six hundred and thirty-nine dollars and ten cents. This provides
transportation from any place in the United States around the world to
the starting point. The advantage of a Cook's ticket over the tickets of
other companies is that this firm has the best organized force, with
large offices in the big cities and with banks as agencies in hundreds
of places where you may cash its money orders. This is a great
convenience as it saves the risk of carrying considerable sums of money
in lands where thievery is a fine art. Cook's agents may be found on
arrival by boat or train in all the principal cities of a world-tour.
These men invariably speak English well, and thus they are a god-send
when the tourist knows nothing of the language or the customs of a
strange country. At the offices of Cook and Son in all the large
Oriental cities one may get accurate information about boats and trains
and may purchase tickets for side excursions. Some of the Oriental
offices I found careless in the handling of mail because of the
employment of native clerks, but this was not general. Cook will furnish
guides for the leading Oriental tours and in India and Egypt these are
absolutely necessary, as without them life is made a burden by the
demands of carriage drivers, hotel servants and beggars. Cook will
furnish good guides for Japan, but it is unsafe to select natives unless
you have a guarantee that they know the places usually visited and that
they speak intelligible English. The pronunciation of Japanese differs
so vitally from that of English that many Japanese who understand and
write English well make a hopeless jumble of words when they attempt to
speak it. Their failure to open their mouths or to give emphasis to
words renders it extremely difficult to understand them. Good foreign
hotels may be found in all the Japanese cities and even those managed by
Japanese are conducted in European style. It is a pity that the hotels
are not modeled on the Japanese style, like the Kanaya Hotel at Nikko,
where the furniture and the decorations of the rooms are essentially
Japanese and very artistic. The average charge for room and board in
Japanese hotels of the first class is four dollars, but some of the more
pretentious places demand from five to six dollars a day.
The cost of travel in India is not heavy because of the moderate scale
of prices. Hotels usually charge ten rupees a day for board and lodging
or about three dollars a day. Carriage hire is cheap, especially if you
have a party of four to fill one carriage. A Victoria, holding four
people, may be had morning and afternoon for twenty rupees, or an
average of about one dollar and seventy-five cents a day each. Railway
travel is absurdly cheap. Our party traveled second-class from Calcutta
to Delhi, thence to Bombay, Madras and Tuticorin, a distance of about
thirty-five hundred miles--farther than from New York to San
Francisco--for one hundred and forty rupees or about forty-five dollars
in American money. The first-class fare was nearly twice this amount,
but no additional comfort would have been secured. We made the trip at
low cost because a bargain was always made with hotelkeepers and
carriage drivers. Always make a definite bargain or you will be
overcharged. A native guide is necessary not only to show you the places
of interest but to arrange for carriages and to pay tips to servants.
Secure a Mohammedan guide and you may rest content that you will not be
cheated. His antipathy to the Hindoo will prevent any collusion with
servants. A good guide may be had for two rupees a day or about
sixty-five cents, and he will board himself.
Murray's Guide books for Japan, China, the Straits Settlements and India
are the most useful. These give the best routes and describe all the
principal objects of interest. Without such a guide-book, one is
helpless, as the professional guides frequently omit important things
which should be seen. It is needless to look for conscientiousness or
honesty in the Orient. You will not find them.
To avoid trouble when hiring carriage or jinrikisha, make a definite
bargain by the hour or by the trip. This you may do through the hotel
porter. Then, on your return, if the driver or the rickshaw-man demands
more, refer the matter to the porter, and refuse to pay more than your
bargain. If you do not take these precautions you will be involved in
constant trouble and will be persistently charged twice what you should
pay. Even with these precautions, you cannot escape trouble in
Singapore, which is cursed with the greediest carriage drivers in the
world.
Many travelers purchase Cook's hotel coupons which provide for lodging
and meals at certain hotels in every large city of the Orient. My
experience is that it is a mistake to buy these coupons, as all the
hotel managers speak English or have hall porters who understand the
language. You gain little by the arrangement, and you lose the choice of
good rooms, as hotel managers are not partial to tourists who carry
coupons, since the profit on these is small.
In Egypt, Cook's tours, which are arranged to suit all tastes, are the
most convenient. The best plan is to go up the Nile by train and to come
down by boat. Do not neglect the ride down the river. It consumes more
time but it is the only way in which you can get an idea of the charm of
the scenery, the primitive life of the people, and the beauty of sunrise
and sunset over the desert.
Above all things, arrange your itinerary carefully before you start.
Here is where Cook's agent can help you materially, but you must not
rely upon his advice in regard to steamship lines. He will recommend the
P. & O. boats, as they are British, but practically every tourist who
has made the trip will say that the North German Lloyd steamers give the
best service. Engage your state-room several months in advance and pay a
deposit, so as to get a receipt for the best berth in a certain room.
Unless you do this, you will have trouble and will probably be forced to
sleep in an inside room on hot tropical nights. Get a room on star-board
or port-side, according to the prevailing wind. To be on the windward
side means comfort and coolness at night. As soon as possible after
boarding a vessel see the bath steward and select an hour for your
morning bath. Should you neglect this, you will be forced to rise very
early or to bathe at night. If you wish certain table companions see the
head steward promptly. If you travel on a P. & O. boat, engage an
electric fan at the Company's office, as there is a rule that you can't
hire a fan after you are on board. The North German Lloyd furnishes
fans, which are a necessity in the tropics.
There is a regular tariff for tips on most of the Oriental steamship
lines, graded according to the length of the voyage. You can always
ascertain what to give to your waiter, room steward, bath steward, boot
black and deck steward. These tips are always given on the last day of
the voyage. American tourists are criminally lavish in giving tips, with
the result that one who adheres to the rules of old travelers, is apt to
be regarded as niggardly. It is to be noted that the richest travelers
always conform to the regular schedule of tips.
In all parts of the Orient it is unsafe to drink the water of the
country. If you do not relish bottled waters, demand tea; at any rate
make sure that the water you drink has been boiled. I found hot tea an
excellent drink even in the tropics and I was never troubled with the
complaints that follow drinking unboiled water. It is well to make
liberal use of the curries and rice which are excellent everywhere.
These, with fish, eggs and fruit, formed the staple of my diet. Never
eat melons nor salads made of green vegetables; the native methods of
fertilizing the soil are fatal to the wholesomeness of such things.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS WHICH HELP ONE TO UNDERSTAND THE ORIENT AND ITS PEOPLE
In this bibliography no attempt has been made to cover the field of
books about the leading countries of the Orient. The aim has been to
mention the books which the tourist will find most helpful. Guide books
are indispensable, but they give the imagination no stimulus. It is a
positive help to read one or two good descriptive accounts of any
country before visiting it; in this way one gets an idea of comparative
values. In these notes I have mentioned only the books that are familiar
to me and which I have found suggestive.
JAPAN
Of all foreigners who have written about Japan, Lafcadio Hearn gives one
the best idea of the Japanese character and of the literature that is
its expression. Hearn married a Japanese lady, became Professor of
English Literature at the Imperial University of Tokio, renounced his
American citizenship, and professed belief in Buddhism. He never
mastered the Japanese language but he surpassed every other foreign
student in his ability to make real the singular faith of the Japanese
in the presence of good and evil spirits and the national worship of
beauty in nature and art. Hearn's father was Greek and his mother Irish.
In mind he was a strange mixture of a Florentine of the Renaissance and
a pagan of the age of Pericles. In _The West Indies_ he has given the
best estimate of the influence of the tropics on the white man, and in
_Japan: An Interpretation_, _In Ghostly Japan_, _Exotics and
Retrospections_, and others, he has recorded in exquisite literary style
his conception of Japanese character, myths and folk-legends. His work
in this department is so fine that no one else ranks with him. He seems
to have been able to put himself in the place of the cultivated Japanese
and to interpret the curious national beliefs in good and evil spirits
and ghosts. He has also made more real than any other foreign writer the
peculiar position of the Japanese wife. Hearn was a conservative,
despite his lawless life, and he looked with regret upon the
transformation of old Japan, wrought by the new desire to Europeanize
the country. He paints with great art the idyllic life of the old
Samauri and the loyalty of the retainers to their chief.
Sir Edwin Arnold, who in his old age married a Japanese lady, has given
excellent pictures of life in Japan in _Seas and Lands_ and _Japonica_.
_Religions of Japan_ by W. E. Griffis gives a good idea of the various
creeds. Mr. Griffis in _The Mikado's Empire_ also furnishes a good
description of Japan and the Japanese.
In _Fifty Tears of New Japan_, Count Okuma has compiled a work that
gives a complete survey of Japanese progress during the last half
century. Among the contributors are many of the leading statesmen and
publicists of Japan.
Of fiction, the scene of which is laid in Japan, one of the most famous
stories is _Madame Chrysantheme_ by Pierre Loti, a cynical sketch of the
Japanese geisha, or professional entertainer. Another good story which
lays bare the ugly fate that often befalls the geisha, is _The Lady and
Sada San_ by Frances Little, the author of that popular book, _The Lady
of the Decoration_.
Other books that will be found valuable are Norman, _The New Japan_;
Chamberlain, _Things Japanese_; Treves, _The Other Side of the Lantern_;
Murray, _Handbook of Japan_; Clement, _Handbook of Modern Japan_;
D'Autremer, _The Japanese Empire_; Hartshorne, _Japan and Her People_;
Fraser, _A Diplomatist's Wife In Japan_; Lloyd, _Everyday Japan_;
Scidmore, _Jinrikisha Days In Japan_; Knox, _Japanese Life In Town and
Country_; Singleton, _Japan, As Described By Great Writers_; Inouye,
_Home Life In Tokio_.
MANILA
The acqusition of the Philippine Islands by the United States has led to
a great increase of the literature on the islands, especially in regard
to educational and industrial progress. Among the old books that have
good sketches of Manila are _A Visit to the Philippine Islands_ by Sir
John Browning.
For sketches of the city since the American occupation see Worcester,
_The Philippine Islands and Their People_; Landor, _The Gems of the
East_; Dennis, _An Observer in the Philippines_; Potter, _The East
To-day and Tomorrow_; Moses, _Unofficial Letters of An Official's Wife_;
Hamm, _Manila and the Philippines_; Younghusband, _The Philippines and
Round About_; Stevens, _Yesterdays in the Philippines_; Arnold, The
Philippines, _the Land of Palm and Pine_; and LeRoy, _Philippine Life in
Town and Country_.
HONGKONG
Good descriptive sketches of Hongkong may be found in Norman, _The
Peoples and Politics of the Far East_; Des Veux, _A Handbook of
Hongkong_; Colquhoun, _China in Transformation_; Penfield, _East of
Suez_; Treves, _The Other Side of the Lantern_; Ball, _Things Chinese_;
Thomson, _The Changing Chinese_; Singleton, _China As Described by Great
Writers_; and Liddell, China, _Its Marvel and Mystery_.
SINGAPORE
Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, was one of the
British Empire builders who was very shabbily treated by the English
government. Unaided, he prevented the Dutch from obtaining exclusive
control over all the waters about Singapore and he was also
instrumental in retaining Malacca, after the East India Company had
decided to abandon it. He was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of
Java after the English wrested the island from the Dutch in 1810.
His ambition was to make Java "the center of an Eastern Insular
Empire," but this project was thwarted by the restoration of Java
to Holland. The Raffles Museum in Singapore, one of the most
interesting in the Orient, was his gift.
Sketches of Singapore may be found in Sir Frank Swettenham's
_British Malaya_, _Malay Sketches_ and _The Real Malay_; Wright and
Reed, _The Malay Peninsula_; Belfield, _Handbook of the Federated
Malay States_; Harrison, _Illustrated Guide to the Federated Malay
States_; Ireland, _The Far Eastern Tropics_; Boulger, _Life of Sir
Stamford Raffles_; Buckley, _Records of Singapore_.
RANGOON
There is a large literature on Burma, which seems to have appealed to
British travelers. Among the books that have chapters devoted to Rangoon
are Cuming, _In the Shadow of the Pagoda_; Bird, _Wanderings in Burma_;
Hart, _Picturesque Burma_; Kelly, _The Silken East_; MacMahon, _Far
Cathay and Farther India_; Vincent, _The Land of the White Elephant_;
Nisbet, _Burma Under British Rule and Before_; Hall, _The Soul of a
People_ and _A People at School_.
INDIA
The literature about India is very extensive, so that only a few of the
best books may be mentioned here. To the tourist the one indispensable
book is Murray's _Handbook for Travelers in India, Ceylon and Burma_,
which is well provided with maps and plans of cities. For general
description, among the best works are Malcolm, _Indian Pictures and
Problems_; Scidmore, _Winter India_; Forrest, _Cities of India_;
Kipling, _From Sea to Sea_; Stevens, _In India_; Arnold, _India
Revisited_; Low, _A Vision of India_ (describing the journey of the
Prince of Wales in 1905-6); Caine, _Picturesque India_; _Things Seen in
India_.
For the history of India, some of the best books are Lane-Poole,
_Mediæval India_ and _The Mogul Emperors_; Fanshawe, _Delhi, Past and
Present_; McCrindle, _Ancient India_; Rhys-Davids, _British India_;
Roberts, _Forty-one Tears in India_; Holmes, _History of the Indian
Mutiny_; Innes, _The Sepoy Revolt_; Curzon, _Russia in Central Asia_;
Colquhoun, _Russia Against India_.
On the religions of India: Rhys-Davids, _Buddhism_; Warren, _Buddhism in
Translations_; Clarke, _Ten Great Religions_; Hopkins, _Religions of
India_; Arnold, _The Light of Asia_.
EGYPT
Egypt has changed so much during the last twenty years that books
written before that time are practically obsolete. The dahabiyeh is no
longer used for Nile travel, except by tourists of means and large
leisure, since the tourist steamers make the trip up and down the Nile
in one quarter the time consumed by the old sailing vessels. Cairo has
been transformed into a European city and even Luxor is modernized, with
its immense hotels and its big foreign winter colony.
Bædeker's Egypt is the best guide book, but be sure that you get the
latest edition, as the work is revised every two or three years. The
introductory essays in this volume on Egyptian history, religion, art
and Egyptology are well worth careful reading. The descriptions of the
ruins and the significance of many of the hieroglyphs are helpful. Of
general descriptive works on Egypt, some of the best are Penfield,
_Present Day Egypt_ (1899); Jeremiah Lynch, _Egyptian Sketches_, a book
by a San Franciscan which gives a series of readable pictures of Cairo
and the voyage up the Nile; Holland, _Things Seen in Egypt_.
Of Egypt, before it was transformed by the British, standard
works are Lane, _Cairo Fifty Tears Ago_; Lady Duff-Gordon, _Letters
From Egypt_ (covering the period from 1862 to 1869). Good
historical works are Lane-Poole, _Egypt, and the Story of Cairo_;
Ebers, _Egypt, Descriptive, Historical, and Picturesque_.
Of the administration of England in Egypt, the best book is
Lord Cromer's _Modern Egypt_. Other works are Milner, _England
in Egypt_; Colvin, _The Making of Modern Egypt_. The story of
Gordon's death at Khartoum is well told in Stevens, _With Kitchener
to Khartoum_ and Churchill, _The River War_.
Several valuable works on Egyptian archeology have been written by
Maspero and Flinders-Petrie. Maspero's _Art in Egypt_, which is lavishly
illustrated, will be valuable as a guide book. Flinders-Petrie's
_Egyptian Decorative Art_ is worth reading.
Index
Agra, East Indian city of interesting features, 111;
the Taj Mahal, 112-116
Arjmand, favorite wife of Shah Jehan, for whom the Taj was built, 112
Benares, sacred city of the Hindoos, 100-105;
bathing ghats along the Ganges, 100-102;
toll levied by priests on all bathers, 103;
burning the dead by the river banks, 104-105;
funeral ceremonies, 105
Bombay, gateway of India, 123-134;
beauty of public buildings, 123-124;
the Apollo Bunder, 124;
importance of the Parsees in city life, 124-1126;
reception to King George V, 127;
holiday street scenes, 128;
religion and customs of the Parsees, 129-130;
wedding ceremonies, 132;
"Towers of Silence" where dead are exposed to vultures, 133-134
Buddhism, temples at Nikko, 17;
greatest temple, the Shwe Dagon Pagoda at Rangoon, 90;
first residence of Buddha at Sarnath, near Benares, 100
Cairo, the capital of Egypt, 137-142;
much Europeanized since Ismail's time, 138-139;
the Street of the Camel, 138-140;
Esbekiyeh Gardens, 140;
shopping in the great Muski bazar, 141;
Island of Roda, where Moses was found, 142;
scenes in the old native city, 142
Calcutta, greatest commercial port of India, 95-99;
former capital, 95;
the Maidan or Esplanade, 95-96;
Eden Gardens, 95;
scene of the Black Hole, 96;
caste marks, 97;
scenes in bathing ghats on the Hoogly, 98;
native quarter, 98-99;
botanical gardens with great banyan tree, 99;
Imperial Museum, 99
Canton, the great business center of China, 72-79;
exodus of people during revolution, 73;
boat city on the Pearl river, 73-74;
"hot-foot" boats, 75;
inside the ancient walls, 76-77;
deserted stores on main street, 76;
Buddhist Temple of Horrors, 77;
great rush of refugees, 77-78;
scene of the assassination of Tartar general, 78;
old Buddhist water clock, 78
Cawnpore, scene of the worst massacre in the Sepoy mutiny, 109-110;
fatal mistake of General Wheeler, 109;
treachery of Nana Sahib, 110;
butchery of women and children, 110
Chator, Sir Paul, who made Hongkong a great city, 81
Delhi, ancient Mogul capital of India, 117-122;
tombs of Moslem emperors, 117-118;
squalor of common people, 119;
Mogul palaces and mosques, 119-120;
the Kutab Minar, 120-121;
memorials of the mutiny, 121-122;
fighting at Kabul gate, 122
Egypt, the land of tombs, pyramids and mummies, 137-164;
railroad ride from Port Said, 138;
features of the country, 138-139;
Cairo and its picturesque life, 138-142;
Luxor and Karnak ruins of finest temples of ancient Egypt, 143-149;
Thebes, tomb city of the Egyptian Kings, 150-155;
sailing down the Nile, 156-160;
Pyramids and the Sphinx, 161-164
Havelock, English General who fought his way into Lucknow and
helped defend the city against hordes of mutineers, 108
Hideyoshi, Napoleon of Japan, his memory revered, 19;
his castle, 29
Hongkong, greatest British port in the Orient, 65-71;
its fine public buildings and spacious water-front, 66;
splendid shops on Queen's road, 67;
picturesque street crowds, 68;
mixture of races, 68;
night scenes in native quarter, 69;
cable railway to the peak, 70;
costly residences on mountain side, 70;
Kowloon City, 71
India, the most interesting country of the Orient, 95-104;
Calcutta, most beautiful of Indian cities, 95-99;
Benares, the sacred city of the Hindoos, 100-105;
Lucknow and Cawnpore, cities of the mutiny, 106-110;
Agra and the Taj Mahal, 111-116;
Delhi, the ancient Mogul capital and now the British
capital, 117-122;
Bombay, the European gateway of India, 123-134;
the Parsees and their curious customs, 129-134
Japan, Yokohama, 3;
aspect of rural life, 4;
bull, the beast of burden 5;
the jinrikisha, 5;
great courtesy of all classes, 6;
women as field hands, 8;
Tokio, the picturesque capital, 10-15;
Nikko, city of temples, 16-21;
Kyoto, the ancient capital, famous for gardens and art work, 22-27;
railway travel, 22-23;
Kobe,28-33;
Osaka, chief manufacturing city, 29;
Inland Sea, 30;
Nagasaki, 30-32;
development of sense of beauty, 34-37;
influence of the garden on artistic sense, 34-35;
are the Japanese honest? 28-39;
influence of Christianity, 41-42;
the sampan, 43;
influence of military training, 45-46;
loyalty to country, 46-47
Karnak, the greatest temple of ancient Egypt, 147-149;
its enormous size, 147;
its hypostile hall, one of the wonders of the world, 147-148;
hieroglyphs of Seti and Rameses, 148;
obelisks erected by Queen Hatasu, 148;
colossal statues and columns, 148;
cost in human life, 149
Kobe, greatest commercial seaport of Japan, 28-29;
its many foreign schools, colleges and missions, 28
Kyoto, ancient Japanese capital, 22-27;
richly decorated temples, 24;
satsuma, cloissone and damascene work, 24-25;
attractive shops, 26;
great bronze Daibutsa, 26;
oldest Buddhist temple in Japan, 27
Lawrence, Sir Henry, to whose wise precautions the British in Lucknow
owed their lives during the mutiny; he was killed in the early
days of the siege, 107.
Lucknow, scene of the most famous siege in the Indian mutiny, 106-109;
ruins of the Residency, 106;
story of the siege, 107-108;
memorial tablets to British heroes, 108
Luxor, with ruins of the finest temple in Egypt, 143-146;
built by Amenophis III; restored and enlarged by
Rameses II, 143-144;
plan of the temple, 144-145;
Rameses exposed by Egyptologists, 146;
temple of Karnak, 147-149
Manila, capital of Philippines and American naval base in
Far East, 51-62;
hospitality of Americans, 52;
reenforced concrete favorite building material, 52;
its splendid docks, 52;
the Escolta, 52;
the Bridge of Spain, 53;
the carabao or water buffalo, 53;
old walled city, 54;
historical gates, 54;
famous churches, 55;
doors open to the ambitious Filipino youths, 56;
influence of American schools, 56-57;
Dr. George W. Wright on religious work in Philippines, 56-57;
sanitary reforms which have made Manila healthy port, 57;
work of the Constabulary Guard, 58;
scenes on the Luneta, 60;
nipa huts of natives, 61-62;
fondness of people for music, 62;
American gramophones in native huts, 62
Nana Sahib, the evil genius of the Indian mutiny, who broke faith
with prisoners at Cawnpore, shot the men, and ordered
125 women and children butchered and cast into a well, 109
Nara, seat of oldest temples in Japan, 26-27;
tame deer in park, 26
Nicholson, John, Brigadier-General, the ablest man the Indian mutiny
produced, 121;
he led the British march on Delhi and fell at the storming of
the Lahore gate, 122
Nagasaki, great Japanese seaport, 30-33;
girls coaling steamers, 31-32;
trip to Mogi, 33
Nikko, the Japanese city of temples, 16-21;
eighth century Buddhist temple, 17;
Sacred Red Bridge, 17;
imperial tombs, 17-19;
school pilgrimages, 19;
famous cryptomeria avenue to Imaichi, 20-21
Nile, sailing down the, 156-160;
importance of river to Egypt, 156;
ancient method of irrigation by shadouf, 157-158;
poor pay for hard work, 158;
prevalence of eye diseases, 159;
squalid homes of the natives, 160;
beauty of views along the Nile, 160
Osaka, Japan's chief manufacturing city, 29;
Hideyoshi's castle, 29
Parsees, importance in municipal life of Bombay, 129;
religion that of Zoroaster, 129-130;
gifts by rich Parsee merchants, 131;
quaint marriage customs, 132;
towers of silence where dead are exposed, 133-135
Pyramids, among the oldest human work on earth, 161-163;
size and cost of construction, 162-163;
ascent of Gizeh, 163;
features of the Sphinx, 164;
rock tombs of Sakkara, 164
Raffles, Sir Stamford, the maker of Singapore and founder of great
Malayan museum, 81
Rangoon, Burma's largest city, 89-92;
elephants piling teak, 89-90;
Shwe Dagon Pagoda, center of the Buddhist faith in Orient, 90-91;
splendid decoration of shrines, 91-92
Shah Jehan, the greatest builder among the Mogul Emperors of India,
who immortalized his name by erecting the Taj Mahal, 112
Singapore, gateway to the Far East, 80-88;
humidity of atmosphere, 80;
world's largest dry dock, 81;
Sir Stamford Raffles, 81;
great mixture of races, 81-82;
traits of the Malay, 83;
importance of Chinese, 84-85;
night scenes in Malay and Chinese quarters, 85-87;
large opium dens, 87;
fine botanical gardens, 88
Taj Mahal, the world's most beautiful building at Agra, India, 111-116;
built by Shah Jehan as memorial to favorite wife, 112;
cost in money and human life, 112;
its perfect architecture, 114;
lavish decoration, 115;
restoration by Lord Curzon, 116