The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-02-08


sengers today. because they had been
/ loud or rash. and said to myself; Con
found these English And then I
/ laughed, for recalled that the three
people who had offended me were all
Americans
heard a piece of Atchison gossip
I between san Francisco and Honolulu:
I heard another choice bit today. in the
Straits of Maiaeca beyond Singapore.
If you do not behave yourself, how the
story win travel
Dinner is ready on the "simla" at
o. m. AS the meal does not begin
until all the passengers are in their
seats the passengers come in later
every evening. and by the time we
reach Colombo, dinner viii not be
served until o'clock.
Saturday, December %.
The ship arrived at Penang at 2
O'Clock this morning, and took on and
unloaded freight until $780, when it
/ departed. AS a result, no one found
/ opportunity to go on shore. The steam
winehes were going from ? a. m. until
z and there was very little sleep on
board.
About 3 O'Clock this morning man
came on board from the Penang hotel
with six quart bottles of milk, which I
had ordered by telegraph. Hereafter
I shall eat my dinner at p. m, and
dine on bread and milk.
At Penang this morning, I saw the
first Mohammedan church I have ever
seen. They all have distinguishing
round tower and look exactly like the
pictures of them in books. My favorite
hero belongs in Mohamme history:
old Khaled. a minor general under
one of MahOmets successors. It is
related that Khaled once returned
from a day of active fighting and
found that particular friend had
been captured during his absence. Call
ing a lot of mis- best cavalry around
him. he at once departed on the trail
of the enemy. Finally he found the
opportunity he was looking for dash
ed into the midst of the heavily armed
soldiery with his light Arab cavalry,
and carried off his friend in triumph.
If you want to read the story you will
find it in lrving's "Mahomet and His
Successors. a book much more enter
tanning than any of the modern novels.
We have passed the half way point
in our journey. and after reaching
Colombo, mail will be sent by way of
London: it is probable that this let
viii reach Atchison before the letters
mailed at Singapore several days ago.
I heard a man say this morning
that the country between Shanghai
and BOmba probably contains more
than half the population of the earth.
Look at the map and you will find the
section indicated pretty small, as COM
pared with the other portion. In
China and India. people are almost as
numerous as flies, and almost as un-
| important.
At about noon today we passed one
of the lonely bird islands occasionally
encountered in the ocean; a great bare
rock where countless millions of birds
live. These islands are visited by sail
ing ships and the guanO collected for
fertilizing. At Honolulu there is a big
f-eF4 f4-T-v to
ture of fertilizer, for the sugar planta-
tions, and the basis of 1t is bird guanO
from the islands of the Pacific.
The tutor who has four American
boys on board. is having trouble with
at least one of them: I heard the young
man cursing the tutor today he said
he would shoot him, if he had a pistol.
There is good deal OF talk on deck
about the affair The rebellious boy is
about II, and is the one whose father
married a second wife as soon as the
boy was out of the way. The tutor is
rather unpopular, as he is rather asham-
ed of being an American. anyway, he
tries to be very English.
/ One of the passengers told me today
that he regularly misses all the storms;
that he has never encountered one at
sea, although he has Travelled a great
deal. Turn about is the rule with me:
( if I have pleasant voyage I expect
the next one to be rough, and am sell
dom disappointed. The voyage from
Manila to Hong Kong was very bad,
therefore 7 am not surprised that the
voyage from Hong Kong to Colombo is
proving exceedingly pleasant I look for
very rough weather from Colombo TO
Calcutta: my stormy period viii be due
as soon as L leave Colombo.
So far as know, every passenger on
the "SimIa'' is a tourist AtchisOn peo-
l TaIa n of ia a n
tourist travel; travellers we see at home
usually have business errands. But II
AtChlson were point of great historic
interest, tourists would flock there in
droves, and criticise our houses, and
streets and babies, and hotels, and act
rudely generally, for tourists are more
or less like people who 60 off on pic
mics: they act as they act at no other
time. But in a great many years Atchi-
son may become a point Of interest to
travellers.
In Egypt, the remains of abandoned
cities are found, and below these ruined
and abandoned cities. the ruins of other
cities are found The world is so old
that the character of vast countries has
completely changed and they have been
abandoned. Opposite Cairo, in Egypt,
may be seen the ruins of ancient
Memphis, which was once so important
a metropolis that strangers Travelled a
half day along its principal street with
/ out exhausting its wonders Why
Memphis should have been abandoned
and Cairo built on the opposite side Of
the Nile, is one of the problems.
] Think OF the millions of years that
must have been required to turn one
/ city into ruins and cover it up so com
/ pletely that another race of men build
another city upon the old sitei And to
continue the wonder still further think
of the second city in ruins and SO COW
/ cred up by the dust of ages that the
1 tops of its highest buildings barely
/ show above the ground! We moderns
I do not appreciate the cleverness of the
ancients; the luxury in which they
lived. or the general intelligence they
/ exercised.
In millions of years. fat Kansas may
/ become lean, as has happened in other
countries; in future ages, its cities may
/ be abandoned and covered up. and
! scientists may dig down and excavate