Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-01-30
CROSSES RED SEA
MISS MARY M'ELRoN WRITES, AN
INTERESTING LETTER TO
HER FATHER.
Tells Of Her Voyage From MarseiIIes
to Bombay Over the Mediterranean,
Through Suez Canal and on Red Sea
-characteristics Of Egyptians.

Through Suez Canal and on Red Sea
-characteristics of Egyptians.
From Marseilles to Bombay with de-
scriptions of the journey, the sights
to see and the people met is the sub
stance OF, a letter just recently receiv-
ed by Rev. j. M. McElroy from his
daughter, Miss Mary McElroy, who is
at present located in Bombay, India,
as missionary. Miss McElroy tells
of the trip across the Mediterranean
through the Suez canal and upon the
Red Sea, Of the acquaintances she
made and of the characteristics of the
Egyptians. The following letter will
undoubtedly be of much interest to
Miss McElroy's many friends in this
city and to many people who appreci-
ate interesting descriptions of the Old
World:
The Letter.
Dear Father:
Our steamer the Moldavia, left
Marseilles on Friday December, 10 and
l was delighted to find a party of Ave
missionaries on board, among them
Mrs. Lowe, whose husband, a SPLEEN
did young fellow goes to take Bishop
Thoburn's church at Calcutta, and
Miss Pool, of Mt. Pleasant, who is to
be with Mrs. Anna Lawson an old OF
tumwa girl at Cawnpore. After the
first day when a, good many of us had
to take to our berths. we found the
old Mediterranean as calm and beauti-
full as 1T was blue, so we greatly enjoy
ed the passage.
In Egypt.
"The next Tuesday evening we
reached Port Said, Egypt and there /
had my first glimpse of Oriental life.
AS soon as the Moldavia anchored
near shore, dozens ofslittle boats paint
ed white and blue, with red cushions
came flying out, rowed by pictur-
esque dark skinned natives, wearing
red turbans and jerseys or Jackets
with blue or white trousers. Soon the
air was filled with their shrill cries
and gable as they shouted out the
wares they had to sell or importuned
the passengers to go ashore. Before
anyone was allowed to land, however,
launch came UP and soon our prin-
cess walked down the gangway. Yes
we had several members of the royal
family on board, the most important
being Princess Beatrice, the youngest
daughter of Queen Victoria.
9 The Natives. ~
Native troops were lined up on the
wharf for a body-guard and saluted as
she passed to her carriage. Out party
got off after dark and it was too funny
to see the crowd of dusky fellows In
all sorts of costumes who came after
lib imploring us to visit their shops.
Such quaint curious shops. they were.
When paused to buy my pithj hat or
topee' I had four women and five men
to help me In the purchase, and as
soon as it was bought,a yillainous look
| ing native appeared with net basket
begging that he might carry it. After
we had tried unsuccessfully for a half
hour to drive him off, he was finally
employed to carry our small parcels
and to drive off all the other beggars
and shopmen who appeared, which he
did quite well.
The Suez Canal.
AS we entered the Suez canal We'd
nesday morning, to our left was a
stretch Of desert with camels walking
along the road side, to our right the
low African hills in the distance and
near by narrow strip Of land covered
with pampas grass, with palms and ba-
nanas and other trees here and there.
A one horse engine and train came
rattling by occasionally conveying pas
isengers from Port Said to Cairo. 1t
seemed strange for our great steamer
to be sailing along SO near land on
either side The canal is about $50
feet wide so that other large boats had
to anchor at one side when our mail
boat passed them, At Suez more pas
sengers came on board, then we passed
through the gulf of Suez into the Red
Sea, which is not red as we children
used to think, but very blue and so big
that we were out Of sight Of land for
two days.
Christmas Day.
1T gradually became warmer sothat
by Christmas day it was quite hot and
we were glad to don our thinest sum
mer. dresses, the men appearing in
white flannels or linen suits. Howev-
err, the captain said 1t was not really
hot, the temperature not being higher
than eighty-seven degrees, but in Au-
gust it is often ninety-eight or ninety
nine degrees on deck. The punkahs
were kept going in the dining room
and we were quite uncomfortable when
for any reason they stopped A Christ
mas tree for the children on Christmas
eve-a date palm-and splendid din
ner on Christmas day helped us to
realize that it really was the old time
holiday, but everything seemed very
strange and queer. Last night, De-
cember IT. we anchored off Alden and
this morning the India bound passen-
| gers were transferred to another boat
the Peninsular Crowds of "Soudan-
ese' and other blacks with but scant
clothing conveyed the baggage and
supplies from one boat to another OF
came up in rowboats offering baskets
post cards and other wares for sale.
They were chocolate brown in color,
quite ugly and very spare and thin.
some of them looking quite like the
Indian famine victims.
Makes Acouaintances.
81 have made great many pleasant
acauaintances, two Of them especially
interesting; straight handsome
Il r,,o,,, ,,r,or ~