Part 19

If the traveller wishes to go by this line, he may commence his journey from either London or Plymouth, cross the Bay of Biscay, where the chances of getting an ugly sea and perhaps a gale of wind are about even, and entering the Mediterranean, make Gibraltar his first port, 5 days and 1,300 miles distant from London. A stay of 4 hours will allow a short run on shore. A drive around the superb Rock is worth the taking, also a visit to the battery, where the 16-inch 100-ton guns keep watch over the threshold of the blue sea. Loquacious guides tell of an under-the-sea tunnel between the fortress and Apes Hill, Africa, through which monkeys have passed, and that once upon a time five venturesome sailors started down this subway; three of them soon turned back, those remaining—but “that is another story.”

From Gibraltar the P. & O. steamers steer for Malta, 980 miles away, generally through a smooth sea, though in winter northwesters blow at times with great violence off the Sicilian coast, raising a heavy sea in the channel. In summer the winds are from the southward, hot, humid, and prostrating, but they are not of frequent occurrence nor of long duration. On the fourth day the traveller is landed in Valetta, with 8 or 10 hours at his disposal. He should see the interior of the Church of St. John, where the floor is made of mosaic tablets in memory of the old knights, each tablet bearing a coat of arms formed by the most skilful inlaying of marble tiles.

From Malta to Port Said is 935 miles, made in 4 days. In winter there may be a norther. The traveller has now, after having gone 3,200 miles in 13 days, reached the port to which all ships bound southward make their way. Here will be found P. & O. steamers that have come from Brindisi with the Indian mails, having stopped at Alexandria to ship them by rail to Suez. This route, known as the Indian Mail, is the quickest of all between Europe and India. The train service runs from London to Brindisi in less than 50 hours. From Brindisi, where the steamer is waiting, and where the mails and passengers are hurried aboard, the run is made to Alexandria, 825 miles away, in 3-1/2 days. At Alexandria mails and through passengers are transported by rail to Suez in 16 hours, and from Suez a steamer leaves for Bombay via Aden, arriving 12 days later; the whole journey from London to Bombay, 4,020 miles, having taken 18 days.

A second great English line that makes for Port Said is the British India Steam Navigation Company, incorporated in 1856 to open up the coasting trade of India. This organization, upon the opening of the Suez Canal, despatched the first steamer through to London that carried an Indian cargo. Shortly afterward regular routes were inaugurated between London, Aden, and the Persian Gulf; and between Aden and the African coast to Zanzibar. Also a trunk route was established for the various coasting lines of India, extending from London to Calcutta. A further extension was begun about ten years ago, when Batavia, Thursday Island, Brisbane, and Sydney in Australia were added to its itinerary. The British India Steam Navigation Company employs on its main and auxiliary routes a fleet of over 100 vessels, large and small, that traverse about 3,000,000 miles a year.

If the traveller has reached Port Said from Marseilles, he has doubtless come in the Messageries Maritimes steamer. This great French undertaking began its first over-sea contract in 1851, carrying mails as far as Egypt. The next extension of operations was a line to Brazil and the Rio de la Plata. Finally a mail contract established the route to India, China, and Australia. To-day the Messageries fleet comprises 65 superb vessels that have cost about $27,000,000; and the aggregate distance they steam amounts to 2,520,000 miles every year. The ships bound for China leave Marseilles and Naples, and make the ports of Aden, Colombo, Singapore, Saigon, Hong-Kong, and Shanghai. A second main line stretches from Aden down to the Seychelles Islands, Mauritius, Melbourne, Sydney, and New Caledonia. The Messageries Company also operates lines to the West Indies and South America.

To Port Said comes also the Norddeutscher Lloyd Imperial Steamship Company, better known as the German Mail. The East Asian mail line of this company was established only in 1886, and is rapidly growing in importance and favor. The steamers leave Bremen, call at Antwerp, Southampton, and Genoa, thence through the canal to Aden, Colombo, Singapore, and Hong-Kong, to Shanghai. The mail route to Australasia reaches the ports of Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney, whence a branch line leads to the Samoan Islands and Tongatabu. The German Lloyd also operate a line from Trieste via Brindisi to Alexandria. For carrying the mails on the above three lines, in accordance with government stipulations, the German Lloyd receives a subsidy of $1,047,619 per annum.

Some of the other long lines operated by this efficient organization, which owns more than 75 ocean steamers, are those between Bremen and the United States, between Bremen and Brazil, and between Bremen and Montevideo and Buenos Ayres.

_Table of Distances, Days, and Approximate Prices from London Eastward by Sea to San Francisco._

From New York to London is 3,000 miles, 7-8 days, and $100.

From San Francisco to New York by rail is 3,000 miles, 6 days, and $200.

+------------------+ | London. | +------+-----+-----+ |Miles.|Days.|Price| +------+-----+-----+---------------+ | 1,299| 5 | $45 | Gibraltar. | | | | +------+--+-----+ | | | |Miles.|D.|Price| | | | +------+--+-----+---------------+ | 2,280| 9 | 75 | 981| 4| $30 | Malta. | | | | | | | +------+--+-----+ | | | | | | |Miles.|D.|Price| | | | | | | +------+--+-----+---------------+ | 3,215| 13 | 100 | 1,916| 8| 60 | 935| 4| $35 | Port Said. | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | 4,610| 20 | 125 | 3,311|15| 125 | 2,330|11| 120 | Aden. | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |---------------+ | 6,274| 27 | 250 | 4,975|22| 240 | 3,994|18| 220 | Bombay. | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | 6,703| 31 | 250 | 5,404|26| 250 | 4,423|22| 240 | Colombo. | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | 8,362| 38 | 290 | 7,063|33| 270 | 6,082|29| 250 | Singapore. | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | 9,799| 45 | 340 | 8,500|40| 340 | 7,519|36| 340 | Hong-Kong. | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ |11,601| 53 | 390 |10,302|48| 390 | 9,321|44| 390 | Yokohama. | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ |16,600| 71 | 590 |15,780|66| 590 |14,800|62| 580 | San Francisco.| +------+-----+-----+------+--+-----+------+--+-----+---------------+

+------------------+ | Port Said. | +------+-----+-----+ |Miles.|Days.|Price| +------+-----+-----+---------------+ | 1,395| 7 |$120 | Aden. | | | | +------+--+-----+ | | | |Miles.|D.|Price| | | | +------+--+-----+---------------+ | 3,059| 14 | 200 | 1,664| 7| $90 | Bombay. | | | | | | | +------+--+-----+ | | | | | | |Miles.|D.|Price| | | | | | | +------+--+-----+---------------+ | 3,488| 18 | 230 | 2,093|11| 100 | 875| 4| $40 | Colombo. | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | 5,147| 25 | 300 | 3,752|18| 220 | 2,534|11| 130 | Singapore. | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | 6,584| 32 | 340 | 5,189|25| 250 | 3,971|18| 190 | Hong-Kong. | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | 8,386| 40 | 370 | 6,991|33| 300 | 5,773|26| 240 | Yokohama. | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ |13,860| 58 | 550 |12,460|51| 450 |10,775|44| 360 | San Francisco.| +------+-----+-----+------+--+-----+------+--+-----+---------------+

+------------------+ | Colombo. | +------+-----+-----+ |Miles.|Days.|Price| +------+-----+-----+---------------+ | 1,659| 7 | $90 | Singapore. | | | | +------+--+-----+ | | | |Miles.|D.|Price| | | | +------+--+-----+---------------+ | 3,096| 14 | 150 | 1,437| 7| $60 | Hong-Kong. | | | | | | | +------+--+-----+ | | | | | | |Miles.|D.|Price| | | | | | | +------+--+-----+---------------+ | 4,898| 22 | 200 | 3,239|15| 100 | 1,802| 8| $70 | Yokohama. | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +---------------+ | 9,900| 40 | 335 | 8,240|33| 250 | 6,800|26| 200 | San Francisco.| +------+-----+-----+------+--+-----+------+--+-----+---------------+

+------------------+ | Yokohama. | +------+-----+-----+ |Miles.|Days.|Price| +------+-----+-----+---------------+ | 5,000| 18 | $200| San Francisco.| +------+-----+-----+---------------+

The Austro-Hungarian Lloyd’s Steam Navigation Company, the fourth great main line passing through the Suez Canal, was organized about the year 1840, with 7 steamers for Mediterranean trade. In time, the company prolonged its lines, until, under a liberal government bounty, routes were established between Trieste and Hong-Kong, and between Trieste and Brazil. For the proper performance of all these services the Austrian Lloyds are paid an annuity by the Government amounting to $800,000. The fleet, all told, numbers 75 ships, valued at about $10,000,000, and steams over 1,300,000 miles every year.

Of the different steamship corporations that despatch their vessels by way of the Suez Canal to Australia, the Orient Steam Navigation Company of London deserves special mention. In 1878 it founded a first-class line to Australia, which to-day is a formidable rival of the Peninsular & Oriental Company, receiving a like subsidy of $425,000 for transporting the mails between Naples and Adelaide in 32 days, a distance of 9,000 miles. There are many other companies sending vessels, via the Canal, to India, to China, and to Australasia; on nearly all of them the traveller can find comfort and good cheer, should he desire to be longer at sea and longer in port. The names of a few of the most important of these companies are as follows:

Under the English flag: the Ducal, the Hall, the Harrison, the Clan, the Star, the City, the Direct, the MacIver, and the Anchor lines; the National Navigation Company of France; the Navigatione Generale Italiana (Italian mail) of Genoa; the Compañia Trasatlantica, from Barcelona, Spain; the Nederland India line from Amsterdam; a Russian line; and a Turkish line.

Some of these steamers make the east coast of Africa for cargoes; some go to Australia; some to the Spice Islands, Java and the Philippines; some go no farther than India; and, finally, some reach Japan, Corea, and Vladivostock.

Port Said, the product of the canal, is built on the flat sands at the entrance of the Suez Canal. Its harbor, formed by two long breakwaters, contains one of the largest coaling depots in the world, where vessels are supplied at the rate of 200 tons an hour. The place is noted for its wickedness; it abounds in French cafés and dance-halls where wine, women, and music continue the night long. The traveller should purchase a white helmet at Port Said; these hats are cheap, and add considerably to personal comfort.

The steam traffic of the place is enormous; last year 3,389 vessels traversed the canal. The average time of transit by day is 24 hours; by night with electric lights it is 19 hours, and has been done in 15 hours. In order to navigate by night, a vessel must light the way by carrying an electric projector at her bow as close to the water as possible, and pay the closest attention to the orders from the passing stations or _gares_. Three white lights shown vertically indicate “slow down;” then the display of two white lights is the order to stop and haul in to the _gare_. The steamer presently hauls in, makes fast, puts out all lights, and lies snug in her berth alongside the desert, while the oncoming vessel, looking like a locomotive at night, passes by. One white light from the _gare_ and lines are let go, and the journey continued until Suez is reached.

Suez is an uninteresting collection of shipping-houses and squalid native huts, with a few tumble-down mosques. Donkeys and donkey-boys swarm along the docks, and if the vessel stop an hour or two the novelty of such a ride may be enjoyed. The heat of the day is intense, but the nights, especially in the canal, have a “soft, warm witchery” about them that is delicious.

After leaving Suez the way lies through the Gulf of the same name, into the Red Sea, where the water is blue, the background light brown, the hazy atmosphere pink, and the temperature red-hot. Vessels spread double awnings and hang up side curtains, but there is no escaping the intolerable heat experienced day and night going down this sea with the wind aft. Far away to the left, in the dim distance, is the fast-receding brown peak of Mount Sinai; other well-remembered biblical places stretch along the indistinct coast line; the ship speeds southward; the constellations in the blue heavens of night begin to change; the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb are passed; and as the four points of the Southern Cross arise bright and sparkling, the anchor is let go off Aden, in Arabia.

Aden, on its rocky and bare volcanic peninsula, is the Gibraltar of the Red Sea. It interests the traveller because of the big black Somalis, the oily, avaricious Jews, and the thin, ungainly camels moving up and down the streets. The town is too hot for enjoyment; it is better to stay on board ship, buy an imitation ostrich feather from a cheating Jew, and throw coppers into the water for little shave-headed naked negro boys to dive after.

During a stay of a few hours vessels fill up with coal and fresh provisions, land a small cargo of naval stores, cotton, and cotton-twist, and after taking on board coffee (nearly all Mocha is shipped here), dye-stuffs, feathers, dates, etc., depart for Bombay, for Colombo, for Australia, and for Africa.

The weather along the highways of the Indian Ocean is generally fair and warm, with a smooth sea, though, during the southwest monsoon, from May to September, there is a perceptible swell, and when this trade-wind sets in, in May, it is sure to bring gales, rain, lightning and thunder. August is the best summer month for cruising in the Indian Ocean. The northeast monsoon, the winter trade-wind, is less violent than the southwest, and has clear skies and a milder temperature. However, in going round the world, passengers, like ships, should take their chances with the weather, for having it fair at Bombay may bring it foul at Calcutta.

Vessels make Bombay, 1,670 miles eastward of Aden, in 7 days, and go alongside the docks when the tide permits. The traveller should at once hurry ashore to gaze with wonder at the infinite variety before him. For here are congregated Indian princes dressed in flowing robes of richest colors; Brahmins and Buddhists with turbans of softest texture bound about their brows; Parsees in long, white, full-skirted coats and odd-shaped-high hats; Turks in fezzes; Chinamen in silks; Persians in white trousers, loose alpaca coats, and shako astrakhan hats; effeminate Cinghalese, Jews, Mohammedans, and Europeans from England, France, Germany, and Russia. Along the water front pass unceasingly women, straight as javelins, tall, lithe, and graceful, their breasts covered by tight sleeveless tunics, their waists and hips wound in light flowing gauze. Silver bangles adorn their arms and legs, and rings glisten in their noses and ears, and on their toes and fingers. Bare-legged, bare-footed, their black hair tucked loosely up upon their shapely heads, on which are poised high brass water-jugs burnished like gold, these graceful creatures walk the streets like the queens of an Oriental fable.

Many lines of vessels converge at Bombay: the P. & O., the British India, and three or four others of less importance; two French lines, a German line, the Austrian Lloyd, the Italian Mail, and a Dutch line, are some of those to be seen during a stay of a fortnight. The British India offers the largest number of routes to the sight-seeing traveller. One of its lines leads to Kurrachee, the northern port of India; another goes to Calcutta, stopping at way ports; a third extends to Zanzibar and Mozambique, and a fourth reaches places on the Persian Gulf. This fourth route the tourist should certainly take if he has the time, though it carry him into the most trying climate imaginable. Before starting he should get Moore’s “Lalla Rookh,” it can be bought at an excellent English bookstore in Bombay, and read it on the way, as some of the scenes are laid in these waters.

The passengers on these Gulf steamers are of as many types as those seen on Change in Bombay. It is not unlikely that of the twenty or more who sit down to dinner, no two will be of the same color, costume, nationality, or religion. Even the crew ceases to be European; Chinamen usually cook and wait, and Indians handle cargo and work the ship.

About 600 miles and 4 days from, Kurrachee, Ormuz is made, dirty, dilapidated, with absolutely no remains of its historic wealth. The first place of importance is Bushire, 300 miles farther up. It is the principal seaport of Persia, and does considerable trade, long caravans of camels transporting merchandise to and from the interior. Persian cats can be got here; a pair offered for $25 was sold finally for $5; with more time they could have been bought for $2.

From Bushire to Bassorah, on the Euphrates, is 180 miles. A narrow canal-like stream leads from the river to the native village where Sindbad the Sailor is said to have roamed. Connection can be made at Bassorah with a steamboat going up the river past the Garden of Eden, a disappointing, flat, uncared-for plain, to Bagdad; and thence, by camel to points in the interior. Steamers in the Persian Gulf trade take in dates, grain, and wool, leaving cotton fabrics, rice, opium, etc.

On returning to Kurrachee, the traveller would do well to take the railway to Agra, and the Taj, Benares, and other places, and so back again to Bombay and the ocean highways.

Henceforth, the character of the passengers on board ship changes somewhat; many of the Europeans leave for extended tours by rail to Calcutta and other Indian cities, their places being taken by Parsee merchants, rich Indians, and enterprising Chinamen, bound away on business.

The run to Colombo, Ceylon, 875 miles to the southward, is made over a warm, smooth sea, and on the evening of the fifth day the harbor is entered. Colombo is a steamship centre where all the vessels of the long trunk lines rendezvous to coal, provision, exchange passengers and frequently freight. They come from the four quarters of the globe, from Calcutta and Bombay in the north, from China and Singapore in the east, from Australia, Mauritius, and Africa in the south, and from Aden and the Suez Canal in the west. Colombo has much to attract a traveller during the 24 or 48 hours the steamer stays, but usually the Oriental Hotel claims his time and attention, for this is the place of meeting of all who go upon the waters, and high wassail is apt to be the order of the night.

The dining-room of the Oriental is the refreshment-room at the intersection of the chief steam lines of the world. It is, as it were, the restaurant of a Union depot where everyone must go for a meal; at its tables travellers from opposite points of the world meet, Chinese bound for Europe, Englishmen to report for Indian duty, French soldiers en route for Saigon, and Australians making the grand tour.

If the traveller has stayed in the same ship all the way from London, he has, by the time he arrives at Colombo, been 30 days _en voyage_ and navigated a distance of 6,700 miles. By whatever line he has come, he should have enjoyed his life on board ship, for after the first day or two out from port acquaintances are made that rapidly ripen into good fellowship. Deck cricket, quoits, and cock-fighting enliven the forenoons; a novel and a nap wear away the afternoons; an innocent rubber with the ladies brightens the evenings; a good chorus begins the nights merrily, and a small game of draw shortens the dying hours.

At Colombo often the best of friends must part, some to stay in the country, others to go to a different ship; for the choice of routes is varied, there being some 15 steamship lines radiating hence toward the attractive countries of Australia, Africa, the Dutch East Indies, China, Japan, India, and Europe.