lay in the open roadstead, facing misty hills, among which rose steep
green cones of long-dead volcanoes. In the middle distance white-crested
waves flicked their tails with a vicious curl in a leaden rain-flogged
sea, which ended in a white line of breakers where the red roofs of the
town of Apia met the beach. The Prince went off in a bounding launch,
accompanied by Colonel R. W. Tate, the administrator. A mile of rough
and tumble brought the friendly shelter of the reef. Here a number of
long low Samoan canoes, with some forty semi-naked paddlers apiece, met
the launch and escorted it with shouting and beating of wooden drums, as
big as bath-tubs, past the rusty skeleton of the German _See Adler_,
wrecked upon the bar in the hurricane of 1899, to a quiet wharf, where
the Prince landed in a bower of greenery and bunting. He was received by
the principal people of the island, including the Chief Judge and other
officers of the New Zealand administration, also a number of
missionaries. Addresses of welcome were presented and the Prince was
conducted on foot over carpets of brown mulberry bark to the reception
by the Islanders themselves. Lines of smiling Samoans, naked save for
loin-cloths of mat and bark and necklaces of crimson pandanus pods the
size of fingers, lined the route and brought deep cries of
"Aue!"--"Welcome!"--from the bottom of their lungs. The procession was
slow and imposing. It ended in a grassy space beneath green coco-nut
palms and white-flowering leva trees. The Prince took the seat of honour
in a decorated booth, surrounded by thousands of Samoans, many of whom
had travelled long distances from their homes by canoe. The ceremonies
began with the presentation of a series of Samoan chiefs, including the
"High Intercessor," Malietoa Tanumafili, brother of the late King
Malietoa Laupepa, and the venerable Tuimale Fana, friend of Robert Louis
Stevenson. He is a sturdy, upstanding figure in the photograph in
"Vailima Letters," broad-faced and well covered and content. That was a
quarter of a century ago. Now the years have bent and dulled him. The
years, and perhaps the loss that dulls the world, for Tusitala tells no
more tales to any of us in this South Sea Island where he lived and
where he knew so well he would die. One thought, if he had been living
now, how glad a hand and how rich a memory would have been added to this
journey, and how brimming a cup of Imperial romance the _Renown_ would
have lifted to Stevenson's lips. But Tusitala could not come to the
Prince; so the Prince went to Tusitala, where he lies on the hill-top
that meets the winds from the sea, and stood there for a while beside
him.
This was later. The Samoan ceremony of welcome was long. The
presentations extended to a bevy of island ladies garbed in frilled
creations of bark, relieved with hibiscus blossoms, as scanty at both
ends as a ball dress out of Bond Street. The High Chief Intercessor
afterwards read an address of welcome in which he declared that God had
been the Prince's helmsman in bringing him to Samoa. A move was
afterwards made--there is no other way of describing the respectful
suggestion, the start, the progress to an official fixture--a move was
afterwards made to a thatched hut where the Prince tasted Samoan
dainties spread out upon mats upon the floor. He also saw articles of
Samoan manufacture, including delicately carved wooden Kava bowls, mats
so fine that some of them were valued at a hundred pounds, and _tappas_,
lengths of soft mulberry-bark cloth painted with many patterns, worn by
the men, quite decorative in effect though not exactly pliable enough to
suit a West End tailor.
Returning later on to the booth further ceremonies were successfully
encountered, including the preparing and drinking of King's Kava.
Semi-naked warriors, in head-dresses like hay-trusses ornamented with
variegated Berlin wool and pieces of looking-glass held in place by
skewers, chopped and pounded white Kava root, macerated the resultant
pulp in a beautifully carved hard-wood bowl the size of a foot-bath,
with water brought up in solemn procession in a galvanized iron
housemaid's bucket, strained the concoction in a Samoan mat, and carried
it to the Prince in a carved cup of coco-nut. National dances,
participated in by both men and women, followed and a one-legged chief
from one of the neighbouring islands read a further address of welcome.
Offerings were here presented, green coco-nuts, pigs roasted whole,
masses of bark _tappas_ and mats.
The sea had gone down when the Prince re-embarked, and except that the
war-canoes accompanied the launch right out to the _Renown_, the
ceremonies of departure were much like those of arrival.
The visit occurred opportunely at a time when these rich islands of
coco-nut and banana plantations were slowly settling down under New
Zealand administration after a long period of uncertainty during the
war, followed by a much-dreaded influenza epidemic, which had swept away
a terribly large proportion of their attractive and easy-going
inhabitants. European residents said the Prince's coming was having an
excellent effect. It was already looked upon as fulfilling the Samoan
prayer that Great Britain should "remember this small branch of the
great tree of Empire." It was treated as an omen. "Healthy are the
travellers," declared one of the addresses, "We now meet with
success"--and in islands so swayed by emotion, picturesque expressions
of this kind no doubt indicate some corresponding reality in feeling.
After leaving Samoa the _Renown_ called at Honolulu, where the Prince
spent three days quietly, surf-riding and golfing, his experiences being
largely a repetition of those of his visit to the island on his outward
voyage, except that there were no official ceremonies. He stayed at the
Moana Hotel as an ordinary visitor, dividing his time between the
beautiful Waikiki beach and the country club. Nothing could exceed the
kindness, hospitality, and consideration extended not only to the
Prince, but also to the entire ship's company of the _Renown_ by
Governor McCarthy and other Hawaiian residents, who, while scrupulously
respecting the Prince's desire that the visit should be without
functions, did everything imaginable to render it as enjoyable as
possible. The arrangements included drives around the island and other
entertainments for every officer and man of the _Renown_.
On leaving, the Prince issued a press note expressing his appreciation.
"I was delighted with Honolulu on my outward voyage," he said, "and most
grateful for the kind welcome and generous hospitality given me by the
Governor, Mr. McCarthy, and every one. I always feel happy amongst
Americans and in American territory, because American life appeals to me
greatly, and I have many American friends--especially since my short
visit to the United States last year, when I was deeply touched by the
most friendly reception accorded me."
The whole white population of Honolulu assembled on the wharf when the
_Renown_ cast off. Before leaving the Prince had been presented with the
usual farewell offering of ropes of flowers, which he duly flung
overboard, in accordance with immemorial Hawaiian custom, as the ship
left the shore, in token that his friendship remained with this pleasant
island though he himself was compelled to depart. As the ship cleared
the harbour searchlights were played upon the Waikiki beach where so
many enjoyable hours had been spent.
Crossing the northern Pacific the _Renown_ touched Mexico, where
Acapulco harbour, a deep, sheltered pool amongst hills of ferruginous
rock and verdant jungle, held the ship for a day. On one side were the
square, flat-topped bastions of the fort, with ancient muzzle-loaders
pointing black mouths out of stone embrasures, muzzle-loaders which were
fired quite recently at the late President Carranza's gunboat, the
_Gerriro_, when it was shelling revolutionaries ensconced in the
red-tiled city that climbs up the steep slope behind the wharf.
The fighting was described to us in broken English by Mexican traders
doing business in dark verandahed houses opening out of the narrow
streets. It had surged up and down the town in the form of desultory
rifle-fire between the followers of Carranza, who were in occupation,
and those of the insurgent rebel leader, Avaro Obregon, who eventually
drove them into the interior. Carranza's gunboat simultaneously
disappeared to sea. No great damage was done in the town. All that we
heard of was the looting of shops, which did not appear to have been on
any very considerable scale. After the firing had ceased, the civilians,
who had mostly hidden themselves in the hills, returned and reopened
their places of business.
At the time of the Prince's visit the walls of Acapulco were plastered
with rough zincograph prints of Avaro Obregon, a soldierly looking
Mexican, whose election for President was voted upon the Sunday before
the _Renown_ put in to that port. Nobody doubted that he would be
declared elected (as has since been the case) for the excellent reason
that no other candidate had been even heard of at Acapulco. In the
disorder so long in the ascendant the entire port has fallen into decay.
Dark-skinned loungers, in white cotton shirts and trousers, bare feet,
and gigantic straw sombrero hats, smoked cigarettes upon benches beneath
plantain trees in the central square. In the market-place were tethered
mules with high-peaked saddles, also doing nothing and enjoying it. A
couple of small bells rang out intermittently from a big Catholic
church with corrugated iron roof, but the only worshipper inside this
draughty place of worship was a guide, who seemed to be returning thanks
for unaccustomed profits brought to him by the royal visit. The planks
of the empty wharf were so rotten that one had to walk warily to avoid
mischance.
On the beach were a few light fishing boats, one of which was engaged in
taking out three of the Governor's A.D.C.'s through the fine but
deserted harbour to pay his respects to the Prince. The Governor, these
gentlemen explained, was ill or would have been with them. The British
and United States consuls came to the ship, where they were entertained
to lunch.
The Prince afterwards landed and went for a walk ashore, while the
_Renown_ took in oil-fuel. Bumboats with scarlet sails, presided over by
dusky ladies in black robes and tumbled hair, hawked bananas, melons,
earthen pots, sombrero hats, Mexican swords, coloured blankets, and
other locally manufactured articles, to the blue-jackets.
An old missionary in the faded uniform of a captain of the Royal Navy, a
rank he once had held, also visited the _Renown_. He had recently
arrived by mule from Mexico City, some six hundred miles distant. The
road is steep and rocky, but by no means unsafe. The railway, which is
ultimately to connect Acapulco with Mexico City, though partly torn up,
is still in working order for nearly half the way. It may some day
shorten the mail route materially between Europe and Australia. The bags
would be carried overland from some American port on the Atlantic and
re-shipped at Acapulco for the trans-Pacific voyage. Business had not
been altogether suspended in Mexico City, banks remaining open and
motor-cars plying in the streets.
Little was known in Acapulco of the personality of Avaro Obregon, except
that he had been a successful revolutionary leader. It was hoped he
would prove strong enough to hold his own and put down disorder, thereby
enabling prosperity to return to this much-vexed country, but fighting
in Mexico, as in Ireland, is a temperamental gift and hard to lose.
The _Renown_ put out to sea in a sharp electric storm. Warm tropical
rain came down with insistent hammer, and lightning from all sides at
once threw up the coast in brilliant outline, and illuminated an
enormous crucifix upon one of the headlands, by which Drake may have
steered in his pursuit of Spanish galleons three hundred years ago.
The passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic, on the return journey, was
quickly accomplished. The _Renown_ arrived at Panama at daylight, after
an uneventful voyage from Acapulco. She was received by the American
authorities, who fired a salute of welcome. The Canal was entered
without a stop, and was traversed smoothly and in record time for so big
a vessel. Every lock was clear and every possible facility was afforded.
Dredgers were still at work at the slip which had delayed the _Renown_
on her outward voyage, but an almost magical change had been effected in
the interval by the removal of a million cubic yards of rock and earth.
What had been a narrow, tortuous channel in June, had been converted by
September into a spacious pool, where to the casual glance six _Renowns_
could lie side by side. The hillside above looked as unstable as ever,
but no fresh land-slips were visible, and even if they occur hereafter,
as is to be expected, the canal has space to accommodate considerable
subsidence without interfering with vessels getting through.
At the Gatun locks the Prince went off by launch, in company with Mr.
Markham, the pisciculturist of the Canal, who succeeded in showing him
some Tarpon fishing. He got back at a late hour, muddy but radiant, with
quite a catch, and re-embarked upon the _Renown_, which was then moored
alongside the Christobal wharf at Colon, taking in oil. H.M.S.
_Calcutta_ was also there, and the two vessels put out to sea the
following morning.
XXIV
THE WEST INDIES
An epidemic in Jamaica abridged the West Indian part of the tour, but
the _Renown_ visited several of the other islands, beginning with
Trinidad, where the flotilla anchored three days after leaving Colon in
the quiet roadstead off Port of Spain. Here Sir John Chancellor,
Governor of the Island, came on board to pay his respects to the Prince,
who shortly afterwards landed.
The entire city of Port of Spain had been effectively decorated.
Sugar-cane-stalks, cocoa-pods, and coco-nuts, were worked in cleverly
upon arches, spanning its substantial streets, to represent the
agriculture of the Colony. The other main Trinidad industries, asphalt
and oil, were well in evidence in the smooth surface found upon the
roads along which the Royal procession passed. The crowds lining the
route were made up in fairly equal proportions of negroes, East Indians,
and persons of mixed or "coloured" race. Few Europeans were seen until
the Legislative Council building and the Town Hall were reached, where
they were in considerable numbers. Those presented to the Prince
included Messrs. De B. Best, Colonial Secretary, H. B. Walcott,
Controller General, A. G. Bell, Director of Public Works, L.
Elphinstone, Solicitor-General, Colonel Mui, Commandant of the Local
Forces, Major Rust, acting President of the Civic Council, Rev. Dowling,
Catholic Archbishop, Dr. Ansley, Anglican Bishop, Sir Alfred Smith,
Chief Justice, also Justices Russell and Deane, and Father de Caignai,
Head of the Tunapuna Monastery.
The official address, read by the Governor, made special mention of how
much the island owes to the British Navy, and the Prince in the course
of his reply also dwelt upon this matter: "You have well referred," he
said, "to the security enjoyed by Trinidad during the Great War, in
which the people of this colony contributed in worthy measure to the
victory of British arms. I am particularly glad to have this opportunity
of congratulating the colony upon its fine services, and of meeting some
of the gallant men whom it sent overseas. I am also much pleased to hear
the colony appreciates how much it owes to the Royal Navy for its
tranquil prosperity during those terrible years." Touching upon more
local matters, the Prince said the colony had given a high measure of
prosperity to those whose forbears had made it their home. It had also
provided new opportunities for progress and well-being for a large
immigrant population from His Majesty's Indian Empire. "I feel sure," he
added, "that all its people, not only long established but recently
arrived, will do all in their power to maintain its good traditions of
law-abiding progress and loyalty to British ideals."
The Prince spent several days in Trinidad, driving through its thickly
wooded hills, past shady cocoa plantations, well-ordered coco-nut
groves, and fields of sugar-cane. He also visited the old-time Spanish
capital of St. Joseph, where an address was presented to him. He
attended in Port of Spain a state dinner and various other official
functions, besides inspecting a big gathering of children. In the course
of his remarks, replying to the toast of his health at the state dinner,
he said, "I saw a suggestion, before I left England, that the British
Empire might be willing to part with one or more of the British West
Indian Islands to a foreign power, and I should like to say here again
what I said in Barbados in March, that British subjects are not for
sale. I can assure you that the King and all of us in the old country
have very much at heart the welfare of Trinidad and all the British West
Indies, also of all other British possessions," a statement which cannot
be too often repeated in sentiment or exemplified in fact.
Visits were paid to some of the oil-wells, which are already a source of
much wealth to Trinidad, and promise to become still more important in
the future. The famous pitch lake was a sight along the coast,
forty-five miles out. It is a semi-solidified deposit, lying in a
shallow hollow, a quarter of a mile in diameter, close to the sea, where
men have been digging out black slabs of asphalt for years without
making a perceptible hole. The lake is so near the coast that ships sail
practically up to it to carry away a product which is ultimately spread
over the streets of the world. Fifty thousand tons have been taken out
of it every year for a generation, and the level is estimated to have
sunk only about nine inches. Oil underlies the pitch in the vicinity and
a forest of derricks rises a quarter of a mile away.
From Trinidad the Prince made a side trip to Demerara, British Guiana,
in the _Calcutta_, the _Renown_ being too big to cross the bar into
Georgetown harbour. All the sunny richness of this steamy sugar and
rice-growing corner of South America was in evidence when he landed at
Georgetown, immediately after the ceremonial visit of the Governor, Sir
William Collet. A fine West Indian guard-of-honour saluted him upon the
pier, and mixed crowds of Anglo-Saxons, negroes, East Indians and
Portuguese cheered in the decorated streets as he proceeded to the
Government buildings. Here more guards-of-honour were inspected,
including armed constabulary and militia. The Prince also shook hands
with a long line of returned men. Entering the building he found the
leaders of the local community assembled, including the principal
officials and their families. An address of welcome was read by Mr.
Brown, a coloured West Indian, senior elected member of the Court of
Policy. Archbishop Parry and General Rice were amongst those presented.
In the course of his reply the Prince referred to the great potential
wealth of British Guiana and to the determination of its inhabitants to
develop their inheritance to the full. It was essential, he added, that
all parts and sections of the community should pull together loyally, in
order that their future might be assured, and particularly that the
great inland wealth of the colony might be laid open for the benefit of
all. He hoped their ex-service men would prove themselves as
public-spirited and useful citizens in time of peace as they had on
active service in the field.
Two days passed in Demerara in the enjoyment of the hospitality of
the Governor and other leading residents. Visits were paid to a
largely-attended race meeting, to sugar and rice estates in the
swampy flats around the city, and to some very beautiful botanical
gardens, where the schools of the colony were assembled, and the Prince
passed down dense lines of negro, East Indian, and European children.
[Illustration: SAMOA MAKES MERRY]
[Illustration: TRINIDAD: IN THE DRAGON'S MOUTH]
As the _Calcutta_ put out to sea ten thousand musical West Indian voices
on the Georgetown wharves joined with the light cruiser's band in the
strains of "Auld Lang Syne." Probably never in the history of this
important British outpost in South America has patriotic sentiment held
more undivided sway or the fact been made more clear that the hearts of
its flourishing inhabitants still turn faithfully to the old country.
Its people are looking to England at the moment with some hope, as well,
of that co-ordination of Imperial resources of which British Guiana
stands so much in need. The labour question has never before been so
acute. The recent abolition of the long-established Indian indentures
system, and therewith the cessation of immigration from India, has
synchronized with enormous increases in world prices and world demand
for the sugar which Demerara is so pre-eminently qualified to provide,
and for this more labour is wanted.
The same question arises in connexion with new industrial developments,
now on the eve of fruition, which must add enormously to the position
that agricultural produce has already won for this colony. These will
come with the exploitation of vast deposits of bauxite-alumina, that
promise expansion of world-wide significance in connexion with steel
manufacture, into which this comparatively new mineral is entering
increasingly. The position, at the time of the Prince's visit, appeared
to be that a million sterling had been spent by an American Company upon
machinery and shipping and railway facilities for handling the ore, and
that its effectual arrival upon the market was only a matter of time.
That an American Company should be spending such a large sum in the
development of natural resources in British territory, was not the least
interesting feature of the situation. It is to Anglo-American
co-operation that Demerara and also the British West Indies must look
increasingly for brains, initiative, and capital for the development of
natural resources which are as yet by no means fully utilized.
The Prince returned to Trinidad through still steamy seas. Dawn on the
day after leaving Demerara found the _Calcutta_ passing the rocky
portals of the narrowest of the three channels which make up the famous
"Dragon's Mouth" entrance to the roadstead of Port of Spain. The shore
on the landward side of this entrance was dotted with pleasant
verandahed villas and fresh-tilled fields, signs of the civilization
which is pushing back the forest in all parts of the island.
On reaching Port of Spain the Prince visited H.M.S. _Calliope_, a light
cruiser just arrived from the north. He also paid a farewell visit to
the Governor, and inspected the local fire brigade. In the evening he
returned to the _Renown_, which shortly afterwards heaved up her anchors
and left harbour for Grenada.
At St. George's, the principal town of Grenada, the Prince landed on the
sheltered cove of Carenage, upon a decorated wharf on which was drawn up
a guard-of-honour of the West Indian regiment beneath the stone bastions
of an old French fort. He was received with every formality by the
principal officials, headed by Sir George Haddon-Smith, Governor of the
Windward Islands, Mr. Joyce Thomas, acting administrator of St. Vincent,
Mr. Herbert Fergusson, Colonial Secretary, Mr. E. Laborde, Colonial
Treasurer, and Sir Thomas Haycroft, Chief Justice, also the heads of the
local Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist and Catholic Churches.
Thereafter, up steep streets decorated with flowery arches, beneath the
clanging bells of numerous churches, through smiling, bowing, cheering
crowds of cheerful West Indians and their gaily dressed women and
piccaninnies, he was taken by car to the colonial Court-House, where the
leading residents were assembled. He entered through a shaded courtyard,
where he shook hands with a number of returned men and officers. The
address was read in a low-ceilinged legislative assembly room, with wide
French windows commanding a wonderful view of city and harbour.
In the course of his reply the Prince said the strength and spirit of
the British Commonwealth could not be fully grasped by anyone without
first-hand knowledge of the British Dominions and Colonies. "The more I
see of the King's world-wide possessions," he added, "the more deeply I
am impressed by the strength of the sentiment which binds them to the
Empire and the throne"--the truth of which was testified to by every
street he had passed through.
The Prince was afterwards taken by motor into the interior, through some
of the most luxuriant vegetation in the world, past cocoa and nutmeg
plantations, up two thousand feet into the mountains, about the
forest-shaded depths of the circular lake of Grand Etang, the crater of
an extinct volcano. An official lunch and a garden-party at Government
House filled up the day, which ended with a reception given by the
Prince on the _Renown_ to the principal residents of the island.
Leaving Grenada at daylight the _Renown_ threaded her way through the
clustering Grenadine Islands and past the steep twin green cones of the
inaccessible Piton peaks, and anchored near the Pigeon Rock--Admiral
Rodney's eighteenth-century naval base.