CHAPTER XII

AFRICA AND THE ORIENT

Bound for Cape Town--A pleasant voyage--Ships’ games--A contrast in voyages--“Cock-fighting” at sea--“Chalking the Pig’s Eye”--“Swinging the Monkey”--Marine cricket--A new kind of golf--Cycling at sea--Sweepstakes on the vessel’s run --Races on the ocean wave--Mock breach-of-promise trials-- By bullock waggon to Kimberley--I perform before Cecil Rhodes --Get shot in a street row--Contrast on my second visit-- The great strike riots in Johannesburg--Fire and dynamite-- A night of horror--A gay but expensive city--Dear drinks-- Performing in the back veldt--Eggs for throwing--At Pretoria --Kruger’s house--Where Winston Churchill swam the river-- A disappointing stream--My prize giant--A Jo’burg sensation --Buying a forty-shilling suit to measure--A disgusted tailor --Special railway travelling--My giant proves his agility-- In Colombo--Indian fakirs--Their conjuring skill overrated --The boy and rope trick--Two versions of a similar story-- The whole thing a fake--The evidence of H.H. the Maharajah of Jodhpur--I offer £100 to any native who can do it--No takers --The mango seed trick--Outwitting a fakir--“Let me plant the seed”--The camera in action--The Tree of Life--Cobra and mongoose fight 166