Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-12-04
FROM ANclEnT.R ROWE.
AN INTERESTING LETTER FROM
REV. CHAS. j. Il. ANDERSON.

! Rev. Charles j. Il. Anderson we'll
known in Norfolk. who left few weeks
ago to journey TO Rome. Italy, where
he Will remain for some time and be
engaged in missionary work under the
auspices of the Southern Baptist AS
ISOLATION:
Rome. Italy, Nov. 6, 1900.
My Dear Brother Jarvis and family
| We arrived in the External city' last
Saturday about noon. and it is relief
| after such q long journey to have
reached our destination. The voyage
was to me most delightful 1 was not
the least sea sick and did not miss a
meal from New York to Naples
| Inc ocean all the way across was as
calm as day In June, and the Mediter-
ranean as placid as lake. But de-
spite the calm sea. and pleasant
| weather. Mrs. Anderson was deathly
sea sick for five days. She ate moth
ing and persisted during all this time.
In paying tribute to Neptune. She says
she despises ship and l noticed un-
discovered in her Bible, that vision of
John in Revelation, where There was
no more sea-
After losing sight of Sandy Hook
we saw no land until Sunday afternoon
when we arrived at the Azores group
Of nine islands belonging to Portugal
The most important of this group is
san Miguel. having u population of
about 10000 1t produces abundant
SioPS VI wives, lemons, plneappleS and
oranges.
The trees begin to blossom in the
| middle of January, and by March the
air is filled with delicious perfumes
! which is oftentimes waited out to sea
! for n distance OF three miles. The fruit
begins to ripen by the 1st of Novem-
| ber and when in full hue, the sight of
these fruit gardens with densely load
ed trees is inconceivably beautiful.
Pouta-Delgoda. the capital of the is
Il n ND hne 1anta
Is the most picturesque looking town
| that I have ever seen.
The next land we saw after leaving
behind us the Azores, was Cape ST.
Vincent, on the coast OF Portugal. The
coast is so high and rocky we could
see but little of the main land.
Wednesday morning our ship cast
anchor on the famous Rock of Gil
braltar," n description of which every
school boy has read. 1 was not at all
of nature. 1t even surpassed my most
sanguine expectations.
| The rock is three miles long three
quarters of mile broad and 1900 feet
high: Through this mass of stone
great galleries." as they are called
have been made from which the i'm
mense cannons of the English navy
frown down upon the waters below Gil
braltar, as you know. belongs to the
English, they having captured it from
| the Spanish in 1904.
The town, Gibraltar having about
$4,000 inhabitants, including 5000 En-
giish soldiers chartered there, is stu
ated at the base of the rock. It's streets
are very narrow, the stores or shops"
are small and II was q curiousity to
see the little donkeys carrying their
| great burdens Of coal, vegetables and
other articles of merchandise about the
streets. Flowers were blooming in the
| parks as though 1t were mid-summer
About rto Of
Gibraltar is the Spanish town, La
Lerna. We drove to its gates. but
everything looked so filthy and repul-
siye we did not care to go in.
l do not remember to have seen n
| beggar on the streets of Gibraltar, but
as soon as we got on Spanish territory,
they Hooked about us thick and fast.
Poor. old Catholic Spain! Despite the
blessings of the Invaluable CD pope. she
has become a bankrupt nation. Beg
gars and Roman Catholicism always
are found together.
From Gibraltar we could plainly see
We followed the coast of Africa for
many miles. and the hot wind from
the continent caused many of the pas
sengers to throw off their coats and
| sit on the deck: In their shirt sleeves
All day last Thursday I felt like I was
in the middle of July. AS I looked
out upon Africa, I thought of NIoffatt
and Livingston and other noble mis-
| slonarfes who had labored and died
there, and i said to myself, thank God
their labors were not in vain. Yes
| Africa. beautiful Africa, Is going to
he redeemed. through the power of the
| Gospel.
Friday we passed the island of Sar-
DINA. which, next to Sicily, is the lar
| gest island in the Mediterranean. 1t
| is 172 miles long, and 20 miles broad.
| In ancient times it was one of the
graneries OF Carthage and Rome, but
now much Of its land is uncultivated
ITS coasts are very mountainous. The
| inhabitants look more like Spaniards
than Italians. Friday night being our
last aboard the steamer, a special din
ner and musical concert were given in
honor of the passengers. The cap
tam made very happy speech on be-
half of the officers of the ship and by
| special request I spoke for the passen
gers.
1t was very enjoyable occasion.
When we embarked at New York. most
of us were strangers but before reach
formed fast friendship. Saturday
morning about sunrise we arrived at
Naples. The view we had of that
great city from our steamer was com
handing. Vesuvius cloud crowned and
passing beautiful under the golden ravs
of the rising sun doomed up before us.
We gathered our luggage together. and
went ashore to have our patience and
our tempers put to the severest test,
by hotel porters. cab men and custom
house officials. In the midst of this
"jabbering" mob 1t was comforting to
see the smiling face of DR.. Taylor. who
had come down from Rome to meet
us. He greeted us so cordially and
gave us hearty welcome to ''ItaIy's
shores" He helped us through the
custom house. but 1t was beyond his
power to save us from the clutches of
the mob of porters and cabmen They
seized us and our luggage and each
persisted in having us go his way. We