St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1903-07-01
THE EAST COAST PORTS.
A Visit to Alden.

On Saturday morning early, April 4
between two and three clock, we reached
Alden. and the work of coallng began
At the same time our ship was surrounded
by clamoring boatmen, making too great
din to permit further rest. When
looked out of my port l was greatly
impressed by the high, craggy peaks tow
ering up aboye the town. Our steamer
was lying securely in the bay OF Alden
which extends four miles inland; its
entrance is narrow and guarded by two
mountain masses or headlands, tror1ted
by PERCEPTIONS cliffs Of brown calcined
rock. Alden is like large crater encircled
with lofty volcanic hills which slope
toward the sea. These peaks are all
barren, bold crags, deeply serrated, and
with something solemn and grand and
awe-inspiring about them. The more
saw of them the more their lovely grand
eur impressed me- In the harbor lay
several atships, some torpedo boats, a
P. & 0. steamer and many other craft.
The English men. of-w have their bulls
painted dull, smoky grey shade. We
noticed that one was lighter in tint than
another, and fancy that experiments are
being made as to which hue renders them
most invisible. The blue jackets were
washing their Sunday shirts, rubbing up
the brass work and preparing, not only
for Sunday, but for the coming of Lord
Northcote, Governor of Bombay, who
was expected to arrive on Monday
morning. AS soon as the port doctor
appeared, and we were fortified by rolls
and coffee, we went on shore, glad to
have the early morning for our tour of
inspection.
The landing stage was being profusely
decorated with dwarf palms and spe-
cies of millet or "Rater corn" as it is
called in Natal, and which was very
familiar to me- as it is one of the staple
foods of the Zulrs. Overhead was an
awning of red, white and blue and
among other signs of welcome an arch
in the town said "The Parsees welcome
Lord and Lady Northcote."
We secur,d little carriage, and in
company with two Kaiser" compan-
ions, four of us, set out to see the great
water reservoirs, which are so ancient
and so unique. The roads are hard,
smooth, and most excelently made,
and the throngs, both of human and
animal life, are we'll worth seeing. We
realized at once that we were in the
Orient, that Arabia had been reached,
and we were, indeed, amid scenes such as
were familiar to the patrarchs of old,
and to us, through our Bible history and
other books. Parsees, Hindoos, Arabs,
Turks, Soudanese, Somalis and Zwahilis
passed along the streets, each in his own
distinctive dress, and we had many
phases of child life brought before us.
The we'll trained, uimble donkeys trotted
brlskly by, often carrying heavy, fat, old
Turks, whose feet were hardly lifted from
the ground, and very energetic, docile
kinds of donkey these seem to be. The
horses were small, probably an inferior
kind OF Arab pony, or perhaps like those
used in India. But the camels, which
were the most common beasts of burden,
especially engrossed our attention. Seen
in the distance, either with or without
large loads, and with the background of
wild. barren peaks, they seem in harmony
with the desert plains, but close at
hand, how very ugly, how awkward,
how ungainly they are One is at once
repelled and attracted by their cynical,
almost superciious gaze. and also by
their patient, plodding attitude. One of
our party said be could never imagine
anyone being fond OF, or making a pet of,
a camel, but can hardly agree, because
those who have always dwelt with
them must learn to depend upon them so
much, that can imagine masters and
children being just as much attached
to good old faithful camel as any of
us are to a favorite horse. Their slow.
swinging gait, as they bear huge loads,
helps us to realize what typical ."ships OF
the desert" they are. Anything and
everything that can be carried is put
upon the patient camePs back. l saw
one with two blk boxes one side and
heavy packages to balance on the other
There were two carrying bureaus, draw
ers and all as easily as if they were feath
ers. 1t is comical to see them with large,
widespreading loads of fagots of wood
and huge sheaves of rushes or millet or
big bundles of straw, or open straw bags
onions. When they move in caravans
the tail OF one is tied to the nose of the
next and they sway slowly and not
without dignity from side to side, form.
ing strings or professions. In the camel
market they are seen lying down. resting
their big awkward legs, which they turn
under them in the most curious fashion,
as 1t they were big birds on nest. Boys
feed them with wsps of miIlet, and from
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