The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1906-06-21

straits of Malacca; around the north
end of Sumatra, and Immediately ran
into the strong southwest moonscon
wind and the heavy seas Of Bengal Bay
we had several showers Of rain. When
not seasick it is q pleasure to be on deck
in a moderate storm; the good ship
pitched and strains like q race horse
chasing over the white capped waves,
while the wind whistles through the
rigging and flecks the sprays over us;
but when the gale increases land the
waves begin to break over the deck
it is pleasanter below in our staterooms.
The ship pitched considerably. that
day and soon some of the passengers
became seasick, much to the apparent
delight of better sailors, whose stom-
achs could not be upset by the gale.
The ladies especially suffered for two
or three days, and there were many va
cant places at the dining tables. l re-
manned as quiet as possible, reclining in
my steamer chair on deck all day, ex-
cept at meal time, when | never. failed
to appear for ''chow'' and so kept we'll
Three days later we were coasting
along the south of Ceylon, where we
saw part Of the wrecked Russian ship,
"Kazan," which, on her way from
Odessa to Vladivostok, had1 kept in too
near the shore of the Island after leav-
ing Colombo few day deforeiour arriv-
al there, she struck a submerged rock,
broke into two parts and half sank; the
passengers and crew all reached the
shore safely in the ships boats.
We had from p. m. until e p. m.
Sundny to visit Colombo and thus get
a peep at wonderful India, while the
ship exchanged mail and took on coal
for the voyage to Port Said.
Colombo has a poor natural harbor
but it is protected by a strong stone
wall or breakwater several miles
long, against which the waves dash
furiously, but within it affords a safe
anchorage for ships. A similar break
water has just been completed for the
protection of Manila harbor. Our
American party of four was rowed
ashore by two stalwart Indians. Upon
landing at a port the first thing we
usually do is to find bank or money
changer and exchange some American
gold coin or gold certificates for the
local currency; we found this money
question doubly difficult here because
both English and Indian money circu-
late freely; at some business houses
prices are quoted in shillings and at
others in rupees, just as in Manila prices
are sometimes given in American dol
ars while in most stores they are In
Philippines pesos; in Manila exchange
easy because we have the gold stand
ard and two pesos always equal one
dollar, but in India in on silver basis
and the value of the rupee depends on
the price of silver. We exchanged for
some English money getting one pound
(&D for s. U. S., and for some Indian
rupees, which are worth about SO cents
U. S. each.
The next place we always visit is the
/ postoffice, when we secure stamps and
mail cur letters and post cards, though
we may buy German stamps and mail
our letters on ship board if we like
A German ship is German territory.
The postoffice building is the finest l
have seen in the Orient. Colombo is
the capital of the colony of Ceylon and
the governors palace is dream Of
| loneliness.
In regard to the people: we have at
last left the Chinaman and here see
dark skinned Indians and few Euro
peans; the natives are almost as black
as negroes, but straight haired, and
their features show their descent from
our common ancestors, the Aryans.
The Indian branch Of the Aryan race,
their centuries of residence under trop-
ical skies and thru intermarriages with
a dark race, forms people today whom
the fair skinned European branch Of
the same race are slow to recognize as
kinsmen.