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CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
924 084 657
41
Cornell University
Library
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CORNELL
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
THE
CHARLES WILLIAM WASON
COLLECTION ON CHINA
AND THE CHINESE
Wot>Mu.ryfy-^^
V/..
i/pl^f't^ Af^/^r A-^V^
SroTn. a. photpyracph Iry ^Marshall Wane, £diniurqh.
TO SIAM AND MALAYA
THE DUKE OF SUTHERLAND'S YACHT
'SAKS PEUR'
BY
MRS. FLORENCE CADDY
AUTHOE OF ~
' THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LIKN^US,'
ETC., ETC.
IN ONE VOLUME.
LONDON:
HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED,
13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1889.
All rights reserved.
PREFACE.
A WOKD may be said here as to the origin of this
book. The Duke of Sutherland, after a severe ill-
ness, had been exiled by his physicians and ordered
to winter abroad. ' He had been well-nigh every-
where else, and in this case decided to proceed to
the far East in his yacht, touching at various
places of . interest, and finally to visit Siarn. A
geographer and naturalist was required for the ex-
pedition, which, as it was to touch fresh woods and
pastures new, was a position likely to afford some-
thing worthy of record. The position was offered
to me, and I accepted it, We went overland to
Brindisi, and found the Sans Peur lying there. I
found all the novelty and adventure that I had ex-
pected, and the results are recorded in the following
pages.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTEE I.
Lessepsia 1
The Sans Peur, her Company and Armament — Candia — Port Said
— Lady Strangford's Hospital — The Wild-cat Flag — The Suez Canal
— Drive through Ismailia — Fishing in Lake Temsah — Steamer
aground in the Canal — The Bitter Lake — Donkey-riding at Suez.
CHAPTER II.
The Red Sea 27
The Wilderness — ^Mount Horeb — Hesperus —Christmas Day — Mas-
sowah — Mr. Portal — Drive to General Gend's Camp — The Hababs —
The Knight of the Locket — Italian Military Railway — Camp at
MonkvLUo — Captain Michelini— Bivouac in the Camp — Ordered to
the Front.
CHAPTER HI.
To THE Far East 57
Aden — Across the Indian Ocean — Portuguese at Marmagoa — The
new Railway -line to Bellary — Southern Ghauts — ^The Sea-Serpent —
Ceylon — Madras — Journey across India — Festival of the total
Eclipse of the Moon — Shipwrecked Sailors — Transformation Scene
— Straits of Malacca — Singapore — Tropical Vegetation — Jinrickshas
— Ball on board H.M.S. Orion — Luncheon at Government House — ^Tea
at a Chinaman's House.
viii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
A Royal Cremation .... .86
Gulf of Siam— The Menam River— The Venice of the East — ^The
Palace of Calm Delights — Preparing for the Cremation — Procession
of the Urns of former Kings — Fire-brigade — Great Fire at Bangkok
— The Royal Gardens— Classical Temples — Streets of Bangkok —
State Dinner-party at the Royal Palace — The King and Queen of
Siam.
CHAPTER V.
High Life in Asia 118
Procession of the bodies of the Princes — Coinage of Siam — Siamese
boys educated in England — Temple at Sabratummawan — Image of
Buddha — Illuminations in the Premane — Our Reception by the
King — Graceful National Customs — The King's Children — Presents
—Shrines at the Premane— Noises of the Night — The White Ele-
phants—Museum at Bangkok — Siamese Soldiers — Future Siamese
Railways — The Emerald and Crystal Buddhas — Playing at Ball.
CHAPTER VI.
Young Siam 150
Native Art — Police Boat — Prisons — Vessels in the River — Flotilla
Company — Habits of the People — Gambling-houses — House-boats —
The Cremation Ceremonies — Festivities — High Jinks — Scrambling
for Limes and Balls — Fireworks — Lamp and Dragon -dances.
CHAPTER Vn.
Atuthia 168
Absolute Monarchy — Up the River — Palm and Bamboo — ^The
White Ibis — Palace of Bang Pahin — ^Tokay Lizard — ^Rice Cultiva-
tion — Arrival of the Golden Needle — Inundation of the Menam —
Family Temples — Poll-tax — Ayuthia — Observatory — Picnic in a
Mango-orchard — Sight-seeing — Elephant-taming — Siamese Sunday
— Prince Doctor's Opinions.
CONTENTS. ix
CHAPTER VIII.
Thirty Years' Progress in Siam . . . 194
Gold-mines and Prospecting — Lawn-tennis Party — Arabian Nights
in the Premane — Shopping Excursion in a Gondola — Siamese Musical
Instruments — Dinner-party of highly-civilized People — Wat Poh —
The Colossal Buddha — Mother-of-pearl Marqueterie — Wat Chang —
Wat Sahket — Rival Bauds — Diseases in Siam — Future of Siam —
Farewell to Bangkok.
CHAPTER IX.
Return to the Nineteenth Century . .217
Snakes of Siam and Poisonous Fish — Short Cut in the River —
Islands in the Gulf of Siam — Prime Minister of the Sultan of Johore
— Naval Manoeuvres at Singapore and Sham Fight — Cathedral and
Prison at Singapore.
CHAPTER X.
The Sultan op Johore 231
Johore Flag — ^The Istana — Chinese Opera — Four-in-hand Drive
— Wines — ' A Dream of Fair Women ' — Malay Curry — Brick and
Tile Works — Chinese Theatre and Gambling-house — Malacca Canes
and Sarongs — ^Malay Garden-party — Cultivation of Crops — Steam
Saw-miUs— Johore Forests — ^River Police — The Bag-piper — Farewell
Dinner-party.
CHAPTER XI.
Muar 261
The Duke Invested with the Order of Johore — The Sultan's Yacht
— Journey through the Salat Tambran — Mount Ophir — The Sultan's
Nephews — Istana at Muar — A Malay Breakfast — Present of a Tiger
— The Capitan China— Fishing Villages — Mr. Swan's Adventures —
Coronation of the Sultan — Mount Ophir of Sumatra.
X CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
Ceylon 280
Coloured Fish — Juggler and Jeweller — Colombo — Railway Jour-
ney — Ceylon Tea — Peradeniya — The Earthly Paradise — Bamboos —
Palms — Figs — The Upas-tree — Kandy — Temple of the Tooth —
Library — Cobras — Native Agriculture — ^Buddhist Priests — Excur-
sion to Galangoda — Jewelled Dagoba — Wall Paintings — Red Colos-
sal Buddha— Smaller Temples — 'Sensation' Rock — Philology — 'A
Floating Palace of Delight '
CHAPTER XIII.
The Return Voyage 320
Laccadive Islands — Easter Day — Southern Cross — African Coast
— Arab Town at Aden — Queen of Sheba's Tanks — Stay at Govern-
ment House — Persian Carpets — A Ball — Description of Aden — Pro-
ductions and Fauna of Aden — Sharp-nosed Dolphins — Squalls near
Suez — Railway Trip to Cairo.
CHAPTER XIV.
Egypt 337
English Troops at the Citadel — Ostrich-farming — ^Iiluseum of
Antiquities — Twirling and Howling Dervishes — ^The Races — ^The
Libyan Lake — RaU to Alexandria — ^P. and O. ship Gwalior — ^Mr.
Cornish's Pump-works — Sights of Alexandria — ^Feast of Roses.
TO SIAM AND MALAYA.
CHAPTER I.
LESSEPSIA.
And mind you tell them a very pretty story, for they are exceedingly
fond of stories ; my mother likes them to be very moral and aristocratic,
and my father likes them to be merry, so as to make him laugh.
The Flying Trunk. Hans Andersen.
A YACHT is something like the magic carpet of the
Arabian Nights, that can transport its owner where
he wishes, or, better still, like Hans Andersen's
' Flying Trunk,' for you pack up and get into it, and
it carries you where you wish. It takes its time
about it, perhaps.
David Copperfield's old lady wondered at the
impiety of mariners and others who had the pre-
sumption to go ' meandering ' about the world ; for
those who do not agree with her, and who have
yachts, a yacht is the ideal vehicle for meandering.
Life in a large yacht combines the picturesqueness
of seafaring with the comforts of the best passen-
ger ships. Preamble over, the Duke shakes hands
with his officers all round and makes a pleasant
speech to the crew. The bagpipes play up during
B
2 LESSEPSIA.
dessert to welcome his Grace on board ; the crescendo
and diminuendo tones have a pretty effect as Aleck
walks up and down playing the handsome silver-
mounted pipes, their dark blue and green tartan
ribbons fluttering in the breeze.
It feels homely to me knowing my way about the
vessel, to have the same cabin that I had in the Bal-
tic, and to see so many faces that I know. Aleck, the
piper, says they are all glad to see me. We are thirty-
two souls on board : the Duke and the doctor. Lady
Clare, a widowed relative of the Duke's family, and
myself; Bertha, the Swiss maid, and three stewards ;
the captain and first and second mate ; engineers and
their crew, five; carpenter, boatswain, and officers'
steward, three ; the Italian chef-de-cuisine and his
assistants — his myrmidons, as the head-steward calls
the marmitons — and the officers' cook, six; and
eight seamen. The Duke prefers using the fore-part
of the yacht as cleaner and pleasanter, and command-
ing the best view; the after-end, being left for the
ship's company, gives them commodious quarters.
The Sans Peur carries, besides the gig built as a
lifeboat, a steam-launch, a cutter, the second gig,
and dinghy, a Norwegian cockle-shell called the
ladies' boat, and a Berthon collapsible.
The saloon looked delightfully comfortable, as we
arrived by starlight, with a fire and the table laid
for dinner, the lamps with their coloured shades,
the book-case attractive with the newest books, and
plates and pictures set in the olive plush walls above
the dado of carved teak. An ' jEolian ' pianoforte
stands in one corner of the saloon.
LESSEPSIA. 8
The deck-house is lined with sofas ; it has doors on
each side and windows nearly all round, so that one
can see the views while sitting at work or with a
book. .Above the wide, easy staircase that leads
down to the saloon a folding table is spread, large
enough to dine eight people, or a dozen at a pinch ;
the servants stand at the head of the staircase to
wait, and the table does not impede their use of this
short cut to the pantry, while the dishes are brought
hot from the galley to the doors. In fine weather
we take our meals in the deck-house in preference to
the saloon..
The 13th of December was a fine mild morning.
We were all busy unpacking before noon, the hour
fixed for sailing. We had our things laid neatly in
the numerous cabin drawers, etc., and our trunks
Avere carried below to the hold.
What changes in the deck-house ! It looks more
business-like now than it did in its summer bowery
appearance, when every corner was filled with plants
and the beams hung with alternate rows of bunches
of green and purple grapes from Trentham. Now
there are three shining revolvers at the head of each
sofa, and below the coloured glass frieze above the
windows is another frieze of nine Winchester rifles
which fire fifteen charges each without reloading,
and a magazine of ammunition in a cupboard handy
by with the atlases. All this, with the brass can- '
nons on the deck, is for defence against possible
pirates in the China seas.
Ofi", with a fair wind, going eleven-and-a-half
knots an hour, Italy on the west and the line . of
B 2
i LESSEPSIA.
the Albanian hills all snowy to the eastward of us.
Thermometer 60" at six p.m. We have not found
our sea-legs, and the chairs are all lashed to the
tables. Our burly ' bos'un ' lays the weight of his
body as well as the strength of his arms to the ropes.
The Duke laughingly recommends ' this nice little
treatise on the rolling of ships,' by W. Froude,
written almost exclusively in algebra. Then his
Grace, the better to entertain us, calls the captain
with his charts and compasses into the deck-house
to discuss plans, and we listen, like the Miss Flam-
boroughs, each holding an orange while they talk
about monsoons, etc.
Here I should be^n a fresh chapter on ' Our
Privations,' a short one like that famous chapter on
the snakes in Ireland. We have no privations on
board the Sans Peur. Indeed, we carry two addi-
tional seamen in case of sickness among them in
the tropics. Calmer next morning, as we are shel-
tered by Cephalonia and Zante, ' fior di Levante '
on the port-side. We have fragrant mandarin
oranges, with their leaves and flowers to hold and
smell, the newest books and magazines to read, and
the white cliffs of Zante to gaze upon. The Morea
comes into view in the afternoon as we lose sight of
Zante. There is a little flat islet near, and beyond
it are the Peloponnesian mountains. The islet sub-
divides, and behold the Strophades — the storm-vext
Strophades, 'haunts of Celseno and her Harpy
brood,' which all pictures and descriptions represent
as beetling crags and frowning precipices. They
are not terrible in reality, nor at all like the pic-
LESSEPSIA. 6
tures, though mariners would probably avoid them
in bad weather. This is an illusion lost ; never mind,
I seek truth, mightier than any fiction.
The sea became much less rough as we came
under the lee of lofty rugged Crete, with its grey
barren rocks, touches of red on its cliffs, and snow-
capped summits, reminding us of the Alps, towering
above the belts of cloud. A whale is blowing up
fountains in the nearer sea, a grand whale, a great
beast.
The Duke, turning over pages of the ' Light of
Asia,' and quoting the millions of Buddhists, says,
' It is the biggest religion going, by a long way,'
and he is soon deeply wrapped in Buddha's capti-
vating story.
The doctor swallows novels by the dozen, bolting
them like pills.
At sunset a heavenly violet glow suffuses a near pro-
montory of Candia, with its snow-crowned peaks all
rosy, and blue mists at the base, bringing all manner
of fanciful images to lose themselves among the
shadows of the cliffs, until to our fancy the lofty island
becomes a ghost, its head wrapped in white drapery
of snowy peaks, its jagged stony base and rocky pro-
montory hard in outline and picturesque in detail ;
clouds, like fancies, are spreading their wings over
the mysterious blue wall that we know, by faith, to
be all flowery valleys and shadowy ravines, with
possibly cornfields and vineyards. Now its aspect
has become ashy pale, like that of after-death, the
craggy foreground is a skeleton, the snowy crest has
a greenish hue, quite livid. Moonlight will be a
6 LESSEPSIA.
glory to it, or as fame to a dead poet. The sea is
purple ' wine-coloured.' Candia has been a beau-
tiful companion to us all day, besides being a pro-
tection and a shelter. At five o'clock there is a
revival on the mountain ; it is less corpse-like, more
like a sculptured marble monument, warm from the
sculptor's touch, softened and tender, like a fond
memory of itself.
Now alone in the Mediterranean, equi-distant
from Europe, Africa, and Asia, as measured by the
captain's compasses, the. Sans Peur rolls on to our
chosen destiny. One passing steamer is all the
vesselry we have seen since leaving Brindisi. No
fear of collisions, any way. The grey solitude is
gloomy. The Duke is somewhat hoarse, or worse,
to our dismay, but he passes it off lightly.
'What matter,' says his Grace, ' I am not going
to sing.'
The stewards Herries and Dark Charlie are bring-
ing up more warlike implements, 'in case the savages
come.' There are six boarding-pikes in a stand at
the foot of the staircase leading from the deck-house
to the saloon.
' In case those heathens think there is anything
worth taking in a vessel of this sort, we'll give them
a warm reception,' quoth the valiant Herries ; and he
shows us the varieties of pistols, some so excellent
' that they will do their work loaded or unloaded,
like the Irish magistrates.'
This impresses me ; I feel safer now.
Besides the deadly weapons before mentioned,
there are several sorts of revolvers in cases 'for
LESSEPHIA. 7
occasional use !' the Duke's own firearms, the doc-
tor's guns, the steward's rifle, and sundry and various
warlike tools below.
Will the smell of black leather ever afterwards
remind me of these pistol-cases? I read Sir J.
Lubbock's book on ' The Pleasures of Life.' It
seemed appropriate, and 1 longed for the time when
I should begin to make my observations on new
countries ; like Glauber, I daresay I shall examine
what everyone else has thrown away. Travelling
in this way, one sees just the crust of a country, or
the cream of a country, whichever way you like to
take it. The result is pleasure, but much depends
on the people you travel with. The Duke is most
pleasant, a truly kindly nature, one forgets he is a
Duke. ' Kind hearts are more than coronets, and — ' so
forth. We watched the porpoises, some half-a-dozen
of them, swimming at the bows of the yacht as if
racing us, and now and then leaping out of the
water in pairs ; we also saw flying-fish skimming the
sea like swallows ; they are not frequently seen in
the Mediterranean. The lofty tower of Damietta peeps
up in this forenoon of the 17th, and Port Said comes
in sight at two p.m. Lappy is eager to go ashore.
This is the Duke's large Lapland dog ; he bought
him in Stockholm last summer.
The view is of along breakwater of concrete blocks,
with a skinny Arab in blue leaping about on it, and
much shipping in the canal, the silver link between
the blue sea and the Red Sea. The yacht has to pay
over two hundred pounds toU for passing through
the canal; even Monsieur de Lesseps' friends are not
8 LESSEPSIA.
exempt from toll. The Royal Yacht Club, however,
enjoys the same privileges as the Royal Navy ; and
their vessels do not pay harbour dues.
We anchored near the English barracks, a build-
ing we bought from some Dutch people in the late
war. Its commanding situation on a tongue of land
will make it useful in any future event. Port Said
is a busy and important place, full of all sorts and
conditions of buildings, from gunboats to dredges,
tents, tanks, shore erections, machinery, and poor
Lady Strangford's hospital stranded on the sands and
going to pieces for want of funds. There is no money
to pay the nurses, and, althougb the Sister works
for love and the doctors attend gratis, the building,
which is roofed with a patent preparation of paper,
is not watertight. This kind of roofing has failed here,
though a dry climate, the sun being probably too
powerful for the fabric, and the wet — for it does rain
here sometimes — comes in on the patients' beds. It
is a pity that this useful institution should be let
drop, as many Englishmen coming home sick recover
under the care of the English nurses, whereas they
would be sure to die if taken to the Egyptian hos-
pitals. Poor Lady Strangford was on her way out
with an architect to see to the roofing, when she died
suddenly, otherwise her energy would have carried
out her plans and collected funds to work them, for
which there is now no available capital left, and it
causes regret that her effort should have been alto-
gether in vain.
Boats with picturesque crews are flocking round
us ; they have to give place to an English man-of-
LESSEPSIA. 9
war's boat bringing a young officer, with side-arms,
from the Albacore gunboat to make his bow to the
Duke. All officialdom is coming off, health and canal
officers, another and another boat hooking on to us,
ten boat-loads of officials. Our yellow-haired captain
is distracted, but determined not to let them board
his ship. Make way for the British flag. The man-
of-war's boat elbows its way in, the commander of
the Albacore bows himself off, non-official boats crowd
the port-side of the Sans Peur. The head-steward,
an experienced officer formerly of the P. and 0. ser-
vice, has an eye on these. More boats hurrying to
the fray for trading purposes. We try to land to
get out of the hubbub. Monsieur de Lesseps' steam-
launch follows us as we land from the dinghy.
M. le Due is offered the use of the Maison Adminis-
trative for himself and his party, and steam-launches
and whatsoever his Grace desires. Thousand thanks.
We have everything we want, but million thanks.
' II n'y a pas de quoi, etc. Mille etceteras.' Compli-
ments bandied.
Then we land, shouted at admiringly (?) by a
tribe of Arab children, dwellers in gipsy tents hard
by, and walk through the dirty suburbs, all smelling
of Africa, and see our first camel, and grow raptur-
ous over sugar-cane and palm-trees. Port Said has
become a ragged Oriental town — it might be of any
age — not like the new wooden Yankee-looking place
I remember. All the various national flags give it
what Pierre Loti calls ' un air de Babel en fete.'
We returned to the yacht and sat on the bridge till
after gunfire enjoying the regular Egyptian sunset.
10 LESSEPSIA.
amber flushed with red, like ' a golden vase filled with
roses,' being devoured by mosquitoes, while listening
to the sweet birds' songs and sounds of all manner
of machinery and fanfaronades and cries and talk
in all manner of languages, including pigeon English
from a heathen Chinee. We hear we are to leave at
daylight to-morrow, as the pilot has orders from Mon-
sieur de Lesseps to take the Sans Peur through the
canal at more than regulation speed, only we must
get on before another vessel that will be going at
the regulation speed. Weighed anchor at six. We
are the first in the canal to-day. Being Sunday,
they have hoisted the Duke's private flag, with the
wild-cat rampant, which looks like pussy taking her
first dancing-lesson, at the mizen, the yacht's burgee
at the main-mast. The Duke told us the story of
the wild-cat on his flag. When the Danes in old
times came invading Sutherland, the wild-cats from
the mountains came doAvn and helped the braver
Scots to drive them ofi", while the other inhabitants
took refuge in their Pictish towers.
Lake Menzaleh extends on the starboard horizon,
covered with lateen-rigged vessels; the shore crowded
with quail and innumerable flamingoes, looking like
white towns, or encampments, in their distant flocks.
On the port-side there is the appearance of a great
lake beyond the strip of sand, with sand hillocks
reflected in its waters ; but no, it is a mirage — at
least, so declares the pilot, who ought to know.
The map seems to show water on both sides, but the
pilot and the captain declare it is wrong. By-and-
by the silvery line of our course is well-defined
LESSEPSIA. 11
between two infinities of mirage and desert sand.
'Murray' says it is a wide expanse of lake and
morass rendered gay and brilliant with innumerable
flocks of rosy pelicans, scarlet flamingoes, and snow-
white spoonbills. All this, and my own eyes, I
prefer to believe, pilots and captains notwithstand-
ing. It is the metropolis of wild fowl, geese, ducks,
herons, and other birds. Kantarah (El Kantara,
the bridge) we see at 11.10 a.m., a meeting-place of
caravans of pilgrims from Mecca and Jerusalem.
' There's a busy scene,' says the Duke, and so it
is ; no pilgrims, however, but strings of camels and
navvies in blue gowns and white turbans, all busy
at work repairing the steep banks of the canal,
especially busy a figure in blue calling 'baksheesh,'
whenever he can catch anyone's eye except that
of the Egyptian ganger in black holding his parasol
over his head. The captain showed us the pith hats
bought at Port Said for himself and the ship's com-
pany. We all fished out our helmets ; the Duke's is
a heavy white military helmet, ours are grey and
very unbecoming. We postpone wearing them for
the present, though the sun is scorching on the light
sand which makes the canal muddy-looking.
Our pilot, in his extra care, manoeuvred us
aground, and before we got ofi" the Asia, of the
Anchor line, took that opportunity to pass us. The
banks are in many places defended by camp-shed-
ding, and tamarisks are dotted sparsely on the banks,
which rise higher as we approach Ismailia, where
they are sometimes wattled, and binding plants are
encouraged, reeds, tamarisks, and a sort of willow.
12 LESSEPSIA.
Many Arabs and camels are employed upon the
banks. They are not going to widen the canal, but
to increase its depth at the borders, making it
thirt}'^ feet deep throughout. Our passage washes the
banks a good deal, as we are going at nearly double
the regulation speed, seven and a half to eight knots
an hour. The pilot pats our skipper complacently
on the back, saying, ' We did it cleverly that time,
dear boy.' The captain resents it. He has never
had his vessel run aground before — and get into the
papers — all through an ignorant, incompetent son
of a something — I forget what he said — and he does
not like it.
At three p.m. we see Viceroy Said's old house
above us on the right, a mere chalet with an iron
verandah, and before us the lakes are opening out.
The khedivial avenue from the chdlet to Ismailia
has not flourished, but foliage generally is abundant
round Ismailia. There are heavy clouds overhead. The
Duke tells me ' the evaporation is so great from the
Bitter Lakes that there is always a strong current
in from the Red Sea caused by nothing but the
evaporation.' His Grace is an authority on this
canal, having been here so often during and since
its construction. He has visited the Panama Canal
with Monsieur de Lesseps as well. There are several
house-boats here, and seven ' mudhoppers ' for carry-
ing oif the mud.
We anchored at Ismailia at 3.30, opposite the
Khedive's palace, a handsome stone house half-
hidden in the fileo woods. The place smells strongly
of the sea. Monsieur Thevenet, Chef du Service du
LESSEPSIA. 13
Domaine et des Eaux de la Compagnie du Canal de
Suez, a catalogue of a title, came off by order of Mon-
sieur de Lesseps witli the count's private steam-launch
to take us ashore, and he had an open carriage with
pretty Arab horses ready at the pier to take us
driving round to see everything of interest. First
through the avenue of large caroub-trees, by side of
which the young palm-groves are planted, and the
fileo woods. I did not know this tree ; it is a sort
of casuarina, with long beard-like fronds and a
feathery sort of flower. It is an Australian tree.
I was amazed at the growth of the woods in what
I remembered as a sandy desert with a few slips of
fruit-trees stuck in it, trying to grow.
There are now three thousand inhabitants in
Ismailia; sixteen thousand at Port Said. We drove
to the end of the Sweet-water Canal, and thence
through the long, but here less flourishing, caroub
avenue to the chalet we had seen from below, the
viUa of Said Pasha, in whose reign the canal was
projected. Monsieur de Lesseps brought him up here
to this highest ground in the neighbourhood, whence
you can see Jebel Ataka, which overhangs Suez,
blue in the distance. Monsieur de Lesseps said that
some day he would see large vessels float where there
was then only desert. The pasha replied, ' I will
show my confidence in you by building a house here
at this spot, where I shall behold it ;' and this red
and buff striped chalet was erected. Said died before
the fulfilment of the prophecy.
Said's villa has fallen out of repair, but it is still
sometimes used as an annexe to a convalescent hos-
U LESSEPSIA.
pital built near it. Ismailia is much fever-haunted,
owing, it is said, to the constant watering of the
vegetation. In its early days it seemed made to be
the sanatorium of Egypt, with its exhilarating desert
breezes. Monsieur Thevenet looked fever-worn and
delicate. His children live in France, and he goes
home for three months at least every third year. Mr.
Roberts of Suez likewise calls Ismailia a feverish
place ; he says six out of seven pilots have been laid
up in hospital at Ismailia at a time.
The fashionable world of Ismailia was out walking
or driving on this road, which looks over the lake
and the branches of the canal. On returning we
passed the Khedive's palace, now seldom occupied,
which was constructed for the ceremony of opening
the canal, when whole groves and gardens were
brought here full-grown from Cairo, only, of course,
to die. The road was then made to the chdlet, as
Ismail expected to have to lodge some of his guests
there. The fetes and all connected therewith cost
twelve millions of francs. Monsieur de Lesseps regret-
ted this, though it was his triumph ; but Ismail was a
big baby in his hands to be coaxed and humoured.
It was an advertisement, certainly, but .this kind of
work needed none.
Monsieur de Lesseps, senior, has not been here for
four years. His sons come here occasionally.
We passed the now disused Canal de Service,
which leads to the quarries where the stone — a bad
sort — was dug for use in the constructions. They
let in water here at an early period of the works, as
of course there was no water-way, and everything
LESSEPSIA. 15
had to be brouglit here by camels. In the process of
filling the lakes an accident occurred which might
have had disastrous consequences, but which, in
fact, only expedited the filling. A breakage occurred
on the first rush of water from the Red Sea, Avhich
threatened to carry away much of the banks, and
flood the whole basin into a mere lagoon, useless for
navigation. Fortunately, the injury to the banks
was comparatively slight, and the central water-way
was retained.
We passed a ' square,' or public garden, shady
and pleasant, with alleys and a large white flower-
ing exotic tree in the centre, and still went on
through groves and gardens, and the Greek town
shaded with plants of eucalyptus, poinsettia, and
others, to Monsieur Thevenet's house. There he
showed us the machinery of the waterworks, the
sweet-water force-pumps, &c. If these stopped.
Port Said would starve. We admired his gardens,
where he gathered tea-roses for us, and pepper and
hibiscus, to show us what they can grow here in
the desert even so near Christmas, the yellowing
poplars affording, according to Monsieur Thevenet,
the only signs of a. difference in the seasons. He
showed us a Pharaoh's rat, a wild animal that they
have lately caught in the desert, a creature some-
thing like a large mongoose, with a long thin tail,
very shy and fierce, and, like most desert animals,
of the colour of the sands, or the sands where they
are shaded by hillocks and the shrubs that are the
camels' food.
There were ipomeas and a large bougainvillea,
16 LESSEPSIA.
-with its beautiful purple-clustered sprays forming a
long arbour walk, made all of one spreading plant
with quite a timber stem of wonderful size, consider-
ing the newness of the planting of Ismailia, as well
as jasmines and roses, vines and vegetables, showing
how readily the desert can be made to blossom as
the rose, and many sorts of what Monsieur Thevenet
called ' multipliants,' whose drooping branches take
root and spread.
We drove on past the railway-station and the
little church, through the Arab town, mth its pic-
turesque and busy population, its shops, and stalls
and large flat baskets of various cereals, mostly ex-
posed on the ground, to a small enclosure, where
are preserved the sphynxes and other relics which
were dug up at Rameses in cutting the sweet-water
canal. One sphynx of blue granite is fairly well
preserved ; and still better is a group of three seated
figures in pink syenite, two of them holding in the
clenched left hand the Tau. Q The central figure
wears a dififerent hat to t>J<l the broad cushiony
Parsee-like caps of the A other two. There
are bathing-machines on the border of Lake Temsah,
by the sandy shore on the same side as the Arab town.
People come here from Cairo for the sea-bathing.
We were offered the use of the electric-light boat
to go to Suez in, letting the yacht follow by day-
light ; but, as there was no good sleeping accommoda-
tion on board, we gave up seeing the weird effect
of the canal by electric light, and elected to see the
desert scenery by day. The sunset was a glorious
effect of flame-colour, with a rich violet glow above.
LESSEPSIA. 17
where the crescent moon glittered like the national
flag. They say there is not much variation of the
seasons here, but we were all glad of our wraps in the
cold breeze, with the thermometer at 60°. A little
more wind, and there would be a dust-storm. The
enemy of the canal is wind, shifting the sand. It de-
pends upon continual labour to make it a continuous
benefit ; dust-storms have sometimes been known to
delay vessels three days in the canal and in these
lakes. The Duke says the yacht has been lifted
four inches in this lake by the increased buoyancy
of the water — ' no, not with our consumption of the
stores.' The lakes here, especially the Bitter Lakes,
are extremely salt. There are salt-beds in these
lakes, solid like chalk-pits. The density of the
water at Ismailia Avill cause six inches displacement
in a flat-bottomed boat drawing twenty feet of
water.
The fish of Lake Temsah are very good ; we had
some of them for breakfast, a sort of soles, and we had
for dinner some good white salmon — as the steward
wrote it in the menu. We went ashore at some
distance from Ismailia to see our men draw the
seine in comparatively shoal water. The fish were'
new to all of us. Our first haul caught what looked
like grey mullet — they called them salmon — mth a
sharp fin like a perch, one fin too many for a trout ;
some bream-like fish and a chad, as Mr. Butters, the
first mate, a Cornishman, called it; and another like
a mullet, with no spots, but with a fine line down
the sides. We caught a very delicate sort of white-
bait, and a red and greenish rock-fish, and another
c
18 LESSEPSIA.
fish something like the chad, with vertical bands in
grey and yellow, and purple in the gills. They
found mussels, cockles, and ' butter-fish ' much
sweeter to eat than the cockle. The two largest
fish in the net were sea-trout.
I gathered several varieties of a juicy sort of
marine desert-plants, and a dwarf tamarisk with
elongated pink berries, and one sort with green
berries, which become yellow when ripe. Bertha
took home a green locust to make a pet of. We
always speak of the yacht as home. When the
Duke was passing through the Red Sea with the
Prince of Wales, on their way to India in the Sera-
pis, sailing about twelve miles an hour, they sailed
for two days through a swarm of dead locusts which
had been driven to sea.
Hereabouts, according to German Egyptologists
and others, was formerly the head of the Red Sea
and the place where the Israelites crossed over.
This was most likely at one time the head of the
Red Sea, but I think we may reasonably look for
the crossing-place of the Israelites lower down in
the canal, at the point where the Haj caravan road
passes to Mecca. I will give my reasons by-and-by
when we come to the spot.
We climbed the steep quicksandy banks, and the
men had a race up the bank, and they all rolled
down, or leapt oflF, or got down the quickest way
they could ; a shilling to the winner, the first up
and down. Dead heat between two of the men ; up
again like cats, and then a wash to get the sand off
them. Then came a swimming-match, and the men
LESSEPSIA. 19
rowed out for the swim, the dog wildly excited.
' Fetch 'era, Lappy.' Rose the burly bos'un blown.
'Where are ye when the rose is blown?' The
youngest swimmer won.
When the smart engineer had a ducking there
were roarsall round and chaflp.
'Ah, you just jumped out of the net. A fine
fish.' — ' Is there deep water again here for the net ?'
' Yes, I know it's deep,' said the engineer, and
they drew it again; cockles and jelly-fish in the
next haul, nothing else but mud, horrid black,
slimy mud. The sand on the west end of the lake is
thickly encrusted with salt. Fat Joe at the water-jar.
' Easy with it, Joe.' — ' Put some water with it,
Joe.' — ' Rolypoly has failed away since his race.'
Now the men have leapfrog all round, and high
j ump, and all sorts of sports, pleasant on this cool,
cloudy day.
At evening the light-hearted sailors wake ' the
lively strain,' or simple homely pathos of the sailor's
love-song, and foot the merry reel to Aleck's pipes,
the second cook's banjo, and the bones. The moon
shaped like a caique, glittering upon the lost and re-
born lake, this Perdita of waters.
I was up before the anchor rose and on the bridge
to see the entrance to the Bitter Lakes, for I had never
yet travelled on the canal below Ismailia. Pretty
scenery of its peculiar sort, blue lakes with sandy
borders rising into undulating desert fading off into
illimitable azure, the blue Jebel Ataka rising in the
southern distance, all soon to be shut out as we re-
enter the deeply sunken canal : the furniture of the
c 2
20 LESSEFSIA.
landscape comprises a house-boat moored to its little
plot of lattice-fenced enclosure, neat signal houses
with gardens and trellised vines. Wherever a drop of
fresh water can be brought, there palms and gardens
grow. There is clay just under the sand. Here is
a palm-grove half-hidden behind the sand-bank.
Besides these objects here is a long train of trucks
drawn on rails by mules, each mule led by an Arab.
There is abundant employment of labour, but no
cotn^c'e, we English stood out against that.
The French mail-steamer ahead of us, that went
on last night by electric light, has run aground, and
has been stuck since three o'clock this morning.
This may delay us, though the pilot opines there
will be room enough for us to pass, although an-
other large steamer blocked by her cannot get by.
After much signalling by balls and pennants at the
mast-head of the stranded steamer we hear we may
probably have to remain all day and night here in
the canal ; other steamers are evidently unable to
pass this disabling ship. Just at the entrance to
the Bitter Lakes, too, it is provoking to think that
a hundred yards would have cleared us. ' A very
rare thing this to happen, not once in three months,
not once before in this year, and never before with
the Messageries boats ' in the pilot's recollection, an
English pilot, too. Five vessels all here waiting to
pass, and the Peninsular and Oriental ship Coro-
mandel, wanting to come northward, is in the Bitter
Lakes just ahead, fuming away finely. Well she
may, the pilot has known a twelve days' stoppage
in his time.
LES8EPSIA. 21
At a quarter-past two we are told by some one in
authority that we may move on and pass the ships,
all a propos of nothing that we can see. It seems a
special favour to ourselves brought down in a
message by the tug which has convoyed a flotilla
of lighters into which the Messageries ship will
have to unload.
"We get up steam, and pass the Niagara of Liver-
pool, Hypatia of West Hartlepool, Perim of London,
and Daphne of Hamburg, all lying near the tongue
of green and palm-grown land ended by the pier
and flag-staff opposite the white salt-encrusted
shore on the port bow. The fact transpires that
the station-master here could not give us permission
to pass, an order must be given by two men, one at
each end of the canal ; one official alone has no
power to issue an enabling order ; and a special
pilot must come and see for himself what orders
may be given. This sounds red-tapey, considering
the ease with which we passed when permitted to
do so ; but the French are good men of business,
nevertheless, and they are obliged to have respect
to their canal banks. We are now going on at our
own risk ; if anything goes wrong, this ship will
have to stand the whole of the damage.
The lines of canal-buoys still mark the course of
the channel ; here lies, somewhat aslant, the
Messageries boat Tarra of Marseilles, the cause of
the delay, and the tug-boat by her. We go very
close to her, then mutually dip our ensigns, and the
officers salute each other. Now we enter the Bitter
Lakes — now we are to go as hard as ever the engineer
22 LESSEPSIA.
can pull us— for a bit. Now, at 2.40 p.m., we pass
the Peninsular and Oriental ship, that still lies
waiting impatiently in the Bitter Lakes, and an
Italian vessel ; we dip our ensign to the Peninsular
and Oriental.
Now the other vessels going our way are coming
on as well, the whole fleet of them ; we head the
procession, and another vessel is coming up from
Suez. Really this one canal is not large enough to
carry all the commerce, increasing as it is, too,
every year ; it reminds one of the Strand obstruction
at Temple Bar.
' How's her head ?' is the anxious query. It seems
to be easy, and we move on. The pilots magnify
their office as much as possible. As we pass the
St. Regulus (?) of Bombay, there is a signal up ahead
that we are to anchor again, in order that a mail-
boat in the distance may pass us here.
We rowed ashore on the side opposite the distant
railway to a low sandy shore, very deceptive and
apparently receding from us. What we thought and
were told was ten minutes off took us forty minutes
to row to it ; the white sand, with black marks on it,
under the clear green water looking as if about six
feet below the boat. A lighthouse is built near
here, and several buoys with black cormorants
perched upon them. There are plenty of pretty
comb-like shells (Murex tribulus) on the shore;
indeed, the beach is made almost entirely of shells,
cockles, miissels, and tiny whorls of the Terebrida)
family of shells, extending far inland, where, as far
as one can judge, the water has not been of late.
LESSEPHIA. -n
Here the desert is dotted witli hillocks of white sand,
fine and without shells, like mole-hills something,
with holes in their sides, the holes mostly in pairs,
but sometimes in groups. Here also are camel foot-
prints and those of some other animal — gazelles
probably, as they are too deep for dogs — Lappy
makes no footprints — ^yet full small for asses.
Farther inland the shells diminish in quantity,
though they are still numerous, the cockles always
worn and nearly always broken.
We rowed home in the violet glow of evening, the
dim daffodil of the sky becoming later a dense flame
colour with tender azure above and light broken
clouds. Dense bronze-tinted clouds gathering all
round, chiefly over Jabel Ataka, ready to fall on
the arid desert, I hope.
' You have a fine lot of weeds this time, ma'am,'
the mate remarks of the specimens of desert plants
I have brought on board ; small tufty plants of the
same nature, but less succulent than the juicy and
berried plants I gathered near Lake Temsah.
Much interest is taken in natural history by the
officers of the ship, but they have not yet acquired
the rudiments. 'How's that cockroach of yours?'
Herries the steward asks Bertha concerning her
pet locust.
We had bass or bream for dinner. ' Some calls it
bass, some calls it bream,' said the fisherman, when
questioned. We have seen wild-duck in the lake here.
Off at daybreak. I was up on the bridge by
half-past seven, just before we entered the canal
ditch, whose steep banks shut out the view of the
2-t LESSEPSIA.
desert undulations, and we could only see Jebel Ataka
rising aerially blue behind the yellow ridge. Here
are great dredging-machines near the ferry, where the
main road of the Haj caravan passes to Mecca. A
caravan of pilgrims and camels was here waiting to
cross. The high banks are made by the continued
dredging, otherwise the desert is level here, as if it
had formerly been sea. To me this place looks like
the real point of the Israelites' crossing. They
would have travelled by a known road, with wells.
Nothing terrestrial is more immutable than a line
of road ; especially so in the East. The v/aters were
divided ; on one side was the basin of the present
Bitter Lakes, on the other was the Red Sea. These
were a wall of defence on both hands, and behind
the Israelites the waters flowed back when God with-
drew His mighty wind.
Suez lies to the starboard, behind the spit of
land ending the canal j Suez, pretty with its
white houses set in foliage, the stratified Jebel
Ataka rising brokenly behind the town. The blue
canal here makes a semi-circular sweep towards
Suez, where the train is just coming in. This is
a sort of no man's land ; neither French, English,
nor Egyptian. It is Lessepsia. Now we are in the
blue Red Sea ; and here are the docks, built with
bad cement by a French contractor. Lesseps has
placed near here as a monument to Waghorn, origi-
nator of the overland route, his bust shaded by a
large crimson poinsettia.
Mr. Roberts, the Peninsular and Oriental Com-
pany's agent, came to see what he could do for the
LESSEPSIA. 25
Duke. We meant to ride to Suez on donkeys, so lie
helped Harries and others to mount us. Lady Clare
took the lead on 'Mary Anderson,' with the doctor
on ' Two Lovely Black Eyes ;' the Duke was mounted
on the ' Bishop of London,' rather a hard trotter ; I
secured ' Jubilee,' (appropriately named for me),
which I thought would be a steady-going beast.
Herries looked majestic on a moke ; perhaps
the creature was proud, but I hardly think he was
happy. The stout steward only rode as far as the
station, electing to go on to Suez by train, anything
to get out of the way of the chaff about his requir-
ing two donkeys to carry him. He rode one when
he was here before. 'Ah, that donkey has grown
older since then, and can't carry you now. You
must mount an elephant.'
I felt almost young again as I enjoyed the two-
mile gallop to the town, and quite at home on the
clumsy eastern saddle. "We walked our donkeys
gently through the busy, crowded streets, and, when
we dismounted, I followed the tall Duke's white
helmet, as an oriflamme, through the bazaar. Suez
has seven thousand inhabitants, and is a very dirty
place. The pariah dogs are the scavengers. When
these grow too numerous, they poison them at
intervals, by five or six hundred at a time. The
vegetable gardens were pointed out to us a little
beyond the town. They are not badly off for
supplies here, and they get plenty of milk, as they
keep Aden cows — pretty creatures, dove-coloured,
with humps, and smaller, tawny cows, with humps
less defined. Mrs. Roberts gave us great purple
26 LESSEPSIA.
branches of the thorny bougainvillea, as the nearest
approach to holly, for our Christmas pudding. It
was like spoiling the Egyptians, to carry off this glori-
ous mass of rich purple bloom, though this splendour
of colour is nothing to them. They can grow
flowers in profusion, and the sunsets here are so
magnificent that even the Arabs will sometimes
stop to gaze at them.
'The seasons here are marked as they are else-
where,' says Mr. Roberts. Monsieur Thevenet said
just the reverse at Ismailia. A dragon-fly hovering
about, and many butterflies, prevent our realizing
that it is the shortest day ; and, as Christmas is
approaching, our officers and men have to-day put
on white duck suits.
Mrs. Roberts has a choice collection of curios,
embroideries, and works of art, and a beautiful
glass cabinet of shells and Red Sea corals. I
gathered on the shore many of the fairy Lamellaria
shells that float on the wavelets, which look as if
made of tissue paper. The Duke invited Mr. Roberts,
with his wife and daughter, to lunch on board ; and
soon afterwards we left Suez. This is the real
farewell to Europe.
27
CHAPTER II.
THE RED SEA.
But to thee, as thy lode-stars resplendently burn
In their clear depths of blue, with devotion I turn,
Bright Cross of the South ! and beholding thee shine,
Scarce regret the loved land of the olive and vine.
Shine on — my own land in a far distant spot.
Where the stars of thy sphere can enlighten it not,
And the eyes that I love, tho' e'en now they may be
O'er the firmament wandering, can gaze not on thee.
Mks. Hemans.
Beyond the Well of Moses, with its solitary palm-
tree marked on the chart, the well a fount per-
petually bubbling from the ground, is the spot
where Palmer and Gill were murdered, the precipice
they were compelled to leap oiF.
Suez looks like a white star retreating in the
distance.
The shaded blue African mountains are much
loftier than the reddish desert sand-hills of Edom,
from which the Red Sea is said to take its name.
The Persians call this the ' White Sea,' from the
milky hue of its waters where the white sand is
stirred up, and the white coral lining its shores.
The water is of a lovely shade of blue. Jebel Ataka
28 THE RED SEA.
rises two thousand six hundred and forty feet.
One would think there could be no tending of flocks
in Midian ; it looks all desert and parched rock of
red or rusty hue. Towards evening the coasts pre-
sent a yet greater contrast to each other : the
rugged high lands of Africa are shadowed purple-
blue, while the tawny crags of Arabia are suffused
with warm, rosy light ; mist falling, the east becomes
rosy lilac, the west a deep plum-colour. Soon all
chills off, and the deepening greys remind us that
this is the shortest day. Now the whitened precipices
of the Arabian hills look ashy, as if burnt out ; but
to the very last the summits retain a tender pinky
hue.
I read some chapters of Exodus and Job. The
scenery brought vividly before my recollection the
music of 'Israel in Egypt,' which I had heard just
before leaving home : this wild, mysterious land-
scape is so fitted for the scene of miracles, as one reads
marvellous natural convulsions in every indentation
of the coast. 1 seemed again to hear that loud,
majestic strain, ' He rebuked the Red Sea,' followed
by the breathed amazement, 'And it was dried up,'
re-echoed from shore to shore.
The ' Hailstone Chorus ' is the finest descriptive
piece of music I know, and nearly equal to this is
the solemn, awful chorus of the ' Darkness ' and the
' Death of the First-born,' followed by the pastoral,
' He led them forth like sheep ; He led them through
the wilderness,' where one cannot travel safely even
now — witness Palmer and Gill's precipice.
At dawn the scene was changed : the wilderness
THE RED SEA. 29
was spread before us, dark beneath the sunrise, only
the topmost crags flecked with brightness in his
rising, as he shone full on the hills of Africa, and
on the blackened wreck of the Ulysses standing
upright, her bows almost sixty feet out of the water.
A rugged, darkened lower range of hills — the island
of Shadwan — now appears in front of the blue
mountains of Africa, ranging from six thousand to
seven thousand feet high. On this island, the captain
tells me, he once gathered three hundredweight of
the most beautiful shells he ever saw. Sinai is just
visible behind the loftier peak of Saint Katherine, in
the midst of the appallingly wild range of Horeb.
It is much disputed whether the peak of Sinai be
actually visible from the sea. Our captain (who
knows the Red Sea as I know Great Russell Street)
pointed it out to me, and I saw it distinctly, even
without the glass.
It is as if a violent storm had here been suddenly
petrified ; this scene of Almighty wrath and mercy.
The colours in the morning light are exquisitely
tender above the indigo-tinted sea. We have come
quicker than we reckoned, having had a two-knot
current with us since midnight. These variable
currents and the incalculable deviations of the com-
pass, puzzle navigators in the Red Sea.
Under the dark-blue-lined double awning on the
deck we sit and read ' The Light of Asia,' — our days
rock on and sea splashes cool all round, humming
in ' innumerous ' harmonies, the breeze caressing us
into peace, while on the north-east Mount Horeb,
like a warm cloud, melts in the blue space of the
30 THE RED SEA.
firmament. The little pet wild duck patters the deck
fearlessly by our side, the Lapland dog comes near,
snufl&ng us a kindly recognition — not frightening
the wild duck nor the brace of rabbits scampering
round the deck ; these ground-game creatures belong
to the sailors, but they are always welcome on our
end of the ship. A blue ensign of gauzy bunting is
hung up to veil the glare of the forenoon sky below
the awning, and everything is arranged for our well-
being as we sail on to tropic lands, the first sight of
which, Darwin tells us, is like beholding a new
planet. Above the peace shine the bright stars of
hope and expectation. The ^Eolian wind sweeps
lightly the cordage of the fair white ship, accom-
panying our thoughts as they rove at large in
fancies eager yet restful. The mountains of the
Egyptian coast are visible as a purple fringe of peaks
all day. The sun sets like a firework in crimson and
gold over Jebel-Umm-Kabash. The temperature of
the sea is eighty degrees, the same as the air. The
sea-bath feels warm to the feet. We have sea-baths at
will ; we have only to lift up a lid in the floor of our
cabins and turn a tap.
I cannot think that luxury is always ' le mauvais
superflu.' The only crook in our lot just now is
that we cannot at once get the next number of the
serial story we are reading.
' Oh, I can tell you how it ends,' says the Duke.
' Of course she don't believe in him till the last
chapter but three, and then it comes out all right.'
Now we know how his Grace would construct a
novel, a kind of book he seldom reads.
THE RED SEA. 81
Early on the 23rd December, I saw the Morning
Star ; I thought it "was daybreak, and looked out of
my porthole, and lo ! it was Venus like a perfect
tiny crescent, much rounded, exquisitely beautiful
and glittering. I never saw this effect before, and,
though I was of course aware of the phases of Venus,
I did not know they could ever be discerned by the
naked eye. I read later — 28th February, Avhen at
Bangkok — in the Times of 13th January, of Venus
appearing (at home) as a morning star with more
than her usual splendour. No wonder so near Christ-
mas that people talked of the Star of Bethlehem.
One bluff visible of the Nubian coast to-day,
naught else save flying-fish, bonitas and porpoises.
We are now -within the tropics, having passed the
tropic of Cancer this afternoon. At sunset we pass
the Emerald mountains of Nubia in the distance
and St. John's Isle, called by the natives the
Emerald Isle ; but here the emeralds are mineral.
The North Star is already low on the horizon.
On Christmas Eve our solitude was unbroken
save when we dipped our ensign to a Peninsular
and Oriental steamer homeward-bound. I could
see to read till five minutes to six.
After dinner we went aft to listen to the men
singing and making ready for Christmas Eve, and
dancing the hornpipe by moonlight to Aleck's pipes.
The second cook, tenor and banjoist, who was in
smart fancy dress, danced a wild hornpipe and
breakdown capitally. Rose, the bos'un, sang his
favourite, perhaps his only song, in honour of Bea-
consfield :
82 THE RED SEA.
' As a statesman we'll ne'er find his equil,
To his country he's ever proved trew-ew,' &e.
The sailors kept the music up late, ending
with three cheers for the Duke of Sutherland,
and three cheers for the ladies; ditto for the
doctor, and three cheers more for the whole ship's
company.
On Christmas Day we were all sea-sick, except the
Duke, with the heat and roughness. At 9.15 a.m., his
Grace decided to make for Massowah as a refuge, and,
before dark, we got into smoother water behind a
small island within the coral reefs. Land seen with
the night-glasses three miles ahead. Careful steer-
ing required, cautious and slow because of the coral
reefs ; the bright moonlight made it somewhat
easier.
The chef did his best for a Christmas dinner, con-
sidering the rumbling, tumbling of the sea. It al-
ways amazes me how they can cook at all when
every lurch may succeed in capsizing their sauce-
pans ; and * dishing up ' will ever remain a marvel
of legerdemain. He iced us a little cake to look
seasonable, and gave us roast turkey and plum-
porridge.
We drank to absent friends.
Daylight showed the lofty, wavy outline of the
Abyssinian mountains rising above the mist as we
steam down the coast about two or three miles off
shore. Below this Alpine chain is an undulating
ridge of table-land, then another lower range of
hills and the low, level shore, sandy and sultry, with
green crops here and there ; the large, white tomb
THE RED SEA. 33
of Mirza-Sheikh-Boneer on the shore and Massowah
before us.
We dropped anchor at Massowah soon after break-
fast, and the Italian admiral, thinking the /Sans Peur
was a ship of war, quickly sent off a young officer
from the flagship to ask our intentions. The Duke
at once went to call on the admiral, who accom-
panied his Grace on shore, and we ladies went on
shore for a walk. Lappy gave himself leave to
swim ashore, took a walk, and swam back safely.
This Lapland dog has never heard of sharks. Lady
Clare went on walking with her maid, while I sat
■with the Duke and the admiral in the officers'
pavilion at the Cercle drinking ' soda champagne,'
that is, raspberry syrup and seltzer. The flies are
so thick as to blacken everything ; they say it is the
season for them, they go away in summer. A young
artillery officer, son and aide-de-camp of the General
San Marzano, in chief command of the army here,
was introduced to us as a rara avis, a lusus naturae,
a young man who did not smoke nor drink, whom
they laughingly but affectionately called ' a young
man of all the virtues.' He was commissioned to
take us about to see the neighbourhood. We looked
into the bazaar, a narrow winding street, partially
shaded with matting, about as unclean as any bazaar
can be ; the shops are only dirty little holes under
the houses, with very little in them, apparently, to
sell. It is true we saw them out of business hours,
when most of the people were asleep ; the hours of
siesta are apparently long here. The other streets
are not imposing, being gullies of about eight to
D
31 THE RED SEA.
ten feet wide. The Italians, however, mean to see
to all this, and remodel the town and drain it.
We walked back to the boat through the busier
parts of the town where the Europeans have their
wharves, employing a pleasant, merry-faced black
population, whosingin chorus over theirwork of land-
ing stores from lighters. Many of these, and the boat-
men about the harbour, are Somali men from Aden.
It is quite an Alpine country over yonder, well-
suited to be an Italian colony. The mountains we
see are never snow-clad, but the admiral says there
is frequently snow on those of the interior, loftier
still than these. The town is entirely Oriental,
nothing has been Europeanised. There are two
mosques, but, though Abyssinia is Christian, I have
not had churches pointed out to me. There are
but four European ladies in Massowah, and only one
of them is young; so Lieutenant San Marzanotold me
regretfully. The Italian consul's house is the only
one that gives any idea of real comfort. They bave
no longer a consulate here, as the place is under
military control ; but this man, who was the consul,
still lives here for business purposes. We have no
consul, although there are five hundred English
subjects here, chiefly Banians, British Indian sub-
jects who bring trade in cotton, grain, perfumes,
ornaments, etc., from Bombay. Many of the shops in
the bazaar belong to the Banians. The Italians, who
of course wish to keep trade, especially in printed
cottons, in their own hands, ride rough over these
people, might being right under a military regime.
We have a consul at Suakim, but Suakim is shut up.
THE RED SEA. ,35
For some time to come there must be a consider-
able trade with Bombay ; for, as at Suakim, every-
thing is brought from Bombay, the Italians (at
least, it was so before the peace) draw nothing from
the country — ' except prawns,' said the lieutenant,
doubtingly.
'And except eggs, I suppose, and milk?' for I
had seen the humped Aden cows here, both grey
and light brown. Still I hear they get beef from
Bomba}', and the mutton here is bad.
We bought ostrich feathers from the numerous
pertinacious Arabs and Jews that thronged the
yacht. ' My bargain ver sheep,' kept on the repre-
sentatives of the Abyssinian lost tribes.
' We can't look without these fellows shaking fea-
thers before one's face. They don't understand no.'
' They understand the advantage of not under-
standing,' said the Duke.
' Ras Alula and English great friends, Italian no
good,' say the donkey boys. Perhaps they represent
the feeling of the natives who hate this state of things.
The Italians shut up the port from trade, which has
now no outlet. The Italian original idea was to
beat the Abyssinians or hold their territory until
they should come to terms and open up trade.
The Italians are not as yet spending much money
on this place ; they laid out very little so long as
the fortune of war made it uncertain whether or no
they would remain here ; but one hears the railway
Avhistle, and they have far-seeing plans to which I
shall refer later. There are eighteen thousand
Italian troops here and two thousand Bashi-Bazouks
D 2
86 THE RED SEA.
and they have already sent for reinforcements. The
tents are scattered about the plain to a good dis-
tance. I shall throughout speak of the place as it
was when I saw it ; this will give the best idea of
what the Italians have done before and since.
At four o'clock Mr. Portal, of the English media-
torial mission, came off to call on the Duke. Un-
luckily it was just as we were stepping into the gig
for an excursion inland arranged by the admiral,
and the horses and carriages and escort were already
waiting. The Duke asked Mr. Portal to dinner, but
we were sorry that he was engaged to dine with the
Italian general and going to Suez early next morn-
ing in a coasting steamer. I was very sorry to miss
seeing more of a man who must have had much of
interest to tell. Mr. Portal was kept a prisoner for
eight days by Has Alula, the then Abyssinian general,
who was interested in keeping the Negus misin-
formed as to the strength of the Italian force. He
told the Negus that the Italians were only eight
thousand eight hundred men.
' I am English,' said Portal.
' No, you are Italian, you are soldier.'
Luckily Mr. Portal had one of the Italian horses,
and was saved by it. The interpreter, who had no
horse, was killed.
Two mule-carriages were waiting for us on the
mainland, and some pretty Arab horses, in case the
gentlemen preferred riding. The Duke drove one
carriage, and the young Italian officer was my com-
panion in the other. He was, I fancy, not used to
mule-driving, for he had continually to call to the
THE RED tiEA. 37
' puntato," a non-commissioned officer who rode by
our side, to come and pull the mule along. But the
animal Avould not go, so the Duke had to take the
lead across the level, and now by the aid of the
' puntato ' and the whip we followed in a deviating
course. My fingers itched to take the reins, but I
could find no polite excuse for offering to drive
while the lieutenant rode one of the pretty Arabs.
The plain was set with a plant with broad, bright-
green leaves, the Calotropis procera,* and with tall
cactus-like plants, very stiff and straight. These
latter are, in fact, euphorbias, for there is only one
species of the great cactus order found in an indi-
genous wild state outside of the New World, and
that is the curious leafless rhipsalis cassytha of Cey-
lon. In one of our many involuntary stoppages I
thought to gather, or rather hew down, one of these
great cactuses, but the Duke called out,
' Don't distress yourself about them ; I'll send
you some better ones from Trentham.'
The Abyssinian plains are infested with tarantulas.
This plain is also sprinkled with Arab villages of
the friendly Habab tribe, the men of which wear
numerous small platted tails of hair. These villages
swarm with children, the younger ones naked. Their
bee-hive-shaped huts are wattled with brush-wood.
We now drove along the lower ridge of the rising
ground to a village near Otumlo, where the hills
begin. From here we could see the stone causeway
that connects Massowah with the island of Taulud,
and the long causeway, one kilometre long, connect-
* Note A, Appendix.
38 THE RED SEA.
inf Taulud with the mainland. Here was General
Gene's camp. He was here retrieving his name and
rubbing off the tarnish of his former defeat at Dogali.
Italy was licked in a fair fight; they called it a
massacre because the Abyssinians gave no quarter.
Here at this strong point of the Italian iron frontier
we alighted and walked about the friendly, almost
too friendly population. The children noticed
which sorts of flowers I gathered, and offered me
more. They looked very lively and intelligent, and
took a deep interest in my sketch of the dwelling of
the richest man in the village, an Arab, who lives
in a square house built of stone, with overhanging
windows of woodwork, and a triple-headed arch
over the principal entrance with rosettes on each
side. This house, like many of the bigger huts, has
a neatly wattled enclosure round it. This is for the
purpose of securing the domestic animals from the
attacks of the numerous wild animals who prowl
round the villages at night, and would otherwise do
a good deal of depredation. The dwellings of the
village altogether are superior to the hovels of the
Egyptian fellahin. The Hababs are friendly, but
Lieutenant San Marzano tells me the Italians do
not trust them implicitly ; they would at once
betray or turn against them for profit.
Italy, say the Italians, is doing the work of
England. England would not permit France or
Russia to hold Massowah, as it might give them
too strong a grip on the Red Sea. Russia always
advances, therefore she must be allowed no port on
the Red Sea, whence she might stride to India ; so
THE RED SEA. 39
England offered Massowah to Italy. Next week
they think we shall offer them Suakim.
' We are so generous in offering anything that we
don't want,' said his Grace.
Perim, they say, is really more important to us
than Gibraltar. So it is, until the Persian Gulf
route is made. Not Russia, not France may hold
the Red Sea : only England or Italy. Suakim will
be held for the same reason.
' Italy requires Massowah,' says young San Mar-
zano, in the lofty manner of young Italy, ' therefore
I am here. If 1 die, I shall return home the sooner.'
He says they consider England has been generous
to them, not in giving Massowah, but in advising
them that the enemy is a serious one. They do not
want Magdala ; Azraara suffices Italy.
It was too dark to drive to the causeways uniting
Massowah to the mainland, so we hastened to the
pier by Fort Abd-el-Kader, on the northernmost of
the two nearly parallel peninsulas adjoining the
island of Massowah. We drove as fast as the mules
would drag us through the swamps and tidal water-
courses, and arrived by nightfall at the camp, where
the bugles were blowing and supper was being pre-
pared for the troops. We drove as far as we could
through the camp, and then Avalked to the pier,
picking our way by lantern-light through the many
obstructions of a camp, and the constructions belong-
ing to the new pier and terminus. Lieutenant di
San Marzano dined with us.
We were interested by this handsome young
soldier, ' the young man of all the virtues, who did
40 THE RED SEA.
not smoke. He tasted all our wines in boyish
curiosity. ' He doesn't drink, either,' said the doctor,
satirically- But he really did not take much
alcohol, for the Duke's wines are not fortified ; pure
sherry and port, excellent, but in their mildest forms,
just as they drink them in Spain and Portugal.
The lieutenant was engaged to a young lady at
Genoa. He showed us each in profound secrecy a
locket containing hair and engraved with the English
words, 'For ever.' Decay, he said, presented no
idea to him. ' If I die I shall live in their' (Italy
and his ladylove's) ' memory till time is no more.'
The young artillery-man was excited somewhat with
the prospect of speedily going into action.
' Oh, when we die w^e shall find seventy houris
awaiting us on the other side,' said the doctor, who
alwaj's dreamt of those seventy lovely women in
the shrubberies of the Peris, meanwhile remaining
a bachelor here for their sakes.
' The bird in hand is better far than ten that in
the bushes is,' quoted Lady Clare.
The Knight of the Locket hoped he would not be
compelled to take the seventy. 'Faithful to one,'
was his motto. ' Je ne les connais pas, les soixante-
dix de I'autre cote. Ah ! I can't explain it, it is
inexplicable ; les trops sont trops absolumma.' His
French being Italian-French, he always softened the
syllable ment into ma. How ? Gonxma. ' Besides,
I always sing the " Chanson de Retour." That is
Garibaldi's hymn.' He sighed, as from a full heart :
and no wonder, poor lad ! His life altogether was
pretty full just now. The New Year so close at hand
THE RED SEA. 41
what would it bring to him ? He had volunteered
for African service because he wished to be with his
father, the general in chief command here.
He was interested rather than astonished at the
bagpipes, which are always played after dinner,
when the yacht is in port. He knew the Neapolitan
' pifferari.'
General di San Marzano sent off a note to his
son, telling him to ' make himself charming to these
English people,' — which we assured, and re-assured,
him he was doing — and also an offer of a special
train for us to go as far as the outposts of the camp
to-morrow. The Duke had only to name the hour
that suited him.
Evening, fortunately, puts an end to the nuisance
of the flies, which, like the other vermin of the
country, retire to secure hiding-places to sleep.
The patent punkah was fitted up for us at Massowah,
which relieved the breakfast-table of the plague of
flies, ' trying to make their living in an honest way,'
as the Duke indulgently remarked.
We were to be called for soon after breakfast by
Lieutenant San Marzano, to go by train to an
advanced outpost at the end of the railway, nine
miles (thirteen kilometres) off. They sent the
general's boat for us, with awnings, manned by
rowers in red jerseys, white pants, and blue ker-
chiefs. They were trained to a peculiar stroke, one
long pull, and then a pause, da capo. We rowed
to the Abd-el-Kader station, encircled by the blue-
capped tents of the camp we passed through last
evening at bivouac.
42 THE RED SEA.
Till the train -was ready, we took shelter in a large
matted hut, with a tall pent-house all round, roughly
colonnaded with timber, and shaded with matting,
simple and cool, as the breeze could pass every way,
and the hut was always shady at least on two sides.
The beds — placed, for coolness, in the pent-house
verandah — were made of nothing but matting.
These precautions are necessary ; for it was even
now so hot in the sun that some sulphur-flowered
plants growing by the hut were drooping already.
Our friends found, on examination, that the special
carriage it was intended we should have had was not
ready; it had just arrived, incomplete, from Italy,
and could not be put together in time ; so they sent
an ordinary military carriage forward for us. The
line is a very narrow gauge, with iron sleepers for
the rails. Strong-looking navvies were working on
the line. The engineer of the line has two thousand
men under him. Two-thirds of the water they use
here is condensed. Two English condensing vessels
that we used in Abyssinia are hired by the Italian
government, though the .ships still carry English
flags. The Duke saw these condensing vessels before
they went out to Abyssinia, and so we ladies would
not let the Italian officers have the trouble of
showing us over them — as they kindly offered to
do — though their machinery is said to be very
interesting. Each of the ships condenses one hun-
dred and fifty tons a-day or more, yet they may
not give a gallon of water away without an order
from the admiralty.
We found it so hot in our carriage, next the
THE RED SEA. 43
engine, and open to it, that, we had to shift to the
third-class compartment at the back. I catalogued
the objects of interest in my note-book as we went
on. Item, military store depot and naval arsenal, also
a fort erected at the shoreward end of the peninsula,
called Abd-el-Kader from the tomb of a Mussulman
notability of that name erected on it, and a good
view of the causeway from Massowah to the main-
land, with the blue mountain range behind it ; men
bathing, at great risk of sunstroke, in the nearer
lagoons, and in the distance opposite the town are
advanced posts and tiny white towns of tents. The
land here is parched and desert-like, except where
the tidal streams gather into lagoons and lose them-
selves in swamps ; the arid plain is studded with dwarf
tamarisk and the tall cactus-like euphorbia abyssinica,
the latter usually overgrown with a parasitic plant.
There are numerous small birds. A military ambulance
is going across country, past a native village chiefly
of rounded huts formed of sticks planted upright
in the ground in a circle, bent together at the top,
and covered Avith reed -mats. Here at Otumlo station
is an oasis of palms and acacias walled round with
mud. The station — that is, the open ground where
the train halts ; for, of course, there is no actual
station — swarms with little ebony-black boys, with
eager, intelligent faces. The animal look predomi-
nates in their faces as they grow older. The little
black mud-larks, bathing, cheer the train, just as
British boys would do. Human nature is so much
alike everywhere ; and boys will be boys. A camel
wanders on the line : so much the worse for the
U THE RED SEA.
camel. The shrieks of the engine clear the line, and
the camel stalks off, making a face at us.
The extensive native villages here are densely-
populated. The women wear abundant white drapery.
Among a group at the well, I see several grand,
majestic forms of women finely draped. Now we
pass near the village we visited last night, Zaga,
close to the camp where General Gene, at the head
of the Regiment des Morts, commands the ' forlorn
hope.' There are little gardens laid out round some
of the tents, and clumps of palms, a kind of chamaj-
rops. Near here is the Swedish mission-house, a neat
stone house with a wooden verandah. It is now
closed; an inscription declares, 'Ferraata Missione
Suedese.' The undulating land begins here ; and
up the hills march camels carrying timber, chiefly
for constructions.
Abubulana station. Here grows miuch of that large,
green-leaved plant, the calotropis, three to four feet
high. Here is aregimentof fineblack soldiers, and here
we see the tall, straw, sugar-loaf hats of Piedmon-
tese workmen busy at work on some solid buildings
in the neighbourhood of a hill-fort commanding a
narrow valley, above which numerous vultures are
soaring. The scene reminds one of Aldershot, until
a swarm of the Hababi come down to see the train ;
these natives, too, are employed as workmen to handle
the pickaxe and drive camels ; several of them are
grey-haired blacks. The regiments here wear sand-
coloured uniform ; white is bad, they say, as being
too conspicuous.
THE RED SEA.
45
46 THE RED SEA.
' If you were out hunting in white, you'd catch
nothing,' says the young lieutenant of artillery.
The river-beds are now empty, though this is the
rainy season, and five days since, they tell us, the
rain ploughed up this nearer torrent-bed, which is
now all channelled, yet dry. The scenery here is of
sand-hillocks, with a peep of the ' camp of our
destination ' at the farther end of a district of rocky
hills. There goes a galloping donkey to convey
news of something of consequence to somewhere,
the donkey's long tail streaming in the wind with
the speed. The flies divide our attention with the
view of a hilly desert, with numerous monkeys clam-
bering about the broken rocks and craggy peaks.
The valley closes in here. A dry, baked country even
now — what must it be in summer ! Earthquakes,
they sa,y, are frequently felt ; these blackened,
broken cliffs look like the result of volcanic explo-
sion. More blue-capped white tents, with the Italian
flag on the surrounding earthworks, and dust-
coloured tents on the stony land immediately round
us, with mules picketed handy by. The mules are
mostly brought from Poitou, the fodder likewise. The
artillery-horses are Italian, the cavalry use Egyptian
Arabs. There are also some pretty little Abyssinian
horses careering about and curveting showily.
These native horses are strong but small. The army
camels are bought or hired here. Near the terminus
are large hay-sheds with trusses of good hay. For
fuel they burn coal and the dry and broken branches
strewn about wherever there are trees.
On one of the farthest of the peaked hills closing
THE BED SEA. 47
in the tenriinus is a large zareeba fenced round with
brushwork. The telegraph extends to this point.
As we alighted, sundry and various generals and
brigadiers were introduced to us, and they gave us
ladies an arm to show us all about the camp. They
made much of us. The Dulce was a great friend of
Garibaldi, and many of the senior officers knew him
and were delighted to welcome hira. The briga-
diers stopped at the end of each one's command and
handed us over to other officers of rank, who took
us to the top of a hill whence we could see with a
telescope the whole surrounding hill-country. Do-
gali was pointed out to us in the middle distance,
the scene of the Italian disaster, a tragedy unendur-
able to the spirit of young Italy, which burns to
wipe out the stain in victory, or at least in a solid
success. The strikingly precipitous hills we see are
the Abyssinian highlands. The fort, named Victor
Emanuel, here at Monkullo, commands the whole of
the valley. Sentinels and outposts were to be seen
at different points on the hills beyond the camp ; a
sort of long-stop fielders. They were pressing on the
construction of the railway to Saati, about eleven
miles farther inland, extending the line and building
an iron bridge over the torrent course. Crowds of
natives were squatting about collecting stones to
make the roads, which are, however, in some places
supported by sandbags. Even the railway line is
here and there constructed in this way. The drain-
age is of necessity carefully attended to. Captain
Michelini was introduced to me, and, seeing me
botanizing, he told me of a blue flower he called
48 THE RED SEA.
a campanula growing a little distance off, and
carried me off to see it. It was a blue papiliona-
ceous flower, but no campanula, of coarse ; it is
called torea or taurea, very pretty, and of an intense
blue. The cultivated double variety is a handsome
flower ; I saw it later, growing in Siam.
Captain Michelini was the hero of the hour; he was
almost the only Italian survivor of the fight at Dogali,
at any rate the only officer. After receiving seven
wounds, one right through his body, during the
massacre, he crawled back on hands and knees from
Dogali to Massowah, some twenty kilometres, and
saved himself. He crawled for forty-eight hours in
this forlorn condition — a wonderfully plucky thing
to do ; he would not give up, but crept staggeringly
on as long as he could and brought back the news
of the engagement. To do this in such a climate,
through a hostile country, required not only an iron
will, but an iron constitution. When he came to
the village of Toulout, he was on all fours. Ninety
men were saved in all of the invading army; of
these but few were really Italians, and many have
since died of their wounds. It is next to impossi-
ble for Europeans to live during summer at Mon-
kullo ; the summer heat is sometimes as high as
fifty centigrade degrees, one hundred and twenty-
two degrees Fahrenheit.
Captain Michelini is about thirty-five years of
age. He looked hearty and strong enough, and w^s
eager to go at it again !
There was an unusually large gathering of wild
and picturesque groups of natives lining the path as
THE RED SEA. 49
we passed, on account of their being assembled for
a fantasia, or native dance and festivity. We were
taken to a long tent, shaded by a few acacia-trees,
to bivouac Avith the officers.
'A la guerre comme a la guerre,' said they,
apologizing for the roughness and simplicity of
everything. We English are supposed to be so
wonderfully luxurious even in the midst of war.
At first they seemed quite horrified at the idea of
taking ladies to see their tents and their cooking
establishment ; it must, they thought, be so shock-
ing to all our ideas of comfort. ' We Italians are
so poor,' they said, ' you English cannot understand
it.'
To me it seemed like a camp of old heroic times,
this stern simplicity of life of these gentlemen,
sharing in all ways the hardships of their men ;
their manners so simple yet refined. They might
all be descended from old Roman families, or, better
still, from Roman kings, consuls and tribunes.
Guerilla warfare has trained their leaders, many of
whom are Garibaldi's soldiers. They are business-
like about their work, and understand it thoroughly.
We might gain many hints from their Spartan sim-
plicity, we who almost always lose our first battles ;
we can do nothing early in a campaign, until we
have got rid of our superabundant impedimenta.
Here there are few camp-followers, they have not
even a war correspondent.
Colonel Barattieri, who presided at luncheon,
showed us his work-room, a small tent of the sort
called ' tente d'abri,' sheltered by an arbour; it was
50 THE RED SEA.
quite simple, furnished only with a plain deal writing-
table, astool, and a camp-bed. So few are the necessaries
of life. A bath, which is such an absolute necessity in
a climate like this, is not altogether an impossibility
even here.
We had coffee in another dining-tent at some
distance, passing on the way the cooking-fires, which
reminded one more of going ' a-gipsying ' than of
our neat arrangements at Aldershot and Shorncliffe,
which indeed are military cities, while this is but a
camp in the wilderness. The rude camp-kettles, tin
coffee-pots, horn cups, and other furniture are delight-
fully business-like, as is the whole of the camp ; the
troops are prepared to fight to-morrow, to-day it may
be. Many of these fine fellows were with Garibaldi,
and anxious to shake hands with his friend the Duke.
His Grace wrote our names on the long deal table,
and was afterwards asked to write them in a book
also, as a memento of our visit.
An officer who had escaped from Saati, a red-bearded
captain fluent in English, now convoyed us to another
part of the camp surrounded closely by rocks abound-
ing in game, partridges, and gazelles, affording sport to
his greyhound, called Flirt, who has become thin as a
skeleton in Africa; there are also monkeys and hyenas,
and, more troublesome still, the fissured rocks afford
cover to sharpshooters of the enemy, requiring con-
stant watchfulness on the part of the Italian sentries.
In proceeding to where the train was waiting for
us to return, they showed us a typical well of the
country at Axheaf. These wells are simply and
easily made ; water is found anywhere at two metres
THE RED SEA. 61
deep, a hole is dug and surrounded by stones, and
there it is. While at Massowah they have no water
for hourly use, and most of the comforts of life here
depends on water; here at this camp is plenty of
water, and they pity their fellow-soldiers at Abd-el-
Kader camp for having so little. An aqueduct has
since this was written been formed from MonkuUo
to Massowah. The water-carriers of the villages
are chiefly, if not always, women with goat-skin
bags. The soldiers carry canvas water-pails. The
Regiment dei Mori was drawn up for us to see, and
some companies of Bersaglieri, with a merry native
boy they called ' Diavolete ' with fez and red jacket,
the ' son of the regiment.' The train soon brought
us down to the level ground. Between two native
villages near we have a view of the Abyssinian Alps
rising before us in the distance beyond the Plain
delle Scimmie, as the Italians call it, where General
Baldizero is in command. Here are numerous Arab
horses, and water-tanks and troughs for the horses
to drink at. As it is but a single line, we have to
wait here some time, the train drawn up on a siding
at Barambara for a train that is bringing more
troops to the front. Here we shake hands with
several native officers in white draperies. They
shake hands crossing the right hand over the left.
One of these officers was once a great brigand chief;
they took and tamed him here. He was introduced
to the great English Duke.
Captain Framari and Captain Cipriani, naval men,
who both spoke English, were here appointed to
explain things to us. ' Chippy,' as Lady Clare calls
B 2
52 THE RED SEA.
him, has come here to look for a bit of fun, for he
really belongs to the fleet at home, only he volun-
teered for service in Abyssinia. He has a pointer
with him, ' Ghost ' is his name. This dog has been
here seventeen months ; always thin, he gets more
and more wasted. What will be left of our poor
Lappy by-and-by ? ' Chippy ' will soon get his bit
of what he calls fun, for the army expects to fight
in a fortnight. ' Chippy ' is the only one among
them all who does not take a serious view of what
is really a very grave position. The Italians do not
want to annex the country, they wish to open it up
to their trade, and they intend to hold Massowah
as a free port for their goods. It is expected that
the present ad valorem duty of eight per cent, levied
on all commodities entering the port, which has
been hitherto devoted to local improvements, such
as the bettering of the harbour and construction of
wharves and piers, will, when once the colony is
fully established, be remitted from goods of Italian
manufacture, and only be levied on foreign articles
of commerce.
In colonizing, the Italians and ourselves have, in
the main, diflFerent objects. They want to create trade
at home by finding a fresh market for it ; we want
more to find an outlet for our population. As the
climate of the African littoral of the Red Sea makes
it hardly worth our while to keep stations on it
— now that we have managed to let the best oppor-
tunities of opening up trade by the Red Sea slip
through our fingers, as we have shown such an absurd
preference for the Nile route — our best plan for
THE RED SEA. 53
getting our share of the future African trade is to
make the Nile route practicable by rail and water.
This part of Africa has a teeming population, and
these people all want cottons ; whether they have
the means of paying for gay print, coloured beads,
and perfumed hair-oil is another matter. Ivory and
feathers seem abundant enough. Whether these
goods would suit our book, I cannot tell ; but the
people are not like the lazy Malays and Siamese,
they can be taught to work, as the Italians find ;
and, when taught, they do work, and that well.
One can see by the few enclosures and gardens that
the country is worth cultivating; while in some
parts the rich, deep loam might equal in productive
capacity the best alluvial ground in Egypt.
All this railway has been constructed in about
two months. It will soon be opened as far as Saati.
The railway sleepers here are of wood. For tele-
graph poles they use two native spears, spliced with
thongs in the middle. They have both telegraph
and telephone. The Italian plan of campaign is
good : to fortify as they go, and never to get ahead
of their railway. Consequently they have not had
to fight at all, being never taken at a disadvantage,
but always strongest at a given point.
The lengthening shadows of the men show that
the greatest heat is past, otherwise ■\ve should not
know it. ' See that nigger with a shot-silk sunshade,
and so little on of value to shelter !' said the Duke to
me. Indeed, the man wore drab rags of the scantiest,
though to be dressy was in his nature. Perhaps he
had borrowed the smart parasol.
54 THE RED SEA.
The expected train is retarded three-quarters-of-
an-hoiir ; so our special is delayed. A letter of
apology is sent to the Duke for the delay ; he says
these are the chances of war. We are as well enter-
tained here as we could be anywhere else, and we
have fine mountain scenery to enjoy. A pet regi-
mental monkey is brought to salute us, and cut
capers, and turn somersaults for our amusement.
Some droTnedaries sweep swiftly past us, moving at
great speed. At last the train comes in, loaded
with a company of soldiers, the engineers, and the
band. There is to be a concert at MonkuUo to-
morrow night, to cheer the men. These Italian
soldiers are fine manly fellows, and very glad to
meet each other.
The Italians, twenty thousand men in all, have
just been ordered to begin their forward march,
and they are pouring to the front as rapidly as
the trains can bring them. It is sad to think of
those fine fellows being perhaps most of them dead
before many weeks are over. The enemy are reck-
oned at eighty thousand men, and all good marks-
men. The tragedy of Dogali is still on the minds
of all of us.
There are very small engines on this small line ;
they shriek as loud as bigger ones. ' Pronti ' ! we
are oflT. It is dark by the time wc reach Abd-el-Kader.
After this very interesting excursion, we were
glad to rest on board the yacht, sipping cider-cup
in the mild moonlight. With what interest we
shall watch the movements of these gallant troops.
They are all in a capital state of preparation.
THE RED liEA. 65
There are perhaps no objects of interest in Masso-
wah itself, but we are glad we put in here ; we
have seen a different life, widening our sympathies.
A young naval officer, Signor Ramognino, from the
admiral's ship, dined with us, as well as Lieutenant
San Marzano. The eagerness of the one officer
made the other half sorry he should not take part
in the action. Before our return — in five months —
we reflected, it will be settled, one way or the other.
It was frightful to think of eighty thousand savage
warriors rushing upon the camp from these hills.
The picture of the probable result, all ' in one red
burial blent,' sickened me to contemplate. These
skilled officers have taken every precaution, but
numbers are against them, and, worse still, so is
the climate.
A note was brought off again while we were at
dinner ; the lieutenant must be ready to leave us
early, when a boat would be sent for him. They are
all ordered to the front early to-morrow. The enemy
is moving forward, gathered in vast numbers on the
hills ready to sweep down in force. Young San
Marzano was again excited, not with wine this time,
he scarcely touched any.
' It is not because we are at table, but because we
shall be ordered off to-morrow,' said he.
I thought of the young lady he was engaged to
at Genoa as I saw him fingering his locket ; I wished
him well silently.
His father, the general-in-chief, was very attentive
to us, though he was unable to call in person
because of this sudden pressure. He sent us maps,
66 THE RED SEA.
and Qven ordered ice for us, though it has been
knocked olF the last two days from the officers' al-
lowance, as it is all kept for the hospital and neces-
sity The Duke refused to take it from the sick men.
We are glad for their sakes that a ship with three
thousand tons of ice is coming on Friday. This is
Tuesday. The health of the Italian troops gene-
rally is excellent ; as a winter climate the interior
of the country is considered fine ; very likely it is
so on the hills, though the swamp ground and rot-
ten coral shores of Massowah makes this the un-
healthiest place on the Red Sea. Our troops were
healthy throughout the Abyssinian war. We had
hospital-ships for our men. We find it much cooler
on the yacht than on shore.
The chief risk to health lies in the great tempta-
tion to bathe in the sun, as our men have foolishly
been doing to-day. Next morning, just before we
left Massowah, we heard that an Italian soldier,
bathing, had just had his arm bitten off by a shark.
Happily for Italy, patience, prudence, and pre-
paration have conducted the warfare of this season
to a successful and bloodless end.
57
CHAPTER III.
TO THE FAll EAST.
Ea bas, sur le pont, la foule, les homines entasses a I'ombre des tentes,
haletaient avec accablement. L'eau, I'air, la lumiere avaient pris une
spleudeur morne, ecrasante ; et la fete eternelle de ces choses ctait comme
une ironie pour les etres, pour les existences organisees qui sont ephd-
meres.— Pierre Loti.
Off again : no post, and panting Care toils after us
in vain ; not but what there was a telegraphic
cypher prepared for certain contingencies.
We steamed out of the beautiful bay half encir-
cled by mountains of Alpine character, the range
ended by a lofty mountain sloping off at the end of
the Bight of Archico. Coral reefs to port and
rocky islets to starboard.
The sailors flapped the flies overboard ; so we
soon got rid of that plague. Nowhere have I seen
them so numerous ; not in Egypt, not in the valley
of the Jordan, not in Seville, not in all three to-
gether, and these places I have thought hitherto
the favourite haunts of flies.
Lappj'^, the dog, had his hair cut ; he looked cooler,
but ludicrously ashamed of himself, with only a
shoulder-cape left and a tuft at the tip of his tail.
58 TO THE FAR EAST.
We were out again in the seething blue sea, send-
ing up its fountains of sparkling foam, and flj^ng-
fish fell in such numbers on the deck that we ate
them for breakfast, and very good and delicate they
were. Next d&j the rugged coast-line of the Red
Sea closed us in on both sides, wild, rugged, conical
peaks rising on both horizons, and then came the
desolate hills round Mocha. We had a heavy sick-
list on board, chiefly caused, it was thought, by the
men bathing in the heat of the sun at Massowah.
On December 30th we saw the lofty, rocky coast
of Yemen, with heavy clouds above the high table-
land of the interior, and rugged, tortuous, peaked
rocks and islands all volcanic. Beyond the rocks a
low, sandy shore begins, with a dim, distant back-
ground of table-land cropping up into peaks occa-
sionally. A large, rugged peninsula, looking like
an islet, made of sharp, comb-like ridges of rock
deeply serrated against the sky comes into view on
the starboard quarter — ^it is Aden.
There are some races on, and the yarn runs that
nobody is left in the town but the post-master and
the telegraph-boy. We get our letters and the
papers, full, as usual, of what we have not been
doing. Diving-boy to our captain, 'I don't love
you many very well,' when he threw him a broken
saucer to dive for. Funny little brown, woolly-
headed, grinning fellows in their small, hollowed
timber tubs of boats, which they paddle, or upset,
or jump out of, and do what they like with, all the
while looking up at the steamers, and grinning and
crying ' Have a dive ' — abbreviation of ' heave for a
TO THE FAR EAST. 69
dive.' They readily find threepenny bits and half-
quarter rupees at a depth of several fathoms. As
the flags are hauled down at gunfire, a large steamer,
full of soldiers in British uniform, came round and
cheered the Sans Peurha&vtWj] to this day we do not
know why, but it Was pleasant.
The Parsee shipping-agent and his servants bring
fruit and flowers on board and a large bag of genuine
Mocba coffee as presents ; and Somali mats and
coloured round baskets, with pointed covers, are
brought for sale. We were large buyers until some
experienced person told us not to spend our money
here as we should get so much better things in
India.
Bertha, the Swiss maid, is making herself cool cot-
ton dresses, and bemoans her ill fate that she has 'no
sewing-machine, no Tommy (dummy), no nosing.'
' No Tommy ?' says the steward, inquiringly.
'It is a ship ' (shape) ' to hang the clotheses
on.'
Steward, still mystified, and rather severely,
'We have no room for Tommies on board.'
The sick men are recovering sufficiently to have
songs, and send up rockets for New Year's Eve.
The Duke went to a consular official dinner at
Government House on Sunday, New Year's Day ;
and on the 2nd of January the Governor gave a
ball and a dinner-party in his honour. Mr. Henley,
the Peninsular and Oriental agent, gave us the
kindest hospitality while the yacht was coaling, &c.
as most of us were not up to enjoying the liveliness of
Government House. We soon sailed for Marmagoa.
60 ro THE FAR EAST.
' Are you really going all that distance in the
yacht ?' is the question of everybody.
We had really made up our minds so to do, and
why not ? The Sans Peur, six hundred tons, is no
cockle-shell.
'Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll I
A thousand sweeps fleet over thee in vain.'
Our luminous reflections on the grandeur of the
ocean and the rest of our poetry are of too serious
and metaphysical a nature to enter into a light
work of this kind ; for the present they must remain
locked in the beautiful clasped albums that we
naturally carried with us for the reception of such
sublime ideas. This should have been by far the
finest chapter of this book, and I cannot tell how it
is that it has been left inedited. I cannot for the life
of me think why ; goodness knows there was time
for no end of fine writing, yet the opportunity was
lost.
Sunday, January 16th. — We were promised the
sight of land for early this morning, and felt
aggrieved when it was not to be seen. What was
the use of our getting up so early ?
At 10 a.m. the captain on the bridge, with a
powerful glass, declares he can see ' the loom of it.'
' The loom. What is that ? The outline ?'
' Yes, the outline.'
' I should like to see the outline of India ; an
outline on a grand scale, that,' I thought, as I
hastened up on the bridge to take my share of the
sight. The captain's glass suits his eye only, for
none of us can see anything but blue sea. By-and-
TO THE FAR EAST 61
by the Duke cries, 'A branch of bamboo, that looks
like land.' We feel like Columbus's companions,
and rouse ourselves languidly; the bamboo is past,
a weary look at the east shows no outline or loom,
of land to us. I fling myself down and plunge into
the ' Cruise of the Marchesa ' once more. Land
did appear before the evening of that day : we saw
the red cliffs and intensely green vegetation of the
Indian coast in the mouths of the rivers round the
islet of old Goa ; the tiny castle on the cliff-side
eclipsed by the flag-staff, the cliffs themselves well-
nigh eclipsed by the strong new breakwater built
at Marmagoa, which is in future quite to eclipse old
Goa harbour, if not old Goa itself, and new Goa or
Panjim, to boot. The Portuguese governor, a naval
officer, in full fig, came on board to call on the Duke,
and in re-entering his boat his spurs (!) caught in
one of the cross seats and he tumbled in head fore-
most. We politely looked another way, and absorbed
ourselves in the catching of some opal-grey semi-
transparent fish, and some with canary-coloured
tails, neither of which looked eatable. We did not
try them at this time, but the latter sort we bought
and ate on our return, when we had better appetite.
Several excursions were made to Goa, visiting the
five Portuguese churches, dating from the end of
the sixteenth-century, and the relics of St. Francis
Xavier, whose life we had all been reading — and a
perfect life it is ! — and seeing the old houses where
oyster-shells are used in the windows instead of
panes of glass. I was ill, I had been so ever since I
left Massowah, and was unable to do more than
62 TO THE FAR EAST.
CQvy the others, and let myself be carried up in a
doolie to the Traveller's Bungalow on the hill. The
air is so much fresher up here, and one escapes the
coaling. The pathway up is lined with most vivid
verdure of strange trees ; it is as if all nature were
painted in unmitigated emerald green ; it would not
come well into a picture, people would exclaim,
' How unnatural !' I suppose it is the intensity of
the light appearing through the translucency of the
leaves, as well as the sunlight developing a vast
amount of chlorophyll. Explain it as one may, it
is unnatural, there is a boat greenishness about the
foliage in this and some few other places in the
tropics where there is red or orange- brown soil that
makes it like the foliage one sees at the theatre.
Still it is refreshing to look at after many days at sea.
The hill-top here is a wide level from whence one can
see sunset and sunrise, and a fine view over land and
sea. Glimpses of blue sea shine up through every
break in the foliage far below, soothing and beauti-
ful, the coast-line rippling with wave-like hills
stretching out opposite beyond the bay, the land-
scape peopled with fine dark figures wrapped in
transparent muslins of many colours, their dark
skins smoothly polished like bronze. No one here
speaks a word of English. The doctor coming up
frequently to look after my welfare puzzles them a
good deal with his orders.
The bungalow is meant for travellers who bring
their own provisions ; it supplies beds, baths, soda-
water, tables and chairs, and cane lounges of all
kinds in the verandah. Some one up here keeps
TO TEE FAR EAST. 63
ducks, nice fat ones too. I lived upon duck ex-
clusively, and the Duke sent me up wine from the
yacht. Marmagoa, being a new settlement, is ill
provided with market produce. The engineers of
the new line kindly sent me milk in a soda-water
bottle. As they kept cows, they lent us milk each
day ; we called it lending, because in no other way
could the transaction have been made. The only
milk the steward could buy was buffalo milk, and
that in very small quantity.
'Haven't you got any beef?' asked Herries,
querulously, of a fine man in pink muslin command-
ing a boat-load of empty baskets.
' Yes, sare ; young beef, sare.'
It was buffalo veal.
' Come weal, come woe,' says Herries, groaning.
My great loss was the sight of the romantic
scenery on the new line of railway as far as
Dhdrwdr, whence it goes on to Bellary, where it
joins the main line to Madras. The Duke and I
had been very eager to travel over this line, which
his Grace is deeply interested in. This new part
of the line was not yet open, but it could be
travelled over by trollies, and the chief engineer
kindly sent for a saloon carriage for my use as an
invalid. The plan had been for us to cross India
from Marmagoa to Madras, while the yacht went
round by Ceylon; and much I longed to cross
India, the Italy of Asia.
We heard the engineers talk of the wild charms
of Castle Rock, and the fine scenery of the ghauts ;
and when I saw Herries got up like a complete
64 TO THE FAR EAST.
sportsman, and the whole party setting off in the
spirit of adventure, I felt it hard that I could only
look on. The captain said sympathisingly to me,
' You know what the yacht is, but you don't know
the other journey.' Lady Clare was very anxious for
me to go, but the doctor strongly advised my not at-
tempting it, as the engineers' bungalow at Castle Rock
was ten miles from the rail, and only to be reached
on horseback, and the ladies would have perforce
to sleep in the train. The engineers said it would be
madness for me to try to go by rail, as there are as yet
no stations nor preparations for travellers, and the
country was all savage rocks or jungle, with not a
civilized house before Dharwdr, at the end of the
second day's journey. They were exerting them-
selves to get all ready for the opening of the line at
the end of the month, and had sent orders to Bom-
bay to supply the ceremonial feast, when Lord and
Lady Reay were to ' inaugurate ' the line with its
terminus and port at Marmagoa. By-and-by this
will be an important place, as, besides opening up
Central India to the west, it will take the quick
traffic of Madras, and probably much of that of
Calcutta. They set off on the expedition, and I
was carried down in a doolie to the yacht, just halt-
ing to gather some branches of a very striking
white-tasselled flower growing by the winding path.
The engineers sent me flowers for the yacht, and
everyone in Marmagoa seemed to wish to make me
comfortable.
While they are washing the anchor and weighing
it, which takes time, for we carry one hundred
TO THE FAR EAST. 66
fathoms of anchor-chain, which weighs four tons, I
make acquaintance with the new happy family on
board. Besides my old fellow-travellers, the Lap-
land dog, and Jacko the monkey from St. Kitts, and
the rabbits, there was a new monkey on board, and
there were two piglets, the funniest things, like
miniature wild boars, sitting habitually in an atti-
tude like the Florentine wild boar in bronze, and
two melancholy kids from Marmagoa, too thin to
live, or even to be slain for an}^ useful purpose.
We had lovely weather for steaming down the
Indian coast, and the captain was able to carry us
close in shore, so that we had a fine view of the red
coast-line of Travancore and the lofty chain of the
southern Ghauts. I did not lose all the sights and
tropical wonders by coming this way, for on Sun-
day, January 22nd, I saw from the bridge, as I sat
up there as usual for an hour or so before sundown,
a large luminous serpentine form, which rose slowly
out of the water in two large curves (like two arches
of a low bridge), letting me see distinctly the large
diaper pattern marked on the flattened silvery sides
of a huge snake. I had my note-book in my hand,
and rapidly sketched off its markings and its out-
66 TO THE FAR EAST.
line, as much as I could see of it on and under the
water. The great size and luminousness of the crea-
ture were its chief characteristics, besides the flat-
tened sides ; I could not see either extremity, nor do
I remember distinguishing any fins, but the curves I
saw were, as I judged, together about half as long
again as our deck-house, and I saw it at about two
hundred yards off. No one was on the bridge at
the time ; I often had it to myself at that hour ; I
called to Mr. Butters, but by the time he came the
creature had disappeared, which was unlucky for me.
The captain told me large sea-serpents were not un-
common in this part of the Indian Ocean. My own
conviction is that this was the sea-serpent, which I had
hitherto looked upon as fabulous ; the best authen-
ticated case I had hitherto known was the sea-ser-
pent seen at Haulbowline, which turned out to be a
long lawyer from Cork taking a swim. Since then
I have been told of what I believe to be genuine
cases, the most convincing being one seen in Scot-
land, off Dunrobin Castle, where the Duke of Suther-
land's secretary and the minister of the parish and
his family all saw what they affirm to be the great
sea-serpent. My sea-serpent story is true, ' true as
taxes is, and nothing's truer than them.' *
For all this excitement the sea-passage, though
restful, was monotonous in addition to the long
swim from Aden to Marmagoa ; the heat was great,
the crimson flame of sunrise over India, the dazzling
fiery light looking as if ready to devour and con-
sume the land, gave one at times a feeling of abso-
* Note B, Appendix.
TO THE FAR EAST. 67
lute awe, almost of horror. The month was weari-
somely lono;. Spin, spin, oh gldhe, spin round and
round ; twirl, dervish globe, and bring us quickly
out of this horrid torrid zone !
The meals were monotonous, of course ; the bill
of fare is not large in the tropics ; it is fowls every
day, chick, chick, chick, chick, always ; and such
fowls ! — tiny yet tough as shoe-strings, though the
Duke's chef is able to explain that away if anybody
can. Our experienced steward having gone over-
land to Madras, we were badly found, as Herries
had thought to the last that all of us were going
by rail, and as was hardly in any case to be helped
after the long voyage, for nothing could be got at
Marmagoa, no fresh fish, no meat, and many of the
tinned provisions had gone bad, burst, and been
thrown overboard, causing a smell and a scarcity.
The milk, such as it was, genuine juice of the buffalo,
and the ice had come to an end ; a large quantity
of provision goes bad just as soon as less if there is
no ice to keep it in. There is next to nothing left
to cook ; soon I fear ' we must eat we ;' I said so,
and put on a fiercely hungry look. The captain said
blandly he was most willing to oblige in any way. It
appeared we had eaten the toughest of the captain's
mutton already, and every roast duck consumed on
board had been his. I sharpened the paper-knife
ominously, and drew the blade across my finger. No,
fat Joe must be eaten first, I reflected, and refrained.
The look-out men reported the sight of Adam's
Peak — and none too soon ; it saved Joe's life. Of
the piglets, one had died, the other had already
f2
68 TO THE FAR EAST
been killed, ' to save its life ' ; the sylph-like kids
and the rabbits had disappeared, whither I know-
not. The captain had no roast ducks left. But
later in the day nothing was to be seen of Ceylon ;
it was wrapped in the white mountain clouds.
We had not long to wait. Before us was the low-
land of Ceylon , a white strip of shore, with green trees,
and moderately high hills rising behind them, a town
and wharfs, and plenty of shipping. Cingalese, with
shiny hair held back by round combs, in rickety ' cata-
marans,' flocked round the yacht all clamouring. It
was just touch and go at Colombo. After taking in
provisions and coals, we weighed anchor, and steamed
round the island, whose hills look low after the
southern Ghauts. Point de Galle is a pleasant-
looking place, large and white, set in groves of
coco-palms, with a background of blue hills. We
always kept well within sight of Ceylon. What a
wilderness of coco-nut forests ! Clouds veil the
high lands of the interior.
The Dutch system of forced labour caused the
planting of coco-nut-palms along this western coast,
which, 'so late as 1740, was described by Governor
van Imhoff as waste land, to be surveyed and
divided among the people, who were bound to plant
it up. At the end of last century, when the British
superseded the Dutch in the possession of the
maritime provinces of Ceylon, the whole of the
south-western coast presented the unbroken grove
of palms which is seen to this day.' * In sailing
* J. Feeguson. — ^The only vestiges of Dutch rule remaining in the
island.
TO THE FAR EAST. 69
up the eastern side of Ceylon, the profile of the
mountains on this side shows the Monk's Hood as
a marked outline ; and as we proceed the hills at
a distance look like a succession of monks' hoods
coining on like waves. The world, as seen from
on board ship, is made up of sea and outlines, or
profiles of the land.
We anchored at Madras early on Friday, the 27th
of January. The pier and breakwater built round
the port exclude the famous surf; so the palmy
days of the catamarans are past. We hear the
Duke is staying somewhere about five miles from
here. The captain went off to report the yacht's
arrival. I long to hear their adventures. Herries
came on board. He looked sadly pulled-down from
the dandy sportsman who started from Marmagoa.
He weighed something like twenty stone when we
left Brindisi ; his weight now, he said, with a melan-
choly air, was under seventeen stone. He had had
a touch of fever.
' Any tigers ?'
' Only one tiger, ma'am. I saw the tail of him,
and I ran ; leastways, it couldn't have been less
than a cheetah.'
' Scenery ?'
' I didn't see any scenery ; it was all rocks and
jungle.'
He was evidently fastidious in his tastes. He
went off to look after his subordinates, and he blew
them up roundly.
It is strange to contrast the dashing Herries who
went off to the hills in such a jaunty manner, in
70 TO THE FAR EAST.
dazzling mufti, with his gun, and poetry in his
heart, and the forlorn Herries who returned, fever-
stricken, to the yacht, with bad language on his lips.
The journey across India does not seem to have
been an unalloyed pleasure. Herries would not do
it again for any money.
The Duke and Lady Clare came on board about
noon. They were staying Avith her brother, a leading
barrister at Madras, and his wife, at their large
house, a little way out of Madras. I had been
invited to stay there too, but when I heard Mr.
Michell's youngest child had died on the very day
of Lady Clare's arrival, and the baby's funeral was
this morning, I felt I could not intrude upon the
sorrowing parents ; and I stayed on board the yacht.
This sad event damped the pleasure of the whole
family upon Lady Clare's arrival.
We now heard more about the journey. There
did not seem much of interest to record beyond
Bertha's fright at seeing what she called a cobra
in Lady Clare's room at Dhdrwdr; she described
it as having four rudimentary legs and a bushy tail.
This turned out to be a squirrel ; but the terror
it caused was equal to a real cobra. Dhdrwdr was
a pleasant rest after the hardships of Castle Rock
(which was a rock without a castle) ; but the bunga-
low at Dhdrwdr could not accommodate the whole
party with beds, so most of them were accommo-
dated with mats, which are — ahem ! — coolness itself;
and being high-hill country, they found it cold with
no blankets. The special trains could not wait, as
it was expected they would do ; so most of the party
TO THE FAR EAST. 71
got no luncheon, only the experienced Hemes caught
up a fowl, and rushed off with it, and a bottle of
claret under his arm, as they sped to the train.
Worst of all, none of the party had any money.
Herries had none left; the Duke had forgotten to
bring his cheque-book ; Lady Clare had none. So,
while ordering special trains galore, they laughingly
said they begged their way across India.
The bills came in afterwards, though. How true
it is that there is something altogether unpleasant
in the misfortunes of one's friends. I chuckled in-
wardly at having seen as much as they, and bragged
about the sea-serpent, a story which I could get
none of them to take at par. A black man styling
himself 'Lord High Admiral of Her Majesty's
catamarans ' has come on board, in a patched coat
and battered cocked hat. He shakes hands with us
all round, gets our signatures to his testimonials,
also half-a-sovereign out of the Duke. ' I can't think
what in the world for,' says his Grace. Rupees
being known to be changing hands like this, numer-
ous articles for sale and barter were pushing off in
boats to the yacht ; but now the advice was, ' Don't
buy much at Madras, you will find things of so
much greater interest at Singapore.' A stuffed
parrot-fish, bottle-shaped, with a bird-like beak,
looking very much like a made-up article, though it
was genuine, is bought and hung in the deck-house
till it can be placed in the museum at Dunrobin.
The doctor ordered a victoria for me to drive to
the botanical gardens, which are open at five p.m.
To . avoid the slippery steps of the pier, we went
72 TO THE FAR EAST.
ashore iii a lai'ge surf-boat. The men carried the
doctor ashore on their backs ; I was seated on a
board and lifted ashore that way. The gardens
cover eighteen acres ; their leading feature is the
forest trees, though these are of no great size. The
bauhinias with the double leaves, typifying the two
Bauhin brothers, were interesting as well as fine
trees. It was curious to me seeing outdoor hot-
houses, only sheltered and shaded against wind and
too fierce sunshine.
We drove round by where the band plays of an
afternoon, by way of a river, bridges, and more
gardens (Madras is for the most part made of
gardens), and thence back to the port by way of
the ' Black Town,' and bazaars which look gay and
theatrical when lighted up.
A party of ladies came on board the Sans Pew
to tea.
We stayed several days at Madras, which is not,
however, a very interesting place. During our stay
was held the great native festival consequent on the
total eclipse of the moon. A fine procession with
nautch-girls, specially educated for the temple ser-
vices, covered with costly jewels and bearing wreaths
of flowers. These dancing-girls are very graceful
and elegant, and of a highly superior class to the
ordinary nautch-girls. This festival lasted through-
out the following day, beginning early in the morn-
ing with a great public washing in the surf.
The Duke invited Mrs. Brooke Michell to make
the journey to Siam with us. Mr. Michell thought
the six weeks' trip would do her good, and advo-
TO THE FAR EAST. 73
cated her going with us ; but, having lost her pretty
baby, she half-feared to leave her little boy, now
become doubly precious. I hear we are to put in at
Johore, as an invitation has been received by the
Duke from the Sultan of Johore. The stores are all
on board, a plentiful supply, with ice enough to
make the fish and flesh keep for a long time. A
lot of bananas hanging up near the foremast gives a
tropical look to the ship.
Mr. and Mrs. Brooke Michell came on board to
lunch and say farewell. As Lady Clare and her
sister-in-law were driving down to the pier with the
Duke, the carriage horses ran away,- a rein broke,
and the native coachman was flung out into the
road. The Duke scrambled from his seat on to the
box, took the only rein, and guided the horses
against a wall to stop their mad career ; they broke
a lamp-post, and that was all, the carriage was not
much injured, and its occupants were safe ; but it
was a moment of considerable danger.
We left Madras in the afternoon of the 30th of
January, keeping up a good speed, which never
slackened day nor night, filling us with what Loti
calls 'La notion d'un eloignement efiroyable qui
augmentait toujours.' Siam seemed still so far off"
that India felt quite homely in comparison. The
deck-house was arranged as a sleeping cabin for
Lady Clare and myself, the curtains and beds being
removed by day.
Atmospheric effects Avere nearly all that we had
to see in crossing the Bay of Bengal ; we sat on the
bridge to watch the sunset — nearly always the
7-1 TO THE FAR EAST.
tamest of spectacles — and the moon-rise, and Magel-
lan's cloud, a nebula supposed to be vertical over
the Straits of Magellan, as the pole star is over the
North Pole.
Poor Jacko died, the West Indian monkey that
we all loved. We were so sorry to lose the brightest
thing on board the ship. Twenty of the green
parrots belonging to the men flew overboard. These
birds are put in slight bamboo cages, and easily eat
their way out. In the afternoon of the 3rd of
February the high land of one of the Nicobar Islands
was visible, and on the 4th we passed between a
lofty island, wooded all over, called Pulo Way, and
the town of Acheen on Sumatra, whose broken
undulations rise gradually into a fine conical hill
called the Golden Mountain, in form like Vesuvius,
but more than double the height of the Italian
volcano ; with a low green slope stretched out to its
base like the Schattenberg under Mount Pilatus.
Sumatra then trends away to the westward, and we
lose sight of land.
' Here's a boat-load of shipwrecked sailors ; we
must rescue them.' We were all eager for some
excitement, shipwrecked sailors were just what
would suit us. The Duke went below to fetch his
gun — we stared ; did his Grace think they were
pirates ? I do not know that we should have objected
to pirates, anything for a change. We eyed them
eagerly with the glasses — it was a banana stump
laden with boobies. It looked just like a boat-load
of sailors. The Duke fired two shots, but the birds
were gone. We looked somewhat like boobies too.
TO THE FAR EAST. 75
The sea here was very phosphorescent, all full of
sparkles and lines of green fire breaking from the
bow. ' Breakers ahead,' called out the seaman on
watch at the bow ; again we all flew to the glasses,
night-glasses this time, and soon we passed a phos-
phorescent mass that smelt ill and exploded. At
sea in the tropics more than ever does one feel night
to be as Jean Paul calls it ' the great shadow and
profile ' (silhouette) ' of day.' The Southern Cross,
the North Star, and the Plough were all on view at
once, Orion too, of course ; but like a man of
fashion he is seen everywhere. The perspective of
the Plough is flattened, the constellation is altogether
out of drawing ; but its seven stars are no larger
than we see them at home. The upper and lower
stars of the Cross are pointers to the South Pole.
Tennyson and other poets who have not been in the
tropics may sing of ' larger constellations burning,
mellow moons and happy skies,' and mislead the
public, but the further I go I see there is in reality
very little difference in the general aspect of the
stars between our skies and those of the tropics,
and what little there may be is in favour of the
north, and so said everyone out there — who did not
write hooks — though I find people speak differently
when they come home.
The time the stars looked largest to me Avas on that
cold December evening when we arrived at Brindisi
— and the one peculiarity I saw was the crescent of
Hesperus as I saw it in the Red Sea ; but that the
Morning Star was observed to be wonderfully and
unusually bright at about the same time in England
76 TO THE FAR EAST
is attested by the numerous letters written to the
papers on this phenomenon. It is a popular fallacy to
suppose that the stars in the south look different from
the stars as we see them : it is only that we look at
them much on board ship, and gush over them very
much on our return from abroad. We think we
ought to see things as described, and so we cheat
ourselves into the fancy that we do. It is the per-
spective of the constellations that is altered.
If I am scouted as one who tries to see the prosaic
side of everything by destroying poetical illusions
and making the beautiful ideals glide away, I know
the cause of poetry is not furthered by ignoring
truth, and we are less likely to see the beauties that
are if we are always trying to see those that are
not.
The sea-serpent is no illusion, but a vast and
luminous fact.
February 6th. — Out two months to-day. The
coast of the Malay peninsula visible all day, with
low foreground shores and high land in the interior.
We have now, this afternoon, green sea and a
purple land.
The low green islets and broken, but gentle, sort
of scenery seen on approaching Singapore reminds
me more of Sweden than anywhere else. Soon the
island scenery becomes more home-like ; it is not
oriental, but in this cool breeze one could almost
fancy oneself steaming near the Plymouth coast.
' Which will your Grace like to go in at, the
Peninsular and Oriental wharf, or the harbour ?'
' Oh, the harbour at first, I think.'
TO TEE FAR EAST. 77
' Up with the flag,' shouts our captain, and the
long swim is over.
Now appear long lines of warehouses at Singa-
pore, and the spire of a church more home-like still,
and now we are swinging at anchor out in the
breezy harbour.
Mr. Cobham, one of Her Majesty's commissioners
in Cyprus, whom the Duke had invited to travel
with him, came on board with his friend, Mr. Swan,
the engineer who was to accompany his Grace to
Siam to consider the country for the proposed rail-
way there. These two gentlemen had made friends
with each other at Singapore, and found by chance
that they were both waiting for the same person.
It is true he was a big person, and they were not
likely to miss him. The Duke was glad to welcome
Mr. Swan and have some engineering talk about
Malaya.
In travel the Duke is always on the look-out to
see if comparison with other countries can offer
any suggestions of improvements in our existing
machinery, or if the application of English capital
can benefit a colony or further British influence
abroad. The Duke, a conscientious landlord, always
puts his enforced exile to profit for self-instruction,
and, chiefly, to benefit his people by the hints he
gathers. This is a thing that the workers cannot
do for themselves. It requires leisure and capital.
Dukes, it seems to me, are more necessary now than
ever ; dux in war formerly — now leaders of peace.
Mr. Cobham had, on his outward journey (after
attending the marriage of his niece in India), been
78 TO THE FAR EAST.
travelling through India and Burmah. Darjeeling
was the finest place he had seen ; he was never tired
of expatiating on the magnificence of its scenery.
Being in the diplomatic service, his rank was less
fully understood by some of the less experienced
port authorities in the far-east than if he had been
a general officer or a naval captain. At one place
the officer in command at the port, ' a thorough good
fellow,' who took to Mr. Cobham at once, showing
him about and wanting to pay him all due honours,
said, heartily,
' I don't know how many guns you are entitled
to, but, by Jove, as many as you cboose to ask for,
you shall have.'
Ranking with an admiral, he was entitled to a
salute of thirteen guns.
We are invited to a ball on board H.M.S. Orion
to-night, and hospitality is ofi^ered us at Government
House ; but the Duke thinks, as we are making but
a short stay at Singapore, we bad better be inde-
pendent and remain on board the yacht.
The Sultan of Johore is away on the hill at Pe-
nang, so it is as well we did not propose to stop at
Johore until our return. The season is advancing,
and the sooner we are at Bangkok the better.
People here are very hospitable, we have several
other invitations. A steam-launch is to come for us
at one o'clock, that we may be taken to see the town
of Singapore ; but what a frightful time of day for
pleasuring just under the equator !
We lunched at the Raffles Hotel, where a Malay
luncheon had been ordered for us. Mr. Swan, who
TO THE FAR EAST. 79
knew Malayan customs, told us what to choose and
how to eat it, and peeled mangosteens for us.
After this we went shopping with a couple of
carriages at our heels, curio-hunting among the
divers inferior Chinese shops near the club. Mr.
Cobham, who is a connoisseur, hinted we had better
not waste our money on this trash, which is to be
had just as good and as cheap in London. ' At
Siam we shall find curios and novelties,' he said. It
seemed as if things worth bujdng fled before us at
every port.
There is one good Japanese and Chinese shop in
Singapore, and presently Mr. Swan took us there.
A yarn was brought down to us of an inhabitant to
his friend from San Francisco, breaking off his talk
on business :
'The Duke, come along and see the Duke.'
' Dook, dook be d d, what's that ?'
The New Worldling could not take into his
mind what sort of modern improvement that could
be.
We went to the Cricket Club pavilion, where we
had tea in an upper verandah overlooking the long
green, which has the sea rolling in on one side, and
on the other hand are the cathedral, and lines of large
villa-residences and public buildings all set in green-
ery. Here on the short, fine turf the game of cricket
was being played as energetically as in England.
This upset my preconceived notions of the tropics ; to
wit, the Zoo at large, roaming about in the palm-stove
at Kew — magnified — or in the Botanical Gardens in
the Regent's Park. I perceived this would have to be
80 TO THE FAR EAST.
modified. This reminds me that we next drove to
the pretty Botanic Gardens here, and round by the
populous and amusing China town ; all set in as
strange and foreign vegetation as any in the Botanic
Gardens themselves. It was at Singapore that
I had really my first sight of tropical vegetation,
for I saw little of India's, luxuriance; it is, as
Darwin says, like a visit to a new planet — a new
heaven and a new earth, one sometimes feels it to be.
The wealth and novelty of flowers and palms, right-
ly called by Linnaeus princes of the vegetable king-
dom, and aU the splendour of the equatorial sap.
The coco-nut, the areca, and the sugar-palm struck
us with admiration, and we viewed with curiosity
the Singapore Licuale palm, which we already knew
in the dried state as the Penang lawyer. Most
striking of all, perhaps, is the well-known traveller's
tree, or pilgrim's palm, as it is called, from Mada-
gascar, which is not a palm at all, but allied to the
plantains ; it takes its name from having a receptacle
for water at the foot of each broad leaf that forms its
stately fan. This fluid is drinkable, but it is generally
full of ants and other small insects.
The streets and roads, even in the Chinese quar-
ter, all have English names, clearly written up on
signposts, or on blue labels as in France and
England. This China town swarms like an ant-hill
with the yellow race, who appear industrious to the
last degree. Chinamen here are always carrying loads
in their pairs of baskets, or pails, slung on a bamboo
across the shoulders. Exception : when not busily
carrying about something, they are being shaved.
TO THE FAR EAST. 81
There are plenty of jinrickshas, or 'rickshas as they
call them here, a sort of small, gaily-paiuted hansom
cab drawn by a man between the shafts ; these are all
drawn by Chinamen, some of them extremely fine
men, often admirable models for a worker in bronze.
They run up hill or down, often drawing a family-
jam of Chinese father, mother, a lot of children, and
sometimes their aunts and uncles as well. The
roads are admirable here in Singapore, and, being a
small island, of course distances are not great ; but
it is surprising what weights these 'ricksha men will
draw, the distances they will run, and their amazing
endurance. Major KnoUys says he knew two of
these coolies run about sixty miles in less than thir-
teen hours, drawing a load of nearly three hundred-
weight, and this on a bad road. They are said to
suffer much from heart-disease ; we cannot wonder
at it.
The 'ricksha is so cheap a conveyance that it
successfully competes with the tramway, which is
laid down round the level coast road from the
principal steam wharfs to the farther end of the
town. The Chinese are very fond of travelling
by 'ricksha, while they will not afford themselves
a ride in a gharry, a sort of tropical ' growler ' with
jalousie blinds. Lastly, we drove to the Peninsular
and Oriental wharf, whither the yacht had been
taken round to coal ; and, the coaling already over,
she now lay alongside the wharf in an arm of the
sea. We took in very little coal, as our object was
to be light enough to float over the bar at the
mouth of the Menam river in Siam. Natives with
G
82 TO THE FAR EAST.
boat-loads of beautiful shells, and the red musical
coral of the Indian Ocean, for sale, came flocking
round the yacht. Fruits too were brought on
board. We relished the mangosteens, the favourite
fruit in the far-east. One eats the soft, white
inside pulp, that is like a snowball divided in about
half-a-dozen sections, leaving the purple husk that
one at first supposes to be the fruit, and the red pith
which is not good. A basket of the fruit called
' dukos ' was sent as a present. This fruit, though
prized, is not equal to the mangosteen.
After dinner, Mr. Geiger, the Peninsular and
Oriental agent, came with a large steam-launch to
convey us to the ball on board H.M.S. Orion. The
ship was tastefully decorated with flags and tropical
plants, almost concealing the great guns. Captain
Royse was extremely attentive, and showed us all
over this magnificent ironclad. The popping of
corks in the ward-room was as heavy as a cannonade.
A newspaper reporter came early on board the Sans
Feur, wanting to interview the Duke of Sutherland.
' You can't see him now ; his Grace is in bed,' they
told him.
' Oh I I don't mind that in the least,' was the
eager reply.
' We do,' said the steward, emphatically.
Lady Clementi Smith, the very agreeable wife of
the Governor of the Straits Settlements, sat by me
the whole evening, and pointed out the celebrities,
Chinese and otherwise, to me. Sir Cecil Clementi
Smith invited the Duke and his party to lunch at
Government House next day.
TO THE FAR EAST. 83
At one o'clock p.m., Major Massey came down to
the wharf with the governor's carriage, with serv-
ants wearing turbans and fanciful scarlet liveries,
to take us to Government House, which is finely
situated on a hill at some distance out of the town.
There was an army of servants, many of them in
white muslin, with red head-dresses and girdles, on
the steps to receive us. For dessert we partook of
a remarkable selection of strange fruits, among them
a fruit looking like a small potato with the skin on,
with the pulp tasting like moist sugar — this has
black flat seeds ; another looking like a large prickly
arbutus, the edible part like blancmange — in appear-
ance, when peeled, it is like a plover's Qgg; and
several others. Most of these fruits are like poor
relations of the mangosteen. Sir Cecil Smith is
fond of botany, and enjoys cultivating the fine
gardens of Government House. We went out to
look at a yellow-blossomed tree, with flowers grow-
ing directly out of the stem, the thick bark-stem
of the large tree. It is supposed to be a jonesia.
This curious tree was not in flower when Miss North
stayed here for two busy months, painting.
Government House is an Italian palace, com-
manding an extensive view all round, reminding
me of the view from Harrow-on-the-Hill, painted in
tropical tints ; it has the same aerially blue distances
covered with multitudinous vegetation. Mr. Cob-
ham smiled, as much as to say, ' Ah ! if you
have not seen Darjeeling, you have seen nothing.'
To see the coloured caladiums growing freely as if
they were buttercups in the grass, was to me one of
G 2
8k TO THE FAR EAST.
the most wonderful things in the vegetation. I
did not like to put my foot down on them — they
are valuable at home. I felt like my own little
boy did, when he used to step carefully between
the ferns on Hampstead Heath. When the after-
noon cooled a little, we took two carriages, and
drove to the reservoir, a pretty artificial lake with
raised borders with paths on them and plane-tree
isles reflected clear ; and then to the house of a
rich Chinaman, Sia Liang Sia, Avho had invited us
to tea. He spoke English perfectly, but he was
thoroughly a Chinese, although, curiously enough,
he had never yet been in China. He knew Europe
well. He smiled as we sat by the table, with the
smile that was childlike and bland, to see us enjoy
our tea — ^a very pale-coloured liquid — it was ' a
dream.' There were dishes of curious confectionery,
and all the fruits of the country arranged with
flowers, ferns, and, above all, roses. Singapore is
too hot for roses to bloom well, but, as Sia Liang
Sia said, a Chinaman cannot exist without roses,
so he sends to the Flowery Land for fresh rose-
bushes every year. Chinamen cannot exist without
fish-ponds either, and tiny ornamental bridges, and
general mllow-pattern landscape gardening ; so he
has all of these, and open-worked traceried screens
painted in white and pale porcelain colours all over
his house as partitions to the rooms, with the few
solid wall spaces hung with the Japanese pictures
called Kakemonos, making the whole house one
veiled aerial perspective set with flowers all about
the open courts and pathways. Here he sits, in
TO THE FAR EAST. 85
azure silk raiment, and amuses himself and his
friends with fishing for fat carp from his windows,
and feeding them with dozens of slices of bread.
The green land beyond the blue channel where
the yacht lies looks cool and refreshing with its
dense foliage feathering to the water's edge, shading
the shore ' whose shining sand,' as Camoens says,
' is painted with red shells from Venus' hand ' ;
the bat's- wing junk sails of Chinese vessels, and
white and brown British sails gliding along between
the trees. For all its rich, ruddy tint, the soil is
poor at Singapore, though land has increased ten
times in value here in the last ten years ; but the
Liberian cofi'ee thrives fairly well in the plantations.
The branches, with their white orange-blossom-like
flowers, clusters of berries, and large, bay-like leaves,
are fragrant and delightful.
We waited for the mail, and before leaving Singa-
pore we read in the Straits Times of the 6th of
February that the Italian army in Abyssinia had
arrived at Saati. So the rail is made thereto ; we
Avere glad to hear our friends were safe so far. Now
we are ready to resume our ' meanderings,' and say
' Au revoir ' to the ' Lion City,' Avhich is its name
in Malay ; the name Singapore in Hindustani means
' Place of meeting, or of waiting,' from its good
harbour.
86
CHAPTER IV.
A ROYAL CREMATION.
Droops the heavy -blossom 'd bower, hangs the heavy-fruited tree —
Summer isles of Eden lying in dark purple spheres of sea.
There methinks would be enjoyment more than in this march of mind,
In the steamship, in the railway, in the thoughts that shake mankind,
Tennyson.
As early as last October we had heard that we might
possibly arrive in Bangkok in time to witness the
cremation of a princess. We wondered how this
could be. Was she given over by the doctors, or was
she prepared, embalmed, or, if not, how could the
ceremony be so long delayed ? A still more solemn
question with us was, should we get to Bangkok at
all ? It is not given to everybody to go to Bangkok,
By this time even this question had been settled to
our satisfaction, and we had already left Singapore,
and were outward-bound for Bangkok.
The cremation was fixed for the 14th of February
— that is, this was the first day of the ceremonial.
It would be a pity to miss the commencement of the
display, which we now heard was to be unusually
grand. We left Singapore on the 9th of February
at four p.m., to have daylight for the passage round
A ROYAL CREMATION. 87
tlie headland, our captain being anxious besides to
save the tide over the bar of the Menam river on
the morning of Monday the 13th. He had timed
himself to be there at seven a.m. precisely, after a
four daj's' passage. Our skipper is a cautious man,
who never prophesies unless he knows. He who
never commits himself has now pledged his profes-
sional reputation on this precision. Meanwhile we
have time to think. Who was this princess, for
whom the days of mourning have so long been over?
Who was her father, who was her godmother, —
who gave her her long and high-sounding name ?
Had she a sister, had she a brother, and whom ?
Was this the Asian mystery ?
A head-wind, as usual, when we want to get on ;
blue and breezy were the leading impressions of the
few. on deck. Some of the party had collapsed;
Lady Clare sent to ask the captain to land her at
the nearest lighthouse. He smiled ; but, ever anxious
to oblige a lady, he ran the yacht somewhat out of
her course to keep her the better out of the roll of
the sea. The China Sea has a bad name, and seems
to deserve it.
We enter the narrow part of the Gulf of Siam on
Monday morning, but, alas for our captain's jeopar-
dised professional reputation, it is nearly noon, and
we have not yet reached the bar. We have abun-
dant time to admire the beryl-hued waters and look
at the numerous varieties of poisonous snakes frol-
icking about therein — snakes whose bite is fatal in
one hour, two hours, one day, two days, and so
forth, — and to correct our preconceived ideas of the
88 A ROYAL CREMATION.
land's profile; for, flat countries being now the
fashionable scenery, we expected Siam to take rank
with Holland or the Sa6ne, and lo, it is mountain-
ous, with a range of white cliffs and coco-palms
fringing the long white beaches, and closer by us
are numerous stake-nets, each stake tipped by a
sea-bird. The lighthouse is in sight, but the tide
is lost, and we must wait for the morrow ; for no
vessels of any size can cross the bar except at high
tide, and we, drawing fourteen feet of water (even
with a light lading of coal) require a full flood-tide.
At low tide there is only three feet of water on the bar.
Our captain, pensive, as we lay all that day by
the bar of Bangkok, oh ! and we uncomfortable, as
we flopped while we stopped on the bar of Bangkok,
oh ! We had braced ourselves up for a vision of
glittering temples, etc., as per the books. Some of
the party go off to seek Nirvana. Our captain low-
spirited, he does not know precisely where we are.
We think that now is the time to comfort him by
suggesting that we should send up rockets as signals
of distress, it would cheer him up a bit. But no,
he seemed all the more worried. We looked out
smart toilettes for the cremation ceremony, but our
ardour was damped on reading in Bock's book,
* Temples and Elephants,' that the Siamese are
adopting our English fashion of wearing a crape
band round the arm for mourning. Shall we be
expected to wear court mourning ?
Four p.m. — Steaming valiantly, we have got into
the right course at last. It seems the skipper took
us into the channel of another river, not the Menam,
A ROYAL CREMATION. 89
but the Mekong, and we have made a considerable
angle to retrieve ourselves. This is the very place
where Camoens was shipwrecked, where he says,
' And Mecon shall the drowning poetry receive upon its breast, benign
and bland,
Coming from shipwreck in sad misery, 'scaped from the stormy shallows
to the land.'
This is not the only river named Mekong in these
parts. Camoens with difficulty reached the shore
on a plank, having lost everything but the M.S. of
his poem. All other wealth for ever lost,
' Myself escaped alone.
On this wild shore all friendless, hopeless thrown.'
The inhabitants of the country relieved his wants,
and he thanks them in the stanza beginning,
' Oh, gentle Mecon, on thy friendly shore,' etc.
He remained here some days waiting for a vessel to
take him to Goa, and while here he wrote his para-
phrase of the 137th Psalm, 'By the waters of
Babylon,' in fifty-seven stanzas. He hung his harp
by this far-ofi^ river.
The cremation being fixed for to-morrow, we shall
only just see it, and that is all ; or we may be only
in time to come out with the rest. The sight of
the Borneo steamer aground cheers us all ; we are
not stuck in the mud and lying over on our side like
her ; our dinner-table is horizontal, thank the powers.
We signalled to the lighthouse for a pilot, and
telephoned to friends in Bangkok to expect us, and
dropped anchor for the night. We were to move
on at daybreak, and all of us meant to be up at five
so as to see the fine temples at Paknam, in the
90 A ROYAL CREMATION.
entrance to the river. And we were so, notwith-
standing that we had played music till late into the
night. The rattling- up of the anchor is enough to
wake you from a swoon or trance.
' Is there coffee going ?' cries the Duke down the
cabin stairs. I had squeezed some tea out of
Bertha's tiny pot, and offered it. We stopped to
take some one aboard. Screams of delight from the
deck-house. Lady Clare welcomed her brother, Mr.
Edward Michell, now resident in Siam, whom she
had not seen for years.
' Make more coffee now these gentlemen are come
aboard,' cries the steward.
' Who's come aboard ?'
' His Royal Highness, Prince What's-his-name.'
says Herries, skilfully fencing with the name Deva-
wongse, &c., &c.. Prince of Siam, whose portmanteau
I see on the saloon-table labelled with the prince's
name in Roman capitals. But it was not the prince
himself, but an official come to welcome the Duke
to the country, and to show him that a palace and
preparations were ready for his reception in Bangkok.
The birds sing in the early morning as if they
knew it was St. Valentine's Day, and we sail through
pleasing scenery of tree-fringed shores, with a spiry
white pagoda on an islet, winding round this fanci-
ful building with the deep curves of the stream. It
is charming to glide over these lovely sheets of
water, the broad ribbon of the Menam fringed with
areca palms. The mangroved banks so brightly
green, like spring-green May at home. May in the
morning mist ; with red-brown peaked roofs of
A ROYAL CREMATION. 91
stilted dwellings, or boat-houses peeping here and
there, and quainter, high-pitched roofs of temples,
while through the grove glimmers an occasional
white pagoda, or a flagstaff with the banner of the
white elephant. Barring these latter objects, the
scene reminds me of Holland, a full, broad river
about three-quarters-of-a-mile wide, with a leafy-
shore, only the richer verdure here is more intense
in its greenness. And thence our thoughts fly to
friends at home, that is, those of us who have no
brothers here fly off; and we alter Hood and quote
softly : ' To think that you're in England and I here
in Siam.'
' Up with our six-legged elephant,' is the cry, and
the Siamese flag flies bravely at the foremast of the
Sans Peur, in honour of the Lord of the Universe
and of the White Elephant ; the six-legged white
elephant, the trunk and tail — i'faith a royal tail ! —
by the bunting artist look like extra legs, ' compli-
mentary legs,' Herries called them.
The local colour of the Menam — the Mother of
Waters — is a brownish green ; it is full of vegetable
matter. A boat conveying a yellow-robed priest
across to a small pagoda is rowed by two men
standing, in Venetian style, with just the Venetian
touch.
The numerous boat-houses are most ornamental,
shaped like niiniature wooden temples, peeping out
among the various palms, dwarf and tall, feathery
bamboos and hundreds of sorts of trees new to me,
but all of such a May-like green, the moist, cool, but
heavy air laden with vegetable odours as of blossoms.
92 A ROYAL CREMATION.
The brown paddy-fields will likewise be green in a
few days. One sometimes sees a covey of rooks
above tbem. Paddy is the unhusked rice. Here
and there a boat shoots into a branch river or canal.
In one place a canal a mile long cuts off eleven
miles of the river. We approach the city. The
number of wooden houses floating on bamboo rafts
increase.
There is plenty of shipping, and the gondolas
(they call them ' gondolas ') are multitudinous,
many of them filled with fruit, or flowers for temple
offerings. It is a gay scene, there is no end of
colour ; the foreign consulates and the shipping, in-
cluding a Siamese gunboat and two yachts, are all
dressed with flags ; the elephants on the red flags
certainly run to legs. It is the Chinese New Year,
and the numerous Chinese coasters are beflagged.
It is the last of the three days that the festival lasts.
During these days the Chinese servants knock off
work, or at best beg their mistresses to have tiffin
instead of dinner ; thus there is three days general
discomfort for every dweller in the land. The palm-
thatched, peaked roofs are very marked in their
curved outline, and the shop-fronts, fixed or float-
ing, form a continuous river-side bazaar and market,
above which are quaint spires, some of them gilt
and glittering, and prachedees, circular or oval cones
of rings of white stone ending in a sharp point, and
coloured temple roofs. A lofty pagoda, surrounded
by four lesser pagodas, and another with spear-
pointed spires on the opposite side of the river, are
the principal features of the scene, rising above a
A ROYAL CREMATION. 93
group of white buildings of Italian renaissance
style, and palatial schools, which have been built a
long time but never opened. The whole scene is
more Venetian than Venice itself. Higher up the
river it again becomes a Chinese town, with black-
painted front walls to the wooden houses, and red
inscriptions ; and all teeming with life in quaint cos-
tumes and lively action, bare skins of many hues,
tawny, mahogany, and others, and busy movement
by land and water ; and even up in the blue sky
innumerable toy kites, some of them fitted with
musical-boxes, and live birds, crows and wheeling
vultures. The land, which scarcely looks like solid
land at aU, but a phantasmagoria of moving colour,
holds up plumes of green plaintain and the slender
areca palm, 'an arrow shot from Heaven,' as a
Hindoo poet calls it, and the river holds endless
enjoyment for an artist ; fruit boats with two gon-
doliers and a gay parasol in the middle ; vegetable
boats and all manner of shapes of caique; flower
boats with pink flowering plants, and here, full of
dwarf orange-trees, a gondola with the real gondola
prow of burnished metal. The air is full of sounds of
musical beUs and tom-toms, and the whole city is
astir.
' Stand by your anchors.' We are arrived.
We are in time too for the pageant, which is
grander than we anticipated. There are no less
than four persons going to be cremated, two princes
and two princesses.
' Oh ! they're lumping them,' says somebody,
irreverently.
9'Jt A ROYAL CREMATION.
' Yes, the ceremonial is so frightfully expensive.'
A season of unusual sickness, though not epidemic,
we hear, has carried off three of the king's seventy
children. The deceased princess we first heard of
was one of the king's numerous wives — not the
queen, although a lady of royal birth. ' The custom
of the Siamese from time immemorial has ascribed
honour and glory to their princes and lords some-
what in proportion to the wives they have and can
maintain.' * The affections must be diluted that
are divided amongst so many. ' The last year has
been marked by an unusual prevalence of illness,
which, although not of an epidemic kind, has caused
much suffering and loss of life,' says the king in
his birthday speech, modelled on the New Year
speeches of French and German potentates, in which
he also alludes to the jubilee of his ' valued ally, the
Queen of England and Empress of India.'
A palace is provided for us for the fortnight of our
stay. ' What provisions shall we take on shore ?' —
They will supply us with wine and food.
' How hospitable !' says the Duke. ' Then we
shall need nothing but shirt-collars ;' pensively, ' I
wonder what sort of a dinner they'll give us.'
The Duke's appetite is returning after his illness.
Dark Charlie's face of awed astonishment was as
good as a play, when he saw his Grace pitch his
physic into his wash-hand basin ; so different from
Sir Henry G., who always takes any medicine that
is lying about, ' to prevent waste.'
We packed our things for shore, and rowed to the
* ' Bangkok Calendar,'
A ROYAL CREMATION. 95
landing-place, among the picturesque and bewildering
confusion of caiques, gondolas, and house-boats with
flattened barrel-shaped bamboo covers to them, all
filled with good-humoured people. ' If you run
over the people, they don't mind ; they smile at
you ;' and so they do as we drive through the
streets to our palace. I am glad the native coach-
men are merciful. We drove through the city
gates. Bangkok is surrounded by a crenellated
wall twelve feet broad, with towers, round-headed
battlements, and numerous gates. Turpin says the
city was fortified, in 1685, by the Chevalier de
Chaumont. This accounts for the semi-European
look of the fortifications. Mrs. Leonowens says the
wall dates from 1670. The palaces and royal harem
are situated on the right hand as you ascend the
stream, on a plot of ground formed by a sharp
curve of the river, enclosing it on the west. The
air was heavy -with an odour as of incense, arising
partly from the tropic vegetation of palms, plan-
tains, &c., mingled with the small fires of vegetable
refuse smouldering on the ground, which the natives
use for their cookery.
A turn to the right brought us to the straight
road which leads past the large enclosure containing
the palaces and temples devoted to the king's use, a
collection of varied and picturesque buildings, whose
gilt and horned roofs, and pinnacles, and pagodas
form a striking group ; past the Premane, or ground
enclosed for the cremation ceremonies, and out
beyond the city to a long distance in the highly-
cultivated country. Sparrows are as numerous and
96 A ROYAL CREMATION.
unconcerned as in London ; but besides these are
exquisite blue and other finely-coloured birds, like
one sees in ladies' hats or on ladies' muffs in London,
flying about here as unnoticed as the sparrows ; the
tailless Siamese cats even do not appear to molest
them.
Opposite the central gate of the royal palace
the road is lined with broad spaces of green turf,
here divided by a side-street leading to the Italian
palace, where we are to take up our abode. Sentries
presented arms to us on entering the paved court-
yard, adorned with statues and ornamental plants
in boxes, beyond which is the white palace front,
where a steep marble staircase leads to a long
vestibule, or rather saloon, on the first-floor, of fine
size and proportion, floored with grey, polished
marble, and divided by a range of columns from
the outer corridors and balcony terraces. The lofty
walls, distempered in cool grey-blue, are upholstered
in blue satin damask, and the palace is furnished
palatially throughout in the showy taste of southern
Germany. I see the far-east is the market for the
indifferent pictures in German -gilt frames, chiefly
tea-board landscapes, painted so abundantly in
Europe. I knew that British lodging-houses and
foreign hotels could not absorb them all; I see the
rest come to Siamese palaces.
The chamberlain — his name was Bamreubhakdi,
his title Phaya, meaning duke or governor of a
province — a fine man wearing a longwhite jacket, -with
gold buttons, a purple silk panung, a sort of breeches
common to men and women in Siam, white silk
A ROYAL CREMATION. 97
stockings, and buckled shoes, welcomed us to Saran-
roum, or the Palace of Calm Delights, and intro-
duced us to our apartments, "where, owing to the
Chinese New Year, and the dilatory habits of the
country, the workmen were still at work at the
fastenings of the doors and shutters. There are no
glass windows, except where, at each end of the long
marble vestibule, the walls of plate-glass show a small
drawing-room at either end.
Our rooms have coloured mosquito-curtains woven
with gold thread, painted silk blinds, and painted
and brocaded coverlets ; no sheets, but a linen-
covered mattress, and the softest of blankets folded
up in case of need, and a hard round bolster laid
down the middle of the bed.
A younger and smaller man in similar costume
to our chamberlain is a member of the royal family
appointed to look after us and act as interpreter.
He speaks English perfectly, as he has studied
medicine for several years in Edinburgh, and been
altogether eleven years in Europe, principally in
England. We call him Prince Doctor, as an easier
name than Mom Rajawongse Yai Suaphan Sanit-
wongse, though not so pretty. He is partner with
the Scotch Dr. Gowan iu Bangkok, and has medical
charge of the royal palace.
The toilet arrangements are most complete. As
a graceful attention we are supplied with all kinds
of perfumes — even the washing water is scented, alas !
— tooth-powder, tooth-paste, liquid dentrifice, and
every sort of brush, nail-brush, feather whisks,
clothes-brushes, boot-brushes ! and tooth-brushes ! !
H
98 A ROYAL CREMATION.
every requisite for the toilet, in short, but soap, and
Pears' soap has been since supplied. Bertha flung
the hair-brushes indignantly into a drawer. ' Do
these messieurs fancy we do not carry about our
brushes with us !'
The Duke has on his dressing-table hair-wash,
face- wash, powder-puff^, complexion paste, tablets for
softening the hands, and everything that a Duke can
desire, and this ungrateful nobleman cares for none
of these things, their sweetness is wasted upon him.
The pianoforte is more to his mind.
The palace attendants duck and run past the
persons they mean to pay respect to if they are on
an errand, otherwise they stop and squat upon the
ground. The Chinese upper servants belonging to
the victualling department here in the palace are
dressed in white ; the inferior servants are in drabs
and blues. One or two of the half-dozen China-
men who wait at table understand English. The
Siamese upper servants have white jackets, or else
shirts, and dark panungs ; the lower ones wear dark
jackets, and have a cigarette stuck behind the ear.
They duck and run before the men in white jackets.
These underlings wash the marble floors each day —
the floors throughout the palace, that is, except in
the bed-rooms, where there are rugs, carpets, and
oilcloth. There is little or no dust in the palace ;
though hot, the climate is too moist to be dusty. The
servants crouch on hands and knees to the chamber-
lain, and when they see us in the vestibule they duck
and run and slink behind the columns as if afraid we
should see them.
A ROYAL CREMATION. 99
The first floor of this palace, where we are lodged,
is built round an inner courtyard with a white
pagoda-shaped structure in the middle, reflecting
heat and a dazzling glare that is only endurable
through the painted silk curtains of the corridors
leading to our rooms ; though when the sun is off
this pleasant conjunction of verandah, corridor, and
garden it forms an agreeable general meeting-place
for talk, and for repose among tbe rows of crotons and
foliaged plants, where the tame sparrows and other
birds also enjoy life. There are swallows in abun-
dance, likewise swifts, and occasionally crows fly
about the courtyards. The crows and vultures are
sacred, being the public scavengers. Siam offers a
vast field to the ornithologist, and indeed to the
naturalist in all lines. Mr. Michell is makirig a
collection of coloured drawings of the birds ; even
he, an ornithologist, knew but few of them before.
The consoles and balustrades of the cross corridors,
and the staircases leading to the offices below, pro-
fusely covered with finely-coloured tropical shrubs,
make a delightful natural aviary.
Coffee ices were brought to us in the long vesti-
bule saloon while we read our letters from home. If
the mails meet each other everywhere, letters can
reacb Bangkok from London in a month, but the
Siamese foreign post is not a fixed and regular service.
Tea and iced cake were next handed round. We
thought this would be a pleasant place to stay in for
a fortnight, and we agreed that King Chulalonkorn
was an excellent host.
We read in the Bangkok Times that ' arrangements
h2
100 A ROYAL CREMATION.
for the cremation of the royal princess, also two sons
and a daughter of His Majesty the King, whose loss
we had to mourn last year, are now complete. The
workmen have been busy for some five months in
erecting the premane, and at last a fair idea may be
had of the beautiful efi^ect produced by the quaint
architecture of the whole. There are about twelve
large chalets erected on the ground around the
premane, all more or less built of timber, with gables
and upper storey in the style of early English and
Italian architecture, Avith gardens transformed into
rivulets and waterfalls (!) A very large house with
canopies, pinnacles, etc., in endless variety, along
with crockets, tracery, and other enrichments in the
form of a Turkish grotto, is on the eastern side of
the premane, the archways leading out to a broad
verandah. In addition to these there are other
beautiful cottages or stalls, handsomely painted and
decked with flowers, whilst most of the articles to
be given away are very valuable, of choice quality,
and have all been purchased in Europe through Mr.
Miiller.' It was difficult, in this muddle of Turkish
grottoes, beautiful cottages, and early English and
Italian chalets, waterfalls, etc., to gather anything
clear of what there was to be seen, so Mr. Cobham
asked me to take an exploratory walk with him in the
cool of the afternoon. The chamberlain, in full
fig, offered to personally conduct us out to see the
preliminary ceremonial, but we preferred, in gaining
a first impression, to prowl about incog.
We watched some tilting of a peaceful sort with
ponies on the green between our palace and the
A ROYAL CREMATION. 101
royal precincts, whose high white wall conceals all
but the white or golden pagoda spires of a delight-
fully bizarre group of buildings, and then we walked
on through the crowded road round the place pre-
pared for the cremation ceremony, the Premane
itself. The whole scene gay and busy as a fair on
a very large scale ; the enclosure marked by lines
of pagoda-shaped standards, of quaintest sort, to be
used in the illuminations and scaffoldings covered
with lamps in strange devices, and beyond the en-
closure a series of open theatres, tea-shops answer-
ing to French cafes, illuminated shows and many
places of amusement, all thronged by crowds in
motley costume, the skins of women and children
coloured with poM'dered Indian saffron ; and camp-
fires showing us the preparation of multitudes to
bivouac in the neighbourhood.
The naturally poUte and good-humoured crowd
eyed our costumes curiously, of course, just as we
stared at them, but they did not press on us, nor
stare rudely, though we challenged public interest
along with the rest of the show. A better-mannered
mob I never expect to see ; everywhere, as they
politely made way for us to pass, I thought of the
Siamese proverb I had heard of, ' Nobility implies
but pedigree, but manners the man.' Yet they
were anxious to get all the fun of the fair too;
there is a touch of human nature all over the world.
We stood by the palace gates, at the western side of
the enclosure, and saw a procession defile out with
litters, urns, bands and banners.
It was the most theatrical thing, reminding us of
102 A ROYAL CREMATION.
' Lohengrin,' or something still more spectacular by-
Augustus Druriolanus. Four curtained litters passed
by with gorgeous ladies, wives of the king, the third
litter containing the queen herself wearing black
sewn with seed pearl, and a child with her in black ;
the fourth litter held a lady gay in pink and green
and jewels. It is, T hear, a very unusual thing for
the ladies of the royal harem to pass in open pro-
cession, but there they were, and of three of them
at least we could see the unveiled faces distinctly.
Banners swept on of many shapes and many tatters
(from the wars ?) most of them made of painted
cotton ; eflFective at a distance, but from our coign
of vantage we saw them too near, — we were behind
the scenes, as it were. One car bore golden images
of Buddha under glass shades, then followed four
biers, very richly decorated, that we supposed
supported the bodies of the royal dead, with priests
in yellow garments kneeling at the head and foot
of each. We were afterwards informed that these
were urns containing the ashes of former kings of
the dynasty. The Bangkok Times of the 15th of
Febuary, 1888, said, ' Yesterday, the 14th instant,
the urns containing the remains of former kings of
the present dynasty were brought in procession
from the Palace to the Premane, and then placed
on the magnificent thrones prepared to receive
them.' Tomtoms were played and conches most
discordant, and other instruments of a Siamese band
that we did not think much of. Then came the
army in various shabby imitations of French uniform,
and the navy represented by the men of the royal
A ROYAL CREMATION. 103
yacht Vesatri ; then followed a body of men in white
who seemed to be palace officials, A possibly
cooks, with pointed white helmets ^::^^or rather
caps "vvith brass rings hung round them.
After the long procession had filed out, Mr.
Cobham and I walked on round the other side of
the Premane precincts, still like a fair, and profuse
in coloured decorations and black bunting. Many of
the large buildings and warehouses have black, or
black and white, decorations festooned upon them for
mourning. The tall gates on this side were as pro-
fusely decorated as those in front, although they led
out upon the back premises, and were neighboured
by cooking and refreshment booths, and tents for the
horses and other animals.
The fire-brigade was here stationed with several
engines and paraphernalia seemingly in good work-
ing order ; its presence appeared highly necessary in
the midst of that profusion of canvas, painted paper,
illuminations, and other theatrical properties. While
we were examining the brigade — and they us — we
noticed a large column of smoke rising at some
distance ; we suspected it was a fire, but as the
brigade took no manner of notice of it, and the
engines did not offer to stir, we concluded the
smoke must relate to the ceremony in some way.
Another Asian mystery.
The tall standards, looking like scaffolding
arranged for illumination, were lighted up as we
returned at dusk, losing our way, and feeling like
babes in the wood in the bewildering throng,
because we did not know the name of our palace.
lOi A ROYAL CREMATION.
and therefore could not ask for it. We found the
turning at last, it was not far to seek, and as
a measure of precaution learnt the pronunciation of
the palace's name, ' Saranroum ' (the n is not
sounded, and may be omittedj, signifying place of
delight, or of special rest. It was built about
twenty-five years ago, as a place of repose for the
king from the noise and bustle of his palaces in the
royal enclosure. Possibly he is at times glad to
get away from the clamour of his forty wives and
seventy children. The large white stone barracks
next to this palace were built six years ago. The
column of smoke during this time had grown larger
and loftier, and the sky on one side was black with
its clouds, of which only here and there anyone took
any notice or set off to run in the direction of the
smoke. Truly there is a great calmness about these
Orientals.
On our return we heard that the reason of this
dense smoke was a great fire at a timber wharf and
a ship-building yard. It might easily have burnt
all Bangkok, which, as it is built of wood and grass,
would have made a great cremation spectacle ; but
that is a detail. We asked why the fire brigade
did not stir ; they told us there was another brigade
on the other side of the river, where the fire was.
This does not seem to have been exact, but it might
have been difficult to carry the engines, &c., across
the rivei'. The Father of all Knowledge, the Bang-
kok Times, soon gave us an account of it. I give
the shorn heads thereof:
'A more destructive and rapid fire has seldom
A ROYAL CREMATION. 106
been known in Bangkok. At the moment of the
outbreak, about six p.m., all the inhabitants of the
house were away, excepting the cook employed in
the house where the fire originated, and who appears
to have upset a tin of petroleum, and so set fire
to the building. The alarm was quickly given, and,
half-an-hour afterwards, some firemen and police
arrived, and commenced to play upon the flames
Avith hand-squirts, when great streams of fire burst
forth from adjacent buildings ; and it was evident
that the conflagration would soon test the whole
police force. Every narrow lane where there was
a prospect of reaching the blaze Avas soon filled with
men passing buckets of water along ; but, in spite
of all etForts, the flames steadily gained ground
till they reached A. Kon Hoi's saw-mill, containing
upwards of one hundred thousand dollars' worth
of planks, which were quickly consumed. The
flames then, by a slight change in the direction of
the Avind, were driven across a small creek on to
the backs of other houses to the east, several of
Avhich were gutted; the complete destruction of
them, however, being averted by pulling down the
attap roofs of four large buildings in their neigh-
bourhood. From A. Kon Hoi's establishment the
fire rapidly spread, and, after consuming another
fifty houses or so, set fire to a second, but smaller,
timber-yard. Here the conflagration reached its
height, and the scene was one of aAvful grandeur.
Dense clouds of black smoke and huge columns
of bright fl^me rose to a level with the neighbouring
Wat Chang' [the loftiest temple in Bangkok, covered
106 A ROYAL CREMATION.
■with glittering ornamentation of porcelain and earth-
enware]. 'When a high tree caught fire it presented
a magnificent appearance, but the sight did not last
long; for the tree soon fell bodily into the burning
abyss below. Towards a quarter-past seven, the
fire reached a broad rivulet running along the whole
side of the burning mass : and there the fire was
kept in check by men standing up to their waists
in the water, and throwing it on the flames. It
is hardly possible to estimate accurately the amount
of damage caused. Having regard, however, to the
large amount of valuable timber consumed, and to
the total loss of three hundred houses, with their
contents, the loss may be stated, on the lowest
calculation, to be over one hundred and fifty thou-
sand dollars. At half-past seven all further danger
was over ; and then it was that the steam engine
from the water-police station slowly steamed up,
and calmly contemplated the smouldering remains.'
The Dukeof Sutherland, an accomplished amateur
fireman, who in all his travels makes the fire
brigades an object of attention, contrasted this
sluggishness or unreadiness of the Siamese with
what he had seen in New York, where the highly-
trained horses placed themselves in position by the
engine-pole, and the men dropped down the shoot,
half-dressed, carrying their clothes to put on. They
were ready in a minute exactly. ' See what we can
do,' said Captain Shaw, on hearing this on the
Duke's return to London. Captain Shaw signalled
as for a fire, and out galloped the engine complete
in twenty-three seconds.
A ROYAL CREMATION. 107
From the windows of my own room I have a view
of the towers and pagodas of the temples and
palaces in the royal enclosure, with a clock in a
tall tower which keeps time. Bangkok time is
earlier than Greenwich by six hours forty-two min-
utes and one-and-a-half seconds. I can see several
of the palace buildings and wats (temples), and a
pleasing foreground of mangoes, plantains hung with
fruit, and a large forest tree most freshly green, the
haunt of delightful birds ; also the children and
fine poultry belonging to my dusky neighbours in
the small street by the side of our palace. At noon
I shut the shutters, to keep out the heat, and sit
to write in a small inner room beyond the great
marble vestibule, which I have adopted as my
afternoon sitting-room. It is pleasant writing by
the open windows looking out on a grove with
pagodas peeping up among the trees, and pink
amaryllis flowers growing in vases on the parapets
of the verandah. We have a large drawing-room
with a piano in it, and other sitting-rooms, corridors,
&c., on the opposite side of the central courtyard,
and a smoking-room and a handsome drawing-room
at one end of the long dining-room, where there
is a table long enough to dine fifty persons.
They give us heavy luncheons and European
dinners. For every meal the epergnes are newly
dressed with fresh flowers, many of them new to
me. As they see me look closely at these, the at-
tendants try to take me in by fitting centres of
hibiscus into calyxes of lilies, and other deceptions,
sometimes so well done that Linnaeus himself might
108 A ROYAL CREMATION.
be deceived. They watch with amused looks to see
if I shall be caught. They grow a beautiful blue
flower here, a pure ultramarine (papilionaceous
blossom) — the same plant, the torea, that I gathered
at Massowah, only cultivated, double, and hand-
some. We should find this a great addition to our
small stock of blue flowers.
The drinking water tastes muddy, and is full of
vegetable matter. This, they said, was owing to
the pipes having been recently laid. We punished
their soda-water pretty well. They gave us con-
densed milk, thinking it was our custom to take it,
and that we preferred it to fresh milk, which is,
however, readily procured in Bangkok.
The royal gardens just outside our palace are
very pleasant, full of flowers and stately trees. A
long turfy glade, shaded with masses of bamboo,
Avhose columns creak and sigh with every swaying
breeze, is lined with seats, and, I must admit, com-
monplace European statues ; these seats command
charming views of pagodas and wats, with horned
gables to their coloured roofs. A collection of Sia-
mese birds, curious pheasants, peacocks, &c., is kept
behind the hedges of this glade, and a menagerie of
wild beasts of Siam, leopards and others, and great
grey adjutants strut about the gardens. There is a
stand for the band, which plays here on Saturday
afternoons, when the public are admitted. A long
conservatory filled with ferns and orchids has wind-
ing staircases leading to an agreeable promenade on
the roof. There is also a tennis-ground surrounded
by seats, fountains, and curious figures of men.
A ROYAL CREMATION. 109
lions, and dragons cut in a small-leafed species of
yew. The Siamese are fond of flowers, but I see
they chiefly employ Chinese gardeners.
The king commanded that every day two of the
royal carriages should be in waiting at our palace
gates for our use whenever we wish to take a
drive ; but 'as it is sometimes said that everyone
should travel on foot, like Thales, Plato, and Pytha-
goras,' the actual examination of things giving
life to the idea, I went about sometimes on foot,
like the philosophers, to get a closer view of the
streets of Bangkok than one commands from a
carriage.
I see the Siamese have a taste for classical temples.
Several small specimens of these are mingled with
the Buddhist national temples, as well as fifth-rate
statuary such as abounds in the precincts of the
Palace of Calm Delights, Floras, Hebes, and most
killingly French Cupids. The young Siamese nobles
sent to Europe to study bring back a taste for these
classical temples, and for artificial stone statuary pur-
chased in the Euston Road.
I hurry past these ornaments, preferring the truly
native localities, where, under light bridges, often
made of a single pole or plank supported on tressels,
boats are darting about the various canals, rowed
chiefly by women wearing panungs, with a scarf over
their shoulders, which is the chief difference between
men's and women's costume, and hats like broad
round baskets turned upside-down, and fitted inside
with a wicker cap of open work. This strange but
sensible hat has every advantage of shade and cool-
110 A ROYAL CREMATION.
ness. They are made of palm-leaves neatly sewn
together ; some of them are very finely sewn and
woven. The children mostly run about naked, or
with nothing but metal or glass ornaments.
There are not many jinrickshas, and the few are
very shabby, as if bought second-hand from Singa-
pore; but a good many sorts of four-wheeled vehicles
run on the macadamised road, bordered by the tele-
graph, which I followed as we do in France, where
it generally leads to the centre of the town. The
Siamese have pillar-post boxes, too. Why these
should have surprised me, I do not know, as I had
already used their postage-stamps. The people
stare, of course, at seeing me out alone in British
costume, but they are not rude nor aggressive, and
there are no demands for baksheesh or largesse of
any kind. There is no gas, but they have the elec-
tric light in some places, and plenty of oil gas ; and
petroleum lamps and Chinese lanterns light the
streets sufficiently. The Duke has given the king
one of the large new lucigen lights ; there is to be a
trial of it to-night, and, if successful, it will be used
at the cremation.
The weather was extremely warm — unusually so,
they tell us, for February, which is thus spoken of
in the Bangkok calendar: 'During February the
wind blows much of the time from the N.E., at
other times from the E. and S.S.E., and the weather
is cool, pleasant, and healthy. Sometimes the wind
veers to the south, and it becomes oppressive for a
day or two. Showers of rain generally occur about
the middle of the month, which are regarded as indis-
A ROYAL CREMATION. Ill
pensable to set the mango-fruit, then hanging thickly
on the trees likesmall egg-plums.' The bestmangoesin
the world are Siamese ; the stones are a flattened ovoid.
Mr. Michell, legal adviser to the King of Siam,
took his sister, Lady Clare, to present her to the
king ; but His Majesty, knowing that there were
two ladies in the Duke's party, expressed to our
chamberlain his regret that I had not accompanied
them, and hoped I would attend his banquet at the
palace on the following day, causing a particular
invitation to be sent me, addressed and written in
Siamese, and sealed with a golden seal.
We dressed in our gayest robes of state for the
king's dinner-party, as we heard His Majesty liked
the brightest of colours. The gentlemen mostly
wore uniform or court dress. We were given chairs
in the vestibule of the royal palace, while waiting
for some formality or other. As no European ladies
had ever dined with the king before, there was no
precedent for our reception. The queen did not
appear. We were taken upstairs to a large saloon,
the roof supported by columns, and fancy portraits of
former Siamese sovereigns, &c., hung all round. The
room was European ; indeed, the palace was Re-
naissance, or Italian cinquecento throughout. This
palace, called Sapratome, was built nearly twenty
years ago. The only Oriental objects in the saloon
were the king's ivory throne, a really beautiful piece
of carving, and the costumes of the Siamese princes,
chamberlains, and the attendants who ducked and
ran behind the columns past the grandees, or the
Europeans.
112 A ROYAL CREMATION.
One other lady was present on this occasion, a
Portuguese countess, the wife of the Governor of
Macao, who was here with his son. Besides the
Duke of Sutherland's party, there were several Euro-
peans: Commodore de Richelieu, who commands the
Siamese fleet j Captain Bush, R.N., an old friend and
trusted counsellor of His Majesty; Mr. Michell, his
legal adviser ; Mr. Macarthy, who has been survey-
ing the country with a view to railways; and Doctor
Gowan, the chief royal physician, and Lieutenant
Chaby, a Portuguese. Our chamberlain and Prince
Doctor were also present, covered with orders and
decorations.
After some time of waiting, when everyone was
assembled, King Chulalonkorn appeared, wearing
black for mourning, and received us in the fashion
of western royalty. We curtsied deeply as he shook
hands with us. He is a handsome man, slight and
small, though taller than most of the members of
his family, and much better-looking than any of
them. His Majesty took the lead alone.
I was taken in first to dinner — in right of my age,
I suppose, though we ladies were none of us juvenile
■ — by the king's eldest full brother, who is his prime
minister ; the Prince Devawongse, brother of the
queen, better known as Prince Devan (the king's
private secretary and chancellor of the exchequer),
who was called prime minister when he was here in
England, seems, on account of his knowledge of
English and his wide travelling experience, to be
Minister of Foreign Affairs ; but Prince Goodness-
k no ws-how-to-spell-him-wongse spoke Englishequ ally
A ROYAL CREMATION. 113
well, though he had never been in Europe. The Duke
of Sutherland took in the Portuguese countess —
alas ! she did not even speak French — and Prince
Dcvan took in Lad}' Clare.
The king's chair of state was placed at the centre
of the long table ; his relatives and nobles, mostly
wearing costumes of cloth of gold and kincob bro-
cades, quite a feast of colour, surrounded His
Majesty. We three ladies sat facing the king,
divided by the Duke of Sutherland and the Portu-
guese Governor. The guests numbered about sixty
in all. The band in an ante-room played delight-
fully, national Siamese music alternately with selec-
tions from the ' Bohemian Girl ' and ' Faust ;'
Valentine's song being especially well-played ; the
performance commencing and ending with the spirited
Siamese national hymn.
The musicians are all native ; their leader is a
Siamese. The military band in the courtyard was
led by an Italian band-master.
They do not use punkahs in Siam, but attendants
in crimson costumes waved large feather-fans over
our heads, jerking them suddenly so as to frighten oiF
the mosquitoes. There are few or no flies in Bangkok.
The chief princes of the royal house wore beau-
tiful jewelled collars of a native Order ; Prince
Premier had, of course, one of these. Some of the
elderly nobles, in brocaded raiment, opposite, stared
at us so hard through their spectacles that it was
almost embarrassing. They did not exactly stare
rudely, but as if spellbound with astonishment that
women should be able to talk intelligently, sit at
114 A ROYAL CREMATION.
table, and eat their dinner properly. The Siamese
men and women do not take their meals together.
Dinner was served in European style, the glass
and porcelain, all from Europe, were engraved and
painted with the royal arms and King Chulalon-
korn's long name, though perhaps not all his numer-
ous names. The king and princes all drank Euro-
pean wines.
The dessert was the only thing presenting any
great novelty to us ; the sweetmeats were curious,
and the fruits various and strange. I was persuaded
to try the jack-fruit, which is pleasant and good for
food. The jack-fruit in its large, rough husk,
weighs nearly seventy pounds. But it is another
popular fallacy that tropical fruits are delicious ;
they are not to be compared with ours. It is
curious hoAV the notion ever arose that the fruits
were fine, of excellent quality, that is, in the
tropics.
Prince Premier talked well ; he had heard about
my books, and that I am taking notes to write my
impressions of Siam. The Siamese, he thinks, would
be more conservative than we, in the parliament
which is with them an idea for the far distant future.
Though quite a young man, he does not think he
shall live to see the railway that will shorten the
journey from Europe — or India — to Bangkok by
crossing the head of the long Malayan peninsula.
He does not want it evidently. The king laughed
and talked with his princes, and frequently addressed
us through an interpreter ; indeed, he was a very
agreeable host to his various guests. How varied
A ROYAL CREMATION. 115
can hardly be imagined, there is such a wide difference
of ideas between us and the elder nobles in kincobs ;
the languages were perhaps our least difference: there
were the Portuguese lady speaking no language but
her own, the Governor of Macao addressing me in
French, Siamese babbled softly in its liquid semi-
Italian murmurs all round, and English chattered
distinctly enough.
Mixed society indeed, but ' 'tis only in mixed
society you find the true sparkle, the fire of clashing
wits, the lightning flashes of adverse opinions,' —
though these things are scarcely to be found at
kings' tables. Anyway, we gather new impressions.
After dinner we were conducted to a smaller
saloon, richly furnished in European style. Here
the king handed. garlands of flowers to many of us,
which we hung round our necks or arras. Mine
was a chain of alternate white and yellow night-
scented flowers (yellow the royal colour). Some of
the wreaths were pink, some white, all various and
all perfumed. When I got home I hung up my
wreath to preserve it. The scent was so strong that
I could hardly bear it even with three open win-
dows and a draught right through the room. I
noticed the incense smell of odorous night-scented
flowers all over Siam, in those ' still, heavy, oppres-
sive, fragrant nights.'
Though the king conversed with us through an
interpreter, he fully understood what we said;
indeed, I always addressed myself to him directly.
Prince Premier told me the king knew and spoke
English as well as the best of them, but he has a
i2
116 A ROYAL CREMATION.
certain shyness in speaking lest he should make any
mistakes. Some books say it is not etiquette for
the king to speak in any but his own language, but
this is not the case. Prince Premier, and indeed all
the princes, spoke of the king with much affection,
and a respect bordering on veneration. He seems a
most amiable monarch.
We ladies and the Duke of Sutherland were taken
to another part of the palace to be presented to the
queen, a charming little woman dressed in black —
she was in mourning for her children — wearing the
panung (of black silk), which, like the men's cos-
tume, is arranged so as to have the appearance of
knee-breeches, showing her legs in open-worked
black silk stockings to the knee. She has very
small and pretty feet and ankles. She wore the
national form of scarf across her shoulders, and
several orders on her black jacket, which was sewn
with seed pearl. Her hair is cut short like a boy's,
and she wears nothing on her head. It is a comical,
yet piquant costume. The queen is not handsome
in face, but dignified, and very pleasing in manner ;
I was captivated by her. Her Majesty does not under-
stand English, so we spoke through an interpreter.
She spoke gravely, I thought nervously, as if unac-
customed to such public speaking. She said she was
gratified to receive a visitor of such distinction as
the Duke of Sutherland. We backed out in proper
form. What must she have thought of our volumi-
nous trained skirts !
It was only 10.10 when we returned to the Palace
of Calm Delights, but we had passed a pleasant
A ROYAL CREMATION. 117
evening, notwithstanding that the thermometer
stood at 88°.
Our poor dear ' Lappy ' has been lost from the
yacht, as he swam ashore for the fourth time. By
this time he will have been destroyed by the pariah
dogs, or, worse stiU, made into pies by the Chinese.
118
CHAPTER V.
HIGH LIFE IN ASIA.
Is it illusion or not that attracteth the pilgrim transalpine,
Brings him a duUard and dunce hither to pry and to stare ?
Is it illusion or not that allures the barbarian stranger,
Brings him with gold to the shrine, brings him in arms to the gate ?
A. H. Clough.
My key to modern Siamese history, the Bangkok
Times, says, ' On Friday the 17th of February, early
in the morning, the remains of His Royal Highness
Somdetch Chow Fa Siri Rachakukutbandh, and His
Royal Highness Somdetch Chow Fa Bhahuratmnimai
Avill be placed on the large funeral cars and brought
in procession to the premane, where they will be
placed in the central dome.'
We arrayed ourselves in white for complimentary
mourning and because of the heat ; but in rather
dressy costume, as we were to meet several of the
royal ladies, who were also invited to take seats in
the verandah of Mr. Michell's house, opposite the
royal grand stand erected under a striped awning
near the principal gates of the palace. About half-
a-dozen of the prince's wives sat with us in this
gallery chatting, chewing betel, and carefully closing
HIGH LIFE IN ASIA. 119
the jalousies between them and the crowd below.
We opened those at the other end of the verandah
wide that we might see all that was to be seen.
Facing us, across the road, sat the queen and
the king's wives in a closed gallery, though we
could see their black dresses plainly, and sometimes
their faces. A golden throne was placed in the
centre of this pavilion for the king, but he did not
occupy it. We were offered seats in the royal
enclosure, but, as full dress for us and hot uniform
for the gentlemen would have been indispensable, we
declined them, having already accepted the offer of
Mr. Michell's gallery overlooking the road. The
space of turf made our seats a little further off, but it
was a relief having the green to look out upon, and
the ways of the crowd and their variegated costume
were as entertaining to us as the procession itself.
Some of the officers of the yacht stood behind the
Duke.
We waited and talked, and, seeing my note-book
open, Prince Doctor came near to give me a correct
explanation of everything, though there was too
much to look at to allow much time for explanations.
The gay and varied festival costumes of the crowd
looked like a ' wind-stirred tulip-bed,' in particular
the bright colours of umbrellas and panungs.
European hats, straw or billycock, are very general,
but inharmonious with the national costume. These
hats look like German make. Penny ices served
like we see them in London on a Sunday are
popular among the crowd. The inevitable ' Derby
dog ' is represented by a squalling baby, in a scarlet
120 HIGH LIFE IN ASIA.
panung, gilt anklets and such a funny little pigtail,
continually kicking the grass-green inexpressibles
of his patient papa.
Throngs are arriving from all quarters ; now it is
impossible to cross the road. Prince Doctor told
me of a Siamese gentleman walking in London, who
asked, after vainly trying to cross the Strand, if
there was a cremation going on ?
They are forming for the processions ; men in
lapis-lazuli blue jerkins with orange and red flags,
and other blue uniforms, alternating with the sailor
dress of the numerous i*oyal yachtsmen lining the
road, and a discordant band. Here is an elephant, a
white elephant — no, a model. The Augustus Drurio-
lanus of Bangkok shines to-day. Red coats and
red hats (men implied) bear green and yellow
standards of muslin or paper. Then come various
standards, crosses, and a sort of may-pole ; then
pagoda-shaped standards of three graduated um-
brellas, and pagoda-shaped lanterns.
All stood still till the royal procession appeared.
The king led the_jivay, wearing Siamese costume
and a black billycock hat. He was carried by men
in a throne under a state umbrella. Two of his
children in white were with him, one stood by him,
the smaller one sat on his knee. The crown prince
was carried on a similar throne behind him.
Packets of yellow and red cloth, for presents to
the priests, are borne on small canopied arks. /^
The arks are really borne on poles, though TJ\
they are apparently drawn by men in red. CP
A symbolical figure, a ' dragon-endedman,' as Prince
lilOH LIFE IN ASIA. 121
Doctor described him, with a fiery tail, was carried
under a red umbrella.
' Do you see that figure-head, Butters ?' says the
Duke.
The first mate grins at it, and at the gold cocks,
green and red dragons, and other fabulous animals.
It is strange how demon-worship lingers among
these people, notwithstanding the reformations
effected by Sivartha (Buddha).
' That is a god who eats snakes,' says my cicerone.
' That is one who eats ladies.'
' A useful beast,' ventured somebody, his name
does not matter, as he was instantly annihilated.
Then come a number of round standards, and some
banners crossed ' baldrick-wise ' with white ribbons.
'This is a god who goes about looking after the
big snake Pianah and devours it. He is the bearer
of the sun. This is a symbol of the sun drying up
the swamps.'
Now comes the band. This national music is a
whirring sound accompanying the pipes. The
whirring is perhaps more agreeable than the drone
of the Scotch bagpipes. The screeching baby con-
tributed its assistance to the band. He was pacified
with an ice. He has been smiting his mother too
hard, so again the green-breeked father takes and
fondles him tenderly. Children are ruled by love in
Siam — where the birch does not grow,
' Oh, my eye, here is a go, forty 'buses in a row !'
quoted Prince Doctor, who, as we know, studied
the classics in England, as more dragons, heraldic
lions rampant, and other symbolical figures on cars
122 HIGH LIFE IN ASIA.
came to a halt before the royal gallery — and ours.
A light breeze makes sight-seeing endurable, but
the thermometer stands at 90° in the shade. The
Chinamen selling the penny ices drive a fine busi-
ness. Sir Andrew Clarke comes up to our gallery.
He found himself — in his light dust-coat — among all
the gaily-dressed Siamese nobles in golden kincobs ;
and, when his name was called out, he had to
apologise for his costume, as he passed before the
king. He finds life easier on our side. The
dragons and armies move on again, with heavily-
broidered banners. Then come the men in white,
with the pointed hats with metal rings round them,
bearing crimson artificial flowers in triple bunches,
arranged pagoda- wise. There are about a hundred
of these flower-bearers.
Bursts of sound of drums are heard, and pipes
and fifes ; drummers in scarlet appear, banging their
drums at intervals, to mark the discordant music,
heralding a black-satin parasol surrounded by drum-
shaped standards arranged in tiers, pagoda-wise.
This pagoda arrangement of everything has a mysti-
cal meaning. Standards of all sorts are arranged
in this way, graduating in size, in certain symbolic
numbers, three, seven, or nine. These standards
are on the coinage and on the royal seal. The
royal crown, and that of the crown prince, are
formed on the same plan. The ornaments are all
said to be symbolical : the five pagodas of the Wat
in the cremation-ground are so, viz., of the four
cremated princes and the king.
Surrounded by these standards is borne a lofty
HIGH LIFE IN ASIA. 123
golden car, with a priest sitting in it under an
umbrella. This priest is the king's brother; he is
a priest for life. All the Siamese men above a
certain grade have to enter the priesthood at some
time of their lives, and may remain in it as long
as they please. The king himself was a priest for
a year before he came to the throne.
Another dignitary, a child, is carried past us on a
chair, and another, followed by men in red drawing
the state catafalques, "with the bodies of the princes,
the deceased Chow Fa and his brother, the two funeral
cars connected by a long silver ribbon, or breadth
of silver tissue very costly. These are followed by
more pagoda-standards and men in white, with red
flowers, and a lesser car with urns containing the
ashes of former cremated kings and princes of the
dynasty. The approach of three other cars, bearing
white figures with banners, preludes a movement
onwards on the part of the populace, who accom-
pany the bearers of innumerable arks containing
presents to the priests. There are hundreds of
these. The living figures clothed in white on the
cars represent angels ; they are all, and must be,
men of the royal family, grandsons of a king.
Behind these cars are borne very tall pagoda-
standards, like may-poles, closing the procession.
A native Siamese on a tricycle, swallowing the dust,
brings up the rear.
These two bodies which have been borne in proces-
sion to-daywill be cremated together on Monda3^next;
the bodies of the two princesses will be burnt a week
later. The whole ceremonial is to occupy a fortnight.
124 HIGH LIFE IN ASIA.
It is now eleven a.m., and the queen, dressed
all in black, has left the royal gallery ; the royal
ladies in black and white, with black satin parasols,
are moving away too ; and the king's golden chair is
taken away.
The impression left by this display on the thought-
less or uninstructed mind is a mixture of the theatre
and the motley muddle of a fancy ball. The Duke
quotes the famous Scotchman in Punch., who says,
' I don't care much for dancing, nor much for
dinners, but for real enjoyment give me a thorough
good funeral.'
The spirited royal ponies, chiefly piebald, are
being led back. The royal ladies in our gallery
depart, trying all they can to get away unnoticed.
The gentlemen were very careful not to go too near
them, but I sat by them talking. They showed
their goodwill, and their betel- blackened teeth j in
smiles and signs ; but conversation languished, and
I returned to chat and eat ices with our own party
and Mr. Michell's friends, pleasant English people
living in Bangkok. Mr. Michell showed us his
drawings of the native birds, and two specimens
of the Siamese fighting fish that he keeps separate ;
as, when he sets the glasses containing them to-
gether, they at once set up their backs and change
colour.
Several of the princes and courtiers stayed with
us until they should be called for duty at the king's
palace. These oflicials get a habit of waiting about,
loafing in a graceful or dancing-master-like manner.
While they are here, and while green coco-nuts are
HIGH LIFE IN ASIA. 125
being peeled, and their tops struck off for us to
taste the fresh coco-nut milk, we get all the infor-
mation we can obtain from j)ersons able to read the
native Siamese papers. We hear we cannot, in any
case, leave Bangkok before the spring-tide of the
27th of February. It will be hot weather by
then, as March is their hottest month. Though,
as regards the difference of seasons in Siam, I should
say that, while winter is the ' frying-pan,' summer is
the ' fire.' Yet for all the sun's glare, there are few
blind people to be seen in these crowds. Being a
moist climate, there is less dust than in many
southern places.
We feel like people who have been to a wedding,
with the day left on their hands. After eating a
few banana ices and tasting some sala, — a horny fruit,
a cross between an armadillo, a lobster, and a Brazil
nut, too strong in flavour to be palateable, — we
are eager to go curio-hunting, but we hear there
are no manufactories here, not even of pottery ;
they send their orders to China for nearly every-
thing, so the old enamelled terra-cotta ware, with
floral decorations, or figures of Buddha and lotus-
leaves, is now only to be found in museums. This
is a pity, as this pottery was not quite like Persian
nor Chinese; it was just Siamese. There are like-
wise no native silks : but if idle, the people are
respectable, for Prince Doctor tells us there are no
Siamese thieves in Bangkok. True, as there are no
manufactures, there is the less temptation to steal.
The modern flat coinage was issued in Siam in
1862. A tical is the size of a florin, nominal value
126 HIGH LIFE IN ASIA.
half-a-crown ; five silver ticals are given for three
dollars. The old Siamese coinage of ticals, two
and four tical pieces, and half, quarter, and one
eighth of a tical, a sort of roUed-up balls of silver
•with a stamp thereon, have become rare, and are
therefore sought eagerly at high prices ; the larger
balls are mostly used as buttons to the white linen
jackets worn by gentlemen in the tropics. The
modern coinage is sent minted from London. The
silver is, by order from Siam, more heavily alloyed
than ours, therefore its value is depreciated when
carried out of the country. They still work a little
in silver, making kettles, bowls, and tazzas, or stands
for bowls in silver repousse, the outside engraved
with flowers, gilt or , gold lacquered by a peculiar
Siamese process, the spaces nielloed or filled in with
antimony.
When the tidal canals are dry, it is less agreeable
driving in Bangkok ; so at flow of tide in the com-
parative cool of the afternoon I took a drive with
young Mr. Swinn, the son of our chamberlain, an
intelligent youth of eighteen, who has been educated
in England, and who rubbed up his English con-
siderably during our stay in Bangkok. He says
there are nearly forty Siamese schoolboys in London.
There were eleven in the school he was at on
Hampstead Heath. It seems a grievous pity after
the young Siamese have been educated in England
to plunge them back into the semi-barbarism of the
native habits, and let them experience all the evils
of polygamy. Young Swinn does not smoke, nor
does he chew betel, he loathes it ; so does his father,
HIGH LIFE IN ASIA. 127
but he is obliged by his position at Court to con-
form to the customs of the country. Our chamber-
lain and his son are tall, large men, — for Siamese,
that is, who are mostly small and delicately made.
The gentlemen of our party — it is true they are
none of them under six feet high — look like a race
of giants among them.
We drove through the fields of rice and sugar-
canes, haunted by flocks of small black and white
birds, by a good level road between hedges during
part of the way, to a place called Sabratummawan,
a little beyond a castellated building called the
Crown Prince's palace. While the horses rested
unharnessed we tried to get into a neighbouring
wat (temple), crossing a broad ditch, almost a canal,
by means of a log of wood. Landing-steps leading
up from the ditch to the lych-gate show that
worshippers generally come up by boat to this wat
through the marshes of paddy and tapioca.
Mr. Swinn says they have a day answering to
our Sunday three times a month.
The temple gates are shut, but at last we find an
entrance, on making a circuit by way of the
houses of the temple attendants.
The temple is in a dilapidated state — nothing is
ever repaired in Siam, as the house falls so it must
lie — but in point of decoration it was the most
really artistic of any temple I saw in Siam. The
green and blue mosaics inlaid in the cement were
good ; some gilt lotus-leaves with looking-glass ribs
were curious and clever ; a small bird on a lotus-
leaf, naturalistic and very pretty, went so far as to
128 HIGH LIFE IN ASIA.
remind me of some rough-and-ready efforts of the
early Italian artists ; the best bits even, dare I say it,
of the outer border decoration of the Ghiberti gates
of San Giovanni at Florence. Outside the wat are
curious figures of mythological animals, dragons,
smiling antelopes, and men apparently in transports
of fury. Round the doors is inlaid a green glass
mosaic work of lotus-plants with fish in the water and
birds among the lotuses branching up. As in Japan,
' the lotus-flowers are an emblem of purity, righteous-
ness, and immortality.' This mosaic I can hardly
fancy to have been the work of Siamese artists, but
young Mr. Swinn did not know, he believed it was.
He was rather astonished at my admiration of it.
The decoration with small pieces of looking-glass is
sometimes seen in Burmese work, but all I have
seen has been barbaric compared with this.
We climbed into the dagoba, as it is called in Ceylon
and Burmah, the word is not used here ; in Siam
these stone buildings, a pagoda-shaped mixture of
forms, round, square, and spiral, are called Buddha's
tomb. This building always accompanies a wat,
the temple itself, which is generally built of wood
profusely coloured and inlaid. Within the precincts
of the dkgoba is always a bo-tree, Ftcus religiosa, the
tree sacred to Buddha, beneath which he sought and
found Nirvana.
Earthenware balustrades enamelled blue line the
very steep steps leading up to the Buddha's tomb,
and doors six inches thick guard the internally
small temple, where there is a model of Buddha's
foot, engraved as usual with symbols on the sole,
HIGH LIFE IN ASIA. 129
and an inner sanctuary where there is Buddha's re-
cliningfigu re in fine whitemarble, very highly finished
and polished like the antique statues. I have seen
Burmese images of this kind of white marble, but
this figure was not like the work of a Burmese
artist. In vain did I try to discover the origin of
this statue, or whence the marble came. Mr. Swinn
said ' it was found in the country here ;' but did he
know it for certain ? No one could T find who
considered this ruinous country temple Avorthy of a
thought. I tried to persuade Mr. Cobham, who ap-
preciates art, to visit this temple and give me his
opinion of it ; but there was so much else to be seen,
and the weather was so hot, that expeditions were
not to be lightly undertaken. Of course I could not
find a photograph of it. From the steps of the
dagoba we had a good view of the mosaic figures
in the coloured pediment, an equilateral triangle, of
the wat. These figures are merely archaic. Near
here is a large metal bell that they ring for worship.
The pepper-plant, Piper Betle^ whose leaves pre-
pared with lime they eat with the betel-nut, grew
in profusion outside the wat. I gathered a wild
straw-coloured lily and several plants new to me, as
we repassed the ' monkey bridge ' on our return to
the carriage at sunset. We returned by the bank
of one of the numerous canals, now full of water
and boats, bordered by the numerous lights of
bamboo dwellings half-hidden among the foliage,
and the lamps of small pagodas glimmering behind
the plantains and feathery bamboos, and home by
the lantern-lighted shops of the Chinese quarter,
K
130 HIGH LIFE IN ASIA.
where the people were preparing their supper, inter-
mingled with the flaring and more lurid lights of
those strange pandemonia, the Chinese gambling-
houses.
After dinner, which was usually at half-past seven,
the carriages were brought round again to take us
to the Premane, where the king was expecting us to
visit him.
The scene was like the Colonial Exhibition
gone mad; outside the Premane enclosure, the
wild and brilliant illuminations, the contorted tum-
bling and strange acting in the shows, and the
strong lights and shadows on the bewilderingly
varied population, made the maddest, merriest of
entertainments ; a transformation-scene at a panto-
mime is a composition, a masked ball is held in
coherence by the musical rhythm, this was like a
multiplication of these sights, fifty country fairs all
whirling together, held in no order save that of
universal good behaviour and good humour. I
neither saw nor heard of a single case of quarrelling
or drunkenness during the fourteen days and nights
that the festivity lasted. Naturally we could not
drive past the chevaiu'-de-frise barring the road for
the protection of the multitude, but our excellent
chamberlain, all in white for mourning, marshalled
us through the crowds to the comparatively quiet
enclosure of the Premane, to which to-night none
but the king's family and guests were admitted.
Here we sat in full evening dress in the charming
gardens illuminated by lanterns with elephants
painted on them, and innumerable devices for effects
HIGH LIFE IN ASIA. 181
of light and colour. The Siamese seem particularly
clever at these displays. There was something to
arrest and stimulate the attention everywhere, the
whole scene was a strange mixture of civilization
and — no, not savagery, as some one carelessly ob-
served — nativery. The chalets were filled with
flowers, or birds, or softly whirring bands of Siamese
music, and the fanciful kiosks with every contrivance
for repose, refreshment, and conversation ; the wind-
ing paths were bordered by tall Chinese vases hold-
ing crotons and other tropical plants, alternately
with lesser but elegant pots filled with choice flowers.
An Oriental evening f^te at an Oriental botanic
garden, a fete within a fete. On a broad space of
turf the lucigen light was ready to be lighted ; the
Duke's engineers and several officers of the yacht
were ready in attendance, and Aleck the piper, in
full Highland dress, was to walk up and down play-
ing the pipes before the king. After tea had been
handed round, we, the Duke's party, were conducted
up to the head of a staircase on to a sort of balcony
where the king, in black, with all his brothers in
black, received us, Aleck piping below the while.
After shaking hands all round, the king presented
us ladies each with a fan painted with a view of the
Premane and the names of the four royal dead who
were to be cremated. He gave the Duke as a sou-
venir a valuable tea-service of the rare native Siamese
ware, enamelled on metal, on a round silver tray.
Then the king selected from a bowl of silver
sprays, tied with white ribbon, like bridal favours,
a spray for each of us, which he gracefully presented.
132 HIGH LIFE IN ASIA.
On each spray were three waxen balls, like coloured
fruits (blue and purple), containing each a sort of
lottery ticket, giving us three presents a-piece. The
whole reception was delightfully singular, fanciful,
and pretty. Though, like most Orientals, the king
has great sense of personal dignity, perhaps his grace
and good manners are his greatest distinction ; they
are so simple, besides, and so natural.
Yet Feridiin was not an angel, nor
Composed of musk and ambergris. By justice
And enlightenment he gained his fame.*
Then he presented to us the crown prince, aged
nine, and two others of his children, whom he called
through the curtained window of his private apart-
ments. These bright, lively children were all very
prettily mannered, and shook hands and spoke in
English. They wore round their top-knots of hair
above the forehead little chaplets of the small, white
mali-flower. The youngest boy — a darling of five
years old — the king told us, was learning English.
He replied to our ' How do you do ?' ' Tite well, I
tant you.' We were charmed with the child. I
asked him how old he was, but the dear little pet
was at a loss to answer. Kissing is not understood
in Siam, so Mr. Michell told us, when we would
have kissed the dear little prince who spoke so
prettily. Could it be taught by a competent pro-
fessor ? On retiring, after some talk with the king,
and looking at the charming view of the illuminated
grounds from above — the lucigen light extinguished
by this time — we were taken by some of the princes
* FiRDAUSI.
HIGH LIFE IN ASIA. 133
to look round the whole of the buildings in the
cremation ground, all made of paper and bamboo,
even where it looked like Italian palaces of white
marble. Prince Premier told me it was all to be
removed, or destroyed, after the cremation ceremony.
The bewildering idea to us was the purpose of the
whole thing — that this scene of pleasure was the
cremation-gro u nd.
Then we were taken up another staircase to the
kind of bazaar where they keep the presents which,
according to Siamese custom, the king distributes
to his guests and nobles on such occasions. The
fruit-balls were here plucked off our silver sprays,
opened, and presents found to match the numbers.
I received a very curious golden purse for Siamese
sovereigns, a set of gold studs reddened by special
native process with cinnabar (sulphide of mercury),
and a silver-gilt tea-kettle embossed with raised
figures in gold. This is a sign of nobility, like
the silver tea-pot embossed with gold that Sir J.
Bowring describes, ' that nobody might use unless
he were a noble.' I felt like a countess at least.
After duly admiring the French clocks, vases,
and bijouterie collected as presents to the native
multitude, we were taken across the plaited bamboo-
walk leading to the steps of the gilt and pasteboard
temple, to see the splendid shrines containing the
corpses of the princes, all of gold enriched witb
diamonds, placed on a resplendent golden altar
blaziug with light and dazzling with gems. Eight
kneeling figures in eastern armour support tall
pagoda-standards at the foot of the altar-steps, which
13-i HIGH LIFE IN ASIA.
rise in a pyramid of lamps and offerings of flowers in
golden vases. The long silver ribbon borne between
the coffins in the procession passes up the centre
of the steps, between the shrines, to the altar, and
the remainder lies folded in a pile on an elaborately-
wrought stand between the kneeling standard-
bearers. The whole chancel is hung with rich and
strange tissues, draperies and pictures, and the outer
walls with gorgeous eastern carpets of great size,
woven in silk and gold. A full description of the
decorations and upholstery would require a volume
to itself to explain the forms, arrangements, and
the meanings thereof. The whole magnificence is
laden with mystery, ' hints haunt us ever of a
more beyond,' and the air is laden with the heavy
night-scented temple-flowers (plumeria acutifolia)
and incense of the ceremonies and of the heated
earth.
From this chapelle ardente we walked through the
ranks of prostrate worshippers and between the bodies
of sleeping attendants of the priests to our carriages,
which we never should have found without our cham-
berlain and others, and drove home, to vainly try to
sleep and rest. We can get so very little sleep here in
Bangkok for the noises of the night — trumpets and
the ringing of multitudinous pagoda-bells proclaim
the last hour of day, midnight, and from that time
cannons are booming, guns popping, bells and cym-
bals clashing, tom-toms drumming, owls, cats, and
brats crying, and excited people gambling nearly all
night. One's rooms are wide open to the air, and
the cock-crowing and the constant passing of bands
HIGH LIFE IN ASIA. 135
of national or military music make one foreswear all
love of serenades from this time forth.
' The time is good, the habit p'raps romantic,
But tending, if pursued, to drive the neighbours frantic'
Ten o'clock was the time fixed for our visit to the
temples in the royal enclosure and the famous
white elephants. We were already tired, and if we
could have got out of seeing these sights we would
gladly, but for very shame, have done so. The
thought of ' What will they say in England, where
they don't feel the heat ?' goaded us on, and at length
we summoned up resolution, and went, sallying
forth in a body for mutual moral support to the
palace grounds. It was extremely hot, I may have
remarked this before ; it was so true as to become a
truism. We took refuge in a large painted cloister,
but as the queen was then at her devotions in an
adjoining chapel, we were taken first to see the
celebrated white elephants, and saw five so-called
white elephants. Albino is what is meant, but we
have translated it as white. The pink eye is the true
distinction of a white elephant. The animals stood,
each in a separate building, on a platform under a
red canopy. Their forelegs are hobbled, they are
fastened also by the hind-leg to a gilt and painted
column, very strong. They are fed on small bundles
of grass, and bananas are given as a relish. We
fed them with plenty of both sorts of food. It is an
unhappy life for the poor beasts, who never move
except when led out for a walk in the morning.
They are not white, nor even very pale excepting
about the ears. One aged creature had his tusks
136 HIGH LIFE IN ASIA.
SO long that they were twisted over each other and
ahnost rested on the ground. One very large
ancient elephant, the whitest of the lot, perhaps
white with age, they gave us to understand it was
over ninety years old, actually mouldy with age and
ghastly with decrepitude, had to be supported by
girths of rope to keep it from falling. It could
never have raised itself had it once fallen, and all
the king's horses and all the king's men could not
have set it up again. The Buddhist religion forbids
their putting a bullet through it and ending this
long-suffering existence. I have seen in a home
newspaper a paragraph to the effect that we were
permitted to visit the white elephants which one of
the party describes as 'mangy frauds.' I did not
hear this remark made, nor do any of us own to it.
But it does not indicate powerful imagination on
the part of the writer of the paragraph.
Oh, the broiling heat of the noontide sun on
those flagstones ! and oh, the indomitable British
energy in sight-seeing that endures it ! How we
crept along by the narrow shadows under the walls
and eaves, and oh, how narrow were those strips of
comfort, ribbons of bliss ! It was an effort even to
look up at the numerous gaudily-coloured wats and
walls, some of glittering mosaic coarse but effective,
some of bold rosettes and imitations of flowers in
earthenware applied in patterns, wild and pictur-
esque certainly, and highly decorated, but nothing
in the whole sumptuous precinct can compare in
really artistic feeling with the decaying temple of
Sabratummawan out among the rice-fields ; indeed,
man life in asm. 137
as art these Bangkok Avats are scarcely worth
looking at, though the ethnologist and sociologist
might speculate and moralize for ever upon these
developments. The newest built wats are in worse
taste than the older ones ; barbaric enrichment can
go no farther : it is with them as with European art
in the age of Louis Quinze, a meaningless reiteration
of certain forms, loaded on with no real feeling for
beauty even in their arrangement. The taste, the
fashion must change and something better may be
evolved. These wats will drop to decay, and if
new ones are erected they will be built in an alto-
gether different style. Let all who wish to see
Siam go as speedily as possible, for it is in a transi-
tion state : one generation will suffice to change
all this phantasmagoria into something perhaps
no better, certainly less exotic, but altogether
different. To-day there is but one Siam, it has a
character of its own, as distinct as that of China or
Egypt, more so than anywhere else.
Wewerele'd to thedoorof the Museum, a renaissance
building whose incongruity with the rest of the struc-
tures only adds to the charming embroilment of ideas
we find throughout this most bewildering of capitals.
The key had to be sent from a distance, of course ;
few people visit the museum. These lesser museums
are always the chiffonniers of a locality, the shove-
in-heres, where rubbish may be shot. As there are
things suitable for presents, so there are things
suitable for museums, objects that nobody wants.
Some Oriental grandee once gave the Duke of
Sutherland a large sapphire, a shapeless lump of
138 HIGH LIFE IN ASIA.
azure, ' of no value,' said the giver, ' only fit for a
museum;' the Duke, being fairly well off, could
afford to have it bejewellered into an ornament, the
admiration of everybody; but most people can do
nothing with bulky, unset treasures, save endow a
museum with the same.
We had time for moral reflections as we sat in
the portico, the Duke on the raised seat of the pillar
post-box, Lady Clare and I on a rickety chair
brought from a sentry-box, Mr. Cobham and Mr.
Michell on a flat Runic stone, written in Sanscrit
character, that reminded us of Scandinavia : not
the only coincidence with those northern lands.
Carl Bock has pointed out the exact resemblance of
some of the wooden wat roofs to the old Norwegian
timber churches of Hallingdal and elsewhere. Later
on I shall speak of the identity of the Siamese
(Laosian) native bag-pipes with those of Scotland.
Natives, some of them soldiers in full undress,
some of them ragged dervishes probably, were lying
about in all directions on the steps, on the grass, or
on inches of shade, waiting to be stepped on maybe.
The soldiers with their arms stacked and selves
lying about in shady angles are merely palace-
guards, not representing a military force save in the
bad French cut of their uniform. There is no army
in our sense of the word. They are good marks-
men, I have heard, but this handful is no defence to
the country ; a weak army is worse than no army at
all in a buffer nation. Siam is a kid amongst wolves.
These gentle, peaceful people should be allowed to
develop themselves independently ; we do not want
HIGH LIFE IN ASIA. 139
to annex them, they are good neighbours to British
Burmah ; we should prefer to keep them as good,
independent neighbours, but we cannot permit the
French to annex or protect them ; if the French
threaten their independence, it may become our
duty to take the Siamese under our protection.
They are shy of the proposed railway from Bang-
kok to Raheng, a town about two hundred miles up
the Menam river (one of the divers railway-schemes
floating in the air), which would meet the projected
main line from Moulmein to China, because they
know we could pour by it, at any moment, British
troops into Bangkok. So the sleek, silky Siamese
fence oif the question with the Duke, whose opinion
is in favour of this line, and Mr. Swan, the engineer,
pretending to long for advancement and the rail-
ways, while really loathing and dreading them in
their hearts. Prince Devan, when in England, en-
treated the Duke to come out to Siam and bring out
a competent engineer, and now they will not even
talk about this railway-scheme. ' In this climate it
doesn't pay to do things in a hurry,' says the yacht's
sage head-steward, and they think the same. Aprfes
moi le — railway — thinks Prince Premier, a young-
ish man too, not yet thirty-five.
The Siamese is polite and professes to love ad-
vancement and cherish telegraphs, electric light,
&c., but scratch the skin and you will find under it a
hatred of everything European. They only want to be
left alone. This, at least, is the opinion of long resi-
dents here. It seems ludicrous in me to have formed
any opinion at all, in my very short knowledge of
140 HIGH LIFE IN ASIA.
the country, but I can hardly help writing about
this, as I was in the centre of all the talk, native
and European. The Straits Times remarks: 'Siam
has gone on her usual way ; the leading statesmen
and their servants talk a good deal about progress,
in fact so much is talked that it looks as if they did
not know where to begin.' The king, absolute
monarch as he is, hardly dares move in the direction
of western ideas because of the Tory body of the
elder nobles, who view all progress with a jealous
eye.
The Duke of Sutherland advocates the line to
Raheng, with the future connection with Moulmein.
The Siamese do not desire this junction with the
projected main line to China, as they would be left
out in the cold when India and China are commer-
cially connected by a trunk line. They shrewdly
think that railway communication between India
and China will be to Chinese advantage rather than
to theirs. ' Burmah is our gate to China, the barrier
which blocked our approach from the Indian littoral
has been broken down, and therefore our north-
eastern Indian frontier is of vastly greater commer-
cial importance to us than our north-western one,'*
which is mainly strategic and political.
The Siamese do not cotton to the idea of the
Raheng railway at all. Prince Doctor tells me all
the merchandise from thence can easily come down
the river, and, being ' sparsely peopled,' (his very
words), very little merchandise is likely to go up.
* Colquhoun's report on the railway connection of Burmah and
China. Exploration survey by Holt and Hallett.
HIGH LIFE IN ASIA. 141
They see — and say — that, of course, the English
favour that line because of the possible and easy
connection with Moulmein ; this of itself is enough
to make them timid.
If raihvays are to be made in Siam, a necessary
evil, thinks Prince Doctor, the most useful and most
paying lines in his opinion would be made in their
eastern territory.
' What, to connect Siam Avith French territory ?'
' Oh, dear no, but to develop the eastern and
highly populous districts of Siam, which need
development.'
This would put off the evil day, too, as this district
is not yet surveyed for railways. It will take wild faith
in a future and much talkee-talkee to create the
Siamese railways. In railway-planning, in the East
especially, there are two main considei'ations — the
through traffic and the local traffic; two widely
different interests. Then there are the markets
(Colquhoun carefully marks the distinction), imme-
diate, those now ready for opening and markets of
the future, those requiring education in civilized
wants.
In Siam there would be none of the burial-
ground difficulty that there is in China with the
railway, where the line threatens the vested inter-
ests of the tomb. Cremation being general here,
the ashes of the dead are preserved in urns ; while
the poorer Siamese are devoured after death by
birds of prey, or their ashes washed to the ends of
the earth by the rivers.
' Time was,' says Sir John Bowring, ' when
142 HIGH LIFE IN ASIA.
Bangkok occupied the third place among the com-
mercial cities to the east of the Cape of Good Hope
— first Calcutta, second Canton.' Siam has folded
its hands to sleep, and been forgotten. In the
centre of a chain of railways, Bangkok might again
occupy her former position with Calcutta and Can-
ton. Meanwhile, as Colquhoun says, ' a population
reckoned categorically at some one hundred and
eleven millions and a half of people is as yet hardly
touched by our commerce.' A census of the men
of Siam proper, taken about thirty years ago, com-
puted these at about eight millions, which would
make twenty millions a low estimate of the whole
population. Mr. M'Carthy, however, thinks ten
millions would be beyond the mark. The popula-
tion of Bangkok is variously estimated at from
three hundred thousand to eight hundred thousand
inhabitants. Several Europeans, Sir Andrew Clarke
at the head of them, are here, besieging the king
for railway concessions. The king's idea is, ' Siam
far^ da se,' and he wishes to keep the railway-
schemes, if inevitable, in his own hands ; and thus
to introduce them very gradually. In the mean-
time, he makes the cremation festivities an excuse
for postponing the question until the foreigners are
gone.
' The real interests of the country are postponed
to these childish shows, relics of barbarism,' say the
prosaic promoters, peevishly.
Perhaps as true a statement of the case as any,
in the Siamese view of it, may be seen in the
following translation from an inspired native news-
HIGH LIFE IN ASIA. 143
paper, the SakyahnJca, of a forniglit earlier date,
(2Sth of January, 1888), before Sir Andrew Clarke
had won his railway concession from the king.
Ideas of tense are still unsettled in Siamese gram-
mar :
'They compare railways with Indra's flower, as they
can be carried away in a moment everywhere ' (? Only to
one place on a line), ' and those who want to use more
prosaic language must still say that it is the most superior
conveyance that can be devised.
' Thus the inhabitants of Chieng-mai or Korat may be
able to eat fresh plather,' (a sort of fish) ' which are sent
by railway from Paknam in five, or at the most six hours,
as soon as the line is constructed. As soon as railways
will be constructed, people will settle in their neighbour-
hood, where these is now nothing but jungle or waste
land, and if the people thus settle there will be cultivated
land in places which are now the abode of tigers, elephants,
and other animals.
' If now people Kving in the provinces wish to proceed
to Bangkok, or if they have to go on account of the
corvee, they have to encounter great difficulties. They
must provide themselves with food, as they will be a long
while on the journey, which must be performed in boats :
they have to break up their homesteads, to abandon their
fields, and if they have bad conveyances there is still more
trouble for them. If, however, railways are constructed,
then, like angels, people will be able to leave their home,
return to it, sell their goods in Bangkok or other places,
buy others, all in one day ; and this will be of the greatest
benefit. In enumerating the benefits we do not know
where to stop, and we shall therefore shortly say: Rail-
ways must be constructed in Siam, as their construction
will contribute to the welfare of Siam in opening trade,
increasing the revenue by collecting the duty on the
merchandise, and their construction will contribute to
the people, who will dispose quickly of their merchandise,
and will be able to proceed easily from one place to the
other, as if they were flying or carried through air .... If
we read the history of the reign of His present Majesty
during the twenty years he has now reigned, we must say
144 HIGH LIFE IN ASIA.
that Siam has travelled on the way of progress and pros-
perity, and has made the greatest strides, and, if we could
measure the progress Siam has made, we should say it had
travelled on the way of progress many hundred thousand
miles, and it does not stop, as His Majesty, our august
sovereign, is always endeavouring, and is never weary,
to devise and think of means to promote the welfare of
his country and the people. What he thinks is necessary
for the welfare of the people he institutes by his gi'ace
and at the proper time. Now steamers are running every-
where : we have got the divine ear by which we can hear
the speech of the whole world : i.e., we have telegraphs
and telephones, through which we are in connection with
the whole world : we have mail communication, by which
people are enabled to correspond with each other. We
shall now have railways, as His Majesty, in his great
wisdom, has seen that they will be of greatest benefit to
all. We, however, who are endowed VTith faith, trust, and
gratitude, should be ever thankful to His Majesty that
we shall be ever increasing in welfare by the grace of His
Majesty.'
The reader has waited long enough for the key
and admission to the museum, but we were loth to
leave our seats in the shade. All our thought was
to do our duty, and get the sight-seeing over. We
were like a naughty boy at his lessons. He does
not really love them, nor did we, but the task had
to be done. I heard Lady Clare mutter, * Oh, bliss !
we shall have done it, balmy thought.' This ex-
pedition has been hanging over our heads, ready to
drop its dead weight upon us any day. Mr. Swan
feigned a press of work, and stayed at home:
The museum is small and neatly arranged with a
very mixed collection, chiefly of Siamese objects.
They have a native bird of paradise in Siam. This
has been disputed, but here is the bird, and they
assured me it was native. Here is a Siamese long-
HIGH LIFE IN ASIA. 115
haired bear, with much likeness to the glutton. Here
are models under glass shades of the legendary flying
elephants, ponderous-looking objects a-sprawling in
the sky of cotton-wool clouds, assisting in the air at
the fight of the gods and the fiends. Oh, such
fiends ! The native fancy runs riot in fiends of all
sorts : thus they image out their sensation stories.
There is a large carved elephant tusk with a
curious natural twist. The Siamese have a great
fancy for any form of monstrosity ; we Aryan races
care most for the perfect normal type in everything :
as perfection is never reached through monstrosity.
Here are many specimens of old Siamese pottery,
chiefly bowls for rice and curry, of blue or enamelled
ware : the manufactures that have now died out.
' Here are our Highland pipes,' said Prince
Doctor, showing me an elegant form of Pandean
pipes in a long bundle of a dozen or more of reeds.
But they have pipes nearer like the Highland
bagpipes.
After walking through the museum, the queen
having ended her devotions, we went round the
pictured cloister where Siamese legends of all kinds
are crudely painted on the walls ; here were the
flying elephants in full swing, and demons to which
ours of the Middle Ages are very angels.
Half-killed but unconquered we still went on,
determined to complete our task. We approached
another and a famous temple — lo, its doors were
shut — it seemed a reprieve ; it was so hot that we
all in our souls wished to give it up, but the keys
were sought. We sat awhile on the steps of a
L
146 HIGH LIFE IN ASIA.
cloister in the shade listening to the tinkling bells
fringing the eaves of the wats, gilt bells with the
clapper formed of a gilt leaf which swayed with the
faintest breeze. The Abyssinian calotropis, like that
I gathered at Massowah, was here growing in the
gardens at the angles of the temples. The court-
yards of these wats are paved, the steps are
frequently of marble, and there are many figures of
the drollest modern statuary standing about, some
images in modern dress with the quaintest stiffness,
yet reality about them ; one of therii, a very stocky
figure, seems to be a portrait model of the late Em-
peror Napoleon by a Siamese sculptor. In showing
pictures of these sculptured figures in a photograph
one has to mention that they are marble. Nature
has been exactly copied, yet Art is not the result.
Throughout these sacred and royal precincts there
is gold, colour, and picturesqueness, but no fine art.
We entered the temple of the Emerald Buddha^ a
recently built wat, covered with many tinkling
bells. The sacred image, made of the precious pale
green jade, is seated very high above a mass of
gold and splendour set with precious stones. There
are numerous figures of Buddha and lamps about
the shrine, with joss-sticks burning, and ofi'ering of
flowers before the altars. Even here is no real art,
though the walls are covered with gaudy painting.
The best things are the doors and shutters of
fine mother-o'-pearl work inlaid on black, a native
Siamese art very little pursued now-a-days.
Are the people grown frivolous or too greedy to
work at what involves patience? No, it seems
HIGH LIFE IN ASIA. 147
these hordes have not yet ' grown European-hearted,'
and care little for lucre, though the women, who
are chiefly the money .-makers, frequent the Chinese
gambling-houses. The men are for the most part
indolent ; everything grows of itself to supply their
few wants, and there are so few necessaries of life.
It is a pity to see their elegant arts and handicrafts
dying out.
Standing outside this temple of the Emerald
Buddha are two white marble statues of Portuguese
or Italian work, male and female saints, which were
dug up in the ancient capital Ayuthia. They seem
to be of St. Francis Xavier's time. One of them looks
like St. Andrew, but without the cross. The Portu-
guese have left in Siam remarkable vestiges of their
influence, and even Christian descendants of converts.
The Dutch never went to Siam to convert anybody or
anything except, as Sir J. Bowring says, ' men and
merchandise into money.' No traces of the Dutch
sojourn remain except some ruins of their factories.
We were next conducted to a still more recently
constructed temple, built for the purpose of bring-
ing the revered 'and famous crystal Buddha here;
but to move the image, which now sanctifies an in-
significant wat, would be of ill omen and would
briug misfortune on the movers, so no one dares to
do it, therefore this wat is not consecrated as a temple
for worship. The fretted diaper work of the external
walls is of steel and gilt, looking like gilded mirrors ;
the interior is frescoed after the Siamese fashion
like the painted cloister. Here is an extremely fine
shrine composed of the native pearl and black
l2
Ii8 HIGH LIFE IN ASIA.
inlaid- work, their speciality. There are fine specimens
of the pilgrim's palm growing outside these temples.
After we had climbed up many more steep steps
of pagodas — the steps are sometimes more than
eighteen inches in the rise — and broiled us in white
marble colonnades carved with flowers in very low
relief, we felt we had fairly done the sight-seeing; there
are plenty more temples and palaces in the enclosure,
but we had seen the principal ones, and had enough
of it. The terraces of the palace where the queen
lives are decorated with large incense vases of bronze,
the dark colour and graceful forms of which stand
out in beautiful relief against the white marble of
the palace. The palaces mostly have fanciful
names ; one is called the Rose-planting House, and
another is styled the Royal Palace of the Invincible
and Beautiful Archangel.* We had earned our
play, or, better still, in this climate, the pleasure of
seeing other people play ; so in a long room below
the vestibule of our palace we watched the native
servants playing at ball, cleverly catching a light
wickerwork ball and knocking it back with their
heads, feet, backs, knees, anything. Their wild,
lithe, active movements were entertaining and
graceful. This was a relaxation to us.
I was too tired to attend Mr. Michell's usual
Saturday afternoon reception, so I rested in the
cool grey marble vestibule until I saw the carriages
and the scarlet liveries at the gates beyond the
courtyard at the foot of the steep stairs. At five
o'clock we usually went for a drive. Steep stairs
* Leonowens.
HIGH LIFE IN ASIA . 1 19
are the custom here ; the temples have them horri-
bly steep ; they are easy steps that are only the
height of a dining-room chair. I have mounted
some that are more like tables piled on each other.
Why the staircases are so steep, and Avhy one lives
on the first floor, is because the Siamese are so ac-
customed to mount steep ladders to get in to their
stilted houses. It is funny to see the coachmen,
Avho are mostly waiting all day at the gates, don
their red livery coats at our approach ; we some-
times see the footmen slipping their scarlet and gold
jackets on their bare brown backs. The sentry
stands and shoulders arms martially as we pass.
We went for a dusty drive on a very ill-kept road.
The drawbridges over the canals will impede the
laying of the tramway that some of the European
speculators here are anxious to get up a company
for. Apparently it would pay well, as the rough native
omnibuses are always loaded. Trams will not, it is
thought, succeed so well here as steamboats, because
of the bridges ; but still the roughness of the roads
prevents 'rickshas coming much into use, as the
men cannot easily run with them. The swing-bridges
here remind one of those of Holland, but they cause
a greater jerk to the carriages.
160
CHAPTER VI.
YOUNG SIAM.
They who to gather roses came, weat back
With precious gems and honorary robes ;
And two bright finger -rings were secretly
Sent to the princess.
FlEDAUSI.
Me. Gladstone in the Contemporary Review (1875)
speaks of oriental work and art as that ' vast and
diversified region of human life and action where a
distinct purpose of utility is pursued, and where the
instrument employed aspires to an outward form of
beauty. Here lies the great mass and substance of
the Kunst-leben, the art-life of a people.'
Big, big, portentous, but fine words to begin a
chapter with, as Count Smorltork says, and I would
use such or similar words were I writing a regular
and exhaustive treatise on the country, such as a
fortnight's stay scarcely qualifies me to do, even with
native or English people always about me to tell me
how to think, or were I writing a work called, say,
'The Sociologist in Siam ;' and yet I do not know
what to think about the outward forms of beauty
aspired to in eastern art, when I remember their mul-
YOUNG 81 AM. 151
titudinous representations of demons, diws, or dives.
These are generally represented in human shape with
horns, long ears, and sometimes with a tail, as Lord
Monboddo says, ' depending from their gable ends.'
Perhaps, considering the heat, I had better go on
in my easy slipshod way.
I was glad that we all resolved on making a rest-
day of Sunday — ^indeed, we needed it. There is a
small church here where service is performed in
English. The congregation is mostly American.
Prince Doctor brought me a flower of a beautiful
orchid, the dendrobium Fredericksonii, yellow, with
a purple eye, a novelty ; only six plants of it haye
been sent to England, or even to Europe.
They have arranged a very nice plan for us to
visit Ayuthia, the ancient capital of Siara ; we are
to be carried forty miles farther up the river in a
royal yacht of light draught, and we are to go the
remaining ten miles in a steam-launch, and come
back the second or third day, according as we like.
In the afternoon, the Duke and I, with the chamber-
lain's son, drove to the pier and took the steam-launch
to the yacht, where I wanted to gather together
some picture-books and other things as presents for
the little princes. The steward took ' young cham-
berlain ' under his protection, and showed him the
yacht, with the firearms, engines, animals, &c.
The river was animated as ever with the various
boats and busy traffic, the spired shores, veiled in
fresh green foliage, a setting to the brilliant picture
of life on the sparkling waters. ' Young chamber-
lain ' is talkative enough when with me, though he
152 YOUNG SI AM.
sits like a mute at table. He pointed out the police-
boat, which is also a prison, and the water-works —
for water is laid on in Bangkok. The royal palace
enclosure has its own water-works. Though it is
said there are no Siamese thieves, I now hear that
there are plenty of burglars, especially river-bur-
glars, in Bangkok.
No Europeans are permitted to visit the prisons.
The Siamese rulers avow themselves conservative of
their old traditions, and do not wish to follow our
plan of petting our prisoners and making the prison
a comfortable hotel for the idle poor. They think
people who have committed crime ought not to find
things comfortable. And yet they are a kind-
hearted, gentle race.
' We think differently from you,' they say. ' If
you want to describe them you must do it from
fancy, but you sha'n't see our prisons ; we won't
have you printing these things from actual observa-
tion ; the prisons are not attractive — they smell bad
too.'
We often see, in passing from the river to our
palace, gangs of prisoners in chains working or
walking. Some of the basket-work made by the
prisoners is admirable and wonderful, considering
that they are not allowed the use of knives nor any
tools but bits of glass. There is a stall for the sale
of this work near the Wat Poh, where I bought
some specimens of neat workmanship.
We steamed on to the Oriental Hotel, which had
only been open the last nine months ; for the last
four months it had been quite full all the time.
YOUNG SI AM. 163
Travellers are like vultures for scenting out comfort-
able quarters. Hitherto the hotel accommodation in
Bangkok had been extremely poor. Here we chat-
ted with Commodore Richelieu of the Siamese royal
navy, really a small force of sixteen steamers com-
manded by Englishmen, but apparently consisting
of the royal yacht Vesatri. We got upon the subject
of prisons again ; the Duke is interested in prisons,
but a cloud hangs over the prison discipline of Siam,
and the commodore had little besides hearsay to
tell us. It is creditably believed that eight prison-
ers die per diem in Siam. In one place where three
hundred prisoners were confined, one hundred and
thirty of their number died in a very short time.
This is vague, I know, but vague is the information
that one gets.
We were told of a prisoner confined under a light
sentence — indeed, he was supposed to be innocent.
Well, the man was forgotten, an awful reflection,
and he died in prison. The body was left there un-
buried for days — in that climate ! — in this way.
The ofiicial who had recorded the case was away, so
his underling said, ' Ah, seven years ' (or one year
as it might be). ' My chief's away. I must write
to the so-and-so department.' Well, they were
away. ' Report the death, then, to the governor of
the jail, he can't be away.' No, nor was he. ' But,'
said the governor, when the matter was brought
before him, ' I must wait till my clerk returns who
has the papers about the case.' Thus the man was
left there unburied for four days. A European
officer said he knew, from personal knowledge,
154 YOUNG SI AM.
several of such cases. It is said that, in the prisons,
nearly half the inmates are slaves expiating volun-
tarily or for pay the wrong-doings of their masters
or mistresses.
Mr. Michell joined us at the hotel, and we
steamed on past the Club, from the verandah of
which many gentlemen enjojdng Sunday afternoon
saluted the Duke in passing. The natives were
flying kites of every hue and form, a popular amuse-
ment in Siam as it is in China. We passed the rest
of our party out shopping at the riverside shops,
and continued our course down stream. They still
found curio-hunting a delusion. For all that we
had dreamt of Siamese treasures we found very few,
and wished we had bought more pretty things
before. 'Never mind,' now Ave all said, 'we shall
return home by Ceylon — that is the place for buying
really good things.'
Mr. Michell, an Oxford man who used to row
in the University eight, astonishes the natives by
his skill with the oar; he had a small boat of
his own with him to-day, we towed it on. The Duke
admired the fine lines of some of the native-built
boats. 'Yes,' Mr. Michell said, 'when they once
get hold of a good model they can build from it
wonderfully well.' Their gondolas are modelled on
the Venetian.
How quaint are the large Chinese vessels with
their sham cannon, sails of matting, and great eyes
painted on the stern.
We passed a singular vessel with one paddle-wheel
at the stern, of only eighteen inches draught, they
YOUNG Si AM. 155
say, built to go one hundred miles up the river ; she
went three trips successfully in the last rainy season.
They are getting up a flotilla company to run penny
steamers in Bangkok. 'They will not pay just at
first, perhaps,' says Mr. Michell, ' but ultimately the
people mil find them an immense convenience, as, for
three months of the year, the tide sets always one
way, and it is laborious to pull heavy boats against
it.' The Siamese are not fond of labour. The flotilla
company here will have less difficulty about their
landings (piers) than the Irrawady steamboat com-
pany in Burmah, as the shore is firmer here and does
not break away ; but the success of that scheme en-
courages the promoters of the Bangkok flotilla
company.
There is a dock company here, of which Captain
Bush, R.N., is manager and proprietor. A good
company, thinks Mr. Michell, but some people are
of opinion that it might be re-modelled and de-
veloped. The river, so far, does duty for public
baths and wash-houses. The Siamese are very
cleanly in their persons ; they bathe three times a
day ; the children swim like fish, and even tiny mites,
almost babies, will handle a boat very readily. The
men look dandy too with a cigarette stuck behind the
ear, reminding one of Spain. The Siamese cigarette
is strong ; it is rolled in a lotus-leaf instead of paper.
Beggars are hardly ever met with in Siam. This
is the one land where people do not want nor care
for money; they are not even eager to sell the
goods in their shops. Prisoners for debt are the
only Siamese men who really work, save the king
156 YOUNG SIAM.
and his Minister for Foreign AfFairs. The people
do not naturally covet money, but they will soon
learn to do so from the Europeans and Chinese.
These people are as yet unspoilt by tourists, though
they are learning to gamble. The gambling-houses
bring four thousand catties, or thirty thousand
pounds annual revenue to the government. One
gambling-house pays a tax of one thousand pounds.
So of course they will not be discouraged any more
than our public-houses at home. The royal ele-
phant, or Siamese catty, is eighty ticals, about eight
pounds ; the actual coin is rarely seen. The women,
who hold their own earnings independently of the
men, gamble most, so I am told; I had few oppor-
tunities of seeing it.
The Siamese women are finer than the men, they
do all the work and develop their muscles. The
Siamese men do a little clearing, but the women
do the actual cultivation of the ground. Besides
being fine in build, some of the women are very
good-looking; one woman T saw who was really
handsome, indeed a splendid-looking creature. The
upper classes have a curious idea of grace in bring-
ing their left elbow forward and bending it in an
unnatural direction as far as possible.
We were taken to call on some agreeable friends
of Mr. Michell, that we might see the singular but
convenient way in which several families live here ;
a sort of floating-house, with drawing-room, dining-
room, and bed-rooms all built on the flat deck of a
great barge moored to the shore ; as this was a large
English family they had additional bed-rooms and
YOUNG SI AM. 157
bath-rooms on a second barge, and both were moored
together. The ladies did not complain of being more
troubled by mosquitoes than we on shore, and as it
is always summer here the arrangement looked ex-
tremely comfortable. A large proportion of the
inhabitants of Siam live in floating-houses.
The crimson of sunset was dying gloriously in the
purple of evening as we returned up the river to
take the carriage at the landing-place by the Royal
Nautical School.
Our beloved ' Lappy ' has turned up again ; he
swam back to the yacht, lean but thankful, after
four days' absence. We rejoiced over our prodigal,
but sensible and intelligent, doggie. There is one
case of hydrophobia noted in the Siam Directory in
this its eleventh year of annual publication.
Monday, the 20th of February, was one of the
great days of the ' royal festivities !' for so they are
styled ; the cremation proper, fixed for five o'clock :
a sensible hour, when the air is getting cool. The
Siam Directory tells us that the princess whose
cremation we first heard of (before leaving England)
was Her Royal Highness Mom Chow Sawab'aknari-
ratu, one of the wives of His Majesty the King. She
died July 21st, 1887. The other princes, children
of the king and queen, are His Royal Highness
Somdetch Chow-fa Siri Rajakukutb'andh, who died
May 31st, 1887, aged one year and six months;
Her Royal Highness Somdetch Chow-fa Bhahura-
tumimai, died August 27th, 1887, aged eight years
and eight months ; His Royal Highness Somdetch
Chow-fa Treepejrutone Damrong, &c., &c., the
158 YOUNG HI AM.
thirty-ninth son of His Majesty, died November
22nd, 1887, aged five years.
I dressed myself in black silk, with black lace
bonnet and shawl, jetted ribbons and black gloves,
for Court mourning, as the Siamese officials are
wearing white panungs, that is the silk breeches,
which are usually coloured. Black is worn as mourn-
ing by seniors to the deceased and by men of
superior rank, white by juniors and inferiors : thus
our chamberlain and Prince Doctor (Yai) wear
white panungs ; the Crown Prince also wears white
as junior to the deceased princess.
Princely title dies out in the third generation — a
very sensible arrangement — the son and grandson
of a king are princes ; after that a title distinguishes
them as being of royal birth, but they are not
princes. This system is necessary in a country
where a king's consideration is determined by the
number of wives he can afford to keep, an idea
analogous to our social status being determined by
the number of servants we keep.
The Duke and the rest of the gentlemen, with
many sighs, braced themselves into uniform or lev4e
dress ; the heavy gold embroidery of the coats and
collars is quite a martyrdom. ' Ilfaut souffrir,' &c.;
one does indeed suffer in these climates for being
fine.
We drove as far as the chevaux-de-frise near the
Premane, which we had not previously seen by day-
light, and, following our chamberlain through the
crowd,'', were soon seated in a large room with a
raised floor, some irreverently called it a barn, with
YOUNG SI AM. 169
the European residents who were invited to the
ceremony. From this place we, as His Majesty's
own especial guests, were led by the several royal
chamberlains to the reserved ground to hear the
native band, strings, bamboo harmonicas, and
drums, until called upon to assist in firing the
pyres. For some particulars, for I could not see
everything, I am indebted to the Bangkok Times.
' The spectacular efi^ect of the whole scene was
indeed gorgeous on this afternoon, the grand day,
with its glittering crowd of princes and nobles, His
Majesty seated on the raised dais, the numerous
and curiously built chalets, the trophies of flags
and other devices, the profusion of floral decorations,
&c., &c., all of which formed a picturesque pageant
that will linger for a long time in the memory of
those present.
' The grand-stand enclosure for the royal princes
was, of course, resplendent with uniforms and orders,'
— it looked like a big jeweller's shop-front — ' and
that reserved for the European residents was filled
with a great concourse of people, all of whom wore
as bright ' — save some, who sat, discontented and
critical, in the seat of the scornful, side by side with
the wrong people — ' and merry ' (!) ' an appearance
as the most ardent supporters of the festival could
possibly desire. In addition to these two stands,
there was the royal pavilion for His Majesty the
king, surrounded by guardsmen and attendants.
'As usual, a motley crowd of all nations under
the sun, which Bangkok alone can turn out, were
early upon the ground, and it required good super-
160 YOUNG SUM.
vision to keep them from surging too near in their
ardour to see everything. And there was, indeed,
a good deal to see ; for within the whole enclosure
there was not an uninteresting spot. Twenty-four
pavilions, kiosks, and chalets in all had been erected,
and, in their entire newness and fresh paint, the
whole appeared as part of some fairy city. The
pretty stalls, the multitude of flags waving in the
breeze, the fresh and glossy leaves of creepers
bursting through artificially-made hedges, the scent
of roses and other fragrant flowers, the margin of
a brook in a hollow lined with Avhat appeared to
be willows and watercresses, bees humming in the
air,' (!) ' groves musical with birds,' (birds, yes ;
musical, no), ' the whole formed a scene to gloat on,
drink in, and enjoy.'
A branch of flowers and leaves, made of sandal-
wood, was presented to each of us — of the Duke of
Sutherland's party, I mean — for us to burn in the
cremation-urns. ' It is too pretty to burn,' said the
Duke. ' I shall carry mine home.' So said we all ;
but it was made an especial point that we should
burn these, and the chamberlain promised that we
should have some equally good specimens to take
home as mementoes.
The ceremony of the burning was the first event
to take place, at about five p.m., shortly after His
Majesty's arrival — and ours. The king was carried
in a gold chair, surrounded by about three hundred
attendants, dressed in all the variety of costume
incidental to the equipage of an eastern monarch.
The whole of the Corps Diplomatique and aU the
YOUNG SIAM. 161
royal princes and nobles were also present to receive
His Majesty, and immediately after his arrival the
king led the funeral cortege, and lit the sacred fire,
while the priests in attendance chanted Buddhist
hymns. As soon as the king retired, many of the
nearest relatives of the dead advanced, one after
another, and added a burning taper or a lighted rod
of incense to the funeral pile, and, after them, the
Europeans were invited to do the same.
We were led across the path of plaited bamboo
and up the stairs of the sacred Wat to the place of
cremation, where the two funeral pyres, with the
bodies of the two young princes, Avere slowly burn-
ing. The air was heavy with perfume and the
burning of masses of eagle-wood (lignum aloes) very
fragrant, especially when burnt, and various other
scented woods. We lighted our sandal-wood flowers,
and laid them on the heap of burning embers under
the open coffins. The king was still there, looking,
naturally, very sad and solemn. He recognised us
by a bow, but we did not speak to him. To us
the moment seemed too awful ; and so he and the
princes, in black, who were squatted round on the
floor near the walls, seemed to feel it too, most of
them looked down, and appeared to be murmuring
words of devotion, though Prince Devan and one or
two others shook hands with us and said a few words.
The dimly day-lighted chapel of cremation, though
lofty, was most oppressive in its atmosphere, and to
me positively sickening. I was glad when we were
led down another flight of stairs to the open air
again.
M
162 YOUNG SIAM.
Immediately after the cremation they all burst
out into wildest rejoicings, their cherished dead
having now arrived safely at a higher stage of exist-
ence, and having approached nearer to Nirvana, or
the Ineffable. To us the transition was startling,
as our pearl of chamberlains took us in hand again,
and marshalled us through the crowd, which fell
into line, leaving a pathway for us to pass, and led
us to seats immediately facing the royal dais,
whither His Majesty went, after leaving the crema-
tion-chapel, and where he presided over the numer-
ous diversions which had been arranged in honour
of the occasion. He came here shortly after our
arrival, and was now surrounded by several of his
children, dressed in white, as mourning for their
little brothers, and wearing, as before, tiny Avreaths
of small white flowers round their top-knots of hair.
We saw none of the ladies of the harem. We thus
found ourselves seated nearest to the king, whose
throne faced an open space, where games and the
fireworks were to be exhibited.
Here began the wildest high jinks. The distri-
bution of money to the natives took place as usual
at cremations, when the custom is for the king to
distribute money and presents to his people. The
princes and relations of the king all give presents
to add to the collection, and they each get a return
present.
A grand scramble was made for the green limes
enclosing silver coins, which limes the king took
from large baskets placed by his feet. We all
scrambled for them, and there were plenty for all.
YOUNG SI AM. 163
Several of the Duke's officers were present, and had
good places provided for them. The ' Sanspures,'
as the sailors style themselves, were in the back-
ground, most active in the scrambling. The king
seemed amused at seeing the sailors so eager after
the limes, and shot plenty in their direction.
Then he flung hollow balls, like nuts, containing
lottery tickets ; many of these he fired pointedly at
us, and, as His Majesty is a good shot, I had no less
than seven of these mostly fired into my lap. He
occasionally threw some limes and nuts among his
children, and many among the courtiers near his
throne. There was much laughter all round, even
among the group of elder nobles and grandees of
Siara, dressed in cloth of gold, kincobs from India, I
believe, and gorgeous stufi^s, who sat close by the
king in a transept to his left. It was droll to see
us, our great Duke and all, scrambling; all of us
including the principal European ladies in the place,
Lady Clare in pale peach-blossom moir^ and white
Maltese lace, and my more than middle-aged self.
Our palace may verily be the Palace of Calm
Delights, but I shall always think of Bangkok as
the City of High Jinks.
The humming, whirring sound of distant music
of the Siamese band was audible throughout.
Then the Duke's party were called up separately
by name, and we each received two special nuts from
the hand of His Majesty. The numbers enclosed in
mine gave me a symbolic ring made of a gold and a
silver sacred cobra entwined, set with diamonds,
and emeralds for eyes ; the second ticket gave me a
M 2
164 YOUNG SIAM.
blue-and-white tea-service on a small silver tray.
It had now grown dusk, and the fireworks com-
menced by a simultaneous ignition of all the distant
surrounding pieces, caused by the king setting fire
to a dragon, which at once whizzed off from the
throne, and set fire to the lofty pagoda standards of
nine umbrellas tapering above each other, which all
unfolded like fiery flowers as the light crept up
their tall columns. This had an excellent effect.
Many ingenious devices were exhibited, such as a
beautiful fire fountain, figures of fiery monkeys
darting out of the tops of high poles, &c. The
lucigen light blazed in the centre, and lighted up
two lines of men with lanterns, forming a colossal
representation of dragons trying to swallow the
moon, a reminiscence of the recent total eclipse.
There were loud strains indicative of lamentation at
the loss of the moon's light, and the clashing of
cymbals represented their custom of striking on
pots and pans when there is an eclipse, because they
think this phenomenon is caused by the malignity
of a dragon, which devours the two lights of the
world : by making a great noise, they endeavour
to frighten the animal that would deprive them of
the light of day. It need scarcely be said that their
efforts are always effectual.
The dragon-dances, and other entertainments of
running figures, are well known to the Bangkokese,
though to us the whole of the games and fireworks
were novel, and an excellent as well as remarkable
display; but the lamp-dance was a novelty. This
was danced by sixty young girls with lighted globes
YOUNG SI AM. 165
on their open hands, the lamps wreathed with
flowers. This dance, which requires great skill,
suppleness, and steadiness, was performed with re-
markable grace. This was, perhaps, a revival of
a favourite dance performed in the king's grand-
father's reign, when Sir John Bowring describes the
dancing as ' a slow motion, the girls holding a can-
dle in each hand, gracefully turning it round.' The
distant music that guided their footsteps sounded to
us like mosquito-humming on a great scale.
The numerous girls inhabiting the part of the
palace enclosure called the City of the Veiled
Women are carefully trained as dancers, as well as
to recite poems and to act. The female inhabitants
of this populous city are by no means allowed to be
idle. Here are made the wreaths and chaplets used
at dinner-parties and ceremonies, and the sandal-
wood flowers burned at cremations. The permanent
population of this city was in King Chulalonkorn's
childhood estimated at nine thousand ; it was self-
supporting and had its own laws, which were ad-
ministered by female judges. One can get very
little information about the present condition of
this extraordinary convent city, where none but
women and children live. At the end of the private
covered entrances to these women's buildings is a
bas-relief representing the head of an enormous
sphinx with a sword through the mouth, with an
inscription which Mrs. Leonowens translates: 'Better
that a sword be thrust through thy mouth than that
thou utter a word against him who ruleth on high ;'
which is interpreted to mean the king.
166 YOUNG SIAM.
Shortly after seven o'clock His Majesty withdrew
and the greater part of the enormous crowd dis-
persed; but amusements for the natives, such as
theatrical performances, dances, &c., still went
briskly on, and everything was ablaze with electric
lamps and brilliant as possible with fiery decorations.
The fete continued nearly all night.
Those who came late, so we heard afterwards, missed
seeing the fencing which took place outside the
royal enclosure about two p.m. We heard it was well
worth looking at, for with the foil, sword, and
bayonet the gracefulness and activity displayed by
the combatants was beyond all praise. The supple-
ness of Siamese bodies and their quickness of eye
here came out well, and showed that, if properly
taught, the nation would be quite capable of taking
an active part in their own national defence. Boxing
was also exhibited early in the afternoon in a tent
outside the Premane, and excited much interest.
We came home to dinner after the fireworks ; in-
deed we were too tired to wait till quite the end of
these. It must be an exhausting eflfort to the king
to carry out his part during the ceremonial fort-
night. I was too fatigued to go myself to get any
prizes from the tickets in the nuts, so I asked Prince
Doctor and our chamberlain's son to get them for
me. To give an idea of the variety of the presents
I will say that mine were a crimson plush photo-
graph-album highly ornamented, a liqueur-stand of
Bohemian glass, an ornamental blotting-book, two
silver network purses, a cotton panung, the common
native dress, and an inkstand.
YOUNG SI AM. 167
During the night a loud band promenaded this
part of the city, playing the ' Dead March in Saul '
and the Siamese national anthem, till about three in
the morning, when the cannons were fired as usual
to wake the priests for service in the various temples
of the palace enclosure.
168
CHAPTER VII.
AYUTHIA.
That country abounds with rivers and palm-trees; there is also
plenty of divers fowls, especially popinjays, which are not like ours.
From hence you come into the ocean.
Voyages of Marco Polo.
We are going this excursion towards Ayuthia in
the Sans Four, after all. Commodore Richelieu has
undertaken (or been appointed, I do not know which)
to skip us up, as he knows the river.
They welcomed the Duke on board with blue
lights, rockets, and the bagpipes. Every berth is
made available on board the yacht, which promises
to be full of visitors. I enjoyed the comparative
quiet of the yacht after the turmoil of night noises
in the city.
When the anchor was weighed at daybreak, at
this last moment the commodore sent a note
to say he was sorry he could not come, but he sent a
pilot instead. Prince Doctor came aboard early
with his native body-servant ; our other visitors
were here already. We heard to our dismay that-
no orders had been given about the promised
steam-launch for the shallow part of the river, and
AYUTHIA. 169
the yacht's launch is not calculated for us to go
any great distance in her with comfort in this
climate, one is too near the engine, and a mere
awning is nothing, a wooden roof is indispensable.
If orders come, the commodore says he will send the
royal launch forward for us. The fact is the king,
occupied with the cremation business, has forgotten
it. The various notes and messages occasioned some
delay, and we had to leave the matter to chance,
after all.
The most fatiguing part of sight-seeing in Siam is
the waiting about. The dear people are unpunctual,
and we English are brought up to feel that if a train or
boat is timed to go at six o'clock it is rather a bore
if it does not go till ten o'clock. Then the plans
are always confused and uncertain, partly doubtless
owing to our want of knowledge of the language ;
and when Prince Doctor is absent the projects
filter through the denser medium of young Mr.
Swinn, who is doubtless bearing up for being a
chamberlain like his excellent father.
No reliance can be placed on the Siamese word
and their promises. They promise because they
are too polite or too timid to say no. The king does
his level best, but with his single head full of the
cremation, and bothered besides by the promoters
of the railways, he cannot be expected, he one man,
sole absolute monarch, to remember everything.
Perhaps one of the best arguments for a constitu-
tional monarchy is the waste of other people's time
caused by absolute personal government.
. The river banks are pretty, and much like what
170 AYUTHIA.
they are below Bangkok, though the river is
narrower. We meet with teak-rafts occasionally and
villages of houses built ri«;ht in the water. There is
plenty of life in these and the numerous bamboo
villages half-hidden by the sugar-palms, {arenga
saccharifera) coco-nut, and areca palms. Here the
prickly bamboo is quite bare and wintry in its grey
stems with the drought. We see plenty of men in
elegant mauve and heliotrope-coloured panungs
rowing, gondolier fashion, the smaller bamboo-
covered oval-shaped boats ; by which we know that
all the gay world has not gone to Bangkok for the
festivities. Prince Doctor is reading ' Life on the
Mississippi.' It is something unexpected to see a
Siamese able to relish Mark Twain.
The river nobly foams and flows swirling on
rapidly between its fringed borders of light-green
trees, with an occasional contrast of very large trees
of dark, almost black foliage, whose timber they
say is an extremely hard dark-red wood, very
valuable. Prince Doctor could not tell me its
name in English; — ^indeed, he was so engrossed with
Mark Twain, — he called it Meranda.
' Oh, I know it,' says Mr, Swan, ' Meranda.'
' What do we call it ?'
' Oh, that's the Malay name.'
' Oh, when Swan doesn't know a thing he invents
a Malay name for it,' says Mr. Cobham, laughing,
' and none of us can contradict him.'
I think it is the Calamander, a word corrupted
from the Sinhalese name Kalu-m^diriya, a name we
have corrupted into Coromandel wood. Though it
AYUTHIA. 171
is said that this tree is peculiar to Ceylon, where it
is now very scarce and valuable.
We stop about noon at Koh Lai by a bend in the
river, not a bad anchorage, near a neat village with
peaked roofs, the houses raised as usual on stilts
thirteen feet high, ' with ramps of hurdles for the
domestic animals to ascend, whose stables are in
the air.' * This is done to avoid inundation at the
annual rise of the Menam, especially in curves
of the river. There are many picturesque boats,
and many heavy barges slowly poling up stream
with great exertion.
' Can't we steam up any higher, so that we might
possibly achieve Ayuthia, if all steam-launches and
elephants fail ?'
The pilot will do his best.
On again to where there are three fathoms of
water, two fathoms at low tide, and a bad smell ; but
the pilot tries to get us up as far as he can. After all,
we are obliged to return some distance as there is
not water enough for us when the tide falls, so back
to the island of Koh Lai. I hear question and
answer going on at a distance.
' Is it safe to swim here ?'
' There are no alligators here, are there. Prince ?'
' Oh, not many; they come down more when the
waters flow down fresh in the spring.' So in the
smmmers j umped.
Though tbere is a strong current to swim against,
the water is very warm, above ninety degrees ;
warmer at morning and evening than the air. The
* Turpin.
172 AYUTHIA.
quantity of sediment in the river chokes the baths on
board. We have towed up Prince Doctor's gondola,
so we are going on an excursion, taking the native
pilot with us. We set off about four o'clock, swiftly
passing the returning north-country boats built for
shooting the rapids ; here and there one with a tri-
coloured square of three panungs, green, red-brown,
and white, sewn together and hoisted for a sail.
Here the areca palm stands up erect and tall
among the gracefully light feather}' bamboo, which
is really more exquisitely beautiful in Siam than I
have seen it anywhere else ; a lovely background to
the white sails on curved bamboo yards. The stiff
lines of the numerous Siamese pagoda spires offer
an agreeable contrast to the tufted palms. This
part of the river is crowded with bamboo rafts, and
the bamboo-woven oval-topped boats in which so
many families pass a perpetually moving yet peace-
ful existence.
More than ever here do we see the daily, hourly
use of the bamboo. To paraphrase Bacon, the
bamboo serves for delight, for ornament, and for
ability; for delight, in privateness of shade and
retiring background ; for ornament, to build Pre-
manes with ; and for ability, for house and furniture
and for nearly every aquatic and agricultural pur-
pose under the sun. As for the coco-nut palm, it
is a truism that its uses are as numerous as the daj's
of the year. The palmyra is a richer tree even
than the coco-nut. The Tamil poets describe eight
hundred different purposes to which the palmyra
can be applied.
AYUTHIA. 173
On the shore they are at once sowing, winnowing,
and threshing rice, aided by the large-horned black
buffaloes and other cattle which come down in
herds to bathe in the river after the day's work ;
while overhead are numerous flights of large white
birds with thin black tails, looking like great white-
winged dragon-flies magnified, or Siamese kites ;
these are the paddy birds, a kind of white ibis
celebrated in a Siamese poem, ' Ex Supharet,' as a
contrast to the vulture.
' Hateful, repulsive to the eye,
The ugly vulture floats on high ;
Yet, harmless, crimeless in his ways,
Upon the dead alone he preys ;
And all his acts, in every place,
Are useful to the human race.
' The snowy ibis, beautiful
And white aa softest cotton wool.
Preys on the living, and its joys
Spring from the life that it destroys.
So wicked men look sleek and fair,
Even when most mischievous they are.'
But the paddy birds, methinks, are of some use ;
they follow the buffaloes as these tread the seed
into the soil, to prevent its being washed away,
stalking along and devouring the worms and insects
in the pits made by the buff"alo's heavy tread. The
effect is very odd of the burly black buffaloes each
with an attendant white sprite with long slender legs
and long beak; two forms, as decidedly opposed to
the idea of evolution as can possibly be.
Here is a barge-load of bricks.; they make them
here : the Duke and Mr. Swan are at once interested
n-i AYVTHIA.
in pricing them for potential railway works ; then
come swinging down the river craft that might
almost be taken for pleasure-boats, with high row-
locks, the gondoliers with large palm hats and gaily
coloured panungs, convoying home their loads of
green stuff, gliding quickly past the pink and grey
water-buffaloes standing up to their wreathing
horns in the water. The native gondoliers are fine
men, with muscles developed like those of antique
statues. The bamboo dwellings up here are still
always built on high poles like Malay houses, but
with more elegant roofs because of the Siamese curve.
A fish leaps into our gondola,
a silvery mackerel-shaped fish, /---^^^'""~~~"'^'™"C
Avith two forward growing an--__-'^^
tennse or whiskers.
The sunset is a crimson fireball, scorchino- to the
last, I feel, as a crimson stream of light is fired at me
across the purpling water; the fierce flame of the sky
seeming almost to melt the bronze black limbs of the
teak and the meranda. It will be too dark to see the
palace of Bang Pahin, the king's favourite country-
seat ; it is a good mile off even now. We pass a light-
house on an island to the left, and behind it a wat, or
temple, built like a modern Gothic church ; it is,
indeed, a copy of one ; and a little further on the
shore to our right (going up) is the Palladian palace
of Bang Pahin. We landed here to see the buildings ;
a white palace in several separate detachments in
Italian renaissance, the favourite modern style in
Siam. A very elegant Siamese wat, constructed
chiefly of timber, stands in the centre of a piece of
AYUTHIA. 175
water round which the palace is built. It is really
a bathing pavilion of very beautiful design, built
like a pier on piles or tall posts. Near it is a fine
arched stone bridge, with lamps alternating with
spread-eagles in Napoleonic French style. In the
centre of a grass-plot stands a French statue of a
nymph with a lute, more exactly described by Mr.
Cobham as a young lady with a banjo.
While sitting here in the dusk waiting for Prince
Doctor, who had gone to hunt up the gardener
with the key of the gardens, which they say ai'e
very fine, we heard the tok^, or tokay, a large
lizard that shrieks tokay, tokay; the same as the
tukto of Burmah. The natives count and tell for-
tunes by the number of times he says tokay, and
gamble upon it. This one screams tokay several
times and then gives a grunt of content. There is a
small switchback line, not exactly a railway, in these
grounds running up and down half-a-dozen or so of
ascents and descents.
They are lighting fires in all directions under the
bamboo houses to keep off the mosquitoes. It is
growing dark, and we hear the gardener has gone
to bed, so, as we shall pass this place again to-
morrow, we give up seeing the gardens by firefly-
light and return to the boat.
We steamed homewards by moonlight in less
than two hours, going rapidly down stream.
Lady Clare and her brother, who had not made
the excursion with us, had been seeing the whole
business of preparing the rice, with the buffaloes
treading out the ears, a slow process.
176 AYUTHTA.
' A mill would do it so quickly.'
' But a mill means cost and calculation to these
people,' said Prince Doctor, ' and they see no reason
for being in a hurry.'
' No, why should they hurry themselves in this
climate? Once bring machinery into their paddy
fields, and you will put pressure on life altogether,'
says the gently gliding Swan.
'And you an engineer! How can you?' say
some.
' Hear, hear !' from the opposition.
The king is called Grand Lord of the Rice ; but
climate and custom are stronger monarchs than he.
We comment upon their neat way of stacking the
rice-sheaves.
' Not in your roundabout English fashion,' says
Prince Doctor, remembering our 'mows.' 'They
are busy now threshing out their rice, in another
month they begin to plough,' continues our princely
philosopher and friend. ' Sometimes they have
two crops, in this way ; when the rice is cut down,
it sometimes sprouts again. This second crop is not
so good, of course.'
We remembered the admirable Mr. Barlow in
' Sandford and Merton.' We do sometimes feel like
bears with a private tutor.
The dusk before the tropic dawn is full of songs
and sounds of birds.
No tender to his yacht had come from the king.
In the evening, when I was tired, I did not feel so
bad when some of the hardier among the gentlemen
were planning to start very early and go up the
AYUTHIA. 177
river ia our own steam-launch; but when morning
came I felt differently. Noises of packing up luncheon
and starting for Ayuthia before daylight made me
feel ' real horrid '; all the more so as being awake
and quite strong I might have done it too, and now
there would not be time for me to get ready without
keeping them waiting. I tried to sleep it off.
What do I hear ? a call for early breakfast ! I
hurry up and hear to my joy that a fairy launch
has arrived to take us all up to Ayuthia. I am so
glad, for I feared to have to trust Mr. Cobham for
details of the architecture.
The launch belonged to Prince Doctor's father, a
high Admiralty official, who had sent her up. I
suspect the prince telegraphed for her to be sent.
There is a telegraph beyond Ayuthia as well as to
Bangkok. This is why he put hindrances in the
way of the early start, for I had been surprised to
find the exploring-party still on board.
We settle ourselves in the well-fitted launch, with
a saloon where one sits on the carpet ; the open part
of the vessel is shaded with wooden awnings and
helioscene blinds. She is called the Golden Needle^
she is so sharp, and painted yellow, as in fact she
belongs to the king's establishment. Fond farewells
to those who are left behind ; the heat makes those
who are not enthusiastic sight-seers prefer the
milder charms of Koh Lai ; reflecting that Koh Lai
at hand is better than Ayuthia in the jungle.
' Good-bye, take care of your precious selves ;
mind and wear flannel.'
We hear their chaff for some time, and see their
N
178 AYUTHIA.
waving handkerchiefs as we set off, taking the
prince's gondola in tow. There are only two steam-
boats running regularly at this season between
Bangkok and Ayuthia — pronounced as spelt, accent
on the u. ' Later in the season,' Prince Doctor tells
us, ' steam-launches do a good deal of traffic'
The scenery of the river, he tells us, becomes hilly
and very pretty some four hundred miles, or three
days' journey, above Ayuthia. The Menam, accord-
ing to Turpin, the Frenchman who wrote a fair
account of Siam over a century ago, in 1771, rises
in the slopes of the snow-covered mountains of
Yunan. The tradition about the snow rests only
on hearsay. Prince Doctor is himself uncertain
about it. I frequently met Mr. James M'Carthy, the
explorer, who speaks of a vast plateau about four
thousand feet above the sea-level, backed by lofty
mountains, one of them nine thousand feet high.
The river was formerly navigable higher up than
it is now, for at present only in August, when the
annual inundation of the Menam is at its height,
can any but the lightest vessels navigate above
Raheng. During the flood the whole valley is like
an immense sea, in which towns and villages look
like islands, the streets connected by drawbridges.
The inundation of the Menam begins at the end
of July, and the water increasing two inches a day
sometimes reaches thirteen or fourteen feet in
height. This constant and regular inundation
spreads fertility through the land, and it may be
said the Menam is to this country what the Nile
is to Egypt.
AYUTHIA. 179
Turpin says it is an agreeable sight to see an
extent of ten leagues presenting at the same time
the picture of a sea and of a champaign crowned
with grain. No dry land is observed, except at cer-
tain distances, on which are built large, idolatrous
temples. The ears (of rice) which rise above the surface
of the waters yield with ease under the boats, and rise
again without being injured. The fish spread them-
selves over the fields, where they fatten and multi-
ply. On the slopes of the banks advantage is taken
of the rich deposit left by the river in subsiding
to plant tobacco abundantly. There is plenty of life
on the river now. The white jackets and billy-cocks,
or sailor-straw hats, that they wear make people in the
boats look like English. A double vessel of two boats
joined together, a day-and-night nursery for the
large small family, we call the Calais- Douvres or the
Siamese Twins. As Aleck pipes up, and we pass the
modern Gothic church-like wat at Bang Pahin it
reminds us of music on the steamers going to Kew.
Some of the party, of course, do not understand this
comparison. Birds are thick and unalarmed on the
trees, as in that story of Marco Polo, where he says
the birds grew on the trees, and dropped off at
times. Perhaps these birds were really flying-foxes
(pteropus Edwardsii), a gigantic species of bat, which
sometimes look like a quantity of large, dark-brown
fruits hanging from the branches of the loftiest
ficuses, and detaching themselves in a startling man-
ner, as they hang, head downwards, by one leg, they
seem to drop, and then fly in circles from tree to
N 2
180 AYUTHIA.
tree. Here are numerous kingfishers, and swallows
are flying low.
After passing a pretty, well- wooded island of finest
all tropical verdure, we leave the main river, and
take a short cut by a canal. ' This is an elephant
preserve,' says Prince Doctor. 'A large herd of ele-
phants is always protected on this artificial island.'
At noon the water is cooler than the air, though
the sunshine is tempered by the breeze. Prince
Doctor points out to us a temple (waTt), with its
accompanying dagoba, built by his grandfather.
' If you build a temple, you get so many of your
sins taken away. Everyone of any standing builds
a temple. It is considered infra dig. to worship
in any other person's temple ; so Ayuthia is one
mass of temples.'
The land is, to all appearance, well peopled ; the
river-banks presenting a pretty nearly continuous
village. It is a happy-looking country up here,
farmed by well-to-do people, ' the land smiling with
cultivation ' and abounding in sugar-palms (saguerus
saccharifer). The sailing-boats collect rice from
place to place, and then they carry it down to
Bangkok. It is easy to sustain life here ; every
necessary grows so rapidly. Nature is their great
manufacturer. The river too is inexhaustible in its
supply of food. The creel-shaped fishing-nets are
generally hauled up full of fish. Every Siamese is
bound to give the king forty days' service in the
army or in labour. This can be commuted for the
eight ticals' poll-tax. This is quite fair — but a
Chinaman only pays one shilling, half a tical, while
AYUTHIA. 181
the natives pay eight ticals. The Chinese who are
under European protection are exempt from poll-tax
altogether. The Siamese are beginning to be awake to
this grievance, notwithstanding that they are born
philosophers.
On reaching Ayuthia, at half-past tAvelve, we at
once find ourselves in a labyrinth of canals, Avater-
side shops, and houses with curved and pointed roofs,
and every house and shop has its high-prowed boat
moored at its landing-stage. Ayuthia is not only an
island, but it is also situated among several other
islets, which renders its situation peculiar. It is still
true as when Turpin wrote, that, although it occupies
a vast extent, it contains but few inhabitants. At the
water-side, it is true, it seems populous enough, but
the gardens on the river-banks are more like groves,
and the groves farther in again are more like forests.
Three great rivers, which have their source in the
higher lands, surround it on all parts, and cross it
by three large canals, which divide it into difi'erent
quarters, so that it can only be entered by boats.
Turpin, who wrote while Ayuthia was still the
capital of the country, and itself usually called
Siam, says ' the south part, which faces the south,
only contains idolatrous temples, where no affluence
is seen but on solemn days.' The temples being
now, for the most part, dismantled and falling to
decay, there is little affluence seen here at any time,
the affluence of gold at least ; for there is plenty of
everything else, to all appearance. There is more
cultivation here than at Bangkok ; the people at
Bangkok are more engaged in trade.
182 AYUTHIA.
But, delightful as archaeology may be as a study,
in the study it has less charm in this most torrid
part of the tropics at burning noontide. Our first
care was to seek a shady place for luncheon. They
offered us the shade of the old sacred elephant
stables to lunch in, that have not been used since
Ayuthia was the capital ; stables just as they were
left one hundred years ago, gilded posts and all.
But these were too grand for us, and not draughty
enough.
We were then taken through what looked like
a clean and neat part of an old-fashioned country
town or village to a mango-orchard surrounded
by high walls, with rounded battlements, at one
end of which is a lofty tower, mth stair-cases in
it, which is a now disused observatory, or look-
out. We at first took it for a pagoda, because of
the ofiferings of flowers and votive toys laid on the
steps and slabs of balustrading at the entrance;
but this is no safe guide, for, as in Ceylon, these
Buddhists place flowers on any slab they find, taking
it for an altar. A whistle, a sort of cat-call, from
aloft.
'Fine view up here, Mrs. Caddy,' shouts the
Duke, who, as usual, had climbed to the highest
point.
I had meant to average it in the heat (one p.m.,
thermometer boiling-point in the sun), but for very
shame I climbed up and saw a vast tropical forest,
pierced for miles round with white or golden pagoda
spires, with rivers winding about among the verdure.
This is the present aspect of Ayuthia, which became
AYUTHIA. 183
the capital of the country in a.d. 1351, and was de-
vastated by the Burmese in 1751, when Bangkok be-
came the royal residence, and trade at once followed
the court. The native name signifies Terrestrial
Paradise. It is indeed a paradise as seen from the
observatory, or rather a sea of verdure, melting away
all round into an infinity of blueness, in which stand
up the varied forms of the temple roofs and spires,
more various even than those of Bangkok : some
pyramidal, some column-like, some like stalactite
needles, some expanding like lily-cups, or diminish-
ing in spirals of delicate proportion. It was a
lovely view, and utterly unlike anything I had ever
seen before. ' Nothing to Darjeeling, of course,' as
we understood from Mr. Cobham. The observatory
is considered a ruin, but the timbers are wonder-
fully well-preserved considering it has been left
without repairs for one hundred years. It is the
same with the temples, which now belong to no-
body. One understands why, by what Prince Doctor
told us. The builders and proprietors quitted Ayu-
thia,but could not carry away their temples with them.
We descended slowly and painfully. The Duke
struck a match and began exploring a dark passage.
'Where are you going, Duke?' shrieked out so-
prano, alto, tenor, and bass, who besought him to
take care of his precious life and the interests of the
life-assurance companies. ' Cobras, alligators, tigers,
spiders I' shrieked the chorus.
The men of the royal yacht Vesatii^ a detachment
of whom had been sent up the river with us in the
Golden Needle^ spread matting under the mango-
184 AYUTHIA.
trees ; and oh, how glad we were to see the seltzer-
bottles and to hear the popping of the corks !
' " Leave but a kiss within the glass," ' says Prince
Doctor, showing off — 'ah ! that wouldn't satisfy even
a lover to-day.'
While we lunched, a gang of shackled prisoners
were turned in at the farther end of the orchard to
Avork. This might have been their regular task,
but it seemed to us as if the overseers wished to
study our manners and customs, and the prisoners
themselves did nothing else.
' They don't work by the piece here, I presume ?'
said the Duke of Sutherland.
We sent for river- water — the best here ; not all
the soda-water in the yacht could have diluted our
claret sufficiently — and the Yesatri men, after bring-
ing coco-nuts, ducked and skedaddled. A tall man in
blue, who took the lead among the attendants, and
sprang from goodness knows where, hewed the tops
off the green coco-nuts, and we drank and were
comforted ; he cleverly fashioned spoons from the
soft shell, and we scooped the gelatinous young pulp.
' Gallumptious !' said we all in Siamese, and trans-
lated it to the Duke.
To rest at noontide under a tree is my ideal of
enjoyment — ah ! what is it in the tropics 1 Prince
Doctor fired the dry mango-leaves near him, ' to
keep off the alligators,' as he said. I thought the
whole grove would be set on fire, but owing, I sup-
pose, to the vegetable moisture, it could not make
head against our efforts to extinguish it. One sel-
dom sees jungle-fires in Siam.
AYUTHIA. 185
' They ring the mango-trees to make them bear
fruit,' said Prince Doctor, becoming pleasantly in-
structive, as usual. This answers to root-pruning
with us.
We sat listening to his words of wisdom and the
song of the birds, Mr. Michell's speciality of study.
There is a Siamese bird very like a magpie, and one,
a green bird, with a note very like a blackbird ; there
is also one song like a thrush. Several of the birds'
songs in the mango-grove resemble those of English
birds. Some of us were rather surprised to hear
them singing so freely in the shade at midday. The
specialists were all ready with a theory.
' It is pleasant to hear specialists talk ; one feels
like being at a lecture, easy and lazy, letting some
one else get up the learning,' I thought, and unre-
flectingly said it aloud.
' Alas ! it goes in at one ear, &c.'
' No, in at one ear and out at the note-book.'
' There's one prisoner gone mad,' observed the
Duke, suddenly looking up ; ' he's actually at work.'
Mr. Michell and others pretended to long for
work likewise.
' Don't go off and explore !' we all cried, beseech-
ingly.
' It spoils the harmony of the — ahem ! — evening,'
said Prince Doctor, the most English of us all.
' Find those fat curly cigars, some of you, do, and
quiet them,' said Mr. Cobham.
' It's all very well for you who live at home at
ease in the country to go off sight-seeing. I live
in London, and can't sit under a mango-grove every
186 AYUTHIA.
day.' I addressed them all collectively, and the
Duke in particular individually.
' I've been sitting in the boat for hours and want
to move,' his Grace replied, pathetically. So he had,
and on the floor, too, of the carpeted section of the
launch.
Conscience-stricken, we let him and Mr. Michell
depart without another murmur, though they were
a loss to us. Most of them go off to make studies
of the place, Prince Doctor casting a regretful look
behind. Aleck packs up the baskets and goes off
too with the Duke's chief engineer, who had come
up in the Golden Needle. The prince's boy looks
pensively at the packed luncheon-baskets, and
wearily — a true Siamese — as if he would not lift
one of them for the world ; in his purple silk dra-
pery, his glossy locks rubbed with the oil of the
doksaratha, flower of excellence, looking like Ouida's
Amphion, as I always call him. He signals to four
Vesatri men to come, while he stands gracefully
on one leg, twisting the other round it, and makes
the men divide the weight of the baskets. I stayed
in the orchard finishing my sketch. Mr. Cobham
had fallen asleep on a mat comfortably arranged
under a tree at some distance from the scene
of decampment. The prisoners continued their
work of looking on.
The energetic explorers went to a gambling-house,
where the Duke won a tical, which he gave to an
old woman who taught him the game. Prince
Doctor reappeared ; he said he had come on the
Duke's part to call us to go sight-seeing.
AYUTHIA. 187
' Well, let US go,' I said, reluctantly putting up
my sketch-book. It was quitting beatitude under
the mango-trees. A troop of women and children
prettily dressed had come in to stare at us.
' Isn't it a pity to disturb Mr. Cobham's repose?'
says the lazy prince, lighting his cigarette.
I suggested letting him sleep on.
' We can't leave him here alone in this wilderness
with a lot of — crocodiles.'
' Then we must just stay and protect him,' said I ;
and we stayed.
Presently Mr. Swan came and hauled us out. He
said the Duke was pacing up and down impatiently
waiting for us. False man ; lo ! his Grace was
sitting quietly in a shady temple, chatting with Mr.
Michell, his cigarette not smoked out.
We climbed down the difficult steps of the steep
bank, bordered with rungeah, a sort of purple-
crimson lotus, found in many pools and marshes of
Siam, into the gondola, the Duke and Mr. Michell
sitting on the roof, to go to the place where they
catch and tame the elephants. We crossed a
common abounding in hares, and covered with
short turf and wild flowers, and a kind of whortle-
berry growing long and gracefully in its fruit-stems,
the fruit in all hues of green, pink, and purple, and
in the thickets long stems of ' wait-a-bit ' thorns.
Hither they drive the elephants every third year. In
one post of danger there is a tall fence, a sort of
gateway, or deep archway, formed of high stout poles
or pillars of teak firmly fastened together by cross-
beams overhead, where the men can take refuge, as
188 AYUTHIA.
it is too narrow for the elephants to pass. Round
the ground is an elephant-proof fence of teak poles
driven into the earth at intervals of about two
feet. They sometimes drive two hundred elephants
into this enclosure. They have fifteen wild elephants
now ready for taming, but to-day they had only
one in the sheds, and he looked gentle enough.
We hurried down to the boats to go on further
and see a wat, though most of these, as we saw
from the observatory, were miles and miles away.
Ponies or elephants ought to have been provided
for us to ride about Ayuthia, the distances are so
great ; it reminded one of Babylon, which enclosed
its own gardens and corn-fields within its walls, a
province rather than a city. It was impossible for
us to get at most of the temples. I regret this
now, but at the time we were thankful for this
small mercy. The heat was intense : the water was,
so to speak, boiling in the soda-water bottles.
'Don't take me to see anymore sights, Prince ;
carry me home to England,' sighs Mr. Swan, mop-
ping his face ; ' carry me home to die.'
' There is a wat to be seen.'
' Oh, 1 shan't see any more wats.'
We were all not sorry to hear the Prince speak
disparagingly of the wats. Of those whose outsides
we saw, some of them are highly gilt, and many of
them in a very ruinous state, but beautiful as
reflected in pools islanded by clumps of the crimson
lotus, and surrounded by mango and bread-fruit-
trees. The natives say there is nothing highly
artistic in the details of their decoration, but of
ATUTHIA. 189
this I am not sure that they are fair judges. Sailing
below the high banks of the canals and rivers it
was not possible to get near enough to see the
minutiae.
' They hold service in the wats on the fifteenth
day of the waxing moon and the eighth day of the
waning moon,' says Prince Doctor.
I don't quite understand this, except as the day
after full moon and the week after that ; but I give
it as he said it.
Turpin says, ' Their Sunday, called Vampra, is on
the fourth day of the moon ; in each month they
have two grand ones, at the new and full moon, and
two less solemn on the seventh and twenty-first.'
But I could never get two people to tell me alike
about this. Their week is composed of seven days,
each of which has the name of a plant. Their Sun-
day does not exempt them from labour ; only fishing,
which destroys life, and is therefore held in dis-
esteem by the Buddhists, is forbidden on these
days.
The houses in Ayuthia are frequently built of
teak instead of bamboo exclusively ; their appear-
ance is neater as well as more national than at
Bangkok, and pretty with scarlet-runner beans
twining up the cane garden-fences. Flowers are
abundant, including the rare gmelina histrix, a plant
peculiar to Siam, blossoms pale yellow with brown
calyxes growing curiously in pairs, two flowers out
at a time ; a quaint flower reminding one of Siamese
buildings somehow in its double hornedness. The
population is more distinctly Siamese ; there are
190 AYUTHIA.
indeed, few Chinese here ; the open round basket-
shaped hats are generally worn by men and women.
We intended to go to where the large feather-
fans, an Ayuthian speciality, are to be obtained ;
large fans like those used as punkahs in the king's
palace. Unfortunately, there was not sufficient
depth of water in the canal leading to the fan-shop,
and we must have made nearly the circuit of the
city to get at it by the larger canal. The water-
ways are all lined with bamboo houses, not by any
means always on stilts, though possibly those not
built on stilts are floating houses and rise with the
tide, and the fronts of the houses are crowded with
bamboo oval-tilted boats of the national Siamese
shape. The houses all have the curved roofs and
horned gables that give all Siamese buildings, large
or small, such a distinctive character. We went up
one of the ' natural moats ' with banks unusually
steep. The city proper is built on a peninsula made
an island by art. The river-water is cleaner here
than lower down the stream ; a man standing in
the canal was sousing himself with water from his
brass bowl with real enjoyment. Sponges are
seldom used here, they would harbour reptiles.
' Let us go to a cafe.' Proposal received with
acclamation. But there are no caf^s in Ayuthia.
They have never heard of ices ; it is quite a pro-
vincial town. In returning to Koh Lai we made tea
with water from the engine and cooled it with soda-
water ; it was too strong and horrible. Oh, poor
Prince Doctor's wry faces I We dabbled in the
river, our sleeves were wet through with splashing ;
AYUTHIA. 191
never mind, we do not get rheumatism here as we
do in our favoured land.
We were home very late for dinner. Our con-
versation at table rather horrified the Prince ; we
talked of our kings and queens, anointed sovereigns
embalmed in history, with free criticism. We talked
of Mary Stuart, and even whisi)ered some scandal
against Queen Elizabeth.
' How well you are for your queens,' said Prince
Doctor, losing his correct English in his horror at
our disloyal comments. ' You don't deserve any
kings or queens, if you can talk about them like
that.'
' But they are all dead,' we cried ; ' dead as Queen
Anne.'
' To the dead we should be doubly respectful,' he
said, solemnly. He was perfectly right.
I heard later, from a fellow-student of his, that
Yai Sanitwongse, Prince Doctor, took the prize for
English from a lot of British fellows in his second
year at Edinburgh. He doubtless paid scrupulous at-
tention to his grammar. He is a good specimen of the
golden youth of Siam, who have adopted European
learning without losing their nationality; a great
improvement on the old school, whose whole happi-
ness consisted in insensibility.
I gave Prince Doctor the volumes of Mark Twain
that I had with me, as he relished them so much ;
the Duke gave him a handsome revolver ; all of us
gave him our blessing. We were greatly indebted
to him for the pleasure of our trip.
' You will be glad to put yourself into the meat-
192 AYUTHIA.
safe again, Mr. Cobham,' said the Prince. He meant
behind the mosquito-curtains. Mosquitoes are very
troublesome on the river.
Here we are near Bangkok, turned up again like
bad ticals. A raft and a large Chinese boat ran
into us and damaged themselves, that is, the boat
had its oval roof lifted off. There was plenty of
bad language used, but as we did not understand
Chinese it did not set us a bad example.
Our polite chamberlain welcomed us with his
best English and his best bow, standing with his
feet close together, Austrian fashion, to bow as he
presented me with a fan of pink feathers, prettily
painted.
Sir Andrew Clarke, Mr. Gould, the British consul,
and Doctor Gowan dined with us, and Mr. McGregor
came later in the evening ; the talk was as instructive
as usual. At close upon midnight the chamberlain
and Prince Doctor, in full white Court mourning,
went to the Premane. It was the second and last
grand ceremonial of the cremation, and we perhaps
ought to have gone, but we felt tired ; and, besides,
it seemed so greedy to go again and scramble for
limes and nuts. It might not have the same zest
as the first time.
I found a white chameleon inside my mosquito-
curtains, a pretty, graceful creature who would have
devoured the stray mosquito that always gets
inside ; but I lost my presence of mind and brushed
the elegant animal out. Somehow I did not fancy
having a lizard within my curtains.
We have been less worried by mosquitoes than
AYUTHIA. 193
we feared ; we were told we should find them in
Bangkok as large as rats ! and really other insects
have not troubled us at all, nor noxious reptiles of
any sort. It is a fifth popular fallacy that serpents
are momentarily seen in the tropics, and habitually
sleep under your pillows.
194
CHAPTER VIII.
THIRTY years' PROGRESS IN SIAM.
' And sell you, mixed with western sentimentalism,
Some samples of the finest Orientalism !'
Beppo.
An invitation from Prince Devan to meet the Duke
at ten a.m., and talk about tte railways with him,
was accepted by his Grace, and at once postponed
by the Siamese prince till seven this evening. We
suspected that this did not mean business.
Two gentlemen, just come back from prospecting
the gold-mines on the west coast of the Gulf of
Siam, say there are millions (? better say hun-
dreds) of shafts of former workings. At the present
value of money, &c., the cost of these works would
represent millions sterling (which is probably what
they meant). They found the unhealthiness of the
climate far over-rated : they took abundance of
medicines with them, and used none, as not one
of the party had the least touch of fever. Former
explorers lived hardly, defied the sun, fed on native
diet, and drank unfiltered water from the jungle
rivere; naturally, they all got fever. These men
took proper precautions, and remained healthy.
THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM. 195
Besides these gentlemen, we also entertained at
tea Mr. Cooper, an explorer and surveyor of mines,
&c., and the Italian Cavaliere Nosotti, concession-
ary of the gold-mines, &c., on the Malayan coast
belonging to Siam.
Some of our party went to tea on board Sir
Andrew Clarke's yacht, and some went off, in full-
dress uniform, to the Premane. Among the prizes
drawn to-day in the scramble for nuts, &c.,
were a dog-cart, an elephant, a buffalo, and some
ponies. The lucky winner had to ride them, ac-
cording to custom, past the king. This always
causes great laughter, especially when, as on this
occasion, the riders, being townspeople, had evident-
ly never mounted elephants or buffaloes before.
Supposing any of our party had won these things,
what should we have done ? We might have hired
a deputy to do the riding, but we could not have
carried home our prizes in the yacht with us.
I went to Mr. Michell's Saturday reception, and
looked on while his friends played lawn-tennis in the
royal garden, which is just behind his official resi-
dence. The explorers and surveyors were there,
too ; so we had plenty of talk. Society here seems
very pleasant ; it is almost too small to be split
up into cliques. Perhaps the tea was the least
European part of the entertainment ; it was so
delicate in colour and flavour.
The seven o'clock interview with Prince Devan
Avas again postponed ; but in the Premane (whither
we adjourned after dinner) we accidentally met the
Prince, and the Duke and he, with Mr. Swan, went
o2
196 THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SI AM.
off for a short talk. Prince Devan says lie will
have the proposed railway-line surveyed, which will
take two years. Sir Andrew Clarke's scheme was
the one eventually accepted. It may be, commerci-
ally, the best, though perhaps not politicallj'^ so.
The Premane was crowded, and illuminated as be-
fore ; only the reserved ground was this evening kept
exclusively for the grandees. It is a gay scene as ever,
with its brilliantly-lighted kiosks and temples, and
the royal buildings. It is difficult to believe that
such solid-looking Italian colonnades and galleries
are made of paper and bamboo, and all to be swept
away so soon. Lamps of green glass and red paper
are wreathed about the corridors and windows,
which are draped with black and white, broad-
striped curtains.
How like the 'Arabian Nights' it is to see these
three slaves in white garments approach our party
with refreshments, and kneel and prostrate them-
selves in offering the huge silver trays. The priests'
attendants lie sleeping all about the grounds near
the cremation temple, chiefly on each side of the
plaited bamboo-path. The hundreds of priests each
recite the liturgical office, a certain number chant-
ing at a time, until all the priests have been through
the service. Discordant conches and liquid har-
monica sounds are mingled with the continuous
chanting.
A priest went mad last night, and struck about
him with a sword. He hit at a sentry, who stuck
him through with his bayonet. The priest has since
died. No inquest has taken place, but official public
THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM. 197
opinion considers it justifiable homicide on the part
of the sentry.
The king and princes remain here sometimes all
night. The king has a suite of apartments specially
prepared for his use in the Italian gallery, draped
with black curtains, with a narrow white border,
on the first-floor ; so that His Majesty can pass to
the cremation chapel — which is on the same level —
without going down into the gardens and up the
bamboo-plaited path and staircase.
My friend the shaggy-headed Prince Premier is
here barefooted, and in black. Several of the other
princes are also barefooted. Some of them are
studying the Dharna padam, Path of Virtue, the
Buddhist Bible. They seem more melancholy to-
night than usual. 1 hear they were all much
attached to the princess whose cremation ceremonies
are now being observed.
The jumble of ideas, ancient and modern, eastern
and western, is quite fatiguing in this form of life,
where things barbaric dying out contend to the last
with the utmost novelties of civilization ; all of it,
both old-fashioned and new-fangled, smothered in
ceremonial and splendour.
The reveill^e on Sunday morning is very Euro-
pean in sound, and the word of command to the
soldiers grufi" in tone, like our officers give it to the
volunteers.
I packed up a well-bound and illustrated ' Life of
Queen Victoria,' with Her Majesty's latest photograph
in addition, and a pretty picture-book of etchings with
poetry for the little five-year-old prince. I packed
198 THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM.
tte parcel up with Christinas cards, and wrapped it
in silk and ribbons, copying the address as Prince
Doctor had written it in my note-book, Thoon
Gramon Fah Lek. I showed it to our chamberlain
to ask if that was correct. He smiled, but said it
would do very well. It appears Fah Lek means
little prince, and is not his name at all. I wrote a
letter accompanying the parcel to the Queen asking
Her Majesty to allow her little prince to receive it.
The same afternoon I received a pretty message of
thanks from the palace, and the little prince sent
me two small enamelled silver trays of native work-
manship ' with his love.' Mr. Michell tells me I am
much favoured in having an immediate answer to
my letter and present ; people are usually kept at
least three days before getting a reply. The
chamberlain's pretty little daughter was brought in
to see us from his house in the country. We found
some European presents to give her.
Mr. M'Carthy, lately the hero of the Royal Geo-
graphical Society, took me out in his gondola, towed
by his steam-launch, cruising in a canal lined with
busy shops, set among tall elm-like trees and palms
and plantations, that I had not previously explored.
I bought some native hats and curiosities, and some
of the curious Siamese toys that they are clever in
constructing out of painted palm-leaf and coloured
paper ; outlandish forms of fish, grinning dragons,
and amusing absurdities. They make tiny but
clever painted earthenware models of their ladies at
a feast, with very little to eat perhaps for so numer-
ous a company : the figures dressed in gay scraps of
THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM. 199
stuff are seated on the ground, standing, or kneeling,
but always bending forward the left elbow in what
is their ideal of refined elegance in feminine attitude.
I enjoyed my trip so much that I was sorry I had
to rush home to dress for Mr. Michell's dinner-
party. From my room I heard processional music
still going on outside, and operatic sounds from
single instruments, and then a crash, sounding like
a Wagnerian grand finale. They were removing the
ashes of the cremated princes to their final resting-
place in the palace. I could see the standards and
parts of the procession from my windows : but
processions had palled upon us, and we did not care
to go outside to look on.
They have spread a collection of Siamese musical
instruments on a carpet on the floor of the yellow
drawing-room, between the writing-room and the
large marble vestibule.
The instruments are one large European drum
and one smaller drum ; two harmonicas in the shape
of ivory boats, on stands, with keys of resonant
bamboo. This resonant bamboo is extremely rare,
and precious accordingly. One of these harmonicas
has three octaves, the other instrument, lower in
tone, has two-and-a-half octaves.
A light frame, nearly a circle, made of bamboo, is
set with a sort of bells of white metal ; the per-
former sits cross-legged in the centre of this instru-
ment and strikes the bells around him. Two violon-
cello-shaped instruments with three strings played
with a plectrum. Two pairs of a Siamese form of
cymbals.
200 THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM.
A sort of vase of Siamese nielloed metal-work,
shaped like a bottle, with serpent-skin at the open-
ing for a drum : with this is a metal disk to fix on
the foot and strike at the same time as the serpent-
skin is beaten. The instrument is said to be Malayan.
A sort of violin played with a short bow. Two
sets of ordinary cymbals and bones of an ornamental
kind complete the orchestra. They are very pretty
instruments, especially the boat -shaped harmonicas,
which are extremely elegant. About fifteen men
compose the band, which is the same that came to
England and played at the ' Healtheries ' exhibition.
The bandsmen, who are unusually dark for Siamese,
look like Christy minstrels in their European
evening-dress and white ties.
We listened to this Siamese band, now brought into
the great vestibule, till it was time to drive down to
the pier where we were to take boat to go to tbe
dinner-party. The musicians played brilliantly.
Solos on the harmonica, accompanied by the violin
played by a small lad with the fingers and no bow,
produced a rippling fountain of sound truly
delicious. They wound up with ' Rule Britannia,'
an air with running passages particularly well-
suited to their instruments, as we went away to the
carriages.
We met the broken-up funeral procession on its
return, but it did not delay us much. We went in
the steam-launch to the Oriental Hotel, where Mr.
Michell received thirty-six guests, ladies and gentle-
men, at a well-served European dinner, with punkahs
waving — the only time we saw them used in Siam.
THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM. 201
It seemed very home-like, and gave us a good
idea of the state of European society out in those
far-off regions. The journey by moonlight on the
river back to the Palace of Calm Delights was
delightful.
I found a beautiful bowl of flowers on my table
on coming home. The room was bathed in the
perfume of the green flowers with long green leaves,
a sort of night-scented daphne, only more lemon-
like in freshness, and with larger leaves and
blossoms.
The Siamese cultivate flowers that are scented at
many difierent times of the day or night, and they
plant them in their gardens in situations according
to the rooms they chiefly use at these certain hours
of the day — or night. The small white mali flowers
the children wear round their top-knots are early
night- scented.
Monday, February 27th. — Our last day in Bang-
kok, and cloudy, so that we can use it to advantage.
"While the others are all gone out shopping, I have
asked young Mr. Swinn to take me to see the two
great temples, Wat Poh and Wat Chang, or Giant
Temple.
The walled enclosure of the Wat Poh, or Father
of Temples, surrounds a marvellous gathering of
religious buildings of most varied form, colour, and
strangeness ; a wondrous mingling of the grotesque
and picturesque, with needle-pointed spires so
numerous that it is said no one has ever been able
to count the pagodas twice alike.
These groups of temples and clusters of pointed
202 THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM.
pagodas are all set in a pavement of diagonal slabs
broken at intervals by flowering shrubs, such as
oleanders, jasmines, and temple-trees, and many
plants new to me, partitioned off occasionally with
fences of pierced and enamelled tile's, blueish-green,
brown, and dark blue, that look like Chinese manu-
facture, and set about with pagodas and images
either of earthenware, or carved in stone of wildest
and most demoniac hideousness.
In one of the temples the cloisters are lined with
rows of gilded Buddhas seated cross-legged in
meditation, the attitudes being only slightly varied.
The image usually has the right hand on its knee ;^
sometimes the left hand has a coin, a spherical old
tical, or a jewel in it, or it is extended patiently
.waiting to receive it as alms. Occasionally, but
rarely, the right hand holds a tical. Behind the
seated Buddhas the bo-tree is often represented.
There are nine hundred of these images ; their height
from the foot of the pedestal to the crown of the
head measures nine feet. Before one Buddha of
enormous height a gilded elephant kneels in adora-
tion, lifting up his trunk as they are trained to do
in homage to their superiors. The elephant is their
symbol of wisdom, but I have seen no elephant-
headed idols here in Siam like the Hindu images of
Ganesh, the god of wisdom.
The colossal figure of the dying Buddha in another
temple is the most striking object I have seen in
Bangkok. This massive recumbent figure reaching
to the lofty roof is fitted in between the rows of
massive square red columns ; its head, reclining on
THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM. 203
the right arm, is almost lost to sight among the
beams of the roof, but its appearance is thus rendered
only the more mysterious and profoundly striking.
The figure is solidly gilt all over, in gilding of
quite appreciable thickness, now peeling off in large
pieces of gilt black stucco, which are strewn all
round the figure, but in its vast size the blotches
are scarcely perceptible. The length of this great
gilded Buddha is one hundred and sixty feet, the
length of the sole of the foot is seventeen and a half
feet. The foot soles of this gigantic figure are
elaborately wrought with Siamese inlaid work in
mother-of-pearl on black, with scenes from the life
of Buddha ; the elephants and the figures generally,
with the flowers and arabesques, are all inlaid so as
to give full value to the colours of the pearl.
Buddha is always imaged in one of the three
attitudes : reclining asleep ; cross-legged in medita-
tion under the bo-tree ; or standing preaching.
When the standing figure is benedictory, mostly the
first finger meets the thumb of the raised right
hand, the other three fingers are extended straight.
So placid is his expression, that one always yawns
on looking at a Buddha. The black doors and
shutters of some of these temples are likewise
admirably inlaid with this Siamese marqueterie, of
which specimens are so rare in Europe, and will
always be rare, as the art is dying out. Young
Mr. Swinn was not extravagantly interested in
architecture, but he seemed to think it delightfully
funny that I should be so ; it was altogether a new
light to him, and he became much more interested
204 THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM.
himself in the temples in showing them to me. He
had been here and to Wat Chang frequently in pro-
cessions and on state occasions, but had never con-
cerned himself with the buildings themselves. While
in England he had not visited St. Paul's nor West-
minster Abbey, though he had been taken to the
Crystal Palace and the Houses of Parliament. This
Wat Poh is an old temple, or rather group of temples,
and is, as I expected to find it, superior in its decora-
tion to that of the Emerald Buddha, which is new. A
family with several children, male and female, have
the charge of these temples, and run about merrily
and harmlessly all over the inclosure. A great alli-
gator lives in a pond among the rockwork of the
temple-garden, but he did not show himself to us,
though we enticed him with soft words.
From here we walked by way of the ever pictur-
esque city walls to our usual landing-place, intending
to signal to the yacht for a boat to ferry us across to
the Wat Chang. We saw the steam-launch actually
going our way, but our signals failed to hail her, and
Mr. Swinn pushed off in a Siamese boat and asked
for the dinghy to be sent for me. He did not like
me to go in one of the Siamese cockle-shells, not
because it was risking a ducking, but because he
considered it infra dig.
We crossed the river, broad here at the bend,
to Wat Chang, the most recently built of the larger
temples in Bangkok. Of fine and imposing aspect
as viewed from a distance, this huge, effective,
daring, and absurd pagoda is perhaps the drollest
piece of architectural decoration ever evolved from
THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM. 205
human brain. It is stuck all over with shells and
pottery-ware like a grotto built by children on the
1st of August. This the ' Best Crockery temple ' is
the culmination of the fancy that decorates our
interior walls with dinner-plates and cups and
saucers. Mrs. Leonowens, governess to the present
king of Siam and his brothers, tells in one of her
books the true love-tale of a lovely artless girl who
was employed in pounding pottery with a club for
Wat Chang when her lover first saw her. Among
the shells arranged in patterns of stars are broken
bits of green, red, and yellow earthernware, and rows
of blue saucers, many of them broken, and series of
smaller saucers in yellow ware, and dinner-plates of
many colours all carefully broken in five or /H r\
six pieces to represent petals of great flowers. C^/CH
The distant efi^ect is good in its way, and quaint ^ v>
to the last degree. It is the apotheosis of bric-a-brac.
The entrance to the principal wat appertaining to
this giant pagoda is guarded by a row of lions, and
two monster figures of armed warders holding clubs.
The heads of these huge demon-like guards reach
above the tiled roof of the peristyle nearly to the
high-pitched central gables of the wat. The four
pagodas at the angles are all alike, and are merely
simplified reductions of the great central pagoda.
The temple is agreeably situated in a grove of tall
trees with turf and paved walks.
Towards evening a large party of us went in three
carriages to Wat Sahk^t, the temple and cremation-
ground of the common people. This was a duty
we had postponed to this our last day on account
of its unpleasant nature.
206 THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM.
Sir John Bowring in his ' Siam ' says : ' If the
deceased have ordered that his body shall be deliv-
ered to vultures and crows, the functionary cuts it
up and distributes it to the birds of prey which are
always assembled. I have heard Parsees regret in
China that they lose the privilege of having their
remains carried by winged messengers to all quar-
ters of Heaven.' This poetical idea is fallacious, at
least as regards Bangkok, for the vultures remain
wedded to their position on the pinnacles of the
"Wat Sahk^t. Mrs. Leonowens, a good authority in
respect of her long residence at the Siamese Court
and her knowledge of- the language, says the rite of
burning the body after death is held in great vene-
ration by the Siamese Buddhists, as they believe
that, by this process, its material parts are restored
to the higher elements ; whereas burial, or the aban-
donment of the body to dogs and vultures, signifies
that the body must then return to the earth and
pass through countless forms of the lower orders of
creation before it can again be fitted for the occupa-
tion of a human soul.
This is' evolution with a vengeance. Extremes
meet. We boast of our advancement and are begin-
ning to talk of evolution and cremation ; the Siamese
made up their minds about these subjects ages ago.
Mr. Cobham went to the chamber of horrors
\vhere the bodies are cut up for the vultures. The
functionaries were at work, and he counted eighty
birds waiting for the ghastly feast. It was enough
for me to see at different times Mr. Swan as well as
Mr. Cobham come back from this spectacle looking
pale and ill.
THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM. 207
We went to the large sheds, at this time empty,
where the better classes of Siamese are cremated,
The lowest cost of the ceremonial is ten shillings. The
bodies of those whose families cannot afford this sum,
five ticals, are distributed to the crows and vultures.
Two tall, slender obelisks are erected near the
Wat Sahket in memory of the pure lovers, BM4t,
the priest, and Tuptim, ' the pomegranate,' — who
suffered death and torture in the last reign for their
faith to each other. The inscription on the obelisks
runs thus : ' Suns may set and rise again, but the
pure and brave BM&t and Tuptim will never more
return to this earth.'
Mrs. Leonowens, the governess at the Court, says
she knew the girl, and had taught her to read and
write English.
STORY OF BALAT AND TUPTIM.
The outline of the tale runs thus : The fair and
artless Tuptim, not yet sixteen, was pounding
pottery for the decoration of Wat Chang, when,
perceiving she attracted the notice of the king, she
sank down and hid her face among the vases and
fragments of earthenware. The king did no more just
then than inquire her name and parentage. Later
she was sent for to the palace and was given a betel-
box made like a pomegranate (after her name Tup-
tim) of gold inlaid with rubies, that shut and opened
with a spring. But still she hid herself from the
king, as she was in love and had been betrothed to
a priest called BMdt. One day she was lost alto-
gether, escaping the Amazons on guard at the
208 THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM.
harem. She escaped in the dress of a young priest to
the temple where B414t was serving, having shaved
her hair and eyebrows so that her lover did not
know her. She was discovered and brought to trial
before the women-judges, her feet and hands heavily
fettered. But the child's voice was firm and
unflinching.
The priest lover was recognised from his name
written in English concealed in her girdle, and he was
taken and condemned to torture. Tuptim pleaded for
him that she alone was guilty, that he knew nothing
of her escape, that he did not even know her.
^^"Gn^MrSjJ^iQnofflfins interceding for her with the
king, Tuptim was reprieved from death and con-
demned to work in the rice-mill, but he again
changed his mind and had them both executed ; she
declaring to the last, ' All the guilt was mine, I knew
that I was a woman and he did not.' Bdldt and Tuptim
suffered death by fire publicly outside the cemetery
and the moat enclosing the Wah Sahket. One day
the king said to Mrs. Leonowens, ' I have much
sorrow for Tuptim, for I now believe she was inno-
cent. I had a dream that I saw Tuptim and Bdl&t
floating together in a great wide space, and she
bent down and touched me on the shoulder, saying,
" We were pure and guiltless on earth, and look, we
are happy now." '
Thence we ascended the easy, though somewhat
ruinous, stairs of brick and stone, winding up out-
side the old and picturesque tower close by, that
commands a view of the whole of Bangkok set in
its greenery. The Menam is invisible, or nearly
THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM. 209
SO, for the roofs of its bordering houses, but the
broader canals, with their fragile fairy bridges,
make a pleasing feature in the centre of the soft,
strange landscape fading off in distance, its crowded
details imperceptibly melting into the ocean-like
blue of the richly-wooded level country. From this
tower you seem to be midway in the air, looking
down upon a city of trees. The Premane and its
dazzling palaces filled up one quarter of the view
from aloft. To-morrow their place will be empty ;
to-morrow also Bangkok will know us no more.
The sun was setting red over the softly purpling
grey distances, lights were beginning to glimmer
in the dense groves of plantain and palm, as we
sat long on the weed-grown wall of the tower,
gathering the calotropis* and many tufted flowers of
sorts we never knew before, and shall most likely
never see again. The satisfied vultures had wheeled
aloft, and returned to their dismal eyrie on the Towers
of Death. Here, in this solemn evening hour, we,
too, though not akin to these hospitable dusky people
in race or thought, felt we could join in the Buddhist
evening hymn :
' O Thou, who art Thyself the light.
Boundless, in knowledge, beautiful as day,
Irradiate my heart, my life, my sight,
Nor ever let me from Thy presence stray 1'
We wound up with a drive round the now nearly
dismantled Premane. It was difiicult to believe
that this scene of wreck, the skeleton of festivities,
Avas the once dazzling temple and garden of wildest,
strangest, and most extravagant pleasure.
" Note B, Appendix.
P
210 THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM.
The Siamese bandsmen, who had not removed
their quaint but charming instruments, came again
this evening to give us a concert of farewell. They
struck up their wild rivers of melody as we came
into the great vestibule, dressed for dinner, and
then carried their instruments into the galleries
of the inner court of the palace, to play to us
also during dinner. We and our numerous Siamese
visitors made quite a festival of this parting ban-
quet. They placed on the table bowls of the long
lemon-leaved green flowers, which, in their lan-
guage of flowers, mean tears of absence ; we also
wore the sweet, night-scented blossoms and lemon-
like leaves. The musicians echoed our sentiment,
as they played a north-country air of Lao, the
birth-place of many of them ; for the Laosians are
i-eally the most musical of the Siamese race. The
band played a love-song of their Lao land with
a vocal obligate accompaniment between the verses ;
reversing our way of singing the verses and playing
the symphony, they play the tune, and sing the sym-
phonies. The voice — though they were very proud
of their singer — was too much of a cat-howl to be
musical; but the music itself is wild, melodious,
and very pleasing. The ' Lament of the Heart ' —
which they played especially for us — is a favourite
Laosian air. Perhaps still more pleasing to me
was the ' Dream of a Day in Paradise ' ; its rippling
and rustling sounds recalled the soft green forests
of Ayuthia watered by its four rivers.
♦ Gone are they, but I have them in my souL'
'The music of the Siamese Peguans and Laos
THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM. 211
differs from that of most Indian nations in being
plaj'ed upon different keys, a feature which charac-
terises the pathetic music of certain Europeans, and
in particular the Scottish and Welsh nations.' *
When they played the ' Sailors' Hornpipe,' in
compliment to the Duke as a yachtsman, we all
tapped an obligato accompaniment with the hafts
of our knives, and sang ' Jack Robinson.' All
English are mad, doubtless thought the silent,
blandly-smiling, heathen Chinees, as they waited
at table, puzzled by the unusual frenzy — and at
our laughter, as the band gave, with great spirit,
the grand chain-figure of the original ' Lancers.'
We had a rival band, for Aleck played the pipes ;
and then it transpired that one of the bandsmen
knew how to play the pipes too ; so Aleck let him
try, and we shouted with laughter, as we saw the
Siamese piper walking up and down the gallery out-
side, imitating Aleck's Highland swagger to the life,
and the playing itself was not half bad for an
unaccustomed hand.
There is apparently no more difference between
the Lao pipes and those Aleck uses than there is
between the Highland and the Northumbrian pipes.
The Greeks and Romans we know from sculpture
had bag-pipes precisely like those of the High-
landers. Very probably the instrument descended
south-eastward as well as north-westward, from a
common hill-centre in Asia's highlands, a water-
shed of music. The Siamese are proud of their
descent from certain hill-tribes of Thibet, called
* Leonowens.
p 2
212 THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM.
the 'Free.' Mr. Clerevaulx Fenwick, in his re-
marks on 'Bag-pipes and Pipe-music,' disputes
Pennant's view of the pipes having been introduced
into Britain by the Romans, by the fact of the
use of these instruments having been almost ex-
clusively confined to the northern part of our island.
' One of the Canterbury pilgrims was a bag-piper. '
The use of the bag-pipes, however, in the south
of England is, and appears always to have been,
extremely rare.'
Pickering thinks the Siamese are of Malay origin
I — most Europeans regard them as mainly Mon-
V., golian^(Mrs. Leonowens thinks more probably they
belong to the Indo-European family) According
to the researches of the late King of Siam, out of
twelve thousand eight hundred Siamese words more
than five thousand were found to be Sanskrit, or
to have their roots in that language. There is
great family likeness between the Siamese and the
photographs of the Thibet and Sikkim people in
the India Museum. They are not at all like the
Bhotans, or other upper Indian tribes. I took one
of the Thibetan photographs for a portrait of our
chamberlain. The royal family are not so much
like the Thibetan type, and they are small-made — but
then, something like our own royal family, the kings
are always obliged to marry their cousins.
The Siamese language has a soft musical sound
like Italian, but they find little difficulty in learn-
ing our harsher English, as it has far greater
similarities of pronunciation with Siamese than has
either French or German.
THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN 8IAM. 21i}
The Siamese hymn and ' Rule Britannia ' were
played, and ' God Save the Queen,' all standing,
concluded the concert. The Duke is Conservative
and very loyal.
For a Palace of Calm Delights they gave us a
pretty fair orgy.
The chamberlain, Phya Bamreubhakdi, regrets
that the fortnight's ceremonies have prevented his
giving the Duke a great entertainment ; but it is
not the custom to give feasts during the festivities
of the cremation. After excbanges of cards and
invitations to visit in England and Siam, we
gathered all our small luggage to take down with
us in numerous carriages and boats to the yacbt,
which had been sent by daylight some distance
down the river to avoid the difficulty of steering by
night through the maze of shipping in the Menam.
We were accompanied to the Sans Peur by the
chamberlain and his son. Prince Doctor, Mr. Michell,
and Mr. Solomon, the inspector of police, as well as
some other Englisb gentlemen. In the moonlight
row down the river, the fantastic spires gleaming
bright upon us, forgetting the earthy flavours of
Bangkok, we sentimentalised as we felt its balmy
air for the last time. ' Ta, ta, by-bye,' we called as
we passed Sir Andrew Clarke's yacht, where it
seemed they had all gone to bed. We got on board
about eleven o'clock, and soon Sir Andrew with a
party of gentlemen came alongside in a steam-launch
and came on board for farewell.
Siam is different from anything else in the world.
Providence has placed two large seas between us
2 Li THIRTY SEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM.
and those far eastern countries ; they can never
become hackneyed to us. Much of their art work-
ntianship and general civilization has filtered to them
from the west through China. Siam's customs have
so altered since Bowring's book was published in
1857 that this work seems almost to treat of an-
other country. When my husband was in Siam
also thirty years ago he made copious notes of the
condition of the people and aspect of the country.
From his MS. journal, which I carried with me, I
was able to see in how many ways the Siamese had
made progress under their present king, and to judge
whether the advance is solid or frothy. As regards
those outward signs of advancement : telegraphs,
electric lighting, cheap postage, newspapers, &c.,
they are not so very far behind us, after all ; for it
is only in the present reign that we have had these
advantages ourselves. It is true the foreign post
from Bangkok is as yet casual : Mr. Mich ell used to
say of our letters, ' Oh, put them in, post them, I
daresay they'll go.'
The Bangkok Times, now deep in its third volume,
is a bi-weekly institution. The Siam Directory, one
might say, has taken a leaf out of our society papers
when it chronicles in its notable events as a notable
day, that on which Lady Robinson held a reception
in 1878.
Thirty years, and indeed thirty months, ago
there was no hotel in Bangkok ; thirty years since
there was not a single hospital in this city of half-a-
million of souls for the reception of patients native
or European : though at that date they practised vac-
THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IiV SIAM. 215
cination, even in the remoter parts of the countrj'.
Now there is more than one good hospital.
Amongst the Europeans located on shore the
most fatal disease is dysentery ; it is usually intract-
able unless change of air is resorted to. Smallpox
used to be one of the most fatal diseases with
natives : vaccination is now deemed protective. The
natives suffer much from asthma, even the little
children ; but Europeans are not similarly afflicted.
Siamese of all ages smoke tobacco and chew betel-
nut ; this latter habit causes the gums to recede and
the teeth to drop out, usually between forty and
fifty years of age. Toothache is rare, and the ex-
traction of one by the forceps or key is an event in
a family. In Siam there are many Europeans of
long residence in good health, and the natives
frequently attain a good old age. Ulcers are treated
by the native empirics with a sort of chalk plaster ;
but they do not appear to be so frequent as with
the Burmese, nor do ulcers afflict horses as in Bur-
mah. Intermittent fevers are easily treated in
Europeans, but the natives suffer much. The
jungle or bilious remittent fever is sometimes fatal
to Europeans, terminating in coma, but no black
vomit. Where there is a phthisical tendency, the
climate is said to be beneficial ; but if the disease is
developed it runs its course quickly. At the
changes of the monsoons are the most sickly periods.
Children after seven days of age die much of lock-
jaw; itis supposed to be caused by constipation and the
smoke from the perfumed wood-fires to which mother
and child are subjected according to Siamese custom.
216 THIRTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN SIAM.
Rice with fish is the staple diet of the native
population, to which they add yams, sweet potatoes,
coco-nuts, bananas, and the fruits of the season. In
what Gibbon calls ' the gigantic ignorance of the
ancients ' is pretty much the mental condition of the
bulk of the population ; though perhaps it is not
much greater than ours in relation to them. The
upper classes are doing all they can to diminish this
ignorance by European education, from which young
Siam goes back to benightenment.
Polygamy is the rock royalty in Siam will split
upon, and aristocracy too ; not only because it is so
degrading and so sensual, but because it is ex-
pensive to the nation, which finds itself called on to
maintain vast families of useless people, to provide
them with a costly living, and a still more expensive
cremation.
The Siamese have always liked and admired, the
English, and now, by our acquisition of the whole
of Burmah, a troublesome natural enemy to them
has been replaced by a friendly power. This is, of
course, greatly to their advantage ; only their timid-
ity makes them fear that we may some day care to
conquer and annex Siam as suddenly as we did
Burmah. This it is not our interest to do ; the
onlycircumstanceof this kindat present conjecturable
would be that of our having to prevent France from
taking the initiative, and placing a formidable French
barrier between India and the far eastern world.
' The anchor's weighed — farewell — remember me,'
said Prince Doctor, and waved his Siamese lily-hand.
217
CHAPTER TX.
RBTUKN TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Some isle
With the sea's silence on it —
Some unsuspected isle in the far seas.
Pippa Passes.
Chapter on snakes. There are plenty of snakes in
Siam. Not only are the'poisonons land-snakes very
numerous, but Captain Chune, a native officer of
tlie Siamese Royal Navy, gave my husband such a
list of the poisonous water-snakes and fishes as to
make it appear as risky for a ship's company to
go fishing as for them to bathe -without the protec-
tion of a sail in waters abounding in sharks. The
black snake, which was yesterday seen on the sur-
face of the water, is called by the Siamese Ochitung ;
the signifies a snake, and chi-tung means the tail
of a pendant. The length of this black snake is
about one foot. Its bite is very poisonous, and the
Siamese treatment of the wound is a matter of the
most secret empiricism. It is generally fatal in
eight hours, and the patient seldom survives beyond
a day.
Another snake seen in these waters is between
218 RETURN TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
two and three feet long, of a white colour with
black spots. Its movements are slow in the water.
The Siamese name for it is 0-sanim-lung, meaning
snake, sanim-lung is like coral, for the creature, in
juxtaposition to the coral reef, is not easily distin-
guishable. The bite of this snake is very poison-
ous, and it appears to kill by coma within six hours,
no reaction at any time exhibiting itself from the
period of the bite to that of dissolution. These
snakes are in great plenty at the mouth of Siamese
rivers, or most numerous where the salt and fresh
waters meet.
Another species of snake is found in the fresh
waters of Siam, called Opra (expressing fish-snake),
or 0-wung-chang, a name derived from their like-
ness to an elephant's trunk. Their movements are
slow, and, excepting being white under the belly,
are the colour of the elephant's proboscis. Their
bite is poisonous, but not deadly. The Siamese
treat it with a poultice made of pounded wild garlic.
There is a poisonous fish named in Siamese
0-how-pra-shon. 0-how means a poisonous snake,
and pra-shon is the name of a fish which it resembles,
which is of good quality, and extensively salted in
Siam for exportation. This poisonous fish is not
easily recognised amongst others. Its movements
are slow ; its bite causes instant insensibility. One
Siamese, bitten in the trunk, died in an hour ; an-
other, bitten in the ankle, died in two hours. It is
of great consequence to the Siamese, an amphibious
people, to know the habits of these creatures infest:
ing their waters, in order to avoid their haunts.
RETURN TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 219
Even the youngest children are skilful in the man-
agement of their light boats, and infants learn to
swim before they are well out of their mothers'
arms.
Steamers drawing but little water take the short
cut through a small channel named Mung-nakawn-
keon-kong, which cuts off a long bend in the river
to within five hundred yards of Paklat. This pas-
sage is about twenty-five yards wide, and the vessels
kiss the bushes in the intricate navigation. Ships'
boats must here use paddles, as is the native cus-
tom ; the oars take too much room. The bamboo
houses are built on piles, as elsewhere, though the
clayey banks of the stream are somewhat high. The
house of the governor of the district is passed on
the left going down. This is substantially built of
wood on huge piles of teak ; some neat carving de-
corates the windows, the roof is covered with red
tiles. The channel is crossed by two wooden bridges,
the centre-piece shifting to allow the steamers' fun-
nels to pass through. There are some pretty wats
also on the left bank, whose white pagodas and
minor buildings display much symmetry and beauty.
Among the bamboos and palm-trees, the bread-fruit,
and dark polished bushy foliage of the mangosteen,
are numerous stacks of sappan-wood Caesalinnia
sappan ; many pheasants and rooks in coveys are
seen in this district, although it is highly populous,
abounding in children in prodigious numbers —
Buddhist children do not throw stones at birds.
Back to Paknam again ; this place used to be
called the sanatorium of Bangkok, but now the king
220 RETURN TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
and the great people go to Chantabon and other
sea-side places lower down the Gulf of Siam. We
met with a smooth sea after passing the bar, and
found it pleasanter sailing down in sight of the
chain of islands, named Kohsichand, than the way
we came in by the stake-nets in the entrance to the
rivers Menam and Mekong.
It was a lazy time for all of us, and we were
glad of the repose. Mr. Swan came up, looking
like a plaster cast, in a suit of spotless white, with
old silver ticals for buttons. He flung himself down
on the deck in the attitude of the Dying Gladiator.
He calls himself a whited sepulchre.
' How can the lif§ of the party be a sepulchre?'
Mr. Cobham asks.
We call him the 'White Swan.' Mr. Swan lives
up to his name, and is always doing things grace-
fully. He was just now lamenting the difficulty
of getting away gracefully from parties in Singa-
pore : ' if your gharrie-driver has gone to sleep,
and has to be roused with a stick.'
The globe lapsed lazily by us. In the sky was a
curious eiFect of blue and white rays from the
sinking sun, like a wheel with spokes of .solid white
on the blue atmosphere, both colours extending
nearly to the disk. We saw this atmospheric
phenomenon once, on a later occasion, but less
distinctly. In the sea what I thought were cur-
rent lines — like we see on the Devonshire coast
— look, as we pass through them, just like mud,
mixed with dark-brown scraps, seemingly of sea-
weed. The sailors, by the mouth of the ' bos'un,'
RETURN TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 221
say that it is spawn. The voyage down to Singapore
was a four days' rest from moonlight to moonlight.
Delicious dreamy days ! The sailors, jolly at the
thought of going home to sweethearts, wives, and
children, sing songs on the after-deck of an evening.
We hear now ' Among the flowers and roses with
Emalee 1 roamed.' Then comes the description of
her person : ' Her faiiy teeth and golden 'air ; her eyes
were like the little stars.' This elegant female ' came
out of Yorkshire ; her name is Emalee.' I, too, was
happy in the idea of returning to my family.
On the third day, we had scenery of unsuspected
islands in the China Sea, one of them rugged,
lofty, wooded, and of respectable size; but all beau-
tiful, as touched by the pearly hues of sunset, as
we ' see ebb the crimson wave that drifts the sun
away.' The Siamese represent these islanders as
harmless, though usually armed with krises, spears,
and pistols on approaching a stranger ! Bullocks
and turtles are abundant on these islands, which
are densely jungle-clothed. It was the Siamese
ambassadors returning to Bangkok, on board H.M.S.
Pylades, in 1858, who gave this information to my
husband; for our people on the Sans Peur knew
nothing about these islands.
A good run of two hundred and sixty-two miles
on the fourth day brought us, at lunch- time, in
sight of a zebra-striped lighthouse, and countless
islets, bluest of the blue — a zone of sapphires.
There are any number of passages among that reef
of islands, which looks, as we approach them, like
one long coast, as they stretch down right away
222 RETURN TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
to Borneo. Pretty scenery, and a great pagoda of
a ship, with royals set, five tiers of sails, all white,
looking so different from the vessels we have been
lately seeing. We anchored about five p.m. at
Singapore.
We are come in the nick of time, as there is
to be a sham-fight this evening between the squad-
ron and the fort. We are in a good position for
seeing it. How English the whole place looks after
Siam ! the Indian and Malay boats count for no-
thing now. Officials approach.
'This is, indeed, a great moment,' says the Duke,
as the Prime Minister of the Sultan of Johore is
announced, looking for all the world like a neat
English groom.
He brought a letter and a message. The Sultan
is in Singapore, and hopes soon to hear that his
Grace is able to come to Johore.
Does he include the ladies in his invitation ?
' Oh ! yes, indeed. His Highness 's heart will be full
of pleasure, if the ladies will favour him by a
visit.'
' Is there a Sultana?' we ask of Mr. Swan.
' Just now he has only three wives.' (Ah ! that
'just now.') 'But he is building a new harem — a
fine place.'
' That's hopeful.'
That hopeful might bear several interpretations.
We turn the palpitating subject.
Firing has begun ; there is also a large jungle-
fire in the distance, like a crimson sunset, which
more than divides our attention with the cannon-
RETURN TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 223
ade and the flashes, the lilac-tinted electric-light,
and the manoeuvres, which are veiled in mystery
and coloured smoke. ' Mystery of mysteries, faint-
ly flashing Heroine,' we remark, as H.M.S. Heroine
puts her boats in motion for the purpose of — what ?
Never of capturing the Sans Peur ! She seems
'going for' us. No; the boarding-boats are lost
in the dim distance of smoke.
A semi-circle of lights marks the town of Singa-
pore ; on the darker semi-circle of the horizon are
the squadron of eleven ships-of-war, and the forts
with the electric-light playing all round in blinding
rays, and the red moon above the dying jungle-fire.
We learnt more of the meaning of the manoeuvres
later, and this is what was represented before us
in a grand set-piece of nautical theatricals.
A SHAM NIGHT-ATTACK ON SINGAPORE HARBOUR;
A NAVAIi ROMANCE.
The naval attack was made by five vessels of
the^China Squadron on the eastern entrance to the
New Harbour, with the object of testing the effi-
ciency [of the defences which have been constructed
at that point, and also that of the submarine mines
which were supposed to have been laid.
The defence was entrusted to the Royal Artillery,
with a battery of quick-firing guns, the Royal
Engineers, about four companies of the 2nd Bat-
talion South Lancashire Regiment, and six steam-
launches acting as guard-boats. The whole of the
details in connection with the operations had previ-
ously been carefully arranged by the naval and
22i RETURN TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
militarj'^ authorities in conjunction, under a general
Idea which gives a hard pull on one's imagination.
The Onon ironclad has been worsted in an engage-
ment with a hostile squadron outside, and has taken
refuge in New Harbour disabled ; the squadron
engages the guns of the harbour defensive works
and attempts to force the eastern entrance to the
harbour. The Orion is to be considered disabled, —
we, knowing the great ironclad, and having seen
her monster guns when we were at the ball on board
on our previous visit to Singapore, found it difficult
to realise this part of the Idea; but it is interesting
to know how the gallant ship we had known in
festivity is expected or intended to behave herself
in adversity. She is so disabled as to be unable to
co-operate in the defence beyond sending a few
officers and men to assist in working the guard-
boats. The western entrance to the harbour is
supposed to be blocked. The infantry garrisons at
Forts Blakan-Mati and Serapong will be supposed
to consist of one company each.
This is the programme ; now for the action. Fort
Teregah fired the first shot at 6.211, p.m., at the
Aiidacious, which was then supposed to be (and
perhaps really was) at two thousand, five hundred
yards distance. Fort Palmer's guns next made
themselves heard, fire being opened from them at
6.22. This fort engaged the Constance. Fort Bla-
kan-Mati at 6.24 engaged the Heroine, and from this
time the firing from the three forts was pretty
regular. The Constance replied to Fort Palmer at
6.26. About this time, though it had become rather
RETURN TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 225
dark, it was observed that the Heroine was lowering
her boats, presumably for the purpose of attempt-
ing to countermine the entrance. We should not
have guessed this without being told ; indeed, we
thought we should have to use our boarding-pikes
in the stand below to repel boarders.
At 6.27 the Alacrity brought her machine guns
into action, engaging the quick-firing guns at Malay
Spit; her fire was returned at 6. 28 J. The Audacious,
at 6.43, opened fire with her machine-guns from
her tops, engaging the quick-firing guns at Berala.
About this time, and almost simultaneously, the
electric light was shown from Fort Teregah and the
Heroine ; the latter playing it on Blakan-Mati, and
the former sweeping the channel to prevent the
squadron's boats creeping in unobserved. The light
from Teregah was now brought to bear on the
Audacious, and she could be seen most distinctly.
Advantage was taken of this to send a few shots at
her. The Alacrity now brought her powerful light
into use, and throwing the beam on Fort Palmer,
after having carefully scanned the Sans Peur, she
kept it fixed on the fort during nearly the whole of
the remaining operations. They were supposed to be
in considerable dread of the Sans Peur, as a strong
privateer, not knowing which side she would be
likely to take in the action. The spectacle now
afforded was really magnificent : the various forts
engaging the different vessels with both machine
and heavy guns, the forts replying, the electric light
playing from the numerous ships and Fort Teregah;
the guard-boats steaming about at the entrance like
Q
226 RETURN TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
sharks eager for their prey — all went to make up a
sight such as Singapore has never before witnessed ;
such indeed as has never before been seen in any
other port in the East — so I am told, and I believe it.
In imagination I was already preparing lint for
the wounded.
About seven p.m., the firing was very heavy when a
message was received by the commandant at Teregah
from the guard-boats, ' Enemy lowering boats.' The
engagement now altered its character and became a
boat-duel. The attacking boats continued to ad-
vance down the channel, being hotly engaged with
the flotilla of guard-boats, well handled by Lieu-
tenant Shuckburgh — the guard-boats darting in
amongst the others in an extremely plucky manner ;
the progress of the boats could be noted from the
track of smoke emitted from the musketry fire. It
was one of the prettiest sights of the evening to see
the boats creeping along in darkness, when suddenly
the whole would be illuminated by the beam of the
electric light being thrown upon them. It was
noticeable that the different vessels and boats
showed up most distinctly, their white colour being
apparently unsuitable for night operations. At 8.30
the admiral sent up from the flagship the pre-con-
certed signal, viz., three rockets and a blue light,
that the operations were concluded.
It was a fine thing for us to be in the midst of it
all, enjoying the glory of war without its horrors ;
the cries of the wounded only were missing, and
these we were able to imagine as easily as the rest
of the romantic suppositions, especially when Dark
RETURN TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 227
Charlie began to satisfy his soul by entering on the
practice of a wheezy cornopean which has recently
been discovered in the dark torture-chambers of the
hold.
While the inevitable coaling was going on, we
went to the Raffles Hotel to lunch and read the
papers, and learn what the world had been doing
during our sojourn in the obscurity of Siam. We
read just enough to keep abreast of the world, and
then went off to do our shopping ; passing with more
interest than before the image of an elephant,
erected in memory of the King of Siam's visit ; the
first time a Siamese monarch had ever left his own
dominions. King Chulalonkorn went also to Ceylon
and Calcutta, and all the chief sacred places of India.
The large town of Singapore appears so flourish-
ing and enlightened, so advanced and well-governed,
that, after seeing the quaint and crowded city of
Bangkok, we feel as if we had come out of the
theatre into the plain light of day. Bangkok seems
to belong completely to another world, where other
ideas reign exclusively, where buildings and pro-
cessions are of showy trumpery instead of being
solid or of good quality, and yet are in the highest
degree fascinating; a city made to live in water-
colours, not warranted otherwise to last. We were
glad to get away from the heavy atmosphere of Siam,
which is all one pot-pourri, into the fresher air of
Singapore ; but we were glad to have seen Bangkok
all the same. It feels cooler here, though we are
four days' sail nearer the equator, and though the
thermometer stands at 85" in the coolest part of the
q2
228 RETURN TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
day. After some shopping we took gharries, small
hearse-like cabs with jalousies, for the long drive to
the Peninsular and Oriental wharf, where the
Sans Peur, well scrubbed and scoured after the
coaling, had now been moved out into mid-stream of
the channel between the green island shores, a
pleasant situation for a rest, as we were to stay here
all Sunday and proceed on Monday morning to
Johore.
The deck-house table was strewn with cards, fresh
newspapers and letters, and a large basket of flowers
for the ladies, with no card attached.
'How does one thank unknown benefactors?' asks
the Duke. ' We shall have a serenade under our
ports to-night.'
' Ice, Charlie, look sharp, my boy,' says our stout
steward to the darkie lad, and iced cider and seltzer-
water appear as foaming cup.
The boat-loads of shells came round the yacht
again. These look so beautiful all wetted and in
the sunshine. Rose, the boatswain, bargained with
the black men very cleverly for us, and we brought
on board an immense quantity of lovely shells. The
Duke was for buying a boat-load as it stood, but we
preferred selecting from all the boats, which caused
a great and amusing excitement, and much panto-
mimic imploring among the black fellows, as Rose
laid down the law to them, and perhaps, after all,
only overpaid them three times over. We were
mutually pleased with our bargains. The greatest
trouble was in washing and packing the fragile shells
after we had admired them sufficiently.
RETURN TO THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 229
We are lying in a pleasant strait of blue sea,
bordered by foliaged islands, with shipping beyond
and round the headland. This anchorage is more
like a reach of the rivers at Dartmouth or Falmouth
than an eastern place. Truly this is another world
from Bangkok ; such sweet and quiet rest for
Sunday, shaded by the double awnings, hearing no
sounds but the murmur of the water, a distant cock
crowing at intervals, and the hum of voices in boats
paddling past. A black boatman alongside in Sun-
day best of a blue shirt and grass-green mushroom
hat with white half-moons round the brim, his boat
picked out with bright green and blue to match
his garments, is waiting about to see if the officers
or men have occasion for his services.
Thunder is rolling round us, and a shower while
the sun is shining makes the grass and foliage look
doubly green. It rains hot water here.
I went to the cathedral service in Singapore.
The church is very neat and nice inside, if you can
call that inside which is open like a cloister on both
sides. In the evening it is lighted mth gas, lit too
early, or rather turned up high too early, otherwise
every precaution is taken to ensure coolness ; the
church besides being shaded by trees, is open all round,
and has open cane seats set in dark wood. The sight of
the thirty-two punkahs tugged by different strings by
thirty-two Moormen, waving out of time in all direc-
tions towards nave and transept, and not at the same
level, has a most bewildering effect. It makes some
people feel sea-sick. The punkahs should be moved by
one string as they are in large halls. The music is
230 RETURN TO TEE NINETEENTH CENTURA.
soft aud sweet, and for the most part congregational,
though there is a surpliced choir.
Major Grey, governor of the prison here, dined
with us, and from him we learnt how much better
and more humane our prison arrangements are than
those of the Chinese or Siamese. His great aim is
to lead the prisoners to a better life, and carefully
to distinguish between hardened criminals and those
capable of returning to be of use to society. Our
government does not recognise the debt slavery often
incurred through gambling. Gambling altogether
has been prohibited in Singapore. Perhaps this is
one reason why the Chinese look so flourishing and
happy here.
' This is so good for the Sultan of Johore,' said
Mr. Swan, slily. ' He can finish the steam tram-line
and bnng over a thousand Chinese a day to gamble
in his territory.'
231
CHAPTER X.
THE SULTAN OF JOHOKE.
Emeralds ! The colour, Fanny, of the light
Sifted through lime leaves, on a summer noon,
Or curl of crested wave, when foam-bells bright
Tinge the green furrows of the sea in June.
Sir Edwin Arnold.
' Has his Grace a Johore flag for the Sultan ?' asks
Mr. Swan of Mr. Butters. Mr. Swan is an author-
ity in right of some years' residence in these parts.
' No, he hasn't got a flag, has he?'
' Oh, very much a flag, a blue crescent and star
on a red ground.'
I off^ered to paint an Egyptian star and crescent
blue for the purpose.
' Suppose we call it somebody's birthday and
dress the ship with all her flags ?' proposed the
Duke. ' Who will have a birthday ? Perhaps he'll
make you a present.'
Omnes : ' We'll all keep our birthdays.'
This was settled. Fourth of March the universal
birthday.
Now we are ofi^ to Johore ; we expect to stay
two da3'S with the Sultan. We pass up the
232 THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.
eastern passage from the island of Singapore to the
mainland of the Malayan peninsula, the southern
portion of which is the territory of Johore. The
mangrove-grown shores are broken by pretty little
Malay villages on stilts peeping out from among the
greenery.
"We reach Johore, with the Malay village of
Kranjie on the opposite side of the straits, soon
after five p.m. ' Midships !' and the anchor drops.
' That's the old railway-station,' says Mr. Swan,
our cicerone in these Malayan regions.
' Was there ever a railway here ?'
'Yes, but it was eaten up by the white ants.
They ran the engine on till it came to a place where
there were a good many of these ants ; the engine
fell into the hole, and they left it there. That was
the trial trip, and they were timber sleepers.'
We were about to see another phase of Oriental
life. The gay little town of Johore Bharu, a Malay
town, with an admixture of ten thousand Chinese,
centralised by a market-place of architectural pre-
tensions, with a sea-side portico built for the recep-
tion of the young Princes of Wales, was festive with
flags, and the shipping of small craft in the straits
was all gaily dressed with the Johore flag, dark-
blue with a red quarter charged with a white
crescent and star — but the precise colour does not
seem to signify greatly, so that it has the crescent
and star, and dark blue somewhere.
The belt of sea looks like a river, or, rather, like
a narrow lake, so blue and smooth. They say it
can be rough sometimes. The Sultan's house near
THE SULTAN OF JOHOB.E. 233
the sea appears a comfortable country-seat. Its
gardens slope down to the water's edge. It is set
in palm-trees and the beautiful ash-leafed tree,
poinciana regia, known as flamboyante, or flame of
the forest, with scarlet flame-like blossoms, and other
trees, some with what we should call autumn-tints
in Europe. The leaves do fall, even in the tropics,
though imperceptibly, so that but few trees are
bare at a time. Dato Sri Amar d'Raja, the Sultan's
private secretary, a highly intelligent young man
in European dress, and speaking English fluently,
came with another Malay gentleman on board the
Sans Peur to meet us. The latter gentleman wore
the checked silk or cotton skirt, like a duster, round
his waist, that is the national sarong.
The Sultan, a stout, pleasant-looking man of
middle age, with olive complexion, wearing drab
clothes and gold bracelets, received us at the head
of the garden stairs of the palace and ofi^ered us
tea, which was spread on a large round table in the
entrance. The view of both shores of the straits
from this portico was truly charming.
We were shown our rooms : the Duke and we
ladies had each a pleasant suite of rooms apportioned
us, with bed-room, dressing-room, ante-room, and
drawing-room facing the sea, where we could see
the Sans Peur behind the palm-trees, and a bath-
room below each suite, approached by a winding
stair from the dressing-room. Instead of doors
there are screens raised eight inches from the
ground, fastened at the top, at about six feet from
the floor, with a sliding piece of carved wood. This
234 THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.
arrangement, only less ornamental, is the custom at
Singapore. There are no locks or bolts ; it is under-
stood that no one opens a door whose sliding-panel
is drawn across. Animals can run in under, but
only a very tall man can look over.
The Istana, as it is always called, the Malay word
for palace, is European, that is Anglo-Indian in
build ; in style Renaissance. It was built entirely
by Chinese workmen under a European architect.
It is internally handsome and well-furnished ; the
halls and rooms very large and lofty, and the marble
staircase broad and fine. The saloon and ball-room
on the first floor are hung with rich damask
draperies and large portraits of our royal family,
and lined with tall Japanese vases, brought home
by the Sultan from Japan, with other handsome
Chinese and Japanese ornaments ; the other furni-
ture, sofas, ottomans, &c., all European. The stair-
case and saloon have many tall trumpet glasses,
eight feet high, full of tall fronds, or rather boughs,
of the delicate phoenix rupicola variety of the date-
palm, the glasses twined with climbing - fern ; this
makes a most elegant and striking decoration, giving
an appearance as of a grove of palm-trees with their
gracefully waving plumes reared high above our
heads, though not nearly reaching the lofty ceiling.
The floral decorations all over the house are worthy
of the tropics, besides the ferns so bright and green,
the various crotons and begonias so rich and dark
and velvety, and all so tropically luxuriant as
scarcely to be imagined by a Londoner.
As we met each other in a large verandah-like
THE SULTAN OF JOHORE. 235
room, common to all of us, between our private
apartments, we said, 'We shall enjoy this place
thoroughly ;' and we all secretly wished our stay
might be longer than the two days we had at first
almost unwillingly spared.
The Sultan appeared elegantly dressed for dinner,
in a monkey-jacket, with the order of the Star of
India, and a black velvet fez, with an aigrette of
large diamonds in the front ; half-a-dozen large
gipsy-rings on each hand, almost covering his dark,
fat little fingers ; the rings all rubies and diamonds
on one hand, all emeralds and diamonds on the
other. The secretary, Sri Amar d'Raja, was dressed
in real English fashion ; the other Malay gentlemen
wore black coats and trousers, and coloured check
sarongs. These Malays were less akin to Europeans
in feature than the Siamese, but I cannot see that
the Malays are a distinct race from all others ; I
trace Mongolian features in every line.
I was taken down to dinner by the Sultan, and
found him agreeable to talk to. His English is
good, though less perfect than that of some of his
suite. The very long dining-room is cooled by a
line of punkahs, and by open corridors on each
side, lined with ferns and other plants. The Sultan
bought in London the famous gold dinner-service
made for Lord Ellenborough when Governor-General
of India, and never sent out. A portion of this
was used to decorate the Sultan's table. The large
wine-coolers, filled with flowers, are heavy, but the
smaller pieces of this service, in Neo-Pompeian style,
are very elegant.
236 THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.
After dinner, we had a number of the Sultan's
carriages and gharries, and drove through the busy,
stall-crowded streets of the town to the Chinese
opera, where we sat in a kind of state barn, at
some distance, luckily, from the singers, who acted
on a raised stage, with a proscenium or frame round
it, and simple, fixed scenery. There was a promen-
ade parterre between us and them. The spectators
stared at us more than at the other spectacle.
More than ever was 1 struck with eastern costumes
as being such a mixture of nakedness and jewels.
The play had a good deal of casting up the legs,
and twirling, strutting, striding, and stalking, as
in our barn or fair-theatres, the nature of actors
being the same all the world over. The piece was
to us like a pantomime, with processions of first,
second, and third heroes, all equally heroic ; alter-
nately with four soldiers going round and round as
an army. The voices were mostly in falsetto. The
best we could say of the singing was, 'It is a
beautiful inarticulate row.' The clashing of cym-
bals, and thumping of serpent-skin cylinders and
drums was a din, and nothing less. In music, the
Chinese and Malays are very, very far behind the
Siamese, whose music is heavenly compared with
this ; indeed, it is very pleasing, and often delight-
ful — a real art, and not a discordant screaming and
clashing.
We ladies had a carriage, and went home after
the opera; the rest waited to see the fire-works,
which I heard were tine, and then they went to the
Chinese gambling-house, which, it seems, is the
THE SULTAN OF JOHORE. 287
cHief fun here. Johore is considered an Asiatic
Monte Carlo.
The second breakfast, or tiffin, is nominally at
noon, though, as His Highness is easy-going and
unpunctual, and there are excursions to be con-
sidered, the hours at the Istana are not fixed as
fate. Time is no object here.
The excursion planned for to-day was a four-in-
hand drive to Singapore. In the Sultan's launch
we crossed the Straits to Kranjie, on the Singapore
Island, which island was sold to the English govern-
ment by the then Maharajah of Johore, passing the
Sans Feur, dressed rainbow-fashion with all her
flags. The white ship is a pretty feature in the
landscape as we see her from the palace windows
peeping between the palm-trees.
We are often told that no Mohammedan can
wear a hat with a brim, or stiff crown, of any kind,
which would prevent him bowing his forehead to
the earth in worship. Yet the Sultan of Johore
wears the pith-helmet, and most of the Malay gen-
tlemen wear billycock hats.
The red-gravelled road is extremely good, as all
the roads are round Singapore. The Sultan sat
on the" box, but did not drive. The fine horses
went capitally; the vegetation is beautiful and
most interesting, the ferny undergrowths being
especially charming; and the drive would have
been perfection had not the thermometer stood at
92° in the shade ; in the lesser shade of our lined-
parasols, it was much higher.
Yes, the tropics are like Bull's hot-houses, only
238 THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.
you cannot get out of them We sat and cooled our-
selves in tlie verandah of the Raffles Hotel till four
o'clock, spelling the same old newspapers ; and then,
in other carriages, we drove to the Sultan's pretty
villa, Tyersall, some two miles out of Singapore,
where we had (Liberian) coffee and cream, a luxury
in the tropics, and examined His Highness's collec-
tion of Chinese and Japanese curios, imported by
himself. The Sultana lives at Tyersall. She is no
longer young ; but the Sultan esteems her highly,
and consults her in everything. It is true he has
other, younger, wives, but only the Sultana is a
power in the state. She possesses also the power of
the purse, for ' in Malay marriage contracts it is
agreed that all savings and " effects " are to be the
property of husband and wife equally, and are to be
equally divided in case of divorce.' * It is currently
reported that the Sultan has already spent his share,
or rather invested it in improvements, jewels, furni-
ture, and splendour ; and it is rumoured she gives
him an allowance. Any way, they seem an amiable
couple. He talks of re-building and enlarging her
house at Tyersall.
The fire-flies had come out by the end of our
drive back to Kranjie, where we took the steam-
launch to return.
The Sultan looks at Singapore as if he were sorry
he had sold it, and at times arises a sort of jealousy
of us ; at once quelled by the remembrance of the
advantage to himself, and his hopes for the future
in following our example closely.
* Bird.
THE SULTAN OF JOHORE. 239
There was a large dinner-party invited for half-past
seven, who all arrived just as we entered the Istana,
so we hastened to dress, and we were all ready long
before the Sultan, who kept us waiting till half-past
eight, while he opened his jewel-case and took out his
best black velvet tarboosh, with a still more magnifi-
cent aigrette enriched with the Johore star and
crescent in brilliants, and three orders — the Star of
India, St. Michael and St. George, and the Johore
star in diamonds and rubies — on his short, funny
little jacket.
The Sultan's wines are excellent and deliciously
cooled ; the still hock is a dream, but he and
all the Mohammedan gentlemen take only water
at dinner ; just one tumbler is set for them instead
of the sheaf of glasses standing by our plates. An
American lady once came to give temperance lec-
tures at Johore ; the Sultan, who, like all his Moslem
subjects, drinks nothing but water or tea, spoke of
this with a keen twinkle of amusement. The Sultan
generally says, 'What you call' before he can re-
member the English name for things. He loves to
talk of his travels and of his reception, at various
times, at ' Marble ' (Marlborough) House. I sat
on His Highness's left this evening, and next to
Dato Meldrum, a Scotch gentleman, a botanist, long
resident here, who talked to me about the Johore
forests. Aleck played the pipes, walking round the
table ' by desire;' the fulness of his tartan kilt
being a matter of deep curiosity to the Malay visi-
tors and attendants, who wear their checked sarongs
so extremely scanty, not quite two yards and a
210 THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.
quarter round and one yard and- a quarter long,
ttough the men shorten it in the wearing by many
folds, and the women drape it gracefully in a knot
at one side. The meaning of the Malay word sarong
is, literally, case or sheath. The. Siamese panung,
never worn with trousers, is an altogether different
arrangement, and very seldom of checked pattern,
which the sarong always is, whether of cotton or
silk. White or black jacket and trousers, and a
sarong is the costume of Malays of the upper class.
More of the gold EUenborough dinner-service was
used this evening ; the numerous golden candelabra,
twined with climbing fern, Cycopodium japonicum, and
the flower decorations were exquisitely arranged.
These are varied at every meal, and always tasteful.
We numbered eight English ladies at dinner this,
evening, chiefly from Johore and its neighbourhood.
On retiring from table, at a signal of numerous
rockets from the Sans Peur, we all went out in the
garden to see the yacht lighted up with white and
crimson fires alternately aU along the ship, the reflec-
tions streaming down on the water in diamond and
ruby radiance, the masts and yards illuminated by
a sheaf of rockets. It was a charming spectacle as
seen among the deeply-shadowed palm-trees.
As we took our coffee in the garden, the Sultan,
perceiving us from a distance, gallantly said, ' It is
a dream of fair women.' Distance and distraction
lent the requisite enchantment to the view.
We adjourned to the billiard-rooms, where they
played billiards and pool. I watched the games.
The Sultan is a fairly good player. Sentries walk
THE SULTAN OF JOHORE. 241
up and down the corridors here by the billiard-
rooms, near which is the Sultan's jewel-room, as
they do up and down the lower garden terrace-walk
between the Istana and the sea. These soldiers are
Sikhs, with white turbans and fierce, rolling eye-
balls.
The Sultan insisted on our staying longer at
Johore, and we were nothing loth to be pressed to
stay with this most hospitable host who did every-
thing to entertain us ; for every da}' there were
excursions and parties, and, but for collapse from
the extreme heat, we might have worked all day
and night at amusement. One day we took what
we called a rest-day, but so many things were
crowded into it as an empty day, which could not
so well be done on days when excursions were made,
that we worked very hard indeed at being idle.
Many such idle days as this would be the death of
us ; we hastened to crowd on the excursions as an
easier fate. The dinners and tiffins were an effort,
though we are accustomed to these ; but sometimes
we had a Malay breakfast, beginning with a capital
mayonnaise of fish and capers, and then a ponderous
Malay curry, twenty courses in one, of about twenty-
six dishes and ' sambals, ' which are grated, shredded,
chopped or powdered preparations of seven little
dishes in each sambal-tray, of which you are ex-
pected to select several or nearly all. There are
several sets of sambals. We enjoyed the curry,
and made merry over it, counting the different
dishes and flavourings we had heaped together on
our hot-water plates. The Sultan piled his plate
R
242 THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.
high as possible with all the twenty-six varieties — •
and the sambals — enjoyed it, and came for more.
Other curries after this will be sorrow's crown of
sorrow, making us remember happier things.
A Malay curry comprises in itself a dinner, ay,
even a German dinner. As Count Smorltork would
say, ' A Malay curry surprises by himself,' &c.
This masterpiece is compounded by the Babu —
the Sultan's chef — under the Sultan's own eyes.
Like a domesticated Frenchman, Sultan Abubekir
likes poking about doing his housekeeping, looking
after the 'perfectionating' of the sambals. When
he comes to England, or goes anywhere on a visit,
he can eat nothing that has not been prepared by
his own cooks ; of course, like all Moslems, he can
only eat meat slaughtered by a Mohammedan
butcher.
Then the whole paraphernalia of dishes was
handed round again to be eaten with the yellow
glutinous rice, which they made a point of our
tasting. This small-grained rice is a special sort.
Yellow being the royal colour, it is received as an
honour by the guests ; but it is really not so good
as the ordinary rice. Johore being so close to
Singapore is better off for supplies than the rest of
the Malay peninsula, where you get only buffalo
meat, fresh pork, and fowls.
After the curry, they handed round large dishes
of pommeloes, a green fruit here, not at all like what
we see in Covent Garden. It had a flavour like the
Bangkok perfumery.
I watched the servants rearranging the palm-trees,
THE SULTAN OF JOHORE. 243
as we call the groves of calamus Lewisianus (from
Penang) in the tall trumpet glasses. They brought
sheaves of boughs. What a wealth of beauty ! in-
conceivable by us who prize little pots of this fairy
palm about a foot high for our dinner-tables at home.
I enjoyed the sight of the picturesque figures of
Chinese gardeners carrying their yoked baskets,
Punjaubee sentries with fierce eyes that yet look
protectingly at us, as if they liked the English
rather than otherwise. Malay servants, too, in
various costumes were to be seen singly or in groups
moving across the pillared halls and corridors among
the dark velvet-foliaged plants, bearing masses of
flowers for the table in fanciful baskets or on metal
trays, the creepers of the verandahs and the more
distant palms forming a background to the groups.
The dark-blue flag of Johore is to-day flying from
the yacht, along with the burgee and the pussy-cat
flag.
Aleck is gone off in the victoria to meet and
pick up Lady Clare and Mr. Swan who have walked
on. Mr. Swan is our sheet-anchor ; as he speaks
Malay we all try to secure him to go out shopping
or driving. Poor Aleck looks so utterly miserable,
he is helpless if the Dato Secretary does not tell the
driver exactly where to go. He might be left in
the jungle with the tigers. Dato is a title almost
synonymous with Pasha.
This afternoon, about four o'clock, the Sultan,
the Duke, Mr. Cobham, and I set off in the Sultan's
steam-launch up the Scudai river, really an arm of
the sea, to see the brick-and-tile works. I am re-
244 THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.
minded of Dartmoor by the distant hill-scenery
beyond the jungle which stretches for miles behind
the mangroves, whose timber, such as it is, is good
for fuel. Nearly the whole of the interior of Johore
is dense virgin forests. Dato Meldrum tells me the
magnitude and grandeur of these forests, viewed
from the summit of the blue mountain yonder,
called Gunong Pulai, about twelve miles from Johore
Baru, fills the mind with a feeling of something
akin to awe. There is a bed of stiff red clay here
being worked for bricks by Messrs. Fraser and
Fowke, who live here in a rough bachelor bungalow,
and employ many Klings, Chinese, Javanese, and
others. There is likewise a marl of very fine quality.
The Sultan, who is always on the look-out for what
will improve his property, pricked up his ears at
ray suggestion that it might possibly be fuller's-
earth.
The Chinese employed here are immensely
powerful men. The Chinese complexion varies
very much ; in some persons it is yellow, these
are chiefly the townspeople and those who live in-
doors ; in these men at the brick-works it is often
quite red, like the North- American Indians. The
Javanese are an industrious race, much more so
than the Malays, who will not work continuously
at anything, preferring to be idle altogether. They
do not so much object to work as coachmen or
drivers of waggons and carts. Camoens talks of
' Malays enamoured and valiant Javanese.' It is
difficult to keep the peace between the different
nationalities and races.
THE SULTAN OF JOHORE. 2i5
The proprietors have plenty of furnaces and
good machinery, including a steam-saw for their
fuel-timber. The sheds have attap roofs, as their
own tiles are too costly.
White ants are invading the bungalow, where the
Sultan and I took coco-nut milk, and Messrs. Fraser
and Fowke offered whisky-and-soda to the Duke
and Mr. Cobham. Their life here so near Singapore,
and the society very frequently gathered by this
hospitable Sultan, if rough, cannot be dull like that
of remote settlers in Manitoba or Australia. It is
delightful scenery, and they have a flourishing
business, and are made much of by their landlord
the Sultan, who is using many of the bricks and
tiles for the new palace he is building at Muar.
Among their chief troubles are the white ants, which
are, however, easily stopped in tbe beginning of their
ravages with arsenic, tar, &c. I never saw such a place
as Johore for ants of all sorts, and insects with wings
and stings. One gets used to seeing the ants running
over the white table-cloth ; they do not hurt, but they
tickle. They fly in at the windows in countless
numbers when the lamps are lighted ; but they are
not intolerable like the mosquitoes.
I looked about for alligators in the river, as I
had read in books on the Malay peninsula that
alligators are so thick that you cannot sit on a log
without its coming to life and turning to an
alligator. Another illusion dispelled. They said it
was the fault of the tide.
This evening the Sultan had a good many
additional visitors, including several ladies, at
246 THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.
dinner. Aleck played the Sultan's own ivory pipes
decked with red tartan ribbons.
We tasted the durian-fruit disguised as a con-
serve ; it was eatable, but not very good ; it re-
minded us all too much of the powders taken in
jam of our youthful days, when all life was not
bliss, whatever the poets feign. The Sultan laughed,
thinking he had cheated us into liking durian. We
could not exactly tell him it was horrid.
After dinner, we drove in the Sultan's gharries to
the famous gambling-house that Ave had heard so
much about, and which it is etiquette for every
guest of the Sultan to visit once at least. We were
taken first to see a Chinese theatre, which was not
much unlike the Chinese opera, only there was
shouting instead of screaming. The piece was tragic,
but very funny. The heroine committed suicide by
cutting oiF her head with a sword ; she sprang to
life again two seconds afterwards and did it again —
that is, it was encored. Several of the other char-
acters likewise committed suicide on the stage, but
in different forms. It appeared to be entirely a
matter of personal choice, for we could not detect
any circumstance that drove them to it.
Then the Sultan, according it seems to custom,
handed us each ten dollars to gamble with. The
game is excessively simple; the superintendent
Chinaman, or croupier, twirls a small brass teetotum
containing a cube coloured half-red, half- white. When
it stops he lifts the cover and you win or lose
according to where the colour you have backed
drops. The board is crossed and again crossed
THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.
247
diagonally
your stake
the colour
your stake
in lines of white and red. If
is on the central lines and
is what you have backed,
is tripled ; and if you win on
one of the diagonals you receive as much again as your
stake. If the cube falls with the wrong colour upon the
lines you have backed you lose, as you do if it falls
on any of the other lines but those your stakes are
on. All winnings pay ten per cent, to the bank.
It seems perfectly fair play, and the people are
passionately fond of trying their luck or tempting
their fate. I was a winner in a small way, but I
should not care to go there often. First, the place
was hot and close — not at all a gambling palace, but a
small upper room, approached through several stuffy
rooms used indifferently for sleeping and gambling,
furnished by a small wooden table, round which we
all crowded ; secondly, I see it is a horribly de-
moralizing thing. I am glad to have seen it once,
but it does not excite me in the way I have read of
gambling acting on most people. The Duke said it
did not stir him either ; but it is not easy to ima-
gine a rich duke being excited by gambling for
dollars and fractions. I was glad to come away,
and did not go again, having once subscribed to the
etiquette of Johore.
We usually took our first breakfast alone in our
rooms, but one morning Bertha came in to tell me
that the Sultan wished the Duke and the ladies to
take coffee with him early in his own apartments.
I dressed in a hurry, and went through another
long suite of handsomely-furnished apartments —
248 THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.
with no end of spare bed-rooms — to the Sultan's
pleasant morning-room. It is His Highness's cus-
tom to present all his visitors, the ladies with a
sarong, the gentlemen with a malacca cane. He
gave me both, a pretty green plaid silk sarong and
a grey clouded cane, a ratan, silver-mounted.
Dato Meldrum says the malacca cane is found
everywhere in the forest ; like other ratans, it climbs
trees, descends again, runs along the ground, and
perhaps ascends another tree. It is sometimes as
much as five hundred feet long. There are many
different kinds of ratans or canes, some no thicker
than a quill, others thicker than a good-sized walk-
ing-stick. It is a very useful plant — indeed, it is a
fail-me-never to the native.
The Sultan gave the Duke and Mr. Cobham each
a box of native Johore tea, and to the Duke a large
map of his territory. Sultan Abubeker is opening
up the country energetically. He has attracted a
multitude of Javanese, Chinese, and other settlers
here ; he has made Johore Baru a free port, with
only small dues, and gives a free grant of land to
settlers. He makes good roads, and villages spring
up beside them as if by magic. By these and other
enlightened measures the Sultan is yearly increas-
ing his influence and his income. Instead of being
crushed by the prosperity of Singapore, he is using
the Lion City as a market, or rather a central depot
for the distribution of his native productions. The
territory of Johore, Muar, and their dependencies
consist of about ten thousand square miles, and are
bounded on the north by the native state of Pahang
THE SULTAN OF JOHORE. 249
and the British settlement of Malacca. The popu-
lation of this southern part of the territory, exclu-
sive of Muar, is about one hundred thousand Chinese
and fifty thousand Malays.
We all put on our sarongs for tiffin. Lady Clare
arranged one about her head in the way the women
of the country wear them : mine was knotted at
the side for me as the Malay women wear them,
when their flow is not unlike the lines of the Greek
drapery as worn by the Venus de Milo. The Duke
wore his carelessly arranged, but Mr. Cobham and
Mr. Swan were dressed by the secretary and others
in complete Malay gentleman's costume. This fancy
dress amused the native servants very much, and
also the Sultan when he came in an hour late,
having been to Singapore on business.
Several of the principal residents in Johore lunched
mth us ; the Sultan having asked Mrs. Bentley, the
agreeable wife of the Johore attorney-general,
who lives close by the Sultan's grounds, to do the
honours of the Istana. Prince Bernhard of Saxe-
Weimar, who is making the tour of the planet,
arrived this day on a visit to the Sultan.
We were invited to-day to a garden-party at
Mathna, the country-seat of the Unkoo Abdul
Medjid, the Sultan's brother.*
We drove in three carriages to Mathna, a concise
word signifying half-way house between two palaces.
Many ladies and gentlemen were assembled to play
tennis, but the amusements were damped hj heavy
rain, and tropical rain does indeed damp a garden-
* Unkoo means prince, Unkana princess. Dato, Pasha ; Da tine, the
feminine thereof.
260 THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.
party ; the long tables spread with tea-cakes, ices, &c.,
were completely drenched. While the rain continued,
we ladies visited the harem, furnished in semi-European
style, where the Unkana, a Turkish lady, dressed in
black satin, with a 'pouff' dowdily arranged in Euro-
peanfashion, received us dumbly,as she couldspeak no
Frankish language, but cordially ; she was assisted
by two other of the Unkoo's younger wives, one in
sky-blue satin, rather ill-made, and very ill-fitting,
looking like dresses one sees in a cleaner's shop-
Mindow. After we had mutually taken stock of each
other, and exhausted conversation by signs about
the weather, and made a baby squall with terror at
our caresses as we handed it from one to another,
we said good-bye to the ladies of the harem, and
the rain was over. We watched the tennis-players
led by Mrs. Bentley, the champion player of
Singapore, and soon tiring of that, we walked round
the grounds well-planted with strange trees, on soine
of which grow masses of elk-horn fern, and the in-
closure where various sorts of deer are kept, some
fallow deer, and one of a native sort very wild and
fierce, and sawthe plantations and improvements. We
had the system of growing Liberian cofi^ee, pepper,
and other crops for export explained to us practically.
They pay great attention to all this farming.
On leaving Mathna we drove home by a difi'erent
way, and saw more of the cultivation of tea, coffee,
cloves, gambir, pepper, &c., in its various stages ;
with all the lesser crops and kitchen-gardening for
home and Singapore consumption. Pepper when
staked looks like hops twining round stout stumpy
THE SULTAN OF JOHORE. 251
poles. The young plant has many enemies, but it is
easily grown when once established. They are very
careful in sheltering some sorts of young plants by
some coarser-growing vegetables near them, which
shall shelter the tender crop from the sun by its
larger foliage.
They are opening up the country wellj the Sultan
is improving his territory vastly.
The Sultan offers fifty dollars for each tiger killed
and brought in.
The coffee-trees near Unkoo Medjid's house Avere
a great object of interest to the Sultan and others.
They appeared to be in a fair state considering the
late dry weather. The Sultan, as well as ourselves,
greatly hopes to make Johore and Singapore a
coffee-producing land, to take the place of the extinct
coffee plantations of Ceylon.
The land is undulating and fertile ; round Mathna
it looked not unlike a newly-planted pleasure-ground
in the North of England, with that tree which looks
at a distance so like Scotch fir scattered about the
hill-ranges. Specimens of three hundred and fifty
kinds of trees from here were sent by Dato Meldrum,
by command of the Sultan, to the Forestry Exhibition
at Edinburgh in 1885. Between Johore Baru and
Mathna there is a Roman Catholic church, besides a
chapel for the small Presbyterian community. The
mosque and the Chinese joss-houses are in Johore
Baru.
It rained heavily as we went home, so we had the
attap or roof of the carriage closed. Attap is
the Malay word for roof of any sort, not only the
252 THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.
palm-leaf thatch that we call attap, attap of the
carriage ; the word sounds very like top or a-top.
To-night there was a large dinner-party at the
Istana ; the Sultan blazed with four stars, a very
grand aigrette in his cap, and diamond buttons to his
short best jacket.
We pulled crackers, and the Sultan's band played
during dinner, and Aleck played the pipes. The
Prince of Saxe-Weimar, who took me down to
dinner, had never heard them before; he said he did
not understand them. Of course no German can like
what he has not got to the bottom of: he suifered,
but we laughed consumedly at his half-hidden
tortures. The Sultan who was next me on the other
side thought it fine fun ; he knew all about the pipes
— he did, having been in Scotland, and having im-
ported a set of pipes of his own.
One lady of the party was a Japanese in European
dress ; she spoke English, but she was very quiet
and retiring.
Still the Sultan will not hear of the Duke leaving
Johore, as he says he wants to take us to Muar to
see his northern territory when he goes there him-
self shortly. We are not unwilling to stay, for it is
really too hot to go out or even to move. Most of
us forage in the library for books ; the library is
large, but the collection is not extensive. Wilkie
Collins is the favourite author, there are also volumes
o^ Punch and the Art Journal. Our greatest happi-
ness is to sit in thin white morning-wrappers in
our rooms pretending to read — but there are ladies
to be entertained at luncheon, so brace ourselves to
THE SULTAN OF JOHORE. 253
the work we must. There was also an excursion to
inspect the gaol and hospital (whither the hos-
pitable Sultan took the indefatigable Duke), from
which it will be rightly inferred that both were
creditable to his sovereignty ; and to see the Johore
saw-mills. Mr. Cobham meanwhile assisted at an
examination of the schools. The boys wrote well
from English dictation.
The Johore steam saw-mills, established in 1859-60,
have gradually increased their plant until they
may be pronounced the most extensive concern of
the kind in Asia. The Sultan gave facilities and
encouragement to a few private individuals to set
them a-going, and from their foundation up to the
present time large quantities of manufactured timber
have been shipped to China, India, Maui'itius, Java,
Ceylon, &c., besides supplying local demands. The
mills lie at a jettj'^ where there is deep water, and
facilities for unloading with dispatch. Wood only
is burned in the machinery, the fuel being rinds,
slabs, and ends. The sawdust is not utilized in any
way.
Dato Meldrum, who came on most days to the
Istana, to help us to ideas, says Malay wood-cutters
are employed to go in the forests to bring the timber
in rafts to the mills. A company of six to ten is made
up ; they are generally friends and relations : a head-
man is selected, and he is generally held responsible
for the advances of money that are made to them.
A sum is paid down when the agreement is made ;
with this money they purchase a boat and lay in a
stock of provisions, tools, &c. In a month the head-
264 THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.
man makes his appearance and receives another ad-
vance, reporting progress ; this is repeated three,
four, or five times, according to the size of the raft
they mean to bring. Sometimes six months or more
elapse before the raft is brought to the mills, there
being many contingencies that interfere with regular
work : the habits and customs of the Malays, sick-
ness, rainy weather, and sometimes want of rain
sufficient to float the logs out of the small stream-
lets into which they have been rolled or dragged.
Wives and children accompany their husbands, and
frequently lend a hand in hauling or rolling the logs
out of the forest. They live in the jungle in huts
while the trees are being felled, and in huts on the
rafts when they are made up and in transit to the
mills. They are a quiet, orderly people now ; very
independent, yet kindly disposed. Their wants are
few, as they do not sufi'er the privations attendant
on the rigorous and changeable climate of more
northern latitudes. Theirs is a constant snmmer,
monotonous perhaps in its sameness, more or less
relaxing, nevertheless very pleasant and enjoyable
to them. They take nothing intoxicating, and are
very fond of liberty and a free and easy life.
By all this it will be seen that Johore under its
present Sultan affords a good field for enterprise to
natives as well as Europeans. In Siam civilization
is potential ; in Johore it is at work.
I was glad to hear, notwithstanding the necessary
supply of timber for the saw-mills, that the country
is. not being disforested, but that all is being done
under careful supervision. This is Dato Meldrum's
THE SULTAN OF JOHORE. 255
province, and he has to take care that the land is
not desolated as in Ceylon, where ' Government has
played fast and loose with its land and what stands
on it, and lived on capital instead of interest.' No
botanist has ever spent much time in Johore, so
Dato Meldrum, who is inspector of forests rather than
a regular botanist, says an interesting jB.eld is open
to the first who goes there. He strongly recommends
the British and Johore Governments to plant the
invaluable tree, the gutta-percha, which is now get-
ting scarce and very costly, the tree being destroj^ed
in obtaining the gutta. Gutta-percha, or, as the
Malays call it, getah-taban, was first discovered, or
at least first brought into use from the Johore
forests. It was a fortunate thing that just when
the telegraph was brought into use gutta-percha
appeared in the market. Nothing has been found
better adapted for covering deep-sea cables than
gutta-percha.
We had a Malay curry fifty dishes strong to-day,
with sambals in proportion ; the Prince of Saxe-
Weimar is as much afraid of it as he is of the bag-
pipes. A Malay curry is vast and potent, like the
German army. After luncheon we all assembled in
the portico and vestibule to watch a thunder-storm
and a heavy tropical downpour, while those who
were better used to such things sat down to play
cards in the large pillared hall. Rain was in itself a
novelty to us, for, until our return to Singapore, we
had not seen a drop of rain since lea-sdng England
early in December. Now it fell in sheets and
deluges, flooding the pavements, and shooting from
256 THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.
the roofs and streaming down the pathways, while
blue lightning flashed out of the dark cloud masses
over the Straits of Salat Tambran, and thunder
pealed loud enough to deafen even ears attuned to
the Chinese opera. For one comfort, it cooled the
air, and the weaker spirits went for an easy drive
afterwards. We energetic ones, the Sultan, Duke,
Prince, Commissioner, and author, went in the
Sultan's launch to the police-station of Pasai
Godown, or, as the Sultan himself calls it, Makao
Koodang, where we picnicked, as well as inspected
the station and the young coffee plantations.
Though river-police are still required to keep down
piracy; things have much improved in this southern
part of the Malay peninsula under the Sultan's rule.
As Miss Bird tells us, formerly no boat could go
up or down Malay rivers without paying black-mail
to one or two river rajahs ; but the Chinese settlers
as well as the pirates are powerful men, and help
the cause of law and order by taking their own part.
The Sultan inspects these police stations periodically.
The high jetty here is of split bamboo, making one of
the frail platforms on stilts which are here consider-
ed convenient piers, easier for monkeys to climb on
than for ladies to land by ; this is approached by a
most difficult ladder, inaccurately so called, man-
trap describes it better. It is a steep and slippery
£erial ladder of three round rungs, each about two
and a half feet apart, to which one must cling tight,
for a false step would precipitate one into the river
and deep mud.
The Sultan tells me olives grow wild here in the
THE SULTAN OF JOHORE. 267
jungle, but they are not cultivated. I suggested he
should grow them. He asked me if I thought seeds
would grow. I thought cuttings would do better
and quicker, the delicate French and the large
Spanish olives struck in pots and carried out ;
from these grafts might be taken to graft on to
the wild olive-trees. This seemed a bright idea
to him ; he said he should put it into execution.
He is always on the look-out for new ideas and
improvements, especially in the way of crops ; often
asking my really very unimportant opinion about
cultivation in general.
On returning, we find the green woods have turned
black, the green sea has turned white, and the blue
sea, chameleon-like, has turned tawny and grey,
gathering into deep dim purples. We reached the
Istana in time to keep the guests invited to dinner
waiting three-quarters-of-an-hour only. As it was a
small party, not more than twenty, the Sultan only
wore his second-best diamond aigrette ; the Duke
wore only the order of the Thistle, but Prince Bern-
hard was profusely decorated.
We thought the Prince of Saxe- Weimar was go-
ing to have a fit, with suppressed ecstasy ; he bursts
and chokes so when Aleck begins to play the pipes.
He still did not understand it, as Ah Sin-like he
does not understand billiards either ; he has not yet
concentrated his great mind on these subjects. The
attendants as iisual look closely at Aleck's kilt
amusedly and amazedly, as if he had not arranged
his sarong properly. A fine handsome lad of fresh
colour, he looks like a being of another star from
258 THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.
these dusky, quiet, stealthy-footed Malays, as he
strides and marches round the table Scottish fashion.
On the 10th of March we were keeping the Prince
of Wales' silver-wedding, when the Sultan, who had
gone across to Tyersall, telephoned the news of the
death of the old Emperor of Germany ; the flags on
the yacht were placed half-mast high, and everyone,
Malays as well as Europeans, expressed respectful
sympathy with the Emperor Frederick's sad condition.
Boats have been ordered at half-past four to take
us to the yacht to give a tea-party to the Johore
ladies. It is sultry and it looks like a storm coming
on. There is the first peal of thunder. The tall
Punjaubee sentry shelters himself under the thick
palm-trees. Our tea-party came off after all, for the
rain ceased just at the time they, told us it would do
so. Rain is so regular in its habits here that they
can always calculate upon its movements.
Lightning was playing all round the ship, and fine
effects of cloud were seen over the straits, the
nearer forests, and the distant hills. The views,
when we landed for a walk, were glorious up on the hill
behind the Istana, which the Sultan has had laid out
in walks, and planted as a fine public garden, with
gardenias blossoming in the shrubberies, and all
manner of delightful tropical trees and flowers.
Below this hill, near the Istana, a large town-hall is
being built and nearly finished, as well as a justice-
room and public offices, with broad steps leading to
the water-side.
On Sunday, March 11th, we had a large full-dress
state dinner to celebrate our last evening at Johore.
THE SULTAN OF JOHORE. 269
Several notabilities from Singapore were invited to
meet the Duke. The guests' attire was various : the
European gentlemen mostly wore uniform or lev^e
dress ; there were many fezzes with diamond aigrettes
worn by Malay princes. The Sultan was glittering
with stars and diamond and ruby buttons down his
monkey jacket, and gay with ribbons, among them
the yellow ribbon of the Crown of Johore. There
were a good many ladies present on this occasion.
We had the whole of the gold Ellenborough ban-
quet service for this one last evening, all dressed
with purple sprays of the bougainvillea. Eleven
large centre-pieces including three great candelabra,
and wine-coolers used as flower- vases ; twenty lesser
raised pieces holding fairy lamps (above one's eyes) ;
and twenty salt-cellars and the same number of
pepper-boxes, these smaller things being of really
artistic form and workmanship. The coup doeil was
dazzling on entering the long dining-room, with the
mass of crimson-purple and gold, all regal and state-'
ly. The room was lighted besides by lamps in
sconces round the walls, and the archway openings
all round filled with soft greenery of ferns gave the
necessary contrast of repose and shade.
Speeches were made at this farewell dinner. His
Highness the Sultan proposed the Duke of Sutherland's
health in a fcAV appropriate words in Malay, elegantly
translated by the accomplished Dato Secretary, and
his Grace, in replying, said he was not likely soon to
forget the royal hospitality of Johore ; that when
he arrived he did not feel like a stranger, as he had
not only the honour of His Highness's acquaintance
s 2
260 THE SULTAN OF JOHORE.
before, but he had heard so much about him from
the Prince of Wales that it was like visiting an old
friend.
This also the secretary fluently translated into
Malay, and it was received with cheers of approval
from the Malay princes assembled.
The Sultan has asked us to accompany him in his
yacht, the Pantie, in a journey to Muar, the northern
province of his territory. This place is about ten
leagues south of Malacca. At its embouchure the
river is six hundred yards wide, and, eighteen miles
up, it diminishes to one-sixth of this breadth. We
cannot go up in the Sans Peur, as the coast is
shallow, and a sand-bar obstructs the river's mouth,
on which there is no more than three-quarters of
a fathom of water. The Pantie, which draws eight
feet of water, is able to get about easily, where w^e,
drawing fourteen feet, should stick hopelessly. In
the Pantie we shall cross the bar easily at flood-tide.
Hey for the land of peacocks, gold, and ivory !
261
CHAPTER XI.
MUAR.
And once more I said ye stars, ye waters,
On my heart your mighty charm renew ;
Still, still let me, as 1 gaze upon you,
Feel my soul becoming vast like you.
But with joy the stars perform their shining,
And the sea its long moon-silvered roU ;
For alone they live, nor pine with noting
All the fever of some differing soul.
Matthew Arnold.
The place we are going to is called Bundac Mahar-
anee. All our luggage was carried down to tlie
Sans Peur, which was sent oif before us, at nine
a.m., so as to save the tide in the straits, as she
draws too much water for the shallow western
passage, except at flood-tide. How pretty the white
ship looks as she glides away, leaving a great blank
behind the palm-trees where she stood. The Sultan's
smaller yacht takes her place before the palace,
waiting to take us on to Muar.
The Sultan gave us each a large photograph of
himself, and Dato Meldrum sent me a collection of
orchids and nepenthes, for which Johore is famous,
262 MUAR.
to carry home to England. The Sultan's son, a tall
youth who is shortly going to finish his education
in England, was presented to the Duke ; we had not
seen him before.
' Stop for this investiture,' cries Mr. Cobham, as T
was hurrying to put away my sketching-tackle, &c. ;
and we all assembled in the middle hall.
A gold tray was brought forward by some attend-
ants in rich costume. On it was a box containing
the collar, star, ribbon, and jewel of the order of
the Crown of Johore, of which honour the Duke
of Sutherland is the first European recipient. The
Sultan made a speech (in Malay) on presenting this
to the Duke, who is now an Unkoo as well as a Duke.
We bade farewell all round to the large party,
including most of the datos, who accompanied us
to the Sultan's yacht. The European residents
cheered us in British style from the pier, three
times three, and we waved handkerchiefs while
standing on the hurricane-deck of the Pantie^ a word
meaning the high hill beyond the sand-bank at
the mouth of the Johore river. Unkoo Slayman,
a brother of the Sultan, and the Prince of Saxe-
Weimar accompanied us to Muar.
We steamed out by the western channel of the
Straits of Salat Tambran, opposite the passage we
came in by in coming to Johore, passing the distant
view of the fine blue hill-range beyond the creeks
of the Scudai river, and between the mangrove-
fringed islets and undulating river-banks. This
Malayan Bosphorus is the place alluded to by
Camoens in the Lusiad :
MUAR. 263
' But on tlie point of lanl see Sincapoor,
Where narrow strait admits of ships but few.'
Now we have been all round the island of Singa-
pore, as well as across and about it.
At four p.m. a second luncheon was spread on
deck, with several strange dishes, and a great mould
of stiff sea-weed jelly, a national dish, which is
something like Turkish delight. We then put out
to sea, and overtook the Sans Pew\ which had been
ordered to go ' dead slow,' and mutually dipped our
colours. Aleck comforted Prince Bernhard by a
tune on the pipes ; and, as the Sultan's box of
games had been brought on board. Lady Clare
taught him beggar-my-neighbour, while Mr. Swan
taught poker to one of the datos ; the Duke and
I sharing, by turns, the only book on board, ' Sarong
and Kris.' The rest of the datos were interested in
the 'skitch' I was making of the fine-peaked outline
of the Island of Carimon.
At six o'clock the table was laid for dinner — the
Sultan was determined to fatten us — but the wind
had risen and there were heavy clouds ahead ; a
thunderstorm soon followed with cold wind. We
now saw the great superiority of the Sans Peur as
a sea-going vessel to this pretty little fair-weather
craft. The hurricane-deck that we had envied in
the smooth sunny waters of the straits was now
swamped •with rain, notwithstanding the thick awn-
ing and side curtains, and we wondered how they
were going to light the table. They hung ship-
lanterns all round, and, the rain having ceased, they
spread gratings for our feet, and the Sultan's good
264 MUAR.
curry and champagne soon warmed us to cheer-
fulness. A stub-tailed Malay cat, like a Manx cat,
was a favourite on board. The Siamese cats are
also tailless.
After this we signalled the Sans Peur by a blue
light, and the Duke, Mr. Cobham, and I went on
board with some difficulty in the dark on account of
the boat bobbing up and down so mucb. Lady
Clare and Bertha remained on board the Pantie.
Next morning we had arrived off a flat coast with
low islets to the west, and larger, loftier isles on the
eastern side, a lofty blue peak peeping out above
the clouds which lay heavy on the low palm-fringed
coast. This is Mount Ophir 'with its golden
history.' Many hills here are named Mount Ophir.
The gold-mines are called 'ophirs ' by the Malays.
The Sultan's yacht lay alongside of us.
We breakfasted at seven o'clock, and went on
board the Pantie, where two fine tall young men,
one in gold, the other in silver-laced uniform, were
presented by the Sultan as his nephews. They
spoke English, one of them had been educated in
England. Both these handsome young men are
clever ; one has surveyed the territory and made the
large map of Johore that the Sultan gave to the
Duke, the other is a skilful engineer. All this
family are highly intelligent. The Sultan kept his
nephews waiting at a distance in their launch till
the Duke came on board the Pantie, when he called
them alongside and on board and introduced them.
Mr. Swan, who understands Malay, told us he said
to them quite sharply,
MUAR. 265
' Now mind you talk to these English people ; if
you can't talk sense talk nonsense, only talk plenty.'
Does the Sultan think one sort of talk is as good
as another for English ladies ? However, they
talked very good sense indeed.
We anchored in the Muar river, opposite a large
bungalow occupied by the Sultan's nephews; and a
gay townlet turned out all its gaily-dressed inhabi-
tants to welcome the Sultan and his guests. The
whole settlement was waiting at the pier to receive
us, the Malays wearing divers tartan garments,
besides the national sarong, of Rob Roy and other
tartans. The blue-gowned Chinese filed off after
seeing the great sight, the idler Malays hovered
about to see us get into the gharries and other car-
riages which were waiting to take us to see the
country, and the new palace that the Sultan is
building, in order that he may reside at Muar
occasionally and foster his promising young colony.
The town of Bundac Maharanee is not five years old,
but it is already very thriving. Life moves very
quickly out here when the English and Chinese have
once come to see the natural advantages of a place,
and the rapid growth of Nature answers to their
efforts. In incredibly few years, when roads are once
made, the jungle gives up its wealth to the clearer,
and a numerous population follows the navigator
and cultivator. Houses are built, estates are planted,
and money flows in.
Sultan Abubeker encourages the industrious
Chinese ; he says he finds them valuable as original
settlers, as they are indefatigable labourers, clearing
266 MffAR.
the jungle, cultivating the ground, and turning
everything to account : then, as he sees openings,
— and he is always looking for them, — he can set up
companies for working mills, mines, &c., with
Chinese labour under European direction. His
feeling towards railways is the direct converse of
that of the Siamese. He does all he can to attract
railway companies, feeling that population will
follow the railway. He has already made roads,
drained on one side by narrow canals navigable for
the light native boats : these roads were now heavy
after the rain, our piebald ponies felt them to be so.
Filling the light gharries, we felt like costermongers
over-crowding their carts on a Sunday, and we got out
to walk as soon as our hosts would allow us to do so.
The blue Mount Ophir looks -fine beyond the
palm forest in which the new Istana is being built.
This palace, a large building situated in the very
heart of the forest, is expected to be ready in about
ten months from the date of our visit. It is to be
furnished from London. The large supply of attap
or nipah palm grown here is in readiness for roofing
and building the new villages which are expected
to gather round the new palace, so soon as the
Sultan takes up his abode here. The nipah-palm
grows nothing but the attap for roofing and walls,
Avhich is valuable ; the fruit is insignificant.
On the road back to the bungalow, we were
struck with the comfortable and prosperous appear-
ance of the settlement and the good cultivation of
the ground : the town is chiefly Chinese, the Malays
keeping to the country and suburbs.
MUAR. 267
Liinclieon was laid for us in the large airy verandah
on the first-floor which is used as a dining-room,
though not often for such a large party, I suspect,
from the number of birds' nests in the rafters of the
verandah on the ground-floor below.
This noontide repast was completely a Malay
meal, picturesque and plentiful. A whole kid,
skilfully roasted so as to retain its juices, and
stuffed with rice and raisins, reminded us of the
description of the Emir's repast in ' Tancred ; ' this
was carved by Mr. Cobham, who, from his residence
in Cyprus, was well used to large dishes of this
kind. There were vast preparations of Malay curry
with countless dishes of sambals, and in the centre
of the table a huge dish of royal yellow rice, set
with eggs, dyed deep purple, stuck on with tinsel
flowers and long ornamental pins ; a sort of Christ-
mas-tree stood on the top of the high-piled dish, with
crimson woollen balls for flowers and crimson cloth
stars and green tinsel leaves ; it was altogether a
glorified and majestic curry.
The table was decorated with the brilliantly
variegated crotons which admirably do duty for
flowers here. One gorgeous croton, with richly-
coloured, pendulous leaves nearly a foot long, was
very handsome as a central ornament.
A dish of pine-apple, minced with fish, tur-
meric, saffron and chillies, was excellent. Then
came the course de resistance^ the dui'ian, which the
Sultan made such a point of our enjo3'ing.
' We have, what you call, we have durian.'
268 MUAR.
' Oh, thank you ;' aside, ' I'll give you my share,
Prince.'
Soup-plates extra large and deep were brought
for the durian, prepared in a thick, porridge-like
way. We do not think we can manage it. This is
only our second breakfast, and we hear there is to be
a third at four o'clock !
Durian is an acquired taste, and, to say the least
of it, it is a little garaey. Its flavour reminded the
gentlemen too forcibly of the Wat Sakhet at Bang-
kok. Then came a course of fifteen difi^erent kinds
of puddings, or large flat cakes about an inch and a
half thick, made of coco-nut, ground rice, and pith
of various edible palms, &c. Some of these were
very good, though most of them were too sweet, and
tasting strongly, one would say, of bacon-fat, were
these people not Mohammedans. Our hospitable
entertainers were afflicted because we could only
eat half an inch or so of the puddings we tried ;
but it was like eating bride-cake, one cannot get
through pounds of this at a sitting. We felt like
young employes at a confectioner's with the run of
the shop on the first day. This feeling was quite a
new experience to the Duke, and perhaps to all of us.
A tiger was to be exhibited.
' Come and see him,' said the Sultan.
We put a few questions first.
'A baby tiger?'
' No, not baby tiger ; what you call great-grand-
father tiger.'
Oh, we thought we would just peep and see
what sort of collar he had on. We saw several
MUAR. 269
men taking off their state sarongs to get him put
into a boat for us to look at. The Sultan offered him
to the Duke as a present.
' He's for you,' said the Sultan to the Duke. It
was good to see the Duke's face of dismay.
' But I can't feed him ; he wants half a man
every day !'
His Grace remembered that his men would not be
likely to oblige, and at that rate even the stout
Herries would only last him for three days. "We
reflected that at the rate of a man every other day
it would soon be our turn, leaving to the last
those more necessary for the navigation of the ship
— and the tiger.
We all exclaimed ' No !' at the idea of his coming
on board the Sans Peur, and we kept the broad
space of green turf before the bungalow Avell be-
tween us and the tiger. Though the tall posts sup-
porting the verandah roof are set on hewn granite
bases, the trellis-work of the balconies would be
but a frail defence against the onset of a great-
grandfather tiger.
There is a fine, broad river here, broader than
the Thames at Richmond. They say it goes on
over a hundred miles farther, and is as broad nearly
all the way. The winding of this river, according
to the Prince's map, is remarkable, so it does not go
so very deep into the country after all. It takes its
rise in Mount Ophir, as does the Johore river on the
east of the territory, on which the town of Johore
itself is situated (not Johore Baru but the chief town).
The national Malay boat has a curved prow, a sort of
270 MUAR.
crook. Its shape, which is very graceful, is exactlj''
that of an old Chelsea china butter-boat.
The heat — and the heavy luncheon — bring a
drowsiness over some of the party, who dream
they are in England again as they are lulled by
the frequent sound of bells, like church bells.
Billiard-balls are clicking below, and the German
prince, after his nap, takes a pack of ecartd cards
from his pocket and practises combinations by
himself.
Bundac itself, as seen from the verandah, is more
like an English village than an Oriental town ; with
the donkey grazing on the green, enclosed with
posts and chains. The attap roofs look like thatch,
the carpenters' work of joists and beams yonder
Avhere they are red-tiling a roof is very English-
like; the tiles are semi-circular. The areca and
coco-nut palms in the background alone show it is
not European, for the majority of the costumes seen
near the princes' bungalow show a European ten-
dency. Three sheep and one pig are grazing on
the common, and a horse and a draught cow (of the
humped breed) are lying under the clump of bam-
boos in the centre of the green. Nearer me is a
girl at play, wearing a white jacket, red cap, and a
long sarong. I thought she was dancing by the
way she waved her arms ; she is flying her kite.
We walked up the Chinese street and did a little
shopping. I happened to admire a tall brown vase
Avith numerous handles, when the Sultan's nephew
turned to some of his men and ordered it to be
lifted for me into the boat which was carrying our
MUAR. 271
provisions to the Sans Peur. We were taken to the
much-ornamented house of the Capitan China,
where we found a refection of tea with fruits and
pastry spread on a table before a sideboard, or kind
of domestic altar, covered with crimson silk beauti-
fully embroidered. We had thimblefulls of ex-
quisitely fragrant tea in doll's tea-cups, and cakes
and a dark-green orange each to carry away.
The Capitan China is the head-man of a Chinese
colony, chief magistrate, and responsible for the
behaviour of his countrymen. The Sultan of Johore
and Muar is very fond of the Chinese. Their prin-
ciples are such as make Orientals love them much
better than we are able to do ; as Quang Chaw, a
learned mandarin, says : ' Man must be patient, and
likewise exceedingly respectful. All good laws teach
this ; and all dutiful Chinese reverence the laws,
because they are the finest fruits and flowers which
the heavenly sun extracts from the roots of wisdom.'
.Dreading the four o'clock repast, which we gath-
ered from report was to be stupendous, we made the
threatening appearance of the weather an excuse
for making an earlier start, as we had to get out to
the Sans Peur, which was a long way off.
We embarked in a large steam-launch to go out
to the Pantie, which was anchored at some distance
off up-stream. On board the Pantie we saw the
tiger in his cage, bat declined having the creature
exhibited more fully. The Straits Times of March
20th says : ' A very fine tiger was brought from
Muar by the Sultan, and is now exhibited in Johore
Baru ; it is one of the largest ever seen in these parts.'
272 MUAV.
And this was to have been our fellow-passenger ! The
Sans Peur must have changed its name had that tiger
come on board. A thunderstorm came on while we
were on board the Pantie with the tiger, which delayed
our departure somewhat. The hospitable Sultan insist-
ed upon our having champagne, and himself led the
cheering over a glass of water ; we replied by three times
t h ree, an d one hearty British cheer more for the S ultan.
Again on board the launch to go out to the Sans
Peur^ which stood at four miles out to sea beyond
the shallow sand-banks and the bar. The German
prince was left behind lamenting, but the Sultan,
with the princes and datos and Mr. Swan, accom-
panied us to the last, and we steamed out past the
quaint fishing villages of matting and attap huts
reared on unusually lofty piles in the water-covered
mud-banks. The houses look more like bird-cages
than human habitations ; some of them at a distance
give one the idea of magnified lobster-pots set on
poles. From the tops of the houses are set tall fishing-
rods with lines attached, very long and strong to catch
the larger fish. These peculiar villages just now
only supply Muar with fish, but the Sultan tells us
they could supply half London. The quality of the
tropical fish is vastly inferior to ours.
The idea of these stilted houses of the Malays is
perhaps borrowed from the mangrove, the screw-
pine, and many Malayan stilted plants, stilted in
their natural effort to keep themselves from rotting.
Nearly all the best palms are Malayan, and many
even of these are stilted when grown by river banks,
partly because the soil washes away from beneath
MUAR. 273
them. This curious spectacle of watery dwellings
will not readily be forgotten, though Muar is fading
away into the past, the dim past, as Johore and
Siam have already got behind our lives.
It rained heavily just as we reached the Sans Peur,
which made it difficult to ship our provisions, in-
cluding ice, palm-sugar wrapped in palm-leaves,
coco-nuts, and other fruits, most of which we knew
pretty well by this time, and seven durians, which
the Sultan gave us in order that we might acquire
the taste for them. These solid, heavy, prickly
fruits are highly valued. They give the name to
these Straits of Durian, the only place where this
fruit grows naturally — which is as well — though it
is much relished by the natives and those who have
learnt to like it.
Besides these things, the Sultan supplied us with
boxes of Johore tea, plenty of live poultry, and a
goat and other provisions. He seemed to think he
could never do enough to show his love for the
Duke, and, for that matter, for all the rest of us.
The Sultan, I think, hoped we should take kindly
to the sugar-candy, as he caUed the palm-sugar,
and bring it into notice in England, so that it may
become an article of commerce. Perhaps it is the
manner of its preparation that makes it less palat-
able than French, sweetmeats, and this may be im-
proved. I brought some home, and I have heard
school-boys pronounce it as being like concentrated
ginger-bread.
Farewell to the Sultan, princes and datos, and
to Mr. Swan, who is going to remain behind con-
T
274 MUAR.
strucHng Malayan railways. We shall miss him
much. Friends may come and friends may go, but
we go on for ever, we feel, as the Sans Peur weighs
her anchor, and ' we go on our way, and we see
them no more.'
The last we have heard of Mr. Swan was by letter,
wherein he mentions his cook having been eaten
by a tiger. He waited some time for dinner — in
Malayan jungles — and supposed the cook was drunk
or had run away. Lo, the poor fellow had been
himself prepared for a tiger's dinner.
A thunderstorm hides the steam-launch from our
view ; but Mount Ophir shines out blue and bril-
liant, its crest standing out clear-cut among the
clouds. The thunderstorms have always crossed
us from east to west. We are nearly opposite
Malacca. Now for the long sea-passages to weary
us, and bring out the natural man in our disposi-
tions and tempers. This should be poetical and
interesting. Is it often so, or ever so ?
Let us chase away dull care, and go and make
friends with the happy family on board — rabbits,
ducks, fowls, kid, monkeys, mongoose, &c. What
a mercy the tiger is not on board too ! How pretty
it is to see the mother and baby monkey clasping
each other so lovingly— a long- tailed variety this,
with tails not prehensile, like our poor dead Jacko's.
The black minah bird with the yellow beak, who
tries to talk English; the two prettily-coloured
parakeets, and the Java sparrows are still well.
The zebra-parakeet, Avith the small beak which did
not break the rounded outline of his head, flew
MUAR. 275
away. He bit his way out of the slight bamboo
cage, and was washed off the rigging by the rain.
Johore is called one of the protected states.
' Well,' says the Duke, ' we've been protecting it
for tbe last ten days.'
The way our Queen is supposed to have given,
as it is said, the title of sultan to the Maharajah
of Johore is this : that, as she had no objection to
styling him sultan if he wished it, — in fact, she
recognised him as such. She has no power to confer
such a title, but her recognition indeed gives it.
The ceremony of the coronation, with a regal
diadem, took place in the ball-room of the palace
at Johore Baru. No ladies were allowed to be
present in the room ; but the European ladies of
Johore and Singapore looked down on the scene
from the latticed-gratings above the pictures.
We live the contemplative life at sea. Though
"we are glad of the rest, it is dull enough during the
heavy showers, after the gaieties of eastern courts ;
the only objects of out-look being two small pud-
ding-shaped islets, of the same apparent size and
form, on the port and starboard sides. They ap-
pear to be useful as points for steering, or to
determine our position.
We expect to reach Colombo in six days from
now. It felt homely on board the yacht, as we
settled down to our books and works. I distin-
guished myself by an immortal work — but I will
relate the circumstance. We were at breakfast, and
the others could not get away ; the smooth sea
gave them no reasonable excuse for moving.
T 2
276 MUAR.
' I will recite you part of a poem I composed this
morning myself,' said I. (A thrill — of delight, I
was sure — passed through the audience, but I dis-
claimed it modestly.) ' Don't shudder ; it is but a
fragment.'
They looked attentive. A less accurate observer
would have said resigned. I began —
' Through Siam and Malaysia though we may trot,
Wherever we wander there's no place like the yacht.'
It had a delirious success. They applauded
loudly, quite stopping my voice. There may have
been finer poems, though they all thought so highly
of this, even the Duke (who is an admitted judge,
in virtue of his alleged descent from the respectable
Gower) ; but seldom has a contemporary work so
immediate a success. They thought it perfect in
itself, needing no addition. As a great French
critic says, ' Un sonnet vaut mieux qu'un poeme.'
I could see to read the small print of Crawford's
* Dictionary of the Eastern Archipelago ' till twenty
minutes past six, and to sketch the grand outline
of the Golden Mountain of Sumatra, sometimes
(wrongly) called Mount Ophir. This fine mountain,
nine thousand two hundred feet in height, is a much
grander object than the Mount Ophir of the Malay
peninsula, which is only four thousand three hun-
dred and twenty feet.
It was pleasant in the later evening to sit on the
bridge watching the phosphorescence and the stars,
the Pole Star, the Great Bear, Orion, and the
Southern Cross, all visible at once. As we leave the
shelter of Sumatra, we have at night the usual
MUAR. 277
struggle with the port-holes, some rolling besides in
the night, and our stout bos'un's fairy footfall up on
deck, laying his strength to the ' strings ' tuning
them up to the breeze. Up on deck to find a blue sea
and fair wind ; an outward-bound steamer going to
the pretty places we have left, and flying-fish taking
long flights, are the only glimpses of life in the whole
circle of thirty miles round beyond the bulwarks.
A flying-fish was caught as it fell on the top of the
deck-house, sixteen feet or more above the sea. One
flying-fish, trying to fly right over the ship, was
caught in the sails and knocked down. A shark
was pursuing a shoal of these fish. The oceanic
flying-fish differs from the Mediterranean variety
in being more slender and more silvery in colour,
and from the ventral fins being seated near the
pectoral ones, besides being much smaller and of a
slightly lunated form.
As we have all the sails set, we are not able to have
the large awnings spread, and, though it is a glacier
blue sea, there is no glacier coolness. At last our
provisions fail us a good deal. The goat is not tempt-
ing ; the champagne and cider are popping, and being
wasted. Of ice we have none left ; what the Sultan
gave us did not last long. The bananas are nearly
finished, and the tinned soups, &c., are spoiled with the
hot weather. We look to Colombo as a place where
we shall get everything, from sapphires to soda-water.
The Duke is fond of music ; so, besides the second
cook's banjo and Dark Charlie's wheezy cornopean,
a dismal jemmy of an accordion is much affected by
one of the men. We almost feel this a judgment
278 MUAR.
upon us for having teased Prince Bernhard of Saxe-
Weimar so mercilessly with the bagpipes.
Since leaving Egypt, where the sunsets are really
fine, the average sunset has been the tamest of
spectacles. As the much-talked-of big stars are a
fraud, and the glorious sunsets a delusion, so was
the vaunted 'kief that we have always heard of as
enwrapping the orientals in its 'broidery of bliss,
and which we expected likewise to enjoy when
there should be nothing else to do. Perhaps in
these last days of sailing from Sumatra to Ceylon
were the only hours when we felt anything approach-
ing the condition of Nirvana, or of ' kief,' as it is
described in the romance of eastern travel.
Eastern life, as I saw it — or as it seemed to me —
was a state not of ' kief,' but of perpetual gadding
about, the in-between hours redeemed by riding in
the early morning and lawn-tennis in the afternoon.
We had been reading of Nirvana — in Edwin Arnold's
poems — and found high jinks.
Sixth or seventh illusion dispelled.
In this book, though I have been moderate in my
descriptions, I have shown, what is rarely seen, in
how much comfort it is possible sometimes to leave
the beaten tracks of travel. We had read the
' Golden Chersonese ' by Miss Bird, and heard of the
' Chersonese with the Gilding off,' by a resident in
Singapore, a book regarded here as truthful ; but we
found we must lay more gilding on, and deck our
tale with jewels. I do not mean the Sultan's rubies,
but the potentialities of these countries, with their
immense seaboard ; and the vegetable and mineral
MUAR. 279
productions of the teeming soil. Ruskin reminds us
that all wealth comes from the earth, and here the
earth's riches are greater than in most places, partly
so on account of the moist climate ; and we are not
yet educated up to the use of these wonderful pro-
ductions of Nature, which, without the aid of the
Chinese and Javanese, we cannot get at, for the
Malays will not work, and we in this climate cannot
dig, but only direct the digging.
Wealth indeed ! Think of all these trees and
plants which it is an education in itself to know
and know the use of. Few can realise the marvels
of the forest universe — from the tapioca at our
feet that makes our puddings to the soaring talipot
which feeds our minds with the literature of the
East.
What I have gathered from my short visit to the
East is a deep respect for China as a nation ; the
mother of many future industrious, prosperous
colonies. Singapore shows what can be done by the
friendly fusion, or rather combined action, of the
leading races of Europe with the Chinese, and Muar
bids fair to follow on the same traditions.
280
CHAPTER XII.
CEYLON.
And mark me, that untravelled man
Who never saw Mazinderan,
And all the charms its bowers possess,
Has never tasted happiness.
FlEDAUSI.
Land, ho ! Tumble up, my hearties !
The morning of Monday, the 19th of March,
showed us the Beautiful Island on our starboard
bow. The blue hills of Ceylon as azure as the sea
itself.
' Herries, there's a boat with some fish,' cries the
Duke.
Delightful excitement. We have lived on tinned
fish for a long time ; no eggs left, no fruit, no meat ;
Ave are reduced to tins, with rice and potatoes. It
has become a duty to drink the cider and champagne
to keep them from popping. We stop to negotiate
with three men who sit pinching their thin mahog-
any legs in the trough of a hollow tree, which forms
the keel of their catamaran, so as to make a little
room for their catch of fish of curious colours, azure
blue, canary colour, and the brightest of scarlet ;
CEYLON. 281
no boiled lobster ever equalled the intense and fiery-
scarlet of one sort of these fish. We all exclaimed
at its vivid colour. The dark men seated them-
selves somewhat more comfortably when we had
bought their fish, and the man perched on the out-
rigger for lack of space, came inside the catamaran.
We passed Point de Galle at two p.m., and
Colombo light was sighted at dusk.
Since the harbour has been improved at Colombo,
Point de Galle has lost all its importance with the
loss of the mail steamers. Trincomalee is the naval
station.
We anchored at Colombo at 9.45 p.m.
One of the Messageries steamers lying near us
looks big and busy as a well-lighted town ; the sing-
song of the coolies concluding her lading is con-
tinued till very late. These coolies, as at Aden and
in the Indian ports, are always singing the same
monotonous tune with a turn in it.
This time — or maybe it is at this time of night
we notice tt — we do indeed smell the fragrance of
Ceylon ; spicy, heavy, and oppressive like the odours
of Bangkok. Herries counsels us to close our ports
because of malaria ; it is a question whether we
will be poisoned or stifled ? Like Fair Rosamond, I
choose the sweetened poison.
A cargo of mails being brought on board in the
morning, we fall to and greedily devour our letters and
newspapers ; then, animal hunger coming on, we go
ashore to the Grand Oriental Hotel to feed on fresh
provisions. Every order or message is written on
chits, or slips of paper ; which chits indeed answer the
282 CEYLON.
purpose of speech in Ceylon and Singapore, as the
attendants do not for the most part understand
English. Deaf and dumb people might make them-
selves very comfortable in these parts with chits.
We watched in the entrance an Indian juggler's
performance, including the surprising and elegant
sleight-of-hand shown in promoting the growth of
a mango-tree from a seedling to a stout green
sapling covered with fresh leaves.
Then we went to see the ' celebrated great cat's-
eye,' and other gems of a native jeweller ; sapphires,
cats'-eyes, and the Alexandrite, which shows green
by day and red by night, form the principal stock.
Moonstones are hardly looked upon here in the
light of jewels.
The appearance of the Cingalese men, with their
long shiny black hair twisted in a knot behind and
kept smooth by a round tortoiseshell comb, strikes
us as just as strange after Malaya as after Europe,
and just as puzzling. Is a being with shiny ring-
lets and earrings, in a petticoat, fat and feminine-
looking, but with a moustache, otherwise than of
doubtful gender? It is a Cingalese. This is a
word that you may spell any way you please,
Cingalese, Singhalese, Sinhalese, &c., putting an
accent here and there to make it look better — ^more
learned.
We went off to the Sans Peur in the full glow of
sunset, the masts and yards of the multitudinous
shipping traced in intense black on the blazing
sheet of the sky.
Now we behold Ceylon, the cinnamon isle. We
CEYLON. 283
all meant to go our several ways, to meet at a
week's end on board the yacht. I had an invitation,
from my own family friend Dr. Trimen, to stay at
his bungalow in the famous Peradeniya Gardens, of
which he is director. Gardens are a passion with
me— the others cared for different things.
I was called at six o'clock; boat at 6.55 to catch
the morning train. Herries got me a carriage and
accompanied me to the station, and took my ticket,
as he knew the tongue.
The fine artificial lake that somewhat cools
Colombo is alive with geese and boats, and fringed
with people of every hue, clothed with every colour,
or altogether unclothed ; washing, standing, dip-
ping, boating ; boats and geese all making for a
coco-nut isle in the centre. On the other side of
the road, opposite this lake, is a swamp with lotuses,
where Herries has seen lots of cobras in his time.
The natives love travelling by train, taking their
holidays in that way. The Kandyan Railway pays as
well as any in the world. It has absolutely paid its
expenses and is quite clear. Its whole cost, amount-
ing to two-and-a-half millions sterhng, was paid by
the colony within twenty-five years, and it is now
the free property of the Ceylon government. This
line, with the sea-side and Ndwalapitiya branches,
covers one hundred and twenty miles.
Oh, what sights to eyes which have seen nothing
but sea and sky for days 1 I revel in gay colours,
palms and plantains so vividly green, with the
young central leaf like a sulphur-yellow flame.
What vegetation ! crimson hibiscus and the ' flame
284 CEYLON.
of the forest,' allatnanda and lantana ; swamps
covered with lilies, and white domes rising above
the bowers of coco-palm, and cinnamon, 'the
wealth, the fame, and beauty of Ceylon ;' ponds,
rivers, and flooded rice-fields. My unaccustomed
eye cannot see a quarter of it. A steep incline and
a bridge over a river with logs floating down, the
banks crowded by picturesque figures in turbans
and long checked-cotton skirts ; the land, absolutely
laughing with cultivation, is tufted with areca clumps
and groves of coco. The country is all one emerald.
Truly the island is, as the Siamese call it, Lanka,
' the resplendent.'
Adam's Peak, blue in the distance, is the loftiest of
a chain of peaks. Now the nearer forest-grown
hills gather round and shut it from the view, bring-
ing the bright blossoms of the temple-tree and vinca
to light up the dense shade of forest-trees, hung
with a cordage of lianas, the pretty pink Honolulu
creeper wreathing the lesser trees. There are fre-
quent clearings in this cultivated jungle. Each
cottage stands in its own palm and plantain-grove
for shade and food, and pasture for cattle, of which
there is plenty of all colours and sorts, bufikloes for
work in the paddy-fields, and humped bullocks to
draw the matting-covered waggons. The ground is
chiefly red or tawny, with black mud in the rice
swamps.
As we enter the hill-country the vegetation
somewhat changes in its character, though still the
wild wayside flowers are all West Indian, and the
most characteristic trees and shrubs are all foreign-
CEYLON. 285
ers. This is a peculiarity of Ceylon's vegetation ; one
wonders what could have been the original flora of
the island, for the great majority of the trees and
plants here have been introduced by man, and that
within recent historical periods. The temple-tree,
Plumeria acutifoUa, itself is undoubtedly South Ameri-
can, and was probably introduced by the Portuguese,
who first came to Java in 1496 — four years after the
discovery of America — and to Ceylon in 15U5. Dr.
Trimen mentions that in 1520 Magellan sailed
direct from South America to the Philippines, and
American plants were at once introduced there. It
was from these islands that the other eastern
tropics obtained many of the plants now so abun-
dant. That extraordinary weed from the New
World, the lantana, which abounds here as well as
in the Malay peninsula, seems to be a recent intro-
duction ; it quickly overpowers all lesser plants in
the open ground.
As the forest becomes less dense, losing some of its
jungle-like character, the scenery of piled-up rocks,
peaks, roads, torrent-beds, and bridges becomes more
visible ; and white clouds wrapping the loftiest moun-
tains with their white lace veil. Adam's Peak, seven
thousand three hundred and fifty-three feet high,
is bluest of the blue ; though this is not the highest
mountain in Ceylon, PidurntaMgala is higher by
nearly a thousand feet. The tunnelled carriage-
road to Kandy winds white below us, fulfilling,
even before the railway came, the old Kandyan
prophecy that their conquerors were to be a people
who should make a road through a rocky hill.
286 CEYLON.
Breakfast is prepared in the refreshraent-car —
and most of the passengers take breakfast in the
train — and at the stations lovely male creatures,
mahogany-coloured, with red, scanty skirts, bring
pine-apples, yellow bananas, and green coco-nuts,
which they chop deftly with a small sickle, and the
liquor spouts up temptingly. Perhaps the most
picturesque among the crowd, each one of whom is
a study, is a figure leaning on a staff, wearing
a greenish turban and crimson-brown patterned
drapery, and white skirt with its edge dipped in
blue and purple dye.
Still going up-hill, and still beyond the tunnels,
the winding road appears, and terraced cultivation
of rice among rocky hills ; and again the beautiful
views of blue mountains are seen in vistas behind
the palms and scarlet lantana, with dark-fringed
jaggery palms and great rocks in the foreground,
looking across rich valleys bounded by chains of
blue peaks. Here the railway almost overhangs the
precipice. This cliff is called Sensation Rock.
Great rocks are scattered about the hill-sides,
seamed with grass-edged terraces, and we look
down on the tallest areca palms, and across the
valley to a lofty, rocky mountain, with its golden-
lichened sides furrowed perpendicularly like organ
pipes. The vegetation is less profuse up here, but
tea is grown on these yellow hUls. Below us is
the white, winding road, sharply doubling back on
itself, and close at hand a gaily-clothed crowd among
the red roses and poinsettia blossom at Kaonga-
meawa station, chiefly of men wearing scarlet vests
CEYLON. 287
just as gaudy. I see no women ; but tlie men make
themselves beautiful here, and sport salmon-coloured
skirts, green turbans, and Chinese umbrellas. More
green caladiums, crops, cows, reeds, and wild sugar-
cane ; wet rice-beds being banked up, and buffaloes
feeding among the stubble. A sharp curve to the
line above the Mahawely river brings me to Pera-
deniya station, and a hearty welcome from the
director of the famous Peradeniya Gardens. Dr.
Trimen's victoria was at the station, and we drove
across the satin-wood bridge over the Mahawely
river to the director's bungalow just outside the
gardens.
' Boy,' shouts my host, ' boy, bring breakfast ;'
and an elegant, full-grown being appears ; a true
Cingalese, his long, shining black hair knotted and
held back by a circular comb. The men's round
combs cost ten rupees ; they are made from the
claws of the turtle, on which the spots and mark-
ings are actually painted, though the natives do not
like the variegated scales of the large shell that we
admire so much.
Breakfast at noon. Ceylon tea six years old : tea
is all the better, like good wine, for being kept long,
if hermetically sealed. This was news to me; T
had heard of the China tea-ships racing home to
bring the new season's tea fresh into the market.
I was impatient until the day cooled sufficiently
for me to go out and see the wonders of Peradeniya,
the paradise of the world, according to Moslem
tradition the home provided for Adam and Eve, to
console them for the loss of Eden, and, as a gar-
288 CEYLON.
den merely, occupying botanically the first place,
now that Kew has become a kind of assistant
under-secretary to the Colonial Office, to look after
the agricultural department of the colonies.
Here at least was no illusion dispelled : the garden
is a Kew palm-stove magnified and glorified ; every
tropic tree and plant that I know spindling, drawn
up, and skied to hot-house roofs at home, are here
displayed in full girth, grace, and development. We
entered the gardens by way of a magnificent grove of
India-rubber trees which have attained their full size,
being about half a century old ; their great sinuous
roots, flattened laterally, above ground writhing and
meandering, suggest huge saurians ; the roots, grey
smooth sides, lighted into silver by the tropic sun,
reminded me of the form and colour of the great
sea-serpent that I saw in the Indian Ocean. On
passing some other tall trees with great buttress-like
roots and stems, I was told to note nature's economy
of material of wood-formation. Not far from there
is a fine specimen of the Amherstia nobilis, a
splendid temple-tree, with red and yellow flowers in
long drooping racemes ; this very handsome tree is
in flower all the year round, though blossoming in
greatest profusion from December to March.
A specimen that would have passed unobserved
had it not been pointed out to me was a bo-tree
planted by the Prince of Wales when he was here
in 1875, a scrubby little perishing thing that no
amount of attention will cause to grow. These
royal trees labour under disadvantages in youth,
and do no credit to the royal family as gardeners.
CEYLON. 289
The young Princes of Wales, when they were here,
laughingly wondered why the Director did not show
a better one. This bo-tree is a great contrast to the
fine tree growing close to the Director's bungalow,
which it shades, and its sharply-pointed leaves on
long stems, quivering like the aspen, give a cool
rustling, refreshing as the murmur of a fountain.
Both of these bo-trees were taken from the sacred
bo-tree at Anurddhapura, the ancient capital of
Ceylon, which is the oldest historical tree in the
world, having been planted 288 B.C. When the
King of Siam made a pilgrimage to Anurddhapura
on his visit to Ceylon he gilt the branches of this
sacred bo-tree.
Dr. Trimen has built a sort of botanical memorial
chapel in honour of Dr. Thwaites, his predecessor as
director of the gardens. It is built with the
characteristic Cingalese crook-backed roof. Dr.
Trimen drew the plan on the model of the octagonal
Buddhist library temple at Kandy. Some people
advised him to build it in Italian style, but this is
in better taste here, and the workmen were able
easily to construct this form that they understood.
On the top of the memorial stone erected in the
centre the natives come and ofi'er flowers to the
manes of Dr. Thwaites : they always lay flowers on
anything like an altar. We smile, but after all the
memorial itself has the same meaning.
The bamboos are among the chief glories of the
garden. All flesh is grass, but, as in persons there
are different degrees, so there are various sorts of
grass, from the sweet meadow-hay to the useful
u
290 CEYLON.
giant bamboo. The yellow stemmed bamboo is
native to Ceylon. This gigantic species of the grass
tribe is perhaps nowhere seen in greater perfection
than at Peradeniya. These golden stems, nine
inches in diameter, resemble great organ-pipes and
some of them are very resonant. Hearing the wind
sighing by its hollow stems one might call this
plant an ^olian organ.
Most of the stems in this clump are of last year's
growth. A patient person may watch them grow
half an inch an hour. I can recommend it as an
amusement to those of contemplative disposition to
sit down and watch the growing stems rise above
certain fixed objects. The culms sprout up in the
wet season like heads of giant asparagus ; growing at
the rate of fully a foot in the twenty-four hours they
soon reach their full height of nearly a hundred feet.
Slightly larger than this plant is the giant bamboo
of Malacca, though the difference is not very marked.
These bamboo clumps are beautiful objects reflected
in the large pond round which they grow. There
is also a male bamboo, with solid stems, very strong
and useful, not native to Ceylon, though frequently
planted.
The interesting family of palms is well represented
here, though there are only three palms peculiar
to the island ; the very graceful tufted but spiny
katu kitul, the sturdy dotalu, and the slender l^nateri ;
for Ceylon, with all its luxuriance, is not rich in
indigenous palms, well as they grow when once
introduced.
Here are the stifi^ Palmyra palm, the large oil
CEYLON. 291
palm, the great plumed Jaggery palm, and the
stately talipot in aloe-like flower, a crown of blossom
twenty feet high : a noble palm, the finest of all. It
flowers but once, after attaining its full altitude, at an
age of between forty and fifty years, and then dies.
The ancient Puskola (ola) MSS. in the Buddha
monasteries are all written with an iron stylus on
narrow strips of talipot palm-leaves boiled and then
dried. The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) never
flowers in Ceylon.
There is a grand specimen of the Seychelles palm,
the extraordinary Coco-de-mer, or double coco-nut,
the largest seed known. This double fruit has been
known for centuries by floating out to sea, or being
washed up on the shores of Ceylon and the Mal-
dives ; but the tree itself was onlv discovered about
one hundred years ago, and it only groAvs in one
or two small islands of the Seychelles group, where
it is now protected. It has fine, long-stemmed fan-
leaves, only one growing each year. The largest
specimen at Peradeniya is about thirty-five years old,
and no stem is yet visible, the growth being extremely
slow. As Dr. Trimen says this palm frequently
attains a height of one hundred feet, it must live
to a vast age. The nut takes ten years to ripen,
and the seed a year or longer to germinate. It
would tax the age and patience of Job to watch the
growth of this tree. Near this is the papaw-tree,
which I only knew from ' Paul and Virginia.' Most
of one's early knowledge of tropical vegetation
comes from ' Paul and Virginia.'
A large specimen of the bo-tree was in course
u2
292 CEYLON.
of being grown over and eclipsed by a parasite
(filicium). All these figs have a parasitic growth,
which gradually takes the place of the original tree
as this decays. Besides the bo-trees and the great
India-rubber-trees (ficus-elastica), there are many
interesting species of fig-trees in this garden. Ficus
Trimeni, a sort of banyan, but without the supports
to the branches so characteristic of the fig-tree of
Bengal, has a tremendous spread, covering a circle
of ground over two hundred feet in diameter, a
world of shading branches. Dr. Trimen is encour-
aging some depending shoots of the true banyan
(ficus Bengalensis) to droop and take root across
a carriage-drive, and shade it. This well-known tree
is common in the dry districts of India. At Pera-
deniya I see the plan, the rationale of tropical vege-
tation : climbing-plants and jungle-growths, all knit
together by the ratan, &c. ; the shelter, food, and
clothing, the whole life of the people ; the whole
economy of tropical life, which it is impossible to
comprehend in the bewildering forest itself.
The tallest of the fig family (ficus altissima)
offers in its topmost branches a playground for a
number of large fruit-eating bats, or flying-foxes,
whose movements are curious to watch. The garden
itself is the haunt of numerous squirrels and other
harmless animals.
Most curious among the lianas and other para-
sites of the tall forest-trees are the rope-like stems
of the dul (anodendrum), twisting like a long snake
over other stems ; the thorny ratan grappling itself
up to the light by its long-hooked tendrils. The
CEYLON. 293
stems of this climbing palm sometimes attain a
length of several hundred feet. These are the canes
of commerce. The long festoons of bignonia, the
dark and handsome climbing arum, and many other
creepers stretched across from tree to tree, tangled
in strange knots, and twisted in wild, luxuriant
confusion, aflford a series of densely-shaded pictures
that exhaust the mind in attempting to follow the
endless variety of the earth's riches, while the ex-
quisite colours that fringe the masses on the borders
that the sunshine touches bring before the eyes a
vision of hitherto unimagined loveliness.
The fernery is a delightful maze of tropical foliage
in various forms and hues. The ground is shaded
by lofty trees, and watered by numerous rivulets
flowing by side of the shady paths. The tree-
trunks are covered with a variety of creepers,
orchids, and parasites of most fanciful form and
colour. There are fern-houses besides, with tile-
roofs and tatties, or sun-blinds. The ferns are
planted in bamboo pots, and on porous chatties,
where they grow outside and suck up the water.
They split the smaller bamboo pots (for cuttings)
before planting in them, so that the roots are undis-
turbed when the plants have to be transplanted.
They do not employ Chinese gardeners, good though
they be. There is no Chinese element in Ceylon
at all; indeed, there is not a Chinaman in the
island. They have tried to get a footing in Ceylon,
but the Tamils completely undersell them. There
are few or no manufactures in Ceylon.
We stood under the fatal upas-tree unscathed.
294 CEYLON,
The foundation for the story of the upas-tree valley
of death, in Java, is not the influence of the tree,
but of a deadly vapour arising from some springs
in its neighbourhood. The upas-tree is harmless
enough, though from it is extracted a poison said
to owe its properties to the presence of strychnia.
The Javanese tree is called Antiaris toxicaria ; the
Ceylon variety of the upas is called Ant : Innoxia.
There is no perceptible diiference between them ;
both have a tall, straight, slender stem. They are
closely allied, if not the same plant.
Among other curious trees are the Chinese weep-
ing-cypress, used at Chinese funerals and planted
by their graves — a very graceful, feathery cypress —
and the very bright-green rain-tree, the guango of
South America, much planted in India and Ceylon
for shade. But to give a list would catalogue the
garden which the whole world has contributed to
enrich.
The choice cultivated flowers and foliage-plants
in the shelter-houses, (for one cannot call them hot-
houses here) come from London, from Bull, Veitch,
and others. This reminds me of the Duke of
Sutherland's story of his asking for orchids in the
West Indies and hearing that their best all came
from Trentham.
Phloxes do well, roses not very well ; they have
constantly to be renewed from England.
' Look at my substitute for lavender ;' the
Director pointed out a small salvia: 'the best I
can do as imitation ; the colour exact, but no odour.'
How natural it is that they should best enjoy what
CEYLON. 296
reminds them of home. I knew a retired Member of
Council of India who, when he came home to Eng-
land, enjoyed the wild flowers so rapturously that
he liked to plant primroses and other ' weeds ' in his
wife's magnificent gardens, while she vainly tried
to gain his admiration for the superb collection of
orchids he had, in the course of years, sent her from
India. No, he loved best the wildings that reminded
him of his boyhood. There is much that is home-
like in Ceylon, especially after seeing Siam. Indeed,
England feels like next door when we hear that the
quickest mail from London has arrived in fifteen
days.
'Doesn't this remind you of an old ivy-grown
abbey ?' We were walking up a road by a line of
tall old tree-trunks that did indeed look like ruined
columns, covered as they were with masses of the
Burmese thunbergia, whose close-growing polished
leaves are so suggestive of ivy, did not its large,
pale-blue flowers weaken the illusion. ' We call
these the ruins.' I was for examining more closely
the pseudo ivy-grown banks, when the Director
advised me not to stray far into the thickets. ' We
have done our best to extirpate the numerous
cobras from the more frequented parts of the gar-
dens, but they are found just here perhaps more often
than anywhere else.' I kept strictly to the paths
after this hint, which so strongly reminded me of
the presence of serpents even in Paradise.
Near here was a singular flower called Napoleonia
imperialis, with blossoms growing curiously back
against the stem, of bufi', purple, and cream-white ;
296 CEYLON.
more like a sea-anemone than an imperial crown.
The nutmegs are not quite ripe, the mace enclosing
them is as yet a delicate pink, shading off into
white. The fragrant allspice is agreeable as you
crush the leaves. These spice-trees form a dark
evergreen bower, meeting across the walks. Near
tbere are the jack-fruit and the durian growing out
at once from the stout timber stems and branches
of full-grown trees ; and likewise the wild bread-
fruit, of the same family as the jack, a tree useful
for house, food, and clothing, and for many con-
veniences besides.
Early hours are kept here : the first breakfast is
never later than seven o'clock. In the night I heard
the noise of an animal; I thought it was in my
room. I thought of the stuffed ' pantherette ' down-
stairs that Dr. Trimen had shot close by ; could it be
a beast of this sort that had climbed up a tree, leapt
on to the shingle verandah-roof, and in at my open
window? I kept my shuddering as little audible as
I could, not wanting to direct attention to myself.
All the books I had been reading lately pointed in
the direction of alarm. I heard lapping of water,
and thought the creature had got at the water-jug.
I felt like Jack-o'-the-Beanstalk when the giant,
snuffing about, utters the awful words, 'Fe fi fo fuin.'
Silence again, and I began to hope the creature had
gone out of mndow the way he came. Next morn-
ing I found it was Dr. Trimen's little dog, Charlie,
woolly-white and aged, who was in the habit of
making night hideous with his wanderings and his
asthma. We had home-grown coffee as well as tea
CEYLON. 297
for breakfast, for, though the coffee hand is con-
sidered played out in Ceylon, they still grow a little
Liberian coffee. I mentioned meeting a train full
of tea.
' Yes,' said the Director, ' harvesting goes on at
all seasons pretty nearly. Tea is a very long-
suffering tree, it always responds. Ceylon is just
the country for a tree grown for its leaves. They
nearly strip the tree, and young buds shoot out
almost immediately. In many ways the tea culti-
vatioQ has been a great boon to Ceylon. Since we
have taken to tea, the fashion for heavy drinking is
gone out. Fashion in things is greater than any
moral force : people in India drink less than they
did ; they take fewer pick-me-ups.'
' It is the fashion everywhere to take less, I fancy.'
' Yes, and besides that the Ceylon planters are
poorer since their losses in the coffee plantations.'
Tea did not find such ready favour among them
at first as a substitute for coffee-cultivation, because
it required preparation ; besides, the forests were too
lavishly cut down in the clearings, and now the
planters find they have to pay high for wood to dry
their tea. They planted the coffee too exclusively,
and the mysterious blight fell upon it ; proving, ac-
cording to the universal experience, that it is not
good for one vegetable to grow alone.
The early morning was' deliciously cool and fresh
with the breeze blowing down from the blue moun-
tains round, and with the morning flowers all out that
wither in the noontide. We went for a long walk
round the grounds, shrivelling the sensitive plant
298 CEYLON.
as we walked across the dewy turf, our footsteps
causing a blackened train of blight to fall on the
turf covered with this tender lilac-tasselled grass,
whose very stems as well as leaflets shrink from our
touch. The river is low from the drought, for the
season has been unusually dry. With heavy rain
there is sometimes as much as twenty-four feet
difference in one night in the height of the river.
' Here is my farmyard.'
The Director showed me with justifiable pride his
pretty calves and numerous cows that supply him
with milk and fresh butter every morning ; . real
luxuries in the tropics. Here are likewise some
emeus from Australia.
From this we went to the building which was
originally the Director's bungalow, and. which —
so like a man — he has turned into a museum,
and to the herbarium, where are kept the collection
of dried plants and drawings of Ceylonese plants by
a native who is kept always employed in drawing
and painting from the plants, which he does remark-
ably well, this sort of flower-painting being eminently
adapted to native notions of art. Another native
is constantly at work drying and preparing the
plants and sticking them into books.
The economic value of these gardens to the
planters is very great, teaching them what they
can or cannot profitably grow. Planters bring
their troubles, too, to the Director, and their invalid
coco-trees, blights, mildews, and what not. One
of these houses is a kind of hospital for diseased
plants. Besides tea and cacao, cinchona is now so
CEYLON. 299
largely planted in Ce34on that the j^rice has gone
down. The bark is often only twopence a pound,
and at that price does not pay the cost of peeling.
Quinine, which used to sell at fourteen shillings the
ounce, is now sold at one shilling and threepence.
The market for it is entirely ruled by Ceylon.
Directly the planters think they can make a little
money, they throw a million pounds into the market
and down the prices go again.
In the afternoon we drove to Kandy, a pleasant
drive of four miles. We went to the Queen's Hotel
to call on the Duke and hear his plans for the week.
We went on to see the Art Museum, got up by
Dr. Trimen and a few gentlemen of Kandy, where
curios are collected, and the natives are encouraged
to copy the old manufactures for sale.
We went to the library and reading-room by the
lake, a very comfortable institution, then to the
famous Temple of the Tooth : the ' Dalada ' or tooth
of Buddha. The temples here are comparatively
plain, as is natural for the places of worship in what
is like a reformed Buddhism. In Thibet and Siam
Buddhism is a ritual; in Ceylon it is merely a
philosophy.
The Temple of the Tooth is Indian in style, in its
Cingalese development : some of it is of late date,
and some of it much earlier. It is surrounded by a
cloister curiously painted with the Buddhist Inferno
in all manner of Dantesque designs, — like the fresco-
dreadfuls of the middle ages. The tooth itself could
not be seen, as it is only exhibited once a year. If
the Duke of Sutherland asked especially to see it, it
300 CEYLON.
would be shown, but he had seen it before, when
here with the Prince of Wales, and none of us cared
much about it. Dr. Trimen believes the Buddha
tooth to be simply a bit of ivory ; but, if it is a tooth
at all, it is most likely that of a creature called the
dugong, something like the "West Indian manatee
{Helicore dugong). The flesh of this herbivorous mam-
mifer is greatly superior to that of the green turtle.
We went up an external winding flight of stone
stairs to see the library where the famous Buddhist
records are kept, written on talipot palm-leaves all
strung together and held by chased silver backs,
handsome and very precious ; these were shown to
us by a shaven-headed yellow-robed priest. Gautama,
the Buddha, spoke Magadhi, the language of the
kingdom of Magadha, now called Behar. As con-
taining the sacred books of the Buddhists it is called
Pali ' row, series.' These Pali writings and records
are called ola books. This octagonal building, which
has the Kandyan crook-backed roof, is the same
that Dr. Trimen copied for the Thwaites memorial
in the Peradeniya Gardens. The views of and from
this temple are truly delightful, situated as it is
overhanging the moat and artificial lake, bordered
with open-worked stone balustrading of quaint
pattern, that gives charm and coolness to Kandy.
We went to the Court of Justice, where we
admired the old carved wood pillars, of the squared
tapering form so peculiarly Cingalese, with carved
capitals. The Kandyans of old had a genius for
carpentry. Thence we went to the bright and
pretty Pavilion Gardens, the private grounds of
CEYLON. 801
the Governor of Ceylon, now away on leave. Above
these gardens rise the densely-shaded hills inter-
sected with winding pathways, one of which is
called Lady Horton's walk, that lead to a summit
giving a fine view of Kandy and its charming
situation in a valley surrounded by hills of varied
outline ; the distant peaks blue with forests, the
nearer slopes broken and agreeably diversified, but
mostly green and smiling, and reflected in the glassy
lake. We wound up our promenade by going to the
pretty English church to hear a special Lent sermon
by the Archdeacon, a great friend of Dr. Trimen's.
We had a pleasant drive back to Peradeniya by
moonlight, the white road crowded by swarthy Cinga-
lese out enjoying the air, and still blacker Tamils who,
by their continual immigrations from Southern India,
have driven the Cingalese southward in the island.
We ate bread-fruit at dinner instead of potatoes.
It eats something like mashed potato, only more
insipid. Dr. Trimen took pains that I should taste
and try the various native fruits and vegetables ;
the monster pineapples, full of j uice, were the best
of any.* We took our coffee in the verandah,
where we sat talking of mutual friends and rela-
tions as we enjoyed the cool air and fire-fly-studded
shade. There were comparatively few fire-fiies, be-
cause of the unusual drought, also no reptiles. I
was glad of the latter, though it was another dis-
pelled illusion. I had read of the multitudes of cobras
in Ceylon, and I had seen none save the tame one
belonging to the conjuror in Colombo.
* Note C. Appendix.
302 CEYLON.
' We must bring you in a cobra to keep up the
credit of tbe country,' said my host. ' They always
know where to lay their hands on a cobra when
they want one.'
A few days ago a cobra crawled under Dr. Tri-
men's writing-table ; he told his ' boy ' to kill it when
it had crept under the matting. The ' boy ' slew it,
saying it was a low-caste cobra. They will not
usually kill cobras — though they are very easily
slain — as they are in some sort sacred animals.
They speak of the Director's dog as a high-caste
dog. The natives at once distinguish the differ-
ence of the caste of white people, and call an ill-
bred Englishman a pariah gentleman. The philoso-
phic Buddhist condemns caste distinctions. ' A
man,' he says, 'is whatever caste he makes himself
Deeds are the test of caste to the Buddhist, as birth
is to the Brahmin. The respectable father of a
family, whom Dr. Trimen calls ' boy,' or ' bhoy,' is
the principal servant in the house. I gather from
the Anglo-Indian dictionary that boy must be
an old Sanscrit word. A lad is called sraallo
boy.
Were it not for the insects, nothing could be more
delightful than to sit thus, at morn or dewy eve, in
the entrance porch, shaded by tatties and sur-
rounded by flowers of crimson hibiscus. ' That's a
nice bit of colour, plain red and yellow, none of
your gaudy colours.' The sand-flies — * poochies ' is
their name for troublesome insects of all kinds — do
not worry one so much while reading or talking
with a hand free, but once sit down to write or
CEYLON. 303
draw and they show themselves determined foes to
literature and art.
We are not so much troubled by mosquitoes — as
in Malaya, at least ; and leeches have not sought
my life : I have seen none. This, they tell me, is be-
cause of the dry weather, but I know a lady who
spent six months on a tea plantation in Ceylon with-
out finding a single leech. The men digging showed
me a queen white ant, a ' hen white ant,' the ' boy '
calls it. They have dug up an ants' nest, and the
natives eat the queen ants as a delicacy. The little
head and legs look so funny struggling out of that
enormous body. It suggests to one a little man en-
cumbered with a great position. Dr. Trimen says
it is very unpleasant when, after a shower of rain,
an ants' nest is disturbed'; the ants rise in a cloud
like smoke and come in myriads into the houses,
covering everything, and rise again, shedding their
wings like dew.
An old steel areca-nut cutter was brought round
to see if Dr. Trimen, who often buys curiosities,
would purchase it. They have no clue to the
reason of our likings, except that we like what is
old, and, the more apparently useless it is, the
better we seem to,like it. They must look upon us
as very daft. Whatever rubbish they have by them
they bring round to try to sell ; sometimes, as on
the present occasion, it happens to be the wrong
thing, and they depart melancholy and mystified.
The finely-wrought, silver-mounted native knives
are now becoming scarce. There is little of the
native engraved brass-work now to be had, but it
304 CEYLON.
can always be made to order ; and if they are not
hurried the natives will work it now as finely as
ever.
On Palm Sunday morning, after breakfasting at
six, we had a truly delightful drive into Kandy to
the first service, at a quarter-past seven, at the neat
and pretty church. The cool of the morning here
is the perfection of climate, and to me the whole of
the road is interesting, from the elegant entrance-
gates of the Botanic Gardens, shaded by a grove of
choice palms, near which the women of the village
are always sitting by the roadside with open
baskets of grain for sale to casual passers-by,
through the road bordered by strange trees which
are a continual delight to me, to the bright and
pleasant village suburbs of Kandy, where many
Portuguese customs and fashions in building still
remain, and houses with pillared fronts and lofty
steps up to our old-fashioned porticos- It is singu-
lar that while, as in Siam, many memorials linger
in Ceylon of Portuguese rule in words and local
laws, few or no traces exist of the Dutch settle-
ment here, except the coco-groves of the shore.
In Ceylon is seen the Aryan village life in all its
fulness. The head-man rules, and doubtless taxes
the people, and probably bullies them; but they
are less taxed than formerly. To them there is
otherwise little difference between our rule and that
of the native kings : they still have their paddy-
fields in common. The reason of this is that they
must all share in common the water-supply that
overflows their fields. The sowing of the rice
CEYLON. 805
in the flooded fields is perhaps one meaning of ' Cast
thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it
after many days.' One supply of water serves the
whole valley full of terraces. It is the one thing'the
natives are clever in, utilising the water-supply for
agriculture, and this they probably learnt of the
Arabs, who introduced the coffee, whose descendants
are the Moormen of the towns. A channel is dug
on each side of the field in case of an overflooding by
rain.
Rice for the priests' food is placed in bowls by the
wayside. They have such a strict vow of poverty
that even the yellow robe, their only possession, is
torn up and sewn again to make it valueless as a
piece of stuff. The Buddhist priest's yellow robe is
supposed to be woven, dyed, torn, and sewn up and
made all in one day. The superior priests often
Avear satin and fine silk robes ; they should not, as
silk cannot be obtained without destroying life, so
it is not lawful for the priests. They are supposed
to hold a palm-leaf fan before their face always, as
they may not look at anyone, especially not at a
woman. Like other priesthoods, they do not strictly
keep their rule.
We passed a very fat priest who did not look as if
he lived on the leavings of other people's rice. We
met picturesque groups carrying flowers and offer-
ings covered with white handkerchiefs to the temple,
and a procession of country people with temple
ofi'erings, young coco-nuts, palms, &c., accompanying
a priest from one village to another.
We saw some Siamese nuns : there is a colony of
X
806 CEYLON.
them here. I did not hear of these nuns in Siam.
After church we called on the Duke, who had given
up the idea of going to Nuwara Elya, fearing the
cold of its high elevation. Mr. Cobham has re-
turned from Nuwara Elya (City of Light.) He is
disappointed with it : ' Oh, dear no, it is nothing
near to Darjeeling.' The English love the place so
much because there they find the home-flowers, and
by their firesides they can almost fancy themselves
in England. Of course we did not yet want to do
that. Mr. Cobham finds Kandy more amusing.
As the Governor of Ceylon was away on leave,
there were no receptions and ceremonials, which
made life easier for the Duke, who wished to rest
and recruit quietly after the fatigues of Siam and
Malaya. The Kandyan chiefs, however, insisted on
welcoming him, and came to meet him at the Temple
of the Tooth in full costume of necklaces, and many
voluminous petticoats. Full dress takes this form
in Ceylon as well as in Europe. The Duke made
them a pretty speech, which Mr, Neville interpreted
perhaps prettier. They seemed to like it.
We went to Nata-dewali, formerly a Tamil
temple, now Bhuddist. This is a cluster of wooden
temples and white stone dagobas gathered in a grove
on the shore-side of the road by the lake. In the
temple precincts is a large bo-tree, planted origin-
ally as a slip from the sacred tree at Anurkdhapura.
The views all round the lake with its charming
island, on which are still some remains of the harem
of the native Kings of Kandy, and the varied temple
architecture grouped about its shores, afford a series
CEYLON. S07
of tempting scenes to the sketcher. Kandy abounds
in such scenery. We lunched at Mr. Neville's pretty
and charmingly-situated bungalow by the lake. He
has a perfect museum of Cingalese curios, antiquities,
and treasure of natural history. He is the editor of
the Taprobanian, a scientific and archaeological paper
full of connoisseurship, which he writes from cover
to cover. We sat down only three to luncheon,
though the Cingalese 'boy' laid the table for four,
according to their custom. Even if one person is
dining alone, they lay covers iov four. Dr. Trimen
had arranged a pic-nic in the gardens for the Duke
and his party, but the much-needed rain came down
and spoiled the day for us. However, his Grace
came out another day instead, and enjoyed the
grounds, hearing all about everything of interest
from the Director, and gaining, as he always tries to
do, hints for home improvements. The intelligent
peon who attended us is in the habit of conducting
people round the gardens. As he knows the
Director's guide-book oif by heart, people mostly
remark, ' What an intelligent guide, he knows the
names of all the plants !'
Dr. Trimen accompanied the Duke in a drive round,
by the now full and cafe-au-lait coloured river, the
Mahawelyganga, which surrounds the gardens on
all sides except the south, where they are bounded
by the high-road. This river, the largest in Ceylon,
the Ganges of Ptolemy's maps, is about one hun-
dred and fifty miles long, and falls into the sea at
Trincomalee on the east coast. The vignette views
from the gardens, of the river embowered in foliage,
x2
808 CEYLON.
are enchanting, especially that seen near the place
where we took our tea, where the Mahawely is
crossed by the satin-wood bridge of a single span ;
an enchanting view framed in light tresses of bam-
boo. 'Almost equal to Darjeeling, I fancy;' the
Duke glanced at Mr. Cobham.
There was a lovely moonlight after the rain.
Fire-flies hovered thickly about the large mango-tree
before the lawn, and the great bo-tree near the house
was a beautiful object, dropping showers of rain off
its pointed pendulous leaves quivering in the breeze,
while a multitude of fire-flies lit it up into a fountain
of luminous sparks.
Dr. Trimen one day ordered a chaise-a-porteurs
with four coolies to carry me to see some temples
at about six or seven miles from here. There
is a fine group of temples within a radius of
half-a-dozen miles or so. Gadaladeniya is the chief
one we are going to . see ; then if we have time, and
it is practicable, we shall see Lankatilakawihara,
called the most striking Buddhist temple. The
temples of Embekke and Wegiriya are within three
miles of these. We talked about the temples and read
about them in the guide-book, but I do not think
we really saw any of these, as there is such a muddle
with the names ; no two people call them alike.
At three o'clock the carriage came round and we
started for Galangoda (? Gadaladeniya). We drove
as far as we could, and then turned off to the by-
path where the coolies were waiting. They hoisted
my chair on their shoulders by long bamboo poles ;
I felt like the Pope must feel when thus carried.
CEYLON. 809
The uneven ground made it difficult to balance the
chair, and once they let me fall, chair and all;
luckily it was a piece of turfy ground where I fell,
and I was soon mounted again. The bearers were
Cingalese, who bore the bamboo-poles on their
shoulders, Tamils would have canned them on their
heads, thus I had the less far to drop. Fortunately
too for me, they did not spill me over into the newly-
sown paddy swamps, lying deep below the path.
A train full of coolies was once upset into the paddy-
fields, wbere they were nearly all suffocated.
On turning the angles of a dark frowning basaltic
rock, the white temple of Galangoda appeared as a
surprise. It is in style Indian Renaissance, quite
modern, and dazzling in the whiteness and newness
of its European-looking columns and mouldings.
It is built in two stories above the ground-floor,
which also is led up to by a flight of steps. There
is something to be learnt from the love of semi-
savage nations for the Renaissance, in white marble
or white-wash. Internally the nave, with its four
massive octagonal pillars and round arches, resembles
the crypt of a Christian church. It is painted in the
primitive colours and green, with figures and
patterns, thus : flesh unmitigated red, clothing
green or yellow, skies blue, trees green. There is
an ambulatory round this painted shrine.
A staircase, in the chancel, led to an upper
temple, to which they would not let us ascend
without taking off our shoes, a ceremonial that
Dr. Trimen has never known required during his
residence in Ceylon ; but here they made even the
310 CEYLON.
Governor of Ceylon take his boots off. I did not
mind, as in these warm climates it is a comfort to
take off one's shoes and walk on the stone pavement
in thin stockings.
The wall-paintings along the corridors are very
Byzantine in style and colour. The shrine of the
upper temple is very rich in costly treasures. The
fine gilt-bronze dagoba here protected by a strong
metal cage, was seen in the Kandyan portion of the
Ceylon court at the Colonial Exhibition. Candles
were lighted, that we might examine the jewels
and the very fine chased work in silver-gilt on the
dagoba within the cage, and the brass and silver
bo-trees growing by it, representing a grove. A
common green-glass ball (sacred, I presume, or else
representing the sun) is hung above these treasures
among the elegant golden lotus-flowers suspended
9,bove the dagoba, and spreading like a firmament
of spherical leaves and blossoms. Several small
figures of Buddha, in gold or silver, in the three
•positions — seated, standing, or reclining — are dis-
posed about. On the surrounding brass lamps are
figures of cocks. The ceilings are painted with
Buddhas seated in meditation. Near the shrine
are numerous life-sized figures in painted plaster.
,' This face belongs to a priest living now,' was said
of one of these figures, a portrait-model. Not
flattering, I should imagine.
We were able to converse mth the priests, as we
had the Director's ' boy ' with us, as well as the
intelligent peon. They showed us an ivory Bud-
dha, carved, they said, out of elephants' bones, and
CEYLON 311
a Burmese Buddha in white marble, looking very
different to any of the others — calmer, or, at any
rate, smoother.
Red lilies are chief among the floral offerings.
This again is unusual in a Buddhist temple. 'Plenty
books,' they tell us ; and show us some ola books
inscribed on papyrus of the talipot palm. The
wall-paintings in the upper-front corridor are amus-
ing. A central picture of elephants cantering up
Adam's Peak, with offerings to the foot-print, is
very comical, as are a series of scenes in the
Buddhist inferno : one of a victim having his teeth
taken out with red-hot tongs by blue-devils. There
is a great connection between tooth-ache and blue-
devils. Demon-worship, or propitiation of what
might do them harm, was the original superstition
in Ceylon, and still has a far greater hold on the
people than Buddhism. A black band painted
round the coco-trees is a charm against the evil
eye.
The different vices are variously treated in this
inferno. A hunting-man is being torn to pieces by
blue dogs. I suppose he is a type of cruelty : a
huntsman would naturally be held chief of sinners
by Buddhists. On the wall here is a picture of the
great precipitous rock outside this temple, and of
people leaping off the rock into lions' mouths. This
was explained to be Buddha giving himself to be
devoured by the starving tiger. If so, he had
followers, and tigers in his day had no stripes.
In a large side-chapel is a colossal reclining
Buddha, nineteen yards long. The figure is painted
312 CEYLON.
red. One calculation makes this Buddha forty feet
long. We measured it, and found it nineteen yards
long (fifty-seven feet). The walls of this large room,
which is nearly filled with the great red Buddha,
are painted all over with yellow-clad priests, each
bearing a flower for an offering. Strewn on the
long console below the gigantic Buddha were roses,
yellow bignonias, and red vallota-lilies, the blossoms
of the temple-tree, of course, and the areca fruit,
looking like green ears of some cereal.
Galangoda is the only two-storied temple that
Dr. Trimen has ever seen here. From a drawing
one would never guess what part of the world the
temple belonged to ; it is such a curious jumble of
whitewashed Renaissance and Hindoo, yet with a
difi"erence to both. Water flows from the tall, dark
rock which shelters the temple.
The Buddhist priests here, and our followers,
look on the Director and myself as extremely religi-
ous persons, who take a great deal of trouble to
visit the temples.
The Director, the intelligent peon, and the ' boy'
botanise all along the road. Our followers and
the country people here all know the names of their
plants ; so unlike our yokels, who can recognise few,
and others who know none. They call Dr. Trimen
' the great flower-master.'
There was another small temple, and a sharply-
pointed dagoba, situated likewise under a rock in
the valley below us, visible between the graceful
palms and slim stems of the areca-palrus spiring up
steep hill-sides ; and, farther on, we examined a
CEYLON. 313
small temple painted outside with life-sized ele-
phants. This is scarcely more than a way-side
chapel, though a great resort of pilgrims. Near
this latter temple is a newly-planted bo-tree brought
from Anuradhapura.
Lady-day is about the longest day here, or rather
just now are their longest evenings. To-day
(28th of March) it is daylight till nearly seven
p.m. The moonlight played beautifully on the
river, and on the pearly masses of cloud that had
hardly yet lost the rose-flush of sunset ; and, on
our road home, we could distinguish the gay colours
worn by a crowd of people surrounding a sacred
elephant, one belonging to the temple at Kandy : we
could even see its faint white markings. More than
usually exquisite was the view of the blue mountains
beyond the dark satin-wood bridge, and the olive-
hued reflections of the palm-groves by the river.
This delicious island has been a dream, an oasis
of rest.
I left Peradeniya early next morning, with a feel-
ing of more than thankfulness for the repose it
had been to me. Dr. Trimen accompanied me to Co-
lombo. We joined the Duke and his party at Pera-
deniya junction and journeyed down together. It is
seventy miles to Colombo, the rail a single line,
broad gauge six feet six inches. Cow-catchers are
attached to the engines ; they catch many cows, as
so many half-starving bullocks stray on the line.
We ascend a hundred feet and then comes a rapid
descent, an incline of one in forty-five for twelve
miles. Here we cross the water-shed, whence the
314 CEYLON.
Mahawely river flows down to the Bay of Trin-
comalee. The country is like a relief map as we
run along the dizzy verge of the Sensation Rock.
Yonder is a rocky peak on a hill, looking like a
Rhenish castle, this and the table-shaped mass
called the Bible Rock remain long visible, through
clusters of scarlet erythrina,aswewind round the hill.
' It doesn't stand the test ?' said we to Mr. Cobham.
' No, certainly not equal to Darjeeling.'
This damped us, but Dr. Trimen said that Dar-
jeeling, though grand, has only one view, while
Ceylon has a great variety.
'To look at the country from here,' Dr. Trimen
said, ' you might think it almost inhabited, but it
is one mass of little villages ; wherever you see that
white tree there is sure to be a house ; it is the oil-
tree. But now kerosine is hawked about through-
out the country : thus the local industries are dying
out everywhere.'
Except what Dr. Trimen gives unofficially, there
is little teaching afforded as to the use of many
of the native trees, nor encouragement to manu-
facture hitherto unknown articles. The Indian
forestry of&cials are rather red-tape-tied.
Tamil workmen were roofing a shed with platted
palm-leaves, the fringed edges forming a loose-looking
thatch. They use these coarsely-platted palm-leaves
for fencing, shading, and for rough baskets. There
are few other manufactures even of this inferior
kind. They are entirely an agricultural people.
Seeing no capacity among the people now-a-days
for manufactures, one marvels at the Kandyan
CEYLON. 315
carpentry in the Buddhist library and the Hall of
Justice in the former native capital.
Here at Polgawhela station is one of the few women
I have seen travelling about ; she wears a pretty
silver ornament in her hair, but this is of Indian
manufacture. Nearly all the names of the stations
are taken from trees. Pol is the coco-nut-tree.
Here are a lot of Salvation Army people wearing
red cotton shirts with yellow inscriptions, and red
turbans, salmon-coloured cotton skirts, and scarfs.
The costume is picturesque on a native, but the
English enthusiasts wear just the same, bare feet
and all. Other men in equally lively costumes
come round offering caroomba, young coco-nut.
' All your stations seem called the same name,'
says a griffin, Avho has heard caroomba cried at all
the stations.
They bring round pastry, too, made of wheaten
flour, which is always called American flour. This
is a thing quite unknown in the island, except near
the towns.
Dr. Trimen supplies all the gay station gardens
with flowers gratis. He is well-known along the
line, as, besides Peradeniya and the pretty pavilion
flower-garden at Kandy, he has the control of the
branch botanical establishments at Hakgala, a tem-
perate garden, situated at an elevation of five thou-
sand eight hundred feet, adapted to the cultivation
of European and Australian plants, and those of
tropical mountain regions ; at Anarddhapura, the
ancient capital of Ceylon, ninety miles north of
Kandy, possessing a dry climate with a short rainy
316 CEYLON.
season, suited to the growth of tropical plants and
crops that are intolerant of continuous atmospheric
moisture ; and at Henaratgoda, a steaming tropical
garden not far from Colombo.
The names of the stations are written up in
Cingalese, Tamil, and English. The Cingalese use
round, the Tamils square characters ; both read from
left to right, like all the Aryan languages. Here is
Mirigama, written mrgm, vowels, especially a, being
understood, the i's are combined with the conso-
nants. We fall to talking of philology ; each of us
has a nice little theory, of course, but it does not
agree -with the facts of the case.
The Tamil coolies have a system of names en-
tirely their own. If you lose your way it is no use
knowing the real name of the place you want to
find, as the Tamil names are entirely different. Mr.
Jones, say, opened an estate, these Tamil immi-
grants wiU call it Jonistohun, whereas it may now
be owned by a Mr. Smith, and the English owner
perhaps calls it Abbotsham. The stations are covered
with English advertisements.
What a wonderful garden it is all the way, and
just the same all the year round : a monotony of
richness ; only now the buffaloes are ploughing the
paddy mud. Here are the remains of former
cinnamon gardens, and here is the broad Colombo
river, the Kelaniganga, and here are fishermen,
wearing their very large thick hats. They are
above their knees in water for hours, and need to
have the head protected. It is intensely hot here
at the sea-level. Here is the fishermen's church :
CEYLON. S17
the fisher population round the coast are Roman
Catholics to a man. Their trade is scorned by the
Buddhists. They give to the church a tithe of all
the fish they catch. The Roman Catholic priests
here are mostly Italians.
To our surprise there was no one at the station
to meet us : but Dr. Trimen helped us to get a bul-
lock waggon, covered with platted palm-leaves, for
the luggage, and it was sent down to the quay under
the care of Bertha and Dark Charlie, travelling in a
carriage keeping it in view.
Dr. Trimen took me for a drive round Galle Face, by
the sapphire sea curling in on the sands with its fresh
sea-smells, on a smooth road shaded by bright green
lettuce-trees and the yellow hibiscus, called by the
English tulip-tree. We came in sight of the favourite
Mount Lavinia Hotel, and then drove round outside
the town by the cinnamon gardens, the plumbago
works, the breezy lake, and the road between groves
and gardens where the villas and bungalows of Eng-
lishgentlemen and rich merchants are mostlysituated.
The plumbago or graphite is the only mineral of
commercial importance exported from Ceylon. The
mining industry is entirely in the hands of the
Cingalese, who work it in a primitive fashion even
as deep as three hundred feet. This is the finest
plumbago in the world for crucible purposes, and
this valuable trade has sprung up entirely within
the last forty years.
Here in the East we do not feel as we often do on
the Continent that the English are ages behind
other nations.
318 CEYLON.
We sat awhile in the cool, covered pier waiting
for a boat to the yacht ; none being forthcoming, we
wondered whose business it was to look after the
harbour. The people here seemed only to want to
look on. The pier-master's business is ' to wallop
all these people and to loaf about.' The Duke's
letter to his steward had by some oversight not
been sent on board the yacht, so there was no one to
meet us and no boats were waiting. On our return
from bespeaking lunch at the hotel by chits for
' chickeny stew,' hashed chicken and ' hairy stew,'
jugged hare — Mr. Cobham being interviewed on the
way by people connected with the rival newspapers
eager to get copy from him — we heard a rumour of
his Grace being obliged to go out to his own yacht
in a casual catamaran.
' Forbid it, ye powers !' we exclaimed, and Dr.
Trimen used his knowledge of the language to avert
such a catastrophe. The casual catamaran would have
been named after the Duke of Sutherland at once.
We went to the hotel to tiffin. Dr. Trimen
seemed to know everybody, and we all met acquaint-
ances. One is sure to meet somebody one knows in
this Clapham Junction of the East. Herries and our
bos'un in dashing mufti passed through the hotel
corridor looking about them cool and critical as if
about to rent the premises ; ergo, Herries and the
bos'un were not on board. I went out and spoke
them returning. They were thunderstruck ! having
heard nothing of our coming. At once there was
a rush ; the boatswain flew off to his boats, Herries
became completely the steward again, and hurried
CEYLON. 319
off to buj' up all Colombo market and bring it off.
Meanwhile, instead of weighing anchor for England
at three o'clock as the Duke intended doing, we fell
a prey to all the pertinacious jewellers, and mer-
chants of moonstones, and ivory elephants, and
tortoiseshell catamarans in Colombo.
The yacht itself was in the lively condition of
being upset for cleaning : odours of soft soap
prevailed above the cinnamon breezes, and we all
fell over rolls of carpet. Dr. Trimen had been
invited to look over the yacht, and as a preliminary,
as Herries had the cabin-keys in his pocket, the
carpenter was called forward to unhang the deck-
house doors, and we boarded the ship burglariously.
We had just read a most flowery description of the
Sans Peur headed ' A Floating Palace of Delight,'
and — here was another illusion dispelled.
At sundown the steward appeared in command of
a broad native boat with his live-stock : two sheep,
six turkeys, myriads of fowls, baskets of eggs, fish,
fruit, and vegetables enough to have left Colombo
hungry many days after our departure.
We soon, perhaps too soon, got shipshape — foe
there was nothing left to grumble at, and for
example's sake one ought to be calm as a Buddha.
The most useful thing any of us bought at
Colombo was a pack of cards. This, after all the
crying up of Colombo as the place to buy choice
stuffs and curios in ! Never tell me of the East ;
London is the place of all others to do your shopping.
I have lost my reckoning of dispelled illusions by
this time.
320
CHAPTER XIII.
THE RETURN VOYAGE.
Summer redundant. Blueness abundant —
Beamy the world, yet a blank all the same.
Browning.
We dread the long return passage across the Indian
Ocean. We have tried it. It is a popular fallacy
that the world is small. It is not ; it is too big by-
far — at sea.
A long sea-passage is the opportunity for squaring
the circle, or doing anything that one has never yet
found time to do. We played patience with the
new pack of cards. From heat to heat the day
declined.
We sentimentalized over the outward-bound
Messageries steamer, and over our last glimpse of
India ; the distant ghauts half- veiled in pearl-lighted
clouds and grey by distance, which greys all life as
time does, and we are sailing forward into the
golden sunset — homewards, homewards — through a
sea blue as the sapphires of Ceylon. Tender rose
light, like a memory, hangs over the distance which
hides Ceylon itself, the isle of pearls and gardens.
The deep purple edge of the sea keen as a knife
THE RETURN VOYAGE. 321
along the bright still glowing cornelian colour of
the lower western ^ky. The western blaze flamed on
until the full moon rose behind us, a moon so bright
that it seemed literally to scorch us with its light.
We passed between the Maldives, the thousand
isles, very distant, and the nearer Laccadives to
starboard, very low and flat, like a thick black
line in the water, pointed with a lighthouse. This
near flat island is Minicon : we passed through the
eight degrees channel. Ah, the birds seen to-day
were inhabitants of these islands.
The natural history of these islets must be inter-
esting, rich with jetsam and flotsam from so many
shores, yet so isolated.
' In Maldive Islands, in the deep sea lies
A plant of sovereign power by waters fed,
Whose fruit strong poison's influence to prevent
Is held an antidote most excellent.*
Dinner was laid on a small table on deck in picnic
style, pleasant for us all. We made an institution
of this.
Good Friday : the minah bird died, and so did the
beautifully-coloured parrots that the Duke was tak-
ing home to her Grace. The mongoose, out without
leave one night cruising about the ship, frightened
the poor birds : this or a spell of rough weather
destroyed them, we scarcely know which.
The second cook made us hot cross-buns for
breakfast.
An immense shoal of fish is being pursued by
birds. Now they have sheered off and the fish are
* Camoens.
Y
322 THE RETURN VOYAGE.
splashing about very jolly, taking their morning tub.
This sea-travelling induces a curious mixture of
laziness and restlessness. Our diaries are chiefly a
meteorological record. Our chief sport, besides the
game of ' patience,' was playing with the monkeys.
The thrumming of the screw prevents writing,
except on one's lap, and there is little to write
about, and no post-office in reach for many a long
day. One's drawings, with the throbbing of the
screw and the bobbing of the ocean, suff'er a sea-
change into something very strange. It is a clear
drop down to the South Pole, so there is no scenery
to draw; besides which there is considerable motion
in the Indian Ocean: The clock is put back twenty
minutes each day, so hard are we running after the
untireable sun. It is too hot in the saloon to sit at
the piano, and the damp of Siam put it horribly out
of tune. The nights are long hours of lassitude and
heat, but, taking it altogether, we do not find the
return journey quite so trying as we feared. Though
we have used up the new books and are thrown
upon Shakespeare and Scott and the ' Sailing Direc-
tory,' ' patience ' is a powerful resource.
The first of April was Easter Sunday. We were
still at sea, day by day steaming westward into the
sunset. A flying-fish flew in at the Duke's port-hole
through the long ventilator and all, he deserved the
Queen's prize for the fine shot ; another flew through
Lady Clare's port right across to her wardrobe.
Poissons d'Avril. We called Mr. Cobham early to
come up and see the Sultan of Johore waving his
handkerchief to us from on board the Messageries
THE RETURN VOYAGE. 323
boat. He turned out eagerly and came on deck, and
heard it was the 1st of April.
We hunted up new clothes to wear, and bragged
of them, but things we had not yet worn had become
rare with us. We tried turning the faded side in,
but this was pronounced to be shabby and a subter-
fuge. We put on our Siamese hats.
The Duke had a showy blue tie, quite ducal and
neatly hemmed, bought at Colombo ; but then he
was a duke, and it is fitting that a duke should be
grand. We had a fine turkey for dinner ; we had
watched his fattening with interest, and we sang
Easter hymns in the saloon in the evening, with
Mr. Butters, Herries, the second cook, Charlie, and
one or two others to swell the chorus. Weather
permitting, the Duke always likes to have hymns on
a Sunday evening ; the hymns for Hospitals and for
Those at Sea from ' Hymns Ancient and Modern '
always conclude the singing, winding up with his
own favourite, that dreary, funeral hymn. No. 289,
' Days and moments quickly flying.'
The Southern Cross is bright to-night, the moon
rising late. I now see that the Southern Cross is
really a finer constellation than the two other
pseudo crosses on the right and left of it, which
bring to mind so vividly the three crosses of Calvary.
The sky is full of lightning, the sea of phosphor-
escence, among which the porpoises are illuminated
as if in lambent flame.
On the 3rd of April a beautiful white gull from
Socotra, Africa, or Arabia, tells us we are approach-
ing land. This is fortunate, as our eggs are getting
y 2
324 THE RETURN VOYAGE.
stale ; we have eaten the last of the fish, and when
the ice fails good-bye to the rest of our provisions.
We passed Socotra in the night,
' Socotra, which doth bitter aloes boast,'
but we still made out the lofty island in the mists
to the starboard as we came on deck. The ' Brothers '
islands were near us.
'That isle might well be one of the Greek
islands,' says the Duke, spying at the lofty, dim
and distant isle.
We are to see Cape Guardafui this afternoon.
How near home we seem now that we can almost
lay hold of Africa ! We made a good run of two
hundred and thirty-nine knots in the twenty-four
hours. Thermometer eighty-six in the deck-house
at breakfast and ninety-two at dinner.
On the 6th of April we were called early to see
the rocks near Aden. They are very wild and grand;
others thought the same, for the accordion-player
tuned up with ' They're all very fine and large,' and
played soothingly until called on to help drop the
anchor.
General Hogg, the governor, came off and invited
us to stay at Government House while the yacht
was coaling. We accepted gratefully ; we felt such
a longing to set foot on terra-cotta, as we correctly
called this baked and parched Aden. We were
thirsty for news.
There had been no fight between the Italians and
Abyssinians, and peace was being talked of. Though
the promised shops were in some measure a
delusion, few places have progressed in the course
THE RETURN VOYAGE. 825
of the Queen's jubilee so much as Aden ; at any rate,
as regards population. The number of inhabitants
was six hundred in 1837; ten thousand in 1859;
in 1888, with Socotra, forty thousand. Socotra has
a population of four thousand. Nothing is manu-
factured in Aden except salt and water ; condensing
the sea-water and dividing the salt from it.
Mr. Cobham and I took an open carriage and
drove to the ancient tanks, called after the Queen of
Sheba, up the long road, or volcanic mud-lane by
the sea ; then up to the fort where the road hewn
through the rocks is crowned by an archway, and
tunnelled underneath the fortified rugged mountain;
then down to the Arab town of Aden, invisible
from the harbour side of the settlement : a
thoroughly oriental populous town built in the
crater of the extinct volcano. Near this an avenue of
starveling tropical shrub leads to the Jubilee arch,
erected over the entrance to the enclosure of the
tanks, set in wildest scenery of lofty precipitous
crags and mountain peaks, down whose fissures
flows every trickle of rain-water when it falls, which
is seldom : gathering it in rills to the tanks which
are thus filled in three hours when it does rain.
There are two tanks connected by a sort of bridge,
and there are paved terraces with railings round
about the tanks at difi"erent levels ; thence pathways
led up among the stern grey precipices themselves,
rising seventeen hundred and seventy-five feet
high, and away into the roads beyond. The
tanks are enclosed in the plantation, which is
as much of a garden as the arid and scorching
326 TEE RETURN VOYAGE.
situation will allow. These tanks are said to be
capable of containing between eight and twelve
millions of gallons of Avater. The water was low
at the time of our visit, as rain had not fallen for
many months.
The Governor in speaking jokingly of his poor little
plantation, for which earth had to be brought from So-
cotra, as there is hardly a spoonful of earth naturally
in Aden, said it had already made some difference in
the climate, for whereas rain used only to fall once
in two years now it falls as often as twice in three
years : the percentage of difference, when one thinks
of it, is considerable. Once in every two or three years
five inches of rain will fall in one day, and then the
tanks are filled. As the other water of the place,
with the exception of two good wells, is mostly brack-
ish, condensers are constantly at work producing
the main supply. All the water is carried up to
Government House in skins by bheesties. This is
why it is so warm in the baths. These tanks, with
the surrounding shrubbery and shaded seats, make
a pleasant resort for the Adenites in their evening
walks ; but we could not stay long to enjoy it, as it
was getting dark, and we had three quarters-of-an-
hour's drive back.
The mountains looked very weird in the dusk,
their gloom contrasting with the many-lanterned
and busy Arab town of Aden, with dark figures in
all hues of oriental costume flitting about among the
flaring links and lanterns of the street stalls, the
fiery sunset glow still touching the surrounding
grey fantastic crests mth flame. The town lies so
THE RETURN VOYAGE. 327
completely in a basin, that all round it rise these
rigid sentinels of the natural rocky fortification. This
ancient city was formerly, in the eleventh, twelfth,
and thirteenth centuries, a great centre of trade be-
tween the east and west. Green sandstone is the
principal building material. It was pitch-dark
before we got back to Government House, which is
situated on a hill on the opposite side of the rocky
peninsula. We were guided in our drive by the oil
lamps placed at regular intervals along the shore
road. The bungalow looked very cheery and com-
fortable, as we arrived from the outer darkness, with
its yellow pillared vestibule and abundant colour of
rugs and pictures ; an agreeable mingling in the fur-
niture of the colouring of the east, and the comfort
of the west. I was given a nice large room with
bath-room, dressing-room, and shaded verandah to
lounge in.
We were a pleasant little party of ten at dinner ;
but in the midst of dinner a telegram was brought
to the General that young Mr. Ingram, who had
lately started from here with a shooting-party in
highest health and spirits, had been killed by a
furious rogue-elephant on the Somali coast. This
sad news cast a gloom over the evening.
We amused ourselves, before the ten o'clock break-
fast, with looking through General Hogg's mas-
terly and interesting sketches of Aden, Socotra, and
elsewhere, and chatting with a general officer and
his daughter just arrived from India in a mail
steamer, during whose stoppage of a few hours they
came up to see their old friend the Governor of
328 THE RETURN VOYAGE.
Aden. Such visits as these are constant, and cer-
tainly do alleviate what would otherwise be a ter-
rible banishment in a scorching climate.
The General kindly caused ostrich feathers, boas,
baskets, curtains, Persian carpets, &c., to be brought
up to Government House for us to see, and we
made several purchases in this delightfully easy
manner. The patterns of Persian carpets are made
irregular as a defence against the evil eye ; as
Chinese city gates are built in a curve or zigzag in
order that the evil spirits may not enter. These
spirits can only move in a straight line. This may
be the origin of the promiscuous character of
Japanese ornamentation. There is a good deal of
trade between Aden] and the Persian Gulf.
I walked down the cliff paths to the beach,
formed in great measure of broken coral, to collect
shells, when the sun went down sufficiently to
make investigation tolerable. As I took the shells
out of my pocket on my return some of them
walked away, rather startling me : they had a sort
of hermit crabs inside. A great variety of shells
come abundantly into Aden from May to September
mth the south-west monsoon.
A dinner-party of twenty-five was given this day
in honour of the Duke; the dining-room cooled by
punkahs and large, coloured palm-leaf fans. There
was a dance afterwards, with a good many ladies,
most of them pre tty young married women. The army
oflScers wear white linen round jackets, with broad
red or blue silk waistbands, and white trousers.
This looks very nice in a ball-room, and sets-off
THE RETURN VOYAGE. 329
the ladies' dresses, which are very often of black
lace, to advantage, more so than do the scarlet
uniforms.
The band played loudly but well for the dancing ;
the ball closing just before midnight, as it was
Saturday, with ' God save the Queen.'
It is a drive of eight miles to the camp. The
struggle for carriages v^ent on for some time after
we had retired to our rooms. Everything was audi-
ble through the cane-trellised verandahs, faced with
matting. There are plenty of parties, sports, races,
&c., given in Aden, as alleviations of life; allevia-
tions only too necessary in a station where the mean
temperature of the hot weather is 96°, and the mean
of the cold weather 82°.
The promontory of Aden is connected with the
mainland of Arabia by a low, sandy isthmus, beyond
which one sees the arid chain of hills of Yemen.
In 1858, this isthmus was between two and three
hundred yards wide ; but, in 1808, it was covered
at each spring-tide, this being one of the instances
of recession of water from the Arabian coast. Aden
has experienced many vicissitudes, fluctuating with
the rise and fall of adjacent countries. It may be
considered an eastern Gibraltar, and is yearly rising
in importance and usefulness. The remains of its
ancient defences proclaim of what importance this
place has been.
It is naturally a very strong place, and rifles and
heavy guns on its numerous ridges and cones would
keep an enemy, at bay, who would find no shelter,
nor means for counter-works. The camp at Aden
830 THE RETURN VOYAGE.
is situated on some table-land above the sea-level,
and surrounded by the irregular mountains, near
the gate which commands the passage to the main-
land. Few of the officers are kept here longer than
a year.
The Arabian export trade in coffee is mostly from
Aden, Mocha having dwindled into a mere name.
Numerous articles of the materia medica are ex-
ported from here. Fever prevails at the changes
of the seasons, principally quotidian intermittent.
Small-pox and scurvy are the chief diseases of Aden,
though no scurvy appears in the jail, unless when
it takes the intensified form of the allied disease
called beriberi. For an Asiatic station, it is con-
sidered uniformly healthy for Europeans. Phthisis
is very rare, but patients who have come here for the
change have mostly died. No vegetables are grown
in Aden, and its flora is limited and meagre;
it is principally dependant on the mainland of
Arabia and on Bombay for its supplies. Amongst
the quadrupeds at Aden are those of burthen, of
food, scavengers, and the usual companions of
civilization. The horse, the ox, sheep and goats,
camels and dromedaries. The sheep have large
tails and drooping ears. Foxes and hyenas roam
the hiUs ; the foxes are of silvery colour. Dogs,
cats, and rats are very numerous, and, I have
heard, do not molest one another ! Various kinds
of kites are seen on the look-out for offal, and gulls
of small size skim the water ; poultry is plentiful
in the market. Of edible fish there is a great
variety, plentiful, and fairly good. There are crabs,
THE RETURN VOYAGE. 331
rock-oysters, and crawfish. The reptiles here are
lizards and some snakes. The wood here used as
fuel is the potash plant or ' lana.'
From Arabia is procured ' gowaree,' a cereal
largely consumed by the natives, and on which
horses are fed. It is as highly stimulating as w^heat.
The native population is said to be the refuse of
India and Africa. The Somali men are generally
very tall. The Jews at Aden appear the most
degenerate of the brotherhood ; they are the street-
hawkers of ostrich feathers.
We greatly enjoyed our three days' refreshment
at Aden. We left on Sunday at noon, the Governor
coming oiF to the yacht with us, and saying ' Good-
bye ' as we raised our anchor. A pleasant, genial
man, and a capital host. His cheerfulness in the
monotony of a station of this sort, where his vice-
regal position only renders him the more lonely, is
a proof of the value of such a resource as sketching ;
it fills his solitude with such interest, and his ex-
cursions to the mainland have a double charm. As
the Governor sits at his desk doing his official writ-
ing, he is fanned the while by a tall black servant
in white, flowing drapery, with a very large painted
palm-leaf fan. This tall Somali, seen against the
large white columns of the room, is a perfect picture.
We enjoyed a finely-clouded sunset over the chain
of the Arabian hills of the Mocha coast, in all tones of
grey and purple on the craggy mountains, these look-
ing like waves petrified in the act of breaking, but
very lofty as they rose one behind the other in what
seemed an infinity of mountain desert. Arab dhows
332 TEE RETURN VOYAGE.
sailing by us, with tteir broad lateen-sails touched
blood-red with the sun.
The islands of Zukur and Zubayir, with a chain
of islets between them, were our next scenery, as
night made us miss the Straits of Babelmandeb,
with fortified Perim. The whole of the sea round
the yacht was enlivened by an immense shoal of
sharp-nosed dolphins of all sizes, leaping and bound-
ing, mostly in pairs, leaping out of a wave together,
in the blue freshening sea. They all fled before a
cast of Mr. Butters' harpoon. The dolphins came
again next day, in the roughish sea, but not in quite
such large numbers. Again they fled before the
harpoons.
The tamest of sunsets for our last night in the
tropics ; sky warm grey, sea cool grey ; only this,
only this. A popular fallacy indeed is that legend
of the gorgeous sunsets of the East. Colour abides
in the northern skies. The Southern Cross still
well above the horizon in a misty calm. Longer
twilight now, I could read till nearly seven o'clock.
On the following evening we passed close to St.
John's Island, on the Tropic of Cancer, and another
islet, a steep and a flat holm, and behind them the
mountains of Berenice in Africa. I could only see
three stars of the Southern Cross to-night : it was
like quitting a friend. The wind rose suddenly as
we entered the Gulf of Suez, and we could see
neither coast. It often rushes violently down the
ravines of the Gulf of Akabah. Old Indians return-
ing home call this breeze the morning and evening
doctor. The sea grew rough and a sand-storm filled
THE RETURN VOYAGE. 333
in both horizons ; we only heard the hissing of the
waves as the cold wind rose, and we put on speed to
get into port the sooner. Lo, the storm as suddenly
cleared and the waves at once began to fall, and
they laid the dinner-table without the fiddles. Even-
ing cast a rich plum-coloured bloom over the Egyptian
mountains bathed in a solemn splendour of tawny
sunset all subdued and very harmonious. We had
several of these sudden squalls and changes in going
up the Gulf of Suez, but at no time could we get a
glimpse of the Arabian coast and Mount Horeb. The
thermometer stood at 72° at the warm end of the
deck-house, and we put on warmer dresses, putting
away what Herries called our ' valuable dresses all
of mosquito curtain.'
Oh, the packing for Cairo and the packing-cases 1
'I've been thinking that them's some of his
Grace's coats,' sighs pensive Chippy, wondering
which packing-cases he had to screw down for
England, and what we wanted to eat, drink, and
wear.
A red buoy not marked in the chart puzzles
our navigators. It turns out to be adrift ; we
must report it at Suez.
We stayed over Sunday at Suez, anchored oppo-
site a square building that we called Staflford House.
The sea a glorious colour, azure, violet, and peacock-
green. Since we were here they have called one of
their donkeys Duke of Suthei'land, and one after
Lord Stafford.
' Is that a compliment ?' we asked.
' They meant it kindly,' said Herries, seriously.
334 THE RETURN VOYAGE.
Rupee meets florin at Suez : the same sized coin,
but what a difference in the nominal value !
We went to Cairo by train, the yacht being sent
through the canal to meet us at Alexandria. Siam's
streets shine compared with those of Suez ; and
the Siamese people are much more cleanly. The
Suez people look as if they had never been taught to
wash, not even in sand.
Dazzling desert bounded by the blue belt of
canal, the Bitter Lakes intensely sapphire in their
setting of burning sand, with here and there
a few dark palm-trees, and by them shadoofs at
work ; the mirage making April fools of us on the
other side. Malay houses are far superior to these
sand-hovels ; but how far better than the Wat Sakh^t
and cremation-grounds is the tiny neat cemetery
where the rude forefathers of the mud hamlet sleep.
Ismailia junction and patches of j^ellow barley
increasing in size and number. Is it cemetery or
ruins that we see at Tel-el-Kebir ? It is the ruins
of houses, with the square window openings left.
There is a neat large cemetery outside.
Wherever the desert is eaten away into a de-
pression there is moisture at once and palms
spring up. The desert is always higher in level
than the cultivated plain. There is water hereabout,
and black earth with rich, varied cultivation and
cattle and buffaloes. White ibises are seen in flocks ;
palms and sycamore, terebinth and caroub-trees,
and ripening harvests ; flax cut and laid in rows to
soak ; emerald verdure of ' persim ' in fields and
vegetables grass-packed in crates at the stations
THE RETURN VOYAGE. 335
cogged water-wheels with strings of jars ; white-
domed welys and mud-hovels, some square, some
beehive-shaped.
Zagazig has much increased since 1 was here
before. It is quite a large town with pretty minarets.
Red fezzes are universally worn, and costumes varied
in fashion and fulness, but all the upper garments are
cut V-shaped in front, whether white or blue shirt or
black abba.
For all the round mud-hovels and the rubbish-
heaped roofs to the square ones, Egypt looks more
prosperous and happy, less ground down than in
the days of Ismail. The Zagazig cemetery is in a
desert patch. Here the patches only are desert,
oases or islets of desert. The Pyramids ! Though
forty centuries look down upon us, bunches of
roses, ever fresh, pink and young, are given to us. As
the Indian song says : ' Tazeh b'tazeh. No beh no.'
('Fresh and fresh, new and new').
Here are lateen sails on the Nile, and here is Mr.
Wright, the Duke's secretary, with the ■ courier to
welcome us. We drive to Shepherd's Hotel. It
feels like being at home again. The Duke is hailed
by a friendly voice (slapped on the back really).
' How are you, dear old fellow?'
' You here, Charlie ! Dine with us.'
' I will.'
Yes, indeed, we are next door to home. This is
the Earl of D . He is jolly, and entertains us
with European talk and cheery stories at dinner in
the Duke's private sitting-room, filled with bowls
of Marshal Niel roses. It is quite the season of
336 THE RETURN VOYAGE.
roses here ; we shall follow the roses all the way
home.
Lord D told us with great spirit of how Val
Baker Pasha went off with him once on a long chase ;
General Baker's object being to ' catch Sam ' (Sir
Samuel) on his way to the south ; and how they
gave chase and at length succeeded in 'catching
Sam.'
There was plenty of the latest English news to
tell, and it made it all the pleasanter hearing it
well told.
337
CHAPTER XIV.
EGYPT.
Fool ! why journeyest thou wearisomely, in thy antiquarian fervour,
to gaze on the stone pyramids of Geeza, or the clay ones of Sacohara ?
These stand there, as I can tell thee, idle and inert, looking oyer the
desert, foolishly enough, for the last three thousand years: but canst
thou not open thy Hebrew Bible, then, or even Luther's version thereof ?
Sartor Resartus.
Cairo to-day is like an oriental Paris in miniature
in this new Frenchified quarter. The long Boule-
vard Mehemet Ali now leads to the old, familiar
citadel, where the fresh-faced English sentries and
civil non-commissioned officers are a symbol of the
best security for the continued tranquillity of Egypt.
We gazed on the view of the pyramids from the
saluting battery, and the closely-packed, crowded
city roofs, and the domes of the city of the dead
caliphs in the desert. It is a tradition that the
pyramids were built in an apprehension of. the
destruction of the city of Memphis by inundation,
that some day a great wave of overflow must come
from the Nile. How closely past and present are
linked in the view from the battery ; the distant
pyramids, invested with all the poetry of mystery
and all the teeming associations of Napoleon's forty
centuries, and a cannon, and the telegraph in the
foreground.
338 EGYPT.
It is pleasant to see the English soldiers up here
in the citadel, and little English boys playing
cricket after a fashion. This makes English domin-
ation in Egypt appear more an established fact than
if there were many more regiments at a distance.
The soldiers look healthy and in good spirits. The
cheerful sight of these English soldiers on the
citadel is the explanation, the true cause of the
increased prosperity, happiness, and freedom of the
fellahin. It is no imaginary improvement.
The Egyptian army is furnished with the S]pin|ider
rifle. The origin of this was thus : Ismail sent
for Schneider to come to Cairo — meaning Madame
Schneider the singer, — and sent her a ring. The
telegraph people sent the telegram to Schneider the
gun-maker, who came, expecting an order, but mysti-
fied about the ring. Ismail sent a message that if she
would have a bath and refresh itself — this is a little
mixed, but all the more natural to a German — that
he would come and see her. The Khedive on be-
holding him — the bathed and refreshed gunmaker
— was somcAvhat taken aback ; but he felt obliged
to give him an order for having had him over to
Cairo.
The tall-walled mosque of Touloun and others are
more crumbling than they were of old, but glad-
dening to the memory still. Nothing is ever re-
paired in Egypt, any more than in Siam. The
labyrinth of bazaars are unchanged, the pyramids
are changeless, so I need say no more about them ;
but the ostrich-farm was new to me, and it may be so
to some of my readers. It is on the road to Heliopolis,
EGYPT. 889
which road, beyond the barracks and the tamarisk-
groves, planted to screen Cairo from desert invasion,
is itself lined with villas and otherwise changed out
of knowledge. We approach a narrow gate beyond
a slight, frail bridge : it seemed as if our carriage
must break it down, and precipitate us into the
ditch filled -with bricks made of the Nile mud
below. Here is the entr(^e to the farm, admission
two shillings each person. This is entirely an
Egyptian concern, managed and worked by natives.
There are ostriches six months old in the first pen,
these are still chickens. Those in the second pen,
at seven months old, look full-grown, but they ai'e not
plucked; these are for the most part black ostriches
with white points. Then comes a pen of four-year-old
birds. These plucked birds have a very comical
appearance, but they look healthy and no less com-
fortable than shorn sheep. A very few short feathers
are left on. The birds are fed on biscuit something
like ship's biscuit, the empty tins of which are piled
hard by. Our pockets were filled with this hard
biscuit, with which we fed a pen of three months'
old chickens, and then we mounted to the gazabo, a
sort of master's eye, commanding a view of the
whole farm — a useful notion for most farms — and
the view round Matarieh and Heliopolis. On the
desert side two camels with their drivers were walk-
ing away to Suez, a dreary march. The river, or
palm-tree side of the view is more cheerful, with its
domes, minarets, and village roofs half hidden away
among the palm-trees, and here and there the bend
of a lateen sail by which one traces the line of the
z2
340 EGYPT.
Nile. The obelisk of Heliopolis is concealed by
clumps of trees. The Egyptian palm-trees look
coarse and clumsy after the cocos and the slender
graceful arecas. The date palm stems here look like
stone rather than fresh vegetable stalks, they are so
dusty.
Then we were shown the incubating house, kept
warm, but there is no thermometer to measure the
temperature. The eggs take forty-five days to
hatch, in drawers above a hot-water tank. ' Water
ver' hot, nearly boil water,' but they could not tell
the precise temperature. The eggs felt warm to
the hand. In a dark door there is a hole cut for
testing the eggs, which should look translucent and
of a clear apricot colour; the bad eggs are clouded
or opaque. Two hundred chickens are hatched
here every year. The bad eggs are blown and
sold at four shillings each. They keep the pens
all dry and sandy. Ostriches live in the desert, so
they make it like the desert, which is easy enough
here.
The stock of three hundred birds consumes
twenty boxes of biscuit a day at one shilling a box,
less than one penny a day for each bird. Each
ostrich thus costs about thirty shillings a year to
feed. I did not hear of their being fed on iron
nails, buttons, and general rubbish to invigorate
their digestions.
The produce of each bird is one oke or two
pounds and three-quarters, valued at twenty-five
pounds sterling each bird. The profits seem large,
but we do not know what risks there are ; we could
EGYPT. 341
hear of none, and the market seems pretty steady.
Few people seem to be employed, and wages are not
high ; nor can rent be high at that distance out of
Cairo, for it is only desert or nearly worthless land ;
the plant is not expensive, nor the farm-buildings
costly.
They have an office on the farm where feathers are
sold, very shabby ones at ' two bob ' apiece. We
thought of the beauties we bought at Aden and
Massowah, and scorned these specimens, and despised
a few dyed, dressed, and expensive plumes on the
counter. I suppose the good crop is all sold to the
regular merchants, and it is chiefly a wholesale
business. The Virgin Mary's Tree and the obelisk
of Heliopolis were familiar to all of us.
The Boulak Museum has been greatly enlarged of
late years ; it contains an extremely fine collection
of Egyptian antiquities. Most enjoyable is it to sit
awhile in its garden, among the silent statues by the
Nile with its lateen sails and palm-fringed banks.
Here we regretfully said good-bye to Mr. Cobham,
who now left us for his government at Cyprus. He
had been a pleasant companion, and, besides being
an accomplished agreeable man, he was always a
walking guide-book among the works of art and the
architectural objects of interest in the towns.
We had several cloudy and even showery days
during the week we stayed in Cairo, and, though
late in April, 'it was chilly. We went out bazaaring
a good deal, and enjoying the fun of donkey-back.
The Duke is cut out of the shopping, for, as Lord
D says, ' If " Staf " came, it would spoil all the
3i2 EGYPT.
bargains.' An earl would seem next door to a duke
to be overcharged, but Lord D says tbey tried
on with him at first and now they find it is no use.
Besides, he speaks Arabic too well, that is, their sort
of Arabic. However, the Duke beat us all in the end,
for Parvis, at the great curiosity-and-cabinet-work
shop, (that is tucked away behind the butcher's
bazaar and the fruit-market) gave his Grace a fine
baksheesh. He admired a vase. ' It is yours,' said
Parvis, and had it put in a packing-case immediately
along with the things the Duke had bought.
We came home to put down our things, and then
the whole stafi" went ofi^ in a procession of three car-
riages to see the twirling dervishes, a curious per-
formance. A dozen-and-a-half or so of men in
■white full skirts, white cloth jackets and tall white
felt tarbooshes, twirled with arms extended, the
right palm turned up, the left hand turned down.
One of them had a most comically sanctified ex-
pression as he leaned his head on one side and
turned up his eyes, the others were more business-
like. A few twirled in the centre and the rest
twirled round them, two priests in black keeping the
outer circle filled evenly at regular intervals. Then
the dervishes crossed their arms over their breasts
and bowed, an aged priest in a brown dress and
blueish turban intoning some verses of the Koran and
keeping time : they walked past him and then began
to twirl as before ; this was repeated several times.
The ladies of the harem looked on from a latticed
gallery above, and music of tom-toms and fifes went
on in another gallery.
.EUYPT. 3i3
One can only conjecture meanings for this curious
ceremony, and wonder if David's dancing before the
ark was anything like this. To think that this has
been going on every Friday for centuries in Moslem
lands is a great mysterj'.
After staying here a short while, we left this
round mosque, through the walled and vine-trellised
passages by which we had entered, and drove on a
long way in the outskirts of the city to see the
howling dervishes, a still more extraordinary per-
formance. Seats were set for us round a floor of
matting on which was laid a circle of sheep-skins,
brown and white. At first there were but few
dervishes, uttering prayers and cries, calling on
the name of Allah, and making swaying move-
ments, but their number increased gradually to
about two dozen, surrounding a priest in a long
white cloth garment, a very good-looking man, who
chiefly stood in front of what might be called the
' mirhab,' or holy place. Many of the dervishes had
green turbans; most of them, but by no means all,
looked as if they lived on charity. There were
many movements of the performance, each one as
it proceeded being worked up to a rapid and excited
pitch. Loud breathings, uttered first to the right
hand then to the left, getting louder and more
stertorous as the men were urged on by the priest
in the centre, or by an elder who sometimes took
his place. Another priest in white chanted verses
from the Koran in a wild shrill cadence of roulades
and jackal-like utterances, to which the circle of
dervishes either groaned, or roared, or harshly
34-1 EGYPT.
whispered a burden of accompaniment interspersed
with shouts, yells or shrieks, many of these coming
from some quite small boys who also worked busily
in the dervish circle. Then the men divested them-
selves of their upper garments, which were received
by an elder who laid them aside ; they let down their
shaggy hair from under their turbans — some of the
dervishes wore it quite long like women. Most of them
took oiF their turbans or tarbooshes and gave them to
the elder, retaining the white skull-cap, others having
only their shaggy hair, which they tossed wildly
backwards and then forwards over their faces in the
energetic succession of deep bowings, groaning
meanwhile, or making unearthly sounds in all
manner of wild play with the lungs. One beggar-
dervish, looking like a maniac, was frightfully active ;
a young man in sulphur-coloured silk garment looked
as if he must become insensible with his exertions ;
some of them took no such trouble, but one wild
creature in a striped gown when on the point of
having a fit, was supported in his place by those on
either side of him.
I never saw any act of worship or form of devo-
tional ceremonial half so extraordinary as this.
Tambours, cymbals, and tom-toms were played to
encourage the men to yet wilder frenzy ; then, at
the moment when it seemed they must drop or die,
the whole movement would suddenly cease. One
very curious movement was swaying sideways to a
succession of tones sung or howled in a chromatic
scale, closing, when they could shriek no higher,
with a wild scream. At the close of all, the chief
EGYPT. 345
priest put on a black gaberdine instead of or over
his white one, and he gave them the kiss of peace
or else shook their hands, which they kissed and
raised to their foreheads ; then they, and we all, de-
parted, baksheesh being given at the doors by the
various couriers and dragomans of the spectators.
Extremes meet : perhaps the nearest thing I have
seen to the performance of the howling dervishes is
Signor D 's pianoforte playing. Swing, swing,
u]j and down, thump, thump perpetually ; like chop-
ping suet. When human nature could hold out no
longer, the audience clapped and — encored him.
We climbed to our carriages up the broken road
deep in the dust of demolitions, for they are con-
structing a new quarter here, and hills of cut chaiF
quarried for the food of horses and donkeys. We
drove to the hotel to lunch, rest, and wash before
going to the races, which are very like races else-
where. It is a capital race-course at Gezireh. Lord
D was very busy on the ground as starter, &c.,
and a lot of celebrities came to chat with us, includ-
ing Mr. Cope Whitehouse, the inventor of the
Libyan lake scheme for irrigating the entire area of
cultivatable land in the Nile valley and the Delta.
He has discovered a deep depression in the desert,
which, he said, would make a lake with a surface
considerably larger than the Lake of Geneva, and
two hundred and fifty feet deep. This he proposes
to fill from the enormous excess of the Nile which,
even in the worst seasons, escapes into the sea, and
which, if stored, would fertilize a quantity of land
only partially and occasionally cultivated, or wholly
346 EGYPT.
neglected, amounting to over three millionacres.
He explained to us his scheme for forming a lake
and canal, or river with sluice-gates, in the Libyan
desert, to fill the lake when there is a very high
Nile, and to supply Egypt with water for irrigation
when there is a very low one. There will be reserve
force no end for electrical purposes, and every
possible benefit to the country. The enthusiastic
projector carries one away with his beliefs, if not
by his arguments, almost as much as Jules Verne
does. Many gentlemen we spoke to think Mr. White-
house's scheme quite feasible, but they prefer to
think of drainage before any new irrigation proposal.
The following may give an idea of Egyptian morals.
An Egyptian gentleman of high position was turned
out of the English club in Cairo for cheating at cards ;
he had a card up his sleeve. The Egyptians only said,
' Poor fellow, perhaps he could not have won in
any other way.' Robbing the public by embezzling
shareholders' money is still more easily excused.
I went alone to the mosque of Mehemet Ali, and,
alas ! destroyed an illusion I seemed to remember
of translucent golden colour and warm light most
exquisite. The lofty dome, large carpets, and clear
glass lamps are still striking, but there is no high
art, and where is the luminous golden glow ? Lost
with my own youth and youth's wonderment, I
suppose. Moral: Beware how you return to look
upon a remembered loveliness. You will lose it
for ever. It is only things of the highest beauty
that will stand this test !
We daily had Nubar Pasha or other notabilities
EGYPT. 347
about US or dining with us. The Khedive himself
called while his Grace was out. He offers his own
vice-regal saloon for the Duke and his party to
travel in. We are invited to lunch on board the
Peninsular and Oriental steamer Gwalior on our
arrival at Alexandria on Monday morning.
On Sunday I went to the pretty English church
here. The Duke tells me he laid the foundation-
stone of this church a good many years ago.
The shops near here, and many others, are shut,
and there is generally a nice Sundayfied feeling
about Cairo. The manager and the visitors' ser-
vants in the hotel sit under the trees and awnings,
and in the open vestibule in front of the hotel. The
lower shrubs in the garden are coated, almost caked,
with dust, but the bright green acacias and other
leaves, reared high above the dust's influence, are
fresh and beautiful. Most people are out driving.
The street carriages almost all have pairs of horses ;
the khavasses still dress in Greek costume, with
white, flowing sleeves and full white flowing skirts.
I am glad Lord D is to accompany us to
Alexandria, he is so full of fun.
Luigi, the manager, was just now scofling at Lord
D 's portmanteau. ' What a shabby box, just
like a German governess's !' He turned, and there
was Lord D laughing over his shoulder. Luigi
was the most discomfited of the twain.
Nubar Pasha was at the station to see the Duke off,
and Monsieur Salandino, the banker, gave us ladies
large and lovely bouquets of roses.
Our grandeur makes the villages of brown huts
348 EGYPT.
with palm-trees like brooms sticking up in them
seem all the poorer ; but there are orchards and
ripe corn, and these people have always the wealth
of a golden land and sapphire sky. Alas ! for our
own poor cockneys !
Of course we, in our select isolation, have no
chance of doing more than look upon the Alexan-
drian belles and the dark-eyed women, with their
black veils and blue outer dresses, who flutter about
the stations, and hear what life in general has to
show in the other portions of the train. We, on
our 'pedestal where we grow marble,' can only hear
and see the outside laughter and the fun of travel
— without participation. The Duke himself some-
times gets a bit of amusement out of travelling.
Once, as he was standing on the door-step of his
own saloon-carriage at the station, a bagman saun-
tered up, and entered into chat.
' Nice carriage this. Whose is it ?'
' Mine,' said his Grace, naturally.
' Gammon !' said the questioner, laconically.
You see, the Duke had not got his stars and
garters on.
The fellahs preferred the old way of being taxed ac-
cording to their crops, rather thanourplan of an equal
annual taxation. Our way is best for the land and for
the revenue, but not so favourable to their laziness.
Egypt is still what it was in Joseph's time, a great
corn-field and onion-bed. It is enlivened by white
ibises, yoked buffaloes, camels in strings, cows, asses,
grey-backed crows and blue-gowned labourers. There
is a great fair at Tantah.
EGYPT. Sjg
' These Zouaves in light blue, with yellow trim-
mings and red fezzes, are General Baker's men,'
said Lord D ; ' and here is Said Pasha's bridge,
that he had cut and then sent a carriage-load of
his obnoxious relations over it, and tumbled them
into the river.'
The Duke (who loves machinery of all sorts)
justifies the use of these steam water-wheels against
all our clamour of 'But where is the picturesque?
Where the immemorial past ?' These light, airy
things are being dusted out by utilitarian civiliza-
tion, as they dusted out this railway-carriage with
feather-brooms. But the bee-hive and manure-
roofed hovels still remain as unsavoury as ever,
neither swept out nor swept away.
Damanhoor is a big, populous place ; a fair is going
on here too. The pomegranate-trees are in blossom,
and plantains grow, though shabby and blown to
ribbons by the high wind. There are tall bul-
rushes, like those of Moses' cradle by the Nile, and
lotuses on the Mahmoudieh canal ; and here is Lake
Mareotis, with white sails gliding along its mirage-
like surface. We drive through the handsomely
re-built streets of Alexandria. The houses remind
one of Paris ; showing the recuperative power of a
commanding situation. See Alexandria to-day, thrice
regenerated and prosperous still, notwithstanding
the deviation of trade from the Nile to the Suez
Canal.
We were taken to lunch on board the Gwalior,
and the Peninsular and Oriental Company's agent
sent baskets of beautiful flowers for the yacht. The
360 EGYPT.
Gwalior set sail for Vemce. immediately after we
left.
We drove out to see Mr. Cornish's pump-works
for supplying Alexandria with fresh water from
the Nile by the Mahmoudieh canal, which joins the
Rosetta branch of the Nile at Atfeh, forty-five miles
distant. They bring the water from thirty feet
below the surface at the works, which are situated
oh the brick-baked sand-hills outside the city, where
Alexandria lies enveloped, one might say buried, in
her history. Twenty thousand tons of water are
raised in the twenty-four hours. These works
supply the city with high-service, after filtering
it. The water is filtered through washed sea-sand
in two filter-beds, a sort of cradles, set in banks
clothed with mesembrianthemum and aloes, and
shaded by palm-trees. They keep one filter-bed full
daring nine days, and then go to the other dry filter-
bed, which has been cleansed meanwhile. The sand
is washed and used again. There is a very marked
difference between the dirty and the cleansed heaps
of sand. The sand-washing machine is simple : a
zinc barrow, a cylinder of wire-netting, and an
Archimedean screw below. The clean sand is de-
livered up a shoot, backed with matting, into the
waggons again, on the same principle as elevators
for hay, &c. There is a large mud deposit from
the sand. Mr. Royle, author of 'The Egyptian
Campaigns, 1882 to 1885,' whom we met on several
occasions, and who dined with us on board the Sans
Peur, gave us several interesting facts concerning
Mr. Cornish and his water- works.
EGYPT. 351
The water supply of Alexandria, after the bom-
bardment, began to be a source of anxiety. It
came from the Mahmoudieh canal, adjoining the
position taken by Arabi at Kafr Dowar. Through-
out the bombardment, and subsequently, the town
had been abundantly supplied by the efforts of Mr.
Cornish. When, previous to the bombardment, all
his countrymen and the great mass of Europeans
sought safety afloat, he refused to desert his post.
He contrived an elaborate system of defence for
the water- works. It comprised an arrangement for
throwing jets of steam at any possible band of
assailants, as well as a line of dynamite bombs, cap-
able of being exploded by means of electricity.
The upper part of the engine-house was converted
into a kind of arsenal, into which he and his men
could retire as a last resort, and where rifles and
ammunition were in readiness.
During the bombardment, the works happily
escaped injury.
On the morning of the 11th of July, 1882, the
day of the bombardment, Mr. Cornish visited the
auxiliary pumping-station on the canal, more than
a mile distant, as usual. From the roof of the
engine-house, Mr. Cornish and his companions (nine
Europeans in all) watched the progress of the bom-
bardment, until the shot and shell, which whistled
overhead, from the vessels firing on Fort Pharos,
compelled them to descend. Meanwhile, the pumps
were kept working as in ordinary times.
On the afternoon of the 12th, when the mob of
rioters, who, with their petroleum, etc., did the
352 EGYPT.
whole of the damage that devastated the actual toAvn
of Alexandria, left off for the time their work of
destruction and quitted the town, the majority of
them passed a few yards from the works, and in-
dulged in curses and execrations at the ' Christian
dogs ' within.
"With humane forethought, two large jars of Avater
were placed in front of the gate and kept supplied
from within. Thousands of thirsty natives coming
from- the dust and smoke of the town stopped to
drink, and, after cursing Mr. Cornish, passed on.
To whatever cause it may be attributed, no attack
was made on the works, and their courageous
director survived to receive the congratulations of
the Khedive and of his own countrymen. Mr.
Cornish had the decoration of C.M.G. conferred on
him for his own conduct on this occasion. By-and-
by Arabi made a dam by which all further flow of
the Nile was stopped, and on the 2 1st of July Arabi
caused salt water to be let into the Mahmoudieh
canal by cutting the dam separating it from Lake
Mareotis, thereby considerably aggravating the diffi-
culty of the water supply. Mr. Cornish held his
own, notwithstanding, and condensed the water,
and they — I do not exactly know who, but some
authority who had the means — gave Mr. Cornish a
thousand pounds and a decoration for staying at his
post during the war and supplying the town and the
army with water.
The ruins of Alexandria were shown us in photo-
graphs, and we had seen enough of the ruins still
quaking and looking ghastly even in the Place des
EGYPT. 363
Consuls to be sure that the pictures were not exag-
gerated. There are Bedouin tents just outside the
fortifications on the hardened sand-hills which are
ovei'grown with a red sort of mesembrianthemum
much used in making soap.
Alexandria is not unhealthy for English people,
even their children are rosy and look thriving, and
it is a good place for learning languages ; children
naturally pick up Arabic, Greek, and Italian, besides
the French and German and other lessons that are
paid for. Leaving the city at the Rosetta gate, we
drove on by the side of the Mahmoudieh canal by
way of the water-tunnel six feet below the road,
which carries the water to the pumps. The opposite
bank of the canal is lined with a nearly continuous
Arab village, and beyond Lake Mareotis extends the
boundless Sahara. The acacia (lebbek) trees here
do not come into leaf until June, in Cairo they are
green in April.
Bamboo grows here, but the stems are not large
in diameter.
They are justly proud of Monsieur Antoniades'
garden, notwithstanding the marble statues with
which it is disfigured, of which they are prouder
still. Here the bougainvillea is still in full bloom,
though it is fading in Cairo, and has been over for
many weeks in Suez. The Tunisian palm was a
novelty to us in the way of palms, proud as we were
of our knowledge of this subject. Roses, especially
cluster-roses twining up the trees, bloom in delightful
profusion in these gardens. A hundred and twenty
men are employed to work these hundred and thirty
AA
854 EGYPT.
acres. (At Trentham forty men work twenty acres.)
At about ten minutes' walk beyond the farthest
summer-house in the garden a Roman (or Greek)
temple and tomb have lately been discovered.
We turned off in our return drive to see Pom-
pey's Pillar. A Greek inscription upon it shows
it was erected by Publius, prefect of Egypt, in
296 A.D., in honour of Diocletian. Its height alto-
gether is one hundred feet, the diameter at the base
ten feet. It is of red polished granite, though no
one on seeing it would suspect it of polish any more
than Cleopatra's needles, whose loss is now bewailed
by the Alexandrians, who have few objects of in-
terest left to attract visitors. This new quarter of
Alexandria is built of stucco on stone. Here is a
large German hospital, a branch of Kaiserswerth.
We passed the large Jesuits' College, a new building
erected on the site of something destroyed in the
fire. One often sees brown-clothed Jesuits in the
town. There is one wood-paved street in Alexan-
dria, but mostly the streets are well-paved with
large stone slabs. The population of Alexandria is
two hundred and thirty thousand ; that of Cairo
four hundred and thirty-five thousand.
As we were going off to the Sans Penr, we heard
the Khedive's hymn played at sunset from an
Egyptian man-of-war, and then ' God save the
Queen.' They began the ' Marseillaise,' and stopped
abruptly, for no perceptible reason.
Lord D , full of his good stories as usual, told
us a yarn of the Little Western, the open boat that
EGYPT. 855
sailed across the Atlantic, how she was sighted by a
British ship, a liner, which changed her own course
and hailed her with benevolent intentions.
' Wall, what can we do for you ?' calls out a cheeky
Yankee shoemaker, the skipper of the Little Western ;
'do you want stores or a doctor?'
The British captain in a rage gave the order to his
steersman never, never again to change their course
unless for a ship on fire or actually sinking.
' Lappy ' inspected the troops on shore, and swam
back to the yacht again, with a sense of duty
fulfilled. He knows how to amuse himself.
A wonderful supply of flowers was sent us by
Mr. Chapman from his garden at Ramleh. The
saloon of the Sans Peur was filled with roses, quite
realizing Alma Tadema's picture of Heliogabalus.
Had we known of this picture, we might have
arranged a tableau of the scene by letting down
the awnings filled with roses. Bertha, Aleck, and
Charlie were at their wits' end to make garlands
quickly enough, and, on looking at the dining-table,
Herries severely said he supposed they meant his
Grace's guests only to have roses and lilies, and
such-like salads for dinner.
'A feast of roses is all very well,' he growled j
' but the chef has planned a different bill-of-fare for
to-day.'
We wore as many roses as we could crowd on,
button-holes at every button.
The Duke had his dinner-party in the saloon.
We can use the saloon comfortably now in this cool
AA 2
356 EGYPT.
weatlier. Thermometer 68° in the saloon after dinner.
' Sir Constantine Who did Herries say ?'
whispered the Duke. 'What is the white-haired
gentleman's name?'
' It sounds like " dear old ducky," but it is spelt
Zerouacchi,' said Lord D , who knew everything.
We had our first strawberries-and-cream (23rd of
April), and Aleck played the pipes, to the great
enjoyment of some of the party, and the astonish-
ment of others. Mr. Mc wished he could have
Aleck to dine with him on shore.
' What, as a commercial speculation ?' his Grace
asks, in his half-serious yet quietly-humorous voice ;
and he relates how his piper McAlister, in his kilts,
was once upon a time — at Berlin — taken for the
British ambassador.
Lord D also played us several reels and
pibrochs on the pipes.
We were invited to meet a party of Alexandrian
celebrities and heroes of the war at luncheon at
the club in the Place des Consuls. This club — on
the first-floor above the bourse — ^has fine and very
comfortable rooms for dinners, meetings, baccarat,
whist, billiards, everything. The luncheon-table
was, as usual here, smothered in flowers. We could
hardly see the table-cloth for the fresh roses strewed
about. We had the Alexandrian native oysters.
The oyster-beds supplied from England have thriven
here. The oysters are good, but not quite so delicate
as English natives.
We drove out afterwards to Ramleh, a favourite
sea-side place, where many of the merchants and
EGYPT. 857
rich European inhabitants of Alexandria have their
country houses. We walked in divers private
gardens and on the beach gathering shells, and
thinking of this place as delightful winter-quarters.
It is a pleasant drive out here, but there are
frequent trains to and from Ramleh.
As we rowed out again in the gig at sunset, the
Egyptian evening hymn was played and ' God save
the Queen,' and again the ' Marseillaise ' stopped
abruptly at the fourth bar as before. Wherefore ?
' Perhaps they don't know any more,' was the
Duke's very natural solution.
'Tell me about that Sicilian trip, and I'll write it
down,' said Lady Clare to Lord D ; ' because I
find, when a man has left, one forgets all he has
ever said.'
'There's for you, Charlie,' says the Duke. Many
a true word spoken in jest.
We had the charming prospect of Sicily before us
on our way to England.
Lord D bought two of the amusing monkeys
of one of the sailors. The rest of the men were
pathetic over their frolicsome, tally cousins, as they
salaamed their farewells.
' Good-bye, old fellows ; that's the last you'll do
for us,' said the sailors, mournfully.
The lively creatures had whUed away so many
hours at sea. The parting was quite touching. All
of us had some fruits, or nuts, or cakes to give
them before they were put into a basket-cage covered
with grass. Dear monkeys, they will get on better
in Cairo than in London, even if they weathered the
368 EGiPT.
Bay of Biscay. Only ' Lappy ' did not regret them :
they pulled his hair, and grinned at him, and he
never understood their fun.
Another consignment of flowers came before we
weighed anchor, at noon of the 25th. We have been
' bunched ' as much as petted visitors are in America.
The whole air breathed roses.
The fine, large harbour at Alexandria is bounded
by a sandy, broken coast-line.
The steam was up, ready to whirl us off; the gig
was manned, to carry Lord D on shore. Ano-
ther farewell to an agreeable fellow-traveller. We
consoled ourselves by thinking and tactlessly saying,
' Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of
Cathay.'
'Well, if you will quote Watts' hymns, I had
better leave at once ;' and Lord D ran down
the steps into the gig.
Our handkerchiefs were out. — Farewell !
APPENDIX.
NOTE A. (Page 66)— The Sea-Serpent.
I am fully aware of the ridicule gtire to be cast on any
assertion of having seen the sea-serpent, or rather a sea-
serpent; for, in the face of the abundant testimony of
eye-witnesses and tradition, we cannot ignore the prob-
abihty — amounting almost to certainty — of there being
various marine monsters, of whose appearance we are
informed from time to time by amazed spectators. It is
greatly against the interests of true science that we should
attempt to conceal such facts as come to our knowledge
for fear of ridicule.
No entry of most of these appearances is made in the
log of ships generally, or report made of them, for fear of
ridicule.
The editor of the Zoologist says : ' I have long since
expressed my firm conviction that there exists a large
marine animal unknown to us naturalists. I totally reject
the evidence of published representations; but I do not
allow these imaginary figures to interfere with a firm
conviction.'
Professor Owen is the main scientific opponent of sea-
sei-pent stories, but he admits the scientific possibihty of
360 APPENDIX.
every part of the best authenticated descriptions, except-
ing the vertical undulations, of which all descriptions
speak. This vertical sinuosity is structurally impossible
in any of the serpent tribe. And yet this is the very
point most dwelt on by those who have seen the creature.
One of the committee of the Linnsean Society (of Boston)
describes the movement he saw as ' not that of the common
snake, either on land or water, but evidently the vertical
movement of the caterpillar.'
The kraken, or sea-serpent, is usually described as
dark brown or black, and remarkably active; and some
estimate it as about as long as a large steamer, say two
hundred feet.
The striking features of the leviathan I saw taking his
pastime in the calm blue waters off the coast of Travan-
core, Hindostan, on the late afternoon of the 22nd of
January, 1888, at about two hundred yards distance from
the yacht Sans Peur, were the flatness of its sides, its
silvery luminousness, its bridge-like curves in gentle but
decidedly vertical motion.
If I had any previous idea about the sea-serpent, it
was of something between a whale and a boa-constrictor :
round, dark, and ugly. The creature I saw was flat-sided,
luminous, and beautiful. This appearance, together with
the vertical movements, makes some of the authorities
at ■ the Natural History Museum in London think it may
have been an extraordinarily large sort of ribbon-fish
(acanthopterygii taeniformes), which, however, is seldom
known to exceed twenty feet ; while, to judge from the
apparent size of the two silvery-diapered curves of the
creature that I saw, its full length might well have been
the length of the yacht itself. From the httle I know
of the ribbon-fish, I do not think the serpentine form I
saw was of that family. I, the wife of a naval officer,
and accustomed to the sea in many climates for many
years, am not likely to be easily deceived about an
APPENDIX. S61
appearance, though I admit that even skilled naval
officers may at times be so ; and the vertical undulations
always recorded might sometimes be accounted for in
the manner described in Vice-Admiral Gore Jones' letter
to the Times of the 20th of October, 1883 : ' The sea-
serpent, now supposed to be a long line of soot from
a steamer's dirty flues, of a very sticky nature . . . the
wave-motion of the tide giving it an undulating, life-like
appearance ... a strong tide and fair wind would give
considerable velocity . . . .' To this I oppose the remark-
able silvery luminousness and strongly-marked diaper-
pattern of my example.
NOTE B. (Page 209.)
Calotropis procera, of the asclepias family, is known to
some as one of the many varieties of plants bearing what
is called Dead-Sea fruit. It is named from KoiK6<; (beauti-
ful), and rp6'7n<; (a keel), in allusion to the ' corona.' It is a
shrub reaching fifteen feet in height, covered with white,
woolly down; leaves four to ten inches long, intensely
green when the light shines through them ; common in
Abyssinia, tropical Asia, &c., often growing on old walls,
&c. The stems exude a plentiful milky juice, which in
Siam is popularly supposed to be poisonous. I was warned
not to taste it or let it fall on my fingers. Its flower
varies in colour in different localities ; it is usually pink
or lilac. In Siam I found a white variety, or white tinged
with pink. It is a plant worthy of attention. In India
the bark is used as a medicinal plant; the dried milky
juice is considered valuable in cases of dysentery. It
is not in the British pharmacopoeia. The fibre can be
spun into the finest thread. Calotropis procera furnishes
the substance called mudar, which is used as a diaphoretic
in India. It contains a principle called mudarine, which
gelatinizes on being heated, and becomes fluid on cooling.
BB
S62 APPENDIX.
NOTE C. (Page 301.)
Darwin reminds us how ' The gardeners of the classical
period, who cultivated the best pear they could procure,
never thought what splendid fruit we should eat : though
we owe our excellent fruit, in some small, degree, to their
having naturally chosen and preserved the best varieties
they could anywhere find.' Perhaps, then, the wonder
is that the tropical fruit should be as good as it is, rather
than no better. When the dwellers in the tropics cultivate
for flavour and quality, we shall have fine fruits from our
trans-oceanic empire.
THE END.
London : Pi inted hy Duncan Macdonald, Blenlidm House.
