The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism Volume I Part 9

The Viceroy on that occasion entertained 6,000 foreigners, a large proportion of whom were of the most distinguished kind. Men of all nationalities came to honour an enlightened ruler, and witness the opening of a grand engineering work, which had been carried through so many opposing difficulties; to applaud the man of cool head and active brain, who had a few years before been by many jeered at, snubbed, and thwarted.

To suitably entertain the vast a.s.semblage, the Viceroy had engaged 500 cooks and 1,000 servants, bringing many of them from Ma.r.s.eilles, Trieste, Genoa, and Leghorn.

Although the waters of the Ca.n.a.l are usually placid-almost sleepily calm-they are occasionally lashed up into waves by sudden storms. One such, which did some damage, occurred on December 9th, 1877.

And now, before leaving the subject, it will be right to mention a few facts of importance. The tonnage of vessels pa.s.sing the Ca.n.a.l quadrupled in five years. As many as thirty-three vessels have been pa.s.sing in one day at the same time, although this was exceptional. In 1874, the relative proportions, as regards the nationalities of tonnage, if the expression may be permitted, were as follows:-

English 222,000 tons.

French 103,000 Dutch 84,000 Austrian 63,000 Italian 50,000 Spanish 39,000 German 28,000 Various 65,000

The present tonnage pa.s.sing the Ca.n.a.l is much greater. All the world knows how and why England acquired her present interest in the Ca.n.a.l, but all the world does not appreciate its value to the full extent.

Suez has special claims to the attention of the Biblical student, for near it-according to some, eighteen miles south of it-the children of Israel pa.s.sed through the Red Sea; 2,000,000 men, women, and children, with flocks of cattle went dryshod through the dividing walls of water. Holy Writ informs us that "the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided."(90) The effect of wind, in both raising large ma.s.ses of water and in driving them back, is well known, while there are narrow parts of the Red Sea which have been forded. In the morning "the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his hors.e.m.e.n." We know the sequel. The waters returned, and covered the Egyptian hosts; "there remained not so much as one of them." "Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown in the sea. * * *

"Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.

"The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone."

[Ill.u.s.tration: CATCHING PELICANS ON LAKE MENZALEH.]

CHAPTER VIII.

ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR (_continued_).

THE INDIA AND CHINA STATIONS.

The Red Sea and its Name-Its Ports-On to the India Station-Bombay: Island, City, Presidency-Calcutta-Ceylon, a Paradise-The China Station-Hong Kong-Macao-Canton-Capture of Commissioner Yeh-The Sea of Soup-Shanghai-"Jack" Ash.o.r.e there-Luxuries in Market-Drawbacks: Earthquakes, and Sand Showers-Chinese Explanations of Earthquakes-The Roving Life of the Sailor-Compensating Advantages-j.a.pan and its People-The Englishmen of the Pacific-Yokohama-Peculiarities of the j.a.panese-Off to the North.

The Red Sea separates Arabia from Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia. Its name is either derived from the animalculae which sometimes cover parts of its surface, or, more probably, from the red and purple coral which abound in its waters. The Hebrew name signifies "the Weedy Sea," because the corals have often plant-like forms. There are reefs of coral in the Red Sea which utterly prevent approach to certain parts of the coasts. Many of the islands which border it are of volcanic origin. On the Zeigar Islands there was an alarming eruption in 1846. England owns one of the most important of the islands, that of Perim, in the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb.

It is a barren, black rock, but possesses a fine harbour, and commands one entrance of the Red Sea. It was occupied by Great Britain in 1799, abandoned in 1801, and re-occupied on the 11th of February, 1857. Its fortifications possess guns of sufficient calibre and power to command the Straits.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JIDDAH, FROM THE SEA.]

The entire circuit of the Red Sea is walled by grand mountain ranges. Some of its ports and harbours are most important places. There is Mocha, so dear to the coffee-drinker; Jiddah, the port for the holy city of Mecca, whither innumerable pilgrims repair; Hodeida, and Locheia. It was in Jiddah that, in 1858, the Moslem population rose against the Christians, and killed forty-five, including the English and French consuls. On the African side, besides Suez, there are the ports of Cosseir, Suakim, and Ma.s.suah. The Red Sea is deep for a partially inland sea; there is a recorded instance of soundings to 1,000 fathoms-considerably over a mile-and no bottom found.

After leaving the Red Sea, where shall we proceed? We have the choice of the India, China, or Australia Stations. Actually, to do the voyage systematically, Bombay would be the next point.

Bombay, in general terms, is three things: a city of three-quarters of a million souls; a presidency of 12,000,000 inhabitants; or an island-the island of Mambai, according to the natives, or Buon Bahia, the "good haven," if we take the Portuguese version. The city is built on the island, which is not less than eight miles long by three broad, but the presidency extends to the mainland.

In 1509, the Portuguese visited it, and in 1530 it became theirs. In 1661, it was blindly ceded to our Charles II., as simply a part of the dowry of his bride, the Infanta Catherine. Seven years after Charles the Dissolute had obtained what is now the most valuable colonial possession of Great Britain, he ceded it to the Honourable East India Company-though, of course, for a handsome consideration.

Bombay has many advantages for the sailor. It is always accessible during the terrible south-west monsoons, and possesses an anchoring ground of fifty miles, sheltered by islands and a magnificent series of breakwaters, at the south end of which is a grand lighthouse. Its docks and dockyards cover fifty acres; ship-building is carried on extensively; and there is an immense trade in cotton, coffee, opium, spices, gums, ivory, and shawls. Of its 700,000 inhabitants, 50,000 are Pa.r.s.ees-Persians-descendants of the original Fire-worshippers. A large proportion of them are merchants. It may not be generally known to our readers that the late Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy-who left wealth untold, although all his days he had been a humane and charitable man, and who established in Bombay alone two fine hospitals-was a Pa.r.s.ee.

Calcutta, in 1700, was but a collection of petty villages, surrounding the factories or posts of the East India Company, and which were presented to that corporation by the Emperor of Delhi. They were fortified, and received the name of Fort William, in honour of the reigning king. It subsequently received the t.i.tle of Calcutta, that being the name of one of the aforesaid villages. Seven years after that date, Calcutta was attacked suddenly by Surajah Dowlah, Nawab of Bengal. Abandoned by many who should have defended it, 146 English fell into the enemy's hands, who put them into that confined and loathsome cell of which we have all read, the "Black Hole of Calcutta." Next morning but twenty-three of the number were found alive. Lord Clive, eight months later, succeeded in recapturing Calcutta, and after the subsequently famous battle of Pla.s.sey, the possessions of the East India Company greatly extended. To-day Calcutta has a "Strand" longer than that of London, and the batteries of Fort William, which, with their outworks, cover an area half a mile in diameter, and have cost 2,000,000, form the strongest fortress in India.

Across the continent by railway, and we land easily in Calcutta. It has, with its suburbs, a larger population than Bombay, but can never rival it as a port, because it is a hundred miles up the Hooghly River, and navigation is risky, although ships of 2,000 tons can reach it. It derives its name from Kali Ghatta, the ghaut or landing-place of the G.o.ddess Kali.

Terrible cyclones have often devastated it; that in 1867 destroyed 30,000 native houses, and a very large amount of human life.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CYCLONE AT CALCUTTA.]

The sailor's route would, however, take him, if bound to China or Australia, round the island of Ceylon, in which there are two harbours, Point de Galle, used as a stopping-place, a kind of "junction" for the great steamship lines, of which the splendid Peninsular and Oriental (the "P. & O.") Company, is the princ.i.p.al. Point de Galle is the most convenient point, but it does not possess a first-cla.s.s harbour. At Trincomalee, however, there is a magnificent harbour.

Ceylon is one of the most interesting islands in the world. It is the Serendib of the "Arabian Nights," rich in glorious scenery, equable climate, tropical vegetation, unknown quant.i.ties of gems and pearls, and many minerals. The sapphire, ruby, topaz, garnet, and amethyst abound. A sapphire was found in 1853 worth 4,000. Its coffee plantations are a source of great wealth. Palms, flowering shrubs, tree ferns, rhododendrons, as big as timber trees, clothe the island in perennial verdure. The elephant, wild boar, leopard, bear, buffalo, humped ox, deer, palm-cat and civet are common, but there are few dangerous or venomous animals. The Singhalese population, really Hindoo colonists, are effeminate and cowardly. The Kandyans, Ceylonese Highlanders, who dwell in the mountains, are a more creditable race, st.u.r.dy and manly. Then there are the Malabars, early Portuguese and Dutch settlers, with a sprinkling of all nationalities.

There, too, are the outcast Veddahs, the real wild men of the woods. With them there is no G.o.d-no worship. The Rock Veddahs live in the jungle, follow the chase, sleep in caves or in the woods, eat lizards, and consider roast monkey a prime dish. The Village Veddahs are a shade more civilised.

One reads constantly in the daily journals of the India, China, or Australian Stations, and the reader may think that they are very intelligible t.i.tles. He may be surprised to learn that the East India Station not merely includes the ports of India and Ceylon, but the whole Indian Ocean, as far south as Madagascar, and the east coast of Africa, including Zanzibar and Mozambique, where there are dockyards. The China Station includes j.a.pan, Borneo, Sumatra, the Philippine Islands, and the coast of Kamchatka and Eastern Siberia to Bering Sea. The Australian Station includes New Zealand and New Guinea. The leading stations in China are Hong Kong, Canton, and Shanghai. Vessels bound to the port of Canton have to enter the delta of the Pearl River, the area of which is largely occupied with isles and sandbanks. There are some thirty forts on the banks. When the ship has pa.s.sed the mouth of this embouchure, which forms, in general terms, a kind of triangle, the sides of which are 100 miles each in length, you can proceed either to the island of Hong Kong, an English colony, or to the old Portuguese settlement of Macao.

The name Hong Kong is a corruption of Hiang Kiang,(91) which is by interpretation "Scented Stream." Properly, the designation belongs to a small stream on the southern side of the island, where ships' boats have long been in the habit of obtaining fine pure water; but now the name is given by foreigners to the whole island. The island is about nine miles in length, and has a very rugged and barren surface, consisting of rocky ranges of hills and mountains, intersected by ravines, through which streams of the purest water flow unceasingly. Victoria, Hong Kong, is the capital of the colony, and the seat of government. It extends for more than three miles east and west, part of the central grounds being occupied by military barracks and hospitals, commissariat buildings, colonial churches, post-office, and harbour-master's depot, all of which are overlooked by the Government-house itself, high up on the hill. Close to the sea-beach are the commercial houses, clubs, exchange, and market-places.

It was the shelter, security, and convenience offered by the harbour that induced our Government to select it for a British settlement; it has one of the n.o.blest roadsteads in the world. Before the cession to England in 1841, the native population on the island did not exceed 2,000; now there are 70,000 or 80,000.

Macao (p.r.o.nounced _Macow_) is forty miles to the westward of Hong Kong, and an agreeable place as regards its scenery and surroundings, but deficient as regards its harbour accommodation. Dr. Milne, himself a missionary resident for fourteen years in China, says, writing in 1859: "To some of the present generation of English residents in China, there can be anything but a.s.sociations of a comfortable kind connected with Macao, recollecting as they must the unfriendly policy which the Portuguese on the spot pursued some sixteen or seventeen years since, and the bitterly hostile bearing which the Chinese of the settlement were encouraged to a.s.sume towards the 'red-haired English.'"

Macao is a peninsula, eight miles in circuit, stretching out from a large island. The connecting piece of land is a narrow isthmus, which in native topography is called "the stalk of a water-lily." In 1840 a low wall stretched across this isthmus, the foundation stones of which had been laid about three hundred years ago, with the acknowledged object of limiting the movements of foreigners. This was the notorious "barrier,"

which, during the Chinese war of 1840-1, was used to annoy the English. As large numbers of the peasantry had to pa.s.s the "barrier gates" with provisions for the mixed population at Macao, it was a frequent manuvre with the Chinese authorities to stop the market supplies by closing the gate, and setting over it a guard of half-starved and ravenous soldiery.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MACAO.]

Leaving Macao for Canton, the ship pa.s.ses the celebrated "Bogue Forts,"

threads her course through a network of islets and mud-banks, and at last drops anchor twelve miles from the city off the island of Whampoa, where the numerous and grotesque junks, "egg boats," "sampans," &c., indicate a near approach to an important place. The name Canton is a European corruption of Kw.a.n.g-tung, the "Broad East." Among the Chinese it is sometimes described poetically as "the city of the genii," "the city of grain," and the "city of rams." The origin of these terms is thus shown in a native legend. After the foundation of the city, which dates back 2,000 years, five genii, clothed in garments of five different colours, and riding on five rams of different colours, met on the site of Canton. Each of the rams bore in its mouth a stalk of grain having five ears, and presented them to the tenants of the soil, to whom they spake in these words:-

"May famine and death never visit you!"

Upon this the rams were immediately petrified into stone images. There is a "Temple of the Five Rams" close to one of the gates of Canton.

The river scene at Canton is most interesting. It is a floating town of huts built on rafts and on piles, with boats of every conceivable size, shape and use, lashed together. "It is," says Dr. Milne, "an _aquarium_ of human occupants." Canton has probably a population of over a million. The entire circuit of city and suburbs cannot be far from ten miles.

Canton was bombarded in 1857-8 by an allied English and French force. Ten days were given to the stubborn Chinese minister, Yeh, to accede to the terms dictated by the Allies, and every means was taken to inform the native population of the real _casus belli_, and to advise them to remove from the scene of danger. Consul Parkes and Captain Hall were engaged among other colporteurs in the rather dangerous labour of distributing tracts and bills. In one of their rapid descents, Captain Hall caught a mandarin in his chair, not far from the city gate, and pasted him up in it with bills, then starting off the bearers to carry this new advertising van into the city! The Chinese crowd, always alive to a practical joke, roared with laughter. When the truce expired, more than 400 guns and mortars opened fire upon the city, great pains being taken only to injure the city walls, official Chinese residences, and hill forts. Then a force of 3,000 men was landed, and the city was between two fires. The hill-forts were soon taken, and an expedition planned and executed, chiefly to capture the native officials of high rank. Mr. Consul Parkes, with a party, burst into a _yamun_, an official residence, and in a few seconds Commissioner Yeh was in the hands of the English. An ambitious _aide-de-camp_ of Yeh's staff protested strongly that the captive was the wrong man, loudly stammering out, "_Me_ Yeh! _Me_ Yeh!" But this attempted deceit was of no avail; the prize was safely bagged, and shortly afterwards the terms of peace were arranged. The loss of life in the a.s.sault was not over 140 British and 30 French.

Shanghai is a port which has grown up almost entirely since 1844, the date of its first occupation by foreigners for purposes of commerce. Then there were only forty-four foreign merchant ships, twenty-three foreign residents and families, one consular flag, and two Protestant missionaries. Twelve years later, there were, for six months' returns, 249 British ships, fifty-seven American, eleven Hamburg, eleven Dutch, nine Swedish, seven Danish, six Spanish, and seven Portuguese, besides those of other nationalities. The returns for the whole year embraced 434 ships of all countries; tea exports, 76,711,659 pounds; silk, 55,537 bales.

Shanghai ("the Upper Sea") has been written variously Canhay, Changhay, Xanghay, Zonghae, Shanhae, Shanghay, and so forth. Its proper p.r.o.nunciation is as if the final syllable were "high," not "hay."

"Sailing towards the north of China," says Milne, "keeping perhaps fifty or sixty miles off the coast, as the ship enters the thirtieth parallel, a stranger is startled some fine morning by coming on what looks like a shoal-perhaps a sand-bank, a reef-he knows not what. It is an expanse of coloured water, stretching out as far as the eye can reach, east, north, and west, and entirely distinct from the deep-blue sea which hitherto the vessel had been ploughing. Of course, he finds that it is the 'Yellow Sea;' a sea so yellow, turbid, and thick, certainly, that you might think all the pease-soup in creation, and a great deal more, had been emptied into one monster cistern." The name is therefore appropriate, as are the designations of several others:

"The Yellow Sea, the Sea that's Red, The White, the Black, the one that's Dead."

Between the thirtieth degree of north lat.i.tude, where the group of the Choosan Islands commences, and the thirty-seventh degree, this sea of soup, this reservoir of tawny liquid, ranges, fed by three great rivers, the Tseen-Tang, the Yangtsze-Kiang, and the Hw.a.n.g-Ho, the greatest of which is the second, and which contributes the larger part of the muddy solution held in its waters. Forty-five miles from the _embouchure_ of the Yangtsze-Kiang, you reach the Woosung anchorage, and a few miles further the city of Shanghai, where the tributary you have been following divides into the Woosung and Whampoa branches, at the fork of which the land ceded to the British is situated. Here there is a splendid British consulate, churches, mansions, and foreign mercantile houses.

The old city was built over three centuries ago, and is encircled, as indeed are nearly all large Chinese cities and towns, by a wall twenty-four feet high and fifteen broad; it is nearly four miles in circ.u.mference. Shanghai was at one time greatly exposed to the depredations of freebooters and pirates, and partly in consequence of this the wall is plentifully provided with loop-holes, arrow-towers, and military observatories. The six great gates of the city of Shanghai have grandiloquent t.i.tles, _a la Chinoise_. The north gate is the "calm-sea gate;" the great east gate is that for "paying obeisance to the honourable ones;" the little east one is "the precious girdle gate;" the great south is the gate for "riding the dragon," while another is termed "the pattern Phnix."