India Steam Navigation Company, incorporated in 1856 to open up the
coasting trade of India. This organization, upon the opening of the
Suez Canal, despatched the first steamer through to London that carried
an Indian cargo. Shortly afterward regular routes were inaugurated
between London, Aden, and the Persian Gulf; and between Aden and the
African coast to Zanzibar. Also a trunk route was established for the
various coasting lines of India, extending from London to Calcutta. A
further extension was begun about ten years ago, when Batavia, Thursday
Island, Brisbane, and Sydney in Australia were added to its itinerary.
The British India Steam Navigation Company employs on its main and
auxiliary routes a fleet of over 100 vessels, large and small, that
traverse about 3,000,000 miles a year.
If the traveller has reached Port Said from Marseilles, he has
doubtless come in the Messageries Maritimes steamer. This great French
undertaking began its first over-sea contract in 1851, carrying mails
as far as Egypt. The next extension of operations was a line to Brazil
and the Rio de la Plata. Finally a mail contract established the
route to India, China, and Australia. To-day the Messageries fleet
comprises 65 superb vessels that have cost about $27,000,000; and the
aggregate distance they steam amounts to 2,520,000 miles every year.
The ships bound for China leave Marseilles and Naples, and make the
ports of Aden, Colombo, Singapore, Saigon, Hong-Kong, and Shanghai. A
second main line stretches from Aden down to the Seychelles Islands,
Mauritius, Melbourne, Sydney, and New Caledonia. The Messageries
Company also operates lines to the West Indies and South America.
To Port Said comes also the Norddeutscher Lloyd Imperial Steamship
Company, better known as the German Mail. The East Asian mail line
of this company was established only in 1886, and is rapidly growing
in importance and favor. The steamers leave Bremen, call at Antwerp,
Southampton, and Genoa, thence through the canal to Aden, Colombo,
Singapore, and Hong-Kong, to Shanghai. The mail route to Australasia
reaches the ports of Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney, whence a branch
line leads to the Samoan Islands and Tongatabu. The German Lloyd also
operate a line from Trieste via Brindisi to Alexandria. For carrying
the mails on the above three lines, in accordance with government
stipulations, the German Lloyd receives a subsidy of $1,047,619 per
annum.
Some of the other long lines operated by this efficient organization,
which owns more than 75 ocean steamers, are those between Bremen and
the United States, between Bremen and Brazil, and between Bremen and
Montevideo and Buenos Ayres.
_Table of Distances, Days, and Approximate Prices from London Eastward
by Sea to San Francisco._
From New York to London is 3,000 miles, 7-8 days, and $100.
From San Francisco to New York by rail is 3,000 miles, 6 days, and
$200.
+------------------+
| London. |
+------+-----+-----+
|Miles.|Days.|Price|
+------+-----+-----+---------------+
| 1,299| 5 | $45 | Gibraltar. |
| | | +------+--+-----+
| | | |Miles.|D.|Price|
| | | +------+--+-----+---------------+
| 2,280| 9 | 75 | 981| 4| $30 | Malta. |
| | | | | | +------+--+-----+
| | | | | | |Miles.|D.|Price|
| | | | | | +------+--+-----+---------------+
| 3,215| 13 | 100 | 1,916| 8| 60 | 935| 4| $35 | Port Said. |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| 4,610| 20 | 125 | 3,311|15| 125 | 2,330|11| 120 | Aden. |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |---------------+
| 6,274| 27 | 250 | 4,975|22| 240 | 3,994|18| 220 | Bombay. |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| 6,703| 31 | 250 | 5,404|26| 250 | 4,423|22| 240 | Colombo. |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| 8,362| 38 | 290 | 7,063|33| 270 | 6,082|29| 250 | Singapore. |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| 9,799| 45 | 340 | 8,500|40| 340 | 7,519|36| 340 | Hong-Kong. |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
|11,601| 53 | 390 |10,302|48| 390 | 9,321|44| 390 | Yokohama. |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
|16,600| 71 | 590 |15,780|66| 590 |14,800|62| 580 | San Francisco.|
+------+-----+-----+------+--+-----+------+--+-----+---------------+
+------------------+
| Port Said. |
+------+-----+-----+
|Miles.|Days.|Price|
+------+-----+-----+---------------+
| 1,395| 7 |$120 | Aden. |
| | | +------+--+-----+
| | | |Miles.|D.|Price|
| | | +------+--+-----+---------------+
| 3,059| 14 | 200 | 1,664| 7| $90 | Bombay. |
| | | | | | +------+--+-----+
| | | | | | |Miles.|D.|Price|
| | | | | | +------+--+-----+---------------+
| 3,488| 18 | 230 | 2,093|11| 100 | 875| 4| $40 | Colombo. |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| 5,147| 25 | 300 | 3,752|18| 220 | 2,534|11| 130 | Singapore. |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| 6,584| 32 | 340 | 5,189|25| 250 | 3,971|18| 190 | Hong-Kong. |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| 8,386| 40 | 370 | 6,991|33| 300 | 5,773|26| 240 | Yokohama. |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
|13,860| 58 | 550 |12,460|51| 450 |10,775|44| 360 | San Francisco.|
+------+-----+-----+------+--+-----+------+--+-----+---------------+
+------------------+
| Colombo. |
+------+-----+-----+
|Miles.|Days.|Price|
+------+-----+-----+---------------+
| 1,659| 7 | $90 | Singapore. |
| | | +------+--+-----+
| | | |Miles.|D.|Price|
| | | +------+--+-----+---------------+
| 3,096| 14 | 150 | 1,437| 7| $60 | Hong-Kong. |
| | | | | | +------+--+-----+
| | | | | | |Miles.|D.|Price|
| | | | | | +------+--+-----+---------------+
| 4,898| 22 | 200 | 3,239|15| 100 | 1,802| 8| $70 | Yokohama. |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | +---------------+
| 9,900| 40 | 335 | 8,240|33| 250 | 6,800|26| 200 | San Francisco.|
+------+-----+-----+------+--+-----+------+--+-----+---------------+
+------------------+
| Yokohama. |
+------+-----+-----+
|Miles.|Days.|Price|
+------+-----+-----+---------------+
| 5,000| 18 | $200| San Francisco.|
+------+-----+-----+---------------+
The Austro-Hungarian Lloyd’s Steam Navigation Company, the fourth great
main line passing through the Suez Canal, was organized about the year
1840, with 7 steamers for Mediterranean trade. In time, the company
prolonged its lines, until, under a liberal government bounty, routes
were established between Trieste and Hong-Kong, and between Trieste and
Brazil. For the proper performance of all these services the Austrian
Lloyds are paid an annuity by the Government amounting to $800,000. The
fleet, all told, numbers 75 ships, valued at about $10,000,000, and
steams over 1,300,000 miles every year.
Of the different steamship corporations that despatch their vessels
by way of the Suez Canal to Australia, the Orient Steam Navigation
Company of London deserves special mention. In 1878 it founded a
first-class line to Australia, which to-day is a formidable rival of
the Peninsular & Oriental Company, receiving a like subsidy of $425,000
for transporting the mails between Naples and Adelaide in 32 days,
a distance of 9,000 miles. There are many other companies sending
vessels, via the Canal, to India, to China, and to Australasia; on
nearly all of them the traveller can find comfort and good cheer,
should he desire to be longer at sea and longer in port. The names of a
few of the most important of these companies are as follows:
Under the English flag: the Ducal, the Hall, the Harrison, the Clan,
the Star, the City, the Direct, the MacIver, and the Anchor lines;
the National Navigation Company of France; the Navigatione Generale
Italiana (Italian mail) of Genoa; the Compañia Trasatlantica, from
Barcelona, Spain; the Nederland India line from Amsterdam; a Russian
line; and a Turkish line.
Some of these steamers make the east coast of Africa for cargoes; some
go to Australia; some to the Spice Islands, Java and the Philippines;
some go no farther than India; and, finally, some reach Japan, Corea,
and Vladivostock.
[Illustration: Entrance to the Suez Canal at Port Said.]
Port Said, the product of the canal, is built on the flat sands at the
entrance of the Suez Canal. Its harbor, formed by two long breakwaters,
contains one of the largest coaling depots in the world, where vessels
are supplied at the rate of 200 tons an hour. The place is noted for
its wickedness; it abounds in French cafés and dance-halls where
wine, women, and music continue the night long. The traveller should
purchase a white helmet at Port Said; these hats are cheap, and add
considerably to personal comfort.
The steam traffic of the place is enormous; last year 3,389 vessels
traversed the canal. The average time of transit by day is 24 hours;
by night with electric lights it is 19 hours, and has been done in 15
hours. In order to navigate by night, a vessel must light the way by
carrying an electric projector at her bow as close to the water as
possible, and pay the closest attention to the orders from the passing
stations or _gares_. Three white lights shown vertically indicate “slow
down;” then the display of two white lights is the order to stop and
haul in to the _gare_. The steamer presently hauls in, makes fast, puts
out all lights, and lies snug in her berth alongside the desert, while
the oncoming vessel, looking like a locomotive at night, passes by.
One white light from the _gare_ and lines are let go, and the journey
continued until Suez is reached.
Suez is an uninteresting collection of shipping-houses and squalid
native huts, with a few tumble-down mosques. Donkeys and donkey-boys
swarm along the docks, and if the vessel stop an hour or two the
novelty of such a ride may be enjoyed. The heat of the day is intense,
but the nights, especially in the canal, have a “soft, warm witchery”
about them that is delicious.
After leaving Suez the way lies through the Gulf of the same name,
into the Red Sea, where the water is blue, the background light brown,
the hazy atmosphere pink, and the temperature red-hot. Vessels spread
double awnings and hang up side curtains, but there is no escaping
the intolerable heat experienced day and night going down this sea
with the wind aft. Far away to the left, in the dim distance, is the
fast-receding brown peak of Mount Sinai; other well-remembered biblical
places stretch along the indistinct coast line; the ship speeds
southward; the constellations in the blue heavens of night begin to
change; the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb are passed; and as the four points
of the Southern Cross arise bright and sparkling, the anchor is let go
off Aden, in Arabia.
Aden, on its rocky and bare volcanic peninsula, is the Gibraltar of the
Red Sea. It interests the traveller because of the big black Somalis,
the oily, avaricious Jews, and the thin, ungainly camels moving up and
down the streets. The town is too hot for enjoyment; it is better to
stay on board ship, buy an imitation ostrich feather from a cheating
Jew, and throw coppers into the water for little shave-headed naked
negro boys to dive after.
[Illustration: The Port of Aden, Arabia.]
During a stay of a few hours vessels fill up with coal and fresh
provisions, land a small cargo of naval stores, cotton, and
cotton-twist, and after taking on board coffee (nearly all Mocha is
shipped here), dye-stuffs, feathers, dates, etc., depart for Bombay,
for Colombo, for Australia, and for Africa.
The weather along the highways of the Indian Ocean is generally fair
and warm, with a smooth sea, though, during the southwest monsoon,
from May to September, there is a perceptible swell, and when this
trade-wind sets in, in May, it is sure to bring gales, rain, lightning
and thunder. August is the best summer month for cruising in the Indian
Ocean. The northeast monsoon, the winter trade-wind, is less violent
than the southwest, and has clear skies and a milder temperature.
However, in going round the world, passengers, like ships, should take
their chances with the weather, for having it fair at Bombay may bring
it foul at Calcutta.
[Illustration: A Deck-bath in the Tropics.]
Vessels make Bombay, 1,670 miles eastward of Aden, in 7 days, and go
alongside the docks when the tide permits. The traveller should at once
hurry ashore to gaze with wonder at the infinite variety before him.
For here are congregated Indian princes dressed in flowing robes of
richest colors; Brahmins and Buddhists with turbans of softest texture
bound about their brows; Parsees in long, white, full-skirted coats
and odd-shaped-high hats; Turks in fezzes; Chinamen in silks; Persians
in white trousers, loose alpaca coats, and shako astrakhan hats;
effeminate Cinghalese, Jews, Mohammedans, and Europeans from England,
France, Germany, and Russia. Along the water front pass unceasingly
women, straight as javelins, tall, lithe, and graceful, their breasts
covered by tight sleeveless tunics, their waists and hips wound in
light flowing gauze. Silver bangles adorn their arms and legs, and
rings glisten in their noses and ears, and on their toes and fingers.
Bare-legged, bare-footed, their black hair tucked loosely up upon their
shapely heads, on which are poised high brass water-jugs burnished like
gold, these graceful creatures walk the streets like the queens of an
Oriental fable.
Many lines of vessels converge at Bombay: the P. & O., the British
India, and three or four others of less importance; two French lines,
a German line, the Austrian Lloyd, the Italian Mail, and a Dutch
line, are some of those to be seen during a stay of a fortnight. The
British India offers the largest number of routes to the sight-seeing
traveller. One of its lines leads to Kurrachee, the northern port of
India; another goes to Calcutta, stopping at way ports; a third extends
to Zanzibar and Mozambique, and a fourth reaches places on the Persian
Gulf. This fourth route the tourist should certainly take if he has
the time, though it carry him into the most trying climate imaginable.
Before starting he should get Moore’s “Lalla Rookh,” it can be bought
at an excellent English bookstore in Bombay, and read it on the way, as
some of the scenes are laid in these waters.
The passengers on these Gulf steamers are of as many types as those
seen on Change in Bombay. It is not unlikely that of the twenty or more
who sit down to dinner, no two will be of the same color, costume,
nationality, or religion. Even the crew ceases to be European; Chinamen
usually cook and wait, and Indians handle cargo and work the ship.
About 600 miles and 4 days from, Kurrachee, Ormuz is made, dirty,
dilapidated, with absolutely no remains of its historic wealth. The
first place of importance is Bushire, 300 miles farther up. It is
the principal seaport of Persia, and does considerable trade, long
caravans of camels transporting merchandise to and from the interior.
Persian cats can be got here; a pair offered for $25 was sold finally
for $5; with more time they could have been bought for $2.
From Bushire to Bassorah, on the Euphrates, is 180 miles. A narrow
canal-like stream leads from the river to the native village where
Sindbad the Sailor is said to have roamed. Connection can be made at
Bassorah with a steamboat going up the river past the Garden of Eden, a
disappointing, flat, uncared-for plain, to Bagdad; and thence, by camel
to points in the interior. Steamers in the Persian Gulf trade take in
dates, grain, and wool, leaving cotton fabrics, rice, opium, etc.
On returning to Kurrachee, the traveller would do well to take the
railway to Agra, and the Taj, Benares, and other places, and so back
again to Bombay and the ocean highways.
Henceforth, the character of the passengers on board ship changes
somewhat; many of the Europeans leave for extended tours by rail to
Calcutta and other Indian cities, their places being taken by Parsee
merchants, rich Indians, and enterprising Chinamen, bound away on
business.
The run to Colombo, Ceylon, 875 miles to the southward, is made over
a warm, smooth sea, and on the evening of the fifth day the harbor is
entered. Colombo is a steamship centre where all the vessels of the
long trunk lines rendezvous to coal, provision, exchange passengers
and frequently freight. They come from the four quarters of the globe,
from Calcutta and Bombay in the north, from China and Singapore in the
east, from Australia, Mauritius, and Africa in the south, and from Aden
and the Suez Canal in the west. Colombo has much to attract a traveller
during the 24 or 48 hours the steamer stays, but usually the Oriental
Hotel claims his time and attention, for this is the place of meeting
of all who go upon the waters, and high wassail is apt to be the order
of the night.
The dining-room of the Oriental is the refreshment-room at the
intersection of the chief steam lines of the world. It is, as it were,
the restaurant of a Union depot where everyone must go for a meal; at
its tables travellers from opposite points of the world meet, Chinese
bound for Europe, Englishmen to report for Indian duty, French soldiers
en route for Saigon, and Australians making the grand tour.
If the traveller has stayed in the same ship all the way from London,
he has, by the time he arrives at Colombo, been 30 days _en voyage_
and navigated a distance of 6,700 miles. By whatever line he has come,
he should have enjoyed his life on board ship, for after the first day
or two out from port acquaintances are made that rapidly ripen into
good fellowship. Deck cricket, quoits, and cock-fighting enliven the
forenoons; a novel and a nap wear away the afternoons; an innocent
rubber with the ladies brightens the evenings; a good chorus begins the
nights merrily, and a small game of draw shortens the dying hours.
[Illustration: Promenade Deck of an Orient Liner.]
At Colombo often the best of friends must part, some to stay in the
country, others to go to a different ship; for the choice of routes
is varied, there being some 15 steamship lines radiating hence toward
the attractive countries of Australia, Africa, the Dutch East Indies,
China, Japan, India, and Europe.
The run up the coast from Ceylon past the French settlement of
Pondicherry, where the French steamers touch, to Madras, 614 miles to
the northward, is smooth sailing if the monsoon months of April, June,
November, and December be avoided. A day in port is sufficient for
landing the cargo, brought off in lighters manned by stalwart lascars,
naked except for the narrowest of breech-clouts and the most enormous
of turbans. The traveller, while at Madras, should see the Indian
jugglers, and to do this comfortably, should make arrangements to have
the exhibition held on board ship. Two or three natives, sitting on
the open deck at his feet, place a mango-stone with a handful of dirt
under an old cotton sheet, which, after talking gibberish, they remove,
disclosing a small green sprout about 8 inches high. “Big mango?” is
then inquired by the head juggler; “big mango?” Receiving assent, the
twig is carefully recovered and incantations follow, while the jugglers
slowly raise the centre of the sheet higher and higher, until finally,
on removing it, there stands a mango-bush 5 feet high, bearing fruit
which the juggler will pick and distribute. The trick is worth the $10
it has cost.
From Madras to Calcutta the distance is 770 miles. The most interesting
feature of the journey is the difficult navigation of the Hoogly, or
Calcutta River, under the direction of the skilful pilots; each of whom
brings his own leadsman on board, sometimes two of them, and his own
native servant, so as to be quite independent of the ship and her crew.
The river front of Calcutta is one long wharf with vessels moored in
columns of twos, threes, and fours for a couple of miles. The steamer
traffic is large, nearly 1,000 foreign ships coming and going within a
year, and as many coasting steamers. The import trade is principally
in cotton goods, metals, and malt liquors; the exports are borax, rice,
opium, gums, gunny-cloth, etc.
From Calcutta several short sea routes may be taken to strange
countries: the British India ships go to Rangoon, in Burmah, and then
down the Malay Peninsula to Penang, one of the Strait Settlements.
Penang is on the road from Ceylon to Singapore, and some of the great
liners stop for a couple of hours to take in a mail, some tin, and a
few spices. The harbor is one of singular beauty, but not otherwise of
much interest to the traveller, hurrying on through the picturesque
Straits of Malacca to Singapore.
Singapore is the half-way house on the great highway between India
and China, where all ships, large and small, stop. Its position is a
most important one, not only as a large coaling and docking station,
but to a greater extent as an immense entrepôt for goods, the trade
being largely one of transit. The shipping business done is enormous;
the docks and streets are full of bustle and activity, of hurrying,
running, hard-working Chinese, Javanese, Moluccans, and Europeans,
unmindful of a temperature averaging 86° Fahrenheit.
This town of such activity and go lies almost under the equator, in
latitude 1° 17´ north; its longitude is nearly 104° east; just 12 hours
and 9 minutes ahead of New York, from which city it is separated by
12,000 miles of water, requiring about 43 days of ocean navigation.
Singapore has steam communication with 152 different ports, far and
near. During the year, 3,600 foreign ships enter the harbor, and
nearly the same number clear, representing a shipping movement of
over 5,500,000 tons. The regular liners make connection at Singapore
with the Netherland-India Steamship Company—“De Nederlandsch-Indische
Stoomvaart Maatschappij”—an efficient organization with headquarters
at Batavia, Java. Some of the by-ways of travel over which the tourist
can agreeably saunter by means of the 30 or more good steamers of this
company lead to all the ports on the coasts of the islands of Java,
Sumatra, and Borneo, to the Moluccas, Philippines, Celebes, and so
back to Singapore, where the traveller boards the steamer bound for
Hong-Kong.
The mail, and other full-powered steamships, leaving Singapore for
the northward, head straight up the China Sea for Hong-Kong, 1,435
miles away. During this run of 6 days the most learned discussions are
held concerning the weather. Typhoons are most prevalent from July to
December; from December to May they seldom happen, still they have been
known to occur in every month of the year. The September equinox is a
very precarious period; therefore, if the tourist is anxious to make
sure of smooth weather, he should time his voyaging so as to be in
these waters in early June, when the southwest monsoon is lightest. But
this brings the ship to Hong-Kong at the beginning of the warm weather
and rainy season, whereas the months of December and January are the
most delightful, the mean temperature being 65° F.
In the wet or damp season the traveller must keep watch of his
clothes, books, shoes, etc., or they will get injured by mildew. This
supervision of one’s effects is necessary throughout the entire voyage
around India, the dew at night being penetrating and saturating. Two
serviceable suits of flannel should be taken to be worn alternately, so
that one suit can be drying. Leather shoes, particularly blacked boots,
are damaged by the mould that forms on them when exposed; the proper
foot-gear is the canvas shoe with rubber sole.