A Yankee In The Far East - free ebook by George Hoyt Allen

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A Yankee In The Far East

George Hoyt Allen

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A YANKEE IN THE FAR EAST

A YANKEE IN THE FAR EAST

BY GEORGE HOYT ALLEN Author of "It Tickled Him" WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY H. S. WELLER CLINTON, N. Y. TRAVELOGUE-ART ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED 1916 Copyright, 1914 By Travelogue-Art Association, Inc. Copyright, 1915 By Travelogue-Art Association, Inc. All rights reserved Second Edition To my Friend J. Whitfield Hirst...

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AUTHOR'S PREFACE

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

There are so many ways suggested these days by the various periodicals on how to make money at home, it would seem that all ingenuity in that direction must be exhausted; but how to make money abroad seems to me to be almost a virgin field. New pastures have always interested me, and if I can add to the sum of human happiness by a wise suggestion, and point the way to satisfy an almost universal longing to see the world,—for instance, if I can show how one can make a luxurious world tour and com

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II "MISSOURI" AND HIS FALSE TEETH

II "MISSOURI" AND HIS FALSE TEETH

I labor under a great disadvantage in writing this ship-board letter, en route from San Francisco to Yokohama. My contract reads that these letters shall tell of personal experiences, and when I discover a new, fresh theme that I am not qualified to tackle, I naturally feel that fate has been unkind to me. There has recently been discovered a strange malady which attacks travelers at sea. I find competitors in writing travel stuff have me on the hip in this regard. This new malady, in which I kn

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III WONG LEE—THE HUMAN BELLOWS

III WONG LEE—THE HUMAN BELLOWS

This is a fine, large ship—Japanese line. I don't call to mind any line of ships I have not sailed on prior to this voyage in my chasing up and down the world in search of a "meal ticket," and pleasure; but this is my first voyage on a Japanese liner, and I'm simply delighted with it. It contrasts delightfully with a ship I sailed on, on one of my former trips across the Pacific. That boat was all right, too. Good ship, good service—particularly good service—Chinese help; and anyone who has ever

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IV HAWAII—AND THE FISHERMAN WHO'D SIGN THE PLEDGE

IV HAWAII—AND THE FISHERMAN WHO'D SIGN THE PLEDGE

"Under the setting sun, in the Mid-Pacific, lie the Islands of the Hawaiian group, which present to the traveler or home-seeker more alluring features than are combined in any other country in the world. Nowhere else are such pictures of sea and sky and plain and mountain, such magnificence of landscape, such bright sunshine and tempering breeze, such fragrant foliage, such brilliant colorings in bush and tree, such dazzling moonlight. "With a climate world-excelling for its equableness, these h

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V THE UMPIRE WHO GOT A JOB

V THE UMPIRE WHO GOT A JOB

More and more I am convinced of the cleverness of the Japanese after a voyage across the Pacific in one of their magnificent ocean liners—a 22,000-ton ship, built at their yards at Nagasaki, Japan—built, owned, and operated by the Japanese. The officers are Americans, with the exception of the chief engineer, who is Japanese. The crew is Japanese. Dining room waiters, Chinese and Japanese; and room boys are Japanese. The cuisine more thoroughly conforms to American tastes than that found on any

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VI THE JAPS' FIVE-STORY SKYSCRAPER AND A BASEMENT

VI THE JAPS' FIVE-STORY SKYSCRAPER AND A BASEMENT

I believe I ended my last letter by ho-ing the land, and hanging a shipload of passengers over the rail, sailing into Yokohama harbor. When a shipload of passengers get off at Yokohama, there is joy among the rikisha boys, and the passengers who are getting their first ride in a rikisha have an experience they will never forget. The first ride in a jinrikisha in Japan is an experience to lay away among one's choice collection of experiences. A first ride in a rikisha has been fully described by

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VII JAPANESE GIRLS IN AMERICAN COSTUMES—THEY MAR THE LANDSCAPE

VII JAPANESE GIRLS IN AMERICAN COSTUMES—THEY MAR THE LANDSCAPE

I noticed the following account of the death of the Empress Dowager in the Japan , a magazine printed in English in Tokio: "Whilst as yet the earth mound set up over the august remains of the late lamented Emperor Meiji at Momoyama, Fushimi, is fresh and damp, the Japanese have been stricken with a renewed sorrow and bereavement, none the less profound, at the demise of their cherished, beloved Empress Dowager, the First Lady of the Land, who graciously shared the glorious throne of Japan with h

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VIII CEREMONIOUS GRANDMOTHER—"MISSOURI" A HEAVENLY TWIN

VIII CEREMONIOUS GRANDMOTHER—"MISSOURI" A HEAVENLY TWIN

Returning from a trip to Tokio on a Monday forenoon I found at my hotel in Yokohama the following letter from my shipboard friend "Missouri": Dear Mr. Allen : You'll be surprised to learn that I am in jail. I started out this morning at 8 o'clock to go to church. At 8:30 I stopped at a saloon and met a delightful bunch and didn't get away from that saloon till 5 o'clock this evening. At 5:30 I was pinched and put in jail on a charge of assault with attempt to kill. If the victim dies, please fin

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IX USHI, THE RIKISHA MAN

IX USHI, THE RIKISHA MAN

I started out of a Saturday evening in Kioto, which is one of the best cities in Japan— the best, I think—the old capital of the Empire, to take a walk on Theater Street, which is the Great White Way of Kioto, and one of the best spots in Japan to study Japanese life and character. I hadn't more than stepped outside the walled-in yard of my hotel, having declined the offers of the favored rikisha men within the enclosure to take me for a ride, than a rikisha man outside the gate accosted me and

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X MISSIONARIES, TRACTS, AND A JOB WORTH WHILE

X MISSIONARIES, TRACTS, AND A JOB WORTH WHILE

The missionary met me at the door and I told him who I was—a wayfaring man in Japan, and would he show me somewhat of his work? He would, and gladly. If I had been a long lost brother or a wealthy uncle with a will to make, he couldn't have been more cordial—a keen young man of thirty-six or thirty-eight I found this missionary. "Do you mind walking?" he asked. "I have a team of rikisha coolies at your gate," I said. "Well," he replied, "our work is scattered over Kioto. We can reach it by troll

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XI YAMAMOTO AND HIGH COST OF LIVING

XI YAMAMOTO AND HIGH COST OF LIVING

After lunch at the missionary's I found my team at the gate spoiling for a run. "Yamamoto, take me to your home," I said; "I want to meet your family. I want to see how a rikisha man lives. And, Yamamoto, I'll give you a yen if you'll invite me to supper at your home tonight." The yen looked tempting, but Yamamoto wouldn't play the game. He said to have a foreigner as a guest at his humble home would bring around his house such a crowd of curious neighbors that all pleasure in the repast would b

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XII THE SOLDIER SAID SOMETHING IN CHINESE

XII THE SOLDIER SAID SOMETHING IN CHINESE

Before starting on this around-the-world trip a friend of mine in the United States said to me: "When you get to Shanghai look up my friend, Dr. "John Blank." He has been in China over thirty years. He is the biggest individual intellectual asset in China today—the founder and moving spirit of an International Institute which recognizes the good in all religions and gives them all a hearing. "He is a graduate of Hamilton College in your town of Clinton. He is a strong, a busy man, and true. Plea

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XIII TEN THOUSAND TONS ON A WHEELBARROW AND THE ANANIAS CLUB

XIII TEN THOUSAND TONS ON A WHEELBARROW AND THE ANANIAS CLUB

I was glad of the opportunity to come to Pekin, where I might see with my own eyes a Pekin cart. Modes of travel and transportation have always had a fascination for me. For instance, I was so captivated with the Shanghai wheelbarrows, that the first thing I did after arriving in Shanghai on my first trip to China was to tackle the first Chinaman I saw in the street pushing one of those empty barrows, dicker with him, and then and there buy that wheelbarrow. Three dollars was the consideration,

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XIV "MISSOURI" MEETS A MISSIONARY

XIV "MISSOURI" MEETS A MISSIONARY

I found "Missouri" in Shanghai on my return from Pekin, and he seemed to be in a dejected mood. Something had evidently gone wrong with him. "How do you like Shanghai, 'Missouri'?" I asked. "Fine," "Missouri" said. "Good town—lot of go." "Had any rides on these Shanghai wheelbarrows?" "Missouri" only grinned and didn't go off into wild, exuberant enthusiasm, by which token I knew there must be something the matter with "Missouri." There are some Americans whom even a Shanghai wheelbarrow don't p

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XV A STO-O-RM AT SEA

XV A STO-O-RM AT SEA

Since starting my series of travel letters, word has come to me that some of my readers are disappointed that I shied at a description of seasickness—an eminently looked-for and expected dissertation—and instead went off on a tangent about false teeth, which was not in the regular line of letters of travel; and I also learn that the hope is entertained that I will not close this series without describing a storm at sea, the which is a regular, fit, and greatly-to-be-desired adjunct to such a ser

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XVI THE ISLANDS "DISCOVERED" BY DEWEY

XVI THE ISLANDS "DISCOVERED" BY DEWEY

I arrived in Manila—not seasick—I never was seasick in my life (I've mentioned that before, haven't I?)—but anyone who read my last letter with that degree of attention necessary to get the meat out of letters of travel will have gathered that there was a bit of a blow coming over from Hong Kong, and that it was a rough crossing. Those of my readers who regret that the bowsprit and I reached Manila are no friends of mine, and any invidious remarks they may make about my last letter are of no con

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XVII WHITE FILIPINOS, AGUINALDO, AND THE BUSY MOTH

XVII WHITE FILIPINOS, AGUINALDO, AND THE BUSY MOTH

In my last letter I believe I changed my style somewhat and became an historian. I realize I'm serving up several different styles of narrative in these letters, and know it's taking a chance to adopt the historical. History is dry stuff, but another chapter of it seems necessary to clear the situation at this mile-post I'm passing—the Philippine Islands. You can't get the President of a republic running around in the woods, and as goodly a land as the Philippines in chaos, and then go off and l

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XVIII SINGAPORE—THE HUMORIST'S CLOSE CALL

XVIII SINGAPORE—THE HUMORIST'S CLOSE CALL

There are more different ways of getting in bad than there are to keep out of trouble—a lot more. Indeed, straight and narrow is the road. But there are lots of by-ways leading off from the safe and beaten path, from which one's feet should never stray. In going around the world one can't keep too sharp a lookout for the prescribed highway. This homely, safe and sane reasoning comes to me with force as I sadly pen these lines here in Singapore, having turned off on a side street that looked all

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XIX THE HINDU GUIDE A SAINT WOULD BE

XIX THE HINDU GUIDE A SAINT WOULD BE

Last evening I wrote you about my perturbed state of mind regarding quarantine here in Singapore. After chota hazri this morning I thought for a couple of hours, then ate breakfast, after which I met a Hindu in my hotel (there are thirty thousand Indians in Singapore), who looked at me as if he were desirous of opening a conversation. I stopped, saluted, and said to him: "Did you wish to speak to me?" "Only to ask you if you wanted a guide for Singapore today. I can show you all the sights of Si

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XX PENANG—A BIRD, THE FEMALE OF ITS SPECIES, AND THE MANGOSTEEN

XX PENANG—A BIRD, THE FEMALE OF ITS SPECIES, AND THE MANGOSTEEN

I want to draw a veil over my exit from Singapore on this trip. There are some things that are too painful to talk about. What I think of the quarantine arrangements of that sun-blistered port, and what the health officials think of me will form no part of these notes of travel—suffice it to say that I got by the Singapore health officials. I escaped! I got away! Our expressions of endearment would be a new brand of travel stuff, and there are enough different kinds in these letters now. After S

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XXI BURMA AND BUDDHA

XXI BURMA AND BUDDHA

And Rangoon is in Burma, a city of some three hundred thousand, the chief commercial city of Burma. It is located in the south of that country, on one of the numerous mouths of the Irawadi River. Burma forms a part of the narrow Malay Peninsula, broadening out after Rangoon is reached, coming north from Penang, into a country as large as Texas, bounded on the west by India, on the north by Thibet, on the east by Siam, Laos and China, with the Bay of Bengal washing its southern coast. Burma is th

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XXII BAPTISTS AND BUDDHISM

XXII BAPTISTS AND BUDDHISM

There are twelve million Burmese here in Burma. I told you in my last letter how thoroughly Buddha had, 2500 years ago, captured the Burmese with his doctrines. For 2400 years Buddha practically had it all his own way. If in that time any other competing religions sought a foothold in Burma, they became discouraged and moved out. Burma was solid for Buddha. Buddha had a monopoly and held it against all comers for 2400 years. One hundred and one years ago the Baptists came to contest the field. T

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XXIII THE RANGOON BUSINESS MAN WHO DROVE HIS SERMON HOME

XXIII THE RANGOON BUSINESS MAN WHO DROVE HIS SERMON HOME

There is a business man here in Rangoon who, to my mind, has put one over on the missionaries, by seeing their game and beating them at it with a sermon—a sermon with more ring and go to it than anything of that kind I've struck in the Orient—or out of it. They are really a godless lot out here in the Orient, as we look at godliness; or, at least, profess to. They haven't any more respect for the Sabbath day on this side of the world (except in a few spots where the missionaries have made a dent

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XXIV THE GLASS OF ICE WATER THAT JARRED RANGOON

XXIV THE GLASS OF ICE WATER THAT JARRED RANGOON

To come to Rangoon and not go to see the elephants work the teak timber that comes down the Irawadi River would be like going to Venice and not have your picture taken in St. Mark's Square with the doves roosting all over you; or to leave the pyramids without a photograph of yourself with the great pyramid of Cheops for a background. I plead guilty to the dove picture—it's on our mantle at home—had it taken to please my wife, who was with me on that trip. The great satisfaction I take in that pi

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XXV THE CALCUTTA SACRED BULL AND HIS TWISTED TAIL

XXV THE CALCUTTA SACRED BULL AND HIS TWISTED TAIL

Did one of your old readers, kind friend (I think it was McGuffy's Second) way back in childhood days have a little poem in it all about a lot of little girls playing a wishing game? It's over forty years ago that I read that little poem, and I can only remember one little girl's wish. She said: "I wish I were a flying fish, o'er ocean's sparkling waves to sail, a flying fish, that's what I wish, 'mid Neptune's blue to lave my tail." Not having read that little poem for over forty years, and not

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XXVI THE GUIDE WHO WOULDN'T SIT IN "MASTER'S" PRESENCE

XXVI THE GUIDE WHO WOULDN'T SIT IN "MASTER'S" PRESENCE

I call him Lal. The rest of his name is too long for week-day use. He is my interpreter, my guide, my servant, my counselor, and my friend. I have hired him for a two weeks' trip across India. He is considerable of an erudite gentleman—speaks several languages. I speak only one, and I do queer things to that one lots of times. But Lal doesn't try to impress me with his superiority just because he knows a lot more than I do—quite the reverse. His wages are a rupee a day, out of which he feeds him

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XXVII ROYALTY VS. "TWO CLUCKS AND A GRUNT"

XXVII ROYALTY VS. "TWO CLUCKS AND A GRUNT"

To go across India from Calcutta one of the necessary things to consider is a railroad ticket. After my vassal and I had planned an itinerary we called a victoria, or rather Lal flagged a Hindu driving a team hitched to one. It was rigged for a footman at the rear. The footman was there, too, ready to open the door for "Master" when he wished to enter or alight. This truly regal, royal outfit cost twelve annas for an hour's drive, and that's twenty-four cents. You can work the Royalty racket in

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XXVIII ONE WINK, SIXTEEN CENTS, AND ROYALTY

XXVIII ONE WINK, SIXTEEN CENTS, AND ROYALTY

The seasoned traveler in India, planning a night's journey, don't arrive at a station a minute or two before his train leaves, as we do in plebeian America. Rush and hurry should form no part of Royal journeys. It isn't dignified. You should get there at least half an hour before the train starts, especially if you are playing Royalty on a second-class ticket. As your equipage draws up to the station your footman alights and swings open the carriage door, your guide descends from the driver's se

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XXIX THE ENGLISHMAN AND MARK TWAIN'S JOKE, "THAT'S HOW THEY WASH IN INDIA"

XXIX THE ENGLISHMAN AND MARK TWAIN'S JOKE, "THAT'S HOW THEY WASH IN INDIA"

In my home town I was once asked to give a travel talk in a large stone church, the occasion being a rally for the Christian Endeavor Society. It had been announced that there would be no charge for admission; furthermore, it had been thoroughly advertised that the young ladies of the church would furnish a delectable spread to the audience in the church parlors just as soon as I got through talking. The town turned out en masse . As the parson was leading me to the rostrum, the lights went out

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XXX ENGLISH AS "SHE IS SPOKE" IN INDIA

XXX ENGLISH AS "SHE IS SPOKE" IN INDIA

Benares is located on the Ganges River and is right in the center of things for devout Hindus—Benares bearing the same relation to Hinduism that Jerusalem does to Christianity. Benares is the Hindus' sacred city, and the sacred Ganges River is lined with temples and bathing and burning ghats. Hindus come from afar to die at Benares, where their bodies may be burned and their ashes consigned to the sacred waters of the Ganges. And after Benares, by easy stages, Lal and I reached Delhi, the old ca

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XXXI A FIVE DAYS' SAIL AND A MEASLY POEM

XXXI A FIVE DAYS' SAIL AND A MEASLY POEM

We are nearing Aden in Arabia, en route from Bombay. Bombay was all stirred up over the war and my itinerary is knocked into a cocked hat. I had planned to go through Palestine to Constantinople and cross Europe to London, but I can't get my passport viseed—I'm no war correspondent, anyway. I'm strictly a man of peace. When Lal and I reached Bombay war was on, and Bombay was about two-thirds of my way around the world, and home loomed large in my mind—I wanted to get home. This English P. &a

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XXXII BEATING THE GAME WITH ONE SHIRT

XXXII BEATING THE GAME WITH ONE SHIRT

We will land at Tilbury (London) in an hour, and I have beaten the game with one shirt. The English are great in many respects, but in nothing do they excel more thoroughly than in dressing for dinner. Now we, of the great American "proletariat," are not strangers to the dress-suit. We do, on occasions, don it. At evening weddings we put it on. When a town magnate gives an evening reception, those of us who are counted among the elect and get an invitation, put on a dress-suit. Occasions of this

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XXXIII THROUGH HELL GATE STEERAGE

XXXIII THROUGH HELL GATE STEERAGE

Here, then, is the final travel letter I shall write on this world-girdling tour. It is a woeful ending for the "sparkling gems" of travel stuff which have gone before. It will record the sad contrast between my start from my native land, gaily sailing out of the Golden Gate, a de luxe first-class passenger, and winding up my joy-ride around the world by coming through Hell Gate steerage, barely escaping being condemned as a criminal and executed on the high seas, chucked overboard and fed to th

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