The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-01-19
By A TOURIST PRINTER.
NARRATIVE OF A TRIP FROM NEW
YORK TO NATAL, AFRICA.
Starting on Voyage without Any Def
mite knowledge of tho Locality OF Its
Termination Miscellaneous ob.eryatio ns
OF an Interesting Nature.
Special Correspondence

OF an Interesting Nature.
Special Correspondence
NEW YoRE, Jan. Like tho wandering
minstrel, the wandering printer il proysrl
among men. Unhonorcd and unsung, neg
lectod by the poet, the romancer and tho
lihr.ttist, tho three cOnjGrcrs who have
wrought a tnscl crown and provided lime
light halo for the devoted head of the musical
it.nerant, hc occupies no place in the literature
which himself is tho agent in peipctuating
and immortal:2iag. Nevertheless, the travel
mg typo pursueS his devious path with no
thoucs or desire for notoriety, and, though
u less picturesque parsonage, his journeyIngs
up and down through the highways and by
ways of the world arc accomplished with a
persistence quito as tiroless and aimless as the
wanderiu,s Of the conventional bird OF
passage.
Tho rowing gypsy spirit seems to be
thoroughly inbred in the younger disciples
Of tho art prcscrvativc, and few there be
among the staId and settled pillars Of the
craft who have not won their spurs in earlier
days ION the road'-in pilgrimage from town
10 town and city 10 city, working briefly
whore opportunity offers, and subsisting 10y
means only known TO Providence and printers
when employment fails. But this restlesSncss
usually finds vent in tho accustomed cN-
cursions over beaten tracks, and seldom
drives itS victim TO seek for new and TN
trotlden pathways across the seas
But there are extreme cases, and it was rs
result of one of these particularly severe
attacks that found myself, six months ngo,
standing on the shores of the dark continent
feeling, with tho characteristic modesty for
which young travellers are distinguished, like
the dscovcrcr of now world | presume
southeast Africa is new world to many
American readers and some particulars con-
corning the mode and motives of my journey
thither, together with what | saw while
there, may not prove uninteresting.
As TO motives, | can claim nothing more
practical or worthy than rowing desire to
Ego somewhere" born of "A rambe among the
shipping lying at the wharves along the East
river front on one Of those bright, warm days
which sometimes come To brighten the long
and cold Now York winter with the genial
sunshine and balmy breath of spring, while an
unusual weight Of glittering gold was burn
ing holo in one of my starboard pockets
1t made no difference where | might GO
anywhere TO escape the billiards. blast and
get out Of the shadow of tho elevated rail-
roads
By her tall and triple masts we know
Some NOBLE voyagrr that has to WOO
The trade winds and To stem the ecllptc surge,
The coral groves. the shores of conch AMI pearl
Where she will east her anchor and reflect
Her cabin lights on warmer waves
And under planets brighter than our own.
There were vessels bound for Singapore
and for Shanghai, for Calcutta and for sgd
ney, for Valparaiso and for San Francisco,
all to be moro or less delayed in taking cargo,
and my impatient motto was "Stand not on
the order of your going, but go at once" SO
! set upon little barkentine of 4l5 tons bur
den. b1un for Port Natal to sail the day fol-
lowing To be sure did not know where
Port Natal was and the mate, who under
took to inform me, was about thousand
miles out of the way himself, as we after
wards discovered But thousand miles
more or less is matter of little moment on
the African coast-''it's mostly sand end bush
as the mate said, reassuringly.
Thus it came to pass that on tho morning
Of Sunday tho 9TH of February last, | found
myself sanding on the quarterback of trim
little Nova Scotiaman, following the foaming
wake OF furious little tugboat down past
the snowclad hills and sleepy old towns of
Staten Island, through the Narrows and past
tho automatic buoys, whose mournful ca
dences sounded Hike the echo Of tho chimes
TINT were at that moment calling the faith
ful TO worship ct oil Trinity, out upon the
hcaving bosom of the mighty deep. As
watched the Highlands of Jersey fade and
disappear in a hazy cloud On the western
horizon, am afraid my mind was occupied
by concern for my sea legs and the perturb a.
tons OF my stomach, rather than by senti-
mental reflections concerning the disappear
ance of my native land. But | kept my boots
on, and lived through it.
Eighty-one days seems like a long time on
shore, and at sea it would seem period of
almost intcrminable length. And so it is
to look forward to- But looking back
ward, tho days have glided into weeks,
and the weeks into months, in a manner
that is unaccountable, until ono wonders
what has become Of them and feels almost in
clined to doubt the calendar Tho only way
in which can account for this is by the I'M
varying mnnotony of life at sea. Time is
"by heart throbs, not by figures on
Il dial Aud there arc very few heart
throbs' ut sea There is the sIrlo everlasting
prospect of sea and sky, tho same compan-
ions and the same variety of food. The
weather is the most active element of life on
n sailing vessel, and tecps one busy wonder
ing why II doesn't blow harder or why it
blows - hard Mind and matter seem at a
IN striking contrast to tho cease
less motion of the ship and continuous heav-
ing of the sea Tho two epochs that mark
the sailors existence at sea are duff day"
and Sunday Sorry joys TO lool, forward to-
the prosperous workman on shore would
think, is the sailors ",luiT'-poor stuff ut the
best - and tho sailors Sunday one-third
work and the rest washing and menling.
My time north of the equator was passed
in novel reading and such mild exctements
rs sighting an occasional shark or n whale,
and giided hysoimperceptibly that scarcely
realized its passage, when, on the 9Th Of
March, we crossed the line. Crossing the
limo is an event Of much importance on ship
board, but on this occasion, as all tho sailors
had crossed the equator before, none was re-