Book r?^A/ CopyrightN^-. COPYRIGHT DEPOSn^ Glimpses of Many Lands By Sarah Robb Congleton Chicago Privately Printed 1915 .C-,4 Copyright, iqis, by SARAH ROBB CONGLETON E\)e fLakesttit ^rtss R. DONNELLEY 4- SONS COMPANY CHICAGO MAY 26 iaiS ©C1,A406026 Foreword I have not written a book. At the urgent request of some of our friends, I have collected the letters I wrote to them during the year we were traveling in many lands, and with the help of the quite copious notes which I never failed to record in my diary I have been able to reproduce at least a general idea of where we have been and what we have seen, and a faint glimpse only of the much we have learned. If this story of our journeyings gives one half the pleasure to those who read it, that it has given to me in the writing, it will not have been written in vain; for in rewriting these letters, and in the frequent refer- ences to my notebooks, I have lived over again much of the interesting and valuable part of our trip, without any of our discomforts and weariness. If our experience and notes can be a help to anyone contemplating a similar trip, I shall be glad I have written this. S. R. C. Contents LeUer Page I. On the Pacific 7 II. Japan 18 III. Japan 31 IV. Japan, Korea, and China'. ... 42 V. China 55 VI. China 63 VII. Java 70 VIII. Singapore and Burma .... 81 IX. India 92 X. India 106 XI. Ceylon 121 XII. Egypt 127 XIII. Palestine 142 XIV. Constantinople and Athens . . 160 XV. Italy and Austria 171 XVI. Central Europe 178 XVII. The Land of the Midnight Sun . 186 XVIII. Sweden and Russia 198 XIX. The Beginning of the War . . 214 XX. On the Atlantic 221 Glimpses of Many Lands I On the Pacific On board the Pacific Mail Steamship "Mongolia" Wednesday, October i, 1913. Dear Home Folk: — I am going to begin a letter to-day, and will try to add a little each day while on the boat; then when we reach Yokohama I will have a full account of the trip, all ready to mail. We left the St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, about 10:30 this morning, for the steamer dock, and were soon on board the "Mongolia," where we made the acquaintance of the other four members of our party, — Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Pitkin, Miss J. Bowman, and Mr. E. Goff, all of Hartford, Connecticut. Our conductor, Mr. H. Wilfred Kelley, of Boston, had already called upon us at the hotel. Found our cabin, and the boat generally, very satisfactory, and began to get our belongings adjusted for a nearly three weeks' residence in somewhat restricted quarters. The "Mongolia" steamed out from the pier soon after noon, leaving a handkerchief-waving crowd on the dock, and a band playing, "Should auld acquaintance 8 ' Glimpses of Many Lands be forgot?" The sun was shining brightly, and the bay very smooth. We stayed on deck until after we had passed through the Golden Gate, then went down to the dining saloon to "tiffin" (the oriental word for luncheon). After we left the bay, the sea grew rather rough, and kept getting more so, until the great swells capped with white rolled high, and the boat swayed consider- ably. When the captain was asked if this was not pretty rough for the Pacific, he answered, "Oh, no, this is a perfect sea. As smooth as a millpond, — a mirror." But from the peculiar twinkle of his eye when he made the remark, one might draw conclusions as to his truthfulness. Most of the passengers left the deck, and by 6 p. m. we began to wonder if this was the beginning of the end of our enjoyment of the ocean voyage. Went down to dinner, however, but did not eat much. Were not sick at all, — but just felt as if it might happen, so thought it wise to go to bed at 8 p. m. Felt all right after lying down. Slept fairly well, and were up and had breakfast with the first, the next morning. The same kind of "mirror sea" continued — only more so. The sky was overcast all day, with a stiff breeze blowing, and a little misty rain fell in the afternoon. But the ocean was grand! the deepest, darkest blue, lashed into rolling billows of white. We felt all right all day, and were down at every meal. The third day out the sky was still gray, but the sea not nearly so rough, and nearly all the people On the Pacific were down at meals, and on the deck; and we began to get acquainted with our fellow-passengers, and found that there were fifty-seven missionaries on board, — not the "57 varieties," though there are several varieties. Some are returning to their work, after a vacation in the home land, and many are young college men and women, fresh from their preparation work, and going to their new work, full of enthusiasm and energy. We were invited to meet with them in a Bible class each morning at 10 o'clock, which invita- tion we gladly accepted. The fourth day out was bright and lovely, and the sea beautiful, and we kept well, hungry, and happy. No need to remain hungry, however, as we can have six meals a day if we wish. Broth and crackers are served on deck at 10:30 a. m., afternoon tea at 4 p. m., and light refreshments at 9 p. m. This afternoon there was a fire drill, and the entire crew — all Chinese — were lined up, and at orders from the officers, went through with all the things they would be required to do in case of a real fire. In the evening there was a dance on the upper deck, with decorations of flags, lanterns, etc. The music is furnished by a Philippino band, — stringed instru- ments, all played with the fingers only. They are quite good. They play during tiffin, afternoon tea, and dinner. The fifth day out was Sunday, and we had morning service in the social hall. The Episcopal service was read, and then a very good sermon by Rev. Reuben A. lo " Glimpses of Many Lands Torrey, son of Rev. Torrey of the Moody Church, Chicago. He is one of the young Presbyterian mis- sionaries going to China. His young wife is with him. At 4 p. M. there was a Sunday school for the little people, and a large Bible class was held in the dining saloon. In the evening we sang hymns in social hall. The day was fine. The sun shone most of the time, though there were numerous showers of rain, which went over with a sudden dash. The sea was the most "deeply, darkly, beautifully blue" that it has yet been, — the most glorious sight, just the rolling swells of deep blue capped with myriads of plumes of white. Altogether it was a beautiful, restful, and happy day. I have forgotten to state that our first "stunt" every morning is a cold salt water plunge, — not in the ocean — oh! no, but in a bathtub. This is arranged for each of us at 6:45, but it keeps us thinking to get it right every morning, as the steamer clocks are put back about thirty minutes every midnight. We are going west, and yet we realize that we are getting pretty far south also, as it is very warm, and the sea is quite tropical-looking, — smooth, and with sudden downpours of rain, then bright sunshine in a few minutes. About the middle of this afternoon there was a complete arch of a double rainbow, with end seeming to touch the water just beside the boat. At the first peep of day, on the seventh day out, I was at our cabin window, and far ahead of us, to the right, I saw the revolving light of a lighthouse, and knew that we were nearing land. The signal for get- On the Pacific 1 1 ting up came an hour earlier than usual, so we had our cold plunge, were dressed, and on deck before seven o'clock to watch the approach to Honolulu. We an- chored out in the harbor for "the doctor" to come aboard. The crew were "passed" by him first, then the steerage and second-class passengers, and the first-class were all lined up on the upper deck. After a long, tedious wait, the doctor went through with the formality of passing along in front of the line; after which the welcome sound of the bugle made us all scurry down to the dining-room to breakfast, — which was later than usual, notwithstanding the fact that we were up earlier. After breakfast there was a great bustle of going on shore, — for it had been announced that the "Mon- golia" would remain at the dock until lo o'clock the next morning, so everybody went ashore to see Hono- lulu. A heavy dash of rain delayed us about ten minutes, then it was as bright as before. Two auto- mobiles were waiting for our party, and we were soon whirling away through the business part of the city, and out a beautiful drive, about eight miles, to the Pali. This is the "Pass" — the opening through the mountainous cliff, to the precipice where King Ka- mehameha I drove a great horde of his enemies to bay, and crowded them over the precipice into the ocean. A bronze tablet in the rock records the cheer- ful incident. The view from this point is surpassingly grand, — the great mountains and cliffs, the valleys below 1 2 Glimpses of Many Lands covered with pineapple fields and dotted with tiny houses, the greenness and beauty of the vegetation, and the wonderfully changing shades of the ocean as it stretched far away, — pale blue, deep blue, green and purple, with the white surf rolling in! It was a view never to be forgotten. From there we drove through other beautiful streets to Mauna Loa Park, then through numerous streets of fine homes, and out to the famous Waikiki Beach, where we watched the bathers and the surf-riding for a while, and had tiffin at the Moana Hotel. Our first stop in the afternoon was at the Aquarium, where we saw what is called the greatest collection in the world of bright-colored fishes. They are truly wonderful. Every shade of every color of the rain- bow, and all possible combinations of the colors. One can hardly think it possible that they are real. But there they are, — flitting about as gaily in the water as an ordinary minnow in a home pond. From there we drove to Diamond Head, — the fortified point pro- tecting the harbor, — and then to Fort Ruger, near by, where the soldiers are stationed. From the fort we next went to a fine, new residence suburb, overlooking the ocean, then a long drive through many streets of the finest residence section of the city, and past the present residence of ex-Queen Liliuokalani. " She is 73 years old, dyes her hair black, and wears a merry-widow hat." So says our guide. It is impossible to give anyone much of an idea, by attempted description, of the variety and beauty On the Pacific 13 of the vegetation, — the avenues of stately royal palms; the groves of cocoanut palms; the banana groves; the papia and mango trees; the ponciana trees with their wealth of scarlet bloom; the great masses of bougan- vellea; the immense oleander trees — both pink and white blooms; the hedges of hibiscus, — red, pink, white, and variegated; and great hedges of night- blooming cereus. There were myriads of other flowers, — roses, chrysanthemums, alamanda, frangipani, — but I refrain from further mention, as their name is legion. From all this beauty we came back down town to the Alexander Young Hotel, where we had tea and rested for a while, then walked about the business part of the city for an hour, then back to our "home" on the "Mongolia," to spend the night. The next morning we had a couple of hours before sailing, so went over into town again to do a little shopping which we did not have time for the day before. Honolulu is certainly a most charming city, deserv- ing all the nice things that have been written and said of it. The weather was fine, — warm, but not un- comfortable. It rained a number of showers during the day, but cleared off at once. They say there are 365 days just like that in the year, — in leap year 366 of them. The buildings are quite like an American city, — many beautiful and costly modern residences and fine grounds, — and the stores and shops are much like those at home. Everybody seems to speak English as well as we do, — even the little Chinese and Japanese news- 14 Glimpses of Many Lands boys. The Y. M. C. A. has a good building down in town. On a large stone in front are carved the words, "The life of the land is preserved by righteousness," — the motto of Hawaii. We left Honolulu as announced, at about lo o'clock. There were a good many people at the dock to see us oif, and a party of American-Hawaiians sang "Aloha,'* the song-greeting of the natives, followed by "In the Sweet Bye and Bye," and that followed by, "God be with You Till We Meet Again." It was a more beautiful and impressive send-off than the one in San Francisco. My principal "souvenir" of Honolulu was a hard cold which developed the next day, which made it hard to enjoy anything, so settled down to read Churchill's "The Inside of the Cup." After leaving Honolulu we went nearly straight west for several days, and the sea was very smooth and the weather hot. Many of the passengers are dressed in white all the time. After the Bible study class, on two different days. Dr. Selden, a missionary returning to China, gave us a half-hour talk on, "Some sanitary precautions to be taken in the hot countries," — meant especially for the young missionaries, but just as good for us. On Saturday, October nth, we had a rather unusual experience. We expected to cross the i8oth meridian the following night, and Sunday the I2th would be dropped from our calendar, and we would find it Monday the 13th when we would get up the next morning. So the church people decided to have On the Pacific 15 their regular church service, which was held in the dining saloon, on Saturday, with a sermon by Rev. Pratt, a young Presbyterian missionary who is going to China. That afternoon, about 5:30 o'clock, a heavy black cloud loomed up on the horizon straight ahead of us, which kept getting blacker and more threatening as we approached it. The sun disappeared behind it, and by 7 o'clock it looked very bad, with almost continuous flashes of jagged lightning from it. We ran into it about 8 o'clock, and the rain fell in torrents for two hours. There was a strong wind with it, which drove everybody off deck, and made them close everything on the windward side. But it wore away after a while and in the morning the sea was comfortably smooth again, and the weather not quite so warm. The noon report showed us to be in latitude 26° north and longitude 176° east, — having crossed the i8oth meridian in the night. At 2:30 p. M. the event was celebrated on the boat deck, by a meeting of the "Court of Neptune," at which those found guilty of running "the man-made whale 'Mongolia,' " were suitably punished. Neptune and Mrs. Neptune sat on their thrones arrayed in royal apparel, and a procession with band marched around the different decks, then to the throne, where the farce was carried out. Before this, the college fellows had arranged for a three days' program of "field-day" sports. These began on this Monday, and were continued for three days. They were very i6 Glimpses of Many Lands interesting and funny. And so the days went by, with all sorts of interesting things, everybody seeming to be having a good time, and voting the trip a most de- lightful one, — but the end was not yet. On the evening of Thursday, the i6th there was a grand fancy-dress ball, — or, rather, a party, as many of those who do not dance took part also. Those who did not do the fancy-dress stunt, "dressed up" in their very best evening dress. But Neptune was not done with the "Mongolia" yet, and put a little handicap on their fun. About 2:30 o'clock a high wind came up, which kept increasing until by night it was almost a typhoon — hot as one, too, and the sea rolling tremen- dously. The boat rocked and plunged as we had not imagined the "Mongolia" could do, and, as a result, a good many had to retire to their rooms early. Some could not even come down to dinner. We kept up all right, and did not go to the cabin till 10 o'clock. But the storm kept up all night, and the boat pitched so that we did not sleep much, though we were not ill at all, and were up next morning and at breakfast with the first, — though there were not half the pas- sengers that came down at all. The wind kept up all day Friday, — too stormy to enjoy being on deck much. At about 5 p. M. we were trying to face the gale, stand- ing on the saloon deck watching the great swells breaking over the bow of the boat, with the clouds of spray covering everything, when one greater swell broke over the deck where we were standing; and before we regained our equilibrium a whirl of wind carried On the Pacific 17 C. F.'s cap off into the sea, where it danced merrily away on the wave-tops, toward Chicago. It has been by far the roughest sea we have ever seen. To-day, Saturday, it is not quite so bad, though still quite rough. We are told that it is always rough along the coast of Japan. We expect to reach Yokohama to-morrow morning, so will have all our letters and postals ready to-day to mail there, and I will tell of our finish of this voyage and of our landing, in my first Japan letter. II Japan MiYANosHiTA, Japan, Octobcr 29, 191 3. We have been in Japan for more than a week, and this is my first chance to even begin a letter. But we have been in this lovely place long enough to get well rested, and I have a whole long evening in our room with a nice fire in an open grate; so I will recount some of our experiences since leaving the steamer. I keep a diary of every day's doings, and have all the places and facts in order, so you can depend upon them as correct, — as nearly as we can get them. We have a native guide with our party, who met us in Yokohama and will be with us during our entire tour of Japan. He is an educated man, and seems to be well informed as to his country, and is my authority in most of my statements. I am taking four carbon copies of this as I write, so will send the same letter to several of you. On the morning after I finished my last letter, we were at our cabin window as soon as it was light, to look for land, and found we were right among the islands off the coast of Japan. We were soon on deck, that we might not miss any of the sights of the approach to the harbor of Yokohama. Quite a while before we reached the harbor proper, we passed three strongly fortified forts, on high points of three different islands 18 Japan 19 a little way apart. Outside of the entrance stood a number of warships: two German, one English, and a small one flying the Stars and Stripes. Just after we passed them the usual "doctor" came on board, and we were lined up in the dining saloon for his inspec- tion; then on deck again as we came into the harbor. We had breakfast before the doctor arrived, however. The "Mongolia" anchored a little way from the pier, and we came ashore in the Grand Hotel launch, — the different hotels send their own launches to meet pas- sengers, just as they send a bus in most cities. At the dock each got into a jinrikisha for the ride to the hotel. The riksha — as I shall call it for short — is a little two-wheeled carriage drawn by a man, and one feels very foolish and conspicuous in it for the first ride. But we soon got used to them, — except seeing the man doing the work of a horse. After getting settled at the hotel we went out for a walk, and after tiffin we all started out in rikshas for an afternoon of sight-seeing. The riksha is about the only way of getting about in Yokohama, except in street cars, — and tourists are not expected to ride with the common people. There are a few automobiles in the city also. Yokohama is not a beautiful city, but it is a very important commercial city, being the port of Tokyo, which is only an hour's ride to the north. It is the most important port, Kobe being a close second, near the southern end of the island. But the bay and harbor are beautiful. We were interested in the 20 Glimpses of Many Lands myriads of little fishing boats out in the bay, — more little sailboats in sight at one time than I had seen in all the rest of my life, — funny little flatboats with a large, oblong, upright sail in the middle, and a smaller square one toward each end. We found the city gaily decorated for their great Industrial Exposition, which is held once in twenty years. Theater Street was alive with people, and gorgeous with decorations. The people, all on foot, seemed to be mostly women and children. There were literally swarms of them all over the street, as they do not have many sidewalks, and do not seem to use what they have. The women — and many little boys and girls — carry the babies on their backs, fastened there by a sort of scarf wound around. It was pitiful to see the poor little things hanging on to their forlorn position so patiently, — for we never heard one cry, — not one, I think. Some were asleep, with their heads hanging over most uncomfortably. The chief thing of interest at the exposition was the elaborate exhibit of such wonderfully beautiful embroideries, — beautiful and intricate beyond com- prehension. Another interesting thing was the ex- hibit of shoes, such as the people wear, — a flat piece of wood with two little flat pieces underneath to keep them up off the ground, and a cord or strap across the front through which the toes are stuck. Of course, there are many different colors and kinds of wood, with different prices and degrees of elegance. One of the funniest things is the clattering noise made by a Japan 21 whole streetful of people wearing them. The admis- sion to the exposition was only ten sen, or five cents of our money. The next morning we began the task of visiting Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, and ancestral halls. I say ta^k, for it has already become monotonous, and is likely to be genuine hard work before we are through with it. I will not take the time here to speak par- ticularly of those in Yokohama, as those seen later were much more interesting. But we learned a lot of new things — for us — about Buddhism, — among them, that there are 80 million images for Buddhists to worship. Our trip took us through many closely built up residence streets of the middle-class people, and some good business streets. We stopped at some fine stores, full of beautiful things, and made a few purchases. In the afternoon we took another long ride, through the best residence part up on the bluff, where the Americans and English all live; then farther on, to the bluff overlooking Mississippi Bay, where Com- modore Perry landed in 1853, — ^which caused the open- ing of Japan to the world, and made it what it now is. Then back by a different route, through a fishing vil- lage. Had our white suits fitted after we got back to the hotel; and after dinner all went out again in rikshas, to see the town at night. I mention all these particulars that you may see how almost every minute of our time is occupied, and what a really strenuous life it is, after three weeks of idleness on a steamer. 22 Glimpses of Many Lands The following day we did numerous unimportant things in the morning, and at 10:30 all left for Tokyo, where we arrived in about an hour. Automobiles were waiting for our party, and we were soon comfort- ably settled at the Imperial Hotel, and after tiffin all went out in rikshas for a most interesting afternoon. The first part of the trip was through a very broad, well-paved, modern street, with double car-tracks and wide space on each side; with electric cars of up-to-date style whirring along in each direction, so that we had to think hard to realize we were not in an American city. Presently we left this street, and were soon at Shiba Park and the temple grounds. The park used to be all included in the temple grounds; but now the larger part is a public park, free to all, just as our parks are. We left the rikshas and walked up a long hill, then up a series of flights of high stone steps, to the first Shogun temple. (The Shoguns were the real rulers of Japan for several hundred years, while the emperor was only a figurehead.) We were supposed to take off our shoes when we entered a temple; but to save the trouble they allowed us to slip on covers which were provided. Up on this high place to which we had climbed, were several Shogun temples, tombs, and an- cestral halls which we went through most faithfully, and had much of the ancestral and Buddhist worship explained to us by our guide. He had a priest open and show us "the holy book"; saw people kneel and pray to a stone that had dogs, cats, insects, a dead Japan 23 Buddha, and all sorts of figures carved on it; and other strange and heathenish things. The temples were once very beautiful specimens of Japanese art, no doubt, — elaborately carved and high- ly colored, — but they are now, like the religions they stand for, going to decay. The government has not the money to keep them up — even if they would — and the priests have not the power over the people that they used to have. So the temples are fast becoming a relic of the past. After the temples, the rikshas took us to the Maple Leaf Tea House, a very large and beautiful one, on a high bluff, overlooking a lovely lake in Shiba Park, where we were served with tea and confections, by three pretty little Japanese girls dressed in bright colored kimonos. From there we went through several good business streets with fine modern buildings, and were made to feel that Tokyo, the capital of the nation, a city of over a million people, is really a great city. Its gov- ernment buildings are all fine and quite modern. Continuing our ride, we came to the Imperial palace grounds, which are surrounded by three moats, and inside the second moat a high stone wall with double gates. We were allowed to cross the bridge over the second moat, and go through the first gate, which is 310 years old, having been built in 1603. The public is not admitted beyond the wall, nor allowed to see the palace. After a ride through another large public park, which used to be a part of the palace grounds, 2.4 Glimpses of Many Lands we reached the hotel tired and hungry. Had dinner at 7 o'clock, and at 8:15 started out in open carriages, with our conductor and guide, for a trip to the night city of Yoshiwara, — the indescribable city of inde- scribable evil. Got back at 10:30, with eyes too wide open, and nerves too unstrung, to go to sleep very soon. The next morning we went first to a Shinto shrine where the emperor worships, and which is now dedi- cated to the spirits of the soldiers who died in the last war. It was a great holiday, as the emperor was ex- pected to return — after an absence of a week! Every- thing was gaily decorated, and the streets were alive with marching soldiers and sailors and swarms of school children, — and a general good time on. Next we went to the University of Tokyo, and through the grounds. It has 300 acres of ground and 20 buildings; and has over 3000 students registered this fall. From there to Uyeno Park, where one object of in- terest was a cedar tree planted by our General U. S. Grant, in 1879; ^^so a magnolia tree planted by Mrs. Grant at the same time. They are both fenced and labeled, and look very thrifty. Finished the morning by going through a great military museum, full of trophies from the Russians in the last war. When we started out in the afternoon we joined the multitude on the street corner, and saw the Emperor of Japan, as he came from the depot in his carriage, on his way to the palace. Soldiers were lined up on both sides of the whole route, and as his carriage passed they all stood at " attention," other men took off their Japan 25 hats, and there was not a word spoken or a sound made. I don't think the soldiers even winked. Then we went to the largest Buddhist temple we had yet seen, but there was nothing pretty or even interesting about it. Crowds of people kept coming all the time, and, after going through some bowing and forms of prayer, would throw their money into the receptacle provided for it, and go away, having done their duty. There is no regular service for the people in a Buddhist temple, — it is come, and go, and wor- ship, when you choose. Our last event of the afternoon was a visit to a chrysanthemum show. It was interesting, but nothing specially good except the floral designs. From Tokyo we went north about 100 miles, to Nikko, an interesting railroad ride through rice fields and gardens, the first half of the way, then climbing and winding up among the mountains the rest of the time; — for Nikko is a mountain resort, and the em- peror's favorite summer palace is there. It is also the "head" of the church — if Buddhism can be called a church. The temples here are many and wonderful, and many million dollars have been spent on them and the tombs and images and all that pertains to them. The temple grounds are vast and beautiful, and the avenues of great cryptomerias, hundreds of years old, awe one with their grandeur. As I said, Nikko is among the mountains, and it is climbing everywhere. But as the temple grounds are . 26 Glimpses of Many Lands all hills, we climbed stone steps until we could go no longer; and even a "thunder god" or a "wind god" could not move us any farther. The second day there we spent in an excursion to Lake Chuzenji, — about three miles in a straight line, but nine miles by the zigzig route one has to take. We went in rikshas with three men for each — one "pullee" and two "pushee" for each person. It was a great ride, — and climb, — the lake being 2500 feet higher than Nikko, and the scenery was fine. We had to stop often for the men to rest, and at three tea-houses for them — and us — to have tea. Had tiffin at a resort hotel at the lake, and made an all-day trip of it. The next day did more temples, and in the afternoon re- turned to Yokohama. The next day was Sunday, and we went to the union church service in the morning. There we met a Mr. McKenzie — cousin of some people in our church at home — and took him to the hotel to tiffin with us, then went home with him to dinner that evening. Had an elaborate nine-course dinner, with coffee served after, in the living-room. Monday morning we went to Mr. McKenzie's office, and from a dozen or more samples selected a pattern for a forty-two-piece tea set, which he will have made and sent home for us. Left Yokohama at 10 a. m. by rail, for Kamakura, a summer resort on the coast, about sixteen miles south. There we took rikshas to all places of interest. Kamakura was the capital of Japan and a city of a I Japan 27 million people, in the days of the first Shoguns; now it is simply a rather interesting summer resort, with about 15,000 inhabitants and some old relics. The chief object of interest is the Dia Butsu, or Great Buddha — an immense bronze figure out among the shrubbery and trees, without any temple or covering whatever. The temple in which it once stood was washed away by the great tidal wave which swept the coast in 1494. Later, another temple was built over the Dia Butsu, and that was destroyed by a hurricane. Then the people said, "The Great Buddha is angry. He wishes no covering save the heavens." So they never attempted another temple. The figure of bronze is a massive head and bust, 49^^ feet high, and was made in 1252. The grounds in which it stands are very beautiful and well kept. On the gate-pillar, where we entered, are these words, in English: "Stranger, whosoever thou art, and whatsoever be thy creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary, remem- ber thou treadest upon holy ground, hallowed by the worship of ages. This is the temple of Buddha, and the gate of the Eternal, and should therefore be en- tered with reverence." A very good lesson for us irreverent Americans, we thought. After tiffin we had a stroll on the beach and picked up a few shells, and at 3 p. m. boarded the train for Miyanoshita. The railroad runs within sight of the ocean most of the way for the first hour, through tiny fields and garden patches, and to the right, in the distance, the moun- 28 Glimpses of Many Lands tains. At Kodzu we left the train, and found two automobiles waiting to take us up the mountains to this place — about 2000 feet altitude. And here began the most thrilling, hair-raising ride it has ever been our privilege to enjoy. The first half-hour, winding along the base of the hills, was through closely built villages — one after another — along one narrow, crooked, wind- ing street, full of men, women, children, babies, and vehicles of all sorts. It had -begun to rain, and the road was getting slippery; but we flew along, turning, twisting, and climbing, with two horns tooting. Then the engine took a spell of some kind, and began pound- ing, and finally refused to go any farther. But the driver got out and worked with it a little while, and it started again all right. We left the main road and the villages, and then began the real climb, — up, and up, and still up, — climbing, winding, and doubling, with great gorges and chasms yawning below, with the rain still falling, the horn tooting continuously, and it growing dark! We had no ray of light for the last half-hour except that given from the lamps of the machine, and that was not much. But we finally reached the Fujiya Hotel, and found it most beautiful and comfortable: the table the best we have had yet, — the cooking almost like home. The service is fine, too, the waiters being pretty Japanese maidens dressed in dainty kimonos and bright-colored obis. This is the first time we have had girls, as there were men in all the city hotels. The garden of the hotel is full of many kinds of flowers, — more varieties and Japan 29 colors of dahlias than I ever saw before in all my life, put together. They were on all the dining tables, and massed in all the living-rooms. Miyanoshita is called the beauty spot of Japan, and it certainly deserves the name. This hotel, the Fujiya, is said to be the finest in Japan, and it certainly is all right. Yesterday we took a trip to Lake Hakone, a moun- tain lake about 1300 feet higher than this place. The mode of conveyance was a novelty again. Each rode in a Sedan chair carried on the shoulders of four men — thirty- two men to take a party of eight! It was a funny sight, and a novel experience. But the trip was a good deal of a disappointment, as it rained a little, and coming back we were above the clouds most of the time and could not see anything. Going over, the sun shone a part of the time and the clouds lifted so that we could enjoy the near-by scenery, but we were disappointed in not getting a view of Fujiyama, as we had expected. The trip took all day, and we had tiffin at a hotel at the lake. Hakone is another famous resort. To-day has been bright and beauti- ful, and just warm enough to be perfect. In the fore- noon we took an on-foot climb up a mountain called Fuji-view. On the summit we had a glorious view of the valleys on both sides, with the ocean on one side, and Fujiyama on the other. It was very clear, and we had a fine view of Fuji all the last half of the climb. It is just as symmetrical and beautiful as it is always pictured. It is twenty miles distant, but did not seem more than two or three. Climbed down the mountain, 30 . Glimpses of Many Lands and reached the hotel just in time to hear the bell calling to the dining-room — a most welcome sound, for we were hungry as bears. After tiffin our guide went with us to a public school. We visited a number of rooms in which were both girls and boys, seated on benches with desks similar to our old-style ones. The thing which impressed us most was the excellent order and respectful atten- tion. Education is compulsory in Japan, and they say that over 90 per cent of the children of school age are in school. Later we took a riksha ride up the course of a rugged stream, where the maple foliage was gorgeous. We leave here to-morrow morning, but we will take Miyanoshita and the Fujiya Hotel with us as one of our pleasantest memories. I Ill Japan Kyoto, Japan, November 9, 191 3. This is our sixth day in Kyoto, and as we have seen it pretty thoroughly, I will devote this last evening here to my carbon-copy letter of events up to date. The morning after my last letters were mailed, we left Miyanoshita for the same ride down the mountain which we had taken up it; but this was not nearly so thrilling, as it was daylight and the sun shone. But we had a much better opportunity to enjoy the scenery, which was fine. At Kodzu we went aboard "the limited" — the best train in Japan — and had tiffin in the diner. It was an interesting six-hours' ride through the country, and in full view of Fuji for several hours. Arrived at Nagoya at four o'clock, and as soon as we were settled at the hotel, all went out in the usual rikshas, to the chrysanthemum show, which was better than the one in Tokyo. These "shows" are different from ours in our park conservatories, as they not only have the displays of choice varieties in groups, but they also have growing plants trained into all manner of shapes, — people, automobiles, jinrikshas, boats, bicy- cles, etc., — all in growing plants covered with hundreds of blooms. They were most wonderful, as showing the artistic skill with which the Japanese handle and arrange flowers. This is one of the arts taught in their schools. 31 32 . Glimpses of Many Lands The next morning we went out early to see the town, as we were to have only one day there. Nagoya is a city of 400,000 people, and they seemed to all be on the street, so that our riksha men had to push their way through the throng, in some places. We soon learned that it was a very great holiday, — the emperor*s birthday, — and everybody was going to the parade ground to see a review of 12,000 soldiers, — they are very proud of their military since they made big Russia bow to little Japan. We allowed ourselves to be carried along with the crowd, and we also wit- nessed the review. It was a fine and most impressive sight. But even more impressive was the sight of the 150,000 people gathered to witness it. The quiet- ness, respectful obedience to law, and general good order of the immense throng, was worthy of imitation by nations which call themselves great powers. It took only a comparatively few police to handle them, while the same sized crowd in America would have needed a thousand police, — and even then they would often be a howling mob. Yes, there are many things that even great America might learn from courteous Japan. But the thing of chief interest in Nagoya — the one which took us there — is the castle of the golden dolphins. It was built in 1610, — walled, with heavy gates, and two deep moats which are dry now and grown full of vegetation. It is a five-story, pagoda- shaped thing, and we climbed the stairs to the top, for the view. It was supposed to be impregnable in its Japan 33 day, but would not withstand much of the present- day instruments of warfare. The golden dolphins ornament the two ends of the "comb," or ridge of the roof. They are of bronze, and in the days of its glory were covered with gold a quarter of an inch thick, and weigh 360 pounds each, — there are two of them. The imperial palace is near by, in the same enclosure, and used to be one of the favorite palaces of the emperors, but is not used now. It is chiefly interesting from the very old paintings decorating the walls. They are said to be very artistic and wonderful, but am afraid I did not fully appreciate them. All the outer halls of this palace have bare floors which squeak when stepped upon, and were made so that no one could approach the emperor's apartments without being heard. It is called "the nightingale floor." From the palace we rode, through streets swarming with people, to a very large Buddhist temple where many candles were burning, and a priest was making noises, — presumably worship. This was the nearest like the Roman Catholics of anything we had seen. I mention all these things to show how we are studying the country, as our guide is very well informed, and explains things very intelligently, and one gets much of the history of a country through its temples and palaces; and the condition of them all shows con- clusively that a new era has dawned on Japan. On our way back to the hotel the crowd was not so dense, and we had a chance to observe that there were not so many babies carried on backs, and that baby 34 - Glimpses of Many Lands buggies were quite the fashion there. In nearly every buggy there were two babies, sometimes three — not twins, but near-twins, the baby and the next older. We also noted more bicycles there than in all other cities together. The latter part of the afternoon we continued our journey, going a four-hours' ride to the south to Yamada. Yamada-in-Ise, it is called, but please do not ask me what that means, for I was not able to grasp the meaning; only to guess that it had something to do with a very sacred shrine nearby, in the name of which the "Ise" appears. It is called the most sacred spot in Japan, — the shrine of the very sacred sun- goddess, the ancestress of the present line of emperors. Shintoism teaches that the sun-goddess actually begat the first emperor, and that the line of succession has never been broken, and for this reason the emperor is regarded as a deity by the devout Shinto. Our guide said, "Oh, yes! we believe it, but I don't." Yamada is of no importance except to furnish a stopping place for the many pilgrims who visit this shrine. The hotel — the Gonikai — is the first real Japanese hotel we have been in, and even it is furnished a little to conform to the customs of foreign travel. For instance, we had bedsteads and chairs in our rooms, — real Japanese homes have not. Our only heat was from some coals brought into the room in a sort of pot, or stone jar. Our trip to the sacred shrine took us out a beautiful, well-kept road, as fine as any city boulevard, but the Japan 35 vehicles on it are not in keeping with its modern aspect. For instance, we saw two loaded rice-carts, each drawn by a man and two dogs, and pushed by a woman with a baby on her back. On our return trip we took a long ride in the coun- try, through narrow paths among the rice fields, where we saw the country people right in the midst of their work and their homes. It was just the rice harvest, and we saw hundreds of men, women, and boys, stand- ing in water and mud, and cutting it all with tiny sickles, by hand. Then it is threshed and winnowed by hand, and drawn to market in two-wheeled carts, by hand — usually by men, but often by boys, and sometimes by women, — or by a combination such as already described. The next day was Sunday, and there was no place to attend church in Yamada, so we sat out in the sunshine the most of the forenoon, and about noon took a train for Nara. It was a four-hours' ride, through mountains, valleys, and rice fields, and gave us more of a sight of the country. The Nara Hotel belongs to the railroad, and is a beautiful new building. The inside woodwork is all of ivory cedar, — the natural wood rubbed to the most exquisite soft finish. The mantel in the lobby is in the form of a Shinto gate, with a most perfect finish of red lacquer. We had a lovely room, with a fireplace and a bath. Nara has temples galore, of course, and we went to some of them, but the thing of greatest interest there is the large park with its immense trees, and contain- 36 - Glimpses of Many Lands ing over three thousand tame deer, — sacred deer, they call them, and as no one ever molests them, they are so tame that they gather around us to eat out of our hands. There are women who earn a good liv- ing by selling little cakes of meal, at two sen (one cent) a bunch, for tourists, and other visitors, to feed the deer. There were not quite so many temples as deer, but there were so many we did not try to count them, and more stone lanterns than we had seen anywhere before. They say there are three thousand of them in the temple grounds, and besides the stone ones, a thbusand bronze hanging ones, which are hundreds of years old. Here we saw the great temple bell, which is 133^ feet high, 9^ feet in diameter, 8 inches thick, and weighs 54 tons. In one of the temples is another Dia Butsu which is larger and more hideous than the one at Kamakura. In the afternoon we went back to the park, to watch the last half of the field-day exercises of the Nara high school. The sports were good, and were so well carried out — with such splendid order and discipline — that we felt their schools would be a credit to any nation; while their enthusiasm, and "rooting" for their own class colors and success, was equal to a Chicago U. crowd. After the games we went to the chrysanthemum exhibit, in the clubhouse grounds, — also in the park. They were all growing outside, and beautifully massed Japan 37 in different colors and shades, in variously shaped beds. From Nara we came to Kyoto, which was to be head- quarters for six days, though we were to take several trips out. On the way here we came through one of the principal tea-growing sections of Japan, where tea was first introduced from China, and where the best tea is now grown, — about ten miles north of this city, near Uji. Kyoto is like every other city, — only a bit more typically Japanese than some; miles and miles of closely built up, narrow streets; the same crowds of people — like bees swarming; the same swarms of children; the same countless women with babies on their backs; and the same weary men hauling heavy loads. Practically all the traffic is carried on by men and boys, hauling on carts. Once in a great while we see an ox or a horse hauling a load, but they are few. As we have said of their farming, so of everything else, — it is like their embroidery, — all hand work. We have been at the factories of Satsuma ware, cloisonne, Damascene ware, silk embroidery, brocade goods, and china, and it is all hand work and hand decoration. And such marvelously beautiful work as these people can do! One often stands speechless for lack of ad- jectives with which to exclaim. Two trips out from Kyoto are worth recording. The first was to Lake Biwa, about six miles out, among the mountains, by riksha. There we had a picnic lunch (brought from the hotel) on the shore of the 38 , Glimpses of Many Lands lake, then boarded a small steamer which took us to the lower end of the lake, where we got into a sampan to come back to the city, under the mountains. Sounds rather strange, doesn't it? But a "sampan" is a big rowboat, and it can go under the mountains because there are tunnels through them for the canal. So, you see it is easy when you know how. The canal takes the water of Lake Biwa under three mountains, through three tunnels, into and traversing the city of Kyoto, making an important route of travel and trade. The first tunnel is about three quarters of a mile long; the second 400 feet, and the third, a half-mile. Be- tween the tunnels the canal goes through fine mountain scenery. The trip was an unusual one and very interesting. The other excursion was by railroad, twelve miles out among the mountains. The road was through a most picturesque country, — through the valley, or more correctly the gorge, of a winding, rushing moun- tain river, — the Hodzu. We left the train, and came back down the river in boats much like sampans, — two for the party. Each boat was manned by four men, — one in the front with a heavy bamboo pole, to steer; two on one side," each with one oar; and one in the stern, with a broad oar to use as a sort of rudder. And the way we came down the rapids of that river was thrilling, to say the least. The fall is 350 feet in eight miles, and in one place it is six feet at a jump. The scenery on both sides is fine, but we hadn't much time to devote to Japan 39 it, as the ride took all our time and attention. We left the boat at the end of the rapids, and went up on the bluff, where we had a glorious view of the river, and the hills covered with the flaming beauty of the maples, and there had another picnic dinner; after which we took a ten-minutes' walk to a street-car line, and rode in a car for two miles. This is the first time we had been in a street car in Japan, though all the cities have them. This was in the country; and at a station at the edge of the city we were met by the riksha boys, who took us back to the hotel. Note the different modes of travel in one excursion. Another of the interesting experiences we have had here was the Japanese dinner at a teahouse, with geisha girls as entertainers. We wisely had our reg- ular dinner at the hotel at the usual hour, however, and the "entertainment" at 8 o'clock. We were all dressed in our best clothes, the men in their dinner suits. We had to take off our shoes at the inner door, and all sat on the floor around the room, on cushions. The dinner was served on little, individual, low tables, like an ordinary footstool. Here is the menu: First, a tiny cup of tea; then fish soup, served in a bowl which you were supposed to take up in your hands, and drink the soup; a plate of boiled fish with a sauce; another plate of raw fish served with some kind of syrup in a tiny cup; a dish of boiled rice without salt, sugar, or milk; a dish of fried fish; a cup of sauke (a rice wine); and a tiny dish of small rice confections. These were all served one at a time, but all left on the table as one 40 Glimpses of Many Lands course. The entire "dinner" of rice and fish! Chop- sticks were furnished, with which we were expected to eat. While we were supposed to be eating, the geisha girls entertained (?) us with what is called music and danc- ing. The dancing was simply a lot of graceful physical culture movements; and the "music" was made by four crude drums and two stringed instruments, accompanied by weird vocal sounds. The only thing one could compare it with was a lot of cats on the garden fence. The entertainment was interesting as seeing something new in their customs; but no sane person would desire to go a second time. Sunday we went to the Doshisha University to two morning church services, — the first a native church with native pastor, and service all in Japanese; and though we could not understand the sermon, we did enjoy the singing; for it showed that they can make music — real harmony — when they know how; and our old church tunes sounded good even though sung with foreign words. There are eight native churches with native pastors in the city. Then we went to the union church service, held in one hall of the univer- sity, where the service was in English, and there met a few missionaries, and learned what we could of the mission work in the city. Doshisha is a Christian university, almost self-supporting, and has 874 stu- dents enrolled this fall. Doshisha means "union," or "together," which shows that though the school is Christian, it is undenominational. It is governed by Japan 41 twenty trustees, seventeen of whom are native and three are American. We also went through the Kyoto University buildings and grounds. It is a national, and not a Christian, school. I think I have not mentioned the temples and palaces of Kyoto, but do not for a moment think there are none, for both are much in evidence; but I think I am getting weary of writing of them, as well as seeing them. One here, said to be the largest in Japan, is really quite beautiful, and somewhat modern in decoration, as it was built only thirty years ago. Then there is the palace of the ex-emperor which has a very large and beautiful garden — a great park full of immense old trees. Near by is the palace which is occupied by the present emperor when it suits his pleasure to stop in this city. We were not admitted to this, but were admitted to the imperial castle, which is also a palace, only interesting for the paintings on the screen walls. We expect to leave here to-morrow, and I will finish my story of Japan in my next. IV JapaUy Korea, and China Peking, China, November 22, 1914. It is two weeks since I mailed my last letters, and now I am going to spend my evenings in trying to make my story catch up with our train, — for our evenings are our only leisure time since we are on land. The day after my last was finished, — (it seems so long ago, and so many miles distant!) — we left Kyoto early for Osaka, only a little more than an hour's ride; and though Osaka is a city of nearly a million people, we stayed there only that part of a day, as it had nothing of special interest to the usual tourist or sight-seer. It is a great manufacturing city, and is most interest- ing from that viewpoint to those who are studying the new era in Japan, and it has been called the Bir- mingham of Japan, with its great factories and tower- ing chimneys. Here we begin to find work done by machinery, and a city of progress, very prosperous and clean-looking. We spent the day riding about the city, and to the Castle of Osaka, — a fort with high stone walls, and two deep moats, built in 1468. It is said to be the oldest castle in Japan. We went inside, and to the top, where we had a fine view of the city and its smoke-stacks. Of course we saw the temples, too, — five hundred of them in one temple area. Here we saw another great 42 Japan, Korea, and China 43 bell, "said to be" the largest in the world. It stands on a platform, and is 26 feet high, 54 feet in circum- ference, 16 feet in diameter, i}4 feet thick, and weighs 114 tons. It was made only eleven years ago, — in 1902, — as a sort of thank-offering by the people for their prosperity. The metal was all given by the people, — over a million of them, — who gave anything of any kind of metal they had, even silver hairpins, rings, etc. It is only about an hour's ride to Kobe and we reached there in time for dinner at the fine, large, modern hotel, — the Oriental. Kobe is a city of nearly half a million, the most important seaport of Japan, — though I think I stated that it was second to Yoko- hama. But I have since learned my mistake, and here correct it. It is the most modern, cleanest, and best built city we have yet seen. It is surrounded by mountains on all sides except the harbor, — an arm of Osaka Bay, — and is the port of Osaka, just as Yokohama is the port of Tokyo. All the foreign residences are out on the lower slope of the mountains. There are a good many Americans there, and the city has a fine Y. M. C. A. building. We stayed there two days, then took the train for an eight-hour ride along the Inland Sea to the sacred island of Miyajima, where we stayed a day and a night. It is so sacred that neither horse, carriage, or riksha is allowed on it, so we did not travel about much. There was no place to travel to, anyway, and no way to get 44 Glimpses of Many Lands to it if it were there, except to climb steep hills; for the island is just an upheaval in the sea, and very rugged, and is really very beautiful. The maples were just at their best in color, and some of the hillsides were gorgeous. As I said, it is a sacred island, — so sacred that, according to their custom, no one is allowed to be bom or to die there, and no animal is allowed on the island except the sacred deer. So of course the temples are the chief things of interest. In fact, the island is inhabited — or occupied — chiefly by Buddhas, temples, priests, and stone lanterns, — the latter all along the shore for quite a distance. At night we all went out on the water in a sampan to see the shore "illuminated" by them, — each has a tiny oil and wick light. In the afternoon we saw a sacred dance by an old Shinto priest, dressed in an indescribable costume. He wore a falseface like a hideous fox with a grin on, and he went through a lot of grotesque movements with his hands and feet, accompanied by what they call music, on a drum and sort of pipe, by two men arrayed in the white robes of Shinto priests. The performance was called the "No dance," and we decided it was appropriately named. It probably meant something to them, but it certainly looked very foolish, to be done in the name of any religion. There is a very large red torii (the name for the Shinto gate) in the water, a few yards from the shore, and at their great festivals the boats come through this to the temple. Everything seems a conglomerate mix- Japan, Korea, and China 45 ture of Buddhism and Shintoism, and I cannot untangle them. There is a tourist hotel on the island (it is not sacred), and it runs a modern motor boat across to the railroad station. From there we took the train for Shimonoseki, our last stop in Japan, and the rest of our party returned to Kobe, where they took steamer for Manila, and we join them later. But we two, with a private guide, started for a three-weeks' tour of Korea and North China. We reached Shimonoseki, the port on the south- western side of the island, after dark, and went from the train direct to the steamer which was to take us across the channel which connects the Japan Sea and the Yellow Sea, to Fusan, Korea, a distance of eighty miles. It was a small steamer, but a new one, and clean and comfortable. We had a nice cabin, but the channel was very rough, and the boat tossed and rolled so badly that one had to hold on to the bunk; so we did not sleep much. Reached Fusan, the southeastern port of Korea, at 9 a. m., and were soon on board a good train with diner, on the Chosen Railroad. (Chosen is the new Japanese name for Korea.) The all-day ride through Korea was most interest- ing, — everything was different and new to us. Men, women, and children dressed in white; the men in close-fitting trousers and long white coats, with funny little hats; the women in baggy trousers and awfully full skirts, — like ours of the old hoop-skirt era; the boys 46 Glimpses of Many Lands with their long hair in queues; the queer little huts with thatched roofs, — all were new and different. The coun- try was mountains and valleys, and was farmed with little patches of rice, much the same as Japan, though not nearly so well farmed or prosperous looking. There was an American on the train who had lived in Korea for twelve years and he told us manv things of interest. I think I have forgotten to mention that in Japan the farmer population all live in little villages, never alone on their little garden patch of a farm. This is true in Korea, also, and if there is a stony or poor piece of land to be found, that is chosen for the village, leaving the better land for cultivation. The moun- tains — not very high ones — are entirely without trees, only as the new Japanese enterprise is beginning to re-forest them; and it is an interesting sight to see many of them covered with tiny young evergreen trees. But the strangest sight, all along the route, was to see the lower slopes of all the hills covered with graves, — ^just large mounds, thousands and thousands of them, the whole day's journey, — very few of them marked by any stone, but just a continuation of huge mounds. One could only wonder that so many people had ever lived. But, as the man I referred to re- marked, "You know they have been dying in Korea for several thousand years." We saw several groups of white-dressed people having some kind of service, or sacrifice, at graves, — you know they are ancestor worshipers. Japan, Korea, and China 47 It was after dark when we reached Seoul, but we were not tired after the all-day ride, for we had been so interested. We found the Sontag Hotel very com- fortable. Had a good room with bath, and the finest bed ever, — box springs and hair mattress 1 Sometimes we have to stop and — figuratively — ^" pinch ourselves" to try to realize that we really are around on the other side of the earth. We stayed in Seoul for two days and three nights, and wished we might have remained longer; for we liked Korea, and would like to have seen more of the evidences of its waking up from its sleep of two thou- sand years, — for it is waking, and is becoming Christian- ized more rapidly than any other nation. We were in Seoul over Sunday, and attended church service at one of the many native self-supporting churches. Were there at 10 o'clock, in time for the Bible school, for that is an important part of the church with Korean Christians, and the church was nearly as crowded for that as for the church service which followed. The preacher was very earnest and forceful, but of course we could not understand anything but the hymn tunes. But there seemed a deep spirit of earnestness and reverence among the large congregation present. In the afternoon we went to the Union church for foreign- ers, and met a good many Americans. The Y. M. C. A. has a good building in Seoul, and they are doing a great work there. From Seoul we went north a whole day's trip on a splendid express train to Mukden, Manchuria, the 48 • Glimpses of Many Lands scene of the last battle of the Russian-Japanese War. The ride through the country was similar to the one already described. With the exception of the new Japanese part, Mukden is a typical old Chinese city, — "a bit of rare old China," some one has called it. We stopped at the new hotel in the new town, and even here we had a comfortable, steam-heated room with bath, and a good bed. The next morning after we arrived, we started out in a one-horse carriage, with our guide, for a drive of about five miles to the tomb of a great emperor; but the drive was chiefly interesting as a revelation of ancient Manchuria, — past many ancient carved mon- uments, along the old wall of the city, and through old graveyards covering hundreds of acres. Not grave- yards, either, but just great stretches of ground cov- ered with graves, — thousands of them, — ^just great dust-colored mounds, some very large, some smaller, covering all the ground as far as eye could reach. A few had stone markers, but most of them had no mark. Many had a vessel on top, in which we could see food — potatoes, rice, etc. — offered to the dead. Quite a good deal of the space was torn up and the graves still unfilled, while some of it was leveled down and the space used for farming. The government of Japan is encouraging the removing of the old remains and using the grounds. This explains much of the pottery and other things we see in the museums labeled, "From old tombs." A few years ago no government would have dared to Japan, Korea, and China 49 suggest to these people to touch their most revered graves, — their most sacred possession, — but even Manchuria is waking up, and the same Light which is beginning to illuminate Korea is reaching Mukden also. There has been a great change in the sentiment of the people, and now the doors are wide open for the Christian religion. The governor of southern Man- churia erected a great hall at his own expense for evangelistic meetings, and just outside the wall of old Mukden we saw their big, beautiful "Religious As- sembly" building. We drove all through the old walled city, in the afternoon, and saw temples, palaces, and monuments of ages gone by, and many treasures of the time of the last emperor. But I did not like the old part. The palace grounds and buildings are very dirty and falling into decay. Mukden is by far the dirtiest, most ill-smelling place we have seen yet. It has old mud walls, mud houses, mud streets, clouds of dust, and about a million dirty-looking people. It is almost a twenty-four-hours' journey by train from Mukden to Peking, so we decided to break it by stopping for the night about midway, — at Shan-hai- Kwan, or Shanhaiquan, as it is sometimes written. This is on the shore of the Yellow Sea, at the point where the famous "Great Wall" of China began. We got up early, and took a trip to the wall before break- fast; and climbing up on it, we stood and looked out over the Yellow Sea, and had to rub our eyes to see whether we were really awake, or only dreaming. 50 ' Glimpses of Many Lands There was nothing else of interest in Shan-hai-Kwan, so we resumed our journey at 9 o'clock. This day's ride took us through a fine farming country, with great stretches of wheat fields on either side, — and every field dotted with graves, the same kind of big mounds as already described. For one quite long distance we tried to estimate them, and decided that fully one tenth of the land was used for graves. Around Tientsin and Peking it was worse, — the ground seemed literally covered. Between Tientsin and Peking it is a fine farming country, — great plains covered with winter wheat just beginning to show green. The farmers here, also, all live in villages. Peking is most interesting, and in so many ways I hardly know how to begin to tell of it. It is the capital and second largest city of China, and has a population of over a million. It is four cities in one, — the old walled Tartar city, which includes the Imperial City and the Forbidden City; and outside of the walls the part called the Chinese city. The street life is full of novel sights, — cooking and eating in many places, along the sides of the street; all sorts of man-power vehicles with all sorts of loads; a caravan of camels loaded with coal or merchandise; and beggars innumerable. The native life in the poorer parts seems almost untouched by the new civilization, but in the better parts of the city one can see many signs of progress. For instance, C. F. attended a banquet in the dining- room of this hotel, last evening, — given by the Peking 1 Japan, Korea, and China 51 College Club in honor of Ambassador Williams who is returning to America, and Dr. Paul Reinch, who is to be his successor, — at which there were seventy-five young Chinese in American evening dress, who were graduates of various universities and colleges in the United States. They made speeches in English, sang college songs, gave their college yells, and one would never have guessed he was in China if he had not seen their faces. The rest of the guests were either resident Americans, or tourists who were invited. C. F. re- ceived his invitation through Dr. Luther Anderson, correspondent of The Chicago Daily News, who, hav- ing seen our names on the hotel register as from Chi- cago, called upon us. He is going to bring his wife to see us to-morrow. The Legation quarters, or foreign part, is quite a modern city in itself. We have been all through the British legation quarters, within the walls of which the missionaries and other Christians were protected during the Boxer uprising. Near one corner of the outside of the wall, just above a lot of bullet holes, are Kipling's words, "Lest we forget," cut into the stone. There is no sign of rebellion here now, though they say it is only slumbering, and may break out at any time. The new president seems to be regarded as a strong man and capable of great things, — "the best of a bad lot," some one says. But he is afraid for his life, and never comes outside of the palace walls, and is closely guarded all the time, — soldiers on the walls, 52 " Glimpses of Many Lands and a lookout in a basket upon the flagpole, just under the "New China" flag. Peking has its temples, also, and we have been to many of them, but will mention only two. The Temple of Heaven is called the most sacred spot in China, and is entirely different from anything we have yet seen, as it is not an enclosed building, but just a great circular pile of white marble, arranged in five terraces. We did not get the dimensions of it, but guess it to be at least a hundred feet in diameter at the bottom, each of the five circles being smaller, until at the top the circle is about twenty feet in diameter. It is ascended by five stairways — five steps to each terrace, — and each stairway and terrace has an elabo- rately carved and most beautiful railing, all of the snow-white marble. The railing around the top circle makes a sort of wall, so that when a person kneels in the center he cannot see anything but the sky, the railing making his horizon line. Hence the name, "Temple of Heaven." Here the emperor used to come on special occasions, or in great national emergencies, to pray to the gods. We heard that the grounds in which it stands, — several hundred acres, — have been taken by the new govern- ment to be used as an experimental farm. Let us hope that neither vandalism nor greed will be allowed to destroy this most beautiful temple of ancient reli- gions whose power is fast waning. The other one which interested us was the Lama Temple — the Thibetan Buddhist temple. It was simi- Japan, Korea, and China 53 lar to those in Japan. Had a great Buddha image seventy-five feet high. But we were specially inter- ested in it from the fact that we had the good fortune to happen to visit it just in time to witness a special service by a roomful of priests, — from six years old up. They were each dressed in a red drapery when they came, and put on a yellow garment over it when they went into the worship room, where they sat on low stools and chanted, and made responses to a high priest who performed in front of them. The priests are the only Buddhists who have a general service in the temples; the people come at any time, and do their worshiping individually. On the way out we were followed by a swarm of beggar children, who kept up a chorus of noises and laughter. The beggars are everywhere, and follow one most persistently, and will not take no for an answer. We also visited a temple of Confucius, and the Hall of Classics, where the wisdom of Confucius is preserved by having his writings carved on great slabs of marble and kept in these halls. On the way back to the hotel we met a funeral procession — a large coffin on a sort of litter, covered with a gold-striped cloth; the litter carried by eight men on each side, and followed by a small company on foot, and some crude music. The hotels are generally very good, — much better than we had expected. However, we don't always enjoy the food. This is one of that kind. For in- stance, a Chinese hotel owned by English, under 54 ' Glimpses of Many Lands Swiss management, with a French cook, and catering to American people is liable to get things a little mixed; and we enjoy plain food without mixtures. But it is "international" all right, and is called "The Grand Hotel des Wagons-Lits Internationale, Limited," which being interpreted means, "The Grand Hotel of the International Sleeping Car Co., Limited." But we are invited to a real home Thanksgiving dinner with a Mrs. Burns and her son, in Tientsin, and may go. Mrs. Burns is from Macomb, Illinois, and we got acquainted with her on the "Mongolia." She came over to spend the winter with her son, who is in business in Tientsin. We have had perfectly fine weather ever since we landed on this side of the Pacific, — ^just cool enough to be perfect, and sunshine nearly all the time, — several showers of rain, but not enough to inconve- nience us. We both keep well, and have not lost an hour on account of weather or illness. Will continue my Pekin story in my next, which will probably not be written until on the steamer trip south. V China On board the P. & O. Steamship "Assaye." On the China Sea, December 3, 1913. I am delighted to be able to write to you to-day, and to say that we are nearly twenty-four hours out from Shanghai, and are both able to do justice to every meal thus far. We are rather surprised, as the sea is really quite rough, — at least it looks so to us, though the boatmen all say, "O, no! it is perfectly smooth," and smile sweetly as they say it. However, there are great rolling swells, and the whole expanse is a mass of foamy white billows. But we do not care, so long as we feel as well as we do now. We left Shanghai at 6 o'clock last evening on a tender which took us to this boat, which was at Woo- sung, an hour and a half's ride down the Yang- tse-Kiang River. I presume many are under the same impression that we were, — that Shanghai is on the coast, — but it is not. It is about fifty miles up the wide mouth of the Yang-tse-Kiang. We expect to be three nights and two days en route to Hongkong. Shanghai is so different from all the rest of China that we have seen, that we could almost have been persuaded we were in America most of the time, until we went inside of the walls of the old native 55 56 Glimpses of Many Lands part, that is like China. But the European part is a modern city and quite pretty, — has broad streets paved with asphalt, high buildings, street cars, etc. The old part seems cleaner, and the people more civilized-looking, as they have come more in contact with foreigners. Here we visited the old "Willow Pattern" Tea House, used in the tableware decorations. It is over two hundred years old. Part of it looks quite like the pictures on our tableware, — the zigzag bridge being almost exactly the same. Near this we went through a "joss house," which is really a Bud- dhist temple, or "god house." Here we saw one large Buddha image, and many smaller joss, and one "lady joss." This temple is over four hundred years old, and very dirty. The streets are very narrow and crooked, — a good deal like "the path the calf made," — and it was hard to get through them. We had to leave the rikshas outside the walls. The new part is a great commercial city, principally English, French, and German, — but there are a few Americans. We were at the American consulate and the United States post office. You can mail a letter here to the United States for two cents. We took a long carriage drive through the foreign residence sec- tion, and found many beautiful homes with lovely large grounds. The climate is about like our southern states, as the magnolia and oleander grow here, and roses and other flowers were in bloom in profusion, while the vegetable gardens looked like ours in summer. China 57 But I must return to where I finished my last letter, — at Peking, the evening before we took the trip to the Great Wall. We left Peking in the morning, by rail- road, and a short distance outside of the city our atten- tion was called to the fine buildings and grounds of the Ching Hua College, — the college built by a part of our United States indemnity money, which prepares young men for entrance to our universities. The ride was through a farming country for about an hour and a half to Nankow, then, climbing a steep grade, and winding among rugged mountains, to the Nankow Pass station, where we left the train and went a mile and a quarter farther in Sedan chairs, each carried by four men, to the Nankow Pass, where we climbed up and had quite a good picture taken on top of the Great Wall of China. We had been on the wall at Shan-hai-Kwan, and this was about the same, except that here we could see it for a long distance, as it fol- lowed the contour of the mountains, all along the crest. It is a marvelous work for men to have ac- complished with their hands. Came back to the station and, after a long, tedious wait, finally boarded the caboose of a freight train, and climbed down that grade a good deal slower than we climbed up, reaching Nankow at 7:35 p. m., having been two hours and twenty minutes going thirteen miles down hill! But it had been a great day. We stayed in Nankow that night at the Ching Er Hotel. It is a real Chinese hotel, but caters to Ameri- cans and is not bad. 58 Glimpses of Many Lands Besides our guide, there were with us on this trip Mr. and Mrs. Manville, of Iowa. The following morning we all set out early — in Sedan chairs — for a trip to the Ming tombs, at the edge of the hill country, about ten miles from Nankow. These are the tombs of thirteen emperors of the Ming dynasty, and there is one at Nanking. I can- not describe this trip on paper to make one have a very good conception of it, I'm afraid. We swung along in our chairs, through plowed fields, and stony pastures, — no fences, and only paths for roads, — some of them right across freshly plowed fields. The sun shone brightly, and the air was just crisp enough to make it an ideal day for an outing. At about four miles from the first tomb we reached the entrance to the "Holy Way," which we traverse the rest of the way. The entrance is a great, five- arched, white marble "pailow" elaborately carved in Chinese characters, and after it, four great, carved marble columns, — two on each side of the "way." A little farther on is the "red gate," and beyond this the avenue of statuary, — animals more than twice the natural size, each carved out of one solid block of stone. On each side of the "way" are two each, of elephants, camels, lions, horses, rams, and fabulous animals, — these followed by two military officers, two civil officers, and two sages of the period. Each of these is elaborately carved out of one solid block of stone, standing about forty feet apart on each side of what was once a fine paved road, right out in the open I i China 59 plain. Then continuing on this paved road, over several stone bridges, we came to the first of the tombs, — that of Yung Loh, the first of the Mings, who conceived all this wonderful plan, and had it carried out during his lifetime — in the fourteenth century. I should state that this road, when built, extended from the palace in Peking direct to the tombs, a dis- tance of forty miles; but it is not kept up now, and is all going to ruin. The first tomb — that of the great Yung Loh — is the largest and finest, and is the only one we visited, as there is quite a distance between them, each being situated in a secluded spot among the mountains, the whole covering many thousands of acres and costing many millions of dollars. We returned to Nankow by a diiferent route, near the base of the mountains, through fields full of stones. There were stone houses, stone walls, stone every- thing. And the mountains were genuine "Rocky Mountains," very bare and rugged, with the strata of rock almost perpendicular, — in some places entirely so. This route took us through many persimmon orchards, all most beautifully cultivated and the stones gathered out. We noted that on this trip they did not seem to have nearly so many ancestors. We returned to Peking that evening, and the next day we continued our sight-seeing there. One inter- esting little experience was a walk on the wall of the city. On that part which overlooked the American legation there were United States soldiers on guard. 6o Glimpses of Many Lands The familiar uniform and the old flag looked good to us, and we had quite a visit with two of "the boys." The next stage of our journey took us to Tientsin, only three hours' ride from Peking, on the coast. Here we saw our first snow of the winter — only a little flurry of it, which soon melted. Tientsin is a big seaport, and important as a commercial city, but there is noth- ing of special interest to tourists. We took a carriage drive through much of the native part in the forenoon, — the usual narrow, crowded streets and conditions the same as we had seen. Went to only one temple, which was not interesting. The new part, mostly German and English, is like any modern city. Our most interesting experience in Tientsin was attending an American Thanksgiving service, as it was our Thanksgiving Day. It was a sort of patriotic service, rather than a religious one. There was a good address, sang America, and a band played "The Star Spangled Banner"; then they had a social time, and refreshments served by the ladies. There were about a hundred and fifty Americans present. From this meeting, we and the Manvilles went home with Mrs. Burns and her son to dinner. It was an afternoon meeting, and dinner in the evening, — at about half-past 8 o'clock. It was a nine-course dinner, served by Chinese waiters, and we were at the table a little over two hours, — and then were not very full. But we had a nice time. k China 6i The next day we were on the train all day, going nearly straight south to Tsinaufu, an old walled city of the interior where civilization has scarcely touched, except through the missionaries. We spent our time mostly visiting two great mission compounds. The Presbyterians have fifteen missionaries located there, but most of them itinerate, and much of their work is in the surrounding villages. The Baptists have a fine institute and museum, with all sorts of institutional work; and they certainly are doing a great work there — social, educational, and evangelistic. In both com- pounds we met with the heartiest welcome. They are always so glad to see anyone from the home land, and so more than glad to see anyone who is enough interested in their work to come out and inquire into it. They all seem happy and encouraged in it, which seems wonderful to us when we think of the millions who have never yet been touched. This seemed to us the dirtiest and most discourag- ing looking place we had seen yet. It has about 250,000 population inside the walls, and all around the town, outside the walls, there seemed to be the graves of that many million. The next day we continued our journey south, all day, to Pukow, the terminus of the railroad, on the Yang-tse-Kiang River. These daylight rides through the country gave us a very good idea of all the part of China we visited. At Pukow we crossed the Yang-tse on the ferry "Fa Yung," which means "Flying Rain- bow." It was a brand new boat, very good looking, 62 Glimpses of Many Lands and gaily decorated for this her maiden trip. She went off in fine style, and as she flew across the river and swooped down on the docks at the other side, she ran squarely into a big junk, and tore out one side of it. Quite a record for a first trip. No one was hurt, however, and the incident was soon forgotten. We were now in Nanking, and were whirled along in a thrilling riksha ride, through a terribly crowded street lined with soldiers with guns and bayonets, and to a hotel which was full of bullet holes and shell marks of the siege of only three months ago. This was the very heart of the rebellion, and the city was still full of soldiers and the spirit of unrest, and all advised us not to stay there. So we saw what we could of the town in a few hours, then took train for Shanghai. I am finishing this letter our last day out, as we expect to reach Hongkong to-morrow morning. We have felt fine every minute so far, and have reason to think we will continue to do so the rest of the trip. We are beginning to be quite proud of ourselves as sailors, and will not dread the water trips so much in the future. The sea is most beautiful to-day, — dark green, with rolling billows of white. VI China On board the North German Lloyd Steamship "Yorck," December lo, 1913. Here we are again on the rolling deep; this time on the South China Sea, en route for Singapore. And again on the first day out I am beginning my carbon- copy letter, so that by writing a little each day I may have a long letter ready to mail when we land. These long water trips give one a fine chance to get caught up in his letter-writing, — and the letter-writing is a profit- able way of putting in a part of the time while on the trip ; so it works out all right whichever way you look at it. But I will resume the thread of my narrative where the last letter ended, at Hongkong. We reached there on time, the morning of December the 5th, with nothing having occurred to mar the pleasure or comfort of our second long water trip. Put in the greater part of our time that day in reading and answering letters, as we received a large package of them which had been remailed from our last mail station in Japan to Peking, and, missing us there, were again remailed, and had come down to Hongkong on the same boat with us. This has been one of our annoyances so far, — that our letters so often do not reach us at the city to which 63 64 Glimpses of Many Lands they are sent, and have to follow us, — sometimes for a long time. But as we were to have plenty of time at Hongkong, we did not grudge that spent in reading a big bunch of home letters, and in answering many of them. The plan of our party conductor was that we should join them at Hongkong on this date; but he had changed it somewhat, and had left word that we were to take a steamer that night for Canton, reaching there early the next morning. We did so, and he met us at the boat at 7 a. m. and escorted us to the Victoria Hotel, — which was not nearly so nice as its name, — where we had breakfast and met the other members of our party. Here also we were joined by two others, who continued with us for the rest of the six-months' tour for which we were booked with the Raymond-Whitcomb Company. These were Miss Genevieve Thompson and Mrs. McArthur, both of Portland, Oregon, making us now a party of eight. As we were to have only that one day in Canton, we started out early and worked hard, to see all possible of this most interesting old city of South China. Its streets are so narrow and crowded that it is impossible to get through them with any of the vehicles of ordinary travel, — even the rikshas cannot be used except in the more modern parts, — so we started out in a new kind of conveyance, — a sort of chair hung between two long, springy poles, and carried by two men, — one before and one behind. This made a long, narrow China 65 affair which could wind about through the narrow, crooked streets. We had a native guide — ^Ah Kow was his name — who was well posted on everything of interest. He, with our conductor, and our party of eight, single file, made quite a long procession, and the funny sight was enough to convulse ourselves with laughter; but the natives continued about their business and seemed hardly to notice us. Canton is a city of about two million and a half of people, and, as some one says, "the largest, richest and cleanest city in China," — but I think we failed to see the clean spots. It is different from all the other native cities we have seen in that many of the buildings are two stories high; and this, with the ex- tremely narrow streets, — some of them roofed over — makes a very uncomfortable passage through which to travel. In Canton the men all have short hair. The queue has disappeared from South China, and the fashion is growing in popularity even in the North. I think I have forgotten to speak of the fact that all over China, — even north to Mukden, — the pre- vailing color of dress of both men and women is blue, — blue of all shades and grades of material from cheap, coarse cotton to the richest silks and brocades, — so that it is sometimes called "The land of the blue gown." Those who do not wear blue are usually dressed in black. Our ride in chairs that forenoon took us through more than ten miles of the narrowest and busiest streets 66 Glimpses of Many Lands in Canton, which, I am quite convinced, no human tongue or pen could ever properly describe; so I shall not attempt it, but will simply mention some of the things we saw. We stopped at the shops where tooth-brushes are made, and where all sorts of most wonderful ivory carving is done, — they call them "shops" because they sell, as well as make; the beautiful fan shops; the firecracker factories; and the factories where they were weaving the most exquisite silk brocades on hand looms. We went up on to the old city wall, supposed to have been built in the third century, and saw a seven-story pagoda of the same date. Next to the "temple of the five hundred gods," and to the ancestral hall of the Chang family — one of the most costly, and beautiful "halls" in China; then to the Temple of Horrors, — most of whose "horrors" have been abolished, however. One most interesting thing which we saw was the City of the Dead. This was not a cemetery, as we sometimes apply that name, but a place where those who can afford it rent a room, or space, and keep the bodies of their friends until such a time as they see fit to bury them. The bodies are embalmed, of course, and are enclosed in elaborate and fanciful cases, and are visited often with offerings and all sorts of floral decorations. Bodies are often kept here for many months. In the afternoon we were rowed across the river to a Presbyterian mission station, and visited a school for the blind; and the hospital for the insane, at the China 67 head of which is Dr. Selden, whom we met on the "Mongolia." Saw and heard much of the interesting work there, then were rowed back across the river. I wish I could make you see that broad river as we saw it. It is said there are half a million people live on boats in the river and the harbor of Canton and Hongkong, — actually live, or at least exist, all the days of their lives on these little fishing boats and junks. Whole families are born there, and live there all their lives, — earning a pittance each day by fishing, or by carrying a passenger or small merchandise across the river. One can hardly believe it possible, but the water is almost covered with these boats. That evening we boarded another steamer, and took another night trip, arriving in the early morning at the old Portugese city Macao, where we spent one day. Macao has its Chinese part, which is not different from other Chinese towns, but the rest of the city is quite like the Spanish cities we have seen. The chief thing of interest we visited there was an opium fac- tory, where we saw the boiling, and had the whole process of making and packing explained to us. Also visited a very large firecracker factory. But the chief industry of Macao seems to be gambling. Every- where in the business part of the city one sees the signs: "First-class gambling house." We visited one for a few minutes, just to see how it looked, and it was really quite "first-class" looking. Then we went to see the home and garden of a wealthy Chinaman who made three million dollars in gambling. In the 68 Glimpses of Many Lands evening we boarded a large new excursion boat, the "Tai Shan," where we had dinner, and in three hours were back in Hongkong. There we had two days more for sight-seeing, and there are not many sights to see, except the one grand sight, — the view from the top of one of the highest hills, 1823 feet above the sea, — and it is grand beyond words: the city, the hills covered with the most beautiful semi-tropical vegeta- tion, the bay and harbor crowded with boats of all kinds, and the sea dotted with hundreds of islands. The mountain sides are well built up with fine resi- dences, — terrace above terrace, with beautiful grounds and glorious flowers. Nowhere have we ever seen such gorgeous banks of poinsettias as we saw on some of these hillsides. The botanical garden has many inter- esting and beautiful things, one of them being a deep ravine, just full of the most exquisitely beautiful tree ferns. There is a cable incline which carries people up the hills, and on the top of one of them is the fine summer home of the governor-general. Of course you all know that Hongkong is a fine, modern, Eng- lish city, so I did not think to explain that first. Even the Chinese part is almost English. We took several long drives through the city, and out into "Happy Valley," and enjoyed the three days there very much. This is our last day of this trip, if all goes well, as we expect to reach Singapore to-morrow about noon. This is our third day out, and we have been well every minute of the time. The first day and night the sea was pretty rough, but since then it has been As We Dressed in the Tropics 1 China 69 quite smooth and the weather very hot. Almost everybody on board is dressed in white, and we are a very tropical-looking crowd. The report at i p. m. to-day showed that we were about six degrees north of the equator. Hope to mail this in Singapore. VII Java On board the Small Dutch Line Steamer, the "rumphius," On the Java Sea, January 3, 1914. It is a little more than two weeks since my last letter was mailed, — at Singapore, — and now we are on the way back to that city; and I shall make use of part of my time of this rather monotonous trip in getting another letter ready to mail when we reach land. I meant to write this yesterday, but this little boat would not keep still long enough for me to even get ready to begin. I meant to begin it the day before, and say "Happy New Year" to all, but the same conditions prevented. We left Soerabaya, near the east end of the island of Java, that day, and when we were about an hour out we ran into a very rough sea, which kept getting rougher every minute; and we were informed that we — also the sea — had been struck by a northwest monsoon, which was likely to continue all night. It did, — also all day yesterday and a part of last night; in fact, it is quite breezy yet, though we are safe in port at Batavia, where they will be loading for several hours. The "Rumphius" is a comparatively small boat, and the sea was the roughest we had yet seen; and as a 70 Java J I result nearly all the passengers succumbed to the "mal de mer" — among them C. F., who gave up for the first time, and failed to report at table at two meals. I had the distinction of being the only one of our party who did not miss a meal. I was not ill at all. But I am beginning at the wrong end of my story, — our leaving Java, instead of our arrival, the latter being just two weeks ago this morning. To make the connection with my last, I will just take time to say that we reached Singapore on time, on Sunday, December 14th. Found automobiles waiting for us, and were soon comfortably settled in a suite of rooms looking out on the bay, across a lovely green lawn full of palms and shrubbery. It was diffi- cult to imagine that it was almost Christmas time, with that view in front of us, and the birds singing lustily in the trees. But it was not so hot as we ex- pected, being only two degrees from the equator, — about like an August day at home, with a great deal of humidity. We did not go out at all that day, as there were several tropical downpours of rain. The next day the temperature did not get above ^6°^ but it poured rain nearly all day long, and we were not able to get out at all; but Tuesday was clear and bright, and we got about some. The chief thing which we accomplished was the purchase of our topees, which we will wear in all the tropical countries. Singapore is not interesting, only as a great com- mercial center; and it is great in that respect. The books say it is one of the greatest in the world, — being 72 Glimpses of Many Lands the gateway of the Orient. We did not try to do much then, knowing we would be there for three days on our return from this trip. We left on a small Dutch Line steamer on Tuesday evening, and reached Batavia, Java, on Friday morn- ing, — two days and three nights out, stopping only once. This stop was at Billiton, an island which produces great quantities of tin. Java is much like Cuba in shape, — a little larger, — and nearer the equator south than Cuba is north, so it is more tropical both in climate and vegetation than Cuba. It has Batavia near the west end correspond- ing to Havana, and Soerabaya near the east corre- sponding to Santiago, — the two largest cities; and, like Cuba, these two largest cities are connected by a good railroad. We landed at Batavia, and were there for three days. The only thing of interest to see there is the tropical vegetation, — unless it is the Des Indes Hotel where we stayed, which I must mention, as it was such a surprise to us. We had a suite of lovely tile- floored rooms, — a large bedroom well furnished with clean, new things; an open porch-like sitting-room with easy chairs, table, and desk; a back, half-enclosed porch with toilet-room, and the loveliest bathroom ever, tiled, and with a shower bath and drain where one can splash all he wants to. A shower bath is considered one of the essentials of a hotel room in the tropics. As it is considered too hot to go out in the middle of the day, and it usually rains all the afternoon, there Java 73 doesn't seem to be much time for sight-seeing. But we managed to drive during the forenoons, and took note of the things which grow, as that is the chief interest in Java. One thing surprised us greatly — that the tropics had so few flowers. I had always sup- posed that the real tropics was one gorgeous flower garden. On the contrary there are almost no flowers such as grow in gardens, though there are many blooming trees and flowering shrubs. The vegetation is most luxuriant and beautiful, but in denseness and greenness rather than in color. Another thing which surprised us has been the temperature, as it has not been nearly so hot as we expected to find it, — not any hotter than at home in our ordinary summer weather, and always comfortable at night. But the difl"erence of course is, that this summer weather is continuous, and no doubt grows hard to endure. It is an interesting sight to see every- body dressed in white, — men, women, and children; — not the natives, — some of the younger ones of them do not dress at all, and none of them wear very much. We took one excursion out from Batavia by rail- road, about two hours by train to Buitenzorg, to visit Java's famous botanical garden. The ride through the country was most interesting, showing us the natives at work in the fields, and their villages. Espe- cially interesting was the rice planting, as we had not seen that in China or Japan. They were plowing in fields covered with water, with caribou or water buffalo, in small terraced patches, — then the people, knee deep 74 Glimpses of Many Lands in water and mud, setting each separate rice stalk in the mud, in rows four inches apart, and plants four inches apart in each row. Of course I can't tell much about that wonderful botanical garden in the limited space of a letter, but it showed us some of the wonders and beauties of tropical vegetation. The orchids and other parasites were the most immense; all sorts of strange and queer trees and plants, — such as the sausage tree and the candle tree; and many beautiful flowering things — the gorgeous flame tree, the fragrant frangipani, the white lotus, and many others. In the experiment garden adjoining, there were all the useful plants and shrubs of the tropics, — clove, nutmeg, indigo, tapioca, cocoa, coffee, tea, etc. From Batavia we started for the east end of the island, by railroad. We took it in easy stages, stop- ping at important places, and feel that we have seen it pretty well. Java is not a very big island, but it is a pretty big subject to condense into one letter. As you all no doubt know, it belongs to the Dutch, — this and other islands being called the Dutch East Indies. Wilhelmina's picture is much in evidence. The cities are quite modern, — the streets wide and clean, and shaded with immense trees. Even the native parts are much cleaner than in Japan and China. The natives are little better off than slaves, as the lordly Dutchmen rule them with a rod of iron, taking everything and giving nothing, — nothing but abuse. Java 75 The people are a little, mild, sad-looking, brown race, — seemingly not much above the animals, as we have seen them in the country. They wear very little clothing, and most of the children under eight or ten years of age none at all, — in the country, of course I mean; the cities are different. Often we saw a little child with nothing on but a string of beads and bracelets; and sometimes quite a big boy with nothing on but a hat. Many of the women and girls wear ankle-bracelets with bangles, and large ear-rings. And yet, in spite of appearances, we have seen that these people are capable of becoming anything that other peoples are. In the hotels they are required to dress neatly in white, and they make fine table- waiters and room-men; and we have never seen any- where more capable and efficient chauffeurs than they are. All the cities have many automobiles. The Dutch here are a lordly, lazy race. They don't seem to do anything but sit around and eat and drink, — particularly the latter; — and the women have droves of native servants, — a nurse for every child, it seems. The hotels were surprisingly good, — all arranged much like the one I have described in Batavia, but it was the finest. Of course the "eats" were not very satisfactory. Sometimes we get pretty discouraged and think we are going to starve; but still we manage to exist. These two Dutch boats are about the nearest the limit of anything we have encountered, and we are 76 Glimpses of Many Lands taking comfort from the thought that two more days will probably end our trials on them. We have quit trying to drink the stuff they call coffee, — "Java coffee" sounds all right, but things are not always what they seem. This is a strong coffee extract, cold, of which they take a teaspoonful, then fill up the cup with hot water or hot milk, — and it is hard to decide which is worse. Java has a population of about thirty millions, a half-million being Chinese. These latter, — with the Dutch, — are the business men of the island. They run many of the industries owned by the moneyed men, and they themselves own many sugar mills and plantations. Many of the Chinese are rich, and have fine homes in the cities, — especially is this true of Soerabaya and vicinity. In the eastern half of the island are extensive sugar- cane and tobacco plantations, and many sugar mills. The lowlands are all farmed in rice. Our first stop after leaving Batavia — an eight-hour ride — was at Garoet, a mountain resort about 2500 feet above sea level. Here it was quite cool, — slept under two blankets at night. Stayed three days there, and the second day took a trip up into the mountains to see the crater of a volcano. Got up at 4 o'clock in the morning, had breakfast, then started at 5 o'clock. Drove for three hours in little mountain carriages, each carrying two people and drawn by two ponies. Here we stopped at a rest house, or hotel, at an elevation of 6300 feet, and Java 77 changed conveyances — the ladies to Sedan chairs, each carried by four men, and the men to saddle-horses. From here we went up a terribly steep and rocky mountain trail to an elevation of 8640 feet, — as far as the men could take us, — and from here we had a long climb on foot to the crater. The last real erup- tion was in 1772, but it has never quit smoking; and when we were there it had several openings, each spouting out steam and sulphur furiously. It was a terribly hard trip, and about used me up. The down trip was not quite so hard. Had lunch at the rest house, then drove back to the hotel, — with the rain coming down in torrents almost all the way, — arriving there at 5 p. m. fully persuaded that sight-seeing isn't all fun. The trip was twenty-one miles each way. Java has had many earthquakes, and still has many smoking mountains. We saw a beautiful cone-shaped one the other day when we were riding, with two chim- neys smoking furiously. The highest one is 11,950 feet. Our third day in Garoet was Christmas, a most unusual one, spent in the midst of tropical vegeta- tion, and the very hottest day we had yet experienced. About noon we started on a seven-hours' trip to a nice city called Djogjakarta, — nice name too, isn't it.? It was a hot, dusty ride, and we were more than glad that it could not happen every Christmas. The only thing of interest at Djogjakarta is the trip to the ancient temple called the Boro Boedoer. We went in automobiles, twenty-four miles over a per- 78 Glimpses of Many Lands fectly fine road shaded nearly all the way by immense trees. This old temple is a wonderful thing, — so wonderful one hardly knows how to give even a faint idea of it, — and yet many of us probably never even heard of it before. I am quite sure we never did. It dates back to the ninth century, at latest — probably before that. It was supposed to be simply a stony hill in a tropical jungle, when Sir Something-or-other Raffles, who had done much for India and Singapore, discovered it. It was covered with dirt, and over- grown with jungle, and after a force of men had spent two months in excavating and cleaning, it was found to be the pretty well preserved remains of a magnificent temple. This was in 1814, but no great interest was taken in it until comparatively recent times, when archaeologists began making a study of it. It is not a temple in the sense of a building in which worship is held, but is rather a monumental temple. They say it is a great heap of stonework like the pyramids, or the top of a hill built around with stonework. There are four terraces, or galleries, of marvelously carved stone, ^bove ground, and three others still uncovered below these, the whole covering about five acres. It is 500 feet square, 97 feet high above the present ground surface, and 55 feet below, and has over three miles in all of bas-relief carvings. It is evidently a Buddhist temple, all the carvings being of the life and teachings of Buddha, and there being hundreds of images of Buddha, of all sizes. It is certainly a most beautiful thing, besides being so much of a wonder as to its Java 79 origin, history, etc. There are ruins of other immense and beautiful temples, near Djogjakarta, — all dis- covered since the Boro Boedoer. We went to three others, but they are not so well preserved. Two are standing, and show wonderful carving; but one, seem- ingly as large as the Boro Boedoer, is just a great mass of carved stone and broken images. Nobody seems to understand them, but all who have made a study of them agree that they show that this part of the island was once occupied by East Indians of a high state of civilization and of Buddhist religion. One story is that the people of India once conquered the natives, and set up a Buddhist kingdom; and that later the Arabs came and conquered them and either killed or drove out all the Buddhists, and set up a Mohammedan kingdom and established Mohammed- anism. This looks reasonable, as the people are now wholly Mohammedan, and there are even now many Arabians living there. I forgot to say, in speaking of population, that there are about 65,000 Europeans living on the island, — mostly Dutch, of course. Another trip of six hours by train took us to Soera- baya, our last city of Java. Nothing of special interest here, except drives about the city. New Year's Day we spent the forenoon at Soerabaya, then started on this trip in the afternoon. It was a good deal more like the Fourth of July than New Year's, — in fact, was very much like it: the summer greenness, the heat, the heavy rain, and above all the fireworks. The Chinese everywhere celebrate the New Year with 8o Glimpses of Many Lands fireworks, and other people here join them; so we had a regular insane Fourth — all sorts of bombardments, cannon crackers, and fireworks. As I said in the first part part of this, we have only two more days to Singapore, and so will bring this to a close. VIII Singapore and Burma On board the British India Steamship "Angora," On the Bay of Bengal, January 22, 1914. Arrived in Singapore about 8 o'clock on the morning of the 5th, in a pouring rain; went to the Raffles Hotel in automobiles, in a pouring rain; and the downpour continued almost all the rest of the day. Singapore is not as hot as we expected to find it, but it certainly is wet. We stayed there for three days, and managed to get about some, as the second was not quite so bad as the first, and the third was fine all day. We took a three-hours' ride in automobiles, — all about the city and out among the rubber plantations and the finest cocoanut groves we have seen anywhere. There are many wealthy Chinese in Singapore, and their modern suburban homes are among the conspicuous things of our ride. Many of them are very beautiful. The Chinese part of the city is like China. We spent one forenoon in a trip by rail to the old kingdom of Johore — the most southern country of the Malay Peninsula, just north of the Singapore island. Crossed the strait in a ferry which connects with the train, then took rikshas for the ride through the town and the palace grounds. We were shown through the public rooms of the 81 82 Glimpses of Many Lands palace, but did not see the Sultan, as he was "up country" looking after his rubber plantations. He is immensely wealthy and is a business man, as well as a sultan with three hundred wives, — no, he has only one hundred; it was his father who had three hundred. We were shown all his elaborate and valuable gold and silver plate, his arms, and his roomful of royal umbrel- las. An umbrella is appreciated in that country. Then we went to the tomb of his illustrious father, "the late sultan," and to his mosque, — he is a Mo- hammedan. Had an automobile trip to the Singapore botanical garden, where we saw myriads of beautiful tropical things which grow. Also saw two genuine wild mon- keys, jumping about the tops of tall trees, — a new sight. The last day there C. F. and I spent the forenoon alone, seeing different things. Went to the Y. M. C. A., the Y. W. C. A., and a mission school called Oldham Hall, — named for Bishop Oldham, who started the school forty years ago. It is a boarding school for boys, and has over fourteen hundred now in attend- ance, — including the day school, — and is entirely self- supporting except for the salaries of the missionary teachers. The Methodists have a girls' school there, too, with almost as many in attendance. Then we went to call on a Methodist minister and his wife, — whose address had been given us at home by mutual friends, — and had a nice visit with them, — also some home-made cake and a refreshing drink, which were appreciated. Singapore and Burma 83 Left Singapore on the evening of the 8th on the British India boat, the "EUenga," for Rangoon. It was a clean new boat, and the sea was on its good behavior all the way, and we had a very comfortable trip. Reached Penang — on the coast about half way — early Saturday morning, and were in port there all day, while the boat was being loaded, — principally with cocoanuts. We watched four big junkloads be- ing unloaded into our hold before we went ashore, which we did as soon as we had breakfast. We toured the city all forenoon in automobiles, going through all the best streets, to the botanical garden, and to one noted temple. This last was the limit, — for the tropics! Like most Buddhist temples, it was high up on a hill, — ^where the automobiles could not go, — and only reached by many long flights of steps, one flight after another. These we climbed, under a broil- ing sun, and when we at last reached it, it looked like the same old Buddhist temple we had been seeing for about two months. Penang is quite a modern city, and there are many Europeans there, also many Chinese. Some of these latter are among the most wealthy men of Penang, and many of their homes are about the most magnificent private residences we ever saw. Had tiffin at a hotel, and late in the afternoon returned to the boat, and that evening resumed the journey to Rangoon, which we reached the following Tuesday morning. Rangoon is a city of 250,000 people. It is the capital of Burma, which is now a province of British India; 84 Glimpses of Many Lands that is, Upper Burma belongs to India. Rangoon is a very interesting city in many ways,-^interesting in its native life, and also in showing what European civilization can do for a heathen city. Britain has had control of part of Burma for sixty years, and a part of it for thirty years. Rangoon is in the first-named part. A part of the city is modern, and very beauti- ful, — ^wide streets, beautiful big trees, and as lovely a park as one often sees in the United States. We had a drive through it one afternoon, and stopped for awhile to listen to a band concert with really good music; and we all agreed that it was the most like home of anything we had seen. Burma is the one country of the world where Bud- dhism has the strongest hold upon the people, and where the greatest percentage of the population are Buddhists. Burma is their stronghold, with over ten millions of the people followers of Buddha. Their temples here are all in the form of pagodas, — so that it is often referred to as "the land of the pagoda," — and there are thousands of them of all sizes and degrees of richness and beauty; and they are much more attractive than the ordinary temple. The natives look much like the people of Java, small and brown, and dress much the same; but there are more East Indians than Burmese in Rangoon. The Burmese are a happy, lazy people, willing to live and die with simply enough to eat and the little it is abso- lutely necessary to wear. I mean, of course, the masses. In the cities there are many who have Singapore and Burma 85 shown a desire for better things, — who have adopted European customs, and become pretty well-to-do. These dress well — in their native costume — and look quite like men and women. The women are espe- cially nice-looking, — many of them very pretty. They wear their hair combed very smooth and twisted into an artistic coil on the top of the head. Their dress is usually a piece of goods put around straight, making a narrow, straight skirt the crossways of the goods, then a little short jacket, — the jacket usually white and the skirt bright-colored. The men dress nearly the same, only the jacket is longer, — more like a coat. The workingmen twist the skirt piece up between the legs, in a sort of imitation trousers. But nearly all wear bright-colored clothes, — men and women, — so that a crowd of them just glows with color, like a great poppy garden. The men wear a little silk thing wound around the head like a turban, and the women have a gauzy, bright-colored scarf which is often thrown over the head, — never a hat. The East Indians dress similarly, — only less of it, — often the workingman having nothing on but a middle cloth of some kind and a lot of ornaments. They wear bracelets, — sometimes six or seven on each arm; anklets; beads around the neck — sometimes several strings of different kinds; ear-rings, not only in the bottom of the ear, but often four or five along the edge and top; and nose- rings — sometimes a ring in the middle of the nose, and one on each side, some- times even a little bell hung in the middle, sometimes 86 Glimpses of Many Lands a gold button in each side, or perhaps, only in one side. Sometimes they have an ornament in the middle of the forehead or between the eyes, — I have no idea how they stick it on. Many of the children are naked, and we have seen them entirely without clothes but wearing bracelets, anklets, beads, and nose-rings. Once we saw a little boy with nothing on but a fancy silver belt around his body. They seem to live almost wholly in the street, and "squat" around anywhere — do not sit as we do, but sit down on their feet — and always seem to be having a good time. This is one side of native life. One day we saw a different phase of it. C. F. and I took a carriage and drove out into the edge of Rangoon to a twenty-five- acre enclosure called "The Vinton Compound." It is a Baptist mission, established there more than fifty years ago, — I do not remember exactly the date. But Mrs. Vinton, whom we met, and who lives there now, has lived in that same house for fifty-two years, and all her children and grandchildren were born there. Her father. Rev. Haswell, came to Burma as a missionary in 1835, and she was born there, — she is now past seventy-five years old. She remembers Dr. Judson very well, — the first missionary to Burma. He came to Rangoon a few months more than a hun- dred years ago, and last December they had a "Judson centennial" and a great Jubilee. It was fine, I am sure, from what we learned of it. Judson came to real Singapore and Burma 87 heathen, — in the depths of barbarism; living in degra- dation; cruel, unclean, treacherous, — almost worse than beasts. Now there are more than sixty-six thou- sand church members in Burma of the Baptist faith alone; and counting their families it is called a Chris- tian community of at least two hundred thousand of Baptists only. But some will say that this is not a very great number for a hundred years of work. Judson had only seven converts in the first ten years! He prepared the way for others, sowed the seed, some of which grew and produced more seed, and now many are sowing. But it is not the number of church members alone which counts, w^hen one wants to reckon up the results of mission work; it is what has been accomplished in the uplift of the people toward the Light, — the improve- ment in their moral and physical, as well as spiritual, being. That is what we saw at Vinton Compound. We met a minister there who had just returned from an itinerating trip, who has the supervision of sixty churches in the small villages, each with a native pastor. He told us of what they were doing to try to uplift the people of the country places. Among other things they encourage the people to send their children to the mission schools in the cities, which can do so much more for them than their little local schools. The Vinton Compound has numerous kinds of build- ings and dormitories, and a memorial church built by the native Christians themselves, without any outside 88 Glimpses of Many Lands help, as a memorial of Mrs. Vinton's father and her husband, — both of whom died there. The school is self-supporting, only the missionaries* salaries being paid by the Baptist board. It has a Bible school for women, which trains them for work among their own people. Rev. and Mrs. Seagrave have charge of the school. They gathered the children and young people from the different rooms into the chapel, and had them sing for us. It was a fine sight, — that great roomful of bright, clean, self-respecting young people, — as fine looking as any you could see at home. There are over five hundred in the school, and over seventeen hun- dred in the Baptist college nearby in all grades. These are all being taught all that pertains to an honest, upright, clean Christian manhood and womanhood. There are many other schools in Rangoon, but I mention this one at greater length, as it was the one we visited. But when you think of the influence these young people must have on the life of the country villages to which they return, then you may have some conception of what Christian missionaries are doing for mankind in this life, as well as fitting them for the life to come. " By their fruits ye shall know them," and I cannot make any more forcible comparison be- tween heathenism and Christianity than that seen in Rangoon. But I did not mean to turn this into a sermon, so will change the topic. One morning we got up early and all went out to the lumber yards just outside the city, on the river bank, to see the elephants work. We had to go early, as Singapore and Burma 89 elephants work only short-hour days, and their morn- ing ends at 9 a. m. Then they begin again at 5 p. m. and work two hours. This is because they cannot en- dure working in the heat of the day. They are evi- dently more delicate than they appear. But they can work, all right; and it was truly wonderful to see them handle those immense teakwood logs with their trunks and tusks, and lift and pile them as straight as men could do it. When one log would not lie perfectly straight in the place it ought to be, the elephant would seem to know just how it should be changed, and would proceed to shove it into place. They were guided and directed by a man on the back of each; but we could not see anything that he did to direct them. Another feature of Rangoon worth mentioning is its thousands of crows everywhere, keeping up an inces- sant and ear-splitting cawing from the first peep of day until dark. From Rangoon we went about four hundred miles north, by railroad, to Mandalay. We were indeed "On the road to Mandalay," and we kept quoting Kipling's poem, and listening for the "tinkle, tinkle, tinkle of the bells," but never heard them. This trip gave us an opportunity to see a good deal of the coun- try and its products, — rice being the chief one, as usual. It was nearly all harvested, and some was being threshed by cattle treading it out. Then we saw it being winnowed by being poured through a high sieve. Everything very primitive. The living places of the 90 Glimpses of Many Lands people — one cannot call them houses — were just little low huts, made by poles being stuck in the ground and covered with straw. Hardly any of them had any sides. It probably does not cost anything to build their "houses." The latter part of the day we went through very valuable teakwood forests. Burma has great tin mines, too, and extensive oil fields. Mandalay was the capital, under the kings, before India got possession, and of course we visited the old palaces and grounds and tombs. But the special feature of interest is its many pagodas. Chief among these is the great golden pagoda with its seven hundred and thirty smaller white ones. Four hundred and fifty of these smaller ones contain each a white marble tablet with some portion of the sacred writings of Buddha. The great golden pagoda — called the Kuthodar — is built of brick and then plastered, then covered with real gold leaf, until it looks like pure gold. It was regilded about a year ago at a cost of twenty thousand dollars. There are many other pagodas, all interesting, but this will suffice for description. It was the dry season, and everything was so covered with dust that nothing was pretty, and we kept won- dering what Kipling saw worth writing about. We stayed only one day, — and that was plenty, — then came back to Rangoon by steamboat on the Irrawaddy River. This was a three-days' trip, traveling only in the daytime, and "tying up" at landings at night. This gave us other views of the country, and showed Singapore and Burma 91 us more of the native life as we stopped at many landings. The first day on the boat was quite cold — so cold we had to wear heavy coats when on deck, and slept under two blankets at night. It seemed a remark- able state of things for the tropics — ^for we were still in the torrid zone, Mandalay being 22° north, and we were going south from there. The Irrawaddy is a broad river, flowing through a nearly flat country, and much of the country is uninteresting. At one landing they loaded many great bags of peanuts on to the boat, this being the chief product of that particular section. The second day out we passed the great oil fields of Burma, — great forests of derricks on the east bank of the river, and one right in the middle of the river on a sand bank. On the river banks, both sides, were hundreds of pagodas, — single and in groups. So passed the three days, and we arrived safely in Rangoon, — of which I have already written at length, — and left there as the date of this letter indicates. I have written some each day, and this is our third day out. We expect to reach Calcutta this afternoon, and I will mail this there. India will be strenuous work, but interesting. IX India Agra, India, February 8, 1914. India is going to be such a big subject that I shall have to divide it into two letters, or more, so I will try to get the first one written while here by using my evenings for it, as there is never much to interest one in the evenings. It is quite a task to write long letters when one is on the go so much of the time, and is rather weary as a result, the balance of the time. The boat trips have helped out, however, and I shall make use of that enforced leisure whenever it occurs. Calcutta was our "port of entry" to India, on the 24th of January — the day I finished my last letter. It is about a hundred miles up the Hoogly River, which is wide and not very deep, for this distance. It is said to be very unsafe on account of quicksand in some parts. One vessel is known to have gone down in the quicksand some years ago; and "they say" there have been others. The pilots on this part of the Hoogly are experts, and are the highest paid pilots in any part of the world. Of course stories like these made us all eager to see all there was to be seen, and we did not spend much time indoors that after- noon. It grew almost exciting when, at what is called the approach to the dangerous point, all the lifeboats on our steamer were swung out, and every seaman was 92 J India 93 at his post ready for action. But we rode serenely- over it, as though no danger lurked in the quicksands beneath. We reached Calcutta about 3 p. m., and were soon bowling up be^autiful, broad avenues to the Grand Hotel. Our first impressions of the city were very pleasant, as we drove through broad streets with parks and flowers, and past great government buildings, and statues, and all sorts of interesting things. It is a city of over a million people, and the largest in India. It has been under English rule for so long, and the seat of government until three years ago, that it is almost like an English city. It has its native part, too, but even that has been much changed by contact with foreigners. There are poor people there, of course, but there are many very rich, — among the natives as well as the English. We were there four days, and were over much of the city in automobiles, and also took several long trolley car rides, and felt we had seen it pretty well. One of our automobile rides took us through the most con- gested part of the na.tive crty, where the streets literally swarmed with people. Beyond this, outside of the city, we came to the usual "botanical garden" — ^which in this case is just a great park, full of various kinds of trees and shrubs, the chief one being the largest banyan tree in the world. It is one hundred and forty years old. Its main trunk is 51 feet in circumference, and 85 feet high, — the whole crown being 997 feet around and having 562 aerial roots — many of them 94 Glimpses of Many Lands being great tree trunks themselves. It looks more like a grove of trees than a single tree. We visited the great Calcutta museum, also the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. Went to a lecture at the Y. M. C. A. building, on "Leaders of modern religious movements in India," but it dealt only with the "movements" in the old religions, and showed their unrest and their reaching out after something more soul-satisfying. Went to church service at a nice little Methodist church, and to see the St. Paul's Cathedral, — Church of England, — which is their Westminster Abbey of India. Here we saw a very beautiful statue of Reginald Heber, the missionary and hymn-writer. Another place of interest was the site of the historic "Black Hole," and, near by, a monument with the names of the one hundred and twenty-three persons who perished in it. The dungeon itself is marked by a black marble tablet with inscription. We spent one forenoon at the Lee Memorial, a mission school which grew up from a tragedy which occurred in September, 1899. Rev. Lee with his wife and seven children had gone from Calcutta to Darjeel- ing — a mountain resort — for the hot months, and were living in a cottage on the mountain side. Mr. Lee, with his wife and seven-months-old baby, had gone back to Calcutta to get the home in order, intending that the children should follow them in a few days. Two days before they were to leave the cottage, there was a terrible deluge of rain which lasted all day, India 95 causing many landslides among the mountains. One of these took the cottage with it, and the six children were buried in the debris. One was found alive the next morning, but died soon after. One little girl was found dead, but none of the others were ever recovered. From this there was started a little memorial mission school, which has grown until it is now quite an edu- cational institution, with a large, fine building, and a school that is doing a great work, — not only the usual work among the children, but in training Bible women for work in the zenanas. Mr. Lee is a Methodist mis- sionary, but the school is undenominational, and is supported almost wholly by voluntary contributions. Our next trip was to Darjeeling. It is on the lower range of the Himalaya Mountains, — what might be called the foothills, — about 7000 feet altitude. The railroad trip there was interesting enough to make note of, as it had some of the unusual in it. We left Calcutta in the afternoon, and rode for a couple of hours in a very nice parlor car; then left the train at the River Ganges and boarded a ferry which took us across the river and also some distance up it, where we connected with the continuation of the railroad north. (A magnificent bridge is in process of building there.) We were on the ferry for nearly an hour, so had dinner there, — that is part of the business of the ferry. That was one of the "unusual" features of the trip, — dinner on the Ganges, — but it was not at Benares! Across the river we boarded our sleeping 96 Glimpses of Many Lands car, where we had a large, comfortable compartment, and were soon settled for the night. I think I must digress a bit here to explain that though the sleeping cars in India and Burma are fairly- good, all travelers are required to furnish their own bedding. Our conductor laid in a supply of bedding at Rangoon, and hired three English-speaking native servants who were to go with us all through India and have the entire charge of our bedding, baggage, etc. They made up our beds at night, put bedding away in the morning, and looked after our comfort generally. But to return to our subject: Had to get up at 6 o'clock the next morning to change cars. Here we had early breakfast, then boarded a train with open cars for the mountain ride. It was cold, and we used our steamer rugs. But it was a glorious mountain ride — a narrow-gauge road, with very small engine and short cars, which wound around making short curves and three complete loops, — and four times backed and "tacked"! Reached Darjeeling about 1:45 p.m. and went up the hill to the hotel in rikshas, each with three men. The city is built up the mountain side, houses above each other on terraces, with only paths for streets tacking this way and that; and with no modes of con- veyance except on horseback, in rikshas, or in chairs, — a new kind of chair called a dandy, each carried by four or six men, according to the size of the person. It is a very picturesque city, and has a population of thirty-five thousand, and is a popular summer India 97 resort for people from the cities of the hot lowlands. We went for the scenery. The room we occupied at the hotel looked out onto the highest range of the Himalaya mountains, — forty miles away, to be sure, but seeming to be not more than four. The highest peak is Mount Everest, 29,002 feet; the next, Kinchinjinga, 28,185 feet, with many others over 20,000 feet. They were snow-covered for a long way down, and when the sunrise was on them they were a beautiful rose color, — a glorious sight. Our second day there we took a trip to Tiger Hill for a better view of the sunrise on the snow. Got up at 3 o'clock A. M., dressed, had coffee and bread, and at exactly 4 o'clock each got into a "dandy" carried by six men, and started up the hills. It took two hours and five minutes to reach the little observatory on the top of Tiger Hill, — 1000 feet higher than Darjeeling. It was a weird ride in the darkness, lighted only by the myriads of stars, and listening to the strange chatter of the crowd of natives who carried us. Presently the stars began to pale, and faint streaks of light appeared in the east, which increased gradual- ly and grew pink by the time we reached the summit. There, in the little observatory, hot coffee was served to us, while we watched the pink glow increase and grow brighter on the snow-crowned peaks of the highest mountains in the world, — the Himalayas. Our guide-book says, "The view from Tiger Hill is probably equaled nowhere else on the globe." And it surely is grand beyond description. 98 Glimpses of Many Lands The ride back by daylight and in the sunshine was fine also. Got back at quarter of nine, and were ravenously hungry for breakfast, which was ready for us. Had a sleep, then took a walk to see the place of the landslide and the tragedy of the Lee children. From Darjeeling we went back to Calcutta over the same route, stayed there one day, then continued our journey to Benares, — Benares, the sacred city of the Hindus, on the sacred River Ganges! Here words fail me! I think a whole line of exclamation points would express my feelings better than I could do it in words. I am sure I can never convey even a faint conception of the horrors of heathendom, as we saw them there, in a couple of pages of an ordinary letter. If I were writing a book on it, and could take up sub- jects in detail, I might attempt some description. As it is, I can only generalize, and speak of the temples we saw, — temples of Siva, and Vishnu, and Durga, and Kali, and the monkey god, and the elephant god, and the cow temple, and the golden temple, — and so on, adinfinitum! Please excuse the "ands," but they seem necessary there, — for emphasis. The temples are all filthy and ill-smelling, and dirty people are swarm- ing everywhere in and about them. One writer says, "Continued streams of humanity from all parts of India converge here, for it is the center and stronghold of Hinduism." Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims make the pilgrimage to this far-famed city of their holy religion. It seems almost incredible that in Benares, a city of 200,000 population, there should be India 99 2,cxx) temples, besides innumerable shrines. With its one-half million of idols it surpasses what the Apostle Paul saw in Athens, where he said he saw "the city full of idols." The second morning there we went out early for a ride in a boat, on the river near the shore, to see the ghats and the bathers. The ghats are great temple-like buildings along the river for two miles, with platforms and steps leading down into the water, where the people go to bathe in, and drink of, the sacred River Ganges. We went up and down the river, past all the ghats; and it was a sight never to be forgotten. Thousands of people coming and going, in their many-colored, flowing gar- ments, thousands more in the water, — and on the platforms above, each under a huge umbrella, sat the Hindu priests to take the tax from every one. For as each bather finishes his purifying and his worship, he goes to the priest to have his caste mark, or mark of his god, placed on his forehead. We passed two burning ghats, also, on the river bank close to the others, where the bodies of the dead are burned. Saw one body on the funeral pile burn- ing; another just ready to be lighted, and one lying in the edge of the river waiting its turn. Also saw a body borne to the ghat on a litter, while the procession which carried and followed it kept crying out to their gods and making great outcries. The representation we had in the India scene of the pageant, in "The World in Chicago," was perfect. loo Glimpses of Many Lands The people coming and going on those steps, the goats they led, — there were many of them, — then carrying in the body and putting it on the pile of wood. I could easily imagine little Rhadamani in her red dress added to the scene, — as it used often to be at these same ghats. It was all very terrible, and I was glad to get away from it, though of course I was glad to have seen it, — even the worst. After leaving the boat we climbed the steps of one ghat, then up several flights of steps into a room of a temple, where we saw a "very holy man" doing pen- ance on a bed of spikes, on which he lies three hours at a time, and sleeps on it. After tiffin we all drove out to Sarnath, or ancient Benares, to see the ruins of the old temple, halls, and monasteries where Buddha used to teach, and the spot where he preached his first sermon. But there is no Buddhism in Benares now. There are some Mohammedans, but Hinduism is the chief religion. There are parts of Benares that are really quite pretty. Our hotel stood in large, pretty grounds, with a profusion of beautiful flowers, and it was a real relief to get back there, where one felt he dared to breathe freely. From Benares we went next to Lucknow, — interest- ing to all the world since 1857 as being the place of the greatest siege the world has ever known. We had a good native guide for the city, who was born in Luck- now, and whose grandfather was one of the few natives India loi in the defense who did not mutiny. He made it very realistic to us as he described the siege while we stood on the very spot where Aitkin's battery held out for 87 days, — where Sir Henry Lawrence was shot, — and where the relieving forces came in. Near by is the cemetery where all the heroic dead were buried, — men, women, and children. Among them was the grave of Sir Henry Lawrence. We stayed in Lucknow two days, going to all places connected with the mutiny; then went on to Cawnpore, taking the same guide with us to complete the story. It is only an hour and a half's ride by train, and we stayed only one day, visiting all the places made famous in the mutiny by the massacres. The "massacre ghat," as it is called, still stands, and has a marble slab which records how "450 persons were most foully and treacherously murdered in the boats, at these steps." Then there is the memorial church with many tablets, and the well where the bodies of 120 women and children were thrown. This is enclosed by a fine, massive railing, and over the well is a life-sized marble figure called "The Angel of the Resurrection." It is very beautiful. There are a number of enclosures where others are buried which are most appropriately marked; for instance, ex- tending all the way around the railing of one are the words, "In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." On another is, "These are they that have come up out of great tribulation." 102 Glimpses of Many Lands There is nothing in Cawnpore to see except the massacre monuments, so after one day there, we came on to Agra, where we expect to stay for three days. It is of interest from the standpoint of its beautiful ancient buildings, its Pearl Mosque, and its famous Taj Mahal. We went first in our sight-seeing to the Agra Fort, built in 1560 by Akbar, the third of the great Mogul emperors, as a protection for his palaces, himself, and his numerous family. It is a mile and a half in cir- cumference — an immense red sandstone wall, seem- ingly in as perfect condition as if built last year. It is surrounded by a deep moat, — now dry, — and inside of the walls are the numerous palaces of several em- perors, several palaces of "favorite wives," and the harem of the 240 other ladies. Here also is the Pearl Mosque, built by Akbar for his private worship. It is entirely of white marble, exquisitely carved, and is a dream of beauty. But the most beautiful bit of architecture we have ever seen here or anywhere else is the famous Taj Mahal, — the mausoleum which Shah Jahan built for his beautiful wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Shah Jahan was the grandson of Akbar, and the next to the last of the great Moguls. He, also, is buried in the tomb. It was built in 1630; that is, it was begun then, though it took many years to finish it. Some authori- ties say seven years, some say ten, some more. It is 313 feet square, 242^ feet high at the dome, and at each corner is a minaret 200 feet high. It is built India 103 entirely of white marble — snowy white even yet. The outside is comparatively plain, but the inside is elaborately craved, — much of it in flower designs, and exquisite lacework. The color part of the flowers is inlaid with precious and semi-precious stones, — emer- alds, rubies, sapphires, opals, jade, coral, and others, all polished down to seem like a part of the marble itself. It is all such beautiful work, and the whole so harmonious and artistically perfect, that one stands and gazes in wonder and admiration at this most marvelous work of the men of that age. Inside, under the great dome, is a very wonderful echo, and a clear, high voice reverberates back and forth in weird music. The two cenotaphs are directly under the dome, but the embalmed bodies are eighty feet below in walled vaults which are reached by a steep stairway. It is said to have cost over 15 million dollars, — some authorities make it much more. It stands in a garden, or park, of 42 acres, full of trees, shrubbery, and flow- ers, all kept in perfect condition by the British govern- ment, — as the "Taj" is one of the greatest treasures of East Indian architecture. Some one has said that "there is something in it difficult to define or analyze, which differentiates it from all other buildings in the world." The same writer says, "The whole conception, and every line and detail of it, express the intention of the design- ers; it is Mumtaz Mahal herself, radiant in her youth- ful beauty, who still lingers on the banks of the shining Jumna, at early morn, in the glowing midday sun. I04 Glimpses of Many Lands or in the silver moonlight." And again, "It is India's noble tribute to the grace of Indian womanhood, — the Venus di Milo of the East." And again he says, "A fairy vision of silver white — like the spirit of purity — seems to rest so lightly, so tenderly upon the earth, as if in a moment it would soar into the sky." And this from Sir Edwin Arnold : "Not architecture! as all others are, But the proud passion of an emperor's love Wrought into living stone; which gleams and soars, With body of beauty shrining soul and thought, As when some face Divinely fair unfolds before our eyes — Some woman, beautiful unspeakably — And the blood quickens, and the spirit leaps, And Will, to worship bends the half-yielded knee; While Breath forgets to breathe! So is the Taj." I have quoted at some length, as it describes the beautiful Taj in the words of writers more gifted than I. We drove out six miles to Sikandra, to see the tomb of the great Akbar himself, built by his son Jahangir, the father of Shah Jahan. It is a great piece of work, but no comparison with the beautiful Taj. The carv- ing on all these things is a continuous source of wonder to us. The men of those days carved stone to make it look like exquisite lacework. One of the interesting things at Akbar's tomb, just at the head of the ceno- taph, is a carved marble pedestal about two feet high on which the famous Kohinoor diamond used to rest. Another interesting trip out from Agra was an auto- mobile ride of 21 miles to the deserted city of Fahtepur India 105 Sikra — built by Akbar as his capital, but occupied only 15 years. But the well-preserved ruins show it to have been a magnificent city. Went out over a very good road, with large shade-trees on both sides the entire distance. On this trip — ^just inside of the old city — we saw a flock of ten or twelve wild peacocks — not so wild, either, as they know they are protected, being sacred birds in India. We had seen one or more several times before this. There were other noted tombs, and other mosques and buildings of beautiful design and fine work in Agra, but I have not time for more. From here we go to Delhi. In my next I will try to tell more of the country through which we have passed. It has not been at all hot in any place we have been in India, except when in the sun in the middle of the day. It is cool enough for overcoats in many of our rides, and we sleep under two or three blankets at night. I almost forgot to speak of our interesting guide at Agra, — a most unique character who had been a guide for forty years, and was most enthusiastic in all his stories and descriptions. His name was Gobind Ram. X India Colombo, Ceylon, March 4, 1914. We have traveled a great many miles and have seen a great many places and things since my last letter was mailed. And now that we have come to a fine resting place, and expect to stay long enough to have the first genuine long rest of our trip on land, I will try to gather up the threads of my story and con- tinue weaving them into something more like a read- able form than as I got them down in my diary day by day. From Agra we continued nearly north to Delhi, the city where the great durbar was held in 191 1, when King George was crowned, and which is now the capi- tal of British India, — it having been removed from Calcutta three years ago. Delhi is a large city, and has always been one of the important cities in the historical struggles and conquests in India, even earlier than the days of the Moguls; and Britain saw it would please the natives to have it still the most important city, — hence the change, much to the disgust of Cal- cutta and the province of Bengal. Delhi was a most interesting old city before, — with its old fort and palaces, and many ancient ruins for miles around, in the country. But the government is now adding a new part which will make it a very 106 India 107 handsome modern city, — immense government build- ings with large grounds, great parks, electricity, water- works, etc. But, naturally, the old part is of the greatest interest to tourists; so we went first to the old fort containing the palaces of the Moguls, and another white marble "pearl mosque." You see, the "forts" in those days were not built as a defense for the people or the city, but just a great wall of protec- tion for the emperor's private property, — including his family and harem. This one was similar to the one in Agra, so I will not repeat, but will only speak of a notice which was posted at the front of the Pearl Mosque: "Visitors are reminded that anyone enter- ing the inner shrine of the Pearl Mosque, wearing boots, wounds the religious susceptibilities of Mohammed- ans." It is not necessary to say that we took off ours after such a polite and delicately worded reminder. Delhi has the largest mosque in India, which is said to be the regular place of worship of fifty thou- sand Mohammedans. We had the good fortune to be there on Friday, their holy day, and attended their service at the midday hour of prayer. We were not among the worshipers, however, but were permitted to sit in a balcony at the rear, from which we could see it all very well. In the center of the large, square court of the mosque is a great square marble tank, or lavatory. It is rather a basin, — low, and with a low marble railing or wall around it, on which the people sit while they wash their feet, hands, and mouth, — the necessary purification before they take part in io8 Glimpses of Many Lands the worship. Several thousand were present, and were all "purified" in the same water. Each first pros- trates himself three times, then they all stand, — facing toward Mecca, — while a priest on a high platform reads in a high, chanting tone from the Koran. At inter- vals the people respond, sometimes bowing the head, and sometimes bending the body very low. This is all there was to the service; but it was very quiet and reverent, and as viewed from where we were it was very impressive. Delhi was an important place during the mutiny of 1857, and there are many evidences of the great siege there, — the battered wall, the bullet-riddled old Kashmir gate through which the entrance was ef- fected, a globe and cross full of bullet holes, — standing beside a small church now, but it was shot down during the siege. We visited all sorts of shops and factories where things were made — beautiful silks and embroideries, things carved from ivory, etc. — and took drives to different places around the city. Delhi was the farthest north our itinerary took us, and finding we could not spare the time to go north to the Punjab, where most of the Presbyterian missions are, we wrote to Miss Kerr, who has charge of the school where the little girl is whom we support, and asked her to bring Diali — the little girl — and spend the time with us while we were in Delhi. It was a whole day's ride by railroad, but they came Friday evening and stayed at the hotel with us until Monday India 109 evening. We took them with us in all our sight seeing and drives and for a 22-mile automobile ride out to some wonderful ruins. It was a great experience for a little Indian girl who had never before been in a city or an automobile, nor on a railroad train, nor hardly outside of a native village. She was a very modest, shy little thing, and talked little; but her big brown eyes showed her appreciation. Our next journey was eight hours by rail to Jaipur. It is a walled city — an area of just two miles square within the walls, and contains 126,000 people. The two principal gates are opposite each other at the ends of the chief street, and are called the Sun Gate, and the Moon Gate. It is a strictly native city — ^very few Europeans ever get to it — even tourists. It has some very wide streets well paved, with good buildings which are made very conspicuous and showy by being painted a bright pink color — so that it is called the "pink city." But there are also many very narrow streets, where we saw camels, donkeys, cows, oxen, goats, dogs, chickens, ducks, children, and all sorts of clothed and partly clothed men and women mingling in one heterogeneous mass. Drove to the maharaja's Palace, a park, a museum, and a factory where we saw rug weaving, — beautiful rugs, too; the work all done by hand by boys of from 8 to 12 years of age who work eight hours a day for two, three, or four cents a day! The second day there we went in carriages for a no Glimpses of Many Lands five-mile drive toAmber, theold capital of this province, — Raj pu tana province. Amber is now a deserted city. There we changed our mode of transportation, and rode on elephants for two miles farther up the hill to the old palaces of the maharajas, built in the elev- enth century. They were very fine in their day. Here we saw his private temple, and the image of the hideous god Durga, where they used to offer human sacrifices, but now offer only goats. Went to the depot at 9:30 that night, and went to bed in our sleeping car, so as to be ready for the train which would start at 5 :20 the next morning. A good way to be sure to be on time for the starting, but a pretty poor way to sleep. It was noisy in the train yard, and besides that, the jackals in the surrounding hills kept up such a yelping that there wasn't much sleeping in that car that particular night. But it added to the variety of our experiences, which was compensation. The next day's ride was through about the most forsaken-looking country we have ever seen, — a dreary, barren waste, — rocks, hills, and dry plains with cac- tus, — ^and besides, it was hot and dusty. About 4 p. M. we reached a station called Abu Road, where we left the train and got into little two-wheeled carts called tongas. Two of us in each, seated with faces toward the rear, and drawn by two horses. It was three hours up a steep mountain road to Mount Abu, — and we drove very fast, with four relays of horses at regular relay stations. India ill It was hot and dusty at first, and we fairly flew over the smooth road, but as we got higher it grew cooler, the vegetation grew greener, and we revived. Saw a great many large monkeys along the road, and swing- ing from the trees. Earlier in the day we saw six deer and droves of wild peacocks along the railroad. It was dark when we reached Mount Abu, and we went direct to the hotel. In the morning we were surprised to find we were in quite a pretty town, — a mountain resort of people from the low countries, — with beautiful flowers and shrubbery. But its chief attraction is its wonderful Jain Temple, built nine hun- dred years ago. It has the most elaborate and ornate carving in marble we have ever seen anywhere. It is simply marvelous! Looks like great draperies of lace in some places. "They say" it took 5000 workmen 14 years to build it, and it cost 62 million dollars. I cannot prove this. Our guide is our authority. That afternoon we took the ride down the moun- tain; then a short ride by train to Ahmedabad, where we changed to a broad-gauge road, and the finest sleeper compartment we had yet had in India, — large and clean, with a real bathroom in connection! Our first experience with a bathtub on a railway train! Were up early to see the country and the arrival at Bombay, where we were due at 8 a. m. It had been a strenuous week, and I was very tired; but as we rounded a curve and came out from some woods, there burst upon our sight a view I shall never forget, — after all the dirt and poverty and dryness of the past 112 Glimpses of Many Lands month, — the beautiful, sail-flecked, blue waters of the sea! and tired as I was, I felt like jumping up and crying out my joy at the sight. But we soon got rested, as the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel made us very comfortable. Bombay is the second city in size in India, with nearly a million people. It is on an island and has a beautiful bay. We saw it from a bird's-eye view, and drove over it a good deal, and decided it was the prettiest city we had seen in India, — even the native part looked almost modern, and the people clean and decently clothed. Civilization has influenced them for a longer time than in most other parts of India. England has owned the island of Bombay since 1668, which accounts for it. Among the natives the most interesting sect is the Parsees, — originally Persians, as the name indicates; and farther back many things seem to indicate that they were from the Jews. They look like Jews, and, like them also, are great money-makers. They are very prosperous, intelligent, good-looking, and well dressed, — the men in European dress, except that they wear a peculiar cap of their own, — and the women dress in beautifully draped loose garments. They are educated, enlightened, and apparently fine people, — many of them very rich, — and live in elegant homes with large beautiful grounds. They are the aristocracy of Bombay. I speak of all this because I want you to see the people before I tell you of their religion. They are fire-worshipers, — the modern followers of Zoroaster. They claim they do not worship the fire India 113 itself, but that they worship one supreme God who is all glory, all light, all effulgence; and that fire is the symbol of this glory. Therefore they worship God through this symbolic fire. They have a temple in which the sacred fire, which they claim came down from heaven to Zoroaster, is still kept burning, — tended by priests who never allow it to go out. They believe that the elements, — the earth, the air, the fire, — are all sacred, and must not be polluted. So they cannot bury their dead, because that would pollute the earth by corruption. They cannot burn them, because that would pollute the air and the fire. So they expose them naked, on the tops of their towers of silence, to be devoured by the vultures. We drove to Malabar Hill, in the fashionable Parsee residence part of the city, and by special permit were admitted to the walled enclosure where there are five of these towers. The top of the tower has a sort of closed railing, or wall, around it, which conceals the horrors within; and on this wall sat the vultures, waiting for their next feast. There are about 700 of them, we were told. A good-looking, gentlemanly Parsee guide explained to us from a model of the interior of a tower just how the bodies were placed and left there, and said that in two hours the vultures had completed their part of the work. Then the bones were left to dry in the sun for eight days, when they are thrown into the hollow center of the tower, where they are covered with chloride of lime and an acid, which soon 114 Glimpses of Many Lands reduces them to dust. Then the rains wash the dust through the drains, where it is filtered through char- coal, then sand, — and returns to the elements pure! There! How do you like that for a grewsome story? But it is all true, — and more might be told. Just as our guide finished explaining to us, a pro- cession, all dressed in white, came into the enclosure. Four men all in white carrying a white litter on which was a body covered with white, and followed by people dressed in white. We were invited to withdraw, — which we willingly did, as the vultures had seen them too, and were getting ready. A little way outside of the gate we met a similar procession going in. So much for Bombay. Our next trip took us southeast from Bombay, a ride of nearly twenty-four hours to Secunderabad. We left Bombay on a night train, and it was 6 p. m. the next day when we arrived at our destination. The night ride was comfortable, but the day was terribly hot. We began to realize, for the first time, something of the heat of India, of which we had heard so much. It was like one of our most melting days in August at home. There was no diner on the train, and we had to get meals at railway eating-houses, which were far from good. There was one exception, — our chota hazri was brought to us on the train. I think I have not mentioned the fact that in the Orient the custom is to have a very late breakfast, — 9 o'clock, or half-past, being the usual hour, — so an early break- fast of bread and coffee, with sometimes fruit, is served India 115 in the bedroom. This is called "chota hazri," which means "little breakfast." The later meal is called "bara hazri," or "great breakfast." We often did all our forenoon sight-seeing before the later meal. We reached Secunderabad at 6 p. m., and were taken in automobiles to the poorest excuse for a hotel that we had had in India. The next morning, after a two- hours' automobile ride, we began to wonder what we had come there for; as it was terribly hot, and nothing of interest to. see. We drove out to the old fort at Golconda, and walked up four hundred or more steps under a broiling sun, and even then could not see any- thing worth while. But it was the same old Golconda whose long-ago famous diamond mines gave rise to the saying about "all the riches of Golconda." The native city of Hyderabad is near by, and we drove through that. It is the capital of the richest and most important state of the southern half of India, the Deccan. The ruler is called the Nizam, and he rules over a territory of 80,000 square miles, and has a yearly salary or revenue of eight million pounds ster- ling! This sounds like a terribly exaggerated state- ment, but it was told us for truth. And the marvel to us is, where does it come from in this barren, dry, rock-built sort of a region, which looks as if it could not produce enough for the natives to exist on? And the Nizam supports in luxury four wives, twenty-seven children, and a hundred concubines. We found one day quite sufficient in the country of the Nizam, and early the next morning left for an all day and night Ii6 Glimpses of Many Lands ride to Madras. If you have followed closely the time I have given for each of these trips, you will have decided that India is indeed a country "of magnificent distances"; and we long ago realized why we had to travel so much at night, — not only because it was cooler, but our time required it. Besides, there was very little to interest one through the country after the first few days, as it was practically the same every- where, outside of the hill country. We came into India near the northern part of the east coast, at Calcutta; went north to the Himalaya Mountains, and back to Benares; then zigzagged north and south for a distance of twenty-five hundred miles to Bombay, on the west coast. This took four weeks; and in all that distance we did not see any place that in the United States would be called a good farming country. On the contrary it was all what we would call very poor. It is the dry season in all of India, — the rainy season is in July, August, and September, and last summer there was much less rain than usual, so that it was very dry and terribly dusty everywhere. They say the rainfall has not been sufficient any year of the past ten. Consequently many wells are dry, and there is great lack of water all over the country. Many streams are also dried up. Much of the coun- try is stony and barren-looking, and it is a continual source of wonder to us how it can possibly produce enough for 300,000,000 people to exist upon, much less to live like human beings. There is not a blade I India 117 of grass to be seen, and immense herds of cattle, sheep, and goats are trying to graze on bare ground. They are all so poor it is pitiful to see them, and unless unusual rains come, many must die of starvation. Of course things look different from this dreary picture, during the rainy season, — but this is the pic- ture for more than half of the year. Then we took a diagonal trip from the west coast at Bombay to the southeast coast at Madras, and this seemed not quite so bad; at least the latter part of it — the farming country — seemed better. Here we saw fields of cotton, — most of it picked, — and crossed two good streams of water which certainly did look good in a parched and dusty land. In Madras we drove around and saw the city, but did not do any special things. It is the chief commercial city of the southeast coast, and there are many foreigners there. Went to a Hindu temple, and on the way stopped to see our second Juggernaut car, — the first one was in Benares. This one was much larger, and had six very large wooden wheels. When it is used in one of their religious festivals it takes three hundred men to draw it. Here we visited the old church — Catholic — which covers the spot where, tradition sa-ys, the Apostle Thomas was buried. We left Madras in the evening of the second day, by train, for our last trip in India, which would take us three days; but making three stops of part of a day each. Our home remained on the car, where we had a Ii8 Glimpses of Many Lands comfortable compartment; and we got our meals at the railway eating-houses. On this stage of the journey the country was differ- ent, being not far from the coast. There was plenty of water, and vegetation was green; but it was very hot. Here we saw rice fields in every stage of growth from planting to harvest. Our first stop was for about six hours at Tanjore, where we drove to the oldest Hindu temple in southern India, it having been built in the eleventh century, of granite and stucco. It is 215 feet high and is sur- mounted by a globe-like dome, cut from one block of granite, which weighs eighty tons. They say it was brought to its position on an inclined plane of four miles, and that it took twelve years to move it there. It was then cut and carved while in place. The whole temple is immense, and is covered with carvings of abominable figures. In these temple grounds is Siva's granite bull, which weighs thirty tons. Near by is a Christian church, built in 1779, inside of which is a marble tablet to the memory of Frederic Christian Schwartz, a Danish missionary of that date. This temple is one of the three greatest of the Dra- vidian temples which we were to visit. The next was at Trichinopoly, which we reached after a two-hours' ride in our nice little car-compartment home. This temple was much like the one at Tanjore, and I will not stop to speak of it, — though it was great. Stayed at Trichinopoly until 8 p.m., then our car was India 119 hitched on to a train for Madura, which we reached in the early morning. Here we visited the greatest Dravidian temple in southern India, — the largest and most elaborate of all; aside from the size, however, they are all very much alike. Now I do not want to give you the impression that all the temples are so large and magnificent as these which I describe, — or mention. On the contrary the great majority of them are small, but we do not take the time to more than glance at them as we pass, though they answer the purposes of Hinduism just as well, for there is no associated or general worship. The chief object of interest in the temple, to the Hindu, is the shrine of the god. The priest officiates for the people, who come and go, spending but a few minutes before the idol, to bow and perhaps utter a prayer, and then hand an offering to the priest. One writer has said, "The priest, who must be a Brahman, is practically the worshiper for the people and serves them as a proxy, and so thorough a substi- tute does he become that the interested person need not necessarily remain to witness the ceremony. The priest rings a bell before the image to announce his presence, utters some words, makes an offering of flowers and water to the god, and treats the idols as though they were living beings. They bathe the im- age, clothe it, serve it with a meal in the morning, at noon, and in the evening, and it is put to bed at night. It is also entertained with music and dancing." Isn't that a frivolous human god to worship ? From Madura I20 Glimpses of Many Lands we had a five-hour run which took us to Tuticorin, — our last stop in India, — where we took the steamer for Ceylon. The"Palitana" was anchored about six miles out, and we had to go out to it in a small launch. The sea was very rough, and we had a lively time going that six miles. The little boat dipped and plunged, and some of the passengers got "good and wet," and some even got seasick. But we reached the steamer safely, and were soon on board and settled for a fifteen-hour trip, which did not look very promising for comfort, as the sea was really rough, and the boat quite small. It continued rough all night, and almost every one on board acknowledged in the morning that he had been sick. But we kept up our good record, and were both at breakfast on time. Reached Colombo at about lo a. m. and came in automobiles to this hotel, where we are most delight- fully situated for a two-weeks' rest, though of course we will not stay here all that time. Our hotel is the best in the city, located right on the seashore, and our room looks out on to the water, which makes it seem cool even on the hottest days. The Raymond-Whitcomb Company gives us the best hotels in every city, and the "square deal" in everything. XI Ceylon On board the North German Lloyd Steamship. "Derflinger" March 17, 1914. Two days out from Colombo. We have said good by to the Orient, and are now on our way to our own side of the world; and as usual, I am going to utilize part of the spare time by getting all my letters answered, and my general letter brought up to date. We left the harbor of Colombo the night of the 15th with a clear sky and a smooth sea, and it has continued so ever since, — and we are hoping that it will continue to continue so for nine days more. We have gone nearly straight west on the Indian Ocean these two days, — will go a little north of west until we reach the Red Sea, then nearly north to Port Said, where we take the train for a land trip to Cairo. We were twelve days in Ceylon, and found it a very lovely place to stay, but too hot at this season of the year when the sun is almost above, — it will be vertical there in April, and the hottest then. December is the best time to be there, — when the sun is as far south as it gets. Ceylon is just as far north of the equator as Java is south, but it is a great deal hotter than Java was when we were there. The climate and vegetation 121 122 Glimpses of Many Lands of Ceylon are about the same as Java, subject to the same variations of seasons and rains. But it seemed like a more civilized region than Java, — perhaps because it has been under English rule for so long, and there are so many English-speaking people there. We spent one week of the time in Colombo, and nearly a week in Kandy, up among the mountains. The rest of the party took a trip north about a hundred miles, in automobiles, to see some old ruins; but we thought the "ruins" would probably be best seen in the automobiles if we took the trip in the heat, so wisely — as it proved — remained at Kandy among the mountains and beside a lake. The island is a flat country for fifty miles or more from the ocean, on all sides; then hilly, rising to moun- tains of over 8000 feet in the center; so that it is cooler with such vegetation as grows in a hill region, toward the center, while the flat country has the tropical vegetation. The chief products of the island are cocoanuts, cocoa, rice, bananas, rubber, and tea. We decided that Ceylon is the most typically and luxuriantly tropical of all the places we have seen, — not even ex- cepting Java, — perhaps because it seems to be better cultivated, and has more the appearance of civiliza- tion. The natives seem to be the most prosperous and nearest like real men and women of any place we have seen in India, — for Ceylon is really a part of India, and its people are about like them in appear- ance, though they are called* Cinghalese. They are Ceylon 123 better dressed and more intelligent-looking. In the cities many wear European dress, and most of them speak English, and it seems quite like an English colony. Of course the country and village people are different, and not so advanced, but we saw very few naked children anywhere. You have all heard of the famous tea estate of Sir Thomas Lipton. It is in the hill country around Kandy, and comprises over 6000 acres. I was inter- ested in studying how the tea is grown, picked, etc. The shrubs grow about two or three feet high, when they are ready for picking. In the lower hill slopes — up to about 2000 feet altitude — they mature for picking in two years; in higher regions it requires three and four years. About a year before picking begins, the shrubs are cut down to within nine inches of the ground, and grow up, all new wood, which makes it fresh and full of juice. When picking begins, they are picked clean every nine or ten days for two years. Then they are cut down again, and allowed to rest for a year, and grow new wood. The frequent pickings — every nine or ten days — is to always have new leaves. The young, yellow leaves on the tips of new sprigs are picked separately, and make the best and highest-priced tea. These are called "golden tips" and often bring an almost fabu- lous price. After picking, it goes through numerous drying, rolling, and firing processes. Ceylon, like Java, is wonderful in its flowering trees 1 24 Glimpses of Many Lands and shrubs, but not many flowers of the garden varieties. There are many trees as large as our largest elms and oaks that are perfectly gorgeous in red, yellow, pink, or white blossoms. One of the most interesting ones is called the cannon-ball tree. It looks quite like our cottonwood, except that its trunk is covered with great salmon-pink blossoms about four inches across, — five-petaled, much like a wild rose, except in size. These produce big brown nuts as large as a good-sized cocoanut, and perfectly round, growing out from the trunk only, on a short stem. It is a very odd sight. The botanical garden at Kandy is world-famous, and certainly does contain wonderful things in vege- tation. It is not at Kandy either, but is about four miles out, at a little place called Peradeniya. We saw growing, nutmegs, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla beans, allspice, pepper, cocoa, tea, coffee, etc., and all the time through the garden I kept humming: — What though the spicy breezes Blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle, And every prospect pleases, And only man is vile. And that reminds one, that Bishop Heber, the Reginald Heber of hymn-writing fame, who wrote, From Greenland's icy mountains, From India's coral strands, lived much of his life in India, and died in South India, at Trichinopoly. We were at the church where he Ceylon 125 preached his last sermon, and saw the place where he was drowned a few hours later. But I have disgressed from the botanical garden. I wanted to tell of one particular kind of palm. By the way, it was news to us to learn that there are over a hundred diiferent kinds of palms. Most of them are found in Ceylon, — but the majestic Talipot palm is found only in Ceylon, I think, — at least I cannot find any record of it anywhere else. The first ten years of its life it produces only leaves, — a bunch of immense fans, each one at least fifteen feet across. Then it begins to develop a stem or trunk, which grows as straight as a ship's mast, from 90 to 100 feet high. As the tree grows in height, the size of the leaves diminish somewhat. When it is between fifty and sixty years old, it begins to show an immense bud, which rises on a stem until it is about four feet above the crown of leaves. This opens with a loud report, and frees a magnificent cluster of cream- white blossoms which is at least twenty feet high, — I mean the blossom alone is that high, above the leaves. The bloom lasts about three months, — getting brown as it grows older, — then produces a lot of nuts which are of no particular use. As these ripen, the leaves begin to droop, and within a year the grand tree is dead! Another instance of "and in blooming, it dies." But when it is young its great leaves have many uses. It is said that the natives count 108 uses for them, — chief among them being the use for shade, and shelter from rain. We saw two in bloom, one just 1 26 Glimpses of Many Lands the great bunch of leaves, and a whole avenue of them with large trunks. Ceylon was most interesting as a place to study- things that grow, — but too hot to do the studying. So we were glad to get away, and to get started to- ward the north and west again. This has been written at intervals, until now it is our tenth day out, and we are in the Suez Canal. We have had a perfectly fine trip, — smooth sea all the way, a lovely boat, not hot any of the time, and nobody sick a minute. Have been on the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, and the Red Sea. The Suez Canal is 90 miles long, and wide enough for two large vessels to meet and pass easily; but as there is so much traffic on it, we have to travel very slowly. We expect to reach Port Said to-morrow, and I am going to have my letters all mailed on this boat, to give them a good start. Will write again at Cairo. XII Egypt "Shepheard's." Cairo, Egypt, April lo, 1914. My last letter was mailed on the steamer, just before reaching Port Said, where we landed about noon, and spent the afternoon there, — which was long enough. It is one of the most important seaports in the world, as the entrance to the Suez Canal; but otherwise is not at all interesting. An afternoon spent in going about in the business center made us dizzy, with the whirl of different kinds of people and color, — a great kaleido- scope, in which are mingled the people of all nations, — plus their noises, which are beyond describing. Came to Cairo by railroad that evening, March 26th. It was late when we reached here, so did not see the city till the next day. But "to see it is to love it," and we still feel the same after more than two weeks. It is a great modern city, in many respects, of more than half a million people. But it has its ancient part too — called Old Cairo — and its ancient surround- ings; and from their appearance one would say many of its ancient people also. The modern part has fine streets, good buildings, street cars, automobiles, etc., while the new residence suburbs have elegant residences and fine apartment 127 128 Glimpses of Many Lands buildings, — not of Europeans only, but of Egyptians and other nationalities, for it is a cosmopolitan city. We spent our first day in driving about Cairo in carriages, stopping at several of the principal mosques, both of the ancient and modern ones; for Cairo is a city of mosques, being one of the principal strongholds of Mohammedanism. There are more than five hun- dred in the city. The largest is the Sultan Hassan Mosque, built in 1356, — finished then, as it was many years in building. It is a fine specimen of the archi- tecture of that time, — immense, and wonderful in its day, but some parts now partly in ruin and being "restored," as they call it in the East. The next one visited was the Alabaster Mosque, in the "citadelle," or fort. It is very beautiful and modern, having been finished in 1857. It was built after the model of St. Sophia's, in Constantinople. The citadel was built in 1156 on a very high bluff, and from the wall of it we had a grand view of the city and the surrounding country, — our first view of the Nile River and the Pyramids! It was a grand sight, before which all others paled into insignificance for the time, — Egypt, the Nile, the Pyramids, Cairo, — and we seeing them! That was all we saw of Cairo that day, as we started that evening for our trip up the Nile — six hundred miles — to Assuan and the great dam. We went by rail, as it was too late in the sea- son to go by boat. We saved time by going at night, but we returned in daylight to see the country. We reached Luxor at 8 the next morning, and went Egypt 129 to the beautiful Winter Palace Hotel for breakfast, where we got our mail; then boarded the train again for another six-hours' trip to Assuan, situated at the Second Cataract of the Nile. And now I am beginning the greatest task of our trip: to write about Egypt — to write in such ab- breviated and condensed form as I must, and yet to give you an idea, at least, of this ancient, most inter- esting of all wonderlands. I realize that I can "touch only the high places," as it were, but will try to make you see some of these. First, the famous Valley of the Nile — for the Valley of the Nile is Egypt, the rest is desert. It varies in width, between Assuan and Cairo, from a mile or less at Assuan to twenty miles in some places; and from Cairo the delta widens out to a hundred miles or more at Alexandria and the coast. This used to all be watered by the overflow of the Nile only, — as it seldom rains in Egypt at all, — only an occasional shower, which comes as a surprise, and does not amount to much; but now, since the great dam was built just above the Second Cataract, the irrigation system en- ables them to control the overflow by means of canals and ditches, and so they have abundance of water to let out over the land for irrigation at all seasons. The soil is practically bottomless, and the crops are immensely heavy, — wheat, barley, and alfalfa being the principal ones, though in the delta there is much corn and cotton. One strange feature of the fields is the sight of crops in all stages of growth, — wheat, 130 Glimpses of Many Lands from the tender, young, green blade, to that which is ready to harvest, — all because there is no frost and it has plenty of water at all times, so that the season for it is not limited. There are groves of figs and oranges in the delta region, but the principal fruit of the rest of the valley is the date, — groves of date palms every- where. The tree is similar to the cocoanut palm, only not so tall, and the trunk is rough. The farming is done just as it was three thousand years ago, and the people in the fields look just like the pictures in our old testaments, and we often exclaim, "See Abraham!" We were continually being reminded of Bible accounts of things, as when we saw great flocks of sheep and goats — always feeding together — one involuntarily quoted, "As a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats"; and the "two women grinding at the mill" was a common sight. Then there were the camels and don- keys as beasts of burden; oxen plowing with a plow that looked like a crooked stick; great wells with oxen, or sometimes a camel, drawing the water; a threshing floor with oxen treading out the grain; and many other things referred to in the Bible. We saw many long caravans of camels going into the city heavily laden, and many returning empty- saddled. All traffic is carried on from farm to market by camels and donkeys. We did not see a cart or wagon in the country, and there are no roads, — only paths. Assuan is at the Second Cataract, where the valley grows very narrow, — sometimes no valley at all, but just the river channel between high rocky banks. Our Egypt 131 first trip there was a ride by railroad of about twenty minutes up the river, where we got into a big row- boat above the dam, and were rowed across the great reservoir-lake to the ancient Egyptian Temple of Isis, called Philse, built about 350 B. C. It used to stand on dry land, but the building of the dam forced the waters to spread out into a great lake, so the temple is sometimes almost covered. The water was unusually low when we were there, and they said we were very fortunate, as parts of it stood twenty and thirty feet above the water. It was one of the most beautiful of the Egyptian temples, and the parts now above the water show some very fine carving of true Egyptian characters and figures. We climbed up on it — by ladders from our boat — and saw all we could of it. From the temple we were rowed to the dam, then crossed the river on the dam in little cars on a track, — the cars pushed by Arabs. The dam is a mile and a quarter long, I48>^ feet high, 120 feet wide at the bottom, and 40 feet wide at the top. It has 180 sluices which can be opened in groups of ten each. Only two groups were open when we were there, and the water was rushing through them with tremendous power. When all are open it discharges 31,800 tons per min- ute. It is built just above what was the Second Cataract, but the river bed there now is just heaps of stones with a little water running through them. The reservoir above holds many billions of gallons. We got into the boat below the dam, and were rowed down the river by six Arabs, who entertained 132 Glimpses of Many Lands us with songs. We went through one lock, past the First Cataract. There are locks to pass the dam also. The boat trip left us at the landing of the splendid Cataract Hotel, where we had a lovely room looking out on the Nile on one side, and a great mass of white and red oleanders on the other. The hotel grounds are a perfect bower of blooming things, and the table is good also. I forgot to say that as we came down in the boat, one thing which attracted our attention was the great rocky hills on the west bank drifted full of bright yellow sand — almost orange — from the desert. And it impressed on us the thought that without the Nile all Egypt would be a desert. We took another boat ride, going around Elephan- tine Island, and saw many things of interest. But the dam and the Temple of Isis are the two chief things to see in Assuan; so we left there and went back to Luxor, — the place the guide-books call "the Mecca of Egyptologists," — for here have been discovered and unearthed more things which have thrown light on Bible history — and other ancient history — than in al- most any other place. Here we stopped at the Luxor Winter Palace, — under the same management as the Cataract, and almost as fine. The grounds are even lovelier. Spent all the next forenoon at the wonderful Temple of Luxor, built about 1575 B. C. Of course it cannot be described in my limited space, — and with my limited ability to appreciate its value. I could only gaze in wonder that man could do such things 3500 Egypt 133 years ago, — that he could quarry, carve, move to place, and put in place, stones much larger than we now see handled by modern machinery! Then the pictures and the carvings which are cut into these immense columns, and slabs, and statues, give so definitely many points in the history of the world that one's hair almost rises up as our guide reads those old hieroglyphics just about as easily as I read English. This great temple has been almost entirely covered for ages, and it is only in recent years that it has been un- earthed; in fact, it is not nearly all uncovered yet, and work is still going on at this and the temples of Karnak, near by. We spent the afternoon of the same day at Karnak, and it is similar, only more, and even larger. They are also older, for some of these were built as early as 2433 B. C. These cover a vast area, and some schol- ars calculate that when they are all uncovered they will be found to occupy at least a thousand acres. Here the stones are even larger than at the Temple of Luxor. There is a hall of pillars — 134 of them — the inner row of which is each 60 feet high and 35 feet in circumference. Then there are the two obelisks of Queen Hatshepsut, set up about 1350 B. C, one still standing and as perfect as if put there yesterday, the other fallen and broken. The one standing is a solid shaft of polished granite 105 feet high, and 8>^ feet square at the base. It is one solid stone, carved with the queen's "cartouche," or name, in hiero- glyphics, and also important items of history during 134 Glimpses of Many Lands her reign. And as we gaze we ask, How did that stone get put in place? The ancients regarded the Nile as sacred. With them the East typified the rising sun, light, life, resur- rection. The West meant setting sun, darkness, and death. The obelisk was the symbol of life, and the pyramid meant death and the tomb. Hence all the obelisks are east of the river, and the pyramids and tombs are west of it. Isn't that interesting.'* The day after this we crossed the river for our most thrilling trip of all, — to the ruins of ancient Thebes, and the valley of the tombs of the kings. There is little left of Thebes except some ruins of temples and statues, so we did not stay there long. Here the rest of the party got on donkeys, and one lady with us went in a sort of covered cart with broad-tired wheels, as we had to go through sand until we reached the hills; then a sandy, stony road the rest of the way. Remember, we crossed to the west side of the river. When we reached the hills which mark the limit of the desert, the valley wound for several miles, still toward the west, — the symbol of death. All is death! The mountains are bare, barren rocks, — not a sprig of green visible anywhere. There are hundreds of these rock-tombs, — kings, queens, and nobles, — but we went down into only two, which was enough to show us what all are like. The first was the tomb of Amenophis H. of the i8th dynasty. We entered a gate into the opening in the side of the mountain, went down a flight of steps, Egypt 135 then down a steep incline, then more steps, another in- cline and more steps, until we had gone down seventy- one steps and many inclines, when we entered a large room with high walls, and ceiling painted blue and studded with stars. The walls of this room — and of the entire length of the entrance-way, — were closely covered with carvings in the stone, of hieroglyphics and pictures recounting the deeds of valor, the life, religion, and history of the king and his times. Our guide was a scholar and could read much of it, which somewhat prepared us for the sight which next met our eyes. There in his sarcophagus lay the mummied body of the king, who died 3500 years ago! Not an imitation, but the real body of the real king! I know this, for I saw it. It is not as if one read of it, or heard some one tell it, — but we actually saw it; and now nothing else can ever seem wonderful, it seems! The mummy case and mummy clothes were taken from the face, and we saw the real face, though brown. In another chamber cut in the rock, and opening out from this one, we saw the embalmed bodies of three prison- ers who were killed at the moment the king died, so that they might bear the sufferings of death and the king go painless to Paradise. Great thought, wasn't it? The second one we went into was the tomb of Seti I, of the 19th dynasty, about 1450 B. C. The tomb is similar to the one described, but the sarcophagus and mummy are not there. The former is in the British Museum in London, and the latter in the museum here, — we saw it later. 136 Glimpses of Many Lands On the return trip from the tombs we stopped at the old temple called the Rameseum, because it con- tains so many statues of Rameses II. Saw the broken giant statue of him, — all from one solid block of granite,-^which, by the measurements of a French scientist, weighed one thousand tons! There was heaps more that was worth writing of on that trip; but must stop somewhere, so might just as well do it now. When we got back to Cairo our first trip was by auto- mobile to the Pyramids across the river — the Pyra- mids are on the west side, you see — and over a good boulevard road, with fine residences on each side, and immense trees all the way. It was about seven miles there, — a surprise to me, as I had always supposed them farther from Cairo. The great Pyramids of Gizeh are just like they have always been pictured and de- scribed. I could not add anything new. And the Sphinx looked just as wise as ever and did not say a word. We did not climb up, or go inside of the Pyramids, but we got on the backs of camels and rode around them. The funny thing about them is the incongruity of a modern tourist hotel, a golf ground, and a tennis court, almost at their base. They are just at the edge of the desert. O, yes! a trolley car runs out to them, also. The next day we spent the forenoon at the museum, which is a vast collection of things from the temples and tombs. It is a wonderful place for the student of research, but I have not time to tell of its wonders now. Egypt 137 In the afternoon we all drove out to Heliopolis, the site of the Bible city of On, where Moses was educated "in all the learning of the Egyptians," — but which is now the most beautiful and modern suburb of Cairo, — about five miles out. Its only an- cient thing now left is one fine obelisk, set up about 1500 B. C. On the way out we stopped at a Mohammedan Dervish monastery to see the performance of the dancing dervishes, — a religious ceremony performed on Friday, their holy day. It was held in a circular enclosure in the center of a large room. There were twenty-four bearded men, — some with very white beards, — all dressed in white with very full skirt and a blouse, and over this a long, full cloak, and a tall light- brown cap. One was dressed as a priest, and had a green turban wound around his cap. They entered the circle in single file, and sat down close around the outside of the circle. One voice in a gallery kept up a weird chanting, and soon he was joined by a drum and flute. The men rose, threw off their cloaks, went around the circle three times very slowly, each stop- ping in front of the priest and bowing and going through other motions. When they had all been around three times, they went one at a time to the priest, went through some kind of a ceremony with him, then with uplifted arms whirled into the center of the circle, and kept on whirling, still with arms up, one after another doing this until all were whirling in a mass. We watched them until we were dizzy, then 138 Glimpses of Many Lands left; but we were told that they were not allowed to "dance" longer than half an hour. They used to keep it up until they would fall from exhaustion, but the government stopped that, and put a limit on the time they may whirl. They were all very reverent and serious, and we were warned not to even smile. That day ended our Raymond-Whitcomb tour. After this, when I say "we" it will mean simply C. F. and myself. One day since, a party of five of us hired a guide and went to Sakara, on the site of the ancient city of Memphis. It was about an hour by train, then an hour by sand carts, — two-wheeled, very v/ide-tired carts, drawn by a donkey, and each carrying two persons. Memphis was once a very large city, supposed to have covered twenty miles square, — the oldest city of which we have any record, and said to have been founded by Mena, the first king of Egypt, about 4400 B. C. There are still some ruins of temples to be seen. Then we went on, another hour's ride farther into the desert, where we went into some more tombs of kings, and the most wonderful of all, — the tombs of the sacred bulls. There is one great room, — a tunnel or long chamber in the rock, about a quarter of a mile long, with rooms off from either side of it, — one for each of the twenty- four sacred bulls which were buried there 3700 years ago. They were embalmed and mummied, just the same as the kings, and the sarcophagus of each one Egypt 139 was made from a single block of granite, each weighing sixty-five tons ! How did they get them there ? Down in the caves hewn out of solid rock; miles out in the desert! But they are there. I saw them. Then we crossed that part of the desert, back by another route, which took us two hours and a half back to the Pyramids, where we left the sand carts; and we returned to Cairo by trolley, reaching Shep- heard's about 6 p. m., too tired for words to express it, but feeling that it had been a great day. The next day the same party and guide drove out through old Cairo, visiting many places and things, among them the traditional site of Pharoah's house, and the spot where Pharoah's daughter found Moses among the rushes. On the way back we stopped at the English and American cemetery to see the grave of William Borden, who died here just a year ago yesterday. We had heard much about him from the missionaries here, who loved him deeply. And that brings me to a large subject which I could write many pages upon if I had the time, — the Egypt of to-day. We have spent quite a good deal of time, in the two weeks we have been here, with the people of the American Mission; have become well acquainted with a lot of them, and they have been very nice to us. Perhaps you all know that the United Presbyterians were among the first, if not the very first, to send missionaries to the Nile Valley, and that they occupy the field here almost exclusively. And I want to tes- tify right here that they have done, and are doing, a 140 Glimpses of Many Lands great work. They have churches, schools, colleges, and theological seminaries at all the principal towns from Alexandria to Kartoum, — not all of these at every town, I did not mean that, but some of them at each town. In Cairo they have a large central building which is headquarters for their work, and at which most of the missionaries live. Then they have many different kinds of work and schools in all parts of the city. They have taken us to their schools and colleges, and we have attended their prayer meeting, the Christian Endeavor meeting, a young men's social, and various Sunday services in the Arabic, Armenian, Italian, and English languages. I also went with two of the ladies and a native Bible woman to a woman's prayer meeting in a Mohammedan home, — the man of the house a Mohammedan, but his wife a Christian. This was an interesting experience. One Sunday while here we attended service at a Coptic church. We could not understand any of it, but we cannot in a Roman Catholic church, and this was much like it in many respects. From there we went to an Arabic service at the mission. Then took a carriage, and one of the ladies went with us to the Folali church, which has outgrown its building and has to hold service in a big tent, which was crowded. From there to the Girls' College where we attended the meeting of the girls' Christian Endeavor — a fine-looking roomful of young girls. Then to an orphanage where there were forty-one girls, and back to the mission house, where we looked in on the Waldensian service. Egypt 141 But this is enough to show you that we were in- terested in modern as well as ancient Egypt; and we saw enough of it to make us feel that it is the live question in Egypt that should be of vital interest to all of us to-day. We took a trip to Alexandria one day, but as it is just a great seaport, I shall not take time to write of it. We have one more day here, and expect to start for Palestine on the 12th. I will try to write one letter from the latter part of that trip. And now I am done. I hope I have not wearied you with my long spin. I have spent nearly the whole day on it. XIII . Palestine Beyrout, Syria, May 2, 1914. I intended to write this letter while on the next steamer, but we have a day longer here than we planned for, and I have nearly all day with nothing to do; so I am going to get my letter written and mailed, and it will get started for home almost a week sooner than if I mail it in Constantinople. We expect to leave to-night for that port, and will be four days on the boat, — stopping at the island of Rhodes, and at Smyrna. My last gave our story up to the time of leaving Cairo, on April 12th. Had a daylight trip to Port Said by rail, and so saw the country which we had missed in our night ride over. The first part of the way was through the Nile Valley, with fine fields and crops; then suddenly we went into the desert, which continued the rest of the way. The isthmus is all a desert, and it is nothing but sand on both sides of the canal the entire distance, — and also on both sides of the Red Sea, as far as we could see. We were glad we did not have to stay long in Port Said, but went at once to our boat, the "Abbassieh," which left about 5 p. m. for JaflPa (the ancient Joppa of the Bible), the port of Jerusalem. While we were 142 Palestine 143 still in the canal we saw "the old flag," and on inquiry we learned it was flying from the yacht of James Gordon Bennett, — a very pretty boat. It went out of the canal just ahead of us. It is only one night's ride to Jaffa, so we were there early the next morning, and were fortunate in finding the sea smooth, and so had no trouble in landing. Jaffa has no docks, and all steamers have to anchor quite a distance out. Then the people are taken to shore in rowboats, which have to be rowed carefully between the rocks, which are many and large. When the sea is rough it is a dangerous trip, and sometimes they do not try to land — sometimes having to wait for days. And we have heard of cases where they either continued north to Haiffa, or returned to Port Said. We had our breakfast on the steamer, so went at once to the Jerusalem Hotel, where we met our guide who was to take entire charge of us and our belongings for the next three weeks. This part had all been ar- ranged before we left Cairo. He took us for a carriage drive about the town, which really looks old enough to be what they claim for it, — to be the same town where the cedars of Leb- anon were landed which were used in Solomon's temple. We went up on the roof of "the house of Simon the tanner, which is by the sea," — one of the few sites which they say are really correct and what they claim to be. Then we saw the traditional site of the house of Dorcas, or Tabitha, and her tomb. The chief thing of interest about Jaffa — or one of 144 Glimpses of Many Lands them, at least — is the orange industry. Oranges are the principal crop of the region, and are certainly the best we have ever eaten; and we have had a good chance to judge of them, for we have had oranges for two meals of every day — and some between times — every day since we came into the land, and are not tired of them yet. They are about the only fresh fruit we get. Went "up to Jerusalem" — it is "up" — by railroad that afternoon; a four-hours* ride, though it is less than forty miles. The first hour was through the beautiful plain of Sharon, with orange groves, figs, and fine wheat fields. Then we began to climb the mountains of Judeah, — ^winding and twisting like all mountain roads, — at times very steep and rocky, but not beautiful as is most mountain scenery, because it was so barren; — not a tree, and but very little grass, just meager picking for sheep and goats, of which there were many. And here I will stop to say that the country all through Palestine has been a great disappointment to us; for instead of the "land flowing with milk and honey" of the Old Testament times, it is so decidedly the opposite that it is really painful. We have been the entire length of the land north from Jerusalem to Baalkek, to Damascus farther to the northeast, and across the mountains of Lebanon west to this city on the seacoast; and it is all barren mountains, with fer- tile valleys between. Sometimes the valleys are so narrow that we would not think them worth trying to cultivate; and sometimes they broaden into quite a Palestine 145 plain — as the plain of Esdrelon, or Jezreel, which is about twenty by twelve miles. This is the largest cultivated area we have seen. It is very fertile, and is planted mostly with wheat. The lower slopes of the hills, near all the towns, are covered with groves of olive and fig trees; and there are orchards of apricot, pomegranate, lemons, loquots, English walnuts, and mulberry trees. Above these planted trees, of com- paratively recent times, there is not a tree of any kind to be seen on any hill until we come to the mountains of Lebanon; the slopes of these, toward the sea, have some pines and cedars, and in the interior, where we have not been, are what remains of the famous cedars of Lebanon. They say there are fourteen of the larg- est ones — 45 feet in circumference — which undoubt- edly date back to the time of Solomon; then about five hundred others, not quite so large, which are called "the cedars of God"; — the rest are all small. The mountains seem to be all rock. If they ever had any soil it must have been all washed into the valleys, and even some of these are very stony, — worse than a Pennsylvania farm. It seems a marvel to me that they can be farmed at all. The farming is all done in the most primitive way, — ^just as they did it 3,000 years ago, and every once in a while we see a living picture who looks as if he had just stepped out of the Old Testament. But to return to our journeyings, and our guide. The latter's name is Mr. Kehdar. He is a Syrian Christian, born in Jerusalem. He is well educated, 146 Glimpses of Many Lands and is especially so in the Bible, and makes this his guide-book all through the country. He says Baedeker is good as a reference book, but the Bible is the guide- book. He is still with us, and will see us on board our boat, the "Saidieh," before he starts back to Jerusalem. We were eight days in Jerusalem and vicinity, and saw everything of interest. A letter I received there from one of our family, near the close wrote, "I must now close, and address my envelope," and added, "It seems such a solemn thing to address a letter to Jerusalem, — almost like sending it to Heaven." We both shouted, and C. F. said, "She would not think so if she were here." For it is just about as far from being a heavenly city as it is possible for human imagination to conceive of. In the first place, it has narrow, crooked streets, — so narrow that carriages can hardly get through them, — all paved with round, uneven stones just stuck in "any which way," so that it is long-drawn-out agony to either ride or walk over them. No sidewalks, of course, — no room for them. Second, they have only cisterns for their water supply, and almost no sanitary arrangements. Third, all the horses, donkeys, camels, sheep, goats, dogs, — and any other animals they may happen to have, or can get, — go in the same narrow streets with the hun- dred thousand population of the city, and the more than a hundred thousand pilgrims who were there for the Easter time and the Mohammedan spring festival. So if you can stretch your imagination to catch — even in the faintest degree — an idea of the "odors" of those Palestine 147 streets, I don't think you would call it "heavenly." We went in carriages when we could, walked when we must, and rode through the valley of Jehoshaphat on donkeys. We went to all the places where tourists go, but most of them did not impress us with any great awe or feeling of solemnity, because one cannot be at all sure they are correct; in fact, in many places we are pretty sure they are not correct. The Catholics, — Greek and Roman, — and the Armeni- ans, have possession of everything, and it is graft everywhere. They get possession of what they call a site of something in the life or death of Christ, build a church or chapel over it, and have priests and cere- monies. Then the tourist, and every poor, ignorant pilgrim who has walked perhaps hundreds of miles, to visit the Holy City, must pay tribute. So their tomb in the church of the Holy Sepulcher, their Calvary, in the same church, the manger in the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem, and many other things of their commemorating, do not impress us very deeply. But the things which do impress us are such as these: the beautiful Mount of Olives, which lies just across the valley to the east of the city; the little town of Bethlehem six miles distant, somewhere in which the Saviour was born — the exact spot does not matter — and near which we saw the hills where the shepherds heard the song of "Peace on earth; good will to men"; and where even now the shepherds "watch their flocks by night, all seated on the ground." Near here 148 Glimpses of Many Lands are the fields of Boaz, where Ruth gleaned. These appealed to us as genuine. Then there are the two principal hills on which the city is built, — ^Mount Zion and Mount Moriah, — still called by the same names. Then on the top of Mount Moriah is undoubtedly the site of the Temple of Solomon; and in the surroundings of the Mosque of Omar, which now occupies the center of the site, are some pillars and carvings which were found in excavating, which no doubt were a part of the temple. These all seem to be genuine, and inter- ested us. In excavating have been found old floors and parts of walls of ancient periods, some of which have been identified as of the Roman period of Christ's time. One of these is Pilate's judgment hall where Christ was condemned. We were in this hall. The Garden of Gethsemane is on the lower slope of the Mount of Olives, and is generally conceded to be correct. We were at the Calvary and tomb outside of the walls, but these, too, are uncertain. The only thing we could be very sure of was that these were the surroundings where Christ walked from day to day, where he lived, and where he was crucified and rose from the grave; and that the top of the Mount of Olives was the place of his ascension. One of our trips was by carriage, twenty miles, to Jericho, the Jordan River, and the Dead Sea. Went over the same old road which history says was "infested by thieves," and over which "a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho." We stopped Palestine 149 at the "Good Samaritan Inn" for a few minutes; but this one is only a place to buy refreshments, souvenirs, post-cards, etc. Jericho is only a little town now, a country village of less than five hundred people, but it no doubt is on the same site as the walled city of ancient times. We saw part of the old wall. In the afternoon we drove to the Jordan River and the Dead Sea, about seven miles. Drank of the -water of the Jordan, and waded in the edge of the Dead Sea, and were convinced that they were not fakes. The whole valley was very hot, — it is 1390 feet below sea level, — and about the time we were to start on our return to Jericho, a sudden heavy rain and fierce wind-storm came up, and we were drenched. We stayed in Jericho that night, and in the morning returned to Jerusalem, stopping at the village of Bethany, where we visited the traditional home of Martha and Mary, and went into a tomb called the tomb of Lazarus. On Sunday we went to the American church and heard a good sermon by Dr. Geo. L. Robinson, of Chicago, who is spending a year in Jerusalem. The following Tuesday we started for a four-days' trip north to the Sea of Galilee. Went in a sort of covered spring wagon, with our guide and small baggage. The first day we drove for eight hours. Stopped to rest and feed the horses at noon, and to eat our lunch, which we had brought from the hotel. Passed many places of interest; among them the site 1 50 Glimpses of Many Lands of Bethel, and the tombs of Aaron's two sons; also Mizpah. Came through "the region of Samaria," and near Sychar we stopped at the well where Jesus talked with the woman of Samaria. The authorities say that this is without question the very same well. It is "deep," as the woman said then, and there is water in it now. The Greek Catholics have built a chapel over it, and we had to pay to look into it. About 5 p. M. we reached Nablous, which is where ancient Shechem was, and stayed there that night at a quite comfortable German hotel. Nablous is at the base of the sacred mountain Gerizim, — as Shechem was "between Ebal and Gerizim." There was not anything special to see there, except an old Samaritan synagogue, which we visited. The Samaritans are a peculiar people. They date back to about 740 B. C, when Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, took the Israelites of the region of Samaria captive, and then sent people from different provinces of his own kingdom to occupy their land. These people were pagans, and had their own gods, and built their "groves and high places" for worship. As years went by they intermarried with the Jews, and partly adopted the Jewish religion. Later, when the Mosaic law in regard to mixed marriages was enforced, a Jewish priest who had married a daughter of Sanballat, a chief of the Samaritans, headed a secession from Judaism, taught the people the Mosaic ritual, and erected a temple on Mount Gerizim. Then this mixed people began to claim descent from the patriarchs, and Palestine 151 a share in the promise to Abraham. They adopted the Pentateuch and the books of Joshua and Judges as their sacred books. They had the advantage of living in this region of Shechem, as it was a place of great sanctity, being surrounded by the tombs and memo- rials of the patriarchs, and also separating the two portions of the Israelite people, — the Jews and the Galileans. So their temple on Mount Gerizim be- came a rival of the temple in Jerusalem, and the feeling between the two peoples grew to great bitterness. After learning all this, I could see the meaning of the statement in John IV that "the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans," and could understand better what the woman of Samaria meant when she said, "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain," etc. They have always lived right there, have not inter- married with any other people, and they have deterio- rated and grown less in number, until now there are only about 120 of them — very poor and wretched- looking, though very religious. They still observe the Passover on Mount Gerizim. In their synagogue, an old priest took from a metal box a carefully wrapped scroll of parchment, which they claim is a copy of the Pentateuch written by Abishua, the great-grandson of Aaron, 3575 years ago. We looked it over carefully, but could not testify as to its genuineness. We started early the next morning for about the same length of drive, carrying our lunch from this hotel. This drive took us over mountains and through 152 Glimpses of Many Lands valleys, and would have been a charming one if the weather had been pleasant, but unfortunately it rained all the forenoon, — the afternoon was clear. Among the interesting places passed that day was Dothan, where Joseph was sold by his brethren; and we passed from Samaria into Galilee that day. Reached Djenin, or Jenin, as it is pronounced, about 4 p. m., pretty cold and tired, as it had rained part of both days, and was so cold we had to keep wrapped up all the time. But the third day we started out with the sun shining brightly, and it was not so cold. This day the most of the journey was through the beautiful plain of Esdrelon. It is surrounded by moun- tains. On the right we saw the mountains of Gilboa, where Saul and Jonathan were slain. On the left was Mount Carmel. Then we passed ancient Shunam, where Elijah healed the son of the Shunamite woman. Then Nain, where Christ raised from the dead the widow's son; and many other places made interesting in Bible history. The whole plain was gorgeous with wild flowers, — as were all the valleys. At one place, where they stopped to water and rest the horses, I picked twelve variet?ies of flowers — five yellow, three pink, two red, and two blue. A little later, when we walked up a hill, I picked ten more varieties, — blue, white, and purple. Reached Naza- reth at noon, as hungry as bears. We found pretty good hotels at all the stops; and it was well it was so, for that kind of travel is certainly good for appetites. Nazareth is built up the slope of several hills in a Palestine 153 sort of amphitheater, and looks very lovely — at a distance. But when one gets into the streets he finds it as insanitary and dirty as it is possible to imagine. They show the site of the home of the Holy Family, and of Joseph's carpenter shop. But my faith was not strengthened by the fact that a Greek church covered one, and a Roman one the other. But it was the ancient city of Nazareth, — even though the stone buildings with red- tiled roofs are new. AH the cities are built of stone — they do not have anything else to build with. We went to the top of one of the hills on which the town is built to see a very beautiful new Catholic church which is almost finished. It is of modern architecture, and would be an ornament to any of our own cities. The next morning we started for our last day's drive — only a half-day in fact, as we expected to reach Tiberias at noon. Nazareth was high, among the hills, and Tiberias is on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, which is 400 feet below sea level; so our drive that morning was mostly down hill. We passed through Cana, of Galilee, a nice little town with apricot and pomegranate orchards. Also passed what is believed to be the Mount of Beatitudes, near Tiberias. From the hills, before we reached Tiberias, we had a glorious view. We could see the Sea of Galilee entirely, — all around it, — the villages of Magdala and Bethsaida, and the ruins of Capurnaum, with snow-crowned Mount Hermon to the north. It was a beautiful sight. 154 Glimpses of Many Lands Reached the hotel about noon, and had fish from the Sea of Galilee for lunch. Spent the afternoon on the seashore, and waded in the shallow water at the edge. The next morning we started for the boat-landing early, and at 7 o'clock boarded a little steamer and started for an hour's ride, across the sea and some distance south also, to the railway station on the east shore, where we boarded a train for Damascus. This was another mountain climb, as the train fol- lowed the windings of the canon of the river for three hours, when we reached a stony plain which contin- ued until nearly to Damascus, when we entered the beautiful irrigated valley — or plain — in which it is situated. The River Abana runs right through the city — the same river to which Naaman, the Syrian leper, referred when he said, "Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the rivers of Israel.?" Authorities say that Damascus is the oldest con- tinuous city in the world, — the oldest city that has never been destroyed and rebuilt. There has always been a prosperous city of Damascus at least as far back as Abraham; see Genesis xv. 2. It has now 250,000 population, and 400 mosques, — from which you will see that it is another Mohammedan stronghold. It has narrow, very crooked, ill-smelling, cobblestone- paved streets — even worse than Jerusalem, if that were possible. The only straight one is "the street which is called Straight," referred to in Acts ix. 11. It Palestine 155 is nearly a mile long. We went up on a hill and had a bird's-eye view of the city; and saw the road as it comes from Jerusalem on which Saul of Tarsus had his vision. This is the real place, also. The city is in a fertile plain, about twenty miles each way, which is mostly covered by fruit trees such as I have mentioned. We were taken to what is said to be the house of Ananias who was sent to Saul, and to the window in the wall where Paul was let down in a basket. This last looks plausible, as it is evidently the old Roman wall. Went to a Presbyterian mission church on Sunday, In a carriage, through some streets so narrow that even the small boys had to hug the walls to let us pass. We visited many factories and shops, but I cannot take time to tell of them now. Tuesday morning we took a train on the Bagdad Railroad, northwest to Baalbek. Our guide-book speaks of it as "once the most populous and glorious city of Syria," — now only a small village with a magnificent ruin. Baalbek means "the assembly of Baal," and this great heap of ruins was once a great pagan temple. It was built when the Romans were in power. There were three Temples in one, covering an area of twelve acres. The temple of Jupiter was built in the first century — begun 56 A. D., the Temple of Bacchus in the second century, and the Temple of Venus in the third century. When Constantine came into power he remodeled them, and turned them into a Christian church. And later, when the Mohammedans took possession, they 1 56 Glimpses of Many Lands smashed every image, mutilated every carving of a person, and even broke in pieces the immense pillars, — then used all the stone which was available to build a fort. But the ruins are the biggest things we have seen anywhere, — even those in Egypt are small in comparison. I do not mean that they cover a greater area, but many of the individual stones are the greatest we have seen. "The gigantic masses of limestone are the largest ever handled by man; and engineers of all ages since, have studied them, but have never been able to even form an opinion as to how they were quarried or put in place." So says our guide-book. For instance, in the west wall we saw three stones each 64 feet long, 13 feet high, and 12 feet thick, — each containing 350 cubic yards and weighing 750 tons! And these three stones are placed end to end, more than 20 feet up from the ground, — thus building 192 feet of that wall a height of 13 feet with three stones. Then there was a great pyramidal stone which com- pleted the top of an entrance, — most elaborately carved, — which weighed 100 tons, and was raised to a height of 130 feet. The carvings on all were marvel- ous in their beauty of design and execution, and some of them are still quite perfect. The great arched entrance to the Temple of Bacchus was a work of art, with its poppies and wheat, and its grapes and leaves. The Ggg and dart design was much used in all the cornice work, — the egg typifying life, and the dart, death. We went to the quarry Palestine 1 57 where the stone was taken out and saw one stone which was cut and partly lifted out, which was larger than any in the wall. The great red granite columns used in the temples were from the quarries at Assuan, Egypt. I think I have not spoken of the poppies all over Palestine. There are millions of them, — all over the country wherever wild flowers could grow, and espe- cially in the wheat fields. Every wheat field is gor- geous with them, and we saw one near Bethlehem which was such a solid mass of red that the wheat was scarcely visible at all. So "poppies and wheat" is a favorite design for decoration, and is much used. I wish I had time to describe the railroad ride across the Mountains of Lebanon to this place, for it was great — part of the distance on each side of the range being a cog-wheel road, and the highest peaks all about us covered with snow. The winding down on the side toward the sea for two hours, in sight of many vil- lages, Beyrout, and the Mediterranean, was grand. And speaking of mountain trips, reminds me of one thing I forgot to mention in our last one, which is really interesting, and I must sandwich it in between this ride and Beyrout. About an hour out from Damas- cus, as we were winding up the canon of the Abana River, we had pointed out to us, on a very high point to our right, a bunch of old trees and a stone pillar, — one of the "groves and high places" of the worship of Baal, referred to so often in the Old Testament. This is the only one now known, they say. 158 Glimpses of Many Lands Beyrout — sometimes spelled Beyrouth, and some- times Beirut — is an important seaport, but has not much else of special interest, except the American college. We visited it, and went through a good many of the buildings, of which there are twenty-one. The grounds contain forty-six acres situated on a commanding bluff in the new residence part of the city, on the seashore. They have over a thousand students enrolled this year, and are certainly doing a fine work. We attended one chapel service, — part of which was in English. President Bliss was very nice to us, and we had a visit with him in his own home. He also invited us to a reception at his house last evening, given in honor of Lord Bryce — who was British ambassador to the United States for six years — and who is now here. We had met him andh is wife in the past four days of our trip, and had sat next to them at table at the last two hotels; so we would have been delighted to attend their reception. But alas! our good clothes were taking a vacation in Italy, — our trunks having been sent from Cairo to Naples, — and we were traveling with only suit-cases for six weeks. Too bad! for he is said to be one of the most learned men of the present day. He lectures to the students this evening, and President Bliss urged us to come to that; but again, alas! our boat sails at 6 p. m. This city is rather more modern than most others we have seen, but is still very oriental — which is the polite way of saying it is dirty. I am glad w£ have been through Palestine — many Palestine 1 59 times glad that we have had the opportunity to see it; but am also glad we are ready to leave it, having seen it. It has been cold every day we have been in the country, except in the Jordan valley and this city, — no fire in any hotel, and I have had to wear my jacket suit all the time in the house, and an extra coat when riding. To-day is bright and warm, and the sea looks very smooth, and the deepest blue that one can imagine. A fine prospect for our starting on another sea voyage. So good by, Palestine. XIV Constantinople and Athens On board the Austrian-Lloyd Steamship "Bruenn** Between Constantinople AND Athens, May 9, 1914. Here I am again at my old task. But it is an in- teresting task, — interesting to me, even if I should fail in making it interesting to anyone else, because I have a chance to quietly review events, and fix them in mind in something like order. So I am going to write up Constantinople to-day, and add to it my story of Athens when on the next boat — crossing to Italy — and that will complete my series of letters of the "far East and near East." After that our trip will be simply "abroad," and as that is so common nowadays, it will not be specially interesting. And besides, I will have very little time after that to write, as there will be no more boat trips, and we will not stay very long in one place. We left Beyrout as planned, and were four days and nights on the water. The first day out was fine, but all the rest of the time it was cold and blustery and the sea very choppy, — so cold we had to be wrapped in our heaviest clothes all the time, and even then could not stay on deck with comfort. However, we had much for which to be thankful, as we both kept very 160 Constantinople and Athens i6i well — and were hungry all the time. We are begin- ning to have great respect for ourselves as sailors, and do not dread the water trips at all now. But I pre- sume the Atlantic trip home will floor us, as everyone says that is the worst ever. However, that is one of the rivers we will not cross until we get to it. To-day is bright, just warm enough, and the sea as smooth as a mirror. The second day out from Beyrout we stopped at Larnaca, on the island of Cypress, but did not go ashore, as the boat did not dock, and stopped only a short time. This was Sunday, but there was no recog- nition of it on that boat. Later we passed the island of Rhodes, but did not stop. Saw the place where the great Colossus is sup- posed to have stood, but there is nothing to mark the spot now. Our route took us among islands most of the time, and sometimes not far from the mainland, and past all sorts of historical places, — among them the island of Patmos, in distant view to our left. At Smyrna we stopped for six hours; so we hired a carriage and guide for a drive of two hours, seeing the city pretty well. We had already had a fine general view of it from the boat, as the shore view for an hour before reaching Smyrna was beautiful, — a continuous panorama of green hills, rugged cliffs, cultivated fields, orchards, and cozy little villages. Smyrna is built up the hillsides, and makes a fine picture as we enter the harbor. So our drive was principally up and down hills. The ancient city was 1 62 Glimpses of Many Lands not in evidence at all, except the site of the great amphitheater, or stadium, where Polycarp was burned at the stake, — one of the early Christian martyrs, — about 185 A. D., my authority says. Near by is a tomb which is said to be his, and is really thought to be correct. Besides these relics, the old Roman aqueduct remains, and still supplies the city with water. It is the chief commercial port of Asia Minor and quite a clean city. After Smyrna we passed the shore near which is Ephesus, but could not see it. We would like to have had time to visit it, for there are the ruins of the great Temple of Diana of which Paul spoke. Early in the morning of the fourth day we entered the Dardanelles, the ancient Hellespont, — the modern center of world interest. It is less than a mile wide at the narrowest part, and is strongly fortified on both shores, and also at points above and below the entrance. Saw the place where "Leander swam the Hellespont," and shortly before reaching the strait we had pointed out to us the site of the ancient city of Troy, — nothing but a site, however. One of the great obstacles in the way of the proper enjoyment of a lot of these things which we have seen in the past month, is that one has to exercise his faith and his imagination to such an extent that both naturally become a little weak. But the Dardanelles was genuine. That was a satisfaction, anyway. The strait is about thirty-seven miles long; the rest of the way we were in the little Sea of Marmora, — with land Constantinople and Athens 163 in sight all the way, and many boats of many nations. About 5 p. M. we came in sight of Constantinople, one of the finest views of our lives. We later saw it from the top of the Galata Tower, and I know Constanti- nople now, in situation and outline, as well as any city we have ever seen. It is in three sections, — Stamboul and Galata on the Europe side, separated by the Golden Horn, and Scutari on the Asia side, separated from the other two by the Bosphorus, and the three forming a sort of crescent around the bay. And as all the parts rise from the waters on seven hills, it is no wonder it has won the admiration of all ages. It was founded in 660 B. C. and was then called Byzantium. It has always been an important city, and coveted by several nations who would like to control the Black Sea and the Dardanelles. But as yet the "terrible Turk" holds the key. Stamboul is the original city, and is still the strictly oriental part, with its oldest mosques, its Turkish bazaars and merchants, and its narrow, crooked streets. The northern part of Galata is almost modern, and has good streets and buildings, and beau- tiful stores. This part is called Pera. The big modern hotel where tourists stop is called the Pera Palace. This part has been built up mostly by foreigners, and all the legation buildings are here. Some of the nations have very fine ones, — the finest being Germany's, and the poorest the United State's, and that only rented quarters. Kaiser Wilhelm II left his mark in a good many ways on his last visit, in numerous 164 Glimpses of Many Lands tablets, memorials, etc., chief among them being a handsome fountain near the center of the old hippo- drome. I forgot to state in my last that we saw many evidences of him and his country in various places in Palestine, and heard it often stated that he had an eye on the "near East." We had a native guide for all the time we were in the city. Took three carriage drives, one trolley car and one underground railway ride, and one steamer trip, and think we saw it pretty well in a general outside view of things, though of course went into some build- ings more thoroughly. The steamer trip was up the Bosphorus to the Black Sea. By the way, I wonder if you know that Bosphorus means "ox ford," or "the ford of the cow," — from a Greek myth that lo swam in the shape of a cow from Asia to Europe, at a narrow point which is called the "ox ford." The steamer trip up the Bosphorus is as fine a water trip as could be found anywhere in the world, I am sure, — finer than our own famous Hudson River trip, I think. It is twenty miles, and is a continuous panorama of beautiful scenery on both sides, — rugged hills covered with trees, shrubbery, flowers, gardens, imperial palaces, fine residences, and, near the shore, many lovely little villages. At various points are great fortifications on both sides, — especially at the entrance to the Black Sea. At just seven miles out are the fort and castle on each side, where they used to have the huge chain Constantinople and Athens 165 stretched across as a barrier. We saw the chain later, in the museum. Near this point, on the European side, is our American Robert College, a fine location, right on the hills overlooking the beautiful Bosphorus, its five or six buildings showing up well. We did not have time to stop at it. Passed the old palace where the ex-sultan, Abdul Hamid, and his family are im- prisoned. Also the palace and harem of the present sultan, who ought to be imprisoned too. Of its four hundred and eighty mosques, we visited the interior of only one, — the famous St. Sophia, — originally the greatest Christian church in the world, and the Mohammedans retained the name when they transformed it into a mosque. Here, opposite his palace, Constantine built a church in 326 A. D. which he dedicated to "Divine Wisdom" — the meaning of "Sophia." It was destroyed in a rebellion, and the present edifice was built by Justinian in 532 A. D. It has been pillaged and mutilated, and robbed of many of its valuable treasures by different sects and fanatics, but it still retains much of its original beauty. One part is said to have been modeled after the Temple of Solomon, and some of the great pillars are from it. They say that at a certain festival each year they used to have it proclaimed aloud, "Justinian builded greater than Solomon." It has been the scene of many his- torical and many terrible events. In one of its bal- conies was held that great meeting of "the church," in which the Greek church became an independent or- 1 66 Glimpses of Many Lands ganizatlon. And in St. Sophia was the greatest mas- sacre of Christians ever recorded, besides several lesser ones. It is wonderfully beautiful in many ways in the interior, but the outside is a joke — painted in red and yellow stripes! The next largest mosque of the city is near by, built in 1608. It is much more beautiful on the outside than St. Sophia, and is the only one outside of Mecca having six minarets. It is called the mosque of Sultan Ahmed. On Friday we attended a great show. We went, along with most of the other strangers in the city and many natives, to see the sultan go to his mosque at the noon hour of prayer. He goes once a week only, and this is how it is done: All the sight-seers, and everybody else who wishes, go in carriages to a place near the mosque where there is a vacant piece of land which slopes up from the street (perhaps it was arranged that way purposely, — I don't know), and arrange themselves in order and wait. We were there in time to see the gathering together of hundreds of infantry, cavalry, artillery, gendarmes, police, firemen, a company from a military school, a band from the navy, the sultan's private band, and his magnificently arrayed imperial body-guard, — the others were all in gorgeous array also. When all were properly placed, and the hands of the big clock in the tower near by pointed to exactly twelve, a great shout announced his approach. So he rode through between the waiting lines of soldiers and people — a rather nice-looking old Constantinople and Athens 167 man with almost white hair and beard — in an elegant carriage drawn by two magnificent, dark-gray Norman horses, while another just like them was ridden just ahead, and a beautiful white one was led on each side of the carriage. All this for one old man to go to prayers! and only about two blocks to go! And this program is repeated without change regularly every Friday. I might write much more if I had time, but it is almost dark, and we expect to reach Athens to-morrow morning. But before I close I want to speak of one peculiar thing about the Bosphorus of which I never heard before. They say there is a strong surface cur- rent toward the open sea, and a strong undercurrent toward the Black Sea. On board the Italian Line Steamship "Torino" Between Athens and Brindisi, May 14, 1914. I have been on deck until now — 11 a. m. — and if I get this letter finished to-day, I've got to get busy. So, beginning where I left off — on board the last boat — I continue. We reached Athens early in the morning of the next day, and went ashore early. It was not Athens either, but Pirseus, the port of Athens, which is five miles distant, so had that far to go in an electric train before we were in the city. And before I go any farther, I want to disabuse your minds of any impression you 1 68 Glimpses of Many Lands may have that we were visiting in ancient Athens. It is not the city of Socrates, Pericles, Plato, and the rest of them, at all, but a modern, quite clean city of about the age of Chicago. Not even on the site of ancient Athens, though quite near by. Even ancient Greece is changed in form, for instead of the two pen- insulas of olden time, the southern one is now an island; as a few years ago the isthmus was cut across by a canal — only three quarters of a mile — and now steam- ers go through there instead of away round the south end, thus shortening the route very much from Athens to Italy. This steamer came through that way, but we were not on it then, as we left Athens by rail for a seven-hours' ride nearly straight west to Patras, at the west end of the Gulf of Corinth, and boarded the boat there at lo o'clock last night. To-day we are crossing the Adriatic Sea, and expect to reach Brindisi, Italy, at 8 o'clock this evening. Brindisi is on the southeast coast — the heel of the boot. We expect to stay there to-night, and go to Naples to-morrow by rail. This will end our boat trips until the Atlantic, unless we take a North Cape trip. But to return to Athens: As I said, we visited mod- ern Athens, but we put in most of our time in seeing the monuments which remain of ancient Athens: the Acropolis, where still stands the ruins of the beautiful Parthenon — the temple of Athena — built by Pericles about 430 B. C; the old Forum where Demosthenes made his famous orations — not much left of this but the site, however; and the ruins of many temples, Constantinople and Athens 169 theaters, arches, tombs, statuary, etc. But I cannot describe them at length. Just get out your ancient histories and read them up. We climbed the weather- worn old steps to the top of the Areopagus, or Mars Hill, and stood on the spot where Paul stood when he preached his great Athens sermon beginning, "Ye men of Athens!" Went to the cave where it is said Socrates drank the hemlock, and to the site of Plato's school. Visited the great new stadium — which will seat 60,000 people — built on the site of the old one, and the old cemetery which has been unearthed in recent years, in which are most wonderful marble sculptures of many centuries before Christ, — one of the wife of Pericles, and one of the wife of Socrates, both very beautiful. There is also the monument to the soldiers who fell at the battle of Marathon, at the dedication of which Pericles made his famous funeral oration. One forenoon a party of six of us — one couple from Boston, and one from New York, and ourselves — went in an automobile to the plain of Marathon, — about 25 miles north, — where the great battle of Marathon was fought on September 10, 490 B. C. In the center of the battlefield is a great mound which covered the bodies of the Athenians who were killed in the battle. We all went up on the top of the mound, and while we looked out over all the plain one of the party read Herodotus' account of the battle. The train ride through the country from Athens to Patras was interesting, as we saw that much more of Greece. Stopped a little while at Corinth, but did 170 Glimpses of Many Lands not see anything special. This is a nice new boat, and we have had a lovely trip; and now have only a few hours more till on land in Italy; and then for more modern sights. Maybe I will write another letter some day — if I find things sufficiently interest- ing, — or different. XV Italy and Austria Milan, Italy, June 7, 1914. I am going to surprise you with another carbon-copy- letter, after saying that the one mailed at Naples, three weeks ago, was likely to be the last. But I haven't written any letters for so long that I begin to feel as if there was something lacking in my regular program. So, as it is raining, and we cannot go out this afternoon, I will get a letter written; but I promise in the beginning of it not to punish you to the extent of some of my letters; for I am not going to try to describe at length the cities of Europe, and the cathe- drals, paintings, and sculptures we have seen. In my last I told of our journeying up to the time of reaching Italy. We stayed in Brindisi that night, and the next day went by train to Naples, where we arrived at about 5 p. m. Went to Bertolini's, which is up on the hillside. Had a room with balcony, with a great view out over the world-renowned Bay of Naples. Stayed there four days, going to everything of inter- est, — the resurrected city of Pompeii, the crater of Vesuvius, etc. Our trip to the latter was by trolley car part of the way, then by cable incline to the summit, where we could look down into the crater. It was very quiet and well-behaved, the only demonstration being clouds of steam, and some sulphur. 171 172 Glimpses of Many Lands Naples was a disappointment to us. Perhaps we were there at the wrong season, or perhaps the weather did not favor us, but it was not what I expected. I had heard all my life of the blue skies, the clear trans- parent air, and the general ethereal loveliness of "Sunny Italy," and it was somewhat of a shock to find it cloudy almost all the time we were there, and rain two days, and so hazy part of the time that we could not see across the bay. Rome was better. It was clear and warm most of the time we were there, and we took a more cheerful view of things. It was all interesting, intensely so, and it is hard to especially mention any one or more things, when there is so much to speak of. So I'll just tell of some of the things we saw, and not try to make you see them — you'll have to read the books for that. We had a regular guide for three days, then went about alone, as we had learned how. Went to St. Peter's, St. Paul's, St. John's, St. Mary's, etc. There are over five hundred Catholic churches in Rome, and eighty of them are called St. Mary some- thing-or-other. We went to five or six of the most noted ones, saw masses and heard the organ in some, and saw the treasury in several, then passed on to things more interesting. Were at the Vatican also, in the parts to which the people are admitted, — that is, the museum, the picture gallery, and the Sistine chapel. Then there were the relics of the ancient things, — old things of the time of Christ, and before. The Forum, the Colosseum, the ruins of Nero's house, Italy and Austria 173 the Appian Way, the remains of several old aqueducts, and many others. Spent a part of a forenoon down in the catacombs, — a wonderful experience. Went to the old Pantheon, which used to be a pagan temple of "all gods" but is now a sort of Westminster Abbey of Rome. Here we saw the tomb of Victor Emanuel; and the tomb and a bronze bust of Raphael. In the church of St. Peter in Vinculis we saw Angelo's famous statue "Moses," a most wonderful thing. Went to the Capitoline Museum, where we saw many wonders of painting and sculpture. Among the latter was the beautiful Capitoline Venus. Also saw there the wonderful mosaic, the Pliny doves, with five hun- dred pieces to the square inch. Also a few hundred other interesting things all over Rome. Among the more modern things I mention the magnificent new Victor Emanuel Monument, which they say cost $15,000,000. Another modern thing is the new Waldensian Church, built by Mrs. Kennedy of New York, and dedicated only last February. We were all through it, and it was a relief after the other style of churches. From Rome we went to Florence, a city as lovely as its name. The drives around Florence are beautiful, and the views from some of the hills superb. We had a fine guide for the city, and he made it especially in- teresting, driving to all places of greatest interest, which I cannot enumerate now, but will mention a few. One was the church of Santa Croce, where we saw the tomb of Galileo, the tomb of Michael Angelo, 174 Glimpses of Many Lands and a monument of Dante. On Dante's monument is a figure of "Poetry, weeping," which is about the most beautifully appropriate thing I ever saw. "The Baptistry," down in the city, was built about 300 B. C; as a pagan temple, but is now a church, with a font where everyone born in Florence is supposed to be baptized. It has many interesting features, but the special things to note are the two massive bronze doors which Michael Angelo said were "worthy to be the doors of Paradise." The great cathedral is too dark and gloomy for me. Down in the city, in a little square near the Neptune Fountain, is the spot where Savonarola was burned at the stake, in 1498, marked by a round bronze tablet in the pavement. But the chief interest of Florence centers in the picture galleries. We did our best to see two of them — thePitti Palace, and theUffizi, — but one needs plenty of time and much strength and walking ability to do justice to these. So we tried to get the best and skip the others, and I think we really accomplished a good deal. From Florence we went to Venice, and here I had another disappointment. For the far-famed Venice, with its fairy-like gondolas on the crystal water streets, was only a very ordinary city, built on piles out in the water, with no way of getting through its narrow canals, which are sometimes very disagreeable, except at the mercy of a man pushing a boat, and often very recklessly. To be sure, there is St. Mark's and the Bridge of Sighs, and the Doge's Palace, and the shops Italy and Austria 175 full of beads — we saw all of them — also the pigeons. One night there was a great crowd gathered in the Piazza of St. Mark's, with a band, and much noise and cheering; and we waited with the crowd to see what it all meant. After a long time, and much call- ing and cheering, a door opened on a balcony and the king and queen of Italy stood to receive the homage of their people, and we were glad we happened to be there. From Venice we took a night train, northeast to Vienna, Austria, an all-night ride, reaching there early the next morning. We found it a fine, clean, modern city, — a real Chicago, with two and a half millions of people. It was quite a surprise, as we did not think it was so large nor so fine. We had a guide, as usual, and drove over it systematically, and saw all places and buildings of chief importance. Were out at Schonbrunn, and through the fine grounds; and though the aged emperor was at home, we did not happen to see him. Took a drive out along the "beautiful blue Danube," but it was not blue at all, — instead it was very muddy, as the water was high. The public build- ings and government buildings of Vienna are as fine as we have ever seen anywhere. Saw the great Univer- sity of Vienna, which has at the present time 11,000 students, and over 500 teachers. In one of our drives we saw our old friend, the Ferris wheel, doing duty in an amusement park and turning merrily around as of yore. Took a day-train back from Vienna, and had a most 176 Glimpses of Many Lands interesting trip. The first two hours was through a rugged country with grand mountain scenery. The rest of the way was through a farming and grazing country. Instead of going back to Venice we went to Trieste, which is near the head of the Adriatic Sea, nearly opposite Venice. Stayed at Trieste two days and enjoyed it, though there is nothing of special interest. It belongs to Austria, but is an Italian city. We crossed the Adriatic from Trieste to Venice and there took a train for Milan, which we reached in the evening, six days ago. Alex, Lyle, and Ena are here. They live in the home of the American consul while he is away on a three months' vacation. We had a nice home dinner with them last evening. Lyle is very familiar with every- thing in Milan, and we do not have to get any other guide while here. One forenoon we all climbed to the top of the great cathedral and looked down on the ninety-eight small spires and the two thousand statues on the roof and in the niches. It is the most beautiful thing we have seen in Italy so far. It is built entirely of white marble, and is very beautiful inside also. Yesterday we saw Leonardo di Vinci's "Last Supper," and Raphael's "Marriage of Joseph and Mary" — the two great masterpieces in Milan. We like Italy. The cities are quite clean and the country is beautiful. It is just the season for things to be fresh and green, and the whole country is farmed Italy and Austria 177 beautifully. In the southern part the grapes are the principal crops, and the vineyards are lovely, though there are some other fruits too, — quantities of olives, and some wheat. In the northern part there are thousands of acres of mulberry trees for the silk indus- try. We have been the whole length of the country from the "boot heel" to this place, and across the northern end from Venice here; and it all looks pros- perous, and we unhesitatingly pronounce it lovely. We leave here to-morrow for a week in Switzerland, then to Paris. XVI Central Europe Christiania, Norway, June 30, 1914. There is not a great deal to see in this city and as I cannot keep on the continuous move for the twenty-four hours of daylight and twilight that we are now enjoy- ing, I will sit still a while and spend a little of it in gathering up the threads and weaving the checkered pattern of my story up to the present. My last was mailed in Milan, between three and four weeks ago, and I cannot attempt to write a full account of all our wanderings during that time, so will try to review only the most striking points, — as it was all over the beaten track of which we so often hear and read. From Milan we went north for a week's trip through the most noted parts of Switzerland, seeing the best part of the scenery of the Alps. We traveled by day and stopped only one night at each place, — Lucerne, Interlaken, Montreux, Chamonix, Geneva, and Lau- sanne, seeing the famous Jungfrau, Mont Blanc, etc. It is a fine way to learn geography. Now, I had always supposed that Mont Blanc was the chief thing in Switzerland — and found out we had to go to France to see it. To be sure, it is one of the range which makes the boundary, but it is seen and visited from Chamonix, France. It was very cold all the time we were in Switzerland. 178 Central Europe 179 We wore our overcoats all the time, except when we were in bed, — did not need them there, as we slept under feather-beds at most of the places. The hotels are beautiful and elegantly furnished, but not properly- heated, and we often were blue with cold even in the dining-rooms. The trip between these places was only a few hours each, so we always had a part of each day to see the town; but there is not much to see at any of them but the lakes, the mountains, and the hotels. The day we were between Como and Lucerne, it began snowing a little just before we entered the St. Gothard tunnel, which took fifteen minutes to go through, and when we came out on the other side of the mountains, there was nearly a foot deep of new- fallen snow, and still coming down in immense flakes. It was quite a sight for the 9th of June. The scenery was grand every day, and each mountain ride seemed finer than the previous one. I am going to copy one day's account from my notebook, just as I wrote it that night at Chamonix. "No one can describe the trip from Montreux to Chamonix to in any sense do it justice. Around the end of Lake Leman, past the old Castle of Chillon, keeping pretty near the lake and not much climbing for the first hour or more, to Martigny. This was by steam car train, through fine meadows, and orchards of apple and cherry. At Martigny we changed to an electric third-rail train, which began to climb, — with a cogwheel help, — climbed and turned, and wound and doubled, through i8o Glimpses of Many Lands tunnels close along precipices with rugged crags and rocks, with snow-covered peaks above us, and most majestic scenery of mountain, stream, and waterfall every moment. It is a most wonderful railroad — a marvel of engineering! Near the summit we came to a somewhat level pass where we changed to a different road and train at Valorcine and continued climbing for a while, still along a stream, and soon saw our first glacier of the Alps. After a little while we ran close to another — so close we could see the blue in the crevasses. Then many more prongs from the great glacier of Mont Blanc. Soon we were at Chamonix, with Mont Blanc in full view, and one glacier extending within three miles of the hotel. We were at the Hotel Mont Blanc, with win- dows looking out on to the great snow-covered moun- tains and glaciers all about us, and it is about as cold as it looks. We have to wear our coats in the house, and even then shiver. After lunch we walked about the town, but there is nothing to see but the mountains and glaciers." This description will answer for almost every day we traveled in Switzerland. After Switzerland, Paris. This is a large subject — too large for me to handle. We stayed there a week and went to all the places and saw the things that Americans usually do on their first visit, I presume. Alex was with us through Switzerland and Paris, and together we saw the places of historical interest: the beautiful Champs Elysees, the Place de Concorde, the Eiffel Central Europe i8i Tower, the tomb of Napoleon, the Pantheon, the Church of Notre Dame, the Garden of Tuilleries, the Louvre, and a hundred other things equally interesting. One could put in the whole week in the Louvre if he wanted to see it all, — and had the strength, — but though we saw many lovely things in both painting and marble, I shall mention only one of the chief of each. We saw the much talked of "Mona Lisa," which was stolen and recovered again, and the world-renowned Venus di Milo. Spent one day in a trip by automobile through the beautiful Bois de Bologne, the Champs Elysees, the Bologne Park, and a lovely country road to Versailles; and then spent several hours in the wonderful Palace of Versailles, with its great rooms still furnished as in the days of Louis XIV and Napoleon; and the wonderful paintings of the history of those times still perfect. The grounds and fountains are beautiful. On the return trip we stopped at several places, among them the Sevres china factory. We left Paris in the early morning, and had a whole day's ride north through Alsace and Lorraine, to Mayence, or Mainz, as it is often called. This journey took us through a fine farming region, — we said the nearest like Illinois of any place we had seen. Passed through Metz, a large, prosperous-looking city, and many great factory towns. Reached Mayence in time to look about the city, and mention only one thing — the fine monument to Gutenberg, the inventor of printing. The next morning we boarded the steamer for the trip down the Rhine to Cologne. Again it was so cold that 1 82 Glimpses of Many Lands we could not enjoy being out on deck, but had to be if we wanted to see anything. This is another trip which is often described and as often exaggerated. With the exception of about two hours, it is a very ordinary river trip. For about two hours the river is very winding, with high rocky bluffs and many old castles and ruins on both sides, and many places we all know from legends, as the Mouse Tower and the Lorelei Rocks. Reached Cologne that eve- ning and stayed there all the next day. Got a guide and drove all over the city, and to all places of note, and found it a very clean, lovely city. Its chief pride is its famous cathedral, but it is not nearly so beautiful as the one at Milan. The next morning we started for another whole-day ride to Hamburg, through Bremen. The first part of the way was through the Rhine valley, a very pros- perous looking country. We passed through Essen, the seat of the great Krupp gun works, and many other great manufacturing cities with perfect forests of chimneys. This was the heart of the great iron and foundry industries of Germany. Reached Hamburg that night and stayed there three days. We liked it very much and think it the very loveliest city we have seen — so many beautiful parks and broad streets with splendid shade trees, and hand- some homes with large beautiful grounds — and such a glorious profusion of flowers, especially roses. Our next journey was north, by train, to Copen- hagen, Denmark, — that is, the first three or four hours Central Europe 183 were by train, through a fine farming and grazing coun- try, to Kiel, the entrance to the Kiel Canal, and the Germans' great naval base. In the harbor here we counted fifty-two battleships, twenty-seven German and twenty-five English. They were having some kind of a review, and the Kaiser was there, but we did not see him. Here we changed from the train to a tiny steamer, to cross what we supposed was a narrow channel, to take another train on the other side. And here a startling surprise awaited us. Instead of crossing a channel, we found we had a trip of five and a half hours, a good deal of the time out of sight of land, and on that little toy boat! There was a stiff breeze and the sea was rough, and the little steamer danced about lively, so that the "mal de mer" got its inning with a good many of the passengers. But we both kept all right and enjoyed a really good dinner on the little boat. After landing, we boarded another train and had an interesting ride of two hours in Denmark, through a nice farming country dotted with good houses, and looking quite like home. We found Copenhagen to be a pleasant city — not so large and rich and beautiful as Hamburg, but clean and prosperous-looking, with many interesting things to see — and lots of time in which to see them, for we were getting pretty far toward the land of all daylight, and no one seemed to know when to go to bed. The sun did not set until past nine o'clock, and the twilight 184 Glimpses of Many Lands lasted all night. Copenhagen has many old castles and palaces, and in the Rozenborg Castle is a wonderful collection of valuable things from the reigns of dif- ferent kings: the jewels, plate, dress, uniforms, furni- ture, pictures, and other valuable souvenirs of many- centuries. Then the Thorvaldsen Museum contains many fine marble sculptures, given to the city by their own famous sculptor, Thorvaldsen, who is their pride. We drove all over the city, and enjoyed it very much. On Sunday we attended church service at "The Church of Our Lady," a Lutheran church, but retaining the name of the old church built in the 12th century, before Luther and the reformation. The organ and singing were fine, and the preaching seemed very earnest and eloquent, though all in a tongue unknown to us. One thing about the building was worthy of mention. There were life-size statues of Christ and the twelve apostles at intervals around the walls — white marble, done by Thorvaldsen in the last century. From Copenhagen we came here, which has nothing of special interest, except that this year it is the Mecca of all Norwegians, as they are having their exposition to celebrate the centennial of their independence from Denmark. We have met many Norwegian-Americans in our different journeys and drives about the city. On our way here from Denmark, we crossed the sound or channel which separates Denmark from Sweden. The train was run onto a ferry, and ferried across. At this point, on the Denmark side, is Elsinore, and the Kronborg Castle, made famous as being the place Central Europe 185 where the ghost of Hamlet's father is supposed to have walked. After starting again, on the Sweden side, we traveled for several hours near the west cost, through a fine farming country with good houses and barns, and well cultivated fields and gardens. Saw many women at work in the fields. Arrived in Chris- tiania at 9:45 p.m., and the sun shining brightly. When it did set, the pink remained all night, and it was almost daylight all night. To-morrow we leave here for Bergen, on the coast, a whole day's ride across the Scandinavian Mountains. XVII The Land of the Midnight Sun On board the Steamship "Vega." Off the Coast of Norway, July 13th. You will begin to think pretty soon that I am not keeping my word about not writing any more family letters, but this trip to the North Cape has been so different, so out of the ordinary in the usual European travel, that I think you will enjoy it as much as a letter from the Orient. But I will begin at the beginning: We left Chris- tiania the morning of July ist for an all-day ride to Bergen, nearly west, — a little north, — on the coast. This took us over the Scandinavian Mountains — but Norway is nearly all mountains, except little patches along the coast. It may surprise you to see it stated that Norway has only two and a quarter millions of people — less in the entire country than in Chicago. It was a surprise to us, but the authorities say that is correct. This mountain trip was fine — from sea level, up through the splendid lumber forests, to the barren rocks and perpetual snows. At the pass of the sum- mit, we stopped at a frozen lake where only the week before there had been a ski contest on the ice — in July! It was a long, crowded train, and four hundred 186 The Land of the Midnight Sun 187 or more people got out, played snow battle, drank ice water which flowed in streams, and enjoyed the cool- ness, — for it had been a very hot day — and still was hot up there, in the sun, and the snow melting in rivers. They said the snow was from twenty to sixty feet deep in places. Then the descent on the other side of the mountains was fascinating, — from the miles and miles of snow sheds, piled deep with snow of fifty or more feet, the snows gradually growing less, the bare rocks beginning to show, then the mosses, then the grass and wild flowers, the shrubs, the birch trees, then the pines — and by and by the hills were all green, with here and there a spot of snow on top. Following down the canon of the rushing river formed by the melting snows, the transition from winter to summer was won- derful. It is a miracle of railroad building, — winding, tacking, looping, doubling, climbing, and going through two hundred tunnels in one day! The whole day was a continuous delight, and did not grow tiresome for a minute in the almost fourteen-hours' trip. We reached Bergen at 9:45 p. m., went to the Hotel "Norge," which means Norway, had supper, took a long walk, and came in about half-past 11 o'clock, — still broad daylight. The only thing of special note, which we saw when walking, was a monument to Ole Bull, the violinist, who was a Norwegian, and a native of Bergen. The next morning we boarded a small steamer for the first installment of our North Cape trip. This was planned out as five days inland, zigzagging among the 1 88 Glimpses of Many Lands fjords, and getting north to Trondhjem, and from there a seven-days' cruise on this boat. The first part of it was accomplished by means of five small steamers, one carriage, one two-wheeled cart, and two automo- biles! Easy? Oh, no! But we had comfortable beds in rather primitive hotels three of the five nights, which helped. The other two were on board the little steamers on the fjords, — and we went across-country from one to another. This took us through some of the grandest scenery of Norway. We think it far grander than anything we saw in Switzerland, — dif- ferent however, so different one cannot make a just comparison. For Switzerland has so much greener scenery, and so much more pastoral country, that it cannot be compared with the more northern country whose mountains need not be nearly so high above sea level, and yet be perpetually snow-covered and glacier- bound. On this trip we saw many spurs of the largest glacier of Europe, covering 350 square miles. It is called the Jostedalsbra — but please don't ask me to pronounce it. I mention this in particular, as the view was in- delibly impressed upon my vision in several different ways. First, we approached it on a little steamer on the loveliest crystal-green mountain lake. Next, we were atHjelle. Third, at the Hjelle Hotel we had the very finest home dinner we had enjoyed in many moons. And lastly, it was the hottest day we had experienced since we were in the Jordan valley — and this among the glaciers. From Hjelle we had to go The Land of the Midnight Sun 189 over a mountain range where the snow was not gone from the summits enough to allow the automobiles to make the trip. They have good roads, and regular automobile routes from one fjord to another, across the mountains. But this was early in the season, and, though a force of men were at work shoveling snow, they had not finished clearing the pass of this summit. In some places the snow stood twenty to thirty feet high on each side of the shoveled-out roadway. This is where we went in a two-wheeled cart, — drawn by a dun-colored pony. I digress just long enough to re- mark that all the horses of that region are small, so that we called them ponies; and nearly all — in fact every one we saw— are dun-colored, just as the birds and wild animals of the North are either white or light- colored. Our little dun horse was a beauty, and very sure-footed, and that eight-hour ride in the two-wheeled cart was a wonderful experience. Along gorges and precipices and mountain torrents, and lovely water- falls, with snow-covered peaks all about us, and the valleys between them filled with the blue ice extending down from the great glacier. It was grand; sublime! The weather was unusually warm, and the snow was melting fast, so there were great volumes of water coming down all the gorges. I find this entry in my notebook, at this point: "After three hours of this glorious mountain ride, we stopped at a rest house — the Videstaeter Hotel — for dinner, and gormandized, — coffee with cream!" As we neared the summit there were many places IQO Glimpses of Many Lands where the snow was so deep and soft in the road, that the little dun horse could not pull us through, so we would get out and walk, and the driver would help push the cart through. This occurred just twelve tincies on that one trip. The ride down the other side of the range was less exciting, and we reached Grotlied about 5 p. M., where we changed to an automobile for another hour and a half ride, which took us over an- other mountain range to Merok. And here I resign my position as a reporter! I'd like to describe that ride, but I can't, — no use trying. John Gilpin's famous ride, or Tam O'Shanter's jolly spin, were nothing in comparison. No words of mine could make anyone appreciate that ride. It was the most thrilling thing of our lives up to this moment. I think I once wrote you of our trip up the mountain to Miyanoshita, Japan, and called it "thrilling." For- get it! That was but a baby carriage outing in a park on a fine June morning, as compared with this. I said I could not describe it, and will not try, but will simply tell what it was. From Grotlied to Merok there is a good made road over the range, from sea level on one side, to the fjord where we took the steamer on the other. Here the road was cleared, and the automobiles were making the regular trips. We were the only passengers in a seven-passenger car, and the chauffeur could not speak any English, so we could not direct him, or caution him, or beg him to go slower. All we could do was to pull his sleeve and make faces at him, which he did not seem to mind at all, — but The Land of the Midnight Sun 191 just flew on as if we were on a level boulevard, while all the time there were bends, and loops, and hairpin curves, up to the summit where we were among the glaciers and everlasting snows. But the descent of the other side was much worse, — the winding terrace below terrace, the short turns, the loops, the hair- raising, nerve-racking whirl of the ride, and with it all the grandeur of the scenery! The crags and peaks and glaciers and snow — and on all sides the waterfalls, great and small, rushing down the mountain gorges. It surely was a ride never to be forgotten. And this was our Fourth of July celebration! We reached the Union Hotel at Merok in time for dinner, and met a good many Americans there, and had little flags on our tables. I had my largest silk flag on the end of our table, and the landlady pinned it on with an American beauty rose. Merok is a most charming spot, — beautiful beyond words, — ^just a little resort village set down on the water's edge, and climbing up the lower slopes of the mountains; and at this season of the year as full of beautiful flowers as southern California in early spring. The mountains are high above it on all sides except the side of the blue water, and the rushing streams and roaring waterfalls add a touch of the majestic to the beautiful. We would have enjoyed a longer stay there, but our itinerary required us to take steamer there the next day. This was one of the most beautiful water trips we had taken — the scenery along the fjord — it was like a broad river — was surpassingly 192 Glimpses of Many Lands grand. Reached Soholt about the middle of the after- noon, then another automobile ride took us to Vest- naes, where we stayed that night. This auto ride was not so wild as the other, but we flew up, and down, and around curves in a fearfully reckless manner, — part of the time at more than thirty miles an hour. We left Vestnaes the next morning in a tiny steamer for only an hour's ride to quite a large city and port called Molde, where we were to take a larger boat. While we were waiting at the landing for our little steamer, we saw a rowboat come across from a small island, with five cows on board, which walked out of the boat on to the land and began grazing as if used to the performance. We stayed in Molde all that day, and in the evening went aboard a large, comfortable steamer for the last relay of that part of the trip. I find this note in my day's record, on board the "Neptune," which started out from Molde at 7:30 p. m. Dated 11 p. m. I find: "Have just watched the sun disappear into the sea, a veritable ball of fire, at 10:26 p. m., and the afterglow following was the most glorious sunset sight I ever witnessed, — like the heavens on fire." The next morning at nine o'clock we were in Trond- hjem, the largest city of the northern part of Norway, and an important seaport. I have given a rather lengthy account of these first five days of this wonder- ful Norway coast trip, because so few people take it; though they tell us it is fast growing in favor, and more people take it every year. Most of those who take the The Land of the Midnight Sun 193 North Cape trip go by steamer direct from Bergen or Christiania, and some take the steamer at Hamburg for the entire trip. On the evening of that day, July 7th, we went aboard this steamer for our seven-days' cruise to North Cape and return to Trondhjem. Most of the time we were in the regular channel, shut in by many islands, but sometimes in the open sea. Then in and out of fjords whenever there was some especially fine scenery farther inland. The second day out we crossed the Arctic Circle, and since then we have been really in "the land of the midnight sun," — sunlight twenty-four hours in the day — unless it was foggy, which it sometimes was. At the Arctic circle the boat stopped, everybody came on deck, and four guns were fired — the usual ceremony. At night we were all summoned on deck at ten o'clock, and Neptune, in costume and with some of his court, formally presented each one of us with a certificate showing we had crossed the Arctic Circle. Another event of that day was the going on shore at the great glacier Svartisen, one spur of which comes clear down to the water's edge. This is the second largest glacier in Europe. We anchored out a way in the sea, and all went ashore in the boats. The ice was at least a hundred feet high at the water, with great blue chasms and cracks, and pieces breaking off and falling into the water. This is the way the floating icebergs are formed. We try to have all sorts of things to keep us busy, as the days are awfully long when the sun never sets. Of 194 Glimpses of Many Lands course we had to go to bed sometimes, but that was a matter of secondary importance, — the first was to always be up to see the midnight sun, if it was visible. At this season it is always visible north of the Arctic Circle, if it is not cloudy. In my diary of the day we crossed the circle I find this entry, dated a half-hour after midnight: "Have been on deck watching the sun for the past hour, as it hung like a ball of fire above the horizon. It is still there, and will not set for us for four days yet. We saw it at exactly midnight. The boat stopped, then fired four guns — the midnight salute when the sun is visible; when it is cloudy the salute is omitted. It is exactly north when it is at the lowest point, only a little above the horizon, then it gradually rises toward the east. It seems very wonderful." After this, the midnight lunch is served, and then we are at liberty to go to bed, — which we usually do, as we try to be up and ready for breakfast at eight o'clock, for we want to be on deck to see things. We even grudge the time we have to sleep — but a little of it seems necessary. We kept saying all the time during the first part of the trip, — even as far as Trondhjem, — that the farther north we went the hotter it got; but we changed our minds the day after we crossed the Arctic Circle, for it was decidedly cold, and we had to put on winter clothes. It began to be foggy too, and that made it so damp it seemed colder. The afternoon of the day we were to reach North Cape was very foggy, and it kept getting thicker, until for a couple of hours we could not see anything, and the foghorn kept up an almost con- The Land of the Midnight Sun 195 tinuous tooting. About 6 p. m. we stopped, and re- mained for about two hours, just drifting slightly. Then the captain sent out the motor boat with two men, to reconnoiter. They came back after a while, and we started slowly, with the motor boat for a guide. Pretty soon the fog lifted, and very near us loomed up the great rock cliffs of the North Cape. The "Vega" steamed into a fine little cove, and anchored a short distance from shore. Soon after nine o'clock we all went ashore, and began the climb up to the top of the cape. It is a perpendicular bare rock on two sides, but on the side where we anchored it was a little slop- ing, and the first half of the way there were grass and wild flowers, and a zigzag, rocky trail led to the top. The summit is 1000 feet above the sea, but the path we went up is many times that far, and it took us about an hour and a half to go up. Easy.^ Again, many times, oh, no! But we did it, and at midnight stood on the top of North Cape, in latitude 71° 10' N., and looked out over the Arctic Ocean. It was partly cloudy, and we saw the sun only through cracks and openings in the clouds. It was like a beautiful red sunset. They say it is seldom much better. The next thing was to climb down, and it was almost as hard as to go up, but did not take so long. We were on board again at 1 130 a.m., where we had a good lunch and hot coffee. We did not get to bed till nearly three o'clock, so we did not get up till lunch time next day, — the first time we have failed to go to a meal, — and I was so lame I could hardly walk for two days. 196 Glimpses of Many Lands I forgot to mention that on the morning of that day we had stopped at Hammerfest, the most northern city in the world. It has a population of about 3,000. It is built along the coast, — only one street of buildings wide, and about two miles long, extending around the curve of the bay, with the mountains close back of it. Whale-catching, and whale-oil manufacturing are the chief industries of the people. The next day, on the return trip, we went into the Lyngen Fjord, and stopped at Lyngen. We went ashore, and about a mile up a valley to a camp of twelve families of Laplanders. They are real natives of Lapland, who come over to the west coast every summer to fish. They take a summer trip, you see, just like the prevailing fashion of our people. While we were there, the men drove into the corral a herd of over two hundred reindeer. They own over fifteen hundred of them, running partly wild among the mountains. They live in sod huts and skin tents of the most primitive fashion. Another interesting experience was seeing the bird rock, — a great cliff like North Cape in appear- ance, — every nook and crevice of it full of sea fowl, — gulls, ducks, and auks. The boat got as near to it as possible, then fired the four small cannon, and the birds flew in clouds, — literally millions of them, — screaming wildly; but they soon returned. I guess they are get- ting used to the performance. Last night was our last view of the midnight sun, and it was a fine one. We have seen it three nights of the five that we were north The Land of the Midnight Sun 197 of the Circle, which they say is a fine record. This morning we crossed the Circle again, and so have left the "land of the midnight sun," but are still in the land of continuous daylight, — for the season. We expect to reach Trondhjem to-morrow morning, and take a train at once for a twenty-four-hour rail- road trip to Stockholm, Sweden. But it has been so foggy this afternoon that we are running slowly, and unless the fog lifts we may not get in, to make connec- tion with our train. I forgot to tell you in my last that when we were in Hamburg we booked for home, to sail from Southamp- ton, on August the 23d, on the Hamburg-American liner "America." So expect to reach home some time in the first part of September. July 14th, Afternoon. Well, here we are, still on the "Vega," with the fog- horn tooting, instead of whirling away across Sweden, toward Stockholm. The fog of yesterday continued, and grew worse, and about 9 p. m. the boat stopped, and stayed where she was, all night. This morning it was not quite so dense, and lifted a little once in a while. So about 8 A. M., with the motor boat as a pilot, we started, going by little jogs till about noon, when the sun came out and everything was lovely; and now we are running at full speed. Later. At Trondhjem. Arrived here at 5 p. m., ten and a half hours late, so will have to stay here till to-morrow morning. Will not mail this till we reach Stockholm. XVIII Sweden and Russia Hotel Bristol, Unter den Linden. Berlin, Germany, July 26, 1914. There is no church we can go to to-day with any satisfaction, being all in an unknown tongue. There may be some, but if so we do not know where to find them. So I am going to spend most of my time in- doors, and will continue my story of journeying. You know I like to write of things which are "dif- ferent," and our last two weeks have been different enough to suit even me. Russia is so out of the route of the usual tourist travel, and the usual write-ups, that it is worth while to stop and take some note of it. My last letter was mailed at Stockholm, but before we had seen any of it; so I will begin there, for it also is "different," — that is, it is different from any idea that most of us at home have of it. I don't think most of us have ever thought of it at all, — much less have thought of it as a place of real beauty, worthy to be written up as one of the beautiful cities of Europe. It is called the "Venice of Sweden," but it is so infinitely more lovely than the original Venice that there is no comparison. It is built on many small islands, with streams of fresh water — not canals — between them. The main business part is on one larger island, and is a really fine modern city, — many beautiful buildings, 198 Sweden and Russia 199 and broad, clean streets. It has a population of about 350,000. Most of the fine residences are on the many- small islands, and there are many handsome apartment buildings on the larger island. A great many people have their own boats, — small steamers, motor boats, and rowboats, — and besides these there are small steamers running in every direction, just as street cars do in other cities. But there are trolley cars, too, on the main island. Then the trip out toward the Baltic, by steamer, was beautiful. For four or five hours it was just winding around among islands with lovely homes, — the sum- mer homes of Stockholm people. It was all such a surprise, to find so much beauty in Sweden. The steamer trip was fourteen hours to Abo, on the coast of Finland. There we connected with a train for an eleven-hours' run to St. Petersburg, through an un- interesting country; but we found a most interesting city at the end of the trip. St. Petersburg is not an ancient city, having been founded only a little over two hundred years ago — in 1703 — by Peter the Great, after he took that part of Finland from Sweden. Peter is much in evidence everywhere, in statues, palaces, fountains, etc., and he laid out the city on a grand scale. It has been kept up in the same style by his successors, and is a very beautiful, modern, sumptuously rich city. I cannot speak of all its wonderful buildings, but will mention a few. The first we went to was the great St. Isaac's Cathedral. It was Sunday morning, and we went in 2CX) Glimpses of Many Lands time for morning mass, to hear the singing. The Greek church does not have instrumental music, and this was just a large choir of men and boys, and it surely was fine. The cathedral is magnificent in its richness and decoration, but is too elaborate and showy to be artistic or beautiful. I do not care for it, not- withstanding the glory of its ten beautiful malachite and two exquisite lapis lazuli columns near the altar, and other rich and unusual decorations. In the afternoon we went to a monastery church to hear the monks sing. This also was fine, — as fine voices, and as exquisitely rendered music, as we ever heard. From there we went to the Church of Peter and Paul where the emperors since Peter the Great are al buried. This being Sunday, and there being no other church we could attend, we put in the time at the Greek churches. I should have stated that the first thing we did after breakfast was to hire a good guide for the three days we were to be there. One cannot possibly get along there without a guide. So we did all the churches that day. The next thing of interest is the palaces. We were through many rooms of two of the royal palaces which I will speak of, — I will not say describe, for that would be impossible. We have seen many palaces in other places, and much of royal luxury and display, but all seem as nothing when compared with the lavish prodigality shown everywhere in these palaces: millions on millions of Sweden and Russia 201 dollars worth of gold and silver and precious stones, of marble, and pictures, and rich tapestries, and beautiful wood, and inlaid work, and luxurious furniture. The Winter Palace, as it is called, contains one thousand rooms — we were not through them all, — we were not ready to die in Russia. It is all kept immaculate by an army of attendants, with guards in every room, and visitors are admitted — with guides and passports — when the Czar is not there, — and he usually is not, as this is only one of fifty royal palaces, and there are some he likes better. Just now he and his family are staying in a "little palace" on the Baltic seashore, — has only fifty rooms, — near the great Summer Palace of Peterhof. We were not allowed to go through either of those, but drove through the grounds, and walked among the many beautiful fountains. You probably have read in the home papers recently that President Poincaire, of France, was making a friendly visit to the Czar of Russia. It was also noted that the friendly visit included some of the most influential of the French ministry. Well, the day we were at Peterhof was the day he arrived. The Czar and his imperial Cossack guards had been to meet him, and we saw them all arrive at the palace grounds. We were very close to the en- trance, and had a splendid view of the whole company as they came in. The Czar and President Poincaire rode in a carriage together, with half of the Cossack guard before and half following the carriage, and all preceded by a band playing the "Marsailles," and with 202 Glimpses of Many Lands soldiers lined up on both sides. Then behind the Cossacks, came an automobile in which were the Czar- ina and three of her beautiful daughters. We saw them all drive into the grounds, alight, and go into the great palace, where they had the "gala dinner" of which we read in a London paper a few days later. We thought we were very fortunate to have come to Peterhof that particular day. The fountains of the Peterhof grounds are the most elaborate and beautiful of anything we have ever seen or could imagine. They were planned and constructed under the supervision of Catherine the Great, the next- greatest ruler Russia ever had, who reigned from 1760 to 1798. They say that she went to see the famous fountains at Versailles, France, and came back saying, "I'll show Louis XIV something." And she did; for these are infinitely more beautiful than his, and cost millions. Everywhere is evidenced Catherine's lavishness in spending money. When she wanted anything, she had it, — and the finest and richest of its kind that could be obtained. She built and fur- nished the palace at Sarski Selo, an hour's ride by train from St. Petersburg. This is the other one we visited, and were taken through many rooms, and it is much finer than the Winter Palace. The magnificence of this is beyond anything the Queen of Sheba, or Solomon in all his glory, ever dreamed of, or was ever pictured in an "Arabian Nights" tale. There are three rooms — ball and reception rooms — all in white and heavy gold, with heavy white silk tapestry on walls and furniture Sweden and Russia 203 alike; these are renewed as often as necessary, but always like the original. One room with tortoise shell panels; one room all inlaid with mother-of-pearl, the floors and all the woodwork; a suite of rooms all done in different kinds of agate; another suite for hot weather rooms, finished entirely in glass and porcelain; one room all in amber; one in lapis lazuli; a Chi- nese room, a silver room, a blue room, a purple room — and others. Then there was the art gallery; the magnificent grand-stairway; a superb collection of Chinese vases; most beautiful furniture, etc. indefinite- ly, with all sorts of paintings and statues of the great Catherine. A drive of several hours in the residence part of the city gave us a very good impression of it. It has many fine private residences built on islands formed by the separate streams — or mouths, — of the Neva River. The present city was once a swamp, or marsh, where the Neva emptied into the sea. But that was where the great Peter wanted the capital of Russia to be, and that is where he was determined to have it, in spite of the protests and arguments of his associates and ad- visers. So he made his thousands of serfs drive piles and fill in, until they had foundation enough to begin. The same method of making land has been continued, until to-day we see the results, — a magnificent city on apparently solid earth. We saw Peter's first palace, — with only three rooms. It is taken care of as a sacred relic. The main street of the city is the Nephski Prospect. 204 Glimpses of Many Lands But I cannot remain longer at the modern capital, but must resume our journey to Moscow, the old capital before the ambitious Peter moved the seat of power farther north. It has walls, and palaces, and churches dating back to the I2th century. But first I must speak of our journey there. We took a night train to save time, as our guide told us the country was flat, and nothing of interest to see. So we started from St. Petersburg at ii p. m. and reached Moscow at lo A. M. the next day. This gave us several hours of daylight in the morning, which was enough to convince us the guide knew whereof he spoke. Our journey of eleven hours was over the western end of the Trans-Siberian Railway. We had a nice compartment in a very good sleeping car; and the smooth roadbed and careful handling of the train made night travel a joy, instead of the trial it usually is at home. And here I pause to remark that our rail- roads have very much to learn, — or at least to apply, — in methods of starting and stopping trains smoothly. Instead of bumping and banging as our trains do, we have noticed in all our foreign travel, — even in the Far east, — the trains start and stop so smoothly that we never feel the jar. This was an unusually comfortable trip; and we reached the hotel in Moscow ready for a good afternoon's work. You will observe that we never waste much time. Before noon we had hired a guide, and had our plans made. After lunch we went first to the Kremlin, which includes all within the old fortifications, — the citadel, the palaces, five principal Sweden anfi Russia ' 205 churches, the bell tower, the great bell which now stands on a stone platform, and other interesting things. But the "Kremlin," is the name applied to the old fortified part. We went through two palaces here, one built in the 13th century, and a comparatively modern one where the Czar stays when he visits Moscow. This last is like the two already mentioned, in its sumptuousness, — they say even richer, but I could not appreciate the difference enough to notice it. I only know it was a wonderful collection of rich and gorgeously beautiful things. We went into these five churches: one where the Czars are all married; another called the Coronation Church where they are all crowned. This is the greatest and most sacred of all; but in spite of all its gold and paintings, to me it looked very tawdry. Then there was the church where Alexander II was assassinated, and the Funeral Church where all the kings were buried before St. Petersburg was founded. We saw the later tombs there. In one of these famous churches Napo- leon stabled his horses for the little time he occupied Moscow; and we saw the rooms he occupied in the old palace. Outside the Kremlin is one magnificent modern church called " St. Saviour's." That name quite over- came me. Why the "St.".? One thing must not be forgotten in writing of the churches: all of them have golden domes, — some have many small ones, some have one or more larger ones, but all covered with real gold 2o6 Glimpses of Many Lands leaf, until they shine like a "city of pure gold" from the distance. We took a carriage drive outside of the city, and beyond it to Sparrow Hill, named this by Napoleon, from the swarms of sparrows. This is where his soldiers camped when they took Moscow. From the hill we had a fine view of the city and sur- rounding country. From here the many golden domes shone gloriously. The second day we spent the whole forenoon in the "treasury," but that does not mean what we under- stand by the term. It is not the place where they keep the money, but a great building where they keep a lot of things which have cost a heap of money, — the "treasures" of each emperor and empress for many centuries, and all the relics of his and her reign and coronation, — millions and millions of dollars worth of valuable and beautiful things! — so valuable that no one can even make an estimate of their value; for instance, there are hundreds of heavy gold plates, elaborately fashioned in intricate designs and many of them profusely set with precious stones, which have been presented to the emperors by provinces, nobles, and other nations. Then there are inlaid and jewel- set guns and swords; and carriages and sleighs that are too grand for words to describe; jeweled armor; jewel- set saddles; the real horse, beautifully kept, which Catherine the Great rode; Elizabeth's sleigh, gorgeously arrayed as a house and sleeping car, in which she came from St. Petersburg for her coronation; the cradle and baby carriage of Peter the Great; and swords, rings, Sweden and Russia 207 necklaces, crowns, and myriads of jewels of fabulous price. I mention these things to impress you with the glory and grandeur of the royalty and nobility of Russia, before I turn to another picture. From the treasury we went to the new modern church to which I have already referred. It has five golden domes, and cost ^14,000,000. St. Isaac's, in St. Petersburg, cost much more than this one, but no one knows how much. I have already spoken of the churches of the Kremlin. The churches are the principal feature of Moscow. Our guide-book says there are 450 of them; but our guide tells us there are enough chapels and shrines to make it count up 1600, so that it is called "the holy city" of Russia. The shrines are everywhere along the streets, — ^just a little niche in the wall with an "icon," or a canopy under which is an image; but no devout Russian ever passes one of them without bowing and making the sign of the cross, and often removing the hat. The "icons" are pictures or small images of saints, and are "the symbols of saints of God." In every Russian home, in every room in the hotels, in the railway station, — everywhere is an icon. His religion is the chief thing in life, to the Russian; and no wonder, for with the masses that is about all there is to life; their religion and their vodka make up the sum of their enjoyment of life. They say that vodka-drinking has been the curse of the Russian masses, and that Russia, more than any other nation in history, has suffered from the evils of intemperance. And one can hardly wonder at it 2o8 Glimpses of Many Lands when one looks into the causes, and sees the grasp of tyranny in which the people are held by the Greek church. It is terrible. I never saw, heard of, or imagined a condition of superstitious ignorance worse than that of the masses of Russia. Even the Hinduism of Benares seems no worse. And the strange part of it is, they think they are free. They think they like all this pomp and ceremony of the church. They think they enjoy going on long pilgrimages to kiss a picture of a saint — or at least the glass in front of the picture. They think they go hungry, and give their last kopek to buy a candle to burn before an image, because they want to do so. But why do they think so? Because their fathers thought so, and their fathers' fathers, for many generations, thought so, and no one has ever tried to make them think any differently. We are told that Russia has the largest percentage of illiterates of any civilized nation, that over eighty per cent of them cannot read or write. They have some government schools in the cities, but in the vil- lages there is little chance for education, and in the country almost none. The private schools charge such extortionate rates of tuition that only the rich, or at least the well-to-do, can afford to enjoy the advantages of them. Our guide in Moscow told us that he sends his little girl, of six years, a half-day each day, from September to April, and pays 250 rubles, about $125.00, tuition. Imagine how few people can afford this in a country with 180 millions of people, where 100 millions are in Sweden and Russia 209 absolute poverty,-— that is, have barely the necessities of life. And the cause of this dreadful condition of things lies in the church and the government, who do not want it to be otherwise. And the "government" does not mean the Czar, — not by any means. I have made up my mind that the much talked of tyranny of "The Czar of all the Russias" — and spelled with even more capital letters, sometimes — is chiefly a myth. We made it our business to study this subject, and from what we can learn and have observed we have de- cided that the present Czar is a nice little inoffensive chap, who would like to see everybody as well off as himself, and would not willingly harm anybody, — if he had his own way. But they say the poor fellow is only a figurehead in politics, and does not dare to call his soul his own. He is afraid to go out among the people, and never even where they can see him except in the most guarded streets, and then closely surrounded by his loyal Cossack guards, for fear of nihilists and anarchists. Then he is in just as deadly fear all the time in another way: the "government" is the duma, made up of the ministers, grand dukes, etc., phis the archbishops, priests, etc., of the church. The Czar is the nominal head of the church and of the government, but he isn't "It." The parliament rooms and the rooms of the "holy synod" are in adjoining buildings which are connected by an enclosed passage. Together they settle all questions of policy, and the nice, obliging, little em- 2IO Glimpses of Many Lands peror is told to affix his signature. He does, — every time; for he knows that what he fears from the nihilists in the open would happen to him in secret in the palace, if he did not. Now I do not vouch for the absolute truth of all this. But it is told us for truth — this, and much more — by those who are right among these people all the time, and who have many opportunities to know facts which never get into print. I would never have dared to mail this letter in Russia, for from what I have heard I am sure it would never have got any farther than the censor — and I am not sure I would have got much farther myself. But again I have digressed. I want to tell you of one way the church and the other branch of the govern- ment conspire together to delude the poor, ignorant people who are so superstitious, and at the same time get their kopeks, which is the chief thing. As I have said, the people are blindly, fanatically religious. They are first, and above all else, a religious people, and they will do anything, and sacrifice anything, for their religion. So, knowing this, the combined forces of the government put their heads together and decide that Russia needs a new saint (they have something over two hundred of them). They look over history, and select some man who has a record of having done some great deeds, or has rendered some special service to Russia, and they vote to make him a saint; and the Czar is told to sign it, as he is the only man ordained of God to make saints. He does so. Then, as in the Sweden and Russia 211 case of Alexander Nephski, — or Nevsky, — who had been dead for two hundred years, and buried in Novgo- rod, they take up the remains (after 200 years!), put them in a silver sarcophagus, carry them to St. Peters- burg, and build a chapel over them and tell the people of the wonderful miraculous power of St. Nevsky, who lived several hundred years ago. And they flock in droves to cross themselves at his tomb, and kiss his image. We are told that literally millions of them come to worship a new saint, and will give their last kopek for prayers to him. We saw a great crowd waiting patiently in line, each for his turn to kiss the glass which covered a saint's picture; and saw mothers lift up little children that they might kiss the same spot thousands of others had kissed. And every kiss cost them kopeks, — if nothing more, — for priests do not pray without kopeks, and saints are not kissed without price. Then another neat little game was described to us. The priests monopolize the making of candles for the shrines. Now this may seem a small industry, but when you realize that every person who goes to the shrine of a saint, or to a church, is expected to buy at least one candle and light it and leave it, you will see that there are millions of them used. Then when the devotee is gone, the partly burned candle is taken, put with thousands of others taken in the same way, melted, and made over into candles to be sold again. This is no myth or fairy tale; for we saw cartloads of these partly burned candles being hauled from different 212 Glimpses of Many Lands shrines. And there are many ways, just as easy and as simple as these, by which the people, in their gross ignorance, are robbed. And it helps us to see why in this great country one hundred millions of the people are so poor, and there is such great riches piled up in the palaces and churches. And then, when a few of them do realize their awful poverty and contrast it with the lavishness of the palaces, and the lives of the nobility, they think it is all the fault of the cruel Czar — and they try to throw a bomb under his carriage. I do not blame them. I was so wrought up — so righteously indignant — all the time we were in Russia, that I wanted to do something dreadful myself. But I would not begin with the Czar. I would begin with the church, — that institution established nearly two thousand years ago to proclaim the gospel of the meek and lowly Jesus; to preach the gospel of peace; to lift up humanity; to teach the brotherhood of man; to make all men equal; to make men happy in this life, as well as to fit them for the life to come. That was the mission of the church. That was what Christ taught — and lived. And that was what He died for. But the greed of the world has made the Roman and Greek churches a travesty on the name of religion. And I, for one, will hail with joy any revolution, any war, anything, which will overthrow this corrupt thing which flourishes and grows fat under the guise of religion. And just now it looks as if there was revolution, or war, or something, in the air, for the Austria-Servia Sweden and Russia 213 situation has Germany stirred up to the extent that Berlin seems to have gone mad. Our room fronts on the Unter den Linden, and all last night it was thronged with people, — thousands of them, — marching from one end to the other, back and forth, shouting and singing patriotic songs. This morning we asked what it all meant, and were told that Austria had declared war on Servia. Then I said, "But what has that to do with Germany?" and the answer was, "Oh, we are showing our approval. Great demonstration, isn't it?" The excitement and crowds have continued all day to-day. Something will be doing soon. But what? We left Moscow in the early evening for a twenty- seven-hours' ride to Warsaw, where we stopped for one day and night to rest. And we needed it, for it had been awfully hot, and the dustiest, dirtiest ride we have had, with horrid meals in the dining car. Warsaw is a nice city, and we spent a whole day driving about it; but there is nothing of special in- terest, so will not spend time on it now. We have not seen much of Berlin yet, but will begin to-morrow. XIX The Beginning of the War OsTEND, Belgium, August 4, 1914. I think I have several times written that I would not write another carbon-copy letter unless I should find something different. Well, we have found it, — some- thing so decidedly different from anything we have yet had, that it seems worth while to write it for the rest of you. But I'll begin back at Berlin. You will remember that I closed my last by speaking of the war demon- strations of that day and the previous night, — the night Austria declared war on Servia. The excite- ment and demonstrations continued for the four days and nights we were there, seeming to grow worse; but it did not trouble us at all, — we went on with our sight- seeing. And, meaning to go on toward the west, we had no thought that it would interfere with our plans, even if Germany should decide to help Austria punish Servia. It never occurred to us that it would require Germany to go through Belgium to do that. So, as I said, we went to all places of interest in the city, and went out to Potsdam where the Kaiser's palace is; and after we had been to the mausoleums of Frederick the Third and Victoria — the parents of the present Kaiser, — the old royal palace built in 1660, to Sans Souci, and everything else of note, we were returning 214 The Beginning of the War 215 past the palace, which is the present residence of the Kaiser, and were just at the entrance gate in time to see Wilhelm and his Kaiserin arrive from their northern cruise, — having been "called home by the situation," it was said. They were in an automobile, and we had a good view of them, as we stood close by the drive. If he had to be called home, we were glad it happened that day, as it gave us another to add to our collection of rulers. And so finished our stay in Berlin. We like it very much, and think it is as nearly a "city beautiful" as we have found thus far in our trip around the world. From there we went to Hanover, and stayed one whole day and night. Drove over the principal parts of the city, and to the places of interest in the old city; then to the estate of the Duke of Cumberland, a beautiful park containing about 300 acres. On this estate is the royal palace of the House of Hanover, with which the English royal family is connected. After Hanover, The Hague, Holland. I will not stop to describe it, — it is only a city, though we thought it a very clean, lovely one. But we added one more to our "collection" by seeing the little Princess Juliana out riding in a park. We were sorry it was not her royal mother. Queen Wilhelmina. Of course we took the trip to Schevenengen, the sea shore resort. And I must not forget to mention, also, that we saw the great Peace Palace, — though it seems to have gone out of business for the present. Then we came to Brussels. We had not been 2i6 Glimpses of Many Lands able to get an English paper for several days, and, as we met few people we could talk with, we did not know until we reached Brussels that anything serious was brewing. That was the last day of July. We found the city wild with excitement. Germany had defied France, and had asked Belgium what she was going to do about it, — if she would be with them against France. Belgium replied that she would remain neutral. Then Germany proceeded at once to get ready to move her troops across Belgium into France, and Belgium was mobilizing her troops on the border to be ready to defend herself. But we did not know this at first, and the next morning — it was Saturday — we went about our usual sight-seeing by going with a Cook party and guide to the battle field of Waterloo, fourteen miles out from Brussels. This took all day, and was such a splendid trip, and so interesting, that we forgot all about the excitement and the troubles of the rest of the world. For we had read so little, and knew so little of the real state of aifairs, thatwe had not dreamed of anything serious in this western part of Europe. Sunday we did not go out until afternoon, when we took a car ride out to the king's palace, and walked in a park a while, still entirely at our ease. But when we got back, the crowds and the excitement were worse, and we began to inquire into things. We were told that Germany had sent an ultimatum to Belgium the night before; that Belgium had refused to allow Germany to cross her territory, and now it was war. At the hotel — the Astoria — many of the employees The Beginning of the War 217 were summoned to go to the front, the hotel automobile 'bus had been requisitioned, the head cook and nearly- all the waiters had been summoned, and chaos reigned. Monday, when we went to Cook's office at 9 a. m. intending to go out for a day's tour of the city, we found the office crowded with excited, panic-stricken Amer- icans, all trying to get money, and tickets for London. None got the money, and only a few the tickets. When all the tickets they had were sold, it was announced that Cook's office would close at noon, to remain closed until such a time as business could be resumed. So we got a guide who was familiar with everything in the city, and he took us to a bank where the American Express Company had headquarters, to try to get some money. I forgot to say that when we were in The Hague we could not get any money on our letter of credit, so came to Brussels almost "broke," but got twenty-five dollars at Cook's, on Saturday, with the promise that we could have more on Monday. But on Monday no one would give money on a letter of credit — no bank or anybody else. But the American Express Company cashed one of their own twenty-dollar checks, — that was all they would let us have; with that, added to the little we had, we felt we could get along if we could get to London, and maybe things would be better there. So C. F. and the guide went next to the railway station, and got our tickets to London, via Ostend and Folkstone. All boats are stopped between Calais and Dover, as the British have taken Dover as a naval base. 2i8 Glimpses of Many Lands Then we had an early lunch, and went more than an hour ahead of time, to be at the station early, to take a 1:15 train for Ostend, where we expected to take a boat at 4 p. M. for Folkstone. But we didn't. When we got to the station we found there were a few thou- sand other people who had thought just as we had about being early at that train, and there was a terrible jam, — mostly English and Americans, — all wild to get out of Brussels as quickly as possible. The train did not back into the depot until more than an hour after time, and we had stood in that jam two full hours; then in the mad rush to get on board we were simply carried with the crowd into a third-class car, where we each had a seat, and, much to our surprise, found ourselves almost comfortable. When we reached Ostend we found the boat gone, and all had to go to hotels. That was easy, as Ostend is a seashore resort and fashionable watering place, and resorters had nearly all made their retreat, so we have a comfortable room near the seashore. On thinking the matter over we decided not to try to get away in the crowd of to- day, but to remain here one day and let them thin out a little. We went to the docks to see the morning boat start, and it was literally packed, and we were glad we were not on it. Then we went to see the after- noon boat start, and it was just as bsid. Now we are wondering whether we had better try to go to-morrow. We would be quite willing to stay here a couple of days longer, as it is a nice quiet place, and there is no possible danger of invasion by Germany here, as it is on the The Beginning of the War 219 northwest coast of Belgium. But if real hostilities begin between England and Germany — and it seems as if that might happen at any moment — then the last line of boats would stop, and we could not get away at all. I want to get this letter mailed this evening, so that you may hear from us as soon as possible; then if we get to London to-morrow evening, we will mail a letter the next day, that you may know of our escape. Do not worry about us. We are not in the slightest danger from the war; but we are in a rather interesting plight as "poor Americans," and have to ask the hotels for "an inexpensive room." Then the next incon- venience — to refer to it mildly — is the fact that our paid-for reservations on a German line boat will not take us home when we planned, unless the war-cloud rolls away very soon, which does not look promising just now, as Germany has invaded the southeastern part of Belgium to go into France, England has prom- ised to stand by Belgium, and millions of men in seven nations of Europe are getting ready to kill each other. It seems too terrible to imagine, in this 20th century of civilization. Business in every line is paralyzed, and beautiful fields of grain are being left unharvested because the men have been called to the front. It is all too dreadful for words. Of course we understand that you at home know all about the situation in a general way, even better than we do; but I write this as fully and definitely as I have done, so that you may know just how we are affected by it all. 220 Glimpses of Many Lands We left Brussels so suddenly and unexpectedly, that we did not see the city as we would have liked, and we hope the Germans will not spoil it so we can't enjoy it the next time. We liked it very much, what we did see of it, and the country all around it is most beautiful. The view from the top of the mound on the field of Waterloo is as fine a rural picture as we ever saw. An hour later, ii 130 p. m. Just at this point I was interrupted by such commo- tion and shouting and excitement on the street, that we ran downstairs and out on the street to see what had happened. The town is all in a frenzy. England has declared war on Germany, and now there is no telling where it will all end. This decides the question for us, and we will get aboard the boat to-morrow morn- ing for Folkstone, if possible. But again I repeat, don't worry about us. We will let you know as soon as we find out anything about passage home. In the meantime, England will be a safe place to stay, and we will hope to get some money there. Now isn't this different.'' And don't you think we are having some thrills? But we are both well, and still able to hustle. XX On the Atlantic On board the Steamship "Adriatic" September 24, 1914. Our brief notes and cards have kept you posted as to our whereabouts and welfare, and now that we are again at the old familiar place of letter-writing — on board a big steamer, — I will try to gather up the tangled threads of travel, and complete my record of our trip around the world. The morning after mailing my last letter, we went early to the docks to be in line for a place on the first steamer leaving for England, supposed to start at 10 o'clock. It was very necessary to be early, and near the front end of the line, for we knew it was a case of "first come first served" there, and that no favoritism, money, or "pull," could help anyone when the crowd began to move. It was a case of push, rather than "pull." We simply had to have a place in the crowd and go in with the push. We were thankful we had nothing but hand baggage, as trunks were piled as high as the station house for two blocks along the wharf. But we had left ours in Paris the middle of June, and they were to be sent to London the last of July, so we knew they were all right. We got chairs on deck, and were soon comfortably 221 222 Glimpses of Many Lands settled for a five-hours' trip on the English Channel. The day was cloudy and the sea choppy, and there were several hard showers of rain, and we had to use umbrellas and overcoats on deck. But we did not mind such a little inconvenience as rain, as long as we were not ill; and we both kept up all the way, though many did not, for the Channel was making good its reputation for being rough. But we reached Folkstone safely at 3 130 p. m., and found several long trains wait- ing to take us to London, which we reached at 7 o'clock. Now, you will say, our troubles were all over and we could forget them. But the facts proved the case to be quite different. Not expecting to be in London at that particular time, we had no hotel reservation, so took a taxi and went to St. Ermins, which had been recommended to us; and when we got there they said they were "full up" — could not possibly take us, and could not suggest where we might find a place to stay, as everybody from the Continent (the tourists, I mean) was crowding into London^ and the hotels were all crowded. But after some talking it was agreed to let us have, for two days, a room which was being held for a party who was not due till that time. The next morning we sallied forth to replenish our depleted coffers — or pocket-books. That was August sixth, and the banks had been closed for four days, getting plans made to meet the new financial situation. They would not be open till the next day, and a letter of credit was not of any service to one in London On the Atlantic 223 until then. So we abandoned that part of our pro- gram, and began to call at steamship offices to see what could be done about tickets for home. But every- where we went we found crowds of excited Americans, all eager to get passage home, — and willing to take second-class, steerage, anything, — only let them get started for America now, no matter how or on what. That was the attitude of the most of them, though a good many fell out of line and said, "What is the use! We'll wait till the panic is over, and go home in comfort." The next day, Friday, it was no better; so we went to the bank, where we got money enough to make us feel very rich and independent, and could ride in a 'bus now instead of walk. Again we went to the boat offices, but could not get even near enough the counters to make inquiries; so we decided to give it all up for a couple of weeks and take our trip through Scotland, and when we would come back it would surely be thinned out a little. Accordingly, we made our ar- rangements, bought our tickets, and Saturday morning started for Edinburgh, where we arrived that evening. In Edinburgh we did the usual things and saw the usual sights, and enjoyed the old city very much, and reviewed our knowledge of John Knox, Mary Queen of Scots, Walter Scott, etc. Then we continued our journey north to Inverness, on the north coast. We found this a very lovely place among lovely hills, near to the famous battle field of Culloden. We had tickets for a trip to Oban, and through the beautiful Caledonian Canal region; but the war had upset all 224 Glimpses of Many Lands travel, and the boats to Oban had been discontinued; so we went south by rail to Glasgow. Here we saw the city and the great ship-building industries, and had a chance to compare the latter with the same industry in Hamburg, which I forgot to mention in writing of that city. When there, we went out in a small steamer, all around the harbor and in the ship-building yards, and it is a really wonderful sight. They say they have the largest cranes in the world. We saw the great new steamboat, the "Bismarck," which was near completion, — a sister ship of the "Vaterland," but a little longer. The yards at Glasgow did not seem to us so extensive, but they say they are. From Glasgow we took the trip through the Trossachs, — a most de- lightful one. Were there just at the right season to see the heather in bloom, and the purple hills were very beautiful. Had boat rides on all the charming lakes, and particularly enjoyed Loch Katrine. Saw the many "Bens" made famous by Sir Walter Scott, and altogether found it a delightful trip. Our next jaunt was to Ayr, where we saw the home of "Bobbie" Burns, and many things of which he wrote; and being there on Sunday we attended service at the "new kirk," just across the road from the "auld kirk" and the "auld kirkyard" of which he sang. "The banks an' braes o' Bonnie Doon" are still the same, and the "Auld Brig" still there. Spent some time in a trip among the English lakes, which is almost as beautiful a region as the Trossachs and the Scottish lakes, — then a day and two nights at On the Atlantic 225 the great manufacturing city of Leeds; and from there to Leamington, which we made headquarters for automobile trips to Warwick Castle, old Kenilworth Castle, and Stratford-on-Avon with all its relics of Shakespeare. Our next stop was Oxford with its more than twenty- famous colleges. We passed by them all, and were in some of them. But the most interesting things to us were the Oxford Press, where the millions of Bibles are printed, and the Bodleian Library with its rare treas- ures. On Saturday at noon we were back in London, having been gone just two weeks. Did not do anything but get settled that day; but Monday we started out to look for tickets for home, but with no success. Found almost as great crowds in all the steamship offices, and no apparent chance for bookings earlier than some time in October. But we kept up our efforts day after day, using part of each day to see the sights of London. Finally we succeeded in securing tickets and a fine cabin on an upper deck of the White Star liner the "Laurentic," to sail from Liverpool on September 26th; so we were then at liberty to see London, and be happy, as nearly as one could be under the existing conditions. For all this time the war was getting more dreadful, and beautiful Belgium, that we had seen so prosperous, so lovely, only a little while ago, was being devastated and ruined by the modern "Huns and bar- barians." It seemed so near by — and as if we could almost see across the Channel to the horror of it all. 226 Glimpses of Many Lands By and by the trainloads of Belgian refugees began arriving, and every evening there was one or more trainload of them, and Charing Cross station was one of the great centers of interest in London. The relief committees were there, and dozens of sight-seeing cars, 'buses, and automobiles every evening went away crowded with these poor heart-broken people. There were many pitiful sights, — these poor people carrying little bundles containing all that was left of their earthly possessions; — and the vast throngs of people that crowded Trafalgar Square, and every foot of available space within two blocks of the Charing Cross station, all raised their hats to this remnant of crushed human- ity from "brave little Belgium." This was not one night only; but every night, for the three weeks more that we remained in London, it was the same. Every night the whole vicinity of Charing Cross was thronged, and every night the trainloads of pitiful people ar- rived — sometimes as many as a thousand in one day. And London cared for them, — took them to comfort- able shelter, and clothed and fed them. Besides these sad sights, every day we saw new recruits marching in companies to camps, and soldiers in uniform going to trains; and after while the train- loads of wounded began to arrive. It was all so dis- tracting that seeing London was not an interesting task, though we tried hard to see the many places and things of beauty and of historical interest. But many places and things were closed, and we were not admitted, — partly because of the war, and partly On the Atlantic 227 because of the suffragettes who had been doing such wanton deeds of destruction among valuable things. The great British Museum and the National Art Gal- lery had been closed for a long time,but had been reopened about the time we got there, as the militants had called a halt, and had promised to be good till the war is over, when, they say, they will begin just where they left off. But the war excitement, and soldiers, and refugees "got on our nerves" to such an extent that we decided to leave London, and go to Liverpool to be ready for our boat; and from there we planned to go over and spend a week in Ireland while we were waiting. So we went to Liverpool on Saturday the 12th of Septem- ber. Monday morning we stopped in the White Star line office to ask how the "Laurentic" was getting on, and were told the English government had taken the "Laurentic" to transport soldiers. Imagine our feelings ! Our second tickets of no use! But there was nothing to do but begin all over again, and haunt the steam- ship offices in Liverpool as we had those of London. The White Star could not give us anything before October 9th, so we hurried away to the Cunard office, and could not do even as well there. Then back again to the White Star office and sat down to meditate and grasp the importance of the situation. Maybe con- ditions would get so much worse on the sea that after while boats would not run at all. What could we do but wait.^ We could not walk, and I was most em- phatic in my statement that I would spend the rest of my life on that side of the water before I would go 228 Glimpses of Many Lands home steerage. When we had made up our minds that Ireland would be as good a place, in which to be buried as we could find on that side of the ocean we went again to the desk to announce our decision not to go home at present; and the obliging ticket manipula- tor told us he had a cabin for an earlier date of sailing which he could offer us. About an hour before, he said, parties had given up a four-berth cabin on an upper deck of the "Adriatic," to sail on Thursday the 17th — this was Monday — and we could have it if we wished to pay for the larger cabin. He would give us only a few minutes to decide, as there were many who were waiting for just such an opportunity. It did not take us long to make up our minds that the trip to Ireland could be postponed until the next time we crossed the water; and though we thought the $250.00 extra was a pretty big price, we consoled ourselves with the thought of the nice big cabin we would have. So it was soon settled, and for the third time we had tickets, and were booked for a definite date of sailing, — this time for such an early date that it almost took our breath away. But it was a relief to have it settled. That gave us only two more days in Liverpool, so we decided to use one of them for a trip to the home of our ancestors, the city of Congleton, about seventy miles southeast of Liverpool, in Cheshire. We found it a very pretty old town, with a definite history dating back to the 12th century, and much of traditional history back to the second century. It has now about 12,000 population, some old ruins, and some very On the Atlantic 229 pretty modern things; with hills, a river, and beautiful scenery all about it. On the afternoon of the 17th we came aboard the "Adriatic," and were well pleased with our cabin and the general appearance of the boat. It was a cloudy afternoon, with showers at frequent intervals; and just a few moments before we left the docks the sun shone out and there was a beautiful, perfect arch of a rain- bow across the east, which we took for an omen of good, a "bow of promise." I copy this from my diary of that day: "After din- ner we went out on deck, and found it as dark as mid- night — not a light anywhere, and every window darkened; and it made us realize that we were traveling in war-time, with great caution." This has been the feeling during the entire trip. There has been no real fear shown, but there is a sort of tense feeling all the time, as if something might happen; and every morning we are glad to see the daylight, and every night to feel that we "are one day nearer home." There has been no social merriment during the entire trip, — no games, no dancing, no fancy dress balls, nor any of the amusements which we usually see on a large steamer. The weather has been cold and blustery a good deal of the time, with a great deal of fog. Our chief discomfort has been the foghorn, which has kept up its music a great deal of the time. Many have been ill, but to our surprise we have enjoyed every meal thus far across the Atlantic, and are still maintaining our record as "good sailors." 230 Glimpses of Many Lands This is Thursday the 24th, just one week on the water, and I am going to add a little after we have had our first sight of land, as we expect to reach New York to-morrow. Friday, September 25, 1914. We were up early to watch for land, and grudged all the time we had to stay indoors for breakfast, as the many fishing boats indicated we were near land. By arid by we could see the outlines of the coast of the southeastern part of Massachusetts, and toward noon could see the outHnes of New York in the distance. Now we have seen it, — the good old United States, — and are waiting in the New York harbor for the usual preliminaries before going to the dock. We saw Ellis Island, but we did not stop, for though we have many steerage passengers, they are not immigrants. New York, Friday evening. Here we are safe and sound on land again, and among the skyscrapers of an American city, after having been around the world. We have been on all the oceans except the Antarctic, on nearly all the large seas, gulfs, and bays, from six degrees south of the equator to seventy-two degrees north, in twenty-eight different countries, and have traveled by rail and steamer about forty-seven thou- sand miles. We will stay in New York a few days, and expect to be home on October ist — ^just one year from the day we sailed west from San Francisco Bay. n