Charles J. Gillis

“ The streets and roads are clean, wide, and in perfect order. We stopped at a large market, where the natives crowded around us, and where were tropical fruits of many kinds, some of which I had never heard of before. We passed many groves of cocoa-nut and banana trees laden with fruit, public and private buildings, and large and handsome bungalows, churches, and schools, but the people who crowded the streets were the most interesting to see—Indians, Malays, Singhalese, and Chinese, dressed in their native costumes, all industrious, orderly, and civil. ”

“ Accompanied by an excellent guide, I walked from the Jaffa to the Golden Gate, along the street of "Solomon and David," and mounted a small good-natured donkey, who carefully took me over a rough road to the top of the Mount. Thence I looked upon the scenes so often described in the Bible, rendered more impressive to me from the thought that on the very spot where I was, must have stood David and Solomon, Christ, St. Peter, Paul, and the Apostles! They must have looked down in their time, as I did, upon the winding Jordan, the Dead Sea, Bethlehem, and the mountains and valleys beyond. ”

“ There are not many such mountains to be seen anywhere; none so beautiful, as I remember, except the Jungfrau at Interlaken, and Fusiyama in Japan.
We have been in this place for three days, going about everywhere, and find it a wonderful example of a rapidly built city—solid and substantial, wide streets, great and costly [35] public and private buildings, an admirable system of swift-going street cars, running in every direction, by cable or electric power; fine dry-goods and other stores, and every indication of great business activity and success. ”

“ Away we went, up the steep but excellent roads for an eight-mile trip to the top of one of the mountains. My horse proved a good roadster, sometimes trotting and then galloping, and in one and a half hours we reached our destination, and looked upon a great range of snow-covered mountains; Everest, the monarch of all, was among them, but much to our disappointment, clouds settled about the tops of the range and we did not see the greatest mountain in the world. ”

“ Every quarter of an hour or so we hear a loud crack, followed by a noise like the discharge of a gun, then a rumbling like thunder, and a big piece of ice, as large as a house, and, sometimes, as a church, falls into the water, causing the great steamer to rock. Word was passed for us to get into boats for an excursion onto the glacier. ”

“ It is safe to say that nowhere else on earth is to be found a roadway made of glass.
We reached this hotel at 6 p.m., and saw near by the first of the geysers, spouting hot water fifty feet high. We made our way over a thin crust to see this geyser, so thin that it seemed as if we might break through and disappear forever, reminding me of a former experience, when walking along the edge of a volcano in Japan, a place was pointed out where two guides who had wandered from the path, broke through the crust and were lost. ”

“ The steamer’s route is generally between islands and the main land, the water smooth and everything comfortable; but yesterday we came out upon the broad Pacific Ocean for an hour or two, and some of the passengers were sea-sick, but none of our party were troubled in that way. All appeared regularly at meals, which were excellent: well-cooked meats and vegetables, and plenty of fruit. Just now, at 8 p.m., we are in a bay some twenty miles in extent, surrounded by great mountains covered with snow. The setting sun shining on these makes a picture of extreme beauty and grandeur. ”

“ For the first time we saw tea, coffee, and cinchona plantations, the mountains being often covered to their tops with tea-plants, sturdy bushes about two feet high, and I should say that from the time we commenced to see them there were many thousand acres.
From time to time we could see the natives in parties of fifty or more picking the leaves and putting them into large baskets and carrying them on their heads to the dry-houses, or depots, and very picturesque they looked in their petticoats of many colors, their bare backs glistening in the sun. ”

“ The merchant consulted two or three of his sharp, bright-eyed clerks in their own language and said: "I have not sold a shawl to your party; I sell you very, very cheap; you may have those beautiful shawls for 1,400 rupees." Having in mind the German gentleman's remarks, I said, "No; the price is absurd; let us go," and we started out. Then the merchant followed saying, "Don't go; make me an offer," and I said, "I will give you 400 rupees for both shawls." Greatly to my astonishment he replied, "Take them; I will send to your hotel." ”

“ All day long we have been on deck admiring the beautiful sights, the weather being fine, numerous sea-gulls in view, occasionally a school of porpoises, and now and then a whale. Every day we pass numerous islands, large and small, all covered with spruce-trees and having a very charming appearance. ”

“ I went nearly every day to the park and public gardens, of about twenty acres, situated several hundred feet above the main street, laid out in the best manner, and containing a great variety of trees and flowers, such as grow only in tropical climates. On one occasion a friend and myself were sitting on a bench near a handsomely dressed Chinese gentleman. My friend said: "See what a handsome girl is coming, and how beautifully she is dressed, but how deplorable that she has such little feet." ”

“ At one end of this street are cable cars, which carry you down a sharp incline to the streets on the water. I took one of these cars down, and in a few minutes passed over the famous bridge which connects Galata with Constantinople proper, to a wharf, where I was detained some time waiting for a steamboat to take me on the splendid and never-to-be-forgotten trip up the Bosphorus, to the entrance of the Black Sea. ”

“ I cannot agree with my Chinese friend that it will be so long a time before China will be opened to European civilization, for her 332,000,000 people are beginning to feel the pressure of surrounding nations; Russia on the north, and England, Germany, France, and Italy on her sea-coasts, and above all the example of the wonderful advances made by Japan are having strong influences upon China. China has now for a Prime-Minister, Li Hung Chang, a very great man, the equal of Bismarck or Gladstone, and the young Emperor has very advanced ideas. ”

“ WE left Vancouver at 2.20 p.m. on the 16th, and made our acquaintance with this great transcontinental railway. I think it fully as good as any of those over which I have travelled in recent years. A good roadbed, fine and comfortable cars, polite attendants, and every thing supplied to make travelling agreeable. The road runs for many miles on the banks of the Frazier River. Great mountains tower above, covered with snow, and there are distant views of glaciers, which would have been thought immense if we had not seen those in Alaska. ”

“ After an examination of my passport and baggage, and considerable delay, I got on the train, composed exclusively of Mann boudoir cars, lighted by gas, including dining-car; and every thing first-class, quite as good as any thing in America, except the vestibule trains from New York to Chicago. The road-bed is so perfectly constructed that the cars run easier than on any railroad I was ever on. You could read with comfort, and some of the passengers were writing. ”

“ The remains of the emperor were placed in a tomb by the side of those of his beloved wife. Each tomb had precious stones inserted in the marble, and on the top of one I saw a place where a ruby two inches in diameter was said to have been taken out. Ordinary stones, such as the cornelian and amethyst, were still there. We lingered about the beautiful building for many hours, admiring it from every point of view. My friend, Mr. Jackson, sang a little song under the great dome, which echoed and re-echoed, producing a remarkable effect. ”

“ The streets are crowded with an immense mass of men, women, and children, nearly all with no clothing above their hips, and as our men pushed their way along, yelling and screaming, the people would stop, crowd around us with wonder, but were never impolite. ”

“ There were numerous farms and ranches on the route, with cattle and cultivated fields. The road bed was in good order, the cars excellent, and the trip exceedingly interesting and enjoyable. At [17] Cinnabar, we took a stage for eight miles to this hotel. The road is a very good one, passing over rushing streams and along the bases of great mountains, amidst magnificent scenery. Beautiful flowers line the way and are in the fields, while the mountains are partly covered with snow. We hear that the road to the lake is blocked with snow, and impassable. ”

“ And now, fellow-passengers and friends, let us resolve that, like the passion-flower of the wilderness, which always bears within its bosom the true cross, we will bear within our bosom the true cross of 'enmity towards none, charity and goodwill for all,' and thus we shall be an honor to ourselves, the dear ones at home, the country we came from, and our God. ”

“ For many years I served before the mast, then as mate, and finally as captain, on many voyages in different parts of the world. Back in the fifties I was in command of a whaling ship owned in San Francisco, and we sailed from that port to the selected cruising ground in Behring Sea, between the Aleutian Islands and Behring Strait. Once we sailed through the strait into the Arctic Ocean, but the intense cold and immense masses of floating ice drove us back in a damaged condition. ”

“ The carriage stopped at the Jaffa gate, and we walked to the new hotel, a large handsome building of stone, all the halls being paved with marble. It was so [Pg 137] very cold that I had a fire made in a small stove in my room. Here, as in all the countries I have lately visited, fuel is very scarce and dear; that used here was the roots of trees.
At last the dream of a lifetime has been realized, and I have been on the top of the Mount of Olives, to me the most interesting spot on earth. It had been raining, making the slippery stones of the streets very disagreeable. ”

“ Great mountains of clay or stone, in all sorts of grotesque shapes and of many colors, constantly attracted our attention until we reached the Yellowstone River, which was higher than it had been for many years. Here things began to look serious, as frequently the dirty and rushing flood came near to the [14] track, and the rise of a foot or so would have caused a wash-out, and have stopped our progress; but for many miles before we reached this station, the engineer moved the train of ten cars very carefully, and we were only two hours behind time. ”

“ From my bedroom window I see a large factory for the making of ice, which is sold at a penny a pound and is the greatest of comforts in this country. Butter and cigars are so strong and bad that I have left off the use of them, and do not expect to try them again until I get to Austria; but soda-water of excellent quality is to be had everywhere, and is a great comfort.
We spent the evening listening to the splendid Japanese Marine Band which played lovely music for two hours in front of the hotel; all the musicians were natives. ”

“ One of our friends had chartered the only wagon in the town, and took us for a trip of a mile or two along the shore, among the sweet-smelling spruce-trees, to a small stream of water, over which we passed, and then rested in the woods. On our return, we went to the Presbyterian Mission, which is a large and important one. It consists of a group of buildings: a church, a school-house, and two large edifices erected at the expense of Mrs. Elliott F. Shepard, in which the young Indians are to be taught carpentry and other mechanical industries. ”

“ Highly cultivated fields and frequent great barren plains, with now and then an elephant, were to be seen, and once a long caravan of camels. Monkeys were in the woods, and flocks of parrots flying about, and often the beautiful peacocks were perched on the fences or wandering about the fields. ”

“ But every thing looks so different, and is managed so differently from what one has been accustomed to, that I am more and more impressed with the idea that I am no longer in this world, but in some wonderland beyond the stars. ”

“ There are 250 steps on the big Pyramid, and it is 480 feet high. At one o'clock we had a capital lunch, and then started for the Statue of Memnon only a third of a mile from the Pyramids. Some camels were kneeling ready to take us, and I mounted one. The beast squealed and got up first on his front legs and then on his hind ones, pitching me back and forth, but I hung on and got along very nicely.
The immense statue, partly covered with sand, did not impress me much, but a tomb which I entered near by was a wonder. ”