A ROUND-THE-WORLD TRIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2299, 24 March 1898, Page 60

A ROUND-THE-WORLD TRIP.

xx r. HOMEWARD BOUND — DOVER TO CALAIS — THROUGH FRANCE A^D ITALY— BRINDISI— FORT SAIfD— THE SUEZ CANAL— ADEN. I need not dwell longer on London and its environs, although in the time intervening between my return from Scotland and the date of my leaving on the return voyage I \va3 able to see many places of interest Tne day came round far too qnickly when I had to run ; down by train to the Royal Albert Docks and take possession of my cabin on the China. I placed my things ,in charge of Ijhe steward, for I found it necessary to arrange to join the steamer at Bricdisi. By this arrangement I got a clear five days extra in London. These passed with the usual rapidity of "last days," when business matters Lave to be closed up and numbers of farewells taken. Then came the final leavetakings and the night train to Dover, which we reached about II o'clock, to find the Calais packet waiting to take us across the Channel. The mails were heavy and passengers' baggage in considerable quantity, but all wore transhipped before midnight. Fortunately the night was calm, and thf-re was every promise of a pleasant enough trip across. Wandering about the slesmer I found there were a few cemforb-able-looking deck cabins. I had paid £18 to Ccok and gkn for the through trip fivm London to Brindisi, and ts Ihe remission in fare 1 gmi'etl by the P. and O. Company for not } starting from Louden in the. steamer was only j £5, I ihought I would take full advaotageot such comforts as were afforded on the Otiaonel boats. I accordingly took possession of as comfortable a cabin as I could Sfclecb, drew r.he curtains at Uie doorway, and lay down for ati hour's rest. Before arrival at Calais, one of the fcteamer's officials came in, and, opening a iscktt book, said, "Fare, eir.'' I produced my Cook's ticket;, but only to receive ihe reply ihnfc | ib included the passage atrcss the Channel I only, and that cabins were extra — price 15?. I I consequently had to" pay the demand. Shortly after 1 a.m. we disembarked at Calais. The passengers claimed their baggage, I arid after an examination by a French customs c filet r it was passed, and we crowded into the i express^ train that was waiting to receive u», | s midst' much voluble chattering and ge*ticusa- j tioti by porters, guards, and other officials, i We weie some mile.-? on the way before we all got settled down iuto our sleeping berths. What a contrast the miserable accommodation In this so-called express presents to that of the Pullman sleeping cars of the American railways ! Sleeping in a railway train can never be anything but a poor substitute for the c m- ' fortable bedrooms of the hotels or one's own i home, bub in America all is done that can be done to make the substitute *s comfortable as j possible. The Calais-Brindisi express, on the ' contrary, is about the most miserably appointed train conceivable. There is absolute i &n& unmitigated discomfort from the time the ! Dnt'ortunate traveller begins to make his preparations for retiring for the night until, after supreme difficulty, he has succeeded in obtainiDg sufficient water iv which to wash himself before breakfast. The water is not even laid , on to the basins, and the, compartments in | which the passengers are supposed to wash are ■ so smalHihTij it is hardly possible to turn round in them. The whole of the arrangements are a disgrace to the companies which run the ser- j vice through France and Italy. , \ In the daytime, however, there was much to interest us. The China contingent was a fairly large one, many of them being officers en route to India and T3gypt. The former were going out to take part in the frontier opera- : tione. We caw many pretty spots in our i journey through Fiance, and emerged into Italy after passing through the Mont Cenis tunnel (7£ miles), thence through Piedmont by way tf Turin, Modena, Bologna, &c, to the shore of the Adriatic Sea. We speut another night in our miserable sleeping berths, and were glad to escape therefrom as early as possible, and watch the play of the morning sun on the rippliDg waters of the beautiful sea close to whose shores we pursued our journey. The white sails of scores of fi'hing b 9ts stretched right away to the horizon, »iid we cpesr-'d numbers of quaint-lookicg U't'e towns, wrth the inhabitants in pictureeque «'-,>stumes. Mile after mile, hour after Hour, we pped through a country devoted to the cultivation of the o ive, interspersed with occasional patches of or chsrd — peaches, grapes, &c. Many of the olive tree 3 looked for all the world like the gnarled broadl«ftf of New Zealand, but of coarse of much smaller size. The trunks of the older trees presented a curious appearance -in consequence of their having large holes right through tliern^ although the tops seemed green and flourishing. The olive oil industry muse be a great factor in the prosperity of Italy, for we certainlyspaesed hundreds of miles of olive plantations. Between 6 and 7 p.m. wo reached Biiudisi, and made our way to the tvJiSv'f where the China lay moored. By the tirjse tm had got settled down into our places, the Lugta soun-derl for dinner ; and a brilliant »f r-earance the saloon presented when the Feat* \.ere all filled. We lisd m full complement of passengers, and not a .«tat w*is vacsnfc, although doubtlesß the mer*< w, y. jr. n the jfuod steamer would ba ploughing bcr way through the waters of the Mediterranean, would tell a different tale. Diuner over we had just time to see a little of Brindisi, although darkness was setting in. It seemed a lively, bustliog port, and is interesting also from its groat antiquity, for over 2000 yeara ago — 267 v. c. — the town came into possession of the Romans by capture. Ifc became a great naval station of the Romans on account of its splendid landlocked harbour. In later centuries it was captured by the Normans, 1 and the Crusaders used the port largely as a point of departure for the Holy Land. At Brindisi was the termination of the Appian Way, that great roadway which traversed Italy from north to south. The present population is about 15,000. We got well out into the Mediterranean by about 9 o'clock, aud I retired to my cabin to accustom myself to tbe steamer in the way I knew was most likely to tend to my comfort. TJje night wafl f frjrlv *&$ i« a 7voo-ton7 v OO-ton ,

! sreampr the mciists urns '.r.&piirficinble. Honca | in rise moraiog [ fc<t ia good enough trim to get up and bslie a bain, and subsequently my breakfast at fables which showed that we were not g Ang to ii&ve many deserters from meals provided we were favoured wifch moderate weather Lite proved to ba more than endurable on our splendid steamer, and during the passage of the Mediterranean companionships were formed, deck games organised, and much novelreading indulged in. By neon of our first day out we had logged 204- inilep, and had passed the lonian Islands and the coast of Greece ; on the second day the log showed 4-19 miles, and on the third 321 to Port Said, which we reached early ia the day, after passing the mouths of the Nile. Port Said has Jived down its evil reputation as the dumping ground for the refuse villainy of the two hemispheree, thanks to British occupation. We were pulled ashore by a couple of native boatmen, and on landing were surrounded by a heterogeneouß collection of Arabs and others, sellers of cheap jewellery, photographs, &c. Escaping from our persistent tormentors after making some small purchases, we hired a cab, driven by a swarthy native of the soil. In the course of our bargaining with him we wer* gravely informed that his name was Johnson, and that he was a Scotchman. We found thes* Scotch Arabs croppsd up repeatedly, and thf.y all laid claim to the name of Johnson, if-, appeared that the origin of this assumption ok the Scotch patronymic was the well-kno>va story in Mark Twain's " Innocents Abroad/ in which a group of talkers being doubtfal as to the name of a man who was being referred to, one of their number suggested that tihey should " call him Johnson."" Pore Said has been described *g the hsU^ay Setts'- netwixf Kast and West, and it is ftalc«!ued ibsfc fuiJ? half a m'llion persons call there annually ».»' I their .journeying outward and homeward. A. a reoenfc article puts it, it is at that point i>v--the outward traveller bids good-bye to the O; ! i World, and it is here that the homeward houu - finds himself on the threshold of all th»l •- European aud modern. We drove through the narrow, crooked, .i.ni dirty streets, saw tte unlovely phases of life Iv the outskirts of the town, entered a mosque (after covering our feefc with straw shoes provided for the purpose), and got back to our boatmen in time to embark bjfore the China sounded the signal for her departure, la a very short wfcile we had entered the Suez Car-al, and were lxxob interested in that imnorfcaofc wn-te'^av •Auoajjb the desfcr'o SAcds. Is was soEnewbsvii «sifar;ulu to raa]i>e thafc ta our right, Ktthiu t. skate's throw. Ivy tn& great noutiueut ot -A*Yie?, and bnt % fow feet to our left Arabia, with all the hsllnwed associations last will for ever linger round the, regions of Jerusalem, Damascus, and the Dead Bes. wh'ob lie ia this particular portion ot that count* •• Th« psss&ge of tue Sue?- Catiai has bt«»'» <?iscnb"t3 as uuinttresting — a great ditoL. tiuv<i;h a seedy wftste. If; is far from beiiifj &o. Tae passage ;j; j a el&w one, t tires or .'iut naiie.3 *k hour bsing the speed, and occasionally the steamer has to stop in a siding to allow {mother to pass from the opposite direcfciia. The displacement of the water by our huge steamer bad a curious effect, little curiiyg wavss running with the speed of tlio vessel al >rg ths edge of 'the c»»a!, aa if in the effort to isr en pace with the cause of (/heir existence. Or, our left, running along the edge of the canal, an" Arab youth ran for an hour or more. He kept up » dtmand for"backshee«h," and adroitly caughfe the penuies that were thrown to him by the passengers. Anon the Bitter Lakes were reached, and entering these numbers of rosycoloured flamingoes and Hocks of great white pelicans g<ive added pleasure to the iuterested passerines. An occasional oasis on the canal bank betokens the otherwise desolate abode of some caretaker or official, and afc intervals a. cornel aud some Jighth-ciad Arabs give pxturerquenees to the scene. Presently darkaess sets in, and the stesmc-i'n powerful ses.'ciilight — ssca.'.]::»£ my trip up the .Hudson — sends forth it« raj* of I dou'*- know how^many tbousaiso omdae-iMwer, brii^astly illuminating tbe sand of the desert, whirh sparkles and glistens under the powerful light. There is a wchd feeling prsvalsnt among tha passengers as the decks are paced undar the influence of our strange surrounding 11 . We realise than f&r across, too desert to our right lie tho Pv-ransids, on cur left the Holy Land, ana those of us who are making the trip for the first tlois feel no inclination to leave the strange h.fluentes of the balmy night. Bub the necessity for resfc and sleep finally drives us below, and of the passage of the rest of the canal during the next few hours we know nothing, except that some little stir in the early hours of th« morning batokens the landing of some o? one military friends at Ism&ilis, en route for Cairo. Hw z is passed on the follmviog day, and the Red Sea entered. We bive a >rip of about 1000 miles on this blue ocms'i. before the Straite ot Bab-el-Mandeb are reached. We expjrienced the bos weather u-snal ia fchis dreaded passage between Sirez and Aden. If; •was a trying time to the passengers, > Cabins were deserted by many oi tbes), and nunsbv-rs' of ladies even slept an deck— mittresses being brought up for the purpose — rather than eadore the stifling heat of their cabins. 1 About 10 a.m. on Sunday, the 12th September, we reached Aden, a barren, desolatelooking place, where it 13 impossible that life can be more than barely endurable. 'It was a scorching hot day-, and arrayed iv white linen costumes, with big hats to protect us from the powerful rays of the sun, a shore party was formed, and after quarter of an hour's rowing our perspiring boatmen ranged up along-side the place of this outpost of the Arabian, desert. Not a green thing wa3 to be seen anywhere — not even a blade of grass. It is a sunscorched and forbiddiDg region on which no rain descends. Its inhabitants are a mixture of swarthy Jews, Arabs, and Somalis ; and prominent on the rocky and sandy hillside which rises from the ocean stand the barracks of the British regiment whose fate it is to b3 located at this important key to the Indian Ocean and the Bast. After running the gauntlet of the persistent sellers of ostrich feathers — three or four small feathers for a shilling,— l picked up with two or three of the soldiers who were making their way to their quarters, and by invitation accompanied them to accept their pressings-tendered hospitality. We climbed up the steep hillside, and, bathed in perspiration, I wag glad to sib down for a few minutes in the cool mess room of the regiment. The thick stone walls of the building and a roof expressly constructed to resist the powerful rays of a relentless suu provided a haven of rest which was thoroughly enjoyable. My soldier acquaintances told me they had not had a drop of rain for between two and three years. They were congratulating themselves on the prospect of an early release from their exile ia so unlovely a spot and a return to England to enjoy a well-earned respite. On the way to the landing stage some Somali boys clamoured for silver coins to ba thrown into the water, for which they offered to dive from the top of a wooden erection on * jetty some little distance aw*i, $w qc three

ai the pafssngers responded, and we had an exhibition of firsb-class diving from a height of perhaps 15ft. The coins were almost invariably brought up from a considerable depth. In the harbcur lay a steamer preparing for her departure for Bombay, and bsfore wegotback to the China we found thab our military passengers had been transferred to her. They had made many friends, and the Australasian passengers had given them a dinner before we reached Aden. In addition to Gsreral Sir William Lockhart and General Lord Methuen there were a colonel, a lieutenaut-colonel, two majors, a surgeon-captain, three captains, and seven lieutenants, and Mr E^ne Bull, a special correspondent and artist of one of bhe London illustrated papers, accompanied the party. Again on board our steamer we found bartering with the Aden dealers in full swing. They were not allowed on board, but exhibited their cheetah skins, horns of various kinds of doer, baskets, and other aiticlcs from their boats, and as coon as a. bargain was struck with a passeDger on deck the article was sent up by means of a cord, and the money knotted into a handkerchief and lowered into the boat. The prices they gob were certainly not large, lu 1 ; after much shaking of their heads and protestation that the prices offered were too low they usually accepted them, although perhaps only a third or fourth of whab they had originally asked. - As the day closed, the dealers all left us, and after dinner the anchor was weighed and at 8 p.m. wa took our departure on our long passage of over 2000 miles across the Indian Ocean to Colombo.