Part 12 (1/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LXIV

The Great Sphinx, Showing the Temple Underneath. This is the Best View of the Face, Which Has a Certain Majesty. The Lion's Figure is Sixty-six Feet High and One Hundred and Eighty-seven Feet Long]

APPENDIX

HINTS FOR TRAVELERS

SOME SUGGESTIONS THAT MAY SAVE THE TOURIST TIME AND MONEY

For a round-the-world trip the best plan is to buy a Cook's ticket for six hundred and thirty-nine dollars and ten cents. This provides transportation from any place in the United States around the world to the starting point. The advantage of a Cook's ticket over the tickets of other companies is that this firm has the best organized force, with large offices in the big cities and with banks as agencies in hundreds of places where you may cash its money orders. This is a great convenience as it saves the risk of carrying considerable sums of money in lands where thievery is a fine art. Cook's agents may be found on arrival by boat or train in all the princ.i.p.al cities of a world-tour.

These men invariably speak English well, and thus they are a G.o.d-send when the tourist knows nothing of the language or the customs of a strange country. At the offices of Cook and Son in all the large Oriental cities one may get accurate information about boats and trains and may purchase tickets for side excursions. Some of the Oriental offices I found careless in the handling of mail because of the employment of native clerks, but this was not general. Cook will furnish guides for the leading Oriental tours and in India and Egypt these are absolutely necessary, as without them life is made a burden by the demands of carriage drivers, hotel servants and beggars. Cook will furnish good guides for j.a.pan, but it is unsafe to select natives unless you have a guarantee that they know the places usually visited and that they speak intelligible English. The p.r.o.nunciation of j.a.panese differs so vitally from that of English that many j.a.panese who understand and write English well make a hopeless jumble of words when they attempt to speak it. Their failure to open their mouths or to give emphasis to words renders it extremely difficult to understand them. Good foreign hotels may be found in all the j.a.panese cities and even those managed by j.a.panese are conducted in European style. It is a pity that the hotels are not modeled on the j.a.panese style, like the Kanaya Hotel at Nikko, where the furniture and the decorations of the rooms are essentially j.a.panese and very artistic. The average charge for room and board in j.a.panese hotels of the first cla.s.s is four dollars, but some of the more pretentious places demand from five to six dollars a day.

The cost of travel in India is not heavy because of the moderate scale of prices. Hotels usually charge ten rupees a day for board and lodging or about three dollars a day. Carriage hire is cheap, especially if you have a party of four to fill one carriage. A Victoria, holding four people, may be had morning and afternoon for twenty rupees, or an average of about one dollar and seventy-five cents a day each. Railway travel is absurdly cheap. Our party traveled second-cla.s.s from Calcutta to Delhi, thence to Bombay, Madras and Tuticorin, a distance of about thirty-five hundred miles--farther than from New York to San Francisco--for one hundred and forty rupees or about forty-five dollars in American money. The first-cla.s.s fare was nearly twice this amount, but no additional comfort would have been secured. We made the trip at low cost because a bargain was always made with hotelkeepers and carriage drivers. Always make a definite bargain or you will be overcharged. A native guide is necessary not only to show you the places of interest but to arrange for carriages and to pay tips to servants.

Secure a Mohammedan guide and you may rest content that you will not be cheated. His antipathy to the Hindoo will prevent any collusion with servants. A good guide may be had for two rupees a day or about sixty-five cents, and he will board himself.

Murray's Guide books for j.a.pan, China, the Straits Settlements and India are the most useful. These give the best routes and describe all the princ.i.p.al objects of interest. Without such a guide-book, one is helpless, as the professional guides frequently omit important things which should be seen. It is needless to look for conscientiousness or honesty in the Orient. You will not find them.

To avoid trouble when hiring carriage or jinrikisha, make a definite bargain by the hour or by the trip. This you may do through the hotel porter. Then, on your return, if the driver or the rickshaw-man demands more, refer the matter to the porter, and refuse to pay more than your bargain. If you do not take these precautions you will be involved in constant trouble and will be persistently charged twice what you should pay. Even with these precautions, you cannot escape trouble in Singapore, which is cursed with the greediest carriage drivers in the world.

Many travelers purchase Cook's hotel coupons which provide for lodging and meals at certain hotels in every large city of the Orient. My experience is that it is a mistake to buy these coupons, as all the hotel managers speak English or have hall porters who understand the language. You gain little by the arrangement, and you lose the choice of good rooms, as hotel managers are not partial to tourists who carry coupons, since the profit on these is small.

In Egypt, Cook's tours, which are arranged to suit all tastes, are the most convenient. The best plan is to go up the Nile by train and to come down by boat. Do not neglect the ride down the river. It consumes more time but it is the only way in which you can get an idea of the charm of the scenery, the primitive life of the people, and the beauty of sunrise and sunset over the desert.

Above all things, arrange your itinerary carefully before you start.

Here is where Cook's agent can help you materially, but you must not rely upon his advice in regard to steams.h.i.+p lines. He will recommend the P. & O. boats, as they are British, but practically every tourist who has made the trip will say that the North German Lloyd steamers give the best service. Engage your state-room several months in advance and pay a deposit, so as to get a receipt for the best berth in a certain room.

Unless you do this, you will have trouble and will probably be forced to sleep in an inside room on hot tropical nights. Get a room on star-board or port-side, according to the prevailing wind. To be on the windward side means comfort and coolness at night. As soon as possible after boarding a vessel see the bath steward and select an hour for your morning bath. Should you neglect this, you will be forced to rise very early or to bathe at night. If you wish certain table companions see the head steward promptly. If you travel on a P. & O. boat, engage an electric fan at the Company's office, as there is a rule that you can't hire a fan after you are on board. The North German Lloyd furnishes fans, which are a necessity in the tropics.

There is a regular tariff for tips on most of the Oriental steams.h.i.+p lines, graded according to the length of the voyage. You can always ascertain what to give to your waiter, room steward, bath steward, boot black and deck steward. These tips are always given on the last day of the voyage. American tourists are criminally lavish in giving tips, with the result that one who adheres to the rules of old travelers, is apt to be regarded as n.i.g.g.ardly. It is to be noted that the richest travelers always conform to the regular schedule of tips.

In all parts of the Orient it is unsafe to drink the water of the country. If you do not relish bottled waters, demand tea; at any rate make sure that the water you drink has been boiled. I found hot tea an excellent drink even in the tropics and I was never troubled with the complaints that follow drinking unboiled water. It is well to make liberal use of the curries and rice which are excellent everywhere.

These, with fish, eggs and fruit, formed the staple of my diet. Never eat melons nor salads made of green vegetables; the native methods of fertilizing the soil are fatal to the wholesomeness of such things.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS WHICH HELP ONE TO UNDERSTAND THE ORIENT AND ITS PEOPLE

In this bibliography no attempt has been made to cover the field of books about the leading countries of the Orient. The aim has been to mention the books which the tourist will find most helpful. Guide books are indispensable, but they give the imagination no stimulus. It is a positive help to read one or two good descriptive accounts of any country before visiting it; in this way one gets an idea of comparative values. In these notes I have mentioned only the books that are familiar to me and which I have found suggestive.

j.a.pAN