A Trip Home.

Manawatu Herald, 16 August 1900, Page 2

A Trip Home.

We have been favoured with seeing an interesting letter on a trip Home, by a gentleman who has been many years in the colony, and thinking it would be of interest to our readers we have made the following extracts from it : —

The writer says I left Wellington in the " Mokoia " arriving at Sydney in five days, spending two of them in the berth quite dead to the world. Sydney harbour is a beautiful place and the city is very interesting. I spent three days there. From there I proceeded in the " Orient " to Melbourne where we had two days, nearly. Meeting some relations they took charge of me, and we spent the entire day together surveying the sights and public buildings of Melbourne. Our voyage to Adelaide was good and more relations came off to see me. Three days more brought us to Albany, which has a very fine secure harbour, good as anything we possess. When passing round the Leuwin we got it rough, soup flying round, the skylights all were broken in and the cabins a few inches of water inside. I was not sick but felt miserable, though I got on deck. In the smoking room the old salts were teling "sailors" yarns. Our gunwales were right down to the water when she rolled as she did mightily. After that we never hai the "fiddes" on the tables, the weather being splendid. We reached Colombo in ten days from Albany, where we coaled. It is a dreadfully dirty operation. We had a real good time there going round in electric trams, rickihaws or carriages. We dined ala style, Ac. The note's are splendidly arranged and we went in for real Indian curries. My word it is quite an art to mix them, which one has to do for onesself . Colombo and surroundings are very beautiful, and interesting, and it well repays one to spend s fortnight there. We reached Aden in about six days after, passing through the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb | into the Bed Sea. One thing that impresses itself upon me was the ; number of boats of all kinds that we passed that travelled via the Bed Sea, about seven-eighths were British — a good example of the British ascendancy in commerce. Then the other envious nations say we are greedy, when it is only their own want of enterprise. The result of my travels has been to make me prouder than ever to know that I am a unit of the greatest Empire the world has known, and the most potent power in the earth towards justice and freedom. The Bed Sea is about aB large as New Zealand in extent and took us three days to traverse ; the heat was very intense, but we were fortunate in having a slight head wind. We saw the place ascribed to the Israelites crossing in the northern part of the Gulf of Suez, and close to Suez. The canal starts at Port Tewfik and so does not go right up to the top of the Gulf, so we only saw Suez town in the distance. We bought a quantity of grapes at twopence per pound. The canal is 85 yards wide and so is somewhat like a ditch through the sand. 87 miles long, and at five miles an hour it took us 17 hours to Port Said. Along the banks, at places, are a number of trees, bananas, cocoanuts, &c. A fresh water canal . runs alongside for many miles from the Nile, its course being marked by luxuriant vegetation. We coaled at Port Said, and there I think we saw the lowest, dirtiest place in the world, and the last of Orientalism, and we were not sorry to get away from it. As the plague was raging at Cairo we were not allowed to land at Naples, but we saw old Stromboli and Messina Straits and the Buy of Naples. It is a beautiful sight and one that cannot be forgotten. Vesuvius was smoking merrily. We passed through the Straits of Bonafacio and saw the rocky islands of Corsica and Sardinia. At Marseilles two others and myself bid adieu to the " Orient " for a week, to meet her next at Tilbury on the Thames. We arranged about our luggage and tram tickets, haying previously gone through the operation of being fumigated, at the quarantine station, on account of the plague at Cairo. Then we went and had a shave and wash and our moustaches ourled Continental style, and then adjourned to a Cafe. Then we made the acquaintance of French rolls, coffee and butter, and I never tasted anything more delicious. Then followed a "feed" as only French people can prepare and a bottle of wine eaoh to wash it down. We had a good day there, hiring a carriage and driving to the places of interest, and it is a delightful place indeed. I saw the prettiest girls there that I saw in all my journey. From there (we left at 8 p.m.) we took the "Bapide" for Paris, arriving there at 8 am. next day. We had a great time there. Next day we got along to Calais and caught sight of the most welcome sight I ever saw, viz., the white walls of Old England. We were soon at Dover where I took train for London, arriving about 6 p.m.