Australia, at 7:20 on the evening of February 12, and picked it up
again at 7 o’clock this morning, when I awoke and looked out of the
window to see how the weather was. The land was South Africa. The
voyage we have just completed takes the passenger out of sight of land
longer than any other now being made in steamships. There are longer
voyages, but on none of them is the passenger out of sight of land for
eighteen days. And during the eighteen days we did not see a ship; no
signs of life whatever, except a few birds and a few flying-fish. It
was a monotonous, dreary experience I do not care to repeat....
South Africa, as seen in the vicinity of Durban, is mountainous, and
the mountains are covered with verdure.... By 8:30, Durban could be
plainly seen, and it did not look unlike a portion of Sydney, with its
residences scattered over the hills, and almost every house covered
with red tile roofing imported from France.... The officers said we
should tie up at the dock by ten o’clock, and that is exactly what we
did, although we did not reach the hotel until nearly noon. The delay
was caused, it was said, by the slowness of the doctor and the customs
officer, but I did not see the doctor at all, and the customs officer,
when I finally got to him, did not open one of my packages. However, he
charged me $3.75 duty on a portable typewriter which I cannot learn to
use, having so long been accustomed to a different key-board. Once out
of the customs house, we called two negro ricksha men, and were soon
on our way to the Marine Hotel; we avoided the Royal because we had
heard Mr. Riley say he intended to stop there. Most of the passengers
will spend the night ashore, as a relief from the long experience
with ship beds and ship fare. The negro ricksha men who pulled us to
the hotel wore cow-horns on their heads, and pieces of leopard skin
on their backs. The rickshas were marked: “For Europeans only,” and
the negroes carried us to the hotel on a keen trot, for a shilling
each. Our men carried cow-bells, which they rang frequently as warning
for pedestrians to get out of the way.... I have not lately been
surprised as agreeably as I am in Durban. Instead of being a rough,
crude place, it is one of the finest cities I have ever seen. The hotel
at which we are staying is as fine in every way as the Australia in
Sydney, a city of over half a million, and the price is the same: $3.60
per day, including everything. The town hall in Durban is almost as
fine as the capital in some of the Australian states; and this town of
sixty thousand people, half of them black, has parks, business blocks,
zoölogical gardens, and private residences that would do credit to any
city of any size anywhere. We hired a new Overland automobile, driven
by an intelligent Englishman, and although gasoline costs forty cents a
gallon here, the charge was only $3 an hour. He took us to one of the
finest bathing-beaches I have seen anywhere, and many of the hotels
around it would be creditable in Atlantic City. Durban is tropical, and
the luxuriant growths of flowers and plants reminded us of Honolulu.
Another thing I did not know about Durban is that it has thousands of
Hindus; citizens of India. All the servants at the hotel where we are
staying are Hindus, and wear the picturesque costumes seen in India;
during our ride today we saw literally thousands of these people,
and almost as many women and children as men. In certain sections of
Durban you see only Hindus, and temples are almost as numerous as
churches in other sections of the town. All sorts of strange shops
are kept by men with strange names; and all the Indians we saw look
much more prosperous than their relatives in India. The Hindus were
brought here by the English a good many years ago, under indenture
and promise to return them to India at the end of a certain number of
years, but they liked the country, and most of them did not care to
return. There are upwards of a hundred thousand of them in Natal, but
their importation is now prohibited. The Hindus are like the Chinese
in that they are willing to work and behave, and their entrance to
most countries is therefore prohibited.... We passed a sugar mill
during our automobile ride today, and were told that all the workmen
in the mill, and in the great fields of cane surrounding it, were
Hindus, or coolies. Just now the cane is being cut and hauled to the
mills.... At lunch today, we saw the waiters serving roasting-ears.
On the bill of fare they are called Mealie Cobs. We ordered some, and
the waiter offered to cut the corn from the cob. I ate mine in true
American fashion, but Adelaide had hers cut off the cob. The variety
was Early Adams, and it wasn’t very sweet. The best thing they have
at this fine hotel is pineapple. They also have alligator pears. The
best alligator pears grow in the Samoa Islands, and we had them on the
“Sonoma,” but did not care for them. They are eaten with pepper and
salt and vinegar and oil; an alligator pear is more vegetable than
fruit. Today we also had mangoes, which resemble the American paw-aw,
but they are much better fruit. You peel them, and eat them as you do
green corn, the seed representing the cob.... This being Sunday,
we saw two Salvation Army meetings on the street. All the “soldiers”
were negroes, and there was the usual drum in the centre of the circle,
and the usual pleas for money.... Now that I am out of Australia,
and off the “Anchises,” which carried Australian water, I am free to
drink all the water I want. I saw so many false teeth in Australia, and
heard so frequently that the bad teeth of the Australians were due to
the water, that I never took a drink that my teeth didn’t ache....
We learned this evening that all the money Mr. Riley spent in gambling
and drinking was loaned him by a Mr. Wilson, who came ashore this
afternoon, and is trying hard to get his money. At a late hour, Mr.
Riley had not been able to satisfy his creditor. You meet strange
characters on ships. Think of a man going to sea without money, and
being financed by a stranger.... We knew a woman on the ship who was
so unhappy because of a big waist that she imagined her husband was
mean to her, and she told a good many of the women that were it not
for her children, she would seek forgetfulness by enclosing her head
in a pillow-slip, and inhaling chloroform.... Durban had a small
harbor which did very well in the days of small ships, but when big
ships became fashionable the town was compelled to spend millions in
improvements. The result is that ships drawing thirty feet can tie up
at its docks. Good coal is found not far from Durban, and its coal
trade is very important. Much of the coal used on the railways in India
comes from Durban, and every ship coming this way coals here....
Before going to bed tonight, we went down in front of the hotel, called
a ricksha, and went for a ride to the beach to cool off. The negro who
pulled us was a huge fellow wearing a pair of cow-horns as a sort of
head-dress; seven-tenths of the hundreds of ricksha men wear the same
amusing head-dress. Our man trotted all the way to the beach and back,
up hill and down. It is a considerable task for a man to pull a buggy
and two passengers for nearly an hour, and always keep up a trot. On
our return to the hotel at 10 P. M., the man did not seem very tired.
The road to the beach was lined with hundreds of other people riding in
rickshas, and there were many ricksha stands on the way. At the beach
we saw thousands of people sitting around in chairs, or dining, or
listening to music. Some of the restaurants had moving-picture shows
to attract customers. And it seems to me I never saw such big rollers
as came in from the Indian ocean at Durban beach. Four years ago this
beach was a dreary piece of sand. Durban has lately been spending money
like a drunken sailor, and has made it pay.
MONDAY, MARCH 3.—Owing to a tremendous rain and wind storm, we have
been confined all day to our rooms at the hotel. Yesterday was bright
and fine, and we were rather disposed to laugh at the statement that
this is the rainy season in South Africa; but the storm today has
given us more confidence in the guide-books. The wind was so strong
that the “Anchises,” lying at its dock, twice broke its hawsers, and
was only saved from drifting by the prompt use of the anchors. The
passengers who were ashore found it very difficult to get back to the
ship, and from our windows at the hotel we could see that the wind
was doing considerable damage.... And this in spite of the finest,
largest and brightest rainbow I have ever seen, this morning....
White women are scarce in South Africa. In the big dining-room of the
Marine Hotel, at dinner tonight, all the guests were men, except four.
Englishmen come to this country as Americans go to the Klondike....
The Marine Hotel introduces one feature that is entirely new to me;
dinner is commenced with a _hors-d’œuvre_—a sort of salad of pickled
fish, as an appetizer. Then follows the regular dinner, starting with
soup. When a king dines, he begins with a _hors-d’œuvre_, the head
waiter says.... One of the ricksha men who stands in front of the
hotel has carried us three times, and regards us as his property. When
we appear, he runs up to us, and bows almost to the ground; if other
ricksha men appear, he pushes them angrily away. The negroes here are
exactly like our negroes, except that they talk Kaffir; we have not
seen any who are able to speak English easily. The negro women wear
their hair in a peculiar way, and many of them dress as the men do.
The ricksha men who stand in front of the hotel are always laughing
and talking in a noisy, good-natured way. There are several tribes
of negroes here, and all of them have different characteristics in
dress.... Before Durban’s present harbor was completed, passengers
disembarked from ships in baskets. The big ships, not being able to
come into the harbor, were met outside by tenders. Passengers leaving
the ship were locked in a huge basket, and this basket was hoisted over
the side with a steam winch, and lowered to the deck of the tender
rolling alongside. This method of embarking and disembarking is still
used at many points along the coast, and we shall test it on our way
to Zanzibar.... The amateur humorist is a great task not only in
private life, but in books as well. Today I bought a book to obtain
information of the East Coast route to England, but found it so full
of jokes that I could get no information out of it. Every man, when he
writes or talks, thinks he must use a great many jokes; everyone seems
to make too much of the fun, fun, fun, and laugh, laugh, laugh idea. I
often wish people were more serious.... My next ship journey will be
up the East Coast of Africa to Aden, and thence through the Red Sea to
the Mediterranean and Naples. I have spent considerable of my time in
Durban in arranging for a cabin to myself on the German ship. Occupying
a room with three others is the red flag that brings out the bull in
my nature. I not only object to other men in a room with me, but I
don’t like them very well in the hall outside. I am particular about
having things of my own, and in the list, a sleeping-room is near the
top.... In this fine hotel, it is impossible to get a good cup of
coffee, and I drink tea instead, although I abominate tea. I have not
had a decent cup of coffee in nearly three months. As I am accustomed
at home to the best coffee in the world, the deprivation is a severe
one. I have no doubt that all the hotels where I have lately been a
guest use the best coffee obtainable, but their way of making it is
not my way. You get the best coffee at home because it is made your
way.... As in coffee, so it is in politics, religion, the choice of
a wife, and a hundred other things: what suits others does not suit
you. You want coffee made your way; and you are entitled to it.... I
do not say my way of making coffee is the best, but I do say it suits
me better than any other way I have ever tried. I venture to say that
nine out of ten guests at every hotel abuse the coffee.... Every
morning at 6:30 there is a rap on my door. I look out, and find a Hindu
servant with tea. I tell him I do not want tea, but would appreciate
hot water for shaving. This the Hindu cannot understand, so I now take
the tea, and shave with it.... I was on the “Anchises” so long that
I almost used up a cake of shaving-soap. I wonder I didn’t get the
scurvy; they say that is the scourge of a long sea voyage.
TUESDAY, MARCH 4.—This day opened with genuine inauguration weather;
the storm of yesterday continued all night, and seemed as fierce as
ever at 8 A. M.... The Natal _Mercury_ of this morning devoted a
full page to the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson, as president. It
also printed an editorial of a column and a quarter entitled, “The
Future of America,” which was funny because of absurd statements.
“Rural America,” the editorial says, “knows little of decent roads,
well-organized police, or mail facilities, and consists largely of
wide-spreading areas that do not contain one human being to the square
mile.”... If newspapers print such statements about America, is it any
wonder that the English people have absurd notions of the Americans?
The editorial views with alarm the race problem in America; it also
fears that the American people are today where the Romans were just
before the decline began.... The Natal _Mercury_ contains sixteen
eight-column pages, and is a more creditable newspaper than will be
found in the average American town of 32,000 population. Durban has
66,000, but 34,000 are negroes who do not read or speak English.
Nine pages of the _Mercury’s_ issue of this morning are devoted to
advertising; the people of all the British colonies seem to be well
trained in newspaper advertising. Although the _Mercury_ prints eight
columns about the inauguration of America’s new president (most of it
absurd, but probably not more absurd than would be my comments on a
similar event in Africa), it says nothing about the “Anchises” breaking
from its moorings during yesterday’s storm, or of its detention in the
harbor. The local news is badly handled in all the papers I see over
here; the people do not seem to care for local news, so long as they
get telegrams from England.... Durban people are just now excited
because His Majesty’s Ship “New Zealand” will arrive in a day or two.
This is the battleship of dreadnought type which was built with New
Zealand money, and presented to the English government. Canada will
give three battleships to the English, and Australia three. All the
other English colonies have been called upon to show their love for
the mother country in a similar way; and this really amounts to an
order. India, Ceylon, Africa, and all the other countries controlled
by Great Britain, must assist the English in keeping ahead of Germany
in the race for naval supremacy. It seems an absurd situation to me,
but possibly I know as little about it as the editorial writer on
the Natal _Mercury_ knows about America. (NOTE.—Since the above was
written, Canada has balked, and refused to vote money for English
battleships.)... Some writers say that Africa is the Coming Country;
that thousands of years hence, when Europe and America have become as
dry as India or the Sahara desert, Africa will be about right, and
contain cities like New York and London. By that time, New York and
London will have been deserted, as old Memphis, Thebes and Babylon are
now deserted. This is said to be the history of the world: Countries
wear out like men; the country around the Red Sea was once fertile
and populous, but is now a desert, owing to slowly changing climatic
conditions; the world is so old that mountain ranges have been worn
level with the surrounding plains by the wind, rain, heat and cold
of many centuries. This is what will finally happen to our Rocky
Mountains. The country where we live was once tropical, and it will
become tropical again, in the course of time. The one thing we do
not realize is the great age of the world, having long been taught
that it is ten or twelve thousand years old. It is more than ten or
twelve million years old; some geologists say its age is certainly
forty or fifty million years.... My father left Indiana because
he believed fever and ague would always be a pest. Indiana is now one
of our finest states. Africa is getting rid of the sleeping sickness,
of the mysterious fly which causes death, of fever and ague, and of
other menaces to health; it is said that South Africa has shown a
greater development in the past twenty years than any other country
has ever shown in a similar length of time. Johannesburg is as fine
a town as Kansas City, and almost as large. Durban is a wonder, and
Capetown claims to be a health resort. This in South Africa only,
whereas the real growth in the future, many believe, will come from
East Africa.... The mythical “Cape to Cairo” railway extends from
the Cape of Good Hope, in South Africa, to Cairo, in North Africa, or
Egypt. Capetown has built a railroad far into the interior, northward,
and Cairo has built far into the interior, southward; some day it will
be possible for travelers to go from Capetown to Cairo by rail. I am
going from Capetown to Cairo, but, the “Cape to Cairo” line still
being a dream, I shall go to Victoria Falls by rail, and thence to
Beira, where I will take a German ship for a long journey to Port Said,
the Mediterranean entrance to the Suez Canal, and only a few miles
from Cairo.... I have been compelled to quit eating roasting-ears
American fashion at the Marine Hotel in Durban. The Hindu waiters stood
around and watched me in surprise, and other guests were also greatly
interested. Finally a strange man appeared at the entrance, and seemed
to be studying the lights with a view of getting a moving-picture of
the performance; so I now have my corn cut off the cob, which is the
universal practice here.... The “Anchises” will not get away for
Capetown and London until noon on Thursday. The chief engineer and
doctor dined at our hotel tonight, with two of the lady passengers,
and they told us that when the ship left Adelaide, it was followed by
a pigeon, which was no doubt attracted by the grains of wheat on deck.
The first night out, the pigeon probably rested in the rigging; anyway
it was flying about the ship the second morning. Then it was too late
to go back, and the bird has been adopted by the crew. It flies about
the ship while at sea, but soon returns to the deck or rigging. It has
become quite tame, and will take food from anyone, and grumble for
more, as pet pigeons do. The sailors thought the bird would leave them
at Durban, but it didn’t make up with the other pigeons that called to
see it, and will probably accompany the “Anchises” to Liverpool....
Mr. Riley slept on board last night, as he is in love with a married
woman who detests him. His ticket read to Durban only, but he will
probably attempt to go on to Capetown, in order that he may further
enjoy drunkenness, love, and the Sports Committee.
[Illustration: Street in Durban, South Africa
Labor Day Parade, Johannesburg
Pritchard Street, Johannesburg
Port Said
Port Said Port]
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5.—Rain has fallen three days in succession. Until
Monday last, there had been a drouth so long and severe that the mealie
crop is said to be ruined. Mealie is the name given corn here; wheat
is called corn. The farmers in South Africa grow two crops of corn per
year, and export a great deal to London. I saw the statement in print
recently that the Argentine Republic, in South America, exports more
corn than the United States. We raise much more corn than Argentine,
but use most of it, whereas Argentine uses very little.... This
afternoon, in spite of the rain, we visited a steam whaling-ship lying
in the harbor. Twenty similar vessels make headquarters in Durban, and
the whales caught are converted into oil in six factories located on
the seashore, at a point so distant that the smell is not objectionable
to the town-people. All whales caught are brought into Durban harbor;
then loaded on flat cars, and sent down to the factories.... In
1911, the luckiest boat in the Durban whaling-fleet caught two hundred
whales; in 1912, the lucky boat caught only one hundred. The boat
with the least luck caught only sixty in 1912, as whales are becoming
scarcer. Last month, the boat I visited caught only one whale; the
month before eight—three of the eight were caught in one day. In
certain whaling-grounds off the coast of South America, fourteen whales
have been caught in one day by one ship. A fifty-six foot sperm whale
is said to be worth $1,750. The stock of the local whaling-companies
is quoted every day by the Durban papers, and the best of them pay
big dividends.... The whaler I visited is a seventy-ton affair, a
small ship compared with the 10,000 tons of the “Anchises.” The captain
of the whaler showed us about, and he looked like a carpenter or
other mechanic who calls at your house to do a job of work. But he is
compelled to understand navigation as well as the captain of a liner,
and pass the same examination. He brought the ship from England, a
voyage of fifty-nine days. Its engines can make only about ten miles an
hour, and its boilers require only eight tons of coal per twenty-four
hours. There is a crew of ten men, including mate, engineer, gunner,
and cook. In these ships, whales are not chased in small boats; when
a whale is sighted, it is pursued by the ship, under full steam. At
a distance of fifty or a hundred yards, a harpoon is fired into the
whale from a good-sized cannon. There is a time fuse attached to the
harpoon, and this explodes a bomb which should kill the whale. A chain
is then attached to its tail, and the carcass is towed to the rendering
works in Durban. When a harpoon is fastened in a whale, and the bomb
does not explode properly, it sometimes makes a run, and pulls the
ship as easily as it might pull a row-boat. In such a case, another
harpoon is fired into it as soon as opportunity offers. Frequently the
whale breaks the great rope which attaches the harpoon to the ship.
The reader will probably understand that a two-inch rope is attached
to the harpoon fired from the cannon, and if the harpoon hits fairly,
the whale is hooked and handled as a fisherman handles a small fish
with a light line. If the whale runs away, the rope is let out slowly,
being kept just taut enough to prevent breaking. If the whale rushes
toward the ship the rope is hauled in rapidly, with a steam winch, as
a fisherman reels in his line. If the bomb explodes inside the whale,
as intended, it is usually killed at once, but this does not always
happen, and then a fight is necessary. At Durban, the whaling-ships
usually go out at 4 o’clock every morning, and return after nightfall.
The captain is also the pilot, and he took me up on the bridge. I
have never before been on the bridge of a ship; on a liner, it is a
violation of law for a passenger to go on the bridge. The captain also
took me down to his cabin, which is reached by a ladder. The mate,
engineer and gunner occupy the cabin with him, and it is the darkest
and worst ventilated place I have ever visited. Two of the beds are
simply holes-in-the-wall, and the rooms of the gunner and mate are
the funniest holes ever occupied by men. The ladder leading to the
officers’ quarters was so steep and slippery that Adelaide was afraid
to attempt to go down. The captain invited me to go out with him next
Friday, and I accepted; but when the time comes, I suppose I will back
out. He says he often has visitors, and that a good many of them have
seen whales caught. In the best season for whaling, a whale is caught
every day, and always within fifteen or twenty miles of Durban. If
the weather is stormy, the whaling-ships do not go out, as nothing
can be done in rough weather. The captain, who is a Norwegian, also
invited us to stay for dinner, but we declined, although we saw the
dinner on the table. It consisted of boiled beef and potatoes, bread
and butter, dried-apple sauce, and tea.... On the way to visit the
whaling-ship we passed the Durban courthouse. It was surrounded by
negroes. The inferior races everywhere have a passion for going to law.
To go to law a good deal—to have confidence in the justice dealt out by
lawyers and judges—is everywhere a sign of feeble intelligence....
There are only 90,000 whites in all of Natal, and 300,000 natives. The
Hindus number about 180,000, and lately the whites are refusing them
license to do business. If they are willing to work as laborers, for
low wages, well and good, but if they attempt to engage in business
for themselves, they are to be told that business is for Europeans
only.... The present storm is the worst in two years. This afternoon
I went past the harbor, and saw great waves dashing over the sea-wall
and lighthouse. I also saw four ships lying outside, waiting to get
in, and a number inside waiting to get out. No ship has passed in or
out of Durban harbor since the arrival of the Atchison hoodoo, and
forty bath-houses at the beach were demolished by the waves Tuesday
morning.... A man who has lived here fifty-four years tells me that
while this section is very good for agriculture, lung fever carries off
so many cattle and horses as to seriously threaten the stock-raising
industry.... When a native African woman marries, she mixes clay
with her wool, and makes a circular dome out of it which looks like a
stove-pipe hat tilted on the back of the head. This head-dress forces
the woman to sleep on a wooden pillow, as the Japanese women do, since
the hair when once put up is not taken down for months.... The Natal
_Mercury_, a Durban paper I buy every morning, contained the following
amusing telegram in its issue for today: “London, March 4.—Reuter’s
correspondent in Washington telegraphs that Dr. W. Wilson has arrived
there, preparatory to his induction into the presidency. Suffragists
have been debarred from participating in the presidential procession.
Numbers of the demonstrators paraded yesterday, and women mounted on
horseback helped the police to clear the route.” This was all the
paper contained about the inauguration, although issued the day after
the inauguration took place, and the editor’s motto is: “The Natal
_Mercury_ prints _all_ the news _all_ the time.” All American news
in the Australian, New Zealand and South-African papers is equally
brief and absurd. Little wonder that the English and Americans do
not understand each other.... From the window of my room at the
hotel, I can look into the office of a big wholesale house across the
street. Every afternoon, the bookkeepers and stenographers may be
seen drinking tea. A cup of tea at four o’clock in the afternoon is a
universal custom here. Sometimes bread and butter or cakes are served
with it.... Nearly opposite our hotel is an apartment house where a
great many negro servants are employed, and a crowd of them may usually
be seen in front of the servant’s entrance. They are so far away that
while we can hear them talk, we cannot hear what they say, and they act
so much like our negroes that they seem to be talking English, although
they are not. Negroes have been taken to almost every portion of the
earth, and speak nearly all languages. In some of the islands of the
West Indies they speak only French, having never heard anything else.
In English colonies they speak English, but do not use the broad R, as
do the negroes in our Southern states. Probably millions of them speak
Arabic. Many of them are Mohammedans, and many of them speak Hebrew.
But wherever you see them, they have the same good-natured, care-free
way. In Africa, there are dozens of different tribal languages in
use among the blacks, but in foreign countries the young negroes
soon forget their mother-tongue. Probably among all the millions of
negroes in the United States, not one has the remotest knowledge of the
original language of his ancestors. The Hindus, Chinese, Japanese and
Hebrews always retain their own language and religion, in whatever part
of the world they may live, but the negroes soon adopt the language
of the people with whom their lot is cast, and become Methodists,
Mohammedans, Catholics or Hebrews in religion with equal facility.