The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1872-02-08
Letters from the Old World.
BY MISS JENNIE A. NELSON.
No. III.
INDIAN OCEAN, STEAMER DECCAN, !
Nov 7 1870 I

Z
Nov. 7, 1872.
l have fallen in love with the sea.
1 have seen some of the wonders of
the deep and many of its beauties. I
am bewildered when I attempt to
give you any idea ofalI I have seen.
Everything interests; the countries
have passed through; the people
and things 1 have seen each day,
might fill an ordinary sheet.
All last week we were on the Red
Sea. Our steamer, the Deccan, is a
very large one and most admirably
conducted. We have 12O passengers,
mostly English people, going back
to their posts in the army or Gov
ernment, or to their business. There
are a great many ladies going out to
join their husbands, having left their
children in England. We have
made some very pleasant friends
among them, and have some very
kind, attentive gentlemen friends,
with whom we have travelled long
time.
The Captain of our steamer is an
Englishman, and looks just like the
pictures of "Pickwick." His Off
/ GERS are very gentlemanly, and every
thing moves on so quietly, so cheer
fully, and the ship moves so steedi-
lily, that I find it hard tn realize,
that L am not in hotel on land.
The employees are of many shades
and languages many of them are
HindOOs. They are very dark, but
their color is not a stigma upon
them, as it is upon the African. We
have some native gentlemen on
board, who hold positions, dress
handsomely and travel as first class
passengers, and who are as dark as
most of our negroes.
We have tea and crackers brought
to our cabin before we are up. Then
we get up and have a sea bath, dress
and go on deck, and walk until we
are tired, this being the only exer-
else we can take. We have break
fast at nine. The fare is very good
indeed, except the coffee. We have
lunch, or "Tafin," as they call it
here, at twelve, and dinner at six
P. NJ. This is the great event OF
the day. The ladies appear in full
dress, and it would seem that eating
and drinking were the chief end of
man, and woman too. We sit at
the table more than an hour, and
have our plates changed seven or
eight times. 1 am getting rather
tired of this part of sea life. In the
dining room long white fans are
suspended. These are moved back
wards and forwards all the time we
are eating, by native boys called
"Kun-ka-walIas," who sit on the
floor and jerk and pull the ropes.
These fans are called "Pankas," and
add greatly to our comfort. They
are used in all the English houses
in India. The waiting maids and
nurses are called "Ayah"-pro-
nounced "I-ah." You see 1 am
learning some Hindoostanee already.
Sometimes on the Red Sea, we
could see the bleak coasts of Arabia
on one hand and Abyssinia on the
other, but no signs Of vegetation on
either. The sunsets on the water
are beautiful beyond description.
Last Saturday, November 4, we
reached Aden, an English port on
the coast Of Arabia. It is the only
place the steamers stop for coal be-
tween Suez and Bombay. The En-
glish needed such port, and the
Arabs would not let them have one
willingly, so about fifty years ago
they took it by force and hold it in
the same way. I will devote the
remainder of my letter to an account
of my visit to this curiously inter-
esting place.
The country here is nothing bat
bleak, rocky hills, of volcanic ORR
gin-not a sign Of vegetation except
few trees planted by the English
soldiers, stationed here. The hills
are very high and irregular, with
many sharp spurs. Steamers anchor
some distance from shore. AS soon
as we came in sight a large number
of almost naked natives came out
in small boats and very small ca
noes, some to take passengers ashore,
but many of them little boys, who
seem more like fish than boys, they
were so perfectly at home in the
water. Their chief amusement was
diving after money the passeu-
gers would throw overheard for
them. One gentleman told a boy
to bring him a stone from the bot
tom. The boy said chow much will
you give me2" ga sixpence," was
the reply. So down he went out OF
sight. In a moment up he came
with a stone in his hand. The gen.
tIeman threw the silver in the water,
and he dived again and came up
with the sixpence on his head. The
water here is twenty feet deep. The
boys would run up the gangway and
into the life, boats on the side of the !
ship and then leap into the sea. Oh, /
such degraded looking beings! II (
seems hard to realize that they and J