Charles J. Gillis - Around the World in Seven Months

At 9.50 A.M., on the morning of the 8th of September I went aboard thevestibule train of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, atForty-second Street, New York; and having travelled on the principalrailroads around the world, I can truly say that no train which has evercarried me has approached this one in luxurious ease, comfort, andsafety. The train rolled into the Chicago depot at 9.50 the nextmorningexactly twenty-four hours. I was detained in Chicago for twodays, and then left by the Rock Island route for San Francisco.

At Ogden, we were detained two days by the burning of a bridge builtover a ravineone hundred feet long and about the same height. Thefire destroyed the massive snow-sheds and great trees for a longdistance. The fire took place Friday. Telegrams were sent to Sacramento,and the next day word came that twenty-one car loads of material hadbeen sent with mechanics to erect a new bridge.

The new bridge was erected in four days. Our train was the first to passover it, and I remarked how substantially the new erection had beenconstructed. We reached the summit at noon, and the Palace Hotel, SanFrancisco, at midnight.

On the 21st of September we went aboard the steamer Rio-de-Janeiro,built for the southern trade370 feet long, 38 feet wide, 3,500tonssix tubular boilers, each 13 feet diameter, 10-1/2 feet long. Iremarked what heavy consumers of coal such shaped boilers must be, andthe engineer said there was no room to put in any other kind.

I found myself the sole occupant of a large and well ventilatedstate-room. At 3 P.M., Captain Ward, standing on the bridge, gave thesignal, and the voice of an officer sang out, "All ashore that's going."Several hundreds of Chinese men and a dozen women, in showy dresses,crowded the wharf. The friends of the missionaries on the wharf sang aparting hymn. The big propeller started. A tug pulled the ship's bowaround, and away we went on our voyage of 4,700 miles across thePacific. We passed the Golden Gate and the Seal Islandscovered withhuge sealsand then on towards our destination.

I soon made the acquaintance of most of the passengers, forty-five innumberincluding fourteen missionaries of the Presbyterian Board, niceyoung people going out to their duties in China and Japan. I took myseat at the dining-table, and found that I had at my right an agreeablecompanion, a captain in the German army, and at the left a charming missof ten, Bessie, daughter of J. De Romero, secretary of the SpanishLegation to China.

The first week out was a rough one. The weather was bad, and the shiprolled fearfully, so that we could not walk on deck. The waves wereimmense, and consequently nearly every one was sick. I felt a littlenausea for a couple of days, but soon did duty regularly at the finefeast placed before us three times a day, the specialty being splendidCalifornia fruitspeaches, plums, grapes, and oranges, any of whichwould bring a prize in an agricultural show.

Day after day the tireless engine drove the propeller. The splendid shiprushed on and on, not a moment's stop the entire distance. Not a sail ora steamer seen from port to port, and not even a whale. Once someporpoises and flying-fish, and once, when a thousand miles from land, aland-hawk lighted on the cross-trees, and proceeded leisurely to feaston a captured bird, and during the night flew away.

The never-ending water was very impressive in its desolation. Betterweather came, the ship was steady, and we could walk on deck. My littlefriend and I romped along the deck from end to end in safety, but once arude wave threw us down, and dashed us against the sides of the vessel,taking off some inches of skin from me, but the child was unhurt, and Idid not mind a little thing like that.

I had early made the acquaintance of Mr. Mathews, the chief engineer,and once went into the hold and inspected the boilers and machinery ofthe huge ship. I spent a good deal of time in the chief engineer's room,listening to strange tales of ship and shore.

On the 9th inst., as we were approaching our destination, I was shown anengrossed resolution complimenting the captain, beautifully illustratedwith a pen-and-ink sketch of the ship by Seor Romero. After dinner, oneof the passengers was selected to make the presentation address. Hesaid:

"Ladies and gentlemen, fellow-passengers by the good shipRio-de-Janeiro: I act with pleasure as chairman on this auspiciousoccasion, and congratulate you on the near termination of our long tripacross the great Pacific Ocean, rendered safe by the skill of thenavigators and pleasant by the efforts of the officers, one and all. Ihave been many times across many seas, sometimes in magnificent floatingpalaces, but never on one so neat and clean, and where every detail hasbeen so carefully attended to.

"'O'er the glad waters of the dark blue sea,
Our thoughts as boundless and our souls as free,
Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam,
Survey our empire and behold our home.'

"Our only home indeed for a brief period of time. But who can fail toremember the pleasant acquaintances made, even if we go around theworld? For 'they that go down to the sea in ships; that do business ingreat waters; these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in thedeep.' Even if we look upon the lofty Himalayas, the Alps, theApennines, and the Juras, and linger about gigantic Mont Blanc and herwhite-robed sisters, or the beautiful Jungfrau, or sail along theclassic shores of the blue Mediterranean,wherever we go, and whateverwe see, the scenes on this good ship will be photographed, as it were,on our memories as long as we livethe romps on the deck, perchancewith a charming miss; or the tramp, tramp with military regularity withthose of mature age; the hours of looking upon the moonlit sea,listening to the song and music of our missionary friends. God blessthem and their cause!

"The temporary annoyance of sea-sickness will be forgotten. And now,fellow-passengers and friends, let us resolve that, like thepassion-flower of the wilderness, which always bears within its bosomthe true cross, we will bear within our bosom the true cross of 'enmitytowards none, charity and goodwill for all,' and thus we shall be anhonor to ourselves, the dear ones at home, the country we came from, andour God.

"Captain Ward, by directions of the passengers on this ship, permit meto present to you an engrossed resolution, signed by all of us, andbeautifully illustrated by Seor Romero, and expressing the hopewhichhas been so often said before on like occasionsthat your voyagethrough life may be as safe and pleasant as you have made ours. I bidyou farewell."

The captain made a suitable reply, and the company all stood up anddrank his health.

One more night on the ship; and the next morning we sighted land andpassed along near it for forty miles. It was a rough country, evidentlyof volcanic formation, and not so thickly populated as I expected tosee, considering that there are thirty-eight million people in Japan. Atlast we cast anchor in the splendid harbor of Yokohama, one of the mostcommodious and beautiful in the world, where a tug took us off the ship.We were detained an hour or two at the custom-house, and then each tooka