"J give thi/t Booh t/iirjhefotiniting ef a. doHege m^t/iii Colony" Gift of Prof. Edward S. Dana BY THE SAME AUTHOR. The Creation and the Early Development of Man kind. Octavo, pp. 276, with lithographed frontispiece, $1 50 Contents. — Primeval Chaos — Light — The. Firmament — Sea, and Dry Land — Plant Life — Animal Life — The Geo logical Record — Man — Problem of Civilization — Failure of Primeval Society — Diversity of Tongues — Antiquity of Man — Ancient Civilization in North America. "An admirable work, showing good scholarship, sound judgment, and ability and clearness in the presentation of its views." — Ann Arbor Courier. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New. York and London. ni \rvTz. AT KA:\i.\Kric \. — P.i^r 4g. FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA SKETCHES OF OBSERVATION AND INQUIRY IN A TOUR ROUND THE WORLD IN 1887-8 JAMES HENRY CHAPIN, Ph.D. ' . * PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY, ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY, AND AUTHOR OF " THE CREATION," " SKETCHES OF THE HUGUENOTS," ETC. NEW YORK AND LONDON P. PUTNAM'S SONS &)^c Jltttthirborker ^uss 1889 COPYRIGHT BY G. F. PUTNAM'S SONS Press of P. Putnam's Sons New Vork DcOicatfon MY WIFE AND DAUGHTER THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. PACE Location and Physical Features of Japan — First Impressions — Yoko hama — The Jinrikisha — Dress — Domestic Economy — Tea-houses — Baths — Tokio — Native Industries — A Social Call — The Dual Government — Mikado vs. Shogun — The Lordly Yoritomo — The Gallant Yoshitsune — lyeyasu and his Famous Grandson — A Check upon the Daimios — The Shinto Religion — Feast of the Dead — Buddhism : Ils Marked Success — A Feast Day — Nikko — Tombs and Temples — The Great Bell — 333,333 Gods — The Daibutz — Shinto Worship — Decay of Religions — -Can the Void be Filled ? — American Responsibility — The Jesuits in Japan — Decrees against Christianity — Recent Progress — The Missionaries — Schools — The Inland Sea — Japanese Art — Political Economy — Hari-kari — Jap vs. Chinaman — Conclusion ........ x CHAPTER II. THE FLO-WERY KINGDOM. First Impressions of China and the Chinese — A Mistaken Estimate — Geography — The Loess Plains — Rivers and Floods — Antiquity of China — Government — The Taiping Rebellion — Succession to the Throne — Isolation of the Chinese — Contrasting Civilizations — Shanghai — The Chinese Quarter — Peking — Splendor vs. Filth — Hong Kong — Morning Market — The Chu-Kiang and Canton — Boat-houses — A Tangle of Streets — Celestial Trades and In dustries — The Cat and Dog Market — A Chinese Funeral — Temples and Ancestral Halls — Religions of China — Confucius — Buddhist Doctrines Illustrated — Education and Civil Service — Fatalism^ A Different Picture — Extent of China — Population — Military Resources — An Illustration — Patriotism — A Tartar Dynasty — Chinese Statesmen — Li Hung Chang — The Carse Briefly Stated . 65 VI TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. VISITING A SULTAN — SINGAPORE. PAGE A Morning Ride— Tropical Forest— A Mohammedan Prince— Luxury — Political Economy — Singapore as a Commercial Centre — Motley Population — The Useful Pig — Fruits — The Dorian — 'Whampoa Garden — Gutta-percha — Tigers — Snakes — How Nature Preserves a Balance 102 CHAPTER IV. THE ISLE OF CEYLON. Morning View — Mirage — Point de Galle : Ancient Tarshish (?) — Land ing at Colombo — Oriental Hotels — Variety of Races — Dress — A Country Drive — Serene Content — Up Country by Rail — Charming Scenery — Kandy, the Old Capital — Paredynia : A Bit of Paradise — Bullock Bandy : Native Stage-coach — Rock-cut Temples — A Thrifty Landlord — Gold Dust Dogoba — A Sum in Arithmetic — The Brazen Palace — Sacred Bo-tree ^ Ancient Reservoirs — Aborigines — General Impression of Ceylon — A Noon-day Scene . 114 CHAPTER V. HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. Southern India — A Ghostly Scene — An Ancient Capital — Temple of Madura — Sacred Animals — A Noted Mission Field — Tanjore — A Strange Procession — The Sacred Bull — Car of Juggernaut — The Seven Pagodas — Madras — Cremation : A Surprise — College Ex aminations — A Munificent Prince — Golconda — The Sacred City of the Hindoos — Sacred Bulls and Monkeys — Gautama and the Brahmans — Bathing Ghats — Burning the Dead — A Religious fair — Doing Penance — A Disgusting Exhibition — A Costly Bath — Votive Offerings — The Asoka Column — Sacred Banyan — Rock- cut Temples — Carlee — A Crowded Street — The Golden Temple — Delhi — Shah Jehan — The Palace and Peacock Throne — An Im posing Mosque — Agra — The Taj Mahal — Hindoo Caste : Its Humiliating Conditions — Bondage of Married Women — Child Marriage — The Sepoy Mutiny : K Tale of Sedition, Cruelty, and Revenge — Cawnpore — Memorial Well — Lucknow — English Ten ure of India — Russia and the Mohammedans — The King of Oude — Possibilities — Contrasts and Questions — Poverty and Luxury — Munificence and Tyranny — The Parsees — Towers of Silence — Disposal of the Dead 141 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Vll CHAPTER VI. LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. PAGE Camel-riding — Streets of Cairo — Historic Spots — Climbing a Pyramid — Surveying the Interior — Curio Dealers — The Sphinx — The Nile — Donkey-boys — A Native Dwelling — Dress — Customs — Tombs — Mummies — Egyptian Temples — Denderah — Ancient Worship — Vandalism — .\ncient Sculpture — Luxor and its Neighborhood — First Cataract — Nubian Swimmers — Return to Cairo. The Bou- LAK Museu.m — Mariette Bey— Interviewing the Pharaohs — Route of the Israelites — The Start — Camping-places — Crossing the Red Sea — The Journey Beyond 194 CHAPTER VIL HISTORIC SCENES IN PALESTINE. Jerusalem — The Jaffa Road — Valley of Jehoshaphat — Valley of Hin- nom — Mount Zion — House of Caiaphas — The Coenaculum — Church of the Holy Sepulchre — Mosque of Omar — Temple of Solomon — The Brook Kedron — Gethsemane — Bethesda — Siloam — Bethany — Bethlehem. Jericho — The Dead Sea — Mount Nebo — Death of Moses — Crossing the Jordan — Camp at Gilgal — Capture of Jericho — Rahab's House — Gilgal — John the Baptist — Valley of Achan — Brook Cherith — Wilderness of the Tempta tion. Mounts Ebal and Gerizim — Jacob's Well — Shechem — Abraham — Abimelech — Rehoboam — The Ten Tribes — The Samaritans — Feast of the Passover. Nazareth — Chapel of An nunciation — House of Mary — The Synagogue — Carmel, Tabor, and Hermon — Plain of Esdraelon — Barak and Deborah — Death of Saul— Gideon's Band — " Cana of Galilee '' — Horns of Hattin — Mount of Beatitudes — Battle of the Crusaders — Sea of Galilee — Capernaum and Bethsaida — -"Country of the Gadarenes " . . 227 CHAPTER VIII. , ZENOBIA's CAPITAL — A DESERT JOURNEY. The Start from Damascus — Native Hospitality — Strengthening the Guard — A Deserted Castle — A Speck of War — An Avaricious Sheik — Palmyra : The Tadmor of Genesis — Aurelian — The Captive Queen — Reflections — The Grand Colonnade — Temple of the Sun — Desolation — Vandalism — Return to Damascus . , 249 Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN — MALTA. PAGE The Hospitallers — Orders of Knighthood — Malta — St. Paul's Ship wreck — The Knights Templar — Their Growth and Decline — Knights of St. John in .Malta — Story of St. Elrao — Siege of 1565 — Heroic Defence — The City of Valetta — The Pantheon — Hospital — Palace — The Armory — Farewell Visit to the Chapel of St. Erasmus .... ... . 264 CHAPTER X. A GLANCE AT SICILY AND THE FURTHER SHORE. A Matchless View — The Greek Theatre at Taormina — .(Etna — Strom boli — Scylla and Charybdis — Ulysses and Polyphemus — Passtum — Sybaris : The City of Ease and Luxury — Catania : The Fated City — A Lively Episode — Climbing yEtna — The " Superfluous" Guide — A High Time — At the Crater — Syracuse — Archimedes and other Notables — A Remarkable Echo — The "Ear of Dionysius" — Natural Conservatory — Girghenti — Palermo ..... 278 CHAPTER XL ON THE BORDERS OF SAHARA — THE BARBARY STATES. Tunis and Carthage — .(Eneas and Dido — Hannibal and Scipio Afri- canus — Driving a Bargain — John Howard Payne. Algiers — Striking Scenes — Variety of Population — Remnants of Moorish Art — Piracies of the Algerines — Tribute and Ransom. Natural Divisions of the Country — Tell — Plateau — Desert — Hot Springs — Algerine "Onyx" — Brecciated Marble — Tlem9en — A Tragedy. Morocco — An Absolute Monarchy — Centra — Landing at Tangiers — First Impressions — Filthy Streets and Shabby Shops — The Mar ket — Prison — A Slippery Fellow — Battle of Alcazar^ — Mechinez — Fez — Mohammedan Estimate of Jews and Christians . . . 289 CHAPTER XII. THE ALHAMBRA — SP.VIN — GRAN,ADA. Spanish Indolence — The Lottery — The Bull-Fight — Barbarity and Popularity of the National Sport — Spain a Channing Country — TABLE OF CONTENTS, Notable History — Portugal — Lisbon — Earthquake — Seville — Cor dova — Toledo — Madrid — The Escurial — Burgos and the Cid. The Alhambra — Washington Irving's Account — A Stately Forest — Palace of Charles V. — The Myrtle Court — Hall of the Am bassadors — Court of the Lions — Hall of the Abencerrages — The Twin Sisters — The Infants' Tower — The Captive's Tower — The Generalife — Return to the Alhambra — An Imposing Occasion — The Alhambra by Moonlight — A Morning View — Farewell to Granada ........... 311 PREFACE. ' I 'HIS volume is not intended in any sense, as a sub stitute for the Guide-book, — but certain leading questions, which the author is often asked, may be briefly answered here. I. At what season is it best to start for a tour round the world ? There is no rule ; but calculations should be made so as to be in the tropics between November first and the close of March. Egypt, though not a tropical country, should be included in the list. 2. Is it best to go east or west ? All may not choose alike. But there is at least this advantage in the westward journey. The traveller reaches Japan — the most enter taining country at present, in the whole list — while yet fresh and full of zeal. Going the other way, he reaches it when travel-worn and perhaps already sated with sight seeing. 3. How much time should be allowed for the trip ? Ai least one month each should be set apart for Japan, China, India, Egypt, and Palestine, with a month for the sea passages between. Any little margin that may be left from one country will be easily expended in another. And this allows no time for rest, or for any considerable detours from the ordinary lines of travel, as to Corea, or xi xii PREFACE. Manilla, or Java, or the interior of China. If the traveller cannot rest and recuperate at sea, he must take more time upon the land, or pass by some things he ought to see. 4. How much does it cost ? That depends much upon individual taste and disposition, as well as on the funds at command. If one is content to travel second-class at sea, — and on some steamers that is very fair, — patronize the cheaper grade of hotels, and eschew luxuries generally, jive dollars per day will carry him round. For one who requires the best of every thing — and oftentimes that will not be above criticism, — ten dollars per day must be allowed. And if one is given to wine, and would go much into society in the colonies, two to five dollars more should be added. This of course does not include money to be spent for curios and the elegant rubbish of various kinds, such as fall in every tourist's way ; for these a special sum must be set apart, and it will be very astonishing how often that sum will need to be renewed. There is great temptation to lay in a store of lacquer or Satsuma ware in Japan, of silks in China, gems in Ceylon, embroideries in India, ostrich plumes in Arabia or Eastern Africa, antiques in Egypt, and mosaics in Italy. These things are attractive in themselves, and one cannot but think how the eyes of friends will glisten, when he exhibits them at home. But the experienced and prudent traveller will beware of this. It distends the bags, multiplies the bundles, and may prove a strain upon the integrity when it comes to passing the custom-house. PREFACE. XIU At Damascus, in the tour of Palestine and Syria, a desert journey may be made to Palmyra ; but the traveller should not attempt it, unless he is in good condition and well accustomed to the saddle. The marches are long, the way rough — after leaving the Aleppo road, — and the heat oftentimes oppressive. On arrival at Beirut, there is choice of several journeys : first, via Smyrna to Athens, and Constantinople, and up the Danube, which will take four weeks ; second, direct to Italy in one week, or to Marseilles in ten days ; or tfiird, and best of all, via Malta to Tunis, and through the Barbary States of Africa to Tangiers in Morocco — with a side journey to Biskra or other oasis in the Sahara, — and then by way of Gibraltar, through Spain and Portugal to Paris. This will take six to ten weeks, according to the extent of travel in Northern Africa and the Spanish peninsula, and will be proportionately somewhat more expensive. J. H. C. Meriden, Conn., Dec, 1888. FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. CHAPTER I. JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. JAPAN is unique among the countries of the world, and the Japanese among the nations. Isolated by nature, and still more by custom, — shut up from all foreign relations and left to their own resources, the Japanese developed phases of society and types of gov ernment at once peculiar and instructive. Whether taken first in order in a tour of the world, or left to the last, no other country and people will recur so often afterwards to the mind of the observing traveller, or furnish material for so many reminiscences of the quaint and curious order. One among the very oldest of the nations, and the most reluctant of all to open its portals to the world, it has already outstripped every other Asiatic country in its eagerness for the institutions of the western world, and exhibits an enterprise which, if well directed, promises to give it a place, at no distant day, beside the leading na- I 2 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. tions of Europe and America. Such radical changes in laws and institutions have never before been witnessed in a like brief period of time, and yet peaceful industries have gone on almost without interruption, and the govern ment is more surely established to-day than it ever was before. Japan embraces a series of islands, chiefly volcanic in origin, extending as a sort of adjunct to the Asiatic continent, for a distance of more than fifteen hundred miles from northeast to southwest, and having a mean breadth from east to west of perhaps one hundred miles. There are nine principal islands, and counting all, great and small, barren and fertile, within the space described, the number may be almost indefinitely extended. Some Japanese writers set the number down at two to three thousands; but this includes barren rocks of small extent, which have no other use than to serve as temporary perches for wandering sea-fowl, and which in foggy weather are a constant menace to navigation. With a base or skeleton of granitic rocks, especially apparent toward the southern portion, these Japanese islands seem to constitute a mountain chain running nearly parallel with several chains in Asia, that extend from the North Sea well toward the Indian Ocean. The base is often, perhaps general!}-, overlaid with volcanic tufa or conglomerate, and this in turn, except on mountain heights, with deposits of a recent age, largely black, vege table mould, the accumulation of a luxuriant vegetation. Not unfrequently a fresh cutting a few feet in depth, will JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 3 show two or three deposits of mould, interspaced with layers of an igneous origin, indicating that frequent vol canic outbursts have attended the recent geological history of these islands, as also that the climate must have been most favorable for an abundant plant life. The coal in Japan is chiefly, if not wholly, of the Tertiary period, and lacks somewhat the compactness and sub stance of coal belonging to the Carboniferous age. The coast of Japan is generally bold and often rugged, conglomerate being the prevailing rock formation. This is cut into sharply defined fiords or bays, not unlike the coast of Norway, but on a smaller scale. The bluffs rise abruptly to greater or less height and are generally crowned with trees, which stand out in sharp relief against the sky, reminding one of the seemingly exaggerated scenes so often pictured on Japanese fabrics of various kinds. Swept on the east by the Kuro Siwo, or gulf stream of the Pacific, bearing tropical waters northward, and on the west by Siberian waters fiowing southward, Japan pos sesses an equable, often a delightful, climate ; but the opposing currents make it a breeding-place of storms, and the dreaded cyclone often sweeps away the fruits of pa tient industry, while the earthquake and volcano are not unfrequent visitants. A series of earthquake waves at Simoda, in 1854, swept the shore with such fury as to destroy the greater part of the town, together with the shipping at the wharves, and returned to the sea with such tremendous force as to scour out the harbor to the bed rock, so that for years no ship's anchor could be made 4 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. to hold ; and even as we write, tidings come across the sea that several villages have been overwhelmed by an eruption in one of the northern provinces. There are more than twenty active volcanoes in Japan to-day, while hundreds of old cones and vents scar the islands from one end of the kingdom to the other. But, like the dwellers on the slopes of ^Etna and Vesu vius, an eruption is no sooner ended than the natives set to work to repair their broken fortunes and build up their industries anew, as if the like could never occur again. Such is the nature of man. He sees and accepts the present opportunity, and gives little heed to the chance occurrence that seems so far away. The Japanese form no exception to the rule. The village swept by a typhoon or buried in volcanic ash or cinder is built up again, and the field left one year in desolation will smile again with fruitful harvests, as soon as the debris can be cleared away. The long, lonely passage from San Francisco to Japan, where for nearly three weeks there is neither island, rock, ship, or sail within the range of vision, prepares one to expect strange sights and scenes when land appears again ; nor is he disappointed. To one who makes here his first acquaintance with life in the Orient, the scene as we enter the harbor of Yokohama is a novel one. Scores of small craft shoot out from shore and gather about the steamer as we drop anchor, or scurry in her wake if the anchor is not yet lowered. The boatmen scull their crafts each with a single oar, and crowd and scramble for places near the ship, clamoring and screaming at each other like very JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 5 demons, and yet without the least hostile intent or demon stration ; and making fast with hook or rope, climb the side of the vessel like nimble-footed monkeys, ready to serve, for a moderate compensation, any one who desires to reach the shore with the least delay. In soliciting passengers, however, there is none of the clamor or ado so freely indulged among themselves in gathering about the ship. They proffer their services and await results, and if unsuccessful show no ill-humor or chagrin. Some public servants we wot of in America might well take lessons in good manners of the Japanese. These boatmen are often but half-clad ; some of them, indeed, scarcely clad at all ; and with their brown skins, jet hair, and prominent cheek-bones, bear a striking resemblance to the American Indian. Indeed, one of the most plausible theories of the origin of the aboriginal tribes of North America is, that some of these people, venturing too far from shore in their fishing expeditions, and perhaps overtaken by storms, fell into the Pacific gulf stream, that sets with a strong current toward the shores of Alaska, and so drifted unwittingly upon the American coast, and, without means to return, made a home in this new world and gradually extended their dominion over it. One of the first problems the traveller will find himself pondering is. Who are these people ? To what race do they belong? They are not Mongols, neither are they Malays. The complexion does not cor respond with the one nor the general expression with the other. They are sui generis, a mixture probably of several 6 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. Asiatic races, — Chinese, Malays, Coreans, and Siberians, producing, in process of ages, a race peculiar to itself. FIRST. IMPRESSIONS OF JAPAN. Once on shore, we find ourselves in a new world. Houses, streets, and people alike are strange. Men and women in quaint attire go shuffling along the streets, on pattens or sandals if the weather is fine, on clogs if the streets are muddy ; and the whole town swarms with children. They are flying kites, spinning tops, hopping about on stilts, wrestling, romping with all the abandon of happy childhood. The appearance of the foreigner arrests their sports for a little time, and they follow him with wondering eyes ; but curiosity is soon satisfied, and they return with new zest to their merry pastimes. One peculiar custom is soon noted. It is the destiny of every girl, and many of the boys, to assume at an early age the care of younger members of the household ; and almost every one, from four years old upward, has a baby strapped upon the back. Seen at a little distance, if the baby is awake, the two heads seem to belong to one per son, the smaller being set a little to one side, instead of squarely upon the shoulders ; and if, as often happens, the other head, to maintain a balance, leans in the oppo site direction, it is a question at first which belongs to baby and which to nurse. Intent upon their sports or running of errands, as the case may be, these children seem scarcely conscious of their burthens. And the little ones, seemingly aware of their dependence, are hardly JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 7 more trouble than so many kittens. They submit to be jounced, jolted, and tossed about in most reckless fashion, seldom cry, and when wearied fall asleep with head droop ing back or to one side, in a way that threatens instant dislocation of the neck. The houses seem to be made up of a series of wooden shutters for the outer walls, and paper screens for partitions, while the roofs project over the narrow sidewalk that runs close along the front. There are no cabs to be seen, but instead is the jinriki sha, an exaggerated type of the old-fashioned baby car riage, drawn by men. This mode of locomotion does not promise much to one who has planned to see Japan. It may answer the purpose about the streets of a city, he reasons, but not for long distances in the country. A little experience, however, will show him his mistake. There is no more pleasant and certainly no more novel way of passing from town to town, and inspecting the work of the farmer and the life of the rural population, than in a jinrikisha, propelled by a pair of sturdy coolies. One takes his place between the shafts, and the other leads with a rope over his shoulder, and away they go, up hill and down dale and along the level plain, scarcely breaking their trot except at steep grades, and only ask ing a few moments now and then at a tea-house by the way, for a bowl of rice and a cup of their national bever age. For relief the two will change places before the carriage ; sometimes the second man goes behind and pushes in lieu of pulling, and occasionally, when the road is smooth, one 8 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. draws the vehicle, while the other runs alongside waiting his turn in the harness. The Japanese are accounted a hardy race, but evidently are not long-lived, as few people of great age are found among them. In size they are below the average stature, but otherwise well proportioned. The men have well- developed muscles of chest and limb, and many of them have surprising endurance. Some jinrikisha men, on a good road, will run forty to fifty miles a day, and now and then even farther, apparently without much fatigue. In such case they are lightly apparelled of course — too lightly sometimes to suit a fastidious taste. They have the broad, umbrella-shaped hat upon the head, straw- pattens upon the feet, a girdle about the loins and some times a loose garment over the shoulders. Dress, how ever, is not a necessity and scarcely a convenience to the Japanese coolie or the rural laborer; but the law has come in recent years to limit somewhat the freedom that char acterized old Japan. Many of the Japanese women — barring the oblique eyes — are really beautiful, and in their native costume grace ful and attractive. The disposition to adopt European dress is to be regretted, for their new clothes never fit them, any more than a Japanese suit sets well on an American who puts it on for the first time. Dress is not a matter of taste merely, but of habit and life as well. For instance, the great bow in the sash at the back, so essen tial a feature of the Japanese costume, seems rather an incumbrance than an ornament on an American lady, but JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 9 on a Japanese, puts the finishing touch to a really graceful and pretty attire. Japanese society, without its charac teristic dress, will lose much of its attraction. Yokohama, the first port opened to foreign trade under the treaty with the United States in 1854, is built on an island, in good part of artificial construction, and was provided by the Japanese government as a sort of evasion, for the time, of the letter of a law of long standing, for bidding the admission of foreigners to Japan. Being off the line of the Tokaido also, the road leading to the capital, there was less danger of conflicts arising between the new comers and the trains of the Daimios or local governors, who, in passing, exacted extraordinary deference on the part of all inhabitants along the way, and sometimes made free with any property that answered their special convenience. There are two very distinct quarters of the town — " the harbor "and "the bluff"; the former occupied for busi ness purposes and including most of the native popula tion ; the latter largely given up to residences and includ ing most of the American and European portion. The bluffs rise from one hundred to three hundred feet, are very abrupt, and exhibit one peculiar feature of this por tion of Japan. A few feet below the surface is a bed of gravel which outcrops along the sides, and> with the clay hardpan beneath forms a sort of reservoir for the surface waters. From this level there are frequent picturesque cascades. Tapped at almost any point, there is an abun dant flow of excellent drinking-water, and from its height, it is easily carried out over the town for domestic uses or 10 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. across the plain for purposes of irrigation. This gravel bed was raised from the sea-level evidently at no very remote period ; and in the Hakone mountains not far away, there is conclusive evidence that this portion of Japan has been profoundly stirred by volcanic action in comparatively recent times, the former presence of the sea being plainly visible in the mountain passes, as well as in the metamorphic character of some of the volcanic rocks of the coast, now well above the reach of the tides. Nor is this part of Japan exceptional in this respect. Fugiama, its chief mountain, is a volcanic product, and, according to tradition, shot up in a single night to its present height, more than twelve thousand feet, the highest peak in Japan. It is one of the most beautiful mountains in the world ; exceedingly symmetrical in form, covered a great portion of the year with a glittering robe of snow, and visible, in clear weather, over a large portion of Japan. Yokohama is a new town, and though made up largely of Japanese, is not the most favorable point for studying the life and character of the people we came to see. An hour's travel by rail takes us to Tokio the capital, former ly known as Yeddo ; and here we find ourselves in one of the largest cities of the world, with the Japanese features observed at Yokohama much intensified. The city covers a large territory, but the wa}' in which the population is massed in some streets is marvellous to see. It is a pe culiarity of most Oriental cities that there are large spaces of ground wholly unoccupied, except for parades and the like, while other portions are crowded almost to suffocation. JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. II Tokio occupies one of the river deltas with which the country abounds, and the depth of the alluvial deposit is indicated by the fact that in laying foundations for large structures, it is necessary to dig down from thirty to eighty feet to find a secure starting-point. The great depth of surface deposit renders Tokio less subject to the destructive effects of earthquakes, and still a favorable point for observation. Seismic disturbances are apparent, and still usually less violent, than at points immediately upon the rocky crust of the earth. It is easy to study the domestic economy of a Japanese household. Every thing is done in open day : cooking, eating, and sleeping. Even making the toilet scarcely requires the interposition of a screen. The dwelling, as well as the workshop and the merchant's stall, stands open to the street from early morning till late at night ; and only a paper screen stretched upon a wooden frame may interpose between the sleeping-chamber and the sidewalk. The rice or millet, and the sweet potato, if the family can afford such a luxury, is steamed over a movable stone oven containing a few burning coals. When the meal is ready it is placed in little trays, or on mats on the floor, or on a platform raised perhaps a foot above the ground, and the famil}' squat round it, there being no such thing as chair or table in the house. The rice is ladled out in little bowls and distributed, and finds its way by means of deftly handled chopsticks, into hungry mouths, and is washed down with tea prepared by pour ing hot water upon a few leaves in a tiny pot. The meal 12 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. over, the dishes are removed, and the women bring out their work, spinning, knitting, and the like, while the men betake themselves to the streets or fields, or possibly transform the portion of the house next the sidewalk into a shop for the sale of some kind of merchandise. In the heat of the day the occupants often stretch themselves upon the floor for a siesta, still in full view of the street, and at night mats or cushions are brought in and serve as beds. The screens are drawn and secured by wooden pegs, and the family is at rest. In the morn ing the beds are rolled up and stowed away, and the business of the day begins. At the tea-house or Japanese hotel, and in some of the more pretentious dwellings, the floor is divided by means of movable screens, into as many compartments as occa sion may require. When a guest arrives, one of these extemporized rooms is assigned him, and if he requires larger accommodations, the screens are readil}' extended, or two or three rooms thrown into one. It will soon be observed that the floors of all but the very cheapest houses are kept scrupulously clean — often lacquered or covered with clean mats, and that the Japanese never pass the threshold without first removing their shoes, clogs, or sandals. Indeed the Japanese have the reputation of be ing the neatest people in the world, and in some respects the reputation is warranted. The humblest household has its bath-tub, and public baths are provided in every town and city for such as may not have the luxury at home. A guest is no sooner quartered at a tea-house JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 1 3 than a servant comes to show him the way to the bath, bringing at the same time a long, loose robe, in which he may array himself in going to and fro. Not a day passes, summer or winter, it is said, that a Japanese does not bathe once at least, and in warm weather twice a day is a common rule. We can but admire such evidence of cleanliness, and set it down greatly to the credit of these children of the Rising Sun, as they sometimes style themselves. It seasons our admiration somewhat, however, to know that the same water may be made to serve for a whole family — father, mother, children, and servants, in the order named ; and that in many of the public baths, as at Tokio, though bathers come by scores, the water is changed but once a day. The Japanese, till recently, had no such thing as soap. An alkali is added to the water for washing clothes, and in the bath the body is rubbed with little bags of meal. Passing along the streets of Tokio in the keen air of a November morning, we take note of some of the indus tries of these people, and remark the difference between their methods of work and those with which we are familiar at home. The blacksmith squats at his anvil, the carpenter kneels at his work, the tailor holds his thread with his toes, the merchant sits on the floor in the midst of his wares and serves his customers without leaving his seat, and in the interims of trade toasts his fingers over a fiabislia, or pot ^ of coals, and sips his tea, of which he has a supply always 14 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. at hand. The unexpected is always happening. That which you look for, in the line of industries, does not appear, and that you do not anticipate is surest to come. If a man requires a new hat he goes to the basket-maker, and when his shoes are well worn he goes to the carpen ter for another pair. Observing so much, a desire grows upon us to see some thing of the "home life of these people, if, indeed, there is any thing more than stands open to the observation of every passer-by upon the street. An invitation to the house of a prominent citizen gives us the opportunity, and we hasten to improve it. Turn ing aside from a principal business street, we follow a narrow lane a little way, when we come to a broad, low browed house nestling in the midst of trees and flowers. At the front door we sound a little gong that hangs con venient, in lieu of the bell or knocker of our Westem homes. In a few moments the door is opened by a little maiden of ten or twelve years, who bows profoundly and awaits our request. We present our cards, which she receives on a little tray and disappears. After a few moments' delay, in which we make a rapid survey of the building and observe that it has a framework of bamboo, with walls of wood and paper, with a roof projecting far enough to protect them against the elements, the maiden returns, bringing a pair of slippers for each guest. The hint is immediately taken, the boots removed, and the slippers substituted, the little miss standing ready to assist in the operation. She then leads the wav into an JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. I 5 inner court, where a tiny fountain in the centre gently sprays the pots of flowers set round about. Following a gallery that extends around the court, we reach the door of the reception room, where we are met by the host, who receives us with much courtesy and leads the way within. Immediately, servants appear and bring cushions for seats, instead of the convenient articles to which we have been accustomed. We had often seen a Japanese sit down upon his feet and it seemed easy enough, but never quite understood how it was done. However, we are in for it. We gather up our feet as best we can, and try to drop into position gracefully, conscious at the same time, that the attempt is a wretched failure. Next come other servants, also profoundly bowing, bringing tiny cups of tea with plates of fruits, fish, and sweetmeats, and place on little mats on the floor before us. We sip the tea sparingly, the host setting the example, but have not fin ished the first cup when we grow conscious of cramp in the legs. The host leads the conversation, which lags at times, for our interest is chiefly absorbed in the exigencies of the situation, and we wonder how the Japanese came to use mats for chairs. Pipes and cigarettes are intro duced for such as indulge the habit, but we munch a bon bon and begin to feel an unconquerable desire to change our position. At this juncture the ladies of the house hold are introduced, and this is the signal for more tea. We take a fresh cup to keep the ladies company, and wonder if it is bad manners to squirm in one's seat in l6 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. Japanese society. Then we think of what the martyrs did of old, what they endured without flinching, and re solve to brave it out. Another sounding of the gong at the door and announcement of new arrivals suggest it may be time for us to go, and we act upon it. And while we heartily appreciate our privilege in gaining this inside view of Japanese life, we are glad when the visit is ended and we are getting the warp out of our legs on the street again. The general style of Japanese dress is now familiar to every one from the figures on fans and other articles of their manufacture met with in every land. With the middling classes, a loose outer garment, with wide, flowing sleeves, is worn by both sexes, and to distinguish between them is quite a puzzle, till it is observed that the mode of dress ing the hair is a reliable indication. The heads of men and children are generally shaven in part — sometimes in front, sometimes on the crown, and again on the sides. Sometimes the shaven spot is round, sometimes it extends like a band across the head, and again takes the shape of the new moon, midway between the forehead and the crown. With the women the hair is the chief adornment, and the poorest among them will find time to dress the hair, and generally to provide it with some simple ornaments. With those who have time and means the dressing of the hair is an elaborate operation, requiring one or more assistants ; and so much is it prized that in the bath the head is kept studiously above water, and in sleeping a JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. If wooden yoke supports the neck in such way the hair is not disarranged. Moreover, there is a language of the hair : the maiden dresses hers in one way ; the married woman, in another; the widow who is still eligible, in an other ; and the one who has made up her mind not to risk another venture in the matrimonial market, in still another. There are some hideous practices among the women which the present queen discourages, and which are hap pily going out of use. Till recently, a woman on being married shaved or plucked out her eyebrows and blacked her teeth, the aim being, it is said, to make her less attractive to others, and so insure her husband against jealousy. If such was the intent, it was a signal success ; we can hardly conceive of a more effectual device. The life of the rural population of Japan is quite as in teresting in its way as that of their crowded cities. As has been intimated, at the mouth of every river is a delta, and often the surface of the whole valley is covered with river deposits, making it exceedingly fertile, a condition which the industrious Japanese improve to the fullest extent. Nearly every rod in the valley is kept in the highest state of cultivation, and every available slope and hill-side terraced and occupied. And yet, but a small portion of Japan is cultivated. It is essentially mountainous. The whole area is set down at about one hundred and fifty thousand square miles, of which the island of Niphon — nine hundred miles long — embraces more than half. According to the most reliable statistics at hand, less than twelve million acres are under actual cultivation. This is l8 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. the reliance of thirty-eight million people ; not their sole, perhaps not their chief reliance, however, for food. The average Japanese uses neither bread, butter, milk, nor meat. Rice supplies the place of the first, and fish in good part the last. They are great fishermen. The waters adjacent to their towns swarm with the sampan or native fishing-boat ; and nothing that the sea yields seems to come amiss in the line of subsistence. They eat the cuttle-fish and the sea-urchin, as well as the salmon and the oyster ; and the haliotis, which we prize only for its shell, is a special dainty in the Japanese cuisine ; while a variety of sea-weeds and mosses are turned to account in the same direction, going into their soups or forming a kind of relish with stale fish, of which they are very fond. Taking time to look about us in this general way, to visit their principal cities and ride through some of the rural districts, to observe their customs and note their more apparent characteristics, we are constrained to inquire who are these strange and }et attractive people — these people with' the brown skin of the American barba rian and the courtly bearing of the most refined Cauca sian — these people who, shut in from all the world, have sought out so man}' useful inventions of their own, and coming so late into the famih' of nations, give such prom ise of taking a first rank among them ? Whence came they? What of their origin and history ; their religion ; their social and domestic institutions; and finally what is to come of the marvellous changes so rap idly passing upon them ? JAPA.V AND THE JAPANESE. I9 Of their origin it may as well be said we know very little. The}' bear no striking resemblance to any people on the main, and are as distinct in race characteristics as the geographical position of their island home. They in volve their own origin in myths, some of which are quaint and some in the last degree absurd ; and a study of these tends rather to obscurity than enlightenment. There are two distinct races there now, the Japanese proper and the Ainos, who live' well toward the north. The latter, so far as history gives us any clue, are the aborigines, and a few thousand only remain, chiefly in the island of Yezzo. The prevailing race, the one that has given Japan its place among the nations, are of a different type — a composite probably of Mongol and Malay, with a possible slight in fusion of Aryan blood — by way of India. HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT. Japan makes the extraordinary claim of having had an unbroken line of rulers for twenty-five hundred years— that one dynasty has extended through the whole period. As usual with the Oriental nations, their rulers are invested with divine prerogatives, which no mortal may question or dispute. His will is law before all enactments of men in legislative capacity. Of course there is a practical modifi cation of this assumption in recent times, and still the theory holds in the mind of the average subject. It was nothing uncommon, in remoter ages and in other parts of the world, for heroes to be deified and rulers accorded a respect and reverence akin to worship. But it 20 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. is a little startling to find agreat nation, in the nineteenth century, claiming a divine origin for their ruler, habitually addressing him as the king of Heaven, and insisting that foreign diplomats shall observe such form of speech. But it is not twenty years past, since it was an offence ap proaching treason, to address him or speak of him in less exalted terms. Their theory touching the matter is briefly this : In ancient times the Gods themselves ruled Japan, and in process of time intermarried with the daughters of men. At the beginning of the Japanese era — about 660 years before Christ — arose Jinmu Tenno, a direct descendant of the Gods, distinguished above all other men for wisdom in council and prowess in the field. They abdicated in his favor and thus began a line of rulers — Mikados — that has never been broken. In proof of this unbroken dynasty they give a list of one hundred and twenty-three Mika dos, with their respective periods, beginning with Jinmu, and ending with Mutsuhito, who was crowned in 1867 and still keeps his throne. Jinmu holds some such place in the Annals of Japan as Arthur in the Chronicles of England ; the legends in the one case being perhaps as well authenticated as in the other. Large allowance must be made for the fact that for the first twelve centuries of the Japanese era, they had noth ing but tradition to depend upon — only such bits of legend as had come down from generation to generation in song and story, similar to those that once kept alive the JAPAN A.VD THE JAPANESE. 21 record of the heroes of the Iliad. The book of ancient traditions is a sacred book among thern — indeed it is some times called the Bible of the Shinto religion, but it is not above a thousand, or at most twelve hundred years old. They have no writing that dates earlier than the sixth century of the Christian era, though some rude paintings and hieroglyphs probably antedate that period. They were to all intent barbarians ; of the better type perhaps, and still barbarians, going naked, living in rude huts, subsisting by the chase, and making war the chief em ployment of life. To this day, the keeping of flocks and herds, which distinguishes nomadic life, is scarcely known among them. That period seems to have been omitted in their history. It is possible that their isolation from the rest of the world, and their necessary interdependence, may have served to beget and keep alive better relations among themselves, than is common among barbarous people ; but the conjecture is hardly supported by the earliest records, or by the character and substance of their traditions. Of course this state of society would be favor able for preserving the tradition and claims of the ruler. If the idea of his divine nature and origin had taken root among them, it would never be eradicated while these conditions continued. It would be easy to make the assumption a dogma of their religion, and convert it into an instrument of gov ernment. If he was a God, or if he held his place by divine right, and by virtue of divine descent, then his will must be law, and it would be the wildest presumption to 22 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. disobey him. This claim, when once admitted, is favor able to the boldest schemes on the part of the ruler, and the tamest submission on the part of the subject. Tyr anny could devise no better scheme, and yet it does not appear that the Mikados used their power with excep tional severity. Beginning in the eighth century, their history assumes a more definite character, and is better authenticated by the multiplication of books and the frequency of song and story, in which deeds of daring and great achieve ments were celebrated. The troubadour of the Crusades finds his counterpart in Japan, and there are numerous small houses of entertainment in the cities to-day, devoted to recitations and songs recounting historic events, from which the common people pick up much of their national history. Moreover, every village has its local history, often woven in with events of wider note, and memorial stones, sometimes rude and weather-worn, may be ob served at intervals along the wa}', which fix the locality and perhaps the date of deeds of valor or renown. The Buddhist priests coming to Japan about the time of the introduction of A\riting, — indeed some say, introducing the art to the Japanese, — did good service in preserving the history of the country, though the}' were more intent perhaps on glorifying their own cause, than in keeping a comprehensive and always authentic record of passing events. One of the greatest puzzles attending the study of Japanese history and econom}' till very recenth', was due JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 23 to the dual form of government, which had existed for seven hundred years, and came to an end only twenty years ago. It was a sort of wheel within a wheel, in which practically the lesser wheel was the greater power. Foreigners failed to distinguish between the Shogun — who latterly assumed the pretentious title of Tycoon — and the Mikado or Emperor. Indeed, the Tycoon was sup posed to be the Emperor, and as the limited communica tion of foreigners was with him or his subordinates, it was easy to preserve this illusion. Commodore Perry made his famous treaty on the part of the United States in 1854 with the Shogun, supposing him evidently to be the authority in the land. Other nations fell into the same trap ; the English, French, and Dutch making treaties that the central power might have repudiated at any time. And it was not till a dozen years later, that Sir Harry Parkes, the English Ambassador, made his way from the treaty port to Kioto, then the capital, at the imminent peril of his life, and obtained the Mikado's endorsement of the treaties made, through misapprehen sion, with a subordinate. The dual form of government was a creation of the Sho- guns — otherwise Tai-kuns or Tycoons, the military com manders, — and was to all intents and purpQses a usurpation. It began with Yoritomo, a famous Shogun in the twelfth century, who rose from a most inauspicious youth, to be military leader of the forces of the empire, and re ceived a majestic title from the Mikado, -which may be interpreted, " Great Barbarian Subjugator." He more 24 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. than vindicated his title, for he not only subjugated the barbarians, but began a high-handed usurpation that well- nigh led afterwards to the subjugation of the Mikado as well. Yoritomo was a statesman and a politician, as well as military chieftain of unusual skill. Having made him self, after many hardships and reverses, master of the situation, he gave a practical turn to the popular convic tion that the Mikado was a divine being. If he was such, it was not fitting that common mortals should be ad mitted to his presence, nor that he should be burdened with the details of government. It was quite sufficient that he should issue his decrees, and others should pro vide for all details of execution. This demanded a civil and executive as well as military chief. The Shogun would fill the place ; and all mandates direct to the people should issue from him. The idea was favored by the Buddhists, who had become a power in the empire, and the Shoguns, one after another, not only accepted the theory with alacrity, but from time to time, improved upon it, isolating the Mikado from the world more and more, and assuming greater powers themselves, till at length he was little more than a puppet in the hands of his subordinate. The people must not set eyes upon him; his feet must not touch the ground. E\en when he gave audience to dignitaries his sacred person must be concealed by screens. He was a God. The eyes of men must not look upon him. Even the right of petition was practically abrogated. Evciy document intended for the Mikado must pass the inspection of the Shogun, and he JAPAN AXD THE JAPANESE. 2$ alone could decide whether it should ever reach his Majesty or not. Oftener than otherwise it went no fur ther ; and the petitioner was left to the resources of his own imagination, as to why his request did not command imperial favor. This, it must be remembered, was a time long antece dent to the opening of Japan to other nations. It was more than a foreigner's life was worth to venture into Japan. Indeed the existence of such a country was scarcely known to Europeans. It was before the time of Marco Polo even, and all this was most favorable to the scheme of usurpation. No one had any part or interest in it save the Japanese themselves, and the Shoguns had adroitly turned to account the popular idea of the sacred ness of the Mikado's person, to favor their own designs. Yoritomo's military adventures were attended with almost uniform success, and the leading men of the nation were glad to be retained in his service. His young est brother, Yoshitsun^, was his most successful general, and served him with all the fidelity and zeal of a loyal subject. He was first to succeed in subjugating the wild tribes of the north, and render them in some sense trib utary to the nation they had before both harassed and defied. The Shogun established a capital of his own at Kamakura, a delightful spot with charming alternation of valley and height, sea and shore, only a few miles distant from the present site of Yokohama. Here he adminis tered affairs much in his own way, and was in effect an independent prince. His palace was more elaborate and 26 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. more ornate than that which housed the Mikado at Kioto, and the temple that canopied the Daibutz — the titanic image of Buddha at Kamakura — was larger and more costly than any at the nation's capital. The retinue of this magnificent prince was larger and their equipments more brilliant, than had ever been seen in Japan before ; the Mikado and his court paid him the highest honors, and he was granted privileges never before accorded to any subject of the imperial crown. Moreover, Yoritomo, with the consummate skill of a wily politician, introduced a new element in the govern ment, which under a stern hand could be turned to good account in strengthening the position of the Shogun. He asked to have several members of his family, or personal staff, appointed to important offices, and ended by parcel ling out large estates among his retainers, and thus laid the foundation for a feudal system, similar in many points to that of Europe in the Middle Ages. These lords of the soil proceeded to erect castles or strongholds the ruins of which remain to this day, to select retainers for themselves, and exercise authority over the people within their respective limits. This soon gave rise to another privileged and, as it proved, hereditary class, the Samurai — the retainers of these petty princes, who were accustomed to carry two swords at all times, and till within a few years, went clad in armor, and carried bows and arrows, or spears, besides the two swords which were never laid aside when in public. Of course this growing class had to be provided for in some JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 2f way, for they held themselves above common labor, and their support was often a heavy drain upon the general community. The feudal lords came to exercise almost unlimited power in their respective territories, exacted such tribute as suited their purposes, made drafts for war or for the improvement of their own estates, and held themselves subject to the call of the Shogun. Alan}- of these extemporized princes, in process of time, became governors of provinces under the title of Daimios, and when the}' moved about the country, were attended by their trains of Samurai, sometiines several hundred strong ; and not only must the way be kept clear for them, but the people who happened to be out-of-doors, must prostrate themselves, nor dare to look up while the pro cession was passing, lest the Samurai should " try their swords " upon them. No longer ago than 1868, an American citizen meeting a Daimio with his train on the Tokaido, south of Yoko hama, was cut down on the spot, for some real or imaginary breach of courtesy. The exact facts in the case were never definitely known. The Samurai told one story and other witnesses another. Yoritomo is accounted one of the great men in Japan ese history ; and yet, with all his manly qualities, he was capable of fraternal jealousy and base ingratitude. His youngest brother, Yoshitsun^, was not only his most suc cessful general, but the most courteous and gallant knight of which Japan to this day can boast. His popularity with the people made him an object of distrust to the 28 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. lordly Yoritomo, and when the necessity for his assist ance was no longer felt, he connived at, if he did not in stigate, his assassination. There is a tradition among the Japanese of the west coast, that Yoshitsun^ disappeared from his own country by reason of the jealous cruelty of his brother, and reappeared in Central Asia in the person of Genghis Khan, the renowned Tartar chief. It is a pretty story, but of course without foundation. Feudalism, while serving under a strong hand to strengthen the position of the Shogun, was at the same time a menace to it. Yoritomo's successors were not always equal to the situation. There was distrust and discord among the Daimios, leading often to turbulence which the Shogun found himself unable to control. Be sides, these men had come to have interests of their own to serve, and conscious that their chief had usurped his position, proceeded with the less scruple to develop schemes, not only independent of the Shogun, but at variance with one another. Petty wars broke out between them, and these became more and more serious. Battles were fought, castles besieged, villages laid waste, and in the end it sometimes happened that a whole family or clan, that had grown famous in the annals of the country, was literally extirpated. Thus discord and conflict, pil lage and rout, became the rule rather than the exception, and the mass of the people were literally at the mercy of the men, who knew no mercy when their own interests were at stake. It remained for another, rising like Yoritomo from the JAPAN AiVD THE JAPANESE. 29 ranks to supreme command, to correct these gross abuses of position and power. It was about the middle of the sixteenth centur}' that Hideyoshi, a nameless servant of the chief commander of the military forces, began to con cern himself in the affairs of his master, and showed so much wisdom in council, and so much skill in the execu tion of affairs entrusted to him, as to win the confidence of those in authorit}', and advance step by step till, on the death of his great patron, Nobunaga, he became his successor. And there are few in the whole list of the heroes of Japan who so well deserve to be remembered. Yoritomo was his ideal, and he burned to accomplish even greater works than he ; at any rate, to give to Japan again the peace and unity that followed his great cam paigns. Hideyoshi began by making war upon the leading Daimios, who had come to assume a practical indepen dence of the central power, subjugated them one by one, and the lesser chiefs made haste to profess allegiance. The Shogun was again supreme, as in the time of his illustrious predecessors, barring only his nominal allegiance to the Mikado. Though Hideyoshi was essentially a warrior, and allowed his ambition sometimes to carry him beyond what the interests of his own country immediately demanded, he was at the same time a patron of the arts of peace, and did much to foster the spirit of enterprise, that began about this time to manifest itself among the Japanese. Their commerce was extended, and there was a degree of intellectual activity that promised much for the future of 30 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. the nation. His reign was all too short for the full accom plishment of his purposes ; but his successor, lyeyasu, was fortunately one whose name merited and still commands a high place in the annals of Japan. For forty years the nominal position of Shogun had been vacant, not because there was no claimant, or because Japan was lacking in the requisite material for that posi tion. The military spirit had never been so entirely in the ascendant before ; but the leading families, who had long shared the honor among them, could not agree ; and the Mikado, whose power was so evidently precarious, wisely forbore to confer an honor upon one, which would inevitably kindle the enmity of all the rest. It was during this interregnum in the Shogunate that both Nobunaga and Hideyoshi had risen to such eminence and rendered so important services to Japan. But with the death of the latter this state of things ended. lyeyasu, a man of wise forecast and decided purpose, who had divided the honors of the field with his distin guished predecessor in the military command, was made Shogun, and set about his duties with a well-matured plan, to carry out the work that Hideyoshi had so well begun. His task was not an easy one. He had first to vindicate his claim against other ambitious leaders, and the point was finally settled only by the most decisive battle in the history of Japan — that of Sekigahara near lake Biwa in 1600. Having made himself master of the situation, his title to the rank of Shogun was at once acknowledged, as the blood of the Mikados ran in his Japan and the Japanese. 31 veins, and he belonged to one of the leading families, to \\'hom the honor had been awarded more than once before. His first step was to assure himself of the allegiance of the Daimios whom Hideyoshi had conquered or awed into submission, and then, as far as possible, to unify the gov ernment and make all parts of the kingdom tributary to his authority. He brought order out of the previous chaos, by subjecting the Daimios to somewhat stringent regulations. He improved upon Yoritomo's daring scheme of making the Shogun the actual ruler, without seeming to invade at all the prerogatives of the crown. At no time did the Shogun ever assume to be inde pendent of the Mikado. That would have been fatal. The people would never admit in distinct terms what nevertheless existed in fact. The Shogun must receive his appointment from the Mikado. But as the latter was actually dependent on the former for revenue and for pro tection, it was practically in the Shogun's power to deter mine his successor, and that power he was not slow to exercise. lyeyasu's plan was to perfect this dual form of government, and make himself the executive head in fact, but not in name. The dignity of the Mikado must be maintained, his divine prerogative acknowledged, and his nominal authority duly recognized ; but the Sho gun would be the ruler of Japan. Following again the example of Yoritomo, he established a capital of his own, choosing for the purpose Yeddo, now Tokio, the present capital of the empire. It was an insignificant 32 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. place, but favorable, by reason of its position, for the Shogun's purpose. It was convenient to the sea, easily accessible from the different parts of the empire, and sufficiently removed from the Mikado's capital at Kioto. He employed an army of laborers, directed by the most skilful engineers and arti.sans, in building the castle, ex tending the city, grading streets, erecting walls, and in augurating such enterprises as became a great capital, and the head-quarters of a military chieftain of the first rank. While intent thus upon strengthening his own position, he was not unmindful of the interests of the people. His sword once sheathed was not willingly with drawn, and he, more than any ruler before his time, sought to develop the natural resources of Japan. After a reign of less than twenty years he died, and his tomb, with the tributary temples at Nikko, is one of the most elaborate and imposing in all Japan. The next Shogun was of a different stamp ; he showed no constructive genius, and little talent in the execution of schemes already under way. He left little impression upon his time, and affairs were beginning to grow lax again. Fortunately his son lyemitsu, proved to be a man of wisdom, zeal, and courage. He showed something of his grandfather's mettle. He took in hand at once the work in which lyeyasu had rendered such signal service, added somewhat to the laws relating to the government of the provinces, and so far centralized the powers of gov ernment, that the Shogun was in little danger ever after wards, from any ambitious schemes among the Daimios. JAPAN AND IHE JAPANESE. 33 One of his regulations was worthy of a Solon. He re quired all the Daimios to live at Yeddo, the Shogun's capital ; that they should spend half the year there, and when they went to their respective provinces, where their presence would be required the other half, that their fam ilies should be left behind as hostages. Thus the Shogun had these governors within easy reach a part of the time, and for the remainder, a most powerful check upon any tendency to disorder or insubordination. This practically put a stop to any very serious conflicts among the Daimios, . and secured almost uninterrupted peace to the empire for more than two hundred years. Under this military regime, existing by virtue of a usurpation of legitimate authority, there was little hope of advancement for the masses of the people ; little chance for progress in any thing that dignifies human life. Japan was shut up from all the world without. No Japanese must leave the country; no foreigner must enter. The Mikado was the merest figure-head, exercising little or no power in the actual affairs of government. Indeed, under the influence of the Buddhist priests, more than one of them had abdicated and given himself up to monastic life. The Shogun was the ruler, and held his authority by virtue of his sword. The daimios, subordinate to him, still exercised almost unlimited power in their own provinces. Their retainers, the Samurai, were multiplied by the hun dred and the thousand, and these must live somehow off the labor of those who had no recognized rights, — nothing that the Samurai might not invade, orthe Shogun take away. 34 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. The abjectness in spirit to which the common people were thus reduced, is curiously illustrated on occasion still. At the military review at Tokio, on the Mikado's birthday in November, '87, through some misapprehen sion, a vast crowd rushed across a given line, to get a nearer view of his Majesty. Half-a-dozen policemen ap peared in front, and with angry gesticulations ordered them back. Instead of parleying and demanding an explanation after the American fashion, they turned instantly and fled like frightened sheep, pushing against, running over, and trampling each other in their wild haste, while clogs, shoes, hats, and scarfs were strewn in confused disorder on the field. lyemitsu may well be set down among the illustrious rulers of Japan. Although his military achievements were nothing in comparison with those of his grandfather, it was because the latter had won the victory and it only remained for the former to secure the fruits, which he did with consummate skill. He was buried near his illustrious kinsman on the mountains and beneath the peaceful shades of Nikko, and their tombs make that the chief place of pilgrimage for all visitors to Japan. Following lyemitsu was a line of Shoguns, better known abroad as Tycoons, extending from his day to the revolution of 1868, when by a sudden uprising of the people, the Shogunate was shattered and the authority restored to the Mikado, to whom it legitimately be longed. JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 35 RELIGIONS OF JAPAN. Whatever effects or determines the moral life of a peo ple, inevitably effects their history ; for the moral status goes far, in the course of generations, to determine the social habits and physical constitution. A rugged virtue in the individual tends to rugged character in the nation, while dissipation begets weakness and dissoluteness breeds decay. While the indigenous religion of Japan is said to have been without any ethical code, it is hardly possible to conceive of any system of religion without moral sanc tions of some kind — without suggestions, if not mandates, that may serve for restraint or for inspiration. Such, at least, we are forced to believe was the case in Japan. The Shinto religion, which is still recognized as the state religion, though it exercises little influence at court or elsewhere, is believed to have been a native product of the soil; rather, should we not say, the early crystalliza tion of the gropings of the Japanese heart and mind after the unseen and the eternal. It began, so far as its history can now be traced, by recognizing one God, under three or more manifestations : but the number of gods rapidly increased to some eight millions, all of whom dwell in the same place, wherever that may be. Whence the increased number, is not ex plained, nor are their separate offices or their combined powers defined. They did not create the world, for the world is a natural growth, nor are their relations to man kind clearly stated. It seems probable that the ranks of the gods were re- 36 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. cruited from the human race, for it is common among the Japanese to deify heroes, and ancestral worship is a characteristic of the Shinto religion, though it is quite possible that this feature was borrowed from the Chinese with the doctrines of Confucius. Though they make no statement of the doctrine of immortality — indeed are often said to believe in annihila. tion, — their habit of deifying heroes seems to point to some sort of existence beyond the confines ofthe present life. Ancestral worship, however, does not necessarily imply immortality. It may only express admiration of the example and reverence for the memory of those who rendered some important service in life, and to whom, therefore, the worshipper is moved to express a sense of obligation. There are some very curious ideas and quaint customs still existing in Japan among the adherents of Shinto, where the system is not involved with others and hope lessly obscured, which will repay a brief rehearsal, and may afford a clue to some of their alleged mysteries. When an illustrious kinsman, especially an ancestor, dies, they are accustomed to build a shrine, and dedicate it to him, and he becomes a sort of patron saint, if not a deity. And so every family may have a Pantheon of its own. But this exalting of one, or of a few, in the course of a generation, does not make them forgetful of their more obscure relations among the dead. They cultivate a grateful memory of all of them. And once every year JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 37 they have a " feast of the dead," which occurs at midsum mer and continues for three days. It is their great feast, and much preparation is made for it. As the period approaches, they go to the cemetery and personally invite such of their kinsmen as have died within a given period, to come again to the family table. It is a sort of family reunion and thanksgiving festival. Places are reserved for the returning guests, mats laid in the customary way, and little cups of tea and bowls of rice provided for each ; and all the living strive to conduct themselves in the most exemplary manner for the time, that they may win or hold the respect of their celestial visitants. This is repeated on three successive days, and at midnight of the third day they go in a body to the cemetery again, to escort their friends on their return to the realms of the departed. In parts of Japan, notably in the south, a class of Buddhists celebrate a similar festival, but believing that the spirit finds readiest exit from the world by water and with the aid of fire, march in a body at the time appointed to the sea. Their coming is an nounced by the appearance of innumerable torches along the hill- and mountain-side moving toward the shore. They construct toy boats, with paper sails, which they send out upon the water, taking care as they move away to apply the torch to the rigging, at the* same time wish ing the departing ones a happy voyage. The little crafts drift out from shore and disappear in flames, while the devoted celebrants return to their homes and their life of toil. Shinto is so involved with Buddhism it is by no 38 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. means certain with which this singular festival originated, or whether it be a joint product of the two. Among the adherents of Shinto, no stone or monument marks the resting-place of the dead. Indeed, no grave is dug. The place selected is usually an open space, some what removed from the public way. The coffin with the^ body is placed upon the ground and covered with a heap of earth in the form of a mound. This is made of suffi cient size for security, and one of their cemeteries resem bles a collection of giant ant-hills. The shrine or monu ment, if any, is erected elsewhere. Only in the case of deified heroes does the body rest within the consecrated structure. Of course the march of events in Japan has necessitated wide departures from ancient customs, and the Shinto grave is not readily distinguished now from any other. Some of their ancient burial-places are level fields again, all trace of the grave mounds being quite obliterated. Pains are taken again recently, however, to secure the old cemeteries from utter desecration, and in this the present government shows a tender interest. If now it be asked. What is or was the Shinto religion? the answer will be hard to find. Some annalists have given up the question as past solution. Many assume that it was never entitled to the name of a religion at all. " A pale and shadowy cult," the rude offspring of un trained imagination, which, in the hands of the cultured classes, was turned to account as a restraining power, and indirectly as an engine of government. But religion or JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE, 39 not, intangible and empty as it was, it was clearly all the Japanese had as a substitute, through all their earlier his tory as a nation, and until another system intruded from their neighbors, the Chinese. Shinto, as before said, is believed to be the native re ligion of Japan, but it has not for centuries been the ruling or popular religion of the Japanese. That distinction belongs to Buddhism, originally an Indian product, but which, transplanted to an alien clime, has taken upon itself a form and garb in which it would scarcely be recog nized in the land of its nativity. In its northern development — quite different from that of Ceylon — Buddhism showed a marvellous capacity of adaptation, which gave it, in each new country of its conquests, something of a national character, and made it therefore the easier of acceptation. It was a gift of China, coming into Japan by way of Corea, some time in the sixth century,*and it was not long till it had friends at court and quite outstripped its native and more unpretending rival. Buddhist temples and pagodas were ordered by imperial decree, in every province of Japan before the close of the eighth century, and the system grew in favor with the ruling classes. Shinto was essentially plain and simple. Its tem ples and its torii were built of plain, unpainted wood. Its services were simple and occurred at wide intervals, usually on feast-days. There were no images, no ritual or sacri fices. There was little to tempt the curious, to win the devotee, or breed the fanatic. On the other hand, the Buddhist temple was more elaborate in architecture, or- 40 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. nate with decorations, filled with imposing though some times hideous images, and had an attractive ritual and service, with drums, incense, blazing candles, and the like. Naturally these things were attractive to the simple- minded Japanese. There seemed ample cause for the disposition to turn aside after strange gods, or to adopt a new religion. The missionaries of the Catholic Church learned long ago, the importance of display and pomp in working upon the feelings and imaginations of semi-barbarous peoples. Mexico and South America in the sixteenth century are cases in point. The Buddhists had learned the same lesson and were working on the same line. With consummate skill they pushed their enterprises in the great centres of population, and with the classes having power and in fluence in the land. Moreover, the Buddhists of the north, with their genius for modification and adaptation, accepted, tacitly at least, such ideas and superstitutions from Shinto as could not be easily extirpated ; gave place in their Pantheon to heroes who had been deified, saying they were incarnations of the Buddha, and so turned to their own account, what must otherwise have proved a serious obstacle. Thus they grew in favor, taking pains to make every step of vantage ground secure, and their progress was something mar vellous. Princes, generals, even Mikados became Bud dhists. Priests by hundreds and thousands went through out the land. Temples sprang up as if by magic. Mon asteries were established, sometimes with large grants of JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE, 4I lands and other signs of imperial and popular favor. It was esteemed the proper thing for men of rank to enter the priesthood, or encourage their sons to do so. Even the Mikado, in more than one instance, abdicated his throne and retired to a life of seclusion and meditation in the cloister. Shinto seemed to be literally abandoned in the house of its friends, though with the rural population it still re tained some influence. And now what was this new system that had so won the hearts of the Japanese, and given to their country, in good part, a new civilization ? Primarily a philosophic atheism, with certain high moral sanctions, which, while deifying human nature, still held human life to be essentially evil, and escape from existence the one thing to be desired and sought. " Not to be born is the greatest good " was a favorite maxim, and to get free from life, with all its conscious sense of ill, was the aspiration and the final hope of all its devotees. Though at first without definite form or express doc trines. Buddhism came, in process of time, and by various additions and adaptations, to have an ecclesiastical sys tem, a body of dogmas, and withal a moral code that is still worthy of respectful consideration. It early borrowed from Brahminism — its dearest foe — the doctrine of Metempsychosis; and by the time it reached Japan, had elaborated the idea of transmigration and rebirth, in a way that well might awe the superstitious and confound the ignorant. Man dying was born again 42 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. into some other form or being — higher or lower accord ing to the life he had led. Had his life been one of virtue and self-denial, he would take a step upward in the next period ; had it been one of gross wickedness, he might be born next a beast or even a reptile ; and from such level he must rise by slow degrees again. There was no possible escape from existence, however one might loathe himself, except by the slow and tedious process of rising by meritorious conduct, step by step, life by life, till he reached the perfection of existence in Nirwana, which, being interpreted, is absence of desire and of individual existence. Shakyamuni Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was reborn five hundred and fifty- one times before he attained perfection. Little wonder is it that he grew weary of life, and regarded escape from existence the greatest good. The Buddhist, as must be evident, regarded himself in some sense akin to the brute. He may have been a brute before he was a man, and might become one again. This singular doctrine bore some good fruits. It begot a ten derness for all animal life, and made the shedding of blood especially repulsive to him, if not sinful in his e}'es. Armed with the startling dogma of the transmigration of souls, and aided by all the devices of their service — imposing processions, gorgeous vestments, an intoned ritual, gongs, bells, candles, and the like, some of which were evidently borrowed from the Catholic missionaries in Chinese Thibet, — the Buddhist went forth conquer ing and to conquest in Japan. And, on the whole, JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 43 whatever its defects. Buddhism did a good work and exer cised a wholesome influence on the Japanese. It is no small service to have taught a barbarous people some thing of the nature of human nature, and the signifi cance of conduct in the economy of life. One of the quaintest conceits of the Buddhist religion appears in the burial-grounds at Nikko, where a sacred pony is kept sad dled and bridled night and day, for the use of the deified hero lyeyasu, should he, suddenly returning to the earth, feel moved to take a gallop over the hills again, as was his custom when he dwelt in mortal cerements. Buddhism has sometimes been held responsible in good part, for the decline of the Mikado's power and the usurpations of the Shoguns ; and there is little doubt that they did throw their influence in favor of the dual form of government, so long a perplexity to the outside world ; and this went far to reconcile a great portion of the people to a state of things for which there ivas no legitimate warrant. There were occasional reac tions against Buddhism. Hideyoshi won the lasting execrations of the brotherhood. They, on one occasion, set up the standard of revolt, and he destroyed their largest monastery, and slaughtered the priests without mercy. A recent attempt has been made by reformers in Japan " to re-instate pure Shinto," as distinguished from the corrupt or half-Chinese Shinto ; and this in effect, means combined effort to supersede Buddhism or assign it an inferior place. This result was supposed to be inev itable, when in 1868 the Shogun was compelled to resign 44 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. his place, and the sole authority of the Mikado again recognized. But such reactions have generally been short-lived. The Buddhists have regained their lost ground with little delay ; and although the present Mi kado is understood to be of the Shinto faith, it is not prob able it will ever rise again to any important place. TEMPLES AND TOMBS. Before quitting the subject, let us take a rapid survey of a representative Japanese temple of the better class. Be it Shinto or Buddhist it matters little, for the two systems have become so interwoven — rather, each has borrowed or accepted so much from the other — it is not easy to distin guish between them. The location is generally on a hill- or mountain-side and must be reached by long flights of stone steps, often very elaborately constructed of hewn granite, with carved balustrades, also of wood or stone. The temple often stands in a grove of stately trees, with gardens and graded walks around. Shiba and Asakusa at Tokio and Hokoji at Kioto are favorable examples. We shall do well, however, to avoid feast-days if in the city; for at such time there will be a promiscuous throng crowding every court and passage ; men, women, and children of every rank, condition and station ; worship pers, fortune-tellers, doctors, gamblers ; venders of fruits, medicines, charms, curios, and toilet articles ; besides beg gar priests with the alms-bowl, and native guides proffer ing their services ; and the clamor and confusion ill accord with our ideas of a sacred place or serious occasion. JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 45 The approach to the temple is a fine avenue, carefully graded, perhaps paved with flags, with drainage channels on either side, and bordered with rows of trees, usually the pine, jingo, or stately cryptomaria. Oftentimes there is one tree of great age and size, which they tell you was brought from far and planted by some saintly man, anywhere from two hundred to two thousand years ago. And this may be further certified by an inscription on or near the tree. Its close resemblance, however, to other trees near by, or to those observed in the forests on the hills, may suggest some doubt as to its remote origin, but it is not necessary for us to settle the question at the moment. Our best opportunity for viewing a temple and its sur roundings is at Nikko, that stands serenely and apart on the sun-lit hills of Nantaisan, about a hundred miles north ward from the capital. Here the grounds do not swarm with mendicants, nor is the way obstructed by petty merchants as at Osaka or Tokio. Moreover, some of the most imposing structures have been erected here in honor of men whose names are familiar in Japanese history. The grounds are very extensive and the structures many and various, but we concern ourselves particularly with two, by far the most important of them all. As we approach the en trance of the first, we observe a pair of crouching lions, one on either side, carved in stone. These are the outer guardians of the place. Next, immediately at the door, we are confronted by a huge figure, sometimes two of them, with sword in hand and carrying an armory of small 46 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. weapons besides ; and to these are added, just inside the por tal, another pair, somewhat less pretentious and imposing than the first. This is the gateway to the temple grounds, the first gate, at the farther end of the avenue and already passed, being a simple torii, consisting of two upright pillars with a double cross-beam overhead. Before a Shinto temple the torii is of plain wood, unless perchance the builders have forgotten the native simplicity of their religion ; but before a Buddhist, it may be of hewn stone, or wood painted a vermilion color, and inscribed with words or characters from their sacred books. Having passed the portal we find ourselves in the first court-yard, paved in part and provided with gravel walks. Crossing the court and passing another portal, we find it guarded by four gigantic figures of hideous or savage mien, whose office it is to keep out all evil spirits from the sacred precincts. These guardians differ in color and may differ much in equipments, each having something peculiar to itself. At the Shinto temple in front of the tomb of lyemitsu in another part of the grounds, the gods of thunder and of winds are on duty at the inner portal ; the one holding the mouth of a distended bag bf wind in his clenched fist, and the other standing in a threatening attitude, with a handful of fulminants ready to explode at any moment should his ire be stirred. We are not surprised to find incense — little cedar boughs or pine needles — burning in front of these guardians, or to observe little slips of paper containing prayers or vows, attached to the images or the wire screens in front, and the people making signs of JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. ^J reverence as they pass to and fro. Inside the second portal is another smaller court-yard, crossing which we ascend by a short flight of steps to the platform on which stands the main temple. Here, if not at an earlier stage, we shall be required tp leave our shoes, for nothing unclean must enter the holy place. The Japanese would leave his sandals at the door if he were to enter your private house. Shall he not be as considerate of the temple of his religion ? And is it unrea sonable that he should ask this concession on our part? As we ascend the floor of the temple we observe a gong or bell overhead, with a rope attached, which the worshipper pulls vigorously as he approaches. It is not to call together a congregation, but to attract the atten tion of the Deity. In lieu of gong, or sometimes following it, he may clap his hands thrice as he begins his prayer. It is proper, also, before he quits the place, that the wor shipper cast a bit of- money within the railing, or failing that, a little bag of rice as an offering, and for the benefit of the priestly service. Within the temple, we observe a series of small chests, containing each a supply of the sacred books. At some of them priests are sitting, it may be reading, or sipping little cups of tea, and warming their fingers over the habisha, or brazier of live coals, on which rests also the inevitable tea-pot, though the latter is more in place in the cloister or the adjacent rooms of the tem ple. If it happen to be the time of prayer, the priests will be chanting their litany in a rhythmic monotone, ac companied with the sound of bell or wooden drum. 48 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. These litanies are in an unknown tongue, and often times the priests themselves do not clearly understand the meaning of the words. Yet, like the Catholic with his Latin, and the modern Israelite with his Hebrew, it seems the only fitting vehicle of his devotions. In the inner temple, raised on pedestals, and often partially con cealed by screens, are usually three images, often of colossal size, cast in bronze or decorated with paint and gilding, which are understood to be the chief objects of worship. They represent the three principal incarnations of the Buddha, and oftentimes great sums have been spe.,,. in their casting or decorations. In the temple grounds is a great bell that deserves a passing notice. It hangs beneath a canopy and has a somewhat peculiar shape, curving slightly inward instead of flaring at the rim. A swinging beam of wood in lieu of hammer is suspended by it. As the hour approaches, the attendant seizes a cord and pulls it back as far as it will go, then letting go his hold the end of the beam swings with full weight against the bell, which gives out a sound of peculiar resonance much more agreeable than that produced by an ordinary metallic hammer. This bell serves both the temple and the town. At certain periods, by day and night the year around, it sends out its solemn sound, which rolls away across the valle}', echoes again and again among the hills, and dies away in the distance. Among the pleasantest recollections of majestic Nikko, is the reverberating sound of that noble bell, JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 49 In addition to those already described there are large images in some of the temples, representing the early dis ciples of Buddha, or missionaries who first proclaimed the religion to the Japanese. From these the number of images is increased indefinitely. One temple at Kioto is repre sented to contain three hundred and thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three ; and though they do not, of course, approach that number, still, as there is tier be yond tier, rising one above another, and extending the length of an immense hall, and as many of them have from ten to thirty arms and hands each, the number given does not seem so much an exaggeration. The most striking image in Japan perhaps, is the Dai butz at Kamakura, though the one at Nara is somewhat larger. The Daibutz represents Buddha in Nirwana — a feminine countenance of the Indian stamp, and in abso lute repose. It is fifty feet in height, with corresponding proportions, and cast in the choicest bronze. In the Shinto temple, of course, Buddha does not appear in any of his acknowledged incarnations. Indeed, pure Shinto permits no image or picture in the temple. And yet, with ancestral worship and the apotheosis of heroes, images have invaded the shrines of the simple-hearted Shinto worshipper. The following, frorji the pen of a well-known writer on Japan, will give some idea of their services : " Ascending the last of many flights of stone steps, we stood upon a plateau. A long avenue arcade, with overhanging pines and lined with tall stone lanterns, led to the temple fagade. Two priests, robed in white. 50 FROM JAPAN TO GRAjVADA. with high black-lacquered caps upon their heads, were bearing offerings of fruit, fish, and other food to place upon the altar, each article being laid on a sheet of white paper or ceremonial tray. In the perfectly clean and austerely simple nave of the temple stood an altar having upon it only the gohei or wands with notched strips of white paper dependent. There were no idols, images, or pictures ; only the wands, the offerings, and the white-robed priests at prayer. The impressive simplicity, the sequestered site on a lofty mountain, surrounded with tall trees of majes tic growth and of immemorial antiquity, the beauty, the silence, all combined to instil a reverence and holy awe alike in the alien spectator as in the native wor shipper." ' But manifestly these systems have had their day. Shinto and Buddhism alike have lost, in good degree, their hold upon the Japanese mind, and their influence is still further waning, day by day. Shinto has yet some government support, and the present Mikado, as said be fore, is a friend if not an actual adherent. Buddhism, with its claim to millions of followers, has not even this war rant of existence. Their monasteries have been broken up, their land sequestrated. They have no longer any considerable estates ; no rice-fields yield them their ample harvests, as in times gone by ; nor have they the influence that aforetime secured them the liberal contributions of even needy followers. The better educated classes, and the well-to-do seldom visit their temples at all, and except ' " The Mikado's Kingdom," p. 410. JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 5 I on feast-days, their shrines are almost deserted. Most of their temples have a neglected appearance and are mani festly falling to deca}', though vigorous efforts are made in some places to repair the failing structures or build anew. The priests are few in numbers in comparison with former years, and these are generally poor. Many of them are ill-clad and not a few indifferently fed. Neither princes' nor merchants' sons now covet a yellow robe or shaven crown ; and there are other evidences of decadence that cannot be gainsaid or mistaken. The people see it and the priests feel it. Now comes the question : Is Christianity coming in to fill the growing void — to meet the need of the Japanese and bring them into spiritual as well as material accord, with its own ideals of faith and life ? It is for the Chris tian churches of Europe and especially of America to answer. New Japan is tolerant of new ideas in religion as in other things ; and many of her leading spirits ac knowledge the need of some new incentive in the moral and religious life of the people — something that shall tend to foster a sturdy and wholesome character, as well as to encourage enterprise and industry. Christianity is not, strictly speaking, new to Japan. It gained a foothold there more than thrge hundred years ago, but was afterwards expelled and the empire very strictly guarded against its re-entrance, till within the quarter of a century just past. Christianity, in its early history among the Japanese, was unfortunate, and, according to their historians, by no 52 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. means a credit to the name. With it, say they, came fire arms, human slavery, and religious persecution ; though, frankly it must be said, the two latter existed quite inde pendent of the foreign faith. The different sects among the Buddhists quarrelled, and sometimes fought each other with all the rancor of jealous rivalry. It was about the middle of the sixteenth century that some Portuguese traders and adventurers first made their way to Japan. A troop of Catholic missionaries, with Francis Xavier, one of the immediate associates of Loyola, at their head, quickly followed in the wake of trade, and with characteristic zeal and energy began their work in this untrodden field. The time was favorable for the experiment. Japan, wearied and exhausted with long- continued internecine wars, — it was when the Daimios were fighting one another, — was in a state of depression. Buddhism had lost something of its early charm, and the people turned the more readily, therefore, to the apostles of this new and strange religion. In less than half a cen tury their converts were reported at more than half a million, including some men of prominence and influence, and in A.D. 1583 an embassy was dispatched from Japan to the Pope at Rome. But the Christians, intoxicated with .success, did not use their vantage ¦wisely. Not content with peaceful measures they began a course of persecution, stigmatizing the bonzes — Buddhist priests — as emissaries of Satan ; and this produced a powerful reaction, and made bitter enemies of many, who before had been only indifferent JAPA.V A.VD THE JAPANESE. 53 lookers-on. Moreover, their doctrine of allegiance to the Pope was construed by the authorities as a sort of treason to the state, and they came to be regarded as a disturbing element, to be driven from the country at any cost. Hide yoshi issued a decree of banishment against the Christians and put to death a few recalcitrants who refused to go. His successors renewed the decree of banishment, and a few monks and nuns are said to have been crucified. Before they had been a hundred years in the country, the Christians actually raised the standard of revolt, forti fied a stronghold that had come into their possession, and defied the authorities of Japan. There could be but one result. They were slaughtered or sent into exile by thousands, and a remnant of them — men, women, and children — cast from the precipice of Pappenberg, a small island near Nagasaki, in 1642.' Christianity was supposed to be literally extirpated in Japan, though the French priests who returned there in i860, report that they found traditions of the faith, still cherished in silence, by some thousands of the descend ants of the martyrs of the earlier time. In the reign of lyemitsu, the most stringent decrees were issued to prevent the reappearance of the hated faith. They were posted in public places and at frequent intervals, all over the land, and rewards were offered to any who would inform against offenders. These decrees ' There is no authentic record of the alleged tragedy at Pappenberg. It has long been supposed such a massacre did occur ; but the Jesuit Annals give no proof of it, and the local records of Nagasaki do not mention it. 54 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. have not been formally revoked to this day, though most of the public notices were removed in 1872-3. In the year 1872, a dozen years after the first mission aries went from America to Japan, there were probably not twenty native Christians in the country, and when meetings were held, there were always Japanese officials present to observe what was said and done, and especially to keep an eye upon natives who attended. In that year, the first Protestant church in Japan was organized at Yokohama with ten members, and in 1887 we found native churches, some of them quite self-sup porting, in all the leading centres of population then open to occupation. It is by no means to the credit of the average European or American resident of Japan that he speaks slightingly of the work of the missionaries — the men and women who have voluntarily surrendered the attractions of home for service in a foreign field. As a rule, he knows little or nothing of the work of those whose character he thus depreciates, and sometimes asperses. He seldom looks inside a church, and in frankness it must be said, his own course of life gives him little relish for what the church especially represents. The tone of morals in foreign com munities in the Orient falls far short of the accepted stan dards at home. There are honorable exceptions to the rule, but unfortunately they are not in the majorit}-. A somewhat careful observation and inquir}' led us to the conviction, that the missionaries in Japan — both men and women — are zealous, devoted, industrious, and self- JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 55 sacrificing. Their work is worthy of far better support than it receives, and they are fully entitled to the confi dence and sympathy of friends at home. There are possible exceptions to the rule. There is occasionally an incompetent, and now and then a cheap fanatic, who would be of little use in this country or any other. But these are rare exceptions. The great majority are there intent on doing good, and their efforts are generally attended with most gratifying results. They have learned, that to reach these people and profit them, the school is an instrumentality of the very first importance, and they move accordingly. The children are taught the English language side by side with their own tongue, and also some simple industries incident to their new life. At Kioto is a noteworth}' example. The Rev. J. H. Neeshima is a native Japanese ; was one of the Samurai in the last days of the Shoguns, but left his country when it was a capital offence to do so, and made his way to America. Here he found friends who helped him to an education, and he entered the Christian ministry. Re turning to Japan after the revolution, he began work in the heart of the ancient capital. His chief aim was to provide a means of education for the youth of his coun try, upon the most approved models oS the American system. His success has been quite remarkable. Of course his American acquaintance and experience have been important aids. He has now associated with him, perhaps a dozen faithful men and women as teachers, clergymen, or physicians. A school has been established 56 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. that now numbers about four hundred pupils, some com ing from a distance and boarding in the institution, and others coming from the immediate vicinity. The aim is to give them an education of the most practical character, including a knowledge of some simple industries, and bring them into the atmosphere of Christian civilization, without obtruding religion upon them, in a way at all re pugnant to the feelings. It has won great favor with many residents who still adhere to their national reli gions, and they speak of it in the kindest terms. In the autumn of 1887 a hospital, with an American dispensary attached, was established, and so the institution is be coming more and more a centre of beneficent influences in that great community. SCENERY — CONCLUSION. Every traveller in Japan celebrates the glories of the inland sea, that extends from Kobe or Hiogo well toward Nagasaki — about two hundred and fifty miles. Certainly no more charming scenery can anywhere be found. Sometimes it reminds one of the Baltic as he sails out from Stockholm, but it is not on so large a scale. Again it recalls the St. Lawrence River, with the thousand islands, but there are wider reaches of unbroken sea. Beside, the undulating surface of the myriad islands dips now into charming valleys, then swells into emerald hills, and the hills rise into moun tains clad with verdure to the vei}' crown, and ribbed with terraces along the slopes, the device of sturdy Japan and the Japanese. 57 tillers of the soil. In some of the narrow passes and in the maze of island channels, one may well imagine him self in fairy-land. At the rising of the sun when the sea is still, a thousand islets stand out like radiant gems set in burnished silver, and when the sun goes down, the mountain tops upon the larger islands seem tipped with flame, while the lower hills are bathed in a ruddy glow, that gradually fades and passes through a succession of changing tints, till the day is past and twilight comes and spreads a tender glow upon the scene. Then, as we sail on, and the night advances, all the rugged outlines of rock and mountain are smoothed away, a sense of peace comes over us, and we are constrained to say the hills have tucked their dainty robes about them, and the sea has gone to sleep. Serene and restful as we find it, however, this inland sea is exceedingly boisterous at times, considering the limited space open to the wind in any one part. But the great Pacific is not far away, and a wind from that will easily disturb the serenity of the smallest sea. With all its isolation, Japan was not idle in the long ages of its hermitage ; nor was she without minds of superior mould to frame her institutions, inaugurate her industries, and direct her destinies. Japan was a nation when Greece was in her prime, and is a nation still. Japan was an independent state when Rome was mistress of the world, and reached the climax of her former greatness when the Roman empire no longer had a name to live. Thrones and kingdoms have 58- FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. risen repeatedly on European soil, been shattered and gone to decay, since the names of lyeyasu and lyemitsu became famous in the annals of Japan. Some of her own inventions were well advanced when we found out the same devices for ourselves. She had macadamized roads before Macadam was born ; and her art in coloring, on which rests a gray antiquity, is a full match for the best inventive genius of our modern time. The road from Tokio to Nikko is a charm and a delight ; smooth, com paratively level, and admirably drained, running between majestic rows of stately trees, whose branches meet and mingle overhead, and make the way cool and pleasant in the hottest day. And the national roads, the Tokaido and Nagasendo, each more than three hundred miles in length, give convenient passage, by two widely diverse paths, from the former to the present capital — from Kioto to Tokio. There is an interesting study in political economy in the recent history of Japan. When, by the revolution of '68, the Shogunate was overthrown and the Mikado restored to full authorit}', some of the leading Daimios voluntarily surrendered their positions with all feudal rights, and their example was soon followed by others; and the whole feudal system, inaugurated by Yoritomo more than six hundred years before, and fostered and strengthened by all his successors through the centuries, fell in a single year. The Daimios were generally men of means. Indeed no one was allowed to assume the posi tion, unless he had an income of at least ten thousand JAPA.V AND THE JAPANESE. 59 koku (about si.xty-five thousand bushels) of rice. A less amount was not sufficient to sustain the dignity of the office, and meet the demands of the situation. Of course the great and sudden change left them practically without means of subsistence. The govern ment recognized the necessities of the situation, and pensioned all the men of rank who had aided in any way to bring about the change. Then there was another, much larger class, the Samurai, or two-sword men, former retainers of the Daimios, whose occupation was now utterly gone. They also received moderate allowances in the way of pensions. A few years later, the government decided to capital ise these pensions — pay the pensioners a given sum at once, and so put an end to the annual draft upon the national treasury. Evidently distrusting the judgment of these men, however, in the use of their money, a bank or deposit fund was established with the funds set apart for the Daimios, and they are paid dividends at regular intervals. Thus their interests are permanently secured through this paternal watch care of the government. The Samurai were not so fortunate. The sums due them — small of course in comparison with the others — were paid in full ; and quite unaccustomed to the use of money, except in the smallest way, they spread it with a liberal hand ; entertained their friends, bought new foreign clothes and jewelry, and indulged unwonted extravagance, till many found themselves penniless, and were compelled to resort to unaccustomed toil, for the means of living. 6o FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. Not a few of them now run jinrikishas at Tokio, Yoko hama, and other cities, while others win a precarious livelihood as guides for travellers, or porters ori the street. With the destruction of feudalism, certain customs peculiar to Japan under military rule fell into desuetude. The practice of Itari-bari, or disembowelling, was one of them. Under the old regime, when a man received an insult or sustained defeat, instead of slaying his enemy he killed himself — disembowelling with a long, slender knife. This imposed upon his kinsmen or clan an obliga tion to avenge his death, which was often done with liberal interest. Also, when a man was condemned to death, if he died by the hand of the public executioner his family was irretrievably disgraced. But he was given the option of dying by his own hand, by Itari-kari, and that imposed no dishonor on his surviving relatives. If the latter method was chosen, at the time appointed the culprit took his seat upon a large white cloth spread on the floor, attended by one or more officers of the law, and also by a personal friend of his own selection, with a drawn sword. At a given signal the sufferer plunged the long knife into his left side, and drew it with a sudden jerk across the abdomen. Thereupon the friend struck off his head with the sword, and so saved him from a hngering death. It was not an uncommon thing for a defeated general to commit liari-kari ; and not a few of the heroes of Japan died by the same means. The recent death of Mr. Wooyeno, late Japanese Min ister to the Court of Vienna, recalls a painful incident at JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 6l Hiogo, the port town of Osaka and Kioto, in 1868 — the last case of official Jiari-kari of which we find mention. A prince was passing with his train of retainers, and the procession was viewed b}' a small company of Euro peans who chanced to be present, for the port had just been opened. On account of some alleged infraction of privilege on the part of the foreigners, they were fired upon by order of an officer commanding the escort, though no serious harm was done. The government made haste to apologize, and permitted the assailed party to say what reparation should be made. They demanded — not a very brave thing to do — that the officer who gave the com mand should be executed, and it was so ordered. He was allowed the customary privilege accorded to men of rank, and died by his own hand. Mr. Wooyeno was pres ent and superintended the affair on the part of the gov ernment, and some of the foreign ministers were also witnesses. The place was a small temple in the outskirts of Hiogo. When Keigd, the last of the Shoguns, was forced in 1868 to resign his place, some of his friends insisted that the only proper thing for him to do was to commit Jiari- Jiari. But the suggestion did not find favor with him, and he still lives at Tokio. He refuses all offers of public position, and lives in strict retirement, varying the monotony of his home life by an occasional hunting excursion to the mountains. But the heart of Japan now pulsates with a new life, and a new era is not merely dawning, its sun is fully 62 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. risen. The situation, in a certain sense, is critical. Like an ¦impulsive youth, she needs careful guidance. The Jap anese, as a rule, are not the most steady and sober- minded people. They are mercurial in disposition, fond of novelties and given to change. In this they differ widely from their neighbors, the Chinese, who are the most staid and persevering of all the Asiatics. This fact explains something that quite puzzles the American on his first introduction to Japan. Almost all positions of trust and responsibility in hotels, banks, and mercantile houses, kept by foreigners, are held by Chinese ; and this through no special love for Chinamen certainly, but, as it is said, they are more reliable, and can be trusted further to attend strictly to the duties assigned them. The atti tude of the average Japanese and Chinese toward each other is rather amusing than otherwise. They both claim to be of heavenly origin, but each assumes to be superior to the other. The Japanese disdains comparison with the Chinaman, and the Chinaman holds the Japanese in contempt. Still the Japanese are a most interesting people. They secure the good-will of those who travel among them by their hospitality, their courtesy, and kindness, while their enterprise and ambition commend them to every well- wisher of his race. The changes wrought within a genera tion command the admiration and excite the wonder of the world. The like has not been witnessed before in the history of nations.. In making the most radical changes with the least disorder, Japan takes the palm. JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE. 63 She has broken the bonds of feudalism and extirpated an institution, that had been growing up for centuries. She has demolished the vassalage that held half her sub jects practically in bondage. She has disarmed more than half a million men trained to the sword, and sent them to peaceful pursuits. She has established compulsory edu cation for the children of all her people ; an imperial or national university, that compares favorably in equipments and instructions, with like institutions in Europe and Amer ica, and has called men into her employ, whose contributions to science and to literature take rank with the best au thorities of their time. The seismic experiments made by Prof. John Milne of the Imperial University are among the most valuable of recent contributions concerning the phenomenon of earthquakes. Every movement of the earth's crust is carefully observed, and time and direction noted. Some curious instruments of his own invention or arrangement are so delicately poised, they record the slightest tremors as well as the more sensible of earth quake movements. She has introduced the railroad and telegraph, and established a postal service that reaches the humblest hamlet in the land. In the year 1890 she is to have a parliament, and then the experiment of popular government will at least be tried. This may serve to steady somewhat the ship of state, that plunges on so regardless of all precedent. And now what more need be said ? She manifests a hospitality for foreign ideas and institutions from what soever source they come. Here lies the hope, and at the 64 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. same time the danger of Japan. The people, as a rule, are only too ready to adopt novelties. If they are whole some, it is well. If not, they may serve to sap her life while seeming to serve her interests. The problem then will be watched with ever increasing interest as she works out her destiny, and the righteous judgment of the world awaits the nation that interferes to hinder her success. CHAPTER n. THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. THE traveller's first observations of China and the Chinese people do not produce a favorable im pression. There is too much indication of disorder and decay, too little evidence of enterprise and thrift. If he has come with the antipathy only too common against the Chinese, there will not be lacking scenes, incidents, experiences to confirm his prejudices. If he has come with the manlier feeling, that they are entitled to a place and opportunity, equally with other races, he will hesi tate at times and be more than half inclined to revise his opinion. Yet China has been almost uniformly underestimated, is still often misrepresented and generally misunderstood. China is a country of wide extent, vast resources, and immense though latent power. It has been among the great nations of the past ; it promises to be among the great nations of the future. But before entering into particulars, let us take a brief survey of China as a whole, that we may know something of the conditions surround ing and the history lying back of what we see. China lies in almost the same latitude as the United 65 66 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. States, extending, however, somewhat farther both to north and south, and covers an arc of about sixty degrees from east to west. The western portion of the empire is mountainous, and chains of highlands, sometimes rising to the dignity of mountains, traverse the country from southwest to northeast, running nearly parallel with the coast, and with the great chain that constitutes the island kingdom of Japan. The eastern portion, especially to the northward of Hong Kong, is generally level, and sometimes flat and low. Exposed thus to the ocean currents that sweep in during the period of the south monsoons, and having no mountains near the coast to intercept, it receives a vast amount of moisture during that season, which gives copi ous rains, sometimes resulting in destructive floods. F'or the rest of the year there is but little rain, and the skies are serene and clear, except when great dust storms sweep from the interior toward the sea. The whole northeastern section is largely a delta forma tion, the rivers bringing down millions of tons annually of the washings of the great plains, building out the con tinent by degrees, and still carr}'ing enough out to sea to discolor the water for many miles — giving to this portion of the ocean the name of the Yellow Sea. In the same part of the counti}', but lying farther in land from the borders of the recent delta, are the won derfully productive loess plains, having a surface deposit of fine silt, general!}- attributed to water or ice action, but in this case apparcntl}- due to the winds. THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. 67 This peculiar deposit will repay a brief description. It covers an area, the extent of which is not definitely known ; and varies in depth from a few inches to several hundred feet. It has a bedded rather than a stratified structure, and is full of minute perforations extending downward, formed probably by rootlets of grass that have grown upon the surface from year to year, as the deposit was going on. It has been cut through in various directions by running streams or temporary floods, and recalls somewhat the " Badlands " on the Little Missouri river in western Da kota. It stands up oftentimes in almost perpendicular walls along the rivers and dry beds of streams, and is utilized by the rural population for what A\ould be called in America " cliff-dwellings," for which it is admirably adapted. These are often ranged in tiers, generally near the base of the cliff and still above the reach of floods — are dry, warm, and lasting. Whether the loess is of subaqueous or subaerial deposit is not perhaps definitely settled. Prof. Pumpelly, who visited the country in 1863-4, set it down as of subaqueous origin ; indeed up to that time, such was the common inter pretation of the formation wherever it occurred. Baron von Richthofen, a German authority, subsequently attributed the deposit to the winds, which blow from the northwest a great portion of the year, and bring in from time to time, vast clouds of dust to scatter over the plains and often far out to sea. The evidence is certainly in favor of the latter theory.' But whatever its origin, the forma- ' On consultation with Prof. Pumpelly since the above was written, we 68 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. tion is of immense importance to the country. Its fine material, porous structure, and exceeding fertility make it a source of untold wealth to China. The late disastrous floods in this country invite attention to its rivers and watercourses, including the Imperial Canal. The two principal streams, the Hwang-ho and the Yang- tse-Kiang, starting within a few miles of each other among the Thibetan mountains, pursue very tortuous careers. One extends far to the north, and doubles back repeatedly in its course, while the other reaches out tow ard the south in a zig-zag way, and the two debouch into the Pacific within two hundred miles, though at the wid est point of divergence they are separated by nearly a thousand miles. Among the mountains, of course, the current is rapid, and navigation would be dangerous even if there was water enough at all seasons of the year. But the eastern part of China proper, as has been said, is in good part a broad, low plain. The rivers, more especially the Hwang-ho, flow for hundreds of miles without bounding valleys and sometimes without well defined river beds. The latter changes its channel often and sometimes sprawls over a wide extent in slug gish currents, that have no definite course. The travel- learn that he now fully accepts Richthofen's theory of the loess — that it is of subaerial origin. The Professor also suggests a new theory of the origin of the material of the loess : namely, that it is not due merely to current decay of surface rocks and soils, but also and chiefly to secular disintegra tion of the rocks, under cover of vegetation, which sometimes goes on to a great depth. The region by and by becoming arid, and the vegetation dis appearing, this disintegrated mass is exposed and the finer portions borne off by the winds upon the loess plains. And this theory, Baron von Richt hofen in turn fully accepts. THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. 69 ler is reminded of the Shoshone River above its junc tion with the Columbia, and other streams in the great basin east of Oregon, where, but for the sage bush that alone obstructs the view, the water seems to flow on an exact level with the adjacent lands. Such being the situation in the dry season, the effect of excessive rains will readily be imagined. The country can only be se cured against floods by means of artificial embank ments. These have been erected at immense cost of labor and no small outlay of money. But with all their characteristic frugality and painstaking in many things, the people are improvident in this. They do not provide in time for calamities that may impend. The embankments are neglected in the dry season, when the need of them is not felt. They are built of necessity, of soft earth, gener ally unprotected by trees or other forms of vegetation ; are weakened or broken through at occasional points for temporary convenience, and when the flood comes it finds them unprepared to withstand its destructive force. The temporary opening becomes a channel for the invasion of the fields ; the weakened point yields to the increased pres sure, and so disaster comes. There are no highlands within convenient reach, and so, not only are houses crushed or floated away and fields seamed and gullied by the invading waters, but stock is destroyed and oftentimes many lives are lost. HISTORY AND TRADITION. Any attempt to trace the earliest history of China takes us at once into the region of myth and fable. 70 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. They claim to be the oldest nation on the earth, and it is not certain their claim is not warranted. With out attempting to fix the date of their beginning, it may be said, they were a separate and distinct nation when Solomon ruled at Jerusalem, probably when Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, and possibly when Abraham took his departure from Ur of the Chaldees. Their traditions are obscure, and the date of their earliest records may be questioned. But that they are the oldest nation having a separate existence still, there can be little doubt. But without waiting for details, it may be said, China has been sometimes under Chinese and sometimes under Tartar rule, and more than once in its history, the ruling race has been subjugated and the throne passed to other occupants, who themselves gave way in time to yet superior force or skill. The Ming dynasty came to an end in the middle of the seventeenth century, and was suc ceeded bythe Tsing dynasty, — the Chinese for the Tartar, — but it seems to have had no important effect upon the empire as a whole. The customs of the people remained the same, and there was little change in the character ofthe government. Rebellions have not been infrequent in Chinese histor}', and religion as well as personal or tribal ambition has played its part in China, as in other portions of the world, in kindling the flames of revolution. Mohammedanism is possessed of an incendiary spirit, and has itself kindled many a destructive conflagration. Neither Buddhism nor THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. 7 1 Confucianism, the twin creeds of China, beget the like fanatic zeal, and yet they maintain their ground with stubborn resoluteness. As a rule, however, revolutions in China seem to have had other than religious causes. The great struggle known as the Taiping rebellion was one of the most gigantic in the history of any nation. It began in 1850, and continued, with varying fortunes, to 1861. At times it bid fair to succeed in overthrowing the government. The work of destruction was carried on with such reckless impetuosity, that the people were stricken with terror, and the native officers quite failed to meet the exigencies of the situation. The foreign resi dents bestirred themselves for the protection of their lives and property. An American sailor at Shanghai was set to organize a force, that first stemmed the tide, and turned the course of the insurgents. Already, however, towns and cities had been laid waste, and some of the most imposing monuments of Chinese art destroyed. It was at this time that General Gordon, an English officer, whose life was afterwards sacrificed at Khartoum, in Egypt, came to the front as an effective commander of Chinese forces ; and it was largely due to his skilful leadership, that the rebellion was forced to, yield. It was organized ostensibly for the purpose of driving the Tar tars from the throne and reinstating the rule of the Chinese in China ; but it never gained the .sympathy of the higher classes. They were content with the govern ment as it was. If the ruling house was not strictly 72 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. Chinese, it was from one of the leading provinces of the Chinese Empire, and that was quite sufficient for their purposes. The war lasted twelve years, swept, from first to last, over more than half the empire, and involved the sacrifice of ten million subjects. Nor did the death-rate cease with the laying down of arms. The Chinese government assumes that a rebel once, raay be a rebel again if occasion offers, and so makes sure work of such as fall into its hands. More than eighty thousand rebels were beheaded at Canton alone, being sent up in boatloads; from day to day, as they could be disposed of, very much as swine are sent by carloads to the slaughter-yards at Chicago or Cincin nati. The execution ground, the only one in the province, is situated outside the wall and near the river, and is still devoted to the same uses, namely, the execution of crimi nals, though in good part occupied by a pottery company when not required for legal purposes. There was one head on exhibition the day we were there. China is now not only at peace with the world, but succeeds in securing a moderate degree of order through out her wide domain. On the death of the late emperor, Tung Chi, in 1875, there was prospect of a complication that might shake the empire anew. It was concerning the succession to the throne. The emperor has a right to name his successor, and generally exercises it. But Tung Chi fell very ill without having attended to that important dut}-, and as his disease progressed, it became evident he would not be THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. 73 equal to the task. The great council, consisting of the heads of the six departments of the government, together with a few of the leading princes, was convened and anxioush' considered the situation. It was finally agreed, upon the suggestion of the empress, that the succession should fall upon Tsai Tien, a little nephew of the em peror, for he had no son. In the ordinary course the emperor should first have adopted the youth as his son, and then the way would have been clear, but it was too late for that now. The prince on whom the great dignity fell was only three years old. He was at home and asleep more than two miles from the palace. But it was necessary he should appear. Accordingly he was sent for, taken from his bed, wrapped in sables, and borne by another prince of high degree to the council-chamber. All the members bowed themselves to the ground before him, and signed a compact in his presence, in which they signified their allegiance to this new heir to imperial honors. He was taken thence to the imperial palace, attended by the em press-dowager and his mother, unconscious of the weighty dignity that had been thrust upon him, and there he has since remained. The best tutors were engaged to make his education as easy as possible, and he seems to have given early promise of at least moderate ability. During his minority the empress-dowager acted as regent, and is still one of his chief advisers, being a woman of unusual ability, and held in high esteem both by the council and the people. 74 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. In the year 1887, when the heir had attained the age of nearly sixteen years, the empress-dowager signified her wish to place the supreme authority in his hands. The suggestion did not meet with favor in the council, the prince being still a boy ; but there were considerations making it desirable, and accordingly it was done. The coronation ceremonies were among the most imposing probably ever witnessed, the recent coronation of the German emperor being tame in the comparison. It took place in the great hall at Peking set apart for great occa sions, and was attended by a multitude of officers and princes of high and low degree, while the art, skill, and resources of the empire were taxed to the utmost, to give brilliancy and ceremonial impressiveness to the event. It is hard to say what China would do emancipated from the past. She has lived so long alone, it is hard for her to break from customs made sacred by age and asso ciation. China was not only isolated from the world by the choice of her people, but by the natural situation. By sea the way was very long and very uncertain to any port of the western world, and a wide reach of mountain and desert cut it off from access on the landward side. Besides, the nightmare of a conservatism more than a thousand years old rests upon China, and science, art, in vention struggle up and struggle on, in spite of learning rather than by its aid. For centuries China, till very recently, had known liter ally nothing of what was going on in the outside world. She never heard of Newton or Laplace and knew noth- THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. 75 ing of their works. The Chinese have no chemistry worthy of the name ; they study the stars rather as as trologers than astronomers, and know little or nothing of mining and metallurgy. Even their coal mines are so extravagantly managed, or worked at such disadvantage, they do not pay expenses, except where foreign aid has been called in, and her vast deposits of iron ore might almost as well be at the bottom of the sea, for all the profit she gets out of them. China claims to have had the mariner's compass a thousand years ago, but her leading craft to-day in the merchants' service is the heavy, clumsy-looking junk, with some good sea-going qualities, but no pretence to comeliness or speed. She had the printing-press five hun dred years before it was known to western nations, yet the way to knowledge for her youth is fourfold more tedious and difficult than for the children of America. She claims to have used gunpowder long before its dis covery in Europe, yet till supplied with weapons of western mould, she was no match on sea or shore, for the forces that came against her. China reveres the past, and whatsoe'ver lacks the stamp of antiquity, and Chinese antiquity at that, is viewed with apprehension if not alarm. But notwithstanding this nightmare of conservatism and mantle of ignorance, the process of emancipation for China is well begun. Reform moves slowly in the Celes tial Empire, but it is there, and has come to stay. A Chinaman is reluctant to take a forward step, but having •](> FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. taken it, he is not likely to retreat. He begins to feel the pulsations of the new life stirring about him, and realizes it is slowly quickening the sluggish currents of his own blood. He is not yet fairly roused from his protracted slumber, but is gradually growing conscious of his sur roundings, and his eyes are slowly opening to the light of day. CHINA AS IT APPEARS. To return then to the point at which this discussion was begun. The traveller is disappointed by what he en counters at first in the " Flowery Kingdom," and further acquaintance with the country and the people does not wholly efface the first impression. In the first place, the country does not show for what it really is. The broad, flat surface as one approaches Shanghai suggests swamps and sedges rather than fruits or grains ; the high, abrupt, and barren bluffs that invest the harbor of Hong Kong, effectually concealing the entrance till we are fairly in it, are more suggestive of the haunts of pirates than of lawful enterprise ; while the reeking atmosphere of Cochin China makes it the breeding-place of fevers and the haunt of myriad insects, that make life itself a very burden. Then the sharp contrast between Western civilization and the Oriental type, as it appears in the great cities of China, is most disastrous to any sentimental ideas we may have entertained, of the native simplicit}-, together with the high art and refined tastes, of the Eastern races. Here are the two in immediate ju.xtaposition, if not THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. jy mingled together in the same quarter or along the same streets. Shanghai is said to be the best single point in the kingdom, for marking these contrasts, since the foreign is separated from the Chinese section, only by an ancient brick wall, with gates and towers, that dates from the sixteenth century. The wall is now kept in moderate repair, and might serve a useful purpose in case of a popular uprising of the Mongols against their European neighbors. On the one side is the evident thrift of a commercial colony, with its substantial buildings and well kept streets, while the consulates and other official resi dences, often embowered with trees and bright with flowers, give it an air of genuine respectibility. On the side of the natives are narrow, crooked streets, filled with decaying garbage and nameless offal, and lined with tumble-down rookeries of bamboo houses, or huts of soft brick, in which a multitude of men, women, and children lounge or huddle in strange companionship. There can be little opportunity for privacy, and ap parently the people see little occasion for it. They come and go along the crowded streets, and above the gutters that reek with filth and fill the air with pestilential vapors, without the least appearance of inconvenience or discontent. To such life they were borit, in such con ditions they have lived, and with such surroundings they will die. There is evidently no dearth of population. Indeed, every building and every street swarms with life, and the wonder is how so many can be housed in so small a space. There is apparently no attempt to im- 78 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. prove the buildings or erect others, so long as the old will hold together. It is a characteristic of the Chinese towns that nothing seems to be built with any view to perma nence. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, and they do not trouble themselves as to what shall be to morrow, much less how it will fare with the generations that shall come after. As with the houses or the towns, so with the various articles of personal or household use. When an article becomes absolutely worthless it is cast into the street, to add to the unseemly heaps of refuse that already defile and obstruct the way. The first visit the traveller makes to the Chinese quarter of a city in the " Flowery Kingdom," will effectually dispel any idea that the name was suggested by the thing it represents. Peking, the imperial capital, is reputed to be the filthiest city in the world, and is probably entitled to that un savory distinction. It is encircled by a stately wall some forty feet in height,- and this is pierced by arched gate ways and surrounded by a wide moat, the terminus of the grand canal, which has for centuries connected the capital with other important cities of the empire. The city is of very ancient date ; the buildings in that part accessible to the public wear a forlorn and neglected aspect, as if they had never been repaired or painted ; the streets are unpaved, and after a long rain, ankle-deep in mud, and when it is added that there is no system of sewerage, it will be easily imagined what a nest of foul odors it must be. Some attempts at sanitary regulations are made by THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. 79 foreign residents, at the embassies, and also by the mis sionaries, but such improvements as they devise are looked upon rather with suspicion than with favor. The quarter of the city set apart for the imperial residence is not open to foreigners or to natives below a certain rank, and we cannot therefore speak of it with confidence; but in point of sanitary condition, it is said to be little improvement on the rest. Hong Kong produces a more favorable impression, and as approached from the sea the situation is really picturesque. There are substantial buildings for commer cial purposes along the main street — Victoria Road, — and many attractive residences, ranging tier above tier, along the steep slopes of Victoria peak, which rises rapidly almost from the water's edge. Then there are some charming suburbs, with a bewil dering variety of shrubs and flowers, both native and exotic. Happy Valley, two or three miles out, is given up in part to the cemetery and partly to the race-course ; rather incongruous neighbors perhaps, but each is made attractive in its way. Hong Kong is an English colony, and occupies an island taken as a sort of indemnity, for iajuries inflicted upon the English while forcing the opium trade upon China. It has a considerable English population, with represen tatives of many other nations, and a large contingent of native Chinamen, who live in Chinese fashion, like bees in 8o FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. a hive, and during the morning hours, when the fishing sampans and market boats are coming in, make the water front a very babel of confusion. The stranger makes no doubt there is a riot going on, and wonders whether he had better run away, or remain and take his chances with the rest. But he soon learns it is only the vociferous way , these Celestials have, of informing the public they have fish or cabbages to sell. Leaving Hong Kong by steamer, either day or night, we are carried up the Chu-Kiang, or Pearl River, ninety miles to Canton, the most exclusively Chinese of all the Chinese cities readily accessible from the coast. Here the leading features of Shanghai are repeated and in some respects intensified. Here are the narrow streets, the crooked lanes, the swarming multitudes, and the ancient odors so characteristic of a Chinese town. One thing the traveller will have noticed soon after starting from Hong Kong — a rack of rifles or similar arms, a dozen pieces perhaps, in the main saloon and near the companion-way leading to the lower deck. They are loaded and ready for use, easily accessible to officers and passengers, and intended as a means of defence in case of attack by river pirates, or a possible uprising of the Chinese crew. The traveller is reminded of the state of society in Mexico, along the line of the railroad from Vera Cruz to the capital, where not a train is run without an escort of soldiers as a protection against robbers in the mountains. Civilization is on a similar level in China. THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. 8 1 Canton is situated on both sides of the Pearl River, about a hundred miles from the open sea, and includes also an island in the river, now largely given up to foreign resi dents. As approached from below, it has the appearance of a vast extent of low barracks, with here and there a building rising above the rest, and in the distance the great pagoda on Kun Yam hill, which stands on the city wall and rises five stories high. To get any adequate idea of the city it is best to take a chair or Isago, with a relay of sturdy coolies, and a native guide. One might as well expect to make his way through a tropical jungle and reach camp at a given hour, as to make his way alone through the labyrinthine tangle of Cantonese streets. The untrodden wilderness is not more alike, one part with another, than the long, narrow, wind ing endless lanes of this city, of more than a million peo ple. A quarter of a million people live in boats on the river, which cluster five to six deep at night for miles along either shore. These are the homes of these people, and most of them never knew any other. These boats are not reserved for domestic use entirely, but ply up and down the river all day long, and sometimes far into the night, for any chance business that may fall in the way ; the women and children even being expert at the oars, and anxious to earn a penny whenever occasion offers. We first cross the river in one of these house-boats ; one comely young woman presiding at the helm, and another handling the oars, and deftly working a way among the innumerable boats that crowd the surface of the river. 82 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. The fee is about eight cents each, paid to the oarsman, and being in generous mood, we pass a small gratuity to the pilot also. We start in a broad, pleasant street, in front of the American Consulate, but plunge almost immediately into a low arcade, that runs off in every direction into byways of narrow, crooked streets. We are interested to know what is done by this army of men, women, and children, sailors, priests, and beggars ; what articles they manu facture ; what they sell, and in brief how they all get a living. Here is a silk-mercer's shop, with fabrics of every hue and pattern from the Chinese looms, displayed in every imaginable shape, to win the attention and attract pur chasers. There are also delicate embroideries, wrought patiently by men, for wages that in other nations would scarcely serve to keep soul and body together. Then come dealers in lacquer-ware and beautiful black-wood furniture, intended especially for the foreign element and the wealthy classes. On another street are the leather workers, and dealers in yellow shoes of Chinese pattem, that turn up at the toes like Russian sledges ; tea-shops and restaurants, with great gilt signs in illegible Chinese characters ; shops that make a specialt}' of bird's-nest gelatine, and others where canaries and other singing birds are sold. LONGEVITY lane brings us to the dealers in precious stones and to workers in ivoi}', jade, and gypsum ; while the street of HEAVENLY Peace is distinguished by a large shop devoted to the manufacture of palm-leaf fans. THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. 83 In a long arcade, lighted only by paper screens for win dows, is a shop for the sale of incense jars, paper money, wax candles, and fire crackers for funerals ; while another portion of the same arcade is devoted to tinselry and ribbons, sold especially for marriage processions. We pass through several markets ; one in particular arrests our attention, and we stop for an inspection. The stories of the toy books years ago, touching certain arti cles of food in the Celestial Empire, have been indig nantly denied. But it is no use — the story books were right. On the bench, within arm's length of us, is an unmistakable representative of the canine race, tail and all, but with skin stripped off from tip to tip. We did not inquire for cats, but they were there, though the novice may not always distinguish a cat from a squirrel, when both fur and skin are gone. The Chinaman's chief article of food is rice, and next is fish, sometimes very stale at that, and many of them cannot afford meat at all, even of the canine variety. Unlike the Hindoo, or even his nearer neighbor, the Japanese, the Chinaman delights in pork, and a roast pig is a prime necessity at a great festival, though the mode of cooking has been reformed since the period of Charles Lamb's famous essay. A flour mill, in which an ox blindfolded is the power that turns the stones, is well worth inspection. Passing along the street of BENEVOLENCE, our attention is arrested by a screeching of wind instruments and a clatter of drums from a side alley. It proves to be a funeral, and we pause 84 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. to let the procession pass. In front are two men bearing a trailing banner, and followed by the musicians with the screeching instruments. The bearers come next with the coffin, a characteristic piece of work, consisting of a log divided and hollowed out, and then neatly matched together. Specimens can be examined at any undertaker's shop. Next come the professional mourners, men who make a business of sorrow, and whose services are always at command. They save much lachrymal demonstration on the part of the family, and are therefore in much request. The chief mourner in this case was an adept in his art. He wailed aloud and sobbed piteously, and wrung his hands, while his eyes and nose both flowed abundantly. He had been hired for the occasion, and meant to do his duty faithfully and well. Then came the family, in the white garments indicative of mourning, and a few immediate friends, and the procession was pieced out by such stragglers as happened to be on the street. Many of the mortuary customs of the Chinese are already familiar to the reading world. Our exploration of the city brings us to many temples, shrines, and ancestral halls. The latter are intended to keep green the memory of illustrious progenitors. There are more than a hundred temples in the city, and there is usually an altar on every street and a shrine at every corner. Some of the large shops display altars in the front, elaborate with paint and tinsel. A few temples will well repay a visit. The temple of Honan, on the south side of the river, THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. 85 in addition to the usual appointments of sacred structures, housed a number of sacred pigs and chickens. Some irreverent boys in the neighborhood, watching their oppor tunity, filch a few sacred bristles or feathers now and then, which they offer for sale to foreign visitors. China is well stocked with religions, such as they are. There are three principal varieties, saying nothing of those of more recent importation. Confucius maybe set down as their model teacher and patron saint. Confucianism is a system of philosophy rather than a religion, and aims to set forth in order, the duty a man owes himself, his family, and the state. It contains many valuable aphorisms, much wise counsel, but especially reveres the past, and warns against departure from the ancient models in morals and in government. Revering the past, it enjoins reverence for ancestors ; hence comes ancestral worship. When a father dies, a temple may be erected to his memory and he becomes an object of wor ship. The son offers sacrifices at his tomb, on his wedding- day and other occasions of family interest. The writings of Confucius, or rather his compilations, for like other wise men, he availed himself of material already at hand, and aimed to embody the best wisdom of the world in what he wrote, constitute the bulk if not tlie entire body of the Chinese classics. To be able to repeat the words of Confucius, and incidentally those of Mencius also, is the aim of Chinese education. The books put into the hand of the school-boy in China are made up of extracts from the writings of Confucius ; and when, after years of study. 86 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. it comes to the competitive examination, to determine his fitness for office under the government, the most important consideration is familiarity with the classics. It is not strange, that the system of Confucius has come to have all the force and sanction of a religion, and to be considered an embodiment of all the virtues that go to make up the man and the citizen. The governmental system of China is framed upon it and her philosophy is modelled by it. Taoism originated with Laoutsze, a contemporary and in some sense political associate of Confuciu.s, as both held office under the Chinese government. It is a system of extreme mysticism, which it would not be profitable to trace in this place, and upon which is built a superstructure of vague conceits and superstitions. The chief depend ence of the priests is in incantations ; they practise magi cal arts and are said to encourage belief in sorcery and witchcraft. Taoism adroitly adapts itself to new condi tions, and has sometimes been styled " Buddhism in native dress " ; but it really commands little respect or confidence among the thinking classes. There is at least one monas tery of the order in Canton, however, that is well built and neatly kept, as neatness goes in China. Buddhism was introduced into China from India about the beginning of the Christian era, and owing to the un satisfactory nature of the two systems before named, as religions, found a ready welcome and made rapid strides among the people. Mohammedanism is the reliefion of some of the outer THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. 87 provinces, especially in the west, and Christianity has its missions in most of the chief centres of population. The Catholic Cathedral at Canton is one of the prominent and striking landmarks of the city; but the Chinese take but slowly to new ideas in religion, as in other things. While the work of missions necessarily progresses slowly among these people, the results obtained are no better secured in any country. It is a characteristic of the Chinese to cling devotedly to what they once adopt. Among the most noted temples in the city are those of the Emperor, the five hundred Genii, and that of Confucius. Of course we visited the latter. It is a large, dreary sort of building, with several halls and tablets dedicated to Confucius, or some of his " wise ones," but apparently little used and seldom visited by the people. As we waited at the gateway for admission, an old woman with the key, came from a side-building and hobbled pain fully toward us, like a little child in its first attempts to walk. Her feet had been compressed in infancy, and the shoes she wore were hardly large enough for a child of three years. This barbarous custom had compelled her to go thus haltingly through all her life. Some long, low barracks in the rear of the temple were intended to serve the purpose of literary examinations, but had quite fallen to decay. At the temple of the Emperor, the mandarins, and other high officials assemble to worship at New Year's, on the emperor's birthday, and other state occasions. The City temple has a chamber of horrors, and is much 88 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. frequented. The stalls in the front Court are all rented, and dealers in idols, vases, incense, and prayer slips drive a brisk trade. The crowd includes fortune-tellers, quacks of various kinds, gamblers, and pastry peddlers, making up a motley multitude, scarcely second to that that crowds the avenues of Shiba or Asakusa at Tokio on feast days. In addition to the usual images — or possibly in place of them — there are recesses along either side of the main hall in this temple, in which the various torments of the Buddhist hell are represented. The first represents the Metempsychosis — a man is being gradually transformed into an ass, the pointed ears already appearing above his head, and his feet taking on the character of hoofs. In the next, a pair of imps are merrily grinding up a sinner in a mill. One man is undergoing decapitation, and another is struggling to get away from his tormentors, who are in the act of placing- a red-hot bell upon his head. There are other representative torments, but these will sufficiently indicate the general character. The five-story pagoda, so prominent an object in the approach to the city, stands on the city wall well toward the north, and is supported in front by pillars extending from the ground to the topmost roof. The view from the upper story is very extensive — the broad, flat city, the winding river, the bright green fields, the scattered vil lages, and occasional lofty pagodas that stand like beacon landmarks here and there, make up a succession of scenes that can hardly be duplicated in all the world. China has no system of public education, as that term is THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. 89 understood in America ; nor is education nearly so gen eral as it has been represented. The best schools are kept by representatives of different religions, and of course more or less in their respective interests. Educa tion, as conducted or fostered by the state, is understood to be a preparation for service in the government, and examinations are held at stated periods, when applicants must show themselves entitled to promotion, or wait and try again. They have in theory an admirable civil service in China. Those who bear the best examinations are entitled to the first appointments, and no public officer must appoint his kinsmen to positions of trust or emolu ment. In point of fact, however, the man can have an office who bids the highest for it ; and his kinsmen often share the spoil. In these respects the Chinese do not differ widely from the nations lying toward the setting sun. Men are the beasts of burden in the " Flowery King dom." They swing great weights on poles, and transport them across the country. They carry the kago and the palanquin, the usual means of transportation for travellers. They carry coal in wheel-barrows for hundreds of miles south of the Hwang-Ho River, and the man who guides a barrow holds a higher position, socially, than the one who only swings a pole. Few of the Chinese coolies or common laborers are overfed, and many of them are extremely poor. There are few, however, who rebel against the fates, or ever expect to be otherwise than they are. There is a sort of content, born of Chinese fatalism, disastrous to any 90 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. wise ambition, and generally fatal to any progress. It cannot be justly said the Chinese as a race are indolent. They are among the most industrious and most frugal people in the world. But they lack opportunity, and have neither the nerve nor courage to push out into new fields of enterprise, except it be for a little time, and then, with the expectation of returning to the old haunts, and presumably to the old ways. NEW CHINA. But there is another side to this somewhat depressing record — China, in point of actual resources, is one of the most powerful nations on the face of the globe. One of her own statesmen has recently said, " China was always powerful, though she did not know it " ; and he might have added, she is no longer ignorant of her true position. The superior arms of Western nations, in her earlier conflicts, placed her at a serious disadvantage. But she is finding out her strength, as some of us may learn at no distant day. The legislation of the United States in reference to China and the Chinese, has shown only too plainly, what estimate is put upon the Chinese character and the capacity of their government. And some of the English colonies have taken measures recently, that not only show their aversion to Mongolian neighbors, but sheer contempt for their home government. In extent, the Chinese Empire is surpassed only bythe Russian and the British, while her territory is much more compact than either of these — an important consideration THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. 9 1 in the matter of home supplies and of self-defence. China proper— sometimes known as the eighteen prov inces — embraces a territory about equal to that of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains ; and with her dependencies, Thibet, Turkestan, Manchuria, and Mongolia, covers an area equal to more than two thirds of North America. After making a liberal allowance for mountains and deserts, it may well be doubted, if any other empire possesses a larger extent of productive soil, or is capable of producing a greater variety of fruits and grains and such other articles, as contribute to the suste nance and commerce of a people. The population of this vast country is not definitely known. It would not be easy to number exactly the tribes of her outer provinces ; for it is a characteristic of half-bar barous people — as a considerable portion of her Tartar ele ment must still be counted — that they object to having their strength definitely known. But the most moderate estimates set the number down at four hundred millions, and some well-informed writers think that is too Iowa figure. However, this is quite sufficient to give them the first place among the nations, when we consider that all her dependencies or subsidiary provinces are contiguous to the central kingdom, and not scattered here and there over a wide surface of the globe. Neither seas nor foreign lands need be traversed, by the courier from the capital to the remotest corner of the empire. While not forming an important element in Chinese population, in the pursuit of peaceful industries, yet, like 92 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. the Cossack in the Russian campaigns, the Tartar would form a very important contingent, in the event of a war that taxed severely the resources of the empire. China has an army of more than a million men, and this could be readily increased to five millions in case of need, and with the frugal habits in which they are trained, this number could be sustained for an indefinite period. Then China has this advantage — if it be an advantage — over other nations : She could sacrifice this whole army if necessary, and still keep her ranks full. The loss of men, and even of armies, would not exhaust her resources in this direction. Her teeming population would scarcely be affected by such a drain for the period of a generation. In that part of Africa north of the Sahara, some of the plagues of Egypt from time to time recur. When the locusts are reported moving toward the tempting fields of Algeria, if a river intervenes, the easy-going native contents himself with the assurance that that will stop their course. But the rivers, after they quit the moun tains and move out on the plains, are of a sluggish nature, and though the volume of water may be large, there is little current and therefore little force to remove obstruc tions, or bear them onward to the sea. The invading army reaches the bank, and undeterred by the flowing river, pushes in. The first detachment is drowned, and the next and the next, each moving a little farther out, till at length a bridge is formed, and the remaining myri ads passing over, go on with their devouring work, and the farmer awakes too late to the fact, that he had under- THE FLOWERY KINGDO.]/. 93 estimated the resources of the foe for which he felt such indolent contempt. So may it be with China. Neither rivers nor mountains can stop her course, once fairly under way. She could bridge the rivers with the slain and still keep moving on without being exhausted of her strength. China not only has this vast population within its borders, but can command it almost at will ; that is to say, it is not factional and of doubtful quality as to patriotic impulses. Patriotism is one of the most marked elements in the Chinese character. Aside from the fact that they believe themselves to be a superior race, as. compared with other people, they have a love of country so deep and lasting that nothing can seriously affect it. They go beyond the seas and to the uttermost parts of the earth ; they pass half a lifetime in foreign lands ; they contract alliances with strangers ; they grow wealthy and come to live at ease undet alien skies, and yet China is their home ; they love it as a mother still ; they intend to return to the " Flowery Kingdom " before they die, or if that may not be, to be laid to rest at length, by the aid of friendly hands, in the land that gave them birth. It is an article of their religion, implied and accepted if not expressed, that the body of the Chinaman must rest in Chinese soil event ually, even though years may elapse after death before it reaches its destination. And China is dotted all over with groups of graves, to disturb which is profanation. One strong objection to improvements, railroads and the 94 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. like, is due to the impossibility of moving far in any direction, without invading some ancient or modern burial-place. In life and death alike, the Chinaman feels that he belongs to China, and has no wish to sever the cord that binds him. Their loyalty to the government in China amounts almost to idolatry. The emperor exercises authority by divine right ; is himself the Son of Heaven, and may exact obedience from his subjects. His wisdom no one may question, nor his authority dispute. The Chinese govern ment is a despotism, but quite of a patriarchal order. As the emperor is the Son of Heaven, so is he the father of his people, and responsible in a sense to the gods, for their behavior. If they are disorderly, it is because there is defect in the government. If they are peaceable and industrious, it redounds to the ruler's credit, for it shows how well he governs. Moreover, as filial obedience is the highest duty in the category of Chinese virtues, so it behooves the father, otherwise the emperor, to exact obedience of his children, and to enforce it, if need be, by the most rigorous discipline. Nothing in the whole his tory of nations is more remarkable, than the manner in which the Chinese submit to severe chastisement under authority, without rebellion or complaint. And this is true not only of the abject coolie population, from which we expect little evidence of manhood or independence, but even of those of rank and station. It comes of the feel ing that the emperor must in all things be obeyed, and that to demur at his decrees is not only treason but THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. 95 impiety. With some classes of the people the former would be the more heinous offence, but the idea that the emperor rules by divine right is still sufficiently rooted to give force to the suggestion, that disobedience to him may stir the anger of the gods. The present dynasty in China is not Chinese, and has not been for more than two hundred years. But no matter for that. There is a Tartar or, more definitely speaking, a Manchu, on the throne ; but then Manchuria and other Tartar provinces are part and parcel of the Chinese Empire. They are practically all one, so what matters it from what province or what tribe the ruling family came? The last of the old-time Ming dynasty founded by Hung Wu, the great soldier who drove out the descendants of Genghis Khan, left the throne in 1644 A.D., and a Manchuria family secured the succession and holds it still. Chinese statesmen saw the road to peace and a strong government in that direction, therefore made a virtue of necessity and favored the change, and so far have found no urgent necessity for a return. To the rank and file of the population it mattered little one way or the other. A change of dynasty was only a change of masters, and whether the ruling house was Tartar or Chinese was of small account to them. Having accepted the new emperor, their allegiance was due to him as much as it had been to the former house, and he might exact obedience by as stringent measures. Hence the Chinese government is none the weaker because the present emperor is not of Chinese blood. Indeed the im- 96 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. petuous Tartar tribes may take special pride, in the fact that one from among themselves occupies the throne of the Celestial Empire, and yield the more readily to the curb, it is sometimes needful to put upon their restless spirit and their schemes of wild adventure. The Taiping rebellion, before alluded to, was ostensibly an attempt to drive the Tartars from the throne and rein state a Chinese dynasty. But it received little counte nance from the better classes of the people — the intelligent and educated portion. The ignorant mob were led on by wily and desperate leaders, under the impression that they were suffering oppression at the hands of foreign despots, and they perished by hundreds of thousands. But they died in vain. The Tartar is still upon the throne, and the ruling classes of China proper are among his most loyal subjects. The rebellion served practically in the end, to demonstrate the strength and stability of the government. Again, China not only has this vast extent and popula tion, and this spirit of patriotism and loyalty to the ruling powers, back of her, she has some of the first statesmen of the age among her counsellors. The Marquis Tseng, late minister to different European courts, is entitled to a first rank among diplomatists. Li Hung Chang, of Tientsin, to whom is due more than to any other one man the sup pression of the great rebellion, is to China to-day, what Bismarck is to Germany: not merely the power behind the throne, but a power greater than the throne ; and, though he has been distrusted at times, both by natives and by foreigners, there is now no reason to doubt that THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. 97 the well-being of China^lies very near his hetrt, and that with his enlightened views ofthe changing situation, China will receive a strong impulse toward enlightenment and national progress. Other men might be named, but these ^\'ill serve to show, of what material some of China's leading counsellors are made. These men are by no means idle because the empire is at peace. They are observing the situation and studying the signs of the times. They read the foreign news, and keep a sharp look-out for all significant changes, however remotely relating to their own country ; and whoever expects to find China asleep, when any thing of national importance is transpiring in any part of the world, will find himself reckoning without his host. Then certain very important changes are going on among the people at large ; new industries are springing up here and there, and the commerce of the country is immensely increased. The great bulk of the coasting trade from Japan to Farther India is in Chinese hands. They furnish the ships and man them, and also furnish crews for the ships of other nations. The increase of Chinese trade and commerce reduces the tendencies to sedition ; for where there is legitimate employment for the largest number, there is least occasion for turbulence and least tendency to riot and disorder. China, moreover, has learned the conditions of national existence in the West, and turns her knowledge to prac tical account ; enters into treaties with her neighbors, and hves within the confines of international law. All this is 98 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. most favorable for the development of her resources and the security of her interests, both at home and abroad. So long as .she regards the rights of others, she may reasonably ask that her own rights be respected. Again, there is a movement, which commands favor in official quarters, to increase the productions of the empire, by opening new fields for some of the surplus population in the chief centres and along the coast and rivers. It is to encourage colonization and settlement, in regions which have for centuries, if not for all time, lain in a state of nature. Attractions are held out to such as will improve the opportunity to take up lands, cultivate fields, and establish homes for themselves. Another thing : China has her convict colonies, or something answering a like purpose, and it is now pro posed that men condemned to exile shall be permitted to take their families with them, and while still doomed to labor under surveillance, shall be allowed a prospect of ultimate release, and a chance to establish for themselves comfortable homes. All this tends to foster in the minds of such malefactors the feeling that the government is paternal rather than vindictive ; and this is favorable to that spirit of allegiance to the powers that be to which China owes so much of its stability and strength. Finally, under this head, necessity creates oppor tunities. The growth of population in China must have its limit, and, according to present indications, the struggle for existence there is soon to be, not a mere philosophical speculation, but a veritable and bitter fact. If the Chinese THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. 99 continue to increase, China must expand. When that time comes they will not lie down and die at home ; they will force their way into other lands, even at the cost of millions of their own countrymen. CONCLUSION. What, then, in brief, is the present situation and out look ? China has a territory scarcely second in extent to any on the globe ; a population greater than that of any other nation, and in a territory so shaped, troops or sup plies can be called from any quarter, without trespassing upon the lines of any ofher neighbors. Patriotism in the Chinese heart is not only a sentiment but a conviction, and allegiance to the government, both a religious and a patriotic duty. Her army outnumbers that of any nation but Russia, and possibly France and Germany at the present time, and both her soldiers and her seamen are under drill by competent instructors. She is quietly arming with the best weapons of European manufacture, and her clumsy junks are gradually giving place to war ships of the most approved models. If she has not com petent generals of her own, she does not hesitate to call in foreign aid. She remembers Ward, the American sailor, who organized the force that gave the first serious check to the Taiping rebellion. She remembers, as well she may, " Chinese " Gordon, who led her forces in a continuous round of victories over the insurgent rebels. And these services of foreigners do not seem to have left IOO FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. any rankling jealousies behind, or created any great aversions that would hinder a like resort, should the occasion again arise. Li Hung Chang, now First Grand Secretary of the empire and the well known Viceroy at Tientsin, showed military skill in the suppression of the great rebellion, for he was Gordon's superior officer; but he is worth more as a counsellor than as a commander in the field. Some of the leading Chinese officers are getting old, but fresh blood may reveal greater genius for war in some that have come later on the stage. In any event, it will appear that China is not the pusillanimous nation she was long supposed to be, or the contemptible power, that makes it quite safe to trample on her subjects,- or pursue them with torch and bludgeon and then jeer at her indignation. China, at no distant day, will be found quite capable of taking care of her own interests, at home if not abroad. England does well to withhold her sanction from recent extreme measures in Australia, and though it may occa sion disaffection in her colon}', she cannot afford to offer open insult to the great nation within whose borders she has, here and there, a slender foothold. England does well also, in her border complications on the Indian frontier, to remember that Thibet is not Burmah or Afghanistan, and that to pursue even marauders without license, into Thibetan territory, is to stir the jealousy, if not to rouse the anger, of the Chinese government. There is always understood to be a certain comity among great nations, and China, so far vindicates her right to a place among the THE FLOWERY KINGDOM. lOI first, she is entitled to consideration with the rest. It is no idle dream to say, that China is yet to be a more powerful nation than she ever has been in the past, and that only an able and magnetic leader — another Tamer lane — will then be necessary to make her mistress of Asia from sea to sea. Such a sweeping revolution, let us admit, is not prob able, but it is by no means beyond the range of possibility. The conditions of national existence, to be sure, are different now from what they were in the time of Tamer lane or Genghis Khan. But national superiority is still measured, in the last extreme, by the effective forces that can be brought into the field ; though more depends now than formerly, on wisdom in council when great crises are approaching. China has the men ; it only remains for her to show she has the courage and the wisdom to compel respect at the hands of other nations, whether in Europe or America. Vw? ^Kfeli ^^^^W^ KJrl^^^^iB^^ ^^ ^^^K^^Ss CHAPTER in. VISITING A SULTAN— SINGAPORE. IT was a pleasant morning at Singapore. The sun was slightly veiled with fleecy clouds and a gentle breeze was stirring ; a welcome change from the reeking, stagnant air of the day before. The horizon portended rain, but it might not come for hours ; besides, the expedition could not be postponed whether the heavens were or were not propitious. A small company of travellers, in cluding two or three of official rank, were invited to dine that day with the Sultan of Johore at his capital, a few miles distant from the Straits settlement. Such oppor tunities did not come every day, and must therefore be improved. Carriages were taken across the island of Singapore, some fourteen miles, and thence a little steam launch sent by his Majesty, conveyed the party almost to the door of the palace. The ride across the island was without special incident, except that a ride through a tropical forest, especially in the early morning, when the animal world is astir in search of food, is alwa\'s full of incident for the dweller in a more northern region. Tlie statel}- trees, the abun- SINGAPORE. 103 dant foliage, the trailing vines, the brilliant flowers, the tempting fruit, the tangled coppice, combined to impress one with the unmatched luxuriance of this torrid clime. Birds of gayest plumage sat serenely on the higher boughs, or flew here and there with discordant screech, as is the habit of birds whose beauty is in brilliant feathers and not in song. An occasional monkey paid his respects from a safe retreat among the branches overhead ; small prowlers skulked from the path as we approached, while the thought that there were tigers in the jungle, perhaps within a hundred yards, added just sufficient apprehension to give piquancy and zest to the experience. The territory of the imperial magistrate we were about to visit comprises a part of the Malay peninsula, and is about thirty thousand square miles in extent. He has had the judgment to cultivate the good graces of the English government, and therefore is left to the care and enjoyment of his snug principality, without dictation from beyond the seas. He cannot be set down among the great potentates of the East, but exercises almost unlimited authority in his own realm, and has the reputa tion of using his power with good judgment and moderate clemency. Moreover, he encourages the immigration of industrious and well-disposed foreigners, and both Javans and Chinese now constitute important elements in the population. The Malays are indolent, and show a strong aversion to any thing approaching hard labor or steady application, such as is always necessary in carrying on 104 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. important enterprises. The Sultan recognizes this fact; hence his condescension to the classes named. Most of the hard work done here, and indeed throughout the " Straits settlements," comprising the English colonies along the Straits of Malacca, is done by Chinamen. The European, it is said, cannot labor in this clime, the Malay will not, hence the coming of the Chinese is a necessity ; but the appreciation of their usefulness is nowhere better shown than in the province of the Sultan of Johore. That which is necessary-he makes a matter of choice. It was but a few minutes' run from the island to the main, where the steam launch landed the visitors, near the garden gate that leads up to the palace door. The im perial residence, in the midst of grounds set with the choicest shrubbery and bright with many flowers, is not an imposing structure as viewed from sea or shore, and does not materially improve on near approach. Within, however, the aspect is more pleasing. In the first place it seems good to escape from the blazing sun, and then the halls and saloons are arranged to appear more spacious than they really are. Potted plants and flowers are ranged in great profusion, and a series of large and elegant vases, with clumps of bamboo, with broad blades drooping from the rim, give the impression of a row of spreading palms. The Sultan is an accomplished gentleman in his way and soon succeeds in putting his guests quite at their ease. He wears European clothes and affects somewhat the manners of what we are wont to call an English SINGAPORE. to5 gentleman of the old school, having made a visit to that country and been lionized in society to some extent. He shows something of the barbaric taste for jewelry, and on this occasion wore no less than fourteen finger rings, with much display of costly gems. When dinner was announced it was served after the manner of the European table-dJwte, with the added dignity of a separate waiter for each guest. Wine was provided for such as chose it, but his Majesty confined himself to the simpler beverage allowed by the Koran. He is a devout Mohammedan, and though somewhat advanced in years, still hopes to make the pilgrimage to the prophet's tomb at Mecca, and so make sure of para dise at last. At parting, a present was given to each visitor, according to the sumptuous custom of Eastern princes — small elegant ebony canes to the gentlemen, and a silken scarf for each of the ladies. The return journey was something of a variation from the morning, a heavy rain having fallen late in the afternoon. The roads were submerged in many places, and all hands were well spat tered with the abundant unctuous mud. Deep shadows were falling across the way before the journey was half accomplished, but the end was reached without mishap, and the impressions of that day will lpng remain a pleasant memory. Singapore is an island, at the southern point of the Malay peninsula. It is nearly on the equator, and a point of commercial importance scarcely equalled else where in the Eastern seas. Here are ships from New Io6 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. York and Liverpool, Bremen and St. Petersburg, from the Baltic and the Mediterranean, from Japan, China, and Australia, the Sandwich Islands and San Francisco, Rio Janeiro and Callao. Hither come vessels from both the Malabar and Coromandel coasts ; and ships for Burmah, Siam, Borneo, and Java make this their starting-point. There is much transshipment here, with large imports, and at least a moderate amount of exportation. Coffee is raised here, and Java receives credit for it, since the Java product stands high in the markets of the world. Nutmegs, cinnamon, pepper, spices, and an endless variety of fruits abound, and every vessel for Europe or America carries more or less of these away. Approached from the sea the town and neighborhood present some sharp contrasts. There are retreating val leys, dark with shadows of palm and mango groves, and serene heights unsheltered from the scorching sun. Near the shore are bamboo huts, with mats for roof, built pre cariously on stilts, as a precaution against snakes and other dreaded foes, and stately buildings on the streets that reveal the presence of European enterprise. Then the change from the white-coral sands along the sea-border, to the green herbage and glistening foliage immediately beyond, is most striking in effect. The harbor is spacious, and while deep in many parts, is beset with coral growths that make the service of a local pilot quite imperative. A motley company of natives come streaming to the shore as the ship approaches, and nowhere else in all the Orient is there better opportunity to study the varieties SINGAPORE. 107 of the human race, that commerce brings together. The jinrikisha of the Japanese is somewhat in use for con veying passengers to and from the town, three miles away, but the chief vehicle is a carriage of the milk-cart pat tern, drawn by scrubby, vicious ponies, whose owners hold their impetuous spirits in check by keeping them on a low diet, so that the bony framework reveals itself at every point. The coachman of Singapore has studied human nature and knows how to touch a tender chord in his customer. He does not hesitate to charge three times the fare the law appoints, and if you protest he points pathetically down his capacious throat, then presses his hand upon his stomach, in evident distress, as an indication of the straits to which he is reduced to get a living. Of course you do not want to see the man starve to death before your eyes, so you consent to be imposed upon, or at least effect a compromise. Whatever food may cost — and much fruit may be had for the gathering, — the Malay is not at great expense for clothes. The climate demands but little, and he is not concerned for what society enjoins. A strip of cotton cloth about his loins, a loose mantle of the same material when he goes upon the street, a little matting to protect him from the sun by day and rain at night, and he is provided for. High colors have an attraction when he affects some variety in costume, but these are among the luxuries and not the necessities. The dry-goods trade seldom profits largely by his presence. He can get along without much of any thing that it provides. I08 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. Pigs do for Singapore, what the dogs do for Damascus, kites for Calcutta, and buzzards for Vera Cruz. They are the scavengers of the town, and as such entitled to the freedom of the streets and the good-will of the inhabi tants. The pigs, indeed, have another claim on popular favor, for after picking up refuse till they are sleek and fat, they constitute a staple article of food with the Chinamen, the working element in the population ; and with the characteristic frugality and thrift of the race, they turn this, with every thing else, to some practical account. The Mohammedan detests the flesh of swine, and the Hindoo holds it an abomination ; but the follower of Confucius has no qualms of conscience as he passes the savory morsel between his lips, and evidently enjoys it to the full, wondering the while what the animal was made for if not to be eaten. Among the fruits of the peninsula there is very great variety ; the bread-fruit, cocoa-nut, date, mango, and man- gosteen ; but the paradox of all fruits is the dorian, and nearly all travellers attempt it once but rarely ever try again. It is the size of a pineapple and contains a rich pulp inside a tough shell or husk. It is of comehsize and shape, harmless to look upon, said to be pleasant to the taste, but a very abomination when it salutes the nostrils. The compressed odors of a Chinese quarter, added to the " seventy-two distinct smells " of the famous scented city on the Rhine, cannot equal it for unadulterated \-ileness. It is accounted a delicacy by those who have mastered their first repugnance to it, but there is no surer wa}' of clear- SINGAPORE. 109 ing the dining hall at the hotel or on the steamer, than to bring in a plate of dorians ready for the table. Many fruits in the tropics are disappointing. Some are dry and lacking in flavor, others very rich and pleasant to the taste but wanting at last in substance. Ripeness is quickly followed by decay, but many of the natives hardly seem to know the difference, and though good fruit may be abundant, and obtainable at little cost, they content themselves with what is near at hand, though it be stale and even in the early stages of putrefaction. It is a con stant -wonder how these people live so utterly regardless of all sanitary laws ; but they do live, increase in numbers, and seem to get a fair share of enjoyment out of life. Much must be credited to the absence of extreme changes in the climate, and the fact that they are inured to depriva tion from the moment of birth, and seldom reach any better condition. Situated as it is, the climate of Singapore is most equa ble, the mercury ranging from 70° to 95° from month to month and from year to year. Of course the heat is often oppressive to one unaccustomed to the tropics, but as it is summer all the year, one soon learns to adjust him self to the situation, wears the lightest clothing, a sola to pee on his head, or at least a puggaree-t-a white scarf wound round the hat, — and carries a white umbrella. In short he learns to avoid exposure to the sun, and falls into the prevailing habit of passing the noon-tide hours al ways in the shade and apart from any active exercise. The days are nearly the same length the year round, so that I IO FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. practically there are twelve hours of shade and twelve of sun. But for this equable division, the heat, a great part of the year, would be extreme. Singapore is exactly in the line of the monsoons whether blowing from the northeast, or southwest ; but they touch it lightly, the main currents of the atmos phere striking farther out to sea. One effect however is to bring frequent rains, and half the days in the year may be set down as showery. The atmosphere is of course humid, which makes the heat more sensibly felt, but the effect is to give an unlimited vegetation and keep it always fresh and green. There is no spring or autumn ; no special season of decay and renewed growth. Buds are always opening, flowers always blooming, and fruit of some kind continually ripening. A visit to Whampoa gardens should not be omitted. In the first place the street leading to it is a perpetual de light, especially to one who makes here his first acquaint ance with tropical luxuriance. The road is wide and well kept, and on either side are stately palms with their broad drooping leaves, tall, slender bamboos in feathery clumps, trailing vines, and flowers of the most brilliant hues. The garden itself does not differ widely from others to be found in Farther India, but includes within moderate compass a great variety of foreign or exotic plants, in addition to the numerous species native to the Malay peninsula. Here na ture is allowed to take its course within reasonable bounds, and creepers of various kinds wreathe the rugged trunks of trees and climb to their topmost boughs ; orchids bloom SIAGAPORE. I I I amid the branches and fill the air with odors, new and strange. There is an aviary in the garden also, and the groups of the tiniest birds in all the world will detain the observer longer than any other one feature of the whole collection. There is one article of very common use over the whole commercial world now, for which we were first indebted to Singapore — gutta-percha. Some forty years ago, as the story goes, an English trav eller observed that the native coachmen used whip-stocks of surprising elasticity, which they said were made from the juice of a tree. He inquired further and found that they tapped the trees, or made incisions in the bark, and a gummy substance exuded. This they collected and left to evaporate and eventually dry in the sun. It was then cut into strips or sections and used for various purposes. When partially dried it was sometimes used for trapping wild beasts, especially the tiger, being spread in his haunts or in a trap as the case might be. Coming upon it unawares, the animal found a strange substance clinging to his feet, and in trying to remove it got it in his teeth, and while he was engaged with this new enemy, and becoming continually more and more involved, the hunt ers set upon and dispatched him. It would be difficult to number now the uses to which this material is put, and in not a few of these there is no known substitute ; and so that which comes to light, seemingly by the merest accident, becomes an article of prime necessity. Tigers abound in the Mal^y peninsula and venture on 112 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. the island of Singapore, which is separated only by a narrow strait. They are a constant menace to those whose occupation takes them along the borders of the forest, or among the mountains. Poor women who go to the jungle for fuel, and laborers whose duty takes them from frequented paths, are the more common victims. The lair of the tiger often gives evidence of his destruc tive work among these ill-fated people. Hunting the tiger is not a favorite sport among the Malays, but they have devised first and last many ways to circumvent the animal and bring him within their power, without serious exposure to themselves ; and there is no greater hero among the people, than the hunter who has the nerve to approach and the skill to slay now and then, a specimen of this magnificent adversary of the human race. Another source of dread and danger is the great number of venomous snakes, that not only haunt the edge of the jungle, but encroach on the settlements, lie coiled up about old houses, in heaps of fuel, refuse, and the like, and strike their deadly fangs into such hapless strollers as chance to disturb them or come within their reach. The ver}' com mon habit of going barefooted or wearing sandals that afford scarcely any protection to the feet and legs, m.ikes the poorer class of natives the readier victims. The well-to-do classes, who rarely go beyond the settlements, and when they do venture into the jungle go securely shod, seldom suffer seriously. The bite of a full-grown hooded cobra is generally fatal, unless treated very speedily and with more skill than the native physicians SINGAPORE. 113 usually possess. The natives naturally live in continual terror of these reptiles, and when one is discovered in the camp of the traveller or explorer, the chances are he will speedily find himself left alone to dispose of the intruder as best he may, while his hired but fear-stricken assistants watch him anxiously from afar. Of course the tiger avoids the settlements, or prowls near only when desperate for prey. Reptiles seldom venture into the open street or along well beaten roads, and the traveller may tarry about Singapore a week and follow only the ways of traffic and society and not see a specimen. Indeed, one may travel for months in Southern Asia and scarcely see a snake at large. The showmen and snake charmers always have a supply, and many of the local museums make a specialty of native snakes, for these are what people come to see. Nature has a frugal habit of maintaining a sort of bal ance between the attractions of different lands. Not all the best things of the world are found in any limited area of the earth's surface, but distributed here and there ; and that which is most fascinating may be counterbal anced b}' something that endangers peace if not existence ; and so we find the presence of the serpent and the tiger among the serious drawbacks to life in this land of ease and sunshine, fruit and flowers. CHAPTER IV. THE ISLE OF CEYLON. THE island of Ceylon, on first approach from the east, is a wonderfully attractive bit of land. It rises out of the Indian Ocean almost directly into mountain heights, bordered by a narrow sandy beacii or standing out in rocky headlands, against which the sea breaks in long, winding wreaths of foam. Clad in forest and jungle from the margin to the summit, it presents a pleasing variety of shade and hue, according to the altitude or the abruptness of the slopes. Even the perpendicular rocks are tapes tried with mosses or wreathed with creeping vines, which keep up the play of colors and the changing hues of light and shade, while here and there a towering cliff adds variety to the scene. There can be no finer effect than that produced by the cloud and mountain views in the light of the morning sun. The fleecy cumuli clinging to the slopes strikingly resemble snow, above which rise the higher peaks like towers above a Moorish roof ; while the narrow valleys with terraced borders, peep in and out through the rifted clouds, like the ever-shifting scenes in the kaleidoscope. We had alrcntl}- learned to make due allowance for "4 THE ISLE OF CEYLON. II 5 Optical illusions, not unfrequent in these torrid seas. There is sometimes an appearance of land with outline of curving shore and all the details of valley, hill and moun tain side, with green slopes and mighty forests and sunny fields, which on near approach vanish utterly. But in this place there could be no mistake. Ceylon is a verita ble and stable land, which grows more and more distinct as we approach. With all the variety of edible fruits in the tropics, one chief source of food supply for the native is the ocean ; and few, without .systematic inquiry and observation, have an}' conception of the draft continually made upon this teeming reservoir. The Southern sea literally swarms with life, and nowhere else in all the world is there so boundless and attractive afield for the student of zoology. There are giant species and those of the minutest size ; species of the most brilliant colors, and those whose neutral tints alone save them from destruction ; species of substantial form and texture, and those whose substance disappears on short exposure to the sun and air. The Ceylonese makes the most of his opportunity to win a livelihood, without toiling up the mountains or along the burning sands, and the native fishing-boats give the first evidence of life along the shore ; though, on nearer approach, small villages appear nestling between the water's edge and the wooded slopes. There is very small field for agriculture on this portion of the island, the mountains rising almost immediately from the shore ; and the small fields wrested from the jungle now and 1 16 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. then, fall to jungle again if neglected a single year. Man is a puny creature when brought into competition with nature in the tropics. She fights him inch by inch as he intrudes on her domain, and obliterates his work almost in a day, when he gives up the strife, or even waits to rest awhile. The first considerable town in Ceylon, in coming from the east, is Point de Galle, a decaying port, which some imaginative writers have identified with ancient Tarshish, whence ships brought treasures fpr King Solomon. That doubtful honor, however, must be shared with another port in the Levant and still another beyond the pillars of Hercules. Twenty years ago it was the point of depart ure for steamers for India, China, and Australia ; but the business has been transferred to Colombo, the capital, a few miles to the west and north, and Point de Galle is left to that sleepy decay that has overtaken so many cities in the Orient. The removal is attributed to political influ ence, a desire to concentrate interest in the capital, but there are reasons of a commercial nature, especially the relative convenience and safety of the harbors, which must have had weight in the decision. The situation of Point de Galle is exceedingly attractive — standing by the open sea and facing to the south, with a long line of white-coral sands at the water's edge, the majestic hills in the rear forming a substantial background, and adding dignity to a scene of varied and charming beaut}'. The road between this point and Colombo is one of rare attractiveness. Part of the distance is traversed by THE ISLE OF CEYLON. II 7 rail and part by post-coach, and is said to be without a rival for picturesque and quiet charm. It has nothing of the majesty and grandeur of the road to Kandy, but is such as might be selected by one whose strength was not equal to rugged exercise, or one already sated with stu pendous scenes and charming novelties. The southwest coast is one continuous stretch of cocoa forests, with here and there a few other palms ; while groups of native huts at intervals give it a human interest. The road traverses the groves of palm in full view of the shore, now winds through the forests, now verges on the sand, now crosses rocks that overhang the sea, and now plunges into the jungle, reappearing along the shore of some of the numer ous short streams which, springing from the neighboring mountains, flow boisterously to the sea. The island of Ceylon is, by some authorities, presumed to be the Ophir of King Solomon's time, but the proof is not very satisfactory. It may be taken as an indication, perhaps, that precious stones in considerable variety, though not of the finest quality, are still found there. The sapphire and the turquoise are most abundant, while the ruby and the emerald less frequently occur. Cheaper varieties of stones are plentiful. No great deposits of the precious metals have been known, however, in recent times, and on this, rather than on the occurrence of gems, must the evidence depend. Sir Samuel Baker mentions a mine in what is still known as Ruby Valley, and says some valuable specimens are still produced, but there is no special evidence to connect this with the mine whence treasures came for the temple at Jerusalem. Il8 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. The landing at Colombo is attended with much the same experience as at Hong Kong or Yokohama. The ship drops anchor a mile or two from shore, and a group of hungry boatmen tug and push and scramble for places, near the gangway leading from the deck. The scene has lost its novelty for us, however, and in a matter-of-fact sort of way we engage a boat and reach the shore. Every port of any commercial interest now has one or more hotels conducted in European style, and in this respect Colombo is well provided. We are not reduced to native food with native cookery, which always so tempts one to hurry on to other lands, but are as comfortably housed and fed as in London or New York. Broad verandahs offer protection from the broiling sun, and the punkas, or swinging fans, relieve the heat, often so oppressive to one unaccustomed to the lower latitudes. Once on the streets, our study of the human race must be renewed. Here are varieties, if not races, we have never seen before. Chief among them are the Singhalese, constituting more than half the population. Of the aboriginal inhabitants of Ceylon but a remnant now remains, and they form no important factor in the population. But more of these anon. The Singhalese invaded the island more than two thou sand years ago, and soon became the ruling race, and though temporarily displaced from time to time, still maintain that distinction, priding themselves on their superiority, not only to the ancient habitants, but to the more recent accessions from India, — the Tamils and the Moors. THE ISLE OF CEYLON. II9 It may well puzzle the novice to keep the run of these distinctions, as it will also puzzle him oftentimes to deter mine the sex of the Singhalese he meets upon the street. Many of the men are beardless or closely shaven, while they pride themselves upon their jet, fine, curly hair, which is left to flow upon the shoulders, or sometimes gathered in a knot behind. Then all who can afford it, wear a sort of petticoat depending from the hips, and a high tortoise-shell comb in the hair. The men monopolize the comb, the women wearing long spear-like hairpins with large and often highly ornamented heads. For a high-toned Singhalese to wash, comb, dry, and oil his locks, then twist them into coils and secure with his lus trous comb, is as much of an operation as for a Japanese lady to dress and arrange her ample tresses, and requires even more time. It must be done, however. It is the one thing he sets his heart upon, a-nd it would scandalize him to go abroad without this elaborate preparation. If the traveller hires a Singhalese servant even for a day, he will find some allowance of time must be made for him to do his hair. The poorer class of men, especially if unable to afford a comb, wear little or nothing save the loin cloth, and for children, clothing is deemed quite a super fluity. Up to the age of eight or ten, clothing may be discarded altogether. A covering for the head or feet is rather the exception than the rule with most classes, though many of them carry sun-umbrellas. Turbans, red, white, and yellow, are often seen, and the color seems in a measure to distinguish I20 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. one class from another. The white turban is worn by teachers, sometimes by professional men, and generally by the waiters at the best hotels. A flaming-red turban is adopted by the coachman who has attained some dig nity in his calling, — has, for instance, got past twisting the tail of a solitary ox, and draws the reins over a pair of Burmese ponies. As for jewelry, both sexes affect it, wearing rings on toes as well as arms and fingers, and half a dozen in each ear ; and the women often wear jewelry both in nose and lips, causing distortions quite repulsive to one who has learned to regard symmetry oi feature, as an important element of personal comeliness. The varie ties of costume in the streets of Colombo afford the artist an admirable opportunity to study the effect both of color, and arrangement of material, in attire. A short drive into the country gives us some further insight into the way these people live. Our driver is a Tamil, of an Indian race though a native of Ceylon, clad in white jacket and a stately turban of crimson hue. He stands on the carriage step and guides his frisky little horse, and keeps up a continual halloo to warn people off the street. Every native assumes that he has a right to the middle of the street, and is in constant peril of being run over by passing teams. But he never profits by the lesson. As we strike the straggling outskirts of the city, the foot travellers are less frequent, but we meet no end of bullock bandies or carts bringing counti}' products to the market, or possibl}' bearing a sedate and turbaned com- THE ISLE OF CEYLON. 121 pany on some mission to the city. The oxen are of the Indian bison race, with a fleshy protuberance like a hump on the shoulder. They are generally good travellers, and some of the smaller varieties are especially brisk and agile. Almost the only means of transportation toward the interior of Ceylon is the bullock bandy, and they move much more rapidly than any team of the bovine order in America. Everywhere about Colombo there are the same general characteristics, — cocoa palms, arika palms, bread-fruit, mango trees, green, thorny hedges, and flowering plants in great variety ; little brown huts, with gardens at tached, interspersed with palm groves or bits of jungle ; indolent natives lounging in the groves, or reclining list lessly before the door, gossiping with neighbors and mildly chuckling now and then with drowsy merriment. What a lesson our busy, bustling. Western nations might learn of the Singhalese, or the Tamils, or any class now native to this fortunate isle ! No thought for the mor row ; no care for what may come another year; no anxie- t};- as to how the rising generation may fare when left to fight the battle of life alone. What peaceful peace ! What indolent content ! If it can be a privilege to live and still be of no consequence to the world, the average Ceylonese is near perfection. The sun shines for all and the spicy breezes blow ; the cocoa-nut may be had in the forest for the picking, and why should he be anxious or discontent ? Nature intimates, in this clime he need not work, and he takes her at her word. 122 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. The immediate attractions of Colombo are few. There are numerous stalls for the sale of precious stones, where the novice is likely to be swindled, for many of those offered are neither precious in quality or in real name, though the enthusiastic dealer will liken them to Gol conda gems. A drive to the Cinnamon garden will serve as a diversion, though there is not much of interest to be seen beyond the shrubs that give it name. There is a museum adjacent, however, which has some famous fossils of giant size, both terrestrial and marine. There is the skeleton of an elephant that stands more than twelve feet in height, a shark twenty-three feet in length, with a girth of thirteen feet, and a turtle that measures seven feet by four. BEYOND THE BORDER. To get any adequate idea of Ceylon at the present day, one must quit the coast and go into the interior, at least as far as Kandy, the former capital, which stands at an elevation of near two thousand feet above tide, and is seventy-five miles by rail from the fort at Colombo. The journey thither is one of the most charming that will any where be found, especially if the day be fine and a moderate breeze blowing from the sea— without the lat ter, the heat may be oppressive in the start. First come the swamps and the grass and paddy fields, the native huts and forests of palm, cocoa-nut and ba nana of the lowlands, with brilliant flowers and creeping vines. Then the road begins to rise perceptibly, and THE ISLE OF CEYLON. I23 there is a gradual change in scenery and vegetation ; the jungle covers the hill-side, and clambering vines begin to festoon the rocks. There are some fine specimens of engineering on the road as it winds up the mountain side, crossing ravines and traversing tunnels, curving round projecting points and threading its way along narrow crests ; and the views from the car-windows shift and change at every turn and with each succeeding elevation. The higher mountains are exceedingly abrupt, sometimes rising castle-like and sometimes terminating in a single shaft or cone like a dome or tower, while the lower peaks are grouped around like army tents. The rock formation is granite with gneissoid structure, that cleaves away and leaves sharp peaks or abrupt walls, most favorable for striking and picturesque outlines. As the train proceeds, the views increase in interest with every mile. The climax is attained when three fourths of the way to the summit. On the one hand, far below, are the winding valleys with their terraced steeps re claimed from the jungle and covered now with rice fields or tea plantations, while on the other hand, mountain streams leap and plunge down the rugged slopes in pic turesque cascades. This gives the planter his opportu nity. Rice in growing requires a generous supply of water. If the field can be flooded for a time so much the better ; and here it can be done. Here and there, up and down the slopes, are benches or natural terraces, where the wild .stream can be tamed and put to service. There 124 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. may be a depression that can be easily converted into a temporary reservoir; if not, a reservoir must be con structed, and this is filled by the mountain stream. This, the planter taps at his convenience, and by means of aqueducts, sluices, or perhaps only bamboo pipes, carries the water out upon his fields, and it does service repeat edly on successive slopes or terraces, till it reaches the valley below and is left to regain its native channel. The irrigation of the fields has given rise in times past to some of the most stupendous structures on the island of Ceylon, of which we shall speak further as we proceed. The town of Kandy, like most Oriental capitals, has a thrilling history, but is of no great present interest except as it recalls the peculiar glories of its past. It occupies a pleasant spot well up in the mountains, has a pretty lake, some beautiful cascades and amply shaded streets, and affords a welcome resort oftentimes, to the overheated population of Colombo and other places on the lowlands near the shore. The chief attraction is the Paredynia, or public garden, some three miles out, but easily reached either by carriage or by rail. It is certainly a model of its kind, and re puted to be the best collection of tropical plants in the world. The student of botany will find it a most attrac tive place, while to the casual visitor it cannot be other wise than full of interest. The approach is through an avenue of stately trees, of the species known in science as Ficus elastica, but in common parlance as the india-rubber tree. These trees not only rear gigantic trunks and THE ISLE OF CEYLON. 1 25 crown them with a wealth of leaves and branches, but have an extraordinary habit of sending out great roots in all directions, as if to make sure of their hold upon the earth. These roots start out some distance from the ground, as if to brace the tree on every side, and their course can be traced sometimes a hundred feet or more. The natives call them snake-trees, from the long and sinuous character of the roots. Once in the garden, the multitude of plants and trees, with the infinite variety, would be most bewildering, but for the classification and arrangement. These enable one to make his way about and return with definite remembrance of what he has seen, instead of the unsatisfactory and confused impression he generally carries with him from such exhibitions. Here we find tea, coffee, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, chocolate, spices of every name, and palms of every variety. A group of palms near the entrance cannot but arrest the attention of every passer-by. It embraces nearly every variety know in India — the Arica, Palmyra, Cocoa, Sago, and Cabbage palm, — while a hedge, like a wrCjtth of flowering plants, surrounds the whole, and brilliant creepers of man}' hues climb the trunks and fes toon the crowns. Giant bamboos, in clumps of towering, feathery stalks, occur al intervals on the I6wer ground, while the Victoria Regia, with its enormous, spreading fronds, rests placidly on the surface of pretty pools. Here are also trees of ebony, mahogany, satin-wood, and teak, together with the ill-famed Upas-tree, which, the story books have told us, is so destructive to every form of life. 126 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. We approach it, however, observe its size, the color of the bark and form of leaf, and come away quite uncon scious of any harm. The " deadly Upas " is a harmless plant if let alone. It exudes a baleful gum, where an incision has been made, said to be poisonous to the blood. But it does not taint the air, or deal death to insects, birds, or men. One place the traveller in Ceylon should not fail to see is the Paredynia. There is nothing of the kind equal to it to be seen elsewhere, and the Ceylonese may well be proud of this bit of paradise. At Kandy there is a Buddhist temple of peculiar sanctity. It may be interesting to know that Ceylon is the home of the most orthodox type of Buddhism — that is, the type that adheres most strictly to the early ideas and forms of that religion. There is a legend that Buddha visited the island about the close of his life, and in attestation of the fact, it is said his footprint may still be seen impressed in the solid rock on a certain mountain. We did not go up to see. But whatever the foundation of the legend, it is certain that when the Brahmans began their bitter crusade in India against the Buddhists, a part of them sought ' refuge in Ceylon ; that theirs soon became the prevailing religion, and continues so to this day. Another portion of these people fled to Thibet, whence they spread over China and into Japan, but the two branches now are in many respects unlike. The temple of Maligawa at Kandy is a massive struc ture of Indian architecture, surrounded by a moat with drawbridge like a fort ; and was erected as a shrine and THE ISLE OF CEYLON. 1 27 safe depositor}' for Buddha's tooth, the most revered perhaps of all the relics of Ceylon, if not of the Buddhist faith. It was sent from India by faithful disciples, about the time of the Mohammedan invasion, when there was no safet}' for any thing Islam did not approve. Two members of a ro}'al household were the custodians and messengers, and the tooth was sent concealed in the hair of an Indian princess. It was deposited temporarily at different points, costly shrines being erected for its recep tion, and finally reached its present quarters at Kandy. The temple differs as much in construction from those in the Northern countries, as the people and their religious ideas differ. Once every year there is a great religious festival, when they make a feint of carrying the sacred tooth in proces sion through the streets. All the country is in holiday attire, and the faithful and the curious come from far to be present on the great occasion. There are two or three days of preliminary ceremony, chiefly at the four smaller temples in the town. Then comes the great occasion. Several elephants — from ten to twenty-five, according to the mood of the Kandian chiefs who furnish them — are ranged in front of the temple of Maligawa. The streets are illuminated and alive with the moving, crowd. The largest elephant, very richly caparisoned, is led through the gate and into the outer vestibule of the temple. A white cloth is spread upon the ground leading from the interior. At a given signal a procession of priests clad in yellow robes appears, the abbot at the head bearing very 128 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. carefully a small. rich casket, while other priests carry a gilded canopy above his head. After a brief ceremony he encloses the casket in another somewhat larger, also richly ornamented, places it in the houdah or saddle pocket of the elephant, and makes it secure. The animal bearing the precious relic is then led out into the street, the other elephants fall into line, a man bearing a torch or lantern in front of each, and the procession moves through the streets, and sometimes out as far as Paredynia, to mingled sounds of praise and revelry, of reverence and rejoicing. It is one of the great Buddhist festivals, which, as yet, is not forgotten or neglected, in the changes that have come over this as over every other country of the Orient. This sacred tooth is not open to the inspection of the public, even on payment of a fee, and not one Buddhist in ten thousand ever sets eyes upon it. It is even whis pered by knowing ones that, on occasion of the festival, it is not actually removed from its safe depository. Like the single hair from Mahomet's head at the mosque of Jumna Musjid at Delhi, it is too precious a thing to be exposed to possible loss or injury. ' Whatever else the Maligawa festival may do, it serves to stir an occasional interest in the old Kandian capital, which, since the English occupation, has been shorn of its earlier glories. IN DAYS OF OLD. But the glory of Ceylon is in the past. Before night had set in upon the Nile, before the glory THE ISLE OF CEYLON. 1 29 of Greece had faded, when Rome was slowly rising to supremacy, this island was inhabited by a powerful race, which departing, left monuments behind, scarcely inferior to those of the great nations of antiquity. There can be nowhere a more inviting field of investigation for the an tiquarian or archaeologist. The footprints of departed races are as legible as in Arizona or Yucatan, and there are cities in as utter ruin as Cumae or Pompeii. Among the ruins most accessible, and whose history can still be traced, are the rock temples of Dambulla. They are nothing more or less than natural caverns in the rock of the mountain side cut, enlarged, shapen, and ornamented after the semblance of a temple or religious structure peculiar to the Buddhist religion. They are well up on the mountain side, and difficult of approach, as are many religious houses in other lands, and are credited to a certain king who, some two thousand years ago, was compelled to flee from an overwhelming force of Malabar invaders, and took refuge in these caves. Living there in safety till the danger was past, he caused his wild retreat to be elaborated into costly shrines, as an offering of thanksgiving. There are five temples in the group, but only one or two are of any special interest. The first is the temple of the Great God, generally supposed to be the Hindoo Vishnu ; but within, is a remarkable statue evidently in tended for Buddha, for it has none of the savage mien of the Hindoo idol. It is a recumbent figure, nearly fifty feet in length, well proportioned, and quite artistic in its '30 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. way. The head rests on the hand, and the hand on a pillow, which plainly shows the impression of the weight upon it, and the whole was carved in situ, from the solid rock. This figure alone well repays a visit to the caves. The second temple is the largest of the group, measuring fifty by a hundred and fifty feet, and having an altitude in the highest part of twenty-five feet. It is quite dark within, as light comes only from the front, and nearly fifty statues of Buddha arranged on a curving line give a peculiarly weird aspect to the interior. A few of the images have canopies above the head, supported by serpents of the hooded cobra type. As the eyes gradually become ac customed to the rather feeble light, extensive panel paintings, after the manner of frescos, can be discerned on walls and ceiling, giving some conception of the labor and expense bestowed upon the rock-cut temples of Ceylon. But to see the most noted ruins of Ceylon a farther journey inland is necessary. The standard mode of travel is by bullock bandy, a two-wheeled vehicle, with box open front and rear, and covered with matting or with canvas, according to the dignity of the establishment it represents, and drawn by a pair of little bullocks, har nessed to the cart with ropes and guided by means of cords attached to the nose. The driver runs alongside and sometimes sits in front upon the pole and urges them on with a short, sharp goad. Much of the travel is done by night, because of the heat of the day. The ex perienced traveller will have a supply of rugs or shawls in THE ISLE OF CEYLON. 13! lieu of mattress, and if he has the cart to himself, may manage to get a little sleep, though the jingling of the bullock bells and occasional sound of the driver's bugle will make his slumbers somewhat fitful and uncertain. Taking the mail cart from the end of the railway from Kandy, with express stipulations as to the number of passengers, we find ourselves in due time at Anaradha- poora, the capital of two thousand years ago, and still the recognized head-quarters for the northern-central province of Ceylon. And here the traveller will find himself in a region, that calls to mind the wilderness of ruins about the ancient Mogul capital of India. The inn-keeper of this ancient capital has an eye to business. The traveller may stop fifteen minutes at his house free of expense ; any thing beyond that involves a charge for entertainment. However, we are not sur prised at any thing, and a half rupee for an hour's rest upon a v/ooden bench is not a bad investment after all. Starting out to explore the town, there is no end of ruins, whichever way we turn. Dagobas, palaces, monas teries long tenantless, have fallen to decay, and remnants of stairways, towers, and walls no-w strewf the ground, though accumulating soil and vagrant plants concea} much of them from view. Most striking ^among these, by reason of its height, is the Ruanweli or gold-dust dagoba, a religious structure not unfrequent in Buddhistic countries, though more common in the south than toward the north. It was a mound or pyramid, like those of Mexico, but evidently built of burned mstead o( 132 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. sun-dried brick. It is reputed to have been lavishly decked with precious stones or glittering metals, — whence the name. The ruin still stands a hundred and fifty feet in height, and has a base of nearly four hundred feet. When completed, it must have been much higher. Some one, with a genius for figures, computes that the material used was sufficient to construct a wall a foot thick and ten*feet high from London to Edinburg, which would be nearly equal to a double wall from New York to Boston. The dagoba stands in a paved court the size of Madison Square, New York, and this court was surrounded by a terrace on which were ranged ponderous effigies of ele phants, some remnants of which still remain, and the whole was enclosed by a moat. There is another dagoba not far away, larger than this, but not immediately in view. Next to these in interest is the Brazen Palace, or mon astery, of which not a square inch of metal now remains. It occupied a space nearly two hundred and fifty by two hundred feet, and stood on sixteen hundred granite col umns or pillars, most of which stiU remain, though the superstructure has entirely disappeared. It is said to have been nine stories high, and to have contained a thousand apartments for priests, besides others for kitchen, dining halls, and the like. The pillars stand about twelve feet high, and most of them are still in place, though some have fallen, and others are nearly hidden by creeping vines and the accumulating debris. They appear to have been coated \\'ith a kind of cement. THE ISLE OF CEYLON I33 and according to some writers were covered with sheet brass or copper, though this statement ma}' be doubted. The roof was of brass, hence the name the brazen palace, and there were pieces of the metal distributed here and there, and well burnished from time to time, which gave it a very striking appearance. It was built as a residence for Buddhist priests, and indicates something of the num ber and influence of that people. But it suffered wreck from time to time, was partially demolished and rebuilt with less pretentious size on several occasions, and at last fell to ruin some six or seven centuries ago. There were other structures, both secular and sacred, scarcely less imposing than these, but a description would hardly be more than a repetition. Some good buildings still in use are evidently of much later date. Materials used in recent constructions are often taken from the old, and indicate, both by their size and shape, that there were not only skilled artisans in Ceylon two to three thousand years ago, but that they had facilities for moving heavy weights of which the natives now have no con ception. There is also in these great structures some indication of the condition of society in that country so long ago. Like the pyramids of Egypt and great monuments of India, they point to a despotism in which the lives of the common people were of small account, when the king's work was to be done. Perhaps the most remarkable among the remains of Anaradhapoora is the sacred Bo-tree, which still stands 134 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. near the centre of the town and not far from the brazen palace. It is accounted — next to Buddha's tooth at Kandy, perhaps — the most sacred relic in all Ceylon, and thousands of pilgrims make their way to it from year to year. It is little more than a superannuated remnant now, but the more revered, possibly, on that account. The history of the tree is briefly this : In the earlier days of the Buddhist religion in Ceylon, a noted priestess coming from India, brought with her a cutting from the great Bo-tree, under which Gautama was sitting, accord ing to the legend, when he attained to Buddha-hood, and went forth to establish his religion. The branch was planted, soon took root, and grew to a great tree ; and there it has stood for more than twenty-one hundred years. About this great tree has grown up a grove of Bo-trees and palms, which quite conceal it at a little distance; and there are numberless carved stones, bearing effigies, and serving once, perhaps, as altars, scattered in every direction through the grove. An extended terrace, probably more than one, once surrounded the Bo-tree ; and extravagant honors were bestowed upon it, attended with ceremonies of the most imposing character. The season of pilgrimage to the tree is at full moon in June and July, when a peculiarly weird appearance is given to the grove in which it stands, and thousands of the faith ful come. But, like the pilgrimage to the Maligawa temple, it is about all that remains of the once elaborate and oft repeated ceremonials that once distinguished the Buddhist religion in Ceylon, though of course new tern- THE ISLE OF CEYLON. 1 35 pies are built from time to time, and the ordinary service of that religion goes on. Most remarkable of all among the more stupendous remains of Ceylon are the water tanks, or reservoirs of the interior country, in which the rains were stored against seasons of drought, and served both for domestic uses and for the irrigation of the fields. Nowhere else probably outside of Peru was there ever a system so ex tensive and complete. One tank near Anaradhapoora is now in process of repair, and its vast proportions are the more easily determined. Advantage was taken of a natural depression, a kind of valley, for a large part of the enclosure, but the lower side, with shorter sections here and there, are artificial. A wall or terrace of earth and stones, sixty feet in height, twenty feet wide at the top, and sloping in both directions, extends across the valley and curves back at either end. This, with necessary ad ditions by way of repairs in other parts, will make nearly four miles of artificial wall. At a higher elevation, and near the town of Kalawewa, is a tank of still larger con tour, but less depth, which is also undergoing repair. It once, not only supplied the immediate vicinity, but was connected, by a winding canal more than fifty miles in length, with the tank or reservoir at Anaradhapoora, be sides supplying a number of small villages on the way. When these two tanks are repaired, together with the canal connecting them, this portion of Ceylon may again become as fertile and productive a region, as it is believed to have been in the centuries gone by. '36 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. These reservoirs are neither few nor small over the central and northern portions of Ceylon, and when first constructed doubtless supplied an immense population, where now there are only a few fever-smitten villages, and where for the most part the jungle has reclaimed its own. Nature is prohfic in the tropics, and suffers no spot of earth to go unoccupied. The garden is no sooner left to itself than the jungle covers it anew, and the wild beast makes his lair again amid the proudest triumphs of human enterprise. What became of the population that once thronged these fertile fields, and where are the men who built the reservoirs ? The answer is not definite or satisfactory. Ambition and fanaticism, however, played their part. How much of the local discords had a religious origin we do not know. It is certain, however, that the Hindoos, who drove the Buddhists from India, followed them soon or late to Ceylon, and that to this day they have little love for one another. It is more than probable, however, that the chief work of destruction was wrought by ambi tious adventurers from abroad. While the water-supply system was of incalculable value to the Ceylonese, it left them practically at the mercy of a powerful foe. An active and vigilant invader had only to reach and breach a few of their great reservoirs, and their whole supply of water was gone. Thirst is a more deadly foe than hunger ; at least its effects are more quickly felt ; and a people reduced to such straits become an easy prey. If the mountains have been drained, they must seek the valleys; THE ISLE OF CEYLON. 1 37 and when the valleys are in the hands of enemies, there can be but one result. Whatever the process of ex termination may have been, so much is clear: the men who built the reservoirs are no longer there, and the teeming population of that former time has well nigh disappeared. RACES OF CEYLON. The population of Ceylon, as a whole, is of a most promiscuous character. The Singhalese are first in point of numbers, and next to them probably the Tamils. Both of these, however, are from abroad, and came hither as invading conquerors. Of the aborigines of the island only a few — perhaps two thousand — remain. They live among the mountains of the northern portion, and of them, till very recently, scarce any thing was known. They are small in stature, rarely more than four feet six inches in height, but well- proportioned, muscular, and active. On the approach of a dreaded foe, they go up a tree with the agility of monkeys. They are savages in their habits and modes of life, and yet of comparatively mild and harmless disposi tion. They avoid the settlements, and show no disposi tion to make the acquaintance of other people. They are exceedingly simple, even primitive, in their habits, are usually in a state of nudity, and provide themselves but little in the way of houses or fixed habitations. They have been looked upon as the lowest type of the human race ; it was said they never laughed, and their 138 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. language was scarcely entitled to the name of human speech. An explorer from Queensland — Stevens, — however, has recently paid them a visit, lived among them for a time, and adds much to the general stock of information con cerning this peculiar people. They are not so low in the human scale as had been supposed. On reaching their country he found them suspicious of his presence, and dis posed to be hostile. He succeeded, however, in convincing them of his amicable intentions, and, on adopting their habits of life, was permitted to live among them. They are almost destitute of art, use bows and arrows of their own construction in the chase, while a small axe of Sing halese manufacture is almost their only implement besides. They rarely venture on the sea, live chiefly on the natural products of the forest, and are great bee-hunters. They prize honey for food, and manufacture a crude beeswax, which they manage to exchange with neighboring tribes, for the small axes in common use. Mr. Stevens notes their strange apathy in relation to their dead. They made no objection to his exhuming the bodies and carrying away the skeletons of their nearest relatives. On one occasion, when out hunting, one of their number fell over a cliff and was killed. They asked him if he wanted the body, and sat by in entire indiffer ence, while he removed the flesh and prepared the bones for transportation. But for the warm climate and produc tive soil they could not live at all, and as it is they are gradually dying out. Accidents are somewhat frequent, THE ISLE OF CEYLON. I39 for they climb about the cliffs in search of honey, and they are not prooj against the jungle fever ; and so the indi cations are that not many years will pass till the race has disappeared. The general impression that Ceylon leaves upon the traveller is that of ruin and decay ; ruin amidst the grandest scenes, decay in the face of rich fertility. The mountains stand as they have long stood, clad in the most abundant verdure ; and yet the forest is not primeval in the strict sense of the term. That was once hewn away, and the island became the scene of busy enterprise. Now the towns, cities, plantations, canals, and reservoirs are in ruin, and the tropical forest again holds almost undisputed sway. Modern commerce is working some changes, to be sure, but it touches only the southwest coast, and reaches a few miles toward the interior country. Most of the island is again as much a wilderness as it ever was, and its pos sible resources no more serve the interests of man than if they had never been at all. The present condition, as a whole, is not so suggestive of the twilight as of the noon-tide season in Ceylon. In the early morning, and far into the night, the whole world seems astir with life. But nothing can surpass the solemn, almost painful, stillness of a tropical forest at noonday. There is no sound of life or movement in house or camp. The prowlers of the night are still dozing in their lairs. Serpents lie stretched at length upon the rocks or coiled lazily beside them. The tiger has given over his quest for prey. The elephant stands sleepily in some covert 140 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. shade, or possibly midside in a convenient pool. Ev the insects, torments of the whole animal world besii have ceased their busy hum, and are grouped in curie clusters or flit silently to and fro. All nature has gone sleep, and will rest supinely till the fervid heat is pa But what can ever happen to Ceylon, to wake it up a: bring it into the tide and drift of modern enterprise? We can only wait and see. CHAPTER V. HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. SOUTH INDIA. THE traveller who would see India to the best ad vantage, if approaching from the east, should cross the Channel of Manar from Ceylon to Southern India, where he will find much worth seeing not to be found elsewhere. The plain sloping south and eastward from the Deccan Mountains is better watered than most parts of India, while the climate well adapts it to be the garden of the world. The architecture of the temples and the size of some of them are quite remarkable. In coming from Ceylon the landing-place is Tuticorin, which ambitiously assumes to be the Liverpool of the East, and might have a considerable commerce but for "Adam's bridge," a little to the north, whose imaginary piers and broken arches obstruct the channel between the island and the main. This makes navigation difficult, and sends all larger ships outside, at much expense of time and distance, through the Bengal Bay. Tuticorin is a typical south Indian city of the smaller class, and, with some European accessories, serves as a fitting introduction to the more considerable cities that lie 141 142 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. beyond. The streets are lined with palm trees ; the low- roofed houses are crowded with human beings almost like sardines in a box, and these seem somehow to gain a living by hook or crook, and without well-defined occupa tions. Of course there are regular industries, but the occasional coming of a steamer seems to call the whole population upon the streets, and there they linger and chatter and gossip as if there was never any thing more to be done. The train leaves for the interior in the gray of the early morning, and a more ghostly scene can scarcely be imagined, than that presented in the streets that converge toward the station. The natives go clad in white robes like sheeted spectres, and at that hour have the head covered against the morning air. And as they come suddenly in sight around corners here and there, and flit in and out behind the palm trees, the scene is far more ghostly, because more real, than any produced upon the mimic stage. The railroad traverses a wide and very flat region for many miles from the shore ; touches at Tinevell}', an ancient and dilapidated town of httle interest, except that it has some characteristic temples ; then turning north ward, it runs nearly parallel with a range of mountains in the distance on the left, till it reaches Madura, one of the oldest capitals in Southern India, though it is not of great political importance at the present time. Madura dates its prominence among Indian cities, from the time it became the capital of Pandya, four hundred years before HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. 1 43 Christ ; and while both city and kingdom passed through many vicissitudes, it claimed the honor of that position for twenty-two hundred years. There is still a remnant of a Hindoo college that dates from the same remote antiquity. Madura is a pleasant and quite attractive place, being remarkably clean and well ordered for an Indian city. There is the usual abundance of trees and fruits and flowers, and the industries have a more definite and permanent character than at Tuticorin. Timal Naik's palace, built some three centuries ago, will well repay a visit. It is quite a remarkable structure for its time, and bids fair to stand yet three thousand years. It is both massive and artistic. There is a colonnade of nearly a hundred pillars supporting the main hall, and the Hall of Justice, of the Saracenic order, has a stately dome that measures ninety feet across, though the height is not sufficient to produce the best effect. The great architectural wonder of Madura, however, is the temple of Minakshi, the largest and in some respects the most remarkable temple in India. It covers eighteen acres of ground, is built on massive arches springing from huge granite pillars, and entered by four principal portals toward the cardinal points, surmounted by pagodas two hundred feet in height. These pagodas, Jike artistic and somewhat fantastic monuments, are built in successive stories, and made up of masses of figures of gods and demons, men and women, birds and animals inextricably mingled and yet harmoniously arranged, producing an effect at once imposing and bewildering. 144 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. The interior is made up of numerous apartments, large and small, and devoted to a variety of uses. There are sacred elephants, ten or twelve in number, and sacred bulls, and sacred cows, to show disrespect to any one of which would be a serious offence, if not a mortal sin. There are also numerous carvings, quite amazing to one who here makes his first acquaintance with Indian idolatry. The statues in the gallery of the Louvre would be no more startling to the country youth, fresh from the rural districts of New England, than the sculptures that everywhere meet the eye in this stupendous temple. The arches on which the temple stands are largely given up to trade, and a grand bazaar is open in close proximity to the sacred animals. A bathing tank in one part of the interior is known as the tank of the Golden Lotus, and though the water is filthy in appearance in the last degree, it is said to cleanse the devotee of all in iquity. A short drive takes us to a tank, as it is called, the con struction of which is credited to the munificent rajah who built the palace. It is a small lake, partially if not wholly artificial, about si.x acres in extent, and surrounded with walled embankments of earth and stone. An island in the centre, also of artificial construction, supports a small temple with a few trees and pretty beds of flowers, and is approached from the shore by a bridge of bamboo poles. Some repairs were going on, and women were carrying the rubbish away in baskets and bringing in turn, soil for the flower-plots. HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. 1 45 Following the line of railway north from Madura, the next point of special interest is Trichinopoly, luxuriously situated in the midst of green fields and fruitful groves along the river. The city is on the plain, but is especially famous for the great Rock of Trichinopoly, which rises abruptly five hundred feet, and is crowned by a temple and a fort ; the latter on account of. its command of the surrounding country, and the former probably from the difficulty the faithful must encounter in reaching it. At a festival cele brated here a few years ago, the mass of people was so great, that some five hundred were crowded over the precipice, and fell to the river and the rocks below. Some precautions have since been taken to prevent the recur rence of such accidents, and further securities are being provided. Inside the fort are the ruins of the palace of Tippoo Saib, of whom the English have some costly memories. At the foot of the rock stands one of the first, if not the very first, Protestant church built in India, and Tri chinopoly is one ofthe most interesting of foreign-mission fields. Here Schwartz the famous missionary preached, and here the lamented Bishop Heber labored over sixty years ago, and was drowned at last while, bathing in the river. His memory is still cherished tenderly, and his monument may be seen in the cathedral at Madras, while some of the sweetest hymns he wrote are read and sung in every Christian and many a heathen land. Trichinopoly is widely noted for its silver ornaments, 146 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. brooches, belts, bracelets, and the like, which are manu factured in the humble homes, the mud cabins that line the narrow, dark, and crooked streets of the silver quar ter. We did not stop to inspect these however. The cholera was raging ; the town was panic-sticken, and we hastened on. The next city of importance is Tanjore, also an old-time capital, and the splendid though antiquated palace of the Mahratta rajahs — a dynasty now extinct — -recalls the political interests of former times. Visitors are admitted, with some restrictions, to view the curious treasures of the place. It is much like any other old-time palace, though some relics of special interest are shown. The cholera had reached Tanjore, and the first sound that greeted our ears was that of most discordant music on the street. There were shrieking instruments and roaring drums. We hurried out to see what it meant. A procession was moving with most uncertain strides from the river, over a mile away, to a certain temple in the out skirts of the city, and bearing water from the sacred fountain to bathe the idols, while the suppliants pleaded with them to stay the plague. The water jars were borne on the heads of men, who were in a frenzy of excitement and apparently in constant danger of dropping their precious burdens. They were in a reeking perspiration, some of them foaming at the mouth, and liable at any moment to drop down from sheer exhaustion ; and as they plunged suddenly in this direction and then in that. HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. 1 47 stood still a moment, then crouched and leaped and plunged again, their attendants — three or four to each — had much ado to keep the water jars in place. Some times in spite of all their efforts a portion of the priceless fluid was lost. On account of their eccentric movements it was quite uncertain when the temple would be reached, and we did not follow them. We learned afterwards, however, that the water-bearers lay in a stupor of ex haustion all day long when their task was done. At Tanjore we saw also the ancient car of Juggernaut, the massive vehicle that once bore the idol about the city on feast days, and beneath whose ponderous wheels the Hindoo fanatic deemed it a privilege to die. The state ment has recently been made in American prints, that deaths from this cause were purely accidental, and never sought by the victims in the way of sacrifice. No one will get such information in India, however, either from the Hindoos or from Europeans long resident amon'g them. The sacrifices may not have been frequent, but they cer tainly did occur, and probably would occur again occa sionally, but for the inhibition of the British government. Like the suttee — burning a wife upon her husband's fu neral pyre — or the burial of the dead in the Ganges, the change is due to the presence of a superjcr power, rep resenting a different religion. The gilded car that once wrought such bloody work is no longer paraded on the street, but kept housed conveniently for the inspection of curious visitors. Tanjore has a famous temple, similar in some respects to 148 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. that at Madura, but dating from about the eleventh century. The most striking feature is the pagoda, but eighty-two feet in diameter at the base, and rising in fourteen successive stories more than two hundred feet in height. In addition to numerous carvings, of thj same character as those described at Madura, there is a huge black bull, on a platform and under a canopy in front of the pagoda and in the temple court, which was sculptured from a single block of porphyritic rock. Costly honors are paid to this idol, and it is bathed and carefully tended from day to day. Tanjore is the centre of a populous and well-cultivated district of country. Rice is the chief product of the soil, while broad fields of yellow mustard dot the plain with cloth of gold, and the palm, as all over Southern India, yields its varied contributions to the general store. The latter is really the main dependence of a good share of the population. It not only gives them food, but drink and oil and fuel ; forage for their cattle and roofing for their tents. An easy stage beyond Tanjore, in the direction of Madras, is Chellunbaram, which also has a famous temple with some variation of architectural design. It is in the form of a gigantic colonnade two thousand feet in length and seven hundred wide, with entrances surmounted by lofty pyramids or pagodas, of the same general construc tion as those before described. The annual festivals call together a multitude at this place, and the inhabitants improve the occasion by holding a fair which also has HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. 1 49 wide celebrity. A day's travel in a bullock cart will take one from the railroad to the Seven Pagodas, by the sea, and a day's journey southward from Madras ; and though they are well worth seeing, being carved from the solid rock, the trip will hardly repay the cost to one who has the whole of India before him. Some special features must be left unnoticed in the general attraction of the whole. Another day upon the rail and Madras is reached. It is a large city, the capital of Southern India, but not a place of great attractions. It has an extensive commerce, not withstanding the tremendous surf that pours in continually upon the beach, and makes the process of landing so much a dread to seamen as well as casual visitors. The boats used for crossing the surf are large, broad and light, and still rarely go out or in without shipping one or more waves, and the traveller is fortunate who is not wet to the skin before the passage is accomplished. A catamaran is used for carrying messages between ship and shore, when the sea is too heavy for any other kind of boat to venture out. There are no manufactures of great importance, and while Madras exports cotton and indigo as well as rice, nearly all textile fabrics are imported from abroad. The plague that had so smitten Trichinopoly, we unwittingly encountered at Madras, though its presence was scarcely known to the inhabitants. On a Sunday morning we went to walk and came suddenly upon the open plot of ground in the suburbs, where Hindoos cremate their dead. This was something new. Several fires were burning at different stages, some freshly lighted. I50 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. some in full blaze, and others slowly smouldering away. There were also fresh arrivals at frequent intervals. There was a sickening odor of burning flesh in the air, especially when the smoke was wafted in our direction. But we were there to see and not to be driven from our purpose, by any little temporary inconvenience. Suddenly it occurred to us to inquire why so many people were dying in the city, and learned that these were all cholera victims. On that information we withdrew, purchased some disin fectants and possible antidotes at the nearest shop, and walked briskly to and fro beneath the palm trees, where a stiff breeze was blowing from the sea. We did not go to church that day as we had planned. Another experience of peculiar interest was at the examination of college students, at the " Senate " of the University of Madras. The building is one of the most prominent in the city, and its towers may be seen from the deck of the passing steamer. We were received with con sideration by the officials and assigned to places on the platform, where we faced some six hundred young men gathered from the " affiliated " colleges scattered through the Madras Presidency, as the southern province is called, who had come to be examined for their de grees. Rarely more than a third of the number passes we are told. Examinations were going on in nine lan guages, including the Sanscrit, Latin, Arabic, and English, together with the Tamil, Teligu, Hindostanee, and other native tongues. The young men were earnest, sober, and industrious, and there were many fine faces among them. IIERE AND THERE IN INDIA. 151 The professors, in light, loose robes of white linen, and huge white turbans, but barefooted to a man, strode to and fro across the platform, and now and then took a turn among the benches;. Two or three who could speak English were much interested to know about the colleges and college methods in America, and we were industri ously plied with questions. The examinations that day were in the languages, and consisted of brief extracts from various authors, to be translated from one lan guage into another. On leaving we were kindly fur nished with a full set of the examination papers, in the nine different tongues. If the traveller is not pressed for time he will do well to extend his South-India journey to Bangalore and Hydera bad ; the former is attractive in situation and surround ings and has some costly temples, and the latter is the capital of the dominions of the Nizam, the most considerable prince now left in India. His Majesty has a reputation for unbounded hospitality, and having a personal income of some twelve million dollars, can perhaps well afford to sustain that reputation. He is said to be the prince of entertainers, and, observing the custom of men of position in the East, gives each depart ing guest a handsome present. When a visitor has made a particularly favorable impression, he has been known to present him an elephant as a parting gift. And though it might be embarrassing. to find one's self with an elephant on his hands, as he was starting for the train, it would certainly be a striking evidence. of munificent hospitality. 152 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. We regret to say the Nizam was not at home on the occasion of our visit. Golconda, once famous for its gems, the old capital and burial-place of the early kings, is but seven miles from Hyderabad. Its rugged ^ills are as picturesque as they ever were, but its peculiar wealth is gone. It is no longer the diamond-cutter's home, and its mines, if worked at all, yield but a meagre return to the most industrious searcher. It is yet a long journey from Southern India to the Ganges, for this is a country of magnificent proportions, and we may proceed by rail, via Dhond or Kalian and Jubbulpore, or to Madras and thence by sea to Calcutta, a hundred miles up the sacred stream. SACRED CITIES AND HINDOO WORSHIP. Benares is above all others the Sacred City of the Hin doos, though to the casual visitor rather suggestive of abominations than of any thing hallowed or beneficent. Where there are costly temples, the chief apartments of which are occupied by swarthy bulls ; where the court yard reeks with the ordure of the animals, and fanatics come and smear their hands with the filthy mixture ; where another great temple is devoted to a troop of monkeys, who importune the visitor like mendicants ; where massive marble tanks are filled with the foulest water, in which devotees bathe and of which they even drink ; where fakirs, who make much pretence of piety and live by beggary, are met at every turn, and shrines HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. 1 53 with Phallic emblems occur at every corner ; where pilgrims come from far, practising the most rigorous and sometimes most offensive austerities, exhibiting self- inflicted wounds to move the pity of the stranger, — it is impossible to feel respect for the religion that imposes or begets such mingled wretchedness and ostentation ; and one is much in doubt, whether the victims of such hal lucination have greater claims upon his pity or his contempt. Benares is not only the Sacred City of the Hindoos — the head-quarters of the Brahmans ; it is sacred to the Buddhists also, and a ruined temple of that exiled people is still shown in the vicinity. When Gautama first at tained to Buddha-hood, beneath the Bo-tree at Gaya, he made his way at once to the holy city by the Ganges, de claring his purpose to " give light to those enshrouded in darkness, and open the gates of immortality to men." But the presence of this new sect soon aroused the jealousy of the Brahmans, and they were compelled to flee the country. The chief attractions of Benares are in the morning hours along the river front. Costly palaces and temples, built by munificent princes from time to time, occur at fre quent intervals, though the treacherous river is gradually undermining some of them. More than one tower indeed has already fallen, and walls are cracked and broken or stand awry. Many Indian princes still make Benares their home some portion of the year. Here, along the water's edge, are the bathing ghats, to which thousands of 154 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. men and women, both residents and pilgrims, come every day to bathe. No matter how keen the atmosphere or how prolonged the storm, the bath must not be omitted ; this not from considerations of cleanliness, however; it is a requirement of their religion. To fail to bathe in the sacred stream when possible is certainly to invite disaster. The burning ghats demand a brief inspection. They are merely slopes upon the river bank set apart for this special purpose. When a death occurs among the Hin doos of the city, the body is borne to the place of burn ing attended by the family and friends, as on a funeral occasion. There are wood merchants at hand, who will supply the necessary fuel, kindlings and all, for a stipu lated sum. The body is disposed upon the shore and the fuel heaped upon and around it, and the fire is started by a member of the family. If the dead man was a father, when the pyre is ready, the oldest son must go and be shaved, then bathe in the river and put on a new suit of clothes ; then returning to the ghat, he applies the match, and sits with the family in view of the crackling flames till the process is completed. The ashes are thrown into the sacred stream, and so ends the mortuary service. Allahabad is another sacred city, at the junction of the Ganges and the Jumna. A fair and religious festival was in progress, and nothing could give a better idea of fanaticism and enterprise combined. It is the resort of the faithful for religious purposes. Hundreds of pilgrims come in, weary and footsore ; and tradesmen with their HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. 155 wares make their way from every part of India. They occupy a point of the wide alluvial plain, just above where the waters of the two streams join, and over the imaginary bed of the underground river, which faithful Hindoos say here unites with them. For some inscruta ble reason, this river has long been hidden from mortal eyes, they say, though when the earth was young, the three streams flowed peacefully together and marked the spot as the cradle of the human race ; a version possibly of the story of the Garden of Eden. The fair is held in December and January, and con tinues about thirty days, during which time people are going and coming by hundreds and thousands continually. The grounds are arranged in an orderly manner, with streets or passage-ways in different directions ; and in variety of costumes, articles offered for sale, and the gen eral hubbub and confusion when trade is at its height, the occasion recalls the summer fairs at Nijni Novgorod on the Volga. Although beyond the city limits, the munici pality of Allahabad controls the grounds and reaps a rich harvest in the way of rents. The best locations for trade command an enormous rental, and at the recent fair, no less than twenty-four hundred barbers paid a license fee of three or four rupees each, for the privilege of plying their trade on the grounds. A native barber in the East requires no shop, chair, or toilet stand. He carries his implements in his hands, and when he meets a customer, they squat together on the street, the subject facing the artist, and the face, parts of the head, and then the arm- IS6 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. pits come successively under the operation of the razor. All classes of the Hindoo people will be found at the fair. The rich and the poor meet together. Not only the thrifty and the strong, but the aged and infirm and children of tender years are brought hither to bathe in the sacred waters, and if it happen that one die, no happier lot could be desired. There is no surer path to future bliss than from the banks of the Ganges, with a few drops from the sacred stream still on the brow ; and until the English government, for sanitary reasons, placed an inhi bition upon the custom, the Brahmans neither buried nor burned their dead, but cast the body into the Ganges, to sink into its turbid depths or drift away into the open sea. While the fair is made an occasion of trade and specu lation, its object is essentially religious, and of the multi tudes that come and go, many have scarcely the means to keep soul and body together. They come, bringing a little rice, a cooking pot, and some tattered bedclothes ; sleep in the open air, bathe a few times, and join in the religious observances, and are away again. It is the harvest-time of the priests, whose services are sought as counsellors, as well as for the more formal rites of religion. Here and there on this occasion were subjects undergoing penance, presumably appointed by the priests. Two men hung suspended for an hour with head downward, and one, by the aid of friendly hands, was swinging from side to side like a pendulum. Another was suspended in uncomforta ble proximity to a blazing fire, but all showed a determi- HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. 1 57 nation and fortitude, that would have been sublime had it not been so pitiable and abject. One day there was a procession considered of an especially sacred character. It was made up of fakirs or religious mendicants, almost utterly naked, chanting and dancing, sometimes leaping and howling like so many lunatics. They were preceded by a train of camels, which behaved themselves with demure dignity, and fol lowed by a devout rabble, many of whom marked their foreheads with the sanctified dust over which the proces sion had passed, and some even stooped and pressed their lips into the foot-prints of the holy vagabonds in advance of them. A fresh impetus is given both to trade and to religious zeal, by the arrival of a prince who comes to bathe, especially if he be of a rank that entitles him to a salute from the English fort, some two miles above the junction of the rivers. He often makes considerable purchases, besides leaving a goodly sum in the hands of the priests. He is also attended by a large retinue of retainers, friends, and servants, who likewise improve the opportunity to bathe, and at least inspect the variety of goods on sale. The fair was favored on New Year's day with a visit from his Highness the Rajah of Mysore. The garrison proffered the customary salute, as he passed the fort on his way from the railway to the river. What purchases he made is not definitely stated, but the newspapers reported next day, that his bath was understood to have cost him fifty thousand rupees — nearly twenty thousand dollars. 158 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. Only the day before there was a ceremony of a some what different character, but equally profitable in its way. Where for any reason, the body cannot be committed to the Ganges, it is the custom to cremate at home and then send the ashes to the river. It so happened that the Maharajah of Gwalior had recently died, and a deputa tion from his capital had come to Allahabad to perform that last rite. Some brief ceremony was observed at the water's edge, during the progress of which, the British authorities testified their respect by firing twenty-one guns from the fort, the number which the dead prince had been accustomed to receive as a salute while living, and the ashes were cast upon the water. The remains were at tended to the spot by a white horse very richly caparisoned, and an elephant wearing a silver necklace and bearing a gift of ten thousand rupees. These became the property of the priests at the close of the ceremony. The horse and elephant were bought back by representatives of the deceased prince, at a fair valuation, the money of course going to the priests. This is no unusual transaction, however, the priests always preferring money to some thing for which they have no special use. It is a custom among the Hindoos, for a man who has been guilty of a grievous sin, or is simply moved by a devout purpose, to make a sacrifice in that way of some of his most cherished possessions. A prominent prince, not long ago, thus devoted his wife and her train of elephants; ladies of rank in India having their elephants, as ladies in America may have their carriages. On this occasion, after the gift had HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. I 59 been made over, the priests, having no immediate use for wife or elephants, set a price upon them — two lacs of rupees, — which the prince generously paid, and returned home with his famil}', while the priests were the gainers by about eighty thousand dollars. Indeed it is under stood in such cases that the gift is to be returned for a stipulated sum ; but it has all the appearance of a genuine sacrifice. Such are some of the curious devices of the Hindoo religion. Within the fort at Allahabad are two objects of special interest and veneration. The first is the stone column of Asoka, a huge monolith forty-two feet in height and three feet, more or less, in diameter, and presumed to date from the third century before the Christian era. It contains a Buddhist inscription of the period, together with others of later date, indicating something of the changes that have passed upon the city and the country round about. There is also the famous " undying ban yan," a decrepid trunk of a kind of fig tree, which some devout priests claim came from the " tree of knowledge." It is reached by an underground passage, and stands in a small court of a sort of catacomb at present, the temple built over and around it many centuries ago being buried in an accumulation of dust and ruin. The new portion of the city of Allahabad is an attrac tive quarter, much pains being taken to make it so, since it has become the capital of the Central provinces. An arch of tamarind trees canopies the street leading from the great railway bridge to the fort, making a most de- l6o FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. lightful drive, and other streets, with homelike bungalows and gardens of brilliant flowers on either side, make the place one of unusual attractiveness. SOME INDIAN TEMPLES. It is not always easy to distinguish between temples and tombs in India. Temples indeed are sometimes used in part as tombs, while tombs may upon occasion serve the purposes of temples, and so the terms may oftentimes be used interchangeably. The first that engages our attention are the rock-cut temples, of which there are many, dating generally from the early days of the Buddhists, though some are of more recent date. They are generally natural caves, which have been enlarged, shapen, and finished after the similitude of temples, provided with altars, images, frescos, and the like, and devoted very strictly to religious uses. The Cave of Elephanta, so called from the image of an elephant that once stood near the portal, and situated on an island within easy reach of Bombay, has been described b}' travellers a thousand times, for it is so readily acces sible. But it has been barbarously abused. Sectarian vandalism has done its worst, and the enormous columns have been prostrated, and some of them carried away. The walls have been breached, the frescos and mural paintings daubed over or smoked by burning torches, and the massive carvings in bas-relief defaced and broken. It is an utter wreck, though it gives some conception of what such temples are or were when first completed. HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. l6l The caves of Ellora are perhaps the best preserved of any such structures in India now, but a journey thither necessitates a night journey in a bullock-cart, and another in returning, with a day between for the investigation, there being no place of entertainment at or near the caves. We cannot speak of these from personal observa tion ; but let us take a tonga, or native carriage, from the rail, half way to Poona, and visit another of the same class at Carlee. We drive in the early morning some five miles over a cultivated plain, nearly to the base of one of the detached mountains, that constitute so singular a feature of the region. We climb, by a rude path that evi dently was better kept some centuries ago, full five hun dred feet up the face of the steep incline, and come to a narrow plateau, perhaps half a mile in length, which gives evidence of having been a cultivated garden in ages past, and on which is still a rude stone building where a Hindoo family lives. At one end of the plateau, in the side of an abrupt cliff, is the entrance to the cave. There is a massive gate way in front, and beyond that a sort of open court, similar to those in front of Buddhist temples in Japan. Next to that is the portal to the temple cut through a wall of the living rock, which is carved and ornamented somewhat after the manner of a fa5ade. The interior reminds one somewhat of a Gothic church, having an arched roof — supported now by timbers recently inserted — and a colon nade on either side, with aisles beyond. The columns, or pillars, are eighteen in number on a side, and stand l62 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. about twenty feet in height. The capitals are carved with representations of soldiers in armor on horseback, and both men and women mounted on elephants. These carvings are fairly well done, though the figures are often lacking in proportion and symmetry. A small dagoba at the rear, and within the colonnade, probably represents the position of the altar, and altogether a vast amount of time and labor must have been bestowed upon this singular structure. It has not suffered seriously from vandalism, but age and decay are slowly working ruin. It has not been occupied for centuries, though efforts are made to preserve it as an attraction for curious visitors. At Umritsar, in the Punjaub, will be found one of the most remarkable temples in all India. It belongs to the Sikhs, a peculiar sect, and by reason of its gilded roof is known as the Golden Temple. Its elaborate and rich adornments also render it quite worthy of the name. A scene on the way from the railway station to the temple will repay a brief description. The streets are narrow and somewhat crooked, and aU seem to tend rather doubtfully toward a small square near the centre of the city. Here we encountered first a Mohammedan proces sion returning from a ceremony of circumcision. Two boys of six or eight years, in dark robes, with ribbons on their caps, were mounted on ponies gayly decked with ribbons, and attended by a numerous train of family and friends. From another direction came a wedding proces sion, with a band of music and followed b}' some hundreds HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. 163 of the rabble of the street. These two, with our own carriage and a few stragglers, who from curiosity had followed in our wake, nearly filled the square. But before either could move away, a train of donkeys laden with bags of rice got wedged in between the two processions ; and just then another company, in very merry mood and also attended by a band, arrived and mingled with the throng. Next a train of camels, with produce from the country looked out from a side alley, but wisely withdrew and went by another street. By this time every one was anxious to get away. Foot travellers flattened themselves against the adjacent walls and managed to slowly work their way along. There was some impatience and vitu peration, but generally a disposition to laugh and joke and make the most of the situation. To help along, both bands began to play, each in its own peculiar way, and then, with singular unanimity, half a dozen donkeys struck up their national air, and for a few minutes not Bedlam itself could have equalled the din and confusion. The donkey train was the first to get away, then the first of the processions, and then the others, and we drove on to the Golden Temple. It is a structure of moderate size but most extraordinary appearance. There is about it the sanje signs of devotion, but little or nothing of the offensive character so promi nent at Benares. The temple is built of the purest marble, on a platform of the same material, in the midst of a great tank or water basin some hundreds of feet in length. The tank is walled with massive cut stone and said 164 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. to be from twelve to thirty feet in depth according to the stage of water. The approach to the temple is by a broad footway or bridge, with white marble floor and balus trades, and provided with a series of gilded lamps. There is a display of mosaics not excelled in India, and in much better state of preservation than those of the palace at Delhi. They represent not only leaves and fruits and flowers, but birds and animals, curiously wrought, of the most delicate finish, and in colors of the most striking combinations. In a little circle in the centre of the temple, and opening out on every side, sat a company of priests, who were not at all disturbed by the approach of strangers, though they eyed them sharply as they entered. One of the number was reading what seemed a sort of litany, while the others responded with much energy, in a sort of chant accompanied by a couple of drums vigorously beaten. The cost of this temple must have been enormous, and the care of it is no small task. It belongs to a peculiar sect, a sort of cross between the Hindoos and Mohamme dans, and in point of architecture is about as far removed from one as from the other. Delhi, so often destroyed and rebuilt and now surrounded in every direction by ruins of palaces, tombs, and temples, was the capital of the Mogul Empire in the time of the munificent Shah Jehan. Here are the dis mantled walls of his matchless palace, with its sumptuous Hall of Audience, its baths with mirrors on every hand. HERE AXD THERE IN INDIA. 1 65 and its famous Peacock Throne, which alone was computed to have cost the sum of thirty million dollars. This magnificent seat, with its untold wealth of jewels, was despoiled by the Persian conquerer a hundred and fifty years ago, and the palace has suffered at the hands of every invader since. Even the English soldiers are charged with picking out the polished bits of precious stones in the mosaics, with their bayonet points. The princely residence is little better than a ruin now. But there is still at Delhi one of the most imposing temples of the Mohammedan religion. It is the mosque Jumna Musjid, and stands on a rocky eminence command ing an extended view of the city and the wilderness of ruins round about. It is approached from three directions by noble flights of steps, and the entrances are through lofty arches elaborately carved and ornamented. Within, there is an open court where more than ten thousand worship pers may prostrate themselves at once. There is a fountain in the centre for ceremonial ablutions, while a stately colonnade with inviting pavilions surrounds it also on three sides. On the fourth side is the mosque proper, two hundred and sixty feet in length, with minarets at either end, and of most imposing style of architecture. There is a broad flight of marble steps leading to the platform, with roof and domes of the same material. The high arches that rise upon the platform are of red sand stone, but the wall beyond is faced with the whitest marble. The cornice, that extends the whole length of the building, is made up of white panels in which verses from 1 66 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. the Koran are inscribed in black mosaics, and above all rise the gilded pinnacles a hundred and fifty feet in height. Taken all in all, it may be doubted if there is anywhere a more imposing structure for religious purposes. But the gem of all Indian architecture still remains. It is the Tdj Mahil near Agra, also one of the capitals of the great Moguls. It was the work of Shah Jehan, third in the line of the Mogul emperors, and was erected as a mausoleum for a beloved wife. The sacred waters of the Jumna lave its foundations on one side, but the en trance is from the opposite direction. A cypress avenue leads the way through a spacious garden and past many fountains, from the gateway to the broad red sandstone platform, on which this miracle of achievement stands. There is a second terrace or platform of white marble, in the midst of which rises the TAj itself. But what tongue or pen can describe it further? Alas for the insufficiency of words! They can convey no adequate impression. To sit in the midst of the fountains, or stand at the border of the first platform and gaze upon its marvellous propor tions is the experience of a lifetime, and the impression will never fade. The tomb or mausoleum proper is an octagon of the purest white marble, surmounted b}' a dome about seventy feet in diameter and rising to the height of one hundred and forty feet, with a minaret at each corner of the marble platform, of nearh' equal height. It shows no sign of age or deca}-, the stone being as snow like in color to-day as when taken from its native bed. HERE AXD THERE IX INDIA. \6f There is something fascinating about the view. The dome seems not to rest directly on the roof, but rather to rise and swell into majestic proportions, till it appears almost as light and transparent as a bubble floating away in the clear air against the marvellous blue sky. Within the octagon and beneath the dome is the oc tagonal screen, that immediately surrounds the sarcopha gus. It is also of the purest and whitest marble, and as delicately wrought as the finest lace, while the posts or standards that support the screen are inlaid with all man ner of precious stones. All India, and many a foreign land was placed under tribute to furnish material for this wonderful structure. Marble of various shades and tints, jasper, chalcedony, diamonds, lodestone, and garnets were Indian contributions ; while rock-crystal and turquoise came from China ; Persia sent amethyst and onyx ; the Red Sea was dragged for coral; and carnelian came from far-off Bagdad ; — and all these were wrought together with consummate skill to perfect this marvellous creation. SOME SOCIAL FEATURES OF HINDOO LIFE. There can be no greater tyranny than that based upon the distinction, of caste as it exists among the people of India. Every man and woman among the Hindoos be longs to some caste — that is to say, is regarded as occupy ing a certain social and, to some extent, religious level, above or below his neighbors, who may be distinguished by a different name ; and the lines that separate these classes are of the most rigid and inviolable character. l68 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. All the exigencies of life — birth, marriage, death, and burial — must yield to the conditions imposed by this unnatural distinction. Among the Hindoos proper there are four principal castes, besides a great number of inferior classifications. The Brahman, or priestly caste, is the first or highest. They claim to be immediate descendants of the Creator, and as such are of superior mould and substance. As far as possible the Brahman holds himself aloof from all other men. No matter if he be a beggar on the street, he is a superior being, and as such entitled to correspond ing consideration. He will not eat with other men, nor accept a cup of water, even to stay a fever, from the hand of any one out of his caste, unless it be a servant to whom a special privilege is granted. He will not share his food with you under any circumstances, and if you even touch a moisel in his cliattie or on his plate, he will throw the whole away. Even the shadow of a passing Christian imparts a taint. And if you call upon him at his house, be he never so polite, you are not likely to get beyond the doorstep or piazza. He will sit in his door and talk with you, or come outside to entertain you ; but if }'ou should enter his domicile, it would be necessary for the house to undergo a thorough cleansing, before it would be fitted for his use again. If a Brahman go upon the crowded streets or into the market, where other people brush against him as he passes, he must go home, bathe, and change his clothes before he can eat, or perform an}' .'Service suited to a person of his rank. If a Brahman sells }-ou a glass of HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. 1 69 touch it again till a servant of a different class has cleansed it. If a Hindoo give a drink of water to a Mohammedan, he pours it into his cup through a cane spout. An alien must on no account touch a Hindoo's water-pot, or if he does, he is likely to be called upon to pay for a new one. The old will probably be dashed upon the ground ; at any rate, it is no longer fit for the owner's use. The degradation of the system is apparent in the fact that the Brahman not only makes this vast assumption, but that the other castes admit his claim and consent to accept a lower place. We once engaged one of inferior caste in conversation on the subject. He was an intelligent man, and evidently sincere in his professions. He said, by way of illustration, that if he were a wealthy merchant, and sitting at ease in a sumptuous residence, and a Brahman should pass that way, even though he were a beggar, it would be his duty to rise and invite him to come in and occupy the luxuri ous seat, while he, the proprietor, went to find some one who could offer him refreshments, without doing violence to his feelings. Sometimes a Sudra, that is, one of the servant or laborer caste, becomes the head man of a village in Southern India ; but if the council includes men of higher caste, he cannot sit under the .same roof with them. He sends up his staff, which is made to occupy the post of honor during the deliberations, while he squats on the ground outside and receives messages from time to time, from the assembled dignitaries. A Hindoo once expressed to us his great regret that he 170 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. could never see America, of which he had heard so much. Being asked why he could not go to America as Ameri cans came to India, he replied that he would»become an outcast. The Hindoo law — for social custom has become common law among these people — forbids a man to absent himself from his country except for a very brief period. If he went abroad for any long period, he thereby forfeited his place as a member of his caste. His parents would not recognize him, his wife would discard him, and his children would disown him. He could no longer claim the services of the village barber or the priest, and would be subjected to various indignities. He might possibly regain his rank by long and severe penances and a heavy fine, but even then, it was uncertain whether he would be fully recognized by his caste. The fine in such a case is of a novel character, and consists of a great feast provided by the offender for all the members of his caste, and as these often number some thousands, and not a few are in a chronic state of hunger, the bill may reach rather an alarming sum. There are four principal castes in India ; first, the Brahman or priestly caste ; second, the Kshattrias or warrior caste ; third, the Vaisyas or agricultural caste, many of whom are also merchants and traders ; and fourth, the Sudras or servant caste, including a large part of the laborers of the country. Below these are the Pariahs, who are considered below the definite distinctions of caste. Workers in leather, butchers, and the like, commonly designated as " cow-skinners," are scarcely re- HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. 171 garded as members of the human family. If you would heap indignity, contempt, scorn, and contumely all at once, upon a man among the Hindoos, call him a cow- skinner, and the thing is done. The significance of the term lies in the fact that the cow is held a sacred animal, and should never be killed or suffer any harm for man's convenience. The bondage of womankind among the Hindoos almost passes belief. Woman is set down, to begin with, as the inferior of man, and of necessity subject to such condition in life as he may approve and appoint. She really has no voice in the place assigned her or in the destiny she may attain. A woman marries the man her parents selected for her possibly when she was in her cradle. She may never see her destined husband till the day of marriage, and that is arranged with little reference to her wishes, being usually at such time as may suit his purpose and convenience. Once married, unless she be of the peasant class and destined to a life of drudgery, she must never go out in public except with concealed face. And if she become a widow, that is, if her husband die, even before she has left her parents' roof, she can never marry again, and becomes the drudge of the household ever after. Her jewels may be taken from her ; she must take her place among the servants, and expect no favor from family or friends. The gods have testified their displeasure by taking away her husband, why should she receive con sideration at the hands of men? 172 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. Chief among the abominations of Indian society, how ever, is child marriage. It is practised avowedly for the protection of young girls against the evils of the world, but its effect is oftener to cast a lasting shadow upon a life, before it is fairly begun. A man of fifty or sixty may wed a child of twelve ; and the marriage of girls at ten years of age is not unknown. Of course the matter is arranged long beforehand by the parents of the child, and she has no voice in it then, or at any later date. Once betrothed, her slavery begins, and though the conditions may change, she must be subjected to the whim and caprice of others to the end. If some new fancy takes the man, he may practically discard her without grave offence, may refuse to take her from her father's house ; and if he dies under these con ditions, the girl is regarded as a widow and may never marry. A case of the kind occurred at Bombay but a few months ago. A girl in one of the mission schools was ob served to shrink away when any one approached her, and keep, as far as possible, entirely alone. Being questioned as to the occasion of this unusual conduct, it appeared that she had been betrothed to a man who had died a few days before ; and though never actually married, she suf fered all the disabilities of a married woman, and was now considered unclean for ten days following his death. During this period she must not touch any one lest she taint them, and put them at least to the expense of a bath and change of raiment. Some changes are being slowly HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. 173 wrought among these people, and with them some modifi cations of the marriage customs. But they generally cling to their own institutions with wonderful tenacity. THE SEPOY MUTINY. Cawnpore and Cucknow must ever remain memorable, alike in Indian and in English history, by reason of the great Sepoy rebellion in 1857, which dealt its most telling blows at these points, and witnessed, in retaliation, some deeds of savage atrocity, for which the English have never been quite forgiven. The mutiny began at Meerut, a military station a few miles from Delhi, and had in some sense a religious origin ; though it was the outburst of inflamed passions that had long rankled in the breasts of the defeated and subjugated Mohammedans, in a land where their power had once been supreme, and in which their rulers had held high rank among the princes of the earth. It is not always easy to fix upon the immediate cause of such seditious outbreaks, but one occasion of the mutin}' at Meerut shows how profoundly such people may be influenced by religious prejudices. If there is one thing that a Mohammedan hates worse than he does a Christian, it is a pig. Swine's flesh is an accursed thing in his sight, and to eat or even taste it is to be defiled almost beyond remedy. A Mus sulman had rather entertain a serpent in his house than suffer a pig upon his premises ; and this aversion was strangely enough excited in a very unexpected way among the native troops in the barracks at Meerut. They had 174 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. just been armed for the first time with breech-loading rifles. In loading rapidly it was necessary to bite off the end of the cartridge, and this, to facilitate the movement of the ball, was smeared or coated with beeswax or some kindred substance. In some way the report was started that the coating was partly made of lard. Some priests, nothing loth for an occasion of discord, seized upon the suggestion and industriously circulated the report. The Christians were taking this covert way to force Moham medans to defile themselves, and this was the first step toward finally making them all abjure their faith. The soldiers refused to use the cartridges. Their English officers placed them under guard, and threw the ring leaders into prison. Their companions in arms rose in rebellion and released them. Every attempt to restore order but made matters worse, and on the iith of May the disaffection had ripened into open mutiny. The mutineers did little damage at Meerut, but moved at once upon Delhi, a large and somewhat opulent city only a few miles away. Approaching in the early morn ing, they overpowered the guard at the gates, and were in the city ready for their sanguinary work, almost before their coming was suspected. They first attacked a small building occupied as a newspaper office, and since used as a chapel, killed the editor and his printers, and then pro ceeded to the large building in a neighboring court-}'ard or inclosure, occupied by the Delhi bank. The}' massa cred the manager, his wife, and five daughters, and from this scattered in squads in different directions. Wherever HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. 1 75 they found Europeans they slew or took them prisoners, and, of the latter, fifty-six women and children were kept in prison and in the most painful suspense till the follow ing September, when they were all massacred in the grounds of the king's palace. The king of Delhi, who prided himself upon being the successor of the Mogul emperors, it should be said, had been shorn of his power by the English, but was allowed to keep up the appearance of royalty and accorded certain coveted privileges on con dition, of course, that he would be loyal to his English masters. He was an old man, and rather a degenerate son of great ancestors at the best, and, in the present in stance, was placed in a position of peculiar embarrassment, not to say personal peril. He gave no open encourage ment to the mutineers, but was powerless to restrain the rebellious hosts, and when his general — for he was per mitted to keep up a small military establishment of his own — inquired what should be done with the imprisoned women and children, it is said, he left him to dispose of them at his own discretion ; and, of course, the discretion of a barbarous chief, in such a case means destruction and slaughter. The old king was subsequently tried for com plicity in the mutiny, deprived of his palace and cherished privileges, and banished from the country. He died a state prisoner at Rangoon a few years later, the last of the Mogul princes of India. The mutiny that wrought such havoc at Delhi soon spread to Cawnpore. And here there was another factor in the case that has never been- fairly estimated ; another 176 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. occasion of discontent and sense of wrong that might have been averted, perhaps, with a little patient consid eration on the part of the English authorities. A few miles above the city lived a Hindoo of rank, commonly known as Nana Sahib, who had a serious grievance, though he was understood to be friendly to the English people. His father was an eminent Hindoo prince — Peishwa of the Mahratta confederacy — -whom the English had partly conquered and partly bought off, with a large pension and certain important concessions dear to the heart of an Indian prince. Among the latter was the coveted salute of a certain number of guns, when he favored the city with a visit, or passed the fort in state upon the river. This man had died some five years before, and Nana Sahib, as his heir, naturally supposed like consideration would be extended to himself. But the authorities de cided otherwise ; announced that tbe titular dignity had ceased ; that the heir would hold the private property, but the pension and salute would be discontinued. They also withdrew a few pieces of artillery, which had hitherto contributed an appearance of regality to the discrowned prince. Nana could not readily accept this reduction to the ranks. The pension he might get along without, but to be deprived of a few rusty guns, especially to be de nied the salute accorded to princes, to come and go as if he were of the common herd, this was galling to his pride ; and though reserved and dignified, he suffered painful HERE AXD THERE IN INDIA. 1 77 sense of humiliation. He repeatedly memorialized the court of directors upon the subject — for it was in the days of the East India Company's rule, — and petitioned them to reverse their decision or make certain modifica tions. But his prayers were not only unsuccessful, very little attention was given to them. It was in the natural course of events, therefore, that this man should become a leader among the mutineers, and Cawnpore has reason to remember him with horror and with execration ; for the most terrible features of the siege and massacre were with his consent, if not by his immediate order. Sir Hugh Wheeler was in command of the English forces at Cawnpore, consisting of one company and a single battery of guns. There were also some Sepoys or native troops, but these could not be trusted. Indeed they soon raised the standard of revolt and set out for Delhi, then the centre of operations. There were about seven hundred Europeans at Cawnpore, including women and children. Wheeler, foreseeing serious work, dug a trench and threw up a rampart around his barracks, con sisting of quarters for about two hundred men, thatched with straw ; gathered the English residents of all classes into the enclosure, and prepared as best he could to sus tain a siege. Meanwhile an immense force had gathered against him, and he was attacked first in one quarter then in another. He had provisions for less than thirty days, and to the horrors of attack were added the torments of the summer's heat and the monsoon rains, for it was in the month of June. Sickness, due to exhaustion and 178 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. exposure, soon broke out, and the condition of the besieged could scarcely have been more pitiable. After three weeks the rebel leader proposed to treat. The English commander could do nothing less than accept the proposition, and after a conference, it was agreed that they should have safe conduct to Allahabad, which the mutiny had not reached, and where there was an English garrison. At the time appointed the besieged left the entrenchment and marched to the river about two miles away, and took boats at a wharf still known as the " slaughter ghat." The boats had no sooner started than the native boatmen, setting fire to the thatched roofing, escaped to the shore, while riflemen posted behind trees along the bank opened fire on the helpless fugitives. This continued till the boats grounded on a sandbar not far below, when the wretched remnant of survivors were taken ashore and marched back under a broiling sun to the town, and imprisoned in a small bungalow some dis tance from the entrenchment, from which they had just escaped. Nearly three weeks were spent in this wretched place. At length the force sent to the relief of Cawnpore reached the neighborhood and was driving the enem}-, though not without severe fighting. It seemed possible that the prisoners might yet be reached before it was too late. But the thirst of the mutineers for European blood was not yet satisfied ; and on the fifteenth of July the order was given for a general massacre of the prisoners. Just how the order was executed is not definitely known ; HERE AXD THERE IN INDIA. 1 79 but it is certain that before noon of the following day the mangled remains of about three hundred men, women, and children were thrown, in a promiscuous heap, into a neighboring well ; and that was their sepulchre. The location of " Wheeler's entrenchment " is now marked by a Memorial Church, a building quite un worthy of its place, bald and deformed without, and from lack of light and ventilation practically useless within, except as a sort of crypt for memorial tablets, to which its walls are in good part devoted. The fatal well is marked by a monument more worthy of the place. A platform of white marble covers the well from sight, and upon it stands an exquisite work of art carved in snow-white marble, and representing the angel of pity, a figure with drooping head and pleading eyes, as if in mourning yet full of hope. The grounds are laid out as a memorial garden, and under certain restrictions are open as a public promenade. Above the gateway is the significant inscription from the book of Revelation : " These are they that came out of great tribulation." Lucknow shared, in a less degree, perhaps, the experi ence of Cawnpore in the mutiny. It was the capital of the very important province or kingdom of Oude, while Cawnpore, by reason of its location, was the chief com mercial point. The king of Oude had been dispossessed of his throne, and sent, a sort of state prisoner and pen sionary, to Calcutta only a year before, and it is not strange l8o FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. that his former subjects were ready for revolt on very slight occasion. Certain it is that most of the severe fighting, growing out of the mutiny, was in this province, and not in that in which the insurrection began. The points of chief interest at Lucknow in connection with the mutiny are two. The old Residency, which was occu pied at the time by the resident British minister, or repre sentative with his suite, and which, now in ruins, bears very clear marks df the battering it received from shot and shell. It was in good part surrounded by the houses of the natives, and from these, desultory and sometimes very vigorous attacks were made. The other point is the Sikunder Bagh, a small royal garden where the mutineers were massed when Sir Colin Campbell entered the city on the i6th of November, more than four months after the massacre at Cawnpore. The walls were strong and had been loopholed for musketry, and the position was felt to be secure ; but Sir Colin, bringing his artillery to bear, breached the walls, and, entering with a sudden charge, literall}' slaughtered the Sepoys by thousands, the bod ies of the dead and wounded lying in great heaps against the wall. This was the most decisive blow of the cam paign, and went far to decide the fate, not only of Luck now, but of every other place involved in the mutiny. Our brief acquaintance with Indian affairs forces the conviction, that it is a critical question, at the present time, whether England holds India by a certain tenure or not. If Russia, whose gradual encroachments naturally awaken some anxiety among the powers of Europe, should HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. l8l invade India, what would be the attitude of the native races in the contest that would necessarily ensue ? They may or may not be warlike in disposition, trained to mili- tar}- service or untrained, but the fact that they number some hundreds of millions gives the question great im portance, and one not to be disposed of by ignoring it, or by any other treatment than the most skilful diplomacy. Where one race or nation displaces another from posi tions of trust and power, it is not to be expected that the defeated party will readily accept the situation ; or, if compelled to submit, that they will soon forget their defeat and humiliation. The Mohammedans came to India some seven hundred years ago, and, conquering the native tribes in a large part of the country, became the ruling race. That position they maintained almost uninterruptedly until the English occupation, less than fifty years ago. The Moguls, to be sure, displaced the earlier conquerors, but they also were Mohammedans, and no very serious friction was caused by the change. The Hindoos, rather inclined to indolence at the best, found it easier to submit than maintain perpetual warfare with the invaders, and so came to look upon their sub ordination as in the natural course of eyents ; and they probably would not now be easily stirred up to strife, against their English masters. But with the Mohammedan the case is different. He has no special sympathy for the English people, their government, or their religion. His forefathers, or men at 1 82 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. least of his own religion, came to India many centuries ago — almost before the English nation had a name in history. They conquered the country, and some of their rulers have a world-wide fame. The great cities, the splendid palaces, the noble tombs of India were chiefly their work ; and for aught that appears to the contrary, the followers of the Prophet would be in power to-day, but for these new invaders, who have brought new types of civilization and introduced a new religion. The evidences of their humiliation are continually before them, and their wounds have never fully healed. Another element of possible danger in the case is this: When the English, about 1856, on the plea of his incom petence and extravagance, deprived the king of Oude of his throne and palaces at Lucknow, and sent him half guest, half state prisoner to Calcutta, they made him the princely allowance of a lac of rupees a month during his natural life ; and there, on a large plat of ground assigned him at Garden Reach, on the river bank immediately below the city, he built a stately palace and lived in moderate splendor, with his train of wives and children and some hundreds of servants, with a menagerie of tigers, snakes, and birds, and such other animals as he fancied or could, from time to time, procure. He has recently died. His household will be broken up and scattered, most of them probably returning tothe province from ^\-hich the}' came; whether with better or worse opinion of the English occu pation remains to be seen. At the time the king was sent away from his capital. HERE AXD THERE IX INDIA. 1 83 the English government also pensioned a large number — some hundreds at the least — of his retainers, who had lost their positions by the breaking up of the royal establish ment ; this, to save them from immediate want and give them opportunity to start in life again. It was further stipulated, that the pension should continue to their de scendants for a stated period, being reduced, however, in amount from generation to generation, till it should lapse entirely. These people, their children, and grandchildren, holding themselves above common labor by reason of their former relations to the king, have managed to subsist on this stipend, now reduced to a pitiful amount, and will soon be left without any means of support. They have little or no property — nothing to lose by revolution, and will be ripe for sedition and adventure. They are all, of course, Mohammedans ; and this is the dangerous element in India, as they are proud of their history, ambitious and fanatical, and still feel the sting of humiliation due to their displacement from power, and their subjugation by an alien race of infidels, as they account the Christians. Men possessed of property and interested in trade are naturally averse to war, and Mohammedans of this class would be slow to imperil themselves or their possessions. And the Hindoos, being milder-tempered and having per haps less immediate grievance, might and probably would feel that interest, duty, and destiny combined, bound them to their English masters. But it cannot reasonably be doubted that, if Russia should enter India to-morrow. 1 84 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. there are multitudes of Mohammedans who would flock immediately to their standard and proffer their services, against the present rulers of the soil. That the English occupation has been, on the whole, a blessed thing for India cannot reasonably be called in question. The rents and cost of government have not certainly been heavier, and it has put an end to the in numerable petty wars of tribes or provinces, that were continually draining the country of its strength ; while internal improvements, railroads and the like, have been pushed forward with a vigor and constancy they never could have had without foreign direction and assistance. But that is not what decides the destiny of an Asiatic country. It is rather a question of numbers, of ambitions, and of institutions. OPTIMISM AND PESSIMISM. India may well be the home both of the optimist and the pessimist : there is so much to make life a delight, and so much to harass, burden, and distress. Take these examples : A grove of palms swaying gently in the morning breeze, with broad leaves shimmering in the sun, entices you to walk or drive abroad. The trees perhaps are rich with the burden of their mellow fruit — cocoa or banana, — and a few pennies will provide a day's supply. But go farther, a few miles from bazaar and street upon the arid, dusty plain. Mountains loom up at a distance in hazy outline against the sky, and the stream they sometimes send in HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. 1 85 rolling torrents across the plain is shrunken to a sluggish rivulet. Near by is a field of hard, brown earth marked off by slight embankments, which a tawny native, ->vith scarce a semblance of clothing save the hood or turban on his head, makes a pretence of plowing with a sharp, crooked stick and a very lean bullock. As he passes laboriously from side to side of his little plat, he scratches a trail as he goes, into which he drops the seed and covers it with his hands ; or, very likely, his wife will do the planting while he pursues the plow. In a further corner of the field is a scrubby tree, with top denuded of its leaves, and in the bare branches sit half a dozen vultures, while as many kites wheel and scream drearily above. They are waiting their turn at the farmer's second bullock that died the night before, and which two or three jackals are already tearing in pieces, as if it were their right to take precedence at the feast. When the day is past this man will retire to his little hut of mud wall and roof of thatch, destitute alike of comfort and convenience, to eat and sleep, and go forth again at early morning to his field. Thus will the season pass and in due time his harvest will be gathered : and for what ? To provide bread for his family? No, to pay the rent of the land he occupies. He must pick up a living for his family outside the income from that field. Rice or granum, or something that does not command so good a price, must furnish rations for his household. Better he cannot afford ; and his children will grow up to the same weary destiny. 1 86 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. We cannot help asking. What object is there in living at such a rate ? We no longer wonder that to Brahman and Buddhist alike, life seems scarce worth the living, and death a gracious relief from its burdens and perplexities. Pessimism is the reasonable outcome of such a life. But not all scenes or all phases of life are thus dreary and forbidding in this land of ancient renown and modern resource — this land where millions of human beings may live, if they so elect, upon the natural products of the soil, and the even climate is such as to place clothing among the decencies and adornments rather than among the necessities of life. Take a train some January morning from Bombay for a visit to the Deccan, that elevated plain that slopes away from the western mountains toward the Coromandel coast, and turns the course of the great rivers of Central and Southern India to the east. Few more fertile regions will be found in India, if the rains do not fail utterly, than the broad plain that lies along the sea, and the little valleys that run in and out among the foothills of the mountain range. Here are the " Ghauts," so much a puzzle to one who reads up India before he sees it, corre sponding very nearly to the caflons of the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, but having a peculiar and pic turesque appearance here, as the whole rock formation is stratified or bedded trap, formed by successive overflows of igneous matter, and having as regular and systematic appearance as the rocks of any limestone region of the New World, HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. 187 There are some marvels of engineering in the railway that winds along the gorges, across ravines, and through intricate tunnels, as it makes its way up the mountains to the high level of the Deccan plain. Once reached, this plain presents a very pleasing prospect, especially to eyes that have grown weary of the dearth and desolation, that so large a part of India presents in the dry season of the year. The fields are green and fresh, the streams clear and freely flowing, and the sky blue and serene. Here and there over the whole plain, near the mountains, are outlying peaks and domes rising two hundred to eight hundred feet, some in terraces and others like rounded pyramids, and all showing the peculiar structure of the prevailing rock. Some are surmounted by shafts or columns, evidently fragments of the upper stratum ofthe trap, and others simulate towers, bastions, and pagodas quite in keeping with the works of man. Then go to Poona, the capital at present of this part of British India. It stands well out in the Deccan plain ; and here we can almost imagine the primal Eden to have been ; where the summer nights are grateful, and the winter days are balmy, and the air is laden with perfume of fruits and flowers the year around. The varying as pect of mountain, hill, and plain, the abundant verdure of the fields, the inviting shadow of luxurious palms, the cosy retreats of fairy bungalows embowered in trees and veiled with vines and creeping plants, make it a very lotus-eater's paradise. Why should not the dwellers here be optimists ? 1 88 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. Once more ; we are at Agra, the ancient capital of the great Moguls when the name of Akbar or Shah Jehan commanded admiration and inspired dread from the vale of Cashmere to the sea. The glory of the ancient capital has long since faded into commonplace, though the noble fortress that overlooks the Jumna and the plain beyond remains a monument of the energy and resources of its ro}'al builder. But let us follow the broad and beautiful drive, that leads southward and around the river's bend to the TAj MahAl, that wonder of artistic design and finish, "a poem in stone," a marvel, so airy in effect yet so solid in construction, rooted to the earth in massive masonry, yet seeming to rise from the earth on magic wings. There is nothing else like it in the world, nothing, perhaps, equal to it in architectural design and artistic finish — so com prehensive, so complete, so satisfactory. And what does it represent ? The tribute of a royal husband to his wife. Shah Jehan, third in the line of the great Mogul chiefs, caused this monument to be erected to the memory of a beloved wife. We may not, in this presence, enquire too minutely into the precise relation between the two, for, viewed from the standpoint of Christian ethics, it was a barbarous age. But as we stand and look upon this miracle of carving and construction, we can but say: What princely munificence ! What sub lime devotion ! But there is another side to this enchanting picture, and candor compels us to give it place, even though it HERE AND THERE IN INDIA. 1 89 mar our first impression. Who labored in the quarries ? Who carved these massive stones into form and .symmetry and placed them in position ? It required the labor of twenty thousand men for nearly twenty years, and these men, drafted from their homes and occupations, were compelled to work in storm and sun, almost without pay and under exacting taskmasters ; and often so driven and so inadequately fed, they died by hundreds, and were replaced by fresh levies from the shops and fields. The snowy marble might well have been laid in blood to cement it to its place, and the numerous fountains been fed with tears. Alas ! that in a tribute of affection, man's inhumanity to man should find so sad an illustration. The pessimist will find in this, at best an even chance with his optimistic neighbor. TOWERS OF SILENCE — THE PARSEES. Towers of Silence is the very significant name given by the Parsees — disciples of Zoroaster — to the place in which they dispose of their dead. It is neither a crematory nor a burial-place, for the Parsees neither bury nor burn their dead, but deliver them up to the fowls of the air instead. It seems a shocking disposition to make pf the forms of those we have tenderly cherished in life ; yet, says the Parsee in conversation with the Christian, you bury your dead in the ground, not only to pollute the soil and possi bly breed pestilence among the living, but to be slowly devoured by noisome worms. We prefer that they should 190 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. feed the birds, disappear in the shortest time, and neither taint the air nor infect the bosom of mother earth. And though we are not persuaded to adopt his custom, candor compels the admission that the argument is on his side. The Parsees are the remnant of the followers of the great Persian seer, whose disciples were numbered by millions in the early centuries of the Christian era, includ ing the whole population of Persia and large parts of Arabia and Northern India. Now they are reduced to less than a hundred thousand, more than half of whom live at or about Bombay, while the remaining portion are scattered from Arabia to China, wherever the chances of trade have attracted them. They are a very intelligent, orderly, thrifty, industrious people, and make a desirable element in the population. Many of the merchant princes of Bombay are Parsees ; and the most enterprising and successful hotel-keepers of India are of the same class. They are fond of dress, though generally adhering to styles of their own ; and their ladies wear the finest jewels in India. The Parsees are to India what the Hebrews are to Europe and America, — a race of merchants and traders ; and they are equally sharp at a bargain, though bearing a better name for integrity. They have schools of their own of both higher and lower grade, and some of the most promising graduates of the University of Bombay are from the Parsee community. The " first lady bache lor," as announced by the vice-chancellor of the University at the graduation in January, '88, is understood to be of HERE AXD THERE IX INDIA. I9I Parsee origin, though herself a Christian and the daughter of a native Christian missionary. Though born and bred in India, the Parsees are proud of their Persian origin, and claim to be Persians still, though it is now more than twelve hundred years since their fathers quitted their native land. It was the land of their great teacher, and that establishes a claim they are not willing to relinquish. When Persia fell under Mohammedan rule in the seventh century, most of the Parsees were compelled to abjure their faith, but a portion of them fled to India, making their head-quarters first at Surat and then at Bombay, where they have ever since formed an important element of the population. These people have been called fire worshippers, but they resent the implication and deny that they worship any but the Supreme Being ; though fire, as well as the sea and the sun, represent to them, or typify certain ele ments of the divine nature. Fire, brought from Persia ages ago, they say, is kept burning on the altar in their temples, and is never suffered to go out. If a new tem ple is built fire must be taken from one before established. Sandal wood and various kinds of incense feed the flame. and a priest is in attendance night and day, to provide against the possibility of its going out. One priest at tends four hours, when he is relieved by another. And this goes on day after day, year in and year'out, century after century. Neither pestilence nor war, it is said, will drive the priest from his sacred charge. No one except Parsees are suffered to go into their temples or their 192 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. towers of silence. Indeed the latter are never entered by the Parsees themselves, except a certain few whose special duty it is to bear the dead from the house to the tower, and deposit it in the place appointed. To witness a funeral ceremony is an instructive specta cle, though it can be observed only from a distance. One may obtain admission to the garden in which the towers are situated, at certain hours of the day, and if he be there when a funeral train arrives, he may observe it frOm a position near the gate, though the presence of strangers is not encouraged at such a time. The body, covered with a white robe, is borne through the gate and along one of the many paths of the garden to a certain spot, where a brief ceremony is held. The family and friends, all wearing long snow-white robes, follow, two by two holding a white handkerchief between them. A few rods from the tower, the procession halts. The bod}' is uncov ered, and the bearers carry it to the tower and through an iron portal in the wall, and deposit it in one of the grooved beds with which the interior is provided. The funeral apparel of the deceased is then destroyed by n-ieans of corrosives. The ceremony is, on the whole, beautiful and touching, the pure white robes of the at tendants and friends suggesting only hope and peace. But it creates a sense of mingled pain and repugnance when witnessed for the first time, to see the vultures, un seemly birds of pre}', gathering on the parapets of the tower as the cortege approaches. The air is black with them, coming from different parts of the grounds — for HERE AND TIIERE IN INDIA. 1 93 there are seven towers. Sometimes one is used, sometimes another ; and the birds learn, from the movement of the train, in which their next repast is to be provided. These creatures seem to have learned a lesson of moderation, not to say modesty, for they do not clamor for their prey or molest the bearers in the tower. They wait till the iron door clangs in the portal as the men go out, and then swoop down with savage eagerness upon the defence less body, and in half an hour, or less, they rise sated, and slowly fly away or assume a sleepy attitude upon the parapet. The skeleton only remains, of what an hour be fore may have been the fairest, and to some one the dearest form. That is left exposed to the action of sun and rain till it crumbles, and is swept from its grooved bed through an aperture at the centre, to the ground in the interior of the tower ; and thus is fulfilled the man date, " Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return." CHAPTER VI. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. THERE is no other so forcible a suggestion of the wandering Jew, as in the camel of the Egyptian desert when once on the way. He is not anxious to start, but once started shows no sign of ever stopping again. With his flabby nose on a level with his little eyes, he seems to take no heed of any thing on either side, but points steadily ahead as if to some destination very far away. Besides, he fences himself about with a kind of dignified reserve that in no wise encourages familiarity ; and all day long, he keeps up the same steady though moderate pace, that tells in the long run upon the journey. He is like the tortoise in the fabled race with the hare : moves slowly but comes out ahead. This amiable beast, it must be confessed, is not without infirmities of temper as well as apparent defects of organi zation. He never fails to express his disapprobation when kneeling for his rider or his pack, and often makes most ado when there is least occasion for it. Once on the march he seems resigned if not contented, but with singu lar perversity renews his protests in lugubrious growls, 194 THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 1 95 when the time comes for unlading. Then his humped back, shaggy sides, undulating neck, and ridiculous caudal appendage always suggest the thought, that here is an animal that was well begun but never finished. No one is likely to forget his first experience at camel riding. The animal kneels or rather squats for him to mount, and unless warned in time, he is likely to find himself on the ground again before the camel is fairly on his feet. He comes up, one end at a time ; now a partial front elevation, then rear, then front again, and finally his ungainly legs are brought into position, and the novice has not even time to consider, whether it is best to go off front or rear. Then, when the camel takes the road, the rider is uncertain which quarter of the animal moves first and which next in order, and at least one day will be spent without finding out. When he dismounts at night, he will have an uncomfortable sense of being made up entirely of joints, without a bone an inch long in any part of his anatomy. But he will be still more surprised next morning to find he consists entirely of bone, without a single joint, and that his structure seems of such a brittle character, he hardly dare to move lest it snap and drop to pieces. However, no Oriental tour would be complete without at least one journey on the camel, and another on the elephant. The latter would come most naturally in India, and the former more appropriately in Egypt or other part of Northern Africa, where there are few other convenient means of locomotion. 196 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. AN EGYPTIAN JOURNEY. A tour of Egypt, however brief, to be complete or in any sense satisfactory, must include the following par ticulars : climbing a pyramid, exploring a temple or a tomb, taking 51 sail on the Nile, and a ride on a donkey or a camel. Let us group, briefly as we may, these several experiences and what comes of them. For convenience Cairo shall be our base of operations; first, because there will be found whatever is needful by way of outfit, and second, because as all roads once led to Rome, so all Egyptian thoroughfares and many of its by ways have one terminus, and that the Kaliph's capital. For one who makes here his first acquaintance with Oriental life, there is much to instruct and entertain, as well as to amuse and wonder at. Here are gathered representatives of nearly every race and nation, from the Orient to the Occident, and from the steppes of Russia to the oases of Sahara ; while the shops are stocked with wares and textile fabrics from Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as from distant islands of the sea. Here, first of all, are the narrow streets and crooked lanes, with high, dead walls of sun-dried bricks, pierced with shabb}' doors that lead to dark and filthy dens, where the common people eat and sleep and rear children, and after their manner seem to thrive. Then come other streets of like description, that open out into little shops for the manu. facture and sale of native wares — clothing, food, cheap jewelry, and bon-bons. Here also are more attractive streets, scarcely wider, but much cleaner, in which the THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 1 97 better class of goods, silks, jewelry, and curios are dis played. These are meant especially to catch the eye of the stranger, who passes along merely intending to see, but generally concluding to buy. To these narrow lanes must be added some wide streets, with handsome shops and a decidedly modern air, which the native tradesman has copied from his neighbors beyond the Mediterranean. Many of these indeed are kept by Europeans, of whom a goodly number are permanently domiciled in the city. The riots that proved so disastrous to foreigners, and ultimately to the city, at Alexandria a few years ago, did not reach Cairo, and the European population is gradually though slowly increasing. At Cairo will be found the various types of Moslem architecture, beginning with the early Saracenic and running through the Moorish, Turkish, and modern Egyptian ; while many buildings, as for instance, the great Mosque of Mohamed Ali within the precincts of the Citadel, combine two or more of these. For with all the innate conservatism of the Egyptian and the rigid bigotry of the Moslem, time works changes in their types and styles, and conforms the ancient and sacred models some what to the modern and less revered. Not least among the attractions of the Egyptian capital, if one has the fortune to obtain an introduction to the owners, are some of the private residences of wealthy sheiks or merchants, built and still kept in the original Arab, or rather Moorish, style. Such a house often opens upon an insignificant street, and the interior seems at first 198 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. confused, and without arrangement for either comfort or convenience. But a careful survey quite removes the first impression. The front of the building is generally a blank wall below, broken only by a single door, and that often disproportionately small, while in the second story may be an oriel window, sometimes projecting from the wall and surrounded by woodwork elaborately carved. Entering the door, one finds himself in an open court paved in mosaic, with a fountain in the centre, and some times little clumps of palm or orange trees. On the side opposite the door is the reception room, with open front and generally two lofty arches resting on a single graceful column, beyond which are inviting divans, possibly a little fountain, and windows of stained glass, through which streams the colored sunlight on the marble floor. Then there may be some fine mural paintings, or dainty mosaics, an arched and frescoed ceiling, with graceful fretwork of wood or stucco here and there, giving to the establishment an air oi refinement and respectability. Besides there are in and about Cairo historic spots, some well authenticated and others of doubtful authen ticity. The narrow lane leading to the fortress, into which the Mameluke princes were decoyed by an invitation to a reception and then ruthlessly slaughtered by Mohamed Ali, in 181 1, remains very much as it was ; and the spot from which the only one who escaped caused his horse to make a fatal leap from the wall, is pointed out. There is a very old chapel in a monastery in Old Cairo, where Joseph and Mary are said to have lodged with the child Jesus, when THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 1 99 they came from Judea for fear of Herod ; and a few miles out is the venerable tree under which they are said to have stopped to rest on their way. A little farther on, in the same direction, stands the obelisk, a monolith of sien- ite, that marks the site of the ancient On, or City of the Sun, once noted for its temples, palaces, and schools, and where j\Ioses received his education while yet an inmate of a princely house. Temples, palaces, princes, schools, all are gone ; only heaps of ruins now remain, with this solitary shaft to mark the site. The first expedition beyond the city limits almost inevitably must be to the Pyramids of Gizeh ; for if any unlooked-for event should call us away, we should hardly feel sure we had been to Egypt, unless we had stood on the summit of Cheops, and surveyed the fruitful valley of the Nile on the one hand and the interminable reaches of the desert on the other. The journey thither is soon accomplished, across the Nile by the new iron bridge and along the excellent causeway, between rows of acacia trees. As we approach the pyramids, a sense of disappoint ment comes over us. They seem to have shrunken in size, since we caught a first glimpse of them from the rail, as we came into Cairo from Suez or Aleixandria. But let us be patient. When we have driven alongside, they will resume their vast proportions. And if we have the courage to scale the largest, we shall be persuaded, long before we reach the top, that the pyramid is fully entitled to the pre-eminence it holds among all the structures ever 20D FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. reared by men. It is built in regular layers of a compact limestone rock, quarried from the Mokattam hills beyond the Nile, and conveyed hither on causeways specially provided for the purpose ; and as each tier recedes from the edge or contour of the one next below, it has some what the character of a gigantic stairway. Let no one, however, think to reach the summit alone. The foot may slip, the head may swim, and a misstep would almost certainly prove fatal. Indeed, since an ad venturous English soldier, a few years ago, paid the forfeit of over-confidence with his life, no one is permitted to make the ascent alone. A sheik is always in attendance, and has the general direction, to whom a small fee is paid for the privilege of going up, and afterwards making an exploration of the interior. Then there are any number of Arabs anxious to serve as guides and helpers, for what they count a moderate compensation, but it is well to have a definite understanding in the start. Two at least are recommended, one to go on each side, and a third will be found convenient to go behind and lift, when the steps are high or the footing not quite secure. As many more will start with you, whether engaged or not, one bearing a jug of water, which he will urge upon you at every resting-place, and the others ready for any chance service, real or imaginary, they may contrive to render. Then each man is a curio dealer, and has his pocket full of images alleged to be antique, carvings, shells, beads, and the like, to which your attention will be invited at every breathing spell. They understand the moral effect of THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 20I setting a good price on their trinkets at the start, as an indication of real value, but rather than fail of trade, will consent to part with a few of them at quite a ruinous dis count, but with the repeated assurance, that it is only their personal consideration for you that induces them to lower the price, and they trust the transaction will not be reported. Of course no one will betray the confidence reposed in him in such a matter, and so each new-comer is a fresh victim. The summit of Cheops, commonly known as " the great pyramid," is a platform about thirty feet across, but not smooth or level. A great statue is reputed to have stood here a long time ago, and the scattered blocks of stone may have served as a sort of pedestal. This pyramid cov ers an area of about thirteen acres, is four hundred and eighty-one feet in height, and the solid contents are com puted at eighty-one million cubic feet. The view from such a height would be grand in any country, and in this particular position, is most sublime. To the eastward is the Nile valley, a belt of green reaching above Cairo, far away into the desert of hills, rocks, and sand, and spread ing into the Delta plain below the capital. The river winds along this strip of verdure like a silver thread in a web of emerald. The Delta is dotted here and there, with groves of palm and signs of habitation reaching to the borders of the land of Goshen, where Joseph's brethren dwelt, and toward the north to the Mediterranean. Eastward from the city and beyond the Nile is the Arabian desert, a broken region of rock and hill and sandy plain, while to 202 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. the west and south stretches the wide waste of the Libyan desert, the eastern border of the great Sahara. Nowhere else in all the world are fruitful fields and sterile plains brought into such propinquity, and nowhere else do they present so striking contrasts. In the immediate neighborhood of Cheops are eight other pyramids, or remnants of them, and in the distance, at Memphis, Sakara, and Dashoor are twice as many more. Most of them are in partial ruins now, the ma terial in some cases having been carted off for other and more modern structures. Near by is also the inexplicable Sphinx, that strange combination of beast and man, which keeps its stony eyes still fixed upon the illimitable sands, as it has done ever since the historic period of the world began. Till recently the Sphinx was supposed to have been built, as were the pyramids, of materials quarried elsewhere, and brought hither for the purpose. But recent excavations show it to have been carved in situ, from the native rock. Its foundation, therefore, is a part of the rocky crust of the earth, and it has so much more promise of endur ance even than the pyramids. Though its structure has been thus more clearly revealed, the Sphinx itself is as much a riddle as it ever was. The Alabaster temple near at hand will well repay a visit. A visit to the interior of the pyramid is scarcely less laborious than the ascent to the summit. The passage ways are inclined at such an angle, the novice is in constant danger of measuring his length upon the solid THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 203 floor, while the darkness and the partial sense of suffoca tion induced by the dust and the stagnant air, make it far more disagreeable. Few will care to stop for a detailed examination. The Great Gallery, the Vestibule, the King's Chamber, the Queen's Charaber, the Subter ranean Gallery, and other apartraents with various de signations, make up the weird and strange interior of this vast, this massive, this incomparable structure. Whoever makes the attempt to explore the interior of the pyramid will feel a sense of relief, when he breathes the free and open air again. Cheops, the builder of the great pyramid, is reputed to have employed a hundred thousand men at a time, or rather to have driven them to work — for he was a despot and they had no option in the case, — and to have replaced thera with fresh levies every three months for twenty years. Such drain upon the labor of a country can only be accounted for by the fact, that the comraon people had no rights the raonarch was bound to respect, and that he exercised his authority without stint or hindrance. Many and various conjectures have been made as to what the pyramids were for. Astronomical, raetrological, religious, and mortuary uses have been assigned to them by different writers, and reasons are given by each for his hypothesis. But, after all that has been said or written, it is more than probable that they were simply tombs. The first care of an Egyptian monarch seems to have been to provide some means to preserve his memor}' in the land, after he was gathered to his fathers. And as 204 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. nothing else is so lasting as the sohd rock, and no other structure stands so secure as one of pyramidal shape, that was chosen as the general form. The sequel shows that they were wise in this, for the pyramids have far outlived every other structure of their time. UP THE NILE. The Nile, "father of rivers," what a fund of reflection it suggests ! Its history antedates by centuries that of the Tiber or the Jordan, and is only approached in antique interest by that of the Euphrates or the Tigris. If not a granite monolith, or a block of carven sandstone, or even a crude brick of the Roman period reraained, it would still possess a fascination for the antiquarian or historian, the archffiologist and ethnologist, unequalled in any other part of the habitable world. Leaving out of the account the great rivers of Eastern Asia, the Nile is reputed to be one of the longest rivers in the world, only the Amazon, the Mississippi, and the Congo being entitled to rank with it. It differs frora all other great rivers in this : that for sixteen hundred miles above the mouth it has not a single tributary ; not even the contributions of rain and rivulet that add so much to the volurae of many rivers. That " it never rains in Egypt " is not strictly true, but the precipitation of moisture in any form is scarcely per ceptible more than once or twice a year. The statement that the Nile traverses a desert region naturally suggests the question. What then gave it the name of old of " granary of the world " ? But the answer is not far to THE LAND OF TIIE PHARAOHS. 205 find. The fruitful fields along its borders are wholly dependent on the river. Indeed these fields are them- seh-es the contribution of the Nile to what would other wise be, what all the regions both east and west have been, and still are, interrainable reaches of shifting sands and scarred and blistered rocks. To the early inhabitants, the Nile was an object of worship, for it was to them not onl}' a source of wealth, but their very lives depended on it. The casual visitor to the river cannot fail to observe the regular strata of alluvial soil, that form its banks and spread out beneath the fields of grain and groves of fruit ful palms. Every year at a certain season, the floods come down from the raountain region, in which the Blue Nile finds its source, and the main river rises far above its banks and spreads over all the fields, bringing a fresh layer of new earth, and so penetrating the soil as to supply the place of rain. Then the husbandman (usually the fellah) plies his toil, and, as soon as the floods subside, plants his fields, and in due season reaps such a harvest as would surprise even the dwellers on the prairies of our western States. The river, rising somewhere in the eastern interior of Africa, about five degrees south of the equator, and pur suing a somewhat tortuous course, finally debouches into the Mediterranean in about 31° 30' north latitude. It formerly reached the sea by seven, some say nine mouths, but the number is now reduced to two, the Rosetta and the Daraietta branches, and these are both in part arti ficial, having been dredged and straitened to raake a 2o6 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. readier exit for the waters, as the old mouths were filled up by the deposits brought down by the floods. The White and Blue Niles, uniting at Khartoum, the town raade notorious by the failure of the English expedition and death of General Gordon in 1885, form the historic river, and from that point in its course it receives but a single tributary, the Atkaba or Black Nile, less than two hundred miles below. The Nile is unique among great rivers, in that it is largest toward its source. But this is due to the fact, that it traverses a desert region beneath a semi-tropical sun, and that one third of its volume below the first cataract is diverted from its channel, for purposes of irri gation and doraestic use. The iraportance of the Nile to Egypt cannot be overestiraated. Let the floods fail but for a single season, and starvation stares the average Egyptian in the face, unless, perchance, sorae thoughtful and provident Joseph has laid by a supply in the teeraing years. Little wonder is it that the early Egyptian, left to his own slender resources, carae to regard the river with raingled fear and reverence, brought offerings, and raade sacrifices in its name. The traveller on the Nile has choice of two conveyances, the steamer and the dahabeah ; and his choice will depend much upon the time he has to spend, and amount of money he is willing to invest in the expedition. The stearaer goes quicker, and in the end costs less, but gives little opportunity for sight-seeing beyond the merest THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 207 glance, unless one stops over at Lu.xor for a more detailed examination of Thebes and Karnak. The dahabeah is a modified reproduction of the ancient galley, enclosed and comfortably fitted up for occupation in the rear, and pro vided in the forward part with long, swinging oars. The chief dependence for motive power is the tall, graceful lateen sail, but when the wind is adverse, it is necessary either to wait till it changes, or send the boatraen ashore with long ropes, to which they harness themselves like barge-mules on a tow-path. Unless one intends, however, to spend an entire winter on the river, he will be likely to take the stearaer as the quicker and surer raeans of transportation, and here he will raeet a goodly number of travellers intent on the sarae errand as himself. Having made a start upon the Nile, the next diversion is the excursion from the river to .some ruin, or sorae special point of view perhaps one to five railes away. It is generally made on donkeys, next to the carael, the beast of burden in Egypt ; and before the boat is raade fast to the shore the donkey-boys with their charges will be seen scrarabling for places, with such ado of crowding and shouting as raight be easily raistaken for a riot. But it soon appears that it is the custora of the country and raeans no harra. When one steps ashore, .however, if it is his first experience, he will feel perhaps that he is likely to be torn in pieces by the ragged boys, or trodden under foot by the thin-legged, knock-kneed aniraals whose respective virtues are shouted in his ears. When this goes a little too far, the dragoraan in charge will spring 208 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. ashore and lay about him with cane or whip, in a way that makes one stand aghast, as if the man were surely imperil ling his own life. Instead of resenting the intrusion, however, they will scatter like frightened sheep — but only for a moraent. Their pursuer no sooner faces about, than they follow him back to the shore and renew the hubbub and confusion with as rauch energy as ever. When the company is fairly mounted, the little donkeys go scurrying away, each attended by a shouting demon, who seems to think the more he yells and whacks the animal the more backsheesh when he returns. These " boys " are often full-grown men, some of them fathers of families; but all submit to the same indignities-, and usually without resentment. They are a craven set and inured to despotism. Indeed, the average Egyptian has been from time iraraeraorial, a hewer of stone and drawer of water, especially the latter, and the foot of the oppressor, Egyptian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Arab, and Turk, in turn, has been on his neck. The Arab carae as a conqueror, but is reduced now to a level with the fellaheen, who, with the Copts, represent the Egyptians of the Pharaohs. The Copts represent in the crudest way, the early Christians of the Delta and the Nile, while the fellaheen are usually tillers of the soil, though many of them, toiling night and day in the fruit ful season, are scarcely able, with all their time and labor, to meet the exactions of the government in the way of taxes; and their homes and living are of the rudest sort. THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 2O9 In going to and fro across the fields on some excursion, we will take the opportunity to look into the scanty home of one of the fellaheen ; though the house of the Moham medan, however humble, is generally held sacred to privacy, and we shall run the risk of having the door slararaed in our faces, rather than raeeting a ready welcorae. First of all, there is a walled enclosure, the wall being of sun-dried bricks, or soraetimes of mud itself. It is of greater or less extent, and the wall frora four to twelve feet high, according to the resources of the owner. Oftentimes the whole is not more than twenty feet square. At one corner is a rude wooden door that fastens on the inside, and so secures the inmates frora unwelcorae intrusion. This opens into a roofless court or apartinent in which the donkeys, dogs, poultry, and household pets are housed. The dogs, a hungry and wolfish-looking breed, are in the habit of sunning theraselves upon the wall and barking furiously at every passer-by. The reraainder of the enclosure raay be divided into several apartraents for storage, cooking, and eating, or all may be in one. There are a few bags and baskets, with a tin pail and an iron or earthern pot, but scarcely any thing entitled to the name of furniture. The inmates squat round here and there, dip their fingers in the faraily dish, and scarcely know any such thing as privacy araong theraselves. The cooking is generally done over a little fire of dried manure. Some tiraes, however, there is a low flat oven on one side for convenience in cooking, and on that the faraily sleep when the nights are cool. 2IO FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. Nothing is raore reraarkable in Egypt than the persist ence of habit and usages. Fashions never change. The woman with the water-jar upon her head is as familiar an object as the carael, and both recall the pictures with which we have been farailiar from our childhood. The Egyptian of high or low degree eats with his fingers, and the faraily board is the family bowl, as with his ancestors before the invention of knives and forks. The Nubian boy wears his side scalplock as did Rameses II. when a youth, as shown in the carvings on the teraple at Abydos; and the girls braid their hair in innumerable strand.s, that stick out upon the head like quills upon the porcupine. The tour of the Nile would soon grow tedious to the average traveller, but for the many side-excursions to temples, torabs, and quarries made famous by old associa tions, and soraetiraes revealing rauch of the past history of the Egyptian race. Sorae of these torabs were despoiled centuries ago, by invaders greedy for gold and buried ornaraents, and sorae have been opened recently for pur poses raore consonant with the spirit of our raodern times. Mummies of men and ^\¦omen, of bulls, jackals, and birds have been exhuraed and shipped to various museums, while fragments and sometimes complete specimens, of aniraals once accounted sacred, may be picked up frora the debris about the mouth of the mummy pits. The temples and palaces, however, as a rule, will be found raost attractive, and best repay inspection, TIIE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 211 EGYPTIAN TEMPLES. The temple is generally approached by one, two, or three gateways or pylons, according to the magnitude of the enterprise, and beyond are often avenues once lined with sphinxes, and sometimes terminating in a pair of obelisks. Then coraes the principal portal, which raay be a siraple gateway or an elaborate fagade, according to the munificence of the builder or the dignity of the prince, priest, or king whose narae was to be corameraorated. This pylon, if of the raore elaborate description, often has towers at the extreraities, with screens of arabesque connecting the adjacent pillars ; while the. pylon itself, as well as the whole outer wall of the structure, is covered with carvings, sometimes in bas-relief, sometiraes in intaglio, of gods and men, of prince and peasant, con queror and conquered, with scenes representing the carnage of battle, side by side with the jubilee of victory. To these are sometiraes added illustrations of peaceful arts and industries — a wheat sheaf, lotus flower, iraple raents of the raechanic arts, and rausical instruments, — though these are oftener included in the ornamentation of sorre portion of the interior, than on the outer wall. Each temple, as a rule, has something peculiar to itself, and still, as all were intended for the same'general purpose, there is a degree of correspondence. A single conspicuous exaraple will serve our purpose in the way of illustration. The teraple of Denderah, though comparatively recent, dating only from the period of the Ptolemies, is one of 212 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. the best preserved in Egypt. It is perhaps two miles from the river, half buried in a heap of rubbish, that lies near the base of the Lybian hills, and on the verge of the fresh green fields that distinguish the valley of the Nile; the treeless waste of rock and sand immediately in the rear, the smiling fields of Egypt's unfailing granary spread out in front. At a distance, the sharp outlines of white raasonry may be discerned in its rude and unsightly setting, and the figures grow more and more distinct as we advance. In the near background, the cliffs that mark the borders of the desert, forming a sort of natural de fence, are rent or worn here and there into abrupt chasms and skirted with shining drifts of shifting sands. As we approach, the outlines of the ruins become more sharply defined and the structure more imposing. Still half buried in the desert sand and refuse of sun-dried brick, it gradually rises into something like real majesty. But it is not till we pass the stately pylon or gateway, and, following an avenue once bordered with sphinxes now long buried out of sight, stand in the main portal, that we begin to realize the stupendous size of the columns in the portico or perceive the wilcierness of carvings that cover walls, pillars, frieze, and ceiling. The columns are twenty-four in number, with sculptured capitals showing the cow's head and horns of the Goddess Hathor. We made no definite measurements, but venture to set these raassive pillars down at fifty feet in height, with a girth of twent}--seven or twenty-eight feet. They are made of a limestone which, while not strictly crystal- THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 213 line, admits of almost as fine a polish as the choicest marble. These temples were the abode of mysteries, and the light of day was almost entirely excluded ; only narrow slits here and there in roof or wall adraitted glearas of light and air. Most of thera now stand open alike to sun and storm, for their coverings are gone. But in this the temple of Denderah is an exception. The roof is still quite com plete, and while the portico is now open to the light through its ruined fagade, the second chamber is in twilight, and those beyond in almost utter darkness. The stifling or stagnant air is suggestive of the dungeon or the charnel-house, and one unconsciously waits at the entrance as if expecting a procession of ghosts, or rather of mummies, to start up before his eyes. A few words raore of the stately portico before we invade the raysteries beyond. The columns, though massive, do not seem heavy or disproportionate, the carvings tending rather to give thera lightness, and every thing seeras proportioned to its surroundings. A winged globe as usual hovers over the front portal as if invoking or conferring a benediction. And the procession of priests upon the architrave seems quite in keeping with the place. The ceiling, happily quite coraplete, notwith standing the ruin so near at hand, is studded with stars and celestial erableras, and every foot of space on wall and column is filled with figures of gods and men, sacrifi cial offerings, and insignia of the royal house. Penetrating then to the second charaber, we find our selves in a sraaller hall, of which the roof is supported by 214 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. six columns, and out of which open three small chambers on either side. By the light of the flickering candle, which has now become a necessity, we observe the same wealth of carvings as in the outer court, although as scarcely a ray of light penetrates the darkness, or relieves the sense of partial suffocation in the stagnant air, we can but wonder what end this elaborate workmanship was meant to serve. The industrious and devoted explorer, Mariette Bey, found in them indications of the intended use of the several chambers, as receptacles for offerings, depositories for treasures, for the sacred vestments and the like, and we see no reason to dispute his interpreta tion. Beyond are still other halls or chambers, the inner most one of which was the sanctuary, in which was kept,. secured in a niche, the image of the god to which the temple was specially dedicated. From one of the side charabers is a stairway leading to a vault below, presumed to have been the treasure chamber ; while from two others are stairways leading to the roof, and intended, as ver}' graphically portra}'ed on the walls, for the ascent and descent of the grand procession that moved round the top of the wall, with standards, musical instruments, and pots of incense on occasion of great religious festivals. And now who took part in these ? The king himself was always in the lead in the double character of priest and king, and after him came scions of the royal blood and an imposing array of priests. That was all. The comraon people had no part in this. There was no assem bly hall for the multitude ; no recognition of the common THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 21 5 needs or aspirations of men ; no public worship. Indeed, the temple itself, wjth the surrounding groves of syca more, acacia, and palm, were enclosed by a wall fifteen feet in thickness at the base and over thirty feet in height, so that the possible sound of distant chant and the rising sraoke of incense were the only hints to the great world without, of what was going on within. We have said this temple was one of the raost coraplete remaining in Egypt, and yet the hand of the spoiler has been laid on nearly every part of it, outside the dark chambers. A mania for destroying seems to have pos sessed most of the conquerors, under whom Egypt has fallen from time to time, and the face and form of nearly every image has been mutilated, whether standing alone or graven on pylon, wall, or coluran. The Persians have the credit of being most ruthless in this destruction ; but the Moslem has carried away, piece by piece, some of the finest pyramids to build teraples and even stables of his own. And we can but execrate the fanaticisra — Christian though it was in narae — that in the latter days of the Roman occupation felt impelled to deface these images and defile the sanctuaries. Denderah has not the hoary age of the Alabaster temple near the Sphinx; its carvings are not so fine as those at Abydos, nor its coloring so fresh. It has not the noble colonnade of Luxor, nor the grand proportions of the Rameseum, the matchless pylon of Edfou, or the grace and syraraetry of Philse, the titanic columns of Karnak, or the stupendous majesty of Aboo Simbel. Still, it is 2X6 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. one of the best speciraens of the better class of Egyptian teraples, combining grand proportions and a noble majesty, with raoderate symmetry and artistic finish. Of course, if any one goes to Egypt expecting to find syraraetrical figures on the walls, he will be disappointed. As a rule, they are not there. The iraage of a goddess or a queen often has no raore artistic grace than a fence- post, and the habit of topping them out with the head of a beast or bird, is incompatible with nice proportions of other parts. But those figures are often of gigantic stature, and forbid the application of the principles of high art. There is rauch raore beauty in statues than in raural carvings, but the latter are often so inextricably blended, as in processions and battle scenes, that any attempt at syraraetry would be out of place. The point on the Nile where the longest landing will be raade is at Luxor, for here are grouped with Luxor, Thebes and Karnak, of matchless fame in Egyptian history. Of course their ancient splendor is long since gone, but there remain sufficient remnants— the Luxor Colonnade, the giant Colossi, the Memnonion, the great Hall of Karnak and its majestic temple— to engage the attention and weary the feet for many a day. Besides, the tombs of the kings, whence have come man}' of the choicest treasures in the museum at Boulak, are in this vicinity. It is better to stop at Luxor, if one's time is limited, than to go beyond even to the second cataract, and neglect this place We attempt no description here of these famous ruin.s, for nothing less than an entire THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 217 i'olume would give the reader any adequate conception of their extent, or their stately character. The first cataract of the Nile is a disappointraent, and the second is little better. They may be likened to the rapids in the St. Lawrence River below the Thousand Islands, but are hardly entitled to the more imposing designation. Naked Nubians, shooting the rapids on logs, for the delectation of visitors, is about the only attraction, though the scenery is drearily picturesque along the river, and the temple on the island above the cataract has been in its day, a gem among the architectural triumphs of Upper Egypt. With this rapid glance at sorae of the wonders of the Nile, we return to Cairo, and the Delta which lies beyond. THE BOULAK MUSEUM. A volume might well be given to the rauseura at Boulak, immediately below the city of Cairo, and yet a brief description will give some idea of its peculiar interest. The youngest araong thera, yet it is richest in choice antiquities of all the great rauseuras. It occupies a cora raanding building with spacious grounds in front, and is a raonuraent of the industry and practical devotion of Mariette Bey, suppleraented by the munificence of the reigning Viceroy of Egypt. Entering the court frora the street, the buildings are on the right and a well-kept garden on the left. The most conspicuous object in the garden is the tomb of 2l8 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. Mariette Bey, who died in 1882, sentried by four magnificent specimens of sphinxes from the front of the tomb of the sacred bulls at Memphis, among the earliest of Mariette's important discoveries. There are other objects of interest in the court and garden sufficient to occupy the visitor for half a day. But we must not tarry. Leaving the garden, we pass through the Vestibules with their sarcophagi of the Greek period and their memorial inscriptions, and the Central Hall with its statues, vases, papyri, and ornaments of glass and gold and precious stones, and the Hall of the Tombs, with sarcophagi and weapons found with the dead, and enter the Hall of the Royal Mummies in the east end of the building, with the purpose of interviewing some of the early Egyptian kings. The muraray bands and rock-cut torabs of sorae of these ancient worthies served quite a different purpose from Avhat was first intended. Instead of reraaining perma nently sealed up from human eyes, they lie here now in dignified repose, subject to inspection by curious visitors frora every part of the civilized world. The cartoiicJie of an Egyptian king answers the sarae purpose as the silver plate upon a coffin or the inscription on a tombstone ; it identifies the person to \\hom the sepulchre belongs. And so the torabs at Thebes, at IMeraphis, and at Assiout, in yielding up their muraraied occupants, reveal also the naraes and titles by which they were known among their fellow men. We have here in this Hall of the Royal Mummies, a goodly company of kings, queens, and magnates of high TIIE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 219 degree, ranged in order and labelled or nurabered, so as to identif}- them by narae and title, and the ages or dynas ties to which they severail}' belonged. Here are the Thotmes, the Setis, the Rameses, two or three of each, with Queens Ansera, Nofretari and Notem-Maut, and others less known to fame. They cover a period of perhaps seven hundred years, extending from about 1700 B.C., according to the best authorities, to lOOO B.C., and represent therefore the time of Egypt's chief renown, both in art and war. It was during this period that most of the great teraples and tombs — except the pyramids — were built ; that Thebes rose to such eminence araong the cities of the world ; that the noble peristyle of Karnak and the raatchless palace of the Rainesseum, and the twin Colossi on the plain, or the " Vocal Meranon " and its companion were reared, and that the Tombs of the Kings were excavated and their interiors so elaborately ornamented, at Biban-El-Malouk and Dayr-El-Baharee, from which all these treasures have but recently been taken. Our interest will naturally centre in the raembers of this royal corapany in sorae way identified with the chil dren of Israel — the captivity and the exodus. Joseph's brethren, with their numerous train, are supposed to have come to Egypt during the reign of the Hyksos or Shep herd kings ; though what particular one was on the throne at the time has not been certainly determined. Dr. Erail Brugsch of the Boulak Museura, gives it as his opinion that Joseph arrived in Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Nubi, and rose to princely favor under his iraraediate sue- 220 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. cessor; but just how long after this to the coming of Jacob and his remaining sons we do not know. There is but one of the Hyksos dynasty araong the Royal Mummies, and the coffin or mummy case of another; and whether they knew the Israelites or not is still un certain. But there are two or three, about which there seems to be no question. These are Rameses I., of whom only the mummy case was found, Seti or Meneptah I., and Rameses II. The two latter lie before us, in the muraray cases in wWch they were placed about thirty- three centuries ago. It is rauch to be regretted that the mummy of Meneptah II. has not been found. He was the " Pharaoh of the Exodus," and his army it was that perished in the sea in pursuing the fleeing Israelites. But the burial-place of these kings was known to certain Arabs near Thebes, long before it was known to the authorities of Egypt, and they did not hesitate to wrench off a hand or a foot from a muraray — prince or plebeian, — and sell to any traveller who was seeking relics ; nor did they care to keep any record of their unlawful transactions. And it is quite possible that the bodies of Meneptah II. and also of Raraeses I. were disposed of piece-raeal in this wa}'. Of Raraeses I., whose murara}' case is here, we know very little beyond the approximate date of his reign. Of Seti or Meneptah I. more is known from carvings and inscrip tions on various monuments. But of Rameses II. , called also Rameses the Great, raore has been learned than of any other of the old-time Eg}'ptian kings. He was one of the great monarchs of the ancient world, and did more THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 221 to make his country famous than a whole dynasty besides. He was conteraporaneous with Moses, and is known as the " Pharaoh of the Oppression," for he it was who bound the Israelites with heavy burdens. He reigned with his father, and afterwards independently for raore than eight}- years, and to him Upper Egypt was indebted for many of its finest palaces and teraples. Now lies he here, after the lapse of so long a period frora the date of his chiefest glory. Yes, this very man lived when Moses lived, may have known hira in his youth, and so rauch of him still remains upon the earth. It is less than ten years since his remains were found, hidden away in a great general sepulchre a few railes distant frora the site of ancient Thebes. The raumray bands were carefully re moved by Prof. Maspero in the rauseum in 1882, after the arrival at Boulak. The marks are still on the face, giving it a kind of ridgy surface ; the nostrils are perceptibly His- tended, an effect of the embalming operation ; the closed eyelids are soraewhat depressed, the teraples slightly sunken, and the cheek bones therefore unduly prom inent. And still the features are distinct, and we feel that we have a fair impression of the living face. We know how the man looked when he ruled in Egypt and for some reason, not clearly understood, oppressed the people who aforetirae had found a welcorae in the land. But what changes succeeding ages brought about ! When this mighty monarch lay sleeping in his tomb, the Israel ites grew to be the best known if not the raightiest nation on the earth. Now they are widely scattered and as a 222 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. nation have no longer a name to live. Is this then the earthly destiny of men ? Can no nation have a warrant of perpetuity ? Pondering these questions, we turn away from our interview with the Pharaohs, as they lie in state in the museura at Boulak. ON TRACK OF THE ISRAELITES. In taking our leave of Egypt, let us turn aside from the beaten path of raodern travel, into the "fields of Zoan," in the land of Goshen, and see what traces may be found of Joseph's brethren and their descendants. We leave the rail at Zag-i-zig, near the ancient site of Bubastis, where some notable excavations have recently been going on, and where sorae enthusiastic explorers are sanguine that indisputable traces of the Pharaohs have been found. As yet we are not persuaded that their finds are entitled to the consideration that they claira ; and still, there is no doubt that we are here in the borders of the region occupied by the Israelites, during at least a portion of their sojourn, and it is possible the Pharaohs hved here at tiraes also. A part of our journey will be by canal after leaving Zag-i-zig, and thence we raust go by such conveyance as can be found in a country that travellers seldom visit, except for exploration, and where, therefore, public ac commodations are unknown. The scenen' is not inviting, and the few wandering Arabs we encounter e}'e us with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. There are wide fields of .shining sands that reflect back the sun's heat with a THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 223 degree of fierceness that makes the way tedious and exhausting ; there are occasional dry beds of strearas that are full when the auturanal floods come down, and here and there a few dreary mounds, the ruins of forraer villages that once flourished on the plains. We could make no progress without an experienced guide, for there are scarcely any roads, and no one can give any informa tion as to the points we wish to reach. Even the best- informed explorers are often at a loss in this respect. Much confusion arises frora the different naraes applied frora tirae to tirae to the same localities ; and historians are not entirely agreed, either as to the precise point of departure of the Israelites on their journey, or the route they followed frora their starting-point to the sea, and in the country iraraediately beyond. The fact that under the Pharaohs, and to sorae extent, under the Ptolemies also, the productive area of Egypt was much extended to the eastward, over regions since fallen into disuse and covered with drifting sands, raakes the problera still raore difficult. We do not look in the midst of desert wastes, for evidences of past cultivation and habitation, nor is a remnant of sun-dried bricks con clusive evidence, in such conditions, of the location in forraer tiraes of large and prosperous settlements. There is little doubt now, however, that the point of departure is well identified. The Israelites started frora Rameses, later known as Tanis, and now sometimes designated as San or Zan — possibly a contraction of Zoan, — where a vast extent of rubbish and ruin still indi- 224 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. cates the presence, in ages long gone by, of an extensive city and a large surrounding population. History and tradition alike point to this as the gathering-place of these people. It was frora this city or this vicinity, that they started on their long pilgriraage, from a state of slavery to a condition of freedom and national indepen dence, and from the midst of Egyptian idolatry to the service of Jehovah, the one true and living God. Too much importance cannot be attached to the fact that their great leader was singularly fitted for his mis sion. He had long since grown familiar with portions of the land they were to traverse. He had been for the period of a raodern generation a keeper of flocks along the borders of the desert, the mountains, and the sea. He doubtless knew the best routes and the best camping- places. He knew where pasturage and water could be found. And probably he knew soraething of the strange phenoraenon presented in the straits or shallows at the head of the Red Sea, when a strong wind prevailed and the bed was left bare at low tide. All this helped to mark him as the raan for the occasion — the providential leader for this very service, aside from any divine com mission he raay have had. Indeed, the whole hfe and experience of this wonderful raan seem now to have been a course of training for the hazardous and difficult work he was destined to perform. From Tanis, then, the children set out on their journey. The first day's march brought them to Succoth, where TIIE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 22 5 the}' spent the night in leafy tents or coverts, afterwards reproduced and coraraeraorated in their " Feast of Taber nacles." The encroachraents of the desert have so far obliterated the traces of this place, that its precise location cannot now be deterrained. We only know it was east ward sorae fifteen or twenty railes frora Tanis, toward the wilderness and the sea. The second day brought thera to Etham, " in the edge of the wilderness," and the third to Pi-hahiroth, " between Migdol and the sea." And here, or near this point, carae that raost raagnifi cent crisis in the history of any people. Consider for a moraent the situation. They are shut in on the one hand and on the other by the raountains and the wilderness, " entangled in the land " ; the sea is in front of them and the Egyptian array following hard upon their rear. What can, by any possibility, save thera frora entire destruction? But, lo ! the wind is rising and the tide is running low ! Moses anxiously watches his oppor tunity, for his faith does not desert hira, and he encourages the fainting hearts of those around him. But they are not forgotten or forsaken in their great extremity. The tide is out, the way is open, and lightly laden as they are, impelled by a sense of peril on the one hand and the hope of freedom on the other, they cross the channel to the land beyond. Still the danger is not past. Their pursuers are coraing on. The rear of the Israelitish column is scarcely over, when Pharaoh's host atterapts the passage too. They have raany chariots, and seeraingly every ad- 226 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. vantage over this fleeing mob of slaves. But alas for man's devices ! The chariot wheels drag heavily in the yielding raire, and prove a hindrance rather than a help. Besides, the returning tide is coming in. This alarras the pursuing host, and sorae of them turning about, attempt to regain the shore. This the more impedes their movements, and confusion inextricable follows. There can be but one result. The tide sweeps over thera, and they are gone ; and the hosts of Israel do well to sing a song of thanksgiving and grateful praise for their deliverance. The next we hear of these Chosen People they are at Marah, probably the Bitter lakes, through which the Suez Canal now passes ; and next at Ain Mousa, or the well of Moses, a few miles distant from the Red Sea ter minus of the Canal. Thence they pursued their journey southward and then northward, to and fro, through the desert and the wilderness, for the space of forty years, before they finally reached the destination for which they started — the land their fathers had, at least in part, possessed before them. CHAPTER vn. HISTORIC SCENES IN PALESTINE. JERUSALEM. WE stand on the Tower of David, by the Jaffa gate, just inside the walls of the -Holy City, and what a panoraraa is spread out around us ! what a world of suggestions in hill and valley, pool and fountain, street and tomb ! The drafted stones in the foundation of the tower clearly refer it back to Jewish tiraes, possibly to the period of the raan whose name it bears, though the upper portion, the flat roof and the balustrade, may have been destroyed and rebuilt many tiraes. Westward, gradually winding up the slope toward the city, is the Jaffa road, the sarae substantially as that over which the cedars came from Lebanon and then from Jaffa for the building of the temple ; the sarae as that over which were borne the treasures brought by ship frora Tarshish, Ophir, or Cathay ; the sarae over which the Ark was borne in triumph to the city, after its long delay in the house of Obed Edom ; the same along which came plumed knights, with golden- bitted steeds, for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre from Moslera desecration. And whether we look to east or 227 228 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. west or north or south, we discover landraarks that clearly identify this place with the City of the Great King. The site is the soraewhat broken surarait of a mountain ridge, approaching along the general level from the west and terrainating abruptly on the east. It is bounded by two valleys : that on the north, first a gentle depression, rapidly deepening as it proceeds, and turning abruptly to the south in a deep ravine, is the Valley of Jehoshaphat, through which flows the Brook Kedron ; and that on the south, the Valley of Hinnora, once the scene of pagan sacrifices, and afterwards a place of aboraination to the Jews ; now a peaceful vale, with green sloping sides and here and there a clurap of olive trees. This valley also deepens as it proceeds, and joins the other at the south east of the city, where the heights of Mount Zion rise precipitously frora the valley to the level on which the city stands. From our convenient position let us look the city over, with its surroundings. The distinctions of mounts Zion, Moriah, and Calvary are not clearly defined by topograph ical features at the present time, and we must give some heed to the map of Jerusalera as it once was. A little to the right, and extending to the southern limit of the general suramit, is Mount Zion, occupied in large part by the vast Armenian raonastery, where the Patriarch of Jerusalem lives in sorae state, and within which are included many points of historic note and interest. The credulity is somewhat severely taxed when the priests proceed to point out to the visitor, the house of Caiaphas, where the trial HISTORIC SCENES IN PALESTINE. 229 of the Saviour took place ; the open, paved court, where Peter " stood and warmed himself," and where he was so keenly conscience-smitten at the crowing of the cock. The ccenaculum, or upper roora, where the Last Supper was eaten ; the tomb of David, and other points of rather startling interest are also grouped in this vicinity. Looking now in another direction, a little tothe left and still nearly in front, is another building of striking outline and figure, having a massive dome. It is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and is believed to cover or enclose the scenes of the crucifixion, the preparation of the body, the burial, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. We have no share in the unhappy controversies that have arisen from time to time, as to the precise location of these scenes, of which the world lost almost all trace in the first three centuries of the Christiaji era, when the new religion scarcely had a narae to live, and even the Jews were at tiraes forbidden to approach the Holy City. Suffi cient for our purpose is it to know with full assurance, that we stand here in view of the scenes of those raoraen- tous events, that have so often stirred the devout heart since that day. But the most conspicuous object now in the city is toward the southeast quarter, on Mount Moriah — the Mosque of Omar, believed to occupy the identical site of Solomon's temple. It is a noble structure of Saracenic architecture, octagonal in form, surmounted by a splendid dome, which terminates in a lofty spire with golden cres cent. What was once the holiest spot in all the world to 230 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. the Jew, is now the holy place of the Mohammedan, stand ing next in order of sanctity to Mecca and Medina. And now what changes have corae over this spot in the past three thousand years ! Here David raeasured the ground and planned to build a goodly temple to the Lord; here Solomon, following out his father's wishes, caused the temple to be built, which to this day is identified with his narae; hither carae the cedar beams from far-off Lebanon, and the gold from distant Ophir ; hither came the great stones from the quarries, so skilfully and accu rately hewn that there was heard no " sound of hammer, axe, or any tool of iron " as they assumed their places in the walls, and the structure rose in splendid majesty, to be for ages the model and wonder of the world; hither the tribes carae up from all parts of Israel to bring their yearly offerings,and renew their vows at the very fountain- head of their religion, never dreaming that it could suffer eclipse, or that their kingdom was to share the fate of other kingdoms, that had risen and flourished and fallen, in the history of the world. But alas for the hopes and devices of even devout men, when they stand in the way of ambitious rivals and ruth less conquerors ! Scarcely two generations had passed when the Egyptians plundered the teraple of its treasures. Later, the king of the revolted tribes, forgetful of the sacred obligations they had once assumed, pillaged it and desecrated its raost holy places. Next the Babylonians burned the teraple, razed its walls to the ground, and car ried the people awa}' captive. Twice was the temple re- HISTORIC SCENES IN PALESTINE. 23 I built, once on a raore raagnificent scale than ever before, and thrice was it destroyed ; the last time by the Roman army, under Titus, eighteen hundred years ago, when the destruction was so coraplete that its precise location was afterward long in doubt ; and the only hints reraaining now, that such a structure was ever built, are in fragraents of substruction found here and there, by digging below the present surface of the ground. The Moharamedans have held the city, excepting a brief period of the Crusades, almost uninterruptedly for now more than thirteen hundred years, and while maintaining an interest in Old-Testament history, as they claira de scent from Esau as the Jews from Isaac, they are araong the most inveterate foes of the Christian religion, and have little interest in preserving any thing sacred only to the Christian. There are Christian missions here and there, both within the city and without ; and one of the saddest scenes in all the world is the " wailing place of the Jews," where on Saturday (Sabbath) mornings these desolate people come together, by a fragment of the ancient wall on the east ern side of the city, to read the book of Jeremiah's Lam entations in the Hebrew tongue, to wail and lament their lost estate, and plead with Jehovah that Israel may be re stored. And who shall say their prayer may not yet be answered ? Looking now for a raoraent beyond the liraits of the walled city before we leave the tower, we shall observe many things in the landscape, doubtless much the same 232 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. as when Jerusalem was the centre of the world's history, with others quite changed from what they were. Look ing beyond the extensive ruins of the hospital of the Knights of St. John, which dates from the period of the Cru.sades, and continuing well to the northeast corner of the city, we shall find what purports to be the Pool of Bethesda, " which was by the sheep market," now a sluggish spring, sometimes entirely dry, and without any appearance of the periodic flow which characterized it in ancient times. Following the Valley of Jehoshaphat along the north side of the city till it turns south, and crossing the Brook Kedron, we find ourselves in the sacred precincts of Geth semane, so full of solemn incident and so suggestive of serious reflection. It is enclosed now by high walls and appropriately shaded with the abundant foliage of dark- green shrubbery. There are also half-a-dozen venerable olive trees, whose gnarled and decaying trunks and mani fest extreme age lend a pathetic interest to the scene. They were probably witnesses of the agony. Farther down the valley at the right, and under the very brow of the height on which the city stands is the Pool of Siloam, and across the brook a little farther on, the village of Siloam, a wretched-looking hamlet, with none of the characteristics we naturally associate with the name. Beyond the valley of Jehoshaphat, and rising conspicu ously above the apparent level of Jerusalera, is the Mount of Olives, and just over the summit, not in sight from the city, is the village of Bethany, the peaceful home of Mary HISTORIC SCENES IN PALESTINE. 233 and Martha and their brother Lazarus, and the place to which Jesus so often betook himself from the turmoil of the city and frora contact with an unbelieving generation. Looking southward frora the city is the " Hill of Evil Council," where Judas is reported to have held council with the enemy, and near where he subsequently " went out and hanged himself." Following thence the road that winds over the hills to the south for sorae six railes, we corae to Bethlehem, of which the Christian world, old and young, hears and reads and thinks so much at each returning Christmastide. JERICHO. We will take our position next on the site of ancient Jericho, upon a narrow plateau at the raountain's base, perhaps a hundred feet above the plain. And now what a panorama spreads out before us, and how the scenes and incidents of sacred history picture themselves anew in our imagination ! The Dead Sea, that strange sepulchre of the waters, spreads out before us at a distance of perhaps seven railes towards the south — a placid and, at this distance, an inviting sheet. Upon the right, and beyond the nearer heights, though at just what point cannot be determined, is the supposed site of ilWated Sodom find Gomorrah. The raountains of Moab loora up in the southeast, and those of Gilead roll away farther toward the north. Beyond the Salt Sea and across the shoulder of the nearer slope is Mount Nebo, whose summit is Pisgah. Up that went Moses frora the camp of Israel and came 234 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. not down again. He doubtless saw the green fields and inviting plains of Jericho and the border-land of Canaan, but that was all that ever was vouchsafed to hira. No man knows his grave to this day. It is doubtful if he ever had a grave in the strict sense of the term. Israel waited on the plain, but it waited in vain. Their old and trusted leader was no raore. Another must now take the lead and conduct them to their destination if it was ever to be gained. Happily the man was at hand — Joshua, the intrepid comraander in bat tle even while Moses was alive. They have been camped now for raany days in the plain of Moab. The swift and turbid Jordan flows before them, and Canaan lies beyond. They break camp on the plain, move toward the river, and raake ready to atterapt a passage. It is the season of bar ley harvest, and the raelting snows of Herraon far to the north fill the river to the brink. But the time of flood is also the time when obstructions are most likely to occur in the streara above. Such obstruction, according to the record, did occur, though at a point that cannot now be certainly identified ; or possibly a cold wave on the slopes of Herraon raay have cut off, for a tirae, the chief source of supply to the river. At all events, Jo.shua watches his opportunity and they move across. Surely the Lord is with us, the confiding people said, as he was with Moses, and they took new heart and went forward. Spies had been sent on before, for Joshua knew better than to ven ture with a multitude on untried ground, with an enemy before him and possible pitfalls in the way. The spies HISTORIC SCENES IX PALESTIXE. 235 made a perilous journey, and when the people would have sought them out and slain them on the spot, a woman known as Rahab the harlot gave them shelter. There now are the reputed ruins of her house, on the brow of the natural terrace, and a few steps to the right of where we stand. Whether this woman had a genuine interest in Israel, or was only reckless of her country's fate, we do not know. But her offence was forgotten for the service that she did, and she was generously remembered in the destruction that came upon the city afterwards. The Ark of the Covenant, which represented to Israel at once the divine presence and the divine law, was borne in the midst, and while they thus felt assured of divine protection, they were constantly reminded of the law and what it de manded of them. Thus were these half-barbarous people kept obedient to their leader, and their sometimes doubt ful caprices held in check. Consider now the situation. The dangerous river is left behind ; they are actually in the land of Canaan, the object of their long and weary quest. They move out upon the wide plain of the valley, about five miles frora the Jordan and encarap at Gilgal, near the foot of the slope, at the summit of which stands the city of Jericho, surrounded on every side by groves of palra, and inviting alike to the adventurer and the conqueror. It was not only beautiful for situation, but was reputed to possess unbounded wealth. At Gilgal they rest the Ark. Here they set up the Tabernacle. The long-neglected rite of circumcision is 236 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. renewed, and they celebrate the Passover for the first time in the promised land. In a certain sense of course all this region is hallowed ground to-day, and we naturally hesitate to suggest a doubt concerning any portion of the narrative that has corae down to us, or to criticise any act presilraed at the tiriie to have had the divine sanction. But candor corapels the stateraent, that it is only by accepting the doctrine of the "survival of the fittest," not raerely as a scientific theory, but as a principle of ethics, that we can excuse or even palliate some of the savage work that Joshua did subsequently, at Jericho and Ai and other points in the course of his conquest of Canaan. The Israelites remained for some weeks, possibly raonths, in carap at Gilgal — indeed, it was Joshua's head quarters, as appears, for a considerable portion of his later life, — when a well raatured and determined moveraent was raade to drive out the Canaanites and possess the land theraselves. The first move was upon the city of Jericho near at hand, and, but for the multitude of stately palm- trees, in full view of their camp. Joshua well understood the importance of making a profound impression at the start. Accordingly, with the whole force of his army, and possibly a following of others than the soldiery, he approached and surrounded the city, with such show of numbers, and such display of force, and such blasts of horns and trumpets, that the people in very terror surrendered alraost without a blow. The gates were opened, and it was as if there had been no walls. Jericho falling an easy prey was never put to great HISTORIC SCENES IN PALESTINE. 237 account by the conquerors, who continued at their first encampment, because it was more convenient for their purposes. Gilgal, moreover, continued long an historic spot. It was a favorite resort of Joshua to the day of his death ; and there in after-time Samuel judged Israel, and Saul was anointed king. The ancient city is no more, and modern Jericho occupies the site or iraraediate vicinity of Gilgal, while the Fountain of Elisha, or some times the Sultan's Spring, is the Moslem name of the ancient site on which we stand. The interest of this historic spot, however, does not cease with the incidents of the Israelitish entrance to the promised land. As we look about us once more, we recall still other incidents as worthy of rehearsal as those already named. The Dead Sea still lies placid in the sunlight of the early spring. Mount Nebo stands majestic araong the raoun tains, as when the law-giver climbed its rugged heights. The winding course of the river Jordan is clearly marked for raany railes, by the fringe of willow and oleander along its bank ; and as we gaze absorbed upon that point where the hosts of Israel, made their passage, we are re minded of later scenes and those that come nearer home to us. There appears a dark-browed and hairy man, in the dress of an Eremite, who eschews the delicacies of the table and lives on locusts, or possibly the fruit of the karub tree, and the honey of the wild bees of the forest. He is the last of the line of ancient prophets, and preaches to the people with a directness and force that startles them. They come from far, and crowd around him as if 238 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. their destiny was in his hands. Some of thera go down into the Jordan and receive the rite of baptisra at his hands. At length there coraes One among them, who was des tined to occupy a larger place in history than any other who ever walked the earth. He also was baptized of John, and straightway set out on that ministry which has been a source of such unmeasured blessing to the world. The spot is perhaps seven railes distant frora where we stand, but there is a fascination in the view and the reflections it suggests which does not readily relax its hold. Before we quit this entrancing spot, let us come again a little nearer and well out on the valley plain. There is the dry bed of a stream by which stand sorae aged terebinth trees, and here, tradition says, is the Valley of Achan, where the unhappy Israelite of that narae met his punishment, for selfishly appropriating a portion of the spoil of Jericho. A little nearer and well to the right is the Brook Cherith, where the prophet, fleeing from those who sought his life, according to the record, was fed by ravens. And still farther round, alraost in the rear of Jericho, is the reputed wilderness of the temptation. This tradition, however, has not great age and is probably a mere con jecture. Some devoted anchorites, about the period of the Crusades, accepting the tradition, excavated caves or cells in the steep face of the cliff, and lived there for a season in serene contemplation. But these burrows have long been deserted and neglected, and are only reached HISTORIC SCENES IN PALESTINE. 239 now and then by some adventurous traveller. We were content to view them from afar. BETWEEN EBAL AND GERIZIM. The approach to the valley between these two noted mountains frora the southeast, is by way of Jacob's Well, one of the best authenticated localities in Palestine. The well is one of the very few ancient landraarks that neither Jew, Christian, nor Moharamedan presumes to question. We stand here near where Jacob pitched his tent on his return frora Padan Arara, whither his wily but prudent raother had sent hira after the estrangeraent of his elder brother. We are on the very spot where Jacob purchased a field of the children of Haraor for a hundred pieces of money, where he built an altar and digged a well that stands open even now before us. It was cut in the lime stone rock, is of generous proportions, about eight or nine feet across, and could not have been originally less than eighty feet in depth. That it served a useful purpose, not only to Jacob and his family, but to raany generations after, there can be no doubt ; for hither carae the women with their water-jars frora the region round about, when centuries later, Jesus, on his way frora Galilee to Jerusa lera, " sat weary by the well" while his disciples went into the city, and where he had his remarkable conversation with the woraan of Saraaria. The well is now neglected. The costly covering once erected over it has disappeared. It is partly filled with the rubbish that has fallen in, and though it now contains several feet of water is sometimes 240 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. quite dry. Flocks are gathered here no more at eventide, and women no longer come with their shapely jars, but the spot will long remain, both to Jew and Christian, one of the most interesting in all the Holy land. Hard by is another spot of special sanctity both to the Jew and Moslem, — the grave of Joseph. Although it is raatter of history, that Joseph's bones were borne from Egypt by his brethren and buried in this vicinity, in the plot of ground that Jacob gave long before to his favorite son, it is not certain that the spot designated and now marked by a Moslera chapel is the true one. We must be content to say of this, as of so many other matters, " it was here or hereabout." Turning our steps now toward the valley that divides Mount Ebal from Mount Gerizim, and passing on the way the small haralet of Balat, we soon enter the gate of the town of Shechem, one of the oldest localities known to history. Here Abraham halted on his first entrance into Canaan as he came from Ur of the Chaldees ; here he pitched his tent and built an altar to the great Jehovah. The oak that marked the spot was reputed to be standing as late as the sixteenth century of our present era. Here the twelve tribes of Israel were gathered in the valley and along the two raountain slopes, soon after their arrival in the proraised land, to hear the renewed proclaraation of the law, as Moses had appointed before they crossed the Jordan ; and here the blessings and the curses in the ancient ritual were repeated frora Gerizira and Ebal in turn. Here Joshua, when his da}'s were nearly numbered. HISTORIC SCENES LV PALESTINE. 24I gathered the tribes again, or the elders, officers, and heads of farailies, to remind thera once more of the many bless ings they had received, and counsel them to be faithful in tirae to come, that blessings still might be added to them. The Shecheraites point out a great rock that stands out on the side of Gerizim, as the position the aged leader occu pied when he gave his final counsel to his people. These people know that travellers come to see the very spots on which notable events transpired, and do their best to meet the demands of the occasion. The prudent in quirer, however, will raake raany grains of allowance for the stories these accoraraodating natives are so ready to dispense. Shechem, whose history runs back so far, was destined to a conspicuous place also in the later records of Israel. It was here that Abimelech, by conspiracy and fratricide, caused hiraself to be raade king ; and here that Jotham standing on the top of Mount Gerizira, pronounced the parable of the trees that carae together and raade the brarable-bush king over them ; whereat the king was greatly incensed and at length destroyed the city, his own skull being broken finally, by a piece of millstone that a woman dropped from the tower of Thebez on his head. It was at Shechera that Rehoboara, the son of Solomon, was made king, and here that the ten tribes revolted from the house of David and set up akingdora for themselves — the same ten tribes whose fate has been so long one of the unsolved problems of history. After the captivity, Shechem becarae the capital of the 242 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. Samaritans, " the oldest and yet the smallest sect in the world," — a mixed race, whom the Jews held in contempt, and with whora they still refuse to be associated. They occupy a certain quarter of the city, and have a synagogue which travellers raake it a point to visit. There is nothing reraarkable about the building save, perhaps, its alleged antiquity. There is first a small enclosure within high walls, containing a few orange trees and some flowers; next coraes a kind of vestibule, and next the chapel or synagogue proper, the floor of which is spread with clean matting, and must not be trodden with shoes. In a recess behind curtains is kept a very ancient copy of the Penta teuch, which is sometimes shown to visitors, and which every Samaritan present reverently kisses, whenever it is taken frora its safe depository. These people are distin guished by their white tunics and great red turbans, and make much pretence of cleanliness in their attire, though the streets in their quarter receive all raanner of offal, and sorae of thera are hardly decent in appearance. The Saraaritans are strict observers of the Feast of the Pass over, and at a certain season every year pitch their tents on Mount Gerizim, where at sunset on a particular day, a larab or lambs without blemish are sacrificed. After due inspection by the priest, the flesh is cast into a closed oven, where it is left till midnight, when the feast is spread. The men assurae a crouching position, with a staff in one hand, and eat in haste, as if still in momentary expectation of a sumraons to go on some hazardous expe dition. HISTORIC SCENES IN PALESTINE. 243 Thus Alount Gerizim, which witnessed the first coming of Abraham to the land of promise, and the return of Jacob from his enforced exile, and the reconsecration of the twelve tribes after their weary wanderings, and the revelation of a new life to the woman of Samaria, still recalls upon occasion the ancient feast, that meant so much to the children of Israel in their earlier history as a people. NAZARETH TO THE SEA OF GALILEE. We stand now on the height in the rear of Nazareth. The town lies on the eastern slope and nestles in a valley sentineled b}' numerous green and fruitful hills. The view from our position is counted one of the most remarkable in all Palestine. The town itself, of course, is full of interest to every Christian, and no one will leave it till he has visited the Latin monastery, where will be pointed out the Chapel of the Annunciation, with an account of various circurastances attending that august event, the spot where stood the House of t lie Virgin, with the fiitclien still in place, the worksliop of Josepfi — probably a pure invention, — the ancient synagogue in which Christ " stood up for to read " and preached his first sermon, and the hill in the southwest quarter of the town, whence some of those who heard him sought to " cast him down headlong." Perhaps the best-authenticated spot, next to the mere location of the synagogue, is Marys Well, in the east part of the town. There is a spring a little to the north, frora 244 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. which the water is conducted by a conduit past the altar of the Church of Gabriel, and thence to the fountain known as Mary's Well, whither women, with their water-jars, are continually coming and going, as they have been for raore than two thousand years, wearing substantially the same costumes, and bearing the same burdens, and reproducing the Bible scenes with which our eyes have been long familiar through pictorial illustrations. There is an open ing to the spring or the conduit near the altar of the church, from which the cool, refreshing water is drawn in a silver cup and offered to the visitor, who is expected to bestow a ie-w paras by way of gratuity or recompense, whichever he raay choose to count it. The only real significance in the well or fountain, however, is the fact that it is very certain, that at one tirae Mary was araong the woraen who carae thither daily for her supply of water for household use, and that the boy Jesus raay have often attended her, as boys are wont to follow their mothers to-day, as they go to and frora the fountain. But leaving the town for the present and maintaining still our position on the heights, the scenes that crowd upon the sight and the historic associations they recall are seldora raatched in any portion of the world. West ward, perhaps fifteen or twenty miles, is the Mediterranean Sea, whose azure surface reaches away till it joins the azure sky, and the line of division is not at first easily deterrained. A httle to the southward is Mount Carmel, a bold promontory that seems to jut out into the sea or the Bay of Acre, which here forras an indentation in the HISTORIC SCENES IN PALESTINE. 245 coast. At no other point, perhaps, are the three historic mountains of Palestine — Carmel, Tabor, and Hermon — so plainly seen. But following the broad plain that extends on our right, frora the sea near Carmel to the river Jordan on the east, we survey a scene that is full of historic interest. It is usually known as the plain of Esdraelon, though the names Megiddo and Jezreel are also applied to certain portions. In the distance, scarcely visible frora our position, is the town of Jezreel, near to which was Naboth's vineyard, of which the king possessed hiraself through the devices of a wicked woraan. Nearer to us and a little raore to the east is the scene of the victory of Barak and Deborah over the Canaanites, when " the stars in their courses fought against Sisera," — in other words, when the storra and the flood corabined to give Barak an easy victory. In the midst of the plain it was that Gideon and his gallant band put the Midianites to utter rout, after that they had swarmed like locusts from the east side of the Jordan to lay waste the fields of Israel. A little be yond, at a later date on Mount Gilboa, Saul sustained his terrible defeat at the hands of the Philistines, and after the battle, the bodies of himself and his three sons were found upon the heights, and exposejl to derision and indignity by the heartless foe. Near the foot of this raountain and a little to the east is still pointed out the .spring or pool known as Gideon's Fountain, where the selection of three hundred men, by a strange device, was raade frora the hosts of Israel to constitute his special 246 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. band. On a slope of Little Hermon, on the north side of the plain, is the village of Shunam, where lived the Shunaraite woraan, who always kept a spare roora for the preacher (prophet), and who sent post-haste to Mount Carmel for Elisha when a bitter sorrow came upon her house. Not far away is the village of Endor, where lived the woman who had " a familiar spirit," and coraraonly known as the witch of Endor, to whora Saul carae for consultation the very night before his fatal encounter with the Philistines. On another slope of Little Hermon is the village of Nain, where occurred one of the most striking incidents in- the ministry of Christ. And in another direction and still near to Nazareth is Cana of Galilee, where occurred the marriage feast " where the water was raade wine." Now we will leave the height in the rear of Nazareth and, passing through the town and by Mary's Well, will raove eastward along the broken plain, that lies in the direction of the Sea of Galilee or Lake of Genesareth. Events of history will still crowd upon us, and, with those which have only a basis of tradition, will occupy every moraent of our tirae as we are passing. On the right, rises in serene majesty the beautiful Mount Tabor, whose soft, green slopes contrast so strangely, with the bare limestone ridges of Little Hermon and other heights in the near vicinity. As we survey Mount Tabor and conteraplate its graceful outlines, we wonder, as thousands before us have done, if it was really the scene of the Transfiguration ; but with all the rest are corapelled to admit the evidence is HISTORIC SCENES iN PALESTINE. 247 not conclusive. Turning then toward the north we get our best view of the snow-clad slopes of Mount Hermon, still three days' ride away ; and a little farther on catch our first clear glimpse of the snowy heights of Lebanon. As we proceed on our day's march we observe at length a curious hill or mountain on the left, having two peaks, with grassy slopes between, known as the " Horns of Hattin." A part of it is also sometimes designated as the Mount of Beatitudes, for here tradition has located the scene of the Sermon on the Mount. It is generally conceded however, that there is no sufficient evidence to support the claim. We can only say it raay be the place. The Horns of Hattin are better known as the field of one of the most disastrous battles of the Crusaders in Palestine. After a desperate struggle, in which knights performed prodigies of valor, they were literally cut to pieces, some of thera, it is said, being crucified on the field by the inexorable Saladin. The battle occurred July 4, 1 187, nearly a hundred years after Peter the Hermit preached the first Crusade. A few miles farther, and on an abrupt brink, the charm ing Sea of Galilee opens suddenly before us. It lies in a deep basin, with only a narrow border between the water's edge and the base of the surrounding heights. The descent is steep, and nervous riders will prefer to take their chances on foot along the stony path. The way leads to the village of Tiberias, a comparatively modern town, named in honor of the Roraan emperor, and especially distinguished for the hot baths, still in use, where Herod 248 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. sought SO studiously to stay the progress of a fatal dis ease, of which he died while still fondly hoping for recov ery. The sea or lake is an ideal sheet of water. Fed by the upper Jordan, and feeding in turn the lower stream, its waters are fresh and sparkling, while the sedgy border and the gravelly brink make a bath a most luxurious experience. We hire a boat at Tiberias, and glide out upon the surface, — if the clumsy Galilean craft can be said to glide, — and realize that we are on the very lake where the sturdy fishermen, so long ago, plied their arduous trade, be fore they were called to other and more exalted duties, as " fishers of men. " We did not cast a line in these sacredly historic waters, as our thoughts were of other things, but supplied our table with a generous fry from the basket of a native fisherman. Along the shore, especially on the western side, are slight traces still of ancient towns, mere heaps of earth that show where ruins lie, — Magdala and Bethsaida and Capernaum and Chorazin, all of which have a farailiar sound ; but which is Bethsaida and which Capernaura, no one now can tell with certainty. We lingered for a tirae at one spot, picking our way about araong weeds and thorns, and pitched our tent upon the other, but carae away in as rauch uncertainty as ever as to the precise location of either of these particular towns of the olden tirae. Gamala and the " country of the Gadarenes " are upon the eastern shore, but the Bedou ins — Arab robber tribes — are masters there, and we do not care to cultivate their acquaintance. CHAPTER Vni. ZENOBIA'S CAPITAL— A DESERT JOURNEY. C-A.MELS or horses, — which should it be? That was the first point to be settled. We were to make a desert journey, and for such purpose the camel is gen erally conceded to be the better of the two. Still, for a journey of a single week, the horse has some qualities to coraraend hira. Truth to tell, our forraer experience at ca-rael-riding in Egypt had quite satisfied our curiosity, and at the sarae time had utterly failed to awaken any ambition to excel in that peculiar style of gymnastics. A carael will move steadily all day long without food or water ; and over deep sand or on a road covered with sharp fragraents of stone, will raake better tirae than a horse, his sponge-like, splay feet giving hira much advan tage ; but when the traveller reaches a bit of sraooth road, a brisk canter on horseback is a great relief to the weari- sorae raonotony of the day's raarch. Happily there were horses at hand, and a sufficient nuraber of camels could not be obtained without some delay ; so the day was carried in favor of the forraer, and on a pleasant April raorning, the party issued frora the gate of St. Thomas, on the east side of the city of Da- 249 250 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. mascus, and took the Aleppo road, which is followed some distance in a northerly direction before reaching the Palmyra trail. The first day's journey lay amid orchards and cultivated fields, similar to those through which Da mascus is approached from the west and south. Camp was pitched the first night at Jerud, an ancient town in the midst of pleasant gardens. As we were only partiall}' provided with tents, a couple of adventurous youths of the party sought shelter, at their own option, in a native hostelry in the town. Next morning they reported fair accoraraodations, so far as bedding was concerned, but it so happened a group of dervishes, on a sort of evangelistic mission perhaps, were guests at the same house, and as the proprietor and his family were devout Mohammedans, the occasion could not be allowed to pass without some formal recognition. So they raade a night of it, to the disgust rather than edification of our fellow travellers. The dervishes seera to have been of the variety known as " howlers," to dis tinguish them frora the " dancers " or " whirlers," and those of various other designations, and though their sincerit}' raay not be questioned, their peculiar exercises do not tend to proraote sleep in the near x'icinity. We were earl}' in the saddle, however, and still pushing on in a northerly direction found the countr}- rapidly changing in character. We had left the Damascus basin, and our way lay at a greater altitude, over much rough and stony road and across a series of barren hills. The sun beat down upon us with increasing heat, which was ZENOBIA'S CAPITAL. 25 I tempered in the forenoon, however, by a stiff breeze that blew frora the highlands to the northwest of us. It is unsafe to travel in this country without an escort, and provision raust be made for that before leaving Da mascus, as the Bedouins that swarm across the desert re gions may pounce down upon one at any point beyond the settlements. Two petty officers attended us the first day, and the force was increased on the raorning of the second, by the addition of four of the toughest-looking pirates we saw anywhere in Syria. However, they were presumed to understand their duty, and we had no choice but to accept them. A part of the raission of this escort was to guard the tents at night, and we were a little dis turbed one raorning, when our dragoman reported that he made an inspection of the guard about three o'clock, and found thera sleeping as soundly as any one they were set to guard. Complaint of this seeming laxity of discipline was made to the officers, but on their assurance that the dragoraan must have been deceived, and that any one found sleeping at his post would certainly be executed without delay, we gave it up and concluded it would be best to strengthen the guard by keeping an eye out for ourselves. However, no serious harm came to us, whether the guard were sleeping or awake. Our second night was spent at Karyaten, where our tents were pitched in a threshing-floor on the outskirts of the town. Again our youthful contingent sought shelter at an Arab inn, and though they reported the beds were occupied before they got into thera, they had no dervish 252 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. neighbors, and slept as soundly as they would at home. There are some ancient and rather imposing tombs in this vicinity, and one noted sarcophagus quite exposed ; but we had seen enough of these before, and were more anxious to reach our destination. Leaving Karyaten we entered upon a broken region of hill and dale with little water on the way, and after a moderate day's ride reached the vicinity of a dilapidated castle, which has long been given over to the owls and bats, but of the history of which we could gain no definite information. It is only one of many landmarks on or near the desert plains of Syria of which no man now can tell the origin, or by whora they were occupied. Sorae industrious archeologists have sought them out, one by one, and by some clew on wall or stone, or some tradition in the neigh borhood, raanaged to frame problematical accounts. But traditions do not always harraonize, and inscriptions raay have had one origin or another, and on the whole it raay be doubted if the toilsorae labor of these devoted men always adds to the volume of authentic histor}'. Research in ancient cities has much more ground of probability, but scattered remnants here and there, such as the ragged walls before us, can scarce repay the time and labor their investigation costs. One day's travel in the desert is much like another, and there is little variety of incident, unless soraething hap pens quite out of the usual course. There is sand and rock and hill and plain, occasional dr}' beds of streams, and here and there patches of a thorn}' shrub, that raay ZENOBIA'S CAPITAL. 253 serve a raoderate use when no other fuel can be found. Sand, however, does not occur in extensive tracts on the way to Palrayra till the journey is nearly ended. Sand has an affinity for the oasis ; and while conspicu ously absent in raore sterile tracts, seeras ever ready at hand to overwhelm every patch of green, where the springs for a single season have failed to yield their usual supply of water ; for there is no other source of life. The last half day's ride was varied by a stirring inci dent. While plodding slowly along under the heat of the mid-day sun, the attention was arrested by a low line of moving objects at a distance, accompanied with rising clouds of dust. It was soon apparent that a corapany of horseraen were coraing toward us at a rapid pace, and the conclusion followed instantly, that we were to encounter a troop of Bedouins. Our dragoraan and his subordinates were evidently a little nervous, and cast about thera as if ancertain just what to do. The two officers coraraanding the escort, while watching narrowly the raoveraents of the strangers, raanaged to preserve a dignified complacency ; while the piratical contingent, picked up on the way, be trayed no special interest either in us or our approaching visitors. They were probably accustomed to such scenes, and it was raore than half suspected at the tirae, that they fully understood this raoveraent, and had possibly bargained for it before they were added to our company. This suspicion, however, we afterwards concluded was without any good foundation. When within about a mile and upon a rising bit of 254 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. ¦ground, the strangers halted, and it was evident they were a troop of half-naked tatterderaalions, such as scour the plains and subsist by exacting tribute, or ransora, of such travellers or caravans as fall in their way, and sometimes by open robbery. After a few moments' delay a single horseraan came flying down the slope, with arms out stretched like the wings of a great bird, and his scanty drapery fluttering, in the rear. This was probably an ad vance courier, and we awaited his coming with less appre hension than if the whole troop had swept down upon us in a body. But halfway down the slope he also halted, and after a brief inspection of our company and position, wheeled his horse about and returned as rapidly as he came. There was evidently a brief consultation, and they turned their course and slowly galloped away, disappearing at length beyond a range of hills. Whether their inten tions were at first pacific, whether they over-estimated our strength, or concluded the game was not worth the candle, we never knew. We neither saw nor heard of them again. Meanwhile the sun's rays were increasing in intensity, the stony way had been exchanged for occasional drifts of sand, and there was no water to be had for man or beast. Never perhaps was a sight more welcome than the first ap pearance of the gleaming reranant of the City of the Plain, the end and object of our journey. And never was cup of water raore refreshing than that first dipped from the ancient reservoir that still supplies the town. We were corapelled to rent a bit of ground, from the ZENOBIA'S CAPITAL. 255 avaricious sheik, for our tents, and caraped in full view of the great Teraple of the Sun, while a wilderness of ruins spread out around us ; shattered walls, broken colurans, and decrepit arches raarking the spot as one of utter desolation and decay. And this, we raused, is or was Zenobia's capital. Here lived and reigned the raost distinguished queen in all the Orient. Beautiful in person, it is said — and what gifted woraan is not beautiful in the iraagination of posterity ! — she displayed abilities that placed her in the front rank of the sovereigns of her tirae. But how are the raighty fallen ! What a raockery of huraan greatness is this deso lation ! How are the fruits of genius and arabitious enterprise fallen together in these heaps ! What encour agement is there to plan and toil and build, if to this con dition all raust come at last ! But we forget our raission : to see what still reraains, and not to indulge sad plaints over what has been but is no raore. The buildings that first come in sight, at the top of the incline on which the city stands, appear to have been mausoleums. But an occasional fragmentary inscription clearly refers them to the Roman period, and with that we have sraall concern. Palrayra was then no longer the city it had been — no longer the capital of the valiant queen. And while matters relating to its earlier history have a perennial charm, that which follows palls -upon the taste, and we turn away. Palmyra — the Tadmor of Genesis, — the City of Palms, as the narae implies, while confined to a single oasis in a great desert region, was 256 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. still fortunate in its situation. About midway between the east and west, or between the Orontes and Euphrates, it profited by all the rnerchandise and travel that passed in either direction. It was the one point of exchange, the chief camping-ground for all the caravans, and supply depot for all expeditions. The silks frora China, olive oil frora Palestine, perfumes from Arabia, cotton goods from European marts, and soraetimes precious stones from the Indies, must pass this way in quest of pur chasers, and all these must pay tribute to the city of the plain. Moreover, by adroit diplomacy, the Palmyrians man aged generally to maintain friendly relations with the Parthians on the one hand and the Roraans on the other, and so had raatters at horae pretty much their own way — were practically independent, though norainally sub ordinate in rank to their stronger neighbors. Thus Palmyra grew in numbers and especially in wealth, and these together constitute the chief claims to a conspicuous place in history. The story of Zenobia's rise and reign and fall has been often told, and need occupy but little space in this desultory sketch. On the death of her husband Odenathus, she assumed the reins of govern ment, and, not content w-ith the little realra over which her husband had been king, greatly extended her king dora, partly by force of arms and partly by the reputation she had gained for railitary skill and prowess in the field ; fpr she soraetimes led her troops in action, and upon occasion revived their drooping spirits, by going on foot ZENOBIA'S CAPITAL. 257 before them in tedious marches. She discarded the name of Palrayra's queen and assumed the more sounding title of Augusta, Queen of the East. Her growing farae aroused the jealousy of Aurelian, the Roman Emperor, for Rome also clairaed authority in the Eastern world, and he marched against her with his trained legions. Two battles were fought before he reached Palmyra, in both of which the queen was defeated, and she shut her self up in her capital and prepared for a determined siege. But the Roraan army was too much for her, and when it became evident she raust yield, she attempted to escape by flight, intending probably to seek an alliance with the Persians against the invaders of her realm. She was captured, however, by a band of cavalry when about to cross the Euphrates to the east, and brought back a prisoner to Aurelian. Meanwhile the city had surren dered and was leniently treated by the conqueror, who allowed them to retain most of their privileges as citizens, though he carried away large store of wealth. Leaving a few hundred soldiers to garrison the place and hold it as a dependency of Rome, Aurelian set out to return, taking with hira the captive queen to grace the triumph usually accorded to a successful conqueror, on returning to the imperial capital. He had not gone far on his way, when tidings reached hira that the Palrayrians had risen in revolt, and slaughtered the soldiers left to hold the place. Incensed at what he deeraed a piece of base ingratitude, he returned immediately, laid the city waste, and put the inhabitants to the sword. 258 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. In the triumph that followed Aurelian's return to Rorae, Zenobia was the leading figure. Clad in queenly robes, loaded with jewels, and fettered with golden chains, she was led on foot in front of the emperor's chariot. Even in that humiliating condition she bore herself with dignity, and so won the sympathy and good will of her conqueror. He bestowed upon her a pleasant villa by the Tiber, where she lived in dignified retirement as a noble Roman matron for many years, devoting her self at first to the education of her children and afterwards to works of charity and beneficence. But the days of Palrayra were nurabered. The events just noted happened sixteen hundred years ago, but there was no raore glory for the city of the plain. Attempts were made, both by Roman and by Moslem, to reinstate it, in something of its early glory, but in vain. It was no longer peopled by a thrifty or an enterprising race ; the Saracens came in with their barbarian customs and their fanatic zeal, and gradually it dwindled to a mere campitig- ground for Bedouins. Streets and temples were neglected ; tombs were desecrated ; fluted columns and ornate capitals lay scattered here and there ; costly arches fell to ruin, and the desert sands invaded the paved thoroughfares. The eleraents added their destructive forces to the work of conquerors, and never was desolation raore complete. Of course Palmyra by this change of fortune lost all com raercial interest. The laden caravan no longer carae this way, nor did the busy merchant turn aside here for cus toraers. Gradually the place sank out of sight and out of ZENOBIA'S CAPn^AL. 259 mind, and for centuries the very location was unknown, except to a few uneasy Arabs, who kept up their wander ing life upon the desert plains. And now what can we say of Palrayra as it is to-day ? Any atterapt to trace details of its various temples, tombs, arches, and colonnades must be unsatisfactory, because of the fragmentary character of remains, and the fact that the best-preserved portions have been so often defaced with patchwork and degraded by renewals, that the conviction forces itself upon the observer, there is nothing left here of the city, as it was in its palray days. The raost prorainent feature of Palrayra's magnificent reraains is the Grand Colonnade, that traverses the city from the sumrait of the slope on which the city stands to the triple gate, probably a triumphal arch, at the foot of the grade and near the great Temple of the Sun, though not directly facing it. This pillared avenue was nearly a mile in length, and studded on either side with tall though rather slender colurans, not of raarble, as-sorae writers have incautiously stated, but a hard, white or soraetime purplish liraestone, such as abounds in the neighboring hills. It adraits of a high polish and success fully resists the action of the elements, as these examples show. They are tall rather than massive or gigantic, being less than four feet in diaraeter, and with base and capital are set down at fifty-six feet in height. The original number of columns has been variously estimated at frora one to two thousand ; but a little measurement 26o FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. shows the first to be nearest the exact figure. More than three quarters of them, however, are prone upon the ground ; a few have been carried away in fragments, and raany are nearly hidden in the rubbish which has been so long accuraulating. But the reraaining pillars are so disposed that, standing at either end, the observer may almost persuade himself the number is still quite complete. The traveller to Samaria in Palestine will recall some what similar, though sraaller colurans, disposed about the hill on which once stood Herod's capital. Near the raiddle portion of the avenue, a few consecu tive colurans still support the entablature, or running beara, that once extended frora end to end of the colonnade, and, according to sorae authorities, forraed a footway on which privileged citizens could walk of a suraraer evening, and conteraplate the busy, surging crowd upon the street over fifty feet below. A curious problera is suggested by the presence in the sarae vicinity of a few shafts of granite, or rather sienite, sirailar to that quarried on the upper Nile. Whence carae they and how were they transported hither? is a question easier asked than answered. But the ruin that attracts most attention, and will hold the traveller longest in contemplation, is the Teraple of the Sun, one of the few really raagnificent shrines that the pagan world has still to show. In sorae respects it recalls the teraple at Baalbec, but is raore coraplete, and besides is iraraediately surrounded b}- a lofty and raassive ZENOBI.rS CAPITAL. 261 wall, a wonder in itself. The portions that remain attest the grandeur of the whole, though to allow a main gate way to be choked with rubbish, and effect an entrance through a panelled window space between Corinthian pilasters, is to degrade this noble structure to the level of a sty or hovel. These walls once stood seventy feet in height and en closed a space seven hundred and forty feet across. They were, and in part still are, surmounted by cornice, frieze, and architrave, while the outer surface is relieved by panels, mouldings, and pilasters, with an effect at once pleasing and majestic. Around the interior of the court which the walls enclose, extends a double colonnade forraing a sort of continuous portico, while the court itself is in good part occupied by the rude huts of the Arabs, who constitute the present population of the town. In the centre of the court, in marked contrast with the adjacent hovels of raingled mud and fragraents of carven stone, is the terhple proper, a noble relic of architecture of the Grecian order, not so perfect in proportion, but raore rich and profuse in erabellishraent than the Parthe non that crowns the Athenian Acropolis. Within and about this reraarkable structure, in addition to the ruin incident to neglect and tirae, is evidence of the sarae Moslem vandalism so painfully apparent in many Egyptian temples ; scarcely an image or a statue that is not defaced, if not reduced to fragraents. The Mohammedans seem to have a genius for defacing any thing in the way of sculpture that is beautiful. Not that 262 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. they revel in the hideous as do some heathen nations, but their fanaticisra vents itself on every thing pertain ing to any religion or any shrine, which does not honor, first of all, the prophet of Medina. Christian and heathen are on a level in this respect, in the eyes of the Mohara medan. The ornamentation of this temple, as already stated, is elaborate, and in details — in festoons of flowers and leaves and clusters of various fruits, on pillar, frieze, and lintel — recalls the rich carvings in sorae of the Indian teraples, or the intricate designs in sorae shrines among the Japanese. But we weary of this detail amid such surroundings. We cannot hope to raaster them in the time at our com mand, neither do we incline to lengthen out our stay. There is too much to sadden, too little to inspire. We call our dragoman and bid him make ready next morning for an early start. To our surprise he does not readily fall in with our plans, and begins to make excuse. He had not expected to go so soon ; his animals were not sufficiently recruited ; one of thera had strayed and prob ably been stolen by the Bedouins ; but they would return it in a day or two for a raodest ransora. His reluctance was easily accounted for by the fact, that we employed him by the day ; but a judicious backsheesh, that sover eign remedy for every ill that Arab flesh is heir to, quickly removed the difficulty, and he was on hand, stolen horse and all, at the tirae appointed. In returning frora Palrayra there is a way to Homs, ZEXOBl.rS CAPITAL. 263 thence to Baalbec, and, if the strength holds out, to the few stunted cedars that still remain on Lebanon. But we preferred the post-road beyond Damascus, and so retraced our steps, reaching that raost venerable of all the ancient cities in due time and without special incident. CHAPTER IX. THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN— MALTA. THE very raention of the island of Malta brings to raind the order of the Knights of St. John of Je rusalera. The history of the one was so long identical with the story of the other they cannot be separated ; and no sooner do we enter the bay on the north side of the island, than we find ourselves looking inquiringly out for the faraous strongholds of St. Elrao and San Angelo. We are not kept long in waiting, however, for the fortress of St. Elmo, with a light-house tower rising from the midst, stands out prorainently before or rather above us, on the headland of the narrow proraontor}' that separates the two harbors. For there are two harbors here, both deep and safe, making it one of the best ports of call or refuge in the world. The island is about one hundred square miles in ex tent, and must have been originalh' far from attractive in itself. It is little raore than a bare and sterile rock, except where huraan hands have gathered a little soil, and save it frora deraolition still b}' raeans of walls and terraces. It has no lake or river, nor even a con siderable brook that flows the year around. There is 264 THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN. 265 no forest or even an extended patch of brushwood ; and the cactus and one or two kindred plants, alone sustain the appearance of a native growth. The industrious Maltese to be sure have wrought great changes in this respect, and about the more populous centres, as at Va letta and Citta Vecchia, there is no lack of vegetables, fruits, and flowers ; the latter are especially abundant ; the markets are gay with thera, and immense quantities are displayed for sale along the streets. The rocks, which everywhere obtrude upon the sight, seem to be the only things native to the island. Almost every thing besides is artificial, or at least an iraportation frora abroad. One curious fact appears : none of the rocks are of volcanic origin, notwithstanding their proxiraity to one of the greatest volcanic areas on the globe. They are chiefly a yellowish sandstone of comparatively recent origin, varied in color here and there with patches of reddish or gray. On the south side of the island the rocky border rises abruptly soraetiraes three or four hundred feet in height, while on the north there is raore tendency to a gradual slope ; though about Valetta, which occupies the prora ontory which separates the harbors, and on the tip of which St. Elrao stands, the rocks are also precipitous and of considerable height. The climate is almost uniformly raild, soraetimes very warm, though the Sirocco from the African desert and the Euroclydon from the northeast, the same wind by which St. Paul was driven ashore, still visit the island at certain 266 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. seasons. St. Paul's Bay, some six or seven miles from our landing-place, is of course one of the historic spots, and the traveller will certainly be drawn thither if tirae per mits. The cove or creek, " where two seas raet," where St. Paul was shipwrecked, and which flows only when the tide is in, is easily identified, and in the town of Citta Vecchia hard by is a famous church, with a dome larger than that of the Pantheon, reputed to occupy the site of the house of Publius, the chief raan of the island, who received Paul and courteously entertained him when cast ashore ; and the annual procession in honor of St. Paul still marks one of the leading religious festivals of the vicinity. ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. But the thrilling history of Malta centres in the period of its occupation by the Hospitallers, otherwise known as the Knights of St. John of Jerusalera, or Knights of the White Cross, and later as Knights of Malta. The origin of the order raay be briefly told. Early in the eleventh century, a hospital was estabhshed at Jerusa lem by some wealthy European traders to the Holy Land, for the special benefit of Latin pilgrims, who, resorting thither as a religious duty, often suffered violence or op pression at the hands of the Moslem rulers of the country, and were sometiraes reduced to e.xtreme destitution. A few of these pilgrims, having little occasion to return to Europe, and catching the spirit of the times, resolved to reraain at Jerusalem and devote theraselves to the care THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN. 267 of their unfortunate brethren in the hospital, and were thence known as Hospitallers. They were soon estab hshed as a sort of monastic order, with the privilege of bearing arms when occasion offered or necessity required. This was the origin of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalera. Soon after, another fraternity was founded of soraewhat similar character, but having for its chief purpose the convoying of pilgrims to the Holy Land, and protecting them frora indignity while engaged in their pious raission. It was therefore especially a railitary order, though the raembers also assumed raonastic vows. The new frater nity was lodged near the teraple at Jerusalem, hence carae to be known as Knights of the Teraple or Knights Teraplars. They were distinguished by a red cross upon a white raantle, in contradistinction frora the Knights of St. John, who were designated by a white cross upon a black robe. Though in the distraction of the Eastern world, it would seera there was enough for both these fraternities to do, they did not long agree. The discord arose over a disputed title to certain property which both parties clairaed, but by which neither of them profited in the end. Then followed various scandals of no credit to either one. A spirit of jealousy for a season took the place of the devoted unction and philanthropy under which the Orders had originated. Thenceforth their en terprises were conducted separately and with little regard to the interests of one another. The Teraplars had the raore rapid growth, and came at 268 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. length to be the most distinguished and powerful religio- railitary order in Christendom, but suffered almost total eclipse, by the execution of Grand-Master De Molay and the Grand Prior of Normandy at Paris on the eighteenth day of March, 13 13. The Knights of St. John were supposed to have been almost utterly annihilated in the disastrous battle of the Crusaders at Hattin, near Tiberias in Galilee, in 1 187. They however maintained a stubborn, though often precarious, hold in Palestine for a full century after this disaster. In 1 29 1 they finally withdrew to the island of Cyprus, where they succeeded in partially repairing their broken fortunes. Subsequently they took forcible possession of the island of Rhodes, a piratical resort of sea-going Moslems. They greatly improved the island, strongly fortified it, and held possession for raore than two hundred years. But in 1522, after repeated sieges, they were dislodged by the Turks and were left without any sure abiding-place They sought temporary refuge in Candia, in Sicily, and in Italy till 1530, when the island of Malta, with the neighboring islet of Gozo, was ceded to them by Charles V. of Spain. This new possession was not highly prized at first ; in deed, there was little to please the eye in its barren rocks, and little in its history to inspire enthusiasm. It had fallen first and last under the hand of every nation that sought to control the Mediterranean waters, — Phoenician, Carthaginian, Roman, Saracen, and Norman, — and was now reduced to the rank of a feudal fief of Sicil}', which was a dependency of Spain. They removed their availa- THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN. 269 ble forces, however, to the island, and set to work with characteristic energy to improve its wastes and strengthen its defences. That they succeeded in their undertaking is sufficiently evident in the fact, that the fortifications soon came to be known as the most impregnable in Europe, or even in the world. Here they lived and prospered, increased somewhat in nurabers, and added greatly to their wealth for a period. of more than two hundred and fifty years. Their situa tion gave opportunity for the developraent of raaritirae strength and skill, to which they were rauch inclined, while their isolation from the world was most favorable for all home enterprises of the Order. The Knights of St. John, or as they were later called. Knights of Malta, were at once the terror and the safety of the Mediterranean Sea. They were ready to forward legitiraate enterprise, and pursued relentlessly the Turkish corsairs that haunted the southern coast. It is too rauch to say they did not fall sometimes into the vices of the age, or that their own interests were not guarded at the expense of others. They were human, and possessed of many of the weak nesses which that terra iraplies. Authorities differ as to their disposition toward the native islanders. They have been accused of tyranny. But it is well established that the people were generally better off, than before the knights were raasters of the island and the surrounding seas. At all events, they Hved together without serious rupture for eight or ten generations. 270 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. SIEGE OF ST. ELMO. The prosperity of the knights was not attained without many a conflict, and they were compelled from tirae to time to defend their little stronghold in the sea, at fearful cost. In 1 55 1 they were besieged by Solyman the Magnificent, the Turkish Sultan, but succeeded in maintaining their position. A few years later, in 1 565, for some alleged insult, the Sultan came again, with a vow not to relinquish the un dertaking, till he had laid their fortifications level with the ground and dislodged the horde of infidels they defended. And now began one of the raost heroic struggles in the annals of the world. There is no more pathetic story in all history than that of the defence of Fort St. Elmo by the knights, even after it becarae certain that only defeat and death awaited them. La Valette, the Grand Master, held a reserve of native Maltese soldiers in Fort St. Angelo, across the harbor, ready to come to the relief of St. Elmo should the neces sity arise. But the wily Turks soon discovered this intention, and trained some of their heavy guns upon the space between. Soon after the siege began, all communi cation './ith St. Elmo was cut off, and they could get neither reinforcements nor supplies. The enemy had corapletely invested the fort both by sea and land. The present site of Valetta was then an open space, along the peninsula at the extremity of which St. Elmo stands, and this gave opportunity for the most effectual approach. Assault after assault followed day by day on the landward side, while the ships kept up their destructive fire from THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN. 27 I the sea. The most terrific slaughter of the enemy did not abate their zeal, but rather added to the fury of their attacks. The walls of the fort were breached. The outer embankments were no longer tenable. The struggle went on by night as well as day. It became at tiraes a hand- to-hand encounter. The ranks of the knights were rapidly thinning out, while the blood of the dead and wounded Turks discolored the waters of the sea around. More than a raonth had passed since this terrific strife began, and it was now evident there could be but one result. St. Elmo must fall. Another day would see the ramparts levelled with the ground. At raidnight on the 21st of June, 1565, the knights repaired in a body to the little chapel of St. Erasmus, still shown beneath the fort, to receive the sacrament, preparatory to the death they knew would speedily follow the coraing dawn. At daylight the sick and wounded were brought up from their beds, and placed in chairs upon the battlements sword in hand, and with their faces to the foe, while the remaining knights raanned the forlorn breaches as best they could. They had not long to wait, for the eneray, sanguine now of easy victory, were irapatient to coraplete their bloody work. On they carae with defiant shout ; but their task was not so easy as they had counted. Four long hours of desperate fighting followed before they gained the fort, and the strife was ended. The brave, de voted, and resolute defenders had fought on to the bitter end. Not a raan of them was left alive. The destruction was complete. 272 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. In admiration for the principals in this historic struggle, we should not forget their allies or assistants, the native soldiery, who served so valiantly and with such devotion. No less than three hundred Sir knights and thirteen hun dred soldiers laid down their lives at St. Elmo ; but that they sold them dearly is attested by the fact, that no less than eight thousand Turks perished in the siege. After brief respite the conquerors turned their attention to Fort St. Angelo, just across the great harbor from St. Elmo. But either from exhaustion of resources or other causes, they did not succeed in dislodging the sturdy oc cupants, and on the 8th of Septeraber following, the Turks withdrew in sorae disorder from the island, leaving the Knights of St. John once more in peaceable possession. There have been longer sieges ; there have been greater losses in the history of war ; but never, in all the annals of the world, was there a raore striking exaraple of heroic devotion and chivalric courage than in the defence of St. Elrao, by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalera. VALETTA. The knights, speedily regaining strength and spirit after this long-continued and exhausting strife, set them selves with renewed energy to repair the wastes of war, and to signalize their deliverance by various improve ments in the island. They rebuilt St. Elrao in greater strength than it had before, and the same year founded the city of Valetta — so naraed in honor of the Grand Master, — on the peninsula, along which the most destruc- THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN. 273 tive assaults had been delivered on the fort. This tongue of land is narrow, and descends on either side rapidly to the sea. The raain thoroughfare traverses the city al most its entire length, while nuraerous cross-streets frora side to side are terrainated at either end, by flights of steps leading to or near the water's edge. Along the main and on sorae of the cross-streets were built houses of a raost substantial character, which still bear witness to the fore cast and enterprise of their early occupants. The build ings were uniformly of stone, with thick, stubborn walls, and raost of thera but two, or at raost three, stories high. The ground-floor in raany of them is now given up to trade, while the second story, with projecting wooden balconies, serve for living-rooms, and viewed at some dis tance along the street have the appearance of a series of cages suspended above the sidewalk. Valetta is a goodly city still. Its substantial character well fits it to be one of the central markets of the world, and whatever fortune may be in store, it raust always reraain a deposi tory of historic raeraories. One cannot stir abroad in Malta without seeing many evidences of the permanent services the knights rendered to the island, in the excellent roads they caused to be built, to replace the rude trails of an earlier day ; in the watch-towers they erected by the sea, and the improve ments raade in every considerable town. And at Valetta, the centre of trade and interest, are the Palace and Arraory of the knights, the vast Hospital, the great Church of St. John, and finally the renewed fortress of St. Elrao. A 274 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. Volume raight be written of either of these, but a para graph raay serve to give sorae idea of the scenes they re call and the interests they represent. The Church of St. John is in a sense, the Pantheon of the raen who built Valetta and ruled Malta for so many years. It was built as a raeraorial offering for their deliv erance, and the event is celebrated with rauch display as well as show of gratitude and reverence, on each returning anniversary. A visit to this stately edifice will not be soon forgotten. The knights have vied with one another in providing em bellishments and adding to its treasures. The frescos overhead are among the finest we have seen. The figures stand out with a statuesque effect, that goes far to convince one that they must be in bas-relief. But the scenes are painted on a flat surface, and by an artist of three hun dred years ago, who, it is said, refused all remuneration, deeming the opportunity thus to display his art sufficient recompense. As we walk across the floor we tread on artistically inlaid slabs, that mark the resting-places of heroic knights, while two noble sarcophagi in the crypt enclose the ashes of two of the rao.st valiant Grand Mas ters of the order, L'Isle Adam and La Valette. The Hospital of St. John is another notable building, though rather from association with the past, than from any thing it now contains. Here the knights had oppor tunity to resume the calling for which their order first originated. Here sick and wounded knights were person ally attended by raembers of the fraternity, fed with THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN. 275 silver, some sa}' golden spoons, and provided with every thing that could help to soothe their pains and remind them of the dignity of their rank and calling. The GREAT Hall, five hundred and fifty feet in length, is reputed to be the largest single apartment in the world, and there were times when its full capacity was taxed, though it has now a dreary and deserted look. The Palace of the knights well might occupy the visitor for the day, for it was built with raost elaborate detail, and contains apartraents for every use that occasion might require. The grand winding stairway will first arrest at tention ; then the corridors, the vestibules, the alcoves, the governor's ample quarters, the offices for the various departments, the ball-room, the council-chamber, and the arraory. Then there is no end of pictures, tile-work, raosaics, frescos, panel paintings, and detached pieces ; Bible scenes, battle scenes, portraits ; pictures of which the name and intent cannot be mistaken, and pictures that no man can now interpret with any certainty. But the one apartment which we cannot afford to pass by is the armory. One is reminded of the Tower of London. Here are gathered arras frora raany a hard- fought field, and frora widely separated countries. The rusty blades, the broken spears, the shattered lances, the battered swords, speak an eloquent language. They tell of nights of watching and days of strife, such as kept the mediseval world astir and raade knighthood a con dition of peril as well as honor. Then there are druras of the Order, and shields, cuirasses, and cul- 276 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. verins ; cannon of various capacity and mould ; a sort of breech-loading gun, and others that anticipated in a reraarkable degree the iraproved arms of the present day. There is armor, both chain and plate, sorae of which seem fitted for giants rather than for men of coraraon stature. There are portraits of the twenty-eight Grand Masters who ruled in Malta frora 1530 to 1798; torn banners of the knights and faded colors of the Maltese soldiery are displayed under glass ; and in the centre of the hall are glass cases on raarble pedestals containing various articles of historic interest ; the original bull of Pope Pascal II., dated A.D. 11 13, receiving the Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem under his protection ; the original document ceding Malta to the knights by Charles V., dated 1530; the trumpet on which was sounded the re treat from Rhodes ; the baton of Grand-Master La "\ ''alette, and fragraents of armor of other distinguished knights. For such as have a special taste for art, will be found a large variety of majolica ware — vases, jars, and bowls, — many of which served to hold drugs and medicines in the hospital. It was probably manufactured at Siena, Italy, about the year 1600, though a much earher date is claimed for it. Near the entrance to the palace is the Grand-Master's coach, which also tells a pathetic tale. With rauch display of red paint and tarnished gilt, the disraantled interior shows that the raagnificent occasions, on which it held the raost conspicuous place, have long since passed away never again to be renewed. The coach is indicative of the fortunes of its masters. Their glories are araong the things that were. THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN. 2'J'J And now we turn again, as we did at first, to Fort St. Elmo. In the capstone of the arch in front is carved a large eye, indicative of vigilance. We cross the raoat and pass the portcullis so suggestive of raediaeval times. Mounting the tower, which illumines all the region round at night, we gain a view of the island's full extent and the sea that laves its shores on every side. The view is one to be long remembered, but we cannot tarry here. Under the escort of a British officer we are per raitted to inspect sorae portions of the fort, and note the substantial character of the work done by the former occupants. Finally we repair below to the little chapel of such historic memories. Instinctively we tread lightly and speak low; for the spirits of the devoted and chivalrous knights seera to hover about us even now, and give to the sacred place a consecration that no elaborate and formal service could ever give. And so we take our leave of Malta. After the faraous siege of 1565, the knights were left in coraparatively peaceful possession of their island home till 1798, when Napoleon, then the rising military star of Europe, turned aside on his way to Egypt, gained posses sion of the place, largely through inefficiency of the comraander, and thus displaced the long-established Order. Many of the knights withdrew to Russia, and their rule in Malta was at an end. The French did not hold possession long. In 1803 they were displaced in turn by the English, and the British flag floats above the fortress still. CHAPTER X. A GLANCE AT SICILY AND THE FURTHER SHORE. MORE than one enthusiastic writer has represented the prospect from the old Greek theatre at Taormina, in the northeastern part of Sicily, as the finest in the world. We determined to test the matter, so far as our knowledge of the world might enable us to judge. Accordingly we left the train a few railes south of Messina, and took the slow and toilsome and at the same time most charraing drive, around projecting points and across abrupt ravines and up the mountain side, to where the antiquated village stands. There are very limited accoraraodations for the traveller here, but we did not come to be entertained, so made our way at once to the surarait above the town, the anticipated point of view. We confess to a liking for superlatives, and found use here for all at our coraraand. The view is certainly nowhere surpassed, if indeed it can be equalled. First, there is here, perhaps the best specimen of a Greek theatre of the period when Greece was in her prirae, to be found in any land. As usual, the builder took advantage of the natural configuration of the surface to forra the amphitheatre, and a few of the seats and 278 A GLA.VCE AT SICILY. 279 portions of the wall still remain quite complete. And as the whole structure was open to the sky, if the play on the mimic stage was not entertaining, the patrons were sure of other scenes and suggestions in the region round about. But turning our eyes to what lies beyond our immediate vicinity, what an extent and variety of scene is open to us : The blue sea to the north, flecked with islands here and there ; to the east and beyond the straits, the raoun tains of Calabria rising raajestically against the sky ; the Sicilian raountains with covert nooks and valleys to the south and west ; while yEtna, dorainating all, rears its lava- scarred and rugged forra under a helraet of glistening snow. Has the reader a taste for classic fable, we have it here, and from the raost reputable source — Homer's Odyssey. There lies Charybdis almost at our feet, with Scylla just beyond, and the perilous channel, the dread of mariners, between. This is not all fable, it is true, for there is the raountain on the other side and the threatening reefs upon this ; though many a traveller has passed through these straits, without a hint of the swirl that threatens him on the one hand, or the green sea-dogs that bay him on the other. Then just below us, and a little to the south, is the forraer haunt of the Cyclopean Polyphemus, and the scene of his fruitless love-making to the sea- nymph, Galatea. And really there are also, just offshore, the very rocks that Polyphemus, in his rage, threw at the departing Greek. The story is familiar. The one-eyed 28o FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. Cyclops being out one day, returned at length to find his cave quarters occupied by Ulysses and his band, who had been cast ashore as they were returning from the siege of Troy. First, surprised at the intrusion on his haunts, he raves a little, then seizes and devours the plumpest and ruddiest sailor in the band. Before he goes out again he secures the door, that his new-found prisoners may not escape. Coraing horae at night he bolts two raore sailors for his supper, and all see what is probably in store for thera. But Ulysses cunningly proffers him a glass of wine, which he drinks with hearty relish, and holds out the cup for more ; and warming toward the Greek prom ises him, as a special favor, that he will not eat him till the last of all. The wine soon takes effect, and the Cyclops is snoring soundly. Ulysses improves his opportunity, and bores out the solitary eye of Polyphemus with a heated stake, and escapes with his band to their boats upon the shore. The giant roars with pain, and beats about the cave in search of his tormentors. Then, hearing the rak ing keels upon the sand, he blindly makes his way in that direction. But he is too late ; they are afloat. And in his impotent rage he rends the rocks and hurls them after the departing boats ; Ulysses at the same time taunting hira with his fruitless love-suit to the railk-white Galatea. All his raissiles fall short of the intended raark. But there they are still, six or seven in nuraber, ranging less and less in size as they recede from shore. There is a world of meaning in these ancient myths, but we must not stop now to search it out. A GLANCE AT SICILY. 28 1 Extending the view once more beyond our immediate surroundings, and looking toward the north, there is a wreath of smoke slowly rising, when the air is still, from the group of islands before alluded to. It is from the crater of sullen Stroraboli, a volcano that rises directly frora the sea. Then, turning toward the further shore, the part of Southern Italy known as Calabria of old, we trace the coast toward the north till it fades away in the distance, and there we know is Paestura, a landmark dating far back in the past, and having still a group of Grecian tem ples, quite as perfect in outline and complete in detail, as any that remain at Athens, excepting possibly the Teraple of Theseus. The Italian brigands, together with the raa- larious atmosphere, raade access to this locality precarious for many years, and it was hence but little known. But brigandage has been curbed in Italy, and the cultivation of fields about Paestum has raaterially reduced the extent of swamp, and so the chief perils of a journey thither have been removed. For one who would gain an exact irapression of Greek architecture in its palray days, with out going to Greece, there is no other point so favorable as this. Then, following the shore southward, past raany a pretty village and many a dreary town, we come at length to a spot of special and timely interest — the site of that goodly city of the olden time, so long lost to the world it had come to be counted araong the myths, Sybaris, the home of luxury and aesthetic pleasures. The 282 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. Sybarites, tradition said, were a gifted race of people, and with nature, art, and intellect to aid them, succeeded in extracting from this earthly life the most it was capable of yielding. The gods, as they were represented in mar ble by the most skilful sculptors, were their models in form and feature, and in this respect they sought to attain divine perfection. Only that which added to the enjoy ments of their life was encouraged or even tolerated. That which imposed burdens or abridged their happiness was studiously avoided, or ruled out altogether. The climate of Sybaris was salubrious and delightful, the fields prolific, the commerce extensive ; the men were generally rich, and the women alraost uniforraly beautiful. The sea along the border of the country was generally serene of surface and of sufficient depth to float their largest argosies, while the waters of the goodly river, that flowed through or past the city, had the singular property of imparting a golden color to the ample tresses of the women, and giving health and vigor to the men, who drank of, or bathed in, it. Work was pastime to this favored race, and was never continued to the point of weariness. They studied luxury and worshipped beauty. Streets, houses, gardens, arches, fountains, flowers, pictures, and rich apparel were among the subjects of their constant thought. Music, poetry, sculpture, and all the fine arts were cultivated and encouraged, and public assemblies- for discussion and amusements were things of every-day occurrence. Musicians raust learn to play beyond the city limits before they were permitted to sound a note A GLANCE A T SICIL !*. 283 within the walls. Poets paid no taxes. The most beau tiful persons were publicly crowned with roses and olean der in the asserably, and thenceforth raaintained at public expense. Homely and quarrelsome people were banished, together with all who showed any ascetic tendencies. No noisy mechanic art could be followed in the city. The keeping of doraestic fowls was forbidden, because for sooth, the early crowing of the cock' disturbed the slura- ber of the Sybarites. But an. evil day came at length to this aesthetic and luxu rious people. A tyrant assumed the reins of govern ment, abridged the privileges and increased the taxes, and provoked disastrous quarrels with the neighbors. War carae to Sybaris as it has corae first or last, to so many famous cities. It was pillaged and in part de stroyed. It fell thence to neglect and decay, and the beautiful river, once its pride and joy, became its de struction. Its current was turned into its raost favored streets, and soon buried frora view or reduced to inextrica ble ruin its glories and its beauties ; and for raore than twenty-five hundred years no raan could point out the site. The re-discovered spot is readily reached to-day, by the rail running south from Reggio which is opposite Messina. An American author, some twenty years ago, with a suggestion or two frora the Greek classics to begin upon, wrote a pleasant sketch of Sybaris, in which the people were represented as of a very wise and practical turn, making a study of luxuries only so far as they contributed 284 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. to individual happiness or the well-being of the com munity. He may have been right, though such an esti mate does not accord with the popular impression upon the subject. The fact of special interest to archeologists, and inci dentally to ethnologists as well, brought to light by recent excavations, is that the finds thus far unearthed are neither Grecian nor Etruscan, but evidently of an earlier period than either. Who were the first civilized inhabitants of Sybaris, is therefore a question of especial and wide- reaching interest. But we raust not tarry longer at Taormina, even though the view be the finest in the world. Our next move is to Catania — a fated city, — the victim of Etna's angry moods. In 1169 it was literally shaken to pieces by an earthquake while ^Ltna was getting ready for action ; and just five hundred years later the volcano sent down a flood of lava that not only swallowed up the town, but built a black promontory forty feet in height out into the sea. But with a sort of perverse persistency the Sicilians built it up again, \^'e had designs upon the mountain, and Catania was our starting-point. We had here in the evening an entirely new experience. Looking about the town, we unwittingly wandered across the sen try beat of the military head-quarters, and were run out by the guard with fixed bayonet. We retreated somewhat hastil}', but in good order, and fortunately no blood was spilled. Next morning we drove early to Nicolosi at the moun- A GLANCE AT SICILY. 285 tain's base and breakfasted. It was quite too early in the season to reach the main sumrait. The snow lay deep upon the upper slopes and the wind at times was bitter cold. But we deterrained at least to make our way to the first crater — the last in point of tirae, — and set out, with a sturdy countryman for guide. The wind was blowing fresh and clouds were drifting across the heights. After the first hour's climb another guide appeared, as if by the purest accident, though he had been following us at a dis tance all the tirae. But we soon found use for both of them. The wind had risen to a gale, and it was necessary to cross some narrow necks between adjacent heights, where there were abrupt descents on either side. The higher we went the raore fiercely the wind disputed our passage, and it was finally decided we raust all be tied together, so that if one went off the ledge, the rest could lie down and hold on till he crawled back again. With overcoats buttoned to the chin, hats tied upon the head, and a guide or helper on either side, we raade our way laboriously for two or three hours raore, stopping now and then in lee of a projecting ledge to breathe awhile, and we reached at length the brink of the sulphurous pit, whence floods of lava a few years ago defaced many a fruitful field, and obliterated every trace of life that stood in its path. Frora this point there is an extensive view both of the raountain and the plain. The broad, black bands that traverse the scarred and blistered sides of .^tna give 286 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. some hint of the destruction, first and last, which has been wrought by the volcano, while the fields and hamlets here and there show how persistently men have labored in the face of desolation. After an hour spent in contem plation of the scene, we collected a few speciraens of min erals from the edge of the crater, to certify the success of the expedition, and returned to Nicolosi and Catania. It would be quite too bad to go to Sicily and not glance, at least, at the faraous city of Syracuse, which lies southward from Catania, and "has an excellent harbor still, though long reported to be inaccessible from the sea. Here lived Hiero and Thrasybulus, Timoleon and Diony sius, and last but by no means least Archimedes. It was a favorite resort of ^schylus and Pindar. And here Paul called on his way to Rorae. The garden of Archi medes is pointed out, a little square and fountain, with a statue of the great man upon a pedestal, by way of raonuraent. The local guide will tell you there is not much to see in the town — and he is right ; though the Cathedral, once a temple of Minerva, and a sraall rauseura will repay a visit. The chief attractions are a raile or two beyond the walls We charter one of the few shabby cabs in waiting, and in due tirae are set down, between the Greek theatre, which stands on a moderate height, upon one hand, and the amphitheatre of the Romans, in a rough and broken field, upon the other ; for the Roman empire, east and west, grew up in some sense on the ruins of the Greek republic. The Greek theatre is the more attractive ruin of the A GLANCE AT SICILY. 287 two. It is more perfect in some respects than that at Taormina, already described, though it cannot boast so marvellous a situation. The stage or arena is reraarkable in size, and forty tiers of seats — there were originally sixty-six, — cut in the limestone rock, and some of them still with marble facings, attest the size and appointments of the place. The fountain of Arethusa on the way, so full of poetic suggestion, is a disappointment, as little but a sluggish pool reraains, with a very coraraonplace channel running frora it towards the sea. The chief attraction is, however, the quarries, used sometiraes as prison — the Latonice of the Roraan period. In the first one is a faraous echo, which the keeper shows off with fine effect by slararaing the door, after the party is fairly in. The sound is like the discharge of artillery followed by rattling musketry. In one of these quarry prisons, seven thousand Athenians were confined after the disastrous siege in A.D. 415, in which the Greeks were finally driven to surrender, and here the greater portion of them died. The roof, or arch of the quarry, rises to a great height and terrainates in a single aperture, known as the " ear of Dionysius " ; for here it is said, the tyrant sat on the summit of the hill above the arch and listened to the voices of the prisoners, as the sounds col lected in this strange acoustic gallery, and so knew their plots before they ripened. Another artificial chasm, in the face of the cliff beyond, takes the form of a pillared temple, columns being left for support when the quarry was first excavated, and a Styx- 288 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. like lake or pool lies at the base. Water drips continually frora the roof and stands in great drops on the wall. The air is darap and somewhat stagnant. But as it is al ways warm in this retreat, it is a very paradise of plants. Vines wreathe the pillars and festoon the walls, mosses cushion all the rocks, and frora every nook and cranny springs a wealth of vegetation. It is one of nature's choice conservatories. If the traveller is intent on seeing something more of Sicily, he may go through the country by rail, or by a somewhat longer journey around the coast by sea, to Girghenti, the Agrigentura of the Romans, and thence on to Palermo, the capital ; and he will thus have compassed most of what there is to see in this historic isle. At the first point he raay see another group of ruined temples of the Grecian type, and many things that are qtiaint and curious beside. Palermo, the capital, is accounted the leading and most prosperous city of modern Sicily. It has an extensive coraraerce and a large trade with the interior portions of the island ; and the variety of faces, costumes, and nationalities encountered on the street is scarcely inferior to that at Valetta or Alexandria. CHAPTER XI. ON THE BORDERS OF SAHARA— THE BARBARY STATES. TUNIS. A VISIT to the city of Tunis carries one back to his Latin school-boy days, and vividly recalls his early strifes, with deponent verbs and other doubtful forms of Latin speech. He has wellnigh forgotten, it may be, the characters whose acquaintance he raade under circura stances of so rauch vexation and discourageraent, but they gather round him here, as familiarly as if the com panionship never had been broken. JEneas, with his com panions from the siege of Troy, after a brief sojourn at Carthage, goes on his way. Queen Dido mounts her funeral pyre and thrusts a dagger in her breast, more, however, for love of the departing Trojan hero, than rev erence for the meraory of her recent lord. Poetry and history alike contribute to»_the train that comes trooping up before one's quickened imagination, like spectres frora the vague and distant past. He sits down and gives hiraself up for the time to reminiscence and reflection. He sees Hannibal moving off with his invincible Numidian cavalry to crush the arro- 28q 290 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. gance of Rorae. He fights again the Punic wars with Hasdrubal and Scipio; sees Massinissa raaking overtures to the enemy; and cannot withhold a modicum at least, of syrapathy for Jugurtha starving in a Roraan prison. For all these events transpired, or had their origin, immedi ately around. Old Carthage is but seven miles away — less than that from Gouletta, where he landed. It is an utter ruin, to be sure, now ; the very material of which it was built has gone to strengthen the walls of the neighboring city or furnish huts for the Tunisian peasants, a marble column or alabastar slab being clumsily wrought in some tiraes with sod or the crudest brick. That which \vas so glorious in the estimation of the past is reduced to deso lation. The relentless ultimatum of the elder Cato, " De- lenda est Carthago," has been fulfilled to the very letter, and never was ruin and destruction more complete. Dido's baths are still pointed out by the accommodating guide — two or three sraall filthy pools, with shattered remnants of marble borders— together with such other points as he supposes visitors most anxious to have iden tified. The city of Tunis reminds one somewhat of a Japanese town ; the general aspect is so flat, owing to the squatty buildings that chiefly characterize the place. One is re minded of the legend that when their ancestors came from the East, they converted their boats into houses by inverting thera upon the shore, and thus originated a style of architecture which has been perpetuated, and which the natives still prefer to any other. The uniformity ON THE BORDERS OF SAHARA. 29 1 is broken to be sure by more pretentious buildings here and there, but it does not change the general aspect of the place. Tunis is one of those strange cities whose attractions cannot be explained. There is a charming diversion in the place while one is there, but after he is gone, he won ders what there was about it, either to divert or charra. With one or two raoderately pleasant streets, there is a tangle of narrow, crooked, filthy lanes, as in all cities where the Arab is the prevailing eleraent in the popula tion. The variety of costuraes on the street, and the devices to which raen resort to make a living in the easiest way, will keep the attention occupied for a time, but the novelty does not last. There is less of the Moor ish element here than in Algiers, and still enough to im part a half-Moorish character both to the people and the town. The bazaars are the chief attraction to the casual visitor, and they are in some respects peculiar to Tunis, being rather African in type than Oriental. As elsewhere, there is great variety of goods and wares, but each tier of stalls has usually something peculiar to itself. Leather will be found in one quarter, silks in another, and hard ware in still another ; and yet a great variety of wants may be supplied within a little space. » The bargaining between the natives, as in raost Eastern countries, affords a spectacle at once instructive and arausing. Take this example, from a fez and kufiyeh counter in a crowded bazaar in Tunis, while we stand looking on. A man comes in to purchase a head-gear. 292 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. such as is generally worn by horsemen riding in the sun, and seen everywhere upon the streets. The obliging trades man displays his store of various grades and colors, and he selects one he thinks will serve his purpose. Then comes the question as to price, and there comes the tug of war. The dealer names a figure which he intimates is ver>' low. The would-be buyer drops the article as it were a scorpion, and looks his fellow in the face, with a degree of amaze- raent that seems to have struck him dumb. But he is only bottling up his wrath, and no sooner is the cork released than he pours forth words of surprise and in dignation. He calls on the prophet's name, and wishes to know of what material the shopman supposes him to be made, that he should thus submit to be robbed in open day. The dealer returns his words in kind, and epithets, delivered in a continually rising key, are bandied to and fro, as if the two were competing for a prize. Suddenly the customer turns on his heel and briskly walks away, sending back a few choice maledictions as he goes. Be fore he reaches the end of the short lane, however, he thinks better of it and returns, and the chaffering begins anew. High words almost iraraediately follow again, with raore explosive utterance than before, and we feel sure the matter cannot be settled now short of the prize- ring. But to our surprise, the customer suddenly lowers his tone and counts out the money from a greasy purse. The dealer delivers the goods in a neat package, and the twain part evidentl}' the best of friends. As nearh' as we could figure it out by the aid of our interpreter, the ON THE BORDERS OF SAHARA. 293 man saved about two cents by this expenditure of vocal indignation. We had witnessed sorae such scenes at Cairo, Daraascus, and Beirut, but supposed the Moorish Mussulraans to be of soraewhat raore pliant and gentle disposition. On the whole, we found thera much alike. To buy an article without cheapening it, anywhere in the East, is considered little short of madnes.s, and the natives never do it. Taken all in all we have pleasant raeraories of Tunis. The people are generally well disposed, though not specially attractive. One spot should be remembered by every American ; the burial-place of John Howard Payne, the author of " Home, Sweet Home." In this lonely spot beyond the seas, he spent the last years of his life. Here he died and was buried. After years of sepulture so far from horae, his remains were removed but recently to Washington, D. C, at the instance of a wealthy and patriotic citizen of that city, and found a resting-place in native soil. And to atone in part, for what the Tunisians felt to be a real loss, the same gentleman caused a raonuraent to be erected above the empty grave, similar to that which marks the poet's resting-place at Washington. The work of removal and providing the new monument was superintended, with exceptional good taste and judgment, by the United States Consul at Malta. ALGIERS. The city of Algiers occupies a kind of amphitheatre, and viewed frora the sea, presents a very picturesque 294 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. appearance It has been corapared to Naples, but the situations are quite different and the similarity is not remarkable. We first approached it in the evening, and the long, regular line of lights upon the shore, and the irregular but nuraerous lights along the slopes and upon the heights beyond, presented a scene at once very striking and very attractive. The raorning sunlight gave a wider view, but in no sense reraoved the charm of the first approach. The scene presented was one of varied beauty. From the sea-border to the Kasba — the old fort that crowns the summit of the highest hill — were winding roads and zig-zag paths lined with the abundant vegeta tion, fruits, and flowers of this prolific land. The green fields of the Tell looked down through openings in the adjacent range of hills ; and in the distance toward the east, the snowy suraraits" of the Atlas Mountains shim mered in the morning light. There are two towns here side by side, and }'et unlike in every point. The French town is evidently an importation. The Arab or rather Moorish town is native to the soil. The long breakwater reaching out to sea, the numerous piers and substantial business houses that adjoin, give an appearance of enterprise and thrift. The dead walls of the Moorish houses, with their inviting courts and cosey shades, are suggestive rather of repose, though the barrack-like succession of booths and stalls in the bazaars indicates that the native Algerine does not always sleep. There are two — perhaps more — long arcades running through ON THE BORDERS OF SAHARA. 295 the city and devoted to shops of various kinds, reminding one of Innsbruck in the Tyrol, or possibly of old Chester on the Dee. The natives of the country are made up of two very distinct races or classes : the stout, thick-set, sturdy Kabyles, who chiefly inhabit the mountain districts, and have given no end of trouble to the conquerors who, first and last, have fallen upon Algiers ; and the tough, wiry- framed Arabs, who dwell chiefly in the towns, scour the country on horseback, or go upon the sea. The Moors were masters of the country rather than the Arabs, before the recent occupation by the French, but they are so in termingled now and have lived so long together, it is not always easy for a novice to distinguish between the two. There is a shady square in the lower portion of the city, known sometimes as the Oasis of Palms, where we may go, if time is limited, and spend an hour, or half a day very profitably, merely noting the variety of raen and woraen who come and go. First we shaU see perhaps a representative of the Moorish race of the better class ; a man of fine mould and erect figure, clad in white raantle and short, baggy trousers, with a great red turban on his head. He prides hiraself on being one of the ruling race, — and important concessions are made to them by the French, — and if approached with some show of deference, will do his best to serve us in any way that lies in his power. He probably occupies one of the better class of houses in the Moorish quarter, where he lives with some pretence of style and elegance. But before we have done 296 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. with hira, a dozen others crowd upon the view, and also demand a brief inspection. Here coraes an Arab in a white or possibly a gray bernouse, much the worse for wear, and a kufiyeh tied about his head. Some Moorish woraen corae next, in bifurcated nether garments, which give the impression at first that they are men. But the whole body, neck, and head are swathed in flowing robes of white, with only a narrow slit or peep-hole before the eyes. Their features raust on no account be exposed to view, and so they resort to this absurd device. One can not help wondering if their faces would be deemed worthy of a second glance,. if openly exposed to view. But we must not tarry thus, or our task will keep us for days instead of a fleeting hour or two. Here are Jews and Christians, Europeans and Asiatics, Negroes from beyond the desert, and seafarers from every land ; a motley com pany as will be found at any port or in alraost any country. A few notable buildings may still be found in Algiers. There are two or three fine mosques, one of which dates far back in the early period of the Moslem occupation ; sorae pleasant Moorish residences upon the slopes, besides the Kasba or citadel upon the hill, which was also the palace and stronghold of the Dey, or ruler of Algiers, at the tirae of the conquest by the French. Here iraraense treasures were found by the conquerors, the proceeds, no doubt, of piratical excursions, together with the " pres ents " which the Dey always " expected " from every new comer into his realm, especially as a representative of another government. a\- THE BORDERS OF SAHARA. 297 Sorae fine speciraens of Moorish art are still preserved in the palace of the Governor-General, formerly the princel}- residence of one of the Pashas. The raarble colurans in the court are very fine, while the ceiling in the drawing-roora is decorated in the very highest style of Moorish art, recalling some of the finer touches in the Alharabra. The Archbishop's palace is said to have undergone less alteration by the change of governraent, but of that we cannot speak frora personal inspection. The ^Museum is or has been a palace of the Moorish order, but the elegant horseshoe arches and dainty arabesques seem out of place, amid the indifferent speci mens of more recent art. Unhappily Algiers is best known to the world for its piracies. During the eighteenth century and till near the middle of the nineteenth, their corsairs were the terror of the seas. No trade and scarce any nation was free from their spoliations. They would swoop down upon defence less vessels, take officers and crew, passengers and treasure, and disappear in some one of the many retreats along the shore of Northern Africa, divide the booty, sell the passengers and crew as slaves, especially if they were from a Christian land, and go out again to lie in wait for further prey. Between 1720 and 1843 it is estimated that they destroyed not less than a thousand vessels, appropri ated twelve million dollars' worth of property, and sold frora fifteen to twenty thousand white captives into slavery, the most abject and cruel. With such audacity and success did they carry on their 298 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. operations, that the whole world stood in awe of them. It seems incredible, but at one tirae full half the civilized world paid tribute to the Algerines ; not that they approved their piracies, but most of them, having enough to do to protect their interests in other portions of the world, found it cheaper to buy them off than fight them. Even the United States, a hundred years ago, was party to this nefarious business. For several years they paid an annual tribute of twenty-two thousand dollars to Algiers as the price of being let alone, besides nearly three quarters of a million paid in 1789, as a ransom for citizens then held in bonds. The world owes France a debt of gratitude, that she has literally conquered and now holds Algiers, thus putting an end to these piratical expeditions. Many delightful excursions, occupying from two or three hours to as man}^ days, raay be raade frora Algiers as a starting-point to palaces, gardens, raountain glens, and Roraan ruins ; the latter are especially abundant in Eastern Algiers and the adjacent province of Tunis. Going then beyond the vicinity of the capital and through sorae portions of the province, the student of natural history, of archaeology, and of current events will find rauch of interest. In the first place, Algiers is divided naturally into three great belts or sections, having a general direction frora east to west. The coast is made up largely of a series of headlands, with frequent coves or indentations, the convenient resort, in times past, of pirates and freebooters. Just back of this comes the ON THE BORDERS OF SAHARA. 299 great undulating and productive plain known as the TELL. It has a width of fifty to eighty miles and a length of more than six hundred. This is traversed by the railroad, has many towns and villages, and extensive cultivated tracts. Next to the Tell comes the High Plateau, which con sists of a series of terrace plains, sloping frora a central ridge toward the Tell upon the north and the desert bor der on the south. Finally comes the great Sahara, an arid and sterile region without a parallel in extent in all the world. In the eastern portion of the desert the gen eral level is low, and the uneven surface covered with a brittle clay, alternating with drifting sand, while the west ern part rises into rocky plateaus, sometimes mountain high and separated by wild or desolate ravines. Three or four points in Algiers will attract the special attention of the geologist. The hot springs and calcare ous deposits at Hamraara Meskoutin recall in a small way the maramouth hot springs in the Yellowstone Park. At Sekbalet occurs an extensive deposit of the beautiful " Algerine onyx," which, like the well known stone from Mexico, now so extensively used in the United States, is onyx only in name. It is banded somewhat like onyx, but the chief ingredient is lime. At Kleber, a day's ride from Oran, is found a remarkable bed of a kind of brec ciated marble, now supposed to have been the source of the beautiful Numidian marble of the Romans. The rivers of Algiers also are peculiar. Sorae have considerable length and volurae. Most of thera rise in 300 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. the High Plateau and make their way across the Tell. At time of flood, they send great volumes of water to 'the sea, and often discolor the surface for some distance from the shore ; while at other seasons, they have not sufficient force to reach the sea at all, but are swallowed up in the sinks and raorasses along the lower border of the Tell. Western Algiers has scarcely less of interest to show than the eastern portion. Perhaps the raost interesting single spot is at Tleragen, a city about fifty railes from Oran on the coast, standing on a mountain slope, some twenty-five hundred feet above the sea, and having a wonderful history, running back more than eight hun dred years. In magnificence of architecture it was a rival of Granada, and portions of a few of the buildings are in a raoderate state of preservation still ; while in general interest it has quite equalled other faraous cities of Northern Africa. It has sustained sorae faraous sieges, been captured and recaptured many times, and while its splendid palaces have disappeared, and an air of melan choly and dejection pervades the place, enough of interest reraains, to raake an excursion thither, one of the rarest occasions to busy and enterprising travellers, who are intent on seeing the best the country has to show. We cannot close this rapid sketch of Algiers, without at least allusion to one of the raost tragical events in all the history of war. It occurred at El Kantara near Mostaga- nera in 1845. The French array was in the country, and a band of native raountaineers, having risen in rebellion and been driven to close quarters, took refuge with their woraen and children in sorae caves on the side of a deep ox THE BORDERS OF SAHARA. 30I ravine. The French coraraander attempted negotiations, but they fired upon his messengers. He then warned thera he would kindle fires before the openings of the caves and drive thera out. They still refused to raake conditions. The French soldiers employed the day in gatheringwood and grass and heaping it as near the caves as they dared approach. Lighted fagots were then thrown upon the heap, but for a tirae it refused to burn. Toward nightfall a breeze sprang up, which blew directly toward the mountaineers' retreat. The fire was then started. Volumes of smoke first filled the caves, and the soldiers were sent to push the fagots to the very entrance, and soon the smoke was followed by veritable flarae. The fire was industriously fed, and burned all night. And when the morning carae, all was silent in the caves ; every raan, woman and child — more than a thousand of thera — had perished in that living grave. The device had succeeded quite beyond the French coraraander's expectations. He published an elaborate defence, alleging repeated acts of treachery and bad faith on the part of the mountain eers. But the world will place its own estimate on such wholesale acts of barbarous cruelty, even in the heat of war. It is not at all strange that the mountaineers of Al geria do not take kindly to the conqueror. Such acts as this are long reraerabered, and treasured up against a day of wrath, should the opportunity occur. MOROCCO. At the nearest point, Morocco is but sixteen miles from the European shore, but if it were sixteen hundred miles 302 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. away the contrast could hardly be more sharp and striking, in every thing that appertains to civilized communities. The outward aspect as well as the interior economy is all unlike. A sort of blight seeras to have passed upon the world, while we were making our way across. The govern ment of the kingdom is an absolute monarchy, the only one remaining at present, it is said, outside of savage lands ; and authority is so exercised as not only to curb arabition, but most effectually to suppress enterprise. The Sultan — sov ereign — may order a man to execution on almost any charge, and there is no appeal. And if he fail of any specific accusation, the poisoned cup, offered in pretended friend ship, or the secret dagger of an accomplice, will answer the purpose quite as well. Even subordinate officials in the provinces take liberties with life and property, that the Czar of all the Russias would hardly dare attempt. Indeed, the varieties of injustice and oppression to which the comraon people are exposed alraost surpass belief. The countryman has no encouragement to raise more grain than he absolutely needs to keep soul and body together, for if he does, and the Pasha or local governor finds it out, the chances are he will take possession on the plea of sorae government necessity, though it is really for his own emoluraent ; and to have money or treasure laid by in store is always attended with some serious risk. If the Sultan or his chief officials go on a journey through the country with a train or caravan, supplies for men and aniraals raust be proffered along the way, on pain of his Majest}''s great displeasure if they fail. Even ON THE BORDERS OF SAHARA. 303 embassies from foreign courts, having the recognition of the government, are entitled to like consideration, and to their shame be it said, some of them are not slow to exact far more than the people can afford. It is said to be often times amusing, and is certainly pathetic, to see these people come into camp before the tents are fairly pitched, bring ing their contributions. One brings in a sheep, another a kid, and a third a hen, or perhaps a dozen eggs. Sorae come with arms full of vegetables, others bring fruits, and so on to the end. It is a raost unreasonable exaction, and often paid at very serious cost to the poor in habitants. The nearest town across the Straits from Gibraltar is Centra — a convict colony of Spain, which is very curious in one respect. It has the advantage of most penal settle ments, in that the prisoners have a mortal dread of Moors, and this operates as a check upon all disposition to escape into the country round about. Walls and guards are scarcely necessary on the landward side. But we will not attempt an entrance to Morocco at that point. A steamer runs from Gibraltar daily to Tangiers, one of the capitals of the country, just outside on the Atlantic coast. That shall be our starting-point. Tangiers clairas to be one of the oldest cities in the world ; Daraascus and Salerno only ranking with it in antiquity. It looks indeed as if it might have been there since the world began. As we approach we see a mass of low, white houses on the bluff, and a motley company raoving to and fro upon the 304 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. shore. The mode of landing is peculiar. The ship drops anchor in the bay, and we take passage in a sraall boat with two great, glaring eyes painted on the bow, as a pre caution against accidents. Half-way to the shore we run aground, and a ragged, bare-legged Arab takes us on his shoulders astride his neck, and while our boot-tips make ripples in the water, carries us to the beach, where he squats upon the sand and we walk off over his head. Of course we paid our fare to Tangiers, but find a sraall fee, with a little backsheesh, is expected by both boatman and carrier. But we are used to that, and expect to be im posed upon. Tangiers is essentially a Moorish city ; raore so than Algiers or Oran, though by no raeans an improvement on either of thera. As we set out to see the town, we are soon convinced that distance lends enchantraent to the view. Though not specially attractive as seen from the ship, we did not then perceive the narrow, crooked, filthy streets, receptacles of offal of every name, frora old shoes to dead cats, nor the variety of odors that greets the nostrils at every turn. However, this is or was one of the capitals of the Moorish kingdora, and all squearaishness must be laid aside if we would see the city as it is. As we proceed, we encounter a great raany men upon the streets who seem to be dressed all alike — in long white, or whitish loose garments that reach frora neck to heel, and terrai- nate in sharp peaks upon the head. This makes us pause and ask ourselves if there is not some mistake, — if we ox THE BORDERS OF SAHARA. 305 have not wandered unwittingly into a coraraunity of Dominicans? But no; that cannot be. There is the mosque, unmistakable in architecture; and at this very moment the muezzin calls to prayer frora the dingy minaret. No ; there are no Christians here, or if there are, they make sraall irapression on the town. We corae by and by to the raain thoroughfare — a sort of oblong square, surrounded by a great variety of shops, — the poorest and meanest, on the whole, we reraeraber to have seen in any city of the size. A few are passably respectable, and display a variety of goods of both native and foreign manufacture. A specialty is the morocco shoe, for frora this country coraes the leather distinguished by that narae. The Moors have a way of tanning hides they keep secret from the world. Red morocco comes from Fez, yellow from another place, and green from still an other. There is also some variety of gold lace, an orna ment peculiar to the country, which is both manufactured and sold at Tangiers. We next corae to the market-place, an irregular square outside the old city gate, but quite in keeping with what we have seen within the walls. It is late in the morning, and there is little left to see The camels and donkeys that brought their early burdens to the market are being girded by their raasters, for the return. There are a few heaps of vegetables over which some muffied women are presiding, and sorae withered fruit that has not -found a purchaser. A single butter dealer reraains, who keeps his supply in a glass jar, and when a customer coraes 306 FRO!\I JAPAN TO GRANADA. along, thrusts his long skinny fingers into the yielding mass and takes out the desired quantity, which is wrapped in a bit of palm leaf and carried away. This vividly re calls an Arab dinner we shared sorae time before upon the upper Nile. We do not dine out, however, since that event, and butter is no longer on our bill of fare. We go next to the prison of Tangiers, which already has a world-wide notoriety, as well it raay. We never ap proached a more infernal place in any land. It is crowded to repletion, very iraperfectly ventilated, and openly ex posed to the vilest odors. One cannot stand near the gratings on the outside for half a minute, without being sickened by the effluvia frora the interior. Prisoners are huddled together like so many sheep or pigs. At inter vals of perhaps twenty feet, in the great barn-like structure are openings in the floor, into which goes the offal of every kind, and these seem to stand open night and day. Refractory prisoners are chained to the floor, or to a post within reach of one of these openings, and there he must eat and sleep. There are few if any conveniences for sleeping, and the supply of food is ver}- limited. The ears of every stranger are assailed with pitiful appeals, from these wretched creatures, for money to buy food. In the women's department, emaciated hands are thrust through the gratings in their eagerness for help, but to give to one is to whet the zeal of all the rest ; so we naturally hesitate to begin. It is a great pity, that other nations cannot and do not protest effectivel}' against this abomi nation, and deraand that prisoners, if they cannot for O.V THE BORDERS OF SAHARA. 307 want of space, be decently housed, shall at least be adequately fed. Confinement in this noisome place, however, is not the only penalty the evil-doer incurs in Tangiers. There is less barbarism here, it is said, on account of the foreign residents, than in any other portion of the country, and therefore we do not see much of the worst. But a com mon penalty for theft is to have a hand cut off, and in case of the raost serious offenders, a foot ; and then the mutilated limb is thrust into heated tar to prevent the victim bleeding to death. Hundreds of poor wretches wander about Morocco minus a hand or a foot. Notwith standing these extreme penalties, however, thieves are very numerous, and very expert. They will invade a camp of travellers at night, even when strongly guarded, and carry off whatever of value they can lay hands upon. A thief in such a case fully prepares himself for his under taking. First, he takes off all his clothes — a scanty allow ance at the best, — for a dog, it is said, will not bark at a naked man. Then he soaps himself all over, so as to slip easily frora the hands of his pursuers if overtaken. Such devices of ingenuity are certainly worthy of a better cause. But there are sorae better things in Morocco than her prisons and her thieves, and even politics do not run always to intrigue and assassinationt Muley Hassan, the present Sultan, is credited with sorae kindly deeds and a real interest in the welfare of his people. Sorae recent acts seem atrocious in the eyes of the Christian world, as when but two years ago, he caused five of the leading men 308 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. in a certain tribe to be decapitated, and their heads ex posed on pikes above the gate at Rabat, because the tribe could not raise the full araount of tribute demanded of them, and made sorae opposition to the wholesale confis cation of their property ; but, his subjects reason, that is better than to cut off a hand or a foot of half the villagers, as raay be done in case of opposition to governraent de mands. They accept the theory of the divine authority of kings, and yield to such tyranny almost without a murmur or complaint. They know nothing else and seem to expect nothing better. Tangiers is the place of residence of the foreign consuls, who are not generally in favor with his Majesty ; but they add a very pleasant feature to the place for visitors, and render many a useful service to the natives. They have pleasant houses, often of antique type, and many attrac tive gardens, green with varied foliage and bright with many flowers. There are also two or three hotels, passa bly well kept, and these usually have a number of winter residents from Europe and America. A fringe of gardens outside the wall adds to the few attractions of Tangiers, but beyond this all is common — no appearance of thrift or enterprise. There are leagues on leagues of land that might be culti\'ated and turned to good account, but neither the conditions of society nor policy of government are favorable to such enterprise, nor, indeed, to any expenditure of labor or money beyond what the absolute necessities of dail}- life demand. There are other cities in Morocco that will repay a visit, if one ON THE BORDERS OF SAHARA. 3O9 happen to fall in with a caravan or company that will make the expedition safe. The cit}' of Alkazar has sorae attractions, but is chiefly faraous for the terrible battle that took place in August, 1578, between the Portuguese, with adventurers from other lands, and the Moors. Six thousand of the Chris tian hosts fell on that dreadful field, and a shout of tri uraph went up frora every Moslem country bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Mechinez is reported to be a city of magnificent pro portions, crowning a long hill and descending along the sides in successive terraces. The Governor's palace still shows something of the architectural elegance of the Moorish cities in their palray days, and he raanages to make a princely show when visitors from other lands appear. The women of Mechinez are reputed to be the most beautiful in Africa, but that is not sa}'ing much. The city of Fez raay be counted the real capital, though it shares the dubious honor with two, if not three others. Fez has a notable history, running back a thousand years, and at one tirae rivalled in splendor and iraportance the raost faraous cities of the distant East. It had sorae faraous mosques in the early period of the Saracen or Arab occupation, and was much resorted to by faithful Mussulmans from other parts of Africa. To the Moor, it seems a goodly city still. But all that ever raade it glorious has departed, except it be the fanaticisra of the Moslera population. Very few of the common people can read or write, and 3 id from japan to granada. the rule holds good here as elsewhere, that the more igno rant and degraded the population, the more fanatical are they in their religion. A Christian meets no favor at their hands, and they would gladly drive every one from the country if they could. There are many Jews at Fez, but they are subjected to humiliating conditions. They must not wear shoes upon the street, or go beyond the city for any time beyond a single day, without a permit frora the authorities. They must be indoors at sunset, or within the Jewish quarter, and must- pay the sentry at the gate who guards the city from their intrusion. The Mussulman despises a Jew only less than he does a Christian. There are sorae buildings still of real elegance at Fez — some, which in arrangement and detail of finish and deco ration, would do credit to a European capital ; but over against these raust be set the squalor, the ruin and wretch edness that so deface and defile the place. But a better day is surely coraing for iMorocco. The owl raay blink in the noon-day sun, but the sun shines on the sarae ; and such a governraent cannot alwa}'s stand in the face of the enlightened world. Let roads and ports be opened in Morocco, let the traveller corae and go, and this farce of a governraent, and sorae of the barbarous custoras that attend it, will surely pass away. CHAPTER xn. THE ALHAMBRA— SPAIN— GRANADA. THE SPANISH PENINSULA. SPAIN is the laggard araong European nations. She is a full generation, and in sorae respects a century, behind the age ; and raore and worse than this, she is proud of the distinction. Not a quarter of her adult popu lation can read, and raany of her usages and customs are relics of mediseval times. The only two institutions that really seem to flourish there are the Lottery and the Bull fight, and these are as vigorous as ever. The government not only countenances and encourages the former, but receives a large revenue from that source. Indeed lotteries are conducted by the government, and high officials are credited with the statement, that the national treasury would very soon be bankrupt did it not systematically resort to such devices for support. Lottery tickets are hawked upon the street, exposed for sale in pub lic offices, and thrust into the traveller's face at hotels and railroad stations. Workingraen, poor woraen and children without a change of clothing in the world, and with faces pinched with want, will scrape together a few hard-earned 3" 312 FROM JAPAN to GRANADA. pesetas and buy a ticket in a lottery, not doubting that, soon or late, fortune's wheel will favor them ; and after many such experiments, not a few of them at last fill a pauper's grave. Such is the infatuation bred of chance. As to the other national raania naraed, the Spaniard raust be poor indeed, who will deny hiraself the farailiar but barbarous spectacle of the bull-ring. It is barbarous, cruel, repulsive ; and yet the picadors and the matadors — we confess we do not know which is which — are araong the pets and favorites in society. The bull is teased, annoyed, distracted, raaddened, tortured, tormented, and killed by inches ; thrust with spears, pierced with arrows, and finally dispatched with a sword. And what is worse, if possible than that, horses trembling with fear are forced into the ring, only to be gored to death, after a few ma noeuvres, by the infuriated bovine. And yet this is the one pastime that Spain will on no account surrender. It is said there could be no surer means of raising a rebellion frora one end of Spain to the other, than to place an interdict upon their favorite sport. It is one of the chief attractions on all great occasions, as at fairs and celebrations. Feast da}-s in the church are often signalized by, or the afternoon given up to, this sav age spectacle, because on such days great crowds may be expected. And at Madrid, on pleasant Sunday after noons from April to November, from ten to fifteen thou sand spectators may be found at the bull-fight. There is a chapel at Madrid adjacent to the ring, whither men severely wounded are immediately borne, and where they THE SPANISH PENINSULA. 313 may have the benefit of clergy if the wound is mortal, or the aid of physicians if the case is not so severe. We con fess to a strong sympathy, first for the horses, second for the bulls, but none whatever for the men. Six bulls and twelve to fifteen horses arc the usual allowance for an afternoon, and few if any of them come out alive. The men not unfrequently are wounded, but skilful performers are seldom killed. Spain is not given up, however, entirely to fights and lot teries, though these are among the conspicuous things the traveller will encounter, and of which he will hear in almost every part. There is much charming countr}' in Spain — mountain, valley, hill, and plain, — and it raight be raade one of the raost attractive of the world. But she seems content to point to her antiquities and glory in her past. Spain has had a famous history, and the time was, three hundred years ago or thereabouts, that she was the raost powerful monarchy on the globe. The East and West alike brought their treasures to her door, and she counted her possessions from Asia in the east to both North and South America in the west. But she never recovered from the reigns of Charles V. and Philip II., or frora the fires of the Inquisition. By that nefarious instrument, freedora of thought and action was crushed out in Spain. Christian, Jew, and Moslera alike fell beneath its ban, and ¦ the most enterprising and useful elements of her popula tion sought refuge in other lands. And still, this portion of the peninsula is not fully persuaded yet of its mistake, 314 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. or ready to accept the chances of a return to a more enlightened policy. Portugal is, on the whole, the most desirable part of the Spanish peninsula at the present tirae. Its raountains are not so high nor its plains so broad as those of Spain, but its scenery is raore picturesque. Lisbon is one of the wonderful cities of the world, both by reason of its history and its situation. It stands on both sides of the river Tagus, which coraes all the way from the mountains beyond old Toledo to find the sea, and frora almost any point of view is strikingly impres-' sive. Coraparing the new city — that destroyed by the terrific earthquake of 175 Si ^"d since rebuilt — with the old, or the portion that was spared, it seems almost a pity it was not all destroyed, but for the fact that sixt}' thousand people perished as it was, in that great calamity. The neighboring city of Cintra is to Lisbon, what Potsdam is to Berlin, or Versailles to Paris, but is a far more attractive place than either of these iraperial suburbs. One of the raost alarraing things about a sojourn in Portugal is the hotel bills they bring you. Think of your bill at the Braganza, for instance, running up into the thousands for a sta}' of half a week; and it surely will. When you corae to understand, however, that it takes about nine hundred of the sraall current denoraination of their money to make a dollar of Ameri can coinage, the disproportion does not seem so great. The charges are no higher than in other European capitals. THE SPANISH PENINSULA. 315 But to return to Spain, and take a passing glance at a few of her leading cities — Seville ! the land of poetry and song, of raystery and roraance, of music and the dance ; the city of the gloomy Inquisition, the bandit and the gypsy. Of what a raedley of events has it been the scene and witness ! We confess to some disappointment in the grand Cathedral of Seville. We saw it to be sure, at a disadvantage, for the interior was undergoing sorae repairs ; but it had been over praised — we were led to expect too much. The Alcazar, a Moorish palace, and the Giralda, or bell-tower, well repay a visit, on account of the interior finish of the forraer, and the splendid view obtained frora the suramit of the latter. The tobacco factory is always pointed out as one of the places to be visited, on account of the great num ber. of beautiful women eraployed there — -we tried it, but it does not pay. Every enterprising traveller will improve the opportunity to have a shave at the shop of the faraous " Barber of Seville," although neither the original character nor any of his descendants are there to-day. Cordova we find quite as attractive as Seville, though decay is raore plainly raarked upon it. The Cathedral — once a mosque — is one of the most remarkable we have ever seen. On passing through the door a perfect wilder ness of colurans meets the eye. ' There are twenty-nine aisles in one direction and nineteen in the other, and the effect produced is almost bewildering. The columns standing number about one thousand, and over one hundred in the centre were reraoved, to make way for an 3l6 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. abortion of a raediaeval church. These colurans carae frora many lands, the temples of Sicily, Rome, Carthage, Greece, and Egypt having been despoiled to furnish them. There is therefore great variety of material : granite, por phyry, serpentine, verd-antique, and marble of almost every hue. Sorae were short for their positions, and pieced out with base or capital of different stone. As the unsightly whitewash, laid upon the walls and ceiling, after the Mosleras were driven out, is gradually wearing off, some of the designs of the Moorish builders are again coming into view. Cordova has a Moorish bridge across the river, built on Roman foundations, an antique gate, and some ancient raills which everybody goes to see. A Spanish apathy, however, rests upon the place ; the streets are narrow, dull, and neglected, and there are few signs of business life. Madrid is the capital of Spain, but has no other reason that we could discover for existence. Its location seems peculiarly unfortunate — on a bleak plain, subject to great and rapid changes of temperature, and with few natural advantages of any kind. But it was a whim of Philip II. to have his capital in the centre of his kingdom, which then comprehended the whole peninsula ; and according ly it was planned and built in this uninviting situation. It is, however, a pleasant cit}' in pleasant weather ; has some fine streets and squares, and many elegant and costly public buildings. Toledo, about forty miles southward from the capital, THE SPANISH PENINSULA, 3 17 is most picturesque for situation, standing on a rocky eminence with the river Tagus running nearly round it, and approached by a Moorish bridge of a single, noble arch. It has a history running back more than a thousand years, and has been the scene of many a conspicuous event. There is a popular tradition among the people of the vicinity, that Adam was the first king of Spain and Toledo was his capital. The Jews also report that the city was built by some of their ancestors, who fled from Jeru salera at the tirae of the Babylonish captivity. Probably one tradition is about as well authenticated as the other. Escurial, a few miles northward from the capital, raust by no raeans be passed by without examination. It is the burial-place of Spanish kings and princes for many genera tions past, and is every way a raost reraarkable structure. It was built by Philip I. in fulfilment of a vow, that if he was victorious at the battle of St. Quentin, he would build the most magnificent monastery in the world. It was a whim of his to have it take the form of a gridiron, and it was so planned and built, though in an inverted position, the towers answering to the upturned feet of the implement. A wing about five hundred feet in length, and containing the royal apartments, represents the handle. The walls have fourteen gates, and the buildings contain two hundred raonastic cells, with nuraerous halls, dormi tories, refectories, chapels, libraries, and the like. There are four thousand windows, several hundred doors, with nearly a hundred fountains, some very large and sorae very beau- 3l8 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. tiful, in the various enclosed squares and courts. A day spent here will prove wearisome, but very entertaining. Burgos is a staid old town, chiefly famous for its Cathe dral, dating back nearly seven hundred years. It has sorae remarkable windows of stained glass, and the lan tern tower is said to be the finest of the kind in Europe. The most vivid impression we brought away, however, was of the number of importunate beggars about the door. Hard by, in another public building, are the remains, or rather the remnants — a few bones, — of the gallant Chris tian knight, Roderigo Diaz, commonly known as the Cid, kept in a strong wooden box, while those of the fair Ximena, his wife, are preserved in a glass jar. Both can be seen for two or three pesetas. THE ALHAMBRA. But the point of chiefest interest to the tourist, and the place that raost people go to Spain to see, is at Granada, the capital of the province of that name, lying in the southern part and extending to the Mediterranean Sea. It is the Alharabra, a Moorish palace, the most exquisite and, may we not add, most pathetic of the reminders of the Moorish occupation. It was the great stronghold of the Moors when that impetuous people from across the Straits, having theraselves been overcome by the Sara cens and converted by them to the Moslem faith, made coraraon cause with the conqueror, and so successfully raet and overcame the Spanish arraies sent against thera. On a picturesque height on the borders of the city of THE SPANISH PENINSULA. 319 Granada, and surrounded by a stately wood, stands this gem of architecture, the glor}' of the past and wonder of the present day. The approach from below is first through the rough!}" paved, narrow, and crooked streets of the ancient town, and then by broad, smooth, winding roads, shadowed night and day by a forest of majestic trees. The immediate approach to the Alhambra is disap pointing ; the great, square, barn-like palace of Charles V., built long afterward, interposes to cut off the view and dwarfs the ancient structure by coraparison. The en trance to the grounds is by the great arch of the Gate of Justice, and near by is the rude stone where, tradition says, the Moorish potentates sat to adrainister justice, according to the custom of very ancient times. Whoever has read Irving's account of the Alhambra will recall the poetic character of his description, and the feeling that comes over the reader, that he is drawing liberally upon a rich and fruitful imagination. He states but facts however, though sometimes tinged no doubt by the suggestions of his surroundings. Here are the bal conies and the courts, the Hall of the Ambassadors, the Hall of Justice, and the Sultana's Bower, as he describes thera in his raatchless narrative ; and as we look around and recognize the fidelity of his description, we can but feel that Darae Antonia or possibly Mateo Xiraenes may still be hidingin some secret and yet undiscovered nook, and raay appear to us in propria persona, before our inspection is corapleted. We enter the palace proper by an obscure door that we should have passed unnoticed but for the 320 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. guide, and find ourselves in a patio or open court, with a shallow tank, which serves the purpose of a fish-pond, set round with a rayrtle hedge. And thence we pass on, through anarrow vestibule, rich with garlands of foliage and flowers in networks of arabesque, into the great Hall of the Arabassadons, the audience-chamber of the Moorish kings. At the opposite end of the court, where once was the harem of these royal raonarchs, the unsightly pile of Charles V. again obtrudes itself upon the incensed vision. The next raove takes us into the Court of the Lions, sepa rated frora the first by a double line of fretted arches, with a star-decked, vaulted roof between. There is a great fountain in the centre of this court, with the bowl or basin supported by a group of lions ; the latter we take to be modern, for they are not well wrought — not in keeping with the place. On one side is the Hall of Abencerrages, otherwise the Hall of the Murdered Princes, for here occurred one of the darkest tragedies in the history of the place. Thirty-six members of a certain princely house were murdered in the night, or some say beheaded in the court, by order of Boabdil, the last of the Moorish kings, — or some say by his father — but a little tirae before his own defeat by the arms of Ferdinand and Isabella, and the downfall of his realra. Sorae red blotches in the raarble are pointed out as tell-tale raarks of blood. On the other side of the court is the Hall of the Two Sisters, rich with raosaics on the door-posts, and frost-hke fretwork in the arches, and distinguished by two great THE SPANISH PENINSULA. 32 1 white slabs of raarble in the floor ; and beyond that the Sultana's window looking out upon a group of trees and bed of flowers in a garden court. The third side, directly opposite the entrance, is given up to the Hall of Justice and adjacent charabers, in sorae respects the richest or raost ornate of them all. This portion of the palace has suffered less frora violence and neglect, than that nearer the entrance gate. It raay have been closed for a tirae against intruders, by the rubbish that blocked the way. After the expulsion of the Moors, the Spanish kings for a time made this their residence, and no doubt held high carnival within its walls. After Madrid became the capital, a band of outlaws raade the Alharabra their head quarters, but were not careful to preserve the beauties of the place. But the Spanish governraent now takes pains to cherish what there is of the ancient structure, and the atterapt is made to renew the walls, and even to restore some portions of the decorations. The old walls sur rounding the Alharabra, which still reraain, support also sorae outlying towers, which have a history and will repay inspection. There is the Tower of the Infants, which tradition says was the residence of the young daughters of the kings ; and the elegance of the chief apartraent, with its lofty arches and superbly colored dome, lends an air of probability to the story. And there is the Captive's Tower, whence a fair Andalusian maiden, long betrothed to a gallant knight, threw herself from the window on the jagged rocks below, to escape the importunities of a princely suitor. 322 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. Whence the Moors obtained their knowledge of archi tecture, or whence their love of the ideal and beautiful, we do not know. Certainly they had skill, and knew how to use it ; they had taste, and gave it free play. And it is fortunate for us, that fanaticisra did not indulge here the vandal spirit it so often showed, else these walls had been levelled with the ground, and the carvings mutilated be yond recognition. There is a lavishness about Moorish art that is purely Oriental, but the multitude of figures has not prevented the most elaborate finish and exact detail. It has been said that Moorish architecture is essentially religious, as it is said of the Gothic that it inspires rever ence. At first the designs of decoration often seem confused, but on careful examination it will appear that they are both planned and executed with matheraatical precision, and generally on geometric lines. This better adapts the open spaces for texts from the Koran, which abound in all elaborate structures of the Mohammedans. The Generaliffe, across the Darro, the river that runs past the palace, and beyond the cave-houses of the gypsy settlement, was the summer residence of the ro}'al floors, and the two were connected by a passage underground, which may still be traced, though fallen to ruin or choked up with debris. But the building is a disappointment, seeing that it was the fellow of the palace, though the garden, dark with cypress and stately cedars, is a pleasant place, and the view above the city and across the valley of Granada is very fine. THE SPANISH PENINSULA. 323 Still the visitor will raake but a brief call here, there is so much more to see in the Alhambra. So we return to that charming spot for a parting view. The Court of the Lions is the most attractive part, and thither we turn our steps at once. There is the matchless fountain in the centre, with the lions grouped around ; a light and airy colonnade, with raore than a hundred pillars of finely chiselled stone, singly and in pairs or groups of four, extending around on every side ; the fated hall, with the blood-stained paveraent on one side, and that of the Two Sisters on the other, while opposite the entrance is the Hall of Justice, really the gera of the Alhambra. There are three charabers or apartraents, separated by arches of fairy fret-work depending frora the roof, and each crowned by a Moorish cupola, through which streara rays of tinted light. Here it was that Ferdinand and Isabella, on receiving the keys frora Boabdil, and taking possession of the Alharabra, caused mass to be celebrated in the presence of a great company of " mitred prelates, and shaven raonks, and steel-clad knights and silken courtiers ; and the banners of the haughty Chiefs of Spain floated in triuraph through these Moslem halls." A raore imposing scene, araid such sur roundings, can hardly be pictured evf n in the imagination. To comprehend all its wonders, the Alharabra should be viewed by moonlight, as well as at different hours of the day. The shadows of pillar, column, and statue stand out in such bold relief, as to give peculiar distinctness to the different parts, while the whole is at the same time in 324 FROM JAPAN TO GRANADA. a mellow haze. There is at such an hour, a sort of serene melancholy rests upon the place, strangely suggestive of decayed grandeur, and departed greatness. The early raorning often gives a charming aspect to Granada and the palace. One morning, late in May, 1888, will serve as an example. The moon was in its first quarter, and, the night before, had flooded hill and plain, wood and town, with a mellow, silvery light, that penetrated the abundant foliage in flecks and streaks, while the nightingales that throng the sylvan grove had done their best. At midnight, when the moon went down, a strange hush fell upon the place, and the night shad owed the forsaken palace with motherly wings, till about four o'clock, just as the matin sound of monastery bells was calling the faithful to early prayers, when a new phase appeared. The treraulous light that follows the dawn and iraraediately foreruns the day, is succeeded by a silvery glow that rapidly changes tint, running through the various shades of pearl, araber, pink, and rose, till the sun's coruscation peeps over the horizon, and then the full orb pushes into view. While these changes are passing near the horizon, the sky above the snow}' peaks of the Sierra Nevada toward the east is undergoing a series of changes no less iraposing. First, clouds in fleecy folds of the most delicate rose tints gradualh^ deepen in color, and the more dainty shades are transferred to the snow beneath ; and a series of changes, frora pearl to orange and orange to rose, till at length a ruddier hue, simulating a blazing oriflararae, takes possession ; snow and sky seem for a moment to be THE SPANISH PENINSULA. 325 one, then gradually the line of division grows more dis tinct till the sun is fully risen, when the cloud-wreathed sky, the snow-clad peaks, the rugged rocks, and the verdant woods stand out ra natural order and appearance. This moving panorama of earth and sky passes before us, as we are raaking our way from the Washington Irving hotel, hard by the palace, to the railway station for the early train. And thus we take our leave at once of the Alham bra and the ancient city. Kind reader, our task is done. We have redeemed — how well, it is for you to say — the pledge iraplied in the title of this book, and given in order some account of what we saw and heard and learned, in our journey " From Japan to Granada." THE END. Vf "¦51 ^