HOMEWARD BOUND BY THE BED SEA ROUTE,

Otago Witness, Issue 1906, 21 August 1890, Page 36

HOMEWARD BOUND BY THE BED SEA ROUTE,

By P. and 0.

ADEN AND THE SUEZ OANAL. After leaving Colombo the weather grew very hot and muggy. We Were frequently driven of! deck by the heavy tropical showers, the rain coming down in bucketfuls, and pouring through the awnings. It was no small trial to be obliged to go below. The heat in the saloon and cabins was almost unbearable, though everything was done to keep them cool. Funnels were placed in position from every port-hole to catch the breeze, and direct it into the cabins and alley ways ; and an engine was kept going constantly exhausting the air, with wins'ls in the hatchways provide a fresh supply ; and punkahs were always going at meal times. There was a sticky dampness about everything we touched ; people had scarcely energy enough even to amuso themselves ; our most brilliant conversationalists seemed to have exhausted all thoy had to say. We reached Aden in due time, and took a pood many Indian pfipsengerson board there, ohiefly officers going Home on furlough. L was too ill from the heat to be able to go ashore, for which we were very sorry, as there is an interesting drive to be had to some very old and very capacious water tanks. They are in ruins now, and, water being very BCarCe, men go about selling it in unglazed clay bottles of exceedingly graceful design. Nothing more barren looking could be imagined than THE VIEW OF ADEN PENINSULA B'BOUt T^B BBA. The mountains have wonderfully jagged outlines; not a sign of vegetation is to be Been ; and, with the exception of the blue sea, the whole scene might be faithfully represented with a cake of sepia. Feathers are the right thing to buy at Aden. The dealers are mostly Jews, with long ringlets in front of their ears. Both they and the Arabs are very ugly— as different as possible from the handsome Cingalese. They are arrant rogiies too, most of them, and only very few were allowed on board the ship. L offered one of them a shilling for a bunch of black ostrich feathers, but he , received the offer with a howl of indignation. Thirty shillings was the price, not a penny less. He tormented her with theße feathers at intervals during the whole day without moving her an inch; and, just as the ship was going to sail, put the feathers in her hand, and taking bis shilling went over the side. The diving boys are truly like ducks in the water. They seem able to keep afloat with no effort at all. They willnot take "black money," as they call coppers, and will scarcely take Indian silver. I offered one of them half a rupee and a threepenny piece to jump from the top of the awning. He wanted a sixpenoe, but I had none, so with much grumbling, he agreed to take what I offered. I would throw it in the sea, I said, and he could jump after it. " No, no, lady I n he entreated ; " then other boy get it ! " This was an undoubted fact, so I gave him the money, and the young rascal put it in his mouth, clambered down the side of the ship, and jumped from the main deck rail 1 They do not dive head foremost, but keep perfectly upright, and strike the water with their feet. If anyone threw a coin in the sea there was a regular rush for it from all sides, exactly as tame ducks in a pond do when you throw crumbs to them. Some of the boys had small, shallow boats, which were constantly getting full of water. No matter; the dccnpant jumped out, rooked his boat from side to side till it was empty, and climbed in again. Sometimes several, of them to attract attention would start a monotonous kind of ohanting chorus, the words of which seemed to be chiefly, "I 1 dive, I dive, sir ; I dive under the ship, sir." The ships ooming down, the Bed Sea re- ! ported that the heat was extreme, and deaths seemed to have been frequent; but we had a Blight advantage, as the wind was ahead of as and we gpt what breeze was going, while I the ships coming the opposite way had a fair wind. 0 So we set out on . THB MOST TRTING PART OF OTTB VOYAGE, and for five days ploughed our way through the oily water, often covered with a hideous red scum. There was nothing to be seen. ! Occasionally a rocky, barren island would show itself in the distance There s a group of 12 called the " Twelve Apostles." Judas, as is fitting, stands apart from the others by himself. We came through the Gulf of Suez during the night, and reached Suez early in the morning. • Formerly, I believe, the EuroDean mails were put ashore there, and went by rail to Alexandria; but now they are carried right on to Brindisi, so only the briefest possible stop is made at Suez to take on board a canal pilot. Wo looked eagerly among the crowds of shipping for THE I ENTRANCE TO THB FAMOUS OANAL, to which we had so long looked forward ; and when at last we found ourselves aotually in it we werenot disappointed. It was indeed most interesting. I was greatly struck with its extreme narrowness in places. From either side of the ship onecould easily throw pennies to tbe Arab ohildren, who ran alongside crying " Baok?heesh I Baoksheesh 1 " It was exactly like sailing through a great ditch. In some places the banks were high, so that we could not see over; at others we could, see far across the desert beyond— a waste of dreary sand, a yellow haze hanging over it ; a little dingy vegetation. Sometimes we passed houses and saw groups of patient cameW Once there was a mirage. We seemed to see low bills, lakes lying among them, and groups of palm trees. So real it all looked, even when seen through a powerful telescope, it was only when one looked steadily at it for some time and it was seen to move and shift that one was convinced that the beautiful scene had no actual existence. Several times we were tied up to the side to let another ship pass. This performance occupied about an hoar each time, and during that time the heat was greater than ever, as we were, deprived of the slight breeze made by our own slow motion. The speed in the canal is limited to five miles an hour, lest the wash from tbe steamer's waves should wear away the banks. Another source of danger to the sides is from ships bumping. This is such a common occurrence that pilots receive an extra fee for every ship they take

.through without touohing. fre were «nfortunate in this respect. Going round one Jof the bends the ship was seen to be In danger of runningaground.and the order was given, " Full speed ahead ; " but not in time to prevent her bumping rather heavily,- by which it was afterwards ascertained about 2ft was broken off each blade of the propeller. The injury was not so great aa to prevent us proceeding ; but the next day the run was only 330 miles, instead of the usual 360 or 370. It was just aa well that we were several days before contract time, as there is a heavy penalty for being late in landing the mails. An Australian ship, the Pandora, had entered the canal just before us, so we were obliged to keep a certain distance in her wake, and thatof another till wo reached the Great Bitter Lake Bub in the lake it is " Full speed ahead " and a race to be first at the next opening. The P. and O. steamer won easily, with the Pandora a bad second and the other nowhere. The Pandora was now behind us, and as night fell tho electric search light she carried in her hows presented a most beautiful sight. Even at the distance of a mile it was so bright that wo could not look at it steadily, and we could see by its light to read pencil writing. Some of us -went forward to try to see our own light, which was even more powerful than the Pandora's. We could not see the lamp itself, but its light was like the light of 100 moons as it shnne on the banks an 3on the phantom-like ships tied up to let us pass. We stopped at ISMAILIA to put the Egyptian passengers ashore and take on a fresh supply, our old friends taking their departure to the strains of "Auld lang syne" played by the band on the quarter deck. Shortly betore sailing again we 'saw a curious white-Tobed figure clambering up the side of the ship, and it came on deck saying something I could not understand", though there was a familiar sonmi about it to 6. He said" the same word--several times, and then we made it otlt to i-o "Kom, see ze j'oggler-man. Komi' So^ w« 'went, and he made his way to a hpM space and began. He was carrying a little soft white rabbit in one hand, and stroking it down with the other, he made it lay an egg, which he stuck on tbe end of '>ir> nose. Then he produced another in tl.<' same way, and stuck it on the lobe ■-( his right ear. He was just going to rep<;itthe performance when a quartermaster can .• ,and turned him off. He went forward «'••■' was just going to start again when anot li< 1 •quartermaster got him, and he was obli* • •' to go, disappearing over the side as myht • rioußly as he carno.