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 6 
 
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD 
 
 IN 
 
 1887-8 
 
TRIP ROUND THE WORLD 
 
 IN 
 
 1887—8 
 
 BY 
 
 W. S. CAINE, M.P. 
 
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 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 70//^ PEDDEE, //. SIIEPPARD DALE, CEO. BICKHAM, 
 
 And the AUTHOR 
 
 ^jiiiBim^innM**!''"'!"""''""™''""'""'"'''"' 
 
 LAHORE GATE, DELHI FORT. 
 
 LONDON 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS 
 
 BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL 
 
 GLASGOW AND NEW YORK 
 1888 
 
Q 
 
 4 fa 
 
 Q fS 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 
 STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. 
 
TO 
 
 MY CONSTITUENTS AND FRIENDS 
 
 AT 
 
 BARROW-IN-FURNESS, 
 
 TO WHOM THESE LETTERS WERE ORIGINALLY ADDRESSED, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 
 
€ 
 
 & 
 

 i%' 
 
 o © o 
 
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 tf' 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Tins volume consists of a reprint of letters addressed to the 
 Barrozv Neius, the leading newspaper of the constituency I 
 represent in Parliament, dating from August 1887 to March 
 1888. The letters were written during idle hours on board 
 steamer'-j for the amusement and information of my con- 
 stituents and personal friends, but with no intention of adding 
 to the many volumes of travel which deal with the various 
 countries I have seen in my rapid tour round the world. 
 
 I have, however, found by experience, that the obiter dicta 
 of other travellers have been of so much greater service to 
 me during my own journey than the recognized guide books, 
 many of which have been put quite out of date by the rapid 
 developments of transit, and the equally rapid changes in 
 Eastern customs, that I venture to add my modest contribution 
 to the literature of travel. I hope it may prove of value to 
 some of that increasing number of English and Americans to 
 whom a tour round the world is becoming a matter of course, 
 and perhaps also of some interest to the general reader. I 
 have tried to make my letters readable by old and young alike. 
 
 In one respect this volume differs — so far as I am aware — 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 from any other of the kind which has yet been published. It 
 is profusely illustrated. I trust more to my pictures than to 
 my inexperienced literary powers, to make this volume acceptable 
 to the public. I wish to acknowledge gratefully the assistance - 
 I have had from my old friend, Mr. John Pedder, of Maiden- 
 head, who has evolved the greater portion of the illustrations, 
 with accuracy and artistic skill, from a heterogeneous collection 
 of rough sketches and photographs made by me on my 
 journey; and also to Mr. H. Sheppard Dale for the excellent 
 architectural drawings of Japanese and Indian buildings which 
 bear his name. 
 
 The journey taken by my daughter and myself has entailed 
 no hardship or inconvenience, with the not very serious ex- 
 ception of our voyage across the Pacific. Sii:, W i U ta m - JP^a^eels 
 steamers can be avoided by other travellers, without losing the 
 enchanting scenery of the Canadian Pacific route, or incurring 
 extra expense. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company will 
 book passengers from Quebec or Montreal, through to San 
 Francisco, at slightly higher rates than the direct American Pacific 
 Railroads ; the sea passage from Vancouver to San Francisco 
 is for the most part in smooth water, the coast being extremely 
 beautiful, and the steamers comfortable. The only really good 
 line of steamers crossing the Pacific are those chartered from 
 the White Star Line sailing from San Francisco ; their names 
 all end with " ic," <ind if tourists take care to secure this last 
 syllable, they will be sure of fine ships and comfortable accom- 
 modation. - - 
 
 None of the trans-continental railways of the United States 
 can compare with the Canadian Pacific either for beauty of 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XI 
 
 scenery or comfort in travel. It is easy, however, for those 
 wishing to see the Yellowstone Park, to cross over vid 
 Winnipeg to the Canadian Pacific route. 
 
 It is important on all American lines of railway to secure 
 sleeping-car berths the day before starting on the journey— they 
 are generally crowded. I know no bed of little ease to compare 
 with a night spent in the ordinary American car. 
 
 I advise travellers to resist all temptations to travel by 
 steamers not flying the British flag. Their ways are not our 
 ways. 
 
 There is absolutely no remedy for sea-sickness, but to go to 
 bed and stop there till it runs its horrid course. The best food 
 to take is beef-tea absolutely free from fat, with crisp dry toast, 
 and grapes. There is an excellent preparation which can be 
 made ready in a moment with boiling water, called Bovril, and 
 another equally good, Johnson's beef-tea. I have often seen 
 well-meaning but misguided folk, coming on board to see their 
 loved ones off on a voyage, loading their friends' cabins with 
 hot-house flowers. A basket of hot-house grapes instead, with 
 six pots of Bovril, would bring grateful memories the third day 
 at sea. Above all things to be avoided are quack remedies, 
 or such dangerous drugs as cocaine, nitro-glycerine, or bromide 
 of potassium. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, every 
 passenger is ready for a good breakfast the third morning out, 
 without any remedy but Nature's recuperation, and the odd 
 hundredth is best left to the ship's doctor. 
 
 Clothing sorely exercises the intending traveller round the 
 world, and, as a rule, twice too much is taken. I advise plenty 
 of good woollen underclothing, two new tweed suits, light and 
 
 I 
 
Xll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 strong, a thin dress suit, a light overcoat, a good ulster, and 
 a mackintosh, with three or four pairs of shoes of different 
 strengths, buying tropical clothing on the spot as required. 
 
 It is much more costly to pay fares from place to place, than 
 to make up your route before starting, buying a through ticket 
 from Thos. Cook & Son. Wishing to be free to select my own 
 routes and steamers, I took the former course. Here follow 
 the fares I had to pay: 
 
 £, s. d. 
 
 i8 i8 o 
 
 IS 8 3 
 
 36 9 2 
 
 Liverpool to Montreal (Allan line) 
 Montreal to Vancouver (Canadian 
 
 Pacific Railway) .... 
 Vancouver to Yokohama (Sir Wm. 
 
 Pearce's steamer) .... 
 Yokohama to Colombo (P. & O. 
 
 steamer) 
 
 Colombo to Calcutta (ditto) 
 Calcutta, Benares, Lucknow, Cawn- 
 
 pore, Agra, Delhi, Jeypore to 
 
 Bombay, by rail .... 
 Bombay to Brindi=i. (P, & O. steamer) 
 Brindisi to London (by rail) 
 
 Total . . ;^222 3 5 
 
 Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son can supply through tickets covering 
 all these journeys for ,^155 i8j. M., so that if I had booked 
 through at starting, I should have saved £66 on each of my 
 fares. I •- -^e not included in the list of separate fares the extras 
 I paid for securing whole cabins for my daughter and myself. 
 
 I advise intending travellers round the world to fix their 
 route, and take a through ticket from Cook. The £66 saved 
 would more than suffice to secure the unspeakable comfort of a 
 
 52 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 63 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 
 
xm 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 whole cabin, when the steamers were at all crowded. We 
 indulged in this luxury crossing the Atlantic and Pacific, at an 
 extra cost of £io each, and felt it to be the most profitable 
 expenditure made on our whole journey. 
 
 It is well to have a small medicine chest. Ships' doctors are 
 often very young and inexperienced, and in out-of-the-way 
 places native doctors are not to be trusted, and the drugs are 
 bad. In remote Japan, the almost universal treatment for 
 disease of any kind is to stick the patient's body, in all safe 
 places, full of needles. Any family doctor will be able to 
 give a list of tinctures and compressed drugs, such as those 
 manufactured by Wyeth, or Burroughs Welcome and Co., 
 obtainable through any good chemist, with simple instructions 
 for treating the ailments incidental to travel. They will pack 
 into a small box about six inches cube. It is true I presented 
 my own box intact to a medical missionary just before leaving 
 India, but the knowledge that in cases where doctors were 
 available, I had the best quality of drugs likely to be required, 
 added greatly to my comfort of mind all through the journey. 
 
 A six months' tour round the world can be done economically, 
 travelling first-class throughout, for about ;^3S0 ; luxuriously, 
 with exclusive cabins, for ;£'420 to £^^o. 
 
 I can confidently recommend to travellers in Japan my two 
 guides, Mr. Ito and Mr. Hakodate, both of whom are to be 
 found at the Grand Hotel, Yokohama. 
 
mm. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 i 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FROM LIVERPOOL TO QUEBEC. 
 
 The " Sarmatian "— The Antrim coast— Our fellow passengers- 
 Atlantic bills of fare— Belle Isle Strait— The aurora borealis— The 
 Seamen's Orphanage— Miss Macpherson and her lambs— Contu- 
 macious ami- vaccinators— Quebec 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MONTREAL. 
 
 Par ici— British swagger— Old Quebec— The St. Lawrence— Mount 
 Royal— The " Windsor "—The Lachine rapids— The two bridges— 
 The president of the Canadian Pacific— Px. section and the iron trade 
 
 14 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 NIAGARA. 
 
 Our first journey on the C. P. R.— Toronto " side "—Its university- 
 Its churches— Niagara— American advertising horrors— The falls— 
 The rapids— The whirlpool— Niagara in winter— The Welland canal 
 and locks— Railway versus canal— A Canadian homestead— 
 A farmer's life — Apples — New London — Lake Huron — The 
 " Alberta "— Soult St. Marie— Lake Superior— Thunder Bay 
 
 25 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WINNIPEG. 
 
 Port Arthur— Once more on the C. P. R.— Camping out— Trout and 
 grasshoppers— Night in the train— Thirteen babies— Winnipeg— 
 Who should emigrate— Wages and cost of living in Winnipeg— 
 ' Farming prospects— Glenbeigh versus Manitoba 
 
 41 
 
xvi 
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CALGARY AND THE RANCHING COUNTRY. 
 
 The great Canadian prairie — The Assiniboine valley — Brandon — The 
 Bell farm — Regina — The prairie fauna — Blackfeet — Natural gas — 
 Calgary — Ranches — Stimson's Ranch — Cowboys and their prospeccs 
 — The Sarcee Indians — Bull's Head — Indian swells — Eagle rib — 
 The Leland Hotel— The Salvation Army—" Bravo, Ted ! »— Pro- 
 hibition of the liquor trade — The fire brigade — Electric light 
 
 FAGB 
 
 S2 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE CANADIAN NATURAL PARK. 
 
 The Gap^Canmore — Dr. Brett's sanitarium — The panorama of the 
 Rocky Mountains — The hot springs — An aristocratic boatman — 
 The Bow river — Trout — Canoeing — Vermilion lake — Sunday at 
 Banff— A prairie bishop — The national park and its ranger — The 
 Spray river — Deer, bears, beavers, catamounts, panthers, and other 
 fearful wild fowl — Fish — Forest fires — The Indians — The C. P. R. 
 
 JTX U tcl •• •• •• ■• •• • 9 •• •• •■ 
 
 68 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE SELKIRKS. 
 
 An early start — Silver city — Mount Lefroy — Summit lakes — Kicking 
 Horse pass — Field — Mountain goats — Our bear hunt — Glacier 
 House — Mount Sir Donald and its great glacier — Tne Hermit 
 range — Stoney Creek — Avalanches and snow sheds — Roger's pass 
 — Comfort on wheels — The great bend — The gold range — Thomp- 
 son river — Fraser river — A train burnt — The Cariboo road — 
 Agassiz — Harrison lake— Vancouver .. 
 
 93 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 Five years ago and to-day — The Great Sound — Salmon runs — The 
 candle fish — Herrings — Oysters — Dog-fish— Cod — Coal— Gold — 
 Iron — Silver — Timber — The Douglas fir — The lumberer — The 
 farmer — Climate — The Japan current — Victoria — Esquimault — 
 Work and wages — The heathen Chinee .. 
 
 119 
 
 i'U 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 xvii 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN CANADA. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Sober habits of Canadians generally — Women — The churches — History 
 of legislation— Prohibition for the North- West— The Scott Act- 
 Has it succeeded ? — A stepping stone to prohibition .. .. .. 132 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ACROSS THE PACIFIC. 
 
 Bad-^ttftRagetaeat fi£-SkJ^¥fiw-*e?»ce's «l«aaae£S--©©kyS'— The " Port 
 Victor" — Confusion and overcrowding — Extra Chinamen — Cock- 
 roaches — A popular captain — Life on the Pacific — Chinamen's 
 meals— "Chin-chin Joss" — A typhoon — A volcano — Japan at 
 
 iclSC •• «• ,, , , .. «• •( ,« •• »t 
 
 us 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 YOKOHAMA. 
 
 The " City of Sydney " in a typhoon — Yokohama — The bund — The 
 bay — Ships of all nations — The Grand Hotel — Jin-rickishas — Shops 
 — Flower-sellers — Bed ! — England v. America — Funerals — Railways 
 — Agriculture — Utsunomiya — The merry Jap — Babies — A tea-house 
 — The bath — Food — 0-hy-o — Straw-clothes — Jin-rickisha men — 
 Cryptomeria Avenue — Road-side incidents . . 
 
 153 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 NIKKO. 
 
 A Japanese hotel — Curio dealers — Nikko the " sunny splendour "— 
 Nantai-san — Images of Amida Buddha — Nikko the holy — The 
 sacred lacquered bridge — The Torii — The pagoda — The gate of the 
 two kings — The holy water cistern — The library — The Korean 
 lantern — Yo-mei-mon — The cloister — The carved panels — The 
 Chinese gate — The inner sanctuary- ^e tomb of the mighty 
 Shogun — lye-mitsu's temples — The Wiu 'od — The Thunder God — 
 The Kara mon — lye-mitsu's tomb — Enno Shokaku, the sturdy- 
 legged — Chiu-sen-je — Travelling in Kagos — The Mikado's birthday 
 — Kamakura — The great L aibutz or Bronze Buddha — A Japanese 
 feast — Sea-fishery — Sunday at Yokohama — Christianity in Japan — 
 Fuji-yama — A Japanese mail steamer — Vries island — Kioto 
 
 h 
 
 m 
 
XVIU 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SOCIAL LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 Population — Work and wdges — Cost of living — Education — The 
 Dragon pond school — A pretty picture — Little maids from school — 
 The university — The Emperor and his ministers — Local government 
 — Religion — Justice — Army — Navy — Exports and imports — 
 Foreigners — Amusements — Music — Dancing — Theatres — The 
 children's street — Singing and dancing girls — Holidays 
 
 PAGB 
 
 205 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 JAPANESE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 The Mikado's palace — The old castle of the Shoguns — Marvellous 
 paintings and carvings — Decorations — A tea garden — Mr. Glad- 
 stone's portrait — "Waiting for the young Mikado" — Lacquer 
 working — Porcelain — Inlaying in gold and silver — Bronze — The 
 inland sea — Nagasaki — Japanese martyrs — Pappenbuig island 
 
 219 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HONG KONG. 
 
 The Ladroncs — Piracy — The harbour — Typhoons — " Too much piecy 
 top-side" — Stick — English town — China town — Shops — The Hill of 
 Great Peace — Street scenes — The Governor and Government House 
 — Kowloong — Chinese fishing — Revenue and expenditure — Water — 
 The council — Missionaries— Shipping and commerce — Work and 
 wages — Crime 
 
 232 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SINGAPORE. 
 
 Coolie swindlers — The tropics at last — The heat — Singapore — The 
 botanical gardens, an open-air hothouse ! — The cathedral — The 
 sailors' rest — English town — Malay town — China town — The twenty- 
 five nationalities of Singapore — Dress — Locomotion — Markets — 
 Ducks — Fish — Fruit — Whampoa's garden — The harbour and 
 docks — Fortifications — Revenue and expenditure — Opium and 
 drink — The Government — Missionaries — Trade and commerce — 
 Sir Hugh Low — Penang — A curry breakfast 
 
 246 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 xix 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 KANDY. 
 
 Spicy breezes— Ceylon in sight .and smell— Point de Galle— Adam's 
 peak-Colombo— Catamarans— The Kandy railway— Country sights 
 — A6ooo-feet railway climb— Sensation Rock— Kandy— The sacred 
 tooth of Buddha - Horrible beggars - Kandy-The Peradenia 
 Garden-Dr. Triman-Keep off the grass-leeches and snakes- 
 Palms of all sorts-Jack-fruit-Ferns-Creepers-Giant bamboos 
 -Squirrels-Tropical birds-Tipsy flying foxes-Nuwera Eliya-An 
 nnitation England-The Hakgala gardens-The jungle-Elephants 
 —Leopards— Cheetahs— Eagles— Rest-houses— Ramboda 
 
 PAOB 
 
 261 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 COLOMBO. 
 
 A. M. and J. Ferguson-Princely hospitality-Sir John Coode's great 
 breakwater-The Grand Oriental-Pedlars and precious stones- 
 Market place-Cingalese men and women-Bullock carts-Street 
 scenes-Population-Religion-The devil dancer-Missionaries and 
 Chnst.anity-The Salvation Army-Education-Mrs. Pigott's 
 school for Cmgalese girls— Arabi the exile .. 
 
 • • 277 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE RESOURCES OF CEYLON. 
 
 The blessings of seventy years of British rule-Crops-Exports- 
 Coffee planting-Tea- Chinchona-Cacao- Cardamoms-Plum- 
 bago mining-Condition of the poor-Trade and commerce- 
 Government-Work and wages-Governor's monuments-Intoxi- 
 catmg drmk-Licensing system-Consumption of liquor-Intern- 
 
 perance and crime— Madras— Surf boats 
 
 " •• •• •> 
 
 291 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CALCUTTA TO BENARES 
 
 Thomas Cook and Son, benefactors !-CaIcutta-The Hooghly-Our 
 Christmas dinner — Beadon Square — Young Bengal — Indian 
 railways-Country scenes-Benares-Dr. Lazarus-The Hindoo 
 
XX 
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 I'AGB 
 
 gate of heaven — Buddhism — Sarnath — 1454 temples — The bathing 
 ghdts — The Rain God — The Goddess of Small Pox — The observatory 
 —The Maharajah's launch— The well of healing — The well of 
 knowledge — The golden temple — Pictures from the " Arabian 
 Nights " — The sacred bull — Fakeers — The goddess Durga's temple 
 — Her monkeys — The mosque of Aurungzebe — The Ganges .. 30/ 
 
 CHAPTE XXI. 
 
 THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS. 
 
 Agra — The river Jumna — The fort — The Delhi gate — The pearl 
 mosque — The great divan — The courtyard — The harem — The 
 Jasmine tower — The three pavilions — The glass palace — The view 
 from the terrace — The Taj-Mahal — Its beauty — The gardens — The 
 mausoleum — Moonlight — The jewelled tombs of Shah Jehan and 
 his beloved wife — The marble trellis — The great gateway — Sikandra 
 — Akbar's tomb — The gateway at Sikandra — Mausoleum of Prince 
 Etmad Dowlat — Fattehpur Sikri — The royal buildings — Akbar's 
 palace — The divers — The Fakeer's grave — Birbul's house — The 
 peacock throne — Mission work in Agra — Village life— Roadside 
 scenes — Work and wages 
 
 325 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 DELHI. 
 
 One of the ancient cities of the world — Toglakabad — Timour the Tartar 
 — The Kutab-Minar — The mosque of Kutab-ul Islam — The iron 
 pillar — The tomb of Humayoun — Indrapat — Firozabad — Asoka's 
 pillar— The great Jumma Musjid— The fort of Delhi— The Chandni 
 Chowk — Merchants 
 
 350 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 JEYPORE TO BOMBAY. 
 
 Rajputana — Jeypore — The stables — Man-eating tigers — The Maharajah 
 —His park — Palace — Museum — Art gallery — College schools — 
 Hospital — School of Art — Prison — Picturesque street scenes — The 
 deserted city of Amber — An elephant ride — Alligators— Hindoo 
 Ascetics — The palace— Ajmere— The Dargah — The Mayo college 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 xxi 
 
 FAG8 
 
 -The tank-The bazaars-Ahmcdabad-Its trade -Sidi Said's 
 marble window-The mosques-Rani Sipri's tomb and mosquc- 
 rhe Jam temple-Lonely Sarkhej-Bombay-The Parsees-The 
 towers of silence— The caves of Elcphanta 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA. 
 
 The Struggle for existence-Race differences-One of the poorest 
 countries in the world-Average annual income of the people- 
 Famine - Cholera - Taxation - Land tax -The usurer -The 
 zemindar-The ryot-Education : primary, intermediate. University 
 -Mission schools-Cultured natives and social reforms-Technical 
 education-Loyalty of educated natives-Their desire for a share in 
 the governmem of their country-The National Indian Congress- 
 The Civil 3ervice-The Indian Council 
 
 3«o 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 1, 
 
 "^ \ 
 
 Jin-rickisha travelling in Japan . 
 
 Lahore Gate, Delhi ..... 
 
 Aurora Borealis ...... 
 
 Quebec, from Point Levis .... 
 
 Horse Shoe Fall, Niagara .... 
 
 Whirlpool Rapids, Niagara .... 
 
 Emery Hall, a Canadian Homestead 
 Sault St. Marie Lock, Lake Superior . 
 Thunder Cape, Lake Superior 
 A Manitoba Homestead .... 
 
 Threshing out Wheat-stacks on the Prairie . 
 Railway Dep6t, Brandon .... 
 
 Calgary, with distant view of the Rocky Mountains 
 
 Bull's Head, the Sarcee Chief 
 
 Sarcee Squaw and Pony Cart 
 
 Eagle Rib, a Sarcee Chief .... 
 
 " Bravo, Ted I " a Salvation Army incident . 
 The Gap : Entrance to the Rocky Mountains 
 Canmore Rocks ..... 
 
 Castle Mountain • 
 
 View of Banff from above the Sanatorium 
 Bridge of Boats and Twin Peaks, Banff. 
 Cascade Mountain ..... 
 On the Bow River, Banff .... 
 
 The Bow Falls 
 
 Vermilion Lake, National Park, Banff . 
 
 A Forest Fire, National Park, Banff 
 
 Canadian Pacific Railway Hotel, National Park, Banff. 
 
 View in the Selkirks ..... 
 
 Summit Lake 
 
 Kicking Horse Pass ..... 
 
 Field Station 
 
 The Monarchs of the Rocky Mountains . 
 
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 XXlll 
 
 
 PAGB 
 
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 • • 
 
 97 
 
 • t 
 
 99 
 
 The Bear Hunt .,..,. 
 Snow Sheds ...... 
 
 Mount Sir Donald and the Great Glacier 
 The Great I3cnd of the Canadian Pacific Railway 
 Roger's Pass : the Summit of the Sclkii'.s 
 An Indian Salmon Cache .... 
 
 Salmon Cannery on the Fraser River . 
 Harrison Lake ...... 
 
 The " Yosemite " leaving Vancouver . 
 Indians Salmon Fishing on the Fraser River . 
 Douglas Pines, Vancouver .... 
 
 Esquimault Harbour ..... 
 
 The " Port Victor " 
 
 Vrics Volcano, Yokohama I3ay . 
 
 Tea House, Yokv.hama Bay. 
 
 Yokohama Harbour . , . , . 
 
 A Street in Yokohama .... 
 
 Buying Chrysanthemums, Yokohama . 
 
 Group of v";hildren, Utsunomiya . 
 
 Doll and Fan 
 
 Interior of Tea House, Bedroom Floor . 
 Jin-rickisha Man in his Straw R.dn-Coat 
 
 The Road to Nikko 
 
 The Hotel at Nikko 
 
 Row of Buddhas at Nikko .... 
 
 The Pagoda, Nikko 
 
 Iloiy Water Cistern, Nikko. 
 
 The Kio-zo, or Library, Nikko . 
 
 Korean Bronze Lantern, Nikko . 
 
 The Yo-mei-mon Gate, Nikko 
 
 The Yo-mei-mon Cloisters, Nikko. 
 
 The Nio-mon Gate, entrance to the Temples of lye 
 
 The Kara-mon Gate, lye-mitsu's Temples 
 
 The Chinese Gate, lye-yasu's Temples 
 
 On the Road to Chiu-sen-je. 
 
 The Great Buddha, Kamakura 
 
 Fuji-yama, the Sacred Mountain 
 
 Shooting the Rapids, Kioto. 
 
 A Shinto Priest . 
 
 Music, Japan 
 
 Dancing Girl, Japan . 
 
 A Street Scene, Kioto 
 
 The Inland Sea of Japan , 
 
 mitsu 
 
 DRAWN DV 
 
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:^xiv 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 \\\ 
 
 ■ \ 
 
 Pappenburg Island, Nagasaki Harbour . 
 
 The Kowloong Hills, Hong Kong Harbour 
 
 Chinese Town, Hong Kong 
 
 Singapore : a Mango Breakfast in July 
 
 Adam's Peak, Ceylon . 
 
 The Dekanda Valley, Ceylon 
 
 On the Kandy Railway— Sensation Rock 
 
 The India-rubber Tree, Kandy 
 
 The Giant Bamboo, Peradenia Gardens, Kandy 
 
 Sir John Coode's Breakwater, Colombo 
 
 Devil-dancer and Tom-tom, Ceylon 
 
 A Cingalese Workman 
 
 A Village Shop, Ceylon 
 
 In the Bay of Bengal . 
 
 The Bathing Ghats, Benares 
 
 Nothing is Sacred to a Snake ! . 
 
 The Jasmine Tower, Agra Fort . 
 
 The Taj Mahal, from the Summit of the Great Gateway 
 
 View from the Terrace of the Fort, Agra 
 
 The Tomb of Akbar, Sikandra . 
 
 The Palace of Fattehpur Sikri 
 
 Birbul's House, Fattehpur Sikri . 
 
 The Mausoleum of Prince Etmad Dowlat 
 
 The Kutab Minar, Delhi . 
 
 The Ruined City of Indrapat, Delhi , 
 
 The Jumma Musjid, Delhi . 
 
 The Pearl Mosque, Delhi Fort 
 
 Street Scene at Jeypore 
 
 The Ruined City of Amber . 
 
 The Great Well of the Dargah, Ajmere 
 
 Carved Window of the Mosque of Rani Sipri, Ahmedabad 
 
 Pierced Marble Window of Sidi's Said Mosque, Ahme 
 
 dabad .... 
 
 The Tomb of Rani Sipri, Ahmedabad 
 Cave Temple of Elephanta . 
 Aden Harbour . . . • 
 
 DRAWN BY 
 
 PAGE 
 
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 . 230 
 
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FROM LIVERPOOL TO QUEBEC. 
 
 On Thursday afternoon, the 1 8th of August, I embarked with 
 my eldest djaughter on board the Allan liner " Sarmatian," 
 on my voyage round the world. 
 
 Our first care on coming on board was to find our cabins, and 
 get the luggage for the voyage safely stowed in them. I had 
 wisely left the choice of the cabins to my old friends, Messrs. 
 Allan Bros, & Co., and found they had provided for our 
 pccommodation the first officer's and purser's cabins, on the spar 
 deck, so situated as to secure the minimum of motion with the 
 maximum of fresh air. Compared with the accommodation 
 furnished on ai Atlantic liner for the ordinary passenger, which 
 is humorously termed a " state-room," our cabins are little 
 palaces, replete with every comfort. The officers turn a nimble 
 ninepence during the summer months by letting their cabins for 
 the voyage to passengers who like the extra accommodation, 
 but find their luxury acceptable enough in the terrible voyages 
 which they have often to endure in the winter. I write this 
 letter in a room about 12 feet square, with four windows, a hot- 
 water apparatus, a fine mahogany desk, a wardrobe, a chest of 
 drawers, a wash-stand which disappears into a recess when not 
 
 B 
 
11 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 \ i 
 
 ! 
 
 required, a large and comfortable sofa, and a bed. When the 
 cabin passengers are sent to bed at ten o'clock, wakeful or 
 sleepy, and their lights arbitrarily extinguished, I lie on my 
 sofa reading by the light of a handsome duplex lamp till sleep 
 comes without effort ; then I turn in. I know no more fearful 
 punishment for an unhappy Member of Parliament, trained by 
 sad experience to sit up and keep awake till three in the 
 morning, than to be sent to bed at ten, with his light, dim and 
 unsatisfactory at the best, ruthlessly put out at half past, 
 leaving him tumbling in bed at his very wakefullest moments. 
 We settled down in our comfortable cabins, put our clothes 
 neatly away in the drawers, thankfully remembering other 
 voyages when we have had to get to the bottom of portmanteaux 
 while the ship was standing on her head, and then sallied forth 
 for a tour of inspection round the ship which is to be our 
 floating home for the next ten d?ys. 
 
 The " Sarmatian " is a fine steamer of the second class. 
 She has a speed of 13 to 14 knots, as her five full-day Atlantic 
 runs on this voyage show, viz. 314, 318, 320, 322, 320 knots 
 each day, giving a shade over 13 knots an hour. She carries 
 a goodly family to provide for on the voyage. There are 631 
 souls en board — 105 cabin, 85 intermediate, 325 steerage 
 passengers, and a crew of 116. 
 
 The anchor is weighed at five o'clock, and soon New Brighton 
 fort and lighthouse, the various lightships and the foaming 
 sandy bar of the Mersey, drop astern one by one, and we take 
 our last look of England for six months, going to bed to dream 
 of home and friends, mingled with intermittent visions of the 
 Rocky Mountains, the Flowery Land, the Mikado, " the spicy 
 breezes that blow o'er Ceylon's isle," and the horrors of sea- 
 sickness. 
 
 August 19th. — We wake up to find ourselves running close in 
 
 liUI 
 
FROM LIVERPOOL TO QUEBEC. 3 
 
 along the Antrim coast, which gives us some of the finest 
 scenery in the kingdom. I am glad to view from the sea points 
 of interest I had previously enjoyed on shore. Garron Head 
 and Fair Head were well in sight, then, passing through the 
 strait between Rathlin Island and the mainland, Carrick-a-Rede, 
 with its terrible rope bridge 120 feet in the air, the organ rock 
 of the Giant's Causeway, the rising watering-place of Portrush 
 follow in rapid succession, and at eleven o'clock we steam into 
 Lough Foyle, and drop anchor off Moville to wait for the mails 
 
 A magnificent Atlantic steamer is already there, and my 
 thoughts fly off to my constituency as I recognise the good 
 work of the Barrow Shipbuilding Company in the Anchor liner 
 " Devonia." 
 
 The mails come on board by four o'clock, and away we go. 
 By nine the light of Tory Island disappears, and we are rocked 
 upon the bosom of the treacherous Atlantic, with a breeze fresh 
 enough to send us to bed with mingled fears and hopes for the 
 morrow's breakfast. 
 
 August 20th. — The hopes have it ! It is fairly calm, and but 
 few passengers are absent from table. The glass has fallen a 
 trifle during the night, and the bill of fare is scanned carefully 
 with a view to wholesome dishes. The choice is varied : you 
 may have tea or coffee, rolls, toast, potato scones, brown and 
 white bread, corn-meal bread, oat cake and porridge, beefsteak 
 and onions, savoury omelette, fried fish, Finnan haddie, sausages, 
 bacon, grilled bones, cold ham, tongue and beef, eggs and 
 marmalade. The morning keeps fine, and the saloon deck 
 presents the usual aspect. Ladies are grouped about in 
 pleasant corners in easy deck-chairs, reading (yellow-back novels 
 mostly), chatting, and working. Shuffle-board, a sort of deck 
 bagatelle, and rope quoits, are in full swing, and we all go about 
 making acquaintance with one another. The bright keen- 
 
 B 2 
 
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 looking gentleman, with white hair and a clean shaved face, is 
 Sir Alexander Gait, a w-ell-known Canadian politician, who was 
 at one time Finance Minister. He has spent four years of a 
 long and useful life on board Atlantic steamers, having crossed 
 and recrossed from Canada to England more than lOO times. 
 He is in conversation with Mr. Gibbs, Q.C., one of the leaders 
 of the Northern Circuit, who is spending a well-earned long 
 vacation in Canada and the United States. That active clever- 
 faced lady, who seems almost ubiquitous, is Miss Macpherson, 
 who is taking 47 orphan lads from London slums to Canada. 
 The breezy fellow in a yachting cap, whom every one says is 
 the purser, is J. P. Sheldon, Professor of Agriculture at Downton 
 College, near Salisbury, and a defeated aspirant for Parlia- 
 mentary honours, who is going to Canada to report on the 
 farming resources of the North- West Provinces on behalf of the 
 Dominion Government, the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the 
 Allan Line, all of which august bodies are jointly interested in 
 the commission. The Japanese gentleman, who leans against the 
 smoke-room door puffing his cigarette, is the head of a firm of 
 engineers and shipbuilders in Tokio employing 400 hands, and 
 I have already made an appointment to go over his works with 
 him in October. The bright jolly-looking young lady watching 
 the gulls astern is a teacher in the Girls' Collegiate Institute at 
 Toronto. The eager pale face, whose earnest grey eyes look | 
 out of gold-rimmed spectacles, belongs to a young missionary, 
 who, years ago, was taken from the London gutter by Miss 
 Macpherson, and is going to join the China inland mission. 
 The sturdy young fellow who walks the deck with him is 
 another of Miss Macpherson's lambs, alro destined for China, 
 but who in the meantime is to have a winter's colportage work 
 at Toronto. . . . But there goes the luncheon bell, and the 
 deck clears like magic. 
 
FROM LIVERPOOL TO QUEBEC. 
 
 s 
 
 For this meal we have excellent hot soup, cold meats of all 
 kinds, cold fresh salmon, salad, sardines, stewed fruit, pastry, 
 and cheese. It is a light and trivial meal compared with 
 breakfast and dinner. 
 
 The afternoon is mostly spent in slumber, induced by the 
 
 strong, fresh Atlantic breeze, through which we are bowling 
 
 along at the rate of 14 miles an hour ; but every one wakes up 
 
 at the sound of the dinner bell, the event of the day to those 
 
 who are able for it. This is indeed a meal. Here is the bill 
 
 of fare : — 
 
 Soup. 
 Mulligatawny. Vermicelli. 
 
 Fish. 
 Boiled salmon. 
 
 Entries. 
 Grilled pigeons and mushrooms. 
 Fillet of beef k la Francaise. 
 
 Parsley sauce. 
 
 Veal and ham pie. 
 Vol au vent of lobster. 
 
 Roast. 
 Beef and Yorkshire pudding. Lamb and mint sauce. 
 
 Sucking pig and currant sauce. Gosling and apple sauce. 
 
 Boiled. 
 
 Fowls and lemon sauce. Mutton and caper sauce. 
 
 Ham. Tongue. Beef. 
 
 Vegetables. 
 Plain and mashed potatoes. Broad beans. 
 
 Puddings and pastry. 
 Jam rolls. Rice puddings. Rhubarb pie. 
 
 Plum pie. Italian cream. Apple charlotte. 
 
 Lemon cheese cakes. Marmalade tartlets. 
 
 Dessert. 
 Apples, oranges, plums, raisins, figs, nuts, tea, and coffee. 
 
 There is a slight roll getting up, and I notice with interest 
 that boiled fowl and rice pudding are in great demand, and 
 
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 that sucking pig, gosling, vol au vent, jam rolls, and lemon 
 cheese cakes are not much sought after. 
 
 The lavish profusion of the bills of fare in Atlantic liners 
 always seems to me very unnecessary ; but as there are 1 16 in the 
 crew, and sometimes 500 to 800 steerage passengers, I suppose 
 the enormous surplus gets eaten up somewhere. 
 
 The intermediate passengers fare quite as well as the saloon, 
 but with a simpler list of viands. The steerage passengers 
 have for breakfast fresh bread and butter, porridge, Irish stew, 
 tea and coffee ; for dinner, soup, hot joints, potatoes, and bread ; 
 for tea, bread and butter and tea ; for supper, oatmeal porridge. 
 When the weather is decent their capacity for innocent 
 enjoyment in the way of food is astounding. There are biscuits 
 ad libitum at eleven, so that I was net surprised to hear a fat 
 German emigrant say, " Himmel ! vot a ship ! Five square 
 meals a day, and noding extra to pay ! " 
 
 To-night we run into the tail-end of a gale, and soon find out 
 how utterly miserable 500 people can be at sea. The ship is 
 largely laden with steel rails — as a member of the iron trade, I 
 was glad to hear this at starting, but before night was over I 
 was fain to wish they were at the bottom of the mine instead 
 of the bottom of the " Sarmatian." Their dead-weight caused 
 the ship to roll like a pendulum, and it was impossible to sleep. 
 I sat up reading all night, and at breakfast next morning it 
 was found that quite two-thirds of the passengers were badly 
 under the weather, my daughter among the rest. This roll 
 continued more or less during the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd, to the 
 vast discomfort of everybody ; but on the 24th we entered the 
 great Labrador current, and all were happy. The temperature, 
 however, fell to about 42 degrees, and everybody was glad to 
 rummage up their warm clothes. The wind was fresh and keen, 
 blowing straight " from Greenland's icy mountains." This great 
 
FROM LIVERPOOL TO QUEBEC. 
 
 current flows continuously at the rate of about two miles an 
 hour direct from the Arctic sea, and every one was on the look- 
 out for the iccber<j:3 which it brings down into the Atlantic. 
 None appeared, however, though the captain told me next 
 morning that he had passed three large ones during the night 
 in Belle Isle Strait. 
 
 We have now got away from the Atlantic and are bowling 
 across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The air blows fresh and bracing 
 off T.abrador, but the sun is bright, and all on board are 
 happy and joyous. We see whales blowing for the first time 
 on the voyage, and much excitement is caused by a hawk 
 settling in the rigging, completely spent by its flight, for we are 
 far out of sight of land. The sailors tried to catch it, but it 
 hopped feebly from spar to spar, and they failed. During the 
 afternoon, after three or four hours' rest, it suddenly sped 
 landwards, and we saw it no more. Si3metime afterwards a 
 small finch paid us a similar visit, but we were then much nearer 
 land. 
 
 This evening I had sat up rather late reading, and going on 
 deck for a little fresh air at midnight before turning in, I found 
 the whole northern sky ablaze with Aurora Borealis. Of 
 course I have often seen at home what we call "Northern 
 lights," but now I beheld the real thing of which I had often 
 read in books of Arctic travel, and its weird beauty is beyond 
 all description. Even here it is only seen in perfection at rare 
 intervals. The light sprang in a great arch, like a low rainbow, 
 from horizon to horizon. The sky beneath the arch was black 
 as ink, but with one star bright enough to show that it was as 
 clear below as it was above. The arch was a wide band of 
 strong well-defined light, out of which sprang curling clouds 
 of vapoury-looking flames, and sharp spears of light flying up 
 almost into the zenith. The light given by this beautiful 
 
 
8 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 phenomenon was as strong as the full moon, and I do not 
 think I ever saw a more beautiful sky, by day or night. 
 
 ■tliit^- 
 
 
 iM^ ■^■iiiaiiaiiiii 
 
 
 
 ..®aM#«^bi^Ji.r:.. '"^^'^ 
 
 l^^^^l^S 
 
 ^Mjffigg^^s. 
 
 
 ' -^^^S^ ^...,.^-,-'';^^^.*.:a5£> ^»v^.^^ 
 
 
 AURORA BORKALIS. 
 
 
 From a 
 
 rA^/'cA by the Author. 
 
 The 26th finds us in bad weather again. Rain all day, with 
 a heavy sea rolling up into the Gulf direct from the Atlantic. 
 At night thick fog, half-speed, and the steam whistle murdering 
 sleep ; but the morning of the 27th brings us into calm water 
 and fine weather, the ship running within three or four miles of 
 the coast of Gaspe, well into the mouth of the St. Lawrence. 
 
 At the request of a number of the passengers, a large pro- 
 portion of whom are teetotallers, I gave an address on the 
 Temperance Movement on deck this afternoon. This vessel 
 affords fresh proof of the rapid strides with which the 
 Temperance Reformation has advanced of late years. In 
 conversation with Mr. Heaton, the pleasant and courteous 
 gentleman who acts as chief steward, he tells me that the 
 
FROM LIVERPOOL TO QUEBEC. 9 
 
 change which has come over the drinking habits of the saloon 
 passengers during the last ten years is very remarkable. Turning 
 up his books for 1878, he showed me entries of over £\2Q> 
 paid in a single voyage for strong liquors by forty-five cabin 
 passengers. This voyage 105 passengers will not spend £lQ. 
 Nearly half the Canadians on board are abstainers, and of those 
 who are not, few drink at their rneals. Only thirteen passengers 
 take wine or beer at dinner, and these are English. I am within 
 the mark in saying that fully half the intermediate and steerage 
 passengers are teetotallers. 
 
 This evening a concert was given on behalf of that most 
 valuable charity, the Liverpool Seamen's Orphanage, and a 
 handsome collection was taken. A large number of the 750 
 children cared for by this institution have lost their fathers by 
 the perils of the sea crossing the Atlantic, incurred while 
 conveying passengers and cargo to and from America. Ihcre is 
 no class of the community needing an orphanage to the same 
 extent as seamen. Since this institution was founded sixteen 
 years ago, more than 40,000 British seamen have been drowned 
 at sea, and 27,000 more have died in foreign ports. It is a 
 disgrace to us as a maritime nation that 2,500 of our seamen 
 should thus find a watery grave every year, and only such 
 legislation as that which Mr. Joseph Chamberlain vainly en- 
 deavoured to make law will cope with this terrible loss of life. 
 A large amount of money is secured for the orphanage by means 
 of concerts and other entertainments, and the collection on 
 Sundays on board all Atlantic liners is devoted to this object. 
 
 1 have been much interested in the children who are being 
 taken out by Miss Macpherson for adoption by Canadian 
 farmers. Miss Macpherson does not emigrate pauper children, 
 but rather seeks those children who are on the edge of the 
 workhouse schools, and who, but for her interference, would 
 
lO 
 
 A IRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 quickly find themselves there. Let me give the stories of two 
 or three of these on board as a sample of the whole. 
 
 A. B. is a lad who was found ten years ago by a city 
 missionary in an underground cellar ; he was then about four 
 years old, and nothing could be discovered as to his belongings. 
 He was taken to the Islington Boys' Home, and has been re- 
 commended as a good willing boy suitable for emigration to 
 Canada. 
 
 C. D. was a gutter arab, motherless, son of a drunken father 
 who beat and starved him. He drifted into a boys' home at 
 Winchester, and now, at fifteen years of age, is off " to reap and 
 mow, to plough and sow, and be a farmer's boy " in Canada. 
 He is a bright, sharp lad, full of expectation and hope, and will 
 do well. There are a dozen such lads among the forty-seven on 
 board, but sometimes the facts are reversed by the father being 
 dead and the mother gone to the bad, while others have lost 
 both parents, the loss being the lad's gain. 
 
 E. F. is a bright, sharp little girl of ten, delighted with the ship 
 and all on board, the pet of the steerage. When I asked her 
 how she liked her cabin, she said, " Jolly I I've got a whole soap- 
 box all to myself for a bed." This was the realisation of her 
 wildest notion of luxury. Hitherto, if she had liad a soap-box 
 at all, she shared it with other children. Her father was 
 drowned at sea, and she has been half starved by an unsatisfac- 
 tory mother all her life. She is about half the size she ought 
 to be. 
 
 G. H. is a lad who has been deserted by his parents, who fell 
 at once into kind hands. A lady in his neighbourhood pays the 
 cost of his emigration. 
 
 Many of the children have been rescued from horrible ill- 
 treatment at the hands of step-fathers and step-mothers, others 
 have been adopted by Miss Macpherson out of large poor 
 
FROM LIVERPOOL TO QUEBEC. 
 
 II 
 
 families, whose parents seem glad enough to let them go, and 
 others are orphans from various boys' homes. 
 
 All these children are purged as far as possible from the evil 
 influences of their past lives by the kind and judicious treat- 
 ment they receive in Miss Macpherson's homes in England and 
 Canada. Their excellent behaviour on board ship, under the 
 relaxed discipline which is inevitable from the sea-sickness of 
 their superintendents, speaks volumes for their brief training, 
 and they live in the continual praise of all the passengers. 
 
 Miss Macpherson has taken out to Canada altogether four 
 thousand four hundred of these waifs and strays, every one of 
 whom would otherwise have gone to swell the ranks of the 
 dangerous or pauper classes. The results fully justify her 
 action. Two thousand five hundred are now comfortably settled 
 on Canadian farms, the adopted children rather than the ser- 
 vants of the farmers. Five hundred have been formally adopted 
 by childless people, another five hundred have been put out in 
 trades, over two hundred are married and doing well ; some, of 
 course, have died, but of the whole lot only seven have turned 
 out hopelessly bad, and are now in reformatories with what- 
 ever poor chance those institutions afford for a fresh start 
 in life. 
 
 All wonder at this happy result vanishes before an hour's 
 cnat with the gracious Christian lady who is the life and soul of 
 it all. This emigration of poor children is but an incident in the 
 noble life of Miss Macpherson, and is her solution of one aspect 
 of the sorrow and suffering passing under her notice In her work 
 among the densely-crowded districts of East London These 
 poor children, taken away from their horrible surroundings in 
 time, grow up useful God-fearing citizens of Canada, and often 
 rise to good positions. More than a score are in professions, 
 and one of the brightest and most intelligent men I ever met, 
 
13 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 now goinjj out on this ship, destined for a missionary's life, is 
 one of Miss Macpherson's rescued boys. 
 
 Probably no man is better acquainted u ith the inner social life 
 of Canada than Sir Alexander Gait. He has fully confirmed 
 me in the deeply favourable impression I have formed of Miss 
 Macpherson and her work, and assures me that in his judgment 
 no one person is at this time promoting to the same extent the 
 real interests of the Dominion of Canada. 
 
 I was not surprised to hear from Miss Macpherson that she 
 utterly refused to emigrate children who had once entered the 
 doors of a workhouse school. My own experience as a Guardian 
 of one of the largest unions in London confirms her wisdom. I 
 wish every one of these detestable and costly institutions were 
 abolished and the boarding-out system made universal ; but this 
 is a domestic issue that pertains not to the story of a voyage 
 round the world. 
 
 I do not wonder that Dr. Barnardo, and others who have the 
 care of orphan children of the very poor, are following Miss 
 Macpherson's noble example. May God bless her and her 
 patriotic work ! It is, indeed, '* something accomplished, some- 
 thing done," to have turned 5,000 street arabs from probable 
 thieves and lost women into prosperous Canadian farmers and 
 happy wives and mothers. 
 
 We are now running up the St. Lawrence, and an amusing 
 incident has just occurred. The Dominion Government have a 
 law that no one shall enter Canada who has not been vaccinated 
 during the last seven years. Yesterday the ship's doctor went 
 through all the intermediate and steerage passengers, examined 
 their arms, and informed those who had not recently been 
 vaccinated that they would not be let ashore without a fortnight's 
 quarantine on an island unless they submitted to his lancet. 
 About four dozen were operated upon ; but a Wesleyan minister 
 
FROM LIVERPOOL TO QUEBEC, 
 
 13 
 
 and another flatly refused even to show their arms. A medical 
 officer of health came on board at Rimouski at one o'clock this 
 morning, and the two recalcitrants were roused out of bed to 
 face him. They continued obstinate, and were in consequence 
 reported by telegraph to the Quarantine Static whose officer has 
 just stopped the ship. The martyrs have broken down at last, 
 on seeing their luggage placed upon the quarantine launch, and, 
 with much indignation, have submitted to vaccination. They 
 do not seem to have had scruples about vaccination itself, but 
 refused on what seems to me the very just ground that the 
 saloon passengers have been entirely exempt from the operation 
 of the law. There were no exemptions in the original Act, until 
 it was found that saloon passengers were exempted from a 
 similar law in the United States, and that in consequence saloon 
 passenger traffic was being diverted from Quebec to New 
 York. 
 
 Shortly after lunch the picturesque city of Quebec hove in 
 sight, and the " Sarmatian" steamed alongside the wharf at Point 
 Levis, the terminus of the Grand Trunk Railway, on the opposite 
 side of the great river. 
 
 We have had a delightful and prosperous voyage, the pleasant- 
 est of all the five journeys I have made across the Atlantic ; but 
 we are all glad to see land again, and to rush off to the telegraph 
 office to send word to those at home that we have arrived safe 
 and well. 
 
/'ij- 
 
 '■ ml 
 
 14 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 QUEBEC TO MONTREAL. 
 
 As soon as the medical officer had issued his fiat permitting the 
 passengers to go ashore, my daughter and I started off for the 
 ferry, determined to see all we could of Quebec in the three 
 hourr> before the steamer once more started off up the river to 
 
 Montreal. 
 
 It seemed ridiculous on British territory to be hailed in 
 
 French by a car-driver, to read the shop-signs in French 
 
 and English, with even such simple directions as were needed 
 
 to point the road to the steam ferry, being given in both 
 
 languages, thus — 
 
 This way! 
 
 Par ici ! 
 
 And yet I am told that if any public institution such as a steam 
 ferry omitted the " Par ici " it would bring about an immediate 
 revolution. Quebec is as French as Boulogne— yet as loyal to 
 the British Crown as Folkestone. The ancient province of 
 Lower Canada has maintained unimpaired the language and 
 religion of its original settlers. Three-fourths of its population 
 are French-speaking Roman Catholics. French customs, lan- 
 guage, and laws remain intact, though the British flag waves 
 from its citadel. Champlain, the famous navigator, who dis- 
 covered and settled Quebec, established a fort, a trading station, 
 and a chapel. The Quebec of to-day is simply an enlargement 
 
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 31 
 
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MONTREAL. 
 
 17 
 
 
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 of all three. The town lies on a tongue of land under the 
 shelter of a bold cliff 350 feet above the water, with the Charles 
 River protecting it on the landward side. The citadel crowns 
 the hill, and all round are forts and bastions commanding every 
 point of the river. The whole forms a fortress that would be 
 impregnable if armed with modern guns, and which would hold 
 the gates of Canada against any navy that could be sent to force 
 them. The armaments, however, are of an ancient and obsolete 
 character, with the exception of three Armstrong guns of about 
 six or seven tons weight, which escaped the fire of last year. 
 There is, however, a brass howitzer, on which is engraved, " This 
 gun was captured at the battle of Bunkers Hill " — a bit of British 
 swagger which greatly amuses Yankee visitors, who are apt 
 to remark, " Wal, if you have the gun, I guess we've got the 
 hill ! " 
 
 There are few more picturesque towns in the world than 
 Quebec. As we steamed away up the St. Lawrence, the lofty 
 citadel and its satellite forts, with the quaint old French town 
 nestling under its protection, were all one dark purple mass 
 against a glorious sunset sky, relieved only by the twinkling 
 lights of the houses and streets, just blinking into notice as the 
 day darkened and closed — a scene of beauty not easily to be 
 forgotten. Quebec is going down hill. It was a melancholy 
 place for a business man to visit ten years ago, when I was there 
 seeking custom for English iron, but it seemed to me sadder 
 than ever in the walk we took through the business streets. It 
 still maintains its supremacy as the great seat of the timber 
 trade ; but as that trade finds its way to the sea more and more 
 by the great network of railways which centre in Montreal, 
 lumber will follow wheat and locate itself in the up-river port, 
 to the neglect of poor old Quebec. 
 
 Sunday morning, August 28th, found us 50 miles above 
 
 C 
 
 r ■ \- 
 
 A 
 
 ;. 4 
 
 
 Mi 
 
i8 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 Quebec, on the broad bosom of the St. Lawrence, the great 
 highway of the Dominion of Canada, and the outlet of the 
 greatest body of fresh water in the world. The vast inland seas 
 of Superior, Huron, Eric, Michigan, Ontario, Nepigon, and 
 Champlain, besides a thousand lakes of less degree, pour out 
 to the Atlantic past the citadel of Quebec. This noble river 
 drains an area of over 400,000 square miles of territory, and 
 contains more than half the fresh water of the globe. The 
 total length of its course is over 2,000 miles, and its principal 
 port, Montreal, is 1 50 miles distant from salt water. By the 
 aid of the Welland Canal three-masted vessels^ with 1,500 or 
 2,000 tons of wheat in their holds can load at Port Arthur on 
 Lake Superior, 1,200 miles from the sea, and after traversing 
 the St. Lawrence, cross the Atlantic and discharge their cargoes 
 at Liverpool or Barrow. 
 
 The St. Lawrence from Quebec to Montreal is from one to 
 three miles wide. Its banks are thickly populated by the 
 descendants of the early French Settlers, every village 
 clustering round a fine Roman Catholic Church, whose tin 
 roofs and spires glitter in the morning sun. The people are 
 very poor, and have been rendered so by a bad system of sub- 
 division of land similar to that which prevails in many parts of 
 Ireland, The habitants, as these French Canadians are called, 
 are a hardy, thrifty race ; their young men form the great 
 strength of the lumber trade, and a backwoodsman would move 
 Mr. Gladstone to amazement and envy by the way in which he 
 can wield the axe. 
 
 About three o'clock in the afternoon the wooded heights of 
 Mount Royal appear above the low river banks, and the 
 passengers throng into the bows of the ship for the first view of 
 that city of churches, Montreal. As we round the last bend of 
 the river, the fine stone quays, flanked by a long mile of noble 
 
MONTREAL. 
 
 19 
 
 warehouses, overtopped by a hundred spires and domes, the 
 whole set in the olive-green of Mount Royal, form a fine 
 panorama. In less than an hour we are fast to the Allan Wharf. 
 A polite customs officer declines to suspect a British M.P. of 
 smuggling. Our luggage is placed in the hotel waggon, and we 
 jolt through the disgracefully paved streets to the Windsor 
 Hotel, a marble palace of 800 rooms, which condescends to 
 board and lodge its visitors handsomely for I'js. 6d. a day. We 
 c«rtainly had no reason to complain of the treatment we 
 received. The head clerk, on seeing my name, asked me if I 
 was not a British Member of Parliament. I owned the soft 
 impeachment, and, knowing what a mixed lot we are, waited 
 with trepidation the effect. Should I be refused admission, or 
 be huddled away in some garret ? To my great delight we 
 were ushered into a gorgeous apartment, consisting of a large 
 drawing-room and two spacious bedrooms, with fine bath-rooms 
 attached. I protested that this splendour was quite beyond my 
 means, but was at once politely assured that I was, so far as 
 these handsome rooms were concerned, the guest of the 
 landlords of the " Windsor." 
 
 Monday, August 29th. — We rose betimes to catch the 7.45 
 train for Lachine, a pretty village which stands at the head of 
 the chain of locks which raises the water traffic of the St. 
 Lawrence over the far-famed Lachine Rapids, which it was our 
 intention presently to descend in a steamer. It was a glorious 
 morning, the hot sun tempered with a touch of autumn frost, 
 which threw a thin veil of mist over the river, and its beautiful 
 wooded banks and islands. The steamer left the moorings 
 under the care of an ancient half-breed Indian pilot, who steers 
 her into the broad expanse of river which spreads out above the 
 fall. The old exploier Jacques Cartier took it for a fresh 
 ocean, that would, if he dared venture to cross it, lead him on to 
 
 C 2 
 
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ao 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 r 
 
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 lli 
 
 China ; standing on its shores, exclaiming " La Chine ! La 
 Chine!'' he little thought that 350 years later the Canadian 
 Pacific Railway would cross the point on which he stood, 
 carrying passengers and mails from Europe to China in the 
 short space of five weeks. Soon the broad river narrows into a 
 width of about two miles, and the increased speed of the vessel 
 lets us know that we are nearing the great Lachine Rapids. 
 The pace becomes tremendous as she leaps into the roaring 
 cataract. Standing in the bows, it seems as if nothing could 
 save the steamer from being dashed to pieces on the mighty 
 rocks which split the stream ; but the skilful pilot drives her 
 down between the two biggest, which almost brush the vessel's 
 sides, and in another minute we are paddling down a gentle 
 ripple, and Montreal, glistening in the morning sun, comes into 
 view. 
 
 The interest of this delightful little trip, which hardly lasts 
 two hours, has been greatly enhanced by the magnificent 
 cantilever bridge by which the Canadian Pacific Railway crosses 
 the Sv. Lawrence at the head of the Lachine Rapids, seeking an 
 outlet for its western traffic through St. John and Halifax and 
 the New England States. This bridge is built on the same 
 lines and plan as the well-known Tay Bridge in Scotland. The 
 steamer swept under it with such speed that all detail was lost, 
 leaving only on the memory the impression of the lightest and 
 most beautiful iron structure I had ever seen. 
 
 Montreal can boast the possession of two of the finest bridges 
 in the world, for the great rival of the Canadian Pacific, the 
 older Grand Trunk, owns the famous Victoria Tubular Bridge, 
 which was designed by Robert Stephenson, built by Peto, 
 Brassey, and Betts, and formally opened by the Prince of Wales 
 in i860. This bridge connects lower Canada with the United 
 States, and carries off all the Montreal traffic during the six 
 
MONTREAL. 
 
 21 
 
 months of winter when the St. Lawrence is blocked with ice. 
 This stupendous work cost ;^i, 200,000. It stands upon 26 piers, 
 and the centre is about 60 feet above the level of the river. It 
 is over 3,000 yards long, and contains three million cubic feet of 
 masonry, and over 8,000 tons of iron. It links together the 
 system of the Grand Trunk Railway, which on bf th sides of 
 the St. Lawrence embraces some 2,200 miles of road. 
 
 After breakfast I called at the offices of the Canadian Pacific 
 Railway, and made the acquaintance of its president, Sir George 
 Stephen, Bart., and Mr. Van Home, its vice-president and 
 general-manager. They were good enough to give me nearly 
 three hours of their valuable time, and allowed me to see 
 their rate-books, and classification-books, and gave me much 
 information of great interest to a Member of Parliament who 
 had served for two years on "The Select Committee on 
 Railway Rates." 
 
 The rest of the afternoon I spent in calling upon the many 
 old friends in the iron trade who, before I became absorbed in 
 politics, were valued customers, and to whom I used to export 
 iron and other metals. Much of our conversation naturally 
 turned on the recent heavy increase of the import duties on iron 
 and steel, which has so much excited the indignation of our iron 
 trade at home. I found an almost universal opinion, in which 
 I fully share, that these protective duties will not be sufficient 
 to call into existence any important rolling-mills within the 
 Dominion, though it may do something for iron and steel manu- 
 factured goods. The duty on finished iron is raised from i 'js. 6d. 
 per ton to £1. The first result of this will be to drive the iron 
 trade into the hands of great capitalist merchants, and to squeeze 
 out small dealers and importers. A dealer could, under the old 
 duty, buy a stock of 500 tons of merchant iron from England 
 and put it duty paid into his warehouse for about ;^3,200, and 
 
 litlE 
 
22 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 m \\ 
 
 !■' ' 
 
 as he could obtain four to six months' credit from English 
 merchants for ;^2,5oo of that amount, he only required ^700 
 in cash capital to pay freight and duties. By the increase in the 
 tariff he finds this amount suddenly raised upon him to some 
 ;^i,700, and unless he can immediately bring an extra ^1,000 in 
 hard cash into his business he must either reduce his stock or 
 be otherwise crippled. In all my business experience, I have 
 always found these sudden changes in tariff rates the most 
 disturbing element I have had to cope with. 
 
 The strong protests which were made, at the time the tariff was 
 changed, by the English iron trade, were successful in inducing 
 the Canadian Government to make some important alterations in 
 favour of Great Britain, so far as it affects the interests of the 
 mother country and the rival interests of foreign countries. A 
 memorandum has been recently issued by the Canadian Minister 
 of Finance, which endeavours to show how far the tariff changes 
 are actually beneficial to British manufactures. An analysis of 
 the imports into Canada of iron and steel and manufactures 
 thereof exhibits the remarkable fact that while five years ago 
 Great Britain contributed 55 per cent, of the dutiable and 94 
 per cent, of the free imports of these goods, last year the pro- 
 portion from that country had declined to 50 per cent, and 86 
 per cent. These figures are put forward with some justice, as 
 showing a drift of trade from British to foreign iron producers, 
 and the Finance Minister contends that if the old tariff had re- 
 mained in operation the Canadian market must in time have 
 passed under the control of the manufacturers of the United 
 States, Belgium, and Germany. I do not believe this myself; 
 but if the conviction has come home to the Finance Minister, 
 and induced him to vary the tariff with a view to preventing it, 
 we need not complain. 
 
 I never could understand the infatuation of new countries 
 
MONTREAL. 
 
 33 
 
 for Protection. For years past Canada has been paying 50 
 per cent, more for every article of clothing than we pay in 
 England, with a view to creating textile industries of her own 
 Yesterday I went through the largest retail drapery store in 
 Canada, containing every kind of textile fabrics for both sexes. 
 The owner admitted to me that he had not in his store, from 
 cellar to attic, five shillings' worth of Canadian manufactures. 
 The one great pleasure of Canada is fishing. Yesterday I 
 bought a green heart trout rod ; in England it would have cost 
 me 2\s. — I paid 32J. ; two dozen trout flies, 8.f. per dozen — the 
 same flies in England would cost 2s. ; gut casting lines, 4J. each 
 instead of \s. 3^. — and all imported from England. I asked 
 specially for a Canadian-made rod, but the dealer hadn't got 
 one fit for fly-fishing ; all his stock had come from England or 
 the States in spite of 30 per cent, protective duty. 
 
 The duties on foreign iron in the United States practically 
 double the price of iron all over that country, yet fail to 
 keep out foreign competition. The total importations of manu- 
 factured iron and steel productions into the States last fiscal 
 year were 100,000 tons in excess of the two previous years 
 combined. During the fiscal year just ended the States 
 imported 1,524,000 tons, against a total in the two years of 
 1 885-1 886 of 1,445,000. The same appears in iron ore, 
 last year showing 1,142,000 tons imported, against a total ot 
 1,127,000 in the two years previous. There seems to be no 
 signs of any diminution of this great import. I do not wonder 
 to read this week in a leading New York commercial paper 
 that " indications warrant the belief that the heavy importations 
 of manufactured iron and steel production to this country are 
 a very serious menace to the industrial prosperity of America. 
 The pertinent inquiry arises — '* How much longer can this 
 country keep on importing foreign iron and steel in such 
 
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 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 enormous quantities without precipitating a first-class collapse 
 in the iron and steel industries ? " 
 
 I have no fear whatever of any disastrous result to the 
 English iron trade from Canadian Protective tariffs, Canada 
 will continue to buy from us in increasing quantities ; and if 
 any capitalist is fool enough to start extensive iron-works in 
 the Dominion, they will end in what the Yankees call a " first- 
 class collapse." 
 
 I * 
 
( 25 ) 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 NIAGARA. 
 
 On Tuesday morning, August 31st, we left Montreal for 
 Toronto by the new route of the Canadian Pacific Railway, 
 which passes through a thinly-settled district of some beauty 
 abounding in lakes and streams. In 380 miles we only passed 
 two towns of any size — Perth, the centre of a good farming 
 district, in which many Irish have located themselves, and 
 Peterborough, placed on the Otonabee River, which here falls 
 about 150 feet in nine miles, furnishing water-power for many 
 corn and lumber mills. At the end of 12 hours we reached 
 the great capital of the province of Ontorio — Toronto. Our 
 journey was made pleasant by the magnificent parlour-car in 
 which we rode, furnished with large arm-chairs, movable 
 tables, and that best of all luxuries when travelling in hot 
 weather, a sumptuous lavatory. We had an excellent lunch and 
 tea sensed to us, and I noted with satisfaction that no alcoholic 
 liquors appeared in the bill of fare which was presented to 
 us, the Canadian Pacific refreshment-rooms on this section 
 being apparently conducted on strictly temperance principles. 
 Toronto is at once the most English and the most prosperous 
 town in Canada. Its citizens are justly proud of it, and take 
 ^ no pains to conceal their pride. I noticed on the voyage that, 
 if any passenger walked the deck with an air of being Somebody, 
 if any lady sat in her deck-chair with a cold and repellent air 
 
 m 
 
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 towards strangers, they were sure to hail from Toronto. It is 
 the Boston of Canada. All culture and refinement begins and 
 ends there so far as the Dominion is concerned. Kurope may 
 furnish interesting relics of the past, but there is no real progress 
 outside Toronto. I never converse with a Toronto citizen without 
 being reminded of the old Peebles anecdote. " I've seen London 
 and Paris, but for downright pleesure gie me Peebles 1 " 
 
 However, with all the " side " taken off, Toronto is a very 
 fine city of over 100,000 inhabitants, to which it has grown 
 from a tenth of that number in about 50 years. It has plenty 
 of fine buildings, broad and handsome streets, electric lights, 
 and the usual detestable pavement, which seems inevitable in 
 every American town. It has a noble frontage to Lake Ontario 
 of several miles in extent ; viewed from the lake on a fine evening, 
 it has almost the appearance of Venice from the Lido, and is quite 
 the most picturesque town in all Canada, except Quebec. 
 
 The University is a large Norman building, situated in the 
 public park, in which is a monument to the students of the 
 University who were killed in resisting the iniquitous Fenian 
 invasion of 1866, one of the unpunished villainies of the Irish 
 scoundrels who abuse the hospitality of the freest country in the 
 world. The new Parliament House — in which, when finished, 
 the Ontario Parliament will exercise its carefully-guarded 
 functions — is only just above the ground, and we could -not 
 judge of its merits. We visited the Normal School, in which 
 the elementary teachers of the province are trained, and found 
 every possible advantage to the students, well arranged in a 
 stately building. 
 
 In different quarters of the city we saw various colleges, 
 denominational and otherwise, which are aflfiliated to the 
 University, for the Ontario system of university education has 
 been successful in including within its teaching influence, both 
 
NrAGARA. 
 
 »r 
 
 Rom;in Catholic as well as all Protestant denominational 
 colleges — an example I should like to see followed by our 
 ancient seats of learning at Oxford and Cambridge. The 
 University has an endowment of ;^2oo,ooo and an income of 
 ;^i6,ooo a year, with i,8oo graduates and about 400 students. 
 It contains excellent museums of natural history, mineralogy, 
 geology, and ethnology. 
 
 The churches of Toronto are one of its chief glories. It 
 boasts the tallest spire, and the handsomest church clock on the 
 Continent of America. We went over the leading Methodist 
 Church ; it will seat nearly 3,000 people, and ha.s, besides a 
 handsomely-fitted lecture-hall to accommodate 600, the finest 
 series of Sunday-.school class-rooms I ever saw, and a noble 
 suite of drawing-rooms, in which are held that peculiarly 
 American institution — the " Church Sociable " — at which the 
 minister receives the whole of his congregation at evening 
 parties, on terms of absolute social equality. 
 
 From Toronto we crossed the lake to Niagara, where we spent 
 three delightful days. I will not add to the thousand and one 
 failures to describe the indescribable. I have seen pictures of 
 Niagara. I have read poems on Niagara. They are about as 
 like what they try to describe as Martin's " Plains of Heaven." 
 The only honest attempt to describe Niagara was made by a 
 poet who was specially commissioned by the Neiv York Herald 
 to produce a description in verse that should for all time stand 
 in the forefront of every other. The poet went, stayed three 
 months, and then sat down to write. He began — 
 
 " Niagara ! Niagara ! 
 You are indeed a staggerer ! " 
 
 He could get no further, and his body was found three days 
 after in the whirlpool. 
 
 
 ■ 1 
 
 i 1 1 1 1 >| 
 
 1 
 
 III 
 
 ■P 1 
 
 ■ 1 
 
 i 
 
28 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 m 
 
 lit I 
 
 II 
 
 But without attempting to emulate the poet, I will try to 
 give to those of my readers who have never seen, and may 
 never see this wonder of the world, some faint idea of what 
 it really is. 
 
 Niagara Falls are formed by the sudden descent of the 
 Niagara River down a ledge of perpendicular rocks half a 
 mile wide and more than i6o feet in height, into a huge foaming 
 caldron over 400 feet in depth. The river flows out of this 
 caldron in smooth circling eddies for a mile or so, and then 
 rushes through a mighty gorge only 300 feet wide at the rate of 
 30 miles an hour, piling its roaring and foaming waves 30 feet 
 higher in the centre than at the margin, sweeping at its outlet 
 into a vast circular basin surrounded by high precipitous cliffs, 
 forming a huge whirlpool in which the river circles previous 
 to its final rush into Lake Ontario. To state the bare fact 
 that, according to Sir Charles Lyell, the water passing the 
 Niagara falls, travels at the rate of 1,500,000,000 cubic feet 
 per minute, may convey to the minds of my readers a dim 
 notion of the terrific force and sublimity of this stupendous 
 cataract. 
 
 When I was last at Niagara, some ten years ago, both banks 
 were in the hands of speculators, who charged a dollar for every 
 coign of vantage, and before the unhappy tourist could see his 
 Niagara he had to pay out £\ or ;^5 for admission fees. But 
 these fiends had other methods of making money. As you stood 
 on the table rock, the finest point from which to view the Horse 
 Shoe Falls, a huge board, which you could not possibly evade, 
 informed you all the time that " Jennings' liver pills were sure, 
 quiet, but searching." The fine trees which frame every lovely 
 picture on Goat Island had been let out to a wretch who had 
 painted on every trunk the startling fact that " Gargling oil was 
 good for man and beast," and the lovely rocks of Luna Island 
 
llOlviiK SUOK VALL, NIAGARA, 
 
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NIAGARA. 
 
 31 
 
 resounded with the cry that " Lovell's worm powder was never 
 known to fail " ! But two or three years ago the enh'ghtened 
 Governments of the United States and Canada purchased both 
 sides of the river, and swept out speculators and quacks with the 
 besom of destructiori. Every approach of the falls is now free 
 as air, the land being cleared of every building, and turned into 
 two national parks. Niagara appears to have irresistible charms 
 
 m. 
 
 ■■''i\ 
 
 4 
 
 S ! 
 
 WHIRLPOOL RAPIDS, NIAGARA. 
 
 for the fools who enjoy seeing performances in which the main 
 attraction is danger to human life. We saw a number of people 
 respectfully surrounding a big but very stupid-looking young 
 man. Asking who this was, we were told that he was a hero 
 from Buffalo who had shot the Whirlpool Rapids last week, 
 boxed up in the small hold of a canoe decked over for 
 the purpose. There was no skill displayed in this foolhardy 
 
ii J 
 
 33 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 i 
 
 mm 
 
 ' 4 
 
 i 
 
 performance, as the hero of it was simply cargo and nothing 
 more, yet scores of people were turning their backs on the 
 grandest scene in the world to gape and stare at this foolish 
 youth. 
 
 In the height of the season, multitudes of people come in 
 from Buffalo, Detroit, Toronto, and even Chicago and New York, 
 not to admire the wondrous beauty of Niagara, but to see a 
 female named Signorina Maria Spelterina dance on a tight-rope 
 over the Whirlpool Rapids. 
 
 We were fortunate in visiting Niagara at the full moon, which 
 added greatly to its charm. This was my third visit to this 
 scene of wonder, and each visit deepens the impression that so 
 far as I have seen Nature, Niagara is the sublimest and most 
 beautiful sight on earth. In the winter of 1872 I saw the falls 
 in the grasp of the severest frost ever known to living Canadians. 
 The caldron beneath the falls was frozen over, and it was 
 possible to walk into the very face of the cataract, whose dark 
 green waters contrasted with the pure white snow and massive 
 icicles which hung about the edges. The spray which rises 
 always like a lovely veil from the base of the falls, had frozen as it 
 rose and encrusted everything on the banks — trees, shrubs, railings 
 — with a delicate frost-work that glistened like pure silver in the 
 bright winter sunshine of Canada, and, falling on the frozen 
 surface in front, had formed enormous cones of ice, one of which, 
 120 feet high, I mounted, gainmg an unusual familiarity with 
 the inner recesses of the falls, that was deeply impressive. But 
 I do not venture to express any opinion on the rival charms of 
 Niagara in winter, spring, or autumn, in each of which seasons I 
 have seen and wondered at its strange beauty and terrible 
 sublimity. 
 
 We managed to snatch half a day from Niagara to visit the 
 locks on the Welland Canal, which connect the navigation 
 
 iMif 
 
NIAGARA. 
 
 33 
 
 between Ontario and Erie, and make it possible for vessels to 
 surmount the obstacle presented by Niagara. Erie is on a 
 higher level than Ontario by 300 feet, and this level is reached 
 by a chain of locks on the Welland Canal 26 in number. Each 
 lock is over 300 feet long and 45 feet wide, and vessels of 
 2,000 tons burden, drawing 14 feet, can pass them. It takes a 
 ship about 14 hours to get through the complete chain of locks, 
 and they pay dues amounting to gd. a ton if loaded, ?>d. if in 
 ballast. It was a wonderful sight to stand on the upper lock 
 and see the vast steps of masonry sweeping round the hillside 
 for miles, with large three-masted ships mounting to Erie or 
 dropping to Ontario all along the great curve, undoubtedly one 
 of the finest public works in the world. 
 
 The Canadian Government, with a view to divert the great 
 grain trade of the lakes to Montreal, have reduced the tolls on 
 grain coming to that port through the Welland Canal to id, 
 per ton ; but although the old rate of gd. is charged to American 
 vessels the quantity of grain passing down the Welland Canal 
 from United States ports to United States ports increased from 
 47,000 tons in 1880 to 151,000 tons in 1886, while the carrying 
 of grain from lake ports of both nations to Montreal has rather 
 decreased than increased. This is owing to the great develop- 
 ment of railways in the Dominion of Canada, which seem 
 destined here, as at home, slowly to press water-carriage out 
 of existence. 
 
 The quantity of cereals arriving at Montreal vid the two 
 great railway systems of Canada, the Grand Trunk and the 
 Canadian Pacific, has steadily increased during recent years as 
 follows : — 
 
 1884 
 
 1882 
 
 Tons. 
 75,000 
 
 1883 
 
 Tons. 
 
 99,000 
 
 Tons. 
 142,000 
 
 1885 
 
 Tons. 
 161,000 
 
 1886 
 
 Tons. 
 166,000 
 
 
 1> 
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 D 
 
I i 
 
 34 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 The quantity passing down the St. Lawrence system of 
 canals to Montreal for the same period was — 
 
 1882 
 
 1883 
 
 1884 
 
 1885 
 
 1886 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Tons, 
 
 Tons. 
 
 230,000 263,000 • 174,000 134)000 272,000 
 
 American experience also goes to prove the growing ascend- 
 ancy of railways over canals. The New York canals last year 
 brought to that port 1,490,000 tons of cereals, while the New 
 York railways in the same year carried over 3,800,000. I 
 think a careful study of canal and railway statistics in Canada 
 and the United States would be profitable to the venturesome 
 capitalists who are taking shares in the Manchester Ship 
 Canal. 
 
 The road from Niagara to Welland and back led us through 
 many fine farms, the yards and orchards of which gave evidence 
 of much prosperity. This is a famous fruit district, and 
 produces the Newtown pippin, the American apple that is such 
 a favourite in England. 
 
 On Saturday, September 3rd, we bid a reluctant farewell to 
 Niagara and its beauties, and started off to spend Sunday with 
 a relative who had settled on a farm near St. Thomas, in the 
 best agricultural district of Canada. Shortly after the train 
 started, which was the express from New York to Chicago, we 
 were amused by the conductor calling out in the car — "The 
 next station is Falls View — five minutes allowed to see Niagara 
 Falls ! " And there are quite a number of Americans who are 
 happy and content to have seen their greatest wonder in this 
 hasty fashion. 
 
 It may perhaps interest some of my readers to know what is 
 the life of the average Canadian farmer. My relative, Mr. Emery, 
 has a small farm of about 70 acres of very good land. His house 
 is built of wood entirely, consists of one storey, and contains 
 
NIAGARA. 
 
 %% 
 
 a kitchen, dining-room, parlour, and five bedrooms. The farm, 
 with the exception of groceries, furnishes food for the family 
 throughout the year, the produce consisting of wheat, Indian 
 corn, peas, hay, vegetables, and fruit. There is abundance of 
 milk and cream, eggs, poultry occasionally, and the meat of 
 three pigs each year, in the shape of pickled pork and bacon. 
 During the three hot months very little meat is eaten by the 
 average Canadian farmer, but when the frost fairly sets in he 
 supplements his pig-meat with a sheep and half a bullock, 
 
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 ■'-'■iffK^iJi^ 
 
 ..^.,.X^7 j-::*;-.irg 
 
 !!»fe?aas-: :.V 
 
 EMERY HALL. 
 
 from a sketch by the Author, 
 
 ; ; i . 
 
 which he hangs up in the frosty air in some place where vermin 
 cannot reach it, and saws off the meat as he wants it. It keeps 
 perfectly fresh as long as the frost lasts, which is four or five 
 months. He sells his surplus produce, after feeding his family 
 and his stock out of it, and as he has no rent to pay, his wants 
 arc confined to clothing, groceries, and a few minor sundries. 
 He educates his children free. He has great opportunities for 
 putting out his family in the world. My relative has five sons 
 and two daughters. Two of his sons arc well placed in the 
 
 I) 2 
 
M 
 
 liiii 
 
 36 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 employ of a great railway company in the Western States, 
 one of his daughters being a shorthand type-writer in the same 
 employ with a good salary. Another son went off platelaying 
 on the Canadian Pacific while it was being made, saved the 
 bulk of his wages, chose his location as he went along, and 
 is now farming 600 acres of his own near Calgary, in the 
 North-West Province. He has one daughter at home to help 
 her mother, and one son who manages the farm. His 
 youngest lad is 16, and goes to a high school at a neighbouring 
 town of 2,000 population, where he obtains, entirely free, an 
 education equal to any of our great public schools, with four 
 University men to teach him. He lodges in a single room, for 
 which he pays six shillings a month, and on Monday morning 
 drives over to his school, taking with him a basket of provisions 
 to last him till Friday evening, when he comes home for the 
 week end. He will probably become a school teacher for a 
 few years, save money, and eventually educate himself for the 
 medical or legal profession. The more I see of Canada, the 
 more convinced I am of the incalculable benefits of a sy.stem 
 of free education, which enables any lad of brains to work 
 himself up from humble circumstances to any position in the 
 Dominion, I wish we had it in the old country. 
 
 I never tasted such delicious apples as were ripening in my 
 cousin's orchard. His farm is in the very primest part of the great 
 fruit-growing district that lies on both shores of Lakes Ontario 
 and Erie. Apples, pears, quinces, melons, chestnuts and grapes 
 grow in great abundance, and as we travelled from Niagara to 
 London, the country-side was gilded with the rich fruit of the 
 farm-orchards. Splendid apples can be bought for is, 6d. per 
 bushel, and many of the farmers make a special trade of apple- 
 packing for the English market, and have houses specially built 
 for the purpose. The growth of the trade is shown by the 
 
NIAGARA. 
 
 sr 
 
 returns of exports, which have increased from 50,000 barrels in 
 1874, to nearly 300,000 last year. In England we do not know 
 what luscious fruit Canada can produce, as the best varieties 
 will not carry without decay. It is, however, proposed to 
 construct cold chambers on the ocean steamers by which these 
 short - keeping and delicate varieties may be brought to 
 England in perfect preservation. 
 
 On Monday, September 5th, we left our relative's hospitable 
 roof for London, a town of 30,000 inhabitants. An old friend 
 met us at the station, and drove us round before dinner. 
 "New" London imitates old London as closely as possible. 
 The streets are called Cornhill, Regent Street, Piccadilly, Bond 
 Street, &c., &c. Our friend lives in Westminster, on the other 
 side of the Thames ; and there is even a Westminster Abbey, 
 though that, alas ! in New London, is a tavern. 
 
 Westminster is under the Scott Act, and the Westminster 
 Abbey is, nolens volens, a temperance tavern. I was struck with 
 one singular result of the Scott Act. Both my fricr:ds, the 
 farmer and my London friend, live under the Scott Act. Neither 
 of them are teetotallers, yet in deference to public opinion, as 
 expressed by the adoption of the Act, neither of them place 
 mtoxicating liquors before their guests, or keep them in their 
 houses. I hope to write at some length on the operations of 
 the Scott Act and the prohibitory laws of the North-West when 
 I have seen more of the country. 
 
 Tuesday, September 6th, we spent at Toronto, chiefly in visiting 
 old friends. The town was all astir from the opening of a 
 provincial exhibition, to which his Excellency the Governor- 
 General had come. I had an interesting conversation with Lord 
 Lansdowne, who asked me to come and see him to discuss some 
 of the political questions which are coming to the front in the 
 Dominion. In the evening we dined with my old acquaintance 
 
 iii i 
 
^^ 
 
 ''Mi i| 
 
 'i 
 
 38 
 
 /I TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 Professor Goldwin Smith, who li^ taking the lead in the agitation 
 for commercial union with the States, the most burning question 
 of the hour in Canada. 
 
 Wednesday, September 7th. — We left Toronto at 10.30 for 
 Winnipeg. The train took us through a beautiful country to 
 Owen Sound, situated on Georgian Bay, Lake Huron. Here 
 we got on board the "Alberta," a magnificent Clyde-built steamer 
 of 1,800 tons burden, specially designed for the Canadian Pacific 
 Railway to carry the passenger-traffic between Owen Sound and 
 Port Arthur, their station on the north shores of Lake Superior. 
 She and her sister ship, the "Athabasca," steamed across the 
 Atlantic, were cut in two at Montreal, towed through the lakes 
 and the Welland Canal, and joined together again on the shores 
 o! Huron. It was blowing a gale of wind, and it was soon made 
 evident that it is quite as easy for people to be sea-sick on fresh 
 water as on salt. We ran up Georgian Bay under shelter of 
 a long peninsula, but about ten o'clock at night we felt the full 
 brunt of the storm blowing up Lake Huron, and were tumbled 
 about quite as much as if we had been on the North Atlantic. 
 Early in the morning the wind abated, and we breakfasted in 
 peace and plenty under the shelter of Manitoulin Island. Soon 
 we entered the St. Marie River, which flows for about 40 miles 
 connecting Lakes Superior and Erie. The shores are low, 
 and covered with forest, the changing tints of which warned 
 us that summer was departing. The river channel is very 
 crooked, but is carefully buoyed, though the passage is even 
 then so difficult that it is never attempted at night. By noon 
 we reached the Sault St. Marie, a pretty cataract rippling over a 
 rocky bed, falling about eighteen feet in a quarter of a mile. 
 This cataract is surmounted by a fine lock. We had to wait 
 while a big four-masted steamer, bound from Duluth on Superior 
 to Buffalo on Erie, ana laden with 2,300 tons of wheat, was taken 
 
NIAGARA. 
 
 39 
 
 i; 
 
 through. Then we entered, and in fifteen minutes were raised 
 to the level of Lake Superior. The lock is 515 feet long, 80 
 feet wide, 60 feet at the gates, 39 feet 6 inches deep, and will pass 
 vessels drawing 14 feet. The banks of the lock arc laid out 
 as a pretty little park, which is the favourite resort of the 
 population of Sault St. Marie, many of whom "saw us 
 through." 
 Half an hour brought us to Lake Superior, the afternoon 
 
 SAULT ST. MARIE LOCK. 
 
 being bright, sunny, and calm as a mill-pond. Some wonderful 
 effects of mirage, distant islands and vessels being raised into 
 the sky just above the horizon, were watched with much interest 
 by all the passengers. Presently the masts of a large screw- 
 steamer are seen sticking up out of the water — no mirage, 
 unhappily, for we are told that she foundered in the gale of 
 last night, and that seventeen lives were lost. At ten o'clock 
 this evening, as we were all going to bed, a sudden storm of 
 
 Pipf 
 
40 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 thunder and heavy rain burst upon us, followed by a smart 
 blow and tumbling sea ; but this morning breaks fine and cold, 
 and we pass Silver Island and Thunder Cape glistening in 
 the morning sun. 
 
 '% 
 
 h' ■' 
 
 r' 
 
 
 ^'- ~>f 
 
 
 
 
 1" i ' I 
 
 Wi 
 
 "^'c^^^-'- 
 
 
 -'-■s??-'^^^.s.>-; 
 
 THUNDER CAPE, LAKE SUPERIOR. 
 From a sketch by the Author'. 
 
( 41 ) 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WINNIPEG. 
 
 i. il 
 
 On Friday, September 9th, at ten o'clock in the morning, the 
 good ship "Alberta" moored alongside the pier at Port Arthur, 
 and at two o'clock the same afternoon wc joined the Pacific 
 express on our way westward. 
 
 Port Arthur was our first experience of the rapidity with 
 which quite large towns spring up like mushrooms in the 
 wake of the Pacific Railway. Ten years ago there was only 
 a landing-place and one or two shanties, the trade of the north 
 shore of Lake Superior being centred eight miles away at the 
 old trading port of Fort William, at the mouth of the Kamin- 
 istiquia River, which affords a good harbour, and which place 
 is still used by the Canadian Pacific as their chief coal depot 
 and distributing point for timber, rails, and other heavy supplies. 
 Port Arthur, however, attracts the general trade of the district, 
 and if a twentieth part of the hopes entertained by the sanguine 
 mining speculators who are exploring Thunder Bay and the 
 islands are realised, it will not be long before the present 
 agglomeration of wooden stores and houses give way to a 
 second Swansea and Barrow-in-Furness rolled into one. There 
 is undoubtedly great mineral wealth, copper, silver, manga- 
 nese, and magnetic iron ore, that some day will be developed 
 and make Port Arthur populous and thriving. A hard-working 
 and enterprising population of about 4,000 souls have settled 
 
 \ i 
 
 il'i ■ 
 
42 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 i| 
 
 here during the last four or five years, and the country round is 
 being rapidly taken up and farmed. Its own natural resources, 
 added to its position at the juncture of the railway with the head 
 of the St. Lawrence navigation, make the prospects of the place 
 unusually promising. 
 
 The scenery at the head of Lake Superior, of which we had 
 heard much exaggerated praise, was disappointing. Thunder 
 Cape is a fine range of cliffs, about 800 or 1000 feet high, but 
 the rest of the country is flat and dull. We did not see the 
 Nepigon region, lying some distance from Port Arthur, which 
 is the paradise of the Canadian sportsman. We met some 
 fishermen returning from a month's camping out, and mistook 
 them for negroes recovering from a bad attack of confluent 
 small-pox. Their remarkable complexion, however, was due 
 to elaborate precautions against mosquitoes and sand-flies. 
 Immediately on arrival at the shores of Nepigon, each 
 sportsman coats himself over with a gruesome mixture of 
 which coal tar, raw petroleum, and peppermint are the leading 
 ingredients. This is renewed from time to time, and never 
 washed off till he departs ; on getting home, he undergoes a 
 detergent process of many hours. This precautionary measure 
 is only partly successful, for if it cracks, every mosquito and 
 sand-fly within a mile " goes " for that crack. 
 
 The country between Port Arthur and Winnipeg contains 
 little of interest. It is poor, thin, stony soil, covered with poplar 
 and shabby little spruce trees, and the only point of attraction 
 to the traveller is the beautiful clear-flowing Kaministiquia, a 
 river which makes an angler's heart ache with envy as he views 
 from the train its almost virgin stream. At one of our lonely 
 stopping-places, at which the small gang of men who looked 
 after that section of the line were the only living souls for 
 twenty miles round. 1 asked the station-master if he ever 
 
WINNIPEG. 
 
 43 
 
 fished the river. "Occasionally," was the reply. "What," I 
 asked, "would you expect to catch in an afternoon's fishing?" 
 The reply was, " I could catch as many trout as I could catch 
 grasshoppers for bait. I suppose I could bring home 150 or 
 200 in a good day's fishing, weighing about 120 lbs."! The 
 general appearance of the stream makes this statement quite 
 credible. 
 
 A night in the sleeping-car of the train, made more or 
 less hideous by the presence of thirteen weary and unchecked 
 babies and small children, brought us to the capital of Manitoba, 
 the new and thriving City of Winnipeg. The wonderful change 
 in travel which the Canadian Pacific has brought about in the 
 North-West of the Dominion of Canada is well shown in a 
 comparison between our journey from Toronto to Winnipeg 
 in 1887, and Lord Wolseley's journey over exactly the same 
 ground with his little army in 1870. He took ninety-five days 
 to complete a journey which wc accomplished in forty-five 
 hours. 
 
 After settling down at the Lcland House, the principal hotel 
 in Winnipeg, we called on our only acquaintance in the city, 
 Mr. R. A. Barker, a son of Mr. T. H. Barker, the well-known 
 secretary of the United Kingdom Alliance. Mr. Barker holds a 
 responsible position in the Government offices of Manitoba. He 
 called for us after lunch with a carriage and pair, and drove us 
 all round the city and its suburbs. In 1870 Winnipeg was only 
 a few small wooden shanties clustering round the old Hudson 
 Bay Company's trading port of Fort Garry, with 200 inhabitants, 
 rendered memorable in modern history from having been the 
 centre of the French half-breed rebellion under Louis Riel in 
 1870. In 1875 it had grown to 5,000 inhabitants, in 1879 the 
 railway reached it and raised its population to 8,000, in 1S80 it 
 was 12,000, and now it is a handsome well-paved oity of nearly 
 
 
 
 j:« ti 
 
44 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 1 hi 
 
 30,000 in population, which will probably reach 100,000 before 
 the end of the century. Winnipeg is, and must always be^ the 
 capital and trading focus of the whole North-West, a fertile 
 region reaching from the Red River to the Rocky Mountains, 
 and from the United States frontier to the North Saskatchewan 
 River, a tract of over a million square miles. It is impossible to 
 forecast the future of the focus of such an area, but Winnipeg 
 land-jobbers tell me that Chicago must take a back seat in much 
 less than twenty years. 
 
 Winnipeg is well situated on the tongue of land formed by the 
 meeting of the Red River and the Assiniboine, about 90 miles 
 from the United States frontier, and 50 miles south of the great 
 Winnipeg Lake, into which the Red River runs, and which opens 
 up by water all the vast and fertile region of the Saskatchewan 
 River, which is 550 miles long and drains an area of 250,000 square 
 miles. The main street of Winnipeg is one of the finest in the 
 world. It is about two miles long, 132 feet in width, perfectly 
 paved with blocks of wood, with wide side-walks, and is bordered 
 by a long succession of fine buildings in brick, stone, and timber, 
 the City Hall, the Hudson Bay Company's stores, the Bank 
 of Montreal, the post office, and others being lofty and im- 
 posing structures of which any town in England might well be 
 proud. The shops are as fine as those in Regent Street in 
 London, and the Hudson Bay stores alone turn over about a 
 quarter of a million sterling every year. One of the finest 
 buildings in Canada is the new grocery store of Messrs. Gait, 
 son and nephew of Sir Alexander Gait, who trade over the whole 
 country of which Winnipeg is the centrv^ The stir, bustle, 
 and business activity of the people are sucii as one sees in an 
 American town like Buffalo, Cleveland, or Chicago, and the 
 whole place is brilliantly lighted at night by electricity. 
 
 I took some pains to inquire into the prospects afforded 
 
WINNIPEG. 
 
 45- 
 
 by Manitoba and Winnipeg to intending emigrants from the 
 old country. We partook of the hospitality of the Lieutenant- 
 Governor of Manitoba, Mr. Aikens, with whom I had a long 
 conversation, and I also spent an evening with Mr. John Gait, 
 who was one o'" the earliest picneers of trade in the North- 
 West country. Mr. Barker, to whom I have already referred, 
 has exceptional opportunities of knowledge, and I also got much 
 help from a very clever and capable young accountant, Mr. J. 
 W, Rigby, who has been all over Manitoba in half a dozen 
 different capacities, with his eyes open all the time, so that I 
 think my authorities are as good as I could find. 
 
 With regard to the city itself, it is at present a trading and 
 not a manufacturing community. There is no opening at all for 
 commercial men from the old country. The ground is taken up 
 not only in Winnipeg, but all over Manitoba, by men who have 
 had ripe experience in the stores of Montreal and Toronto ; any 
 commercial man or shopkeeper coming over from England 
 would be doomed to certain failure. I put a hypothetical case 
 to a dozen of the best authorities. I asked what were the 
 chances of success for a smart Englishman of five-and-thirty 
 who had had a 15 years' training in so."ie good merchant's office 
 in Liverpool or London, and had saved ;^2,ooo ? The replies 
 were all the same — Manitoba wants neither him nor his money. 
 All the trade of the country is plucked before it is ripe by 
 Canadians from Ontario and Quebec. 
 
 The ordinary clerk or book-keeper is a drug in the market ; 
 he can only get labourers' wages. The town is full of them, sent 
 out by friends in England. They go by the name of " Remit- 
 tance men," because their chief occupation is borrowing dollars 
 "till they get their remittance from home." 
 
 There is, however, a real demand for agricultural labourers, 
 who need not remain at the Emigration Depot at Winnipeg for a 
 
 m 
 
 • ' (■ ii 
 
 ■ i 1 '. ■ 
 
 it'! 
 
 iii 
 
I ' ^ 
 
 46 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 11 
 
 week, and there is also a fair demand for first-class artisans. The 
 town is manned at present by second-rate hands from Canada and 
 the States, and if a good English artisan, who is really capable 
 and sober, comes along, he quickly displaces the inferior Canadian. 
 If he comes out with a few pounds in his pocket, and is a 
 thrifty, saving fellow, he becomes a master very quickly in Mani- 
 toba, and can go right ahead without a check. It was pleasant 
 to find that with every tradesman I interviewed teetotallers 
 are in great demand as workmen, and get an early chance of 
 showing what they arc good for. The time to arrive in Manitoba, 
 for all classes of emigrants, is March or April. 
 
 I made careful inquiries among different tradespeople and 
 others as to the rates of wages actually being paid to-day in 
 Winnipeg. Carpenters in regular work get two dollars, or 8^. ^d. 
 a day ; cabinetmakers, ^s. 4^. a day ; upholsterers (by piecework), 
 12s. to 14J". ; smiths, \2s. 6d. ; foundrymen (limited demand), 
 Si". 4d.; wood-turners, \2s. 6d.\ bakers, \os. 6d.; tin-smiths, 
 los. 6d. ; labourers, 6s. in summer, ^s. to 4^. in winter ; a first-rate 
 printer can earn i$s. a day ; and good tailors (at piecework) can 
 make 15^. to ijs. 6d. a day. 
 
 There is also plenty of good employment for women. Hotel 
 servants get £^ a month with board ; domestic servants, £i 
 to ;^3 loi". a month with board, and they arc rushed for the 
 moment they arrive in the town. Seamstresses get 3^. to 4^. 
 a day with meals for plain sewing. A lady showed me a plain 
 stuff walking-dress for the making of which she had paid 2>2)^., 
 and an ordinary print house-dress cost her i6s. to get made ; 
 she of course finding all materials. Telegraph and shop girls 
 get 4^-. a day. Agricultural labourers of good quality can 
 get places by the year for about .:^50 to £60 in money and 
 good board. Mr. Barker told me that a Member of the 
 Provincial Parliament, who lives in his constituency 80 mile3 
 
WINNIPEG. 
 
 M 
 
 from Winnipeg, is constantly writing to him to send along 
 agricultural labourers at these rates of pay, but that the men 
 are always being snapped up by farmers at intermediate 
 stations who waylay them on the road, and bid higher. There 
 is no doubt that a good steady unmarried agricultural labourer 
 can come out to Manitoba, save ;^30 or £^o a year for three 
 or four years, and then take up land of his own and become 
 a prosperous farmer on his own account. 
 
 But to all those pleasant pictures there is a reverse side. 
 The cost of living in Winnipeg is undoubtedly higher in almost 
 all respects than it is in England, largely in consequence of the 
 heavy protective tariff of the Dominion. The single man gets 
 off best in the way of food and lodging, as he can board well, 
 with meat three times a day if he wants it, at \6s. a week. 
 The married man with a family will, however, find that he 
 cannot make his high wages go much further than his lower 
 wages in England. Free trade enables him at home to buy 
 everything that Manitoba produces in his own markets for 
 loss money than he would pay in the capital of Manitoba. 
 Winnipeg market prices last week were : Beef and mutton, 
 very inferior to English, l^^d. per lb. ; fresh pork, t)\d. ; bacon 
 and ham, 'j\,d. ; sugar, 4-;V^. ; bread, 6d. for 4-lb. loaf; butter, 
 salt, \od. ; cheese, yd. ; tea, 2s. 6d. ; coffee, is. Sd. ; tobacco 
 is cheap, 4s. per lb. ; a ready-made slop suit of cheap tweed 
 costs £4 ; a good cloth suit, ;^8 ; an overcoat, £s > white 
 calico shirts, gs. each ; ready-made boots, 24s. per pair ; made 
 to measure, 30^'. ; very bad coal, 40s. per ton ; wood dear and 
 scarce. The fuel is a serious item in a climate with nearly 
 six months of winter in which the thermometer is seldom 
 higher than 15 or 20 degrees below zero. I went through the 
 fuel-bills for a four-room cottage, and they reached a total of 
 over ;^I5 for the year. House-rent is very exorbitant. A 
 
 M 
 
 
 1 
 
 i 1 ,ii 
 
Ii3 
 
 iff 
 
 h.!i 
 
 48 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 four-roomed cottage cannot be got for less than £2 a month, 
 and a small six-roomed house fetches £1 easily. On the whole, 
 however, the high wage more than makes up for the extra 
 cost of living, and a thrifty artisan who gets steady work is, 
 on the whole, much better off in Winnipeg than in the old 
 country. He gets his children's education free, which must 
 also be taken into account. 
 
 The emigrant who is really wanted in Manitoba is the 
 clever agricultural labourer who is a single man. He can get 
 employment at once, and can easily save £y:) or ;^35 a year. 
 In three years, having ^100 of capital and a knowledge of the 
 country, he can take up his 160 acres of good land, and 
 become a yeoman farmer on his own account. I had the 
 curiosity to trace the success or otherwise of such men as 
 these when they take up land, and I will give a few specimens. 
 
 A. B. took up 160 acres in the autumn of 1881, with 
 £^0 of capital, with which, and a little credit, he purchased 
 a yoke of oxen for ;^30, a cow for £10, a heifer £6^ and 
 a horse. To-day he has cleared himself from debt, has 40 
 of 160 acres broken up for crops, and has the following 
 possessions : — 
 
 10 head of cattle ...... worth 74 
 
 I horse ........ 40 
 
 100 head of poultry ...... 
 
 I pair harrows, a good waggon, a plough, a 
 reaper, a mower, and a rake, half paid for , 
 A good, well-built house of hewn logs, three 
 stables, a barn, and a granary . . . , 
 
 10 
 
 36 
 
 „ 300 
 
 £\^ 
 
 And if you add to this the improved value of his land, it 
 is greatly understating the case to say that his ^^40 of capital 
 has grown in six years to fully £'joo. I have no doubt he 
 
WINNIPEG, 
 
 49 
 
 could get more than that to clear out. This man never 
 hired any help ; he had a bijj family of growing lads, and 
 his eldest, 22 years of age, has just taken up his own 160 
 acres. His arable land crops 25 bushels of wheat, 50 bushels 
 of oats, and 45 of barley to the acre, on average years. 
 
 C. D. bought some good land in 1883 for ^150, paying 
 half cash, and getting credit for the rest. He broke up 20 
 acres in 1883, and 40 more in 1884, in which year he cropped 
 
 
 ^ilil 
 
 MANITOBA HOMESTEAD. 
 
 35 bushels of wheat to each of his 60 acres. His position 
 to-day is as follows (capital to begin, ;^75) : — 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 Debt paid off 75 
 
 1 1 head of cattle . 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 Good log house 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 Mower, rake, and reaper 
 
 
 
 55 
 
 Set of binders 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 Plough. 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 Yoke of oxen 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 Team of horses 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 Waggons 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 Value of land 
 
 
 
 450 
 
 So that his capital has been increased, in four years, fully 
 ten-fold. 
 
 E 
 
Il 
 
 50 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 ' I 'Il 
 
 ' ! M 
 
 E. F. took up land in 1877, the usual 160 acres. He 
 started with ;^320 of capital. His position to-day is — houses, 
 implements, waggons, stock, &c., ^550; value of land in open 
 market, ^600; total, ;^i,i5P. 
 
 G. H. took up land in 188 1, with a capital of £160, just 
 20s. for each acre. First year he broke 30 acres, and cropped 
 34^ bushels per acre the year following. He has now 140 
 acres under plough, and gets an average of about 2,200 bushels 
 a year off 100 acres of wheat, and about 1,200 bushels of 
 oats off 40 acres. He owns 21 head of cattle, three span 
 of mules, 29 hogs, poultry, a complete set of good implements, 
 an excellent house, a large granary and stable, and 100 tons 
 of hay stacked. This stock and plant is worth ;^920, and 
 for the whole farm, land, and stock, he could get ;^ 1,500 at 
 least. 
 
 I. J. began with ;6^ioo in 1879, and is now worth ;^900. 
 
 K. L. started in 1878 with £160^ and is now worth £7S'^> 
 and I should not e aggerate if I said that more than half 
 the farmers in Manitoba can tell similar stories. 
 
 The bulk of these prosperous men are the sons of Ontario 
 and Quebec farmers, but there arc hundreds of them who 
 have come out from the old country, A man vutst be a 
 farmer to succeed. The broken-down tradesmen who are 
 helped out by friends, the young scapegraces who a''e shipped 
 by their relatives with a draft for ;^ioo on a Winnipeg bank, 
 are doomed to certain failure, and even an English or Scottish 
 farmer is the better of a year or two of service with 
 an older settler before taking up land for himself, if only 
 to help him the better to choose his location. " Glenbeigh " 
 and " Bodyke " tenants, if they were generously helped out 
 to this magnificent country, and lent ;^ioo per family to 
 stock theii 160 acres of granted land, would thrive and do 
 
 ii 
 
WINNIPEG, 
 
 well. If the Uritish Government, instead of en.barking on 
 the doubtful poliey of Irish Land Purehase, would spend 
 20 m,llu.ns .n settling gradually i„ Manitoba 200,000 families 
 of „sh tenant farmers from the eongested distriets, there 
 would be no diffieulty in getting back the money in easy 
 n,stalments from the prosperous yeomen they would thus create 
 and by easing the undue competition for farms in Ireland they 
 would bring the landlords to fair rents, by the simple laws of 
 supply and demand. But as long as Ireland is the shuttlecock 
 of pohfcal party, while Irish agitators hold the battledore 
 common sense has but a poor chance. ' 
 
 % 
 
 m 
 
 E 2 
 
sa 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CALGARY AND THE RANCHING COUNTRY. 
 
 I 'I 
 
 Mi! 
 
 The country between Winnipeg and Calgary traverses the 
 great Canadian prairie for over 1,000 miles, and we did not 
 leave the train between the two points. The Canadian Pacific 
 Railway run restaurant cars with each train, and provide a 
 capital breakfast, lunch, and dinner, for a uniform charge of 
 3i', each. Of course the Pullman sleeping-car is also part 
 of the train, and by these two conveniences the fatigue of 
 the long journey is greatly reduced. 
 
 The first part of the journey follows the course of the 
 Assiniboine River, a pretty undulating country, covered with 
 fields of stubble, with great stacks of wheat in the centre 
 waiting for the threshing machine. The homesteads are the 
 usual Canadian frame-house, built of sawn planks nailed to 
 a strong wooden frame. They are as ugly as it is possible 
 to make them. The first important station is Portage la 
 Prairie, the market town of the richest district of Manitoba, 
 and the junction of the railway, a considerable portion of 
 which is opened for traffic, which is to bring down the 
 produce of the great Saskatchewan district. This is a busy 
 place, with paper-mills, biscuit-factory, and flour-mills, and 
 enjoys a considerable grain trade. Another 80 miles of rich 
 wheat lands brought us to Brandon, a flourishing market 
 town of 4,000 inhabitants, with extensive grain elevators or 
 
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 U£di 
 
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the 
 
 acre 
 
 in tl 
 
 fanri 
 
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 blaci 
 
 The 
 
CALGARY AND THE RANCHING COUNTRY. 
 
 55 
 
 warehouses at the station. Wc ran all afternoon through a 
 district very thinly settled, and it was dark before wc reached 
 Indian Head, where the famous Ikll Farm is situated, the train 
 running through it. If there had been any hotel accommoda- 
 tion within reach I would have stayed over to see this farm, 
 one of the most interesting agricultural experiments on the 
 Continent of America, but I was obliged to pass it by. The 
 Bell Farm is the property of a limited company, managed for 
 
 RAILWAY DEI'OT, BRANDON. 
 
 the shareholders by Major W. R. Bell. Its area is about 64,000 
 acres, or about 100 square miles, and is the largest arable farm 
 in the world. Of course it is not yet all under cultivation. The 
 farm was started in 1882, and was acquired by the company 
 under a special Act of Parliament. The land is the famous 
 black soil of the prairie, and is well vatered by streams. 
 The contract with the Dominion Government nyis a purchase at 
 
 
 ^l« 
 
 I 
 
56 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 I i 
 
 ^s. per anrc, the company undeitaking to bring the land 
 under cultivation at the rate of 5,000 acres a year for the 
 first five years. The scheme of the company is first to bring 
 the land under cultivation -by the use of the best machinery 
 and then divide it into 250 farms, each provided with house 
 and buildings, to be sold to the men in their employ at a 
 valuation price, payable by instalments over a term of years. 
 
 No steam plough is used. There are 200 horses employed 
 on the farm, and they would stand idle for want of work in 
 ploughing time if steam were used. The ploughman sits on 
 his plough, and can generally turn 20 miles of furrows in a 
 day's work. The furrows are often two miles long. Forty- 
 five ploughs are on the ground each day till the work is finished. 
 ^90,000 of capital has been sunk in the farm, and employment 
 is given to about 200 men. If the ploughing had to be done 
 with a single team it would have to travel 140,000 miles, 
 nearly six times round the world. The value of the 10,000 
 acres now under cultivation is about ^4 per acre, and is 
 increasing rapidly every year. The produce is, on an average, 
 about 20 bushels per acre. The great wheat belt of Manitoba 
 of which this is a portion, is about 500 miles long and 250 miles 
 wide, and is capable of producing sixteen hundred million 
 bushels of wheat, if it were all under good cultivation. The 
 more I sec of this wonderful stretch of land, with soil often 
 200 or 300 feet deep, the more I wonder why a \. ealthy country 
 like England endures the misery of the congested Irish 
 counties, when a few millions would remove and settle their 
 starving populations in the midst of plenty and content, with 
 the certainty of the repayment of every farthing expended. 
 
 We passed Regina, the capital of the province of Assinaboia, 
 at midnight. This is the head-quarters of the 1, Jian service, 
 and of the North-West mounted police, a magnificent body 
 
 III! 
 
CALGARY AND THE RANCHING COUNTRY. 
 
 57 
 
 of men, 1,000 strong, whose business it is to keep the Indians 
 in order, and to enforce the rigorous prohibitory liquor law 
 which exists in the North-West territories. These officers 
 board the trains, searching passengers and luggage at will, 
 to guard against the importation of strong liquors. The 
 morning of September 13th found us out on the boundless 
 prairie, travelling through a desolate and entirely unsettled 
 country. For over 200 miles no sign of human life was visible, 
 except that every 10 miles or so a cottage was placed at a rail- 
 road siding, in which lived the three or four men whose duty 
 it is to patrol the line daily. The prairie appeared very 
 fertile, covered with an abundance of grass. The only life 
 visible was an occasional flock of ducks or wild geese on the 
 small lakes, now and then a large species of hawk, and the 
 universal "gopher," a comical little burrowing animal, which 
 is found all over the North-West. At noon we reached Maple 
 Creek, a post of the mounted police, and a station for a large 
 ranching district some 15 miles to the southward. Near this 
 place there is a reserve of the Black Feet Indians, and the 
 noble savages crowded round the platform^ offering polished 
 buffalo horns for sale. The days of wampum and buffalo 
 robes have passed away, and these braves were attired in 
 remarkable costumes of bright coloured blankets, cut into 
 home-made jackets and trousers by the squaw. One of them 
 had wide peg-top breeches and loose jacket of white blanket, 
 covered with huge circles of red, blue, and green about the 
 size of a cheese-plate, the whole surmounted with a veritable 
 clown's white jelly-bag hat ; as his face was picked out with 
 a devious vermilion pattern on a rich ground of yellow ochre, 
 he felt justified in maintaining a dignified and superior 
 demeanour, leaving dirty trade to his squaw, who was 30 
 years of age, and looked about 300. 
 
 
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 58 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 At Dunmore a narrow-gauge railway runs 109 miles across 
 the prairie to Lethbridge, where an English company, under the 
 management of one of the many clever sons of Sir Alexander 
 Gait, arc working a valuable coal mine capable of producing 
 2,000 tons a day if a market were available. At Langevin, a 
 single house station, the man who was located there as line 
 inspector sunk an artesian well for water, but found it undrink- 
 able. A chance light explained the cause, for he had struck a 
 well of natural gas. I went into his cottage, and saw a large 
 stove lighted and heated by this gas, without any other fuel, 
 brought up from the well by a pipe. He can warm his whole 
 house to 70 degrees with this gas alone when the temperature is 
 down to 35 or 40 below zero. Perhaps some day a valuable 
 deposit of mineral oil will be discovered at Langevin. 
 
 At one o'clock on Wednesday morning, the 14th September, 
 we alighted at Calgary, well content to be at last at the end of 
 our "^y hours' confinement in the railway train. Calgary is 
 a thriving infant of two years old. It is a place of much 
 vigour and bustle, with a population of nearly 2,000. Building 
 is going on everywhere, and, with three or four exceptions, 
 everything is of wood. The place looks exactly like a great 
 international exhibition a week or two before the opening 
 day. It is laid out or " graded," as they say here, in the usual 
 ambitious fashion, in wide streets, covering an area of about two 
 miles each way. The bulk of these noble streets are at present 
 prairie, bat a brisk trade goes on in "town lots," which seems 
 the tavourite form of gambling in these new western towns. 
 Last year Calgary was incorporated, and a Mayor and Council 
 elected. There was, however, some informality in the election, 
 and the town proceeded to elect a fresh lot. The first Corpora- 
 tion, however, declined to resign, and both of them proceeded to 
 govern the town. After a good deal of ill-feeling the matter 
 
mn 
 
 CALGARY AND THE RANCHING COUNTRY. 
 
 59 
 
 was settled by litigation, and " now there is one." Calgary is 
 beautifully situated at the junction of the Bow and Elbow Rivers, 
 fine clear streams of pure water, fresh and cool from the Rocky 
 Mountains, whose snow-clad outlines were visible on the horizon 
 60 miles away. 
 
 Calgary is the capital of the magnificent grazing country 
 which lies along the foot hills of the Rocky Mountains, between 
 the South Saskatchewan River and Montana. This is probably 
 the finest ranching country on the Continent. For some years 
 the Dominion Government admitted cattle free of duty into this 
 
 CALGARY. 
 
 From a sketch hy the Author. 
 
 district from the States ; but the rush of cattle from Montana 
 and Oregon, whose ranchers threw up their holdings to secure 
 this superior grazing, was so great that last year an import duty 
 of 10 per cent, was levied, and is still maintained. The area of 
 this fine grazing country is about four million acres, well 
 watered throughout by stream.s from the Rocky Mountains. I 
 drove over three or four of the smaller ranches lying round 
 Calgary, and also had the pleasure of a long interview with 
 
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 69 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 H 1 
 
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 Mr. Stimson, the largest rancher in Canada, who has taken up 
 100,000 acres about 50 miles south of Calgary, on the foot hills. 
 This gentleman settled on his present holding in 1881. He 
 pays the Dominion Government one halfpenny per acre rent ; 
 he has the option of buying 5,000 acres at 5^. per acre, and got 
 his usual 160 acres free for homestead purposes. At that time 
 he was ranching in Idaho, and he drove his head of 3,600 cattle 
 and 200 horses over the frontier to his new tract in Canada. In 
 five years he has increased his stock to 9,000 head of cattle, 1,000 
 calves, 500 horses, and 150 colts. This is natural increment 
 only, as he has not only bought nothing, but during the five 
 years he has sold 1,500 beasts and 100 horses, the sale of which 
 has enabled him to pay working expenses and invest ;^i,200 in 
 plant and building. He employs ten men, eight cowboys, a 
 man for the horses, and a cook. A smart cowboy can earn ;^io 
 a month and his board, so that if he doesn't care to spend his 
 money, he can save ^100 a year, and soon become a rancher on 
 his own account. Two of Mr. Stim.son's cowboys are worth 
 ;^8oo and ;^ 1,200 respectively, well invested in cattle, which run 
 with Mr. Stimson's herd. Presently they will have enough to 
 form a small herd of their own, when they will wish him good- 
 bye and start for themselves. Mr. Stimson told me that three 
 years ago he took a smart young English lad of 18 on a 
 month's trial. He was the son of an officer in the army, well 
 educated, and a strong lithe fellow, who could ride well. At 
 the end of the trial he engaged him permanently. The lad 
 saved a year's pay, took up a homestead of 160 acres, took 
 cattle on shares, he looking after them, his partner finding the 
 money, and in three years he has made ;^i,ooc out of nothing 
 but a good seat in the saddle, a clear head, and a strong 
 constitution. Any young fellow with these three qualifications, 
 who can stand a rough life in a country where he cannot get a 
 
CALGARY AND THE RANCHING COUNTRY. 
 
 6i 
 
 drop of strong drink (except on the sly in a town 50 miles away 
 from his work) can easily become a rich man in 10 or 20 years. 
 But he must serve his apprenticeship as a cowboy first, for 
 ranching, like every other trade, must be learnt. 
 
 While at Calgary we drove out with Mr. Springctt, one of the 
 Indian agents, to visit the reserves of the Sarcce Indians, a 
 fighting tribe which, under the lead of their chief. Bull's 
 Head, at one time gave a good deal of trouble to the Govern- 
 
 
 
 ; ' ^^g#^iass3.r'^!;iT?a;v^' 
 
 s^iiiSi 
 
 ■.AtSv^T^i* 
 
 bull's head. 
 
 ment, but are now peaceable enough under the generous 
 treatment they receive on their reserves. Each Canadian 
 Indian who settles on a reserve is paid five dollars a year per 
 head of his family, including the papoose of a week old. For 
 each person in his family he gets daily one pound of beef and 
 half a pound of flour, with a good allowance of tobacco and 
 tea. For his protection against the Indian's curse — strong drink 
 —the sale and manufacture of drink is prohibited throughout 
 
:|(f 
 
 62 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 the whole North-West territory, and any person, wliitc or 
 brown, found with liquor in his possession without a special 
 permit from the Governor, is fined heavily, and may be severely 
 imprisoned as well. The week before I reached Calgary a raid 
 had been made on some illicit dealers in whisky, and fines 
 amounting to iJ"26o inflicted. The interpreter who accompanied 
 my daughter and myself in our visit to the "wigwams" or 
 *' topees," as their tents are called, translated for me the high- 
 sounding names by which the braves of the Sarcees are called. 
 I will quote a few : — Big Crow, Big Bear, Big Knife, Prairie 
 Head, Badger, Bear's Cap, Going to War, Fire Long Ago, Eagle 
 Rib, Flint, Holy, Dog Skin, Hit First, Hit Twice, Lazy Boy, 
 Little Calf, Many Horses, Lodge Pole, Many Swans, Old Man 
 Spotted, Starlight, Splashing Water, Stops Outside the Lodge, 
 Heavy Behind 1 Walking in the Water, Weazel Head, Went to 
 Slaughter, Wolf Carrier, White Knife, Rolling Hills, &c. 
 
 Bull's Head, the monarch of the Sarcees, has a Civil list of 
 ten dollars a head per annum for himself and family, and two 
 pounds of beef and one of flour daily, with tobacco and tea. 
 
 In the middle of the camp was a comfortable two-storied 
 house, surrounded by a few good fields and a garden, the resi- 
 dence of Major de Bellenhard, the Government agent, whose 
 excellent wife teaches the Indian children the three R's in a 
 smart little school-house. The Indians live in tents in the 
 summer, and small one-roomed log huts in the winter. They 
 were busy getting these huts ready for occupation. Their tents 
 were about 12 feet in diameter at the base, and the whole 
 family ate, slept, and cooked their rations inside it. They sleep 
 on the floor, rolled up in blankets. The squaws are hideous and 
 over-worked. They catch and harness the pony, cut the wood, 
 dig the potato patch, smack the children, cook the food, and do 
 everything but spend the Government grant, which is all the 
 
CALGARY AND THE RANCHING COUNTRY. 
 
 63 
 
 work a brave will condescend to do, except smoke his pipe and 
 shoot an occasional duck. The Cree and Sarcee Indian has 
 no religion. He has a few superstitions, but the missionary can 
 make nothing of him. 
 
 The Indian's vices are drunkenness and gambling. The 
 mounted police make the first practically impossible. The 
 second still prevails, and an Indian will gamble away every- 
 thing he possesses, to the shirt off his back and his next issue of 
 rations. Those who know most about them despair of ever 
 
 SAKCEE SQUAW AND "ONY-CART. 
 
 bringing them into harmony with Anglo-Saxon civilization, and 
 say the reserve system must go on indefinitely. 
 
 The great feature of Calgary society is the overwhelming 
 predominance of the male sex. Hardly a woman is to be seen 
 in the streets. The men have not yet had time to think about 
 matrimony ; that will follow in a year or two, when the many 
 adventurers settle down to whatever they are fit for. Neither 
 did I see any old men. The whole population appeared to be 
 under thirty years of age, and almost entirely English. The 
 hotel at which we stayed was full to overflowing, many sleeping 
 
 ii 
 
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64 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 two in a bed, and all young men ; my daughter was the only 
 lady in the house. If the Leland Hotel had possessed a liquor 
 bar it would have been impossible for decent, quiet people to 
 stay there, and a similar town to Calgary across the frontier, in 
 
 ilM 
 
 EAGLE RIB, A SARCEE CHIEF. 
 
 Idaho, Montana, or Dakota, would have been one long avenue 
 of liquor saloons and low dancing and music halls. The same 
 clas« of population frequent Calgary— cowboys, farmers, idlers 
 waiting their chance, swarm everywhere — yet the town is as 
 
CALGARY AND THE RANCHING COUNTRY. 
 
 65 
 
 quiet as an English country village. The popular amusement is 
 the Salvation Army, conducted by a captain and three comely 
 young women, who were treated everywhere with marked respect. 
 We went to their meeting in the evening. Thev marched 
 round the town in their usual fashion, passing through crowds of 
 cowboys and similar young fellows, without encountering a jeer 
 or a coarse word. When they entered their barracks all the 
 
 "BRAVO, TED !" 
 
 men in the place swarmed in after them, to the tune of 500 or 
 600, took their seats quietly, joined heartily in the choruses of 
 the hymns, which they seemed to know by heart, and evidently 
 enjoyed themselves thoroughly. The Salvation Army young 
 ladies were cordially welcomed with clapping of hands. The 
 meetings seemed to have been successful, for there were arranged 
 in a row on the platform a dozen young fellows of the cowboy 
 pattern, who had been converted at previous meetings, and who 
 
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 66 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 I! i' 
 
 gave their experience in simple, and sometimes very touching 
 sentences. One of them was received by the whole audience 
 with several rounds of warm applause, and cries of " Bravo, 
 Ted ! " I was informed that Ted was the champion rowdy of 
 Calgary, and the population were evidently much pleased that 
 "he had got religion, and was going right ahead into better 
 ways," as my next neighbour said to me. 
 
 Ted made a rattling speech, in which he appealed very 
 pointedly to some old pals in the hall to come up to the penitent 
 form, and was launching out into somewhat minute details of his 
 past life, when the captain put both hands on his shoulders, 
 wheeled him round into his seat, and told him his was "an 
 experience that had better be taken in sections, and they would 
 have some more to-morrow night." I conversed with several of 
 the audience coming out, and they all spoke in the warmest 
 terms of the officers of the army in Calgary, and it would 
 evidently fare ill with any cowboy or idler who ventured to say 
 a rude word to any of the hallelujah lasses. My evening at the 
 Calgary barracks strengthened the high opinion I hold with 
 regard to the Salvation Army. I think nothing has impressed 
 me on my journey so much as the moral tone and great respect- 
 ability of this crude population, composed almost entirely of 
 young men whose occupation is rough, who had many of them 
 come in to the town after months of hard life on the prairie, and 
 who might naturally unbend for a little fun. If liquor were sold, 
 Calgary would be the rowdiest place in the Domin'on. Pro- 
 hibition makes it one of the quietest, most respectable, and law- 
 abiding places, with the Salvation Army barracks as its most 
 popular place of entertainment. Of course the existence of a 
 small amount of secret drinking raises in some quarters a cry for 
 a license law ; but I am quite sure that if a license law were 
 passed for the North-West territory it would become a dead 
 
C.ILGARY AND THE RANCHIXG COUSTRY. 
 
 67 
 
 letter from the universal adoption of the prohibitory clauses of 
 the Scott Act. 
 
 Calgary has a fine volunteer fire brigade, and needs it, for a 
 fire to windward in a gale would lay it in ashes in about an 
 hour. There is no gas in the town, and the streets are pitch- 
 dark at night, but in a week or two the electric light will change 
 all that. It is a curious sign of the entire newness of the line of 
 country opened up by the Canadian Pacific Railway that there 
 are many towns in which gas never has been and never will be 
 known, and where the first illuminant used in the public streets 
 has been electricity. 
 
 Calgary will be a big town veiy soon, the centre of that great 
 cattle, horse, and sheep trade that is rapidly taking up all the 
 suitable land in the district. There are now about 120,000 head 
 of cattle and 12,000 horses breeding upon the ranches, and there 
 is every reason to believe that this number will be more than 
 doubled during the next eight or ten years. 
 
 I left Calgary with regret, for I should have liked to stay on 
 and see more of the striking characteristics of a region that will 
 eventually become one of the wealthiest and most prosperous 
 provinces of the Dominion of Canada. 
 
 I would like to note that every soul in Calgary is Free Trader 
 to the backbone, for duty, sea and land frcigh*:, and the profits 
 thereon, make the cost of everything sold in the stores fully 
 double that of English stores. 
 
 
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 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
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 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE CANADIAN NATURAL PARK. 
 
 At one o'clock in the morning', on the i6th of September, we 
 got on board the Western train at Calgary Station bound for 
 Banff. The train soon reaches the Gap, the gateway of the 
 Rocky Mountains, through which the Bow River flows on its 
 1,500 miles journey to Hudson's Bay. As we were to reach 
 Banff in less than four hours, we did not get much sleep, but 
 were on the look out for the dawn to see all we could of the 
 magnificent scenery we were entering. We had just light 
 enough to see the weird rocks at Canmore, before we were 
 turned out at Banff Station in the grey of the morning. 
 We drove at once some three miles to Dr. Brett's Sanitarium, 
 the only accommodation at present available in the great 
 natural park of Canada. The Canadian Pacific Railway are 
 building a gigantic hotel which will accommodate 300 guests, 
 but it will not be open till next year. We sat down to an 
 early breakfast, and then set to work to s^^e as much as 
 possible of the beautiful, and in many respects unique scenery 
 by which we were surrounded. 
 
 Dr. Brett took us up to the top of the house that we might 
 take in the general prospect. We saw stretching out before us a 
 broad, flat valley, about two miles wide, filled with primeval 
 forest. The sombre green of pine and spruce contrasted with the 
 brilliant yellow of the fading poplar and the vermilion of dying 
 

 
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THE CANADIAN T>A TIONAL PARK. 
 
 71 
 
 maple leaf; while the Bow River — the loveliest on earth — winds 
 through the whole in a bright blue ribbon. Right in front 
 towers the snow-capped Cascade Mountain, so called from a 
 small stream which leaps i,ooo feet from its flanks. On the 
 left the Castle Mountain range — a magnificent panorama of 
 
 
 CANMORE ROCKS. 
 
 eternal snow, reminding me somewhat of the Jungfrau group as 
 seen from Lauterbrunnen ; on the right the Devil's Head 
 group, v/ith the singular rock towering above the whole mass, 
 justifying by its remarkable outline the Indian name of which 
 this is the translation, while behind are the pine-clad Sulphur 
 
72 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 Mountains, and a terrific row of lofty crags known as " The 
 Twins." The whole forms a panorama of mountains from 
 10,000 to 1 1,000 feet high, which for beauty and grandeur can 
 only be equalled by the Cortina dolomites in the Austrian 
 Tyrol. 
 
 Dr. Brett's Sanitarium is intended mainly for the reception of 
 those invalids who require the treatment which the hot sulphur 
 spring furnishes, and we took our fi'ot walk to see the caves 
 from which these healing fountains issue. The two principal 
 
 
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 /^^^^^..-.^M 
 
 
 
 CASTLE MOUNTAIN. 
 [From a sketch by the Author^ 
 
 springs, which are now being utilised, flow from the central 
 spur of Sulphur Mountain, 8oo feet above the l(;vel of the Bow 
 River. The main spring issues at the rate of a million and a 
 half gallons daily, and has a temperature of 1 1 5 degrees. At a 
 short distance another spring is found, of a heat about 85 
 degrees, which is used for a plunge-bath. On the other flank 
 of the mountain is a cave, with a narrow entrance up which 
 a wooden ladder leads into a spacious chamber, lighted by 
 a hole in the stalactite roof. In this chamber is a large pool 
 about 30 feet wide and from 3 to 6 feet deep, in which hot 
 
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THE CANADIAN NATIONAL PARK. 
 
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 springs bubble which fill the cave with steam, and make the 
 atmosphere almost unbearable with the sulphur fumes which are 
 thrown off. !"ersons suffering from rheumatism bathe in this 
 cave, and some wonderful cures have been performed. A 
 crutch hangs on the wall with this dubious label on it, " Owner 
 has gone home ! " 
 
 I do not pretend to know anything about the curative proper- 
 ties of these springs, but as the leading medical men of the 
 United States and Canada seem all agreed about recommending 
 them for various diseases, it is probable that Banff will become a 
 place of great resort for invalids troubled with rheumatism and 
 affections of the skin and blood. There is a nice plunge-bath 
 in the open air near the bath-house, in which the water stands 
 at about 85 degrees, and in which I had a pleasant swim. 
 Without the springs, the bracing and pure air and the delightful 
 scenery will always be sufficient to attract thousands of visitors 
 every year. 
 
 Just below the sanitarium is a new iron bridge, almost com- 
 pleted, which is to take the place of the bridge of boats which 
 is now the only means of communication between the hotel and 
 springs and the railway station. On a bit of cleared forest at 
 one end of the bridge, a handsome, aristocratic Englishman 
 lives in a' small tent, looking after half-a-dozen canoes belonging 
 to one of the small inns. He is reputed to be the Honourable 
 Somebody Something, and looks the part well enough. The Twin 
 Peaks, the great feature of Banff, are best seen from this bridge. 
 
 The liow River presents a most attractive appearance to the 
 angler, but does not, in experience, come up to his expectations. 
 There are trout, and large ones too, but they are hard to catch, 
 and have an aggravating way of inspectiog your fly, which they 
 follow to the bank, and then refuse with slow scorn. I tried 
 every fly in my book, from a " Dusty miller " to a black gnat, 
 
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 76 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 but could catch nothing at all. A youth who came along 
 informed me that " it was no use trying with them things, 
 guv'nor — you try a bit of beef liver ! " Later on in the day I met 
 an angler who had come down to "beef," and he caught one 
 small and pallid trout. On rare occasions they take fly in the 
 spring and early summer, but they have a bad character for 
 capriciousness generally. I heard of wonderful fish being caught in 
 the Devil's Head Lake, a piece of water about 10 miles from Banff. 
 I saw a man who had been there and had caught jy trout, weighing 
 220 Ibti., in a single day, trolling with a couple of hand-lines and 
 spoon-bait, and one trout weighing 43 lbs. was caught there last 
 year with a piece of beef. The place was too distant for me to 
 reach, as it is uphill, and the only path an old Indian trail, but 
 an active young Englishman rode over during our visit and did 
 his best, but never saw a fish of any kind. The following day 
 we explored one of the small streams tributary to the Bow, with 
 a view to learning how to manage an Indian birch-bark canoe. 
 These canoes are so light that a boy can lift them out of the 
 water and carry them on his back. The paddler sits or kneels 
 in the stern and propels the canoe with a broad, single-bladed 
 paddle, steering with a sort of back stroke that takes a good deal 
 of learning. However, I managed to canoe my daughter up 
 two or three miles of a swift running brook, and across a very 
 beautiful lake from which it flowed called the Vermilion Lake. 
 Probably no white man had ever seen that lake till two or three 
 years ago, and it was a most perfect bit of wild and untouched 
 nature. The day before, we had vainly endeavoured to reach 
 this lake by land, but the forest was so dense with fallen trees 
 piled one over the other that it was quite impassable. I cannot 
 find words adequately to describe the unique charms of the 
 primitive and unspoiled scenery. The lake was as smooth as 
 glass, its banks were a wild tangle of brushwood, poplar and 
 

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THE CANADIAN NATIONAL PARK. 
 
 79 
 
 maple, a perfect blaze of autumn red and gold, out of which 
 sprang tall and s-jmbre cedars and piie trees. Behind these 
 were the snow-clad mountains, the whole perfectly repeated on 
 the surface of the water. 
 
 We spent a quiet and pleasant Sunday at Banff. This rising 
 watering-place cannot yet boast a place of worship, though :. 
 wooden Weslcyan chapel is nearly finished, and a site has been 
 selected on which to build an Episcopal church. Service is 
 held in the Town Hall, a humble edifice of logs and shingles. 
 The only regular service is on Sunday evening, conducted by 
 Mr. Williams, the Wesleyan minister, an energetic young Welsh- 
 man, who for many years had been doing a fine pioneer work 
 amongst these new western villages and towns. His service is 
 largely attended by the workpeople engaged in building the new 
 hotel, by whom he is greatly esteemed. He also holds a morning 
 service at Anthracite, a colony of coal miners, about eight miles 
 from Banff. The Episcopalians hold a morning service when 
 they can catch a clergyman, and this Sunday they caught a real 
 live bishop, the Bishop of Saskatchewan, who is a good father to 
 his own children, whatever he may be to his scattered diocese, 
 as any one could tell who saw him feeding his baby most 
 tenderly with spoon-meat at breakfast in the hotel. He was 
 accompanied by the archdeacon, a jolly young Irish-Canadian, 
 who occupied a front seat at the Wesleyan service in the evening, 
 a not unusual occurrence in Canada, where the absence of a 
 State Church leads the Episcopalian clergy into more cordial 
 intercourse with their brethren of other denominations than 
 seems possible in the old country. 
 
 The whole of the Banff valley and adjacent mountains, to the 
 extent of 100,000 acres, have been set apart by the Dominion 
 Government as a national park for ever. They have voted 
 various sums of .noney, in all about ;^ 16,000, for the making of 
 
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 i'lrili 
 
 ,li''!' I 
 
 80 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 roads and footpaths through the dense forests to various points 
 of attraction, and will continue to vote further sums until the 
 work is satisfactorily completed. I had two conversations with 
 Mr. G. A Stewart, the National Park Ranger, who explained to 
 me all that he intends doing, and the work could not be in better 
 or wiser hands. He will let nature alone as mi'.ch as possible ; 
 he will strictly preserve all the wild beasts and birds, carefully 
 regulate the fisheries, and content himself with making good 
 roads and pathways through and through the Reserve to all 
 
 B AW-'^ vr, 
 
 CASCADE MOUNTAIN. 
 {From a sketch by the Author.") 
 
 points of interest. He will also endeavour to acclimatise forest 
 trees not indigenous to the soil. No land speculator can smirch 
 the beauty of the place, as no land will be sold, only leased under 
 strict terms and for specific purposes. When Mr. Stewart has 
 completed his labours, the Canadian National Park will be one 
 of the most attractive holiday resorts on the globe. 
 
 The park will be 24 miles long and 9 wide. Within its 
 area will be found 1 5 miles of the Bow River (of which 9 are 
 deep water, capable of navigation by a small steamer), 6 miles 
 
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THE CANADIAN NATIONAL PARK. 
 
 83 
 
 of the Spray River, a clear crystal 
 mountain stream with a fall of 
 \QO feet within the limits of the park, 
 flowing through a forest which just now is 
 one blaze of orange, vermilion, and gold. The 
 Ghost River and the Cascade River, the Forty Mile Creek, 
 and half a dozen other brooks, combine altogether a great 
 wealth of the finest river scenery, in infinite variety. The 
 area of the park also contains the Devil's Lake, 12 miles long 
 and 2 wide, and the Vermilion Lakes. The water of these 
 fine sheets is deep and clear, and mountain ranges on each 
 side rising thousands of feet above their surface, present 
 scenery of the g^re«itest t?eauty. The Vermilion Lakes are 
 
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 '1 . li-W<' 
 
 I 
 
84 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
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 ^i 
 
 111 
 
 til : 
 
 linked together by short streams navigable by light canoes, 
 and are the resort of a great variety of wild fowl. 
 
 The junction of the Bow and Spray River is extremely 
 beautiful. The Bow falls over a leap of rock about 70 feet high, 
 in a succession of cascades, into a fine pool about 200 feet across, 
 into which the Spray rushes. The Tunnel Mountain breaks just 
 over this_^ pool into a frowning piecipice 700 or 800 feet high, 
 the broken base of which is covered with a wealth of maple, 
 poplar, and undergrowth, the autumn colour of which beggars 
 all description. 
 
 Large game as well as fish are becoming very scarce in the 
 neighbourhood of the National Park. It has long been a 
 favourite hunting ground of the Indians resident in a large 
 surrounding area. Skin hunters, Indian fishers, who net the 
 streams, and lately have added other resources of civilisation in 
 the shape of dynamite, have made sad havoc. Mr. Stewart fully 
 realises the importance of preserving the animals and fish, which 
 add so many wild attractions to the scenic beauty of the 
 National Park. Among the four-footed game still to be met 
 with in its area is the Wapiti deer, or blue elk, admirably adapted 
 by form and habit to the park-like woodlands which fringe the 
 small prairies and cover the green slopes of the surrounding 
 mountains, while the gullies which extend far up the mountain 
 sides afford ample shelter during the winter. The lesser deer 
 are more numerous, and are often to be seen in the glades. 
 Among these are the black- tail, the white-tail or jumping deer, 
 the red deer, and the prong-horn antelope. In the mountain 
 tops are bands of big-horns, a huge wild sheep familiar by name 
 to all boys who love Mayne Reid and Fennimore Cooper, as well 
 as goats with long silky hair, much hunted by Indians for their 
 handsome skins. 
 
 There are three kinds of bears— grizzly, cinnamon, and black. 
 
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tHE CANADIAN NATIONAL PARK. 
 
 Zj 
 
 The gn'zzly is almost extinct except in remote and un- 
 explored parts of the Rocky Mountains; and the cinnamon 
 and black bear are vegetarian feeders, harmless unless wantonly 
 attacked.- There are many other beautiful animals pursued by 
 Indian and other hunters for their fur, such as beavers, otter, 
 musk, fishers, muskrats, martens, badgers, marmots, squirrels, and 
 such-like, as well as many varieties of plumage and song birds. 
 
 All these Mr. Stewart proposes strictly to preserve and en- 
 courage, while at the same time he will endeavour to ex- 
 terminate all those animals which prey upon others, such as 
 wolves, coyotes, foxes, lynxes, skunks, wild cats, catamounts, 
 panthers, and porcupines, together with such birds of prey 
 as feed upon fish. 
 
 Feathered game consists chiefly of migratory or water-fowl. 
 Wild swans, geese, and ducks breed freely in the lakes, swamps, 
 and woodland streams, the Bow River being one of the great 
 migration waters from the valley of the Columbia River. Besides 
 these, herons, bitterns, gulls, grebes, pelicans, cormorants, land- 
 rails, coots, partridge, blue grouse, ptarmigan, sage-cock, and 
 prairie fowl all nest and hatch in spring and summer time, an 
 added charm to the wanderer who loves nature in all its forms. 
 These also will be strictly preserved. 
 
 The fish in the various streams comprise white fish, which 
 takes no bait or fly, having a small mouth and living on 
 suction — a fine fish for the pan, however; several varieties of 
 trout, one of which, salmo irideus, I had never seen before I 
 caught one with a small phantom minnow — it is so called 
 from its brilliant rainbow-like tints when first cai St ; grayling, 
 which take the fly well, mountain herring, a .ight silvery 
 little fish, very like the Welsh " gwyniad " ; gold eyes, a sort 
 of carp cat-fish, small chub, and suckers. The trout spawn 
 in April and May, but get into good condition in September. 
 
83 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 J 'Mi 
 
 lii!' : 
 
 1 ; I 
 
 I had a breakfast of the salino iridens, which was excellent 
 eating, with firm white flesh. 
 
 Mr. Sicwart wisely intends to confine all fishing t^ fair rod 
 and line only, solely for sport and private use, and to increase 
 the stock, now sadly worn down by the improvident destructive- 
 ness of Indian fishing, by artificial hatching and rearing. He will 
 also plant the lakes and marshes with wild rice, which is very 
 attractive to wild fowl of every kind, both for food and shelter. 
 
 Mr. Stewart also proposes, by damming up some portions of 
 the many streams which run through the park to fill up a chain 
 of old marshes, and turn them into lakes. I rather protested 
 against this interference with nature, for I found a special 
 beauty in these marshes such as I had never seen before. 
 But he explained that his chief object was not so much to 
 create lakes as to act as a fire-break from the many con-* 
 flagrations which rage through the Rocky Mountains during 
 the summer, and which might at any time sweep through the 
 National Park. There was some dread of this during the 
 late very dry summer, when forest fires have been frequent 
 and extensive. I have myself seen areas of 15 or 20 square 
 miles of burnt forest, with every vestige of green life burnt 
 up, and only the thicker trees standing up, the gaunt charred 
 ghosts of their former grandeur. 
 
 Mr. Stewart also talks of importing pheasants and quails 
 from Vancouver Island, where they were introduced some 
 yearL ago, and have thriven. 
 
 It is proposed to give the Indians who have hitherto hunted, 
 trapped, and fished over the area of the National Park some 
 compensation in the shape of increased rations or other 
 allowance, and then absolutely prohibit them from further 
 operations of the kind. It is thought that with an efficient staff 
 of police at Banff to maintain order, enforce regulations, and 
 
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 11 
 
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THE CANADIAN NATIONAL PARK. 
 
 91 
 
 uphold the special measures necessary, composed of forest rangers 
 qualified by mountain experience and familiarity with the haunts 
 and habits of the wild animals of the country, of which force 
 selected Indians would form a part, there would be no difficulty 
 in jj^ining the objects in view, and in securing the strictest 
 protection for the game and fish still inhabiting the park. 
 
 The Government have been urged to establish at Banff a 
 museum of Natural history and an aquarium, so that the 
 efforts of Mr. Stewart may be made of service to science, 
 and no doubt this recommendation will be carried out. 
 
 9Kfr::'Sjt. 
 
 CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY HOTEL, BANFF. 
 
 Such then are, briefly, the particulars of one of the most 
 interesting experiments of modern times, and I venture to 
 predict that in a few years, when it has been thus cared for 
 and opened out by roads and pathways, there will be few 
 more delightful holiday resorts in the world than the National 
 Park of the Dominion of Canada. 
 
 The magnificent hotel which is being built by the Canadian 
 Pacific Railway will furnish that foreground to the maf- 
 vellous landscape which always won the special admiration of 
 Dr. Johnson. 
 
 \" 
 
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 1 
 
 *'ll 
 
I I Ml 
 
 
 VIEW IN THE SELKIRKS. 
 {From a sketch by the Author.") 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE SELKIRKS. 
 
 On Monday, September 19th, we were 
 roused from our beds at 4 o'clock A.M., 
 as the westward bound daily train passed 
 through Banff at five o'clock. At the 
 station we met with the only instance of neglect of duty on the 
 perfectly-ordered Canadian Pacific Railway. The station-master 
 did not condescend to leave his warm bed to see the train off, 
 and we had to carry our luggage ourselves from the omnibus 
 to the luggage car, and let them go on unchecked to Field, 
 our next stopping place. It was a cold, sleety morning, and 
 the magnificent scenery through which we passed was not 
 
THE SELKIRKS, 
 
 93 
 
 seen to the best advantage, as the tops of the mountain." 
 were enveloped in snow clouds. At seven we passed a 
 
 SUMMIT LAKE. 
 
 Station called Silver City. Three or four years ago there 
 was a " boom " in silver mines in the Rocky Mountains ; a 
 good deal of exploration went on, and a considerable wooden 
 
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 •MilKfi 
 
 ;! 1 
 
 94 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 village was built. But there was no "silver," and now there 
 is no "city." Its glory has departed, and only the empty 
 and deserted log-houses remain to tell of its butterfly existence. 
 Shortly after, Mount Lefroy, a commanding snowy peak 
 11,658 feet above sea-level, comes into view, and presently 
 the birthplace of the noble Bow River is discerned in a small 
 glacier wedged in between Mount Hector and Goat Mountain, 
 both over 10,000 feet. Then the highest point of the railway 
 is reached, 5,300 feet above the sea, at the summit lake, 
 marshy and shallow, from which trickles a stream at each 
 end, one of which travels 2,000 miles to the Atlantic, and 
 the other 1,500 to the Pacific Ocean. We now bid good-bye 
 to the beautiful Bow River, which has been our genial 
 companion for so many pleasant days, and under the shadow 
 of Mount Stephen, the monarch of the Rocky Mountains, 
 said to be over 12,000 feet, and named after the president 
 of the Canadian Pacific Railway, we enter Kicking Horse 
 Pass. This pass received its ridiculous name from an incident 
 connected with some obstreperous horse ridden by one of 
 the surveyors of the line, which will stick to it for ever. A 
 magnificent view meets the gaze. A huge valley, filled from 
 side to side with magnificent pines and cedars, their dark 
 green intensified by the red-brown of huge areas burnt up 
 by forest fires, in which the enormous trunks stand up like 
 black masts 200 feet high, and 10 or 12 feet thick, is flanked 
 by peak and pinnacle, the Kicking Horse River meandering 
 through the bottom like a silver ribbon. The train, with two 
 powerful engines reversed, and every brake screwed to its 
 tightest, slides down a gradient of 1,250 feet in less than 10 
 miles. The road is cut out of the sides of great cliff's, hundreds 
 of feet above the roaring torrent, and every now and then 
 we crawl over a trestle bridge two or three hundred feet 
 

 
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THE SELKIRKS. 
 
 97 
 
 above some gorge torn out of the mountain side by a rushing 
 torrent. At nine o'clock we draw up at Field Station, a lonely 
 
 
 FIELD STATION. 
 
 post in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, where the Canadian 
 Pacific Railway Company have built a comfortable little hotel, 
 
 B 
 
98 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 I 11 
 
 at which we decide to stay for 24 hours. It was a great com- 
 fort to know, as we came down this terrible descent, that we 
 were travelling on rails made from good honest Cumberland 
 Haematite. I have noted, with interest, but without surprise, 
 that the word " Barrow " always appeared on the rails which the 
 Canadian Pacific Railway have laid down in dangerous places, 
 or where there is specially heavy wear and tear. 
 
 We found the hotel at Field one of the most comfortable 
 and well-ordered hotels in Canada, and the manager at once 
 claimed acquaintance with me as having "voted for me when 
 I stood for Liverpool." Our party, consisting of four officers 
 from the Fleet at Esquimault, Mr. F. W. Gibbs, Q.C., a most 
 delightful and charming travelling companion, a young friend 
 of his, my daughter, and myself, very nearly filled the little 
 hostelry, which we had to ourselves. After an excellent 
 breakfast, the materials for which were brought from Calgary, 
 130 miles away, the nearest town where a shop exists, we 
 sallied forth to view the magnificent scenery. The landlord 
 informed us that he had the day before set a snare for 
 mountain goats, and invited us to go up the mountain for a 
 mile or so, to see if any had been caught. All went except 
 my daughter and myself, and we started off for a walk down 
 the line, the railway being actually the only path of any 
 kind for 30 miles each way through the dense forest which 
 everywhere clothes the mountain sides, and which is prac- 
 tically impassable. About a mile from the station the valley 
 narrowed to a very small space, with the Kicking Horse 
 River running quietly between two gravelly banks. Here 
 we saw a very fine bear on the other side of the river, coming 
 in and out of the woods, seemingly hunting for something 
 on the gravel beds. Just at that moment three or four men 
 from Field, line inspectors, came up on a hand trolly, and 
 
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 ; places, 
 
 ifortable 
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 excellent 
 Calgary, 
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 landlord 
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 Here 
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 "our men 
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THE\ S ELK IRKS. 
 
 lOI 
 
 we called their attention to the bear. They at once turned 
 back to the Field Station, begging us to follow down the 
 line keeping Mr. Bear in sight, as he showed himself every 
 now and then out of the wood, while they fetched a miner 
 who owned a Winchester rifle, and who was a crack shot. 
 In about half-an-hour he arrived. We had seen the bear 
 frequently, and pointed out the spot where we had last noticed 
 him. The owner of the rifle at once plunged up to the 
 middle in the icy river, waded across, and entered the wood 
 stealthily. In a few minutes the bear trotted out on the 
 gravel, much perturbed in his mind. Presently he seemed 
 reassured, and began to grub in the ground with his nose. 
 Then the hunter crept out of the bushes till he was well 
 within range. Taking aim, he gave a shrill whistle ; the 
 startled bear threw up his head, and in a moment he was 
 shot through the heart, and all was over. The others then 
 rushed through the river, dragged him back through the 
 water, and presently he was laid on the trolly in triun.ph. 
 He was a fine " silver-tip " bear, about as big as a large calf, 
 with very formidable teeth and claws. I have his skin, which 
 I shall get dressed into a hearthrug when I reach Victoria. 
 
 On Tuesday morning, the 20th, we again took train, and 
 journeyed as far as "Glacier House," another comfortable 
 little hotel erected by the Canadian Pacific Railway at the 
 foot of the great glacier which comes down from the eternal 
 snowfields of Mount Sir Donald, the highest peak of the 
 Selkirk Range, about 11,000 feet above the sea, named 
 after one of the directors and first promoters of the railway, 
 Sir Donald Smith. We reached it at noon, and after lunch 
 started off to explore the glacier, to the foot of which a trail 
 has been cleared. It is a fine and imposing glacier, half-a- 
 tn'le wide, and seven or eight miles long, but bearing 
 
 !;f.J 
 
102 
 
 A TRIP RO'JND THE WORLD. 
 
 I "i '^m 
 
 no comparison whatever with such vast ice fields as the 
 Corner or Aletsch glaciers in Switzerland. It was covered 
 with fresh snow, and looked very beautiful in the bright 
 sunlight. Mount Sir Donald has never yet been climbed, 
 and there is a legend at the hotel that the first man to 
 reach the summit will receive a thousand dollars and a 
 free pass over the line for his life, from the directors of the 
 Canadian Pacific Railway. In the opinion of my friend 
 Mr. Gibbs, Q.C., who is a member of the Alpine Club, the 
 thousand dollars may be pocketed by the first smart Alpine 
 Clubbist who comes along, and certainly to my comparatively 
 inexperienced eye it did not seem impossible to an active 
 Cumberland shepherd. It is however a superb mountain. 
 
 The scenery of the Selkirk Range is finer in all respects 
 than the Rocky Mountaiii ., which are devoid of glaciers, and 
 also of any extent of snow fields. From the railway platform 
 at Glacier House there is a view which rivals any of the 
 notable Swiss cycloramas, and I counted at least a dozen 
 fine peaks, all of which appeared to be at least 10,000 feet 
 high, and whose flanks bore miles of snow fields and many 
 picturesque, though comparatively small glaciers. The Hermit 
 Range, so named from its fancied resemblance to a Monk 
 of St. Bernard followed by his dog, is as fine a group of 
 snow mountains as the world can furnish. 
 
 Next morning we walked up the line to see the great snow 
 sheds, and some of the trestle bridges which span the cataracts 
 rushing down the sides of these magnificent mountains. One 
 of these bridges is 176 feet high and 600 feet long, and 
 another crosi-ing the Canyon of Stoney Creek is 296 feet 
 high and 450 feet long. These structures are truss bridges 
 supported upon great timber towers, built up from the bottom 
 of the valley far below, and Stoney Creek Bridge is the highest 
 
THE BEAR HUNT. 
 
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THE SELKIRKS. 
 
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 timber railway bridge in the world. The whole structure is 
 
 of wood, cut from the forests through which the railway travels. 
 
 The snow sheds are solid buildings of crib work and piling, 
 
 SNOW SHEDS. 
 
 with very strong roofs of two courses, one of logs and another of 
 planks, strongly backed with heavy stone work. These sheds 
 are placed along the line wherever the devastated track of a 
 "snow slide" or avalanche appears on the mountain side. It 
 
 % 
 
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 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 is impossible to describe adequately the tremendous power of 
 these Selkirk avalanches. Enormous volumes of snow gather 
 during the winter in some hollow high up the mountain 
 side, and in spring rush down with a force which nothing 
 can resist into the valley below. Everything is swept before 
 them — trees of the largest size, boulders, soil, brushwood, are 
 torn up and tumbled into a confused mass at the bottom of 
 the valley. The wind caused by the avalanche is almost as 
 resistless as the slide itself, and the trees on each side of its 
 track for a wide area are broken into matchwood. These slides 
 have been a great difficulty and danger to the line, and have 
 caused stoppage of the tiaffic for weeks at a time, besides much 
 loss of life. But now the trai)is run through the snow sheds, and 
 their powerful roofs, inclined to the angle of the slide, enables 
 the snow and debris to shoot harmlessly over. There are still 
 some 3,000 men at work along the line at these various snow 
 sheds, some of which are over half a mile long, and their many 
 canvas encampments form picturesque incidents in the scenery 
 through which the line passes. The Canadian Pacific Railway 
 Company engage to feed and lodge them for four dollars a 
 week, and right well these fellows live, with three good meat 
 meals a day, and the finest air in the world for sauce. 
 
 During the morning we walked back up the line to Rogers Pass, 
 the highest point reached by the railway in crossing the Selkirk 
 Range. Here is a collection of wooden shanties, used as liquor- 
 saloons, music and dancing-houses, and places of worse resort 
 still, to which the more loose-living of these workmen resort. I 
 found, however, that the bulk of them were steady, sober men, 
 intent on saving their surplus wages, and on the look-out for 
 favourable chances in this new country. There- was a good deal 
 of snow at Rogers Pass, which is a narrow gorge closely hemmed 
 in by lofty snow-clad mountains. 
 
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THE SELKIRKS. 
 
 109 
 
 Leaving Glacier House on Wednesday, 2 1st, we found 
 attached to the train one of the handsome private travelling 
 carriages which are used by directors and officials on the long 
 lines which cross the American Continent, and which are 
 travelling homes of both comfort and luxury. Shortly after 
 starting, a coloured servant brought me a card bearing the name 
 of Mr. Baker, the General Superintendent of the Manitoba and 
 North- Western Railway, a line which opens up a fine agricul- 
 tural district north of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Mr. Baker 
 wished my daughter and me to ride through the beautiful scenery 
 of the Selkirk range in his carriage, which,, being at the tail of 
 the train, commanded a clear view, and he also asked us to dine 
 with him afterwards. He first showed us over his car, in which 
 he lives all the year round for nine days out of fourteen 
 travelling up and down his line. It was a carriage somewhat 
 longer than a North-Western first-class coach. It was divided 
 into a dining-room, large drawing-room, kitchen, pantry, and two 
 comfortable bedrooms, all handsomely furnished, with a small 
 platform or terrace at each end, on one of which was kept the 
 stores in ice-lined boxes, and the other was a sort of balcony on 
 which to sit and view the passing scenery. An admirable dinner 
 was served, consisting of soup, oysters, roast beef, two vegetables, 
 pudding, and dessert, with a cup of excellent coffee. Mr. Baker 
 was taking a holiday with some English friends. The car was 
 shunted at any station along the line which they wished to visit, 
 and the party were enjoying excellent opportunities for sport on 
 the many lakes along the prairie, the resorts of a great variety of 
 wild-fowl, as well as being able to see the whole scenery of the 
 Rockies and the Selkirks by daylight, by hooking on to freight 
 and ballast trains. We left them behind about ten o'clock, p.m. 
 on an arm cf the great Shuswap Lake, wheiie they had good 
 duck shooting next day, while Mr. Baker killed six trout over 
 
 
no 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 2 lbs. each. Soon after quitting Glacier House Station, the 
 railway descends 600 feet in two miles of actual distance. This 
 is done by utilizing two ravines which meet at right angles, 
 and is a triumph of engineering skill. The line runs along one 
 side of the first gorge for about a mile, then crosses a high 
 bridge, and romes back along the other side close to where 
 it started, but on a much lower level ; thence it runs into the 
 
 ir ■ 
 
 THE GREAT BEND. 
 
 second ravine, crosses it high up 
 its course, coming back down the 
 opposite side 120 feet below its entrance, yet only 130 feet 
 further down the pass ; then it doubles upon itself in the main 
 valley, crosses the river, and presently recrosses. From the top 
 of these loops one can view six almost parallel lines of railway, 
 each at a lower level than the others, and the whole largely 
 composed of trestle bridges and elaborate timber cribbing. 
 It is a wonderful sight to stand at the top and watch a train 
 
ligh up 
 iwn the 
 30 feet 
 e main 
 the top 
 railway, 
 largely 
 ribbing. 
 a train 
 
 Roger's pass: the summit of the selkirks. 
 
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THE SELKIRKS. 
 
 "3 
 
 twist in and out of this succession of loops like some hissing 
 snake. The whole forms a remarkable feat of engineering skill. 
 
 Morning found us in the 
 Gold Range, running down p 
 the valley of the Thompson 
 River, a tributary of the 
 great Fraser River, into which 
 it flowed at Lytton, a colony 
 of gold miners. The Gold 
 Range is not so lofty as 
 either the Selkirks or the 
 Rockies. There are no 
 glaciers at all, but many of 
 the peaks are snow-capped, 
 and the sides of the moun- 
 tains have a much greater 
 variety of timber, giving a 
 richness and depth of colour 
 which is more beautiful than 
 the dark greens of the loftier 
 ranges. As we descend the 
 slopes, and get into the valley 
 of the great Fraser River, we 
 reach the better settled parts 
 of British Columbia, and the 
 landscape is brightened by 
 farmsteads, Indian villages, 
 and Chinese camps, engaged 
 in the three leading industries 
 of the country — farming, 
 
 salmon preserving, and mining. Every now and then a group 
 of Indians would be seen, ingeniously hanging dried salmon on 
 
 I 
 
 INDIAN SALMON CACHE, 
 
 \-l i 
 
 I 
 
114 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 trees in such fashion that bears or other climbing animals cannot 
 reach them. This is the country of big trees and endless forest, 
 which must eventually beccme the main timber supply of the 
 whole Am-^rican Continent, as the vast and increasing population 
 of the States consumes its own limited and rapidly decreasing 
 lumber districts. All through British Columbia the summer 
 is warm and rainless, and its forests are scourged by continual 
 fires, mainly the result of careless Indians and other dwellers in 
 tents. We saw many of these forest fires, for which, when near 
 the line, probably sparks from Canadian Pacific Railway 
 engines are mainly responsible. In ordinary pine woods they 
 rage through the brushwood and undergrowth, the big trees 
 escaping with a scorching, which does not seem greatly to 
 injure them, except in appearance. But wherever there are 
 big cedars the flames burn merrily, and everything is destroyed. 
 The trunks of these trees become hollow and decayed, and 
 when they are reached by the fire they draw like a factory 
 chimney, and the trunk falling, with its 200 feet long in blaze, 
 gives the fire a fresh start. It is surprising with what speed 
 this genial climate fills up the blackened spaces with fresh 
 vegetation, and ten or twelve years replaces the fallen giants 
 with thriving children which an English park might feel very 
 proud to raise in thirty years of growth. 
 
 Sometimes these fires are disagreeably hot to the passengers 
 on board the train, as they rush through them at the rate of 
 25 miles an hour. On one occasion a whole train, except one 
 carriage, was entirely destroyed. The engine driver was 
 running through as usual, when he ran quietly off the rails 
 into the middle of the track. The heat of the fire had ex- 
 panded the rails and warped them. The passengers were 
 all got out easily enough, as it is possible to walk from one 
 end of an American train to the other, and no one was seriously 
 
TtJE SELKIRICS. 
 
 Its 
 
 injured except the conductor, who was badly burned in trying 
 to get out the mails. They managed to get away the end car, 
 a Pullman sleeping car, but the rest of the train added itself 
 to the ashes of the forest fire. 
 
 It is, however, after all but a small percentage of these 
 vast forests which fall under this scourge, and every station 
 affords proof, by the quantity of logs, dressed timber, and 
 firewood waiting despatch, that the new railway is laying 
 the foundation for one of the biggest lumber trades in the 
 world. 
 
 Up the valley of the Fraser, and afterwards up the 
 Thompson, runs the only waggon road in British Columbia, from 
 New Westminster to Cariboo, the centre of the gold-mining 
 district, round which there are also several flourishing settle- 
 ments of farmers. This road was made by the Government 
 of British Columbia at very great cost, and the lower portion 
 of it is now superseded, so far as through traffic is concerned, 
 by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The traffic on this road is 
 carried on by waggons drawn by teams of oxen, ten or twelve 
 yoked together, and it is also used by Indians moving their 
 camps from point to point after salmon and game of various 
 kinds. 
 
 The Fraser River is the' chief watercourse of; British 
 Columbia, rising in the far north of the Rocky Mountains, and 
 is navigable for about 120 miles from the sea. The railway 
 follows it for 250 miles, giving an infinite variety of beautiful 
 scenery. Now it flows through some deep and rocky ravine, 
 foaming and tumbling in a series of rapids and falls, then 
 flowing in rippling stream and placid pool, forming sand 
 bars which are being washed over for gold by the industrious 
 heathen Chinee, and other " placer " miners, and presently 
 broadening into a noble river, navigable by steamboats, dotted 
 
 I 2 
 
ii6 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 m 
 
 i!:i 
 
 il 
 
 iiJJ 
 
 by Indian canoes salmon fishing, and bordered by variegated 
 timber ablaze with autumn gold and copper, with every now 
 and then a comfortable homestead farm and herds of fine 
 cattle. At New Westminster, 15 miles from the mouth, it 
 widens into a stream two miles across, from whence it distributes 
 its wealth in ocean ships and steamers all over the world. I saw 
 a vessel leave New Westminster for London with 2,200 tons of 
 tinned salmon on board. 
 
 SALMON CANNERY ON THE FRASER, 
 
 We got out on the morning of the 22nd, at the little roadside 
 station of Agassiz, that we might spend 24 hours on Harrison 
 Lake, a sheet of water 50 miles long, in the heart of the best 
 district of British Columbia. We drove in a waggon some six 
 miles over the very worst road I ever saw in my life, to a new 
 hotel which has just been built on the edge of the lake, the 
 only hoi!se upon its beautiful shores, but which we found very 
 comfortable and scrupulously clean. The lake is surrounded 
 by two ranges of mountains, the first densely wooded to the 
 
THE SELKmKS. 
 
 117 
 
 summit, the second bare and snowcapped. The scenery is 
 about half way between Windermere and Como. With the 
 exception of the rough track from the station, there is not a 
 footpath which does not end lOO yards from the hotel in dense 
 impenetrable forest. We spent the day on the lake, exploring 
 its beauties, and occasionally trying for a big trout, but only 
 catching one very small one of remarkable beauty. 
 
 The next day we went on to Vancouver, the Pacific terminus 
 of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and brought to a close a 
 
 ti 
 
 HARRISON LAKE. 
 \From a sketch by the Author.) 
 
 railway journey of over 3,(XXD miles, which, whether for human 
 interest or natural beauty, far exceeds any previous journey 
 of my life. 
 
 Vancouver is the youngest town in Canada. It was 
 commenced less than three years ago, when it was a forest 
 of Douglas pines, cedars, and spruce, of enormous size. I 
 measured one stump which had been sawn off about 6 feet 
 from the ground, and it was 1 1 feet 8 inches across. In June 
 last year, after it had reached a respectable infancy, Vancouver 
 
 ' 1 
 
 i r 
 
ii8 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 was completely burnt down, not a house escaping, so that the 
 present " city," as the Vancouverites insist on calling it, is just 
 fifteen months' old. It is of course still a wooden town, but 
 several fine brick and stone buildings are already erected, and 
 many are rapidly reaching completion. The Canadian Pacific 
 Railway Hotel is a handsome building, almost ready for 
 opening, which will accommodate some 200 guests. Extensive 
 wharves and warehouses line the shore, and ocean-going 
 steamers of 3,000 or 4,000 tons can load and discharge there, 
 The main street is full of handsome shops, and there is a busy, 
 hardworking population of 4,000 souls, mostly men. Van- 
 couver will be a town of 20,000 or 30,000 popula ion before 
 it is ten years old. 
 
THE *'YOSEMITE" LEAVING VANCOUVER. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 v.. 
 
 
 On Saturday, the 25th, we left Vancouver in the steamer 
 " Yosemite " for Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, where 
 we were to spend a fortnight previous to sailing for Japan. I have 
 long been anxious to see this colony, so remote and inaccessible 
 until it has been brought near by the Canadian Pacific Railway. 
 Five years ago the only direct communication between British 
 Columbia and the mother-country was by sea round the Horn, 
 a voyage of six or seven months for the smart barques which 
 have so long carried on the trade, and which show no signs of 
 being displaced by the railway. Now the two countries are 
 within 14 or 15 days of each other, and the ease with which 
 emigrants can reach this land of infinite capacity and resources 
 will quickly develop it into one of the most important portions 
 of our Colonial Empire. I propose to give a brief account of the 
 impressions I have formed of British Columbia, based upon 
 careful investigations made during the three weeks I have 
 travelled over it — investigations in which I have had the guidance 
 
I20 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 w 
 
 l: 
 
 I 
 
 il'i 
 
 and help of the Lieut.-Governor, Mayor Fell, Senator Macdonald, 
 and many other old colonists. 
 
 The sail from Vancouver to Victoria gives one a very good 
 idea of the general characteristics of the country, which has been 
 compared to a sea of mountains and valleys. These valleys as 
 they approach the sea become long inlets often lOO miles in 
 length, which large ocean-going steamers can navigate to the 
 very top, while at the same time the long chain of islands of 
 which Vancouver, 300 miles long, is the chief, lying between 
 these inlets and the Pacific, render their smooth waters equally 
 navigable to the Indian's birch canoe and the unwieldy stern- 
 wheel trading steamer. There is no country in the world whose 
 area is so wonderfully opened up by water carriage as British 
 Columbia. These bays, inlets, and rivers swarm with fish of 
 excellent quality, valuable for food and oil. I priced the stock 
 of a fishmonger in the leading street of Victoria. He was 
 selling fresh salmon at 2d. per lb. ; cod, 2\d. ; halibut, ^d. ; 
 fine plaice, 34-(af. ; fresh sardines, a delicious dish, i^d. ; herrings, 
 i\d. ; smelts, 4//. ; whiting, l^d. ; trout, 4^. — all per lb. Fine 
 crabs, 35-. per dozen. I suppose the fisheries of British 
 Columbia must be practically inexhaustible. Although salmon 
 is the great staple food of the people, they exported in 1885 
 7,324,000 lbs. of canned salmon. This means a catch of about 
 two millions of salmon at 7 lbs. each, which appears almost 
 incredible ; yet the take this year is larger than ever, and is 
 virtually confined to the Fraser River and its tributaries. 
 
 There are three separate runs of salmon every year. They 
 run for fresh water in the spawning season, ascending as far 
 inland as possible, after the manner of salmon at home. Those 
 entering the Fraser River work their way to a point 800 miles 
 from salt water. The main seat of the salmon fishing is New 
 Westminster, and for miles above the town the river swarms 
 
BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 121 
 
 with boats, manned chiefly by Indians, who scoop the fish out of 
 the water with nets lii<e the ordinary landing net, but much 
 larger. There are other canneries on Burrard's Inlet, Aleet Bay, 
 Skeena River, and others north of the Fraser, altogether thirty 
 in number, affording employment in one way and another to 
 
 
 \% 
 
 INDIANS SALMON FISHING ON THE FRASER RIVER. 
 
 5,000 or 6,000 hands. A fresh development of the salmon 
 fishery has sprung up in the last two years, in the shipment of 
 fresh salmon to the markets of Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and 
 Chicago, packed in refrigerator cars, that will become an impor- 
 tant feature of this trade. There seems to me to be no limit to 
 the expansion of an industry that can send such wholesome and 
 
122 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 * I 
 
 11 
 11 1 
 
 nutritious food to be sold retail in England and the Continent 
 at 4d. per lb., for there is certainly no limit to the supply. In 
 some rivers the run is so great that the fish literally shoulder 
 one another out of the water, and die by thousands on the banks. 
 Within three miles of Victoria this sometimes happens in a 
 small creek leading out of the harbour, and the fish are used by 
 farmers for manure. It is a curious fact for anglers that the 
 Pacific salmon takes no bait or fly in fresh water, but may be 
 taken readily in salt water. My daughter caught a fine, silvery 
 fish last week in Esquimalt Harbour with a spoon-bait, though 
 the run is not on at present. When it is, the officers of the 
 fleet tell me they turn out with rod and line, and consider a 
 dozen fish, from / to 20 lbs., a very ordinary catch for each 
 person. 
 
 After salmon, the most important fishing is that of the 
 oolachan, or candle fish as it is called, because it is so oily that 
 when dried it will burn like a candle, and is so used by the 
 Indians. The oolachan is about the size of a sardine. They arc 
 a delicious fish when fresh, salted, or smoked. The oil of this 
 fish is considered far superior to cod-liver, or indeed any other 
 fish oil. The oolachans begin running in March, chiefly on the 
 Nass River, and great numbers of Indians assemble on its banks 
 to wait for them. They are caught in purse nets, and often a 
 canoe load is the result of a single haul. They are then boiled 
 in iron tanks for several hours, and the oil is squeezed out 
 through willow baskets in cedar boxes. When cold it is like 
 thin lard, and is used by the Indians, as Mr. Keiller says of his 
 marmalade, "as an excellent substitute for butter." Like the 
 salmon, the supply of this useful fish is practically inexhaustible. 
 
 Herrings are very plentiful. They are smaller than those of 
 our seas, but are quite equal in quality. The Indians catch 
 these with a primitive weapon, like a large hay rake, with nails 
 
BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 "3 
 
 driven through as teeth. They paddle their canoe into a shoal 
 of herrings, and, sweeping this rake through the water, bring 
 up half a dozen or so each time, and soon fill the boat with 
 fish. 
 
 Halibut, cod, haddock, sturgeon, large flounders, crabs, prawns, 
 cockles, and mussels are abundant everywhere along the coast, 
 and in every bay and inlet. The native oysters are not larger 
 than cockles, but very delicious, and in such profusion as to 
 make it certain that cultivation would produce as many of 
 the finest varieties of Atlantic oysters as could be marketed. 
 Experiments in that direction have been commenced. 
 
 As usual, where fish of the herring and oolachan sort is plenti- 
 ful, the seas swarm with every kind of dog-fish, and a large 
 factory, employing hundreds of Indians, is engaged in extracting 
 oil from dog-fish livers. Some 400,000 fish are caught yearly, 
 yielding 40,000 gallons of oil, the finest lubricant in the world. 
 
 The seal fishing is also an important industry, checked for the 
 present by the arbitrary seizure, by the American Navy in the 
 Behring Straits, of several sealers hailing from Victoria — a matter 
 which will form a considerable portion of the work of the Inter- 
 national Court of Arbitration, of which Mr. Chamberlain has 
 recently been appointed a member, to the great satisfaction of 
 all Canadians. About 15 schooners and steamers are engaged 
 in this trade, employing 400 or 500 sailors and hunters. The 
 annual catch is about 73,000. 
 
 It is supposed by those qualified to judge that in the deeper 
 waters of the Pacific there are banks where cod will be taken 
 in quantities equal to those found on the great bank of 
 Newfoundland. 
 
 I have given very much thought to questions relating to 
 fisheries during the last few years, and nothing has impressed 
 me more deeply in considering the natural wealth of British 
 
 
 ,11 1 
 
124 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 Columbia than the h'mitless profusion of the fish supply. The 
 time cannot be far distant when, with the new and speedy way 
 to market opened up by the Canadian Pacific Railway, such a 
 profitable field for the use of capita! will be much more largely 
 cultivated. 
 
 One of the largest markets for tinned fish and other provisions 
 of a like nature is our Australian and New Zealand Colonies. 
 At present large quantities of salmon come to London round 
 the Horn, and are transhipped to Australia by the Suez Canal, 
 going round the world to a market in the same ocean as that in 
 which the fish are caught. It will not be long, I expect, before 
 some enterprising firm from Lowestoft, Yarmouth, or Aberdeen, 
 will have a branch establishment at Victoria, and will send 
 every description of canned and dried fish to the many markets 
 of the Pacific, north and south. 
 
 Salmon forms at present the largest item of export from 
 British Columbia, being about 900,000 dollars. Next on the 
 list comes coal, which reaches some 800,000 dollars, mostly to 
 the United States and the Sandwich Islands. Coal has been 
 found all over British Columbia, but is only worked seriously at 
 Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island, where large quantities of good 
 quality are being raised. This is an excellent steam coal, used 
 by H.M. ships of war stationed at Esquimault, and by the line 
 of steamers plying between Vancouver and China. There are 
 five mines employing about 2,000 miners, whose earnings are 8^. 
 to 1 2 J. per day. Close to these mines, on the neighbouring 
 island of Texada, are large deposits of magnetic iron ore, 
 assaying 68 per cent, of metallic iron, with a very low percentage 
 of phosphorus. This ore is being profitably shipped to iron- 
 works in Washington Territory, in the States, where it is mixed 
 with brown hematite. It cannot be long before this juxtaposi- 
 tion of coal and iron will result in the creation of iron and steel 
 
BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 works, which ought to 
 command a share ot the 
 Pacific markets, especi- 
 ally if Chinese labour 
 can be made available. 
 The third item in the 
 list of exports is gold, 
 which amounts to 
 700,000 dollars, and is all 
 exported to the States. 
 This is produced by 
 placer mining only, the 
 primitive hand-washing 
 of the gravel and sand 
 of the river beds, but 
 capital is now being in- 
 troduced, and quartz- 
 crushing on a large scale 
 will soon greatly increase 
 the production of gold, 
 as well as give regular 
 employment to a large 
 number of miners. Apart 
 from gold, coal, and iron, 
 no minerals are worked 
 to any extent in British 
 Columbia, but the geo- 
 logical survey now being 
 conducted by the Do- 
 minion Government re- 
 veals the presence of 
 large deposits of silver. 
 
 DOUGLAS PINES, VANCOUVER, 
 
136 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 copper, lead, platinum, and other metals, which are fast attract- 
 ing the notice of prospecters from the States and Canada. 
 Timber is the fourth on the list of exports, about 500,000 dollars, 
 and furs fifth with 250,000, closing the list of important items. I 
 think it will not be long before timber heads the list. Already the 
 markets of Australia, Chili, Peru, China, the United States, and 
 Great Britain have discovered that in British Columbia they can 
 get a class of timber which no other country can supply. Red, 
 yellow, and white cedars, pine, hemlock, spruce, larch, fir, and 
 oak, grow to a size such as no other country in the world can 
 rival. The Douglas fir, a wood in great favour with railroad 
 constructors for bridge work, is the prevailing timber of the 
 country, its height is usually 150 to 200 feet, and from 10 to 20 
 feet in circumference. I have seen countless trees far larger 
 even than this, and they have been known to reach over 300 
 feet in height, and 35 in circumference. It will stand a breaking 
 strain of 630 lbs. to the square inch, and is more tough and 
 tenacious than oak, which breaks at 550 lbs. The trees run up 
 80 to 100 feet without a branch, thus giving an unusual pro- 
 ^portion of clear lumber, and I have seen masts ready for ship- 
 ment over 100 feet long and 42 inches in diameter. The great 
 peculiar value of this timber is that it never warps, and can be 
 used fresh from the saw. In building Vancouver after the fire, 
 trees were felled and the planks sawn up and nailed to the 
 buildings the same day. 
 
 No one can estimate the enormous extent of timber in this 
 province. It covers the whole area of the country, which is 
 greater than that of France and the British Isles combined. I 
 have travelled, by rail and horse, over 700 miles through the 
 province, and, except when there have been exceptionally severe 
 forest fires, the timber is uniformly large and abundant. The 
 lumber countries of the United States are becoming rapidly 
 
BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 IVl 
 
 ittract- 
 lanada. 
 dollars, 
 ;ms. I 
 ady the 
 :es, and 
 ley can 
 . Red, 
 fir, and 
 )rld can 
 railroad 
 • of the 
 10 to 20 
 .r larger 
 )ver 300 
 breaking 
 ugh and 
 s run up 
 lual pro- 
 ibr ship- 
 he great 
 can be 
 |the fire, 
 to the 
 
 in this 
 ,rhich is 
 lined. I 
 lugh the 
 ly severe 
 It. The 
 
 rapidly 
 
 exhausted, and in twenty or thirty years the trade between 
 British Columbia and the Western States will become very 
 considerable, while the Australian, Chinese, and Japanese 
 markets for large timber of all sorts will become the property 
 of this colony much sooner than that. Every saw-mill in 
 the country is working to its full capacity, and new mills are 
 being projected. It is undoubtedly the most profitable in- 
 dustry on the Pacific coast of America. 
 
 The soil of British Columbia is prolific, as might be ex- 
 pected from the constant deposit of vegetable matter from 
 ages of successive forests, but it seems to me that agriculture 
 must in the main follow the lumberer, as the cost of clearing 
 the ground of these enormous trees is almost prohibitory 
 unless they can be marketed at once. The land once cleared, 
 however, is of splendid quality, able to produce every fruit, 
 cereal, or vegetable known to the temperate zone. But there 
 are in many parts of the province large valleys and deltas, 
 the bush of which is maple, willow, or poplar of small growth, 
 which can be cleared with ease. Chinamen undertake to 
 clear such land for about £^1 or ^8 per acre. The surrounding 
 forests furnish excellent pasture for stock, and I have seen 
 fine herds both of oxen and sheep feeding in the densest 
 forest. This week I have driven over 100 miles through 
 Vancouver Island along arable tracts lying between sea and 
 mountain, from two to five miles wide, on which are settled 
 hundreds of prosperous farmers, and where there is room for 
 hundreds more. Some capital, however, is necessary for the 
 settler on Vancouver Island, as the free lands are almost all 
 taken up by speculators, and have to be purchased. But on 
 the mainland there are thousands upon thousands of acres of 
 excellent arable land still unclaimed, in districts where already^ 
 there are some of the largest and most productive farms in 
 
MT 
 
 128 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 i 
 
 the province ; and on the southern boundary there is a large 
 area covered with the nutritious bunch grass, which, left uncut, 
 becomes excellent hay, until it is renewed in the spring, 
 giving the finest grazing for cattle all the year round. I feel 
 sure that for the farmer with some capital British Columbia, 
 from its climatic resemblance to Devonshire and the south 
 coast of England, is a much better settlement than the severe 
 climate of Manitoba. Manitoba, however, gives better chances 
 to the agriculturist who has to make his way without capital, 
 or with only a very little. 
 
 The climate of British Columbia is as nearly perfect as 
 possible. It is free from excessive heat in summer and 
 extreme cold in winter, and is healthful and invigorating all 
 the year round. Snow seldom falls, and never lies more than 
 a few days. For a period of three years, on Vancouver Island, 
 the lowest temperature has been eight degrees above zero, 
 and the highest 84 degrees. The mercury has never been 
 known to fall below zero. There is nothing on the Atlantic 
 in the same latitudes that furnishes so excellent a climate 
 as this. The climatic influence which produces it is the great 
 current of warm water which flows in the Pacific Ocean, known 
 as the Japan current, spreading its genial atmosphere from 
 Alaska to Mexico. From this current an almost constant 
 wind blows landward, current and wind combined enabling 
 the Japan and China steamers to make some two days' better 
 time coming cast than going west. With all this warmth 
 there is plenty of moisture, the rainfall in Vancouver being 
 25 inches, and on the mainland 40 to 60 inches. Taken as 
 a whole, British Columbia is one of the most delightful countries 
 in the world, and were I compelled by circumstances to seek 
 a fresh home away from the old country, it would have 
 attractions that would be irresistible to me. 
 
BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 129 
 
 •feet as 
 ler and 
 iting all 
 Dre than 
 : Island, 
 ve zero, 
 ^^er been 
 Atlantic 
 climate 
 ;he great 
 [1, known 
 ire from 
 constant 
 |enabling 
 s' better 
 warmth 
 ;r being 
 aken as 
 lountries 
 to seek 
 id have 
 
 Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, lies on the extreme 
 south of Vancouver Island. It first became a place of any note 
 in 1858, when thousands of miners swarmed into British Columbia 
 after the discovery of gold on Fraser River. The whole trade 
 of the province till lately was entirely dependent on water 
 carriage, as its market centres in Victoria. There is a population 
 of 12,000, a large proportion of which is Chinese and Indian. 
 The harbour is landlocked and capacious, lined with fine wharves 
 pfesenting a busy scene. The buildings are fully equal to those 
 found in American and Canadian cities of equal importance, and 
 
 ESQUIMAULT HARBOUR. 
 [From a sketch by the Author.) 
 
 at night the streets are lighted by electric lamps placed on lofty 
 masts, 200 feet high, giving the appearance of fifteen or twenty 
 moons ; the effect is very striking, and the lighting perfect. 
 There is great rivalry between Victoria and its mushroom 
 opponent Vancouver, but I am inclined to think the old capital 
 will retain the general domestic trade of the province, while 
 much of the export business will drift to Vancouver. Probably 
 the old and wealthy firms of Victoria will open branch offices 
 in Vancouver, and thus keep both home and export trade in their 
 own hands. It will be entirely their own fault if they allow 
 
 K 
 
I ! 
 
 130 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD: 
 
 upstart Vancouver to shoulder them out. Very large vessels 
 cannot lie alongside the wharves of Victoria, the harbour only 
 taking ships drawing less than eighteen feet ; but two miles off is 
 Esquimault, one of the finest harbours in the world, being the 
 station for our Pacific squadron. This is a land-locked harbour 
 three miles long by one to two miles wide, with an average depth 
 of forty-five feet, and excellent anchorage, the bottom being a 
 tenacious blue clay. Here the Canadian Government, helped by 
 a subsidy from the Imperial Government, have built a fine dry 
 dock, which will accommodate vessels of the largest size. It ia 
 450 feet long, 26 feet deep, and 90 feet wide at the entrance. It 
 s a fine piece of work, concrete faced with stone. Here also 
 is a naval hospital, arsenal and stores, with a small repairing 
 shop. 
 
 Victoria is not so cheap a place to live In as many other 
 Canadian towns. House rent is dear, a four-roomed working 
 man's house being from 40J. to 50^". a month. Clothing is very 
 expensive, and so is furniture. The long carriage and costly 
 freight from England is a heavy addition to those import duties 
 . which make imported goods so dear in a colony where food 
 ought to be cheaper than anywhere else in the world. The 
 following are the prices at which food can be purchased on the 
 retail market in Victoria : — Butter, fresh, is. per lb. ; salt, is. 6d, 
 to 2s. ; cheese, is. to is. id. ; eggs, is. 6d. per dozen ; flour, 
 2\d. per lb. ; oatmeal, id. ; split peas, 6d. Vegetables, all 
 grown by Chinese labour: potatoes, is. for 14 lbs. ; onions, 2d. 
 per lb. ; carrots, \d. per lb. ; cauliflowers, 6d. to gd. each. Ham 
 and bacon, gd. per lb. ; beef, 6d. to yd. ; mutton, 6d. ; pork, e^d, 
 I have already given the price of fish, which is the cheapest 
 food in the market. Sugar is "/d. per lb. ; oranges, 4^. per 
 dozen ; dried currants, 8^^. per lb. ; cooking raisins, is. ; figs, 
 IS. Sd, ; tea, is. ; coffee, is. 8d. Good board for single men, 24s. 
 
BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
 
 13« 
 
 a week. Wages, however, are higher than anywhere else I know 
 of, though work is irregular in the winter months. Carpenters, 
 blacksmiths, painters, and tinsmiths get easily \2s. to 14J 
 per day; stonemasons and bricklayers, 16^. to 20^. per day; 
 plasterers, i8j". ; common labourers, 6s. to "js. ; fishermen, skilled 
 hands, ^10 to £\2 per month, with food. The labour market 
 is unsteady — sometimes plenty of work at the highest rate3, 
 and then general slackness. But a steady man who means to 
 settle soon gets permanent employ at good wages. Chinamen 
 can be got for 3^-. per day, and do nearly the whole domestic 
 services of the towns. Cooking, laundry, gardening, and 
 housemaid's work, is all done admirably and thoroughly by 
 the Chinese, against whom there is a great deal of unjust 
 prejudice, because they are the only cheap labour to be got. 
 A decenter, quieter, or more respectable class of people it 
 would be difficult to find ; and I am quite sure the Canadian 
 Pacific Railway would never have been made at all but for 
 Chinese labour. Many of these Chinamen come from Hong 
 Kong, and are as much our fellow-subjects as the British 
 Columbians themselves, and ought to possess equal rights of 
 citizenship. Yet every one of her Majesty's subjects who 
 happens to have been born under the British flag at Hong 
 Kong, has to pay £\o import duty on his own body before he 
 is allowed to land in British Columbia. 
 
 
 ■^ i'l' 
 
 I 
 
 V: :< 
 
 *5* 
 
 ic ^ 
 

 132 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN CANADA. 
 
 No Intelligent and unbiassed traveller can spend any time in 
 the Dominion of Canada without being forcibly impressed with 
 the sobriety of its population as a whole. 1 suppose it is a fair 
 assumption that more than half the people of Canada, without 
 being total abstainers, habitually drink nothing stronger than 
 tea or coffee, while the number of abstainers are proportionately 
 larger than perhaps any other Christian nation. The evidences 
 of this state of things are abundant. I have been six weeks in 
 Canada, the whole of which have been spent in hotels— good, 
 bad, and indifferent — in towns like Montreal and Toronto, in 
 country villages, and western mushroom towns. I have never 
 seen a Canadian take intoxicating liquors with his meals. If 
 anyone is drinking wine or beer it is sure to be an Englishman. 
 It is the same in almost every private house. A minister of 
 religion who is not an abstainer hardly exists in all Canada. 
 The medical profession do their utmost to maintain habits of 
 abstinence from strong drink, and members of the Dominion 
 and Provincial Parliaments take the warmest interest in all 
 laws dealing with the liquor trade. 
 
 The active temperance movement is healthy and vigorous. 
 The organisations are much the same as those existing in 
 England. Temperance meetings are usually held in connection 
 
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN CANADA. 
 
 133 
 
 rorous. 
 fing in 
 lection 
 
 with church or chapel, and a Band of Hope is attached to 
 every Sunday school, 
 
 A strong movement is on foot just now to provide temperance 
 teaching in public schools. The Legislatures of Nova Scotia 
 and New Brunswick have already made provision for the use 
 of a temperance lesson book in public schools, and similar 
 instruction is also given in many districts of Ontario. 
 
 The Women's Christian Temperance Union is extending its 
 operations in all the provinces of the Dominion, and is one of 
 the most vigorous societies in Canada. The school movement 
 just referred to is the result of their continual and persistent 
 agitation. 
 
 The United Methodist Church, at a recent conference, passed 
 a resolution in favour of introducing temperance text books 
 into schools, urged the Methodist people to do their utmost for 
 the adoption of the Scott Prohibitory Act, and recommended 
 Methodist electors to support only those candidates who were 
 in favour of prohibition. The closing words of their resolution 
 run : " We strongly recommend all to vote as they pray ; then 
 "they can pray as they vote. It is a contradiction that 
 "should at once and for ever end, that a Christian man will 
 " pray in one day that God will remove the liquor traffic from 
 "our midst, and the next hour vote to perpetuate it." 
 
 The Church of England, especially in Ontario, is very active 
 in the temperance reformation, and has formed parochial and 
 diocesan societies almost everywhere. 
 
 The Presbyterian Synod, at its meeting last year, by formal 
 resolution earnestly recommended to office bearers and church 
 members the practice of total abstinence, and also warmly 
 urged the universal adoption of the Scott Act. 
 
 Indeed, similar resolutions have been passed at the annual 
 conferences of every religious denomination in Canada, some 
 
 ii 
 
134 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 if 
 
 of them even going so far as to pass resolutions excluding 
 fermented wine from the Communion Table ; in fact, through- 
 out the whole of Canada I find a deep and rapidly growing 
 conviction amongst all classes who influence society that the 
 use of intoxicating liquors is morally wrong, and that it is 
 a grave political error to permit their common sale. 
 
 The strongest of all expressions of public opinion in countries 
 enjoying a free representative Constitution is to be found in 
 the Acts of Parliament placed on the Statvitc Book by the 
 elected representatives of the people, and a study of the 
 temperance legislation of Canada brings out very strikingly 
 the rapid development of public sentiment with regard to the 
 liquor trade. 
 
 Long before the Confederation of Canada some of the 
 provinces had declared by legislation that a mere licensing 
 system had failed to prevent the liquor trade from becoming 
 a fruitful source of crime, social degradation and misery, and 
 had taken steps, more or less severe, to add the additional 
 check of a popular veto. In Nova Scotia it was enacted 
 that before a licence could be granted the consenting signatures 
 of two-thirds of the surrounding ratepayers must be secured. 
 In many of the counties of this province no licences have 
 been granted for lo, 15, or 20 years, and in the case of 
 Yarmouth County for 40 years. As long ago as 1855 New 
 Brunswick enacted a prohibitory law, but it was in advance 
 of solid public opinion, and was repealed, a very stringent 
 licence law taking its place. 
 
 In Ontario and Quebec an Act w^as passed in 1864 giving 
 power to municipalities to refuse licences by a vote of Council, 
 and many districts, under this Act, declared for the principle 
 of prohibition by large majorities. 
 
 After the union of the Provinces, in i86/, the temperance 
 
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN CANADA. 
 
 US 
 
 iding 
 
 Dwing 
 it the 
 : it is 
 
 antrlcs 
 and in 
 by the 
 of the 
 •ikingly 
 i to the 
 
 of the 
 icensing 
 ecoming 
 jery, and 
 iditional 
 enacted 
 Ignaturcs 
 secured. 
 ;es have 
 case of 
 55 New 
 advance 
 itringent 
 
 giving 
 
 ICouncil, 
 
 jrinciplc 
 
 iperance 
 
 party began their great crusade in favour of a general 
 prohibitory law for the Dominion of Canada. Meeting after 
 meeting was held in every Province, and in a space of three 
 years petitions, signed by over half a million persons, were pre- 
 sented to Parliament, praying for the enactment of a prohibitory 
 liquor law. The result of this agitation was the appointment 
 by Parliament, in 1874, of two commissioners to make a 
 thorough and complete investigation into the working and 
 results of prohibition in these various states of the United 
 States which had adopted it. I have this report before me 
 as I write, and it is a masterpiece of compiled evidence, 
 altogether in favour of the adoption of prohibitory as compared 
 with license legislation. It was referred to a Select Committee 
 of the Senate and Commons. Their report recommended the 
 enactment of a prohibitory law for the Dominion of Canada, 
 and the report was adopted by both Houses. 
 
 Progress was barred for a time by the question as to 
 jurisdiction. It was in doubt whether the Dominion or the 
 Provincial Legislatures had authority to prohibit the sale of 
 intoxicating liquors. This did not, of course, apply to the 
 North-West Provinces of Assiniboine, Saskatchewan, Alberta, 
 and Athabasca, and the Government at once gave effect to the 
 recommendations of the committee in 1875 by passing a law 
 covering the whole of the North-West Territory, prohibiting 
 the sale, manufacture, or possession of intoxicating liquors 
 in the North-West Provinces, except with the written per- 
 mission of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Territories. I have 
 already referred, in previous chapters, especially the one about 
 Calgary, to the operations of this Act, and their excellent 
 results upon the people. I will only now repeat that in 
 my opinion this Act has done, ard will do if maintained, 
 as much to promote the prosperity and rapid development 
 
 ws ". 
 
 i 
 
Vf 
 
 'III ii;ii 
 
 ',|;:H.JII 
 
 136 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 pf these valuable territories, as their own natural advantages. 
 The law is rigorously and successfully carried out, and has 
 the sympathy and support of the entire resident population. 
 
 In 1878 the Mackenzie Government decided that the benefit 
 of the doubt referred to a few lines back, was in favour of 
 the Dominion, and that it would be within their jurisdiction 
 to pass a prohibitory liquor law for the whole country. They 
 introduced the Canada Temperance Act. It passed its second 
 reading without a division, and became law. The legality 
 of the Act was challenged, but the Supreme Court of Canada 
 confirmed it, one judge dissenting. An appeal was taken 
 to the Privy Council of Great Britain, who gave judgment in 
 June, 1882, fully confirming the constitutionality of the Act. 
 
 The Act has since its passing been attacked in Parliam'^nt 
 on three different occasions, but as none of these were 
 successful I need not trouble my readers with the details. 
 
 The Canada Temperance Act, 1878 (commonly known as 
 the Scott Act) is a local option law, affecting the whole 
 Dominion of Canada, and was enacted for the purpose of 
 enabling a majority of voters to suppress the retail sale of 
 liquor in any city or county. 
 
 The Act is divided into three parts. The first part provides 
 the machinery by which the second part may be adopted 
 or rejected. The second part is the Prohibition part, and 
 does not come into force until it has been adopted by a vote 
 of the electors. The third part provides for the enforcement 
 of the law after its adoption. 
 
 The following is a synopsis of the provisions of these 
 
 respective parts : — 
 
 Part I. 
 
 Petitioning. — One-fourth of the electors in any city or county 
 may petition the Governor-General in Council to have a vote 
 
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN CANADA, 137 
 
 ^63. 
 
 has 
 )n. 
 
 lefit 
 
 r of 
 
 ition 
 
 rhey 
 
 cond 
 
 jality 
 
 uiada 
 
 taken 
 
 snt in 
 
 Act. 
 am'^nt 
 
 were 
 ails, 
 uvn as 
 
 whole 
 osc of 
 
 ale of 
 
 "ovides 
 
 |dopted 
 
 :t, and 
 
 a vote 
 
 Icement 
 
 taken upon the Act in such city or county. The Governor- 
 General in Council may then appoint a Returning Officer, 
 fix a day for voting, and make all other needful arrangements 
 for the polling of votes. 
 
 Voting, — The vote shall be taken by ballot, and in one day. 
 There shall be a polling place in each polling sub-division 
 of each municipality. 
 
 Very severe penalties are provided for any corrupt practices. 
 No treating of voters is allowed, and all places where liquor 
 is sold must be kept closed the whole of the day of voting. 
 
 All electors who are entitled to vote at the election of a 
 member for the House of Commons, have a right to vote 
 on the Scott Act. 
 
 Coming into Force. — If a majority of the votes polled are 
 in favour of the Act, a proclamation will be issued, bringing 
 it into force ; but in counties where licences are in operation, 
 it cannct come into force before at least five months after the 
 voting, nor until all licences in force at the end of these five 
 months have expired. If no licences are in force in a county, 
 the Act may be brought into operation in that county after 
 three months from the day of the vote adopting it. 
 
 Repeal. — If the Act be adopted it cannot be repealed for 
 at least three years, nor until the repeal has been voted upon 
 and adopted by the electors. If the Act be rejected or repealed 
 it cannot be again voted upon for three years. 
 
 m 
 
 ii ill 
 
 these 
 
 county 
 a vote 
 
 Part 1 1. 
 
 Prohibition. — From the day of the coming into force of the 
 Act in any county or city, and as long as it remains in force, no 
 intoxicating liquor shall be sold in any manner or under any 
 pretext except in the cases hereinafter mentioned. 
 
 
138 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 \\\ < 
 
 Wholesalers. — Persons who are specially licensed may sell 
 liquor by wholesale ; but only in quantities of not less than ten 
 gallons, or in case of ale or beer, eight gallons, and only to 
 licensed druggists, or other wholesalers, or to persons whom 
 they have good reason to believe will carry it to, and have it 
 consumed in, some place where the Scott Act is not in force. 
 
 Producers of native wine made from grapes grown by them- 
 selves may, when licensed, sell such wine to any persons in 
 quantities of not less than ten gallons, unless it be for medicinal 
 or sacramental purposes, when they may sell as small a quantity 
 as one gallon. 
 
 Druggists. — Licensed druggists may sell in quantities of not 
 less than one pint. Not more than one druggist may be 
 licensed in a township, not more than two in a town, and 
 not more than one for every four thousand inhabitants in a 
 city. Druggists are only allowed to sell liquor for medicinal 
 or sacramental use, or for use in some bond fide art, trade, or 
 manufacture. Liquor can only be sold for sacrament on a 
 certificate signed by a clergyman ; for medicine only on a 
 certificate signed by a medical man ; and for any other purpose 
 only on a certificate signed by two Justices of the Peace. The 
 licensed druggist must file all these certificates, must keep a 
 full record of all the sales he makes, and report the same to 
 the collector of Inland Revenue. 
 
 Part IIL 
 
 Penalties. — The penalties for illegal sale are : — For the first 
 offence a fine of not less than ;^io ; for the second offence a fine 
 of not less than ;^20 ; and for the third and each subsequent 
 offence imprisonment for not more than two months. 
 
 The clerk or agent who sells for another person shall be held 
 
 lii J! I ] : 
 
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN CANADA. 139 
 
 guilty as well as his employer, and shall be liable to the same 
 punishment. 
 
 All liquor and all vessels containing liquor in respect to 
 which offences have been committed shall be forfeited. 
 
 Procedure. — Full directions are given as to modes of pro- 
 cedure and instructions as to the powers of all persons who 
 have authority or jurisdiction in regard to offences against 
 the Act. 
 
 Enforcement. — Any person may be a prosecutor for a violation 
 of the Act. The collector of Inland Revenue is required to 
 prosecute when he has reason to believe that an offence has 
 been committed. 
 
 Provision is made for the appointment of License Com- 
 missioners and Inspectors in places where the Scott Act is in 
 force, and provides that it shall be the duty of these officers to 
 see to its enforcement. 
 
 Evidence. — In a prosecution it is not necessary that a witness 
 should be able to state the kind or price of liquor unlawfully 
 sold. It is enough to show that unlawful disposal of intoxicating 
 liquor took place. The finding in any place of liquor, and also 
 of appliances for its sale, is primd facie evidence of unlawful 
 keeping for sale, unless the contrary is proved. The husband or 
 wife of a person charged with an offence against the Scott Act 
 is a competent and compellable witness. 
 
 Tampering with Witnesses. — Any person attempting to tamper 
 with a witness in any prosecution under the Act shall be liable 
 to a fine of ;^io. 
 
 Compromise. — Any person who is a party to an attempt to 
 compromise or settle any offence against this Act, with a view of 
 saving the violator from prosecution or conviction, shall, on 
 conviction, be imprisoned for not more than three months. 
 
 Appeals. — No appeal shall be allowed against any conviction 
 
 
 ■ill 
 
 ! '1 
 
I4Q 
 
 4 TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 made by any Judge, Stipendiary, or Police Magistrate, Sherifif 
 Recorder, or Parish Court Commissioner. 
 
 The first vote was taken on the Act in the town of Frederick- 
 ton, New Brunswick, in October, 1878. The contest was as 
 keen as a parliamentary election in England. The subject was 
 discussed to the utmost during a long and active campaign. 
 Both the liquor and the temperance party were well organised, 
 and the electors thoroughly canvassed. It was felt on both 
 sides that "first blood" was of great importance in the great 
 fight, of which this was to be the first round, The result was 
 that more electors polled than at the previous parliamentary 
 election, and the Act was adopted by two to one — 403 to 203. 
 This victory was quickly followed by others. There are 14 
 counties and 3 cities in New Brunswick, and the Scott Act 
 is now in force in 10 counties and 2 cities. The leading city, 
 St. John, has not adopted the Act, but in the two elections 
 which have taken place since the Act became law. it was 
 defeated first time by a majority of two only, on a poll of 
 2,150, and the second time by a majority of JT, on a poll of 
 3,297. In the three elections which have taken place in 
 Frederickton, it has been found impossible to repeal previous 
 decisions, though the majority in favour of the Acts has been 
 greatly decreased. I have had no opportunity of inquiring into 
 the reason for this. 
 
 Nova Scotia has 18 counties and i city, of which 13 counties 
 have adopted the Act. 
 
 Manitoba has the Act in force in 2 counties out of 5, and 
 the temperance party in Winnepeg, the capital, are about to 
 test it there for the first time. 
 
 Prince Edward Island has 3 counties and i city, all under 
 the Act. 
 
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN CANADA. 141 
 
 herlff 
 
 Icrick- 
 
 vas as 
 
 ct was 
 
 ipaign. 
 
 anised, 
 
 ji both 
 
 e great 
 
 ,ult was 
 
 nentary 
 
 to 203. 
 are 14 
 
 ott Act 
 
 ing city, 
 
 elections 
 it was 
 poll of 
 poll of 
 )lace in 
 
 [previous 
 las been 
 |ing into 
 
 Icounties 
 
 5, and 
 Ibout to 
 
 111 under 
 
 Ontario has 38 counties and 11 cities; 25 counties and 
 2 cities have adopted the Act. 
 
 Quebec has 56 counties and 4 cities ; 5 counties only 
 have adopted the Act, but a considerable portion of Quebec 
 is under prohibition through a provincial Act. British 
 Columbia has 5 Parliamentary constituencies, but the tem* 
 perance is so feeble, and the liquor interest so rampant, that 
 the Act has never yet been even tested in the province. 
 The sale of liquor to Indians, nearly half the population, 
 is forbidden by the laws of British Columbia under severe 
 penalties, thus giving a protection to Indians withheld from 
 their less fortunate white fellow-citizens. 
 
 The enemies of the Act contend that it has not diminished 
 but increased drunkenness in the districts where it has been 
 adopted. 
 
 In reply to that I would point out that in all the 63 districts 
 in which the Act has been put into force, it remains in force 
 to-day.* In one instance, in Lambton-Ontario, it has had a 
 chequered experience, being adopted in 1879 by a majority of 
 215 on a poll of 4,919, rejected in 1881 by a majority of 105 on a 
 poll of 5,819, but once more adopted in 1885 by the tremendous 
 majority of 2,912 on a poll of 6,104 5 so that in the only 
 case in which a constituency, having once adopted prohibition, 
 has gone back to liquor selling, the experience of the election 
 has been such as to bring forth most emphatic repentance. It 
 is quite clear that those districts who adopt the Act find it to 
 their advantage to maintain it, and it is significant that of the 
 63 districts where it is in force only C have attempted its repeal. 
 The aggregate vote has been 161,000 for and 111,000 against. 
 But after all, the best test of the success or failure of prohibi- 
 tion is to be found in the actual consumption of liquor per 
 
 * October, 1887. 
 
 '11' 
 
142 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 head in various districts wlicre prohibition is more or less in 
 force. 
 
 The following table shows the number of gallons of liquor 
 consumed per head annually in the 7 provinces of the Dominion 
 of Canada. 
 
 Province. 
 
 ("i.illons per head. 
 
 Prince Edward's Island . . 
 
 •884 
 
 Nova Scotia 
 
 1-323 
 
 New Brunswick. 
 
 1-574 
 
 Manitoba .... 
 
 2'252 
 
 Quebec .... 
 
 . 3-8/3 
 
 Ontario .... 
 
 4-761 
 
 British Columbia 
 
 7-779 
 
 A comparison of these figures with the extent to which the 
 Scott Act has been adopted in each province, clearly shows 
 that the consumption of liquor decreases in proportion. It 
 is a significant fact tl^at British Columbia, where liquor shops 
 flourish to an extend. I have never seen equalled in any town 
 in England, the consumption of liquor is about nine times 
 greater than in Prince Edward's Island, where the Scott Act 
 is in full force in every district. 
 
 This year a series of votes were taken in the Dominion 
 House of Commons, which prove clearly enough that the 
 elected representatives of the people support the Scott Act 
 thoroughly. A proposal to repeal the Act altogether was lost 
 by a vote of 145 to 38, and an amendment permitting the sale 
 of wine and beer in prohibited districts was lost by 136 to 47. 
 The vote was in no sense a party one, a majority both of the 
 Liberals and Conservatives being secured for the maintenance 
 of the Act. 
 
 The hostile criticisms of opponents have no Weight with mt' 
 in the face of these considerations, viz. :--- 
 
 I. That districts which once adopt the Scott Act stick to it. 
 
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN CANADA. 
 
 143 
 
 less in 
 
 ■ liquor 
 )minion 
 
 aiich the 
 •ly shows 
 irtion. It 
 uor shops 
 any town 
 ine times 
 [Scott Act 
 
 |Dominion 
 that the 
 
 IScott Act 
 
 ^r was lost 
 
 the sale 
 
 136 to47- 
 
 )th of the 
 
 kintcnaucc 
 
 lit with me 
 itick to it. 
 
 2. That the consumption of liquor decreases in each 
 province in exact proportion to the extent in which the Scott 
 Act is adopted. 
 
 3. That Parliament refuses by such overwhelming majorities of 
 botJi political parties to repeal the Act or weaken its provisions. 
 
 I have visited a great number of the districts in which this 
 Act is in force. No doubt in some of these the law is 
 administered with great laxity, and the Press is full of 
 complaints of the conduct of the inspectors and police 
 magistrates whose duty 't is to bring offenders to justice. 
 But the entire law-abiding population as a rule uphold and 
 defend the Act, and loyally carry out its provisions. I have 
 been a guest at half-a-dozen houses in which my host was 
 not an abstainer himself, yet, in deference to the public opinion, 
 expressed by the adoption of the Acts, had not a drop of 
 liquor of any kind in his house. 
 
 But those who speak most warmly in favour of the Acts are 
 tradesmen other than liquor sellers, to whose tills the money 
 goes which before was spent in drinking saloons. 
 
 The general opinion is that wherever the Scott Act has been 
 fairly and rigorously enforced it has been a great blessing to the 
 community, and no demand is ever made for its repeal. That 
 where it is badly enforced, it has at any rate destroyed the charm 
 and attractions of the liquor saloon, and has put an end to the 
 system of "treating," which was so common all through Canada. 
 
 The sobriety of Canada, as compared with England, is 
 shown by the amount of liquor consumed. Canada consumes 
 one gallon of intoxicating liquor per head, compared with ten 
 in England. 
 
 I have not gone into any details concerning the working of 
 the Act. It is enough for the purpose of this chapter to set 
 forth the facts I have enumerated, and I think every temperance 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 i « 
 
t44 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 
 I i^' i! 
 
 reformer in England will agree with my conclusions, which arc 
 that it is clear that the people of Canada who have adopted 
 prohibition like it too well to part with it, and that the whole 
 of the Canadian people, speaking through their elected repre- 
 sentatives, have no intention of repealing the Act. 
 
 The people themselves are the best judges of what is good 
 for them in a matter so closely affecting their interests as 
 this. 
 
 The temperance party in Canada look upon the Scott Act 
 as only a stepping-stone to prohibition. I have come to the 
 deliberate opinion that it is only a question of time, and not 
 a very long time either, for Canada to adopt a universal 
 prohibitory liquor law, such as exists in Maine. Public opinion 
 is being educated at great speed by the experiences of the Scott 
 Act, and I find everywhere and in all sections of society an 
 inclination towards prohibition that is very encouraging to the 
 hopes and aspirations of Canadian temperance reformers. 
 
( 145 ) 
 
 ■*' 'it 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ■i'i' 
 
 ACROSS THE PACIFIC. 
 
 n..'{ 
 
 The Canadian Pacific Railway Company can manage a great 
 railway line to perfection, but they have much to learn before 
 they can claim success as managers of an ocean line of steamers. 
 When I arranged last July to cross the Pacific from Vancouver 
 to Japan, I engaged my passage for a steamer sailing September 
 23rd. On arriving at Montreal I was informed that the date 
 had been postponed to the 29th. On reaching Winnipeg the 
 sailing was again postponed to October 2nd, and on arrival at 
 Vancouver the date was finally fixed for October 7th. That 
 date found us, with a number of our fellow-passengers, waiting 
 for the " Port Victor," at Victoria ; we could see nothing of 
 the "Port Victor," and letters and telegrams to the Canadian 
 Pacific Railway agent in Vancouver elicited no information 
 whatever of any definite character. On the morning of the 8th, 
 however, we were informed that the " Port Victor " was coaling 
 at Nanaimo, would reach Esquimalt about noon, and that we 
 were all to be at the Hudson's Bay Wharf with our luggage 
 at two o'clock, when a tug would take us ofif! We assembled 
 there at l . 30 to find neither tug nor anyone representing the 
 Canadian Pacific Railway from whom any information could 
 be obtained. We stood about for two or three hours, all 
 grumbling as only Englishmen can, when one of the Canadian 
 Pacific Railway clerks came to say that the tug would be there 
 
 Vi 
 
 
146 
 
 A TRIP ROUMD THE WORLD, 
 
 'ill"! 
 
 i 
 
 If ^ M 
 
 iii, 
 
 at five o'clock. This time he was right, and by six o'clock wc 
 were alongside the " Port Victor " in the noble harbour of 
 Esquimau. 
 
 Here we found a scene of the wildest confusion. The Cana- 
 dian Pacific Railway agent that morning had booked an extra 
 sixty Chinese steerage passengers from Victoria, in addition to 
 a hundred or more who had been put on board at Vancouver. 
 He had done this without the knowledge of the captain of the 
 " Port Victor," and the delay in getting us on board was due to 
 the steam-tug having been used to ship these sixty extra China- 
 men, for whom there was absolutely no accommodation what- 
 ever provided. 
 
 Msiiifiiiii 
 
 
 tllE " rORT VICTOR." 
 
 After a hurried scrambling meal the twenty-seven cabin 
 passengers demanded their berths, when it was found that the 
 ship was only designed to carry twelve cabin passengers, and 
 that the Canadian Pacific Railway agent had been obliged to 
 requisition nearly all the officers' cabins, as well as to construct 
 others as makeshifts. We fared better than anyone else, for 
 knowing that the "Port Victor" was only a second-class 
 steamer, I had secured by extra payment two entire cabins for my 
 daughter and myself ; these, however, have proved anything but 
 satisfactory on the voyage, as the one I occupy is a bath-room 
 and closet converted for the occasion, and Is swarming with cock- 
 roaches and such like company, which a week's treatment with 
 Keating's powder and carbolic acM has failed to drive away. 
 
ACJ'^OSS THE PACIIIC. 
 
 M7 
 
 : Cana- 
 n extra 
 ition to 
 icouvcr. 
 \ of the 
 , due to 
 I China- 
 ,n what* 
 
 y^-' 
 
 Two ladies who were going out as missionaries were put in a 
 wretched little room converted from a steward's pantry, and 
 twice on the voyage have been drowned out of it by burst pipes, 
 soaking their beds, and the entire contents of their trunks. Two 
 gentlemen found themselves in a temporary structure next to 
 the funnel, with a large stove-pipe enclosed within ; the tempera- 
 ture in this dog-kennel has ranged from 85 to lOO degrees, and 
 tiio tenants have been obliged to sleep on the settees in the 
 saloon. None of the cabins appeared to have been cleaned out 
 after the previous voyage, and when a day or two after starting 
 I insisted on having my daughter's cabin and my own cleaned 
 out, the amount of dirt, dead cockroaches, &c., which had to be 
 removed was terrible. 
 
 The saloon accommodates just sixteen persons to table ; with 
 ofiicers we are thirty-four, so that two services of each meal are 
 necessary, and the cooks and stewards are certain to be worked 
 beyond their powers. 
 
 By seven o'clock we all know our fate for the voyage, 
 and we Cj^pect every moment to see the anchor weighed and 
 get away. But presently the steam-tug comes alongside once 
 more with a pile of planks on deck and twenty carpenters, 
 and we arc Informed that it will be impossible to leave that 
 night, ad sleeping accommodation must be provided for the 
 sixty extra Chinamen. We go to bed, but not to sleep. The 
 tramp of workmen, the noise of their hammers, and their 
 drunken blasphemy make night hideous. However, at five 
 o'clock on Sunday morning, October 9th, we get under way, and 
 by noon the beautiful mountains of the Olympian range are 
 fading from view, and we are on the wide Pacific. 
 
 In fairness to the Canadian Pacific Railway I must state that 
 they are not directly responsible for this disgraceful management. 
 The line at present is an independent one, run by Sir WiliifMa 
 
 L 2 
 
148 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 L'i 
 
 \\\ 
 
 I lii 
 
 \\\\ 
 
 Peai-eerMrP., who has a number of old Atlantic liners that he is 
 employing in this service. I suppose, as he is only a stop-gap 
 till the Canadian Pacific Railway can build or purchase fine 
 steamers of their own, he thinks he can afford to treat his 
 passengers with reckless disregard. It is a pity the Canadian 
 Pacific Railway ever allowed their names to be associated with 
 a management not under their own control. I have no doubt 
 that when the line passes into their hands, as it will do in a few 
 months, they will be as careful of the comfort of the passengers 
 at sea as on land. If they are, no one will have anything to 
 complain of. 
 
 It is simply dishonest to take double the number of passen- 
 gers a ship can carry, and when we happen upon stormy weather 
 the discomfort and misery of everyone on board is almost 
 intolerable. I feel it little short of a swindle that I should have 
 been charged a fare and a half for a small cabin which was only 
 fit to sleep in when drenched with carbolic acid, and in which I 
 was generally awakened in the morning by cockroaches making 
 their breakfast on my eyes. I warn any traveller who thinks of 
 coming out to China or Japan to give the Canadian Pacific Rail- 
 way line of steamers a very wide berth until the management is 
 changed. We have, however, been singularly fortunate in our 
 captain, who has done everything in his power to counteract the 
 disgraceful management of his charterers. Captain Bird is only 
 twenty-six years old, and has been but nine years at sea. He 
 was promoted to the command of the " Port Victor " this voyage, 
 and has fully justified the singular confidence reposed in him by 
 the owners. His whole management of the ship and the comfort 
 of his passengers under the grossly unfair strain which has 
 been put upon him by SwAVilliam Pearce's-ag^ts, has earned 
 the gratitude of all on board. I have taken a good many 
 voyages in my day, but never met with a captain whose popu- 
 
ACROSS THE PACIFIC. 
 
 149 
 
 larity was so great with his officers, his crew, and his passengers, 
 or wliosc popularity was so thoroughly well deserved. His 
 conduct of the ship has done much to obliterate the bad im- 
 pressions formed by all the passengers of the treatment they 
 have received. 
 
 A voyage across the Pacific leaves little to be said. We have 
 had good weather on the whole, though we experienced fully ten 
 days of strong head winds, which stretched the voyage out to 
 eighteen days. The Pacific is a melancholy and desolate ocean, 
 with continual fog and rain, and the latter part of the voyage 
 was muggy and intensely hot, in consequence of the warm 
 Japan current which flows up from the tropics at a speed vary- 
 ing from forty to a hundred miles a day. The atmosphere 
 is damp and depressing, and discourages all exertion. The 
 passengers spend their time chiefly in reading novels and books 
 by various authorities on Japan. The most popular book on 
 board has been one I brought with me from England, " East by 
 West," a story of a tour round the world two years ago by H. W. 
 Lucy, the well-known journalist and writer of " Toby's Diary " in 
 Punch. I think every passenger on board has either read it 
 or heard it read aloud. At night, when weather permits, we 
 gather under the awning, and amuse ourselves with songs and 
 glees, riddles, recitations, and stories. When the weather is wet 
 or stormy, we go to our stuffy and crowded cabins, and get to 
 sleep as soon as we can. 
 
 We get some amusement out of our Chinese fellow-pas- 
 sengers. These are all kept in the forward part of the ship, 
 and, when fine, take their meals on deck. They consume 
 prodigious quantities of rice and meat, and seem inordinately 
 fond of pickled eggs, which they crack and eat with great gusto, 
 giving cries of delight in proportion to the relative " highness " of 
 each egg. When the weather is bad they huddle below, and 
 
 I 
 
150 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 gamble furiously for " cash," small copper coins, a thousand of 
 which are worth half-a-crown. If the sea is rough they proceed 
 to " Chin Chin Joss." " Joss " is their head deity, and they arc 
 quite sure he cannot be aware that there arc pious Chinese on 
 board, or he would never tumble " Port Victor " about in such an 
 unceremonious manner. They select a deputation to remonstrate 
 with Joss. They write on sheets of paper the information that 
 though the ship is manned by " Foreign devils," and that the 
 cabin passengers are no better, yet there are hidden from his 
 sight in the lower deck no less than 163 faithful people, who are 
 very sea-sick. They then march round the ship with little 
 paper flags flying, and a plate containing rice and a {Q.vi 
 copper coins, which with their humble petitions for calm 
 weather they commit to the deep. Joss, however, remained 
 obdurate, and we had nearly a week of head winds and pitching, 
 One of the stewards, a Chinaman, viewed the oroccedings with 
 great contempt, as a professing Christian ; he informed me, 
 "Me no silly chin-chin Joss, me chin-chin Sky-God, same as 
 English." 
 
 At noon on the 26th the observations informed us that we 
 were at last within thirty hours of Yokohama, if the weather 
 remained favourable, and that we might reasonably hope for 
 but one night more on board. But during the night we were 
 kept back by a strong wind and sea, which, early on the morning 
 of the 27th, developed into a hurricane. The captai wisely 
 decided not to attempt to land, as the storm had increased in 
 intensity the nearer we approached it. So at tv/o o'clock the 
 ship was with much difficulty put about, and for twelve hours we 
 steamed slowly with head to wind, and our back:; to Yokohama. 
 The seas were tremendous, and at six o'clock were breaking 
 over the ship in great volume, making it impossible to c. ls the 
 decks without being drenched or washed off one's feet, the wind 
 
ACROSS THE PACIFIC. 
 
 ni 
 
 blowing with full typhoon strength. Under Captain Bird's 
 admirable seamanship, we rode it out without the loss of a spar, 
 with the exception of the Cliinamen's galley, a temporary 
 structure on deck, which went by the board as the ship was 
 being laid to. The " Port Victor " behaved as well as a ship 
 could, though wo were all considerably rolled about. At two 
 o'clock on the morning of the 28th the storm abated, and after 
 three unsuccessful efforts the ship was at last brought about, 
 and morning found us once more heading for Yokohama. 
 The passengers were a pallid and limp company. Very few 
 
 VRIES VOLCANO.— YOKOHAMA BAY. 
 (^From a sketch by the Author.) 
 
 of them h?i slept a wink, and some had sat up all nigh*- too 
 frightened to go to bed ; indeed some who had gone to bed were 
 rolled out so often that they gave it up for a bad job and sat it 
 out on the floor. Our cabins being amidships we slept better 
 than others. I slept from eight at night to six next morning, 
 carefully v/edged in between an air-pillow and the mattrass, only 
 awakened by efforts to get the ship about, which would have 
 roused Rip Van Winkle. Some of the passengers had expressed 
 a wish to " see a typhoon." What they did see was near enough 
 
 I 
 
 A^-i 
 
 
;!/ 
 
 ill 
 
 i 
 
 152 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 to the genuine article to prevent their expressing it any more. 
 The cargo shifted during the night, giving the ship a list to 
 leeward of about three feet. At ten o'clock we were running 
 along the coast of one of the outlying islands of Japan. We 
 passed a good many sampans, or native boats, engaged in fishing, 
 and through our glasses could see quaint villages and wooded 
 hills. One of the islands we passed was a volcano, not a very 
 big affair, but smoking vigorously. At noon Yokohama was in 
 sight, and an hour later we dropped anchor, and bid a glad 
 good-bye to the " Port Victor " from the steam launch of the 
 Grand Hotel. 
 
 il 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 
( 153 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 YOKOHAMA. 
 
 ''In 
 
 
 The passengers by the " Port Victor " were more reconciled to 
 their bad treatment on hearing the fate of the " City of Sydney," 
 the steamer of the rival line from San Francisco, which arrived 
 the day after. She was caught in the same hurricane which 
 delayed us, but fared much worse than we did. Her saloon was 
 waist-deep in water for twelve hours, some of her deck cabins 
 were swept overboard, two of her boats were stove in, and one 
 of her crew drowned. 
 
 The passengers came into our hotel at Yokohama in terrible 
 plight. All their luggage was soaked with salt water, and they 
 were much exhausted and worn out. Certainly the Pacific does 
 not deserve its name, so far as our experience has ^'one. 
 
 Yokohama is a modern seaport divided into European and 
 Japanese quarters. The European portion of the town is very 
 handsome, consisting entirely of the ofiices and residences of 
 merchants, stretching for about a mile in length. There is a 
 fine esplanade called the Bund, on which the principal hotels, a 
 fine club, and handsome houses are to be found. Behind this is 
 Main Street, where the banks, merchants' offices, stores, and 
 other business premises are placed. The town terminates in a 
 fine blufif, on which pretty villas are dotted. The Japanese 
 quarter contains many fine shops and stores, where native 
 
 : 
 
 II 
 
 
154 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 111' 
 
 products such as rice, silks, embroideries, lacqucr-waro, pottery, 
 and fine metal work are exposed for sale. 
 
 The trade of Yokohama is considerable. Thcr- are no wharves 
 
 or docks, vessels riding 
 at anchor in a fine bay. 
 This presents a busy and 
 picturesque scene with 
 some twenty or thirty fine 
 steamers of all nations, 
 combined with native 
 junks, sampans, and 
 bustling steam launches. 
 I noticed steamers 
 under the flags of the 
 Peninsular and Oriental, 
 the Canadian Pacific, the 
 White Star, and the Holt 
 Lines (all English) ; the 
 Occidental and Oriental (United States), the Messageries 
 (French), the German Lloyds, the Japanese Mails, with British, 
 American, Japanese, and Russian men-of-war. It is gratifying 
 to know that, as usual 
 all over the world, three- 
 fourths of the carrying 
 trade of Japan is done 
 under the British flag. 
 There are 1,250 Euro- 
 pean residents in Yo- 
 kohama, of whom 587 
 are British, 228 United States, 160 German, and 109 French. 
 Yokohama twenty-five years ago was only a small fishing 
 village. It is now a flourishing town of 70,000 inhabitants, the 
 
 TEA-HOUSE NEAR THE BLUFF, YOKOHAMA, 
 
 YOKOHAMA HARBOUR. 
 

 YOKOHAMA. 
 
 J55 
 
 chief port of Japan, a firsi-class station on the road both from 
 Canada and the United States to China and the East Indies, 
 and is the terminus of the Peninsular and Oriental, Messageries 
 Maritimes, and the German Lloyds in the far East, The entire 
 export and import trade of Yokohama amounts to about six 
 and a half millions sterling. 
 
 We took up our quarters at the Grand Hotel, which has the 
 reputation of being the finest hostelry in the East, and I can 
 quite believe it, for I never stayed at a better, East or West. 
 After taking our rooms we started out for a Jin-rickisha ride 
 
 frcnch. 
 
 ishing 
 
 Its, the 
 
 A STREET IN YOKOHAMA, 
 
 through the town. The Jin-rickisha is the universal conveyance 
 of Japan.* It is impossible to hire a carriage or a horse ; every 
 journey, long or short, whether from one point to another in the 
 towns, or for a 200 mile journey across country, except on the 
 two small railways, must be taken in Jin-rickishas. This con- 
 veyance is something between a single perambulator and a 
 hansom cab, with a hood that shuts back, and seating one 
 person only. It is very lightly built, with two wheels about 4 feet 
 in diameter, and slender brass-bound shafts, united together by 
 a tie-piece at the end. It is drawn by a man who gets in 
 
 * See frontispiece. 
 
 ■ I ■; 
 
 Yft: : i 
 
 i. r 
 
 11) 
 
IS6 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 m\ 
 
 between the shafts, pressing against the cross-bar at the end. 
 For long journeys you drive tandem, and a man of weight Hkc 
 myself often engages three. These men trot along at from 
 five to seven miles an hour, and are splendid specimens of 
 muscular development ; their calves are a wonder to behold, 
 and would be the envy of a London flunky. The dress of these 
 men consists of a pale-blue cotton shirt with hanging sleeves, 
 and tight-fitting breeches of the same material coming down to 
 the knee. Legs and feet are brown, tanned, and bare, with 
 the exception of the universal straw shoe, tied on by straw 
 twists, with a loop through which they thrust the great toe. 
 
 We start off through the European town, admiring the 
 pretty Eastern-looking houses and their lovely gardens, go to 
 the bank for some money, telegraph our safe arrival to friends 
 at home, and then drive on to the Japanese town, eager to see 
 the quaint and interesting people of whom we have heard so 
 much. The shops were odd and strange ; they are without 
 fronts, and the floors are raised about two feet from the ground 
 in one high step, some three or four feet back from the thresh- 
 old. The floor is covered with white fine matting, scrupulously 
 clean, and it is customary to kick off the shoes and enter the shop 
 in your stocking feet. Sometimes, in the case of Europeans, 
 who have an unfortunate habit of ignoring the customs of 
 foreigners, a servant will bring out a large cloth and carefully 
 wipe the dirt off the shoes of customers who decline to take 
 them off. 
 
 The goods are displayed on stands and ranged on shelves, the 
 reserve stock being kept at the back or in fire-proof warehouses 
 adjoining, which appear to be built of planished copper sheets 
 fastened on the wood, thick enough to resist flames from outside 
 in case the light structures in the neighbourhood take fire. 
 
 It matters not at what shop we halt, the proprietor comes 
 
YOKOHAMA. 
 
 »57 
 
 end. 
 t like 
 
 from 
 ;ns of 
 ^hold, 
 
 these 
 eeves, 
 iwn to 
 ;, with 
 
 straw 
 le. 
 
 ig the 
 i, go to 
 
 friends 
 r to see 
 eard so 
 without 
 
 g 
 
 round 
 
 hresh- 
 ulously 
 le shop 
 opeans, 
 oms of 
 
 refully 
 
 o take 
 
 ^es, the 
 -houses 
 sheets 
 outside 
 
 fire, 
 comes 
 
 BUYING CHRYSANTHEMUMS, YOKOHAMA. 
 
 bowing out and begs us to look at anything we please, never 
 once asking us to buy. At one we sec a platform weighing- 
 machine, and our whole party weigh themselves, to the ecstatic 
 
 
 
iss 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 ! ^ii ;• 
 
 ;J 
 
 1! 
 
 delight and amusement of the tradesman and his children, who 
 arc summoned out to enjoy the spectacle. Much interest is 
 taken in my portly form, as the diminutive Japanese greatly 
 admire bulk. I am, however, personally gratified to find that 
 the " Port Victor " has taken 1 5 lbs. off my weight. 
 
 Every shop has a pretty china vase standing against the wall, 
 with a few branches of chrysanthemums arranged in it with that 
 singular feeling for colour which seems almost universal in Japan. 
 We bought a great bunch of beautiful blooms from a peripatetic 
 flower-merchant for a few small copper coins. 
 
 After a two hours' stroll we were glad to get back lo our 
 hotel, enjoy a good dinner and go to bed. No one knows what 
 a priceless blessing is bed, who has not been tumbled about for 
 three stormy nights in the hard bunk of a steamer. 
 
 Japan is one of the rainiest countries in the world, and Satur- 
 day morning was one of its rainiest days. The annual rainfall 
 at Yokohama is about 160 inches, and, if my memory serves 
 me, I think the only place in the British Islands at all approach* 
 ing to this is Seathwaite-in-Borrowdale. 
 
 Our party for Japan consists of rriy daughter and myself, with 
 an American gentleman and his wife, named Russell, whose 
 friendship we have formed during the voyage across the Pacific, 
 and who, like ourselves, are travelling round the world. As the 
 rain is so heavy, the ladies go in Jin-rickishas to do some 
 shopping, while Mr. Russell and I go over to Tokio to visit 
 our respective legations, and get passports, without which it is 
 not permitted to travel into the interior. 
 
 We had each of us written to our ambassadors the night 
 before, begging that, if possible, we might have our pass- 
 ports next day, as our time was very limited. On arriving at 
 Tokio, we repaired to our respective legations. I not only 
 obtained my passport, but had an excellent lunch and an hour's 
 
YOKOHAMA. 
 
 »59 
 
 interesting conversation with Mr. Trench, our chargi! d'ajfaircs. 
 Mr. Russell, however, when we met, told mc to his and my great 
 disappointment that he could not get his passport for two days. 
 I suggested to him that he should go back to his ambassador 
 and express his surprise that America should fail to get pass- 
 ports as quickly as England. He did so, and in consequence 
 got it the next morning. 
 
 While in Tokio that afternoon, I called on a lady, an old friend 
 of mine, Miss Dawbarn, of Liverpool, who left England nearly 
 two years ago with a view to engaging in missionary work at 
 her own expense. I found her comfortably settled in a pretty 
 Japanese house, where she teaches English to classes of gentle* 
 men and ladies on alternate days. She makes some charge, and 
 finds she can get as many pupils as she can manage. T\\Q.y arc 
 all drawn from the wealthy classes, and she hopes to be able 
 to influence many of them in favour of Christianity. She 
 seemed very happy in her work, and sanguine of success. 
 Many of her pupils are now members of the various missionary 
 churches. 
 
 I also saw a native funeral procession, very different from the 
 ugl}' and depressing institution which prevails in England. The 
 great feature of the procession was abundance of beautiful 
 flowers. I saw at least fifty great garlands of chrysanthemum.s, 
 five or six feet high and three feet in dianicter, each of which 
 must have contained many hundreds of blooms, being borne in 
 the procession, which was headed by a number of priests in 
 bright-coloured picturesque robes. 
 
 On the following morning we all left Yokohama early, en route 
 for Nikko, a journey of about no miles, of which 80 was by 
 railway. Japanese railways are narrow gauge, about three feet 
 wide, laid in double-headed rails on chairs and sleepers, and the 
 train travels about 18 miles an hour. The stations are scrupu- 
 
 :i^i 
 
 |i ' 
 
 '1 i. 
 
 
i6o 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 lously neat and clean, and the rolling stock is very comfortable. 
 The carriages are seated like omnibuses, with the first-class 
 divided into three compartments, all communicating, and it is 
 possible to traverse the train from end to end as in America. 
 There are about 150 miles of railway now open in Japan, 
 and some 450 more are projected, which will be built as soon 
 as funds permit. English engine-drivers are employed, but the 
 passenger and goods traffic is all managed by Japanese. 
 
 The line from Yokohama terminates at Tokio, and we had 
 to ride in Jin-rickishas for three or four miles across Tokio to 
 reach the station for Utsunomiya, our next stage sixty miles 
 further on. 
 
 This journey was very full of interest, as the line passes through 
 the finest agricultural district in Japan. It is densely populated, 
 and the farms vary in size from half an acre to ten acres. 
 Nearly every house we passed had pretty little gardens full of 
 flowers, mostly chrysanthemums, now in all their glory, with 
 quaintly-trimmed trees four or five feet high, tiny little water- 
 falls and ponds, with toy bridges and boats. Some of these 
 gardens looked exactly like a willow-pattern plate. 
 
 The soil is of magnificent quality and depth, and the whole 
 country is running with clear streams of water, forming a 
 complete system of irrigation. On most of the farms it is quite 
 possible to get three crops in the year off the land. The main 
 crop is rice, the staple food of the Japanese, and the whole 
 country was yellow with the ripe grain, now being harvested. 
 Every inch of the soil is cultivated. There are no hedges or 
 ditches, the farms being divided by a small raised ridge about 
 six inches high, which carries a little crop of its own on joint 
 account for the two farmers whose land it divides. The soil is 
 tilled by hand only. In a journey of eighty miles I only saw 
 two horses, each engaged in drawing a small plough. Most of the 
 
YOKOHAMA. 
 
 I6i 
 
 hole 
 ling a 
 quite 
 
 main 
 whole 
 estcd. 
 jes cr 
 about 
 I joint 
 
 soil is 
 ^y saw 
 
 of the 
 
 cultivation is clone by a curious hand plough, which turns up a 
 3 ft. furrow every blow. The land seems capable of growing 
 any crop that is put into it. Besides rice, I saw patches of tea, 
 onions, daikons (a long white turnip, that seems a great article 
 of diet everywhere), cauliflower, cabbage, beans, cotton, caladiums, 
 buckwheat, ginger, carrots, barley, sweet and common potatoes, 
 peas, beets, pepper, bamboos, tobacco, radishes, lettuce, maize, 
 dhurra, celery, lotus (the seeds of which are a favourite food), 
 artichokes, castor oil, and everywhere small clumps of yellow 
 chrysanthemums, the flowers of which are boiled and eaten with 
 much relish. Besides these ground crops there were orchards 
 of mulberry-trees for silkworm culture, pears, cherries, plums, 
 peaches, and persimmons, weighed down with golden fruit, a 
 great favourite with Japanese of all sorts and conditions. These 
 trees were all hung round with great bunches of rice straw, 
 toughening to be plaited into hats and shoes. Not even in the 
 best parts of Belgium is such perfect cultivation to be found as 
 in this beautiful garden of Japan. 
 
 Four' hours after leaving Tokio we arrived at Utsunomiya, 
 the capital of a province, with a population ot 25,(X)0. We 
 walked up to our quarters for the night, escorted through the 
 streets by an admiring crowd of natives of all ages, who made 
 huge merriment of our various peculiarities of dress, but with a 
 good-natured politeness that took away the smallest trace of 
 offence. I felt quite conceited at the special attention I re- 
 ceived personally, due entirely to my six feet of height among 
 a five-foot people. As we walk along, laughing groups run ahead 
 and bring out their biggest men, whom they range alongside 
 of me, driving them aw?y with sccrn as they fail to reach my 
 gauge. My beard also receives much attention. One girl came 
 up to me, bowed almost to the ground, and then pulled my 
 beard, and ran away laughing. 
 
 M 
 
 I 
 
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 ^^w 
 
 
 V] 
 
 vQ 
 
 
 V 
 
 
 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 1.0 ErKf IM 
 
 12.2 
 
 
 I.! 
 
 ■ JO 
 
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 2.0 
 
 L25 liU 1.6 
 
 J/. 
 
 <? 
 
 
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 y. 
 
 ^ 
 
 A 
 
 
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 -^^ 
 ^3^ 
 
 « 
 
ra 
 
 
 
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 163 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 The children are delightful and quaint beyond all description. 
 The boys have their heads shaved, except odd little tufts on the 
 crown and sometimes behind the ears, the little girls wearing 
 their hair exactly as it appears on the twopenny fans so universal 
 all over England. All the babies are bound on the backs of 
 other children, and it is common to see a baby a year old tied 
 
 
 GROUP OF CHILDREN, UTSUNOMIYA. 
 
 on the back of a brother or sister three or four years old. 
 Nothing is seen of the baby but its head, and the combination 
 presents the droll appearance of a two-headed child. The baby 
 is as jolly and laughter-loving as its bearer, and both grin and 
 laugh in happy unison. All the children, great and small, laugh 
 
I 
 
 YOKOHAMA. 
 
 163 
 
 from crown to toe, are fat and wcU nourished, and are the 
 happiest and joUiest children on the face of the earth. I never 
 tire of the charming groups they make at every street corner. 
 They swarm in every village like rabbits in a warren. Japanese 
 children are the chief delight of their parents. I never saw 
 such happy, well-behaved children. The only time I have ever 
 heard one cry was when I came suddenly round a corner in 
 some country village, when I fear they mistook me for the Red- 
 whiskered Devil. They are never scolded or punished in any 
 
 DOLL AND FAN. 
 
 way, either at home or at school, and a parent who struck a 
 child would be shunned as a monster. I do not, however, 
 think this treatment would answer in England. I have heard 
 the excellent qualities of Japanese children ascribed to their 
 vegetarian diet, but I must leave wiser dictists than I to settle 
 that question. The Japanese love to turn their children out 
 smartly dressed, with doll and fan. and the bright harmonious 
 colours, the infinite variety of pattern and material, with the 
 quaint cut of .he garment added to their absurdly comical 
 
 M 2 
 
 ,l!L 
 
I 
 
 i ! 
 
 164 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 heads, plump faces, and beady-black eyes, yield never-failing 
 amusement to us all. 
 
 We stayed the night at a Tea-house, as the Japanese hotels 
 are called. We found ourselves, on arrival, in front of a large 
 house, of which the whole ground floor is open to the street ; 
 six feet back from the parapet is flush with the street, and the 
 whole of the rest of the floor is raised about two feet. The 
 edge of this floor is used as a seat for Jin-rickisha men, village 
 gossips, &c., and a part of it carries a small counter, on which 
 are arranged little dishes of fish, vegetables, rice, and what not, 
 ready to be cooked at a charcoal fire behind it, for any passer- 
 by who may order a meal. Immediately behind this step the 
 whole of the vast floor is covered with spotless white matting, 
 every one taking off his shoes before stepping upon it. The 
 area is quite bare and empty, divided by black wooden lines, 
 which, on examination, are found to be grooves, in which at 
 nip-ht light frames covered with opaque translucent paper 
 partitions slide into position, forming separate rooms for 
 sleeping. At one side is a raised dais, prettily decorated 
 with pictures and choice little works of art, with the usual 
 pot of chrysanthemums in bloom. Every hotel is obliged to 
 have this dais, on which the Mikado, or Emperor of Japan, 
 would sit if he ever visited the village, and selected that 
 particular tea-house as his abode. Every one of the many 
 thousand tea-houses in Japan has one of these dais, all of 
 which are daintily decorated with flowers and household 
 treasures. 
 
 At the back of every tea-house is a pretty little garden, with 
 a large bath-house, containing tubs of hot and cold water. The 
 Japanese are as scrupulously clean in their persons as in their 
 houses, and often wash all over two or three times a day. The 
 room in which we had our dinner looked out upon the large 
 
YOKOHAMA. 
 
 i6s 
 
 open window of the bath-house, in which three men and two 
 women were tubbing, with that absolute disregard of decency 
 which characterised our common parents before the fall, when 
 they were naked and not ashamed. Later on in the evening, 
 as I was passing to my room, one of the waitresses, in the 
 costume of Eve, made me a most profound and grave bow, 
 wishing mc good-night. No Japanese has yet become civilized 
 enough, with all their wonderful civilization, to believe it possible 
 UP Jer any circumstances that he or she is nuked. In summer 
 
 »' VM 
 
 INTERIOR OF TEA-HOUSE, BEDROOM FLOOR. 
 
 times this condition of things is uni- 
 versal. It is a little embarrassing at 
 first to the modest European, but one soon gets used to it, and 
 accepts it as the primitive innocence of a simple and guileless 
 people. 
 
 Europeans cannot eat Japanese food, ejicept eggs and rice ; 
 everything else is more or less " high " and pungent in flavour. 
 So all the guides are excellent cooks, and in tea-houses on 
 frequented routes there are nice little kitchens with small 
 
 ! i 
 
1;;? 
 
 1 66 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 charcoal fires, where the guide manages to produce excellent 
 meals, the materials for which have to be brought along from 
 the large towns, as it is only possible in smaller towns and 
 villages to purchase vegetables and rice. Milk is an unknown 
 dainty in Japan, except in large towns where Europeans live. 
 At Nikko, where some 1,500 Europeans go during the year, 
 there are two cows, but I have not seen one since I entered 
 the country. 
 
 We have an excellent guide in Mr. Hakodate, of Yokohama, 
 who produced us an admirable dinner of soup, fish, steak, 
 chicken, and pudding. At ten o'clock the servants make up 
 the bed-rooms. They rattle out the sliding paper partit'ons, 
 and our sitting-room is at once divided into three bed-rooms, 
 on the floor of which our " beds " are laid. These consist 
 of three or four thick quilts, with another rolled up for a 
 bolster. You may have either a thin mattrass with warm 
 covering, or a thick mattrass with light covering. We slept 
 very well on the whole, though the ladies found it a strangu 
 and novel experience. 
 
 There was no other furiiiture of any kind or description, and 
 our clothes had to be laid on the floor. In the morning, for 
 our ablution, we had the choice of the bath-house or a tiny 
 basin of water placed on a shelf in the garden, with a tub and 
 dipper by its side. We had brought each a towel and soap, 
 and the whole party took it turn about to wash at the basin, 
 as we have not been long enough in Japan to face the bath- 
 house. After an excellent breakfast we prepared to start off 
 to Nikko, a drive of about twenty-five miles. Eight Jin-rickishas, 
 with a crowd of laughing noisy human horses, were gathered round 
 the door, and soon we were all stowed away in them, rattling 
 through the streets of Utsunomiya to the ecstatic delight of 
 hundreds of jolly children, who pursued us with peals of laughter 
 
YOKOHAMA. 
 
 167 
 
 and cries of " 0-hy-o ! O-liy-o ! " (good-morning). The road to 
 Nikko is all up-hill, rising 8co feet. Each Jin-rickisha had 
 two men in tandem except mine, which had three, I being 
 nearly double the weight of any other member of our party. It 
 is simply astonishing how these vigorous little chaps spin along. 
 Our first stage was 1 1 miles, which wc covered in i hour and 
 35 minutes, our second was y\ 
 miles in 65 minutes, and our last 
 6]r miles in 50 minutes, the whole 
 25 miles being covered in three 
 hours and a half, or at the rate 
 of nearly eight miles an hour. 
 
 They ran their empty vehicles 
 back the same day, deli^i-hted to 
 get three shillings each for the 
 job. 
 
 We stopped twice at road-side 
 tea-houses, to give the men a 
 quarter hour's rest and breathing. 
 They did not seem to drink any- 
 thing, although they were stream- 
 ing with perspiration, but they 
 rinsed out their mouths at the 
 roadsic'e stream, washing their 
 legs and arms as well. At one 
 
 tea-house they all had dinner. This consisted of a bowl ot 
 boiled rice, a poached ^gg^ and a mess of stewed vegetables, all 
 served in pretty lacquer vessels on a tray. The cost of this 
 meal, which is their usual dinner daily, was just a penny farthing 
 of our money. 
 
 The men put on a new pair of shoes at evety stage, fhey 
 wear a thick plaited straw sole or sandal, bound to the foot by 
 
 JIN-RICKISHA MAN IN HIS STRAW 
 RAIN COAT. 
 
 i 
 
i68 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 thin swathes, and get three pair for a penny. The horses are 
 shod also with straw shoes, and a main road on which there is 
 much traffic is strewn all the way with old straw shoes. 
 
 THE ROAD TO NIKKO. 
 
 When the weather is vet the Jin-rickisha men wear cloaks 
 and hats of straw, giving them the appearance of being 
 thatched, like a small walking haystack. The farmers and 
 
YOKOHAMA. 
 
 169 
 
 I cloaks 
 
 being 
 
 rs and 
 
 better sort of folk put on a cloak of yellow oiled paper, 
 perfectly waterproof, similar to that used in a copying-press 
 at home, and all carry gigantic paper umbrellas of gorgeous 
 pattern, oiled to make them waterproof. It can rain in Japan, 
 but it is well worth while to endure two or three wet days for 
 the sake of the odd costumes one meets at every turn. 
 
 The road we are travelling on is one of the great highways of 
 Japan, and the whole way is a long avenue of magnificent 
 cryptomerias, a tree something like a fine Scotch fir in 
 appearance. These trees are about 100 feet in height, and this 
 noble avenue runs for fifty miles. These trees were originally 
 planted by a pious Daimio, or prince, and a more imposing 
 preparation for the religious glories of Nikko could not have 
 been conceived. The road itself is an excellent, well-made 
 gravel road, with a stream of crystal water about two feet wide 
 and one deep, running along both sides, conveying water to 
 the populous villages which line the route. 
 
 The scenery all along the road is very beautiful. A Shinto 
 shrine, with its odd torii or bird-perches, a quaint roadside tea- 
 house, a farmyard with peasants threshing out rice or mille':, 
 charming groups of children playing about some pretty village 
 street, or in its bright gardens, the perfect tillage of the fields, 
 th ; low ranges of wooded hi' is gorgeous in autumn tints of 
 vermilion and gold, with the blue mountains of Nikko, 8,000 
 feet high, for a background, form fresh and delightful pictures 
 at every turn of the road. 
 
 The traffic of the country seems all to be done by human 
 beings and a few pack-horses. In the fifty miles to Nikko and 
 back we did not see a dozen carts. There is an omnibus from 
 Utsunomiya to Nikko, holding six people, before which a man 
 runs blowing a furious horn to warn everybody to get out of the 
 way of this terrible and dangerous vehicle. 
 
 ;, tl 
 
 ! ( 
 
I it"^ 
 
 170 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 Men and women alike bear a hand in the transport of goods 
 about the country ; the man in the shafts of the handcart, the 
 wife pushing merrily behind, with the inevitable baby on her 
 back bobbing up and down with a broad grin and a nose that 
 wants blowing. The only drawback to Japan is the absence of 
 children's pocket-handkerchiefs. 
 
 No animals are to be seen except the pack-horses, which arc 
 nasty, vicious, badly-broken ponies ; cats with short stumpy 
 tails, an odd dog or two, and some poultry about the size of 
 decent bantams. Cows, sheep, and pigs are no use in a country 
 where nobody eats meat. I have not seen a single butcher's 
 shop, except at Yokohama, during my whole visit. 
 
 The only machine of any kind that I saw in my two hundred 
 nules of travel is the rice-pounder, which consists of a long beam 
 of wood swung on a pivot, not unlike a see-saw, at the end of 
 which is a stout peg at right angles ; underneath this peg is a 
 stone hollow filled with rice, and a man jumps off and on the 
 other end, which of course make , the peg rise and fall into the 
 hollow, thus pounding the rice into flour. 
 
 In large villages this is done by an undershot water-wheel, 
 which revolves a series of tilts, like a tilt hammer in a forge, but 
 the wooden pegs and stone hollows are just the same as in the 
 more primitive farmyard machine. 
 
 Every house and cottage in Japan seems to have a stream of 
 bright sparkling water running in front of it. This is used by 
 the whole family or village for promiscuous ablutions, for 
 washing clothes and vessels, for irrigating their gardens and 
 little farms, and is yet always so clear and pure to look at that 
 one could put in a glass and drink it with pleasure, so far as 
 appearance goes. There are, however, few countries where 
 water is so dangerous to drink unless boiled, and I always 
 drink tea, the national beverage, which is a pale, weak 
 
YOKOHAAfA. 
 
 • 71 
 
 goods 
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 ch arc 
 itumpy 
 size of 
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 lundrcd 
 ig beam 
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 peg is a 
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 into the 
 
 ;r- wheel, 
 )rge, but 
 Ls in the 
 
 infusion, vcr/ pleasant and refreshing, when one has got used 
 to its pccul'.ar flavour. 
 
 The village graveyard is a small patch of ground surrounded 
 by trees, and each grave is marked by a square, upright stone, 
 with an inscription. It is a puzzle at first to account for the 
 smallness of each grave until one learns that Japanese coffins 
 arc square, and the body squeezed in with the knees tucked up 
 to the chin. We passed a funeral on our way, the coffin being 
 about 2-]^ feet square, the body inside extremely unpleasant, and 
 it was quite time that the ceremony took place. 
 
 When a woman marries in Japan, she deliberately destroys 
 her good looks by staining her teeth jet black. I don't know 
 how it is done, but it gives one quite a shock to meet a nice 
 smartly-dressed young woman, with a magnificent chignon of 
 black hair, studded with tortoiseshell pins and combs, and a 
 jaunty rose stuck at the top, and then to have the whole thing 
 destroyed by a black smile, that gives the appearance of the 
 mouth being a vast dark cavern. Strolling through Utsunomiya, 
 I saw the show-case of a dentist filled with " guinea jaws " of 
 shiny black false teeth. I am glad to hear that fashionable 
 people are abandoning this hideous practice, and as fashion is 
 everything in Japan, I hope it will soon disappear. The notion 
 which inspires the custom is, that a girl once married, has only 
 attractions for her husband, and must no longer present a pleas- 
 ing appearance to the world at large. The success is complete. 
 
 Every Japanese man has a pipe-case and tobacco-pouch stuck 
 in his girdle, and these are often beautiful works of art, deco- 
 rated with raised metal-work or carved ivory. The pipe itself is 
 a straight bronze or bamboo tube with a tiny bowl at the end, in 
 which a pinch of fine tobacco is placed. After three whiffs the 
 ash is thrown out, and the bowl re-filled. 
 
 The only intoxicating liquor drunk by the Japanese is sake, a 
 
 ii '^'-\ 
 
 m 
 
 
172 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 drink made from rice, which has the colour and appearance of 
 pale sherry. This is kept in a barrel and drawn off into long 
 china bottles, which are dipped into hot water and served on 
 lacquer trays with little cups, on which the god of good luck is 
 painted. It does not seem to be largely consumed, and I have 
 only seen one man under its influence. I have, however, seldom 
 seen a more imbecile-looking drunkard, and I am told that its 
 effect makes the drinker more supremely silly than any other 
 known intoxicant. On the whole, I think the Japanese are an 
 unusually sober people. 
 
 •i \\ 
 
 Hii'l 
 
( 173 ) 
 
 liil 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 NIKKO. 
 
 The hotel at Nikko is a Japanese house, kept in Japanese 
 style, but with generous concessions to European customers. It 
 is true we all have to perform our ablutions in turn on one corner 
 of the verandah, before the gaze of admiring critics in the shape 
 of children, who gather early in the morning on coigns of vantage 
 to see the foreigners wash themselves ; but our wash-basin is a 
 marvellously beautiful bit of Japanese workmanship. It is true 
 that the rooms are one vast door, and that you can enter or 
 leave at any point of any wall, by sliding one of the many frames ; 
 but we have bedsteads, chairs and tables, a cook who has had 
 lessons from a Frenchman, and our drinking water is placed on 
 the table in a Scotch whisky bottle, and a Bass's beer bottle, with 
 the labels still attached, giving a festive and rakish, though 
 thoroughly English, appearance to the meal, hardly acceptable, 
 however, to good teetotallers like the whole of our party. 
 
 Shortly after arrival, the Japanese "chef" served us a very 
 tolerable dinner. When it had been removed, and tea brought 
 in, suddenly every side of the room slid open, and six bowing 
 and smiling Japanese silently entered, each with an enormous 
 bundle on his back. They shut themselves in, placed their 
 burdens on the ground and begun to unfasten them, all the 
 while softly sucking in their breath in a curious faint whistle. 
 We demanded instant explanation, and the ringleader said, 
 
 
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 174 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 "Mr. Shentlcmans! We very good Japanese Number One 
 Curios!" and promptly placed on the table a large pot and a 
 lacquer box. The others followed suit, and soon pandemo- 
 nium set in. Each of the six pressed his rival wares upon our 
 attention, and the table, chairs, walls, and floor were covered 
 with an assoitment of pottery, new and old, lacquer, broaze, old 
 Daimio's robes, swords, knives, embroidery, and what rot. Out 
 of a wilderness of modern rubbish, we managed to select some 
 
 THE HOTEL AT NIKKO. 
 
 really fine specimens of old lacquer, pottery, embroideries, 
 and metal work, which we eventually purchased at about one- 
 half the price demanded. This experience was repeated every 
 night, not only at Nikko, but almost everywhere in Japan, 
 at tea-house or hotel. 
 
 Nikko is the great wonder of Japan. Its shrines and 
 temples are celebrated wherever the Buddhist religion exists. 
 " Nikko " means " sunny splendour," and it well deserves the 
 
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 name. The town is small, and is filled with tea-houses for the 
 accommodation of the pilgrims who resort thither at times and 
 seasons of religious festivals. It lies in a lovely valley, through 
 which a clear mountain river rushes, furnishing water for endless 
 streams and leats rippling through street, lane, and garden. 
 It is surrounded by high hills, clad to the summit with 
 magnificent cryptomeria trees, in their turn overtopped by 
 mountains, of which the highest, Nantai-san, about 10,000 
 feet above the sea, is gorgeous in autumn splendour from base 
 to summit. Here dwells the Wind-god, and pilgrims ascend the 
 mountain in the Spring, to a shrine on the top, where they 
 arrange with his godship for a proper supply- of rain and fine 
 weather throughout the year. Nantai-san responds nobly, 
 sending down his generous flanks a dozen ample streams, 
 which irrigate thousands of square miles of fertile land. 
 
 The next morning we went up the valley to get a view of the 
 Nikko range, following a path by the banks of a brawling stream 
 full of trout, bordered by luxuriant and varied vegetation glorious 
 in autumn gold and copper. Two miles from Nikko we reach 
 the famous images of Amida Buddha, arranged in a long 
 row of many hundreds by the river-side, contemplating with 
 great serenity of countenance (unless their heads have been 
 knocked off by Shinto blasphemers), the noble range of which 
 Nantai-san is the centre and summit. It is supposed to be 
 impossible to count this long row of images, and while the rest 
 of the party engaged in the attempt to do so, I made a sketch 
 of the beautiful landscape, which is reproduced on the previous 
 page. 
 
 Nikko has been a holy place to the Buddhists since the eighth 
 century, when a wise old Buddhist missionary from China visited 
 it, and had a confidential interview with Nantai-san, the Shinto 
 deity of the mountains; instead of declaring him an impostor, as 
 
 N 
 
 II 
 
178 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 \i 
 
 any vulgar reformer might have done, he annexed him as a "mani- 
 festation of Buddha," vi^hich position he has occupied ever since. 
 
 All the glories of Nikko centre in the tomb of the great 
 Shogun lye-yasu, who drove out the Jesuits and extirpated 
 Christianity. His son buried him with great pomp and 
 splendour in the year 1617, on the top of a hill above Nikko, 
 nnd the Mikado made a god of him as "the light of the East, 
 the great incarnation of Buddha." Nikko, in all its former 
 magnificence of Buddhist ritual and paraphernalia, with its 200 
 priests clad in gorgeous robes, must have been a wonderful 
 sight. But its glory has departed with the disestablishment of 
 Buddhism, and now six Shinto priests sell tickets of admission 
 to Christian tourists whom lye-yasu would have promptly 
 crucified, and the only ritual visible was at one of the large 
 temples, where a melancholy old lady in shining raiment, 
 with a fan and a bunch of small bells, goes through a brief 
 dance for any one who will throw a copper into a bowl. We 
 bought three or four performances for as many farthings. 
 
 On leaving the hotel, and walking up the main street of the 
 town, we come to two bridges, one of which is carefully guarded 
 by locked gates. This bridge is made of wood, lacquered a 
 deep red, and has never been repaired since 1638, the year in 
 which it was built. It appeared perfectly sound, and there is 
 no trace of decay from the wear and tear of 250 years of 
 Japanese rain and storm. The blue waters of the river, which 
 is here 40 feet wide only, rush under the bridge between two 
 steep banks, the warm Indian red of the lacquered wood con- 
 trasting finely with the dark cool green of the splendid crypto- 
 merias, the whole scene brightened by the torrent beneath. 
 This sacred bridge is only opened once a year, during the great 
 festival week. 
 
 Soon after crossing the river, we mount a flight of broad wide 
 
MIKKO. 
 
 179 
 
 steps, leading to the great granite Torii or Shinto archway 
 erected in 1618. It is 27 feet 6 inches high, and the columns 
 are fine monoliths, 3 feet 6 inches in diameter. 
 
 Passing under this archway we see a magnificent pagoda of 
 five stories in height, rising 104 feet, the eaves of the roofa being 
 
 
 
 THE PAGODA, NIKKO. 
 
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 18 feet in length. The lower story is surrounded by twelve 
 emblematical animals : a rat, bull, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, 
 horse, goat, ape, cock, dog, and pig ; all carved and painted with 
 wonderful resemblance to life. This pagoda is most graceful 
 in form, and its harmonious decorations stand out well against 
 
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 1 1 , 
 
 i8o 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 the dark background of cryptomcrias, which everywhere lend 
 such an added charm to the Nikko temples. 
 
 Passing on through the Nio-mon, or gate of the two kings, we 
 find ourselves in a spacious courtyard, enclosed by a timber 
 wall lacquered dark red. In this courtyard are three very fine 
 buildings, arranged in the zig-zag so dear to the Japanese, which 
 are used as store-houses for the various " properties " employed 
 
 
 
 tUkMIOtfJc 
 
 HOLV WATER CISTERN, NIKKO. 
 
 at the annual festivals. Here also is a large tree, enclosed by 
 a railing, which is said to have been one that lye-yasu had 
 planted in a pot shortly before his death, and which was trans- 
 planted here. Close to the tree is a handsome stable, in which 
 is a sacred white pony, called "Jimme," kept for the use of 
 the god, opposite to which is the famous holy-water cistern. 
 -This is cut from a solid block of granite, and is so carefully set, 
 
NIKICO. 
 
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 cistern. 
 
 illy set, 
 
 that the water flows in one even stream from every inch of its 
 four sides. The cistern is covered by a wooden roof, clamped 
 on to twelve square granite pillars, with finely chased bronze 
 plates. The roof is richly carved and painted, and being open, 
 affords a good opportunity of studying the marvellous joinery 
 of these old Japanese carpenters. Just beyond the holy- water 
 
 
 THE KIO-ZO, OR LIBRARY, NIKKO. 
 
 basin is a beautiful decorated building, known as the Kio-zo, 
 or library. Inside this building is a complete collection of 
 Buddhist scriptures, mounted in a revolving eight-sided cup- 
 board, with red-lacquered panels, and gold pillars. R id the 
 interior walls are paintinf;s of various subjects on a gold ground. 
 In front of the building are some of the great stone and bronze 
 lanterns, 6 feet in height, which are lighted up on the feast days. 
 
 n 
 
 I I 
 
li I 
 
 ii2 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 A fresh flight of steps leads us to mother courtyard, along 
 the front of which is a stone balustrade, on which is placed a 
 bell tower, a huge bronze candelabrum, presented by the King 
 
 KOREAN BRONZE LANTERN, NIKKO. 
 
 of Loochoo, a bronze lantern, the gift of a Korean king, and a 
 drum tower. Behind these is a temple decorated with fifteen 
 or sixteen groups of carved birds that well repaid an hour's 
 study. 
 
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 tid a 
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VI 
 
 ifli 
 
 l\ 
 
 
 NIKKO. 
 
 185 
 
 Yet another flight of stone steps brings us to the platform 
 on which stands the gem of Nikko, the vvondrously beautiful 
 gate called Yo-mei-mon. This is supported by white-lacquered 
 columns, carved with a small regular pattern. On one of the 
 pillars the pattern is carved upside down, lest the perfection of 
 the structure should excite the envy of the gods, and bring 
 misfortune on the architect. This is called the "evil-averting 
 pillar." The gateway has two stories, the lower one being 
 surrounded by a gallery. The side niches to the front contain 
 two ferocious-looking images, armed with bow and arrows ; to 
 the back, they contain the sacred dogs of Japan. The entire 
 building is covered with marvellous sculpture. Here we see a 
 tiger and cub, the grain of the wood cleverly used to produce 
 the fur ; here a group of flowers or fruit ; there, birds, beasts, 
 and fishes disporting themselves like nature itself. The capitals 
 of the columns are the heads of strange, quaint, fabulous beasts. 
 Where the cross-beams of the second story intersect are white- 
 lacquered dragons' heads. The railing of the balcony consists 
 of groups of children at play, and other figure subjects, alter- 
 nating with birds, and the ends of the supporting beams are 
 carved into the portraits of famous Chinese and Corean sages. 
 The illustration on the previous page is the back view of this 
 marvellous gateway. 
 
 Right and left of Yo-mei-mon extends. a long cloister, the 
 outer walls of which contain a double row of carved panels, 
 consisting of groups of trees, birds, beasts, flowers and fruit, 
 coloured after nature, all of marvellous beauty and great in- 
 tricacy of workmanship. The base of the wall consists of great 
 blocks of stone, from which rise uprights about 12 feet apart. 
 These pass through thicker horizontal members. This produces 
 a double row of elongated spaces, one 16 inches high, and the 
 other 5 feet, in which the carved panels are inserted. 
 
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 \\\ 
 
 S^ii: 
 
 ii 
 
1 86 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 The lower range, which is the narrowest, consists altogether of 
 representations of storks, clucks, gccsc, and other water-fowl, in 
 flight, standing on the banks of streams and lakes, or swimming 
 and diving in the water. The upper range consists of pierced 
 work of floral composition chiefly, treated with great tenderness 
 and beauty, with a masterly decision about the carving such as 
 I have never seen anywhere before — the whole being one rich 
 and harmonious mass of colour, such as only Japan can produce. 
 On the following page is an illustration that gives some fait ; 
 idea of what I have described so feebly. The cloisters vvithi 
 this wall are decorated with great simplicity. 
 
 Passing through Yo-mci-mon, we enter a court enclosed on 
 three sides by the cloister I have just described ; on the fourth 
 side rises a great stone wall, built against the face of the hill. 
 In this courtyard are several buildings. One contains a stage 
 for the performance of sacred dances. 
 
 In another building is an altar before which worshippers burn 
 sweet-smelling bits of cedar, while the priest recites prayers. A 
 third contains some cars which are used in the annual festivals, 
 in which the spirits of lye-yasu and other heroes ride invisibly. 
 
 Emerging from this court, we enter a quadrangle fifty yards 
 long, which loads to the holy of holies of Nikko, entered by a 
 gateway as beautiful in execution and design as Yo-mei-moii 
 itself. This is called Kara-mon, or Chinese Gate, and is built of 
 precious woods from China, inlaid and carved with marvellous 
 detail and skill. At this door we were met by a bald fat priest, 
 who directed us to take off" our shoes. The double doors of this 
 entrance are richly decorated with arabesque work of flowers in 
 gold relief. Dragons which seem almost alive twine themselves 
 round the columns which support the roof. On the door is a 
 mass of varied decoration perfectly distributed, in such beautiful 
 detail and such harmonious completion, as to furnish a perfect 
 
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NIKKO, 
 
 189 
 
 example of the thorough mastery of decorative art possessed by 
 the architects and builders of this marvellous series of sacred 
 building. - - . . . ... 
 
 A few more steps lead into the oratory, a large room 42 feet 
 long by 27 feet wide, covered with matting, in the middle of 
 which is a black table, with a small circular mirror placed upon 
 
 
 
 
 :7 
 
 
 
 NIO-MON GATE, ENTRANCE TO THE TEMPLES OF IVE-MITSU. 
 
 it, the sole emblem of the Shinto religion. The walls of this 
 inner sanctuary are decorated with carved oak panels, and the 
 ceiling is also carved and painted. 
 
 Returning to the courtyard and passing through a small 
 doorway, over which is a famous carving of a sleeping cat, we 
 mount 200 steep moss-grown .;teps, which lead to the summit ol 
 the hill. Here is the tomb of the mighty^Shogun, lye-yasu, a 
 
 4^ 
 
 ! 1 
 
igo 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 simple bronze casting, in front of which stands a low stone table 
 on which are placed a huge bronze stork with a candlestick in 
 its mouth, a bronze incense-burner, and a vase with brass lotus- 
 flowers and leaves. Weary with six hours of wandering through 
 these superb temples, we return to our hotel, leaving the minor 
 temples of lye-mitsu for the next day. 
 
 
 -^ L:^ 
 
 
 KARA-MON GATE, lYE-MITSU'S TEMPLES. 
 
 Passing through the Torii, which forms the entrance to the 
 group of Buddhist temples leading up to the tomb of the second 
 Shogun, lye-mitsu, we come to two red-lacquered buildings 
 standing together, joined by a covered gallery. One of these is 
 sacred to the Indian goddess Ariti ; a demon who had sworn to 
 devour five hundred children in the metropolis of Buddhism, 
 but who, being converted before she could carry out her fell 
 
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NIKKO, 
 
 193 
 
 purpose, forthwith entered a monastery and became a burning 
 and shining Buddhist light. The other is dedicated to Amida, 
 and in it are preserved the bones of the Shogun Yoritomo. 
 
 Beyond these buildings is the Nio-mon, the gate of the two 
 Kings, at the top of a flight of wide steps. The two Kings are 
 a gigantic pair of muscular figures, painted red, with every 
 conceivable expression of warlike ferocity. Another flight of 
 steps leads on to the gate called Ni-ten Mon, with similar 
 statues painted green and red. Inside this gate is an image of 
 the Wind-god, painted green, who carries the winds tied up in 
 a long sack, slung over his shoulder. His companion is the 
 Thunder-god, and both of these are as furious and turbulent- 
 looking as Japanese ingenuity can carve them. The only 
 other gate worth mentioning, in the succession which lead 
 through the many courtyards to the tomb of lye-mitsu, is 
 the Kara-mon, of which I give an illustration on p. 190. All 
 these courts contain many temples and other buildings fully 
 equal in detail and interest to those of lye-yasu, surrounded 
 by the same cool green background of cryptomeria trees. 
 
 Returning from lye-mitsu's tomb, we pass a building con- 
 taining a curious life-like figure of an old man with a long 
 beard, and preternaturally sturdy legs. This is an image of 
 Enno Shokaku, a famous Buddhist saint, who possessed an 
 extraordinary power of working miracles and charming spirits. 
 He had special influence with Hill spirits, and many of the 
 most arduous mountain paths are the result of their joint efforts. 
 There is an unhappy Hill demon, named Hitokotonushi, who 
 dared to disobey him, fast imprisoned in the centre of one of 
 the Nikko mountains, who will not be let out till the Buddhist 
 Messiah appears, 5,670,000,000 years hence. After conferring 
 great benefits on the Japanese people, Enno flew away to China 
 in the year 701, and was never heard of again. 
 
 
 : 
 
 ii \ 
 
 I !!■ 
 
 IITH 
 
 J|t:, 
 
194 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 His image is supported by two of his most obedient demons, 
 painted red and green, by name Zenki and Goki. He is still 
 supposed to be able to confer great physical strength, especially 
 in the legs, and is the favourite saint of Jin-rickisha men, who 
 hang up exaggerated straw sandals in all parts of the building 
 as votive offerings. 
 
 We spent three days at Nikko, but they were only enough to 
 show us the utter hopelessness of getting even an idea of the 
 wondrously beautiful details of the whole. Nikko remains with 
 me as a beautiful dream ; I do not possess much more than 
 a vivid remembrance of its massive temples looming warmly red 
 against the cool green of the dense foliage, and I can only depend 
 on photographs to bring bacK to my memory the infinite and 
 beautiful details of their superb decoration. 
 
 Nikko has a right to stand in equal rank with the finest 
 religious edifices in the world. Pagan or Christian ; as a triumph 
 of carpenter's work and of glyptic art, nothing in the world can 
 bear comparison for a moment. It has been an education to 
 have seen them, even in the hasty manner in which it has been 
 possible to me. 
 
 During our stay at Nikko we took a day's excursion into the 
 neighbouring mountains, our destination being the lake of Chiu- 
 sen-je, 4,000 feet above the sea, through magnificent mountain and 
 river scenery. The road was quite impassable for Jin-rickishas, 
 so we took the other popular conveyance of Japan, the Kago, 
 which consists of a stout basket-chair slung upon two strong 
 bamboo poles, carried by four stout coolies. We were a strange 
 procession to an English spectator. Seven Kagos, containing 
 three Englishmen, three Englishwomen, and Mr. Hakodate, our 
 Japanese guide, borne along by twenty-nine natives (I had an 
 extra man as usual), all stepping in time, and singing weird 
 chants in a minor key. We had eight miles to travel to Chiu- 
 
NIKKO. 
 
 195 
 
 sen-je lake, with a rise of 3,000 feet. They covered the eight 
 miles in just four hours. It was very easy and comfortable 
 travelling, except downhill, which seemed to take it out of our 
 bearers more than going uphill. At the end of the day, 
 however, they did not show the smallest trace of fatigue, and 
 would have been quite willing to run us 20 miles in Jin-rickishas 
 before going to bed. 
 
 ON THE ROAD TO CHIU-SEN-JE. 
 From a sketch by tlie Author. 
 
 Chm-sen-je is a pretty village, with many fine tea-houses ; a 
 place of great resort in summer-time for wealthy Japanese. 
 The lake is a fine expanse of water, about 10 miles in cir- 
 cumference, with lovely surroundings. Nantai-san rises sheer 
 out of the east bank, and both it and the lower hills on the 
 opposite side are clad with variegated forest. The tea-houses 
 all front the lake, and on the other side of the road, under the 
 fiififs of the sacred mountain, are rows of houses inhabited by 
 
 O 2 
 
196 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 priests. From one of these houses runs the pathway to the 
 summit of Nantai-san, to ascend which it is necessary to obtain 
 permission from the High-priest at Nikko. The stream which 
 leaves the lake, forms a magnificent waterfall, in two leaps 
 falling some 550 feet. 
 
 Count Ito, the Japanese prime minister, had invited us to a 
 great ball in honour of the Mikado's birthday, at which the 
 Emperor and Empress were to be present ; but the charms of 
 Nikko were too great a counter-attraction, and we did not go. 
 We left Nikko that morning, and the town, being the Mikado's 
 property, was en fete. A bamboo, with the Mikado's flag at the 
 top, was posted in front of every house, and the swarms of 
 children were all running about, making merry with paper flags 
 on little sticks, or flying kites. We returned by the same road 
 by which we came, our Jin-rickisha 'uen running the 25 miles to 
 Utsunomiya in just 2^ hours, or 10 miles an hour. We reached 
 Tokio, the capital, about nine o'clock, and drove 5 or 6 miles 
 through the streets. Although the capital has a population of 
 nearly a million, there is not a single gas-lamp in the streets. 
 This night, however, in honour of the Emperor's birthday, every 
 house had a large brightly-coloured paper lantern hung out, and 
 the thousands of people who thronged the streets carried smaller 
 ones in their hands. It was a veritable feast of lanterns, and the 
 effect was far more beautiful than any illumination I had ever 
 seen before. We went on to Yokohama by a later train. 
 
 The next few days were spent at Yokohama, with an 
 occasional excursion to Tokio and the neighbourhood. 
 
 One very pleasant day was devoted to a Jin-rickisha ride to 
 Kamakura and its great image of Buddha, called the Daibutz. 
 This cologpal figure, of great antiquity, is in a sitting posture, 
 and is forty-seven feet in height. It was cast on the spot in 
 sections of about six feet in height, forming one huge mass of 
 
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 ss of 
 
 NIKk'O. 
 
 197 
 
 metal, in which the divisions of the several castings arc distinctly 
 visible. The figure represents Buddha in meditation, and is full 
 of dignified repose. A large jewel is placed in the middle of the 
 forehead, from which light is supposed to beam, and is significant 
 of Buddha being "the light of the world." The interior is 
 hollow, and is fitted up as a temple with shrines. The curious 
 head-dress is composed of clusters of snails, who, out of 
 
 THE GREAT BUDDHA, KAMAKURA. 
 
 gratitude to Buddha for his love of animals, shielded thus from 
 the sun the exposed head of their holy friend. 
 
 We went to a neighbouring tea-house, of some note with 
 Japanese epicures, where we had previously ordered a real 
 Japanese meal. This nation shines in every fine art except 
 that of cooking. The whole meal was served to us at once in 
 five or six lacquered wooden bowls on a pretty tray, with a huge 
 basin of boiled rice on the floor, in a corner. Three charming 
 
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 A TRIP ROUND J HE WORLD. 
 
 '! I'^ 
 
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 young ladies in full native costume served us, and then waited 
 to sec us cat, in eager expectation of fun. We first tried the 
 soup. It was hot water, with uncooked giblets of some un- 
 known fowl. No one got beyond the first mouthful. Then we 
 tackled a small fried fish, about the size of a sardine, seasoned 
 with pickled grapes and chestnuts. That we ate. Then we 
 attempted a third dish, which we discovered to be a large piece 
 of absolutely raw fish in pickled dail.on, a sort of horse-radish, 
 which is dear to the Japanese stomach, but which has the most 
 horrible smell imaginable. Many times during our stay in 
 Japan we have wondered at the typhoid-suggesting smells wc 
 experienced in the dainty and cleanly tea-houses, but on com- 
 plaint our guide always produced a bowl of daikon, which set 
 our minds at rest. There was also a mess of dubious vegetables 
 and some boiled chrysanthemums, but nothing on the whole 
 tray, except plain boiled rice, which an English palate could 
 stand. We were all hungry, and looked at each other in dismay. 
 The waitresses giggled and wriggled with delight. To our joy, 
 however, one of them left the room, and returned with a huge 
 bowl of fresh bantam's eggs, which, with the rice, furnished a 
 wholesome and abundant meal. As usual, the ladies of our 
 party were subjected to a rigorous investigation by the landlady 
 and her pretty waitresses. Every article of jewellery was passed 
 round and examined ; their hats, cloaks, and dresses were 
 scrutinized and discussed, and every sort of curious question put 
 about their families and belongings. We men were treated 
 with indifference and contempt, until the bill was made out, 
 when they all came in smiling, to get their " pocket-money." 
 We took a boat in the afternoon, intending to visit a small 
 island on which some old Shinto shrines were to be seen, but a 
 fleet of fishing boats attracted our attention, and growing dark 
 as we rowed from boat to boat, examining their tackle and nets, 
 
NIKKO. 
 
 199 
 
 the island was abandoned. Fishing is, after agriculture, the 
 chief industry of Japan. There are about 200,000 fishing boats, 
 giving employment to some two millions of the population. 
 Fish, fresh and salted, is the chief animal food of the people. 
 We spent a quiet Sunday in Yokohama. In the morning we 
 went to a Union Church, at which all the religious denominations 
 in the European town, except the Episcopalians and Baptists 
 worship tog Jther. Nine different missions, American and English, 
 meet together in Christian fellowship, and it is hoped that by- 
 and-by this movement will result in a complete union of all the 
 native churches under the charge of Protestant Nonconformists in 
 one denomination, thus going far to remove what must always be 
 a hindrance to mission work, the appearance of division in the 
 Christian Church. I also saw a native congregation, that of the 
 Dutch Presbyterians. It was crowded to overflowing, as indeed 
 are most of the mission churches. There are now over 20,000 
 native members of Protestant churches in Japan, and Christianity 
 seems likely before long to crowd out the threadbare super- 
 stitions of Shinto and the idol-encrusted religion of Buddha. 
 The strong desire of leading men in Japan for assimilation to 
 European civilization is very likely to take the form of the State 
 adoption of some phase of Christianity. The dread of the 
 missionary is that it will be Romanism, I know of no heathen 
 country where the responsibility of the missionary is so great 
 as in Japan — or where the prospects of success are brighter. 
 The Japanese Christian reaches as high a standard as the 
 English, and the native preachers are quite as intelligent and 
 well taught in the Scriptures as any of our missionaries them- 
 selves. Besides this, influential and wealthy Japanese gladly 
 avail themselves of the excellent schools which have been esta- 
 blished by American Missionary Societies, where high-school 
 teaching is given, combined with instruction in the Christian 
 
 T f 
 
900 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE IVORLD. 
 
 religion. Miss Crosbie, an American lady, has 120 Japanese 
 young ladies in her fine boarding-school at Yokohama, many of 
 whom are the daughters of men of high position in the State. 
 Christianity is now more than tolerated in Japan, it is encouraged 
 by some of the most influential people of the country. 
 
 Every morning we go out upon the roof of our hotel to get 
 a view of the wonderful mountain which appears so constantl)' 
 upon the various products of Japanese art and manufacture ; 
 painted on paper, woven into textile fabrics, worked upon 
 lacquer and pottery, carved in relief on wooden panels of 
 cabinets, or chased on bronze vases. Fuji-yama, the most 
 sacred mountain in Japan, is a magnificent volcanic snow-clad 
 cone, rising in sublime isolation over I2,0CX) feet from the 
 plain ; its last eruption took place in 1707, and did great 
 mischief. Fuji-yama has rarely been out of our sight during 
 our excursions in the neighbourhood of Yokohama. 
 
 On the 9th of November we bid farewell to Yokohama, having 
 taken passage in the Japanese st«^amer " Yamashiro Maru " for 
 Kobe, 350 miles distant, the treaty port of Kioto, the old 
 capital. This is one of a line of fine boats which carry the 
 Japanese mails from port to port, and sail under the Japanese 
 flag. I have never travelled on a more comfortable steamer. 
 The scrupulous cleanliness of the people was visible everywhere. 
 The state-rooms and saloon were airy and beautifully fitted up, 
 and the cooking admirable. The officers of all the vessels on 
 this line are English, the crews being Japanese. The " Yamashiro 
 Maru" is a ship of about i,8cx)tons register, of J4 knots speed, 
 built by Sir William Armstrong and Co. She is fitted for a 
 powerful armament, and could be converted into a first-class 
 cruiser in three days. I inspected every inch of her under the 
 guidance of the captain and chief engineer, and was delighted 
 with everything I saw. During the afternoon we passed Vries 
 
for 
 old 
 the 
 anese 
 lamer. 
 ^here. 
 |d up, 
 :1s on 
 .shiro 
 ipeed, 
 for a 
 •class 
 
 :r the 
 
 Ighted 
 
 Vries 
 
 NIKKO. 
 
 201 
 
 Island, on which is an active volcano, which made a much better 
 show of flame and smoke than I have ever seen from Etna or 
 Vesuvius. Wc reached Kobe about five o'clock on the after- 
 noon of the lOth, and went up to Kioto by the first train next 
 morning. We put up at the most comfortable Japanese hotel 
 we have yet met with, the Ya-Ami, situated on the slope of a 
 wooded hill, with Kioto spread out before its terrace like a map. 
 
 FUJI -YAM A. 
 From a sketch by the Author. 
 
 Kioto covers an area of about 25 square miles, with a population 
 of some 350,000. As every Japanese house is the same height, 
 and all the temples are on the hills behind the hotel, the view is 
 a monotonous stretch of brown roofs, with an expanse beyond 
 of well-cultivated fields, closed in by a fine range of timbered 
 mountains about 10 miles distant. The scenery in these moun- 
 tains is exceedingly beautiful, fully equal to that at Nikko, but 
 
 ( i i 
 
 \ ■ ■ 
 
 ' 
 
 1 
 
 ■' ii ' 
 
202 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 as our main object in coming to Kioto was to see something of 
 the social life and domestic institutions of the Japanese people, 
 we only devoted one dcty to its enjoyment. We rode in Jin- 
 rickishas some 1 6 or 17 miles across the range, returning by a 
 magnificent mountain gorge, 7 or 8 miles in extent, with 
 lofty cliffs and wooded hills closing in a fine rapid river, 
 down which we drifted, Jin-rickishas and all, in a large flat- 
 bottomed boat, shooting 24 rapids on the way. 
 
 At the foot of the gorge was a '-harming village, the favourite 
 pic-nic resort of the wealthy inhabitants of Kioto. Here are 
 scver^*! very fine tea-houses, and their balconies and open 
 chambers were filled with picturesque groups in all the 
 splendour of Japanese holiday attire. Here and there, alas ! were 
 aristocratic parties who have learned to despise the beautiful 
 dresses of their own artistic country, and think it proper to rig 
 themselves ovX in dreadful flounced imitations of obsolete Paris 
 fashions, of which the predominant colours are mauve, magenta, 
 or solferino. The gentlemen attire themselves in ready-made 
 " reach-me-downs " of black cloth, shiny patent-leather shoes, 
 and round pot-hats. The incongruity with the pretty and 
 charming groups in native dress was complete, and presented a 
 sad and sorrowful spectacle. 
 


 I <\ 
 
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 I 
 
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 C( 
 
 ai 
 si 
 E 
 Pl 
 
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 ( -OS ) 
 
 Mi- 
 
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 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SOCIAL LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 We had carefully reserved a full week for Kioto, the ancient 
 capital, and the most intensely Japanese town in all Japan, with 
 a view of seeing all we could of the social condition and habits 
 of the people. 
 
 They make a great mistake who think that because Japan is a 
 heathen country it is therefore of necessity low down in the scale 
 of civilization. In everything that makes a country happy, 
 prosperous, and contented, Japan will compare favourably with 
 any nation in Christendom. 
 
 The population is composed of four distinct classes, whose 
 difference is sharply defined in Japanese society. It con- 
 sists of 
 
 r. The Royal Family 
 
 2. The Nobility 
 
 3. Priests : Buddhist and Shinto 
 
 4. Common people . 
 
 30 
 
 2,000,000 
 
 . 320,000 
 34,000,000 
 
 There are very few foreigners resident in Japan, and these are 
 confined to the treaty ports. There are about 2,500 Europeans 
 and 3,000 Chinese. There are also in the treaty ports a con- 
 siderable number of Eurasians, the illegitimate offspring of 
 European fathers, whose existence goes far to justify the com- 
 plaints of missionaries that it is the Christian and not the 
 
 :M'' 
 
 R 
 
 ■ 
 
 it 
 
2o6 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 i. ;. 
 
 I- 
 
 Buddhist heathen who keep back the spread of Christianity 
 in the East ; and also perhaps explains the almost universal 
 contempt with which the merchant class in the East speak about 
 missionaries. The irreligion and open immorality of Europeans 
 in Japan and China, with some honourable exceptions, is very 
 bad indeed. 
 
 The working classes in Japan are poor. Wages, from our 
 standard, are exceedingly low. But all the necessaries of life 
 are correspondingly low, and if "he is richest whose wants are 
 fewest," the Japanese are rich enough. The day's work in Japan 
 is ten hours. Labourers get from ^d. to i^d. a day ; carpenters, 
 2s. 6d. to 3J". ; mechanics, 2s. to 2s. 6d. ; machinists and black- 
 smiths, 2s. to 3^. ; farm labourers, \od. to \s., with board ; tea 
 firing and packing, lod. to is. 6d. ; potters, ordinary hands, 2s., 
 skilled hands, 3^. to 8s., piece work. Painters and decorators of 
 pottery, art metal workers, lacquercrs, and the host of artistic 
 workmen who produce the beautiful works which decorate 
 European houses so plentifully, often earn from los. to 15^. a 
 day, and become rich. 
 
 The cost of living is very small. It may be judged by the 
 fact that single men in large towns can get good bed and board 
 for $d. a day. Japanese live almost entirely on rice, fish, and 
 vegetables, with eggs as a luxury. I have seen dozens of 
 Japanese meak prepared for the families of working people, and 
 it is invariably the same — three bowls, one of rice, one of mixed 
 vegetables, and one of fish, fresh or salted, and often raw ! These 
 meals are sold ready cooked for about three-halfpence, and 
 probably do not cost families half that sum per head. The work- 
 ing people are as well housed as ours at home, and their houses 
 are all scrupulously clean. Taxation, both Imperial and local, is 
 extremely light, and hardly touches the working class. Every 
 town and village has an abundant water supply, the sewage 
 
SOCIAL LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 207- 
 
 )y the 
 board 
 (h, and 
 :ns of 
 le, and 
 I mixed 
 These 
 |e, and 
 work- 
 Ihouses 
 )cal, is 
 Every 
 sewage 
 
 and refuse of every house being collected nightly, and carefully 
 used in agriculture. 
 
 Education is cheap to the well to do, and free to the poor.. 
 There is a system of Government primary schools professing to 
 be within reach of every child, and this seems probable, as there 
 are over three million of children receiving instruction in 29,ocx> 
 elementary schools, besides 180 high schools, and 71 normal 
 schools or training colleges, in which are 5,300 persons being^ 
 trained as teachers. The total annual expenditure on education 
 is ;^i, 500,000. 
 
 I visited one of the ordinary elementary schools of Kioto, the 
 Dragon Pond School, at which 500 children are educated. The 
 fees are %d. per month for the lower forms, and 13^. for the 
 higher ; the poor, as I have already mentioned, being educated 
 free. How the distinction is arrived at I could not find out. 
 The course includes reading, writing, dictation, arithmetic, 
 algebra, and mathematics, the use of the counting machine, 
 a little English, music, and gymnastics. The head-master 
 received us in a large room, on the walls of which were frames 
 containing the rules of the school, the duties of each teacher, 
 and a fine frame containing a testimonial from the Mikado, who 
 once visited the school, and sent this afterwards to the head- 
 master. The inevitable tea was served, and we were then 
 conducted round the buildings, which were a series of one- 
 story class-rooms, grouped round a playground. The first con- 
 tained a class of girls about ten years old, who went through 
 a series of gymnastic exercises with clubs, dumb-bells, and bar- 
 bells. The second held a class of sixty boys and girls, who 
 were being taught elementary Japanese music, a female teacher 
 marking time with two wooden clappers. The children sang 
 several pieces in a monotonous minor key, which was, to our 
 untutored ears, very dull and disagreeable. The third room 
 
 II 
 
 ipi 
 
 
 1 . -■ 
 
 
 A 
 
 
 \ 
 
2o8 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 I fi 
 
 contained a reading class of sixty boys. The master had a 
 large blackboard, on which he wrote a sentence containing some 
 moral sentiment. He spelt it over for the class with great 
 distinctness, and then explained its meaning and application. 
 Having done so, he asked every boy who thoroughly understood 
 it to hold up his hand ; about half the class did so. The master 
 then went carefully over the ground again, and asked all who did 
 not understand to hold up a hand. Three boys responded, 
 whereupon the master left his desk, visited each of them one 
 after the other, cleared away the boys' difficulty, and thus got 
 the whole class instructed. This once secured, each boy, with 
 Indian ink and paint-brush (the universal Japanese pen), care- 
 fully copied the sentence from the blackboard. I went round 
 the class to see the copies, and at last understood how it is that 
 the Japanese are the finest draughtsmen in the world. We next 
 visited the elementary reading class, where the same system of 
 patiently insisting on every member of the class understanding 
 his lesson before going on to the next was pursued. The head- 
 master told me that no boy or girl in the school would dream of 
 holding up the hand unless they really did understand what the 
 master was explaining. 
 
 The lower forms consist of boys and girls mixed, but in the 
 upper forms the instruction divides itself, and the sexes with it, 
 We then went to the classes of the higher standards. Each boy 
 and girl here has a seat, and a desk arranged to hold writing- 
 box, books, and slate. There are eight class-rooms in all. In 
 one I saw the prettiest picture imaginable. It was a large light 
 room, the walls covered with a cream-coloured paper decorated 
 with a raised pattern of flying storks, and the floor carpeted with 
 pale green matting. In the middle of the floor fifteen or twenty 
 pretty Japanese girls from twelve to fifteen were sitting on their 
 heels, in the bright-coloured clothes they love so well, each with 
 
in the 
 lith it. 
 [h boy 
 •iting- 
 ll. In 
 light 
 )rated 
 with 
 /enty 
 
 SOCIAL LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 209 
 
 a jaunty flower stuck in her chignon, cutting out or stitching 
 men's and women's dresses. Each girl had a nice lacquered 
 work-box full of coloured silks. This charming group of girls, 
 clad in gay but perfectly harmonious colours, surrounded by 
 pale cream-colour and sea-green decorations, formed a tableau 
 not easy to forget. Every girl is turned out of a Japanese 
 school, not only able to make her own clothes, but her husband's 
 also. In another room was a large class of girls singing from 
 European notation. They sang for us some Japanese poetry 
 to the tunes of "Rousseau's Dream" and "Auld lang syne" 
 very sweetly and accurately. In a month or two they will 
 have an organ, and will learn part music. 
 
 On the whole, and taking the different social circumstances of 
 
 the two countries into account, I think the Japanese elementary 
 
 education is quite equal to our own. I was much impressed 
 
 both by the excellent discipline of the school and the earnestness 
 
 of the pupils. No warning was given of our visit ; we simply 
 
 went to the school, and begged admittance. It was to the 
 
 children the same thing as if six Japanese ladies and gentlemen, 
 
 in full national costume, suddenly appeared in the class-rooms of 
 
 a London Board School. Yet not a child whispered to another, 
 
 and the work went on with the same precision while we were 
 
 present as when we were absent. The children and teachers 
 
 seemed at perfect touch with each other, the earnest attention of 
 
 the one being equalled by the kindness and patience of the other. 
 
 The higher schools of Japan are as good in their way as the 
 
 elementary, and above them all is the University of Tokio, with its 
 
 five colleges of law and political economy, medicine, engineering, 
 
 literature, and science. In these colleges are upwards of 1,200 
 
 students, taught by 100 professors. Six hundred of the students 
 
 are taught foreign languages. Among the professors are 
 
 Japanese who have graduated at Oxford, Cambridge, London, 
 
 !'|(l 
 
 i 
 
 
2IO 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 ¥ 
 
 and Victoria Universities in England, Cornell and Michigan 
 in America, Strasburg and Leipsic in Germany. The classics 
 taught are old Chinese and Japanese literature. This University 
 of Tokio is based upon the German standard, and will compare 
 favourably with any of the smaller German universities. Ger- 
 man influence is becoming increasingly powerful in Japan. 
 
 The Government of Japan appears to be popular and firm. 
 At present it is an absolute monarchy, but a constitution and 
 Parliament is in the air, and will not long be withheld. There 
 is not much political sentiment in the country. Ito, our guide, 
 is a bit of a radical, and took us to a public meeting v;here 
 some orators were airing a grievance. There was a very small 
 attendance of listless politicians, listening to a fiery speech from 
 a tiny little lawyer, who was as fierce as a dragon. The chair 
 appeared to be taken by two policemen in uniform, who sat at a 
 table making notes of the speech, stopping the speaker with a 
 sounding smack of their staves upon the table when he ran too 
 near the edge of sedition. It was a ludicrous performance, as 
 the little orator was chucked up every two or three minutes. 
 The Emperor is highly spoken of by every one as an 
 intelligent and progressive monarch. He is thirty-five years old, 
 the direct descendant of the gods, and inherits by primogeniture. 
 The crown has been on the head of his direct line of ancestors 
 for 2,200 years. His advisers are ten cabinet ministers, who are 
 the heads of the great departments of state ; viz. : Foreign and 
 home affairs, finance, law, army, navy, education, agriculture and 
 commerce, public works, and the Imperial household. Below 
 them is a senate of about forty members, chosen by the Emperor 
 for distinguished service to the state. This senate discusses all 
 legislative questions, and their decision becomes law, subject to 
 the approval of cabinet and Emperor. There is also a council 
 of state, appointed by the Emperor, which has administrative 
 
n? 
 
 SOCIAL LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 211 
 
 and executive functions. Local government is in the hands of 
 forty-four governors of as many provinces. Local taxation is 
 settled by provincial assemblies elected by men twenty-five 
 years old, who pay not less than 30^. of land tax. There are 
 about 1,800,000 of these electors in the forty-four provinces. 
 The state religion is the religion of the minority, but it only 
 
 A SHINTO PRIEST. 
 
 receives about ;^20,000 of public money. There are two religions 
 in Japan, Shintoism and Buddhism. Their relative strength is 
 18,000 Shinto priests and 76,000 Buddhist priests. So many 
 of the population belong to both religions, and so many others 
 ridicule both, that one can only estimate their relative strength 
 by the number of priests. I have failed to make head or tail of 
 either religion, having neither time nor inclination for their study. 
 
 P 2 
 
 f 
 
 |;ti 
 
 u 
 
 I : ■' 
 
212 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 \ II 
 
 la 1= I 
 
 They seem to me, however, to be fast decayin^T and ready to 
 perish. They are huge masses of superstition encrusted on a 
 sublime foundation, none of which is now visible. 
 
 The national expenditure of the Japanese is the modest sum 
 of ;^io,ooo,ooo. More than half the revenue is obtained from 
 the land tax, which averages about 1 5^-. an acre on rice-fields 
 and about 4J. an acre on other cultivable land. The rest comes 
 from charges on mines, roads, alcohol, tobacco, post-office, stamps, 
 carriages, ships, railways, telegraphs, and import duties. 
 
 Justice costs ^^"300,000, police and prisons £/^oo,ooo, army 
 ;^i,400,ooo, navy ;^45o,ooo, pensions ;^6o,ooo, and ;^3,5CX3,ooo 
 goes towards the redemption of a national debt of about 
 
 ;^50,000,000. 
 
 There are about six million landowners with very small 
 holdings, whose tillage I have referred to in previous chapters. 
 
 Every man from seventeen to fifty years is liable to military 
 service in case of invasion. The standing army, with reserves, 
 is 110,000 strong. 
 
 They have an excellent little navy, well-manned and quite up 
 to modern warfare. It is, I suppose, the most powerful possessed 
 by any nation on the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 The area of Japan is 148,000 square miles, with a population 
 of thirty-seven millions. 
 
 There is a simple poor law, by which infirm and aged poor 
 receive enough rice to live upon. There are only 10,000 paupers 
 in all Japan. But that is not strange in a nation of tea- 
 drinkers. 
 
 The forests mainly belong to the Government, and cover 
 thirteen million acres. I believe there is a law that every tree 
 in Japan over a certain girth belongs to the state. This, how- 
 ever, is not rigorously claimed. 
 
 The exports are about six millions sterling, consisting chiefly 
 
T\ 
 
 SOCIAL LIFE IN /A PAN. 
 
 ai3 
 
 cover 
 jry tree 
 ^s, how- 
 
 chiefly 
 
 of tea, silks, porcelain and lacquered ware, bronzes, camphor, 
 ginger, &c. 
 
 The imports are about four millions. England has the lion's 
 share of the trade of Japan. At Kobe, when I was there, there 
 were twenty-four large steamers on the berth, of which five 
 were Japanese ; of the remaining nineteen, twelve were English, 
 four German, two American, and one Belgian. The tonnage 
 of the English steamers was three times that of all the 
 others combined. 
 
 Japan publishes about two hundred newspapers, which have 
 an average circulation of each issue of about four thousand 
 copies. 
 
 The country possesses 250 miles of railway, 4,800 miles 
 of telegraph, and 6,000 post offices. 
 
 No foreigner is allowed to leave the boundaries of the Treaty 
 Ports without special permission from the Foreign Minister, 
 which must be applied for through his ambassador. The reason 
 or this is that European countries will not consent to submit 
 their citizens to Japanese law, but insist on trying them in the 
 Consular Courts of the Treaty Ports. Whenever European 
 powers are willing to admit Japan to equality as a civilized 
 nation, the Japanese Government will gladly throw the whole 
 country open, and permit Europeans to settle and trade where 
 they please. There is a good deal of soreness on this subject 
 among educated Japanese, and the short experience I have had 
 of their country inclines me to sympathize fully with them in 
 their demand that Europeans shall submit themselves to Japa- 
 nese law. Their Government is now engaged on a code of 
 criminal and civil law based on the Code Napoleon, and when 
 this is completed it will be impossible to refuse them full and 
 equal entry upon the rights of civilized nations. Japan is 
 probably now the safest country in the world for the traveller, 
 
214 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 either as regards person or property, though twenty years ago it 
 was just the reverse. 
 
 The Japanese are a gay and light-hearted people, fond of 
 pleasure and amusement. I spent several evenings in going to 
 their theatres and other places of entertainment, accompanied 
 by Mr. Ito, the clever and intelligent guide who went with Miss 
 Bird in her travels through "unbeaten tracks in Japan," and 
 who had also acted as guide to my friend Mr. H. W. Lucy. He 
 
 I 
 
 i>:' ii;!'!! 
 
 MUSIC. 
 
 is well acquainted with the social customs of the people, and 
 speaks English with great fluency. Women never take part in 
 Japanese theatres ; when they come into a play their parts are 
 taken by boys. The Japanese play is a lengthy business, 
 beginning at lo o'clock in the morning and going on to 1 1 at 
 night. They are mostly historical romances with tremendous 
 dialogues, reminding me of my schooldays and the dreary pages 
 of "Racine." The company come early and bring their dinners 
 with them, making a day of it. 
 
[e, and 
 )art in 
 Irts are 
 isiness, 
 II at 
 ;ndous 
 pages 
 linners 
 
 SOCIAL LIFE IN JAPAN, 
 
 9tS 
 
 Other theatres are given up to conjurers, athletes and acrobats, 
 dancing girls, and music, but all are conducted with a decency 
 and propriety very different from similar places at home. 
 There is nothing whatever in Japanese amusements that need 
 call a blush to the cheek of an English school-girl. Intoxicating 
 liquors are never sold at any place of amusement, and very little 
 anywhere else. Tea is the national beverage, and is brought 
 out on every occasion. It is 
 served on a tray with a small pot 
 surrounded by delicate little por- 
 celain cups, and drunk hot without 
 sugar or milk. Sak6, or rice beer, 
 is the only intoxicant used in Japan, 
 but the majority of the population 
 are absolute teetotallers, and a 
 drunken man is a rare spectacle. 
 
 Japanese children have much 
 amusement provided for them, and 
 the most popular of all the theatres, 
 for old or young, were those where 
 some fairy tale or story was recited, 
 to a running illustration of magic- 
 lantern views. It is seldom one 
 sees children without a toy of some 
 sort, and in every town there is 
 
 a "children's street," generally one of the avenues to a great 
 temple, where little theatres abound, little archery grounds. Aunt 
 Sallies, small zoological gardens, performing monkeys, and what 
 not, with endless toy shops where porcelain toys, dolls, kites, 
 flags, battledore and shuttlecocks, balls, and tops, may be bought 
 by fond parents for their jolly, laughing, happy children. 
 
 One of the favourite amusements of the Japanese are the 
 
 DANCING GIRL. 
 
 il 
 
 lii 
 
 I 
 
 il 
 
 if 
 
*■' 
 
 2l6 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 performances of the singing and dancing girls. The ladies of 
 our party had heard so much of these performances that Mr. Ito 
 undertook to arrange a private display for their benefit at one 
 of the principal tea-houses in Kioto. These girls are quite a 
 class by themselves. They begin their profession at twelve 
 years of age, anJ are apprenticed to their employer, who is 
 bound to teach them not only their art, but to give them a very 
 high general education. Half their pay goes to their parents, 
 and the rest accumulates for their own benefit until they marry. 
 They are jealously looked after and taken care of Their 
 performances consist of an acted story, some of them in panto- 
 mime acting the part, while others sing the tale. In our sense 
 of the word they do not dance at all, they simply place them- 
 selves in tableaux illustrative of the sung story. 
 
 We were shown, on arrival at the-tea house, into a large upper 
 room, where chairs had been placed for us, all the rest of the 
 space being covered with the usual matting, and lighted with tall 
 candlesticks and candles. Presently the performers came in. 
 There were eight in all. Two were dressed in pretty silk robes 
 of brown and dove-colour combined, and took their seats against 
 the wall, each with a samisen, or Japanese guitar, which they 
 played with a broad strip of ivory. The other six were dressed 
 in long robes of bright red and dark blue, and were the actors 
 of the tableaux. They all sat on their heels in a row in front of 
 us, and appeared to be young girls of fourteen or fifteen. They 
 were very modest and well-behaved, but at once began a merry 
 conversation with us through Ito, displaying all the amusing 
 curiosity of the Japanese. They were greatly interested in the 
 ladies' dresses and jewellery, asked all sorts of questions about 
 England, and evidently despised a maiden lady of our party of 
 some fifty summers, because she had lived to such an age 
 without a husband. We asked a few questions in our turn, and 
 
SOCIAL LIFE IN JAPAN. 
 
 2x7 
 
 found that they had all entered the profession to help their 
 parents, speaking of them with much love and affection. I 
 asked the names of each, and had them translated by Ito. The 
 literal translation of the two singing girls* names was " Singing 
 Pine Tree," and " Noble Soft Lady." The tableaux girls were 
 " Singing Leaf," " Thousand Years Old Pretty," " First Happy," 
 *' Small Sour Plum Blossom," " Pleasure," " Deer," " Chrysanthe- 
 mum." I won't attempt the Japanese equivalents. 
 
 Conversation over, one of them brought in tea, and the usual 
 sugar-plums accompanying it. In return I handed round a 
 box of compressed chlorate of potash tablets, which I always 
 carry in my pocket, which the young ladies munched up 
 and swallowed with many faces, quite under the impression 
 that they were very choice English sweatmeats. They are as 
 palatable r,s Japanese sugar-plums, anyhow. 
 
 The performance then commenced. Mr. Ito was in raptures 
 with it, and assured us it was the highest art Japan possessed. 
 The music was horrible and ear-splitting. The song was 
 extremely lengthy, and droned in a monotonous minor. We 
 had two — one was thirty-five minutes long, the other forty. 
 The first was descriptive of the pairing of birds in spring and 
 the love passages of the lion and peony. It was illustrated 
 by a series of tableaux, in which bright fans and coloured 
 handkerchiefs were brought into much requisition. The second 
 was a dreary ditty in which a young daimio or prince is telling 
 his nurse of all the cruel treatment he has received from his 
 lady-love, and of the acts of heroism he has performed with a 
 view to its abatement. We were glad when the time arrived to 
 make the young ladies a present of pocket-money, and wish 
 them good-night. I heartily wish that the decency and 
 decorum of Japanese amusements could be imported into our 
 theatres and music-halls. From the costly performance I have 
 
 t-' 
 
 ;l.: J 
 
2l8 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 just described down to the poor theatres where the admission is 
 less than a halfpenny, an English girls' boarding school might 
 witness everything. 
 
 The only places where ribaldry and indecency is to be seen in 
 Japanese performances is at the Treaty Ports, for the sole benefit 
 of Europeans, and chiefly for Englishmen. 
 
 The Japanese have nothing approaching to our Sunday, either 
 for religious worship or a day of rest. They have, however, 
 about twenty public holidays in the year, and judging from the 
 way in which all classes throng the theatres and tea gardens 
 during the daytime, they are not slack in taking as much rest 
 in one way and another as will make up for our fifty-two 
 Sundays and four bank holidays. They resort to the temples in 
 great crowds on religious holidays, but as a rule they leave 
 religion till they are old, like other nations of the world. 
 
( 219 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 JAPANESE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 Among the sights which most attracted me at Kioto, were the 
 palace of the Mikado and the ancient castle of the Shoguns. 
 These are both difficult of access, as permission must be 
 obtained from the minister of the Royal Household. This was 
 secured for our party by the kindness of Mr. Trench, the British 
 Charge d' Affaires, and we lost no time in availing ourselves of 
 the privilege. 
 
 We first visited the palace, which is a modern building, 
 re-constructed after a great fire about thirty years ago. It is 
 built entirely of cedar, and is a huge wandering one-story 
 building, without any pretensions to architectural beauty. Its 
 great attraction, like that of all other Japanese buildings, is 
 found in its internal decorations, for which this palace er;oys 
 great repute, the best artists in the country having been 
 employed upon it. We felt somewhat of a shock, therefore, 
 when on arrival we were shown into a reception room covered 
 with a detestably bad tapestry carpet of the loudest pattern, 
 surrounded with cheap European chairs covered with "Sol- 
 ferino," the worst of aniline dyes ; I fear but a foreshadowing 
 of what will happen to all the rest of the palace as " Western 
 civilization " continues to prevail at the Mikado's court, es- 
 pecially if its influence be German, as at present. 
 
 In this room we were speedily joined by two Court officials, 
 
 i i 
 
 "^ 
 
220 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 h '-!: 
 
 who had been instructed to show us round. Each room led out 
 of the other by a series of sliding walls. The first suite 
 consisted of three handsome reception rooms, covered with fine 
 matting, bound with red, the Mikado's colour, forbidden to 
 subjects. These rooms, like all the resj, were entirely devoid of 
 furniture, which is never used in Japan, everyone sitting on the 
 floor, tables and other necessary articles being only brought into 
 the room when required for use. From these rooms we were 
 shown into a charming suite of family apartments, consisting of 
 seven or eight small chambers, surrounding one large parlour, in 
 the centre of which was a raised dais, covered with a beautiful 
 white silk canopy, within which the Mikado was secluded from the 
 rest of his family, until the reforms of twenty years ago. Passing 
 on through a courtyard, we enter the large hall in which the 
 Mikado holds his court reception. This room is about lOO feet 
 long by 80 feet wide, with a dais and canopy in the centre. The 
 walls are decorated with a series of portraits of distinguished 
 literati of China, Korea, and Japan. The large ante-room, in 
 which the nobles assemble, is divided into three sections, each 
 a step higher, on which the three distinct grades of nobility 
 are separated. Behind these rooms is the Mikado's study, 
 with recesses and cupboards in the wall, of decorated lacquer 
 work, for books and writing materials. All these rooms are 
 ornamented with paintings in distemper on a dead gold 
 paper, the most beautiful decorative art I have ever seen. The 
 scenes are nearly all drawn from Nature, and are mostly 
 arrangements of animal and forest life. The Japanese have an 
 intense affection for birds, insects, and flowers. The Buddhist 
 religion encourages this sentiment, for it forbids the destruction 
 of the smallest created thing. No Japanese child would try to 
 catch a butterfly, tie a string to a mouse's tail, pull the wings off 
 a fly, or perform any of the barbarities on dumb animals that 
 
llfl 
 
 JAPANESE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES, 
 
 221 
 
 
 our English children so often delight in. This harmony 
 between human beings and the lower creatures enters largely 
 into Japanese art, and they specially delight in decorations in 
 which animals are represented in the full enjoyment of life. 
 Thus, one of the walls in these beautiful rooms represents storks 
 on reedy sandhills, with seashore and waves ; another a mass of 
 blossoming briers with song birds fluttering about them ; a third 
 a pleasant river, overhung with wisteria in blossom, with 
 swallows skimming over the surface ; a fourth represents moun- 
 tain deer drinking at a rush-grown lake, over which curlews are 
 disporting themselves ; a fifth, of singular beauty, one of the few 
 which escaped the fire, had one panel decorated with a vine 
 in full fruit, in which squirrels were chasing one another about, 
 while the three other panels of the same room displayed a 
 woodland scene of marvellously painted foliage, under which 
 the various animals of the forest were moving about in perfect 
 grouping, the whole forming a picture of which Landseer himself 
 might have been proud. 
 
 We had spent three hours in admiration of this charming 
 series of decoration, and had arrived at the end of what Mr. 
 Ito, our interpreter, informed us was all that was ever shown. 
 The two officials, after a little consultation, then informed Ito 
 that it was so seldom that any of their foreign visitors cared 
 for the beautiful work on the walls as we had, that they would 
 relax the rule in our favour, and show us the Mikado's private 
 apartments as well. These were the most exquisite of all. 
 They consisted of nineteen or twenty small rooms, even more 
 perfectly decorated than the public reception rooms. The 
 Mikado's bedroom contained a wardrobe in sixteen panels, 
 representing flowers, birds, fruits, insects, and fishes, that con- 
 stituted, to my mind, as perfect a specimen of decorative art 
 as the world could produce. 
 
 ■'.; I 
 
 Li. la 
 
 i i: 
 
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 222 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 
 The next day we visited the Shogun's Castle. This building 
 is about 250 years old, and is entered by a magnificent gateway 
 20 feet wide and 50 feet high, richly decorated on every inch of 
 available surface with gilt bronze and carved wood panels of 
 birds and flowers. The " Castle " is a large, one-storey house, 
 similar in character to the Mikado's palace, and decorated in 
 the same fashion. The interest, however, is greater, as the 
 decorations of the castle are of the same date as the building, 
 and painted by the great artists of the finest period of Japanese 
 art, while those of the palace are modern reproductions of 
 similar work destroyed by the fire. The various rooms of the 
 castle are divided, for ventilation I think, by wide friezes of 
 pierced woodwork of finely-carved subjects of birds and flowers, 
 which, in combination with the distemper panels below, had 
 a very striking and beautiful effect. It is very curious, in 
 studying these two palaces, to notice how much that is best 
 and loveliest in modern European decorative art has borrowed 
 its inspiration from the great artists of Japan. It would be 
 wise for the authorities at South Kensington to try to 
 obtain a series of the finest of these decorative panels, copied 
 by competent Japanese artists. I can conceive of nothing 
 that would be of greater service to those clever students who 
 are doing so much to raise the standard of decorative art in 
 England. They would show how perfectly the Japanese, in 
 their marvellous work, discard all unnecessary detail, and seize 
 simple and symmetrical forms only. 
 
 As we came away from the castle, my daughter and I could 
 not resist the temptation of entering one of the charming tea 
 gardens to which Japanese families resort when they give 
 festivities. The garden was at the back of a tea-house, 
 and consisted of about twenty raised wooden platforms, 
 some 10 or 12 feet square, each of which was completely 
 
r^ 
 
 JAPANESE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 333 
 
 in 
 
 surrounded and rendered private by flowering bushes of chry- 
 santhemums in pots. On entering, the garden looked like 
 a fine flower show. These compartments were filled with 
 merry parties at dinner, and as we passed in front of each 
 entrance the host would politely invite us to enter and 
 partake of his hospitality. Mr. Ito informed us that it would 
 be considered polite if we accepted one of these invitations 
 after we had walked round the gardens, and we did so, 
 joining for a short time a family party of seven or eight, 
 who were celebrating a birthday of one of the children. We 
 declined the food, but took tea and sweets, chatting with 
 them through our interpreter. They were very anxious to 
 know if my daughter was married, and at first rather despised 
 her, in that she was not. But on my explaining jocularly 
 that she was waiting for the young Mikado (a lad of eight), 
 they accepted the statement with perfect gravity, and saluted 
 her with profound respect. Ito afterwards told us that 
 they would consider it ill-bred to show doubts of any 
 statement, however preposterous, made to them by a stranger 
 and a guest. No intoxicating lii.;uor was being consumed on 
 the premises ; all were drinking tea with their little banquets. 
 The only sign of strong beverage visible was in a picture of 
 Mr. Gladstone, with Hawarden Castle in the background, laying 
 aside his axe while he imbibed a pot of stout with keen enjoy- 
 ment depicted on his countenance. This was the highly- 
 coloured advertisement of the beverage, and was evidently a 
 treasured specimen of the finest English art, dear to the 
 soul of the tea-house proprietor, who called our attention to it 
 with justifiable pride. 
 
 During our stay in Kioto, I visited several manufactories of 
 some of the staple industries of the country, with which we are 
 familiar in England, such as pottery and porcelain, cloisonn^e 
 
 t 
 
224 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 Ml 
 
 enamels, lacquered wares, bronze and metal work, and textile 
 fabrics. 
 
 Perhaps the finest of all the arts of Japan is that of 
 
 lacquering upon wood. This ware is in universal use in Japan, 
 
 and is largely exported as well. Boxes, trays, bowls, dishes, 
 
 cabinets, cups, vases, bottles, and, indeed, almost everything 
 
 which we make of glass, in Japan is made of lacquered wood. 
 
 The manufacture is not carried on at large factories, but in the 
 
 homes of the workpeople, in rooms scrupulously clean and free 
 
 from dust. The cup, bowl, or other article is cut out of a piece 
 
 of perfectly dry wood, and finished in a curious lathe, whose 
 
 spindle revolves first one way and then another, with the same 
 
 action as a bow drill. When a perfectly smooth surface has 
 
 been secured, coat after coat of lacquer is laid on, and the whole 
 
 ground down to a fine hard surface by means of charcoal, and 
 
 polished with the ash of deers' horns. The finest specimens are 
 
 decorated with gold ; thick lacquer is laid on by a fine hair 
 
 pencil in floral and other designs, powdered gold being shaken 
 
 over the sticky surface, and burnished when dry. The designs 
 
 are often in high relief, and sometimes are quite elaborate 
 
 pictures. I have a little medicine box in gold lacquer, about 
 
 three inches by two inches, on which the artist has drawn about 
 
 one hundred wild horses in every possible attitude, the whole 
 
 forming a most delicate and beautiful work of art. Often the 
 
 lacquer is inlaid with pearl and ivory carved in relief, and, 
 
 indeed, there is no end to the variety of treatment possible 
 
 in this interesting manufacture. 
 
 The lacquer tree is one of the commonest in Japan, and the 
 clear varnish is taken from it when the tree is from five to eight 
 years old. The bark is sliced from the trunk and the stem 
 nicked here and there with a knife. The exuding juice is 
 scraped off, and when no more will come the tree is cut down, 
 
'f 1 
 
 xtile 
 
 t of 
 
 apan, 
 
 ishes, 
 
 thing 
 
 wood. 
 
 in the 
 
 d free 
 piece 
 
 whose 
 
 - same 
 
 ce has 
 
 ; whole 
 
 lal, and 
 
 ens are 
 
 ne hair 
 shaken 
 lesigns 
 aborate 
 •, about 
 about 
 whole 
 "ten the 
 lef, and, 
 possible 
 
 land the 
 
 Ito eight 
 
 Ihe stem 
 
 I juice is 
 
 it down, 
 
 JAPANESE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 225 
 
 chopped into small pieces, and soaked in water for some days, 
 after which a quantity of the varnish is skimmed off the surface. 
 The Japanese export large quantities of pottery to all the 
 countries in Europe, producing artistic porcelain at a price and 
 of a quality that defies competition. There are upwards of a 
 hundred potteries in Japan, employing many thousands of the 
 population, but I could get no statistics. The pottery produced 
 in Japan during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is the 
 most beautiful in the world, and has been copied in every great 
 centre of porcelain manufacture in Europe. The well-known 
 " Crown Derby " is directly copied from the products of Imari, 
 I'n Japan, while the ware known as " Satsuma '* has furnished the 
 motive for the best work of the Royal Worcester potteries. 
 We visited a great many of the shops where various kinds of 
 pottery was produced. Those working on a large scale had 
 little to show that was really fine, and it seemed to me that 
 the enormous demand for their wares which has set in lately, 
 and which gives no sign of abatement, is slowly deteriorating 
 the high quality of both decoration and workmanship. But in 
 some of the smaller factories, where the work was carried on by 
 a single family, aided by one or two specially-trained assistants, 
 we saw specimens that were as fine as anything Japan has 
 produced at her best period. There is, unhappily, everywhere a 
 tendency to overload with decoration, and to depart from that 
 charming simplicity which characterised the old art of Japan, 
 and this is visible not only in pottery, but in their enamel, 
 bronze-work, and textile fabrics. I bought from a curio dealer 
 at Nikko an old kettle of forged iron, round which twined a 
 single spray of blossom inlaid in gold and silver, with two or 
 three figures seated under it. It is an exquisite piece of work, 
 its special charm lying in its simplicity of treatment. I was 
 told at Kioto that a silversmith was reproducing this old inlaid 
 
 Q 
 
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 i 
 
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 i:Li-^ 
 
 I 
 
 
226 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 I . .. 
 
 work, and I went to his shop to sec what it was like. He was 
 producing excellent results, but his kettles were so overloaded 
 with decoration as to lose all suggestion of being intended to 
 boil water in. An old Satsuma cup is decorated with a 
 single chrysanthemum only, or perhaps a golden pheasant in 
 flight, or a tender spray of plum or cherry blossom just straying 
 round it. A modern Satsuma cup will have a flower garden 
 spread over its entire surface, and the vendor will urge you to 
 buy it because it has fifteen different specimens of butterflies 
 and insects perched on the blooms. 
 
 If the Japanese maintain the old traditions of their decorative 
 art, their trade in pottery, bronzes, enamels, embroideries, silk 
 fabrics, lacquer, and art work generally, already of great pro- 
 portions, will increase indefinitely. In America alone, where 
 there are no art manufacturers worth naming, they ought to find 
 a market that will employ every pair of hands they can train. 
 But if they push their mania for Western influences too far I 
 think they will find that Western ideas are best carried out by 
 Western brains, and that it is Japanese art in its integrity, and 
 not Japanese imitations of English and French art, that 
 will succeed in bringing prosperity to their workshops. 
 
 On the 14th of November we left Kioto, with many regrets, 
 and took the train to Kobe, embarking the same evening on 
 board the P. and O. steamer "Thibet " for Nagasaki and Hong 
 Kong. Next morning found us in the famous Inland Sea of 
 Japan, a long strait between the two principal islands, from 10 
 to 30 miles wide, stretching 240 miles east to west, and ex- 
 panding into six great lagoons, dotted over with rocky and 
 well-wooded islands. There is about 700 miles of seaboard to 
 the Inland Sea, densely populated, every inch of available soil 
 on the islands and the mountain flanks being under fine culti- 
 vation. I counted on the chart 407 islands between Kobe and 
 
 f 
 
IV} 
 
 m 
 
 3 was 
 
 oadcd 
 cd to 
 ath a 
 ant in 
 raying 
 garden 
 you to 
 :tcrflies 
 
 ;orativc 
 ies, silk 
 ;at pro- 
 , where 
 t to find 
 in train. 
 ;oo far I 
 1 out by 
 
 rity, 
 
 and 
 
 irt, that 
 
 rets, 
 
 reg 
 
 ming on 
 id Hong 
 Sea of 
 from 10 
 and ex- 
 ;ky and 
 Iboard to 
 lable soil 
 
 ine 
 
 culti- 
 
 lobe and 
 
 A STREET SCENE, KIOTO. 
 
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 I: 
 
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 IS 
 
 th( 
 tlK 
 the 
 the 
 Fn 
 wei 
 tiar 
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JAPANESE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 
 
 229 
 
 Simonoscki ; on each side ranges of lofty mountains rise 6,000 
 or 8,000 feet above the sea, and the combinations of mountain, 
 island, and village, with stretches of blue water dotted with 
 junks and fishing boats, formed one long succession of charming 
 pictures from dawn to sunset. We passed the narrow straits 
 of Simonoseki, about half-a-milc wide, at dusk, and were soon 
 out in the open sea, heading for Nagasaki, which we reached 
 about nine o'clock next morning. The Inland Sea, though full 
 of swift currents and whirlpools, is perfectly safe navigation, and 
 as it Is well lighted throughout, it is navigable night and day. 
 
 
 THE INLAND SEA OF JAPAN. 
 From a sketch by ike Author. 
 
 Entering Nagasaki harbour, the terrible island of Pappcnburg 
 is pointed out to us, the scene of the martyrdom of the last of 
 the Japanese Christians, in the seventeenth century. Early in 
 that century there were over two millions of Christians in Japan 
 the disciples of Jesuit missionaries. The Ruler of Japan, dreading 
 the increase of the new religion, and alarmed at the number of 
 Franciscans, Jesuit priests, and Spanish mendicant friars who 
 were pouring into the country, determined to suppress Chris- 
 tianity altogether, and decreed the expulsion from his dominions 
 of all the foreign priests. The Christians, headed by their 
 
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 1. -1 
 
 iSi 
 
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 M il 
 
 6- 
 
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 230 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 priests, rose in rebellion, and were defeated. No quarter was 
 given, and the new religion was stamped out with fire, sword, 
 and torture, prisoners being offered the choice of recantation 
 or crucifixion. But few of these Romanist converts abandoned 
 their faith, and hundreds of thousands were horribly slaughtered. 
 The history of Christendom furnishes no greater instance of 
 sacrifice and heroic constancy. The Christians made a final 
 
 PAPPENBURG ISLAND, NAGASAKI. 
 
 From a sketch by thx: Author. 
 
 stand against the Shogun in an old castle near Nagasaki, which 
 they fc»rtified strongly. Two months' siege reduced it, and the 
 garrison, amounting to many thousands, were hurled from a 
 steep rock on the island of Pappenburg, now a favourite pic-nic 
 resort for the people of Nagasaki. The great Shogun thus 
 obliterated the last trace of a hundred years of Papal Chris- 
 tianity. It remains to be seen whether the determined efforts 
 which are being concentrated on Japan by English and 
 

 
 JAPANESE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 231 
 
 American evangelical Christianity will succeed with a people 
 who once accepted in such numbers, and with such devotion 
 the ritual of Rome. I think it will. Japan has moved on since 
 then. 
 
 Nagasaki is one of the famous harbours of the world. It is 
 about six miles long and a mile wide, land-locked by high hills, 
 with good anchorage and deep water throughout. It is an 
 important coaling station, some thousands of tons of good coal 
 being raised every week from an island about ten miles off. 
 We remained there about seven or eight hours, and then pro- 
 ceeded to Hong Kong, where we arrived on Sunday morning at 
 10 o'clock. 
 
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 232 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HONG KONG. 
 
 Forty years ago Hong Kong was only a barren island in the 
 midst of an archipelago at the entrance of the Canton river, 
 inhabited by a male population, who combined the innocent 
 pursuits of fishing and stone-quarrying with the more exciting, 
 pastime of piracy, an amusement of long standing, the name of 
 " Ladrones " (thieves) being given to the islands by the Portu- 
 guese of Macao, two hundred years ago. From all I hear the 
 name is still well deserved, for Hong Kong is the Alsatia of 
 Canton, and whenever a citizen of that blackguard city goes a 
 step too far he bolts for Hong Kong.. Piracy, too, still exists. 
 Every Chinese sea-going j-.unk cai'ries a couple of cannon and a 
 stand of small arms, ostensibly for protection from pirates, but 
 in reality to enable them to do a little piracy on their own 
 account when opportunity offers, in the shape of a weaker junk 
 than their own, when they destroy all evidence of their crime by 
 slaughtering all on board. 
 
 The island of Hong Kong presents a very picturesque 
 appearance from the sea. It is a single rugged mountain ridge, 
 broken into several striking peaks- from 1,500 to 1,800 feet high, 
 with wooded ravines running down between them to the sea 
 shore. It is about 11 miles long and from two to four miles 
 wide, enclosing an area of 29. square miles. The main entrance 
 to the magnificent land-locked harbour is by the Lymoon Pass, 
 only half a mile wide. 
 
IP. 
 
 HONG KONG. 
 
 233 
 
 The harbour is one of the finest roadsteads in the world. It 
 is surrounded by mountains from 1,000 to 3,000 feet high, with a 
 depth of water varying from 20 to 60 feet, covering an area of 
 over 10 square miles, every inch of which affords good safe 
 anchorage. There are three good entrances from the sea, well 
 lighted at night. 
 
 It is impossible to imagine a more beautiful spectacle than 
 
 resque 
 
 ridge, 
 
 high, 
 
 lie sea 
 miles 
 
 Itrance 
 Pass^ 
 
 
 -'KS' 
 
 .^^ 
 
 THE KOWLOONG HILLS, HONG KONG HARBOUR. 
 From a sketch by the Author. 
 
 that presented from the deck of our 
 steamer as we dropped anchor in Hong 
 Kong Harbour. Steamers and sailing 
 ships of every nationality were riding in the roadstead, the sur 'ace 
 of the water swarming with junks and boats of every description, 
 lending life and animation to the scene. On one side the island 
 of Hong Kong, with its lofty peaks steeped in the morning- 
 sunshine, the white villas and gardens of the Europeans on the 
 slopes above the town glistening like pearls and emeralds ; the 
 brown native town, the blue sea flecked with a thousand little 
 sails, and "the British fleet a-riding at anchor" in the fore- 
 ground. On the other side the busy wharves and graving docks 
 of Kowloong, the frowning forts of Stonecutter Island, and the 
 lofty mountains of China beyond. It is not always thus. In 
 summer terrific hurricanes, called typhoons, brew in the mis- 
 
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 1 
 
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 ii*^i : 
 
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 234 
 
 A TRIP ROUND TH£ WORLD. 
 
 named Pacific Ocean beyond the Philippine Islands, and visit 
 Hong Kong in the full strength of their devastating circle. One 
 of the finest of the noble buildings on the Kovvloong side of the 
 harbour is the Observatory, on the roof of which is a pole and 
 red ball, the dreaded typhoon's warning. When the glass 
 begins to fall anxious watch is kept on the red ball, and when it 
 is run up to the top of the pole a sight worth seeing begins. 
 The 2,000 junks, sampans, hakans and other boats bolt hot foot 
 from the quays of Hong Kong, every sail set and every oar out, 
 and pack themselves out of harm's way under the sheltering 
 wing of Stonecutter Island. Every steamer gets up steam 
 promptly, and all who can get in huddle into a sheltered corner 
 with Her Majesty's fleet. The population get indoors with all 
 speed, securely closing every window, shutter, and door, and all 
 wait the arrival of the dreaded enemy. The barometer falls an 
 inch an hour, till it gets round almost to "set fair" the wrong 
 way, and then a blast like a shot from a hundred-ton gun falls 
 upon the town and bay. Junks and boats which have not gone 
 to Stonecutter's are blown ashore and piled in matchwood on 
 the beach, verandahs fly down the streets like kites, even the 
 great granite blocks of the sea wall are torn from their position, 
 and ocean steamers have to drive their engines at full speed to 
 keep their anchorage. The loss of life and property is some- 
 times very great in spite of all precautions. Steamers have been 
 driven together and broken like pipkins, and large ships have 
 been stranded far above high-water mark. Two days after a 
 great typhoon in 1 874 ninety-six corpses were picked up on the 
 smallest island in the harbour. 
 
 The P. and O. launch took us ashore about eleven o'clock on 
 Sunday morning, the other passengers waiting for the hotel 
 launch. On reaching the jetty fifty Chinese 'long-shore coolies 
 leaped on board, seized our portmanteaus, and began tugging 
 
if 
 
 HONG KONG, 
 
 n% 
 
 iH 
 
 and fighting over them like vultures over a carcase. Our luggage 
 and they, in " one wild burial blent," tumbled on shore, and we 
 gave it up as lost. To our great relief, however, a small man 
 who had come ashore with us, a P. and O. luggage clerk, rushed 
 into the mel^e, belaboured the coolies with fist and boot, and 
 in about three minutes an orderly procession of twenty, four to 
 each portmanteau and two to each Gladstone bag, started for the 
 hotel, the energetic P. and O. at the head, my daughter and 
 I bringing up the rear. The procession briefly halted at the 
 hotel office for the number of our rooms, then solemnly ascended 
 to the third floor, and the luggage was deposited in our two 
 respective chambers. I asked P. and O. how much I was to pay, 
 and he instructed me to give a halfpenny each ! I gave them a 
 penny, P. and O. rebuking me gravely for " spoiling the market," 
 and they appeared abundantly content. Presently, however, P. 
 and O.'s back being turned, they all came clamouring for 
 more on the plea of "too much piecy top side," by which 
 they meant to signify three pairs of stairs, but P. and O. 
 suddenly returning, swept them out of the hotel with many 
 thumps and kicks. 
 
 Stick and fist seem to be the only treatment meted out to the 
 coolie population of Hong Kong. It may be quite true, as some 
 Europeans urge, that no other argument prevails, but I am not 
 surprised that " China boy " in return steals whatever he can, 
 and sticks a sly knife into a European skin every now and 
 then. 
 
 Immediately after lunch we started out to see what we could 
 of the only real Chinese town we shall visit in our travels, 
 as we cannot spare time to visit any portion of the Chinese 
 Empire. Hong Kong is virtually two towns. In one the 
 European merchants and their clerks, with the military and 
 naval forces, live ; in the other the Chinese. 
 
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 236 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 There are 8,000 population in the one, 160,000 in the other, 
 and the smaller population covers the most ground. Two 
 leading thoroughfares, Queen's road, and the Praya or Quay, 
 run through both quarters. The Queen's road contains the 
 shops, clubs, banks, and hotels, the Praya the merchants' offices 
 and warehouses, with wharves and jetties innumerable. It is in 
 contemplation to extend the Praya sixty feet further out into 
 the harbour, as the traffic of the port is becoming congested for 
 want of space. 
 
 China town consists of three or four good wide thoroughfares, 
 parallel with the Praya, out of which wander narrow filthy lanes, 
 swarming with people of all ages and both sexes, and suggesting 
 a very maggoty, mouldy cheese more than anything else. The 
 people are rough, brutal, uncivil, villainous-looking, in marked 
 contrast to the charming and delightful population we have left 
 behind us in Japan. The open shops and pleasant tradesmen 
 we saw there give way to grimy, dark little dens, the windows of 
 which are covered with glass, it being unsafe to leave goods ex- 
 posed to view in Hong Kong, thieves being not only abundant but 
 universal, while escape in the crowded streets is certain and easy. 
 
 The wide distance which is usually maintained between 
 precept and practice is amusingly illustrated by the scrolls one 
 sees hanging up in every shop, on which are printed exhortations 
 from Confucius in praise of honest traders, and commending 
 civility to strangers. 
 
 The Hong Kong shops are famous emporiums for Chinese 
 curiosities, and here one may purchase silk and satin embroideries, 
 filagree work, pipes, gold bangles, and earrings, sandal wood 
 boxes and fans, carved ivory, carved walking-sticks, carved horns, 
 tortoise-shell work, and dead birds of wonderful plumage ; the 
 workmen who are manipulating these various articles sitting in 
 the window to be stared at by the passers by. 
 
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 HONG KONG. 
 
 239 
 
 The signboards arc often in Chinese and English, the latter 
 being generally of the kind known as "pidgin." Many of the 
 shops hang out wooden emblems, a practice common enough 
 in our own country. 
 
 As one wanders further and further from the English town. 
 Hong Kong gets frowsier and more ruffianly every yard, till 
 Tai-ping-shan is reached (the Hill of Great Peace, as it is face- 
 tiously called), where a seething mass of blackguardism exists. 
 Here are the sailors' and soldiers' grog shops and their inevitable 
 associations and surroundings, resorted to by seamen of all 
 nationalities, and women of the most degraded character. Low 
 music halls, liquor bars, old clothes shops, pawnbrokers, filthy 
 cook shops, and filthier opium dens abound everywhere, with 
 dirt, squalor, and population to match. I have never seen a city 
 so lovely as Hong Kong, when viewed from a respectful dis- 
 tance, nor one in which beauty of situation and magnificence 
 of buildings was laid so completely cheek by jowl with ugliness 
 and horror of every kind. 
 
 In the better part of China town the streets are very quaint 
 and picturesque, running up the side of the hill in a series of 
 long steps, with shops on each side. The whole population is on 
 foot, everyone being either carried in a sedan chair or walking. 
 There are a few jin-rickishas plying for hire on the level ground, 
 but there are only two carriages in Hong Kong, the governor's 
 and Mrs. Jardine's, the wife of the leading merchant of the place. 
 The streets are full of perambulating tradesmen ; water-carriers, 
 with buckets at each end of a bamboo cole ; fruit sellers with 
 baskets of pears, grapes, oranges, brilliant persimmons, and 
 shaddocks ; while others vend pieces of sugar-cane, pea-nuts, 
 and sweetmeats. Coolies go round the houses carrying huge 
 cages of live chickens, ducks, turkeys, quails, and other birds. 
 At street corners are open-air restaurants with fearful viands 
 
 ^31 1 
 
 ill 
 
iiin I 
 
 240 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 displayed for sale, and at which Chinamen stand devouring 
 the dainties with great gusto, a dish of grey greasy cabbage 
 with fids of fat pork being the favourite. In some shady corner 
 is a letter-writer, who varies his occupation with a little fortune- 
 telling and quackery. The only open shops are the barbers', who 
 are kept busy all day long shaving their customers' heads and 
 faces, and trimming and anointing their long pigtails. The 
 Chinese are so particular about their shaving that they have the 
 inside of their ears and nostrils shaved with delicate dainty little 
 razors. All these, with many similar incidents, make a Chinese 
 street a perfect kaleidoscope of movement and colour. 
 
 After spending two or three hours in China town we called on 
 Sir William des Vocux, the Governor of Hong Kong, to whom 
 we iiad introductions. Government House is about 150 feet 
 above the town, surrounded by private grounds, and a public 
 garden beautifully situated and charmingly laid out, in which 
 palms, cactuses, poinsettas, bougainvilleas, aloes, hibiscus, ferns, 
 orchids, passion-flowers, and a score of other plants which only 
 flower with us in hothouses, were blooming in the November 
 sunshine. The Governor asked me to dine with him that 
 evening, to meet some of the leading officials of the colony, from 
 whom I got a large amount of interesting information, some of 
 which I will record presently. 
 
 The following day the Governor proposed we should spend 
 with him on board his steam launch, visiting the various points 
 of interest in the harbour and round the island ; and on the day 
 after Colonel Storer placed the Royal Engineers' launch at our 
 disposal, Major Camperdown, R.E., kindly accompanying us, to 
 show us the fortifications and explain the defences of the port. 
 We thus were enabled to see more in the three days we were 
 in Hong Kong than, unaided, we could have seen in a 
 week. 
 
HONG KONG. 
 
 241 
 
 ill I 
 
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 At Kowloong, when finished, there will be the largest dry- 
 dock in the world, capable of holding the new ironclad, the 
 " Trafalgar," or the longest merchant steamer afloat. It will be 
 completed next March. When busy, the Hong Kong and 
 Whampoa Dock Co., who are building this dry-dock, employ in 
 their engine sheds and shipbuilding yard over 4,000 hands, all of 
 whom, except the foremen, are Chinese. 
 
 The harbour and its inlets swarm with fish of many kinds, 
 and the Hong Kong fish market is one of the best in the 
 East. 
 
 I thought I knew most ot the methods pursued in different 
 parts of the world to catch fish, but I find a new one at Hong 
 Kong. All round the island and on the mainland opposite are 
 small clusters of huts where the fishermen live. In front of this 
 a stage runs out into the sea, on which is a rough wooden 
 windlass, attached to a huge drop net. This net is lowered to 
 the bottom, and all the boats put out from the shore, form into 
 a circle, and slowly close in upon the net ; the fishermen, by 
 means of long poles with which they beat the water, by striking 
 gongs, and uttering fearsome yells, frighten the fish over the 
 drop net, which is then wound up from the platform full of the 
 spoil of the sea. It sounds very primitive, but they catch fish, 
 and that's the great thing after all. 
 
 Hong Kong is a Crown colony, with a Governor and Council. 
 Its revenue is about ;^230,ooo, and its expenditure about 
 ;{^200,ooo, with an extraordinary expenditure last year, mainly on 
 fortifications and other public works, of ^^135,000. Its revenue 
 is derived as follows : — From Crown lands and quarries, ;^30,ooo ; 
 markets and piers, ;iC 12,000; licences — spirit ;^7,ooo, opium 
 ;^32,ooo, miscellaneous ;^4,ooo ; stamps, ;^30,ooo ; municipal 
 rates, ;^52,ooo ; postage, ;^22,ooo ; fines and fees of courts, light 
 dues, junk licences, and other miscellaneous items, ;^40,ooo. 
 
 r t r 
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 i! 
 
 R 
 
 ■Hi 
 
343 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 Ifi'i 
 
 w 
 
 The expenditure is roughly — MiHta'ry, ;{^22,ocx) ; police, ;{^32,ooo ; 
 post office, ;^2i,ooo; judicial, ;^i 3,000; prisons, ;^9,ooo; fire 
 brigade, ;£'2,5oo; harbour, ;^8,ooo; gardens and plantations, 
 ;^3,ooo ; Surveyor-General's department, ;£"9,ooo ; various- police 
 offices, ;^ 1 5,000 ; education, ;£"/, 500 ; roads and bridges, ;{'6,ooo ; 
 works and buildings, ;{i"i 2,000; the Governor's pay, £6,000. 
 
 There is a magnificent water supply brought to the town from 
 the hills by a fine aqueduct, which is a marked feature in the 
 landscape. ;^3 5,000 of the extraordinary expenditure of last 
 year was in connection with this ; about ;{"i 6,000 was also spent 
 in sanitary improvements. 
 
 The Council, which constitutes the Government, consists of 
 the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, the Commander-in-chief, 
 the Registrar-General, Treasurer, and Sui .cyor-Gcneral, and the 
 Registrar of the Supreme Court. These eight form the Exe- 
 cutive Council. The Legislative Council, which makes the 
 laws for the colony, consists of the eight above named, the 
 Chief Justice, and five unofficial members, all of whom are 
 justices of the peace, and one of whom is a Chinese. 
 
 The pension list of the colony reaches ;^4,5oo annually, 
 about half of which goes to the police. 
 
 The following nations are represented by resident consuls : — 
 Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chili, Denmark, France, Germany, 
 Hawaii, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Siam, 
 Spain, Sweden, and United States. This gives a good idea of 
 the various nationalities which throng the wharves of Hong 
 Kong. 
 
 The places of worship are the cathedral, with about 400 
 worshippers ; a seamen's mission, 70 ; a union nonconformist 
 church, 300 ; a small German chapel, 100 ; four Roman Catholic 
 churches, with 2,800 worshippers, mostly Portuguese. All these 
 are European churches. 
 
HONG KONG. 
 
 243 
 
 ooo; 
 , fire 
 tions, 
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 DO. 
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 in the 
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 spent 
 
 ists of 
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 inually, 
 
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 Siam, 
 
 idea of 
 
 Hong 
 
 )ut 400 
 \formist 
 .athoHc 
 ,11 these 
 
 The London Missionary Society (Congregationalist) has four 
 services in chapels or rooms in China town, with an aggregate 
 congregation of about 500. The Church Missionary Society 
 lias got a little room which holds about 50, seldom full, and 
 German missionaries have three congregations, numbering 
 altogether about 200. The Roman Catholics have five Chinese 
 chapels, with a total attendance of 500. 
 
 It does not speak great volumes for Hong Kong Christianity 
 that forty years of English government and influence shows but 
 1,200 Christian worshippers in a population of 160,000 Chinese 
 subjects. Missionaries do best the further they get away from 
 " Christian " colonists. 
 
 The educational statistics of Hong Kong do not make one 
 too proud of the department. There must be at least 16,000 
 children of school age in Hong Kong, yet there are not 6,000 in 
 school attendance. There are any number of schools. Sixteen 
 arc Government schools, one of which costs ;^3,ooo to administer, 
 and is a school for the better class of Europeans, with an M.A. 
 at the head of it. Fifteen are Government-aided schools, the 
 masters of which are granted £10 a year, and 50 are missionary 
 schools, which receive small grants in aid, and which educate 
 4,000 out of the 6,000. 
 
 The currency of Hong Kong is the Mexican silver dollar, and 
 about four millions of paper money issued by three banks. 
 There is also a Colonial silver currency of 20, 10, and 5 cent 
 pieces. 
 
 The shipping returns for Hong Kong ought to silence those 
 who are so fond of quavering about the decadence of British 
 trade and commerce. Hong Kong is the greatest trade 
 emporium in the East, the heart from which pulsates the com- 
 merce of a third of the human race, China, Japan, and nearly all 
 Oceana. It will be interesting to analyse, from the shipping 
 
 R 2 
 
 I 
 
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 i 
 
 1 
 
 iil 
 
 i 
 
244 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 returns of Hong Kong, what is the share of all this trade which 
 falls to England as compared with her many competitors for the 
 trade of the East. 
 
 27,222 vessels of all nations, with a gross tonnage of 6,324,000 
 tons, and crews amounting to 470,000 men, entered and left the 
 port of Hong Kong last year. Of these vessels 23,100, with a 
 tonnage of 1,753,000, were Chinese coasting vessels, bringing 
 their country's produce to this great distributing centre ; thus 
 leaving for all other countries 4,100 ocean-going vessels, with a 
 total capacity of 4,570,000, or an average of about 1,100 tons 
 each. Of these three-fourths of the whole, both in number and 
 tonnage, were English, leaving just one-fourth for all the other 
 nations of Europe and the world. 
 
 I will give, in order of precedence, the exact returns for each 
 nation. 
 
 British. . 
 German 
 
 Vessels. 
 2,982 
 
 676 
 
 Tonnage. 
 3,372,000 
 
 488,000 
 
 French 
 
 123 
 
 176,000 
 
 United States 
 
 III 
 
 149,000 
 
 Danish 
 
 55 
 
 23,000 
 
 Dutch . . . . 
 
 38 . . 
 
 50,000 
 
 Spanish 
 Austrian 
 
 33 
 23 
 
 19,000 
 45,000 
 
 Norwegian . 
 
 22 
 
 22,000 
 
 Siamese 
 
 16 
 
 7,500 
 
 Itahan. . . 
 
 1$ . 
 
 19,000 
 
 Russian 
 
 S 
 
 12,600 
 
 Japanese 
 Belgian 
 
 7 
 I 
 
 5, 000 
 
 850 
 
 Hawaiian 
 
 I 
 
 350 
 
 This most satisfactory return is not due to the fact that Hong 
 Kong is a British port, for pretty nearly the same results would 
 be shown by an analysis of the foreign carrying trade of New 
 York, Odessa, Genoa, Alexandria, Antwerp, Havre, or Hamburg. 
 
If 
 
 HONG KONG. 
 
 245 
 
 The number of fishing boats frequenting the harbour and 
 bays of Hong Kong is estimated at 3,000 ; the families all live 
 on board their boats, and, it is said, re .ch a total ^of 30,000 
 souls. 
 
 The average rate of wages for labour in Hong Kong is very 
 low. Domestic servants (all male), 4^. 6cl a week without food ; 
 ij. Id. per week with food. Chinese workmen at trades, 3^. 6^. 
 with food. Day labourers, U. per day ; blacksmiths, 2s. ; 
 carpenters, \s, 4^. ; masons and bricklayers, is. id. 
 
 The Chinese are terrible thieves. Nearly 17,000 persons were 
 brought before the police magistrates last year for various 
 offences, larceny and unlawful possession being the majority ; 
 about: 400 for drunkenness, piracy, and kidnapping. Burglary, 
 highway robbery, and assaults make up most of the balance. 
 The daily average number of prisoners in prison is about 
 700. It must, however, be borne in mind that many of these 
 criminals ought to be in Canton prison instead of Hong Kong 
 if they got their deserts. 
 
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 I 
 
 246 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SINGAPORE. 
 
 On the afternoon of November 22nd we were dropping slowly 
 down Hong Kong Roads on board the Pacific and Oriental 
 steamer "Ancona." We had about a score of cabin passengers 
 and some 200 Chinese coolies, who were being taken out to 
 Singapore by a labour company. These coolies engage for a 
 term of years. The company pay them so much a month, and 
 contract to bring them back at the end of their term of service. 
 About a mile from Hong Kong I heard a sudden splash. 
 Running to the side and looking over I saw a Chinese coolie 
 calmly striking out for a small boat a quarter of a mile off, 
 which pulled to meet him, and into which he climbed. A small 
 steam launch, which had been following the " Ancona," swooped 
 down upon the boat, and we could see the coolie through our 
 field glasses dragged into the launch, and thrust into its hold. 
 It was explained to us that these rascally coolies get a month's 
 pay, about 30^. in advance, and that if any of them can slip 
 overboard undetected they make for shore, ard engage in the 
 next gang, pocketing the month's pay. In consequence the 
 steamer conveying them is followed out to sea by the agents of 
 the Labour Company, who pick up their man as he jumps 
 overboard, and then send him to prison as a warning to his 
 fellows. During the passage of the " Ancona " from her anchor- 
 age to the open sea no less than six jumped overboard, of whom 
 
SINGAPORE. 
 
 247 
 
 only two were retrieved by the launch, four escaping in boats, 
 every fisherman apparently being in the swindle. 
 
 We had a pleasant and uneventful passage to Singapore, 
 which we reached in less than five days, arriving on Sunday 
 morning about noon. We moored alongside the coal wharves 
 of the Pacific and Oriental Company, which are about three 
 miles from the town. The heat was very great. Singapore 
 being almost on the equator, the same temperature prevails 
 almost all the year round, and although the sun had been 
 clouded over all the morning the thermometer stood over 90° in 
 the shade. After lunch we started off in a carriage to see what 
 we could. The carriages are covered with a thick roof, and the 
 sides and ends are open all round, with windows of open wood- 
 work, which can be drawn up as a shield from the burning sun. 
 It has long been one of my dreams to see the tropics, and I 
 looked eagerly out of the carriage for plants and trees 
 familiar to me as a horticulturist and cherished in hot-houses at 
 home, which I longed to see growing in their native heat. The 
 first hedge we came to contained a shrub and two creepers in 
 bloom, which were familiar greenhouse friends, and every 
 garden we passed was a mass of bananas, palms, pineapples, 
 cactuses, and flowering plants. I have never seen such greenery. 
 Talk about Ireland as the Emerald Isle ! Singapore is an 
 emerald all the year round, for here it rains eighty inches in the 
 year, with a vertical sun blazing on everything between the 
 showers. 
 
 We drove through the town to the botanical gardens, a park 
 of some 300 acres, beautifully situated on the sunny slope of an 
 evergreen hill, the most delightful garden imaginable, nearer to 
 Eden than I could have believed anything on earth to be. Here 
 were great forest trees a mass of crimson bloom, delicate-leaved 
 acacias forty or fifty feet high, with vermilion blossoms at the 
 
 ' 'III 
 
M ■( fl' II 
 
 248 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 n 
 
 end of every twig, shathodeas covered with their great orange 
 
 flowers, bushes of yellow allamanda, brilliant crotonc, with 
 
 ixoras, begonias, hoyas, eucharis lilies, stephanotis, callisteraons 
 
 and every variety of orchids, blooming in the open air. In the 
 
 ponds were the wonderful Victoria Regia lily and the scarlet 
 
 lotus. In spite of the burning sun we wandered through the 
 
 garden for nearly two hours, at the end of which we were 
 
 thankful to adjourn to a friend's house in the neighbourhood 
 
 for a cup of refreshing tea. Thence we repaired to the cathedral 
 
 for evening service. We found it a very fine church, with a 
 
 choral and processional ritual. It was strange to see three 
 
 rows of huge punkahs or fans running down the whole length of 
 
 the cathedral, waving back and forward all through the service 
 
 over the heads of the congregation. I was glad to escape from 
 
 the pompous cathedral service to a hearty little meeting of 
 
 soldiers and blue jackets at the Sailors' Rest, a coffee house and 
 
 recreation room established for their benefit by an excellent lady 
 
 who lives in Singapore, Miss Cook, to whom I was introduced 
 
 after the service, which was conducted by Col. Cardew, who 
 
 commands the regiment of infantry stationed at Singapore. 
 
 On Monday morning we again drove into the town, as the 
 steamer was not to sail before four o'clock. Singapore appears 
 to consist of three towns. The business or English town, Malay 
 town, and China town. They are all connected by a wide 
 esplanade facing the harbour, between two and three miles 
 long. There are many fine buildings. The Post-office, the City 
 Hall, the Police Barracks, the imposing Public Library, the 
 Cathedral, and the Government Buildings are all handsome 
 stone edifices of considerable pretensions. The town is full of 
 open spaces, beautifully laid out, especially the Chinese park, a 
 charming little garden of four acres in the middle of the most 
 densely populated district. There is another pretty garden of 
 
SINGAPORE. 
 
 249 
 
 ten acres, in the middle of the esplanade, facing the cathedral, 
 covered with a green sward like velvet, and surrounded by 
 magnificent trees. The esplanade itself for more than a mile 
 is shaded by a double avenue. 
 
 The great business centre is Commercial Square, surrounded 
 by banks, shops, and warehouses. Seven leading streets radiate 
 from this centre, presenting the usual gay and lively scenes 
 peculiar to an Eastern commercial city, in which the 140,000 
 inhabitants of Singapore swarm, clad in the brilliant and 
 picturesque dresses of their twenty-five nationalities, relieved 
 by the rich brown skins of those who wore no dresses at all. 
 I suppose there is no place in the world where such a con- 
 glomeration of peoples is gathered together as appear in the 
 busy streets of Singapore. The Blue Book of the Colony 
 distribuces the population among the following nationalities : — 
 Achinese, Africans, Anamese, Arabs, Armenians, Bengalis, 
 Boyanese, Bugis, Burmese, Chinese, Dyaks, Eurasians, Euro- 
 peans, Japanese, Javanese, Jawi, Pekan, Jews, Malays, Manilamen, 
 Parsees, Persians, Siamese, Singhalese, and Tamils. About half 
 the population are Chinese, next come Malays, and third in 
 strength Tamils from Southern India. 
 
 One is much impressed by the scarcity of women in the streets. 
 Chinese women, however, do not leave their country readily, and 
 although there are 72,000 Chinese males in Singapore, there are 
 only 14,000 Chinese women ; there is also but one Tamil woman 
 to four Tamil men. The Malays, being the natives of the plac 3, 
 have their population pretty equally divided between tie 
 sexes. 
 
 The smart dresses of the Malays form the r.iost striking 
 feature in the scene. It consists of a single piece of silk, woven 
 in as many and various colours as Joseph's coat, twisted round 
 the waist, and hanging down petticoat fashion to below the 
 
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 In 
 
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 250 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 knees ; a piece of white muslin or cotton cloth thrown pictur- 
 esquely about the shoulders, with a noble turban of crimson 
 silk. 
 
 This finery is for the streets only, for a glimpse into house 
 or shop reveals these same dandies squatting about on floor or 
 counter with nothing on but a loin-cloth, the children contenting 
 themselves with a tin fig-leaf about the size of a penny tied 
 round their waists with a string. 
 
 The chair of Hong Kong and the jin-rickisha of Japan find no 
 place in Singapore, though there are a few of the latter. The 
 conveyances here are the Indian ** gharry," drawn by active wiry 
 little ponies about eleven hands high, which bowl you along 
 at the rate of eight or nine miles an hour with wonderful 
 endurance. Their drivers are all Malays dressed in full native 
 costume. 
 
 I always like to visit the markets in every strange town. 
 Singapore, like every other Eastern town, is well off in this 
 respect, and the supply of food of all sorts is as usual in the 
 hands of the industrious Chinese, who catch the fish, grow the 
 vegetables and fruit, raise the ducks and poultry, and import 
 the beef and mutton. The food dearest to the Chinaman's soul 
 is duck and pig. All round Singapore are small farms in which 
 pigs are reared for the market, and ducks are hatched by arti- 
 ficial incubation. One of these hatching establishments rears 
 from 25,000 to 30,000 ducks every month. The hatching house 
 is just a small hut, roofed with tiles, with arrangements for so 
 modifying and retaining the sun's heat within the building that 
 it is maintained at one even temperature day and night. Ducks 
 alive, ducks dead, and ducks roasted and baked, are the leading 
 feature of the Singapore markets. After ducks come fish, which 
 are caught in great quantities in the bays and straits of the 
 archipelago of islands, of which Singapore is the centre, and 
 
i town, 
 [in this 
 in the 
 row the 
 import 
 n's soul 
 1 which 
 by arti- 
 s rears 
 house 
 for so 
 ,ng that 
 Ducks 
 leading 
 ., which 
 of the 
 re, and 
 
 SINGAPORE. 
 
 251 
 
 which are brought to market fresh, or rather alive, twice a day, 
 at daybreak and at two in the afternoon. Cuttle-fish are in 
 great demand ; crabs shaped like long-tailed fans, whose tails 
 are full of green eggs about the size of a pea, are also a great 
 delicacy. Prawns, six inches long, are prized for curry, and the 
 variety of fish of all sizes ranged from a 12-foot shark to the 
 tiniest transparent whitebait. 
 
 The shark appeared the staple food of the poor in fish diet ; 
 but the bonita, a fish that looked like a two-foot herring, small 
 sword fishes, gar-fish, a creature that seemed all fins and head, 
 another with a head so big that its eyes look out from the 
 middle of its sides, and a fish about the size and character ot 
 the chad of the English channel, were all plentiful and cheap. 
 One whole side of the market is given up to dried and salt fish, 
 which made one thirsty even to look at. Another avenue is 
 devoted to "chow chow," or cooked food of all sorts, where 
 groups of Chinese and Malays were squatted about enjoying 
 fearsome-looking dainties of various kinds and flavours. The 
 meat supply comes from Slam and India, and the fowls mainly 
 from Cochin China and the Malay Peninsula. In the market 
 we brought some fruit for lunch. The far-famed mangosteen 
 was in season, and is a delicate pulpy fruit about the size of a 
 large strawberry, with a fine subtle sub-acid flavour, embedded 
 in a husk about f inch thick. Nothing could form a prettier 
 study of colour for a school of art student than the freshly- 
 broken mangosteen, with its kernel of shining pulp, milk 
 white streaked with a little yellow, embedded in the bright 
 chestnut brown of its husk. Large pineapples at \d. each, 
 great clusters of golden bananas and mangoes, green-skinned 
 oranges, persimmons from China, lychees, custard apples, cocoa- 
 nuts, and other tropical fruits were displayed in tempting 
 profusion, but a punnet of Kent strawberries or a pound of 
 
 m 
 
 ili 
 
 ( ■' 
 
 ■«■ ! 
 
 'f ■■ 1 
 
 I 
 
252 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 :' ' J, 
 
 Maydukc cherries are, in my opinion, worth the whole fruit 
 market of Singapore. 
 
 From the market we drove some three miles into the country 
 to see the garden of a wealthy Chinese millionaire merchant, 
 who has made a hobby of it for years. I don't know how much 
 money the wonderful tropical houses at Chatsworth have cost 
 the Duke of Devonshire, nor how many thousands a year it 
 takes to maintain them, but Mr. Whampoa knocks them into a 
 cocked hat with a dozen coolies at wages of less than is. per 
 day. He wants no costly conservatories designed by a Chinese 
 Sir Joseph Paxton. His two lakes covered with Victoria Regia 
 leaves as big as open umbrellas, with their gorgeous flowers as 
 big as a wide-awake hat, thrive better under the blazing canopy 
 of the equator than they can ever hope to do at Chatsworth or 
 at Kew under glass and over coals. All the shelter he wants 
 for his vast collection of orchids is a little open matting 
 stretched across a bamboo frame, or the natural foliage of some 
 tree on whose trunk the orchid clings. Even Mr. Chamberlain 
 must take a back seat behind Whampoa as an orchid grower. 
 Here and there in the garden are summer-houses on tiny 
 islands, reached by miniature bridges, i;xactly like the pictures 
 on willow plate china. Trees and si; rubs are cut into the 
 shapes of dogs, birds, horses, cows, mandarins, and what-not, the 
 effect being heightened by the introduction of fierce glass eyes, 
 artificial hands, heads, and feet, which give a very ludicrous 
 grotesqueness to the garden generally. 
 
 Singapore harbour is wide, deep, and well sheltered. The 
 great demand of every steamer which enters it is coal ; lying, as 
 it does, just half-way between Colombo and China, it is one of 
 the most important coaling stations in the world. It is well 
 fortified with three excellent, newly-constructed forts, which 
 look formidable enough, but which are dumb dogs for want 
 
SINGAPORE. 
 
 253 
 
 of guns, long promised by the Home Government, but not yet 
 forthcoming — the Ordnance Department of the British Govern- 
 ment being the worst-managed and most exasperating branch of 
 the public service. 
 
 There are four fine graving docks in the port, the largest of 
 which is 475 feet long, 60 feet wide, with a depth of water 
 21 feet. There are about one and a half miles of wharves, 
 alongside of which ocean steamers can lie, with a stock of 
 300,000 tons of coal, a tempting bonfire to an enemy's cruiser 
 in times of war. 
 
 The Straits Settlements consist of the Islands of Singapore 
 and Penang, and the town of Malacca on the mainland ; 
 subsidiary to the Government of the Straits Settlements are the 
 dominions of the Sultans of Johore and Perah, whose territories 
 lie along the Straits coasts of the Malay Peninsula, and who 
 are virtually under the care of a Resident ; and some smaller 
 native states, who look to the Straits Government for counsel 
 and help. 
 
 The annual revenue is about ;^6oo,ooo, of which two-thirds 
 is derived from opium and spirit; licences (some ;^38o,ooo). 
 The revenue from land is ;^65,ooo ; from pawnbrokers' 
 licences, ;£'25 000; stamps, ;{^5o,ooo ; port and harbour dues 
 ;^i2,ooo; postage, ;^i8,ooo; profit on coinage, ;^io,ooo; mis- 
 cellaneous receipts making up the balance. The increase of 
 1886 over 1885 was nearly ;^40,ooo, denoting very satisfactory 
 material progress. 
 
 The expenditure con??sts of the following items : for salaries 
 in all the civil departments, ;^26,ooo ; for administration of 
 justice, ;^8o,ooo ; for police and gaols, ;^20,ooo ; for niedical 
 service, education, ;^2o,ooo ; ports and harbours, ;{i 12,000; 
 postal services, ;^io,ooo; works and buildings, ;^i6o,ooo; roads, 
 bridges, and canals, ;^2 2,000 ; military expenditure, ;^40,ooo ; 
 
 jHf 
 
 iiiiif I 
 
254 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 :1l!:t'i' 
 
 pensions, ;^ 15,000; which, with a scries of miscellaneous items, 
 makes up a total expenditure of ;^5 80,000, leaving a good 
 surplus, and a decrease on the previous year of about ;^i 5,000. 
 
 The exclusive privilege of retailing opium and spirits is 
 farmed out for a term of three years, and the Chinese are the 
 principal competitors for both. A licence to keep an opium shop 
 costs 40J. Spirit licences vary from £16 to ;^8 for hotels and 
 saloons ; small spirit shops, 40i'. ; toddy and bhang shops, 40^. 
 The income from opium and spirit licences is greatly on the 
 increase, showing that in Singapore, as everywhere else where 
 English influence sways the habits of natives, intemperance is 
 increasing instead of diminishing. The revenue from these 
 farmed licences has grown in twelve months, 1885- 1886, from 
 ;^340,ooo to ;^38o,ooo. No check of any kind seems to be 
 placed on the issue of any number of these licences, which 
 appear to be issued at the discretion entirely of the man who, 
 for a lump sum, farms the right to grant them. I drove a circle 
 of 15 or 16 miles round Penang Island, and every little village 
 and hamlet had its spirit or toddy shop. Surely a Government 
 whose revenue shows a steady increase and regular surplus, 
 might devote some of its energies to reducing the appalling 
 number of opium and spirit shops. I was not surprised to hear 
 that missionary efforts in the Straits Settlements met with but 
 scanty success. 
 
 The local revenues of the municipality of Singapore arc 
 ;^8o,000, and the expenditure about the same. This is raised 
 by assessment on houses, taxes on carriages, rent of markets, 
 water rates, &c. The administration is all that can be desired. 
 The water supply is excellent, the roads level and well made, 
 the streets clean and well swept, the town well lighted, and the 
 same may be said of Penang, whose local revenues are ;iC40,ooo. 
 
 The public debt of the colony is the modest sum of ;^40,000. 
 
SINGAPORE. 
 
 JS5 
 
 items, 
 good 
 
 300. 
 
 its is 
 re the 
 n shop 
 ;ls and 
 5S, 40J. 
 on the 
 where 
 ance is 
 these 
 5, from 
 3 to be 
 , which 
 in who, 
 a circle 
 village 
 rnment 
 iurplus, 
 palling 
 to hear 
 ith but 
 
 )re arc 
 raised 
 
 larkets, 
 Idesired. 
 |l made, 
 
 ind the 
 140,000. 
 
 40,000. 
 
 There is a volunteer corps in Singapore, which claims to be the 
 first ever started in the East Indies, and indeed it is older than 
 any of our existing corps at home, except the ist Lancashire, 
 having been established in 1854. It consists of one officer, and 
 fifty-one non-commissioned officers and men. It drills between 
 thirty and forty times in the year, and costs £160. 
 
 The composition of the Executive and Legislative Councils is 
 much the same as that of Hong Kong, described in the last 
 chapter. There is one Chinese on the Legislative Council. 
 
 The Governor draws a salary of ;^4,ooo a year, with free 
 quarters at Government House, and various allowances and 
 perquisites ; the Colonial Secretary is paid ;^ 1,600, with free 
 quarters; the Treasurer ;^r,ooo, the Surveyor-General gets 
 ;^l,200 a year besides his pay as Colonel of Royal Engineers, 
 the Commissioner of Lands ;{^i,ooo, the Harbour Master .1^700, 
 the Postmaster-General ;^700, the Chief Justice ;^2,ooo, the 
 Puisne Judge ;^ 1,400, the Registrar ^C/oo, the Attorney-General 
 ;^i,300, the Police Magistrates from ;^6oo to ;^8oo, the Bishop 
 ;({^ioo! the Colonial Chaplain ;^6oo, the Inspector of Schools 
 ;^700, the principal Medical Officer ;^8oo, the Inspector-General 
 of Police ;^8oo, European policemen ;^8o and free quarters with 
 rations, the Superintendent of Prisons ;{^8oo, with free quarters ; 
 and the superintendent of the Botanic Gardens ;^400, with free 
 quarters and ;^70 travelling expenses. I don't think the salaries 
 pail to these leading officials can be considered excessive, taking 
 into account the responsible work they have to do and the 
 blazing climate in which they have to do it. At Penang and 
 Malacca the Resident Councillor gets ;£" 1,000 a year and free 
 quarters, and the Resident at Perah, who is to all intents and 
 purposes the actual governor of the country, receives ;^3,ooo a 
 year. 
 
 The total population of the three towns of Singapore, Penang 
 
 i- 
 
 ill 
 
 
IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 V 
 
 io 
 
 {/ 
 
 A 
 
 
 l/x 
 
 
 1.0 
 
 I.I 
 
 1.25 
 
 150 '"^^ llllli 
 
 Z US 12.0 
 
 12.5 
 
 12.2 
 
 1.8 
 
 14 11.6 
 
 y] 
 
 
 /\ 
 
 
 /A 
 
 k 
 

 vV 
 
 A 
 
256 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 I 
 
 II II! I 
 
 and Malacca is 424,000, of which 174,000 are Chinese, 174,000 
 Malays, and 3,400, including military, are Europeans. 
 
 The heathen of the Straits Settlements are not much troubled 
 by missionary zeal. How is it, I wonder, that we so persistently 
 neglect the conversion of the heathen at our own doors in our 
 various Crown colonies? Can it be that the specimens of 
 Christianity who form our governing and merchant classes are 
 of such quality that missionaries find it impossible to get the 
 heathen to believe in the religion whose products they are? 
 The fact that a " Christian " Government draws the bulk of its 
 revenue from the encouraged vice and degradation of the popu- 
 lation, may go far to account for the obstinate preference of a 
 Mohammedan native for a religion which enjoins total absti- 
 nence, and forbids the social habits which produce Eurasians? 
 The merchants say the missionaries are idle and worthless, the 
 missionaries retort in kind, and for myself, I fear that in 
 Singapore, at any rate, there is truth on both sides. There is a 
 magnificent cathedral at Singapore, with a Right Reverend 
 Bishop, a Venerable Archdeacon, and an Assistant Colonial 
 Chaplain. There is a surpHced choir to boot. The S.P.G. has 
 also a missionary, who gets ;^300 or ;^400 a year. The only 
 natives visible at the cathedral services are the fifteen or twenty 
 Malays who, standing outside the building, pull the punkah 
 strings to cool the fashionable worshippers inside. The only 
 attempt to reach the heathen by the Church of England 
 is a small school chapel, at which there is an attendance of fifty 
 or sixty at most. 
 
 The Presbyterians have a fine handsome chapel for 
 themselves. I surveyed it from the outside, and it had a 
 fashionable congregation of 1 50 or 200. Fifty or sixty carriages 
 were waiting outside, with as many native servant:^ as there 
 were good Presbyterians inside. The minister gets ;^500 a 
 
 
SINGAPORE, 
 
 as; 
 
 [74,000 
 
 roubled 
 istently 
 1 in our 
 lens of 
 sses are 
 get the 
 ey are? 
 ,k of its 
 ,e popu- 
 ice of a 
 il absti- 
 irasians ? 
 iless, the 
 
 that in 
 lere is a 
 leverend 
 Colonial 
 P.G. has 
 rhe only 
 »r twenty 
 
 punkah 
 rhe only 
 
 England 
 ;e of fifty 
 
 apel for 
 
 it had a 
 
 carriages 
 
 as there 
 
 5 £SQO a 
 
 year and a free house. The English Presbyterian Mission have 
 one clerical and one lay missionary. They have four small 
 rooms in Singapore in which they hold services, and in none of 
 which do they muster a congregation of fifty souls. I do not 
 venture to judge these gentlemen. I am quite sure from all I 
 heard that they were excellent and pious men, but the results of 
 their labours are miserable and unsatisfactory, and I cannot but 
 think that their methods and plans of working must be wrong. 
 
 In Penang the Nonconformists have no missionary whatever, 
 but the Church of England (S.P.G.) maintain an excellent native 
 missionary to the Tamils, who seems to be meeting with 
 some measure of success. He has an average congregation 
 in Penang of eighty-five out of a total Tamil population of 
 25,000. 
 
 In Province Wellesley there is an undenominational Protestant 
 mission, with an English minister and four native assistants. 
 They have services in five places, and possess three small 
 chapels, none of which will hold a hundred persons. They have 
 sixty or seventy Chinese worshippers among the lot. The 
 Church of England people keep a clergyman for themselves 
 at a salary of .^350, and have three " Catechists," who work 
 among the Tamils. 
 
 At Malacca, the Colonial Chaplain ministers to English 
 residents at a salary of ;^55o, and they pay Mr. Chong Sin Tai, 
 to convert the Chinese, a salary of ^30! Nonconformists do 
 not put in an appearance at Malacca. 
 
 So much for Protestant zeal for the conversion of our heathen 
 fellow-subjects in the Straits Settlements. But v/hat are the 
 Roman Catholics doing ? may be asked. They have twenty-five 
 chapels in the colony. They have forty-one priests, missionary 
 priests and Catechists, with aggregate congregations of 6,500. I 
 think it would be well if the secretaries of our various missionary 
 
 S 
 
258 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 ■ 1 1 
 
 societies spent twelve months in the East trying to find out 
 how it is that Jesuits succeed so well when they fail so com- 
 pletely. 
 
 What I fail to understand is the comparative zeal and success 
 of Roman Catholicism and the comparative failure of Protestant- 
 ism in the conversion of the Eastern heathen to the Christian 
 faith. The fact is there, and is stubborn. I draw the figures just 
 quoted from returns furnished to the Government of Singapore 
 by the various denominations themselves, and published in the 
 Blue Book for 1886. 
 
 The imports from all countries into the Straits Settlements are 
 ;^i2,8cx),ooo, and the exports to all countries a shade over 
 ;^io,ooo,cxx),the bulk of this enormous trade being the collection 
 at this great " corner shop " of the world of the produce of the 
 surrounding islands of the Malay Archipelago, and its distribution 
 to England, Europe, and America. 
 
 The Straits Settlements are free ports, open on equal terms to 
 the commerce of the world. The total imports and exports 
 from and to the British Empire reach a total of ;^8,400,ooo. 
 The total imports from and exports to every other nation in 
 Europe and their colonies, including French India, French 
 Cochin China, Java, Sumatra, Celebes, and all the other Dutch 
 islands, Portuguese India, and the Philippine Islands reaches 
 ;^6, 500,000. This is a remarkable instance of the supremacy of 
 British commerce, drawn from a free port in the very centre of 
 all the most important colonies of our European competitors, 
 containing populations of over fifty millions, on an area of 
 470,000 square miles ; in the midst of which we are squatted on 
 two small islands and a tiny province. 
 
 This is brought out more forcibly by a comparison of 
 shipping statistics, which demonstrate how completely English- 
 men and English trade dominate in every part of the earth, 
 
SINGAPORE. 
 
 259 
 
 i out 
 com- 
 
 iccess 
 stant- 
 ristian 
 :s just 
 japore 
 in the 
 
 nts are 
 e over 
 ilection 
 of the 
 ibution 
 
 erms to 
 exports 
 
 ^.00,000. 
 
 ition in 
 French 
 
 Dutch 
 reaches 
 macy of 
 entre of 
 petitors, 
 
 area of 
 atted on 
 
 rison of 
 English- 
 He earth, 
 
 and how British traders manage to get the best of it, even in 
 colonies settled by other European nations. 
 
 The following shows the number of ships and tonnage entered 
 and cleared from the port of Singapore alone during 1886 with 
 their flags : — 
 
 
 
 Ships. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 United Kingdom. 
 
 
 535 
 
 776,CXX) 
 
 France 
 
 
 89 . 
 
 159,000 
 
 Germany . 
 
 
 87 . 
 
 110,000 
 
 Austria 
 
 
 41 
 
 79,000 
 
 Belgium 
 
 
 None 
 
 — 
 
 Holland . 
 
 
 5 
 
 8,000 
 
 Italy .... 
 
 
 9 
 
 13,000 
 
 Russia 
 
 
 26 . 
 
 43,000 
 
 Spain. 
 
 
 7 
 
 11,000 
 
 
 Colonies. 
 
 
 British Possessions 
 
 . 
 
 1,162 
 
 1,491,000 
 
 French ,, 
 
 . 
 
 167 
 
 . 197,000 
 
 Dutch „ 
 
 • 
 
 1,033 
 
 . 707,000 
 
 Spanish „ 
 
 . 
 
 91 
 
 . 108,000 
 
 e fieures show conclusi 
 
 velv how impc 
 
 )ssible it 
 
 Colonies not British to get their imports and get away their 
 exports except with the help of British bottoms and through 
 British emporiums. All this we owe to John Bright, Richard 
 Cobden, and Free Trade. 
 
 We left Singapore, after a stay of nearly two days, for 
 Penang, where we remained six hours, from 7 A.M. to 1.30 P.M. 
 We went ashore with Sir Hugh Low, the British Resident at 
 Perah, who, with Lady Low, were our fellow-passengers. He 
 and I had foregathered on the voyage, in sympathy as orchid 
 growers. He is a very distinguished colonial official, but I 
 confess his name was more familiar to me as the discoverer of 
 some of the most beautiful orchids in Borneo, which bear his 
 name. We drove together to the Botanical Gardens, about five 
 miles out of Penang, and spent two pleasant hours with Mr. 
 
 S 2 
 
26o 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 Curtis, the superintendent, who showed us many rare and 
 beautiful plants which he had brought into the gardens from 
 Malayan jungles 
 
 We then breakfasted' with Mr. Brown, the leading merchant 
 of Penang, who had been our fellow-passenger also from 
 Singapore, at his beautiful country house, and the wonderful 
 curries he gave us will linger in our memories. 
 
 SINGAPORE— A MANGO BREAKFAST IN JULY. 
 
( 261 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 KANDY. 
 
 On Sunday morning, December 4th, the Island of Ceylon was 
 eagerly watched for from the deck of the " Ancona" by all its 
 passengers. Perhaps it would be more correct to say it was 
 eagerly smelt for, as both captain and first officer at breakfast 
 assured their somewhat sceptical passengers that 
 
 "The spicy breezes 
 Which blow from Ceylon's isle," 
 
 was no poetical fiction, but a pleasant reality when the wind was 
 blowing off the land, which it was kindly and very softly doing 
 that morning. Certainly about eleven o'clock I perceived a 
 distinct odour of aromatic wood, not unlike the smell of a larch 
 plantation in spring, which I was informed came from the 
 numerous cinnamon gardens along the coast. 
 
 We had had a delightful five days' run from Penang. The 
 sea was calm enough all the way for a Rob Roy canoe, while 
 the gentle zephyr of wind, dead ahead, increased by the speed 
 of the ship, kept the deck and cabins cool and breezy ; an 
 important addition to our comfort, as the thermometer seldom 
 stood below 85°, even at night. 
 
 At noon Point de Galle, which was the old coaling station 
 before Sir John Coode's famous breakwater was made at 
 Colombo, hove in sight, the "Ancona" steaming near enough to 
 
 :f' 
 
262 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 shore for signals to be telegraphed on to Colombo, and to 
 enable us to see vast cocoanut plantations on shore, with 
 Adam's Peak, the sacred mountain of Ceylon, rising high in the 
 dim distance. The Peninsular and Oriental mail steamer from 
 Calcutta, and also the one from Australia met the " Ancona " 
 twenty or thirty miles from Colombo, and the three fine vessels 
 kept each other company to port, where mails were to be 
 
 ADAM'o PEAK, CEYL~tN. 
 i'rom a s^ietch ly iht AuiJtor, 
 
 ■^\\V 
 
 exchanged, a not unusual instance of the admirable punctuality 
 of the great Peninsular and C>rieptal Company. 
 
 It was nine o'clock, and qui^'^ dark, when we dropped anchor 
 in Colombo harbour, too late to go ashore, so we decided to 
 sleep on board and disembark in the early morning. Six 
 o'clock found us on deck to take a first look at the harbour. 
 It is enclosed by a magnificent breakwater nearly a mile long. 
 
KANDY, 
 
 263 
 
 nd to 
 , with 
 
 in the 
 r from 
 icona " 
 vessels 
 
 to be 
 
 JCTs!' 
 
 **7k 
 
 
 tuality 
 
 inc 
 
 d anchor 
 ecided to 
 ing. Six 
 I harbour, 
 mile long, 
 
 of which I shall have something to say later on ; right opposite 
 to the ship is the busy wharf and Custom House, with the 
 useless old fort ; northwards the crowded and picturesque 
 native town ; and southward the bright suburb of Kolpetty, the 
 whole standing " dressed in living green " of cocoa palm, 
 plantain, bread-fruit, and mango trees. 
 
 The ship was surrounded with native boats, clamouring for 
 jobs to take passengers ashore, and I saw for the first time in its 
 native waters the " Catamaran," which had excited my interest two 
 or three years ago at the Fisheries Exhibition in London. This 
 singular boat consists of a tree-trunk, about 20 to 25 feet long, 
 hollowed out like a canoe. The two sides have a sort of bul- 
 wark 3 feet high, made of upright boards lashed on, the width 
 between being 18 or 20 inches. If this were all, the " Catamaran " 
 would be the crankiest boat ever made ; but some feet away 
 from the canoe and parallel to it is a stout log of bamboo or 
 other light wood, the same length as the boat, both being fastened 
 together by two curved bars of bamboo. This outrigger lies on 
 the surface of the water, and by its weight on one side and its 
 resistance to the water on the other renders the " Catamaran " one 
 of the best sea boats in the world, and they are often met with 
 far out of sight of land and in very rough weather. We were, 
 however, glad to find that Captain Webber had kindly placed 
 iiis gig at our disposal, in which, with our luggage, ve went 
 ashore, to find that a polite Custom House officer not only 
 declined to search our trunks, but volunteered to take care of 
 them for us till two o'clock, when we had decicied to go on to 
 Kandy, the ancient capital, leaving Colombo till the end of our 
 visit. 
 
 We spent the morning in driving about Colombo, but as we 
 shall be there three or four days before going to Madras and 
 Calcutta, I will leave any remarks on the capital of Ceylon to the 
 
 ill 
 
 (f :^ 
 
 ■i I 
 
264 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 1; ' '■& 
 
 next chapter. At two o'clock vvc drove to the station and took 
 our seats in the train for Kandy, with a 75-milc journey before 
 us. The Ceylon railways are a Government monopoly, and 
 there are 185 miles open for traffic. The carriages arc horribly 
 uncomfortable, the first-class being no better than the third- 
 class on an English trunk line. I had to pay heavy excess on 
 our luggage. The journey lasted five hours, an average speed 
 of 15 miles an hour. For some miles out of Colombo the train 
 runs through a flat country chiefly under rice cultivation, or in 
 grass for cattle. The whole area is one vast swamp, every crop 
 being profusely irrigated, the cattle, all black buffaloes, feeding 
 knee deep in water. Wherever there is a knoll, or a bit of rising 
 ground, a beautiful tropical picture forms itself; a clump of 
 quaint cottages and barns, sun junded by palms, jack-fruit trees, 
 bananas, and vegetable gardens, the dark red tiles of the build- 
 ings, the bright yellow and crimson dresses of the peasants, and 
 the brown skins of the naked children relieving the intense and 
 somewhat monotonous tropical green. Presently the Kelani- 
 Ganga River, the greatest stream of water in the island, is 
 crossed by a very fine iron bridge, and on the other side a 
 branch line turns off to the quarries from which were got the 
 stones for building the breakwater at Colombo. Fifty miles 
 from Colombo the railway begins the great climb of 6,000 feet 
 to Nuwera Eliya. It creeps up the flank of a magnificent 
 mountain, Allagalla, whose high peak, crowning a sheer preci- 
 pice, dominates the whole valley. From the summit of Allagalla, 
 the old Kandyan kings used to hurl those whom they suspected 
 of treason. On the opposite side of the great green valley of 
 Dekanda are the Camel Mountain, so called from its resemblance 
 to that animal, and the Bible Mountain, with a chain of con- 
 necting peaks 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea. In the valley 
 are seen terraced fields of pale green rice, the flower-like branches 
 
KANDY. 
 
 265 
 
 id took 
 r before 
 •ly, and 
 liorribly 
 c third- 
 ccess on 
 re speed 
 ;he train 
 )n, or in 
 'ery crop 
 ;, feeding 
 of rising 
 clump of 
 ruit trees, 
 he build- 
 sants, and 
 tense and 
 3 Kelani- 
 island, is 
 ler side a 
 ■e got the 
 ifty miles 
 6,000 feet 
 lagnificent 
 leer preci- 
 AUagalla, 
 suspected 
 valley of 
 isemblancc 
 tin of con- 
 the valley 
 :e branches 
 
 of the Kekuna trees, magnificent forest t^ces covered with purple 
 and pink blossoms, palms of all kinds, With here and there noble 
 specimens of the great talipot palm, and patches of luxuriant 
 
 THE DEKANDA VALLEY, 
 
 tropical jungle, bright with a score of different brilliant flowers 
 or creepers which throw themselves from one tree-top to the 
 other, as they tower above the tangled undergrowth. Beautiful 
 
 I 
 
 iMni 
 
 111 
 
266 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 waterfalls arc seen up the glens, as the train climbs slowly by, 
 while others rush under us as we cross them on bridges, to leap 
 into mid-air, and lose themselves in clouds of mist and spray, 
 
 OM tttE KAMI RAILWAY — SENSATION ROCK. 
 
 in which the sun dances in all the colours of the rainbow. Every 
 now and then we get a glimpse beneath us of the fine road con- 
 structed long since by the English Government, to enable them 
 
 t'lii 
 
KANDY. 
 
 367 
 
 to take and keep possession of the ancient capital, which had 
 been wrested from the Portuguese and Dutch by the valiant old 
 Kandyan kings ; this road is now superseded by the railway. 
 A few miles from Kandy the train, after passing through several 
 tunnels, runs over what is called " Sensation Rock," skirting the 
 edge of the cliff so closely that the sight drops a thousand feet 
 before it rests on anything on which a blade of grass or a 
 tropical creeper can lay hold. Just beyond this exciting scene 
 we cross the dividing ridge of two water-sheds, and in a very 
 short time reach the lovely valley of Kandy, run into the station, 
 and by seven o'clock find ourselves comfortably settled at the 
 Queen's Hotel. 
 
 Ceylon is an island of villages, and Kandy, though the ancient 
 capital, is not much more than a group of two or three villages, 
 containing in all a population of 22,000. It has little of general 
 interest, the only buildings of any importance being the gaol, 
 the barracks, three or four churches and chapels, the Govern- 
 ment office, and the world-renowned Temple of the Sacred 
 Tooth of Buddha ; this latter being an insignificant little shrine 
 of no great antiquity or architectural beauty, its only interest 
 lying in its peculiarly sacred character, rendering it the heart 
 from which all Buddhist sentiment ebbs and flows. 
 
 The temple is a small building with a good-sized courtyard 
 surrounding it, the outer walls of which are decorated with 
 hideous ill-executed frescoes of the various punishments inflicted 
 in the Buddhist Hell, differing very little in character from those 
 one so often sees depicted in Roman Catholic churches in Italy. 
 The deepest and hottest hell, with the most gruesome fiends to 
 poke the fire, is reserved for those who rob a Buddhist priest, 
 or plunder a Buddhist temple. The great relic, which is two 
 inches long and one inch thick (what a tooth to ache !) is pre- 
 served in a gold and jewelled shrine, covered by r. large silver 
 
 H ii' 
 
 ifiii 
 
 i 
 
268 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 I| !! 
 
 ' :'! 
 
 ■ ..:i 
 
 bell, in the centre of an octagonal tower with pointed roof. It 
 is only exposed to view once a year, but I was privately 
 informed that five rupees would open the door for me. I 
 preferred my five rupees. 
 
 In the porch of the temple were groups of horrible beggars, 
 who display their various wounds and defects of nature with 
 much liberality. The most popular appeared to be a monster 
 with a huge tooth growing through his under lip. I suppose 
 his popularity was due to the fact that this horror was nearer to 
 the genuine article in the shrine than could be found outside 
 the mouth of a hippopotamus. 
 
 The kings and priests of Burmah, Siam, and Cambodia send 
 regular yearly tribute to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth, and 
 more or less reverence is paid to it in India, China, and 
 Japan. 
 
 The real charm of Kandy lies in its beautiful situation. The 
 town itself is lost to view in green tropical foliage. It is built on 
 the banks of a large artificial tank or lake, about three miles in 
 circumference, surrounded by beautiful hills five or six hundred 
 feet above its surface, on which are dotted here and there the 
 pretty bungalows of missionaries and other well-to-do inhabitants. 
 We spent a morning wandering about the lovely lanes of these 
 hills, in any of which you may gather from the hedgerows 
 bunches of "hot-house" flowers, which would fetch a guinea 
 at Covent Garden market. From their heights magnificent 
 views of the high mountain ranges of Ceylon are obtained, all 
 richly timbered to the summits. 
 
 I found growing wild on these charming hills sunflowers, roses, 
 dracoenas, poinsettas, mimosas, lantanas, balsams, iconias, petreas, 
 passion-flowers, and a dozen other varieties of beautiful blooms 
 familiar to me in English hot-houses, but whose names I cannot 
 now call to mind. 
 
KAN jY. 
 
 269 
 
 ll 
 
 •oof. It 
 
 )rivately 
 
 me. I 
 
 beggars, 
 
 ure with 
 monster 
 suppose 
 
 nearer to 
 
 d outside 
 
 Ddia send 
 ooth, and 
 hina, and 
 
 ion. The 
 is built on 
 miles in 
 hundred 
 ;here the 
 habitants, 
 s of these 
 ledgerows 
 a guinea 
 lagnificent 
 itained, all 
 
 vers, roses, 
 IS, petreas, 
 ul blooms 
 s I cannot 
 
 In the afternoon we drove out to the Government Botanical 
 Gardens at Peradenia, whose distinguished director, Dr. Triman, 
 I had become acquainted with in the train, and who showed 
 us much kindness and hospitality. The entrance to the garden 
 is through a fine avenue of tall india-rubber trees, towering into 
 the air a hundred feet, spreading out into enormous leafy crowns 
 fifty or sixty feet in diameter, their huge roots, longer than the 
 tree is high, creeping over the surface of the ground like great 
 
 
 THE INDIA-RUBBER TREE. 
 
 snakes, sometimes growing straight up in the air till they attach 
 themselves to the lower branches, thus forming stout props to 
 support the weight of heavy foliage, and enable it to resist storm 
 and tempest. 
 
 There is no need in this garden for the familiar notice, " Keep 
 off the grass." If you venture on the lawns, especially in damp 
 weather such as we are having, nasty little leeches the thickness 
 
 m\ 
 
a7o 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 of a hair wriggle through your trousers and stockings, and suck 
 your blood till they swell out to the thickness of a lead-pencil. 
 Instances are known in which men have gone to sleep on the 
 grass in Ceylon, and have been found dead, sucked to death by 
 hundreds of these horrible creatures. It is also necessary to 
 beware of " snakes in the grass." The day before our visit one of 
 the gardeners was bitten by a snake, and was lying dangerously 
 ill in the hands of a native doctor, who possesses secret remedies 
 handed down to him from his forefathers by word of mouth only. 
 While we were enjoying a cup of tea at Dr. Triman's bungalow, 
 another gardener brought a fine lively cobra which he had just 
 caught, tied by a string to a stick, striking its fangs vigorously 
 into every object that was thrust towards its head. On the whole, 
 therefore, we kept to the paths and beaten tracks as much as 
 possible to avoid these gentry, as well as centipedes and black 
 scorpions, which are equally plentiful. Immediately inside the 
 garden gate is a wondrously beautiful group of all the palms 
 indigenous to the island. Here is the cocoa-nut, with its 
 cylindrical trunk two feet thick, soaring up into the air 1 50 feet, 
 crowned with a huge tuft of feathery leaves eighteen or twenty 
 feet long, with great bunches of fruit clustering in their shade. 
 The Palmyra palm, which, according to a famous Tamil poem, 
 can be put to 801 different uses. Its leaves are circular, with 
 seventy or eighty ribs, opening like a great fan. These leaves 
 are used by the natives to thatch their cottages, to make matting 
 for floor and ceiling, bags and baskets, hats and caps, fans, 
 umbrellas, and paper. The fruits, as well as the young seedlings, 
 are cooked and eaten as a nutritious vegetable, and from the 
 flower-spikes, alas! the native obtains palm wine or toddy, 
 which can be distilled into stronger arrack. The Sago palm and 
 its relative, the Kitul palm, yield not only the nutritious pith 
 which makes the familiar pudding of our childhood, but also 
 
KANDY. 
 
 371 
 
 i suck 
 
 pencil. 
 
 on the 
 
 :ath by 
 
 sary to 
 
 t one of 
 
 erously 
 
 ^medics 
 
 th only. 
 
 ingalow, 
 
 lad just 
 
 porously 
 
 le whole, 
 
 much as 
 
 nd black 
 
 iside the 
 
 le palms 
 
 with its 
 1 50 feet, 
 ir twenty 
 ;ir shade, 
 il poem, 
 liar, with 
 se leaves 
 matting 
 laps, fans, 
 jseedlings, 
 from the 
 •r toddy, 
 palm and 
 ;ious pith 
 but also 
 
 produce excellent sugar and splendid fibre for rope-making and 
 other purposes. The Areca-nut palm produces the well-known 
 Betel nut, which, rolled up in leaves of the Betel pepper, with a 
 little lime and tobacco, makes the favourite " chaw " of the natives 
 of Ceylon and India, a harmless, though nasty practice, for which 
 they will sacrifice meat, drink, washing and lodging. More 
 beautiful than these is the nueen of all palms, the Talipot, which 
 for thirty years from its biith pushes up its straight white shining 
 trunk, with its crown of dark green leaves, till it reaches a height 
 of a hundred feet or more. Then it blooms — and such a bloom ! 
 a tall pyramidal spike of white blossoms forty feet above its 
 crown of huge green fans, perhaps the noblest flower the world 
 produces. Each bloom forms a nut, and the tree, having 
 scattered its seeds to become palms in their turn, dies of the 
 supreme effort. We were fortunate enough to see a magnificent 
 Talipot in full bloom, and to obtain a good photograph of its 
 marvellous beauty. The travellers' palm is one that contains 
 quantities of perfectly pure water in the thick ends of its leaves. 
 The Cabbage palm has a capital edible imitation of that homely 
 vegetable as its fruit, and the Oil palm, with a dozen other 
 varieties, were all to be found in flourishing growth in the 
 remarkable clump of palms I am trying to describe so feebly. 
 The next point of interest was a plantation of nutmeg and 
 clove trees, further on were Jack-fruit trees, with their huge fruit 
 growing from the trunk and weighing fifty or sixty pounds each ; 
 bread-fruit, pomeloes, the candle tree, the TCid%v{\^zQ,\\\. Anthurium 
 Regale^ with its vari-coloured leaves, three feet long by two feet 
 wide, were all passed and examined with interest and curiosity. 
 We then were taken into a dense piece of jungle, in which giant 
 creepers, with stems six or eight inches thick, climbed to the 
 tops of the highest! trees with profuse blossoms of all sizes and 
 colours, while the ground was covered with all kinds of tropical 
 
 y j 
 
 
273 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 ferns, including the lovely Adiantum Farley ense, the gold and 
 silver ferns, great tree ferns, Adiantum Peruvianum, and a hun- 
 dred other varieties of ferns, lycopodiums, and ground plants. 
 
 I) ' 
 
 !';; i 
 
 i| I 
 
 THE GIANT BAMBOO— PERADENIA GARDENS. 
 
 But the great sight is the giant bamboo, which grows in 
 mighty clumps by the bank of the fine river that flows round 
 the gardens. These form enormous green thickets more than 
 
' I 
 
 KANDY. 
 
 in 
 
 'HI 
 
 f If 
 
 and 
 
 hun- 
 
 lants. 
 
 
 frows in 
 ^s round 
 )re than 
 
 100 feet high, and the same in thickness, consisting of 80 or 100 
 tall cylindrical stems, each from one to two feet thick. They 
 grow so closely crowded together that a cat would find it 
 difficult to find her way through. They shoot 70 or 80 feet 
 into the air without a break, and then spread out into immense 
 branches of slender little leaves, that give the appearance of 
 gigantic green ostrich feathers. As every one knows, the 
 bamboo is one of the most useful plants that grow in the 
 tropics, and I might fill my book with a description of all the 
 uses to which it may be put. 
 
 The garden swarms with pretty striped squirrels and with 
 bright-plumaged tropical birds, while hanging from the branches 
 of the trees are swarms of great flying foxes, which live upon 
 the different kinds of fruit, and very often get drunk on the 
 sweet palm sap, being found lying helplessly incapable in the 
 vessels which the natives leave out all night to catch the juice. 
 But there is no end to the botanical wonders of this unrivalled 
 and fascinating garden of Peradenia. 
 
 The next day we left Kandy in company with Dr. Triman to 
 visit the great health resort of the English residents in Ceylon 
 Nuwera Eliya, 6,200 feet above the sea level. In the advertise- 
 ments of one of the hotels here the attraction is held out that it 
 is " so cold as to make it possible to burn open English fires all 
 the year round." The great desire of a European who has been 
 baked for eight or ten months in the oven of Colombo is to feel 
 cold, to wear a great coat and comforter, to sleep without 
 mosquito nets, and with halt a dozen blankets over him. So 
 he goes to the most detestable place on the whole island, where 
 the rain-clouds of a radius of 1,000 miles love to dwell ; where 
 the climate is cold and damp ; where the thermometer is at 
 freezing point at six in the morning and eighty in the shade at 
 noon ; where the rainfall is 1 50 inches and the sun shines only 
 
 1 ! 1 
 
274 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 ')■ 
 
 .1, 
 
 sixty days in the year. Here the Anglo-Cingalese love to play 
 at "being in England." They build themselves feeble imita- 
 tions of English cottages ; despising the fine flora of the country, 
 they fill their gardens with pallid pinks, roses, and other English 
 flowers, which look as miserable as a Hindoo beggar in a 
 November London fog. They grow wilted specimens of 
 English vegetables, and on rare occasions really clever gardeners 
 have been known to ripen a strawberry ; then a solemn dinner 
 party is given to intimate and valued friends, and that straw- 
 berry is reverently divided and eaten in solemn silence. It is 
 the dream of their lives to grow a cherry, and the man who 
 succeeds will have a monument. They have cherry trees, but 
 they all turn into weeping willows, and blossom feebly all the 
 year round. These cottage gardens gave me a nightmare, and 
 I dreamt that Nuwera EHya was a bit of England, dying of a 
 bad cold in the head. The only English plant that has acclima- 
 tised itself with any vigour is gorse, which was all about the 
 hedges in odorous profusion. 
 
 Dr. Triman took us to see his hill garden at Hakgala, six 
 miles from Nuwera Eliya, where his clever deputy, Mr. Nock, 
 grows with some little success various English plants and 
 flowers, and with distinguished success a wonderful variety of 
 semi-tropical flora ; he also experiments on possibilities for the 
 advantage of Ceylon planters. Here we saw the magnificent 
 New Zealand tree ferns, the huge shield fern, splendid rhodo- 
 dendron trees as big as oaks, with trunks 2 feet thick, beautiful 
 ground orchids, lobelias, large gentians, balsams, an endless 
 variety of ferns and lycopods, and a brace of magnificent jungle 
 cocks, which flew out of a tree as we passed by, resplendent in 
 their gold and crimson plumage. 
 
 Nuwera Eliya is a great plateau, on which is a fine lake about 
 two miles long, which has recently been stocked with English 
 
KANDY. 
 
 975 
 
 Ike about 
 English 
 
 trout. One was caught with the artificial fly the other day, and 
 the intelligence was immediately cabled to the English press. 
 They are said to be thriving, but Dr. Triman fears that as soon 
 as the natives find out they are there they will manage to clear 
 the lake out somehow or other. Fish have a poor chance in 
 this Buddhist country. A Cingalese won't take life, so he never 
 tastes butcher's meat ; he has, however, no scruple to help a fish 
 on to dry land and let him die if he can't get back to his native 
 element, and by this amiable quibble he is able to add fish to 
 his mess of rice without any breach of conscience. Your 
 Buddhist is a true Pharisee. The highest peak in the island, 
 Peduru Galla, rises just behind our hotel, and is a favourite 
 excursion, but as we were not fortunate enough to get one of 
 the rare sunny days, we did not ascend it. Peduru, and all 
 the peaks round Nuwera Eliya, are forest-clad to the summit, 
 and are the chosen home of the wild elephant, which still exists 
 in considerable numbers in Ceylon. There were five or six of 
 these huge beasts in the jungle, within half a mile of Hakgala 
 gardens, and every now and then they had a tramp through 
 them, to the sore dismay of poor Mr. Nock. There are also 
 leopards, cheetahs, tiger-cats, jackals, elk, wild boar, monkeys, 
 and a fine crested eagle, all plentiful in the ancient and sombre 
 forests which clothe these lofty mountains. 
 
 Instead of returning to Kandy by the railway we determined 
 to drive from Nuwera Eliya through a fine mountain pass to 
 Gampola, a distance of forty miles, taking the train thence back 
 to Kandy. It was very curious, in our descent of nearly five thou- 
 sand feet, to watch the gradual change from temperate vegetation 
 to all the luxuriance of the tropics. Half-way down we stopped 
 at the Government Rest House at Ramboda to bait our wretched 
 pair of ponies, and get some refreshment for ourselves. 
 
 These Government rest houses are placed at intervals of 
 
 T 2 
 
 ! ":''A 
 
276 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 fifteen miles along all the roads in Ceylon. They contain a 
 good guest room and five or six bedrooms, rudely furnished, but 
 tolerably clean and comfortable. The charges are moderate. 
 For the use of the house, 9</. ; for a bed, is. ; for sheets and 
 blanket \s,\ a lamp, \d. ; breakfast of tea or coffee, toast, eggs, 
 and meat, 2s. id. ; dinner of three courses, 2s. 6d. There is also 
 accommodation for poor people at reduced rates, and for horses 
 and cattle. 
 
 Ramboda is situated in a wide amphitheatre of mountains, 
 and has a dozen fine waterfalls within a few hundred yards of 
 each other, the amphitheatre indeed being one great spring of 
 water. From Ramboda to Gampola we passed through a 
 succession of coffee, tea, cocoa, and chinchona plantations, of 
 which I shall have something to say in my next chapter, when I 
 shall refer to the natural resources of this rich and fertile colony, 
 and we finally arrived at the station in a deluge of tropical 
 rain. 
 
 We spent a quiet Sunday at Kandy, visiting some of the 
 missionary stations and native churches. Next day we came 
 down to Colombo to spend two or three days previous to sailing 
 for Calcutta and Madras. 
 
 : I i 
 
( V7 ) 
 
 itain a 
 led, but 
 )derate. 
 2ts and 
 it, eggs, 
 ; is also 
 f horses 
 
 untains, 
 ^ards of 
 jring of 
 ough a 
 :ions, of 
 , when I 
 i colony, 
 tropical 
 
 2 of the 
 ve came 
 sailing 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 COLOPvIBO. 
 
 We spent four days pleasantly and profitably at Colombo, the 
 capital of Ceylon. While at Kandy I had written to Mr. A. M. 
 Ferguson, the proprietor of the Cey/on Observer, who had long 
 been known to me by repute as the man of all others best 
 acquainted with the social condition of the Cingalese people, 
 asking him if he would give me the opportunity of making his 
 acquaintance. I got a reply from his nephew and partner, 
 Mr. John Ferguson, saying that his uncle was up country, but 
 that he himself would call on me on my arrival, and be glad to 
 help me all he could to some knowledge of the country and \H 
 people. He kept his promise, and treated us with a princely 
 hospitality. His time, his carriage, his library, his bungalow, 
 and himself he placed unreservedly at my disposal, and the 
 more I drew upon him the better he was pleased. A. M. and 
 J. Ferguson are sound authorities on all Cingalese questions • 
 the one has been forty-seven years, and the other twenty-five 
 years editor and proprietor of the leading newspaper on the 
 island, and both have written many books and pamphlets on 
 the resources of Ceylon, marked by great shrewdness and 
 research. Mr. John Ferguson at once constituted himself our 
 " guide, philosopher, and friend," and by his help we saw and 
 learnt more in four days than we could have acquired in four 
 weeks without him. I was also favoured with long interviews 
 
 r 
 
 m 
 
 I 
 
378 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 with Sir Arthur Gordon, the Governor of the Colony ; Mr. 
 O'Brien, the Colonial Secretary ; Mr. Campbell, the Inspector- 
 General of Police and Prisons ; Mr. Pigott, the senior Baptist, 
 and Mr. Scott, the senior Wesleyan missionary, both of whom 
 have had twenty years' experience of Ceylon ; Mr. Grinlington, 
 the leading merchant of Colombo, and many others ; and in this 
 and my next chapter I desire to tell my readers some little of 
 what I have gleaned from these authorities with rega'-d to 
 this valuable possession of the British Crown. 
 
 Colombo owes] its existence as a seaport to the genius of Sir 
 John Coode, the great engineer. Before the existence of the 
 breakwater, Galle was the chief port of Ceylon, the coaling 
 station of the Peninsular and Oriental Co. and other lines of 
 steamers trading with Calcutta and the East. Poor Galle is now 
 quite extinguished by its powerful rival, whose harbour, easily 
 accessible by day or night, provides safe and easy anchorage for 
 the entire passing trade of the East, as well as for the bulk of 
 the export and import trade of Ceylon. The harbour is over 
 500 acres in extent, more than half of which has a depth of from 
 26 to 40 feet at low water spring tides. In this deep water 
 twenty-four sets of double screw moorings, suited for vessels of 
 the largest class, drawing 25 feet and over, have been laid down, 
 furnishing accommodation far in excess of the present require- 
 ments of the trade, which, however, will in good time require it 
 all and more. 
 
 The first block of the magnificent breakwater was laid by the 
 Prince of Wales on December 8th, 1875, and the lamps of the 
 lighthouse shone out over the Indian Ocean on the night of 
 January 27th, 1885. The breakwater thus took nearly ten years 
 to complete. The shore portion, or " root work," extends over 
 4^- acres, reclaimed from the sea, having a solid wall of concrete 
 blocks to the sea front, and a fine wharf about 1,000 feet long on 
 
COLOMBO. 
 
 379 
 
 the harbour side with a depth at low water of 14 feet, accom- 
 modating a considerable number of good-si;?ed vessels engaged 
 in the coasting trade. From this wharf the breakwater starts, in 
 16 feet of water at low tide, extending northwards for over 3,000 
 feet, then curving inwards for another 1,000 feet or more, which, 
 with the shore portion, makes a total length of 4,877 feet, or close 
 upon a mile in length. The breakwater ends in about 40 feet of 
 water at lowest tides with a circular head 62 feet in diameter, 
 on which there is a fine lighthouse visible for 10 miles. This 
 circular head is formed of concrete in mass, in a wrought-iron 
 caisson under low-water, and of concrete blocks above the level. 
 The breakwater itself is composed of a mound of granite rubble 
 stone, raised by convict labour from quarries about 12 miles 
 distant. The rubble mound, after being allowed twelve months 
 to consolidate, was levelled off by means of divers to depths 
 varying from 1 3 feet below water at the land end to 24 feet 
 below water at the breakwater head. Upon the mound, thus 
 levelled, huge concrete blocks from 16 to 32 tons in weight are 
 founded, extending up to eight feet above low w^ater, the whole 
 being finished off with a capping of concrete in mass, four feet 
 thick, throughout the whole length of the breakwater. 
 
 During the south-west monsoon the sea breaks over the whole 
 length in columns of spray 50 feet high, a marvellous sight which 
 I v/as not privileged to see, the north-east monsoon blowing while 
 we were at Colombo. But I remember having seen a fine photo- 
 graph of it in Sir John Coode's office at Westminster, which was 
 more like Niagara Falls turned upside down than anything else. 
 The total cost of this wonderful feat of engineering skill was a 
 little over £^00,000, but its value to the colony is far beyond 
 price. Before its construction vessels were often delayed days, 
 and even weeks during the south-west monsoon, owing to the 
 impossibility of loading and unloading shore boats in the 
 
 iir 
 
 it 
 
28o 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 tremendous swell which rolled across the open roadstead, while 
 even during the lulls of the monsoon the damage to cargo and 
 the loss overboard, as well as the extra cost of operation, was 
 very great indeed. The value of the breakwater to the port of 
 Colombo is best shown by the fact that since 1882, when the 
 breakwater first began to afford material protection to shipping, 
 the tonnage of the port has increased from 1,700,000 to very 
 nearly 3,000,000 tons. 
 
 It is proposed some day to meet the breakwater with a 
 northern arm from the opposite shore, which would make the 
 harbour smooth water in every wind that blows. The mer- 
 cantile interests press this further development of the harbour 
 upon the Government with some vigour, but the present 
 Government prefer, and as I think rightly, to push on other 
 public works, viz,, railway extension, irrigation tanks, and the 
 further fortification of Colombo. But if the trade of the port 
 continues to increase in anything like the proportion of the last 
 few years, some extension of the harbour and the building of a 
 good dry-dock will become imperative. 
 
 The breakwater makes a very fine promenade when the wind 
 is off shore, but is very little resorted to by the inhabitants. 
 We walked to the end and back one fine evening, but it was 
 deserted except by three or four natives lazily fishing, and by 
 small processions of crabs making short cuts over the break- 
 water from the open sea to the more succulent feeding grounds 
 of the harbour. 
 
 The Grand Oriental Hotel at Colombo is one of the sights of 
 the East. It is a caravanserai with 100 bedrooms, and when 
 two or three Peninsular and Oriental steamers are in port these 
 rooms are all filled, and couches are laid out in the verandahs 
 and passages for the surplus. ; Its dining-room will seat 300 
 people, and its huge verandah, facing the sea, is crowded with 
 
COLOMBO, 
 
 381 
 
 while 
 o and 
 n, was 
 )ort of 
 en the 
 ipplng, 
 o very 
 
 with a 
 ike the 
 le mer- 
 liarbour 
 present 
 >n other 
 and the 
 the port 
 the last 
 ing of a 
 
 ;he wind 
 
 abitants. 
 
 ,t it was 
 and by 
 
 |e break- 
 grounds 
 
 sights of 
 Ind when 
 iort these 
 [erandahs 
 
 seat 300 
 Ided with 
 
 pedlars and vendors of the precious stones for which Ceylon is 
 famous, a trade largely supplcmentc J by Birmingham enterprise. 
 These brigands are mostly Moormen, descendants of a colony of 
 Arabians who have waxed mighty in the retail trade of Ceylon. 
 They address their customer with bland confidence, introducing 
 themselves in various guises. One informed mc that he was 
 " Strcetcr's confidential buyer " ; another introduced himself as 
 
 SIR JOHN COODE'S BREAKWATER, COLOMBO. 
 
 " the personal friend of Lord Rothschild " ; and a third as the 
 " favourite jewel broker of the Prince of Wales." They vary 
 their list of distinguished patrons for Americans, substituting 
 Tiffany, General Grant, and Vanderbilt, while they dazzle 
 Australians by enormous prices. I was told over and over 
 again, " If you was Australian my price would be a thousand 
 rupees, but for Englishman I take 200," finally coming down to 
 20. No one escapes in the long run. Scornful sceptics begin 
 
 11 
 
 1 
 
 t 
 
 
 ii 
 
 1 
 
 \ 
 
282 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 ill' 
 
 iiiiii 
 
 by treating every stone as " Brummagem glas ," and threatening 
 the pedlars with a stick, but they ahvays end by being taken 
 into a dark coi ner to see a sapphire gleam in the light of a wax 
 match, and come on board with a dozen bits of coloured glass 
 wrapped up in cotton wool, for which they have given £2 or 
 £'i each. If glass, these so-called precious stones are only 
 worth a few pence ; if genuine, they are worth ;^50 each. 
 You may, however, go to respectable shops, known to bankers 
 and merchants, ond buy very pretty things made of third-class 
 sapphires and cat's-eyes cheaply enough, after two or three days' 
 patient chaffering ; there is one jeweller who has a small stock 
 of really good things, but every fine stone that is found finds a 
 ready market at its full value in Calcutta, London, or Paris, and 
 the splendid stones purchased by transient passengers are either 
 flawed or otherwise inferior in colour or quality, or are other 
 stones than represented. The finding and cutting of gems is an 
 important trade in Ceylon. At Kandy the cutters are seen in 
 their little shops worl;ing a cast-iron cylinder with a bow, like a 
 drill, on which they grind the uncut sapphire or ruby, which are 
 the gems most frequently discovered. The zircon, a smoky- 
 coloured diamond, the amethyst, the chrysoberyl, or cat's eye, a 
 gem which has lately come into fashion, and for which great 
 prices are demanded, garnets, spinel rubies, tourmalines, and the 
 pretty moonstone which was so popular a purchase at the 
 Colonial Exhibition in London a year or two back, are all found 
 in various parts of Ceylon, mostly about Ratnapura (the city 
 of gems). 
 
 Ceylon is also celebrated for fine pearls, gathered from oyster 
 or mussel banks on the north-west coast. 
 
 The pettah, or native market-place, is, as is always the case in 
 the East, a scene of busy life, fiiU of varieties of costume, race, 
 and colour. The traders in Ceylon are Moormen and Cingalese ; 
 
COLOMBO. 
 
 283 
 
 tening 
 taken 
 a wax 
 . glass 
 £2 or 
 I only 
 each, 
 lankers 
 d-class 
 e days* 
 1 stock 
 finds a 
 ris, and 
 ; either 
 e other 
 ns is an 
 
 I seen in 
 /, like a 
 lich are 
 smoky- 
 eye, a 
 
 h great 
 and the 
 at the 
 
 II found 
 the city 
 
 oyster 
 
 case in 
 ie, race, 
 Igalese ; 
 
 the labourers are mostly Tamils from Southern India. The 
 Moormen wear cotton trousers and jacket, with a curious 
 beehive-shaped hat of plaited grass, dyed in various colours. 
 The Cingalese wear a sheet of brightly-coloured calico twisted 
 round the hips, and reaching to the feet like a petticoat, with a 
 white jacket. They delight in long hair, which they twist up 
 into a chignon, combing it back all round the forehead. Their 
 only " hat " is a round tortoise-shell comb, which every Cingalese 
 wears as a sacred duty. The Tamils wear as little as possible, 
 and the children of all sorts nothing at all except a bit of string 
 round the waist or neck, from which is suspended a charm to 
 ward off the attacks of their favourite devil. The Cingalese 
 women and men dress very much alike, and it is often difficult 
 to tell which is which until you realise that the men wear a 
 comb, and the women hair-pins. Besides the pettah, or central 
 market, there are others clustered round the suburbs, to which 
 the villagers on their own side of the town resort. One of 
 these is on each side of a curious bridge of boats, about 500 feet 
 long, two miles out of the town on the Kandy road, composed 
 of twenty-one boats anchored at each end, from which two are 
 slipped every day for two hours to let the traffic through. 
 The Cingalese are a rice-eating people ; rice and some curried 
 vegetable, such as cocoa-nut, jack-fruit, or plantain, with a little 
 dried fish, forming their diet all the year round. Fish, fruit, and 
 vegetables, therefore are the chief stocks of all the markets. 
 The vehicular traffic of the country, except a few carriages in 
 Colombo and Kandy, is drawn by bullocks. These animals are 
 often very beautiful, being all of the Zebu breed of India, which 
 are generally to be seen attached to Wombwell's Menageries 
 under the name of " Brahmin Bull." There is a pretty little 
 variety, about the size of a small pony, that are used in gigs and 
 other carriages, and travel 30 miles a day at a trot of about 5 
 
 m 
 
284 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 miles an hour. The bit is a piece of rope passed through a 
 hole in the nostrils. The Buddhist religion, though forbidding 
 the killing of any animal, does not seem to forbid their torture, 
 and these poor brutes" are most cruelly treated by their drivers. 
 The Government has been obliged to enact severe penalties for 
 this offence. 
 
 The streets of Colombo are broad and well made, with a 
 gravel of rich, dark red colour, which contrasts pleasantly with 
 the profuse foliage of the endless gardens and trees which line 
 the footpath, the poorest hut having a bit of garden about it. 
 The town is placed on a neck of land between a magnificent 
 sheet of fresh water and the sea, so that every street has its 
 vista ending in bright and sparkling water, giving a special 
 charm to the town that I have never seen anywhere else. There 
 are no fine buildings in Colombo. The Governor's residence, 
 called Queen's House, the Government Buildings, the Cathedral, 
 Clock Tower, and other public institutions call for no comment 
 on the score of architectural merit. The Museum is the finest 
 building in the town, well situated in the mi' st a the Cinnamon 
 Gardens, now a public park. 
 
 The Barracks are a series of buildings capable of accommo- 
 dating 5,000 soldiers. We are able, however, to " hold down " 
 our Cingalese subjects with a single regiment. I was glad to 
 find that in this hot tropical station over 200 soldiers out of 
 1,000 found no difficulty in being staunch total abstainers. 
 
 The total population of Ceylon is 2,800,000, of whom 1,850,000 
 are native Cingalese, 700,000 are Tamils from Southern India, 
 200,000 Moormen and Malays, and 22,000 Europeans and 
 Eurasians, The religious census shows that 1,700,000 of the 
 population are Buddhist, 600,000 Hindu, 200,000 Mohammedan, 
 and 270,000 Christians. 
 
 The Roman Catholics are in overwhelming majority among 
 
COLOMBO. 
 
 285 
 
 ugh a 
 idding 
 orture, 
 Irivers. 
 ;ies for 
 
 with a 
 ly with 
 ich line 
 bout it. 
 ;nificent 
 has its 
 special 
 . There 
 2sidence, 
 athedral, 
 omment 
 e finest 
 innamon 
 
 I 
 
 ccommo- 
 down " 
 glad to 
 fs out of 
 liners. 
 1,850,000 
 rn India, 
 eans and 
 K) of the 
 mmedan, 
 
 ty among 
 
 Christian denominations (220,000 of the whole), being as success- 
 ful in Ceylon as everywhere else throughout the East. 
 
 The Buddhist priests are very ignorant, and exercise little or 
 no moral restraint over their people, who are more attached to 
 their ancient superstition of devil worship than they appear to 
 be to Buddhism, which they only respect so far as the outside of 
 
 DEVIL-DANCER AND TOM-TOM. 
 
 the cup and platter is concerned. The devil-dancer and his 
 curate, the tom-tom beater, have a good time in Ceylon, and 
 there are 2,735 of these scoundrels distributed throughout the 
 island. They are simply professional exorcists, and as every- 
 thing untoward — bad weather, sickness, and what not — is the 
 direct result of devils, they are in continual request. It speaks 
 ill for Buddhism that 2,000 years of influence over the Cingalese 
 
 ui 
 
IST^ 
 
 286 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 has not destroyed this base and grovelling superstition, which 
 has rooted itself so deeply that even native Christians will resort 
 to it secretly in great emergencies. 
 
 During the brief fortnight I have been in Ceylon I have 
 endeavoured as far as possible to find out what is being done by 
 Christian missionaries to conquer this headquarters of Buddhism. 
 The Roman Catholic Church has been at work longer than the 
 Protestants, having entered the mission field with the Portuguese 
 conquerors 350 years ago, who brought with them the usual 
 army of ecclesiastics. Their methods of conversion were bound 
 to succeed more or less. The Inquisition played its part, " con- 
 version " was the only gate to employment open to the natives, 
 and the priests didn't object to these converts "bowing in the 
 house " of Buddha, if they were reasonably often at mass. But 
 whatever the methods pursued by the Roman Catholic missionary, 
 they get and keep disciples. 
 
 The Dutch cleared out the Portuguese in 1656, and, although 
 they had no inquisition, they refused employment to any native 
 who refused to make profession of the Protestant religion. In 
 1796 the English cleared out the Dutch, and in 181 5 were in 
 possession of the whole island. There was not much missionary 
 spirit in English churches during the dawn of this century, but 
 as early as 18 12 the Baptist Missionary Society commenced 
 operations in Ceylon, followed in 1818 by the Church Missionary 
 Society, and a little later by the Wesleyans, who are now the 
 most active of all in the island. 
 
 Seventy years of Protestant missionary enterprise has pro- 
 duced 22,CKDO Episcopalians, 20,000 Wesleyans, 13,000 Presby- 
 terians (a large proportion of whom, however, are descendants of 
 the Dutch), and 5,000 Baptists, in all 60,000 Protestants, old and 
 young, of all sorts, as contrasted with 220,000 Romanists. 
 
 Does this reflect credit on English Christianity ? The result is 
 
COLOMBO. 
 
 287 
 
 ts. 
 
 hardly pentecostal ! I can find no fault with the men who are 
 at work ; I had ample opportunity of judging of their quality, 
 and I did not find any missionary who was not full of zeal and 
 devotion, shrewd, practical, and sensible. But these results 
 appear to me so poor and inadequate to the expenditure of men 
 and money that it is impossible to feel satisfied with them. For 
 instance, the Baptist Church in Kandy was commenced in 1841, 
 and has less than fifty members, or about one member for every 
 year it has been in existence, and is not self-supporting. Yet 
 this church has a native pastor of great merit, and has from its 
 origin been under the residential superintendence of the best men 
 the Baptist denomination could furnish. I have had the pleasure 
 of becoming acquainted with three men who, in succession, have 
 been in charge at Kandy : Rev. Mr. Carter, who is not only a 
 capable and experienced missionary, but the most distinguished 
 Cingalese scholar living ; Rev. H. R. Pigott, a man of much 
 energy and power, and the present resident. Rev. H. A. Lapham, 
 who was for some years colleague of Hugh Stowell Brown, in 
 Liverpool. Better and fitter men could not be found. For fifty 
 years such men have been at work for the Baptist Missionary 
 Society, and I have no reason to suppose that the men sent out 
 by the Church of England and the Wesleyans are one whit 
 inferior. Yet, in my humble judgment, they have failed to do 
 more than scratch the surface of Buddhism. 
 
 The Salvation Army has now entered the field, and I went to 
 some of their meetings. They are pursuing entirely differ'int 
 methods to those hitherto employed. Their missionaries dress 
 like Buddhist priests in a piece of yellow cotton cloth, bare- 
 headed and barefooted, and their female captains in Cingalese 
 women's dress. They throw themselves upon the hospitality of 
 the natives, and live upon rice, which they beg from door to door. 
 They claim to have made 700 converts this year, but the other 
 
 
 tr 
 
 
 fi\ 
 
'A 
 
 ,11 
 
 288 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 missionaries say they are sheep-stealers, and that the 700 
 consists of the flotsam and jetsam of other native churches. 
 However that may be, no one who knows anything about them 
 can question their genuine earnestness and enthusiasm, and 
 although I doubt if methods which have been so wonderfully 
 successful with the English blackguard will succeed with the 
 mystic Buddhist of Ceylon, I think the Salvation Army will 
 make and keep its converts like the rest. Their temperance 
 zeal may perhaps do something to diminish the growing 
 appetite of the Cingalese for " Christian " liquors, and their 
 untiring energy will infuse fresh zeal into other missionaries. 
 There is some evidence of this latter result in the fact that 
 the Colombo district of Baptist missions has baptized 163 
 converts this year, as compared with only 33 during 1886. 
 
 Although I cannot concede the praise of unqualified success 
 to the efforts of Protestant missionaries to convert the heathen 
 of Ceylon to living Christianity, there is no need to qualify the 
 recognition of the services they have rendered to education and 
 morals throughout the island. There are 3,460 schools in 
 Ceylon, giving instruction to 112,652 children. These schools 
 and scholars are assorted in the follov/ing list, taken only from 
 those schools receiving grants in aid from Government: — 
 
 
 No. of Schools. 
 
 No. of Scholars. 
 
 Church of England . 
 
 243 
 
 13,917 
 
 Roman Catholic 
 
 208 
 
 16,466 
 
 Wesleyan 
 
 223 
 
 14,988 
 
 Baptist .... 
 
 . . 46 . 
 
 2,356 
 
 American missionaries . 
 
 . 136 . 
 
 8,088 
 
 856 
 
 55,815 
 
 132 
 
 3,733 
 
 To which must be added children 
 being educated in other mission 
 schools, unaided .... 
 
 Total to credit of missionaries and 
 Christian churches . , , 988 59, 54^ 
 
 It is therefore clear from these figures that more than half the 
 
COLOMBO. 
 
 289 
 
 education in Ceylon is due to the efiforts of the various denomi- 
 nations of Christian missionaries. It is, however, a powerful 
 testimony to the tenacity of Buddhism that while the children of 
 Cingalese parents are sent in such numbers to missionary schools, 
 so few of them become Christians in after life. The Wesleyan 
 schools of liie Galle district have 3,253 children in attendance, 
 of whom 320 only are Wesleyans, while 2,y^ are Buddhists. 
 
 There are only fourteen Buddhist schools on the whole island, 
 receiving grants with 902 scholars. It is an extraordinary fact 
 that the religion of Ceylon can safely afford to allow half its 
 children to be educated by the missionaries of a rival religion, 
 and yet maintain its hold upon them when they reach maturity. 
 
 I went with Mr. Lapham, the Baptist missionary at Kandy, to 
 visit some of his village schools. One of them had about 120 
 boys on the books, with seventy-six present, a head master, and 
 two assistants. The elder lads could speak English fairly well, 
 and the average appeared good, as far as I could judge by some 
 test questions. The school hours were from nine to three, with 
 religious instruction quite optional. The boys were mostly the 
 sons of small farmers, and some of them came five or six miles 
 to school. They rise to an eighth standard, to pass which boys 
 must explain a passage from some Cingalese classic, pass an 
 examination in all the rules of arithmetic up to interest and 
 discount, in the geography of the world, the history of Ceylon, 
 and advanced English reading and writing. I also visited 
 Mrs. Pigott's training school for female teachers at Colombo. 
 She has thirty or forty young Cingalese women boarding with 
 her, who are trained by her two daughters, who hold certificates 
 from the College of Preceptresses in London. These girls have 
 all professed conviction to Christianity, and their future lies in 
 the village and other elementary schools of the Baptist mission, 
 and in many cases as wives of native Christian pastors and school- 
 
 U 
 
 « 
 
i 
 
 390 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 masters. Mrs. Pigott has been unusually successful in this 
 excellent work, and I hope the Baptist Missionary Society will 
 enable her to extend it far beyond its present limits. 
 
 I heard much that was good of the work being done at Jaffna, 
 in the north of the island, by the American missionaries, who 
 are said to have been more successful with the Tamils than any 
 other mission agency. I tried to go and see what they were 
 doing, but as it would have involved three days and nights in a 
 bull-cart, I did not venture. Since my return home I have had 
 as my guests two ladies connected with this work at Jaffna, the 
 Misses Leitch, who are endeavouring to raise money for a 
 college for training young Tamils of both sexes. 
 
 It is well worth while for our missionary societies to give 
 more and more attention to Ceylon. It is the home and heart 
 of Buddhism, and if Ceylon were converted to Christianity it 
 would have a marvellous effect on Buddhism all over the East. 
 A few good medical missionaries would do much to strengthen 
 the hands of those already at work. Native medicine is a very 
 feeble institution in Ceylon, and the devil-dancer is the most 
 popular practitioner. 
 
 While in Colombo I paid a visit to the exiled Arabi Pasha. 
 I was warmly welcomed by him in an excellent bungalow, in 
 which he appears to lead a happy and contented life. He would 
 converse upon any subject but Egypt, on which he maintained 
 a discreet reserve. He takes a leading position in Mahom- 
 medan society, and both he and the other exiled Pashas are 
 settling down, some of them taking up land and becoming 
 planters. He still pretends to sigh for his native country, but I 
 shrewdly suspect that if he were offered the chance of returning, 
 without his comfortable pension of ;^500, he would beg to be 
 excused. A man who heads an unsuccessful revolution has no 
 place in his country for ever afterwards. 
 
( 291 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE RESOURCES OF CEYLON. 
 
 WE have been in possession of tl,e Island of Ceylon since :8k 
 when we finally subjugated the savage ruffian who was the thJ 
 K.gc.Kandy. My .lend M. John Ferguson Hndlyfu!; s 
 me w.th some parfculars which he had carefully compiled 
 showmg the condition of the island at that time, and wh 
 compared with the statistics of the Blue Book fo; .886 le 
 s nkmg evdence of the material prosperity which sixty y!2 
 of Brmsh rule brings to such a county- as Ceylon, and such a 
 people as the Cingalese and Tamils, which form its popu aTon 
 I g.ve a few of these facts in comparison one withT o2 " 
 
 Population . 
 Number of houses 
 Military force required 
 Revenue . 
 Imports and exports 
 Roads 
 
 Railways . 
 Tonnage of shipping 
 Expenditure on education 
 Health expenditure 
 Post Offices 
 Area under cultivation. 
 Live stock . 
 Carts and carriages 
 
 In 1815. 
 750,000 . 
 20,000 . 
 
 6,000 troops 
 
 ;^226,000 
 
 ;^S46,ooo 
 Sand and gravel 
 
 tracks only. 
 None 
 
 75 1 000 tons . 
 ;^3,ooo . 
 
 ;^I,0OO . 
 
 4 . 
 
 400,000 acres 
 250,000 head 
 SO . 
 
 In 1886. 
 3,000,000 
 500,000 
 1,000 
 
 ;^i,3oo,ooo 
 ;^8,4oo,ooo 
 2,250 miles of 
 
 good roads. 
 183 miles 
 4,000,000 tons 
 ;^7o,ooo 
 ;^6o,ooo 
 130 
 
 3i 100,000 acres 
 1,500,000 head 
 20,000 
 
 U 2 
 
293 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 But besides, there are in the island i,ioo miles of telegraph, a 
 Government savings bank with 10,000 depositors, 120 excellent 
 hospitals and dispensaries, with a first-rate medical College for 
 natives. If Ceylon had remained under the rule of the Kandyan 
 kings none of this progress would have been visible. Ceylon 
 is a purely agricultural country, as its lists of exports clearly 
 show. The following is a short list of the exports of some of 
 the principal crops of Ceylon for 1886 : 
 
 Cardamoms 
 
 Areca nuts . . 
 
 Quinine .... 
 
 Cinnamon and cinnamon oil 
 
 Cocoa nuts and fibre 
 
 Cacao 
 
 Coffee . 
 
 Cotton . 
 
 Cocoa-nut oil 
 
 Tea 
 
 Tobacco . 
 
 £ 
 22,000 
 
 100,000 
 
 300,000 
 
 115,000 
 
 70,000 
 
 40,000 
 
 600,000 
 
 20,000 
 
 24,000 
 
 370,000 
 
 80,000 
 
 Fifteen years ago the great staple crop of Ceylon was coffee, 
 which, in the years 1868, 1869^ and 1870, reached an average 
 6xport of ;^4,ooo,ooo. This industry is, unhappily, being slowly 
 destroyed by a minute fungus which has attacked the leaf, 
 working deadly mischief all over Ceylon, and especially in the 
 young plantations which, at a capital outlay of nearly ;^3,ooo,ooo, 
 were brought under coffee cultivation in the years 1870-74. 
 The slow but sure destruction of this valuable industry is shown 
 by the list of exports from 1877 to 1886, which are as follows, 
 in cwts. : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 1877 
 
 
 . 620,000 
 
 1882 . . 
 
 . . 260,000 
 
 1878 
 
 
 . . 825,000 
 
 1883 . . 
 
 . . 323,000 
 
 1879 
 
 
 . 670,000 
 
 1884 . . 
 
 . . 315.000 
 
 1880 
 
 
 , . 454,000 
 
 1885 . . 
 
 . . 224,000 
 
 188I 
 
 
 , . 564,000 
 
 1886 . . 
 
 . . 180,000 
 
THE RESOURCES OF CEYLON. 
 
 293 
 
 Many of the coffee planters of Ceylon have been hopelessly 
 ruined, and if it had not been possible for the valuable cleared 
 lands to be brought under other profitable crops, it would have 
 gone hard with the colony. The planters of Ceylon are shrewd 
 industrious men, with a large Scottish element among them, 
 and they seem to be finding their salvation in TEA and 
 
 QUININE. 
 
 In 1872 there were not 500 acres of chinchona (quinine tree) 
 in all Ceylon, with an export of bark not reaching 12,000 lbs. ; 
 while to-day there are at least 30,000 acres under cultivation, 
 with an export of 14,000,000 lbs. of bark. 
 
 In 1876 the exports of tea were 23 lbs. 1 This year they will 
 exceed 14,000,000 lbs., and Ceylon bids fair to rival the most 
 important districts in Northern India in its tea-growing 
 capacity. The teas are of a high character, fine flavour, and 
 perfectly pure, and I see no reason why India and Ceylon 
 should not in course of time supplant China teas to a very large 
 extent. I visited several of the finest tea plantations in Ceylon, 
 and in many cases found the young tea plants growing up in a 
 forest of stumps, all that was left of what was once a valuable 
 coffee estate, destroyed by the fell fungus. Tea will prove of 
 greater value to the colony than coffee growing, as it employs 
 rather more than twice the number of hands per acre. I 
 should think that there are few better opportunities open to a 
 young Englishman with a little capital than to come out to 
 Ceylon, serve a two or three years' apprenticeship to tea 
 growing, and then start an estate for himself. 
 
 Other coffee planters are turning their attention to the cacao 
 tree, on which the bean grows which gives us our cocoa and 
 chocolate. The export of this product has grown from 10 cwt. 
 in 1878 to 14,000 cwt. in 1886, and is likely, in a very few years, 
 to reach ten times this amount. Cardamoms have risen in the 
 
 ".I 
 
294 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 same space of time from 14,000 lbs. to 240,000 lbs. It will be 
 readily seen from these figures that although the destruction of 
 the coffee tree has been disastrous to a large number of planters, 
 the colony is recovering itself with great buoyancy, and is 
 probably more solidly prosperous to-day than at any previous 
 period of its history. 
 
 The only industry in Ceylon which is not agrarian, is plum- 
 bago mining. This is entirely in the hands of the Cingalese, 
 who work mines up to 300 feet in depth in a very primitive 
 fashion, obtaining some ;^3 50,000 worth of the finest plumbago 
 in the world. 
 
 It appears to me, in the short visit I have been able to pay 
 to this interesting tropical colony, that its main dependence in 
 the future must be on tea, and the best authorities tell me that 
 the export will in a very few years reach thirty or forty million 
 pounds, worth some two millions sterling. I am also told by 
 coffee planters that the ravages of the disease is abating, and 
 that the colony will be able to produce in future an average 
 export of coffee of about one million sterling, or one-fourth of 
 what was produced at the highest period of its prosperity. It 
 is quite evident, however, from the figures I have given, that the 
 deficit of three millions on coffee is fast being overtaken, and 
 that the general prospects of Ceylon agriculture are bright 
 enough. 
 
 There is no doubt that the change of culture in Ceylon from 
 coffee to tea will be of great benefit to the masses of the popu- 
 lation, from the largely increased employment which it will 
 afford. Almost all the plantation labour is carried on by 
 Tamils, from Southern India, the Cingalese refusing to do coolie 
 work, devoting themselves entirely to trading, small farmii ;, 
 carting produce (a large industry), and to handicrafts. To these 
 Tamils Ceylon is a heaven upon earth. In their own country 
 
THE RESOURCES OF CEYLON. 
 
 29s 
 
 ill be 
 on of 
 nters, 
 nd is 
 jvious 
 
 plum- 
 jalese, 
 mitive 
 Tibago 
 
 to pay 
 mce in 
 le that 
 million 
 old by 
 ig, and 
 verage 
 urth of 
 It 
 lat the 
 en, and 
 bright 
 
 )n from 
 popu- 
 it will 
 on by 
 coolie 
 
 armii ;, 
 
 b these 
 
 ountry 
 
 their average earnings per family of five reaches about £6 in 
 the year, or less than id. per head per day, a condition of things 
 that appears almost incredible to English minds, and in which 
 recurrent famines, terrible in their results, are certain. The 
 Tamils employed on a Ceylon tea estate have the wealth of 
 CrcEsus compared with their relatives at home. They have 
 good huts, cheap food, small gardens, medical attendance, and 
 can earn from 6d. to 9^. per day. I doubt if, considering the 
 climate and cost of living, there are any labouring classes in 
 the world better off" than the Tamil families settled on the 
 plantations of Ceylon. 
 
 The revenues of the colony average about ;^ 1,000,000, of 
 which ;£"6so,ooo comes from taxation, and ;C3 50,000 from land 
 sales, railways, and other miscellaneous receipts. The expendi- 
 ture is slightly in excess of revenue for 1886, being ;^ 1,040,000. 
 The public debt is 2\ millions, and has been incurred for 
 Colombo harbour, railway extension, water works, &c. 
 
 The trade of Ceylon, as everywhere else in the East, is over- 
 whelmingly in the hands of the English. Of 6,341 vessels 
 entered and cleared last year at Ceylon ports, 413 only were 
 foreign, 4,928 were British. 
 
 Of ;^6, 500,000 of commerce in the year 1886, foreign countries 
 got ;^ 780,000, while ;{^5,720,ooo fell to the British. And yet 
 the Conservative caucus in England passed last year, amid loud 
 acclamations, a resolution condemning the Free Trade policy 
 which makes and keeps us supreme in every neutral market in 
 the world, and enables us to open our own ports and those of 
 India and our Crown Colonies to the commerce of other rival 
 nations with impunity, and without a single protective duty. 
 
 Ceylon gets on without a poor law. A very few old persons 
 get a charitable allowance from the Government, varying from 
 2s. to 25^. each per month, but it amounts to very little on the 
 
 t 
 
 m 
 
 III;' 
 
r|M<1 
 
 i 
 
 J I ' 
 
 
 296 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 whole. Employment is plentiful, the people are thrifty, the 
 cost of living is extremely small, and the young and strong are 
 glad to care for the aged and weak. 
 
 The Local Government of Ceylon consists of the following 
 Boards ;-- 
 
 1st. The Executive and Legislative Councils, which are of the 
 same composition and exercise the same functions as I have 
 already described with regard to Hong Kong or Singapore. 
 None of the members are elective, but there is always a Cinga- 
 lese and a Tamil member on the Legislative Council. 
 
 2nd. Municipal Councils, 01 which the majority are elected by 
 occupiers rented at £"] a year, the rest beinrf nominated by the 
 Governor. In Colombo there are five official and nine elective 
 members. The other two boroughs in the island are Kandy 
 and Galle. 
 
 3rd. Local Boards in populous di«-.tricts, composed in the same 
 manner as the Municipalities. There are ten of these Local 
 Boards in Ceylon. The qualification is an occupancy of not less 
 than £% \Qs. 
 
 4th. The Village Council — This is a Council elected by a 
 constituency composed of every male inhabitant of the village, 
 or groups of villages, who is twenty-one years of age. There 
 are forty-eight of these Village Councils. Anything approach- 
 ing party politics is quite unknown in Ceylon. There is a 
 tendency to jobbery, which, however, is kept in check by the 
 official members. On the whole the system of local govern- 
 ment appears admirably suited for the budding intelligence and 
 education of the people, and will no doubt be extended as the 
 social conditions improve and justify. 
 
 I have already spoken of wages paid on tea, coffee, chinchona, 
 and other plantations, as ranging from 6d. to ^d. per day. The 
 general rate of wages for labour in Colombo and other towns, for 
 
 
 
THE RESOURCES OF CEYLON. 
 
 99f 
 
 such work as stablemen, messengers, porters, gardeners, &c., is 
 about the same, 12 to 15 rupees a month, the rupee being worth 
 IS. $d. Men in more responsible positions, such as warehousemen, 
 foremen of gangs of coolies, &c., are paid 35J. to 40s. per month. 
 Skilled workmen, bookbinders, machinists, compositors, cabinet 
 
 I'f 
 
 A CINGALESE WORKMAN. 
 
 makers, and carpenters get 455-. to 50^. per month. Good clerks 
 and bookkeepers, £^0 to ;^5o a year. These wages will appear 
 very meagre to an English workman, but I expect the Cingalese 
 is better off with these wages than the English workman with 
 his. The Cingalese wants no fire, no meat, no woollen clothes, 
 no beer ; his house costs a tenth of the English workman's ; he 
 
 ';■ V 
 
298 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 dresses in a shilling's worth of cotton cloth, and only wears a 
 pennyworth of it when he is working. He is content with two 
 meals a day of rice, at $s. per bushel, and vegetables flavoured 
 with curry, and has' half a farthing's worth of dried fish on 
 Sunday. He has never felt cold in his life, and the climate he 
 lives in enables him to thrive as well on his simple vegetarian 
 diet as an Englishman at home can on beef and mutton. 
 Everywhere they give the constant impression of being a joyous, 
 contented, sober, well-nourished people. 
 
 The Government of Ceylon, like that of every Crown colony, 
 is virtually a despotism tempered by the Colonial office, and 
 "question time" in the House of Commons. The Governor 
 selects such men, in addition to his leading permanent officials, 
 as he believes can best advise him, and the decisions of this 
 Council become the will of the Government. The influence of a 
 really able, energetic, independent Governor, thoroughly just 
 and impartial, is practically paramount, and every successive 
 Governor strives to leave behind him as the record of his term 
 of office some public work of utility — an education scheme, a 
 college, a hospital. A bronze statue of Sir Edward Barnes 
 stands opposite the Queen's house in Colombo, but his real 
 monuments are the great macadamized road to Kandy, the 
 bridge of boats on the Kelani river at Colombo, and the superb 
 satin-wood bridge at Peradenia. The railway to Kandy keeps 
 green the memory of Sir Henry Ward ; Sir Hercules Robinson 
 has left his record in every province of the island, especially in 
 irrigation works, and Sir William Gregory's massive stone 
 monument is a mile long — the famous Colombo breakwater. 
 The present Governor is set upon restoring to their ancient useful- 
 ness the great tanks at Kalaweava, which, when completed, will 
 be seven miles square, 20 feet deep, and will send water down a 
 canal 54 miles long, irrigating a vast area through the dry 
 

 THE RESOURCES OF CEYLON. 
 
 299 
 
 just 
 
 season ; an area now almost unpeopled, but which 2,000 years 
 ago, watered by these ancient tanks, had a population of at 
 least a quarter of a million, whose ancient cities and temples, 
 smothered in jungle, are still among the wonders of the East. 
 
 Plenty will be left for successive Governors to accomplish. A 
 great development of the railway system is imperative, and its 
 profitableness assured by past experience ; the Lords of the 
 Admiralty join the Colombo Chamber of Commerce in the 
 urgent demand for a good graving dock at Colombo, the only 
 dry dock in India being at Bombay ; vernacular education is 
 but in its infancy ; the codification of the civil laws is un- 
 accomplished ; cin agricultural college would aid greatly in the 
 development of Crown and other lands ; and nothing would add 
 to the importance and wealth of Ceylon more than the abolition 
 of its Custom House, and the establishment of Colombo and 
 Galle as free ports. 
 
 This is a political programme well within the reach of the 
 Government of Ceylon. Many of the public works named 
 would be self-supporting from the first, and the rest might be 
 carried out by loans. The public debt of the colony is not 
 much more than a single year's revenue, and in recent years the 
 splendid network of roads, the series of restored irrigation 
 works and many public buildings, costing in all over six 
 millions sterling, have all been paid for from the general 
 revenue. 
 
 Among the social diflficulties perplexing successive Governors 
 is the question of the sale of alcoholic liquors, the consumption 
 of which is undoubtedly on the increase, and to meet which 
 temperance societies are being formed, and total abstinence is 
 being urged on the natives. Missionaries, both European and 
 native, are adding temperance advocacy to their Christian work, 
 and most of them appear with a conspicuous blue ribbon. 
 
 ' 
 
rvH' 
 
 300 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 W 
 
 ti 
 
 .ill 
 
 » : ! I 
 
 They find that " Christian " vices are the chief temptations to 
 Christian converts, and one missionary whom I knew in 
 England as a strong opponent of total abstinence has been 
 forced by circumstances to adopt it, and is now making up by 
 hib zeal in the cause for his previous opposition. We cannot 
 be held responsible, however, as in so many other heathen 
 countries, for the introduction of intoxicating liquor into Ceylon. 
 The inhabitants of Southern India manufactured them long 
 before they ever beheld an Englishman, and have used toddy, 
 the fermented sap of the cocoa-nut palm, for many centuries. 
 The Portuguese and Dutch taught them to distil toddy into 
 arrack, and we are now making them familiar with the infernal 
 cheap spirit of Europe, which is sold in the village toddy shop 
 to a considerable extent. 
 
 The licensing system of Ceylon is akin to that of India and 
 Singapore. The exclusive privilege of manufacturing and 
 selling arrack and toddy is reserved to Government, being 
 farmed out by public auction every year in each province. 
 These farmers in turn sub-let the privilege to the village 
 pot-house keeper, at a handsome profit, compelling the sub- 
 tenant to buy all his supply from them, like the monopolist 
 brewers in England. The head farmer usually manufactures for 
 himself. He pays to Government 100 rupees for each still of a 
 capacity of not less than 1 50 gallons. Wholesale dealers, who 
 may not sell less than 35 gallons at once, also pay 100 rupees 
 for a licence. Retailers arrange as best they can with the head 
 farmer, who has paid a lump sum by auction. About one- 
 seventh of the whole revenue is derivable from the arrack and 
 toddy farming, which makes it very difficult for the Government 
 to restrict its consumption without seriously disturbing the 
 finances — a step from which every well-regulated Governor 
 shrinks with dismay. 
 
THE RESOURCES OF CEYLON. 
 
 301 
 
 The liquor trade is virtually uncontrolled. No excise officers 
 exist, and the Government has to depend upon the Renters 
 to detect and check illicit sales in their own districts. Adul- 
 teration is largely practised, and no efforts are made to 
 prevent it. 
 
 It is very difficult to find any statistics by which it is possible 
 to test absolutely the increase or decrease in the consumption 
 of strong drink, but the rough test of the money the farmers 
 are willing to pay for the monopoly gives a fair gauge. Here is 
 an instructive little table which I have extracted from the Blue 
 Book :— 
 
 Year. 
 1830 
 
 1840 
 
 1850 
 
 i860 
 
 1870 
 
 Population. 
 962,000 
 
 1,400,000 
 
 1,590,000 
 
 1,876,000 
 
 2,128,000 
 
 Average for the last 10) , 
 years . . . \ 2,650,000 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 283,000 Rupees. 
 410,000 
 
 557,000 
 
 735,000 
 
 1,279,000 
 
 1,905,000 
 
 
 It will thus be seen that the farmers are willing to pay 
 progressive prices for the monopoly, far in excess of the pro- 
 gressive increase in the population. A simple rule of three 
 sum will show that the average for the last ten years gives 
 nearly 900,000 rupees of revenue in excess of that of i860, 
 taking into account the increase in the population. The con- 
 sumption of liquor by natives has therefore increased per head 
 nearly double in twenty years, a fact that ought to cause the 
 gravest alarm to any responsible Government. It must further 
 be remembered that the last ten years has been one of very 
 unusual depression, caused by the destruction of the coffee 
 plant. 
 
 The consumption of spirits in Ceylon is estimated at twelve 
 million bottles a year, which gives an average of four and a half 
 
302 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 bottles per head, and a total expenditure of about eight millions 
 of rupees. When it is remembered that apart from infants and 
 young children, a large proportion of the population are Moham- 
 medans, who are strict teetotallers, and that many others avoid 
 intoxicants on grounds of religion or caste, it is not to be 
 wondered at that this large consumption of spirits produces 
 a great deal of drunkenness, enough to cause anxiety in the 
 mind of every thoughtful Cingalese. A few years ago an 
 administration report of one of the remote country districts said, 
 " the habit of indulging in spirituous drinks increases. A glass of 
 arrack has taken the place of a cup of cofifee as the early morning 
 beverage of many ; others drink raw spirits immediately before 
 their meals, while many, including not a few head men, have the 
 reputation of being habitual drunkards." 
 
 Native opinion is universally against the village arrack shop, 
 and I have had abundant assurances that if the Government 
 prohibited the distillation of arrack altogether, and only per- 
 mitted spirits to be imported by the consumer, forbidding the 
 retail sale, such restrictions would be warmly welcomed by all 
 native society. It would without doubt be diflEicult to prohibit 
 the use of toddy, which can be tapped from any hardy cocoa-nut 
 palm. But compared with arrack, toddy is an innocent beverage, 
 containing about four per cent, of alcohol, and is preferred by 
 the natives perfectly fresh when it can be got, before fermenta- 
 tion has set in. The large amount of spirit drinking in Ceylon 
 by the natives ought to alarm greatly the paternal Government 
 of the island, and it should not be beyond the great ability of 
 Sir Arthur Gordon to devise some fresh tax by which the revenue 
 could be recouped. But loss of revenue from a diminished 
 consumption of spirits would in itself result in a great saving 
 of expenditure, as well as adding largely to the general pros- 
 perity of the population, and some serious effort ought to be 
 
nillions 
 nts and 
 loham- 
 's avoid 
 ; to be 
 roduces 
 in the 
 ago an 
 cts said, 
 glass of 
 morning 
 y before 
 have the 
 
 ck shop, 
 /ernment 
 mly per- 
 ding the 
 ;d by all 
 prohibit 
 :ocoa-nut 
 beverage, 
 ferred by 
 fermenta- 
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 vernment 
 ability of 
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 iminished 
 :at saving 
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THE RESOURCES OF CEYLON. 
 
 30s 
 
 made to check the evil, before its growing revenue increases 
 indefinitely the difficulty of facing it. It is a scandal that a 
 Christian Government of a heathen country should depend for 
 its revenue on the vices and improvidence of its subjects. 
 
 The farming system, dependent as it is upon an unchecked 
 stimulus to extended sale, is the very worst and silliest licensing 
 method that could be devised. I was glad to find, in conversa- 
 tion with Sir Arthur Gordon, that he entirely condemned it, and 
 is very anxious to exchange it for an excise duty, and a severely 
 restricted system of wholesale and retail licences controlled by 
 the police and magistracy. I have no doubt that by this a larger 
 revenue could be obtained from a smaller consumption, and that 
 severe measures against adulteration might render the liquor 
 sold less noxious. The really sensible course, however, would 
 be to prohibit absolutely the sale and manufacture of distilled 
 liquors, and face the disorganization of finance boldly ; it would 
 not be long before it would right itself by the increased prosperity, 
 sobriety, and industry which would accrue. The problem is a 
 difficult one, but I think that any Governor who solved it would 
 go down to posterity with a greater name than any of his 
 illustrious predecessors. 
 
 We left Colombo with much regret in the Peninsula and 
 Oriental steamer Rosetta for Calcutta on the 15th of December. 
 We reached Madras on the i8th. Madras is one of the oldest 
 settlements in India, and is the third port in importance. It is 
 a large town, with a frontage to the ocean of some three miles. 
 A tremendous surf breaks on the beach, and the swell even in 
 the finest weather renders it difficult to load and unload ships. 
 Some years ago ;^6oo,ooo or ;^700,ooo was spent on two break- 
 waters, but they have been destroyed by successive gales, and 
 the sea now flows fourteen feet deep over the greater portion of 
 it. We were landed in huge boats, built of planks sewn together 
 
 iri 
 
 
r."!"'f \ 
 
 306 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 with cocoa-nut fibre, with twelve or fourteen oarsmen. It was 
 difficult and dangerous to get in and out of these boats, as one 
 had to jump into the arms of the crew, as she lurched up to the 
 steps of the steamer, and afterwards to the pier. The Babel of 
 tongues caused by thirty or forty of these boats round the ship 
 was a perfect pandemonium. We spent a few hours ashore, 
 wandering about the streets, but being Sunday, had no 
 opportunity of visiting any of the institutions of the town. 
 
 Mill 
 
 IN THE BAY OF BENGAL. 
 
 Jill I M 
 
 Sill 
 
( 307 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 
 
 M 
 
 We reached Calcutta at ten A.M. on the 24th of December. I 
 had telegraphed from Madras to that beneficent providence of 
 modern travellers, Messrs. Thomas Cook and Son, asking them 
 to engap"e an intelligent native servant to travel with us through 
 India. The steamer had hardly moored when a polite person 
 in a blue striped turban and white calico suit introduced himself 
 as " Aino Deen," whipped us ashore in a small boat, and sent U3 
 off to the Great Eastern Hotel, following an hour later with all 
 our luggage. Calcutta is crammed with strangers from all parts 
 of Bengal and Northern India, who have come up to the 
 capital, to pay their respects to the Viceroy at the Levee and 
 Drawing Room, to see the races, and enjoy the Christmas 
 Holidays, which are four days, during which the banks are 
 closed and all business suspended. I had telegraphed from 
 Madras for rooms ; we got one, divided by a screen, and we felt 
 ourselves lucky to get that. Many of our fellow-passengers had 
 great difficulty in getting a roof to shelter them, some being put 
 into dormitories with a dozen beds, and others gladly taking 
 tents pitched on the roof. 
 
 Calcutta is a handsome modern town, and likes to be called 
 " the city of palaces," a name it does not in any way deserve. 
 There are a good many fine buildingr., handsomely grouped 
 in the occupation of the Government — the Town Hall, the High 
 Court, the Post Office, the Telegraph Office, the Currency 
 
 X 2 
 
II 
 
 J0« 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 Office, the Bengal Secretariat, the Dalhousie Institute, and 
 Government House, but as they arc none of them to be 
 compared for a moment to any good Lancashire Town 
 Hall, I need not inflict any description of them on my 
 readers. 
 
 Calcutta spreads itself along the banks of the Hooghly, a 
 branch of the Ganges nearly a mile wide, for a distance of four- 
 and-a-half miles. Its area is seven square miles. The centre of 
 the town is occupied by the buildings just referred to, the Eden 
 Gardens, where a band plays by electric light every evening to 
 the fashionable people of the city, white, native, or mixed, and 
 the Maidan, a great open space of grass, in the middle of which 
 is the old historic fortress of Fort William, erected by Clive at 
 a cost of two millions sterling. Round this great common the 
 roads are lined with the fine houses of English residents and 
 wealthy natives, beyond which are miles of native streets and 
 lanes crowded with a teeming population of Bengalis. 
 
 The finest sight in Calcutta is the magnificent line of shipping 
 along the quays and wharves of the Hooghly, taking in cargoes 
 of jute, cotton, indigo, grain, hides, silk, and tea, or discharging 
 the different manufactures which England exchanges for 
 Indian produce, a trade reaching nearly sixty millions sterling 
 every yea where in the world is such a display of shipping 
 
 to he jl glance as from the great Hooghly Bridge. First 
 
 com*. ittile of noble steamers, few of them under 2,000 tons 
 register, and then two miles of full-rigged iron ships, many of 
 them carrying four masts, and with an average capacity of 
 3,000 to 4,000 tons of dead weight. 
 
 Calcutta has not greatly interested me. The historic spots 
 connected with Job Charnock, Holwell, and Clive have all 
 disappeared. The famous Black Hole has vanished in toto^ 
 and a spick and span post-office covers the almost forgotten site. 
 
m 
 
 CALCUTTA TO BENARES, 
 
 309 
 
 Calcutta is a brand new English city, with a fashionable drive, 
 a Rotten Row, modern European shops, a fine cathedral and 
 Methodist Chapel, with native India thrust into the background ; 
 and a very dirty and unwholesome background it is, in which 
 cholera darkly lurks. 
 
 We have not been able to see any of its institutions, educa- 
 tional or otherwise, as they are all closed for the Christmas 
 holidays, and they are not worth waiting for, as in almost every 
 instance better and more characteristic institutions may be seen 
 in the great inland towns we are about to visit. 
 
 We were not allowed to eat a lonely Christmas dinner at an 
 hotel. The Hon. J. F. Norris, Q,.^.., one of the judges of the 
 Supreme Court of Calcutta, who contested Portsmouth in 1880 
 as a Liberal, carried us off to his hospitable board, round which 
 we met a pleasant and merry company. I had never met Mr. 
 Norris before in my life, and only made Mrs. Norris's acquain- 
 tance on the steamer, which she joined at Madras, but this 
 hearty and spontaneous hospitality is characteristic of English- 
 men in India, and we expect to experience plenty more of it 
 before we leave the country. 
 
 On Sunday afternoon we went with my friend Rev. G. Kerry, 
 the senior Baptist Missionary in Calcutta, to Beadon-square, 
 where the different missionaries speak in the open air to a regu- 
 lar audience of educated Bengalis, who come there to listen and 
 discuss. There were about a hundred present, who from their 
 dress and general appearance appeared to belong to the richer 
 middle class. I had an interesting discussion with them on the 
 liquor question, and found them, without exception, strongly 
 opposed to the existence of spirit shops at all, and that they 
 had evidently followed with interest the agitation which has set 
 in at home with regard to the t'-ade in liquor with subject races 
 of England. 
 
 ( 
 
 il 
 
SIC- 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 Young Bengal is highly educated. They are beginning to 
 despise the venerable superstitions of Brahminism, and it is 
 common to meet with young clerks in the public service or in 
 merchants' offices to whom the writings of Comte, Herbert 
 Spencer, Darwin, Huxley, and Tyndal are familiar friends, and 
 who, though preserving the outward respect for the faith of their 
 fathers, are really atheists, or at best theists. Young men of 
 this stamp begin by eating prohibited food. They eat mutton, 
 but still abstain from beef, as to eat the sacred cow would be 
 open sacrilege that would lead to instantaneous loss of caste. 
 They frequent the hotels, and beginning with a glass of 
 lemonade, soon slide into wines and spirits. Drinking is quite 
 common among high caste young Hindoos in Bengal, especially 
 in large towns. A party of educated young natives is hardly 
 respectable without wines, and toasts are the order of the day. 
 There is also much clandestine drinking in the country amongst 
 educated natives. It is easy to see that leaders among 
 enlightened Bengalis are deeply anxious that the Government 
 should discourage the sale of liquor to the uttermost, and are 
 filled with dread at the certain results which must follow the 
 present senseless out-still system. 
 
 We left Calcutta at nine o'clock P.M. on Monday night for 
 Benares, by the mail train for Bombay. There are no sleeping 
 carriages on the Indian railways ; but a hard bench, thinly 
 covered with padding, is provided in the first-class carriages, and 
 it is necessary to provide one's self with mattress and pillow. 
 There is a lavatory attached to the carriage, but no soap or 
 towels. Indian railways are twenty years behind time with 
 their railway accommodation. The refreshment rooms furnish 
 plain meals, badly cooked, all along the 1,450 miles from 
 Calcutta to Bombay, for the daily mail trains. Messrs. Cook 
 and Son very kindly sent to the hotel for all our luggage, 
 
CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 
 
 311 
 
 ing to 
 d it is 
 ;e or in 
 H[erbert 
 ids, and 
 of their 
 men of 
 mutton, 
 'ould be 
 )f caste. 
 Tlass of 
 is quite 
 specially 
 s hardly 
 the day. 
 amongst 
 among 
 /ernment 
 , and are 
 )llow the 
 
 night for 
 ) sleeping 
 :h, thinly 
 ages, and 
 d pillow. 
 ) soap or 
 ;ime with 
 IS furnish 
 iles from 
 ,rs. Cook 
 luggage, 
 
 engaged a carriage for us, and all we had to do was to drive to 
 the station and get into the train. It is always a pleasure to 
 have any transaction with this enterprising firm, who attend to 
 the smallest and most trifling wants of their clients as readily, 
 cheerfully, and as thoroughly as they would if you wanted a 
 ticket for a voyage round the world. 
 
 At daybreak we were 200 miles from Calcutta, in the midst 
 of the vast and fertile plain of Bengal. During the night, 
 stopping at wayside stations, we heard the howls of the jackals, 
 which swarm throughout India. It was pretty cold and sharp, 
 and we found overcoats and ulsters very welcome up to nine 
 o'clock, when the heat of the sun made us glad to throw 
 them off again. 
 
 The scenes from the carriage window were full of interest and 
 variety. The mud-built villages teeming with population, the 
 great tanks and irrigating canals, the abundant wells from which 
 the coolies were raising water by means of the primitive shadouf, 
 a long pole swung on a pivot with rope and bucket at one end, 
 and a huge lump of clay at the other ; every now and then vast 
 green plains without a tree or hut, stretching away to the horizon ; 
 the enclosed gardens of some wealthy zemindar or landowner ; 
 a Hindoo temple on some rising mound, herds of zebus, 
 buffaloes, and goats, rows of bright green parrots and jays sitting 
 on the telegraph wires, a flock of 300 or 400 ducks dashing down 
 from the sky with a great splash into some tank, or great white 
 storks and brown kites circling overhead, kept cur interest 
 excited till we crossed the great Ganges at Benares, on the new 
 iron bridge, one of the finest in the world. 
 
 At Benares station we were met by Dr. Lazarus, one of the 
 oldest medical practitioners in India, who has lived in Benares 
 for forty years, and to whom I had letters of introduction. He 
 ushered us into a magnificent open carriage, drawn by two 
 
 I 
 
 i|i. 
 
 ^i 
 
312 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 
 i' ti 
 
 horses, with coachmen and two footmen in gorgeous livery 
 of crimson and gold. I thought this was pretty smart for a 
 doctor, the " profession " generally affecting 'sober and quiet 
 equipages, but Dr. Lazarus presently informed me that he had 
 told the Maharajah of Vizianagram that a friend from England 
 was coming to see Benares, and he promptly placed this carriage 
 at our disposal day and night as long as we remain here. The 
 Maharajah resides chiefly at Vizianagram, which is in the Madras 
 Presidency, but, having large estates round Benares, he keeps up 
 three or four palaces, to one of which he comes for a few weeks 
 every year, and the rest are lent to distinguished Hindoos who 
 come to visit the Holy City. He takes much pleasure in 
 showing attention to English visitors. 
 
 We have spent nearly three days in Benares. It is probably 
 the most ancient city in India, and is supposed to date back to 
 times when the Aryan race first colonized the country ; it is cer- 
 tainly coeval with the earliest days of Hindooism, and has held 
 the first place in the hearts and affections oi the Hindoos through 
 every century of their history. For thousands of years it has 
 been the holiest of holy places, resorted to by pilgrims from 
 every part of India. To the pious Hindoo Benares is what 
 Mecca is to the Mohammedan, what Jerusalem was to the 
 Crusader. The longing of his whole life is to visit this place of 
 spotless holiness, and wash away his blackest sins in the waters 
 of the sacred Ganges. Truly blessed is he if he may die there, 
 and most of the fine palaces which fringe the river have been 
 built by Rajahs, princes, and rich bankers from different parts of 
 India, as homes for their aged relatives, who wait patiently, but 
 with ecstatic happiness, the summons of the dread angel of 
 death. Benares is the gate of heaven, and in its whole precincts 
 there is not the smallest chink by which any faithful Hindoo 
 may be squeezed into the " other place " by mistake. Benares 
 
CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 
 
 313 
 
 livery 
 ; for a 
 quiet 
 le had 
 ngland 
 arriagc 
 I. The 
 Madras 
 eeps up 
 V weeks 
 DOS who 
 Lsure in 
 
 probably 
 back to 
 it is cer- 
 has held 
 through 
 rs it has 
 ms from 
 is what 
 s to the 
 ; place of 
 le waters 
 die there, 
 ave been 
 ,t parts of 
 ently, but 
 angel of 
 precincts 
 il Hindoo 
 Benares 
 
 is equally revered by the other great church of the East — the 
 Buddhist. Twenty-five centuries ago Buddha chose this city as 
 the centre from which to spread his reforming doctrines, for even 
 then it was a place of such power and influence throughout the 
 East that it was of paramount importance that a teacher of the 
 power and pretensions of Buddha should secure the countenance 
 and support of its pundits and teachers. Tradition says that from 
 Benares Solomon got his apes and peacocks, both of which are 
 to be seen as sacred animals in the Hindoo temples of the city 
 to-day ; and further, that among the wise men of the East who 
 came to Jerusalem at the time of our Saviour's birth was a Rajah 
 of Benares. However that may be, there is probably no sacred 
 city in the world with so ancient and unbroken a record, or which 
 to-day exercises its sway over so many millions of devotees ; dear 
 alike to a religion which above all others is saturated with the 
 grossest and vilest idolatry, and to its great rival, which, despising 
 idolatry and polytheism, teaches that each individual man, by a 
 holy life, can himself become absorbed into the Divine. 
 
 Buddhism has long since been swept out of India, and has not 
 even a shrine within the boundaries of Benares. But at Sarnath, 
 four miles away, is a great tope, or solid tower, built at the time 
 when, eight centuries after Buddha, Asoka, the ruler of Benares, 
 tried to make this religion the creed of the whole country. 
 To these sacred ruins distinguished Buddhists from Hionen 
 Thsang, who came a pilgrim from China in the seventh century, 
 on to the author of " The Light of Asia," love to resort, that 
 they may see the spot where their beloved master sat under his 
 Bo tree and evolved his wondrous doctrines. 
 
 This marvellous tope consists of a stone basement, 93 feet in 
 diameter, the stones being clamped together with iron to the 
 height of 43 feet. Above the stone-work, the building is of 
 brick, the whole rising to a height of 128 feet above the plain. 
 
 Il 
 
 i| i; 
 

 11 
 
 314 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 Encircling the monument is an exquisitely beautiful band of 
 sculptured ornament, of which enough remains to show what the 
 whole must have been. The central part of this band, which is 
 about 1 5 feet wide, consists of a geometrical pattern, with above 
 and below a variegated pattern of foliage and flowers. This very- 
 interesting monument is the finest tope in Bengal, and well 
 repaid us for a hot and dusty drive. 
 
 Modern Benares is a city " wholly given to idolatry," and is 
 said to contain 1,454 temples to the honour of various gods of 
 the Hindoo mythology. I have not visited them all, but I have 
 seen enough to justify me in accepting the statement. It is 
 finely situated on a bend of the river Ganges, which in the rainy 
 season is about a mile wide, but now flows deep under the city, 
 with great bare sandbanks on the other side. It used to be 
 approached by a bridge of boats, which has just disappeared in 
 favour of a very fine iron bridge, nearly a mile long, with road- 
 ways for rail, carts, and foot-passengers. The town itself is 
 ranged for 31^ miles along clifis of 100 feet high, crowned with 
 magnificent palaces, temples and mosques, whose glittering and 
 picturesque pinnacles, domes, and minarets sparkle like jewels 
 in the bright morning sun. Down the face of this cliff, pious 
 and wealthy Hindoos have built magnificent flights of steps 
 leading down to the river, at the foot of which crowds of 
 devotees and pilgrims are constantly bathing themselves in the 
 sacred Ganges. These steps are called Ghats, and there are 
 more than thirty of them altogether. 
 
 We got up at daybreak, that we might see these Ghats at 
 sunrise, their busiest time. Our hospitable friend. Dr. Lazarus, 
 had arranged for the Maharajah's barge to be ready, and we 
 drove at once to the Dasasamed Ghat, passing on the way the 
 Church Mission College, where 500 or 600 native ladr are 
 taught. We stopped a little short of the Gh^t, to visit the 
 
 «^ 
 
i 11 
 
 i^lfl 
 
 jand of 
 rhat the 
 vhich is 
 h above 
 his very 
 nd well 
 
 ' and is 
 gods of 
 it I have 
 t. It is 
 he rainy 
 the city, 
 ;d to be 
 )eared in 
 ith road- 
 itself is 
 led with 
 ring and 
 :e jewels 
 iff, pious 
 of steps 
 •owds of 
 es in the 
 here are 
 
 Ghats at 
 Lazarus, 
 ;■, and we 
 
 way the 
 lad? are 
 
 visit the 
 
 m 
 
 H 
 
 O 
 
 PQ 
 
 » 
 
 !i| 
 
 iliii 
 
 I 
 
 *:> 
 
 1:1 
 
 iiri 
 

CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 
 
 317 
 
 curious observatory which rises loftily at the top of the steps, 
 giving a noble appearance to the Ghit, when viewed from the 
 river. In the passage leading up to the entrance, we passed a 
 Temple sacred to the Rain God, who is drenched with water in 
 dry weather to remind him he is neglecting his duty, but who is 
 allowed to get covered with thick dirt in the rainy season. If 
 the drought is great, they put him in a cistern and keep him 
 wet till he is fairly roused to a sense of his responsibility. This 
 god, whose name is Dalbhyeswar, is also the friend of the poor 
 man, but they do not seem to have much faith in him, as he is 
 not much noticed, unless circumstances necessitate his removal 
 to his cistern. His wife or companion, who shares his temple, is 
 a lady named Sitala, who is the goddess of small-pox. Next to 
 this is the Temple of the Moon, where diseases of every kind 
 may be healed. The good people of Benares, however, seem 
 to have more faith in the excellent hospitals and Dr. Lazarus. 
 
 The observatory contains some curious structures for making 
 astronomical observations and calculations, a huge mural 
 quadrant and an equinoctial circle ; the view from the roof 
 looking over the principal Ghdts was very curious and in- 
 teresting. 
 
 We then descended the great flight of steps and got on board 
 the Maharajah's launch, painted red, with a huge prow shaped 
 like a peacock, a necklace of pearls round its neck, and a gilded 
 canopy over our heads. We rowed slowly down the river past 
 all the principal Ghdts. These were thronged by thousands of 
 earnest men and women from all parts of India, who, removing 
 their upper garments, stepped into the river up to their waists, 
 immersing themselves over and over again in the sin-cleansing 
 Ganges. It was a very sharp morning, the thermometer having 
 gone down to 45 degrees during the night. It was a pitiful 
 sight to see tottering aged women, with scanty white locks, 
 
 11 ii 
 
 ill 
 
 m 
 
318 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 stepping into the cold river, and then crawling feebly up the 
 steep steps with their wet clothes clinging to their poor shivering 
 lean legs. When we landed we were begged to be careful how 
 we passed them, for if our infidel shadows fell upon them the 
 unhappy creatures lost the virtue of the wash, and had to creep 
 back and do it all over again. Many of these aged creatures of 
 both sexes had left home and family a thousand miles away, 
 never to return, happy and glad to chill themselves slowly into 
 heaven at holy Benares. 
 
 After bathing at the Ghats the devotee betakes himself to 
 Manikarnika, the famous well of healing, which will wash away 
 the foulest and blackest murder, or even the still greater crime of 
 having cheated a priest of his dues. This well was dug by the 
 God Vishnu, who worked so hard at it that he filled it with his 
 perspiration. When he had finished he invited a rival god, 
 Mahadeva, to come and look at it. Mahadeva was so pleased 
 with it that he shook with delight, and one of his earrings fell 
 into the well, thus giving it a double sanctity. 
 
 I saw the contents of this well, and if it be Vishnu's sweat he 
 must have been a very dirty god indeed, worse than any of his 
 worshippers, for the stink is horrible. It is thicker than gruel 
 from constant bathing, and the flowers which each worshipper 
 throws into it, to decay uncleansed. A fat priest sits at the 
 mouth of the well dispensing ladlefuls to an eager crowd, who 
 drink it up greedily. A collection is, of course, being con- 
 tinually taken up. Cholera is seldom absent from Benares, and 
 in hot weather has a high time. 
 
 From this the pilgrim (if cholera permits) goes to the Well of 
 Knowledge, Cyan Kup, and has another drink of rotten liquid 
 flowers ; he may then wander from temple to temple and shrine 
 to shrine, till the time comes for his return, surfeited with holi- 
 ness, to his native village, or till he dies on the sacred soil of 
 
'i 
 
 CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 
 
 319 
 
 up the 
 hivering 
 ful how 
 hem the 
 to creep 
 itures of 
 ;s away, 
 ivvly into 
 
 mself to 
 ish away 
 
 crime of 
 ig by the 
 
 with his 
 ival god, 
 3 pleased 
 rings fell 
 
 sweat he 
 ,ny of his 
 lan gruel 
 orshipper 
 ts at the 
 owd, who 
 eing con- 
 lares, and 
 
 le Well of 
 ten liquid 
 md shrine 
 with holi- 
 ed soil of 
 
 Benares. This well is in the courtyard of the famous Golden 
 Temple, dedicated to Shiva, the Poison God. This temple is a 
 quadrangle covered with a roof, above which rises a very pictur- 
 esque tower. At each corner is a dome, with a larger dome in 
 the centre. These are all covered with gold plates, presented 
 by Runjeet Singh. The courtyard is thronged with worshippers 
 and sacred bulls and cows, and the jostling of the dirty smelling 
 crowd is not pleasant in the heat of the day. 
 
 We passed from temple to temple, through streets like pictures 
 from the " Arabian Nights," past shops in which skilful artists 
 were making the chased brass dishes and bowls so familiar to 
 us in England, or cutting out clever wooden toys, boxes, and 
 puzzles. Here were a group of weavers, squatted on the ground 
 waiting to be hired by the merchants of the richly-embroidered 
 gold and silver cloth for which Benares is famous ; there in 
 some open space were groups of pilgrims, with their worldly 
 goods in two bundles hung from each end of a bamboo, 
 decorated with red ribbons to denote their object, footsore and 
 weary, from a tramp of many a hundred miles along the hot 
 and dusty roads of India, but overjoyed at reaching the holy 
 spot at last. Brahmins, priests, bellowing street preachers of 
 Hindoo dogmas, vicious pariah dogs, horrible beggars who 
 showed their horrible deformities, sacred bulls and cows, street 
 hawkers, palankeens, and flocks of poultry throng the narrow 
 streets and lanes, making locomotion difficult, but presenting 
 a busy swarming mass of bright colour and movement, such as 
 I have only seen equalled in the bazaars of Cairo. The sacred 
 bull is a distinct nuisance. These are animals performing much 
 the same religious function as the scapegoat did for the Jews, 
 but instead of being turned loose in the wilderness he is turned 
 loose in the narrow streets of a busy town, whose pious inhabi- 
 tants tempt his pampered appetite with dainties put out for him 
 
 i; li 
 
 li 
 

 I 
 
 320 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 in an iron pot on the doorstep, and who permit him unchecked 
 to walk into any shop he fancies, and help himself to any fruit, 
 vegetables, or grain for which his soul may lust. Everybody 
 makes way for my lord, and if any scoffer were to twist his tail 
 he would have to run for his life. The municipal authorities used 
 to kidnap them at night, and turn them loose on the other side 
 of the Ganges, but they swam back the next night, and turned 
 up holier than ever. Now they are darkly stolen by the police, 
 disguised, and utilised for carting away the town refuse. But 
 in spite of this their name and nature is Legion. I never saw a 
 
 NOTHING IS SACRED TO A SNAKE ! 
 
 more self-righteous looking Pharisee than a fat old white bull in 
 one of the temples, levying blackmail from every worshipper, 
 who brought him each a cake, some rice flour or a dainty bit 
 of fruit. I have been told that suburban snakes have a pleasant 
 trick of shackling the hind legs of the sacred cows, and helping 
 themselves to milk, a dainty of which serpents are inordinately 
 fond. 
 
 A great feature of the GhAts are the Fakeers or Ascetics, who 
 resort hither from the uttermost parts of India. We saw one 
 of these sitting in a circle of low mud wall which be had built 
 for himself. His hair and beard were long and matted, and 
 
CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 
 
 321 
 
 his face and body covered with ashes from a small fire which 
 he had provided for the purpose. The expression of his coun- 
 tenance was one of rapt ecstacy. The admiring bystanders 
 said he had been there for eight days without moving or 
 speaking. If any pious person placed a cake or a bit of fruit 
 on his stone he would eat it in an absent manner, washing 
 it down with Ganges water. There arc hundreds of these 
 Ascetics constantly at Benares. We heard some very eloquent 
 preaching from Hindoo pundits, who sat on a raised platiorm, 
 and discoursed to large assemblages, chiefly veiled women. 
 These men are all Brahmins, the highest caste of Hindoos, and 
 there are some 20,000 or 25,000 of these in Benares, none of 
 whom do a stroke of work, all fattening on the alms devout 
 Hindoos are always ready to bestow. They superintend the 
 worship in the temples and control all the holy places of the 
 city, but their work consists chiefly in holding out their hands 
 for money, and it is little wonder that where the highest caste 
 are the loudest beggars all the rest follow suit, making India 
 the worst place in the world for this pest. 
 
 Among the many curious sights of Benares is the temple of 
 the goddess Durga, about three miles out of the town. The 
 temple is a fine building, set off by a large tank in front and 
 trees all round, but with no special architectural interest. In 
 front of the shrine is an altar, bedabbled with blood, on which 
 many goats are sacrificed. Durga is the terrific form of Shiva's 
 wife, and delights in destruction and bloodshed of all kir':^s. 
 Whenever a Hindoo wants a meat dinner he brings a kid to 
 Durga, and sacrifices it. The priests levy toll on the carcase, 
 and then he may take it away and eat meat offered to idols to 
 his heart's content. In the trees around this temple, peering 
 over walls and round pinnacles, are hosts of monkeys, about the 
 size of dogs. These animals are all living deities, gods, and 
 
 Y 
 
 11 
 
 1 11 
 
332 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 goddesses, and it would be a horrible crime indeed to injure 
 one of them. They are so mischievous, that it is impossible for 
 any one to live within half a mile of the temple, as all their 
 household belongings would be destroyed by these creatures, 
 which are numbered by thousands. They became such an 
 intolerable nuisance some years ago that the magistrate of 
 Benares removed all he could catch to a distant jungle. We 
 bought a few handfuls of rice, and whenever we threw it on the 
 ground scores of these monkeys appeared in a few seconds. 
 
 The finest building in Benares is the lofty mosque of Aurung- 
 zebe. Its foundations are laid deep below the river's bed, and 
 rise from its level in great stone breastworks, on the summit 
 of which are the four walls and domes of the mosque. Soaring 
 high into the air, like the tall stems of some beautiful flower, 
 are two delicately graceful minarets, 1 50 feet from the floor of 
 the mosque, 8| feet in diameter at the base, tapering to 7^ feet 
 at the summit, overtopping every temple and palace in the city. 
 The river is 1 50 feet below the base of the minarets, so that the 
 whole structure rises some 300 feet sheer. Mohammed, the 
 worshipper of one god and the greatest breaker of idols the 
 world has seen, thus looks down with lofty and desolate scorn 
 on the hundreds of temples which not even the savage persecu- 
 tion of the great Aurungzebe, or eighty years of Christian 
 missions, has been able to reduce by one. We climbed 
 laboriously to the summit of one of these pinnacles, and got 
 a glorious view of the city, and the great sweeping river bearing 
 away the sins of its devotees to the great ocean, and wondered 
 sadly when the most religious people on earth would turn 
 from their hideous superstitions to the truth of Christianity. 
 There are two or three earnest missionaries pecking at this mass 
 of horrible idolatry, which but for the restraint of British rule 
 would burst out again into all its ancient cruelties of Juggernaut 
 
CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 
 
 323 
 
 injure 
 iblc for 
 U their 
 catures, 
 iuch an 
 trate of 
 Ic. We 
 : on the 
 jconds. 
 Aurung- 
 bed, and 
 ; summit 
 
 Soaring 
 x\ flower, 
 I floor of 
 
 7\ feet 
 the city. 
 
 ) that the 
 
 imed, the 
 
 idols the 
 
 late scorn 
 
 1 persecu- 
 Christian 
 
 e climbed 
 1, and got 
 er bearing 
 wondered 
 /ould turn 
 hristianity. 
 t this mass 
 kitish rule 
 Juggernaut 
 
 and Suttee ; but they are malcing about as much impression 
 on it as a woodpecker trying to cut down an oak, and I doubt 
 if there is a single convert to Christianity in licnares who is 
 not in some way or other dependent upon tiic missionaries. 
 This dense ancient mass of priest-ridden heathendom has 
 resisted alike the attacks of Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and 
 Christian missionaries. 
 
 Benares used to be a great d(ip6t for all the agricultural 
 produce of a vast area of India, whence it was sent down the 
 Ganges to Calcutta for distribution over the whole world. 
 Fleets of boats and steamers were used for this purpose, but 
 the railway has almost extinguished them ; another instance of 
 many others I have noticed in my journey round the world, of 
 the destruction of the traffic on great water-ways by railways, 
 tending to confirm the distrust I have always felt of the success 
 financially of such schemes as the Manchester Ship Canal, and 
 this new proposal to take ships up to Leeds vid Goolc. Only 
 an absolutely free water-way like an open sea appe?rs able to 
 compete successfully with railways, and not always then, 
 as the trade between the Bristol Channel and the Mersey 
 proves. 
 
 Benares is full of sad pathos, its streets, its temples, and the 
 Gh^ts all affording evidence of the powerful roots which the 
 Hindu religion has struck deep down into the affections and 
 devotions of this ancient people. For beauty of situation and 
 picturesqueness of detail it has few rivals. I would fain have 
 prolonged our stay for weeks, but our time is short, and the 
 shadow of St. Stephen's looms dark in front of our pathway 
 round the world. So with a reluctant good-bye to Benares, 
 hoping it may be only au revoir, we take train to Agra to see 
 a new phase of past Indian life in the wondrous monuments 
 which tell of the vanished greatness of the Mogul Empire. 
 
 Y 3 
 
.., 
 
 324 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 The natural course of our trip should have taken us somewhat 
 out of our way to Lucknow and Cawnpore, but the main interest 
 of these places consist in the scenes and memorials of the 
 mutiny, a dark and terrible episode in our history of which I 
 am content to have read about, and we pass on, without 
 reviving its horrid memories 
 
 11 
 
( 3^5 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS. 
 
 A LONG and weary night's journey on the 29th of December 
 brought us in the early morning to Agra, the city which Akbar, 
 the great Mogul Emperor, chose as his metroplis in the middle 
 of the 1 6th century. Akbar was seventeenth in descent from 
 Timour, or Tame-lane, the great Tartar conqueror of India, 
 whose descendants have sat on the throne of Delhi till Hodson 
 slew the two sons of the last king during the mutiny. The 
 Mogul Empire reached its zenith during Akbar's reign, and 
 nearly all the wonderful buildings and palaces, which attract 
 visitors from all over the world to Agra and Delhi, are the 
 monuments of his splendour and extravagance, or of his 
 immediate successors, Jahangir, Shah Jehan, and Aurungzebe., 
 
 Agra is situated on a great bend of the river Jumna, which is 
 crossed by a clumsy bridge of boats, and also by a fine railway 
 bridge. The fort is placed in the angle of the peninsula formed 
 by this great bend, on the very edge of the bank, commanding 
 the river. The old walls of Agra enclose an area of 1 1 square 
 miles, about half of which is covered with dwelling houses, 
 containing a population of 150,000. The town is better built 
 than most Indian cities, and has a larger proportion of well-to-do 
 citizens. 
 
 In viewing the city from across the river, the great central 
 object is the huge crenelated fortress of sandstone, with its vast 
 
 H> 13 
 
 11 
 
 \i\ 
 
326 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 < * 
 
 red walls and flanking defences surmounted by the white marble 
 domes of its royal palaces. This enormous fortress, impregnable 
 at the period in which it was built, is a mile and a half in circuit, 
 and its frowning walls are 70 feet in height. During the mutiny 
 in 1857 it sheltered the whole of the European population, over 
 5,000 in number, within the walls of its barracks and palaces. 
 The fort is placed in a position to command the whole town, as 
 well as every possible approach by the river. 
 
 The only entrance to the fort is by the Delhi gate, a 
 magnificent building of red sandstone, reached by a drawbridge 
 across the wide moat. Passing through this gateway, guarded 
 by tall Sikh soldiers, a winding road brings us to a long flight of 
 steps leading up to the famous Moti Musjid, or pearl mosque, 
 the private chapel of the Court of the Mogul Emperors, 
 occupying much the same relative position to the great Palace of 
 Agra as St. George's Chapel does to Windsor Castle. When the 
 door of the gateway was thrown open I was literally blinded 
 with the dazzling beauty of the mosque, standing in the full 
 blaze of noonday sun. Against a cloudless sky of the purest 
 azure stood a corridor of three rows of beautifully-proportioned 
 Saracenic arches, crowned with a row of lovely cupolas, sur- 
 mounted in their turn by three lofty domes. These three aisles 
 stood open to a great courtyard, surrounded by cloisters, with a 
 large fountain in the centre. Courtyard, cloisters, corridors, 
 cupolas, and domes were all alike of the most beautiful white 
 marble, decorated with fine carving in low relief. The mosque 
 itself, ?>., the three arched corridors, is 142 feet long by 56 feet 
 deep, the courtyard being 100 feet wide from the mosque to the 
 gateway. At each end of the mosque are marble screens of 
 floriated tracery, and the columns, arches, and ground vaults, 
 exquisitely decorated, intersect one another with infinite grace 
 and beauty when viewed from the outer corners. This mosque 
 
marble 
 ;gnable 
 circuit, 
 mutiny 
 n, over 
 palaces, 
 own, as 
 
 gate, a 
 wbridge 
 guarded 
 flight of 
 mosque, 
 mperors, 
 'alace of 
 Vhen the 
 blinded 
 the full 
 e purest 
 )ortioned 
 :»las, sur- 
 -ee aisles 
 s, with a 
 corridors, 
 ul white 
 2 mosque 
 y 56 feet 
 ue to the 
 creens of 
 id vaults, 
 lite grace 
 s mosque 
 
 M 
 
I I 
 
 
THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS. 
 
 3^9 
 
 was built by Shah Jehan in 1654, and the only ornament which 
 is not strictly architectural is an inscription in black marble, 
 inlaid in the frieze of the mosque itself This inscription tells 
 us that "the mosque may be likened to a precious pearl, for 
 no other in the world is lined throughout with marble." The 
 gateway is well worthy of careful study. In the centre of the 
 court is a large square tank of white marble for ablutions. A 
 cloister runs all round the courtyard, containing 58 slender 
 twelve-sided pillars, on square bases. During the occupation 
 of the fort by the British refugees at the time of the mutiny 
 this pearl mosque was used as the hospital. 
 
 A few minutes' walk further brings us Xo the great Divan, or 
 public audience hall, 192 feet by 64 feet, the roof being supported 
 by a succession of colonnades of red sandstone, covered with 
 plaster, and painted white and gold. In the centre of this hall 
 is a curious alcove of marble, inlaid with mosaics of precious 
 stones, in which the Emperor sat, watching the administration of 
 justice in the court immediately beneath him. The Prince of 
 Wales, the future Emperor of a vaster India than that of the 
 Mogul, held a durbar, or public reception of native princes, in 
 this great Divan during his visit to India in 1876. 
 
 Passing through a small door at the side of the alcove, a flight 
 of steps conducts us into what is probably the most beautiful 
 and unique monument of Saracenic domestic art. We wander 
 on through a succession of great courtyards, surrounded by 
 arcades, on the top of which are a series of white marble palaces 
 and pavilions, elaborately decorated with carving and inlaid work 
 of precious stones. One of these vast courtyards is 500 feet 
 long by 370 feet wide^ with a broad walk 20 or 30 feet wide all 
 round the top of the cloisters, from which lead innumerable 
 chambers. 
 
 The Harem surrounds a beautiful Eastern garden, bright with 
 
• ) 
 
 330 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 fountain and blossom ; three sides of this garden are occupied by 
 the ladies' apartments ; the fourth, overhanging the outer wall of 
 the fortress loo feet above the river, is composed of three white 
 marble pavilions of exquisite grace, whose walls, pillars, and 
 roofs are adorned with inlaid flowers of agate, cornelian, lapis- 
 lazuli, onyx, porphyry, jasper, bloodstone, and other precious 
 stones, and are topped with golden domes. On a lower level, 
 down six or eight marble steps, is the Jasmine tower, the boudoir 
 of the chief Sultana, a wonderfully perfect specimen of carved 
 and inlaid marble, which has been finely restored at the expense 
 of Lord Northbrook, when he was Governor-General of India, 
 and a projecting belvedere, in which the Emperor sat to view 
 elephant fights and other savage sports on the plains below. 
 Another curious apartment is the Shish Mahal, or palace of 
 glass, being the Hammam or Turkish bath, used by the ladies 
 of the Harem, a series of chambers adorned with thousands of 
 small pieces of talc or mica, disposed in intricate designs, giving 
 the appearance of innumerable little mirrors. 
 
 I cannot attempt to do justice to this gorgeous home of the 
 great Mogul Emperors, probably the most magnificent palace 
 the world has ever seen. We spent many hours of our stay in 
 Agra, wandering through its beautiful courts and chambers, 
 finding fresh cause for admiration every moment. 
 
 From every window and terrace of the palace the view closed 
 in with the shining dome and minarets of the sublimely beautiful 
 tomb which Shah Jehan erected over the body of his beloved 
 wife Mahal, who died in giving birth to her eighth chi'd. The 
 famous Taj Mahal is probably the most renowned building in 
 the world. Like that other great tomb, the pyramid of Cheops, 
 at Cairo, one's enjoyment of its wondrous loveliness is marred by 
 the recollection that it was built by forced labour, and was 
 reared on the lives of hundreds of its makers. Twenty thousand 
 
apicd by 
 r wall of 
 ee white 
 ars, and 
 an, lapis- 
 precious 
 ver level, 
 2 boudoir 
 of carved 
 J expense 
 of India, 
 t to view 
 ns below, 
 palace of 
 the ladies 
 lusands of 
 ;ns, giving 
 
 me of the 
 nt palace 
 
 ur stay in 
 chambers, 
 
 iew closed 
 y beautiful 
 beloved 
 hiM. The 
 juilding in 
 of Cheops, 
 marred by 
 •, and was 
 y thousand 
 
 - ..■**% .•^4--' 
 
 Si- 
 
 •■! II 
 
 i 
 
 lllK TAJ MAIIAI., FROM THE SUMMIT 01' THE GREAT GATEWAY, 
 
■'11 ' \ 
 
 ; I; 
 
THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS, 
 
 333 
 
 workmen were employed for seventeen years in building and 
 decorating the Taj. They were half starved, and their families 
 wholly starved, producing great distress and mortality among 
 them. The total cost is estimated at over forty million rupees, 
 or about four millions sterling. 
 
 The road to the Taj Mahal from Agra passes the ruins of 
 many ancient palaces, leading up to a superb gateway of sand- 
 stone, inlaid with floral ornaments, and passages from the Koran, 
 in white marble. We had chosen noon for our first visit to the 
 
 VIEW FROM THE TERRACE OF THE FORT, AGRA — THE TAJ MAHAL 
 
 IN THE DISTANCE. 
 
 11 
 
 Taj, for I love the blaze of the midday sun beyond all other 
 times of the day if there is anything to be seen worth seeing. 
 Passing through the gateway, we stood upon a flight of steps 
 looking down an avenue of sombre cypresses, the floor of which 
 was of white marble, covered with water about a foot deep, 
 reaching away for three or four hundred yards ; the vista closed 
 in with a vast dome of white marble, posed on a building whose 
 perfect symmetry and absolute finish of every detail, flashed like 
 some priceless jewel in the glorious blue setting of the Indian 
 
i ■ 
 
 334 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 
 '.' I 
 
 i 
 
 I'll 
 
 noonday sky. The beauty of it literally struck us dumb. Words 
 were worthless, I had come disposed to carp a little at what had 
 been so continually praised, but I found the building as a whole, 
 its details and its surroundings, its exterior and interior, abso- 
 lutely faultless. My daughter said, " It was never made, it has 
 grown like some beautiful flower." 
 
 The enclosure in which the Taj is placed is a great garden in 
 which orange and lemon trees, pomeloes, pomegranates, palms 
 and flowering shrubs and trees, with marble fish ponds and 
 fountains, speak of the East in every whisper of their leaves and 
 plash of their waters. This garden is a third of a mile long, 
 and nearly as wide. The marble paved avenue of cypresses runs 
 through its entire length, closed at one end with the dazzling 
 marble Taj, at the other contrasted by the rich red sandstone 
 gateway. The tomb itself is i86 feet square, and 220 feet high 
 to the top of the dome ; it is raised upon a plinth of white 
 marble 313 feet square, and 18 feet high above the level of the 
 garden. At each corner of this plinth stand four tapering 
 minarets 137 feet high, also of white marble. At each side of 
 the Taj, about 4CX) feet back across a great court flagged with 
 marble, are splendid mosques of red sandstone, richly decorated 
 with mosaics of white marble, and topped with three white 
 marble domes, only inferior in beauty to that of the Taj itself 
 During one of our visits one of these courtyards was occupied by 
 a little pic-nic party of thirty or forty Hindoos in every variety 
 of bright holiday attire, the colours of which formed an ad- 
 mirable foil to the white brilliance of this wonderful building. 
 
 We were fortunate enough to see the Taj by the light of the 
 full moon on two consecutive evenings. It is even more beautiful 
 in the silver dress of moonlight than in the golden robes of the 
 noonday sun. By day or night alike it has made an impression 
 on my memory that nothing can ever obliterate. 
 
THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS. 
 
 335 
 
 kVords 
 at had 
 whole, 
 , abso- 
 it has 
 
 rden in 
 , palms 
 ds and 
 ^cs and 
 le long, 
 ;es runs 
 lazzling 
 ndstone 
 eet high 
 )f white 
 1 of the 
 tapering 
 I side of 
 ed with 
 Ecorated 
 ;e white 
 aj itself, 
 apied by 
 r variety 
 an ad- 
 Duilding. 
 it of the 
 Deautiful 
 2S of the 
 ipression 
 
 Inside the Taj, the Emperor Shah Jehan and his beloved 
 Mahal lie buried side by side in marble tombs, inlaid with rich 
 gems. The great Mogul Empire, over which they ruled, has 
 passed away, and on this gorgeous remnant of its splendour we 
 saw "Tommy Atkins" sitting in the seat of the scornful, 
 carving the broad arrow of a greater Empire on its topmost 
 stone. 
 
 There were originally two great silver doors at the entrance, 
 but these were taken away and melted by the Jats. The 
 architect was a Frenchman named Austin de Bordeaux. 
 
 The interior of the Taj is lighted through double screens of 
 white marble trellis-work of the most exquisite design, one on 
 the outer, the other on the inner face of the walls. In England 
 a building thus lighted would be gloomy and almost dark, but 
 in the blazing sun of India, in a building composed entirely 
 of pure white marble, it only tempers a glare that would other- 
 wise be intolerable, while giving light enough to see the lace-like 
 details of the open trellis-work. 
 
 The great sandstone gateway to the garden in which the Taj 
 stands, is a worthy entrance to this splendid monument. It 
 is 140 feet high and no feet wide, built of warm red sandstone 
 inlaid with ornaments and inscriptions from the Koran in 
 white marble, and surmounted by twenty-six marble cupolas. 
 
 After gazing at this gateway of sombre hues, it is a marvellous 
 contrast to pass through, and behold the soft and pearl-like 
 whiteness of the Taj, dazzling in the noonday light, framed 
 in green cypress and orange trees, against the deep blue 
 background of the Indian sky. 
 
 About five miles from Agra, at Sikandra, an ancient place 
 supposed to take its name from Alexandra of Macedonia, is the 
 last resting-place of Akbar, the greatest of the Mogul Emperors. 
 A fine gateway of red sandstone admitted us into what had once 
 

 'lifitiiiii ' 
 
 336 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 been a pjrcat fjardcn, as well cared for as lliat of the Taj, but 
 which is now a wilderness of infinite beauty. In the centre of 
 this rises a singular building of five stories or arched causeways, 
 of hewn stone richly carved, the bottom story of which is 300 
 feet square, and the top story, 74 feet high from the base, is 
 a cloistered quadrangle of white marble, 70 feet square. The 
 outer walls of this cloister are formed of marble screens pierced 
 with a great variety of intricate patterns and designs, through 
 
 THE TOMB OF AKBAR, SIKANDRA. 
 
 which the blue of the sky and the dark green of the tangled 
 garden glitter like some fine mosaic. 
 
 In the heart of this great pile of arched terraces lies the tomb 
 of Akbar in a gloomy domed chamber, into which the light of 
 day faintly struggles through narrow apertures in the walls. 
 This huge mausoleum took twenty years to build, and is said 
 to have employed 3,000 workmen the whole time. 
 
 The gateway at Sikandra is magnificent. It is a massive 
 structure of red sandstone with a scroll of white marble twelve 
 

 ic Taj, but 
 ; centre of 
 causeways, 
 lich is 300 
 he base, is 
 uare. The 
 ;ns pierced 
 IS, through 
 
 the tangled 
 
 es the tomb 
 
 the light of 
 
 1 the walls. 
 
 and is said 
 
 5 a massive 
 arble twelve 
 
 at 
 
 D 
 
 < 
 
 u 
 
 t 
 
 v> 
 
 "ai 
 
 ■< 
 ca 
 
 < 
 
 O 
 
 ai 
 U 
 
 S5 
 
 ed 
 O 
 U 
 

 ill 
 
 ! '• 
 
 ii: 
 
 It 
 
THE CITY OP THE ORE AT MOGULS, 339 
 
 inches broad, adorning it, engraved with a chapter from the 
 Koran. It is 72 feet high, and the roof is crowned with a whi^e 
 marble minaret about 60 feet high at each corner. The viev 
 from the top is wide and extensive, comprising the river Jumna 
 winding through the fertile plain hke a great blue ribbon, the 
 domes and minarets of the mosques and palaces of Agra, the 
 Taj Mahal glistening in its great loop, with Fattehpur Sikri far 
 away to the south. 
 
 Twenty-four miles distant from Agra is the curious and 
 wonderful deserted city of Akbar, Fattehpur Sikri, which was to 
 the palace at Agra what Windsor Castle is to Buckingham 
 Palace. The ancient walls of this city are seven miles round, in 
 the centre of which the magnificent series of buildings rise on a 
 hill about 150 feet above the plain. The walls remain, but the 
 city has long since vanished, fertile fields and gardens having 
 taken its place. Some idea of its extent may be guessed from 
 the vestiges of the great market or bazaar, a mile in length, the 
 flint pavement of which may still be distinguished near the -ate 
 on the north side. The royal buildings cover the whole summit 
 of the hill, completely dominating the city and plain. They are 
 half mosque and sepulchre and half palace, for the Moguls loved 
 to rest in their graves with even greater magnificence than that 
 in which they spent their lives. The main entrance is by the 
 great gateway of the mosque, the highest gateway in the world, 
 it is said, whicn, standing on a flight of steps about 100 feet 
 wide, rises 130 feet from the roadway, visible for 20 miles 
 across the plain. At the side of this towering gateway is a 
 large tank about thirty feet deep, into which men and boys 
 leaped i'rom a height of seventy feet as soon as we appeared, 
 running up the steps breathless and wet to beg for annas in 
 reward. These Singular tanks or wells are to be seen in most of 
 the Mogul palaces, and were used as cool retreats from the great 
 
 Z 2 
 
 a III 
 
 m 
 
 ,( 
 
 ) 
 
340 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 ii ' 
 
 I 1^ 
 
 heat of summer. Passing through the gateway, we entered 
 the fine cloistered quadrangle of the mosque, 4-33 feet long and 
 366 feet wide, in which were placed two magnificent tombs, one 
 of carved red sandstone, and the other of pierced marble, looking 
 at a distance like fine lace. This latter is the tomb of a Fakeer, 
 a holy hermit who had great influence over Akbar, and who 
 must have been a shrewd and clever statesman, if the legends 
 which are told of him are true. Half the village claims lineal 
 descent from this Fakeer, including a smart young Hindoo who 
 acted as our guide. Over the grave is a curious canopy like 
 a four-post bed, incrusted all over with fine mother-of-pearl 
 inlaid work. Leaving the mosque, we wander on for hours from 
 palace to palace, through courtyards and old gardens, past 
 dainty white marble summer-houses and sculptured sandstone 
 stables, all in that fine preservation which only is possible in 
 such a perfect climate as India. I will try to describe one of 
 these royal houses, the apartment of Birbul, one of the Emperor's 
 favourite Hindoo ministers. It contains eight rooms, each fifteen 
 feet square, on two stories. Not an inch of wood is to be found 
 in the whole structure, which is entirely of red sandstone, built 
 in the most massive manner. The minuteness of the decoration, 
 which covers every inch of space inside and out, is more like the 
 work of some Chinese ivory carver than of a stonemason. The 
 ceiling of the rooms on the ground floor is made of long slabs of 
 sandstone fifteen feet long by one foot wide, resting on bold 
 cornices, as richly decorated as the rest. The rooms in the 
 upper story are crowned by massive domes, got by putting a 
 capstone on the top of sixteen sloping slabs, each of which 
 stands upon an abutment, the whole supported on eight sides, 
 rising from the walls of the room. One is puzzled whether to 
 speak of it as "the most diminutive of palaces or the most 
 gigantic of jewel cases," but the prevailing impression in my 
 
entered 
 ong and 
 nbs, one 
 looking 
 , Fakeer, 
 ind who 
 legends 
 ns lineal 
 doo who 
 lopy like 
 r-of-pearl 
 )urs from 
 ens, past 
 ;andstone 
 Dssible in 
 be one of 
 Lmperor's 
 ,ch fifteen 
 be found 
 one, built 
 ecoration, 
 •e like the 
 ;on. The 
 g slabs of 
 r on bold 
 IS in the 
 putting a 
 of which 
 ight sides, 
 v'hether to 
 the most 
 on in my 
 
r ! 
 
THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS. 343 
 
 mind was that it ought to be removed to South Kensington and 
 put under a glass case. There is a cast of two pillars from this 
 wonderful little palace to be seen at that museum, which give a 
 good idea of its infinite beauty of decoration. 
 
 It is at Fattehpur Sikri that the great Akbar must be judged 
 as a builder. During the whole of his reign of fifty years it was 
 his favourite residence. It has been fitly spoken of as "a 
 
 THE MAUSOLEUM OF PRINCE ETMAD DOWLAT. 
 
 romance in stone, and a reflex of the mind of the great man 
 who built it." 
 
 A pleasant morning's drive is to be had by crossing the 
 Jumna by the old bridge of boats, a gay and busy scene, 
 thronged with bull-carts from the country, the gravelly banks 
 of the river on each side being crowded with washermen and 
 water-carriers. About a mile up the river stands the tomb of 
 
344 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 Prince Etmad Dowlat, one of the most beautiful mausoleums in 
 India, a masterpiece of pierced and carved marble, and pietra 
 dura. Like all other mausoleums, it stands in a lovely garden 
 overhanging the river. From the terrace of the garden a fine 
 view is obtained, and we found some amusement in a number of 
 enormous tortoises or turtles, swimming about in the river. 
 Some of these were 4 or 5 feet long, with great horny-beaked 
 mouths ; we were told that they have been known to attack 
 men swimming across the river, and pull them under water, 
 drowning them. 
 
 I suppose the various palaces and magnificent tombs erected 
 by the Mogul Emperors during a period of less than a century 
 must have cost ten or twelve millions sterling, although chiefly 
 erected by forced and unpaid labour. The jewelled peacock 
 throne of Shah Jehan was worth seven millions sterling. This 
 pomp and show was paid for out of a revenue wrung out of the 
 very life-blood of the people, equal in amount to the whole 
 revenues of British India. The beneficent change from the 
 rule of these wasteful tyrants to that of the present Empress of 
 India is shown by the fact that for a less sum of money than 
 that spent upon three palaces, two tombs and a throne, the 
 British Government has made 4,500 miles of irrigating canals, 
 watering some three millions of acres, giving employment and 
 food to 15 or 20 millions of population. 
 
 I visited several of the missionaries in Agra. The Church 
 Mission consists of several excellent schools and a good church. 
 The Baptists have three missionaries, six Zenana lady mission- 
 aries, fifteen nat've pastors and schoolmasters, and ten native 
 women whose work it is to visit the Zenanas and read to the 
 wives and children of Hindoos. They have six day schools, 
 with 315 boys and seventeen teachers, in which they give 
 very good elementary education. Dr. Valentine, a Presbyterian, 
 
THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS. 
 
 345 
 
 2ums in 
 1 pietra 
 garden 
 n a fine 
 mber of 
 le river, 
 -beaked 
 D attack 
 r water, 
 
 ; erected 
 century 
 li chiefly 
 peacock 
 g. This 
 at of the 
 le whole 
 from the 
 npress of 
 »ney than 
 rone, the 
 g canals, 
 nent and 
 
 e Church 
 d church. 
 
 mission- 
 en native 
 ad to the 
 y schools, 
 ;hey give 
 
 byterian, 
 
 has an excellent training college for native medical mission- 
 aries, with ten clever young Hindoo Christians as students. 
 Dr. Wilson, an American Methodist, and his talented wife, 
 who is paid by the Baptist Zenana Mission, conduct three 
 dispensaries in different parts of Agra, as medical missionaries. 
 I visited all three, and was astonished at the amount of work 
 they got through in the day. They treat between them over 
 11,000 patients in the year, and their reputation is so great that 
 villagers come long distances for advice. I saw a man who had 
 walked twelve miles from the country, returning the same day, 
 and he did this every three days to get medicine and advice. 
 Dr. and Mrs. Wilson are specially commended in the report of the 
 medical ofificer for the North-West Province as having the best 
 and most successful dispensary in his district. Folk at home 
 sometimes arc apt to think that a missionary in India has a 
 mighty easy time of it. It may be that there are some who 
 have, and I have seen such, but not here. The day we left 
 Agra, Mr. Daniel Jones, the senior Baptist Missionary, left for 
 a two months' tour through the villages. He is accompanied 
 by a native, and his home will be a small gipsy van, drawn by 
 bullocks. He will not sleep in a bed the whole time, and often 
 will live for days together on the poor bread of the villagers. 
 He will preach six or seven times every day in the open air. I 
 have found that missionaries, as a rule, know far more about 
 the real social condition and habits of the people than the run 
 of the civil or military services, most of whom hold themselves 
 very much aloof from the native population. Missionaries, on 
 the other hand, mix freely with all classes, their wives and the 
 ladies who visit the Zenanas having a wider knowledge about the 
 home life of the Hindoo and Mahommedan population than any 
 other Europeans. All through India, so far, I have received more 
 real help from missionaries in my efforts to learn something of 
 
 \\ 
 
 \\\ 
 
Trff 
 
 346 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 \\i 
 
 the Indian people than from any other Engh'shman with whom 
 I have come in contact. With some honourable exceptions 
 the Anglo-Indian, civil and military, speaks of the native with 
 distrust and conterhpt, and it is a significant comment on their 
 attitude towards the humbler folk that in most of the hotels I 
 have stayed at notices are put up in the rooms begging guests 
 * ' not to illtreat the servants." 
 
 I liave tried as well as I can to see something of the village 
 and country life of India, and the journey from Agra to 
 Futtehpur Sikri, a drive of about 50 miles altogether, took me 
 through many villages. My companion was a Baptist mission- 
 ary, Mr. Potter, a man of rare intelligence, who is very familiar 
 with the district, and who had friends and acquaintances in 
 every village we passed through. The scenes along the road 
 were full of interest and variety. The animal life in India is 
 abundant, and, as no Hindoo injures or kills any wild animal, 
 they are wonderfully tame. The minars, a very common bird 
 about the size of a blackbird, hardly takes the trouble to hop 
 out of the way of the horses' feet. Vultures and crows, the 
 scavengers of the villages, roost about on stumps and rocks, and 
 let you come within a few feet of them, when they move lazily 
 away for a short distance. At every pond, handsome storks, 
 cranes, and wild ducks are to be seen, peacocks strut about 
 the fields, pheasants run across the road, pigeons, ring-doves, 
 hoopoes, woodpeckers, and bright green parrots fly from tree to 
 tree, and pretty grey squirrels, full of cheerful impudence, are all 
 over the place, on roofs of huts, walls, playing in the dusty road 
 or chasing one another up the trunks of trees. The village well 
 is always hard at work, with a couple of sleek oxen drawing 
 huge leather buckets up to the surface with rope and pulley. 
 Beggars are everywhere. In one place they were so numerous 
 and so miserable that I gave the head man of the village the 
 
THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS. 
 
 347 
 
 largess of one rupee, which he went off at once to change into 
 pies (small copper coins about half a farthing in value), with the 
 whole lot howling at his heels. 
 
 These poor creatures are all deformed or leprous, the result in 
 most cases of chronic hunger. In one village some girls pursued 
 us clamouring for coppers, on the strength of their being hungry. 
 They were well-fed and well-clothed rogues, and got nothing. 
 One of them, however, had a pretty puppy, which the ladies of 
 our party noticed. Immediately the girl exclaimed, with a grin, 
 " This puppy very hungry, Ma'am Sahib ! " 
 
 The village communities in India may be divided into two 
 classes, cultivators of the soil and those who render different 
 services to the cultivators, for which they are paid in kind. 
 These latter are, firstly, the head man of the village, elected by 
 popular suffrage, who manages all the affairs of the community, 
 assisted by a village council of five or seven in number. The 
 village accountant comes next, then the priest ; the barber, a 
 very important functionary, who shaves, shampoos, cuts nails, and 
 acts as village doctor ; the potter, who makes all the pots and 
 platters for the village, with great skill ; the blacksmith, the 
 carpenter, the dhoby or washerman, who belongs to a special 
 caste of his own, and no family, however poor, "washes at 
 home ; " the water-carrier ; the tailor, the shoemaker, who 
 belongs to the lowest of all castes, the watchman (this function- 
 ary always followed me about the village, never losing sight of 
 me till I was well off the premises !), and lastly the impure caste 
 who do all the dirty work of the village. Large villages add to 
 to these a schoolmaster, an astrologer, an apothecary, and an 
 exorcist of evil spirits. As far as I could make out, these trades 
 are all paid in the produce of the soil, and £h?.rp the prosperity 
 or adversity of agriculture equally with the cultivators of the 
 land. Cultivation is very primitive. The land is fertile, and 
 
348 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 
 i 
 
 seems to need no manure. At any rate it gets none, as all the 
 cow dung is made up into cakes with chopped straw, dried in 
 the sun, and used for fuel. It is strange to see the sunny wall 
 of a house covered all over with these cakes. 
 
 The shopkeeper is also an important person in large villages, 
 though he is not in community with the rest. He is also a 
 money-lender, and the child-like Hindoo cultivator also gets 
 into his clutches, and becomes his mere slave. The villagers 
 generally appear better fed and nourished than the town 
 labourer, but the poverty of the whole country is very great, 
 and probably four-fifths of the population of India live and die 
 without ever once having had as much as they could eat at a 
 meal. 
 
 In towns the average earnings of a labouring man is one 
 rupee a week, and his wife may pick up one way or another 4 
 annas. A rupee is worth \s, 6d. of our money, and 4 annas 
 about ^\d. He and his children live entirely upon bread or a kind 
 of lentil called dhol, with a little vegetables, pepper and salt 
 stewed together to relish the bread. If he has four children, six 
 mouths to feed, he can only afford one meal a day, and that a 
 scanty one. His wants are few indeed — hut, fuel, washing, 
 clothes, and food. I have carefully inquired into the cost of 
 these necessities for a week for such a family. Rent is i anna, 
 washing J anna, fuel 2 a mas, vegetables, pepper, salt, and oil, 
 2^ annas, \ lb. of corn or dhol per head per diem, 16 annas ; 
 total I rupee 6 annas, or 2 annas more than the whole earnings 
 of the man and his wife, leaving nothing for clothes, which 
 must cost about 7 rupees a year for a family of six, and which 
 must be squeezed out of the ^ lb. of flour. The Zenana 
 missionaries told me that there are widows in Agra and Delhi 
 who are living on is. 6d. per vionth ! It is little to be wondered 
 at that when pestilence or famine comes these poor creatures die 
 
THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS. 
 
 349 
 
 off like flies. Before British rule, famine and cholera would 
 often clear off millions in a single year. 
 
 The average Hindoo does about one-fifth of the work of an 
 average Englishman, and has not physical strength for more. 
 In the cotton mills at Agra and Cawnpore, it takes exactly 
 three times the number of grown men to turn out as much 
 work as a Manchester mill employing women and children 
 as well as men. There are some terrible social problems to 
 be solved in India, and unless by irrigation and other public 
 works fresh tracts of land are brought under cultivation, and 
 the price of food reduced, recurrent famines will be inevitable. 
 In England the average income per head per annum of popula- 
 tion is £ii\ in France, £21 ; in Turkey, the poorest country 
 in Europe, £d,\ but in India it falls as low as £\ i5j-., with a 
 steadily increasing population to share it. 
 
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350 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 DELHI. 
 
 Delhi is one of the ancient cities of the world, and has exer- 
 cised a controlling influence on the politics of India from a period 
 which loses itself in the distance of ages. Fifteen hundred years 
 before Christ it had a distinct history, whose traditions are as 
 marked as those of Nineveh and the Exodus, and portions of 
 the great ruined fortress of Indrapat, foui' miles from modern 
 Delhi, are pointed out as dating back to the time of Joshua. 
 Seven ancient and ruined cities, with colossal fortresses, marble 
 palaces, stupendous wells, and magnificent temples, stretch for 
 12 or 15 miles on the great plain which lies between the Ridge 
 and the River Jumna, any of which would be one of the wonders 
 of Europe if situated on that continent, and attract as many 
 travellers as Heidelberg, VeniCvj, or the Alhambra. 
 
 Some of these ruined cities were the mere freak of despots 
 who wished to found capitals bearing their own name and com- 
 memorative of their personal glory. They appear to have built 
 new cities side by side with the older ones, and forced the whole 
 population from one to the other. The Cyclopean group of 
 buildings, known as Toghlakabad, consisting of a citadel, a vast 
 enclosing fortress with 13 gates, and a huge hexagon of outer 
 walls, is called after a successful military adventurer, one Toghlak 
 Ghazi Khan, whose life was one of those wonderful topsy-turvies 
 
DELHI, 
 
 351 
 
 that are only possible in Oriental Empires. IJe started life as a 
 Turki slave, and was raised by his master (the En^peror) to the 
 Governorship of the Punjab; he showed his gratitude by murder- 
 ing his benefactor, and usurping his throne. His dynasty lasted 
 pearly a century, and was a succession of savage vuffians whose 
 kingdom was in continual revolt, and whose subjects must have 
 been the most miserable wretches on earth. Places are still 
 shown where one of them used to hunt men with dogs, and 
 slaughter them like wild beasts. When Timour, the Tartar 
 conqueror, swept down with his hordes, the dynasty of Toghlak, 
 sapped by Mohammedan mutinies and Hindoo revolts, fell an 
 easy prey. Timour had a five days' slaughter, after the fashion 
 of the times, during which the streets were impassable for dead 
 bodies, leaving Toghlakabad the abode of vultures and jackals, 
 whose descendants swarm there to this day. 
 
 History has repeated itself often enough in Delhi, and we 
 passed from one ruined city to another, with wondering eyes for 
 the magnificence of the monarchs and aching hearts for the 
 misery of the subjects, ending with the great fortress of New 
 Delhi, from which the last of the Mogul Emperors was driven in 
 1857 by the victorious English troops under General Nicholson, 
 dying a State prisoner in Rangoon five years after. 
 
 The present ruler of Delhi lives in a modest bungalow near 
 the Cashmere Gate. He did not attain his position by slaughter^ 
 and conquest, but by the milder and more peaceful way of the 
 Indian Civil Service examinations. 
 
 I will not weary my readers with any detailed descriptions of 
 this vast area of ruined cities. My own mind is rather chaotic as 
 to the identity of the splendid mausoleums, delicate inlaid tombs, 
 carved marble palaces, bathing houses one dazzling sparkle of 
 pearl and mica, and lovely gardens full of ruined summer-houses, 
 which float before my memory as I write, illustrating the rise, 
 
 
352 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 \\ 
 
 I 
 
 prime, and decadence of Mussulman art in India. I will content 
 myself with a brief account of some of those buildings which 
 command the immediate interest of all who visit Delhi. The 
 chief of these is that superb monument which still remains as 
 
 perfect as ever, of the 
 reign of Kutab-ud-din, 
 the first resident Mos- 
 lem sovereign of India, 
 erected in the early part 
 of the thirteenth century. 
 The Kutab-Minar, the 
 loftiest tower in the 
 worll, rises out of the 
 ruins of the older fort- 
 ress of Lallkot, a Hin- 
 doo stronghold of the 
 eleventh century, whose 
 massive walls encircle 
 the mosque of which the 
 Kutab is the splendid 
 minaret. This magni- 
 ficent tower is 238 feet 
 high, twice the height 
 of the Duke of York's 
 column, tapering from 
 nearly fifty feet at the 
 base to a diameter of 
 nine feet at the top. It 
 IS divided into five stories. The lower story is 95 feet high, and 
 consists of twenty-four faces in the form of convex flutings, 
 alternately semi-circular and rectangular. In the second 
 story, which is 5 1 feet, these projections are all semi-circular ; 
 
 THE KUTAB-MINAR. 
 
DELHI. 
 
 3>3 
 
 in. the third story, 41 feet, they are all angular; the fourth 
 is a plain cylinder, and the highest is partly fluted and 
 partly plain. Each story is divided by an ornate gallery 
 running round the tower. The whole is encrusted with chapters 
 from the Koran cut in low relief. A circular staircase of 375 
 steps took us to the top, where we remained for a long time 
 picking out of the plain spread at our feet the well-defined walls 
 limiting the great fortresses and citadels which have one by one 
 disappeared with the successive dynastie. which created them, 
 leaving only their mighty ruined cities as the memorials of their 
 vanished empires. The Kutab-Minar is supposed to be the most 
 perfect as well as the loftiest tower in the world. Its carvings 
 are as fresh as if they were of yesterday's date, and it soars into 
 the air to its utmost height without break or flaw. I know of 
 nothing that :an be compared with it for beauty except that 
 wonderful masterpiece of Italy's greatest architect, Giotto's 
 campanile at Florence, erected about the same period. 
 
 The Kutab-Minar is about eleven miles from New Delhi, and 
 the two roads by v/hich we went and returned were one long 
 succession of ancient monuments of the greatest architectural 
 interest. The most notable of these is the magnificent tomb of 
 the Emperor Houmayoun, situated in a large desolate garden of 
 about twelve acres, whose wild and tangled shrubberies are full 
 of a weird beauty of their own. We enter this garden through a 
 double gateway of red sandstone, and pass along a broad walk to 
 the great mausoleum, which is 287 feet square and 70 feet high. 
 The front is a curious hollow, half-moon-shaped archway, with 
 alcoves. Within are three beautiful white marble tombs. The 
 building is of red sandstone artistically inlaid with white marble. 
 
 It was in this tomb that the two sons of Bahadur Shah hid 
 themselves after the storming of Delhi, in the mutiny, being 
 captured there and shot by Major Hodson, 
 
 2 A 
 
 I If 
 
 ^1 1 
 
354- 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD, 
 
 .m. 
 
 Near the Kutab-Minar is the Mosque of KutaL-ul-Islam, now 
 in ruins, unrivalled for its great line of arches, 385 feet long, 
 covered with flowered tracery of much beauty and grace. Within 
 this mosque is the famous iron pillar, a solid shaft of wrought 
 iron, 16 inches in diameter, .24 feet in length, and weighing 
 17 tons. This column has 'an inscription cut upon it, which 
 commemorates the victory of Rajah Dhava over the Vahlikas. 
 This pillar is probably 1 700 years old. It is a striking fact that 
 the Hindoos, so long since as this, were capable of forging a bar 
 
 
 
 INDRAPAT. 
 
 l-ji 
 
 of iron larger and heavier than any that have been forged even 
 in Europe up to a very late date. 
 
 On the way back from these interesting monuments, we paid a 
 visit to the ancient city of Indrapat, repaired by Houmayoun and 
 partly rebuilt by Shir Shah in the sixteenth century. The 
 crumbling walls of the old fortress are very picturesque. All the 
 •gates but one are now closed up, and of that I give an illustration 
 above. 
 
 There is a noble old mosque here, deserted and grass-grown, 
 with a tiny little Baptist Chapel just opposite the main entrance. 
 
 %. 
 
DELHI. 
 
 355 
 
 in which a school is held, and services are conducted by the 
 missionaries at Delhi. Near the mosque is an octagonal building 
 70 feet high, used by Houmayoun as a library. 
 
 Two miles nearer to Delhi is the great fortress of Firozabad, 
 now utterly ruined, but which must have been a formidable place 
 in old time, dominating the river Jumna, which flows at its base. 
 Within its walls, on the top of a hill, is one of the columns 
 on which are inscribed the edicts of Asoka. It is a monolith 
 of pink sandstone, 40 teet high, 2200 years old, ai I the 
 
 UA'^SOHJ Cm. 
 
 \ 
 
 THE JUMMA MUSJID, DELHI. 
 
 characters inscribed upon it are of the oldest form yet discovered 
 in India. 
 
 The glory of New Delhi is the famous Jumma Musjid, the 
 great Mosque of Shah Jehan, the builder of the Taj and the Pearl 
 Mosque at Agra, described in the last chapter. This building 
 is raised on a flattened rock just opposite the great sandstone 
 fort. It has three splendid gateways, reached by magnificent 
 flights of steps, opening on the great cloistered courtyard, 600 
 feet by 200, at the end of which is the superb mosque, roofed in 
 
 2 A 2 
 
356 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 * 
 
 i 
 
 by three marble cupolas, crowned with gilt spires, and flanked 
 with two lovely minarets i lo feet high. The flights of steps by 
 which the mosque is reached, add greatly to the grandeur of this 
 noble building. The lowest step is 150 feet long, and this 
 length gradually diminishes up to the top of the flight, which 
 consists of forty steps, each eight inches high. Within the 
 mosque are some curious manuscripts and relics, which a rupee 
 will produce. There is an old Koran written in Kufic, dating 
 from the seventh century, the slipper of Mohammed, a hair of 
 the Prophet's beard, and some other kindred rubbish. 
 
 We went there at noon on Friday, which is the Sabbath of the 
 Mohammedans, when some thousands of men, in every variety 
 of costume, were assembled in the spacious courtyard and 
 mosque, to pray to the one great God, and hear the Koran read 
 aloud. 
 
 The great citadel, or fort of Delhi, is a gorgeous building of 
 red sandstone, of which the Lahore Gate, which did such 
 damage to the English storming column in the mutiny, is 
 the main entrance. Inside the fort are a succession of palaces, 
 of which the Diwan i Khan, or private Hall of Audience, is 
 the most remarkable. It is 90 feet by 70, of white marble, 
 beautifully inlaid with pietra dura and gold. Some of the 
 most beautiful pierced marble work in India is to be found 
 in the palaces w'thin the fort at Delhi. 
 
 Opposite to the Diwan i Khan is the Moti Musjid, or pearl 
 mosque, an exquisite little gem. It has a handsome bronze 
 door, and the fagade has three arches. The building is of 
 pure white marble, and is about 40 feet square. It was built 
 by Aurungzebe in 1635 A.D. and cost over ;^ioo,ooo. 
 
 Delhi is the great trading centre of the North- West Provinces, 
 and the main street of the town is the celebrated Chandni 
 Chowk, down the centre of which rune an aqueduct shaded by a 
 
DELHI. 
 
 357 
 
 fine avenue of trees. It is lined on both sides with the shops and 
 handsome dwelling houses of its merchants, whose touts pester 
 you to come and see their wares, pressing into your hands cards 
 and circulars written in absurd Baboo English, advertising their 
 stocks, consisting chiefly of Cashmere shawls, chuddcrs, gold and 
 silver embroidery, wonderful loom work, jewellery, metal work, 
 pietra dura, enamels, carpets, pottery, weapons, armour, and all 
 
 THE PEARL MOSQUE, DELHI FORT. 
 
 the other artistic melangerie for which India is famous. These 
 pests ran after us in crowds, vociferating the names of their 
 distinguished customers. Lord Randolph Churchill must have 
 spent a large fortune when in Delhi two years ago, as at least 
 100 different merchants claim to have sold him large parcels of 
 goods. After him the Duke of Cleveland appeared the best 
 customer, and then Lord and Lady Brassey. 
 
358 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 We spent some days in exploring the wonders of Moslem 
 architecture at and round Delhi, and in visiting schools anc^ 
 other institutions ; but the narrow limit of this volume forbic'i 
 enlargement. We .left for Jeypore with regret, feeling that a 
 month could be well spent in a city which, whether for archi- 
 tectural beauty, historical associations, or present social interest, 
 may rank with Rome, Cairo, Athens, or Constantinople. 
 
( 539 ) 
 
 CHAPTER Xxnl 
 
 JEYPORE TO BOMBAY. 
 
 We had looked forward with much interest to Jeypore, froril 
 the fact of its being the chief city of that group of independent 
 native states known as Rajputana. It is also considered the 
 finest native city in India. It is a modern place, with the 
 widest streets I have ever seen. The main thoroughfares are 
 in feet wide, the side streets 55 feet, and the back Ic.nes 
 28 feet, all running at right angles to each other. The palace 
 of the Maharajah, occupying a vast area in the middle of the 
 city, is a fine lofty edifice of eight stories, in the usual florid 
 style so popular with modern Hindoo grandees, calling for no 
 remark except that it appeared more tawdry than perhaps it 
 really is to eyes fresh from the pure and chaste beauty of 
 Moslem architecture at Agra and Delhi. The stables of the 
 palace are one of the sights of India, containing 300 horses 
 and 50 elephants, ten times as many as can be used ; but this 
 is the custom of owners of palaces, from Buckingham down- 
 wards. We were most interested in a dozen huge man-eating 
 tigers, confined in cages, and fed at the Maharajah's expense. 
 The amiable creatures to which we are accustomed at Regent's 
 Park and in Wombwell's menagerie are quiet tabby cats com- 
 pared with these horrible monsters, who shook tht, bars of their 
 cages with impotent .age and fierce glare, growling with every 
 
36o 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 tooth exposed at any person who approached them. They vers 
 certainly the most " fearful wild fowl " I ever saw. 
 
 The present Maharajah has no ideas or aspirations beyond 
 his Zenana and his stables, but his predecessor the late 
 Maharajah, was one of the finest and most public-spirited 
 men India has ever possessed. With an income from his small 
 State of two millions sterling, he has made his little capital 
 one of the most modern and civilized cities in the world. The 
 town is lighted with gas throughout, while the greater cities 
 of Delhi and Agra have but a few dull oil lamps. He has 
 laid out a magnificent park of 70 acres, the finest garden in 
 India. Within its area is a bulldinp^ much handsomer in every 
 way than his own palace, devoted to a museum of Indian and 
 European art, and also a splendid hospital, called after Lord 
 Mayo, who was his warm personal friend, with lOO beds and 
 a distinguished English physician at its head. The water 
 supply is pure and abundant, while the sanitation of the city 
 and the great cleanliness of the streets is secured by a 
 Municipal Committee. The centre of his Highness's educa- 
 tional system is the Maharajah's College, affiliated with the 
 Calcutta University, with an attendance of nearly 1000 stadents, 
 taught entirely by native professors. There are 33 schools 
 for elementary education, and this enlightened prince estab- 
 lished female schools, a great innovation in Hindoo society, 
 in which are 700 or 800 pupils. There is a fine High School 
 for the sons of Rajput nobles, and one of the best buildings 
 in the city is the School of Art for technical education, in which 
 I saw numbers of young men and boys receiving instruction in 
 drawing, carpentry, iron-working, electro-plating, engraving, 
 metallurgy, silver and gold-working, enamelling, watchmaking, 
 wood-carving, sculpture, embroidery, and other native arts for 
 which India is famous. The jail is one of the best in India, 
 
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 Dital 
 The 
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JEYPORE to BOMBAY. 
 
 3Si 
 
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 H 
 
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 5 
 
 and remunerative. It is little wonder that the R?jput people 
 revere the memor>' of a Maharajah who has been patriotic 
 enough to set aside much of the extravagant splendour of his 
 ancestors in favour of such expenditure as this, designed for 
 the benefit of his people at large, and all completed and paid 
 for during a single reign of 30 years. 
 
 The streets of Jeypore are crowded with a stalwart race 
 of men, superior in every way to the poor, ill-fed, and half- 
 clad people of Bengal and the North-West Provinces. There 
 are signs of wealth on every hand. The scene from the 
 fountain where the four p;reat thoroughfares of Jeypore meet 
 IS as picturesque as anything I have ever seen in my travels. 
 The great open space is filled with stalls of fruit, vegetables, 
 and cereals ; gay piece goods from Cashmere, Cawnpore, and 
 Manchester, are displayed from others ; thousands of pigeons 
 walk in and out on the pavement, taking the greatest interest 
 in the gaily dressed bargainers in front of every stall. A 
 continual stream of traffic flows down each broad roadway, 
 foot passengeij mingling with smartly caparisoned elephants, 
 trains of camels, white donkeys, and bullock carts. The syces 
 or running footmen of some Rajput noble cry for passage for 
 their master, who prances gravely in from the country on a 
 white horse, with green and gold saddle, armed to the teeth 
 with musket, sword, and dagger, or some groom of the Maharajah 
 comes along with a panther or leopard led by chains. The 
 houses are all rose-coloured, glowing in the bright sunlight 
 against the deep cobalt of the sky. On the roofs are gay 
 groups of women and children, clad in wondrous colours, 
 with flocks of pigeons, parrots, and crows perched on every 
 corner, or fluttering about the eaves. In the shops below every 
 possible handicraft is carried on, for nothing is done by 
 machinery in India. Here are women in bright red dresses, 
 
'it 14 
 
 J: 
 
 II 
 
 364 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 grinding at the mill, singing as they work. Two men, all the 
 colours of the rainbow, come out of a dyer's shop to wave a 
 long piece of green or blue cloth in the warm sunlight. Men 
 squat on the side walk to be shaved, others are washing 
 themcelves at the gutter, with a bright brass basin full of 
 clear water. Cotton picking, wheat winnowing, copper smithing, 
 the potter's wheel, the spinning wheel, the gem grinder, the 
 gold and silver smith, the shoemaker, and fifty other trades, 
 all carried on with much clatter and noise, help the busy scene, 
 which, as a whole, forms a mass of moving colour and life 
 such as I have not seen equalled in all my travels. 
 
 Of course we paid a visit to the famous deserted city of 
 Amber, the ancient capital of Jeypore, eight miles away. We 
 drove out of the town past pretty gardens and handsome 
 mansions, the residences of Rajput nobles, and presently reached 
 a tank or lake of about 200 acres in area, in the centre of which 
 was an old ruined palace, with no approach except by boat. 
 Basking on the banks and small islands of this lake were a 
 number of enormous alligators, and others were seen slowly 
 swimming about with their ugly backs just above water. These 
 monsters are fed regularly, and it is a great sight to see them 
 swarming out of the water when their meal of dead horse is 
 brought to them. 
 
 Two miles further on we reached the bottom of the hill on 
 which Amber is situated, and here we found an enormous 
 elephant waiting to convey us the rest of the distance. It is not 
 possible to visit Amber without permission from the Maharajah ; 
 but it is always granted, and an elephant provided as conveyance. 
 In every book of travel which I have seen, and they are many, 
 the author, when he writes of Amber, invariably says, "The 
 Maharajah of Jeypore most courteously placed at my disposal a 
 magnificent elephant, gaily caparisoned, etc., etc., etc.," leading 
 
JEYPORE TO BOMBAY, 
 
 36? 
 
 The 
 )Osal a 
 sading 
 
 the reader to suppose that his Highness had specially ; Jected 
 the great writer for exceptional honour. But while some arc 
 born to greatness other'' have greatness thrust upon them, and 
 in this case Cook's humblest tourist, equally with the dis- 
 tinguished author of the 'Light of Asia,' is provided with an 
 elephant. Ours was ten feet high, its speed two miles an hour. 
 The first step brought my stomach into my throat, the next my 
 throat Into my stomach ; going downhill they botxi got mixed. 
 We were grateful to the Maharajah, and tipped the Mahout, but 
 we walked back ! 
 
 Amber is a strange place. The town is quite deserted, 
 except by a number of Fakirs or Hindoo ascetics, who have 
 taken possession of the empty houses. It was a weird-looking 
 place enough, and gave one the creeps to wander through 
 street after street, seeing no human being except some half- 
 cracked creature looking silently out of a window or over a roof. 
 There is nothing stranger in India than the way in which some 
 monarch, for reasons now forgotten or only guessed at, deserted 
 his splendid palace and well-built capital, taking not only his 
 court, but the entire population with him. 
 
 The palace at Amber calls for no special description. It is a 
 fine pile of buildings of the later period of Mussulman art ; its 
 situation, however, is extremely picturesque, being built along 
 the slopes of a fine hill, immediately over the lake, the summit 
 of the hill being crowned with a powerful fortress. The 
 surrounding hills, connected with strong walls, are each topped 
 with smaller castles. The old deserted garden of the palace, 
 stretching far out into the lake, is a place of rare beauty, and its 
 rich, dark green foliage throws up the whole facade of the great 
 range of buildings wonderfully. As we saw it, reproduced in 
 the mirror of the still lake, it made a picture not easily to be 
 forgotten. 
 
366 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 It 
 
 ii 
 
 Amber was built by Man Singh in 1592, and is the finest ot 
 all the Rajput palaces. 
 
 From Jeypore we went on to Ajmere, spending a day in its 
 queer old streets and quaint bazaars. This town is the capital 
 of an isolated British district in the heart of Rajputana, with 
 an area of 2.700 square miles, and a population of 320,000 souls. 
 It is entirely surrounded by native states. 
 
 Ajmere is a great cotton market, and the transport trade of 
 Rajputana centres here. The city is surrounded by a stone 
 wall, with fine handsome gates. On the southern side of the 
 city is the Dargah, an object of veneration to all religions in 
 India. It marks the burial place of a famous saint called 
 Khwaja, who lived in the 13th century, and whose eldest lineal 
 descendant is the head of the shrine to-day. At the entrance 
 gate we had to put the shoes from off our feet, having taken 
 the precaution to bring thick woollen socks to put on instead, 
 to protect ourselves from the deadly cold marble floors. The 
 enclosure contains two or three mosques, the tomb of the saint, 
 the entrance to which is spanned by a silver arch, and a deep 
 tank or well cut in the solid rock, in which pilgrims perform 
 their ablutions. 
 
 On the slope of a hill just outside the town is an ancient Jain 
 temple, which was converted into a Mohammedan mosque by 
 Altamsh in two and a half days. It is the finest specimen of 
 early Mohammedan architecture extant, and is most elaborate 
 in its decoration, and delicately finished in all its details. 
 
 Outside the city, in a fine park, is the Mayo College, estab- 
 lished by the Earl of Mayo in 1870, and supported partly by 
 endowments given by the Prince of Rajputana, and partly by 
 an allowance from Government. Its object is to provide an 
 education in accordance with European ideas for the sons of 
 Rajput nobles. 
 
f li 
 
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 I 
 
 I'll ' * 
 
 iiii 
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 u 
 
 J 
 
JEYPORE TO BOMBAY. 
 
 369 
 
 A mile or two further out into the country is one of the 
 finest and most picturesque tanks in India, from which the city 
 of Ajmere derives its water supply. This tank is a lake six or 
 
 
 DARGAII, AJMERE. 
 
 seven miles in extent, surrounded by lofty hills. On Its banks 
 is situated the house and offices of the Resident, and an old 
 palace or summer-house of white marble, surrounded by beauti- 
 
 2 B 
 
370 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 ■1.1 
 
 iri 
 
 
 ful gardens, which commands a view of the whole tank and its 
 adjacent mountains. Ajmere is full of ancient houses, with fine 
 carved fronts, and gay busy bazaars, and with the exception of 
 Benares, is fuller of " subjects " for the painter than any other 
 town in India visited by us. We were sorry we had not more 
 time to explore the city and the historical neighbourhood in 
 which it is situated. 
 
 The next day we continued our journey to Ahmcdabad, a 
 thriving city of 120,000 population, which has played an impor- 
 tant part in the history of India. The town is full of beautiful 
 buildings, illustrating almost every kind of Moslem architecture, 
 and the houses are finely carved. 
 
 Ahmedabad has always been famous for its wood-carving, 
 and all the towns of Guzerat have many houses, the doors and 
 windows of which are made beautiful with this work. 
 
 This city was once the greatest and most splendid in Western 
 India, and 300 years ago had a population of about 900,000 
 souls ; it possesses to-day not more than 120,000. It presents an 
 imposing front to the Sabarmate River, a fine stream about 500 
 yards broad, being raised well above its left bank. Its fine old 
 walls enclose an area of about two square miles. They have 14 
 gates, and every 50 yards there is a tower and bastion. These 
 walls were built in the early part of the fifteenth century by 
 Ahmed Shah, the second Mussulman King of Guzerat, who 
 gave his name to the city. 
 
 An old native proverb says, "Ahmedabad hangs on three 
 threads — gold, silk and cotton," and these are to-day the main 
 staples of its trade. Silk and brocaded stuffs employ a large sec- 
 tion of the population, and much of the gold and silver thread 
 that is worked up into kinkobs and other fine brocades all over 
 India, is manufactured at Ahmedabad. In every street one sees 
 in the open shops families of weavers vv^orking up cotton cloth. 
 
JEVPOkE TO LOAfL'AY. 
 
 37 i 
 
 The city Is full of beautiful buildings, and its architecture 
 has a special interest, illustrating the result of the contact of 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 K»wjei/jtL. 
 
 WINDOW AND BALCONY IN RANI SIPRl'S MOSQUE, AHMEDABAD. 
 
 Saracenic with Hindoo forms. Here the vrigorous aggressiveness 
 of Moslem art, which has all its own way at Agra, Delhi and 
 Amber, has been forced to submit itself to Hindoo and Jain 
 
 2 B 2 
 
 i 
 
%n 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 influences, in which the latter predominates. Even the mosques 
 arc Hindoo in their details. 
 
 Our first visit was to see the famous windows of Sidi Said's 
 mosque in the citadel, now used as a public office. There are 
 five of these windows, and I suppose they are the most beautiful 
 specimens of carved and pierced marble work in the world. 
 
 
 
 "^ 
 
 irin>Tirinn»TnniTiniwy!TnnrinriifiiTinonnon^ 
 
 ijr^-~Y^iw^!f'"'^ 
 
 SIDI SAIDS WINDOW, AHMEDABAD. 
 
 This illustration, drawn by Mr. Sheppard Dale from a photo- 
 graph, will convey some idea of the graceful elaborateness 
 of the finest of them. Of all the exquisite examples of marble 
 tracery which I have seen at Agra and Delhi, none are so 
 beautiful as this charming window. 
 
 The mosques of Ahmedabad are among the finest in the East, 
 though not remarkable for size. Those of greatest interest are 
 the Jumma, the Queen's, Ahmed Shah's, Said Alam's, and Rani 
 Sipri's. 
 
I 
 

 Q 
 
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 Q 
 
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 M 
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 0$ 
 
JEYPORE TO BOMBAY. 
 
 375 
 
 Rani Sipri was a daughtcr-in-lavv of Ahmed Shah, and her 
 mosque and tomb were built by herself and completed in the 
 year 143 1. They are singularly beautiful little buildings. The 
 mosque is 54 feet long, by 19 feet wide, with six double pillars 
 in front and single ones behind, all 10 feet high. The tomb is 
 36 feet square. On the opposite page is an illustration of the 
 tomb, which will furnish a better idea of the beauty and infinite 
 detail of its architecture than pages of description. 
 
 Another of the remarkable buildings at Ahmedabad is the 
 fine modern Jain temple, erected about 40 years ago by Hutti 
 Sing, a wealthy Jain merchant, at a cost of more than a million 
 rupees. It is full of marvellous detail, though the carving is very 
 inferior to that of the more ancient Jain temples. It is situated 
 in a large garden behind a fine mansion in which the Hutti Sing 
 family reside, and is entered by an archway in the house itself. 
 The temple stands in the middle of a great courtyard 1 50 feet 
 long and 106 feet wide, surrounded by a corridor of 56 arches 
 with elaborately carved pillars, 
 
 It was impossible for us, in the one day at our disposal, to 
 do more than glance at a few of the beautiful and interesting 
 buildings which abound at Ahmedabad, and which would occupy 
 a very pleasant week to see properly. 
 
 About seven miles from Ahmedabad is one of those splendid 
 freaks of extravagance so common to Oriental potentates, which 
 make it possible to believe any of the wildest stories of the 
 * Arabian Nights.' In the 1 5th century, Sultan Mahmoud Begada 
 desired a country villa. He proceeded to dig out a large lake 
 of 1 8 acres in extent, with 30 feet cf water, surrounded it with 
 splendid flights of steps, at the top of which rise a series of 
 palaces. Here the Sultan buried a favourite^adviser or Vizier, 
 in a tomb that would cost ;^ 50,000 to reproduce ; here he buried 
 his queen in equal magnificence, and provided a noble mau- 
 

 376 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 soleum for himself when his time came ; and behind t'nem all, in 
 a cloistered space of over an acre, he built a mosque only second 
 in pretensions to the Moti Musjid at Agra. All this ruined^ 
 grandeur of Sarkhej stands solitary and forgotten, but in 
 wonderful preservation, the home of storks, crows, parrots, and 
 jackals, with trees and brushwood in its stately courtyards, 
 visited once in two or three months by some tourist who, like 
 ourselves, is a little more adventurous than the rest. 
 
 From Ahmedabad a night's journey brought us to our last 
 point of interest in India, the great port of Bombay, one of 
 the most magnificent harbours in the world, with unlimited 
 anchorage space and extensive docks and wharves. Bombay is 
 a much handsomer town than Calcutta. Its magnificent public 
 buildings are all grouped together along a fine esplanade, only a 
 broad expanse of grass lying between them and the ocean. 
 Behind them the town spreads itself, and behind the town 
 again lies the harbour, ten miles wide, dotted with beautiful 
 wooded islands, and backed by a noble range of mountains. 
 
 The human life of Bombay differs from that of every other 
 Indian city by the dominating element of the Parsees, who, by 
 their wonderful energy, enterprise and education, have become 
 the most important and powerful influence in the Bombay 
 Presidency. These people are the descendants of ancient 
 Persians who fled from their native land before the Mahomme- 
 dan conquerors of Persia, and who settl. \ at Surat 1,100 or 
 1,200 years ago. They now number in all about 70,000, the 
 great majority of whom reside in Bombay. They all speak 
 English fluently, which is carefully taught in their schools. 
 Their religion is pure theism, and the elements, fire especially, 
 are treated as visible representations of the Deity. The founder 
 of their religion was Zoroaster, whom tradition says was a 
 disciple of the Hebrew prophet Daniel, and it teaches a pure 
 
JEYPORE TO BOMBAY, 
 
 in 
 
 and lofty morality, summed up in three precepts of two words 
 each, viz., good thoughts, good words, good deeds, of which the 
 Parsee constantly reminds himself by the triple coil of his white 
 cotton girdle, which never leaves him. 
 
 One of the leading peculiarities of the Parsee religion is the 
 method pursued for the disposal of the bodies of their dead. 
 No one should pass through Bombay without paying a visit 
 to the Parsee Dakhmas or Towers of Silence. These strange 
 towers, about 90 ft. in diameter and 15 ft. high, are built in 
 the midst of a beautiful garden on the top of Malabar Hill, 
 looking across the wide ocean towards the setting sun, and 
 surrounded by the villas and bungalows of the wealthy 
 merchants of Bombay 
 
 The garden is approached by a long private road, to which 
 all access is barred, except to Parsees, and those who, like 
 ourselves, have received permission from the Secretary of the 
 Parsee Society. This leads to a flight of steps, at the top 
 of which is the house of prayer, where the sacred fire is kept 
 burning with incense and sandal wood, and never allowed to 
 die down. We were not permitted to enter, but from its terrace 
 we obtain on the one side a glorious view of the whole city 
 of Bombay, the harbour beyond, and the magnificent ranges 
 of the Ghauts in the distance. On the other side is a lovely 
 garden sloping down to the ocean, glorious in parterres, 
 flowering shrubs and palms, with five low circular structures 
 of solid granite rising solerrinly out of the foliage. Ranged 
 round the summit of these towers, crowded closely together, 
 are rows of loathsome vultures, which, black against the sunset 
 sky, dominate the whole scene and seem to crowd out of view 
 all their beautiful surroundings. These birds were still and 
 silent, but when the gate is unlocked for a funeral, they begin 
 to stir and show signs of excitement, which increases as the 
 
378 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 procession winds slowly up the hill, followed by the mourners 
 reciting funeral prayers. After the mourners comes a man 
 leading a white dog, the emblem of faithfulness, and then come 
 a crowd of priests in pure white robes, with relations and friends 
 of the dead man, holding a handkerchief between them, in 
 token of sympathy and fellow-feeling. On reaching the House 
 of Prayer, the mourners enter, and chant prayers while the 
 corpse-bearers enter the Tower of Silence with the dead body, 
 
 'i! 
 
 THE CAVE TEMPLE OF ELEPHANTA. 
 
 which they expose naked on the platform which is erected 
 inside, but out of sight of all outsiders. 
 
 The moment they withdraw the rows of expectant vultures 
 drop silently down into the tower, and in ten minutes have 
 stripped every particle of flesh off the corpse, reducing it to a 
 bare skeleton before the mourners have finished their prayers. 
 The skeleton remains three or four weeks exposed to the 
 tropical sun, when the bones are reverently placed in a central 
 
JEYPORE TO BOMBAY. 
 
 379 
 
 well within the tower, where Parsees of high and low degree 
 are left to turn into dust without distinction. 
 
 If time had permitted, we should have liked to have visited 
 some of the extraordinary cave temples, which are scattered 
 over the Bengal Presidency, but we could only visit those on 
 the island of Elephanta, about seven miles from Bombay, across 
 the beautiful bay. These temples are quarried out of the solid 
 rock, the columns supporting the roof being finely chiselled ; 
 against the walls are gigantic figures, the principal of which is 
 19 feet high. The sculpture has been much defaced by the 
 Portuguese, when in possession of Bombay, who brought cannon 
 into the cave, and fired them at the columns and images. 
 
 We stayed nearly a week in Bombay, which I employed 
 chiefly in discussing, with native gentlemen of education and 
 position, the many problems which this wonderful country 
 presents to the politician and social reformer. The gist of these 
 conversations I give in the following and concluding chapter 
 of this book. 
 
38o 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA. 
 
 Ill 
 
 India is almost entirely a rural and agricultural country, 
 and many of its populous towns are only vast aggregations 
 of villages, in the midst of good agricultural land, on which the 
 whole population are employed. In some parts of India the 
 population is crowded densely on insufficient land, and the 
 struggle for bare existence becomes terrible. With the least 
 drawback, such as a few inches more or less of rain, thousands 
 of the people die like flies, while serious cUmatic deficiencies 
 bring about those awful famines of which we have so often read. 
 In times of actual famine the Government can step in and feed 
 the people, but no Government can deal with the certain 
 degradation of physique and mental vigour which develops 
 itself in a people under-fed from the cradle to the grave. In 
 these districts the population shows a tendency to diminish 
 instead of increase. The facilities afforded by the extension of 
 railways drain off the more vigorous to thinly-peopled provinces, 
 and the tea plantations of Ceylon and Assam are worked by the 
 surplusage of Southern India and Bengal. Our new territory 
 of Upper Burmah, though laying new and costly burdens on 
 the Indian Exchequer, will afford fresh fields for emigration to 
 these over-stocked districts of India, and, if we can keep out 
 Chinese emigration, may compensate us in this way for the 
 cost and risk of its conquest. Railways have been known to 
 increase the population of sparsely populated but fertile dis- 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA. 381 
 
 tricts of India, formerly remote and difficult of access, to an 
 astonishing extent. The people, however, like the Irish at 
 home, cling with obstinate affection to their villages and bits 
 of poor land, in spite of misery and starvation, and this senti- 
 ment greatly increases the difficulty of solving one of the most 
 serious of the social problems of India. There is plenty of land 
 in the Indian peninsula for the whole of its population. We need 
 not wish for the diminution of the population, but rather that 
 some means may be found by which its present surplusage may 
 be more equally distributed over the whole area, both of British 
 India and the Feudatory provinces, which, lying interspersed 
 among British territory, have not much more than a third of 
 their population per acre. 
 
 The nationalities and race differences of India are as many 
 and various as those existing over the whole continent of 
 Europe. The Bengalee and the Sikh, the Mahratta and the 
 Tamil, the Rajpoot and the Burmese differ as widely in every 
 characteristic as do the Irishman and the German, the mercurial 
 Frenchman and the phlegmatic Turk, the stolid Scandinavian 
 and the hot-blooded Greek or Spaniard. In Europe, except 
 in one small corner of Turkey, the religion is all the same, one 
 form or another of Christianity. In India the Mohammedan, 
 the Sikh, the Hindoo, the Buddhist, the Jain, the Parsee, the 
 Brahmin, and the Christian range side by side all over the 
 country. It is therefore clear that 250,000,000 of people, spread 
 over an area of 1,900 miles long and wide, full of different nation- 
 alities, and conflicting religions and interests, conquered by a 
 strange and distant people of widely different civilization and 
 religion, governed and held down by less than 100,000 of their 
 conquerors, forms a country which furnishes to the politician 
 and sociologist a range of problems that have taxed in the 
 past, and will tax in the future, all the skill and ingenuity of 
 
 I! 
 
rv 
 
 382 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 the finest Civil Service in the world. My own position towards 
 them — dimly enlightened ignorance — can only present them to 
 you as they presented themselves to me when I found myself 
 face to face with them during the six weeks I was in the 
 country. 
 
 Undoubtedly the most urgent social problem, ever present 
 to English and Hindoo alike, is how to live at all, how 
 to procure that daily bread to which every human being has 
 a birthright. This problem is serious enough at home ; but in 
 India, as I have already explained, it overshadows the whole 
 country like a huge cloud, the horrid memory of past and the 
 dread of future famines being really the motive power of three- 
 fourths of the administrative action of the Government 
 
 Wherever I went in India the deepest impression made upon 
 me was the terrible and widespread poverty of the people. The 
 common idea amongst Englishmen is that India is a country of 
 vast wealth and unlimited natural resources. As a matter of 
 fact it is one of the poorest countries in the world. No doubt 
 amongst the Rajahs and Princes, the great landowners, and the 
 merchant class in Calcutta and Bombay there is great accumu- 
 lation of wealth that is continually in evidence with much show 
 and glitter. This is what is most familiar to the ordinary 
 Englishman, who reads of Rajpoot princes, encrusted with 
 diamonds and rubies from head to foot, visiting England with 
 great pomp and state, and who sees in the illustrated papers 
 pictures of durbars of the Governor-General or of the splendid 
 presents sent to the Queen by Rajahs in celebration of her 
 jubilee. The condition of the millions in India is the opposite 
 extreme, and there is no parallel at all in European nations to 
 the disproportionate distribution of wealth which prevails in 
 India and the East. There the poverty of the many is even 
 more extreme than the wealth of the few. In the towns, skilled 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA. 
 
 383 
 
 labour earns from is. gd. to 2s. id. per week ; ordinary labour, 
 is. 6d. \ in the villages still less. The great mass of the people 
 engaged in agriculture have to live entirely off the produce of 
 their heavily-taxed holdings, and it is, of course, difficult to form 
 any calculation of their average income. 
 
 An estimate was made a few years ago by a very able finance 
 minister, now our ambassador at Egypt, Sir Evelyn Baring, 
 placing the average annual income of the people of India at 
 a trifle under £2 per head. This estimate was checked by 
 Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, a distinguished native statistician, who 
 maintains that the average income does not reach more than 
 about 2 8 J. per head. We grumble enough about poverty and 
 bad trade in England, but the best authorities tell us that the 
 income of the inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland is about 
 £Z0 per head, or something like twenty times as much as the 
 average income of India. The income tax returns show that in 
 India there is no well-to-do middle class such as we have in 
 England. In India this tax begins on incomes of £$0, and 
 only produces ;^200,ooo, affecting only 300,000 persons — a 
 remarkable illustration of the poverty of the country. In 
 England we commence at .^150, and it produces ;^i 2,000,000. 
 All my own observation confirms these estimates. I have 
 visited many of the villages, as well as some of the larger towns. 
 I found that the people, as a rule, lived only on the lowest 
 quality of cereals — rice, millet, sorghum, peas, beans, and 
 lentils, the finer grains, such as wheat aiid barley, being sold to 
 pay rent. A man or woman pays at most 2s. or 2s. 6d. for a 
 year's clothing, and in the north of India the suffering from cold 
 in winter is very great. The houses are small clay huts without 
 furniture, and very few families sit down to more than one meal 
 a day. It may be truthfully said that the great part of the 
 population of India live on the very edge of famine, and that a 
 
384 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 year of drought, flood, blight, or locusts brings about the death 
 of millions of these poor miserable ill-fed folk. The terrible 
 famines which come upon vast districts of India are mainly due 
 to drought during one or more seasons. There is generally 
 some reserve stock in most farmers' hands that carry them over 
 a single bad year, though even then the pinch is felt seriously 
 by families dependent upon weekly wages. But two dry 
 seasons bring on universal starvation and the death of whole 
 communities, unless the Government steps in. In the Behar 
 district, in 1873-4, the people were only saved from perishing by 
 the expenditure of about seven millions sterling by the Govern- 
 ment on public works and the importation of a million tons of 
 rice. Tn jg^g-jr-S a terrible famine arose in the land. The 
 harvc i. was short in 1875. In 1876 the main food crop 
 perished throughout an immense tract of country, and prices at 
 once went up to famine rates. By the end of the year the 
 people were dying by thousands, and for nearly two years the 
 Government were engaged in one long struggle with famine. 
 Friends I have met in India have given me pitiful and heart- 
 breaking descriptions of the awful scenes they witnessed during 
 this terrible time. The Government had to spend about 12 
 millions sterling to feed the starving populace, for at one time, 
 in Madras alone, upwards of two millions and a half of»4)eople 
 were fed by the Government, two millions gratuitously. The 
 famine commissioners estimated that five and a quarter millions 
 of people were slain by this grievous famine, and, taking into 
 account the diminution of births, the population was reduced 
 by at least seven millions. Cholera alone swept away half a 
 million. The famines of the last 30 years have carried off over 
 12 millions of people. This chronic poverty, reducing the 
 stamina and working power of the vast body of the natives of 
 India, rendering them unable to resist small local or larger 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA. 
 
 385 
 
 general famines, is therefore one of the great social problems 
 with which its Government is always face to face. Much has 
 been done within the last ten years by means of improved 
 communication, increased irrigation work, and the migration 
 of population to lessen the risk and diminish the force of 
 famines. 
 
 These poor people of India arc probably the most overtaxed 
 people on earth. The greater portion of the Indian exchequer is 
 not revenue in the sense of taxation at all, but consists of re- 
 ceipts from State railways and irrigation works, and the large 
 revenues from the opium monopoly, which is really paid by 
 China and not India ; the revenues from intoxicating liquor are 
 also voluntary taxes, which no native need pay unless he likes, 
 though the Government, by the way in which they are stimu- 
 lating their revenue from this demoralising source, are undoubt- 
 edly doing much to increase the poverty and misery with which 
 they are waging a never-ending warfare. The actual revenue of 
 India, which is raised by taxation, is about ;^40,ooo,ooo, not 
 much more than half that raised in the United Kingdom from 
 one-fifth of the population. The burdens of taxation in India are 
 therefore only one-tenth per head of the amount raised in this 
 country. But it must be borne in mind that while the average 
 taxation per head is only one-tenth that of England, the average 
 income is only one-twentieth. The actual burden of taxation 
 therefore is just double that which we ourselves have to bear. 
 Half the taxed revenue of India is derived from land. The 
 State in India is virtually the landlord, and the British Govern- 
 ment carry on the same system of land tenure which they found 
 prevailing amongst the various native states when they con- 
 quered or annexed them. They have, however, abandoned the 
 ancient method which still prevails in some of the native states 
 of taking the rent in the shape of a certain share of the produce, 
 
 2 c 
 
 / 
 
sw 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 V 
 
 I. 'i 
 
 ! i 
 
 i J 
 
 which has the advantage of distributing the burden fairly on 
 good and bad harvests, the rent thus rising and falling with the 
 crop which the land produces. Instead of this a rent in money, 
 levied without regard to good or bad seasons, is exacted from 
 the tenants. The collection of this land tax or rent forms the 
 main work of Indian administration. The average rent is from 
 2s. to 3J". 6d per acre. This appears to us absurdly low, but 
 in face of the vast difference in values between England 
 and India it is really as high or even higher than rents at home, 
 and is equivalent to a rent of at least 25J. for the same class of 
 land in England. In many parts of India, however, the small 
 farmer is in much worse condition than those holding direct 
 from the State, In the old days of the East India Company 
 they were too much engrossed with conquest and aggression to 
 attend to the details of land revenue, and they farmed it out in 
 great districts to men who gave them a lump sum, and who then 
 got what profit they could out of the peasant. These men 
 gradually slipped into the position of landowners, and in Bengal 
 the Zemindar, as he is called, was raised in 1793 to the status of 
 a proprietor holding his land at a quit-rent payable to the State. 
 From time to time the hardships of the peasant cultivating 
 under the Zemindar have been guarded against by the legal 
 recognition of occupancy rights or fixity of tenures, but in vast 
 districts of India individual proprietary rights in the soil have 
 superseded the ancient State rights, and from all I could learn, 
 the peasant under the Zemindar has a much worse time of it all 
 round than the Ryot, who holds direct from the State. 
 
 The collection of a fixed rent, regardless of season, from an 
 ignorant and improvident peasantry, has led to the existence of 
 one of the great curses of India, the village money-lender, who 
 comes in to the aid of the Ryot when he cannot make up his 
 rent in poor years. Once in the clutches of the usurer, he never 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA. 
 
 387 
 
 gets out of them again, and I heard fabulous estimates of the 
 total aggregate indebtedness of the peasant to these village 
 money-lenders. Everywhere in India I heard from natives the 
 strongly expressed opinion that the only salvation for the 
 peasant lay in the Government collecting the revenue from land 
 in the shape of a share of the actual produce, rather than by a 
 fixed rent in money. But none of them could tell me how they 
 proposed to collect so great a revenue by such a cumbrous and 
 antiquated system over such an enormous area as British India. 
 The land tax of India is re-assessed every 30 years. It appears 
 to me no sensible relief to the grinding poverty of the peasant 
 is possible, except from some permanent reduction of the land 
 tax, and by the securing of fixity of tenure and a fair rent to 
 those under Zemindars with shorter periods of re-valuation. 
 The condition of these Zemindar tenants is much akin to 
 that of the Irish tenant farmer before the 1870 Land Act, 
 and in Bengal, owing to the rapid growth of population under 
 British rule, and the insurmountable objection to emigration 
 on the part of the Bengalee peasant, the Zemindars have been 
 able to rack-rent their miserable tenants, until their incomes 
 have grown to many times the amount they were when their 
 quit-rent to the State was fixed. The Indian Government 
 are not blind to this state of things, and the Bengal Ryots Act, 
 passed a year or two back, will confer fixity of tenure and tenant 
 right on some millions of people, small cultivators under 
 Zemindars. The overcrowding of these Zemindary districts 
 may be judged by the fact that out of ten millions of holdings 
 in Bengal, six millions pay a less rent than is. 6d. per annum 
 for their land, and that in some districts the population runs as 
 high as 500 to the square rnile. All the land is occupied, and 
 the population steadily increasing, so that the social problem of 
 how to provide land for the agrarian population of India, is one 
 
 2 c 2 
 
Il*^ 
 
 388 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 that drives the Irish question into insignificance by comparison. 
 Yet these Indian Ryots are just as much our fellow subjects as 
 the farmers in the West of Ireland, and their patient endurance 
 surely deserves as much consideration from the Government of 
 India as the noisy clamour of the Irishman obtains from the 
 Government at Westminster. 
 
 I will now pass from the question of the poverty of the people 
 to that of education, which, in my opinion, after the necessities 
 of life, is the most urgent social question in any country. Public 
 instruction in India is directly organised by the State, assisted 
 by grants in aid from the Imperial revenue, under careful 
 inspection. A department of public instruction exists in every 
 province, under a director, with a staff of efficient inspectors. A 
 network of schools extends all over the country, beginning 
 with the indigenous village school, graduating upwards to the 
 highest colleges and the three great universities of Calcutta, 
 Madras, and Bombay. All receive pecuniary help from the 
 State, under the report of regular and well-organised inspection. 
 A series of scholarships stimulates the energies of the best 
 scholars and opens an easy path to the universities for the 
 children of the poor, along which a goodly number travel. There 
 are in all British India 141,000 schools of all sorts, of which 
 78,000 receive Government grants, with a grand total of students 
 of about 3 J millions. Ten years ago there were only 60,000 
 schools, with 1,800,000 scholars, so that the figures have more 
 than doubled in that period. It is quite probable that in twenty 
 or thirty years there may be as large a number of children in 
 school attendance, in proportion to population, in India as in 
 England. Everywhere, in my intercourse with natives, I found 
 an intense desire that education should be stimulated and made 
 universal. There are over 5000 students in training schools for 
 masters and mistresses, and the position of schoolmaster is a 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA. 
 
 389 
 
 very coveted one amongst the better class of Mahommedans and 
 Hindoos, 
 
 The three Universities of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay were 
 
 all incorporated thirty years ago on the model of London 
 
 University. They are examining bodies, giving no instruction, 
 
 and confer degrees in arts, law, medicine, and civil engineering. 
 
 There is a fourth university on a similar plan, but including the 
 
 teaching element, in Lahore, for the Punjab. Some idea of the 
 
 influence and power of these universities may be obtained from 
 
 the statistical abstract relating to British India published every 
 
 year. From that book I find that during the last ten years 
 
 70,CX50 students entered the three great universities, of whom 
 
 no less than 26,000 passed, 600 graduating in law, 1160 in 
 
 medicine, and 400 in civil engineering. These universities 
 
 are fed by over 100 colleges all over India. The colleges are 
 
 divided into two classes, those which specially teach the art 
 
 course of the universities and those which devote themselves 
 
 to medicine and other special branches of knowledge. Some 
 
 of these colleges are entirely supported by Government, 
 
 others only receive grants in aid, these latter being chiefly 
 
 missionary colleges. There are about 10,000 students in all 
 
 these colleges. 
 
 The colleges are recruited from the higher schools, of which at 
 least one, called the Zila or district school, is established at the 
 headquarters station of every district in India, and there are 
 many others, chiefly under missionary influence, which receive 
 grants in aid. In these schools English is not only taught, but 
 is the actual medium of instruction. All these schools educate 
 up to the standard of the entrance examination at the univer- 
 sities, and in them are usually trained the candidates who seek 
 employment in the many branches of Government service now 
 open to natives. There are about 600 of these schools, with an 
 
390 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 attendance of about 70,ocx) scholars. Below the high schools are 
 a series of middle schools spread all over India in the smaller 
 towns and large villages, which provide an education calculated 
 to supply the requirements of the lower middle classes. Some of 
 these teach English, others confine themselves to the vernacular. 
 They number about 4000, with an attendance of about 200,000 
 pupils. The lower or primary schools complete the system of 
 education in India. They are to be found almost everywhere, 
 and teach the rudiments of learning in the vernacular of the 
 district. These are almost all the outcome of the last fifteen or 
 twenty years, and their remarkable extension form the best 
 guarantee of and testimony to the success of that educational 
 system of India, which owes so much to the efforts of Sir George 
 Campbell and Sir Richard Temple, whose names are never 
 mentioned by educated natives without profound respect and 
 gratitude. Before Sir George Campbell's administration, the 
 primary inspected schools in Bengal numbered only 2451, 
 attended by 64,000 pupils. In 1885 they had increased to 
 63,000 schools, attended by 1,300,000 students. To have been 
 the means of increasing the school attendance of a great province 
 twenty-fold is an achievement of which any statesman may well 
 feel proud. 
 
 It is not possible to pass from this subject of education 
 without recognition of the enormous services rendered, especially 
 in the higher branches of education, by the various missionary 
 societies. There are various opinions, favourable and unfavour- 
 able, with regard to missionary successes in the conversion of 
 the heathen, but there can only be one opinion, and that a 
 favourable one, with regard to the educational work of the 
 missionary in India. There are now upwards of 200,000 pupils 
 in the various schools and colleges of Protestant missions, this 
 number having increased every ten years for the last forty 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA. 
 
 391 
 
 years, at the following rates : — 1851, 64,000 ; 1861, 82,000 ; 1871, 
 128,000 ; 1881, 196,000 ; 1888, 250,000 estimated. There would 
 be no female education at all in India but for the efforts of 
 devoted Christian women in connection with our missions. 
 They now maintain more than 1200 girls' day schools, and 
 the total number of female pupils under Protestant mission 
 teaching in India has increased from 1 1,000 in 185 1 to something 
 like 80,000 in 1888. 
 
 The whole future of India largely depends upon education. 
 The cultured natives who have passed through the schools and 
 colleges of India are already showing themselves keenly alive 
 to social reforms. The Brahmo-Somaj movement, of which the 
 well-known religious teacher, Keshub Chunder Sen, was the 
 founder, and which is an attempt to combine Christian morality 
 and teaching with the pure theism of the ancient Hindoo 
 religions, is stimulating a number of much needed changes in 
 the social habits and customs of the natives of India, in which 
 its adherents receive the help of many cultured Hindoos and 
 Mahommedans. These gentlemen advocate the abolition of 
 infant marriages, and the re-marriage of widows, with a view 
 to relieving those many millions of widows, whose life is a living 
 death, and whose husbands have died while they were babies. 
 They also advocate and obtain wholesome changes in pernicious 
 caste rules, encourage female education, oppose the extension of 
 the liquor traffic, and generally show a warm interest in social 
 reforms, which had no existence in native society thirty years 
 ago. The Government of India does not undertake the direct 
 instruction of the people. It simply stimulates and encourages 
 education by grants in aid to all voluntary schools, whether 
 originated by Mahommedans, Hindoos, Municipalities, European 
 missionaries, or any other agency that satisfies the standard 
 of efficiency. This wholesome rivalry is at the bottom of much 
 
392 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 of the stimulus which education has received in recent years, and 
 I hope that the nobler and higher teaching which is or ought 
 to be given in missionary schools may be widened until it 
 aiTects the whole future of education in India. 
 
 I found amongst educated natives a great demand for the 
 establishment of technical schools in all the large towns and 
 cities. At Jeypore, the capital of one of the native Rajpootana 
 States, I visited an admirable technical school, where instruction 
 was given in many of the native arts of India, and which 
 seems destined to rescue these arts from decay and extinction. 
 More than one native industry is commoting successiully with 
 English and European manufactures, and the leading cotton 
 spinners of Bombay, where there are now seventy or eighty 
 first-class mills, assured me that in ten or twenty years India 
 would manufacture for herself all that she now buys from 
 Manchester. These mills have already pretty well driven 
 Lancashire out of the China and Japan market for cotton 
 yarns, which form a solid portion of the cargoes of the 
 direct P. and O. line from Bombay to Hong Kong. The 
 banks of the Hooghly at Calcutta are black with the smoke 
 of jute mills, and there is no doubt that India is on the 
 road towards recovering by machinery the great hand-made 
 manufactures which Manchester in time past destroyed. No 
 jealousy of India's competition with England must stand in the 
 way of her C overnment doing everything practicable in the way 
 of technical education to enable India to recover her home 
 manufactures by adopting modern processes. 
 
 All this stimulated educational system is producing a fresh 
 social problem of steadily increasing intensity, which sooner or 
 later must be faced and grappled with. The British nation, 
 when they took over the government of India from John 
 Company, entered upon an ancient, primitive, but decaying 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA. 
 
 393 
 
 civilization, of which the reh'gion was the only vital remnant, 
 with no education of any value, except that which was identified 
 with the priestly caste alone. I have briefly described to you the 
 splendid system of higher education which we have established 
 under British rule during the last 30 years, and which is now 
 turning out every year io,CX)0 or 15,000 young men as highly 
 educated as English University graduates, many of whom visit 
 England and Scotland, acquiring British habits of thought and 
 criticism. These men find their way into the Indian Civil 
 Service, the learned professions, become schoolmasters, lawyers, 
 doctors, civil engineers, merchants, station masters, bank clerks, 
 and what not. They are settling down all over India, 
 rapidly creating an intelligent cultured native opinion, finding 
 expression in a widely read vernacular press, which criticises 
 and judges the actions of the Government, and discusses every 
 social problem affecting the welfare of the Indian people. They 
 all speak and understand English as well as we do, and in 
 my journey through India I constantly met with young Hindoos 
 content with salaries of 30^'. or 40J. a month, who were perfectly 
 familiar with Herbert Spencer, Mill, Carlyle, John Morley, and 
 all the English classics. All the time I have been in India I 
 have sought as much as possible the society of these educated 
 natives. I felt I could see enough of Anglo-Indian officials 
 at home, but that I might never have the opportunity of visiting 
 India again, where alone native opinion could be gathered up. 
 In the many interviews I had with educated natives, both 
 Hindoo, Mahommedan, and Brahmo-Somaj, I was deeply im- 
 pressed with their mental grip and great intellectual attainments. 
 There was no attempt to mislead, a total absence of prejudice, 
 and a tone of great moderation, with a desire to see both sides of 
 every question under discussion. I found intense loyalty to 
 British rule as the only Government possible to India, although 
 
394 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 
 ii 
 
 almost every native had plenty of hostile criticism as to the 
 methods and results of British administration. 
 
 In a very few years the educated native will become a tremen- 
 dous force in Indian society, and already he is knocking loudly 
 at the official door for some share in the responsible government 
 of his native land. How far this demand is to be met is a social 
 problem that is causing grave anxiety to successive Governors- 
 General, and that will have to be seriously faced before very 
 long. These educated natives have already learnt the power of 
 combination. Three years ago they formed themselves into a 
 powerful organisation, not unlike in its character and formation 
 our own Social Science Congress, which meets annually at some 
 great centre for conference on matters affecting the welfare of 
 native India. Three of these great representative congresses 
 have been held at Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras, attended by 
 1 200 or 1400 of the picked natives of India, Hindoos, Mahom- 
 medans, Jains, Parsees, and Christians meeting together with 
 perfect harmony and great enthusiasm. The proceedings are 
 conducted in English, and although I have not had the oppor- 
 tunity of attending one of these congresses, I have carefully read 
 their proceedings, and, as far as possible, in my intercourse with 
 a great many natives who have been members of them, have 
 endeavoured to find out what are the hopes and wishes of this 
 united and representative body of educated Indians. I expect 
 to be present at the Allahabad congress this winter. 
 
 When India becomes generally educated, the national system 
 being based upon English ideas and English aspirations, it will 
 be impossible to deny to those who by education are fitted for 
 it, their share in the privileges and responsibilities of the Govern- 
 ment of the country. It cannot therefore be wondered at that 
 the few who have already reached that standard feel that at any 
 rate they ought to possess some direct means of making the 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA. 
 
 39S 
 
 opinions and convictions of India felt by the Government. This 
 important element in Indian society does not desire, as has been 
 often unjustly stated, the overthrow of British India ; they know 
 only too well that in the outburst of anarchy which would 
 follow such an event, they at any rate would be the first to be 
 crushed. What they wish is that the Government should be 
 more at touch with the people, and that the educated portion of 
 the native races should have some voice in determining the 
 policy of the Government, and above all should get a solid share 
 in the administration, and of all the posts and offices which could 
 be filled by natives as effectively and much more economically 
 than by English. India is virtually ruled by a British 
 Bureaucracy which is admittedly the finest civil service in the 
 world, appointed by a severe competitive examination. This 
 bureaucracy is directed by the Viceroy and local governors, 
 assisted by councils which they themselves select. An Indian 
 civil servant goes out to India for 25 years' service, four of which 
 are holiday, and at the end of that time, when he is in the prime 
 of life, retires with a minimum pension of about ^1000 a year. 
 This is, of ^necessity, a very costly civil service. Large salaries 
 have to be paid to induce the pick of young Englishmen to enter 
 for the competitive examinations, and the pension list, beginning 
 at so early a date, is, of course, exceptionally heavy. The 
 salaries and expenses of civil departments reach a total of 1 1 
 millions, of which less than two millions are paid to natives. Of 
 course, in the earlier days of British rule, before English 
 education had permeated the country, it was impossible to 
 govern according to Western ideas, except through the medium 
 of Englishmen. But natives now contend, and with some 
 reason, that they ought to be much more largely admitted into 
 the civil service, and if all the appointments which could be filled 
 by natives, without entrenching on the actual British administra- 
 
396 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 111 1 1 
 
 l;HI 
 
 ;. ii 
 
 tion and government of the country, were so filled it would 
 effect a saving of some three or four millions sterling in the item 
 of salaries alone. .They have a further grievance in the fact that 
 the examination for the higher branches of the civil service is 
 conducted only in England, and that natives, unless they under- 
 take the risk and expense of a journey from India — which to the 
 pious Hindoo would involve the loss of caste — cannot enter the 
 higher civil service at all. They demand, in my opinion with 
 great justice, that a fair share of these higher appointments 
 should be allotted to natives, that the examination should take 
 place in India, and that the successful candidates only should be 
 expected to go to England for two years for study at one of 
 our national universities. 
 
 But the main reform on which these educated natives insist is 
 that the legislative councils of India, instead of being close 
 bodies of nominated and official members, shall be opened to a 
 certain number of elected representatives. They do not demand 
 that the whole, or even a majority, of these councils should be 
 elected. They are willing to leave the main power of govern- 
 ment and administration with the European Executive. They 
 would be content if one-third of the legislative councils could in 
 some way or other be elected by the natives, so that their views 
 could be stated publicly, the Budgets discussed, and the Govern- 
 ment interpellated on questions of executive administration. 
 This demand is the inevitable result of the spread of English 
 education, with its idea of liberty and political rights, ideas 
 fostered and encouraged to the utmost by a free native press, of 
 great editorial ability. It is a demand to which, sooner or later, 
 the Government will be compelled to yield. The main difficulty 
 is to find a constituency to elect. The mass of the people of 
 India have no more idea of representative government than 
 the inhabitants of a baby farm, and the educated demand for 
 
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA. 
 
 397 
 
 representative institutions only exists in the great centres of 
 population. I discussed this matter with a party of educated 
 gentlemen in Bombay, most of whom were members of the 
 Annual Congress already referred to, and they proposed that the 
 large municipalities like that of Bombay or Surat, the Bombay 
 Chamber of Commerce, the universities, an electoral college of 
 Mahommedans and another of Hindoos, might easily furnish a 
 constituency that would meet all the necessities of the situation. 
 I am, however, quite convinced that to satisfy in one way or 
 other this legitimate demand of the educated Hindoo for some 
 share in the government of his native land, would be of as great 
 advantage to British rule in India as it would be to these 
 educated natives and all they represent. 
 
 The natives of India are also very urgent in another demand, 
 which appears to me equally reasonable. The legislative 
 Councils of India are, of course, subordinate to the Indian 
 Council in India, presided over by the Secretary of State. 
 This home council consists of fifteen experts on Indian questions, 
 and is composed of retired Indian civil or military servants, who 
 have returned home. Their functions are to advise the Secretary 
 of State for India. The original draft of the Act creating this 
 council was drawn by Lord Beaconsfield, then Mr. Disraeli, who, 
 with great foresight, inserted a clause reserving four seats at this 
 council for natives of India. His colleagues, however, objected, 
 and it was struck out. Educated India anxiously demands that 
 this wise proposal shall be adopted to-day, and that four or five 
 natives, who have distinguished themselves in Indian adminis- 
 tration, and enjoy the confidence of their co-nationalists, shall be 
 added to the Indian Council as vacancies arise. These native 
 gentlemen are also very anxious to see some of their number 
 enter the House of Commons, and many of you are familiar with 
 the names of Lalmohun Ghose, Dadabhai Naoroji, and other 
 
398 
 
 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD. 
 
 native Indians, who have contested English constituencies, so far, 
 I regret to say, without success. Briefly, what educated India 
 desires is, representation in all the departments and governing 
 bodies which control the destinies of their country. If they had 
 fair play in the civil service, representation on their own 
 legislative councils, and on the Indian Council at home, and if it 
 were possible to induce some English constituency to accept one 
 of their number, they would be more than content, while the 
 advantage to Indian society, of being able to discuss every 
 grievance publicly in all the governing bodies which rule their 
 destinies, would be beyond all measure. 
 
 My visit to India has been shorter than I had intended, 
 but my holiday is curtailed by the intelligence that Parliament 
 is meeting earlier than usual, and I have had to hasten home. 
 India, however, is now so easy of access, that I have decided 
 to spend next winter there, and see it with greater leisure 
 and deliberation. 
 
 We left Bombay in the P. & O. steamer "Assam" on 
 Monday, January 19th, and after a pleasant and uneventful 
 passage, broken only by a three hours' stay at Aden, we 
 reached home by Brindisi on Sunday night, February 5th, 
 after an absence from England of five months, two weeks, 
 and three days. 
 
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