ROUND THE WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume VIII, Issue 697, 17 December 1902, Page 3

ROUND THE WORLD.

STRANGE CRAFT, X'VriUcn by. a Young New Zealander. > No. 3. The river steamers are mostly great, paddle-boats, American fashion, like those illustrated in my “ engineers ” at home. .Wee tugs, chceky-looking little things, are rushing) about in every direction, and the queer craft on the ..river, sailing, are such as 1 have not seen before, rigged with one mast and two square sails only on it. From a casual glance, the place lias a go-ahead (look about it ; yet, in many ways, things look fam'iliar to a colonial; Many tilings h take as a matter of course, excite comment .with the civilised Britishers anoaril. To-day, Montreal, midsummer, roasting hot. By the papers, I see that the thermometer is much as in Auckland in our hottest weather,- 36 to 88 and 06 to 70 by night., X am sure I must have losCTialf a stone in weight )his week ; it has been somewhere about .110 in our engine-room all the week, and the work which lias li a d to bo done liais been bard work,- I don’t think one of us has bad a dry stitcli o_n in working hours. We engineers on this boat dine in the saloon;; so, of course, we have to get into presentable i clothes cacli meal-hour, if only for the sake of showing the deck officers (who walk about in white linen, and talk about heat and work) that T . even though wc do belong to the black 1 1 squad we have some decent ideas ahouL us. , However, that’s not Canada.- It seems incredible that a place which is so hot in summer should be so cold in winter. Where we are berthed, the river is frozen two feet thick in win- -ft ter, from October to May nearly, and tiie whole sea-front is piled with ice a-11 six and ten feet- high* right into the streets. The sea front ! I should say , the water front ; ,wc are many a mile from salt water here. ! THE FOREIGN ELEMENT. 0Q It is queer to he about in the streets and hear on every hand a foreign language in constant use. Nearly half the "people here are Frcnch-Canadians, i and a great many don’t sewn to speak English at all. Names of streets, shops, trades, etc., arc as often French as English ; very often tiie two r _ lgnguagcs arc side by side. All public J notices, even such as “ Post no bills,” re) are in uvo languages —thus : “ Stick 0 j no bills,” “ N’affichcy pas “ rail- alc way crossing,” “ traverse du chcmiu UD de fer,” The people mostly have _ a foreign look—dark eyes, black hair, be The men have a mixture of Yank and **l Frenchman look about them ; ditto the women. The young girls I sec about are mostly all foreign-looting, as much in their dress and get-up as in their personal looks. Hair in pigtails (one or two), or etuis, short sleeves, any amount of flounces on their frocks, grown-up hats on girls of 10 or 13, and either very thin or ridiculously fat. Upon my word, I haven’t seen M more than two or three good-looking women in all the crowds about the , streets and cars, 'they have no color at all ; are as white as this paper ; so different- from the rosy-chceked,, red- _ lipped girls I had- got used to seeing an Scotland. And th >1 (.perhaps it’s the present fashion), they don t seem to wear corsets, arid the effect is not to be admired. Those who are not 1 French, men and women, nave that i unpleasant, hard nasal tone of voice, C which gives them away at once.. IGOLD BUT NOT CASH. h My lirst trouble was to get some I cash. I had a sovereign, and when I ‘ pulled it out, the man looked at it, v lingered it, asked what it v-as worth, i was it good '! 1 said : “ Worth 1 • dollars so" cents, and genuine.” 1 hen • lie wanted somebody else’s opinion,and 1 went to the telephone ; came back and , asked what was the difference between r , a sovereign (lie bad apparently never . heard that name) and a pound ; and ( , ut last agreed to give me the full val- t ! COLONIAL IF E. ; strolling'i through the streets you <’ y o u are at once in colonial hie. wini’ dows and doors wide open, people sit- { ting on the steps and at windows in thc°cool oi the evening, in the business .streets shop-keepers sitting in shirt sleeves of course, or chairs at the i doors, waiting for closing time. 11l 7 the offices, clerks in start sleeves hard ’• a t work; in tram cars, well-dressed men in white shirts, coals off, bats of! for coolness, everywhere the imlepen--1 dent look oi men who feel independent cs of criticism, such a different look from ,s the crowds in Scotland, who don t, know what it is to be without a coaton, at work or play, btiH, colonial all d all, there is more oi the Yankee 3 p in style than I had expected to sec m of Canada. wmFF QF COUNTRY.; ,n Last evening, along with ihe duet 'a engineer, I had a trip away into the □„ country—l 3 miles by an electric in 1wav to the junction u the rneis Ottawa and St". Lawrence, Montreal; 1 m find, stands on ? x u i.-iand. On the ' trip we travelled through liayheias m mt wheat, barley, maize, tobacco,-i.d miss paddocks. It was glorious alter a the sweltering day m the engmeioom, o’ to rush through the country an, sweet he with the smell o£ new-mown hay, on we the open car, right ..way from “! O. nn d signs oi cit-y at all—grass grow „ “L, hc'iwcen the rails and sleepers of Z the lmeTclear blue sky, and everything looking and feeling clean. d„e tar* 1 are Veil filled { everybody is out just

now for the summer, enjoying tnemselvcs in open air. We sal under trees on tlie river hank, listened to darkey singing, eating ice creams and so on for an hour, then away back again, after dark now, landing down at the ship at J U. 30 well pleased with a . healthy evening of fresh air. By the ; way they are great on ice creams, ice drinks and so on. i'ne chemists all run cool drink supplies in their .shops* as a matter of of course, It •seems queer to go into a great’drug store for an iced ginger ale or any oilier flavour you like, hut so it is. FRUIT AND ICED DRINKS. Fruit, is plentiful and cheap, oranges bananas, peaches pears i Bartlett), plums, raspberries*, tomatoes, lemons, melons, pineapples—they are all there. They seem to he all sold by the dozen —peaches, 2U cents now (auout Did), pears rather cheaper, and so on. Tlie iced-drink business is a big one. Every fruit-shop, druggist, grocer,confectioner (candy), and restaurant has tlie apparatus. You as,; for ice-cream soda with lemon, strawberry or any flavor you like, and it, is (lumped down before you in a big tumbler, with a long spoon and a straw. “The prettiest girl that e’er 1 i.iw was sucking cider through a straw.- * A'ou can eat tlie solid with tlie spoon at once, or stir it up until it is dissolved and drink it comfortably through tlie .straw. lUs very nice, 111 admit at once, having already tested tlie system 1 to satisfaction. THE MAPLE LEAF. Tlie maple-leaf is the emblem Canada lias chosen, much as we have the fern leaf ; everything in the way of national ornament lias tlie maple-leaf. I enclose a leaf or two arm a roadside tree in Montreal. E litre are any j amount of trees in the streets—genuine trees, the biggest 1 have seen since 1 left New Zealand; .AVe sail at daylight for Glasgows