Following the Equator

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

The Party--Across America to Vancouver--On Board the Warrimo--Steamer

Chairs-The Captain-Going Home under a Cloud--A Gritty Purser--The

Brightest Passenger--Remedy for Bad Habits--The Doctor and the Lumbago

--A Moral Pauper--Limited Smoking--Remittance-men.

CHAPTER II.

Change of Costume--Fish, Snake, and Boomerang Stories--Tests of Memory

--A Brahmin Expert--General Grant's Memory--A Delicately Improper Tale

CHAPTER III.

Honolulu--Reminiscences of the Sandwich Islands--King Liholiho and His

Royal Equipment--The Tabu--The Population of the Island--A Kanaka Diver

--Cholera at Honolulu--Honolulu; Past and Present--The Leper Colony

CHAPTER IV.

Leaving Honolulu--Flying-fish--Approaching the Equator--Why the Ship Went

Slow--The Front Yard of the Ship--Crossing the Equator--Horse Billiards

or Shovel Board--The Waterbury Watch--Washing Decks--Ship Painters--The

Great Meridian--The Loss of a Day--A Babe without a Birthday

CHAPTER V.

A lesson in Pronunciation--Reverence for Robert Burns--The Southern

Cross--Troublesome Constellations--Victoria for a Name--Islands on the

Map--Alofa and Fortuna--Recruiting for the Queensland Plantations

--Captain Warren's NoteBook--Recruiting not thoroughly Popular

CHAPTER VI.

Missionaries Obstruct Business--The Sugar Planter and the Kanaka--The

Planter's View--Civilizing the Kanaka The Missionary's View--The Result

--Repentant Kanakas--Wrinkles--The Death Rate in Queensland

CHAPTER VII.

The Fiji Islands--Suva--The Ship from Duluth--Going Ashore--Midwinter in

Fiji--Seeing the Governor--Why Fiji was Ceded to England--Old time

Fijians--Convicts among the Fijians--A Case Where Marriage was a Failure

Immortality with Limitations

CHAPTER VIII.

A Wilderness of Islands--Two Men without a Country--A Naturalist from New

Zealand--The Fauna of Australasia--Animals, Insects, and Birds--The

Ornithorhynchus--Poetry and Plagiarism

CHAPTER IX.

Close to Australia--Porpoises at Night--Entrance to Sydney Harbor--The

Loss of the Duncan Dunbar--The Harbor--The City of Sydney--Spring-time in

Australia--The Climate--Information for Travelers--The Size of Australia

--A Dust-Storm and Hot Wind

CHAPTER X.

The Discovery of Australia--Transportation of Convicts--Discipline

--English Laws, Ancient and Modern--Flogging Prisoners to Death--Arrival of

Settlers--New South Wales Corps--Rum Currency--Intemperance Everywhere

$100,000 for One Gallon of Rum--Development of the Country--Immense

Resources

CHAPTER XI.

Hospitality of English-speaking People--Writers and their Gratitude--Mr.

Gane and the Panegyrics--Population of Sydney An English City with

American Trimming--"Squatters"--Palaces and Sheep Kingdoms--Wool and

Mutton--Australians and Americans--Costermonger Pronunciation--England is

"Home"--Table Talk--English and Colonial Audiences 124

CHAPTER XII.

Mr. X., a Missionary--Why Christianity Makes Slow Progress in India--A

Large Dream--Hindoo Miracles and Legends--Sampson and Hanuman--The

Sandstone Ridge--Where are the Gates?

CHAPTER XIII.

Public Works in Australasia--Botanical Garden of Sydney--Four Special

Socialties--The Government House--A Governor and His Functions--The

Admiralty House--The Tour of the Harbor--Shark Fishing--Cecil Rhodes'

Shark and his First Fortune--Free Board for Sharks.

CHAPTER XIV.

Bad Health--To Melbourne by Rail--Maps Defective--The Colony of Victoria

--A Round-trip Ticket from Sydney--Change Cars, from Wide to Narrow

Gauge, a Peculiarity at Albury--Customs-fences--"My Word"--The Blue

Mountains--Rabbit Piles--Government R. R. Restaurants--Duchesses for

Waiters--"Sheep-dip"--Railroad Coffee--Things Seen and Not Seen

CHAPTER XV.

Wagga-Wagga--The Tichborne Claimant--A Stock Mystery--The Plan of the

Romance--The Realization--The Henry Bascom Mystery--Bascom Hall--The

Author's Death and Funeral

CHAPTER XVI.

Melbourne and its Attractions--The Melbourne Cup Races--Cup Day--Great

Crowds--Clothes Regardless of Cost--The Australian Larrikin--Is He Dead?

Australian Hospitality--Melbourne Wool-brokers--The Museums--The Palaces

--The Origin of Melbourne

CHAPTER XVII.

The British Empire--Its Exports and Imports--The Trade of Australia--To

Adelaide--Broken Hill Silver Mine--A Roundabout road--The Scrub and its

Possibilities for the Novelist--The Aboriginal Tracker--A Test Case--How

Does One Cow-Track Differ from Another?

CHAPTER XVIII.

Gum Trees--Unsociable Trees--Gorse and Broom--A universal Defect--An

Adventurer--Wanted L200, got L20,000,000--A Vast Land Scheme--The

Smash-up--The Corpse Got Up and Danced--A Unique Business by One Man

--Buying the Kangaroo Skin--The Approach to Adelaide--Everything Comes to

Him who Waits--A Healthy Religious sphere--What is the Matter with the

Specter?

CHAPTER XIX.

The Botanical Gardens--Contributions from all Countries--The

Zoological Gardens of Adelaide--The Laughing Jackass--The Dingo--A

Misnamed Province--Telegraphing from Melbourne to San Francisco--A Mania

for Holidays--The Temperature--The Death Rate--Celebration of the

Reading of the Proclamation of 1836--Some old Settlers at the

Commemoration--Their Staying Powers--The Intelligence of the Aboriginal

--The Antiquity of the Boomerang

CHAPTER XX.

A Caller--A Talk about Old Times--The Fox Hunt--An Accurate Judgment of

an i***t--How We Passed the Custom Officers in Italy

CHAPTER XXI.

The "Weet-Weet"--Keeping down the Population--Victoria--Killing the

Aboriginals--Pioneer Days in Queensland--Material for a Drama--The Bush

--Pudding with Arsenic Revenge--A Right Spirit but a Wrong Method--Death of

Donga Billy

CHAPTER XXII.

Continued Description of Aboriginals--Manly Qualities--Dodging Balls

--Feats of Spring--Jumping--Where the Kangaroo Learned its Art 'Well

Digging--Endurance--Surgery--Artistic Abilities--Fennimore Cooper's Last

Chance--Australian Slang

CHAPTER XXIII.

To Horsham (Colony of Victoria)--Description of Horsham--At the Hotel

--Pepper Tree-The Agricultural College, Forty Pupils--High Temperature

--Width of Road in Chains, Perches, etc.--The Bird with a Forgettable

Name--The Magpie and the Lady--Fruit Trees--Soils--Sheep Shearing--To Stawell

--Gold Mining Country--$75,000 per Month Income and able to Keep House

--Fine Grapes and Wine--The Dryest Community on Earth--The Three Sisters

--Gum Trees and Water

CHAPTER XXIV.

Road to Ballarat--The City--Great Gold Strike, 1851--Rush for Australia

--"Great Nuggets"--Taxation--Revolt and Victory--Peter Lalor and the

Eureka Stockade--"Pencil Mark"--Fine Statuary at Ballarat--Population

--Ballarat English

CHAPTER XXV.

Bound for Bendigo--The Priest at Castlemaine--Time Saved by Walking

--Description of Bendigo--A Valuable Nugget--Perseverence and Success

--Mr. Blank and His Influence--Conveyance of an Idea--I Had to Like the

Irishman--Corrigan Castle, and the Mark Twain Club--My Bascom Mystery

Solved

CHAPTER XXVI.

Where New Zealand Is--But Few Know--Things People Think They Know--The

Yale Professor and His Visitor from N. Z.

CHAPTER XXVII.

The South Pole Swell--Tasmania--Extermination of the Natives--The Picture

Proclamation--The Conciliator--The Formidable Sixteen

CHAPTER XXVIII.

When the Moment Comes the Man Appears--Why Ed. Jackson called on

Commodore Vanderbilt--Their Interview--Welcome to the Child of His Friend

--A Big Time but under Inspection--Sent on Important Business--A Visit to

the Boys on the Boat

CHAPTER XXIX:

Tasmania, Early Days--Description of the Town of Hobart--An Englishman's

Love of Home Surroundings--Neatest City on Earth--The Museum--A Parrot

with an Acquired Taste--Glass Arrow Beads--Refuge for the Indigent too

healthy

CHAPTER XXX.

Arrival at Bluff, N. Z.--Where the Rabbit Plague Began--The Natural Enemy

of the Rabbit--Dunedin--A Lovely Town--Visit to Dr. Hockin--His Museum

--A Liquified Caterpillar--The Unperfected Tape Worm--The Public Museum and

Picture

CHAPTER XXXI. The Express Train--"A Hell of a Hotel at Maryborough"

--Clocks and Bells--Railroad Service.

CHAPTER XXXII.

Description of the Town of Christ Church--A Fine Museum--Jade-stone

Trinkets--The Great Man--The First Maori in New Zealand--Women Voters

--"Person" in New Zealand Law Includes Woman--Taming an Ornithorhynchus

--A Voyage in the 'Flora' from Lyttelton--Cattle Stalls for Everybody

--A Wonderful Time.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

The Town of Nelson--"The Mongatapu Murders," the Great Event of the Town

--Burgess' Confession--Summit of Mount Eden--Rotorua and the Hot Lakes

and Geysers--Thermal Springs District--Kauri Gum--Tangariwa Mountains

CHAPTER XXXIV.

The Bay of Gisborne--Taking in Passengers by the Yard Arm--The Green

Ballarat Fly--False Teeth--From Napier to Hastings by the Ballarat Fly

Train--Kauri Trees--A Case of Mental Telegraphy

CHAPTER XXXV.

Fifty Miles in Four Hours--Comfortable Cars--Town of Wauganui--Plenty of

Maoris--On the Increase--Compliments to the Maoris--The Missionary Ways

all Wrong--The Tabu among the Maoris--A Mysterious Sign--Curious

War-monuments--Wellington

CHAPTER XXXVI.

The Poems of Mrs. Moore--The Sad Fate of William Upson--A Fellow Traveler

Imitating the Prince of Wales--A Would-be Dude--Arrival at Sydney

--Curious Town Names with Poem

CHAPTER XXXVII.

From Sydney for Ceylon--A Lascar Crew--A Fine Ship--Three Cats and a

Basket of Kittens--Dinner Conversations--Veuve Cliquot Wine--At Anchor in

King George's Sound Albany Harbor--More Cats--A Vulture on Board--Nearing

the Equator again--Dressing for Dinner--Ceylon, Hotel Bristol--Servant

Brampy--A Feminine Man--Japanese Jinriksha or Cart--Scenes in Ceylon--A

Missionary School--Insincerity of Clothes

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Steamer Rosettes to Bombay--Limes 14 cents a Barrel--Bombay, a Bewitching

City--Descriptions of People and Dress--Woman as a Road Decoration

--India, the Land of Dreams and Romance--Fourteen Porters to Carry Baggage

--Correcting a Servant--Killing a Slave--Arranging a Bedroom--Three Hours'

Work and a Terrible Racket--The Bird of Birds, the Indian Crow

CHAPTER XXXIX.

God Vishnu, 108 Names--Change of Titles or Hunting for an Heir--Bombay as

a Kaleidoscope--The Native's Man Servant--Servants' Recommendations--How

Manuel got his Name and his English--Satan--A Visit from God

CHAPTER XL.

The Government House at Malabar Point--Mansion of Kumar Shri Samatsin Hji

Bahadur--The Indian Princess--A Difficult Game--Wardrobe and Jewels

--Ceremonials--Decorations when Leaving--The Towers of Silence--A Funeral

CHAPTER XLI.

Jain Temple--Mr. Roychand's Bungalow--A Decorated Six-Gun Prince--Human

Fireworks--European Dress, Past and Present--Complexions--Advantages with

the Zulu--Festivities at the Bungalow-Nautch Dancers--Entrance of the

Prince--Address to the Prince

CHAPTER XLII.

A Hindoo Betrothal, midnight, Sleepers on the ground, Home of the Bride

of Twelve Years Dressed as a Boy--Illumination Nautch Girls--Imitating

Snakes--Later--Illuminated Porch Filled with Sleepers--The Plague

CHAPTER XLIII

Murder Trial in Bombay--Confidence Swindlers--Some Specialities of India

--The Plague, Juggernaut, Suttee, etc.--Everything on Gigantic Scale

--India First in Everything--80 States, more Custom Houses than Cats--Rich

Ground for Thug Society

CHAPTER XLIV.

Thug Book--Supplies for Traveling, Bedding, and other Freight--Scene at

Railway Station--Making Way for White Man--Waiting Passengers, High and

Low Caste, Touch in the cars--Our Car--Beds made up--Dreaming of Thugs

--Baroda--Meet Friends--Indian Well--The Old Town--Narrow Streets--A Mad

Elephant

CHAPTER XLV.

Elephant Riding--Howdahs--The New Palace--The Prince's Excursion--Gold

and Silver Artillery--A Vice-royal Visit--Remarkable Dog--The Bench Show

--Augustin Daly's Back Door--Fakeer

CHAPTER XLVI.

The Thugs--Government Efforts to Exterminate them--Choking a Victim A

Fakeer Spared--Thief Strangled

CHAPTER XLVII.

Thugs, Continued--Record of Murders--A Joy of Hunting and Killing Men

--Gordon Gumming--Killing an Elephant--Family Affection among Thugs

--Burial Places

CHAPTER XLVIII.

Starting for Allahabad--Lower Berths in Sleepers--Elderly Ladies have

Preference of Berths--An American Lady Takes One Anyhow--How Smythe Lost

his Berth--How He Got Even--The Suttee

CHAPTER XLIX.

Pyjamas--Day Scene in India--Clothed in a Turban and a Pocket

Handkerchief--Land Parceled Out--Established Village Servants--Witches in

Families--Hereditary Midwifery--Destruction of Girl Babies--Wedding

Display--Tiger-Persuader--Hailstorm Discourages--The Tyranny of the

Sweeper--Elephant Driver--Water Carrier--Curious Rivers--Arrival at

Allahabad--English Quarter--Lecture Hall Like a Snowstorm--Private

Carriages--A Milliner--Early Morning--The Squatting Servant--A Religious

Fair

CHAPTER L.

On the Road to Benares--Dust and Waiting--The Bejeweled Crowd--A Native

Prince and his Guard--Zenana Lady--The Extremes of Fashion--The Hotel at

Benares--An Annex a Mile Away--Doors in India--The Peepul Tree--Warning

against Cold Baths--A Strange Fruit--Description of Benares--The

Beginning of Creation--Pilgrims to Benares--A Priest with a Good Business

Stand--Protestant Missionary--The Trinity Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu

--Religion the Business at Benares

CHAPTER LI.

Benares a Religious Temple--A Guide for Pilgrims to Save Time in Securing

Salvation

CHAPTER LII.

A Curious Way to Secure Salvation--The Banks of the Ganges--Architecture

Represents Piety--A Trip on the River--Bathers and their Costumes

--Drinking the Water--A Scientific Test of the Nasty Purifier--Hindoo Faith

in the Ganges--A Cremation--Remembrances of the Suttee--All Life Sacred

Except Human Life--The Goddess Bhowanee, and the Sacrificers--Sacred

Monkeys--Ugly Idols Everywhere--Two White Minarets--A Great View with a

Monkey in it--A Picture on the Water

CHAPTER LIII.

Still in Benares--Another Living God--Why Things are Wonderful--Sri 108

Utterly Perfect--How He Came so--Our Visit to Sri--A Friendly Deity

Exchanging Autographs and Books--Sri's Pupil--An Interesting Man

--Reverence and Irreverence--Dancing in a Sepulchre

CHAPTER LIV.

Rail to Calcutta--Population--The "City of Palaces"--A Fluted

Candle-stick--Ochterlony--Newspaper Correspondence--Average Knowledge of

Countries--A Wrong Idea of Chicago--Calcutta and the Black Hole

--Description of the Horrors--Those Who Lived--The Botanical Gardens--The

Afternoon Turnout--Grand Review--Military Tournament--Excursion on the

Hoogly--The Museum--What Winter Means Calcutta

CHAPTER LV

On the Road Again--Flannels in Order--Across Country--From Greenland's

Icy Mountain--Swapping Civilization--No Field women in India--How it is

in Other Countries--Canvas-covered Cars--The Tiger Country--My First Hunt

Some Elephants Get Away--The Plains of India--The Ghurkas--Women for

Pack-Horses--A Substitute for a Cab--Darjeeling--The Hotel--The Highest

Thing in the Himalayas--The Club--Kinchinjunga and Mt. Everest

--Thibetans--The Prayer Wheel--People Going to the Bazar

CHAPTER LVI.

On the Road Again--The Hand-Car--A Thirty-five-mile Slide--The Banyan

Tree--A Dramatic Performance--The Railroad--The Half-way House--The Brain

Fever Bird--The Coppersmith Bird--Nightingales and Cue Owls

CHAPTER LVII.

India the Most Extraordinary Country on Earth--Nothing Forgotten--The

Land of Wonders--Annual Statistics Everywhere about Violence--Tiger vs.

Man--A Handsome Fight--Annual Man Killing and Tiger Killing--Other

Animals--Snakes--Insurance and Snake Tables--The Cobra Bite--Muzaffurpore

--Dinapore--A Train that Stopped for Gossip--Six Hours for Thirty-five

Miles--A Rupee to the Engineer--Ninety Miles an Hour--Again to Benares,

the Piety Hive To Lucknow

CHAPTER LVIII.

The Great Mutiny--The m******e in Cawnpore--Terrible Scenes in Lucknow

--The Residency--The Siege

CHAPTER LIX.

A Visit to the Residency--Cawnpore--The Adjutant Bird and the Hindoo

Corpse--The Tai Mahal--The True Conception--The Ice Storm--True Gems

--Syrian Fountains--An Exaggerated Niagara

CHAPTER LX.

To Lahore--The Governor's Elephant--Taking a Ride-No Danger from

Collision--Rawal Pindi--Back to Delhi--An Orientalized Englishman

--Monkeys and the Paint-pot--Monkey Crying over my Note-book--Arrival at

Jeypore--In Rajputana--Watching Servants--The Jeypore Hotel--Our Old and

New Satan--Satan as a Liar--The Museum--A Street Show--Blocks of Houses

--A Religious Procession

CHAPTER LXI.

Methods in American Deaf and Dumb Asylums--Methods in the Public Schools

--A Letter from a youth in Punjab--Highly Educated Service--A Damage to

the Country--A Little Book from Calcutta--Writing Poor English

--Embarrassed by a Beggar Girl--A Specimen Letter--An Application for

Employment--A Calcutta School Examination--Two Samples of

Literature

CHAPTER LXII.

Sail from Calcutta to Madras--Thence to Ceylon--Thence for Mauritius

--The Indian Ocean--Our Captain's Peculiarity The Scot Has one too--The

Flying-fish that Went Hunting in the Field--Fined for Smuggling--Lots of

pets on Board--The Color of the Sea--The Most Important Member of

Nature's Family--The Captain's Story of Cold Weather--Omissions in the

Ship's Library--Washing Decks--Pyjamas on Deck--The Cat's Toilet--No

Interest in the Bulletin--Perfect Rest--The Milky Way and the Magellan

Clouds--Mauritius--Port Louis--A Hot Country--Under French Control

--A Variety of People and Complexions--Train to Curepipe--A Wonderful

Office-holder--The Wooden Peg Ornament--The Prominent Historical Event of

Mauritius--"Paul and Virginia"--One of Virginia's Wedding Gifts--Heaven

Copied after Mauritius--Early History of Mauritius--Quarantines

--Population of all Kinds--What the World Consists of--Where Russia and

Germany are--A Picture of Milan Cathedral--Newspapers--The Language--Best

Sugar in the World--Literature of Mauritius

CHAPTER LXIII.

Port Louis--Matches no Good--Good Roads--Death Notices--Why European

Nations Rob Each Other--What Immigrants to Mauritius Do--Population

--Labor Wages--The Camaron--The Palmiste and other Eatables--Monkeys--The

Cyclone of 1892--Mauritius a Sunday Landscape

CHAPTER LXIV.

The Steamer "Arundel Castle"--Poor Beds in Ships--The Beds in Noah's Ark

--Getting a Rest in Europe--Ship in Sight--Mozambique Channel--The

Engineer and the Band--Thackeray's "Madagascar"--Africanders Going Home

--Singing on the After Deck--An Out-of-Place Story--Dynamite Explosion in

Johannesburg--Entering Delagoa Bay--Ashore--A Hot Winter--Small Town--No

Sights--No Carriages--Working Women--Barnum's Purchase of Shakespeare's

Birthplace, Jumbo, and the Nelson Monument--Arrival at Durban

CHAPTER LXV.

Royal Hotel Durban--Bells that Did not Ring--Early Inquiries for Comforts

--Change of Temperature after Sunset-Rickhaws--The Hotel Chameleon

--Natives not out after the Bell--Preponderance of Blacks in Natal--Hair

Fashions in Natal--Zulus for Police--A Drive round the Berea--The Cactus

and other Trees--Religion a Vital Matter--Peculiar Views about Babies

--Zulu Kings--A Trappist Monastery--Transvaal Politics--Reasons why the

Trouble came About

CHAPTER LXVI.

Jameson over the Border--His Defeat and Capture--Sent to England for

Trial--Arrest of Citizens by the Boers--Commuted sentences--Final Release

of all but Two--Interesting Days for a Stranger--Hard to Understand

Either Side--What the Reformers Expected to Accomplish--How They Proposed

to do it--Testimonies a Year Later--A "Woman's Part"--The Truth of the

South African Situation--"Jameson's Ride"--A Poem

CHAPTER LXVIL

Jameson's Raid--The Reform Committee's Difficult Task--Possible Plans

--Advice that Jameson Ought to Have--The War of 1881 and its Lessons

--Statistics of Losses of the Combatants--Jameson's Battles--Losses on Both

Sides--The Military Errors--How the Warfare Should Have Been Carried on

to Be Successful

CHAPTER LXVIII.

Judicious Mr. Rhodes--What South Africa Consists of--Johannesburg--The

Gold Mines--The Heaven of American Engineers--What the Author Knows about

Mining--Description of the Boer--What Should be Expected of Him--What Was

A Dizzy Jump for Rhodes--Taxes--Rhodesian Method of Reducing Native

Population--Journeying in Cape Colony--The Cars--The Country--The

Weather--Tamed Blacks--Familiar Figures in King William's Town--Boer

Dress--Boer Country Life--Sleeping Accommodations--The Reformers in Boer

Prison--Torturing a Black Prisoner

CHAPTER LXIX.

An Absorbing Novelty--The Kimberley Diamond Mines--Discovery of Diamonds

--The Wronged Stranger--Where the Gems Are--A Judicious Change of

Boundary--Modern Machinery and Appliances--Thrilling Excitement in

Finding a Diamond--Testing a Diamond--Fences--Deep Mining by Natives in

the Compound--Stealing--Reward for the Biggest Diamond--A Fortune in

Wine--The Great Diamond--Office of the De Beer Co.--Sorting the Gems

--Cape Town--The Most Imposing Man in British Provinces--Various Reasons

for his Supremacy--How He Makes Friends

CONCLUSION.

Table Rock--Table Bay--The Castle--Government and Parliament--The Club

--Dutch Mansions and their Hospitality--Dr. John Barry and his Doings--On

the Ship Norman--Madeira--Arrived in Southampton

In the 1600s, Balthasar Gracian, a jesuit priest wrote 300 aphorisms on living life called "The Art of Worldly Wisdom." Join our newsletter below and read them all, one at a time.