0 -([u.ire miles. In .1 book of
statistics published May, 1SS7, b\- the ^'overnnunt. the are.i of
all the isl.mds having' ;in area of one vi — there are 1 1 _' of these —
is fixed at 24,704 vi. This would ;.;ivc an area of from 144.CXX)
to 155,000 s(]iiare miles, or in the neii^hborhood of 90.ctoo.ooo
acres, or two and two third times the are.i of Illinois. About

y.\ r.ixi.si 11. on a a'.v.

«3

80.000,000 of these acres are waste or forest, and do not t \iii
^'r.ize c.ittle of any kinil. Huildlii->ni lias discDur.ii^ed tlie e.itin^
of aiiini.d food. TIic acorns of tlic fon^t would feid nuilit)ns of
lion's and >it no ho^'s are i,'ro\vn. I'lie j^rasses on many of the
hills woidil feed millions of cattle, yet tlurc are not 2.000,000
of horned c.ittle in the whole empire. Tlu- ordin.ir)' native j^'rass
is .1 sort of l).iml)oo ;4r.iss, with .1 >h.iri), h.ird, serrated i'(ii;f, .md
which, it is said, cut the entr.iils of horses and shet|).

When one considers all of these thin^^'s. - this wondi rfullv re-
dund.mt population of poor .iiul overtaxed, yi't h.ippy, briL;iit
people, supported >>n I l,cx.)i),ooo .icres, or less th.m .m eiL;hth of
the area of their country, -cm one wondir that a rellectin^f m.m
is in a sort of d.i/.e while lure ?

There are no st.irvelin<^s in J.ip.m. Th'.' children .ire .is f.it ,md
jolly as curlyt.iiliil pii,'^ : the yoiiii:; l.uU and ^iris L;ive no evi
denci- of not havin;^ enouL;h to i.it. They are all roiiiuled in
foi in .iiiil litiie in .iction, and the men ,ind l)o)'s .ire c.ipahle of
iiidurin;4 .ictive lahor anil f.ifi;^ue as few otiicrs can. The)' an:
|)os-,il)ly not a> nui^cul.ir .i«. our me.it-iMtiii'r,' nun, hut not .1 d.iy
p.isses that 1 do not sec some m.m whose nuiscul.ir dr\( loj)inent
is a source of .idmir.ition. .md otheis whose j)owir^ n| mdui.ince
are simpl>" m.irvellous. Two nun on .1 f.iir ro.ul will pull .1 lu-,iv\'
m.m 4'J miles in ei^ht hours. A i^cntlem.m assured nu' th.ii a
single pair h. id dr.iwn him 46. He wei^'hed fully 17; p(Uin(ls.
It is true the ro.ul was on .1 r.ither ilownward ^'r.ide. The most
of these men are born upon .md re.ired on farm--. 1 will touch
upon one more ch.ir.icteri-<tic of the farmers. 1 refir to his use
of llowcrs. ,\lthoii^h iu- lives in .1 ho\(l which is house, h.irn,
u(ukshop, aiul chickendion^e ;ill combined, yet oiU' will find close
!))• the door of his dirtlloored hut m.irvels of flowers. Such
coxcombs, foli.iL;e pl.mts, m.ir.^nierites, iister^ .md cluys.intlu'-
miims are mver seen m Anu-ric.i, exci-])t when ^.^rown l)\- ,1 pro-
fessional tlorist. lie h.is no rej^ul.ir llower-f^.irden, he is too poor
for th.it, and -^'r-iin L;rows .ihnost up to the thn'shold of his iloor.
lUit he will h.ive .1 few i)l.ints stuck in odd pl.icis, .ilw.ixs |)erfect
in form, lar;[e in si/e, .md of m.irvellous coloriiv^rs.

I lere permit me to .iild ,1 speci.il line .is to t he chrys.intheinum.
the n.itiou.il llower .iiul formins^ the crest of the mik.ulo. There
are man)' \ .irieties. The larj^est tlu-y kee|)dow 11 to one bloom to t he
stalk. 1 nuM-ured one si.\ .md one.(|ii.irter inches in di, muter, of
perfect form, .md e.\rpiisitel>' juire .md w hite. this, too. thoui^h the
chrysanthemum season h.i<l not be;j;un by nearly a month.
This was the f.ivorite flower of my mother, and h.is, therefori',
.ittiMCted my .ittention. ( )thers not as |.ir;^'e as our old silver ten-
cent i)iece, are j^rown on rouiuled bushes of considerabU" si/t',
covering; the bush .ilmost solidly. They ,ire now just coming;
into season, and are displaced about the commonest houses.

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WEBSTER, N.Y. USEO

(716) 872-4503

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CHAPTER IX.

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SPECULATIOXS UPON JAPAN — (;KKAr DYKES A\D WALLS— LILIPU-
TLVN TRP:i:S— FEMALK EIH'CAIIOX.

Hiogo, Japan, October 15, 1887.

ThirtY-FIVE years ago last April I met Bayard Taylor in
Cairo. We were both on our way to Jerusalem, he expecting to
go on to Moussoul and Ararat ; and I to cross Asia Minor to
Constantinople. He abandoned his trip and joined mc. We
were nearly of the same age and conceived a liking for each
other. We spent months together in tent life in the land of the
Saracen, and crossed by land from Aleppo to Brousa. In a
caique we were rowed at night toward the Bosphorus, and saw
the morning's sun gilding the domes and minarets of Stamboul.
We anticipated some months more of pleasant journeyings to-
gether in Turkey, Greece, and Albania. But on reaching, in
Jul}', the sultan's capital, he found letters from the New York
Tribune, commanding a halt, and ii.'' rminghim that Commodore
Perry was about to be sent on an expedition to Japan, and that
the paper would endeavor to get him a position on the commo-
dore's ship. We discussed the future and talked of the strange,
!ocked-up country he was about to visit, — a land we regarded al-
most as belonging to another world, — a people we supposed to
be of different mold from that in which other men were cast.
He did join the expedition, and caught a glimpse of the shogun's
hosts. What he wrote on the subject showed that the sight of
the land and of its people had not dispelled the illusions we were
under when in the city of the Turk. Bayard Taylor has gone
from among men, but his name lives in poetry, and is enrolled
among the immortals. Here, in the land he helped to open to
the world, I do homage to his memory, and count it among my
good fortunes that I knew him and could call him friend.

A glamour surrounded the word " Japan " when my friend and
I talked of it far into the night a third of a century ago ; a
glamour still hangs over it as I sit here in this delicious climate
and think of its long past and speculate upon i^s future. Taylor
and I thought of it as a land of terrors, and of its men a., bar-
barian monsters. The islands were a terra incognita, and the
American fleet was going to them bearing discoverers ; and with
true Yankee impudence, our people actually did give names which

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JAPANESE THRIFT.

yet rule, under the right of discovery, to points of land and islands
which were peopled and civilized when England was inhabited by
a lot of ignorant savages, and America had been seen only by
telescopic observers on some distant planet. We thought of
America opening a savage land to European and American com-
merce, so that the universal Yankee could turn a penny and make
a mighty dollar.

I sit here, however, and look back over the past. The land
is covered by a weird haze — a haze through which I see this
people existing as a people when Nebuchadnezzar was grazing
among the beasts of the field, and when " Mene, tekel, upharsin "
was blazing in frightful glow upon the Babylonian wall. I see
this people coming down through the long ages, doing mighty
works, — works which will endure until the rocking earth alone
shall sink them into dusty ruin, — works not piled up in pyramidal
stone to commemorate the legends of forgotten masters, but
mingled witii and made a part of the very soil to enable it to wave
in corn and blossom into flowers and to bear fruits to feed innumer-
able peoples, — works to bridle rushing rivers and foaming moun-
tain torrents, to restrain them, in their wild fury, from carrying
destruction and death, and turning them into handmaids of man,
helping the dews of heaven lO cause the earth to blossom as a
rose. Huge dykes run up and down great river banks, and back
and forth acr!)s^ innumerable valleys, confining mighty floods,
and making ther.. the support and helpers of the people, instead
of being their destroyer ; their broad summits turned into smooth
and level roads, and their sloping sides clothed with forest trees.
Oftentimes for miles on the crests of transverse dykes are cut deep
channels, along which flow large pellucid streams, fresh from
mountain heights, irrigating innumerable fields, and sending j^ure
water through stony gutters along the single streets of numberless
villages and hamlets.

I ride for miles and miles through fields of rice so rich that the
stalks bend under the heavy grain ; through fields of millet,
whose heads droop like ostrich feathers ; through fields of cotton,
white with the bursting bolls; through fields of buckwheat, blos-
soming like a flower-bed; fields of turnips and other roots, of
emerald green ; through fields of tarro, whose broad leaves flap
like elephantine ears; of sugar-cane, so thick upon the ground
that one wonders how the roots can possibly find nutriment;
through plantations of tea, almost black in glossy greenness. I
see that crop follows crop so quickly that the soil knows no rest,
and then I remember that this thing has been going on for cen-
turies, and that to every acre of land under cultivation there are
three people and over to be supported. That these people not
only support themselves, but export $48,000,000 worth of produce
for the luxury of other lands, and that they do not import a single
mouthful of food from those lands. Then I remember that all

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

the houses in the land are of wood, and are burned down on an
average of once every ten years. In other words, that there is not
and cannot be any hoarded wealth ; that the people eat, drink,
and are merry, with no thought of a remote to-morrow ; that they
eat of the produce of each day, and lay up nothing for the next.
And then I remember that this has been their liabit and their nature
for ages. Then, again, 1 recall the fact that, up to a few years
ago, these millions had no rights which their daimio masters and
sumarai retainers were bound to respect. That the nob'-man
fleshed his maiden sword upon the limbs and backs of his slaves
on the streets and highways as freely as a boy would cut off
thistle-heads with a cane. With all of this the fact, yet one sees
a liard-working poor man in his half-clothing, naked up to the
thigh, carr)-ing his head as erect and well poised upon his shoul-
ders as ever did a Roman senator ; that the children are fat,
ruddy, saucy, and jolly as ever were seen in a schoolhouse play-
ground in America.

Five years ago an educated woman was a rare thing in the land,
while to-day every city has its large girl-scliools, in which are hun-
dreds of the rising mothers of the land getting as good an educa-
tion as an average \\oman at home obtains. We were in a private
mission-school a daj' or two since, in which were 300 well-clothed
girls and 90 boardcs. There we heard one of our own Chicago
girls, daughter of our learned bibliographer, Mr. Poole, late of the
public library, hearing a class of young ladies recite — and right
well, too — exercises in English grammar, and another class recite,
with decided intelligence, a h.'sson in physiology to the bright and
earnest principal. Miss Dauthaday. I recall the fact that this
wonderful progress is of the growth of five years; that fathers
who, up to ten years ago, thought w(iman was intended to be
the slave, or, at best, but the agreeable upper servant, of her
father, brother, or husband, are now straining f;very nerve to give
their daughters a liberal education, and particularly desire them
to be able to read English literature, while even luisbands are
sending their young wives to school.

Aiding in all of tliis is the progressive Empre.ss, who, knowing
that things cannot be well done by halves, utters the decree
that women, to be received at court, must wear European cos-
tumes. And this is not done for vanity's sake, or to encourage
some pet dressmaker, but to change woman's status absolutely,
and from the very bottom. Last year, when she and the Mikado
visited Ozaka, she let it be known that no rank could enter into
her august presence except in European dress, and, knowing
how this would entail hardship upon many, with kind generosity
sent presents of costly stuff to many ladies to enable them to be
present at her reception.

By the way, I commend the Empress for her good intentions,
but I lament that she had not called a congress of wise women

JAPANESE DRESS.

together to advise and invent some better costume than the
miserable, unhealthy, and not over-decent style of dress now worn
by civilized women. Our women arc frightfully shocked by the
exposure permitted by the Japanese costume, but forget that they
themselves do nearly as bad. They make a well-shaped dress,
and then stuff in artificial filling when nature has been niggardly
in her gifts. Conventionalism makes the thing modest and
decent, and habit and fashion make us think it pretty. But there
is absolutely nothing in th style of the day which is artistic,
graceful, healthy, or naturally attractive. I wish I could have
had the ear of the Empress before she made her fiat. I would
have begjed her to get u]> a new style, modified upon a Chinese
model. It is a really pretty, convenient, and sensible dress. This
costume we s.iw, in great beauty, on the wife of the Chinese min-
ister and on ladies of her suite at a temple in Tokio, when they
came for their regular monthly devotions. Without any apparent
curiosity, we were able to watch and examine them for nearly a
lialf-hour. Their dress was exceedingly becoming, thoroughly
modest, and very artistic and graceful, and yet of such form that
it could be adapted to every change of temperature. Our women
are intelligent, modest, and full of aesthetic refinement, and yet
they have become so thoroughly slaves to conventional ideas that
they deform themselves and believe themselves well dressed be-
cause they are in the fashion, and imagine themselves modestly
attired because custi)m has ratified the mode. I would like to
build a wall around Ciiina out of which no almond-eyed Celestial
could escape, but it would delight me if the costume of thc'r
ladies could be introduced among Western nations. We would
then have our better halves dressed to please an artistic eye, with-
out the present waste of female health and strength. Japan
nceiis, and is rapidly adopting Western ideas, but when her
women import annual pattern plates from Paris, and live up to
the changing fashions of that giddy capital, they will have lost
much of what they gain by other imi)rovements.

One cannot realize the enormous strides in progress this peo-
ple has made since Perry calmly sailed up Yeddo Bay, except by
reading the intelligent observations of European and y\merican
writers who were here CO or 30 years ago, and then by com-
paring their descriptions of things as they then were with
what the most careless traveller can now see. The common
remark made by foreign residents here is that the Japanese are
moving forward too rapidly. When asked why, they can give no
intelligent answer. They simply think the thing cannot last.
The most intelligent lady we have met here made this remark to
me. I replied by asking my usual question : " Why ? " She
naively answered : " Five years ago we began thoroughly to in-
troduce our system of female education among the people. It
was up-hill work. Wc were met by every kind of native opposi-

!V:h " '

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

tion Now they have not only been keeping pace with us, step
by step, bu': arc actually outstripping us. and we cannot keep up

with them." , ^ r i

Is it to be wondered at, then, that a close student of human
nature iinds himself constantly asking the qucstio-i : " What is to
be the future of this peop'<; ? " One fact makes this question the
more pertinent, and that is that the people themselves do not
seem to be aware of the rapidity of their own advancement.
They are so greedy for knowledge, and so apt in its acquirement,
that they seem to take their progress as a thing of course— a per-
fectly natural corollary of their determination to make progress.
They are not simply imitators, as are the Chinese, but they catch
Western ideas, and these ideas become their own, and not infre-
quently are improved upon. Their farmers, without the knowl-
edge of a single scientific fact, are yet the most scientific of agri-
cufturists. Without the knowletige of a sin_L>;le principle to guide
them, they dig and sow, manure and reap as if replete with all
the results of past scientific research. They seem to think that,
in every walk of life, they will imbibe knowletlge and skill as a
sponge drinks up moisture. And 1 ask myself the question :
"Will they not?"

In the kindred branches of agriculture — floriculture and arbori-
culture — they are as skilled as in the first. One sees beautifully
developed flowers constantly, up against the mud wall of a smoky
hovel, in hamlets, and in mountain valleys; they are frequently
seen in patches, the size of a bath-towel, stolen from the very
macadam road; on ledges of rocks where a hatful of soil will lie,
dahlias of great variety and perfect in form, coxcombs of e\(piis-
ite hues, of huge size, and formed like beautiful pears ; marguer-
ites as large as a silver dollar, and in great masses upon the bush ;
a purple iron-weed, a sort of coreopsis nearly as large as the mar-
guerite, and equally thickly covering the head ; coleas and other
foliage plants so brilliant in dyes that the\- appear to have been
dipped in blood and then fringed with burning sunbeams; mari-
golds and other kindred flowers nearly as large as the dahlias.
These seem to be the favorites of the peasant or coolie popu-
lation.

The skill of these people in tree culture is even more surprising
than that shown in floriculture. The latter is not so novel to the
average American. He has seen at home the little wild rose
worked up into the huge and perfect jacqueminot. He has en-
joyed the delicious odor of the peony transformed from the rank-
smelling old-fashioned plant, and is ready to comprehend any
monstrous metamorphosis among flowers. But when he sees
here an old pine tree with gnarled and bent branches, its whole
appearance the exact counterpart of the ancient monarch of the
mountain-side; when he sees this old-looking, perfectly healthy
and thrifty fir, lOO, 200, and even 300, and 400 years old, growing

IJLirUTIAN TREES.

in a flower-pot two or three feet deep, he hardly knows whether
he be more interested in the skill evinced or amused by the gro-
tesqueness of the idea which suggested it. Such a tree as this
! 'lavc seen. Its whole height was not five feet, and its gnarled
branches did not cover an area of eight feet. I asked its age, and
w:.s answered, 450 years. Near by were dozens of smaller ones,
three feet high, in pottery vases, perfect in form, some round and
bright as the denizens of the rich bottom-land. Others, queer-
looking, odd old liliputians, making one think he was viewing an
ancestor of centuries ago hanging from a rocky crag, and that
he was looking at it through the reversed lenses of a powerful
field-glass. I ask:

" How old is that?"

" It was planted by my father 52 years ago."

"And that?"

" My grandfather put it in the pot 70 years back."

"And this other here that looks as if it had been watered from
the fresh-water tank in Noah's ark ? "

" Ah ! that is a beauty, and is the pride of my garden. It was
transplanted when no taller than my little finger by my great-
great-great-great-grandfather, nearly 200 years ago. He spat upon
its roots. He is a good god now, and his soul sits among its
green branches every day and blesses his children." And the
good man foided his hands and looked as if he felt that the spirit
ot his ancestor, now one of his household gods, heard his pious
utterances.

These old little trees arc in gardens, and adorn niches for orna-
ments in the houses of the well-to-do. They are grown on either
side of the central incense burners before the inner shrines — the
iioly of holies, — where abide the living souls of the gods in the
great temples, both Shinto and Buddhist. One looks upon them
•••^ry mucii as you look into the meek eyes of a baby elephant —
so cute, so quaint, so knowing, and so like its monster mother,
when it stretches fortli its ilexible trunk to take a peanut from
your hand.

Then, too, there are monster trees, claimed to be a thousand,
or nearly a tlioiisand years old, whose branches have been trained
into ever}' conci'ival)le, abnormal shape, and are venerated, if not
absolutely worsiiippcd. We visited one at Karasahi, on Lake
Riwa. It is about si.x feet in iliameter just above the spread of
the roots, but a little higher up. where its three great branches
spring out, it takes a jQ-foot line to girdle it. At some 20
feet altitude the many limbs coming out of the three great
branches have been trained nearly horizontally, and cover a space
of I So feet from out to out. One branch, up to a few years since,
lifted to a height of 90 odd feet. A typhoon took it off. The
broken place is cemented over, and a little god house is perched
over the cemented fracture. A small temple lies in its shade,

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

( I

and the soul of a god lives and sings among its needles. The
attendant priest told me it was 1,000 years old. I believed him.
Why should I doubt ? Thomas doubted. I never do, especially
now that I travel for rest and wish to live in a half-dream.

These people have had no horses to speak of, no beasts of bur-
den, no complicated machinery. They themselves have been
beasts of burden for so many thousands of years that the moon
was young and had not worn its harvest phase when they became
people and commenced to earn their food by the sweat of their
faces. With their naked hands they have chiselled rocks of
monster size and erected them into mighty walls, 40, 50, go,
and 100 feet high, about the castles of the great capitals.
Some of these walls are miles in length, and are built of stones
brought from groat distances and weighing from 100 and 200
pounds up to very many tons. In the castle at Ozaka, high up
on the wall, are granite stones 30 feet long, eight feet high, and
nearly as many feet deep. These I examined on either side of
the gate-way. But within were stones so huge that they looked
like rocky precipices erected by nature upon a mountain-side. I
could not go in to measure them — I had no permit, and the
guard, after politely permitting us to look for a minute or two,
motioned us to pass on.

But we had time to see two monster stones, which .seemed to us
to be over 40 feet long, 15 to 20 feet high, and how deep we could
only guess, for they were a part of the great inner wall. These
mighty walls were not erected, as was Cheops pyramid, by cap-
tive nations worked to destroy them, but by a cheerful and
politically enslaved people, but still the people of the land ; peo-
ple who can chase a piece of bronze with a delicacy of touch and
a lightness of finish few European people can reach ; can carve a
bird and have done so for centuties, and did so when these
massive works were erected ; can and have carved froin wood,
birds so natural that one can almost see them pick the rice they
appear to be feeding upon, andean see the ruffling of the feathers
as they fly.

" What will be the future of this woiuleiful penple?"

CHAPTER X.

HONOR TO PERRV— THE MIKADO FORMERLY A GOD; NOW A WISE

RULER— RAl'Il) PROGRESS— GOOD rOLICE— GOOD ROADS—

A ITIOUGIIT OF MOTHER— FARM HOUSES.

Kobe, Japan, October 16, 1887.

America delights in doing lionor to tiio memory of her great
dead, and her people never weary in recounting their heroic
deeds. One of her great men, however, has not yet received the
honors due him, and his noblest act is appreciated only by a few.
When Commodore Perry conceived the idea of drawing back the
bolts which for centuries had locked this country against
foreigners and then calmly and bravely carried out his design, he
showed the brain of a great statesman, and did one of the boldest
acts recounted on the page of history. The bristling guns of his
fleet did much to bring about the wonderful success of the under-
taking, but not so much as did the calm, dignified, and patient
bearing of its commander. The reticent diplomacy of the states-
man did as much as did the bold demeanor of the sailor. Other
nations have taken greater advantage of the results of the expedi-
tion than we have d(jne. Let us at least do all honor to the man to
whom belongs the glory of the idea and of the act.

At that time Japan had an anointed ruler, who reigned in seclu-
sion as a god, who was worshipped and venerated as such, and was
feared because he was the son of the sun, and was supposed to
have daily intercourse and communion with the great Author of
all things. She had, however, another ruler, who governed in the
name of the hidden one and was feared as a master, whose sword
was never sheathed. For ages the mikado had never been seen
by his subjects. He gave audiences to the princes, nobles, and
great priests of the realm, but he spoke from behind a veil — an
impenetrable screen — and those who pleaded before him did so
with their foreheads bowed down upon the ground. They would
not have dared, even if they could, to turn their eyes upon the
brightness of his dazzling face. To have looked upon such
effulgence would have been an impiety, punishable by the offend-
ed gods.

Through the kindness of our excellent Minister, cx-Governor
Hubbard of Texas, we had a permit from the Minister of Home
Affairs to visit the mikado's palace at Kioto. We saw the pavilion
on which the descendant of the sun-goddess formerly sat when

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giving audience, and lifted tlic heavy silk curtains which once
screened the mighty one. It was less than 20 years ago that
the great crowned but unsceptred monarch— the I2ist
ruler ''of his line— lived in this great palace and reigned
over, but did not rule, his people. For hundreds of years
his ancestors had lived and reigned as he did, while the shogun
(tycoon^ governed for him from Yeddo, and ruled the people in
his name with despotic sway. Perry opened Japan to the gaze
of the world, and western civilization soon opened the palace of
the mikado and showed his face to his people. The last of the
shoguns is now a pensioned civilian. The tyrannical daimios are
simply influential nobles, and the noble class, the samurai, arc
tr)-ing to earn an honest living by filling government posts or
pljing the lusty limb in honest toil, instead of hewing peasants
down for a pastime, or debauching their wives and daughters for
recreation.

The Mikado has moved from his celestial palace in the sacred
city of Kioto, and now lives in the palace of the tycoon at Yeddo
(now Tokio) ; rides in an open carriage before the people ; visits
the great cities of his empire ; governs by a species of responsible
ministr)-, responsible at least to public opinion, and in two years
his 37,000,000 of people are to have representation in the councils
of the nation. Colleges and universities are crowded with intelli-
gent seekers after knowledge, and the professors' chairs are filled
by a ell-paid, educated men, summoned from all lands. Women
are being educated fully and completely, concubinage is forbid-
den, or at least is no longer protected by law. Railroads are being
built all over the land. Great ships and huge steamers of all na-
tions ply in her waters and lie in her harbors by the dozens, and
the people recognize the fact that tliey owe all this to America.
All hail to the memory of brave Perry ! Paradoxical as it may
sound, it was well for this people that they were governed by
despotic sway when the country was opened. The force of des-
potism alone could have broken down the prcjutlices engendered
by centuries of seclusion and bigt)tr)'. P"or ages the pc'ople had
possessed no will of their own. They were told to march for-
ward, and with implicit obedience they started on their march,
and are still marching to a quickstep, which dazzles not only the
outward world but the old rulers, who are, and will be, compelled
to keep in line to the quickened time.

To all outward appearances the country is well governed. It
is certainly the safest country to travel in I have ever known.
We have wandered in highways and byways ; wc have been in
crowded cities where the people swarmed as bees swarm about
hives; in dark mountain gorges and on lonely mountain sides;
being foreigners and travellers, we were known to carry valuables
and to possess funds ; wc have walked and ridden through dark
streets and lonely roads by night; we have slept in hotels in

il«

JAPANESE CITIES.

small villages and in large towns, with no locks upon our doors
and no walls about us thicker than a panel of strong tissue paper ;
we leave our rooms with open valises, and valuables on open
shelves. We have lived thus for t..c weeks, travelling over 500
miles, and have lost nothing, except through our own for-
getfulncss.

VVe have seen hundreds of thousands of people, and have not
seen a really drunken man, nor a single quarrelsome or boisterous
one. We have seen hundreds of well dressed, quiet policemen : we
have never seen one gossiping with the people, or two talking to-
gether. We have seen crowds collected by curiosity or other
cause, and have seen them at one and good-naturedly dispense
on a low order from a patrolman. We have never seen a street
blockade for a minute, although we have often seen them thickly
crowded. We have driven through towns when holiday proces-
sions were moving through the streets, but have never been com-
pelled to stop, a way being always opened {-^x our passage.

The rulers may be tyrants, and the people over-taxed, but the
tyrants evidently rule wisely, and the people pay the taxes with-
out a murmur. In England the lower classes — the hardworkcrs
— look sullen and ill-tempered. In France they wear an air of gay
recklessness. In Austria the peasants always make me sad, so
tired and hard-worked do they look. Here there is an appearance
of absolutely bright cheerfulness on all faces, even when the arms
and legs are doing the work which beasts alone should perform.
Why is it? Is it because they are but merry, speaking animals,
and do not know that they suffer? If so, it proves that it were
folly to be wise.

In March, 1886, Tokio's population was, in round numbers,
1,300,000. It had 3,748 policemen, divided as follows : One chief,
26 captains, 36 lieutenants, 341 sergeants, 3,441 patrolmen, 8
mounted men, and 141 detectives. l)uring the year 1885 the
whole number of arrests were 6,414; during January and Feb-
ruary, 1886, 808. We have been in five cities with populations of
over 150,000 each; in eight with populations from 5,000 to
50,000; in at least 50 villages and towns with from 500 to 2,000.
Policemen are all over the country in every village, all wearing a
common uniform. We have not seen a single one with a prisoner
or in any altercation with a citizen.

The streets and public roads are beautifully paved, nearly all
with gravel, shell, or fine macadam, anil all well crowned, thor-
oughlj- roiled, and kept in constant repair. A stone roller about
four feet in diameter, drawn by a dozen or more men, is used to
pack the gravel down. The streets in towns are as clean as if
.swept. It must be borne in mind, however, that there arc com-
paratively no horses to make a street or road filthy, except in
Tokio, and no heavy wagons to cut into a road-bed. The light,
loaded vehicles simply keep them well packed. In Tokio the

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cavalry soldiers and gentlemen's carriages employ quite a num-
bcr of horses, but all droppings are ;.t once swept up.

There are four great national highways leading from Tokio and
running in different directions to the extreme limits of the land.
These are well graded and are kept in tiiorough repair by the
central government. Branch roads lead from these great high-
ways in every direction. Many of them may, too, be mair-tained
by the government. This I had not the means of fully learning.
The most of them, however, I did learn, are built and supported
by the several prefectures or by the villages traversed. There
being such an abundance of rivers and streams, there results
naturally a necessity for a vast luimber of bridges. Many of them
would seem at first blush unnecessary, but this idea is removed
by the reflection that in the sprirg and rainy season floods are
greater here than elsewhere, anil the people would be cut off from
locomotion by strear.is which, though small rivulets to-day, at
times become fierce torrents.

Many bridges on the public highways have been built over the
large rivers by contiguous villages. These are toil bridges. The
tolls for a jinrickisha ranges from one to two antl a half cents.
We did not see a toll-gate or bridge presided over by a single toll-
taker. All seemed to have three reverend fellows, who were
squatted within the toll-house with the inevitable charcoal brazier
for lighting a pipe and another for making tea. Are the)- thus
placed in threes to watch each other? I wished to halt and
advise them not to have 15. Chicago experience has proven that
to be a fatal number. Majorities of 8 and 19 are not healthy
for the people.

The width of the great roads depends much on the lay of the
land. I found the average to be, in road-bed. from 12 to 13^ feet.
Outside of this is a ditch on either side, sometimes rock lined, but
generally in the simple soil. Along these ditches, in all moun-
tainous or hilly, and therefore well watered, localities, run streams
oftentimes full and clear enough to be fine trout brooks. They
are either feeders to or drains from the irrigating ditches and
canals which supply the fields with their indispensable fluid.
These roadside brooks are frequently deliciously laughing and
babbling. The branch roads and small byways are very narrow,
in mountains, barely wide enough for the jinrickisha, or for a
pack-pony, with turnout places here and there, for the conven-
ience of those which may meet. By the way, the little man-
carriages are 34 inches from tread to tread, when made for single
persons ; 48 inches when intended for two passengers.

Outside of the* ditches on the great roads are rows of trees,
often doubled. These leave the width of the whole road from 20
to 25 feet. Many of the trees are of great age and size. Between
Utsonomieya and Nikko, on either side of the road, are old
cryptomerias, a species of cedar, none of them under two and a

SAD REFLECTIONS.

half feet in diameter, running up in many to five, and extending
to a heigiit of not far from 200 feet. They are planted so close
tojjother that frequently the trunks near the ground are incorpo-
rated one with another as a great solid wall. The old road has
been worn down through ages until it is four to six feet below the
original level. The roots of the great trees seeking the moist soil
near the ditches, after the manner of cedars, have become so
interlaced, and have grown to such a size, that they form an abso-
lute wall of woody roots from four to eight or ten feet higl" for,
like other cedars, the flanges of the roots lift considerably above
the soil. The branches of these lofty trees unit j overhead and
form a perfect Gothic arch. Looking through one of these great
woody arches, the effect is very weird 1 id pii turesque. The
trunks of the trees, running one into the iiier in the perspective
v\ \\ , resemble a mighty basaltic wall. High abo\'e springs the
green arch, through which the sunlight at noom'iiy barely pene-
trates, and toward late evening makes one feel he is moving
between rows of spectral monsters. Rows of trees are on all the
great roads, not always of cryi)tomerias, being sometimes yellow
pine and other species. When of yellow jiine the effect i - very
grotesque. The trees throw out no branches until at a consider-
able height, and then these are so gnarled, bent, aiul yellow, as
they lean towards each other over the road, that the effect is more
artistic than with the other arrow-like, straight monarchs of the
forest.

In some of the mountain passes the public roads are for miles
paved with basaltic stones laid (lat. These have become polished
by the wear of centuries. Over them the traveller has to walk,
and hard and ugly work it is. One slips and flounders as he goes
uphill until his knees and thighs ache to the bone. One slips
and flounders as he goes down hill until the calves of the legs feel
like monster boils ; at least mine did. When I sit on a nice seat
and look at a beautiful scene, I am but thirty-two and the rise,
and " all my skies are rosy bright, laughing in triumph at yester-
night." I am j-oungand full of to-morrow, and live in the present
and glory in the future. But when I climb a mountain I am full
sixty-two years old, and I feel there is no morrow until the
to-morrow of eternal rest shall come. This is a beautiful world;
and made beautiful for man, or it is a beautiful world and man,
springing from its soil, is so fashioned that he revels in the beau-
ties showered upon the lap cf his mother earth. Man's sins and
wrong-doings scar and mar th^ picturesque earth, and if he com-
mits no sin, the decrepitude of age dim? the eye and numbs the
senses until all is sere and in the yellow '';af.

We are now in the latter half of the middle fall month. It is,
to all intents, glorious summer. I look out of my window.
Light, fleecy clouds chase each other athwart the clear blue sky.
I lay down my pencil and am lost in revery. How blue would

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be yonder sky ! How light the floating clouds, if she who was
my sunshine were but by my side to enjoy and drink in the beauty
about me! How far off in yonder blue is her pure spirit float-
ing ? Or is it hovering near me now ? Does it join me, and is it
journeying with me as I make my " race with the sun ? " I envy the
Japanese their absolute faith in the living presence of their dead
ancestors. But their fathers and forefathers alone live about
them. No thought of the dead mother. One look of love, one
sweet whisper—" My darling child ! " — from her who bore me,
who nursed me upon her lap, and bade the fever go when she laid
her cool hand upon my baby brow — these would be worth to me
more than a thousand blessings from all the fathers through whose
loins I came, from Adam down. One look of undying devotion
from the dark eyes, which were deeper than fathomless wells ;
one touch of the soft hand, which a few months ago could cause
every drop of blood to dance and sing through my veins ; one
earnest " 1 love you " from those lips which a year ago made my
life a song of living joy — Ah ! Fathers may be revered and hon-
ored, but dead mothers and wives are for worship, as living
mothers and wives arc for devotion.

I said all the great roads were lined by rows of fine trees.
These rows are broken by many villages lying along the high-
ways. One is rarely out of sight, three or four miles being a long
interval. These villages are the homes of the farmers. They
dwell along the road, it being to them the one street. The
farmer's house is rather a hut, and would deserve the name of
hovel were it not for the cleanliness of tiic living part of it. In
mere farm villages they stand back a little from the road, the
space in front being generally planted as a field, even where such
space is not over 20 feet.

I will describe a house wliich may be taken as typical, for these
people are thoroughly homogeneous, and, though their dialects in
different localities differ one from the other, yet the houses, dress,
manners, and customs are everywhere the same. Imagine a house
of 30 feet front and about the same depth, now and tlien considera-
bly deeper. It consists of a sill on a loose stone foundation.
Upright studs are set at the corners and every three feet between.
To these studs are lashed, with coarse grass thongs, bamboo lath.
On both sides of this is a smooth coat of plaster, composed of
mud and straw. The story is, say, nine feet high. Above this
springs a steep, hipped roof of thatch. The roof is, rather, half-
hippcd, for a ridge runs, say, ten feet along the centre. The
thatch is a foot to 20 inches thick, very compact and tight. The
ridge rises a foot above the comb, and is planted with flag or
grass, and is always green. This is to keep the wind from tearing
it off. Sometimes the whole roof is green with the little succu-
lent plant vulgarly, called " hens and chickens." The eaves of
the roof overhang two, three, and sometimes four feet. The main

itij^ill

JAPANESE ENDURANCE.

story has no ceilings, but above what should be the ceiling there
is a partial one. This, and under the hanging caves of the house,
is the farmer's barn, where he stores his utensils and all of his crop
which is not immediately sold. Barns as such are not needed.
The Japanese live from hand to mouth. Crops are sold as soon
as harvested. Only enough is stored for home consumption and
for seed. The front of the house is open by day, but closed by
night. About ten feet of one side of the main floor is of dirt.
Here all rough under-covcr work is done, and wood, straw, and
materials for manufacture are kept. Raised above this is a plat-
form two and a half feet high, covering the remainder of the
main floor or house. On this is a sunken hearth, four feet square,
where is built the only fire the house ever has. Over it hangs a
chain from tlie roof ; it is the pot-rack. To it hang one or two
pots, the bulk of the cooking utensils. At night the front of the
house is ckxsed in by sliding wooden shutters, and within, the
raised platform is subdivided at bedtime into as many compart-
ments as the family needs or can afford. The floor is more or
less polished, and is covered by mats. There is no chimney ; the
sn'.oko goes out at the opening in the ridge or quite as often
escapes by the door or rear windows, which frequently are so
black as to look untidy. When one reflects that there is never a
fire which would fill a half-bushel measure, that tlie Japanese wear
no woollen garments, and only sandals or clogs on their feet, that
the winters are cold enough to make ice two or three inches
thick, and that the ground is often white with snow, one wonders
how they live. There seems to be something peculiar in their
physical make-up, as well as in their plants, which enables them
to endure safely great cold. 1 am told that plants which, in
America are killed by autumn frosts, here live and bloom in the
midst of snow, and when the thermometer has gone much below
the freezing-point. Certainly the people have wonderful powers
of endurance, if their sensations are such as ours.

Every Japanese, high or low, takes his hot bath every night.
He jumps into a vat of water heated from 115 to 120 degrees,
and enjoys the boil, and yet when necessary stands for hours up
to his waist in cold mountain torrents, and it is said will break
the ice in winter and work up to his neck in immersion, seeming
to feci no ill effect from it. He is certainly a wonderful animal,
and etiinological data must yet be furnished to convince me that
he be not indigenous to the soil he lives on.

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CHAPTER XI.

TEMPI.KS AND GODS— TOKIO; ITS CAST I, K AND DKXSK POPULATION

— KASV-GOING TRADESMEN— BKAUTV OF THE YOUNCi AM)

UGLINESS OE OLD WOMEN— PKOSTITU'lTON— ELSII.

A'oh; Japan, October 17, 1887.

Japan has five great cities : Tokio, with its population of over
1.250,000: Kioto and Ozaka, each witli a population of over
250,000; Nayoya, with some 200,000; and Yokohama, with 150,-
000. Tokio, Kioto, and Ozaka arc the most interesting of these.
They are great hives of people, and bewilder one who rides or
walks through them. Each has its castle or central palace, each
has great temples, and densely populated, narrow streets. I will
not attempt accurately to describe the temples. It could not be
done, except at the expense of great prolixity, without the aid
of pictures and drawings. They are all of wood, with huge,
bending, massively thick roofs, and large pillars ; and are either
elaborately and beautifully lacquered in various tints, vermilion
predominating, or, being unpainted entirely, have their natural
woods mellowed by time. The great majority of the temples are
mausoleums of some great man who has become a deini-god and
is worshipped.

There are two religions in the land — Shintoism, the old nation-
al religion, and ]5uddhisni. The foundation of Shintoism was a
worship of the sun, or the sun-goddess, the original creator of all
things. Following her arc thousands of gods, monsters of the
imagination, the denizens of mighty forests and lofty mountains,
or horrible caverns and caves, and of belching volcanoes. The
majority of them were probably men in far distant ages, who
awakened men's fears by their deeds of bloodshed and rapine, or
awakened their affections by charity and acts of love. Their hu-
man character has been forgotten in the long lapse of ages, and
they are now regarded as never having been other than super-
natural. The great bulk of the gods, however, are recognized as
men who, after death, were deified. The ancestors of every man
are to him household gods, and he chooses the one he will wor-
ship as such.

The shogun or tycoon rulers of the past arc all worshipped as
gods. When a ruler died his successor erected to him a great
mausoleum and buried his body in a tomb at its rear. The mauso-
leum at once became a temple, and the soul of the dead man

TOKIO.

lives in the inner shrine and is worshipped by the masses. Some
of these temples are of great beauty in their architecture, and
their adornments are wonderfully elaborate and rich. The two
richest temples in the empire are at Nikko, the mausoleums of
lyeyasu and lyemitsu, the founders of the late family of shoguns,
200 and odd years ago. They arc models of temple beauty.
Here it is that one sees the wonderful lacquc work for which
Japan is so famous. As beautiful as it is, however, I was more
delighted with the wood carvings which surpassed any thing I had
ever seen. The flowers and vines cut from wood seem to be
growing and the birds to be breathing and flying. I counted in a
frieze in a sort of wall or fence around one of the temples 227
birds of life-size, in alto-relievo so wonderfully wrought and ex-
quisitely painted, that I almost imagined I could sec them pant
and flutter.

The roofs of the temples are many feet thick, and made up
of richest cornice-work, the several members all painted in
charming neutral tints. But I dare not attempt to describe
them, for without the technical terms I could not possibly enable
one to see tiicm with me. The Japanese have a saying : "See
' Nikko ' b<'f jre you say ' kekko ' " — " See Nikko before you utter
the word ' Splendid.' " I will say, see Nikko before you attempt
to read of its splendors. The temples of Tokio are very beauti-
ful, and are also the burying-place of shoguns. AH of the suc-
cessors of lyemitsu were buried here, except the last, who was
expelled in 1868, and is still alive but will probably never be
deified.

It is said that Tokio covers nearly if not quite as much terri-
tory as does London. It is certainly of vast dimensions. The
central portion — the castle, as it is called — covers a space several
miles in circumference. This comprises the first, second, and
third castles, the one surrounding the other, and between each a
great moat 100 to 150 feet wide. Each inner castle and moat is
on a higher level than the next outer one. The inner side of
each moat is bordered by a great wall from 60 to 90 feet high,
built of huge stone and of massive strength. Each of these inner
castles, or divisions of the castle, is on a level with the top of the
next outer wall. Such walls and moats i^re zigzag or serpentine
in line. These so-called castles are not such according to our
ideas. They are simply enclosed spaces, and could be success-
ively defended in case of an attack. The outer one being taken,
the ne.xt became a strong fortification. The inner castle of all,
which covers several hundred acres, was the home of the shoguns.
The mikado is now erecting a magnificent palace in place of the
old one, which was burned down, as everything is sooner or later
in Japan. This inner castle is a garden or park covered with
magnificent trees, and is beautifully laid out so as to represent a
thoroughly rural locality, with lakes, streams, meadows, woods,

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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and thickets. We had a permit to go through the grounds and
found them very picturesque, with running streams, rocky water-
falls, thickets of bamboo of great height, dense jungles, and
beautiful gardens. The two outer castles are occupied by gov-
ernment buildings and some of the city residences of the nobles.
This portion of the city, however, has but a thin population.
Outside the outer moat is the main city, stretching for miles
from this imperial centre. The houses are of one and two stories
in height, except the public buildings. These latter are all
European in form and architecture.

Formerly the daimios were compelled to spend a part of each
year at the shogun's capital, and large spaces of ground were
allotted them in the outer castle, on which tliey erected great
quadrangular buildings resembling barracks, each covering many
acres, for themselves and their numerous retainers. In tliis way
the shogun forced tiiem to expend a large part of their vast
revenues, wrung from the poor serfs, to adorn his capital, and was
at the same time enabled to keep his eye upon them and to pre-
vent them from becoming too powerful in tlieir great baronies.
It is said that many of these daimios had revenues running into
many lumdreds of thousands of dollars, and had at their command
men enough to form hu-e armies. During the past two and a
half* centuries, while the foreigner was absolutely locked out of
Japan, the nation was one of spies. No man dared speak, for the
very walls had ears, and no man of rank knew when he might receive
a secret command to commit hari-kari. This espionage went into
the very nature of men of all ranks, and was the source of the
worst ot this people's rather national characteristics — suspicious-
ness. Even in the little time we have been here, I have seen this
disposition cropping out among all with wIkmii we have had deal-
ings. They are ready to be suspicious of every one with whom
they come in contact. Time may undo this blot, but it will take
a long time of fair dealing. If the present march of improvement
and its consequent large expenditure of money should end in a
collapse, I much fear that the suspiciousness of the people may
cause them to lay it to the foreign ideas which are so cultivated,
and cause them to take a reactionary step which will require years
to undo.

While I write I hear a bagpiper's dulcet tones upon the street
and the loud voice of some jolly Scot in wild hurrah. I look at
my watch and find the night has reached the '' wee sma' hours
ayont the twal." To bed I go, but not immediately to sleep.
The hurrah is kept up ; the bagpipes screech and wheeze in
wildest slogan. Dozens of voices yell out, " Eall in — march ! "
and there are none to fall in but those who give the orders. Each
fellow sees just fourscore kilted Highlandmen in line, for he has
put a glass before his eyes this night.

I find on getting up this morning that there was a regatta yes-

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POLITICAL REFORMATION.

terday, and a club feast. The whole " concession " seemed to be
jolly, if one judged by the hurrah I heard last night ; and all were
apparently Scotch. It is wonderful how quickly the bagpipe and
'he juice of Scotch rye will manufacture true sons of Scotia, or
will multiply a few into an uproarious host, ready

" \Vi' tippeny, to fear nae evil,
Wi' usquebae to face the devil."

But I was speaking of the daimio residences in Tokio. All of
these have been turned into manufacturing establishments, or
have been torn down. The daimios claim great credit for the
part they played when the shogunate was abolished and their own
vast feudal rights and possessions were abandoned. The claim
may be somewhat just, but it is rather too much to believe that
the doings of '68 and '69 were noble acts of self-abnegation. It is
easier to think that they had the wit to comprehend the inevita-
ble, and the courage to face the music. How much more com-
mendable and manly than the miserable egotism and grimace the
French Noblesse paraded before the world during the first half
of the century just ending. The samurai made, I believe, no
pretense of patriotic self-immolation. They had been lording it
over the land, and were so used to the carrying of arms at all
times that they did not quit with grace, but resisted a I'outrance
and only surrendered when the inevitable was upon them with
crushing weight. It may have been imagination, but I have a
great many times, in the streets and roads, met men whose heads
seemed more proudly lifted upon their shoulders than was natural,
and whose curled lips and haughty, fierce eyes seemed to tell me
how the owner hated the foreigner and detested his ways.

I was about, however, to tell you of the great city of Tokio,
outside of the outer moat. The streets, as are nearly all streets
in the land, are very narrow, the majority being of the width of
our narrow alleys. There are no sidewalks. The ground-floor —
the genuine re:: dc cliaiissde of the houses — runs into the street
pavement. Each little house is shop, workshop, and residence of
the occupant. If there be a second story, it is not over eight feet
high. One at once asks, hov/ do all these people live in these
little coops? He goes to the rear of these small buildings, and
finds there are no back yards and gardens such as we are accus-
tomed to. The whole square or block is filled with houses, one
behind another, packed together as honeycombs are packed in
beehives, and the people move in and out among each other and
over each other as bees do in reaching their cells. The streets,
narrow and crooked lanes, running in all directions, twisting, turn-
ing, zigzagging, and winding, are crowded with people, all engaged,
ciU bus)^ but apparently busy in doing little things. All, while
busy, dv what they have to do with an air of nonchalant uncon-

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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cern, which is odd and strange to an American, accustomed to see
men'work as if to-morrow they had to die, and do they must and
must do to-day. Is ours the better mode ? J' en doute.

The inevitable charcoal brazier and teapot is close beside every
dealer and every worker. The dealer takes two or three whiffs at
his little haif-thimble-sized pipe, inhales the smoke, blows it from
his nose in a white cloud, and closes his bargain. The carpenter
draws his plane or drives his chisel, then takes two or three whiffs
from his pipe, knocks out the ashes, and goes on with his work, or
stops to finish the game of checkers with his fellow-workmen, or
perhaps with his employer. Every one works as if there was no
limit to his time and no necessity for hurry, and yet the work is
done, for they labor from the very dawn far into night. It is no
uncommon thing to hear the hammer or heavy rice-beater pound-
ing long after the outer shutters are put up, and the house looks
as if there was no living thing within, or tiiat all were wrapped in
night. Houses in which arc forges cannot be so closed up at night,
so that one sees the glow of the fire and sees Vulcans hammering by
the light of their little furnaces as late as ten and eleven o'clock.
But all is done easily and leisurely. As a gentleman of colored
persuasion, formerly of Philadelphia, whom I met on a holiday
excursion, with his Japanese wife and semi-pickaninnies, told me,
'They never strain tharsclves, sah ! "

The streets are crooked and twisted. When one takes a
" kumura " or jinrickisha for a run to a distant part of the town,
more or less beyond the castle centre, he is amazed at the tortu-
ous doubling his man makes to reacii it, and wonders how he can
find his way ; the streets have such innumerable windings, and all
look as much alike as the faces in a flock of sheep. But the man
will pull you at a dashing pace by day, or even by night when all
is dark, with only a paper lantern here and there, no names on
street corners, and each street resembling another as a row of
corn resembles its neighbor. He seems to find his way by
instinct, and is never at a loss.

The Japanese are thoroughly homogeneous. While there may
be said to be different types among them, they all have certain
characteristics in common, and as far as I have seen, some never
failing ones. The eyes are not almond-shaped, like the Chinese,
but generally set slanting inward. The upper lid, however, never
fails to be somewhat drawn at the inner curve, as if the skin of
this lid was somewhat thick and inflexible and too short. This
seems to be absolutely universal. All have enormous heads of
crow-black straight hair, except now and then one sees a brownish
tint among children under eight or ten, as if sun-burnt. This,
however, cannot be the cause, for few grown people wear any
head-covering, except working in the sun when high. Then they
put on, among the cooly class, straw hats. These are of sev-
eral varieties, but generally resemble a large inverted water-bowl

BEAUTY OF JAPANESE YOUTH.

in form. The rich or better-to-do. are bare-headed everywhere,
and carry umbrellas when the sun is hot. In rainy weather the
working-classes wear a sort of rain-hat about two feet in diam-
eter, shaped like a straight-ribbed parasol. This is set on top of
the head and held by a straw thong tied under the chin. In
addition to this, they wear a rain-coat, or mantle, made of coarse
grass. Some of these resemble a simple mat thrown over the
shoulders. The real national rain-coat, however, is a mass of dry
grass, woven together, about the neck and hanging in grassy
fringe nearly to the knees. This costume is decidedly pictu-
resque, especially when the water is dripping from the fringe.
The heads of the grass hang towards the bottom. It takes a
heavy rain to wet the wearer.

In and tiirough the city (as such) of Tokio runs a considerable
river and many canals. They carry comir.ercc of a heavy character
to distant parts, which would be excessively laborious to a people
who have no horses. But I have wandered from the subject I
was talking of — the physiological characteristics of the Japanese.
I think I have discovered another peculiarity. When waited
upon by the girls in the hotels I was struck by the delicacy and
beautv of their hands. Their finger-nails would be the admira-
tion of a manicure. I also thought I saw a peculiar shortness of
the little finger, as compared to the third. I have thought this
peculiarity common to all. I have watched, but not having lan-
guage to excuse a desired scrutiny, and being modest in the
extreme, I have only seen from casual observation. There is very
great difference in the complexion of the people. One sees riany
girls ami boys as fair as the Caucasian— beautiful, clear, \v'hite
complexions, with more of the cream under-tint than the starchy
white of the Knglish blonde. The masses, however, are dark.
The young have a higher average of good looks than any other
people I know, particularly those from ten to twenty years. The
very young children are not so nice to look at. A cold in the
head seems universal among them, and the nose seems never to
know a handkerchief. They appear to enjoy the dripping, as
a bull-dog delights to have ropes of slaver hanging from his
under-jaw. But one sees a great many handsome boys and
pretty girls, from ten years up, many of them of rare beauty. I
believe I have seen far more beautiful young women in the past
six weeks than I ever did before in as many years. I do not mean
the high, refined beauty of one of our really beautiful women,
but lithe and rounded forms, undulating motions, which the awk-
ward clog-gait cannot wholly overcome; well turned and finely
chiselled features; rosy, budding mouths; dark, soft, and expres-
sive eyes ; massy crowns of black hair, always perfectly coiffured;
and with-all a thoroughly womanly, modest expression of face,
and beautiful complexions, running up from the nut-brown to
the pure, creamy white. Such as these, are to be seen every-

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where as one runs tlirougli the hind. The fair complexion does
not seem to belong to the upper classes, as I had been led to
suppose. One sees a perfect complexion on a waiter-girl in a
hotel, and I have seen many such on young women picking cotton
near the roadway; while among officials at Tokio, and indeed,
everywhere, we find very swarthy people. Count Itto, the real head
of tiie nation at this time, and the commanding general who
entertained us at the old castle at Nagoya. arc both of dark,
copper-colored, chestnut hue, and the Countess Itto looked to
mc. in a hurried passing, as dark as one of our octoroons, but
without the yellow tinge. This dark tint among officials is
owing to tile fact that they belong to the bold soldier caste, and
camc'originail)- from Kinshiu and Shikokou, the great islands be-
yond the inland sea. There the people are dark, and more brave
and hardy than those r>f Hondo and Niphon, the main island.

While the young girls and young women are pretty, I can say but
little in praise of the old ones. When married they color tiic teeth
to a gloss\- black, shave the eyebrows, and pluck the lashes. This
is said to be done to jirove that henceforth tiiey do not desire
the admiration of any but their husbands. Poor fools, they do
not know that some of the brightest men of the century have
gravely asked the question if tlie tinkling of the marriage-bell
does not toll the funeral knell of love, even in lands where
marriage is really the commencement of female adornment. But
aside from this custom, the women here do not wear their good
looks long. They toil, bear babies, and rapidly grow old. One
superadding cause of this I suspect to be the habit of nursing
their children at their breast until four and five years of age.
We have frequently seen children plaj'ing and romping with
their mates in the streets, then suddenl)- stop, rush to their
mothers, and draw from the breasts their own lunches and the
verj- life of the poor women. They never wean a child until
another comes to take its place, and it is no unusual thing for
the two to divide the produce of the dairy, if it be a plentiful
one. It is said this custom is so prevalent because there are no
cows which give milk to speak of, and no food other than moth-
er's milk to bring the youngster through the teething season. In
spite of this, however, the mortality, as shown b)- statistics, among
children is simply frightful. This is hard to understand, for the
children are in great numbers everywhere. They are tumbling
and playing in the streets ; they make the welkin ring in the ham-
lets and villages, and when we have been on the road as early as
seven in the morning, we would meet or pass them by the hun-
dreds on the country highways, on their way to school, all with
little baskets for their books and luncheon, and with their droll
counting-tables strapped to their backs. Education is compul-
sory, with certain exceptions I have not been enabled to learn.

Will the extension of education put a stop to one of the

JAPANESE IMMORALITY.

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strangest of all this country's institutions — its public prostitu-
tion ? Large sections of every city arc set aside for this purpose.
In Tokio it is a suburb, but in many places the establishments
arc in the most frequented localities and close to the temples.
Every house in such localities is devoted to the demi-monde.
Some of them are of palatial splendor — two, three, and now and
then four stories in height. At night these arc a blaze of light.
The first story has in front a light wicker screen, not unlike the
bars of a cage in a menagerie, only being of wood. Behind
these sit the girls, dressed in their finest toggery, eating confec-
tions, drinking tea, and looking their best. In some of these
show-rooms one will see, according to the size of the house,
all the way from a dozen to 30 or 40. They are so
whitened by cosmetics that their faces assume an unnatural
and almost ghastly look. They are all mortgaged to the keeper
by their parents, or by themselves, for a longer or shorter period.
Music abounds in these streets. One sees in Tokio several thou-
sand of these girls, all sitting with perfect decorum, nothing be-
ing done that is unseemly in outward ajjpearance. The streets
arc crowded with men of all ages ; and frequently there will be
seen a father, with his wife and children, walking up and down
and looking at the show. Among these children, with their
parents, are females. Now and then a girl is called to the
bars and talks with a friend, a lover, or a passing admirer. One
by one the girls drop out to entertain a friend or lover. And in
such places men often find wives, and not a few of them arc now
in good society in the nation's capital. With these exhibitions
it is not to be wondercil at that the good wife of a missionary
said tliat the Japanese were the most immoral people on earth.
I had to confess that the immorality was more patent than any-
where else. But, after all, does the ostrich destroy its enemy
when it sticks its own head beneath the sand? Let wise men
look the evil straiglit in the face and do their earnest best to
undo it as far as is compatible with humanity; but do not let
the love of morality — true soul morality — degenerate into sickly
scntimentalit}', or into pharisaical outward form. It is a sad
thing to see this horrible depravity here, stalking openly in the
blaze of light, but sadder far to think tiiat in Christian America
and Europe the same exists, only under cover, and that thou-
sands sink into wretched graves from the unholy life, and that
countless thousands of our good people pay no attention to the
leprosy, except to demand that it be kept out of sight, and that
their nerves be not shocked by its open view. The Japanese
seem never to have wakened to the thought that this sin is one
of the most hideous of all ; or, indeed, that it is a sin at all ;
otherwise parents surely would not take their young children,
both boys and girls, to look upon it.

They do not take them to be shocked by its deformity, for no

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deformity is seen— all is decorous, and, to the eye, pretty. No
ribald jest is iieard or permitted, either within the bars, by the
girls, or witlioiit, by tlic crowds who look upon them. Police
are ever on the watch. There is no look of shame or sadness on
the faces of the poor creatures thus put up for sale. They are
beautifully dressed and seem amu.sed at the interest they awaken,
and their eyes dance when an admirer beckons them to the rail
for a chat. It is known that when they go out of their bondage
its scars are not left upon limb or forehead. There is nothing
to say to the young: "Look, tremble, and beware!" It is a
strange phase of the strange civilization of this strange people.

There is a great inland commerce constantly going on among
these jjcople. Nothing is so small as to have no value. One
sees bushels of fish no larger than a baby's little finger on the
stalls, and sca-cocklcs smaller than our little snails, while nc •• by
will be wiggling eels three feet long, the peeled head an(' rms
of great devil fish, anil the fins and steaks of monster ^ rks.
With all the anomalous productiveness of the soil, producing for
centuries, j'car after year, great double crops ; j'ot the land is not
more bountiful than is the water. It is saiil there are several
millions of people actually engaged in taking fish from the sea,
and this has been going on from time immemorial, and still the
.sea never tires of its generosit)'. Fishes spawned in icy regions
are caught in the same waters here with those which ordinarily
are found only within the tropics, all in boundless quantities,
and many of them of finest flavor. The su|)ply does not seem
diminished by the catch. This is true of lake fish as well as of
those of the sea.

Gov. Hubbard did us the honor to give us an elegant lunch.
The " tai " u|)oii his table was superior to any red snapper I
have eaten, and good fries are to be had in every hotel. The
inland waters, too, are almost as prolific as the sea. Every
stream and lake has its fish. There arc on Lake Biwa quite
good-sized towns, the bulk of whose people are fishermen upon
its waters. The salmon trout, and two or three kinds of speckled
trout are in the cold lakes and mountain streams in abundance.
The people all fish, from little fellows of six and eight years up.
One sees little toddlers catching crabs as large as the crown of a
hat in small irrigating streams, and others on the salt bays fishing
■with a line and hook for shrimps and tiny minnows. Parents
never seem to think it possible their children should drown.
Little troops are seen along rushing torrents and climbing on the
rocky walls of deep canals with such apparent recklessness that a
stranger trembles for their safety. They seem to have an in-
stinct of self-protection, as little animals have.

, \ ■■■

CHAPTER XII.

UEAUTY OF JAPANESE SCENERY— TERRACED FARMS— THE INLAND

SEAANDNACASAKI— MISSIONARIES— CIIEERIUI.NESSOI' NATIVE

WORKERS— SWEET liUT SAD THGUllUlS (JN (QUITTING JAPAN.

Steamship ''Port Augusta" Octo'<er 26, 1887.

Our tour through Japan has been one of pleasure, but at the
same time one of no Httle toil. We had so little tiiac at our dis-
posal, and there was so much to be seen, that vc have been
forced to be up early and generally to bed late We have had no
easy coaches in which to ride and look, and to rest as we rode
md as we looked. The jinrickisha, although in many respects a.
most delightful conveyance, is yet one that causes great fatigue
when constantly employed, and for such long stretches as we
have used it. The tread is so narrow that the slightest inequal-
ity on the road brings sidelong jolts, which cannot be resisted.
A run of 50 to 60 miles a day in one of these little man-sulkies
is followed by a somewhat racking pain in the small of the
back, and causes the traveller to feel very stiff when he ends
his Course. It is tiien that the blind massage-rubber comes de-
lightfully into play.

We were anxious to sec and study the country as much as pos-
sible, without an\' attempt or pretence of diving deep into any
subject or of solving national problems, but rather to place our-
selves in a position which would enable us to study and under-
stand what we may read and hear when we shall have leisure.
My letters are intended to enable others to sec somewhat the
things I may see, so that they can more intelligently study the
country \\.. pass through, in the writings of others who may
claim to know more than we know and to understand what we
simply observe on the surface. Hut while we have employed our
time in such way as to make it as practically useful as possible,
we have endeavored to enjoy the novelty of our position and the
beauties of our surroundings. In other words, to be tourists as
well as students. The Americans are to-day the greatest tourists
of the world. To these I shall devote this — my last Japanese
letter, and shall try to show them how, when they have done up
the European continent, and fully enjoyed the vast field of beauty
afforded by our own land and by the Canadian dominion, this
old-new empire will offer them a great dea' which will be entirely
novel among men, their manner and works, and at the same time

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a mass of varied and beautiful scenery, unsurpassed, if not un-
equalcd, anywiiere else they may have been.

We have been f&.ccd to forego visiting many localities said
to be of great beauty, but have visited enough to get samples of
each and every kind of scenery. VVc were top late to climb Fuji,
from whose lofty cone the panorama is said to be equal to any in
the world. But we have had fine views from considerable heights.
We saw no snow-clad pinnacles piercing the sky as in the Alps,
nor yet the home-like landscapes one sees in England. There
are no homes nestled down in copses of wood, or mansions sur-
rounded by lordly parks. The music of no distant church-bell
reaches and lulls us, nor do the carol of the mountain herdsman,
the chants des vaches, come in wav>' deliciousness from any dis-
tant lofty pasturage. But in place of these, one looks upon
mountains cutting the sky with lofty cone.^ green to the very
summit, and clothed in a wealth of forests far up their sloping
sides— range.-} of hills from 1,000 to 5,000 feet high, not stretch-
ing in fatiguing sameness, but notched, biokon, bent in short
curves, then lilting into sharp points, never the same in any
direction, and never hurting the eye by rocky coldness or sandy
or brown barrenness. Few peaks e.\ist in the land so lofty as to
reach beyond the line of vegetation. When tfie tree-line is passed
there comes grassy verdure so luxuriant that the tall heights
seem clothed in emerald velvet. One looks far up narrow valleys,
which elsewhere would be wild gorges, and sees them terraced
far into their depths and variegated with various crops in all
stages of maturity, from those but lately planted and freshly
green, to others golden and ready for the sickle. Every moun-
tain slope, every mountain gorge, is thus terraced as far up as
streams offer the opportunity for irrigation.

In other lands fields on level flats only are supposed to be capa-
ble of artificial watering, but hure one sees even rice fields 2,000
and upward feet above the sea on mountain slopes which any-
where I have heretofore been would have been entirely aban-
doned to pasturage. Tlie climate is so humid tiiat brooks have
their sources very near the summits of ranges. These brooks are
caught and made to flood little fields, frequently only a few feet
wide. The overflow covers another range of fields a little lower
down, then runs into the stream to water farms on yet lower
grounds and in the valleys. In some of the mountain ranges,
which are composed of disintegrated granite, there are no springs.
In such, the winter and earl\- rains are caught and held in ponds
and lakelets, some only a few feet across, oth';rs larger, till one
sees some of them pretty little artificial lakes of from a quarter
of an acre in size up to one or more acres. The embankments
holding these waters are often 20 to 40 feet high, and the ponds
are stocked with fine fish. These artificial reservoirs enable fields
10 wave in green where otherwise all would be desolation, and

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PICTURESQUE FARMS AND VILLAGES.

help to make pretty landscapes where, but for them, all would be
barren and unsightly. In some of these upper farm-lands, the
tourist is charmed by the quaint sight of rice, after harvest, hung
to dry on the gnarled branches of the umbrella pine and other
spreading trees. Often rice is thus hung on branches 30 and 40
feet above the ground, and at nightfall reminds one of the moss-
grown trees of Louisiana, only the rice hangs in thicker masses
than ever the mosses grow. Rice, by the way, here is nearly al-
ways hung to dry when harvested. Rain is so frequent and dews
so heavy that it cannot be dried except along road-edges or on
poles or trees.

The system of terracing mountain sides for general farm pur-
poses is, as far as I know, peculiar to Japan. On the Rhine and
in France and Italy steep slopes are thus managed, to make them
the homes of the grape, but the localities are few and the extent
so small that one can refer to them only to enable you to know
how millions here obtain their entire farming land by thus wrest-
ing it from worthlessness. This system of terrace-farming is one
of the great sources of beauty in Japanese scenery. In many
lands farms on plains are pretty when viewed from heights. In
Belgium and parts of Germany it is a pleasing sight to look down
on the long, narrow fields in different crops, looking like old-
fashioned carpets woven in rows of different colors ; but here the
fields are so small and so irregular in shape, being cut into every
form to enable the level to be preserved, that one looks down
upon a patchwork, a genuine crazy quilt, of a dozen different
colorings. Then, too, here trees on all plains are more or less
abundant — little fields arc grown in mulberry, others in bamboo,
still others in orchards of low, trained pears and plums. Persim-
mons, golden with their beautiful fruits, some larger than hens'
eggs and shajied like them, are about every village, and trees
skirt every large irrigating ditch or canal, so that the flattest
river estuaries are variegated and pretty. Tiio Japanese persimmon
is a verj- fine fruit, and when dried is a good substitute for the
fig. Villages are so plentiful that no plain is without several in
view. From the old feudal castle at Nagoya we counted 70 odd
villages in sight to the naked eye — villages of all sizes, those of
30 or 40 houses up to others of 500.

In the mountains many of the villages and little towns are ex-
ceedingly picturesque, hanging on tlie sides of the gorges; houses
perched on projecting rocks overlooking feathery cascades ; houses
so close together that the little streets are almost roofctl by the
jutting eaves. Above such villages on the mountain sides are
the gnarled and grotesque umbrella pines, with their yellow
trunks and branches and spreading boughs. Dense thickets of
featiiery bamboo and of camellias and other waxy evergreen
shrubs enclose the lanes and roads. These adjuncts add to the
romantic picturcsqueness of many mountain villages.

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In some mountain localities beautiful little jinrickisha roads, as
smooth and well paved as one of our boulevards, climb up the
valleys by a grade so easy and well engineered that they could be
used for a railway track but for the shortness of the curves.
These pretty roads mount on one side of the narrow valleys,
climbing higher and higher, the torrent getting farther and far-
ther below, till one looks down i,ooo feet upon the foaming
water, while beautiful slopes lift high above, and perhaps are
wrapped iti a soft veil of cloud. Perched high up the gorge, the
traveller will, after the climb of a few miles, find himself in a
pretty hamlet, and enjoy his evening or his mid-day lunch in a
hotel deliciously clean, and as cool as could be wished. Nearly
all travellers content themselves by a voyage by steamer from
Yokohama to Kobe, at the beginning of the inland sea. One
should go from one to the other of these points cither by the
great Tokaido road through fine scenery and a dense population,
or by the Nakasendo through the heart of the country and fine
mountain scenery. Indeed, one should take both of tiiese trips.
But, as I said, most travellers content themselves with the sea
voyage between these points. They see in the locality of Miogo,
Ozaka, and Kioto, several ranges of mountains, composed of the
detritus of granite rocks. These ranges have a somewhat sterile
appearance, with deep gorges of yellow or gray sand ; dunes of
sand left everywhere, and not more than half relieved by the
forests climbing the mountain sides. I am unable to comprehend
the causes which brought about the disintegration of this hard
stone. There must have been, at some period of the past, a
peculiar chemical composition of the atmosphere to have enabled
it to melt down the mountains and turn them into granitic sand.
Water alone will destroy mountains of sandstone, but something
else was needed to change these granite hills. People who have
travelled here as the majority do, will think my pictures of
Japanese scenery overdrawn ; but these localities are excejjtions
rather than the rule.

I spoke of the Japanese saying: "See Nikko before you say
kekko " (splendid). This referred more to the temples in that
sacred locality than to the scenery. The genuine tourist, how-
ever, who is not afraid of a good and heavy tramp, or who can
mount a Japanese pony, will find the temples afford less than half
the delights to be found about the sacred town. In every direc-
tion are fine excursions, some of them of almost unequalled
charms. One I shall always delight to recall — that of some
20 miles, to Chusenji Lake and Umato sulphur springs. Fear-
ful that we would be unequal to the walk, v,'e had one pony
between us. And what a pony! The horse here is said to be
indigenous to the soil. He is a sort of doubly enlarged Shetland
pony, shaggy mane, and foretop as heavy as a Jap's head of hair.
He carries his head very low, and seems as ugly and determined

JAPANESE HORSES.

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in his disposition as his master is cheerful and easy-going. The
horses are entire, and are used for riding and for the army, while
the mares are employed in raising colts and carrying packs. The
saddle-horses go when they please and stop when they will.
They are the most gallant brutes on earth, and every lady-horse
we met called forth all the chivalry of my steed, and once or
twice got me into a scrape which gave me trouble to get out of.
One advantage, however, accrued to me — the boys dared not
ride ; and, while we theoretically rode in turn, I was generally in
the saddle. Our road was up a river of a crystalline clearness I
had never conceived of. The perfectly white clear water rushed
over rocks in every imaginable way, now cataract, then rapid,
crossed every half mile by odd bridges, some of them springing
from rock to rock, through which went tumbling the rushing tor-
rents in wildest fury. The road-way of thtse bridges is never
over four feet wide, and without any guard on the sides, the
floors being fagots lashed down with grass ropes. My steed, who
never failed to cry halt when he met a pack-animal, to find
whether lie wore meeting one of his sweethearts or not, displayed
the most discreet care when crossing these frail structures, never
once lifting his nose a foot above the floor. By the way, horses
for the saddle are shod with iron : all others, as well as the pack-
cows and bulls have their feet protected by shoes of straw, and
very excellent siioes they are. The straw sandal for a man costs
about a cent and a half of our money. I doubt if a full set of
horse-shoes cost any more. In some parts of the roads we have
travelled we could almost say the roads were paved with worn-
out horse- and men-sandals. Whenever the wearer finds his foot
protection too much worn he discards it and dons another, of
which he usually has an extra pair. Every tea-house along the
roads, and there are many, have good supplies of these cheap
foot protectors.

liut I was speaking of the excursion from Nikko to Umato.
The road is along the river, between beautifullyjorested moun-
tains, of most picturosciue forms, one of them having an elevation
of over 8,000 feet. The vegetation is of great luxuriance, lofty
pines and cedars, beech of large size, birch, elm, and many other
trees, such as are the denizens of temperate climates, standing
side by side with those one is accustomed to suppose the products
of the tropics alone. It is one of the peculiarities of this land,
that not only does nearly every kind of tropical vegetation grow
in groat luxuriance, but mixed up with these are the growths of
the temperate zones, in equal sturdinoss. Along our road wore
thickets of rhododendrons and tree-hydrangeas, the latter 10 to
20 foot high ; thickets of bamboo and of birch trees, glossy-
leaved evergreen oaks, interlacing their boughs with those of
beech and gnarled deciduous oaks ; monkey-slipper trees, with
crooked branches, looking as hard and smooth as if made of

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bronze, and bronze in color, twisting their tortuous limbs among
those of the maple and elm.

In this one day's walk we saw four beautiful cascades, tumbling
down into the wildest gorges from heights varying from 50 to
230 feet, and two singular falls— I scarcely know whether to call
them cascades or not — one having a fall of over 200 feet down a
smooth incline of 40 degrees, the water rushing down with a
width of about 25 feet in a mass of foam, over a bed of tufa as
black as polished ebony. The other, on the same stream, tumbles
in a succession of such falls from a much greater height. One of
the cascades leaps from a jutting ledge so far over the gulf below
that the pious natives have placed a life-sized statue of one of the
gods high up under the sheet, and a picturesque temple on a lofty
ledge, attainable only by the climbing path under the falling
sheet of water. Two of the cascades and two of the cataracts are
very unique and very beautiful, and many of the whirls and rush-
ing rapids along the river for miles would in England be of sufifi-
cient beauty to attract tourists from a distance. At an elevation
of some 4,300 feet we came to Lake Chusenji, a sheet of crystal,
seven miles long by a mile in width, 400 feet deep, nestled down
among forest-clad heights from 1,000 to 4,000 feet above the
surface.

A lunch of delicious salmon trout on a piazza of polished floors
jutting over the water prepared us for a further walk of eight
miles, now along the tumbling stream, then in thickets of flower-
ing shrubs, over a beautiful prairie of about 8,000 acres, along the
shores of two other lakes of say 30 to 300 acres extent, at a height
of 5,500 feet, which brought us to the hot sulphur baths of Umato.
Thousands of pilgrims visit Nikko each year, and after paying their
devotions in the temples, climb to this spot to wash out any fur-
ther impurities of the body and soul. Men and women bathe
promiscuously, without shame, and without any sense of im-
modesty. If I be correctly informed, the Japanese have no con-
ception of any past sins. No forbidden fruit ever tempted their
forefathers to entail sin and death upon them. In praying they
never ask to have a sin forgiven. They pray for a pure heart and
a spotless soul, for blessings of a temporal character to be show-
ered upon them and theirs. A cle.m body, in their estimation,
conduces to a clean character. They take their hot baths nigiitly,
and, when able to do so, crowd the natural thermal baths in which
the country greatly abounds. They are pronounced immoral
because they bathe men and women together. But tlie\- certainly
have no feeling that there is any immorality in it. We had a
striking illustration of this at the thermal bath of Arima, a few
miles back of Kobe. We three were in the liigh-priced tank — two
cents each. Beyond a screen was a cent tank, about eight feet
square. Around it were 13 men and women, hanging by their
hands to the edges like frogs to a floating log. In the half-cent

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tank, much larger, were dozens of laborers and coolies. Presently
a man and woman passed us, and finding the next tank rather
full, slid into ours. They were man and wife, and in nature's own
dishabille. They thought us Japs, and were disposed to be talka-
tive, but as soon as they found we were foreigners the woman
became confused, and blushed. She knew we, being of a differ-
ent civilization, might regard her as immodest. But going into
the bath with her husband showed she did not regard it as im-
proper to enter it with strangers and other men. It is their
custom, and is not much stranger than that I once saw in Asia
Minor, where wc met a dozen or more women fording a stream
nearly waist-deep. They did not wet their garments, but would
have considered themselves disgraced had we .seen their faces.
After all, the more I see and learn the more fully I concede the
truth of England's motto — " Honi soil qui inal y pcnsc."

The next best excursion we took for scenery was in passing
over Hakone pass on the overland trip from Yokohama to Kioto.
In tlie Nikko neighborhood our pleasure was principally in look-
ing upward. Here wc looked downward. Fuji is to all central
Japan the one great landmark, and is, in many of the finest views,
the great attraction. From every direction he is seen a perfect
cone, with apparently easy slopes. When we passed nearest him,
about tlie 5th of October, snow had already fallen about his sum-
mit, and ran down more or less in lines some 2,000 or 3,000 feet. It
looked as if he had on a lace mantle, or, rather, collar, which
showed his dark neck through its meshes and points.

We expected to sail by the Japanese mail-boat for Shanghai on
the 20th from Kobe, but found her so crowded that we could get
no rooms. We then found that the Port Augusta was to sail
to-day. We took tickets on her, and are the only passengers.
She was at Vancouver when wc arrived there, the 1st of August,
in the employ, for one trip, of the Canadian Pacific Company.
She had a perfectly smooth sea over, while, a month later, ours
was an unusually rough passage. She now goes to China to get
a cargo for New York. We were somewhat disappointed in the
great inland sea. There are a vast number of islands, some
mere grotesque rocks, others forest-clad and green, many of
them quite lofty, and not a few lifting from the water in per-
fect cones. They were so close together that oftentimes we
seemed to he thoroughly land-locked. But there was not the
terrace-farming we had been led by enthusiastic book-makers
to expect. Comparatively few of the islands were terraced,
and none to any considerable height. Its extravagant praise
comes from those who have not seen the interior of the coun-
try, with which its beauty cannot compare. The sea was filled
by day with little fishing sampans, so plentiful that one is wil-
ling to believe that there are, as claimed, several millions of
people, more or less, directly engaged in, or connected with, fish-

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J RACE WITH THE SUN.

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ing. In more than half of the boats seen on this and other trips
there would be a small boy, from ten to fifteen years old, and a
man. These little fellows work an oar as steadily as do the men,
and seem to be expert boatmen and fishermen almost from their
cradle. Sometimes a little girl was in the place of the boy, the
gods not having blessed her parents with one of the stronger sex.
Women are not exempt from work in Japan, and although treated
with kindness and tender affection, they do their share of the
hard work of the land. The western inlet to the inland sea at
Shimonosaki is about 250 miles from Kobe, and is deserving all
the praise so lavishly heaped upon the whole sea. The passage
here is narrow. The hills and mountains ;irc lofty, all very green,
and frequently terraced high up the sides. As we rushed through
with a tide flowing six knots an hour we had a feeling of great
regret that we were so soon past the beautiful spot. l"\)r the
balance of the day we were among many fine islands in the
Corean Strait. While somewhat disappointed, we j-et feel that
we have nowhere else had an)' water trip near so fine as this of
nearly 400 miles, and regret we could not have laid off so as to
have it all by daylight.

When, however, we waked up on the :22d and looketl out upon
the little bay of Nagasaki all the balance was forgotten. This is
beyond any thing we can say of the beautiful. Imagine a bay
whose mouth is less than a third of a mile wide, running with a
width of less than one. some seven or eight miles through nunm-
tains from 500 to 1,400 feet high. The mountains come ^\o\\■\\ to
the water in rapid slopes, with narrow valleys and deep gorges
intervening. On one side the city lies upon a narrow shore, run-
ning back into the valleys and deep gorges. The hill-sitlcs are
more or less clothed in trees, half-hidden among which are many
handsome bungalows and terraced and hedged gardens. High
above the town, which has a population of over 100,000, the entire
hills are terraced and green with turnips and other root crops, or
white with buckwheat. In the harbor lay at anchor seven men-
of-war and a dozen steamships, and a vast number of sailing and
rowing sampans. The sampan is not rowed but sculled by one
or more oars set in the side, and worked like the fin of a fish.
We took lunch aboard the flag-ship Brooklyn, Rcar-Admiral
Chandler, and had a pleasant time in her ward-room. The Brook-
lyn is an old wooden ship of pretty model, but would have a sorry
time in an engagement with any of the first-class vessels which
lie near her. There were the iron-clad Turcnnc, of the French,
the iron-clad Constance, of England, and an iron-clad Russian.
But we felt with pride that \.\\q personnel o{ our officers surpassed
that of any of those we saw while in the city. Most Americans
seem to feel a sort of shame when they see our poor show of a
navy in these waters side by side with the powerful steamers of
England, France, Russia, Japan, and other nations. I must say

MISSIONARIES IN JAPAN.

that I do not have any such feeling, any more than I feel morti-
fied when I look at a Grecian or Roman ruin, and reflect that we
have none, or when 1 admire a royal palace and know it has no
counterpart in my own land. America's strength is in the iron-
hearted men who tread her ships, and not in the iron-clad ships
which carry privileged classes. I believe in being prepared in
times of peace for war, but not in having too many ships to strut
around the world for show and glitter. \Vc had as much pride
when treading the deck of the Brooklyn and seeing the Stars and
Stripes floating over a sturdy body of American tars, as we would
have had if she had been a solid ram, and much more than if she
had been a splendid ship like the Russian near by, and her sailors
reeling in stupid drunkenness, as so many of the Muscovite crew
were Sunday evening. Nagasaki is said to be the worst city in
Japan. The Christian nations have set it a bad examj^lc, and for
the first time since our arrival we saw absolutely intoxicated
Japanese swearing like mad in rugged English. They have no
native oaths. Their worst epithet for ;i man is: "You fool,"
"You beast." l?ut we heard one fellow swearing like a London
hackman in pretty good Saxon. I hope the good missionaries
will keep the " cuss words " out of the island. A round oath
when a man is reallj' mad I can stand, but the oaths uttered by
so many of our people merely as expletives are very disgusting.

The missionaries of Japan ought to do their level best to show
their thankfulness to the Lord, for He has certainly cast their
lines in pleasant jilaces. In every city where there are conces-
sions these are the best part of the town, and the houses and
grounds of the missionaries are among the most charming. The
prettiest bungalows are those of the missionaries. The hedges
and flowers of the missionaries are the greenest and the brightest,
and the tidiest children and the best-drilled servants are theirs.
In the summer they all go to the mountains, where, in tent life,
they spend a beautiful two months. Altogether, commend me
to the life of a missionary in Japan. I have no doubt they do
their duty. I have not too much faith in the direct conversions
they make, but, indirectly, they do great good. They inaugurate
education, especially among the women. Christianity will follow
in the wake. It will be an intelligent Christianity, even if men
turn Christians for the sake of trade. I do not know that this is
worse than people among us who attach themselves to a particu-
lar church for the sake of social position. When men become
Christians in the broad sense for policy, they will have a better
chance of becoming Christians in the narrow sense from conviction.

While in Nagasaki we had an opportunity of studying the
people very advantageously. We took on 1,200 to 1,500 tons of
coal. This was done by men, women, and children working with
little straw baskets. At 7 o'clock in the morning, after we got
out of dock, in which our ship was cleaned, a couple of dozen

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A RACE WITH THE SUA.

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lar^'c coal-boats and dozens of little sampans filled with people
came around us. Soon the decks were crowded— men shoutin^f,
boys romping, [;iris laughing. Such a bedlam I never heard. On
the ship and about it were nearly i.OCX) people. Soon the
hatches were opened, and 14 small platform scales were put up.
To each scale was a tub, to hold 112 pounds. The coal is sold
by the long ton. Ladders were erected from the sampan coal-
boats below to the deck of the ship. Women, girls, and boys
tlien formed a line from the boats below, up these ladders, and
along the decks to the hatchways. These lines held from 30 to
35 people, in some cases considerably more, so as to reach a boat
which was outside of those next the ship. Then the work com-
menced, the baskets, holding from 12 to 15 pounds each, being
started from the boat and run from hand to hand to the tub at
the hatch. As soon as this was filletl a man would empty it over
into the holil. The baskets came up so fast and in such regular
order that tiicy seemed to be imbued witii life, and simply sliding
along the uplifted hands. As the baskets would nu)unt they took
a somewhat rotary motion. So rapidly did they move that a tub
would be filled in very few minutes. Among the workers were
women and girls from about 13 years u[). To each gang there
were three or four men, one to empty the tub, one to empty the
basket, ami one at a heavy point near. So rapid were the motions
that they seemed often the work of machinery. I'rom morning till
night these people worked, stopping only at noon for an hour for
their two ounces of rice and their lacquer boxes of fish and vege-
tables. Not an angry word was ever heard. All were jolly,
laughing, and talking. Now and then some woman would say
something to her neighbor at the expense of us three who were
watching from the quarter-deck— ♦^hen one by one looked and
laughed. A brighter, happier set of )»cople I have never seen at
a pic-nic — indeed, none as bright, for it a pic-nic there is always a
sort of listless appearance of h,;"';ig nothing to do. Here all
were busy, and willingly busy; ;ul were working, and working
with a heart. Other ships were coaling near b)-. In other words,
these people were not at a pic-nic, but this thing goes on more or
less through the whole j-ear, the great Japanese coal-fields being
close by. They were all clean and tidy. Many of the girls had
their hair done up in elaborate style. Over every head ^.-as a
blue kerchief tied under the chin to keep out the dust. Many of
the gowns were patched, and some had holes in them, but not a
single one had the slightest appearance of untidiness. All were
clean, all looked cheerful, all were ready to laugh, and all seemed
happy. Yet the men who did the heavy work received only 15
and 20 cents a day, the women ten and twelve, and the children
five and seven ; add to this two ounces of rice for their lunch.

These people were the wives and children of fishermen and
farmers in the near neighborhood, who do this sort of work

CUE/

when the cri
are out at
children wit
face. They
right have t
tian lands
many go at
Here these
kindly towa
As I havt.
I have stud
in other Ian
the people,
attempted
have studie
their roosts
valley, mou
spider spin
the air geoi
toiling for ;
with keen 1
If any sho
Japan I en
like mine, ;
the last tin
We sail
rocky Taffi
death. W
to my wor
night, I cl(
the Rising:
commence
pleasure t(
parting wi
afternoon,
fortunatel
many of 11
ere night I
drive awa
fits and ;
were racii
Within a
clouds, bi
ward red
bloodsho
land just
and lowe
And lo !

CHEERFULNESS OF JAPANESE LABORERS. 97

when the crops are laid by and when their husbands and fatiiers
are out at sea. We noticed many of the youny women and
cliildren with deUcatc, well-cut features and sweet expressions of
face. They evidently do not regard work as a hardship. What
right have they thus to toil and be happy ? In civilized Chris-
tian lands men are being taught that work is a penalty, and
many go at it as if they had a grudge against their employers.
Mere these people work for a pittance, and then seem to feel
kindly toward the man who pays it.

As I have said in my other letters, they arc a strange people.
I have studied them as best I could. Heretofore, in travelling
in other lands, I have been able to hold some intercourse with
tile people, whereliy we could interchange ideas. Hut I have not
attempted lo talk with these, even througli an interpreter. I
have studied them as I study the crows flying at eventide to
their roosts; as I study the ants climbing over the tiny hill and
valley, mountain and gorge, in their ceaseless toils ; as I study the
spider spinning gossamer threads and with them m.iking upon
the air geometrical figures ; as I study the bees in musical hum
toiling for sweets. I have studied these people and leave them
with keen regret that I had not more time to give to the study.
If any should be induced by what I write to make a tour of
Japan I envy them, for their pleasure is in the future, and not,
like mine, all in the past. When we weighed anchor, I had for
the last time trod upon the mikado's soil.

We sailed out of Nagasaki's beautiful harbor, close under
rocky Paffenburg, where so many Christians were hurled to their
death. We watched the land as it receded, and then 1 sat down
to my work and have worked hard all day. And now, late at
night, I close this letter and thus end my visit to the Land of
the Rising Sun. Three montiis ago to-day we left Chicago to
commence our race with old Sol. It was with expectations of
pleasure to be enjoyed, but yet with no small misgivings at thus
parting with those we loved. Six weeks ago to-day, late in the
afternoon, the typhoon had gone to the eastward, its angry centre,
fortunately for us, having passed some miles to the south, and
many of us were on deck looking to the west, hoping to be able
ere nightfall to cry " Land ho I " The sun was struggling to
drive away the clouds lying between him and the earth, and by
fits and starts shot down his pale-gray rays. The low clouds
were racing wildly along, chasing each other like mad coursers.
Within a few degrees of the western horizon there were no
clouds, but the air was so full of spray that the sun sank down-
ward red as a ball of blood. We kept our eyes fixed upon his
bloodshot face, for the captain told us we would probably see
land just as he would dip below the horizon. He dipped lower
and lower, when our skipper quietly said : " See, there 's land ! "
And lo ! across the sun's lower disk there was drawn a zigzag

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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line of a broken mountain range, and close to the left was lifted
the clear-cut cone of mighty Fuji, 72 miles away. It was thus
we first saw Japan— to us the land of the setting sun. For six
weeks we have journeyed in and about that land, among its
lis,ht-liearted, its strange and incongruous people; its cheerful
and happy, its bright and generous, loving and modest people ;
its down-trodden and toiling, its suspicious and immoral, re-
vengeful and innocent people ; for tiiey seem to possess all of
these contradictory characteristics. We have wandered among
and have studied them as best we could. In spite of their glar-
ing faults we like them, almost love them. i\nd this morning, as
the sun was gilding the heights about Nagasaki harbor, we came
out from among them and cried out as we passed Taffenburg's
bloody locks, " Farewell, good Japanese, good-bye ! " For si.K
weeks we have wandered among the mountains and valleys of the
land ; its dark gorges and terraced slopes, its forest-clad heights
and grain-covered plains. We have wondered and admired. We
have been happy, where birds are without note and insects make
nights musical ; where wild flowers tieck moun(;ain and valley,
forest and prairie, flowers of every form and of every hue, but
none of them endowed with fragrance, or ever inviting the bee
to sip from their cups; a land where frowning crags and dark
gorges were made to strike terror to. and wring awe from, the
bravest heart, yet clothed in trees and shrubs and mantled in
garlands, bid the youthful swain and gentle maid to wander in
dreams and to sigh for rosy love. We have been happy, yet the
happiness of one of us was all the time tinged with sadness.

Thirty-six years ago he had wandered afoot and alone over
Alpine lieights and through Alpine valleys. Before him then there
k'.as life and its gilded hopes. He looked upward and was filled
with gladness, for he could sing —

" The br.ivest .ind hrifjlilest ih.at ever w.-is sunr,
Sh.ill lie, anil must lie, tlie lnt (if the ymuij^. '

He was alone, and yet never alone. By his side was one of
his fancy's creation — gentle, loving, dark-eyed, and caressing,
who would yet look with him upon all he now so much enjoyed.
His every look ,vas then upward. His sun was always climbing
and gilding the lofty pinnacles. There, clothed in garments woven
of sunbeams, was the being who was to make his years years of
brightness. He was alone and yet never alone, and never sad,
for there was always the reflection in his heart of a glorious
to-morrow. But here in Japan, in the midst of the beautiful,
there came through the pine needles a gentle dirge and a sweet,
sad song of the past. There was, and could be, no loving eye to
look upon and revel in the dreamland around. There was not,
and never could be again, a loving heart, real or in fancy, to beat
in tune to his own pulsations. There was not, and never could

AX OLD DKEAAf.

be again, a gentle voice in loving tones to whisper : " Hope and
live, live and hope, for there will yet be in this world a bright and
rosy to-morrow."

This afternoon we thrc. the only passen,t^r!-s of our good ship,
stood upon the deck, and as the sun hurried down to the west,
looked earnestly to the east for one more, one last sight of the
land we left. The captain told us we would see no more land
until the Chinese islands should lift up from the sea. But we
looked, and far off there rose a point — a mere point. It was a
mountain cone on the westernmost of the mikado's islands. We
looked, and as the last ray of the setting sun gilded its far-off
height one of us sighed : " Farewell, Niphon, land of the rising
sun ! Farewell, Japan, land of dreams I Good-bye !"

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CHAPTER XIII.

YANC-TSE-KIAiVC-CIIINKSE FARMI.NC-l' ISll AM) MODKS OF fATril-

1XC,_A1M'EARAN'CE OF THE COUNTRY— MISSIONARIES,

t'ATHOI.K' AND I'ROTESTAXr.

Steamer ^' Kiang-Foo," on the Vang-Tse-Kiang, China^

Xo-cember cS, 1SS7,

A LONG while ago, so long that I cannot fix the date as having
been within any given five or six j-ears, when I was a big boy, a
flood in the lower Mississippi dug a crevasse in front of the town
of Lake Providence, La., and carried away some eighty or more
acres of its land. The local newspapers alkidcd to the fact in tliis
terse plirase: "Where our ofifice stood )-esteriiay now rolls the
niightv Mississippi ; out of respect for the father of waters we
moved out aiul he moved in." Whenever in my journeyings this
great river has come into view I Jiave recalled this epigram, and
involuntarily have taken off my hat with a feeling of awe, and then
would swell with American pride that ours was not only the long-
est, but thi, greatest and grandest of fresh-water streams. Hut now,
after having spent over seven days on the Yang-tse-Kiang (Celes-
tial for " Broad River"); after steaming so many hundred miles
over its mighty floods, floods which move with a current as swift as
that of our own great river, yet so broad and of such depth that
oftentimes the movement is scarcely more apparent than are those
of the tides in an open sea ; after looking over the thousands (jf
square miles made by its droppings throughout countless ages ;
after sailing over a jjreat yellow sea, dyed b)- its red waters ; after
looking down day after day upon its placid bosom — placid in its
broad reaches, yet, when occasionally contracted to a mile in
width, rushing in angry, whirling swirls of waters red and thick
with the washings of 450,000,000 acres of territoiy, washings
not of coarse and sterile sands, but of soil of almost impalpable
fineness; red and thick, yet teeming with innumerable fishes in
great variety, furnishing food to millions of people ; — after seeing
and learning these things I am forced to lower .ny national pride
and acknowledge that while we have the longest, we have not the
grandest, of rivers. Hereafter I will touch my hat to the " father
of waters," but I uncover to this, and hail it " mother of waters."

The Mississippi is a moving, active s)-mhol of resistless force, of
uncontrolled and uncontrollable power, and of inexorable en-.rgy.

100

THE YANG- TSE-KIANG.

101

The Yang-tse-Kiang is the very embodiment of lofty dignity, of
conscious might, and of calm, unbending majesty. Catching
its first cup 3,630 odd miles from the sea, in the great table-
land, the heart of Asia, where is claimed to be the pillar of
the world and the cradle of man, for 20 odd hundred miles
it washes the feet of vast mountain ranges with lofty peaks
and slopes, said to be of marvellous fertility and clothed in
almost tropical exuberance and therefore of considerable hu-
midity, draining great valleys, peopled with dense popula-
tions, cutting, in canyons from 1,000 to 3,000 feet deep, through
mighty rock barriers, it rushes down gorges in tearful rapids, but
so deep that steamers are now being built to navigate them, and
spreads itself, about 1,000 miles from its mouth, into a broad,
dignified stream one and two miles wide, and deep enough to
float the largest ocean steamers.

At Hankow, where tea-ships load, 600 odd miles from the
.sea, ■'*: spreads out two to three miles in width and in the
summer monilis has a depth of 60 feet in the channel. Here
congregate the huge otctin steamers during the tea season, and,
loaded with the fragrant leaf, .-.ceam for the sea, with nearly the
speed which they maintain on the ocean, to the great western
cities. A hundred and thirty miles from the river's mouth it
becomes still broader, and maintains to the sea a width ranging
from five to eight miles, and when we went up it was as smooth
and glassy as a lake. It is now, on our homeward run, somewhat
white-capped. So great is the volume of the river that, although
the tide rises at the mouth of the Wunsung, 18 miles up which
the city of Shanghai is situated, to a height of 12 feet, yet the
water is not even brackish, and even the water-supply for the city
is taken from the river at high tide. Indeed, far below this to
the very mouth it is fresh enough to drink. Forty miles from
the mouth, near the Wunsung, the great island 'Tsung-wung'
begins, dividing the river into two great channels on to the sea.
A hundred years ago this island had no existence. It is the riv-
er's offspring during a century's labor, and now supports a popu-
lation of 1,000,000 people. When we sailed toward the Chinese
shore 12 days ago, when yet 20 miles out at sea, the whole
surface was (juitc muddy, and the captain said we were in the
Yang-tse.

Stretching along the eastern coast of China is x low, and to a
great extent, absolutely flat plain, over 1,000 miles north and
south, running back, ihe books of travellers assert, over 500
miles. From my own observ-ation on this journey, and from
what I can learn from some intelligent missionaries, I am led
to think this is a mistake. Broken, short ridges of low moun-
tains are seen from the steamer after ascending the river lOO
miles. These at much less than 200 miles, are constantly in
view on one or the other shore line, now close to the river

'4.

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102

A RACE WITH THU SUN.

1 .i

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and then lo to 15 miles or more away. After passing Chinkiang,
180 miles inland, these ridges are constant and seem piled up
one behind the other as far as the glass will enable one to
see through openings and gaps. Indeed, one gentleman as-
sured me "that, so far from plains being up here a rule, they
are the exception. The bulk of the country is made up of low,
broken mountains, with valleys and plains interspersed. The
mountains quite frequently run down to the river in bold head-
lands and rocky bluffs several hundred feet high, and many of
them very picturesque. Lofty rocks now and then lift from the
bed of the ri, " i\'. ring an area of a half acre or more. These
are prccipitou.-, marked in the charts from 150 to 300 feet

in hei'dit. A su , ;,rtion of each is a steep, broken slope,
growing small trees and surmounted with buslies. Somewhere
on each is perched an ok! picturesque temple. The rocky cliffs
are almost black with thousands of cornn)rants perched on ever)-
projection large cnougii to hold a bird. At the points where
these headlands approached the water's edge the river is nar-
rowed to near a mile. Througli these narrows it rushes madly
and makes wiiat the boatmen term bad " chow-chow " water.
These headlands and the mountains are sufificiently uimerous to
relieve the voyage of too much sameness and monot'<ny. Indeed,
in several localities, the scenery is (juite fine, but is hardly suffi-
cient of itself to attract the tourist in search of, and loving the
beautiful. But the noble river, its vast surface generally so calm,
its great depth and mighty performances, render the trip uji it
very interesting, and the scenery is sufificiently varied and fine to
make it a voyage of pleasure. I found the return trip nearly as
interesting as the upward one. This is somewhat more so than it
would otherwise be, from the fact that the locality we passed at
night going up. we see by day coming down.

And now, while I write, my letter is and will be less connected,
because of the constant temptation to go to the door and use my
glass. The great plain mentioned as lying over 1,000 miles along
the seacoast, is apparently alluvial, and has been made by the
deposit from this river and from the turbulent Hoang-Ho, which
aided in its mighty work ir the northern part of the empire.
That river, from what I can learn, is much like the Mississippi
and its great branch, the Missouri. Where its dykes are laid, the
river constantly elevates its bed, and has frequently burst its con-
finement, cutting new channels to the sea, carrying destruction of
a gr-jat amount of propert)-, and killing millions of people. Its
disposition to break over the artificial barriers is a source of con-
stant dread to the people, who never know when the monster may
shake his tawny mane and .sweep them and their property into
the ocean. Its mouth is to-day several hundred miles away from
the exit of not many years ago. Like the Mississippi, it cannot
be bridled, and is impatient even of the slightest restraint. Had

CHINESE RIVERS.

103

our Southern planters been content to turn sweat into upland
cotton instead of trying to confine the Father of Waters between
miserable earth-works, the floods of the Mississippi valley would
have carried the washings of countless millions of plowed fields
down to the lower swamps, and would have made millions of
acres of splendid lands the homes of a healthy people, instead of
leaving them, as they now are, under the imperial sway of the
mosquito and the ague. This is what the Lord intended, and had
He been permitted to work out nature's designs, cotton would
never have attempted to usurp a throne, secession would have
been a thing unborr. and the democratic party, instead of spend-
ing years to undo mistakes, would have made America the home
of 100,000,000 of contented, happy people, all enjoying a com-
parative equality of moderate fortune; and the monopolist and
the anarchist would never — at least for ages — have become natu-
ralized exotics. Hut I am growing politically sentimental. Senti-
mental I am willing to be in my old age ; political — kind fortune
guard me ! and protect me I

The Ho;ing-lIo is throughout the most of the year utterly
unnavigable. But during the summer tloods it rises to a great
height, and is often so destructive that it has been called the
" Chinese Sorrow." The Vang-tse, though subject to great rises,
is so calm and grand that it shows no disposition to demonstrate
its power. Low dykes easily hold it to its bed. It feeds canals
and irrigating ditches, bearing blessings instead of sorrow to the
millions who are the denizens of the lands which stretch for
hundreds of miles along its shores. The immediate river ban.ks
are so low that from the steamer's deck one can look over the
dykes and study, not only the country, but, with a good glass,
even the habits, homes, and industries of the people. Travelling
by land here is so disagreeable to the foreigner, and subject to so
many annoyances, not to say possible dangers, that few, except
missionaries, attempt it, and these latter only after acquiring con-
siderable knowledge of the language. Even then it is found that
a Chinese costume, a shaven head, and a regulation queue, with
the ability to sleep in filtliy abodes, and to eat native, nasty food
without a wry face, are almost indispensable. The Catholic mis-
sionaries, barring the complexion, look thoroughly to the manner
born. Like St. Paul, they are " all things to all men," and
500,000 Chinese communicants attest the wisdom of their system.
Not only do they pray, preach, and teach, but directly, or through
their agents, do a large business, and have acquired to the Church
large and valuable properties. The Zickaway institution, near
Shanghai, belonging to the Socie^^y of Jesus, is a noble foundation.
Possessing some of the finest instruments in the world, some 'f
the brotherhood are devoted to science, and furnish to the pov-
ernment meteorological observations and data; furnish meridional
time to the mariner, and foretell storms and note their track and

\w.

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104

A HACE WITH THE SUX.

( ';-■

nature. They are "Old Probs." to these people. They print
scientific, religious writings and newspapers, and quietly exercise
a great influence. They are not, like most Protestant missionary
societies, impatient of slow progress, and ever striving to show
returns of souls snatched from the burning. They feel the Church
to be eternal, and that sooner or later good returns will come.
They educate a heathen in useful branches and in mechanics, and
do not try to knock salvation into him. but patiently work and
pray, trusting that the educated soul will ultimately become an
inquiring one. They have schools in which not only Christian,
but even pagan young men study and prepare themselves for the
annual competitive examinations, without which no one can be a
candidate for oflficial position in the empire.

By the way, few people know in Christendom that there is
no caste in China. The lowest as well as the highest can compete
for all positions, and none, except in times of trouble, can reach
them without first receiving a diploma from the board of literary
examiners. These examinations are said to be so carefully
guarded that favoritism is reduced to the minimum. Promotion
is entirely according to rigid rules. But, unfortunately, the hold-
ing and continuance in office is dependent wholly upon the will
of the emperor, who is absolute and a master. All others acknowl-
edge themselves as his slaves, and so call themselves when ad-
dressing the throne. The emperor owns every foot of land in his
dominions, and fixes taxes, rents, and imposts as he, from year to
year, may deem fii — that is as nominally he deems fit, but in
reality as the several governors of provinces so deem. His subjects
obey without questioning his motive or wisdom, and are generally
quiet and easily satisfied. Occasionally, however, they awake from
their lethargy, and then are the most det^-rmined and dangerous
rebels in the world.

The Taiping rebellion, which lasted from 185 1 to 1865, proved
the persistence and ferocity of those people when once aroused.
It ravaged more than half of the eighteen provinces. It ended
only after having destroyed millions of peojile ; in fact, after
depopulating the richest of the agricultural districts. I heard
the numbers destroyed put at io.ocxd.cxx) to i5,cxK),ooo, but Mr.
Hart, the very intelligent superintendent of the Methodist mis-
sion on the Yang-tse, told me he thought the number was between
20,000,000 and 50,000,000, not destroyed by being absolutely
killed, though millions so came to tlieir end. but by being starved
or carried of? by diseases which resulted from poverty and want,
superinduced by the rebellion. He has been here 20 years, speaks
the language fluently, and has travelled over nearly all of the
revolted districts. Seeing no evidence of a very dense population
along the Yang-tse, in fact, just the opposite. I asked him his
opinion on this matter. He thought that the jjopulation of
China had been greatly over-estimated, and that there need be no

CHINESE EDUCATION.

105

anxiety in the outer world lest this land, being overcrowded, may be
dangerous to other lands ; that it can support a greatly increased
number of people. I should call the Yang-tse plains along the
river rather sparsely peopled ; judging from what I saw in Japan,
not half full. It is true, this was the line of the great rebellion,
but that rebellion ended considerably over 20 years ago, and a
Chinaman can erect a house nearly as quickly as an Arab can set
his tent.

But to return to Zickaway. The institution has a large orphan
establishment. The little heathen look happy and well fed. We
saw 150; some at play, others at work in the shops, where they
learn good trades, while still others, swaying back and forth, were
chanting their lessons. Every thing looked Chinese — Chinese
tools, Chinese pos ^res, and Chinese manners. As the good
young father, who kindly showed us every thing, said, their aim
is to make as few innovations upon fixed habits and ideas as they
can consistently with the great ends and aims — Christianity and
education. Thus they prepare their scholars to go into the
Chinese world, to battle first for their bread, and afterwards for
the right. The Protestant missionaries are awakening to the
wisdom of the Romish system, and now one occasionally sees on
the steamer one of the " interior missionaries " in the native part
of the boat, in every thing, except the yellow skin, a thorough
Chinaman. One of the good men — in answer to my assertion that
a great mistake made by christianizers of pagan lands was that
they persisted in preaching Christ crucified to a people enslaved
by ignorance and superstition, when, even in our own enlightened
country, more than 50 per cent, of the people were unwilling to
bear the cross — sighed, and replied: " Yes ! but we can only live
and work by the aid of the home churches, and they insist upon
receiving, as a dividend, and seeing a balance sheet, showing souls
saved."

It took many hundred years to christianize Europe, and then
it was a slow process until the rulers were themselves converted.
Missionaries can do great good in these far-off countries. But
their work can be made still more efificient by first making educa-
tion the handmaid to and forerunner of religion. Teach the
child to read and think, and when it becomes a man or woman it
will see the folly of the old superstitions. The ground will then
be prepared for the true seed. But these heathen find it hard to
understand how our different sects so dispute with each other
after 1,800 years of Christian rule. Buddhism amalgamated with
the older superstitions and won ; and our Saviour himself says,
He came to build up, not to destroy.

Not being able to go among the farmers, I have been constantly
on deck with the glass in my hand, and in going up and returning
I have seen nearly every house and hamlet, town and city, along
the shore, and much of it from close view. Looking upon the

\^^m

m'-

io6

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

i ,'i y

lowlands as they lie upon a level with the eye, they seem at first
almost wooded, but on closer inspection the trees are found to be
about the houses and hamlets and along the canals. The foliage
of one tree appears to run into that of another, which may be far
behind it. Canals or bayous run into the river every few miles.
These intersect each other back in tlic country — so much so that
the whole country for 1,200 or 1,300 miles north and south, and
from 200 to 300 or more miles cast and west, when not interrupted
by the mountain ranges, is a perfect network of waterways. The
masts of junks are occasionally seen miles back over the tops of
the low trees. The canals carry commerce and irrigating water.
The banks of the rivers and of the artificial and natural canals are
all dj'kcd. Sometimes on the river the dykes run quite far back,
100, 200, and even more feet from the banks. The land in front
of them is overflowed from June to September or October. As
soon as the water recedes this is sown in wheat, which will be har-
vested in May, before the summer floods come down. It is sur-
prising how wet the land is plowed. I have ■>(i>zw it worked when
wet enough to make stiff mortar. This soil makes good sun-
dried brick, yet seems friable after the crop is put in. The
plowing is done with a single-handed plow, drawn by a buffalo or
cow, generally the former, which are sturdy-looking brutes and
very strong. When not working they graze, each in charge of a
boy. Frequently they are seen lying in the edge of the river,
with barely the head out, and do not get up when the wave from
the boat ggcs quite over the head ; they simply lift the nose
higher. The grain is generally sown broadcast, a little being
drilled. About half of the fields now are up and green, and what
speaks badly for the farmer, are very often being grazed by the
buffalo and cows and by hogs, a thing never permitted by one of
our good farmers. By the way, the buffalo is by no means like
our wild bison ; it is the bubolo, or water-ox.

The land is evidently cultivated in small holdings, narrow, long
fields, as in Belgium and parts of Germany. One little field,
however, so runs into another that on an island we saw many
thousands of acres nearly all green, and to the naked eye looking
like a single large farm. There are a great many low islands in
the river, varying in size from lOO to 200 acres up to a great
many miles in length, most of them in cultivation. The farming
does not strike me as being good. It may be better off the over-
flowed land. But near Shanghai, where I rode several miles into
the country, I was struck by the great inferiority of the Chinese
farming to that of the Japanese. Every thing, except rice and
vegetables, is broad-casted— even the cotton,— and cannot be
worked as it is in the Land of the Rising Sun, where every thing
is in drills, and thoroughly cultivated. The result is, these people
raise no such crops as do the others. This judgment is not
wholly drawn from what we saw from the steamers, but at cities

J';- 11

CHINESE FARMING.

107

I ascended elevations from which I could overlook and examine
with my glass large areas of cultivated lands. Nor do the fields
often make the bright landscape presented by the farms of Japan.
There the varied crops, the great variety of root crops particular-
ly, make the whole country look like the elaborate vegetable
gardens about an English or American city. Here vegetables are
grown in small truck patches, instead of being a regular farm
product.

I expected, from what I had read, to find that the farmers live
in villages; several travellers so stating positively. It is not so
along this great valley. Farm-houses are abundant, not isolated
as with us, in the middle of good-sized farms, but on the ridges —
artificial generally, — and stand 50, 100, and sometimes several
hundred yards apart. It is true little hamlets are often seen, where
three or four farmers' houses are thrown around courts or farm-
yards. Now and then a farm-house of hard brick with tile roof
is seen. But most of them are of sun-dried brick or of light
frame with reeds interwoven, and then mud-plastered — in other
words, miserable huts or hovels designed simply for shelter, with
no attempt whatever at any sort of ornamentation. The trees
about them are evidently for shade, and not arranged to please
tlie eye ; no flowers and no adjuncts for beauty. The same ill-
cut and badly arranged thatched roof covers tlie dwelling-house,
and continues over that part devoted to the buffalo and cow.
The pig, the cow, the chickens, and the dog stand about the
house door, where sit the women and the children, and before
which, after sun-down, the man would be seen strutting with his
hands locked behind him. The Chinese man, in city and on
farm, delights to saunter in a sort of strut when his work is done.
One sees tiiis in cities only with the comparatively well-to-do
merchant, for the cooly or the mechanic has no time to strut. His
work is never done wliile it is light enough to do any thing. He
works by day and by lamp-light. When not working he is eating,
gambling, sleeping, or looking for a job. The farmers, however,
saunter along the river bank. They are frequently alone, or with
a little boy or two, never with their wives. These and the little
girls rarely promenade with the lords of creation. A boy baby is
a man's blessing ; a girl he despises, and leaves to be the compan-
ion of the drudging mother. The farmer's domestic animal is as
thoroughly domestic and a part of the family as the dog or cat.
They do not eat cats and dogs in northern China. And here
I will add, the people I have seen so far are good-sized, and a far
superior lot to those who go to America. Our Celestial emigrants
come from the Hong Kong district, speak a different dialect,
or pronounce very differently from those in the northern half of
the empire, and are very much despised by them. Though not
knowing a word of Chinese, I can tell when I hear a man talk if he
be from northern China or from Hong Kong. These latter are

MAM

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io8

A RACE WITH THE SUX.

' ' ;

met with as sailors and waiters on the steamers, and are said to do
better as servants and coolies than those from the north.

The hogs are the scavnigcrs of the cities, anil up here are
all black, have very long Hap-ears, and a snout and face-front
singularly wrinkled, utterly different from what is known as the
China pig in our country. They are the demurest-looking brutes
one can imagine.

The farmers seem to be also fishermen. This is a vast business
on the Yang-tse. For i,00O miles a huge dip-net is to be seen
even,- lOO or so yards on either bank. It is from 20 to 30 feet
square, is attached to a long pole inserted in the banks, and lifted
by pulleys. The fisherman invariably lifted his net as we passed,
intending probably to have it up before the steamer's swell should
drive the fish out. A large fish caught is taken out by a scoop-
net. The smaller ones drop through a throat in the centre of the
net into a bag, where they remain until the fisherman is ready to
quit. Thousands of fishing boats arc to be seen, and in swarms
early in the morning and late in the evening ; some with dip-nets
ingeniously rigged out at the stern and also lifted by the pulleys,
others with drag nets. This muddy river is full of fish in great
variety, and some of them of large size. In the spring vast quan-
tities of " samlai," a species of shad, are caught. They are said
to be fine. I have myself seen many varieties of fish, some very
beautiful, and have eaten several kinds which are equal to any
fresh-water fish I know.

As with the Japanese, fish seems to be the flesh food ^f the
average Chinese. Pork is his delight, but fish is his regular flesh
diet. It is everywhere to be seen for sale, and is carried dried in
great quantities to the far interior. It is very cheap, the very best
costing only two or three cents a pound. Many singular modes
of catching fish are practised. Boys and men dive down from the
piers in the cities and bring up good-sized ones. They catch
them in their hiding-places. But still more amusing is to see a
boat go out, with a bamboo pole across its bow, having a dozen
or so trained cormorants perched upon it. Reaching the fishing-
grounds a cord is tied about a bird's neck, and he is sent down to
fish. He rarely fails to bring one up. Me cannot swallow it on
account of the cord on his "guzzle," so he brings it to his master,
who rewards him with a small fish, and sends down another.
And so on till he fills his boat. Some of the birds are so trained
that throttling is not necessary. This mode of fishing is used
more on the small lakes or ponds, left when the river falls, than
in the river itself. Vast numbers of such lakes are left when the
floods go down, and these arc simply alive with the finny tribes.

I saw no evidence of dense population" in the plain or valley,
but quite the contrary. All of this alluvial country is of great
fertility, and it is apparent that the hills have many of them at
some time or other been considerably terraced. Now the plains

CHR Y SAN Til EM VMS.

109

are not a third full, and the mountains, as far as I could sec back
among them, furnish but little support for man. They are barren
of trees, and look almost as brown as the ranges of Nevada, and
remind me, in some localities, very much of them. Now and
then one sees trees about temples perched high up, and a few
sparsely scattered along the gorges and crests of lofty hills, thus
showing tliat they could grow in forests if properly protected.
Ikit these people suffer greatly during the cold winters, which arc
not infrequent. Their houses are miserable hovels with no chim-
neys, ami their clothing is composed entirely of cotton stuff.
They not only cut the )<)ung trees and shrubs, but actually grub
up the roots for fuel. Straw, cotton stalks, bushes, bulrushes, and
the leaves of the trees are gathered and baled for winter use. On
some of the overflowed lands, too wet for wheat, a sort of coarse,
reedy rush grows in great luxuriance, and to a height of 10 to 15
feet. This is now all being cut, and is used for mats, screens, and
for the W()\eii sides of hovels. We saw women raking up the
leaves of these rushes, and carefully tying them into bundles for
fuel. It is now nearly the middle of November, and yet many of
the vegetable cro])s in the truck patches about the farm-houses
are but half matured. A frost to hurt does not come until about
Christmas, but after that there is weather cold enough to form
considerable ice. It is said, however, that, as in Japan, the frost
does not kill, as with us in America.

After returning to Shanghai I paid a farewell visit to the oublic
garden to get one more look at the chrysanthemums, which are
iu>w in full bloom. We in America have no conception of the
beauty of this tlower when perfected. I measured one flower, a
perfect ball, every petal placed just where it should be, and as
white nearly as snow, and found it was 20 inches around,
without stretching out its petals, when measured horizontally,
and 18 inches measured vertically. Spreading its petals out
it was over eight inches in diameter. On one little plat, three
feet by eight, I counted 42 perfect flowers, from four to seven
inches in diameter. One smaller variety resembled a beauti-
fully formed aster. I had to examine the leaf befot i could
satisfy myself that it was not of that family. Anotlic. ,,as the
size, form, and compactness of a fine dahlia. There are many
varieties, some fringed, some quilled, and some compact, with
petals resembling a mass of bent gourd seed These latter are as
solid and compact as a ball of candied pop-corn. To see this col-
lection is worth a long voyage.

I am now finishing this letter on board the Kut Sang, a few
miles south of Amoy, on the Eastern Sea of China. We have
])assed a great many bold mountain islands. They resemble the
mountain ridges lying from 100 to 350 miles west of Shanghai,
and suggest tlie idea that those were once out in the ocean, and
that the Yang-t.se-Kiang has filled a part of the sea and left the

\- ^

\-\

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I VM

./ KACJ': in 17/ THE SUN.

. • I:

■'■'

mniintnins as islaiuls in the ])Iain. The enormous wash from the
Iloang-IIo and Vanij-tse-Kiaiig is said to be filling the sea very
rapidly.

Last nit^ht we witnessed an extraordinary exhibition of phos-
phorescent lights. The officers of the ship say they have
never seen it sur|)assed, and hope not to see it often repeated, for
it made the surface of the sea so light and so dazzling that
though the stars were out yet the sky seemed intensely black,
anil some island headlands, which ought to have been landmarks
to navigate by, were not visible. There was a brisk, monsoon
wind coming down from the north, covering the sea with white-
caps. These were all aflame, and as tliey rose and fell, resembled
a wild dance of fairies robed in light. Here and there a wave
would lift Iiigher tiian the rest, and would whirl and pirouette in
mad glee. The horizon looked like a thin band of jiale electric
light, as if made by an arc burner reflected upon gauze. ,\t
times the whole se.i was ablaze, and one could almost feel cert.iin
of seeing gentle lightning flashes from above when the blaze
would die out, and there seemed to be millions of twinkling stars
darting about in the dark waters. At times for a mile or so there
would be no great mass of light near us, but only these twinkling
ones, or the flaming foam made by the prow of the ship catching
and rolling it back. The ship was lying apparentlj" in a bl.izing
pool, not much larger than itself which moved aliMig with us anil
carried us along, instead of our moving in it. Where the screw
churned the sea under the stern, the mass seemed to be a cold,
molten metal, so bright that it cast a shadow. I held my watch
over it. The face shone bright enough to enable me to see the
hands and read the dial. It was a fascinating scene, and v>ith
regret I turned in considerably after midnight. I have often
watched these displays on the Atlantic, and thought them fine,
but compared with this they were as flashings from fireflies.

CHAPTER XIV.

CIIINKSK CITIKS, IIOUSKS, TLM I'LKS, AM) WDUKSIinPS — CA'I' AM>

DOG KOASIS — ll.OATINC; I'( )1'UI.A1H)N OV CANTON—

l-I.OWKR IIOATS— \V()Mi:\ Va -AIMKN — SUSAX.

Steamship "^ Afi'ii^^kiit," iVmrml'er 24, 18S7.

It is now liii,Mi twi'lvc. and Cai)tain Anilcrson has just an-
nounced that \vc arc in hititiulc 8 "^ 29' n"iih, K)ngitudc 104^ 3<S '
cast. Wc sailed from Ilon^ Kony tht; joth at 4.30 I'.M. for
Ban^kolx. Wc arc out of tlic Cliina Sea. and have entered into
the (iulf of Siani, We have been upon a ])ale }'ello\v, pca-fjrecn
sea all day. It will tjet blue later. It is shoaly all about Cape
Cambodia and for a lons^ distance out. Yesterday we looked
down upon a sea of emerald, broken into lii^ht, feathery, pros-
trate, foamy plumes ; the day before we seemed to be plowin<^
through a vat of indi_i;o dye, so deeply blue was the world of
waters about us.

When we wciijhed anchor at llon^ Kon^, Johnny, Willie, and
1 lay down upon easy-chairs on the (juartcr-ileck to enjoy a genu-
ine rc't. The air was dcliciously balmy. We were the only
passenfjers, as we also were from Kobe to Shanghai and from
.Shanghai to Swatow and Hong Kong, and could feel the .ship
was our own. About us was the busy harbor, with its 24 steam-
ers, its many sailing shiijs and junks, and its hundreds of sam-
pans, crossing each other's tracks in every direction, like flies
in a sunmier room. The beautiful harbor, from a mile to two
and a half miles wide, lay land-locked by lofty heights in every
direction, and resembled a crooked lake in a mountain land. To
the north, upon the water's edge, were pretty, white buildings,
hospitals, dry docks, and their necessary hou.ses, and at farther
points dingy-looking Chinese villages ; to the south, stretching
along the inner cord of a crescent for two or three miles, near
the centre, were the three-story hongs or merchant houses, with
factories and manufactories toward cither end of the bow. Tier
after tier, one behind the other, came houses piled one upon
the other, on long, bending terraces, climbing 400, 500, and
600 feet upon the steep mountain sides. All buildings,
except the churches and factories, were fronted and flanked
by deep colonnades and verandas for each story. Here and
there, more ambitious than the mass, isolated bungalows

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" 3*7 'nr 'I I'^f-'i

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J> !:

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112

A RACE WITH THE SL'iY.

mount above the regular terraces, and are nestled do"'n in the dark-
green of tropical trees and shrubbery. Ever\-\vhere, except on
the water tront, and for one or two streets back, long lines of fine
trees in glossy dark green mark the windings of the terraced
roadways. High overhciid, nearl\- 2,000 feet above us, lifted
Victoria Peak "with its lookout tower. About its summit,
and for a few liundred feet below, and along the crest of the ad-
joining mountain, 100 feet perhaps lower than the peak,
were bright, white colonnaded bungalow houses, the homes dur-
ing the summer of the wealthy Hong Kongese and the summer
palace of the colonial governor. Hetween these upper clusters
of houses and those climbing the heights below, for i.ocx) or
more feet, lay the steep mountain sides partially i>lanted in }oung
pine, but generally wearing the brownish green of autumnal
grass. Across this intermediate steep slope ran zigzag i)eauti^
fully engineered roads white among the shrubs, climbing in
different directio.is the loftiest heights, while crossing them from
the western end of the town, by an easy and gradual risi'. ran the
beautiful viaduct road, it being also an aciuedui t over briilges and
arched ways, sometimes consisting of 20 odd lofty arches. To the
west the nin was rapidly seeking its couch in a flootl of yellow-red
light.

We steamed arouiui the picturesi|ue island, once famous as the
birtliplace of the deadly Hong Kong fever, but now having a.s
low a death-rate as most European cities, and lower than any, if
only the foreign population be counted. They, however, go off,
I suspect, to their far-off homes when disease sets its stamp upon
them. They certainly ought to die fast, all of these Euro|)eans
in the East ; they eat too much and far too often, ami drink like
fish. I do not think any of them have any bowels of compassion
for the natives, but every one is thoroughly conscious of having a
liver. I may be rather hard upon them as to their lack of feeling
for the natives, but if so it is their own fault. The)- certainl_\'
rarely speak of them with half as much kindness as Lliey do of
their ponies (when they have any). For example : the steamer
which followed us to Canton was burned up. and 400 to (hx)
Chinese passengers were burned or Irowned. .Several times
this disaster was the subject of conversation among Europeans in
my presence. They always spoke with great satisfaction of the
foreign officers being all saved, and passed by the other terrible
loss with a shrug of the shoulders, and some remark, such as,
"Ti^.ere 's plent\'more to fill their ])lacr ." It is said the present
healthiness of Victoria or Hong Kong is owing to the island
having been so \v'ell planted in young pines, etc.

I can, by the way, hardly help but shudder when I think of ♦^his
burning steamer. We went from Hong Kong to Canton by the
morning boat. While at breakfast, just before starting from our
hotel, a friend who had reached the place some days before us.

THE POLOOBI ISLANDS.

'13

joined us at table and advised us to take the evening boat, and
tiiereby save a day and not lose any scenery. We would prob-
ably have taken his advice but for the fact that when we went
from the breakfast-room on luggage was already down, and our
room assigned to others. This little thing alone kept us off the
evening boat, which burned, and with it from 500 to 600 passen-
gers. This was our only narrow escai)e up to date.

Just at nightfall we passeil the Ladrone Islands, I well re-
member, when 1 used to read tiie " Pirates ' Own Hook " and other
kindred wo. ks, these names were always connected in my mind
with the home-i of the human sharks of the sea.

The 2 1 St .'tud 22d our little ship of only 800 tons rolled
heavily and rocked in the cradle of the ileep. The northeast
monsoon, which commenced its steady course nearly two months
ago, brought down heavy seas upon our quarter, nearly upon our
beam, so that we rolled and heaved in the deep sea-trough very
badly. We lashed easy-chairs upon the centre line of the quar-
ter-deck, and to a considerable extent jjassed a pleasant tiine.
We lay all ilay drinking in the balmy tropical air, watching the
deep sea, as blue as a mighty vac of intligc^ dye, and building cas-
tles in the light, fleecj-, cumuli clouds piled up all around us.
Yesterday we bent more to the westward, throwing the seas di-
rectly aft. and tht; ship only swayed gentl) , but I could hardly
force myseif to write. It was so pleasant to lie on deck and
dream and dream. To our right were the high, broken, brown
ranges of 1 ochin China. Far to the west stretched the bound-
less oce.ui. for the Philippine Islands are hundreds of milesaway;
beyond them is tiie mighty, surging Pacific, washing the far-off
shores of ou'" native land, ami beyond them were those we loved
so dearly. We h.avc ste.imed among hundreds of Chinese fishing-
boats. All of these and all junks are uni)ainted, but have o!i each
bow-cjuarter a great flaring eye painted in bright color. I asked a
Chinaman wiiy this was universal: " Him no have eye, how him
can see?" was the reply in pigeon English.

T^vo hours .igo we passed i'oloobi — Potato — Islands, south of
Cambodi.i mainland, three pretty, dome-shaped pieces of land,
,the largest prob.ibly one to two miles in circumference, and 400 to
500 f jet higli ; the ne.xt, not a third as l.irge tid lower ; the third, a
few hundred fiet in circumference. We lan quite under them
and admired their dense tropical forcls, all covered with hard
wood of many varieties, but to me unfamiliar. The tiiermonieter
is 82 ° in the shade, pretty warm for the last of November.

But I must write of the Chinese and their cities. We liave not
been long among them, only a few weeks, but every day and
evening were spent in work. The neighborhood of the almond-
eyed Celestial neither suggests nor invites idle enjoyment. Om
the steamers we were constantly on deck, watching the counfy
•we were passing, watching the mass of Chinese passengers stored

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

between and upo 1 decks (going up to Canton we had 2,500
packed like pigs in a car), or collating facts and digesting ideas.
We have visited and somewhat closely studied old Shanghai,
Chin-Kiang, Wuhu, Kieu-Kiang, and Hankow, all large, walled
cities in the Yang-tsc valley; Swatow, on the seacoast, 180 nniles
north of Hong Kong ; and Canton, the largest and finest of
Chinese cities. These are all purely Chinese. We were in the
outskirts of several other walled towns, and thoroughly explored
New Shanghai, with its 150,000 inhabitants or more, and Vic-
toria (Hong Kong) with 140,000 native population. These sev-
eral cities are scattered over a wide extent of country. Canton
being 900 and odd miles by water, and nearly 700 as the crow
flies south-west from Shanghai, and Hankow 600 to 800 miles
from each of the others.

The dialects spoken, north and south, arc so different, one from
the other, that I saw in a court of justice in Canton an interpreter
used to convey to the magistrate the answers of the prisoners,
who were north Cliinamen. I was told the words and construc-
tion of all dialects, of which there are many, are practically the
same, but the pronunciations are so varied that, to all intents and
purposes, there arc several languages spoken in the empire. In
spite of all this, as far as I could see, the people are thoroughly
homogeneous, the same in thought, in manners, in customs, and
habits. All are industrious — their industry plodding almost ani-
mal in its patient steadiness. Acutencss and cunning seem more
evinced among those of the south than among their brethren
of the north, superinduced, I doubt not, by their earlier and
longer intercourse with foreigners, who had and yet have little
feeling in common with the natives. They came to the East
as their congeners went to the West, in quest of gold ami
fortunes, and left their rules of ethics far-off in their Christian
homes, as likely to be incumbrances when dealing witii pagans
and those the\- choose to call barbarians. I do not want any
Chinese in America, because I w isii ours to be a homogeneous
people, and amalgamation of the almond-eyed sons of another
progenitor than Adam can produce only hybrids with our Cau-
casian races. I am not one of those who feel that America i^
to be or should be the harbor of refuge for all lands ami all
peoples. It should be the home of those, and only those, who
can become Americans in every sense of the word. This the
Chinaman cannot do. and I would therefore say to him : " ^'ou
may come among us for pleasure or for information, but \ou
cannot work on a soil you do not consider good enough for
your dead bones."

The foreigner, European and American, comes to China to
make money to carry back with him. He, too, wants his dead
body to lie in the graveyards of his native land. Coming
thus, feeling thus, he is too utterly lacking in those feelings

INFIDELITY AMONG FOUEIGNERS.

and kindly sympathies which l8cx) years of Christian teachings
should have planted in his breast. By the way, I have been
struck by the open expressions of absolute infidelity uttered
by so many foreigners here. Many seem proud of the ability
to say : " I am no Christian ; I don't believe in Christianity."
One hears sneers uttered about the missionaries everywhere,
and no joke is told with more gusto than the one about the
good man in Japan, who reported home that, "The few bricks
left after building the temple of the Lord we used in erecting
a little house for ourselves." The temple, they say, was a
miserable little pretence of a church, while the dwelling-house
was a commodious and comfortable building. They delight to
point out the charming gardens and comfortable houses of the
missionaries in sor.ic localities, particularly in Japan, and pass
over in silence the work of many good men and women who are
sundering their home affections, in their desire to teach the ways
of God to man. These good people have to be fed and housed.
It has beiMi a long wliile since the Lord actually fed the young
ravens, human or fe.ithered.

The north Chinaman is larger and more muscular than those of
the south, but less ijuick and active, lioth are creatures of liabit,
and it is difficult to make them recognize the necessit)' for im-
provements of any sort. I^ut when innovatinns arc inaugurated
they quickly take advantage of them for theii "un profit. They
will never seek progress, as do the bright and h<>[)eful Japanese.
I'rogress must be f(jrced upon them. They are born, giuw up,
eat, live, die, and are buried, as their t ithers have tlone before
them for countless generations, and couni infilial and irreverent
to wish or to iinagiiu- thai the wa\'s of tin. ir ciiionizi <1 pro-^cnitors
m.iy be or can be inii)roved upon. Ihe dead f.itiv . becomes the
son's househoUl god, and he chooses from among hi- forefathers
him who is to fill the niche in his domestic slirinr.

Tliey work like ants — not like bees buzzing .md l.urnnung as
the Japanese (1<>,--I)ut like the plodding, patient, never-to-be-dis-
couraged ant, and as (juickly as their work is fii.ished, can lie
down and sleej) like animals. And like animals, too, can g t as
much rest, stolen in little cat-naps, as from the same .unounl ob-
tained in a steady doze. They have no conception of tiie con-
gruous, and none of their .senses seem ever to be sljocked or e\ i n
incommoded i)y the n.ost absolute' incongruity. They can t.il
and enjoj- a meal while their eyes are resting upon objects wlii.ii
ought to be most offensive, or their nostrils are filled with disgu?>t-
ing stenches. They can spread their table over an open cesspool,
and there enjoy tlieir most desired delicacies, and cm sleep
swcetl}' with the iireezes wafted to tlieir couches from carrion.
They lay the coffins containing their loved and honored dead by
the dust)- roadway in an open field browsed over by buffalo, or
on a rocky hill to swelter uncovered for months, and pay large

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sums for a spot all uncanny, because the crafty priest has made
them believe it to be a lucky spot. It is straiiij;e how crafty men
become wlio assume holy robes, and how the believer can be so
blind to the craft.

One sees frequently a shop beautifully decorated i\:th screens,
and liangiuL,' frie/es of finely carved woods of trees, trailint,' vines
and flowers painted in imitation of nature, with pretty birds
of gaudy plumage among the branches ; with hangings of exciuis-
ite embroitlery in gold and brilliant silks ; with a shrine in the
rear richly carved and bright in lacquer, gold, and enamel, holding
the household god, clot!:ed in gold and garments of richest dyes,
while a part ofthe walls are bare and dingy with dirt ; the shops
opening wide upon a narrow, dirty street, with next door a cook-
shop smoking, or a fish-monger wit'i his walls hanging in nasty
dried fish. The rich merchant has no idea of the incongruit)- in
his surroundings, or that his lavish expenilitures are thereby made
'v.\ bad taste.

A gentleman in control in one of the concessions — /. r., locali-
ties set apart for foreigners, and entirely governed by them under
laws administered by the respective consuls — told me of i native
who had fitted up very elaborately and at considerable expense a
shop next to a corner, useil for not very odorous purposes. As a
reward to the native for fitting up his shop so exi^cnsively, he
ordered a rail put across the corner to prevent its disagreeable use.
To his surprise the shopkeeper complained of the fence, saying
the old use brought people, and thereby gave him customers.
In Hankow, Kieu-Kiang, and Swatow hogs abound in the streets.
They are the scavengers. I li.ive seen nun in shops gathered
around their little tables, taking their nooml.iy meal, while a sow
and pigs were walking among them to pick up any thing they
might throw away. In one of these places, under the counter of
a sort of notion store, I saw a sow with a large litter of two-d.iy-
old pigs. I^ig>i, dogs, and chickens are thick in the streets, .uul
have free ingress into the sho|)s, and seem to cause no annoyance
so long as they do not actually get in tin. way.

Travellers all speak and write of the filth and horribh suiells of
Chinese cities. It is the fashion so to ilo, and as tlu' majority of
writers simply copy what some one else lias written, only guard-
ing to use altered modes of expression, no one seems to take the
trouble to examine for himself. Karly in this century a crazy
Englishman sang of the hundred stenches of Cologne, antl every
scribbler since has to write of them, until now these bad odors
number a thousand. Thus it is with Chinese cities. Some young
Englishman told us to get smelling-bt)ttles betore \ e went within
the walls of old Shanghai. Wc spent hours in the old city. We
walked through nearly all of its streets — not carried in chairs, as
nearly all travellers are. We did not find sweet otlors very abun-
dant, except when passing a shop where fresh wood was being

CHINESE STREETS.

117

worked into coffins or pails and tubs ; nor did we find any thing
so offensive as to make our walk disagreeable — nothing as bad as
I have often found in a hotel in continental Europe, or on the old,
narrow streets of London. We spoke of this to travellers, who
said : " Yes, old Shanghai has learned neatness from its new
European-governed neighbor. Wait till you see some of the
other cities, especially Canton, then you will catch it." We went
through other cities. We found narrow streets, six to twelve feet
wide — eight about the average. Most of them are covered with
bamboo matting, and all are densely filled with people. The
shops are all wide open to the streets, — no doors, — each shop
rather a recess running back from the street, with a counter
covering a third of the store front. All kinds of work are done
in open view : shops of embroidery and silks ; shops with fish of
every size and kind ; shops of all sorts of groceries in baskets on
the floors and counters and hanging to the walls ; blacksmith
shops, in which haif-naked men sit hammering before their fur-
naces ; shops, in which coffins are made ; crowds buying and
eating in and before the cook-shops; masses going to and fro,
some in chairs ; men with heavy loads swinging from the end of
a strong bamboo balanced on the shoulder ; carriers of water in
pails, now and then a splash dropping near one's feet ; carriers of
garden vegetables; carriers of night soil in open pails, giving one
a whiff not very agreeable — these latter, however, were rare,
except in the tarly morning ; pigs demure as saints grunting
along ; often the streets so packed that all had to keep step ;
peddlers crying their wares ; carriers crying for pedestrians to
make way, and all making way good-humoredly ; now a big
porker squealing, as he swung from a pole carried between two
men ; dogs barking at us foreigners, and then yelping as a native
would give them a kick for their lack of hospitality. We did not
find the air as sweet as if we were in the broad streets of the con-
cessions, but we found nothing more than momentarily disagree-
able ; nothing to prevent our hearty enjoyment of the novelty of
our surroundings. We tlicn looked forward with a sort of long-
ing to get into filthy, unfriendly Canton. There we were to get
the breadth and depth of Chinese nastiness. There we were to be
constantly insulted, and to have stones or clods thrown at us.

We went to Canton. We spent three days walking through its
densely packed, narrow streets. We found it to be the cleanest
city we hac' seen in China. We told our guide to take "is to the
nasty streets. Wc wanted to see something very filthy. Ah
Cum re])litd: " Helly well, I take you where poor people live."
We went. We walked through the old walled city of 1,000 years
and che new city only 400 years old. Wc walked everywhere,
amor g the wealthiest aivl among the poorest ; through the fine
streets lined witli handsonu; shops, and through those occupied by
the poverty-.-.'. rickcn ; for three days we walked from early morning

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to dark. We met some foreigners in chairs. The cunning guide
made them think walking nearly impossible— thus he, too, rides
and gets a commisssion from the chair-owners. Footsore, on .rhe
evening of the third day, we went on the steamer for Hong Koi.g,
without having found any thing really disagreeable, and without
having received any other than courteous treatment from th°
people, except from some idle boys at Honan temple, who take
pleasure in calling the tourist a " fanquoi " (a foreign devil), and
then running, just as a lot of boys with us would call a Chinaman
" pig-tail." Everywhere we showed our curiosity by looking at and
examining every kind of industry. Wc did this in each city we
visited, but more in Canton than anywhere else. We frequently
stopped men at their work. Wc reall)- incommoded them, until
more than once I was ashamed of mjself. In ever)- instance they
seemed amused at our curiosity, .uul, I tliought, surprised that
we should evince ignorance at their modes, which, I tloubt not,
the)- think the only ones; but not once were we repulsed; not
once was the slightest unwillingness shown to our seeing.

I had been led to expect possible injury in going through these
cities. I would now feel no hesitation in walking alone through
an)' Chinese cit)-, if I onl)- knew the language enough to make
known my want's and explain my curiosit)-. I matle "Ah Cum"
explain to them the difference between their ways of doing some
things, and ours. They were tjuite curious to learn, ar.l seemed
to tiiink me l\-ing when 1 lokl tliem the quantit)- we sometimes
turned out. We went into the big mill of the city. There were
twelve stones. The ujjper stone is turned upon the nether b)' a
sweej) drawn by a bliiulfoided ox going round and round in a
narrow circle, his track not more than four feet from the edge of
the stone, the flour ilropping on a narrow rim around it. There
arc three reku-s of oxen, or about 36 to the mill. I told the
owner how we made flour, and when I n.iincd the number of
barrels turned out each day at one mill at Minneapolis, I regretted
having done so. He set me down as a fearful liar.

Cof^ns are a decidedly prominent article of manufacture in all
the cities. They take a stick of timber, round in its natural
form, and. say, ten inches in iliameter. This is ripped into two
pieces. The flat surface is then scooped out, th<' piece straight-
edged, and a shorter section of a like stick is mortised into two
ends. A bottom and a top are then scoo|)e(.l from sticks, a couple
or three inches wider than the sides. The siiles, ends, aiul bottom,
are then put together with a cement varnish. When finished,
the two ends show that the sides, top and bottom, are about
three inches thick in the centre, and rounded to an inch or two at
the edges. The whole is then covered, for a well-to-do man, with
cloth more or less rich ; for the poor man, with simple cotton.
Different kinds of wood are used: cheap coffins of common pine,
costly ones from wood brought from far-off in the mountains,

A CANTON SHOP.

119

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supposed to be impervious to water. Some of these cost $1,000.
A Chinaman can offer no such evidence of piety as in giving his
father or mother a costly coflfin. The coffin, with some quick-
Hme about the corpse, is then not necessarily buried beneath the
ground, but laid on top — I suspect sometimes to show its fine-
ness. It thus lies for weeks, months, or even years. It costs
something to erect a mound over it. A man may leave money
enough for a coffin, but not sufficient to put him well under the
sod, so he lies on the surface until his family or friends can afford
to put him under. The first care of a man is to lay by enough
for a decent burial. Mourning by widow or daughter is by
wearing white, not black garments. A man abstains from shav-
ing his head a certain number of months, more or less, according
as he mourns for father or mother. I could not Icarn that he
mourns ;it all for a wife. He abstains in mourning from sleeping
o!i a bed, and wears common cotton garments for a certain num-
ber of months, and denies himself certain luxuries of diet. A
wealthy man we met aboard the steamer from Canton was very
careful to tell us he was mourning for his mother, thereby ex-
plaining the cheajMiess of his apparel and the lack of luxury in
his supper. To the initiated his dress would have rendered his
apology .unnecessary. These rules are very exacting.

I will endeavor to describe a Canton shop or store. It is a
type of all we saw in otiier cities, only that in the north, where
it is colder, the ceiling is lower. Such house, of the purely
Chinese sty) ;, not those occupied by them in cities aiore or less
I'Airopeanized, is from 10 to l<S feet wide — a few ma_ be wider —
antl from 30 to 40 feet deep, with a steep, conimcin, pitched
roof, the eaves to the street. The ridge of the roof is from
20 to 30 feet high. There is strictly no second story. The light
comes ill througli windows in the roof, which is invariably, in the
large cities, of roumled tile. The street, where there are fine shops,
is more or less covered with matting; much of the light, there-
fore, going from tiie house to the street, instead of from the street
to the house. Around and within tliis front house is generally
a gallery used for goods. The gallery answers to the second
. '■ory of our houses, and perhaps is so considered. Other houses
CO ne behind the front one, and more or less opening into it. These
all iiave galleries wider than the one in front, and thereby much
light is excluded from them. The sidewall of the house is com-
mon to the next house, or stands against it. Usually the wall is
a party wall between the two. Sometimes these houses or, rather,
parts of houses are three deep, each one meeting the next with
its eaves, and formiiig a trough between the two. The conduc-
tors of the inner roofs run down within the house. The ground-
floor is of brick or tile, and only one or two brirks higher than
the street. Some of the front shops are very richly decorated
with brilliant shrines holding the household god or gods, and all

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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rather tawdry, somewhat in the style of our gaudy, gilded theaters-
Being lighted from above, the efTect is very pretty. All houses,
by the way, in Canton, are of brick. In Swatow the majority
seem to have concrete walls. These latter, about the doorway,
are prettily painted al fresco, and almost immediately after the
last coat of mortar is put on. Some painters seemed much
pleased at our watching them work, and evidently put in their
best touches. Some of the scenes painted were really artistic —
artistic in Chinese style. As far as I could discover the dis-
tances between street and street were about 200 feet, the
houses, or, rather, sets of houses on one street backing against the
rear wall of those on the next street. The dividing walls of the
two or three houses standing one behind the other are often so
opened as to make one continuous shop. The mill I mentioned
ran from street to street, but was under 20 feet wide. In northern
cities I noticed no lofty stores as in Canton. There the first
story was rarely over 10 to 15 feet high, and usually when
there was as much as 15 feet there were two real stories.

Many modes of work were to me very novel. Razors and fine
knives are all cut by hand with a hand chisel. A fine stone lies
before the mechanic, and every few minutes the cutler sharpens
his chisel. Ordinary cuttin;^ implements are only hammered out.
When filing any thing to a smooth and even surface, the file is
worked in one hand and the thing filed is held in the other, in-
stead of being laid on a bench. The file has at the small end a
wooden continuation, which runs back and forth in a ring,
thereby keeping it level and regular in its motions. All timber
is sewed into boards by hand in the shop using the boards.
There are evidently no saw-mills. I could hear of no great rice
mills. The rice is hulled by being placed in a mortar and beaten
by a maul at the end of a lever, lifted by a man stepping upon
the short end, and thus lifting the maul, which then falls when he
steps off and beats out the rice by its own weight. It is a lively
sight to see double rows of these pounders, 10, 20, and at one
place 40 or 50, all worked by athletic naked men, one to each
mortar, usually moving so that a given number of mauls would
fall at a time, thereby thumping in regular musical intervals.

The manner of mangling and glazing cotton nankin is very
droll. The stuff, after coming from the dye-vat and being dried,
is slightly dampened by a man spewing upon it from his mouth
a delicate spray of water. I could not make one of them smile
enough to loose his pucker. He would send the spray out as
fine, almost, as the particles of fog, and as evenly over the goods
as one could conceive, folding the stuff as he sprayed it. He
would then laugh as much as we. The goods is then laid before
a man who, with his feet, "manipulates" (excuse the bull) a
stone, weighing several hundred pounds, three or four feet
long, two feet deep, and ten inches thick, with a convex curve on

DOGS AND CATS AS FOOD.

[21

the base, about two feet long. The top of the stone is scooped
out and the ends cut down to take off weight. The manipulator
rolls some of the stuff around a wooden roller, three inches in
diameter, and places it in a smooth wooden trough, hollowed so
as to have a concave, a yard wide. By a quick motion of the foot
the stone is thrown on the top of the roller, and rapidly worked
back and forth, rolling the roller in the trough, the man all the
while, as docs the rice-mauler, sustaining himself by a sort of
trapeze bar above. In an incredibly short time, by a motion of
his feet he tips off the stone, and the stuff is drawn off perfectly
ironed and glazed. When one of our fair ladies touches to her
cheek a beautiful piece of glazed nankin, let her remember the
delicate spray which dampened it for mangling.

The process of drilling holes through pearls and small coral
beads is pretty. The pearl or bead is dropped into a little pit
barely large enough to hold it. Then, with a drill as fine as
a cambric needle, worked by a silk thread on a short bow, the
hole is cut through in less than a minute. Beads are counted by
being passed over a sort of wooden platter with i,ooo holes just
large enough to catch them ; each hole catches one, the remainder
are rolled off, and if a hole or a few holes are discovered to be
empty, enough arc counted to supply the deficiency, and the
whole is then tipped into a box. A thousand are thus counted
in a half minute or so. VV^ood and ivory carving were also in-
teresting features of Canton, and I was sorely tempted to invest,
but wc were yet far from half-way around the world, and I had to
forego.

Cook-shops abound in all Chinese cities, and hanging in and
before them were many delicacies tempting to the Chinese palate :
whole-roasted pigs, fowl, hares, game, etc. The pig's jowl is
cleaved vertically, and then the whole animal is spread so as to
exhibit the porker in his entirety — that, too, when weighing lOO
and more pounds. Ducks and game have the head and feet, and
sometimes the tail-feathers or hair are stuck in or pulled over the
tail-bone. In the cat and dog cook-shops the claws and feet are
all left on. By the way, a fat young puppy makes a beautiful
roast. The cat looks like a huge squirrel. Tl.cse are only eaten
in Canton, as far as I could learn, and I am led to believe it true ;
for ill every other city the dogs were a nuisance and have a mortal
hatred of a foreigner. They would discover us by scent before
we could be seen, and would commence barking furiously and
seemed desirous of testing our flavor. But, like all wolf-dogs,
they are great cowards, and nearly all Chinese dogs have the
Siberian or coyote characteristics. In Canton we were barked at
by only one dog, and he got a furious kick from a native. I
have a suspicion that the curs know they are good for the dish
as well as for the bark, and are very well behaved. I could meet
no Chinaman who confessed to eating cats and dogs. All said

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they were only cooly food, but I found they cost more than that
of a hke quantity of pork. I therefore have a suspicion that
others eat them, but on the sly, and why not? It is not the
mangv cur and starveling cat that are eaten. They are fattened be-
fore killing, and all we saw roasted were appetizing in appearance.
They are only offered at special markets, and prepared at special
cook-shcps. At one of these I saw a number of coolies eating
from a large bowl of stew. I suspected the leaner curs and purr-
ers were stewed, and not roasted, and were cheap.

About nine in the morning, and again about one I'.M., the people
seemed to be eating their meals. In all shops tiie employees eat
in the place; the meal furnished, we were informed, by the master.
Each man had his small bowl, which he filled from the rice-tub,
ami then, each would, with his chop-sticks, pick out pieces of
fisii. ticsh. or vegetables, from a large bowl of stew common to
them all, and around which they ail squatted. The dexterity
with which they can ]Mck uj) a thing, even a grain of rice, with
the chop-sticks is very remarkable. They can use them much
more dcftlj- than we can the fork. The rice from the small bowl
is thrown by a sort of jerky motion into the mouth, to which the
bowl is brought. Tiiey eat a kind of macaroni, or rather vermi-
celli, which seemed absolutely to run into the mouth as if it were
alive, and one piece following anotiier so continuouhly as to seem
a single long string. In eating, the bowl is lifted close to the
mouth. This is done among all chop-stick people.

Embroidery is done by men rather more than by women, the
soft Chinese liand being admirably fitteti for delicate work. The
hand of every Chinaman, not absolutely occupied in very hard
labor, is as soft as a new kid glove. The designer draws off the
figures with a sort of pencil, without any model, and apparently
without any preconceived design. The thing comes out, however,
curiously harmonious. I admit it to be purely Chinese harmony.
Chin-aware is painted in the same way. Each piece is done
separately, and rapidl)'. yet a man will design and p.iint ilozens
of pieces all alike, yet each in some small detail differing from
the other. If you will examine any of your real china-ware you
will notice this peculiarity. The same will be observed in their
embroidery. The white crape shawls were very rich ;uul artistic,
.ind were a sore temptation to me, and the paintings on rice-
paper are grotesque, but very pretty and of exquisite coloring.

\Ve visited the place of execution. There was one head in a
basket, cut off some weeks before, and around were many copper
pots, nearly three feet in diameter, filled with heads, and cemented
down. The body is buried, but the state holds on to the head.
For ten cents the executioner showed the sword, and solemnly
went through the motions of taking off a caput. He said he had
cut off a good many hundreds, but admitted he would have
to strike hard to sever my neck with a single blow, but would try

TEMPLES AND PAGODAS.

it if desired, and looked as if he would do it most good-naturedly ;
that the Chinese neck was smaller, and he rarely had to strike
twice. Executioners have much practice. Six thousand heads
are annually taken off in China. The sword was abi>ut two feet
lon^ in blade, and not over two or two and one half inches wide.
By tlio way, these people have very small necks. It is a little
singular that the execution {ground is used for drying earthen-
ware for the kiln. When did this idea commence? Putter's Field
is .ilmost synonymous with the burial-place of the destitute.

The temples of China arc far from interesting, aiul _L;ieatly
inferior to those of Japan. Indeed, except to note the lack of
interest, they are not worth visiting. Tiie three great temples of
Caiitoti are those of llonan, a large Huddhist temple, with its
many acres of ground, and its trees trained to represent men, ani-
mals, aiul birds, its great fat, sacred pigs, and the three large
statues of Huddha ; the temple of Five I kindred Genii, with 500
gilded, wooden, or clay figures, none of them iiaving any preten-
sions to artistic merit; and the temple of the Five (ienii : these
are the only ones we have seen at all worthy of notice.

Two guild halls, one at Hankow and one at Canton, are tie-
serving of close attention as examples of rich, llorid Chinese
arcliitecture. The tiling of the roof, the elaborate wood-carving,
the rich shrines, and gold-carved gods at Hankow are gorgeous.
IiuUed, it would seem the design was to see how much gilt and
c.irving could be gottin into gi\'en spaces. The hail at I'anton,
though ver)- line, is much less elaborate than the other. They
are both a s])ecies of merchant boards of trade, where heavy
native transactions are completed Fach has several halls, several
small temples in honor of diffeient gods, theatres, bancpieting
halls, aiul gardens, and cover largo areas of grouiul. Great trans-
actions, from what 1 could learn, are closed antl cemented with a
feast.

The pagodas are more attractive than the temples. Some are
of great antiquity, liating far back in the early centuries of our
era. Some are more or less in decay, shrubs and small trees
growing on the projections of the several stories and on the sum-
mits. I'"ive and seven stories are the usual heights of those on the
Yang-tse : nine of those on the Pearl River anil in Canton. Some
of these latter are in good restoration, and are very pretty land-
marks, aiul as such they are used by the navigators on all the
rivers. ,\s far as we coulil learn they seem to have been erected
not in connection with any temples, or in any way as places
of worship, but as a sort of propitiatory offering to the gods, for
the purpose of bringing good-luck to the builder or builders, or to
the locality. The whole theory of Chinese worship seems to be
based upon the idea that the gods are a species of devils, ready
and rather willing to work harm to mortals, and, therefore, to be
constantly propitiated and appeased. The one great god whom

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/t HACK IVITJI THE SUN.

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Buddha represents is a good god, and docs all things well. A
man's good ancestors are in heaven in the presence of the one
good god or gods. To them, and through them to him, thanks
are rendered for blessings on earth. No prayers arc offered for
the purpose of affecting in any way the future state of the
petitioner. Temporal blessings alone arc sought. The future is
fixed and determined, in accordance with his good or bad deeds
on earth. Hut the devilish gods are constantly meddling with
men's affairs, ami putting their fingers into men's pies. To pre-
vent such interference being harmful, offering-, are made. There
are some gods who now and then do good and kindly acts toward
men. These have rich promises and sometimes valuable presents
ofTcred to fix their kindly interference.

One sees frequently a small-footed wife — the first and real wife
— who has not been able to hold the affections of her husband,
who is spending too much of his time with one of his big-footed,
and, therefore, more active, wives ; one sees this neglected wife
clap her hands to the god of woman, and give him a few " cash,"
while she prays him to bless her by making her the mother of a
boy, and thereby acceptable to her liege lord.

By the way, a wealthy Chinese merchant told me that the rea-
son he married a small-foot was because she was not able to get
into harm, but a big-footed woman could get about too easily, and
could get into mischief ; that his main wife lived in Canton — he
would not take her where Europeans lived ; that his second and
third wives lived with him in Hong Kong. He went twice a
moon to Canton to see his first wife. The first wife is the lawful
one, and cannot be put away at will, or if so must be well main-
tained. The other wives arc little more than slaves, and can be
put away at pleasure. But he said public opinion protected them,
and no man dared send off one of his wives after she had borne
him a child without making ample provision for her support, and
that custom bound a Chinaman even more than law did. That if
he himself were to go abroad with his wife he would be willing and
glad to introduce her to intelligent foreigners, but that here
in China custom would not permit him to let any man, other than
a father or a brother, visit his wife. " The fact is," he finally said,
" the Chinaman too fool jealous. When he lose his fool jealous,
he come as good man as Englishman or Melican man."

On the 15th, in Canton, \vc found ourselves in a densely p.ickcd
street. We could scarcely get along. A procession was moving,
in honor of the " God of Water," I think. Well-dressed mer-
chants, in a sort of guild uniform, were marching behind bands of
music, followed by little boys, dressed in cxcjuisitc embroidery, on
ponies, and girls beautifully dressed, on chairs all covered with
flowers ; some in studied positions, but sustained by hidden
frames so adjusted as to prevent weariness. These were followed
by little pagodas and temples of lacquer and kingfisher enamel.

CATHEDRAL OF CANTON.

Its

Successions of this sort of tiling followed each other for nearly an
hour. All was {^ood-liumor and j;ood order. Ik-fore the jjroces-
sion came up tlie street was packed, yet, by some sort of Chinese
juj^glery, the crowd j.immed itself to the sides so that there was
room for themovin}^ line. We ^'<it into a pretty store, and to our
amazement the owner had stools br()uj;ht for us to stand on, so
we could look over the heads of ethers, and even made some men
move to one side who were in front of us. And yet wc came to
tlie "City of Rams" e.\p(;ctin^ to be insulted, and probably
injured. I'robably the traveller imaj;ines much, or brings upon
himself much, of that wiiich he is in the habit of calling Chinese
hostility. The real fact is, the Chinese very much fear foreigners,
antl stand in .iwe of them. They will rarely fail to lower the eye
and turn away when a Kuropean or ^Xmerican looks upon them
with an earnest eye.

We had quite a h>ng conversation with the bishop of Canton,
who received and treateil us with great kiiulness, for which
we are under obligations to his Grace, Archbishop Feehan,
whose Latin letter we carrj- with us when calling upon any of
the Catholic hierarch}-. The good bishop has been in this
country some 25 j'ears, and speaks only I""rench and Chinese.
He was gri-atly i)leased when informed of the kind treatment
we had received in his city, and agreed with us thoroughly
that much of the reported hostility of the Chinese was imagi-
nary, or somewhat brought on by the mistakes of the tourists.
He said there was a very bitter feeling toward the French
after their late war with the Chinese, but he could sec that it
was growing less year by year. In his district he has in his
church about 30,000 members. They had hard and slow work
to win these people from their superstitions. I suggested that
the bishops of some 1 800 years ago would have tiiought his
success great, and that he had cause for hope. His face bright-
ened up as he replied : "////, oni ; 'otijours I' ispcrance ; I' cspcrancc
est toujoiirs Ic noire." The bishop wears a pig-tail and looks a
Chinaman. The church building, whose foundation was laid
some 25 years ago, has now a complete exterior, and is being
beautifully finished within. It is all of cut stone — no wood or
plaster. It has two lofty towers, and is excelled in architec-
tural purity by few such buildings in Europe. There are beau-
tiful marble altars and rich stained-glass windows. They arc
earnest and wise, these French priests. The Orientals cannot
comprehend pure simplicity. They must be appealed to through
their admiration and their awe for the grand. This magnifi-
cent church towering far above every thing else except a few
pagodas i.. the "City of the Rams," seen for many miles up
anci down the great river, will do a vast deal to win the Celestials
from their belief in the five genii, and the supposed petrified
rams' heads which lie before them.

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126

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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The legend is that ages ago five genii were flying over the
land, which was greatly distressed by a famine. They kindly
alighted, together with five rams of plenty. Monster footprints

/. c. old-time water-worn marks — several feet long arc shown in

their temple garden, wiicrc they first touched earth, and five
water-worn stones, resembling rams' heads, are in front of their
statues. A little kindly treatment by the gray head of our party
to a prettily dressc<l child brought upon us the bright smiles
and kindly words from his Mantu mother — the wife, probably,
of some higii ofificial of the quarter, and h'^re that day for
worship.

Before forgetting what I said of the beneficial effect of pomp
on these ptioplc in religious matters, I will say something of the
misplaced economy of our government in all the East — that is, the
niL'gardly manner in which our consuls are forced to live wlu'n
comnared to that of other western powers. I think every otiuT
government has its fixeil consular residence, always h.indsome
buildings, with fine grounds. These impress tiic people, and
win respect from men who value an ofificial in proportion to the
style in which he moves. A mandarin or magistrate gors to ami
from the courts in a procession of officials, witii wheezing fifes,
and beating gongs, and bamiers flying. This is approved of bv
all the n.itives, because it impresses all with the power surround-
ing the officials. A magistr.ite hearing ;i criminal cause has his
personal attendants about him. and every few moments his ,/i[)e-
bearer hands him the pipe, from which he takes a few wiiiffs, to
help preserve his calm sense of ju.'^ice. There is absolutels' no
caste in China, but the official moves .md acts ever in great state.
Wise men ha\e found these thing^^ benet'ici.il.

America sends consuls out liere clothed with judicial powers.
They settle all difficnlties and all troubles involving the property,
life, .md libert\' of tlu'ir countn^men. They represent the in.iji'sty
of our government. They take evidence in\-()lving iife .md
property and give decisions, and yet one we ini-t lives in a re-
spectable building because a mit-^ionarj' hajjpened to desire a \'isit
home, and next spring I fear he will h.ive to roll up his bed .imi
look out for a bunk to lay his head on. He may or he mav not
get a fitting house, but even if ht- does he loses, by his forced
moving, prestige with tlu p( cplr .iround him. This thing has
been thrown up t<i ii^ both ui Jajjan and China b\- the fiw natives
with whom we talked. If a thing is worth doing, it is worth
doing rightlw Our government i'^ .i niight>- one. its nav)- is
the laughing-stock of the world. That one can stanti ; we are a
peace-seeking people. Our institutions do not require ships to
send around the world for the lunketing of admirals and commo-
dores and their wives and daught(M-s. Hut ourmercha"' >m\ our
business men visit .ill lands. When they come to the East let
them find ministers and con ul> who can tr\ their causes in

LIFE ON CANTON BOA TS.

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buildings which belong to our government, and thereby help to
make the people we may be forced to contend with feel a respect
for the government whose flag floats over us. Our Congressmen
do not take their seats for 13 months after being elected. It
would be a good idea to force each one of them to spend a
good part of the time in going around the world, thereby learn-
ing i'low to legislate for the nation, instead of running back and
forth to Washington to get some i)altry position for workers at
tlic polls.

One of the peculiar things which strikes the traveller at Can-
toil is its vast floating population, and its boats, manned by
women. It is said there are over 8o,cxx) of the i ,6cxD,cxx) Can-
tonese who live and die in little boats on the river. These are
of three sizes. The largest or regular marine boat is 25 to 40
feet long, with a beam of 10 to 15 feet. Some of them have a
sort of second story. They traffic, carrying freight and passen-
gers. Their owners nev^T go off of them. At night these lie
sitlr by side, 10 to 20 deep, with another row meeting their bows,
and so on for luunlreds of yards. Soinc of them are beautifully
decorateil witliin, not outside — no Chinese boat ever is, or even
painted — and are cailetl flower-boats. Opposite them are those
termed the loom-bo.its. Here the revelry of Canton is carried
on. .Susan, our briglit sampan girl, guided us from one boat to
another, now and then stretching out her tiny hand to assist us
in luir movements. A gentleman wishes to entertain some
friends, lie hires a flower-hoat forllie evening, tlie hire securing
the sujiper ami wines, lie then hires one, two, three, or more
singing- and d.incing-girls — a sort of odalis(|ues ; — each guest
can brini, a girl if he wishes. Here they meet to make a night
of it, e.iting and drinking and gambling, the girls singing, play-
ing, or dancing for tiieir amusement. The boats arc all open in
front, like the stores, and hundreds of idlers pass to and fro to
see the ri'velKM^s. This llu\' seem to relish. \\'e were beckoned
to enter anil p.irtake. hut with .1 motion of thanks declined. This
is kept uj) from live in the afternoon to one, two, or three at night.
Although there arc huiulreds of these jileasurt^-boats, and perhaps
thous.mds of the singing girls, \et the population of the city is so
great that this thing goes on night after night throughout the
year, and from year to year. The water makes the air cool, and
these flower-boats t.ike the place of beer-gardens in (iermany,
cafes in France, and tea-houses in Ja{)an and in other cities of
China. The s,Mrls an' of the lower classes, belong to the master
or mistress of the house-boats, and arc hired at one dollar an
evening. They are allowed to drink, but not to eat. I was told
tliat if this were permitted their coarst manners would crop
ou'. in eating, but that they (piickly learn how to drink like
ladies.

The sampans are much smaller boats, about 13 to 20 feet long,

11 IKK 'I

128

// RACE WITH THE SUN.

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with a beam of five to eight feet. In tliis little affair a woman
will live with two or thrcc'chiklrcn. If she has no daughter old
enough, she manages to buy a girl grown or nearly grown. These
two manage tiie boat, of which there are thousands. They do all
the light river carrying, and it is very great. Samjjan women will
rush iii)on a steamer, seize one's valise or even trunk, and carry it
down a gangway with the strength of a man and with more
a"iiity. Tlu'y will give one a hand to steady him, and, in fact,
protect and assist a strong man as he at home has been accus-
tomed to assist women.

Our hotel was in Honan, an island suburb acro-s the ri\er from
the main city of Canton. Susan, lithe, sh.arp. <]uicl<-wittcd .Susan,
owned two boats, and had tiiree pretty d.uighters, ail nearly .is
old as herself, and two little children. She or they were always
on hand to scull us from the hotel to the city, a few hundred
yards across. And how they could scull. In and out, uiuler the
bows of junks, through crowds of big boats or little sampans,
rowing like men. climbing like monkeys. Our Susans were all
pretty little women, beautifully formed, with tiny h.mds. if li.uii :
and such feet antl ankles I It is impossible to describe them.
The reader can imagine them, and can't go amiss, so perfect were
they— real models in nut-l)rown. And Susan was ubiquitous.
It m.ittered not where we woukl reach the river after a walk,
Susan was sure to be there to scull us over, to t.'kc our ten cents,
;iiul to crack a joke in ])igeon I'jiglish- -;i jt)ke not always the
most delicate ; for none of them are prudes. We wondered how
she with only two boats could be e\ery where at once. On our
last day we were rowing down the river when a woman's voice
from another sampan rang in m\' ears. We looked, and ' >, it was
our real Susan : ami jet Susan was rowing us. We ..lien dis-
covered that all these litile bo.it-womeii — that is. the \-oung ones,
had beautiful forms .iiul jierfect feet and ankles. The boys on
taking a boat never saw above the ankle, and in th.it way were
joking wiMi a bright-eyed wom.m supposed to be Sus.in. and
had not tiiscoveretl we ilid not ha\e oi/r Susan, whose , inkles
were pretty, but whose eyes squinted badly. It is truly won-
derful tile amount of work these little UDinen can do. Often
on(" will be seen sculling a boat with a baby strapped to her
back. Imleed, nearly half of the boats had l>abies, and one w.ls
generally fastened to one of the women's shoulders.

The Chinese are fearful gamesters, and one never goes far
tii.'t he does not see ;i game going on — a sort of f.iro— coolies
gambling on the grcmd at the corners of streets, workmen gam-
bling in shops, and, what was queerest of all, we rarely pa.sscd a
temple without seeing a game in progress on the steps or the por-
tico. The stakes are very small all in "cash," which is the tenth
part of a cent. These are the money of the people, anil some of
the lieaviest loads carried by the porters are the baskets of cash

APPROACHJNG BAXGKOK.

129

Each

transported to close purchases, I,cxx3 of them to a dollar
cash weighs about as much as an American cent.

This is the 25th ; we will be at the bar in the Menam River to-
night. To-morrow we will be in liangkok, and fear we will swel-
ter in the heat. Out here, over a deep blue sea, the thermometer
is higli in the 8o's. The boys are in their shirt-sleeves and I am
uncomfortably warm in an alpaca.

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CHAPTER XV.

SIAM— RICH ^tll— VAST I'ORKSrs OV TIMliKR— I'.ANCKOK— Vl'I-

TURKS KA'MNd llir, 1>1:AI)— A rRKMAlION — Al I>n \( F.

WITH IIIK KIM;— SIAMKSK llir.AIRI".

Bii/ix^'o^; Siani, Deciitiher 3, 18S7.

If we could stutly scc-ct bioj:^ra]-)liios of tlic prcat men of tlic
world, those wlio have left [jotpriiits on tlie sands of time, we
would probablj- find that the cunei-.t.; of tlicir lives were turneil
into the channels whicli bore them to tiieir j^rcatness by most
trivial circumstances, by mere straws. So. tot), are men's opin-
ions moulili-'l, -•. ,a !.;.^.:;t colored, by tiie veriest trifles — colored
into prejudices which recjuire time .ind care to eradicate. He
wiiose mother's treasured porcel.iin service was of the old blue-
willow pattern, has, more or less, his impressions of the Celesti.d
Empire fashioned upon tlie model he studied upon the pl.ites from
which he ate.

Our itieas of tropical landsc.ipes are nearl)' all built upon the
pictures in our t^eo^raphies, sho\vin|j; us ;i dense fern .md palm
junj^le, with a luiLje boa-constrictor wound about a tree, and a
tiijer springing; for a deer, but likely to lantl in the open j.iws of a
crocodile; or of a forest of bany.ui and tree-ferns overiiani;inij a
dark stream, with .1 naketl native padiilinL,' a tiny canoe l)eneath
the clusterin;^r branches. Tliesi' f.icts shoidii be considered b)- the
educators of youth; even the illustrations of children's books
shoulil be made car.;fully true. Here I would suL,';^est th.it school
atlases lead into c.rors which fix themselves in the minds of chil-
dren and last throu^^h their lives. M.ips of our own ci)untry and
of the several .States are upon a lar^a- scale, while those of for-
ei^m countries arc on ;i ^rtatly reduced one. The eye of the child
measures all by the sp.ice covered on the sheet, without rt'fi-rence
to the scale. The result is th.it erromous ideas of tlu- rel.it ive
magnitude of different countries become fixtd in their mind.
This has been the fact in my own c.ise. and of every fellow-trav-
eller to whom I have mentioned the tiling. School j^'eotjraphics
should have all maps on a uniform scale. ru|)ils v.ould then,
without a thought, accpiire accurate comparison.^, and would
better understaml the worKIs i,'eo^r.i|)h\-.

Travellers' maps hi.ve on the marj^'in a small one of some famil-
iar home land, on the same scale witii the maps, so as to enable

130

TKOnCAI. SCEAKKY.

«3i

the traveller at a glance to understand the dimensions of the coun-
tries he visits. Rand and IMcNally's admirable folding maps use
Ohio as the base for comparison. VVe have several times heard
intelligent travellers, who knew the approximate number of s(|uare
miles in China in figures, yet exclaim with surprise when remark-
ing the insignificant little spot represented bj- Ohio's 40,000 s(iuare
miles in the margin of t!ie map of the Celestial emperor's mighty
dominion. This is thrown out as a hint to intelligent school-
boards.

My early imbibed impressions have been a constant stumbling-
block to me in the vasty Hast. These thoughts have been sug-
gesteil by my week's sojourn in Siam, the last and fast-changing
relic of Oriental kingdoms yet existing in the world. When we
steamed up the Menam River to Hangkok a week ago, and after-
ward in a little steam barge to the old capital, Ayuthia, 70 miles
above, I felt as if I were continuing my bt)j'hood dream of a tropi-
cal land — the living picture of tiic luige banyan, with its man)-
arms; the dense tangle of mighty tree-ferns and broad-leafed, low
palms ; the sjjreading low trees, clotlied in a mass of flowering
vines ; the clumps u{ bamboo, with their feathery tops ; th.' slen-
der bi'tel. the stately cocoa, and ilic massive fan-toi)ped sugar-
palms ; the tiny canoe darting in and out of the little creeks and
canals almost dark into deep green ; the dusky native [)ad(lling
his i'ttle dugout. I fere almost alone did the early pictures give
us true ideas of tropical lands visited. These were my first reali-
zations of a veritable land of the burning sun, and might well have
been the spots which suggested the pictures (or rather one of
them) which 1 h.id seen in my school-book .1 half century and
more ago. Thesi- have printed on my mind a photograph which
will not fatle while I live, anil one 1 will ever enjoy when looking
b.ick upon it.

When we K'ft home for a race with the sun we had no idea of
coming lure, but did so owing to the promise of Prince Deva-
wongse, whom wi^' met, as bifore stateil, on our v( 'age across the
Pacific. We did not expect much from the ])romise, for we knew
men of his position would be overrun if they pay too much atten-
tion ti, tr.i'.ellers, who are now so abundant, liut, finding we
couKl get here and not exhaust more than a couple of weeks of
our time, we came, and h.ive been well repaid for the trip, and
must acknowledge our iiulebtedne.ss to the Prince, not onI\- for
Courtesies externletl, hut for others he wished to extend. \Vc
would have prob.ibl)' gone uji the river to l^aheng, antl then
across the country to Moulmain b)' elephants, had not the king's
barge been absent on .m expedition up the river. This would
have been a decidetl novelty, but there was no possibility of do-
ing it !))• purely private conveyance, except with a loss of cit least
six or eight weeks. With a royal barge and the king's order lor ele-
phants we could have done it in a month — possibly in three weeks.

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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Siani has about 250,000 square miles of territory in the king-
dom proper and its immediate dependencies. It is the most
speculative land in Asia. Every thin^' is possible to it, and a vast
deal may come out of it. Its native name is " Thai." I am writ-
in^f on the steamer, which we boarded an liour since for Sin^^a-
po^e, but wiiich, witii true Orientahsm, will not get off for three
or four hours after its advertised time. I mention this to show
why I have no means of finding whether I have the i)roper name
or not. It means " free land," or " land of the free," and yet
there is not a single free tiling in it.

The king owns every tiling, and, in a certain sense, everybody.
Hr^ is lord of all he surveys, anil j-et is himself the veriest slave
of the grovelling superstitions and vile cvistoms of his people —
srperstitions ami customs which must be a source of intense dis-
gust to so intelligent a man as King Chulalanghorn eviileiitly is,
yet which he couki not escape except at the risk of losing his
throne. Absolute monarch, his will a law to ever)- man in the
realm, his proclamations gainsaid by no one, yet he himself is
absolutely governed !)>• custom and the opinions of his nobles,
even to the il.iily routine of his life. With tastes and aspirations
natural to a man of culture, ami ambitions growing out of his
royal position and his evitlent desire for his country's prosperity,
he is utterly jiowerless to do the li.df he would for his people, be-
cause he is locked up in his p. dace aiul can see the people's needs
only through th.e eyes of others, and can hear only the voice of
flattery, or, what is yet worse, the voice of self-seeking aiitl too
often dishonest ambition.

With a kindly, gentle face, bespeaking a w.irm and generous
licart, capable of deep affection, ami showing his loving disposi-
'.ion by his real grief for the untimely death of his first (pieen, he
is compelled to take many wives, — the daughters of his noble-
men, — and now a little over 34 years of age, is the f.ither of some
30 odd children. When I left his presence, after a kindl\' and
free audience of a half hour, and recall the warm and manl)- grasp
he gave my hand at parting, I could not help saying to myself :
" Monarch I absolute master of 9.000,000 of human beings, that
man is the veriest slave in his whole dominions." I pity, rather
than envy him.

This country is one of great fertility, having a soil in many
parts equal to the valley of the Nile. Indeed its fertility in all
the rice-growing sections is owing to the annual overflow of its
great rivers, which bring down rich deposits from the forest-clad
mountains. This year its product of rice is somewhere about I2,-
000,000 of piculs, each of, I think, • ;o odd pounds. It sends to
Singapore about 16,000 head of cattle each year, and yet a vast
portion of its territory, and a very rich portion too, is an impene-
trable jungle of the most valuable timber in the world, — forest of
teak, ebony, and other hard woods, — all of which the world wants,

BETEL CHEWING.

133

and yet the trees grow and die, and breed the deadly jungle fever,
which even the natives cannot brave with impunity. Millions of
acres of these forests are of great fertility, and would, if the tim-
ber were cut off, feed millions of people. She has rich coal-fields,
and very rich goKi and tin mines. Some parts of her mountains
abound in precious stones, especially sapphires and rubies. These
rich mineral valuables are almost entirely lost, ant! the immense
timber resources idle, because there is not a road in the kingdom.
In the lowlands near the coast, and running back 100 miles or so,
there are for the sole means of transportation, the river and little
canals. These irrigate the rice fields, and are navigated by small
row-boats. The land is cultivated very poorly ; the small one-
handled plow, drawn by the buffalo and o.\, doing the work. It
is said her people are all si; ves. Ikit it is not the slavery we gen-
erally understand, but a species of slavish feudalism. Prisoners
of war and their children for all time are absolute slaves. Of
these there are a large number. Hut the remainder are bonded to
some master. A ])arent sells his child, or a man sells himself, or
rather mortgages himself. He borrows a sum of money at a very
heavy rate of interest — 15 jier cent, being the legal rate, but a
higher rate permissible, — and pays the interest through life. The
debt also binds his children under this feudal custom. Every one
first belongs as feudatory to some nobleman, being marked by a
tattoo, generally on the wrist, to indicate his master. He owes
to the nobleman 15 days' work each year. In addition to this, he
is bound generally by a mortgage or sale to some other master,
perhaps less than a nobleman.

Polygamy is universal, and one sees at the theatre a man in the
dress circle of men. while his wife or wives and slaves (female)
arc in the women's circle. All classes chew the betel nut, and at
the theatre each family has the bctel-po*: and s])ittoon. The latter
is carried by a slave, who hands it to the ladies when they wish
to spit. The betel nut is astringent and somewhat intoxicant. It
is chewed in connection with a p.iste made of lime, tobacco, and
pepjier leaf. It not only bl.ickens the teeth but cracks the lips,
and so injures the gums that tiie teeth are caused to protrude and
look straggled.

The king, |)rinccs, and common people ;ire alike skives to the
nasty habit, .uul h.ilf of the women have their mouths injured, if
not absolutely distorted by it. (Otherwise the women are decidedly
comely, having fine forms and good gaits. Women and men dress
so nearl}' alike that we could hardly distinguisii one from the
other for several days, for all wear snort hair. The dress is a
cloth, called " p.moong, ' about two feet wide, wrapped around
the w.iist, with one corner drawn between the legs anti caught in
a girdle at the waist. This makes a sort of flowing trouser, falling
to the knees. A gentleman wears a closely buttoned coat (sacque),
buttoned to the neck, with long stockings and low shoes. The

'li H, m '

'." s

V :j.

^ :S

• i

134

J RACE WITH THE SUN.

[;

1.'^'

woman generally allows the " panoong " to hang like a petticoat,
and wraps about her breast a girdle, leaving the upper part of the
bosom and shoulders entirely bare, and none wear shoes. Many
of the working women dispense with the girdle entirely. The
great mass of people, even in the city, go bare-legged ami bare-
footed. This is universal in the country. The women appear to
be intlustrious, and iierform much more than half the work. The
men are lazy, and. witii the exception of fisiiing, ai)|)ear willing to
leave the women to earn the bread. All are inveterate gandilers,
and one rarely sees a gambling-house, of which there are a great
many, otherwise than full. They are entirely open to the street,
canal, or river, and at night are distiiiguislutl by their m.my
lights. I am told the king wouKl gladly lessen the number of
these gambling places, but could not dispense with the revenue
the)- bring in. The inveterate habit of gand)ling is the cause of
;i large part of tlie people's sl,iver\-. They sell thi-ir children and
themselves for its gratificaticni. The w il\- Cliinese monopolize the
g.nnbling-houses, as, indeed, they do nearly all the avenues of
wealth and nearly all kinds of business which recpn're industry
;ind skill.

liangkok has over 80,000 of these pi-ople, many of whom have
ac(iuire<l large fortunes and hold prominent positions. The)' ;ire
the business men of the country, and also the cooks and waiters
for the ICuropeans who live here, and to ni)- surprise the w. liters
in the prince's dining-room wore pigtails. 1 do not wonder so
man)' foreigners throughout the Kast proplies)- that they are tlu;
coming nice of the world.

Hangkok lies on eitlur side of the Men.im River, thirty miles
from its mouth. This is a stream varying from 400 to Soo )'ards
in width, an<l running through a perfectly t1at country, the !)anks
at high tide being barely out of the water. I'"ringing it for many
miles from the mouth is a lieav)- growth of tropical plants -palms
of several varieties, tree-ferns, tam.irind .md mango trees, several
trees with wax)' leaves and having large flowers, and indeed many
varieties of beautiful woods, so tliick together that seen from the
level of the river they appear to be an .almost im|)enetrable jungle.
But beh.ind this fringe of forest stretch great i)lains of rice fields
as f.ir as the eye can reach, unless when varied b)' another fringe
along some large canal. Scattered through these fields are beauti-
ful sugar-palms now and then clumped in groves. The great teak
and ebony forests up the river are several hundred miles from the
coast. These are so dense that the superintendent of the con-
struction of telegraph. Mr. I'ritz — an American— consumed two
or three months in cutting a way for a line through ;i forest of
65 miles. There was an advance party of some 50CJ natives cutting
the trail, and a second party of 170 ])utting up the poles and wire.
Klcphants were used for all carrying. .So terrible w.is the jungle
fever that in that one jungle some 250 natives died within two

BANGKOK AND BAT///NG.

13s

months. If a close of 20 j^rairj of quiiiiiK- failed to break the
fever death ahiiost iiniiiediately ensued,

A laP4e anuniiit of 1o<ts are floated down the Menam, and
sawed at Han^^kok. lUit so difficult is the ^'ettin^^ of lo^s to the
river, there biiny absolutely no kind of roads, that the timber
>clls in Bangkok at about 60 cents a cubic foot. And yet Mr.
l-'ril/ assured us there are vast (|uantities of this timber rotting in
the forests within comparatively short distances frtjm the streams.
The people are so utterly la/y that their labor can never be de-
pended upon to build roads, or in any way develop the resources
of the l.md. l-'oreij^n energy and capital must be called into
requisition. The constant a^j^ressiveness of the Knj^lish and
I'"rench in this corner of Asia makes the kin;^ n.ilurall)- fearful of
tjetlini; tluir .lid, and the jealousj- of these two of the (iermans,
renders them out of the ijuestion. ( )ne can sec but one way out
of" the dilemm.i, .md that is for the kin^ to call upon American
pluck antl ener;,^}-. lie has nothin;^ to fear from them jjolitically
or otherwise ; and the other n.itioiialilies can feel no jealousy of
the republic. m in this l.uul of des|K)tism. I iiave ^'ood reason to
believe, in f.ict to know, that kin<; and princes feel very kindly
tow.irds us, and h.ive no doubt that an Americ.m s\ lulicate could
lind .1 splendid field for enert^y in .Siam- -.1 field which would
brin^' to the operators larj^e profit, and would do more ^ood in
eilucatin^' and elevatiuL; this scpialid people than I.OCK) mis-
sionaries could ilo in a (pi.irter of a centur\'. A prince saiil to me:
'■ We acknow ledije our ^reat indebtedness to the American
missionaries; the)- never turn a man from Hudtlha to Christ, but
we owe \.o them nearly all of our iileas of western proj^rcss. The
kin^' feels very kindl\' toward them, and has no fear that the)' will
do any h.irm b\- converting our people ; but business follows where
the missionaries j^o."

H,in^d<ok is entirely different from all other eastern cities we
h.ivc seiii. I'.lsewhere the houses are compacted together so as
to cover as little sp.ice as possible, and the people arc massed as
in hives. This city, however, with its ^^COCX) people, covers
more ground th.m C. niton with its ^rcwi popul.ition. There are
few streets, but they are (|uite broad. Canals run in every direc-
tion, ami are so numerous that the Siamese are proud to call
their capital the Venice of the I-ast. Houses project over these
cm, lis, with open balconies, and both sides of the river for six or
more miles are lined with floating houses, used not only for resi-
dences, but for business. People do their shopping in boats;
and while a woman sells to her customer in view, for all houses
have open fronts, her la/.)' husband fishes, sitting upon a box of
goods, and his children bathe and swim around the house. In
rowing or being rowed about there was never a moment that we
could not see somewhere a bather ; and just at sundown all the
common world seems amphibious. The "panoong" is kept on

■

II 1

: ,

136

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

i*-.

n tl

when in the water, and is then either exchanged for a dry one or
left on to dry. Rivers and canals are always filled by freight
boats, 40 to 60 feet long ; by small peddler-boats, by canoes of all
sizes, from ten feet, barely holding a man, up to 100 or more
feet, with 50 or more paddlers moving in state with some high
official. I saw one long canoe with nearly ICXD rowers. Kach one
would dij) his paddle and then lift it on high, a curious sight thus
to see nearly 100 paddles poised in air at the same time. There
are quite a large number of small steam barges in the citj-
belonging to Europeans engaged in timber sawing and in rice
milling and shipping. These dart about very rapidly. In fact
all boats seem to do so. for the tide runs very swiftly, and boats
going with its current move in the channel, while those going
against it stick to the .shore eddies. This makes the river a very
lively one, especially towards the cool of the daj-. Trees abound
throughout the town, along streets, along the canals, and about
the houses, many of them of good forest size. Looking down
from a high pagoda, one can .scarcely realize one's self in the heart
of a great city. The ordinary house is almost entirely lost in tiie
mass of green. Here and there one peeps out looking cool and
shaded. But the lofty snow-white i)agodas, the tall steep-roofed
temples, roofed in tiles of many colors, many of them in gilt ; the
beautiful kiosk turrets of the jialaces, the gilded royal " wat " and
cenotaph, and the white palaces themselves, make the city
from an eminence look like a vast royal garden, wth jirincely
palaces and Oriental temples nestled among ornamental tropical
verdure. The " wat " is a sort of monastery, with its temple and
kiosk and lodging-houses of the priests within a single enclosure.
There are a great many in the city, and many of them of wonder-
ful richness.

Some of the temples and pagodas arc apparently made up en-
tirely of gilt and glass mosaic, in small pieces inlaid in cement
walls and flashing in the sunlight like mountains of gf)ld and
diamonds. The royal " wat " makes the looker-on feel that
Aladdin's lami) is close by. revealing to him scenes of fairy won-
der, rather than scenes of actual reality. It is within ami with-
out — its several temple buildings and its five or si.x lofty round-
pointed pagodas — made up of gold and gems. The gold is of
burnt, gilded pottery in small squares of an inch, brilliantly
glazed : the gems are of glass of different colors, and set like
rose-faced diamonds, sapphires, and rubies. Looking upon the
pile of these buildings, covering several acres, just as the sun goes
down, with a gentle breeze causing the thousand tiny bells which
hang to cornice, frieze, and projecting point to tinkle, we almost
felt as if wc had been carried off by some flying genii and gently
dropped upon a scene of Oriental fable. Unfortunately all of the
temples, pagodas, and kiosks are of brick, stuccoed with Portland
cement, and the gems and gold planted into it will last only for a

■1;

f . •.

4 1

! I\l'

;). M

\i'\

,r<

conrsjis HA r/:A /m ii /. n -h'Ks.

short time. Many th(nisaiuls of dollars arc rcquirctl each year to
keep the entire fabrics of beaut)' from tumbling into decay. A
change of ilynasty will brinj^ (|uickly tl'.e ^,'lory of Siam's capital
into a heap of debris. Ayutia, once a ^jreat city, which w.is aban-
doned loo and odd years aj^o when this royal family fountled
Hangkok, is alrcad>- a lieajjof ruins, its " wats" ami lofty p.ij^oda.s
furnishing soil for the roots of rapidlj' growing tro[)ical plants.
They are not absolutely fallen down, but the plants and shrubs
are climbing up their lofty heights and find homes.

The first thing we did o\\ our arrival at H.ingk(jk was to drive
to the royal garilen, where a fuie military baml plays everj- Sun-
day afternoon. The music was good, the le.ukr (ierman. The
gardens ;ire beautifid, one avenue of bamboos being as i;ni(|ue as
preltj'. This tree here, as we are told, too, it does in India, grows
in massy clumps, almost like a solid tree. These clumps, about 50
feet apart, on either side of a long avenue, send up tiicir feathery
plumes about 60 feet, meeting at a less height over the roadway,
and making a perfect green, liothic arch, which, viewed from
either end, is as regular as a catheilral aisle. In the ganleiis \vc
met many of the 200 foreigners who make Hangkcjk their home.

The next day early we called upon Col. Child, our genial min-
ister. He took us in charge, antl to him we owe much which
made our visit to Siam very charming. We called on Prince
l)evawongse,the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who received us most
cordiall)', and, after entertaining us for some time, sent one t)f his
aids to show us the famous sacred white elej)hants and the royal
■•w.it." The white ele])liants have .jlue eyes, are light-colored, but
not whiter th.m I^arnum's be.ist, which, by the way.ilid not come
from Siam. The poor brutes here do noi seem t(j enjoy very
greatly their sacred bond.ige, but tied bj' tlie hind leg they sway
b.iik and forth, and beg for a nut as reailily as do those in
menageries. The oldest wears a brace of ivories which would
make him ipiite sacred to an ivor\' worker, but munclus green
grass in a viT\- uns.icred way. Insteail of being housed in gilded
(ju.irters, he is tied u]) in a dingy stable and is attendetl by a half-
naked mahout insteail of a priest in saintly robes ; a priest, how-
ever, oversees his household.

On our second ilay we rowed about some of the canals, anil then
climbed the old " \\'at-.Se-K;it," a huge pagoda over ^00 feel in di-
ameter, built of .1 solid m.iss of brick — countless millions being in
the m.iss — .md lifting Jix) feet high. A slairwa)- leads around it,
as in the ])icture of the Tower of Habel. i-'rom this wi' had our
first view of the forest-clad city. Iklnw us immediately were the
conmion cremator)* grounds, and tlu' scpiare in which the bodies
of those too poor to pay for cremation are given to the vultures.
A large flock of these mournful birds were roosting on a low
pagoda close by. Seeing a smoke we supposed a cremation was
going on, but found it arose from burning coffins and rubbish.

'M.n!P i

}■ . "'k

/!!

'I!

)

•38

A RACK Wr'-H TJil'. S^HS.

We then went Id the .squ;;ic for viic poor, and, to our surprise, al-
most liorror, a newly dead liodj- had just been laid in it. It was
limp anil hanlly cold. li was of an old woman who had died (,f
cholera, always here. A covering; was laiil over the middle of the
body, but the lu.id, bust, arms, ami le^s were bare.

Just .is we entered .;. vulture flew down, then another ami
others. Two or three dofjn were walking' about near-by. The
birds hopped about the body, but did not seem satisfied it was
dead. I'resently one of the iloj^s stole up and conunenced to tear
a piece of flesh Ir'ni tiie cheek. Rapidlj' file birds closed in.coni-
mencin^f at the i-ves. Tlie siL;ht was so sickeiiin;,,' that we all
turned and went out, not lookm^f back. W'e saw. however, the
rel.itions of the deail s(|uatted in a sort of shed temple close by,
wliile .1 robed priest was reailmt,^ fnuu b.ind)iio leaves the .service
for the de.id. W'e felt that it these, the relatives, were not hor-
rified at the m.m^lin^' of their loved one, it was sickly sentimen-
tality for us so to be ; so we returneil. W'e had not been absent
five minutes, but in that time the vultures had ccnie in muIi num-
bers tUait the)' were ;i s(juirmin^', tossiuL; ma>s o\er the corpse.
Five 6i*i55s were there by this tune, snappiuL; and ;.^ro\\lin_L; antl
tryin^'tvi drive the birds aw.iy so that the)' could j^et at the fe.ist.
Prestrrrrh- the birds seemed ! m- the moment satisfied, and lobbied
off. Tien the doi;s wiiit in, Hut one of the attendants, seein;^
wur dt^.;ui-it at the lU)^^ p.irt ol the dr.ajnia, ilrove them a\\a_\', when
the vujrua-' s .iLjain returned. In le-s tiian thirty minuli's tromthe
tiiiK- thf iM'dy was laiil there, the bh>ody, jj;or^'ed birds lli-w off,
one \t: ■■»»e, and left tl.e bare sk^eJeton for the do^s to pull .it the
simtnv- -uttl.at the tou,i;h hands aimd feet, which the \ ultmcs' be,d<s
«:(<Htkl mi*r tiear.

<■ were all. hocked by the -it^ht, l)Ul \ ery (|uickl_\- this feel-

_, ,i iff. VVe ct>ulil not i.e;;;i leelini^ it was not a whit woise

tJun^lamaiig a loved one in the ;.^r>>und to beconu' fond for worms.
Tlri :: led but fittini,' mmisters ; it is their c.iUini;, and

ha untless ai^es. h'or i'>untliss successions of ^en-

been .ddnr^' Tsian in this waj- to ^;et rid of his
i,.c.n,. uirrt^..,., .,, jjuttin^f them in the L;rounil to feed worms .md
p<»iison tilt! water* of life. Hut there was something horrible in
the lio"'" pcrfoitnutnce. He is nian's friend, and m.m t.d<escare
of him, VVe did iiot after that pass a .Siamese cur th.it we il'il not
feci a desin; tn A'hack him over the heail. lUit, after .ill, the
revulsion of feeiniir which came so cpiickl)' to us w.is ow in^' to the
fact that the fruTids of the dead woin.m — pirh.ips her daut^hters
and j,'ranilchildreTi — were there w ithin ten paces of the scene, lis-
tening, with bowed heads and clasjied hands, to t!ie promises of
their ileit)' to those who have lived piously. The priest ch.iiiteil
in monotonous tone, but leverentl)' .md with inteiisi' pathos, the
les.son he w.is re.idin}^. After the binls h.id t.iken .ill they cared
to have, we turned from the do},'s fi^htin^ over the skeleton and li.s-

CREMATION OF A PRIXCE.

'39

tened almost with awe to llic fimer.il services, .md watched with a
full eye tlie faces i)f tlie stricken family. Some of them were old,
and would soon lie in that s.ime charnelhouse whose floor w.is the
earth — mother of us all — and whose ceiling was the blue sky far
above. What mattered it to them how (heir botlies should return
to the du->t, if tiu-ir souls could onl)' win^ their flight thriai^h
yonder wondrous blue to mini^le a;^ain with the spirit of the ever-
li\'ini; (iod from whence the\' came? We spoke to a Si.unesc
prince of our manner of burying, lie s.iitl : " I will be creni.ited,
but a thousand times rather wou'd I be eaten by vultures than to
lie and rot in the sodtleii, nasty ^iv)unil." Which is the better,
his ideas or ours ? The world is ^overneil b}" cou\entionalism.
That which is accepteil b)' all is the best. There is but one lliin^'
which is absolutely ^'ood. That is a life in accordance with the
\\\\\ of (lotl. Who can, w ho may rij^ditl)', inter])ret that will ?

M)- a sin;_;idar tr.uisilion we were wit msses that -ame afternoon of
the cereuioM)' of cri'malion of oui of tlu' powerful and rich of t!u'
land. .\t half-past four we went to a lari^'e " w,il," to be present
at the l.i'-i rites in honor of " I'hran.ii Samochai," who dierl nine
months before, anil had been Ijini; in state in spices m\(\ sweet
herbs in one of the spacious halls of his jial.ice. Colonel Child and
1 mA there a little ear!\'. We wandered about. On the mattiii'',
spread al>out on the i^rass in one of the temple courts, were the
wives ami fen). de slaves of the dead m.m, all crouched down, with
!)lack " p.uiooii'.' " ;uid whiti- sc.irfs about their bodies. In an inner
court were sonu- nun s.iuin;^ into .i \'ery l.ir^e box. Wi- went
ne.w. It w.is the outer c.ise cont.iiniiiL^ llu coffin, .uid ,iir-ti;^ht.
Sc.ircel)' h.id the s.iw p.issed throuj^h the board wh< ti the putrid
jjascs escaping,', drove us from the inclosure. The body was then
put into ;i small vaulted room. Into this the head wife entered,
soljbini; ,ind following came others.

In 'he ji ter courts two theatrical performances were ^(oin^ on
out of hciriiii; of e.ich other. ()\\\i in Chinese — for the dece.iscd
was a Chinaman by birth the other in .Si.uncse. These are pro-
vided for the people th.it they m.i)' enjoy themselves, for the
buri;,l of a t^'ood m.m is not .i c.uise of njourninL,^ lie has ^one to
a better life, and his frieiuls should rejoice. Between these two
thealresftemporary I there was an erection, some I „' \ Jo feet hij^h,
on four columns. Tiiis was .i haiulsomely carved white cornice,
from which to the {ground drooped black drapery, cauj^Iu up in
white. I'lider this w.»s ;.n oven-shajx'd altar, ami over ft an o|)en
white cat.d.dipie covered with (lowers .md <^ilt. The son of the
dead man, acting as mastir of cerenionies, seeinjj us walkinjj

bout, sent to us a

brij^ht

ad, wno we learned was ^'randson o

tlie deceased, and spoke pood ICnpIish. He puided us to a tented
pavilion close by the cataf.dtpu-, jjrovided us with ch.iirs, and soon

^Mve us tea .iiul cipars

Quite

e .1 number ol prommeiit people

were there; two of them h.id been passengers on the Parlliia in

I ■

\ J

' r.t

\ ♦

140

A RACE WITH THJ-: SUN.

•h

Davawon^sc's suite. riic'-.i-' -^pokc lo us, ;'iil ^mvc us some ox-
pliiuatioiis. Prcsfiitly ^<>nic other foreif^ners arrivcil,— mission-
aries and consuls. Soon the coffin, in a brass case without top or
bottom, was pur on the altar, hvuv^ liftetl up a toot or so. In the

mean

time j)riests were chanting all around. I.art^e 1

;ju

ndk

cloth were then put upon the bier, and after lyin{,f a moment
were taken off by the priests. The\- were jiresents from the dead
man's estate. Many of them had extra sheets an<' robes for .i
year. About tiie catafalque were tall bamboo frames, so covered
with lanti-rns as to rescnibli' blazing p.igodas. Just at dusk a
steam barge steamed uj) in the canal close by. and Prince Ongnai,
full brother of the king, and regent or second king, the first
prince in the land, arrived, and ther; with a flourish another b.irge

came from the palace with the sacred fire, which i.s never allowed
to die out. sent liy the king. " ( )ngn.ii." after p.issing among the
gue4s with .i few words for his friends and a jxilite greeting for
all. lighted from this fire a piece of sandal-wood ,ind a .stick of

^e^mous mcense

and set fire to sandal-stick

der the bier.

(^ther le.iding mm followed him.ai^d then flowers of sandal-wood

were given

the foreigners, and \\i

re asked to assist. Our

we saw

1 our

doing so seemed to please the famil}'. Thus in one d.iy
vultures .md dogs eat one of the poor of the lan<l, and witl
own h.inds helped to burn up one of its rich and great ones
Soon the whole pile w.\s in (l.tmes.

W'^

re invited to the house close bv to dine, but declined.

At night we again went up to see the l)rilliant fireworks in h' nor
of the dead. All was feasting and eninyment. l"'ood was spread
about for the ])oor. .Shows and pageants were kept u|) for the
jiuitlic amusement. The funeral pile at night w.'.s become .i mass
of coals, all of fr.igrant woods. A man stood by who, with .i sort
of hooked poki-r. would pu-h up the fire .md j)ull uji scr.ips of

o(l\- to keep them t)urnini

u- tin- IS kept up for .:.} Iiours. 1 ho

ashes of the bones w ere then g.ithered togetlur .md ki pt in .m urn.
whil'- the rem.iinder of the iislus wen- taken out and NC.itti'red (Ui

le river.

boat

>oicmn

!)• flo.iting down it for the purpose,

Thr next d.iy we were informed that the king would gr.int an
audience t > C!ol. Child to enabK- him to present an .lutogr.iph
letier from the rresidiut of the United St.ites, and wouM then

give us ,1 ])rivate .uidieiice ,it 5 1'. M.

At tl

le appointed hour, in

full dress, we were .it the royal palace. We were met at tlu
grand g.iti- by an off'm r. who conducted us through the courts

rince DeNMWoni'sr nut us oii

of iKUiseliold guard-, we passed up the bro.ul palace stt

tlif w.i\-. i'.issiiiL' throutdi .1 file

The

llilCC IS,

by the wa\-. .1 long, two-story and basement It.ili.m
ilding. with .1 ct-ntr.i! projecting p.ivilion. ,ind a p.ixilion ,it
either end. of beautiful kiosk-form. It is of brick, cenunted .md
p.iinted in pure white. It cannot be tinned m.tgnificent, but it is
very chaste and pure in its style and exceedingly h.mdsome. .Ml

|il

AUDIEA'CE WITH rilli KIXG.

141

;»

the public buildiii^js, by tlic wny, except tlic uty w.ills and pates
or portals, arc Italian in style atxl erected by Italian architects,
tnterinp a broad and lofty vestibule, we were seated at a table
and served with cielicious tea antl cij^arettes. We wrote our
names in a handsomely bound, larpe register, md each one his
name and place of residence in an autograph-book, under the
date of birth, and opposite a verse of I'.nL^iish poetry.

.Sc.uceiy were wc throuj^h with this when a m.ister of cere-
monies announced that the kinfj was ready to receive us. Ac-
companied bj' I'rince Dev.iwongse, we mounted another short
Hipht of steps into the j^r.md receptitJM-ruom. Throi.tih this ele-
j^ant room, kjo feel loiv^, beaulifally furnisheil. .md with w.dls
ornamenti:tl with luiropean i),iintinps, we passed between files of
body-^^uards into the kind's private reception-room. This is also
a lofty and Kirj,u' ap.irtment, most tastefully furnished. Ne.irthe
door stood .Siam's celestial nion.irch. We were all presented .intl
shaken by the hand. Mr. Child then, in a neat speech, which
was not interpreti-d, presented I'resitlent Clevel.ind's letter, a
cojiy of which had already been sent in son\e time l)efore ; the
kii4,f, therefore, did not open it, but said in Siamese, interpreted
by Devawonpse, th.it lie was much pleased to receive this ,iuto-
j^raph letti-r from the rresiti-nt of the L'niteil .States, and thanked
him for the kindly .md f'leiulK- expressions in it, and recjuested
the minister to convey to the President his th.mks. .md also to
tile Americans for their '.ourtesy to his roy.il brother, when lately
li.issiiip tliroUL,'h till' country, lie then s.iid he felt \er\' friiMully
tow.ird the President .mtl the people of the Unite-d .St.ites, .md
.isked us as to the he.ilth of the formei. The minister's speech
and replies were not interpreteil, for C hul.il.in^^horn understands
ami sj)caks ICn^lish well, but will not, .is a m.itfei of eti<iuette,
use to a foreij;ner any otl'.er than his native toiiiuie.

Our roy.il host then •■teppetl b.ick to the midiUe of the room,
t.ikiiij.; a ch.iir .It the head of a lon^' business t.ible, and with a
pleasant word .md gesture asked us to be se.iteil. lii- motioneil
me to .1 seat imm-'di.itely to his ri^jiit, saying he h.id he.iid I was
a fellow-traveller across the ocean with his brother, .mil that we
had become ipiite ^.lod friei .i. The ofl'ici.il interpreter stood
behind him. i)ut tlu Prince acted in his pl.ice duriiij^ the .ludiencc.
I replied th.il I had tli.it honor, .md that it was a ii;reat pleasure
to me, for I h.id found his Koyal 1 1 i;,diness not only .i pleas.mt but
ver\' instructive coiiipni^iion tin 7(>riij;t\ My replies were not in-
terpnted, .md I found the kinp c.iupht my remarks (|uite as
re.idily as did his brother, lie then .isked wh.it sort of a travel-
Icr his brother was. I said an .idmir.ible one, but I v,.is forced to
state, even in his presence, .md with my .ipolo;^ies, tli.it he was
not alw.iys in a most fittin^j condition- in fact, w.is freipieiitly
not entirely iiimself, not, however, from wine, but from an over-
indulgence in sea .lir .md vvell-stirretl water. The kin^^ l.iu^hed

•'•i 'tih

ill;

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M.I

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S49

// A'.ICi: WITH Till'. SUX.

licartily at this and made some by-p!ay remarks to the Prince.
We afterward learned lie had himself not lon^' since suffered con-
siderahly from sea-sickness, and was j;Iad to get his brotlier on the
hip. He asked me if the I'rince spoke my language well. I
replied ; " Like a native, but that he was so patriotic tliat in his
intercourse with the \-oung princes and his suite he always used
his own language: that our rooms hail been adjoining, and I
could vouch for his sleejjing and ilrcaming in pure Si.unese ; that
he talked in his sleep." This set them into (juite a loud laugh.
He asked wliat rel.itionshi]) there was between the young gen-
tlemen with me .md myself. I told him. lie then wished tc
know if they thoroughly appreciateil the biiietlts of travelling
with an experienced man like myself. 1 told him : " I coukl
hardlv answer ; that we had in our country an adage which was
that ' V'oung folks thought old folks fools, but that old ones knew
the young oiu-s to be so.'"' " \'er)- good ! " he said. " we have
the same in .Siamese," and then repe.ited it, at the same time
turning his chair •itpiarei)' to uiine as if to assure' me our audience
was not at an end. "' Mut," he continued, "how do )(iu find the
young gentlemen as fellow-travellers?" I replied: " 1 wished to
retain the feelings and .aspirations of youth as long .is po-.sible,
.and to ihat iiid preferred to .associate with tlu' \i>ung r.uherthan
the (till. " lie s.iid : '"That w.is a most e.xceilint idea — that the
j'oung should seek the coinp.inioiiship of the old. while the olil
should mingle with the young: th.it the older ones would teach
by ex.unple and prcct'pl, wliiK' tluy would iinbibi' lessons from
the lu'arts of the othcis." lie wishid to know our pi, ins for our
continued voy.igi' ,ind how long we would yet be from lionie. I
told him I was an .Americ.m sovereign, .iml .is such kept m\ self
untr.immelled in ni)' movements, and iiermilted n.itun' \\\\i\ cli-
m.itic laws alone to control my actions, lie w.is amused ,it my
sovereignty, .and >;aid .a good deal which the I'rince tr.msKited, but
which I cannot repeat, except that In- hoped tli.i? I would
be.ir b.ick to my own land benefits and improved health. Hut
that m\- sovereignt)' had to bend to tlu- will of I lini who gov-
erned .ill. lie wislied to know if I was tr.ivelling merely for pUas-
ure, or if I intin<led, asm. my did, to write of wh.it I s.iw. I told
him tli.it I had proved the motto, " Une.isy lies tlu' he. id that
wears a crowi. " ; that I h.id boiue tin- burdens without enjoying
the i)le.isures; I li.id felt the thorns without shining in tin jewels
which .1 crown |)ossessed, .md was tr.ivelling for rest aiul healtli.
He replied he had heard I had for many ye.irs governed a great
city, and that I was fortunate in being able to l,iy down its
cares. I replied : " If your m.ijesty will forgive my presumption,
1 would say that I h.id he.ud that the King of Si.im worked
too h.ird and .itten led to m.iiiy details which responsible men
might perform." Col. Ciiild lure rem. irked th.it his Ma-
jesty was oni; who thought th.it the throne was a public

r. a'

TJIK KIXG'S COXI'ERSATIO.W

trust. The kiii^,^ said: "Yes, it is ilic duty of tliose in
power to make tlieir pe<iplo happy." I replied : " lUit wlien a
trustee breaks liimself down lie does a wrori^ to his trust ; that 1
wished to rL]iort to my countrymen that the monarch whose
ortler liad ^'une forth that no one born in his rci<;n shou!<l be a
slave, and who was c;.)in<^ his best for his peojile, was at tiie same
time conservin;^ his liealth." "Then )'ou do write, do you ?" siiid
the kin<^'. "Only for a couple of newspapers." lie <|uickly said :
" What you write of -,iam I ho])e will bi; imi)artial." I told
him "th.it when I looked into the Siamese sky. with its ever-
smiliuj^ hues of soft blue, its sunsets of pearly white, rhan<^Mng
and nieltiui^ into tints found elsewiiere onl)- in the inside of a
shill, 1 fe.u'ed I would be in d.iiiLjer of tinting my picture with
too much rose." The com])liment scemid to please, for he had
just before m.ule a motion ;is if to terminate the audience, but he
sat liack, and .isked wh.it I tl)ou;^ht of .Siam. I told him that
what .Si.im needed most w.is roails ; th.it she h.id none, .md,
therefore, I could not see much of the (.ountry; and then there
were no stt;amer lines on tlie river. He tlien enterni into tjuile
a t.ilk with the I'rince as to the possibility of scndiiv^ us iii> on a
royal b.iri^'f. Hut, as I before stated, this could noi nois- be. lb-
then said : " Hut you have seen Han<;kok. How do j-ou like it?"
I replied that we h.id a nation. il air c.iUed " \'.iukee DootUe."
Th.it " N'.mki e Doodle went to town, but coii'l not sii it for the
houses! ' The I'rince did not catch what I -lid, and .isked me
to repiMt. " .Ail, \is. V.mkei' Doodle," s.iui the kinij. tor^ettin*^
himself and spe.ikin;,; in I".nL,'lish. 1 then continued ; " I could
hardly see the town of H.mL^kok for the m.iLjnitHent trees, which
end)owered it in siuh delicious sh.itk' th.it from W'.it-Se-Kat I
felt I w.is lookin:^ down ui)on ranles of roy.il "^Mrdensand splendid
p.il.ices and j^ilded doiri -." The kini^ said Ik- was \ ery ^l.id I
VMS plc.ised with wh.it I h.ul seen of Siam. and p.iused. I replied
th.it I W.IS niore th.iii ple.iscd ; tli.it il w.is the realization of my
e.irly dre.ims of rich orii-nt.ilism .md tropic.il luxuriance! lie
said: "The climate and ^oil of Si.im were iiiiieipi.illeii, and, coii-
sidcrin^ the time she ha<l l)eeu improving. ^ ii.id tlone well ; th.it
altlhvuj^h .'\mericu was yet younger, she h-wl in lu:r very infancy
educated pivipK; from all lands, and could be c.illed old even m
her childhood but .Si.im had to !)uild herself up, her people
beini;; ma»le uj) from an unediic.itid. old I, mil, .md was, therefore,
youni,' in her .i^c." I replied : " Hut your Majesty has touched it
with your wMiid. and y<MJ;r land ha- w onilerfully impro\'e(l uniKr
your reij^u." The kin<T did n«>t t.ilk much himselt. but seemed to
wish til pet BiH to talk. I caimnt recall near all th.it was s.iid,
but we were cicmplimented widi an audience of fully half an hour
— two or three times l<Miper than o»«al. lie finally arose, wishing
us a proNjK-rous voyaj^e and a h.ipjn return to our homes. He
went with us half-way to the dof>r. .md ^'ave me two cordi.il shakes

J Hi

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, U I Hji

' !

144

,•/ K.ic/-: wini Till- SIX.

of the hand at partint,'. Col. Chil'! said as wc went nut : " Vou
dill well, Mr. Harrison. Vou caught the kiu;^'." I must confess
he (juite cau^^ht nic

Me i« of niciliuni hcii:;ht. of very j,'raceful form, admirably set
off in his dark sacque, buttimed close up t" tiie chin, his dark
"pnnoon.L(," and silk stockings. While of a dit;nity rarely met with,
he \ias free from all hauteur or stiffness, hut gentle and urban<;,
and was tlic rc.i'i/.ation of what I had often rrad of the character-
istics of Oriental i)otentates. lie is 34 years oKl. rathjr ilark-
yellowish luitbrown complexion, black mustache, and wore no
onlers of any kind. If I had met him .is a traveller, I would hav.
set him tlown as a man having wonderfully eas\' yet very dig-
nified nianners. He Iws many wives, and his first and second
(|ueens are his half-sisi<>rs. A few years ago he lost by drowning
his chief <|ueen, a fu".' sister to the two he now has. The>- were
.ill tiiree full sisters of Prince Dev.iwongse. the present Minister
of Foreign Affairs. His marrying his half-sisters is from the cus-
toms ol the land— that no one can ascend the throne excep'. a
Celestial prince, and the>e cm only be tho>e born ot the king and
a princess. No womar. is a princess except the d.iuglUer of a
king. His brothers have wives, but not princesses. In fact
they .ue not strictly married to their wives. This is to prevent
a line of prince>. The son of .1 prince not being the offspring
of a regular marriage is not himself a prince. In this way
there can be no long line of hereilitary nobility to intrigue
for the throne. The succession i> fixed b>- the king, but from
ciist(jm and public opinion m.ist be from the Celestial princes.
When we backed out of the kings presence, the boys congratu-
lated themsilves that they got out of the room without a stumble.

Before parting with Devawongsc we were askeil to fix a time
when we would liine with him. Being told to suit him'^elf, he
sent us invit.itions for the next day. His palace is within the
walled town, has lofty, cool rooms, tastily but not richly ilecorateil.
The menu was extensive and the cooking good. The dining-
room was ileliciously fragrant from white jasmine .md a tree
flower resembling somewhat a tuberose, but fresher. It is a holy
flower, ami used to decorate shrines and altars in preference to
all others. The guests were the Celesti.d Prince Ongn.ii, full
brother of the king .md the highest noblem.m in the l.iiul ; Prince
X.ireth, half-brother to the king ; Prince Shwasti,aI>o half-brother;
and several noblemen .md officers of the army. The wines were
good, the company fine, and. with no restr.iint upon .iii)-, the
evening lasted from 7:30 to 1 1:30, and made it ilifTicult for me to
realize that wc were in Siam, a far-off, and, as we had sujjposed,
half-barbarian coiintr)- ; in .1 company of gentlemen who would
compare f.ivor.ibly for eleg.mt m. timers ami cultiv.iteil convers.i-
tion and apin-arance with the Iiighest in .my land. " Put not
your trust in princes!" but certainly i'rince Devawongsc. dimply

SINGULAR CHINESE PROCESSION.

»45

my fc11ow.voyni;or, was as ]>olitc to mc as lie promisL-<l to he, and
did all he could to make our stay in Siam pleasant, and seemed
to fcj^rct we were compelled to hasten on.

His brother Suasti, bein<; minister of the police, reminds mc of
a thinv; showing tills people off admirably. A chief of BaiiLjkoix
police seeing; at a distance one policeman leadint; another, sent
for him to know why he was thus leadinj,' his fellow-olTicer. " Oh,
my chief, that w.is all rii;lit ; the other i)oliceman is blind, cann<it
sec a tiling. I was le.ulinL; him to liis beat." Anotlur inst.mce
of refreshin;4 innocence 1 lieard of; During; a consider.ible fire, a
lady cai/ie out of her house wit.li a box of very Cfistiy jewelry.
Seeing a man close by, sh asked if he was a policiiiiaii. Heiniif
toUl he H'as, she handi'd liim her box and hurried within for
some more valuables. .Siic has not since been al)le to learn the
number of iier trusted otiicer, and has only two sets of br.icelets
for her ankles.

I was ple.ised to hear of a thini,' connected with Col. Child
which maiii- me jiroud of his .Southern birth. There are in li.m;^-
kok some Chin. mien who in some way claim the ])rotection of our
consul. ite. One of these came to or,r minister to ^et his assist-
tance in the recovery of a slave who hail run away. The Colonel
told him his country had not long since j^one through a nii;>;iity
war to break the sjiackies from the limbs of slaves, and he would

be tl d if hewouUl help to catch any<uie's sl.ive unless directly

ordered .-o to do by the United States .State Department.

The same day wliicli j^ave us the two examples of L;ettincj
rid of the deail also gave us a view of ,i Chint se procession in
honor of some fest.d piM'ioil which, for f.)ur d;i\ s, occupied the
tlumghts of the almond-eyeil C'elestials of this place, livery
thing Chinese was demorali/ed ; waiters at tlu' hotels would barely
serve us. Cooks ami servants in ])rivate houses were utterly
unreliable. A circus come to town could not more thoroughly
upset an American village than did t!iis the pig-t.iiled 8o,000 in
Siam's c.ipit.il. The procession to ik over an hour to p.iss a given
point. John Chinamati w.is in his most elabor.ite toggery. Silk
gowns glistened in the sun; mantles and innumer.iMe banners
embroidered in silk and gold glittered and tl.ished. Chinese wind
instruments, in tone resembling a b igpii)e ; little fiddles with
body of b.imboo not longer tli.in a half-pint cuj), yt t atTording
from tlu ir two or three strings tones to reach tiie musical ear of
a Chinese professor ; g<Migs banging and whanging. These were
in b.mds of 12, and these bands to every 100 or 2ckj feet,
.111(1 jolK', happ\', i)rospi rous sons of China, Some of th'. em-
blems borne were decididly curious. One was a huge dragon
over 100 feet long, worming and squirming, its feet being legs i>f
men whose bodies were lost in its .ibdomcii ; ])ri.lty p.igodas with
bedizzeiied girls on their tops; gre.it pyr.imids of flowers, in the
cups of some, .1 lily for example, were little re '.I Siamese babies.

■!

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146

A RACI-: WITH THE SLW.

some not over tlircc months old, but fjcncrally a half year.
Thfsc p jor little things were perched up and tossed aloft in tlic
b!.i/in^' Min. Mlt. hdistcd in palanciuins and some sitting' >i|)on
seats eomposfd of si)car heads and knives, so plaeicl ,is to look as
if thev were beinj; impaled, and throu^di their cheeks, nceks, ears,
or arms were rnn the spikes of Ion},' iron sjjiars carrieil by sev-
er.d nun. Tluse were ^di.istl)- sij^hts, intended to represent the
c.iptiirin^' of some horrilde demons. Hour after Imur tlu>e poor
devils would be borne upcjn men's shoulders with these iron
spikes ne.irly as lar^e as my little finj^'er, some strai^du throu^jh
tlicirchci k-^, and held l)etwei'n the clinched jaws to prevent .isnnicli
as pos-il»le the lacer.ition b\ the steel. ( )iu; fellow --.it iipi>ii the
bl.ides of knives — a false motion would have sent them di'ep into
his flesh ; a lon;^' spike ran throu^di his ear — a sinj^le jarring motion
wf)uld hive ^d\en him aj^ony. For ''ours and durin;^ three days
these men umkrwent this torture . the hiiLje j^MMlituMtioii of the
Celestial Inokers-on. Tiiey were paiil for this suffering; and were
a part of the show, and John wanted the value of his money.
The kiiiL: ordered that the b.diy part of the Avwx be discontinued.
Wily John C.'hin.iman had hired Siamese b.ibies, thus s.iviny ids
own little ones.

C)ne nii^dit we were at the Princess The.itre. Like .ill buildinjTs
for spect.icul.ir entertainments in the l-'-.i-.t, this w.is simjjly of
rou;.^li boards, and resembled the interior of a huj^'c .American
b.irn. The sta;4e extends cpiite a distance into the bod)' of the
house. Aroiiiul was the ])arterre : next the st;i^,'e w.is f;iven up
entirely to the women ; behind ;ind over aiul all .iround were
galleries fur men on one siile, for women on the Dther. Tiiere
were at least tue tinies as many of the fair ones as ol the sterner
sex. I'.ach ^'eiitleiii.'.n, bein;^' the husb.uul of tWD or more wives
and the owner of scver.d h.indm.iids, is en.ibled to fdl m.my seals
by his women to his own one. The women were in some parts
of the house in full dress ; and like the full-dressed in our own
civilized Kind, wore as little dress as possil)le. No dnubt, like our
own f.iir ones, thiy km when concealment be^'ins to beckon for
peerini:^. .Some of the l.idies had their little ones from niic to
five or six yi.irs old. These, too, were all in full dn >s ; th.it is,
a couple of (. trrini^s aiul anklits, the balance made u]) of natun''s
own s,itin-browi\ cuticle. These little fellows r.m around anum;,'
their m.imin.is .md nurses, and enjoyed tiiemselves lui;,'ely. In ;i
box next ours was a rich Chinese with his son of three or fnur
)-ears. The little fellow was snujkin;^' ,1 larf^e cigar .is deliberatel)
as did his father.

The entire troupe, nuisicians and actors, in this the finest the.i-
tre ill the citv, belong to the projjrietor. He bought them when
young, ;ir.d li.ul tr.iined them finely. All are womm except two
clowns, .md some of them very pretty, and all linely formed.
The orchestra was large, I should think fully 50. I he play was

S/AM/:SK Tlfl'.A TRE.

'47

a mixt\irc of pantomime ainl (i|n-r,-i. with ;i littK- witty off-liand
c()lli>(|iii.il |)iif(>iin;uKi-. Tlic actors ^o tliroiiL;ii tlu ir part gener-
ally <>n their haiiui hcs. 'Ihosc acting; the parts n( slaves when niov-
in^' fmrn one part of the sta^'e to another, walk on their kneis.
All were exipiisitely dressed in i>Ia/in;^ vestments, hut all in
pretty naked li-it. Oh, how much of God's best and mo-l heaii-
tilul ^ifts to wiunan slu: iiides when ^he covers lu'r feet. A well-
turnctl ;;nkle ami rosy toes would i)c such an addition to Worth's
most el.diorate toilette. Tlie scenery iloes not. as with u->, chanj^e
from act to act ; hut a scene, say 1 3 h)' 20 feit, is huni; up at the
rear of the sta'^'e. This tells the loc.ility and su:^;^est-> the role,
.111(1 is cliani;ed when the act chan;.;cs. At the ind of each
.icl all ;^o off the sta^e with a •.,'rand fanf.iroiia<le of mu>ic.
A part of the play is >uii;.,' hy the orchestra, e.idi one kei-pin^j
time to their weirds with naked sticks. To this the actors
|)eiforni ill pantomime. More expressive pant(Mnimic perform-
ance I never saw in Italy. Indeed, some of the motions \ure
too realistic, ,ind some of the" poetry of the motions was injured
!)\- cert.iin conlortioiial [.jestiires consideri'd \\\ these peo|)le |)i r-
fect. Mill, t.iken as a whole, the pla\'was inl'mitely -superior to
those of the (hiiuse. Tin; di.iloijue was sustaineil in .1 natural
\'oice, .iiiil judi^in^ toun the friipu nt hursts of l.iii'.'hli r, tlu; jokes
and hits wi re ,ipl and amu--in^'. We were informed tli.it it w.is
(juite .1-. well that Mrs. Child and another forei;.;n l.idy of our
|),;rty diil not understaiul the l.Mi;.4U.iL,'e, for the ji'sts were not
<piite such as we should consider (it for polite e.irs. The music
w.i^ to my e.ir le.dlj' prett)', thouj^h somewhat monotonous. i)ul
with toni s .md cadences vei)- charmini,'. < >ne instrument w.is
dvlicimis, coiniiosed of a l.ir^e numher of ^^I.'ss cui)s, .md pl.iyed
upon hy a soft leather-covered stick.

We were fmced to K-.i\i- Si.im too soon, fo|- India w.is hei kon-
in^' us, .md w e knew w e must not f.iil to re.ich Sue/ in M.ircli.
( )ur first and second d.iys from Si.im to .siiv^.ipore- were he.uitiful
.md };ave us delii^ht when we w.itJied the sweet sunsets, so dilfer-
eiit on this sea from ,iny we e\er before saw. Theii' was iioiu of
the ;,;ori;ious red-puri)le, )tllow, .md oranj^c, and ;.;old of our ow n
unp.ir.iileled .\meric.in sunsets. Hut, on tlu' other hand, one
sees the soft pe.irl-white of the sky, meltinj^ into an oran|.;e\ellow
so delicate, so soft and evanescent, that one almost holds his
hre.itli lest it ^'o before it is fixed upon the eye; then this l)lend-
iui^ into ,t purple-rose, as soft and melting' as the tints of ,1 be.iu-
tilul wom, Ill's e.ir. \'ou turn your he, id for a moment, .md .1
li'^ht ^au/y cloud h.is llo.ited by, ami has become a web of pink
ami rose, oi.iiv^e ,ind _\ellow, and violet and purple, the most
ilelicate of these sever.il colors, and ch.m^iii;^' .md v.mishini,' like
the tints on ,in op.d's breast, or the dyes in .1 mother-of-pe.irl
shell. The tints a!iil coiorini^, while moment. iril\' distinct, defineil
.md brilliant, yet v.mish so r.ipidly, or rather melt so (piickly into
others, tli.it tl;e\- pioiluce the effect of st)ftest neutral dyes.

llfi

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14^

A RACE WITH rilF. SUN.

A.i

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Wluii wc rcaclifd tlic parallel of I'oint Caiiibotlia a heavy sea
was mllinj,' from tlic far cast. The llaatf, of only 600 tons,
n.ikid like a craillc. Our 250 cattlt.-. tied in rows ali.nj,' the open
deck, ^lid and fell and suffereil badly, aiul we three passen^-ers
p.i-ised as unpleasant a nijjht as I ever had on a sea. Ihere was
little rest and scarcely any sleep. The third daj- was overcast
with sliL,dit r.iin. At noon we were on the fourth jiarallel, and
were boundiiiL; in a smoother s<'a toward the e(|u,itor. When
the sun went down and the black ni^dit set in we saw a clearer
liorizon toward the east. I lay on the deck and watched the
patches of brilliant starry sky stcai from und'.-r the chjuds, and
before the moon rose there was over me the wondrous mass of
blazing; suns nowhere seen except within the eipiatorial re_i,'ions.
The milky way was swallowed up in the fulness of starh'i^ht, but
athw.irt the zenith was the mit;hty belt of starry worlds lilinkin^
and twinklini; in countless mass. To the M)ut)ieast rose Jupiter,
fl.ishin^ in blue antl diamond (lame so brii^htl)- tli.it a path of silver
lay between him and us along the .sea. Then, much farther to
the south, came another lar}.'e i)Ianct, it, too, m.ikiii;j; a broad
pathw.iy of lij.;ht toward our sliij). At 11:30 I looked three-
(juarters of a point toward the east of our stern, and coulil ju>t
see the north star, the j^nnde and beacon for countless millions in
the northern half of the workl. lie w.is hardly as hi^li as my
head above the horizon. I looked to the south, and a few points
westwartl from our bow the threat southern cross, seen by my
lon^in^j eyes for the fust time, Inirst into view. In two months
and a few days I will have seen the lii;lit thr<in;^hout 63 years,
yet will cojifess to an intense boyish enlhusi.ism when I thus
looked now to my ri^ht at the liijht set in tin.- sky far off toward
the -outh pole, and then to my left, aiul there huni; the one over
the northern pole — the north st.ir. — etern.d be. icons lij^hted by
the one mij^hty Maker and Ruler over all thiiiLjs, anil throut;h(Hit
this world's mi^'hty fli,i,dit through the realms of etern.il and
boundless space, the f^uides and leadinij stars of countless millions
of men since litjht w.is ordeied ; ami will yet be beacons f(ir count-
less nullions more, until the one unknown an<.l unknowable Ruler
shall put out the lights, and measureless space shall be filled
with 111' aMireless nothing.

I w. Itched and wonilere i in intensest awe — an awe too deep for
dreams. I did not dream, I did not think. I c<nild only sit a
silent nothing in the midst of a silent immensity of all things,
s})reail over me and under me aiul all around me; around ;iiul
over me a miglit) maj) of eternity— eternity of space and eternity
of time. Presently a deep red spot crept over the eastern hori-
zon, and then the moon spread over our world a gentle light.
The stars paled, and soon ne.irl\- all had hidden behind the veil
of light spri'.ui over the world b\- its silver)- s.itellite. I looked
and looked again, then sighed and went — to bed.

;•

CIIAni.K XVI.

,sIMiAI'(1Ki:— r.OTANIC.M, (.AkhlA— A SAII, 111 KCH'* .1 1 1111

MM. A Ak( iiiri;i.A(;()— ITS i;.\(jiisi ik iikautv—

CIIK A(.() 1>1,AN1)S— Till'; KlilAlOK.

lllo.

Bay of fieiij^al, near Rangoon ^ Hunna/i, /)ir. 21, 18S7.

AflAIN I :iin wiitiiiLj wliilf oil tlu; u iiit;. 'I'liis time ,il)(>;ir(l tlic
^tc•.lIn■^llil) Stttiiii/rii, (iiu- nf ;i line which sails cviiy \\\ihuN(l,iy
from Sin^MiJorc to (."alciitta, stoppiiiL; one day at I'cnaii;^ and four
at Rangoon. Travellers from Chin. i to India usually continue on
till' ;^'re.it mail ships to ("olomho, C"i-\-lon, and, after seeini,' well
th.it island of s])ice, };o to Cileutt.i l)y another ship, callin;^' .it
M.idiMs. We expected to follow the be.iten track anil t,d<e the
r. vS.: < ). steamer on Momlay. I made the present dellection for
sever.d re.isons; I'irst, we .ire desirous of h.nini; a peep at lUir-
mah ; ;md. secoiully. of .^oin;^ throuL;h southern Iiuli.i. Wi; hope
now, afti r rmishiti<r the threat tourist routes of India, lo dr.ip
down from Homh.iy throu-^h the Decern to 'liiticorin ne.ir
( '.ipi: (ormorin, and over to Ceylon, .md tiuiue direct l_v to Suez.
In this wa_\- we -will do C'eylon the last thint; in the f.ir I".,ist ;
thirdly, we found we were in the middle of the r.iiny se.ison, the
clouds emptxinL; delui^es two or three times a ilay. We would
proh.ihl)' tliid the same clim.itic conditions .imoni,' the cinn.iiiion-
^roves i.f Ceyh'n, where. IS the List of l-'ebru.iry will ])r'>l)al)ly
^ive di\- we.itlur ill til, it loc.ilit)' ; ;ind I.istly, we pined t" str.id-
ille the iipi.itor, which w.is impossiMe if wc sailed on Mond.iy.
Therefore .ire we sle.imini,' north over l)e.iiitiful se.is on the e.ist
shore of the l^iy of jiene.il, hut .it .1 most disj^ustiiv^dy slow p.ice.

Arriviiv,; .it SinL;.tpore from Siam the mornin;^ of the ,S(h
t^Thur^d.iy) we 111. ule ourselves as comfort. ihle as possible with
the thermometer hij^h in the .'^o's, ;iiul with precious little breeze
blowini;. In the afternoon we called upmi Major Studer loiir
kinddiearti d I'liitonic consul I, who li.is been lure 17 ye.irs, anil
is ,is full .if inform. itiou alxuil this loc.ilit\- as he is runnini;
over with rheum. iti-^ni. lie was sent here by (ir.mt and li.is
II. 't been r< moved by H.iy.iiii, ,uid is thoroughly s.itisfied as to
the short-^i;.;lite(lness of Coneress in not iii.ikinL; more ample
provision Un the consular service. 1 would be, too. were I a
consul or miiii--ter. It is idle to s,iy there .are plenty at home
who would i;iidly fill their pl.ices. That is true, for what is

149

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IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

M/ ^W ^Jb

/ML// 4i £^ M

1.0

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L4 1Z8

150 ■■
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114

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2.0

L25 111114 III1II.6

Photographic

Sdences

Corporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SM

(716)t72-4S03

'5°

A RACE WITH THE SUX.

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there around whicli the average politician would not take?
But whether the administration be of one or the otlier party, tlic
people want t;v rd service, and want their servants in all coun-
tries respected. This is an inipossibiIit>- hero in the East, with
our consuls living as they do. If Congressmen would
stop up the bung-hole througii which the national treasury
empties itself into the lap of monopoly, thej- would not have
to show a saving at the spigot for the purpose of deluding
their constituents.

Singapore is a pretty town on the soutliern shore of the
island of the same name, which is almost 60 miles in circum-
ference, and is separated by a narrow channel from Jahore,
the extreme southern land of the Malayan peninsula and of
the Asiatic continent. Approaching the town one sees a long
line of two-storied, colonnaded hongs or business-hous'.\s, part
white and part of pale blue. Flanking this at one end is a long
esplanade covered with fine trees, and on the other a couple
of miles of docks and factories. Behind rise hills 100 or 200
feet high. On one of these are the long, white houses of parlia-
ment, half lost in verdure. The town is a thriving one, doing
a large business, and possesses great wealth, much of which is in
the iianils of the Chinese. Tliese people are the Jews of the
East — persevering, indefatigable, and shrewd. They work and
make money, and it matters not whether their gains be large
jr small, they lay by s^mething. They get the highest wages
possible to them, but they will accept any wage rather than be
idle. They have not graduated in that social school which
teaches that there is a dignity in labor which makes it more
honorable to starve or go in rags in idleness than to work at a
]-)ay deemed insufificient. The result is, while the natives in many
lands are strutting with gaunt bellies, John is soberly at work and
quietly filling his purse. Every town from northern Burniah
south and tliroughout the vast Indian archipelago has already
fallen, or is fast falling, into his hantls. Even the farms and
gardens about the towns are becoming his. The little white ants
cat up the houses throughout the Eastern tropics. They burrow
into the heart of every sill, joist, and rafter. They leave the out-
side untouched, but suddenly the house tumbles in ; the timbers
have become simple shells. The Chinese are the human white
ants of the east. They burrow or live in the light or in the dark,
and are fast eating out the heart and substance of foundation,
joist, antl framework of the industrial fabric of many peo])le. I
do not like John, but I fear I am nursing a great admiration for
his sturdy qualities, and am constantly amused by the quiet way
in which he wins in the battle for bread.

When the //(rr;A'drop]ied her anchor in port on the 8lh slv.- was
immediately boarded by boatmen to carry us and our traps ashore.
We always make our bargain in advance, and asked how much.

TWILIGHT AND DA \VN.

151

"One dollar and a half," said a stately Indian ; " a dollar," said
another ; both too hij^h. But not a cent would the dignified
gentlemen drop. A couple of Chinamen stepped up and quietly
said 60 cents, and before we could answer had our bay<;age on
their shoulders. The Indians smiled grimly, and said: "China-
men cheat you," and stalked off in half-naked dignity. John did
try to get some more from us at the hotel, but when we refused
he went off contented. I have had a half-dozen or more exam-
ples of this kind. They are the cashiers, clerks, and porters of all
the banks and great houses throughout this land, and are found
reliable beyond any other people. I do not like them, but I can-
not help admiring them, and if I were an Oriental I would fear
them.

The island of Singapore is said to have a population of from
160,000 to 200,000. About 2,000 are Europeans. Of the remain-
der, more than half are Chinese, a third Malay, the balance peo-
ples from different parts of India, Java, and other islands. The
place is on the highway from Europe to China through the Suez
Canal, and has since the opening of the latter become of great
commercial value. The little rajahship of Jahorc is governed, by
grace of her imperial Majesty's ministers, by a " sultan," who be-
longs to England body and soul, and is holding his dominion for
its absolute dropping into England's lap whenever she may deem
it for her gcod. In the meantime he most hospitably receives
all Englishn.en and Americans who have a desire to air their heels
before a monarch. Of all the tuft-hunters I know, Americans are
the worst. O Lord ! how the smile of a king or a prince docs
melt far down into our hearts ! With a lord we are happy, but a
prince wafts us off into the seventh heaven. Like all the balance,
Johnny, Willie, and I would have gone to pay our court to the
tawnj- little potentate, but, unfortunately, he was up in Malacca.

Jahore and Singapore islands are going quite extensively into
coffee planting. The Liberian plant, the one adopted, is one of
the most beautiful of shrubs. It has the densest of foliage, and is
of the richest green. The berry, like the fig, grows from the
large branches directly, and not from the twigs of the coffee tree.
The mass of pods clustering about a branch is wonderful. Clove
plantations, another of the industries here, are very beautiful.
The tree is conical, with pale-green, waxy leaves; the )-oung
shoots, however, being of a purple pink, at a little distance look out
as if abloom.

The morning after our arrival we were up a little after five. A
streak of light had appeared in the east, which rapidly extenileil
into a mild dawn, and before half of the hour had passed it was
bright, and yet the sun did not rise until after si.\'. I cannot
understand why the tropical twilight is so short and the dawn so
much longer. When the sun sets darkness, like an exhalation
from the earth, immediately spreads its panoply over all nature.

If i

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15a

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

Scarcely have the sun's rays departed from the hills before the
stars peep out, and but for their light all would be in a few min-
utes pitchy black. Vet the next morning the chickens come from
their roosts a half-hour before sunrise, and the most delicious
time of the day is opened. The same causes which make twilight
short should do the like for the dawn. With the dawn at Singa-
pore appear the horses of the rich Europeans, led for exercise
about the esplanade by their half-naked Malay grooms. Then
come Chinamen, pacing along with a Newfoundland-dog gait, car-
rying suspended to the two ends of bamboo poles baskets of
vegetables for market, and near by is a string of carts drawn by
beautiful hump-backed oxen, with gray or tawny hides, horns
pointed almost straight up, and looking at us with eyes as soft as
those of a fawn. Tlie drivers of these carts are Clings, from the
Madras country ; straight as North American Indians, generally
very tall, with long, black hair, and skins of all shades, from the
very dark-brown to a sooty black ; their featuresare generally finely
chiselled, and their forms superb. How their black skins, well
oiled, shine in the morning sun ! They wear only a skirt about
their loins, and look like Apollos cut from ebony. They are the
workers upon the streets, and when the heat of noon is on
them their sweating shoulders and backs look as if they had been
polished.

Immediately after breakfast, which throughout the East for for-
eigners is about nine o'clock, we went to the botanical gardens,
some two miles out of town. Our road was through cocoa-nut
trees and orchards of mangoes. The gardens were a delight to us,
and we were enabled to learn the names of many beautiful trees
we had seen but were not able to designate. The garden is
large, — a part a handsome park, and a part devoted to experi-
mental tree and vegetable growing, and a still larger part yet a
tangled mass of jungle. I wisii I could properly descr'be the trees
and flowers. . There were clumps of sago palms, their mighty
leaves rattling in musical measure as they were swayed back and
forth by the gentle breeze. The Malay wine-palm, with great
leaves of most delicate green, looked cool and refreshing. Wide-
spreading spathalodia, clothed in amass of great red-orange, cup-
like flowers ; large bushes, not labelled, of almost solidly growing
flowers, looking like huge golden chalices; cocoa-nut trees, with
a hundred nuts hanging under their spreading fronds, resembling
huge green roc's eggs; and by their side the slender betel trees,
with clusters of nuts not larger than bantam eggs. And see
yonder low spreading tree, not 25 feet high, and yet shading 100
feet of soil. Wliat bright leaves! Ah, it is the gum copal from
Africa. Fine trees of acacia flamboyant, their leaves as beautiful
as the most delicate ferns, and their tops a-blaze in golden bloom.
Ponds of victoria regina, its leaves resembling mighty platters
spread for a feast of Titans, and with sweet-scented pink flowers

BOTANICAL GARDEN. JOHN BLAIR.

153

a foot across for titanic boutoniiifer.es. Ponds of pink lotus, ^nore
bright far than the Hlies which Solomon could not vie with, and
near by a dozen coal-black swans, so royally proud of their crim-
son bills, and graceful small water-fowl, which would shame even
an English sportsman of his desire to kill. But how the bojs did
enjoy the hedges of wild mimosa, which folded its leaves under
the gentlest touch. They carried them afar, and in fancy they
could see the sweet coyness of a dark or blue-eyed girl in their
far-off homes. Though this park and garden were so interesting,
yet, when we at one time got lost, and had to make our way
through a newly cut path in a dense chaparral, we could not help
remembering that man-eating tigers swim the narrow channel be-
hind the island, and carry off one or more hundred natives every
year, and that not long since a python, 28 feet long, was killed just
after he had swallowed a pig weighing 130 pounds; and, worse
yet, that we were in the belt of the world for venomous snakes,
which cause the death of over 150,000 people every year in India.

Saturday we went to see the machine shops of the Tanjong
Pagar Dock Company. I had a note to Capt. John Blair, the
general manager and superintendent. He went out of his office
with us. It rained. John offered a part of his umbrella. " Oh,
don't mind, there 's one near," and, sure enough, a good-looking
Indian stepped up and held an umbrella over him as he walked.
That umbrella is always ready in sunshine or rain, and the pro-
tected man never has to hoist it. The captain said it was a very
part of himself. I informed him that I had a great desire to
cross the equator, but could not spare ten days to go to Batavia,
and wished to hire a launch to take us down. In the course of the
conversation England's beneficial rule in India was mentioned.
" And yet," I remarked, " she keeps her next neighbor isle, poor
Ireland, in a constant ferment and a blot upon her escutcheon,
and all because the Englishmen could not or would not compre-
hend the Irish character." To my surprise and delight I found I
had at last met a Briton who was a Gladstone man — the first one
I have seen since we sailed from Vancouver. I have felt my way
again and again, but every Englishman, Irishman, and Scotchman
I have seen in the East either was or pretended to be an intense
Tory. They nearly all depend more or less upon tlie ruling party
at home, and many of them speak of Parnell as if he were a regular
anarchist, and pronounce Gladstone an infernal scoundrel. But
burly, handsome John lilair, of Alloa, Clackmannanshire, I found
to be an enthusiastic admirer of England's great Liberal leader;
this was probably the secret of his telling me to be ready at
Johnston's pier at 1 1 o'clock Monday, and he would have a tug
or a launch there for us to run to the equator.

Sunday, in the rain, we dro\'e out to Major Studer's bungalow.
He lives in a beautiful spot, shaded with tropical verdure. But
the air was as heavy as it is in a glass fernery. Tropical verdure

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154

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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is a glorious thing, but I begin to yearn for one good sniff of
frozen win !.

At 1 1 o'clock Moniiay, with our satchels and some hampers of
solids and fluids, in a launch 40 feet long, with three Malay sea-
men, two Chinese engineers, and all under a marine engineer, Mr.
Pfaderup, a Dane, we ste'mcd from Singapore in quest of that
line whicli is the earth's girdle, and yet sits so loosely about her
waist that it continue iisly, through the ages, grows bigger and
bigger under the gentle pressure. I know this will appear a
wild-goose chase, or worse. ]iut we were only 70 odd miles from
the equator. We wanted to put those 70 odd miles behind us,
and to feel we were on the southern hemisphere. Even that
sturdy Scot, John ]}lair, of Alloa, Clackmannanshire, did not look
at me as if he thought me a fool when I named my longing. He
saw our youthful fire, and became himself enthused, and gave us
a launch.

Across the Singapore .strait, and spreading over the sea to the
south and to the east of Su'Matra, lies the Rhio-Linga archipelago.
The islands of Battam and Bintang, both quite large, lie along
the strait. Behind these arc a vast number of small islands, said
to be 1,000, of all sizes, from those containing several thousand
acres down to tiny ones not many feet in diameter. Some of the
larger ones have hills several hundred feet high ; the smaller ones
are comparativeh' new coral structures. After passing through a
group of these there comes an open sea, probably 15 miles across,
where a new group similar to those at the north lie like emerald
gems on the water, and run down to and about Linga. These
all belong to the Dutch, but are under the immediate sway of
Sultan Abooal Rachman and his father. Rajah Mohammed Joe-
seep. They acknowledge the supremacy of the king of Holland,
who has at Rhio a " Resident," who keeps watch and ward for
his king.

Capt. Blair told me at parting that we might not get much
pleasure from our introduction to the equator, but that we would
have the most beautiful sail in the world. But even this left me
rather unprepared for the beauty we were to enjoy. Our launch
was swift. The day was glorious. Fleecy clouds were scattered
over the heavens from, zenith to horizon — not enough to shut out
the soft blue sky, but every few moments veiling the sun and
sheltering us from his too hot rays. The speed of our craft gave
us a gentle breeze, and, above all, we were in the highest spirits.
We entered the archipelago through a narrow pass opjjosite Singa-
pore, and hour after hour were in the midst of scenes of surpass-
ing loveliness. Now we were on a broad lake a mile in diameter,
mirroring upon its placid waters the islands around. These were
fringed all along the water's edge with mangrove trees of beauti-
ful green, their roots standing in the water six to ten feet high
like spider legs beneath the bodies of the trees. Thev looked

A SAIL THROUGH RHIO-LINGA ARCHIPELAGO. 155

like monster insects, and when the swell on the glass-smooth
water from our little craft would run toward them, their thousands
of long legs would be reflecteil, and would bend and dance upon
the mirrory waves. Above and behind this fringe the islands
would lift 50, 100, or 200 feet, clothed in dense forests, their leafy
tops so thick ami bunched tiiat they looked like masses of emerald
spun and then woven into tufted fabrics. Some tropical travellers
speak of the sameness of the green about the equator, and declare
it greatly inferior to the variety shown in northern zones. So far
I have not found this well founded — certainly not in these l,0OO
islands. There was every tint, from pale pea-green to one that
was almost black in its wa.vy depth ; from the ashy dye of the
olive leaf to the transparent emerald green caught from the breast
of a breaking sea wave.

From the fairy lakes there would apparently be no outlet — all
was landlocked. But see yonder little creek ! VVe bend into it,
and scudding along a narrow green sea-river, lo I the creek
spreads, and there before us lifts a conical little island, with a
narrow shore-line of golden sands. Then into another lake stud-
ded with little islets, some barely large enough to furnish foot-
hold for a single tree, whose spreading branches kiss the rippling
waters beneath. One could almost fancy he saw a boat of
mother-of-pearl shell moored to a twig, with a fairy occupant
sleeping in tlie shade. Now and then we passed close to native
villages on some of the larger islands, with low pahn-walled and
palm-roofed huts lifteil upon bamboo piles, and children laughing
and romping in the cocoa-nut groves in which the village would
be nestled, livery hut in this land is lifted up as a protection
against venomous serpents and carnivorous beasts, and for cool-
ness. Tigers swim from island to island, and have a tooth for
young luunan flesh.

Sometimes tlie villages were piled out over the water ; about
these, tiny fishing canoes, with a shining native in each, were to
be seen gliding about and among the spidery roots of the man-
grove trees, through which the rays of the sun never pierce. If
it be not the loveliest sail in the world, it was certainly the most
so of any I hail enjoyed. The Thousand Islands of the St.
Lawrence and the inland sea of Japan are as much inferior to
this as they are superior to the islands in the upper Mississippi.

England may claim to hold the golden land of India, but Hol-
land holds the gems of the sea.

Rhio we found a very pretty place. It has been the seat of a
Resident for 102 years, and the houses of the Dutch inhabi-
tants, perhaps 100 people, have an air of sedate comfort not seen
in any other place we have visited. I had a letter to the Resi-
dent, Mr. Halewijn, from the Dutch Consul-General at Singa-
pore. In our flannel shirts we did not feel at liberty to call.
But, passing by his house, we saw him in his grounds in light

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A RACE WITH THE SUN".

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dishabille. We thereupon ventured to pjo in and introduce our-
selves. We were received most cordially, and went upon the
cool veninda, floored with liyht Italian marble tiles. Here we
partook of a collation. The sun dropped behind the curtain of
the west and darknesscamcsuddcniy on, when servants lighted the
swin<^int^ lamps and we found ourselves in one of the most charm-
ing tropical residences one can conceive of. A lofty veranda, 50 to
Co feet long and, say, 20 odd deep. Behind this a salon or par-
lor of same size, and separated from the veranda only by open
columns. Behind this the bedrooms and the offices, all on one
floor. The ceilings were lofty, and the whole floored in Italian
marbles. Nothing can exceed it for chaste and cooling design.
We were most cordially invited to stay and dine, but wc felt we
could not accept in the garb we wore.

Imagine our dismay (that is, of the boys), and my pleasure,
when Mis., Halewijn, a very pretty young lady, dressed in ele-
gant evening costume, entered and was introduced. She came
to honor us, but I suspect was dressed for a handsome young
gentleman from Java, who shortly called, I suppose having pre-
viously left his card. He had come over on a steamer plying to
Singapore. We spent a most charming hour and left with re-
gret, but we knew dinnet must be nearly ready. His Excellency
gave me photos of the Sultan, of the Rajah, whose palace is on
a small island a half-mile off Rhio, and one of himself.

We slept that night at a little hotel which is supported by the
government, for travel is rare. I will here make a note of two
things. The bread was nu st delicious — I mentioned it, and was
told the " Resident " had given orders that if the bread of the
village should be <at any time bad he would punish the baker.
We threw up our hats for the good-sense of the Resident of his
Majesty of Holland.

The other point is this : At Singapore and in this hotel we had
no top sheets on the beds. No one sleeps under any other cover
than the mosquito bar; but lengthwise on the bed is a firm bol-
ster three or four feet long. This is to lay the leg or arm, or
both, over, so as to permit free circulation of air and to keep the
sleeper cool. It is a Javanese-Dutch invention, and is called a
" Dutch wife." A strange misnomer, if my recollection of Dutch
wives be not at fault. For I certainly never saw one in flesh and
blood whose contact could possibly keep a bed-fellow cool in hot
weather. Hut whether misnamed or not I cordially commend
the inanimate " Dutch wife " to every man in a hot climate.

The next morning very early, while our tanks were being filled
with fresh water — the launch could not use that of the sea — we
strolled about the town. It is certainly a charming place for one
who cares not for contact with the world, to spend his days in,
and carried me back in memory to Robinson Crusoe, and the
Swiss Family Robinson. Not that one sees no people, for the

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WE WERE ON THE EQUATOR.

157

town has several thousand inhabitants — a considerable quarter
is built out over the sea tenanted exclusively by the Chinese, —
but on account of the delicious morning atmosphere and the
fine tropical fruits. With the exception of the Chinese quarter
the bulk of the town is of scattered houses among groves of
palm and mango and mangostine. We ate mangoes and man-
go Uines, the two famed fruits of the East, and ripe in India
proper only in the spring. This was to me a fine sensation.
I am a great lover of fruit, and would go far to taste a new
and good one, and had feared I should not have a chance at
these two. They were freshly plucked, and yet cool from the
heavy dew. We also drank the cool water from green cocoa-
nuts, just brought down from their nests above. This was not
all new to us, but it was the first experiment with one we
knew was just gathered. The balmy breeze coming in from
the north was simply perfect.

We were soon steaming off toward the Linga group of
islands, separated from those of Rhio by a somewhat open sea
of 15 to 20 miles. The day was again fine. Pretty fish were
leaping and skipping upon the waters, which were barely rip-
pled ; one leaped aboard. The northern group of islands began
to sink below the horizon, and then those to the south to rise
up like little specks in the air, for the mirage so lifted them
that they seemed to float several feet above the sea. Out of
the sea they would grow as if by magic. Then they would
take form and other more distant ones would break out of the
shining, far-off waters. In three hours we were threading
through another thousand isles and living over again the de-
lights of the day before.

About one o'clock our Malay captain pointed to an island to
the east of tiie northern end of Linga, and called it " Bulu
Bleeding," and told us it was the middle of the world. How
I wished it were midnight. Then we could have taken note of
the stars in the zenith, and could have called them up hereafter
as witnesses of this, our first glide upon the southern hemisphere.
Onward we sailed, our prow still pointed to the south pole, only
a little over 12,000 miles away. We reached a point, and felt that
there, in our frail barge, only a thickness of one inch of oak plank
between us and eternity, we were upon that magic line which
every school-boy knows of, which countless billions of human
people have crossed, and yet no single one has seen. A mighty
belt, 25,000 miles long, of intangible breadth, and yet so powerful
that ocean currents and vast sea-rivers, compared with which the
Amazon, the Mississippi, and the Yang-tse are but feeble brooks,
are turned and bent and forced to change their courses and to flow
off for thousands of miles, carrying health and wealth, warmth
and thaw, to the far-off frozen continents of the north and south.
A line — a mere intangible creation of the brain, — it speaks to the

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J RACE WITH THE SUN.

/ *

sea, and says in whispered tones: " Thus far and no farther shalt
thou go I "and its whispered words arc imperial law, and arc
obcved. The howlinc; winds rush from tiie ic_\- caves of the poles,
carrVini,' death upon their frozen wings, but far away the genie of
this'line lifts up a gossamer web so light that HcrscheH's mighty
lens could not reveal a single one of its meshes ; and yet, before
this jjhantom screen the storm-fiend bows his head, slinks back
into his frozen lair, and the borcan storm melts into a gentle
breeze. A zephyr comes from the sweet zones of the north or of
the south ; it is laden with the breath of spicy groves, and is
redolent with the sighs of fairies bred in the cup of the honey-
suckle and fed upon petals of the rose. It touches this phantom
line with its rosy-tipped fingers, and is hurled back in frightful
change, and is sent crashing and slaying in the monster fury of
cyclone and typhoon. I'ar away in tiie dimness of my boyhood
days I had dreamed and wondered if I should ever stand upon
the equator. My boyhood has long since been spent ; my man-
hood is fast going ; but at last, at last my dream is reality ! Wc
stop the engine and tloat ujion the gently rip})Iing sea ; wc dream
a sweet short dream, and feel that our barge is moored to the
mighty girdle of the. world. Wc dream and dream, and with a
sigh change our course and tear ourselves away.

We bend again to the north. We leave the tall mountain of
Linga behind. We pass close to a more than usually pretty
island of a few hundred acres and some 150 feet high in its loftiest
point. There is no evidence of its being inhabited. Wc try to
land, but find treacherous coral reefs a few feet below the surface
at each point we attempt, and are about to abandon our design,
when we see two tiny canoes stealing along at a distance. We
steam towards them and call them to us. They are native fisher-
men from an island near bj', and pilot us to a point where wc run
within a hundred yards of the shore. Then, one by one, wc, with
Haderup, go off in their boats. The little canoe sank to within
two inches of the surface under mj' 200 and odd pounds. We are
told the island has no name and no inhabitants. We wander
about the beach gathering beautiful little shells and bits of coral
not too heavy to carry home as souvenirs. There were some fine
specimens of the negro-head or brain corals, and some with large
branching antlers. We had to leave them; they were too heavy.
Wc amused ourselves watching the little hermit-crabs chasing
about with shell-houses over them. The crab finds a little conch
or periwinkle-formed shell which suits his fancy ; he cats the
mussel out of his home and backs himself into it, tail foremost,
and lives there the balance of his days, or until he grows too big
for his stolen house, when he goes out to steal a bigger one.
They stick their feet out of the opening, and move nearly as fast
as they do without the shell. When attacked or alarmed they
draw in their bodies and barely the large claws are visible. When

iy£: CHRISTEN AN ISLAND.

<59

backed in, their two larj^e claws so perfectly fit the mouth of the
shell that one can scarcely ^ali/.e that it was not made for its
inmate Some of these slu.lls, beini^ very prctt\', we wanted ; we
put them into our pockets; the little robber crabs, finclin,i; them-
selves in ilaiii^erous quarters, came out of their houses and crawled
from our pockets. Some of the shells so tenanted are not larger
than small snail shells, others are as large as an a])ple.

How we hated to tear ourselves away from this charming spot !
The strand was only a few yards wide, a mass of coral sands and
beautiful shells, and broken corals of various sizes. A high
bluff lifted from this, a part of it of purple rocks, of considerable
boldness; lofty trees hung down from the bluffs. Their large
branches were covered with several varieties of orchids and
trailing vines. Low palms and plants with huge spikes like the
aloe made the jungle almost impenetrable. We d.ire not attempt
to penetrate it ; we knew not what venomous reptiles might
be hiding among them. Our Malays said there were none. A
pretty little stream trickled down the bluff, giving us cool, pure
water. It, however, was not perennial, but flowed only in the
rainy season; otherwise the island would have been inhabited.
We ate a little lunch and drank to loved ones on the other side of
the globe. We thought it probable that we were the first white
men whose feet had ever trod this island. Why not take posses-
sion of it in the name of the United States? Hut we had no flag.
We attempted to improvise one. We cut strips of red and blue
paper in which our wine and beer bottles were wrapped. We
pinned these to a large sheet of white paper, but we could not
make the stars. Luckily I had in my satchel a piece of paper
with the Chicago seal and motto printed upon it. We fastened
it to our flag. But this was hardly Uncle Sam's ensign. We
resolved this should, for the time being at least, be the Chicago
flag. We fastened it to a tree quite securely. Then we all took
a pull at the claret bottle, and pouring some upon the soil, called
the island "Chicago," and formally took possession of it in the
name of our own ])roud city. To seal the matter we fired a
volley of 38 shot from our two revolvers and my little two-
barrelled Derringer. We left the flag. Long maj' it stick to the
far-off " Chicago " near the equator in the Rhio-Linga archipel-
ago ! We were then paddled aboard, and as the sun was hurrying
toward our own land we steamed for port nearly 80 miles
away. We drew into Rhio for water. We called upon the Resi-
dent for a moment, and told him we had named one of his
islands after our own proud city. He was as much pleased as
amused. All night we sailed, not among the islands, but the
shorter way, followed by larger craft through the broader straits.
The boys lay down and slept. Mr. Haderup and I dozed in cat-
naps, and watched the stars. There was no moon, and the
heavens about midnight were ablaze with stars. The clouds all

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A RACE WTTFI TJ/E SUN.

disappeared. TIic pole-star was just visible on the horizon at

tile north. The true and tlie false cross rolled around in tiieir

little circuit.-! far on the southern horizon. The Maijellan clouds

were seen by me for the first time — yellow luminous circles of

cloud-dust far to the south. Orion and Sirius rode across the

zenith, and might)' Jupiter shone forth in resplendent brii^htness —

large and brighter than a full moon. It was a glorious night,

following two glorious tlays. We reached the pier near our hotel

at 5: 15, just as the dawn broke out of it.; hiding-place in the east.

We had enjoyed two glorious days and a glorious night. We

had stood over the equator. The boys had not slid down upon it,

as they threatened to do. But all three of us had been filled with

fresh enthusiasm. Even Mi. Iladerup, who had crossed the line

many a time, caught the contagio.i, and brought us his photo on

the ship when she sailed. In the forenoon I went to Captain

Hlair's ofTice to p,ay for our pleasure. He refused to accept a

cent, but permitted me to leave a small sum to his men. He

seemed ver\ riuch to enjoy the pleasure he had afforded us, and

when he gave my hand a warm grasp v,ith his good-by, he said :

" Stand up for Gladstone." "I wili," I replied, "and for Parnell

and Ireland too."

CHAPTER WU.

* h\

BUKMAII—I'.UIODAS— WORKING ELEPHANTS— THE IKKAWADDV

RIVER— rAC.AlIN WITH (j.w) rA'JUUAS- MAM >AI,AV—

EX()l'ISITE EUH'TCr. -THE HL'KMEM..

Culiutla, yanuary I, 1888.

We sailed the afternoon of the i.|Lh of December, 1887, from
Singapore, for Rangoon in Burmali. Had a delightful smooth sea
to Pcnang, at the northern end of the strait of Malacca, where we
stopped for several hours. This is one of England's colonies, and
an important point both for national and commercial purposes. It
is on an island some 40 odd miles in circumference with a popu-
lation of a hundred and odd thousand, mostly Chinese and Malays,
a few thousand Indians and 100 or 200 Europeans. We vis-
ited its botanical gardens and water-fall. The latter is very
pretty ; a good-sized stream coming from a mountain over 2,000
feet high in the centre of the island, tumbles several hundred
feet — about 200 being in three cascades. It furnishes the
town with fair water. At the fall we saw for the first time wild
monkeys. They were springing from bough to bough on tlie
trees, like frisky squirrels, and were some the size of large cats,
others as large as good-sized terriers. After playing a while they
would stop, and, like true monkeys, go to catching fleas from e^ch
other. One had a baby in her arms ; this did not prevent htr
leaping 10 to 20 feet.

The climb of 2,200 feet to the top of the hills was well paid for
by the magnificent view. The strait with its many islands and the
mainland beyond with its large cocoa-nut groves and mountain
background made a picture of unusual beauty. No voyagciir
should miss it. The weather thence continued fine and the sea
smooth — about as warm as a mild May day in Chicago.

On the 20th we anc'.ored at Rangoon, the capital of British or
lower Burmah, which ull into England's lap in 1852. At that
time it was a poor place, only celebrated for its great pagoda. It
lies on the Irrawaddy, about 35 n,Ues from the mouth and has
doubled its population several times within the past 35 years ; it
is the great shipping port of the two Burmahs ; doing a trade of
nearly $100,000,000 a year. In rice exportation it stands to the
world as Odessa did, and Chicago does in wheat, and sent abroad
last year not much under 1,000,000 tons. It also exports vast

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l62

A RACE WITH 7 HE SUN.

quantities of " kutcli," the brown dye which is supposed to pre-
serve nets and sails from rot. This dye is from a sort of gum
obtained by boiHng down the heart wood of a species of acacia.
Hides, teak timber, and horns are also exported largely. There
are about 400 Europeans residing here. They have handsome
bungalows surrounded by large grounds ; move in considerable
style, and do their business in fine houses. Some of the Chinese
have substantial places of business. The remainder of the town
is of frail light frame huts, with walls of plaited bamboo, and
roofed with palm thatch or leaf shingling.

The first thing we did was to visit the Schway Dagohr Pyar,
or Golden Pagoda. This is one of the most sacred of the ]^ud-
dhist monuments and shrines of Asia, and is claimed to be over
2,000 years old. In it are several of Buddha's hairs and other
relics, and under its foundations are said to be vast treasures
deposited in ages past by those who desired to obtain immortal
" merit " by their gifts to the Buddhist god. Here I will state
that a " pagoda," or " pyar," is not a temple, or of itself a place
of worship, but is simply an offering to God. It is promised that
whoever erects one escapes all loathsome transmigration after
death, and reaches an immortality of absolute rest — a species of
eternal death in life or life in deatl;, or rather a tranquillity so
complete that its serenity I cannot separate from the idea of
death. The mere building of these edifices does not win this
ineffable rest or condition of " nirvana," but it prevents any deca-
dence of the soul after death, and thus enables a man in some
near future existence, by a life of purity, to obtain the condition.
A man may live the greater portion of his life in purity, but one
or more backslidings may send his soul after his death into some
of the more degraded animals, and then thousands of years may
be passed before it again enters a human being, when a life of
piety can again be commenced. All cf this danger is avoided,
by building a proper pyar. This induces men to accumulate
wealth and to spend it all in one of these pious offerings. The
result is there arc thousands upon thousands of them in the land.
There are said to be 25,000 within a few miles of the Irrawaddy.

The Golden Pagoda of Rangoon stands upon a hill in the edge
of the town. About 170 feet up from its base, the hill is levelled
of? into a platform 800 feet square. In the centre of this stands
the main structure. It is octagonal at its base, with a diameter of
over 450 feet. This runs in, by a succession of terraces or high
steps, a hundred cr more feet, giving it a bell-shape. From the
shoulder of the bell springs another circular member, also in the
bell form, but more steep ; then another. On // lifts a tall, thin,
four-sided lantern, on which rests the " htce," or open-work metal-
lic receptacle for sacred mementos. The " htee " is surmounted
by a half-open metallic umbrella. The whole height from the
platform is 370 feet. Around the base are 56 small pagodas

THE GREAT PAGODA.

163

about 30 feet high. The whole of the main structure is solid, of
well-burned brick, covered over with cement plaster, and gilded
from foundation to pinnacle. The upper half is freshly gilt, the
scaffolding being removed while we were there. At a distance
the whole, when the sun is sinking, looks like a mountain of gold.
The htee is said to be of solid gold and studded with real gems,
and was erected by a late king at a cost of $250,000.

To repair an ordinary pagoda does not work " merit " for the
one making the repair, but the merit is relegated to the original
founder. But any repairs to this pagoda, and to three others m
the kingdom, avail for " merit " to the repairer. The result is
these three are kept in good condition. Around the platform are
a number of smaller pagodas, and many chapels and kyoungs
or temples for worship. These are filled with statues of Ikiddha
in gilded plaster or white alabaster. IMany of them are much
larger than life. The kyoungs arc of wood, — some of two only,
others of seven stories. These latter taper inward as they rise,
each story receding behind the one below, and each being also of
lep'5 height than the one under it. They, too, arc surmounted by a
lantern-shaped member and an umbrella, and arc a mass of beau-
tiful carvings — fringes of net pattern, scrolls of flower pattern,
rows of little figures, men, animals, and birds, ail of wood, carved
with a free hand, and generally very graceful in spite of their
grotesque postures. When I say these structures are often seven
stories in height, I refer entirely to the apparent exterior archi-
tecture, for within they are open from top to bottom. The
kyoungs invariably have a pagoda attachment, either of the
conical form and of brick or a tall wooden building with the
many stories, and the metallic htee, or umbrella, surmounting the
whole. The kyoungs oftentimes consist of many buildings, and
are a species of monastery, in which the priesthood live and devote
themselves to study and holy meditation. A pagoda, however,
may have, and in the greater number of cases, has no kyoung
attachments. They are simply and purely offerings, and fre-
quently have the ashes of the founder buried beneath them and
occasionally some so-called relics of Buddha stored in the
htee. They are often built on uninhabited and uninhabitable
spots.

Every Burman has to pass through the priesthood. High and
low, rich and poor must don the " yellow robe," shave the head,
and live upon alms during a more or less lengthy period of life,
generally, I think, three years. Even kings are not exempt.
Little yellow-robed boys are constantly seen going from house to
house with their rice-pots in quest of food for their respective
kyoungs. These are novitiates learning their humanities, and do not
generally continue in the order. Some however remain for years and
many for life. The latter escape the degradation of bestial trans-
migration, and if they be good " pohn-gyees" (priests), have a fair

,it

164

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

chance of soon entering upon a state of nirvana — that is to say,
blissful, eternal rest or conscious, comtemplative death. After
our return from Mandalay we spent several hours at the Golden
Pyar, now resplendent in its new garment of gold. So thor-
oughly well-proportioned is it, that at first one does not realize its
vast size or great height. The view from it is very fine. The city
lies nearly veiled in tropical trees, and immediately around is a
large park with fine drives and lakes studded with pretty islands.
These lakes cover many acres ; are irregular in shape and artificial
in construction. They were made long since by throwing dykes
across some ravines, and arc the reservoirs for the city, furnishing
an abundant supply of pure water, carried in pipes and available
in street hydrants, but without much head.

Early the next day after our first arrival in the city, while yet
cool, we visited one of the decided lions of the city — the work-
ing elephant. Formerly these were very numerous, being the
hc-iivy workers in timber-)-ards and great saw-mills. Machinery
has now supplanted uicm in ail establishments run by foreigners.
In each of the native mills, however, where small orders arc filled,
two of the noble beasts yet perform the heavy laborwhich human
hands unassisted could scarcely manage. We visited some of
these tlie .second time on our return from up country, and were
greatly interested. The elephants draw the logs many of them
tliree feet in diameter and 30 to 40 feet long, from the river, pile
them up in systematic order, and when they are needed roil them
to the wa)S and assist in adjusting them for the saw. Lumber is
not here sawed into boards, but the slab is taken off antl the good
stuff left in square timber to be ripped up into boards where con-
sumed, oris cut into scantling or studding. This is done both for
home consumption and for exportation. After the log is thus cut,
the elephant goes among the machinery, takes the slabs away, and
then carries the good timber and piles it up or lays it gently upon
the ox-carts to be hauled off. A carpenter while wc were present
wanted lumber from a particular log which was under several
others. One of the monsters rolled the upper logs off and pushed
the chosen stick to the mill. The way was not clear — the log
butted against the others. He pushed these aside and guided his
piece through them with a sagacity almost human. His stick
became wedged. He pushed and tugged ; it would not budge, but
at a whispered word from the mahout and the promise of a bit
of nice food he bent to it. Still it stuck. With a whistle audible
for a quarter of a mile, he got on his knees, straightened out his
hind legs, and put his whole force to it. He was successful. We
could almost read his satisfaction, in the gentle flaps of his huge
ears and the graceful curve of his proboscis as he put it up to the
mounted mahout, asking his reward.

Sticks, over two feet thick and 20 feet long are lifted up bodily
upon the great ivories, and are then carried off and laid upon the

SAGACIOUS ELEPHANTS.

i6s

gangways so gently as not to make a jar. One stick 22 inches
thick and 22 feet long we saw carried in this way. In carrying
this the beast had a path not three feet wide among masses
of loose logs. He had to plant his fore-feet upon the latter and
thus walk a considerable distance. He looked as if he were
walking upon his hind legs. The cornei of a frail little bamboo
hut stood in his way. He lifted the log over the roof, and bent
his body so that his sides gently scraped the corner of the house
and did not shake it. A hundredth part of his weight would have
caused it to topple from its pile foundation. He was ordered to
carry off a pile of 4 x 6 pieces 10 to 15 feet long. He ran his tusks
under quite a number. The mahout told him that was not
enough. He tried again, and probably doubled his load. His
driver gave him a fierce prod with his iron hook over the fore-
head. With a shriek of rage he sent his ivories under the pile and
threw his snout over the top. He had to get on his knees to get
the load up. It was a decent dray-load. As he passed us, perched
on a pile of logs, we moved away, for we thought there was
blood in his eye and that he might dump the load on the foreign-
ers. But when he came back he stopped before us, got on his
knees, bowed three times, and held out his snout to us for a
gratuity. I pitched a coin to the mahout. He whispered to the
beast that his elephantship would get a part of it. This seemed
satisfactory, for he snuffed up a pint of dust, blew it over his big
rump, and marched off for a bath in a mud-hole not far away.
Each native mill has a pair. They work only in short spells, and
take their rest while feeding in grass-grown mud-ponds.

In Mandalay we saw quite a number belonging to the English
commissary department. They were formerly King Thebaw's.
One of them had a little baby only 34 inches long. The mother
was chained to a tree. The baby toddled to us and held out his
snout. I tried to catch it. He gave a whistle. I feared the cow
would break loose — she seemed so uneasy and strained so at her
chain. But I got my hand on the little fellow's back and
scratched it. How he wriggled with pleasure ! The mother

When we started off the
The cow blew a
whistle that made us hurry, The little fellow then toddled back
and took a pull at his morning bottle.

On the steamer going to Mandalay, a Mr. Laccy, superintend-
ent of the great Bombay Timber Company, was a fellow passen-
ger. He employs 600 elephants drawing teak logs to the creeks,
several hundred miles up one of the branches of the Irrawaddy.
He has been here many years, and gave me several curious
anecdotes showing the wonderful sagacity of the great monsters.
With the risk of being prolix, I will give some of them, which he
assured me were true.

A mahout (elephant keeper) was addicted to the use of opium.

wriggled with pleasure !
understood the thing and eased up
calf wanted more rubbing and followed us.

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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Orders were given that when the elepliant trains went to the
market village for supplies, this man should remain at an out
station some miles away. The wily fellow had a long talk with
his elephant — tiiey seem to understand Burmese,— and told him
to go to town and get him some opium. Off he went alone, and,
reaching the village, tore around like mad. The villagers went to
the trees. The elephant nosed around, smelt where opium was
stored, took a ball, and trotted to his keeper. This was done a
second time, when the foreman gave orders to the opium vendor
that a small piece of the drug should be given the beast whenever
he came. In this way the mahout was kept on very short
allowance ; the elephant did not seem to comprehend the
necessity of getting a ball, but was satisfied with a small bit.

At another time a logging camp got out of sugar. It was near
a trail along which a pony train to and from China passed. The
mahouts knew a train was near at hand ; one of them explained
to his brute what was wanted, and sent him to intercept the
train. He did so, scared the men to the trees, and scattered the
loads of the ponies. The elephant found some sugar baskets, ate
his own fill — they are very fond of sweets, — and carried ofT a
basket to his keeper.

Each elephant has his individual keeper, but when they go into
camp at close of day they are sent off alone to the jungles for
dry wood, and never fail to bring tlie proper kind. From what I
saw and from many things told us. I am persuaded they have
decided reasoning qualities and are not simply taught tricks by
rote. W'. watciicd tlie performance of several at Rangoon for
two or three hours, and saw evidences of sagacity far surpassing
the little tricks done in the menageries. The mahout sits on a
houdah on the back of the animal. He rarely speaks loud enough
for one to hear him a few feet off. Mr. Lacey believes the
animals understand Burmese. One day he praised one of the
elephants in this language. The animal showed evident pleasure.
He, to test the thing, then spoke disparagingly of him. The
vain monster gave such unmistakable signs of being angry that
the mahout asked Lacey to desist to prevent danger. He
watched closely and could discover no sign or word from the
mahout.

It was on the night of the 22d we boarded at Rangoon the rail-
road train for Promc, several hundred miles up the river, but
only 170 by the air-line road. The first- and second-class cars are
a species of sleepers, a swinging berth being let down over the
seats, which run lengthwise. Each car has two compartments,
with a wash-room attached, and holding four passengers. The
traveller furnishes his own bedding and towels. The first-class
has cushioned seats; the second not. The moon was bright till
midnight, so that we could see the country almost as well as by
day. Up to Promc the land is flat, grows great quantities of rice,

I ERA WADDY RIVER.

167

and has good-sized plantations of bananas, and many scattered
sugar- or toddy-palms. At seven, the 22d, we took a steamer for
Mandalay, up river 300 miles. The river resembles the lower
Mississippi. It is now the dry season, and the stream is nearly
50 feet lower than in the summer. It does not rain in Hurmah
from November to May, and the dry weather changes the coun-
tr>- almost as perceptibly as the winter's frosts do with us. Half
of the trees on the hills, which run down to the river much as on
the Ohio, are nearly as free from leaves as with us in late autumn,
and the grass was dry and parched. On the east bank rolling
lands run back many miles. These look as if they would produce
nothing ; but we arc told tolerable crops could be grown on them.
The river is fringed with beautiful trees — tamarind, sacred ban-
yan, and several varieties of the leguminous family of great beauty.
The stream has a rapid current and a treacherous channel, which
changes so often that native pilots are taken aboard two or three
times a day. But still with these, so rapid arc the changes that,
the steamers dare not run after sunset, even when the moon is at
its brightest. When the sun sets the anchor is dropped, and is
not weighed again until daybreak.

We had been led to expect beautiful scenery along the river,
but were disappointed. The hills are fine, often rising to the
dignity of low mountains, but the foliage was so sparse and the
grasses so parched that we could not call the scenery even good.
To the people of lower Burmah, accustomed to the almost dead
flats of the delta of the Irrawaddy, the upper river may be beau-
tiful, but not to us who have seen so much during the past five
months. About half-way between Prome and Mandalay there is
a stretch of country, for nearly or quite 100 miles, which is almost
desolate. The plains to the east are broken and almost as bare
of trees as those of our Rockv Mountains. W'hat trees do grow
are low and hardly green enough to relieve the eye as it looks
over the yellow-brown hills. The prettiest part of this tract is
where there is an almost dense growth of tree cactus, 6 to 20
feet high and frequently with trunks a foot thick. They were
covered with leaves of bright yellow, and resembled huge, beau-
tifully branched candelabra with burning candles. This is the
region of oil wells, of which there are many. One feature of the
picturesque, however, was never wanting — the pagodas. They
were always in sight, and oftentimes scores of them could be seen
of all sizes, from 20 feet to 100 and more in height. Some were
in ruins, with shrubs and trees growing out of their debris;
others were white and well preserved, with gilded umbrellas on
their pinnacles anr' ornamentations of mirror glass flashing
back the sun's rays, and about sunset looking like light-houses;
sometimes they were on little elevations in the plain, then were
mounted on almost inaccessible hill-tops. Some were single,
others were in groups. Some had kyoung attachments, which

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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were monasteries in the neighborhood of villages ; others were
miles away from any habitation.

At Pagahn, once the capital of the kingdom, on a space along
the river of eight miles, by two miles deep, there are said to be
9,999 ; many of them of great size and gilded from top to bot-
tom. The gilding, however, is much tarnished. Several here
are totally different from the ordinary pattern, having the ap-
pearance of noble cruciform cathedrals, with windows and great
halls within, and surmounted by lofty domes and conical spires.
Both on our upward and downward voyages we anchored op-
posite this old town. It was a strange sight to look upon,
this city of beautiful buildings in every stage of decay, in
which no living people dwell. As the sun dropped down its
rays were caught by the mirrors, now on one ^nd then on another
lofty spire, as if the spirits of the long since dead were revisiting
the scenes of their pious deeds. After nightfall, when the nearly
full moon lighted the whole up with her pale face, the thing was
wonderfully weird and touching.

Centuries have gone by since a great population lived close
by. Superstitions — not cruel and revolting — whose aliment was
a beautiful and dreamy philosophy, caused this strange profusion
of vain offerings. The centuries have been laid by with those of
the mighty past, and the descendants of the builders of these
edifices are, just as their forefathers were, governed by a faith
sweet in theory, b-- deadening in its practical results. Their
faculties, naturally bright and joyous, have been numbed, and
their energies repressed by a religious philosophy which teaches
that a life of dead tranquillity and an eternity of slothful dreami-
ness is better than a life of toil and progress and an eternity of
active joys and singing delights.

A tradition tells that an old prophecy declared that if 10,000
pagodas should be erected at Pagahn, it and the ruling dynasty
would be eternal. But whenever new ones were built and a
count was had, it invariably turned out that an old one had
crumbled into decay for every new one erected. The
lO,oooth pagoda could never be counted. The king became
alarmed. He thought the demons had conspired against the
then capital, and so moved away. But the pagodas remain,
and Pagahn is, to the Buddhist, as sacred as Jerusalem is to the
Christian. By the way, the capital of Burmah has been many
times changed. When I was a boy it was Ava. Mindoon,
Thebaw's father, 29 years ago, conceived his capital to be un-
lucky ; so he packed up and moved his palace, the people, and
the town to Mandalay, and to-day there is nothing to show that
Ava was ever a city. A large number of pagodas are about
its old site, but that is all. And Mandalay grew in 27 years to
be a city of over 250,000 mhabitants.

All E .ropeans, friends and foes, charge the Burmese with

BURMESE MEN AND WOMEN.

169

being among the laziest of men. Their long adherence to
Buddhism has schooled them to a life of idleness — they say, of
meditation. Rut meditation, without a real, living object, be-
gets idleness. Their government has been for ages one of selfish
despotism. Accumulation invited the tax-gatherer. Oriental
taxation has always been another name for extortion and rob-
bery. Thrift begat extortion. There was never any inducement
for thrift except the hope of the acquirement of enough to build
a pagoda. To conceal wealth enough for this pious object was
difificult and dangerous.

Every thing conspired to make the people live for the enjoy-
ment of the passing hour. The climate is so genial that wants
are few. A paddy field, when planted requires little labor. The
lands suited to rice culture are very fertile. Tickle the soil with
a plow — a mere single-toothed harrow — and it is ready for the
seed. Then cover it with water and nothing more is needed
until the harvest begins. The Burmese man works with great
energy while getting his crop in. Lazy men generally do.
After that is done he passes hi? time in visiting pagodas and
praying, — in gossiping with his neighbors and playing chess. A
wide strip of cotton cloth about the loins is his every-day dress.
One of silk and a bright handkerchief for his head makes him an
elegant gentleman. He works just enough to get these and his
rice, and his tasks are done.

His wife, however, is industrious. She attends the shop, gets
the meals, and does fully half the out-door work, leaving the
man to play the idler, or to take care of the children. She is not
hidden, as in most Oriental lands. She goes about town, rules
her husband and the household, drives the best bargains when
selling the produce of their fields, wears of evenings, or when
visiting religious places, gay-colored silk "tameins" — generally
of some shade of red, — and has a scarf of bright yellow figured-
silk over her shoulders ; dresses her coal-black hair in most be-
coming style, rarely failing to have a sprig of flowers in her
chignon ; covers her arms and fingers with bracelets and rings,
encircles her ankles with silver anklets, and fills her ears with
gold and jewels. With the poor the^oA/is brass, and the jewels
are but glass. When a number of them are together they make
a gay and pretty picture. The colors used by a single individual
do not seem to harmonize, but when several are grouped they
make a most harmonious whole.

The women are far from being ill-looking, and many are not
only pretty but really beautiful. They do not fade and grow old
as in Japan and Siam, but continue fair when fat and 40. When
looking into their full faces one sees decided beauty. The pro-
file, however, is defective. They all have the Mongolian cast of
{■"ic — high cheek-bones, short noses, and flat visage. These make
a bad side view. They are all self-possessed, without boldness,

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170

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

easy and graceful in deportment, without either coyness or
coquetry. If asked how I can form an opinion on so short an
acquaintance, I reply I saw many women at the various pagodas
visited, in the shops and attending the bazaars, and have forti-
fied the result of my own ohservations by information gained
from men and women who have resided here for many years.
Europeans have opportunities for studying this people not given
an)-wherc else in the East — for the intercourse between the sexes
is quite as free as anywhere in Christendom.

Marriage is simply a civil contract, dissolvable at will. When
dissolved the property is equally divided between the parties.
Certain forms are gone through before the eiders and the knot is
untied. Not only do the women trade and attend the shops,
manage the household, and do light field-work, but we saw squads
of them sweeping the street in Mandalay. In going up and
down the river we landed at several towns and villages. We,
when possible, took a few minutes' run through the little towns.
They were all very dusty and dingy. The houses are a frame-
work on posts, with walls of plaited bamboo or woven palm.
There was no evidence of. any luxury — a few flowers in pots the
only attempt at ornamentation.

When the steamer reached a landing-place we would hear a
plunge and a splash near the bow, then others in succession made
by the deck-hands leaping into the river and swimming to the
shore with the line, and when we pulled out the rnan left on shore
to let go the line invariably swam to the boat. Then the brow of
the high bank would be seen — bright in red, white, j-ellow, and
orange, and all tints of these, made by the gay garments of men
and women gathered to see the boat. A woman's dress is the
"tamein," a strip of cotton or silk reaching from the waist to the
ankles. This is wrapped once around and girded at the waist.
Around llie bust, leaving the upper part bare, is a strip wrapped
in a fold. A scarf goes over one shoulder, falling under the other
arm, and caught. This can be spread so as to cover both shoul-
ders. Ordinarily, however, one of the shoulders, arms, and the
upper bust are bare, and in walking the " tamein " parts on one
side so as to slightly expose the leg, considerably above the knee.
In Rangoon many of the native ladies wear a short white jacket,
a modern innovation borrowed from white people.

The people are yellow, tinged down to quite dark, and sometimes
almost black. The hair is long and glossy on men and women. The
men, however, of the coolie class cut close, or else shave a good
part of the head. The holes for earrings in the woman's ear are
large enough to admit a thimble — she sometimes carries her
cheroot in it. All classes, old and young, smoke — ordinarily a
cheroot filled with a little tobacco mixed with certain barks and
wood. The covering is, to a great extent, the inner shuck of In-
dian corn or fibre of some of the palms. It is about the size of a

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M AND A LAY. PALACES.

171

common candle. The women smoke these so much that their
lips curl when the cigar is absent. They smoke when walking, in
the shops, and attending the stores of the bazaars. They are very
devout, and throughout certain days and about sundown of every
day are to be seen kneeling in crowds in the kyoungs or chapels.

Large numbers of cattle are reared along tlie river, and many
buffalo. The latter do the heavy plowing, but the ox is used for
carts and cabs. He is a very pretiy animal, small, short-horned,
and with a pretty hump. A ride at Mandalay in an ox-cab was
enough disagreeable for me to remember the rest of my life. The
carriage body was three and a quarter feet wide, four feet long,
and three feet high. I had to squat down in this. My team were
good movers, and trotted at a good rate from the steamboat to
the hotel three miles away. I bore it without swearing, but I
prayed most fervently that we should reach our goal. Each ox
at Mandalay wears a little bell. Pony carriages take the place of
these at Rangoon. The ponies are fine little fellows, 10 to
14 hands high, and move with fair speed.

Mandalay grew from a naked plain to a city of 2 5o,cxx) inhabi-
tants in less than 30 years. This was not from its advantageous
situation, but siipply sprang from the fiat of Mindoon, the king.
He ordered the place to be a city, and it was. Its inhabitants
paid no taxes, and to a large extent were fed upon the master's
bounty, at the expense of the taxpayers of the kingdom. Min-
doon laid out the city exactly a mile and an eighth square, sur-
rounded it with a wall 30 feet high, prettily crcnulatcd and
backed by earth 20 feet thick; outside of this is a broad esplan-
ade and a moat 50 yards wide, deep, full of fish, and supplying
the city with water. In the centre of the walled city he placed
his palace, enclosed by a strong stockade of teak timber and a
brick wall 20 feet high. The remainder of this iiiner city was
packed with buildings, but outside of the moat the bulk of the
people lived in their huts, surrounded by gardens covering a very
large area. The king lavished great wealth in making this palace
as beautiful as Oriental taste could suggest. The queen's garden,
at the south end of the palace enclosure, must have been very
beautiful when it was kept fresh and green. Two or three acres
contained lotus and lily ponds, with heavy rock-work and gravelled
walks. The ponds had islands surmounted by kiosks, beautifully
carved, and pretty bridges springing from island to island. In
the centre was a great bath sunken below the surface, cemented
to resemble marble, surrounded by pillared arcades planned by
Italian architects.

The palace does not consist of one large building, but of a large
number of wooden structures, 30 to 40 feet wide by 50 to 60 in
length. They are rather open porticos than houses. The roofs
are supported by columns eight to ten feet apart. Apparently
they are two stories, but this is only for architectural effect. The

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'72

./ KALE WITH THE SUN.

second story recedes upon the first some eight or ten feet, and
is supported as the first is, only by more lofty pillars lifting from
the floor of the first story. Tlic liouses are, therefore, large
vaulted porticos, 30 to 40 feet high, divided by a partition running
across the centre and surrounded by open network cut from metal
or wood. The low cornices of the two stories are a mass of wood-
carving, generally very prettily executed. The entire structure
is lifted from the ground about eight feet upon columns. Some
two dozen of these structures were for the immediate use of the
king and queen, and arc a mass of rich carving within and with-
out, and are gilded from top to bottom, except where red lacquer
is used as a relief, and where gems are used for ornamentation.
These gems are of glass in imitation of diamonds, rubies, emeralds,
and sapphires.

One of the king's edifices, called the "Centre of the \5v' crse,"
is apparently seven stories high, surmounted by an obi' struc-
ture or lantern two to three feet in diameter and 30 odd t high.
This is a mass of mirror glass cut into gem form ; on top is the
Buddhistic umbrella. Immediately under this umbrella, on the
main floor, is the throne, in a vaulted room supported by columns
70 feet high. All columns are of perfectly straight teak timber. The
ceilings, rafters, partitions, the outer roofs, and even the pillars
beneath the houses, are gilded and covered with gem ornamenta-
tion, which is very beautiful. It was all built for present use, and
lacks that necessary ingredient of architecture, the appearance of
permanency; but, with all the lavish richness and Oriental ex-
travagance, there is nothing tawdry or out of keeping with true
Oriental taste. The buildings used by the attaches of the court
are of the same general design, but are colored in red lacquer,
without either gilt or gems.

Many of the pagodas and kyoungs of the city are very remark-
able. The Koo-thoo-daw is a plain but perfectly proportioned
gilded pagoda, nearly 200 feet high, and surrounded by 500 small
pagodas or shrines, each about 12 feet square and 30 high. Each
of these has a chapel within, containing a tablet of stone four feet
high, covered with extracts from the most sacred of Buddhist
scriptures, cut in delicate letters. The gateway through the wall
which surrounds these would do credit to any architect in any
age. Not far from this on a huge raised platform of many acres,
is the Incomparable Pagoda, 400 to 500 feet square, elevated
by terraced stories, seven in number, to the height of 170 feet : at
a distance it looks, in its plain whiteness, like a huge wedding-
cake. It encloses a vast vaulted hall, with lofty ceilings, sup-
ported by 100 to 200 beautiful columns, 70 feet high. It contains
a vast wealth of wood-carving of exquisite workmanship. The
interior is entirely of gilt, with vermilion relief. The lacquer-
work of Burmah, by the way, is inferior only to that of Japan.
The shrine of this pagoda, containing a monster Buddha, is gor-
geously decorated.

BEAUTIFUL EDIFICES.

'73

The king's throne house, called the "Centre of the Universe," is
considered by the Hurmese the cluf-d'aiivre of art. Hut to nie
the true gems of Mandalay are two kyouiigs, one called the king's
and the other the queen's house of prayer. They are nut far
from the Incomparable Pagoda. I have lost the leaf fr.Jin my
note-book in which I had measurements taken on the spot. 1 will
try to describe them as they are fixed in my memory. Imagine
a wooden platform raised about eight feet on a great number of
gilded wooden pillars about 20 inches in diameter. This platform
is, say, 50 by 150. Across one end is a two-story pavilion, 30 by
50 feet. The first story is 12 to 15 feet at the caves. The roof
is a bent concave. From the inner line of this roof springs the
apparent second stor)-, about lo feet high, with a concave bent roof
running up to a large roof-tree. At the four corners of eacli roof
lift dolphin-shaped ornaments several feet high. Midway between
these is a sort of dormer roof, with :i tront, a species of broad
.spear-head. Under the caves of each roof is a frieze in carved vine
and flower pattern, and over this long rows of pretty little
statuettes. The second story is enclosed solidly. The first story
is enclosed with open screens of network pattern. The roof of
both stories is supported by a mass of columns or pillars running
from the main or only floor to the rafters. Standing with its end
toward and behind this pavilion is another similar one, united to
it by a low covered colonnade, and behind this, also united to it
by a colonnade, is still another similar pavilion, except that it has
seven stories, each story less receding than the one under it and
of less height, but with similar ornamentation. This latter is
surrounded by a tall, oblong, lantern-shaped member, and on
it a metallic half-opened umbrella. The whole of these struc-
tures are of exquisitely carved wood, and within and without
gilded from platform to pinnacle, and studded with imitation
jewels — diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. The brackets,
dentelli, and rafters are colored, principally in vermilion lacquer.
The seemingly seven-story building contains a lofty hall, in the
centre of which is a colossal alabaster Buddha, surrounded by a
shrine of great richness. The carvings in and about one of these
payars are very elegant, and consists of hundreds, if not thou-
sands, of little statuettes and a great length of scrolls and friezes.
Every thing is gilded and jewelled, except just enough of tinted
lacquer for relief. About three feet at the lower end of each
column is painted in vermilion, with gilded laccwork uniting the
lower member with the upper solidly gilded portion.

I cannot imagine any thing more perfect in Oriental exuberance
than one of these sets of buildings. I am not sure whether it is
the king's or the queen's. One of them is used as an English
chapel. The other, like the majority of the kyoungs of the city,
is occupied by officers of the English army as quarters. A few
are left to the natives for purpose of worship. It is greatly to
the credit of the officers that they are careful to preserve every

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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III

thing as much as possible. The palaces and kyoiin.:[s are par-
titioncd off for bedrr-onis, and the officers' mess-rooms have
thrones and exquisite shrines for sideboards. The ruling powers
do as little violence as possible to the religious prejudices and
superstitions of the natives. Absolute tolerance is the rule. I
understand the government is desirous of preserving some of the
more beautiful buildings as curios. The estimates require ^oo.ocxD
rupees to place them in good condition, and loo.ooo annually
thereafter to maintain them.

We visited, just before sunset, a place of worship distant from
the arm)' quarters. It was an elaborate kyoung, with four colon-
naded approaches several hundred feet long, leading from the four
surrounding streets. The centre shrine and build. ng over it,
together with the long double rows of columns and their roofing,
were a mass of imitation jewels, bits of mirror, and gilt. This
was but lately erected, and indeed is not yet finished. Hundreds
of men and women were worshipping before the golden Buddha,
and the priests kt us know that they considered it a thing of
magnificence. We, however, found it tawdry and utterly lacking
in art. The worship in Buddhist temples is apparently as sincere
and quite as earnest a^ in any Christian church, and many of the
ceremonies very touching. I recall a memorial service for some
dead man in a temple at Kioto, Japan, which was as interesting
and full of feeling as any thing I ever witnessed. One has to
become accustomed to the peculiar shout, and to the occasional
striking of the gong and sounding of a bell. The intelligent
religious ideas of the world are to be found within Christianity;
but there is much genuine piet}' and real fervor in the Buddhist
church.

W'e send missionaries ic convert the heathen in India, China,
Siam, Japan, and Burmah. In all of these countries there are
large colonies of Europeans and Americans. The missionaries
preach Jesus. The foreigners at the same hour are practising the
devil. Everywhere all kinds of business is closed during the race
week, and our good people bet like Portuguese, and very many
get as drunk as lords and swear like troopers. I do not mean
that all do this, but enough do to leaven the whole lump in the
eyes of the poor benighted iieathen. The missionary in the pulpit
tells his Chinese or Indian audience that one of the vices is
gambling, and that this is r sin intolerable within the Christian
church. Wliile he preaches on Sunday every billiard hall in the
city is being patronized by foreigners, who have to take a " peg "
(drink) in honor of each fine run. And in the clubs games of
cards are being played in quiet rooms, and drinks are being
brought to the players by native waiters, who take tips, and
afterward buy candles to burn before the shrine of their own god.

Christmas-day we visited the many beautiful kyoungs of Man-
dalay. In one, a part of a regiment was holding high carnival.

I '

A JOLLY CHRISTMAS. DACOITS.

'75

It was a holiday, and considerable license was permitted, so that
the boys, so far away from their homes, could celebrate the day
our Saviour was born. How the boys did celebrate ! They sang
in every brogue known from Kerry and Cork up to Dublin, and
in every dialect from York to Cornwall, and from Glasgow to John
o'Groat's house. Their heads were as full of grog as their hearts
were of devotion. Some came out of their barracks. Their eyes
were red from weeping tears of joy because they knew the
Redeemer lived. They danced in remembrance of the fact that
David danced before the ark of the Lord ; they reeled and leered
from intense fervor, and talked in drunken gibberish. They were
drunk in joyous frenzy, because of the brightness the Star of
Bethlehem had brought to the world. Ah ! they were shining
examples of the blessing handed down through i, 800 years to the
enlightened sons of Europe.

The poor, benighted natives car point to these as living evi-
dences of the blessings confc/red when a pagan is converted at
the cost of Slo,ooo to $20,cxX) a head. Missionaries are needed
throughout the East, but they are needed most to convert the
Christians of the East, and to load them to follow the path trod-
den by the Son of JMan. The examples set by the. foreigners
undo the ;:^ood the pious missionary preaches to the pagan. A
native in Rangoon wanted a job and claimed to be a Christian.
When this was doubted he said he " could drink brandy now,

and could say God d like an Englishman." This gave his

idea of what a Christian could do.

I doubt if Mandalay long retains its population. Just now the
army supports it. But when it departs the bulk of the people
must go. There can be no commerce to support there a large
city. Burmah will, ultimately, be greatly benefited by English
rule, but it will be at the expense of the Burmese. They seem
too lazy and careless to hold their own against the Chinese and
Indians who will flock to the land when it becomes quieted.
Several years must elapse before this condition can be brought
about. I refer to upper Burmah, taken two years ago from King
Thebaw. A species of brigandage, called " Dacoitism," is rife
throughout the land. The dacoits are poorly armed, and cannot
make any headway against the well armed English soldiery.
But the)- kill and pillage friends and foes and burn down the
villages. They are the young and restless men who have no
means of self-support, and take this means of avenging them-
selves upon the conquerors and of gaining the livelihood they
are too lazy to earn by work. When pursued they scatter and
simply appear to be villagers. I saw, on our steamer, coming
down the river, a large number of them in irons as prisoners.
Many were mere boys and none were even middle-aged. Under
the old government they eked out a scanty subsistence, but their
wants were few and they knew nothing of any thing better. Con-

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

tact with the outer world enlarges their wants, but will not stim-
ulate their industry. The women will ultimately intermarry
with the intruders (not Europeans), and a sturdier race will grow
up. Then, and not till then, will upper Burmah fill up and be-
come prosperous. It is about as large as France, four times as
large as Illinois, and has not more people than our own prairie
State, and has not increased for several centuries. There are
evidences that it has been constantly decreasing for probably
several agos.

Thcbaw is a state prisoner in the Madras country, and the
English blacken the poor devil's character, so as to justify, in
the eyes of the world, their high-handed act when they took from
him his country. I met several intelligent Italians who have
been in the land many years. These declare the representations
of the English to be calumnies : that Thebaw was not a drunk-
ard ; that he was a good-hearted, overgrown boy, and that the
acts laid to his door as barbarities were the acts of his ministers,
in which he had no hand. But the Italians were the fellows who
feathered their nests under the old regime. They probably ex-
aggerate in one direction as much as the English do in the other.
It will be for the good of the world that Thcbaw was deposed.
But I do not see why England should not boldly acknowledge
she wanted all Burmah for strategic and state reasons, and justify
the act by an honest declaration of the truth, instead of using so
many little make-believes. She took and will hold the country
because she wants it, as she holds so many other countries. His-
tory will paint her as a wholesale, but wonderfully wise, robber.

While I write on the Palatina, between Rangoon and Calcutta,
the sun has gone down. The ship has anchored outside of the
Hooghly River, one of the many estuaries of the Ganges. The
moon has just come up from over a low island to the cast. The
air is balmy and has the sweet odor of the land. Light clouds
move lazily across the ruddy face of the queen of night. A well-
born daur;hter of that far-off island, which rules nearly a third of
the work! by her brain and through her well-filled coffers, is play-
ing on a piano, under the awning covering the quarter-deck, and
with gentle touch, the sweet variations of the " Mocking Bird."
Refined gentlemen and gentlewomen loll or walk softly about,
respectfully listening to the music. Every thing immediately
about us : the great steamer with its electric lights, the refined
passengers, some of them Urasians, or half-breeds, indicate high
civilization. It is hard to realize that on yon island, just under
the low-lying moon, tigers are more abundant than in any other
part of the world. The keepers of the signal station on it live
within high walls, and dare not go 100 yards beyond them.
Refuge houses are built along the coast on high piles close to
the water. Canned goods, 400 gallons of water, a chart with full
directions how to find a port, and a boat are stored in each. And

ENTRANCE INTO THE GANGES.

177

great placards are stuck up on the walls warning the shipwrecked
man to beware of the tigers, and not to attempt to get off ex-
cept by day, and at no time to venture into the jungle. The
islands and surrounding mainland are swampy, and the low
jungles are said absolutely to swarm with tigers and crocodiles.
Nothing less than a tidal wave seems able to drive them away.

To-morrow (the 3d of January, 1888) we proceed up the
Hooghly to Calcutta, the capital of India— India, the cradle of
the world's lore; India, the land of the sacred Ganges and of
"coral strands," of Juggernautic cars, and of blazing funeral
beds ; of lovely women, old India, the world's dreamland since
history first was written.

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CHAPTER XVIII.

THE HOOGHLY— CALCUTTA— MOUNT EVEREST— A WONDERFUL

RAILROAD— A DINNER WITH LORD DUFFERIN, AND

A STATE KALL.

Calcutta, January 13, 1888.

I HAVE always been to some extent a reading man, and consid-
ered myself reasonably well informed historically, geographically,
and ethnologically on the countries of the world. I had been
taught to think of India as one concrete whole. I even casually
regarded both it and Farther India as a unit. This was all er-
roneous. India is a compound of many distinct peoples, and is
widely diverse in its geographical, climatic, and historical ele-
ments in its parts. Steaming up the Hooghly, one of the
branches forming the Ganges delta to Calcutta, the land on
either bank was low and flat. Dykes 10 to 1 5 or m.ore feet high
ran along the banks 50 to 200 feet back. These are for protec-
tion, less against floods in the rainy seasons, than against tidal
and cyclonic waves, which are frequently very destructive. Great
rice fields were seen as far as the trees would permit the eye to
range. Clusters of straw stacks were frequent, showing that the
stubble is not left on the ground, as is the case among the lazy
Siamese and Burmese, but is saved. The stacks are as pretty in
shape as grain stacks are in our land or even in England. Cocoa-
nut and date palms were everywhere seen, either standing singly
over the fields or in clumps about the villages and hamlets, the
picturesque bent roofs of the houses barely visible among the
palm fronds. These roofs are all of thatch, laid smoothly and
thickly over a ridge-pole of bamboo bent longitudinally across
the centre of the house, several feet higher in the centre than at
the two ends. This gives the houses or huts the appearance of
smooth-topped bent hay-ricks, and makes them very picturesque
in the midst of the rich verdure. As we proceeded up the river
the tropical growth on each bank became richer, frequently ap-
pearing as a dense jungle.

We passed the dangerous sand bars at the mouth of the James
and Mary River with some little anxiety. There was nothing
apparent in the conformation of the river to indicate the smallest
danger, but every sailor aboard was at his particular post, and
several at the great wheel, ready to act on a moment's notice if

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THE JAMES AND MARY QUICKSANDS.

179

any thing should derange the steam-steering machinery. The
ship bent in and out along the tortuous channel some two or
three miles in an almost serpentine track. Close to us was the
mast of a great steamer, a few feet out of the water, and day by
day sinking deeper. Under it are other ships, we are told many
others, which went down at different times during past years, and
the natives believe are constantly sinking, to stop only when the
centre of the earth shall be reached. The entire bottom of the
river is composed of quicksand. If a ship touches bottom it is
liable at once to be thrown around by the strong current, to be
careened, and to become unmanageable. The quicksands begin
immediately to swallow it into a maw which seems insatiable.
Sailors consider this the most dangerous bar in the world. When
we had passed through, the passengers, with solemn mien, con-
gratulated each other that we would not be crocodiles' meat this
time at least.

We met many ships in the afternoon and saw a forest of masts
extending for miles along the river at Calcutta. Great three- and
four-masted ships were often lying four deep. I had never be-
fore seen so many vessels at any river town. We passed the now
deserted palace of the old King of Oudh, who died only a lit-
tle while ago, having been England's state prisoner for many
years, living in royal splendor with his women, with his tigers
and other animals, and watching and guiding the flights of his
thousands of fancy pigeons. England took from him his king-
dom, his diamonds, and his liberty, leaving him his luxury, his
superstitions, and his bitter hatred of his dcspoilers. What a
mighty throng of Banquos could shake their gory locks at Al-
bion and, pointing to their fatal wounds, say : "Thou didst it."

When we drew up to the pier we had to surrender our revolv-
ers. The next day, after considerable delay, I got them back,
on payment of a duty equal to nearly half the value I put upon
them. The duty on firearms is almost prohibitory, and is in-
tended to keep them out of the hands of the natives.

Calcutta is a very handsome city, with a population of about
500,000, 14,000 being Europeans. There are many handsome
buildings belonging to the governing classes. All are of brick,
plastered in whitish or yellowish cement, and of chaste architect-
ure. There are no long monotonous rows, but here the house is
tall, there low, some with pilasters and porticos, others without,
thus presenting a picturesque outline. The streets arc well paved
and kept clean. The viceroy's palace — " Government building " —
is a large structure, with lofty, airy rooms of state, and decorated
with life-sized portraits of eminent Indian rulers and princely
rajahs. It is quite in the heart of the town, is surrounded by
fine grounds with, at its rear, a noble garden. Behind this is a
grand esplanade along the river, not far from three miles in
length and three quarters of a mile in width. It is cut by fine

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A RACE WITH THE SUA'.

gravel roads and lined with spreading, handsome trees. The road-
ways are kept well sprinkled. Toward sunset they are thronged
with handsome carriages, drawn by good horses, mostly brought
from \ew South Wales. Along the river is the drive of the
elite. Here are to be seen foreigners well dressed and natives in
gorgeous attire. Cut out of this esplanade is the Garden of
Eden (named after a prominent man or woman and not after the
one from which our first parents were driven). A full band plays
here every evening. Carved out of the lower end of the espla-
nade is Fort William, a magnificent fort, capable of holding a gar-
rison of 1 3,000 men. At the lower end of the esplanade is the
zoological garden. It is well kept up, and has a collection of huge
tigers. Two captive man-eaters are noble specimens, as far sur-
passing the beasts of the menagerie as a big tomcat does a sick
kitten. One, not long since captured, is said to have eaten 200
natives. I shook my stick at him ; he sprang toward me with a
roar which caused my heart to pulsate painfully for nearly an
liour after. Lord Uufferin told me the next day he would give
me an open letter which might be useful to us in our tour
through the country, provided I would not ask for elephants for
a tiger hunt, whicli was the great aim of globe-trotters. I
laughed, and told him of my scare, and that I would not hunt
tigers if the elephants were twice as high.

The European resident quarter of the city lies contiguous to
the esplanade. The houses are large and nearly all surrounded
by extensive grounds (throughout the East called compounds),
filled with fruit or ornamental trees. They must be very beautiful
in the spring when the flowering trees are in bloom. Many of
the trees are then clothed in flowers of great size and of many
colors. We have seen many varieties of trees and large shrubs,
which bear flowers of a size utterly unknown in our temperate
zones, the magnolia grandiflora being the only one in our South-
ern States which can be compared to them. The native quar-
ters of the city are better than in Siam or Burmah, but pre-
sent very few features which lift them out of what an Ameri-
can would term squalid. The suburbs have a great many tanks
for holding water. These are generally oblong pits 50 to 200
or 300 feet long and half as broad, and 10 to 15 feet deep.
Some of them are parts of a system connected by small canals
running to the river, not for navigable purposes, but simply as
tank feeders. Many, however, have no connecting streams, but
are filled by the enormous rainfall in the wet season, and be-
come stagnant pools, breeding malaria and cholera. As in
Bangkok, this dread disease is always here, the statistics ascrib-
ing to it several deaths every week in the year, and running up
to perhaps a hundred without being considered an alarming epi-
demic. Foreigners seem to regard it lightly, and several have
told me we pay it a ridiculous if not cowardly attention when it

CALCUTTA A\D E.VVIRONS.

i8i

shows a disposition to visit our shores ; that, with the present
knowledge of its proper treatment, it could never become a
scourge in Europe or America if the people would only restrain
their alarm.

Calcutta, in its central parts, is supplied with water from many
miles up the Ilooghly. It is settled and filtered in large reser-
voirs, and seems fairly pure water. Very careful people, how-
ever, boil it ; but the majority of the foreigners use it as it comes
from the hydrants. It is carried into upper floors in goat-skins.
It looks queer to see coolies sprinkling the streets from skins
slung over the shoulders. It is thus done throughout the espla-
nade. In the business streets coolies sprinkle from large movable
hose, or from carts which are filled by women carriers. Mr. Lin-
coln regretted during our unpleasantness that he had more briga-
diers than mules. Here men and women are cheaper than mules
or oxen, and do the work which the four-legged beasts of burden
should perform.

Two days after our arrival we made a trip of 400 miles to
Darjeeling in quest of the mighty Himalaya mountains. We were
told we would get a free/X, and that mighty Everest was hiding
under continual clouds. Trusting to our usual good-luck we
went. The road ran due north over the flat lands forming the
great delta of the Ganges. Roth in going and returning we were
upon the train at night, but the time-tables were such that we
only lost 100 miles in the middle of the great plain. We had
daylight while going and returning while traversing 250 to 300
miles of countr)-. Nearly all of it is under close cultivation. For
several hours the road passed through rice-fields and plantations of
cocoa-nut and date palms, orchards of mango, and jack-fruit, thick-
ets of bananas, and fields of sugar-cane ; then through fields of
wheat, some just planted or barely green, and others going into
head ; fields of gram, of split peas, and other cereals ; then through
fields of jute and of root crops. The whole country is a dead flat,
crossed by several branches of the Ganges and bayous or natural
canals. The fields had everywhere scattered trees, so that on
looking over them from our low elevation they had the appearance
of being almost wooded and brightly green. There were many
villages and hamlets nestled down among palms, fruit orchards,
and broad, spreading banyans. We made our beds in the cars,
slept well, and in the morning had our first view of the dark foot-
hills of the mighty backbone of Asia. These hills rise abruptly
from the plain to a height of nearly 4,cxx) feet. They reach the
plain in well defined spurs. Behind them rise mountain upon
mountain, running back to Kunchinjinga, the second mountain of
the world. This mighty pile, with its eternal snows, 12,000 feet
above the snow-line, should have been visible from Siliguri, where
we left the broad gauge and boarded the little train upon a two-
foot road, but it was veiled in cloud and mist.

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At the next station, just at the foot of the hills, \vc were only
12 miles from Darjecling, as the crow flies, but had to make a run
of 46 on the road to reach our goal. We were to make this, not
by \o\v^ detours, diverging far away from the straight line, but by
bending, winding, curving, doubling, looping, and zigzagging
along the direct route, never more than a mile or so away from it,
and crossing it again and again and over again many times. I
cannot describe in words this climb of 7,40c- and odd feet better
than by saying, we ran up the curvings of a corkscrew. From
this point the tea-gardens, which cover many of the slopes as far
as Darjeeling. came in sight. Through the glass the deep-green
bushes, — on terraces or in long rows covering the smooth slopes, —
the white bungalows ;ind factories, looked very pretty and pictu-
resque. The)' mount the hills to a height of 4,000 feet. Deep
valleys and gorges, covered with dense forests, or frowning, rockj'
crags, separated garden from garden. This was the commence-
ment of the celebrated " Darjeeling tea plantations." The plant
is of the Chinese variety, spreading into bushes from the root,
differing from the Assam plant, which spreads from a single stock.
At this season the bushes are being pruned down flat on the top
— about two feet high — so as to give a larger surface to the air ami
sun's rays, and to permit a greater number of shoots, from which
alone the young leaves are plucked for merchantable tea. There
are now in this district 25,000 to 40,000 acres in producing gar-
dens, and tlie government refuses to sell more land for tea-
planting, hoping thus to prevent disastrous over-production. Cin-
chona is being cultivated largely, the government making the
first experiment in a 2.000-acre j)lantation, which has proved
successful and very profitable.

Soon after taking the narrow-gauge road we plunged on an easy
grade into a dense forest, which looked as if it might be the lair
of tigers. On the plain, a few miles back, we passed the edge of
a wild jungle of tall reedy grass, canes, and rushes with plumes
two feet long, 10 to 15 high, and of almost impenetrable thick-
ness, in which are several herds of wild elephants and 'lany tigers,
several of the latter proving themselves lately to be bad man-
caters. A planter aboard told us of a coolie who was caught and car-
ried off a few days before ; he was at once followed and overtaken.
The man seemetl as yet not much hurt, but the tiger was deter-
mined not to abanilon his dinner. The pursuers fired at him,
trying to avoid hitting the native ; the balls did not strike the
monster in a vital part, who at each shot gave the man's shoulder
a craunching bite. The poor fellow screamed to his keepers to
shoot to kill, that he was being eaten. One of the planters,
seeing the nccessit\-, took good aim and sent his ball into the
tiger's heart, but. unfortunately, also through the man. Fidl-
grown buffaloes are frequently carried off.

Our train consisted of nine cars, each one being nine

A WINDING RAILROAD.

183

feet long, the most of them open, so as to permit a full view from
either side. We sat only 60 feet behind the engine, yet so short
were the curves, after the ascent began, that the locomotive was
rarely out of sight on one or the other side. Several times it
seemed to be going nearly at right angles to the line of our car.
We wormed along, now to the right then to the left, never on a
level, and often climbing grades of one foot in less than 25, the
average grade for the entire hill road being one in 28. We passed
ovci four different complete loops, two of them double ones.
These loops are none of them over qcx) feet around. One, a per-
fect circle, was between 500 and 600 feet in circumference, or less
than 200 feet in diameter. The loops are made by the road
passing on a bridge over itself in making the circle. The double
loops are made by the track passing over itself, and then circling
the hill on a higher level and to within a few feet of its first line
of approach. Imagine a mountain spur ending in a rounded half
cone of say 200 feet in diameter on its levelled summit. A rail-
road comes up on one face of the spur from the valley below ; it
reaches the cone, makes a complete circle around it on an ascend-
ing grade, passing over itself, tlicn makes another circle, and con-
tinues its ascent along the other face of tlie spur but nearer its
top ridge. Several curves are made nearly completing a loop,
and one describes the figure eight. At one loop we met a de-
scending freight train on a switch. In a few moments we saw
it 100 feet below us, running in the same direction we were
going. At one point a boy could throw a stone over three tracks,
each some hundred feet below the one next above it.

We were at one time climbing an hour or two through dense
masses of richest tropical growth — thickets of wild bananas, of
great bamboos of several varieties, some of them 60 feet high, of
taro and other broad-leaved plants, and waxy, green, lofty trees.
For several hours we looked aloft upon wooded mountains and at
tea plantations far above us. Then we passed beyond the alti-
tude of great bamboos and bananas. We were among tree-ferns
10 to 20 feet high, their great fronds .spreading wide and beauti-
fully. All trees were covered with moss from root to branch.
The branches and limbs were loaded with orchids, some of them
in masses like hanging shrubs. Mighty climbing vines clung to
the trees, their winding stalks having the appearance of huge ser-
pents. Some of the trees seemed to have been strangled by the
serpentine folds of these monsters. Many of the climbers had
leaves a foot or more long. There were huge vines standing un-
supported, looking like trees growing in corkscrew windings.
They once wrapped about large trees which they strangled. The
trees died and rotted, leaving the vines, resembling great cork-
screws a foot and over in diameter, and able to support their own
weight. Their long, snake-like branches were clinging to the
tops of trees 30 to 50 feet away ; they had caught them many

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

years ago, when their main supporters were yet alive. Still we
climbed. Tea plantations and factories which we had looked at with
glasses a while since far above us were now far down below. \Vc
wound around precipitous heights and looked over steep descents,
dropping like precipices i,ooo feet almost under us ; deep valley
gorges fay in mossy green far below ; green mountain heights
lifted far above us. An Englishman asked me what I thought of
the scenery. I replied : " It is beautiful." He looked at me with
contempt and said : " You should have said grand." " \o," I
rejoined, " it is too green, too fresh, too flowery. The almond-
trees are too pink ; the verdure is too tufted : the flowing outlines
are too soft for grandeur. There arc here all the elements of the
beautiful." An hour later, when nearer the crests of the spur,
and the mountains towering above thousands of feet were freer
from trees, and rocky heights were predominating, I said to the
Britisher : ' Now we have grandeur." He answered : " Your
criticism was true. I was wrong."

We passed through several mountain villages, and saw new
races of men. Bright, active Ncpaulcse, men and women. Sturdy,
dirty Bhootas, men and women, carrying great loads on their
backs, suspended by a band over their forehead ; their cheek
bones as high as American Indians', and their faces of the same
hue. if the Indian's copper were only added. The women had
their foreheads and cheeks stained as if with pig's blood. In
their ears were huge drops studded with turquoises. Around their
necks were all their wealth in silver, corals, and jewels ; bracelets
covered their arms and silver anklets ran around the ankle ; stuck
upon one side of their nose were ornaments like jewelled buttons.
They were near'y all dirty, but many of them decidedly hand-
some. All were good-natured and had mouths of pearly teeth.
These are the doers of hard work, and came from Bhootan, up
against Thibet. Here were Lepchees, the old inhabitants of
these hills, very active and very lazy. They quit the land as cul-
tivation approaches, preferring jungle fruits, roots, and berries to
the produce of industry. The people of different tribes become
easily distinguishable, and commend themselves to a traveller's
favor by the brave freedom of their eyes, and the entire absence of
the slavish serx'ility which so characterizes the people of the plains.

At four o'clock we had reached an elevation of over 7,400 feet,
the highest mountain railroad station in the world. IDarjeeling,
three miles farther on, is a very picturesque town, with pretty
houses, all in gardens, scattered along the steep side of a sort of
amphitheatre, looking down over a deep valley and over slopes of
tea-gardens. Over the valley in front of the town rears a succes-
sion of mountains. 8,000, 10,000, and 12,000 feet high, with mag-
nificent sky lines ; and farther over and beyond them, 45 miles
away, mighty Kunchinjinga, 28,156 feet high, and next to Everest
the loftiest peak on the globe.

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VARIOUS PEOPLES.

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Darjceling is a summer resort for the Europeans of the plain,
the summer home of the Lieutenant-Governor uf India, who is
also Governor of Bengal, and a sanitarium for the English troops.
On the top of the hill, 1,000 feet above the town, is a barrack and
hospital. In the town is a bazaar, in which on Sunday we saw a
most interesting mass of 5,000 or 6,000 people, from Nepaul, Sik-
kim, Bhootan, Thibet, and Darjeeling proper. It was one of a
regular set of fairs for trading, and was food for several days'
study. Trade was going on in sheep, goats, and ponies from
Bhootan and a few from Thibet. People were there from Sikkim
with maize, beans, peas, oranges, and grain ; people from Nepaul
with knives and produce of several sorts. The stocks were small,
frequently only so much as the dealer had brought on his back
over the mountain passes. One had two or three bushels of
Indian corn, a poor article. Another a little quantity of beans or
millet. Here was a woman who had travelled for two or three
days with two bushels of oranges hanging from her forehead.
She had climbed a pass 18,000 feet high and slept in the cold
open air on the bare ground, and was happy when she sold her
stock out at retail and received three rupees, or $1.05. There was
a man who had journeyed in the same way from just under Mount
Everest, a five or six days' journey. Mis stock was four Roman-
nosed sheep and half-a-dozen Nepaulese knives. The sheep,
which had been the pack-horses for his knives and provender, are
worth three rupees each, and the knives one. The dealers were
generally squatted on the ground, with their little stores in bas-
kets or on mats before tliem. Their worldly wealth was small,
but they had a contented look.

It made us, on arrival, almost blush to permit a good-looking,
soft-eyed girl take our satchels from the station to the hotel. One
of tliem makes our arms ache to carry a hundred or so yards, yet
this little girl swung two from her forehead, climbed nimbly the
high hill to the hotel, a few hundred yards off, and was perfectly
satisfied when we gave her two annas, or five cents. There are
many fine rides in the neighborhood of Darjeeling ; one, through
a dense forest on a steep mountain side, gave us a fine insight
into the growth of these latitudes. So close and dense is the
forest that the sun never penetrates to the ground, and a fallen
stick never dries. The rainfall here is about 125 inches a year ;
the soil is as rich as loam can be made, and the forest vegetation
simply astonishing.

We reached Darjeeling exactly 24 hours after leaving Calcutta.
The gray and green mountains around were visible, but thick
clouds shrouded the snow-clad frozen heights. Our landlord said
it was rapidly turning colder, and the morrow would be bright.
We went to bed to hope and dream. I was awakened just before
five by the mournful howling and queer chattering barkings of
jackals close to my window. It seemed to me there was a pack,

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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but I had an indistinct recollection that where two or three of
these brutes are gathered together much noise is there with them.
I went to the front of the house, and before me rose the viceroy
of mountains— mighty Kunchinjinga. His glaciered peak caught
the pale rays of the ascending morn, and sent them back as if
from a rugged mass of cold, burnished silver. Grand and gloomy,
he pierced the sky, a sceptred monarch. To his right and to his
left stood his ro)-al aids, each succeeding one a little lower than
the last. For half a hundred miles these royal attendants stood
in grand array, each a king, and crowned in silvered diadems. I
could searcely tear myself away, but looking to the north I saw a
clear sky over the lofty foot-hills, and had reason to think the
monarch of all was unclouded.

I aroused the boys, and ordered ponies out. We drank a cup
of hot tea, mounted our ponies, and were quickly tearing like
madmen through the crisp frosty air. up the prett\- gravel roads,
along the mountain side, toward Tiger Hill, from whose sum-
mit. 9.000 feet higl", we might catch the rising sun as he gi\es his
morning kiss to the world's acknowledged monarch — imperial
Everest. Our coolies afoot, one to each horse, triod to keep pace
with us, but the ponies were brave little fellows, and we three,
though not at all first-class equestrians, were racing to beat the sun,
and paused not to consider tliat the narrow steep roadways were
frosted and icy, and that a single mi.sstep might send us hundreds
of feet down the precipitous gorges j'awning far below. Wildly
we galloped on. We reached diverging patiis. We knew not
which to take. Two of the coolies were far behind, but one
bright, lithe, young Nepaulese was panting 100 yards back.
Gl-'-ious Kunchinjinga was now catching the early dawn. The
bo)- came up. I made signs for him to take me bj- the hand. On
we rushed. My tawny boy took strides unknown since classic
footmen thus ran b\' the side of mounted soldiers. ]?ut his young
mountain limbs were unequal to the task. Johnnie, who is ever
re^-ly to lend a helping hand, now offered two helping legs. He
put the boy on his horse and, taking my hand, ran for a half-
mile : they then exchanged places. On we dashed, riding harder
than ever, for a fleecy cloud resting high over Kunchinjinga's
snowy peak was dyed in rosy pink. The sun would soon be up,
and might throw a blush upon E 'crest's brow, and we not be
there to see it. The road was now climbing Mount Sinchal, a
little lower than Tiger Hill, and on the way to it. From it
Everest is seen nearly as well as from the other. Our boy could
not hold to me along the narrow ragged path. Trusting to our
mountain craft we left him, and rode as hard up the side as our
panting i^inies could bear us. We reached the summit ; we
turned to the northward and there, far away, over a depression in
the lofty gray mountain spur of Kunchinjinga. stood apparently
close together three burnished snowy peaks. The centre one was

TJIE WORLD'S MONARCH, IVEREST.

187

Everest, just catching the mellow tint which precedes the rising
of the sun. We had won the race ; we had beaten old Sol !

I sat upon my pantip<y horse, my heart ^,00 full for speech. I
had dreamed of yon far-off irozi'U pinnacle, and had yearned to
see it ere I died ; had yearned, but hardly hoped. Countless
thousands of men had fought and battled that they might win
the laurel wreath from human kind, but the world had not yet
determined, and never would, who had been its greatest warrior.
Countless thousands of men had racked the aching brain, had burned
midnight oil, and had worn their souls away that they might win
the laurel wreath from human kind, but the world had not and
never will decide who had been the sweetest songster, the grandest
poet, the loftiest orator, the smoothest writer, or the profoundest
thinker. IMan's ambition — his love of glory — is but a mockery, a
delusive snare, so fragile are the foundations, so evanescent the
superstructure, of his fame. Accident or i)urchased support lifts
the all-unworthy to gidd)- heights; calumny, detracti(jn, and self-
ish envy <Tnaw away the kevstone of the arch over which honest
merit climbs into the light. Purchased history draws a sponge
over tile record of noble deeds, and distils from a lie a figment
with which to swell pigmy actions into heroic achievements.
Even if true worth shoukl wm its i)lace on the historic page or
have its lecord deep cut into monumental stone, the stoutest
book written by the muse of history easily melts into smoke, and
the hardest marble quickly crumbles into dust. But yonder
mighty pile had its foundations welded in the white heat of the
world's ever-burning central fires. Its corner-stones were laid
over the earth's solid arch. Its superstructure was spread with
cement crystallized bj- the breath of the Mighty Chemist of the
boundless universe. It knows no peer, it brooks no rival, and the
world concedes its supremacy — a supremacy which can know no
derogation until the ribs of the earth shall give way, and its high
places sluill sink into its bowels; when the dark depths of oceans
shall be lifted 'rito heights, and the scs shall give back to light
the buried cities whose as yet unattained knowledge lived in
Egyptian tradition and Indian legend, and has furnished the
nations and peoples with their m.uiy religions and their countless
superstitions. Until then proud Everest will rule, the one loftiest
imj-ierial chief, or until, in the crash of worlds, this globe of ours
shall be scattered into cometic ilust.

We looked now to the far-off peak in the northward, then to
the glaciered heights of the ne.\t highest, spread out ai the north-
east. The sky was absoluteh- clear, save only the filmy cloud
which poised like a lifted veil over Kunchinjiriga's highest ]3cak.
It grew each min ite redder as the sun climbed higher. After a
few moments we turned our bi'ck to Everest and galloped towards
Tiger Hill summit, but looked over our shoulders each minute to
keep the ;:nowy peaks in view. The morning light crept down the

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A RACE WITH THE SCW.

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mountain side and lighted up the deep valleys far below us. The
cloud over tiic viceroy began to catch a golden hue. We paused
and looked back: a slight flush was upon Everest. The flush
grew more mellow. We looked and a yellowish brush was drawn
across the pinnacle. Wc turned toward cast of north. A flood
of rosy hue was upon Kunchinjinga. Again we turned toward
the west of north. We were just in time, for Everest's peak was
a burnished point of golden light. The sun was soon shining
upon the two mighty ones.

We dismounted, and led our ponies leisurely to the top. We
were now nearly 9,000 feet up, and had a glorious panorama
spread around us. Far below us were deep valleys green in \'irgin
forest, or bright in hamlet and plantation. White bungalows
were stretched along the ridge back of Darjeeling. Tea-factories
and tea-shrubs brightened the side of the lofty hill toward us, and
a Bhootan village was picturesque upon the almost precipitous
end of the spur. Lofty dark-green mountains lay in a confused
pile between the valley under us and the snowy range some 40
miles away. To the south, through the pass we had climbed the
day before, the great plain was stretched, its rivers and fields and
jungle patches where nearest us but dimly seen, aiul vanishing in
the distance where all was swallowed in dusty smoke. The air was
crisp, a hoar-frost was white upon fallen leaves and low bushes ;
a little pool a few feet across had a filmy coating of ice. We
walked about the little level to keep warm. It was a glorious
morning, and a glorious vision. I felt that if I could but keep
pace with the sun I would like to get home in a half-day, and thus
make this the culminating point in my "race with the sun."

We had two splendid days at Darjeeling, watching the fine tints
upon the icooo feet of eternal snows along the great range when
the sun was sinking ; watching the gra_,- silver tone when the
morning moon was shining upon them ; and watching the rosy
tints mellowing into a delicate orange when the sun was rising.
Wc took a wild ride along a narrow mountain road through vir-
gin forest jungle, ar.J left the picturesque city with regret. The
ride down the narrow-gauge rail was much finer than the ascent.
We could see where we were going, and could look upon the
bending, winding, and doubling of the road, and comprehend the
daring engineering skill which laid it out far better than when go-
ing up. A train comes down the road nearly ever)' daj- by gravi-
tation alone. Indeed our own train practically did the same.
Our iron horse did not take his drinks a fifth as often as he had
done on his upward bound.

And now something of the society of Calcutta, and I shall have
done. The Europeans live in considerable style, own fair horses,
anc'i the ladies are finely dressed. All have a large array of serv-
ants, whose demeanor toward their employers is more .servile
than was ever that of the slaves of our Southern States This

DINNER WITH THE VICEROY.

189

perhaps is entirely outward, and has characterized for ages the
deportment of all inferiors toward their superiors. Tlie foreigners
look in good health, but arc guarded to make but little violent
bodily exertion, and none in the sunshine. The children are
fairly ruddy up to four or five years of age. After that they are
pale, and it is thought not safe to attempt to rear them here.
They become debilitated, and painfully lacking in vital energy.
All avoid great exposure to the sun, even at this season. We are
constantly warned on this point.

The day after our first arrival here, I called upon the secretary
of Lord Dufferin, Viceroy, and presented a special letter I had; I
then disclosed my intention to leave the next day for the Hima-
layas. This was just at noon. When I went to my room from
the lunch-table, I found an invitation from the Earl and Countess
of Dufferin to dinner that evening at 8 o'clock. On the invitation
were the words : " Mess dress." I do not know what they meant,
fo I found the company in what seemed full evening dress.
Lord arid Ladj Duffi^rjn received me with great cordiality. I had
met them years ago, but only casually. The dining-room is a
very fine one, handsomely decorated. Stalwart servants in brilliant
red stood one for cacl) guest, and behind the carl several splendid
fellows. I think of his guard, in dax/ling crimson. The table, at
which there were 18 plates, was brilliantly lighted with candles
in three lofty branching candelabra of 12 and iS lights. The por-
celain and glass were of costly pattern and ware. A large quan-
tity of plate, and spurs, horseshoes, and roses, all of gold, of great
value were the table decorations. I conducted to the table Lady
Helen Blackwood, the Earl's very distinguished-looking daughter,
I sitting next to the countess ; both were very affable. Opposite,
across the narrow vwiy of the table, sat the Earl and the beautiful
young Duchess of Montrose. The menu was excellent, and the
cuisine perfect. The Earl was exceedingly kind, and gave evidence
during our talk of the tact which has so marked his long and suc-
cessful career. We left the table early, to drive to a Shakespearian
reading at the institute. The hall was well filled, seats being re-
served for the viceroyal party at the front, a sofa in the imme-
diate front being !^or the Earl and Countess. With great courtesy
the Earl placed n e at his side, his lady taking a chair. During the
intermission he passed to several ladies, having a fev.' pleasant
words for each, and the Countess sat with me. When the reading
was over, every one arose and stood until the Earl and Countess
and aids passed out. Wiien they drove off the aid in waiting. Captain
Gore, informed me that he was ordered to get immediate informa-
tion of our return from Darjeeling. I promised to inform him by
telegraph. I give these little incidents to show the politeness of
the vicegerent of the empress in her vast Indian dominions.

On our return from the mountains we found invitations to
a state ball on the 12th. On the afternoon of the day before, the

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J RACE WITH THE SUN.

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Countess gave her annual garden part>. All who have the entree
of the government house have the riVht to attend. Tliere was a
brilliant assemblage of people, including a large number of na-
tives, in gorgeous attires of silk, gold, and diamonds. The Earl
and Lady Dufferin made the boys feel easy when presented.
They wished us to be present at the state ball, regretting that we
would see so few of the leading natives. But they have adopted
the rule to invite none to the balls who will not bring their wives.
This the majority of natives cannot do, their wives being kept in
absolute secirsion. I was told this rule was adopted at Govern-
ment House >i of some insulting criticisms made by natives
on the di'collctL . mes of European ladies. Their own wives
being absent, the^ /ere free in bandying ribald jests. We saw
eight chieftains from the mountains near Afghanistan. The Earl
told me they could bring into the field 25,000 good fighters.
They were dressed in plain flowing garments, wore massive tur-
bans, and were profoundly respectful to the viceroy, but had none
of that servile manner which characterizes those who live on
plains. They were being carried over the country at the expense
of the government in a sort of pleasure excursion, for the purpose,
I suspect, of impressing them with English power.

The next night we attended the ball. It wa^ a very brilliant
afTair. The ballrooms occupy the entire third story of the large
palace. The consular representatives, except our own, were in
state dress. The large number of ofificers in their red coats cov-
ered with gold lace and cords were very bright and rich in appear-
ance, and did more t^ make the room brilliant than did the
beautiful dresses of the ladies. Many of these, however, were in
gorgeous array and wore many diamonds, and some of great cost.
A native lady, the Maharanne, the pretty wife of Maharajah
Kuch Behar, wore diamonds of great beauty and enormous
value. Lord DufTerin's court dress was very rich, and the costume
of the Countess was both beautiful and costly — jewels on her neck,
and a coronet of stars in brilliants lifting from her brow. The
governors of Bengal and Bombay were over for the occasion, and
both in court dress. Lady Reay, wife of Bombay's governor, was
beautifully attired. Lady Dufferin presented me. She kindly
invited me to call when in Bombay. Taken altogether, the ball
was most brilliant. In the dining-room, on the main floor, a buf-
fet was spread during the whole evening. Champagne and other
wines were freely offered. A little after 12, all went to the rooms
in the entresol to a full supper, at tables where all could be seated.
These rooms are large enough to seat 1,000. The menu was ex-
tensive, and champagne flowed recklessly. When the viceroyal
party and the governor left, all arose and stood till they had gone
out.

When taking my leave I asked Countess Dufferin if she had any
message to send to America. Her handsome face beamed with a

A STATE BALL.

191

bright smile when she said : " Tell the people of America I have
a warm place in my heart for them." The Earl, when shaking my
hand, said the thing he most missed here was "the ability to run
over the line, as he often did from Canada, to get the warm treat-
ment he always received from Americans." He certainly possesses
tact, and a kindly heartiness with it.

On leaving I saw a thing qucerly Oriental. The entrance to the
palace is on the ground-floor in an archway under the great por-
tico and steps, which are used alone for state purposes. Along
the outer wall of this archway, there were facing us 200
footmen or runners, squatted down upon their haunches in
four long rows, as close as they could be packed, like so many
frogs. They were awaiting their respective masters to run before
or beside their carriages going homeward. Style is somewhat
measured by the number of runners. They looked bright in their
many colored turbans and various wrappings, but presented a
most grotesque picture. I wrote till near daylight and every now
and then paused to listen to the howling of Calcutta's hundreds,
if not thousands, of scavengers — the night-prowling jackals.

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CHAPTER XIX.

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CALCUTTA TO BEXARES— THE HOI.V CITY AND PILGRIMS— SACRED

BATHING, AND la'KNINC; GOKl'SES— SAKNAITI AND

UUDDlilSM— LUCKNOW AND CAWNl'OKE.

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Agra, India, January 20, 1888.

From Calcutta to Benares by rail is 556 miles. The country
at first, for 100 and more miles, is in general appearance and
production practically the same as that on the road to Darjeeling,
already described — a great flat plain with only a single eleva-
tion — a short range of low hills lifting in a single ridge from the
dead level. After running 100 and odd miles the plain looks
ven,- unproductive. The soil is a light-gray, and in the short cut
rice paddies looks as if it could produce but little. Large num-
bers of cattle were browsing in the bare rice-fields and unculti-
vated lands. How they find any thing nourishing I could not see..
The ground looked absolutely bare, and yet the poor brutes were
picking it over, if not licking it, and had not a starved condition,
being fed, I suppose, night and morning. There had been no
rain for some months, and all was dusty. Much of the land is in
wheat. It grows very low in stalk, thin on the ground, and of
short head. A couple of hundred miles from Calcutta the coun-
try put on a greener appearance, in wheat, gram, castor-oil,
dahl. pea. and poppy. Some of the fields of the latter at a
distance in full flower looked like snow fields, so white and pure
was the bloom. England will require long generations of piety
to undo her great wrong in coining gold as she does out of the
mania and misery of so many millions. Like the poppy flower,
she boastfully spreads to the breeze a banner of light, while she
kills and destroys in her greed. Her people decry the Yankee
because he has such love for the almighty dollar. But, thank
heaven! America as an aggregation, as a nation, has never
oppressed for gold. Her only semblance of a shame was slavery
fastened upon her by English cupidity. England's opium policy
is one of her shames. Preachers who believe in special providence
and national retribution for national sins could pour from the
pulpit fearful anathemas upon this sordid nation for its crime in
encouraging for gain in gold the most frightful of all degrading
vices.

On the road we passed near coal-fields, said to be rich both in

19a

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BENARES, THE HOLY CITY.

193

the quantity and quality of the yield. For the last 100 miles tow-
ard Benares much of the country was very pretty. The mango
and other orchards were abundant, and every plain had its many
scattered trees. Barley was added as a growth, and was well
headed and green. Hedges, where there were any, were of a
prickly pear and cactus. The spider webs over them covered
with dust looked like great gossamer veils spread over spiky
frames. Rows of aloes or century plants lined tlie road. Now
and then as far as the eye could reach, through openings in the
trees, the prospect was that of a perfectly flat plain, relieved only
by trees and villages. One odd thing is frequently seen — small
round circles of mud wall topped by cactus, three to five feet
high, and say fo' . to six in diameter, and built for protection for
young trees. Tliey protect against intrusion and also against hot
sun rays. The railroad is a good one, cars comfortable, and sta-
tions handsome. Several fine school-houses with large and good
grounds were seen.

In 18^ hours we reached Benares, the Holy City of India; a
city already old three centuries before Christ, and at one time
consecrated by eight centuries of Buddhistic sway and sanctity,
and followed by 17 known centuries of Brahminism. Here an-
nually come pilgrims, probably a million or more, from all parts
of India — the rich and the poor, the old and the young, the strong
and the decrepit, crowded in railway cars, packed like hogs, or
hobbling along dusty roads, suffering every kind of privation,
spending the hoarded savings of years of toil, dirty and weary, for
they perform no sort of ablution from the time they leave their
far-off homes until they can wash away tlie filth of the body and
the pollution of the soul in the cleansing water of the sacred
Ganges.

Here comes the prince in his silken robes, with diamonds and
rubies in his coffers, ready, if occasion arises, to have them glitter
upon his neck and arms ; and there a poor farm peasant in a
scanty cotton rag. Here the bold soldier who would quail in the
presence of no danger, and there the high-born woman who
trembles if looked upon by any man not her father, brother, or
lord. They know that disease is rife in the midst of huge multi-
tudes, yet they falter not, or rather come all the more cheerfully,
for to die in the Holy City, to have their cold limbs laved in holy
water, to be burned on the banks of the sacred river, and have
their ashes scattered upon its broad stream — these things will in-
sure them a blessed eternity. Strange faith ! Unconquered and
unconquerable. Blind, abject superstition ! Slavish yet sublime,
because of its human intensity. For countless ages this thing has
been going on year after year. It began before history had
learned to grave imperishable annals. Its origin is as impenetra-
ble as the Himalayan heights, where their ruling god sits in his
frozen home. Millions as countless as are the sands reached by

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194

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

the cvcr-siirt;in£^ swell of old ocean, have believed in and per-
formed these pious duties with sublime earnestness. We call
these things ^novelling idolatry. T/uy say our faith is a silly
superstition. Who can saj- to another : My way is all right, your
way is all wrong? One thing, however, we can determine — charit}-
to the opinions of others, and kindness and good-will to all, are
teachings of all religions which acknowledge a supreme ruler, and
make them all somewhat akin to the divine.

The railway enters Benares over a magnificent iron bridge just
completed across the Ganges. It springs by noble sjians along
great stone piers, the foundations of some of which are sunken
230 feet below the bed of the river. We paused at its northern
end to let off several hundred i)ilgrims. A strange sight they
presented in their various conditions. There were old women,
almost bent double with infirmities or age; there Averc young
women with half-naked babies straddled on their hips, and lead-
ing others but a few years older; there were proud men, of
noble, manly bearing, and poor men, cringing and servile in their
poverty; there was opulent comfort, with servants bearing its
bedding and its fine gear ; there was abject poverty so weak that
it staggered under the weight of a single basket or bundle which
contained its owner's worldly wealth. All, when stepping from
the crowded cars, turned wistfully toward the hoh- city; iheir
eyes betra\-ed the delight felt that now at last they were about
to bathe in this holiest of holy rivers ; and that the bath would
cleanse them from earthly pollution, and would prepare them for
eternal bliss.

We went a couple or more miles to another station behind the
town. There in line were red-coated cavalrymen to be an escort
of honor for Bombay's governor, Lord Reay, and his lady. They
were conducted to a victoria drawn by four horses by the heir
apparent of the Maharajah of Benares, whose low turban cap was
wrapped in a cord of diamonds and pearls, and around whose
neck hung a necklace two or more inches deep, a mass of enor-
mous brilliants. His dress was flashing in gold ar.d jewels. His
sword-hilt glistened in gems. I could not tell if the jewels were
of first water. If they were, then this dusky prince must have
had a million or more upon his person. Strange contrast, this
lavish extravagance and luxury, with the poverty, squalor, and
misery we had left two miles below.

We found a very nice hotel. Hotels in India are the product
of the last few years. Early in the morning we added an egg to
our " chota haziri " (early breakfast of tea and coffee and bread),
and with a guide proceeded to the river, and then on a row-boat
to see the points of interest best seen from the water. To our
surprise we found the stream clear and of a greenish tinge. From
a point nearly opposite the lower end of the town it presents a
most picturesque appearance. It is built on a bank 60 to 80 feet

PILGRIMS BATHING.

195

lii^li above the water, and extends alon^- this lieight fully three
miles. This entire stretch is covered with what appears to he a
succession of palaces of stone, with domes, conical temples, and
minarets wedged in among them in confusion, yet artistic confu-
sion. Under many of these palatial buildings are walls orna-
mented with buttresses and relieved by loop-holes and sm.dl
windows. They lift from high-water mark. Here ant! there
small temples of conical form crowd down to the present low-
water line. All of these are of beautiful design and of elahor.ite
ornamentatiiin, and some richly gilt. Every few hundred
yards apparently coming out of handsome portals in the
palaces, are narrow Hights of steps, spreading as they descend,
until toward the water's edge they arc broad enough to belong
to royal residences. Now and then arc elegant buildings rising
out of the water's edge, with their turreted upper stories still be-
low the buildings on the high bank. One of these structures of
large front has slid into the river in such way that its rear is
sunken several feet, its well-laid front, except for one break,
looking as if it had been chiselled from solid stone — so solid that
it has stootl for perhaps a century, and will yet last for otln.r
centuries in spite of being fully 30 degrees out of level. Crowtls
of people were descending or ascending these many flights of
steps; and in front of them were hundreds bathing in the sacred
stream. Our boat was broad-keeled, with a sort of arched roof,
on which we sat, while several oarsmen slowly stemmed the strong
current close to the bathers.

The view of the city from the distance was very fine, and the
bathing pilgrims when closely seen were wonderfully strange and
interesting. They were of all ages and of both sexes, and of many
conditions: the well-to-do and the very poorest; the most robust
and the emaciated and diseased; the most athletic — their half-
naked forms fit models for a sculptor's chisel, — and the deformed
and shrunken-limbed ascetic. Some sprang down the long
flights of steps as if fatigue had never been known ; others were
tottering and leaning upon long staffs, or were supported by
friends or servants. Some entered the water with joyous faces,
and eyes sparkling with hope; others slowly and reverently, as
if they could scarcely be sufficiently thankful and humble enough
for the boon they were about to enjoy. After wading out to
nearly waist-deep, all would place their hands reverently to-
gether before them, utter a prayer, evidently in deep earnest-
ness, and then dip themselves, generally, I thought, three times.
After this they washed themselves with great care, scraping the
bottoms of the feet, and scrubbing the inside of the mouth as if
doing their best to take some thing out of it. Many had flow-
ers as offerings ; these they threw in one by one as they prayed.

The stairways of which I spoke are the ends of narrow streets

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and are called " ghats,

and all bearing individual names.

The

196

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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several sects bathe at different " ghats." Many of those we saw-
were so weak from age or from disease that they must have suf-
fered to no small extent ;n the chill water of this season. But
no amount of chill would ca ise them to abstain. Persons about
to die are brougiit to the stream to expire with their feet in the
water. After cleansing themselves the pilgrims wash their gar-
ments and fill a vessel with water to sprinkle with it certain of
the statues or figures of gods in the city ; for the wily priest has
fully impressed all with the benefit arising from, or tiie necessity
of, vi-^iting its many sanctuaries and receive fees for their holy-
ministrations. Before departing for their homes all have certain
marks put upon their foreheads by the priests, to show that the
great pilgrimage has been made. There are now large numbers
of pilgrims in the city, but we were advised to remain a> few days
longer, until, owing to the eclipse of the moon, there would be at
least 100,000 more than usual.

At three of the ghats crematory piles were erected ; at each of
two there was one body, but at the other, five pyres were burn-
ing, and two other corpses were wrapped in white cloth, one ly-
ing with the lower limbs in the water, to be cremated when tlie
pile should be ready. A sewer from the city was emptying its
reeking, filthy sewage into the river not 20 feet above the spot
where the body was lying, and several bathers were gulping
down great mouthfuls of the water about ten feet below the
dead body ; — strange infatuation I Not far from this and above
it was a deep tank in which was as nasty a compouid as one
could imagine; — it was, say, 1 5 by 30 feet in dimensions. Its
waters had not been changed for months. Thousands have
bathed in it, and great quantities of marigolds, and other flowers,
milk, and confections are daily thrown into it as offerings, until it
looks as fetid as a cesspool ; yet dainty women, whose necks,
arms, and an' es ate weighted down with rarest jewels, lay aside
their outer . .rments of embroidered gauze and silk, and lave
their faces and rounded forms in the stinking slime, and believe
themselves washed from impurities, and are followed by withered
old men and women, whose very forms seem reeking with fetid
disease.

We rowed slowly up the city's front, now on close observation
bereft of much of its picturesque beauty, for the majority of the
palatial buildings are in more or less dilapidated condition, not
observable from a more distant view. These fine places are resi-
dences built by rajahs and other Indian princes from every part
of the land, and arc occupied when the owners come to use the
holy water, and, if possible, to be the places in which they may
take their flight from sublunary things. One very pretty and
costly edifice was the property of Nana Sahib, the butcher of
1857. After going up stream to the last ghat, we descended near
the farther shore, but the illusion had been somewhat marred by

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197

tlic too close observ.ition. Yet I shall always remember Benares
as one of the iiicturesqiie cities of the world.

Wc visited nuny parts of the city and the sacred wells, and
Johnnie came to tiie conclusion that one of the bi^,' baboons at
the monkey temple, which slip|)ed up behind him and snatched
a ^'iiava from his hand, was slicker even than an Italian boot-
black from the neighborhood of the levee in Chicago. One
])cculiar Nepaulese temple which we saw, is styled " jjicturesque,"
from a frieze of queer ornamentations, which lady travellers arc
never shown. Our fjnide, an orthodox- IJrahmin, ^Mve with much
j,nisto a racy explanation of them, evidently ^dad to hit hard the
schismatic worshippers. From the lofty minaret of a mostiuc
close by the river, we had a fine view of the compactly built
native city anil the country for many miles round, ^ncen in barley
and ^rain, and studded by clumps of troiical fruit-trees. I did
not enjoy tiiis as much as I would have duue a few years ago, for
it is hard {or a man of 63 to climb 150 feet over high steps, not
two feet wide, winding around a spindle only 16 inches in diameter.

This city is noted for its workers in brass, many of tiieir prod-
ucts being as beautiful as chased gold, and costing less than
Hritannia ware with us. We could have spent several days here,
but the sun will be north of the ecpiator before we shall be out
of India. At the station we found the Governor of Bombay was
again to be our co-traveller. The young Hindoo heir to the
maharajahship was there to sec him off. When he had seen his
visitors seated he happened to stop near where we were standing.
I had never shaken hands with a man whose garments glistened
with Si,0OO,cxx) worth of diamonds. I boldly walked up to him
and introduced myself. He seemed really glad to meet an
American, and regretted I was going away, saying that he would
be glad to see me again. The boys declared 1 had exhibited
" gall " quite worthy of Chicago.

liut I had nearly forgotten to speak of Sarnath, the old
Benares of many centuries ago. It li"s some four miles out of
the present city, and is all cultivated over, except where great
heaps of broken brick, mark the spot where its costly edi-
fices once stood. A lofty old round tower-looking structure,
about 100 feet in diameter, and over that in height, solid mass of
brick, marks the spot where Gautama (Siddartha of the Bud-
dhist) taught his creed, and probably beneath it were buried some
of his bones or hair. A part of its outer casing of stone is in
good condition, e.xhibiting exquisite design and finish in its elab-
orate and intricate carving. It is said to be over 2,000 years old,
and is probably the original from which the pagodas of Burmah
were modelled, they however taking more of a bell form. It was
a touching thing to sit under this old " stupa," and go back in
fancy twenty odd centuries, and to imagine myself listening to
the gentle tones of the man who abandoned the luxuries of

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I9S

A RACE WITH THE Sl'X

princely possessions, the iiouer of royal posiuon. to become
Ion"- vears a recluse: left the couch I'li which Vasodara

lor

dreamed— "Yasodara of a form of heavenlx- mould: a gait like
Pariili's : eyes like a hind's in love time ; face so fair words can-
ni)t })aint its si^ell " ; the idolized Prince abandoned all, that he
mi'^ht si)in from his brain the thread which was to bind and unite
man to his God. " In a wild and desolate spot far removed from
men's abode, the brown sands his seat, the blue sky his only
covering, for long years, in silent meditation, Siddartha —

" I.iiril r.u'lillia, '•ate the <^corcliinp fiimmers thniu:;!],
The (lri\iiii; raiii'-, the chilly ila\Mi> .-mkI evi- ;
Wearing for all men'-. >ake the yelhnv fbe ;
Eatiiii; ill liej;t;ar'-< i;iii-c the scanty meal
ChaiKe-gathereil frmn the .haritalile ; at niglit
C'<nn-hLil ill f;ra~-, Immele^s. alone ; while yelpeil
The sleeph' jaLkals rouivl his iav>t, or toughs
Oi lauiiblied li^er from the thicket broke.

SiiliiUiing that fair hoily horn for Mi»s

With fast anil frc'iueiit watch ami search intense

Of ^il^-iit meditation, ^o [irolongeil

'I'hal at times uhile he miiseil — as motionlc^v

As the lixeil rock his --tat — the s^inirre! leaped

L'poii his kiuc, the timid (Hiail led fortli

Ilcr brood between his feel, and blue (love- ]iicked

'i'lie rice-graiiis froni the lio«l beside his hand " —

and who, after he believed he had found the suft, silken bond,
g.ive himself up to a life of labor and deprivation, while lie
preached liis beautiful philosoph\% teaching loveliness of spirit,
absolute jnirity of life, love to God, and a bouudless charity tow-
;i:-d :ill li\ing things. Mere, close by, he lived for many years,
])reaching a religion which has more votaries than an\- other
faith j)rofesseil b)' men ; here he preached that cxtiuisite charity
which can give pain to nothing breathing: which can take life
from nothing into which God h;is blown the breath of life: which
te;iclKs that no living thing is so degraded that it may riot hold
a so'.il wiiich God has created and whii h can ne\er die. Here he
lived, wii;> to-tla\' is worsln'iiped 1k' d-iintless millions as a god.
Here he walked and here he sat, uttering those ma.xims which
soon cr\ st.illized into a faith, and is claimed to be tlie '• Light of
Asia." I sat and thought. Around me were more than a dozen
'ittle bo_\-s and girls, bright, but all begging — lithe, healthy and
I'rctty. but all steeped in poverty and gnorance, and all followers
• f Huddha, or rather the children of his followers. How much
had his teachings to do with their degradation? Though his
])hiiosophy be so beautiful: though his religion be so full of
charity— that quality which proves that man is akin to Deity; —
though he taught love for God and for every thing lie has cre-
ated, yet his religion has depressed and repressed his followers.

LIGH2 OF ASIA.

199

He tautjht that a life of purity was a liiu of tranquillity ami of
calm, inactive reflection.

"Waw must cop.stantl} step forward. He must not stand still.
riie moment he pauses in an upward and onward pro_L,nxss, that
moment the dead weights of the earth, from which he spranij,
bcyin to pull him downward. Mis mental as well as his physi-
cal being sprang from a germ of life, — side by side with which
was the germ of decay. When growth stops decay begins its
deadly work. Gautama may have caused the " Liglit of Asia" to
spread over the mighty East. It was a light, beautiful, poetic,
calm, and sweet, but it was not a light which warms the torpid
into activity. It lacked glow and warmth. The pale moon rises
in the east, sjireads its mild light over a sleeping w orld, and all
nature continues its slumber. The sun rises; its intense ra}-s
not (inly light but warm nature, and all its children awaken from
slumber into activit}', man and beast, tree antl llower. Ikiddhism
may have oeen a " Light of Asia," but it was not till, close to the
Mediterranean, a new and Letter brightness was born, that "The
Light of the world " arose. Under the one light — the sweet, calm
moonlight — the earth lies in the lap of a letharg)-, from whicii it
may not for ages free itself. Under the other — tiie warm, burn-
ing sunlight — the west marches with giant .:trides.

Among the debris of old Sarnath, growing from a poor soil,
half made of broken brick, there is a scanty growth of grass,
\er)' tlnn and now without a spear over an inch long. We saw
men and women with a .sort of cliiscl cutting this meagre grass
up by the root= tor food for cattle. A man cannot gather two
bushels of this in a day. i\\\\\ yet these men live. Ah I the
changelcs.- Mas^ Is t'.iere no resurrection for its povert}--stricken
children? When will there be a dawn from the true light, not of
Asia bu*. of the world ?

From Calcutta to Benares we had passed over 500 and odd miles
of llat land denseU' popidated. Tiie peasants were as poor as
people can be ami live. The villages were miserable mud huts,
o>. rather hovels. They tlraw water from wells in buckets,
either by their own hands or with oxen yoked to the long
well-rope, to fill the ditches which irrii^ '.te the fields, or they
scoop it from bayous or canals with canoe-like troughs, one
end of the trough being at the edge of the ditch, the other
end dipping into the water, and lifted by a sweep like the old
well-sweeps at home, long since discarded as being too labori-
ous and slow a process even for supplying the kitchen and the
wash-tub. These people cut their rice and wheat with a knif j
hardly half so good as the reap-hook of our grandfathers.
They thresh out the grain by whijiping the sheaf over a stone
or by beating it with bamboo flails, and winnow it by throw in g^
it into the air, over a dirt floor. They carry the v;innowe«.t croj)
to market on the backs of bullocks or little asses, or if thev be

: .

200

A RACE U'JTII THE SUN.

of a rich'jr class, i i wooden-wheeled (all wood) carts built on
models in use centuries ago. With boundless plains where for-
ests might be grown, they cook their meals over fires made of
burnt straw and grass, or of cakes of dried cow droppings. This
they gather up and knead with their hands, and then cover the
sides of tiie houses with the dainty cakes to dry, as we ornament
our parlor wails witli pretty placques. The cow and the goat,
the buffalo and the sheep, the donkey and the chicken all share
with the master his miserable abode, faring as does his wife and
his little naked ones, only having a larger share ot the house for
their sleeping-rooms. When will the real " Light of Asia " arise
for its poor and miserable children?

On a train crowded with pilgrims, all with marks upon their
foreheads, proving that they had satisfied the priests of holy
I'.enares, we traversed a countrj' in no way different frcjm that
we had seen a few days before, and after a run of 190 odd miles
reached Lucknow, famous in song and in the history of the fights
of 1S57. It was the capital of Oude, or properly, " Oudh," and
with its 250,000 people docs a large amount of Indian produc-
tion — carpet and brasswork, gold lace and embroidery and tinsel.
It was the glory of its kings, until, after the mutiny, it was
swept into the absolute ownership of the sea-girt kingdom of the
west. Its people were poor and oppressed, but its kings sup-
l-iorted a luxury and jewelled magnificence, unsurpassed in India
since the mogul sultans built mausoleums at a cost of countless
millions in honor of their dead cpieens. The remains of mag-
nificent palaces and splendid tombs attest its former grandeur.

A great many, if not all, of the king's residences have been
razed to the ground, but a vast quadrangle of jjalatial edifices
and detached palaces — the homes of the begums (queens) and
their great retinue of attending ladies and their servants —show
that the late king, for so many years a state prisoner at Calcutta,
had good reasons for regretting his former splendor, and for ha-
ting his cIes|)oilers. IL' had no hand in the mutiny of '57, and
was known to be friendly to England. But his independent
kingdom, with its 14,000,000 of people, ready to be led by
ambitious intriguers, was dangerous t*^ the peace of India, and
England, which rarel\- hesitates when her policy requires the de-
struction of a power which may become liostile, gave to the king
a city for his prison bounds, and added his jewels and posses-
sions to the diadem soon to deck an empress' brow. Several of
the mausoleums and mosques of Lucknow are exceedingly fine
and well repay a visit, and the crowded, narrow streets of its na-
tive quarters give food for more than one day's digestion.

We gave a day to Cawnpo/e, 30 miles farther on. This is a
city of 140.000 souls, has a large native leather industry and some
fine rice mills, and a jute manufactory which was very interest-
ing, and where we had an opportunity of watching nimble-

%"<]

CA WNPORE. NANA SAHIB'S CRIME.

201

finfrered boys and men mingling with the buzz and whirl of
steam-driven machinery. \Vc drove over the vast military can-
tonment ; admired its comfortable officers' bungalows, and its
long line of large two-story barracks, arranged en echelon on one
side of the great parade-ground. Here the furv of the mutiny
was unrelenting, and the tiger-like heart of Nana Sahib had an
opportunity to exhibit its ferocious quality. I stood by the
monument which covers the great well into which he hurled 700
men, women and children— unoffending non-combatants, mur-
dered in cold blood— and many thrown in while yet alive, some
of the children as yet unhurt. I then ceased to wonder at the
bitter feeling so many English here have for the natives. The
memory of the butcheries of '57 is j-et fresh in their hearts. A
colossal winged angel in pure white stands over the spot, and in
marblv.- beauty looks down with touching nity, which every one
must feel who recalls the horrible massacre.

From Cawnpore tu Agra, 107 miles, we travelled by night.

■( ■ ■ ^

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tl i: 1 « I

CHAPTER XX.

LAHORE TO rESIIAWUR— CENTRAL ASIATICS— WESTERN IIIMA-
LAVAS' >.ASIIMIR— A WILD RIDE.

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Pesha7znir, India, yanuary 30, 188S.

I AM writing this at Pcsliawur, about 1,600 miles to the north-
west of Calcutta, and close to the border-line of Afghanistan, that
Lcne of contention on which Russia and England have been so
long moutning, and over which they will growl for probably many
years to come. We have passed through the heart of the mighty
empire of the moguls of Ilindoostan, whose luxury and sjjlendor
made the fairy talcs of the 1,001 Arabian Nights a reality,
and has furnished to the minds of Europeans and Americans
their idea and iilcal of " Orientalism." We liave passed daj's in
studying the remains of their palaces, thrones, and tombs, monu-
ments of a magnificence which makes Moore's gorgeous lines
truthful descriptions rather than dreams of Hibernian imagination.
We have visited their three capitals, Agra in the south, Delhi the
central, and Lahore in the north. In these they built palaces
and mosques which are dreams of beauty, inlaying their stone or
alabaster walls with precious marbles. They built thrones for
themselves and tombs for their predecessor or their queens, of
an architectural beauty never excelled, with gems and jewels for
adornment, and lavished ujion them in elaborate finish the spoils
of conquered kingdoms. Although tlic bulk f)f the work per-
formed in building these structures was that of the unpai<' multi-
tude, yet so rich were they in construction that milli'.ns wcie
expended to furnish material which could not be cryst"'.n'zed from
the sweat of the down-trodden people. One is almost lost in
amazement that men, though kingn, could be so reckless in their
extravagance, and can account for it only by recalling the fact
that in their veins flowed the blood of Genghis Khan and Tiniur,
whose visions of splendor were as boundless as the vast steppes
in which they were born, and whose lu.xuriousncss was in reverse
proportion to the poverty cf their past. They we; ■ like beggars
mounted upon winged steeds.

We have tried to move as leisurely as was compatible with
what we had to do within a given period, but so thick are the
relics of past grandeur that they have been constantly crowding

302

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INDIAN WHEAT.

203

upon us, and arc still so crowding our memories that I would not
hazard the attempt to tell of them were I not reminded of Shake-
speare's advice to the traveller : " Think of thy friends when hap-
pily thou seest some noteworthy object in thy travels, and wish
them partakers of thy happiness."

\Vc found the same flat country which I mentioned in my last,
and the same productions, except as they gradually changed from
those of the torrid zone to those of the more temperate as we
moved northerly; rice became scarcer, until it disappeared almost
entirely, and wheat more and more took its place, and other small
grain and seed replaced the sugar-cane, which is grown, however,
far north, but rather for fodder and for being eaten green than
for grinding. // seems to be the favorite sweet of all Indian peo-
ple, and sticks of it are everywhere seen in the hands of men,
women, and children, who bite it off as they walk, and up farther
north it is peeled and cut into short bits and sold like candy.
Near the city, where elephants are used, its leaves are their prin-
cipal food. Large areas appeared planted in wheat after we left
Delhi, until, on reaching the Punjab country, it is seen in broad
expanses. This is not, however, because of large farms, for there
are no such things in India, but there being no distinct demarka-
tion between the lands of different owners, many fields appear as
one.

At Delhi we had our first rain since leaving the neighborhood
of the equator. It continued for three days and extended over
all northern India. It saved the wheat crop of this great com-
petitor of our wide prairies. There had been no rain since Oc-
tober, and there was good reason for fearing that the spring har-
vest would be a total failure. We noticed the change immediately,
even from the railway windows. There are two crops a \'ear here,
one sown in October and harvested in early spring ; the other in
May and harvested in August.

Our farmers need never fear Indian competition in good wheat.
These people are too slovenly in their manner of cleaning it ever
to send a good article to England, and, as the commissioner
(governor) of this district told me, they will not change their
habits. They hand-weed the fields, so that no foreign seeds mix
with the wheat, but they clean it on the ground, and the middle-
men throw in dirt and coarse sand to increase the weight. We
have examined quite a quantity here in Peshawur ir bags in the
bazaar and found it shamefully dirty. One seller \i-anted us to
buy. I told him we were from Chicago in America. He inno-
ce itl\- assured me that he would make his bags tight so that it
cculd be t.iken home with us. I will explain that, in hand-weed-
irg fields, every thing is saved; what is pulled up becomes food
fo'- cattle. /lUother thing will ultimately tell against India as a
wheat country. IManure is carefully picked up and dried for fuel.
The land needs it and cannot get it, and cannot continue wheat-

N.iJi

III

204

A RACE WITH THE SUX.

1',^ i*

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S •■'!',

III!

producing. Rice takes the bulk of its nourishment from water,
and thrives on land which cannot produce wheat. Trees aro
scarce ; leaves, coarse grass, and excrement of cattle keep tlu»
natives in fuel. These people are poor beyond any others I hav>;
ever seen, and will not become well enougli off to become land
improvers. They are not lazy, they work hard but keep them-
selves poor by the ceremonies which their very religion seems to
make necessary when their children marry. This hardly seems
credible, but they save almost exclusively for this purpose, and
cover themselves with debt and mortgages when savings prove
inadequate. A man's importance in his community seems to be
measured by his display when his children marry.

It is painful to look into the huts of the farmers and laborers.
They are mere!)' mud-walled pens, and lack every thing for com-
fort. Here, to-night, I am shivering in the house before a wood
fire, yet I am well clad. These people wear little more than a
light cotton cloth, and fire-places and chimneys are unknown in
the native house. They wrap up their heads and vital parts of
the body leaving the legs nearly bare, and rarely cover the feet at
all. They squat before their little huts around a mere skilletful
of fire, and a few put a small pot of coals under their cotton cov-
ering, and drawing this about them, husband the scanty heat. The
pay of a cab- or cart-driver is from four to si.x rupees a month. A
rupee is worth at present rate of exchange 34 cents of our money.
Out of this he has to clothe and feed himself. We give our Eng-
lish-speaking servant a rupee, and four annas a day for food. An
anna is worth two and one-quarter cents. Thus he gets his food,
even while travelling with us, for nine cents a day. But Ids
wages are quite princely. The pay of a laborer on the construc-
tion of railroads is three annas a day. That, too, between this and
Lahore, wliere there is frost nearly every clear night from Decem-
ber to February.

One can scarcely realize when passing through much of this
country that it is thickly peopled. One sees large areas of culti-
vated lands, but apparently no houses. V>\\\. every now and then,
half-hidden among trees, one sees a mud wall 10 to 12 feet high,
and covering some hundred feet, others 400 or 500 feet square.
This mud wall contains a farm hamlet or village, and has
within it little hovels and cow-yards for 12, 20, or more fami-
lies. Women and children constantly ask for " backshish "
(presents'). They do it very good-naturedly, and never get angry
when we drive them off with a good-humored thrust from our
canes. About the large cities the old ruins cover many miles
more or less cultivated, and with hovels among old crumbling
.valls. Along the roads in these, children by the dozen ran by
our carriage crying " backshish " in all the tones possible to
youngsters from three years old up to ten or more. Boys half-
naked ; girls with rings in their cars and noses, and bracelets and

Ill

3
Z

ul
a

z
ul

s
o

i'!

t« I

't I

< I

I >

i:»

,1!:

INDIAN WIVES AND WIDOWS.

aoj

anklets jingling. All have beautiful teeth, and grin and laugh and
pat their stomachs to assure us they are quite empt}*, and some
of them look as if ready for a collapse. A jollier set of beggars
one never saw, and quite able to keep up with our carriage for a
mile. A cent thrown to them makes them happy. A crack from
the driver's whip, if not reaching their naked backs, makes them
break into a peal of laughter. None are so poor that they do not
put rings and bracelets on the girls. I had a woman beg of me
today, and yet she must have had a dozen or more of these orna-
ments. Much of the wealth of the family is thus carried on the
females. When necessity pinches, they sell or pawn them. The
women are thus the bankers of the men.

The women in towns and villages above the coolie class rarely
show their faces, and the better classes never. Some travellers
speak of their peeping at one from under their veils, or from behind
their latticed windows, and often coquettishly lifting the veil.
From what I have seen and can learn from people who have long
lived here, such coquetries are only indulged in by Nautch girls
(dancing girls) of a low order showing themselves, or by a still
worse class. The education of a woman is such that she honestly
thinks herself degraded should she permit her face to be seen by
a man ; rarely is it done, even to a father-in-law or brother-in-law,
especially if tlie brother-in-law be older than her husband. A
well-to-do Hindoo, with six brothers all younger than himself,
told me he had seldom ever seen the face of a single one of his
sisters-in-law, and when he had done so it was under peculiar cir-
cumstances religiously permissible. But his brothers had seen his
wife's face oftener. This thing is not simply a social custom ; it
is mixed up with their religious requirements. Religion hasa very
powerful hold even on the men, who are generally more or less
educated, for now common schools are throughout the country,
liut the women are wholly uneducated, except in religious rites
and duties. With them their religion is all despotic and powerful,
leading them in tiie past to the burning pile of their dead husband.
That, however, was not always the cruel order ot force, but was
frequently eagerly sought by the victim, first because she believed
it a religious duty, and next because the burdens, depiivations,
and self-denials, forced upon a widow by inexorable religious and
social custom, made death preferable to a life of widowhood.
Many women regret deeply that the government so rigidly
enforced its decrees against this self-immolation, for through
it they could not only escape present misery, but they could merit
a blessed future. This latter they lose if they commit suicide.

General education must ultimately break down much of these
people's superstitions and conservatism. But the less the inter-
ference with religious belief be apparent, the quicker will simple
education really sap the very foundations of their superstitions.
Mere argument rarely reaches the issue. A shrewd Indian will

.A^'^

I'il

306

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

\i V

1 7

argue with you, and seems to be certain that he has the best of it.
He is full of casuistrj', and vain of In's powers.

I think I called India the land of dreams. I have reached the
cc)nclusi()n tliat more than half of what has been said and written
of it was tlie chimera of dreams. Travellers have indulged in
fancy when telling of what they have seen, or have taken excep-
tional conditions, and written of them in such a manner as to
make the reader suppose they were the rule. Reatling their
books one would think this a land in perennial bloom, that the
monkey is seen everywhere capering along the roads, and that
brilliant wild peacocks and other birds make the wayside bright
and gorgeous. We liave trav'elled over 3,000 miles of Indian
road, and have not seen a single wild monkey or pea-fowl, and
while birds of bright plumage are often seen, they have to be
closely watched to catch their beauty ; one bookmaker who wrote
beautifully, dilated upon the gorgeous " birds of paradise " seen
from car windows. I doubt if there was ever one of these birds
in India, either wild or caged. The same exuberance of fancy
has evc!! painted this as the land of gems and riches. The
wealth of Ind has furnished the orator and poet with similes
from the days of Rome down to the present. Ale.xander halted
at the Indus, which we crossed two days ago, because his Greeks
knew there was more of disease to be met in the hot lands beyond
than of gold and gems to furnish them plunder.

India is fearfully poor to-day, and I find internal evidence that
it has ever been so. There have ever been the few who coined
gold out ot muscle, and crj'stallized sweat into gems. The few
here were perhaps smaller than in any other country. Tl-.ey built
its palaces and tombs of wondrous beauty, but there is absolutely
no sort of monument of past peoples or masses. These have ever
lived in squalor, their mud houses melting under summer rains ;
their little accumulations vanishing in the smoke of their poor
funeral piles. Oppression has so sunken into their natures that
they have no conception of any thing else. If eels were half as
fond of being skinned as ihese people are of being ground down,
they would wiggle from tlieir mud-lioles into the frying-pan.
Like spaniels, these people delight in licking the hand that smites
them. There has been nothing in this land to make it one of
wealth, but everj* thing to make it the opposite. Its climate
enables its people to live on what would be starvation elsewhere,
and to clothe themselves in the lightest garments. Such a people
never are rich. They have been able to manufacture articles at
almost a nominal cost, whose rarity in Europe makes them of
great value, and Europe imagined these things were riches,
whereas their very cheapness here was evidence of the poverty of
the country. Wealth is accumulation ; and accumulation is the
offspring of habits arising out of the necessity of saving for the
morrow. There was never such necessity in India.

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INDIAN POVERTY AND KINDLl .\ l-.SS.

207

England is tryiiip; hard to make its Indian sulijccts prosperous,
and to elevate tiuni, but since her first step was taken in the land,
she has found the nature of the people has a tendency to make
rulers corrupt. A trial is now t,'oin^ on in Lahore, wiiich shows
that it is hanl even for Ens^lish civil-service examiners to escape
the temptation of takin;^ bribes, It would be amusiiiL,' to read the
testimony of cantlidates for a hij^dier tirade of lawyers, if it were not
painful ; amusin;^ liecause of the simplicity of the people in tak-
ing it for granted tiiat nothing can be luul except for pay, and the
case with whicli tiicy invite themselves into traps. Tlu; climate
seems to have acted on tiic people as it does u|)on tlu ir wooden
furniture and doors. If one twists in a chair, he breaks it down.
If he moves a table he is liable to have it drop in jMeces, and I have
not seen a door in the lanil that fits as it was made. In the rainy
season every thing takes water as a sponge, and in the dry months
it shrinks like a c.d<e of country-made soap. It .acts in like man-
ner upon the moral nature of tlie flexible people.

One sees ever\where throughout India one general characteris-
tic, a sort of kindliness of disposition to man and brute. All
domestic animals are as gentle and tame as fireside petted kittens.
The cow and ass; the sheep and goat, the camel and horse, the
chicken and duck, all seem absolutely a part of the famil}'.
Pigeons in flocks are frequently seen whirling in great circles in
the cities for sever.il minutes, and then swooping down upon cer-
tain house-tops. Often se\-eral flocks unite and fly together and
then separate as people do in dances. The owners of the different
flocks are on the tops of the r respective houses waving flags and
directing the flights of the birds, and by a motion calling them
down to them. I thus one day saw si.x different flocks flying at
once — now mingling, then separating, and all done under the
orders of their respective owners. They are kept in a sort of
coops on the house-tops, and are thus sent out for e.xercise.
After flying for a half hour or so, they are fed and quietly go into
their coops, and such as are deemed fit for the market are taken
out. One gets pigeons at almost every meal in all cities here.
Crows are as tame as sparrows are with us. Indeed, more so.
I saw one in Calcutta stealthily taking its meal fron) a quarter of
beef which a butcher had on his head, and several times have seen
one steal food from a man's dish when he was eating before his
door. They come within five or si.x feet of natives at every rail-
way station, but eye very suspiciously a foreigner, and can hardly
be tempted with crumbs nearer than 10 or 1 5 feet. There are
vast numbers of them in every part of the land. In Burmah they
are black ; here they have a mouse-colored neck, and look as if
they wore a cape.

A native hurts nothing if he can help it. Ants are the terrible
pest of the land. The white ant eats up the houses and destroys
the trees, yet I have seen more than one native carefully step so

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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as not to crusli these little workers, travcllin!:j from their nest to
a ncighborinjj tree. Tlie lliiuloo, like the Huddhist, believes in
transmigration of souls. Though lUidilhism exists to only a small
extent at the present lime in India proper, yet when it did e.xist it
made its teachings take a deep hold upon the Hrahminical reli-
gion, and has left its traces throughout the land, very greatly soft-
ening the cruel nature of the older and more dominant theology.

The people from 3ienares to the north of Delhi are much more
stalwart and manly than are the Hengalese, but they in their turn
are greatly inferior to the men of the Punjab. This word means
and exjjresses the country lying between the five great branches
of the Indus. In this country is a magnificent race of men. The
Sikh soldiers in the army are the handsomest body of men I have
ever seen, and indeed I liave never seen any Luropean or American
who came any thing like being as perfect model of n.anly beauty
as do many officers seen in the native Sikh cavalry. We witnessed
the practice of a native regiment at company target-->ho(jting near
Peshawur. The officers on horseback were simply superb ; afoot
ail show one universal defect among the entire people of India —
an almost total absence of calf to the leg. Even in Punjab men
and women have none. I can say this of the women, because up
here there are two things (juite antipodal to our customs. Men
wear what seem to be skirts and the women all wear trous< rs —
and very tight ones, too, below the knee. The other singular
thing is, one sees hundreds of men with beards dyed a brilliant
red. A gray-bearded man is rarely seen from Lahore to Peshawur,
for they take on a bright vermilion, evidently not for the pur-
pose of concealing age, but as a sort of beautifier. This seems a
custom borroweil from, or at least common with, the Afghans and
other people from central Asia.

The men of Punjab proved themselves brave by giving Eng-
land harder fighting to subdue them than perhaps all the balance
of India. But when once they acknowledge the supremacy of their
new rulers, like brave men they have shown themselves true.
They have little of the servile demeanor of the Bengalese. They
look a foreigner in the face — respectfully, but with an apparent
consciousness of their own dignity. The English here, too, seem
to meet them more as men and less as slaves than they do the
more servile people of Bengal. I suspect they cannot do
otherwise.

Not only did the people change from those previously seen
but after leaving Lahore behind us a few hours the face
of the country became quite different. For about lOO miles
in width along the Jhelum River, the earth is corrugated by
strange chasms, fissures, and gorges. The soil is an exceedingly
friable clay. This is rain-washed into gullies of 50 to loO feet
in depth, running in every direction, and presenting a most gro-
tesque appearance ; great domes, and spires of clay ; walls with

li'ESTF.NX IflMALA YAS.

209

flyiiif:; buttresses, cithcdrals, fortresses ; — for miles and miles these
are seen, as wild and picturesque a landscape as one can imagine.
This clay is now as red as terra cotta, ihen of a yellow ochre
color, then of a brown and .1 white, at a distance resembling great
bands of woven stuff in different colors.

r.irallel to the railroad ran often the great trunk road, which,
starting at Calcutta ami eniling at I'eshawur, I sup|)ose, the
grandest wagon road in the world — l,f)0o miles long, beautifully
gravelled, everywhere smooth enough for a bicycle, and geiierally
having a fine row of trees on either side. In the lower countries
these trees are evergreen oaks f)r shiny-lcafeil fruit-trees, or some
other of that character ; up here it is the bulbul, or gum-arabic tree,
with its delicate mimosa leaf. We fretjuently saw long lines of
camels slowly wending their way, and large caravans of asses and
cows, showing that the country ha^; much of the characteristics of
central Asia.

i'eshawur is a very interesting city, wholly central-. \siatic. A
very large caravan had come in only a daj- or two ago froui .\f-
ghanist.m and Turkestan. In the ba/aar are bold-looking .\fghans,
with noses so .njuiline that one is read)' to belie\'e them sprung
from the lost tribes of Israel, cl.id in sheep-skin coats, and fierce
in their demeanor; Kafirees, who looked at us as if they re-
gretted we were not over in the mountains, that the\' might cut
our throats and empty our pockets; Cashmirees, clean and f.iir-
skiimed, some of them with blue eyes. In the great yard we
walked among 400 or 500 camels squatted around in circles, their
heads close together antl eating from common centres. We passed
over 300 of them in a long line wending their way toward the
frontier, loaded with bales of Mnglish goods, great goods boxes,
anil six-inch iron water-pipe fresh from ICngland. I wondered what
use the pipes were to be put to in central Asia. With this caravan
was a wild, hardy set of men, ami more or less armed. In this
locality men are permitted to bear arms. Nowhere else in India
is this allowed — that is, to natives, but here self-protection makes
it necessary. Indeed, we are no longer in India, except in name.
We are in central Asia, and only 12 miles from the border of the
land of one of the fiercest people in the world.

We had intended stopping at Amballa as we came up, and
thence making a trip a da\- long to Simla, the summer vice-regal
palace or residence. I wished from that point to look upon the
mighty peaks of the western Himalayas. Years ago. Bayard
Taylor gave me a glowing picture of them ; I wished to look
upon them as he did, and thus in fancy renew our old associa-
tions. He looked upon the eternal snows of Gungootrcc from not
many miles away from Simla. I wished to do the same, but it
was pouring down rain, and we were told it was snowing violently
at Simla. We therefore left it for our return trip, if the weather
should be more favorable. Not having any guide-book to tell us

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./ RACE WITH THE SUX.

what \vc were to see on the road to Peshawur, \vc were most
agreeably surprised to find that the mi;;;hty snow-clad Himalayas
of Cashmir were \isiblc shortly after leaving Lahore, and con-
tinued so until night, and here we have had the opportunity of
looking upon their cold grandeur. Much of the snow seen, how-
ever, passes away in summer.

We have now stood near the waters of the Brahmaputra,
which rises in Thibet, and, flowing easterly, drains the northern
slope of the Himalayas, the mightiest of mountains, then
bending around the eastern end. empties into the eastern Hay of
Bengal. Between Lahore and I'eshawur we crossed the Iiulus.
whicli rises close by the fountain of the other great river, and
running westward under the northern slope of these same moun-
tains pa'" es around their western end. and empties into the Sea
of Arabia. Mighty rivers — of what mighty monardis do they
w.ish the feet ?

When we first looked upon the loft^' mountains of Cashmir,
there was a long line of fleecy clouds hanging over them.
One of us could not resist the temptation of calling them " the
veil of Cashmir." At the crossing of the Jhelum we were close to
the border of the land of bright valleys and brilliant shawls. W'-
would have been glad to have visited it. but its road v.To i^arri-
caded with almost impenetrable snows. We have a letter fron;
Lord Dufferin bespeaking for us the good offices of all officials
throughout his empire, Armetl with this, upon our arrival here,
we called upon the deputy-commissioner, and a.sked a permit to
go into the Khybor Bass, leading into the land of the Ameer as
far as possible. The result was that, accompanied b}- one of his
native ofticials, we drove l l miles to the fort at the foot of the
mountains. Here we found our liverymen liad sent a relay of
horses to carry us part of the way up the pass, where wc expected
to find saddle-horses, also sent from the city earl\- in the morn-
ing. Accom|)anie(l by an escort n' eight c.ivalr\-men. splendidly
mounted, ;iiul carrrying lances, we dajihcd toward and into the
foothills. ( )n every high point for a few miles a coupK'of soldiers
would step from a little stone luit and present arms ;is we passed
by at full s])eed. Sometimes thc^e sentries were ICXD or 200 feet
above us. They made us reali/e that we were in a neighborhood
where dreatl war might at any hour break into wild whoops, and
where border robbers were more than comfortably plent}'. But
our escort were splendid-Kioking fellows, and were fully .irmed.
We pa.sscd a caravan of camels, mules, and cows, all packed and
accompanied by wild-looking armed men.

We had not gone two miles upward into the mountain road
before our carriage-horse- balked. Wc got out and walked. ; )ne
of the sokliers dismounted and offered me his liorse, a beautiful
stallion, full of mettle and horsi-sense. I mountetl and rode
ahead with two soldiers, the others coming slowly up with the

I
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A hlLJ) RIDE INTO KHYBER PASS.

211

boys till they should reach the next relay. The pass is through
a wild, desolate, and mand gorj^e : bold, rocky, ami bleak moun-
tains lifting far above the road, which is a fine but steep military
one. Iviy two " Sikhs " were splendid-looking fellows. In about
an hour, having crossed the summit of the pas. , one of them said
something to the " sahib " (^gentleman), which I understooil to
be that I must ride slowly. He dashed forward at full speed (we
were now on a down grade), leaving the other .soldier and nuself
to follow slowly. \Ve met men in couples, armed and wild-
looking. Wilder-looking men and a wilder gorge tlo not often
exist anywhere. Several rocky points had small Afghan 'ound-
liouses, with loop-holes for muskets or rifles. I guessed rightly
that my departing escort had gone forward to see if we would be
permitted to proceed, f r I felt pretty sure from what the com-
missioner had told me th.it my permit only took us to the top of
the pass. The corporal knew this, but the men with me did not,
ami it was not imi)erativel\' my dut\ to tell them. I was going
as far into .■\fL;hanistan as tliey woiikl accompanx' me, for 1 knew
England was .it my back. Presently we saw our advanced guard
beckoning u~. from a far-off point. On we dashed. We reached
a little sto'-.c hut against a steep precipice. My men dismounted,
motioning me to d(j the same. They brought out of the hut a
chair, and planting it against the cliff told me to take a seat.
Hardly had I done so, when there came down a steep hill from a
sort of fortress high .diove, a fine-looking fellow, with a dozen
wild-looking armed retainers. It wa^ the chief of the tribe, the
heail of AH Musjed. When he approached I grasped the situa-
tion. He was an independent chief, in whose charge ami keeping
was this part of the pass. I received him with a digJiity worthy
of the 50,000 democ'ac voters of Chicago, lie was very polite,
but could not sjieak a word of English, nor cmdd any one of them.
Yet we talked. I showed him Lord Duffevin's passport, and also
that with Mr. Baj-ard's name attachetl, with the seal of my own
glorious land. He could re.id none of them. I i)icketl up a large
lound stone, made .1 mark upon it, and s.iiil, " I'esh.iwur " ;
another, and saiil. " Calcutt; ," giving their relative positions.
He understood. 1 then made another, and said, "England,"
" London." This, too. he comprelieiuled. I turned the st<Mie
over ami drew a big country, and said, ' America." I made
America too large, for he looked at me in a way that plainly told
me he thought I w.is I>ing. I then ilrew a pretty big chart, ami
nointcd to it, .md told him that was Ali .Musjed, where we
were, and that he was rajah of it. He grinned. I turned the
ston^ around, and with my pencil m.ule .1 m.irk the size of a pea,
and told him that was Chicago, ,uul I wa.-^ its '■ r.ij.di." He
seemed pleased that his territory was bigger tlian mine, and
motioned to me to be seated. I wanteil him to sit, trying to ex-
plain that ills rajahship on the stone was bigger than mine.

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:,2 A RACE WITH THE SUX.

But he was my host, and 1 must have the seat. He invited me
tc his stronghold on tiie liill to partake of food. I showed liim
.\\y watcii, intimating that I was sorry not to have the time, and
that mj companions would be awaiting me. We shook hands,
he touching his heart, face, and forehead. This is the token of
highest rcsjjcct. I suppose my escort had convinced him tliat I
A\ IS a mighty man. Thus parting with the lord of the territory of
Ali Musjed, we rode forward, deeper into the great Khyber Pass,
and well into Afghanistan.

We reached All Musjed. a bold-looking Afghan fortress, and
as picturesiiue as can be imagined, perched upon a lofty, rocky
point overlooking the gorge not 50 feet wide, through wliich tlie
road ran. It was stormed by Roberts' me'i. and is now dis-
mantled. By the road under it was a stone hut, large enough, I
thouglit, for four or five people. A do/en armed cut-throat-
looking fellows came out of it. Tiiey were some of tiie chief's
wild devils who convoy caravans through the pass. The chief is
under the pay of the giivernment, aiul guarantees safety to ail
peaceful |)assers who have a right to go through. After a little
palaver with them, my guard intimated we could go no farther.
But I rode on, one of then\ threw his lance lengthways across the
road ;ind followed. I saw then that an armed I-lnglish soklier
could not pass that line. 1 suppose it was the end of our last
chief's jurisdiction. But I made signs I must ride a little fartiier
into tlu' narrow gorge. He looked rather perplexed, but followed
me. On I galloped until the line of Ali Mu-jed was far behind
me, and I was in a narrow defile as bold, wikl. .uul rugged as a:.y
Colorado canyon. My escort was some paces behiml me, for I '.as
splendidly mounted. He called to me. I paused. He rode up
and pointed to my holsters and his, saying something rather
apologetic in his own language. I saw he meant we wore English
arms, even if his lance were bihind ; but I was going through tlua
defile a little farther if possible. I dashed forw.ird. It was a
beautiful gallop, a!mo»t a wild run, into as wild a pass as the
wildest of lands could afTord.

! i

CHAPTER XXI.

IMHAS \ Asr PASl— A Gl.OKlor^ MOI'KKN I >1;FI >— DKLI II AND

AUKA— EXtjL isnr, IIAl.l S AMI ^UMli^— llli; lAJ —

Ri:i-LKCT10NS.

i't

DcUii, India, February 4, 1888.

It is needless to say. I ^ot out of Aftjliaiiistaii with a whole
skin. I have, liowcvcr, been informed that my cavahy c.ipari-
soned horse, witli tlje liolsters at my satltlle-bow, niiy;ht have in-
vited a warniiijj; froni an Aff^han <^\\\\. Hut as tlie chief of AH
Musjcd (Hd not seem offended, I am fjlad that I made my Httlc
gallop be}'ond his jurisdiction, or at least beyond his safe-conduct.
I saitl in northern hulia tiiere were occasional frosts from Uecem-
ber to l*\-bruary, yet plants which with us are killed by the first
frosts are throuj^hont the I'unjab cj;reen and blooming. Teas
continue in full blossom, but the pods do not fdl ilurin;^ the frost
jieriods. Roses an: in full bloom, etc. Wy the waj', frtim Henares
for several huntlred miles north is the land of this queen of tlowcrs.
At A^ra I measure<l one resemblini; a jaciueminot in the Taj L;ar-
den, seven inches in diameter. Our hotel in Delhi had ujxm the
table seven (lowers-pots with 12 to 15 roses in each, with other
flowers, and ei^dit small ones with two or tiiree in each. These
were all renewed every other day ; the whole at a co.-.t of five
rupees a month, say §1.75. The threat clumps of deep pur[)lc
" beijum bol.i " and yellow and coral bi^Mionias, in masses 10 to
20 feet in diameter and lo feet hi;4h. make the i)ublic i^Mrdens gor-
geously brilliant. Outside of natural gardens the whole country
h.is a j)arched appearance as far as grass is concerned. I'ields of
growing crops are green, and nearly all trees, though deciduous,
arc ever green, but at this season not brightly so.

Our ride of 600 miles from I'eshawur back here was even more
enjoyable than the one going up. We saw by day what we
passed going liy night. It took 43 hours, with abimdant time for
good meals. The mountains of Cashmir covered with snow, some
of them 17,000 feet high, were in view for hours. We crossed on
magnificent briilges the ^\\v great branches of the Indus, now
comparative!)- sm.dl streams. Hut the great river-beds, a mile or
so wide, deep sunken with their bars of rounded pebbles, showetl
what mighty torrents they become uhen the snows of the llim.i-
layas .melt.

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214

A J? ACE IVITff THE SUiY.

After leaving Umbala the lofty Iieights of the main Himalayas
and the immcdi.itc foothills were in view for several hours. Their
lofty, rugged peaks far over the foothills, from 20,000 to 25,000
feet high, with their eternal snows outlined upon the blue sk)-,
presented a magmficent spectacle not far inferior to that of
Kunchinjinga from D.irjeeling. Wo had from the car windows
what I so much desired, a splendid prospect of those grand
heights, which my olu friend Bayard Taylor travelled so far and
under sucli difficulties to see from Landowr, onlj- a few miles
from the line we were :;o comfortably moving along. There were
no railroads here 34 years ago. He travelled night and day in an
open cart, and caught only a passing glance, between clouds, of
these stupendous heights. We had together, a year or two
before, looked upon and p.issed over Hermon and I ^oanon.
had encamped in a wild gorge oT the Taurus, and had slowlj-
climbed the green slopes of frownir.g (^lyiupus after a long
journey across Asia Minor. He knew he had my hearty sympa-
thy. When speaking of this, his onlj- vision of the Himalayan
monarch, he said : " It was only for .t little while, but oh, Har-
rison, it was worth a lifetime of toil I " How his brown eyes
glowed I He enjoyed nature as only one can who has a heart full
of s\-mpathy. I watchcil for hours those far-off frozen monsters
of silver, enamelled upon the azure sky. and they were all the
more beautiful because my dead friend had so enjoyed them. At
least I thought, when looking u;)on the might)' snows in the dis-
tance, that they were the same he had seen, and enjo\-ed them
accordingly. I now have iloubts if either of the two monarchs of
the western 1 linial.i)as are visible from the line of railroad. For
the time being, however, our sensations were as complete as if we
were looking ujion the rivals of Everest and Kunchinjinga.

i\mericans visit countries, cities, and battle-fields in Kurope
.sacred to them because their forefathers lived and died there, or
because they were the cradles of their le.uiiing. There the soil is
d\'ed in blood in the nam. of freedom or for n-ligion's cause. In
Rome they live o\er a world of history, and sec legions of long
dead heroes marching before them. In (irecce they watch genius
chiselling brealhing forms from cold marble, ami listen to unilying
song (lowing from the lips of the muses. If India had a written
history as hiVc Rome and (ireece, ami hail as grateful posterity as
they have, then would millions visit the 20-mile-s(]uare in whose
centre I now sit in Delhi, and would revel in a mighty past, com-
pared to which th'- past of Rome and Athens is as a decade to a
century. Here for thousands of years histor\- has been acted, but
never written. Acteil not centuries ago, with a vast vacu.ity to
toUow, but acted continuously as the ages have marched slowh'
along. Not 200 )-artls from where I am writing, 30 years ago a
deed was done more heroic' than was the stand of Lconidas at
Thermop)he. The murderous mutineer;, seemed safe behind

UNIQUE MONUMENTS. OLD RUINS.

215

Delhi's impregnable wall. A breach must be made, but how, and
by whom ? Two brave soldiers, with nine followers, offered to
blow up a massive gate. With bags of powder they ran to it un-
der a galling fire, knowing well that if they escaped the bullets
the}' must be buried under the ruins they hoped to make. One
by one they fell. A single man reached the arch, applied the
torch, the oreach was madi', Delhi was won, and the mutin_\-,
which was one of the most cruel recorded in the annals of war,
was virtually ended. A plain slab leaning against the gate gives
the names of those heroes. A national anthem should carry their
fame down through undj-ing time.

Here within a small circuit the mighty moguls ruled 200 years
ago, and during several centuries made this their capital of a
mighty empire, the centre of an art all their own,— an art so full
of fancy and dreamy splendor that even Aladdin's lamp could
find nothing to surpass its creations. Under the ruins of the
palaces, mosciues, tombs, and forts of the moguls lay the ruins
of the cities destroyed by them, and out of whose sculptured
walls and temples they found materials for their own superb
edifices. Still lower down were tlie relics of )-ct older cities,
layer upon la\'er in stratified debris, is the work of the enslaved
millions, who have lived, toiled in misery for thousands of
years, and died, only to make room for other slaves yet to
follow.

Mere one sees a red-coated English soldier cjuartcreil in the
colonnaded cloister of an old mosque erected two or three
centuries ago. Sculptured stones cut by liands of Hindoo
worsliii^pcrs over 2,000 years ago are built into the walls of
the Moliamniedan temple. The Hrahmin temple, a part of
whose cloisters became the corridors of the conquering Moham-
metlan, had for its foumlations some structures yet far older :
at one of these places, piercing through all, stands tl^e most
uni<|ue monument in the world — a wrought-iron pillar nearly a
fool and a half in diameter, and over 40 feet high — liow much
higher, or rather longer, no one knows, for an excavation nearly
30 feet deep failci! to reach its foundation, and at tiiis deptli
of excavation it was yet st) firm below that it could not be
shaken. This strange pillar is not hollow, but it is a solid shaft
of malleable iron, and is claimeil b\- the natives to have its
foundation on the centre of the world.

Cities lie here in strata, as the ribs of the earth do in its
nn'ghty rocks — sandstone, shale, limestone, and marble. Can
we hope that under Hriti^.h rule will overlie all a stratum of rich
loam, to be yet watered by the sweat of a happy and prosperous
people, till it waves as a field of grain and blo.ssoms as the rose ?
Close to the iron pillar stands one of the most interesting and
beautiful monuments ever seeii, the Kutab Miliar. This is a
species of column with a diameter at its base of nearly 50 feet,

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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and risingj to a height of 240 odd foct, with a diameter at its
apex of nine. At one time it continued to a still greater height
of 20 feet ; the up;^or part was thrown off by an earthquai<e
within the present century. It is divided into five stories, gradu-
ated in perfect symmetry. Each story is surmounted by a bal-
cony supported by an exquisite brackxted cornice. But, as a
still' further relief, each is divided into what appear to be other
stories, by broad bands inlaid in white of Arabic extracts from the
Koran. The column is fluted for most of its height, and built
of red. buff, and pink sandstone and white marble. l*"or what
purpose it was built no one knows. It is as beautiful in its form
and construction as it is unicjue in its conception. The Kutab
Miliar is 1 1 miles from the present city, — the space between
being a mass of ruins of okler cities.

W'j counted fmni the top of the Kutab Minar over 100 tombs,
some in ruins, others more or less preserved. One of these is
that of Humayun. the second of the mogul rulers; the first,
Baber. was buried where he lived, somewhere in central Asia.
This, though not near so ornate as those of several of his suc-
cessors, is to me the most ajjpropriate of all mausoleums. First
there is a structure of red sandstone considerablx' over 300 feet
square and about 30 feet high: on each side are iS saracenic-
archcd doorways, divided b\' massive square iiiliars. The sand-
stone is relieved by inlaid white marble. Within each of these
doorways are vaulted chambers containin:;; tombs. This structure is
really the i)la:form for the true mausoleum or main tomb, wliich
is about i;o feet square, with cut-off corners, and probably
70 feet high. On the four sides are lofty arched doorwa\'s 60
feet ',n height, inclosing the segments of rounded vaults. On
either side of tliese doorways are archeil windows. Ail the
arrlies are pointed Oriental. The w hole of the main body is of
red .sandstone, picked in and relieved b\- beautiful white marble
inlaid work. .Surmounting it is a majestic dome of white marble
probabK" 60 feet in diameter. Around this, along the outer
walls, arc small white marble minarets, and at each corner a
small dome. Under the main dome is a vaulted chamber aiiout
50 feet across. In this is the cenotaph of the monarch. Under
each of the smaller domes are vaulteil chambers containing tombs
of his immediate family. The whole stands in a walled inclosure
of many acres, with noble gateways on three sides. A remarka-
ble feature of this structure is that there are man)- masonic em-
blems inlaid into the walls in black marble. The surroundings
of the tomb are very desolate, and, as we fountl, haunted by
jackals; fit resting place for one so unfortunate as was this
monarch in his short reign.

Near this is a group of remarkable tombs of a different charac-
ter, being simply spaces inclosed by .screens of marble cut into
open network pattern, of a finish as delicate and beautiful as

PURE J AH AN AR A.

217

if cut from ivory. One of these is the burial-place of a Moham-
medan saint ; adjoining it is the mosque in which he oflficiated
several hundred years ago. A few poor monks still have charge
of it and protect the tombs surrounding it. One of these is
that of Jahanara, who shared the seven years' captivity of her
father, Shah Jahan. We saw it when here before going to
I'eshawur, but were so much touched with Jahanara's pure devo-
tion and sublime faith that we visited it again. The light net-
work screen of snow-white marble in beautiful pattern surround-
ing her tomb, seemed a fitting inclosure for one whose spirit was
so pure and whose filial devotion was so true. She is covered
by a plain block of white alabaster, simple as was her nature. She
asked that no inscription be upon her tomb.

" riaic iiaii^lil save- iinc t;ici-n licrli alxive my ht.id,
This alonu liulil-. llii- pdur and Iniiely ik-ail. "

To carry out her dying wish the alabaster block is hollowed out
on ti>p .uul kept by pious monks always filled with green grass.
A slab stands near the head of her tomi), inscribeil in Arabic :
"God is the life and the resu-'rection." The " Taj " made me
bow at the tomb of Monta/, whose name its wondrous beauty
for a mtunent almost sanctified. lUit J.dianara's loving, gentle
spirit beautifies the simple stone which covers her dust. ^Iontaz
was a beautiful, i)roiul woman, whose every caprice was a law
tt) her doting husband. Her life was said to have been one of
cruelt)-, perhaps not untinged by crime. Her mausoleum is the
jiL'rfection of architi'Ctuial i^ciuty. l\)ets look at it and, forget-
ting the woman's frailties, sing of her as if she were fitted by
her nature for the tonib in which her ashes rest. She loved and
brightened tiie pleasures of her prospero.s king. But when tliat
same king for long years pined in captivity, poor J.dianara
shared it with him, and b\' the sunshine of a daughter's love
lightened up his hours of gloom. I felt one should tread lightly
and s|)eak in low anil gentle tones when near her resting-place.

Delhi, like Agra, has a magnificent fort, covering nearly a mile
square, built of red sandstone, with majestic gateways, and loft\-
crenulated w.ills. In both cities the fv)rts ;irc on the river bank
and are grand.I)- imposing in appearance. Within e.ich is a mar-
vellously beautiful temple, each called the Pearl moseiue. Both
have exquisite palaces aiul auilience-halls. The Diwan-i-Am,
or " public audience-hall," in Delhi is iSo feet long, 60 feet deep,
and 25 feet high, supported b\- three rows each of 16 columns, and
one row of pilasters upon the rear wall. I'rom the outer columns
spring Saracenic engrailed arches. The whole makes rather a
portico than a hall, in western acceptation of the term. The
structure — roof, ceiling, antl all — is massive and dignified, and of
red .sandstone, a fitting place for a mighty monarch to give
audience to his subjects. In the centre, back against the rear wall,

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is a white marble throne, about 12 feet square and 10 feet high,
surmounted by a canopy supported by four corner pillars. The
throne, canopy, and wall behind arc richl)' carved and covered
with inlaid ornamentation — flowers, vines, and buds, — all of
precious marbles, and finely wrout^ht.

Not far from this is the Diwan-i-Khas, or private audience
hall, the bath, the pearl mosque, and the zenana or queen's
apartments. The mosque is a t^em of clouded white marble, with
three beautiful domes and exquisite marble arches, supporting
marble, vaulted, engrailed ceilings. It was for the suitan and his
innnediate court alone, and coukl not accommodate over 100
persons. In fact there were not praj-er slabs for that number. It
will be well hereto explain that mosques are never provided with
or intended to have seats. In fine ones the floors are composed
of slabs of marble often of different colors, about five feet long by
about two and a half. On one of these the worshipper kneels
when praying, anil during any services upon these, sometimes
])ra>er-rugs are spread for the rich. The small Turkish and
I'ersian rugs, seen in the houses of our rich people, were woven
and many of them possibly once used for this purpose. The
number t)f slabs indicate the number of worshippers a mostjue will
accommotlate.

The Diwan-i-Khas is also a portico, 70 feet long, 60 fixt wide,
and 20 high, with 36 massive scjuare white pillars, supporting a
roof of closely fitted slabs of marble, decorated in gold and colors.
The lower parts of the pillars and outer walls are richly carved
and elaborately inlaid. The material used for inlaying all the
interior of these buildings are blood-stone, lapis lazuli, cornelian,
jasi)cr, agate, goldstone, and other precious marbles. In the rear
of the audience-hall is a large alabaster table. On this stood the
f.imous peacock throne, the most daz/.ling and costly thing of the
kintl ever fabricateil : a gorgeous work in gold and rarest gems,
said to have cost somewhere from §20,000,000 to $50,ooo,ixxD. All
interior inlaid work, both in this and other buildings, I sh.dl name,
is in vines and flowers, of a perfection of tlesign and finish eipial
to the tables manufactured in Italy, ami owned only by a few
very rich people. The floors are generally of Florentine mosaic ;
sometimes, however, they too, are in flowers and vines. Separated
from this audience hall by a court, is the zenana. This I shall
not attempt to describe in detail. It is about two thirds as long
as the audience-hall and is a gem of alabaster, inlaid work and
frescoing upon white marble. Across its centre runs a screen
partition i)f panels of open lattige-work in marble slabs, say 3x5
feet and 4x5, cut into open works of flowers and vines. Some
of the marble is cut so finely and delicatelj-as to be nearly as thin
as knife-blades. One can hardly believe that stone could be cut
and stand when so delicate. At a little distance it appears to be
of slabs of ivory. A balcony from this zenana, overlooking the

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plain running down to the river, is entirely of this fine work. A
charming place for a petted queen to sit and look out without
herself being seen.

At the otlier end of the audience hall, and also separated from
it by a court, is the bath. 1 1 ere one gets a true idea of the luxury
indulged in by these masters of men. There are three vaulted and
domed apartments about 30 feet square, with corridors between
and anterooms at the side, with baths for hot and cold and
fountains for perfumed water. Tiiese walls are ail inlaid and the
ceilings frescoed. A long marble rivulet runs from the bath across
the court, then througii a channel umler the audience-hall, and on
to the zenana. The lloors of these tlii'ce structures are inlaid in
vines, flowers, etc., anil of costly, precious marbles.

The government here, as in other cities, is repairing the finest
buildings, therebj- g.iining somewhat the good-w ill of its native
sul)jects. In manj- buildings the most valuable precious stones
were picked out by the soldiers years ago. Tiie reparations, as
near as possible, give the ai)pearance of the original without the
cost, the precious marbles and gems being supplied by imitations
in fine cement.

There are many other buildings, moscjues and tombs about
Delhi which I have not time to name. Only will I add that the
Janini mosque is a noble structure — perhaps one of the largest
and most imposing of its kind in existence. It can accommodate
2,oai peo])K', uiuler the roof, and 40,000 in the court. In the
courts are the poorest worshippers antl more closely |)acked than
in the mosijue proper. The front of all are ojjcn so that those in
the courts have the full benefit of .ill ceremonies. The mosque is
of reil sandstone, with zigzag inlaid white marble, giving it a very
airy appeanuice. It must deeply affect the imagination of the
followers of the pnii^het. IMosques throughout the workl are of
one gciier.il pattern. The dome and minaret constitute the
imposing features. To m\' e)-e it is the fittest design known for
an edifice in which to worship the one God. If Mohammed had
only left out the sensuous characteristics of his religion, and in its
pi. ice had inculcated the purity taught by Jesus, what .1 blessing
he would h.ive Ijeen to the Mast I

Humayun ditl not reside in the present Delhi, but in a city two
miles off — all now melted away except the great fort ...d the
tombs of a few of the great ones. Not only are the new structures
here built of the material of t>Uler ones, but the very roads are
m.icad.imized with their debris. The bulk of the inner material of
all having been brick, causes the roads built from them to have
fretpiently a terra-cotta color. Hy the waj-, pulverized brick is
mixed with lime for making mortar. They say it is better than
.sand.

I lumayun's son, the great Akbar, lived at Agra and Futtehpoor-
Sikri, a city of his own building near-by. There he erected gorgeous

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palaces at vast expense. Hut the monarch who bent India beneath
his rod, and whose simple order was an inexorable law, could not
dispel malarial fo^s from his pet city. Its marble halls were soon
deserted, its alabaster baths ceased to be cooled by pellucid
streams. Its palaces and stables remain almost as they were
erected. For they are too much rcmoveil from any hi<;hway or
new town to be quarried into for construction material. Akbar
was forced to abandon his new-built city, and returned to j^ive
audience in the I)iwan-i-Am, overlooking^ the broad Jumna in
Agra's fort. Here, upon a huge slab of bl.ick marble, the mifjluy
warrior administered justice to crin<^inj^ slaves crowdin<^ the hall
below. lie was a harsh "nd unbending tyrant, but practised a
rude justice, — often cruel, never kindly, yet never having the
tiger-like ferocity of the hot Indian jungle, but rather partaking
of the character of the wild winds which swept over the steppes
of his Tartar forefathers. He looked over the broad plain waving
in fields of green along the river; he looked over the interior nf
the fort, and there, crowding each other like tents in the mogul
camp, were domes and minarets, palaces and kiosks, zenanas and
pavilions of ojkmi network marble, light and airy as bird-cages, in
which the dark-ejxnl beauties of the harem sat and sang and gos-
siped and chiri)ed the livelong d.i\-, like prison birds of gorgeous
plum.ige, and like them, too, with throats attuneil to no songs of
real ji'V. The parrot, in golden feathers, croaks its coarse, discord-
ant jargon amid crimson flowers and loftj- bowers, while all around
is a torritl prison-house of malarial damps. Hut the lark pours
out his soul in delirious joy, while with fluttering wing it beats the
free, bracing air of a frosted zone. The linnet carols its song of
love, when hidcien among new-born buds, on a bough latel\- bared
by wintry blasts. O freedom ! wilt thou ever make thy home
where fmsts never blast?

Akbar conquered India, and was hurietl at Secundra, two miles
from Agra. His tomb has nothing about it to remind one that
its tenant is dead. It is rather a mosque-like palace of the living.
His fame will live for ages. Did the genius of exuberant mogul
art think of this when it conceived this last home for one of the
immortals? It is the only one of its kind, and was perhaps, after
all. a stroke of highest art. t )ne enters a vast garden through a
noble gate of red sandstone, beautifully inlaid with white marble,
in scrolls of huge Arabic texts from the Koran and finely propor-
tioned panels. The gateway building leading to the garden con-
taining the tomb is loo and odd feet long by nearly the same
in height. It is nearly square, and surmounted by four lofty
minarets in white. Of itself it would be a noble tomb. The great
arched gate and two recessed windows fill the front facade. The
mausoleum consists of five platforms, the first 20 feet high and
500 feet square. In the centre of each side is a lofty gate through
which steps mount. On this rises the second platform, 350 feet

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square. The four sides arc supported b\- -^nine 30 columns. At
cither end of tliis rise a li.df-ilozcn domed wliite pavilions. Tlie
third and fourth plalf< mis .ire over 2(X) feet sipiare, eacli sup-
ported by piUars. Then on top of these is tli' fifth, wiiich is of
wliite marble with domed pavilion at each corner. The upper
platform or roof is su|)p(irted b)- beaiitif\illy carveil white macl)le
pillars, making' a rich corridcr, within which, enclosed by lul-
patterncd marble l.ittice-w ork, is a room about 70 feet stpiare.
This is airy, li{?ht, and beautiful. In its centre is the cenot.iph of
the ^reat ruler, inscribed in Arabic (piot.itions from the Konm.
His ashes lie dinclly uiulcr thi-,, hut in a d.irk v.iull in the h.i.sc-
mctit of the structure, with no marble immediately covering them.
Just at the head of the cenotaph above is a short marble pillar,
with .1 sort of cup on its top. In this was kept the "kur-i-nur"—
the li;j;lit of liie world — the i,'re.it diaiiioml. now the brii,ditest
jewel beloii^injj to the crown "f l'Jii;land. The entire mausoleum,
except the top pkitform, is of reil sandstone, lii^'hted u|) by white
marble inlaid in ^^raceful forms. The ^rand arch "f the main en-
tr.uice is illumined b\' arabescpies and llowers in j .cious marbles,
as arc also the floors and lower panels of the inclosurc .ibovc con-
taining the cenotaph. The several stories or platforms sit back
upon the one below, so th.it the entire structure artistically 'i-
minishes as it rises. The entire structure is from 130 to 160 feet
hiL;li, and is by some tliout,'lit the [grandest of all the niot;ul
structures. It is the most (.liquified, and fittingly enshrines the
greatest of the line.

The Agra fort is a noble citadel nearly a mile squ.ue. It
contains many beautiful buildings. One of them, the Pearl
mosipie, is a perfect thing in pure marble, as fresh and clean to-
ilay as when erected. It is \ciy beautiful, but to me is too cold,
lacking too entirely color and tone. I'robably in a hotter season
this would not seem the case. Akbar's son, Jahangir, built hi>
palace in tlie fort. I.acli emperor seemed to consider it a duty to
create a new city or to erect new palaces. None of them resided
in the lu)use of his predecessor. It must be untlerstood. however,
that these palaces in no way correspond with the vast eilificesnow
used for such purposes, with great state halls, numerous private
saloons, and innumerable sleeping chambers. A mogul's palace
for himself and main cpieen, with audience-hall and baths, would
not cover 200 feet square. They were all rather open, — pillared
and arched porticos than houses. A simple screen and the king's
command made privacy complete. A guard of soldiers made im-
mediate outer walls useless. The great wall of the fort, guarded by
an innumerable army, kept the open enemy at a distance. A body-
guard kept off all idle or dangerous intruders. The king's palace
was like his tent, except that marble and alabaster screens took
the place of canvas and silk cloth. Curtains of woven gold and
silk divided off rooms, and no man except the monarch ever

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invaded the sacred precincts of the zenana or harem. In this
lived the queen or (lueeiis, with their handmaids and servants, all
female. They ate, prayetl. lau^died. and sanp, and were hapj)/
when their lord dei^Mied to smile upon them. They were ^^enerally
simply toys for his amusement. Now and then a favored one won
his heart, and became his idol. On sucli he lavished untold
wealth. Was she happy ?

The Jasmine Pavilion is an exquisite vaulted little kio;«k,
composed entirely of jewelled, enamelled, and lacework marble
screens. This overlooks the outside of the fort. Close by it sat,
for seven years. Shah J.dian, when kept a prisoner by his son
Arun;,'zeb. It was lhereth.it the ill-fated monarch had leisure to
repent his own faithlessness to his father Jahan^'ir. Jahangir's
tomb is at Lahore. It is a noble structure, and is now being
repaired and restored by the government. Jahan's years of captiv-
ity had one consolation, the devotion of his daughter (heretofore
named) Jahanar.i, a Moh.uumedan girl, whose beautiful faith in
the one true God was as sublime as that of any Christian woman
around whose brow shines the halo of a saint.

Shah Jahan was the founder of the present Delhi. He built the
palaces, baths, and audience-halls which are its beautiful monu-
ments. His ashes lie h\' the siile of those of his queen. Mont.iz,
in the Taj. Aurungzeb's reign was a long one— nearly 50 years :
but it may be called a half century of intrigues, murders, poison-
ings, and imperial disasters, woven in with a lavish si)lcndor un-
known in an\' other age and impossible out of India. Merc every
little principality had its own language and its own people. Cohe-
sion was an impossibility, except the cohesion of slavery and des-
potism. There were millions who could at any moment have
broken the cobweb rope which fettered them. The rope cut
into their quivering flesh. They themselves held their limbs
together while their wounds festered ; they had not will enough
to swell the muscles which with their own simple expansion could
have sundered the fragile cord that bound them. Aurungzeb's
fears and luxury awakened his Nemesis. The cobwet net. which
for centuries had lain over India, dropped into pieces. His reign
was so luxurious that Moore's dream of '• Lalla Rof>kh " was not
an unreal picture of the reality — a reality of which the Irish bard
was wholly ignorant. Drawing colors from his own fervid fancy
he painted a picture he supposed all unreal, but wh<ch in fact was
true to nature. I know not where Aurungzeb v.as buried. A
guide at Lahore said the tomb was 12 miles from that city.
It may be so. I cared too little for the hypocritical brute to
find out the truth.

At Agra, Delhi, Amritsin. and Lahore are private native houses,
surrounded by uncouth and slovenly structures, which show, in
latticed balconies and in engrailed pointed arches and delicate pil-
lars, how the strange, wild, and beautiful art of the moguls sank

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into the native heart. It was not Hindoo, it could not be moj^ui,
so Lately burst from its wiUl, ungenial plains. It spraufj from the
delicate instincts of the careless Hindoo, ([uickcned into life by
the wild extravagance of the untutored Tartar. No simple word-
paintinjj by a traveller can enable the reader to be " partakers of
his happiness " in lookin<; upon such " noteworthy f>bjects as Ik re
surround h.im." With a picture he could make yru sie them.

I will, however, f^ive a short de'-'M.ttion of the tombs at Agra,
and then I shall have done. First, the mausoleum t)f the treas-
urer of Jahangir and father of his celebrated wife Nur-Mahal
— the light of the h.ircm. The main structure stands upon a
raised pl.itform of red sandstone and is about 70 feet stpiare, with
octagonal towers half projecting at each corner and lifting two
stories high, and surmounted by open-domed pavilions. The
main building is only one story in height, but on its nearly flat
roof and in its centre stands a pavilion 25 feet sipiare and one
story high surmountid by .1 canopied roof. The roof of the main
building am' u])per pavili'in has a broad eave supi)ortetl by pretty
brackets. A pointed arched doorway enters the middle of e.ich
of the four sides, with window recesses on either side. The entire
structure is built of pure white marble beautifully sculptured and
inlaid within and witiiout in I'lorentine mosaic or in vines .md
flowers. The inl.iid ornaments are of pretty marbles, the interior
being of precious stones and some gems. The windows in tiic
recesses of the first stor\- .uul in the inclosure of the jMvilifJn on
the top. are of most dilicately wrought open lattice in network
p.Utern. This structure is in perfect ])reserv.itioii. except that
many of the gems h.ive been removed and replaced \' ith imitation
in stucco. While it does not show the highest artistic design, this
inausoliini is 1 ,1 finish in detail unequalUd bj- any thing seen in
India. \'iew'(l from the diminishing end of a gl.iss it looked like
a perfect c.ird building. I^y many travellers it is thought the
most pi rfcct thing left by tin mogul empire. This, and all the
things I bave n.mied are of wondrous beauty or of lofty grandiur,
and wdl live in memor)' — but all of these pale and dwindle when
brought into compaiison with the one perfectly be.iutiful thing,
not of India alone, but of the world. I almost dread naming it,
lest \'ou deem me extr.ivag.int or call me a follower of fashion.
l''or I confess it is the f.ishion to rave over it. I have myself seen
travellers visit it, saunter about it for a while, then stop to exam-
ine some paltry detail, or to watch the flight of gay parofpiets, or
ga/.i" ;it some curiously dressed native visitor. And then I have
■ ifterward heard these same people rave about the beauty of the
thing. It is the fashion to do so. I refer to the " Taj." I li.id
read niuch of this f.imous structure. 1 expected much, but had an
undefined imjiression that I was to 1k' di^^appointed — a vague feel-
ing that my expectations coudi not be ri-,dized. 1 almost dreaded
this when approaching it through the great south gateway, it.sclf

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a riKi{,'nirucr.t building of red sandstone, no feet square and 140
feet \\v^\, i)ierced by a porta! 75 feet liigh at tlie kiystone of its
pointed arcli. Tliis outer structure is so relieved by inlaid white
marble in ar.dje>ques, friezes of vines and flowers, and eiUabla-
tures inlaid with ([uotations from the Koran that it looks liyht
and cheerful. The yjateway alone would be a jrjrand mausoleum
for a quei-n or for tlie proutiest monarch, between this anil the
tomb is a -.trden i/X) feet square, planted in trees of richest
foliage. These so hid th<- mausoleum that I ili<l not see it until
standing before t!ie great archeil p-ortai (if the gate. This made a
framework showing t)iily the tomb i)roper. At first it looked
small, for so perfect are its proportions tl;at it seenieil ipiite near,
ami ^o light and air)- as to >eem a j)!) mtom picture thrown upon
tin .i/ure skj-. The picture was so beautiful that I paused for
xiine minutes. A man j)assed along the platform, on which the
toinb is erected and just in front of tile main doorw.iy ; he .ip-
jiiMred I mere ])igmy. tliu~ showing th-- distance and [jroving the
perfect proportions of the >tructure. 1 soon knew there was to
lie no di-appointment. The Taj was even more beautiful
than I had anticipated. As 1 w.ilked forwanl through the outer
gatew.i)' the picture widened iiito full view. .\s it wideiud I
Could .ilmost fancy tlie dome was lowering. \'ew and cypress liave
made a broad avenue partially concealing the lower portion of
the wings and min.irets. In the middle of this .iveiuie is a broad
ni.irble walk, with .1 long pool of |)ure w.iler coiituuil Ixtweeii
marble a.iII>, and a bntad fount. lin i>ed half-w.iy down. I w.dked
slowly along this walk looking at the buikling liefoir inc. d,i/./.Iing
and white in the Indian noond.iy sun. and still it seemed to be
growing lower. init removing ni)' e)es from it when p.i-.>-ing
around the ceiitr.d fountain this effect ilisappeareil, and a- I sti!i
appro.iched it grew t.iller. until standing in front of the gri at pi. it-
form on which it w.is l)uilt I reali/id the gr.mdeur .ind immensity
of the whole. Its whole length from min.int to min.iret, .md the
height to t )p of dome, .ill was fully before me, with its pinn.icie
250 feet above me. The tiitire structure is of white-veiiied or
r.ither slightly i.l.iudeil m.irble ; is ^(lu.ire. with the corners cut
off, and is surmounted by one gr.iiid ilome, w itli ,1 smaller one at
each corner, and four lofty minarets over 1^0 feet liigh at the
corners 01' the wings. In front .md on each side is a wonder-
ful iloorw.iy, ^m odd feet high, being the segment of a .S.ir.icenie
arched v.iult. I"l. inking these doorw,i\s .ire four lofty .irclied win-
dow recesses in twn rows one above .mother to the level of the
arch of the great port.il. The whole is inlaid in be.iutiful figure*!
and arabLS(|ues in tlark marble, thereby relieving the structure of
too glaring appearance.

Under the great dome is a noble vaulteil room of polished
white marble, and wainscoting exipiisitely e,ir\rd in vines and

lotus flowers, and above inl.iid in costly marbles. In the centre

THE TAf.

of the vaulted room, immediately iindir tlie apex of the dome,
is the cenotapli of Montaz, called I'aj M.ihal, or "crown of
the iiouse." It is cut from a ^reat l)lock ..f .'•now-white ala-
baster. A part of it is riclilj- carved, and the wlioie maiie very
beautiful b\ ^naceful viius and i)ritty flowers, composed of l.ipis
lazuli, corneli.tn, toi);.-,'., blood-stom-, jasper, onj-.v, moss-a;.;ates,
j,'oldstone, tiir(pioise, iiul v)tiier costly stones, inlaid in tiny bits
so as to ",;ive tiie bKndi d hues of the flovvirs. In one small
flower 1 countrd v> "^eijar-ite pieces. \\\ the sitle of Mont.iz is
the cenot.iph of .Shah Jahan, of the saiMc patterit as that of his
wife. He built this wonderful tomb and buried his wile in it.
Afterward he was buried In' her side. Around the cenotaph is a
j;uaril <m- fiiice six feet hii;h, of open lattice-work in alabaster, of
most delicate workmanshi|). representing vini s and (lowers. In-
side of this inclosure we sat leanii';^' b.uk a;,;ainst the tomi). .md
John ;w,'ave an <ictave of tones, skippini,^ one and then descending
sk)wly ; these were echoed with supernatur.d jirecision-the
notes were caught and swelled till they would \'\\v^, and then dieil
like .1 far-otf <i.^h. .\ deej) Ij.iss note w.is sent back in terrible
music. d ^ro.m. .nul then uould melt into a ilyin;,; w.iil. We could
nf>t i^ive a note in >o low a ton-, that it would not return to u> in
rich volume. We tried then' so low th.il we' cmdd scarcely hear
e.ich other, thoui^h not four .eet ap.irl, ye't they would swell until
they weuld fill tiie chand)er .md come b.ick to us Kniiler tli.ui ue
at first heard t Item.

We visited the Ta; several time-;, .md each time tiled these
mar\ell()us echoes. ,\n im.iL^in.itive tourist in his book st.iles
th.it he trieii the recitation of .i celebr.ited poem with wonderful
effect. I his must h.ive been a lon_Lj afterthought. The echo
Lists far too jon.^ to m.d<e .luy recit.ition or ;my soii;^' effective.
A single music. d tone rises mtl then f.dls .iway. l.d<inj.f se\rr.d
.seconds to die out. We found th.it a pure- round note m.ide a
^re.itly more prohuiLjed icho i li.m .i h.ir-li one. I h. id no admira-
tion for tiie ch.ir.icter of Moiii.i/- she w.is cnu I ,ind ir.iity : but
after listenin;^ to these sweet echoes. 1 .ilniosi im.i;.;ineil 1 had
he.inl her s])irit in cli.isteuetl rej^ei .nee. I .irosi-. broiiL;ht '(.ine
flowers, and l.tid lliein reverently upon her tomb. Art for ,i m>i-
nunt sanctified the woman.

Wi- visited the T.ij w^mw .ind .e^.iin - the first time when it
was bl.i/.in.; under .i mid-d.ty sun. \\ C spent sever.il hours u.dk-
in^ about it. without clo>e inspection, but imbibini; its j^l.Ti' 'lis
biaulie^. The next il.iy we w. itched it .is the sun s.mk in the
west, .md L;il(li(l it in delic.ite ,i;old. .md then tinteil it with rose
as he drop|)ed below the hori/.on. Then, .is twili^dit deepened, the
il.irk inl.iid marbles in cornice, int. ibl, dure, and spandrels, so
effective .is relief under full da\-liL;ht, v.mished, and the nui^hty
.structure W.IS one dre.im of pe,i:l_\'-,L;r,iy. TIk twiliijit became
yet more ileep, .md (^ave .i weird effect .dmost si)ectr.il. Ihe

\v -V

' ' ;

" I*

2 26

A RACK WITH THE SCN.

\m\

li<^lit cloiuls which had obscured the waxini,' half-moon rolled by,
and then the pale (|ucen of ni^lit bathed tiie Taj in its silvery
fl()i)d, and shadows of ndn.iret in lofty arclied jjortals and in ileep
winihnv recesses came out. The fleet.)' chaids cliascd eaeli other
across the zenith, now throwing the whole structure into lij^ht
shadow, .md then permittin;^ the moon to wash it in frosted
silver. ilien it became what some one has \.\\>\\y called it — a
"dream in marble." I wrote, wiien close by, the impression this
m.irvellous structure left upon my mind. The ne.\t tlay, under a
species of reaction, wh.it 1 luul written seenjcd extravagant. It
was t)ver three weeks ;il,'(i, and now in n\\' calm niomeiU.s,
with the whole thing imlelibly fi.ved in mj' menior)-, I transcribe
what I then wrote.

The Taj I The beautiful, the marvellously be.uitiful Taj
Mahal I Tiie inspiration of " .\ .Midsummer iNight's Dnam ! "
The (>tTspring of a miraculous marri;>ge of the Muses with the
(iraeesi A poem witlu)Ut words! A song witliont voice I A
rii>thmic d.mce without motion I A zepli\r from an;.M Is' wings
mouliled ind hanlened into marble I .A chord from the music of
the spheris dropped and cr)stalli/.ed into alab.isler! A dream
ol love enshrined in a translucent pearl I Tin; ctu work of
human h.mds which /.v perfect I The sublime^t of poets >ang the
()d\s^ey and ch.mteil the Iliad. Who he was no oiu: knows.
Hut an aihniring world lias made him immortal, ami calls him
Homer. The sublimest of architects conceived and built the
ton)lj of Montaz. W'lio he was no one kno\^s. Hut an admiring
worlil will make him immortal b\' naming him " Ikiilder of the
Taj."

CHAPTER XXII.

KKMAKKAIil.K MOrNTAINS— A
AM) !'|;ai()( Ks -nil)

i;i.i;i'iiA.\ !-

M(M>i;i. NATIVK < rrV— MDNKKYS
AMI'.KK— A UIDK ON AN
-I KoroDII.I'.S.

Bombay, Iiii/ii. Fthnnuy 12, i.S.SS.

\Vk came frf>in Delhi to Hoiiibax-. !"'()0 inilos, \i.i I'lwali, Joy-
pore, Ajniere, Ahmed. ibail. Har<nl,i. aiul Siir.'.t. I'"iir the first 50
miles the road traversed a ll.it pl.iiii, <4radii,dl\' ascendiui', ; then
it was cut hy short raiii;es oi low, barren iiiouiUain^ praeticiUy
treeless, but h.iviiij^ a sparse j^rowth ol brush or ^pre.uiiiii^ Lmj^Iics,
.md resembliiv^ somewhat tlu; low uxiuntains of our \v«:sterii
plains. These hills rise abruptly from a perfectly ll.i^ surf. ice,
.md are freipienlly isol.ited pe.iks. The jiLiins looked pirched
.md dr\'. exci'pt where irriijalion made Ileitis .'f wheat and
^ram look like p.itchi's of enier.dil. (Juite .1 l.ir;4e area, how-
ever, of w h.it .ijipe.u's to be' desolate waste, was ;^'rout\ in wheat
during the wet se.isoii, but now beini; harvisted, tlu' l.iri^e- henis
of cattle, sluep, and ^o.its const. ml ly seen, 1)..\l ^r.i/i-d into the
very soil itself. I'he ^^rass i)l.iiiis, ton, seem to be e.ileii so close
that sc.ireeh" ;my vi'stii^e of lierbav,e cm be seen ; yet thousands
of cattle weri' feediu'^ upon them. There is i\idintly some
(pi.ditv in the dried-up ;^rass here which, liki' the bunch-;.; rass of
our f.ir West, affords much nourishment for animals.

yVfter ])assinj^ Ajmere, some 250 miles from Delhi, we entered
flat v.dlcys between (|uite hiL^h r.m^es. All o.t thesi- mount. uns
seem to be met.miorpjnc, nf marble .md (jii.irti uxl fissured s.md-
stone. ( )ftin the crest wf the hills were jjreat ledijes of tpi.ul/,
which _L,'le;imed in the hot sun and lookni as if they were m.isst^s
of ice. The ro.id w.is ball.isted with it, aiul the pl.dns were cov-
ired with it in brokin bits, which L;listenetl and sparkled like
llious.uuis of .icres of lii.imonds. I il.. not exaj^ijer.ite when I
s,iy that at one time, for .1 ^: ">tl many miles, the eye was p.uiied
by the sp.irklini,' -tf tiiese i|u.rrT/ .nr mic.(cet)U- -tones. .\ moun-
tairnwas l.imi appeared to our ?»»«ch. br"ken .imi pictures(|ue, but
w^ntini^ beauty fr mi the- lack «rf ^reeii. In the rainy .seasi>«,
«»li<;n, I am tnld. vei^et.ition spriuj^s torw.irti witli m.irvellou^
rapidity, it must In- very fine. We entere<l these mountains <ind
(ound a most wonderful formation. As f.ir as my ^l.iss woukl
I n.ible mc to see, the hills rising; several iumdred teel. were .1

VI '

' U' > ,/

^.|r

i /

i. I

22i>

w Ji.icvi ir/jj/ Till-: sex.

mass of t,'ranitc. Iicrc biokfii, i)ilc(l up, and there in huf:;c natur.i!
masses, anti all water-WDrn as if a miijiity toiient liad tiinibUd
over them f'>r countless a;4es. Deep holes and pockets were
worn into the soliil stone of all sizes, from that of a peck meas-
ure up to caverns uhich woulil shelter .i dozen men. Some wer»
as round as mortars, others irre;^ular; ^reat massi> of roek
weii^liiri; tons were cut nearly in two, and rested as if on stands.
M.isscs of l.ooo tons were as smooth as if rul)l)ed down. Masses
<>f lOO or more tons' wei_i;ht were piled om- above the other ami
all rounded. I a-keil a r.iiiio.ul inspector the name of this ran_t;e.
He said it was called the water-worn mountain. I'he base of
tiifse hiil> i> about 6cx) I'cet above the sea, anil the peaks are
from 200 to 500 feet lifted. What mi<;hty torrent tlui-> washed
these j;raiute hills, and when ' Were they once uniler the sea
and afterwards lifted ?

Ajmerc is in the we-vterii edj;e, ;is llwah is in the ea■^tern, of
Raiputana — an irrei^nl.ir rounded districl l\ii)t; in the centre o(
northwestern India, about 500 miles in tlianieler, ami \il uiukr
the sway of .several rajahs and m.ihar.ijahs, called independent
princes, who i,'overn their |)eople. so they think, by divine riLjht,
but in real.LV by the will of sovereign I'Jil;1.uu1. .She has .1 " Rt.>i-
dent "' in e.ich "f the capitals, — a well-paid ailviser to each of them.
but a spy upon their actions. TIk rajahs tax their subjects, live
in ^plendid palaces, liave their zenanas filled w ilh numy wives.
keep elephants, and staWes filU-d w ith hundreds of hor>es of noble
breeds, protect the f^anie of their dominions foi tlu ir own s|)oits,
let tij^'ers live in their junL;les within a few minute- of their c.ip-
itals to eat the unw.iry pe.isants. because tluse jioor peasants .ire
not alloweil to keep fue-.irms or to shoot },Mme, which depi.d.ite
upon their little fields of wheat , this these n.itive princes will be
permitted to do until Mnfjland wishes an anne.vation, and then an
e.vcusc will be found for such anne.xation, and the aforesaid r.ij.ih-,
will be pensioned off, .nul their ilominions will become anollu r
province of her im])erial majesty's empire of Imlia.

The country of Kaji)utana is consitleied rather desolate, but
from wh.it I .>.iw the soil is rich, but can never do its full duty to
man until a better and more ^eiural system of irri!.,Mtioii ^hall be
introduced, and trees can be cultivatid to superinduce .1 re;_;ul,ir
and i^cnc rally diffused rainfall. There are districts in Indi.i where
the rainfall is over \GO inches .i year, a. id yet not f.ir off there are
other districts which suffer tjieally for w.iter. The fielils are irri-
gated in these by water draw n from wells by o\i n, liftitit; it in
jjreat skin buckets, l-'ields so irri^'ated lia\e w lie.it wavini,' in a-
^rcat beauty as I ever s.iw, while just over the irriL;.itin;.^ ditch
there are tho'.is.mds of acres of l.md w hich produce sc.int\ crops in
the hf»t rainy seasons, but are desolate at this time, which is the
best for fjood crops under the buinin^ sun of India. The K.ijputs
are a fine-looking' j)eople. I he\- look a European (/. c. a wiute

J FY PORE.

'.2<)

man) full in the eye, arc polite, hut not servile like the IkMic^alcsc,
anU have ever been a fiyhtin^" jiiople. They ehiiin. from the
iiighest to the lowest, to be chililren of tiic sun. Tiiey were .i
constant thorn in the sides of the mo<;ul pailishas. ;mu1 prob.ibly
will n<it <iver-freel\' yield to I',ni;latul now, unless she convinces
them that her dominion will be better for the masses th.m is tlial
of their i)resent riders.

Wo sjient a couple of tia\'s in Jt . ,)ore, which is s.iid to be the
iiaiulsomest native city in Itidia, and is cl.umed by its own people,
and ailmitted by some travellers, to be the model n.ilive state.
The'princip.dity h.is 6,ooo to 8,000 scjuare miles, antl 1, 200,000 to
1.400,000 population. The people arc cheerful-lookin;^, but I
found many be^j^in;^, a thinij which sonu' other travellers say
iloes not here exist. It is Kss, however, than in other p.uts of
India where more luiropeans [^o. The city was founded iTxj
years aL,'o by the i)hilosophcr I'rince Jey Siiii^h, because his
priests told him there was .in old llimloo theory that no city
should bi- occiipit'd in'i-r ;i thousand j'ears ; so he <piit the olil
.uul built the new capital a few miles olT. lie m. irked the city
off nearly two miles sipiare, built its walls and its p.d.ices. and
then induced the people to build afti-r his own desi^Mis. The
streets cross each other at riL;ht anyles, and are very broad,
the main ones beini,^ 60 feet wide, and one of them i i i. In
.ill other n.itive cities the streets are but tortuous l.mes. like
little paths throui;h an irrei,ndar haphazard camp. The houses
on the four or five broadest streets are to a considerable extent
of a common design, a sort of mi.xturc of Orient. il and I'ortu-
yucsc. On these streets they arc from two to five stories hi^h,
and .ire of stone, plastered over ;in<i tinted a sort of pe.ich-blow
color. The effect is very strikin;^ and prett)-. We found much,
however, to be a pretty sham ; many of the houses seemin;^' of more
than one story are, in f.ict, one-storv structures, the second an<l
upper ones bein-fj merely walls, with their pretty cut-stone lattices
opening upon the tops of the houses in the rear. The town is
lighted b.y {;as, the only one (native) I have so f.ir seen. .\t nii^ht
these streets are, at this season, very bright and interestinij.
Their New \'e,ir is about to commence, ;ind for a month there is
.1 sort ot Ihl;!) carniv.il, bands of yoiin;^ men t;oini,' about sini^in;.;,
and b.mds of women, in brilliant colors and but partly coveriu'^
their f.iccs, laui:[hin<,r anil chatterintj like maL,'pies. The soiij^s of
the \"ouii'^ men were cvitlently to amuse the women, for thesu
would titter ami pass on. Our t;uide said the soni^s were ef a
kind we would think not fitted for ladies' ears. Hy the way, I am
told that throuLihoiit India the wit of tlieatres and daiK'e-<onys is
very broad, anil not by any means ch.iste. Much cotto'-, is i^rown
in the principality of Jeypore, and there is consid-.i.ible wealth
amon;4 the natives of the city. The pa! ice is a luindsonie six- or
seven-story building, erected on the mydu! of .Vkbar's tomb, at

ajo

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

1 1 >

I I

Scciindra, each upper story rcstinj^ on the platform of the next
iituliT story, and some ci^ht or more feet less in size. A imiseinn
is now bein;4 finislieil, having' the same features, and of ^Meat
architectural beauty, and with mucli ex(iuisite carving in white
marble. The jiortion already finished has many instructive s|)eci-
mens of mechanical arts and of n.itural histoi)-.

On the friezes of some inner courts and of the Iialls are Iliiidoo
inscriptions, with Knj^lish translations, some of which I ^'ive as
specimens of Hindoo ma.xims, taken from its sacred writings :

" A man obtain-. .i proptr rule nf .iriioii
lly li'ikiiit; im liis iiciijhbors as hini'-clf."

■' l.iki- tlircacK nf silvtr '•ecu lhninj;li ( ryslal lie.ids
l.tt lii\c lliroutjh jjiiiiil (lutiU s1k>«."

" III- nnly <li«s not live in vaii.

V\ III) all the means uilliiii liis reaeli
l!m|ilciys his venlth, his thmii^hl, his speech,
I" advance the guml u( nlher men."

" If I nnw Like this step, wliat next ensues?

Shoiihl I (■■rliear, what then nuist I e>.|itit ?
Thus ere he a( ts a man shonhl well relied,
.Vnd wei^liin^ Imtli sides, his course should chmikc."

" lio naught to others which if ijnnc to thei-

Would cause thee |'ain ; ihis is the sum "I duty."

" There is no reli^^i'm hiclur ihan triilh."

" To injure none )iy thought or uonl or ileed,
To jjivo to otiiers, to he kind to all —
I his is the constant duty of the yood."

Whate'ir the work a man performs, the most effective aid to it, completion — the
most prolitii source of success, is eiier^jy without desp.iiidency,'

" The liitle-minded ask : lielonns this man to our family ?'
The noble-minded rei^ard the huu' ' ' race as all akin."

" The wisi make failure eipial to success,"

These are .some of the shorter ones, the Ioniser ones beint^ fre-
quently the best, but too lonj; for my note-book. About the
museum is a jniblic j^'arden of 70 odd acres, beautifully and most
expensive!)- laid out, with an aviary containing all the birds of
rich plumage found in India ami Malasia. It was a revelation
of beauty. There is also a very valuable collection of animals.

One set of cages was very attractive to us. They contained
ten huge tigers, all caught in pits after ])roving themselves b.id
man-eaters. Mut;e brutes which sprang at us as we passeil with such
ferocity that they hurt themselves against the iron bars. The tigers
of our menageries are j)iippets compared to these fierce monsters.
A few annas to the keeper obtained for me the privilege of doing

MONKF.ys, P/LICOCKS, AND jrXii/./'lS.

23'

a little practice. Lookin^f a fierce fellow stcaclii)' in the cyi-, and
speaking,' in a stern but stcaily voice, 1 tapped him shar|)ly ovit
the head with my rattan cane, lie bliiiketl his eyes. I follDwet!
up the action with a sliarper stroke before he ii.ul opened ids
eyes, and made liim ipiiet down. I trietl iinotlu r, and aetually
made him lie down on his sitle ami i)urr like a j.;re;it cat. I did
not fail once. The n.itive looked at nie cidmirintjly, and askeil our
jjuide if I w.is not a keeper of m.m-e.itcrs. What an amount of
nerve a l>rnvf man has wiieii he knows dauj^er cannot re.uli him I

The Maiiarajah has established .i public liljrar\', a school of .arts,
and a school for j^irls as well as boss, and, either of his own will or
under the advice of the Hritish, has made the city not oidy a very
prettj' and unifiue oiu', l»ut also oni' which .ipi)arent!y is a blessinj,'
to his peopK-. lie has brought much l.md under eultiv.ition
by .in increased system of irrii^ation. Hut the m.mv b.uuls of
deer we saw close to the wile. it fu Ids pro-.eil th.it his preserved
{^.ime w.is more a^ree.ible to him than ijemficial to the people's
crops.

Alon;4 this road to Ahmedab.id \\c saw many troops of monkeys
of all sizes, from iliat of a terrier dotj up to a larL^e setter — now
rompinij over the fields close by the tr.ick, or sprinijiuL,' fmtn
branch to braneh on the trees, or sitting; up on some promnient
limi) wisily watching us as we whiz/.etl by. They are s.icred.and
the natives mviT hurt them, althoiii^h lhe\- are fearful thievi'S,
and m.ike destructive r.iids upon iKidsand orch.inls. We also saw
lar};e numbers t)f pe.ic(.>cks — noble birds, with tails and plum.iije
of };re.it l)e.iut)'. Ihey, too. .are sacred. .\ f(ueii^nir would be
mobbed should he shoot one. Thej' .ire not wilil. .is tra\ellers'
books would le.id us to supposi'. The)' are simpK' free anti roam
;is they ple,i>e, but .iii' h.irdly less t.inu- thin the s.ime birds are
on an .Americ.m f.irm. The)' are r.irely seen f.ir .iw.iy from
villaijes and f.irms. The monkeys .md pi'.icoeks alon^ this road
were the only wild ones seen by us since we left Ten. mi;.

W'e have now been the whole len^'th of India, from Calcutta to
Peshawur, and back to Hombav. on the other side of the land,.uKl
except at the foot of the 1 1 im.ila\MS, h.'.ve not seen a single
forest, or indeed wh.it we would call a wood. Trees tlu re ,ire
everj'where .ilon^ the roails, aloui; the hetli^e-rows, scattered about
the fields .and plains and dottetl over the hills and mount. lins, but
nothin;4 like wh.it most of us at home h.ive supjioseil to consti-
tute ,111 Indian juiii^K'. .\11 uncultiv.ited or waste kinds ;ire c.illed
" jun_L;le." "Out in the juni^le " means about the same thinij lure
as with usto saj' "out on the prairie" — that is, on the uninclosed
lands, whi.'ther iretil or bare, or in ^'r.iss. The " mount.iin
jungles," where the ti^er has his home, ,ind from which he comes
down to carry off people or domestic .mim.ils, have no tree: of
considerable size, but ;ire dotted over with shrubby growth
resemblin;,' haws and thorns, and covered b)- hjw .scattered bushes

>i.. " ^

HI','!

'*^1

' I

u ' •

[H:

A RACK 11/ T// Tin- SUN.

and rocks. On these no native thinks of k"'"R alone at ni^'ht or
even by day in some of thcni.

Snipe, duck, jjecse. tr.iiics of many kinds — some of tlicm
standing; four feet lii^di,— several sjiecies of starlinj^s, robins, wiiil
pigcon>, ami crows are in vast numbers throu^'hout the land, and
are very ilestructive to the i^Towini; crops. In ni.my locdities
c.ich tieid has a watchman to drive tiiem off. ( )ften these watch-
men are on platfnrius built on the tops of low trees, the branches
beinfj trained flat for this purpose. Here he watches at ni;^ht to
drive off monkeys and deer, and to be re.idj- for tlu' early bird.
He is ^ener.illy armed with a bow or a slin^ with which he throws
a pebble, ami so dexterous is he that many a biril is killed even
when lOO y.irds away.

We visited parts of the palace at Jeypore. The billiard-room
excited our cupidity. It was cari)eted with many ti^a'r, leop.ird,
and other beautiful skins, the trophies of the ruler's dexterity in
tile chase. Tiie princely stables have 300 horses, each with his or
her full pedi;.4ree at tlu- toilt^uie's end of the j^room. M,in\- of them
were be.iutiful animals, but too f;it, for the\' are but rarely used.
Kvery horse is not only haltered, but tethered b>- each foot, so
that he can move onlj- a little way. ILach animal has its special
jjroom, who sleeps in a sort of cuddy-hole over the horse's head.
On our second day, bein^' prosiiled with a permit from his
hiL;hness, we visitetl Amber, the old city, now diserteil. It
lies .1 few miles off, hi^h in a rocky {:[orL;e or narrow valle>'. The
mount.iins .iround are crowmxl bj' forts ami castles on tliz/.y
hei;^ht<. m.ikin;,' them very |)ictures(iue. Lofty walls climb the
spurs of the mountains, ami the old palace or rei;al castle sits
superbly on the crest of a hi;^'h hill overiookiiii; a beautiful little
lake of clear water, on the rocky shores of which were several
crocodiles baskinj;- in the hot sun. Our road L;oin;4 to .Andier lay
throuj^h a wilderness of kiosk memorials of the past dead. Little
dr)mes supported by the nio.st delicate pillars and prettily carved.
Then we came to a lake of stai^nant water of perhaps 500 acres, in
the centre <»f which is a lar^e and stately olil jialace now tleserted,
its lower arches di])pinf^ into the water and its balconies and
domes reflected in the placid sheet. This water is tlark and un-
healthy, covered with all sorts of wild fowl, and filled with
crocodiles. We counteii 20 odtl of them. Skirtiiijj; this we reached
the foot of the gorge leading to the old city. To this point we
went by carriage.

Here we fouml one of the raj.ih's huge elei)hants, of which he
has %o, which was to carry us on over the steej) pas~. His f.ice
was oddl\- painted in Oriental characters. We made our obeisance.
He soon came down on liis haunches, shot his huge legsstraignt
behind, while his front legs stretched before him, and on a sjiort
l.idderwe mounted the mass of meat. Then, with a motion which
made Johnny think feelingly of the swell of the Pacilic, our

lif

AMliKR. SCOKCJ//\a A J'N//:SJ\

^iS

ni.istodon triul^ccl slowly up. W'licii \vc reached a particularly
steep place he j^roaiRMl and L;runted and sometiinesf^ave a whistle,
which |)Iainly told me that he lhout,dit a Chicai;o :!00-aiid-odd
pounder was more than the law should allow, Aloti^ our up-hill
road ;^ray moid<eys with bl.uk faces and lon^' tails, ran .about the
trees. Some of tlu'ni, witli their old-folk faces, made me feel like
saying;; " I5e ^ood-natured. oKI fellow; I confess to our kinship."
After pas-,in;4 the cle.ir little lake I before nuiitiontil, we were
carried up .i very steep road into the court of the old pal. ice, which
is kept in fair repair, and is yet occasionally used by the rajah for
.1 few days at a time. It is .i princely old i)lace with a noble
audience-hall .ind nianj- rooms e\(|uisitely decor.ited with c.irved
marble and inlaitl uurk, the \aulled ceilings bein^' ornamented
with a sort of ^d.iss or t;ypsum woik. Small pieces of mirror were
laid on a backijrount!, then the whole covered with a i)laster
peculi.ir to Jcyporc, m.atle of lime .md ;.;round m.irble, and bcirini;
a polish .IS li.ird and t'me-ijr.iined as pure ivorj'. The artist then
cut throuj^h this thin pe.nly plate to the bits of mirror, workinj.^
out beautiful tlesi|^ns in delicate tracint;s, so that the whole looks
like is'ory llowers and \ines ilr.iwn over mirrors. The bits of ;^Iass
are convexed, so th.it they reflect any person below and make him
look l.'iri;e and muhi|)lies him in infinite numbers. This pal, ice is
built on the nuxlel of the padish;i"s |)al.ices .it Delhi and A^r.i, and
served as .i key to m.uiy lhini;s I ilid not before fully uiukrst.md.
For seeini; how p.irts are now used I understood better how the
old ]ialaces were occupied centuries at;o.

Ilia temple within the pal, ice inclosure a il.iily offerini; of a j.;o.it
is maile to the bloo(l-|o\inij |^(jiKless K.ili. We did not see the
day's sacrifice, but the blood was yet fresh on tiie lloor, whicli h.id
flowed before our arrival from the neck of the little offerin<^. The
neck is severeil by one blow from the liiL;h-pi iest. I was lookin-^
at the little jjoddess, w ith her necklace of skulls, sittini; b.ick in a
deep shrine, thrmij^h m>' o])era-^lass. I s.iw the priest suspected
mo of some disrespect to tlie deity. I i^Mve him the f^lass. lie
marvelled at the huLje si/e the im,ii;e assumed. I then turned the
^lass aiul made' him look throui^h the diminishiiiL; enil. " Wow I
ti'crv' .' w-o-w I " w,is his exclamation of surjjrise. After making
our offering' I was about to liijht my cit,'ar in the court with a
m;u;nifyin^ or sun-!^l,\ss. I saw his reverence w.inted to see the
thinij. I motioned him to hoUl out his hand. His f.ice wore an
expression of sweet innocence as the ra)s of the sun began to
briL;hten on the b.ick of his fist, but when they };ot to a little
focus .uul shot a hot spike into his brown skin, he uttered .mother
" Wow I wow I o-h, wdwl o-h, w-o-w !" I never saw such merri-
ment as the other jiriests and attendants exhibitei.1, and the good
old ch.ip himself seemed hugel)' to relish the joke. lUit I noticed
that every now and then he looked .it the little ro.isted spot and
rubbed it with his other h.md. He will know a sun-^dass hereafter.

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

Sitting in the beautiful Di\van-i-Am, or hall of audience, we
enjoyed a Uiignificent view far down the narrow valley, the old
deserted city nestling down beneath the frowning heights, all sur-
mounted with huge crenulated walls and strong-looking forts, once
making the place almost impregnable. Here the ruler even now
holds audience once a year, sitting in this noble pillared hall with
its curved arches. We ate a nice lunch, and drank to the health
of the rajah, wishing that his line may continue to rule his people
for yet ten successions before the haughty lords of the far-off
island in the west may demand his country for themselves. He
claims the sun for his ancestor, to whom he traces his lineage
through 140 known names, the oldest pedigree of any ruling king,
compared to which that of Wales, who laid the corner-stone of
the Jeypore museum three j'ears ago, is that of a plebeian.

Bidding the good-natured cutter-off of goats' heads good-bye,
we walked to the foot of the hill, where Jumbo's cousin had pre-
ceded us, and on bended knees took us upon his broad back for
our homeward voyage. At the end of the gorge our mahout
bade us hold on, when the great hulk again came down upon his
haunches for us to disembark. We placed a token of good-will
upon his trunk, which he handed to his keeper, and then gave us
a parting" salaam." I thought I saw a twinkle in his little shrewd
eye, which said he would not care to climb steep mountains with
many such denizens of the far-off Porkopolis upon his back. We
parted with him under the shade of a sacred tree, near
whose roots was a little fane sheltering a Hindoo god. Behind
us, but hidden by the hills, was the city of past ages, in the
distance before us were the walls of the living city with its gay
people. A huge black-faced monkey looked wisely at us from an
overhanging bough. A sacred peacock, mounted upon an old
ruin close by, spread his gorgeous fan of emerald and sapphire.
The sun blazed down upon our heads, reminding us we were
among His chosen children. Below us was the stagnant lake,
with its crocodiles and its thousands of water-fowls and its partly
sunken palace, once the brilliant summer-house of a monarch. It
was a weird spot, with a long-dead past. We wished some of
our far-off friends could have been with us to partake of our
happiness.

CHAPTER XXIII.

15EAUTIFUL SARACENIC REMAINS— WOOD-CARVING— PURCMASINO

SHAWLS— NATIVE DIPLOMACY— BOMBAY— TOWERS OF

SILENCE— ELEPHANTA— THE 151 II OK FEBRUARY.

Bombay, India, February 14, 1888.

AlIMEDABAD, the principal city of the province of Gujcrat, and
once the capital of the kingdom of that name, was built by the
conquering shah, Ahmed, who poured his myrmidons over this
side of India when the fifteenth century was young. There were
no natural reasons why a city should be upon this level land, but
the dark eyes and brown skin of a daughter of the neighborhood
did what her father's arms could not do, subdued the conqueror.
In those old days cities were created like a grecnbacker's dollar —
by dec-ee. " Fiat urbs " thundered the sultan, and a city would
spring iipon the teeming Indian soil. So the sultan, with Sipra's
kiss ye. warm upon his lips, said : " A city shall be thy home,
sweet daughter of the sun," and Ahmedabad grew from the
materials plundered from two or three other cities near by. Warm
was the faith of the conquering followers of the prophet. They
levelled Hindoo temples of idolatry, and decked their new city
with those jewels of Islamism, the beautiful mosques of marble
and stone. The ruins or remains of these abound in the place,
and attest the zeal of the people who built them, and show how
the nimble fingers of the artisan could cause cold marble and
rough stone to catch the warm tiats of dawn and to assume the
softness of woven fabric. Many of these ruins are very beautiful.
They lack the evidences of painful toil and lavish treasure-
waste shown in careful detail at Agra and Delhi, but evince
a freer hand with the chisel and a more artistic design. The
sculptured friezes and brackets of the balconies of the minarets
and the cornices about tombs and mosques, though weather-worn
and looking somewhat rough, are very fine.

In their hatred of idolatry the followers of Mohammed so ab-
horred its every form that they would not even carve any breathing
thing about their own places of worship. Vines and trees, shrubs
and flowers soon weary the eye when they are fixed in marble.
No art has yet been able to make them wave and bend in the
breeze. Animals and men have expressions of limb and face,
which seem to vary as the beholder looks. Not so with any

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vegetable tiling. So Saracenic genius, forced by religion to dis-
card every representation of a living thing, invented a design
which never wearies the eye — a design which, fixed in the hardest
stone, seems ever to vary and to change. The eye cannot hold a
single detail long enough to become tired of it. It cannot be
described by language. No word-picturing can make one see it.
The eye alone can take it in. When a writer, however, says a
thing is adorned in painted or sculptured " arabesques," everyone
comprehends that tlie ornamentation is of that strange mixture of
vine and twig and Arabic lines, letters, and characters which no
memory can so carry off as to reproduce with accuracy. Pencil,
with scale and compass, can make a true copy, yet something is
always wanting ; the sun alone in photography can give one a true
image.

In no place that I have seen is there such a wealth of ruined
Saracenic art as in Ahmcdabad. Yet to the casual traveller it
offers but little attraction. An artist, however, could walk again
and again througii its tortuous streets and crooked lanes, and be
delighted by the carvings in wood on cornices and friezes and in
large brackets and dentals. 0\\ many an old tumble-down house
are seen specimens which our plutocrats would be delighted to
have on their sideboards or in their libraries. The houses were
never decoratec'. by the painter's brush. The woodwork is soft-
ened down by lime to a velvety shade ; the delicate design is thus
all relieved from any taint of the shop, but looks as if it had been
cut or worn in by nature's own perfect craft. I saw some brackets
three to four feet long, no longer supporting the balcony or cor-
nice above, but hanging down and loose, and nearly ready to fall.
If I had known the language I would have gone to the owner of
these, and for a reasonable price probably have been permitted to
carry them away, to be the envy of a home artist. In the rear of
an old ruined mosque are two blind windows of half circle, cut in-
to solid stone in veins so artistically as to se;.'m as wavy and soft as a
spider's web. They have been 'copied into photos, and appear on
many a piece of carved cabinet-work now sent from this city to
the rich in every quarter of the globe. In the show-rooms of a
manufacturer we saw its imitation in a beautiful cabinet just
finished for some New York man of money.

By the way, in every shop we have visited the most costly
articles were for the American market. In this sliop we saw 20 or
more men at work on friezes and entablatures for a Mr. Forrest,
of New York. It will be a pleasure, when he sips his wine and
looks upon his elaborate sideboard of teakwood, to know that
some of the most exquisite of its rich carvings were done by a
father and son, the little fellow being only seven j-cars old. How
his taper little fingers did handle the tiny chisel, and how accurate
was his eye, when he wrought from the hard, meaningless wood
a flower that almost had an odor, so soft was its petal! The child

EXQUISITE CARVING AND WEAVING.

237

had inherited the talent of his father, as he liad done from his
parent, and so through a long line, perhaps, far back to those peo-
ple whose handicraft made the rich relics in marble and wood of
three to four centuries ago. Here children follow the father's
craft. It is deemed a sort of family disgrace for them to permit
the profession of their father to die out in their generation. A
boy steps from his mother's very breast (for children are not
weaned until four or five years old), into a companionship with
the father, and a partaker of his toil and a copier of his art. We
have been in several small carpet-weavers' houses at Amritsir and
Lahore and other places, and everywhere a large part of the
weaving was done by little boys.

Carpets are not woven with a shuttle, but each thread or yarn
of the wool is put into the warp with deft fingers, the left hand
opening the one for the right to insert the other. A piece of yarn
is run tlirough and then cut off with a knife to make the even,
velvety tuft. The weaver does not have a design before him, but
in some shops another boy sits in front with the design and calls
in a sort of chant the next color to be inserted. The weaver re-
peats this as he runs the color in. The first boy calls out for
several who are on the other side of the web, and thus dictates for
them all. To one not understanding the thing, the chant would
be taken for a sort of religious exercise. In one shop in the Pun-
jab there was no fixed design at all. There were four weavers on
a rug of say lOx 15 feet. They had a common idea in their heads,
but each worked out his portion of the carpet simply with a free
hand as he went. They progress only a few inches a day. The
manager, to my inquiry as to the cost of these, simply replied:
" They are very costly. That is what Americans want." It seems
a general impression throughout the world that our people value
a thing by the amount of money which is worked into the fabric.
An American to whom I was showing a charming curio, and which
I told her had cost me a mere trifle, warned me not to disclose the
cost at home — that it would not be appreciated unless it was sup-
posed to cost much money. And there is a general impression
throughout the East that Americans are all very rich. A native
will at any time quit an Englishman to ply a Yankee, whom he
thinks ready game. These people are natural-born diplomates.

A famous Frenchman said words were invented to conceal
ideas. Certainly the shrewd Indians rarely permit their words to
express their thoughts, and a dealer in works of art or objcts
de Virtu considers a lie a proper part of his science in trade. He
lies while he tries and weighs his customer. They catch us at the
stations, at the hotels, on the streets, and on the thresholds of the
temples. What they ask is no indication of what they will take.
After they try us with their price, they invite our offer. We have
to be guarded or we shall be taken up. A fellow wished to sell
me a bracelet of silver. His price was 30 rupees. I offered him

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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six. He looked insulted, but soon plied mc again. I stuck to six.
He assured us there were seven rupees of pure silver in the thing,
and took out a pair of scales. The bauble balanced six and a half
rupees. He assured us there were 4,000 separate i>ieccs in it, and
had cost 15 days of labor. We replied: "We do not want it."
" Yes, but master rich, I poor man ; make proper ofTer." Wc offer
eight. He puts up his pack. Wc go to our rooms. He follows
and says: ''Take it; I want master's certificate." Every one
purchasing is asked to state the fact in a little book, and is
pleaded with until the statement is made that the purchases were
cheap.

I looked at cashmere shawls at Manich Chung's in Delhi. It
was through his house that the now famous Gen. Roberts, then a
subaltern, made his break upon the streets in which the mutineers
were carousing, and helped to win the city. I was shown siiawls
witli asking price at 400 and 600 rupees. I looked at them, ex-
amined them with my magnifying glass, Manich all the time
chattering. He finally said: "Ah, those not for you ; you good
judge — you expert " ; and he brought out a beautiful thing, a
dream in wool. " That 's the thing for you ; Americans want the
best." "How much?" "Two thousand," the reply. "Why,
what do you take me for? I am no Vanderbilt." " But you
good judge; you want best; make offer." I offer 800. He
laughed at me. I said : " All right ; good-by." He followed me
to the door. We part. He comes down to the carriage. " Ah,
just come back up my house." The fly walks into the trap. Wc
sit down and talk. He plies me with many fabrics. But all the
time he wants me to take the 2,000 shawl. He wants my certifi-
cate. He knows it will help him sell. But I reply : " I am not
buying shawls ; I really do not want any." " Yes, you do ; you
rich ; you rajah of big America city." " Who said that ? " " Masi
at hotel last night told me you are rajah like governor-general."
He touched my weak spot. I like to be thought rajah of
Chicago. He then wanted to know if I would like to see some
Nautch girls dance. I intimated that I had outlived that sort of
thing. He said : " Oh, no ; you old in head, young in heart ! "
Again a tender spot was reached. He then regretted that I had
not come three days sooner. His grandmother had died. The
funeral was beautiful I I offered a tear of sympathy. He felt
my kindness. He said it was sad, but she was ninety years old,
and they had a splendid time at the funeral. He had shut up
his shop two days. Had not sold a thing. I said that was most
bad. He admitted it, but said he had no more grandmothers. I
wished to know how many wives he had. " Not many," he said,
but was not specific. I intimated that I would like to see his
wife. His eyes expressed painful regret, but religion would not
permit. He gave me a cheroot. I asked him to smoke one.
He said he could not smoke those— they had been touched by a

BUYING SHAWLS. A NATIVE WEDDING.

239

low caste. Tliat is, by mc. All this while a handsome young
Hindoo was standinj^ before us with a beauty of Cashmere fi^racc-
fully draped over his litiie form. We still talked of Hindoo
matters, but he managed to round up to the shawl. One man
had been three years weaving it. To shut him off I said : " Eight
hundred." With a sigh he said : " Take it, but I lose much rupees
on it. But all right ; I want Chicago's governor's certificate."

We have witnessed several marriage processions, but none so
perfect in details as one at Ahmedabad. It was in a narrow street.
First came a band of music, three little boys and girls on richly
caparisoned horses. One of the little ones was not two years old,
being held on by his father. By the side of each little rider, all
of whom were gorgeously togged out, were .several of their nearest
of kinsmen. liefore each horse was a band of music. Then
came the groom, about ten years old, all in gold and fine silk, and
mounted on a superbly gotten-up animal. Then another band
was followed by a troop of 20 or 30 women, richly clad, and all
singing. The burden of tlieir song was the hope that the bric.e
would be kind and obedient, and that her mother would not
domineer over the bridegroom. There were a dozen or more
bands. The drum was the predominating instrument, and of all
sizes. Such a din and clatter ! There was apparently no attempt
at any air. The main thing was noise, and it was made. The
procession was going to the bride's home, where all were enter-
tained ;ind received presents. Then the bride was taken to the
groom's home, her lad\' friends accompanying her and singing.
The song of the latter was a wish that the groom would be kind
and v.ould listen to the advice of the mother-in-law. At his
house pr(,\scnts were again given, this time to the bride's friends.
The little couple then saw each other, and were required to be
affectionate. One night she stays with him at his home and then
returns to her own. They will not see each other again for six or
more years, when they will be old enough to be really husband and
wife. This was simply the betrothal marriage, but entailing many
binding obligations. If he die before they meet again, she will be
a widow and will be doomed to all the hardships and self-denials
wiiich make a Hindoo widowhood worse than death. She can
never marry again, can never wear fine clothes and jewelry, can-
not eat delicate food, nor sing and dance. If poor she will have
to become a servant, perhaps a cook, but is forbidden even to
taste the dishes she prepares. No wonder widows lament the
prohibition of the "suttee" or widow-burning pyre. He, how-
ever, may, after their real marriage, take several more wives if he
wishes. One of the songs of her lady friends bears an invocation
that he would love her and not take another wife to steal away
his love from this his first and real bride.

Here in Bombay I saw a Parsec marriage procession. It was
very quiet. A European band preceded it and played nicely.

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Then followed some 40 or 50 Parscc men all in white. After
them, carriers with presents. Following them were nearl)- as
many Parsee women dressed in their charming robes of gauze
and silk.

At Ahmedabad we visited the splendid Jain temple. The
Jains arc a sort of mixture of Brahmin and IJuddhist. They do
not believe in any Creator ; nature was its own self-creator — a sort
of pantheistic creed. Charity and good-will to all living things is
their religious rule of action. They kill nothing and eat no flesh.
The temple is exceedingly rich in decoration. They were to
have a grand festival in a few days, and were decorating an image
in the inner shrine, a sort of deified child of nature. Its face wore
a most kindly and gentle expression, and evidently was intended
to be beaming with love. A very intelligent man took us around
and through the temple, and explained their tenets. When I
had heard him I said : " Your God, then, is a God of love?" He
looked quite horrified, and said : " Oh, no ; we abhor sensualism."
He had misunderstood me. I explained that I meant by " love "
that holy feeling which goes out in affection for all created things.
"Exactly, exactly; that is exactly our religion." It is quite
a large sect in India, and embraces many good and learned men.

The country for some 50 miles from Ahmedabad, and thence
on to Bombay, is quite heavily wooded, that is, in scattered trees
about roads, hedges, etc. The main crop is of cotton; much
more than half of all the cultivated fields were in this plant.
Some were just opening in bright yellow blossoms ; others white
with bursting bolls.

We stopped a few hours at Surat, once the chief town of
India, first under the Dutch and then under the English. Before
the rise of Bombay it had a population of 900,000. It then sank
to less than 100,000. Bombay took away its Arabian and Abys-
sinian trade. It is now again improving and has 130 odd thou-
sand. It wears a general air of decay, but its old winding streets
were interesting.

Here coolie women do the heaviest kind of work. One deli-
cate-looking young woman I saw carrying on her head bags with
four bushels of potatoes in each. At the pier they were unload-
ing a cargo of coal. Each would walk up a steep bank with a
bushel of coal poised upon her head. Another gang was discharging
a load of cobble-stones. They are as straight as arrows, and when
walking, step with great gracefulness of motion. Their dress, as
of the same class in Bombay, is of cotton cloth, so caught about
the legs as to make a sort of trouser, coming half down the
thighs and fitting like the breeches of our unweaned babies, but
caught behind instead of in front. The men's trousers of the
coolie class come below the knee. As everywhere else so far
visited in India, they have scarcely any calf to the leg. I suppose
that has ever been a characteristic of these people, for the

COOLIE WOMEN. BOMBAY.

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imapfes of the gods in the caves of Elephanta, executed several
thousand years ago, have the same deficiency. In all old images the
leg tapers from the thigh to the ankle. The African has a high
calf and a long shank ; the European a well-developed calf and
short shank. With these people the shank maybe said to run up
to the knee. The Japanese have calves remarkably developed.
These people were evidently intended by their Creator to sit
upon their legs. They did it in JJuddha's time. His oldest image
represents him as sitting, with the soles of his feet turned upward.
Indians can sleep thus for hours. We had for a day a fat high-
caste native officer for a fellow-passenger. He had room to lie
down, but instead of doing so he gathered his legs under him and
slept for several hours. It is very convenient. If I were a be-
liever in transmigration I would pray that after my next birth I
be so trained that I may thus rest myself. When the native
people come to a stop they squat down as instinctively as does a
dog. It is amusing to see a crowd enter a station and await a
train. Everyone at once squats on his haunches and takes his
case. It is, too, a great saving of chair legs, and this is a decided
convenience in tliis water-saturated atmosphere, where chairs have
a constant tumble-down habit. I have not used a single one in
India which did not creek ominously when I sat upon it.

Bombay is a magnificent city of 800,000 people, and is rapidly
growing. Somehow or other I had ex])ccted to find it otherwise.
I suppose from reading years ago. The high price of cotton
during our war gave it a tremendous impetus. It was metamor-
phosed in a dozen or so years from a rambling town of mean houses
into a city of palaces. The public buildings already completed, or
being erected, of light-colored sandstone, of a deep olive-tinted
trap or porphyry rock, or of dark brick, are magnificent structures,
comparing favorably with those of any European capital. The
city is rich, and the Bombay presidency pours its treasures into its
capital. If it meets with no decided reverses, the next quarter of
a century will make it one of the handsomest cities in the world.
It is on an irregularly shaped island, with a pretty little bay look-
ing toward the ocean, of half-moon shape, inclosed by two long
narrow strips or necks of land running far out like the horns of a
new moon ; one of these is low, the other of some 200 or more
feet in height. This latter is Malabar Hill, on the extreme point
of which is the governor's residence. It is a commodious, low
building, surrounded with fine trees, and with the swell of the
ocean breaking in gentle murmur close by. On the other end of
this narrow ridge, say a mile off, where it widens into the main
island, are the Parsees' burying-ground and the famous " Towers
of Silence." Here the Parsee dead are given to the vultures.
Between these two points are fine residences of the rich, their
front windows looking over the city, two miles away, and their
rear overlooking the broad Arabian Sea. The main harbor of the

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city is at its rear, on a narrow strait separating the island from
terra firma.

Much has been told of the Towers of Silence, and very much
of exaggeration. One writer speaks of the dismal surroundings
and death-like silence ; another of the fetid atmosphere ; and still
another of h's having climbed up on the wall and accidentally
dropping his hat and following it ; and ending with an amusing
account of his escape from the birds and the watchful eyes of the
keeper. All pure imagination and pretty writing. The towers
are five in number, apparently 25 feet in height, and the largest
from 70 to 100 feet in diameter. Within the outer wail, some
five or more feet below the top, are three consecutive tiers of slabs,
sloping and slightly troughed : the outer tier for men, the next for
women, the inner one for children. Within the whole is a large
well-like chamber covered by a grating. Leading from the bottom
of this well arc drains into outside wells. The dead, whether liigh
or low, rich or poor, approach these solemn precincts on a perfect
equality. All are borne by mourners afoot, no pageant or evi-
dences of worldly vanity being displayed. Two men regularly
employed for the purpose (none others ever enter the tower) bear
the body through a small opening into the tower. All garments
and ornaments are then removed. " Naked you came into the
world, naked you must go out," said Zoroaster. The garments
covering the corpse arc then immediately burned. " Fire cleanses
from all impurities," said Zoroaster. The bearers then retire,
and in one hour every vestige of flesh is removed from the bones
by the mournful birds. The bones are afterward dropped or arc
washed down the grating, and falling below are, under the action of
the sun and water, and sometimes aided by chemicals, in a year or
two dissolved into lime, and flow out into the other wells. " The
earth is a good mother to all, and should not be contaminated by
the fetid remains of her children." Thus taught Zoroaster. The
lime which flows into and becomes a part of mother earth does
not contaminate.

There can be no noxious odors ; for the dead are brought
here before decay sets in. There are about 500 vultures hover-
ing about the locality. The average burials are four to five a
day, but scanty feed for so many voracious birds. There is
nothing awful about the premises more than about any ordinary
graveyard ; but, to the contrary, there is a beautiful garden,
bright with cheerful and sweet flowers and many trees. No trav-
eller could climb any of the walls, for they arc as smooth as any
plastered piece of masonry, and there is nothing close to them to
permit any one to mount upon. No Parsees even, other than
those employed for the purpose, ever enter the towers. Into
which tower the dead of any day will enter, is decided by a regu-
lar committee, and simply on sanitary grounds, so as to enable
each to take care of its proper proportion. Perched upon the

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parapet walls of one of the towers were probably lOO vultures
mournful and silent. A smaller number were on another tower,
and a few were soaring aloft. I may be callous, or I may possi-
bly rapidly adapt myself to my surroundings. From one or
other of these causes I felt no shock at the thought of the occu-
pation of the birds ; and the manner of disposing of the dead
created no feeling of disgust. After all, is not man more a creat-
ure of habit than of animal instincts? Nothing proves this more
than the readiness with which we la) .i;/ loved dead in the ground,
to rot slowly in oo/,y slime, or to be di . ured by nasty worms.

The Victoria station is a superb building, costing several
millions; I know of no railway building at all comparable to it.
It looks like a splendid palace. I .le architecture adapted to and
employed in this climate is admirable for artistic effect. It
admits of deep shade ;ind shadows. Corridors, deep recesses, but-
tresses, and balconies which with us : iiut out tiie light, here protect
from the burning sun-rays, and permit those effects of light and
shade so dear to the architect. Me can and does employ all these
adjuncts, and is building a city truly magnitkent. Even the native
portion of the town, with balconied houses of all hci[.^lus, from
two to six stories, and of many tints, and lying between the old
foreign settlement toward the northern end of the island and the
new foreign quarter, which occupies the site of the old forts and
fortifications in the east, is both picturesque and somewhat artis-
tic. The fortifications, no longer valuable with the new processes
of naval warfare, have been razed to the ground and noble public
buildings and private business houses have been reared in their
place. The native city is densely packed with a seething mass of
pc()])le of many nationalities, all in their repective costumes.

The caves of Elephanta, on an island back of the city, are inter-
esting. Great temples are cut in the solid rock, and colossal
statues of Shiva, the first offspring of the one unknown and un-
knowable God, the most popular deity of the Hindoos, are carved
from the natural rock of the high hill, in a cave hewn out, leav-
ing pillars and columns of the solid stone to support the over-
hanging mass. Shrines and inner temples are chiselled into the
hard porphyry. The god in colossal proportions, with his wor.sliip-
ping mortals at his feet and his attendant heavenly beings float-
ing around above his head, are a part of the original rock-l,)uilt
hill. Shiva is shown in his dual nature, one side male, the ocher
female, even to the mi lutest feature and ornament. In one niche
is the creation in accoid with the Mosaic idea, borrowed from or
loaned to the Hebrew law-giver. When God made Adam, " male
and female created he them." Then, as Mother Eve spi-ang from
Adam's side, so Parvati bursts from Shiva, and becomes his wife.
The god, wearied with the sins of man, his creature, became the
avenger, and hurls destruction in thunderbolts over the world.
Then he demands the sacrifice, and receives victims to appease

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his wrath. In another shrine he has become the redeeming god ;
and finally he sits in placid peacefulness in the heavens. All of
these incarnations of the attributes of the Deity are represented
in huge statutes or in bold a/to relievo in the different shrines.
In the middle of the cave is the main shrine of the great
creator of man in three awful forms — the " Creator," the " Pre-
server," and the " Destroyer." Strange similarity between the
revelations of Moses and the old legends of this land. The He-
brew says Moses was the leader. These people say he was tiie
borrower. May not the truth be that both got the legend from a
far-off prehistoric people of great civilization, the very thresholds
whereof we have not yet passed in our boasted enlightenment, —
a wise and virtuous people, whose homes and cities were con-
tiguous to Egypt and India, and now deep buried beneatli the
Indian Ocean ? This is a land of dreams. Why may I not
dream as others have done, and speculate in my dreams? High
beyond yon blazing sun lives the might)' primal cause. May
not I bow my head in adoration of the one unknown and un-
knowable God? Unknowable, because utterly incomprehensible
to human brain, and inconceivable to human thought. All-
powerful and all-wise, He cannot be other than all good. Am I
rash when I find myself unable to believe that He fails to hearken
to the sincere worship of all His creatures, whatever be the form
of their worship ? I will here say that, according to one of the
Brahminical ideas, there was from the beginnin"; one I'nknown
and unknowable god, who deposited an egg, from which burst by
his own individual strength Shiva, the known all-powerful (iod,
the Creator of the world and of man. He was male and female,
anil answers somewhat to the Mosaic Adam. The idea and
analog)' would have been complete had Adam been deified in the
record of Moses.

Lady Reay, wife of the governor, has a successful fancy fair
now in progress, inaugurated to extend a noble charity founded
by a warm-hearted Parsee. The Duchess of Connaught, a fine
specimen of German womanhood, occupies one stall. Lady Reay
another, and beautiful Parsee ladies others, and so on. Native
games are exhibited, in which native cavalrymen are the per-
formers on horseback. Concerts, where ices are sold, and titled
English ladies are the singers and players. Hindoos and Mo-
hammedans — with ladies closely veiled, — English women in the
wretched European costumes, and Parsee ladies in their exqui-
site robes of gauze and with spirituelle faces — every kind of
people crowd the grounds, and are full of enjoyment and anxious
to purchase, all for sweet charity. The bright wife of" the gov-
ernor kindly recognized me, and after shaking hands, asked me
what she could sell me. "Your smile, my lady, the memory of
that I can carry. My coffers are too full for any thing more
ponderous." "But this is better; my phjto for one rupee."

COA'TRASTS /X INDIA.

245

"Two, if you attach your autograph." It is done, and the lady
invites me to call at Malabar Hill, as she turns to give a kind word
to a native in lofty turban. 1 then ask the Duchess of Con-
naught if an American can carry home with him her photograph.
With a winning smile she regrets she had not sun-pictures of
herself, and I pass off, my republican heart full of delight be-
cause the daughter of a prince and daugliter-in-law of an em-
press had smiled upon me — oh, vanitas vanitatian !

To-day I called upon the Governor's lady. Lord Reay is a
kind-hearted Dutchman, who, by the accident of a death in a
far-off line, found himself all at once the owner of a Scotch title.
He married then a very bright and very rich woman, and fills
one of the finest positions in the gift of the English crown. It is
whispered here that the ladj- really wields the governorship ; a
slander, of course. With words of regret the lad)' excuses her-
self because of her great fatigue at the fair yesterday. A half-
dozen grand natives in blazing red see me into my carriage close
by. The road leading from Government House is being repaired,
and native women with forms as delicate as that of my lady arc
carrying upon their heads huge baskets of stone. I think of the
fearful fatigue of God's anointed one in the cool palace I had
left. — fatigue almost insufferable, because she had been on her
feet /ic't? whole hours the day before, and now at noon was trying
to pass it off on a soft couch. I looked at the poor women carrying
heavy burdens beneath the blazing sun. I thought of the two
vast ext''<;nies in this land, and uttered the off-repeated ejacula-
tion : " How long, O Lord?" A coolie water-carrier came by;
she was high caste, for none other can handle any thing to be
eaten or drunk by people of the upper castes. Another woman
of low caste wished to drink : the carrier let water run from the
goat-skin bag into the IkukIs of the thirsty one. Lord Reay him-
self, could not touch that goat-skin with his li[)s without contami-
nating it. Wen; he to lay his hands upon the mouth of the bag,
it would be thrown awaj-. Of such hue is the reign of caste.
The high-caste Lnglish governor would not permit a man not
socially fit to grace his board. The high-caste, half-naked Hindoo
woman would consider her rice-bov.l contaminated should the
Empress of all Lulia touch it.

At a ball at the Vacht Club there were handsome women in
toilets worthy of Worth. But how awkward and ungraceful com-
pared to the light, flowing dress of the Parsee beauties the night
before !

The very beautiful " Queen's statue " here is of life-size, seated
on a rich throne, and surmounted by a canopy of great beauty in
Gothic style, the whole of white marble. It is a little singular the
old lady empress cannot sit or stand in marble. It is always the
young queen. Her rich maturity appears only in photos. She
was a young lady when she mounted the throne, and she will go

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

down as a young lady into the long future in bronze and stone as
empress, although she did not become one until nearly 50 years
after she was anointed queen. After ages will think her possessed
of perennial youth. •

The sweet chimes on the clock tower close by tell me the first
hour of morm'ng has come, and tell me this is the 15th day
of February, the anniversary of the most important event of the
world to me. Sixty-three years ago I came into this breathing
life. To the young this seems a long time, yet how quickly has it
sped ! How poor and meagre its results! I open memory's book
and sadly turn back its leaves and read its pages. I go a little
farther back even than memory can carry me, and read a page all
fresh as if it had been just written and 1 had known it all myself.
It was fastened in mj' brain by a mother's words. It is the picture
of a virgin forest on the other side of the globe. In the centre of
the forest tract is a small opening, a Kentucky canebrake of two
or three acres. On one edge of this opening is an Indian mound
a few feet high, vhen and by whom built no one can know. A
noble tree grew upon its crown, and the roots of a far older one
were moldering on its side. Here had been a camping-ground of
red men dead ages ago. I see a field being cleared by belting the
trees and burning their dead trunks. A one-roomed log-house is
built upon the lower edge of the brake. There I was unexpectedly
born. A new-made trough, cut for the coming sugar season, was
my extemporized cradle. It was a rough house for two young,
refined, and educated people. Ikit western energy and new-born
hope filled their hearts.

Pressed upon this page is anotiier, printed ere the year had
taken its wintry leaf. The young father lies upon his dying
couch. His weeping wife holds before him their baby boy. His
blanching lips try to speak. .She bends down to catch his dying
words. They are a message to his child.

I turn over a leaf. I see the saddest spot of all seen in my early
years — the graveyard behind my grandfather's orchard, all silent,
deeply shaded, and solitary. This picture is the earliest that lives
in my own memory, graven into the very heart's core. My
mother is holding me, now three years and three months old, by
the hand. We stand over a grave. Not a spear of gra.ss nor a
weed was green upon it. For long years its mould was kept as
fresh as if it were newly made. Long we stood. Tears were
running down her pallid cheek ; a dove was cooing mournfully in
a tree close by ; crickets were chirruping in the warm May noon.
They seemed to make the very silence more silent. My mother
knelt upon the edge of the grave and prayed. I remember but one
sentence : " Thou hast promised to be a father to the fatherless
and the widow's God." VVhen she arose her eyes were dry though
her cheek was still wet. She pointed to the silent grave and
said : " Your father lies there, my child ; his last words were for

A RICH LEGACY.

247

you : ' Tell our child that an honest man is the noblest work of
God. Teach him not to tell a lie ' ; and then he died." Oh,
mother in heaven ! that message has been given to mc a thou-
sand times — in angel whisperings, upon the briny deep, upon
the mountain's side, in the turmoil of angry strife, in the silent
watches of the night, in the lo\''ng glances of your own dark,
honest eyes, in the far-ofT land where was our home and where your
ashes lie. My father left me lands, but those dying words watered
by a mother's tears, were a richer legacy than all the lands. They
have checked erring steps a thousand times, and have taught me
to hold that " there is no religion higher than truth."

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CHAPTER XXIV.

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ACROSS THE DECCAN— KARLI CAVES— BEAUTIFUL WOMEN— HY.

DERABAD— OLD GOLCONDA— TITANIC ROCKS— ELEl'lIANT

RIDE— CHARMING HOSPITALITY.

Madras, February 24, 1888.

Old Sol was blazing down as if the very air was a great sun-
glass, focusing ten times ten thousand burning rays upon our heads,
when wc left our hotel at Bombay to commence the hot journey
across the Dcccan for Madras, and thence by rail through extreme
southern India to Tuticorin, and over to Colombo, on the Cinna-
mon isle. We felt some dread of this trip. Every one to whom
wc had mentioned it told us wc would suffer at this late period of
the season, and that .he country was too barren of interest to
repay us for our discomfort. Few tourists make the journey, and
the few writers who have written of it seemed so anxious to get
over the great table-lands that their descriptions of the country
have been meagre and uninstructive— all the greater reason for our
seeing it.

The efifect of an Indian sun on a white man is simply marvel-
lous. It seems to strike the very roots of his nerves. A native
will work or sit for hours with his bare head beneath the scorching
rays and feel no unpleasant sensation. But if the sun pours down
upon a white man's head or shoulders, or along the spine, he may
escape sunstroke, but will feel the ill-effect for days. The atmos-
phere seems to be for him a convex lens and burns the heat into
a focus. This, too, is the case all over the land, even as far up as
in the Punjab, throughout Rajpootana, in Bengal, and down in the
Deccan ; indeed, it is said that the direct effect of the sun is more
powerful in the north than in the south. I have discussed the
matter with men who have been in every quarter of the globe-
commercial men and English officers, and all assert that they fear
an Indian sun more than that of any other q-irter of the world.
In China and on the table-lands of central Asia the sun heat is
intense, and men almost melt and are sunstruck. Here quick sun-
strokes are not usually the immediate effect of over-exposure,
though they occur ; — but a pain in the back of the head and about
the cervical joints, accompanied by depression and perhaps illness,
follows. Every railway carriage intended for Europeans has its
bathroom, and a tank in the roof always full of cool water, and on

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SHORE GHAUTS.

249

the southern roads all have a double roof with an air chamber
between the two. We wear great pith sun-hats and carry um-
brellas as regularly as did the " Iron Duke," and when forced to
go out in the sun take things coolly. We drink no "pegs" and
are abstemious of " whisky sodas." We are not afraid of the sun,
but we do not defy him, and I think we '11 go out of India with
invigorated health. The Europeans here take too many " pegs "
— i. e. glasses of whisky. They feel depressed and take a peg.
They continue depressed and take another and another till the
really beneficial cfTect of an occasional stimulant is lost.

The water, as a rule, throughout India is bad. It is taken from
rivers or from great tanks (artificial reservoirs), which catch and
hold the rains ; these arc frequently of many acres in extent ; and
from wells. In every one of these sources of supply the water is
more or less contaminated. The natives all bathe or pour water
over themselves a great deal. They wash themselves and their
clothing in the same tank from which they drink, and their cattle
and buffalo wallow with the people. A lot of tanks four to six
feet deep, and containing 10 to 20 acres altogether, furnish water
for a city of many thousands of people through long months of
dry weather. The air teems with organic life, especially during
the rainy season, when the tanks are being filled ; the water thus
becomes populous with organisms. Throughout the country
generally many Europeans boil or filter the water, and some do
both. The natives do neither, and are yet a healthy people, for
they have no fear of their water. Faith is a mighty doctor ;
alarm breeds disease.

After leaving the islands of Bombay and Salsette, our railroad
ran for a short distance toward the Satpoora Mountains, which
extend up to Rajpootana, and is the water-shed between it and
central India. It then bent southward into the low spurs of the
Bhore Ghauts. This is a range of several distinctive names,
but bearing the general appellation of the Western Ghauts,
running close to the Arabian Sea all the way to Cape Cormorin.
Ghaut is the Indian word for step. These mountains are the
steps by which one climbs from the low coast up to the great table-
land which stretches to the Eastern Ghauts, close to the Bay of
Bengal. We are soon in narrow valleys, between rocky hills lift-
ing 1,000 feet up, and having a rather sterile appearance, clothed
with scattered thorny trees. After running 60 miles we com-
menced the ascent of the Ghauts, pulled by one and pushed by
another powerful engine, up grades of a foot in 30. In some 16
miles we climbed 2,000 feet through grand scenery, lofty ridges
lifted on each side, or on one, leaving beautiful broad valleys
with fields and \ ".ages on the other. The mountains are all vol-
canic, showing great precipices of black hard tufa, or trap, hun-
dreds of feet high, and piled one above the other. Between these
precipices, of which there are four or five tiers, each a hundred

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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feet behind the one next below, are steep slopes clothed in dense
woodland of emerald green.

The whole had the appearance of forest terraces supported by
black walls of great height stretching one or two miles or more in
length, and crowned above by embattled walls. Now we would
look below into a dark gorge, here 500, then 1. 000, and once 1,200
to 1,500 feet deep, lying between us and the dark embattled walls
and precipices a short distance away ; then a tunnel or a curve
would open to us a smiling valley, running off for miles, yellow
with ripe, or green with growing, crops. Few places present more
awful and yet sweetly beautiful scenery. At Khamballa, 78 miles
from Bombay, we stopped for the night and spent an hour
of declining day in enjoyment of the charming surroundings,
seated upon the verge of a mighty precipice, and with heights
cutting the clear blue sky above us; tl.j deep gorge lying, as it
grew more sombre in the ap[)roach of night, like a monster reptile
1,200 or 1,500 feet below us; our cheeks were fanned by a deli-
cious breeze from the sea not many miles away. There was
nothing to mar our enjoyment. The valley gorge was wild and
savage. In its woods and among its titanic rocks was the lair of
the tiger, from which the stealthy brute creeps out at night in
quest of native food, and lacks not so much love for the European
that he will eschew him as meat. Kites and eagles arc sailing
about the rocks above us. In the distance, far down the gorge,
a railway train was creeping up with what seemed snail-like pace.
Its whistle mii.gled with the eagle's scream ; crows, the intimate
if not the friend of man hereabouts, were cawing near by ; some
sheep, all black as crows, were being driven homeward by their
shepherd. We sat and drank in the scene till one of us noticed
a worn little hole under a rock near our feet ; a cobra may have
made it his path. We left the beautiful scene. We were amused
by a shepherd holding a ewe while he made the Lmb of another
draw borrowed nourishment. A nanny-goat kicked angrily when
finding a kid in sheep's clothing stealing her own darling's supper.

The next morning early we drove to the Karli caves, six miles
away. These are quite different from those at Elephanta, and
are in much better preservation. In the hard trap-rock a temple
150 feet deep, 30 to 50 wide, and more than half as high, was cut
long ages ago. Its roof is arched, and is more like the nave of a
Christian church than a Hindoo temple. On either side is a long
row of columns, a part of the original rock, with capitals orna-
mented with images in the fixed stone of the gods and their
wives, for each has three, and in front are great elephants carved
from the rock. In the hill-sides to the right and left are many
cave chambers, the homes of the priesthood of the past. To
reach the caves we had to cross afoot over a plain of rough
ground, with tufa rr...3ses protruding and covered with little peb-
ble." of coarse cornelian, jasper, and agate. It was from spots

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HINDOO BEAUTY.

251

like these the stones came which made the inlaid beauties of the
tombs and palaces of the moguls. We picked up some quite
pretty enough for seal rings.

After tififin (lunch) we were again speeding toward the south-
east through plains, brown generally, but now and then green
with wheat-fields. The most of the fields, however, were ripe,
and some already harvested. The grain was light, and, with us,
would scarcely repay the reaper. Low ridges of bare mountains
were always in view, but not enough to take away the general
characteristics of plane land. Large flocks of black sheep and
goats were constantly in sight, but few flocks could boast a white
one. Cattle were abundant. In two hours we reached Poonah,
the old capital of the Mahrattas, and still the principal English
station of that quarter of the country. It is a fine town, and
gave to us a revelation. We had not often enjoyed seeing ex-
quisite female Hindoo beauty. Some ladies were having a pic-
nic in the public garden. Their bourkas, or light shawls, were
thrown ofT, showing their faces in full. I think they fully appre-
ciated our admiration, for they did not cover when we sat on a
bench close by to read our guide-book, but rather turned towards
us, cither to show us their jewels or their faces. It is not often
one sees uncovered Hindoo ladies. These were evidently of opu-
lent houses. Never had I seen a purer type of face or more
aristocratic features. All were pretty, three very beautiful, and
one of a perfection of style which began to make me unhappy.
A wonderfully beautiful woman always makes me feel thus. I do
not know why. I see a beautiful horse : I do not wisl to ride or
drive it. I see a splendid house : I do not wish to possess it or
live in it. I see sparkling gems : I never wish to wear them. I
do sincerely enjoy a prosperous man's happiness. I do not envy
a man his beautiful wife. But I cannot realize that any man is
good enough to be the possessor of a perfectly beautiful woman.
She is something which instinctively I feel should be beyond the
reach of any man, and yet she is not ; very probably she is not
beyond the reach of a very poor stick of a man. She may be
beautiful, but is always fool enough to give herself to a miserable
piece of masculine clay ; whereas she is something to me so per-
fect that she should be enshrined in her own individuality. I do
not want her, but I do not want any one else to have her. Thus
I was beginning to feel when looking on this piece of dusky per-
fection. There was growing about my heartstrings a sort of
contraction — a sort of paralysis. One of the little girls of the
party ran off a little distance. My beauty called to her. She did
not at once obey. The call became an angry screech. Presto !
The spell was broken. Thank heaven ! There was always some-
thing to break such spells. What beautiful things would many
women be if they would only be silent ! The canary's throat is
never given to the bird of paradise. One should generally stuff

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// RACE WITH THE SUN.

one's ears when one looks upon this kind of perfection, and should
listen blindfolded to a divine singer.

We lost 200 miles of country passing it at night. Indian rail-
roads always do most of their train-running at night. They thus
avoid the burning heat of day. But the night was clear, and till
late the moon enabled us to comprehend the country we were
traversing. The ne.xt morning showed us great stretches of doura
fields. As far as the eye could reach this seemed the prevailing
winter crop. Hundreds of thousands of acres. The surface of
the land was slightly undulating. The doura — a kind of millet —
was from four to eight feet high The fields looked as our prairies
of Indian corn would if cut off just above the cars, except there
was not quite the stiffness. Imagine thousar.ds of acres of corn
with rather smal. ears stuck where the tassels grow. The heads
are too compact to resemble broom corn or sorghum. '.11 fields
where the growth was short there was, every three or more rows,
a row of saffron or of dahl. The Indian farmer delights to have
two kinds of crops growing together. Me is so poor that a failure
would bring starvation. He plants two things on the same field ;
if one fails he may save the other. Fields of saffron just being
harvested looked like plains of old gokl.

At Wadi, and for some miles before, we were in the dominions
of the Nizam of I fyderabad ; I thought the evidences of pros-
perity were greater than in the English governed states^ The
Nizam is one of the many princes who yet govern one third of
India. His dominions comprise 80,000 sejuare miles, wit'a a popu-
lation of 12,000,000 or 13,000,000. He owns the railroads and
runs things a.s he pleases, provided always he pleases the Eng-
lish government at the same time. The crops in his state were
much better tlian those beyond the lines. The houses were no
longer of mud, but of stone — this, however, because it is cheaper.
There is a wonderful building stone along the railroad in laj'ers
so smooth that it has not to be hammered to make first-class
ashler work. The houses, or huts, are built of this laid loose, and
often covered with thin fiags. VVe saw many picturesque-looking
villages, many walled in, and all with round towers 40 or 50 feet
in diameter, and two to three stories in height. These were once
necessary when wars among neighboring states were so frequent ;
now useless, for England surrounds the land and there can be no
more such wars.

Before reaching the capital, which is reached by a road at right
angles to the main road to Madras, we passed through some wild
jungle, a part of it in low forest, where tigers and panthers
abound. The country became broken into low granite hills. The
soil being disintegrated granite or of syenite, generally gray but
occasionally red, about Hyderabad ; the granite hills have been
worn down through past ages, leaving huge masses 100 feet high,
smooth and blackened by time, great heaps of rock piled one upon

NATIVE HOSPITALITY.

253

another in monster lieaps. Huye rocks weighing from 10 to 100
tons were heaped upon eacli other, often so loosely that they
looked as if a child could make them tumble over. Heic the\'
looked like castles and embattled walls of loose stone ; there they
were thrown in wild confusion. Sometimes a stone three or four
times as large as a railroad carriage would be poised high up upon
a slender base. Some of the hills composed of such stones were
300 or more feet high. When the Creator finished building the
world he dropped the debris here. These hills form a cordon
about the city, which has a population of Apofxo.

We went to the travellers' bungalow, where we could get but one
room and one bed, the others being full. Two of us had to sleep
upon the hard stone floor. We went at once to the Ikitish Resi-
dent for a permit to visit the fort at the old ruins of Golconda.
He was out of town, so was his deputy. The assistant deputy
was not at home. By the way, here, as at Jeyporc, the Resident
lives in a very palace. I determined to go directly to the Ni-
zam's (king's) palace, and try the strength of my American citi-
zenship. VVe drove up, with no other guide than our coachman,
who spoke a dozen or so words of English. Our very inability
to communicate with the guartls enabled our cards and Mr. Bay-
ard's letter to get through the palace gates. They did not know
how to tell us to go away in English, and we would not under-
stand their assertions in Hiiuioostanee that wc could not get in.
We found ourselves before a sort of open portico, the office of
some dignitary, inside the outer wall but just outside the inner
palace gate. Our cards went in. Presently an elegant ofificial
came from the palace gate, surrounded by subalterns and soldiers ;
as he passed he looked at me inquiringly. I said : " ^'ou speak
ICnglish?" He said he did, and asked us to enter, and after get-
ting through some pressing business turned to me. We got into
conversation, and took tea. The result was not only did we get
a permit for Golconda, but a captain was ordered to accompany
us on horseback to the Char-Mahal, the palace of the " four
houses," and to show us through. And, furthermore, we were
most cordially invited to be his guests during our stay in Hydera-
bad. On my hesitating, Mirza Mohammed Afsu. Jung said:
" You are not comfortable at the bungalow, and I mean it when
I say I really wish you to be my guests. It will be as agreeable
to me as it will be comfortable to you." The invitation so gra-
ciously given w^as accepted.

Accompanied by Capt. Abdular mounted on a superb Arab,
we went to the beautiful palace of the " four houses," and were
shown the splendid rooms, the state carriages and stables, with
some superb horses. We then drove to old Golconda, six miles
off. This was once a great city and the capital of the Deccan.
Its name has been the synonym for boundless treasures of gold,
and diamonds in countless numbers. It is the land where Arabian

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fancy revelled in i^orffcoiis iiTiaf:finin}j[s, and the scene where a part
of the "Thousand and One Nights" was laid. It was from the
crests of these huge mountains of granite boulders that Sindbad
the Sailor looked down into the valley whose floor was a mass of
shining diamonds, and from which he was borne away on the
wing of the monster roc. The jungle around has been for count-
less ages the home of monster tigers. Cities have been for tliou-
sands of years nestled among these savage scenes, and their mon-
archs have been possessed of diamonds beyoml count. Here the
Koh-i-noor was found. The tale of " Sindbad," I suspect, was an
allegory, "the Valley of Jewels" meaning a city into whicii for-
eigners were not permitted to enter. Sindbad got in. and having
accpiired some wealth, was spirited away to a distant ([uarter.

The old fort at Golconda was once an impregnable fortress
built upon and on the sides of a hill 400 feet high, the '\reat stones
heapetl up by nature being tlie strongest i)arts of it- alls. The
sun was bia/ing liown when we climbetl it, but tin oeze on its
top, under the shade of an ancient pleasure-iiouse, \ s delicious.
The scene around was unique. The great hills of mighty loose
stones piled about, some crowned by fortresses and palaces, and
others desolate and bleak. The dusty plains stretched around,
with some dozen or more tanks shining in the noondaj- sun, and
the yt)ung rice-fields in the low places below the tanks as green
as emeralds; tlie mosques and minarets of the capital in the dis-
tance, and the I-jiglish cantonment of Secunderabad embo" ered
in trees ; tlie old walls in strong battlements climijii.g from the
plain below to the heights we were sitting upon ; and the stately
tombs of tin; kings whose line had been extinct for a couple of
centuries, but still kept in good repair, and surrounded with gar-
dens of mango and palms, just outside of the old city walls; and
around all the titanic walls of monster rocks piled into low moun-
tains. These made a picture nowhere else seen in India, and no-
where else surpassed in weird and romantic effect.

We got back to the capital in time for tiffin at 2:30. We were
just getting through with it, when an elegant drag with outriders,
drove up to take us to the residence of a Mirza Mohammed, Ali
Beg Hadupur, Afsur-Jung, aid to his highness the nizam of Hy-
derabad. We were received by the nawab with great courtesy
in one of the prettiest of drawing-rooms ; nothing flashy or
tawdry, but every thing in exquisite taste — a mingling of Orien-
talism and Western elegance. Our rooms were comfortable, with
desks covered with bric-a-brac and provided with stationery anil
some books. ]?efore we had washed, iced whiskey and soda was
brought to us, and shortly after we were mounted in a fine drag
drawn by four elegant horses driven by the nawab himself, who is
a fine whip, along the pretty road which skirts the great tank or
artificial lake. Our dinner was finely served with wine and several
delicious Persian dishes, the nawab and a couple of his friends in-

^uV F.l.r.rJlANI' RIJ->E.

255

vitcd to dine with us not taking wine, for \vc were in a Moliain-
medan city, and our host was a follower of Ishirn. The people of
this kinf;doni speak four native lan^^uages, but the language of the
court is Persian and Persian style is the form.

The
were

Persian
simply

sweetmeats served at this and successive meals
perfect.

The next day we had several nawabs (noblemen) to breakfast
with us, all polisheil gentlemen. One had been of the suite sent
to the queen's jubilee last year. At four in the afternoon we
were driven to the palace and presented to the nizam's private
secretary, Col. Marshall. Queer, is it not, that the confidential
secretary of this independent prince shou'd belong to the English
army? We would jirobably liave been ,)resented to the Nizam
himself but for the fact that he had just lost one of his children
and is " /// zcitaita "--/. <•., locketl up in the women's tpiaiter for a
moon. This is a part of the religious custom of Isiamism.

Then we were mounted upon a huge elephant and riilden
through the city. I'rom the vantage-ground of his lofty back we
had a splendid panor.ima of the great crowds of people of several
nationalities on the streets and in their many brilliant costumes.
Our huge beast picked his way quietly among the pedestrians,
now and then blowing aloud whistle — for what reason I could not
divine, unless it was simply because he could. There were two
wedding processions on the streets we traversed — one of a nawab,
with at least lOO mounted soldiers. I was much surprised that the
horses of some of these took fright at our leviathan, and cavorted
at a fearful rate. His elephantship jiaid no attention whatevcrto
them and never for a moment paused although the horses were
tumbling about the narrow street. The city is a pretty one and has
many fine residences and (piite nice-looking private houses. From
our elevated position we could look into their second stories.
Within there was nothing that looked inviting and the window-
sills were dirty and squalid. After being shown the private
armory of the nizam — his splendid collection of tiger, elephant,
and small-game guns, — we parted with our charming host. He
W'.s on duty for the night. He sent a gentleman home with us to
entertain us at dinner and to see us off tliai evening.

Afsur Jung, our host, is said to be the most powerful noble
of the land. He is the favorite friend of the nizam and his
companion in his sports and in his hunts. He is the real com-
mander of the army, though nominally only at the head of the
regiment of Lhe body-guard ; is said to be a fine shot — his parIo»-
floor is covered with the tiger-skins of his own shooting. One of
his exploits in that line is much spoken of as being an act of
wonderful daring. He is a fine horseman, skilled polo-player, and
speaks several languages fluently, rnd withal is a man of courtly
manners. It was a singular thing ;o go about his beautiful house,
furnished with such pure taste, and to see such evidences of a

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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high r-'finement, then to dine at his table both when he was there
and when ho was away, knowing that his wife — he has but one — was
separated from us only by a wall, and not only never seeing her,
but even learning that she probably has been into the front part
of the residence but a few times. Her taste had nothing to do
with its embellishment, but his alone, and she never enjoys its
pleasures. Afsur Jung has about him a retinue of servants, not
one of whom has ever seen his wife's unveiled face. He is himself
very liberal and I doubt not would be glad to be freed from such
restraints, but they are a part of his religion as well as a part of
the customs of his country. When we parted I think he really
regretted our leaving so soon. He invited us to come back in the
tiger-shooting season, when he would give us the best guns and
the best elephants in the dominions.

From Hyderabad more than half of the journey onward we
made by daylight, The same characteristics were seen which be-
longed to the country traversed in reaching Wadi, except that
there w;.^ a large growth of cotton. The plant was very low,
frequently rot reaching six iiiches. The farm people became yet
blacker, the majority being almost as dark as negroes. They are
a mucli finer race than those of either Bengal or the neighborhood
of ]?ombay. Their features are finely cut, delicate and oftentimes
very handsome. Many are quite tall and better proportioned in
the lower limbs than in northern India. Many a man nearly as
black as a crow is seen whose features would compare favorably
with the best-visaged European, and women are often very
l)retty. If our beauties could only see their feet they would envy
them. When shoes were introduced one of the handsomest parts
of the human frame became deformed. The nizam's people are
entirely wanting in the servile demeanor of the Ucngalese. We
crossed several rivers broad and capable of carrying vast streams,
but now only with small ones coursing along their rocky beds. All
the streams south of Bombay rise in .the (ihauts close to the west
coast and flow eastward into the Bay of Bengal. The granite hills
seen about Hyderabad extend far south and cross the railroad at
greater altitudes. They make the trip decidedly picturesque. A
hundred and odd miles from Madras we passed through fine bare
mountain scenery, and saw some old fortified cities and fortresses
perched high upon lofty hills, as bold and picturesque as any
thing on the Rhine or Danube.

Arriving at Madrr>- we found every hotel filled. We even
tried several whose filthy appearance repelled us — dirty dens
kept by Portuguese who are ignorant of the fact that cleanliness
is next to godliness. A native had fastened himself upon us at
the station, determined to be our guide and servant. When we
were about to return to the station to go off on the next train,
he said he thought he could get us a room at the " Bidden
Home " on the beach. This turned out to be a charitable home

NATIVE CHRISTIANITY.

for seamen, now rarely used since the commerce by sea of the
place has so fallen off. Few sailing vessels touch here. The
harbor is open, and permits no sail craft to lie safely before the
citv. and tiie steamers stay so short a time that a sailors' home is
hardly needed. Thinking our stay under the circumstances
would be vcr\ short, we at once ordered a carriage and drove about
the (it}'. We found it as hot as we had been told it would be. Its
public buildings are quite fine, and Fort George is a grand military
establishment. The esplanade and military grounds for drilling
are laigc, with handsome shaded drives crossing them in different
directions. An outer harbor now being erected may, when
finished, bring back to Madras some of her lost coinmerce.

Hot and dusty we returned to our refuge, and, to our delight,
found we had won victory from defeat. A delightful breeze, a
sort t)f undertow, was coming in from the sea, so invigorating
that we determined to stop here for a rest, instead of going to
the Nilglierri hills, where w had expected to spend two or three
days. Muni Sami, tl'.e butler of the establishment, gets us
dcligluful meals, and is making our stay really charming. 1 asked
him if he were a Christian. There are a great many native Chris-
tians in this locality. He said no; "that Christians got drunk too
much ; that it was the best religion to die in, but it was better to
be ;. heathen until one got old ; he intended turning Christian
before he died." I am sorry to say that our limited experience,
so far, corroborates this statement. At Lahore and Jey])nre we
had native Christians for guides, and bidli Look more stimulants
than was healthy. The fellow who attached himself to us here
uas not able to bear prosperity. Our pay overcame him, and
yesterila)' I discharged him for being drunk. We have now been
here three liays, and find the early mornings and cool afternoons
picifitably employed driving through the large city, which has a
[.opulation of 350,000. But it is only at the 15idden Home that
we find the freshness of the undertow sea-breez , I suppose, be-
cause of its immediate pro.ximit)' to the surf, which breaks not
100 feet from my bedroom. We spend all the heat of the day
l_\'ini; in easy chairs in our colonnaded second story, drinking in
enjojnient and sea air. We have been much on the sea during
the past seven months, but we were then the sport of the waves.
Here we have sea-baths, and watch the snowy surf without any
of the discomforts of too great intimacy with the monster ocean.
We would like to enjoy the glorious surf, but dare not, for
ground-sharks abound here, and are fond of Europeans. Two
Fnglish sokliers went into the surf not long since; they were
attacked, and although assistance was closo at hand, \et the poor
lellows were never seen again. Tiie deeply-dyed sea told how
sharp were the fishes' teeth. I shall always remember the Bid-
den Home with pleasure, and bless its charitable founder. We
arrived on the 22d. We spent the afternoon watching the surf

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258

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

breaking almost under our feet. Natives were fishing a little
way out on tiny catamarans, which arc simply a couple of
sticks of timber from 15 to 30 feet long, turned up at one end
like sled-runners, and lashed together with thongs. It furnishes
a keel two or three feet wide; on this a couple of fishermen will
boldly enter the surf which no other boat would attempt. Stand-
ing erect upon the tiny craft, with a light paddle, they will ride
over or through a crest which looks as if it would surely swallow
them up. They pass over it like a duck or through it as a fish,
their black bodies shining in the sun and resembling animate
polished ebony. The breeze was not fresh enough to raise any
white caps, but a fine ground-swell was coming in from two to
five or six feet high. In solemn order the waves would round
up and break below us, making now a gentle murmur and then a
decp-toncd thud. After a loud crash the aiolia of the sea would
roll awav, dying in a wail or sinking into a sigh ; now in the wild
shriek of a madman, and then in a murmer as soft as a mother's
blessing.

Washington's birthday I watched the waves marching in order
one after the other, the free soldiers of the sea, and tluDught of
the day and of the man of whose birth it was the anniversary. He
was born and lived that a mighty people might be free. I was
now in a land whose civilization dates from thousands of years
ago, and yet there is no tradition that freedom here for one day
even has ever had a home. There is no tradition that any man
living among the countless millions of this land ever knew wiiat
freedom was. There has always been the master and the minion.
The master might be one man, or he might be many, liut the
mighty mass has been a mass of willing slaves. Tliere have been
fierce wars to free one nation from another nation, or a prince
from another prince, but not a single struggle to free man.
Wasiungton's name is a very synonym for freedom. Will the
people whom he fought for .dways be firm to the principles he
taught, or will madness of party some day cause them to for-
get his lessons, and make them bow to a people's idol, and all
too readily permit his foot to rest upon their necks? Such seems
ever to have been the tendency of human movements, and
sooner or later America will do as other peoj^les have done be-
fore. No statesmanship can ward ofT the action of human law.
Among the countless billions who have lived there has been but
one Washington. He alonj of all could resist that sweetest of
all incense, the breath of real admiration, and could forego that
sweetest of all morsels, power, freely granted by a free people.
Kings have stepped down from thrones, but their thrones were
not built upon freemen's hearts. Countless ages may pass before
another Washington shall be born. The American statesman
should study to retard as long as possible the coming of the day
when a Washington shall again be necessary to freedom.

THE TWENTY-SECOND OF FEBRUARY.

259

Recliniiifj upon an easy chair in the mid-afternoon beneath the
corridor of the " Home" I watched the waves coming in from
the east, and thought of my own native land and of the dear
ones on the other side of the world. The waxing moon was
climbing half-way up to the zenith, a dim, silvery spectre upon
the hot, blue sky. It had been shining upon my own land, but a
few short short hours before, perhaps had lighted up the faces
of some of those who were so dear to me. As I looked, I almost
fancied I could see them photographed upon its pale silvered
plate.

There, in my west-side =novv-mantled home in Chicago were
my children— my laughing little girl — a father's heart went out*
to enfold them. There were my good neighbors and true friends
from all over the city. One by one they walked across the pol-
ished plate, and bent upon me a kindly look. Friends of every
nationality. Teuton and Hibernian, Frenchman and Norseman,
Bohemian and Dane, Italian and Swede, Christian and Jew, rich
and poor. Ah ! How I wished I could bid yon pale moon bear
to them my own picture, looking, as I felt, brimful of good-will,
and running over with kindly fellowship. To one and all I drink
in a cup as full as yon sea — a cup brimming over with affection.

iX I

CHAPTER XXV.

TUTICORIN— PONDICHEKKV— TANJORi: — TRICIIINOPOLY AND
DURA— HINDOO TEMPI. KS— A CMIARMING RIDE—
NATIVES AND THEIR DRESS.

MA-

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Tuticorin, March i, 1888.

I COMMENCE thi.s letter on the second story of Jack's Hotel at
half-past one o'clock. Our ship lies five miles off, just in view.
The place has no harbor, and the water near the shore is so
shoal that vessels of any considerable size do not approach
nearer to the town. Befo:e night we must go off on a launch
and quit India forever. I leave it with regret, and at the .same
time with a feeling of relief, for our travel over its vast distances
has been one of labor and fatigue as well as of pleasure. We
entered it at the mouth of the Hooghly two months ago. We went
400 miles due north of Calcutta to Darjeeling and back ; then in
a northwesterly direction, through many cities and districts, 1,600
miles, to the boundary of Afghanistan ; thence southerly, through
the heart of northern India, over 1,600 miles, to Bombay; then
across the Deccan, via Madras, to this point, 1,180 miles. Besides,
we travelled on branch roads about 150 miles — in all nearly 5,000
miles, and are somewhat fatigued. We have travelled faithfully,
observing and noting every thing as well and as intelligently as
could be done in a land of many languages, and all of them un-
known to us, and have consciences quite at rest.

Just now I am feeling so good-natured that, like Uncle Toby,
I could hardly kill a fly, for, in addition to ease of Cv)nscience, we
have that further inducement to kindliness — the fact that we have
just disposed of a delicious breakfast of fried prawns, juicy teal,
fresh eggs, and shrimp-curry, washed down with a good whiskey
soda and followed by fragrant tea. A balmy sea breeze fans the
cheek, and I now and then look out at cheerful coolies with
shining backs, carrying jagghery, the coarge sugar made from the
palm, to the lighters for cargoes for the ships out on the roadstead.

Formerly they made their living diving for pearls, for which
this place was famous. Many an angel's tear has been congealed
in the oyster's home near yonder small islands to deck woman's
'Deauty and to add to the state of lordly rulers. Many a fair
bride has stood before the altar in far western lands with pearls
upon her brow and neck, won from the briny deep by the fore-

260

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CHARACTERISTICS OF SOUTHERN INDIA.

261

fathers of yonder poor men and women, who are now bearing
huge burdens upon their heads, sweating in the blazing sun for a
daily wage which an American laborer would not hesitate to pay
for a single cigar ; and yet they are cheerful and bright and are
quite as contented in their ignorance and poverty as are our own
favored, well-paid, and educated working people. After all, was
it not a mistake of the poet when he wrote, " If ignorance be
bliss," or was the little " if " rcJIy meant for a synonym of
" since ? " The philosopher has not yet discovered the secret of
how to make men happy. Preachers may preach, poets may
sing, and the learned may philosophize, but Robby was right
when he said that " man was made to mourn."

It was quaint Lawrence Sterne, I think, who said " I pity the
man who can travel from Dan to Becrsheba and cry, ' 'T is all
barren.' " Our last trip in India more than ever convinced me he
he was right, so many having said that southern India was barren of
interest. The thistle on the arid plain bears a flower of exquisite
beauty ; the edelweiss blooms in the edge of eternal snows ; the
desert has sands of crystal clearness. There is no country which
does not repay an observant traveller. " There are sermons in
stones and good in all things." Southern India is full of beauty
and running over in things of interest. Take Agra and Delhi
out, and northern and central India fall below the southern in
that which is really charming to travellers from all temperate
zones. One should give a full share of time to that part south of
a line drawn from Bombaj* to Calcutta. Yet this part is scarcely
touched by tourists, and when touched at all is done as hurriedly
as if disease and discomfort were everywhere to be found.

It was not until we left Madras behind us that we really saw
the India of dreams — a land with tropical vegetation in profusion
and Ilintioo temples in grandeur. It was in this section that the
Dutch, Portuguese, and English first saw the country, and gave
the pictures of India, both of brush and pen, which were seen by
us in school-books, and gave those ideas of the whole land which
only a visit to it can eradicate. Few people in America can
realize that the great bulk of this country is a brown, dry, and
apparently half-desert land during fully three fourths of the year,
that only during the wet season does it wear a livery of green.
Trees and shrubs are, it is true, green at all times, but the grass is
brown and dry during fully nine months of the year. Shortly after
leaving Madras we entered a region abounding in plantations of
palms and rice, which made green the dominant color of the land-
scape.

We were for 200 and odd miles between the sea and the east-
ern Ghauts and within the influence of ocean atmosphere.

Here the cocoa-nut and other palms have their true homes, and
give the landscape that tropical appearance which has so wonder-
ful a charm. Here villages of natives arc hidden in the shade of

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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stately trees, and the broad spreading banyan is rarely out of
sight, many of them fit to stand for specimen pictures. At Ma-
dura is one that may be called perfect. I stepped it around
carefully and found an almost true circle of 660 feet, or 220 feet
diameter. This tree from every point of view presented the
appearance of a flattened dome, with regular and even branches
and regularly distributed aerial roots. There are several varieties
of trees which send down such roots, and have all the appearance
of the true banyan, and all being of the ficus or fig family. Small
fibrous rootlets drop from a branch and grow downward through
the air like long moss. If not disturbed, they ultimately reach
the earth and at once take hold. The sap then runs up in them
and they commence to support the parent tree. If a rootlet
reaches a lower limb or the body of the tree before it does the
earth, it not unfrequcntly attaches itself and takes hold like a
parasite, and grows into the limb or trunk as if it had been an
original part of it. The sap then passes from the roots of the
tree indiscriminately through the main body and through this
new attachment. Not unfrequently these aerial attachments
become as large as the main body, and when they grow large or
so thickly together as to touch laterally the main trunk, the whole
will cohere and become a solid mass. This is particularly observed
in the sacred banyan. We saw one specimen where a mass of
aerial rootlets from branches close to the main trunk had met
and matted together some eight or nine feet from the ground,
then, becoming attached to the main body, had so grown into and
become a part of it that the tree was full)- ten times as large
above the point of union as it was below. Oftentimes these trees
are very grotesque in appearance, and when of any considerable
size have interested us very much.

In northern and central India the principal railroad trains run
at night, so as to give tl'.e foreign population the cool air instead
of hot day to travel in ; but in the south, the best trains being
supported mainly by natives, are by day. We so timed our trip
that we did the whole by daylight. Our first stop was at Pon-
dicherry, the little French possession. I wanted to be for a few
hours under some other flag than that of Hritain, and besides,
here a great deal of genuine French heroism was shown in the
fights with England — acts of gallantry which should cause every
Frenchman to feel proud of his flag. The district has only a
little over 100 sni>are miles of territory, and a populaticm of less
than 140,000, bat supports the dignity of the French republic in
a respectable manner. The town has 30,000 people, 700 of them
being white, and is decidedly pretty. There are no pretensions
to grandeur, but the streets are wide and beautifully shaded, the
trees running cast and west being palms, on the cross streets of
other woods. Every thing looks clean, and wears an air of quiet,
old, respectable dignity. We regretted our stay was too limited

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GOPURAS OF HINDOO TEMPLE, MADURA.

TRUE HINDOO TEMPLES.

26j

to permit us to pay our respects to the Governor, but at dinner
wc drank ^food French wine to the toast of " Vive la Republiquc."
We saw the daily parade of the 200 native zouaves in pretty uni-
forms. They showed good drilling, and were a handsome body
of men.

A hundred and odd miles brought us to Tanjore, through the
most densely populated part of India, and the most productive.
The land is low and flat, thoroughly watered, and growing an
enormous amount of rice and cocoa-nuts. Rice was in every stage,
fro.n emerald green, just covering the paddy fields with young
shoots, to the yellow ripe. Troops of men and women were in
the water-soaked patches putting down the fresh plants, and
troops were bearing great loads on their heads to the threshing-
grounds. These threshing plats are artificially raised, and
apparently each village owns one in common. I was informed
that three crops a year are grown in the district. At Tanjore we
saw our first grand Hindoo temple, and afterwards others at
Trichinopoly and Madura.

These temples are rather great walled forts, with temple
attachments, tlian mere religious edifices, and during many wars,
and particularly those of the French and English, were occupied
and defended as forts. That at Tanjore is of the highest order
architecturally. The two at Trichinopoly are the largest, and
the one at Madura is in the best condition. Hundreds of
thousands of pilgrims from all over India visit them every year,
and during the April festivals in such masses that disastrous
accidents are not unusual, now and then causing hundreds to be
crushed by the excited multitudes. They are dedicated to Vishnu
or Shiva.

The largest is almost a half mile square, and consists of seven
different concentric enclosures, each surrounded by lofty, solid
masonary walls, 20 to 30 feet high and four feet thick, the one
enclosure being each within the next outer one, and each
separated from the next by several hundred feet of space, with a
street lined with houses. In the centre of each wall, and facing
the four cardinal points of the compass, are massive tapering
buildings, from five to eight stories in height. They are 50 to
100 and over, feet high, with the entire exteriors a mass of figures
representing the various incarnations of the God and his attend-
ants. Tix loftiest is about 150 feet in height. These buildings
(Gopuras), 28 in all, are the gateways leading through the several
enclosures to the centre of the whole. Between the first and
second there is a large population regardless of caste. Between
each of the other walls the population is regulated as to caste
until the fifth is reached. In this only Brahmins can live. In the
sixth there are certain offices and temple adjuncts which only
Brahmins can enter. In the central, or seventh inclosure, are the
sacred precincts of the God ; and into it only the priesthood can

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

enter, and they only for the performance of certain sacred rites.
It answers to the " Holy of Holies " of Solomon's temple. It is
said that the Prince of Wales intimated a desire to view within
this sacred inclosure. He was earnestly asked by the priests not
to press the request, as it would cost at least lo.oco rupees to
purify it if it should become contaminated by his presence. This
whole thinj^ is called a temple, and is filled by temple buildings
and houses occupied by people more or less connected with the
temple service or employed on their estates outside. It would
require weeks and months to study them in detail, and would
repay onh" those who wish to study the mysteries of Hindoo
religion. There arc several other places \n southern India where
such temples exist. At the old palace at Tanjore reside several
of the begums (widows) of the last rajah, who died some 50 years
ago. They did not ascend the burning pyre, and have lived here
in seclusion and are gradually dying out and relieving England of
the expense of supporting them. Thirty miles of run brought us
to Trichinopoly, a large town, now famous for its cigar manufac-
tories. I purchased from a manufacturer 500 well-made weeds,
of " Henry Clay " size, for eight rupees — less than two thirds of a
cent apiece. They were really good, but rather low-flavored cigars.
Before reaching Trichinopoly we entered into the extension of
the granite or Sicnite mountains, which run north into the
Deccan and furnish the peculiar mountain scenery about
Hyderabad. They had been a rugged background for the land-
scape for many miles, and relieved it of its monotony. Here
they are hardly mountains, but have become high, loose, rocky
hills, or monster " rocks" protruding from the plains, frequently
several hundred feet high, often smooth and rounded like vast
domes, or jagged and broken into most grotesque shapes. The
Rock of Trichinopoly, crowned by a temple, and once walled
in by a fort, is several hundred feet high, its sides smooth and
precipitous, and climbed only by steps cut into the solid face. It
is not unlike a mighty elephant with its legs extendetl
forward and back, in the position the beast takes when he comes
down to permit one to mount his back. By the way, one of these
animals attached to the temple at the foot of the " Rock" met us
as we came down. He had climbed up lOO steps to make
his salaam (bow) to us and to beg for backshish. It was a queer
sight when the awkward- looking monster descended again to his
stabling below. He went down, however, nearly as easily as we
did, and at the foot wheeled around with a twinkle in his eye, and
stretched out his snout in a way which plainly said : " Now Mr.
Yankee, don't you think I deserve more than you gave me
above?" I threw him a copper coin. He blew a loud whistle
and put his foot upon it in contempt. He then pointed to a
rupee which his wily mahout had laid on the flagging as a hint to
ais. I told him " Beggars should not be choosers," and threw him

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265

a small silver coin. Our guide translated what I said. For a
moment he paid no attention to the tiny silver, but, seeing he
would get no more, picked it up and gave it to his mahout, and
even condescended to take the copper. I then gave his proboscis
a rub and put on it another coin. He got down on his knees to
give us a profound good-by. At each of the temples we have
visited in these localities there are several elephants, which per-
formed for us and got their rewards. They are more or less
sacred.

The view from the " Rock " at sunrise, and for an hour or two
after, was superb. The great plain, with its rice-fields, the forest
of palms, the different rocky points scattered over tiie plain,
the river stretching like a great serpent of sand, for its bed
was nearly dry, and the city below and around us made a picture
as charming as it was unique.

The ride of 98 miles to Madura was dellghtfid. Although wc
started at noon, and the sun was blazing hot, the motion of the
train gave us a pleasant breeze. We had several green cocoa-nuts,
freshly plucked in the cool morning, and partly cut so that we
could open them with our pen-knives. The water (not yet milk)
is a delicious drink, and has been freely taken by us ever since wc
reached Siam. The scenery was of paddy fields, green and vari-
gated ; dense thickets and jungles of cactus and prickly pear,
purple in bud and golden in flower; small trees and bushes covered
with amass of vines, deliciously green, and many glorious in bloom ;
about the hamlets and wells were great bushes and clumps of
oleander, of several tints, purple, pink, and delicate rose mottled
with white, and all a mass of the loveliest of flowers ; great
artificial tanks as large as lakes, where the water of the rainy
season, now j^ast a couple of months, is stored for the dry season
coming; a fine range of mountains in front of us, lifting from
2,000 feet nearest us to 5,000 or more feet over, and beyond piled
in artistic confusion of range and peak, and all covered with
forests, not dense, but sufficiently so to make, what is so rare in
India at this season, verdure-covered mountain heights, slopes and
gorges. We entered this range by a handsome valley on a con-
siderable grade. Mountains were on each side clothed in forest,
the umbrella-tree predominating, with a crown of branches shaped
like a flat-spreading parasol. All was so green, and the fields were
so thrifty, that one could alrnost imagine himself in Japan, were it
not for the large troop of goats and sheep, the latter of a brown
color, almost red.

I have noticed that the sheep, and even some of the birds, take
to some extent the hue of the soil or rocks over which they range.
In the Deccan, where the volcanic tufa and trap rocks covering
the plains are black, the sheep are black, and the kites are gray,
like the crags in which they nest. Here the soil is red and the
granite hills reddish ; the sheep and the kites are of a reddish-

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A RACE iriTJI TJ/E SUN.

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brown. Wc saw from the rail a remarkable sunset effect. To the
WL-stwartl was a very broken raii^'e of mountains, rising in cones
and peaks piled in confused heaps. The atmosphere seemed
charged with a sort of mist, the rays of the sun lightening' it up
into a luminous medium. The light seemed to come from below
and out of this, instead of from above. The mountains appeared
to be floating in a fluid all glowing with light. Here and there a
high peak cast a shadow, making great lines of sunlight, so tlis-
tinct and marked, that they seemed tranparent masses of gold-
tinted crystal stretching through the air. Immediately under tlie
declining sun the mountain masses were so bright and glowing
that we seemed to be looking upon the interior of a furnace.
The whole effect, I think, arose from the mountain atmosphere
being filled with dust — a sort of dust-mist. It lasted for a quarter of
an hour, and was so beautiful that it brought to me a feeling almost
of pain, perhaps akin to the sensations of a refined blind person
when listening to delicious music. We spent an entire day at
Madura, in its fine temple and driving among the cocoa-nut and
the palm groves about it, and along roads bordered with gro-
tesque old banyans.

The roads in southern, as in every part of India, are superb
(England has built such vast lines of splendid roads out here that
one of us could not resist the temptation of calling her the
" Colossus of Roads"), and are always shaded by fine trees; in
the south with palms, tamarinds, banyans, or mangoes, all of good
size and with lustrous foliage. In the south the railroads arc
fenced in with hedges of aloes (century plants), noble plants from
four to eight feet high, and now with great flower-spikes 1 5 to 30
feet tall and as large at the base as a man's thigh. This plant is
used in Bengal for hedges <t> well as here, but there they do not
grow as large or as beautifully regular as in this (juarter. The
fibre of the tall flower-sialk is b;ing largely used in the manufac-
ture of cordage, not only fcr rlomestic purposes but also for ships.
It is far more pliant and tlcxiole than that made from hemp, or of
what we call sea-grass. For lines on a ship it can be handled
when new, while the other is stiff until after being used for some
time. Large quantities of this fibre is shipped to Tuticorin. I
think it is a rather newly discovered industry.

The run from Madura here, above 100 miles, did not afford as
green and fine scenery as that immediately beyond, but was not
wanting in these conditions. Lofty mountains were always in
sight to the west. A large area is planted in millet or doura of
the small variety, about as high as wheat, and with heads but
little larger. I cannot give a better idea of the cheapness of labor
here than by stating that this grain is to a large extent harvested
by cutting off the heads by hand, leaving the straw to be after-
ward cut for fodder, or to be fed down on the ground. There are
vast numbers of cattle, goats, and many sheep, which are fed

NA TIVE WOMEN AND DRESS.

267

almost entirely on this straw, stacks and ricks bcintj seen in every
direction. There is also in this section a fjreat breadth of country
planted in cotton, here tall, vi},'orous plants, and beautifully green,
flecked with white b(5lls.

Thousands of cotton-pickers were in the fields, the women,
with their bright scarlet skirts and scarfs, making the green fields
look as if ornamented with huge red flowers. The dress of the
wonien is a cloth wrapped around the waist and falling nearly to
the ankles, and then a scarf thrown over the left shoulder and
caught below the waist under the right arm, leaving the right
shoulder, arm, and part of the back free and uncovered. When
at work the skirt is caught up between the legs and fastened at
the >v;vist, making a sort of loose, flowing hippen. The laboring
niLU and boys arc nearly nude, with a short cloth around their
hips, and often with only a small clout not much larger than a
fig-leaf, a fig-leaf, too, of very dwarfed size. We have become so
accustomed to nearly naked people that we have grown to almost
admire it, ami to consider the least dress the best dress. I have
grown quite used to that sort of thing, and quote Thomson con
avwre :

" Oh, fair undresi;, best dress ! It checks no vein,
Hut every llnwiiij; liiiil) in pleasure ilrowns,
.\nil heiglitens case with grace.

Frequently as we passed near a lot of cotton-pickers the
younger ones would salute the passing cars. I noticed that my
two boys invariably took the salutations of the girls as being
tnade expressly for themselves. An oldish man relearns much
forgotten human nature by travelling with boys.

I must not forget to tell how water is generally drawn from
wells and deep tanks for irrigation in southern India. It is tlone
with the use of the old-fashioned sweep, identified among us with
" the old oaken bucket " of the song. Instead of lifting the bucket
with the hand, aided by the sweep, one, two, and cften four and
five men walk the lofty sweep out towards the large end, when
the huge skin bucket is filled, and by their weight lifting it from
the well or tank; the walkers above pace towards the centre or
pivot until the bucket again descends into the well, much the
same as the " trick horse " plays " see-saw " or "teeter" in the
circus. The pole being small and very steep, wdien the bucket is
lifted causes the men above to look like shining, naked, black,
tight-rope walkers. The natives are very dark, and many of them
quite as black as negroes, but with symmetrical forms, delicate,
finely-chiseled features, beautiful feet and hands, ivory teeth,
unless stained, as is generally the case, with beetel-nut ; soft,
pretty eyes, and glossy black, silken hair. Many of the men and
boys are very handsome. The young women and girls are ner.rly
all pretty, and many really beautiful. My boys were constantly

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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calling out : " Look ! there 's a beauty ! " The men, when
dressed, generally wear white garments; the women nearly
always gay and bright colors.

The universal habit of carrying heavy loads on their head and
wearing the arms bare, untramcllcd, and swinging, gives the
women beautiful, free gaits. When will our women cease the
wretched habit of carrying the arms folded like the wings of a
trussed turkey? It is one of the abominations following the ugly,
ungainly, and health-destroying French fashions and costumes.
No woman wearing such costume can possibly have an artistically
easy motion. The vaunted swan-like swimming motion of some
of the queens of society is pretty simply because conventionalism
has made it so. It is not the motion given our grandmother
Eve when her Creator sent her tripping over Eden's hillsides and
leaping babbling brooks to gather n:)se leaves and sv.'eet violets to
make soft her bridal bed. Her arms swung free, no stays bound
her willowy form, no high-heeled French boots made corns on her
rosy little toes ; " grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye."
She did not swim, but bounded so lightly that the dew-drops
were hardly brushed away by her feet.

I commenced this at Tuticorin, whence we sailed last night. I
end it near noon as we approach Colombo, having finished India
proper which we entered the 2nd of Januar)-, twu months ago
to-day.

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CHAPTER XXVI.

CEYLON— THE COCOA I'ALM THE PEOPLE'S FRIEND— TEA, COFFEE.
ANDCINCIIONAS— CM ARM INC, MOUNTAIN RETREAT— ENGLLSH
RULE IN INDIA— STRICTURES ON Tllii ENGLISHMAN'S MAN
NERS.

Colombo, March 13, 1888.

Ceylon is generally visited by tourists before tiicy enter India,
and on tlieir way thither. It gives them their first view of rich
tropical verdure, and following cither Egypt or China wears by
comparisop. a most gorgeous mantle. It was from the writings of
such that we hud built our expectations. While I can hardly say
we are disappointed, we ^\.\-i. not carried off our feet as others seem
to have been. I think our course the preferable. We left the
best for the last, and up to it we were constantly growing. We
had not the wonderful wealth of green of the Cinnamon Islands
constantly on memory's chart to make other places, by compari-
son, seem sterile. We were not overwhelmed by its glories, yet
have those glories to linger with us as the last misc en scene of
our Oriental travels.

The island has an area of 24,000 miles, and is pear-sii,iped. Its
northern or stem end, bending toward India, is almost connected
thereto by a chain of rocky land called " Adam's Bridge."
Through the length of the island stretches a range of mountains,
apparently a prolongation of the granite and syenite ranges which
come down on cither shore of the great peninsula. In Ceylon the
chain so widens out in the bulge of the pear as to form a great
mass of irregular piles thrown together in wild confusion, and
reaching its highest altitude of 8,200 feet in very nearly the centre
of this bulge, or fi-om Co to 70 miles from the sea, east, south, and
west ; along tlv- whole coast stretches a low plain, varying from
two or three to ten or fifteen miles in width. This low land about
the northern neck of the island is largely planted in Palmyra
palms. For 1 20 miles along the western and southwestern shore
it is ;. fringe from one to seven miles deep of cocoa-nut trees.
These two kinds of trees .'^".pport the bull: of the native popula-
tion. They furnish tiie material from which they build and roof
their huts. The sap gives them their sugar and their intoxicants.
The green nut is their milk, and the ripe nut much of their solid
food. From the bark and leaves they make sheds, fans, and
matting ; from the fibre, sails, cordage, fishing nets, etc. The

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270

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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young leaves are their salads. Tin ripe fruit gives them oil for
their lamps, for tlieir hair, and for cooking purposes. They wear
for clothing the net woven by nature about the footstalks of the
leaves ; p'ait hats and sunshades and baskets from the fronds,
and drink from the cup ; sail in boats constructed of the hard, old
wood, and when sick make medicine from the flowers. The uses
of the palm are said to run into several hundred, and are the
theme of native poems.

The interest, however, to me in these trees was not so much in
what or how many forms they are helpers of man, as in the long
aisles, wi;!' tl.c thousand slender columns, the deep shade, and
the cool : they afforded from the burning rays of the

tropical suii lere is a wonderful charm in looking down the

long vistas of ; ...tely palms, through whose widespreading fronds
the sun can scarcely penetrate, and see hut after hut scattered
about in artistic confusion, with women sitting about tlie doors
spinning or plaiting, children romping, cocks crowing and
strutting, and squirrels chasing each other. It is so tropical, so
calm and home-like, and yet so str:'nge and weird.

The mountain scenery of Ceylon is very beautiful. The peaks
are broken and jagged ; the slopes and gorges gieen and wooded.
The valleys are very tortuous, forcing the ro;.ds to mount the
heights by many windings and curves, throu-ii tunnels and over
frightful precipices. The entire island is covered with a network
of gravelled roads, laid out with great skill and built with care.
The entire length of the island is only 267 miles, by 140 in its great-
est breadth. Yet there are something like 2,000 miles of well-
engineered roads, aoout 1,500 miles being metalled or graded.
These roads permeate every part of the island, and have brought
each and every part within easy access of every other. There are
two main railroads finished. One of 128 miles takes one from
Colombo, where the coolest nights rarely carrry the ther-
mometer below 72 degrees, up to Nuwara Eliya, where, from
December to the middle of March, there is frost during clear
nights. This is a beautiful ride through scenery rarel\- surpassed
on anj- railroad. Now up steep grades, overlooking valleys
terraced for rice and lying i,ooo or more feet almost under you ;
then under frowning peaks lifting their rocky crags 1,000, 2.000,
and 3,000 feet almost verticall)' over }'our head ; now along the
steep sides of a mountain, bending in and out of its gorges, and
darting through tunnels, with tea or coffee jjlantations making
the steep slopes far below you or opposite on tiie other side of
the valley, shine in brilliant, glossy green. It is a sad sight, how-
ever, now and then, to see noble coffee estates of hundreds of
acies entirely abandoned because of the blight which threatened
a few years ago to drive this culture from the island, and nearly
ruined the planters. The coffee is a beautiful plant, growing
three to five feet high — the first when pruned so as to spread

iU.

COFFEE, TEA, AND CINCHONAS.

271

out like an umbrella, the latter when the suckers are permitted
to lift up. There were formerly nearly 2CXD,ooo acres in coffee,
but now about 100,000, and much of this is being rapidly replaced
by tea, which has been planted between the rows. These are cut
away when the tea plant, at two or three years old, is fit for
plucking.

I conversed with very intelligent planters, who believed the
day for coffee-culture was not past, and that proper manuring
would enable the plant to outgrow the effects of the parasite, and
would still make the product sufficiently remunerative to repay
the extra ere. There are in the island 150,000 acres in tea.
Most of this is yet young, and the plants do not make the pretty
fields which one sees so green and shapely in Japan. Here tea is
plucked continuously. In China and Japan only twice a year.
The Ja|)s grow and gather their own crops, and care little for
return of interest on investments, — each having only a small
patch cultivated in conjunction with other crops. Here the
culture is entireh' in the hands of Europeans, who have estates of
200 and up to 1,000 acres. These planters grow nothing for home
consumption. They buy every thing they eat or consume. Their
crops are tea and coffee and cinchonas — one, or perhaps all. If
the cro]5 proves in any year a failure, then ruin or mortgage is the
lot of the planter. The coffee blights threatened absolute ruin.
But there was shown much pluck, and many of the estates were
rapidly turned to tea, and now there seems to be a general feeling
of hope for the future. There are 35,000 acres in cinchonas, 13,000
in cocoa (coco), and 35,000 in cinnamon. The latter is grown on
the plains or hot-lands, and is mostly in the hands of well-to-do
natives and Urasians. Cocoa takes a middle altitude. Coffee and
tea the more upper lands.

The hot months of Ceylon are February, March, and April.
These, too, are the dry months. Every one who can rushes to
the hills, where the nights, at least, are cool. On the tea estates
the rise and fall of the thermometer during the 34 hours of these
months is very great and very trying to those who are compelled
to expose themselves. At mid-day in the shade the temperature
rises to between 85 and 98 degrees, while it sinks at night to be-
tween }^2 and 40 (.legrees. The remaining nine months it does not
var\' more than 10 or 15 degrees, or from 60 to 85. During these
nine months the heat at Colombo and on the coast is greater than
during the v.inter months, but considered more healthy. For in
the winter the breezes come from over the low lands back, and is
laden with fever, while from May to December the southwest
monsoon brings sea-air, her.'thy, and if not always cool in it elf, vet
cooling.

The charming railroad of 74 miles carries the traveller to Kandy,
the ancient Singalese capital. This is a picturesque p ace, with
some beautiful views, a residence of the governor, and a j'uddhist

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272

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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temple, whore, in a wonderfully rich shrine, one of Gautama's
teeth is kept. Tiiis is one of the treasures of the " li^ht of Asia,"
for which, it is said, tlie King of Siam offered a million not long
since, but in vain. The priests having it in their care are said to
be among the most intelligent and learned of the eastern craft,
and possess Buddiiistic lore of great anticjuity and value. One of
the attendants inf:^rnied hie with much pride that Edwin Arnold
worshipped at this shrine when last in Ceylon. I cannot .say that
Edwin is a l^uddhist, but his writings show liim quite deeply im-
bued with reverence for .Siddartha ((iautama\ One cannot talk
with the intelligent people at this temi)le without being impressed
with the fact that their creed rests with them upon enlightened
faith, and not upon blind superstition. The i)riests, too, wear an
expression of calm dignity utterl}- at variance with bigotry or
fanaticism.

Ne:'r Kamly are the celebrated Paredeniya botanical ganiens,
founde 1 b}- the late king of Ceylon, but supported since 1 81 5, when
England determined she wanted all of the island, by the govern-
ment. Here we found much that was interesting, but were, on
the whole, disappointeti. We had read at such length of the gar-
dens that we possibly expected too much. There is not so great a
variety of tropical plants as are seen at Singajiore. They are
older, and make a finer show, but that is all. The fine oltl ficus
elastic;e or india-rubber trees were very large and curious. They
are of the sanu- family as the banyan, and send down aerial roots,
only more sparingly. Their surface roots are marvels, stretchitig
on the top of the grouiul to the same distance as the wiile-
sprcading branches above, and twisting and contorting like thin
flukes of iron, six, eight, and on to twenty inches high. They look-
like huge, thin re|)tiles, and cause the natives to name the tree the
" Snake tree," Many at home have seen the rubber tree in our
green-houses, with great leaves many inches long. They will be,
as I was, surprised to learn that as the tree grows older the leaves
contract until in the old ones they are not much larger than the
leaf of our cotton-wood or the balm of Gilead. Not only this, but
very many other, if not the majority of tropical trees, have very
much larger leaves when young than when old. The youngshoots
of te<d\ and banyans have foliage nearly a foot long, while the full-
grown trees have leaves not more than three inches in length. I
called the attention of the intelligent Scotch superintendent to
this, and had from him the information I give above. The nut-
meg, clove, and allspice, and many varieties of palms in this
garden, are very interesting. We .saw a beautiful specimen of the
talipot ])alm in full bloom. This noble tree blooms but once, and
then dies, — blooms at from 40 to 60 years old, throwing out huge
feathers or plumes of flowers, six to eight feet in length, and
probably 18 inches in diameter. This one tree had 27 of
these huge plumes drooping like ostrich feathers. Well it may

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PAREDENIYA GARDEN.

die. Like the century plant, its one effort is worthy a long life,
and the glory of the performance is deserving the wonderful dec-
oration which is spread over its death-scene. This, however, has
a privilege the aloe has not. The latter blooms, and its flower
dies, leaving an ashy dead stalk before the plant below dies. The
talipot blooms, and while its huge flowers are waving on its lofty
crest, the largest flower in the world, the fronds below droop and
die, and then the flower fades and turns to ripened seed on the
lofty stem, which to all appearances is dead and already dry. The
flower outlives its supporting tree.

One of the most interesting books on Ceylon I had read before
leaving home, was the little monograph of Prof. Haeckel. He
spoke of the giant bamboos of Paredeniya, as being two feet in
diameter. I looked in vain for them, but found none larger than
nine inches. Being unwilling to think that a German savant could
have made such a mistake, I asked for the monsters, and was in-
formed by the superintendent that probably the largest bamboo
in Ceylon would not exceed ten inches. Detecting the worthy
scientist in this mistake made me feel less fearful of gainsaying
his assertion that Kandy is a stiff and ugly place. To me it has
several splendid views. I?y the way, he made us commit a most
ridiculous blunder. He speaks of the land-leeches of Ceylon as
being such disagreeable ])csts that we followed his advice and
brought from home, greatly to our inconvenience, huge, high rub-
ber boots, coming up to the thigh. Willie long ago got tired of
his, and sold them to the captain of our ship in Siam. I held on
to mine, and have just as much need of them as of a pair of spurs
aboard ship. By a most singular coincidence, a few days after
we had searched these gardens for this huge bamboo, we read in
the daily paper of Colombo, a letter from a resident also taking
exceptions to the professor's grass story. Travellers tell huge
stories, the very exaggeration in them preventing belief, but
nearly all seize ur on isolated facts, and so describe them that in-
nocent readers think them rules, instead of except'ions. There
are land-leeches in Ceylon, and India, too, which are frequently
disagreeable, but they are not so prevalent that one should take
disagreeable precaution to avoid them. Haeckel, being out in
dews and rains, seeking specimens, suffered. The ordinary
traveller need not suffer much. Before we went to the north of
India 1 had an irritation about the ankles, which tempted a large
amount of scratching. It passed off during our three weeks in a
cool latitude, but returned again in the south, and still annoys me
somewhat — the result, I suppose, of some parasitic bite. It could
be removed at once by slight applications of carbolic. It is quite
amusing to read the guide-books, with their long lists of necessary
articles for travel. Many incumber themselves with these things.
One of the great annoyances in travelling is a large amount of
luggage. We brought much more than we have needed. From

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

the time one reaches Japan, travelling with the sun, every article
a traveller can need is to be had, and far cheaper than anywhere
in America ; clothin." at less than half price.

We found Nuwara Kliya a charming place in which to rest. It
is in a pretty valley, nestled among high mountains, and has an
altitude of 6,200 feet. Mount Pedro lifts 2,000 feet higher,
reached from Nuwara by a two hours' walk. From its summit,
about sun-rise, the view is superb. The whole of Ceylon may be
said to be mapped out around in most picturesque peaks and
deep valleys. Each country has a different cloud effect from
every other. In Ceylon it is varied and very beautiful, and
admirably seen from Mount Pedro. Wc started from our hotel
with the first streak of day, and while enjoying the wonderful
panorama about us on the summit, took our breakfast, which had
been sent to us. F"ull of our joys, we leisurely descendeil, gather-
ing rare mosses and catching exquisite bits of views from openings
in the mountain forest, when a gleam of lightning told us a storm
was brewing. We were too late to escape, for it came upon us
very rapidly and in a very deluge. The trunk of a tree and an
umbrella partially screened us. Our mountain path soon became
the bed of a torrent, threatening to carry us down. The storm,
however, passed almost as rapidly as it had arisen, leaving us
thoroughly drenched, but hardly regretting it. It was one more
sensation and a new experience.

This place is a resort during the hot weather, from January to
May, and has a gubernatorial cottage. It abounds with beautiful
drives and walks, and has near by a botanical garden for trees
and plants fitted for high altitudes. It would seem that the old
boast of the Singalese, that their island was the original paradise
of man in his purer estate, was not without some foundation. Its
delicious clime certainly fitted it for man when he spinncd not
and did not toil ; clothing was unnecessary ; its valleys abounded
in fruits, and its mountain forests were mighty parterres of bios-
soms and flowers. For the white man it is too hot, and must
cause rapid deterioration, but for the dark-skinned, it furnishes a
congenial and beautiful home. It is as beautiful as Japan, and its
people are light and graceful, but have not the wonderful
versatility and cheerfulness which makes the Japanese people so
charming.

Ceylon has several distinct races living upon it. Long before
history began to be written, it had prosperous peoples, and con-
tinued so for ages. It has old cities, deserted centuries ago, and
great tanks for gathering and holding water for irrigation pur-
poses, which show that portions of the island, now wild in waste,
were once teeming with population. The ruins and the tanks are
all that is left as a record of the people who built them. Even
the descendants of these people have dwindled down to a little
over 2,000, and are wild, almost animal savages, shunning civil-

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THE NA ri VKS. CA TAMARANS.

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izcd men. The Sinhalese, who have Persian ami Arab blood in
them, are rather fair, delicate in form and organization ; are ex-
pert manipulators in jewelry, and other delicate work — all Bud-
dhists, and number less than 2,ooo,cx)0. They were, many gen-
erations ago, overrun by Tamils — vigt)rous, hardy, nearly black
men from southern India — who, to-day, number about two thirds
of a million, and arc the hard workers, and Hindoo in religion.
The mixed bloods — called Kurasians, or liurjjhers — are the de-
scendants of the Portuf^uese, who held the island for nearly a cen-
tury and a half ; and of the Du<^ch, who controlled it for a century
and a third, and number less than 20,ooo. These, with many
Sinhalese, are Catholics. Other people swell the po|)ulation to
2,700,000, and are governed by less than 5,000 Europeans. These
latter are planters and officials. Eurasians and full natives have
cinnamon gardens.

Hy the way, this plant, when cultivated, is kept down to a small
shrub, not over eight feet high. In the forest it grows to a pretty
tree, as large as the pear. A cinnamon garden is pretty, the
foliage being very glossy, and of light, cheerful green. The bark
on the green stems, while spicy, has not the pungency of the
cured article. The sun, in curing, seems to bring this out. I will
here state that the growing tea-leaf has no more flavor than an
ordinary tasteless weed, and gives no promise to the uninitiated
of that wonderful quality which makes it'the sweetest friend and
kindest solace of so many countless millions of human beings. It
has its wonderful i)roperties brought out by sun or fire-heat. A
few of the fine brands in China are sun-cured, but do not reach
the general markets, being confined to the larders of the very
rich Celestial connoisseurs. Cinnamon and rice-cultivation is
confined to the low, hot lands of this island, and is in the hands,
generally, of the old population. They and the Tamils are the
fishermen.

The native boat is a queer thing. A log of wood from 10 to
20 feet long, turned upward at crch end, is dug out into a shallow
trough, rarely over a foot wide. On top of this the boat is
carried with boards to a length twice as great as the solid keel
below, and, say, two feet high, and of about the same width.
From this craft springs two bent poles to a light log of wood, six
to ten feet off. This out-rigger makes the queer Singalese cata-
maran, one of the safest small boats which run out into the sea.
The native sits with one foot in, and one outside, of the narrow
trough, and rows or sails far out on the deep, and can brave a
storm the ordinary long boat could not survive. They are rowed
rapidly and .sail 8 to 12 knots an hour. Two small platforms,
say four feet square, are built on top. On these the boat-
man carries his freight and the fisherman his nets. I am told
fishermen frequently go forty miles to sea. All along the coast
the natives are semi-amphibious. A number of half-grown boys

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276

A It ACE WITH THE SUN.

surround steamers, coming and going on quof r little rafts built of
three buoyant sticks 10 co 12 feet lonj:^ and la '.hcd together.
Upon this the half-naked fellows sit on their legs and paddle
very rapidly. So expert are they at diving that a silver coin
thrown 30 to 50 feet off, never reaches the bottom before it is
caught. Passengers get several of these boats around in a semi-
circle off from the steamer, then drop a small coin close to the
ship. The boys spring toward it and .swim up to the ])oint, then
go headlong below, squirming like frogs after the shining metal.
Tliey will even get a copper, but not very far off. The)' like the
whiteness of the purer metal. These boys are all c[uite dark, but
the bottoms of t^heir feet are almost white. Why ?

The .Singalese are a comely looking race, with features quite
effeminate in their delicacy. This appearance is further increased
by their long hair, tied in a knot at the back of the head and held
i:mooth by a light t^ortoi.sc-shell comb, such as young girls at home
wore when j. was young. The dress is the universal band of
cloth, here left to fall like a skirt; a jacket is worn in the cities —
in the country and villages only cotton cloth is thrown over the
shoulders. The women about cities have, to a great extent,
adoi'tcd a semi-Rurojiean costume. At least, thi>.'>e I saw had.
Tiie Tamil population dress as the southern Indian does. I'lie
tea and coffee estates are worked and the heavy labor about cities
is done by coolies, l)rought annually from the coast of southern
India, from Mal.ib.ir to Madras. That region furnishes coolie
labor west of Singapore, as China does cast thereof. They ar" a
hard}-, hard-working people, but not so stcaily and ploilding ;;s
the Cliinese. Who is? In the jinrickisha, however, he jnUls and
runs nearly as well as the Jap. This pretty little carriage is much
usctl on the fine roads of Ceylon.

This leads me to speak of another mode of conveyance here
and in India — the bullock cart. The Indian bullocks all have the
hump, but in other respects they vary in form ;unl appearances as
much as do the different breeds of our cattle — in .-iomc localities,
very tall and long horned. I have seen a yoke over 16 hands
higli, and have seen horns over three feet in length. These hoiiis,
in whole districts, point uj) and toward each other. In other
localities they spread and often bend downward. In Burmah tlv ;
ox is fair-sized, but his horns are very short. In Ceylon he i.;
very small, compactly built, and has little nubs for I-.orns, and is
very pretty and very (|uick in motion. At Kalutara, near the
south end of the island, three of f-; rode in a little cart drawn by
a bullock 41 inches high, and not much longer from his horns to
the root of his tail. Tiie brave little fellow trotted at a gait of
si.x miles per hour. When, after a steady pul' he felt tired, he
would give a c[uick back motion, as much as to say, hold on. lie
is an admirable beast for villages. He requires no harness. His
little yoke is fastened to the ends of the shafts ; drop it over his

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BULLOCK CARTS. FRUITS.

277

neck, and tie a c6rd to keep him from throwing it off, and he is
ready. But the Englishman rarely deigns to use him. What a
queer compound John Bull is. He loves liberty and yet is a slave
to public opinion. He hates and abuses Hindoo caste, and yet
is a worshipper of his own caste. He must be in good form, or
his caste is lost. I said to a party : " Why do you not use the
pretty bullock cart?" " Oh, we can't do that. The natives use
it. We walk if we can't get a pony. It would not do." I could
not help saying: "Oh, you miserable humbug! You bully the
natives and wretched public opinion bullies you."

We have had both mangoes and mangostines here, but in
rather limited quantities. I was afraid we would sec no more of
them, but at Kalutara wo sat down to as many as we could get
away with. They vv'cre costly, but we wished and got a fill.
And what a fill ! If the Christians will get rid of the honey in
their idea of heaven and substitute mangostines it would be much
more inviting. The pine-apples, too, are splendid. We have had
bread-fruit cooktd---fried like potatoes and boiled. I like the
latter very much — not unlike boiled chestnuts. It and the jack-
fruit are similar in appearance, only the former is as large as a
large watermelon ; the other, the size of tv>'o small cocoa-nuts put
end to end.

We have now finished that vast country, or these vast countries,
which we in America consider India, iut luding India proper, the
Straits Settlements, Burmah and Ceylon ; tiiese, tali n together,
forming ■; mighty link in that cor'on of England's dependencies
whicli stretch around the worli ■' upofi which the sun never
sets.

While making our three and a qu.irtcr months' journeyings in
these lands, I have not only observed the i^'v-^ical formation and
cliaracteristics of the country and the manners and customs < ^ the
people of the various sections run over, and tluir ethnological
habits and peculiarities, but I endeavored to study calmly an(!
dispassionately the relations existing between the conquering
masters from England and the conquered natives. I wont to
these countries with every possible prejudice aroused ii favor of
the dominant race and their manner of dealing with the subdued
people. I had read the books of several travellers from our own
land, who gave glowing accounts of what the Englishmen .d
done for the vast El Dorado of all times. But now, after ,ng,

I am forced to say that there is much in the relations .\isting
between the whites and the dark-skinned which is not satisfactory.

I am not prepared to say much which would be instructive, or
perhaps new, to the student and .scholarly Oriental observer ; yet
I may, perhaps, be able to say .something interesting to many who
have not the time nor the opportunity to give a close application
to the great questions involved in the march of conquest by
England over a great part of the mighty continent of Asia.

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278

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

•r, I

While I have seen much in India, and, indeed, throughout the
East, of the effects of Englisli ascendency wliicli pained nie, yet
from a deep-seated love for /i^nglo-Saxon ideas of civil liberty, I
am convinced that in Anglo-Saxon or Teutonic lovers of freedom
will be found the true and real bulwark of lib'M'ty throughout
the world. The Anglo-Saxon has hail opportunities for develop-
ing on the sea-girt isle, the only genuine civil liberty which has
ever existed ; but there is in the strong, manly fibre, and true,
warm heart of the Teuton, the germ of the same love of freedom
and the courage to maintain it, which has borne such glorious
fruitage among their cousins and congeners among English-
speaking people. The tradition of ages, and the constant
pressure from external forces have, however, repressed that civil
liberty among continental Teutons, which h.is grown to so
grand proportions on the British island and has spreatl in America
as a mighty tree. Though there be, perhaps, but little civil
liberty, yet there exists another kind in (Germany, which no
imperial mandate nor militarj' heel can crush out — manly, hearty,
wliole-souled personal liberty. Denied civil liberty by the force
of circumstances, and the inevitable pressure from without, the
Teuton bravely fights for fatherhunl, and permits imperial hands
to place the crown upon its own imperial Ijrow, while refusing to
accept it as the gift of the people, but claiming it as a heaven-given
right. The Teuton bravely fights for fatherland and upholds his
kaiser, but says, in tones to which the imperial rulers dare not
turn a deaf ear : " Thus far shalt thou go. and no farther."

" My li.inil, iiiylifeV my kintj'-- ;>loiio,
'I'd lUDp and slay lii-~ lii^lilfiil '.lirone.
My iierscin'-. lilKTty is mine nwii,

.•\ncl from luv lieart laii ikVt l)e lorn."

irM

Denied civil, he has given i)erha])s an umiue weight to personal,
liberty. If party strife and love of office for gain do not poison
the very roots of liberty in America, the mingling of Anglo-Sa.xon
ideas with the Teutonic and the bold, dash-ng spirit of the
Irish, the French, the Slav, and the other pc-pie will produce a
homogeneous whole under our flag not je'. dreamedi of in the
past.

The idea, the simple conception, of liberty in its i)urest and
truest sense is wholly exotic in Asia, and cannot for ages take
growing root. It is to I*lngland alone that the ICast must look for
the planting of the seed and watering the plant ; and if England
be the nation — can she, will she — be permitted to do it? \Vherc
the English language goes there goes Fngli-^h literature. The
A B C's — the primer of this literature— inculcates a love for, and
ideas of, freedom. Its stories and romances ; its poetry and its
oratory ; its laws and its philosophy ; its very songs sung at the
cradle and at the banquet, all inculcate it. Where English rule

T'^'EATMENT OF NATIVES BY ENGLISHMEN. 279

goes there goes material prosperity, or at least the material agencies
for increasing material prosperity. With this goes schools and
education ; schools and education beget a love of reading and the
acquirement of knowledge. The road to preferment in India is
through the English language. The result is, there is a greed
among the Indian boys to study English, and a pride in showing it
off. We never passed a group of school-boys with books in straps
or knapsacks going to or from school that they did not say some-
thing to us in our language, and generally ending their fun by
shouting: " Hip ! hip ! hurrah I "

These boys are learning English for the purpose of getting
lucrative employment ; but they arc at the same time learning the
difference between the fat mastiff with tiie collar-marks on his
neck and the lean wolf who can sniff the free air on the mountain-
side. This will prove dangerous unless properly guided. Men
who read English and ponder over the grand thoughts written in
it must become good citizens or dangerous slaves. Such slaves
cannot tamely submit. This fact the ordinary Englishman shuts
his eyes to. He cannot see it in Ireland, where it is written in
huge characters. He cannot see it in India, where the govern-
ment is affording every encouragement to material prosperity, and
where the individual Briton delights to treat the native as a slave,
and takes pleasure in speaking of him as a " nigger." I do not
mean that all Englishmen do this, but many do, and they leaven
a mighty lump. There is something to me not only incongruous,
but dangerous in slavery, in form or in name, where English rule
goes. There exists the form, and it will sooner or later tell in
India.

Let mc give some facts which will illustrate my thoughts. At a
table d'hote in Calcutta one of a party of gentlemen opposite said
to mc : " You are a stranger here, I see." " Yes, but how did you
know it? " " Because," he replied, " you ?<\xy please to that servant
of your's, and thank him when he serves you. We never do that.
They can't understand it." I laughed and told him we had in
America a tradition that George Washington lifted his hat to a
poor negro because he could not be outdone in politeness by a
slave. He rejoined : " That will do in America, but not in India ;
it would soon ruin the servants. They are a lot of niggers, and have
to be treated as such." I told him these " niggers," as he called
them, were learning something, and were already demanding a
par':icipation in the making of laws, and that the English ought to
try to elevate rather than to repress them into a lot of slaves.
The companions of this gentleman said nothing, but seemed to
approve of what he said. Again : I visited a merchant's office to
inspect shawls, to be shown us by some Hindoo merchants. I
bought a ring chudder, and, finding I had left my wallet in my
room, told the n.itive he could go with mc to the hotel for the
pay. The proprietor, an old resident, saw me to the door. I got

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28o

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

into the carriage, inviting the native to take a seat by my side.
This he was about to do, when my friend imperiouslj- motioned
him to mount with the driver, saying : " We never l^t those
fellows ride with us." Now, this Hindoo was a man of elegant
manners, clean, bright, and spoke good English. Hut i'. would
not do for him to ride inside with a white man. It would spoil
him and others. He had to be kept in his place.

I saw a man in uniform at Delhi kick a coolie from the car simply
because he had put the officer's package on, instead of under, the
seat. The native took the kick without a murmur. I could
name a dozen such illustrations, and from all over India. I did
not once, except at Lord Dufferin's and at a powerful commis-
sioner's, ever hear any thing asked for by an Englishman, or even
ordered, in that tone which softens an order into a request. It
was always an order, and of the most dictatorial kind, an order
rarely used in old slave days in America, except on the cotton
plantations. I was speaking in Ceylon with some resident Eng-
lish of the beautiful little bullocks and the pretty carts, and of
the ease with which they could be made ready, ami expressed my
surprise that I had not seen them used by the foreign residents.
They all said that it was a pity that tiie foreigners could not use
them, they were so cheap, convenient, and pretty; but they were
used by the Singalese, and, therefore, it would not do for the gov-
erning classes to be seen in them ; and yet the Singalese are a
neat, graceful, cheerful, and very bright people.

I did not while in India sec a single instance of a free, friendly
mingling of white and native people, except among the high-born
natives and the rulers at grand entertainments. I saw no native
and Englishman in what might be called a friendly and equal in-
tercourse, and from what I could learn from the English residents
themselves, there is no such thing as familiarity between them,
and the majority say it is right ; that the natives are a conquered
people, and should be treated as such.

Others say it is necessary that it be so, because if familiarity be
permitted it would breed a sort of contempt on the part of these
people; that for countless ages they have been the slaves of their
superiors, and must be treated by all white men as they were
formerly treated by their superiors, their masters; that the whites
should assume and hold the position held in the past by the native
nobility ; that to the native every well-bred Englishman must be
a nobleman ; that to do otherwise would encourage hopes impos-
sible of fruition, and thereby encourage mutiny. Others again
say the natives will not permit familiarity ; that their religion
teaches that a non-Hindoo is a thing unclean, to be avoided a
much as possible; to be used, but never to be touched, or allowed
to touch any thing used for food ; that if a foreigner drinks from
a high-caste cup the cup is defiled ; that a native will meet a for-
eigner in business, be polite and courteous, but never or rarely

Ni, \i 1

ENGLISH SERVILITY TO CASTE.

281

invites him to his house or meets him in any social manner.
These latter acknowledge that the bullying manner of many Eng-
lishmen is very unfortunate, but that it is the natural result of the
nature of the Hindoo and the relations necessarily existing be-
tween their conquerors and themselves. A very intelligent editor
said : " I have met many of the most intelligent natives in Bom-
bay. We are very friendly, but I believe that while they respect
and fear, they hate us in their hearts."

In no country in the world is more attention paid to caste than
among the I^nglish colonics throughout the East ; not religious,
as among the Hindoos, but .social caste. No one engaged in re-
tail business can enter the clique formed by the Hong, or whole-
sale people. Officials enter it, but not the butcher and baker and
c.indlcstick-makcr. These latter complain. A foreigner will not,
if he can help it, ride in the same car with natives. 1 was told we
must always take first-class railway carriages, because in them we
would not meet the nasty Hindoos. If we went in a second-class,
in every respect as comfortable as the first, some native would be
with us. The objection urged was my reason for taking the lower
grade. I thus often met intelligent Indians who gave me an
insight into their characters and much information. But this
silent avoidance of the people is not all. Over some second and
third-class and intermediate cars on every train is written, not
only in English but in Hindoostanee, or other dialect of the
locality, " For Europeans only." One very intelligent man, who
spok'- ICnglish, somewhat stilted, but with an jlegance and purity
I could not equal, said this Was an insult totLf educated Hindoo.
When the Viceroy made his vice-regal inspection of the various
provinces just before our arrival, the doors of the native houses
in Delhi were ordered to be closed along which the deputy of the
Empress passed in a sort of state promenade, and the natives were
not allowed in the street, but had to watch the ceremony from be-
hind their closed portals and from their windows, and that, too,
while foreigners, none of whom resided on the particular street,
were filling t'le same with perfect freedom. An educated Hindoo,
speaking to us of this, said it was an insult which they would not
.soon forget. I mentioned these things to an intelligent English
man, and said : " The government as such is doing its part mag-
nificently for this land ; it builds splendid roads, and is carrying
the rail into every quarter of India ; it builds canals and irrigating
ditches, but the English people, as individuals, are making a fearful
mistake. These people should be taught to be good citizens, and
to discard their old servility. It is no excuse that their old mas-
ters treated them as slaves. England boasts no slave can tread
on British soil. These people are nominally free, but you treat
them as slaves, and no slave could be mor^ servile and abjec': in
manner than are these dusky men. These Indians have the same
blood in them that courses through Caucasian veins. British

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282

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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rule, from its constitution, must be a rule of freedom. In violat-
ing such rule, you violate the very foundations of your bill of
rights; a free government must not only have the respect of the
governed, but must have their love. Are you English people
helping your government?" "Ah, you talk like an American
democrat I This is a conquered people, and must be governed as
a conquered people. They know they prosper under our rule, and
if war should break out between us ami Russia, they will fight to
drive the Russian back to his frozen north."

The learned author of " The Light of Asia," with whom we had
an hour's interview, and who, by the way, is one of the most brill-
iant talkers I ever met, said my strictures were to some extent
correct, but that no ill effect would come of these things. That
a mere handful, a few thousands at best, would acquire English
and become iliscontented, but that the vast millions of India were
grateful to England for the material benefits conferred ; that they
would sing and be content, or would plod and not think. That
they would not object to the bullying of Englishmen as long as
they got their little comforts. It may be so, but even that is sad.
Burke, in his attack upon slavery in America, said : " Its worst
feature was, that it taught the slave to love the chain that bound
him."

I like the Indians ; I love them in the broad sense. They are
in many respects a charming people. They may be crafty and
deceitful. Their masters now and for countless ages make and
made them so. But they are poetical, polite, and caressing. The
courtesy of the common man is oftentimes almost princely in its
tone. They spring from the same stock with ourselves. I would
like them made happy, not as mere animals, but as men, free and
bold, and made so by the rule of the Anglo-Saxon. I do not want
Russia to go one foot farther ."outh in Asia than she has gone.
But England is not sowing seeds to bear fruits of love in Indian
soil. She sends her people to govern, to fill their pockets, and
then to return home to enjoy their accumulations. No English-
man goes to India to make it his home and the home of his chil-
dren. They decry amalgamation, and look down upon and speak
of Eurasians, the descendants of mixed marriages, with a species
of contempt. A very bright lady, educated, with the soft charm-
ing voice so common among the mixed bloods, speaking of her
husband's position, said he did tolerably well, but could not ad-
vance. It was hard for a native-born to get a good place ; that
her husband was educated in England, but that the many needy
Englishmen, with influence to back them, got the pick of every
thing. I said I thought civil-service competition governed all
such things. " Yes," she said, " in theory, but not in practice."
I saw and regretted these things when in India, but I supposed
that Russian sway was one of absolute despotism, crushing utterly
the native, and shutting out entirely every ray of liberty. I

ENGLAND GOOD COLONIS'^S.

a83

thought it better that the people of the East should remain
as they were — steeped in ignorance and dark superstition — rather
than to let in a little light, and that of a doubtful character, which
would be more difificult to supplant by a better and purer light.

The English are the best colonists the world has ever known.
They arc the worst amalgamationists or niiscegenists. Theirs is
a strong fibre, which cannot yield a particle in mingling with
others; which attracts and molds into itself all others, when not
met by a too great mass. In which latter case it refuses absorp-
tion, and dies from mere inanition, from hick of food. It cannot
leaven a lump ; it demands to be and must be the lump. As
colonists the linglish carryall the good of the mother country, but
drop something of their overweening conservatism ; they catch
from a new land a tint of newness and an idea and love of prog-
ress. America and Australia, from what I hear, not only permit,
but force, English ideas to grow and expand as they never could
have done on British soil. The I'reiich and Spanish lack fibre, and
soon become absorbed in the mass which surrounds them in their
colonics. Hut England does not colonize India. Its people go
not to stay, but to sojourn, to govern and to absorb the wealth of
the land for after-life in England ; they squeeze to the uttermost
limit possible, restrained only when they find danger of lessening
the vitality of the squeezed so that it will yield nothing to their
chiklren. The)- recognize the vast value of India to the home
race. They know that i2o,ooo to 20o,cxx) Englishmen a year
must live on Indian pabulum, anil must, sooner or later, take
home fat to keep bright the fireside of vast numbers. They
recognize the fact that India really supports the English army;
that on its fields must be fed and drilletl the soUliery to battle for
the supremacy of the sea-girt isle, against whose chalk cliffs the
jealousy of all Europe is ever beating in mighty aiul angry waves.
They give to India every means of increasing material wealth, be-
cause they and their children will take tithes of that wealth.
They feed the sacred Hindoo cow because they know that they
take and must have the cream of her milk. But they will not mix
with the people: they are unwilling to mingle their blood with
theirs, and when the blood does become mixed, they despise the
amalgam. They say a child of pure English blood cannot grow
to strong manhood in India. Therefore, while they remain to
battle for money on its soil, they send their children home to be
educated and to grow up with I-lnglish prejudices and wrapped in
English conservatism. Thus the English will not — they say can-
not — go to India to stay; will not — they say they cannot —
anglicize tl.o Hindoo. They say the Hindoos differ too widely
from them ; that their religion necessarily keeps up this wide dif-
ference ; that they cannot and will not become English ; and that
when there be an amalgamation, then the Eurasians lack stamina
and are not fit for a governing class. Yet I saw one of the hugest

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

ships commanded by a half-blood brou^rht up in Enj^lami, and
with very influential relatives at home, and on a river steamer a
stalwart Eurasian mate whose fist could strike a sledge-hammer
blow. The English cannot see these things.

The Indians in most parts of British India are a servile set.
They never address an employer as " mister," but always as
" master." There was .something painful to me in this abject
servility, and I found a real relief in Jeypore and Hyderabad,
both governed by native princes, where the natives looked me
squarely in the face and seemed to feel they were men. They
were respectful, but it was the respect shown by the em-
ployed to the employer, and not the servility of slaves to a
master. There are Eurasians in large numbers about Madras and
in southern India. They have not been taught to feel that they
belong to the governing classes. Their bearing, taught them by
the home Englishmen, is not manly. They have been too much
relegated to the homes and habits of their native mothers.
Yet many of them have much of those characteristics which
make the Creoles of Louisiana so attractive. There is no racial
structure among the Indians to prevent them making a first-class
admixture with the English. Such admi.xturc is not hybridization.

CHAPTER XXVII.

CITIKS HENKATII llIK INDIAN ( XKAN — TlIK KKIi SEA AND ITS
SUOdKsriONS— SINHl'l.AK WKAIMIIOK— Sl'KZ CANAl,.

P. and O. Steamship " A'om;" Rid Sea, March 26, 1888.

We left Colombo the niorniiisj; of the 15th. Our ship was large
and comfortable, of 5,011 tonnage, 5,000 horse-power, and makes
from 310 to 355 miles a ilay; sails regularly between Sydney and
London. We reached Aden, 2,093 niiles, a little after miilnight
on the morning of the 2Jd. and will make Suez, another 1.308
miles, on Monday morning, the 26th. We have, first and second
from 180 to 200 passengers — quite a nice lot of people.

class,

It is

The ladies ilress for dinner, and some ot the men. It is "gooc
from," antl there is no crime so great to the Briton as to be out of
" form." Passengers are split into coteries. I have tried to mix
in, but find it a hard job. You talk to a lady — she is sweet and
amiable and seems really gkul you speak to her; but as soon as
you get away she gets terribly ahirmed lest she has made a mis-
take and talked to the wrong fellow.

We have a few swells ; A young peer who is very quiet and
gentlemanly. There is; '' jc uc sais quoi" ixhctwt many of these
men which is somehow or other almost offensive. A wild, Vjrave
fellow, who died fighting during our late war, told me that when
abroad he constantly felt like whaling a live lord. When I asked
if they were not gentlemanly, he replied that " the)' were, but

that was what was the matter; they were too gentlemanly.;

that every gesture seemed to say: ' I am a gentleman, and to the
purple born.' " We have a lady — daughter of an Irish peer.
She is very bright. I repaid her for her politeness to me. On
the 17th I saw there was not a person aboard who had on a piece
of green. I determined there should be one at least to do houor
to St. Patrick. Not being able to raise a piece of green ribbon, I
put in my buttonhole a thin strip of pineapple leaf. A lady sit-
ting next me at the table asked me how I could wear the green
on an English ship, and seemed to think me guilty of a great dis-
courtesy. I replied the Queen had done the same when s),c
named one of her sons Patrick. It was a home thrust, but seeing
many people looking at me askant, I pushed it, and soon had a
lot of young Australians following my example. I was not sure
their Hibcrnianism was not because it gave them a good excuse

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,7 RACE WITH TlIK SUN.

\ .

for popping several champagne corks in honor of tlie preen.
After clinner " I.aciy C." saw my favor, and asked wliat it nicant.
The result was I i)inned one on her. Slie confesseil next morn-
ing she had slept better for wearing her national color.

The big gun of our com])any is the governor of Ce)lon. Me is
here with his suite, consisting of his secretary ami a yellow turn-
spit ilog. The governor is a tlioroughly safe man. I le will never
set liis island afire. ( )ur passage has been a smooth one; it is
delightful to be upon tiie deck and escape the hot cabin. At
night I have watched the southern hemisphere. It is so rich
with fine stars. I cannot tire of looking at the true cross rising
and chasing the false one in its short semi-circular track far down
south. On the vast waste of the Indian Ocean I could s])eculate
upon the mighty cities with their world of reconls of a high civili-
zation lying beneath the blue waters; cities which gave to I'".g\'pt,
which never had a childhood, the tradition which afterward
became the mine in which other peoi)les have delved for the
wisdom which became the nucleus for their modern learning.
Here, between India and Egypt, lies buried beneath the sea
depths, the people who gave to the land of "Brahma" and the
land of " Ra " the clear light, wJMch. after a cataclysm had
changed the face of the world, .ind buried the fountains of science
and the home of learning, left traditions which were covered up
untler a mass of superstition and supernatural phantasnvi.

Egypt's first day was its brightest. People- cannot be great
and learned except after ages of working up. Where diil the
Egyptians study? They left not a single footprint showing they
ever struggled upward. Their first appearance was upon a pin-
nacle, from which every succeeding period shows them descending.
Not a single day of increasing light, not a moment of dawn.
Where diil they come from ? What became of the school in which
they learned the knowledge which afterward became the secrets
of the priestcraft, and enabled Moses to be the mighty la\\gi\'er?

I wonder if others feel as I do when finding themselves in
regions so mixed up with the misty past as the Red Sea. There
has always been a sort of vague idea that there would be some
things utterly different from things before seen. I look out upon
the blue waste of waters spread around me, just rippled b)- a light
wind, and ask myself, is it possible that there to my left lies
Africa, stretching in mighty hot wastes for thousands of miles, and
there to my right Arabia, the cradle of that strange people who
were never a nation, and yet have overrun so manj- lands and
have been tlie foundations of so many nations. I almost feel hurt
with myself that I do not see something to sliow that this sea is
different from other seas.

We have had warm weather — I may say hot — but as yet
nothing distressing until yesterday. After passing the Straits of
Bab-el-Mandcd we had a strong wind behind us. For a few hours
it was very hot, sultry, and humid, and felt as close as one expe-

THOUGHTS OX Till': RED SEA.

•87

•r

ricnccs in a hot room packed with people. I could almost fancy
Pharaoh's hosts were sweatinj^ and festering around me. Hefore
night the wind shifted, and the breeze caused by the motion of
the ship was pleasant. The Keil Sea has 'ost for me all its horrors.
Aden is a striking-looking place — bold, wikl, desolate rocks, from
which there will not be very unpleasant change when one takes
his trip into purgatory. A further shifting of the wind more
from the northward made the evening almost cool. Then
another turn, and we had a little attack never experienced else-
where. The air became hazy, and before sundown the haze
settled upon the ship like a dew — a salt dew, as salt as light sea
spray, lireathing was almost a labor. The bo.itswain saj-s he
never saw this thing e.\cept on the Red Sea, and there only rarely.
This queer weather ilid not prevent a ball coming off on Saturday
evening being a success. It was planned before tlie Ruiiw reached
Colombo, where the passengers |,'ot up their toilets. Altogether
it was a creditable thing and prepared the company for the rest
whicli Sunday, the 25th, made necessar}'. We have some good
musicians aboard, and nearly a hundred good voices mingled in
praise of God here on the Red Sea. Jew and Christian on this
sea could meet on a common ground, and the Mohammedan sail-
ors, who were playing cards under the windows of the reading-
room when the service was held, could too have joined in the
anthem. For Moses founded the law in the mountain whose
hoary head would be visible from where I write if the haze would
but pass away, the law which is the foundation rock of their
creeds. As the anthem swelled and rolled out over the waters, I
could not help asking myself if the Mighty Ruler of all would
utterly discard the " Allah il Allah " of the followers of Islam
uttered on Friday, their holy day, or of the Jews who bent in
solemn reverence on yesterday, their Sabbath, and would only
hearken to those who are worshipping to-day ? God is not only
a great God, but must be a good (iod. Has He written His laws
in such characters that these people, all of them earnest and sin-
cere, could honestly draw from them such different lessons and
be punished for all eternity because of such honest difference of
opinion? Or does not the Mighty One listen to the earnest
appeal of the Jew who prays to Him directly without the aid of
any mediators, and to the honest supplication of the Moham-
medan who asks the mediation of his prophet, or the Christian
who rests upon the promises of the Saviour?

When we reached Suez we found, much to our satisfaction, that
the company had made arrangements thereafter to land their pas-
sengers at Ismalia. This gave us an opportunity to pass through
hal' of the great canal, and thus to acquire an acquaintance with
Dc Lesseps' great triumph.

Mere reading cannot fully enable a man to comprehend the
vast benefits springing out of the Suez ditch. Rut when one sees
the mighty ships lying in Chinese and Indian harbors, and meets

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288

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

them on the Indian Ocean anci on the Red Sea by the dozen, then
the vakie of this j^rcat artery comes home td the understanding.
The Red Sea, only a few years ago, was aUtiost as httle known to
the world as the Arctic Ocean, but now its waters are ploughed
dail>- by sliips of all !:inds. Steamers of 6,500 tons are now ply.
iiig between London and Australia. We entered the mouth of
the canal at three o'clock, and met three large steamers just coming
out. anil before reaching Ismalia. less than 50 miles off. seven more.

Our forefathers turned their faces against public improvements
being done by government. Their policy grew out of State
jealou.sy. I'olititian.s — call them statesmen if you will — feared that
certain Stales would get UKirc tlian their share of public works,
and all dreading lest the buikling such works would tend to cen-
tralize power. ]5ut times change, and aggregated man called
nations, as well as individual men. change with them. Public
works, for the benefit of the whole nation C' immerciali\-. are as
much within the constitutional power of our nation .is .ire torti-
fic.'itions or armed ships for the protection of our seabo.ird.
The doctrine of strict construction is a good one, and was espe-
cially so when statesmen were lighting ag.ainst monarcliical ten-
dencies, but it has been tlie too fruitful source of a vast .inior.nt
of humbug and ignorant charlatani.sm.

(jovernment should h.i\e built j'ears ago a c.ina! between Luke
Michigan and the Mississippi, but our soiuns at VVas'.ington
said it was all within a single State, and tiicrefore not natiotuil.
That i> a n.itional woi-k wliich benefits the Americ.in people aaad
is kei)t within tiie nation's control, whether it be within oni- State
or w itlnn a do/en. \ railroad spanning the continent benefits
the wliole ])eople, liut when, it is controlled by a corporation it is
a private affair. The Portland Canal was only three miles long,
and all within one Kentuck)' count}-, but it was for the use of
tliose who used the iJ.ooo miles of navigable waters of the Mis-
sissippi, and w.is national. The test of nationality should be
whether it benefits the whole people or a few . .ind not whether
it be located in one .State or in many, and whether it be controlled
b)' a few or liy the people.

We gener.illy form our notions of an unseen thing by our
ideas of its importance. W. e were greatly surprisetl by the insig-
nificant appearance of the hue/. Canal. It h.ui the appearance of
a ditch, r.ither than a mighty arter>' for the world's tr.uU-. Our
gre.it ship almost filled it from side to side, and plougheil the
miul from its bottom with iu-r huge screws, and w.ished its
banks with her swell. Kven the wide sidings, where we hail
to await otlier ships on tneeting, were so narrow that the ves-
sels almost touched. The prism has greatly cl'.'tiged, and
dredging is constantly necessarw It was a ipien sight, the
trains of camels sijuattcd along the bank to be loadeii with the
silt taken from the bed, and then climbing the steep bank to
drop their .suuly loads on the desert at the side.

CHAPTRR XXVIII

AN .\ri<ii, iKii'ii- rmiNii i;— ni.i.Kurnri. ci.imatk— < aikd old

AMI NKW - AKAI'.Ii' lOM I!S— CODD-FKIDAV— l'.(J( )I.Ak MLSEl'M
— MUTllKK AND I5A15H 3,000 YEARS Ol.l).

Luxor {Thebes). Egypt, April ^, 1.S88.

TlIIKTV-SIX yciirs at;o, the latter part of March, I sailed from
Naples t(i Mi^ypt. Frieiuls tried to dissuade rnc from }^oin<r so
late in the season. They spoke of the plague and other Egyp.
tian dangers, ami bade nie adieu with moist eyes, and my good
mother, when she learned in our Kentucky home what I had
.ittenipted, prayed to Gixl to preserve her child, even as Me had
preserved His chosen children centuries before. I got thr<5ugh
Cairo then without any discomfort. This year I came again, simply
to look o:ice more at old Cheops, and to see the shadows of 40 cen-
turies clustering about his hoary brow, and to enable the boys to
get a peep at this storied land. We had no e.xpectation what-
ever 01 ascending the Nile, and learning from travellers whom
\,e n et at Ismalia on landing, that t!ie weather had been intensely
hot for some few daj's past ;it Cairo, we feared we would even
have to hurry awa\- from tliat city. They told us that the fleas,
flies, heat, and mosquitos were simply intolerable ; that everyone
was trj'ing to gel away. The wind, however, changed that very
day. We were really cold on the cars, at night, and on arriving
at Cairo found the hotels crowded, and Shepherd's hostelry had
the appearance of a gay watering-place.

Knowing I would have to see Karnak and Thebes now or
never, and trusting to m\- recollections of the khamscnc winds,
that a few days of hot blows were apt to be followed by a week
or two, and probably more, of cool breezes. I tletermined to nsk
a trip up the Nile to tin; I"'irst Cataract. Owing to the troubles
ill Xul)ia, tourists have generally stopped at that point throughout
this season. We founil that we could take rail to Assiout, and
thence on the Tost steamers, two a week, could go to Assouan,
taking forr days for the up trip, stopping at the different places
<if interest long enough to see them, and remaining at the last
place nearly two days; then, by quittin;^ the down boat at Lu.xor,
we would have four full days for the grandest of Egyptian ruins
before the ne.xt boat would descenil.

We have carried out s(j far the above programme. We have
had simply delicious weather, hot, it is true, at mid-day in the

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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sun, but with a steady breeze from the north all the time, and
the nights so cool that we have slept under blankets. We were
told the river was falling; so rapidly that we would most probably
have much time to study the formation of sandbars. We have
bumped a dozen times, but have not been at all delayed. We are
now told we were lucky. What is luck? She is the hand-maiden
of every man at one time or other, and in one form or another.
She is ever by one's side, ready to give help. The blind do not
sec her, the timid or irresolute decline to take her outstretched
hand. The unlucky man is the man who neglects to strike when
the iron is hot. The luck\' man is the one who takes advantage
of proffered fortune. Circumstances, it is to be confessed, throw
more of such proffers in the way of one than another, liut if
one will follow the footprints of the lucky men ot the world,
one will find at the points, where chese seized fortune at the
flood, tracks of many faltering and hesitating ones near by, any
one of whom had within reach the same opportunities as the
fortunate ones had.

I am writing at "Cook's Luxor Hotel," as good a house as we
could wish. A large rambling building in a fine garden running
down to the river. It is embowered in noble palms and flow-
ering trees and shrubs, and would be a charming retreat any-
where, but here, contrasted with the hot mud-hovels which make
up an Egyptian village, with the burning san^is and sterile moun-
tains close by, it is simply delightful. We are the only f)ccupants ;
have the whole house, do what we please, and shall leave it with
regret. Invalids in search of health couKl spend a month or two
here, not only delightfully, but in this wondrous dry ?tmo=phere
most advantageously in many classes of complaint ^. I need
state only three facfs to show the rapidity of evaporation in
Upper Egypt. Water, too warm to drink, is put into a porous
jar and placed in the wind, though in the sun ; an hour after it
is as cool as fair spring water. At night, exposed to x breeze,
even wnen the breeze is rather warm, before morning it becomes
almost ice-cold. The night of our arrival here I took a pouring
bath on a balcony. The wind was balmy but '^resh. The rapid
evaporation so chilled me that I couUl not stay long enougli for
a good bath. At the foot of the cataract we took a swim in the
Nile. We wore our underclothes for bathing-suits. We hung
them up before our state-rooms, and in ten minutes they were
dry enough to be worn. We have all heard of the habit of all
Africans tc anoint themselves with oil, and travellers speak of it
us nasty. It is, however, necessary in very hot ami very dry
climates to prevent the cracking of the skin. An English officer
told mc that during the hot winds on the upper Nile his hands
and face chapped worse than they ever did in a cold climate —
chapped to bleeding badly. I have found fresh white butter
quite as pleasant on my hands as on my toast.

EGYPTIAX I- LIES.

291

At Assouan \vc wlm'c in the sun during two days. We did not
use our umbrellas, our pith hats being quite comfortable, and yet
we were just on the edge of the tropics. It has been rather too
chilly to lie down on the top of our little steamer for any consid-
erable time at night. We have had no mosquito curtains, antl
have needed none, the breeze on the water making them unneces-
sary. It takes a hartl blow, however, to keej) flies .iway. The
pertinacity of an Egyptian fly is beyond that of any other living
creature. The natives never brush them away. They deem it
bad luck to do so. Flies are never driven from a baby's face, and
it docs not seemannoyeil by them. Its face i.-, rarel)' washed, and
is so dirty that it affords admirable forage ground for hundreds (jf
the little brutes. I watched a chiUl of two and a half years old

eniovint

a crust of bread. There was about it a swa

rm o

flics, and I do not exaggerate when I sa}' do/ens were on its
face .it one time, and in patches as large as a half dollar about
the eyes and mouth. It would screw up its eyes when they
thnatened to go in. I thought some must have gone into its

niou

th with the bread. It die

not

jui at a!

anno\-t_'(i

have seen sleeping children on the streets whose f.ices were al-

most black with the insect^

ie\' smiled a

if am

:cls were

whispering in their e.irs. I have seen men talking i)le.isantl\- to-
getlu while a dozen flies would be promenading about their
faces apparent')" unnoticed. I asked a man how he could stand
it. " Mashallah I They don't bother me." was his reply. This
h.is made the fl}- bold, and he seems utterly unable to understand
what a foreigner means when he tries to drive him off. He has,
too. remarkably prehensile claws, and keeps tlum keen and sharp
when taking constitutional walks over I'".uropt'an countenance^^.
It was prob.d)ly the knowledge of this qualitv which made these
people pronounce it bad luck to drive them away. They found
it best to educate the masses to bear the infliction, anti so get used
to it.

earlv .1

11 th

e reliirious

ind

semi-religious prohibitions ami

sages of the i)eoples of the worlil prob.ibly had their origin in
atcrial benefit. The cow was hard to rear in India. She

some m
was mos

it necessarj' — so the wise priesthood made her sacred,
id thus preservetl her. Hog's flesh was subject to disea^^es in
Egypt and .Syria, so the hog was made religiously unclean, and be-
came infested with devils. Tigeons and cert.iin other birds fur-
nish the best of manure. >o they were maile semi-sacred to insvire
them in great numliers. Uncleaiiliness breetls disease, so the
priestcraft pronounceil certain rivers and pools cleansing to the
soul, and thus insured at least a cleansiii" of the bodv. Taxes

Kxioi

Ten.

(lift^

- J ., „. ^ -,. the gods to insure eter-
nal welfare, however, were ever freely given. .So priestly rulers
kejit their exchequers full through the offerings upon the altars,
which were insured by the fears of unseen and unknowable dangers.

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292

J RACK ii/j'jj Tin- srx

Moses would liavc had a hard time making both ends meet with-
out tlie f^ifts to the Lord. Travellers are siiocked by the inces-
sant demand for backshish (gifts) throu_L;hout the miijhty Kast.
The thing is not to be wondered at. for of all the beggars the
world ever knew, there are none equal to the gods of the Orient.
Their hands are everywhere represented extended. Their favor
was won b)- offerings; their anger averted by sacrifices. Like the
proboscis of a celebrated elephant, their hands could pick up a
pin, or carry off a cart-load of good things. The)- could make a
lunch from a few grains of rice, the widow's mite, or the)' could
dexour a hecatomb of bullocks, the gifts of a prince. The gods
took gifts and tlemanilod them. The great ami powerful, pnitit-
ing b)- their exai.\ple, took gifts and enforced the giving. Th.e
poor took gifts ajul begged for them. The \\'_il-tc-do, in the
whole region of the "arly sun, reach out th'j iiantl fnr commis-
sions. The poor clamor like luingr)' curs for crumljs and bones,
and are not ashameii of their clamor.

I fear what I have said about Up[)er Lg)'pt looks ton much as
if I was seeing it through rose-coloretl gl.isses. When H.ix-ard
Ta\lor and I aaveH._d in the East togetiur I suffereil terribly
from fleas. The onl)" ])un 1 remember him to have made was
anent this little torment. lie said Homer wrote tlie " Iliad,"
Virgil the " .l-lueid " ; that if ever I wrote an epic it w <iulil be the
" Flead." I hail hoped that n(,)w we were about to esc.ipe this
Egyptian plague, but after lunching in one of the tombs of the
kings we lay down for a n.ip on the s.uids; m\' doiikex'-bo)-, dr-
siring to please the o/ti man. whom he tl.itters by calling him
" father," spread the blanket and s.uldle for me to ha\ e a nice
siesta. Ah I moment of sad forgetfulness. I slept an hour, but
the Nemesis came. This particular tomb is now calleil the
"lunch tomb." Hundreds have lunched in it this se.isou, and
though it is where no living thing is seen, anil .^jparently nothing
can live, yet the sanded floor was full of ni)- mortal enemies,
brought t(j it bx the man\' donke)'-bo\s who in its shade rest
while their empio\'ers ,ire wandering among the mighty caves of
the dead. I have passed a good part of my time since then, .is
a hen with one chick does in an empt)' chicken-yard — scratching.
I am like certain officials not far from the olil court-house in
Chicago — only more so. They have itching palu's. I am .ill
palm. I itch ;ill over, aiul am raw in big patches.

This is Suiulay, the 15th. I will resume my writing. We ,ire
in Cairo; jrot back Thursday night, having been just two weeks
going over the ground, which in olden time was done on a
"dahabeyah " (sailing-boat) in from seven to ten weeks. We liavc
not had the easy, restful li.e — a .sort of (h)/cf far nii>'tc — <.'iijoyed
b)'the old dahabeyah vo)ageurs, but we have seen nearly all they
saw, and have .seen some things better tiian they coukl. We
made 230 miles by rail, passing amon;^ the farms, observing the

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TIIK DO X KEY AXD II IS MASTER.

293

modes of farm life, ami have p.isscil throiic^h tlic scene twice.
From the roof of our little steamboat we could look over tliehigh
banks better than from a low sail-boat, and have, therefore, seen
the shore lands better. We ha\e seen the miLjhty ruins ; have
seen them hastily, it is true, but in these days of Ks^'pytoloj^y it
is waste of time for each traveller to attempt to study tlic ruins in
situ. He can see t!u-m. and then read them up intelligently
afterward if his taste leaii him to it. We have seen all of these
things; have seen the vdley of the Nile from Cairo to I'hilae
above the First Cataract, 588 miles, and are still haviiii,' pleasant
weather; indeed, to-day it is rather too cool to <;o out without
one's vest. And now I sh.dl attempt to tell you somewhat of
our trip, bepfinnin;^ at Ismalia, on Lake Timsali, (jn the .Sue/,
Canal, and thence 80 odd miles to Cairo. We made this bynif,dit
and early mornin;^'. The moon bein;^^ full, we saw almost as well
in the clear nii,dit as liy I'ay. The first JO miles was almost desert,
but soon the country sh<)\>ed mon^ of life, anil at early daybreak
we were lookin;^ over fields green ii; wheat and other crops; and
beautiful fields they were. The wheat, as in all Lower Rj^xpt, had
a fine stand, the Ljround well covered, but with heads lU't t)ver an
inch and a half in length. The fjirmers wore out with the light,
much of the labor being done in the cool of the morning. NUn
were lifting water by the " shadoof" — the jjole and bucket ami
by the "sakeeyeh. " Tiiis latter is a vertical wh.eel, with buckets
attached to a long, endless rope, which goes ilown into the well,
and is worked by an ox or camel, who turns a liorizontal wheel
geared into tlu: verticil wheil. It is here aiul there seen in Lower
l-k'yp'- ^^^ ^''i^"-' hi'iiie. however, is in the upi)er land. It Is
never greaseil, and can be heard for a mile wheezing antl groaning.
Upon its moilel, some think, the music of the Egyptians is
founded. In sonu- localitii-s these wheels go da)' and night, \'ear
in and year out, the men .iiul bi'.ists working 1)\- relavs, and when
heanl from a fied-up bo.it in the small hours of the night sounds
very melancholy. Men \\ere seiii mounted upon donkeys, them-
selves or the loads on which thi'y roiie iie.irK' coxering the patient
little brutes.

There are few ro.uls in this laiul. and the paths followed in the
fields are freciuentlj- the little dikes between fields. On these
narrow tri'ails tlie ch^ikcy was jiacing along, his rider's feet
dangling down .almost to the grounil. l'"ew things strike the
western man as being more
solemn-looking, turb.med man. in loiu
u

droll on his arrival here than a
flowiuij "■arnunts, mounted

poll a little donkey three feet high. They look solemn alike,
and so dove-tailed together that one soon comes to feel they were
fashioned on the .same day, the one for the other. They are

wonder

full)

intimate

and seem to understand each ;'^h

per-

fectly. The native ICgypti.ins are nither cowartil}'. The)- ([uarrel
and vociferate fearfully, but one never sees a gooil bloody nose

894

A R4CE WITH THE SUN.

y^l

\ I

growings out of any squabble. But woid-fit^hting does not satisfy
the human heart. Here tlie donkey comes into full play. He
has a part of his anatomy always convenient iox his master to
empty his wrath ujion, and when a wordy war ends the solemn
brute takes the cudgel as his part of the fray. Like a boy, he has
a feature made for the rod, and fiiulinj^ his master ans^ry, at once
turns this part to the stroke.

On arriving at Cairo we d -ove at once to Shepherd's hotel.
I thought it the same I had stayed in thirtj-six years ago. I had
this idea from persons telling me it was the only hotel here at
that time. The name, however, did not sound familiar. The
landlord, to whom I mentioned my desire to sta)' in the same
house, and that his did not look right to me, explained that many
changes had been made. After breakfast we sallied out. There
was around me a beautiful city — tall houses and witle streets,
beautiful gardens and squares, flowers and trees, victorias antl
landaus. Nothing seemed familiar until we were besieged by a
lot of donkey-boys. I almost fancied I saw the same little animal
which long ago carried me so bravely over the hot sand-; to the
pyramids ; I went up to him anil called him " .Saladin," and ca-
ressed his ears. He did not smile nor look particularly pleased,
but he did not resent my familiarity. We proposed a ride, anti
when I said I would ride " Saladin," his owner said that was not
his name, but " Mary Anderson " was. I insisted that Ik was
wrong, that I had ridden that donkcj' before he (the boy) was
born, a)-e, when his father was a boy. I asked him if his father
was not named " Mohammed." He said : " Oh, effendi, )i)u are
right I " 1 asked if his father was not, when young, a donkey-
boy ; " In shallah I he was." I then asked if that particular don-
key had not belonged to his father, ami if he was not 40 years
old. He admitted he was. I am glad I ilid not fix the brute's
age at 4,ocK) years, for that boy would have agreed with any thing
I said. He was fascinated. When I got up he grinned to an-
other boy, and, pointing at me, touched his head to indicate 1
was daft. I was in the Cairo of old on that donkey's back, but
that was all that made it familiar.

We rode through the bazaars, narrow little streets nearly covered
overhead, with turbancd merchants sitting in their little stores
surrounded by their wealth. We passed a funeral procession — a
couple of doxcn women howling their wail for the dead ; we met
a marriage procession, with a closed palanquin on two long poles
borne by two camels, one before and one behind, followed by
gay people singing in joy, and with drums beating like mad. We
stopped to see the two processions meet. The drums of the one
beat and the gay ones laughed anci sang, while the mourners of
the others shrieked their sorrow. Both were .shams, mere forms.
There was no real joy in the one nor grief in the other. Hoth
were mere jiageants, and the actors were paid for the parts they

THE PYRAMIDS AND AX OLD MEMORY

295

II'

k'lS

played. I do not know that we should be shocked at such things.
I have seen the same in lands claimin}^ a higher civilization. The
performers there, however, were paying a debt to fashion and
form, here they were earning bread.

We rode out toward the tombs of tiie Mamelukes, passing
through narrow lanes with long rows of nearly dead walls, doors
now and then cutting through them. Men. women, and children
were squatting up against the walls festering in the sun. Flies
were swarming about them, and gathered in knots around the
children's eyes, and all, old and young, held out their hands and
asked for " backshish." This was the Cairo of 1852. But, then,
there was one thing lacking — our little steeds were not compelled
to pick their way among sleeping pariah dogs, and there were no
troops of them about the tombs. The foreigners have done at
least this good by their " occuijation." They liave had nearly all
of these brutes killed off, and the streets are cleaned by regular
scavengers. There are 30,000 foreigners in Cairo, and it is really
governed by the English. Tiie English dread cholera, and have
made this cit\', with its 500,000 Asiatics and Africans, nearly as
clean as any European capital.

We drove in the afternoon to the pyramids in a victoria, over
a beautiful road shaded by a double line of fine trees. Old Cheops
did not look natural. He seemed small from this avenue of civi-
lization. Years ago I waded to him through deep sands. The
hot sun burned into my brain, and I wore a green veil to protect
my eyes from the glare and the driving sands. Now green fields
run nearly up to Geezah. Said ami Ismail Pashas have left
Kgypt covered witli debt, but they did much to improve the
material of the land. As we drove up, the two pyramids lacketl
hugeness, but before I reached the top of Cheops, though with
two stalwart Arabs to lift me up t^.e rocky steeps, I reached the
conclusion that they were mighty mountains of stone, and that
over 210 pounds of solid flesh were a heavy load to carry up to
the summit where 40 odd centuries sit enthroned. I looked in
vain for two sets of initials coupled in brackets, which I cut in
the cold stone 36 years ago. They are lost among masses of
others. It is well. She is fat, and nearly 60 ; I am fat, and over
60. One flame burned out another's burning. She did not even
wait to learn from me if I fulfilled my promise to grave our names
upon the pyramid's highest stone. I wonder if, in these 36 years,
she has ever thought of that promise made under the softest of
skies, and whicli one of us thought could never be forgotten ?
What a boon it is to man that his heart is made of malleable
material rather than of adamantine and brittle steel !

Wy the way, sensible men justly iuv'eigh the habit of
" vanity " in carving its name upon monuments and thereby
defacing them. But there is sense in cutting one's name upon
imperishable rock without defacing it. Some may come after-

■M

i li

396

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

K"i i'

lis, '/

\\ -\ ■ I

ward, and, seeing it, feci as if meeting an old friend. My heart
was warmed up here in Egypt when seeing the names of some
old acquaintance now dead. I felt we were living over again a
half-forgotten past. I saw " Jenny Lind's " name upon the pyra-
mid. Did she have it cut, or did some of her lovers do it ? I do
not know. But for a moment there came from the West, over the
dead desert, a trill of perfected harmony which I never heard but
once, and will never hear again until an angel song shall come to
my ear from white-robed ones hovering around tht; throne of the
Eternal. I can almost fancy that Bayard Taylor had the name
cut. I have a vague recollection of his telling me of it. He
almost worshipped the Swedish Nightingale.

We watched the sun sink beneath the western sands on his tire-
less voyage around the world. We were glad our path did not
carry us across those bleak sands. We have not abandoned our
race, but we have mucli to see before we can gird our loins for the
home-stretch. My old legs enabled me to descend Cheops' ribbed
sides quite rapidly, so as to look upon the .Sphin.x as the shades of
evening should gather around it. I wished the boys to sec it first
when the broad glare of day should not too much reveal its de-
facement. A garrulous fellah said his name was " Mark Twain,"
and that for a shilling he would mount and descend oUI Cheops in
eight minutes. With watch in hand I promised the shilling.
How he did climb I How his nimble, half-naked legs did spring
up the huge steps ! He gained his shilling, and had a half minute
to spare.

We loitered about until the full moon came up from the cast.
One should see the woman-faced monument first by moonlight.
Then there is one point from which it can be seen, when it is not
all fancy and sentiment which can pronounce it the calmest and
most dignified monument of the world. We were fortunate in
being here during the full moon. There is a quiet grandeur, too,
about the pyramids by moonlight which one cannot conceive who
sees them only in the broad glare of sunlight. We walked around
them so as to see them in deep shade, and then again in silvery
light. I think the boys will remember it as long as they live.
The ne.\t day we visited the citadel and the gorgeous mosque of
Mehemet Ali. It is the resting-place of a great man. He was
one of the men of the century. The exquisite alabaster walls and
pillars, with the pure grain and forms of the translucent stone fad-
ing and dimming into opaque marble, well befit the tomb of a man
whose clear and transparent intellect faded and clouded before he
died. Near by we visited the Arabic cemetery and the tombs of
the khedives. The ne.xt day was to be Good-Friday— one of the
Moslem's holiest days. Thousands wended their way to the tombs
to spend the night among their loved dead ; the rich in carriages,
with servants bearing their food and gifts for the destitute, — the
poor on carts, on donkeys, or a-foot, with their loads on their heads.

i^--..-_.

1-1

\ '

RAMESSES it., NINETEENTH DYNASTY, KNOWN AS .SESOSTRIS.

:>M?

■I' I

■s/ j

::M

1. 1

: !

Tfiirarj

)' h

BOOL K MUSEUM. A Af OTHER AND BABE. 297

An Arabian tomb is a sort of house, more or less luxurious, ac-
cording to the family means. There apj halls and rooms, or open
courts. Mourners spend the night and part of Good-1'Viday in
religious exercises, and distribute gifts and food to the poor and
destitute. Many a lean devil gets then the iily scjiiare meal of
his year. It was a queer sight, — the moth } crowd. There were
rich ladies veiled, showing onh* their tlark eyes and a little white
complexion — others veiled, too, but revt ding the glimpse ot a
face of almost ebon blackness. There were poor women with
faces only half covereil, ami fellaheen women with uncovered
countenances. There were rich men preceded by out-runners,
and poor men on donkeys and afoot. The alleys through the
tombs are only a few feet wide. This niotlev crowil met and jos-
tled against each other, all intent upon their pious duties. The
old Coptic cluirch, with subterranean chapel of Lady Mary, inolil
Cairo, aroused in oiir hearts sentiments which our doubts as to the
truth of its tradition could not efface. Here for centuries tlic
Copts have knelt in holy fervor, for in the two niches in the chajiel
wall they beliive the Virgin Marj' and her i hild with Joseph
rested after the (ligiit to Egypt. There may Ik , and i)robably is,
no real found.ition for the legend. lUit the belief am' scniiment
of centuries lia\e consecrated the place. To have sat upon one
of these marble slabs wt)ulil have seemed to me a desecration.

On our return drive, through an open square abutting upon the
Esbekeeyeli garden, I casually glanced at the Hotel d' Orient.
" Eureka I " I cried ; " there i-^ my oKl hotel of 185J." I felt cer-
tain of the recognition. I alighted, and was told that, though
much enlarged, a part of the house is the same it was nearly 40
years ago. I resolved to rest .it it on our return from up the Nile.
And now I am writing, I tlinik. in one of three rooms in which
Bayard Taylor and I first met. It may be fancy, but there
is pleasure in the thought. We find tile (Oriental .1 much bet-
ter house than Sliepiurd's ; charges reasonable, ami no disposi-
tion to stick the traveller for every crust taken extra. The rooms
arc good, and the attendance' polite, and the table satisfactory.
l''ashion has made " .Shepherd's " extortionate and presumptuous.
We had there poor rooms aiul nasty smells and an impolite clerk.
I commeml to .Americans the old Orient. It is charmingly
situated.

Since our return we have been busy seeing things. We spent
a day in the Boolak Museum most advantageously. In it the
.student could profitably spend weeks. We saw the mummies of
mighty monarchs who ruled nearly 4,000 years ago, and monu-
ments of others who have been dead 5,000 years. One ciueen.
who died over 3,000 years ago, was covered with garlands of
flowers, some of which were enough preserved to show their
petals anil to enable us to recognize the flower. In one bo.x was
a ciuecn and her little babe. They have not been unrolled from

■*y\

f. ^

398

^/ /fAC/; WITH TJIE Sl'N.

tliL- liiK-n in whicli tlicy were wrapped over 3,000 years afjo. I al-
most lioped that it was a sense of propriet)' whicli had saved the
mother and child from the desecration of such exposure to the
^aze of the curious. 1 wondereil if she had liveil to look upon her
little one. If her maternal heart had heard that sweetest of all
sounds to a woman's ear — her babe's first faint cry. Had it been
laiil upon her warm breast ? Had she felt its tiny hands upon her
clii'ek or dimpling' her soft bosom? Mad she uttered that softest
and ^^Mitlest of all expressions — those two little words which con-
vey a world of j-earnin^ and of love whc 1 a mother first says to
her newly-born — " My baby I " The linen enfoldinj^ her was
clean and almost white. Her baby lay upon her feet. I'or 3,0x1
years mother and child have thus resteti. Are the woman ami
child yet mother and babe in the far-off spirit land? There
is another mother and babe in a distant ^rave — mother antl babe
becoming,' one in dust, as they were one before it was born. If
human hands could but lift the veil which hides the inscrutable !
If human eyes could but pierce llie measures of the unfathomable !
If human ears could but catch the tones uttered beyond illimitable
space ! Oh, if these thint,'s could but happen, what joy might sink
into the soul of the liviny.

'(!, ./;

ll.

lie
lie

ItT

llll

Ist

111-

CHAl'TEK XXIX.

Till, Ml.i;— ol.I) AM) NKW KGVI' l— KOVl'lTAN MOUSKS— IIIK

I'l.dKDIMi DoNKF.V— KOKIilDDKN l-Uf II'— i:i ;VI' 11 AN

I'AU.MS— IIKADKKS lUoM AN As>,

Cairo, Kf^ypt, April i6, 1888.

On the 30tliof Marcli we tot^k tlie train fur Assyout. 250 miles
up the Nile, but only 200 by rail. The valley of the Nile, after
(luittin^ the delta, is rarely over tin miles wide, aiul is frequentl)'
much narrower. It is a depression in the mijjhty desert, wliicli
stretches from the Red Sea to the Atlantic, a distance (jf over
3,CKXD miles. Probably in some mi^dity cataci)'sm attendini^^ the
ciiolin;^ of tile eartii's crust this j,freat valley, i,,Soo miles Ioul,',
dropped down, leaving tiie desert above on either siile. The
vallej' at the " i'^ayoom," some 50 miles above Cairo, widens to
15 and 40 miles, and spreads out in a ^reat triangle at the delta,
with a wide plat of cultivable lands 80 or more miles across at
the widest j)oint from east "^o west. The entire area of culti-
vable fields of this wonderfu. countr)' is only S.ooo sijuare miles,
or about one seventh of the State of Illinois. This small tract
has been called the j^jranary of the worki. A part of the valley
fjrows one ^ood crop from the moisture left by the inundation,
which begins in July and ends in October; otlier jjarts which can
grow nothing without irrigation in Lower Kgyi)t, grow three,
and in Upper Kgypt, two crops a year. A great part of the
inundated lands is sown immediately after the Nile's retirement,
and then, after being harvested, a second crop is put in and
ri])ened before the next. The river, when within its banks, is
called the Low, or Little Nile ; when full it is " Tlu- Nile." Large
canals debouch into it freciueiitly, and carry its waters far back.
One of these begins at Assyout, and extends, with another name,
nearly 300 miles northward, with a lateral branch some 30 miles,
into the l"'ayoom. Another runs from Cairo to Ismalia and on
to .Suez. These are all in parts navigable, but were built and
.ire used principally for irrigating purposes. The main ones are
full at all times. The others are perfectly dry except during
high Nile. From the river, from the canals, and from wells,
water for irrigation is taken. One feature of the country is that
water is found everywhere in wells at a depth of but a little,
if at all, lower than the surface of the river. The " shadoof " is

899

'••1

\4\

\^tf\

300

.•/ RACl Wrril T /-/.■■ SUuV.

-iil

the old-fashioiicd ;)i)lc with .i weight at tlic lar^c oiul ; j^cncr.illy
tliis wci^'ht is a mass of hard chiy. Tlic pole is a short one, iiftiiii;
ciplit to twelve feet. As the river falls an additional shailoof is
put in, then another. At tiiis season, on the the Upjxr Nile,
there are thrte or lOnr icts. Tiie first one isworkt'd !)}• oiu' man,
lifting the water in .i cl<>s»-ly-woven wicker or skin basket, four to
six feet, into .i tr-'nch. This runs along or inti> the bank tn the
next shadoof, coiuinoni>' worked by two men with a i).iir of
poles, lifting eiglU ^r ten leet, and so on till the level of the l.md
is reached. Then the Irrnches leail back as far .is re(|uired —
sometimes a mile or more. The " sakeeyeii " m. ikes the lift at
once, the emlless rope witii buckets attached (described in my
last) being lengthened a> tiie w.iter falls. 1 have seen a wheel
in I'pper Mg.vpt lifting fiilU' 50 feet. The tl^w into the wells is
hirge. 1 saw one ten feet in diameter, from which water was
being lifteil b\- two large wheels .it once, without lowering tin-
well surface, in Lower Kgypt, j)articularly throughout thetlelta,
tlic level of the land is but little above the river, and there tiie
^IBtloof is rarel\- seen worked in sets, .and the wlieeU have fre-
(jutrnlly the buckets attached to, or directly in. the rims of the
wkiH.I. The de])ression of tht valley of the Nile i -.ives a line
•rf mils or low mountaans, running in a more or less broken

on either side of the -ivi r, now (|uite close on oik side,
or eii;ht miles biick or th" other. Then, again, the liver

•nearh' e(|u.ill\' dist.int lom the two r.inges. The stie.im
sktft!- rts lieil more or U>s fri>ni year to j'l'ar, and in the cour-^c
of .::nntiiries eh.inges from niie.ir the hill> on one side to those
<m rill- otlier. Cities, or r.rcher ruins of cities, known in .mcient
*•-"• •<> have bieii on the river, are now miles back, and the
into the banks 1)\- tii^ -ne.im reveals ft mndations of other
utu.-. ong fjuried. .uid fretiuc-ntiy etitirel)' forgotten.

Tu ]\\\\-. ir rather the ilesert cliffs, v.iry in height, hdm Jcxi
«r r?. Lower Kgrpt. to (100 or 8cx) in I'pper. I thought

■ iwixe. a lucb an- rather bt>kl mountains, were over 1,000 feet
1^^ The-'*t are all absolutely barren and desolate rocky b.ir-
rirrs,. nnw swiping tow;inls the valley in steej) inelines, then in
whi'ii|tTl fTo\Tmng jirecipices. In the latter, however, the f.dling
Ab11i^. throiiiii'n the ages, have left sloping inclines of pure s.iiu',
more or le!r- iiigii up from the level laiiil. The rocks comi)(>';
ing these meimtains or hills are, for over 300 (perhajjs 400) miles
above Cairo, i species of limestone, containing pebbles and cob-
bles of roun'ceil flintstoiie ; then on to the l'"irst Catar.ict they
are mostly a gra_\- or yelIf)W-gray sandstone ; .it Assouan. .1 red
granite or syenite. (This name originates in tlu' .mcient city ot
.Syene. built .ibout the l""irst C.it.iract.) This >toiu has there burst
through the -.nidstone overhing. Looking from the v.illeys, oiu-
woulil think tlu- inouiuains were in a succession of ranges, one
behind tht .>ther, whereas in f.ict the desert runs back, rather mi

•muTT**-^

THE OLD AM) THE A Jill //JJ-:.\ 7VC.I/..

301

is
c,

to
Ic
-f

a level witli wliat appears t<» be tlie top of tlic r.m^c — runs back,
not as a flat of tablr-laiul, but iine\'enl} uiuiulatinj,'. a/ul fre-
(juently quite broken. I-rom what 1 saw from the tops of the
iioi'fjilits we climbed, ami what I ct)iikl ^'athcr from otliers. there
is very little of the desert which approaches .1 flat table-land. It
is all in hollows and hillocks, .iiul rolls often <|iiite ru^jjedly. It
was news to me, and ])ri)babiy will be to otliLr>, that the oasis
of the deserts are depressions, as is the Nile X'alley^ — ilepressions
ill some cases, probabl)' in all, eviMi to a lower level tlhui tiiat of
the Nile \'alle\'. In some ■ I ihem, when a well is du<,', tiie water
bubbles up and runs over tlii: brim, Jiivinjj irrij^ation without a
lift. Whence is the source of these sjirini^'s in the desj-rt ? I
find there are occasional rains in those part-- whicii m.ir^in the
valley, ami some of them ipiite heavy, for they leave lieep
water-worn marks in the torreiit-beils running; down the ^''^l-ies.
1 suspect the rains extend over a l.u-.je p.irt of the Sahar.i .md
.\r,djian deserts. The)' sink into the s.mds, .md enouj^li remain
unev.iporated below for the suppl)' of the few springs e.\i:itin^,
and for the wells aloni; the Nile X'alley. These wells, by tiie
way, lie priiici|)ally back from the river .iiul ne.ir th ■• hills.

( )ur run In- r.iil to Ass\ out and b.ick i,'ave us .i fine opportunity
for secinjj many farming operations wliich river travel does not
afford, and our subse(]ucnt examiiiatirjus of the picture -c.irvin^
upon the walls of the tombs .it Luxor .uid otiier j)Iace- showecl
U'' how little of change in the domestic and economic life of the
l)eople. thousands of )'ears have l)rou;^dit. The >aiiie wooden
l)low, with its siiij^le handle, its simple share, and its manner of
att.ichnu'iit to the o\ by ,1 strai^dit \>>ke uitlK>ut bow<, is seen in
tile SI ulplui'ed clumbers of tin- dead of 30 odd centuries ajio.and

III
the

the I

leld

of the I'ellaheen to-(la\'. The working Arab, intieed

le counti)' .111(1 \ilia;^re ptas,intr\

lUS,

in coiitiMdislinctioii to the

- lalletl •• l-'ellaheeii," or
IJedaween." or wanderiiiLT

Aiab>, of the desert. The s.mn- iiitim.icy exists between the
pe.isantr\" and theilomestic .minials ■!> >een in the painted relievos
on the tomb of the priest .it .S.ikkara. .is in the city .md villa;;e **{
to-d.iy. A man ilrives his <;eese alon;^ the jiictured limestone
rock in a ileep cave, whose existence was liiddeii by VOOO ye.u-. of
accumulated s.iiul. A 111. iii in llowinj; robe .md Heavy turban

ri\is tlirou'di Cairo

streets a tlock whicli mi''lit havt sat as

models bi-fore the ;Tcist who died before Moses ])Iaye<i liis ^ame
of hide and seek in the bulhushes. The fell.ih ilij^s up the sand
for his melon-liilt with .1 short wooden hoe. which cm be dupli-
cated in the iiool.ik .Museum from .1 lot <»f implement-, du^^ iij) by
Mariette with its owner, whose mummy commenced ^'.irdening
before Joshua blew down Jericlio's wall witli the bass note of a

ram s horn.

woman ^race

fullv

carries.

poi

se<l on her head, an

earthen jar. lioldiii|.; fi\e or six ^.illoiis of water, ju-t .is her ^^rand-
niother of the hundred and ei^,'htieth generation is seen doiny; in a

■d

M :■■,

t. r

303

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

lit

nil

i!^

tomb chiselled by vanity in the rock noi lon;^ iiftcr the flood. A
brickmaker molds his brick in a sinyle mold, which he places on
the smooth {ground, then works up his mud with his hand,
sprinkles a little water over the dou^jh, and cl.ips it tlowii into the
mold, lifts the mold up, ami so proceeds to make others until In's
row is finished. He is squattinj;; on his hauiiches while he works,
and the bricks are then left to dry. and are built unburned into
tin wall ; ami if a lar^e brick be needed, he mi.xes straw with the
mud, doini; it all in the self-same manner shown in the tombs to
have been followed by that son of Israel whose idleness brought
on the blow from his master, which aroused Moses' Irish, and
caused I'.im to do the smiti'i;^ which made him escape a thnishiuL;
by tl'.e flight into the wilderness. The result — the theology whicli
ha«". regenerated the western world. The farm laborer squats,
now, as in the dead past, down on the ground to reap the ri])e
wheat with .1 su kle not eight inches long, g.tthering it to him by
the handful. I'ull-robcil Hoaz is seen standing about in patri-
archal ilignity, while his labo'-ers work, and Ruth gleans a few
fallen heatis. Ruth, however, now rarely finds favor in Uoaz's
sight, for, un'').-' Iier predecessor, she is not comely. All the
comely Rutiis are picked \.\\) when they are 10 to \2 years old.
The harvested grain is carrietl to the threshing-ground on camels,
oxen, and donkeys, ,ind there it is threshed out by o.xen drawing
.1 sort of slid with a roller betwei.n the runners. I'his w.is. .iiul is,
drawn rounil and round, threshing out the kernel and breaking
the straw. The chaff is winnoweil out b>' throwing it up to be
blown away by the breeze. Tlu- broken straw is then piled up
about tlu' \illage until it is eaten by the cattle. There is no r.iin
to hurt it, though it lies in an uncovered pile for months. Tliree-
thousand-year-old I\g\i)tians are doing the self-same things on the
walls of the scul])tured tombs. A large niMiiber of tlic liired
laborers carry home on their heads, or their wives do, a certain
number of sheaves, the wages for the day's work. This they
thresh out carefully, and store it away in earthen jars. I'-ach
hoi:sehold grinds its own corn or wheat on two millstones — tiie
under one about two feet across, the upper three or four inches
less. A woman squats by these, turns the u])per on the lower one,
and feeds them b_\' dropping a small h.mtlful of grain into a hole nn-
tiing through the u]iper stone. .She does this to-day itreciselj'.i-^ the
contemporar_\' of I'h.iroah's daughter is seen iloing it on pictured
tomb walls. The flour or meal ]iassesout upon the margin of the
lower stone, and is raked off with the hand. This is baked into
thiti cakes of unleavened bread. .Sculptureil or |)ainteil ])iclures
in a tomb at Assouan, lately opened, showed all of these things
were done in selfsame manner 3.400. and over, years ago. The
oven in which the baking is done is heated by burning buffalo-
chips and cow-co.d. < )ne c.in occasionally see shreds of the coal
sticking into the underside of the cake. That happens when the

-^gUmass.-^

A
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Hi.

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THE EGYPTIAN HOUSE.

303

cow failed to sufficiently masticate her fodder. It does not hurt
the bread, for fire is a purifier.

The people all live in villages. These arc on eminences of
a few feet, made by the debris of towns .vliich have melted
down. For countless aj^cs unburnt brick lui-; been used. Asa
house tumjales it raises a foundation for the succceihni; house.
Nothing can be .'tiorc unattractive than an Egyptian village— a
mass of mud wal's on narrow in-and-out, crooked alley-.. A space
of 60 feet square is surrounded by a wall eight to ten feet high.
Cross-walls are built within, dividing the square ii to three, finir,
or more compartments, with doorwaj's opening one into another.
One or tv.-o of these comprise wh.at may he called a house. Some
of these compartments arc covered over with long millet or iloura
straw, laid loosely-- not laid to keep out lain, but for shade. In
the other compartments the cattle are housed or cv)rralled, and
the little worldly wealth consisting of a few farm ininlements and
large earthen jar:-, for holding grain, are stored. An olil broken
jar or a hole in the wall is the only cupbo.ird. There are no [)ed-
steads, tables, or chairs in the establishments. The people hleep
on the ground, eitlier in the covereil rooms or in the outer com-
partments or little courts, or along the w.Uls in the narrow streets
or alleys. The men seem to do this latter — the women and chil
dren being within. I refer of course, to the abodes of the |)oor
people. Some of tlie better off, even in villages, have their houses
covered with mud. On the side of all house ; the refuse of anim.ils
is dried in cakes about the size of dinner plates for fuel. I-Odder
and fuel are .stacked on the roof. Chickens, goats, and dogs are
constantly seen on the roof or walking ,dong the w.ills of the
open courts.

The people are jnior, but look neither sullen nor unhappy.
Thc\' like better to work with energy on oild jobs than to plod at
regular labor. The fa/nis of individu.d owners are small — f've to
twc .ty acres, There are great numbers 'of cattli-, goats, and many
sheep and donkeys. . Vmong the cattle are many buffalo. There
is no such thing as regular pastur(,-s for gr.i/.ing. After the fit-Ids
have been harvested the\' .ire' grizeil over until the Last str.iw and
almost the very riiots of -asses and weeil)' plants h.ive been
eaten out. Goats and sheep feed on the .scant vegetation to be
found on the edge of the desert .and aboiit ruins. C.ittle, how-
ever, do not depend on this sort of grazing, but feed on clover,
vetch, beans, and peas, planted and cultivated for the purpose.
They are either tethered or a.ie strictly w. itched, and forced to
graze small plats close into the ground, and then moved to a new
plat. The donke)' is sceii everywhere. Camels are principally
used for carrjing the bulk of the crt)p in middle and upper Kgypt
from the fields to the farmyards, and bullocks and cows do the
plowing; the little, patient ass i-; the common drudge. He is like
the inaid-of-all-work in ai^ Knglish hash bo.irding-house. There is

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.104

A RACE WJTH THE SUN.

nothing; ho cannot be made to take a hand at. He is steed for
man and woman. As siicli he is jfcncrally ridden without briiile
or saddle, except in the cities, and tiien tlie spindle shanks of the
riiler danijle tlown with rarely the foot in the stirrup, and the reins
lie loose, the animal bein^^ jjuided In- a stick in the rider's liand,
or l)y the boy who runs behind. The}' carry hu<;e loads of f;rass,
or monster baj^s of chaff, cut straw, or other lij^ht niaterial, hiding
all l)ut the ears and a little p.irt of the rear anatomy, left for
cutU(ellintj. The canul, when loadtd with wheat, looks likeaj^ooii-
sized stack of straw w.ilkin^ on stilts — all else is hidden, except
his bird-like heatl. which is always movinjj and pcerinij from side
to side.

Of late )-ears the Khedive has tried to introiluce a lar^'c cultiva-
tion of sn^ar-cane. and to encouras^e it, erected some 50 lar^'c
suLjar manufactories aloni; the Nile. More tlian half of them are
idli-. ( )ne of the ^Mxat features of the vill;i^a> an' the tall pij^eon
towers. Tliese are turrel-Iookini( structures, IJ to 15 feet stpi.ire,
and 20 to 30 hi^di. The\- are the reall)' aristocratic buiklini^s of
the villapfe. 1 counted 50 odd of them in a pi. ice of not over 4cx3
population. The pit^eons nest in and roost on and about them,
their droppinij;s Ljoinj; through a gratin;^ to be gathered as gu.mo.
They arc kejU for this purpose. 1 was tokl that one village ue
saw had :73o,tX)0. It is a mooted (piestioM if they do not eat more
gr.iin th.in they are worth. The whe.it is left standing until de.id-
ripe, and consecjuently much is shattered ou'. Wheat-straw is
\ery coarse, ami nearly as h.ird and strong as reeds. In being
threshed under the roller-sleil it is mashed, and thereby made
fitter for fodder.

When we left Cairo the wheat-Iields were just yellowing, and
much w.is )et green. It, t>)gcthLr with .lie clover .iiul vetch and
peas, gave a \'ariegated carpet to the plains. The clumps of stately
ilate trees ari- so freijuent ne.ir Cairo ih.il. logftlur with the
occasional acacias, they frequently afford ,in .dmost wooded land-
'^c ape. looked at from the level. As we appro.iched Ujipe'r I''.g[)yt,
the fields were more )'ellow and the h.irvest was begun, and great
peripatetic stacks of .straw were moving in different directions
along the narrow j),iths on camels and sm.ill oius on donkeys.

At Assyout we bearded, at night, a little flat-bottomed steam-
boat, oiil)- (JO feet long, aiul drawing two ;ind .1 half. When we
woke up in th'- morning we ^^•ere upon the most famous river of
the V. Olid, and steaming toward that point which has been so
often iiujuired for and sought, but wiinly sought, for thousands o.f
\ ears — the source of " 1 Ik Nile " (or " the river"). There were five
first-class passengers ; three enthusiastic young Americans -w/rt,^''-
iia pars fui — .iiul two F.ngli-hmen, (^"ol. IIarrington-Hi:y and Mai.
Marrice-He)', of the mount.'d police. The n.itional jiolice is a
milit.iry organization, officer<'d by I'.nglishmen, .ind i'- divided into
four den.irtmeiits, the he.ul of each be.\ring the title of ]);ish,i, tiie

«wiFi nil Til «•» 'i«»ftrff«

FORBIDDEN FRUIT.

305

next two being beys. Our liltle boat Ircqiiciitly l)um]icil plump
atjaiiist saiul-bars, toppling us over, but 01. ly causing; a laugli, all
liie greater when once it emptied soup into a lap. An awning
covered the top of the boat, but the reflected sun w.is too fierce
to permit its shade to be a pleasant loungingplace after nine
o'clock, It, liovvever, was a sufficient jjrotection to enable us to
go up for a few mir.utes when passing any scenery or spot we
wished to carefully observe over tiio high banks.

The river cuts it.-, way between banks 20 or so feet high ; is
from a liltle over a quarter of a mile t(j three quart'.-rs wide, and
flows steadily, with a current in low water of three miles an hour.
It shifts its bed gradually from one side to the other, now cutting
into the bl.ick, sandy loam on the one sitle, exposing now and
then the foundations of towns buried ages ago, and making s.md-
bars on the other, which are utilized by the natives for melon-
])atches as the water recedes. Where these b.irs are of too clean
a sand for a growth, a little loam from 'he debri:; of villages and
ruins, full of nitre, is carried on the patient little donkey. The
winds pouring steadily up or down the river are so stmng that the
s.inds are woven into pretty, wavy lines, ami would cover the
])lantations of melons. To prevent thi-, barriers are made by
sticking rows of doura-stalks or palm fronds, from a few inches to
two or three feet high, on the windward sitle of each row of
young plants. Near C.iiro ilie seeds were 1 'ing planrted ; about
.\ssou.in the melon hills were green and the [)lants in bloom. I
heaved many a sign when looking upon the yet fruitless vines, for
I am so fund of watermelons that I have a susjMcion that if my
f.unily tree were closely .scrutinized, down among its primitive
roots, would be found some Ethiopian kinks.

By the way, we had a family of natives in one of the rooms.
There w< re three ladies, closely veiled in flowing bl.ick silken
'• bourkos." which wen- never removed outside of their own rooms.
-Sweet is forbidden fruit! The bc-ys were constantly on the watch
to catcli a glimpse of these bundled up houris. The rooms of the
little steamer open only on the guards. i»vie day a gust of wiml
blew a bourko aside. The boys s.uv wit-inn the pe.irly gate, and
!<>! the sweet vision was of a face as black as the ace of s])ades !
I read to my disappointed lads a lecture upon the folly — not to
say criminality — of attempting to rend a veil over whicjj wa-^
written " inirare tion." We saw very many Aia])ian Rachels witli
their flocks of goats ibout the nver banks, or truilging over the
broad sand-bur-- with huge earthern jaf of water on their heads,
wending their way tow.r ' the vill.igc><. most of which lie back
^)me ilistanc- from the . ' tdge, but never a Jacob .a-jsisting
them. The iart that Jacob di(. assist fair and lovely R.-K'hel is
I)roof positive of direct divine interference. Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob were ,\r,ibs of the (tlesert. and would never have given a
helping hand to a woinan if the Lord had not direct'y com-

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306

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

mandi-'cl it. Tlu; wnm.ui of the East docs not imw pray to tin-
master, the Lord, but to tlie master, tlie man, and so the Lord h.is
deserted her, and tlie master man pays but little attention to her,
c.vci jiL when her comely face finds temporary favor in his si^ht.
iler beaut}-, too, is usually of such a character that it does not
dune forth until after the sun has <:;f)ne down.

We liatl down below, anionic the L^ciu-ral deck passenj^ers, many
well-to-do natives returniiiLj fmrn the city, where tluy had been
to i)urchase their stock of goods. It was interestiuj^ to watch
them when iandinj; for some larije town standint; a mile or so
back, ''rancinc; hor-~es, some in velvet caparison, others in simple
cloth, some with partly gilded bridles, others plain ; ilonkeys in rod
trappings, and d<'nvvys without saddle or bridle, were on the high
bank to take ti':, travellers home. Turbaned men in silken
robes, turbaned men in cotton mbes, woukl clind) steej) banks
with their wealth. There would be clatter and ni'i-,c enough for
the dis"mbarkation of a western regiment. The rich woidd mount
their neighing steeil'^, the poorer would pile their i)luiider upon
tlie naked donkeys, and then perch themselves on to]) of all. Some
little brute would be slightly unruh'; a blow would fall about his
ears; he would dodge and interpose I:.s convenient rear. If in
turning he caught sight of a lady donkey, he would bray out one
01 his most touching love -ongs. The gallantry of the donke\'
cannot be tamed b\' cuffs or blows. Then the motle}' crowtl wouKl
start ; the steeds careering, the donkeys under saddle galloping,
those under 1 'ads single footing it, and off they woukl dash
through a cloud of dust, which would mark the well-worn path to
the village.

Sometimes on a landing barge there was a native soldier about
to depart after a furlough. Malf-veilcd women would gather
about him, ]ierhaps his mother and sisters or wife. One would
press upon him a cake, another wf)uld l)rush some dirt from his
uniform. The mother would lay her hand upon his shoulder.
Her dark eyes would melt beneath the openings of her bourko as
slic looked lovingly upon her soldier-boy and poured wonl-^
of love into his ears. Ah, deeper far tlian Joseph's well at ( airo
is the unfathomable well of a mother's love. Its fountains How
steadily, whether the mother be Hindoo or Buddhist, Moh.unme-
idan, Jew, or Christian. It flows from a fathomless fountain
beneath the throne of eternal love. I""ormcrly an Egyptian bade
an adieu forever to his home when he was conscripted. Now,
under English control, the conscript has an occasional furlough.
and a mother's love lives in the reasonable hope of again seeing
her boy. England is a hard taskinistress, but she is not savage.

About Assouan the granite was belched through the sandstone,
wiicn the crust fell in U) make the v.illey. This granite is red
.syenite, but along the river it is blackened and in fantastic forms,
And is in rounded, smooth, water-worn inasscs, thrown in among the

SHOOTING THE CATARACT.

307

many clianncls of tlic cataracts. It looks as if it had been hlack-
ciu'(.l with coal tar and then polished. The .scenery, about tiie
cataracts and just below is very wild, and yet very pretty. The
reil and ycliow-Ljray rocks above, the shininij bl.ick, sniootii, mon-
ster rocks l)elow, and rushin^f between them the wild waters in
frothy, hurrying rapids ; here in lifted but unbrcjken stream.s,
now in foaming,' cascade, then in whirling eddies. We came
down the catar.ict in a boat of si.\ oars, with a cooMieaded " reis"
at the helm. Now we shot v )wn one fall, then, caught by an
cdd\-, would be carried sideways toward the ne.st. With a hard
helm, however, and one range of oars pulled by cpiick, maidy
energj', our prow would be pointed into the lifted channel. Down
it we shot like an arrow from a bow, and came (uit with a wild
yell. At one point we were very nearly forced sideways down.
The channel was not two feet wider than owk boat was long. We
touchetl one rocky edge, the oarsmen were thrown from their
seats, and we missed a ducking by the skin of our teeth.

On our way up, wlien we reached Mdfoo there were no saddled
donkeys for us to ride to the temple, two or three miles off. so we
mounted some baretvicked fellows, and without bridles ilashed
over the little paths hke three wild boys. It was a jolly riile.
One of the brutes fell, and Johnny went tumbling over a b.mk.
Our laugh was turned upon us afterward. I'lU' on reathing
Luxor, at 1 1 o'clock at night, we took ;i moonlight run to Karnak
on illy-provideil asses. Willie that night got a header. When
we returned from up-country my ilonkey fell flat at nearly the
same spot. Not only tlid I roll off over his head, but in the
tunible somehow found myself lying somehow on one "( the
brute's hind legs, while his other heel was giving fearful premoni-
tions of his intention to give mc a round of kicks. Honors were
thus even ; we each had a header from an Egyptian ass.

f H'i
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CHAPTER XXX.

i '

DR. SCHLIEM.XNN— THKHKS; IIS TKMI'I.KS AND TOMIIS— BEAUTI-
l-LI. rUllRK-WKITINi;— A NATIVK FKASP.

.V i:

Steams flip '^ C/iiukic," April 19, 1888.

We are aboard the Khedive's ist-stcainer, having sailed from
Alexandria yeslerda)', and wii. arrive at Athens to-nmrrow.
I would not attempt another letter about Kgxpt if I ilid not
feel it a duty to do .so. It is not an agreeable tiling to write in a
shaky boat, but, after all, those are not the most vaiu.ible occupa-
tions which are most agreeable in the perform. nice, unless thc
mere doin;^ a duty be of itself agreeable. I have come to regard
the noting down of what I sec on my " race with the sun " as ;i
positive duty, and therefore productive of a real pleasure. We
have a pleasant company abroad, amonj4 them Dr. .Schliemanii,
the famous excavator, and Dr. \'irchow, consulting physician of
the Emperor Frederick. The fust is an active, fussy little man
of over 70, full of chat and energy, whose delight is to wurm in
the gi\nnu! in search of antiquities having not only arch;eological
value, but also capable of bringing in good goKien Napoleons.
He looks like an honest Deutcher who gains his living by digging
for mangel-wurzel rather than for dead men's l)ones and chiselled
dreams; in fact, more like a gardener than a virtuoso. He walks
about the deck with Herodolas ii ihe original under his arm ; is
proud of being a German by birth and yet an American citizi;n who
never went through the forms of being n.ituralizeil. He was in
California when it was annexeil, and became a citizen b)- virtue
of the annexation. He and Virchow have been in Egypt in
search of the tomb of Alexander the Great, but did not find it.
He is ready to give information on any subject he knows of, and
will fight any one who doubts the individuality and identity of
Homer. He vowed he would not take a wife to his bosom until
he could find one who could recite the whole Iliad. His bright
young Greek wife does repeat it b\' the yard, and uiulerstands it,
but his 'ooatman repeats for him at large, although he (the boat-
man) does not comprehend any thing else than the euphony and
rhythm of the mighty bard. The doctor lives in a veritable
palace in Athens, surmounted with marble statues, and over
whose doors is carved in Greek : " The tent of Ilion."

308

KAA'X.ih' /fV MOONLIGHT. THEBES.

309

I said in my last that, as travellers in IC^'spt went ii|i tlic Nile
only for the ruins, they had not prepared ine for its rich scenery.
Althoiii^h I showeil my ai)i)cciation of this, )et I do not wish one
to think I was oblivious to the wonders left by art thousands of
years a^'o. We had not the time to study these wonders, but
have prepared ourselves for studyiiv^f llu in hereafter more inteili-
^uMitly from books. W'c first lookeil upon massive Karnak by the
full lii,dit of the moon. It seemed a fitlinj^ thinj^ to wander
amon.L,^ those vast stones almost as massive as mountain ribs; to
huj;e columns, v.ist j-et rich in architectural

roam anion;.

thi

form ; to lose one's self in tiie deep shadows of the old temple
to lean a[,Minst the lofty obelisks, whose points seem to pierce the
(U'cp-bhie sky, — it seemed fitting;, I say, to be in this hoini- of
^'ray aiiti([uily in the hour of midni^dit. when the world wa.s
asleep; when the self-samo stars were peepini,' throuL;h clefts in
cornice and crevasse in architrave, which had looked silentl\-down
\\\y.i\\ the mass when it was new and fiesli, o\ir 30 centuries aj^o ;
when the (pieen of ni^dit was balhin;^ all in silvery li^dit, and yet
leaving the ra.aLjes of man, tinu-, and the Nile somewhat con-
cealed. Karnak is a ruin, — not a half-ilestroyed temple, as most
pictures portray it. It was oiice a f;rou]) of noble temples, cover-
in^r_ with their louir avenues of colossal sphinxes, many hundred
acres. I'arts of several of them still e.\ist, massive ami ^ran.d. but
simply fr.iijments, which en.ible the r.rch.eolo^ist alone to trace
out from lluin the foumlatioiis of the liuildin^s of which they
formed onl)' small parts. All of these massive fni^'inents, consist-
in|4 of propykiM ^)uter fjates), of niassive walls and fallen columns,
architraves and cornices, are richly adorned in scidptured relief,
deep-cut into the liu,L,'e stones in fii^ures of i;ods ;ind kinL;s, and
sharp-cut hieroi^lv phicscommemor.itiveof the deeds of those whose
figures are shown. I'Vom these fi;.^niresanil hiero^dy])liic surround-
Ihl;-^ the scientist unfolds the pai^es of a Ion|^'-de,id history, and
en,d)les us to know what men and kin^^s did loni,' before history
was born. On our downward voya^'e on the Nile we visited them
twice as^'.dn. speiidiii;.; loii^ hours by da\- anioiKf the ruins. Much
of the walls and many of the mi^dity columns of the i,ne,it ttiii])ie
of Rameses. with the vast stones above forming roof .md entaliia-
turc, still exist in more or less tumbled-down condition. This
huf^e structure, all in el.d)orate and massive art, covered with its
outer w.dl a space not far from a mile and a h.ilf roudd, with :i
hei^'ht of over 70 feet, antl w.dls of vast thickness. Here were
hundreds of huj^e columns, from S to 12 feet in diameter
and .to to 60 feet hi^h, richly carved. Some of them have
been thrown so ;is to le.in over .it^Minst others, the vast hani^dn^^
.stones of the .uchitraves lookin-^ like the rocks of a toppling
precipice. Two obilisks, nearly loo feet hif^h, of solid <.;ranite,
st.'ind as if their roots were deep in the earth, but one, lyin^'
broken, shows that the Nile in its annual washing finds no foun-
d.itioii too firm for it to undermine.

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310

A RACE WIT If TUE SCN

I ' I '

N(i other ruins in Ivj;ypt arc so massive as tlicsc of Karn.ik,
tlu)iiL;li there are others in a liettcr toiulitioii. The Nile has done
more to hrinj,' tl>e mi^lity temples of ohl Thebes (Luxor) down
tiian li.is tiu.' liand of man. Hut reiij^ious fanaticism, l)olh Cliris-
tian, unfler tile I'-astern empire, ami Mohammetlan, witliin l,C)00
years, has done its best to deface all that was {)ure!y artistic.
Mo<!ern taste would find little to admire in the beautiful sculptures
on any of the old temples if the rock hat! not been loo hard for
the liand of the fanatic iiammerer or the elevation too ^,'re.it for a
lazy priesthood to reach, or if the massiveness and multitude of
tlie .sculptures had not been too jjreat for iniiolent muscle to pick
away. 'Ihe Nile, too, while a destroj'er, lias also l)een a preserver
by fillin^^ up the lower parts of many temples. This accumul.ited
soil bein^ removed discloses the covered parts in almost ori^'inal
form. The temple of Lu.xor, close to the river, is a ^rand om-,
but le-ss impressive than Karnak. The ruins of Medeenet y\i)oo,
across the river on the west b.mk, however, in many res|)ects
pleased me more. lUit it would be a waste of space to attempt to
descrilx- this, or even any more of tiiem. Tiiebes was a mi^'hty
city, and left many ruins to attest its ^'raiuleur.

Hack of the old cit}-, in Rorijes in the mount. liiis on the west
bank, an; the " tombs of the kinijs," whose mummies and papyrus
rolls ha\e been so v.du.d)le to the world of Utters. These tombs
are cut into the solid rock, all sIopinLjdouiuv.ird and runnini; under
the mountains from 100 to 500 feet, in lonj4 };alleries 12 to 20 odd
feet wide ami <) to \2 feet deep. In ditferent parts of them are
large chaml)ers whose walls, as well as those of the long galleries,
are coveied with seul|)tures in dei'p relief, and with liierogly\hie
writing beautifull}- sharp. The sculptures are the figures of the
king for whom the tomb was built, of the kings and peoples whom
he coufiuered, of his battles and \ictories, of the spoils of w.ir, of
capli\es and beasts ami treasuns brought back and offered to the
gods, and of the gods themselves receiving the gifts. Many of
these sculptures are beautifully wrought of high art (I'.g>plian),
and when not defaced are bright in color as when rn>t p.iinted.

There is shown e\erywhere evidence that the artists of the vast
past did not trust entirely to the chisel to show form, to exhibit
beauty, or to exjjri'ss action. Sculptures within doors and w ith-
out seem all to have been painted. Those in tlu.' tombs were
fresh when exhumed, and m.ui)' are still bright. ( )n the exposed
temples time' and the few rains of I'".g\'pt through thousands of
yens havi' only left traces of the old colors. The- smoke of
torches, and even the jjeiicil of vanity, ha\e tarnished most of the
paintings in the tombs, but enough \et remains t'.' delight the
student and please the curious ni.m.

In some tombs, discoveretl op])osite Assouan two ye.irs ago,
there arc picture-writings of exquisite finish and perfect jireserva-
tioii. I have rarely seen f(>rms, especially of binls, dr.iwn with a

rilE TOM US A.\D TIIEIK ADOKX M l:.\ TS

.5'«

ik.

lie

ii".

freer hand, or showing' more ^'racc or ease of pose. One can al-
most say llii-y are tlu: living linl.:s connecting' the (Ka<i past with
the present. I'liey seem to step and move, ,ind step and move
with st.itely ^i.ivity, and are .is fresh as tiie thin;.;s of yc-terii.iy.
I'hey ii.ive not been injured a.>. yet, and perh.ips will not be, for
now the s^overnment preserves, more or less carefully, all antiq-
uities, 'lliese toiiiljs were lio.inlcd up wluii w i- visited tluin,.ind
it beiiiLj after the visiting' si.e. on, tlie guardians were not .iboiit.
W'e hoisted each other over tiu" bo.ndin^f on i.uh other's shoiil-
di r.>..uid then pulled up the last. There were m.i-<ses of bones of
iiiumiiiie>, in. mini)' boxes, .md these bi'.uitifiil |)ietuie-p,iintin^s,
which ami)ly rep.iid us for some bruised shins and torn finj^ers.
\Ve brouj^ht away a j.iw-bone or two without co-,t, but were too
honest to brin;4 away a whole fij^'ure or iiuimmy box, though
soivIn' tempted. Tluse caves were the List opened, ,ind .ire not
yet mentioned in the j^uide-books. Ihn^sch lUy, w lioin 1 .ifter-
ward nu I in the Hool.d< .Musium, told me they were tlu; oldest
yet found, bein;,j at le.ist of the fifth dynasty. I )i-. Schliemann
says they an' of the sec>>nd, — th.it is, .},CKX) Ni'.irs before C!hrist.
The sands which fell a^es a^o from the upper iiei^dits of tlu; cliffs
in which the tombs were cut covend tiuir mouths and kept m.m
out, and thus preserved these valu.djie relics until now, when they
are so liii;hl\' .ippreciated.

The cliffs alon;4 the v.illey in some localities are hoiuycombeu
\\ itii tombs, and I doubt not that there are m.my yet uncovered,
;ind possii)ly iinsiis]iected. .Some will \'et l)e' found, perhai)s, of
i^re.it v.iliie, for the government h.is oiu' or two fine ste.uners on
the rivi-r lUvoted entirely to .ircha'olo,L,'\'. I am tojd ih.it Marri-
itte's succe-.>or is an al)le and industrious m.m. It seinis some-
wh.it droll th.it tlure should be in this .ictive .ij^e a ;4overnmeiU.il
dep.irtment whose sole duty is to stir up de.id men's bones. The
ancient I'.^'yptian h.id a solemn cast of thouL;ht, .md .i sombre
t.iste, but i think he knew the true restin^-pl.ices for the de.ul.
He si'Iected spots whic]\ de.itii would n.ite.r.ilU' choosi- for his
court — wild, desol.ite ^or^es— cliffs in which no life is seen, wlu-re
not an ivy or a desert-thorn could live. Of all di.id si)ots 1 liave
iver \'isite(l none sei'iii so al)soluti'Iy de.id .md dooLite as the
f^ori^e in w hich .ire the tombs of the kiiij^s at old Tlulje'.. Modern
sentimeiitiility makes a cenutei)' a park or j^arden in w hich lovers
wander to gather flowers when the kec])ers are out of si'^ht, .md
to flirt with a toini)stone for a tr\'stin^-pl.ice, aiul v.mity st.ilks
with more d.ishin^' step in a '^MMvi'^ard and in funeral tr,ippini,'s
than it does ;it ;i birth or a marri.ieje. There w.is a re.isoii for the
pomp of the M^'ypti.m's tomb. They i)e!ieved the spirit of the
de.id Ii\e(l in ,ind about its preserved mummy, .md that the loved
one i.;oiu; a|<prtciated and I'lijoj'etl the jiomps of its Mirroundin^s.
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favored gloomy splendor and awful pomp, and believed the dead
revelled in such. We, however, believe that the spirit of our
dead quits this miserable dust forever — dust which has been a
charnel-house for the imprisoned spirit, — and wings its flight far
beyond the stars; that the sufferings and griefs of those left be-
hind cam ot ruffle the sweet tranquillity of the far-off happy new
life, and yet we grieve in sackcloth and ashes, and peep from be-
hind our trappings of woe to see if the world fully discovers the
depth of our sorrow. We deck the tomb of the dead as if the
spirit nightly sate upon its own head-stone and delighted in nose-
gays. Much of this is to feed the vanity of the living. But real
and sincere grief is often selfish, as is joy, and gloats upon the
thought that the world witnesses its agony.

At Ass)-out we climbed, on our return from above, the high hill
which is so full of tombs that, at a long distance, it almost re-
sembles a titanic dove-cote. Skulls lay about, and mummy-cloth
was sticking in the sands. Old tombs, long since stripped of their
occupants and devoid of architecture, were being broken up to
roll down below to be burned into lime. Under us was the Arab
cemetery of to day, a regular stiff, cemented city of the dead, with
white domes and courts for the family or hired mourners to stay
in when grieving periodically. On our way out we had. passed a
troop of women howling on their way to the tombs. We knew
they were mourning for some well-to-do person. The intensity
of their grief cou.d only come from gold-distilling tears, and
showed that they were well paid for it. Some persons in the far
west are occasionally met who would find mourning by proxy
most charming. The bo)s ascended to the highest points to look
over the desert behind, leaving me alone among the old vaults.
As I sat at nearly sunset among these old homes of the dead,
deserted now even by their ghastly tenants, I saw a hyena come
out of one. lie looked down upon the modern cemetery, from
which came up faintly the voices of the howling women, gave a
sort of chuckle, and trotted off. I wondered if he and his race
had not contracted the habit of laughing from living about tombs
and seeing the hollow vanity of man. This was the only one of
the laughing brutes I saw in Egypt.

By the way, another of the old acquaintances of the Nile trav-
eller, the crocodile, has entirely disappeared below the first cata-
ract, and almost entirely up to the second or third. The keen
love of sport of the Englishman has been too much for him. I
thought I saw one just below I'hyla;, at the upper end of the
cataract, but it turned out to be a woman swimming the river
with a baby in her arms. She was on one of the little floats used
so much on the Upper Nile — a stick of wood, say eig^'t inches in
diameter, five feet long, and turneil up slightly at one end like a
sled-runner. A woman will slip off her robes, putting them in a
flat basket, poise it upon her head, hold her baby in her arms,

WOMEN SWIMMING THE NILE.

313

and on this little float go back and forth. As she emerges from
the water she puts her garments on, and goes fortii at least cleaner
than she went in. I saw one thus swimming with a basket of
vegetables on her head and a baby in her arms. She was taking
her little truck to market. It is, from what I could learn, the
only bath she takes. The Bedouin never washes all over, and
his face rarely. A fellah back from the river washes his feet and
face, but his odor shows tiiat this is all. I suppose it is a relic of
his desert antecedents, where water is scarce.

The great majority of the present Egyptian population is Arab.
The Copts, about 500,000, claim descent from the ancient people
of the Pharaohs, but they more resemble the Arabs than the pic-
tures on the walls. It will interest our boys to learn that, on the
Nile, as in Ceylon and on the Red Sea, when natives swim
rapidly they invariably go hand over hand. When desirous of
swimming particularly fast they dive as far as possible. They are
expert divers, and catch water-fowl by going under them. At
Luxor Hotel we saw some droll pet pelicans caught in this way.
Of these, as of other water birds, there are great numbers on the
Nile. I saw a flock of several hundred pelicans ranged very curf-
ously in files on a sand-bar. About half were in rows, one behind
the other, all with heat's turned toward our steamer coming from
below. The other half were in files looking up stream. I no-
ticed, I th lught, five or six which seemed an exception to this
order, but on close scrutiny with my glass I found these were
storks along the outer edge of the flock, and not a pelican was
looking out of line. The carvings and paintings in the tombs
show that, in the time of the Pharaohs, the same birds were to
be found in Egypt that are found there to-day. Some animals
are no longer frequenters of the land that were there 4,000 years
ago. Crocodiles and hippopotami were as far north as the Delta,
but not within the range of written history. Wild geese, cranes,
herons, and snipe of several varieties were constantly seen, both
on the wall-carving and to-day along the river.

I spoke of the damage done the old temples by the Nile.
Nearly all of them stand on inundated land. The water has
gradually eaten into the foundations and lower members, and so
causes the superstructure to tumble. In olden time the water
was excluded by dykes. In some temples the Nile deposit has been
several feet deep. In all, the dcbrh of towns and villages has filled
them often to the roof. These have been, or are now being, exca-
vated. There seems to be a law of nature that where there is growth
there is life, and, c converse, where there is life there is growth.
Wherever there is found either animal or vegetable life, there the
very earth grows. Old things everywhere lie covered beneath
new things. Where men have lived, their cities or their founda-
tions are found buried ; where vegetable nature alone holds high
court, there trees and their di'bris are found far below the surface.

I-

314

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

Mr I'.

I I

In the mountain heights and in desert places where tlierc is no
life, there denudation is constantly ^oin^ on. The earth itself
does not grow in such localities. Most of this, I sujipose, is car-
ried off by rivers into the deep seas. Whence comes the mass of
matter which covers and is yet covering deeper year by year the
mighty plains and tablelands ? Perhaps from meteoric dust,
which is said to fall in millions of tons every year. Perhaps,
also, from the impalpable powder which makes up the comet's
transparent tail. If care be not used at the dump of these
mighty dirt carriers, there will some day be brought ajout a lack
of equillibtium on our globe, and a turning over in its bed, and
then some of our fine cities will be wrapped in mountains of ice,
and a torrid equator may run within the Arctic circle.

At Luxor we took a long camel ride on our last day. The
beasts were not dromedaries, but were well gaited, and carried us
in good trots. We had none of the trying twist in the back, as if
one were a dish-rag being wrung out by a lusty cook, such as one
gets on the ordinary swing-walking camel. We saw all the ruins
near the river from Phylai down, — Edfoo, Denderah, etc., — but
were most pleased by the tombs about Sakkarah, near the ruins
of old Memphis, some miles above Cairo. There was an immense
cave cemetery in the olden days of Egypt ; some of them were
as old or older than the pyramids. The tombs cover a space
nearly five miles long and run back into the high desert plateau a
quarter of a mile to a mile. Many of them have been opened by
arclu-Eologists, but only a few are kept so, for the blowing sands
fill the mouth of the tomb almost as fast as they can be carried
away. We had a blizzard of sand the day we visited them. The
wind came up with great speed from the desert, driving the sand
into our faces with the force of small shot. Our eyes burned and
our cheeks smarted. The sun grew dim, and when yet three
hours high we looked into his face without a blink. He was
hardly as bright as one often sees the moon in a mid-afternoon.
There was no redness whatever about him, but a cold dimness,
and when we looked at him on the west bank, far away from the
desert, when he was yet an hour high, he was a miserably pale
orb, and was lost entirely a half hour before his time for setting.

The Serapeum, or tomb of the sacred bulls, at Sakkarah, is a
huge thing, several galleries of great size hewn from the solid
rock, with side chambers or deep recesses in which are monster
sarcophagi of granite 13 feet long, 8 wide, and 11 high, with
monster lids of several tons weight. One of these galleries is
nearly r,200 feet long, and about 30 sarcophagi yet sit where
they were placed 2,000 to 2,500 years ago. The older galleries,
of over 3,000 years ago, have so fallen in since their exhumation
as not to be easily visited. The walls of the tombs arc richly
carved, and the long galleries are lined with votive tablets placed
there by individual worshippers. These vast vaults cut into the

WE HAVE A NATIVE FEAST.

315

solid limestone and these huge coffins of granite arc the last rest-
ing places of mummied bulls. Oh, religion! what antics thy
votaries have cut as the ages have rolled along! Nothing in
nature too revolting to be worshipped, nothing in imagination
too cruel and bloodthirsty or too selfish to be adored.

When we awoke in the morning, after boarding the downward
steamer aV Luxor, we found Harrington-liey and Marrice-Bey
aboard. We had left them at Assouan. Colonel Harrington in-
formed us he had received by wire an invitation for us to dine
with a rich native, h ta Turk, at Gurgeh, where we would tie up
for the night. Unfortunately, we went plump upon a sand bar in
sight of the town, and were detained over three hours, getting
into port at nearly midnight. But we found our host and ser-
vants with lanterns ready to conduct us to his hospitable
mansion. It was furnished after European style, with fine
carpets, curtains, and brilliant chandeliers. After cigarettes, we
were invited into the dining-room, where a table was loaded with
bottles of wine and cordials, but with no plates. In the centre
was a large bowl containing a kind of soup. There were seven
of us. Each had a spoon, and bread with seed worked into the
crust. I was piaced at the host's right, and informed in tolerably
fair French that the house was ours, and the repast begun. Re-
ceiving a hint from the Colonel that I, as the chief guest, was to
be the leader, as if the house was mine, I commenced my soup
from the bowl. Each followed suit, dipping his spoon into the
common tureen. When we had sufficiently partaken of the fluid,
still instructed by my military fri nd, I motioned the servants to
remove it. Then followed a large roast, a whole lamb stuffed. I
pulled off a piece of lamb with my fingers. There were no knives
or forks. The better informed followed the example, but went
further and pulled out the inside stuffing with their fists ; getting
dry and no one o;'Tering wine, I felt I was again at fault, so I took
a bottle of clarei: and directed the servants to draw the cork.
The host then got up antl poured our glasses full. There were
small plates of sweetmeats of several kinds near each guest.
Between courses we cat of these and drank champagne. A large
platter full of stuffed vegetable marrow, whole roasted stuffed
onions and artichokes, and some smaller vegetables made the
second course. These found their way to our mouths without
spoons or fork. Talk was gay. The host apologized for having
the feast served native fashion, with the statement that it had
been the Colonel's request. Roast turkey came next ; afterward
followed pigeons, sausages, etc., with vegetables intervening.
When the fourteenth course was reached, one of the boys was
forced to loosen up his waistband, and Marrice-Bey declared he
was a good feeder, but his father and mother had not intended
him for a barrel. I cried halt. We were, however, forced to
attack the fifteenth course, consisting of nicely-stuffed quail.

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316

A J? ACE WITH THE SUN.

With several more courses in sight in the side room, I arose, when
aU followed. In the parlor were served delicious coffee and
cigarettes. The host regretted that he had not known sooner
that we would honor him, so that he could have made a bett'.r
preparation. He was a wealthy Copt, bit dr.-.nk very lightly.
He accompanied us to the little boat, where we found our ship
berths fitted us closer than they had done the night before.

The following evening, at Assyout, we had a delightful informal
dinner at Col. Harrington's, in good English style, and spent the
evening with his charming wife, and Johnson Pasha and his bright
lady. The Pasha is the head of the mounted police in that depart-
ment. The dinner was prepared in thorough English style, and was
a real treat to us. Many months had passed since we had par-
taken of a home-like meal.

With the statement tha*^ Cairo is a beautiful city, fairly to
be called the Paris of the East, the people in their gay attendance
at the bright street cafes reminding one constantly of the French
capital, and that the new part of Alexandria is very handsome, I
will end this chapter.

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CHAPTER XXXI.

GRECIAN SKY COLORING— FEELINGS AWAKENED BY ATHENS— RICH
ART TREASURES CONSTANTLY EXHUMED— THE FUTURE OF
GREECE— CORINTH— EARTHQUAKES— A WONDERFUL SUNSET
—FAREWELL GREECE.

Athens, April 26, 1S88.

Visiting Greece many years ago, I approached it from Con-
stantinople, passing througli the many islands of the ^gean Sea
in the hot month of August. I was delighted with the constantly
varying pictures presented by the lofty island heights — broken,
yet graceful, with deep gorges so clothed in verdure, that they
seemed smiling dimples on the mountain sides. The rich dyes
distilled from a burning sun were showered over land and sea,
clothing both in softest colorings, changing from hour to hour as
the sun climbed to the zenith and then sank toward the west.
At one time the mountains, hills, and valleys were wrapped in a
bluish liaze ; then changed to a purple ; then to a violet, over
which a pink bloom would spread as delicate as the blush on an
opal's cheek, and in the sunset glow a mantle of violet-orange was
thrown over the graceful shoulders of the hills. The sea would
now catch the blue from the skies, anc'. then the colorings of the
hills, and throw them back with an added beauty all its own ; and
as the sun sank to its rest, land and sea, melting clouds, and trans-
lucent sky were a mighty canvas, over which the very spirit of
beauty .-;prcad rainbow tints in exuberant revelry. The memory
of these glorious pictures has always lived with me, and has been
the inspiration of many a dream of the past.

When we started on our " race with the sun," I began at once to
look forward to a renewal of my former pleasure in going through
the Grecian isles. When coming from Egypt, now, I was up be-
fore the sun on our second day out to watch his first kiss upon
Milo's conical peak. I watched the first ray caught by the island
cone, and then later saw him lighting up Sephanto and Thermia,
and the graceful sky-lines of ^gina, and the highlands of Argolis.
But the glorious tints were not there. Was it owing to the cooler
months that they were lacking, or had my eyes grown dim and
my marrow become cold, since I was here in the hey-day of youth ?
I felt disappointed, and mostly so with myself. I whispered that
I would touch Attic soil, and then my boyish enthusiasm would re-
turn. We landed at Pirseus, and drove up to Athens. There, to

317

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A MACE WITH THE SUN.

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my right, was Hymcttus, on whose rocky sides grows the yellow
flower from whose cups the bee sips a nectar tasted nowhere un-
less in the garden of the gods. There, to my left, was low-lying
Fames, and over beyond, Pentelicus, whose cold marljje blushes
in the unequalled beauty of the Venus and the Psyche, aiul stands
in God-like glory in the Apollo ; and there, with Lycabottus for
a backgrou: d, was the Acropolis, crowned by the Parthenon —
the architect's dream in ruins. There below, in massive Pelasgic
blocks, was the Pnyx, where Demosthenes maddened men by his
burning tongue, and, near by, was the theatre of Dionysius, where
j^ischylus and Sophocles sang in perfected measure.

These things were all before me as they were 36 years ago,
and clustering among them were the same old memories, but
the young dream of the traveller was grown cold. He had long
ago left old Yale's classic halls redolent of the historic past ; he
hac' lately come from a buzzing hive, where to-day and yesterday
and to-morrow are worth whole ages of the long ago. Instead of
having lately lived in a dreamland with dead heroes, he had been
jostling against active, noisy men, in whose ears a rise in the mar-
ket was more eloquent than any Demosthenic phillippic, and the
electric tick, telling of a crash in stocks, was far more touching
than a thousand farewells from Alceste's lips ; he had come from a
throbbing world, which whispered : " Let the dead past bury its
dead," and with exultant cry demands action in the living present.
I could not work up the spirit of the past.

But I have now been here a week ; I have walked among the
old ruins; I have talked with speaking marbles, lately exhumed
from soil in which they had lain through silent ages; I have
breathed an atmosphere of classic purity ; I have driven beneath
old olives, which may have furnished the oil to anoint an Al-
cibiades when girding his loins for Olympian triumphs ; I have
watched the waves, to whose murmur Demosthenes may have
attuned his thrilling words ; I have drank at fountains, which
may have cooled the ruby lips that made Aspasia irresistible ; I
have climbed to the lofty quarries, whence Phidias .".iixiously cut
the block that was to render the fame of his genius immortal ; I
have sat upon the lofty pinnacle which looks down upon Mara-
thon, and upon which heroes gave a parting glance when they
rushed in unequal struggle upon the Persian host, and made
Marathon a synonym for victory ; I have bathed my hands in the
cool waves of the strait of Salamis, where was crushed forever
Asia's strength, and western civilization was made possible ; I have
watched the full moon as she climbed the Doric column of im-
mortal Parthenon, and seen her sit in silvered glory upon its grand
pediment, and have looked down upon beautiful Athens, bathed
in a very flood of silvery light ; I have sat for long hours upon the
balcony of the Grand Bretagne Hotel, inhaling the perfume of
orange and jasmine coming from bowers in which the nightingale

ATHENS AND THE ACROPOLIS.

i^9

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was pouring out its bursting heart in delicious song, while I
watched the splendid pile upon Acropolis in the distance, lighted
up by the midnight moon. These things, and others of a kindred
kind, have found the chord deep down in the soul and touched it,
till " my heart can sing, as of yore it sang before they called me
old." Once more 1 am in Greece and am again a Greek.

Few Americans arc so ignorant as not to have heard of and
t.iought of Athens; few school children so cold as not to have
been deeply interested in its wonderful history. I shall, there-
fore, I think, not err if I try to give a pen-picture of this most
classic of all cities. It lies in a sort of recess between three
ranges of mountains — an amphitheatre, if I may be permitted
to use that word to designate a thing not circular but oblong.
Two short ranges of mountains, Hymettus and Parnes, 1,500 to
2,000 feet high, rocky but not absolutely desert, spring from the
sea on the west, run in almost parallel lines about eight miles
apart, and meet loftier Pentelicus 15 to 20 miles back. Piraeus
is built upon a small, absolutely land-locked bay, in the centre of
the base. Pericles and Themistocles made this the Athenian
walled harbor, and it has so remained ever since. I must not be
lield too closely to accuracy when I give dates, dimensions, or,
indeed, any statistical or historical data. I write for the general
reader, that he or she may see somewhat as I see, and not for
the information of the student ; for that I have not the time, if
I possessed the ability. Four to five miles back, and some two
or three miles north of Hymettus, stands modern Athens, nearly
on the site of the old city.

Few cities outside the new world have grown and improved as
much as this, since I was here in 1852. Let me draw you a plan
of the city, as then, and as now seen. Imagine a bold rock near
400 yards long bj' 150 in its centre and widest part, lifting 250
to 300 feet from a somewhat uneven plain. The sides of this
rock, which is shaped not unlike an oak-leaf, are in some parts
precipices over 100 feet high, and everywhere else in steep,
almost precipitous slopes. Where there were gorges, and too-
casily accessible inclines, lofty walls were erected and filled from
within, rendering the citadel unapproachable, except through its
internal entrance on its western point. This is the Acropolis,
on whose platform stands the Parthenon, whose great doric
columns, and massive architraves are in such perfect proportions
that they seem almost light and airy. There is the beautiful
Erectheum, whose Ionic columns and friezes have been, and are,
the models of graceful architecture ; and the gem in marble, little
" Nike," the temple of winged victory, which the Athenians
claimed had here made her home. Around and about this hill
are the remains of other classic edifices.

Ancient Athens lay around and under the citadel, but was
mainly to the southward, southwest and southeast. There, scat-

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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tcred from the east to the west are the Stadium, on the extreme
east; then the majestic columns of the great temple of Jupiter
Olympus, and, following in succession, more or less distant one
from the other, come the Theatre of Dionysius, the Odeum, the
Pnyx, or ancient forum ; the Areopagus, where the people met
in civic power, the almost complete temple of Theseus, perfect
in style, if it had not in contrast, near by the Parthenon ; and
finaliy on the extreme west, the ancient cemetery, Ceramicus.

Modern Athens lies to the north, commencing on the slope of
Acropolis, and running from the westward near Ceramicus,
around and under lofty Lycabettus, with its sharp rock peak 900
feet high, to tiie Stadium on the east. From east to west the
diameter is over two miles, and from nortli to south, a little over
a mile.

In 1852 the city had a population of 8,000 to ri.ooo, and
offered nothing of beauty except the coloring of Hymettus,
which it was, and is yet claimed, decks itself in a distinct varying
hue for each hour of the afternoon ; beginning with a warm
gray at noon and running to blue and purple, pink and violet,
and salmon-violet at sunset, to a cold gray before twilight
ends. The town was then compact, irregular and inartistic,
and covering a small space north and near the Acropolis. The
Ilissus, a small stream in dry weather, but a rushing torrent
after heavy rains, runs along the eastern edge of the town inside
of the Stadium. Between it and the town in '52, there was a
waste of sand and rough, desolate, uneven ground fully three-
quarters of a mile wide. In the centre of this stood the great,
quadrangular, ugly, new palace, with stuccoed walls. I remem-
ber my surprise that a king would build such a residence, in
such a desolate place, and wondered why his brother. Bavarian
Ludwig, who possessed taste, had not given some to Otho. They
were both wiser than I. The city has grown up to and beyond
the palace square, which now lies between an exquisite garden,
and New Athens, and is filled with beautiful houses of artistic
design. Few cities in the world are prettier than the capital of
Greece. It possesses no magnificent public or private buildings,
but many which are pretty and some really beautiful.

Otho, I remember, was not an attractive-looking man. He
was heavy in feature and expression, and of clumsy form, which
his Albinian-Greek costume, the prettiest and most artistic in the
world, could not hide. Indeed, it seemed cruel to put such a
costume on so uncouth a figure. But his queen, Amelia of
Oldenburg, was one of the handsomest women in Europe. That
she had fine taste is proven by the exquisite garden, about a
quarter of a mile square, adjoining the palace, which she designed
and laid out — and, perhaps, planted, on the sands. There is in it
none of the stiffness and formality so characteristic of royal gar-
dens in Europe. Large palms and pretty forest trees and shrubs

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THE KINGS OF GREECE. NIGHTINGALES. 321

are growing witli a careless grace, one would think, belonging
only to a native woods. Climbing creepers and trailing vines
hang as if set by lavish n- Uire. Winding walks run here and
there as if trying to avoid some natural impediments. Oranger-
ies and lemon groves are so planted among forest trees, that
some of the latter look as if they had been cut down to make
room for them. The walks are neither wide enough to look
stiff or too narrow to prevent free circulation. I wandered for a
couple of hours one afternoon in this charming garden all alone, by
the special permission of the guard, and when the general public
was not allowed to enter. So quiet was the whole, and so sliaded,
that several nightingales \\<i'c. singing, not so gushingly, however,
as at night. They are very shy, but by exercising much caution,
I was able to keep one under my glasses for a few moments. It
is wonderful how small a thing it is to give out such a volume of
sound. It is long and tapering, but not much larger in girth
than a ])Iump sparrow, and carries its head, when watching me,
so low, that the line from its beak to the end of the tail seemed
straiglit. Its song has much more melody than that of our
mocking-bird, but not so varied nor so continuous. To me it is
not so charming a singer as the little skylark. We have frequently
watched one of these latter mounting in small spirals higher and
higher until he was a mere speck upon the blue sky, all the time
singing, and there, hanging on fluttering wing far above us, he
woukl |)our out his heart in a love-song so rollicking and joyous,
yet so sweet, that one could not imagine a lady-lark enough
prudish to say him nay. Why cannot some one get these gay
little fellows to America ? I could even forgive the sparrow-
importing fiend if he would teach the skylark to live and sing in
our land.

King George is even more democratic than was his deposed
predecessor. He walks the streets like a simple citizen. We saw
him and two of his children walking from the Acropolis. From
what I could learn he is neither popular nor the opposite. The
people feel for him absolute indifference. He and Queen Olga
passed us on going to the station when departing for Corfu, where
he has a residence. He touched his hat to every one ; all lifted
theirs, but then passed on as carelessly as if they cared not if he
should prolong his absence of three months to as many years.
He has the air of being a polished gentleman. I asked an intel-
ligent man if the people liked his majesty. He shrugged his
shoulders and replied : " They do not care a lepta for him. (The
Icpta is the tenth of a cent.) But they," he continued, " like his
son, for he was born in Greece, and is a Greek in religion ; but to
them the king is a Dane. We call him the ' Twirler.' " " Why? "
" Oh, because he is always twirling his cane." He is very youth-
ful-looking, and the queen, though far inferior to charming Queen
Amelia, is a fine-looking woman.

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Athens is a delightful place for a winter and sprin^r residence,
and will ere lonj; attract many students of Grecian literature and
art. Already the American school is prosperous. When I was
here before there was little or nothinj^ of art except the ruins, but
now, to my surprise, there is nearly as much of the fine and pure
antique as in Rome. These have all been found by excavating-
within a few years, and are bein}^ added to consta"tly. Some
good things have been found since we arrived. The Hermes of
the inuseum, said to be a copy of that of Praxiteles, found and
now at Olympia, is almost equal to ti.e Apollo Helvidere. There
are some relievos of life size found in the old cemetery, wliich show
the ancient Greeks not only to have been heroes, but loving
fathers and husbands. The favorite funeral memorial seems to
have been a parting scene between the dead and his or her friends.
The warm grasp of the hand, the sorrowful expression of the face,
and many little gestures of affixtion, show that in old Athens
there was love about the hearthstone, and trusting confidence be-
tween husband .-uid wife which was never hinted at in their
writings. There %*imi - to have been a sort of reserve, which pre-
vented the old Greek from exposing his home to the gaze of any
but the most intimate. This feeling exists to-day in many parts
of the East. Only the most intimate friendsliip permits a hint
from one to another that either has a wife. A veil was, and is,
spread over the fireside, wliich was only lifted by the angel of
death.

The question has been for ages asked : Was the art of the Gre-
cian all his own, or did he borrow from another and improve upon
it ? And if a borrower, whence ? His pride or vanity never con-
fessed his indebtedness. He acknowledged only the gods as his
creditors, and never seemed to feel to them any very weighty
load of obligation. Jove was little more than an exalted Grecian,
and had Apollo appeared as a contestant in the Stadium, some
Athenian would have entered the ring against him, and would
have striven manfully to win the leafy crown. As we walked up
to the Acropolis, we passed a clear little running fountain of
never-failing pure water half-way up its sides. Whence came this
water? Where is its real source? This rock, with its many fis-
sures, does not look as if it had any veins connecting with distant
hills, and the platform above cannot catch and hold rain to supply
a perennial spring. I asked these questions, and thought them
kindred to the one : " Where was the source of Hellenic art ? "
When I went into the museum above, not yet finished, in which
are all antiquities excavated from the ruins on the Acropolis, I
found the last question had been answered, by statues and sculp-
tures lately exhumed. There were figures so thoroughly Egyp-
tian that they would not cause surprise if seen in the oldest tomb
on the Nile. There were others of the earlier archaic period,
showing an advancement — a sort of marriage of Pharaohonic with

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ART TREASURHS AM) CHARMING EXCURSIONS. ^27,

Grecian art. These statues are of tlie very earliest period of
Hellenic antiquities. Tlie late finds have been veritable treasures
to the archzeojogist. Some of the figures show, perhaps, the ear-
liest attempt at sculpture in the land, when but little more was
hoped for, or, perhaps, desired, than to portray the human form.
As yet there was no conception that marble could portray thought
except by the movements of the limbs. Almost step by step one
can sec in this museum the atlvancc from the simple figure, until

n through the features,
' , and then the highest

the brain, and finally ti»e soul, was r'v^
anil the marble not only thought, but I
art was reached.

About the time of my first visit lure a German savant made
the assertion that there were w^. no 'ireeks, but only Slavs.
Full assent was given to the proj.osition, and ;nen of letters have
mourned that the blootl of ti)e heroes no longer fiowcd in man's
veins. An opposite o])inion is now tailing strong hold here.
Possibly the wish is father to the thouglit ; but it is not confined
to the natives. Learned foreigners have adopted it, and "dducc
as proof of the pro[)osition the theory of the survival of the fit-
test. Whenever miiul rubs against mind, and subtlety meets
subtlety, they assert, the Greek wins. Throughout the Levant
they say the Greek shows himself superior to others. They arc
the keenest traders and the most successful commercial men, and
they confiiiently predict a renaissance in arts ;uid letters under
the glorious sun of this beautiful land. May it be so. I would
like to live in the hope and die with tiie belief.

This letter was dated at Athens, but I am finishing it at Con-
stantinople. We had not the time to make any extended excur-
sions, but did make some charming ones in the neighborhood of
the city. We drove through large vineyards to Pentelicus, and
then climbed its heights. I carried myself up with case, but felt
handicapped by my dead extra load of nearly forty pounds of fat.
Though somewhat out of wind, I had enough left to revel in the
glorious views. Marathon lay below us ; Eubcea and the other
islands of the /Egean Sea lifted in splendid visions to the
east and south. Attica, the sea, and Corinth in lofty heights,
stretched to the east, while Bceotia and snow-clad Parnassus, in
magnificent piles, towered at the north. We drove out to the
beautiful bay of Eleusis, and wandered among its ruins, once the
scene of the sacred mysteries, in company with a charming
daughter of the spotless confederate hero. We saw the Albanian
peasant women, with 1 ..ddy fair cheeks, and sturdy forms clad in
coarsely embroidered sacks, reaping their little harvests. P'locks
of sheep and goats, with tinkling bells, made the mountain-sides
musical, while they filled the air with sweet perfume as they
lightly tripped through the wild thyme clothing the lower slopes
in a mantle of green. In no land of the world does the wild red
poppy take so deep a dye or grow in such masses as in Greece.

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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Often there arc seen whole acres as thickly covered as a tulip
parterre with flowers of intensest crimson, so deep and yet so
bright that they seemed to hold imprisoned sunlight, which flashes
from their blood-red cups. The people claim that this intense
hue comes from the blood of heroes which has moistened every
foot of Grecian soil.

We rode on the narrow-gauge railroad that winds in and out
over lofty precipices, overhanging the Saronic Gulf, with the deep
blue sea in gentle ripples far below us, and bold mountains high
above us, to the little Isthmus of Corinth, which barely divorces
the waters of the Italian Adriatic from the Grecian seas of the
East. There we drove through rich vineyards of the grape
which is called currant in commerce, to the oUlest temple in the
land, at the foot of the towering rock 1,900 feet high, on which is
])erched the Acro-Corinthus, the loftiest, and next to Gibraltar,
the most impregnable fortified height in the world. Then we
mounted sure-footed little horses, panoplied with pack-saddles,
and rode up tlie giddy height. I had two, a light little mare and
a yearling colt, wiiich trotted and plaj'cd by nn- side. The A]i)a-
nian owner said that I was very heavy, and so he gave me the
two. It was an (jdd joke, but I doubt if he saw it. We spent
long hours on tlie summit. I'locks of long-wooled sheep and
giddy goats grazed ujion the sweet herbs about us, and wise-
looking donkeys plucked thistles from the ruined wails. The
huge cisterns, holding pure water er.ough for a small army, makes
this spot a fa\-orite pasturage for a hundretl sheep and goats and
a dozen or more cattle and donkeys. They come and go through

strong gateway, in which hangs the old door armed with mas-
sive nail-heads, once swinging to let in and out armed warriors,
but now o])ening and shutting daily for gentle sheej) and stolid
asses — (.he variest step from the sublime to the ridiculous.

The view from this famous hill is almost une([ualed. To the
north and south lay lofty mountains, pile upon pile— the most
distant yet white with the winter's snows. Fifty odd miles to the
east, over the blue Gulf, Pentelicus ended the vision, with Acro-
polis distinct under the glass. The two mountain-girded gulfs
came up and tried to meet in a kiss below us. Memories of long
ago crowded upon us. Mountain and gorge, hill and steep
slopes, little plains and blue seas were woven together in a web
and a woof of story and of song — a song of heroic fortitude and
glory, and a story of Moslem fanaticism and modern treachery.
Nothing but memory and the old stone and mortar about us to
remind us that this was the centre of a heroic past. I wondered
if the canal, 100 feet deep and four miles long, now being cut
across the i.sthmus, will again quicken the dead into life. That
night, in the little town of New Corinth, I dreamed of battle and
carnage, and woke to find myself in a very den of fleas. These
brutes make nic their chosen victim. .Sometimes when they

THE FUTURE OF GREECE.

325

attack me where a brave man should never be struck, — in the
broad back, where my finger-nails cannot reach — I am almost
maddened. I shall carry scars for weeks. The pleasure of my
journeyings in Egypt and Greece has been much lessened by the
pests. It is singular that I should suffer so much while others
scarcely feel them. I gained something that night, however, by
their attack, for I felt the sharp shake of an earthquake, which I
would have lost in sleep. I afterwards learned that they are of
frequent occurrence along the Gulf of Connth. The one I felt
was a sharp, rapid, vibratory motion, and more distinct than any I
ever felt before. Not a house in this locality but is cracked more
or less. I think I should prefer to live where the Titans do not
make their underground bed.

Rome has revived into the strong kingdom of Italy. Can
Greece follow her example ? Though we may wish it, I fear I
was wrong when I said I hoped for it. is there a ground for that
reasonable belief which constitutes hope ? She was once mighty,
and controlled a large part of the world. But her power was
not built upon labor. She won her wealth, if not her bread,
with the sword. The reap-hook and the plow, the merchant ship
and the workshop, man's labor kneaded into mother earth —
these, not heroic actions, on the battle-field, are the foundation
of power and wealth in these piping days of peace None of
these are, or can be, within the grasp of a new Greece. Her
mountains and steep valleys, and her pure air may make men of
iron muscle ; her wonderful sky-lines and dimpled hill-sides ;
her violet seas and purple heights, panoplied by golden clouds
floating on opalescent skies — these may be the food of genius
and foster poetry and art, but it is the spreading meadow, the
great prairie, and the rich river valley waving in corn or golden
in cotton bloom, the mountain heart, crystallized into iron or
black in solid carbon; the deep harbors leading into boundless
seas which wash the shores of near and distant lands, — the nations
which possess these, and they alone, can feed the world and
clothe it, and be its carriers. Greece can barely feed herself, and
from her own resources can weave for her people but scanty
clothing. She cannot find in her mountains the ribs of mighty
ships, nor the food for their hungry stomachs, nor do mighty oceans
wash her shores, inviting her to trade with the world, now 100
times larger than it was 20 odd centuries ago. A comparatively
very small part of her area of 20,000 square miles is at all cultiva-
ble, and of this a still smaller proportion is highly productive.
The wheat is rather light, and the olive crop somewhat uncertain.
The grape is of good quality, and of fair average yield, but often
fails.

The vine which produces the Zante currant, so valuable in com-
merce, will fruit only in the neighborhood of the Gulf of Corinth.
Transplanted elsewhere, it changes its nature, and produces a com-

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326

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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mon grape of inferior quality. It looks like the ordinary grape
vine, and is, like the vine in all regular grape-growing countries,
not permitted to run, but is cut in at about two and one half feet
high. Generally the wine-producing vine is trimmed to half this
height. I saw some of these latter near Athens, of great age and
nearly a foot in diameter. Some of the olive trees, too, are very
old — said to be over 2,000 years. They are ordinarily cut in,
leaving the main trunk eight to ten feet high, and furnishing
a smaller head than younger trees. The branches, however, being
very thick, are productive. No other tree carries the appearance
of old age so much as a gnarled old olive. It is twisted and
deeply indented, has gnarled and tortuous branches, and, with its
ash-colored leaf, is the very embodiment of hoary old age. From
its trunk, indented and twisted as if in pain, the artist borrowed
the idea of the old tree trunk for funeral monuments. Like the
hills in this land of atmospheric effects, the olive foliage adapts
its coloring to the character of the day, and to barometrical
influence. 0"e sees it now with a green, almost cheerful and
bright, and then more sad, and again as if strewn with the ashes
of despair. I suppose the condition of the air causes it now to
show the top of the leaf, which is of pleasant green, and then the
under side, which is almost white, or to blend them together. It
is a pretty idea, however, that this tree, which in every land
bathed by the Mediterranean is counted man's intimate and
peculiar friend should, like the human heart, feel .sad or cheerful,
as the weather may be bright or sombre. In this land, as in so
many we have lately visited, the woman and the ,ass or cow do
more than their full share of peasant labors and arudgery.

Although the wheat has not yet begun to yellow, it is being
harvested. I was told it is because hired labor is scarce in Greece,
and, therefore, the little farmers have to take time by the fore-
lock. I suspect, however, it is to make the straw, the only fodder
or hay here, more nourishing. In the villages the harvest is
spread on the houses to dry. The rcap-hook is very long, yet
many of the reapers, both men and women, half squat when using
it. The Albanians furnish quite a large percentage of the field-
peasantry, and the Bulgarians the shepherds. All Grecians evince
the old characteristics observed by St. Paul : " They run about to
hear something new." In passing field or other laborers, they
invariably paused to look at us, and when a train whirled by, all
would stand up and watch it until out of sight. I like this. A
rushing train of cars is a grand sight, and seems always to present
a new form. The man who can let one pass and not give it a
glance must be a slave to his work or akin to the ox of the field.
I took a pleasure in India in the fact that the queer buffalo had a
mind sufficiently inquiring always to look up with interest at a
passing train. If a young one tossed its head I felt amused, but
when one a hundred yards off deliberately turned and kicked
squarely at us, he aroused a fellow-feeling in my breast.

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AN EXQUISITE FAREWELL SCENE.

327

The wine of this country, while somewhat rough, is fruity and
rich. The natives, however, do not drink it in its normal state.
They put into their white-wine, resin from the Isthmian pine
giving to the liquid a taste of sealing-wax. It is called " resinatta,"
and is drunk in lai'ge quantities. If I be not mistaken, the
ancients had a like taste, which was mentioned in the grand
poems. They use olive-oil largely, but I believe it is not of good
quality. Their manner of curing the olive I like much better
than the Spanish. The fruit is gathered ripe, and is cured in oil.
It looks black and unsightly, but has a delightful flavor, and is
decidedly health-giving. Being desirous of going up the Danube,
and yet of reaching Italy before it becomes too warm, we were
forced to leave Athens much sooner than we would have liked,
and on the afternoon of the 2gth, took the Khedive steamer for
this place. VVc had a marvellous sunset, as we passed the fine
old temple ruin of Sunium, at Cape Colonnna, the southernmost
point of Attica.

A beautiful thing nearly always so impresses me that I
am inclined to think it more beautiful than any thing before seen.
I think I have seen a hundred sunsets finer than any preceding
onT. Hut the memor\- of this will always live with me as the
paragon of ail. The mountains to the went furnished a perfect
outline. The sky was beautifully blue above, running down
through the whole range of opalescent tints to a brilliant gold.
Short banks of clouds of purple, fringed with flame, stretched
here and there near the sun, flanked by others, more or less cumu-
lous, of purple bordered with orange-violet with pink borders,
and of red-violet ; floating about, and between the drawn-out
bands, were fleecy flecks of fire-clouds, almost dazzling, but dis-
solving and melting away while the eye was trying to take them
in. Tliese cloud-forms and their colorings on the mother-of-pearl
tinted sky, dissolved and took new shapes and tones so rapidly
that the eye could scarcely take note of them before they were
gone and were followed by others differing from, but not less
beautiful than those preceding. The western sky was a vast in-
verted opal, as if one were at the heart of the gem, and were
looking upon the fickle, magical hues of its cheek from within
instead of from without. On a lofty rock promontory, projected
over the sea, were the columns in white marble (all that is left) of
the old ruins of Sunium, Parthena's most southern Attic home,
reaching nearly up to the mountain's sky-line, and resting upon its
purple-gray side as a background directly below the point where
the sun had gone under. Old memories were woven into the
living picture, which was beautiful beyond description — painfully
beautiful. Thus, one is often affected, when looking upon a
thing of beauty so transcendant that the brain seems powerless to
grasp it and speak of it to the heart, or when the heart becomes
so full that the head is unable to give it full sympathy. This
sunset under old Sunium was full of deep pathos, fitting picture

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A KACE WITH THE SUN.

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for memory to recall as the parting scene of this storied land ;
this land so little yet so grand, whose men walked the ground in
the form of gods ; whose genius was plucked from the eternal
stars ; where poetry was a living thing and art hovered over the
every-day home. Wonderful land ! A speck upon the earth, yet
the story of its deeds will roll over the world's plains, and be echoed
from its hills, until history shall turn to tradition and tradition
itself shall become dumb.

We stood upon the deck of our little ship, and looked long
toward the west. The sun went down over the mountains and
sank to his rest. Shadows gathered over the hills and night fell
upon the sea. With a sigh, I bade a long farewell, a final good-
by to Greece.

CHAPTER XXXII.

COSMOPOLITAN CONSTANTINOPLE— liEAUTIFUL APrROACII— CUS-
TOM HOUSE— SOLOMON AND HIS TRII5E— DOGS— ST. SOPIILV—
liAZAAKS— THE SALAAM-LICK— THE TIMID SULTAN— DER-
VTSHES— THE I50SPH0RUS— WONDERFUL PANORAMA.

Constantinople, May lo, 1888,

If one will spread before him a map of the eastern hemisphere
he will observe that nearly all the land lies in the northern half,
and that it is one mighty continent, divided arbitrarily by
geographers into three divisions, but by nature into only two.
Cut out from the map this vast continent, and try to balance it on a
pin for a pivot. The centre of gravity will we found to be not far
from the southern end of the Caspian Sea. If the card-board map
be as hard there as the land of that region is sterile, the pin will not
enter it, just as the plow antl the hoc cannot penetrate the surface
of those desert regions of Persia. If the paper partakes of the
character of the country delineated upon it, the nearest point the
pin will enter will be in Western Asia Minor; for there the near-
est cultivable land will be found, and there, too, is approximately
the centre of the productiveness of the hemisphere. There,
moreover, will be found the centre of a mighty system of water
which permeates throughout this vast tripartite continent. It is
not too fanciful to call this the arterial system of the old world,
with Byzantium the heart and the Bosphorus the aorta, which
flows out into the Mediterranean, along the western shore of
Asia, along and into northern and central Africa ; along and up
into the gardens and vineyards of Europe ; over the sandy
reach of the Suez into the Red Sea and the world of water, and
the lands of fabled treasures beyond ; and through the Black
Sea, and splashing over into the Caspian and upon the Aral, up
into the vast grain and cattle regions watered by the rivers flow-
ing into these seas.

If there be a spot in Europe, Asia, or Africa, designed by nature
for the imperial heart of the old world, it would seem that the
Byzantium-Constantinople is the one. A cursory' view of the
map and a very slight knowledge of the productiveness of the
lands into whose fibres the pulsations of the Bosphorus can
throw the quicken-ng blood and draw back repayment, will con-
vince any one of t.iis fact. A walk through this city — meeting
peoples from all these regions, here domiciled as if to the manor

329

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born, is only a sharp emphasis of the evidence given by the map.
The untravelled American sees people drawn from many chmcs,
but they have become almost immediately Americans. One who
traverses the streets of New York or London, where are men of all
lands retaining their native characteristics, and sees them all only
as sojourners. But here one meets people in colonies, in squads
and groups, each group differing from all others, yet all seem-
ingly at home and evidently feeling that this city belongs to them
and tliey to it. Here one jostles against groups of Englishmen as
thoroughly English as if living within the sound of Bow bells;
Frenchmen, who look as if they sipped their coffee and absinthe
every evening on the boulevards ; Germans who have just blown
the cream from their lager; Italians, who are happy on a frugal
meal of macaroni ; Levantine Greeks, noisy and full of swagger
and bad wine ; Arabs, stately and dignified, conscious that they
alone have the right to cry " lUaha-il Allah " ; Armenians with
long noses patterned after a vulture's beak, who can give a Jew two
in five and win every time ; Albanians, wliose bed-fcllows are their
swords and daggers, and who think a fight in the dark more agree-
able than a feast ; Tripolitans, who wear green turbans, claiming
to be the real descendants of the prophet, and pining for battle
in his cause; Turkomans and Kurds, who claim for their country
the land they can see beneath the vault of the sky ; Africans
from south of the Sahara and about the springs of the Nile, who
wear slashes ?nd gashes for jewels, and consider long scars on
their cheeks uieir gems; Bulgarians, heavy and stupid, whose
every breath is a hurricane of garlic, and Russians, whose dream
is that the Greek cross may supplant the cresent on St. Sophia's
dome.

All these various peoples are met with in other cities, but one
meeting them at once recognizes the fact that they are in them,
but not of them ; here, however, they seem at hoine and as much
of the place as are the Turks themselves. No distinctions are
made among men because of race, previous condition, or color.
A German is at the head of the army, and Woods Pasha, an
Englishman, will probably fill the place of Hobart Pasha at the
head of the navy. A Greek is the Sultan's physician, and is said
to wield vast influence over him. An African, whose blue-black
face has three broad gashes on each cheek, is in command of a
regiment, and the army is of every hue, from fairest white to
sooty black. The locality teaches that all men are akin, and a
prayer uttered with the face turned toward Mecca smooths down
the steps leading to the most exalted positions.

Mutterings are constantly heard throughout Europe to-day,
beneath the ground and over it, threatening war and the dread
carnage which must follow, and men and women are kept in con-
stant fear. When Jie great emperor, whose fiat crystallized so
m?.iy petty German states into one mighty Teutonic empire,

GLORIOUS, IGNOBLE STAMBOUL.

ZT,"^

was lying upon his iron bedstead listening bravely for the tap of
the drum which was to call him to the ranks of the mighty dead,
men instead of thinking of his glorious career and preparing to
drop a tear upon his casket, were looking toward San Remo and
watching the horizon to see whether a bright sky laden with
peace was to come up from Italy, or a lurid cloud reeking with
war was to roll over Europe ; and all because of Constantinople
and the Bosphorus.

Wise statesmen arc closeted with each other studying the
world's map, and with heads bent close together, fix their eyes
all in one little focus — Seraglio Point, where the Golden Horn
brings down the " sweet waters of Europe," to pour them into
the wonderful salt river rushing between Stamboul and Scutari.
Shallow-pated wiseacres discuss in flowing periods that all-talked-
of and little-understood problem, " the Eastern Question," and
glibly declare who should own Constantinople. For 2,500
years the eyes of all civilization have been turned upon
this spot, and yet not a single deed was ever performed here
which was fairly entitled to be spread upon the page of history.
Here, close by, the searchers for the Golden Fleece moored their
ships when Greece was the home of mythical demi-gods. Here
the dread Macedonian monarch was forced to cry halt. Here,
over 2,000 years ago, the vast hordes of Asia were compelled
to bend aside their steps, and long centuries afterward the
crescent was baffled, on its world-conquering march by the
green waters of a stream but little over a half-mile wide. Here
lOO.ooQ old men, women, and children, begged for bread, when
they could go no farther on their weary pilgrimage to the holy
sepulchre. Here soldiers under the banner of the cross, slaugh-
tered the followers of Christ, and again, after a few centuries.
Christian blood flowed in rivers, and Christian women and chil-
dren by the thousands marched mournfully into slavery, when
Mohammed H., stained with his bloody hand St. Sophia's alab.is-
ter column. Toward this spot, and for this spot, mighty armies
have marched and vast fleets have sailed, within the present half
century, and fought great battles, but not upon its waters or
near its limits. Within a few hundred acres, not far from where
I write, crimes, silent, dark, and bloody, in vast numbers, but all
unrecorded, have been perpetrated, enough to make the very
name of man a stench in the nostrils of angels, and yet not a
single act of individual heroism, no sublime performance by
masses, was ever recorded as done within or under Stamboul's
walls. Beautiful city, the heart of the third of the world, with
an existence of nearly 3,000 years, the seat of empire for 15 cen-
turies, the witness of untold crimes, and with chronicles without
number, and yet having no history, for her deeds have not been
worthy of record, a city whose name is " linked with no virtue
and ten thousand crimes " !

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^ A'^C'i^ /F/77/ 2//Ji SUA'.

Under Sunium's old ruin \vc bade adieu to Greece, on our way
here. The next morning's dawn found us under " the home of
the blind old man of Scio's rocky isle," the island an earthquake
so fearfully desolated four or five years ago. We then steamed
up Smyrna's gulf, with pretty mountains on our right, and to our
left a plain flecked with huge pyramids of salt — salt enough to
make a sea briny. Here this necessary article is manufactured by
a Turkish monopoly and is piled in mountains, from which ships
load from year to year, without apparently lessening the heaps.
Smyrna is a thoroughly Oriental city of 200,000 population, has a
fine bazaar, and a magnificent view from a castle, an old ruin
perched on a hill, just back of the town. So insecure is the
country, however, owing to brigandage, that we were warned not
to go beyond the hill. Foreigners are not infrequently picked up
and held for ransom.

Early morning found us nearly into the Dardanelles. The view
was pretty. High hills or low mountains prettily clothed in their
spring garments of green were on either hand. There was a sweet
freshness in this we had not seen for a year. For many months
the green of all plants has been often rich, but lacking that fresh
tint which so cheers the eye in the early offerings of the year.
The day was cold and damp. Perhaps it was this which prevented
much enthusiasm when we looked upon the great mounds mark-
ing the graves of Achilles and Ajax. I never could rave about
the mighty deeds under Ilium's walls. The whole thing always
appeared to me a sort of tempest in a tea-pot — a huge buffo-farce.
Achilles was a bragging, handsome Buffalo Bill, and Ajax an an-
cient John Sullivan, wlio let out left-handers with sledge-hammer
force, and was the admiration of the heirs-apparent and of Helen
peeping from behind latticed windows. Homer was a blind old
Gilbert and Sullivan, singing from city to city, and begging back-
.shish in copper and half-clone sheep's meat.

I did not catch now our first view of Stamboul with the en-
thusiasm I felt 36 years ago. I recall how it then seemed to lift
from the .sea as a fairy city — it had a cardboard lightness, with its
rounded domes and tall minarets and palaces perched on wooded
hills, all lighted by a sun coming up from the east warm and un-
veiled by a single cloud. I had then been in the saddle for
months, on hot plains and under a burning midsummer sun, and
had sailed from the foot of Olympus under Broussa the evening
before in a caique of eight oars. We had slept soundly on our
rugs spread on its bottom all night, and found ourselves at day-
break on an island, within sight of Con.stantinople. There we
breakfasted on sardines taken fresh from a fishing boat and broiled
on a mass of coals from burnt brush. It was a delicious breakfast
for us and the crew. Then, with our prow pointed towards St.
Sophia's dome, we rowed and revelled in the beautiful picture
growing out of the sea. I remember we looked and looked and

THE CUSTOM-HOUSE. MY CIGARS.

333

scarcely spoke, and when we did it was in short ejaculations or
murmurs of delij^ht. Taylor and I were both young then,
and filled with hopes as swelling as the domes before us, and as
heaven-directed as the minarets in sight. He has gone to mingle
with the eternal dead, and I am fast reaching the great shore line
dividing the land of the past from the trackless ocean of the
boundless hereafter. Then the sky was rosy bright, laughing in
triumph at yesternight. But now — it is the last day of April,
cold, drizzling, and dreary, fitting anniversary to me of one of the
dies iric of remorseless fate.

Though the day was to me so sad a one and so dreary, yet
Stamboul arose before us in a wondrous beauty all its own.
Wc have all seen the conception of the artist of " Excelsior,"
where the hopeful youth sees a city sitting in dreamy light in a
world of fleecy cloud. This gives a sort of idea of this city, seen
from the sea. Our ship bent into the Hosphorus — yjo and odd
feet of water so deeply green that most people call it blue. We
looked over upon the old gardens of the Serai, now a half wilder-
ness of neglected trees and green vegetable plats. Shutting it
partly in, arose the lofty walls rising out of the water. There was
the gate througli which many a beauty, tied in a sack, has been
quietly thrust, and silently sunken in her watery grave ! Steamers
were i)lying in great numbers on the stream, and light caiques
were darting about us by the hundreds. We turned into the
Golden Horn, among a dozen or more steamers, and were soon
surrounded by hotel runners and boatmen. Surrendering our-
selves, we were quickly on Turkish soil, and very nasty soil it
is in this capital. The nastiness of her streets on ainy days is
superlative.

At the custom-house I forgot to give backshish to the solemn
Turk who examined our traps. On the very top was my last box
of Trichy cigars. He informed me that I was fined 40 piasters
($2), for bringing in tobacco. With a rueful face I paid the fine,
and reached for my smokers. He quickly wrapped them in a red
handkerchief, and said they were forfeited. This was more than
my free Yankee blood could stand. I am afraid I forgot myself

and said " it." I hope I did not, for I have grown pious since

I quit associating with " newspaper fellers." But I know I
solemnly asseverated that I would not buy a pipeful of tobacco or
a rug in the Sultan's dominions, and would wipe his mud from my
feet as quickly as possible.

We found the great hotels full. We went to the Little Bellevue.
I mention it particularly, so that some one reading this may re-
member it. The view from its windows over the deep valley, along
the Horn, and upon the picturesque-looking houses on the green
hills in the distance, was simply superb, and the cuisine capital.
Determined to quit the town as soon as possible, we commenced
our sight-seeing. We found ourselves upon the great broad, low

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./ A'AC/^ WITH THE SUN.

bridge leading from Pera over to Stamboul. This bridge is one of
the most interesting things in the city ; about a quarter of a mile
long and at least Co feet wide, it is covered from early morn till
dark, with a moving mass of more various people than can be
seen together anywhere else on earth. Every nationality, every
color and complexion, every form and fashion of dress, men,
women, and children, speaking as many tongues as caused Babel's
tower to halt in its upward growth ; dashing officers in gold braids
and decorations ; European ladies in Parisian costumes ; Arabs in
burnoose, and Armenians in caftans, fat, well-fed Turks; and beg-
gars so fearfully maimed and disfigured that they ceased to be ob-
jects of pity, so horribly repulsive were they ; army horses career-
ing, and patient donkeys plodding.

While we were trying to understand how much we were to pay
toll, an unkcm\it old chap took my money from my hand, paid the
toll, got back the change, and handed it to me, telling in fair
English that the toll was for each a quarter of a piaster. I noticed
that he had given a piaster and a quarter, whereas my party was
only four. He had paid for himself. This was our introduction
to Solomon, the Son of David, the brother of Abraham and of
Isaac and of Jacob, and the father of five sons. From that mo-
ment the love of Solomon and of his family for us surpassed the
love of woman. It mattered not where wc were, morning, noon,
or evening during our twelve days' stay, Solomon or some of his
family were sure to meet us, or to be somewhere near. If we
looked about inquiringly, as if seeking some unfound place, one
of the Solomon family was at our elbow to tell us where we ought
to go ; if we hailed a caique, Solomon's son arose from the salt
water to interpret for us, and to settle the price ; if we called a
horse boy to bargain for a ride, Abram rose from beneath a pav-
ing-stone to make a good contract for us and to mount one of the
horses as our guide. When we were through with an excursion,
Solomon, or Solomon's brother, or Solomon's son, prevented us
from being cheated, and took whatever we offered for his services
with cheerful thanks. If we gave five francs for a half day's work
to one of them, he took it for his own. If we handed him a
franc, saying it was all we had, he thanked us without a murmur.
Among them they spoke all languages, — one good English, an-
other good French, another good Russian, all good Turkish, and
all enough English to understand, and make us understand a lit-
tle. The most remarkable peculiarity of these sons of Israel was
the extraordinary manner in which they accidently got into the
neighborhood of the shop of some Hebrew dealers in carpets or
some other things usually dear to the traveller's heart. They did
not lead us, or seemed to care that we should go into these
places. There was a sort of attraction between us when with
Solomon and the houses of his people. Ah ! Solomon, I shall
never forget you, nor Isaac, nor Abram, nor Jacob. You led our

SOLOMON AAl) HIS TRIBE.

335

feet into pleasant places, and your ways were ways of peace. l?ut
you did not get a piece of any dollar we paid for rugs and cm-
broideries, for you helped us to bring down prices in every in-
stance. You simply loved us, Solomon, because we were young
men so far from home ! Walking with Solomon, our feet got
over the threshold of the house of David — David Levy, and there
was the wealth of the whole land of the sheep and of the goat and
of the camel. I told David I had sworn not to buy a thing in
Turkey. It mattered not. He simply liked to show his goods,
and he did show them, and my heart yearned for the wool of the
sheep that looked like the silk of the worm.

I told our consul of my trouble. lie said he thought his drago-
man might make the authorities undo the wrong done me, and, be-
sides, the principle ought to be settled for future travellers, that
they may enter a limited number of foreign cigars on payment of
duty, and I also got the thanks of the consul for pressing the
matter. Result : I got back my cigars, and all of my money ex-
cept one and a half francs duty, and I sent a box of David Levy's
rugs to Chicago ; and Solomon is the friend of David.

Solomon is an institution of Constantinople, — so are the dogs.
Fifty-three I counted on a narrow street in a walk of i lo yards,
and it was not a good day nor a good neighborhood for dogs.
They were everywhere, — in the gutters, in the middle of the
streets, against the house-walls, between our legs, and under our
horse's feet — and such dogs! All fox-eyed, all dirty, all lean,
and nearly all mangy. Some have their tails on their backs, but
the majority carry them low, almost between their legs. They
can sleep anywhere ; no noise awakes them ; but the crack of a
coachman's whip makes them even when asleep get two inches
beyond a carriage-wheel. They are either asleep in your way as
as you walk, or they are fighting between your legs. A dogtrots
along a street, he looks sheepish, as if he felt liimself engaged in
a mean business ; another dog attacks him ; they snap and bite.
After a while one gets the other down, and looks as if he is about
to choke him to death. Just as the bottom dog is about to give
a last gasp, some third dog takes the top one by the leg, then a
fourth comes in, and a fifth takes a hand ; probably a dozen are
soon engaged. I have watched them, and it seemed every dog
was going for every other dog, — a regular Kentucky free fight.
I invariably saw it through. There is a fascination in a dog-fight.
The acknowledgment is shocking, I know, but the statement is
true. Sometimes all will be on one until he is limp, and then
those that had finished him go for each other. The cause of
nearly all the fights is that certain dogs claim a certain set of
streets or blocks, and another set have another locality. Woe to
the dog that goes beyond his bo'inds, even by the width of a nar-
row street. When one does and gets into a fight, all the dogs of
the two adjoining colonies are apt to get into the row, and when

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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the battle grows fast and furious, and a dog feels teeth in his
haunches, he }^oes for the nearest, whether friend or foe. The)-
frequcntl)' get kilieil. We saw one behind the rail of St. Sophia's
yard laid out dead. He would have been torn to pieces but for a
" mullah " ( priest') who ilrove the victoroff. t\ do;^ always goes over
his bounds with a hang-donr look, jlc knows his danger, ^'et, for
love or for a bone, he does what inanj- a man does— takes a chance.

Hlac<iue IJcy, so many years Turkish Minister at Washington,
lives with his wife and beautiful daughter in the Uellevue. lie is
president of the Pera municipality, — nearly the same thing as a
maj'or. 1 le is a great friend of the i)ariah clt)g, and declares that
all the tlogs about the municipalitj' recognized the fact when lu;
was made president ; that they at once paiil liiin great deference,
and when he went toward the city building the\' followed him in
inost respectful manner. Not long since a dog bit the Russian
y\mbassador. Iledemanded that Ulactjue Iley should 'ill him. lie
inquired into the matter, and found the Russian h trodden on
the dog's tail, and decided the dog was justified. 1 ;gested that
it was evident the Turkish dog had more sympathy lor a l''rench-
man than for a Russian. Hlactjue is of l-'rench blood. His wife
lauglied, but her husband was silent. The Turks are wonderfully
guarded to say nothing of the Russians. I was toUl that the city
was full of Russian spies in every localitj-, and that the Turks were
in constant fear of them.

As in all other Levantine cities, the ilonke)' plays his p.irt and
performs more than his allotted work. He is the baker's wagon
and the itinerant peddler. Huge panniers are swung over his
back, and ho faithfully trudges from house to house with the
staff of life. Each housekeeper who can purchase on weekly or
monthly payments has a square stick given her. On this the
bread-man cuts a notch for each loaf delivered. When the stick
is filled he simply cuts it down, taking out the notches, and a
new bread-book is thus opened. The donkey, too, is the lumber-
wagon ; joists of all lengths, scantlings, and boards are loaded
upon the little fellow lengthwise, so that the forward ends meet
or cross over his liead, and the diverging ends behind come close
to or drag, wide apart, on the ground. Often these rear ends are
six and eight feet apart, and as the donkey bends about the
crooked streets threaten the shins of the pedestrian in a fearful
manner. A train of 20 to 30 of these lumber-carriers coming
down grade, and forcing the people to hug closely the walls or
dodge into doorways, is an amusing sight. But one never sees
any one angry at the shifts they are put to to save themselves.
The living along narrow, crowded streets makes every one ready
for the " give and take in life," which may be called one of its
best philosophies.

Horses, too, are used for pack-carriers. They carry the grain
and flour from one part of the city to another. The donkeys are

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THE BAZAAR.

337

co-laborers, however, in this. Flour is distributed from the mills
to the bakers in lui^c, sciuare, curiously-tied baj^s. y\t certain
hours trains of horses and ilonkeys are seen in do/ens, fifties, and
hundreds about the ^rain and flour bazaars. All parts of streets
devoted to special trades i)r to any vending purposes, are in the
East called bazaars. The " shoe bazaar," the " (Ireek ba;'..i.ir,"
the " silk bazaar," and so on throutjh the w hole list of trades, and
of nationalities are spoken of constantly. iUit in Stamboul there
is one locality callecl " the bazaar." It is of f^reat extent, cover-
ing many acres, 2^ upward. The b.izaar consists of a lar^a- num-
ber of narrow streets, with shallow shops on either sitle, supported
by columns or pillars, and covered overheail to a larjije extent by
successions of small domes generally ^dazeo. When the sun is
hij^h matting is more or less spread over the j;lazed portions of
the streets and over the roof and domes. Tiicse little streets are
thus shaded and tolerably well protected from rains, and beint^on
u])-and-down <;round, and having many Columns, some in double
and others in triple rows, with the small shops displaying; a ^nx-at
variety of wares and ^oods — silks, calicoes, and carpels — running
largely to cjaudy colors: the shopkeepers in various costumes,
bri;4lit j^irdles, and brilliant red fezes; and crossing each other at
every kind of angle, with the soft light coming through domes
and queer roofs, are womlerfully picturesque. Here one can
purchase any thing and every thing, and get fairly cheateil too.
Shopkeepers ply the foreigner with invitations to look at their
stuffs. " Come in, sir. This i > he place you want." Another:
" Here, effendi, other fellows iheat you. I sell cheap. I cheap
John. Melkin all buy from me," and so on. A constant fire is
kept up as you stumble along, for your eyes are so attracted by
the bright, pretty shops — all open — that your feet get independ-
ent and are apt to take an elevation. Generally, certain streets
or localities are devoted to particular trades. Now you are
among carpet dealers, then among silk and embroidery dealers.
Men do their work in the front of their cupboard-like shops,
working with their hands and steadying a part of their machinery
with their toes. The foot helps the hand throughout the East.
A wMole section is given to furniture dealers, and a table or chair
is being made on the edge of the street before the shop. Then
another locality is occupied by brass-workers. Men arc hammer-
ing brass into cups or plates, and close by others are heating the
plates or bowls and zincking or leading them so that they shine
like silver. A man who delights to watch men finds food for
many thoughts, and finds whiling-away places for many an
hour.

The Turk, as an aggregation, is a very sick man, and but little
fitted for this age and for his position so close to western activity.
He cannot remain much longer on *he Bosphorus. The world
wants it, the West demands it. The only question is wWo shall

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take it ; each people is afraid to let the other in. But for that
the Turk would be now packing up and nioviiv,' eastward. When
he is gone the v/estern traveller will have lost much of the pictu-
resque, for the go-ahead ideas of the West cannot stop to prescrvK:
it. I wish all nations could come to an agreement and make a
" free city on the liosphorus," free to all the world. I would
even be willing that Uncle Sam should sail in his chip.

Undertheauspicesof our polite Secretary of Legation, Mr. King,
we went with several dozen others of our countrymen to witness
the Sultan's progress to his mosque. He performs this ceremony
every Friday as the head of the faithful. Travellers are given a
large room in a handsome building fronting llamidie Mosque, close
to Yieldiz Kiosk, the palace in which the Sultan resides. There
were over lOO strangers present, some of thciu very distinguished
people, with the secretaries of their respective embassies. As our
minister was not present, Mr. King adroitly smuggled me into a
separate small room, reserved for the di])lomats, in which th.ere
were onlj' a half dozen. There I had a fine view of the brilliant
ceremony. Regiment after regiment — 7,000 soldiers in all — came
with full bands and stationed themselves around the large square
enclosing the riiosque. They were handsomely uniformed and
marched admin.oly, and were a splendiil body of men. I never
saw any tro( ps in any land surpass two regiments of cavalry, or,
perhaps, more properly called, mountctl infantry. The men were
fine, bold-looking fellows, and the horses very good, some of those
ritlden by the officers being superb. The street from the palace,
200 yards off, and the court of the moscjue were kept sanded and
raked down. Fully an hour was consumed in marching the vari-
ous regiments into position and getting every thing ready for the
mighty head of the church throughout Mohammedan lands.

When all was in readiness a ringing shout went up from all the
soldiers, apparently most hearty, and a large number of ofificers,
in gorgeous uniforms, appeared on fi:>ot. followed by six superb,
pure-blooded Arabian horses, under saddle, led by splendid
grooms. Following the riderless horses came a victoria, drawn
by two noble white Arabian staliions. In this open carriage the
Sultan came from the palace in simple sable-lined caftan and red
fez. He saluted with a wave of his hand those at the windows
of the diplomatic room and the strangers in the large room. At
the stejis of the mosque he alighted and ascentied alone over a
rich carpet.

The Muezzim from the minaret called the faithful to prayer.
While the ruler remained in the mosque, which was near an hour,
delicious coffee, tea, and cigarettes were served to the hunilred or
more strangers, and the soldiers stood at rest. Tiien a large ami
finely drilled band mounted a terrace near the mosque, and one
by one, in quick step, the regiments passed before a window in
which the Sultan stood. This was a splendid pageant. When all

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THE SULTAN OF TURKEY.

339

had passed, the Sultan's mother came out of the mosque, and as
her carriai^c drove by, she tlirew money to poor people who were
bevond one of the files of scjldiery. Then the Sultan came and
entered an open vehicle, and taking the reins, drove iiimself back
to the palace surrounded by crowds of officers, running before and
about the carriage.

Again, in passing, the ruler gave a very cordial salute to our
windows. While the soldiers were marching before him a couple
of aides came to say that the Sultan sent his compliments to the
distinguished strangers who paid this mark of respect to the re-
ligious ceremony of the ".Salaam-lick." And sometime later
anotlu'r aide-de-camp came into the room I was in and said that
" the Sultan had inquired who we were, and on learning our names,
thanked us for coming to thus honor this holy ceremony," or
something to that effect. I rather doubted that this latter special
message had been sent, but I afterwards met the aide and was in-
formed that my card with my rust position had been sent in to
the chamberlain by our Secreta.iy of Legation ; that the sultan had
asked who occupied the diplomatic window ; that this and the
Earl of Clarendon's card had been handed him, and he then sent
the message.

The Sultan is a small, slight man, verj' thin, and wearing a care-
worn, Inggard look". lie is said to be \'ery timid, and, owing to
some prophecy, is in constant fear that he will be assassinated,
and by a stranger. lie regulates his every action by the con-
junctions of the ])lanets ; keeps ambassadors frequently awaiting
an audience for weeks because of some baleful crossing of star-
lines. I heartl of an amusing evidence of his nervous alarm when
Lew Wallace was our minister, and which the minister of
course coulil not tell. It was wdien the British fleet was occu-
pying a tlireatening position off Alexandria. The Sultan asked
liini to induce the United States to propose to mediate, and thus
prevent liloodshed. The minister telegraphed to the govern-
ment at Washington, got its consent, and then presented the
matter to Lord Dufferin, the English ambassador, who could not
decline Hut the prevention of bloodshed was not what England
wanted. So the wily earl cpiietly cabled the British admiral that
he would do well to fire a shot, and thus set the bail in motion,
before his government could hear of the proposed mediation.
The shot was fired, antl after midnight the Turkish ruler, hearing
of it, hurried an officer off to bring our minister post-haste to the
]Kihce. Wallace rushed off. half dressed, brushing his hair as he
rode, ami found the Sultan in a state of fearful trepidation. The
pallitl ruler informed him of what had happened and asked him
what he was to do. The blunt Republican scratched his head a
moment and then replied: " There is but one thing to be done,
and th.it your majesty should do at once." The grateful Turk
asked what it was. " Your majesty should place yourself at the

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A MACE WITH THE SUN.

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head of the army in person, and proceed immediately to Egypt."
The poor monarch came very near swooning.

There are three regular Sundays in Constantinople — Friday for
the Mohammedans, Saturday for the Jews, who keep it in most
orthodox sacredness, and Sunday for the Christians ; of the latter
the Greeks and Armenians are the greatest in numbers ; I think,
over 400,000.

Travellers go on Friday to see the dancing and howling
Dervishes. The latter is an English misnomer. They are a sect
called Heurleurs. One of their ceremonies is a ritual by a mullah,
responded to by the brothers and worshippers, who, as they re-
spond, sway themselves, while standing in line, from one side to
the other and jerking the head, all the while uttering the name
of Allah in some prayerful phrase. As their fervor increases the
sideway motion becomes more and more extended and the head-
jerking more and more rapid, until they appear to be almost in a
species of fit. This action is continued for nearly an hour. The
sweat pours from their faces, and their heads look as if they would
be jerked off. As the fervor increases one by one of the audience
join the line. When we were present a coal-black Ethiopian, an
officer of the army, put on the robe. He was a splendid specimen
of manhood, and threw his whole soul into the thing. Sweat
rolled from his ebon cheeks, and at times his head really looked
as if it would leave his shoulders. Each motion drew from him
the prayer to Allah in convulsive grunts. An American lady
present became quite excited. I thought I saw her features
twitch in involuntary nervous sympathy. After this ritual is over
many of the faithful, and many children who are more or less sick,
lie prone upon the floor, and the head mullah, or priest, walks over
them, treading upon each, and then one by one blows upon their
fo-es, when they go off happy, if not cured. Babies in arms are
simply blown upon and touched. The worshippers seem most
intense in their devotion, and solemn in its performance.

The dancing or whirling Dervishes, after praying for, say half
an hour with many prostrations, then range themselves around a
circular floor in the centre of the mosque and listen to a peculiar
music performed by a part of their order, and to a litany read by
their high priest, all the time marching in single file around the
outer circle, each bowing low, when opposite and farthest from
the " mecca " of the mosque — that is, the part corresponding to
the altar in a Christian church, and always on the side of the
building pointing to the holy city of Mecca, and when on the
circle next to the mecca, each one with a peculiar step, turns and
faces the brother next following him, and each bowing low one to
the other; as this part of the ceremony progresses, the music be-
comes more fervid, when, one by one, the Dervishes will begin to
spin around as on a pivot, and at the same time circling around
the room. Each one spins more or less rapidly, as he may choose,

EASTER SUNDAY.

341

jypt-

but all go around the room in the same period, and all extend their
arms straight out as they thus waltz. Their dress is a high, coni-
cal cap, and a long, full skirt coming to the feet and bound in at
the waist. As they spin the skirt extends in proportion to the
speed of their motion — that of those moving very rapidly taking
the form of a widely extended funnel. I counted the revolutions
of one of the worshippers. It was 58 in the minute. This
motion he kept up for perhaps a half hour, and when stopping
showed no sign of dizziness. There were 30 odd on the floor at
once, but only one moved with this great rapidity. Two of
them were young novitiates, somewhere from ten to twelve years
of age. The whole thing proceeded with great solemnity and
decorum, and all seemed fervid and earnest.

On I-lastcr Sunday wc went to the fine ceremony in the Metro-
politan Greek Church in Stamboul. The patriarch and bishops
marclicd in exquisite and very rich robes, all with brilliant caps,
that of the patriarch being of wonderful richness and beauty.
The cluircli was painfully packed, the people swaying back and
forth from tlie pressure and movement of the outer lines. The
ambassadors of the countries adliering to the Greek faith were
present in their full court dresses, in seats next the altar. One of
their dragomen, seeing us in the swaying mass, worked his way
to us, and, extricating us, got us prominent seats. A part of the
ceremony was the reading, in twelve different languages, the story
of the reappearance of Christ to his disciples and the doubts of
Thomas. After the ceremony was over the favored guests were
conducted to a hall in the Metropolitan building, adjoining the
church. Into this the patriarch and the bishops then came, and
his lioliness, holding a golden cross, gave his hand to be kissed by
the believers, saying something to each as they did so, and giving
to eacli beautifully gilded and dyed Easter-eggs tied in a piece of
muslin. To the principal guests he gave four eggs, to all others
three. After the grandees and their ladies had kissed his hand, I
got to him and asked in French that an American might be per-
mitted to pay his respects. He had in his hand a bundle of three
eggs to give me, but he at once reached back and got one of
four, and gave them to me with some kindly spoken words, which
I couUi not understand, for they were in Greek.

I had some most agreeable interviews with our accomplished
minister, Mr. Straus, whose mugwump proclivities do not prevent
his being a most industrious representative of our government
and a most popular gentleman with all visiting Americans. Mrs.
Straus is greatly admired, and entertains beautifully. She honored
us by giving us a dinner, and afterward having us at an evening
reception.

I have spoken of Constantinople as the imperial heart of a
mighty contimint, but now I would, if I had the power, paint it
in its beauty —the jewel of the world. Nature was in high revelry

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when she conceived its site, and the genius of beauty, drunken
with ravishing dreams, was handmaiden at its birth. All v>\
nature's treasures were ransacked for material to build it, and not
a color was lacking on the palette from which it was painted as it
grew. Mountains were dwarfed into hills for its foundations —
hills retaining all the bold outlines and picturesque contour of
mountains. Seas were spun into rivers and woven into its struc-
ture — sea-rivers of vast depth and so darkly green that they look
like liquid emeralds thrown into deep shadow; while the liills are
so bright that they seem carpeted with emerald velvet bathed in
a flood of sunlight. Not e.vhausted by her work when the site of
the city was completed, nature scattered her surplus treasures and
built be?aitiful islands in the deep sea close by. She would leave
nothing undone to make this city imperial in beauty, so she
spread over it all a sky gloriously bright, yet tender and soft.

The Bosphorus is about 15 miles long, winding, twisting, and
bending, and swelling into rounded bays, between the Black Sea
and the Marmora. It varies from a half mile to perhaps a mile
and a half in width, and has a depth in some parts of 60 fathom
and everywhere deep enough for the largest ships. It has no
tide, but sweeps with majestic force from the lilack Sea, in some
points with a current of nine miles an hour. Throughout its
length noble hills and mountains lift from the water's edge, and
spurs, divided by narrow valleys or gorges, running down in bold
ridges, with here and there coves or deep creeks shooting back
into the hills. The largest of these creeks is the Golden Horn,
near the Marmora, over a quarter of a mile wide at its mouth and
running back with diminishing width some three miles into
a small stream of fresh water, " the .sweet waters of Europe."
The point lying between the Golden Horn, the Bosphorus, and
the sea contains the " Old Seraglio," now a waste of unused
palaces and unkempt gardens. This is called Seraglio Point, and
rises rather rapidly from the water to 200 or more feet, and,
though neglected, is most picturesque when .seen from the sea ami
from the liospliorus. The gardens and old palaces cover 100 to
200 acres, and are surrounded by a high wall, which, on the water
side, is massive and dingy with age. Within these walls have
been committed more silent deeds of intrigue and crime than on
any other spot of its si/.e on earth. Many a disgraced favorite
and many a suspected wife and concubine has been silently
.slipped into the river, whose vast depths never told the tale.
Many a rightful heir, and not a few emperors and sultans them-
selves, have here met their doom, and no living mortal dared ask
whither they had gone. Here crime has held high court under
Roman and Christian emperors, and under Moslem sultans, and
knew no relenting until fire drove the rulers to other cjuarters.

On the highest elevation of the point, and immediately behind
the garden and palace walls, stands the Mosque of St. Sophia,

ST. SOPHIA.

343

with its mighty flattened dome, lifting out of and over other and
smaller domes, whose arches support the grander one, and
lightened by four beautiful and lofty minarets. This is the noblest
edifice ever erected for the worship of the one living God, and is
the oldest of His churches, which has always and continuously
been used for worship. For over i,ooo years it was the most
holy of Christian temples, and when the Cross was removed
the Crescent immediately took its place, and the building became
the most exalted of Islam mosques, 'iiic minarets do not deface,
but rather add to the architectural perfections of the original
design. They arj to me the perfect complement of the swelling
dome for a place of worship. I cannot calmly look upon a noble
mosque without a feeling of religious sentiment filling my heart.
Were there no associations connected with the grandest of gothic
cathedrals, I would look upon them only with cold admiration.
The " Taj " for awhile almost sanctified the bad woman who
sleeps beneath its rounded vault. I have to recall the effects of
Islamism to prevent the cold marble in dome and minaret in a
fine mosque arousing a feeling of reverence for the Koran. It is
the " cJiuse " of Christ which makes me venerate even the grandest
gothic church. It is, however, not until after entering St. Sophia
and walking around its vast interior, and then standing beneath
the overhanging vault that the wonderful perfections of the edifice
sink into the soul. At first one is disappointed ; the proportions
arc so fine that it looks small; but it grows and grows until the
effect is almost painfully impressive. Perhaps the associations
have much to do with this. The centuries which rolled along
while the worship of the true God was held there — the memory
of the thousands of old men, women, and children who were
packed within its walls for sanctuary, when the blood-stained
Turks rushed in and gorged themselves with slaughter. The
recollection of the cry of " Illaha il Allah, Mohammed resoul
Allah ! " uttered by IMohammcd II., when he tore down the Cross
with his blood-dyed hands and planted the Cresent in its place.
These memories rushed upon me as I stood under the mighty
dome, and filled me with a sentiment of admiration and awe no
other church ever caused.

A mullah was sitting upon his cushions preaching to some
30 or 40 men squatted about him. I could now and then
catch some long ago familiar Arabic word, but could not under-
stand a thing he was saying ; but never in my life have I listened
to such perfect declamation — now in plain colloquial tone, telling
them of something connected with their religion or their duty,
then in winning persuasion drawing them to him ; then, with
almost fierce invective telling them of some wrong or sin, with
gestures all the while suited precisely to the tone, and, I felt, to
the words. I did not understand a single word spoken, yet I felt
sure I knew wliat he was saying. I stood and listened spell-

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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bound for a quarter of an hour, and could have stayed longer
with pleasure. Ah ! there is an oratory which is born of nature.
It is not in phrase nor in flowing words ; it conies from the heart.
Heart and brain speak to heart and brain. The rapt attention
and the occasional ejaculations of this mullah's hearers proved to
me this man spoke from the heart and reached the heart ; that he
was one of nature's orators.

Close by St. Sophia is another noble mosque, Achmet, large
and with six minarets. Then, farther back, are many others, all
more or less patterned after St. Sophia, scattered throughout
Stamboul, as the city swells and widens, and the Golden Horn
and the sea diverge more and more, until some three miles
back, runs the grand old Roman wall of great height and vast
thickness, and relieved every few hundred yards by massive tow-
ers. This wall commences in the ruins of a large fortress on the
sea, with seven towers, and stretches some three miles to the
Golden Horn. The wall and towers are broken and wrecked,
covered with ivy and hanging plants, with large slirubs lifting
from the top and broken sides, presenting a most picturesque
appearance. Within this wall and between the waters is a' popu-
lation of some 700,000 ; Turks, Jews, Greeks, and Armenians,
each nationality living in its separate quarter.

Across the Golden Horn come Pera, Gallatta, and other towns,
now grown into one. The highest part of this is perhaps 400 or
500 feet. Through these towns, or parts of towns, run deep
narrow valleys, the bottoms beautiful in gardens of trees, vines,
and vegetables. The steep sides of the hills which enclose
these gorges, and along their ridges, are covered by houses of
several stories on the lower fronts, but running into the hillside
on the other. In some localities the buildings are all white in
stucco, and many of them palatial in size and architecture ; in
others, weather-stain_d wooden buildings, leaning against the
hills, with their fronts of three to five stories, bold and yet pretty,
covered by latticed balconies or projecting windows, resting upon
long brackets and jutting far over the narrow streets. These
never knew glaring paint, but are tinted by time and the weather
in artistic tone. The streets are narrow and very crooked, having
never been laid out, but the first houses being erecteil to suit the
convenience of the owners, the streets adapted themselves to those
built, and others sprang up along the bending ways. Although
from the streets and the crooked alleys and lanes leading into
them the ground seems covered with structures, yet when viewed
from an elevation or from a distance it is seen that in little courts
among the houses there are so many trees — fruit or flowering — so
many that the city seems half embowered in shade. Besides,
about many of the imposing structures, hidden behind lofty
walls, are charming gardens, some of considerable extent. These
add greatly to the bower-like tone of the town.

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Across the Bosphorus, opposite Stamboul and Pera, lies the
old city of Scutari, for centuries held by the Turivs before they
won the European shore. This town, with one above and
another below, has a population of 300,000 to 400,000, grows out
of the water and climbs the steep hij^h hills, and is dominated
by a mountain over 2,000 feet high. From this, one gets
the finest view of human life combined with nature's beauties in
the world. Almost under it lies the old tumble-down Turkish
town, with cemeteries of large size, in several localities quite in
the town, densely shaded by tall spire-like cypress trees in som-
bre funereal green. Then farther, yet apparently almost under
one, the grand liosphorus, bending and doubling between lofty
inountains, on whose steep sides are many villages or suburbs
springing out of the river's edge and climbing high up on the
steep slopes or far into the gorges which bore into the hills ; sev-
eral magnificent palaces of sultan and pashas, with long, beautiful
facades laved in the emerald floods, line the two shores, but more
especially the European opposite. There lies Stamboul and
Pera, with their mosques, with domes in masses and minarets
pointing towards the sky, and with bright palaces and white
houses and softly-tinted old wooden buildings, all embowered in
green, and softened and toned to a delicious coloring, the whole
having the appearance of having been laid out and built less for
use than for picturesque effect ; over and beyond Pera are the
hills or mountains with their nearer sides covered with cypress
groves, in which with the glass are seen the turbaned headstones
of the Turks, or dotted with Arab graveyards resembling in the
distance rock- and boulder-covered slopes all glaring in the sun-
light ; and still. beyond, stretch the soft outline of the hills car-
peted in velvety green. The cities and towns below are so
large that they are the homes of 1,500,000 .souls.

Running back and through these arc gorges or narrow valleys,
with their bottoms green in trees and gardens, and at this sea-
son of the year brilliant in blooming acacia and other flowering
trees and shrubs. Looking to the right are the broken hills and
deep waters climbing towards the Black Sea ; looking to the left,
is the smooth Marmora, with hilly islands close by, studded with
villas and villages, and over and beyond, lofty Olympus, wrapped
in a sheet of purest snow, and all overhead spans a soft, pearly
blue sky with fleecy clouds lightly swimming upon the vaulteu,
ethereal blue. As we sate and took in this wondrous picture, or,
rather, succession of pictures, a little skylark rising close by com-
menced its love song ; up it climbed in spirals, now to the right,
then turned to the left ; higher and higher, singing all the while,
until it was a mere speck against the sky. There it fluttered
and poured out its heart in pleading, loving agony, and, overcome
by its own passion, fell, singing as it fell, as if afraid that the
spell of its carol would be lost to its mate, until within 10 to

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346

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

20 feet of the ground it sang as if its heart was bursting
with song. I bent my eyes and walked slowly down the hill to
our horses, unwilling to take another look. I wanted to carry
away the picture crystallized in one perfect instant, and shall try
to retain it until one boundless vision of perfected beauty sliall
fill my soul and one endless carol shall fill my heart throughout
an eternal morning.

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CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE nOSrilORUS — ACROSS HUI.C.ARIA — liUCHAREST — ROUMANIA.
ITS I'EOrLE— Al'l'KARANCE AND PRODUCTIONS.

Buda-Pesi/i, May 19, 18S8.

At four o'clock on the afternoon of the 12th, we wciglicd
anchor and steamed out of the Golden Horn, and up the Hos-
phorus for the Black Sea, on our way to Varna. Travellers often
write that one of the drawbacks to the pleasure of travellinjj is
the necessity of parting so frequently with friends made en
-ivyn^c. To me this is not the case; I am so occupied with the
things I see that I do not make many such friends, but I do make
friendship with the places we visit, and there are few I do not
quit with regret. This has been more the case in this our " race
with the sun," than on any previous journeying. There is so much
in such a voj-age around the world that seems typical of the
voyage of life that there comes over me an irresistible feeling
that I, too, will finish my course with the end of the trip. I
believe I never have now what arc called the " blues," and rarely
get low-spirited, but as we pass around this globe of ours, the
spot on which we stand is to us the highest of the rounded world,
and to it we have been climbing; and each day a part of the
world is left behind, and still fewer heights are to be gained.
When we stood upon east longitude 92^° we were almost oppo-
site the starting-point of our course, and day by day afterwards
the mile posts behind became more than the posts before us, and
day by day the miles to be cleared became fewer and fewer, and
the distance looked back upon grew in magnitude. So with the
voyage of life. With our eyes looking aloft, the climb to the
meridional zenith of our days is slow, and with the quick pulsa-
tions of active energy, our hearts swell and teem with hope. But
ah ! Rapidly pass the days when the down grade is reached.
Then comes the solace of true philosophy — that philosophy
which teaches the necessity of quickened action and steady
exertion, and a calm resignation to the inevitable. Then more
than even before, is valuable that best of all rules for life, " Do
all that is possible to-day and hope for the morrow."

While I did not wish to stay longer in Constantinople, yet
when I looked back upon the glorious picture it made, and passed

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uj) tlic Bosphnrus and drank in its uncqualcd beauties, I could
not repress a ileep si^di tliat I at least could never a^Min behold
them. The sun was dropping over the iiills, now entirely hid-
ilen, then bursting out in all of ids ^lory as some j^or^e would
open or v.dley would carr\- the sky line farther toward the west ;
now we were sailinj^ over the deep j;reen water rollini^ alon^
in majestic s\\ eei)s ; then we would round some j)rojectiny prom-
onotory where the currents rush in rapid fury. Now a palace
would dip its feet into the cool depths, and beautiful ^Mrdens
and ^Teen woods would mantle the hills above it ; and then a
village would steal down some deep yor<^'e in modest beauty,
and come to the river as if half ashamed of its assurance; here
an old castle perched itself upon a hit;!! rock, and sent massive
walls /'.i^/.a^f|^nn<; about steep precipices, as if the only idea of
the builder was to attain the very extreme of the picturescjue ;
and there a mountain would run j^ently back with easyslope, and
some rich man's house would crown its distant heif^ht, anil fields
would wave in swaying crops. I'assin.i^ the earthworks of the
Turk, we entered the Hlack Sea just as the sun sank behind the
reddened horizon of the west ; lowering clouds hung upon the
north, where the Russian bear was about to jirowl around his
Arctic home, and to hug to his heart his one fond, never-dying
hope of building his lair among the hills of Stamboul.

The Black Sea was dark and calm when the night gathered
<ibout us, and early in the morning we entered the little rounded,
but not well-protected harbor of Varna, the only S(;a-coast town
of Bulgaria. This, from the water, is a pretty-looking place of
25,000 population, but, 1 was told, is dirty and unattractive within.
Surrounding it and the little bay in front, are high hills of 600
or 800 feet in height, 'Standing some distance from the water.
Along the crests of the ri'i|';es are seen numbers of earthworks.
One was pointed out as h.wing been thrown up by the first
Napoleon. It was dri.^'.ling and rainy when we were rowed
ashore. Here, as n(.arl\ everywhere in the Kast, there are no
piers for ships to tie to, but all lie pretty well out. The bad
weather prevented us stopping to witness the review promised to
be held by Fertlinand, Prince of Bulgaria, on the day of our
arrival. I wished to see how the jjcople looked upon their exotic
ruler. I am rather down on the whole system of such transplant-
ing, and I have an idea the several peoples feel the same way.
You know the old song :

" .Some wicked men in olden times

Threw Daniel in the i\i;\\ of the lions.

The lions for Daniel did n't eare a

And Daniel did n't eare a for the lions."

George and the people of Greece evidently look upon each
other as Daniel and the lions did, and 1 am told the same feeling

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SO/.n//:RS, SOLDIERS F.VERYWirERE.

34<J

exists in all these ])rincipalities, whose princes were drawn from
tlic ro)'al stables of Denmark and Germany.

The streets of Varna, where wc could see them, were, however,
bannered and decorated in honor of the prince's coming;
flowers and garlands hung about all the stations along our road
to Rostcliuk, and the people looked as if they were pleased with
the show al)out to be given them. What a trick it is of kings
and " sich " to tickle the people with sliows and pastimes, anil
what " fools we mortals be " to be so tickled ; but we are. I
sometimes think that all of the sympathy wc feel for the oppressed
is hardly deserved by tiiem, so willingly, or at least so tamely,
do the majority yield the neck to the yoke. I'ageants and shows,
too, are so cheap. A few thousand spent in amusing the masses
go fai-tner than a great many thousands paid to murder them.
But over here even the bullet is gildeil, and the spear has a
jiretty banner attached to it. I was in Fisher'.s huge magazine
the other daj' at Buda-Pesth, admiring liis exquisite majolicas.
His salesman stopped mc while bargaining, that we might go to
the door to listen to a grand band, and to see several regiments

marching bv. " Es ist schon, nicht uahr, meinherr?

Yah

wohl," I replied. "Those fellows could kill a great many Rus-
sians in a day, and a big crowd of unruly Hungarians in a min-
ute." He understood me, and for a while seemed to be thinking.
He then asked me if wc had many soldiers. I told him about
30,000, " but then we have a population of only 60,000,000." I
cannot help it, though it is none of my business, but I cannot
enjoy looking at a grand parade of men paid to kill, especially
in Europe, where kings pretend to be followers of Him whose
mission on earth was one of " love and peace." From Varna to
this place a soldier is rarely out of sight, and from our car
windows we saw regiments and battalions drilling on the out-
skirts of every moderately-sized town. Officers covered with
lace are brighter in coloring than the butterfly-ladics at all high-
toned cafes and gardens, and the clank of their sword-scabbards
on the stone flagging and asphalt walks, is always heard on
every corso and fashionable promenade. They loll back covered
with orders and cordons in the finest equipages on every after-
noon drive, and their prancing steeds are cr^nstantly careering
along the bridle paths of every park. Splendid-looking fellows
they often are, and fill the eye and win the admiration of the
fairest of women, but there is something in their trade utterly ab-
horrent to my Republican heart. More soldiers, twice over, are at
all times quartered at Buda-Pesth than our whole country possesses.

There is a Providence watching over men and nations, our good
people say. If this be true, I again exclaim: "How long, oli
Lord! How long!"

The railroad leads through the hills at Varna up a very pretty
valley. We started at 7:30, and were soon in interesting seer

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— nothirif^ grand, but a succession of broad valleys well covered
with fields, and overlooked by tall, rug<jed hills, Coo to 800 feet
high, clothed now in small bushes, and then lifting in rocky jireci-
piccs, often rendered verj' striking by their enibattled-looking
walls, being deepl>- pierced by caves in great numbers, looking as
if cut by hand. Hertls of gray cattle and large numbers of horses
were constantly seen, and several pretty villages, now all decked
in bunting and garlands. We climcd to an upper plateau of
deeply rolling countrj"; perhaps I am wrong in terming it a
plateau, so high, so rolling, and so deep are the dei)reHsions.
This up country is of very rich land, and highly productive. The
wheat, rye, and oats on it were all well set and finely green, and
the vinej-ards healthy looking. Trees are not wanting, and the
stretches of rolling country often seen for 10 to 15 miles were
exceedingly pretty. It looked farm-like, although no farm-houses
were ever seen, and sometimes for miles 'lot a village or hamlet
was visible. The villages lie along the high road, which, at times,
was quite far from the railroad. The farms must often be two,
three, or more miles back from the houses of those who cultivate
them.

We were running for three or four hours through this rich land,
and seven hours and a half from Varna to Rustchuk, where we
struck the Danube, here a broad and mighty stream of white,
muddy water. This is Europe's grandest river, for the Volga is
so far in eastern Russia that it can hardl)' be called Kurojjean.
We crossed on a small steamer to Giurgievo, in Roumania, and
were .soon on the great Oriental express on its way directly for
Paris. We ran rapidly through a fine farming coimtry, low, roll-
ing, green in wheat, oats, and rye, and with large acreage, now
being broken or just ])lanted in Indian corn. The land was not so
rich nor so pretty as the part of Ikdgaria we had traversed. Here
commences that vast wheat country, which stretches westward
and northward, and northeast, running into Hungary and far into
Russia, the so-called granary of Europe.

In two hours we were in Bucharest, tlie capital of the kingdom
of Roumania. It is an irregularly hud-out city of over 300,000
inhabitants, has some fine hotels, 120 churches, nearly all Greek,
and some good drives. The streets are all jiaved, partlv in granite
block and partly in large cobble or small flat stones. The mistake
is being made of laying the blocks on a natural bed. The church
attached to the liospital and charities of Princess Balassa is nretty
without and elaborately rich within ; has a fine monument of i. e
princess, and is all gilded inside. The screen which sepruates the
altar end of the building from the main church and the whole ri:ar
down, is one mass of gold, and shows that the peojile have much
of the Oriental in their taste. The Metropolitan Church, adjoin-
ing the Bishop's palace, and the House of Parliament l\'ing on a
hill along the edge of the city, are interesting. In the church, in-

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BUCHAREST.

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cased in a silver coverinfj fittiii|j the form, arc the remains of St.
Demetrius, who lived some 1,200 years ago. The remains were
miraculously preserved, and have the extraordinary quality of
effectini^ tiie cure of s'ck people, wIk.'^'" garments are laid in the
case containing the body and tliere Ictt for a couple of weeks.
There were several bundles when the case was opened to our
view. I believe during the two weeks the garments arc thus left
the sick one gets well, or — dies. The time is certainly ample for
a thorough change. The good priest who showed the relic had
entire confidence in the hygienic cjualities of his corpse!

On the threshold and lower door-frame of the main entrance to
the Mouse of Kstates (Parliament) was scattered the blood of some
men killed here two weeks before. The papers claimed only two
or three were killed in all, but a quite intelligent man, who acted
as our guide, assured me it was generally believed the killed ran
into 200 or more. This was what may be termed a party fight,
and was a sort of revolution. The party of the outs demanded
the right to be heard by the ministry. This was refused. It tried
to force itself into the Hall of the Estates, shots were fired, men
were killed. But the PMiistry was forced to resign, and the outs
got in. I do n.)t know what the tlistinction is between the two
parties; perhaps, as in other countries we know of, the ins were
in. and wanted to stay in ; the outs were cold, and wanted to
get in out of the cold. Tliey charg(~d that the ins were stealing.
I'he outs never steal ; they can't ; but wait till they get their
hands in, and then see.

We spent two days in Hucharest, and were pleased to see that
it is rapidly developing into the capital of a fine people, and
already begins to wear the dress of a thoroughly western European
city. That Roumania is a constitutional government is constantly
evidenced by the animated discussions had on political matters in
the railway carriages. In Europe I never take a first-class car-
riage, if I can help it. In the second-class I meet the people,
land-owners, nicrcliants, anil well-to-do mechanics. They are
always wil'iiig to talk to an American, whereas, in a first-class
coni]i;irtment, one never meets them. Bui: for the language, I
could almost have thought m\'self in America when running 12
hours from lUicharest to Tur-Hi Severin, at the western boundary
of the kingdom, for political talk was constant. In this run, to-
gether w'th the oiic two ilays before, we passed through the cen-
tre of nearly half of Roumania, a country with an area of over
48,000 square miles. A g'^eat part of it is very fertile, and on its
hills there is an abundance of timber. Its map shews it to be dog-

leggeil in shape, about ha.lf of it ly

Ul"

between the Carpathian

Mountains antl Russia, the other half being between the Danube
ami the same mountains, which have bended due west. The
northern limb of the leg, I was told, resembles Bulgaria — hilh", or
very high rolling, and a part quite mountainous. Fully a thirtl wf

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352

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

the whole, bcinj^ the part lying towards the Danube, is either
an ahnost dead flat, or a low, rolling country, running into hills as
the Carpathians are approached. These mountains appeared, in
the distance, before we had left the capital an hour, in a long
range with a sheet of snow spread over the crest. This is of the
winter's fall, and disappears before July.

F"or hours we were upon a vast plain, perfectly flat, except
where some creek or river ran through it in a depression, The
soil was good. Trees were growing about the plains, in lines here
and there, in good-sized copses frequently, nearly all trimmed high
up, the twigs being used for fuel. The niilroad station;; were
good and fairly ornamental, and railroad construction-workers, in
their garments of white cotton — a sort of wide shirt gathered in
at the waist and confined by a broad girdle protecting the vit.' 1
parts of the body — looked cheerful and contented. WomcM arr
largely field hands, and were frequently the drivers of the si- i:.
plows. The land is well broken by good plows with a couple c>f
wheels in front. The oxen are not strong looking, nor aie the
horses. A first-class team of two with us could do the work here
done by three. A proprietor who Kindly gave me much informa-
tion in German, interlarded with French, said the beasts were
weak because not well cared for, and with a sigh said he
wished they had some American energy with them. He laid the
blame upon the peasants. There is a constant agrarian fight
going on between the two classes. When the present constitu-
tional government began its course, the .land was divided to a
considerable extent among the people. At first it worked well,
but when a house or farm had to be divided among a man's kin,
the holdings became too small for their support ; they then to a
great extent surrendered themselves to the proprietary landlords
and became his laborers, and when, too, they held to their farms,
they became laborers for certain fixed periods. In this way the
landlord or proprietor gets the first work and reaps the cream of
the season. This led to the late outbreak of two or three weeks
before — 1 dc not refer to the one in the cipital, which was purely
political. Several men intimated to me that Russian intrigue was
at the bottom of the thing, and one or two boldly asserted it.
The paws of the northern bear are a constant source of dread, if
not a menace, to all southeast Europe, as \\\\\ as to central and
eastern Asia. Americans generally seem to have sympathy with
Russia. I can only account for it by the inherited dislike many
have for the land of the Georges, and by the hatred of the Irish
for every thing English. What a blessing it would be to the
United States if Ireland could be thoroughly pacified. It now
causes an outside strain to be constantly brought to bear . ectly
upon our English relations and directi)' upon our interco - with
other lands. We cannot help giving our sympat!ue.> lO the
oppressed sons and daughters of Erin, and to join with their kin-
dred in America in an expression of that .sympathy,

ROUMANIA AND ITS PRODUCTS.

353

Russia is a mighty colossus stalking across the world. Wher-
ever she goes despotism and its attendant instrument, espionage,
follows. There ought not to be a single feeling of afifinity
between the denizen of a free soil and this land of unlimited
monarchy. On the other hand, though England be grasping and
oppressive, yet where she goes a love of freedom goes, a real
comprehension of civil liberty goes. However much we may
dislike many of her manners, her bullying and domineering spirit ;
however much we may be disgusted by the supercilious demeanor
of so many of her people, jet we are forced to acknowledge that
Great Britain is to-day the very bulwark of the world's freedom.
In a charming interview I had the other day with Prof, Vdmbery,
the celebraLed Hungarian thinker and author, I gave expression
to this idea, when he bounced from liis chair, and running to his
desk took a manuscript in which he was tlien writing, showed me
a page, and said : " Read that, sir ; your very language, almost in
.'xact words, sir. It makes me happj- to find that our ideas are
thus echoes one of the other." Vamb(^'ry is a patriot, a lover of
freedom and a hater of eveiy form and fashion of tyranny ; he
thinks tiiat England must overbalance Russia or the dial on the
face of the clock of progress will be set back indefinitely. \\ hy
is it ? Simpl)' England is forced to a line of freedom by the very
life-blood of her institutions. She is built upon a rock in which
libert}', civil rights, and independence are the composing ingredi-
ents. She oppresses Ireland because of the cupidit}- of her land-
holders, and in trying to do that which is repugnant to the very
genius of her institutions, the fight is inevitable and must go on
until freedom holds up its head on Irish as well as on English
soil.

Roumania's plains produce a vast deal of small grain — wheat,
rye, oats, and good barley. All of these cover the ground well.
Much land is now being, or has just been broken, for Indian corn,
some of whicli was just up. I visited the market-place in Bucha-
rest and found few cereals, fruits or vegetables which seemed up
to our notion ; apples were poor in size, but well flavored ; vege-
tables small, and the Indian corn, with little, rounded grains. It
is planted very dose, and grows with short stalks and small ears.
The peasants lack good seed, I should think. It amazes me to
see how greatly corn production has increased in the old world
since I was first abroad, from '51 to '53. Then maize was an
occasional crop, now it is almost universal. Tobacco, I think, is
in more universal use than any one other plant. Next comes
wheat, but corn is fast treading upon the latter. Wherever we
go and in every land I can hear from where it will grow it is
becoming one of the heavy crops. There is a large cattle herd-
ing and horse growing business in Roumania. The horses, how-
ever, are rather under sized, and the cattle not heavy, and beef
very thin. Great flocks of sheep and of goats — the former

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

generally brown — are seen. Cheese is made from the milk of
both animals ; that from the sheep is sweet and rich, and can
be spread upon bread like hrm butter. Bulgarians are often
seen as shepherds. They are rather a nomadic race, and
are the sheep tenders of all European countries once under
Turkish rule. Their letters and signs resemble the Russian
a little, and, I am told, their language too. In Roumania the
language is a mi.xture, a sort of Latin mixed with Italian, with
an infusion of the Oriental. I could always understand the sub-
ject uikr discussion when hearing them talk, owing to the
familial < though I could catch nothing else. The language

is softer «. French, but lacks the soft, ilat sound of Italian,

caused by .^ !i large usage of vowels. The people are fairly
good looking, but we saw few pretty, and no beautiful, women.
The peasants wear shoes of sole or other heavy leather, bent up
around the foot and fastened by thongs over the instep, and
strapped about the ankle, with over the shoulders a sort of sack
made of woollen stuff almost as heavy as carpeting. This shoe
is common to Roumania, Bulgaria, and Servia, and a part of
Hungary.

I was told that good water is everywhere to be had, cither in
natural springs or moderately deep weils. The well-bucket is
hoisted on a horizontal spindle, with a cart-wheel in place of a
crank — apparently a worn and discarded wheel.

There were many pretty stretches of country, and, toward the
west, good scenery and very large vineyards, and orchards of
prunes and waliiuis. Wc tried several varieties of wine. They all
seemed pure, very cheap, and good. A connoisseur would prob-
ably not like them. I make it a rule to drink the wine of the
country, and like nearly all when pure. I can never be a prohi-
bitionist so long as wine be inhibited. We drank a delightful red
wine at Turnu Severin, and a good wliite one, both of the neigh-
borhood. Before reaching that place, a few miles eastward, we
began a very rapid descent to the Danube through a scene not
often surpassed, over wooded hills and acrors deep valleys; the
great river lay like a mighty silvery band winding along the valley
below, and coming out of the Carpathian range, where it cuts
through the mountains in passes wild and grand. The grade is
very severe — perhaps one in 25 — and continues until the river
level is reached. The gorges down which we ran are heavily
wooded; the sun was setting in a field of red; the river was in
great ribbons of silver ; and nightingales were gushingly carolling,
unable to restrain their love-making, until it grew dark. We got
our luggage on board the steamer on which we were to go as far
as Belgrade, went ashore for a supper and for a bottle of the best
native wine to be found. Then, being full of good things and
happy, we sat on the deck, watched the stars, listened to the
music of the night-loving bird, and thought of loved ones at home.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

SCENERV 0\ LOWER DAXIJHE— BUDA-l'ESTH— nEAUTIEUI,
—MARGUERITE ISLAND— HUNGARIAN DERBY.

WOMEN

Vienna, May 24, 1888.

The lower Danube, from Vienna down, is not, taken as a
whole, an interesting river to travel upon. It runs frequently
through great plains or low hills. There are a few points, how-
ever, where it is fine, and between Turnu Severin up to Bazias it
is surpassed by few rivers anywhere. Between these points it
breaks through the Carpathian Mountains and the foot-hills flank-
ing them. At the highest point the mountains rise above the
water 800 or l.ooo feet, are very steep, and in many places lift
by sheer precipices several hundred feet. This is a part of the
renowned " Iron Gate " and Kazan Pass. Nearly the whole dis-
tance run during some six to seven hours was through these. In
some places the river is contracted to a width of 300 to 500 feet,
and tlien widens into gulfs of nearly a mile in width, witli^eddies
whirling in them. In the Kazan Pass the fall in the stream is 16
feet in a mile, and during low river, steamers drawing very
little water find the passage dangerous, and passengers are landed
and carried over the high-road which has been cut along the
precipice. This is the great Hungarian road running from Pres-
burg to Orsova, the frontier town, where it is met by a fine
national road traversing Roumaniato the Black Sea. In the rock
on the south side of the river through these gorges or river passes
are yet seen the remains of the Roman road built by the Emperor
Trajan. It lies near the water's edge, and was carried around
some of the sharp bends on scaffolding hanging over the rushing
river. Deep holes, about a foot square, show how joists were let
in for the hanging road to rest upon. In a tablet cut into the
face of one of the precipices is an inscription yet partially legible,
in honor of "Trajanus Pontifex Maximus," and to commemorate
his building the road. It was only a few feet wide, and intended
for men and horses, and possibly as a sort of tow-path. It has
been many years since I paii^^d along the Danube from R<.,-;en' •
burg to Vienna, and 14 since I again ascended it as far as Lintz,
and I may have forgotten some of its grandest scenery. But I
think there is none on it to compare in grandeur to this part of
the lower Danube.

355

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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We were considerably annoyed by a small fly — a brown-headed
large gnat, said to be very injurious to cattle and horses, for 50
or more miles around, and which, the people believe, are all
hatched in a deep cavern partially filled with water, hollowed far
up into one of the precipices at the upper end of the pass. They
are peculiar to this locality, and take their name from the old
castle of " Gokibaez," which is perched on a crag below the
cavern. This castle, and one on the opposite cliff, were destroyed
in the Turkish wars. The souls of some of the old blood-letting
warriors may have gotten into these little brutes, and they arc
avenging themselves upon men and their four-footed servants.
That, at least, would be the Buddhistic tradition if such were in
vogue here. Two or three hours before reaching Belgrade the
rapids of the river entirely ceased, and the country becomes more
or less a plain, much of which is now under water, owing to the
grci't flood whicii, a few weeks ago, exceeded any before known
in the memory of man. Many thousand acres of farm lands are
flooded. We were often upon what appeared to be a wide
placid lake, 8 to 12 miles across. These wide stretches of
water contain many pieces of wood, n jw islands, whicli were vor\-
pretty, and were filled with singing birds whose carols we con-
stantly heard.

We had during the day Hungary on our right and Servia on
the left, the Hungarian side general!}' a plain, stretching far back
from tlie I'/er; on the Servian side a few small plains, but
generally broken, and in the distance mountainous. The same
character of crops we had seen in Roumania ruled — wheat, oats,
rye, and corn just up or being planted, and potatoes. There is
evidently quite a fruit crop, plums or prunes being most abundant,
and walnut trees were scattered everywhere. We could see, when
the water had not driven them entirely back, many cattle and
sheep.

Belgrade disappointed us. Having so often heard of it as the
outer fortress of the Turks, and that battles had been frequently
fought for its possession, I expected to find a commanding strong-
hold. It was quite tame. Its population is about 25,000, and the
Turkish people having entirely disappeared, their mosques and
Oriental buildings are going into ruin. Here we took the train
for Buda-Pesth. Cars good, and the road in fair condition ; time,
seven hours, over an almost flat plain of more than average land ;
not what our prairie people would call rich, but yet capable of
producing large quantities of cereals. The country presents
much the appearance of some of our flat prairie lands, only trees
are more abundant. There are evidently many large individual
proprietors. These are all ranked as nobles and have estates of
1,000 to 4,000 acres, and some of them several such. Their farm-
houses are extensive, long, one story brick or stone buildings,
some of them several hundred feet long and enclosing an inner

l« i

OUTLOOK AND PRODUCTS OF HUNGARY. 357

quadrangle. About these are huge ricks of straw. Near some of
the estates are villages of peasant houses in rows, with spaces of
a hundred to two hundred feet between them. The peasant
farmers have small holdings. Horses as well as oxen are used on
the farm, and a pair of either is of size and strength sufificicnt to
break the ground. Indeed, the horses are large, not of the French
or Flanders kind, but tall, well-formed, and well-muscled roadsters.
The cattle are of a uniform color, a sort of dark, tawny gray, with
long, upturned horns. We saw very large herds of both horned
cattle and horses, and flocks containing many hundred sheep.
Much land in Hungary is in grape culture. The vines have been
greatly damaged by the almost unprecedented severity of the
past winter, and its very deep and long-lasting snow. The Hun-
garian wines a : good, rather heavy, much more so than those of
either the Rhme or Bordeaux. One notices this, not while drink-
ing them, but a half hour afterward. It is very cheap, yet a large
amount of beer is drunk. It is wonderful how the taste for this
is growing throughout the world. In every land we have visited
beer is the favorite drink of all people of European antecedents.
Breweries are being built in Jai)an and in India, and the importa-
tion from Europe and Australia is very large. Gambrinus, not
Bacchus, bids fair to rule the thirsty world. Prohibitionists
should understand this. If they will only bend their energies
towards keeping impurities and bad alcohol out of beer, and
cultivate a taste for light wines, their efforts will be of lasting
benefit to mankind. While they continue to class beer and wine
with whiskey and alcoholic poisons, they make an opposition
which is apt, from a spirit of supposed independence, to run to
the very extreme of favoring every thing they oppose. The
beer and wine man steps into the ranks of the whiskey men
simply because the temperance man is determined to force him
into line.

The Christian, as such, fights every form of wrong-doing, for
his lessons are that sin is sin and cannot be weighed ; none so
small that it can pass unobserved ; none so great that it cannot
be forgiven. Not so, however, with the philosopher, the states-
man, or the human reformer ; their duty is to overlook or to be
blind to the small frailties of humanity, frailties inherent in man's
nature, or to use these very frailties as a means of steering men
away from crimes and of winning them to higher virtues. Tem-
perance in the sense of total abstinence, cannot, consistently with
the life of Christ, be preached as an abstract and obligatory
Christian duty. It certainly cannot be enunciated by the philos-
opher or statesman as an abstract ethical or civil duty. To them
it is not the use, but the abuse, of alcohol that makes the crime.
To the majority of the world — the overwhelming majority — it is
only in the abuse that sin begins. The teacher loses the force of
his argument against real abstract sin when he preaches that to

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be a sin which iiis hearer absolutely denies being such. Ergo,
they make a mistake, a mistake which many good and wise men
believe to be a crime against true religion, when tliey spend their
time and energies in trying to exclude beer and wine from the
stomach.-i of the world. Hut as long as the profession of prohibi-
tion is a trade no advice can help the thing.

From ]?uda-Pesth to Prcsburg the country is not so flat as be-
)-ond ; it is often rolling, and is quite pretty now when it wears
its bright spring garments, and it shows a fair state of culti-
vation. The proprietary estates are numerous. The straw ricks,
large and abuntlant, and the quadrangular farm houses e.xtensive.
Taken as a whole, the trip from Varna to Vienna is an interesting
one and one which Americans should make far more than they
do for the scenery ; and when they do travel over the line they
should not do as the majority of tourists do — rush through
night and day on the great Oriental express. Too many Ameri-
cans think a tour in Europe is satisfactorily made bj' visiting its
cities and great mountains, and run from place to place in through
trains, too often doing so by night. The country through which
we passed, as seen by day from the more motlerately moving cars
we occupied, is a printed page from which much can be learned

carefully studied.

The whole land from the Black Sea to this place has been not
only full of matters suggesting thought, but most charming to
the eye. Instead of being wearied by a twenty- to twenty-five
niile-an-hour pace, I could wish the speed diminished by at least
ten miles. In Buda-Pesth I met Prof. Vambt'ry, the Hungarian
thinker and writer. After an hour spent with him he took me to
the National Club, a magnificent establishment, to which all the
first men belong — even though residents of distant parts of the
kingdom — and of which he is honorary librarian. He spends two
hours each day in it reading. He is a man of great vitality and
of most charming, naive enthusiasm and simplicity. He invited
me to tea, informally, saying that others visited him because he
was a sort of lion, but that I talked with him as a man and
freshened up his ideas. He understands tvelve languages and
can write, I think, in ten, and is the highest authority on
Orientalism. One of the Professor's chiefest charms is that he
does not know too much. Poor human nature rebels in the
presence of a man who knows it all. Vamb^ry is modest with
all of his knowledge. We had a common personal bond. We
were friends of Bayard Taylor. He thinks that Asia will be re-
generated by a light coming from the west, and that this light
will be bright while the sun of England shines throughout the
Orient. I suggested that as the sun moved on westward, per-
haps, it was through the long closed doors of Japan that the
vivifying rays were to get into Asia. With that lie bounded up
like a boy and said: " If it does, Asia will be indebted to that

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ibi-

BLDA-PESTU—A BEAUTIFUL CITY.

359

glorious land of tlie free which had the pluck to send that grand
man, Perry, to draw back the bolts which had locked up Japan.
That America and England should marcii hand in hand in the
mighty cause." Ah, why docs not England let her light shine on
the Irishman as she does on the far away lands! England cannot
help playing tlie bully, even when she does good to the bullied.
Tile Indian bends his neck, receives the good, and licks the hand,
if it strikes, all the while in his heart hating the man who wields
the hand. The Englishman cannot or will not understand the
Irish character. Mis faults alone are seen, while his high-mettled
spirit is ignored or misnamed.

I said the trip from Varna here was a most charming one, but
the portion of it which would be most pleasing to many people
was spent at Huda-Pesth. This is a really very beautiful and most
charming city, prettily situated, finely built, witii good theatres,
handsome public buildings, imposing churches, artistic monu-
ments, elegant hotels, handsome promenades and drives, bright
and airy cafes, galleries and museums, cheerful looking and gay
people, and the prettiest women in the world, nearly every class
dressing in good taste. A noble river runs through it, spanned by
britlges of fine architectural proportions, with keen, darting
steamers constantly plying its waters, and picturesque views and
charming parks and environs. There is here every concomitant
nccessar)' to make it one of the most attractive cities in Europe
for strangers to visit. It is formed of the two old towns, Buda,
which until captured by the Turks, was the residence of the Hun-
garian kings, and Pesth, across the river, both Roman cities, and
at different times during the decadence of the empire prominent
towns. They are now united as one, and are the capital of
the kingdom, with a palace for its king, and good though not
magnificent buildings for public offices. It has a population of
about 500,000, a large grain trade, manufactories of very elegant
porcelain, excelling in majolica ware and now claiming that its
glassware is equal to that of Bohemia. The streets are bending
and broken (which, however, to me, but adds to their beauty), are
well paved in granite block (consequently noisy), clean, and lined
with a generally tasteful style of houses, but in the newer parts
very fine residence and business structures. In several quarters
there arc bits of street view equal to any thing in Vienna, and
the great residence street, Andrassy .Strasse, about a mile and a
quarter long and a hundred feet wide, straight and running from
the centre of the town to the park at its outer end is not sur-
passed, and. hardly equalled, in beauty and elegance by any
thoroughfare I can recall. The inner half of this noble street is
solidly built, but in so artistic and varied architecture as not to
look stiff. The other half has detached residences with grounds
and plats, not large enough to give a suburban appearance, but
enouch to soften the picture and to aooeal to the love of home

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360

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

taste. It is paved in closely laid wooden block, either new or
kept in perfect repair.

I am more than ever convinced that the excellence of street
pavements depends more upon constant and methodical repair
than upon the character and material of the work. It should be
well planned, both as to the material used and the manner of
doing, but a sleepless eye shou.d be kept upon it, and disintegra-
tion or yielding in any — even the smallest — part should at once
be prevented. A small indenture, a slight unevenness is an enter-
ing wedge for destruction. It should be an axiom that a bad
pavement is no pavement. It may be costly to live up to this,
but cities are costly luxuries at best. They are cither cities or
mere hives. Modern civilization is unwilling to live in hives ; it
must therefore submit to the necessity of paying for cities, or go
to the village or country. The pavements of the capitals of
Hungary and Austria are noisy moileis. People soon cease to
hear the noise, so wonderfully adaptable are the human senses. A
miller can listen to and enjoy sweet music undisturbed by the
clatter of his machinery. The denizen of a cit)- " hears the
silence " in the deep vaults of Mammoth Cave. The square
Belgian block is here used instead of the long one, and the
cleaning is so constant that one scared)' ever sees the sweeper.
In the narrow, central street asphalt is much in vogue. It is,
however, genuine, and not the contractors' darling — coal-tar.

Pesth lies on a plain on the east side of the Danube, which some
20 odd miles north bends from its long easterly course and
runs due south for about 150 miles. The streaivi is confined
between finely built stone walls, or quays, upon which lighting
barges and small steamers, sharp pointed at both ends, and with
rudders at each extremity, discharge their cargoes. Along this
quay on the east bank runs a team and wagon road, under a
second wall ; upon the upper level of this is the plateau of the town,
and along its edge is the corso, a beautiful asphalted promenade
exclusively for pedestrians. Along this corso arc magnificent
buildings of five stories, with considerable pretensions to archi-
tectural excellence. Some of them are very fine. The corso has
the full benefit of a fine water front, and yet, being elevated so
much above the river, the unsightliness arising from the river
commerce is not observed. On the corso are some handsome
monuments, kiosk cafes, and costly restaurants. Towards sun-
down and during the long twilights, the promenade is filled with
handsome people, gaily uniformed officers, ladies in their best
walking costumes, business men and nobles. In one large square
made by a public building standing back, is a pretty kiosk cafe,
about which we saw seated perhaps 1,000 to 2,000 of the dlite. I
have never seen anywhere so many pretty out-door toilettes and
so many beautiful women. Beauty was the rule instead of the
exception ; some of it of so rare and delicate a type that my boys
looked on with wide-eyed admiration.

tlu

.MARGUERITE ISLAND.

36 >

Oil the opposite bank, or Buda side, are also fine buildings, but
upon a narrow bank, from which lifts a hill varying from 150 to
200 feet in height, crowned by a long line of public buildings,
including the royal palace, and extending nearly a half mile on the
steep slope of the hill are the palace gardens, terraced, with
broad, zigzag walks, climbing by easy grade to the upper terrace,
on which the palace stands. This hill is a long, narrow ridge,
dropping to the river on one side and to the main town of (Ofen)
old Ikida on the other. Across a narrow valley, at one end of this
ridge, ruiming back from the river, under the end of the palace,
rises a high eminence, perhaps 500 feet high, crowned by a pictur-
cscjue fortress of large extent, and beyond the u[)per end of the
pul)Iic buildings and a mile or so away, lifts a yet much higher
mountain, covered with villas and vineyards. These heights and
their fortresses, palaces and distant villa residences make x
beautiful picture from the corso, aided, too, by a couple of the
prettiest bridges one can conceive of, the lower one with a single
suspension span and the upper one with six long, elliptical, airy
arches and above this a wooded island divitling the river into two
broad arms. The picture from the ])alace berg is of another kind,
fc)r it lies below the beholder .uid is the beautiful city of I'esth,
with its long row of superb houses bordering the water, on which
pretty steamers and rowboats are constantly plying, and behind
these the white-walled town and dark-tiled roofs, with enough
trees intermixed to relieve the appearance of coldness and glare,
and over beyond a sweeping country, framed in a long line of low
hills.

We visited our polite consul, Mr. Black, at his villa on the sum-
mit of Schwabenberg, the high hill or low mountain I mentioned
as lying above Buda. This we reached by a cog-wheeled railroad,
running up a handsome wooded gorge, and, as we climbed, over-
looking pretty valleys, with vineyards, villas, and wooded copses.
From this elevation we had a grander tableau, the two — or, rather,
twin — cities ; the river, with its islands stretching far to the south ;
the wide country and low hills, all making a rare view. The
island mentioned as being above one of the bridgi" ''- a long, nar-
row, low-lying piece of ground belonging to the A.^ i.oake Joseph,
who has spent vast sums in making it one of the most charming
retreats imaginable. It is nearly a mile long, has beautiful old
and many thrifty young trees, handsome shrubberies, with flower-
beds and velvety lawns, a fine hotel, and one of the costliest baths
of modern times. This is a long, architectural building, with
lofty domes and frescoed roofs, and 50 odd commodious baths,
constructed of marble, porcelain, and mosaic. Some of these are
good-sized pools. In one of the larger ones I had a luxurious
bath in hot mineral water, at a temperature of nearly 100 degrees
Fahrenheit. The water comes in a copious stream from an arte-
sian well, flowing 30 feet above the surface, and making a cascade
over rock, looking as if made by time into heavy stalagmites.

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said to 1)0 highly beneficial in many diseases. At the upper end
of the islaiuK near the sanitarium, hotel, and baths, is a handsomo
cafe, where a large gypsy band plays; at the other end another
cafe with a military band. The island is the veritable home of
singing-birds ; just at sundown it was simply alive with nightin-
gales, and i.i its deeper sh.ules at this season they were singing
early in the afternoon. This isl.md is named after Marguerite,
the daughter of King IkMa, antl a celebratetl saint in the calendar.
It is certainly a delicious place, and, with its pure, river-cooletl
atmosphere, has a right to wear the purest of names. Other
baths are on the mainlanil, and the remains of sumptuous ones
erected by the Romans.

I spoke of a gypsy band. There are about 50,000 of these
people in Hungary. The)' are said to be natural musicians, play-
ing on many instruments, and on all without note. We have
heard several bands, one of them with 20 or 30 members; all 'he
instruments, e.xcept two or three, being stringed, chiefly vi'
;uul ahvaxs with a zither, or by a larger thing of the kind 1
upon by two wooden hammers, No notes whatever are use>.., .>i
yet medleys were played where the changes seemed most intricate,
.ill simply following the leader. I heard that very few ever know
a note. Whistle a tune, and immediately they will all play it
fairly. Their potpcitris were a singular mixture of the airs of all
nations. Left to their own choice, the music is wild, and some of
it filled with a weirtl pathos. They have a tendency to too great
loudness. I was told these bands are all over the kingdom, and
are a sort of pets with the nobilitj", who have a queer way of get-
ting a great deal out of them. They will cut a loo-florin note in
half, give the leader one, and promise the other wluii the feast is
over. The halves are worthless apart. In this wa;' the wild fel-
lows will play for two or three days at a time, barely stopping for
food. The Hung rians keep up their feast, night and day, for two
or more days.

On Sunday I attended the Hungarian Derby. I am cosmopoli-
tan or nothing, and in Rome do as the Romans do. There were
some 20,000 people on the ground, a gay and bright set. Lager
beer flowed freely, but not a drunken man was seen. The betting
was frightful, not as to the amount wagered, but in its universal-
ity. Everybody bought pools, and nothing was herird except talk
of " gulden." I was amused by a party of clericds, two priests
and two I took to be profcr.sors, in semi-clerical yarb. They
studied the programme with keen interest, and at the end of each
race one of them went off to the pool-stand and bought his
tickets. I think they were winners, for just as the steeple-chase
began they were full of smiles and satisfaction. No one seemed
to care for the speed of the racers, and watched them simply to
see which came in ahead, so as to determine bets. The horses

nr.AUTiFur. women.

36,?

were larffc and strong, not far from 16 hands. I thouglit, and too
licavy in the witliers for gooil speeders. It woidd be a j^ood idea
if H,i,dit and otiierwise worthless horses were e.vcludeil from the
turf, for then races would certainly improve stock by encouragintj
l)reeilin^ for size as well as action. After the races, behind a
handsome pair of horses, we diove up and down the drive in tiie
park near the race course, and saw the turnouts. There were
some fine four-in-hands, and some capital roadsters. The two
most d.-ishin^; youni; ladies were a couple of German actresses,
whom I hail seen on the grand-stand of the I'litt-, I heard it was
in connection with one of these that a petty scandal lately arose
concerning Servia's king, Milan. To get rid of it he gave out that
he "meant no harm." It is strange that the Lord's anointed can
be nauj;hty, and still stranger th.it the Lord so freijuently makes
such sad mistakes in His selections. Poor, weak lunnan nature is
liable to fearful temptations in HuiU' try, without the aid of Ger-
many in sending down any of its sirens. I windtl advise Ameri-
can ladies who visit Pesth with their husbands to be very loving
to their liege lords while in this land of beauty. A loving wife or
old age helps greatly to make a saint of a man. The beautiful
women of Pestli are certainly no detraction from Hungary's other
charms. But I will have to admit they lace most fearfully. It is
strange that a woman will so mar nature's mold of beauty. A
very small waist is a deformity, not a beauty. And yet women
ruin their health to reach a perfection of deformity.

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CHAPTER XXXV.

VIENNA— TAXKS—rilE \ iCK OF LOTTERY— AUSTRIAN Dl'.KHV— I
— RlNc; S'lRASSE— MUSEUMS— ENVIRONS.

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Vienna, May 30, 188S.

A FEW weeks ago Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria, cele-
brated the 40tli anniversary of the commencement of his reign. If
the sucC'-ss of his rt^gime were to be measured by the growth of
population and the splendor of the improvements of his capital, he
certainly should iiave felt proudly satisfied as he lode along its
streets on the 13th of May. When he lifted the veil from tiic
pile of bronze and marble which so fittingly commemorates the
glorious reign of the immortal Maria Theresa, and, looking about
him, saw the magnificent public and private buildings in the
vicinity, which are but a part — an epitome — of the whole of this
beautiful city, he certainly could have had the right to expixt
that a grateful posterity would hereafter erect a grand monument
to commemorate his own reign. I have not the ability ,0 say
whether such measurement would be correct or not. "' No one."
said the wise man of the long past, " can be called fortunate till
after his death." A contemporary can call his king a great con-
queror, but he cannot pronounce him a wise ruler. Time alone can
apply the true touchstone and enable one to pass such judgment.
A people may accumulate we dth and build noble edifices under a
king; they may be ga)- and happy, free and i (dependent in their
daily movements, and yet may be nursing the viper of poisonous
immorality: may be cultivating the noxious plant, national
luxury, and effeminate love c f ease, while accumulating wealth
and building monuments. Government may encourage these
vices while giving apparent prosperity.

The reign of the Mogul Aurungzebe was one of gorgeous
splendor, but his kingdom was splitting into fragments while
revelling. Pericles made Athjus the seat of the world's art. but
the Atl enians, while all becoming connoi.s.seurs, were losing their
hardy manhood. Lycurgus was a harsh tyrant, and made Spar-
tans use coarse food for luxuries and hard stones for beds ; but
their mu.scles became iron, and their bravery was turned into
heroi.sm. Austria's emperor has built a wonderful capital and en-
rolls a huge army, but the hated, plodding Jews are accumulating

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A RAGE FOR GAMBLING.

365

all the wealth, and the people are tauglit at the thresholds of
churches to gamble. Pressed for means to exhibit grandeur,
government has its lottery " cassas " everywhere — near cathe-
drals, in museums, a*" austellungen, at railway stations — with
placards displaying the tempting prizes to be won, and sells lottery
tickets for five and ten kreutzers — that is, two and a quarter and
four and a half cents. Every class buys tickets, and all are taught
that it is a good thing to do. The porter stops at a corner, lays
down his heavy burden for a moment, and buys a five-kreutzer
carte : a poor sewing-woman, trudging wearily home with her
little daii\' wages, bends her steps aside to invest a part of her
little earnings in tickets ; a beggar shows his bruised limbs and
with his alms buys a ticket ; mothers going to St. Stephen's with
their white-robed daughters, jiurely clad, to be united to holy
cliurch on confirmation day, pause in Stephen's place and pur-
ciiase a billet with five kreutzers saved from the cost of flowers.

Gambling is a rage. On Sunday I was at the Austrian Derby.
There were 40,000 in attendance. All seemed intent as they
were the Sunday before a^ Buda-Pesth on purchasing pools. No
one cared a particle for the character of the horses or the beauty
of their movements ; all were bent simply upon winning a i^rize
or a place. I walked again and again through the surging mass ;
I heard but one familiar word — " gulden," " gulden " — everywhere
" gulden." All are intent upon getting .something for nothing.
Men and women pawn their clothes, pawn their cooking utensils,
pawn any thing that a pawn-shop will take to get money to buy
iotteiy tickets and racing pools. Suicides are, I am told, of fre-
([uent occunonce, because every thing, the last cent, has been
spent in liic vain hope of winning a prize, and when all is gone
t!v grave is the dismal prize. The emperor's great-grandfather's
monument has, in deep-cut letters, the enconium that he united
the empire and preserved \.\\iz z\\\\xq\\. I think it was the great-
grandfather. Is the church being upheld by this fearful mode of
rai.-^ing money ? Maria Theresa sits on yonder square in all the
majesty of blazing bronze. .She is surrounded by her wise coun-
sellors and heroic generals , she herself is in colossal proportions;
the others i re of heroic mould. If the sj)irit of the great empress
hovers over her metallic brow and 1'^ -"ks over this gorgeous city,
is it satisfied when seeing her empire upheld by a sy.stem of rais-
ing money which tends to uphold ;,ambling ? Twenty odd mill-
ions of lottery tickets were sold la:-.t year. Some say a vast deal
more. The bulk of it is taken from the masses, and the govern-
ment pocketed about $10,000,000 as its profits. Time will tell
whether his majesty's reign will be a good one or not. " No man
CM\ be called fortunate until after he be dead."

Thirty-six years ago I spent a month or so in Vienna. I J: had
400,000 people, and was a charming place for a young man co live
in. A gulden would i)urchase more of comfort and pleasure than

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360

./ RACE WITH THE SUN.

a JoUar weald in America. There were a few good buildings,
and arounc the " city " a picturesque old wall. Beyond this was
a broad esplanade in trees and grass, marking where were once
the fortifications which Napoleon had destroyed. Beyond this
esplanade (glacis it was then called) were the vorstiidten, or su-
burbs, in which dwelt four fifths of the whole population. At or
about sundown, the workshops principally in the '* city," /. c,
within the old walls, would pour out their thousands of toilers.
I used to walk and talk with these (I was trying to learn German)
wlu'n they crossed the broad esplanade going to their homes.
The people seemed to be industrious, frugal, good-humored, and
fairly contented. It was only when, after finding I was an Amer-
ican, that a spirit of discontent would occasionally crop out, and
it would then be shown that the memory of '48 was yet alive, and
that Kossuth was considered something more than a rebel. There
was luxury among the elite and nobility, but as a general thini;
there was not an air among the people of extravagance. The
emperor was young and pale, and in his Austrian uniform of
pure white, looked very youthful and slender, and with his blonde
hair had almost a girlish appearance. He drove by the other (la\-
in the blue uniform of a genera! oflficer, and his beard and hair
seemed perfectly white. He. too, has changed, but not more
than the city he has so beautified. The old wall has gone, ami
in its place is a broad street 180 feet wide, with bridle-path, grass
plats, and wide sidewalks with ([uadruple rows of trees, and over-
looked by great buildings, nearly every one of palatial splendor.

This, the celebrated Ring Strasse, is not a circular ring about
the inner city, but is a succession of short, straight streets or
boulevards, running into and meeting each other at verj' obtuse
angles and making the inner city a great polygon. The lines of
great structures are often separated by the width of a block, or
somewhat less, leaving fine stjuarcs surrounded by palaces, muse-
ums, and picture-galleries, by Parliament house, rathhaus, and
churches, all erected by able architects and replete with architec-
tural ornamentations. Some of the squares have in their centre:^
monuments in high art, others are laid out in gardens, witli fin"
trees and exquisite flower parterres and fountains. Hack from
the Ring .Strasse on the oui^r side are streets more or less i)ar.il
lei with it, and bisected with narrower streets called alle} s, in
contradistinction to the lateral ones called streets. These streets
and alleys, which cover the old esplanade, are lined with buildings
little inferior to those on the Ring. The suburbs, with perhaps
nine tenths of the population, and lying outside of these, have
struggled to tear down the old and rebuild new houses, vying with
those of the new Ring city. The city, inside of the old walls is
not much improved, and I can see many landmarks not wholly foi-
gotten. The new city is, however, unique in its manner of being
laid out, and is unequalled in beauty anywhere else in the world.

\ A

/■K.LWES JOSEPH AND HIS IMPROVEMENTS. 367

AH of this has been brought about since Francis Joseph as-
cended the throne 40 years ago. Are the people better off?
They are polite and kindly, and elegant in their manners, and
seem cheerful. But, if 1 be not misinformed, their home life
lacks nearly every concomitant necessary to make a real home.
Taxed, probably in excess of any other people, they cannot have
the house necessary for a home, and cannot afford to purchase the
food needful for health or enjoyment.

I have spoken of the frightful encouragement government gives
to a spirit of gambling. Men cannot be made moral directly
by law, or prepared for heaven by legal enactments. Laws
cannot make men good, but laws can make men bad. That
is the best law which loaves man as free as is possible for
the safety of society ; which protects him in his life, liberty,
and propcrt)', and leaves him free and able to cultivate ethics
and leligion. l'.ut when those in high places lead vicious
lives the people are apt to catch the disease ; or when gov-
Lrnment encourages immoral practices for its own gain, then
government undermines the very life of its people. There are
certain classes of vices which no law can prevent ; these may be
controlled h\ government ; and to do so many of the best states-
men think a judicious license system the wisest course. But
when the powers that be encourage these vices for the purpose of
gaining revenue, then they are as criminal as the participants in
the vicious acts. Gambling grows out 01 a universal yearning in
man for excitement, and the equally universal desire to gain
sometliing for nothing ; to eat, d- ' a\\(\ be merry without work.
Woe to the government which this human weakness! It

may gain revenue to-day, but it saj- uie \ery foundation of soci-
ety by making jilodding industry unpopular. . :id alluring men to
cultivate those desires which should be subdiuil.

'I he Emperor of Austria has one of the most di'Ticult of en;j)ires
to govern. It is composed of many nationalities and many peo[)les
speaking different languages, each jealous of the other, and .some
of thcni absolutely hating some of the others. Each "f tht-so
strives for ascendency. The result is, there is the Gern , u party,
the Bohemian party, the Slavonic party, the Hungariai., .uul half
a dozen other parties. These heterogeneous peoples are hard to
hoKl in hand : and Austria has a constant danger in a war which
may arouse the separate nationalities. For ages the Austri ^ns
have shown an unconquerable hostility to the Jews. S n- time
since it was proclaimed that this was about to end; .iiat the
Austrian Roth.schild had been admitted to court and now had
the right of entree into II of circles, It seems, however, that this
did not arise from any libca-al change of heart on the part of the
people. The government .saw a speck of war on the horizon, and
was looking around to find where it could raise some millions.
The wily Jew saw a chance. He let it be known that if he and

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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his family were not good enough to enter the palace his money
was not good enough to %o into the treasury. He received his
card and now Hof doors open to him. I5ut ever since then a
bitterer feeling exists among the people towards the Jew than
ever before. The Jews, however, are at the top of the heap.
They own the finest buildings and the richest property in Buda-
Pcsth and many here. They own many of the mines. They own
some of the petroleum wells of Russia, that is, Rothschild does,
and therefore gets the Russian oil in here on terms very unfriendly
to the American product. They own all, or nearlj- all, the print-
ing establishment's in Vienna and run the papers. The Austrians
are like the rai gnavving the file — the)- can swear and grit their
teeth, but the file yields up none of its hardness.

An anti-Jew party exists i^nd openly proclaims itself in Parlia-
ment. When the old German Kaiser lay on his last bed a paper
here announcetl his death before the fact. The anti-Semitic
leader in Parliament tried to bring the newspaper men to their
knees — and he lies in prison for his rashness. When the Maria
Theresa statue was about to be unveiled many thousands — all
(icrmans, I am told — sang one night near the monument the
" Waclit am Rhein." Some of the leaders were arrested. The
govcrmnent encouraged the idea that this was a purely anti-
-Semitic proceeding ; that the meeting was simi)ly in honor of the
man wiio is in prison and whose house is near b}- ; and I near
that Germany's chancellor encouraged this belief and advised the
rulers here to take that position and to punish the singers.
-Shrewd men, however, assert that the thing was, in fact, a (jcr-
man meeting, as such. Ikit it will not do for the people to think
there is such a feeling existing among the man}' million Germans
who are subjects of this empire : and although the chanc-llor
knows that there is a strong German party here, he also knows
that Germany does not want any German complications in
Austria; he knows that l^Vancis Joseph's kingdom is the strong-
est wall which can possibly be kept between the Russian and the
I'russian ; that if Austria shoiiUl be destroyed a huge part of its
people are more in sympath\- with Russ'.i than with Germany,
and would in all probability siile with '.ne bear. Therefore he
advised that the trouble near the great empress' statue should
be treated purely as an anti-Semitic outburst. Queer if the
" Wacht am Rhein " has become a new watchword against the
Israelites. All of this I hear. I am only a voyageur, seeing as I
run, and claim the inestimable right of changing my mind when
I learn better.

I said this was one of the most heavily taxed of all people.
There is no real-estate ta.x, as understood by us. A house is
taxed either on its rental or on its numb'-r of habitable rooms, or
on both. A rich man's house of a dozen magnificent rooms pays
the same ta.x as a poorly built boartiin.^house with a like number

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THE JEWS OF VIENNA TAXES.

369

of rooms A man pointed out to me a large buildins^with a huge
restaurant on tlie ground floor and flats overhead, and told me
that 32 per cent, of its rents were paid to government — municipal
and national — in taxes. I have taken some pains to learn what
are the rates paid here. It would be tedious to write them down,
liut it is enough to say that the average tax paid in the large
cities which levy an octroi duty is 45 per cent, of the individual
incomes. An octroi duty is levied in some eight to ten (I think)
cities on every article of food or drink which comes into them.
There is hut one edible which gets into Vienna without this pay-
ment, and that is the eggs which pigeons lay on St. Stephen's
noble tower. The owner of buildings directly pays the tax, but,
of course, the occupants are really the ultimate tax-payers. The
result is that few people here have flats large enough to entertain
their friends. Their social life is consequently in the cafes,
restaurants, and beer-hall.s. They eat a frugal meal at home, and
spend their evenings in some establishment with friends, taking
lager and nibbling bread and cheese, with, when tiiey can, a dish
of meat. Families, who appear in public well dressed, elegant,
and well-to-do peojile, have not. frequently, sleeping-rooms for the
d.iughter and son of tiie house. The young lady sleeps on a sofa
in the parlor and the brother on a sofa in the hall. And why ? He-
cause the taxes on the house-rooms, the taxes on their business,
are so high that they cannot afford rooms for all. A genuine
home life is the highest encourager of virtue and economy. What
with the house tax, the income tax, the farm tax, and others use-
less to name, it is a struggle for the people to get through the
year, and true home life is hardly known.

A man's business is taxed as a manufacturing one, even if he
carries it on in his own house and employs no other laborers than
himself and his children. I was given an instance of the weight
of this burden. A man carried on his business in a flat, saj* 30 by
50 feet, a part of it being cut off for his family living rooms. The
entire income from his business was about 3,200 gulden, of this
he paid over 1,000 for his manufacturers' ta.x. But this was only
a part of his burden. Mis landlord paid nearly 50 per cent, of
his rental as a house tax. This the tenant partly paid. He paid
taxes on the bread and coffee he had for his breakfast, on the^
lean beef and potatoes he had for his dinner, on the beer and
bread he and his family enjoyed when they went to a garden or
cafi!: for f vcning society.

The taxes in the octroi paying cities are, as far as I can learn,
bclweer 44 and 46 per cent, on houses; in other towns and in the
cointry about 30 to 35 per cent. ; that is, upon the available pro-
ceeds of the several properties and upon industries of every kind ;
manufacturing, farming, etc., from 30 to 50 percent, upon a man's
enihe earnings. These data I have not taken from public docu-
ments, bu<^ from informed persons. The whole system of taxes

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370

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

seems to be laid so as to touch as little as possible ihc rich and
the noble. A grand park, a great shooting forest pays no tax.
A .stable with its stud, or filled with costly saddle and carriage
horses, pays no tax, nor does the farmer's ; but while the former
costs thousands and is an article dc luxe, the latter is of lattice or
boards and is for industrial purposes. The palace, witli courts,
porticoes, and halls, pays only a tax upon the rooms fiUed for
habitation ; and such rooms, which are possibly larger than the
ordinary man's whole house, pays no more than the little sleeping-
rooms of the laborer. A village hotel with 20 rooms pays the
same tax as the grand chateau on a hill with 20 living rooms and
a park of 500 acres.

A single man or, indeed, a man of small means, can live here
very cheaply and have a great many charming amusements,
equalled nowhere else excepting Paris. He must be satisfied,
however, with a light breakfast of coffee and simple bread. Ho
must not expect even to taste soup in which a shin bone has
taken a bath— perhaps there may be a suspicion of a scrap in the
pot. But, usually, if any thing is seen resembling grease on the
soup plate it was simply put on for show. He must not expect
much variety in his meats. He will do well if several eat to-
getlier, each one taking a dish and then dividing up. His beer
costs nearly as much as in Chicago. Wine is cheap and good.
But generous livers, or fat livers, as our 'aboring people are,
will have to pay more here for subsistence than in America,
and, while so living, will receive less than one third of the wages.
And yet, with all of this true, we find that the man who most
loudly inveighs against American laws ; the man who says tiiat
laws are all a curse, and that no government is better than any
government, and that in America the podr man is but the rich
man's unwilling slave ; the man who talks most of this stuff, will
be found to have come from some part of Austria. It seems as
if the oppression of the govennncnt under which he was born
.and has grown up has .so embittered his soul that he hates the
very name of government. I hope this feeling lies in the heart
•of only a few who seek asylum on our shores. It would be a sad
.day, should America have to shut her doors against the oppressed
of other lands, and the down-trodden.

Vienna is not only a beautiful city, but is a most charming one
to the tourist. Here he has beautiful drives and delightful
promenades; a magnificent opera-house in which the opera is
generally well rendered ; fine theatres, one just finished most
elegant ; fine hotels and in large numbers, and the best of all
garden music.

The Prater is a park of 4,000 odd acres; on one avenue in it,
and all close together, are some six or eight beer and coffee
gardens, with tables and seats under fine trees, with the fragrance
of flowers filling the air, and with bands of music, military and

\ 1

THE PR A TER. TIPS.

371

stringed, of so good a character that they can satisfy the most cul-
tivated car. Here arc accommodations for many thousands, and
on afternoons and evenings of summer days, thousands of the
nicest people are promenading or seated, taking their evening
meals, listening to the fine music and watching each other. The
dingy room is left behind, and here a man brings his family and
over his lager makes his home. In another avenue, not far off,
are cheap amusements of every kind — light theatres, games,
puppet shows, flying Dutchmen — in fact, every possible kind of
fun to be had for a few krcutzers. Here, too, are thousands of
those who seek much pleasure at little cost. Here a thoughtful
tourist can learn a vast deal of life and human nature in a short
time and at little expense. Vienna, one would think, is all on the
Prater in the late afternoon and early evening ; but Vienna is a
city which claims about 1,000,000 population and no one stays at
home up to ten o'clock. The town, however, seems to shut its
might)' jaws at ten and the streets are comparatively deserted, and
all because of the porter and his tip.

The tip (trink-geld) is as decided a feature in this city as is
backshish in the worst town in tlie Orient. You go into a cafe; a
waiter brings you coffee, another bread and a paper. Kach
expects a tip. When you are through the head waiter comes for
the pay. Me expects a tip. You go into a restaurant ; one
waiter brings you food, another your wine, a third your bread, and
a fourth collects the change. Each expects a tip, and they ail
wear surh nice full suits of black, and such white cravats that it is
hard to resist their polite smiles. Hut woe to the man, who,
failing to lip them, returns! Their memories are wonderfully
tenacious and the forgetful man will find it out. When he sees
three or four near him waited upon who came after he had been
seated, and sees a nice, juicy piece of roast on the next tabic,
while lie is wearing his teeth away on the toughest gristle of the
toughest beast that had roamed the fields, he will swear and
resolve to resist the villainous custom, but after a while he will do
as the Viennese do— pay and quarrel not. They all say it is an
outrageous custom ; but they shrug their shoulders and ask :
" What are we to do?" "Why, resist." "Ah! sir, life is too
short." Now, what has this to do with getting in early? This:
Every house with its flats has its porter, and this porter closes the
front door at ten, and the lodger who is then out stays out. or pays
the [)orter a half gulden to let him in. In cheaper houses a
quarter gulden. Now a half gulden or a quarter gulden is a great
deal to a man whose daily wage is only one or two gulden, and
that one or two has been left at the theatre, the garden or a caf*i.
Ergo, he goes home before ten.

Besides the gardens in the parks, the city abounds in large and
elegant coffee houses, places capable each ot seating at little
tables several hundred. They are in amazing numbers and in

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

every locality and to suit every purse. Vienna possesses sevenil
fine picture galleries and museums. In them there arc none of
those chefs d'cciivre which constitute the great gems of art and
the world's wonders; but there is in them an evenness of excel-
lence surpassed by few galleries in other cities. The treasury
contains jewels, crowns, diamonds, rubies, all extiuisitc gems,
highly chased works in gold and silver, and goblets and tankards
in ivory and crystal of surpassing excellence, and the collection
of antic;uities is rich and valuable. In the galleries, museums, and
collections the student, the lover of art and the searcher after tlie
beautiful, can profitably spend weeks. Close by the city there are
fine excursions, delicious valleys, cloistered gardens and high
eminences. From the summit of Carlenberg, reached in an hour
by street and steam rail, and by a cog-wheel road, is presented a
picture of deliciously wooded mountains, villas and vineyards,
spreading, cultivated country, with broad, meandering waters and
vast city life, second only to that from the mountain above
Scutari, overlooking Constantinople and the Bosphorus. There
are, however, many other which pleased me more, which sank into
my very soul. They were simple scenes which others, perhaps,
might not admire, but which suggested to me a world of thought
and dreams of delight. The grand view, however, made no such
impression. There is too much of man's work in the great city
mapped out below me in the centre of the vast amphitheatre of
20 miles across and fringed by the high, wooded hills and distant
mountains ; too much which is suggestive of toil and ambition to
suit my taste, but still, as a cold picture it is wonderful. I like to
look upon a landscape, natural or on canvas, which points out
some half hidden nook, into which I would like to steal and
dream away an hour ; or a mountain crag, near which I would love
to climb and utter a shout, and then listen to my voice as it rolls
among deep caverns or is caught and hurled from bold precipice
back to me in musical echo.

If one loves to live among holy men of the past and to hear
their heart-felt prayers uttered to a pitying Redeemer, he can be
gratified here in the solemn chapels and lofty nave of .St.
Stephen's church, — into which the sunlight steals through deep
windows of richly stained glass — surrounded by holy pictures,
deeply moved by the tones of the old organ, and awed into
solemn thoughts; he can then go out and look up to the noble
tower whose spire points to heaven 470 feet above where he
stands. A Gothic church, however, vainly appeals to my imagi-
nation ; it is too cold, too vault-like, too fitting for a tomb and for
dead men's bones. The mighty dome, with its rounded vault,
resembling heaven's high, sunlit arch, with the light of heaven
coming in from far above— this and these make the church which
arouses my heart and touches it with religious feeling. I care not
for the Gothic church ; it was the invention of ascetic monks and

VOLKS-GARTEN.

373

1''k1i

lately enslaved Christians, who had 'not learned to rcpjard religion
as a tliini,' of love, but simply as a matter of hard justice.

To-day has been one of Vienna's great holidays. I do not
know how it is called, but it follows the May confirinations.
Stephen's platz and the streets leading to it were packed by
thousands coming to see the procession, the eight-in-hand of the
k.iiser, and the six and four horse carriages of other inembcrs of
the imperial family going to high service in the old cathedral.
These evidences of pomp are pleasing to tlie people, but to an
American it is yet more pleasing to see the plain carriage drawn
by a handsome pair, with the ruler of the nation riding as a
simple officer unattended by out-riders or guards, as he so often
does. It is a pleasing thing to us simple folks to see the graceful
young crown princess driving along the crowded Trater Haupt-
allcc and returning with cordial bow the generous respect
shown by the people, and the prince, heir to the Austrian
diadem, with the ribbons guiiling a blooded team on the Ring
Strasse. Poor Stephanie! it still looks as if the Austrian crown
would have to shine on the head of a daughter of the house of
Hapsburg instead of a son.

For the benefit of some of my fair friends I will say, that at the
races on Sunday the princess occupied the front of the royal
pavilion. Siie was attended by two ladies. I could not catch the
style of her dress, but her hat was so covered by a mass of red
ostrich feathers that it resembled a high crimson helmet. Her
attendant ladies wore pretty bonnets, ornamented only with lace,
ribbons, and a few flowers. In the grounds about the grand-
stand for the ilitc were very many pretty ladies, dressed in ex-
{juisite out-door costumes, — silks of bright styles on the married
ones ; white and more simple robes adorned the )-oung hulies.

One of the most charming places in Vienna is the Volks-garten,
especially on the Strauss evenings. Three times a week Kdward
Strauss, with his woiulerful orchestra, delights the lovers of music.
Nearly 30 years ago Joliann and Joseph started these summer con-
certs. Then Edward came into the trio. The first two arc gone
where there is an endless choir, but the brother kecp.^ u[i the rep-
utation of the garden, and fills it with deiighted listeners, who
drink, eat, talk, and possibly flirt to a music nowhere clf.o equalled.
Alternately |iieces are given by the great leader and by a military
band of highly finishetl artists. Here one can ]iass a summer's
evening listening and dreaming, dreaming and listening. I like
opera, but am not educated up to the mark ; I can take in all of
Strauss. When he played Chopin's funeral march a few evenings
since 1 felt one -ould go to his own funeral without a sigh if he
had this band ivi accompany his bier. Willie and I go from this
to Russia. Johnie, prefering a tour through Germany, here quits
us. I hope the paws of the bear will be soft.

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CHAPTER XXXVI.

RUN TO MOSCOW— WARSAW— THE I'OLKS— SOBIESKI'S rALACK—

PEASANTS.

Moscoiv, jfune dth (or May 2e„ old style), i888.

From Vienna to Mo.sco\v, through Warsaw, is about 1,250
miles by rail; that is, to Graniza, on the Polish frontier, 250, and
thence onward 1,511 versts, or 1,007^ miles; time to the Polisii
capital, 18 hours ; thence on iiere 34^ hours. VVe left Vienn.i at
noon on the 1st of June, and had a very pretty run till the close of
twilight, wliich was not until considerably past nine o'clock, forwc
were already nearly in latitude 51 degrees. From Vienna, which
lies in a sort of b.isin, the country was for some two hours rather
flat, or low undulating, well cultivated, and quite rich. We then
entered low hills, and turning the western end of tiie little Car-
pathian Mountains had charming scenery ; valleys with villages of
comfortable houses; tielils bright anil green, often bordered with
trees; scattered copses of wood, and low mountains from 400 to
500 feet high, clotheil with forest, ami now and then crowned by
a castle or old keep ; some of the large villages, with their white
plastered houses, roofed in red tile, surrounding a tasteful church,
with orchards antl scattered fruit trees, were really pretty. Other
villages were of thatched roofs, and were picturesque. The whole
of Moravia, through which we ran for some six hours, seemetl to
have a cheerful population, if one could judge by looking at the
crowds collected about the stations. I noticed everywhere signs
or naines which showed that there was little difference between
the Bohemian and Moravian language, and the general appearance
of the people proved them to be Czechs. At one point we were
for some time within sight of tall chimneys, from which poured
long lines of smoke. This is the principal mining district of
y\ustria, or, as a gentleman informed me, the Birmingham and
Sheffield region of the empire.

Our run carried us near two famous points in the history of
Napoleon — Wagram .md Austerlitz — and not far off was another
name, which, when 1 was a boy, always awoke in my heart a feel-
ing of indignation — Olmutz, where the friend of America, La-
fayette, was so long imprisoned. I felt disposed to stop and make
a pilgrimage to its old donjon kee[), but could not break thejo'ir-

374

1 888.

RUSSIAN TIME.

375

ncy on my ticket. How certain impressions of childhood last, and
what hold they often take upon the ima<;ination ! When L.i-
fayctte was in Lexington, Ky., in 1825, I was a babe in arms.
My inotluT, livintj in the country, could not leave me behind when
she went to town to .see the ^reat I'Vench republican. Standing
in a crowd when he passed near, she held her child towards him.
He laid his hand upon its head. I have never been able to rid
myself of the feeling; that 1 remembered his appearance, and that
his touch had almost hallowed my brow. One of thr early books
given me was a life of Lafayette. My blood almost tingled when
I read of Olmutz' dungeon, and its name has ever since been
readily brought to mind. Napoleon's name awakens the French-
man to a love of glory; but Lafayette's lies close to the spot
whence spring the heart-beats in an American's breast.

I said in my l.ist that I hoped to find the claw of the Russian
bear lined with velvet. Its fn^t touch upon our shoulders was
certainly not unkind. The officers of the custom-house at Graniza
were courteous, and jiasscd our little baggage through with oidy
perfunctor\' examination, and the conductors and servants of the
railroad have been polite and attentive, and, seeing our entire
ignorance of the langaugc, have invariabl)' put themselves to some
trouble to enable us to get over difficulties. This they have ilone,
tot), witlu>ut any apparent exi)ectation of reward. Our first night
was short, and an early daybreak enabled us to see the country for
two hours before reaching Warsaw at si.x A.M. The railway car-
riages are good, and so fashioned that we did not find it necessary
to take the sleeper. The sleeper has only one window to each
compartment, and, there being ahead}- one occupant in each, we
found our opportunity for ooking out to be limited. The ordi-.

lycar gave us full facilities for drawing out the seats and ni. iking
fortaijle bed. The couiUrv traversed in I'olaiul after

n.i

a ver\' com

davbreak was tlat, but verv nrotluctive, and th

le waving rye, al-

ready headed, was beiuling under the breeze ; the winter wheat is

not yet in

head.

and the sprini

i crop is now beintr sown. I asked

a gentleman if it was not very late to be putting in this crop. His
reply was that " We always do this in May." " Hut." I said.

tins IS une

louiu

! I

O no I It is oiiU- the 20th of Max-

was i:

clays y

ounger than I was the dav bef

left Austria on June 1st; we entered Russi;

stick to the old st\'le as long as possible. How readily an okl man

Then I

We had

I May 2 1 St. I shall

ore.

atch

towards

es at any straw which seems

to float him back, even in f.mcv.

i his

you

So intent was I in looking out upon the land of Kosciusko —
another name dear to the American — so carried back into the
past with the tales of heroism and the legends of daring which
cluster about the name of Poland ; so filled with its love of free-
dom — often misplaced, but never dj'ing -sorrowing over its sor-
rows, and sighing over its woes, that I did not notice that we were

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376

A RACF. Wrni THE SUN.

even approacliiiif^ its capital until our fellow passengers bej^an to
prepare for Icavin.cj the car, and then I found we were alre.uly iu
Warsaw. Waisaw ! The home of John Sobieski, who hurled the
Turk back from the walls of Vienna as a ball thrown from a bat,
and near which Kosciusko fought his last f^^ht in 1794, and, bleed-
in^. fell into the hands of his country's concjueror.

The capital of Poland for the last four centuries, lies ui>on llu-
Vistula. The I'raj^ue suburb, upon a low, flat plain tipon the
rif^ht bank, of scattered houses, with gardens and cattle-yards,
and railroatl ilepots, was once closi ly built ami had a considera-
ble population, but the bloody Suvaroff burnt it in 1794, ami
butchered in imiiscriminate slaughter its 15,000 to 20,000 people.
A fine ami most solidly sustained bridge connects it with tlic
main city lying on (piite an elevation, which, viewed from liii'^
suburb, presents, with its fine palace, citadel, parks, ami many
churches, a very pleasing appearance. It cannot be called a
handsome city, but is interesting, witii some fine public buildings,
a large park, scpiatted down in its very centre, and adorned with
fountains, fish-])onds, and summer theatres, fine old trees, mostly
horse-chestnuts ; with f.nrly broad streets in the newer city linetl
with good houses, aiul ([uaint tall old houses, three to {owr cen-
turies old, jutting in and out upon the narrow, crooketl striets of
the old city. These, coupled with historic associations and I'nlisli
legends running back far into the dim past, make the place inter-
esting, at least to an American in whose mind patriotic devotion,
bold deeds, and long suffering are alwa\s suggested by the very
name of Poland.

W'arszawa (Polish) has a population of perhaps 425,000 and a
garrison at tiiis time amounting to 25,000. There are a great
many Jews, who, I learn, are intlustrious, persevering, and provi-
dent, and in large proportion thoroughly orthoilox. Their large
quarter on Saturday was all shut up, and the people — men, women,
and children, —were thorougidy attendant at the synagogues.
One of these places of worship is full of interest, containing many
treasures of the past. The Jews of Poland number about I,000,-
000. autl are ilistinguishable where\'ir seen by their marked cast
of features, long, ungaiidy coats, ugl)' top-boots, low, tIro()])ing
caps, and solemn faces. I have neviM* seen in any country any
thing even approaching the solemn visages shown by the 1 lebrews
of Pol.ind. They are not stern and somewhat contem])tU(>us, as
are the faces of the Arabs, nor proud and fanatic, as are those of
the Turks in the interior towns of Asia Minor, nor searching and
grasping as those of the Armenians. Their solemnity is of ,1
melancholy type, ami arises, I suspect, from ages of endurance,
forbearance, and persecution, and looks as if it were taught in
their homes and studied at all times.

The Jews of Holland are rather cringing in manner, but always
keen in appearance. Those of Germany, London, and perhaps

i^i I

rilE JEWS. POLISH LANGUAGE.

Ill

of America, arc rather self-isscrtivc, confitlcnt, ami pusliin^f.
Those of Poland look as if they desired to escape attention and
wish simply to be let alone.* Remember, I write mere impres-
sions, antl do not wish to assert. lUit to nie one of the important
factors of the ])resent world are the de-icendants of .Xhr.diam.
Many of them 1 like, a liking ^'rown out of close companionship.
They have their faults, and ^rave ones ; many of their manner-
isms are unattractive but are eradicable, ami therefore to he over-
looked in an examination of their characteristics and a forecast of
their future. They measure tlieir ethics too much by the rule of
law ; they too often think what is lawful is therefore honorable ;
they are too prone to stand by the boml thoui^h it be wet with
tears or ^'ory with the pound of flesh. These thini^s are weldetl
into their nature by their theolo<;y, and then tempered into the
hanlness of steel by aj^es of contumely from all the world. With-
out a t,rovernment of their own for near!)- twenty centuries, with-
out a land the)- can claim for themselves ilurin;^ all this vast
period, they have hail an autonomy of territory thorout^hly
marked, a territory bouiuled by the limits marked on the earth's
crust by the rays of a warminL,^ sun. Despiseil, they are self-
reliant ; robbed, they have accumulated the c.\chant,feable {;ov-
erniiiL; valuables of the world ; debarred the salons of rulers,
kin;4s are their puppets, and imperial ^governments are their in-
struments, whose st(jps they mani[)ulate as the musician m.mipu-
lates his flute. They are a book whose i)at;es the thouL,duful man
should stutly wherever he can part the leaves. Who c.in tell
what the last pai^e, yet unwritten, ma\' reveal ?

The Poles tell nie with priile that theirs is a kiiii:;doiH, aiu! that
the Czar rules it as kiiiL,' of Poland ; that they elect their own
mayors and speak their own l.in^uaj^e ; and \"et one sees over
every shop the name ami business of the proprietor in Russian as
well as Polisii, and all law-court ])roceedin<^s, and all official com-
munications, however small, are in the lan^uatje of the ruler, and
that by law. All means possible are bein;^ used to russianize the
country. This may, perhaps, seem harsh to its 7,000,000 of people,
who have a rich and copious lani,aia<^e of their own, a lan;4ua<^e
which has had the sanction of a thousand years, and in which
able universities tau<;ht for centuries; but it is the part of wise
statesmanship. A nation should be homogeneous, and to be this
recjuires a common lan^juaf^e. One of the causes of weakness of
Austria is the several lanj^ua^es spoken by its ilifferent peoples.
As an admirer of the Pole I would rei^n-et much to see hislan<^ua^e
proscribed, but I must .ulmit that I cannot blanii' Russia's em-
peror for his endeavor to have his every subject speak Russian.
A common lan^najrc lulps to develop common thoui,dit. Com-
mon thou|.';ht develops liomo|^a'neity of character. The Czar
wishes to rule a nation, not a system of separate and ilistinct
nations. To wipe out these separate nationalities and to weld

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378

y1 RACE WITH THE SUN.

them into one must burn into iiiauy a racial nerve and tjive in-
tense agony. We may regret the necessity and hate the doer,
but we are forced to aclcnowiedgc liis wisdom. The Lord ])ul an
end to tiie grow tii of '.leaveii's insult, " the Tower of Babel,"
by introducing a babel of tongues.

While the Hebrews of Pohind struck me as so solemn a people,
the Poles themselves seem cheerful. Not with the insouciant
cheerfulness of the I'renchman, nor the easy, cheerful manner of
the Austrian, who seems almost as much a seeker after ple.isure
as the Gaul, init with a rather bright demeanor anil with chatty,
agreeable manners.

The present rulers are determined to hold Warsaw. Not only
have they made their language iiecessarj' in the courts, but all the
old universities have been tlestroyed. and the people, after the
♦rouble of 1 830, were forced to erect, at their own cost, a huge
citadel, or rather fortifications, in the city, to be useil, if lU'ces-
sary, against iL, about .ind iuouiid which tiie very earth. I am
informed, is mined and countermined, so that ;in uprising attempt-
ing to carry it can be hurled into ruin. Here stati- jirisoiurs are
confined, and snmetimes executed. ( )ur intelligent guitle. wli'.
lived a while in America, pointed out the prison in which Niiiil-
ists have been, and some now are, conhned. Some of the prisons
are entirely underground. The whole thing i-- certainly a dan-
gerous neighbor ior a cit\' disposetl to i>c rebellious, '^''lis, how-
ever, I was told, the Warsaw people are iid longer inclined t j be.
No better evidence can be given of tile emperor's confideii. • in
the good intentions of the people than the fact that wlu n he
visits Waisaw he drives about in an unostt ntatmus m. inner,
whollj- unattended by guards. This eert.iinly is wise. .\ king
cannot better win the good feeling of ids people than b\- >howing
his trust in them. The groat empi-ror whose reni.iins are yet
mouUlering in (iermany, was fired upon, yet he showed tlie (ier-
mans that he- trusted them b.y constantly txiiosing himself, and
the last drop (jf (lerman biootl was his to comm.md.

Hesiiles the " Sa.xon " gardiiii in tiie lie.irt of Warsaw, tlii-re is a
large and \'ery i)eaiitiful pank close by, once the property of
Poniatowski, .iiid in which is a pretty summer jialaee upon a fine
slieet of water, and ,. uni'Uie ■ 'peii tiiealre ; the unciMred aniplii-
theatre is in imitation of an .uicient structure, with a stage on a
little island m an apparent semicircular ruin nf haiidsdiiu'
columns, .1 sheet of water thus lying between the |ierformers and
the audience. This is ;i veritable gem, aiul must be an ex(|uisite
place for a pl.iy on ;i moonlight night. ( )nr ])roud guitle pointed
to it with entliusiasm as he s.iiil : " (ieii. .Sherman, when here,
could not help crying out: ' Wh\-, this is a pirrfect fairy sceiii'.' "
I can re.idily believe the grim. \et enthusia'-tic, oU, soldit-r might
have so spoken. Leailing to this p.irk is a broail bouhvard, .1
mile long, shadi:d by old lime trees iind bordered by jialaces of
noble and elegant residctrces of rich citizens.

ivi' in-
locr,
Mil an
.ibcl,"

VILLA NOV. SOBIESKI.

379

There arc quite a number of fine statues of public men in
different parts of the city, but tlic one wiiich held our attention
most was tlvat of Copernicus, by Tiiorwaidsen, sittint^ in an easy
attitude a;ui holding the j^lobe in his hand. The Poles siiould be
proud of their warrior, Sobieski ; of their patriot, Kosciusko, but
(.ven yet jirouder of their ^reat philosopher and astronomer. lie
Sits here in quiet l)ut dee]) meditation. The worlil most admires
its men of deeds ; but after all he does most whose deeds arc
mighty thou;^iits. A drive of an iiour throuf^h waving fields of
rye on the estates of the Countess I'otoscka brought us to the
palace of \'ill;inov, her property, built by Sobieski, his last home
and where he died. It is a beautiful building in a fine garden or
park of old trees, pretty lakelets, and wonderful lilac trees, whose
rounded heads were a simple mass of bloom, filling tiie air with
delicious fragraiice. I will iiere remark that for weeks we have
been journeying witl' the spring and its flowers, and now the
cherry and lilac are barely in full bloom. They have kept with
us since we left I\gypt, and the acacia or locust, which had
parliall)' ilropped its flower in (ireece, was perfection in Con-
stantinople and Roumania, well out in Vienna, is now hardly
white, and the air in orcliards is just now redolent of apple-
blossoms.

Vill.uov possesses fine paintings, some of them very valuable,
a good :ollection of china and Etruscan ware, and is, in fact, a
cliarnvrig museum, but yet more interesting are the rooms occu-
jiicd by the great Pole, still just as they were when he last
tenanted them, even the bed on whicii he died. Here are Ids old
clocks and arms, the garments he wore, his saddles, horse-harness,
.and sw<ird, his rich presents, given by the ])opc and others after
his glorious victories over the Turks; his plate, gifts from dis-
tinguishetl men, ami on the walls hang the tapestry and paintings
on which he rested l)is eyi.'s after his hard-fouglit campaigns. It
is saiil he built the house through the labor of Turks he had taken
as ])riNoners of w.ir. This ])alace and its contents are all the more
interesting from the fact tliat the galleries of Warsaw were robbed
of their tine royal jiortraits, which were taken to adorn the walls
of the treasure-house at Moscow. My young friends will not feci
.uiy less interest in this beautifid place when I tell them that here
was l.iid ,1 ]),Lrt of the scene of much of tiiat charming love story,
"Thadileus of Warsaw." lioys and girls, how many of yi>u have
re. id its thrilling love passages and failed to weep over its touch-
ing pathos? if any, then you were not as I, for 1 am not ashamed
to confess that 1 not only wept over the book, but sobbed as if
my heart would lireak. and 1 was over 12 years old, too, when I
did it. llere in this palace are pointed out the rooms in which
ihaddeus played and loved. lie was great to you and me, girls,
when we diil not care a fig for John, the warrior. Here is iiis
picture, and a pretty f.ice was p(>inted out to us as hers he so
ioved. He was a [irctty boy, and his hair was cut like John

fU r ,1

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380

.4 RACE WITH THE SUN.

Sobicski's, but it was not all shaven back from his tcinpics and
around over his cars and on the back of his neck as the warrior's
was. I do not remember the book well. I only know thai it
made me shed many a tear, and 1 thou^dit Jane I'orter the
paraf^on of historians.

The ride from the capital of rulaiul to Moscow was intere-tinjj
simply because it was in Russia. A lar^'e i)art of it w.is throu;^!!
low, fiat, half-swami? plains, covered with birch and small ])ines;
then over low, flat lands, partially cultivated, and many of the
fields promisin^j crops whicii we in Americ.i would scarcely think
worth harvesting. As in I'oland, r\e w.is the main L,frowth until
durinij tiie latter lialf of the last da\-, when sprinij wheat pn -
dominated. I suspect the crops suffer much fr<im want of drip
plowing;. In Roumania I wmte that they l)rcak tlie ground witli
six oxen and plow deep and well. Here this work is done with
a sint^Ie horse, and the plow does not enter the ^oil over two
inches. They use a cpieer. old-fashioned t(iol with two IIljIu
shares, anil the horse draws between a pair of shafts which lie on
a level ; the beam, of wiiich the plowshare makes the point — i.r
rather the iwo beams lyiny close together-are from four to five
feet hiL,Mi, and morticed into the 'Toss-bar at the rear of the
shafts. It will not make our i'ii;lit-I. >ur people love tills country
when I tell them I saw people workin_^ in the fiiKls a little after
four in the morning and until nine o'clock in il'.e cvenin-.^. Women
seem to do the bidk of the farm woik, and slurd\-, li,u(l\-lookini^
women they are. They wear coarse cic.'thes and live on rye bread.
In Moscow I have seen street pavers, nun and women, stop foi
their breakfast, which was simple rye bread washec' dowi. with
water. From light to ilark is the term of a day's lai;or, with poor
pay ami poor food. M)- laborini,' friends at homo, gi\"e warm
thanks to the (liver of all good that j'our lots are cast in a l.md
of freedom, where men work, not fight ; where women are rosy
companions, and not mere beasts of burden ; where );ai can do a
fair (.lay's work and get a fair day's w.ige ; where yoar children
can read and write, and .are not comi)elleil to watch flocks all da\
in the fieKls, .and i)e const. mtly the coinpanirns of slieep and <if
swine ; where, it' you are iiulustrious, sober, and economic. d, ym
can, if in health, alwaj's 1 i)' by enough to keep the U(jlf aw.i\- in
)"our okl ;ige.

I'rom Minsk- to Moscow wt; were continuously ne.ir the line of
m.irch of the iMeiich in lSl2, .ind of their subsequent dis.istnm-
retreat ; throujyh Kresnoe, where Ney left 26,cxx:) |)risoners and
nearly all of his guns and his v.ist train of stores; through
Smolensk, f.unous in niaiij' an old w.ir, and where the example
was set, in I.SiJ, f^ir Moscow to folhnv, in fi;,diting the ine-istible
invading army with fire. Here the destruction of tlu' I-'reiuli
was so great when on their retreat, that the then successful
Russians burned the dead in vast trenches over a third of a mile in

"FRENCH RETREAT.

3"^'

loneth ; and through Borodino, where Ncy was created " I'rincc
of Moscow" for his gallantry, and where, after slaughter of fifty
odd thousand men and 30,000 horses, the road was laid open for
the advancing army to enter Moscow.

Tliank God, Americans do not have to immolate themselves for
the <^Iory of kings. Our rukrs may often be foolish, and perhaps
sometimes untrue to their trusts, and many laws may be unwise,
but we do not have to appeal to the cannon to repeal the laws, or
to bombs to unseat the rulers. We have the freeman's weapon to
ri<vht all evils — an untrammelled ballot.

'111

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'j;

CHAPTER XXXVII.

MOSCOW— T IE RUSS0-(;RKI;K ClIUKlMl— DKVOTION of THK I>I'.<V
PLE— RUSSIAN TEA— KKSTAURANTS— rilK KREMLIN-
HELLS— PALACES.

,1^

Moscow, Jute 12, 1888.

I INTENDED to sticV as lorifj as possible to old stylo of dates
because it was so at;rccauli' to feci liiat I was still in the spring-
time of my life, and had not yet entered the summer of ripe age.
You see, however, that I have already jumped into June. This is
from sheer indignation and disgust. A long while ago, wiien
Peter the Great was making boots and Iicwiiig ship timbers — it
is, by the way, to be hoped he wielded the adze better than he
did the awl, for the boots shown in the treasury made by his
hands for himself, are rough specimens of the cobbler's art, — at
that day there lived in Russia an astronomer under him named
Hruce, who made weather calculations for centuries to come.
These prophecies are still noted ilown in the almanacs, lie fore-
told that May of this year (188S) would be very cold. He was
right. I am writing in my overcoat, and have not been able to
go without one since we have been here. Hruce was so wise that
Peter got alarmed, thinking him a sorcerer, and ordered him to
depart the country. Heing asked whither, tlie autocrat said any-
where, so he got away; but moved by curiosity, ordered men to
watch tlic twelve roads leaving the city. Imagine the feelings of
superstitious '.'eter when the reports came in that Ikucc was seen
at the self-same hour some vcrsts from the city fleeing on each of
the twelve different roads! It is a i)ity the sorcerer had not been
knocked on the head before he fi.ved May, 1888, as a very cold
inonth, or that Peter had changed the style, for then this would
be June 1 2th, with warm, genial weather.

The hotel we arc in, the Slavianski Bazaar, recalls another
legend of superstition no the part of the people of olden (la\-s. In
1553 t!ic first printing-office in Russia was built, and yet stands
in a rear court of this house. The original starter of the thing
was a victim of his knowledge, for he was threatened with death
as a nccron">anLer, and probably was maltreated by the mob. TIic
business, however, got Mito the hands of the government, and has
been run by it ever since. The little old house, yet preserved
with great care, became the nuclcui of a large establishment un-

•<8a

Kil

THE RUSSO-GREEK CHURCH.

383

der the control of tlic church, which prints all of the books,
musical as well as others, for not only the Russian establishment,
but for the Greek church in other countries. It is under the con-
trol of able directors, who employ learned men, and thus give its
books authority with all followers of the Eastern Ciiurch. It is
very rich ; owns this \iv^ hotel, and much other valuable property.
The man.TTcrs wished to have here not only a hotel, but a concert-
hall, theatre, and mercantile bazaar, all under one roof. The
bazaar did not succeed. It is now a beautiful hall, larj^c and finely
vaulted, and is the restaurant or dininj^-room of tlie hotel.

'llie mana<:;er of the printinf;-housc yesterday k'ndiy explained
to us many things in connection with the Greek or Russian
church not before understood by us, and showed us some very
rare old works, and exquisitely illumined music-books — which,
however, being in Hebrew, Greek, or Russian, I could only ad-
mire from the outside. The Greek church here acknowledges no
head other than the conclave or f>ynod of the archbishops, who arc
held to be the successors of the t've!\e apostles, and all being co-
equal one with another. The emperor is simply tlie jiolitical head
of the Russian ciuirch. The archbishops, bishops, and the people
elect the archbishops when a vacancy occurs ; the elected's name
is then jiresLnted to the emperor for his consent, which, when
once given, r<.'movcs all right of further contrf)! from the czar.

The emperor is very earnest in his observance of the rites of
the church, and in religious matters pays great respect to the
prejudices and religious opinions of the pcojilc. At one of the
gates of the " Kitai-gorod," or citadel, is a little chapel or shrine
dedicated to the " Iberian motiierof God," in which the image of
the Virgin is beautifully jewelled, and brings about many miracles.
Here the emjieror dismounts when he visits Moscow, and worships
in the presence of the image before entering the Kremlin. From
morning till night there is a stream of people going into and
coming from the chapel, and toward evening this becomes a
column. People of all ages and all degrees, the wealthy and the
beggar, each buys one or more candles from the man selling them
just within the door, and places them lighted near the altar. The
revenues thus otjtained are said to be very large. No one passes
under the gate without lifting his hat and crossing himself at least
three times. The gate is a great thoroughfare, and the lifting of
hats by gentlemen and laborers, teamsters and drivers, people in
carriages, and people afoot, all crossing themselves so earnestly,
and many dropping on their knees, presents ;i curious spectacle.

One day we saw two drunken men, with locked arms, stagger-
ing along the broad square, nearly lOO yards from the chapel.
When in front of it, down they went to their knees. When they
attempted to rise, one could not succeed until helped up by a
passer-by. The shrines and images along the streets arc innum-
erable. Many kneel before them, and the great majority cross

n^.

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384

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

tlicmsclvcs. Wc took a loiifj ride on the top of a street-car. The
passengers on tliis dock sit with tlicir bacKs to each other on a
long seat rvmnin^j from front to rear. V>y my side were two rouj^lily-
drcssed laborers. Tliey removed their hats and crossed them-
selves whenever passing the churches and shrines. We must have
passed, in tlie ride, over 20 on the side we were facing. Some
merchants were on the other side ; they did the same when op-
posite a holy place on their side of the street. I have followed
people to see if they would not pass some shrine unnoticed. A
very few do, but poor women seem never to omit the ceremony.
At a church service the crossing and genuflections are as numer-
ous and as continually kept up as are the bowings and prostrations
at a Constantinople mosque of dancing dervishes. Here, too,
many of the worshippers when kneeling bend the forehead down
to the floor.

Each church wc have visited has one or more special " Ikons"
(holy images). People are alwaj's seen before them, and all kiss
the image before leaving. I asked our guide how often he
thought these people crossed themselves each day. He replied
that he did not doubt some who arc much on the street do so
more than 100 times each day of the year. People hurry past a
church on a railroad train, and lift their hats and cross themselves.
I think, from what I saw, that this is only done when an image is
in view. But these are on the front of most churches. So far I
have not seen a single sculpt'ired effigy of Christ nailed to the
cross. It is evident that the Greek church uses principally the
painted images, in preference to the carved ones. I was told that
this is considered the proper thing, in contradistinction to the
carved effigies of the Latin church. It is said that the o;)position
to the church of Rome here is greater than that felt for the
Protestants. I have never seen in any country among the masses
greater evidences of religious devotion, at least in its outward
forms, than arc shown in Moscow. The Mohammedan of Cairo
is not more so. This is considered one of the holy cities of the
Russo-Greek church, Kicff alone ranking as high. Here every ap-
peal possible is made to the religious heart. There arc 360
churches, many old, and possessing the most sacred relics — one of
the nails which 'fastened Christ to the cross, locks of his hair, a
part of the true cross, bodies of saints incased in gilded shrines,
pictures of the Saviour and of the Virgin, covered with gold and
decked with jewels. Avoiding as they do carved images, the
pictures which adorn the walls are very often covered over with
garments of gilded silver, the garments taking the form of the
body in raised relief, and sho\,'ng the face of the painted picture
with here a hand and perhaps there a foot. The interior walls of
many of the churches are almost covered with pictures of life-size.
These being clad in garments of gold in high relief make the walls
look as if built of gold, and give the interiors of such churches a
massive richness vicing with any thing seen in Oriental lands.

THE DEVOTION Of THE P EOT I.E.

}fil

" Mothers of God," painted in no mean manner, arc on the
front of nearly all churches, and little chapels and shrines, with
the Virfjin and Child, are on the sides of the streets in vast num-
bers. The Child is rarely represented as a baby, but is usually
apparently from 6 to 12 years old, and with the thou^Mitful ex-
pression of even a ijreater at^e, and yet it sits in its mother's lap.
l>anips are suspended before all of these imajj;es, and are lighted
lonij before dark. These things all ap[)eal to the ignorant and to
the devotional, and keeps constantly alive a feeling of religious
fervor. All churches have domes : the better ones five — one large
and four smaller ones about it. Many of these are gilded, and
glisten under the rays of the sun. Rising high over every dome
is a beautiful Greek cross with crescent below — appealing not
only to religion through the symbol of Christ's sufferings, but
also through the debasetl crescent to the national hatreil of the
Turk and of Isl.imism. I am told, however, this was not the in-
tention, but simjjly to represent the idea of the growth of the
doctrine of the cross. Ikit some at least of the common people
understand it as showing the domination of the Christian cross
over the crescent of Islam.

Many believe that the Russian aims at a spread of his govern-
ment over the continent. If he can keep alive in his soldiers a
desire to make his religion universal he will succeed in making
himself almost invincible. It was the crescent at the heatl of his
columns which enabled Timour to win his enormous victories.
Men can concjuer or die when taught that death in battle opens
the gates of Paradise. The C/ar of Russia has erected the cross.
Who knows how far it may leail him ? On one of the boulevards
of Moscow a large pyramidal monument was lately erected ; on
its four sides, in bokl alto relievo, are lifi -sized representations in
bronze of episodes of the late war with Turkey, One represents
a Bulgarian mother and child being cut down by a Turk; the
next shows a Russian soldier slaying the Mohammedan and sav-
ing the woman. Then follows one with a priest pointing the
wounded soldier to a higher land. .Such things must feeil in the
hearts of the people a desire to drive Islamism from .Stamboul.
The rushing (loods of this great land flow not more eagerly
toward the Hlack Sea than do the yearnings of the Russian toward
the Hosplu)rus.

Many of the churches here are fine, some very interesting, anil
one is simply magnificent. This is the Temple of the .Saviour,
the metropolitan church of the Moscow archbishopric. It is
large, holds 7,000 people, and cost §10,000,000. It is built in the
form of an equal-armed Greek cross, of whitish stone, on a base
of dark granite highly polished. The outer walls have, in high
relief, in heroic size, representations of Biblical stories, and above
is a central grand dome, with four others, over the arms of the
cross. These domes are of brilliantiygilded copper. The grand

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386

A RACK WITH TJIK SUN.

,i /

portico, with its 36 columns, is very imposing. Tiic interior walls
have bases of a curious black marble, with ^'listening veins .md
wonderfully polished, from Finland ; above this base arc the
usual rows of pictures in gold garments, raised in relief, and above
them, in rows one over the other, are life-sized pictures of IJibli-
cal and other saints, finely executed, covering the walls up to the
lofty galleiies, which run entirely around the etlifice. These gal-
leries have many pictures of great size and in high art, depicting
stories in the lives of Russian saints. The architecture througli-
out is very fine, and the paintings are all l)eautiful, and, to nu,
seem masterly works. One thing, and only one, helps to mar the
whole. In the vault of the majestic dome, which is go feet in
diameter, is a picture of God with the child Christ on his lap. and
the Holy Ghost as a dove on his breast. Tin's picture is a grand
one ; but it always shocks me to see an attempt to represent tlir
might\', unknown, and unknowable Goil as a man — as a figured
being. Human ken cannot fathom the dimensions of Him who
holds countless worlds in the hollow of 1 lis hand ; human thouglu
cannot conceive the form of Him who created and set in motiDii
ten thousand thousand suns, on whose rounded sides this world
of ours in flames would scarcch' be a flashing spark ; set them in
motion so true and perfect that no mathematical science can cal-
culate the far-off ;eon when the first vibration will occur in tluir
onward roll ! Human imagination camiot even dream of the
brightness of His eye, which can look into a blazing sun and
cause the burning flame to ilim into tlarkness. Ah, no I God i^;
unknown and unknowable — never conceived and inconceivable.
No created thing can imagine what and how He is, whose thought
created the vastness of space, and who, by His will, filled it with
the boundless universe! Next to St. Sophia, and, perhaps, St.
Paul, I remember no church which has so impressed me as this
Temple of the Saviour. Stamling within it ;ind looking up into
its dome, over 300 feet high, I was warmed as I could be in no
Gothic church, though its columns and pillars were as the trees
of the forest. I do not like the profusion of gilt in the Greek
church, but, in the form adopted, it has been more successful
than the church of the West.

About an hour's drive from the citv' is the only considerable
elevation in its neighborhood .Sparrow Hill, on the banks of the
river. It is only 2<X) or 300 fett high, but affords a ver\- fine
view of the town and its domes, the Kremlin and its crenulateil
walls and palaces. It was from this s])ot that the victorimis
Napoleon looked for the first time upon the doomed city he h,ul
so long yearned to enter, and which proved his ruin. The I'"rench
soldiers, as they climbed from behind up to the top of this hill.
are .said, one after anotlier, to have shouted " Moscow ! " I'oor
fellows! Little dreamed they of the burning hand which was to
grasp theirs in welcome, or of the cold winding sheet which was

riCTl RESQ VE . MO Si OH'

3«7

ior walls

L'illS .111(1

arc the
k1 above
f.f liibli-
ip to the
liL'sc ^al-
Icpictiiit^
thiDu^h-
1, to nif,
( mar the

10 feet in
s lap, and
s a j^raiul

SLMlt tlU'

a fi'^niiicl
Mini will)
\ tluni;;ht

11 nioiiim
his worUi
t thcin in
:c can cal-
ir in thiir
ni of the

sun and
() I God is
nccivahle.
;c tlioui;ht
cd it with
:rhai)S, St.
lie as this
\v^ up into
1 i)e in no
s the trees
the (iieek
successful

)iisitlerahle
inks (»f the
I very fuu'
creiiul ited

victorious
:ity he had
'he iM-eiich
af this hill,
w ! " I'oor
liich was to

which was

so soon to enfold so many of their comrades. A map of this city
looks so like that of Vienna that I mistook it the first time I saw
one in a window. The river runs througli it much as the canal
does in the other, and the streets of the town, accomniodatin}^
themselves to the form of the Kremlin and the Katai-Gorod, Ijotli
walled in, assume a somewhat circling; form, as does the KiiiL;
Strassc. There are very few streets which are straight for any
considerable distance. There is probably no city in Christendom
laid out with more absolute irregularit\- than Mosccnv. Looking
at the map one could believe this irregularity was studied.
Streets bend and wind in every direction, with no .ippareiit inir-
pose, except that the inhabitants of the central old walled town
should reach the counlr)- in every direction. Streets leatl from
the Kremlin, or centre, for this purpose to the outskirts in all
cjuartcrs, but with no attem])t to preserve direct lines. Tliey
bend and wind and run sometimes into each other, ami are of no
fixed w idtli. I lere they arc narrow, then tliej- double their width,
now they are lost in open sp.ices of irregular forms into which
two or more streets may debouch. Cutting these country-seek-
ing roads is a system of streets attempting to preserve to some
extent the form of the Kremlin and Katai-(jorod, or central-walled
ancient city, and seeking to make themselves a system somewhat
circular and- concentric. One of these is the grand boulevard
occu|)yiiig the locatit)n of an f)l(l fortification. This is of various
widths — now lOO feet, and then spreading to two, three, or even
more hundred, and encloses a somewhat circular space, not (piitc
three miles in diameter. In the centre of this s])ace, averaging a
tr.ict e(|u.il to a mile S(|uare, is the irregularly-formed walled old
town, comprising the Kremlin and Katai-Gorod. Just outside of
tluii w.dls is another boulevard system, occupying the once old
niii.it. Between these two boulevards is a faint attempt to pre-
.'f rve a somewhat circular concentric s\-stem of streets. Outside
ti.e outer boulevard there seems to be no sort of system. The
boulevards are well planted with trees, and have well-kept proiiu n-
ades in the centre, the tlrivew.ty being on the outer sides.

It will thus be seen tli.it Moscow possesses much to make it
pretty. The old Kremlin, famous in history during several
centuries, with its erenulated walls, its p.ilaces, ami cpi.tint

churcht

es, all perched upon an elev.ition sufficient to make them
l.uul-marks ; the Katai-Gorod. or walled citadel, with bciuling, tor-
tuous streets, and old and yet hanilsome hou.ses ; the (jueerly
laid-out, irregular city outside, with gardens and well-planted
boulevanls — these things give much that is nccessarj- for the
pictures(jue. ^'et I am compelled to admit that a week's stay
iiere did not, to me, make it interesting. The Kremlin and its
contents, and some of the churches arc interesting, but they arc
rather lions in the city. The city itself lacks something to warm
up the traveller. Perhaps this has been only for us, and may

. 1 . . V

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A A'ACK WITH THE SIW.

:. 'f I

bu sonunvhat owiiij; to tlic contimiid cold, drizzly, cl.iinp weather.
This may have kept the people more within ; at Ic.ist, when on
the streets, within themselves. Tiiey all have snch an air of
apathy, or of selfish indifference; each seems listless, or if in
earnest then bent on somethinij belon^in^' only to himself.

People are crowdipg the narrow sidewalks, forcinj^ one to j;et
on the ro.idw.iy, and then to dod^'e off to keep from beinj,' run
over l)y the tlrojkies, wliich rattle, as fast as a trot will cany
them, over the coi)bIe-paved streets. Porters are luirr)'in|^' aloni^^ ;
women in queer peasant ^.irbs, with bundles over their back^,
and basket-sandals on their feet, are trudi^in^ on their pilijrimai^fc
from church to church, crossin^^ themselves ;uid kneelinj^ at every
little chapel, .md before ever)- imap;e. They look tired and
wearj-. for they are perhaps from ver)' distant provinces, and are
m,d<in;^ a pilijrima^e which will take in Kiev — 700 or Soo miles
awa\-. There are men in routjh coats ilozini; in tloorways, .iiid
drojky drivers, with tlowin;^ skirts reachini^^ to their ankles,
.isleep in the vehicles, or im])ortunin|4- jou to ride. There is ,ill
of this, yet there is nothing which 1 c.ui call street life, which
makes other cities of fewer people interestin;^.

The ciowils are on the street, but e\'er)' one is wrapped up in
a sort of self-hidin;T reserve. I love to watch new people. I
visit cities more to h>ok at and into their peo[)li' th.ui at ami into
their editlces ,ind shows. I never wearied when w.dkin^ the
streets of London, or Paris, or Herlin, or \'ienna, an<.l ab'ive
all, of the f.ir-uff cities of the Orient, liut here there seem- Id
be nothing offered by the people to make them attr.ictive. The
better cl.isses are polite ;uul courteous. The m.isses, howew r,
aie not lookin^^ about as if read)' to be amused. Tin.)' ha\e
something to do, and nothing else enters their brain. Tin -.e
are the impressions 1 recei\'ed. I have j^one into reslaur.mls at
tile two o'clock hour of the principal meal, ilere the same air
is worn. .\ well-patronizeil cafe or restaurant in most cities pre-
sents an epitome of life, anil one can spend hours in them simply
as a looker-on. \'esterday, ne.xt to our table, three young ni' n
sat down, having first looked over the counter on which comestibles
are spreail. A small bottle with a sort of schnapps - and wiiu'-
glasses, a plate of dark breail, aiul another of radishes and but-
ter, with a sm.ill dish of smoking-hot veal, weri- placed before
them. The)- ate some railishes and a mouthful of \eal. then
filling their gl.isses tii)ped tlu'in and, opening tiieir mouths wide,
emptied the w hite liquor down their throats at a gulp. TIk \-
then talked .md eat more r.uli^lies, and ;i few more moulhfuK ^A
veal, and th.en poureil down each .'inother gl.issful, throwing tlu ir
heads back as if to enable the stuff to reach the right pi. ice at
once. They then lit cigarettes. Hy this time the)- li.ui l)ec(juic
voluble, and after the third gla.ss, which emptied the bottle, they
commenced to talk German as if to prevent others from uniler-

weather.

iVlieil nit

n air uf
or if in
If.

e ti) ;4i't
einj,' run

ill cany
^ aloni; ;
.'ir backs,
il;^rinia;.;c

at evrry
tired and
i, and AW
Soo miles
vays, .md
r ankUs,
lere is all
ife, \\liit.li

)ed uji in
icople. 1

ami intd
lkin<; the
nil .d)'ive
: se-en".^ to
ivc. 'I'lie

liowevrr,
"he\- have
1. ''Idu-e
iuirants at
: same air
cities pii-
em simply
i)un;4 ni n
omi'stibles
-and wine-
's ami l)ut-
:ed IxfiMf
veal, ihrn
iUths widi',
dp. 'I'luy
lulhful- 'if
iwinj^ lilt ir
it jjlaee at
id become
•ottle. they
rom uiuIlt-

A7-;.V 7.1 ( 'A'.I.V 7'.V. A'r.S.Sf.'LV TI-.A.

.?S9

standing them. A .second bottle was broufjht. and a b^wl of
soup, anil another dish or two of nuat. They took a few month-
fuls, anil droppetl anotlur glassful of vodky or schnapps down
into their waistbands. 'Ihe topic of conversation became very
sad. for one of them died tears, which pouiid down his cheek,
the other two gi\ inj.; him warm s\inpath\-. '1 <y were all young.
]\rhaps it was a tale of blighted love. We left them before the
KLC'iul bottle was emptied, and before thej- had eaten much of
their dinner. Their conversation h.ul bec'ine low-toned and -.id.
The cuisine in our hotel, and in good restaurants, is very fine,
and comfortably good in the cheaper houses we have tried.
Nowhere is living dear. Tea. most delicious, with nice bnad
and enough for two, cost So kopecks, .ind a trink-gelt to the
waiter of say tcn--in all about 40 cents. Chocoj.iti.', two tumblers
full, and bread (>r c.ike for two, same price. .\ good dinner of
.soup, two kinds of meat and veget.d)les, with a coinpoti- and
glass of beer, costs in the best places, for two, about $1.10
of our money. Thi> same at a cheap, respectable place, but not
so well prepare d, yet good enough, about 35 cents a person, of
our moiie)-. We m.ike it a rule to try all kind of pi. ices where
food is clean and respectable. Rus->i.in tea , very fine. It is
.served thii> : A te.i-pot large enough to hold one large cup full,
is jjlaced before two persons, with another large pot of boiling
water. We h.ilf fill our cups from the tea-pot. and fill up ith
water, and if desired with cream or with ndlk, .it the same lime
filling the tea-pot with hot water. In this wa\- we cm have as
much as we can possibly ikdre. I noticed Russi.ms drinking
and refilling until the ilecoction coming from the pot was b.in ly
colored. We. however, refill nnly once, getting tiuis two large
cups of delicious te.i. The third cup is strong enough for tabic
use. l'"or each portion 1:? lumps of sugar are ftirnishetl, and
bread enough for a f.iir b'.e.ikfast. I noliceil Rus-i.ms putting
the sugar in their mouths and supping the tea through it. or i it-
ing It after swallowing ;ome tea. This, however, w;is wlu n tea is
taken simply as a beverage, and with a slice of lemon. One

di<
A

;us

'I.ISS

tin^ habit is common hen- in the better class of restaur.mts.

of w.iter is sir\'e(

the continent, but here, so far, it se

1 aflrr tlu me.il with a fingcr-bou 1. The
red out of it into the fin^er-

ol\

There is

mouth is w.ished and the water pou

1 h.ivc heretofore seen this done at m.iiiy tables d'hote

ems universal
f

nothing in this really filth)-, but it is suggestive of nastincss
have seen it among travelled swells in -America. It is a habit I
hope will not t.ike deep root c\en in our swilldom. To w.ish
the mouth before smoking is a luxury. But then- are ^ome
things that .ire better done behind a screen than in full view. I
have not yet .seen a single cigar smoked except my own. All

smok

e cig.irettc'

le resu

is.

fore

eel, when

any one to avoid his breath as

mucl

\ as

if)ssiOle,

talk
Tl

ing t

le smoke

<"■!?.

I <

'A >

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I; '

;Mr

I r 1*

'«(

f !■

i«

'I '

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.590

./ A'./CA //■//•// /7//'. SUiY.

from tlu: ci^'aix-ttc is inli.ilcil, aiul makes tlir luu^'s fclitl aiul must
injure licalth. May not tliis, ti) soiuo (.xtciit, increase tlie ilre.id
disease, consumption, wliicli I am told is rather common in tliis
land? At the hotel, meals ;ire served in the rooms, with no addi-
tion to the cost, anil juil^nn;^ from the tea-tra)s l)eins4 *-arried
alouf^ the corridors, I would think that nearly all of its lar^'e
l)opulation t.ike their morning' meals aiul late suppers in their
private rooms. Indeed, tin- mana^^er to whom I complained that
I could not find any thinv; reaily in the restaurant until nearly
niru-, informed me that he would rather I took the e.irl)- meal in
my room, and that it couKl be had as early as seven. The people
hen; are very late risers. Twilight lasts in summer very late, and
in winter the day is so short that oi.e has to live much in the
dark. The people retire very l.ite, and shops .irc all closed till
after nine in the mornini;.

To nibble at snmethinL;' seems to be a human ch.iractcristic,
and ever)' countrs' h.is its particular nibble. In .America the bms
cat peanuts and the girls chew gum ; in J.ipan they cat a small
seed ; in China and Indi.i they chew sugar-cane ; in Siam, lUirmah,
and southern India and Cc>Ion, betel nuts; in F.g> pt and
Turkey, ])uinpkin seeds ; in Greece, w .iti-rmelon seed : here they
crack sur.llower seed. In the street Ciirs, at the gardens, and
along the streets people arc seen eating this seed, and at every
corner, women or bo)'s are selling them. Rvery one has read of
the Kremlin of Moscow, and e\'t ry one desires tn see it or kiMw
of it. It is a m-arl)' tri.mgular oKl fcutn-ss on the river whit li
runs through Moscow in the shape nf the letter S. The base "\
the Kremlin triangle rests on the lower curve of the letter, wli< re
the site of the fortress lifts some 50 or more feet. The wlmle
length of the wall is over a mile and a thirtl, through which one
may enter b)' five gates, some of which are of historic interest,
and two are very sacred passages. Over the Gate of the Ke-
deenicr is a picture, " Christ the Redeemer," highly venerated,
and believed to possess miraculous powers. It is a thoroughfare,
but no one ever passes through it covered. In olden days, an)' one
omitting to remove his h.it was punished by being forced to make
a large number of prostr.itions. Xow all do it, either from verur i-
tion or out of respect to the prejutliccs of the people. This form
is observed by the highest ami the lowest, the native and the
foreigner. Tlie (jate of St. Nicholas is rearly as venerable.
Mere in ancient times oaths were administered to such as the ab-
solute truth was demanded from, and 'itigants in court were
expected to swear to their cases in the presence of the mosaic
])icture of the saint which h.mgs over the arch. This holy image
lias witnessed man)- a battle and helped to withstand more th.ni
one siege. Napoleon is said to have ordered the to*ver over it to
be blown up. The massive masonry split from the top down
toward the earth, but the rent -;to[)ped ;it the frame of the pie-

t 11

',i"' Til;

it:

■L'-t

I' '

I *l

b ■

', ,

■> 1

f.t

CREA T HKl.LS.

39»

ture. The ^jlass covering' it, ami the lamp which ilkiiiiiiialetl it,
and tlic picture were unscathed. Sucli is tiie statement of an in-
scription placed over the <^ate by Alexander I. Through another
i^'ate the victorious French entered this fortress — the j^oal so
eagerly sought through so many wear\- leagues of march, and
over so man\' bloody battlefields. Within the Kremlin walls are
the real historic spots of this okl c.ipital.

Here is the odd old tower of Ivan the Great, claimed b\- the Rus-
sians to have been founded by that old ruler six .ind a half centu-
ries ago. From its gallery, rea' lied by a climb of 450 steps, a
splendid view of the city is ha-: It lies mapped around, with
its houses and palaces in confused piles, its boulevards and parks
green with trees, its green painted roofs giving, with the trees, a
garden-like appe.uance to the wlujle cit)-. l'"our fifths, perhaps
seven eighths, of all roofs are green, the few patches of red roof-
ing heightening the effects of its coniplenieiital color. Hend-
ing like a great serpent the little river winds into the town, and
b\- a coupK' of graceful curves lies for a moment at one's feet, and
tlu-n glides off b)-aiiotlur easy curve and seeks the outward plain.
Here, close to one, hang 30 odd beautiful bells, two of them be-
ing of solid silver. One of these bears upon its rim tiie tell-tale
inscrij)tion that it is 338 ye.irs old. Woe to the tympanum of
uiie's ears if he hai)pens to be in the gallery at the hour when
the great bell of the Assumption clangs. For its might_\- tongue
is larger than a man, aiul its weight is 64 tons. If, however, the
hearer be a few hundred )ards removed, this old bell peals a tone
singularly rich and mellow. l'"rom the height one can count 3C0
churches, many of them with gilded domes, dazzling and bright.
At the foot of the tower, upon the pedestal of stone, stands the
■" King of Hells." Who of us in early childhood has not heard
of it ? I cnember seeing a jiicture of it wh' n I was a small
boy. It w.is half buried, but the earth was dug away from before
a break in it, anil one or two men wirt; staiuling in the orifice.
^\'hen I was 11 years okl the emperor had it lifted and pi. iced
upon its present pedestal. To do this w,is no easy task, for the
" king " is a monster, o^'er 26 feet high and 6S feet in circumfer-
ence, or nearly 23 feet in diameter at the rim. It weighs nearly
200 tons, and the /////(■ |)iece l)rokon out of it leaves an opening
seven feet high.

Within the precincts of the Kremlin are the ^;reat palace, tlic
armory and arsenal, and two or three churches. In the Church
of the Assumption are vast riches and v.iluable relics. Here the
czars of Russia an- crowned. It is said the French took from its
ornaments five tons of silver and five hundred-weight of gold. In
it is a solid silver chandelier weighing 900 i)ounds, given b)' the
Cossacks after recapturing the precious metal from the destroyed
P'rench army. This church has six massive pillars supporting
its five domes, and so large that they resemble those of an

>i. il

>' \u

\ .

' 5

'<•

!•'•'

39«

./ /v'./r/-; ;/7/7/ ////■: sca-

Egyptian temple mure than <i modein church. It, liowevcr, is
not so very modern, for it was built some 700 years ago. Here
the emperor worships, and places upon his own he.id the crown,
and recei\es the sacr.inu'iit as emperor of ;ill the Kiissias.

In front of the arsenal, in lon^, compact rows, ornamentally
IjlaciKJ, are ^J^ bronzeil cannon, taken from the I'Veiich army on
its fearful retreat. Tlie\' represent not onl\-fhe l'"rc nch, hut, .ils.i.
Napoleon's subject crowns, for over a fourth are Austrian, .1 se\-
entli IVussian, a twelfth Italian, ethers beinj^' .Saxon, Hav.irian,
N'capolitaii, Dutch, and .Spanish. Many of them have Nai)ule-
on's initial " N." cut into them, and ;i threat m.my are nanud.
Tlie names rirc sometimes not over diLjnified. Hut the.se hun-
dreds of cannon were dcei)l\' im])rtssiv('. Monsters brou}j;ht over
such vast distances to s'ayl I looked into their mouths and
wondered \\<>w man)' death warrants tliej' h.id utteretl ; hn\\
many brave men they had torn to pieces; h<n\' m.iny women and
chiklren the) h;td caused to mourn. And then 1 tliouj^ht of the
men who had been forced to abandn:) them, of their terrible suf-
fi'rinijs, of their loULjiiiLj looks towards the west when all was lo-t,
and h<nv sweet to them was the thouL;ht of the balm)' .lir on tin-
banks of the I'".lbe and the Danube, the Moselle, the Rhine, the
Seine and the Rhone, where their loveil ones were. I could
almost see tlu'in, as hun;,^ry and footsore the)- tott< red over the
frozen plain, and at last ,s;mk to their knees, anil with i)rayers to
God and with one more thoui^ht of home, \ielded themselves to
their windiii"^ sluet of snow. " liow lon^, how lon;^, () Lord,
wilt thou permit man's inhuni.tnit)- to ni.iii make countless mil-
lions mourn I "

The t^re.it pal. ice is not ver\- handsome without, but uitltiii
there is much maLjnificence, \',ist h.dls of noble proportions, .md
with .1 richness of ilecoration almost faljulous. Here ( )ricnt.d
e.xuberance has beeii married to Western t.iste ; Asiatic drcuns
of tjold blended witli the fine^-t tomlu'sof l'".uroi<e;m .art, h'roin
flof)rs in man)' be.iutiful woods m.ir\ (.'lloush' desii^ncd \\)t\ <x(iui-
sitely laid, up alon^r walls rich .md a|)p.irentl)' cut from massive
^'old, up to thev.iulteil ceilitu,'s, be.iutifull)- frescoed -all w.is rich
beyond any thin;^ I h.id conceived, and )ct all in be.iutifid t.^te.
Nothing was tawdr)' ; it was rich. Nothini^ was simply liixini-
ous ; it was artistic. These .ire the parts, of the pal. ice tif
the present line of czars. In another part are those of the
rulers of lon^ .1^0, rich but (pi.-unt and l.ickin;^ so m.my of
those things a modern house would consider simple com'orts.
The counterpane, embroidered, 1)\' the dau^diter of .1 mon.irch of
three centuries ;il,'o w.is prett)', but a few roubles would purchase
a picttier one now, and a coii])Ie of roubles would buy .1 much
li;,:jhter ;uid f.ir warmer coverlet than the old kinfj slept under.

The treasur)' is ,1 plain building;, but its contents are of fabulous
value. Case after case containing cart loails of solid silver and

,-/ I'Ji/'l.l.srK/': OF ART A.y/) rich crRlOSITIES.

,V>3

u
in

ookl plate ; platters bi^ eiioui^h to hoUl ,i hah' sheep, or upo
wliicii to sjireail a bushel of fruit ; .i:;i-eat ^'obiets which a Titan
couki scarcely use to drink from, so \ak\^v. are they, aiul yet ricii ;
case after case of Siivres china, complete sets, he ^nft of Napoleon
to Alexander, all painted so i)eautiful!y that they arv works of
hiyh art ; ^^reat vases from the same works ; dozens of state c.ir-
riat^es in wliicii car-- and c/arinas rode to their coronation, ne;.rly
as \ax^c as ikirnums b.ind wagon, all gikled and burnidied. They
were very rich, but of wliat clumsy workmanship I A first-class
w.ij^on maker in America would not let a wagon go out of his
shop with such rough wood ;uid ironv.ork as composed some of
these carriages in which old ruUrs rode a few centuries ago to
be anointed in the name of the i.ord. .is the kings of men. One
of the gramlest of carriages was a i)resent Inun England's virgin
(|uecn. The carri.ige in which tiiat strange compound of human
vice and human greatness, Catliarine II., rode, was there, and by
it the stuffed skin <>f the horse she used to ritle "stradtUe" uiien
she reviewed her troo])s. Tlu' picture; close by of the empress
dressed as a general officer astride of a tiiu- horse is a fiiii- one.
Under it is the saddle she rode, and lier bridle, studded with
jewels ,uid pearls of gre.it v ilue, the gift of the Kmpi'ror of China
or Shah of I'ersi.i. In o'.e room ,ire crowns and sceptris, .i mass
of jewels and gold, some of the uncut gems as large ;is pigeon
eggs. 1 said to a Rus-.ian, also a visitor, that the emperor might
sell these things and pay the debt of the crown. I lis -eply w.vs,
the crown would not be worth much to him if In were to attempt
the thing. The treasurj- consists of two gre.it suites of rooms,
oi'e on the fii I and the other on the second story. It seems a
litl'e odd th.it downst.iirs, in a most proniineiil |il;ice, is a gnmd
pictiM'e of X.ipoleon ( 1 think it is by Davidi.uul his iron bed ;
and at the head of the .suite on the second floor is a s; Undid
st.itue in marble of the same wonderful inan. What ,i b( .iiuiful
f,ice his was, ,uul yet w'lat a strong one I

Tliere are very many interesting portraits in these rooms, ,ill of
the Russian emperors and all of the I'olish kings, and many
of its nobles. I h.id hop< d that Kosciusko's might i)ossil)ly be
.imong them. Perhaps if ,..ey had it they woiUi not h.mg it
here. The museum is in another p.irt of the town. It has life-
size figures in every pose, wearing the costumes of every province
of this vast land. The picture g.illery in the same building has
some fine works, ;i!l .irr.uK'ed according to schools. .Some of them

are o

f higl

I order,

have written to our minister at St. Peters-

burg for a permit to go te S.im.ircand, .md that I hoped he would
get it in four (ia\-s. He rei)lii(i th.it he would get it, but that
four days is ,i short time to get .lU}- thing froii, the oflici.ils in
Russia,

' :J

"U "

\s\

\ i ;•
\ *1

it t'

i.-!

4 i t /{

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

rKINC'ELV KINDNESS— RICH TKAIKIE I.ANnS— VF.ROM J— NI'CF.SsnY

FOR FOKKST I'KO TIXTK )N— THF COSSACKS— HRAVK ( IIII.DKFN

— SCNFLOWKK Till: KCSSIAN N ilil'.l K— KnsT( iF ( )\ I 111: DON.

Pi;

Vladikavkaz, Jiiiic 19, 1.S88.

FeariN(; that Mr. Lotlirop, our minister, ini^iit not ^'ct our
Transcas])i,in permit in time, I resolved a^ain to avail myself of
ni)' liij^li ]iosition ;is an " American sovereit^n." Armetl with our
reiienlials we callt;d upon Prince \'lailiniir I)ol;^oroukoff, a
member of the council of the empire and f,'overnor-^eneral
of Moscow, at oni' o'clock, his hour of receiitioii. We were
detainetl in the antc-chaniber, with (piite a numiier of other
visitors, for fully an iiour. The prince was e\ identh' having' a
good ai)pctitc for iiis luncii. l'"inally he appeared in the ^rand
inner room, preceiicd l)\' a few aides, \\\v\ hackeil out ni front of
him. A committee of a financial comi)an\ was shown in tirst.
Its chairman i)owe(.l np to the ])rince, kissed him on either check,
anil ])resented him with a cop)' of some haiulsomely-hound |)ro-
ceeiiin^s of tlie compan)-, which had just celebrated its jubilee.
.Some speeches were made in a low voice, the chairman ami com-
mitteemen frequently bowin^.^. Tiie prince evitleiitly received
them very graciously. Cards were then presented, ours amon^^
them, and an aide soon bade us enter. I introduced myself, ask-
ing if his ixcellencN' s|)oke I'.nglish. lie replied in the neg.itive.
I then proceeded in the best I'Vench I coviKI command. He b.ule
us most cordially to be seated, and asked what I wished and what
he coulil do for us. To e.\])lain this I h.ul to mention our ex-
tended journeyings, and wh)' I desired tt) visit Turkestan, to see
if Russia was carrying tliere the light f)f the West, lie at once
got us into conversation, and said that Willie was having .1 gr.uid
onportunit)' in thu- voyaging so f.ir under the tutcl.ige of .m ex-
])erienced man. I icmarkei! that this w.is almost the exact ex-
pression of the Kin.; of .Siam, when he honored ns with .in
amh'encc. 1 1 is Mxci ll.ncy at once became decidedly interoted,
.and kept me telling him of the king and his n),inners, etc. I tiien
showccl him my credentials. He said (ien. AnnenkotT. the
builder of the new road to S.im.ircaiul, had just arrived on iiis
way to render liis account to the emperor, .-uui was tf) be with
him that afternoon, and that he thought he and the general could

394

J'N/MJ-:/. )■• K/XD.XF.SS.

S9S

arraiif;;c for us. He kept us fully 25 iniiuitcs, when, rcmjuibci-
in^' tiiat others were waitinj,'. he batle u: };oo(l-by, sa\-iiig he
would send liis secretary to us that evenin^f with ^ulIi pajjers .is
he couKl .i,nve us. The secretary came .it nine o'clock w ith the
information that as the matter w.is .ilread)' in the h.nuls of uur
minister, the prince i)referred not to intervene, but, .idvisin^' us to
proceetl to Tiflis, .md to write at once to our minister to h.ive the
permit te!ei,n-a])hjd to the }^M)Virnor-^feneral of rr.uihC.iuc.isi.i. I
felt dished and so exjjressed m>stlf, s.iyiii<; that I could not risk
^oin^f so far and then prob.ibly Inidin^f no means of making; the
trip I so much desireil. llie aide iissureil me that the governor-
general said there was no iloiibt 1 vvoiild receixc the ilispatch. I
siiil m\' thank-^ to his e.\cellenc_\-, etc., etc. J'he iieNt da_\-, beinj;
the d.iy \ve left, on our return to the hotel .tfter a \\alk, wi- found
the |)rince had honored us In- .1 c.ill in p''rson, but, tlndiUL; n- out,
.sent us .1 mess.i^e lh.it before our Ir.iin should dep.irt, he would
send his secretary with some letters whicl. would help us through,
and ur^ed me to ^o on to Tiflis. !"he aide ilid come, and
broui,ht a be.iutifull)- en'^'rossed letter ot introduction to I'rince
Uondoukoff Korsakolf, i;o\ernor-i;eneral of Tr.iii'NtaUi .isi.i, inlro-
diicint; me and asking such aid as we may need to ijet thro-i^h to
centr.d .\si;i. In other words .American sovereignty is in the
.iscenil.mt — .it le.ist for a while.

\\«- h.i\e passed o\er .1 m.iiMiilii enl f.irmin;, country >n ourwa)'
lure, it beiuL; a !>.irt of the mii,dUy ij;rain-produun;^ plain of Russia.
We left Moscow .11 1 I .it ni;^ht, l)iit .it -V30 it w a^ already li-^ht ;
from til. it time until seven in the evrnini; the ro.id r.in throu;;h a
country .ilmost .1 counterp.irt of our be>^t pr.iirie l.uul. a ^'re.it
rolling; pl.iin as far .is the eye coukl reach, e.xcept when .ippeared
inlerveninj^ copses of young trees or growtii along stream^ .md
little rivulets, the whole covered with r\ e in he. id, wheat sprout-
ing or .ilread\ up, .mil, tow.irds \'eronij, ne.irly .1 foot high; o.its
just pi. lilted : pot.itoes four or t"i\ e inches up ; ^m.ill patches of
be.iutiful lienii) ; here .md then- plowed land not yet >h<j\\ing ,iiiy
green.. md with bro.id |).istuies inter perseiL hi which great herd^of
horses and cattle .md llocks of sheep were ;;"Tazing. Rye w.is at first
the predoinin.iting growth. With its greinish-gray lieails waving
in the gentle Ijree/e, with the young wheat gleaming in emerald
green in tin- sunshine, the brown plowed tlekls and other growths
of slightly varying liue-^. with copses of wood .md long lines rit
trees here and tliere, with the herds now in liundreds near by ami
then cut against the -^ky >n the ridg» of x>ine ilistant rolling de-
lailion, the whole prej-cnted i ciiarming view to one who deligiils
m fields and farming jiro^rx- ts. Near Moscow, and, perha|3s, fir
over 100 mill -. the r\e u.<' 'ighr and the soil app.irenth thin ;
then the rye became heavy, and the young wheat had large
health)' he.ids. Altogeth.-r, this pr.iirie Mirpas-.es ,my of ours,
except, ptThaps. .1 n.irt «)f K.insas. The soil is deeper, running

. i

' 'J

^/ I

.1 f

396

A RACK in //I ■] III-: SIX.

from two and one half to four feet, and the siibstratnm is bettor, ;i
clay not cold and stiff like that ovcrlyinj; our hard-pan, but inter-
mixed with sand aiul red oxides, somethini,^ like the subsoil of the
blyc-j^rass regions of Kentucky, whereas the bulk of our prairies
have an uiulcrbed of gravel or sand, or a stiff, worthless clay.
This lantl has more recuperative powers than ours. The crops
are by no means so good as our average, but it i.s, I suspect, ow-
ing to bad cultivation. The plowing is very shallow, and tluro
seems to be no rotation. Ever since we first entered Poland I
have noticed that land seems to have but one means of rest, .nul
that is by leaving it fallow for a greater or less time. In the
north two season> of crops and then one or two of fallow is the
rule. This fallow ',uul affords pasturage for vast herds of horses
and cattle. Thv lords help greatly to keep up the quality of the
soil. I also remarked that all manures for lOO or 200 miles
south of Moscow are spread upon the land. Straw is not burned,
but tl. " .inimais being so numerous and nearly ail uiuler cover at
night and fed with straw, the crop of manure is large antl utilized.
Thus f.ir the<c peop'e are good farnuMs, but they plow sii lightly
that the mots of crops must depend too much upon the nure
.surface, and the weeds a'l sjiroul and grow as fast as the grain.
This makes hand-weeding necessary. Cheap labor makes this
possible, but deep plowing would save main .1 backache to the
poor field-laboring women. I know I am writing with considor.i-
ble assurance for one who sees from raiho.id cars. Hut I was
bred a farmer, ami have always closely observed its modes. This
enabli's mo to -^le and to ;isk rjuestions of every one who can uii-
derst.md mo. I wi'' stick to second-class c.irriages, where I nufi
the people. In every train I find some one who speaks a little
French or (ierm.m and acts .is interpreter for me when he himsilf
cannot gi\'e me inform. ition.

Here I must bring in one of my dissertati<Mis. I am o|)pos((l
to .ill sumptuar)- laws, but am in favor of, ;ind would warmly
urge, a certain kind of legislation which woulil interfere somewh.it
with private rights. The land of a country maybe in the owner-
ship of individuals, but its preservation belongs to the State and
to posterity. A man has, and should have, the right to crop his
land as ho wishes, but ho h.is not the right to destroy it. IMotlu 1
Earth vields of lur bounties. Man should return something of
her rich yields whenever sin- gi\es him a superabundance, lie
has no right to destroy the forests, which keep up a healthy r.iiii-
fall. Ho should use the wood, but a scientific oversight shoul'l
be exercised by government to determine when such use by tlu'
individual becomes detrimental to the masses — that mass which,
aggregated, makes the State. Every State should have forest
laws, which should watch over a m.m's wooils and restr.iin him
from destroying them. Govornnn iit restrains the hand of the
man who would commit self-slaughter. An acre of good woods

STATF. IXTERI'J'IRI-.XCE 10 I' R ESI-.RV I: TRHES.

:>'>7

is oftentimes worth more to a larye district tliim a lialf-clo/cn siicii
men as would be fools cnou<,di to cut tlicir own throats. Aj^ain,
we have in our Western States a vir^nn si.-il, ami the people of the
older States who have worn out their old lanils are filling' up the
new, and are doin^f their level best to see how (juickly the)- can
make them ui\i)rotluctive. Eveiy thin^^ which the farmer cannot
use or sell is burned. Our Western prairies of virgin soil are now
feeding; the world, but it will not be many generations before the)'
will be exhausted, as are the 1;'- Is of the older .States. Nothing
fitted for maiuMV shouki be burned, unless when it be unavoida-
ble. If our people have not fnrctliought to keep them from
destroying the woods .ind from wasting nianun: the govermnent
shouki take the thing in hand. We i)ass laws to p.rotect game
l)ecause a few sportsmen have taken the thing in hand, .iiul to
protect fish, which was also inaugurated by the followers of
I/aak Walton. \\ ho will take the initiative and preach a crusade
.ig.unst the other far more injurious w.iste r Nearl)- every Europe. m
countrv. I l)elie\e, has inauguratiMJ forestry law s. and vast benefits
have accrued therefrom. A i)olilical convention that woukl put in
a plank of that sort woukl tnid it much more e.isily floateil than
some of their tariff platforms wliiih forces the c.indidate to pla\'
the great niodeiii game of " mum "' until the election be ovi r.

Toward seven o'clock we entireii anil to()I< an hour or two in
passing through a fine tract o{ wood — oak, liirch, and some pine,
birch scenic lure almost a national tree I h.ive seen more of it
since I crossed the Polish frontier tlicUi before in ni)' life. Be-
tween Warsaw and Moscow, and then for some distance on the
road south, we have passed \er> many miles through fonsts
uliich looked as if the trees were whitewaslu d, and \Mst wood-
l)iles — tiiousands upon thousands of cords- which Willie thought
had frost on them.

We i)assed through mail)- fnu' towns, and in sight of hundreils
of ]K'asant villages, looking liki' collections ol ok", straw-stack-..
I sliall, however, not saj' any Ining of them, or of peasant lile
and outlook until I shall h.ive seen more. V'eronij is on the
Don, 367 miles south of Mosct)W, is a broad-streeted city of
",o,cxx) people, spread over a large surface, the bulk of the houses
l)eing of one story; it has some fine churches. The cit)' is .»n a
high bluff, which lies on one siile of the river, and affords a
fine i)rospect over the vast plain, on the oppositi' side, with a
do/en or two large villages in sight, anil great f.irming-lands
s])reai! out as on a map. The town seeins a thriving one, and
its m.irket-pl.ice was an interesting stud)', filled as it w.is with
country people, w ilh their clumsy costumes, of which, too, anon.

As an illustration of the necessity of forest proteriion, I will
state that I'eter the (ire, it built at Veronii a large lleet of deep-

draught ships, with which he suikleiily coverc! the Hlack .Se.i,
and thereby gained vasth' over the Turks. Tlie timber and m.i-ts

I ♦

I. ♦'

I ¥^

r;i

' i;

398

,/ A'ACJ-: WJTJl T]IJ: SV\.

for these craft grew in the ncighborhooci, for forests abounded
along the river. Growing population soon levelled the forests,
and the Don, which had floated for 1,000 miles armed ships,
became so shallo^v that only light flats can now navigate it. The
disappearance of trees dissipated the rain-giving clouds to a great
extent, and now there are often injurious droughts. The stei)pe
or prairie south of Veronij is wonderfully rich. A very intelli-
gent man, educated in German and Swiss agricultural schools, was
our fellow-passenger for two days, and gave me great assistance
in studying the country passed. The black-soil Russian stepix;
is of vast extent, stretching from the Hungarian frontier nearly
to the Ural Mountains, east and west, and from less tlian icx)
miles south of Moscow to the Hlack Se.i, north and south, with
occasional breaks into it of sandy lands, and covering an area of
perhaps 1,000,000 scpiare mile' This is sometimes flat and some-
what cold ; but is generally i.iore or less rolling, and often has
high undulations. Some, over which we ran, were as high rolling
as western Iowa. 1 saw much land with full)- four feet of daik
soil, and below that a mass of fine redilish cla)- ; for sever.d iiuii-
dred miles scarcely a stone was in sight, even in deep r.iilway
cuts, and nowhere ilid I see any shale or shingle underlying the
soil. Oftentimes as far as we coidd see there were fields of rvi'
sw.iying and bemiing in the wind. It for the first half of our
way, seemed to cover the countrj', and magnificent !)■<•, ton,
lu'av)--headed and with tall, fine stalks. As we c.ime south tlic
wheat became taller and more abundant, and w.is, before re.iching
Ko.stof, in head and a good and tin- predomin.mt cro[).

Soutli of Rostof, on our way to X'ladikavkas. we passed through
a great flat plain, all covered with very fiH'- wheat, or with grais
now being cut and in haj'-coeks. The whe it-fields were of va<t
extent, a sea of green, ami the li.iy-lands, though of s[)ontaneously-
growing grass, were as thickly-covered with cocks as our best
tiiTinth\-niea(lows. .At one time .1 somewhat di->t'nt tract of
6,000 to 10,000 acres had so many that I thought them thickly-
strewn bushes until the glass broug'it the hay-cocks out. Ku-^sia,
generally I .im told, follows the three-fuld system two years of
grain, then a fallow. In the south the fallow lies for jT.irs, with
no fixed rule, and produces fine pasturage and splendid li.i\.
Sometimes we saw, all along from Veronij to this pi.ice, In rds of
cattle of several hundred head. I'.,ich village has its individu.dly
owned catMe grazed in a connnon herd. The flocks of slue]i.
too, were very large. All railway-stations had sheds filled with
wheat in bags, and huge bales of wool. The sheep are frequently
dark .ind Ijlack-spotted or brown, and mostly of the bro.id-t.iih'd
variety. This sitle of Rostof we saw many thousands in drovis,
being driven from the great western plains to be slaughtered ne.ir
the i51;ickSta. They were in bands of 500 to !,cx»e;ich, an ox-cart
with a hugh hogsliead of water .iccom])anying each band. This
for tl e shepherds who were dri\ ing.

THE COSSACKS AM) THEIR CHILD REX

.?9';

Notliiiifj lias so far s<i siir])risiil mc as tlu- Cossacks. I Ii.kI
siippKsiil tlifin a lialf-civilizcil set of nni^li pcoplf. WV- have
lonstaiitly hail CossaCk off'Kirs on our trains, polite and nici- nu-n,
and their wives pleasant ladies. Kroni V'eronij to Rostof \\c
came on a very slow train, taking 36 hours to make .ihoiit .}c>)
miles. It made stoppa^'es of from a half-hour upward at sevi'ral
stations near which were large villages. In tin-, wa)- I was cnahleti
to go out and see how the Don Cossacks were and how they
lived. 'I'lieir houses were more comfortaiile than tlios<' hilore
seen in Russian villages, (ienerally there was grass about tiuni
and little gardens and flowers in pots in the windows of nearly
half of the houses, and even in the huts of the jjoorest. I liavi-
.dways found I can enter .1 peasant's cot by talking to and caress-
ing tile children. I tried it here witl: success. 1 sjjoki- to full)' JO
squads of children of all ages, from the toddler up to s( \i-n or
eiglit-year-o!d ones. I'or tlu' tlrst time I found children who had
no sort of fi'ar of fonigiurs. .An unknown l.uiguagi' generall)'
alarms a peasant child. Here it diii not. Wlu'ther tin- child
was alone or with otliers, hardly able to w.ilk. or a frollicking girl
(ir boy, when I would spe.d< to it and hold out my hand, it inv.iri-
ably gave me its own with a grin. I tlumght at rir>t 1 must be
mistaken, but I tried the thing at a ilo/.eii villages, back some
distance from the station, where the children could not have been
familiar with foreigners. In every inst uui' the litth- ones would
look me sipi.irelyin the f.ice wilii frank, uiuowed eyes, ,ind would
tluii scamper off to tell tluir companion something of the man
who did not know how to talk. In some instances this little
.ittempt of miu' would win .1 rose or other flow(;r from the
mother, who probably was at work ne,n i>y. tjener.illy, how-
ever, most of the cott.iges were locked up — mother and father
being far off at hard l.ibor in tlist.int fields, ,uid the youngsters
left to take care of themselves; or possii)ly the children of sev-
er.d f.uuilii'S are left in charge of some worn. m, who, for tli.it il.iy,
st.ivs at home. In this way at least I acetuiuted for the fact tli.it
many youngstiM-^ were about cottages where the wom.iii I saw
C(uilil not have bi en the mother of them all.

I saw people mowing grass at ;i little after four in the morning.
I saw people, too, r.d<ing up grass w< late as ^y.},Q at evening, I saw
hundreds trudging .doiig tlu' roails and others on our train going
to mow in distant districts. I am told they will go several hundred
miles to work in the mowing season. l'"ifty or more would be
seen making li,i\- at one time. In this way each farmer gets
his gr.iss down at once. Men and wmneii walk UK) miles for the
privilege of working for Tkj to <So cents ,1 day. iXnd ) et there are
men with us who rave at our government ;ind talk of themselves
.is being wage-slaves! lUit such will say the purchasing i)ower of
money in cheap labor countries ivens things up. This is a great
mistake. Articles representing l.ibor are chea]), but these are lux-
uries. Hut staple .articles of food .ind niateri.il cost not much less

;((i" :

i \

400

./ /'./(/■. ////// ////■; .sY'iV.

't ■• i I

ill otlicr l.iiuls tliaii in oiir interior States. Our laborers live on
the fat of the i.iiul and wear j^'ood clotlies. These consume no fat
and precious little loan, and their clothes are cheaj) aiul well
p.itched — never wear out.

After leavinj^ Veronij a half <lay's distance we saw little or no
timber, and then came to a couiitr)- where manure is almost the
only fuel. It is mixeil up with straw ami made into c.ikes as in
the other Oriental countries wc have seen, or. what is more usu.il
here, m.ide into larvae bricks a foot lon;.^ and four inches wide and
thick. This fuel was everywhere to be seen. \'ery oftv^n the ilonr-
yard was fenced in with this stuff, to be used when needed. I
spoke of the Kussi.ui people eatini; sunflower seeils. 1 have tried
them now. .md when i>.d<ed or roasted tluy are nearl), if not (piile,
as a^ree.d)le .is the peanut. Tlie amount thus used here In enor-
mous. ( )ne will sometimes see little p.itches of street and of
parks gray with the hulls, ami there is rarely a s|)()t .il)out a depot
or place of resort where the j^rotind is not thick!)' strewn with
them. We have seen thousands of acres growing the pl.mt. At
one place I saw a field of over lOO acres, and a smaller field was
rarely out of si^lit. It furnishes .i large .imount of oil much usnl.
e^pici.dly about their fe.ist d,i\'s. I h.ive often wondered they
were not utilized with us, ,md have myself given them to my
chickens. Who will start the cracking them into fashion at
home? They are better than peanuts, in th.it thev are so sm.ill
tli.it they do not fill up, and in that w.iy .i little e.iting keeps one
a long while in occupation. I will s.i\- for the benefit of our
joungsters, there is an art in eating them ; they are put endwise
between the front teeth .md then cracked; with the tongue the
hull is thrown out ami tin; kernel letaiiieil, soiiu.uli.it as >eeils .ire
eaten by canaries. Roast some sunllower seed, mv \oung re.ider
— not till burned, but simjily done — then watch .i canary e.il, .iiul
thank me for a new experience. I .im told they are perfectly
lu-.ilthy. .md keep lots of people out of mischief. Ihere is nothing
like .1 pleasant, ea.sy occup.Uion. I'eaiiuts s.itiate ; these do not.

We spent some hours .it N'o\-ocherkask, the capital of the Dmi
Cossacks. It w.is early in the morning, giving us an opjjortunit)-
of seeing the pea.sants with ilieir produce in the different r.i.irket-^.
Little wagons were ranged along the market places, loaded with
vei^etables or with e.nthen ,md wooden jars, holding from a (|ii.ut
up to sever.d g.illons. and filled with sour milk -not -.k'nimeil. but
thick and creamy. It was not the bonny-clabber of our Southern
St. lies — one of (iod's best gifts to man — for clabber will not be.ir
shaking, the whe\' at once separates from the curd .iiul s])oils it.
Our Northern people call it spoilt milk, and lose ;i great luxury.
The Cossack sour milk is ])robably turned with rennet, as is the
" lubbin " of the Turkman in Asi.i Minor. The buyers taste be-
fore purchasing. A few old women t.isted so often that we con-
cluded they were getting a cheap breakfast.

) :■

niNV RICH I.AM)

401

elliUvlSC

<^ur the

Liils arc

rcaik-r

it, aiul

cifiotly

111 nt)t.
lir Don
ntuiiiiy
uirki t^.
0(1 \vill>
a (jiiarl
m<l, but
outln in
not boar
spoiN it.
hixiiiy.
IS is tlu'
taste bl-
ue cini-

lii these, as in other Eastern markets, i-very thin^ is solil from
pill to a harrow; from a sard nf t.ittiii^' to .1 bolt uf cutt

Iroin

.1 dried minnow to a stur^'eon. Hy tiie u,i\', the Dun is tlie veri-
t.diie lioMii' of tiiis inai^niMcenl .lud dfhiious fish, lie resembles
siiinewiiat mir sturgeon in appi-.iranei'. but far siirp.i>ses liim in
tl,i\i'r. It is from ti\e e^'^j of tlii-^ tisli tlie celebr.ited c.i\ i.ir is
le. (ire.it factories are devoted tn it in .ill towns aloni' the

mat

It deli

lMl\

and

riviT. t)l a cert.iin small si/e the stiiii^roii is .1 j^ie.i
is c.irried .dive in t.iiiks t(j Moscow .md St. I'eleisbiirL; for ilie
>f the rich. In the diniiiij-h.ill of the hotel iSlavi.mski

tabli
W

iz.iar) at Moscow there is a lar^'e t.mk or fount. lin of ninniii}^
w.iter, in which fish are const;miIy kept, beiiv^ renewed from d.i_\-
to d.iy. A Ljui'st picks out his ri>li — it is at on
in .1 few minutes is a temptin;^ <li-.h on

tile t.ibl

ce scooped u]), .iiu

1 ueiity-tive

thousand tons of f'-.!! are t.iken from the Don .miui.illy, and over
130 tons of c.ivi.ir .iri' m.ule .iloii^' its banks. The fishiiiL; is ex-
clusively the property of the Don (.'ossacks. who, like the Imiuis,
,ue .1 people to themselves, are qiitisi free, and h,i\i' priviie^^es
other provinces do not possess. The heir .ijjp.irent t' the Russian
throne is m.ide " lletinan" of tlu' province, .md is lonsidcivd by
the C'oss.icks their own. 'I'hey serve onl_\' three years in the .irmy,
while other Russi.ms serve five. My prejudices a^^ainst the
Russians are bein^' nibbeil olf. for I cm call the Cossacks a spleii-
<lid lot of fellows.

Rostof is a thriviiiL; business cit}' of 70,000 to .So,ooo peojile,
situated on .1 hii,di bluff, has bro.id streets, and is fairl\- well built.
Aloiii; the ri\er it shows a busy scene, two or three mites of piirs
lined with w.iri'houses on .1 n.irrow strip under the bluff on which
the city staiuls, and the w.iter covereil with steamers, bar<^es, ,md
li^'ht craft. The r.iilro.ul runs .ilon^^ this pier, anil vast piles of
^'rain in s.icks, and wool in bales, and cotton in black woollen b.i^-
l^in;^ from Transc.iucasia. show the .imount of commerce done in
this Russian seaoort. Coal, too, is sei-n in i^reat ipiantities. Wry
rich co.il-tlelils lie not f.ir up the Don, and I was tokl a ^ood (pi.d-
ity of anlhr.icite exists in exh.iustless supply.

I'"rom Rostof to \'kidik.i\kas, a distance of 41G miles, is at first
throiii^h an almost tlat plain, on which whe.it, stretchiui; for miles

1 miles, was su])erb. I have never seen such fiekl>

'■k''

ami at the same time so heav)' in head. On the jilain, too, i^
enormous crop of h,iy. The ha\' l.md, I w.is informed, is let, not
!)>• the .icre, but b)' the verst. Alont,' this pkiin are many mounds
fioni four to ten or more feet hit,'!!, said to be tin; tombs of chief-
t.iins of old, who were buried there duriiiLj inroads of the T.irtars

This w.is their hi''hwa\- .after

and olliers

isi.i in

to I'.

urop

they had passed the Caucasian raii^'e. Some few miles back from
this place on the road we lost the l)ulk of our ])asson;4ers, who
ali<.;hted for the mineral s|)rin^s which abound about the neii^h-
borhood, .md which the Russian ^'overnment is endeavorinLj to
make the .Saratos^a of k\issia.

*■ t \

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IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

^i^"^

1.0

^■2.8 12.5

13& I

I.I

11.25 iU

— 6"

Photographic

Sdences

Corporation

1.6

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO

(716)872-4503

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■M

ff ih

402

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

Un to that time \vc had a gay company, mostly Petersburgers.
Nearly all spoke either German or French, and many both. All
were jolly, and the ladies easily becoming acquainted with. In-
decd, in every instance they made the first advances towards us.
It had become known we were Americans, and all seemed anxious
to be of service to us or to make our time pleasant. Some of
them were students off for their vacation, young men of a very
high order of intelligence. I find that German is becoming very
popular, and is studied more than French among the masses.
The news of the death of the Emperor Frederick, which reached
us at Rostof, was deeply lamented, and all seemed to fear the
consequence. Just before reaching the mineral springs Mount
Elbruz came magnificently in sight. He presents a glorious head,
lifting above the clouds. He is 18,500 to iS,6oo feet high, and is
one of the monarchs of the world. It is a pleasant thing to look
upon these mighty snow-clads, a sensation for which one can
make many miles of hard travel. Few mountains present so
noble a sight as this sovereign of Europe — for he is more on that
continent than on Asia, and stands 3,000 feet above Mount Blanc.

m^^

u V

CHAPTER XXXIX.

VI.ADIKAVKAS— GRAN1> VIEWS OK IHK CAUCASUS— A C.I.ORIOUS
TRIJ'— FLOWERS— KRUJT—TIFLIS I'RETTV AM) INTEREST! N(;.

Georgia Wayside Station in tlie Caucasus Mountains,

June 26, 1888.

Again I write from Asia, and from a locality which in my
wildest dreams I never thought to visit, in the very heart of the
Caucasus Mountains, near which we have supposed our race was
cradled. The roar of a rushing stream, whose fountain-head is
near by in a glaciered peak, separating Asia from Europe, fills my
ear. The odor of a lime-tree comes through my window — an odor
as sweet as in my youth I dreamed was the breath of the Circas-
sian maiden, whose home was in the deep valleys of these moun-
tains about me. All around me are lofty heights clothed in won-
drous green. They encircle a little basin not a half mile long and
under 400 yards \\\dc, a basin which seems to have been scooped
deep down among mountains several thousand feet high, and all
densely covered with trees, and having no apparent outlet in any
direction. Last night we slept among the clouds. Coming down
to-day a few miles we found this spot so pretty that we both said
at once: " Let us rest."

Just at nightfall yesterday a wild storm caught us upon the
summit or dividing line between the two continents, 7,977 feet
above the sea. Hail-stones rattled about us, the lightning flashed,
and the thunder rolled as if in anger that two Yankees should at-
tempt to visit this, its iofty home. IJclow us all was cloud ; about
us all was cloud— a bright streak, however, seen through a cloud-
rift illumined old Kazbek's dome, on which Prometheus was bound
and suffered. A dashing run soon brought us down to the high-
est station, where we spent our first night in the Caucasus
Mountains.

But I must go back to make my start into these mountains
regularly. 1 was unprepared for the beauties which are the main
features of Vladikavkas. It is a town of some thirty odd thousand
population, including a considerable military force always stationed
in or about it. It stands on the edge of the plain, extending
along the banks of the Terek River, here running off to the north.
This river is a rushing stream, so darkly muddy and thick that it
looks like liquid muck. So rapidly does it run through the town
that its roar is constantly heard as if it were a ca.scade. A broad

4<'3

■ 1

)

404

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

• I

8 if'*

/ 1

boulevard, with promenade in the centre, shaded by quadruple
rows of lime-trees, now deliciously fragrant, runs a mile long
through the town, near to and parallel with the river. On this at
evening was a crowd of promcnaders, well dressed and gay. The
uniforms of t'\e officers and the costumes of the Georgians and
Caucasians, of some bright color, the men with long knives and
pistols, the gay handkerchiefs over many of the ladies' heads, gave
the walks a very bright appearance. Stretching behind the town
is the great upper chain of the Caucasus, which commences on the
north side of the Black Sea, east of the Azof, and runs 700 miles
southeasterly into a deep notch it makes in the Caspian. These
mountains rise \ery rapidly by a few tall foot-hills on the north or
European side, and spread far to the south, covering a large
country lyingbetwcen the two great inland seas. The real backbone
of the whole range lifts immediately from the European side.
Vladikavkas looks at this mighty backbone, and sees it througli-
out a length of 75 miles, for on its northern line tlie range is al-
most straight, with no spurs. First there area succession of foot-
hills in range, beautifully wooded and green, which look as if
mantles of emerald velvet, soft and smooth, were spread over
them. These foot-hills have prettily undulating crests, and are
broken and uneven, but softened and toiiud down by the small
trees and bushes which cover them. They stand generally in a
single row, a sort of ornamental bodyguard in front of the mon-
archs. Behind these advanced foot-hills are, in mighty column,
the real guard — tall, rugged rocky mountains — broken, full of
precipices and deep gorges, and crested with massive, sharp rocks,
lifting in horns and jagged teeth. These, if they were the main
range, would be grand mountains. I5ut they are overtopped by
the great snow-capped peaks which cut the .sky over and beyond
them. In many features these mountains are among the finest
in the world, and, viewed from the i.orth, present a noble out-
line. For hundreds of miles they lift up boldly to an average
height of nearly 11,000 feet. Elbruz and Kazbek, respectively
18,500 and 16,500 and odd feet, occupying the centre of the vast
line — themselves, however, perhaps not far from 120 miles apart.
Kazbek, until comparatively lately supposed the taller of the
two, stands behind Vladikavkas, his lofty, steep dome of bur-
nished silver, flanked by other peaks to the east and west, reminds
one somewhat of the view had at Interlaken in the Swiss ober-
land. The different peaks here, however, do not apparently run
along in snowy heights from Kazbek, but lift at intervals, this ap-
pearance owing probably to parts of them being hidden by the
terrible rocky mountains in advance.

Unfortunately, there is no elevation in the town from which to
take in this whole view. At the rear door of a large store we
found a point from which to take in a large and the best part of
the picture. The proprietor, seeing us there for quite a \ liile,

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A LUNCH IN CAMF WITH RUSSIAN OFFICERS. 405

brought us chairs, so that at leisure wc watched the huge moun-
tains for much more than an hour as the sun sank to his rest. A
few fleecy clouds hung around the giddy heights, now veiling
them, then slowly passing off. Here a cone was lit up and glowed.
There another in shadow was cold and spectral. Now the snows
glistened white under the falling rays; then they became pink or
rose, and finally of a golden pink or delicate salmon. We looked
till the horizontal sunbeams painted the whole in mellow golden
tint. \ turned away quickly that I might hold in memory the

glorious scene

We took a long walk in the morning about the town.

Standing

at a corner, doubtf'il which way to go, an intelligent man in
fairly good German asked if he could assist us. We got into con-
versation. Learning whence we came, he asked if the Jews pros-
pered there. On my telling him of their great thrift and success
in our town, he sighed and said he often drcarried of America, and
wondered if he might ever reach it, and inquired as to the probable
cost of reaching New York. We were in the Jewish quarter, and
were soon surroundad by quite a number — men, women, and
children, whose dark eyes and other marked features showed their
ancestry. They do not anywhere since we left Poland wear the
marked costume there seen, nor have they that studied, solemn
look so characteristic of the Polak sons of Israel. In the outskirts
of the town a Russian officer, seeing us again doubtful whicii way
to take, pointed to a road running into the country, and evidently
indicated that we should follow it. A half-mile's walk explained
his meaning. We came in sight of a miliLary encampment. A
spot perhaps a quarter of a mile square had been planted in trees
in regular transverse rows, now old enough to make a nice shade.
In the squares made by the cross rows, and elevated on tufted
plats, were pitched the tents of a regiment. Passing in front, we
were ordered off by a sentinel. We walked down the side, and
seeing some ofificers on the porch of one of their quarters — com-
fortable one-story houses in the rear of the tented camp — I ap-
proached to apologize for our intrusion. We were invited to be
seated, and finding two or three who spoke some French were in-
vited to the mess-tent to take a glass of wine. It was 12 o'clock,
and their dinner was nearly ready. After a glass of wine taken
and some jokes with the officers— there were by this time a dozen
present — we were pressed to remain and eat with them. Wc did
so, and had a right jolly good time. They were all yom-::, for it
was a lieutenant mess,— and I, too, cannot realize, except when
climbing, that I am not a boy. Joke after joke passed in bad
French, helped out by worse German, and laughter was the rule.
We finally parted, and left behind us as nice a set of young fel-
lows as I have ever met, bright, genial, polite, and finely mannerd
young men, who again showed us that the Russian bear can have
very velvety paws.

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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Our English guide-book luid made us expect the hotels of
Vladikavkas to be bad, dirty, and buggy, and we intended to
hurry through. The hotels have improved, or the traveller who
gave Murray his ideas was over fastidious. We found the Hotel
de France quite comfortable for two nigh;s, and its director most
kindly gave is much assistance in getting a carriage and provid-
ing for post-horses over the mountains to Tiflis.

We took a " tarantas " — a sort of strong victoria — and engaged
relays of iiorses for the whole distance, three to each station, of
which there are I2, the run varying from 12 to 20 versts. The
distance to Tiflis is 201 versts, 134 miles. A " telega " or springless
v.'agon is generally used by officers, and costs less, and the dili-
gences, two daily, still less. But we, for the time being, own our
carriage, and can take as many days for the trip as we may wish.
Horses are harnessed abreast up to four. On the steep parts of
the road the diligence uses as many as eight, four at the pole and
two and two in the lead, the two preceding spans having a pos-
tilion to eacli.

We started from Vladikavkas before the sun had risen. An
hour's run brought us into the foot-hills along the banks of the
swift-rushing Terek. Not a single cloud or a cloudlet was to be
seen. The green hills were deliciously fresh in the cool morning
air. The rocky monsters behind were sullen, dark, and repellant
in their rugged grandeur ; their denticulated crests were cut clear
and exact upon the snowy masses rearing behind, white, cold,
and as bright as burnished silver. As we rode onward the sun
dipped into the valleys, warming up and lifting the moisture-
laden atmosphere, which reaching and touching the snowy
heights, was caught, and its invisible woof woven by icy fingers
into filmy clouds. Now a delicate cloud-spray rose and bent like
a wreath of pale smo"kc from the loftiest point ; then spray met
spray, thickened, and fell like gossamer-mantles over the mon-
arch's shoulders, while above the snow-crowned brow caught up
and held the glowing sunbeams. Up the banks of the rushin^g
Terek we rode, our driver cracking his whip, and the bells on our
shaft-horse merrily jingling. On our right and on our left rose
near by the bush-covered hills, and then came the rocky, inner line
in massive and mighty precipices, broken and cleft, and revealing
bits of snow-clads beyond.

The scenery along the narrow pass was fine from the begin-
ning, and, growing finer as we proceeded, became terrifically grand,
at the Dariel Gorge, which gives its name to the entire pass.
Through a cleft in the mountains, which lift thousands of feet
above, the rushing stream has cut its way. Roaring in a succes-
sion of cascades, it whirls below. High above, the mountains
lift in point upon point — needles and teeth upon needles and
teeth. We entered a sort of vast pit, cut down in raggec ag-
gcd masses of solid rock, the broken-pointed and denticulated

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PORT^ CAUCASIA. GRAND SCENERY.

407

pinnacles of its rim reaching tiie blue sky, thousands of feet
above us. The cleft through which the river rushes is of solid
granite, which has here upheaved the mighty backbone of the
range, carrying the stratified rocks far aloft, bending and pitching
them into broken curves and vertical sections. These, through
the wash and melt of countless ages, have been split into pinnacles
and spires, horns and jagged teeth, rising one above the other, so
closely pitched as to seem perpendicular when viewed from below.
Passing through the cleft we were in a mighty rock-pit, the walls
of which at the lower cleft and at the one above so blending and
running into each other in their confusion, that there seemed
absolutely no exit. We seemed caged in a rocky crucible, whose
upper edges were thousands of feet above us, and uj) which no
human foot could climb. A sharp bend, however, brought us
through another cleft where there was a Russian fortress, and on
a rock, several hundred feet high, was perched an old ruin built
l,8cX)years ago, when Rome was mistress of the world. These
two clefts, in the granite ribs of the earth, are the celebrated
" Porta; Caucasian," locking the pass between the Roman empire
and the unconquerable Scythians, whose home was the boundless
steppes of the north. Not far from this, cut as a gallery high
upon the terrific precipice, we saw a narrow road far above us,
running along the dizzy crag. When and by whom built I know
not, for there is no mention of it in the guide-book, and no one
we met could tell any thing of it. Perhaps it was chiselled by
those hard Roman hands, whose iron grip knew no relenting,
when a senaitis consultum had decreed a nation was to be de-
stroyed, nor could we see any use for it, unless the pass below,
was, at the time that this was cut, a lake which has since broken
through.

Passing through the Dariel Gorge, and soon ascending by easy
grade over the fine military road, Kazbek rose close by us, his
head shaped like a Georgian's cap, or a very steep dome. A
great glacier descended from his shoulders, now in deep fissures
clear and greenish under our glasses, then broken over some lofty
crags, it showed a mighty precipice of riven snow. This glacier
was not colored and stained by dust and debris, but was white,
pure and as undefiled as a snowflake just caught in its fall. Here
we found a well-built station, and close by a village of Circassian
mountaineers. Seated at a window looking out upon the snowy
mountain, we had a delicious meal of mountain-trout, and drank
to the health of old Kazbek in a bottle of Caucasian wine.
After dinner, finding a bench near the house, I lay down, and
breathing from a fragrant cigar, gave myself up to one of the
sweetest of all delights — a communion with undefiled nature. I
fear I am too much in love with nature and her creation to de-
scribe her in her various haunts — each one is so beautiful that I
■ am apt to think the present one unequalled by any which has

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4o8

A RACE WITH THE SCJV.

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gone before. A lot of men and bo)-s {^atlicred about us to sell
crystals and other specimens. Our ojiera-glasses made tliem for-
get trade. These have been the delight of the ignorant in all
nations.

We did not see many flocks on our upward trip, but in the
narrow valley there were small herds of roach-back hogs — queer,
plucky little fellows, with prodigious crops of bristles and little
meat. Now and then a flock of sheep could be seen on a steep
slope, looking as though tlicy were hanging rather than walking
upon it. The mountains abound in game — chamois, .-oebuck,
and wild boar, bear, stags, and the ibex. We saw a jKiir of horns
from the latter, lately killed, which weigiied 50 pounds. We met
many vehicles passing from Titlis and beyond, where all Russians
who can, leave for the hot summer months. The stations arc
government houses where change of horses is had, a slight buffet
is spread, and where a good many people can sleep in a large
common room by providing their own bedding; each station has
also a room or two with comfortable beds. They are run on the
principle of the Kast Indian rest-houses. A traveller has a right
to stop two or three days on payment of a moderate fee for
lodging, and longer if no other traveller needs his place. We
spent two nights in them, and not at those recommended, but
where our convenience demanded, and \'/ere very comfortable.
The guide-book dwells upon the necessity of bug-powtler, etc.,
in all of this country. We have not felt a flea or any other
nocturnal brute. The English are so particular that they keep
themselves miserable. Thej' are like the avenue lady who insisted
that the mayor should keep nude boys from bathing off the break-
water, admitting at the same time that she could see nothing
shocking e.\cei)t when she used her glasses.

Where the valley widened out after passing Kazbek station,
villages often perched upon the steep slopes, and queer two and
three story towers, sloping upward like an obelisk, and occasion-
ally the ruin of a castle of considerable size and of picturesque
appearance. Some of these towers are seen dizzily roosting
upon steep and high rocks, where in the days of yore the Geor-
gian chiefs could swoop down upon caravans passing from I-lurope
to Asia, or vice versa. I suspect, however, they were used
mainly as places of refuge for villagers when attacked by hostile
clans. The village houses are all little flat huts of stone, laid
without mortar, and roofed over with flags on which dirt and turf
is spread. I went into some of them, a few kopecks given to the
children winning the mother's heart. They were mere man-sta-
bles. A bench or two and a shelf — dirty and smoky, and stink-
ing from the smell of the cow-coal which is stacked in and about
them. They have no chimneys, the smoke from the stinking
fuel blacking the walls. From Dariel Gorge up to and for a sta-
tion or two beyond the summit, there are no trees, and the other

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OLD TOWERS. FIXE ROCKS.

409

fuel cut into blocks or flattened in cakes is the only one. We
saw an old man carrying an armful of this, not over-dry, on his
left arm, whil^ under his right were a couple of loaves of black
bread. I asked myself the question ; "After all, what is dirt?
Is it not simply a sentiment or a conventionalism ? " At the sta-
tion below the summit a side stream came down from quite a
valley. In the junction of the two streams, and quite among
the huts of the small village, is a little graveyard. There was a
peculiar smell in it. I was unable to decide whether it was from
a dead man or a dead rat. Tliey to me are nearly the same.
Being curious, I looked closely, but could not sec the rat ; there
was, howevei', a little, rough stone-pile over a grave not long
made, and a rat or a bad-smelling ghost may have been among
the loose stones.

Over the same village is an enormous precipice, hundreds of
feet high, and jutting over. The under half of it is composed of
basaltic columns, laid i!at, the ends forming the wall. It resem-
bled a vast pile of oddly-hewn timbers, seen at the ends ; over
some feet of it were the cow-cakes drying — a heroic filth-dryer.
The whole pass would be a charming place for a geologist to
study ; the rock formations are so peculiar and of so many vari-
eties ; great cliffs, a mile long, looking like Titanic heaps of
chocolate ; trapite cliffs and basaltic colonnades, metamorphic
rocks in vertical sections, dark and shiny ; granite shoving into,
and now and then bursting through, the overlying rocks. The
gradations of heat through which these several rocks passed
is so distinct and marked that I should think a scientific man
would find them a valuable book to read. The distance between
the last northern station and the summit was made over a beau-
tifully winding road, bending and doubling again and again over
itself. We were among snowdrifts of last winter, or of late slides,
and our road at one point was cut through a solid mass of white
ice 10 to 15 feet deep, and the river, now a little mountain tor-
rent, often ran through tunnels of its own cutting under acres of
hard snow which will not melt away yet for a month or more.
Wiiite Alpine roses and a purple flower, shaped like ;. hj-acinth,
were spread over the upper somewhat level tracts. Sometimes
the rose of pale white, lying close to the upland meadows, made
them look as if covered with myriads of huge snowflakcs. The
short grass wore that strange emerald green, more intense even
than the emerald itself, which is seen nowhere other than on lofty
places where the summer's sun carries the snow covering quickly
away. At a little under 8,000 feet we were on the line dividing
Europe and Asia. Suddenly the sky just over us darkened,
lightnings flashed, and thunder rolled, and great hail stones rat-
tled on our lifted carriage-top and made our horses dash madly
on and down the steep grade for a short distance, where we halted
for the night.

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A RACE WfTIl THE SUN.

Two clean beds and two cups of tea and broad in the morninjT
cost us one rouble and 35 kopecks, or say 60 odd cents. It rained
liard during the niglit, ami a heavy fog enveloped our mountain
perch when we awoke. It, however, soon lifted, a!id our early
ride of ten miles to the next station was deliciously exhilarating.
We had to go down a narrow, treeless gorge, adown which start-
ing from the narrow heights above a stp-am falls with great
ra])iility. Tile roar of rushing waters came up from far below,
althougii the head of the stream was but a little way off above
us ; but it was snow-fed, ;, id ([uickly filled. A bee coulii have
flown to the point we were to reach by a flight of a mile or less.
We ran over aixiut eight to reach it, without using a break or
having our linrse once bear u])on the breeching. We used but
one horse o;i this stage ; his only dut\' was to guiile the shafts.
Winding a'oout a perfect graile. he trotted rapidly, while we saw
our roa I now a (juarter of a mile to our right, then loo or so feet
below, ami then again a va\' off to the left. At one point four
tracks lay visible below which we were to reach in succession .after
nian\' a beautiful bend. I li.ive been over Swiss and T)'rolean
carriage-roads, but over none where so rapid a descent was made
by such easy and regular grade, and displaying so fine engineer-
ing. We reached the Aragva River, down whose banks we were
to descend for a long distance. Although separated by only a
few miles from the northern slope of the great backbone of the
Caucasus, we were not only on Asiatic soil but also in an Asiatic
clime. The difference w.is percejitible to the senses of feeling
and of sight. Vegetation took a ranke" growth, and the little
mountain crops were far in advance of those at much lower heights
on the European side ; and the snows were much higher up the
mountain, and were soon seen only in the loftiest gorges. Many
flocks of sheep and herds of cattle hung upon the lofty, grassy
slopes, and wheat was at first green, and in a couple of hours
knee-high. The green, grassy mountains began to wear a few
trees, and before we reached this station, at ten o'clock, were cov-
ered by dense woods almost as luxuriant as one sees in a tropical
land. The northern side of the mountains was of rocky gran-
deur, and in the distance of snowy beauty. This is soft, verdant,
and flowery. The northern side held us in wondering awe : this
lulls us into dreamy pleasure.

After a delightful day and a half at the station mentioned in
the beginning of this chapter, and where, thus far, it was written,
we resumed our drive, and at the station below left the river,
which made a long bend and ran up a beautiful little valley, climb-
ing the mountains through masses of wild roses — great clumps
10 to 15 feet high and of equal diameter, almost solidly covered
with flowers, mostly white, but some of a very pale pink, some of
them climbing 20 to 30 feet up the trees. The roses peering out
from among the glossy leaves of the wild pear were very pretty.

TJIE SOUTHERN SLOPE OE THE CAL CASUS. 411

I suspect this is tlic origfinal liomc- of tin- pear. Tlic fruit, yet
^rrceti, is small and wooily and very astrin^^'iit. I tried ti) j^et our
postilion, by si^n lan^niaf^e, to tell us if they were eaten when
ripe. I understood his si^ms to be nef^ative. There was also wild
hollyhoL-k, bush dwarfed, tlower lanje and yellow. Is not this
its origin, d home ? Alon<,f the whole vallej- are wild plums rcsem-
bliii^f small ^freen^fa<,'es, There arc many flowering- shrubs, and
near and about Tiflis pomerrranates are bioomin;.,' in wild, unfrc-
(punteil spots. The llor;> of the whole pass is abundant, and
many of the specimens vei) Pine.

Our road, after leavinij t'le river, ran over a rounded, moim-
tainous countr\', topped by a hi.L;h-roliin^r farming- land, of ^^ood
soil, red, but mixed v h larii' f;ravel, niakin-.;- plowin;,; verj- lieaxy.
In spite of this thi- ^round was broken from six to ten inches.
To do tliis, eiji^ht yoke of wxen ami buffalo were hitclied to the
plow, which had a lonfj wooden share fully three feet Ion;^f, laying
the glebe so perfectly over I hat not a spear of immss or weed could
be ::een. The farmin<^ on this upland was cv. i-llcnt, and the crops
o wheat and rye very heavy. In the centre of this upland of a
f' w miles* diameter is the old Armenian cit}-, Duchet, six orri!4ht
(eiituries old, and once the capital of the deorgiaii province.
Whether these Armenians are the farmers or not I could not
learn ; if so, they are as good farmers as traders. It was not until
lately the\' were allowed to acquire real estate. Rapiill}-, by ])ur-
chase or mortgage, they are getting into their hands much of the
best land in the country. The Georgians save nothing. They
arc vain, and love show and dress, and mortgages arc easy things
to make. After regaining the river, having made some 16
versts across country, the valley was wider then when we left it,
and the stream spread in still rapid descent over a broad, shingly
bottom. Every half mile or so there were little mills along the
bank, queer structures, about \2 by i 5 feet, and not over eight
feet high, with flat mud roofs. The wheel, not over six or eight
feet in diameter, turns horizontally, its centre beam being also
the spindle for the stone. The stone necessarily revolves rather
slowly.

Fourteen miles from Tiflis the stream we had been descending
emptied into the Kur, a bold river which cuts its narrow chan-
nel through a solid rock, and flows for a long distance in a canyon
30 to 40 or more feet deep. At the junction was once the capital
of Georg-'a — the rich city of Mtskete, now a little village. Tradi-
tion carrii. .; its foundation back to a time not long after the flood,
and history tells of it in Roman times. We passed over a hand-
some bridge, built Uj>an the foundations of a structure erected by
great Pompcy, at the feet of whose statue great Ca;sar fell ; then
running under lofty rocks or over a pretty valley, with some
vineyards of the grape of the Caucasus, we reached Tiflis, the
capital, where I now write. We have been more than usually

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412

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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fortunate in our trip. We had beautiful weather, except for an
hour one evening — I am told an unusual thing, for it is rarely
clear two days at a time in these inonntains. We have now boon
here four days, and learned that just behind us was a fearful
storm, carrying away much of the road. Willie says it is all our
luck. He is almost justified in the assertion, for, excepting a few
days in Constantinople, we have not been interrupted by rain
since we left home.

We found no Transcaspian permit here, and no message from
St. Petersburg. The day after our arrival we presented ourselves
at the palace of Prince DondoukofY-Korsakoff, governor-general
of Caucasia. We were told he could not be seen until the next
morning. I expressed my regret, and sent up our cards and the
letter of introduction from the governor-general of Moscow, and
asked the attendant to deliver them as soon as possible. Before
we had time to quit the palace he returned and motioned us to
ascend. We were ushered in without ceremony. There was no
retinue or aides. The governor was alone, seated at a working-
table. Rather gruffly lie demanded our wishes. I explained.
He said the whole thing had to come from the war departn'.'Mit.
and that no message had been sent him on the subject. I told
him in French what our minister had written me at Moscow, antl
that I had again written him to telegraph the permit to his excel-
lency, and that I could account for the fact of none having
come only by the departure from St. Petersburg of Mr. Lothrop
the very day I hail written. I told him that we in America saw
Russia and her advances into Asia to a great e.xtent through
English mediums; that I had come to the country prejudice;!
against it, and that already much of this prejudice had been re-
moved. I spoke so rapidly that politeness forced the prince to
listen. It was well, for his countenance softened, and in i)retty
good English he said, when I showed a disposition to leave :
" Sit down, please," and then told me that up to lately the
Transcaspian country had been under his jurisdiction, but was
now no longer, but he would at once telegraph to the Minister
of War, Vanovsky, for a ])ermit. He said he would like me to
go to Samarcand, but feared 1 would find it excessively hot; that
he had a sunstroke there years ago, from which he had never
entirely recovered. He then offered a cigarette, and when we
again rose to leave he got up, saying he wished to show us some-
thing. He took us into his cabinet of curiosities, a very large
and valuable collection — arms of man)- sorts, old vases and an-
tiquities picked up in the mountains; exquisite rugs, beautifully
carved furniture, etc., — all of his own gathering during his many
years in this country — 40 odd, I think — and several while in
his present position. He told me he was 70. I said he
certainly had taken good care of himself. He laughed and
showed me his left hand, all crippled up with a wound, and

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PRINCE DONDOUKOFF.KORSAKOFF.

413

pointed to his leg, which had been broken in battle, to a wound
in his shoulder and another in his side. In fact, the old general
was a weather-beaten and war-stricken soldier ; had fought in
many a battle, and assisted in all of the victories won by the
Russians for many years. He then carried us through all of the
state-rooms of this splendid palace, which was built by the Grand
Duke Michael when governor. The prince's particular hobby
just now is the founding of a historical, military museum of
the Caucasus country ; its arms through all ages, portraits, when
possible, of its great men, and all illustrated by very large battle
pieces, in one or two of which he himself was a figure. These
latter are now around the large room in the palace, and were
really very good. Passing through the splendid rooms and upon
a balcony to look at the large, handsome garden, I remarked
he certainly had a splendid palace to live in. He answered with
a smile and a sigh ; " Yes, to show to tra\'cllers," adding that he
was alone, had lost his wife a year ago. His voice trembled and
won my sympathy. He kept us an hour, and was very kind,
several times laying his hand upon my shoulder when he wished
to direct my attention to some particular thing, and seeing Willie
examining some books with English titles on the Caucasus, he told
him to take some of them to the hotel to read and to bring them
back himself, thereby inviting him to return. When he gets an
answer to his telegram he promised to notify me. The weather-
stained old warrior has helped to rub down some more of my
anti-Russian prejudice.

Tiflis is an interesting city, with a population of largely over
100.000. Twenty-four thousand Georgians, 35,000 to 40.000
Armenians, 30,000 Russians, and several thousand Germans.
These latter settled here as refugees from Wurtemburg long ago,
to avoid religious persecution. They speak Russian and are loyal
to Russia, but the " colony," as the German quarter is called,
shows their Teutonic characteristics, namely: neatness, thrift,
and comfort about their homes. The long main street in their
colony is lined with shade-trees, mostly lindens, and now deli-
ciously fragrant ; fine gardens, with a luxuriant growth of fruit-
trees and vineyards, give their residences a charming, home-like
aspect. Seeing a nice frau and fraulein promenading in one of
these grounds, we were sorely tempted to go in and introduce
ourselves. I understand that while thoroughly true to the gov-
erriment these deutschen do not love the Russians. The Armen-
ians arc the real business men of the place, and control the bulk
of its wealth. They care not for nationality, but adhere strictly
to their religion and to their commercial avocations. They and
the Russians live and commingle in their residences and society.
There is little difference between them and their costumes. The
Georgians are all of the Greek church, and hold many offices, as,
I believe the Armenians do also. The wealth of the latter gives

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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them great influence in the country. They are beginning to own
its best farms and populate many of its best towns and villages.
The Georgians, to a great extent, wear their own picturesque
costume of conical astrachan caps, long robes gathered at the
waist by a silver belt, with a double row of cartridges on either
breast, and long dagger, and sometimes sword, with pistols at
their belts. The head-dress of a majority of the ladies seen on
the street is a small, stiff, round cap, somewhat lifting from the
crown, over which is thrown a large silk or lace handkerchief tied
under the chin, generally of heavy figured white — sometimes of
bright color — and under this a rather long lace veil hanging be-
hind. It is very becoming, having much the same effect upon
the face as a Spanish mantilla. It is certainly far prettier than
the bonnet of French fashion worn by others.

Again I am forced to say that French fashions, while stylish,
are conventionally pretty, but are generally artistically damnable.
Of all the villainous tyrannies ever oppressing a cringing world,
the tyranny of French fashion is the most detestable. Statesmen
and patriots rail at the tyranny of kings, emperors, and sultans,
but I honestly believe that the tyranny of Queen Fashion is
to-day doing more harm in Christendom than all the sultans and
despots of the East do in their own lands. Its chan<^ing whims
breed extravagance and waste ; it destroys the health of women,
kills babies, and sends men into the world deformed and but half
made up.

One can, in a few hours walk in Tifhs, see as great contrasts in
nationalities as in any other city we have yet visited. One local-
ity is modern European, with Amcric.m open fronts and French
styles ; another old German ; a third is thoroughly Persian a
fourth simply and purely Asiatic. In the latter two one sees
Tartars, Bulgarians, laboring Georgians, men in high Persian
caps, and men with sheepskin caps as big as half-bushel baskets.
In them men sit cross-legged or on their haunches in and before
their little shops, doing all sorts of mechanical labor, and the
streets are redolent with that peculiar odor which pervades the
mighty East. This odor is as peculiar and distinct as the smell
of a wet dog, and as indescribable. One recognizes it at once,
but no one can enable another by description to even guess how
it is, or what it is.

The city lies on either bank of the Kur River on a narrow,
sloping valley, with low mountains, barren, treeless, and generally
brown, but at this season moderately clothed with thin grass, be-
hind the town on each side. The river runs through it in a narrow
channel cut deep down into the rock. At one point for half a
mile or more this rock lifts in a precipice over icx) feet high. Back
of this is the old Asiatic city. On it the rear of houses rise sheer
with the cliff, some of them of two or three stories. Many of
them have balconies hanging several feet over the water rushing

local

TIFLIS A PRETTY CITY.

415

far below. From these one sees people emptying rubbish into
the river, and drawing water with a bucket and long rope. All
sorts of rubbish and filth arc thrown into the river from the
banks, or from the several bridges which span the narrow stream.
The water is thickly muddy, and richly yellow in color; it rushes
under its steep banks with great speed — boiling, eddying, and
tumbling — reminding me i.,.uch of the Frazer in its canyons. So
even and regular is its surging flow that it wears a rather majestic
look, though its width is sometimes under icx) feet, and nowhere
over 300. Mills are strung along under the bank in one quarter of
the town on a sort of floats or keels. Their large wheels are
rapidly turned by the natural current. I counted eleven of these,
one after another, before the stream bent and was hidden from
view. The city has a good street-railway and a water-supply,
with a very strong head at the street hydrants. There are fine,
hot mineral baths close by. I think the name of the town means
" bath place." liut how we do revel in the delicious cherries, —
great, black, luscious and pulpy fruit, as solid as peach flesh;
otiiers are pink, sub-acid and delightful ; still others, equally
large, are of a slightly yellowish white. There are also good
apricots and plums. The Germans in the town and in some vil-
lages near by are the gardeners. To them, too, is owed largely
the grape and its product, a really delightful, fruity, rich wine,
both white and deep red.

The Georgians claim a very early Christianity, from the time of
the earliest Christian emperors, when it was a Roman province.
They are a fine-looking race, very fair, straight, and slender.
They hate the Armenians, call them thieves, etc. They are them-
selves very improvident, save nothing, are heavily mortgaged to
the Armenians, and hate them accordingly. I have seen nothing
yet to justify the reputation of the women for great beauty. A
peep in Constantinople under a Turkish yashmak and youthful
ardor and imagination have contributed more, I suspect, for
their great reputation than nature has done. A dark eye and
a white forehead seen from behind a veil enables a fervid imagi-
nation to fashion a beauty which a fully revealed face would not
bear out. A FVench modiste knows this part of man's nature,
and she does more by permitting a peep or a glimpse to allure us
susceptible bipeds than Eve ever does in the East by adopting
nature's simple uncovering. The Russians have struggled hard to
stop the trade in girls for the Turkish harem, but an intelligent
Georgian told me it was still carried on to a limited extent, but
insisted it existed only upon the mountains near the Black Sea,
and not in his part of the country. But, after all, is the hatred of
the thing not sickly sentimentality? A handsome girl is sold to
a Turk— she becomes his wife — and her parents from her price in
their old age have some comforts. Left here, she and they live
like pigs in a sty. The girls do not go as unwilling slaves, or.

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A RACJ£ WITH THE SUN.

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at least, not more so than many a beauty at home, who marches
grandly up the church aisle to the wedding march, smothered in
orange blossoms and lace, and is given by prudent pater-familias
to some rich roiu' or half-made-up Dives. It is not in Georgia and
Circassia alone that warm young hearts arc turned to stone for
the sweet privilege of treading on soft. Oriental carpets, and sip-
ping tea in egg-shell china, and eating from silvered plate. Kings
and emperors would suppress the selling of slave girls, and yet
their own wives, daughters, and sisters are a species of princely
merchandise. Not far from the Baltic there are royal studs
where princesses are bred and regularly trotted out and right
royally sold. The thing is called state alliances. Following these
are those shining examples for common folks to follow, such as
Milan's platonic flirtations with actresses, crown princesses drink-
ing many waters while their husband:; dissipate in pastures green,
and imperial morganatic widows the leaders at Nice, etc., etc.
Bah ! the slave trade in girls has been partially suppressed under
these grand mountains, but it is still rife in princely palaces in
Belgravia, and possibly in fashionable American society, and is of
a beastly character in London purlieus.

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CHAPTER XL.

THE CASPIAN SEA — BAKU AND ITS MARVELLOUS OIL WELLS —

PETROLEUM AS A FUEL— BALAKMANA— A BURNING

SEA— NATURAL GAS.

Steamship, Caspian Sea, yune 30//;.

I COMMENCE this on the Caspian. There is a small sea coming
from the cast ; still our ship of only 300 tons, lies directly in the
trough, and rocks like a cradle. Many of the deck passengers, of
whom there are about lOO— Persians, Tartars, Georgians, and
Russians— are paying their awful tribute to old Neptune, and our
only Oriental first class passenger, a fat, greasy, and in every way
disgusting looking Persian, is heaving and retching, as if he would
pull the sole of his foot up through his stomach, just at the
bottom of the gangway and under the deck cabin in which I, with
difficulty, write. Willie suggests that we throw the fat Persian
overboard as the Jonah that causes our ship to roll when there is
no wind blowing, but it is at once voted that he cannot be of the
family of the original live bait, and, therefore, would not, as the
one of old did, appease the god of waves, for no whale could keep
this greasy old chap down for a half-hour.

I look out of our windows upon this great inland sea. It is a
mass of rolling green — not the slightest tinge of blue in its deep
waters — and I am told that, even where it is 400 fathoms deep, it
has the same grass-green hue as here. The Russian fathom has
seven feet. This mighty sea is about 700 miles long and about
200 in width. It lies in its isolated bed 89 to 90 feet below the
surface of the Black Sea. Its waters are dense and bitter, but
have only three per cent, of salt, whereas the Atlantic has about
five. We took a swim in it at Baku, and found the water very
soft, perhaps more so than elsewhere, for there millions of gal-
lons of petroleum washings escape into it daily. It looked clean,
however, with now and then some rainbow tints thrown off from
filmy patches of oil floating upon the surface. A sail is never out
of sight ; over 5,000 belong to this sea. Most of them are engaged
in fishing, for it teems with fish. — some of them of delicious flavor.
Twertv-two thousand men are employed in the business on this
sea, e.vclusiveof a still larger number on the Volga, and the catch
is over 350,000 tons, a large amount being taken for the roe alone,
for the manufacture of the celebrated caviar. This peculiar Rus-

417

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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sian food is exported to all parts of the world, but only those who
visit southern Russia and taste it when fresh can have any idea
of how delicious it is.

I look toward the left over wild Daghesten, and towering above
is the snowclad range of the Caucasus, great masses of broken
mountains, some of them glistening with eternal snows, smooth
and burnished. Among these, more or less near the Caspian, are
the deep valleys and lofty fastnesses in which Schamyl so long bid
defiance to the Russian power. Among the historic paintings now
being executed for Prince Dondoukoff-Korsakofif for his museum
is one representing the surrender of this great mountain chief.
The motive of the picture is peculiar, and, I believe, unique. The
Russian artist depicts Schamyl in sullen disgust, his face averted,
and holding a sword as if saving: " Here it is, hacked and worn.
I have fought you for years, for I hated you, and hate you still,
but my old weapon is no longer edged and sharp ; take it. I can-
not hand it to you ! " I mentioned this to the prince. He re-
plied : " It was historically true "

We were five days in Tiflis, and were not wearied of it. It is
really a charming city, has some very pretty gardens, and very
fine views, and presents decided ami marked types of people.
In it one can study central Asiatic peoples most advantageously,
for, while in close juxtaposition, each maintains its tribal charac-
teristics as thoroughly as if isolated by long distance-. In one
q..arter one is in Persia among men of a delicate type, wearing
rather long hair, soft as silk and black, but dyed with a slightly
logwood-tint, and covered by tall, straight caps. In another he
is surrounded by Tartars and Bucharians of strong features, of
wild Mongol cast, in rough, coarse garments, and wearing huge,
rounded caps, a foot to a foot and a half in diameter, of heavily-
AvooUed sheepskin. In another Armenian thrift and sharpness
meet the view at every turn. In still others there is the light
and cheerful Georgian, living in the sunshine of to-day, and care-
less of what the morrow may bring. Besides these there is the
clean and home-like German colony, and scattered everywhere
Russians, who mingle freely with all, and arc slowly but surely
russianizing all. If they be as slow in every thing cUe, however,
as they are in their red-tape official actions, their progress will
not be rapid. For example, Mr. Lothrop, our Minister at St.
Petersburg, wrote me on the 8th of June that he had applied for
a permit for me to go to Samarcand. On the loth he wrote again
that the Minister of Foreign Affairs had applied to the War De-
partment, where the matter belonged, and that I would receive
it in two or three days. The governor-general of Caucasus tele-
graphed to the War Department for it, saying to me it would
certai- !y come in one or two days. I then received a letter from
our legation, dated the 15th, informing me that the War Depart-
ment had promised to send it at once. On the 26th, 11 days

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PARTING VISIT TO THE PRINCE.

419

after the date of that letter, and 18 after the first apphcation,
nothing coming, I became disgusted and resolved to abandon the
trip, and drew money to carry us to Nijni Novgorod, by the
Volga route.

We then called upon the prince to thank him for his kindness,
and to pay our parting compliments. The brave old soldier re-
ceived us most kindly, and seemed chagrined that he had received
no reply to his telegram. He was alone and entertained us for
more than an hour on a balcony overlooking the palace garden,
where tea and wine were served. His manner has the simplicity
of an old soldier, and his conversation is tl'.oroughly free and
easy. I was enabled to learn something of Russian ideas and
management, looking through the eyes of one of the governing
powers, and not of the governed. For he is the governor of the
whole of Caucasus, is a member of the Imperial council, and has
a vice-regal power over the governors of the several Caucasian
provinces. He is a blunt, plain, and rather outspoken man, in
his manner very democratic, and, though 70, is active and full of
life. He gave me his photo, and to Willie the letter of Prince
Dolgoroukoff introducing us, with some kind words written
in it by himself. With the hope that we would see Russia as
thoroughly as possible, through our American eyes, and not
through those of the Knglish, he wished us all good things, and
.saw us to door of the outer hall. Thus, by the simple claim of
American sovereignty, we have received most kindly treatment
from two of the great rulers of this mighty land, and one of
them, at least, won from us a warm and kindly sympathy, I be-
lieve not misplaced, though he be one of the lords of the earth.
Remarking that on our visits the prince was alone, I congratulated
him upon the apparent happiness of the people I had met in his
province, but that I feared he himself was somewhat isolated.
He said yes, that he felt he could not stand it much longer, that
he had lost his poor wife, and two of his closest friends within
a /car ; that his eldest son was compelled to be with his regi-
ment, and his other was in the navy. He was thus alone, and
could hardly stand it. The world thinks that all is bright and
gorgeous among the great ones of the earth, but there is as
much sadness and lonely-weariness in the gilded halls of a
palace as in the humblest cottage ; and, indeed, probably more,
for the comparison between the days of pampered indulgence
and lu.xury, and the moments of solitude and sorrow makes
the latter more bitter than is the sorrow of the lowly, who are
educated to endure.

At midnight we took the train for Baku, the great petroleum
centre of Russia. At daylight we were in a broad, flat valley,
lying between the greater and the lesser Caucasus mountains,
the' latter, to our south, lifted, not far off, I2,CXX) or more feet,
and was clothed in snow. In the far distance over them

420

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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were others. I saw sharp, conical, burnished peaks in the far-
off which I took to be Ararat. His peaks are very precipitous
and difificiilt of climbing. I could not help thinkin<j what a hard
time the mighty line of living things had when marching by
twos, male and female, from these cold, bleak heights down into
the plains below after the great flood had subsided ; and what a
time good old Noah must have had to keep some of his warm-
blooded pets from freezing on that lofty l6,ooo feet high pin-
nacle. Noah's ark, with its countless denizens, was always to me
harder to swallow even than Jonah's three-days' sojourn in the
whale's belly. What a pity our theologians do not boldly preach
that the Bible is a mighty system of truth, but that its truths
come to us clothed in Oriental legend and fable — that the truth
is there, pure and undefiled, as the grain is pure and uncontam-
inated by the chaff in which it is housed — instead of trying to
make a reasoning world swallow the chaff for solid k'Tuels. Then
many a thinking man, who, finding himself choked by the husks
and hulls, throws out the whole, grain and all, would learn to see
the grand truths abundant and rich, like the golden wheat in the
dun and dusty straw.

For countless ages God's truths were handed down from mouth
to mouth, and to enable memory more readily to hold them were
clothed in poetic figures and Oriental hyperbole. The Asiatic
husbandman holds his trodden harvest aloft, and as it falls the
clear wind of heaven blows away the chaff, and the grain falls
below as food for man. So the biblical husbandman should hold
aloft the mass which has come down through countless ages of tradi-
tion, and let the pure breath of reason fan away the broken
chaff, and leave the kernels of God's mighty truths to fall into
the mouths of hungry and famishing seekers for the veritable and
the pure. To one who runs with the sun and sees the myriads
of the vast East bowing down in earnest worship of their mani-
fold conceptions of the great ruler of the destinies of man, and
studiously strives to peep througli the crevices left by countless
superstitions, and to brush away the metaphors and figures of
Oriental poesy, there comes the dazzling brightness of the eter-
nal — the one unknown and unknowable God, whose revelation
lives and burns in every man's heart, which can never lead him
widely astray, if he resolutely does unto others what he would
they should do unto him.

The valley of the Kur, below Tiflis, is settled principally by
Tartars. We saw many of their villages of low huts, and some
temporary villages of tents, where they live while gathering crops
distant from their permanent homes. They are a hardy set of
fellows, are first-class workers, and command one's respect by do-
ing men's work by men, and not forcing women to do her own
and her lord's duty to boot. They are all Mohammedans, and as
such the women's faces are concealed, even those of the humblest ;

TARTARS. ST A TION REST A URANTS.

421

but I am told there is a growing relaxation of the rule among
them when there are Russian neighbors, who become somewhat
intimate with the men. We saw a number of groups of women
with their little children squatted not far from the road, with a
band of cloth drawn across the upper face, and another on the
lower part, permitting tlie eyes alone to be seen. The men all
wear huge sheepskin caps, spreading very wide at the bottom,
and slightly tapering and rounding off at the top, and nearly as
large as a half-bushel measure. They wear these winter and sum-
mer. They cut or shear the head, some, however, retaining, like
the Persians, a large lock about the ears. The face is full-bearded,
the beard often dyed to a rich red. The Persians, by tue way, as
far as we have observed, or at least many do, dye the hair to a
soft reddish-black, and many of them shave the beard, but leave
a full mustache. The Tartars are not only the farmers of this
part of the world, but the hard day laborers and railroad workers.
We are informed they are steady and industrious. At Baku all
of the drosky drivers, teamsters, and the bulk of the laborers
generally are of these people. They seem cheerful, manly, good-
natured, and independent. They look a man fearlessly in the
face, and are not afraid to maintain their rights against even a
Russian officer, and would return a blow for a blow with any
man.

The mountains, both north and south, as seen from the Kur
valley, are brown and nearly treeless, and before reaching the
sea, were as bleak and desolate as those of Kgypt. The plain is
thin in soil, but I am told the wheat produced is of a very fine
quality. Irrigation is necessary for st( ad)' crops, for the rain is
not regular, and near the sea very rare. Much of the valley
plain is green with wild licorice, thousands of tons being annually
exported. It is a low-growing, weedy-looking shrub. This, too,
seems the original home of the asparagus, much of it, with its
spreading top of red berries, being seen indigenous along the
road. Along the banks of the Kur, where we crossed it, are
thickets of pomegranates, 15 feet high, bright with orange-
red flowers ; and the thick wood, covering the margin for a few
rods along the now overflowing stream, was vocal with glorious
feathered songsters, mostly an almost black thrush.

Even far off here, where we at home suppose every thing half
savage, nice lunches and delicious tea are to be had at many of
the railroad stations. Our railroad managers could gain much by
studying more the comfort of their passengers, and taking lessons
from Russia to bring it about. A Russian station buffet or
dining-room is an inviting and appetizing place — a long counter,
with cool-looking-glass, tumblers, and decanters, polished and
bright ; a great glistening urn of boiling water, and the daintiest
of teapots, all ready for a cup of fresh tea ; a long carving table,
with huge platters warmed by gas or oil burning below, and with

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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a whole roasted pi^, a mutton roast, and sirloin of beef, cutlets
breaded clean ami brown, chickens old and yoiinj:^ — not swim-
ming in nasty lard ^ravy, but with a sauce as temi)tiiijj as one
could wish. You select your dishes, and sit down to a table cov-
ered with a cloth as white as snow, a napkin fresh and clean,
which one does not have to wear out scrubbing flj'-specked i)lates;
good beer and wine, and all at fixed and very reasonable prices,
and these, too, at small village stations.

Ikfore reaching Haku, the broken low mountains by the sea
were absolutely devoid of every vestige of growth ; anil 1 had
pointed out to me what appeared to be a tall sand-hill dotted over
with cones from 4 or 5 up to 20 feet high. These are little vol-
canoes thrown up by escapes of gas form the mighty gasometer
underlying the whole country. These things, iiowever, did not
win from us the attention which we gave when looking out ui)on
the great sea, tliat- far-off, mighty sea of Central Asia. When
this race of ours with the sun shall have ended, I fear I shall have
lost one of my sources of previous enjoyment. There will be
but few spots where a visit can be possible which I can look for-
w.u'd to seeing with enthusiasm. There is an exquisite pleasure
in the first view of something much dreamed of but scarcely
hoped for. The Caspian Sea was one of those at the extremity
of my ultima tltiile. The sight of its calm, green waters was ex-
hilarating to the heart as the cool, fresh sea breeze was invigorat-
ing to the cheek. Immediatelv about Baku the hills were some-
what cultivated. There could be seen several large Tartar villages
and large flocks of sheeii,and herds of cattle were browsing on the
fields of lately-harvested, scant}- grain. Good rains would make
the land productive, but there are no streams or hills to make
irrigation possible. Wells are scattered here and there — wells
into which one descends by lon^ flights of steps to meagre pools
20 to 50 feet below the surface ; pools into which the water seems
to ooze, rather than flow, and so shallow that one can .scarcely
dip a handful without stirring the bottom, yet these are the
sources of the slightly brackish water which serves for men and
beasts. The country has everywhere wastes and flats, white and
sinooth with salt.

When we alighted at the station at Haku a uniformed officer
addressed me in Russian, asking if my name was " (iarrison."
There is no Russian " H," and the first letter of my name is
always rendered with a " G." A bright German commercial
traveller, Mr. Zigenfus, a fellow-voyager, informed mc that the
ofificer was the chief of police, who was directed by the governor
of Baku to meet us and to see that we wore properly provided for.
Our good friend Prince Dondoukoff-Korsakoff had dispatched to
the governor a request that he tender us assistance in seeing what
was of interest during our stay. The aid was timely, for my
pocket had been picked the night before of a few roubles and the

A KINDLY RF.CEPTION AT BAKU.

receipt for our ba^ga^'c in the luggage-van. We would, but for
this, liave had much red tape to unravel before getting our valises.
The telegram from " the governor-general of all Caucasus " to
the " governor of Baku " was, however, a talisman which soon
gave us our traps. Hardly were we in our hotel before the sec-
retary of the governor appeared, saying he was delegated by the
governor to take charge of us, and regretting that his chief had
been compelled to leave town that morning, but had before
leaving, countersigned a permit for us to go to Samarcand. The
permit, it seems had that morning been sent the prince from the
War Department, and he had forwarded it, with the further re-
(piest that we be otherwise assisted. Am 1 to be blamed if I find
my prejudices against the Russians fast diss<jlving into thin air,
or for the warm feeling the good old soldier-prince liad awakened
in my heart ?

It was, however, too late for us to take advantage of the per-
mit. Wc had not funds for the trip, and to get them from TiflLs
would entail further delay. With the full conviction that the
very hot weather had soured the grapes, we left the permit unused.
Ikit now we are rather regretful that we have lost our opportunity.
After all, what is, is right, and we are consoled, but we shall never
think of Vanovsky, Russian Minister of War, who gave us this
permit nineteen days after it was applied for without dwelling on
liis dilatory action, and uttering a gentle anathema aimed at Rus-
sian red tape. There was no sense in the delay, no inquiries were
made, but big bodies move slowly, and all official matters in this
land are big, and, therefore, must have a dignified gait. A com-
mercial man whom we met at Tiflis had applied twenty days
before, and yet was living in hopes. He, however, had business
to do as he neared the C.ispian and was not losing time. Mr.
Lt)throp, in reply to my first request to get the permit in four
days, said: " Four days is a very short time to do any thing in
Russia." There are in the Greek Church an intolerable number
of fete-days— two hundred, I am told. On these days nothing is
done. We wished to give out our wash on Saturday. " No use,"
the hotel people said ; " to-morrow and next day are fete-days —
holidays: you must wait till Tuesday." Banks are closed, and, as
government studiously inculcates the dogmas of the church, the
officials scrupulously observe every holiday. There were several
holidays during the time we awaited our permit.

The polite secretary took us during the evening to the club in
the governor's garden (a public park and the only patch of trees
in the city) and early the next day accompanietl us to Balakhana
the oil town, eight miles from the city. As we approached, it
presented the appearance of a Turkish cemetery, with tall, spire-
like cypress trees close together. These were the black derricks
over the wells, in the neighborhood of 400 on a space about
a mile square. Here, on this little spot, come from below the

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countless millions of j^alloiis of naplulia (criiilc oil), which so
much interferes witli tlie oil-kiii^s of America. There are wells
in otlicr localities about Haku, but tiie principal ones are at liala-
khana. Here some five or six or more years a^o a firm struck
" ile " so furiously that they were ruineil by the very vastness of
the product ; ior weeks or months a million puds of oil poured
out dail)', carrying vast (juantities of sanil, which ingulfed the
houses and works of nei;^hboriiig firms, and made a great lake
near by and then flowed off to tlie sea. The tlamages wrought,
ruined the owners of the well, and their ])oor engineer, una-
ble to chain the monster, died of a broken heart. The lake
has sunk down, but still its bed, around which we drove, was
soggy with oil. We saw a well, bored four or five months
ago. It belched forth for days 250,000 puds a day of oil and
sand, covering one-story houses around it on nearly a half acre of
land. The saiul finally ceased to come ip, and then for days
from 100.000 to 200,000 puds a day s| ited 20 feet in the air.
It is now controlled, and over 50,000 pui flow off every 24 hours
to the tanks.

It is s.iid the Russian oil-fields stretch over a length of nearly
1,000 miles, but have only a narrow breadth of six to ten
miles. At a short depth below the surface, at Halakhana, oil is
reached. At first it flows for a greater or less number of months .
then has to be pumped. If this diminishes too much ti.. auger
is inserted, aiul at a lower depth again it spurts up. The wells
are close together, there being 400 on a mile square — and even
on this surface and cjuite in the middle there is a spot, a (juarter of
a mile square, on which no oil has been obtainetl ; around it
stands the ])roiluctive wells. The flow from one seems to be
entirely un.iffected by that of another a few yards removed.
When the great well, boreil a few months since to 130 fathoms,
poured forth its vast supjjly, no jierceptible change was noticed
in that of its nearest neiglibors. Though they were not near so
deep. A pud is 40 Russian pounds. This well, therefore, poured
out from 2,000 to 4,000 tons a day for a week, and now, under con-
trol, gushes up 800 tons a day, and not a (piickened or lessened pul-
sation is observed in a dozen wells within lOO or 200 feet, some of
them not reaching a third of its depth, and others below its bot-
tom. These wells about Haku are delivering annually about
120.000.000 puds, or say 2,000,000 of our tons. I may be largely
over or under the correct figures, but when one deals with such
vast numerals the ordinary reader is sufliciently informed, even
though an error of a few figures occurs.

A part of Baku is called the " black town," because of the
smoke which formerly arose from the great kerosene manufacto-
ries therein situated. Twenty millions of puds of clarified, dis-
tilled, burning oil are sent each year up the Volga to be dis-
tributed throughout the north, and 10,000,000 over the railroad

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WONDERFUL OIL WELLS.

425

to the Black Sea. These fif^uros are. I think, correct. At a dozen
or inorc stations we met or passed ^reat trains witli 20 to ^o
hu^e cistern cars, such as are used in America, only larf^cr, filled
with kerosene. I-'ive hundred siiips ply in and out of the har-
bor distributing' this oil. It now burns us the head-lif,dils, and
the residuum as the re^udar fuel of locomotives on daily tr.diis
running 1,000 miles beyond the Cas])ian into Central Asia. Who
knows? i'erhaps this is the lii^lit from the west which is to illumine
the heart of th(^ ^nx-at continent ; material li<,dit,to briny in its wake
a purer spiritual lit,dit ! The oil of these rej^dons is not so strong
as that of I'ennsylvaiii.i and docs not emit tiie same disa^neeable
odor. While at H.d.d<liana we w.ilked upon a soil sodden with
oil, we skirted little lakes of ( il, we crossed on little brid|fes over
flowing streams of oil ; streams lar^^c enouj^h to turn ^ood-sized
null-wheels. There was a ^rjasy smell about it, but not as much
of wh.it we at home c.dl petroleum smell a,; one catches from a
half dozen of our oil barrel^. Only 25 percent, of this oil can be
refined into kerosene. The Pennsylvania (,il yields from 60 to 75.

While far less burniny-iluitl comes from this than from the same
amount of American oil. yet it is claimed here th.it the larger
refuse is much more valuable — more valuable for lubricating and
for heating i)urposes. It is used for heating in every way. Food
is cooked with it, stoves in the houses have pipes over the grates
with a f.iucet. A man lights a fire and turns a faucet and keeps
his room warm. Manufactories use no other fuel, except to light
up with, for it does not burn well except over a high he.it. Loco-
motives burn it. ;ind ships and steamboats have dispensed with
coal, and use only a few cords of wood a month to start up with.
The engineer of a locomotive steps from his engine with a white
shirt-front, cleaner far than that of the first class passenger, who,
being behind, catches more or less dust. The fireman's clothes
are greasy from the oil he uses on the machine, but his face needs
no washing when he goes to his dinner. The fire roars in the fire-
box, and the steam screams when the throttle is turned, and the
train rushes at the rate of 30 miles an hour, but the plates in
front of the fire-box are as clean as my lady's tiled hearth in the
parlor. We rushed up the river from the sea to Astrakhan at the
rate of 16 vcrsts an hour on a steamer. I went down into the
boiler-room, and all was as clean as in a first-class kitchen, and
under each boiler there was less than a capful of ashes, made
early in the day when a few sticks of wood were burned to start
the flame.

The agent of the steamer company told me that one pound of
this fuel had as much evaporating power as a pound and a half
of the best coal. At Baku it costs one and one half kopecks
a pud. at Astrakhan about seven, and the average price thence
up to Nijni, 1,530 mi'es, is about 14 kopecks; the price increas-
ing as the distance ir creases from the supply.

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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But the cost is far from being the only gauge of its superiority
as a fuel. There is no smoke frfun the snioke-pipcs, and no
cinders to fill passengers' eyes. Fuel is run into the fuel-
tank in the locomotive tender as easily as water is, and the
stoker keeps up ills fire by now and then turning a faucet. An
engineer turned off the oil at the faucet in the fire-box of a loco-
motive, and the monster rushed along with only a tiny burning
jet under its boilers. A tap by a small gavel at the faucet set the
fire-box to roaring. On a large steamer, for my amusement, the
engineer shut off the fire entirely, and all was black in the furnace,
while the siiip ploughed througii the waves. A simple light tap
from a mallet not larger than a hen's egg fiiicd the fire-bo.x with
a seething infernal flame. The steam car. be got up before a fire
can be made to burn with coal ; stc ker's labor is saved for feeding
the grates, and entirely saved in emptying the ash-bo.xes. I have
not yet been able to find how far north this fuel is used on rail-
roads, but in Caucasus and Transcaspia none other is employed,
and among the vast number of steamers for passengers and tow-
ing on the Volga no other fuel is consumed. I am informed that
already a decided improvement is visible in the salvage of forests,
and possibly it will bring an increase in rainfall. The commerce
on the Volga is so vast, and on the railroads leading to it, and
the consequent destruction of forests was so great that the stream
was certainly losing its tlepth, owing to the lessened rains. For-
ests are being saved, and the Volga will be deeper. This infor-
mation, from the agent and one of the directors of the great Cau-
casus Mercury Steamboat Company, a man of very decided
intelligence, ought to have weight. He said to me, when discussing
the matter, if there was no other benefit from naphtha fuel, this
alone would make it a national blessing.

After our return from Ualakhana we received a call from the
Mayor of Baku, and an invitation to dine with him. Like my-
self, he has served his city for eight years. His rule is said to
have beefi of great benefit to it, if not of jjleasure to himself.
After an elegant tlinner with some very agreeable gentlemen, Mr.
Despote Zenovitch, tb.e mayor, look us in a steam-barge out
some miles to witness the wonderful spectacle of ;i burning sea.
We were fortunate in having a calm night, and thus \n having a
fine exhiijition of this unique phenomenon. Over quite a huge
surface of the outer b.iy escaping gas from its hidden depths
boils up in the se.i as if in a great cauldron. Some of these
boiling spots are onlj' a few feet in diameter, while others are
scver.ii yards wide. Tiiey can be found at night by following the
odor of the g.is. We got on the right track, and were proceeding
very quietly, when my attention was called to a seething sound,
as if from a monster mass of fcaining champagne. Then I saw
the water boiling and rolling away. A piece of lighted tow was
thrown into the vortex, and immediately the whole surface of the

A BURNING SEA.

427

sea for some yards was in a blaze. Our little barge's course,
though slackened, carried her over the cauldron, and the flames
rolled up on her sides, but vanished as the barge passed over the
gas source. Then we changed our wheel, and when a jet came
from under her bow another bit of blazing tow was thrown in,
and again another fluid fire-works. Presently another barge,
brought out by the calm evening, approached, and added hf
share to the spectacle. At one time, when she happened over a
very large cauldron of gas, her hull was enveloped in flame. I
was told that the heat evolved is so small that a wooden boat can
safely pass through a very considerable blaze. It was a rare
sight, and one which few see, and, I think, no others than those
who visit liaku.

Not far off, but on the other side of the bay, gas rises every-
where from the sands. Push a cane deep down and draw it up
carcfullj- so as not to destroy the hole it makes, then apply z
match, and a gaslight can be had sometimes several feet high.
The Tartar-^ su'-rend their kettles over holes thus made and boil
their fish. They dig a small pit into the sand, hll it with lime-
stone, set f'r;: to the gas percolating the mass, and burn lime.

At Surakhani, a little farther off, is an old Persian temple,
where, until quite recently, a flame was burning, said to have
been lighted before Zoro;ister gave his divine laws. It was
deemed by the fire-worshippers to have been ignited by God,
and to have been burning from the beginning, and that its ex-
tinction would presage the destruction of the world. One can
readily comprehend the aw^ Vvi'Lli which a superstitious people
would regard a flame burning for ages with no apparent fuel for its
food. They could readily believe it to be fed by the eternal
breath of the god of fire. Here Parsee jjriests attended the
burning shrine for thousands of years, and pilgrimages were made
to its sacred flames by fire-worshippers from the farthest limits
of Persia until quite latelj-.

Our guide-book told us that therj was a decided smell of oil
about Baku, because the dust was kept down by sprinkling the
streets with naphtha. The good mayor seemed amused at the
fiction. There is but little smell in the town, and the oil was
never used for such purposes. The name of " black town " is
now a misnomer for that quarter in which the refineries are situ-
ated. Since the complete use of residuum has become successful,
by breaking up the oil jet under a boiler with a jet of steam, but
little smoke is evolved. I wisii our cities where great palaces
burn soft coal were any thing like as free from smoke. From the
water at night the city presents a beautiful sight. The vast num-
ber of street- and house-lights lifting up from the rounded bay
gives it the appearance of a brilliantly illuminated and vast amphi-
theatre. Street-lamps are very close to each other, and every
window is lighted. The city is pretty, too, by day from the bay,

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

with its old fortress and lofty tower built by the great Queen
Tamara long ages ago. When the wells were bored here a few
years since there was scarcely any town outside of the walled
fortress, now there is a population of 60,000 to 70,000. The
Russian scientists feel satisfied that there will be practically no
end to the supply of oil. To my inquiry if ho thought the oil
would last forever, the Mayor of Baku replied, " No ! it will give
out after a while, perhaps, in about 1,000,000 years." A very
bright young German lad acted as our guide and cicerone at
Balakhana. To my question how it was accounted for that wells
could be bored so close to each other and find oil at such greatly
differing depths — that is, from 200 to nearly 1,000 feet — and yet
in no way interfere with the supply one of another, he pointed
to the veins in the back of his hand, saying: "There is the solu-
tion : there arc veins running near each other, but totally separ-
ated, and at different depths, and all fed by a vast oil river far
below any of them."

While I write it is two o'clock in the afternoon. I am finishing
this letter on the Volga. The sun is but rising at Chicago. Guns
are firing, for it is July 4th, the birthday of my country — of my
own, my native land. May it give happiness to countless millions
through countless ages !

|i^i''i

CHAPTER XLI.

THE VOLGA RIVER AND MIGHTY TRAFFIC— ASTRAKHAN— KAZAN'—
NIJNI NOVGOROD— RAFTS— THE PEOPLE— THE GREAT FAIR.

Volga River and at Nijni Novgorod^ July 12, 1888.

Several persons, amongj them the American Consul, being
also English Resident at Moscow, told us we would find the
Volga utterly uninteresting, except for a short distance near
Samara, and advised us by no means to ascend it from Astrakhan ;
that if we were determined to travel along it, then to descend it
instead of going up, which would take at least two days longer.
Wc chose, however, to go south by rail and then return north by
river, so as to get up with our corresponc.ence on the steamers,
and thus avoid the necessity for stopping a day or two anywhere
to bring up to date. Instead of being wearied by monotony,
we have found this mighty stream very interesting. There is to
me always a charm in moving along the bosom of a great river—
a charm all its own, and of which the ocean is utterly devoid.
The ocean gives its pleasures, but they are wholly different from
those afforded by the running stream. One learns to regard a
river as an entity' as a separate and distinct and, to some extent,
a sentient thing, with which one can hold communion, and to
which one gives affection and friendship, and all with a vague
feeling that there is a species of reciprocation. I look down upon
its floods, and can imagine I hear them laughing and see them
dancing far above in a hundred little pellucid rills— laughing and
dancing in dark shades of forest, never sad, however deep the
leafy gloom about them ; stealing in quiet glee through grassy
meadows, now leaping up in tiny wavelets to catch the airy but-
terfly which ventures too near on its gilded wing, then with gentle
murmurs striving to join in the chorus of singing birds in the
blossoming bush overhanging it. I hear the woodman s axe far off
on the lonely upland side ; its sad tone comes now from close by
in yonder wood, then from afar off, bending and steahng through
the forest trunks— now loud and distinct, then scarcely heard,
I hear the song of the maiden as she trips along the brook-side,
and stoops to lave her brown hands in its cool shallows, and,
throwing a leaf into the rapid channel, watches to see if it be car-
ried into the whirling stream below or is floated off into the calm,

439

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y^ ^/iC^ IF/T^ THE SUN.

eddying pool at the side — and is gay or sad as she thus learns her
coming fate. I licar the low of kinc and bleat of flocks as they
come down to drink at the little river-bank, and the laughter of
villagers along its margin ; and the sound of hammers and work-
shops in cities on the same little river, now grown into a navigable
stream. The river talks to me, and tells me of these and other
things on its upper line. It catches my sympathy and returns
it. For we were both once little infants, now grown to manhood.
We have had our struggles in vain to go upward ; we have had
our ever-downward march. I stand and look down upon the
deep flood slipping from beneath our keel, and passing off, like
me, with the oft-repeated questions, "Whither? What? How?"
There are i)leasures to be derived from the shores of rivers; the
mountain, bare and bleak or green and wooded ; the hill in shrub
and verdure, with villages and houses and flocks; the undulating
plain in waving field or close-cropped turf. These give pleasure,
but are not sympathizers in my moods. The rivers themselves
speak to me and commune with me.

I have grown to be the friend of not a few within ihe last year,
since we began our " race with the sun." The Columbia, with its
white current, and rocky precipices dyed in purple and as soft as
velvet in tone; the mighty Yang-tse-Kiang, moving in grand and
deep majesty; the Pearl, covered by thousands of Chinese boats,
and floating a city ; the Menam, overhung by hundred-rooted
banyans, and about which tiny canoes steal like darting water-
bugs; the Irrawaddy, reflecting 25,000 pagodas to propagate the
faith of Gautama, whose charity did not forget the tiniest insect.
We touched again and again the holy Ganges, which has washed
.iway the sins of countless millions, and can make clean the
human heart, though steeped in crimes of the blackest dye. We
crossed the great Indus and its several branches, beyond which
the world's conqueror, Alexander, could not carry his victorious
army. Then v.-e lived for days upor "Old Nilus," whose hoary
head has been ever lost in the centre of the Dark Continent, and
the Danube, washing the greenest fields and the most golden
vineyards of Europe. And now tlie Volga! These rivers, or all
but two at least, I count my familiar friends.

No such feeling is ever awakened by the sea; on its bosom one
watches the mighty swells marking the deep respirations of old
ocean. Whence they come and whither they go they tell not,
nor can one guess. They arise from the vasty deep, and die
away on the boundless wastes. One can watch the monster
waves lifting in foamy crest, hungry for human prey. Angry and
fierce, they repel every human emotion, except fear and awe.
They ask no sympathy^they give none. From or.c of fathomless
caves they rush, and, sullen, return to their gloomy homes. I
love not the ocean, and dread its angry moods. Its calms are
treacherous ; its ripples arc deceitful ; its storms paralyze ; its

THE VOLGA AND THE TRAFFIC ON IT.

431

depths are a maw giving back no return ; it is a far-reaching
reahn, with no single ray of a redeeming love to light or cheer,
I love it not, and never go upon its bosom without a dread of its
frown.

The Volga is Europe's largest river, and is one of the grandest
of the world. With a length of 2,30x3 miles, it is navigable by-
large steamers for near 1,600, and for comfortable steamers and
broad barges for 550 miles more. Its head is in the Voldai Hills,
near St. Petersburg, in the northwestern part of Russia. Its main
branches — in fact, the main river, the Kama— has it3 source in
the northeast quarter of the empire, and unites with the true Volga
about midway in its course. This great river — formed by these
two branches and their several hundred afTluents, many of them
navigable — spreads like a huge vein with innumerable feeding-
veins over one of the richest and largest grain-producing districts
of the world. Its deep waters abound in fish fit for an epicure's
table. The taking of them gives employment to a vast number
of people — upward of 30,000 on the main river, — and furnish an
ever-ready supply of food to millions. Dried fish lie in great
uncovered piles about the cities and villages, in markets and
groceries, and one sees barges 200 feet long, covered with cured
fish piled in ricks 20 feet high, the heads of the outside course
protruding in regular layers, and looking like some new style or
pattern of stonework. Six hundred and odd steamers ply the
river. The one I now write on is 330 feet long, 60 feet beam,
with engines of 8oo-horse-power, and makes a speed of 20 versts
an hour.

Passenger steamers ply daily along the entire river for over
2,000 miles — I, perhaps, will not err if I say 2,100 and odd miles
— up and down with every comfort for first and second-class
passengers at from$i to $1.75 for lOO miles, not including meals;
a good dinner, however, costing about 40 cents; and comfortable
quarters with good sleeping-bunks for third-class passengers at
from 26 to 30 cents for loo miles. Innumerable barges of large
size, some of them over 200 feet long and of good breadth, and
drawing 8 to 12 feet when loaded, are being constantly towed
in long strings up and down by powerful tow-boats, one of which
I saw having 1,800 horse-power, and drawing barges on which
were loaded 1,100,000 puds, or 44,000,000 pounds. .So many tow
or passenger-boats are met that they themselves enliven the voy-
age. Vast numbers of rafts arc constantly seen below the mouth
of the Kama, and some above. These arc of all lengths, from
200 feet to a quarter of a mile. They are built in sec-
tions, so that at any time one can be detached and disposed
of. Many of these rafts have upon them comfortable log-houses
of one, two, or more rooms, glazed and ornamental. The rafts-
men live in, and at the end of their journey sell them at a profit
to be taken down and rc-erected — a sort of ready-made house.

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

These log-houses are so peculiarly a Russian institution, and
are so pretty that they deserve a description. The logs are per-
fectly straight, dressed smooth, the inner side flattened, the outer
left rounded, the upper and lower side brought to a straight edge,
or perhaps with a slight groove. The cross logs are so let into
each other that they fit down close, leaving the ends projecting
a half-foot more very ornamentally. The logs are let down upon
each other with calking or a hair-felting between, making them
thorouglily close. We have seen some quite large houses of this
kind, two stories high, and with many rooms. The partitions,
being all of the same structure, are shown by the projecting ends,
making a pretty relief. Generally throughout the wooded coun-
try, and in small towns and villages, the houses are of wood, the
better ones built in this style. Sometimes the logs are ripped in
half, but the rounded side is always out. In some localities the
space between the logs is calked with tow or a fine-broken grass or
moss, perhaps usually with hemp-tow. Wc have seen officers'
quarters near encampments built in this manner and painted a
brown-red, but gent^rally all wooden houses are unpainted.
Paint, except on a roof, is evidently not to the taste of these
people. There is no kind of house for a wooded suburb which
is as pretty as these of logs.

There is another wood-carrier on this river of a remarkable
character and used for sawed lumber — a keel-boat, 150 to 200
leet long, of heavy boards, well calked, but without deck. In this
sawed or hewn timber is laid across with the beam, increasing in
length as the flare of the hull increases, so as to fill it closely.
When the top of the hull is reached boards are packed on. main-
taining the flare of the hull, and up to a heiglit of several feet,
then the flare rapidly increases, until the top juts over the whole
hull many feet. On the water the thing looks like a great boat,
the upper part not yet boarded, with a breadth of nearly loo feet.
On this upper deck are generally one, two, or more of tii^ ready-
made log-houses above named. The amount of lumber on one
of these hulls is enormous. They are generally floated down in
high water only, and stranded when sold. We saw many of them
far down the Volga. As the stranded hull is unloaded it falls
out to the side. No sawed lumber is carried down the river,
except on these crafts. The number of rafts, however, is very
great, the logs coming mainly from the Kama River, and its 400
affluents, to be sawed up below when used.

There are many large flouring-mills in difTerent cities along the
river, one of them, I was told, turning out many thousand
puds of flour. Every city, town, and village has numbers of
windmills. On the high ground back of one moderately-sized
village, I counted 39. Everywhere in the land the bulk of the
peasant-grinding is done by the wind. Going south by rail we
saw many hundreds. In some of the steam-mills wheat-meal is

JiL'SS/AA- BREAD. WOMEN.

433

made instead of flour — a rounded grit as coarse as our fine corn-
meal. The bread from this is delicious. Had bread seems to be
a rare exception in Russia. Hrcad is the food of the people, the
working people living on black bread, but it, too, is of excellent
quality. One sees bread for sale in every kind of store in the
smaller towns. I have thus been enabled to examine a great
many specimens. No one ever objected to my " hefting " a loaf.
It always seemed light and never sour, and as the loaves are made
very large (say a foot and a half in diameter when round, or
when oblong, lO inches by 15 to 20 long), and arc cut to sell
to small purchasers, I could examine it well. I have never
seen such bread in any other country. I wish Russia would ex-
port many of her bakers to America — who can beat the world in
making sour bread and sodden biscuits. It is an exception when
one gets really good bread in a small town in the United States,
and even in our large cities one seldom finds as sweet and tooth-
some a loaf as is had here everywhere. I have talked of this to
several commercial travellers — that modern race of sharp men
throughout the world — and am informed th.it throughout Russia
there is rarely ever seen a bad loaf. It is made here of many
kinds — for eating with meat, for tea and coffee, plain or slightly
sprinkled with sectl and sugar, purely white, purely rye, and
mixed. Like the Orientals, the people do not seem to think bread
can get dirty. It is. theref(jre, piled on tables and counters, and
small rings and pretzels are hung on strings exposed to the dust,
and hucksters ])eddle the small rings on the dustiest roads. The
common laboring women wear a sort of coarse woollen sacque,
very loose and tied in at the waist. The bosom of this sacque is
a sort of carry-all. One can see one of these women pack into
this greasy receptacle a half-bushel of rings and small white bread.
I suppose such is not made in the peasant village. The bread
must be savory by the time it reaches the hamlet, several versts
a vvay.

The women along the Volga all seem to do their full share of
work, even of the heaviest kind. Among the fishermen she rows
the boat while her man casts the net. She trundles barrows and
carries stone, loads wagons, and carries wood and heavy freight
upon the steamers, and helps to build embankments on the
railroads. She is man's helpmeet, and I rather think, meets him
more than half way. But I think she docs it of her own free
will. For she is too tough and strapping for her lord to force
against her will. She could hold her own in a fair fight, and has
many opportunities for taking an unfair advantage, for all the
peasant men have the luxurious habit of getting very frequently
gloriously drunk. They go to the cities for great distances on
important fete days. They pray and cross themselves to an aston-
ishing extent all the forenoon and even up to one or two o'clock,
when the church services end, and then they drink like fish. We

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A RACE WITH THE SUN

have been lucky in being in cities on holy days. The other day
at Kazan was the great fete of the year; over 100,000 peasants
were in town. We drove out along the roads leading to the
country, and saw the peasants returning to their villages, some
perhaps 10, 15, and even 20 vcrsts away. Th«y were afoot and
in wagons, the latter having a sort of wicker body, and without
springs. Some wagons held two or three, some five to eight. Every
man, in wagons or afoot, was more or less intoxicated. Here were
a couple arm-in-arm, in hot but good-natured discussion ; there a
half-dozen with arms about each other's neck, singing and happy.
Here a woman dragging her husband along; there she props him
up in a wagon ; here they lie in the bottom of the vehicle ; there
sitting in it and swaying back and forth. Sometimes there were
a half-dozen men with arms over each other's neck, the outer one
having his arm over a young woman, all singing at the top of
their voices as they reeled from side to side along their homeward
road.

The women, in such cases, seemed thoroughly sober but
amused by their male companions, whom they were convoying
safely home. Some of them were, perhaps, their brothers.
I have never seen as many drunken men at one time,
nor, indeed, on 50 or 100 occasions together, as I saw on one road
here during a half-hour. At one locality there were several
dozens of houses about an open space, a sort of wagon-yard.
These were all filled with men who were laying in their supply of
drink. In one wagon wore four men asleep on the bottom, a
woman and little boy driving. The woman did not seem at all
put out. She took it as a thing of course. There were a few
nearly grown lads somewhat high. Men of 30 and under were
full and jolly, from 30 to 40 full and stupid. Nearly all the old
chaps were clean gone and asleep. I si)oke to a gentleman of
what I had seen. He said he doubted not that nine out of ten
of all the thousanosof male peasants in town that day went home
considerably into.xicated, and the bulk of them thoroughly
drunk. These are the descendants almost pure of the old Scyth-
ians of 2,000 years ago, great drur' ards at that far-away period.

A very prominent physician from Moscow, a travelled man
and one of our fellow-passengers, tells me he does not think the
Russians drink as much as the Germans, but that they are the
only people in the world who drink on empty stomachs and be-
fore eating. To that he ascribed the drunkenness, and says the
peasants do not hide it when drunk, for among themselves it is
no disgrace. They are not quarrelsome, nor very noisy, but are
thoroughly good-natured. When boozy, a Russian's great desire
is to go to sleep, and if permitted, sleeps off all of his drunk.

Kazan is a very picturesque city on the east side of the river,
and was for long years the last spot from which the exile to
Siberia looked back toward his lost home. Here he entered that

* !

• I

I. .

KA ZA iV. S ITJiJiS 77 TIONS.

4.«

great steppe land whicli was to be his almost trackless road into
cold and bleak Northern Asia. It was the capital of the Kazan
Tartars for centuries, and now has some 10,000 of their descend-
ants in the free enjoyment of their religion and customs. They
have not the coarse Mongolian face of those about Haku, but
all have the outstanding ear with large stem. The city has .t
population of nearly 150,000, some fine buildings, a large univer-
sity, and many fine churches. In the cathedral within the Krem-
lin, we witnessed the imposing ceremony of the reception of the
Ikon of the "Virgin of Kazan," which, by divine miracle, escaped
unharmed the terrible conflagration which swept over the city in
the sixteenth century. After a long and beautiful ceremony, the
Ikon was brought in by two sisters of the monastery, which has
it in sacred charge. The bells throughout the city pealed in wild
acclaim, and the people seemed almost beside themselves with
joy. Received with profound veneration by the archbishop and
his long list of assisting bishops ami jiriests, it was carried in pro-
cession, followed and surrounded by the bishops, through several
streets, to a booth on a low plain, where the " Ikon from .Smo-
lensk " and another were met. Then the bells again pealed in
wild noise, and the 100,000 people and over, on the Kremlin
heights and in the adjacent streets bowed and crossed themselves
in a religious fervor bordering upon frenzy. The sun's rays were
pouring down fiercel)', yet every head was uncovered for an hour
or more while the procession slowly moved, and every man,
woman, and child bowed and crossed themselves, bowed and
crossed, again and again, until I almost felt theirs was a muscular
religion requiring as much activity of the vertebral column and
of the right arm as that of a trapeze performer.

Thg Virgin Mother of God visits the city once a year and re-
mains one month, and her Ikon is daily carried from church to
church, when she again leaves, the sins of the city being too
great for her to remain longer. During this month she receives
from 50,000 to 100,000 roubles from the grateful people, whom
she blesses by her presence. The Kremlin wall stands on high
ground ; from its foot a sloping grassy bank drops down nearly
100 feet, and then runs off into a broad decline. During the
procession we witnessed, tliis bank for a considerable length, the
walls above, and the incline below, was a d'^n^e mass of pious
people, mostly peasants. They were in their holiday dress, light
red being the dominant color. Then came pink and purple and
white. Looking upon this mass of people, we saw a picture to
which the pencil of a Teniers or a Van Dyke could hardly have
done justice. We had admirable opportunities for witnessing the
ceremonies within and without the church, for the police, who
were necessary to keep the pious masses from crushing upon the
holy orders, recognizing us as strangers, permitted us to stand
among the privileged classes.

Hit

;;:

436

A RACE WITH THE SLi\.

•71

':7

The ceremonies of the Greek Church, which we have now seen
on tliree prominent fete-clays — at the Catliedral of the Saviour,
in Moscow, the cathedral in Tiflis, aiui tlien at Kazan — are very
imposing, ami the music simply excjuisite. No orj,Mn or any
other instrument is permitted, but the choirs of men and boys
are thoroujjhly trained. The chanted responses from the choir
are wonderfully sweet and touchin^^ and the whole, I think,
niore impressive and much more religious in tone than when
accompanietl by the organ. Hut the mass of ceremony — the
bowing and kneelint^ ; the crossing and kissing of symbols; the
intense veneration of Ikons and pictures; the manipulation of
robes and vestments, degenerated into an absolute idolatry as
intense as any thing to be witnessed in Hindoo worship or Chi-
nese pageantry, and lacking the deep, heart-reaching simplicity
of the Ikiddhist forms. An intelligent Russian, a lirm supjjorter
of the Greek Church, said to me to-day that this intense formal-
ism was all for the ignorant peasants, and that to him it bor-
dered upon atheism, the extreme of idol.itry and absolute un-
belief meetin4^ in the excessive formalism t)f the church. At
times, during the movement of the processicju at Kazan the tens
of thousands of people looking on would bow and cross themselves
for several minutes continuous!)-, looking like thousands of life-
size supple jacks worked by a single string; and some who
liad space enough, would dro]) upon their knees and bow their
heads upon the ground, and now ami then could be heard a man
chattering as if in an ecstasy of worship. In the churches, cere-
mony follows ceremou)' in (piick succession, as the recei\ing the
Bible and kissing it; the elevation of the 1 lost ; the ])reparation of
the wine and bread, gone through b)- archbishop and the assist-
ing bishops; the kissing each piece of vestment as it is put^ upon
the prelate; the kneeling before and kissing the sacred s\'mbol ;
the many points where the entire audience has to bow and cross
itself, and where all have to kneel and many to abase themselves
so as to bring the forehead to the ground; the marching out
into the body of the church or in front of the screen, which shuts
off the high anr' sacred altar or inner tabernacle from the main
church by the priesthood ; and then the counter-marching and
bowing to each other, lifting frecpiently some piece of robe as a
lady lifts her favor to her partner in a dance ; the frequent
removal of tiaras or gilded hats, and then the replacing them
with formal cercmon)' ; the constant moving of many priests
with long, flowing locks, often curled and hanging far over the
shoulders and mingling with the flowing beard ; these ceremonies
arc so numerous and long-continued, and all so eagerly watched
by the ignorant masses, that I was forced to the conclusion that
the main features of the Russo-Greek religion are simply in a
close observance of outward forms, and that the piety of the
people is mostly in externals. And when to this is added the

t I

RELIGION VERGING UPON IDOLATRY

437

observance by the people of the outward form of crossiiijij and
removing of hats and short prayers before tlie many Ikons and
shrnies which line the streets, before whicii few pass w'itliout some
ceremony, tin; low and illiterate never; and then the fact that
after a day spent in tliis outward ceremony of worship, thousands
of men will t^ivc themselves up to besotted drunkenness; and
when so drunk that they can scarcely totter, if a shrine should
he passed, they will drop upon their knees and cros?< tliein-
selves frantically, and chatter out a maudlin prayer — when one
sees all of these thiiii^s and compares them to the slavisii idolatry
of the far Orient — an idolatry as sincere as any thing here
seen, but not more slavish — the question arises, is not the one
nearly as idolatrous as the otiier, and will not the good (iod listen
to the worship of the ignorant in the far Kast through their
symbols as he listens to these? And will He not meet out to
all in accordance with individual sincerity and personal merit ?

At Kazan there is a pretty garden or park, where a regimental
band plays every evening. The frequenters are of all classes.
Willie, with a sigh, declared he did not see even a fairly good-
looking woman during the two evenings we promenaded in the
park. There were several Tartar women so veiled as to show
only their eyes. His imagination worked them up into Oriental
beauties. Seeing them sitting apart and rather removed from the
crowd, with their mantles thrown back from their faces, we
passeil before them on a reconnoitring expedition. They were
painted and smiled upon us, evidently open for acquaintance.
They were of the sinners who prevent the "Virgin of Kazan"
from dwelling longer than a month each year in her old home.
The music played in this garden till full midnight. Even then,
there was a streak of day along the northern horizon. The clatter
of vehicles under our window going to and from the garden over
the rough cobble pavements, and the music, kept me awake.
Just at twelve there was a wild peal of bells. 1 supposed, at first,
it a part of the fete ceremonies, but soon a glow was reflected
from the tall building opposite our window, and people began to
hurry toward the Krendin. \Vc followed. There was a fire — a
large mill, which we had tried to enter during the day, but were
repulsed, was burning. It was of wood, several stories high, and
filled with flour and grain. It seemed to me the entire town was
on the Kremlin heights. The illumination of the many church
domes and gilded crosses of the tall bell-towers, and green roofs,
and of the vast crowd, made a brilliant sight. The loss was over
loo.ooo roubles, and 14 laborers about the establishment are, I am
told, missing. There seems to be no attempt of the firemen to sub-
due the flames. The building being detached, was allowed to
burn at leisure. They, however, watched and used water about the
other buildings where sparks were falling.

The police force of provincial cities are not considered large
enough for property protection. Private night-watchmen are

< V

' \i\

438

./ RACr. ir/TJf THE SUA'.

\ ^ !■'

employed. Tlicy sound a sort of rattle to disturb the ni^ht at
fretiueut intervals. I believe, to tell tiiieves that they are about,
anil their empliners that they themselves are not asleep.

There are about 40 lartje cities alon^ the Vol},^, and over
1,000 towns and villaj^es, and many of the latter lar^e and cov-
ering' extensive spaces of ^rounil. Astrakhan is virtually a sea-
port, thouj^h it is 80 miles from the Caspian, at the head of the
delta of the river. The \'ol;^a has many mouths, tlie two outer
ones bein^ perhaps loo miles apart wlien they reach the sea.
At the foot of the western mouth and a little out, is a sort of
floating' town called " Nine Foot," that bcinLf the depth of
water on the bar. Mere larj^e ships unload upon smaller ves-
sels and lighters. Above the bar the river is much lieeper.
Hetween the eastern ami western channels of the delta and the
other moutlis is a low, flat, island country, with some cultivation,
much |j[rass, and a larLje number of cattle, and many fishing-
villages. Few river cities make a larger display of vessels — ships,
steamboats, and barges — than this (jid Tartar town. Hundreds
are K'ing along its extensive piers and anchored out in the
broatl stream. It is a busy city of 70,000 people, with an old
walled kremlin, many fine churches, some good public buildings,
.ind substantiall}- built up streets. ■ Here are shown I'eter the
Great's little ship, built by his own hands, and many of ids imple-
ments. The whole was locked up when we were there, owing
to some visitor having lately dropjK-d and broken the olil em-
peror's drinking tank.ird.

We have halted at Saratof and .Samara, both worthy a visit.
Before reaching the latter we passed under a magnificent railroad-
bridge with 13 huge iron spans, and about 80 feet above the
river. It is the only one on the Volga and is a noble work.
The footings ,f the pier are far beneath the bed of the river.

Nijni-Xovgovoc' the upper terminus for heavy river craft,
1,530 odd miles from the sea, makes a great display of river
craft. HunuTi" is of steamers and barges lie along the banks of
the rivers, or are anchored in sets of from four or five up to
a dozen out in the rivers. From this, forjOOorrxDo miles farther
up the river, lighter steamers are requiretl. ( )ne line, distinguished
as the " American steamers," are stern-wheelers, some of them
fine specimens. Nijni-Novgorod is so celebrated for its great an-
nual fair, that its beauty of situation and splendid views have been
overlooketl, ;ind tlie traveller's attention has scarcely been called
to them. V^iewed from the river, it is exceedingly picturesque,
and quite peculiar. The town of 60,000 or more peo])le is situ-
ated on a peninsula, made by tlie confiueiice with the Volga of
the Oka River, which comes up from the southwest, and is nearly
as large as the main stream. Along the banks of these two
rivers is a strip of nearly level land, ranging in width from 100
to 200 feet up to 500 or 600, and extending along the Volga and

i -LJi,

I \ 'f

't.

NrjNl-NO VGOKOD.

4J9

up the Oka two or moiv miles. This strip is closely built with
nice stone houses, busims-, ])laces, and scvi-nil hanilsf)inc cluirciies
and a monastery or two. Hcliiiul these building's lift very steep
liills, 200 to 300 feet hi^h, and rather level on top. (^n these
the main city is built, many of its best houses and churches
lifting' from the crest of the hills and seen from the w.iter.
Between tlie hills come clown deep ravines, and into them run
other and smaller ones. The bottoms of all tiiese have been
handsomely ^'raded into streets, with very steep, even slopes,
liftin<; up to the hill-top. These slopes, both on the river and
on the ravines, are prettil}- sodded, with here and there little
bunches of vi[,rorous trees. Xo houses are built on the slopes,
except where, at the lower edges, a couple of monasteries with
handsome churches sli;^htly climb. The Kremlin's crenulated
wall climbs up the hill on the N'olija side, and with its towers,
aided by churches, crowns its crest. Zif^/.ag f(jot-roads, well
graded, mount the sides of the slopes, and the deep-cut ravine
roads are seen creeping upward from the water. Thus is given
the peculiar picture of a city, with a sort of belt of green, beauti-
fully sloping, and well kept hill-sides, running around and sepa-
rating the upjjer from the lower town. The view of the city is
beautiful. The views from the terraced gartlens on tlie hills are
magnificent — a vast plain, sufficiently wooded, with villages and
many domed churches, with a mighty river reaching far to the
north ami to the south in graceful curves ; the plain beyond, cut
here and there by smaller waters ; the river below, with barges
and steamers by the hundred at anchor, and yet alive with many
moving among the silent ones. No lines of smoke tarnish the
pure air. These things make a glorious jiicture, and one well
worth visiting, even though no fair were held here. Yet so great
is the fair, that thousands visit it as a show, and hardly see the
real beauties of the town.

The localit)' of the great fair is on a flat plain, over and north
of the Oka, and reached by a long and very broad floating bridge.
1 had no conception of the e.<itent of the buildings required for
this great annual market, and supposed we would find a few tem-
])orary structures and large open spaces. Instead of that, we
found a good-sized city, with miles and miles of well paved and
thoroughly sewered streets, bordered by miles* and miles of brick
houses generally of two stories, but often of three, and quite
a number of four. These streets are from a half mile to perhaps
a mile and a quarter in length, some of them with walks through
the centre, shaded by fine trees. Many of the buildings are
pretty, and on some streets uniform in style. Nearly all have
wide wooden awnings covering the sidewall:.i. Cutting across
this city, which is oblong, are two or three broad canals — rivers in
breadth, — crossed by bridges, and some spanned by houses of
light, pretty, and airy construction, elevated upon piles. All

-'■Jill

l.l

I' I

''i

440

A RACE WJTH THE SUN.

shops and warehouses are now closed, except where men and
women are busy repairing and cleaning up for the vast gatiicring
to be held in a couple of weeks. It was a curious thing to rattle
over well paved streets among well built houses at mid-day, and
find nearly every thing silent and deserted. If it had been night
it would have seemeil natural, for one could have imagined the
citizens yet asleep. On some streets not a soul was visible. Our
drosky rattled dismally, as in a city of the dead. In less than a
month from now all will be different. Shops will be filled, and
brilliant displa\'s made of gooils from ;'.li lands and of every peo-
ple. Two hundred thousand people from man}' quarters of the
world will be here jostling against each other ; and in five weeks'
time products of scattered countries to the value of $100,000,000
will have changed hands.

The fair, I am told, however, is not what it was formerly. One
no longer sees vast crowds of Asiatics, and long trains of camels
laden with the goods of the far East. The Sue-; Canal has made
all Europe ncigiibors of India and China, and the wealth of those
far-off lands comes to tlie West on the ships of tiic sea, and not
on the ships of the desert. I learned that one sees at the fair
many people of many lands, but no longer, as formerly, in colo-
nies redolent of Asiatic odors, and ([iiaint and cin'ioiis with
Asiatic costumes and customs. Two hundred millions of roubles'
worth of goods ch.inge hands, but the traders are n-^ .:rly all Rus-
sian, and the bulk of the goods is of this land. Still, it must be
an interesting sight to see 200,000 peoj)le all in tlieir own sliojis
and warehouses, eager and anxious to crowd a year's dealing into
a few weeks of time. One probably cannot see the peculiarities
of main- pcojile, brought out in bold relief as formerly, but it must
be a grand spot, for one who can speak the prevailing Kinguages,
to study human nature, and to watch it in its greed. Then, too,
one can see it in mot)ds other th.m when intent on trade. There
are theatres, large and small, and all kinds of amusements. There
are great churches, one of them — a splendid structure — open only
during the fair. The whole thing is a state institution, the state
owning the ground, the jniblic buildings, and a l.irge number,
perhaps the great majority, (~if the storehouses aiul shops. Private
persons, however, have built some, and have long leases on others.
One sees signs ov jr sho|)s, beautiful in design, and costly, and, as
yet, nothing has been in the shops since last .September. The
buildings are nearly .dl metal-roofed, and the roofs are all painted
green. This seems almost universal among pul:'.!'' 'ouildings in
Russia. On: of our reasons for desiring to go to Samarcand, was
that it would bring us here when the fair would be in progress.
We, however, cannot afTord to be long enough near it to come
again.

I said, in the beginning of this letter, that I found the Volga a
charming river to travel on. It may, perhaps, be called rather

K-

li\

THE TREND OE THE VOLGA.

441

monotonous, for many of ■ s long reaches arc lacking in picturesque
highlands, though these arc not entirely wanting. It has one
feature, I think, peculiar to itself. The bluffs and high grounds,
such as it affords, are continuous on the right bank, and, with
small exceptions, entirely lacking on the other. It seems to have
trended all the time westward, occasionally forced, by barriers it
could not surmount, to the east. This disposition is, I suppose,
the result of the earth's easterly motion, leaving the freer w iter
behind, which, therefore, takes a vostward course as it flows to
the sea. In parts of its course, and perhaps the greater art,
it lies in a valley 10 to 20 miles wide. This valley is a depre. ion
in the great rolling steppe which spreads acro.ss southern Ru sia.
The river hugs close under lofty cliffs or low hills on the rght
bank, leaving a broad. Hat belt on the other shore, which it over-
flows in its floods. In its normal path it is from three <piarters
of a mile to two miles wide. In its flood, for nearl\- 1,000
miles from its mouth, it is from 10 to 20 miles wide, spreading
much wider at Astrakhan. Some of ihese bluffs arc picturesque,
var\'ing from 60 to 100 and odd feet in height, in steep, rocky
cliffs, wa'-'l^ecl into grotesque forms, and filled with deep caves.
Above tne bluffs the table-lands, more or less rolling, stretch off
westward, and are the great grain fields of the country. Near
Samara, between 900 and l,000 miles from its mouth, tlie river
comes upon a little range of mountains, 600 to 800 feet high. Tlu-se
bend it nearly 50 miles due east, when it breaks through the' uid
immediately turns westward, making a lofty, narrow peninsula of
the mountain range. Mere the scenery for 100 or 200 miles is
fine, and a part of it exceedingly so, the hills or mountains being
beautifully wooded.

Russia is said to have no spring or autumn : it jumps out of
winter into summer, from a pale cold sun into one of fiercest
heat. I never felt a hotter sun than we had on the white, paved
streets of Samara. We were driving, and being desirous of seeing
ihe town well, were forced to be out at noon. At one time I
became anxious lest one of us might receive a sunstroke. Our
hats were covered with white silk and our umbrellas hoisted, yet
the heat poured upon our heads almost as if they were uncovered.
During the intense heat of noon the people keep mucli in-doors.
The Samara streets at that hour were nearly deserted. The
nights are so short that work can be commenced very early and
kept up until ten o'clock. All who are able, take a long mul-day
sleep. The peasants, however, seem impervious to heat. They
can be seen working bareheaded under the fiercest rays. \ result
of these hot suns is a growth of vegetation intensely vigorous,
which gives to the fore^-.ts and wood-clad mountains a wonderful
richness of verdure. The young shoots on the trees are sent for-
ward so rai)idly and bear so heavy a foliage that they droop and
hang, adding to the dense appearance of the foliage. Many of

i \

442

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

1) i\\

\\ i

the forest-trccs can, at this time of the year, be called weepings.
The birch, linden, and some other varieties of trees, even some of
the firs, have young hanging twigs, swaying h'ke drooping plumes.
The crops of the fields push forward v. ith ren.arkable rapidity.
Having passed over the same latiti'ucs less than a month before,
we were enabled to measure the rapidity of growth. We stopped
long enough at several towns to drive a few miles cut to see
something of the country, and occasionally, througii break., in the
bluffs, with our glasses we could see the great rolling, cultivated
lands behind. These, with the many villages along the river,
their artistic coloring free from all glaring paint lin them the
weather alone applies the bru.ih. and time tones intc delicious
harmony) ; the large churclies, with green domes and lolty belfry ;
the whirling windmills behind; the great herds of cattlj at noon
at the water side, and towards night rushing fi w '. /■ n;. per lands
through clouds of dust down for their evening l/.it'i ; .<, i'>easants
in briglit red, mowing grass and making hay; a::.i on /.unday and
on a fete day crowds of people on the banks, brilii.uit i'l red and
purple antl blue ; the man)' steamers met cutting tiie water at 15
miles an hour; the tow-bo. its with long lines of barges swinging
behind; the huge rafts with new. bright, and prettj- log-houses
mounteil upon them floating by; the fishermen landing nets or
wading out with rod and line ; boys and girls in little skiffs l\'ing
by to catch a rock from our steamer's swell ; the man\' land-
ings at handsome wharf boats, where crowds of people were
gathered, and women old and grave, or \oung ai'd laughing,
peddled raspberries large, red, and pulp)', strawberries huge and
luscious, or >mall, wild, and spicy ; \cndersof breail and of cakes,
and of fish .and of bottles of fresh milk for our third-class pas.;en-
gers ; and pretty roguish girls ready to swear .1 bottle of sour milk
was genuine tartar koumiss ; men and women in oddest di'
old women with sancals like baskets and blanket-wrapped le- s a;
large and shapeless as mill posts; well dressed men .and co'- . 01 !y
dressed men, all in top-boots wonderfully wrinkled al, wX. '.\\'^.
ankles, and many of them uith heels so high that the wearers
seemed to be standing upon tiptoe; Tartars with sIkhc" !',^ >•
and beautiful Astrakhan brimless caps, and Tart;;, women witii
mantles drawn closely about the face; droskies ready to take one
for a drive behind tough, fine horses ;it 20 cents an hour; news-
paper-sellers with a dozen papers, their full stock in trade, and
glad to sella dozen aday; — all of these things made the run from
Astrakhan to Nijni-Novgorod exlreniely pleasant. It is true we
were a whole week on the water, exclusive of the days we h.ilted
at cities. I came up tlu river to write, and found it difficult to
go within my room and to my pencil. We sa' ■ to-day i b .dutiful
stern-wheeler, so like home, of a line runnin r 5oon::i( ';igher
up the river above Nijni, that we have ii e up our niiatib to
try it.

weepinpf.

n some of

g plumes.

rapidity.

h before,

e stopped

lit to see

dt.., in tlie

iiltivated

the river,

them the

(lehcioiis

ty belfry;

J at noon

per lands

oe.isants

uiiday and

i'l red and

-.Iter at 15

s -iwini^ing

l(>L'-houses

11; nets or

kiffs l\'ini;

lany land-

;oi)le were

laughing,

huge and

d of cakes,

ass pas.;en-

f sour milk

lest (li< -;•;

)ed le' s ;i. ;

ai, ut i\\n
he \\ea,ers
:i\'on hj.!';
omen with
take one
our; news-
trade, and
e run from
is true we
; we halted
Ji<lPcult to
.'I bv AUtiful
liii !,igher
r m;;-'o to

CHAPTER XLII.

I'RDM NIJM TO R\'I!INSK i;V RIVHK— THKN liV RAIL TO ST.

l'ETERSHUR(;— IT/IKKIK)!-, US REAlTrFl'I. 1-OUNlAINS—

ITIK MEKIT.NG OF THE EMI'ERORS.

St. Petersburg, July 21, 1888.

I SAID that a river had a species of individualism which wins
and returns a sort of sympathy, ami sometimes a friendship. The
Volga to a marked degree has this cha'-acteristic. As the child is
father to the man, so is the earlier and infant portion of this river
fatiicr to the mighty stream it so rapidly becomes. With a total
length of 'z,^?o miles, it is navigable for 2,160 odd by steamer,
and for 1,524 miles floats great double deckers and bears upon its
b iStMii a vast commerce. In its smaller upper stream it is no-
where a turbulent and boisterous torrent. Drawing rich and
copious aliment from the oozy flats among the low Valdai hills ami
the spong)- plains about them, it ([uickly becomes a dignified
stream. Its redtlish-dark water, though clear in a glass, yet
almost black when there is a small depth, gives it an appearance
of ileepness even among its boggy sources. It is fed by many
respectable affluents. While it is nowhere turbulent, it docs not
at ail}' point lie in stagnant pools, and very rarely can be called
sluggish. In its upper 150 odd miles, where steamboats do not
pi)-, I am told small keels and flats can be floated, and afford con-
siderable traffic, and little rafls come out to make up the great
floating islands of wood, which descend toward the sea, and make
lumber comparatively cheap in the vast steppes of the south.
Throughout its entire length the traveller feels safe upon its
bosom. There are no treacherous, shifting bars and rapidly
ciianging currents; no cry of boatmen heaving the lead, or with
poles taking soundings, telling the half-asleep voyager that he
ma)- prepare for a bump. Xowherc does the steamer forward and
back, feeling for a safe channel. Nowhere are there formidable
rocks and precipices threatening to topple down, or dark and
dreary swamps breetling mosquitoes and noxious vapors, hver)'-
where this great river seems the friend of man. He crowds its
banks in over 1,000 cities, towns, and villages. Hack from its
borders one can see in the rising, rolling plains hundreds of other
villages more or less dependent upon this mighty river for food
and aid. So redundant is the pop.lation above Nijni-Novgorod

443

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444

/i liACE WITH THE SUN.

that at points the >'illagcs along the shores seem almost to run
into each other for miles and miles, and lying back are so frequent
that I counted nt one time 15 large ones in sight and often six or
eight. Fishermen are always in sight ; fishermen with long nets
worked from boats, and fishcimen catching a meal with rod and
line. I frequently watched the latter and saw many a silvery
side glistening in the sun or bright in the twilight as the sportsman
would throw the fluttering sufferer through the inhospitable air.

What a cruel monster is man ! We descant on the savagery of
the tiger, the cruelty of the cat. Yet what do these brutes half
so cruel as the angler does every time he impales the worm upon
ic hook, or leaves the shining victim to dry to death on shore,
. to suffocate in insufficient water? We eat tender veal, never
.-linking of the cruelty meted out to each little animal, tied by its
feet and thrown upon carts, cars, and steamboat, and trundled
often very many miles in horrible agony. The whole habit of the
common fowl shows that they are fashioned to carry the head
erect, and yet we carry them for hours head downward with the
feet tied so tight as to prevent all circulation in them, forcing the
blood into the head. Man is the world's huge butcher ; the
only one of God's creatures \\hich kills for the mere love of
slaying. If his victims could only write his character, he would be
depicted as the most horrible of all monsters, and yet in his van-
ity he claims to be made in (iod's image, and in his egotism
writes ethics and sings pagans in praise of his own godlike nature.
The fishes in the depth of the sea, ami the worms in the bowels
of the earth have no conception of man's existence. Perhaps
there are, floating in and peopling the pure, ethereal realms sur-
rounding us, beings of such transcendental natures that we, like
blind worms, see them not. If so, what countless volumes must
fill their aerific libraries, and what vast pictures must adorn their
transparent walls, descriptive of man's inhumanity to man and of
his savage, wanton cruelty to all of earth's sentient creatures !
We arc amused by the colonies of pariah-dogs of Cairo and Con-
stantinople, fighting to prevent or punish encroachments on each
other's borderlines. How our aerial neighbors must smile when
they look down upon the million of armed men marching and
counter-marching, filling steamboats and railway trains, to pre-
vent some little encroachment upon the borderlines of Austria,
Germany, Roumania, and Russia! We boast of our own far-
reaching brains, of our freeborn souls and our liberty-loving
hearts ; and yet, because two kings, one an untried young man,
and the other a man of no great force, are meeting out upon the
.sea and hobnobbing — smiling instead of growling at each other,
— the money of Russia goes up ten per cent, in its purchasing
value. Hah ! Man is not only a cruel brute, but he is a foolish
one. But a little fish has led me into an odd digression.

Many of the river steamers arc modelled after tliose of America,
one line using stern-wheelers. Below Nijni-Novgorod all seem to

STEAMERS USE NAPHTHA FOR FUEL.

445

ost to run
it) frequent
ftcn six or
long nets
th rod and
a silvery-
sportsman
itablc air.
avagery of
brutes half
vorm upon
1 on shore,
veal, never
tied by its
1 trundled
abit of the
y the head
d with tile
forcing the
teller ; the
re love of
c would be
in his van-
is eg<3tisiTi
ike nature,
the bowels
Perhaps
realms sur-
lat we, like
nines must
ulorn their
nan and of
creatures !
o and Con-
Its on each
>mile when
rching and
ns, to pre-
of Austria,
r own far-
crty-loving
oung man,
t upon the
;ach other,
purchasing
is a foolish
n.

f Amcric.i,
\\\ seem to

use refuse petroleum for fuel ; above, some use wood ; coal I did
not -see on the entire river. Petroleum is burned by throwing a
jet of steam through a small stream of oil, thus breaking it into
spray. The jets for steam and oil are in the immediate front
edge of the fire-box. A fireman controls his fire by tapping with
a small mallet or gavel the faucet controlling the flow, often tap-
ping it so lightly that he moves it almost imi)erceptibly. Through
a small window in the casing of the boiler, he watches to see if
there be any smoke issuing from the flues, his object being to
consume all so as to make no smoke. The boiler-room is clean
and neat. The fire roars intensely and with great heat. The oil
is held in tanks containing fron lo to i6 tons. Oil-barges over
lOO feet long are at the piers of each steamboat line, and the oil
is fed into the tanks by a hose. The barges carry iuige cisterns
in their holds containing many thousand puds. At various points
along the river are huge oil-tanks resembling gas-holders, each
holding perhaps i,ooo tons. These are upon high banks, and oil
is pumped into them from the river barges, and fed from them
into railroat! cisterns or other land conveyances. At one town I
counted 39 of these great tanks. They belonged to several of the
great Baku refining companies. Kerosene is sent all over the
land where reached by rail in cisterns, and not in barrels. At
Kazan the best kerosene costs but seven or eight cents a gallon.
One result of this cheap burning fluid is that at night towns along
the river look as if illuminated for some gala occasion, the houses
being so universally and brilliantly lighted.

From Nijni-Novgorod to Rybinsk, 306 miles, we came on the
Alabama, stern-wheeler — slow, but comfortable. We did not
object to the want of speed, for the trip was enjoyable and very
pleasing. There were none of the high mountains nor steep
cliffs which are occasionally seen on the lower river, and which, at
a few points, give a scenery bordering upon the grand, but there
were high hills and all was home-like, of Russian, not of English
or American stamp, for there were no farm-houses or country
villas, but a succession of villages — often nearly continuous. The
immediate banks being low, we could look over long reaches of
rising ground, with waving fields and meadows, the latter now gay
with the variegated costume of the peasants, red predominating;
vill.iges nestled everywhere ; copses of wood, now and then good-
sized forests, and back of all, from 6 to 15 miles awa>', the sum-
mit of uplands crowned by wood, village, and church domes.
Many of the villages are dominated by large domed and belfried
sacred edifices ; some of the domes gilded, but generally green or
blue, and here and there the latter bespang.'-H ith gilded stars.
We passed some large factories, which, af'.er twilight, were bril-
liant with Edison's electric lights. The m )st picturesque objects,
however, were the great monasteries — va^t piles with splendid
churches, domes gilded or of azure blue, t \rrets and colonnaded
cloisters, covering many acres, generally on commanding points.

I-

•■i

446

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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or on promontories projecting out into the placid stream. These
monasteries are very rich, and are surrounded or backed by ;^rcat
domains in field and meadow, with comfortable villages half hid-
den in wooded copse. The monasteries arc so large and rich in
appearance that they give td the upper Volga a scenic effect
delicious and pleasing.

The villages, from our steamer, looked comfortable, houses of
wood — many of the pretty log style^with steep roof of thatch,
kept in place by poles. Windmills are abundant, lo to 15 often
close together, throwing their weird wings in rounded circles
above the low cottages; then over the back country and cutting
the horizon on the distant upland, these spectral-winged monsters,
whirling in tlie lessening twilight, add greatly to the pleasing
picture. No paint gives garish white or tawdry coloring to the
villages, but all is .-esthetic and soft, the weather alone softening
ail down into delicious harmony. Herds of cattle here, as indeed,
all along the river, are bathing in the hot noon.

Several of the cities are very picturesque from the river.
Yaroslav and Kastroma we had time to drive into. In the
former, which has a population of only about 28,000, there are 73
churches. It was once the capital of a free province, as Kastroma
for a few years was of all Russia. In the hitter there is a mon-
astery nearly 1,000 years old, with a quaint old church, and with-
in its walls the little house in which Michael, the first of the
Romanoffs, lived as a refugee before the crown was tendereti iiim.
His house is a little bijou affair, preserved religiously as he left it.
The monks sliow with great jiride many of the czar's relics, rich
vestments in brocade and pearls, and goblets of solid gold. The
wealth of the churches and of the monasteries of Russia is vast ;
some say it would g(7 a long way in paying off the country's debt.
It would take, however, many tons of gold and silver, and bushels
of pearls and precious stones to pay off a debt of $2,500,000,000.

At Rybinsk we took rail, ran through a low country of bog and
partially cultivated lands, with great woods of birch and pine. It
being Sunday, we saw hundreds of peasants at the stations — come
to see the railroad train, the women prob.ibly to look with round-
eyed pleasure at the well dressed lady passengers, who promenade
the platforms when the trains stop for a few moments. The
peasants seemed poor, but not discontented. We saw hundreds
when driving in the outskirts of Rybinsk coming into town for
the holiday. The women all were barefooted witli their Sunday
shoes over their shoulders, to be donned before entering the
crowded streets. Nature patches uj) the soles of their feet, but a
cobbler alone can fix those of their shoes. The everj--day shoe of
the peasant is a sandal of plaited bark : but it seems, from what
we can see, that the man treats himself to a pair of boots long
before he gives leather to his wife. Throughout Russia high top-
boots are almost universal. Officers and upper classes all wear

"piNi'

im. These
;d by s^reat
:s half hid-
and rich in
enic effect

, houses of
of thatch,
lO I 5 often
Jed circles
.nd cutting
I monsters,
e pleasing
ing to the
; softening
. as indeed,

the river.
). In the
liere are 73

Kastroma
." is a nion-
, and with-
rst of the
dered iiini.
s he left it.

relics, rich
;okl. The
sia is vast ;
itry's debt,
nd bushels
X),ooo,ooo.
of bog and
d pine. It
ins — come

ith round-
jromenade
-•nts. The
' hundreds

town for
eir Sunday
tering the
feet, but a

lay shoe of
from what
boots long

1 high top-
es all wear

THE CZAR AN AUTOCRATIC FATHER.

447

them, and only the middle-class city man is shod in shoes. The
laborers, when sufficiently well off to drop the sandal, take to boots,
never to shoes. The boots are all of varnished tops and made
so as to wrinkle closely about the ankles, and are washed when
soiled. Boots and shoes arc made of uncolored leather, and when
finished are varnished black. High heels are foolishly affected —
so hif^h that many in walking seem to suffer from corns, and often
the well dressed lady minces along in a very ungraceful gait.

The country after striking the great Nicholas railroad from
Moscow continued low, except through the Valdai Hills, wnich
rise to 600 and 800 feet. Thence to St. Petersburg this great
trunk line traverses a wooded country with a cold, thin soil only
partially cultivated. The road was not laid out for local trafific,
out as a military highway between the two capitals. The cele-
brated order of Czar Nicholas, who, when asked how he wished
the road to run, replied by taking a ruler and drawing a straight
line, bears repetition here. The track is as nearly a bee line, as
possible,and isgratefuUy so to travellers, for the trainsglidc along
it almost without any jar or even crepitation. I do not recall any
road which seems as smooth.

We have now been in St. Petersburg six da>-s, doing the capital
at our leisure, and enjoying an almost continued day, for at
1 1 o'clock one can read by the twilight, and a broad dawn
covers a quarter of the northern hemisphere at midnight. Thurs-
day, the 19th of July, we visited Peterhof, about 20 miles from
the city, seeing the great imperial residence, and at the same time
witnessing the meeting and landing of the emperors of Russia and
Germany. I-'or a week or two the London Times and other
western papers have been talking of the meeting of these two
rulers, yet not until four days ago was it even alluded to by the
St. Petersburg papers, and then only meagrely. It would be
amusing if it'werc not distressing to see how the people of this
capital have to go to papers published so far away for information
as to what passes or will pass directly under their noses. For ex-
ample, I noticed a strong platform being built around the Alexan-
der monument in front' of the Winter Palace. I inquired, but
could not learn, its purpose. To-day I learn its object from the
London Times of three days ago. The government does not appear
to think the people have any interest in its doings. Ukases are
published, but not discussed beforehand. The publication is the
first information the general public has that a law is even thought of.
Gen. Annenkoff lately finished the Transcaspian railroad to Sam-
arcand. Russians with whom we have travelled told us they ex-
pected him now to become one of the big men of the country, but
how they had no idea. Two daj-s ago it was announced by the
Times he had been given the diamond order of Alexander
Novsky, the highest in the land. The public did not know what
the proceedings at Kronstadt and Peterhof connected with the

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448

// i?^C/;' /F/7V/ J'jyj': .SC'.V,

meeting of the emperors were to be until the da)' before they took
place. The emperor is the father of his people and presumesthey
will be satisfied with whatever he in his parental love will do for
their good ; and so far I have not been able to discover that his
children are not satisfied with this order of doing. T^ey never
discuss politics, at least with foreigners, except as to the relations
of Russia with foreign lands. Then there is not much reticence.
I have not seen one inlclligent man who does not declare that a
free outlet into the Mediterranean is a jwlitical necessity, and that
they want ami must have unrestricted trade with all of Asia.
They say they tlo not want India, but they desire free roads and
free commerce with that land, and they have a general impression
that English rule in India is galling upon the natives.

Peterhof is the residence of the czar. He occupies the palaces
in the capital only for short periods each year during the gayeties
of the winter season. His so-calleil country residence is a pretty
though not grand palace. He resides, however, even there in a
fine villa residence and not in the true I'eterhof palace, which
stands upon an elevation of "o to 80 feet, overlooking a beautiful
park of some four or so miles in length along the bay lying
between the mainland and Kronstadt, five or more miles off. The
park is broken and not over a thiril of a mile in width — perhaps
not over a c[uarter, — and is finely wooded and prettily laid out
with drives and gravelled walks. Immediately in front of the
centre pavilion of the palace an alley is cut through the woods
down to the beach, here hardly a quarter of a mile off. Thisalle)-,
less than 100 feet wide, is flanked by tall firs, running up in spire
forms. In the centre of the alley runs a .stream or canal of water
confined between granite walls, and not over 60 feet in width,
leading down to the beach, spanned by three pretty bridges, and
ending upon a small walled-in harbor, with pretty landing
pavilion, from which the royal household takes the imperial yacht
when it goes upon the water. Immediately under the palace the
head of the alley spreads to 200 feet, after having drop])ed from the
terrace on which the building stands, down to the canal or stream
below. This descent is fashioned into a beautiful system of
marble steps, with waterfalls, fountains, and jets supported by 30
or more statues of life-size in burnished gilt and supporting jets
<l'cau. The .statues are in double rows, the two inner ones in a
line with the walls of the stream leading down to the sea-shore.
At the foot of the terrace is a large circular basin, 50 to 100 feet
in diameter, with a gilt statue of several times life-size, holding a
tlolphin, whose mouth is a jet throwing up a stream of 80 feet,
and surrounded with many smaller jets. Along the walls of the
canal which runs seaward are rows of fountains with lofty jets
throwing 50 feet liigh, mingling their sprays with the branches of
the fir trees. Flanking the large fountain at the foot of the
terrace are two other fountains of very large size, with beautiful

re they took
cHiimesthcy
J will do for
/cr that his
T^cy never
he relations
:h reticence,
clare that a
ity, and that
all of Asia,
e roails and
1 impression

the palaces
the "^aycties
• is a pretty
■n there in a
alacc, which
J a beautiful
; bay \v'\n<^
iles off. Tile
Lh — pLMha{)s
ily laid out
front of the

the woods
. Thisallc}-,
; up in spire
nal of water
■t in width,
)ridges, and
;ty landing
perial yacht
e palace the
)ed from the
al or stream

system of
orted by 30
porting jets
■r ones in a
ic sea-shore.
I to 100 feet
e, holding a
I of 80 feet,
walls of the
:h lofty jets
branches of
foot of tlie
th beautiful

T//E BEAUTY OF PETERIIOF.

449

sprays, and below them two marble houses 30 feet high, with
gilded domes and fan-like fountains pouring over their'' golden
sloping roofs. Altogether there are more tlian 100 fountains or
jets immediately in view from the terrace above. The great one,
called "The Samson," throws its water 80 feet up; and 30 more
spout in spreading spray about 50 feet ; the others from 10 to 30-
the majority of tiiem vertically , others at angles. Looking from the
upper terrace down upon this system of jJts d'eau aiid'lilong the
marble walks below, filled with brilliantly dressed i)eople, the'lofty
sprays mingling with the foliage of the trees, and the calm sea seen
silvery in the sunlight through the clean-cut allev, we had a
picture of surpassing beauty ; or looking up from the lower end
of the marble canal, through the jets and to the dazzling terrace,
over the lOO fountains, one could feel as if it were the creation of
a fairy's wand. The waters at Versailles are larger than these, but
far less artistic in design.

This scene we had time to enjoy, and through it was to be con-
veyed the young Kmperor of Germany on his royal visit. It was
expected the czar would reach this little harbor with his guest at
three o'clock, and the empress and her suite and many high offi-
cials, in flashing court uniforms, were in the pavilion at that hour.
We soon found that there would be some hours to wait. We
whiled away our time walking about the parks and inspecting the
long lines of guards and young cadets who lined the drives along
which the emperors must pass, and in watching the thousands of
people gathered to do honor to their country's guest. We heard
German constantly spoken about us, showing that the subjects of
William II., or the czar's Courlanders, were out in full force.
Hour after hour passed, and it was about five when we saw in the
distance, near Kronstadt, a puff of smoke from one of the men-
of-war drawn up in line. Soon the whole line of ships, stretched
apparently for miles, was blazing away. We could not hear a
cannon's report, but we could see the firing. I suspect it gave us
an idea of what an old-fashioned naval fight in line of battle
looked like. It was not long before every ship was enveloped in
smoke, and nothing was seen but a thick veil rolling away to the
southward. Presently my glass showed a steamer with a lofty white
flag, emerging from the smoke cloud and headed for Peterhof,
and when I saw the tidy, trim-looking empress standing alone in
the open hall of the pavilion, with her glass levelled at'it, I knew
she was looking toward her imperial lord. On either side of the
pavilion on the pier there were long lines of seamen, in clean,,
white uniforms. These began to .show a stir, and when the
steamer was a quarter of a mile off, a couple of cannon were fired
by them in the regulation salute, and not long after the emperor's
yacht steamed to the pier. The gang-plank was run out, and the
burly, towering autocrat of all the Russias mounted it, affection-
ately embraced his lovely wife, and presented his guest. Having

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witnessed tliis, we hurried back so as to get a position from which
wc could closely sec the two men who wield the destinies of so
many millions of human beinj^s. There was some shouting, but
by no means enthusiastic, as the emperor entered the drives lined
with peojle.

First came the imperial open carriage, drawn by four handsome
black horses. Alexander wore a Prussian helmet, and made no
acknowledgment of the salute of the people. I'oliteness accorded
the reception all to 'his guest. The Kmperor of Germany was
uncovered, and bowed to the right and left. I was not over ten
feet away from him as he slowly crossed one of the little bridges,
and was glad to see a decidcdlj- good-looking, bright face, with a
pleasant expression, not lacking in intellectual ciiaracteristics,
and withal of much strength. The next carriage held Prince
Henry and the czarowitz, both in lively and laughing chat. The
prince was uncovered. I would have known him at once from a
picture in the Cirapliic when he was married. The Mmpress of
Russia and one lady were also in a four-horse carriage. She was
cheered with very considerable enthusiasm, anil her warm-looking
face evinced real pleasure at it. While not a beaut)', she is de-
cidedly pretty ; has fine dark eyes, rich complexion, full lips, and,
I should judge, could love deeply and hate not wisely. Our old
friend, the drand Duke Alexis, was alone in his carriage, as hand-
some as ever, quite gray, and, I learned, a great favorite with the
people. He is the admiral of the Russian navy.

I could not help feeling a sort of admiration for the Kmperor
of Germany — admiration for his \'onderful position, so young
and with such power for good or for woe to so many millions.
As he passed, the thought flashed across my brain : " ^'(nl look
strong and brave ; you have in your hands the d'"stiny of Kurojie
for years to come. It groans beneath the tramp of millions of
men, banded and trained to destroy. What will you do with
them .' Kings have boasted that with a stamp of the foot they
could set armies in motion and hurl them against the world. Will
you not invent a new royal boast — the boast that with a stamp of
your foot you disbanded armies and spread over a suffering world
a panoply of peace ? So many kings have worn the laurel and the
oak for wreaths that their leaves are hardly an honor. Cannot
William of Germany deck his brow with an olive leaf — a unique
crown for a king? The world has had so many military heroes
that it has groaned beneath their weight, but so few really wise
rulers in peace. Can you not be a leader of the few ? "

Of all the infatuations of mankind, to me the strangest is its
worship of the soldier and its admiration of bravery. Uravery is
so common, so animal, and withal almost universal. Europe to-
day has several millions of soldiers. A coward among them would
be a rare exception, except in a panic. Few soldiers have the
xrourage to show themselves cowards — the moral courage to

from whicli
itinic.s of so
uniting, but
drives lined

ir liandsomc
nd m.'ulc no
L'ss accorded
or many was
lot over ten
ttlc liridgcs.
face, with a
iractcristics,
held Prince
; chat. The
once from a
I'.mpress of
e. Slie was
arm-looking
ty, slie is de-
uU lips, and,
ly. Onr old
ige, as hand-
rite with the

;he Kmperor
II, so j-oung
my millions.
"You look
ly of Kurope
f millions of
you do with
lie foot thev
•world. Will
h a stamp of
ffering world
lurel and the
lor. Cannot
af — a unique
ilitary heroes
w really wise
? "

rangest is its
Bravery is
Europe to-
T them would
iers have the
1 courage to

YA AMERIKANETS.

45 >

enable them to brave the contempt of their fellows. The com-
monest one will march up to a cannon's mouth. Not one in a
thousand would turn and run when the bugle sountls for a
charge. And >-et the world bows before a soldier, and bends the
neck to the tread of one who happens to be at the head of an
army when it performs some mighty feat of slaying.

I could not catch the features of the czar as he passed us. He
was next us, and kept his face too much towards his guest for me
to see more than a glimpse as the carriage came up. lie is very
tall, ami now quite fleshy ; looked, with his epaulets and helinet,
a giant by the side of the well knit but rather v.iulersized kaiser.
The drive, along which passed the long line of s ilcndid carriages,
with coachmen and footmen in cocked hats and c)vcred with gold
lace and braid, with their occupants, officers in 'jri.'l'ant uniforms,
was guarded by soldiers, placed apparently les.= fc r protection
than for keeping tiie foot-people from pressing too close, and a
part of it being the guard and battalion of young cadets. The
whole made a handsome picture, especially as the cortege crossed
the bridge over the canal, along which the white spray of fountains
was washing the branches of the green trees. Desiring to see the
czar closely, I walked up to the palace directly after the cortege
had passed the bridge, while the carriages took a roundabout
line. An officer was at the steps mounting the terrace at the
waterfall, and turned all away from it except a few men in uni-
form and some finely dressed ladies, i touched my hat, saying:
" Ya Amerikanets " (I am an American), with a gesture showing
I desired to ascend. Whether he understood my Russian or not
I do not know. At any rate I mounted, with the conscious
dignity of being an American sovereign. This declaration of
mine, " I am an American," has given me many opportunities for
.seeing things denied to others. I shall take out a patent for the
thing, for it is quite as effective for me here as Paul's declaration,
Civis suui Roiiiaiuis, was to him nearly 19 centuries ago.

To-day the grand military review was held at Krasnoc-Szelo.
We did not go out, for we would h- ^.^ been kept back with the
mob, and would have seen but litt'. )> real advantage. Yester-
day I was told, by one who ought to know, that a drive, expected
to be taken by the czar and emperor, was changed because of
some Nihilistic rumors in the air. Big men here arc quite as
easily scared by rumors of this sort as they are in Chicago, where
anarchist ghosts are constantly bobbing up before some people's
visions. This afternoon the great street, Nevsky Prospekt, was
lined with people who expected the emperor to pass. The
crowd waited long, and finally, nearly three hours after they were
expected, and during which time one half of the driveway was
kept clear by the police, an open carriage, followed by three or
four others, came along in a brisk trot. Emperor William and
Prince Henry were in the front, and bowed their salutations to the

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people. Rut the czar was not there. Was it "etiquette" uliicli
j)rcveiitctl liiiM from accompaiiyinj,' his imperial puest on his drive
to see tin; city, or M-as there some truth as to the Niiiilistic rumor?
I felt a satisfaction in the fact that the (jerman was not afraid to
go where he was announced, even if his host was less willing to
trust his subjects.

The cz.ir occasionallv-, hut rarely, drives throut^h the streets,
goin;^ to a church, or for some other purpose, but it is never
known in advance what way he is ^^oin^r. The villainous murder
of his kiiul father, the best friend tiiat liberty had had in Russia,
is enou^^h to make the son feel somewhat anxious, but I doubt if
lie be wise in hoidin;^ himself so aloof from the people as he does.
A king wins confidence by showin;^ it himself. There may be
madmen who wouKl atten^pt to repeat the cruel act which took
Alexander II. off, but such madmen are, however, i)est disarmed
by being ever watchful and on the alert, ami, at the same time,
showing them that they are not feared. e assassin is a

coward at heart. To avoid him helps to mn n less a cowanl.

A bold, fearless front makes him more aiu _ a coward. 1

lifted my liat with a feeling of increased respect for the brave anil
cheery-looking young German Emperor when he drove b)' me this
afternoon, with no apparent guard other th.m the good-will and
hos[)itality of his entertainers. The people of this country have
already received from him large benefits. Every dollar's worth
of gooils exported from Russia brings back ten per cent, more of
return than it did a few weeks ago, bef'ire he announced his visit
to the czar, h'ive weeks ago I received for my English .sove-
reigns 1 1 A roubles ; last week I could only get TO^. The trusting
act of William in driving unattended through the streets of this
great capital called forth many kindl}' expressions from its jieople,
and he received evidence of their rtspect in a generous cheering
and universal removal of hats.

\Vhat may be the political effect o his visit time alone will tell.
Wise newspaper men abroad are giv iig out their learnetl opinions
in tones worthy of Malvolio. They say it means nothing, but I,
who am rather an optimist in political matters, prophesy that
good, very decided good, will grow o.it of it.

cttc " wliich
on liis drive
listic rumor?
lot afraiil to
ss williiisj to

thr streets,
: it is never
nous murder
id in Russia,
It I doubt if
e as he does.
lero may be
t wliicli took
est disarmed
c same time,
ssassin is a
ess a coward.
I coward. I
he brave and
,'c by me tiiis
;()o(l-will and
lountry have
oliar's worth
:ent. more of
iced ids visit
^nj^iish sove-
Tlic trust in"'
trcets of this
111 its people,
ous cheering

lone will tell,
net! opinions
•tiling, but I,
rophcsy that

CHAPTER XLIII.

ST. I'KTKRSnUKC— POI.ITKNKSS AM) (iOOD NATURK OK rill'. KUS-

.SIANS— SUI'F.K II ( iAI.I.K K I KS— 1 1 K K M ri'A( iK— W I NTK 1< 1' A 1 .ACK

—WINTER REVEI.RV— ST. ISAAC'S (11 IRCII— ll.LUMI-

NAITON Al' I'KII:kII()I-.

IVi/iori;, I-'inlaiul, July 26, 18S8.

I HAVE always had a va;^ue inii)ressio(i tiiat Peter the Great was
somewiiat daft — that he was a sort of a lunatic luar, who ima-
gined he could create a miL,dit\- empire and rule it from his ice-cave
home up near the polar sea. His otld sayin^^s and (nldcr doings,
read of when I was a boy, gave me this impression ; ami nothinLj
was more conducive to the formation of the idea than his deter-
mination to build a mighty and permanent city on the (juagmire
at the head of the Gulf of I'inland, where every thing was frozen
up for nearly nine months of the year, and where, during the next
three, an outraged sun hatclied mosquitoes into fierce beasts of
prey. But since I have seen St. Petersburg, and have been an
eye-witness of its grandeur, and have seen so much of the vast
country of which it is the capital, I have been more than ever con-
finned in another of my theories — that lunacj' and genius are, if
not one and the same, at least twin brothers. Men are in the
habit of saying that to the eye of genius things unfold themselves
with crystal clearness, while to the ordinary mind they are cloudy,
if not muddy. I, however, have an idea that one-eyed genius
sees the things which throb in the brain behind, and, lacking the
lights of judgment, is not turned to the right or the left by those
arguments of reasc.i, which hold other and more rounded brains
bridled and in check. The poet utters the thought which burns
in his frenzied brain. His words are deep chiselled into marble, and
ring throughout all time. The same thought has run through
a thousand steadier brains, but judgment whispered : " This
is fustian, souiul, and fur\'," and the thought was not formulated
into words ; but when these same steadier brains afterwards heard
it from the poet's lips, it comes home to them and awakens echoes
in the soul, and they bow down before the genius who uttered in
madness what they themselves have a thousand times felt but
dared not clothe in words. Lear and Hamlet were madmen, but
Shakespeare — Ignatius says B.icon — gave words to their mad-
dened thoughts, and sent them seething down into the souls
of millions of calmer men, who recognized them as echoes of their

453

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454

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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own moments of ;iL;on\' am' sorrow. They, Iiowevcr, suffer and
arc silent. It was Voltaire, I think, who j;ave nearly the same
idea when lie said : " Le genie — e'est raiidace." Madman or
genius, Peter drove a pile lUnvn into the cjuivering bog on the
banks of the Neva, and swore that on it he would build a" house
with ,1 window through wliich he could look out into I'UiropL'."
His counsellors dareil not expostulate, f<ir it was a dangerous
thing to thwart tiie will of the autocrat. What is, is right. The
steadfast rock gathers moss, and around its base natiue heaps up
sands. Intiomitable will and despotic force l.iid the foundations
of this cit}- ; the i)cople, but earthworms, bored .ibout among the
rocks antl cut them into shifting sands, which grew and grew
about Peter's cottage. 'I'hev dug canals, which unite t!ie Neva
through the Volga with the White .Sea of the north antl the far-
off Caspian of the south, and married these distant waters to the
H.dtic of the west. And St. I'etersburg, the creation of mad
Peter's will, c.dm, dignified, and grand in the twilight dawn of a
summer's midniglit ; brilliant antl dazzling in tin- snows and burn-
ing lights of the long, g.iy nights of winter; with its palaces in
majestic piles, and tenijjles and churches with rounded domes cut
upon the blue sky ; its great factories :\nd business houses; its
many ri\er branches and canals, through which clear water pours
in massive volume ami rapid current, lined witli granite ([uajs and
spanneil by InnumerabK.' bridges: with its broad jiaved streets,
along which thousands of vehicles are alwa\'s rattling ; its wooded
gardens, fdled with beautiful houses and gay p.iviHons ; its long
colonnades, its statues, and monuments; its i undreils of steamers
darting up and down its many water-ways ; and its thousands of
barges, loadeti with wares of many l.uids- St. Petersbuig sits
here between Lake I.agoila and Finland's (julf. apparently so fit-
tingly placed that the cynical genius of Voltaire would scarcely be
able to ask, as it did of Herlin : — " I^elle ville, (jue fais tu la?'

This cit\- is generall\- sjioken of as handsome ;uul regularly
built, with long rows of palati.il edifices, handsome in detail, but
monotonous and lacking i>ictures(|ueness, becau^-e of tiie regu-
larit\'. This is an unjust criticism. There is nothing of the
quaintness seen in the old (ierman towns, with which, 1 sus])ect,
travellers have in their mindsniade comparisons. There is, however,
much which is picturestpie, but all in modern ;;t\-Ie. Along the
Neva the grt;at si/e of the public ed.ifices so .arrests attention th.it
one is apt to ilwell too long U[)on the single structure. .\ coup
dUril, however, gives much of variety, and brings out much for
relief in the ilifferent styles of architecture; and the v.irious tint-
ings, all neutral, are ver\' restful to the eye. I-',vi.'rywheri' there
is a general air of strength and <ligm'tv, and along the quay f(.r a
mile or more the i)icture is one of imperial grandeur and niagm*!-
ccnci'. A topijgr.iphical outline of the city v.ill probably not be
out of place.

1 '■ ■' . ;

1 ' '

OUTLINE OF ST. FETf^RSBURG.

455

'cr, siiffcr and
rly the same
Niadmaii or
,f b(ig on the
uild a " house
iito luiropc."
a (Jangcrous
s liijlit. The
ture heaps up
c foundations
ut anionj^r t.lie
c\v and ;^n-o\v
lite t'nc Neva
h and tlie far-
waters to tile
it ion of mad
lit dawn of a
ows and burn-
its prdaces in
ed donu's cut
s houses ; its
r water pours
itc (|ua\s and
laved streets,
T ; its wooded
ions ; its lontj
tls of steamers
liiousands of
etersburL^ sits
)areiilly so fit-
dd scarcely be
ais tu la ? '
aiul regularly
in detail, but
of tii<' regu-
)thing of the
ich, 1 -aispect,
re is, however,
:. Along the
attention that
ture. A (oup
out niueli for
e v.irious tint-
rywhere there
he (]uay f(,r a
r and niagni^-
obably not be

The river Neva, rising in Ladoga, the large-t of European
lakes, Hows southwesterly and then northwesterly, striking St.
Petersburg about 40 miles from the lake. It then i)ends ilue
nortli for a mile or so, and making a short curvi . runs due west
for another mile, when it separates into two brancnu.-., one flowing
southwesterly, the other north and then westerly, into the bay,
two miles and two and a half miles respectively from the point
of sei)aration. The points where these two branches strike the
sea arc about two and a half or three miles ajiart. ."^oiitli of the
main river and the southerly br.mch lies the bulk of the city, with
the palaces and the finest of tlie public cdiilces. Between these
two branches, and springing out of them are several (Hher
branclK-S, some broad and deep, also emi)tying into the b.ay,
and forming five or six great islanils, varying in size from 200
acres up to perhajis 1,000, and one much more. The three
main streams vary in witlth from, say Soo to i,-;oo feet.
These islands are cut by small running canals into many smaller
islands. The more northerl)- ones are covereil with villas and
wooded g.ird'iis, and one or two of them with parks of considerable
size, over vvhich run fine gravel roads, along wliich rural-looking
villas are prettily dotted. Through the main city, which lies
south of the river, run three or four deep canals of loo or
so feet in width and ^panned by many handsome bridges at
streets intersecting. These canals, as well as those on the islands,
bcml about in wanton manner. On them run small steamers or
?tc;'.ni barges, carrying passengeis at a cent a mile, or less, and
cr<iwd^ of large barges, loadetl with every character of fri'iglit, and
carrying it almost to the doors of the warehouses. 1 s.iy almos, ,
for streets run along the canals on both sides, and of greater or
less width. i\ll of the river branches have rajiid, and the canals
fair currents of dark bog water — of water colored by pine lands
and sw.unps, not puri' enough for jjotable ])ur|K.ses. but consid-
ered surtlcii'utly so for bath-liouses, many of wliich float on the
main branches and on the canals of the islands, and ipiite a num-
ber on the canals which intersect the m.iin city. The watei of
the main branches is drunk. The city, however, is providetl with
drinking-w .ler from above the tow n, and the streets are sjjrinkled
b\' movable hose ili:' -tly from the street hydrants, which throw
with a strong head.

All streits are \ av'il, mostly with small cobble, kept in con-
stant repair, and ilraiiud l)y an underground sxsteni of sewi;r-
age. The more prominent streets are partially paved with
wooden blocks — that is, with a band or bards 1 ■; to 20 feet of
l)locking, the remainder on either side witn cobble. N'evsky
I'rospekt, one of the great streets, and the nio-;t prominent one
for ret. ill business j)urposes, has ;i roadw. y of 90 feet divided
into fuc narrower ways; the outer ones cobbled, then two of
blocks, and the niidiUe, in which the tramway runs, cobbled.

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

The blocks are laid together closely in exact hexagons, upon two-
by eiglit-incli boards, tarred and laid an inch apart, spiked
strongly to six by eight sills solidly bedded into the soil below,
the whole drained by lines of eight by ten troughs, leading into
man-holes. The cobbles are fitted closely together, and then the
interstices are filled with very small broken granite, and with
sand tiuown an inch deep over all. The tramway or street-car
rails are grooved, with the bearing flange an inch and a half
wide ; the inner flange, about a half inch wide, and laid absolutely
flush with \)\c pavement. This is a cold climate with long winters
and deep snows, and I am told there is no difficulty in keeping
the grooves clear, and I know that carriages pass across the rails
at all sorts of diagonals without any difficulty or unpleasant jerk-
ing. American cities should force street-car companies to use
the groove rail. It would save a great amount of damage to the
running gear of wagons, and would enable light vehicles to cross
safely anil without wrenching wheels. The horse-cars on two of
the tramway lines connect quite in the thick of the town with
cars ])ropelled by steam. They are heated by coke, and are
as noiseless as the horse-cars, and do not frighten horses in the
least.

Street gutters and sewer openings are so located that street
intersectii>ns are ilush with the sidewalks. Street-repairers are
constantly at v>ork. The authorities understand that a stitch in
time saves nine, and that the excellence of a street is not in hav-
ing it well built first so much as keeping it in thorough repair
afterward.

St. Petersburg has a ])opulation of 950,000. We were told by
some of its citizens, whom we met at various points before reach-
ing it, that every one was out of town during the summer; that
we would find the heat opi)ressive, the dust bad, the moscjuitoes
intoleraljle, antl the Hies a nuis.uice ; but that in the winter it was
glorious, a sort of p..;adise in snow, where the people have a con-
tinuous carnival on ice. Judging by what we saw of things con-
nected with winter, there must be every concomitant necessary
to make it joyous. The houses are well built, with thick w.iUs.
and everywhere double windows hung permanent))' and fitting
closely. The sleighs .ire ])retty anil in great vaiitties. Tlie
horses are tough, well-formed, sufficiently speedy, and of wonder-
full)- good tempers. 1 h)thouses have been bruugiit to perfection,
and one now sees in windows melons so sweit that one almost
imagines that thej' CfMivey their ()dor through the sense of sight ;
grapes, ptaehes, and flowers, palms, and ferns, of r.iri.- perfection.
And in winter, 1 am told, there is a va-t profusion of hot-house
plants. The summers are so short that out-door flowers are not
at all relied on, but hot-houses are abundant and finely n.ianaged.

Willie has been in a state of desperation throughout our long
journejings in Russia because he had not seen over two or three

, upon two-
irt, spiked
soil below,
;adint^ into
(J then the
, and with
• street-car
md a half
absolutely
mg winters
in keeping
ss tlie rails
asant jerk-
lies to use
lagc to the
es to cross
on two of
town with
:;, and arc
irses in the

that street
paircrs are
a stitch in
not in hav-
ugh repair

.Me told be-
fore reach-
liner; that
u<is(iuitoe.s
liter it was
lavc a ccjii-
:hings con-
necessary
hick walls,
lud fitting
ties. The
of wonder-
perfection,
ane almost
e of si'^ht ;
|)erfection.
hot-house
crs arc not
' managed.
L our long
.o or three

2JI£ JiUSSlAN A POLITE MAxV.

very pretty women, and very few who were not positively homely.
But from his frequent ejaculations as we walked the streets or
mingled with the crowds in and about St. Petersburg, such as
"Ah, there!" Ah, there! my beauty," "Ah, there! my size," I
have come to the conclusion that the czar has attracted nearly all
of Russia's beauty to the capital. Willie tells me that there are
as many pretty women in it as he has seen anywhere, except at
Buda-1'esth. The men are generally polite and pleasant. They
lack etiquette ; but of that politeness which has its origin in the
heart they have a great deal. One form of etiquette is through-
out Russia absolutely universal. A man never enters a house
(except a station) without removing his hat. This habit may
perhaps have grown out of the fact that every house — indeed,
almost every room and shop — has its " Ikon," or holy image.
Men uncover on entering a room, taking it for granted that they
go into the presence of a sacred emblem. This is done mi the
post-office, in the vestibule of galleries and court-houses, in the
commonest butcher shop, in the little store-room where the attend-
ant, perhaps a little girl, could carry off all her goods in a half-
dozen half-bushel baskets. Men, too, lift their hats to each other
very sedulously. I have seen pilgrims in dirty rags with tattered
sandals, knapsack and rough staff, accost each other on a
thoroughfare by first removing, in studietl form, their filthy looking
sheepskin caps.

All smoke cigarettes, and delight to hold a gallon of carbon in
their lungs and then roll it out like sleam from a 'scape-pipe. In
southern Russia nd the Caucasus the women — matrons, and
even some iinm- ones — smoke almost as universally as do

the men. I have ...n.. ' \o •■'• three times, nicel\ dressed ladies
step up to me in a railru.i.l on ur on the platform and beg of

me a light. I supjiose tiu> .uo-'' from my having a cigar, from
which a better light could be udA than tiom the cigarette of
another. In northern Russia and at .St. Petersburg I have seen
but two women with cigarettes, and one of them vas a princess.
I am tokl comparatively few qnoke here. I am glad that villain-
ous habit, which John Bull is carrying .iround the world, of ram-
ming his hand into his pocket for a match when asked for a light,
instead of handing )-ou his burning cigar, is not in vogue here.
When I ask for alight I do not ask for a m.^tch. I wish that
which costs the giver nothing, wherea^^ ■ '■ iie goes down into
Ids pocket he takes trouble for me, ano s me something of

fixed value when he hands me a match. lliere is a sort of L^ood-
fellowship in the loan of a light. There is a polite insult when
a man gives )-ou a match, for he virtually says : " I have a good
cig;ir, and I do not wish it poi-^oned by your weed." The use of
tobacco is at best nast>-. There is, however, a sort of free-
masonry in the mingling of smoke and loaning a "chaw." I
always liked the feeling which would make a Southern gentleman

l\'-

Ti ill

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'til!; I*

458

A RACE WITH TUB SUN.

take tobacco from an old darkey, who always begs tobacco, even
when jiis pocket is full. I have seen a negro pull from his greasy
pocket a plug and hand it to a gentleman, who would bite off a
good " chaw," and never insulted his sable friend by picking off
the outside dirt. A Russian gives and takes a light freely from a
stump.

Our journcyings of over 5,500 miles in Russia have been a
revelation to me in many things. First, as to the capabilities of
this vast country; the enormous stretches of land whose produc-
tiveness is unequalled by any other ; the depth of the soil; the
rich underlying clays in the south and middle provinces, render-
i''g famine-producing drought impossible ; the breadth of the
wooded districts of the nortli ; the .systems of rivers of deep cur-
rents and witliout rapids permeating the whole country in such a
manner that snort canals can connect them and make water
communication almost continuous from the Arctic Sea to the
Black, from the ]5altic far into the foot-hills of the Ural moun-
tains. But above all it has been a revelation as to the character-
istics of the people. I knew, from many I had previously met in
Continental wanderings, that the upper-class Russian was an
elegant gentleman, but I thought the middle and lower classes
were uncouth, rough, ill-tempered, ;;nd bordering upon the brutal.
How different have I fouml them! I have mixctl with them in
crowds, when working, when worshipping, whc 1 idle and when
busy, and when drunk; have watched crowds of jieasants and
great gatherings of \\ell-to-do citizens on steamboats, in crowded
railway stations, anil in packed railroad cars, and if ;i .ked what
are the most marlced characteristics of the whole people I would
reply: Amiability and kindliness. Tliey are. moreover, charita-
ble. I have seen them, again and again, turn back to give in
small charity to beggars and to needy ones whom they had
passed unnoticed by the wayside. The importunities of beggars
do not seem to annoy them, as is the case among most people.
Too many in our favored huul give to the poor and hel])less, not
cheerily and for the sake of helping, but rather to get rid of
them, and then with an air of one casting a bone to a ilog. Men-
dicants throng the vestibules and entrances to churches here,
showing that it is of men's piety they ask. With us, and in Kng-
land, they throng the doors of theatres and other places of
amusenient, as if expecting help from the protlgical and the care-
less. Perhaps they avoid our churches because the ministers have
a corner on the charity of the pious. 1 have been surjirised b\-
the numbers of all classes who give with kindly air to the poor
supplicants at church doors, in the towns and cities we have
visited. One sees evidences of tin's amiability in many ways ; all
seem especially kind to children ami to animals.

J5irds are almost as genti here as they are in l.idia, where
Buddhism has taught that the soul of an ancestor or a relative

THE RUSSIAN A GOOD-NATURED ANIMAL. 459

Dacco, even
1 his greasy
bite off a
picking off
\jc\y from a

ive been a
)abilities of
jse protluc-
e soil ; the
:es, render-
Llth of the
f deep cur-
/ in such a
lake water
3ea to the
Jral moun-
; cliaractcr-
jsly met in
m was an
iver chisses
the brutal,
til them in

and when
asants and
in crowded
[ -.ked what
)le I would
er, charita-
to give in

tluy had
of beggars
)st people.
jl])less, not
get rid of
log. Men-
■ches here,
nd in Kng-

places of
d the care-
istcrs have
irprised by
o the poor
:s we have
' ways ; all

dia, where
a relative

may be in the body of some dumb creature, and where charity to
the brute is taught as a religious duty. Crows hop along the
road within a few feet of passers-by. Hirds of all sorts perch ui)on
telegraph wires, and do not fly until the wind made by the train
ruffles their feathers. Pigeons fly down among drosky-drivers,
and are frequently so close to me that I try to touch them with
my cane. Dogs trot the streets with their tails curled over their
backs, as independent as wood-sawyers, and I am told rarely ever
fight. I have not seen any thing bordering upon a fight between
men, and yet I have seen thousands drunk. Give a Russian an
accordion and he is happy and too good-natured to kill a flea. I
mentioned these things to a very intelligent gentleman. He
laughed and said ; " Why, 1 have been in many lands, and I
believe we have the most amiable people that exist, and their
amiability has gone down among all their domestic animals. Our
men rarely quarrel and never fight ; our dogs d(jn't snarl or bite,
and our horses won't kick." I rejoined : " And yet you have
Nihilists ! " " Ah," he said, " have you not noticed the better the
woman the worse she becomes when she falls? Your amiable
man, when he turns lunatic, is your fiercest man. In old Greece
there was a sect of philosophers who proved by arguments, to
their own satisfaction at least, that there was no such thing as
material existence ; that all materialism was but the figment of
the imagination. Our scholastic students have reasoned them-
selves into the belief of Nihilism. They are philosophic mad-
men." "And like every other disease it must run its course until
thrown off by a better growth," I added. " 1 am afraid so," he
rejoined, with a sigh. T!ie love of flowers seems universal here.
It pervades all classes throughout the entire country we have
passed. In cities, towns, and villages, dwelling-house windows
are filled with flowers — in first anil second stories, — and often so
full that they look like conservatories, and at every country station
children sell wild flowers.

I said something about dogs. That reminds me that we have
seen in all jjarts of Russia so far visited, dogs of all breeds, and
apparently pure. Setters and pointers of beautiful make, mon-
ster St. Bernards, and spaniels, and poodles, greyhounds and
pugs, turns|)its, shaggy dogs, and smooth-haired dogs, all
we'll kept and on most kinilly footing with the people. The
kindliness to the brute creation seems to have been acquired
by the close relations, long-continued, of the Russians with their
Asiatic neighbors. Tiiis brings ne back to another Oriental
peculiarity of tliLSc people. That is the disposition of merchants
to congrejgate in great bazaars. Every city has its one or more
large establishment of this kind ; many of them being ele-
ga.it, and all picturesque. In them every character of mer-
chandise can be bought, from a baby doll up to a threshing-
mac/iinc, and in all, goods are displayed in Oriental colorings.

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460

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

Several of the bazaars of St. Petersburg are monster affairs and
built with an eye to architectural beauty. On Ncvsky Pros-
pekt is one with a front of 700 feet by ti depth of over 1,400
on the two cross, and backini^ on a rear street. It is two stories
high, with a central and two end ])avilion; on each street, and a
handsome columned portico in fron^ of eacli central pavilion, and
arched two-story colonnades on the four fronts. It is divided
into a great number of small shops on the first story, ami into
store-rooms above and store-houses in the rear. Close to this arc
several others, nearly as large, with ornamental fixed iron awnings
over the sidewalks. The ground of the principal one belongs to
the city, the others to wealthy noblemen. The ground owners
built the houses on fixed and fine plans, and then sold the houses
to individual proprietors, reserving an annual leasehold rental.
There has been a general disposition throughout the city to build
in great blocks and divide them up for the several business pur-
poses, thus giving it a stately and imperial appearance. Tiiere
are no open store fronts, as in America. This makes tlie blocks
appear more like palaces. The hotel we stopped in, on the cor-
ner of Nevsky Prospekt, and near the handsome Miciiael P.iiace,
is a splendid four-story edifice, with a frontal of 636 feet. With
the exception of a few of the great i)ublic buildings, and one or
two churches, all structures, public and private, are of brick plas-
tered in Portland cement ; some are white, but tiie majority are
ycllowisii-brown, salnuMi, peach-blow, and other delicate neutral
tints; blue and green being, I think, entirely avoided. The public
edifices, palaces, admiralty, etc., along the quay cover a length of
about a mile, and, together with others behind them, a depth of
perhaps a quarter of a mile. Ik-sides these there are many other
.state structures anil palaces scattered throughout the city on both
banks of the river. The imperial i)alaces are not used as such
now, but are devoted to galleries, museums, schools of art, acad-
emies of science, engineering, etc. They are generally of great
size, three or four stories high, and of elegant though not elabo-
rate architectural design.

The museums and art collections arc rich in their contents, and
of vast value both to the student and to the amateur. One cm
with profit spend days and days in the " Hermitage." The col-
lections of coins are unequalleil elsewhere. Ca-^e after ca-^e of
antique seals and e.xquisitely cut stones and cameos are bewilder-
ing, nearly all with fine impressions in wax or plaster, showing
the delicate design and artistic finish. Room afti-r room, anil
some of great size, are filled with statuary, antique and modem,
and many of them of highest merit, and vast n-.noers of Etrus-
can vases. Grand halls, lofty and perfectly lighted, have on their
walls nearly 2,000 pictures, all good and many of tiiem clicfs-
d\ruvre. Two or three hundred of tlum are masterpieces of
Raphael, Correggio, Domenichino, Leonardo da V^inci. Carlo Dolce,

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WONDERS OF ART.

461

ffairs and
iky Pros-
vcr 1,400
o stories
<-'t. and a
ilion, and
> divided
and into

this are

1 awnings
elongs to

owners

le houses

d rental.

to build

ness |)ur-

'. Tliere

le blocks

1 the cor-

-•1 Talace,

t. With

id one or

rick plas-

jority are

L- neutral

lie i)ublic

length of

depth of

Miy otlier

.' on both

I as such

art, acad-

of great

lot elabo-

ent-^. and
One can
The col-

r ca-^e of

bew ilder-
siiow ing

loni, ami
modern,

)f I-^trus-
on their
in clicfs-

)ieces of

lo Dolce,

Guide, Van Dyck, Tenicrs, Ruysdael, Rembrandt, and other
great painters, but above all of Murillo. I have never seen so
many works together of this, to me, unapproachable master.
There are a few fine ones scattered in different European collec-
tions, which had caused me to admire him even .above Raphael.
But here there are about 20, all in one room, in admirable light,
and three or four of them of grandest character. There is a rich-
ness of tone, borrowed, I suppose, from Moorish blood, in his
pictures shown by no other artist. Raphael's Madonnas arc too
pure for motherhood. They are artless girls who never dreamed
of guile antl were never touched by a human passion. They
nurse the Cin-ist-chiUl as an angel who never touched earth would
fondle a pure scintillation. But Murillo's Mary is a woman
with a woman's heart, overflowing with love, full of unborn pas-
sion, a passion that might have been fearfully tempted had not
the all-seeing eye watched over it, and the whispered counsels of
invisible angels directed and angels' hands guided it into paths of
celestial purity. Murillo's Mother of God was a woman who
gave to her child the human passions which enabled him to feel
for the woes of man, and to sympathize with him in his human
struggles ; gave to him a humanity which made him bear his
cross in agony, and to sweat great drops of blood, and to cry out
in human woe as he gave up the ghost. The heartstrings of
Raphael's Mary would have snapped at the sight of intense suf-
fering ; but Murillo's Mary suffered and bore as only a woman
can suffer and bear, and when *he moment of sublimation came,
she ascended into heaven, still a woman, but a woman turned into
a saint and borne upon angels' wings, fanned and elevated by the
breath of God toward her eternal throne. Close together here
one can gaze for hours on his two masterpieces, inferior to those
of no arti-t, and equalled only by Raphael's at Dresden. All the
schools of art are fully represented in this noble gallery, and most
masters have in it some of their finest pieces.

Adjoining and united by an arched gallery to the Hermitage
is another magnificent structure, the vast Winter Palace, with
great halls and noble stairways, beautiful marble pillars in great
profusion, loft\- conservatories, and a royal chapel 1, which rich
Oriental taste seems to have tried to exhaust itself in heaping up
gold and jewelled wealth. In this little chapel one has the ex-
quisite satisfaction of seeing the dried hand and wrist of John
the Baptist, a picture of the Virgin painted by St. Luke, and a
piece of the original cross. Luke's colors were not of the fast
kind, for an eye of faith is required to enjoy the purity of the
lineaments of his immaculate subject. This palace has brilliant
specimens of malachite columns and mantels .ind cabinets, lapis
lazuli vases, and mosaics unsurpassed except in the Vatican.
Here, too, is Peter's gallery, with his private cabUi^ts, his lathe
and working-tools, his diamond snuff-boxes and jewelled swords,

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46»

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

Iff I f):ii

his clothes, miniatures, and bric-a-brac. A strange mixture of
imperial wealth and plodding industry ! One. however, is brought
nearer to the great Peter in the cottage across the river, in which
he lived while laying the foundations of the capital. There one
sees the old imperial carpenter and shipwright in close and familiar
quarters. I was boy enough to seat myself in a chair of his make
— a sort of combined seat and writing-desk which he used, and in
which I doubt not he often took a nap. I know most people
will say how silly ! Ikit they must know I have adopted as a
motto: " 'T is folly to be wise."

One of the very attractive features of the galleries of St.
Petersburg are the tables, urns, and vases, some of them of great
size, in jasper, lapis lazuli, and Russia's peculiar marble, the sur-
prisingly veined and beautifully green malachite. While one
would not go to a gallery more than once to see these things
alone, yet they afford cheerful relief when examining the works
of art hanging on the walls. The Hermitage and the Winter
Palace each has probably more abundant and larger pieces of
this wonderful mineral — for it is rather a mineral than a stoiie —
than all the rest of the world together outside of this empire.
The walls of the Winter Palace are adorned by a great number of
large spirited battle-pieces representing Muscovite fights. Many
of them are very fine, but the city furnishes so many galleries
that a stay of months would be recpiired to do them justice.
The emperor never, I believe, resides in any of these buildings,
unless for a few days when the great balls are gi\en during the
long winter months, when his capital is held by a rule of ice and
two thirds of his huge dominions are wrapped in a mantle of
snow. Then in this imperial city, as if in mockery of grim
I5oreas, King Carnival mounts his glittering throne, horses
prance and neigh as if partaking of the general joy, belli-
jingle and sing in a thousanil silvery tones, men in gold lace
and women in embroidered silks, all enveloped in warm mantles
borrowed from the furry denizens of the frozen regions of the
far north, flirt and sing, strut and dance, cat and drink in a high
revelry unknown to, and impossible in lands where winter's sun
comes forth in warm and genial mood. Here his wintry face is
never fierce, and after a quick run in the short day he retires
early to his southern bed and leaves to man a long and weird
twilight, with streamers in the far north of " the borealis race
that flit ere you can point their place." Then and in those long
nights the autocrat comes among his children and gives them
the light of his imperial face, dearer to courtiers than the glow
of the king of day ; and noblemen and gentry strive to imitate
imperial splendor and to squander the treasures gathered from
their vast country estates. The very poor of the great city
grow enthusiastic when telling you of the gayeties of winter.
For it is then that they touch the gold given in free-handed

WINTER REVELRY.

4«3

largesse by the prodigal rich, or carelessly scattered in their
wild revelry.

The St. Petersburger asks in a breath of the traveller if he
has seen the Winter Palace and the 1 lerniitai^e, the statue of
Peter the Great and St. Isaac's. lie is proud of many things
in the great city, but these he believes unequalled in the world.
On a massive block of granite, weighing 1,500 tons, cut to re-
semble a rugged precipice, the c/ar sits upon a jiroud charger,
both of heroic size, and on the brink of the precipice points to
the glorious work of his brain — t'le proud city of his dreams,
and seems to say : " I spake, and behold the creation of my
voice." lie has, to me, the proudest expression I have ever
seen portrayed in marble, bronze, or living colors. The very
spirit of the autocrat, who considered obstacles but things to be
surmounted, and would not learn the meaning of the word fail,
seems to breathe from the proud face and bold demeanor of the
pile of bronze hanging over the precipice yawning beneath the
horse's feet. Other monuments are worthy of note, but I will
only name one, erected to commemorate a victory over the
Turks. It is an iron column standing on a lofty pedestal of
granite, and of nearly 50 feet in height, divided into six stories,
around which, in diminishing tiers, arc arranged over lOO cannon
taken from the enemy. It is, I think, unicpic, and is a fitting
base for the lofty figure of Victory above, holding in one hand a
wreath in laurel of victory, and an olive branch in the other.
The olive branch, I suppose, to be handed over only when the
Mussulman surrenders the Rosphorus to the upholder of the
Russian cross.

As I said heretofore, the Russians arc preeminently a pious
people, and take more pride in their churches than in any other
public structures. St. Petersburg is by no means a city of sacred
buildings. There are comparatively few, but several of them
are noble temples. In many respects the Cathedral of the
Saviour in Moscow is the most beautiful Christian temple I
have ever seen, but St. Isaac's here is one of the [grandest and,
next to St. Peter's in Rome, is tiie most impressive and the
richest of churches. It is in form a perfect Greek cross, with a
length of 360 odd feet by 315, built of stone, resting on massive
granite foundations. Fronting each line of the cross is a noble
portico, raised on massive biocks of red granite, forming the
platform from which lift 28 columns. 60 feet high and 7 feet
in diameter, each a single piece of polished granite with heavy
bronze bases, and surmounted by florid Corinthian capitals m
the same metal. These support the upper part of the vast por-
ticos, in the pediments of which are figures in bronze of great
size representing different biblical stories. At the four corners
of the edifice are four cupolas or domes, containing the great
bells, and relieved by bronze figures of colossal dimensions, but

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464

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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On this rests the ^rcat cross at

appcarnig from the ground simply of life-size. Springing from
the centre iictween tiiese smaller domes is the great dome or
cupola of gilded copper, resting on a colonnade of granite col-
umns 30 feet high. The apex of this dome is nearly 300 feet
high. From its shoulder springs a smaller cii])ola or lantern of
same shape as the main dome
an elevation of 3G6 feet from the street

The exterior of St. Isaac's is grand and in such perfect propor-
tion that one can scarcely realize its great dimensiniis and lofty
height. The splendid l)ronze fritzes and statues, its huge granite
columns of jierfect polis'-., its giliictl domes and lofty cross, and
the granite steps and platform of titanic dimensions — these are
all very impressive. But it is not until one has passetl through
the great portals of bronze ornamented in alto-relievo and fiiuls
himself in the dim and awful interior, with its huge pillars,
oblong in shape and massive in proportion, built of costly marble
of softest hues, pink and salmon of neutral tone predominating,
and picked out in bands of black and scrf)lls of white, and then
looks up to the huge rounded dome, letting in the sunlight from
far above — it is not until then that one can realize the perfection
of form of the vast edifice, or can realize the imperial richness of
its material. The pillars are all on bases and plinths of polished
bronze and crowned by capitals in the same rich metal in highest
Corinthian style ; above and resting on these is an interior cor-
nice of great depth, whose proniinent members are, too, of
bright bronze. The ikoiiistas, or screen, separating the main in-
terior from the inner altar or tabernacle, instead of being light
and apparently movable, is stable and fixed, of ])erhaps 100 feet
in height, ornamented by ten malachite pillars over 30 feet high
and large and perfect in Corinthian form, surmounted by capitals
of woniierful work and resting on bases wrought with exquisite
leaf ornaments. In the centre of the ikonista.:. is a magnificent
bronze ])ortal with swinging doors over 20 feet high and made of
exquisite leaf and vine oi^enwork. Flanking the portal and ne.xt
the malachite columns arc two pillars of lapis lazuli, :!0 feet high
and of a marvellous color. Looking from one side, the nialachite
columns seem ;i solitl wall fur the great screen.

St. Isaac's is celebrated, and deservedly so, for its music. The
reading by the priests is riclily intoned, and men with great vol-
ume of voice are chosen for the role. The responses of the choir
are very sweet, but in the liturgy the effect is marvellously touch-
ing. The service is very long on Sunday, lasting from ten to
nearly one. The floor of the church was crowded, when we were
present, by thousands of devotees, and either the music or their
own devotional feelings kept them standing throughcut, with no
appearance of weariness. The fervent devotions of all worship-
pers appeal strangely to the heart. I have been d( eply affected
in a Buddhist temple. I was held in rapt attention at St. Sophia

:/ ,' '

GRAND ST. ISAAC'S CUURCH.

465

in(T from
dome or
uiitc col-

300 feet
intern of

cross at

:t ])r(ipor-
uul lofty
fe ^n-;iiiite
;ross, ami
these are

thr(nia;h
and finds
c pillars,
ly marble
minating,
and then
Ljht from
)erfection
iciiness of

polished
in hii;hest
erior cor-
, tiK), of

main in-
;in<T lit;ht

100 feet
feet higli
y capitals
exqnisite
i;j;nificent
1 made of

and next

eet hit;h
malachite

SIC. The
great vol-
the choir
sly touch-
m len to
1 we were
c or their
t, with no
worship-
y affected
it. Sophia

by a Mohammedan priest. Last Sunday at St. Isaac's my heart
welled up through my eyes. No opera ever appealed to my love
of beautiful music as did the singing of the choir. Even the
oratorio of " Moses in Egypt," with Mario and Grisi, Bclletti and
Albani, and several other />/•///// in the roles, at Paris when I was a
young man, failed to impress me as did this Greek church music!
I do not wonder it takes such deep hold upon the people whose
religion seems almost entirely confined to externals.

Some clouds had hung over the sun for some time during ser-
vice on Sunday at St. Isaac's, but as the ciioir sung out its joy
when the bread and wine were blessed, and the deep, mellow
tones of the huge bells entered through the lofty dome, mingling
with the sweet voices of the choristers, I looked up in almost
startled j^leasure. As I did so the cloud rolled b\-, and the sun
shot down in bright rays througli the far-above windows and sent
them in hallowed streams into the church below. I could
then understand the exaltation of devotees when they take for
miraculous many natural plienomena. The rayons of sunlight
pouretl down into the deep dimness of the church, and from them
spread in mellow mist throughout the glorious edifice; and
through the great portal in front of the inner altar streamed a hal-

lowed

effulgence

to come from the "rrand figure of

Christ which fills, in gorgeous stained glass, the great window at
the rear. A sigh of deep devotion arose from a thousand men and
women about me as they bent upon their knees in devout thank-
fulness.

Next to the churches, the drosky is the most decidedly Russian
institution o.' the land. The one now most in use is a small, open
caleche with low wheels, the front a half foot narrower in the tred
than the rear ones, and being often not over 18 inches in diame-
ter, but generally about two feet. The wheels are strongly built,
the hinder ones twice or more as high as those in front, with the
axle-spindle projecting a couple of inches beyond the hub, a pair
of heavy shafts bowing from the horse's girth and bending in
close to the withers. From the ends of the shaft lifts a rounded
bow or yoke some three feet high, firmly fastened to the shafts
and to the collar or hames. The hoi\^(' draws directly by the
shafts and holds back by the same, there being a breeching run-
ning from the collar on the outer side of the shaft and fastened to
it ; a strong trace runs back and is attached to the end of the
axle-spindle outside of the luib. The driver is alwa}s a chubby-
looking fellow, in a sort of frock heavily plaited or gathered in at
the waist under a belt. He wears a low-crowned hnt immensely
belled and with narrow, rolling brim. He and his wagon look as
if they had been fashioned for each other. He is always sleepy
and good-natured, but wakes as quickly as a cat when railed, and
asks more than the regular fare, but takes the right one when
given, with a smile. He is tough, his vehicle is tough, and his

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In!

466

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

horse is tough and seems never to tire. If you arc not in a hurry
he goes in a jog-trot, but if you wish speed he goes at a break-
neck pace, and no amount of jerking over rougii streets or roads
ever breaks the wagon, wearies the horse, or puts tiie driver out
of humor. Tlie seat is very narrow and tlie springs give, so tiiat
the occupants are constantly inclined to tumble out. This gives
rise to a peculiar social custom, amounting almost to a super-
stition, among the Russians — that is, that when a man rides with
a pretty or young woman he must alwiiys keep his arm ab' • 1'. her
waist, to keep her from being tumbled out; but his superstition
teaches him tiiat this is never necessar)' when his companion is an
elderly woman or another man. The drosky generally in use is
nearly the same throughout the entire emiiire. In the country
towns many of them have bells attached to the bow, The old-
fashioned vehicle has scats running laterally, the driver and pas-
sengers looking to the sides. These are seen more in the provinces
than in the capitals. Very handsome ones arc used privately.
The stylish one is a " troika," and is drawn by three horses, one
on either side of the shaft-horse. The two outer ones arc so ri ined
that their heatls are drawn sharply outward. The middle r sh ift-
horse trots, but the outer ones invariably gallop. When st,. le is
affected, a troika of fine finish, with three good beasts, the outer
ones with outward-bending necks in full gallop, and with a fine
set of bells, is a very nobby affair. The horses of Russia are fine
strong animals, ;ind have great endurance. With tlie exception
of those of Hungary. I have never seen them in aii\- land so uni-
versally good as are seen on the gre.it stepi)e-plains of southern
Russia. In a war with any other country, the Cossacks and their
mounts must prove a strong arm to the service.

On Sunday last we went to Peterhof to witness an illumination
given in honor of the Kmperor of Germany. It was a dazzling
affair. In tiie beautiful water-fountain system I have already
described, many thousands of lamps were arranged in great
obelisks 40 to 50 feet high ; in pyramids or arches over the canal
in frequent tiers, and scattered thickly among the branches of
trees. Looking down from *he palace terrace, or up to it from
the long alley, the whole seemed turned into fountains and forest.s
of flame. The little lamps along the walk and among the many
fountains were so thick as to .seem almost solid, and, mingling
as they did with the water spray, the effect was of marvellous
beauty. Hehind the sleet cataracts, innumer.ible lamps were
placed, with dazzling effect. Heretofore 1 spoke of the great
fountains in front of the palace. There is another system of jets
in another part of the park, running down from the high grounds
to the Mont do Plaisir, I'eter the Great's pavilion on the water.
This is a beautiful building, 300 feet long, and only one story
high. From the two ends run back wings of about the same
length as the front. In the court formed by these arc fine old

in a liurry
,t a hrcak-
ts or roads
driver out
vc, so tliat
Tliis ^ivcs
() a supcr-
ridcs witli

ab'> It: licr
iipcrstition
inion is an
y in use is
he country
Tl)c old-
er and pas-
L- provinces

privately,
horses, one
'c so ivined
lie rslMft-
hen st_, le is
;, the outer
,vith a fine
isia are fine
2 exception
and so uni-
if southern
s and their

lumination

; a daz7.1in<^

ive already

d in j;rcat

r the canal

tranches of

to it from

and forests

^ the many

d, mingling

marvellous

amps were

f the ^reat

tem of jets

i^h grounds

1 the water.

/ one story

the same

are fine old

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C'AND II.LUMIXATJOX AT ril IRUOI-.

467

trees. The entire building was covered in rcgiilai- lines witii
lamps in ground-glass globes, marking the architectural members,
and from the trees and high up in their branches swung innu-
merable lamps of various colors, all .irtistically arranged. The
ground was laid out in parterres of tulips of various colors, little
lamps, however, tat-.ing the place of flowers. From this pavilion
back nearly a qua.ler of a mile to the hill of 70 feet, through the
trees, is a broad alle\' ; along this were a vast number of obelisks
of flame and the woods on either side blazed as with myriads of
huge fire-flies. Tumbling down the hill by a succession of steps
so arranged as to represent <i single cascade, are broad sheets of
water. Under the sheets or falls were a mass of deep-red lamps,
while on either side were double rows of amber light, and on
and under the top cascade a blaze in white electricity.

The illumination commenced before ten o'clock, when the twi-
light was vet fresh and bright, but the brilliancy of 50.000 or
more lamps was so great that we forgot it was not deep night;
the twilight seemed to come from the artificial lights, and to be
reflected upon the sky, rather than fioni tlu' sun below the
northern horizon. In front of the pavilion f)f the Mont de
I'laisir were several steamers a few hundred jards out at sea.
l-'rom these were sent uj) <i large number of rockets and fireworks
of the flower-pot kind, of huge size, and bursting far up in
myriads of brilliant colors. In the pavilion there was a banquet
for the visiting emperor and the czarina and her suite. We
reached the entrance .it the rear of the pavilion just as the em-
press was coming out, surrounded b\' the court.

The crowtl was great and swa>ed back and forth, restrained by
doubU- tiers of soldiers with locked hands. We had been pressed
to the front line. Seeing one of the handsomely uniformei! staff
close by, I res(jlved to try my p.Ueiit open-sesame of " Va Ameri-
kanets." I adilressed him, telling him I was an .American travel-
ler and an.vious to see the brilliant scene within. Me replied :
" Attendez un n»oment, monsieur," .idding that it was too iate to
let me in, as the empress was just in the gate-way. As <|uickly
as she passed out and was getting into a great open si.v-horsc
drag, with a dozen or more l.idies ,ind attiiulants. the officer
ordered the soldiers to let us paNS. \Vc thus hail a fine opportunity
for witnessing the most brilliant part of the display, designed
only for (iod's anointed. Hut I w.is one of these, an .\merican
sovereign, and ue two were the only persons inside e.xcej)t the
court attaches. The Russi.ms feel very much |)lease(l by the
courtesy extended by the Americ.m corvette Entirprisc in assist-
ing in doing honor to the guest of their czar. Ours was the only
foreign war ship which took part in the ceremoniis, excepting, of
course, tlie (.ierman. I suspect the courtesy of the ofTicer of the
staff arose from this. We met some of the officers of tiie Enter-
prise that night at the railroad station, and regrctteil we could not

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468

A RACE WITH THE SUA'.

i I

accept their cordial invitation to visit them at Cronstadt. \Vc
did not leave the terrace of the pahice until after 12 o'clock. The
scene was so brilliant that we disliked to tear ourselves away.
We leaned for some time on the parapet overlooking the ni;>in
fountains in front of the palace jKivilion, and enjoyed the m:.t:;ic
scene. The many kiosks and pavilions of the park seemed to be
beautiful structures in flame, and the flower-gardens under us
looked like acres of tulips and hyacinths and crocuses of light.
The lamps were so colored as to make this effect of the par
terres almost perfect. I counted the lamps in a given space, anil
calculated from these that there must have been from 50,000 to
100,000 burning in two sections of the park.

At 13.30 we took the train. There was enough of light coming
from the northern qua; tcr of the heavens for me to read my
watch. The great city had a weird appearance — so light, and yet
so quiet and apparently deserted. Now ami then we sa^v a police-
man reading a newspaper, which he probably borrowed from a
doorwaj-. The czar's great city virtually has no night in summer.

^.'

;adt. Wc

ock. The

vcs away.

tlic main

tlic ITtafjiC

iiu'il to be
under us

; of light.

f the par

space, and
50,000 to

ht coming
) read my
It, and yet
'v a police-
ed from a
n summer.

CHAPTER XLIV.

FIN'L.\Nn— .\N IXTKRKSTlNc; COUNTRV— TUF FINNS— TORNEA—
MIDNIC.IIT WnillN TllF ARCTIC CIKCI.E-I'OSTINC-I' VRM-
ING-TIIK RELATIONS OF THE RUSSIANS WITH THEIR CON-
(JUERED SUBJECTS.

Steamship " Tonica," bctiveen Heisin^/ors and Stockholm,

.'liti:usf 12, 1888.

I COMMENCE this letter witiiin the roar of Imatra, tiie largest
waterfall in Europe, and in many respects one of the finest in'^the
world. A great river— the outpouring of Lake .Saima. with its
connecting lakes over 200 miles long and some 30 broad— here
met a granite hill. A convulsion of the earth split the hill in
twain, leaving a cleft 50 to So feet wide and 500 yards long, of
solid granite walls, notched and jagged, and with here fittle
recesses a few feet deep and there projections a few feet out. The
river, appro.iching this cleft by a fine, dashing rapid, plunger down
the n.irrow gorge, bounding, leaping, dashing, surging", roaring.
and foaming, with ,1 f.iU of 60 odd feet in 500'yards. its furious
flow is here .md there c.uight by a recess, or hurled bv a projec-
tion in counter-currents, which lift .several feet high and plunge
again to rise below in huge boiling caldrons, shifting stningefy
from point to point, often several y.'irds apart. The currents shot
from the two w.ills frequentl)- meet to be thrown in massive jets
10 to 15 feet into the air, scattering huge crystals, or floating
off in fleecy mist. Often a current lifts u])", like'the rounded back
of a mighty monster, to plunge and rise again 100 feet below.
From lop to bottom the surging Hood is one'mass of su'iwy foam,
enamelled here and there with spines of pea-grccn. Theja^ged
wall of the cliff is 20 to 30 feet above the water. Against thisUic
current is often thrown in mad fury, to leap high up its sides ;md
to fall again into curling pits several feet lower than the 'rener.d
level.

Imatra is not a cascade, nor is it ,1 c.itar.ict. nor yet .i rapid, but
a hybrid between them all. No rocks project from its bed, and
its l)oiling and tossing are not from obst.icles hidden beli>w, but
rather from its own mail impulse. In a straight line for jao
yards it looks like the lower and broken parts of a vertical
cataract, and could it be hoisted, and yet preserving its present
form.it would seem a mighty cascade with a sheet of snowy foam,
showing occasionally ma.sscs of unbroken green. It roars finely,

469

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'V V

1 1

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I ■•

470

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

with the dominant tone of a monster splash ; yet under it all is a
deep bass, rich but ycl mellow. On the left bank, the rising hill
is densely clothed in spire-formed fir-trees and yellow pine, whose
trunks seem to have caught and imprisoned the sunlight, so j-el-
low are they, lifting through the green foliage about them. The
other bank is covered witii birch in delicate feathery leaf, and
with trunks and branches of silvery white. Walking at 1 1 o'clock
at night in the weird twiligiit through this birch wood, I discovered
a jiretty effect from the waterfall. The trees seemed alive with
countless myriads of cicad;e playing upon their bony chords,
and yet there was Tiot a noisy insect about, nor was there a breath
ot air stirring. It was the tinv echoes of the waterfall sent back
by .nillions of leaves and twigs. There is a prett)" liotel on the
precipice overhanging the fall, '.uibowered in birchen \\nod, where
50 to 100 guests are entertained in a vcrj* comfortable manner by
polite attendants. l'"our versts below, the river again tumbles
in another fall, with surrounding scenery of a truly picfuresciue
character.

But I must go bacK a while. A run of four hoiu's from .St.
Petersburg brought us to W'iborg. a pretty f)lil t<nvn in l""inland,
with a population of 17,000. It is built on a jagged peninsida, at
the head of a small ba}' running up from the (iulf of l'"inland. At
one time it was strongly fortified. The old broken-down walls
and earthworks run entirely around the main town and form a
.sort of promenade, frt)m which nice views are had over the bay
on one side and over the river, with deep indentations antl rocky
promontories on the other. A part of this pronu-nadi' is turned
int(j a garden or park 100 and 200 }-.n'ds wide, and bending and
running a third t)f a mile. This is well plantetl with young lin-
dens and pretty shrubbery. A picturesque old fortress, with
octagonal dungeon tower, seven stories high, and flanked by a
.strong castle, ccn'ers a bold rock inside the town and makes a very
striking picture. The priiie, however, of the Wiborgers is a private
park, Mon Repos, open to the public, a good walk out of the
town. The owner li.is taken advantage of a rocky, indented shore
line, backed by granite precipices and wooded slopes and low hills,
with massive rock islands in front, to make one of the prettiest
of little parks. It has a small castle on an island some hundred
feet high, look-out observatories, kiosks, jiavilions, and grottos,
with the woods so cut as to present many pretty vistas, and with
soft, restful bays nestling in green wood, spreading along the
shore, and only lacks a soft, southern atmosphere to make it a
most restful repose.

From Wiborg small but comfortable steamers run up the river,
and then through a canal with rivS locks to Lake Saima, and thence
over it and its connecting lakes into the centre and toward the
north of I'"inland. The trip on the canal is really charming, now
along a canalized river and then through artificial water-ways.

ii 'iiilli!

!;;■

A CANAL IN FINLAND.

• it all is a
rising hill
lie, whose
It, so j-el-
em. The
leaf, and
1 1 o'clock
iiscovered
ilive with
y chords,
e a breath
sent back
tel on the
>0(i, where
iianner b)'
1 tumbles
ictiiresque

; from St.
1 l'"inland,
ninsiila, at
iiland. At
own walls
lul form a
M- the bay
and rocky
■ is turned
iding and
.•ounj; lin-
rcss, with
iketl by a
kes a verj-
s a private
•ut of the
ited shore
1 low hills,
: i)retticst
e hundred
d grottos,
, and with
along the
make it a

the river,
ind thence
nward the
ning, now
ater-ways.

Now the steamer runs along a dark narrow stream, with margins
of firs and silver birch ; then through a short run of artificial chan-
nel, lifted by handsome granite locks, from wiiich it again emerges
into a pretty lake, bordered with country villas embowered in
woods and mirrored in placid waters. Nu outlet is seen, but
suddenly a bend around a rock)- promontory brings one into other
little rivers with other sets of locks, and again into other lakes,
with headlands, creeks, and bays, studded with little islands, and
at last, after being lifted 256 feet, into Lake Saima, which e.x-
tends by its connecting lakes from the6ist up to the T^th parallel
of latitude, and spre.uls with innumerable arms, all twisted, bent,
and distorted, over two degrees of longitude.

Finland is ixeeminently the land of Likes. Looking upon one
of the correct topographic.d maps, the blue-tinted lakes so mark
the whole that one would think the water covers equal surface
with the land. They have not regular shore lines, but are so
!)roken into creel-s .ipd b,i\-s; are so twisted in all directions; are
so pierced by proiv.-ontitries and headhuuls ; and so covered with
innumerable i.-^land:;; in parts so narrow, ami then cpiickly so
spre.iding out— that the water upon the map looks like huge sea
monsters. There are three lake systems, running from near the
shore of the Ciulf of I''iidand up into the north, besides Lake La-
tloga. partly in Russia. Saima is I'inland's principal lake. There
are two other long ones, but not so large, nor lia\e the)' so many
arms and other connecting lakes. Small steamers \)\y ove'- Saima
in daily lines between several ports, and small ships are towed
from near its northern end, laden with lumber, iron ore, tan bark,
and tar, to the Gulf of Finland tlirough the canal. The trip from
Wilmanstrand, near the mouth of the canal and the terminus of a
railroad, up to Llensalmi was most enjoyable. There is no grand
scenery ; none of the islands or headlands are over 100 feet
high until reaching Njslott, some 70 miles, but they arc by
the hundreds. Some are wholly granite rocks, but generally
wooded ami green. The granite, however, is not repulsive,
being always covered with a gray moss, brightened to a light
green ne.u' the water. So constantly are the islands in view, that
there are few points where the eye can catch a reach of more than
four miles. At one time, however, we could see :30 miles off, but
then only through a narr(-.w channel.

Half-way up to Kuo|)io we stopped at N'\slott, a pretty place,
with a fine old castle, covering an island rock, with four handsome
turrets and heavy walls deeply marked by cannon-shot. The
views from several high points in the town are exquisite. It is
built on a set of islands, divided by channels connecting the upper
and lower lakes, through which the dark water runs in fine cur-
rent. 1 was struck here by a sort of water weed, or long grass,
which grows from the bottom of streams, even where six or more
feet deep, bearing a white star flower with golden centre. The

■I

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irli'J

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47»

A RACE WITH TJIE SUN.

r '

i 11

■•?

■r /■ J

flower is only seen in an eddy or still water below a rock or
bridge, but where the current is swift the lon<r grass bends and
waves like swimming serpents below the surface, and looks like
threads of gold or silver enamelled in green and bronze. It
grows in all the lakes, but it was at Nyslott that it was most
beautiful.

After leaving this place, the run to Kuopio was charming.
The hills were h gher, the farm lands finer, and many of the farm-
houses very prett\-. I will here state that throughout Finland the
cultivators of the soil do not live in villages, as in most of old Con-
tinental lands, but on their individual holdings. Frequently these
are so small that the farm-houses are quite near each other, and
form somewhat of hamlets. Some, however, are (juite large, and
the barns and out-houses numerous, and some fine. Generally
the buildings arc wholly unpainted, but occasionally a large house
and barn would give variety in deep-red, with white window
trimmings. The Finns are fine farmers — plow well, manure well,
and save every thing. Nowhere is seen finer barky, which
grew better and better the farther north we went, up to the
67th degree. I am told it is good up to the 69tii. and is
brought down to the southward for seed. The r>e has a fine
appearance, Init the kernel is small. It is e.xported to Russia for
seed. It is grown only to a very limited extent about the
65th degree, though we saw some as high .is the ''><')th.
The stalks in some fields were full)' six feet high, jmssibly the
average w.is considerably over five feet. Tiie st.md of b.irley,
rye, oats, and potatoes is always gooil, but the oats, with few ex-
ceptions, are light-headed. Ilemp of good (piiility, but not over
three feet high, is (piite common on the I. ike huuis or in-
terior. Harley about the 67th paniUel matures in eight weeks
after being put into the ground, hence its excellence for seed.
F'arm lands along the lakes, and indeed throughout middle and
eastern h'inland, are comparatively scattered, and generalK' of
small extent. The whole country is full of rocks, either vast
masses of protruding granite earth-ribs or in boulders, many ol
them of huge dimensions. Frt)m among the.se the farmer has to
pick out his fields for culti\atioii.

We reached Kuopio in the late afternoon of Sunda\-, the JQth.
We at once drove to a handsome park on a little j)romontor\' run-
ning out into the lake, where we saw b.mners and a great con
course of people. There were 2,000 or 3,000 peoi)Ie enjoying the
Sunday afternoon, the young men in their best clothes, and the
women in their whitest kerchiefs. The females, old <ind young,
wear .1 handkerchief, generally white or colored, folded on the di-
agonal and tied under the throat. A long line was formed, and
probably 100 couples were dancing on the green swan! to music
made by a military band. Games were going on among the more
boisterous. One of these was amusing. A smooth pole, a foot

I /

PECULIARITY OF NORTHERN SUNSETS.

473

a rock or
bends and
looks like
onze. It
was most

charming,
f the farm-
inland the
jf old Con-
-■ntly these
otlier, and
lafLjc, and
Generally
^rge house
e window
uuirc well,
cy, which
up to the
;h. and is
has a fine
Russia for
about the
the «A\\.
>ssibly the
of barley,
th few ex-
it not over
ds or in-
jiht weeks
• for seed,
liddle and
:nerall\- of
:ither vast
■;, ni.my ot
ner has to

. the JQth.
mtory run-
great con
joying the
s, and the
nd young,
on the di-
rmed, and
1 to music
I the more
ole, a foot

in diameter, was mounted on strong, firm legs. Two young fel-
lows would climb this, locking their lc"s under it, and then, with
bags filled tightly with dry grass, would endeavor to knock each
other off by pounding over the head. Rarely more than two or
three blows were given before one or the other would tu.nble
over, to the great amusement of the boys and girls looking on.
We saw several contests, and, to the credit of the boys, tlid not
see any thing but the best humor. The boys and young men up
here have their own sports, and do not hire a picked nine to do
athletics for them. The American rage for professional base-ball
is very nearly akin to that of tlie effeminate taste of Rome, when
people paid to see others fight, and were soon overrun by the
hardy sons of the north, who delighted in themselves engaging in
all kinds of hard, manlj' sports.

Overlooking the town is a mountain of 700 feet higli, and on
it an observatory. From this is an extraordinary panorama.
Spread arounil 20 to 30 miles are rolling green forests, and hills
and sheets of placiti water. Nowhere do the hills rise higher
than the spot on which we stood. To the north and south the
lake or lakes lay in all sorts of irregular shapes — here in rounded
bays, there in long arms, now in sheets, and then in the narrow
streams. As far as one could see toward the S(juth, the water
was spread with islands of various sizes and of many shapes. I
distinctly counted 150. AmoHL^ them the lake would shine as
sheets of silver, then run off in threads, again to wiilen into sheets,
and to bend off and lose itself among the hills. To the east and
south the woodeti hills encompassed lakes and streams, and
showeti small patches of cultivated farm lands. I have never seen
any large view which presented water and land so equally inter-
mingleil — nowhere a mt re water picture, nowhere a simple land
picture. In a fourth )f the panorama \vat<;r predominated, in
the rest the land, hut in any direction one looked there was
enough of both to make a complete scene. And yet there
was one thing satlly wanting : there was no warmth of coloring ;
no genial atmosphere to make one feel he would like to wander
among the woods, or over the hills, or float upon the water.
No spot in this far north can woo one to enjoy a dreamy, restful
inaction. We watched the sun drop down into his cold northern
couch. Even he seemed loth to finti rest in so uncongenial a
clime. From the instant his lower limb touched the horizon
there intervened several minutes before the last ray was hidden.
Last winter, when near the etjuator, I could almost see the sun
move as he dropped to his rest, and tlie tints and hues of sunset
were of so short duration, so fleeting, that they were gone almost
before the eye could fully catch them. Before a delicious color-
ing could fix itself upon the retina it would vanish, and another
as beautiful would take its place ; tint melted into tint, tones
dissolved like floating mists.

\'y

-:<

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■ii

474

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

l^ '

" Tlie sun's rim dips ; the stars riisli out;
At line stride comes the dark."

Here it is all different. A sunset glow seems painted upon the
sky, and the cloud-tints appear almost stable. I saw bands of
gold and yellow and red and purple drawn along the horizon,
and after turning from looking in another direction for some
minutes, I was almost pained to find the same carpet-lines athwart
the low sky ; and after the sun has gone uniier, the bright color-
ings last as if indelibly fixed.

The midnight twilight of the far north also differs in tone very
much from the fleeting twilights of more southern latitudes, even
as high up as Chicago. There one has a somewhat changing at-
mosphere, and, one may say. a fleeting grayness. Here the gray
is crystallized, and aiinost as fi.xeil as in a picture on canvas. It
may be fancy, but to me it brings an intense feeling of loneli-
ness ; much the same feeling as I have felt when high up on an
Alpine glacier. The finest scene is cold, and the atmosphere so
tones every thing, that one feels he is looking through slightly
smoked glass, and that, too, when the air is of crj'stal clearness.

From Idensalmi on thelakes, about 230 miles north of Wiborg,
we posted 138 miles across the country to Uleaborg, near the
head of the (lulf of Hothnia. (^ur veiiicles were of three kinds.
On most routes we had a sort of dog-cart, with nice springs, on
others a cart with springs to the seat alone, and on one a simjile
box set down on the axle. The stations are from 7 to 12 miles
apart, varying to suit the f.u'm-houses, there not being farming
lands at regular intervals. We would frc(iuently pass over several
miles of flat, oozy tracts, growing pine and silver birch, without
a house, and then over a broken country with boulders and pines.
Where there were farms they were generally small, but, being finely
managed, produced admirable crops. May is greatly valued, and
every patch of grass is cut.

It rains so freiiuently, and the drying quality of the air is so
deficient that hay is cured in the central or lake regions on racks.
These are sometimes quite large and of long poles, one above
the other, two or three feet apart, and laid on upright posts 20
or more feet high. On these the cut grass, after lying on the
ground a day, is hung until thoroughly cured; on them, too, are
cured the tender twigs of birch, elm, and ash, for sheep and goat
fodder. In general, however, sticks eight or so feet high, with
pins a couple of feet long stuck into them at intervals of a foot
or two, are run into the ground throughout the meadow. The
grass is hung up on them instead of being thrown into hay-
cocks to cure. All hay must be housed for the long winters,
and, consequently, must be thoroughly cured. Another peculiar
feature of farming exists. Rye and barley are dried by fire be-
fore being threshed, and every large farmstead has several houses
These are of logs close laid on moss-filled

for this purpose.

if > '

AN ODD STEAM BATH.

475

d upon the
\v bands of
he liorizon,

I for some
icH athwart
ri<^lit color-

II tone very
tildes, even
haiiLjin^f at-
re the ^M-ay
canvas. It
% of Umeli-
h up on an
iDsphere so
^'h sHghtly
clearness,
of Wiborjj,
^, near the
hree kinds,
sprinj^s, on
le a simple
to \2 miles
\Y^ farming
ver several
:h, without

and pines,
jeini^ finely
/alucd, and

c air is so
s on racks,
one above
it posts 20
\\v^ on the
m. too, are
p and goat
hit^h, with
s of a foot
dow. The
into hay-
11 g winters,
er peculiar
by fire be-
cral houses
moss-fillcd

chinks. In them, on cross-beams, the grain is hung, as tobacco
is with us, and a hie is made in rock-built furnaces, the stones
generally being in quite a pile around the flue, so to retain and
give out a regular heat. One can tell these houses by the smoke-
stains over the door-way, this being the only outlet for smcjke.

At the station, where we spent our first night, we found these
houses are put up to another and very droll use. Abinit ten o'clock
a number of hands, men and women, came in from the hay-field.
.Soon 1 noticeii them coming out of the dwelling house in white
overalls — a sort of night dress, — .md going to one of these dry-
houses. I followed and found that the house was a regular steam
bath. A dozen naked men were perched on an upper tier of
joists, whipping themselves with birchen branches, on which the
leaves were left. The room was so filled with steam that I could
not see until I lit a match. A woman was throwing tlipperfuls
of water over the pile of hot stone, and thus making steam.
They were all much amused at my curiosity. At first I supposed
the woman did not mind the n.ikctl men, because they were clad
thoroughly in smoke and steam. Hut I soon found it arose not
from this, but from an entire lack of mock modesty, for the
men soon emerged into the open air as red as boiled lobsters,
and reeking with sweat, and sat around to wipe off and cool,
as the elite do in a Turkish bath. The light whipping takes
the place of the shampooing in our baths. After the men had
colten through, the women went in and took their sweat. M.k-
ceedingdiffidence prevented me waiting to find if they came out in
nature's adornments to cool as the men tlid. Like Lot's wife,
however, I could not help looking over my shoulder, and discover-
ed that women as well as men get exceeding red when half-
cooketl. At another place we saw several girls, from 10 to 15,
standing in front of one of these drying establishments, a few
paces fiom the road. They did not flee, although their only
garment was maiden modesty. This is one of the Asiatic
habits of their ancestry, not yet discardeil in the less-frequented
parts of Finland. " lloni soit qui mal y pense." Adam and Eve
did not discover their want of clothing until their eyes were
opened by sin. Let us hope that lack of guile is at the bottom
of this people's want of conventional modesty. I regret to
report, however, that the birth stat-stics show a rather high
rate of illegitimacy, but below that of Moscow or Vienna. Hy
the way, I think I omitted to state that in the Volga we saw men
and women, without bathing-dresses, bathing, not exactly to-
gether, but only a few feet apart, and with no sort of screen
between them.

The Finns show a very decided resemblance to the Mongolians
in type; rather flat faces and stubby noses, and stems of the ears
bulging as if bee-stung. They are not a bad-looking people, and
evince a great desire to please. Speaking not a word of their lan-

•t

476

.'/ KACJ-: wiTU THE srx.

I 1

(• ^'

•di

gua^c, \vc have been forced to decided frcciloms in making our
wants known. We marched into their kitciiens, into tlieir dairies,
and into their store-moms to point out what we wished. They
invariably seemed amused and never annojeil at this lack of form
on our part. Our guide-book has a short lexicon. We occasion-
ally find a word for the thing we wish, and instead of trying to
pronounce it we point it out in the book, ami, to the credit ol ilie
people, wc have only found tw<i or three oiil peo[)lr wiio could not
read. I learn it is the boast that every one can read the Hible who
was not too oKl to go to school within the past 15 or 20 years, and
nearly all write aiul can cipher. In this respect they are vastly in
advance of their Russian brothers, iSo jjcr cent, of whom do not
know 'heir A li C's. The bishops (Lutheran) in Kinlaiul refuse
to confirm any one who cannot re.ul the catechism, and thus force
them to learn, for tliey .ire ail true to their iliunh.

I have taken advantage of our license as ignorant strange rs to
pry into much of the home life of these people. (_)n our posting
trips the stations are at the houses not jf inn-keepers, but of a
better class of farmers. Tiie horses ,ire invariably in the pastures.
While the\' were being made read)' I went on voyagi-s of discov-
er)'. The farm-houses are placeil about a (luadrangle more or less
large. The people have an air of slovenliness, but their kitchens
anil utensils and their ilair)-rooms are clean, and the tea and coffee
service and pl.iles tctnpt liu- .ippetite l)y tluir bright, >liin)' neat-
ness, and some of tlie wonui\ ratlur ama/td me by their exceed-
ing care ; for e.\am])le, I s.nv one w.ish fresh, clean-looking "ggs
before putting them into a pot to boil. One has but to look iito
their delicious-looking milk-coolers to get a desire to tlrink the
milk. I-Lvery farm, large and small, has its dairy. .Some make all
their milk into butter and cheese ; others sell to largi r dairymen
in the neighborhood, who make cheese and butter on an extensive
scale. In every jiart I have seen the cooler is the same — matleof
sweet wood, broad, and only three inches ileep. These, after
being emptied, are w.ished with a switch broom, thus reaching the
smallest chine. They are then rinsed and filled with boiling water to
stand for some time, after which they are placed in the air to dry. So
many are used that one is never filled when soilden. At a moder-
ate-sized farm 1 saw cpiite a hundred of them. The milk is delicious,
and the butter unsurpassed. We have hi.vuriated on clabber, one
of (jod's best gifts to man. The peo])le in our northern .States are
sadly ignorant in not a])preciating this product of the cow. If I
had to m.ike my choice between two cows, one which gave rich,
sweet milk, which woukl not sour, and the other which gave clab-
ber directly in nice, creamy fl.ikes, I would take the latter every
time. But, thanks to a beneficent Provitlence, a good CvAV fur-
nishes rich, creamy milk for our coffee and strawberries, and the
genial warmth of the sun turns it at the right time into glorious
bonny-clabber. Finland sends large amounts of butter to Sweden

I !

77/ A /'/.\/.-.V 1'I^•J^ DAIRYMEN.

477

making our
tlicir dairies,
ilicd. TliL-y
lack of form
\'c occasion-
of tryin^^ to
credit ol 1 he
U) coiiltl not
le Miiile ulio
o years, ami
are vastly in
hom do not
ilaiid refuse
li lliu> force

str,in^'i.rs to
our posting'
MS, l)ul of a
he pa-^tures.
of discov-
more or less
eir kitchens
a and coffee
shiny neat-
leir cxceed-
xikinu; "i;^'s
to look nto
i> driid-; liu'
ine make ,ill
er tlair)Mnen
m extensive
le — made of
riiese, after
reach int; the
in^f water to
irtodry. So
.At ,1 nioder-
is delicious,
clabber, one
n States ,ire
-• cow. If I
\ L,M\e rich,
h pave clab-
latter every
)d cow fur-
ies, and the
ito },doriou.s
• to Sweden

.nnd to Russia. 1 suspect it was the lony contact with the cleanly
Swedes which made these pcojile neat in their household and
dairy matters.

For seven months of the year cattle are housed. The barns
have very convenii-nt shallow st ills, with yokes fur the animal, in-
stead of ropes to go around the iiornsautl thusbruiselhis tenderest
part of the horned animal. Over each stall is a birclun tub, liold-
in>,' nearly a bushel for the cow or calf to feed from, and a broad
alley between the stalls. It is now summer, and the ciw-liouscs
are not used, but every thni^ is in its i^lace ready for use, — at least
this was the case in over a dozen houses 1 looked into. Close by
the horse and cow stable is ;i small separate room, with a large iron
kettle, larger or smaller, in proportion to the si/e of the house,
set in a stone furnace. In this the dairy utensils are washed
and scaldeil, ami the food of the cattle is moked in winter.
AH fi'od, except hay and straw, is cooked, and in the winter
fed more or less warm. Even in the suiunier horse-food (ex-
cep lia\) is in the shape of coarse bread. Moscpiitoes, gnats, and
night-tiies .ire so bail that smothered fin '^ .ire built about the cow-
lots in the evening. The poor irutes stand or lie about these
when the smoke is so dense that one would think it suffocating.
The i)easts evidently enjoy it, and not being forced to switch their
tails could give their entire energies to llu; cud. Willie suggested
that tliey couki furnish read)--made jerkeil beefs, (^ur post-boys in-
variably carry three or four ring-^ of bread and some hay in the
cart to feed tlu-ir hi>rses at the end of the ^tage before going back.

At some stations we fouiul no mc'u. The women then brought
out the cart, went to the field for the horse, and hitched them up,
and were our post-boys, but generally we had bright little fellows
from lO to 12 years old, and a fewtinus little girls. The \\ ather
was showery while we were posting, and we thus lost considemble
time. I employed it in speering about and writing. Tr.ivel in
I'^inland is ridiculously cheap. A horse and c.irt, holding us two
and our light baggage, costs a little under five cents a mile. A
run of ten miles would take about an liour antl a half. It did us
good to see the real pleasure we afforded when we gave our lit-
tle post-boys and girls a half-mark, or ten cents, at the end of their
stage. At the farm-house or post-stations, where we spent the
nights, we had good beds, .i supper on bacon and raw fish, rye
bread, and Swedish hard bread (delicious), and as delightful milk,
cream, butter, and clabber as one ever ate, and, in addition to
these, very good coffee and sometimes eggs for bre.ikfast. And
the whole for two of us cost from 70 cents to$i. The travellers'
roomsatthc post-houses were delightfully clean, — one or two with
strips of carpet, others strewn with sweet fir-twigs. The little
tow-headed children were good-natured, and two or three pet hogs
invariably grunted under our wimlows, with a gentle squcu for a
crust. The hogs were always clean, and really not bad pets. We

'vil

I 1

478

./ A'./c/; //•//•// /■///•; sc.v.

V- 1

•>

R '•/

had always beautifully curlctl tailed tlo^s to keep us comi)any.
One stayeil with us 48 uiilis, aithoufjh \\c chan^^ed four or fivr
times dur post-boys. He ii.ul the most iii(iei)iiulentlj' double-
curled tail I ever saw. I le was evitleiitl)' wi II kiunvn at the differ-
ent stations. I think he n;co^ni/.ed us as free-born Americans, aiul
wi->hed to j;o home with us. We ^ot rid of him b)' dod^in^,' him.

l''innish has no affinity, I am told, with any luiropc.m languaj;e,
or perhaps any Asi.itic. It has no prepositions, hdrthem a suf-
fix is added. l''or e.xample, a s'v^u boartl h is on it " Uluum 50."
This means "To Ulu 50 versts." While " I'lust.i" nuans "from
U la." To show the difficulty of accpiiriuLj the lant^ua^e, a h'innish
laily saiil to me that she learned Russian quite correctly in a )ear,
while a Kussi.ni friend, a 'octter linj^uist than she, was two jears
in le,irninLi Finnish as well. And yet Russian is consiilerid a \ery
difficult l.inL^uaije to m.isfer.

The I'Mnns are a hard)'-lookintj people — not tail nor heav\-, but
firm. The nun have tawnv-colorcd hair, and, like the Russians,
cut it rather s(piarely .ironnd the naju' of the luck, but their hair
bein^ tliin, this manner of cutting,' does not give them tlie uncoutii
look of Russians, The l.itter have generally very heavy suits.
They cut it almost scpiare around llie head, and .is tluy go much
of the time, when at work, barehe.ided, the heav\- hair, b.mgi-d in
front anil square behind the ears, gives them a low, animal ix-
pressit)n. I s])eak of tlu' common man. The better classes and
the milit.iry shingle the rear hair, h'innish children ha\e heads
so flaxen that it amuses one. No flax i-^ so se\'erely white.
Their little faces, and the skin under their hair looks brown in
coin|)arison with the tow. The hair of the women is generally
light and }-eli<nvish — not so often tawny .is tliat of tlu' men, i)os-
sibly because their heads, being generall)' coviied by a h.mdker-
chief, are less browned by the weather. The skin of the old
women's faces usu.illy h oks tough I'nough to make s.id(lle-l),igs
of without ta!ining. .Some of the men have very light h.iir, l)ut
that is on the west, where they are more or less intermixi-d with
the Swicles.

I said the l'"inns were good farmers. Resides their fine fields
of r\'e. barley, and [jotatoes on lands not naturally rich, the beau-
tiful ditches ;iiui fine fences evince careful husbantlry. The land
is generally cultivateil in beds. The ditches dividing these beds,
gener.dly about two feet deep, and sodded .ibout two feet on each
side and down to the bottom, arc beautifully made. Mven this
sod to the bottom of the dit'jh is mown. Not a foot of grass
land is left ungrazed or un<Mtt All farms .are fenced in and fields
are separ.ited by fences. These are of light rails, \2 to 15 feet
long, laiil on each other, on an incline of .say 25 degrees, the k>wer
enil on the ground, ami .supported by two light ujirights fastened
together by birch withes, from four to six feet apart. The rails
lie upon each other between these u|)rights. and a light br.ice at

f/NAS GOOD /■.■IA'.]f/:A'S .I.V/) .1 .S/A7J.\f/ A' ' A',

47 y

s company.
four or five
tly ildiiblL'-
it tliL'dirfi'r-
criciiiis, ;mil

"••1k'"K '''111.
iM languai^H',
tlu'iii a siif-
Ulmim 50."
ir.iiis " fmin
r, a I'"iii!ii>li
ly in a year,
IS two years
Kri'd a \ rry

■ lu'.ivy, hut

c Russians,

it tliL-ir Iiair

:lic uiKiiulli

icavy .suits.

cy ;.;() niuili

r, h.iiif^ed ill

, nnimal r\-

classis and

have lieads

rely wliiti'.

Ks brown in

is f^cnerally

le men, \)'>^-

' a liamiker-

of tile (.ill

saddlc-ha'Ts

;lit liair, i)ut

mixed with

ir fine fields
h, the heau-
. The land
these beds,
feet on each
Mven this
oot of ^rass
n and fulds
2 to 15 fiel
■s, the lower
iUs fastened
. The rails
:ht brace at

alternate upri^jhts runs throu^jli the upper withe f-istenin^, and
rests on the ^jround some three or four feet off. Tlu' fences an-
about four anil a half feet liij;h and have the apnear.mce of rou^h
pickets set at an an^jle insteail of upright. Wc liave seen lum-
dreds of miles of fences aiul not a hundreil yards out of repair.
iMelds are entered throu^'h li^ht swiii^iiiL; .;,itcs (tr by iicit draw-
bars. The ^a-neral appearance of much of tiie country reminds
one of parts of Wisconsin. I'he people iiere have inherited from
their fro/en climate the necessity of economy, piTsever.uue, and
ever-watchful care. Tliey have learned that waiiuth .iiid fo<id
come from steady l.ibor aloiu', and with them muscular labor is
not lacking of the honor which should be the result of (iod's fiat,
" Hy the sweat of thy face slialt thou earn thy dail\- bread." We
honor labor in America, but we think it the more liouomble when
we let the other fellow do it.

Youn^ America, north as well as south, rushes to the citv in the
hope of fine clothes, ^a)- times, and little sweat. The result is
inevitable, lirilliant, idle, indolent, and luxurious youn^ .Vmerica
is havin;4 his phice taken i)y the hardy ■^ons of northern Kuroiie.
They come not with the l)attle-axe and the iron mace, killing' and
slayiiiL,', but with sturdy muscles, iron spades, and picks, comjuer-
iii^ and sujiplantini,'. lirii;ht and iiitelli^'ent youni; .\merica needs
not be killed. It will die out and its place be taken by the immi-
grant it now laughs at and calls uncouth. Sic semper I 11 j
battle may be to the swift, but the land inevitably goes t > the
strong and to I'.e enduring. The l''inns are a sturdy r.ice, bn;
just now they arc a somewhat an.xious people. Last winter w,is
here and in Russia the coKlest known within too years, and >o far
the summer has been the coolest felt within 140 years. The grain
of all sorts shows no sign of yellowing, and is from two to three
weeks later than usual, and but little hay has been made. .An
earl)' frost would be disastrous, ,iiul some are feeling (|uite blue.
It seems singular to see rye being put in the ground for next
year's crop, while cU)se by it is a waving fieUl of this year with
heads )-et unfilled. The grass laiuls ])rescnted a busy scene on
the few sunny days we have had among them. Man, woman, and
child were out, all making hay while the sun shone, aiul at ten
o'clock, tlu' evenings looked almost .is bus)' in the lia)--fieKls as
did the mid-da)-

Uleaborg is a [)rett\' city of ne.irly Jo.ooo people ; iloes a heavy
export business in tar and fish, .md is the centre of the lumber
trade. A large number of ships, mostly barges, lie out at anchor
near it and in many of the creeks and ba)s on the coast up to
Tornea. We must have seen thirty or mon- betwi'en these points,
all being loaded with lumber for ICngl.iiul and (iermaii)'. A large
lumber traffic is also done from the lake regions tlinnigh the
canal. It, however, is principally for .St. IV-tersburg and the east-
ern Baltic ports. The rafts are general!)- towed b)' small tugs,

1^1

■ulv.

^i!

1 ■

;»

; hi: !

. ■/'

48o

A A'./t / ////■// ////. M .\\

',1 .»

! <

{

i ;-.

and somr we saw bcin^; lirawii by moans of a windlass tinned l)y
.1 horse attaclicd to a swcej) u|)on the raft. There i-^ also at
Uleabor^r an extensive tanniiifj business. A very ^ood liarness
.mil sole leather i> made by tisinfj the bark lA a small willow bnsli
whicii ^'nows ever\*where on lite lowish lands and is substitu'ed
for oak jHBcl hemlock.

Last iJetember at .Sin^rapnre, within a dejjjnc of the equator,
we ft;lt an intense di^ire ti' visit that inon>t(r nothing, \\liiih
bends the mightiest ocean currents, and to stand astride that
gossamer ti;,'ment of science which stills to a ze|)!i_\r the Ik reest
troj)ic.il storm. I'inding ourselves a few days .igo mily ,i deuice
and a iialf .iway from another geoi^r.iphie.d tiction which bids tlu-
gre.it ruler of the d.iy to p.iuse m his daily rounds and for m.u'ly
.1 half-moiTth, tieiiies him his ni:;htly rest- tin- intangible .md iin-
palp.djle arctic circle, which fnr lidii.; mnnllis ImiiS the (h'luon ><{
darkness f.ist in his frozen grasp. ,ind tn •■ur \c>U!ig im.i;^in.iti'>ns
has been a necklace of Irost hung up>>ti tiic bosom of tin iii.rili.
ern world ; I'lnding om'->el\es s<> dose to th.it iwei't I.den wliich
•^Mme scientist-' think is w.irme<l intutiMiliiiiioiis diliciou-- summer
li\- nii'thcr-earth- ceiitr.il fires, whence man w.is forever b.ini^hi.'d
w hiu he presunieil to le.irn th.it which >elonged onlj- to hi-, etern.il
.M.iker, and .iround which is thrown an imp.issible b.irrier of crys.
tal swords tl.isben;^ in icy l)rightu<;ss . so closi- to that rosy home
of the Horeali- r,i».e, whii h <l.irt-' through the polar opening in
earth's roundeci dome, .md dancing .ithw.irt the sk\' d.izzU - us
wit!: its flitting spiemlor; — rmdiiig I'msclves su close to the pol.ir
circK, we res<(iived to enjoj- the si-usalion of being within the
frigid zone.

A run of tneivi- hours mi .t tiny steamer along the coast, within
man\' gree.i •^l.mds. off in.mv little ports where the s.iw-nuil
buzzes, .m.l bcfon which lay man}' ships to be.ir off lumln r to bi-
built into the homes of other l.mils ; a ple.is.ml s.iil brought us
to the mouth of the I'orne.i Kiver, whii h brings down an enor-
mous volutne of w .Iter from l..ipl.ind's m< Iting snow s. Thi-^ is th-'
dividing nwr belut-eii KiiS'-.i.m I'inl.iiul ,ind northern .Swi-dcn.
( )n the Russian side is tite town of rorma. .md on the Swcdi-^h
pretty ilaparaiui.i. connected by .i long fool-bridgc- over whicli U'/
passed to visit the Swedish ironlier a'tcr lo o'clock .it night.
Here we -.aw m.m\ evidences .)f Swedisli neati.ess and order.
The houses, homes of ne.irl\- j.cxx) people, are of ch.irmingl\' iie.it
hewn or sawed logs, , ill p.iinted prettily, gener.ill)' of .i luiitr.il red
tint with white trimmings .iloiig windows m\A corners, m-.irly all
with gardens and <>n cle.m stncls, .md iii .irly ever) other one
with a letter and p.iinr b<;v, showing the people to be .i reading
one. We saw many of the ih'o|i|c promi'n.iding. .ill well dressed
and tidy, even one of them who w.is tpiietl)' imdiil.it iiig from one
side of the street to tlie other, .md enjoying gre,iily .i reolution
not to go home till morning, .md ;is morning wonlil ci ;ne vo ■'ooii
h.id l.ii<l in .i he, ivy sMp|)ly of • br.iii viii. "

TORN i: A Rri'i-.R A.vn f/s scrx/ Rv

.»H,

; turned by
: IS also at
nd liarness
imIIow bush
siihstitu'cd

u- ciiiiator,
liii^, wliicli
iStridi- that
Lhr rurccsl
l\' a (Ic^ri'c
■ii \^uU tlu-
1 for luarly
hie ,(!)(! iin-
(.- (l<nii)ii (if
ii.iL,iiialiiiiH
' tin- iimtli-
'".lU-ii uliich
HI'- siiuiiiKr
I r haiiishf.'il
I l)i-. fteriKiI
n\r of trys-
losy Imnu"
"|)iini\;4 '"
da/./li s us
o the polar
within tin-

)asl. within
u- s.iw-niill
ndu r to 1)1'

M'ii;.;iit ns

^ II .m cnor-

riii-, IS th'-

n S\\i<liii.

u- Swc(li-^1\

r w hiili \kf

: at iii;.;ht.

mil (irtliT.

liiivdy in'at

ii iitral red

nearly ail

iitlu;r oiif

• a rcidinj^

ill dressed

.; from one

i> (ihition

111- >0 -,(1011

I will say here, for flu- hetiefit of dur i)Mlii-,Mnen an.! tli, ir .irink-
inj; pets, tiiat throip^lioiit Russia and somruliat in Kialaiid wc
iiave seen luaii)- men in every ^.ta^'e of .iriiiikeiincs,, fi,,|ii the -gen-
tleman eiidcavorinj,' to walk a straii^-lit line, to tin- stiipi.I drunkaid
asleep ai^Minst a wall, but have not seen a sin.^K; one who w.is the
least noisy on the streets; nor have we seen a poli^eiiiin interfere
with the <piiet sta<„'t;crer, except to help him (,, m..iint a eurlv
stone or to ^et into a drosky. As hei;^ .is In- d^es n..t distarb
uthers he is all "ved the personal liberty ..f ^;ettiii'4 drunk .i; he
pleases. TiK'y r..c()<^ni/.(; the doetrine of the economy of vice,
and jiermit a fool to (piietl\' kill himself rather than take cire <»f
and protect him a;^ainst himself .it the expense of the st.iti-. ,\lter
all. has Jack not as iniuh rii^ht to catch his death by sleepiii;^ in
a ditch with a heavy load of whiskey .ib...ird. ,e. Mr. riuiii[)li.is
to pull apoplexy <iut <>f a di^li of terrapin, nr Miss (Irace to court
consumption with thin sIidc-, .md ti;4hl lacis? The woiM j j.oi-
tin.,' very full, and the fool-killer in.iy )et be reco;.;ni/.ed .is .i val-
uable f.ictor ill political ecunoiny.

r<u-ne.i is .1 few minutes below the (rfi'.h p.ir.illi'l. Tlieiue up to
the Tt^llt we rode in little c.irts, |)ostiii;.,' .is we had done in the-
interior, and .is we afterw.irds did back ti. I'lealxiie;. The ride
w. Is a delightful line and the scenery very ch irmiM;.(. The river
,ivc'r.«;.;es iie.iily a third of ,i mile in uidtli. ni'W tl wiiv^ for mik"*
in .1 pl.icid str<'.im with stioii;^ current, .ind then f •!• a mile or si>
a d.ishinLj rapid, nisliiii;,; as violently .is the r.ipids above the
Americanfall.it Ni.i;.;aia. Here it would widen into .i sheet •«>
l)riiad as to desi-rve to be char.icteri/ed .i lake ; then C'>iitr.ul»n(i,
it would rush in .i narrow bed .iml r-'.ir in deafeiiin;^' n«iise. J/.tr
out iiito the r.ipids, .md sometimes .ilnii -t icross the stre.mi, ,irc
built many stnui;; fences or frames, .immi!,' which diirinj^ the sea-
son tr.ips and nets .ire set fur s.iluion. I he cilcli is v< ry {;re;it,
.mil next to lumlMr is the princip.il e\|)Mri. link fmm the river,
at dist.mces varjin;^ frmn "iie to two miles, ,ire r.in:;es ,,f broken
hills from lO) or 200 to j\oc) or vx' f'l t li: 'ji ,iiid Ihjimi;.; dnwii to
the stream. Their crests .ire wnnded. iim tl\' in Ir - .md |tines,
while the slopes an- ntme or less cultivated, with nd f-irm-hmises
but uiip.iiiited b.irns, cow- .iiu! Iki\- houses. I'leipiently these
biiildinj^s follow so closely one to .mother as t'l appear a succes-
sion of sc.ittered vil!aj;es. All c.itlle bein^ housed for six to
eii,dit months niakes so many buildii^.js neccss.iry th.it ipiite ,\
sin.ill f.irin seems a hamlit. Ihe .Swedi-h side nf the liverpie-
sents the more prosperous home life. Hut the f.uins on either
are so many, th'' houses so abund.mt, and t!ie ci'ps (,f birles .iml
potatoes so bounliful th.it it w.is hard to realize that we were just
outside the arctic circle. The scenery w.is pritty, possessing
many of the char.icti ristics of th.it shuwn by the Siisipieli.mna in
I'eiinsylvani.i. The tintinj,;, however, er'tireU- kicked warmth, and
li.ul too uniformly .i cold, ^reon tone. The .itmosphere had <i
darkened tone, something; like certain fine cut t;Iass in which lamp-

' *

' '. I

I J

■4

i t

48t

// J?.-1C/i WITH THE SUN.

'i/H

black sccins to have been dissolved. Anotlicr striking feature tip
here is a sort of ali-pcrvadinj^ silence. The world seems to be
hushed and <]iiiet. Hut still the trip was well worth makinf^ for
the scenery alon^ , and in that way repaid us for the fati!;i;e.

The second day from Tornea brotipht us to Aavasaki^a, an iso
latcd mountain 700 feet hij^h, and just below the circle, when tin:
sun was yet three to four hours up. The panorama from its
summit was mai^jtiificent. Around us for many miles lay, in
brok /n piles, low n'ountains, ftreen with forests, and hero and
i;hcrc bright with little sheets of water. The great river wound
amoncj tiie hills, cnmiiur from the north and swecpinjj; in a broad
clianncl below us, with 1 lands and a few scattered farms, and an
affluent stream coming from the cast with a fall, a few versts
away, whose roar was mellow and soothinj^ ; far toward the smjih
the river swept in a placifl sheet. But our eyes rested with in-
tense interest upon some blue hilis a deforce farther north, on
which for thiec days in each year old Sol rolls in vain cndeiviT
to end his lon^f diurnal run. Ilundreds of visitors, f-T whosr
benefit a pretty pavilion has been erected on the mou . ■ t(>]i,
come here in the three lon^ days (if June to look up< n i! •, mid
night sun. We spent two hours enjoying the splendid panorani,i,
and then dri^vc to a station five miles yet to the north, where " >
were to st ip for the night. There we took a fresh, strong, tougli
Finland hor~e, and after watching the sun set at 9.40, d.rovc tow-
ard the north pole, to spend the exact midnight, wiien we knew
■we woidd be miles within the fvigid zone.

It ma_\' have be(>n an idle fancy, hut there was a delightful
charm in the lonely drive along the baid<s of the splendid livcr,
which for a mile or so was a rushing rapid ; through lanes of silver
birch and tall firs lifting like sjiires on either side, and looking
upon the northern horizon, which stretched for m.uiy liegrces
east and west in warm and brilliant glow. A few long bantls o("
clouds lay close to the earth, like ribbons in pink, frini-ed with
flame, with others above them in gold and violrt, while tloatiii;
half way to the zenith were fleecy clouds in purple with goUlen
fringe. These brilliant dyes changed not nor melted away as one-
looked upon them, but seemed painted in living colors upon .in
eternal c.mvas ; clouds would slowly move, bi't their tints ,iiid
colorings seemed to move witii them. The only visiliic and
marked change was in .1 lengthening out of the glowing horizon
as the sun irioved below more to the east. We p.iuscd just .it I.'
and silently w.itched the str.inge and weirrl scene, ami my watch
showing exact midnight, Willie took out ;i book and re, id .1 page
by the bright light coming from due north. A bat tit w close to
our luadi, a toad Iiop[)rd jicross the ro.id, and we heard the tinki'"
of a distant cow-bell. How strange it sounded I there was no othei
living sonnd to be heard ; not the buzz of a single insect. A gen
tie murmur came from a river rapid a half mile or more aw ly

it (lli

P feature up
seems to be
1 inakinj^ for
fatic;ije.
iak;,a, an iso
Ic, wluMi th(;
ma from its
niics lay, in
ml hero and
river won ml
i;j; in a broad
inns, and an
a few vcrsts
ird the s^iaili
ted with in
ler nnrtli, on
ain endeavor
^, f'>r whose

OK , > : top,

D( n ill- mid-
id panorama,
th, where ^' •
;tronfj, ton^li
">, drove tow

hen we

kn(

a deli^^htfn!
)lcndid liver,
ancs of silver

and looking^
i.itiy dei^rees
on;^ b.'iiuls nf
frin;.;ed with
^■hile floatin.;

with golden

I away as one
ilors upon .in
eir tints and
' visible and
iwin^ horizon
sed just at \:
ml my watcli

II read a paije
llew close to

ard the tinkle
was no other
isect. A j;en
r more awav

// WEIRD MIDNIGHT IN THF. FRlCfD /.ONE. .,83

Its plaintive nnirnnir seemed to intensify the jirevailinj^r .silence.
IIow stranc^ely soundetl th.it cow-hell so f.ir towards The unapl
pro.ichable north pole I We were ne.irly upon the 67th decree ui
north latitude, and some n>ile ; witl.in tli.it circle which we had
always re;^'ariled as the s)iionyni of eternal fr,.st. Nnrthw,;nl the
woods openeil. ^Mvin;4 us a cle.ir view; .ih.iut us were tall birch
trees like sentinels in uniforms of froste-.l silver, t'aeir li'dit foli.i -e
bendin^f in plumes of l.ice, ami .i few fits in solemn ;^reen. .About
their roots were strewn boulders uf all .-izes, but over •;n.mul .ind
boulders were spread caipetin-s of or.iy moss so thPck th.it we
.sank into it to our aid^ljs. We cut b.uk on which to write our
names as souvenirs of this, our f.irthest northern tr.ivel. Wist-
fully and in silence we hioked at the [glorious picture' p.iinted on
the nortlurn sky, antl, mountiiiLj our cut, slowly trotted back to
our station, which we reached as the sun wa> just ri>in|^ \\\w\\ our
backs. We have .seen cpiite a number of to.uls f.ir uj) here, but
h.ive not heard a sound from one. They .im! (r< ;^s i.ike the place
of sin';inL,^-birds in the tro])ics. Here thev are now silent. The
ne.\t two d.iys we h.id .1 r.ither dism.il ride in liL;lu and cold r.iins,
but we cired not ; we had obtained what we came tea- a\\i.\ had
fine weather for it, .ind besides we h.id .ilready seei. ino:->t of the
road. We had, however, ;;ood weather f(u-our list d.iy's postia-^,
and for our run south by rail from I'le.ibor;.,' to 1 lelsiui^fors.

The r.iuro.ui carried us throie^h much in'.erestin;^ countr\-, witl)
thin kinds .ind little cuitiv.uion, until we c.nne to Lake N.isjari,
180 miles north of the south line of I-'inland 'I'hence there was
some extpiisite sceiierj-. We skirted this and Lake I'yh.ij.irvi
for nearly loo miles, now with wide water \ lews, .uul then with
bits of inlet and bays with Ioiilj promontories and isl.imls, and
a very consider.tble extent of f.irminL,' country, ^ivini^ the land-
scape some' of th.it delicious home .ind w.iter scener\' so nukh
admired on the north I".n;_;l.ind l.ikes. The country .ill .iloiit; the
Hothni.i c ).ist h.is much more of .Swedish char.icteristics th.m in
the central portions of the land. In the towns the better cl.isses
speak Sweilish almost entirely, and the f.irnis .and houses are pre-
tentious. Iiulecd, there are few countries in which there .ire s<j
j;ood f.irm-hou.->cs and b.irns. l''rom this down the rye w,is
nearly read)' for the sickle, .md we were in .1 decidedly temperate
zone.

Tammersft rs ami Tav.isteluius are two pictures(]ue towns, one
with .1 fine old cistle, .md .1 r.ipid river runnin;^ throiit;h the centre
with .1 f.ill of .about oo fi et, .tlfordiiiL,' a boundless w .iti'rpower, .i
most beautiful series of intermur.d pictures, and .1 ro.ir which cm
alw.iys be heard over the' noise of the town. The views, too,
from different points .d)out these two towns ,ire as line as hun-
dreds in other kinds which furnish the only attractions for long
excursions. .Swedish blooil aloni; the western siile of I'^inkind is
very app.irent .inioiiLj the women. They are better-lookin^j .md

I.I

■ il
•J

Hi--

"if

Bil •.■

> ; '

f?u

: 11 1

\ m

< .1 1|

>^!

4&I

^ Av/cVi /r/T-// r/z/s- .sv/iV.

not worked quite so hard as horses, as arc those of the inner lake
regions. \\\- saw many exceedingly pretty ones at station iiouses
all the way on our ride between Uleabor^ and tiie nortii circle.
Tiiree daiiL^litt. vs of one liouse were of a liehcate txpc of beauty
that would h.ive made them attractive in any jjarior. We saw
several photos from relatives in America, pictures taken in Min-
neai)olis and Wisconsin On our train was a youn;^' peasant ^irl
on liL-r way to Norlherii Michii^an. Shir will not have to work as
hard tlierc as iier sisterliood do in this land. Here tiiere is abso-
lute woman's ri^dits; they seem tliorou^hly iuikpciulent, and ex-
ercise the ri;4lit to do all tlie heavy iluties of life ([uite as freely .is
do tliL'ir husi),inds and brotiicrs.

1 was told of a custom amont; the purely I'innish peasantry of
the interior which show-; a verj- ])eculiar freedom between the
sexes — .1 species of marriaLje on trial. A couple live to'^ether as
man and wife — somewhat clandeslinely, but often with the knowl-
ed{je of the parents — for a year, after which, if they (inil the rela-
tionship conducive to happiness, they j^o before the pastor and
have the knot tieil by law and church. If not aj^'reeable they
separate, which separation does not hurt the i;irl .or other en-
gagements. The ])arents are, when co;4nizant of ilu; arrange-
ment, c;ireful to havi' witnesses to it. Then, if the man b.ieks
out, lie is forced to ^ive one-half of what he owns to the lU'siMleii
girl. Tin; man I'udeavors to <.'cl up the affair witiiout witnesses,
in which <wcnl '"■ \ not held. luil he is compelleil to supjjort the
offspiiiu;, if there In.' any, such offsjirin^ beiii;^ rccoL^i'.ized !))• the
gill's familw Infanticide in an\- of its forms is unkiiown in the
land.

At Tava^tehuus I saw a ^rouj) of li^ht or ten women, all well
dressed, on the pl.itform of the railway station. One of th>ni w.i--
a rosy-faced, [)rett)' giil of about 20. She carried a m.i;.;mtlciiU
bou(|uet,and w.is the recipient of much attention from the others,
who kissetl her twice round. When the last w.irnini; bell r.in;^
she was locki-d in the .irrns of an eUlirrly woman, who with stream-
ing eyes str.iin<'d her a;^'ain and again to her he.irt, and, I s.iw,
aski'il the good ( iod to bless her child. Tlccy were mother and
daughter. As the tr.iin pulled out the girl sto<'d upon the c.ir
platform and bade them .idieu w ilh wel cheeks. I5(il I thoii;;ht I
s.nv a ray — .i gleam u( cheery liope shining through her tear^. I
asked A m.m where she was going. " 1 ill Amerika — till Minnis-
sota," was the repl)-. Ah I I then read th.it hopeful light in her
te.irful eyes. She was leaving frientls anil kiiulred to go all .ilonc
to the f.u" off land, where her lover h.id gone before her, and where
she v.'as to join him, to fill the nest he had built up for his com-
ing m.ite. \\'ho knows what high i)l.ice-< the young to be h.itched
in that free nest may fill in the lake St.ite of the Northwest r

Ilelsingfors is a very pretty, finisheil town of fifty-odd thous,in<i
people. It is admirably p.ived, has fine public buildings, a preiry

J ' :

ic inner lake
ation liousL's
north circle.
10 of beauty
)i". Wc saw
:»kcn in Min-
pcasint ^irl
c to work as
here is abso-
le!it, and ex-
e as free!}- as

peasant r\' of
bitwein till'
; tot^ether as
th the knowl-
tind tile rela-
e pastor and
Tee.ibie tiiry

,or OliUT IMI-

tlu; arr,uii;i--
o man b.icks
tlie deserted
ut witnesses,
• support tile
p.ized i)y tile
•ciiown in tiie

nun. ali will
of tll'lll w.i-

niai^nificent
11 tlie otliers,
n;^ l)ell r.iii;.;
witii streani-
;, and, I s.nv,

niotlicr and
upon tlie ear
. I tlu>u;;lU I
lu r tear-, I

till Minnis-

i^iit in iirr
) j^o ail alone

r. and wh<'re
(or iii^ com

p in: liatcUt'd
itiuvot r
i<Kl tlioii^ani!
ings, a pretty

J/i:i.SIJVGFORS.

485

garden and esplanade, wiure music i> pl.i\ ed cacli cvuiu;; .uid
tiiousands sip tea, coffee, or beer, ami enji>y a soci.il time, riiero
aru- about the city some fine views and a noble Lutheran church.
The l""inns are nearly all Lutherans, there lienii; few Ronvwi or
Gree'; churches in tlie couutrv. 'riuy lia\e in the inte.iorand
north a droll iiunle of bei;;^iii^f for the churcli. In front of e.ich
of several villaj^c churches we saw a larf^c wooden man in some-
what c! "rica! diess, with painted, sleek cheeks and hat, ([uite well
executed, standing near the road, with a poise of h.Mid ^h()winj.J
he was makinjj a requesl. His abdonu-n is a locked b-ix, inl(^
wliich the passer-by can drop his jjcnnies without enterin;^ the

portals of the sacred edifiee. If J )r. had erected one of

these in front of his fme cluirch .it home, wii.it a world of p. allelic
ple.idini,' he couKl have saved.

We have now been two and a half months in R.i<sia :uui her
dependencies; we liavi- seen her proviues and jieitple more or
less Asiatic, some of them purely ( )ririUal ; have seen Ru>-i.ins
in their orij^inal home and ia their con(|ii'Ted dominions, 1 have
thus been enabled to dr.iw som<- conclusiovis, ami I thijik fair
ones, as to the rel.it ions of this mi;.;hty con<]iierii;;_; n.nion. with
her Asiatic con<iueretl subji-cts, and to compare -uch rrl.uions
with those existini: in Indi.i between the En<^lidi .md their brown-
skinned subjects. I came to this eountn.- with .1 tr.uiitional h.i-
tred for the autocr.itic rule of tK Ku>^ian nion.ireh. and with my
s\inpathies all on the siiie of the An;.;li)-.Saxon aiul aL;ainst the
Slav. These prejuilices have been considerably removed, and I em
now look e.ilnil}' upon w h.it may be the inevitable, and dr.iw juster
eonelusions ,is to wli.it th.it iaevit.ibU' will lie. In l;i\ in;,^ my ideas
let it not be understood that I preteml not to have ilerived tlum
solely from obser\'at ion ; I ;.;ot much secoiuUhand. Hut liuivc
seen enou;;h to i)e .ible to t( 11 how f.ir this secoiuUh.ind informa-
tion may be reli.ible. A liltlc leading; about a country, witii a
superficial ])erson.d obsi-rvation, ^ives a belti-r knowhd^^e of it
til. in a deep stuily of the same in tlie closet at home. < )ur wisest
biblic.il student in his studir surrounded with l)o.,k , and every
edition of the < )lii ami New Te-^t.im -iil^, does n<>t eominthend
the trutlis of the Hible as well as .1 f.ir less le.irned m.'.ii docs, who
h.is lived amoiv^ the ble.ik hills .uid the v.iUeys wherv Jesus lived
and walki'd, and h.is stmlied ( )rient.il eh.ir.icter from li"-in- models.
A thoughtful iii.in c in reacli some juster conclusion .if'.er a hur-
ried tour of t,M) or three months in liidi.i.imi Kussi.i. coupled with
su.pc-rfici.i3 reiMiin*::. th.in a f^r ibler one e.m from lou.; studv at
home. For ti** Utter is more or le.ss compelled to i,it his idea
fr 111 m< n wii" *^w with prejudiced -nvs or wrtJtc with ^tipendary
p' MS, It is often iliifu ult to di t'-rniine whether a le.irned treati.se
toucliin^ Luro^ean pohtics, or on an\ subject affeetiii:; siuh nol-
itics, is ,1 seientific. Iionest dissertation, or .1 p.qier paid for by
the diplomatic bureau of om- or another European power.

' 'i

,.,v

1-;

if.!

t >

l»l

- V

• , {

486

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

\)i

f. '

Americans arc intensely lovers of ideal liberty, and haters of
theoretic slavery. The "idea" aiul the " theory " arc perfectly
satisfactor}' to the vast majority. With the kno\vledj;e that they
can be free when they wisli, and cannot be made unwilling; slaves,
tliey are not only willing but ^I ui to have others, whom they
imagine their servants, to do all tiie governin;^ while they them-
.^clves are left updisturbcd to build up homes and to amass wealth
for themselves and their children. A more tithe of them re.illy
think for themselves. Once every year they ima_L,'ine they do
considerable thinking on governmental affairs, and every four
yca's are hugely impressed with the profundity of their thought,
and i>f their intense earnestness in putting their thought into
action. lUit if we are candiil witii ourselves, we must confess that
a very few have done our thinking, and we m:irch up to the polls
to put into action the determinations of a mere handful. Hut we
are freemen an<l do this of our own accord, and are gkul that the
few have saved us from achinjr labor, and we imagine we choose
this li.mdful which saves us so much rack of brain.

Now the children of ages — untold ages of Asiatic despotism
do not care a fig for this ideal or for this theory. Tluy arc satisfied,
as tiuir forefathers have been for countless centuries, to let the (lod
of I'.itc select the men who think for them, and blindiy follow
without a dream of any thing different, and are never aroused
from their skep unless west'-rn agitatitm thunders in their ears,
and even then they are not awakened, but listles>ly and half-
asleep, utter a " Mashallah " or invocation to some licathen god,
and forget. The Russian, like his eastern neighbor, not only cares
not for this idr.d and this theory, but ha.5 schooled himself to the
belief that while lu' himself, iiulividi'.ally, may be capable of self-
government, his in.i_,dibors are ni>t. He believes that, while he
himself might stand as a free man, his neighbors would make
fools of tlu'insc-lves, aiul in their folly wi>uld give gre.it trouble,
lie is thert.'fore perfectly satisfied to let his " Little I-"ather," the
autocratic czar, do all his thinking and save him the trouble, and
to do all the acting and thus save him from hi- foolish neighbors.
All he asks is to be let alone to attend t<' his own affairs, .ind his
" Little I'",ither" iloes so let him alone. He has complete personal
liberty, lie can work and eat and chink and can get drunk if he
wishes, and whatever interference he feels fr<im his ruler ho thinks
absolutely necessary to keep not himself but his unwisi- neighbors
from doing harm. 1 le therefore submits without a murmur. When
he goes as a con(]ueror into Asia he gives this same sort of rule
t(^ the C(in(|uered, \\1 ich is a v.ist improvenu-nt upon the system
they have grown up under, and under which no man hatl any thing
he could call his own il his superiors coveted it. The czar is gov-
erned by no written law, but he is far more governed by public
opinion th.in is the Tresident of the United States, cxce])t just
before our king asks the peojMe for another tc rm, when he becomes

^d haters of
I re jjcrfcctly
j^c that they
ilHiii; slaves,

ulioni they

tliey theni-

mass wealth

them really

iiic they do

every four
eir thoujjlU,
hou^ht into
Confess that

to tile polls
fill. Hut we
lad that the
e we choose

ic despotism
are satisfied,
)let the God
indiy follow
■ver aroused
1 their ears,
■ly and half-
icatheii {;oii,
;)t only cares
iinself to the
)able of SL-If-
lat, wliile he
would make
r<Mt trouble,
l-ather." the
trouble, and
ii nei^'hbors.
airs, and his
lete personal
drunk if he
ler lie thinks
si- iieij^hbois
r:nur. When
sort of rule
1 the system
ail anv thiiu'
czar is fjov-
d by i>ublic
cxce])t ju>t
he becomes

KUSSIANS FRATERNIZE Wiril THE COXQC EREJJ. 487

keenly alive to the wishes of tlie dear unwa-^lud. 'riic c/ar, too,
is j^overned and restrained by an inlcnse ieliL;i(ais iika— by riijid
customs. This reli^'ioii is that of Christ, which i)rcaclus' j^ood-
will to all and love and human kindness. He is an autocrat, )et
he does not run counter to this idea nor violate iIksc cintoms.
His crown would not be worth the velvet which softens the metal
to his blow, should he attempt tt) violate this idea or disobey
these customs. He would imt wear it a week; his soldiers would
tear it from his iiead. He has carried his armies into I-"iiiland,
ami the Finns ^'ovein themselves and are aniouL; the freest peojjlc
in Europe. Just iiuw the " Little hatlier " ii bej^imiin.; to russi.in-
izc the Finns tiiore than he has heretofore done. He jias carried
his armies and his rule into the Cauc.isus and the Transciuca-
sus ; but that rule is precisel\- the same as that meted out to
Mo-.cow or the retjion of the Ural ; and the Russians as individ-
uals, treat the conquered j)eople just as tlicy treat each other in
the province of St. I'etersbur^r. (ieijr^ians and Armenians are
generals in the army and won L;real honors in the late .Asiatic
wars. The <,'overnor-^'enerars plioloL;rapli liant;s in slu)W-windows
in full Geort^ian costume. Russian officers are driving; ,md ])rome-
nadini; with (ieor^ian l.idies, and one sees Russians and natives
eatiiiL; and drinkin;^ with each other in the restaurants and caf(5s
as friends and equals. Georgian officers ami ^entleujen driv<- and
promenade with and take to the theatre Russian ladies. All the
laborers ami dro^k)' drivers .it Tiflis aie natives, aii<l those bijoiid
are Tartars. The\' meet Furojiians a> men, and look' tluin fear-
lessly in the eye as men. I saw Tart.u' drivers stoutly m.iintain-
iii'^ their ri;^lils in disputes as to fares or cli.iri;es not nnly with
Russians, l)ut with some who wore ejiaidets ; and if .t Russian
shoulil strike one of tiiem he would i;et blow for blow. 1 saw no
evidence of servilitv -no crint;int^ of manner anion;,; the T.utars
and Uokharians (u' I'rrsi.ins on tl.e (' isjiian. 1 hey were as manly
and as indepeiukiit in their bearin;^' towards Russi.ms, both civili-
ans anil officers, as are the Tartars on the \'olL;a,and these latter are
as brave and bold-lookini; as if tluy owned the land now, as they
once did.

Tartars proinen.ule on the es])l,inades and listen to the music as
if the show belonged to them, and Hnkhuians and I'ersi.ms on the
Caspian are treated by the Russians in no wa)' (aitwardly <liffer-
eiit from that accorded to tlio->e who beloiv^ tn the ciiii<iuerin^

race.

le Kussians

fr.a

ermze with the natives as tlmroULMi

<IS

their difference of reliijion will p rniit, .iiul ;iie ino-.ques in cities
on the \'o!<;.i and in the C.uuasus are .is safe fmm individual
insult as are the Christian churches. H'.il one sees everywhere the

evidences of a \ ieldim: on

tht

lart

native customs and civili/.a-

ti<in to that of the coiKjuerinij cl.'.sses, Russians do v..<\. '^o into
the con<|uered countries to sqiieeze them for a time ami then to
nturn to the north to '-niox- their -'ains. They ro to sta\', to live,

f--

■'^(

1 1 / 12

\: ■'

\ ■)

' V

» ■

»• <il')

I ill

488

^ JiAC/i WITH THE SUN.

to be a part of the country — I doubt not to ^cX, if they can, the
larfjcst lialf of the cheese, but to eat it on tlie spot. It is the
policy of the government to russianize its contiuered countries,
and tile Russians as individuals do their share l)y niakint:j lionies
amonij ti>e people and by inin^din<x with them. The railroad cars
of all classes are open to the natives, and if they riile in the third
it is because it fits their purse, and tiiey find economical Russians
in the seat ne.xt them. .As far as I could see, and from wli.it
1 could ham, the veil which hides the Moliammetlan woman is
bcini,' to some extent dropped, and tliey are be^'innint; to niin^'le
with their rulers and are becomin;^ of them. Tiie Russian is a
man of stronij fibre and ver\' conservative, but he cares but little
'or class and knows nothincij like c.iste. In this he differs wiilely
from tlte Kn;j;iis!i. These inveij^h violently at,'ainst the caste dis-
tinctions of the Iiulians, and yet the native of India sees as much
caste exclusiveni amoni^ the whites as anion",' his own people,
but of a different nature. 1 lindoo caste is reli^Mous ; Knj^'lish caste
is ])urely social, and tiie lines are dr.iwn with ritiiculous rit^idity.
A Hindoo reijards him-;elf as relij^iou-^ly defiled if he eats or
drink'' fnun a cup usetl by a Christian or by one of his own people
of a lower ^rade. An I".ni;lisliman holds himself severel)' aloof in
social intercoiu'se from his inferior I'.uropeaii, and the women are
as strict observers of precedence as at home they are at a court
drawin;j;-room, and a native less than a n.iwab is utterly tabooed.
The Russians are savages in battle, but when the battle is
ended the n.itive kindness of their dis|)osition at once shows
itself. I'rince iJondoukoff-Kors.dcoff ^Mve nu: several examples of
this. As, for instance, when in their fierce fr^hts in the nv^ion of
Kars and Khiwi, after a town had been j^iven np to sack .and
pi!I.i;,;e, he h.ul oftiii '-I'en Russian soKi, ts, with hands blood)'
from the fiL;ht, fee(lin<j hungry natives, coildiinij children in theii
arms, .iiid nur-^inj^ sick woinen. " We ilo not want any fii;ht with
I"',n;,;land in India," said he, " but if we should <;et into one she
w ill find our Asiatic subjects lovinj^ us, while her own ''.ife her."
Ami the old, battle-worn soldier's eyes burned when he spoke of
the abuse of ivussia by the r",nL;lish jires-;. " .\h, nion prince," I
rei)li<'d, " \\h\- c.mno^ I'av.dand and Russi.i ^o side by siile .across
Asi.i and j;ive to her the true li^ht of western civilization? '"
" We will if I'.n^dand be wise," he rejoined. "We ilo not want
Indi.i, but we w.uit to c.irr)' Russian trade into the country, ihit
if w.u" shall e\er conu- we will Ik- wilconied b)' mail)' a stroni;
handed Ilimloo." I li.ue been .almost am.ized to find amoiuj the
informeil men in Russia the belief that h'.njd.uid's weakmvss in
Indi.i sprinL;s from tlu' causes 1 h.i\'e t'liumer.ited heretof )ri', and
which I wrote in m\' note-book months .ij^ni. I fornud these
opinions when my prejudices .ii^ain^t Ru^si.i were so j^re.it th.it I
thouijht every step she made tt)ward central Asia was an injury to
libertv.

i-'f

icy can, the
, It is the
1 countries,
kintj homes
ailio.ul cars
in tiic thirtl
al Russians
from what
) woman is
^ to min^'le
Aissian is ;i
-s but little
ffuTs widely
le taste liis-
es as muclj
wn |)C()ple,
ij^'hsli caste
us rif^idity.
ho eats or
own people
ily .ildof in
woini'ii are
: al a court
y tabooed,
e battle is
)nce shows
xaniples of
e re^Mon of
1 sack aiKJ
ids bloody
til in their
■ litdit with
ito one she
'•ate her."
e spoke of

I prince," I
side across
iiizalion ? '

not want
iitry. Hut
y a stroni;
anion_i( the
cakiiess in
tof ue, and
iiicd these
real (hat I

II injury to

JiUSS/A'S METHODS BETTER THAN ENGLANIYS.

4'^9

These opinions are now ^^reatly modified. Russian dominion
beyond the Caspian will be an ailvancement in civilization, and
her kind of rule is tiic best suited to, if not the only one for u Inch
the Asiatic is or can be for a lon^' perioil fitted. She can rule her
conquered people by autoer.itic methods and do no violence to
her own traditions, and without contravi niiiL; her own notions of
f,'overnmeiit. She is an autocracy, and her people. ;is a rule, not
only ac(iuii'sce in, but are satisfied witii lur methods. Tiny say
they could not be so well j^'overned in any other manner. They
admit that they are fe.irfully bunleneil by ;i colossal .irnn-, but
say they are forced by their luirope.m neighbors to kee]) it up in
its full numerical strent,'th, ami to ^ive it every modern improve-
ment.

I^n^laiul stands upon a different i)lalform. I lers is a rule of
the people founded upon liberty. The very .\ H C of her consti-
tution inculcates an uncoiKuier.ible love of lil)erty. She eannot
violate safely the spirit of her constitution, nor vary materi.illy
from the true chart, without ruiinin;.,' the risk of wrecking' her ship
of state. She has a ilifficult problem to solve in p;overnin^ the
heteroi^eneous masses of her Indi.m dominions. As a govern-
ment she is doin;^' well. Hut the people— the individuals— she
sends to them are, I fear, doin;^^ much to undo the work the gov-
ernment has done and is doinj^'. I am laiLilaiul's well wisher in
jier Indian work but I c;'nnol shut \\\\ eyes.

A beautiful sail tlirou;.;h a thous.md or more islands, now in broad
lakes and then in narrow salt straits, brought us to Abo, once
Finlaiid's cajiital. This is a ]ncturesfpie town, coverim,' an im-
mense territor\- with its 28,000 i)eop!e ; widely scattereil houses,
so built to avoid confla^natioiis, with whieh it has been several
times afilicti'd ; a castle of nearly 600 years ;it;o, and a fine old
catheilr.d, .uid a p.uk prettily climbiufj a hi;4h eminence with
noble outlooks. Here we receiveil the (jrand Duke Michael of
Kussia, the I'rincess of Haileii, and his son and her (l,iu.^hter.
goiiiLj to visit their kinswoman, the Crown I'rincess of .Sweden.
We also hail abo.ird tlu; {'"inni^li author, I'rofessor Toriielius,
whom I fouiKl a very urbane and ])leasant man. lie is well on
in years. His sweet }'oun^f daughter was a model of filial at-
tention and affection.

,<«]

I i

'Jilt

III

. vl

CHAPTER XLV.

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SAM. TO SWKni'N -PRTNCF.I.Y KKI.I.OW-VOYAr.rRS— STOCKHOLM—
Tin; Ss'KDLS-llOMKI.lKK I.ANDSCAl'KS.

Stockholm, August i6, i88S.

The little steamer Touca had licr s.ilooii prcttil)' ilcckcd with
flowers ,iiul was vei)' ^.ly willi biintiiij; when slie sU-aiiud out of
the Aurajoki, on which Abo is situateil, ami our cabins were
fragrant from liui^e and reall)' ele!.,'aiU bouciuits, tied with libbons
of ^reat size and of ricli texture in llie colors of Russia and of
Haclen, presented to our princely passcn{jers bv l.ulies of the city.
Tlure was a lar;4e conctunsi' of people on the (|uay, with some
soldiers and a band of music; also a sini;ini; band from a Russian
batt.ilion stationetl at Abo. Wy the way, the Russian regiments,
as f.ir as we h.ive seen, all liave a sort of f;lee clubs, which sinj^
rt)llickin;4 son^s very tlnely, the refrains ami choruses bein^ very
like those of (lerman and our own stutlent song's. Tlu-y sin^j
marching, when the whole re;.;imenl seems to join in. One even-
inj; in southern Russi.i our Ir.iin w.is passinj,^ throuLjh a wood,
near which was an enc.impmeiit, an<l a ni,L;hl praclici' was ^'oin^'
on. The shouts .uid chorus of the ni.tuliin;^ nun wen- very
nui.sic.d and spiritetl, coming; throu^di the white birchen forest.
And now 1 will mention aiiotlur thini;. which is vi'ry wonderful
in all of these nortiiern countries -that i->, the perft-clion to wiiich
hot-house cultiv.itioii has bi'en brou;.;ht. One sees in windows in
northern Russia, l'"inland, and .Swideii, m»t only ver\' beautiful
exotics, but of the costly kinds with us, and oftentimes in the
houses of people of very moder.ite means, thus showin;.^ lluin to
be of small cost. 1 lure are nuri- flowers to l)e siiii in the win-
dows of a moderately si/.eil town of Russia than one would see in
all the uimlowsof the United .St itcs. In .Stockholm tlu' fuchsi.i
trees in the |)arterres in park i .iml scpiares are of very KoLje si/e
and perfect form and in many varieties. I'.very where we h.ive
been for the |)ast two months we h,i\e freipuntl)' p.uised to
.ulmire in private wimlows beautiful pl.iiits, such as oiu' sees with
us only at residences of the very rich, or about the {f.irders and
.shojjs of professional florists. This arises from the fact that the
season for outdoor culture is so siu)rt that the greater attention
is paid to house culture; ami liousts here are kej)! throu^dumt

3CK1IOLM—

' 10, 1 888.

ccktil with
1)1(1 out of
.ihiiis were

itli ribbons
-si.i and of

of the city.

with sonic
1 .1 Riissi.in

ic^Mmcnts,
which sin;^'

Ix'ini; \t ry

'I'iuy siii}^

One cvcn-
h .1 wood,

was ^'oiiij;

were very
lull forest.

wonderfnl
m to wiiiili
windows in
/ beautiful
inus in the
n;^ tlieni to
in the win-
onld see in
the fuchsia
■ lar;^M' size
e we have

paused to
e sees with
irdtTs and
:t that the
r attention

hroiiyhout

r///? GRAND DUKE MICIlAliL

49t

the lonp winter .-It an even temperature. " The heat of my house,"
said a tjeiitlenian to-ilay, " is that of {gentle sprinj.; for weeks and
weeks, althout^h without, the snow is frozen solid' five feet deep
and the thennonieter is at —," naming' a de^'ree of Celsius a^rce-
inj; with 20 l-'ahrenheit below zero. Tlurnionieters are in every
house, antl are so coniinon, pernianenlly fi.\ed on the outsiik- of
tlic windows, that they seem to have been in the very estimates
of the builders. W.ills are of i^neat thickness when of brick or
stone, and once hcateil hold their heat evenly; ,ind Will chinked
lo|.>houscs arc the warmest of all. Wooil is a iion comluctor.

Ihit to return. The cabins of the 'I'oriua also had a number of
haiulsome ^M-owin<,' plants, perhaps somewhat more than u^ual, for
our liandsonie l''innisli captain was (|uite proud of his imperial
fjucsts. This, lie said, was the first time in the iiistory of Russia
when one of the imperial family had jjone out of the country in a
commercial ship. Ileretofore' pri\ate y.ichts or armed ship's had
l)een used for such ])urpose. While talking' with the captain, the
youn^ duke joined us and leariuil of our visit to Caucasus, where
lie had been born and had lived u]) to within a few years. After-
ward he came to me and informed nu- that his fatlur would
be pleased to meet me. I found the (irand Duke Michael an
ai^reeable }.n;ntleman, fully six feet tall, very hamUome, of
splendiil physicpie, soldierly in his bearing, somewhat bhd'f and
[ilain-spokeii, and > el evidiMitly kindly, lie reminded me much
of I'rince Uomloukolf, (iovernor-tjeneral of Cauc.isus, of whom he
is a f^reat friend. I le was liimself fjovernor-^'eneral of tli..t vast
province for ei;^htee-n years, diirini; which tinu; and under his
comm.ind such vast striiles wvw made by Russia in Asia, lie
captured Khiva and other important jirovinces, and, I think, has
sonu- ])owder stains on his face, perlia|)s f^ained in battle. His
bearin;^ and apiK-.irance are sonuuhat severe, but he was so
unaffectedly plain in his convers.ition with me, that I <piile h)st
slight of the fact that he was the brother of the late, and uncle to
the present, czar, lie informed me that he was Tresident of the
ImperialC^ouncil, and '^^ave me some information as to that power-
ful arm of the ^^overnment. All measures proposed by ministers
have to be passed upon l)y it before jjresentation to the emperor.
At present it consists of about 50 members — appointed by the
emperor — but is r.irely full at its meetiiv^s.

lie and the two princesses seemed much pleased that my talis-
manic "Ya Amerikanets" had ]>roved an " ojien sesame " to so
many places of interest, and remarked that Russia and .America
were old frienils, and then informed me that the daut;Iiter of our
minister was Ixjtrothed to Haron . .Somelhin;; the princess

said was rather an interroi,Mtion as to whether I was not pleased
by the news. I frankly acknowledi^id that, on ;^HMieral jirinciples,
I was opposed to these alliances ; that we Americans were all
sovereigns, and held ourselves as the ecpials of the [;reatest by

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23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716)872-4503

493

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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birth of all lands, conceding superiority only to those who had
won it by individual merit; but that our fair daughters, when in-
termarried with European nobility, invariably, so far as I had
heard, forgot their American characteristics and became intensely
imbued with exclusiveness, and that, moreover, it was only our
gilded belles who rang themselves into titled houses. The young
princess — who, by the way, has a jolly German face, and would, I
think, hugely enjoy the freedom of an American girl — smiled
audibly at this. The prince informed mc that this match, he
thought, was one of love, and the Princess of Baden added that
the young lady was a nice girl, and had been very kindly received,
just before leaving for America, by the empress. The son of the
duke is only 19, over six feet three — the tallest but one of the
imperial family. I was mistaken in thinking the emperor very
fat. One of the party said : " It is simple meat and muscle, not
fat. He is a very powerful man physically." Something being
said of our splendid voyage about the world, I told the princess,
who asked if it did not fatigue mc, that I was a very young man.
"Yes," she said, "a man is as old as he feels; a woman, as she
looks." "True, your highness. I am 33 and the rise. You are
just 18." The bright and handsome mother of the hamlsome
grown daughter was not displeased by the compliment, and the
grand duke rejoined : "And I am exactly 25 without the rise."
At another time, when we were steaming up the magnificent
approach to Sweden's capital, I said : " You, of course, have been
here before?" "Yes, 50 years ago," adding with a laugh, " 25
years before I was born." For the benefit of our young men I
will state that the captain informed Willie that this straight, well
preserved old soldier threw off the soft mattress from his bunk
and slept without a pillow.

The sail from Helsingfors to Stockholm is a very pretty one ;
always, except for two or three hours at night, through islands by
the hundreds, if not by the thousands — some bald-headed,
rounded, granite masses of rock, smoothly washed throughout
countless ages, without a shrub or a lichen, others green and well
wooded ; some small, others of considerable siz.e, with small farms
and fishing villages; now we would be in little lakes of 100 or so,
and then of several thousand acres in size-, then threading through
narrow creeks athwart which the steamer could not lie lengthwise.
Sometimes we would see a windmill whirling upon a high ground,
and then we would catch the masts of a small ship riding in a
creek beyond an island, but looking as if the bare poles were a
part of the wooded land. The large groups of the Aland Isles
belong to Finland. Then, crossing an open sea, we entered the
Swedish islands, which are fairly without number and continuous
to the coast. The Baltic last winter, as it frequently is, was
frozen solidly over, and sleds passed from coast to coast. Quite
a number of English ships were abandoned in the ice. Hardy

:l y

THE APPROACH TO STOCKHOLM.

49a

; who had
s, when iii-
r as I Iiad
e intensely
s only our
riie young
d would, I
irl — smiled
match, he
idded that
y received,
son of the
one of the
peror very
nuscle, not
ling being
3 princess,
Dung man.
nan, as she
You are
handsome
It, and the
the rise."
lagnificcnt
have been
aiigh. " 25
ing men I
aight, well
I his bunk

retty one ;
islands by
id-headed,
liroughout
n and well
mall farms
100 or so,
ig through
engthwise.
^Ii ground,
riding in a
lies were a
land Isles
ntered the
:ontinuous
:ly is, was
St. Quite
2. Hardy

Finns, wandering on the frozen sea, took possession of them and
gained 60,000 kronas as salvage when the winter ended.

The approach to Stockholm from the east is simply magnificent
—through creeks and little bays, winding and bending; through
wooded lands and islands, 50 to 150 feet high, with villas and
fortresses, pretty boat-houses and ornamental landings, summer
resorts and permanent houses, among ships and fishing-smacks,
steamers and steam barges, all at this time showing moVe or less
bunting, and bright witli banners in honor of the Russian duke,
whose coming was evidently expected. People waved handker-
chiefs from landings and from water cottages. This latter, how-
ever, seems a Finnish and Swedish custom. On the lakes and in
the country where our steamboats and trains would pass, women
and children almost invariably waved their handkerchiefs to
passing boats and cars. At first I supposed it was for friends
aboard, but was told it is universal and a way of showing their
general good-fellowship ; but to our steamer the attention was far
more than usual and very demonstrative. The grand duke came
to the front and was evidently pleased by the reception. He had
informed me before that the Crown Princess of Sweden was his
niece, he being married to the sister of the Grand Duke of Baden,
and that the Princess of Baden now aboard was the niece of the
Baden ruler ; that they were paying his niece a visit, and then he
was going to the Transcaucasus to spend a couple of months on
some large possessions he has there, and where four of his children
were born.

At the beautiful granite quay, quite in the city of Stockholm,
we found a large concourse of people gathered. An open space,
250 by 50 feet, was surrounded by soldiers or policemen, and in
the centre stood the crown prince and princess awaiting their
guests. I told the duke of my mistake in looking at the Sultan
through my opera glasses and a'^ked if it would be a breach of eti-
quette here. He laughed and said he would use them if he were
in my place, and I did. The crown prince is a tall, slight young
man, with full, dark, but not heavy beard, a rather pleasant face,
but by no means a strong one. He rather stood back, while his
wife stepped forward to greet and talk to her kinswomen on the
deck of the steamer while it was being tied to. She is tall,
elegantly formed, with a very pretty — perhaps beautiful — face,
the strength, however, rather detracting from its beauty. She was
exquisitely clad in a close-fitting overdress, showing admirably her
fine form. I never saw a more graceful figure, and the face was
full of animation — indeed of sweetness — while she inquired as to
the voyage. The prince himself would be called by our boys
rather la-di-da. If the next generation of Swedish kings be
strong men, they will inherit the strength from their handsome
Baden mother. When the gang-plank was thrown out for
the royal party to come aboard the sailors were laying a

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494

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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carpet for them to walk upon. The prince, however, im-
mediately walked with the princess aboard, motioning to
the sailors to leave off the carpet ; and when he entered his
carriage with the duke he walked to the outer side and opened the
door himself before the flunkey could get to it. The crown
princess rode away in a splendid carriage with the Princess of
Baden and her daughter. The prince followed in another with the
grand duke and his son, the two elder guests taking the right-hand
seats. There was no cl eering whatever, but a silent and very
respectful reception. I am told this is considered here the
proper etiquette when the royal family appear in a private
manner, and that even on public occasions any hurrah is very
feeble.

The pride of the Swede in his capital city is certainly deserved.
Every visitor says it is one of the handsomest cities in Europe.
I think it is decidedly the most beautiful. Indeed, it would be
hard to say what more it requires. It may be said to sit upon
islands, for even the portions which are a part of the main-land
are so nearly surrounded by water that they seem insulated. The
sea comes up to it through a mass of islands almost touching the
promontories sent down by the main. The channels through
these, though of great depth generally, are very narrow, the main
one, capable of admitting an armed ship, being less than loo feet,
wide. These islands and headlands lift 50 to nearly 200 feet, no-
where leaving any plain or flat surface. The old town was upon
three or four islands, but now the great bulk of the city is on the
promontories of the main-land ; but these are so irregular in
shape and so nearly surrounded by water that one has to make
long detours to reach points desired, or to take boat for a near
cut. We saw fire-wagons tearing at night across a square at a
break-neck pace ; the young men with me followed them to
see the blaze. I stood still on a bridge and soon saw the illumi-
nation in the very direction the wagons had come from, and not
far off. They had a detour of a mile or more to make, and my
young companions had a long run. What is called the ring-line
of street railway makes many zigzag bends in and out and over
bridges to get around the town. Water permeates the city in
every direction. Here in channels lOO feet wide, there widening
into a broad stream 200 yards across ; here in little creeks running
up into the granite hills, there in rounded little bays — water clear
and transparent, but deliciously green and cool-looking. The
streams are crossed by bridges, some of them very elegant struc-
tures, and plying on them in every direction, across, and up and
down, and diagonally, are the prettiest of little steam barges,
some holding scarcely a dozen people, others 50 or more, running
to and fro, in and out, like water-bugs on woodland fountains, and
carrying passengers at eight tenths of a cent and up to six cents,
according to the distance run. These creeks, streams, and bays

U" y '

iwevcr, im-
)tioning to
entered his
1 opened the
The crown
Princess of
her with the
; right-hand
it and very
I here the

1 a private
rah is very

ly deserved.

in Europe.

!t would be

to sit upon

2 main-land
ilatcd. The
ouching the
els through
w, the main
an loo feet,
;oo feet, no-
'n was upon
ty is on the
irregular in
as to make

for a near
square at a
:d them to
/ the illumi-
)m, and not
kc, and my
he ring-line
ut and over
the city in
re widening
eks running
-water clear
king. The
;:gant struc-
and up and
."am barges,
ore, running
untains, and
to six cents,
IS, and bays

A VIEW OF STOCKHOLM.

495

are walled in by solidly built granite quays in massive 5.mooth
masonry, against which lie the small steamboats plying the lake,
and large steamers from the sea, and are filled with pure water,
coming down in green flood and rapid current from Lake Malaren,
which drains a large country, into which it pushes in many-armed
and irregular forms over loo miles. The outflowing channels are
too rapid and shallow for the craft whicli ply the lake. To
remedy this, one of the narrow branches is locked so as to lift the
larger lake-going vessels up from the sea level. The sea can be
reached directly, or by going up the lake and toward the interior
for many miles, where a deep canal joins one of the arms with a
ragged fiord, which leaves the salt water a half degree south of
the city and penetrates deep into the country.

Water is, perhaps, Stockholm's most attractive feature, and
permeates it in so many ways that it is called by some the Venice
of tne North ; but added to this are the solidly built houses,
climbing some of the hills upon narrow, zigzag streets in con-
fused, picturesque mass. One height is reached by a lofty street
elevator," lifting in airy, open ironwork 150 to 2C0 feet high,
with a light iron bridge reaching far over housetops on slender
columns, resting like scaffolding against the sky. In other
localities arc elegant streets bending about in comfortable width,
or in stretches of a quarter of a mile, with parkways nicely
planted in shrubs and flowers, and all perfectly paved and lined
with noble buildings generally four stories high and in good
arch'tectural style ; and then there are squares with fine statues
and flanked by public buildings of handsome proportions. The
city possesses a splendid park of i,coo or more acres surrounded
by water and beautifully hilly, and many small parks, gardens,
and squares, scattered about the town, prettilj' laid out with
monuments and fountains in bronze, and beautifully planted in
trees and shrubs clothed in rich green. In some of these gardens
arc elegant cafds, brilliantly lighted at night, where excellent
bands play until the witching hour of midnight, and gay people sit
or stand about and flirt. 15y the way, flirtation is very common,
and, I am sorry to add, statistics show it to be not of the most
harmless kind.

I was in Stockholm in 1875, and was so charmed with it that I
advised some of its citizens to have a glass case built over it to
preserve it exactly. I am glad my advice was not followed, for
the city has grown to over 210,000, an. aas been greatly im-
proved ; and some of the newer streets have been laid out with
handsomely parked esplanades and built up with houses sur-
passed by those in few capitals. The royal palace is a huge and
not bad-looking quadrangle, with fine state apartments, but in no
way differing enough from the conventional palace to deserve a
description. Outside of Russia a traveller can see the interior of
one regal palace and know them all. Those of the czars are sut

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496

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

generis, and each worth an examination. The royal museum has
some very fine works of art, some of the statues and paintings
being good. There are some, however, hardly fit for a royal collec-
tion. I made a funny blunder in the museum. I saw a good
many really fine pa.ntings marked " Okant." I reached the con-
clusion that Mr. Okant was a Swedish artist of some moric and of
great industry, liut finally seeing he was the painter of religious
and historic subjects, of humorous and solemn moods, of figures,
and of landscapes, it suddenly dawned on my brain that "Okant "
meant " unknown." My mistake reminded me of the hone;:ty of
the Swedish ciiaracter. They acknowledge ignorance of the
artists of some fine pieces, which in most countries would have
been ascribed to well known masters whom they best fitted, and
thereby had their value enhanced.

The Swedes do not strike me as being a very cheerful or par-
ticularly bright-tempered people, nor yet are they solemn. They
seem rather phlegmatic and even in their temperament. They
are generally well dressed and are exceedingly neat in garb and
in their liousehold surroundings. We spent some hours in the
" Deer Garden," the great park of the city, where the masses were
spending the Sunday afternoon and evening. We saw lovers
walking, crowds at games, several groups dancing, and many
pic-nicking. All seemed quiet ; there was no sort of boisterous-
ness and but little light-hearted gayety and fun. Even the groups
of dancers seemed rather to be getting through with the figures
than to be circling in real joy. This was the case even when the
figures required forfeits. The kissing was given wiliiout bolster-
ous jollity, and lacked that wild joy when happy souls dance on
two pairs of meeting lips. In cafes and restaurants there is quiet
— none of that loud-toned abandon which marks the Teuton's
gatiierings. The Germans, when thoroughly enjoying themselves,
talk and vociferate loudly, as if wholly forgetful of eve.;' thing
but the jolly, present moment, and of everybody else.

By the way, I \yas particularly struck with the quiet, low tones
in which Russians converse. We saw them in all sorts of crowds,
and rarely did we ever hear voices raised to a high pitch.
This was the case even when we knew they were feeling the effect
of exhilaration. The Finns are much like them in this respect,
and the Swedes so to a considerable extent. So far the Swedes
appear to me to be pretty well off. We have seen no beggars
anywhere.

There is considerable complaint that America is drawing out of
the land its best bone and sinew, and I am told that there is in high
quarters a disposition to stop emigration, if they knew how to
bring it about. The same feeling exists in Finland. High taxes
are driving its people away very rapidly. In both countries, just
now, emigration is said to nearly countc. alance natural increase
of population. And in both there is much waste land which with
low taxes could come into productiveness.

Tjuseum has
id paintings
royal collec-
saw a good
icd tlie con-
mcrt: and of
of religious
i, of figures,
af'Okant"
2 honer.ty of
mce of the
would have
t fitted, and

crful or par-
snin. They
lent. They
in garb and
lours in the
masses were

saw lovers

and many
f boisterous-
n the groups

the figures
en when the
lout boister-
Is dance on
here is quiet
le Teutt)n's

themselves,
cvc._>' thing

t, low tones
s of crowds,
high pitch,
ig the effect
his respect,
the Swedes
no beggars

wing out of
.•re is in high

lew how to
High taxes

jntries, just
ral increase
which with

T//B PEOPLE OF STOCKHOLM.

497

I spent a part of a morning attending the congress of the
Young Men's Christian Association. I paid n.y crown for ad-
mission into the gallery. It was presided over by a very promi-
nent German, and had several distinguished delegates. Speeches
were made in English, German, and French— the substance of
each being then given in languages other than the one used by
the speaker. I understood them well enough to consider them
quite good. The ablest was read by tlie president, but, as all
read addresses do, elicited much less applause than feebler efforts
extempore. I was struck by the fact that a large number of the
young men were gray-haired, and many had but little hair to tell
its color, and a very few were really young. The Bible was
extolled by the speakers as the surest guide to its own truths.
I regretted I could not remain another day to join the associa-
tion on an excursion to which I was invited by our John V.
Farwell, a delegate. Many of the delegates arc learned men and
deserve a successful^ meeting. My newly made acquaintance.
Prof. Torpelius, the Finnish author, was in attendance.

Willie says there are a great many prett)- girls in Stockholm, but
that their shoes look as if made for very large girls — the fault, I
suppose, of the shoemakers, and not of the feet of the pretty
blondes. Some of the peasant costumes now worn in the city by
attendants in the museum and by girls who run little row-boats
are very bright and pretty. Our newly promoted minister, Mr.
Magee, was very polite to us, as he is to all Americans.

I got rid in .Stockholm of one of my unpleasant reminders of
an unpleasant past. In 1884 I stumped the State of Illinois with
terrific cnc.gy to make a president of the United States. I was
on my feet over ten ten-hour days in nine weeks, and was
whipped from one end of the State to the other. I broke my
voice and injured my health, taking so many medicaments for my
throat that some of my gums receded from my teeth. Up near
the Arctic circle we had to eat jerked reindeer. Some of the .salt
meat got into a cavity in the gum, about a wisdom tooth, causing
me much pain for ten days. I left my reminder in the iron grip
of a dentist in the Swedish capital. I wop.der if I had saved
that " bone " four and a quarter years ago if it would not have
been a wiser thing. As the wistlom tooth had then added little
or nothing to my stock of wistlom, I now the more willingly let
it go.

I finish this at Christiania, whither the run by rail from Stock-
' holm was a charming one. It is generally made by tourists by
the " express," making the distance nearly all by night. We, as
we generally do, travelled only by daj', and were amply repaid for
the extra time. There was no grand scenery, but a great deal
■ which was very pretty ; and we saw much of Swedish farming
and something of the customs of the country people. Now we
were in lands thickly wooded with pines and birch. The straight
branchless pines would spin and waltz around each other as the

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498

y^ v¥/^C'j5' H'JTH the sun.

train rushed through them, or deeply green firs would make a
dense shade. A break would now occur in the woods, revealing
a glimpse of a quiet lake, or wc would skirt one of the pretty
placid sheets, when red farm-houses and waving fields were mir-
rowed on its silvery surface. 1 hen a broad, rolling plain would
be spread out before us, with a hundred farms and well-fenced
fields, waving in freshly green oats and unbearded wheat, nr
covered thickly with tall shocks of newly cut rye, like tents in a
pigmy camping-ground. Men and women were cutting tall timo-
thy and red-topped clover, or throwing it into rounded domes,
and the whole air was redolent of new-mown hay. Cattle grazed
meekly in meadows from which the grass had been mown, and
looked sleek and contented

Many of the landscapes were exquisitely homelike, cheerful,
and abounding in and running over with pcacefulncss. I know of
no American home scenery so pretty, and but few in England to
surpass some of the spots we passed over. Lakes were never
long absent, and some of them beautiful. The farm-houses were
all painted in red and many of the barns and out-houses ; not a
flashy, dazzling red, but of a soft and almost neutral tint. I sus-
pect the tone has been borrowed from the lichen tint which
covers so many of the granite boulders in the shaded pine lands
of this far north. I have seen some so red that it was difficult to
believe them not painted with the brush. Oftentimes, too, the
natural surface of stones built into fences along the road looks as
if a painter had cleaned his brush upon their old, water-worn
faces. I spoke before of the gray moss covering huge granite
boulders, but I forgot to mention the beautiful lace-pattern variety
or lichen which often mantles many of those scattered over the
damp, wooded lands up toward the arctic circle. No elaborate
embroidered handkerchief could be more regularly and delicately
worked by woman's nimble fingers than some of these nature's
woven fabrics upon the cold, gray monsters dropped by the
glaciers of a far-off past. They are generally circular, from one to
two feet in diameter, and have, when full grown, three rows of
embroidery, each about an inch and a half deep. They look as if
fairies had spread their choicest lace treasures upon the stones to
dry. They are seen all over this northern land, but we saw the
most perfect about the 67th parallel.

uld make a
Is, revealing
f the pretty
Is were mir-
plain would

well-fenced
i wheat, ir
ce tents in a
ng tall timo-
ided domes,
lattle grazed

mown, and

ke, cheerful,
i. I know of
England to
were never
-houses were
)uses ; not a
tint. I sus-
1 tint which
1 pine lands
is difficult to
nes, too, the
oad looks as
, water-worn
lugc granite
ittcrn variety
;rcd over the
No elaborate
nd delicately
hese nature's
pped by the
■, from one to
iree rows of
ley look as if
the stones to
t we saw the

CHAPTER XLVI.

NORW.W-MAGNIFICF.NT SCEXERY-TRUSTFUL PEOn F-I'l EAS

l.VG SIMI'LICITV-l'KETTY LOd IIOIJSES-FARMINU IN

NORWAY— GLACIERS AND WATERFALLS.

Christiania, September 8, t888.

I ONCE heard a Norwegian and a Swede in jocular dispute,
which became a little bitter when the latter declared he " never
could understand what the Lord made Norway for; that it was
nothing but a mass of rocks." The Norseman replied that it was
made to grow men in, as Sweden had found more than once to
her cost. The retort was patriotic and justified by the sturdy
valor of the Norseman since he first appeared among men as
the twin brother of the northern blast, and was supposed to live
in ice grottos about the pole. But as a nursery of men, Norway
has hardly been sufficiently prolific to justify the fearful throes
borne by Dame Nature when she gave it birth. Every acre came
from the very bowels of the earth, and every rood was torn from
its heart in volcanic agony. Three weeks spent in rapidly run-
ning over its mountains and through its valleys; looking up upon
its snow fields and mighty glaciers ; looking down into its dark
gorges and fathomless fiords; skimming along its green waters
and under its towering precipices and beetling crags; listening to
the wild songs of its countless water-falls and the roar of its cata-
racts ; breathing the sweet breath of the pines on the mountain
side and braced by the cool, health-giving atmosphere everywhere
found, — all convinces me that " Norge " might have been, if it was
not, intended for a continental or world's park, where Nature can
be communed with when in her grandest moods; where a man
can come close up to her, can be cuddled to her heart, and be
nursed upon her very lap ; where the noblest features of the
world are heaped together within comparatively small compass,
and can be looked upon without danger, and visited with simple,
invigorating labor.

NatuiC practised her hand in many latitudes and in most dis-
tant regions before she laid Norway out. In exalted mood she
lifted Everest and Kunchinjinga to the skies, but threw about
them such mighty foot-hills, such vast buttresses of ice, that
their crowned brows can only be gazed at from afar, and any
attempt at intimacy is repelled with awful doom. Elbruz and

499

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500

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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Kazbek arc thrown with silvered duiiies upon a background of
purest, cerulean hue ; around them are clustered monarchs cast
in majestic mould, with valleys and slopes between, where fairies
delight to dwell and flowers are ever in bloom ; but to reach tiiesc
sceptred kings vast plains must be traversed beneath the scorch-
ing sun. " Old Mt. lilanc " was reared in fearful majesty, and
•' The Maiden " pierces the clouds with her tresses of all un-
touched white, but to revel in their glories one must climb to
alpine heights, and many a votary of the one sleeps in unrecord-
ing ice, and lovers of the other are wrapped in winding slieets of
snow. Having tried her hand in the i)lastic art, with fingers all
deft and with practised eye, old Nature wandered from southern
climes toward the upper i)ole and lifted from the sea the north-
land, an epitome of all grandeur, a crystallized photograph of all
beauty, a fixed reflection of all charms— glorious " Norge ! "

Her mountains lift not by the tens of thousand feet through
plains and hills which have swallowed up half of their vast alti-
tude, the remainder to be attained only by the most daring and
hardy, but sjjringing from the world's great level, the eternal
ocean, while appearing as lofty as the highest to the beholder,
they may be reached by the maiden's tiny feet and by the ol 1
man's faltering step. l-'ar off from a burning sun, the accumu-
lated snows of countless ages flow in glazier currents, measured
not by acres, but b\' the lunulred square miles — glaciers, compared
with which the Mer de Glace, of Chamouni, is as a fish-pond by
the side of an inland sea. The great Jostedals Brae covers an
area of 500 square miles, and sends many an arm nearly down to
the sea, as if it would bathe its frozen fingers in the warm stream
sent by our own gulf to temper the winds to this northern clime.

We have now travelled about 950 miles in this wonderful land
— 530 of them by posting in " stolkjarre," " kariol," and carriage
over mountains and through beautiful narrow valleys ; 220 odd on
little steamers and barges over crystal lakes and wonderful fiords,
and the remainder in slow-running railroad trains. We have
travelled too rapidly for simple enjoyment. That is, we have
taken but little time for rest and have not halted to dream. I
have wasted so much of my life heretofore that I must, like the
busy bee, lay up a store for honeyed dreams in my soon-to-come
old age. We have exercised our legs, and backs too, and have
kept our eyes open and our ears unstuffed with cotton. I will
now attempt to give soine very sage conclusions about men and
things here. All of these conclusions I shall be ready to change
when shown they are wrong. I always claimed the right of
changing my mind. It is only the fool who boasts that he never
does. Your inconsistent man is often a very wise man. He
learns enough to-day to know that he was wrong yesterday.

I like the Norwegians. All travellers here declare them per-
fectly honest. I certainly have not seen the slightest disposition

•r /

...'III!

ckground of
anarchs cast
vhcre fairies
1 reach these
1 the scorch-
najesty, and
:s of all un-
ust climb to
in unrecord-
ng sheets of
h fingers all
MW southern
a the nortii-
)graph of all
orge!"
'eet through
L:ir vast alti-
: daring and

the eternal
lie beholder,
1 by the ol 1
the accunui-
ts, measured
rs, compared
fish-pond by
le covers an
arly down to
u'arm stream
rthern clime,
nderful land
and carriage

; 220 odd on

derful fiords,

We have

is, we have
to dream. I
uist, like the
ioon-to-come
oo, and have
itton. I will
)ut men and
ly to change
the right of
hat he never
e man. He
iterday.
re them per-
;t disposition

TJJE XORUT.G/AXS.

901

on the part of any one of them to deceive or cheat, and if trust-

ously inclined. At wayside stations curiosities— sometime"; of
small silverware— are exposed in the unattended public room
where any one could easily carry them off. Cigars are in open
boxes for the traveller to help himself from, with the expectation
that he will honestly account for any he has taken. Farm-houses
are left open when the whole family goes off to the mountain to
cut hay, and in some unfrequented localities the wayfarer goes in,
builds a firL\ goes to the store-room, helps himself to milk and
" flat-broed," cooks, and eats a meal, and leaves on the table
money enough to pay for what he has used. Frequently a post-
boy (he -s sometimes a man and not infrcquentlv agirl or woman)
has taken what I have paid for his dues, putting it into his pocket
without counting. He always, however, sees what vou give him
as gratuity, and warmly shakes you by the hand when he says
"tak " (thanks). I gave a servant girl too much for our dinner.
She seemed much amused, when she corrected my error, that I
.should have made such a blunder. At wayside stations they
charge ridiculously low prices, and as far as I can learn make no
distinction in making the reckoning to foreigners and to home
people. They are a sturdy, fine-looking people, and arc the most
thorough democrats on the face of the globe. They have abol-
ished all titles and nobility, and have not learned to worship
wealth. One man is quite as good as another, and his bearing
shows he thinks so. He takes off his hat when he meets a
traveller on the roadside, but does it as freely to the coachman
who drives as to the rich man who lolls back in the carriage. He
has high respect for his pastor and for the patriarchal head of a
family. He is, however, frequently a dissenter, and shows no
disposition to pay church rates, and in that case wastes no great
amount of love upon the pastor who is placed over him by the
government. The Lutheran Church is the established one of the
land, and the livings are in the gift of the authorities.

They are a good-natured people I am sure. The kitchen is the
living room in a well-to-do farm-house. I have walked into these
frequently, and generally found the mother putting the finishing
touches to the pot when preparing a meal ; and I could never tell
which were the daughters of the house and which the servants.
By the way, the latter are not ashamed of their calling, and when
I asked a pretty one if she were the daughter, she said, with a
smile : *' Oh, nei, I am a servant." Many of the women in the
mountains and upper valley are very comely — not beauties, but
ruddy, rosy, plump, and healthy specimens of femininity. If I
should write verses I would not write them to " The girl with the

'1 wil

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502

A RACK fV/T/f THE SUN.

• I

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raven locks," nor to "Tlic flaxcMi-liaircd maiden," nor yet to "The
rcd-luiired i^nl," but just now woidd write a sonnet to "The sweet
^irl of the tow head."

Tlie women do tlieir full share of the work of the land, but we
have found the heavy labor is done by the men. The women
reap and bind t^rain and rake and mow hay. The men. however,
wield the axe and the sc) Jie. All -^rass is cut, however li^ht, and
often a very quick, sharp stroke is necessar)- to shave it ol^f. For
this sort of jiay, a scythe a little over a foot loni^, with a handle
less than two feet in len^rth, is usetl. The stroke is as sharp md
quick as it would be if the mower were taking the head off a
snake. We have seen nowhere the double-action scythe used in
Finland. There a lonij-hanilled implement is wielded first to the
ri^ht and then to the left, with a rapidity and evenness of iction
simply marvellous. I do not think the Norwegians gocj>l , umers.
They plow or dig their fields well and deep, but their barley and
oat fields iiave nearly as much weeds as grain. '1 l>ey harvest close
to the ground, so as to save every weed and spear of grass.
NotiiMig which grows but is saved for hay, and the cows and
slieep eat any and every thing. Kven the potato vines are hung
up to dry for fodder, and leaves of birch and elm are cured and
stacked for winter use. Horses do not eat leaves unless sorely
pressed. Grain ripens here very slowly, and is often cut thoroughly
green. This is more than usually the case this year, for the season
is nearly three weeks later than ordinaril)-. I saw barley being
harvested in the mountains perfectly green and with heads not
half filled. They know not what night frost may come. Parley
up in Finland matures in eight or nine weeks ; here it frequently
fails to do so in four months, and never in less than three.

All grain and hay is hung up to dry and cure. Each valley and
locality differs somewhat from the next one in the mode adopted.
This shows how conservative people are— each following the
example of his forefathers. There is something pleasing to me in
this respect for the ideas of the past — so different from our land,
where the old is ever discarded and the new taken up. I have
almost learned to like the Chinese forworshipping their ancestors.
It is better than with us, where Young America generally thinks
his father an old fossil. In the Gudbransdal — valley of Gud-
brand there are old homesteads which make one almost feel he is
being carried back a few hundred years to the old English halls,
without the pomp of baronial power and mastership. There is
the old tall clock, the old cupboard in the corner, old tables and
other old traps of long ago, and the old man with his pipe and his
children and laborers about the great kitchen in full and free
equality. Yet the old man's will and word is the law of his little
realm and is implicitly obeyed.

Real estate is held upon a singular tenure. A man may dispose
of it as he pleases, but the next in succession has the right to

I i

LIQUOR TRAFFIC IN CITIFS.

503

^ct to "The
" TliL' sweet

:iiul, but we
riie women
n. liowevcr,
;r lifjht, and
it off. I'^or
th a hatulle
,s sharp iiicl

head off a
tlie used in

first to the
is of tction
)ud I umers.
" barley and
larvcst close
ir of ^rass.
e cows and
es arc hun^
L' cured and
mless sorely

thorou<^hly
r the season
/irley beinij
1 heads not
Tie. Barley
t frequently
iree.

Ii valley and
do adopted,
llowing the
ing to me in
im our land,
up. I have
ir ancestors.
;rally thinks
ley of Gud-
ist feel he is
nglish halls,
). There is
I tables and
pipe and his
nil and free

of his little

may dispose
the right to

demand to be the purchaser, even from tin- veutlee who had paid
in full, and he has several years within wliicii to reach liis deter-
mination, so that an interloper cannot know for some years
whether he is the owner or not, This virtually ])revents free
disposal, and the next in succession usually feels a pride in holding
to the old farm. To enable him to buy out his mother and sisters
he goes into debt, and his life then becomes one of drutlgery for
the benefit of the mortgagee. The farmer has to keep up the
roads a ii. r his land. This burthen with others keeps him poor,
and many ;.rL'k relief in emigration. If I be not misi.ikcn, the
number leiiving the country, both here and in Sweden, is more
than one m three of the births. This very much annoys the govern-
mcr* aid causes it to discourage emigration as much as possible.
I am not anxious to have increased enn'gration to our land. We
are filling up too fast, but no better population couKI go to our
shores than tlie hardy sons of Scandinavia.

I had, until coming here, been of the impression that the Nor-
wegians were hard drinkers. It was probably so once, but is no
longer the case. I have seen but two men under the influence of
liquor ; one was an excursionist on a railway, the other an
Englishman on a steamer. The people ascribe the improvement
to two things — first, the prohibition against selling any liquor
from five o'clock Saturday afternoon to nine o'clock Monday
morning, and to the peculiar regulation of dram shops in towns
and cities. The traffic in Christiania is under the control of a
syndicate of gentlemen, who own and run the saloons, reserving
only five per cent, of the profits for themselves, and turning the
balance over to the city. Coffee, beer, and liquors are served in
one room and .sandwiches in another. No man is permitted to sit
down in the establishment, or to take more than one drink of
liquor or more than a half-bottle of beer at a single visit. The
beer of the land is good and cheap. It is decidedly the beverage
of the people, and so far as my observation extends in the cities
and in the country, sobriety is a national characteristic. Bad
liquor docs more harm than much liquor. If the prohibitionists
would only preach a crusade against poison as a beverage, and
would make the wilful manufacture and sale of adulterated liquors
and beer a penitentiary offence, I believe I would agree to be their
candidate for the presidency. But it will not do for them to stop
a man from making a simon-pure old Bourbon or a canoe of pure,
cooling lager. That is a blow at the natural liberties of free men.
Apropos of presidential candidates, I hear some of our fellows
arc poking fun at Ben because his ancestor was drawn, hung, and
quartered. They must not attack the family record. Remember
John Brown was hung, but his soul goes marching on. Ben's
family are very good people, even if one ancestor was a crop-head ;
and besides the lusty old fellow helped to teach the Anointed of
the Lord that royal necks and sharp steel had affinities.

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^ i¥^c^ /F/r/r T/fn: SUN.

I said all grain and grass was hung up to dry. This is some-
times done on " hcsjies," long racks — posts set in the ground,
about six feet high, with five or six tiers of slender poles or lines
stretching between them-^a sort of five-deck clothes-lines.
These are sometimes several hundred feet long, and when there
are several rows one behind another and well filled, look at a
distance like compact companies of infantry, and when close by
and covered with short, green grass resemble well-trimmcd quick-
set hedges. The more general plan, however, is to hang the grass
or grain on "corn-stals." These are sticks, eight to ten feet high,
set into the ground, with cross-pins for grass but smooth for
grain. The sheaves of grain are so hung upon these that the
heads all bend toward the sunny side, and look not unlike a
woman's massive tresses flowing over her shoulders and down her
back. The little fields, often of less than a quarter of an acre,
scattered over the mountain slopes or in larger sizes in the
smiling valleys, with these tall " corn-stals" scattered over them,
make a charming landscape. The Norwegian farmers like the
Finns and the Swedes, do not live in villages and clustered
hamlets, but each on his individual farm. I have an idea that this
gives a feeling of independence and a love of real liberty. People
in villages become more or less dependent. The man who lives
alone grows to be self-reliant and loves elbow-room. It is among
such that civil liberty takes deepest root. The necessity of
housing all cattle and all provender during the long winter
months makes very large barns or many buildings necessary to
each farmstead. The farmer whose whole arable land does not
exceed a dozen or two acres, has eight or ten— rmd often more —
buildings closely gathered about his residence. The larger farms
do not increase the number of these buildings so much as they
increase the size of each. In some of the mountain districts,
where the whole tillable lands of a homestead are not greater
than one of our market gardens, the out-houses are often so tiny
that one could almost imagine they were put up as toys, rather
than for the earnest necessities of a hard life.

In some of the richer and broader valleys, the barns are com-
modious structures which would do credit to a Pennsylvania
Dutch farmer; all buildings throughout the land we have visited,
except in Christiania, are of logs, generally well hewn, sometimes
sawed, with prettily carried up corners, and fitting closely to-
gether upon a calking of fine moss, and with lapping eaves ;uid
projecting gable roofing; very pretentious ones are boarded over.
The roofs in the south and about the fiords are of red bent tiles;
in one or two large valleys, of huge slabs of slate ; but generally
throughoiit the country, of six or eight inches of turf laid upon
an under-roofing of birch bark. These turf roofs in this rainy
country arc green with emerald moss or growing grass, and many
of them with bushes of pine, mountain ash, or birch growing in

I i.ii

Ills is some-
he ground,
>les or lines
lothes-lines.
wiien there
, look at a
en close by
imed qiiick-
ig the grass
n feet high,
smooth for
!se that the
)t unlike a
d down her
of an acre,
zes in the
over them,
;rs like the
-i clustered
lea that this
•ty. People
1 who lives
It is among
leccssity of
)ng winter
lecessary to
docs not
en more —
arger farms
ich as they
n districts,
ot greater
ten so tiny
oys, rather

is are com-
nnsylvania
Live visited,
sometimes
closely to-

eaves and
irded over.

bent tiles;
generally

laid upon

this rainy
, and many
growing in

.ill

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k.i

\[\ ..•i'.m

LOG-HOUSES AND STABBURS 505

healthy thrift from four to even 15 feet in height, so that a man
may truly be said to live under his own roof-tree. I counted 18
young trees, none of them under three feet in height, and two or
three over ten feet, on the roof of a house 30 x 20 feet. The
grass on some of the houses was fit for the scythe. On one was
a large patch of pansies, and many were white with wild marga-
rites. Painted houses, except about large towns, are the excep-
tion. Many receive, when first put up, a washing of tiiin tar
These latter left untouched are soon exquisitely tinted by time
and the weather, and wear most artistic hues. Nearlv cvry
cluster of farm buildings has its " stabbur," or store-house, lifted
upon low bevelled posts, up which mice and other rodents canrot
climb. In some localities these stabburs are the farmer's
pride, and are exceedingly pretty. On bevelled posts two feet
high is erected a pretty log-house, say 10 x 15, and 10 feet high.
Upon this rises a second story, projecting over the first four or
five feet on all sides, and supported by brackets more or less
elaborately carved. The upper story is then surmounted by a
rocf of green turf, projecting two to four feet. These erections
are often the perfection of log architecture, and are set forward
before the residences as \.\\& pihes de resistance of beauty. They
are generally painted red, or charmingly tinted by the weather,
and when they are the accompaniments of a dozen or more ham-
lets scattered over a mountain slope, are very picturesque, and
look not unlike little Burmese temples. They may indeed be
called the temples of the owners, for in them they store their
cheese and butter, their groceries and barley meal, their seeds and
little wealth of threshed grain. I saw one being erected, where
the old carved brackets, of an older one rotted and pulled down,
were being built into the new. The owner said the brackets were
over 400 years old, and had adorned the store-houses of his ances-
tors. The people take great pride in their old family relics, but
are too democratic to erect monuments to their dead heroes,
wherein they differ greatly from the Swedes, whose capital is
filled with statues. We have not seen a half-dozen monuments
in the land. All but two of these were to the engineers who built
their magnificent roads. The exceptions were one to George Sin-
clair, a Scotch adventurer, who led 900 of his countrymen into the
heart of the country to assist the Swedes. Three hundred peas-
ants collected over a pass he was to take, and, hurling stones and
logs down upon the invaders, destroyed them all. A huge slab,
with the commander's name and the date of his death, is erected
near the roadside. I asked our coachman why the monument
was erected to him. He replied : " Because he was killed."
There was more wisdom in the answer than he dreamed of.
Many a man goes down to fame simply because he was killed.
A broken arm or a wooden leg takes a man to Congress or makes
him a governor. A broken head and death-stroke makes him a

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506

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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hero and gives him a monument. How many thousands have
lost their bright opportunity by not being killed at the right
time ! The other exception mentioned was the statue to Chris-
tian, the founder of the city, in Christiania.

Norway has an area of 122,000 square miles — considerably
more than twice as many as the State of Illinois — and yet she
has only a little over i,ooo square miles of arable, cultivatable
lands. About a fifth of her surface is covered by forests — not of
large trees such as we consider valuable timber, but of close-
grained pines, large enough for a European market, and of birch
and other trees. The remaining land surface is all bald rocky
heights and upper moorlands, with scanty grass for pasture and
moss for reindeer, and snow-fields. She has a marvellous amount
of running water well stocked with fish, and almost fathomless fiords
and interland channels teeming with the finny tribes of the deep.
Her forests and fisheries have constituted 1u,t wealth in the jKist.
Her magnificent scenery will go far toward feeding her population
in the future. A few years ago her roads were only rough bridle-
paths and foot trails. Now she has many of the best engineered
and gravelled roads in the world, and is extending them to every
point sought by the tourist. Thousands of foreigners seek health
and pleasure here every summer. And each summer exceeds
the preceding one by a heavy percentage. So many Englishmen
come to it that it is called by some of them i suburb of I^ondon,
and the language of John Bull is being pick' u up a little on every
mountain side and in every valley, and al.. ; the great fiords of
the west an American or l^riton rarely need .ui interpreter.

The fjords or fiords are deep-sea creeks running far into the
mountains inland on the whole coast, from the far north down to
the border of Sweden. It was from them that the Vikings
(creek kings) sallied forth to prey upon the richer people of Eng-
land and the south. In some instances these creeks are over loo
miles long, from a half mile to four miles broad, and as deep as
the outer sea. They ramify into countless arms, jagged and
rough. On a topographical map they have been likened to the
crooked trunk of a dead tree, with the larger g . '.h1 branches
projecting, but stripped of smaller limbs. These brunches end in
deep narrow valleys extending still farther inland, in which are
long deep lakes on higher altitudes. These lakes occupy the
beds of fiords, which extended back at some earlier period, before
the country was lifted high above the sea. From the fiords huge
mountains lift their precipitous heights 1,000 to 5,000 feet directly
from the water, with here and there steep slopes, on which little
patches of cultivated land mingle with the precipices. Gener-
ally, however, the mountains rise at once in sheer precipices or in
mighty rocks with little terraces, on which stunted trees find
scanty foothold, or ledges green with light grass.

Behind the mountains are upper plateaus, covered with glaciers
and eternal snows. Over their crests pour water-falls, so far up

sands have
t the right
e to Chris-

onsidcrably
nd yet she
cultivatable
;sts — not of
Lit of close-
nd of birch
bald rocky
pasture and
oils amount
imless fiords
)f the deep,
in the jiast.
• population
jugii bridle-
engineered
?m to every
seek health
icr exceeds
F.nglishmen
of London,
tic on every
;at fiords of
)reter.

ar into the
"th down to
he Vikings
pie of Eng-
ire over lOO
as deep as
jagged and
Mied to the
h1 branches
iches end in
1 which are
occupy the
riod, before
fiords huge
feet directly
which little
;es. Gener-
:ipices or in
trees find

v'ith glaciers
Is, so far up

MOUNTAINS AND WATER- FALLS. 507

that they arc lost in mist, to be again gathered into tumbling
streams on lower rocky projections, or, having worn the rocky
sides down into more gradual descents, they hang like silvery
bands, 1,000 and 2,000 feet long, on the frowning mass of granite
The mountains are of volcanic origin, and stand as the)- stood when
first cooled off after being belched forth from the deep bowels of
the earth, more or less modified by the action of water and frosts
through countless ages. They lift in monster domes, rounded
and bald-headed, smooth and nearly solid, and could thcj- be seen
from far-off heights, would appear as vast water-worn bowlders,
strewn in irregular order on the face of the land. In one respect
they make this one of the oldest parts of the earth ; that is, 'hey
arc all composed of primary rocks, thrown up by the globe's
eternal fires, and bear upon themselves no secondary formation.
In fact, however, I suspect this is one of the newest of lands, and
is the creation of one of the world's latest cataclysms. This is
evidenced, first, by the absence of overlying stratified rocks and
clays, and yet more strikingly by the sharp lines and edges of
monster fragmentary rocks, which often lie in Titanic masses as
they fell down from the heights into gorges and narrow valleys,
broken from their moorings by too rapid cooling. Vast piles of
such fragments are often met with, piled like Ossa upon Pclion,
into lofty hills. These great fragments are seen 200 or more feet
in diameter, with edges as sharp as if they had been cleaved but
yesterday, resting upon underlying monsters, with crevices as
large as caves, or on points so small that a few strokes of a slender
hammer would change the position of millions of tons. There
arc no pinnacles, needles, and horns to be seen in Norway piercing
the skies, as in the Alps or in our own Rockies, but the tallest
points present somewhat rounded crowns on the background of
the sky. This is a land of water, of rushing torrents — torrents
fed by upper snows and frequent rains, tumbiing down mountain
sides anci dashing along valleys in rapidly falling masses, forming
innumerable cascades over frightful precipices and countless
water-falls in the valleys. Many of these are of wondrous beauty,
but so constantly recurring that tourists become surfeited with
their wild music and their filmy or foaming charms.

The tree line' ends at some 3,000 feet altitude, and the lofty
heights of the mountains are clothed in heather or are naked and
smooth in rock. Vast snow-fields lie on the upper plateaus, some
congealed and pressed into glacier streams ; others descending in
great stripes and bands in deep, rocky furrows, far down into the
valleys, so that when once into the mountains, white robes and
scarfs and ribbons are always visible about monster shoulders.
The roads are splendidly engineered, built of disintegrated granite
sands, or soft particles of somewhat flaky gneiss, smooth as a
garden walk, and sloping from lofty heights in loops, bends and
zigzags, along frightful precipices in charming convolutions,
along which the mountain ponies trot or gallop with surefooted,

V' i

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508

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

brave, and never-flagging steadiness. There are few good-sized
horses in Norway ; nearly all of the small ones are pony-built.
They are fairly well formed, almost always tawny or dun more or
less of a yellowish or whitish tinge. All have a daii^ streak of
hair, beginning in the foretop, running through the middle of the
mane, along the spine, and into the tail. Nearly all are prettily
roached the two lighter sides of the mane being removed, leaving
a black or dark roach, even to a nearly white pony.

V'r>;.

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good-sized
pony-built,
lun more or
k streak of
iddleof the
are prettily
ved, leaving

CHAPTER XLVII.

CHRISTIANIA-VIKING SHIPS-THE THELEMARKEN-TIIE FIORDS

-CLIMATE OF NORWAY-SPLENDID ROADS-DELIGHTFUL

TOURS-MOUNTAIN DAIRIES.

Steamer C/in'siiania, September, 15, 1888.

Now, having given a general survey of this pleasin"- country
and Its holdings, I will endeavor to draw a few pictures of the
particular things seen and done in our rapid tour of three weeks
We commenced our inland journeyings at Christiania, goin<r by
rail some 50 miles southwestwardly to Kongsberg ; then by
posting 190 miles in little spring carts, through smiling valleys
and over bleak snowy mountain heights and passes to Odde
on the southernmost arm of the great '^Hardanger Fiord; thence
through thearmsof Hardanger on a little steamer and posting to
the southernmost arm of the Sogncr Fiord, which carries its almost
fathomless salt waters a hundred and odd miles into tlie interior
mountains; then on this briny inland creek to one of its northern
landing-places; and by post and over the crystal lakes on row-
boats or little barges to the great Nord Fiord ; and again
posting to the Sondmore, and over and along its branches
twisting like a reptile Mirough mighty pricipices 3,000 and 4,000
feet high in the Geiranger and the Slyngs Fiords, and on-
ward again by posting to the beautiful Molde Fiord and the
picturesque town of Molde,— making in all 300 to 320 miles from
Odde. By posting again nearly 200 miles through the deep
gorges and frowning heights of the Romsdal, and over the
pass and through the beautiful valley of Guldbrandsdal to Lille-
hammer, and on the long and sweet lake of Mioesen ah-'ut 65
miles, and finally by rail 42 miles again to the capital, ana nnish-
ing all on the fine steamer Christiania of Copenhagen out of the
Christiania Fiord, on which I am now writing.

The ride, when entering Norway by rail from the frontier of
Sweden, is spoken of by the guide-books as tame. This should
be so understood as by comparison with the nobler scenery
ofTered the traveller in other localities. It is really very pretty ;
low mountains clothed in pines of foliage so dark that they seem
almost black ; scattered farms with clusters of houses charmingly
tinted by the weather, and fields green in light-colored oats, and
well mown meadows, and little fields of rye mounted on tall,

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A HACE WITH THE SUN.

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closely planted " corn-stals," and patches of barley now beginning
to yellow. Our track lay along a broad, flowing stream, with here
and there large saw-mills, surrounded by huge piles of newly cut
boards and great rafts of slender logs, with several pretty villages
and towns and tasty houses.

We found Christiania a fine, well-built city of 120,000 dwellers.
Its general characteristic is that of substantial solidity without any
pretentions to great elegance or beauty. Some of the public
buildings are fine and the palace is imposing. The king, who
was in the city when wc arrived, or rather in its neighborhood,
does not occupy it, and rarely even the /'ijoii of a residence, Oscar's
Hall, charmingly situated on the fiord near by. He was sojourn-
ing in a log-house somewhere near by, I suppose thereby to flat-
ter the democratic tastes of his Norse subjects. He goes about
here with decided simplicity. These people have no great rever-
ence for kings, and the present one's movements are much more
unpretending than when in the sister kingdom. The union
between Norway and Sweden is almost exclusively through the
crown. In all things else Norway is an independent, separate
kingdom.

The museum is quite good, but the thing most attractive to us
was the old viking ship. This is a keel about 85 feet long, with
a pitched-roofed log-cabin, in which the bones of the old robber
king were fc md. It was discovered buried a few years since in the
sands, where it had lain for nearly or quite a thousand j'cars. A
dead king was buried in it with his horses and cattle, which were
killed for liim to feed on during his nethermost pilgrimage. The
views about Christiania are fine, and the suburban residences of
its better-to-do people very pretty. One of the prettiest is the
1 50-years-old house of our kind consul, Mr. Gade. It has pretty
grounds and handsome trees, and an exquisite garden. His
beautiful American wife is, however, its best adornment. With a
wealth of silvery hair, and rosy complexion, and the softest of
dark eyes, she shows that a Maine girl lost nothing when she was
transplanted to Norge to be the mother of two nearly grown
children now finishing their education at Cambridge, Mass. He
has been our consul for nearly eighteen years ; delights to show at-
tention to Americans, and exhibits the book of my good old friend.
Judge Caton, as his most valued treasure. I do not know but that
he values the kind lines written on the fly-leaf even more than all
of its valuable printed pages.

The run by rail to Kongsberg is fine, through deep valleys, high
upon mountain slopes overlooking deep gorges and sunny valleys.
on which haymaking men and women stopped to wave their hand-
kerchiefs to the passing train. Every one gives their salute to
whirling train and panting steamer. In fact I have reached the
conclusion that this article of apparel throughout the Northland
is rather kept white for this purpose. The back of the hand is

;, I.

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V beginning
n.with here
f newly cut
;tty villages

00 dwellers,
vithout any

the public
king, who
ighborhootl,
nee, Oscar's
I'as sojourn-
reby to flat-
goes about
great rever-
much more
The union
:hrough the
nt, separate

active to us
: long, with
: old robber
since in the

1 )'car.s. A
which were
nage. The
;sidenccs of
ttiest is the
: has pretty
irden. His
It. With a
: softest of
len she was
arly grown
Mass. He
to show at-

lold friend,
ow but that
ore than all

alleys, high
nny valleys,
their hand-
ir salute to
cached the
: Northland
he hand is

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■'tis

A TRIP THROUGH THELEMARKEN. 5,,

much more used for nose-wiping. It is convenient, always lumdv
can be cleaned without ironing, and saves the rag. It is astonish
ing how long the Finns, Swedes, and Norse men and women cm
wave their napkins to parting friends. It makes us sometimes
rather sigh when embarking that no one ever bids us good-bye
We have had no one to see us off since we left Seattle. We go
aboard an ocean steamer as a sort of every-day affair and quit a land
as c jolly as the denizen of a city takes a horse-car. We have grown
utterly cosmopolitan. The world is our home and all people are
our brothers. We pass from one land to another as nonchalantly
as most people turn a village corner; we look back upon the
masses we leave with kindly regard and sil-ontly bid them a long
adieu. We then look forward to the next where we shall meet
with generous welcome. The world is everywhere our oyster ;
with courtesy and a silver knife we open the shell on every strand
and cat of its juicy contents with heartful thankfulness to the
Giver of all good gifts ; with kindness to all and malice to none,
with forgetfulness that any were ever our harm-doers ; with hopes
that all will be our well-wishers we think of the far-off land where
real friends have stood by us in the past, with longing soon to be
among them and to be better Americans aiTd truer Chicagoans
because we have been and ever will be citizens of the whole
world.

The Thelemarken district has not been much visited by tour-
ists because its roads are of very recent date, and some two or
three passes are yet so steep that one has to take a good many
stiff walks to surmount them. But it was to us a succession of glo-
rious experiences and views. Now we were in sweet valleys as
pastorally beautiful and homelike as one could wish ; little waving
fields and mowed lands so smooth and with trees so scattered along
streams or in clustering copses that they looked like well-kept
parks. Homesteads perched on steep mountain sides in gather-
ings of a dozen out-houses with green moss or grass on their roofs
and now and then with little trees growing far above the ridge-
pole. Scarcely any tawdry or glaring in paint, but all sweetly
tinted with that softest of all brushes — the weather, and by that
truest of all artists — time ; beautiful stabburs, or store-houses,
the treasure houses of the owners, fashioned with a taste only to
be reached by the rounded log, exact corners, and widely over-
hanging eaves, in the softest of neutral red, if painted, but gener-
ally stained by the coloring of oozing pitch, helped perhaps by a
thin coating of tar which time has wiped down as if with light blend-
ing brushes dipped in dry burnt umber. We sometimes stopped at
a plain farmer's station where we would have trout with sides
studded with rubies, and with butter and milk scented and fra-
grant from the sweet mountain grass cropped by the little cows,
and waited upon by a nice Norwegian woman who seemed to care
more for our praise of her good things, than for the small price in

5'2

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

! •

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£l '

" kroner and acre " she would charge for the meal ; then our little
horses — pony-built and compact, wliich do not know how to baulk,
looking so docile and sensible, carrying us now on the very verge
of a precipice antl then almost on a jutting crag, and giving us a
twinkle from their honest eyes as if saying " was that not a close
shave?" These things were all pleasant helps to enjoyment.

I must not forget that horses are not tied and tethered by the
head. The halter is fastened to one of the fore-feet instead. When
a driver halts in town or country he fastens a cord from one fore-
foot to one of the shafts. When cattle, horses, and even sheep,
are tethered out to pasture it is done by the foot. It is amusing
to see tliese educated animals reaching for an extra tuft of grass,
standing on three feet while the fourth is stretcheil to the rope.
The people and their cattle live on terms of the utmost intimacy
anil are perfect friemls. A low word from the owner is enough to
make a pony put fort' uis best exertions and a whip is rarely
needed. A strange di r needs the whip and a good one The
boy stands or sits bchiui. the traveller, and when he gets down to
walk going up hill the jioiiy i)ays no sort of attention ' i the trav-
eller who drives, but wiicii the bo\' mounts, off he tm;^ before a
word is spoken. Tlu; brightest post-boy I had was a woman who
coiiUl jump up and down with the agility of a cat. And yet
she had two sons in Minnesota ; one . ' them had been there
seven years, thus showing she was no youngling. In my gallantry
I wished to get down to open ,. gate. .She objected ; 1 gave her
to unilerstand that I was tpiite young. She looked at my gray
head with an incredulous grin. I reserved m>' gallantr)- after liiat
for some more appreciative fair one and K't her ilo tiie juui|)ing.

Our little boys were generally of the brigiitest ami rosiest kind
and took great pride in showing off tiieir little stock of ICnglish ;
and how thankful were they when they would siiake us by the
hand and give us a warm " tak " (thanks) for the 25 " aere " we
would give as trink gelt. (~)nce we stopped at an old wooden
church curiously built in a sort of rising terraces of stained
shingles. Some of its timbers were there as they were placed
600 or 700 years ago. The good pastor of Hitterdal was most
kind when he dismissed the class of some 20 maidens he was
preparing for confirmation, and showed us his old treasures.
Among other things he pointed to a sort of visitors' registry,
on one of its earliest pages being the name of Napoleon, written
by the Prince Imperial before he started off for cruel Zulul.md.
The meek-looking young girls in neat black dresses, with black
handkerchiefs on their heads seemed thoroughly to realize the
solemn ceremon>^ they were soon to pass through when uniting
themselves thoroughly to the church. The peasant women wear
usually a gown of dark or black coarse woollen stuff, with hand-
kerchief, light or black, tied at the throat.

At times our road lay along streams — now torrents with pretty
falls, rushing through clefts in the rocks, and then spreading into

'«/

len our little
low to baulk,
c very vcrjjc
givinti us a
t not a close
oynicnt.
icrecl by the
itead. When
om one fore-
even sheep,
[t is anuisinj^
;uft of ^rass,
to the rope,
est iiUiniac)'
is enough to
hip is rarely
111 one. The
i^ets ilown ti)
1 to the trav-
■ots before a
woman who
[. Ami yet
I been there
my },'allantr\-
; 1 ^;ave her
I at my '^\\\y
ry after tiia't
le jumping.
I rosiest kind
of I'jv^Iish ;
e us by the
5 " aere " we
old WDodeii
. of stained
were placeil
al was most
lens he was
Id treasures,
ars' registrj-,
con, written
icl Zululand.
;, with black
) realize the
•hen uniting
women wear
with hand-

with pretty
reading into

•HITTERDAL" CHURCH, THELEMARKEN.

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FLATDAL A HAPPY VALLEY. 513

Taroad and placid streams; quaint little saw- and grist-mills w-rc
frequently among the rocks about the falls, so small that one
could almost take them for boy's toy mills. These mills are char-
acteristic features throughout the land. They are always of logs,
often not ten feet square, and usually covered with turf, all the
greener for being within reach of the spray of the cataract whose
fall turns their wheels. They arc large enough for a set of stones,
a little hopper and_ trough, and a barrel or two. Sometimes they
are run by an outside over-shot wheel, though more frequently by
a little wheel directly under the stones. At one place 1 counted
1 1 little mill-houses, one after another, within 200 feet of each
other, on a small mountain stream. Many a Norseman grinds
his grain, sharpens his axe and scythe, turns his lathe, and cnts
the hay and straw for his cattle by water. For the latter pur-
pose a wire band is carried sometimes quite a distance from a
wate--vvheel into the barn. Now and then one sees a grindstone
whit ing away, turned by its own separate tiny water-wheel not
much larger than a boy's flutter-mill.

Some of the mountains lifting from the valleys in the Thele-
marken are of lofty grandeur and the precipices of fearful heights.
Wc passed many mountain lakes, some of them higji up near the
eternal snows, and of depths almost unfathomable — 2,000 feet
and upwards. Along these we would skirt under lofty precipices,
over roads carved like galleries from the solid rock, and the
mountains on the opposite side mirrored in the deep crystal
water. After passmg, one day, through a lofty pass between
mighty, rocky buttresses, we emerged upon one of the most im-
pressive scenes I have ever looked upon. Fifteen hundred feet
below us lay a valley apparently perfectly level, about a half mile
wide and five or six miles long, with a farm-covered slope i,ooo
feet high spreading to our left and next us. The level valley was
laid out in meadows cleanly mowed, in barley fields, just begin-
ning to be built up in corn-stals, and in pea-green oat patches ;
through its full length stretched a river some 50 or more feet
wide and ending in a lake at the farther point; scattered over it
were clumps anci clusters of trees gracefully and tastefully placed,
as if planted for a royal park ; dotting the little plain here and
there were a few farm-houses, while close under us was a hamlet
and a spired church. The whole was bathed in a late afternoon
sunlight, and was so warm and beautiful that I involuntarily ex-
claimed, "Behold a happy valley." It was exquisitely beautiful;
but when looking a little above our level, the scene ceased to be
beautiful — it was at once one of majestic grandeur. On the right
and left reared two huge bowlder-like mountains 3,000 to 4,000
feet high and of the length of the valley. These were of nearly
precipitous sides, but rounding as they lifted to the lofty crests,
seemed smooth, bald, solid, and of unfissured rocks ; across the
lower end of the valley was another of like form and character.
The plain below us seemed to have been scooped out of solid

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S'4

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

rock. There was a wonderful impressiveness in these huge
masses of stone, each looking like a single rounded loaf-shaped
bowlder, with a few little roughnesses in which stunted pines had
taken root, making the sides look semi-green, but leaving the
summits cold, naked, and gray. These masses of solid rock are
more awe-inspiring than far loftier summits, where they are split
and sundered into needles, horns, and pinnacles. The latter
show at once that they have yielded to the elements. The solid
mass seems to have defied time and nature, and to rest in eternal
fixedness. A road bending and winding like a serpent upon itself
brought us soon down into the valley. High upon the mountain
side hung a little foamy stream bending over its very crest, and
looking at top like a silver thread tight twisted and compact, but
as it came lower down, seeming to be frayed, until within 500 to
800 feet of the bottom it was unravelled and spread into silvery
mists. It looked but a tiny thing, yet we could hear it roar,
though it was more than a half mile away. This beautiful valley
is Flatdal in Thelemarken.

Oiir road carried us nearly 4,000 feet up, over wild and dreary
downs, far above the tree line and among bands of snow running
in the deep furrows down to our feet. Few alpine passes are
grander than this, and none more wildly dreary. On the little
upland valkys was fair grass on which " saeters " were located,
and cows and sheep were feeding, but within range of vision were
loftier slopes gray with reindeer moss. Three of our meals were
on fresh reindeer meat ; as roast and steak it was sweet and juicy.
The owner of Haukeli-saeter owns a herd of 400. We were
sorry to find they were all some miles off on a higher mountain,
to which there was no road. He raises about 100 a year. They
are milked twice a week. Their food is a peculiar moss which
grows on the bleakest h.eights. The herd moves along as its
food gives out. It is on this account that the Laplander has no
fixed abode. He moves with his friend and support. It looked
odd to see huge antlers lying around loose like cattle-horns in a
butcher's yard. The flesh brings only a trifle more than beef.
There are several large herds in Norway, the largest having 3,500
head. The lofty mountain heights belong to government. Rein-
deer owners pay for each a little over a kronor a year for pastur-
age. The milk and cheese made from it has a sweetish taste, not
unlike that of the sheep.

The most striking piece of road I saw, and there are many fine
ones, is that which drops one down from 1,000 or more feet into
the valley of Roeldal. It bends about in loops not 100 feet
across, winding round and about like a corkscrew. Some foot
travellers at slow walk down the direct footpath beat us, though
we went at a rapid trot, so rapid that I half held my breath sev-
eral times when we seemed to be hanging on almost perpendicu-
lar precipices. The outer sides of mountain roads have protec-

these huge

loaf-shaped
:d pines had

leaving the
)lid rock are
hey are split
The latter
. The solid
:st in eternal
t upon itself
lie mountain
ry crest, and
rompact, but
•ithin 500 to

into silvery
licar it roar,
lutiful valley

i and dreary
now running
e passes are
)n the little
I'cre located,
f vision were
r meals were
;et and juicy.
). We were
er mountain,
year. They
- moss which
along as its
andcr has no
t. It looked
le-horns in a
•e than beef,
having 2,500
ment. Rein-
ir for pastur-
:ish taste, not

ire many fine
ore feet into
not 100 feet
Some foot
at us, though
y breath scv-
t perpendicu-
have orotec-

SAETERS AXD GAAJiBS. .,5

tions a fevy feet apart of blocks of stone three or so feet hiL^h set
firmly on the outer edge of the slope. At a little distance these
blocks resemble crenulations on embattled walls. Lookin.r from
the lower valley of Rocldal to the road far above, the bc'ndin-rs
are so short that they might be taken for embattled roundel
towers. Tumbling over the crest of the mountain near this is a
water-fall not far from 1,500 feet high, which, viewed from a point
opposite seems a smgle cascade. The stream far above is proba-
bly not over 20 feet wide, but it spreads over the steep sides of
the rocks until in fan shape it becomes a mass of foam a hundred
feet wide. So little has this splendid vallej- been visited that tiie
guide books do not even mention this beautiful fall Nestliu"-
down in this valley is a deep, dark lake, from which lift mountains
sheer up 2,000 to 3,000 feet.

I spoke of " saeters." They are mountain establishments where
cattle and sheep are grazed and the cows milked during the sum-
mer. The milk is brought to the farms below each^iay when
near, and twice a week when far off. We met twice, early in the
morning, dozens of rosy-cheeked, tow-headed beauties, each with
a couple of tin cans holding several gallons of milk. They go up
at night, milk the cows, and bring in the produce early to^heir
farm homes, perhaps several miles off. The cans swing from a
sort of harness over the shoulders, and are kept apart Ijy a flat
stick scooped out so as to fit over the stomach. Ever valley
farmer has his saeter-land in the mountains. Often the sky
which overhangs his mountain land is of equal value per acre.
A man has perhaps a farm of 25 to 50 acres in the valley ;
off in the mountains he has hundreds or thousands of acres.
On these are the saeters. The saeter buildings, cow- and hay-
houses of several farmers are close together, and their cattle
graze in common. The cattle are all housed each night and
come in of their own accord. Some of these saeters' are of
themselves now comfortable farms, and have considerable culti-
vatable lands ; this since good roads have been built to reach
them. That is, some farms are still called saeters, though
in strictness they are "gaards" (farms). They are, too, the sta-
tions on the post-roads, in high altitudes, and have their fixed
names, and on maps are marked as if they were villages. There
arc along the Thelemarken road many splendid water-falls, some
of them tumbling from great heights and in large streams. Falls
are frequent of several iuindred feet high, and with much more
water than is in the l^ridal Veil at Niagara. At one point three
falls are close together, two of them falling 200 or 300 feet from
one mountain, the other from the opposite side of the gorge from
another mountain. The three are not a hundred yards apart. This
is a charming spot, one of the finest in the world. The falls of
Switzerland are tame things compared to them. We did not visit
the two great water-falls. What we saw was enough. I could

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

write of each wonderful place \vc visited, but it would take too
much space ; I simply give some as specimens of all others ; these,
however, being those which most pleased us, and being, too, more
or less characteristic of all others.

The Naeraedal is a gorge of terrific grandeur, barely broad
enough to permit the passage of a rushing torrent and the narrow
road. It is flanked by rocky mountains, lifted so precipitously as
to seem almost perpendicular, of 3.600 and 4,300 feet respectively
hi height. At the outlet of this gloomy canyon lies Gudvangen,
a pretty little hamlet on the head of the deep southern arm
of the Sogncr Fiord, itself but a continuation of the Naeraedal,
only the water-way is of breadths varying from half a mile
to one or more miles, and widening to several miles as it nears
the sea. At the head of the Naeraedal gorge, over a steep slope
of 1,000 or more feet, climbs, in a succession of short zigzags, the
smooth and even road, having, now to the right and then to the
left, one or two beautiful cascades, tumbling now in leaps and
then in broken foam over jutting rocks, the streams forming
each being considerable rivers. The view from the summit of
this slope resembles the Yosemite. The mountains are al-
most baldly naked gray felspath rock, two of them lifted in
huge domes and presenting so rounded fronts that one can
scarcely realize that they are the projecting ends of a long range
and are not single well-defined domes. Behind these are two
others, presenting their flanks to the narrow valley and blending
into the vast rocks near the fiord. Into the depths of the gorge
the winter's sun reaches only for a short time each day, and in
some parts is not seen at all for two months. On the top of the
steep slope named is a fine sanitarium hotel (Stalheim) looking
down into this gloomy gorge, and looking up to the pinnacles
3,000 feet above in whitened mass of rock and whiter snow.

That one may understand the beauty and grandeur of the
water-falls of Norway it is necessary to realize that though narrow
cataracts when they rusn through the rocky crevices, the streams
are yet so large that when spread into widths from an eighth to a
quarter of a mile, and several feet deep, they flow with the cur-
rents of strong rivers. There are dozens of these large falls along
the route we traversed, tumbling from elevations of 2,000 or 3,000
feet, not all visible as falls in a single view, but in fearful rapids,
and often in a succession of leaps, or dashing over steeply slop-
ing precipices in snowy foam, and parts of each, if looked at from
directly in front, having all the appearance of single leaping
cascades. But besides these larger water-falls there arc hun-
dreds upon hundreds of smaller ones, which lie over and upon the
sides of mountains 2,000 to 3,000 feet in height in bands of silver.
One rides through valleys and along fiords for miles and miles,
and is never out of sight of these long streams and is never out
of hearing of their roar. Many of them which seem but threads

, * *■

d take too
icrs ; these,
J, too, more

irely broad
the narrow
ipitously as
espectively
jiidvangcii,
ithern arm
Naeraedal,
lalf a mile
as it ncars
steep slope
'.igzags, the
hen to the
1 leaps and
ns forming
summit of
.ins are al-
n lifted in
it one can
, long range
:se are two
id blending
f the gorge
day, and in
top of the
im) looking
e pinnacles
snow.

cur of the
ugh narrow
the streams
eighth to a
th the cur-
e falls along
XX) or 3,000
rful rapids,
eeply slop-
ped at from
fie leaping
e arc hun-
id upon the
ds of silver,
and miles,
s never out
3ut threads

M/LD CLIMATE IN HIGH LATITUDES.

S'7

are yet of such volume that they can be heard a mile or more
away. In the wild gorge I have just named, though it is but
eight miles long, and is the arm of the fiord of the same name
and about as long, there are several dozen falls fed by the great
snow-fields which cover the mountain plateau above.

I should here state that Norway might be said to be a great
mountain plateau varying from 3,000 to 8,000 feet above the sea,
through which in every direction and in every form run innumera-
ble bent and distorted valleys, some of which seem to have been
formed by splitting the mountains asunder, and others as if the
jets of molten matter had suddenly cooled before filling the space
intended to hold them. These upper plateaus represented on a
chart are gnarled and irregular in shape as are the valleys below.
On them, each fall and winter, is heaped a vast mass of snow,
caused by the meeting of winds moisture-laden from the gulf-
stream, which washes the coast and the colder winds from the
land. The sun is not hot enough to melt the snows in early
summer, but gradually sends them down in innumerable streams
till winter again locks them up with icy bolts.

Although this country is in a higher latitude than northern Lab-
rador and southern Greenland, yet its climate is so tempered by
the gulf stream that on the coast there is rarely as cold weather in
winter at Molde on the 63d degree and opposite the northern end
of Hudson Bay, as at St. Louis. The winters are very long and in
the interior are nearly as severe as at Chicago, but about the fiords
and the lakes, which are extensions of them, vegetation is very
rich and the foliage of the trees is of much luxuriance and of great
size, I measured a lilac leaf five inches in diameter and elm leaves
arc twice as large as with us. This is the true home of the cur-
rant. The bushes are as large as our snowballs and the fruit
nearly as big as small clierries, and gooseberries are seen as large
as damsons. One rarely sees anywhere so thrifty maples and
lindens as about Molde l<"iord.

The whole of the Sogner Mord presents magnificently grand
scenery, but the sublimest in Norway is that of the Geirangcr,
one of the arms of the Stor. The water on this and other branches
near is a mile and a half wide, but does not appear half so much,
because of the towering precipices which rise out of the creek and
almost perpendicularly climb to a height of four or more thou-
-sand feet. I have seen elsewhere only one sheet of water and
mountain scene equal to this — the Koenig see in the Tyrol. It is
apparently a lake, for no outlet is seen when once upon it. The
rocks so blend together in their dark gray ma.ssiveness that they
seem solid buttres.ses in every direction. The sharp, jutting edge
of one of the lofty cliffs, 2,500 feet above, seems so to overhang
that passengers on our little barge speculated upon the possibility
of leaping from it to the water below. Here close by, like a
mighty pulpit, is a canopied stone named after St. Olaf, who was

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A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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hidden near by, and being slain became the patron saint of
Norge. Little water-falls tumble over the great heights, some
of them lost in mists far above, and until they are again caught
by black projections, on which they are gathered and spread as
veils of lace.

Perched in several spots on terraces i.ooo and 2,000 feet up on
the steep mountains, are tiny farms reached by zigzag paths along
the cliffs, so steep that wooden poles are fastened along them to
enable the climber to mount with his burden of hay. Grass is cut
on every nook where a basketful can be saved and is then carried
in boats to the foot of these paths, there dried, and afterward
carried on the head above. We saw ha)-makers on spots so steep
that they rested on a knee while the other leg would be stretched
to reach a lower footing. They looked more like climbing hunters
than every-day plodding toilers. How men and cattle can move
about on the d'zzy hiMghts during snowy winters is a marvel, and
now and then it is said one does lose foothold and goes tum-
bling below. One of the pleasing peculiarities of Norwegian
scenery is that in the most frightful gorges and on the steepest
slopes, every spot whereon soil has collected and on which a man
can stand becomes the mown meadow or field of a hardy moun-
taineer. Houses seem to be hanging on the very brink of dizzy
precipices, and on inclines so steep that one would suppose them
anchored to keep them from sliding down ; and little fields are
green in barley where one would think goats must be employed
to harvest them, fields so small that a good-sized umbrella would
almost shade them. When the slopes are free from rocks for
eight or ten acres then they become sunny, smiling homesteads.
These soften many rugged passes and give the roughest spots
oftentimes a charming pastoral appearance. Then, again, wher-
ever grass grows it becomes a meadow. Men and women climb
the steep mountain side to cut close every spot which can fur-
nish a hamper full of short hay. Every spot as large as a good-
sized bedspread, in wood or among rocks, is closely shaved and
the crop taken off. Hay cut from these spots is carried off green
to be dried elsewhere and housed.

The air is so humid that the shaven sward at once takes an
emerald hue. Little land is cultivatable, but a great deal grows
short thin grass, all of which is mown, for the bulk of the cattle
do not graze near the houses, but are kept during the summer
high up on the mountain side. This grass-land is cut so evenly
and the crop is so quickly removed that the mowing appears
to have been done for beauty and not for use. Scattered over
land about houses and hamlets are low birch and elm trees or
bushes. These give to the valleys and lower mountain slopes a
beautiful park-like appearance. The trees mentioned all have
their regular uses. They are cut-in each year, and their young
twigs and leaves are dried and stacked up about the barns, the

ron saint of
eights, some
again caught
nd spread as

30 feet up on
I paths along
ong them to

Grass is cut
1 then carried
nd afterward
pots so steep

be stretched
ibing hunters
tie can move
I marvel, and
id goes tum-
f Norwegian

the steepest
which a man
hardy moun-
rink of dizzy
uppose them
tic fields are
be employed
ibrclla would
)m rocks for

homesteads,
ughest spots

again, whcr-
ivomcn climb
nich can fur-
;^e as a good-
' shaved and
■ied off green

nee takes an
t deal grows
of the cattle

the summer
:ut so evenly
ving appears
:attered over
elm trees or
tain slopes a
ned all have

their young
lie barns, the

THE ROMSDAL.

519

support their two or three cows a good part of the long winter
months. Little boys and girls and old people are seen constantly
picking elm, birch, and mountain-ash leaves in great hamper
baskets, to be dried and stored away. By the way, we have
in America no conception of the beauty the mountain-ash is pos-
sessed of. They greatly enliven the appearance at this season of
many Norwegian landscapes, and are so red with berries that they
look as if they had been sprinkled with blood for a passover in a
more than Egyptian night.

By many the Romsdal is considered the grandest of all Norwe-
gian valleys. It is certainly magnificent. It is a strange mi.xture
of beautifully home-like and terrific gorge scenery. Lofty moun-
tains tower upwards of 5,000 feet high of almost solid, naked
gneiss rock, so precipitous as to seem nearly vertical, some of
them terminating in small rounded pinnacles, others cutting the
sky with sharp-edged cliffs ; some are so smooth on their faces that
they shine in a light, misty rain, and others rough as if just riven
by fearful convulsions. These monster rocks tower on either side
of and confine a valley nowhere half a mile wide, and in many
parts only a few hundred yards across. The valley is beautifully
cultivated, having pretty farm-houses, waving little fields, and
clean-shorn and park-like meadows, and through it runs a river of
much volume and of crystal clearness, always in swift flow, gen-
erally in tumbling, turbulent, rapid, and in two or three places in
beautiful cascades, twisting and leaping down dark canyons or
clefts in the rocks. Up this majestic valley for several hours we
were accompanied by dark clouds hanging below the crests of the
mountain, now roofing the gorge over our heads, and then break-
ing away and giving us glimpses of the sky lines far above. At
one point a splendid cataract of large size tumbled close by us,
1,000 feet in height, and with all the effect of a single leap;
a dark cloud screened its loftiest spring, so that it seemed to
be pouring in foaming mass out of the very heavens. The Roms-
dal debouches into the fiord near Molde, a very pretty town of
nearly 2,000 people, and only a few miles from the Atlantic,
which can be seen from an eminence behind the town. Here
we were on the 63d parallel, and yet so soothing is the gulf
stream that vegetation is of much luxuriance. Maples, lindens,
elms, and cherry trees wore leaves of great size, and the currant
and gooseberry bushes are twice as tall as I have seen them
in America, and the honeysuckle embowered the houses. To the
€ast of the town, across the fiord, which spreads into a land-locked
bay, stretches a long line of peaked mountains, broken into an
exquisite sky line with patches, collars, and bands of snow, giving
it a wildly alpine appearance. Here we were nearer the sea than

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520

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

anywhere else before. Our journey from Odde had been over the
north and south arms of fiords and through the high passes divid-
ing them, and from 30 to 80 miles from the true coast line.

Before quitting the fiords I must not omit to mention Sjoe-
holt, on the Slyngs Fiords, which affords one of the most charm-
ing water and mountain views to be found in any land. The
fiord, four or five miles wide, lies between lofty mountains more
or less covered with verdure and reaching toward the ocean for
15 or 20 miles, with a background of prettily outlined hills. The
mountains fall in height from those nearest to those farthest off,
in such manner that the loss of elevation in the more distant ones
seems so be caused by perspective, rather than in reality.

The Romsdal pass ends in a high mountain plateau of wild and
desolate character, and then commences the valley of Gudbrand
or Guldbrandsdal, which cuts Norway from the northwest to the
southeast. In this was the scat of the last of the pagan chiefs of
the land. The mountains in this charming valley are quite high,
but have long slopes on which are beautiful farms and thrifty
farmers, living in good old-fashioned style. When I say beauti-
ful farms, I mean for this land. Now and then is a field of 20
acres in size, generally smaller, but running one into another so
closely as to give a single-field appearance to the whole. In many
respects the characteristics of the valley are not unlike some of
the finest Swiss valleys, only this continues at greater length,
being considerably over 100 miles in extent. The farm-lands
climb 1,000 or more feet up the mountain side and then meet
upper wooded heights, only a few of the loftier ones being devoid
of trees.

Our little roached horses carried us in good trot, down this
valley to Lillehammer, where we took steamer on the long
lake dignified here as an inland sea, the Mioesen, a beauti-
ful, narrow sheet of water, bordered by fine mountains, with
every slope a picture of pastoral beauty. But we have Copen-
hagen now not far off to sec, and I close, after having done but
half justice to the land of Norge.

> ' !

!',^

f« •

;n over the
isses divid-
line.

ition Sjoc-
ost charm-
aiul. The
ains more
ocean for
lills. The
irthest off,
stant ones

if wild and
Gud brand
I'cst to the
1 chiefs of
luite high,
nd tiirifty
ay bcauti-
leld of 20
notlicr so
. In many
c some of
2V length,
farm-lands
hen meet
ng devoid

lown this
the long
a beauti-
lins, with
/e Copen-
done but

CHAPTER XLVIII.

I.ANES-RUX TO liERI.lN-HKRI.IX IN xSj. Axli xllw-
KKFI.KCTIONs.

^er/ifi, September 21, 1888
. ^"^ approach to Copenhagen by sea from the north is quite
imposmg. On he left lies Sweden, with its high, sloping L^u d
pleasantly wooded, and dotted by villages of ^ome s ze.^ On he
right he the ow-lifting lands of Denmark, or Zealand with
picturesque I lelsingoer, the old gateway to the IkUtic for he sJa

The la dy Danes held the key to unlock the gates and demanded
and obtained no light toll from trading craft which wished to e
o. to barter with the people of the northern inland sea. With a
deeply uttered "Vaer saa god" (be so good), the toll-taker
boarded every ship gomg or coming. If the skipper was slow to
pay the leather-jcrkined Dane laid his heavy hand upon a hu-e
blade hanging over his hip, and pointing to the big pop-guns
ranged ike unheaded beer kegs about frowning Kronbor- n-ot
his gold without much ado. Klsinore was a big thing in olden
days, and sagely crazed Hamlet uttered its name sonorously. I
know not if the prototype of the ghost exacted fixed fees He
and those of his ilk perhaps took as occasion demanded or abilitv
to pay permitted, but when the Hanscatic League, those free cru-
saders whose God was trade, and whose coursers trod the path
less sea in quest of gain, toppled over, the Dane had his regular
toll-fees, and charged somewhat as per tonnage. This, however
became a bitter pill to swallow for the great nations which could
take all Denmark down at a gulp without making a wry face. So
not long ago, I forget when exactly, but since the Yankee carved
out the golden heart of Mexico, they paid to Denmark some-
where in the neighborhood of §80,000,000 for the relinquishment
of the right to close the free use of this artery of old ocean, and
since then the once grand and powerful Elsinore has dropped
down to a town of a few thousand population, whither people go
on excursions to revive old memories ; and the amiable Christian,
ninth of the name, carries the fame of his land all over Europe
by furnishing unkinged countries with rulers, and reigning rulers
with queens, and is, I hope, furnishing the veins of royal lines
with a vigorous and yet kindly blood.

521

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522

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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I believe in Dani.sh blood, for I go even further back than our
Republican candidate, Ben, does for the origin of our line. It was
Aircsen, the Yorkshire Dane, who helped to flog the Saxon and
stole some one's north English home, and set us afloat upon the
troublous waters of this world. Out of revenge, John Bull, unable
to slash the man, put a rough aspirate to his name, and he became
" Harrison." I do not know that I can say to the ghost of this
old fellow, " I will call thee rovnl Dane." I am not by any means
certain his was blue blood at all, unless of the color of blue flame.
For his descendants were "butchers and bakers and candle-stick
makers," and especially ran to the trade of blacksmithing, and the
bluest of blcizes arose from their furnaces, if not running in their
veins, and Cromwell's friend could have made the axe which clev-
erly taught kings that they were quite human. I like the Danes,
too after visiting them. They are a nice sort of people, good-look-
ing, active, and appear brimful of intelligence. The men are strong
and hardy, and Willie says the girls arc very good-looking. I had
to tear him away from the Tivoli when the clock struck low \2,
and had I not exercised i^rudent parental restraints, he would
have gone to that fairy garden every night. He has more admira-
tion for European female costume than I, and the nearer he
approaches to Paris the greater grows his zeal in that direction.
Perhaps it is the difference between 19 years of age and 6^. He
dotes on rosy cheeks. I pity the poor things who are caged up
in corsets and weighted down with skirts.

But I was approaching Copenhagen. The two shores of the
Sound are pleasing, but tliat of Denmark the more so. There arc
a succession of villages, one almost running into the other. The
spires and towers of the capital beyond loomed high above the
city, over which rested a heavy veil of smoke, telling plainly of
English soft coal ; not a pall such as hangs over Chicago, but too
much so for the beauty of the city or for the whiteness of shirt
fronts. Passing the picturesque fort, all green with high sward-
covered earthworks, and, through two lines of war steamers
showing iron teeth, and old ships of the line (the royal navy), we
landed at a pretty pier, about which gayly dressed people were
enjoying an evening promenade.

We soon found ourselves in a fine city of 300,000 people, well-
built, well paved, and in every way worthy to be the capital of a
thriving though not large kingdom. The people have quite a
cosmopolitan style about them, and move about with a brisk, busi-
ness air. Shop windows make pretty displays and signs are
gaudy. It is astonishing how four or five names predominate all
over the town. In Norway you call a boy "Olaf" and the
chances are he will answer you. Here you may take off your hat
to " Mr; Nielsen." He will either return your salute, or he will
say you are mistaken, his name is " Jansen." Nielsens, Olsens,
Petersens, and Jansens are everywhere. It seemed to me that

.' \

':|'"i

-T'

:k than our
nc. It was
Saxon and
it upon the
lUilI, unable
1 he became
liost of this
' any means
bUie flame,
candle-stick
iny, and the
iufr in their
wiiich clev-
; the Danes,
;, good-look-
n are strong
king. I had
uck low 12,
s, he would
lore admira-
c nearer he
at direction.
\m\ 63. He
re caged up

lores of the

. There are

other. The

h above the

ig plainly of

aeo, but too

;ncss of shirt

high sward-

,'ar steamers

al navy), we

jeople were

jeoplc, well-
capital of a
lave quite a
a brisk, busi-
signs are
dominate all
and the
off your hat
c, or he will
sens, Olsens,
to me that

THORWALDSEX, BRAlIti, AXD AX ni:KSi:.\ . 5.3

out of every 100 signs, more than half of tlicm were of these.
Sometimes "Jansen " took a variation and c,ilU,d himself "Johan-
sen," and " Petersen " became " IVdersen." Hut the dodge could
not fool a knowiujT one — they were "Jansen " and " retuiscn " still,
just as " Smythe is surely " Smith." Stores arc crowded closely
together, and basements are evidently .is poj). .n as first-floors.
All that is recpiired is enough of the basement window above the
sidewalk to make a pretty display, and the below ground is a
good locality for a money changer, a meerschaum dealer, or a
statuette vendor. The streets in the old town are narrow and the
sidewalks very contracted, but they are all kcjjt clean, and as
many people walk in the roadway as on the foot-path; this es-
pecially in the evening when wagon trafllc is mosth- over. The
streets were generally well peopled, probably more so while we
were there than usual, owing to the exhibition then coming to a
close. In the new quarters the streets are tolerably broad and
the houses rarely under four stories in height, five being the
usual number. These newer buildings are of prett)- modern archi-
tecture, but built in solid blocks, there being very few separate
houses with yards or grass plats. Looked down upon, from one
of several church towers, the city is picturesque. 1 chose the one
known as the " Round Tower," for my observation, because of
its easy ascent over a broad winding walk upon brick arches, up
which Peter the Great rode on horseback, and his cjuecn, Cath-
erine, in a carriage. This tower is 1 10 feet high. By stepping the
outer edge of the walk I found it 330 yards. The old town from
it looks very quaint, with its tall houses built on narrow, irregular
streets, of lofty, steeply pitched roofs, with two, three, and some-
times four stories of trap windows cut through the red bent tiles.
Circling about the old city is the finely built newer town, with
massive blocks of buildings all in black-slate roofing. Tliere are
some fine public buildings in the city, and the old Rosc-nburg
palace is filled with mementoes of the kings and queens of the
land, many of them rich and interesting.

But it is not the kings and queens or their works which make
Copenhagen interesting to the traveller. It is the memory of three
men— Tycho Brahe, who played with the stars and made them
the companions of man ; Hans Christian Andersen, who touches
the human heart and makes the prattle of children sweet songs
for old age; and Bertel Thorwaldsen, whose chisel gave to marble
a breathing soul. These three have monuments here, but the
real monuments of one are in the scientific libraries of the world,
and of another on the book-shelves of the reading mothers in
many lands. They can be known everywhere, but it is only in
Denmark's capital that one can fully know the grandeur of Thor-
waldsen or enjoy his works. There one breathes a Thorwaldsen
atmosphere. If not near one of his great pieces in marble or
plaster, he sees about him in shop windows or in hotels and stores

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524

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

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little statuettes and placqucs, fine reduced copies of his master-
pieces. Close by the f^reat palace, now but a shell, for only its
solid walls were left unconsumed by fire, stands the Thorwaldsen
museum, solid, massive, and gloomy, and not unfittingly so, too,
for it contains his tomb, as well as the bulk of his works and of
his art and household treasures. The oblong building surrounds
an open court, in the centre of which is his grave, green with
growing vines, but plain and otherwise unadorned. His real
monument are the creations of his brain and chisel, which fill the
rooms and corridors three stories high of the building enclosing
his ashes. There one can wander for hours, feeling that the very
spirit of the man is hovering near him. And what a spirit is his ! It
speaks in his every statue and rests before you in his every relievo.
I am periiaps not connoisseur enough to feel thus and try to find
a cause for the feeling. I reached the conclusion that it arose
from the presence of his own statue by himself among his other
works. This is so natural and life-like that it seems to live in and
to pervade the entire building. His Christ and the Twelve in
the Church of our I.ady, are considered the grandest works of
his hand, but tlicy do not so strike me. The Redeemer is
majestic, but to nie, more from its great size and its si'iiple pose
than from any conception it embodies. Take away tlie sentiment
which any fine representation of the Saviour necessarily arouses,
and there is not much left — a pagan, a cold unbeliever, could
look on it utterly unmoved. Different is the effect produced by
the frieze which surrounds the base of the vaulted dome behind.
This represents the procession to Calvary's hill. The horses seem
actually moving, excited by the shouts of the multitude, and one
can almost hear the cry of " Crucify him ! " by those who arc
hi.rrying toward the hill. So life-like is the form of Mary as she
drop; untler weary agony, that one can see her as she is sinking.
Christ, seeing her, seems to pause and loom up as he bears his
lu:\vy cross. The wood grows light, bornt up by the mighty heart
of the bearer, and the sad yet graml pity of the son, as he turns
his face toward his sorrowing mother, is wonderfully touching.
1 have never heard this frieze spoken of, but to me it is the finest
design of the mighty master.

The opera-house is a building of decided artistic merit, and it
is said the performances in it are of a high order. J^ut it is to the
Tivoli one goes to see the gayety and life of Copenhagen. Its
grounds are of many acres and contain all sorts of amusement,
from the Flying Dutchman to the orchestra dispensing classic
music. One can spend a whole evening and not take in the
shows. Cafd's abound to suit every purse and music for every
taste. Here under a handsome half-dome is a great brass band
with appropriate airs. Two hundred yards off is a huge glass
pavilion, with light supporting pillars and arches decorated with
trailing vines and masses of rare exotics ; crystal chandeliers, bright

j^K

COPENIIAGKN. THE TIVOl.I. 525

with a thousand ^;as jets, flashitifj tlirou^'Ii prismatic poiulatUs
and an orchestra of 100 instnimL-nts discourses music of ilie hi^h'
est order. Close by tiie first is a cheaper restaurant and c.rfC-
wliere a few aere will enable a moderate man to slake his
thirst or satisfy his lum5,fcr, whil'.- hearing good band music. At
the crystal pavilion the chocolate, coffee, and ices are as go'od'as
one gets at Paris, and the wines are costly, and thousantls of the
elite, in pretty costumes, eat, drink, promenade, and tint. Tiie
entrance fee to the garden with all of its privileges is only ^o aere,
about 14 cents. Thousands go every niglit and'take thei'r evening
meal, and thereby make the stock of the company a good invest-
ment. The garden is brilliantly liglited with eKotricity and gas,
and when we attended the most perfect order and dccomm
reigned. Between the two principal music-houses is a variety
theatre, where rather rollicking pantomime is performed. These
three sets of amusements alternate, so that a visitor can go from
one to the other, a regular printed programme giving him the
pieces to be played and the order, so that he can take liis .sausage
to band music, his ices and chocolate to orchestral, laugh both
down between times at the show, and promenade among acres of
otiier amusements.

Apparently the biggest man in Copenhagen, ne.xt to the king,
is the owner of Karlberg brewery. Not only does he slake every
person's thirst, but is a patron of arts. He has a fine gallery
and adorns the exposition. It may be for advertisement. But
would it not be a good thing for some of our millionaires to
advertise in the same way. By the way, lie has queer advertise-
ment in the grounds. A huge bottle, 50 to 100 feet high, in the
top of which people go in lines to see the stars, t have often heard
of people seeing stars by getting a bottle into themselves, but here
the thing is reversed. Near the grounds the brewer has an electri-
cal lens, a sort of revolving light-house, which carries rays to a great
distance, sending rainbow hues at night among the branches of the
trees and over domes, and far off on lofty buildings.

Adjoining and occupying the grounds during the day is the
National Exposition. This is quite thorough, but not very large.
The main building is of beautiful design, and great taste has
been displayed in the arrangement of goods and wares. Next to
Denmark, Sweden makes the largest exhibition, and Russia the
richest. This latter people are treading hard upon the more
western ones in industrial arts, but run largely to rich and costly
fabrics. Norway is prettily and characteristically represented
with log mountain houses, reindeer and peasants in costume.
The art gallery has many fine things, Denmark and Sweden
taking the lead, Norway following. The Germans claim that
their best things have gone to Munich.

The city of Copenhagen has some parks quite in the town,
which add greatly to its beauty. These occupy partly the place

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526

y^ 7?.4C£' IV/TJ/ THE SUN.

of the old fortifications. Tiiey are thoroughly kept up, and
afford the people charming walks without the necessity of patron-
izing the street-cars to reach them. There are many monuments
and statues adorning different squares and gardens, all of con-
siderable merit, and a broad sl'eet of lake water through the now
quarter of the city. An hour's run by rail brings the sight-seer
to Fredericksborg, a very handsome palace rising out of a pretty
lake. Unfortunately the water is very nasty, and makes one
hold his breath when the wind is coming toward him ; but the
grounds are beautiful, and the interior of the palace charming.
It is arranged as a national museum, showing the progress of the
kingdom's history, and possesses many charming pictures, the
finest being by Block. His small pictures in the chapel repre-
senting the history of Christ arc marvels of beauty, but must be
seen to be enjoyed, and cannot be described. An amusing inci-
dent occurred to us in the palace. We entered a long, narrow
gallery. At the farther end of it we saw what appeared to be
life-sized figures. Involuntarily I exclaimed, " Ya Amerikancts,"
and marched on, as I recognized one as that of the czar of Russia.
It was a huge picture, reiiresenting King Christian ami his (jueen
and their children, with their wives or husbands and their chil-
dren, in all 32, and of life-size. So finely executed is tiie whole
that when first seen in the distance they look the originals them-
selves. The czar and czarina are in the foreground, and first
seen when one approaches through the long gallery. \\ hat a
progen}- has this Danish king! Tliere stood the Aul^cat of the
Russias, the most powerful individual in the world; t.ie future
king of England if the good old lady will ever let him r.iount the
throne of the most powerful government the world e/cr knew ;
the king of Greece, ruling the land red-Howered from its soil
being rich with the blood of heroes ; the crown prince and little
girls and boys enough to furnisli all future Christendom with
royal eaters for the people to feed.

The run from Copenhagen by rail through Zealand was very
interesting. The farm-houses arc low, all in squares, all thatched
and quaint. The queer old church towers, square with high-
pitched roof, as if the builders had quit before the towers were
finished and thrown over them temporary tile coverings. The
towers are about a third of the whole ground-plan of tiie church
edifices.

The country is all thoroughly c. Itf. ated of good soil, and
teeming with produce. Cattle, hor'.os, and sheep were browsing
down tiie clover or grass in regular lines, every one tethered,
each with line enough to enable it to feed up to the next one's
bound. Instead of driving the cows to the house to be milked,
the maid visits them in order across the field. The milking
seemed to go on up to ten o'clock or later. All animals are
tethered by a head halter, but the muzzle bands are of wood

t up, and
of patron-
onumcnts
1.11 of con-
li the new
sight-seer
)f a pretty
nakes one
; but the
charming.
■CSS of the
:tures, the
ipcl rcpre-
it must be
using inci-
iig, narrow
■ared to be
crikanets,"
of Russia,
his ([ueen
their chil-
the whole
inals theni-
1, ant! first
^ What a
•c-at of the
t.ie future
mount the
/er knew ;
n its soil
and little
(lom with

was \ery

thatchetl

with high-

owers were

ngs. 1 he

he church

soil, and
browsing
: tethereil,
next one's
be milked,
le iTiilking
nimals are
e of wood

COPENHAGEN TO BERLIN.

527

instead of leather ; two sticks across the lateral jaw fastened at
top, but with holes under the jaw. Through these the line runs.
If the animnl pulls, the sticks act as a clamp and soon cure the
wearer of ar.y disposition to pull. I saw hundreds of animals
L/ul at pasture, but not a single one loose. This causes each
animal to eat closely its own little pasturage and insures great
economy of grass. Parts of the country look very wood)-, owing
to the fact that lines of crees are planted along the ;dges'of every
field. These arc all cut-in for twigs for fuel and to lake fences of,
the twigs woven into and through uprights. There were seen few
fences in Zealand, but on the island south the land w as fenced into
very small fields, and yet in all of these the grazing stock were
tethered. Apparently the Danes are good farmers. 'The ground
being sown in rye or wlicat was admirably prepared, and there
was a general appearance of comfort about'the farmsteads and an
air of thrift everywhere. The people look as ii they were "-ov-
erned by fair laws. It has been the boast of their' kings that
their monuments were in the hearts of the people, and that they
could at any time safely lie down upon the lap of a subject.
Certainly a happy, as well as a proud boast.

At Gjedserodde we took steamer for Warnemunde at the
mouth of the Warnow River in Mecklenburg, reaching it in two
hours. This is a pretty sea-b,ithing place for he Prussians.
Along the banlv of the river for nearly a mile, .iver a well-built
quay, is a narrow esplanade, planted with nice young trees, and
lined on the inner side with little cottages, each with a veranda
or a porch enclosed with glass, in which we could see from the
steamer, as we sailed by close to the shore, the fashionable people
sitting at tables as if in glazed conservatories. Many were prom-
enading under the trees. The ladies must have been pretty, for
Willie insisted that we stop overaday, and sighed when I refused.
We huuled and took rail for Berlin. We passed by quaint old
Rostock, with its lofty church towers and its memories of past
glory when it was an influential member of the Hanseatic
League. Then tlirough the Mecklenburg Switzerland. I was
quite surprised to find Prussia possessed any country with such
fine ■■ccncry. l"'or many miles we ran through low mountains,
or rather high hills, clotheil in fine forest, with now and then a
pretty lake and several quaint old towns. We saw quite a num-
ber of handsome chateaux, and still more large manorial est.d>
lishments or Ritter houses, with huge squares of barns ; with
great fieUls. where stean machinery seemed to be usetl in h.ir-
vesting and scores of laborers were at work. There were meadows
large enough to make a dozen ordinary German farms, and dozens
of " tidy-looking peasant women were raking hay. and scores of
men were mowing in long lines. In three instances I saw propri-
etors on horseback overlooking many field laborers, thi'^ being
the first time I had ever seen farming on this scale in Germany.
The whole ride was pretty till night fell.

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528

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

Reaching Berlin, we drove to the Central Hotel. The porter
told us he had but two rooms v:icant, and yet the house accom-
modates 700 guests. When l-.c informed me of the price of the
vacant rooms I told him the revenues had not come for this year
from my island in the Indian Ocean, and tliat I only wanted to
stop a few days, and did not wish to purchase the hotel. A Ger-
man hotel porter is probably the most dignified of human beings.
One who has never seen one can form no idoa of the dignity of
which the human form is capable. They never laugh, very rarely
smile. Their caps go off with exquisite g-ace to a man who
drives up with a footman. Their hats are an Immovable fixture
to a traveller who approaches in a sccond-chus carriage. Willie
asked me one day if tiicre were not tralr.in; ■. chools for porters,
they were so fearfully dignified. ' t 'i I hey were born so.

For did not the Roman say : " P

:>••'

ur, non fit." We

then went to the Windsor, an old house, wli';re we pay our money
and get its worth. And then at last we were fixed in the capital
of the German Empire, the land of Rudesheimer and Ilochheimer,
and of the r —'1 lager that cheers but does not .'nebriate, the land
of personal liberty, — I do not know so well as to the other kind,
— the land which in a few short months this year had three em-
perors without a tragedy, and now has three empresses and one
Bismarck.

Berlin, with 1,300,000 people, is a grand cit\', fit capital for
a powerful empire. I spent in it the last month of 1852 ; it
was then a rather dull and heavy city of 400,000 people. It
was not a fascinating town, and one lived in it with regretful
memories of Paris and Vienna. I had a pleasant sojourn in it,
however, and made my first real acquaintance witli t'.iat, to me,
most attractive characteristic of the father-land, the '^■ir'it.le, un-
pretending home, with its unobtrusive hospitalit - and 'jcnuinc
warm-hearted kindliness. Under one roof-tree w "e t!i ■ lather and
mother, the son and daughter, and perhaps th 5, '"-- i-' iw .md
daughter-in-law, all friends and ecjuals. There w*^- .he great
linen-room, with sheets and pillow-cases, to.. els anu ''\^'' , and
female underwear enough to set up a moderate furnishi;;g shop,
all sweet, and smelling of fragrant cleanliness ; there in another
room were great baskets filled with soiled linen. I don't think
washing-day came oftencr than once or twice a year, when it was
done in the country by wholesale, and what a splashing and
beating there was out by the river-side when the first dirt was
thumped out w-t-h paddles. I had seen it during the summer in
the country. I went with paterfamilias and h' tlock to winter-
gardens, where we listened to mus. and at',- .,Mr evening meal.
Die gute mutter knit socks for little gr.,;i nlild, and the

young daughter-in-law worked nanieh upon her cv=' garwients or
on little odti fabrics for so.ne one not yet usiiercd into this
breathing world. Fraulem M' dwig talked in low tones with

riie porter
ise accom-
rice of the
r this year
wanted to
1. A Ger-
an beings,
dignity of
/ery rarely

man who
ble fixture
;e. Willie
Dr porters,
e born so.

fit." We
Dur money
the capital
ichheimcr,
e, the land
>thcr kind,

three em-
;s and one

capital for
f 1852 ; it
)eople. It
1 regretful
jnurn in it,
Kit, to me,
-imt-.le, un-
id genuine
Lither and
I ' i\v .ind
ne great
';'•'• ; and
hi;;g shop,
in anotlier
lon't think
'hen it was
ishing and
St dirt was
summer in
to wintcr-
■ning meal,
i, and the
irwients or
! into this
tones with

BERLIN A GRAND CITY.

Rudolph to whom she was betrothed, and sometimes fli,^ir
hands, wh.ch had become somehow fastened together Tnderte
table, forgot to release the grasp when they ''came aW e
cloth ; and the young American talked glibly ,n bad Deutsch and
made many odd and sometimes offish mistakes ; but he would S'
reassured when he family would tip beer glasses, and the brother
would call hnn alter Schwcde," He was^rying to learn Gern a,
m those daj's and m.ngled whenever he could with the good
su-nple-hearted folks. I am afraid much of this old-fashfoned
warmth has dcppuedsmce Berlin has become so grand, and mill-
ions of r rench gold nave got into the land. For the canital is
now a grand city; old houses have been torn down ; new streets
have been made; and private residences are almost palatial
IS on- and then in my walks I stumble upon quarters where old
buildings arc looking familiar))- upon me and are talkin-^ of Ions
ago ; but everywhere new ones are being wedged in am. ,ict the
old and m a few years there will be but little left to remind one
of the past, except about the public edifices, which have chan<vcd
out little. ""

Government seems to have had sterner duties than erectin<r
palaces and museums. It has been building an empire Privite
wealth, however, has not been idle, and HcVlin shows more indi-
viduality of taste among its private residences than any other city
we have visited. St. Petersburg is grand, but the monogram of
an autocracy seems to meet one's eye in every fa<^ade and on
every column. The love of personal liberty pervades Berlin and
shows itself in the varied styles of its residences and the exhibi-
tion of the owner's notions in architecture. In the new quarter
of the town, south of Thiergnrten, are miles of streets, some of
them not much broader than our wide alleys, lined with elegant
houses, as varied in appearance as are the characters of the owners.
One common feature, however, pervades the whole : all have
small gardens or door-yards in front, filled with pretty shrubbery
and handsome trees, with trailing vines climbing high over the
walls, and with porches often two stories high, and balconies
loaded with exquisite (lowers and rare exotics. These little front
yards give a sufficient width between house lines and prevent the
narrow streets seeming too narrow. All yards are fenced off from
the streets with light iron railings. The fashion which has .sprung
up in America of leaving door-yards open is a bad one. It takes
away that air of privacy which is absolutely necessary to a home.
I believe in democracy, but I want my house to be mine own,
into which no one can enter except by lifting the latch-string ;
and my yard and grounds are as much a part of my home as is
my sitting-room. When I sit in my yard i:i my liainmock-chair
I am willing all should see me enjoying my dolce far nientc, but
if any one wishes to enter, let him come in by the gate. It is a
sort of snobbery to throw into the street the house-yard, and to

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53°

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

expect tlict the owner's name will throw about it a noli me tan-
gere sanctity. A light railing permits a full view of the hand-
somest grounds, but at the same time gives an air of home-like
privacy. Perhaps one of the most peculiar features among first-
class residences here are- the little shops, creameries, green grocer-
ies, and the like in basements of the finest houses. They are
certainly a great convenience to the residents.

The first thing we did the morning after our arrival in Berlin
was to walk through the great street, Unter den Linden. It was
not much changed since 1874, nor indeed since 1852. The same
street, 190 feet broad, with its trafific-ways on either side, its
bridle-path, and its broad foot-ways under quadruple lilies of
trees ; but the lindens looked stunted and sickly. They alone of
all things have not thriven under the empire. How poor are
they compared with the fresh and vigorous trees on Merren-
hauser AUee at Hanover. Wc walked down to Frederick the
Great's statue. I never could pass it without j)ausing for some
time. It had been but lately erected when I was first here in
1852. Never lifted in metal or marble a more living, moving
horse, and Fritz sits him as a part of him. I took my first lesson
in properly sitting ■•. si.ddle from it, and have often had a quiet
fancy that the grin, '^xd king sits thus through eternity. Not a
bad heaven to sit on such a horse throughout ctenin' cons. I
hail thee, " Ranch ! " Thou understoodest tlie difference between
a tliorough-bred and a plug, and well didst thou know how to
mount thy royal rider, so that he and his charger would never
tire. If the government has not cared to expend much upon
building museums and palaces, it has not been idle in filling those
it had with noble works of art ; and now the student and the con-
noisseur can spend weeks with pleasure and profit in the galleries
of Bclin. Some of the newer public buildings are fine, fhc
good oberburgomeister (first mayor) showed me through the noble
civic palace, the rathhaus, and tendered me an intelligent gentle-
man to carry me to and through all of the city departments.

It is the boast of the Berliner that his city is now utterly
impregnable, yet once every week the best part of it is absolutely
taken possession of by a peculiar people. The name " Unter
den Linden " should be taken down each Saturday morning and
" Judenstrasse " should be put in its place, for the Jews take
possession of it. Not Jews silent and melancholy, as in Poland ;
not Jews squalid, keen, antl crafty, as in Amsterdam ; but well-
dressed Jews, intelligent Jews, with heads erect, looking as if
they knew and felt their power and influence ; Jews out in their
finery, on foot and in equipages, enjoying the day on which they
were commanded to do no manner of work, for on that day the
Lord their God did cease from his labors. They own many of
the largest manufactories and works about Berlin, and live in
magnificent houses. I accidentally visited their elegant syna-

U me tan-
he hand-
lomc-likc
ong first-
Mi groccr-
They are

in Berlin
. It was
The same
side, its
' lines of
y alone of
poor are
1 llerren-
lerick the
for some
st here in
^, moving
irst lesson
id a quiet
Y- Not a
i) cons. I
:e between
)W how to
)uld never
inch upon
lling those
id the con-
e galleries
fine. The
I the noble
;nt gentle-
lents.

)w utterly
absolutely
le " Unter
jrning and
Jews take
in Poland ;
; but well-
king as if
jt in their
vhich they
at day the
•n many of
nd live in
gant syna-

THE JEWS OE BERLIX. j^,

gogue when a wedding ceremony was being performed • alter
the couple arrived, the doors were closed and nobody could' enter
About the altar were hot-house plants, mostly green. Preceded
by rabbles bearing candles the bride and groom mounted the steps
leading to the narrow altar, followed by eight or ten youn.^ hdies
all exquisitely dressed. The bride was robed in fleecy white and
wore a veil concealing her face. Tiie groom wore his sleek hat
and all males throughout the building kept on their own for it
was commanded that covered they should enter the temple of
the Lord. The ceremony was long— a half hour. At the end
the ofificiating rabbi removed the veil, the groom kissed the bride
and the knot was indissolubly tied. I do not think a ChicagJ
divorce court could undo the bond made by that long ceremony.
I saw the bride well when she descended from the altar, and so
very pretty was she that I felt sure her husband would never wish
again to be free. It was the God of the Israelites alone who de-
creed that the woman should be a helpmeet to her husband.
Such order exists in no other theocracy, and well has the jcwisli
woman obeyed the mandate. Among no other religionists does
the wife so earnestly fulfil her duties. .She assists the man with
womanly devotion ; she instils into her children obedience to the
mandate " Honor thy father and thy mother," and under that
code the child grows up learning to obey before he leains to or-
der, and to acquire the knowledge purchased by the long exjjeri-
ence of the parent. He thus enters manhood prepared to battle
through life with the wisdom of the father. In that lies the
secret of the wonderful success of these people in every walk of
life they attempt. The young among the Jews do not think
their fathers old fossils, but tread in the safe track laid out by
experience, and improve upon it as they march and learn. Chris-
tianity, springing out of Judaism, gave greater scope to freedom
of thought and of action. Rut the youth of Christendom too
often mistakes license for freedom, and imagines that it knows
all when it has acquired the wisdom of books and of the colleges.
It forgets there is a wisdom at home, unpretentious, and often
uttered with unlettered tongue, which is not written in books or
delivered in learned lectures ; a wisdom simple and practical,
homely and rough, which is worth for the private walks of life far
more than all the teachings of the schools. There are few men
of 50 who cannot teach much to the brightest boy of 21. Tiie
Jewish mother teaches this to her boy, and without knowing it,
plays the wise professor.

Berlin is cut by several canals, "hich ^-ears ago performed a
very stinking role. All of this hav bei^a changed. The canals
are handsomely walled up with soliJ quays, carry produce cheaply
through many parts of the city, a id now instead of giving odors
which I remember as being quite nasty, are entirely inoffensive.
Trees and turfed walks border tli.-m, making pleasant prom-

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enades, and elegant residences loom up along their lines. The pri-
vate residences of Berlin and the groat beauty of their floral adorn-
ments evince decided taste among the people ; but another thing
which would not perhaps so strike most observers, also evinces tiiis
growth, — that is, the decorations about and manner of goods dis-
played in shop windows. Many of them vie with those of Paris,
There is not, as there, the lavish display of jewels and precious
stones, although these are fine, but rather of articles dc vcrtu and
small works of art, many of then of considerable merit. Very many
windows have busts, statuettes, and pictures, single and grouped,
of the three emperors and their children. The rapidly succeed-
ing demises of the two elder ones, coupled with their illnesses
and the sad surroundings of Frederick's death have done much to
endear the house of Hohenzollern to the people. This is touch-
ingly shown by the thousands who stop before the imperial
groups, and by the kindly words then uttered. The }'oung em-
peror appeals most to the people's hearts by the pictures showing
him fondling with his little children, especially in one where he is
kissing his little bab\', or throwing it into the air. People dcliglit
to know their rulers are filled with home affections, and that
monarch and subjects have this common bond between them.
There can be no doubt that Wiihelm is now deeply nestled in the
hearts of the Germans, and perhaps all the more so because when
he was three degrees removed from the throne there was a strong
prejudice againt him ; it was thought he was too much imbued
with 7\nglican prejudices.

There is one thing among the Germans over here that I do not
admire, and that is a ridiculous adulation of rank and love of
titles. The great military manreuvres have been in progress, and
every day imperial carriages are seen dashing along the Unter den
Linden with visiting guests or their attending officers going to or
from the .station or to some banquet. The thousands on the
streets stop and look at them as they pass as if they were made
of some new kind of stuff ; and it matters not if the occupants
of the royal carriage be visitors or home officials, the hats around
are rapidly doffed. Several times I have asked gentlemen who I
saw were uncovering, who the occupants of the carriages were.
Generally they did not know. It mattered not whether the
officers had won their spurs, or were simply favored ones, off go
hats. If an imperial carriage happens to stop before a house
awaiting the egress of the one who is to ride, frequently a thousand
people stop and wait the great one's coming out. It is pleasant
to .see the doer of great deeds or the thinker of great thoughts
honored, but it grates upon the feelings to see one bowed to
simply because he wears a title. And then the way a man's
titles are piled on when addressed is very amusing, especially in
provincial towns. I remember how this bothered me .some years
ago, when my family was here. At a semi-literury dinner was a

wd^':

The pri-
ral adorn-
her thing
inccs this
joods dis-
: of Paris.

precious

:Yr/it and

crj' many

^n-ouped,

' SLlCCCCd-

iUnesscs
: much to
is touch-
imperial
oung cm-
s siiowing
here he is
le delii^ht
and that
:en them,
led in the
luse when
s a strong
li imbued

: I do not
d love of
gress, and
Jnter den
oing to or
is on the
ere made
occupants
its around
len who I
iges were,
ether the
les, ofi go
: a house
, thousand
s pleasant
thoughts
bowed to
r a man's
pecially in
ome years
ner was a

germa:^ love of tit/ fk

doctor of laws, who was assistant professor of riictoric He v.s
always ^ddrossed as Herr Dr. Assistant Professor of Rhetoric

addressing M.. ——-.or who left out the word " von " ' I mido

manym.stakesandfinallysettledthematterbytellincnhemrSv
that I was an unlettered Yankee. They let me get U o'th i^
one t.tle in addressing any one, but I think they veiy much p ie
my ack of good form. I do not wonder that kings, pWncer nd
nobles throughout the world think tliemselves made if finer' ma-
erial than that of common men. The people by their adida tion
teach them so to think. Socialists in Gcnnany and Fran e a
at the privileged classes : Nihilists in Russia slay them ; but he
great bu k of the people sliow that they worship'them, and when
one master is gotten nd of. they each pick up a lamp 'and grope
about in the dark, D.ogenes-uke. trj-ing to find, not an honest m.^
but another master, under whose feet they may lay their necks'
In France there is a republic, at least in name, but true French
republicans, deepl\- imbued with a genuine love of liberty, coupled
at the .same time with a love of order and good government ar.
hard to be found among the masses. They pick up a charlatan
and are ready to do his bidding because lie someliow reminds
them of jNapoleon; and Ponapartists and rovalists feed their
folly, so that they may bring democracy into ilfreputc and there-
by pave the way for monarchy; and in America madmen are
banding together ready to destroy the best form of government
the world ever knew because it lacks sometliing they have
dreamed of in their wild Utopian philosophy. Will men— can
men ever learn to be wise enough to enjoy the good tiiat is
possible and to bear the ills that are inevitable? We have
coursed with the sun around the world ; we have seen many
lands and many peoples ; we have watched these latter and have
seen the greed with which they hunger for masters, and I some-
times ask myself, did God's fiat go forth, when he fashioned man
from clay, that clay they were, clay they would be, and as clay
should be trodden upon ? Ah ! what fools these mortals be !

' rr \»

I
i

CHAPTER XLIX.

AI.rNCII"EN FAMILLK"WrrH BISMARCK— fllARMINO HOSPITAL-
ITY— KINDLINESS OF TlIK I'KINCK— AUTOCiRAPlIS AND
I'lIOTOGRAPHS.

I f

n \

i'i

Hamburg, September 23, 1888.

Being in Berlin, the focal centre whence moved the forces
which unified a number of comparatively petty states always
jealous of and often quarrelling with each other, into an empire
so powerful that the courteous visit of its young emperor to a
brother ruler quiets the political world and enhances the value of
imi)erial coins, I was naturally desirous of seeing and, if possible,
talking with the statesman whose genius and iron will wrought
this wonderful transformation. We were told at our legation and
by others that the thing was impossible ; that our minister had
seen Bismarck but once, and then only in curt and most formal
manner. I resolved to dispense with diplomatic assistance, and
to try individual resources which had succeeded so often before.
The result was that on the i8th of September Dr. von Rotten-
burg, Werklischer Geheimer Oberregurungsrath (virtually the
secretary to the chancellorship) called at our hotel and tendered
me an invitation from the chancellor to lunch with him at one
o'clock the following Saturday, the 22d, at Friedrichsruhe. The
Dr. informed me that this was an unusual departure and insisted
that I be silent on the matter, for others might hope for a like
favor and would thereby force the prince to do an unpleasant
thing by refusing. He advised me to start at eight o'clock on
Saturday morning and he would telegraph Count Rantzau, the
chancellor's son-in-law and private secretary, to stop the train for
me to alight. He suggested that I go in my usual traveller's
dress, for the prince was a very plain man, and I would probably
see only the family. I boarded the train suggested, expediting
my baggage to Hamburg, where Willie would join me Sunday
evening, he wishing to visit Potsdam. For two and a half hours
the road ran through a flat and uninteresting country with
several towns and villages and closely cultivated. We then
traversed a fine rolling district, fairly well wooded, with pretty
farm-houses and hamlets, some chateaux approached by avenues
of trees and surrounded by small parks and a few towns old and
quaint. The- scenerj' was pleasing rural. At 12 o'clock we
entered a large forest of beech, of many thousand acres, well

534

Ui.

THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY BISMARCK'S NAME 535

stocked with staR and other deer, and in a half hour halted at
Fnednchsruhe, Hismarck's private domain, which has been cut
out of the great forest.

In writing this chapter I shall mention some incidents and
words wliich in themselves may seem trivial, but make up a whole
which enabled me somewhat to look into the home life and
private character of the man who, with Napoleon Bonaparte, make
the two most remarkable characters of the 19th century— a man
whom history will probably paint as one of the greatest of all
times. For over 25 years Bismarck's name has been interwoven
into the fabric which will go down as the history of the old
world. In Europe, Asia, Africa, and the far-off islands of the
boundless seas, students, during all this time, have been forced,
when figuring out the destinies of men and peoples, to see this
man's signet deeply imprinted upon every chart. Kings and em-
perors have lived and died ; nations have arisen and others have
disappeared from the world's map ; but in the biographies of the
men and the annals of the peoples constantly appear indelible
marks made by the daring genius and rugged force of this
uncrowned autocrat. While all men have admired and respected
the statesman and millions have hated him, few have seen the
man and fewer still know any thing of him as a host, a husband,
and a father. We read of Greece and Rome, and see their heroes
stalking across history's page in flowing toga or accoutred in
buckler and swoni, and arc almost surprised when we enter
their tombs or look upon their votive tablets to find them men
full of household fancies and overrunning with domestic affections.
liismarck, more than any other great modern character, is seen
and measured only as a stern, relentless, and hard adviser of
soldierly kaisers. The world scarcely realizes that he has a home
— a home with all the sweet surroundings of that dearest of all
unscntient things, — and that in it he is a man of loving heart and
full of tender sentiment. I was in that house only three hours,
but they were three hours of revelation. A traveller hears the
whinnying of an Arab horse when his dusky master comes in
sight, anci from that inarticulate greeting knows how kindly has
been the wild wanderer of the desert to his dumb friend. In far-
ofT Burmah he sees a crow steal rice out of the bow! from which a
native takes his frugal meal, and learns how deeply into the heart
of that brown-skinned man has sunken Siddartha's lesson of
charity to all breathing things. A kind word and a look of love
by a man to his wife; the gentle but familiarly caressing touch of
a woman's hand upon her husband's arm ; the fond assistance of
a daughter to a father in some trivial matter, and his loving look
when he receives it ; the easy familiarity of friends to one of the
world's great ones ; the little nameless acts in free and familiar
life— these little things take a man's heart out of his impenetrable
body and enable us to read its inner emotions more infallibly

536

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

Vr ■ M

^■'■i

ff' ' '■

111 '1

than would hours of his hottest asseverations as to what that heart
contains. To enable my reader to see the Iron Prince as I saw
him, in as few words as possible I will tell something of what was
said and done in his house by him and his family, and what his
guest said to bring out speech from his entertainers. Some things
I shall kejp back, for Prince Bismarck treated me so kindly, and
what he said was so unreserved, that some utterances might
possibly not have been of a character to be repeated.

On my alighting from the train, which immediately moved off,
a rather handsome young man, with blond complexion, walked
up and said in perfect Knglish : " Mr. Harrison, I am glad to see
you. I am Count Rantzau." There was an open carriage in
waiting. \Vc drove to the residence, not 400 yards away and
close to the railroad. On learning tliat I spi:';e a little German
the count exprcssetl pleasure, for it wouUl enable me to talk with
his mother-in-law, who spoke no English. Just at the lodge gate
quite a number of ladies and gentlemen were loitering, the count
said " with the hope of seeing the poor chancellor, who has a
hard time getting rest and retirement." liismarck's residence
was, before he acquired it. a sort of hotel. I think, in the forest
which has for a great while been resorted to by Hamburgers. It
is commodious, utterly unpretentious, but very home-like. Its
interior is fitted up plainly, with none of the fussy finery which
makes the modern rich man's house gaudy and artistic but utterly
uncomfortable, and forces the owner to the smoking-room or to
the stable to find a spot in wliich he can be at ease. Inside and
out Friedrichsruhe is simple, yet elegant in its simplicity — a fitting
home for a man who cares nothing for externals and display,
whose acts are and have been deals in the destinies of nations. I
was immediately taken by the count, who soon after went out,
into a moderately-sized reading- or sitting-room, and presented to
the Princess Bismarck, her daughter, the Countess of Rantzau,
Countess Stalberg, nr'i' Princess Reuss, Countess Eickstedt von
Peterswald, P^raulein Agnes Eickstedt, and Erau Oberin von
Rentsow, the last four being friends visiting and staying with
the family. My reception was one of absolute cordiality, indeed,
as much so as if I had been an expected friend. They spoke of
America and how they should like to visit it, and of my long
journeyings. All spoke good English except the princess, who
unden-tood it enough to enable me to converse in German freely
with her by occasionally interlarding an English word. She is a
lady of pleasing appearance and deportment, entirely free from
everything which could be termed mannerism, and full of that air
which is so attractive and winning in an elderly woman, and
which can be described by the simple term motherly. Her
daughter is about 30, I should judge, full, plump, — but not too
much so, above medium height, with cheerful oval face, decidedly
pretty, and with an expression of rare sweetness. She has several

' t

FIRST SIGHT OF TJJF. /ROX PRIXCE. 537

children. I saw two of them, bright, rollickhigboys. Had I been
a welcome friend the mother and daughter conld not have
treated me with more simple kindness and unobtrusive hospi-
tality throughout my entire visit. I had been in the room a few
minutes when the countess, looking out of the wiiKh.w,
exchumed: " Ah there comes papal" laying stress upon the last
syllabic and at the same time leaving the front of the window for
me. The ladies all rose and stood somewhat to the side but so
as to see out. Some 50 or more yards from the house I saw
coming out of the park wood, a man fully six feet tall, broad-
shouldered, full, but not corpulent, wearing a low-crowned soft felt
hat, a full white cravat folded about liis neck in old style, with-
out shirt-collar, plain dark clothes, ti;e coat rather carelessly
buttoned— walking slowly towards the house with stately
measured strides, and accompanied by uvo noble grcxhounds, fat
and dignified, keeping by his side with such even 'step that I
could almost fancy they were measuring their gait b\- that of
their master. I looked at him silently until he was within a few
feet of the house. I noticed that his daughter was watching my
face intently, and, I fancied, almost anxi()usly. I said half^as if
in soliloquy: "He will be able to keep Russia and Austria at
arm's length for years to come." A glow of pleasure spread over
the daughter's face. I then understood the expression I had
noticed a few moments befo>-e. She had been watching me to
see how his physical appearance affected me. lie soon entered
the room, shook hands with me almost warmly, saying he was
glad I had come, for I had done good service, and he was pleased
to tell mc that he and all lovers of law were indebted to me. I
at once understood whj' he had done me the honor of inviting
me to his house. The princess repeated what I had said of his
;Urcngth. He said he was glad I thought so well of his powers.
After a few moments spent in his telling the ladies, who were
interested listeners, of his walk in the forest, which had been
somewhat extended, he offered his arm to the Countess Stalberg.
The princess placed her 1 ..u'' upon my arm. We followed her
husband to the breakfast r a. Bismarck took the head of the
table, with Countess Stalberg at his right, Count Rantzau at the
foot, the princess and her daughter sitting opposite each other on
the middle sides, the other ladies between them and the foot, and
I between the prince and princess. The dining-room was hand-
some, but plain. The breakfast consisted of tenderloin steaks,
cutlets, cold meat, and omelets, with red and white wines, fol-
lowed by black coffee, and was finely prepared. Conversation at
once became lively and wholly free, and was carried on in German
and in English, which the prince at first spoke with a little hesi-
tation, but afterwards with fluency and purity, and with slight
accent. When I spoke in German and hesitated for a word
Countess Rantzau frequently came to my relief in most charming

538

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

\j li

manner. In this way the princess and I weru enabled to keep up
our sliare of the tallcin^. In rej)!)- to fl e (piestion as to tiie wine
I preferred, I said I was fortunate in liking all pure wines, but I
found certain kinds had a tendency to cause a i;outy thickening
of my finjjers. "So they do with me," said tiie prince, at the
same time holdiii}^ up both hands and working his fingers by
openiii}^ and shuttiuL; them, addiny; that he had not much faith in
doctors, but that his understood liis case, and interdicted any but
white wine, and of that very sparingly; that he was very fond of
old hock, but it did not go well with him now, and lie was forced
to drink a newer one, and then only at dinner. Socialism was
spoken of. The prince showed his hostilitj' to it, but thought wc
wouUl not suffer from it in America, for our great political parties
made no alliances with it. 1 said that they voted for members of one
or the other parties, that " at one of my elections they had votetl
largely for me." " Is that so? Then you were very ungrateful."
I said he was mistaken ; that we got some ^od reforms from them,
and he should not confound the socia' with us with the an-
archists. Tliat they came together and 'th the .same machine
when the eight-hour movement was inaugurated; that soci.ilism
with us was not radical as in (iermany, ami could not become
'Jangerous, because the poor man accpiiring properlj- soon became
conservative. " Ves, I know," he rejoinecl, " but the leaders are
innatelj' bad, and only want to gain for themselves, and care not for
the cost ; and many, possibly the bulk, of the followers were simply
blind ! " During the l)reakfast I endeavored to bring up as many
topics as possible, and 1 think the Chancellor saw my intent, and
assisted me by readily going from one subject to another. The
princess turned the conversation to my travels. I said : " I had
been many times in iuuope. Had seen Mt. IManc, and had gone
to Asia, and had seen Mt. Everest. I had been to the Caucasus

to sec KIbruz, and was now ir, Germany " I paused, which

caused all to look up at me, wh jn I added — " to see Bismarck."
The ladies laughed and applauded. He bowed with an amused
smile. 1 told him how much good my travels had done me, and
suggested to him the propriet}' of his going around the world.
He .said "he was too old and had too much to do; that he be-
longed to his country, and that as long as it demanded his ser-
vices he could not think of rest " I told him I had found great
rcla.xation, when the cares of office were pressing, by going to the
circus or the minstrels, where I could laugh. "Ah!" said he,
grimly, " the newspapers afford me comedy enough." " Yes," I
rejoined, "and I see they charge you with inconsistency because
you claim a freeman's right to change your mind." " C)f course
I change my mind when I find I have been wrong, and I also yield
my opinions when I find others differing from me wlio have equal
rights with me. I have no right to set up my opinions against
those of all others, even when I am certain that I am right." I

■\l BISMARCK'S TAIILE.

mniscii up aiui sam : "Ai.-. I lanisoii, my sovereigns have always
demaiuleil my services, for tliey knew 1 was ever ready to retire ;
I have been but tiie people's servant." I told him of our heariii'f
of Emperor iMcderick's death at Vladikavkas, ami I was pleased
by the re^i^r. i expressed by officers we met on the mountains
«' A 1, ,.„L- "■..,;, 1 u;...v< 1 4i.„.. 1 .• 11 .. ., , ■ ..'

., ...^ .^j^. . V..., ,^v. ,,_> wiiitv.1.-, «i. HILL o[i uie moumains.

'Ah, yes," said l^ismarck rather sardonically, "they had an idea
he would chanf,^e liis father's policy. In that they were mistaken."
Speaking' of a distinguished man whom I liked', he said : " lie is
amiable enoui;h, but a fool in politics ; a bad politician, and ijave us
any amount of trouble." " You believe, then, in such a thi'n^' as a
ijood politician?" " \Vh)-. certainly I do. No man can\e a
successful statesman unless he be, too, an astute politician." A
paper just cn^nossed (I now suspect the memorial presented
three da\'s afterwards to the emperor, un^iuf^ the prosecution of
I'rof. Cieffcken) was laid on the table. He said: "You sec, Mr.
Mayor, 1 am down here in retirement and yet I iiave to work.
I have not failed to work a sin_i,de day in 20 oiid years." The
Princess interjected: " l'\)r 2(1 years." "Yes, for 36 years not
a single tlay." " Let me su^f^rest that your Ilir^hncss take a rest and
travel incc\i;iiito." He rejoined: " I don't know, I have been too
busy ; I am afraid I could not bear the rust." " And," I interjected,
" a little afraid, also, to be where you cannot have your finder
in the Eu'-opcan pie." He smiled at the sally, but the ladies all
lauglied heartily, and Countess Stalberg added " ''''
be a poor affair if his fingers were out of it."

' The pie woukl

^^ .. ,-„ j,^.„ ..^.w — „. ... I said I, too, had

feareil rust, and to iirevent it had written very largely of what I
liad seen — that it was sometimes hard labor and yet a rest from
the past, and then told him that Dr. von Rottenberg had enjoined
upon me silence as to this visit, but that I hoped he would release
mc from the obligation ; that our people, and particularly my
German friends, would be delighted to hear of what I saw and
heard at his table. "Well, yes, I suppose so"; adding that the
doctor did not wish him to hurt the feelings of others by refus-
ing to sec them, but that he wished to see me because I had
helped to bring the anarchists to justice. I laughed and told
him the political papers had bitterly attacked me because I had
not arrested them in advance when they made their violent

■ A

V *

540

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

f .^Jirifei

5.)

speeches, and thus to have prevented the Haymarket crime. He
quickly said : " You did just right ; you were not afraid, but you
struck at the proper momtnt." He evidently was familiar with
that bitter night. He then inquired particularly about the acts
of the authorities after the terrible crime, and I saw that he did
not agree with me in drawing abroad line between the anarchists
and socialists. I told him I had been present when VVilhclm had
landed at Peterhof, and how I had been impressed with his bear-
ing, and that Petcrsburgers were flattered by his driving about
unattended by guards, and that 1 thought the czar made a mis-
take in showing a want of confidence. He exclaimed: "Yes, his
father showed confidence anil got killed for it." The princess
interjected : " Poor man ! I do not wonder that he feels uneasy."
"They have a bad habit in Russia," said the prince, " a bad liabit
of trying to kill kings — since Peter the Great's time they have
run that way." I tcld him how, during the anarchist troubles, I
had received letters written in blood, but that wholly unattended
I had ridden in the most excited districts. " Yes, yes, but yon
were in America and among Americans, and not in Russia." I
spoke of the well-dressed people about his gate waiting to get a
peep at him. He said : " He was a worker and did not like to
make a show of Iiimseif, and that when the emperor wa> visiting
Fricdrichsruhc a few weeks before, crowds of i)eople came on tlie
road hoping to see him, but th.at he. too, said he had latch- IkkI
cnougii of that kind of thing." When coffee and cigars came
on I laughingly exclaimetl : " \Vc in America think that Bismarck
knows the American hog, and that if V" lets it get over the fron-
tier it will stay at the German table, but that perhaps he did not
know the .American man so well that when one gets to Prince
Bismarck's table he wouKl never know wiien to le.ive." He
laughed heartily and explained the pork cjuestion to the ladies,
who at first looked rather shocked at the first part of the joke.
He then said he wouUl have to go to work shortly, but he
would give me all the tin" : he possibly could. I told him that
I hail to disobey Dr. von Rottenberg's injunction by telling my
son, who was travelling with me, of my visit, but that Willie told
me to say .o him that his constant silence and eternal gratitude
could be had if the prince would write a line and sign his name
to it. He laughed at the young man's device to get his autograph.
He said he miglit possibly write his name but not the
line. I added we might then put a dangerous line over the
name. " I see, it might be a due-bill, but we will block that
game. Tell your son if he will hang an anarchist I will write an
autograph letter to him." He then had some photographs
brought to the table and selected a large one and wrote his name
under it and the date, saying: " Keep that to remind you of this
pleasant day." The princess took it from me and enclosed !•: in
an envelope. I said to her: "Now, will not your Highness

ime. He
I, but you
iliar with
: the acts
lat he did
anarchists
Ihclm liad
1 his bear-
ing about
ide a mis-
" Vcs, his
•i princess
i uneasy."
bad habit
:liey have
roubles, I
iiattended
s, but you
ussia." I
g to Ljet a
lOt like to
as visitiiiii"
me on the
ately had
i;ars came
Hisniarck
the Tron-
ic did not
to Prince
ve." He
U' ladies,
the joke,
but he
lini that
llin^ my
iVillie told
gratitude
lis name
uto^rapli.
not the
over the
ock that
write an
itographs
his name
3U of this
osed :♦: in
Hifrhness

TABLE-TALK.

541

write your nanie also across the envelope 'r " She did so and I
handed it to him saying: " If you will now put your name under
it I will have Bismarck properly dominated bv his wife " He
laughingly did so, saying: -That is the uavthc world over."
He handed the paper to his daughter, who wrote her name under
his, and then the count signed under his wife. All were de-
lighted at my thus getting t^vo autographs from the prince, who
is, I learn, very averse to giving them. The princess had not
permitted the pen (a new quill) he wrote with, to be used by any
other. She handed it to me with the remark : " It never wrote
but one name, and that but once. Keep it as a souvenir of this
visit." She then sent out for a beautifully bound small auto-
graph album, and requested me to write my name in it.
The album was about a third full— a couple of pages before the
one I wrote on was the name of Count Kalnocky, the Austrian
prime-minister, who had been at Friedriclisruhe' for three days
and had left the day before, and I think of Signer Crispi, the
Italian premier, and other distinguished men. ' I turned the
Ica/es back a page or two and read the signature of Wilhelm II.
Furihcr back was that of the Emperor Frederick, and near the
first page that of the old Kaiser Wilhelm. I rcmaiked that my
name would in such company go down to history. She replied :
" As long as the Bismarck family lives." She then told me to
write the tlate under my name tliat she might have a souvenir of
this pleasant day, and exacted a promise that I should send her
my photo f'om Hamburg. FVaulcin Eickstcdt brought a fan for
in\' autogiaph. On one leaf was Count Kalnocky's, but no*^ Bis-
marck's. I suspected that she wished him to write his now while
he was in so generous a mood. S'^-'ing that the prince did not
smoke I ex[>ressed some surprise, for I had alwaj's heard he vas
devoted to the weed. He said he had been forced to give up
cigars, though very fond of them — that for many years he smoked
almost constantly ; he would throw away his cigar on going to bed,
and would reach out for one immediately on waking; that he was
now 75 years t)ld .ind had to be careful. He smoked a pipe with
light Deutsch tobacco after dinner. I said I was 63, and a rather
hard .ider, but I feared I was smoking too much. " Oh," said the
prince, " when I vas 63 nothing hurt me, and I rode 20 miles every
day on horseb.-^ck, and smoked all the time." Speaking of rest,
he said his b >t rest was lying easily in a room all to himself.
" Ves," I interjected, " and keeping your brain at hard labor."
He laughed ami went on: "Or walking in the park or forest,
listening to the birds sing and the winds s,ently sighing among the
branches." "That is a new phase in jour Highness' character.
The world does not dream that IMsmarck is poetical and senti-
mental." " I'uU of both," he repliei', " but especially of senti-
ment." He told me his forest was thiee miles long and about four
wide, and so stocked with deer that they were proving destructive

.».

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542

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

iiii):

w. \h

w:i

to the trees ; that he never shot now, but was at one time very
fond of the sport ; but at 73 he was forced to give up his old
hock, his cigars, and to give the deer a free forest. 1 asked the
princess if she never indulged in a cigarette. With a gesture
of amused horror, she said : "Oh no." I apologized by sajing
that the last princess I had the honor of talking with blew
cigarette smoke from her rosy lips, and named her. " Hut she
comes by that naturally," said the prince, " for though a Ger-
man princess she was a Russian by birth, and a decided beauty."
They then spoke very kindly of the lady, whom he and the prin-
ces.-; had known in Russia years ago when unmarried. I saw that
the iron m-:iii was of melting metal when woman's beauty was in
question. This, too, was further shown by his gentle tones and
manner to a very pretty young Jewe.ss, Fraulein Alexander, from
Hamburg, who with her mother had called, and by che prince's
request had been shown into the breakfast-room just as the table
was being vacated. Something said cau.sed me to acknowleilge
that I acted under a very heterodo.x maxim, especially in executive
matters, — that is, never to do to-day what I can put off until to-
morrow. " Vou are right," he said ; " it might have been a nia.xim
of mine, for I have acted up to it. Each day brings its full duties
and enough of them. Perform them well, and then wait for the
next day to do the things then necessary." I added that I had
found the next day often brought new and valuable light, and
besides the necessity for prompt action ofttimes focalizes the
energies of the brain. His reply, which was extended, expressed
thorough acquiescence in the proposition. In reply to a que.stion
as to the number of my children, I said : " I have four, but have
lost several little ones." " We, too," said the Prince, " have buried
a child," or children, I forget which. One of the lady visitors
seemed surprised at this ; and then he and the princess spoke very
feelingly of their lost little ones. Bismarck's countenance when in
conversation iights up greatly, and his smile is verj- pleasant, but
the whole face drops back very quickly to one of rather ."severely
reflective cast. His manner at the table was easy and affable,
almost gentle, and there were nameless little things which revealed
a .softness in his character that I had imagined he lacked even in his
home life. 1 have given only a few of the things that he said or
were said to him directly; all at the table joined in the general
talk, which was absolutely free from all restraint or conventionality.
So kind and unobstrusive was the hospitality of all, tiuit one
lookir.g on, and not knowing our respective positions, woulil have
thought that I was an honoring guest instead of being the honored
one. We were at table not far from two hours, a very unusual
thing for her father, the countess said, — "that is, unusual for .1
breakfast." Had the Prince been utterly unknown to me, that
breakfast would have made me pronounce him a most genial host, a
kind husband, and an affectionate father. At table all paid most

:i^

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BISMARCK THE IVOA'KER. 543

respectful attention to his every word, t'.ic attention on the part
of the v.sitins; ladies bein^r that of idolatry, that of his wife and
daughter of devotion. When he left to go to his workroom he
expressed regret that he could not give me more time but tint
for the next two or more hours he did not belong to himself
I told him how much I had enjoyed mv visit, and ended with-
" Keep Europe in peace and the world will be your debtor "
" That IS my end and hope. Good-bye 1 a ])leasant vova-e, and safe
return to your home and faniil\-." I stood as \w walked off with
his private secretary, antl although I am never grcatlv impressed by
rank and high station, I was almost awed by "that retreating mass
of brain and will-power. So much had the man's kindlv inner self
been revealed, that unconsciousl)- 1 felt as if parting from a friend.
The princess and her guests went out upon a veranda, bidding me
good-bye, and leaving me with the Countess Rantzau, who wished
to get me the family photogniphs. To her cpiestion as to when I
would again be in Europe, I replied not before two or three years,
when my youngest daughter would be out of school. After inquir-
ing about her, she said : " Tell her to get her German well up and to
come over to pay us a visit ; you will bring her, will you not ? " To
my expression oi pleasure at the kind and hearty invitation, she
told me she was glad I had come, that it had pleased her father,
and had been a re-^t to him. and added that 1 luul gotten from
him what she was ifraid to ask for herself,— his autographs, which
were desireil by some of her frie^nds. 1 laughingly said : I gen-
erally get what I j)articularly want." She said: " It .seems so, for
we were .1 'rprised when he broke over his rules by inviting you
to breakfa.-^i. When I liade the charmin;j l.i^ly gootl-bye her
manner was as unaffecl' dly warm and kiiu! as if I had been an
elderly relation. 1 eil to the station. The local train was

made up there for Ilaiiibu'-r. I h.id I < w seated in the car for a
few moments when I saw tlie countess w.ilking r.ipidly towards us.
As soon as she saw me she called out: " .Mamma says she did nut
sufficiently tell you good-bye. She is coining to do so." Sure
enough, there was the aged lady, with Countess Stalberg, walking
([uite rapidh", followed b)' a man 1 'iiwing a small carriage chair. I
went to meet her. She told me she thought I was coming out
u[)on the veranda, and was surprised to learn that I was gone.
She had wished to tell me good-bye and > wish me a safe voyage
home, and hojied I would find nr .dren all well. She also
wanted to tell nie to be sure and u , loiget my photograph from
Hamburg. She stood some time by the car talking with that
warm-hearted self-forgetful manner rarely seen so well marked as
in a well-born German woman. I asked her how long she had
been married. She said 41 years. " Then in nine years 1 will
drink the health of your Highness and the Prince when you cele-
brate your golden wedding." " Would you come to our golden
wedding if you should be in Europe ?" " Yes, indeed, and from

M ■

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544

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

iii

America too." " Then," said she, " you must come. Consider
yourself invited. You arc the only one I have yet asked." Her
manner showed that she was talking from her warm heart. Her
daughter quickly added : " And to the diamond wedding too."
"Oh, I fear I will not last that long," " Yes, you will; papa and
mamma are older than you, and they are going to live for their
diamond wedding." Just then the bell rang. With warm shaking
of hands I left them. As I stepped into the car the Countess
Stalberg cried out: " Remember, Mr. Harrison, there is but one
Everest and one Bismarck." I replied: "That's true. Good-bye!
many long and happy years to you all." Thus ended a most
charming visit, charming not simply in that it was to the home of
one of the world's great men, for if he had been but a plain man
the kindl)" hospitality of himself and wife and daughter, the
marked disposition to make every thing pleasant to the temporary
guest, a disposition so unobtrusive that it was not observed at the
time, but is recalled with a species of surjirise ; the free and genial
manners of the laui-.'s who were regular guests in the house ; — these
things made my visit one to be remembered with genuine i^leasure.
Added to this was the presence of a man who is and has been for
nearly a third of a century playing upon a board where real kings,
bishops, castles, knights, and breathing pawns have been the men,
all pushed back and forth at his will — and as if they were but
blocks of ivory and wood in his hand, — this man for the time being
no longer one of the world's great ones, but simply the kind hus-
band, the gentle father, and the agreeable host, and for the time
being also so acting and so acted to that his inner self, the man, was
being more or less revealed.

W'e can measure and weigh the force of the sun's rays in any
region by stud)ing the fibre and color of plants and flowers; so,
too, can we measure and weigh the heart-forces of a strong, brainy
man, — a man of great nerve-power, by studying the tone and
bearing of tliose constantly in intimate association with him. If
his heart be utterlvcold orahvavs locked within himself, the effect
upon those about him is analogous to that of sunlight denied to
animals and plants. Fishes and insects live in great caves, but are
blind and colorless. Plants ii. dark vaults grow, but are dcvoiil of
every tint. I watched the wife and daughter of Bismarck. The
helianthus looks not more readily to the morning sun, or follows
him ifiore earnestly throughout the clay, than do these two women
follow the husband and father in look and .iction — follow him with
loving devotion. Were he at home and in his family t!-o stern,
relentless man his public life makes him thought, these ladies
would have had the fountains of their hearts more or less dried
up. They would not have shown, at least in his presence, the warm
kindliness I .saw displayed. Had he been the hard autocrat at home,
his presence would li ive been a source of coiistraint, and would
have thrown about him an atmosphere of chilliness ; but there was

DEVOTION OF HIS FAMILY. ^

wi.Aedtohear isuord H. '^"^1 respect of those who really
towards each ot er and as much '^ l^'"^ '''"'. ""'"affectedly kindly
had I been do n ' 'the,r, , Zo Z """ "' '^''X '""'^^ ^'^^'^ ^^'^^^
wrong in thinki.rg t^^i^ di^ctlv .L h"'"^^ 1° }'' ^'T'' ^"^ ^
read something of the m W. l/ . T'>''' those about him I

much natural w\rnul'anrgent!enSr' ^°""' '^ ^° '^^ ^"'^ °^

f ^1

CHAPTl.il L.

HAMBURG— AN INTERESTING CITV— QUAINT HANOVER— LEAN-TO
OLD HOUSES— RUN TO FRANKFORT— THE RHINE.

Brussels, September 30, 1888.

Hamburg is a very beautiful city. A fine lake spreads itself
in the very heart of the town, along whose borders are charming
walks, bright cafes and noble buildings. Canals cut the city in
many directions, from out of whose waters lift quaint old houses
with sharp, gabled roofs, of four and five stories, each upper one
projecting, on brackets, one, two, or more feet over the one be-
low, looking as if they were trying to meet each other about the
sky's line over the narrow canals. In the centre of the gable,
high up near the roof-comb, project beams from which suspend
on pulleys long ropes to hoist goods from water barges to big
folding-doors in the centre of each story. Into these doors en-
tered the wealth of many 'ands when the city was so rich a mem-
ber of the Hanseatic League. The same old blackened beam
projects, but newer cordage now lifts up the rich freightage
of prosperous commerce, for Hamburg is to-day the third or
fourth in point of commercial tonnage of European i)orts. She
grows apace, and the 100,000 people of a few years ago have
now become nearly, if not quite, 500,000. Her lake and canals
are not exactly stinking, and in that there has been gre.it im-
provement since I was last here, in '75, but they have th;it pe-
culiar odor which pervades the atmosphere about still waters, and
the entire city is redolent of fish, tar, cordage and of a thousand and
one things which go down upon and up from the sea. The people
are quite fussy in their fashion and fine gear, but it is tlie fussi-
ness of commercial folk and wholly different from that of Berlin,
where one insensibly reaches the conclusion he is in the capital of
an empire. There arc, too, many quaint old lean-to buildings in
the older part of the town along streets not 20 feet wide, and along
the canals not much wider. It is very charming to look at two
old, narrow-fronted houses leaning together with their lofty,
steeply pitched roofs, in which are two or three stories of lofts
overtopping four or more stories below, each so low that a tall
man has to dodge the joists above when he walks. These
houses were built several hundred years ago and lean against
each other with a sort of John-Anderson-my-Jo afTection. Tear
down either house the other would fall. Like good old mar-

54f>

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QUAINT OLD STREETS.

547

LEAN-TO

>, 1888.

ids itself
rharming
c city in
d houses
ppcr one

one be-
bout the
he gable,

suspend
es to big
Joors cn-
:ha meni-
led beam
reightage

third or
i-ts. She
igo have
id canals
groat im-

thiit pe-
itcrs, and

sand and
le people

he fussi-
5f Berlin,
:a[)ital of

Idings in

nd along
at two

ir lofty,
of lofts

lat a tall
These
against
|)n. Tear

old mar-

ried couples they have stood the brunt of many storms to-
gether, and must stand and tumble to<rether at tiie end There
are many of these old structures in llamburg, niakin-r it next
to Hanover, the quaintest of German towns.' That is^ they are
in parts the quaintest, though modern structures in both so
abound and arc so fine that the older streets are overlooked
by many tourists. In many other old towns niodcrn improve-
ments have been so few, that an odor of oldncss and an air
of quaintness predominate and ciiaracterize the whole, but in
all to a much less degree than in parts of tliese two northern
cities. At Hanover in many streets one feels he is living in a
past age. A cluster of old lean-to houses meets one's eye
constant!)', leaning against each other and over the streets
a;i if striving to shake hands across the narrow ways, and
looking so ancient that when a woman ajipears in an upper
window one feels like addressing her as the wife or ilaugh-
tcr of sonic old burgher of three and four centuries gone by.
Here upon an architrave, spanning a musty doorwav," in queer
letters deep cut into the stone, is' a quotation from' the I5ible,
showing the religious sentiment of the owner when he stood in
buckram and broad, flapping top-boots, to superintend the build-
ing of the house in which he was to live and' to rear \.\\> his chil-
dren in the fear of the Lord. One passes through the door-way
and mounts steep stairways, winding about through low stories,
dropping his head as he as:cnds, for men were not expected in
those days to go heavenw. el with too erect fronts. Little rooms
open from each landing, in which are gond-naturetl women and
children aiiiiil clothes-lines stretching from ceiling beams, and all
redolent of fresh wa.shing and sauer-kraut. Up one goes from
story to story, passing a little coop in which a goose gently
cackles, for German townspeople, as well as the country folk, arc
believers in goose-grease for measles and whooping-cough. The
upper story is reached (so the curious one thinks at least). The
rooms are hardly seven feet higli, but still ench little eight by
nine room is tenanted aiul little children wonder what the stran-
ger wishes, but the good frau is not offended .hen she is told
how pretty is the old-time house. The curious visitor is about
to descend when his eye catches another stair, almost as steep as
a ladder and nearly hidilen in a recess in tiie wall ; up he goes,
and is in a loft black with the smoke of by-gone centuries, filled
with rags and old-time chests and cupboards black with age. It
is a rag-picker's loft ; his shop is then recollected as being below
in the narrow little courtyard ; okl scraps of hice and embroidery
hang on lines, and the dark chests are padlocked. How they got
up those narrow stejis one f-an scarcely guess, but tl ev are there,
and one almost whisperr,. lest the fairy form of irTulein, dead two
or three hundred j'cars ago, may open the lid of a chest and ask
why the intruder comes. ' Still another loft, and perhaps a third,

,•:.

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1li

548

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

The roof tiles arc
itflit of clay comes

arc cramped in beneath the rid^e-pole.
shiny in polished smoke stains, and the

through many a cliink, but the tiles are bent and keep out the
rain, though they let in light enough to save windows. The
rafters are rough-hewn and massive, and filled with nail heads
driven for clothes-lines to hang to when Martin Luther was fight-
ing the devil in iiis dreams and electors and palatines were bat-
tling to tear down or to maintain the faith of ages. An old
residence with the date 1527 on its door lintel, and yet filled
with human tenants, impresses one with its age more than
docs a temple 2,000 or 3,000 years old, in which jackals and
bats are the only living habitants. Present human life forms a
living link with the dead past, and one feels he is at least sur-
rounded by the ghosts of three-centuries-ago dead, whereas in
the ancient temple he feeis that myths alone ever walked among
the massive columns. These latter awake no human sympathy
in the breathing present for the long-silent past.

The new city of Hanover impresses one as quite a capital.
Not so Hamburg, which is a town of bustle and business. Hut
the Hamburger has fine theatres and some churches of great
beauty. The new chime bells of St. Nicholas had just been com-
pleted when we were there on Sunday, the 23d. We somehow
or other generally stumble at the right moment on what is going
on in cities we visit. We went to the church to be present at
the morning service. A sweet strain of music came from the
lofty tower, — it is 473 feet high. The new and fine-toned chime-
bells were being tried for tlie first time ; tune after tune was
played very finely and I was loath to go inside, but did. A
beautiful anthem was being rendered by a choice clioir to the
congregation which packed the church in reverent attention.
The sermon over, we went out, and still the music was coming
from far above as if awakened by celestial hands on celosti.d
chords. For three-quarters of an hour weird strain after strain
was rendered, and when grand "Old Hundred" pealed forth in
its solemn heart-reaching tones, T listened and felt no Catholic
could help feeling grateful to Luther for that noble score. I
think he was its composer, at least I am sure the air I listened to
was his, though I may have misnamed it. I can never remember
airs, much to the merriment of my musical boys. I am as full
of music and poetry as an egg is of meat, and all the fuller
for that none would ever come out of me. As soon as this air
was finished we hurried off; I did not wish to hear others. How
long they were kept up I do not know.

The canals of Hamburg, while being marked features in add-
ing to the quaint picturesqueness of the old town, are not, as in
Venice, component parts of the beauty of the city. The hand-
some fronts of the houses arc on streets, and it is their rear walls
whose foundations arc washed by the waters.

Sn\:ET SCENERY.

549

and houses. The public buildin^^rs are fine, its drives and parks
cxqu.s.te and the people jolly and gay The cafes at ni-dlt are
crowded, but we saw but httle coffee or chocolate used. Bavarian
beer however, was quaffed in surprising quantity. 1 always like
to talk to Hanoverians. Their German is so distinct that I can
follow them better than any other people in the father-land

We took rail thence to Frankfort-on-the-Main. It gave us a
charming ride Few roads in Europe present more plcasinc
scenery. Nothing grand, but much that is sweetly rural and
a great deal full of the mildly picturcscpie. For some hours low
mountains lay to our right, with wooded slopes toward the higher
ground, and f^ne farm lands below. In the distance, to the 'left
were the outlying hills of the Ilartz mountains, where every deli
has its legend and every steep hill its brocken. Everywhere the
peasantry were plowing and sowing small grain, or were busy
afield gathering potatoes, of which tall bags stood in line across
the fiekls like whitish sentries. In some localities the land was
broken by two yoke of oxen, but generally with one or two teams
of horses. Scarcely any cattle were seen grazing. Flocks of
geese were frecpient, each attended by a goosehcrd. Cows were
hitched to light wagons drawing in grain or carrying manure out
to the fields. The cows arc not idle latlies in this faiul ; besides
their more gentle duties they do their share of farmwoik. I no-
where saw women at heavy labor as in Austria and Russia. They
follow the reaper, bind and gather crops, but only the men seem
to perform labor demanding strong muscles. In Austria, how-
ever, women are hod carriers and stone-packers. We saw nowhere
in Germany women made beasts of burden, though they are,
heaven knows, hard enough worked to satisfy the command that
as a part of man they should earn their bread by the sweat of
their faces. Indeed their whole bodies are forced to reek in sweat.
People, especially the communists, pour out their dissatisfaction
with the laws of glorious America. But their grumblings arc not
half as silly as those of our women. They are pampered and coaxed,
wheedled perhaps, and sometimes cheated, but when compared
with their sisters in most lands our women arc queens; and when
they are forced to work for a living feel themselves down-trodden.
Ik-sides the forests on the upper mountains, large wooded tracts
and copses crown the summits of lower hills and creep down their
sides into the valleys. Here and there arc elegant chateaux.
Schloss Marienburg, built by Queen Maria of Hanover, is one of
the most picturesque palaces in Europe. It is a great media.'val
building, with towers and turrets, beautifully nestled on a lofty
hill in noble timber. On several rocky eminences and abrupt;

.£

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55°

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

Vl.d !

conical hills are old ruins with tall towers and old diincjeon-keeps,
very romantic and charmin<^. liottinj^cn, world-famous for its
university, recalls musty memories and student duels. Near this
fine old literary town tlie road climbs from the river Leine for
several miles a lofty divide, showing beautiful valleys witii villages
and hamlets and woods and silver streams far beli)\v, and then
drops down by an even descent to the Weser, along which and
the r^ulda it ascends to Munden. We were along here generally
high upon the mountain slope, with the silvery river much below.
The low mountains are for miles clothed in rich young forests,
now borrowing a-^t'imnal tints. Ruins peep from among the
trees on pointed foot-Iiills, while villages and handets are nestled
in orchards and fruity gardens. Few spots are to be seen any-
where more deliciously sweet than Munden, with its orchards and
pointed roofs, steeples and old towers, down in the neck, formed
by the junction of the Fulda with the Werra. The road here
drops from the mountain side and bends in beautiful curves
around the old tree-embowered town, as if the engineer was think-
ing as much of the beautiful view it permits as the ease of loco-
motion. Near Casscl, also, we had fine views. The number of
towns and large villages along our road is surjirising, I suppose
owing to the rail following closely the line of the t)ld carriage
road, along which population has been for ages accumulating.
But I have given so many of my many letters to descriptions of
scenery that I forbear dwelling longer now. I love it so much
that my pen becomes a loving one when I b gin to describe a
view whicli sinks deeply into not only the eye but far down into
the heart. One very pretty feature of many miles of this road is
made up of fine old mills, now on tolerable-sized streams, and
then on the same when, as we run up, they become so small as to
be almost lost in the long grass of green meadows.

I would have liked much to stop at quaint old Marburg, a mass
of pointed-roofed, tall houses, hugging a high hill, on which lifts
an old castle. So closely are the houses packet! on the hill-side
that each upper one seems to be erected upon the inner roof of
the one next below it. Here it was that the reformers met, about
1530, to settle disputed points of the new faith, and where Luther
answered every argument of Melancthon in opposition to the
actual presence by the one single assertion, showing his strict
adherence to the ]5ible's words: " This is my body." Again and
again the mild and able scholar would come around to his argu-
ment. Hluff old Martin had but one answer, and ihat was the
words of Christ. Striking the table with the book, lie exclaimed :
" Hoc est corpus meum," and ended the discussion. Hrave old
Martin Luther! Whatever his opponents may say of his faults.
they must confess his was a sturdy heart, and the literal Bible
was his only guide. His was a great, stalvva't body, full, it was
said, of human passion. But he bravely fought his passions as he

151

COLOGNE CATHEDRAL.

55'

fought the devil when he api)c:irccl to liis excited imagination.
His was a good figlit. lie not only brougiit into full day a mi'dity
revolution and a nyw creed, but he purified the church he left.
Its better elements soon got control ami drove out the money-
changers, who sonnlinies j^et into the temple of the Lonl.

We enjoyed I'rankfort much, with its fine streets, beautitui
trcc-embowered residences, and splendid palm-garden. It has, too,
some quaint old buildings, fine churches, and gooil collections!
The Ariadne is one of the best things in modern marble. We
revelled in Rudesheimer and old legends along storied and castled
Rhine ; we looked with admiration upon that Gothic triumph, the
Cologne Cathedral ; walked and sat in its grand nave and aisles,
and bathed in flootls of glorious light, pouring through the olcl
pictured windows; listened to the deep tones of its organ i^ they
rolled among the noble columns, and were caught and mellowed
among the vaultings of the nave l 50 feel above, to be returnetl to
us in glorious rii)eness. Again and again we visited the splendid
pile, wandering with our eyes among its forest of airy pinnacles,
and climbing its towers from point to point till our vision swept,
512 feet above, into the blue sky. 1 remember h<nv as a
young man, in 1S51, 1 gazed with admiration upon the unfinished
pile, the broken tower, with its old wooden crane, which had
waited there for long centuries, ready to resume its task, pinnacle
upon pinnacle about the roof crumbling and scaling away ; I
wondered then if the dream of Gerard would ever be a finished
whole, and envied the future traveller who might visit it. It is a
grand pile, but, as I think I said some months since, if the Lord
shoul 1 choose ills thveliing-place on earth, He would never abide
in a tomb like Gothic church. From Cologne, through the sweet
lands about Aix la Chapelle, we cpiitted the father-land, but I
hope not for the last time.

We found Brussels a beautiful city, and not the dull one I
thought it 37 }ears ago. It is thoroughly modern, and h.is more
social red-tape than any other European capital. How one can
find any thing to make the appointment of Minister to Belgium
worth accepting, is hard to conceive. Most cordially I congratu-
lated my friend, Judge Tree, on liis promotion to St. Peterstnirg.
Belgium is a prosperous land, and though the most densely
populated country on the globe, sends but few emigrants abroad.

V.':

f 1

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CHAPTRR TJ.

WONDERFUL, FASCINATINC. IWUIS— IMPROVF-MENTS- OF TIIR

EMPIRE— RLCOl. I. I'.CTIONS OF DIXEMDER, 1S51

—MARKETS OK PARIS.

i^t

m ''i

Pan's, October 14, r888.

From Brussels to Paris the road traverses a country not unin-
tercsting, but devoid of characteristics to make it, in suc'i letters
as tliese, wortliy of description; and althou<^h we liad yet to
traverse nearly 6,ooo miles before reaching the goal in (uir " race
with the sun," there was to me no more of that charm 1'. novelty
whicii had enabled us to enjoy our, up to now, laboii nis ' uirney-
ings. The old man of the party would, from this on, take his
ease. To the young man, liowever, the real culmination was but
re.iched. He was told to take advantage of his short opportuni-
ties, and to see and study as best he could. Paris and London,
ne.xt to one other, are the two most remarkable cities the world
had ever known. These two vast hives may be studied as the
very epitomes of the great book of human nature. The one of
man as a cultivated worshipper of the beautiful, the .esthetic, and
the refined ; as an intense seeker of i)leasure ; a laughing, idle
lover of case, or as a reckless sybarite ; the other of man, an earn-
est toiler along the rugged paths of ambition, or a delving, sordid,
worming offspring of greed ; the home of the grandest type of
manhood, and of the lowest representative of vice. In Paris one
can drift along with a moving croud with nothing to do, yet
never wearying, for about him are thousands as aimless as him-
self, and, though he speak to none and hear none speak, he has a
constant companionship and a felt but unexpressed sympathy,
which makes care and ennui an impossibility. He saunters along
the streets and boulevards and jostles against others, who are
never offended, for they, too, are idle .saunterers, ami are not cer-
tain but that themselves were at fault. He stands before a show-
window, and treads upon some one's toes, who begs pardon, for he
has put his foot in the woy. He takes an afternoon walk along
the mighty thoroughfares to get rid of time i;)leasantly. He meets
and passes a hundred thousand engaged in the same undertaking.
He does this day after day and week after week, and can be posi-
tive that but comparatively few of those seen to-day were his co-
partners in idleness the day before. For, during the year, they

552

THE

CHARMIXG PARIS.

553

numb 1 ^ million, not from Paris alone, but from the buttcrd,..,
and the hoiicy-consiimcrs of the civilized world. To the man of

les

taste ami to the studious dreamer, I'aris mal

Kes unnecessar)' any

indivulu.il companionship— except what springs up with one whc
temporarily occupies the seat next him at the restaurant, in the
cafe, the out-door concert, or on the deck of an excursion steamer
or unuiibus. The motto of every one met is " // faiit samiiscr"
and every one is ready to give his or her aid in this Parisian
devoir. Not only are all polite and ready to meet one half w

from etiquette, hut from the universal d

Politeness is not confined to the better cl

est and poorest laborer in his working blouse knows its I

rules as well as the habitue of St. G

emand for amusement.

isses, but the common-

orms and

liermain. The same terms
used in the sahms of the nobles are also at the tongue's end of the
.soiled toiler in the Paubourg St. Antoine, of the ragged street
gamin, or of the wori\.out old rag-picker. The accent and patois
alone show any difference between the expressions of the highest
and of the lowest. t)ne, therefore, need fear no coarse repulse
to his advances, it matters not who is, for the time being, his
neighbor.

Every shop window is arranged for aesthetic effect, so that the very
streets are museums, where one can, with no other cost than being
somewhat footsore, see, enjoy, and study the beautiful, and he al-
ways has company, who, be they male or female, are ready to inter-
change opinions on what he observes. Except at the hours when
people move to or from business, all whom he meets seem to have
his occupation— seeking enjoyment. I remember once long ago
being with a party looking down a boulevard, where many thou-
sands coultl be seen from our vantage-ground. One of my com-
panions offered a wager he could in two minutes make this
multitude do as he would do. The wager accepted, he stepped
to the edge of the sidewalk and looked intently at the sky. One
after anotlier the passers followed his example, to see what he so
anxiously watc'ied. In an incredibly short time every one in
sight was stopping and looking aloft. I doubt not the contagion
went far beyond the turn of the street, which we could see. He
won the wager. " Cliaqnc bourse a scs plaisiers " is truer in
Paris than in any other city. A meal, a play, a ball, a concert is
at hand in each and every quarter, to be had for prices ranging
from a few sous up to as many francs ; each the same as every
other, but differing in quality, though not in quantity. A steak
or roast dinner from a worn out dray-horse— a little tough,
but quite as nourishing may be had for 20 cents, as the fillet
from 'a Norman-fed bullock for 20 francs; both washed down
by a bottle of wine, here costing six or eight cents, there all
the wav up to two or three dollars. A dime gives a man a wild,
whirling waltz at a ball with a modest-Aw/i'/V girl, neat and trim
in pretty shop garb, or he may pay all the way u^ to five dollars

n'^

\ )
\

' i?^

p, '

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

^r- ,

i !'

' ni

for no better waltzinjj in more aristocratic ball rooms, but with a
partner wcarinij silks ami laces and painting on cheeks artistically
rose-tinted. Theatres abound in every quarter, all with fairly
good actinc^, ami jests, perha])s broad and not too chaste, for ten
cents, or with no better wit but its viciousness sugar-coated, for
prices ranging through all scales up to two or three dollars.

If the iilier be of scientific turn, he may skim iiglitly near the
surface, and pick up a gentleman!)- knowledge of any or all
sciences dropi)ed from learned lips in free-lecture rooms, or may
delve deep into hidden K/re in the richest of libraries, open to all,
anil then hear elucidations in the Sorbonne, and examine in open
museums specimens, for wiiich have been ransacked tiie bowels
of the eartii and the caves of the sea. Would he read as connois-
seur, or study as student, tiie glories of Art ? Acres of canvas are
spread before him, on wiiich genius li;is depicted iium.m passions
or rivalleil tiie beauteou>iiess t)f nature, with "looms (.Jul: from
cavernous depths, mellowness of tints borrowed from the rain-
bow, or effulgent light plucked from the stars. Acres uf forms
pose in godlike mould, or writhe in demoniac agony in marble or
bronze, into which the chisel's magic touch has breathed living
souls. Would he study or amuse himself with human foibles and
evcry-day human thought? in cafe and in crowded garden ; on
working day thoroughfares or fete-day excursions, \\v can mingle
with tiiousaiids who, intent ujion their own enjoyments, exhibit
their hearts and souls, as fuiiy as skitting lambs show their inno-
cence, or kittens display their frolicsomemscss. No civilized peo-
ple evince sucii debonair recklessness (jf otners' opinions as do the
French. Subtle and secretrve in matters involving grave interests,
they are ven.' chddren when they have no ilangerous motive to
conceal.

I spent a part of the autumn and winter of 1.S51- 52 in Paris.
My associates were largely of the student ci.iss, jiartly Anu'rii^an
and partly native. Some of my cx])eriences wouM be amusing if
I could narrate them, and some bordered u|)()n the tragic. Louis
Napoleon was president of the republic. 1 had no confidence in
his republicanism, and declined a presentation to the " Little
Prince." offered me through a charming young lady, daughter of
ou' tlieri minister, oni- of mv dist.int \'iri;iiiia cousins. Her name
is now being made famous at home bv her namesake and niece.
My lack of confidence in Louis Napoleon was soon justified. The
evening of December 1st was calm, and the sunset sky sweetly
rose-tinted. The house in which I iiad apartments was on St.
George's, near the one in Rue Lafitte in which the presiilent was
born. It was occupied by a large number of Italian patriots,
refugees frmn Rome. From one ( w.is taking lessons in his soft
language. liarly in the morning of the 2d, his tap came upon
my door Pale and excited, he told me that the city was in u
state of siege, and that Caviagnac, Thiers, and other republican

REVOLUTION OF DECEMBER, i8;

555

lead

crs wen: arrested and sent off to II

y l)lood boiled, and my t
toi. mon j^ar^on," lie said.

ini and other furtre-

oil!.

;iio rattled off denunciations. " T

Hut I

can.

est vrais, niais n

im not afraitl, I am an .\

l!S

meri-

ind \-oiir words may be dan;^a'roiis to us.
)ff

ous sommcs— nous autres— Romains.

coffee hurri. dly and sallied fortli. Tlie b
ded b

oulevard

swallowed my
s close l)v were

crowded by excited people. Soon a line of nionnted lancers bc-
^ran to pour up the broad avenue. There were lo.ono of tl„.m

Close b\' my side on the curb-stf)ne stood a dist

ladv. 1 asked her what

With a sliru;4 of the slKJulders

were the feeliiv's of the I'.ir

incruished-lookinc

isians now.

is t;ratitude to Monsieur le Prince f(

and a sweet smile, she answered:

spectacle." Iler words were so cold-bloodeil that I
torled : " C'est im[)ossible! " With
joined : " Monsieur est .'\

sweet coiulescensi

r this magnificent
anijrily re-

le rc-

mericam, nest pas' je ■^iiis Tarisienne,

niais je connais les I'ansiennes; attende/ les denouement-

;is vei}- beautiful, but for the moment I fup'ot

She

and disliked her.

Kvenls afterward showed that sh

mv admiration

e was riirht, and that

patriotic sympathies were all wasted. Kai)idly the j;reat streets
were filled with soldiers, and news came of barricades in .several
localitiis. Afterwards, with a party of student^. I started to "et

lear I'orte St. M.irt

m, where a stroni'

iarricade was

rown up

and fi-^duiiiL; was i^oin;^' on. I stojiped in a boutique (shop) to write
a p<)stscri|)t in ;i letter I was about to post home. My friends ^ot
a little way aheail of me, and the crowd was so "leat that I could

lot i>vertake tl

lem.

I ''i>t within siirht of St. Mart

iu, wiien an

order ran di)wn the boulevard to open ever\' upper window.
Sonic shots had come from behind closed blinds; and im-
meiliatel)- after another order ran alon^ the line "f soldiers to

clear the streets.

he crowd at first tlid not budi

a r.iti

musketry poured down towards us, and a cannon-ball crashed
into a bouti(pie window a few steps behintl me. Then there was
a rush to i,ut awa\-. I was carried alon_i; by the movin^^ mass.
Hits of plasti-r came down u])on niy head from upper walls upon
which iiui^kit-balls were rattlmi;. .Xs .Sam Weller .said : " It was
too e.vcitini; to be i)lea-int." 1 was j^lad to reach a cross street,
into which I ijlun^etl, and made a detour so ,is to reach a point
where- I could cro-s the boulevard to i^et to m_\' resilience. Thi'-
I could not do until 1 reached the Madeleine, over a mile off.
The crowd rapidly vanished from the streets, as if by ma^dc.
When I crossed Ku'- Vivienne, there was not a pers<in to be seen
except the soUliers, zr^ct or 300 yards off at the boulevard's inter-
section, who .it that moment poured a volley adown the street. I
thoujdit 1 lu'ard bullets whistling,'; when I had crossed Vivienne I
laiiL;lied at m\self for imaL;iiiini; I had heard bullets, for 1 then
felt sure the volle\s were of blank cartrid^^e. I afterwards found
that the walls above the second story at that point had been

1 I

556

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

Mfi

!^l%'

';-'§:!

'/ ''^

riddled with balls, and more than probably some of them came
while I was there. It was almost impossible to remain in my
room, so great was the fever of excitement biuninjj in me. At
one time I was in a pack at the mouth of Rue Lafittewhen some
firing was heard up the boulevard ; we were ordered to disperse
with an '' allcz vans cii." We paid no attention to it. Then
came a stern " Va t'cn ! " We knew that meant business, especially
when a platoon of infantry was seen rapidly approaching. I was
ne.xt the boulevard. The crowd rushed back, leaving ni} rear
open to the enemy. I ran, putting my hands in front of me, and
then drawing them back, as if swimming. Each motion put two
or three Frenchmen, not so strong as I, behind me. I thus made
a living /'n'tjst-work to my rear, of probably a luindretl, when the
crash of musketr}- v, as heard. There were screams. How many
were hit I did nut hear, but I soon saw two men on sliuttcrs borne
up the street.

St. Martin's barricade fell and was captured, ar.d at dusk, with
a little lady friend of our concierge, I went out to reconnoitre.
The public were permitted to cross the boulevard only at Rue
Montmartre. Mounted sentinels were moving back and forth,
while the mass of cavalry were bivouacked in the centre of the
broad avenue. We had crossed, and were stooping down to
examine what wc took to b . blood in the gutter. All at once I
felt something cold touch my cheek. I looKcd up; the barrel of
a horse pistol was within two inches o> my nose, and the mounted
owner ordered us on. I need not say that we obeyed with exceed-
ing alacrity. I said some things at that time bordered on the
tragic. My friends who got lost from me on the way to .St. Mar-
tin were unable to reach a cross street when the firing com-
menced. Chaupan of New Orleans went through a hole in a
boutique shutter, made by a caniuMi-ball, antl hid himself in the
deserted house. Jones of Kentucky, g<Jt into a shop with a
crowd, soldiers rushed in and gave him a sabre ciit on his hand.
MctcalfTe of Mississi))pi, finding the bullets were wliisili ig ilan-
gerousl}-, dropped with face down to the ground close to the
house-walls and lay still. Soldiers in file passed along; oi:e ^Mve
him a kick, saying: "■ C est fait pour liii" (he is done for), j'oor
Orrick played Falstaff, but dreading the while lest they might put
in a finishing touch. .Ml were more or less greatly entiangered.
Ap. Catesby Jones had a leg broken in two places below the
knee, and was for months in a critical comlition. (lie of my
Italian friends appeared no more in our house, and his com-
panions wore sad and silent. Some gay young ladies lamented
the places lately filled b\' student friends (French) in a boarding-
house I sometimes frequ<Mited in the Latin qu.irtcr. The bulletins
set down the killed at a dozen or so. I knew of nearly th.it m.my
myself. I talked the other day with an old soldier; he said tliere
were i,ooo killed, most of them idle spectators. In February I

vJl

CHANGES IX PARIS.

557

went eastward, and did not return for nearly a year. I tlicn saw-
Louis Napoleon drive by with a;^niartl of honor from the inaui^ura-
tion of the Strasbur^v station- he was Emperor. Ilamlkerchiefs
waved and " Vive I'l'.nipereur " ran<; alon_i,' the ^^ay boulevards. 1
remembered the words of my chance lady conipaaion, and had to
confess that the l'"rench were not ready for a republic. " L'em-
pire c"es_t Ic p;ux." said the scion of Bonapartism. Time has shown
tliat "L'empire" was the synonym of '^dittcrin;^ imbecility, of e.v-
travaL^ant and dishonest beautii'ication of Paris, and of 'national
decailence.

France is now t;nashin^r l,cr teeth in viv^c and vainly hoping for
a d.iy of revenge. Appealing to this feeling. Imperialists and
Royalists are joining hands with extremists' calling themselves
Republicans, to destroy- all conservative free rule in the country.
Can .slie govern herself? Is she not again seeking a dictator's
heel to tre.ul upon the necks of her people? It seems so, for it
looks as if Houl.inger is about to be mounted on horseback. The
empire certainly, while rocking the people into a dream, whose
attractive visions were .self-seeking corruption, luxurious vanity,
and national enervation, robed Paris in garments of beauty.
Magnifici-nt boulevards and broad streets were cut and opened
into every (luarler of the city. They were lined with splendid
edifices, flattering the pride of the citizens, and at the same time
manacling their lindis. In '52 a few uiHurnid omnibuses and
heapeil paving-stones from 100 or 200 feet of adjoining streets, in
a half hour, maile a barricade which, defended by a half-armed
rabble, held in check thousands of well-armed .md disciplined sol-
diers. Now a Galling gun or a field-piece discharging gnipe can
sweep a mob from any (piarter of the cai)ital. Law and order can
thus be jireserved, ami so can the rule of an usurper. Mob
violence in Paris has committed the most horrible crimes of
niodiMii tinu's, but the love of ease and luxury, the greed of gold
and its i)urchased splendors, made the mob a possibility, and
awakening the sym])athies of lovers of liberty throughout the
world, has thrown a covering mantle over the mail acts of an op-
pressed and cheated ])eople, and has apotheosized into heroes
men whose deeds in other lands wouUl have been called demoniac
crimes.

'Phe opening of tlnse streets and improving them into the bcau-
tifiers of his capital enabled the emiieror to enrich himself and
his pets. A new street was pi.mned. contiguous projierty was
purchased (piietl\', the mw avenue was l)uilt u[); values wore
enhanced niauy fold. Imperi.d minions were enriched, and the
city itself fre.|uentlv gaineil hugely to its exchequer. The open-
ing of the Rue de !'( )pera, a short street. I am told, netted to the
municii),dity il millions of nione\-. These improvements arc
still being 'made bv the republic, wonderfulK" to the beauty and
largely t.rthe health of the capital. Although during my former

t '

* i

SS8

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

visits I ran over oftentimes and knew Paris well, yet to-day I
cannot recof^nizc many of its most frequented localities. Where
1 formerly squeezed tlirou^h narrow tortuous streets, now I find
broad and ma;j;nificent avenues. Old monuments, cluirclies, and
lialls, formerly half hidden by din^^y buildint^s reekin^^ in slime
and dirt, now lift into fine sky lines from pretty s(juares and on
wide airy thorouLjhfares. Old public buildings are reconstructed,
but some of the most historic arches, towers, and fountains arc
retained and made parts of the new and splenditl structures,
retaining thus enough of the old to endear them to the lover of
the traditions of the past. A blouscd stonc-cutte- the other day
laid down his chisel and pointed nut to me with pritle " les
souvenirs historiques" being Iniili: ''nto the oltl ''halles au ble."
These old remains are very dear to the ouvrier of the Faubourg
St. Aiitoine. Every Parisian workman is ileep-tinged with patriot-
ism and with lov^ for the traditional glory of his country antl city,
and one is constantly surprised by the grandeur and dignity of
tone and language immediately assumed by the hard-handed
toiler, when he mentions his country's past and liis hopes for
its future. But he is impatient of the slow progress of steady
growth, mistrusts the statesnum who would cement as he builds,
and is calmly awaiting for to-morrow, though knowing that the
certain to-morrow may not come for a j'ear or a decaile. He
chafes at delay, and is ready to applaud a charlatan who talks
glibly of doini:^ to-doy, and puts into the sacKUe a self-seeking bab-
bler who may the next week ride roughshod over his country's
liberty. Not only the hard-working toiler, but the dreaming
student is ready to take these chances, for the latter knows that,
in the excitement to come, he may ride upon the crest, as the
froth whitens upon a storm-driven sea.

The Sunda\' after we arrived, Willie and I visited St. Cloud,
never rebuilt since it was fired by an ill-directL'd bail from l'"ort
Valerien, aimed at the Germans, who were encamped on these
grounds during the memorable siege. To the glory of tlv: Ger-
mans in that terrible war, it may be proudly claimed by them
that they used every exertion to prevent the destruction of
monuments and works of art. After wandering about the park
and enjoying its excpiisite views, we accidentally stumbled through
a park gate into a little alley of Sevres, marked " Kue Gambetta."
The lane ran through large walled g.irtlens; the vinescovering the
walls made our walk sweet and pretty. There was, however, one
unpretentious white stuccoed liouse against the little street, with a
few small windows. The upper wall was all covered with a tlia-
mond-sliapeil trellis for ivy. The vine was, however, all dead, and
the cement walls, as high as could be reached, were almost tlingy
with pei.cil-writings. Looking over the high garden wall, I no-
ticed the side of the house was covered l)y .i large Kentucky
creeper, all bright in large trumpet-shaped flowers. This was the

LEON GAMBETTA.

SI9

first of this old home ni^Il^ mroK, • t-

years. It caused us k> pu ^ n T" {".^"'•"P^- ^ ^'^'^ ^^^c" for

and was tlic o„e n wl c u , ' ' "'' '""' ^^''"'^''^■"a's.

thus have been at act tvlMht- T?'^"^ "'"^ ^^■^' ^''""''l
an intense interest ^„dl^^^^t" ^"'"1"' f"''-

bIin.,.so„ a deserted house w'ic ll of fr" ^"'' '^'^''^•'■'"
tion written bv the statesma "s adn i, .'r "' v r" "\'' '■'^''"•"-
pconle's friend " • " Ur- ,- r •\=>^"""L'r^'- Vive damhetta, tiic
"r./w.l r i\. 1 ^ G.nnbetta, tlie countrv's defender"-

room showed us h,: was alone. We went off for a kueh e ed

nto i • t - . ' fl" ^''?'' '" ••"'^"'''^■'''' '•-■as-n for us to get
into It . ti.e.etoie. after ati hour or more we returned. The inuir
d.an was still absent. We determined to scale the -^r len w '
and m so do.nj, I strained my hip, and an> yet son^ \^
and unal>Ie to do inueh walkin,.. and had to keep mv n o, ?or
several days W e succee.led. however, in ^^ettini into the .war-
den, where Leon Gambetta had often walked ; "^Mtlier-Hl some
horse-chestnuts from a tree overhan.^ino his door." The brilliant
orator m..y often have sat beneath its shade. Here, too, were the
fine old trees under which Balzac may have written or meditated
some of his brilliant romances. I was lame, but did not re-ret
It, for thou-h n.^t in the room, ne were at the house and in the
gardens of one of the most biillianl of Frenchmen-the stay and
prop of Continental liberty and the friend of humanitv .me of
the most strik-ini,^ characters of this prolific century.

To write pn.pirly ,,f I'.uis would require more space than is

now permitted me. I went each moi

■niut; to the preat central

markets. I am ,i believer in the -rape, ami went for'fresh chasse-
as and to enjoy the bustle of the earlv sales and the rood-
humoretl -aj-ety of the market-people, these market-sheds are
great extent, all undermined with spacious vaults, in which

what fails to be sold in the

next d;

Tlu

morning may be coolly stored till the

:'arl\' sales are

by whole-

tioii. Lots of butter and of cheese, h

ale a

made bv auc-

fniit

s. carcases of meat, and masses of fish

impers of vegetables and

ire knocked down

rapidly to the retailer and are rapidly carried off bv regular por
ters in great broad hats to protect the l.^ad from LMvase and

I •■— ---^ ^.....v.and

drip, hach porter takes a tab, carries his lo.id to another part
of the market where the purchaser pays and gets a ticket to
enable him to pass the bounds. There arc regular auctioneers.

560

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

and the business is done quickly. The retail purchasers are
largely women. The wholesaling is over at nine o'clock. Then
the retailer invites the passer with compliments to purchase.
" Voila, monsieur, a fish for your charming wife." " Sec this bou-
quet, your pretty lady-love will dote on j'ou if you take it to lu.r."
" Here, monsieur, is a quail for your sick daughter." " Look at
this live fish just the thing for your guests this evening." " Huy
this beautiful wreath of immortelles, just the thing for j'our hand-
some family tomb at I'ere la Chasso. ' As we walk among the
stalls of different articles, all in their respective quarters, old
women ply the passer, and often with compliments my modesty
prevents my noting. One sees much of I'.uisian human nature in
these places. Large markets are held in the several cjuarters of
the city on fixed days, generally twice a week for each locality. The
broad promenade spaces of several boulevards have sockets in the
walks into which posts are set, and then rods run along them,
making covered awnings for the stalls. The awnings are erected
the evening before, and after the morning sales are over the locali-
ties are quickly cleaned, and in an liour no one would suspect
the pretty streets had been so used. The market people arc
thus able to reach different parts of the city through the week.
Cabbages and other vegetables are brought into the city pro-
tected by their outer leaves. Purchasers strip these off ami drop
them at once. Tons of this refuse lie about the markets, but are,
immediately after the market closes, carted off by public teams.
But I must forbear further writing upon this great city. 1 could
write on and fill half a volume and write only of what has come
to my individual notice.

We left Paris the 15th, via Dieppe for London. Caught a
glimpse of the old cathedral at Rouen, but diil not halt, ran
through some beautiful scenery in Normandy, with sweetly
sequestered homes and quaint oM mills; had .1 smooth sail to
New Haven, and at ten o'clock at night I felt that strange
oppression I always suffer from when entering huge London.

CHAI'TRR 1,11.

«t.KKLLLV CASIl.K.
When I nrrK„.,I , ^-^W*;//, A>Yw/w 2, 1888.

^i^^n:^:T-.s::!.:;^^^^ so

did not know in h t . ' h, "> "-r'' " ^^"'^'^■" '^■'"'^'' I

house, but I l,..ul lat U- J„ - i?vr tf.'' ^''•' ""•■ ^^-''^'^ ^•^••t "f
memorable excursion of tin L V ^^"■'•'iV'^"^ '-'^'^"""t of the
and his friends, an ec ied ft '"'".^V' ^^^.""^'^■' ^''^'^^^'^''^
tavern '• the club •' 1 u st r < 1 ^'^ """''>'" ^''''t -t was from this
and have since "nJr time v. 1 -"'"V''^" ^^''' '^''^'^orUMc

one can mount a " I; is " for mv .n,! ... ^ ' , ?^ '^^ '''^"''

town.

the re'ulel^Vmhui'^" 'T' ''"^''"^'T "' ^'""''"'^ ^" '"-^ it to

be^^ed a^p ^luln- t-; 'Sll-S;:^

Here are all thui'^s and all m innn- ,\( 11 /, ."'^^'-"I'tHiot it.

anSi;n^''tLr'r?r'''>'-^''"-

?:;t;a.." tS:: ■ TL:':^ob^;:; rris'r;;;:nd:';t:^;;£::';^ ^-

cred w.th earth and w.tter : the sun li-^lus it b. day n 1 1,; ",[,',
shmc upon .t by ni^ht. This would i;:. .,s properly a uk ^^ 'o
the globes characteristic, as any thin,^ 1 on, d sav of t liV ,s
auddrono humanity in a simple letter would be a'desc, o o
t. m.^ht say ,t has four millions of pcopIe,-thc m nd can
hardly -jrasp the fact. Better probably would it be to s t S

the ten hirge.st c.t.es of America imited into one would not sum

561

S6^

A RACE WITH THE SUX.

up its complement. Gather all the people of the preat State
of New York and pour them into London emptied, and there
would be vacant places left and room for those of a few of our
nine by ten commonwealths. But what is more, the great Empire
State even with its huge city could not furnish the ingredients to
make up the medley of human nature here to be found. Here
man soars aloft and looks with unilazzled eye into the brightness
of the stars, and here sinks into the lowest vortex of depravity ;
here he vies with the gods in sublimit)', and here revels in the
companionship of the most loathsome reptile. He touches a
chord that sings in ethereal cadences throughout the spheres, and
yet commits crimes so hideous that a convict escaped from Hades
would hardly pleail guilty to their doing. Here is the centre of
the world of wealth — the very heart whose pulsations vibrate to
the farthest corner of the world, and here sipialid hunger is
gaunt from very starvation. Tiied up on a few acr"sare tiie shin-
ing coins of the wIkjIc world, or the debentures which could bring
in all, and then would bankrupt the ver)' mines in the rock ; and
yet within a few minutes' walk there is the home of starving want
and racking miserj-. Here countless millions c<nil<l l)e raised
in a da)' to carry light into the heart of the dark continent, or to
equip armies and squadrons to destroy human slavery and its
trade ; and \et close by girls are being dail)* sold to vice, .uid in-
fantine innocence is taught to steal and to coniniit crime as a
science. Here thousands of pure, good ami able men and women
are dail\' bainled together to lighten the lo.ul down-weighting poor
humanity and to bring it into comnuinion with its (lod. To reach
their i)Iace of meeting those same men and women pass b\' cpiar-
ters into which they woukl not dare to go without the eye of
a policeman constantly upon them, and where murders are
now being committeil in manner so hellish and for reasons so
utterly unaccountable, that the wcnld staiuls aghast with horror.
Nothing is so good, no idea so sublime, that the performers of the
one, antl tlu' votaries of the otiur are not here to be fouml in vast
aiul earnest numbers ; nothing so \icious or so hideous, no thmight
or passion so bestial and dcgr.uling. that thous.uuls caimot here be
found to delight in performing the one. or to reek and wall<)W in
the other. Paris is the e|)itonie of certain tr.iits of human n.iture
— London is the epitome of the worlil and of all tr.iits of human
nature.

Nature seems herself every now and then to grow shocked
at the possibility of its ilei)r.ivity and tries to cover it over w ith
an impenetrable gloom. .\ London fog is the one thing t\-pical
of this place, a/ul of it alone. It is not fog as understood else-
where, but a mist grountl up with soot — a mist coated with ilirt
and rime ; a pall settled down to shut out the heavens and
to hide the city from the sjiirits of the air and the stars in
the sky. Coming from the " Lodge of Israel " at Cannon .Street

TORT WORTH COURT.

563

,'IT w ith
tNpical
loci clsc-
lith iHrt
Ins and
Uars in
|i Street

Hotel at midnight, I found the city was shrouded in fog- I
mounted the dccl< of an omnibus to have the full benefit of the
thmg. Coming out of Ludgate Hill the driver got so bewild red
that he lost his way in the little open space not 200 feet across
and instead of going straight into Fleet Street turned at right
angles, and did not discover his mistake until he was about to
enter Hlackfriars Bridge, where there was a little opening in the
fog, and yet he had been on this line for 10 or 15 years. We
frequently could not see the lights on vehicles meeting us until
they were bumped into us. The fog is often in patches where all
is nearly impenetrable and the lamps are hardly visible across
a narrow street, and yet 100 or 200 yards off one can see with tol-
erable distinctness. I was reading in my room (it has three good
windows on the street) at 1 1 o'clock, suddenly the sun went out,
and I could not distinguish the skyline of the l)iiilding across the
way not 60 feet off. 1 groped my way down stairs before the gas
was lighted ; drivers on c.djs and 'buses were calling out tu each
otlier so as to learn their respective positions, and men and boys
were offering their services to convey pedestrians to their destina-
tions. People often accept such services even when within a few
hundred yards ot iheir homes. The city seems to be trying to
hide itself in sheer disgust for its own misdeeds.

When I was a young man I was a breeder in Kentucky of short-
horns, and going abroad visited the famous herd-; of luii^land. I
went to Tortworth Court, the seat of the Earl of iJucie in Glouces-
tershire, to see his celebrated " Dutchess" cattle, and was intro-
duced to his torilship by the bull, " I'"ouith Duke of York." I was
treated with great kimlness by the family and afterward.-, spent
some weeks at Hrahan Castle, north of Inverness, in Scotland, which
Lord Ducie h.ul taken for the season, llis son. Lord Moretoninow
Lord Ducie), of my own age, was a fisherman and supplied the table
with salmon; I furnishetl it with venison from tlie great forest,
well stocked with fallow-deer and roebuck, and played billiards
with the kind earl, somewhat an invalid. He died a few months
afterwards, anil the present earl, has always been off yachting
when 1 have since been in England. We have kept up an occa-
sional correspondence. Learning we were here now, he wrote for
us to come to Tortworth for a visit. .\ charming run on the
Great Western Road through sweet home scenery along the
Thames — ;it times rush.ing with a sjieed of 70 miles an hour, —
through picturesque Bathi brought us to Bristol, thence an hour
northward carried us to Charfield, the Tortworth station. I wish
I could write of the splendid hospitality found In the interior of a
great English country-seat; but will content myself by saying the
guest is as free as if he were in a fine hotel. He can walk or ride ;
can talk or write ; can play tennis or take a row in pretty lakes ;
can stroll among herds of fine short-horns or watch gay phea-
sants wandering within 100 yards of the house; can look upon

««4

A RACE WITH THE SUN.

old family pictures, or study in the library or in the museum, in
which is a fine collection of old English and some Roman coins,
nearly all dug up on the grounds about the park ; can take a pipe
or a cigar in the smoking-room ; can go through the park, in which
are specimens of the best American trees, all labelled. In short,
can do as he pleases and have a good time. Tortworth residence
is very large, containing 50 odd sleeping-rooms, and fine halls, all of
Bath stone and Elizabethian in style. The grounds or home place
contain 4,000 acres and are ver)- beautiful, most admirably kept up,
— in fact I could sec nothing out of order.

The present Lord Moreton has inheriteti his grandfather's love
of short-horns and fine pigs, and is selling many to go to the
Argentine Republic. His father I do not think knows a short-
horn from a mountain tow-head, but is great on arboriculture and
yachting. I had one familiar acquaintance, an old chesnut-tree
about 18 feet in diameter and written of as old several centuries
ago. It is not much more than a living shell or tall hollow stump,
supported by a huge ivy which keeps it staid and green at winter
in its vast old age. It is one of the oldest British trees ; the ivy
and the balmy climate may keep it alive for centuries yet to come.
The Gloucestershire hills stretch near by, making a pretty
outline. On one of the highest points stands a tall tower or
column, the monument of Tyndale, who first translated into
English the New Testament. This was his native home.

Six miles from Tortworth is the oldest inhabited stronghold in
England — lierkeley Castle. It is a solid old keep with '.massive
walls, deeply marked by crinonballs thrown against t by
Cromwell. I^ord Fitz Hardinge, the owner, acted as cicerone for
us and showed us its old rooms and many relics of long ago.
There was the room in which Etlward the Second was murdered,
meeting the most ignoble death ever inflicted upon a king. His
bed is kept as he used it. There was Elizabeth's room with its
massive wooden bolts, barring out intruders from the virgin queen
and the bed upon which she slept when a guest at the castle.
Here were her candlesticks, her perfume bottles, and other pretty
things, and a beautiful little prayer-book, written and illumined by
her own fair hands. If I remember rightly, they were dainty and
deserved the pride she had in them. These and other of her
ornaments were given by her to one of her maids-of-honor, a
daughter of this old house.

We looked into the kitchen, in which a meal was being pre-
pared, with old pot-racks and other kitchen furniture the same as
used centuries ago. The great d(;cr park was formerly about the
castle, but the noble proprietor moved it some distance away,
because his good dame found it so easy to kill fat bucks to load the
table when Queen Bess was her guest. The present lord is the
master of the Gloucestershire hounds and had just returned from
a hunt when we arrived. He had gained a good appetite from his

'I'

1 1 ,t I",

FAREWELL TO ENGLAND.

hard riding, but left his lunch t^Kl f. . i

munched biscuits v-hile he shove In ' .- ^'^■' "f. •'>'''^""J. '"ind

looked the typical fox-ln ntin r n^,' " '''''' "'^' '"'"'''■"■''• "e

and as careless of app^ranfes :^'t?

sawyer. Willie Rot son nL; ' M '"X '"'^'^P%^<''^"t -^^ a wood-

aboStTortworthLurt VV Wttlowlt;'LJl"

regret, and leave for Liverpool l^^X^^^^::^^,::^^

»i

b S

CHAPTER LIII.

OUK IlOMi; KIN— MAllAKA— \VK I.OSK
WITH rilK SUN.

TIIK RACE

!'>«'•

II
ill

Homeward Hound, Noj'emder 15, 1888.

Our passaj^c across tlic Atlantic was unovL-iitful and not un-
pleasant, althoiigli it was roiigli ami storni)-. Twice the wind rose
to the dignity of hard ^alcs, and the ocean j^'reyhounil Alasfca
rolled tremeniU)iisly, provin^f that old do^'s can learn new tricks.
The captain saitl when we starteil that she did not know how to
roll, anil I think acipiired a dislike for me because I con^'ratulated
him afterwards on her aptness in takinfj lessons. We reached
Sandy Hook at ni<^dit and anchored to await the tide. I fear. I
am not orthodox in my patriotism, for I did not work up any in-
tense sentiment when I went on deck in the morning, and saw
America after so many months of absence. I did lift ni)- hat,
however, and with deep respect said " My native land, ^'ood
morning." 1 felt a sort of regret that our journeyings were
ended ; I was anxious to reach home to see loved ones, and once
more to greet my friends. I looked back over the sea; there was
a thread of light marking tiie way we had come, and be)ond on
mountain and plain, on Jiill and valley, were many a charming
scene now lost to me forever.

We halted in New York two days, that Willie might look at our
own commercial metropolis wliile recollections of Olil-World cities
were fresh in his mind.

I am making notes of this my last letter on the M. C. railroad as
we i)ass througli quiet Michigan. A little link of a luindretl miles is
yet to be made, to close up tiie girdle we have been making arounil
the world. It has been a long and somewhat tortuous one: now
lying on theei[uator, then looped u]) over the Arctic Circle; here we
were running with fleet-footed old .Sol ; there doubling upon our
tracks we made a couple of thousand and more miles with the early
dawn ever in our faces. The track we have made would measure
about 45,000 miles. In all of that vast distance we have not met
with a single accident. The two boys have each had a day or two of
slight indisposition. I have not been sick a single ilay. We h.ivc
sweltered in tropical heats, and the sun has shot down upon our
heads burning arrows ; we have eaten all kinds of food and par-
taken wantonly of the fruits of every land, and for several days in

5M>

■■■|'i

COLD BATHS.

567

;ul as
lies is
iniiul
now
|C we
h our
Mfly
,siirc
met
■0 of
have
our
par-
's in

Finland and Norway were wet from niorninfj till ni^ht. Wo took
with us a well supjilicd medicine chest ; with the exception of a
few quinine pills taken out, we brin^,' it back as it started. Just
before sailing from Vancouver 1 read in a newspaper the state-
ment of an eminent French phjsician, that he had fur a year
or more poured each morning cold water over the back of his neck
and had escaped colds, lie did not say that it was the cause of
his exemption, but recommended its trial. I have not failed to so
do a single morning in fifteen months, and have not had a single
cold. 1 coulil not persuade the bo\'s to follow my example, and
they have been freipicnlly enrheumed. It is worth trying. In
the f.ir Kast we adopted the Indian mode of bathing, that is by
pouring cold water over the person, and at the same time rubbing
one's self. It is the simplest of all Ij.iths and perhaps the best, for
it permits free exercise while bathing, and thereby prevents the
chill so often dangerousl)- accompanying a cold souse or the
steady shock of the shower, and is greatl}' more refreshing than
the sponge bath. It is economical and convenient, and one can
obtain all the refreshing benefits of a cold morning bath and not
consume over a pailful of w.iter, especially if using a broad flat
tub to stand in. Where water is in limited supply it i> the
thing, and for persons of small means, who can by it have the
beneficial nif.rning refreshment without the expense of a l\ith-
room. A broad tin tub costs but little. We oftci; amused
ourselves watching mothers in India bathe their naked little
ones from uabyhood up to ten or more years of age, at
street hydrants in cities, or near the tanks in villages. The
Euro])ean bathroom tl.roughout the far East is a small room
with an inclined cementetl floor and cemented wainscoting. In
this is a tub, small or large according to the .ibility to get water,
and a tin dipper, usually an old preserved meat-cm. Since reaching
Singapore we have rarely missed our morning pour, for nearly
cvervwhere we could get a broail foot-bath. To this and to fruit
diet I ascribe much of our excellent health. In India our guide-
books c.uitioned ag.iinst the free u.se of fruit. We partook pro-
fuseK- of alt kinds, in all localities and at all times. I'or nearly
five months we rarelx- failed eating for breakfast a fill of " pomolos,"
the shaildock of Floriila. Some say it is an antidote to malaria.
Hy peeling off the inner .skin it is a delightful fruit. A little of
the inner skin gives a taste of quinine, and is possibly possessed
of its virtues.

A night whirl carried us from New York across the Empire
State, and the next morning gave us a view of the world's W(Muler
and America's pride and glory- Niagara. It would furnish a fit-
ting climacteric for this, my story of a voyage around the world.
I'or here one looks upon the very embodiments of rel-Mitless force
and indomitable energ\- - of irresistible and eternal motion.
Here for untold ages there has not been one moment of rest— not

S68

J JiACE WITH THE SUN.

>'<

lif-'l

a flcrtinp instant of silence. During countless centuries the
majestic roar, deep and solemn .xs the stertorous breathings of a
boundless universe, has not during the flash of a second been
once hushed, or has ever modulated its awful tone. Here is
grandeur and sublimity, but yet more than all, beauty without
stint. A distinguished Hritoii once wrote with supercilious con-
tempt of an untutored Yankee, who, after looking upon .Niagara,
exclaimed. " How beautiful ! " The Yankee, however, was not
devoid of ethical refinement. America's mighty cataract has
all the elements of the beautiful, but not all of the grand. It
does not arouse a feeling of fear and dread. Mountain billows
rushing before a howling storm, seem ready to engulf one wl:o is
in their patli. I luge snow-clad peaks or towering rocky pinnacles
cutting .1 t.ir upper sk)-, looking as if theii distant heights wre
the props ot the eternal throne, seem ready to topple upon and
to crush tlu: beholder. These arc awful — fearful- grand. Words
of tentlerness die upon the lo\er's lips in their presence. Mut
Niagara wins a loving look and woos ,i cooing word : it mellows
the heart, anil (juickens a gentle pulse : it is the very tr\-sting
place for lowers; its marvellous beauties reach the heart, and the
hearts of thous;in<ls furnish a better v.'-iticism th.ui the learned
a,*sthcticisni of rhe -^cho()led critics. It is graiul, and sublime, ,ind
yet more glorious!}- beautiful. I never go to or from the Mast,
without a feelini^ that I have lost something if I have not ii.id one
iiok at it. Even the hurried view from .Suspension Hridge and
the ien minutes from the look-out of the M. C. railroati repay a
good part of tiae ticket's cost.

We have buit a luindreil miles more to make, and our jcnirin _\ings
will be endeti. I look back with regret, for the joys of the past i ^\
months can nvev again be mine. VV^e have seen many lands ,iiul
many peoples. We have been happy, .ind I have endeavoreil
through these letters to make my friends at home partakers of
our happiness. The ende.ivor has been beneficial to myself. It
has forced me to an intensely close observ.ition of every thing,
and I hope to somewhat accurate conclusions. I have reached
such conclusions honestly, but have made no pretensions to pro-
fouiul researches. I have written of things as they .ippearei! to
me and a.s they would most probably hav; appeared to my reaiiers
had they been in my place. At le.ist I have en-leavored to let
them :.ee through my eyes. Much that I h.ive witten may seem
trivial, but the monarch mountains of the woiKl are but aggrega-
tions of tiny atoms. A man's life and a countrj''s history are only
colli-eted masses of countless little things. A fossil bone and a
carbon leaf gave Agassi/, food for months of study, anil from
them he fashioned a beast of monster dimensions and revealed a
planet of emerald brightness. Iron filings are dull and lustreless
dirt, a magnet causes them to assume forms of i)erfect beauty.
We look tiirough our window upon the fog, it is cold d.uiip, and

I -m

HOME AGAIN.

tllcm pitasantly before you, tliat you nii"ht 5ac « hat I s .«• anil ,«

Lt^bce" Iv ' "i::^, *:" >"" ">■" r """»" ™-Pani" '"'.■.
n.ivc Dcen nar( , m the companionsliip. f you h.ivo .-nicvcd mv

all tiic uluk' boon mantled in srcen. I look out of the car win
tC^ ol^e'T ; r" ""^ "^'' ^^•"^•'^ ^'"l'^^= =^" '^ ^^^^^

^rce • / sleek for ti>ey have revelled in thr summer's

green , they can bear the wintry blast and look foruard to the
comms spr.n^^ \\ ., too. have had many lon^^ months of ^dorious
summer. In our memories are ^^unered what we have t,rathered.
.. be food for thouoht „, the winter of declinin^^ years. Will
that winter be followed by an emerald spring? We will hope and
live, and will l.ve in hope. i "

Again I l..ok out of our window. Clouds are gathering over
tlie sky; the curiam of the far west is dyed in purple aii.l salm-.n.
Through a cloud rift the rounded low-down sun is bloody r.d.
Nearly 500 times has he run his course since we started in f,nx
race with him an,und the world. He lia.s reached our home an(J
passed It and we arc not yet ([uite there. \\c dijis his rim and is
gone. He has won the race. To him and to you -jood-bye.

Tin: END.