Chapter VIII: Part 8

SATURDAY, MARCH 1.—On the lower deck this morning there was a Pillow Fight, arranged by the Sports Committee. A spar, or smooth pole, was fixed about six feet from the deck. Beneath the spar was arranged a net made of heavy sail-cloth. Two men climbed out on the pole, and fought with pillows, the aim of each man being to knock his opponent off. The participants were not permitted to hold to the pole with their hands, and they fell off very easily. This was the only really amusing thing arranged by the Sports Committee at many meetings announced by the disagreeable beating of a gong. The passengers witnessed the pillow fights from the deck above, and screamed with laughter. The sea was rough, and every player got one or more tumbles into the net.... Soon after the pillow fight, I got even with members of the Sports Committee. They were standing on the weather side of the lower deck, displaying their usual gravity in superintending a foolish game, when a big wave came over the side and soaked them all. This was even funnier than the pillow fight, and the passengers enjoyed it quite as much.... The storm which began with rain yesterday morning, increased in violence as the day wore on, and it was soon necessary to suspend the sports. By noon, the sea was much rougher than it has been at any time since we left Adelaide on the 12th of last month. The passengers dreaded to go to their rooms, as all portholes were closed; so the stewards found it necessary to distribute the little tin affairs which add to the discomfort of a sea voyage.... Throughout the day I did not feel the slightest discomfort because of the terrific motion, and for the first time witnessed a storm at sea from the deck of a ship. On a quiet day the sea is very uninteresting, but on a rough day it is wonderful; the waves seem to fight each other and the ship. Ten or twelve of the passengers had gone to the upper deck to finish some foolish deck game, when a wave swept over them. The ship reeled from the blow, and we saw the water pouring in torrents from the roof of the deck where we sat. Then down the stairway came not only a flood of water, but the soaked passengers who had been playing the foolish game. They were as wet as though they had been in swimming without removing their clothing. The same wave poured water into the skylight over the dining-room, and flooded everything. After that, passengers were not permitted on the storm side of either deck.... Late in the afternoon I went to my room to take a nap. In order to get about the ship, it was necessary to catch a quiet moment, and then take a run. I soon went to sleep after reaching my room, but was awakened by a tremendous rattle and bang in the bar, next door. A big roll had sent most of the glassware crashing to the floor, and Mr. Riley will be compelled to drink out of bottles. It was a great comfort to me to get even with the barroom.... The stewards say the approach to the coast of South Africa is always rough. The passengers are saying that the storm will be very much worse during the night; that a sailor told them so, but the chief engineer told me that a wireless message announces that the weather at Durban is calm, and that we shall certainly run out of the storm during the night.... At dinner, not half the passengers were in their places, but Adelaide and I occupied our usual seats at table, although we had a difficult time getting down the two stairways to the dining-room. The dishes were fenced up, so that they could not roll off the tables, and the portholes were under water at every roll of the ship. The sick man who has been seen on deck nearly every day of the voyage, surprised us all by appearing at dinner for the first time, although he was almost literally carried down the stairways, and across the dining-room floor. The diners at the two centre tables were forced to go to other tables, owing to a crash in the skylight above, and a downpour of water. But in spite of all this confusion, Mr. Connell, a very calm and well-informed man who sits at my table, interested me by telling of something he had read during the day. At the battle of Waterloo, in 1812, less than 170,000 men were engaged. The battle lasted twelve hours, yet the casualties amounted to 61,000. The battle of Lule-Burgas, fought between the Bulgarians and Turks in 1912, lasted five days, and, although 300,000 men took part with modern implements of war, the casualties amounted to only 35,000. We moderns have more effective weapons than the ancients, but seem afraid to use them. The modern man has more sense than bravery. The old savage man had a fool notion that it was bravery to fight for a ruler, but modern man has discovered that bravery is to fight for himself, and meet his ordinary difficulties with patience and fairness. The prizefighter is brave in that he is able to stand a great deal of punishment, but in private life he is not very nice, and often keeps a saloon and whips his wife.... At dinner, Mr. Connell also told me that in Australia, where the women have full suffrage, the wives of the workingmen often vote against their husbands. In a certain election of 1911, the Labor party demanded the adoption of a measure that would result in many strikes and much disturbance. It was believed that the measure would carry by a large majority, but the wives of the labor men generally voted for peace, and the measure demanded by their husbands was defeated by two to one.

A Native Sledge

Cultivating Land, Egypt

Mohammedan Procession

Natives and Hut]

SUNDAY, MARCH 2.—I passed out of sight of land at Adelaide, South 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.

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.

THURSDAY, MARCH 6.—Yesterday it was said the storm was the worst in two years; today it is said to be the worst in ten years. In spite of the pouring rain, we hired covered rickshas this morning and went out to the beach, where we found the angry waves destroying the beautiful place. The storm had attracted an enormous crowd, the people coming by street-railway, and all of them were soaked, while we were dry and warm in our covered rickshas, with oilcloth aprons in front. The restaurants, curio shops, moving-picture shows, etc., were under water, and some of them were being torn to pieces. Every little while a string of bath-houses went into the sea. The great board walk along the beach was smashed into kindling-wood, and holes were dug in the asphalt street in front of it. Great boulders from the breakwater were rolled up on the beach, and deposited on the floors of the restaurants. Coolies were running about in droves, trying to lash down some of the smaller buildings, under the direction of white men, but the coolies were afraid, and the mad excitement everywhere reminded me of the lack of order at a fire. Not far offshore, the big White Star ship “Medic” was anchored, unable to get into the harbor. This ship left Australia a few days after we did, and we know some of the passengers. We could plainly see the ship pitch and roll, and swing ‘round its anchor. Further down were a number of other ships unable to land their passengers, and to the right, inside the harbor, we could see the blue funnels of the “Anchises.” And all this loss, disturbance and inconvenience to thousands simply to keep the Atchison hoodoo indoors four days in succession.... We watched the angry sea for an hour, the water occasionally washing under our rickshas, and were so dry and comfortable in spite of the rain that we determined to visit the Hindu market, down-town. The Hindu population of Durban is greater than the total population of Atchison, and certain sections of the city are devoted to them. There are certainly twice as many Hindu stores in Durban as there are stores of all kinds in Atchison. We saw large wholesale establishments owned and operated by Hindus, and devoted entirely to Hindu trade. There were dozens of jewelers’ shops, where were displayed beautiful things made of gold, silver, ivory, brass, etc., and in all of these shops we saw Indian artisans at work. They squat in front of a pot of charcoal, and manufacture beautiful ornaments with tools of the most primitive kind. Hindu women wear beautiful jewelry; everything an Indian woman owns she wears in her nose, on her wrists, in her ears, and on her ankles, in the form of exquisitely made jewelry of gold and silver. One woman we saw had a silver bracelet on each wrist, and the bracelets were certainly four inches wide. On the front porches of the poorest houses sat workers in gold and silver, and all of them were very skillful. When there was a brief let-up in the rain, we left the rickshas, and entered these interesting workshops and stores.... Then we went to the Hindu market where vegetables, fruits, meat, etc., are sold. The market is an enormous place, occupying the greater part of a block. In addition to food, jewelry and fancy goods are also sold at this market, and we saw one stall devoted to the sale of Hindu books; copies of the Indian paper printed in Durban were also displayed. We were the only whites in the place; all the others in the crowd were natives of India. The vegetables were small, and many of the fruits we did not recognize. The stall-keepers knew we were visitors, and not buyers, and were very polite.... Adjoining the Hindu market, and almost as large, was the native or negro market. Two-thirds of this place was devoted to an enormous negro restaurant. The negroes did not seem to have much for sale, except rice and curry, and this was sold in the restaurant, at so much per bowl. I am certain I saw four or five hundred men eating in this native restaurant; and how they talked and laughed! We frequently stopped and listened to the roar, which reminded us of a women’s reception, magnified twenty or thirty times. The white market-master told me that the blacks had acquired the habit of buying their supplies of the Hindus, and that the Hindus next door occasionally repaid the favor by buying meals in the negro restaurant. But I saw no negroes in the Indian market, and no Indians in the negro restaurant. The Hindus were very quiet, serious and busy, but the negroes were very idle and noisy. The native or negro market made me think of a negro church festival. In the negro market we saw thirty native doctors. These men sold roots and herbs said to be good for various ailments; with every purchase, they gave medical advice free. The thirty doctors sat together, squatted on the floor in front of the roots and herbs they were offering, and seemed more intelligent than those around them.... In the Indian market, the thing that attracted my particular attention was that sheep heads were displayed at all the meat stalls, and every head was bloody and dirty, just as it came from the butcher’s hands. Sheep feet, equally dirty, were also displayed. In India the traveler sees a great many shops devoted to the sale of cheap candy, cut in square, triangular and round pieces. All of it is highly colored; pink, green, blue, brown, etc., and seems to be of the nature of our “fudge.” The same shops are seen in the Hindu section of Durban, as the Hindus are constantly eating sweets; this is their dissipation, instead of drinking intoxicants. Nearly everything I saw of unusual interest in India, I saw repeated in the Hindu quarter of Durban, but the Hindus here seem much more prosperous than the same class in India.... I speak of all the Indians in Durban as Hindus, but as a matter of fact many of them are Mohammedans; my waiter at the Marine Hotel is a Mohammedan, but my chamber-man is a Hindu. There is not much difference between them racially, but the Mohammedans always seem quicker and brighter.... We also visited a Kaffir brewery, where is manufactured the beer of which Kaffirs are so fond. The head-man is an Englishman, and Kaffir beer is manufactured under public control, to prevent the blacks drinking the white man’s fire-water.... While visiting the Hindu stores, we noted that the keepers had borrowed one idea from the whites: they had signs out announcing “Specially low prices for a few days only;” “Great clearing-out sale now in progress,” etc.... Durban has an excellent system of street-railways, and the suburban lines do an express business. At almost every stop the motorman gives a package to a negro servant who seems to be expecting it, and, if no servant appears, the conductor carries the package into a house. The charge is two cents per package. If you buy tickets, you can ride on the Durban street-cars for three cents a section; some long street-car rides we took cost us twelve cents each.... This is our fifth day in Durban. The first day was bright, but a storm of rain and wind began Sunday night, and has continued ever since. As I write this in my room, water is dropping from the ceiling; probably every roof in town is leaking. I have just placed a washbowl on the bed to keep the bed dry for tonight; in case the rain lets up. (P. S.—Since writing the above, two white maids and two Indian men have moved me into another room.) If the rain would only cease, we should probably find South Africa very much more interesting than Australia or New Zealand.... The policemen of Durban are negroes, and they have the most serious and important expressions I have ever seen on the faces of men. And a serious, important expression on the face of a barefoot man always amuses me. Anyone with grave duties to perform should, it seems to me, wear shoes.... There is a ricksha stand near the hotel, and every ricksha man carries a cow-bell, which he rings while on the road to warn pedestrians to get out of the way. These bells tinkle half the night, and remind me of a pasture wherein every cow is a bell-cow, and all of them vigorously fighting flies.... A good many American manufacturers seem to be establishing branches in London. I bought a bottle of Pond’s Extract in Durban, and found that it was manufactured by the Pond’s Extract Co., 65 Great Russell street, London. I bought a set of auto-strop razor blades, and found that they, also, came from London. Still, at the stores I find a great many familiar articles with only good old U. S. A. on them.... The charge here for an ordinary ricksha ride is six cents. If I am compelled to go up-town on an errand, the ricksha man waits, and when I return to the hotel, I pay him a sixpence, or twelve cents. In coming back from town this afternoon, I faced a terrific head-wind, with beating rain, and the ricksha man was almost stalled. But the price was only six cents each way.... I cannot recall having seen a single mulatto in this town; all the negroes seem to be of pure blood. Whatever else may be said of Englishmen, they seem to be particular in their social relations.... At seven o’clock this evening, the storm was worse than it has been at any time since Monday morning. The evening paper says the “Anchises” got away at 4 o’clock this afternoon, and at this writing is probably doing a dance off the coast that the passengers will remember as long as they live. The wind has been blowing a gale four days, and the sea must be a thing to be dreaded by this time.