, 1888-11-24

III 4SS IL = MI
David Ker, the traveller, sis inviting.
Then the German row In Samoa might be
worth while. Central Asia and the Pacific
Islands, too, are so easy of access-to say
nothing of the Morocco troubles. made
up my mind five minutes ago to give
Northern Africa a call. Five minutes
notice is all that Mrs. Ker requires-quite
long enough to pack our two hand bags. "
Mrs. Kerl Why, you don't mean to
say that your wife always accompanies
your"
Accompanies me? Why, do you fancy
| should want to leave my wife behind
me; or, ratEer, that she would consent to
let me go without her? She began this
little skipping round right after we were
married, and that event took place in
1880. In that year we Travelled through
Montenegro, in 1881 through Beloochistan
and Afghanistan; in 1882 it was Cape
Colony, Natal, Zululand, the Trarsvaal,
st. Helena, Ascension and Madeira; in
1883, Siam, Malacca, Sumatra; in 1884,
Hungary, Pennsylvania, Roumania, the
Crimea, Caucasus, the petroleum fields of
the Caspian, then to Anatolia and Turkey;
in 1885, oh dear mel that was a delightful
year; first class shipwreck on the west
coast of Africa, and we had to keep off
the cannibals with muskets; and in 1886
it was Congo, Dongola and the CAMERON
river, and last year a little jauut, nothing
much to speak about. to Ceylon, Burmah
and Thibet, and now Mrs. Ker is just be-
ginning to have a taste for travel"
ONLY A HANDBAG.
'Does Mrs. Ker travel light?"
"She is obliged to. We each carry a
handbag, and the two would not weigh
fifty pounds. Both of us take on our backs
out. One thing, we both carry pistols and
Mrs. Ker knows how to use hers. taught
her, and a friend of ours, Capt. Hansard
of the English navy, gave her lessons.
She has the drop down very fine, and l
really think at long range may be better
than her husband. Pray, do not smile,
it is a very matter of fact business. We
have to go through countries where your
revolver must be seen while your money
is not"
Then, Mrs. Ker must have been in
strange places?"
She has been in countries where no
white woman had ever been before. That
was OF the Cestos river, the CAMERON
and Weiloby bay, the true Gorilla land"
Returning to the toilets of a lady under
such circumstances, Mr.. Ker said:
'Wen they have been peculiar at times.
We two were in Zuzuland when the total
luggage of the party was represented by
a small bundle held together by a shawl
strap-all our worldly goods-and that
slung on the end of q spear carried by a
naked native. When we cross a river in
Africa, there being no cobbler handy nor
haberdasher near, we save shoes and stock
ings by taking them off. 1t is an accom-
plishment to know how to wade. But re-
turning to the negroes on the CAMERON
river-when they saw Mrs. Ker, they said
having once seen q white woman, they
were quite ready to lie down and de- 1
hin Mrs. Ker fascinated a Hindoo chief
tain in an unknown part of India, for he
said she represented the wisdom of the
world
STEAD NERVES NEEDED
AT times things are not so pleasant.
Just fancy-and this happened-my wife
going out of her tent in A~fghanistan be-
fore breakfast and finding a few steps
from where she had been sleeping the
bodies of two men who had been murder
ed but e few minutes beforel 1t takes a
m of steady nerves to see such
things"
We'll, how about the baggage she
earliest 1t can't be much if a single
Gladstone bag holds it."
"Oh, there is soap, of course, and
brushes and combs. There ought to be
hairpins; presumably there are. Certain
ly. There is a big lot of q~uinine and a
pistol. Cuffs? Yes, a cuff. Collars2
Don't know. 1t is the q~uinine, really
AONJ IA 10 VIC lOo lADOl GdhI. W.
should all have persisted in Africa if not
for Mrs. Keris quinine. What are frills
and founces, laces and ribbons good for
in a pestiferous swamp Then Mrs. Ker
takes needles and thread and a thimble,
and a pair of scissors, for we both want
much repairing. AS tidy work as l ever
saw in cutting, basting, fitting and sew
ing was done by Mrs. Ker in a jungle,
with the admiring monkeys chattering
around us. Yes, a portable sewing ma
chine would be very useful in our travels,
and so would be q portable grand piano.
There, / ave given you the principal
contents of Mrs. Ker's handbag pistol,
fifty cartridges and a bottle of quinine.
What more could a woman want?
TURN O LANGUAGES.
lis Mrs, Ker a ~linguist?"
Yes. My wife has a neat urn for
languages and is at home in French, Ger
man, Burmese, Hindostanee and Malay.
We get along fairly well, as l am up in
twelve other different tongues, with an
assortment of dialects. We pick up the
talk very fast. We must do that or we
might starve at times"
There must be great suffering at times
from changes of climate?"
well, we both climb up and down the
thermometer and don't think about it.
My wife has stood lat deg. in the shade
in Central Asia and in Russia 70 deg. be-
low zero. There is only one slight falling
of Mrs. Ker's, which l think will become
less in time. She will get seasick. But
if an emergency comes she shake that off
at once. She rides well on a horse or an
elephant or a bullock or a camel, only
camels are beasts. 1t was in an ugly ice
cold torrent in Afghanistan, and Mrs. Ker
was slung in q basket on one side Of the
brute and l on the other and in mid
stream, the wretch of a camel wanted to
roll, and he did roll, and we could not
help 1t, and it was very funny and chilly"
You must have had many escapes from
serious perish
We don't keep tally, but l think that
for not less than tw~enty-three times has
Mrs. ker's life been In peril. don't count