Part 6 (2/2)
We never observed any visitor actually on board this vessel; indeed, it required a bold inquirer to face those solemn Africans' gaze, as they sat cross-legged on deck, and ate their soup from a universal bowl, or calmly inspired from their chibouques, and blew out a formal and composed puff of the bluest tobacco-smoke. It did, indeed, soon forcibly recall the feelings of Egyptian travel to see these men;-the red fiery sunsets, the palm-trees, and crocodiles, and obelisks, and Indian corn, and, over all, the thrumming, not unmusical sound of the _tarabookrah_-earthen drum-with the wailing melodies in a minor key of the ”Chaldaeans whose cry is in the s.h.i.+ps.” {121}
[Picture: Sunday ride]
So I ventured near in my dingey, and the imperturbable Egyptians were fairly taken by surprise. They soon rallied to a word or two in their language and an Englishman's smile, and rapidly we became friends, and talked of Damascus and Constantinople, and finally decided that ”Englishman bono!” The shape and minute dimensions of my dingey much astonished them; but they probably believed, that in that very craft I had come all the way from London.
The luxury of Paris must have at least some effect in making _gourmands_ of the young generation, even if their fathers did not set the example.
The operation, or rather the solemn function, of breakfast or dinner, is with many Frenchmen the only serious act in life. When people can afford to order a dinner in exact accordance with the lofty standard of excellence meant by its being ”good,” the diner approaches the great proceeding with a staid and watchful air, and we may well leave him now he is involved in such important service. But with the _octroi_ duty for even a single pheasant at two s.h.i.+llings and sixpence, there are many good feeders who cannot afford to ”dine well,” and the fuss they make about their eatables is something preposterous. It is a vice-this systematic gluttony-that seems to be steadily increasing in France for the last twenty years, at least in its public manifestation, and moreover it is an evil somewhat contagious.
One evening, while some of us had dinner at the Terra.s.se in St. Cloud, a family entered the room, and were partly disrobing themselves of bonnets and hats for a regular downright dinner, when the waiter came, and in reply to the order of a ”_friture_” he calmly said they had none.
At this awful news the whole party were struck dumb and pale, and they leant back on their chairs as if in a swoon. The poor waiter prudently retreated for reinforcements, and the landlady herself came in to face the infuriate guests.
”No friture!” said the father. ”No friture, and we come to St. Cloud?”
he muttered deeply in rage. His wife proceeded to make horribly wry faces, whereat Rob Roy irreverently laughed, but he was not observed, for they noticed nothing of the external trifling world. The daughters heaved deep sighs, and then burst into voluble and loud denunciations.
Then the son (who wanted dinner at any rate, and the objurgations might do afterwards) proposed at once to leave the desolate, famine-stricken spot.
But though this was debated warmly, it was not carried. They had already anch.o.r.ed, as it were, and they resolved to dine ”starving,” and to grumble all the time of dinner when no one subject was talked about except the _friture_. It was a miserable spectacle to witness, but confirming the proposition, not at all new, that the French care more about eating than even John Bull.
CHAPTER IX.
Paris Regatta-Absentees-Novelties-New Brunswickers-Steam yachts-Canoe race-Canoe chase-Entangled-M. Forcat-Challenge.
While the voyage in the Rob Roy's dingey on Sunday was such as we have described, it was a busy time a little further down the river at St.
Cloud, being the first day of the Paris Regatta, which continued also on the Monday, and then our British Regatta occupied the next four days.
These two were under separate committees. The British Regatta was managed by experienced oarsmen, and His Royal Highness the Commodore of the Canoe Club was patron-not a merely nominal patron but presiding frequently at the committee meetings held at Marlborough House, and generously contributing to the funds. The Emperor of the French also gave us his name, and prizes to the amount of 1000_l_. were offered in a series of contests open to all the world. In these better days now the rowing world of France could lately count upon the patronage of their distinguished Foreign Minister, M. Waddington, who rowed in the same boat with me at Cambridge-'ages ago.'
But this experiment of holding an international regatta in a foreign country was quite novel, and there were difficulties around it which it is not convenient to detail.
Notwithstanding the hasty predictions of people who could not approve of what was originated and carried out without requiring their advice, the regatta brought together a splendid body of the best oarsmen and canoeists in the world from England, France, and America. Three Champions of England for the first time contended at the same place. The most renowned watermen came from Thames and Tyne and Humber, and eight-oared boats raced for the first time on the Seine. The weather was magnificent, the course was in perfect order, and better than almost any other of equal length near any capital; the arrangements made were the very best that might be contrived under the peculiarly difficult circ.u.mstances which could not be controlled, even by a committee comprising the very best men for the purpose, and zealous in their work; and lastly the racing itself, for spirit and for speed, and for that exciting interest which is caused by equal excellence sustained during well-contested struggles, was never surpa.s.sed.
But this grand exhibition of water athletics was not seen by more than a few hundreds of persons, so that ”Tribunes,” richly draped, and with streamers flying above, and seats below for 1000 visitors, often had not three people there at a time.
The French oarsmen must have been absent at some ”better” place, and of the French public you might see more of them a.s.sembled on the roadside round a dancing dog. The Emperor could not come-perhaps Bismarck would not let him, and as the Prince of Wales had to be in his proper place as the representative of England, receiving the Sultan in London, this important duty prevented His Royal Highness from enjoying the pleasure he might well have counted upon after the trouble he had taken in connection with the British Regatta in Paris.
But after stating this disappointment bluntly, it will be remembered by all who were at St. Cloud, that there was a great deal of real amus.e.m.e.nt, as well as of hard work, and the whole had a strange novelty both in its charms and its troubles.
For crews in ”hard training” to sit down to _bifteck_, and Medoc, omelette, and _haricots verts_, with strawberries and cream, and bad French jabbered round, was certainly a novelty. To see a group of London watermen, addressed in unknown tongues, but perfectly self-possessed, visiting the Exhibition in the morning and rowing a race in the afternoon, was new; and to observe the complete bewilderment of soldiers and police at the whole proceedings, which came upon them of course with surprise in a country where no one reads the papers for an advertis.e.m.e.nt, except about a new play, or an infallible pill-all this was very amusing to those who could listen and look on.
The English rowing-men soon made themselves as comfortable as they could in their new quarters, and suffered patiently the disagreeables of French lodgings. They repaired their boats, often broken by the transit from London, and behaved with good humour in proportion to their good sense.
Even the grumblers were satisfied, because they were provided with a new set of grievances; and so things pa.s.sed off better than was expected by those who knew the real circ.u.mstances of the venture. It was the first regatta of the kind, and doubtless it will be the last.
No particular description of the various races for eight-oars, four-oars, pair-oars, and sculling, by watermen and amateurs, would be interesting to general readers; but a few notable lessons were there to be learned, which will probably not be disregarded.
An interesting feature was added to the occasion by the arrival of four men, who came from New Brunswick, to row at this regatta. They had no c.o.xswain to steer them, as every other boat had, but the rudder was worked by strings leading to one of the rowers' feet.
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