Seven Legs Across The Seas: A Printer's Impressions Of Many Lands

SEVEN LEGS ACROSS THE SEAS A PRINTER'S IMPRESSIONS OF MANY LANDS

BY SAMUEL MURRAY Author of "From Clime to Clime" NEW YORK MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 1918 Copyright, 1918, by MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY Published, February, 1918...

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INTRODUCTORY

I was early aboard the fastest ship that ever foamed the seas. Later, a long, strong whistle blast blew—the signal for starting—and soon she headed southward, the great vessel traveling through New York harbor to Sandy Hook as noiselessly as a bobsleigh drawn through two feet of unpacked snow. I had secured a second class ticket to Buenos Aires, Argentina, by way of England, this marking the first of several legs of the world over which I had planned to travel. Thirteen hundred and fifty dollars

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CHAPTER I

A puzzling phase of ocean travel soon becomes apparent during a passenger ship's journey to one making his first voyage—sometimes when a vessel has been at sea not more than a few hours. He is apt to find himself at a loss to account for the absence of the many persons who crowded the deck rails of the steamship—chatting, saying good-by to friends and some bidding a final farewell to their country—before and immediately after the vessel pulled away from her dock into the harbor. After a few days

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CHAPTER II

On reaching the Bay of Biscay a storm was encountered, the decks being vacated by passengers and the cabin berths made use of for some time. During the night sounds were heard at intervals that reminded one of a large tree falling. The piano in the social hall had been forced loose from its fastening by the rolling and pitching of the ship, and while in what might be termed its periods of tantrum the big musical instrument seemed bent on smashing all the furniture "in the house." Most of the pas

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CHAPTER III

Security of life in an Indian's bark canoe, even when going over river rapids, would seem assured, compared to the chances against one being able to keep his feet on a Brazilian catamaran sailing on the broad ocean. Men stand on two logs tied together, these about a foot each in diameter and from eight to ten feet in length, the upper side flat, with a small pole fastened in one of the logs, to which is secured a piece of canvas—as flimsy a sample of sea craft as one may see in a lifetime. No pr

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CHAPTER I

The evening sun was sinking fast as we were being towed from the inner harbor of the Argentine metropolis to the broad expanse of gray-colored water of the River Plate. Berths were short on the Bertha Clay , as the skipper had informed me before I had boarded his ship I would have to sleep in the chart room. Charts and other navigating paraphernalia were kept in this room, and the wheel house was on top of the chart room roof. "Sleep on the couch to-night," instructed the captain, "and to-morrow

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CHAPTER II

With a population of a hundred thousand, Durban is the chief seaport of South Africa. Located on the Indian Ocean, it is known also as Port Natal. Among the inhabitants, colored people of varied races comprise two-thirds of the population. With the native black there is the Indian, or Hindu, Arabs, Malays and half-castes from islands located near the East African coast. The phrase "Darkest Africa" is even more emphasized by the presence of the dark races that are not natives of the country. Unti

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CHAPTER III

Zululand was next visited. During the reign of their kings Zulus controlled their own internal affairs—made their own laws, apportioned the land, chastised their subjects, conferred with British officials concerning border line rules—were, in fact, in every sense, a distinct, unfettered race of people. Zululand was Zululand then. War after war, with gatling guns and modern fighting implements pitted against their mediæval arms—the assegai, or spear—naturally made the tribe submissive and wiped o

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CHAPTER IV

My first introduction to South Africa railway travel took place on my initial trip to Johannesburg. The compartment type of corridor carriage, as passenger coaches are termed, with an aisle at the side, similar to that of Great Britain, is in use. Meter gauge—3 feet 6 inches—is the standard of that country, 14 inches narrower than what is known as "standard gauge"—4 feet 8 inches—in the United States and in some of the European countries. The narrow spaces of the compartment (6 by 6½ feet) incli

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CHAPTER V

The Dutch being averse to having the capital near the sea coast, as soon as they gained full control of United South Africa, on May 31, 1910, they decided on Pretoria as the capital, although Capetown was well provided with good legislative buildings. Money was then appropriated to erect government buildings in Pretoria, and a hill east of the city was selected as a site for the Parliament buildings. Following this, a large force of government employes were compelled to leave Capetown for Pretor

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CHAPTER VI

We take our departure from the Transvaal and make a start for Victoria Falls, in Rhodesia, also British territory. Traveling some 300 miles out of a direct line, through Fourteen Streams, to Vryburg, on to Mafeking, finds us nearly opposite the place started from, but headed in the right direction. A gap of 40 miles from Zeerust to the main line has since been closed, which makes the trip from Johannesburg to Bulawayo much shorter. Two trains a week care for all the business over that stretch of

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CHAPTER VII

From the Gold City we traveled southward to the Diamond City. "You haven't been in town long?" a Kimberley policeman addressing me, remarked, as he stepped in front. As a matter of fact, I had only got about a hundred yards from the railway station. I surmised that I had been taken for an "I. D. B." (illicit diamond buyer), having been told a bird can scarcely alight in Kimberley without coming under police surveillance. "We're from the same country, I believe," the officer continued, when I fel

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CHAPTER I

Thirteen first-class passengers—four women, three men and six children—boarded a steamship at Durban for Australia. The vessel was a cargo ship, but had accommodation for a small number of passengers. She had started from a Swedish port in the Baltic Sea with a full cargo of pine lumber. The distance from the Baltic port to Durban is 8,000 miles, and the ship's final destination was to be Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, over 7,000 miles further east. Speaking about long voyages, this one should

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CHAPTER II

Traveling from Melbourne to Adelaide, 483 miles, gave opportunity to study Australian railways. The railroads are State or government owned, and the fare is two to three cents a mile. The coaches are of European type, the schedule 30 miles an hour. Compartments are generally fitted for eight persons. One difference was observed in these coaches from the South African—no free sleeping accommodation was provided. Sleeping cars are run on Australian lines, however, but a berth costs $2.40 a night.

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CHAPTER III

Passing from the ocean through The Heads to Sydney Harbor, there unfolds to the eye perhaps the grandest foreground of a city, landscape and soft-water scene to be found in any part of the world. From the harbor—scalloped with pretty bays—to the left rise, on a gentle slope, bright-colored brick and red-sandstone homes with red-tiled roofs, the openings carpeted with ever-green lawns, animated by flowering gardens, a soft brush-grown space here and there, or a blushing cove, walled by friendly r

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CHAPTER IV

From Melbourne we sailed across Bass Straits up the Tamar River to Launceston, Tasmania, located at the northern part of the island. Abel J. Tasman, a Dutch navigator, discovered what is now Tasmania, in 1642, after whom the island is named. Van Diemen's Land, however, was the name given to Tasmania by its discoverer, but was changed later. The Dutch seemed to have been good navigators in early years in the Pacific and Indian oceans, but they proved poor land-grabbers. With Tasmania as a key to

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CHAPTER I

Our first stop in New Zealand was at Bluff, a small port nearly a thousand miles eastward across the Tasman Sea from Hobart. Though composed of only a few hundred people, this place, nevertheless, commands the attention of a traveler, as it is one of the most southerly outposts of civilization, there being no white habitation between Bluff and the South Pole. Tons of cheese and butter were here loaded into the ship, brought by rail from Invercargill, eighteen miles inland, the commercial center

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CHAPTER II

Traveling up a steep grade from Wellington, and then down the mountain on the other side of the range, the train pulled away from the coast and headed northward, speeding over the trunk line between the capital and Auckland. Passing through tidy towns, then over trestles spanning rippling streams, through bushy glens, ornamented with attractive fern trees—queen of flora here—which have no superior as a natural adornment, we entered stretches of lava wakes, covered with a bracken growth. To the r

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CHAPTER III

After a four days' sail over the Tasman Sea we reached Sydney, Australia, where, after several weeks' stay, we counted our money. Five dollars a day was our basis of expenses, but, as hotel rates had not exceeded $1.50 a day in Australasia, we found ourselves with a surplus of over a hundred dollars, for our expenses had been only $4 a day instead of $5. A very enticing trip, taking several weeks, was advertised to Fiji, Samoa, and the Tonga Islands for $125. We could spare $100, but feared that

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CHAPTER IV

Traveling through still, blue-water channels, resembling wide esplanades, if the term be allowed, formed by heavily verdured tropical islands on each side, with curly coral reefs peeping out of the sea from time to time, we sailed for 150 miles through what may be termed an ocean park, when the ship entered the Koro Sea, and two days later reached the Samoan Islands. Sixty miles east of Levuka we crossed the line of the 180th meridian, where time changes 12 hours. A red stream of lava, running f

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CHAPTER V

We will now say "Tofa" to that splendid race and their pretty islands and make a start for Tonga, when the day "lost" will be reclaimed, as we recross the 180th meridian. The captain did not turn back the ship's clock here, but kept the Sydney time. Passing between two prominent stone walls, we entered the harbor of Vavau, Tonga, another group of the South Sea Islands. This group appears on some maps as the Friendly Islands. Abel Tasman, who discovered so many countries before any one else, but

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CHAPTER I

For the first time in my travels I had to be content with third-class steamship accommodation. I knew the South Sea Islands trip would shrivel my pocketbook, and would not have been disappointed had I not enough money to buy even a third-class ticket to South Africa. We took a chance on the South Sea Islands trip—and won. "Steerage," in big red type, was stamped on the steamship ticket that carried me from Melbourne to South Africa, but all passengers were on an equality, as there was but one gr

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CHAPTER II

Dar-es-Salaam, the capital of German-East Africa, was, after leaving Ibo, the next place where the vessel put in. What a difference is observable in the make-up and general appearance of this German town to those in Portuguese-East Africa! Some very imposing stone and cement buildings, with others under construction; good streets, clean surroundings, and a sprinkling of white people, were a very welcome change from the poorly built and almost totally black-populated places we had left behind. Th

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CHAPTER III

Mombasa, British-East Africa, was not reached until 19 days after sailing from Durban, although we traveled but 2,000 miles. It was a very interesting trip, though, along the East Coast, as the ship stopped so often to unload and take on cargo, that passengers obtained a fair idea of that part of the world. Back in the early '80's England and Germany resorted to every diplomatic device to acquire that great tract of country now known as German East Africa and British East Africa. The Sultan of Z

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CHAPTER IV

Nairobi was as far as we intended going when leaving the ship at Mombasa, but, finding the country so new and interesting, with traveling and living expenses reasonable, we decided to press on to the shores of Victoria Nyanza. From Nairobi going westward we rose to an elevation of 7,000 feet. Among the limbs of the trees, while traveling over that part of the railway line, can be seen crude, small barrels made of pieces of wood; these have been put in the trees by natives to intercept itinerant

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CHAPTER I

We now take final leave of Africa, the land of fever and fascination, and start for India. The boat from which I disembarked at Mombasa weeks before had sailed to Bombay, returned to Africa, and was now again on her voyage to the Pearl of the Orient. Only two Europeans were traveling second-class—the only white passengers aboard—the others being black. We had been at sea but a few hours when the captain invited us to quarters in the first-class section without additional charge. Seldom are passe

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CHAPTER II

Our next move was by rail to Baroda, 248 miles north of Bombay. The railroad coach was of the compartment type, but wide, the road gauge being 5¼ feet. Fare in India is cheap, first-class being three cents a mile, second-class a cent and a half a mile for short journeys and a cent and a quarter for 300 miles or more, and third-class fare one-sixth of a cent, or a pie, a mile. To learn what heavy passenger travel is one must go to India and note the jammed condition of the third-class cars. Nativ

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CHAPTER III

We did not go farther north at this time, but traveled easterly to Aligarh. A college is located here, some 1,200 students being in attendance. This seat of education was erected and is maintained by a wealthy Indian. It is non-sectarian, and Mohammed, Hindu, Jain and all other sects take advantage of the liberality of the benefactor. Strange as it may seem, the educators are Europeans, and the language of the institution is English. An American mission is located several miles from Aligarh, and

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CHAPTER IV.

A start was next made for the Himalayas in a northeasterly direction, seldom traversed by persons going to that section of the mountain country. I was the only white man on the train, and in view of few European travelers taking this route no provision had been made for food. The third-class coaches were packed with natives. We passed through the opium poppy growing country, the sugar-cane and indigo fields, and, further along, reached the jute-growing country in Bengal. The train had left Benar

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CHAPTER V

Calcutta, although having a population a quarter greater than Bombay, does not measure up to the Parsi stronghold in architectural appearance. Still, one of the best municipal parks in the world, the Maidan, is located in the center of the city; it is two miles long, one mile wide, and is bounded on one side by the Hooghly River and on the other by one of the principal streets of Calcutta, Chowringhee Road. The Maidan is ornamented by splendid monuments to men who took part in the various mutini

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CHAPTER VI

The sail from Tuticorin to Colombo, Ceylon, is 147 miles. The first thing one notices in Colombo, the capital of Ceylon, is the large number of natives wearing very little clothing. Ricksha pullers are as numerous as flies and very annoying, as they follow one about the streets for an hour in the hope that the visitor will patronize the two-wheeled sulky. Where men and women are dressed, it is hard to tell which from which, as a large number of the men wear long hair, tied at the back in a knot.

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CHAPTER I

Hearing passengers refer to incidents that took place aboard ship "three weeks ago" sounded far-fetched in these days of speedy travel, yet those on this Japanese ship had been at sea over four weeks when the vessel sailed from Colombo on her Far Eastern voyage. The European passengers were nearly all English, and not a single American was met with. Some Japanese and Chinese were traveling second-class, but Europeans were assigned certain tables and the "yellow" men had tables to themselves. Ste

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CHAPTER II

A trip was made up the West River to Canton, a stretch of water in which vessels are sometimes sacked by Chinese pirates. A half-dozen or more of these daring Mongols will board a boat at the starting place as passengers did, and when an opportunity offers they will overpower the officers, when the ship will be at their mercy. Not long ago an effective weapon called "stinkpot" was in use. These bad smelling crocks were thrown about the decks of a boat, bursting, and the nauseating odor from them

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CHAPTER III

An American ship was boarded at Hongkong for Manila, P. I., but the vessel had been built in Glasgow, Scotland. The distance from Hongkong to Manila is 630 miles, and 60 hours' time is required to sail between the two points. The fare, first-class, was $25—four cents a mile for sea travel. One has little choice anent "class" on these boats, as second-class is very inferior. First-class accommodation, however, was good. After two days of rough sailing land was sighted, and next morning the ship p

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CHAPTER IV

We left Manila with passage paid to San Francisco. Out through the splendid bay we sailed, when the ship was headed for Hongkong, where ships were changed. Leaving at night, a flare of light in the business center of Hongkong gradually tapered up the side of the mountain to the fort on the summit, nearly 2,000 feet. We had started for Shanghai, China. Every ship that leaves Hongkong for San Francisco, of whatever nationality, has Americans aboard. After two and a half days' sailing the ship anch

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CHAPTER V

Nagasaki was left behind when a start was made through the Inland Sea for Kobe, a day's sail separating the two ports. The sail is an attractive one, as this stretch of water is thickly dotted with islands. Were the vegetation tropical it would favorably compare with the journey through the Fiji group. The Inland Sea is generally calm, and foreign ships, together with those of Japan's large fleet of merchantmen, were winding and twisting about the islands in every section of the noted land-locke

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CHAPTER VI

An hour's ride from Yokohama, Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is reached. The water here is shallow, Yokohama being practically the port for the official city of Japan. Tokyo has more open space than other native cities, and street cars, rickshas and crowds of people about the railway station gave ample evidence of having reached a large center. One of the main streets of the capital city is wide, with sidewalks, and good business buildings rise at frequent sections along the thoroughfare. Goods we

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CHAPTER VII

Returning to Tokyo, from that city we left for Yokohama, where the fourth ship we had traveled on since leaving Manila was making ready to start for Honolulu, 3,400 miles separating the Japanese seaport from the Hawaiian capital. Sailing from Japan on a Japanese ship, second-class was the best accommodation we could afford, which did not mean anything in the nature of luxurious living. The butter—well, it was not the kind one gets on a farm, and seemed to be made of at least three constituents—o

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ITINERARY

Places at which stops were made and visited, and miles separating each: THE END...

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