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Preface.

I saw mankind, in this weary old age of the world either endur- ing a sluggish existence amid the smoke and dust of cities , or if they breathed purer air, still lying down at night with no hope but to wear out tomorrow, and all the tomorrows which make up life, among the same dull scenes and in the same wretched toil that has darkened the sunshine of today. But there were some, full of primeval instinct, who preserved the freshness of youth to their latest years, by the continual excitement of new pursuits, new scenes and new associates, and cared little, though their birthplace might have been here in new England, if the grave should close over them in Central Asia. - The seven Vagabonds.

THE
HAPPY TRAVELLER.
A BOOK FOR POOR MEN

BY
FRANK TATCHELL, M.A.
VICAR OF MIDHURST.

Metuin & Co. Ltd.
36 Essex Street W.C.
London.

First Published (Crown 8vo) March 15th 1923
Second edition . April 1923
Third edition August 1923
Fourth edition . . July 1923
Fifth edition (F'cap 8vo). 1927

Printed in Great Britain.

INTRODUCTION

In time to come every man will be called to account for all the good things which his eyes beheld and which he refused to enjoy.
- Old commentary on the Psalms.

ALL islanders love travelling, and it is the ambition of every young Englishman to go for a jaunt abroad, if only once in his life. Our nomad ancestry and our world-wide Empire alike lure us beyond the seas.
We are often held back from satisfying this inborn craving by thinking it too difficult or too costly a thing for its to attempt misconceptions which I will try to dispel. In one of his essays, Cowley says that the getting out of doors is the hardest part of the journey, and it is a man's own fault if he dies without seeing any- thing of the wonderful world in which he lives. Laziness and a tame surrender to the tyranny of circumstances bold back many of us who would be ideal travellers could we but take the first step. But if your lot does not please you, you can, with deter- mination, change it. Once aware of your bonds, you are on the highroad to freedom and need not be dissuaded by those who tell you that you must know your own country first before venturing abroad. You will have time enough for that when you settle down. Then there is the notion that travelling is only for the rich But a wise man's happiness costs very little wherever he is, and I shall have failed in my purpose if I do not convince you that a man can live as cheaply abroad as at home. So do not wait until you are rich, but set out while you are young and keen v

vi THE HAPPY TRAVELLER

and poor. It is the common tragedy of mankind to spend life amassing money and then die before it can be enjoyed.
I cannot promise you that you will be happy all the time. After all, who is ? Now and then you will feel that you would exchange all the blue skies in the world for a cloudy day, in England, and all the crowds, for a sight of the faces of your own folk.

Western wind, when wilt though blow,
That the small rain down can rain?
Christ, if my love were in my arms
And I in my bed again

Still, the mood passes ; and I help my own recovery by saying over and over again : " There are all manner of things I have yet to do, all manner of things to see." Curiosity is the secret of a traveller's happiness, and the best antidote to the feeling of nameless regret and longing which underlies all human affairs. So make up your mind to enjoy yourself and refuse to be put out of your humour.
Especially beware of taking yourself too seriously, and of introspection, the bane of a man travelling alone. Rather, play at being a native of the country you are in, or regard all you see as a spectacle played out for your account. with your self as a grave senior among delightful, romping children.
And so you keep moving on in unclouded serenity with ever a goal to attain ; now hanging about in markets and busy havens, now trudging along the ever changing road, and how petty seem all those troubles which cost you such anxiety! At one time you are passing sunny, vagabond days ashore, in crowd, regaining something of that awe of Nature which men cooped up in cities never feel; at another you are on the sea, that camino eternal, occasionally

INTRODUCTION vii

in a storm, when, though you seem in such danger, you are really so safe, but more often in halcyon weather, enjoying the long roll of the Southern Seas, as of a giant breathing, and revelling in those wonder- ful nights when the glaring day is over and it seems a sin to go below. Then comes the return home, and, as the familiar white cliffs come in sight, you murmur :

Over the world and under the world,
And back again at the last to you, and appreciate, as you never did before, the ripeness, greenness and repose of your own country.
Sympathy and tolerance, acquisitions of great price, are the reward of your journeying. Having mixed much with your fellow-men, you view mankind from a new angle and have gained the charitable out- look that only comes with seeing the world. And, as you grow older, you will be ever better company for yourself, having remembered, what so many of us forget, that, to have pleasant memories then, we must contrive for them now. At any rate. there is small risk of your becoming that miserable thing, a disappointed man, nor will it ever be said of you, as it was of one who had wasted his life : " His days should have been a rosary of priceless pearls, and he let them slip through his fingers like beads of common
glass."

. . . . . I have said nothing of Belgium and the battlefields, which will, I suppose, be overrun by tourists for the next few years; nor of Germany and Austria, countries none of us will want to visit for pleasure for a long time to come. Leave comfortably- upholstered Switzerland until you are old and a lover of ease ; and if you want to preserve your illusions, do not visit Palestine at all.

viii THE HAPPY TRAVELLER

And so I send out this book with some confidence that it will be of use if it falls into the right hands. At least, I know how I should have relished something like it, when I was a lad, I started on my travels.

BON VOYAGE !

Feb. 1923.

NOTE TO THE FIFTH EDITION

To bring this book to a size small enough for the pocket, I have left out some of the chapters of the earlier editions. They were about Malta, Russia, Canada, New South Wales, Tasmania and the West Indies. I thank you most sincerely those who have written to me from all parts of the world about this book; those unseen friendships are the chief reward of a writer. It has been a delight to map out routes for young travellers who have asked my advice, and afterwards to share in imagination their pleasure at seeing the things in this book come true.

F.T. Midhurst.
1927

What is this life, if it not be not mixed with some delight? And what delight is more pleasing than to see the fashions and manners of unknown places? You know I am no common gadder, nor have oft troubled you with travel. - Tom of Reading. A.D. 1600.

THE
HAPPY TRAVELLER

CHAPTER 1
ONE WAY OF TRAVELLING

To pass the seas some think a toil ;
Some think it strange abroad to roam
So me think it grief to leave their soil,
Their parents, kinsfolk and their home;
Think so who list, I like it not;
I must abroad to try my lot.
anon., 1530.

THE real fun of travelling can only be got by one who is content to go as a comparatively poor man. in fact, it is not money which travel demands so much as leisure, and anyone with a small, fixed income can travel all the time.
The hints and wrinkles in this book, founded on the experience of a good many years, are meant to show how this may be done, and even consistent first-class passengers through life may be amused to read of a way of travelling so different from their own. And now, young Adventurer, to our business, aim all along at helping you to make up your mind, rather than at making it up for you, surely the better service of the two ; and so the suggestions which you will read here are not to be followed slavishly but are meant to entice you from the beaten track and help you to lead a wild, worth-having youth. I have tried all ways of seeing the world and have learnt that the true honey of travel can only be gathered by

4 THE HAPPY TRAVELLER

a poor man, travelling man-fashion, afoot or on horse-back, and living a clean simple, close-to-the ground life. Whether you will like it or not I cannot say, but at any rate, you will have tasted the joy of getting clear for a time from the grip of the machine. The decay of national costume makes it easy for a man to pass as a native anywhere, at least in
Europe, and I dress as unobtrusively as possible and travel light. For a journey of a month or two I only take the clothes I stand up in, and I have found that a suit of grey whip-cord is best, as it keeps its shape well and does not show the dust. I take a neck-scarf to wear in the country and one rubber collar for the towns. All I want besides is a change of under- clothes and a few socks, and there is room in my bag for a book, tobacco and food bought on the road.
The rubber collar is the pet aversion of many English- men but its merits for a poor traveller are obvious. Another thing which we most of us detest, a pair of elastic-sided boots, is useful in Japan, where the boots have to be kicked off before entering a house. I wash my handkerchief overnight and stretch it on the marble top of the washstand. In the morning it is quite dry and looks as if it had been ironed. For a long journey in the tropics take two light suit-cases, but let them at the start be only half-full. Hot- weather clothes can be bought at greater advantage on the spot, and, in spite of resolutions to the contrary you will be sure, on your first long jaunt, to buy knick-knacks and "curios." Still, whether your journey be long or short, remember that the old Romans justly called luggage impedimenta.
Get to know the local road-greetings, and, in the country, do not fail to greet passers-by, if only with a grunt or a cheerful grin, because to go by without taking any notice is unusual and excites curiosity.

ONE WAY OF TRAVELLING . 5

It is surprising how little knowledge of a language will " do " at first, and, if you resolve to speak no words but those of the country you are in, a very few days will enable you to pass muster. Buy and study the local newspaper and time-table, and get rid of the Englishman s reluctance to try to speak a language of which he knows little. Chat with everyone you meet and if a native does not understand you do not shout or try to put it another way, since that will only confuse him all the more ; and, especially, keep grave face when a foreigner talks atrocious English to you. After the sketches of the various countries given in this book, Phrases of their " talk " are given. Those of the tropical countries are written as I heard them, and the pronunciation of the phrases of the European countries can be got in this way :-At the first town get hold of a waiter or other man of leisure, take out the book and point to the first phrase saying in English " How do you say that ? " whether he understands you or not; he will pore over the book and say the sentence out aloud. Scribble it down as it sounds to learn it later and look pleased. He will see that he bas done what you wanted and will go on until you have learnt enough. It is a good proof that you are getting to feel at home in a language, when, on being called in the morning, you instinctively answer the caller in his own tongue.
It should be your aim to live like the inhabitants, eat and drink as they do, smoke their tobacco, and read their newspapers. Above all put up at the inns to which they go, shunning the great hotels which are the same in all countries and where little of the intimate life of the people can be seen. Choose a hotel in the market-place of a town, and do not be easily dashed by the poor exterior of an inn which bas been recommended to you by a native of the

6 THE HAPPY TRAVELLER

country: The chances are that it is decent and well found inside. If you have to register your profession in the hotel list, the word for private gentleman is rentier in French, possidente in Italian, and proprietario in Spanish. If this seems to you too lordly; simply write yourself down a student (etudiant, studente, estudiante). You may not be one in the literal sense, but, at any rate, you are a student of your fellow- men. (1). Do not always take the first room which is yon and do not disdain to haggle over the bill. Foreigner's despise a man who pays like a lamb. But do not see a cheat in every inn-keeper. Honesty is much commoner than you would suppose. Only take a bedroom at the hotel and have your meals in the town ; you have not then to return to the hotel when you may be at the other end of the place and you will enjoy the fun of trying the different restaurants. After a spell of rough accommodation and when you get to a good hotel, try the luxury of sleeping naked in fine sheets. On waking, stretch yourself well like a cat and get up quietly and slowly ; to jump out of bed taxes the heart.
Carry no guide-book but, before starting read about the country to which you are going and take a road-map - the local time-table (2) will contain a sufficiently good railway map. A plan of the town can usefully be seen in the hotel or in one of the shop windows and the picture postcards displayed every- where will be a satisfactory index to the " sights " of the place. To get the lie of a little town walk round it and then ascend the highest view point. For our own country look at one of the Roadfaring Guides, published by Larby, I, Patemoster Avenue, E.C.4:

(1) if you are a business man , put voyager, viagattor viagante.
(2) France, L'indicateur, Italy, Il'oraio, Spain, La guia de ferrocarrils.

ONE WAY OF TRAVELLING 7

they have clever maps showing at a glance the good stretches of country.
Resolutely refuse to be shown round : it is so much ignore interesting to Find things out for your self instead of being pestered with a guide's eternal prattle: If touts (or beggars) are importunate, an infallible method of checking them is to pass on slowly without speaking. moving the head slightly back- wards as if it were too much trouble to speak. If you succumb to them, you will gain little information and lose that unruffled mood which is essential to happy travelling. Have no mean night adventures, and, especially, be on your guard against men who proffer their services as night guides. Alternate town and country, because a constant length of either soon palls. This you can do by walking from place to place, or if that is too arduous; sometimes leave the train a station or two before reaching your destination and walk into the town so as to get the view of it from a distance. A railway seldom approaches a town in the best way. and. by following this plan, you get a first sight of the place as generations of former travellers have seen it. The quiet of the countryside is an admirable foil to the bustle of towns, and to rush about by train from one famous city to another is not travelling. For the same reason vary your mode of journeying walking for a week or two, and then using the trains or coasting steamers. I have also a secret liking for being a poor man most of the time, with an occasional week as a rich man.
Do not try to cover too much ground or to exhaust a land in one visit, but purposely leave interesting places or delightful stretches of country for future journeys: l had been to Japan three times before I went to see Nikko.

8 THE HAPPY TRAVELLER

The beaten track is often the best track, but devote most of your time to the by-ways. In no other way can you so quickly reach the heart of a country. Yet though I would have you do much of your journey by road, get a zest for travelling by railways. Just being in a train and rushing on to somewhere is extraordinarily nerve-soothing.
Besides, a train goes through out-of-the-way places and enables you to surprise many intimate sights which you would miss from the highway. The track usually follows river valleys and a distraction can be found on a long journey in shooting the rapids in an. imaginary canoe or in fishing likely pools. When there is no river, I take the hedges and ditches on a dream horse, or pretend that I am an airman and spot good landing places. (1) But you will, I hope, be travelling third class, and your fellow amusement. What a deal. of fine, mixed company and racy, human chatter the staid first-class passengers miss I never tire of watching the

(1) When I have to wait for a train, I amuse myself by scribbling down a list of the collective words in which our language is so rich e.g., pack of hounds, a .shoal of fish a peal of bells. There are about a hundred of them, but I can seldom think of more than fifty or sixty Or I make out a list of what I consider to be really first-rate books of travel. How few there are ! I begin with these :
Kinglake's " Eothen "
Borroa"s ' Bible in Spain."
Melville s, " Moby Dick."
Butler s, " Alps and Sanctuaries."
Doughty's, " Arabia Deserta."
Anson's, " Voyage Round the World."
Danrin's, " Voyage of the ' Beagle.' "
Bates's " Naturalist on the Amazons."
Wallace s, " Malay Archipelago."
Here I pause to weigh the claims of such books as " Tom Cringle's Log " the " Cruise of the ' Falcon,' " and " Two Years before the Mast " ; and, thinking the list is getting too nautical, I return ashore with Stevensons " Travels with a Donkey " Curzon's " Monasteries of the Levant," and Ford's " Gatherings from Spain." Then the train comes in.

ONE WAY OF TRAVELLlNG 9

speaking gestures and admiring the helpfulness and natural good manners of my poor companions.(1) On reaching the station to which you are bound if you do not know the way, hang behind for a minute and then follow the crowd ; the greatest number will be making for the centre of the town. Similarly, to find the early morning market, follow the women with empty baskets. Breakfast can always be had there earlier than elsewhere. (2) In most continental towns a market is held daily, buy in the smaller places where it is held weekly, time your visit to include the market day.
It is amusing to draw up plans for your journey, but it is more amusing to alter them as you go along, so do not bind yourself down by taking tourist tickets. If you have not the energy or wit to go to the booking office and buy your own ticket, you are not likely to be a good traveller in my sense of the term. The fun of travel consists largely in chance

(1) The art of making himself comfortable is a valuable qualification for a traveller. I sit at the engine end in the long foreign third- class carriages so as to get a good view of the company and to avoid getting coal grit in my eyes - and in a long journey - I put on my slippers and a light raincoat instead of my coat and waistcoat. In the dusty trains in Java the Dutchmen bathe their faces with eau-de-cologne mixed with water and an evening train-headache can be dispelled by laying a handkerchief dipped in lavender water across the forehead. An air-cushion half blown up lessens the hardness of the wooden seats and provides amusement for your fellow-passengers.
A man to whom the saving of a franc a day is of consequence should take his cafe complet at a cafe rather than at his hotel If you want butter with your roll go to a cremerie in France and to a latterie in Italy. In Spain I take a street-breakfast of Bunuelos, a batter fried in fat or olive oil in which like our own eggs and bacon has the merit of coming fresh to the palate every morning. A similar food in the shape of ring fritters is sold in Algeria under the name of Ziabia. You can sample foreign food (of a sort) before starting by going to these restaurants, which are all within two minutes' walk of Piccadilly Circus. Spanish - Swallow Street; Chinese-3 Glasshoune Street ; Greek - 7; Beak Street ; Egyptian - 6. Archer Street. For Italian dishes try the Boulogne in Gerrard Street opposite to which, at the Cafe Legrain, you can get the best glass of coffee in London.

10 THE HAPPY TRAVELLER

encounters and unpremeditated moves; so leave the details of your journey entirely in the hands of Fate. Too much precision is as much a mistake in this as it is in gardening. When tired of a country I make for the nearest port, ask where the various ships are bound for, and choose the boat the destina- tion of which I like best. So many young travellers at the first sight of home-sickness, which usually comes on after the first ten days hurry - back and in a day or two are sorry for their abrupt return. A better plan is to alternate a month's hard travelling with a week's idling at some little place in the land where you happen to be.
Do not buy things on your travels, you can get them as cheaply in London or Paris your aim is to travel light, and a thing you don't want is dear at a penny. At least, only buy things that you can live with. How burdened most of us are with our possessions and how I envied a tramp who once said to me "My home is under my hat!" To have nothing and to want nothing robs life of most of its worries. The ideal is to have a cottage in England in which to keep your few belongings and where you can rest between long bouts of travel. It may seem a lazy way of living, but to have the wisdom to enjoy your life in your own way. To be master of your time is a great step on the road to happiness; and after all, there is a good deal of hard work in the life of a poor traveller. at any rate he lives in a warm and observant touch with his fellow- men. He has a passion for seeing how the world is made, and is more interested in human beings than in art; what their houses are like and what clothes they wear; what money do they have; what food they eat; what do they love and hate; what do they see of the surrounding world and what are the ideals

ONE WAY OF TRAVELLING 11

which fill the spaces of their active lives. And his pleasures though simple, are satisfying-constant change of scene ; hunger and the satisfaction of a good meal ; the pleasant languor of tiredness ; sea-bathing ; sunrises and sunsets. If I am in a little town, I go outside the walls to see the sun set and not return until I can count three stars ; then back to my inn through the darkling streets, which. are ever so interesting as at the hour when the lights are being lit and you can see the inside of the shops through the windows.
Cultivate the habit of interested sauntering and do not hurry. The everyday routine of life in a foreign country is of absorbing interest to me. An after noon spent basking in the sun on a mountain side or watching the boats in a little harbour or looking at the children at play is not wasted. I am a great loafer in market-places and public gardens, and comfort myself for my bad ways by recalling a sentence from some life of Charles II " A bewitching kind of leisure called Sauntering was the Sultana queen he delighted in." Keep the picture galleries and show places for Sunday, the poor man's day all over Europe, when they are open free and thronged with a merry crowd. Stroll through them, as it were, with your hands in your pockets, not caring greatly what the critics say of the pictures, but admiring those which the artists seem to have enjoyed painting. My instincts are those of a solitary and so I travel alone, but I pick up acquaintances everywhere and chance companionship is the best of all. l I carry a

1 Even if you are married, sometimes travel alone. Identity of Interests is by no means general in husband and wife, and there is no valid reason for a woman merging her taste in holidays in that of her husband. There is little question but that absence, gaily and mutually agreed upon, makes the heart grow fonder, and it is all to the good that we should recognise it.

12 THE HAPPY TRAVELLER

trout rod, not seeking out fishing but taking it as comes, and, if possible, 1 spend my occasional lazy week fishing. Indeed, even if you do not care for angling you might strap a light rod to your umbrella The sight of it is an open season to the confidence of the country-folk, accounting for your presence in out-of-the-way places, for the primitive suspicion of the stranger is by no means dead. If you get tired of carrying it, you can sell it with advantage any- where abroad, foreign anglers having a just admira- tion for English tackle. Life is short and the world is wide, but , moving thus about the countries as a freeman of the world the time seems endless. Even after a week abroad it seems a long time since home was left ; surely a note- worthy hint of the way to increase the enjoyúment got out of living.
Realise, then, that the true fun in life consists in doing things, not in having them ; and that, though comparatively poor, a man can he accounted rich who has the means to get what he wants and does get it. Indeed, the success of your journey depends less on the heaviness of your purse than on your lightness of heart. A healthy man is very much a vagabond in his soul, scorning the conventions, viewing life from a broad standpoint and never so happy as when in old clothes, lightly burdened, and with no watch but his belly. It is something of an advantage to be one of the world's poor men, though you are unkempt and your travel-stained coat meets glances of dis- favour. Your sense of humour is quickened and you no longer believe that rich men are bad any more than that poor men are virtuous. You are willing to associate with poor people, and not ashamed to visit ignorant people, no, nor afraid to be seen with " wicked " people. You have self-reliance and

ONE WAY OF TRAVELLING 13

are ready to laugh at the many discomforts and absurdities of life. But do not forget that foreigners will form their idea of Englishmen from the way you act ; so always be jealous for England's honour and always play the game. Few things are more distressing to an honest traveller than to see the bad behaviour of some of his countrymen abroad. To talk loudly in the streets and cafes, to walk about the cathedrals during mass and generally to ignore the rules of politeness is not the way to make the English well liked in foreign countries. The Germans are the worst offenders, having, in addition to these failings, a grossness in their way of eating and a gloating zeal in collecting salacious post cards, but some English folk are almost as bad. They are, of course, not travellers but tourists, and the difference seems to me to be this :- a tourist bustles about seeing sights, speaks and tries to speak no word of the language, turns up his nose at the " foreign " food, and is frankly amused with what he calls the superstitions of the natives ; whereas a traveller respects the conventions of the people of the land, lives quietly as they do, speaks their language as well as he is able and sincerely admires their good qualities. It follows that one man can be a traveller though abroad only for a month, whilst another may go round and round the world and never cease to be a tourist.

CHAPTER II

CLIMATES AT A GLANCE

To make this earth, our heritage,
A cheerful and a changeful place,
God's bright and intricate device
Of days and seasons doth suffice.
- R. L. Stevenson.

With all the world before you where to roam; there is little sense in visiting a country at the wrong time of year. Good weather can be found all the year round somewhere or other, and, being a poor traveller, you will naturally make for a country where the exchange is in your favour. The following list shows the best seasons in normal years: -

Aegean Islands-August. Santorini is the jolliest.
Algeria and Tunis-15 March to May.
Alps in winter-February is much better than Christmastide for winter sports.
Alpine Valleys-April and May
Alpine flower-fields-15 May to I5 July, at which date the hay is cut.
Balearic Islands-The weather is perfect all the year except in July, August and September. The months from January to May are especially delightful.
Bombay-November.
Borneo February to the end of May.
British Honduras-It is never very hot, because the wind blows from the sea all the year round. February, March and April are the dry months

14

CLIMATES AT A GLANCE 15

Brazil -May to September. In April the rains fall in deluges.
British Guiana - December and January.
Burmah - November to 15 February is the best period. March and April are very hot and the rains brought by the SW Monsoon last from May to October.
Canary Islands - January.
Ceylon - November to May are good months, and January and February are the best.
But a man resident in another tropical country would enjoy a visit to Ceylon in .August and September, when there is little rain.
Dalmatian coast Spring or Autumn.
Denmark May and June.
Dolomites September, or for the flowers, June
Avoid July which is the "season"
Engadine - June
England - 15 May to 15 June. for a walking tour 15 April to 15 May.
Egypt - Any winter month; March being especially good. It seldom rains except in the Delta.
France the riveiera in March; Brittany in the late spring; the Pyrannies in June to 15
September; the Rhone country in September and October.
Greece - April and May; or October, just after the first rains have fallen. Mosquitoes become bad after April, and as the summer advances, it is necessary to take quinine. India - the cool season lasts from October to February, and the hot season from March to May.
The rains fall from June to September.
Italy - The Riviera or Calabria in March, Rome in April; Florence in early May, and the lakes in
October, But once in your life try an Italian summer.

16 THE HAPPY TRAVELLER

Japan - April or November but there is a long stretch of fair weather from 15 October to 30 December. It is bitterly cold in January and February, and steaming hot in the summer ; the rains beginning on 10 June and falling in sheets.;
Java - May to December. The rains fall from December to late in April, but, as they always fall in one long shower starting about 3 p.m. you can travel comfortably enough in the wet season if you keep an eye on your watch, the mornings and evenings being delicious.
Juras - September.
Kashmir - April.
Luxembourg - May and June.
Malaya - Any time except from December to February.
Mexico - Our winter and spring months. The rains start about 20 August.
New South Wales - August to November, especially September. The worst months are January and February.
New Zealand - North Island August to April ; South Island November to March. For a short visit December, January, and February are the best months.
Pacific Coast of South America- February and March.
Peru - November to May. The sun is then masked by light clouds and it is not too hot. Philippines - December to the end of June.
Portugal - The Algarve in February North Portugal in April or in October. The winter is rainy but not cold.
Queensland - June to August.
Romania - May or October, when there is usually a wonderful Indian summer with cloudless days

CLIMATES AT A GLANCE 17

and a touch of frost at night. From June to August the mosquitoes are bad.
Siam - November to January. February, March, and April are dry hot months and the rains fall from
June to October.
Spain - April, or October to 15 November ; but I like it all the year round.
South Sea Islands - June and July. The rains last from December to March.
Sweden - July.
Tasmania - November to March.
Tyrol - July.
West Indies - October to March. February is the best, and December the second-best, month.
The wet season starts in July.

CHAPTER I I I

SOME NOTES ON HEALTH AND WEALTH

Jog on, jog on the footpath way
And merrily hent the stile-a ;
A merryú heart goes all the day
Your sad tires in a mile-a.
- Shakespeare.

HAPPY-GO-LUCKY travelling is the jolliest of all, and there are only two rules for a traveller to observe who wants to keep fit and well:
(I) Be cheerful and interested in everything
(2) Do not bother too much about your inside. We swallow millions of microbes every minute and a man who is constantly dosing himself for petty aliments is not likely to make a good traveller. In temperate climate; I walk from place to place, and, merely by doing so, keep myself in the best of health. It is a good plan to get into condition for this some time before start, using the boots you mean to wear Smear them with castor oil to make them pliant and waterproof, and wear woollen socks.
(1) Take short spell of walking with a pack a little heavier than you intend to carry, just as ballet- dancers are trained in heavier shoes then those which

(1) On a journey I tried the French soldiers plans of wearing no socks at all. To do this you pour a tablespoonful of neats-foot oil into each boot, put them on and wear them all day. At night wash the feet and wipe out the boots with pieces of newspaper. The dressing which should only be used with black boots, ought to be repeated after a month. The plan at which I have at present arrived is to buy a pair of the cheapest socks I can find, wear them until they are done for, and then throw them away instead of sending them with balls of newspaper overnight. Walk fast in the country and stroll about in towns, and do not march for more than a few minutes with your hat off.

SOME NOTES ON HEALTH AND WEALTH 19

they will wear on the stage. lengthen this trial-walk every time:
When you start, do not overdo the walking, and let fifteen miles a day be your maximum distance ; but it is more fun to swing along without intending to go a fixed distance every day. Leave your night's shelter to chance ; it is more easily obtained than you would imagine. At intervals during the day's march change your socks from one foot to the other Keep a regular stride, rising on the balls of the toes and not turning the toes out too much: Rodin's Statue of St. John, in the Luxembourg, shows the correct way to have the feet. How few people walk well ! The secret is to let the shoulder opposite to the advancing foot swing well forward at each step. (1)
Do not stay too long on one side of a cambered road, because the constant slope pulls the boots out of shape. and tires the feet. There is an old proverb which says that the other side of the road always looks best, and I often test this by changing from one side of the road to the other. Stop to sit down at the top of a hill, rather than at the bottom or half way up ; when you go on again the tired muscles get into condition on the way down.
In flat country I take a rest just before rounding a bend in the road so that when I start again I am curious to see hat is round the corner. To rest

(1) Shoes which are low cut below the ankle are better than boots in countries where there are no mosquitoes; and the older they are, the better. Start off slowly and easily as Nature teaches you even though it be a shambling slouch. Above all don't strut or hurry.
Tramps go two and a half miles on hour and can keep it up all day. To break in new boots, put them on over thick socks and stand for five minutes in three inches of warm water, when the leather will have become soft and pliant. Now walk on level ground for an hour or until the boots dry on the feet and they will then be as comfortable as old boots.
When there is a full moon I sometimes walk all night and loiter and sleep in the sun next day.

20 THE HAPPY TRAVELLER

quickly and well, Iie on your back with }your knees drawn up.
If you have a knapsack on your back, put the heavier things at the top ; but I always take a small black bag as attracting less notice, carrying it in my hand in a town and slinging it on my shoulder, with my umbrella through the handle, in the country. The best wayside lunch in England is a split piece of toast with a rasher of bacon slipped inside, followed by bread and cheese and beer. On the Continent I am content with bread, a raw onion, and a bottle of wine ; but I make it a rule never to pass a little restaurant when hungry -, in the hope of finding a better one farther on. I like to have a Pocketful of raisins to munch at odd times and a little chocolate or chewing gum. In the tropics few white men ever dream of walking from place to place, but it has never hurt me. Of course, greater care of the health is necessary since man has there five lurking enemies - sun, chill, mosquitoes, alcohol and bad water. In our climate the sun is man's friend ; in the tropics it is man's deadly enemy. Do not take off your hat even when under trees or beneath the awning of a ship. Never go out before taking some breakfast and avoid hurry- ing and getting hot and flustered. It is bad alike for your health and your enjoyment. The natives, who for all their sedateness are shrewd enough, call people who do this, " Dam-fool Cooks." You must take the heat as a matter of course and bear it patiently. Should you get overheated, drink tea as hot as you can bear it, for, paradoxical as it may sound, this minimises the danger of heat apoplexy Chills are often got by, being caught in a sudden downpour and letting the clothes dry on the body in the hot sun. If you cannot change at once, keep

SOME NOTES ON HEALTH AND WEALTH 2I

moving, and notice how hilarious you become, Once drenched to the skin all discomfort is gone and all worry forgotten. Water and mud become no more unpleasant than air and dust. Shun cold baths like poison, but take a hot bath every evening just before dinner. Iced drinks are deadly and no alcohol should be taken before sunset, nor any fruit except in the morning. (1) and in taking a siesta. This not only keeps you in- doors during the dangerous part of the day, but makes the nights seem cooler. If you cannot sleep, try counting your breaths, and, if it is too hot to sleep dip your handkerchief in cold water and hold it behind the ears. When I have a room with running water, I fill the basin, turn on the tap to a fast drip and lie listening to the refreshing tinkle of the falling drops. I got the idea from the ooling - room of some Turkish bath, and I liked it so much that in my home - cottage I have had a tap made to drip from a height into a great iron pot. Instead of tossing about and thinking of all manner of things, lie still and say over to yourself this verse, picturing the scenes Hushed are the sheep bells afar on the moorland,
O'er the still meadows the night breezes sweep,
Faint fall the footsteps in city and hamlet,
Safely the children are folded in sleep.

(I) The ice is usually full of microbes, all the more spiteful for their temporary imprisonment. It is always best to take the local drinks of the country e.g. Herua mate in Brazil - Apple-brandy in Kash-mir ; Cana in Ecuador ; Lime-squash in the West Indies ; Pulque-dolce in Mexico ; Kwass or Kakatinski in Russia ; Planter's Punch in Jamaica ; or, if you are cold, a Pimento dram. In India and the Straits a good drink is a " Virgin," a mixture of Vermouth and Gin. In the East the boy hands you a chit which you sign and pay later with the hotel or club bill. Gin is better for a white man in the tropics than whisky, and Rum is the wholesomest drink at sea. When walking in Europe be careful not to drink white wine on an empty stomach. It fetters the legs and takes your wind away. If hungry between meals, take a basin of soup which is sustaining and does not spoil the appetite.

22 THE HAPPY TRAVELLER.

Or this one, not learning too well the adjectives in the fourth line, so that your mind may puzzle over them
There is sweet music here that softer falls,
Than petals from blown roses on the grass,
Or night dews on still waters between walls
Of shadowy granite in a gleaming pass
Music that gentlier on the spirit lies
Than tir'd eyelids upon tired eyes
Music that brings sweet sleep down from the blissful skies.

In noisy places plug the ears with cotton wool; dipped in glycerine, and, when there is no blind to the window, open your umbrella and rest it on your body Should you be sleeping naked, and without bed- clothes, be sure to have a bit of sheet across the Ioins. (1)
Strange noises break the silence of the tropical night, and the traveller who has once heard them; never forgets the yelping of the jackals the chorus of frogs, the drone of the crickets, and, in cities, the death-wail from the house-tops. But it is usually the mosquitoes, not the heat or the noise, which keep a man awake. lf you have no mosquito curtains to your bed, hang a lump of camphor above your face, or dab your forehead with some such preparation as muscatol, for the usual line of march of an undisturbed mosquito is from one ear across the forehead to the other ear. In the day time it is easy enough to escape them by keeping in the sunlight or in the sea breeze, both of which they detest. Even the light from the full moon is sufficient to keep them away and you can sit out on the veranda with impunity. They lurk in dark places and are

(1) Like most men tramping along with the smell of the good brown earth in their nostrils, I sing or whistle down the road. But do you ever sing in bed? I do. My favourite aria is "Why do the Nations " from the Messiah; and when I want to give myself a special treat, I muffle myself up in my bedclothes and hallo for all I am worth. A couple of minutes of this is just splendid. Then I compose myself for sleep, feeling at peace with all men.

SOME NOTES ON HEALTH AND WEALTH 23

especially given to attacking the ankles of people sitting at table ; so have your trousers cut long and always wear boots. Besides, this lessens the risk of snake-bite, the bare-footed or sandal-shod native being the usual victims. Snake poison is " dead " poison, and you can suck the wound if you rinse out your mouth with an antiseptic afterwards. The bite of a mad animal is " live " poison, and no washing of the mouth will make you safe.
In damp heat wear a white duck suit made to button closely round the neck, and, if there be no mosquitoes, a pair of white canvas shoes with thick soles. In dry heat wear a Norfolk suit of yellowish porous canvas, a loose handkerchief round the neck and thick boots with heavy soles. Your shirt should be of silk and wool and your underclothes of merino or Indian gauze. One is always advised to wear a pith sun-hat until 4 p.m., after which a panama is more comfortable. If you do have a sun helmet, it should be lined with red or yellow, not green. But I, myself wear a soft felt hat with a wide brim and put my umbrella up when out of the shade. An addi- tional precaution against the sun is to have an orange strip, three inches wide, sewn down the inside of the coat over the spine : red, yellow, and orange being colours which resist the deadly violet rays of the sun. A good servant, though not necessary, is a great comfort in the East and is not an expensive luxury ;

I have my umbrella specially made with 29-inch ribs instead of the usual size of 26 inches The six inches extra spread is invaluable in tropical showers - rubber mackintoshes; having a short life south of the 23rd degree of latitude. I carry a square of mosquito netting with a hole for the ferrule of the umbrella and by putting it against a rock or a tree I can have a nap or a fishing lunch secure from , mosquitoes or sand flies. These last are sometimes ( as in the Milford ,Sound walk in New Zealand ) so bad as to make a veil necessary:
They leave you alone as long as you keep walking, but the moment you stand still they come for you. If they are troublesome at night` ,sprinkle some powdered camphor on the bed.

24 THE HAPPY TRAVELLER

being carried for nothing on the steamers and for a mere trifle on the trains. In India choose a Madrassi because, although probably a rascal, he does not trouble about caste and can speak (atrociously) nearly all the dialects. But do not let him become too familiar. He must not enter your presence shod or bareheaded. Remember that a white man is a " big chief " in the Tropics and keep your dignity, and, especially, never shake hands with a native.
Beyond India, John Chinaman is the servant to have, and a Chinese woman, who has been trained, makes the best nurse for a sick or wounded man. Engage no guide ; if you do, he will spend most of ,the time leading you round to show` you off to his various acquaintances.
For a journey of more than three weeks on a horse or mule, it is better to buy than to hire the beast. I once bought a mule at Cordova, and, after a ride of three months, sold it at Burgos for more than I had paid for it. If you are riding a horse, look after him yourself when you get to your inn. Rub him down with a wisp of straw, give him half a pint of water, rug and feed him. With a mule use one of the native

1 When talking to your Chinese " boy " you use Pidgin English. This is a corruption of business English ; thus, when he say's that something is not his " pidgin," he means that it is outside his particular work, which no true Chinaman will overstep by a hair's breadth. Here are a few of the words used and their meanings :- Chop chop, quickly - all same this; like this ; can do I will , no can do I wont; fie tee; hurry; mam mam ; stop; how fashion ; how much? no can cuttee, cheaper; no b'long plopper, that won't do; one piecee one thing; number one, best; maski, alright or never mind. Though round about, this baby mode of talk is torably successful. No one has taught him to use the word "Bishop" but his own 'topside joss pidgin fellow' expresses both the idea and the dignity. Rickshaw men at the "spoilt" ports of Japan cheerfully answer to the title damurais, which contains a root also found in a Levantine word for soup, dannuck. A chinese boy cannot pronounce the letter "r" and at Christmas your boy will give you a rice paper card bearing the words: "My chin chin, you melly Klistmas". In beckoning him you keep the fingers downward.

NOTES ON HEALTH AND WEALTH 25

saddles, which make a man sit back in the proper way, a mule's shoulders being very weak. To guide him, give him a tap with your stick on the cheek opposite to the way you want to go, and, as you value your bones, do not walk round his tail.(1) I never carry a weapon, because I am convinced of the truth of the proverb : " Smile at the world and the world will smile back at you." As long as a traveller is polite and good humoured and respects the
women of the country, he will get along without any trouble. Too much stress cannot be laid on polite- ness, a minor virtue in which we are deficient. Be friendly and courteous, but not jocular; men of other nations regard as ill-bred any such familiarity from one who is more or less a stranger. It is the custom in Europe to raise the hat when entering a railway - carriage or a cafe or a shop, and I salute in this way the priest in a little place. Carry many visiting cards ; foreigners delight in exchanging them, and they are useful in the East for leaving at the local club, where you will no doubt be made an honorary member for the duration of your stay. Divide the money which you carry, into several lots and sew some of the notes into the flaps of your waistcoat and others round the ankles. another good place, except at sea or in a barber's shop, is inside the leather band of your hat. But a letter of credit is safer still. Many of the tales of robbers which one hears abroad are invented by guides who resent that a man should go about alone ; and a

(1) An elephant, also, has a dislike to a white man approaching him from behind. Camels do not bite or kick (except when must) but they can give a violent sneeze of half-masticated cud, which is almost as bad. With them oos, oos means go on ; adda turn ; ogf stop ; and ch ch ch, lie down. They are the only animal in the world to move the legs of one side before the others move. A llama has but one method of attack or defence and that is to spit in your eye, and the ploughing buffaloes; of Siam, though driven with ease by a tiny native child, resent the smell of a white man.

26 THE HAPPY TRAVELLER

traveller soon finds out that a peasant with every mark of being a brigand may be a very peaceable person. His wild appearance is probably due to you seeing him at the wrong end of the week because, on the Continent, poor men only get shaved on Saturday. If you do really meet a "suspicious character " in a lonely place, do not hesitate but keep on with an added jauntiness; and do not go round which would argue that you are afraid, but rather steer more directly for him. If you like you can finger an imaginary revolver in your hip pocket, but a cheery and confident good-day is usually enough. Do not look back. Should you be attacked by a mob in the east, hurt one of the crowd and hurt him quickly. The others will gather chattering round the injured man and you will be able to slip away. If attacked by one man, hold your umbrella round the top of the ribs and meet his charge with a thrust to the belly or throat. If you have a stick, hold it just below the handle and let him have it, not on the head, but on the collar bone an inch or so away from the neck. keep your hand low so as not to lift the pad of muscle behind the collar-bone, and stand as in fencing with the right foot forward. Other vulnerable places are the outside of the forearm, the tip of the shoulder, and, with niggers, the shins. When the man has a knife and you have time, get your coat and wrap it round the left wrist as a pad, leaving part of it dangling. If you are camping when attacked, leap away from the fire into the dark and keep still. To catch the faintest sound, keep your mouth open, for our ear has an inward entrance as well as an outer, like the gill which gave it origin, If you have a companion and want to wake him without his speaking, press with your finger under his ear. But I hope none of these alarming things will

SOME NOTES ON HEALTH AND WEALTH 27

happen to you. You are much more likely to be attacked by a dog. The mongrel curs are a nuisance to the wayfarer in most foreign lands. It is useless to try and " good dog " them. Instead, abuse them in the hoarsest voice at your command and with the worst language you can think of. They may slink off utterly ashamed of themselves, but, if one comes for you, try this method. Snatch off your hat and hold it out to him, when he will snap at it and seize it by the brim. Now the length of your hat and arm is exactly the length of your leg, and, if you kick out, he will get it just under the jaw, bite his tongue and go off howling. Approaching a dog sleeping in the road I do so whistling. This wakes him up before I get close and helps to convince him that I am human in spite of the bag on my shoulder and my outlandish smell.
Tips will be expected wherever you go and are called baksheesh or comshaw in the East. They need not always be given in money, a present of a cigar or a stick of trade tobacco will not only, save your pocket but will be accepted without loss of self respect. To stint yourself is the mark of a fool and to be niggardly in these little gifts is a mistake. I counteract my own tendency to meanness in these matters by unfailing liberality to children and old beggars. In the South Seas you have to carry trade " truck," because in the more virgin islands money has no value. Beads have lost their glamour and are besides heavy to carry, but aluminium thimbles and hanks of red cotton are well received and pack into a small parcel. In Europe I take spare trout flies to give away to local anglers, and flower seeds for garden-lovers in other parts of the world. The cosiest place for camping is under a rock over- hanging a dry spot near a stream ; the draughtiest

28 THE HAPPY TRAVELLER

is under a tree, but if I chance on a walnut tree I sleep beneath it as it is clear of midges and mos- quitoes. These pests can also be kept at bay in the open by covering yourself with ferns. Your fire should be built in the shape of a half-moon with the points towards the wind. Build it quite small at first, using bark peelings of birch as tinder. Sleep on the lee side of it with your feet to the fire (the smoke will drive over your head) , and have some spare wood by you to throw on during the night. If it is warm, use the beachcomber's pillow, your boots rolled in your coat. If it is chilly, your coat thrown over the head and shoulders is more protection than when kept on. To sleep snugly you must take off every perspired garment and wrap up well the coldest part of the body, from the waist to the knees . Scrape a big hole for your hipbone and use an old news- per as a ground-sheet. Do not dread an occasional night in the open when you are benighted and have no camp. There are few beds more comfortable than a dry ditch in England in June. (1)

(1) The law is that you must not sleep within fifteen yards of the crown (or centre) of the road. To play the tramp in England have a blue handkerchief with white spots round your neck wear a silver ring and let your nails get dirty. Address an old man as "old gentleman," a woman as "Missis," and a quite ordinary man as "Mister." English tramps avoid blisters by putting fresh dock leaves in their socks every morning. For a camping holiday in England hire a pony and cart and make yourself a gipsy tent. It is the simplest tent in the world the most comfortable and the cost of it is exactly nil All you have to do is to find a hedge where nut boughs grow lithe and straight and tall. Cut eleven of them, one inch round at the bottom and some seven feet long, and strip them into neat rods. You need also four blankets some string and a few safety-pins. When night comes and you go to pitch your tent take four of the rods and stick them well into the ground in a straight row twenty - two inches apart Next you measure six feet across and stick four more rods into the ground, exactly opposite the first four, and you bend the two rows of rods over one to the other and tie them firmly to form an arch. Then at one end you plant your ninth rod eighteen inches back from the arch, in the centre, and you bend it down to the others and tie it there. Then on either side of it you plant rods ten and eleven, and bring them over likewise. Now cover the whole,

NOTES ON HEALTH AND WEALTH 29

If you are lost, you are exposed to three dangers - Fear, Cold and Hunger -- of which the first is the deadliest. Sit down until the first panic is over. Resist the temptation to go uphill to get into- spaces. Instead, go down-hill ; you will find water, and most settlements are in the valleys. You are not likely to be travelling for pleasure in a really cold country, and at night you can cover your- self with heather or bracken. As to hunger, a man can live on his own fat for a week and it is a poor country where there are no lichens. These boiled for an hour will keep you going, and it is useful to know that no toadstool growing on a tree is poisonous. If you have any food left when you first realise that that you have lost your way, save it until nightfall and eat half of it when you camp. In the morning only have a drink and eat your last food at midday. after that, drink only a sip at a time and chew pieces of your boots. Water above house-level is sure to be pure and good to drink. An emergency compass can be contrived by laying your watch face upwards on the palm with the hour hand pointing to the sun. Half-way between the hour hand and XII will be due south in the northern hemisphere. To try to find a lost track at night is

except the open ends with blankets pinned together and you have fulfilled mans primeval need. You have built yourself a little house to crawl into and shelter, and if you do not sleep comfortably it will be because you ought to be at home. If you collect old china take out a pedlar's licence buy some stock in Houndsditch and make a show of selling it at remote farms.
For river camping a Canadian canoe is the best boat; you face the right way, go along silently and have plenty of room to stow your gear. I have camped on most of the rivers in the South of England and my favourite stream is the Warwickshire Avon. But for a permanent camp with a Canadian canoe try the Golden Valley near Stroud on the Thames and Severn Canal, or Fordwich on the River Stour in Kent.
If you use a motorcycle, you have your bed complete if you can induce someone to make you a sidecar two feet longer than the usual size.

30 THE HAPPY TRAVELLER

Labour thrown away; but you ought at least to be able to recognise the pole Star and the southern Cross and to know that Orion is upright when south and slanting when east or west. Should you have the bad luck, when at sea, to fall overboard, get your boots off and turn the coat pockets inside out; but you do not take off your clothes, because they keep you warm. Make no attempt to swim anywhere, but just keep yourself afloat until you are picked up. If there are sharks about, keep splashing the water.

CHAPTER IV

TRAVELLERS' AILMENTS

I need nothing extraordinary when I am sick and I will not be beholden to my Bolu; to do that for me which Nature cannot.
- Montaigne. -

CARRY some simple medicines in tabloids or pills, and a clinical thermometer. A man's normal temperature is 98.4 0 F. ; his pulse should beat seventy to eighty-four times a minute and he should breathe fifteen to eighteen times. If he breathes over twenty-two times a minute something is wrong.

Care of the feet. Cut the toe nails straight across, not round ; and soap your socks. Wash the feet at night and morning with soap and cold water, and powder your evening socks with a little Fuller's earth . Cold feet. Kneel on a chair or tree trunk for a few minutes along the line of the C.P.R. labourers who can often he seen in this praying attitude. Two pairs of thin socks are warmer and more comfort- able than one thick pair. Mittens can impart a glow to the whole frame, but how few will condescend to wear them !
Constipation. Sip hot water before meals. Sea water is better still, if you can drink it hot without being sick. In the tropics take two grains of Cascara three times daily until relieved, or, if the water is above suspicion, sip a glass of it cold before breakfast.

3I

32 THE HAPPY TRAVELLER

Diarrhoea Take first a dose of Cascara and then Chlorodyne tabloid.
Dysentery. Symptom - blood in the excrement. Take chlorodyne. Salol tabloids in a little whisky lessen the chances of your having the disease If you catch it in the wilds and have no drugs chew wood charcoal or scrape a powder from a charred stick and swallow it with water.
Eczcema. Live for a week or two on nothing but milk and oranges, with an occasional dose of Epson salts.
Grit in the eye. Rub the other eye, when both eyes will water. Carry a small camel's hair brush for getting grit out, and, after you have done so, put a drop of castor oil in the eye. Sulphate of zinc is a good soothing lotion and you can rest your eyes by fixing them on the horizon. Snuff is good for the eyes. The Zulus, who are inveterate snuff-takers, have the finest eyesight in the world. Never touch the eyes just after scratching an insect bite. Indeed, the Spaniard have a proverb " Never rub your 'eyes except with your elbow."
lndigestion. Before meals take in a glass of water enough baking powder (bicarbonate of soda) to cover a shilling. Drink nothing with your food. Malaria. At first you feel hot and yet shiver. Then there are three stages - cold, hot and sweating. Take Magnesium Sulphate at once, dissolved in water. Then 15 grains of quinine twice a day. You can buy it at any post office in India and if the country is malarial, you should take five grains daily. But to take quinine daily in the tropics, whether there is fever there or not, is wrong. The system gets used to the drug and will not respond when there is need of a dose ;

TRAVELLERS' AILMENTS 33

besides, to take it constantly makes you deaf. Wear a cholera belt east of Suez, but only wear it at night. There is no malaria east of 170 o E that is to say, none in Fiji or in any part of Polynesia.
Neuralgia. Take ten grains of aspirin, or drink a cup of tea with three or four cloves in it ; but do
not start a journey without having your teeth seen to. (1)
Prickly heat. Smear the skin with Izal cream ; or with a paste of Fuller's earth and lime juice. A simpler but longer remedy is to lie up for a day or two, constantly bathing the itching places with a handkerchief dipped in cold water Rheumatism. Eat nothing for a time except oranges and lemons and only drink milk. Simple fever. Go to bed and take ten grains of aspirin. This cures the headache and lowers the temperature. Repeat the dose after four hours. if the tongue is dirty take castor oil.
Sore throat, Put a little table salt on the tongue and keep it there until it has dissolved. To avoid colds wash your nostrils with your fingers when they are soapy. Sea sickness. Try stopping both ears tightly with cotton wool. For it is now thought to be caused by a loss of the sense of equilibrium, which resides, not in the stomach, but in the ears.
Snake bite. Cut round the wound, make it bleed and rub in crystals of Permanganate of Potash special linament for this can be got for ninepence from Messrs.. Arnold & Co., Giltspur St., E.C.1. Take no alcohol.

(1) Worcester Sauce drunk neat is a good pick-me-up. Beaten up with an egg it makes a " Bombay- Oyster." A '" corpse reviver " is an egg, a squeeze of lemon or lime with a little sugar and a dash of Agnostura bitters. When this has been worked up with a swizzle- stick, a wine glassful of square face (gin) or whisky added.

2

There is a peace for the wanderer in the strange seclusions of the East - in the secret lands where life has prepared the past by leaving it, or where the present itself is like the past in its remote- ness. Peace may be found there - for a time at any-rate - a peace that is not stagnant, but vivid with the tumult of stingless pleasures, with the pulses of a magical youth given back again to the heart of experience. This is the peace which is known to the true traveller, which none can imagine except those who have tasted it, and which those who have tasted it once ever afterwards crave for. ---- W. H. Mallock.

150

CHAPTER XII

THE VOYAGE OUT

Where have you been, O wandering soul ?
I have journeyed far and wide.
I drift to a home in any port,
Drift out upon any tide.
-The Ocean Tramp.

VISIT far-off lands while you are young and eager, and leave the countries nearer home until you are older and less adventurous. Choose the newest boat of the line by which you are going. The cost is the same and everything is fresh and clean. But the second trip of a new boat is to be preferred to her maiden voyage, as by then the ship's servants will have shaken down into their places. Select a cabin which will be on the cool side of the ship in the evening : the port (or left) side going South and the starboard side going North. Make your voyage at the best season of the year ; because, however good a sailor a man may be, day after day of dirty weather soon palls. April to October are the bad monsoon months in the China Sea, and June to October in the Indian Ocean. Typhoons occur round Japan in May and in Sep-tember, the hurricane months in the South Sea Islands are December, January and February, and, for going round Cape Horn, all months are bad except January and February. The Red Sea is always hot and stuffy. At the North end the wind blows from the North and at the South end from the South. The middle is always smooth and often a flat calm. Here

151

152 THE HAPPY TRAVELLER.

collects the red scum from which the sea has its name. It is called plankton and is a vegetable fish-food. Comfort at sea is doubly welcome, and for those who can afford it get good value for the cost of a first- or second-class ticket ; but a poor man, who is ready to give and take, can get along quite well in the steerage. When I was an undergraduate I went third-class to Sydney and to Rio and enjoyed both voyages as well as any that I have had in my life. The Royal Mail to South America have third-class accommoda-tion for English passengers which is separate from that of the Spaniards and Portuguese who join the vessel at Vigo and Lisbon, and the " deck " passages of the Japanese boats are particularly good.
It happens sometimes in the tropics that the shipping agents refuse to issue a third-class ticket to a white man. The British consul, if appealed to, will make them do so. And it is well to know that, if you are "on the rocks" at a foreign port, the same benevolent government servant will help you on your way or send you home as a "consul " passenger. If your money is nearly all gone, buy bread and onions in the market and eat them in bed. It is an interesting experience to sign on as a steward or hand for a short voyage. You get an impression of sea-life from a different point of view from that of a passenger, and gain possession of a document which is of great use to a poor traveller. This is a " sailors' discharge," which is a passport- the world over and gives you the right to pay your shilling a night for a " cabin " at a Sailors' home in any port. But for your first few voyages, you will naturally go as a passenger on a liner. Then, for a change, try one of the newer " tramp " steamers, on board which you will have plenty of room, the society of the " old

THE VOYAGE OUT 153

Man" and stays of some length at the ports of call.
On a liner some of the little community of people who are your fellow passengers may be of great service to you in the country to which you are going, I but do not endeavour to make acquaintance at once. (1) The few noisy folk, who seem to be important at the start of the voyage, are soon found to be shallow and pretentions. Your future friends should be among the quiet, unobtrusive men who make no advances.
When you get to know them after a few days, you will find out a good deal about adventurous lives and work in remote parts of the world. Most ships have libraries aboard. usually very poor stuff, so it is well to take a bundle of books, which I you can pass on when you have read them. When the voyage is over, leave books alone for a time and read the minds of men instead. A good atlas, besides being one of the most interesting books in the world, is useful for striking up acquaintances with a foreigner, who will be pleased and proud to put his finger on the map at the place where is his home.
For you should always try to get to know a native of the country to which you are bound if there is one on board. He will teach you a few phrases of his language and befriend you at the final port. If you are in the steerage, take also some fruit and jam and a bottle of rum, which nowhere tastes so well as at sea. Collect scraps of nautical information; the duties of the officers and their nicknames, which are the I same in every boat, and the places where the ships

(1)But if you are a chess player this device will at once introduce you to the other players on board. On the first or second evening get a set of chessmen from the smoking room steward and pore over some problem. Other chess players will soon come to the bait and you will have congenial companions at once.

154 THE HAPPY TRAVELLER

tie up to the wharf instead of lying out in the road- stead. (1) Notice that no sea-bird has a musical voice, that the Arabs regard the phosphorus on the sea as the souls of dead sailors, that at Singapore the coolies coal the ship in silence whereas at Java they chant " Anna-ti-ra-ti-huh," and at Port Said " La ilaha ill "Allah Mohamedu rasul Allah." You soon find out that the time on board is indicated by a bell every half-hour, beginning with " one bell " at 12.30, 4.30 and 8.30 and that the distance run by the ship is reckoned in knots, six of which equal seven miles. Have a star-map with you and never miss the sunrise and sunset. I always watch for the Green Ray, a beautiful sight of which a surprising number of seafarers and coast-dwellers seem never to have heard. When the sun sinks into the sea after a fine day, the last tiny segment of its circle to disappear sometimes becomes a lovely green. It does not always happen but I see it five or six times ever voyage. I suppose it is caused by the sun shining through the green sea which is at the apex of the world from my point of sight ; but I am puzzled to explain why, when all the conditions are present a calm sea, a clear horizon and halcyon weather-it does not always appear. Spend much time in the bows of the boat, where you have the freshest of air and an unbounded horizon. Besides, you see many things which the other passengers miss. Can any traveller forget the little thrill of excitement which he felt when he saw his first basking turtle, his first shark and his first

(1) E.g. Macassar, tonga, Manaos, Sydney, Melbourne, Wellington, Auckland, Hobart, Singapore, Santos, Castries, Georgetown, Alicante, Malaga, Brisbane, Santos, port au Prince, Rio, Port Darwin, Thursday island, Sabang(Sumatra), Saigon, Suva, Kingstown, Port Sudan, and Salina Cruz. At those places the boats moor to the side of the quay and you can walk ashore when you please.

THE VOYAGE OUT 155

flying-fish with its strange hunted look or, on land, his first troop of monkeys and his first humming-bird ?
A last but important, piece of advice is not to eat too much. The meals on board ship are on a scale far exceeding what most of us are used to at home, and there is little scope for exercise unless you have had the happy thought to take a skipping-rope with you.
At the end of the passage notice the curiously abrupt break-up of the set of people with whom you have become so intimate. It is inevitable but always a little pathetic.

184 THE HAPPY TRAVELLER

And then he gives his views on travelling. "There are people who when they travel, wrap themselves up in silence and suspicion. When they dine they must have the same food as at home. Every sight and custom is bad unless it resembles those of their own country. They travel only to return. That is entirely the wrong way to set about it. We should start, " he says, "without any fixed idea about where we are going to spend the night, or when we propose to come back; the journey is everything. Most necessary of all, but rarest good fortune, we should try and find before we start some man of our own sort who will go with us and to whom we can say the first thing that comes into our heads. For pleasure hath no relish unless we share it. As for the risks - that we may catch a cold or get a headache - it is always worth while to take a little illness for the sake of pleasure. Besides, if we do what we like, we always do what is good for us. Doctors and wise men may object, but let us leave them to their own dismal philosophy. For ourselves, who are ordinary men and women, let us return thanks to Nature for her bounty by using every one of the senses she has given us; vary our state as much as possible; turn now to this side, now that, to the warmth, and relish to the full before the sun goes down the kisses of youth, and the echoes of a beautiful voice singing Catallus. Every season is likeable, and wet days and fine, red wine and white, company and solitude. Even sleep, that deplorable curtailler of the joys of life, can be full of dreams; and the most common actions - a walk, a talk, solitude in one's own garden - can be enhanced and lit up by the association of the mind. Beauty is everywhere and beauty is only two fingers breadth from goodness. So, in the name of health and sanity, let us not dwell on the end of the journey. Let

INDIA AND CEYLON 185

death come upon us planting our cabbages, or on horseback, or let us steal away to some cottage and there let strangers close our eyes for a servant sobbing or the touch of a hand would break us down. Best of all, let death find us at our usual occupations among girls and good fellows, who make no protests, no lamentations; let him find us "parmy les jeux, les festins, entrentiens communes et populaires at la musiques, et des vers amoureaux." In Europe I buy cheap editions of which there is a great variety as in England. France has her (Euvres Libres( Feyard et Cie : 5frs,) each volume containing several good stories. Spain has her Bilioteca Literare del Estudiante, and a weekly penny novel La Novella Corta ( Calvo Asensio, Madrid). Italy with publishing houses in all her cities pours out series after series - the Scrittori, Nostri (Genova). the Collezione Songogno (Milano), the Classici del Ridre, with their admirable and amusing woodcuts. I often pick up an English book in a foreign hotel and have no scruples in taking it on to another town, because many a time I leave my books behind for fellow travellers to pocket it if pleases them to do so.

Sinhalese talk

Good morning or good evening. Ahyoo bohwun, ( Lit May there be long life).
How much? cheap Keeyerther? laber
Meat Fish Curry. Mus Mahloo. Mahloower.
Bring me coffee. Kohpi genen.
Where is the W.C. ? Wasi-kiliyer kohayther ?
Is this the way to Kandy ? May Kandy-ter uner pah rerther ?
Far, Near. Thoorer. Kittoo.

N.B. - Orientals reply what they think you would like to hear; so do not place too much trust in their estimate
of distances.

pgs 186 to 268 missing. Mainly on different countries.

THE POOR TRAVELLER

I've loops o' string in the place o' buttons. I've mostly holes for a shirt -
My boots are bust and my hat's a goner. I'm gritty with dust and dirt
An' I'm sitting here on a bollard watchin' the China ships go forth,
Seein' the black little tugs com sailin' with timber booms from the North,
Sittin' an seein the broad Pacific break at my feet in foam,
Me that was born with a taste for travel in a back alley at home.

They put me to school when I was a nipper at the Board school down in the slum,
An' some of the kids was good at spellin', an' some at figures an' sums ;
An' whether I went or whether I didn't they learned me nothing at all,
Only l'd watch the flies go walkin over the maps on the wall,
Strollin' over the lakes an' mountains, over the plains and sea,
As they were born for a taste for travel - somethin' the same as me !

If I'd been born a rich man's youngster with lots o' money to burn,
It wouldn't ha' gone in marble mansions and statues at every' turn,
It wouldn't ha gone in wine an women, or dogs an horses an play,
Nor yet in collecting brick an' bracks in a harmless kind of way -
I'd ha' paid for my fare where I'd beat my way ( but I'd wouldn't ha' liked it more) -
Me that was born with a taste for travel - the same if you're rich or poor.

I'd ha' gone bowlin' in yachts an' rollin' in plush - padded Pullman cars,
The same as I've seen 'em when I lay restin' at night-time under the stars,
Me that have beat the ties an' rode the bumpers from sea to sea,
Me that have sweated in stokeholds an' dined off salt horse and tea,
Me that have melted like grease at Perim, an' froze like boards off the Horn,
All along of a taste for travel that was in me when I was born.

I ain't got folks an' I ain't got money I ain't got nothing at all,
But a sort of a queer old thirst that keeps me movin' on till I fall;
And many a time I've been short of shelter, an many a time o' grub,
But I've got away from the rows of houses, the streets, an' the corner pub -
And here by the side of a sea that's shinin' under a sky like a flame,
Me that was born for a taste for travel gives thanks because o' the same.

269

From copier.
Please note, this is not the whole book, as time did not allow all to be copied. If anyone can, please do so, as its a lovely book from a world we seem to have lost.

http://www.btinternet.com/~jhpart/tht1923.htm