Reminiscences of Travel in Australia, America, and Egypt Part 7

[Picture: Ruth, The King's Sister (Died 1883)]

The temperature of Honolulu ranges between 60 and 88, and the islands are always fanned by the N.E. trade winds, rendering them exceedingly healthy.

Our visit conveyed the impression to our minds that it would be impossible to spend a month more delightfully than among the Hawaiian group, and we bade adieu to Honolulu with the greatest regret.

It was a beautiful moonlight evening when we left Honolulu for San Francisco, and after many months' travelling by land and sea, we began to feel that we were at last really homeward bound, for would not our _next_ voyage land us at Liverpool? While at Honolulu we received a very considerable addition to our pa.s.senger list in the persons of a number of Americans, of both s.e.xes, some of them being gentlefolks and some of them not. We also took on board three thousand bundles of bananas, which were hung up in the netting all round the promenade deck. This was a most unfair arrangement on the part of the captain, as not only were the seats on this deck rendered unavailable, and a large portion of the s.p.a.ce occupied, but the ship became overrun with centipedes, some of them five inches long, making it like Egypt during one of the plagues, "for they were in all our quarters," in our beds and in our clothes. Americans, as a rule, are not good sailors. Hence it is that when commencing a voyage they take it for granted that they are going to be ill, and make their arrangements accordingly. My companions had been flattering themselves that the spare berth in their cabin would remain empty to the end of the voyage, but they were doomed to disappointment, for it was their bad fortune to receive one of the most bilious-looking of the new arrivals.

On entering the cabin the first observation the Yankee made was, "Where d'ye throw up?" The answer to which was, "We don't 'throw up' at all.

We _go_ up and lean over the lee side." The event proved the Yankee's apprehensions to be well founded. One party of Americans were returning from a prolonged residence on one of the islands of the Pacific, where they appeared to have acquired some of the native habits. One day these people were taking their lunch on deck; it consisted of chicken and a native dish called "POI." The latter was a substance like bill-stickers'

paste, and was contained in a large bowl. The company, which numbered some five or six persons, men and women, sat upon the deck around the bowl, and, having learned from their new acquaintances, the savages, to do without spoons and separate dishes, helped themselves to the delicious mixture by each dipping two fingers into the common bowl until it was empty. They then attacked the chicken, and had evidently taken lessons in carving from the same authorities, for they adopted the primitive plan of pulling it to pieces. Of course these proceedings excited considerable remark among the pa.s.sengers, but the party seemed quite insensible to observation.

Another of our pa.s.sengers was an American, named Steinberg, who had a grievance against the British Government on account of an alleged outrage on the part of an English man-of-war's crew, in some dispute in the Samoan Islands. He was nursing his wrath until he arrived at Washington, when he certainly thought England's fate would be settled, and that she would be "chawed up catawampously." This man was accompanied by a Yankee journalist of a most anti-British type. He was a sallow-faced man with a large square lower jaw, without any hair on his face, and with straight lanky locks, and, moreover, was something under five feet high. He was so thorough-going in his hatred of everything British that when "G.o.d save the Queen" was sung at the close of a concert in the saloon, he got up with much fuss and stalked out, followed by some half-dozen of his countrymen. We called the fiery editor "Jefferson Brick," after Martin Chuzzlewit's acquaintance. On one occasion I heard a friend of this gentleman ask him if he had a chair on deck. He said he had not, as the Britishers always brought a good supply. I took the hint, and determined that, at any rate, he should not use mine. Soon afterwards it happened that a sea, breaking over the deck, soaked the carpet seat of my chair, which obliged me to place it in a sunny position that it might dry.

Presently I saw "Mr. Brick" deliberately fetch the chair, which was a very comfortable one, and, taking it into the shade, settle down on it.

I went to him and remarked that the chair was quite wet. "I guess it's dry now," said he, with the peculiar tw.a.n.g of a down-east Yankee. Seeing that he failed to take the hint, I told him that the chair was mine and that I would thank him to give it up. This he did, with a remark that he "did not see what people who were always walking about wanted with chairs at all."

We were not altogether without curious examples of our own countrymen as fellow-pa.s.sengers. One in particular, an Irish tradesman, from one of the New Zealand ports, seemed determined to amuse and be amused. We called our friend "Mister," because he addressed everybody by that name.

It appears that "Mister" was too fond of liquor, and that he had to take an occasional holiday, in order to give his friends an opportunity of putting his affairs straight at home. I was told that he had a flourishing business, which was managed by two able a.s.sistants, who insisted upon his leaving them for twelve months in the interest of the concern, under the penalty, if he returned, of their opening an opposition shop. "Mister" told me he had been educated in four Colleges in Ireland, which, doubtless, accounted for the remarkable absence of knowledge he displayed. He frequently alarmed us by the disappearance of the knife down his throat at the dinner table. One evening he volunteered to read at one of the entertainments in the saloon, and caused great amus.e.m.e.nt by the richness of his humour and of his brogue-winding up his reading by the impromptu observation, "and shure it is oi that am moighty dray." We shall hear of "Mister" again when we get to San Francisco.

One of our pa.s.sengers, who died during the voyage, had been suffering greatly from severe pains in the head. He had been told by a lady that sometimes great relief was obtained in such cases by rubbing brandy upon the head. Soon after giving this advice the lady was walking down the saloon where there were a number of pa.s.sengers and stewards, when she was astonished by hearing the poor invalid calling after her in the most excited manner, and to the no small wonderment of the pa.s.sengers, "Miss, Miss, did you say brandy or whiskey?" On one occasion the doctor was examining this patient, when the poor fellow appealed to him to do what he could for him, saying, "Doctor, I should like to have one more chance, do you see, and if you can put this old crazy machine together again and make it run once more I shall take it-_as a personal favour_!" Before he became dangerously ill the invalid was in the same cabin with one of my friends, who one night was considerably disturbed by his dreadful coughing, varied at intervals by strong language respecting the cough, which, he declared, did not belong to him. "It's not mine, I never had a cough, it's my head that's wrong-this cough belongs to some other fellow; what's it bothering me for?" and when some ladies gently remonstrated with him he said, "Look here, now, I guess it's just as natural for me to swear as it is for you to pray!" His end came suddenly at last, and in a few hours after, in the early morning, his remains were

"In the deep bosom of the ocean buried."

We sighted the entrance to the magnificent harbour of San Francisco at daybreak on a beautiful morning at the end of April, and when we approached it the sun had just risen, bathing the whole scene in a flood of golden light, fully justifying its name, "The Golden Gate." In a short time the city came in view, reminding me very forcibly of Sheffield, from the dense ma.s.ses of smoke which hung over a large portion of it, for San Francisco is an important manufacturing place. Soon we were boarded by a motley crew, composed of Custom House officers, hotel-touts, porters, agents for the railway, and a number of keen-eyed gentry, desirous of earning a cent anyway, honest or otherwise. We had decided upon going to the famous Palace Hotel, and having found the agent, placed our luggage under his care, receiving checks for it, and, locking our cabin, proceeded on sh.o.r.e, where we found the most sumptuous omnibus we had ever seen waiting to convey pa.s.sengers to the hotel.

CHAPTER VIII.

The Palace Hotel in San Francisco is quite a town in itself, containing as it does over a thousand rooms, and with rarely less than a thousand inhabitants, including servants, only a limited number of the latter, however, living in the house. The establishment has its own gas-works, four artesian wells, affording an abundant supply of the purest water; it also possesses a thoroughly good fire-brigade, and an efficient system of police. There are five hydraulic lifts for the conveyance of guests and luggage to each floor of the house. The rooms on the ground floor are 25ft. high, and of corresponding size, the breakfast room being 110ft. by 53ft., the dining room 150ft. by 55ft., the walls being hung with excellent copies of the best works of the great masters. The corridors are lined and paved with white marble, and the grand staircase is of the same material.

The bedrooms are very large and airy, and they all have comfortable dressing-rooms attached, with hot and cold water supply, and with a dozen beautiful towels-a very refreshing sight to the voyager who has been cooped up for the previous month in the limited s.p.a.ce allotted to pa.s.sengers on an ocean steamer. The bedrooms have baths adjoining them, each bath being arranged for two rooms; there is also a service-room on each landing, where a dusky negro is always in attendance. Upon each landing there is a tube for the conveyance of letters for the post direct into the letter-box at the general office. There is also a pneumatic despatch-tube for the conveyance of messages and parcels to and from any point on the different floors. Upon the garden floor of the hotel there is an arcade promenade 12ft. wide, with entrances to all the shops under the hotel, upon the street level, each shop having a show window upon this promenade. There are three inner courts, the centre one being 140ft. by 84ft., covered with gla.s.s of the same height as the roof of the hotel. It has a carriage and promenade entrance from the street of 44ft.

in width, and a circular carriage way of 54ft. in diameter, which is surrounded by a marble-tiled promenade and a tropical garden. The garden is well supplied with exotic plants, statuary, and fountains. Around this centre court and upon every storey there is an open gallery from which all the bedrooms are entered, and from which they receive light and fresh air. The dining rooms are fitted with a large number of small tables for parties of from four to eight persons, an arrangement very much superior to the long tables in most _salles a manger_.

There are about four hundred waiters, one-fourth only being white men, the rest negroes. The latter seem specially adapted for waiting, being active and nimble, and seeming to antic.i.p.ate every wish. They receive 1 per week wages and their board, but lodge away from the house. A fresh bill of fare is printed daily for each meal, and the variety of food is very great, there being a choice of about seventy dishes at dinner. In the kitchen are twenty-seven French cooks, besides a.s.sistants-a sufficient guarantee for the excellent manner in which the food is prepared.

There is a splendid laundry in the house, where the washing is done by fifty Chinese washer_men_, and certainly never was linen more exquisitely got up than here. These Celestials are specially successful in all kinds of starching requiring a smooth polished surface, such as shirt fronts.

The mode in which they apply the starch is quite novel, for having taken a mouthful they blow it out on to the article in a continuous fine spray, while their hands are occupied in ironing.

The servants take their meals in _table d'hote_ fashion, being waited on by a batch of their fellow servants, and everything is conducted with the greatest possible regularity and order. I was much pleased to find that all the gas and water fittings, also the hydraulic lifts and pumps, were supplied by English makers, and were such as to command the admiration of everybody.

An American gentleman, hearing me speak of the hotel, asked me how I liked it? I told him I was greatly delighted with it; that it was a palace, indeed, in all its arrangements, but that in one respect I had been not a little astonished at what I had seen there-the presence of the extreme of civilisation face to face with a very close approach to barbarism. "How is that," said he. "Why," I replied, "you are only supplied with one knife and fork at meals; each guest has to dip his fishy knife into the b.u.t.ter, and the same process has to be gone through in taking salt and mustard; and seeing it is the fashion amongst the American guests to put the knife into their mouths, the idea is not pleasant."

I referred, too, to another peculiarity of the Americans arising, I believe, from their extensive use of the Virginian weed in chewing, and I said that the guests at the Palace Hotel, in pa.s.sing through its marble halls, had not the same excuse for their conduct that the old Greek philosopher had when he was being shown over the palace by Crsus, and when he excused himself for an unparalleled act of rudeness by saying "that such was the magnificence on every hand that the face of the king was the meanest thing that presented itself," for the proprietor of the hotel had made the most ample provision for the national habit-a provision which was, however, very generally disregarded.

The city of San Francisco is exceedingly well situated, and possesses many handsome streets, extensive hotels, and public buildings, but in none of these respects, save only in hotels, is it equal to Melbourne, though the evidences of great business activity and prosperity are much greater in the former city.

The day after I arrived at the hotel I was surprised at receiving the following letter:-"Dear Tangye,-Should you wish to see me I am to be found at the above address, or a letter addressed to me, Box 339, Post Office, will reach me promptly. My wife is dead. A. J. C. Jarratt."

The name was quite strange to me, so I decided _not_ to go, but to send a friend. My friend found the address, which was a wretched room at the top of a lofty pile of buildings, and after a few minutes' conversation with the man he saw there, was very glad to get into the street again, not liking the aspect of things. The following day, whilst seated at dinner with my friends, a waiter came to us and asked which was Dr. L-.

On being told, he said a messenger from the chief of police was in waiting, wishing to see him. I looked at the doctor and asked him what he had been doing. Having finished our dinner we adjourned to the office and found the officer, who said his chief had received a telegram from a man in some town a hundred miles inland requesting him to send "his friend the Doctor" up to him as soon as possible. Of course my friend, knowing nothing whatever of the man, declined to go up country. I mentioned these polite attentions to a gentleman who was dining at the same table, and who I found was the leading lawyer in the city. He told me it was a favourite dodge with the sharpers, and that they sometimes caught a "flat" in this way. On the arrival of ocean steamers it is the custom to publish the names of the pa.s.sengers in the evening papers, which accounts for the familiarity of these fellows with the names of strangers. We had many amusing chats with this lawyer. He remarked one day that I must have met with a deal of "character" in travelling.

"Yes," I said, "I had, both good and bad." "Wa-a-l, I guess its better to meet with a _bad_ character than none at all." Speaking of the neighbouring State of Nevada, which was still in a very unsettled condition, he said a friend of his was Governor there, and that he "was 6ft. 6in. in height, and had a number three head and a number fifteen foot, for," said he, "I guess weight of foot is more important there than weight of brain."

There are sharp men of business in the city who do not require offices in which to carry on their business. If you are walking in the streets with a friend, and, meeting someone else, stop for a chat, you will see a 'cute-looking fellow stop, and though he appears to be intent on something on the opposite side of the street, you will note that he is leaning his ear towards you, doubtless with the laudable intention of gaining a little information. On one occasion we met one of these individuals. He kept his ear open, and then struck in with "I guess you are going through to England. I can put you up to the best way of doing it and calculate I can save you from forty to fifty dollars on the job."

We say we are much obliged, and will perhaps "call again." Then as you proceed along the streets attenuated fellows, with scanty, pointed beards and Mother Shipton hats, accost you with "Going east, gentlemen? Guess you'll want to change some money. Come with me, gentlemen, and I'll take you to the right place." "Thank you," we say, "not to-day." "Wa-a-l, guess exchange will go against you to-morrow, gentlemen." Observing on the door of a very handsome house a bra.s.s name-plate with the name "Mrs.

Doctor Sanders," our guide informed us that there were many lady doctors in the city, and that they had very extensive practice.

The Chinese are very numerous in San Francisco, there being more than 40,000 of them there. At the time of my visit, the feeling of the rowdies ran very high against the Celestials, and threats of wholesale ma.s.sacre were freely used against them. John Chinaman is a most industrious, frugal man, spending very little upon his living, and nothing upon his pleasures, always excepting his infatuation for opium.

His needs being few, he can afford to work for very small pay, and thus comes into compet.i.tion with the white workman. This is the head and front of his offending, but it is aggravated by the fact of his being equally skilful as an artificer. While the artisans have their special grievances about the Chinese, the wealthy cla.s.ses have theirs also. It is true "John" does his master's work well and cheaply, but, as I have said before, he is not a spending man; his sole object is to get what the Yankees call "his little pile" as quickly as possible, and then return to his native land. Nor is this surprising when we consider that every Chinaman leaves his little "Min-ne" behind him when he quits the Flowery Land, it being a very rare thing for a woman to leave China.

The Chinese quarter is full of interest; the people swarm like bees, and live in a frightfully overcrowded state. The butchers' and barbers'

shops are the most numerous and most interesting, the former being filled with a quant.i.ty of dreadful-looking little portions of meat, but it would puzzle the most learned to say from what animal they were cut. The barbers' shops are situated in the bas.e.m.e.nts of the houses, with an open front towards the street, and they are very numerous, for the Chinese are close shavers. On looking down you may see a number of men seated in a variety of positions, each one smoking a pipe of opium, while the barber is occupied in shaving every portion of his head and face, excepting, of course, his beloved pig-tail. The swell Chinee is very particular that every hair shall be removed, and so clever do the operators become that, by means of tiny razors, they can shave the inside of the nose. Some of the pig-tails are of enormous length, and sometimes the white rowdies attack the Chinese and cut their pig-tails off.

[Picture: The Chinaman (from a sketch by the Author)]

When a man has an especially fine one, he either rolls it up at the back of his head and fastens it with hairpins, or else tucks it inside his blouse. I noticed one of the latter in particular, a glimpse of which would have delighted Darwin himself. The owner had evidently let down his back hair before putting on his blouse, and consequently the pig-tail, which disappeared at the back of the neck, emerged from under the blouse and extended to his heels.

Some of our party, wishing to explore the Chinese quarter by night, engaged a detective to accompany them, it being unsafe to go unless so escorted. The guide first took them over a lodging house, in which some hundred Chinamen were stowed away, literally almost as thick as herrings in a barrel. Not only was the floor thickly covered, but suspended above it was a layer in hammocks, some smoking opium and others sleeping, none, however, taking the slightest notice of the intruding party.

[Picture: Little Min-ne]

On visiting the Chinese theatre during the evening they found preparations being made to celebrate a Celestial wedding. This decided them to stay and see the ceremony, which was attended by a vast number of Chinese, the theatre being crowded in every part. After the ceremony most of the spectators formed in the procession, which escorted the happy pair to their home. My friends also visited the Joss Houses and inspected the queer-looking G.o.ds contained in them.

While making some purchases in a Chinese shop it was necessary to give my address. I wrote it out on a card thus-TANG-YE, upon which the Celestial at once claimed me as a countryman of his. I disabused his mind of that idea by putting my fingers to the outer corners of my eyes and pretending to extend them in an upward direction, the absence of which peculiarity showed conclusively that I was not of the true Mongol type. Curiously, however, on afterwards consulting a gazetteer, I found that there is in China a city named TANG-Y, containing over 30,000 inhabitants.

The Chinese are accused of having brought with them a number of objectionable practices, but to anyone possessing a knowledge of the lower cla.s.ses in American cities, it will not appear possible that the Chinese can be very much worse than they.

Most of the traffic in San Francisco is carried on by the tramways, and it may not be out of place to put intending visitors on their guard with respect to a little peculiarity in their management. It is advisable to tender the exact fare if possible, for if you give a larger sum the balance is returned to you, not in cash, but in tickets available for future rides, which you may have no opportunity of taking. The hackney carriages are very fine, being almost equal to English private carriages.

Most of those I saw were splendidly horsed with a pair of magnificent animals, generally black. The lowest fare taken is ten shillings, but I am bound to say you can have full value for your money in the time and the accommodation given you.

On Sunday morning the city presents a very lively aspect. The fire-brigades and volunteers parade the streets, preceded by their bands, and thousands of people go by tramway and other vehicles to see the famous sea-lions at the entrance to the bay. From the grounds in front of Cliff House they are seen on the rocks below in large numbers, tumbling about and making a noise like the barking of dogs, but so loud as to be heard from a distance of nearly a mile.

The climate is a delightful one, the temperature being singularly equable, ranging, as it does, in summer from 60 to 70, and in winter from 50 to 60 Fahr. Indeed the weather is so beautiful that one cannot help referring to it frequently, but the invariable reply to any such observation is, "Well, I guess we shall have three months just the same right slick away."

[Picture: Seal Rocks, San Francisco]

After nearly a fortnight's stay at the Palace Hotel, enjoying its good fare, we began to think it time to move eastward, as we were getting too luxurious in our habits. My friend the lawyer, however, remarked that we need have no fear on that account, as the fare on the Pacific Railway would cure the severest attack of gout. Before leaving San Francisco we met our old friend "Mister" twice. From a report in the newspapers we learnt that he had been brought before the magistrates and fined for carrying fire-arms in the streets. "Mister" told us the police had taken all his money on the pretence of taking care of it for him. When we last saw him he was leaning against a lamp-post, helplessly drunk.

[Picture: The Last of "Mister"]

The great excursion from San Francisco is of course to the Yosemite Valley, but we were compelled to forego the pleasure of making it on account of our visit being too early in the season. Some of our fellow-voyagers from the Colonies ventured to go, but, unfortunately, they met with a serious carriage accident, owing to the roughness of the road, caused by the breaking up of the frost.

In order to secure a good seat in the train going East, it is necessary to make arrangements a few days before starting. Tickets can be obtained at a score of places in the city, and should be got as soon as possible; and in order to save all unnecessary trouble with the luggage during the journey, sufficient for use in travelling should be separately packed, and the remainder handed over to the Baggage Master, who has an office in the hotel, and who will give checks in exchange, and undertake to deliver it at any hotel or railway station in New York, or any other place in the States that may be named. By attending to this overnight, immense trouble is saved, for, if left until the morning of departure, each traveller has to look after his own baggage amid a scene of the wildest confusion, and quite unprotected from the terrible heat and dust. It was with a sense of great relief that we began to move out of the station, and to feel that at last we were fairly started on our ride across the Rocky Mountains. The railway ride for the first two hundred and fifty miles is a splendid one, through the magnificent Sacramento Valley, which I should think is fifteen or twenty miles wide, and is most fertile.

Here corn is grown year after year without any manuring being required.

In many "cuttings" through which we pa.s.sed the soil was twenty feet deep.

We pa.s.sed fields hundreds of acres in extent, with nice houses, orchards, and gardens, surrounded by fine oaks and elms, making the country look like a park for a hundred miles. The corn, which in many places was over ten feet high, was fast ripening, and its glorious golden colour was often charmingly varied by immense patches of Marigold, Eschscholtzia, Lupins, and another beautiful flower which we did not recognise, all in full bloom. We also saw our old Tasmanian friend the Eucalyptus (commonly called the Gum Tree), and many of the quaint Dore-like dead Blue Gums, looking white and ghostly.

[Picture: The Eucalyptus (from a sketch by the Author)]

This is a magnificent State. A gentleman remarked to me that when the richness of the soil is exhausted there remains untold mineral wealth below. The people, too, are very energetic, and there is abundance of capital; so much so that a moneylender travelling in our carriage complained that it is difficult to get fifteen per cent. per annum now when some twelve years ago he could easily obtain five per cent. per month.