Thomas Cook (35 page)

The refreshment rooms
en route
between the Atlantic and the Pacific are generally well supplied with every variety of the best food, fruits, &c., and the attendance is of the very best character. Along the line of railway over the prairies, the Rocky Mountains, and at the summit of the Sierra Nevada, we were astonished to observe the amplitude of the supplies and the smart activity of the waiters of all kinds and colours – American and English white men, decently attired and becoming maidens, negroes of every shade of colour, and Chinamen clothed from head to foot in frocks of snowy whiteness. The refreshment car was only attached for two meals, on the Burlington and Missouri River line, but the three appointed stopping places for the day were generally well-timed, and we had always a clear 20 or 25 minutes for a meal, the charge for which was a dollar or 75 cents., but most frequently the former amount.

On the steamers our meals are served with the utmost regularity, and all our waiters are China boys, quick of perception, cheerful in their services, and quiet as lambs. Those who turn out early in the morning can get coffee from 7 to 8 o’clock; at 9, a substantial breakfast is served; lunch at 1; dinner at 6, and tea at 8.30. With the thermometer at 66 to 72, it’s pretty hard work to respond to all the calls of the gong. Our life on the Pacific is very monotonous; not a sail of any kind has been seen since we left the Golden Gate of California. Flocks of strange birds, with wings at least six feet from tip to tip, followed us a long way, but have given up the chase; half-a-dozen sharks tried once their swimming powers against the Colorado, but we beat them. For three days we have made just the same gentle speed of 206 miles a day; all is tranquil and serene, and in five times 24 hours we have made 1,030 miles out of the 4,780, on a straight line to Yokohama. Our monotony has been twice broken by cries of ‘Fire!’ but these cries have only been uttered to call up the officers and crew for exercise; and it is quite amusing to see the China boys rush out from hatchways and every available porthole and take up hatchets, buckets, and apply the hose, fore, aft, and amidships. Our good Captain Warsaw combines humanity with stern discipline, and every morning and evening inspects every part of the ship with the keenest eye for dust or irregularity. But of all scrubbers and dusters I never saw the like of John Chinaman. In addition to our 50 cabin passengers, including the Japanese Prince and party lately in England, we have about 550 steerage passengers, most of whom are Chinese, returning home to live on the 300 or 400 dollars they have made by gold washing, mining, clothes washing, ironing, and other domestic engagements. All are quiet and gentle, not a rowdy fellow among them.

In a week or ten days more we expect to reach the 180th degree of longitude, when London will be under our feet, and a day will mysteriously drop from the calendar. But this going round the world is a very easy and almost imperceptible business; there is no difficulty about it, and but for the discrepancies of watches, the daily log of Captain Warsaw, and the salubrity of the climate in November, we should not realize our approach to the meridian line, or suppose it possible that the next land we see will be that of the rising sun, from which point I may possibly send a few additional notes of our progress for the information of home friends who read
The Times
.

THIRD LETTER
WRITTEN AT YOKOHAMA

Mr. Thomas Cook writes to us from Yokohama under date November 28, 1872: –

In crossing the Pacific from San Francisco to Japan we are almost assured that we shall meet one of the Pacific mail steamers in mid-ocean, when mail bags will be transferred and we may be able to communicate once or more during the voyage with friends at home. But in our voyage of this month, from the 1st to the 26th, three of the company’s steamers passed eastward and were not seen. I had written at sea a letter to
The Times
on railroad, hotel, and other accommodation, of interest to travellers crossing the American continent, but that letter is quietly reposing in the American post-office here, waiting for the next steamer, on the 7th or 8th of December, and, as there is a chance of the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains being snow-blocked in mid winter, it is probable that this communication by the English mail of the 3d proximo may reach you before my letter from the sea. But, as this is a point of great interest in a tour around the world, I presume to trouble you with another letter.

I believe we are now about midway on our tour, unless Shanghai should prove to be the culminating point. The distance we have come has been about 12,000 miles, 8,500 by sea, and 3,500 by land. A voyage across the Pacific from San Francisco to Yokohama by the direct line is about 4,700 or 4,800 miles; but at this season our captain steered southerly some 10 or 12 degrees of latitude to avoid northern storms, and the ship’s log showed a total distance of 5,250 miles, which occupied 24 days and four hours from port to port.

A fraction over nine miles an hour on a Pacific sea is slow progress as compared with Atlantic voyages between Liverpool and New York; but the economy of coal for a voyage of over 5,000 miles is a serious consideration when at least 1,400 tons have to be provided for the voyage, and if by any accident or detention the supply should run short there is no intermediate coaling station. Over that vast expanse of waters we never caught sight of a sail or craft of any description, and for 580 hours the engines never stopped or lost a single revolution; and we made our best progress when the sea was most disturbed, although the wind could seldom be called ‘fair.’ When the Colorado (our steamer) made the pioneer trip of the company, in 1866, on arrival at the port of Yokohama British sailors exclaimed ‘What a mountain!’ Her bulwarks, 18ft. or 20ft. above the water, with huge paddle-boxes, and the great works of the engine high over all, like those of the New York ferry steamers, contrasted strangely with the steamers of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, and a steamer so bulky had not before been seen in the Gulf of Yedo, and old salts wondered how such a mountain had been sustained in her passage over so wide a sea. But seven or eight similar craft have continued to cross the Pacific twice a month each way with very great regularity, and the impression of ‘slow and sure’ reconciled our voyagers to the moderate speed of 200 to 280 miles a day. Had not American navigation been clogged by laws of ‘protection’ our naturally fast neighbours would long before now have had not one fleet only of iron screw boats, but would have run sharp races over this and other seas with their elder brother east of the Atlantic. But light is breaking in upon the Legislature of the United States, and their free trade in tea is teaching an invaluable lesson. The chief traffic of the Americans with the East is in tea, the cargoes of which, with silk, fill these great ships from hold to cabin. Tea, silks, and coolies constitute the chief imports of this Pacific line. Of the latter we had about 550 returning to their country to live on their 300 or 400 dollars that they had earned by various industries in the States; and thus it is with most west-bound steamers, while those going east frequently carry nearer 1,000 than 500 steerage passengers. These Chinese coolies are so patriotically and reverentially attached to their fatherland that they try in every conceivable way to get the bones of their relatives carried back, and a case was discovered in our ship in which a Chinese coolie was conveying his father’s bones in a bag which he used as a pillow. Of course this scheme was frustrated when discovered, but what became of the bones I cannot say. Should a Chinese passenger, however poor, die in the passage, provision is made by a Chinese organization to provide a coffin and for the embalming of the body, so that not one is thrown into the deep. It was rumoured on board that there were many embalmed bodies being conveyed from California in the hold of the Colorado. Thus it is seen that ‘celestials’ appreciate the dollars, but will not leave their relatives and countrymen to mingle with the ‘sordid dust’ of a ‘barbarian’ land.

Our cabin passengers consisted of about 50, representatives of I can scarcely tell how many nationalities. We had with us a Japanese prince, with eight or ten attendants and friends, returning from a sojourn of several years in England and America, where they have been studying the English language and social and political constitution and habits. My own little party of ten included four from Great Britain, one Russian, one Greek, and four Americans. We were also accompanied by two missionaries and their wives, returning to spheres of honoured labours, one of whom was a coadjutor with Dr. Judson in Burmah, and the other a talented translator of the Scriptures into the Assam language. The latter gentleman preached on three Sundays, and on two evenings lectured on Indian mythology, customs, and habits. In many ways the monotony of a voyage of nearly a month was relieved of weariness and rendered interesting and profitable. The actual loss of a day in the middle of the Pacific has puzzled many travellers, but it is a
bon fide
[
sic
] fact that the 16th November was dropped from our calendar. It is in this way. On reaching the 180th degree of longitude we are at the antipodes of Greenwich, and London time is 12 hours in advance. We then take a leap of 24 hours, leaving Greenwich 12 hours in our rear; but crossing the meridian line we put back our time an hour for every 15 degrees, and by the time we reach London the clocks and time will have righted themselves. The steamers of the line, on their return trip, get two days of the same date, and thus regain their loss. It certainly was curious that we should turn into our berths on Friday night, November 15, and all wake up on Sunday morning, the 17th. But it is more curious still, and a study for Sabbatarians, that on one of the Pacific islands Saturday is observed as the Christian Sabbath, and on another island, on the opposite side of the Line, Monday is kept as the Lord’s day, Sunday being the dropped day. I quote this on the authority of Dr. Prime, of New York, as stated in his
Voyage Around the World
, recently published.

But enough of this steamboat trip across the Pacific. We are glad to find ourselves in a land of extraordinary interest, natural, historical, political, and social. All that has been told us recently of Japan is abundantly confirmed by observation and experience. The land is one of great beauty and rich fertility. The inhabitants and the Government are rapidly transforming into enlightened, peaceful, and cordial citizens. The Mikado has emerged from seclusion, and the day before we arrived here showed himself openly on sea and on land at a naval and military review in honour of the visit of the Russian Prince Alexis, and on other occasions he has mingled with his people. The recent visit to Europe of Japanese Embassies and Princes, and of Government enquirers, all have a serious purpose for political and social objects. The railway and the telegraph are teaching the people great lessons of social reform. The two-sworded warriors are scarcely to be seen, and there are substituted for these desperadoes an improved system of police. It is encouraging to read Government notifications like the following: –

Trafficking in human bodies, or entering on employment; in which the master’s will is absolutely submitted to, either for a lifetime or for a period of years, being a wrong thing, and contrary to the principles by which the social relations are regulated, has from ancient times been prohibited. The practice of forcing individuals to go into service under such names as ‘service for a period of years,’ &c., which has hitherto existed, being an abominable thing, which amounts to trafficking, is henceforth rigidly interdicted.

It is freely permitted to take pupil-servants (apprentices) to be instructed in farming, or in any trade or handiwork, but the period must not exceed seven years. The period may, however, be extended by mutual agreement.

Ordinary servants shall be engaged for one year, and if a person continues for a longer term, the agreement must be renewed.

Prostitutes, singing and dancing girls, and all other persons engaged for a term of years shall be set free, and no complaints about money lent or borrowed will be entertained.

The above having been determined must be rigidly obeyed.

Notified from the Council of State, November 2, 1872.

The following statistics will show how the foreign element is appreciated in the government of the country: –

In the department of the Imperial Government proper 214 foreigners are employed, on salaries ranging from 480 dollars to 16,000 dollars per annum. Perhaps the rumours of such salaries as 36,000 dollars may be true, but the statement does not appear in the Japanese official print. The nationality of the
employ s
referred to is as follows: – English 119; French, 50; American, 16; Dutch, 2; Prussian, 8; Chinese, 9; Indian, 2; Danish, 1; Italian, 1; Manillan, 4; Portuguese, 1; Paraguayan, 1. In the Fu, or Imperial cities, and in the Kens, provincial local authorities, in all, 164 foreigners are employed. Of these, 50 are English, 19 French, 25 American, 9 Prussian, 15 Dutch, 3 Manillan, 42 Chinese, and 3 Arabian (as sailors). It would appear from the record that there are over 100 foreigners living in the interior, as teachers, surgeons, engineers, &c., &c.

Great Britain holds an enviable position in this category of officials, and British influence is seen all around. Many official notices are published in English, and the English language predominates on the new railway. I travelled yesterday with a polite conductor of a train who came from Devonshire, and a friend of mine from Iona, in Scotland, holds a high position as a Government engineer. Until very recently it was not permitted for foreigners to enter the precincts of the Temple of Shiba and the surrounding and gorgeous tombs of Tycoons and their wives of the past 250 years. Yesterday my party walked freely through and round about these indescribable buildings at Yedo, which for richness in carving, gilding, and decoration surpass all that I have seen in any land. Only a year ago an escort would have been required to conduct a party like mine through Yedo. Yesterday in 13
Gin-rick-shas
we were drawn by two coolies to each machine through miles of streets, the people laughing and cheering us as we rattled through the great thorough-fares, and crowding around us when we stopped at a shop, an exhibition, or a temple. Not a solitary unfriendly disposition was manifested in that great city of nearly a million of inhabitants. I was astonished to see the great number of book and picture shops in the best business quarters, and I was told that the Japanese are a great reading people, and fond especially of story. It is easy to see that they are very sagacious, and ready to adopt whatever is likely to contribute to their interest. It is quite expected that an ordinance of religious toleration will soon be published.