A HORRIBLE VOYAGE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1252, 14 October 1884, Page 3

A HORRIBLE VOYAGE.

Eev. T. if'. Clark, who circumnavigated the globe with a staff and knapsack, told an audience filling the Brown Memorial Church how ho crossed the Pacific Ocean. On arriving at Japan hie seanty store of money was so depleted that he was obliged to ship for San Francisco on a Pacffic mail steamer as a steerage passenger With him in the dungeon below were several hundred Chinese immigrants. They looked upon the intrepid preacher with wonder as he picked out a bank in the dark recesses of the ship's hold. Ihiß was the beginning of an experience winch few men would have survived. Only a nature as desperately courageous as that of an American traveller would _ have encountered the subsequent hardship and privations without dying. The voyage was extremely rough, for days and days the vessel being at the mercy of the elements as she tossed in the tempest of the billowy deep. As a matter of safety it became neces-ary to fasten the hutches over the strerage. M r Clark thus became a prisoner in the towels of the ship, a prisoner in a nest of vermin, a prisoner in a pit reeking with the filth of a small army The noisome character of the horrible dace was rendered more and more unendurable by the shocking habits of the Orientals and the continuance of their confinement. Sea-sickness was general among them. This alone would have contaminated the air beyond the possibility of healthfulness. What was worse, a type of varioloid broke out amongst the heathens, who suffered the tortures of the damned in the agonies of the disease. There was no relief whatever the officers of the ship seeming to be powerless to better the condition ot things Aware of the danger to which he was exposed, Mr Clark appealed to be removed to another part of the vessel, oflerino- as security for the ultimate payment of "his passage more than its value in a gold watch and chain and a collection of curiosities and trinkets picked up during the tour. One pound eight shillings was, the extent of his ready money. The officers, of the ship, however, refused to allow him to come forth on any consideration. He begged, prayed, pleaded for release from the horrors of his situation. There was, however, no hope of escape. The storm ra«ed unabated in the sea. Darkness revmed below, the overpowering oppressiveness of the place being broken in upon by the shrieks of the agonised passengers, which never ceased by day or night. Hell could not be crowded with scenes more horrible. One of the poor fellows lay dyinw in his bunk near Mr Clark for "several days. The tortures he lived through were most pitiful. No attention whs paid to him by his fellows, who were either too stupid with opium or r,oo sick themselves to care for their best friend. One. morning Mr Clark found the unfortunate heathen dangling out of the berth, a corpse, his eyes staring in the semi-darkness with fearful agony, showing what his end must have been. Word was got 'o the deck of his death. Three or four hulking seamen came below to remove the body. It was pulled down by the hair of the head, falling on the defiled floor with a thud. It was preserved in a refrigerator until land was reached. The steamship company, under the contract allowing it to land ia Oriental ports, guarantees burial on land to all Chinese. Owing to the fact being noised about that an American was in the steerage, enough of a protest was raised among the passengers to have MrClaik brought up. He had been in the chamber of horrors for days. Another day would have resulted in death. It was several days before he was able to stand upon his legs. A compassionate passenger consented to take Mr Clark into his berth at the cost of forfeiting his own right to go into the saloon.. The hevalence of varioloid jo, th.e necessitated this precaution. The remain, rter of the voyage wmh m-ide with more comfort.—Syracuse Standard.