THIS ALL-RED ROUTE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2511, 30 April 1902, Page 73

THIS ALL-RED ROUTE.

Br the Rev. J. Gibb.

VII.—THE PACIFIC SLOPE. The time to say gocd-bye to Vancouver came all too soon. My brief plnnose of Canada had quickened a strong desire to see more of a country which is certainly one of the most interesting of the King's possessions. If British Columbia and its two towns, Vancouver and Victoria, are typical of the rest of the colony, the prediction may be fiafely ventured that Canada has a gfreai future before it. I should give it the palm before any colony save our own. It will be a marvel if Australia ever equals it in population, in the vigour of the people. and the fertility of the soil. Australia is already a land of great cities, and if the water problem could be satisfactorily solved it might become as great in agriculture: but climatic conditions favour our Lady of the Snows. "Where lhe snow fallo," says an epigram, " there is freedom"; and we may add a healthy people and all kinds of enterprise. The only doubtful element in Canada's future would seem to be the French section of the population. I mentioned in an earlier article that Dr Montague, an ex-Minister of the Dominion Government, entertains s riout, fears a, to tlie part the French Canadian;, would play if Britain were to be at war with France. They are loyal enough at present, and have borne their share nobly in the Empire's battle in South Africa; yet even in this matter Dr Montague saw the sinister iniiuence of the French Premier. Sir Wilfrid liaurier. Canada, Dr Montague said, should have been the first of the colonies to offer help to the Homeland, instead of being as he said, among the last. But war with South African Dutoh is one thing; war with France would be another aud a different thing. I learned that Dr £±ontasrue's misgivings are shared by men like I>r MacXaren, of Vancouver, and others •well entitled to hold an opinion on t-his question. Well, there may never be a war •with France, and even if so great a calamity •were to occur one would hope that even the Frenchmen of Canada who have so long enjoyed the blessings of the beneficent away of Great Britain would elect to stand by the land which has been as truly a Motherland to them as to her own borders, there only peace within her own borders, there is to my thinking no colony save our own fair New Zealand which is so likely to r.ttain to greatness in respect of agricul--.Tiral and commercial concerns, and in reepect also of that which is 6o much more important — the physical, mental, and spiritual qualities of the men and women bom and bred within her borders. ON THE WAY TO FRISCO. This is not, however, the heading that b citizen of 'Frisco would give the paragraph. He would fcay " San Francisoo," and ho would further pull you up pretty sharply if you ventured to call it anything else. The good people of that city are quite touchy about the name strangers give to their place of abode. It was 'Frisco this with me, and 'Frisco that, till ono day a friend eaid with more than a touch of asperity: " What likeness is there, pray, between 'Frisco and San Francisco? When a city has a decent name why don't you gire it that name?" I pleaded universal usage outride San Francisco, but the citizens are ei-idfntly determined that whatever substitutes strangers may use for the full name in other parts of "the world, in San Francisco itself they must give it its rightful title. It is, however, a long cry from iDunedin to the Pacific Slope, and we may ir.differently use o:ther tl.o longer or the ehorter name H3 the humour takes us. ; San Francisco is 720 miles distant from :

Vancouver by sea. By rail it is a gcod deal longer. It takes almost as lor.g to do the land journey as the sea voyage, and even allowing for trains running at a low rate of speed the rail road must be a good deal longer than the sea road. There is regular and frequent communication by eea, and a train leaves Vancouver every morning at 9 o'clock. Fifty-eight or fifty-nine hours later the passenger 'Frisco reaches his destination. I had looked forward with pleasant anticipations to riding in an American train, for I thought these were all swift, and there are few things more exhilarating than a ride in a train tr3\elhng at the speed, .«ay, of an Edinburgh to London e\pres=. But my anticipations were altogether falsified. We growl, some of us, a good deal about the slowness of New Z aland trains, but the express to InvercargJ! is swift by comparison with the Vancouver- ' Frisco train. The speed did not average more than 18 miles an hour. As we r.eared our destination 1 heard a Yankeo declare that only one thing would relieve his exasperation with the pace. It was "to rise and kick out a panel or two of the kyar [car]." A good part of the road lies through hilly or even mountainous country. but the speed is dismally slow even on the long- level tracts. The monotonous jig-jog never varied. Surprising, almost incredible, this -in a country where everybody a"d everything is supposed to go at full speed and the pace makes men and women old by mid-time of their days. But the fact is that the Pacific Slope is America still in the making. Everybody knows that in the EaEtern States the trains vie with the beat that Britain can show; but everybody doesn't know that, west of the Rockies, America is in a very large measure only America in the process of formation. Quicktrains running for long distances without a stop would not pay in that region, and consequently you have to put up with stoppages every few miles and a =peed that makes you vow you will never aeain grumble at the leisurely ways of New Zealand locomotives. STAGES OF THE JOURNEY. The journey by rail is divided into three stages, of which the first is from Vancouver to Seattle, the second from Seattle to Portland, and the last from Portland lo San Francisco. It is in the first stage that the dividing line between Canada and the States is crossed, but the train runs all the way to Seattle in charge of the Canadian officials. They are a civil and attentive set of men, in this respect differing from the free and independent gentlemen who convoy you along the Yankee track. The carriages, especially the Pulman car, are handsome, and would be extremely comfortable if they were not overheated. But ovei heated they unquestionably are, and no kind of remonstrance addressed to the negro porter who travels in charge of the Pulman will a* ail to reduce the temperatuie. Tho tliei mometer was kept steadily between TO and 80, and this heat, produced by hot air from a great stove, Foon vitiates the atmosphere and brings on a. lassitude that robs the journey of half its pleasure. To prevent 3ny ingress of fre?h air. the windows aic doubled, with a space of an inch or two between the two panes of glas^. One other drawback there is to the Pulman car. When you have taken your seat after paying firstclass fare, the negro comes alone; and demands a dollar or two extra, and on your inquiring what is the meaning of this exaction, you are told that it is for the privilege of riding in the saloon. A seat in the Pulman by day entitles you to a bed in the same by night, but when tho journey extends over a night your place must be paid for at the booking office. Of the scenery between Vancouver and Seattle I can say but little. A thick Tog and drizzle obscured the landscape whero it was not hidden, as ■wap often the case, by the multitudinous trees. But even when the mist lifted a bit the prospect was not enchanting. Those who have seen a wooded country in the condition of being cleared for agricultural purposes, as in the North Island at present, and iii many parts of Australia, will be able to picture the scene. Nothing is more beautiful in Nature than trees, aud " valleys covered over with corn " are hardly less, enchanting ; but a landscape in process of denudation of its timber is simply dismal. And so this landscape struck me. THE DIVIDING LINE Tl v.j- will, no.-iii l.'umr I,'ce ;t thrill ol inten'ot that I =a\v tlie tram dr.iu up at the fir-t .-iatioii in the I'nitod State?. Sum as, as far an n>y memory ser\ es me, is the name of the p'.ace, but I am not quite pure. Tho interest, however, boon gave place to disappointment. Why. I said to myself, this is the Amenca of Martin CLuiz'evrit. Imagine a dull day of rain aod mist — bits of field* half cleared of their timber stretching away from the station on every side, the station buildings mean and dirty, the eating-room to be entered only by a man on the brink of starvation, so wretched and slatternly its appearance, the station officials and onicokors depressedlooking and untidy, and then say if it was remarkable that memories of Eden and Mark Tap lev- occupied my mind. The situation was dismal and tawdry enough to call for an exhibition of Mark Taplev's kind of jollity. The attentions of the Yankee customs officials who here thrust themselves on the not.cc of the unfortunate traveller made a further demand ou one's jjluln opl.y. At first I imagined that I ««■• g>':'-ig to escape the manipulations of tlicve liarpio= My baggage was all in the Pulman, and I was contemp'ating with calm pity the rummaging of the boxes of the unhappy fo"k who had luggage in the van', and thanking niy stars that I tra\ oiled with little impedimenta. My disgust may be imagined vihen, on returning to my carriage, I found thnt Uncle Sam's functionaries had gono through thfc train, opening every bag, poking into every parcel, and leaving the contents in a condition of admired disorder. A halfhearted effort had been made to close and strap the- bags again, but fragments of raiment and &o forth were left sticking out at every rhiuk. Iv my expeuc-iice, British Customs officers are easily first in the world in the point of civility. They go on the principle that every man is honc-t til' they prove him a z - ogue. The Yankee official, on the other hand, takes every man for a rogue till he is proved an honest manBut, bad as they are, they are a marked improvement on the Italian Customs officer I shall not readily forget the dealings of th*»se gentry with me in Naples eorac years ago. I had purchased in Port Said a small box of tobacco containing about four ounce* of that commodity. A day or trco after arriving in Naples I had occasion to go out to one of the Orient steamers lying in the bay. On my return from this brief trip 1 mado my way to a cnb and tvas about to be driven back to my hotel when a prying '

official, scring the littlo box sticking out of mv pocket, came up and beckoned the Jehu to" stop. Then, tapping the box with his finger, he said in a triumphant tone. ' Tabbac," further intimating that I had come from tho Orient liner acid was manifestly bent on smuggling. It was of no uc-o that" I protested that I had been some days in Italy; that I had only run out to the steamer to s.&e a friend ; that I had the " tabbac "' in my pocket when I left the wharf an hour before that. All «as in vain. Out of the rab I had to come amidst the pkudits of an admiring crowd (they were rot admiring me), aad was lncontinontly haled before a grim-looking personage, who fined me something like 10s in our money ; and on my demanding the tobacco informed me that I could get it only by paying 4s 6d more. On returning to my cab I told the dmer as well as I could what had happened. " Ah," c aid he. " latri, latri," by which he meant that thp Customs people were all thieves .'ad vagabond.*. So r):ey are; but that did not krep him from charging me two or three times over the regular hire when he deposited me at my destination Such be the sweet and wholesome ways of Italian Castomß officers aud Jehus. SEATTLE— A FRONTIER TOWN. A few hours later we were approaching Seattle. The fog had lifted, and we obtained a magnificent view of the vast mountain named Mount Shaster that dominates all this neighbourhood. The sun was setting at the time, and the memory of tlie colossal ice-clad crags, glowing rose-coloured in tho waning light, will not soon be forgotten. A bend in the line swallowed up the vision, and the eye was next rivted by the usual evidences of the nearness of a great city. There were four or five hours to wait here for the departure of the train on the next section of the journey, and happily I had as my cicerone during that time a Mr Gordon, whom I had travelled with from Honolulu to Vancouver. He is a relative of our late lamented fellow citizen, Mr Colin M'Keuzie Gordon, and under his pilotage I managed to see all that could be seen in the time at my disposal. Seattle is a populous city, and a very hive of industry and commerce. Tramways, cable and electric, run in all directions ; the shops are large and brilliantly lit by electricity, as are also the streets. Marching up and down these I i oted with curiosity that Undo Sam does not hide himself from the public view as dops John Bull when he is intent on the consumption of liquor. Many of the hotels had huge windows coming down almost to the level of the street, aud without blind or covering of any sort. The people inside sat around these windows in a blaze of electric light ; and other businesses — the barbers, for instance, seemed to be conducted on tlie same principle of the utmost publicity. It is said that Seattle contains a large proportion of the element Americans thernsel'.es describe as "tough." I can belie' p it. The face* in the streets rtruck me a.i keen, eager, re.-tless, with a large admixture of physiognomies you don't sco many samples of in New Zealand. Seattle is a great city. Lut it is new, and both its population and its streets and structure? betray the fact. Here is a street as well built and laid out a= any street in tbs world. Closely adjoining it is another no better than a corduroy road — loga laid down to help wayfarers through the mud. This slrof-t i= as bright almost as day, that almost as Mack ap a wolf's mouth. I commented on this sti'tc of affairs to one of the citizens, but t-uch comments are impolitic. "We must be cracked up, sir," said Mr Hannibal Chollop to Mark Tapley or.c happy day in Eden; "'we must be cracked up. You are not now in a despotic lar.d. We are a model to lhe airth, and must be jist tracked up. I tell you." There is a good deal in the Pacific Slope that makes one think chat after all Dickens did not exaggerate his account of some parts of America. But that is only one side of the shield. Tho other side was turned to me in a Seattle home to which I was introduced by Mr Gordon. It was hero I made my first acquaintance in her own land with that pretty, piquant, and altogether fascinating personality THE AMERICAN WOMAN. She knows how to carry herself as surely no other woman in the world does, and she knows how to dress, though I am too much the ignoramus at thi 1 - point t<> roii(!e-cciid on particular? I'm 1 n'liii'nil ci bow 1 v\u> i-ti vi k by liie stylo in which the young ladies do tid their hair. It if an artistic creation. Thi_» convprsation of the ladies T met in tine town was cs mtercpting as their looks. But all American women are not good convprsationaliht 1 -. I remember going up Vesuvius from Naples in a carriage which contained, besides inypelf. three Americans, of whom two wi ro a mzn and liis wife. The lady's vocabulary was 1 limited to "Oh. ray." I strove to engage her in talk. I pointed out certain features of the street* through which we were driving, " Oh, my," said the lady. I remarked on the beauties of Nature as we began the accent of the hill, "Oh, my," again quoth =ho. I called attention to the la\a streams when wo reached their level. Once more it was '"Oh, my." And so to the end of the chapter! On the top of the Rigi in Switzerland, when I got thrrc, by help of a cog-wheel railway, there wer^ three or four American girls. All the v orld knows how grand i« the prospect from that elevation. Like myself, these American yount» v.orrun ivr-io silent for a feiv minutes; then cine of th"m broke thf> bilence : " Oil. my, girl«," she said. " wouldn't I like pome of Dickensm'* e?n-ly!" It i= questionable if any obfrvation, however soaring, that this yo<inpr v. Oman misrht have inarlo would h;vvc proved a mpniovy so imperishable as tins yearning for candy on the summit of tho Rig'- But for all that the American worn.in. c.pii in the- rare oases (as we must suppose) when fche is not intellectual. i« a ■very interesting personality. "A dainty bit etotky," one of Barrio's men of Thrum* would say, and I cheerfully subscribe (o that opinion.