Charles J. Gillis

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ We went through a fine museum and saw a great collection of historical objects belonging to Ceylon, one being a rudely sculptured figure of a lion carved in stone three hundred years ago.
This island is the great producer of the ruby, sapphire, and pearl, dealers in which have stores near, and are allowed to come around the hotel. They are very troublesome in their attentions, and, as is common among merchants in this part of the world, ask two or three times more than they expect to get for their goods. ”

“ 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 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." ”

“ SIX days from Singapore, we arrived here on the evening of the 16th instant, and at once went to our rooms at the Grand Oriental Hotel, which had been engaged some weeks in advance. Colombo is the capital of Ceylon, and has a population of one hundred and twenty thousand, and many large and handsome buildings.
As we passed along the coast last evening immense groves of cocoa-nut trees were seen from the vessel, extending along the shore for thirty miles or so. It was the hottest weather yet experienced, not more than eighty degrees, as shown by the thermometer, but very oppressive. ”

“ We went through the natives' quarters, and evidently they had seen white people before, for they paid no attention to us, not so much as we to them, as we were looking upon a race new to us. They had marks on their foreheads, showing the caste to which they belonged. We visited the markets, and saw that the banyan tree was quite common in the squares and along the streets, and passing on to the great fort, we looked at the big guns; then we entered St. George's Church, where there were many statues of famous soldiers who had served in India and died here. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The view of the bay from the front of the hotel is said to be, by some, the finest in the [Pg 9] world. The harbor is very large, and could float all the navies of all nations. At anchor, in different directions, are iron-clad war-ships, English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Japanese,—only one showing the stars and stripes, the St. Mary, an old side-wheel boat, about as large as a Brooklyn ferry-boat, and of course about as useless.
One of the naval vessels flying the British flag is an immense iron-clad of six thousand tons. With the commander, Captain May, I became acquainted. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The natives are a handsome race, dressed in their picturesque costumes. White and native soldiers in brilliant uniforms are to be met everywhere, and the whole scene is one of great beauty.
A royal prince is here to-day, the stores are shut, and a great review of soldiers is going on. The rush for rooms at the hotels is so great that I hear of a Major-General of the British army who is to sleep in a bathroom near us to-night. On the morning of the 2d instant we took a carriage drive around the city, starting at 10 A.M. and returning at 1.30. ”

“ It is a fearfully dirty place, and the sun of India, here as elsewhere, is intensely hot, but the evenings are quite cool. I saw many elephants and camels in the streets to-day, though horses and bullocks are generally used, and fine carriages drawn by horses are a common sight.
We have seen Lucknow pretty thoroughly, though one might spend a week here to advantage, especially in visiting the museum, [Pg 92] where there are ancient and modern curiosities of the highest interest, and the mosques, which are exceedingly beautiful, in great contrast to the filthy Hindoo temples. ”

“ The ranges of hills near the water are largely cultivated, and even now are covered with green grass, the whole presenting a panorama of great beauty.
We stopped at noon, went on shore and had an excellent lunch at a German restaurant, and then took another boat as far as the Black Sea, and returned along the shore of Asia, stopping at numerous places to take on passengers and mail, and in an hour reached the city.
There was a lot of women on board, with their faces more or less covered. Once as the steamer was passing a house I saw a very pretty sight. ”

“ I soon made the acquaintance of most of the passengers, forty-five in number—including fourteen missionaries of the Presbyterian Board, nice young people going out to their duties in China and Japan. I took my seat at the dining-table, and found that I had at my right an agreeable companion, a captain in the German army, and at the left a charming miss of ten, Bessie, daughter of J. De Romero, secretary of the Spanish Legation to China.
The first week out was a rough one. The weather was bad, and the ship rolled fearfully, so that we could not walk on deck. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Four great steamers left Colombo the same evening that we did, one each for Australia, Calcutta, Singapore, and Hong-Kong; one of them being a German vessel of immense size, 7,000 tons. On this steamer we have all the modern improvements: Edison lights, an excellent table, and always plenty of ice. Life on the ocean, as we have it, is very pleasant, and we get along nicely, though they tell of [Pg 72] terrific storms which rage here at other seasons.
The ship is full of passengers, largely English, returning from Australia, very nice, kind, and agreeable people. ”

“ 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. ”

“ This city surpasses Gibraltar in the number of nationalities one sees in the streets; every nation on earth appearing to be represented, and I am much interested in looking at them as they pass.
The policemen are a sight—tall, black fellows from the Malay Peninsula. Their uniform is the same as worn by those in New York, except a large red turban, which gives them a very imposing appearance. ”