"IN SIGHT OF EUROPE."

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 23, 22 October 1907, Page 8

"IN SIGHT OF EUROPE."

; IMPRESSIONS ON THE VOYAGE. T\w Mediterranean stretches far away on either side of us in wavelets that dance and ripple-'and sparkle into ten thousand points of light under the unclouded morning sun. A strong cool wind is blowing across tho decks, and the languorous, heavily-charged atmosphere of the Red Sea, and tho sandfilled wind that swept across from the Arabian Desert a day or two ago, are forgotten ■in this whiff of Europe. There is new life in every breath of it. Tho heat-wearied and tho stoically enduring, in whom alike the wheels of being have been slow in these latter days, arise and walk with light and eager feet, too long burdened by tho weight of tho cloudless ocean'.midsummer. And yet the Red Sca'hashoen by no means at its' worst. In such latitudes, .and upon a landlocked channel, with a desert on- either hand, midsummer is; like to bo .an appalling thing. There is, for instance, a peculiarly insidious visitation of absolutely'dead heat that one wots of, when heart ahd'hrain stagger, when the overheated ship is unbearable below, and the decks above aro' dangerous—when one wanders miserably through tho breathless, stirless days\ while a relentless sun sucks up prodigious quantities of moisture from the surrounding sea, and scatters it through tho atmosphere in layers of humid heat—when tho night brings little abatement, aiul weary spectres of humans wander sleepless among the slow-moving hours. That is a'manifostation of the possibilities of the Red Sea which one is satisfied to have experienced once, and has no further need of it. In tho present case thoro was some wind, and, oven if it was hot, -still it was dry, and although the approach to Suez was diversified' by a stinging sand-storm from the adjacent desert,' yet Suez itself was bearable And the Canal — well, one always forgets any discomfort in the Canal, because one can never quite escape thought of tho magnitude of the great work, and of its vast and far-reaching effect upon the intercommunication of widely separated countries. And if there should he anyone who can forget that, for him there is always the interest of the passing hour. An occasional caravan appears upon the barren waste of. desert, and quaintly garbed Arabs move into the scene. Hero a group of camels rest upon the sand, and there a few mysteri-ous-looking women carry pitchers of water upon their heads. Small hoys run for miles along-the water's edge calling for pence to bo thrown from tho ship. Other ships that have been stopped by one or other of tho many signal stations along the route lie "tied up" in carefully arranged basins, while wo pass them hy, and speak one another in passing. These things combine to make tho ■hours go by with more than ordinary acceptance.

; Wo entered Port Said at 3 o'clock in the morning, and coaling operations began at once. In any case, the coaling of a big ship at Port Said is a sight worth seeing, but our case had the additional advantage of the weirdest possible conditions. Twelve large coal barges came out from tho shore, and divided to port and starboard —six on cither side of the ship. Each barge held some score of coolies, who, as they got within range, began to hoist long narrow planks, apparently of considerable weight, and'designed to give them access to the shoots. Tho night became hideous with ' noise. The blacks shouted to each other in car-piercing tones, and with no recognisable order of precedence. Each man tried to say his say. first, and loudest, and as usually some fifty talked simultaneously, and as tho mode of address consisted chiefly of short, sharp yelps _ of sound, the din speedily became unmentionable. And although sufficient, as it stood, to awnkon everyone on hoard, it now became intermingled with the call of tho men who wero engaged in hoisting tho foot-planks from tho barges and placing them against the ship's sides. This, tho Arabian equivalent of tho Englishman's traditional "lioaveoh!" consisted of. a short and .mournful song, reiterated with monotonous regularity. To an Australian it suggested a cross betweon a Gregorian chant and a corroboreo. It was effective, but over-obtrusive. Tho planks having been adjusted, tho whole army of men began to traverse, them with, incredible rapidity. Up and down the incline they went, staggering under the weight of their baskets as they, headed for the shoot, * but, having heaved each its contents into the void, turning and rushing wildly down the adjoining plank, hack' to tho barge for a .fresh load. 'The'.specd of it--was amazing., I am told; on tho;authority of a supervisor of tho work, tliat/theso men have been'known to load COO tons an hour—lo tons a minute. It is a record that will take some'boating. As all the gangs got into action tho,sight became eerie and unreal. Braziers, filled with lighted .coal, glowed from tho barges, flinging a weird half li<*ht upon a straSigely picturesque-scene, in tho centre, of which scores of nearly naked black figures rushed in never-ending line up and don;n the many planks, varying their downward flight with yells and screams and loud laughter and wild jumps, as though to merely run were to express but feebly their exuberance of energy. The thing becamo a phantasmagoria —a l)o Quincy dream —in which the darkness of'the surrounding sea, the quiet of ■ tho town, and tho ghostly shadows of.ships that lay scattered about.the port contrasted with tho scone of fierce activity immediately below us—tho crowd of rushing, shouting, leaping men, fantastically magnified, and lit into strange shapes by the glowing braziers about them.

! With daylight, and the subsequent stay of a few hours, camo the inevitable visit to tho town, in these days cleansed, in so far as surface indications show, of much of its former objectionable flotsam and jetsam. Its few business streets aro profusely policed by N Egyptians, and the crowded cosmopolitan life of tho place is apparently under adequato supervision. Many and varied nationalities and customs jostle into view upon the narrow , thoroughfares, and English, French, Arabians, and Egyptians meet and intermingle, but the Arab women glide mysteriously by without a glance or a sign, their black hoods screening their faces from tho view of the profano vulgar. The shops are filled with Eastern bric-a-brac; of which among much whoso origin is at least suspicious a good deal is evidently genuine Arabian and Egyptian. A few cafes, in front of the largest of which a group of girls play guitars and sing, not unmusically, gay chansons, suggest the strong French element of tho town. Donkcymcn hiro out . belated boasts for the diversion of visitors, vendors of beads and nick-nacks dog one's footsteps, beggars and guides rise up at every corner, and shopkeepers,: standing at their doors, tempt the unwary within. A drive through tho native quarters gives evidence that the comparative cleanliness of the town itself docs not extend to the outskirts. There' the filth of the streets, their crowds of dirty natives —men, women, and children —their unspeakable'shops, and tho dilapidation of their miserable dwelling-places aro little changed, and one is glad enough to turn, back from this typical scene of native squalor to .tho canal front and tho ship. Passing the monument of de Lesseps, with its figure of the great engineer looking down the Canal upon the rich harvest of his genius .—the unceasing fleet of ships coming up from the underworld—we head for the north, and in a moment or two . breast the blue Mediterranean. Two days of calm bailing, and, early on this sunny August morning, tho outposts of Southern Europe como into view, and Italy and Sicily loom upon tho horizon. Etna is enshrouded in mist, but the Italian coast-line shines in tho niorning sun, and every minute brings tho beautiful panorama-of'tho Straits of Messina, and the wooded hills, and the smooth beaches, and tho white sloping towns of southern Italy into clear relief. Above us tho delicate bluo of tho summer sky, below us the dcep > azure of the ■son, sunshine around us, an invigorating breezu ahead,, a snowy sail clotted hero arid there upon the dancing wavelets, and onfolding all that incomparable sweep .of olive-1 green Italy, crowned by the grey old hills above—this is Europe, and the beginning of tho end. In the beautiful nights of tho last week or two of this approach of Europo has been no loss vividly suggested. The starlit sky is overhead, but unfamiliar constellations shine upon us, for the Southern Cross, dipping night bv night, faded out beyond tho horizon at "last," and wc steer by tho northern stars. Australia and tho spring of the year are below us, and upon this hemisphere summer will soon bo melting into the russet-gold' of autumn. Australians travel far and wide, however, and the glamour of tho southland is rarely replaced. Like the men of old,, wo change our skies, but not our hearts.—"Sydney Morning Herald."