Part 2

But it is not enough to have swift, comfortable ships. Deep, calm harbours are needed, where the great ships may lie close to the land and discharge their burden. Here for instance we have a monument of which British engineers may be proud. This is a view of Colombo Harbour in the Island of Ceylon where the ships gather from Calcutta, and Madras, and Rangoon before they leave the Indian seas. The slide shows the main breakwater, built upon the bed of the sea, which protects shipping from the rough waves of the south-west monsoon. And here we have another view, showing a new part of the breakwater in process of building. Observe the huge block which is being lowered by the crane into the sea. Do you note that the crane itself is movable upon wheels, which run upon two pairs of rails? Next we have the diver descending to his work, with his head in a helmet, into which air is pumped from above. He has to prepare the bed on which the great blocks of concrete are laid. Lastly, we have the blocks shown in the blockyard stored ready for use.

Before we start on our voyage, we will cable to our friends in London, telling them to expect us. The electric cables are a very important part of the British Empire, although they lie two and three miles deep on the ocean bottom. Indian students and others who happen to have no friends in London are welcomed and introduced by the Northbrook Society or by the National Indian Association. The address of the first is 185, Piccadilly, London, and of the second Caxton Hall, Westminster.

[Sidenote: 27. Forest Scene in Ceylon.]

[Sidenote: 28. Aden from the Sea.]

[Sidenote: 29. Aden, the Tanks.]

Now let us go on our journey. We are traversing the ocean in a mail steamer; we leave Colombo or Bombay or Karachi and steam westward into the Gulf of Aden. Here we have one of the most remarkable contrasts of climate to be found in the world. In Ceylon or at Bombay rain and heat combine to produce a luxuriant tropical vegetation capable of supporting much human and animal life. There are other countries--and we are going to traverse some of them--which although hot enough, have little rain. Let us realise this contrast; for in taking a voyage from Colombo or Bombay to Aden we go from a well watered country to one which lacks water. Here is a scene in Ceylon, showing the rank vegetation which results from tropical heat and monsoon rains. Here, on the other hand, is the British fortress of Aden. It rains on an average in Aden only once in several years, but when it does rain it rains very hard, and these great tanks were constructed to gather the water from the naked rocky slopes around, and to store it for use in the next few years. You see that two or three shrubs are grown as curiosities beside the tank. But as Aden grew into a populous settlement the tanks were not sufficient for the wants of the people. The British distil fresh water from the sea.

[Sidenote: 30. Bumboats at Aden.]

Aden is a British fortress. It is not an island, but it is the next thing to an island--it is a peninsula. It is therefore easily defended by warships on the sea. The narrow isthmus connecting it to the mainland has been fortified.

[Sidenote: 31. Routes from India to Suez.]

[Sidenote: 32. The Suez Canal.]

So we pursue our journey until we come to Suez. This map shows you the routes from India across the Western Indian Ocean and up the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea to Suez, at the entrance to the Suez Canal. On the right hand we see Mecca marked in the map. Peace on the ocean, the traffic of steamships, and the British station at Aden have rendered the Haj less expensive than it used to be and less dangerous, so that many more Mohammedans now go to Mecca from India. Next we see our steamer in the Suez Canal. The banks are brown and desert, for a shower of rain is very rare, and the whole isthmus is naked rock and sand. The sea way is now continuous from the Red Sea. But the making of the Canal would have been impossible unless there had been fresh water near at hand in Egypt for the nourishment of the workers. The army of workmen who dug the Canal were supplied with sweet water by means of a small canal from the Nile. So you see that the Suez Canal was possible only because of the great river of Egypt, which brings water through the desert from far off sources.

[Sidenote: 33. Map of Lower Egypt.]

In this map of Lower Egypt you will see named the Gulf of Suez, which is the end of the Red Sea. Up the Red Sea come ships from Aden and the Indian Ocean. Here, on the other hand, is the Mediterranean, through which we shall pass to the Atlantic Ocean. And here is Suez, and the Isthmus of Suez, with the line of the Suez Canal. All that is shown yellow is barren, waterless desert, but the parts tinted with green are fertile and cultivated. As you see from the map, the isthmus is about 100 miles across. Remember that the voyage from Bombay to Britain is some 7,000 miles long--3,500 miles as far as the Canal and 3,500 miles beyond the Canal. Between the Eastern Ocean and the Western Ocean is only the Isthmus of Suez, but this used to compel men to take their ships far south through rough seas, round the Cape of Good Hope.

[Sidenote: 34. The Overland Route through the Desert.]

Let us, therefore, cross into Egypt, and ask what it is that has made possible this great change in the route of commerce and empire. Before the Canal was cut, but when already steam had been applied to the moving of ships, there were a few years in which passengers and letters were taken by one ship from Bombay to the Isthmus of Suez, and then on by another ship from the other side of the Isthmus to Britain. They were carried across the desert on the backs of camels. Here we have a picture of the thirsty desert. See the bones of a camel which has fallen by the way; the flesh has been picked off by vultures, and the sun and air have dried what remained to cinders. The camel is often called “The Ship of the Desert,” and this camel must have broken down just as ships are sometimes wrecked.

[Sidenote: 35. Cairo--The Citadel.]

[Sidenote: 36. The Road to the Pyramids.]

[Sidenote: 37. The Pyramids and the Sphinx.]

[Sidenote: 38. Climbing the Pyramids.]

At the end of their desert journey the travellers overland, before the Canal was made, came to the city of Cairo. We see it here with its citadel in the foreground. Notice within the citadel the great Mohammedan mosque with its towering minarets. Cairo is now occupied by the British, and there is freedom of religion for all races, as in every part of the British Empire. Close to Cairo are famous monuments, the Pyramids and the Sphinx, built some six thousand years ago. We see the Pyramids first in the distance as we drive from Cairo along this road. The trees which you see are watered daily, for rain is very rare in Egypt. Here we have arrived at the Pyramids, which are just on the desert edge, because the land watered by the Nile is too valuable for purposes of cultivation to permit of their being placed on fertile ground. The Pyramids and the Sphinx have hardly changed in this intensely dry climate through the space of 6,000 years, although the Sphinx has been partly buried in the sand. In order that you may appreciate the size of the Pyramids let us show a party of tourists climbing the great Pyramid, and note the huge blocks of stone of which it is built.

[Sidenote: 39. The Nile Valley in Flood.]

And now let us ask the question for which we are making this excursion from the Suez Canal into Egypt. How comes it that here, in the rainless desert, there is fresh water to make possible the cutting of the Suez Canal? It is because the Nile, the river of Egypt, comes from the South beyond the desert. There every summer the rains fall in Abyssinia, and the Egyptian Nile, far away to the north, rises in flood. Here is a view, taken from the edge of the desert at the brink of the valley, in the time of the annual flood. When the water subsides the crops are sown, and presently the harvest is reaped without so much as a shower of rain to aid the growth.

[Sidenote: 40. The Assouan Dam.]

[Sidenote: 41. Opening of the Assouan Dam.]

Now, sometimes it happens, as it happens also in India, that the rains fall short in Abyssinia. In such years the Nile brings down to Egypt a much smaller quantity of water. The fertilising flood is small, and there is danger of famine. As a precaution against these droughts, and also to extend the cultivated area some way into the desert, the British have constructed, near the southern end of Egypt, a great dam right across the valley. Here the dam is shown just when it was finished, and before the water had risen behind it. Do you notice beside the dam the canal with locks, by which the river traffic goes up and down notwithstanding the barrier to the flow of water? Do you see also all the openings in the dam to let the water through when it has risen high enough behind the masonry? Let me show you this same dam on the day when it was opened by the Duke of Connaught, brother of the King of England. This is he, wearing a white helmet and with medals and orders on his breast. Beside him are standing the Duchess of Connaught, the Khedive of Egypt, whom you may distinguish by the fez which he wears, and Lord Cromer, the great Englishman who has helped the Khedive to build the dam. You can distinguish Lord Cromer by his tall white hat. The water in the picture has risen to a high level behind the dam, the sluices have just been opened, and the stream is pouring on once more towards the sea. Every year the water now collects behind the dam during the period of flood, and is then let gradually down during the period of low Nile. Thus Egypt is becoming rich because its people are saved from famine, and new land, formerly desert, is brought under cultivation.

[Sidenote: 42. Port Said--Coaling.]

Let us return to our ship, which is waiting for us at Port Said, the port at the northern end of the Suez Canal. Here is a great mail steamer taking in coal for the remainder of her voyage from India. Is it not wonderful to think of the thousands upon thousands of tons of coal that are dug out of the ground in the British Islands and sent over the seas to drive most of the 9,000 steamers which do the trade of the British Empire?

[Sidenote: 43. Map of the Mediterranean.]

[Sidenote: 44. Malta.]

[Sidenote: 45. Gibraltar.]

And now we have come into the western seas and to the lands of the white man. On leaving Port Said, we steer westward at first, through the Mediterranean Sea. We call at Malta and Gibraltar, which are British ports, like Aden and Colombo. Malta is an island. Here is a view of its harbour, showing the fortifications. But the fortress of Gibraltar is on a peninsula like Aden, and a low isthmus, to the left of the picture, connects it with the mainland. The front of this tall cliff above the isthmus is pierced with galleries, which every here and there come out to the cliff front and allow place for a cannon. So you see that in Europe, as in Asia, the sea power of Britain has islands and little peninsulas for the calling places of its ships. Close to Gibraltar was fought Trafalgar, the most celebrated of British victories at sea.

[Sidenote: 46. Map of Western Europe.]

[Sidenote: 47. In the Bay of Biscay.]

We pass through the Strait of Gibraltar, which is only eight miles across, and has Europe visible on the one hand and Africa on the other. Now we emerge from the Mediterranean and steering northward round the western lands of Europe, we at last approach the British Isles. We cross the Bay of Biscay, a part of the broad Atlantic. Huge billows often roll in from the ocean, and play with our great steamer as a child plays with a toy, yet there is a busy traffic of ships on these wide waters.

But there was a time when Britain had no Colonies, and consisted only of British Islands. There were then fewer people in Britain than there are now, and the English Channel, up which we are to sail, protected the British people from invasion by enemies, so they were able to develop the government and the freedom which have since helped Britain to give peace and to give justice through so large a part of the world.

[Sidenote: 48. Eddystone Lighthouse.]

As we steer into the home waters of Britain, the first object we see is a famous lighthouse, built on the dangerous Eddystone rocks, ten miles away from the coast of England. You will notice that there is also the stump of an older lighthouse. The waves of the ocean are sometimes very terrible, and this is the fourth lighthouse which has had to be built on these rocks. Britain is surrounded by several score of lighthouses placed upon all the dangerous points round its shores.

[Sidenote: 49. Map of the Straits of Dover and the Thames Estuary.]

Passing Eddystone, we may call at Plymouth to land some of our passengers, who will hurry to London by train. But we will proceed up the English Channel. Off Dover we turn north and round the promontory of Kent, with cliffs of white chalk on our left hand. Entering the broad estuary of the Thames we are soon off Gravesend, having passed Chatham, one of the chief stations of the Navy. At Gravesend we shall probably have to anchor for a short time, because the river is tidal and is deep enough for large vessels only at high water.

[Sidenote: 50. Channel Boat approaching Dover.]

[Sidenote: 51. Dover--Admiralty Pier, S.S. “Pas de Calais” unloading.]

[Sidenote: 52. Dover--Admiralty Pier, S.S. “Queen” loading the Indian Mails.]

Dover, seen from our deck quite clearly as we came past it, is a place of much interest to those who live in the East. You know that nowadays the letters from India and the neighbouring lands are not carried to Britain all the way round by sea past Gibraltar, but are landed at a Mediterranean port and brought across Europe by rail. They cannot enter England, however, without once more being placed upon a steamer--this time a small packet, which rapidly crosses the twenty miles of water between Britain and the Continent, known as the Straits of Dover. You can see across the Straits of Dover. There are white cliffs which glisten in the sunshine on both sides. Here is one of the Channel steamers unloading at Dover pier. Do you see the railway train drawn up alongside? It is about to leave for London. Notice the crane lifting baggage from the steamer to the train, so that there may be as little delay as possible. Here is another Channel steamer at Dover. She is just about to leave for the Continent. The railway train has arrived--a whole van, less the wheels, is being raised on the crane and placed on the steamer. It is full of baggage, and is lifted thus to save time--for every minute is worth money. Some hundred bags of mails have to be carried on to the vessel. Think of the many, many thousand letters written every week in Britain which are going to the East--to India and to Ceylon, to the Straits Settlements and Hong Kong and Mauritius.

[Sidenote: 53. Gravesend--Shipping waiting for the Tide.]

[Sidenote: 54. Sunset near Gravesend.]

[Sidenote: 55. The same ten minutes later.]

Let us now go back to our steamer. The tide turns, and we leave Gravesend, passing slowly up the river towards London. The scene is often very animated at Gravesend, as several score of vessels, great and small, get up their anchors and begin to move with the running stream. Sometimes as you look westward up the Thames in the evening, the light in the sky is magnificent, for the clouds are dense with smoke. You must remember that this city of 7,000,000 people has a cold winter, and each room has a place for a fire to keep its inhabitants warm. By good fortune we have been able to photograph such a sunset from the hill above Gravesend. Do you see the river shining on the dark ground below? Here is the same sunset taken ten minutes later. These two slides have not been painted with a brush according to an artist’s imagination, they have been photographed in colour, and they are absolutely true in their effect.

[Sidenote: 56. Arrival in Dock.]

[Sidenote: 57. Welcome on Deck.]

[Sidenote: 58. Landing.]

[Sidenote: 59. Steamers in Dock.]

At last we enter one of the docks which receive ships from the river at high tide. The dock gates are closed behind us, so that when the tide falls in the river our steamer will remain afloat beside the wharf. We see here the great vessel being pushed slowly into her berth by steam tugs which were waiting for her. And here we have a scene on deck when the gangways have been opened to the shore, and friends have come on board to welcome our British fellow-passengers, many of them returning home after years of absence. Now we set foot on land, and run by train past miles of houses until we come into the centre of the vast city, and reach our hotel. Meantime the captain of the ship and the crew have gone to their homes, and the great ship lies at rest in the dock--silent after her long voyage.

We will unpack our trunks and sleep for a night before we go into the streets of London to see the metropolis of the Empire.

LECTURE II.

LONDON, THE IMPERIAL CITY.

[Sidenote: 1. Areas of India and the British Isles compared.]

Before we set out through the largest and most populous city of the world, let us consider what it is that we are going to look at. Let us try to understand the size of the United Kingdom and of London by comparing them with India and its chief cities. First we have a map showing the area of the British Isles compared with the area of India. We see that the British Isles are small as compared with India; but they have a far more dense population. There are more than twice as many people to the square mile in the United Kingdom than there are in India. This is due to the fact that the people of India live for the most part in villages, whereas in the United Kingdom the majority of the people live in the cities. In India only about ten per cent. of the whole population live in towns with more than five thousand inhabitants.

[Sidenote: 2. Populations of London, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Delhi, Rangoon, and Karachi compared.]

Now let us compare the populations of our chief Indian cities with that of London. We have here circles which represent by their areas the population of London on the one hand, and on the other hand of Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Delhi, Rangoon, and Karachi. We see at a glance that London has a population greater than the combined population of all these great cities.

We notice the words “Greater London” round the black circle. London may be measured in three ways, for it consists of three zones, one within the other. In the centre there is the oldest part, the City of London, which is now the chief place of business. Round the city there has grown up, in the course of centuries, a great ring of population known as Inner London. Outside this again, there has sprung up of recent years a still wider zone of suburbs, which is called Outer London. These three, the City, Inner London and Outer London, together make Greater London.

[Sidenote: 3. Areas of London and Calcutta compared.]

[Sidenote: 4. Areas of London and Bombay compared.]

[Sidenote: 5. Areas of London and Madras compared.]

We will next consider how much space the seven million people of London take. On this slide we have two little maps, of which the lower shows in pink the ground covered by the houses of London, and above we have Calcutta shown in like manner. In the next slide the map of the houses of London is repeated, but the outline above is that of Bombay, set on its island between the harbour and the ocean. Lastly, we have a comparison of the area of London with that of Madras. In proportion to its population Madras covers a large area, for as you know there are several spaces within it planted with trees and without houses, but even Madras is small as compared with London.

[Sidenote: 6. The London Docks.]

Now let us start on our way through the town. The chief feature of London is the River Thames. The time was when London was only a small village on the banks of the Thames. To-day the Thames is the harbour of London, the greatest port in the world. Let us go on a little steamer along the river, and let us begin with the docks. An immense quantity of food is needed to feed seven million people. Great quantities of coal are required to keep them warm in their cold winter, and to supply gas and electricity during their long winter nights. Much material is, of course, also required for the construction of their houses and public buildings. Of all these commodities a large part is brought in by sea, and is discharged in the docks. You will remember that at the end of the last Lecture we told how the water is held up in the docks, even when the tide falls in the river. Many of the smaller steamers, however, do not go into the docks. They are able to lie in the river itself and rise and fall with the tide.

[Sidenote: 7. The Tower Bridge.]

When we leave the docks and proceed up the river, we come presently to a bridge, the nearest to the sea of many bridges which carry roads and railways over the Thames. This is the Tower Bridge. It is a very striking object, visible in any distant view of London, for as you see it is borne on two lofty piers, between which there is an upper and a lower way. The upper way is used by foot passengers when the lower way is lifted, as in the slide, to allow of the passage of ships with masts.

[Sidenote: 8. London Bridge.]

But, though the Tower Bridge is so remarkable a structure you must remember that it is only new. The most celebrated bridge in London, perhaps in the world, is called London Bridge. It stands next above the Tower Bridge. Two thousand years ago there was no London; where the houses are now were then forests and marshes. Some seventeen hundred years ago the first London Bridge was built; it was rebuilt afterwards more than once; but no second bridge was put over the River Thames to connect the north and the south of London until a century and a half ago. For all those centuries there was one London Bridge. By means of this Bridge the traffic of the south of England crossed the Thames to the north. But London Bridge stopped the ships coming up from the sea and prevented them from going further into the land, because in early days men could only build small arches for a bridge, and these were neither broad enough nor high enough for sea-going ships. So it was that London grew round London Bridge, for here was not only the lowest bridge on the river but also the most inland point to which sea-going ships could ascend. It was an important place, therefore, both for land traffic and for water traffic.

[Sidenote: 9. The Tower of London.]

On the north bank of the river, a little below London Bridge, the Kings of England in old time built a fortress to defend the town, and also to keep its population in order. This fortress is still standing, although against modern weapons it would now be useless. It is known as the Tower of London, and is a very interesting old place, quiet and silent amid the noisy metropolis around. The King’s Crown and Coronation jewels are kept here.

[Sidenote: 10. The River below London Bridge.]

The Tower Bridge is so called because it crosses the river beside the Tower of London. Here we have a view taken from London Bridge, looking down the busy river to the Tower Bridge. You can just see the Tower of London on the left hand.

[Sidenote: 11. Plan of Greater London.]