The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-10-08 00:00:00

ROUND THE WORLD IN NINE
• MONTHS.

The arrangements for the voyage of the Ceylem
round the world are now complete • and in a few
days this vessel—one of the best ?min the fleet of
the Peninsular and Oriental Company— will leave
the Victoria Docks, where. she is now lying, for
Southampton, to receive her passengers, the start
being fixed for Saturday, the 15th of October.
This is the first trip of the Ceylon since she has been
purchased from the Peninsular and Oriental Company
by the Inter-Oceanic Steam Yachting Company, and
she has been completely overhauled and refitted; so
that the passengers who entrust themselves to her for
this long crinse may find every possible comfort and
convenience on board.

The Ceylon, which is a screw steamer of 2,110 tons
burden, and 3301 t. long by 42 broad, carried 240 pas-
sengers when in the Peninsular service ; but the state-
room, which formerly held four, are now fitted up for
half that number, and several other alterations have
been made which will limit the passengers to a
hundred. There is a handsome drawing-room for
ladies on the upper deck, a card-room, and a smoking-
room; while the-dii ing- saloon, which is well ventilated
and is nearly nine feet in height, is luxurious in its
appointments. There is also a well-selected library, a
baud of musicians, a surgeon, whose services will be
given to passengers free of cost, several bath-rooms,
and an excellent cook—the last-named having been
until recently chef on board the Duke of Edinburgh's
ship Lively.
The cost of a ticket far the whole voyage, including
living on board, is £5OO for each passenger, or half as
much again if he has the whole of a state-room to
himself ; and this comprises the transit
.from San
Francisco to England rid the Pacific Railway and
New York, for those who wish to abridge the voyage
by leaving the Ceylon in California.
The itinerary is as follows :—Starting from South-
ampton on the 15th of October, the Ceylon will go
direct to Bordeaux, and thence to Lisbon, Gibraltar,
Malaga, Marseilles, Genoa, Naples, Palermo, Malta,
the Pirieus, Constantinople, Smyrna, Rhodes, Alex-
andria, Port .Said, Ismaili), Suez, Aden, Bombay,
Colombo, Galle, Madras, Calcutta, Penang, Singapore,
Manilla, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Nagasaki, Hiogo,
Yokohama, Honolulu, San Francisco, Mazatlan,
' Panama, Guayaquil, Callao, Valparaiso, Stanley,
Falkland Islands, Straits of Magellan, Monte Video,
Buenos Ayres, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Porta Praya
(Capf, de Verd Islands), Teneriffe and Madeira, return-
siir Soatliampton about the nii(l,llc of July.
As the Cep/en is timed to reach San Francisco by the
end of March, those who cannot afford the time to
complete the voyage can be back in England by the
latter part of April; and it ni&y be well to mention
that those who might like to join the vessel at Mar-
seilles, Suez, Calcutta, or any intermediate port, can
do. so without any additional cost, as the company
will allow them first-class fare to any of these places.
As may be gathered from the above itinerary, the
Ceylon will not, as a rule, be on the seas for more than
two or three days at a time, the only long stretch being
across the Pacific. She starts, however, with 1,400
tons of coal on board, and will burn about 30 tons a
day while she is under steam. Everything, in short,
seems to have been done for the safety and comfort of
passengers; and the Ceylon, which will be under the
command of Captain Lunham, has been refitted under
the supervision of Sir Edward Reed.
Lord Kingston (who is one of the directors of the
company) and his wife are among the passengers who
have already engaged state-rooms; and every thing
augurs well for the successful initiation of what may
not inaptly be termed " co-operative yachting."

CREMATION IN HUNGARY.—The practice of crema-
tion appears to be gaining ground in Hungary. The
Municipal Council of Buda-Pesth, at the inktance of
the journal Egyetertes, has discussed the question, and
decided in favour of cremation. Following this
example, several other Hungarian towns have decreed
that cremation may be adopted by all those who
doh% it.