The Overland Guide-book

"I returned to the ship, after dinner, in the evening, much gratified with my visit. The mode of living at Ceylon is more English, in all respects, than at Calcutta; the table more simple – the servants fewer – and the whole character of domestic economy less Oriental than we are accustomed to on the Indian Continent; but the scenery of the island itself is far from partaking of this un-Oriental appearance; it realises, in everything, all we fancy and read of in descriptions of tropical islands. The closeness and abundance of the vegetation, the variety of Eastern jungle trees, the palm-like characteristic towering of the cocoa and beetle-nut tree, everywhere prominent in the luxuriant woods around you, all tend to give to Ceylon a picturesque and Eastern style of beauty, very different from the low plains and unvaried flatness of the country in Bengal.

"The dresses of the natives are different from Bengal; men wear combs like the women of other countries, and have a loose cloth round their legs, vastly resembling a petticoat. Their language is the Cingalese; an open and gentle sort of well-vowelled dialect, which sounds prettily and euphoniously enough, like the Malayan language.

"Trade altogether is not very extensive in Ceylon. At Galle there are but three or four merchants, forming the entire mercantile community of the place. At Columbo there are, perhaps, twenty merchants and agents, and there is a Ceylon bank. The local trade is confined to three articles, viz., coffee, cocoa-nut oil, and cinnamon, though a few folks are beginning to turn their attention to sugar. Coffee is reared in plantations on the higher lands, and in chosen spots in the interior. Some of the plantations have done well, and, after the third year, are described as having paid more with the one season's produce than all the preceding and preliminary outlay and price of block put together. Several concerns, however, are losing, the soil being unsuitable; the present low prices for Ceylon coffee, in England, must utterly ruin them. It has been proved, that the only chance of success is with clearances on the forest and large tree lands: the plant thrives in these, though it takes three years to bear, and attains maturity only after the fifth year; it is expected to last ten years. Like all other concerns, those under proprietors themselves fare the best, and are easily distinguishable from those superintended by agents; but all managers live very uncomfortably. The superintendents get about 150 rupees per month, which is little enough, for supplies of the commonest necessity reach only from Kandy, or from a distance, and they are frequently without supplies at all, subsisting then on rice and the poorest produce of the villages around them. The Ceylon coffee itself ranks next to Mocha in the English markets; but recent prices must be insufficient to meet the charges of production. It is planted much in the same manner as with tea in Assam. After clearance, they set the plants at certain distances, when they grow to about the same height as the tea-tree. After blossoming and ripening, and before falling, the fruit is gathered; when there is a simple process, by some wheels and cheap machinery, to clear the berry from the pulp and skin.

"There are cinnamon gardens, near Galle, but they are not pleasing to look at, and assuredly there is no spicy and aromatic odour on the breeze, as the poets would fain establish in reference to this island, the famed Taprobane of old! When you bruise a twig or shoot of the cinnamon-tree and break off a small bit of the bark, the scent of the cinnamon is powerful and pleasant. The cocoa-nut oil is expressed much in the same manner as in Bengal, but it surprised me that, for domestic use at Galle, it was so expensive; they asked sixpence for two quart bottles of it, or, at this rate, about five rupees and more per maund. I should have expected it to be cheaper in Ceylon.

"The Rifle corps seemed to be a fine, well-disciplined body of men, chiefly Malays or their descendants. The regiment is officered like the line, and the dress, appointments, setting up and look of the soldiers were excellent.

"The salaries and receipts of the public functionaries and others in Ceylon are not quite so good as under the Company, but the habits of living, as I have before remarked, are more economical, and, I dare say, there is more money comparatively saved in Ceylon, than in the Company's wider and more imperial territories."

The new arrival at Ceylon is sorely beset by pedlars, who tempt him to invest a small portion of his capital in ivory snuff-boxes and knife-handles, tortoise-shell combs, card-racks, &c. A very few of these articles, purchased at a third of the price asked for them, may prove acceptable to friends in England, but we would recommend the Ceylon visitor to abstain from too large an indulgence in his generous inclinations, for ivory pays a heavy duty in England, and, after all, the articles brought home may be procured in England at as cheap a rate.

After leaving Ceylon and passing through the Maldive islands, which, though very low and level, are green and picturesque, no object of interest presents itself until the port of Aden is reached.

Quitting Aden, the shores of the Red Sea are frequently seen, but rarely approached during the upward voyage. In six days Suez is reached, and, as soon as boats can come off to the steamer, the passengers are landed and almost immediately conveyed by van (see previous details on this head) across the desert.

The town of Suez offers no kind of inducement to prolong one's stay. Small, dirty and destitute of any architectural beauties or antique remains, it exhibits the worst specimen of a Mahomedan city in the whole Ottoman empire.

Arrived at Suez, it will be for the passenger who has not contracted for the entire trip home, to select his own method of getting to Cairo. The vans of the Transit Company offer unquestionably the most convenient and expeditious mode of carrying the traveller across the desert; but there are not wanting persons who prefer the romance and independence of a tedious trip on the back of a horse, donkey or camel. If there were any objects of interest worthy of an occasional halt in the desert, the inconvenience of this slow progress would have its counterpoise; but when we assure the traveller that there is not one single fragment of antique remains, one solitary picturesque spot, nay, nothing, beyond one tree, seven station-houses, and a multitude of rat-holes and camel-skeletons, to diversify the broad, glaring, sandy waste, he will not hesitate about the prudence of paying his £12 – the whole cost of transit to Alexandria – or £9 to Cairo only, and joining the bulk of his fellow-travellers in the omnibuses.

From Cairo a freer choice is left to the traveller. If he prefer lingering in Egypt, he will find in a visit to the cataracts, the temples of Luxor, Carnac, &c., enough to engage his attention for an indefinite number of weeks. On these points, however, we have supplied information among the "Miscellaneous" matter at the close of this volume.

The route from Cairo to Alexandria, merely reversing the order of the trip, is described in a foregoing part of this volume. Arrived at Alexandria – provided the passenger has not booked himself in India for the entire transit to Southampton – it often becomes a question which route shall be taken to accomplish the remainder of the journey. The taste, inclinations or curiosity of some will lead them to Constantinople, to Syria, the Holy Land, the Grecian Archipelago; others may feel disposed to embark for Trieste, in order to visit Venice, northern Italy and Germany. Many chalk out for themselves a trip to Naples, Rome, Florence, Switzerland, &c., previously purifying themselves of the bugbear plague at Malta; and some few embark in the French steamer and make their way to Marseilles, there to serve quarantine, preparatory to a tour through France.

If it were as much our province to advise as it is our purpose to inform, we would suggest, as the result of the information imparted to us by many travellers, that it is, on many accounts, most desirable that persons from India should come straight to England, in the first instance, thence betaking themselves to the continent of Europe, if so inclined. The chief reasons for this proceeding are – the entire avoidance of the quarantines, which are often irksome and always expensive; the gratification of the natural affections by the earliest possible meeting with relatives and friends; the facility of obtaining information respecting the most attractive routes, and introductions to families on the Continent; the opportunity of selecting a companion from old fellow-soldiers, fellow-officials or Indian friends similarly bent upon a pleasurable excursion.

But these arguments may weigh as a feather against the determination to visit the interesting portions of Europe and Asia we have indicated, preparatory to placing foot in England. It is difficult to eradicate from any Anglo-Indians the notion that it is better to arrive cleansed of Indian rust and polished by a tour through civilised lands, or more prudent "to see the world" while you are in it, than to trust to the chance of quitting England when you have just tasted its infinite pleasures.

For the consideration of such reasoners, therefore, we submit some information respecting quarantines, the rules of which, however, are very changeable.

A passage to Malta from Alexandria may be procured in the "Peninsular and Oriental Company's" boats for £12 10s. The French steamers charge £10, but this does not include the table, wines, &c., which are paid for separately to the restaurateur on board. The trip in the English steamer occupies four days. The French vessel goes first to Syra, to meet the Constantinople boat, and this occupies seven days. Arrived at Malta, intimation is given by the captain of the number of persons who meditate remaining there, and accommodation is accordingly provided for them in the lazaretto. Their stay will depend upon the nature of the bill of health carried by the vessel; it is not, however, at any time, less than twelve days, and may extend to twenty.

The regulations to be observed in the lazaretto are given on the following page.

GENERAL REGULATIONSTo be observed by all Persons performing Quarantine in the Lazaretto of MaltaI

All passengers, on landing, are to give their names to the captain of the lazaretto, which are to be entered in the registry of the office.

II

The captain of the lazaretto will assign apartments for passengers, and each passenger will be provided with two chairs, a table, and a wooden bedstead, for which no charges are made; but any damage done by the passengers to the apartments or furniture is to be made good by them before pratique.

III

Passengers are not to be permitted to enter other apartments; nor can they be allowed to receive visitors, except at the parlatorio of the lazaretto, and that only during office-hours; nor are they to trespass the limits assigned to them by the captain of the lazaretto.

IV

Passengers must pay a strict attention to all the instructions they may receive from the captain of the lazaretto and from the health guardians, and particularly in every point that regards their baggage, clothes, &c., being properly aired and handled during the period of their quarantine; and their quarantine will only commence to reckon from the day on which all their baggage, clothes, &c., have been duly opened and handled.

V

All letters and parcels, or other effects brought by passengers, must be given up, in order that they may be fumigated or depurated separately from them, as the occasion may require.

VI

All cases of sickness must be reported immediately to the cap tain of the lazaretto, and all persons sick are to be visited immediately by the physician to the lazaretto, after which official visit, passengers are at liberty to avail themselves of any medical attendance they think proper.

VII

Passengers are to pay the Government fee for the guardians employed to attend them, for the number of days of their quarantine, at the following rates, viz.: – at 1s. 3d. per day for the guardian who attends one passenger, and at 2s. 6d. per day for each guardian who attends more than one passenger. They are to victual the guardian or guardians during their quarantine, or to pay to each guardian an allowance of 7d. per day in lieu thereof. It is to be clearly understood that the guardians are employed solely for quarantine purposes, and they are strictly prohibited to interfere in any other service whilst they attend passengers.

VIII

The office hours at the lazaretto are from 8 A.M. to 12, and from 2 P.M. to 5 daily; and all letters sent to the fumigating-room before 9 A.M. daily, will be delivered in Valetta at 10, and those sent before 3 will be delivered in Valetta at 4 P.M. by the letter messenger, who is entitled to receive from the passengers a penny for each note, parcel, or letter, as a remuneration for his trouble and boat-hire.

IX

A daily report of all circumstances is to be made by the captain of the lazaretto to the superintendent of quarantine and marine police.

N.B. A trattoria has been established at the lazaretto for the convenience of passengers who wish to avail themselves of it, from whence they can be supplied with dinners, wines, &c., &c., in their own apartments.

Beds complete and other articles of furniture, if required, can also be hired from a person appointed to provide them.

A note of charges for the trattoria, and for the hire of furniture, will be furnished to the passengers, on their applying for it.

Of the manner in which the time may be passed in a lazaretto, the following graphic sketch by Mr. Stocqueler, which appeared some time since in the "Asiatic Journal," will convey no imperfect idea: —

"Upwards of 140 passengers left Alexandria in the Oriental, at the end of May, for some fifty had joined it from Bombay; amongst the latter were several heroes of Meanee and Hyderabad – fine young soldiers, who were covered with honourable scars received in the desperate engagements between Sir C. Napier and the Belochees. Never, perhaps, was a vessel freighted with so many who had distinguished themselves in conflict with the enemies of their country. Not less than twenty-six officers, who had seen service in Afghanistan, China and Scinde, paced the deck every day, and described the scenes which their own prowess and that of their comrades had, for the previous three or four years, rendered memorable in the history of British India. But of this large number of homeward-bound passengers, only three (one having two ladies in his family), quitted the Oriental at Malta. Those who wished to prosecute the rest of their journey by land had either failed to make the necessary provision,11or shuddered at the prospect of twenty days' imprisonment in the lazaretto. Moreover, they flattered themselves with the belief, that they would be enabled to make the tour of the Continent when they had exhausted the various pleasures of glorious England. And so they steamed away to Southampton, leaving the few above alluded to – the writer of this among them – in the lazaretto, under suspicion of the crime of being afflicted with the plague.

"Meanwhile, let me assure the traveller from India, that even a three weeks' incarceration in the Malta lazaretto is not intolerable, if, which is generally the case with the imprisoned, he is lucky enough to have one or two pleasant and intelligent companions. I have before me, at this moment, a memorandum, written after twelve days' of captivity, and, as it may serve to re-assure future prisoners, by conveying some idea of the scenes, impressions, and occupations which diversify existence in the durance they are compelled to support, I here transcribe it: —

"'Let me survey my prison, and its agrémens. I am lodged in two commodious apartments, overlooking the quarantine bay. I look out of the southern window of my verandah, and have the waters of the Mediterranean forty feet only below me. Opposite, at the distance of about 300 yards, and divided from me by these waters and the quarantine harbour, are the ramparts of the fortifications, surmounted by windmills, flag-staves, and a small Roman Catholic chapel. To the right is the termination of the bay, where a dozen of Greek, Austrian, and English brigs and barques lie in quarantine, sufficiently near to allow me to observe the operations on board. Behind all these, a little more to the south-eastward, is part of the suburbs of La Valetta, the evening promenade, gardens, hills, &c. To my left, is the entrance to the bay, overlooked on one side by part of the city of La Valetta, and on the other side by Fort Manvel, now used as a part of the lazaretto. This view greets me whenever I stand in the verandah, a recreation to which one is often tempted by the clearness, coolness, and crispness of the air, the beauty of the sky, and the rich blue of the water. Well, this of itself is something. Then, for moving sights, we have occasionally the arrival or departure of a steamer from Alexandria, or Greece, or the coast of Spain; of vessels from Tripoli, and Smyrna, and Syra; of speronaros from Sicily or the Italian coast; or we see a vessel released from quarantine, working her way out of the harbour. Early in the morning, four times in the week, the bell of the little chapel, on the summit of a rock opposite the lazaretto, tolls to prayers. The chapel is not more than twenty feet in breadth, and the same in depth. The altar occupies the back or southern side, and exactly faces us. The bell ceases, the priest dons his canonicals, and the matin mass commences, the responses being audibly chanted or muttered by the crews of Maltese and Italian vessels, who are either quartered in apartments beneath us, or employed on board the vessels. The door of the chapel closes, and the work or pastime of the day commences.

"'Ha! there's a splash! – a sailor in quarantine has stripped himself, and plunged into the water beneath his prison-door. Another and another follow him! How admirably they swim! the ease of the water-fowl, and the rapidity of the fish. See! one of them dives! How long he remains under water! Will he drown? – will he not be suffocated? not a bit of it; he rises to the surface, bearing in his hands some of the black, starry, thorny members of the crustaceous tribe. He has a knife in his right hand, which I did not observe before, and which he evidently took with him to dislodge the fish from their location in the rocky depths. Splash! and the strong swimmer is again twenty feet below the surface. Again, he rises – and again descends – and behold! he has accumulated a perfect breakfast of shell-fish! Meanwhile, the others breast the waves, diving, floating, playing, and rejoicing in all the muscular strength which the noble, healthful, and refreshing science calls into action. Well, a walk will do no harm – the verandah is sixty paces long, and forty or fifty turns will give one an appetite for breakfast. A. and B. have abun dance of conversation for the promenade, and when we have exhausted the pleasures of memory, we can turn to the pleasures of hope, and debate the possibility of an abatement of the quarantine or, at any rate, discuss the respective advantages and pleasures of going to Syra, to Naples, or Marseilles. We are tired now, and it is time to dress. Breakfast is ready – can anything be more satisfactory, or anything more tempting and wholesome? There are coffee and tea, and three times as many rolls as we can eat! The eggs are as large as the finest production of the English barn-door hen, and boiled to the exact point – half a minute less, and the albumen would not have coagulated; half a minute more, and they would have been as hard as a stone. And there's a delicious dish of strawberries, brought only yesterday from the coast of Sicily, and plucked but an hour before their embarkation! And flowers too: —

'The captive soothers of a captive's hours

"'Carlo, best of servitors, knows my penchant, and decks the table with the rose, the pink, the carnation, and the fragrant thyme.

"'Breakfast over, Mr. Cassolani is announced. He is the captain of the lazaretto; a courteous, intelligent old gentleman, of very correct notions and kind disposition. He is come to give us a list of the passengers who have just arrived at Marseilles, and to ask us to subscribe a trifle for a poor widow, whose husband, a guardiano of the lazaretto, died of apoplexy the day of our arrival. We have dropped our mites for the widow's benefit, and Cassolani condescends to pick them up, though he will not receive them from our hands. This painfully reminds us that we are prisoners on the suspicion of the crime of plague —gens suspects. People 'in pratique,' as freedom from the lazaretto is called, will 'walk with us, talk with us, buy with us, sell with us – but they will not eat with us, drink with us,' nor pollute themselves by touching our persons or our clothes. Cassolani carries a stick, to keep us at a respectful distance, and there is a soldier of the 42nd Highlanders on the opposite ramparts, prepared to send a bullet through us, if we attempt to go abroad until we are fairly cleansed of the foul imputation.

"'Cassolani departs, and S. and I go to chess. From chess we fly to books. It is three o'clock, and dinner is announced. For economy and society's sake, we have made a table d'hôte, and the whole party dine together. It is true that B. looks suspiciously at one dish, and C. distrusts another; but, nevertheless, the whole style of the thing is good and clean, comprising the English and French modes de cuisine as well as could be desired. There is, for example, soup à la Julienne, and a dish of mackerel; roast beef à l'Anglais (the beef comes to Malta from Tunis, and, after serving quarantine, is fattened for the table); a fricandeau of sweetbread in a well-flavoured sauce; a stewed breast of mutton, mashed potatoes, a maccaroni, peas or French beans, or artichokes, an apricot tart, cheese, and a salad. Oranges, cherries, and strawberries compose our dessert, and we drink a pint of Marsala. What more would a man have?

"'The sun declines, and the Maltese world emerges from its confinement. The telescopes now come into play, and we direct our views to the part of the town where the sempstresses congregate, and gaze out of the balcony windows, to catch the evening breeze, or anything else that may be passing. The fall of night brings with it tea and candles, and then books, draughts, chess, and – to bed!'

"Of the other agrémens of the lazaretto there remains nothing to notice, if I except the numerous boats which are continually coming and going across the harbour, often laden with females, who, in their black mantillas, with sparkling black eyes, and hair à la Madonna, resemble Spanish women.

"The expense of living in the Malta lazaretto is about eleven shillings per diem, as thus: —

"This can be increased, if necessary, by a more abundant dinner, tea, or coffee in the evening, spirituous liquors, and a greater quantity of furniture; but it cannot be diminished. Washing costs about one shilling per dozen pieces, and sevenpence per diem for the diet of the blanchisseuse, who must come into the lazaretto to perform her functions. A capital circulating library keeps the incarcerated well supplied with books (at one penny per volume per day), and Galignani's Messenger, and the Maltese papers can also be had on application to Mr. Mure's establishment."

Emerging from the lazaretto, the traveller is recommended to pass a few days in inspecting the town and the surrounding country (vide page 11), and then to repack his luggage, dispatching such as he may not require on his homeward trip direct from Malta, consigned to the care of his agent in London, with instructions as to the disposal of the same.

Those travellers who prefer visiting France viâ Marseilles, will find the lazaretto there, comparatively speaking, a sort of purgatory. We subjoin the regulations as published by the French authorities: —

WITH UNCLEAN BILL OF HEALTH

Art. 1. French Post-office Packets. – 19 days after debarking effects and passengers.