A TOUR OF THE EMPIRE

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 4824, 29 November 1902, Page 5 (Supplement)

A TOUR OF THE EMPIRE

(By J. H. Holmes.)

Although a builder more or less of the greatest Empire that the world has ever seen, the average Briton is generally, even when well educated, lamentably ignorant on matters connected with it. and the xiositioii and products of even well-known colonies aro usually very vague and misty. But in this hasty tour or glimpse of the Umpire it is intended to give a review ot the whole, and deal more Hilly with the separate countries subsequently as their importance remands. bet us start the tour from the hub of the ihnpiro, and imagine ourselves iu Waterloo waiting lor the train that wui bear us away irom. the great throbbing heart called London to the ship that will carry us to some of the farthest bloodvessels ol the huge body called Empire chat it feeds. Our ship will not follow the usual track, but will alter her course to suit our needs, for some of the most out or the way places have the distinction of being yurt of the British Empire, and the chain of possessions form a waving gtrdlo round the earth, making vmy true the saying that it .is “an Empire on which ‘the sun never sets/* for in the Antipodes their day is night to us, and vice versa, in consequence* of tho earth’s revolutions round the sun. Starting our voyage from Southampton our first port of call will bo Gibraltar, the British Cronstadt, a rock peninsula Jutting out from tho coast of Southern Spain, and forming tfce key of the Mediterranean Sea, which here at its entrance to tho Atlantic is not 20 miles wide. Tho "Hock/* as it is known, is heavily fortified, chambers being cut in tho solid rock, and is in every possible way impregnable. Heavy guns, though invisible from {lie sea, being mounted in tho galleries that aro cut in all directions, and commanding the strait and opposite African shore, rendering it impossible for a shir) or fleet to pass in or out of THE MEDITERRANEAN without sustaining damage or total destruction. But wo must pass on to Malta, another heavily fortified place, an island situated between tho coasts of Italy and North Africa; Volotta being the capital, with an 'extensive harbour and tremendous fortifications. The population are Maltese—a conglomeration of different southern European nations. * Before going through the Suez Canal, we will have a look at Cyprus, a little known possession, an island in the eastern Mediterranean, governed by Great Britain for Turkey, to whom it pays an annual tribute. Its capital is Nicosia, and it exports corn, wine, cotton, silk, etc.

Alexandria, tho great seaport town of Egypt, is worth a visit, and as wo lay off the town we can imagine the sight it mr.st have presented on tho day that tho English fleet thundered against its walls and forts. Its population includes the scum of all the Mediterranean nations, tho bulk of the British and other Europeans' being at Cairo, some distance up the river, where the Nile branches out into many streams and forms a delta. But wo must hurry on through the canal past Port Said and Suez, through the furnace-like Red Sea, stopping at Aden for a look at tho town that nestles at the bottom of half on extinct volcano, and guards tho entrance to the Bed Sea. Aden is only notable for its strategic value, and as the last stopping place before India. On the opposite, or African coast, is British Somaliland, not of sufficient importance to devote any lime to. So, leaving Aden, wo steam past tho island of Socotra, and make a course for Bombay. the second city of India, and notable as being one of the flrst British possessions in India, tho island on which it stands being part of the dowry of tho wife of Charles the Second. _lt has a population of nearly ouo million, and exports grain, cotton, indigo, silks and other articles of Indian produce and industry, IN' CEYLON'S ISLE. ' Wo now steer south, and passing down tho western coast of India, reach Ceylon of tho "apieey breezes.” spoken of hv Bishop Heher in his well-known missionary hymn; hut tea is now the staple product, tho island being one vast tea garden, but spices and indigo are still very important. The principal town is Colombo having a good harbour, well protected by mines, etc. Our next call is at Madras, the . first British possession in India, for in' 1639 the British took over a narrow strip of land and built Fort St. George, which has developed in the present city of Madras, the third city of India; after which, still keeping north, we enter the Hooghli river, with, its shifting mud banks, and we are at Calcutta, forming, with its suburbs, tho largest city in India, with over a million inhabitants, and exporting tea, grain, indigo,' dyes, silk, lac, jute, etc. Reluctantly leaving this metropolis of the East, with its miles of bazaars, we got on board, drop down tho Hooghli, and passing through tho Malacca Straits, stop at the Island of Singapore, with its cosmopolitan population, just long enough to note the curious mingling of races —Malays, Chinese, Japanese, Ginduos. Polynesians, etc., being mixed up in inextricable confusion. Wo mutt shape our course for Hongkong, tho stronghold of Britain in the Far East, passing British North Borneo, notable chiefly for its cigars, and its protected native State Sarawak, ruled by an Englishman, who has tho title of Rajah. Hongkong is an island lying oft tie coast of southern China, and forms, with a strip of land on tho mainland and a few small islands, an important possession, not on account of its size, but cf its position, being at the mouth of the Canton river, and an outlet of trade for southern China. Tho capital is Victoria, with a population of about 200,000. The only other British possession' in China is Wei-Hai-Wci, tho result of a futile attempt of the British Government to emulate Russia's seizure of Port Arthur, hut it has been found to bo not worth while protecting, and has de.-cl-oned into a sort of Chinese Southend or picnic place for tho British war. vessels to stop at. AVhile we are IN THE PACIFIC,

we might do worse than follow in tho track of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company's magnificent steamers and make for British Columbia, .a country of immense resources of mineral and other wealth, but at present in its comparative infancy, mining, lumbering and salmon fishing being the principal ndustries, and we leave Victoria, the capital with the impression that it has a great future before it, which is only kept back for want of a suitable population. Almost retracing our way, and crossing the Pacific again, wo thread our way through tho innumerable groups of islands that form Polynesia, and not deviating from our course, to visit Br'tiah New Guinea, New Zealand, tho British Isles of the southern latitudes comes in view, with a population of three-quar-ters of a million, of whom no less than ten thousand have fought for the kmr piro in South Africa; and with a glance at Auckland, we must get to Sydney. with its world-famed harbour, the capital of New South Wales. Australia as a country is a species of mild fraud, for its only habitable part is the fringe of vegetation that skirts the coast, and unless irrigation works cn a gigantic scalo are constructed it has a decided limit to expansion. It exports wool, mutton, gold, etc. • Leaving Sydney, wo xurn south, and pass through Bass Straits, which separate Tasmania from Australia, and without touching at Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, or at Albany, make our way across the Indian Ocean to Zanzibar, giving the islands of-Mauritius and Seychelles a wide berth. Zanzibar is an island that has had its day as tho principal slave market of East Africa, but ip now protected by Britain, and nominally governed by a puppet Sultan.

To the north of Zanzibar, on tho mainland. is Mombasa, the principal town of British East Africa, from which runs a railway to Uganda, an enlightened na-

tire Slate on the shores of tho Victoria Nyanza, and to tho north of British East Africa is the Bahr-el-Gluuel ami Egyptian Soudan, the "seen© of the recent Egyptian campaign. Coming south again, we coast along THE EAST AFRICAN SEABOARD, and passing Durban and Port Elizabeth* drop anchor iu Table Bay, with Capetown and Table Mountain in the background. It is 100 recent to recall the sanguinary struggle between Boer and Briton, which lasted for nearly three years, and taxed the utmost resources of the Empire, and called forth from the colonies tho magnificent burst cf pratical patriotism. As is well-known, tho chief wealth is derived from the gold and diamond fields, but it exports feathers, hides, wool, etc. Auer leaving Capetown wc go north, and passing by Waliish Bay and tho islands of St.'Helena and Ascension, reach tho West African possessions, exporting gold, palm oil, feathers ami ivory, after which, striking across the. Atlantic, wo pass British Guayana, {he British possessions iu the Leeward Isles, including tho fireswept St. Vincent. Wo reach Jamaica, and after a glance at Kingston, tno capital. wc Jock in at British Honduras, noted "for its • exports of mahogany, and making our way through tho Bahamas, pass the Bcrmu'das, outer tho St. Lawrence river, and stop at Quebec, the scene of tho defeat of Montcalm by Wolfe and the crushing of French hopes of a North American Empire. Canada has made immense progress of late years, and has an area as largo as Europe and a population of nearly millions. Its jirincipal wealth its cornfields and forests, tho latter being much used for tho purpose of making wood-pulp, but its deposits of gold and other precious mid useful metals aro being worked with success. Tho products have already exceeded tho homo demand, an important export trade is springing up, and the country is taking an important place among tho world's producers. This of all the British Colonies has o brilliant future in front of it, for its resources are prao. Ideally inexhaustible, and wo make our homo journey across the Atlantic with. th o Bottled opinion that wo have left to tho last not by any means the least of the links in tho chain of Empire so briefly passed in review.