Foreign Parts
Naples, Italy

Foreign Parts.

On Tour from New South Wales.

[By H. Rieck.]

Naples, 12th March, 1899.

Although we have arrived in old Europe, I have here, so as not to cause interruptions in my articles, to give a retrospective glance back to Asia, and in view of the extremely low price of labour of the Indian coolie (as mentioned in my last article on tea cultivation in Ceylon) repeat here again that we Australian farmers and planters should not lose time and money in endeavouring to grow at a profit rice, tea, coffee, cocoa, cotton, vanilla, and similar tropical articles; only in a special personal or decorative whim for local exhibitions. It is rather tempting to try to grow such articles, which are unsuitable to our soil and climate, as it lays in human nature to desire things we cannot get. But this human desire to get scarce and strange things is met by the cheap and easy trade and traffic of our times over land and sea. Let us, therefore, rejoice in Australia, and pay for such articles which far away zones produce with the abundance which nature allows us to create in our blessed and free Australian colonies.

The Nordd. L. s.s. Bremen, by which we made the voyage from Sydney to Colombo, took, according to official reports in my hands, the following goods in Australian ports for Germany, via Genoa, Antwerp, and Bremerhaven: 15,208 dumped woolbales, 700 bales sheepskins, 600 tons ingots of lead, 480 tons ingots of ore (both for smelting works in Germany for the extraction of silver), 3500 hardwood planks for street paving, 1600 bullock hides, 1000 cases of gum, and 1400 cases of merchandise. The Company at present only sends a vessel once a month to Australian ports. The Bremen’s registered tonnage is 10,500, she has engines of 8000 h.p., steams an average of 15 miles an hour, and carries a crew of 200 men. On her last trip to Australia she carried 400 passengers from English, German and other ports; but on the present home journey, as she arrives at mid-winter, there were only 230 passengers on board. There are at German shipbuilding yards at present in course of construction six new fast-going mail steamers the size of the Bremen, and as the demand for Australian wool is increasing so fast in German factories, the management of Lloyd in Bremen contemplates the introduction of a fortnightly mail service to Australia instead of a monthly service.

During my visit to the Island of Ceylon 12 years ago (as then described in these columns) only a few small steamers called at the harbour of Colombo, which then made a comparatively primitive impression on the visitor. The buildings too—although very picturesque, and from the ethnological standpoint very interesting—were in a miserable condition. But at present there are always men-of-war and gigantic merchant ships of many nations at anchor in the bay, the latter discharging and loading enormous and constantly increasing cargoes of merchandise and products of all descriptions. The price of town lands in Fort Colombo, Pettah, Maradana, and other parts has risen enormously, and instead of miserable clay-built palm-covered hovels, gigantic dwellings and warehouses rivalling the “sky scrapers” of New York meet the eye, and elegant and comfortable country seats surround the quiet, cool, freshwater lake from the cinnamon gardens all around Slave Island to the shores of the Indian Ocean, proving very satisfactorily the increasing wealth of the brown population of Ceylon under the humane rule of Queen Victoria.

We viewed this happy progress through enormously increased traffic with very great satisfaction, the more so as we are convinced that the fast increasing world’s trade will also help to advance our Australian colonies. As the price of wool, our staple product, was, through the opposition of Argentine wool, so hard pressed during late years, it is hoped the increased demand of Continental European factories will soon raise the price to the old standard. The trial shipments of Australian timbers for wood paving are also sure to bring our N.S. Wales timber merchants an increase in prices.

On leaving Ceylon we went on board a sister ship to the Bremen, the Koningen Louise, of exactly the same size and pattern. The latter had quite a full load of Australian wool, ore, hardwood, etc., and a very large number of passengers, as the time of her arrival falls in the warm part of the season.

I will now let my “better half” take up the narrative:—

We left Colombo on 17th February in the Koningen Louise, which we liked better than the Bremen, the food being superior and the lady passengers more companionable. We stayed at Aden a few hours but not long enough to go ashore; neither did it look very inviting. There is never any rain at Aden, and we were told that immense tanks were built there 2000 years ago for the mountain waters. As we neared Aden a stork settled on our awning; probably it had missed its mates or lost its way. A sailor nearly caught it. After resting about five minutes it flew off, but fell into the sea close by, and was drowned. The bumboats at Aden brought oysters at 2d per dozen; also dates, but no other fruit, as nothing grows there. The next stoppage was Suez at the entrance to the canal, which we reached at midnight. A number of passengers remained up to view the scenery by moonlight, but we were not amongst the number. In the morning we were fairly in the canal, which in places is only three chains wide. We stayed at Ismaila a couple of hours, where 65 passengers got on board, travelling from Cairo in Egypt, which has become, since the visit of the German Emperor, a fashionable country. A lady friend left us here to go to Cairo, also some old soldiers, etc., from Australia, who will go further to the English troops in the Soudan to get Government offices or other employment, which they could not get in Australia according to their tastes. Ismaila is gaining in population every day, as the railway goes from thence to Cairo. It was interesting to see the Arabs with camels, and several of these with a number of hungry dogs came along to see if they could get anything, but they soon left. A fearful wind storm came on in the canal, blowing the steamer out of the course, and the captain ordered her to be tied up to the shore until the wind dropped. After about 3 hours delay orders came to take the steamer on to the next station, as two other steamers were waiting to pass. So we moved up another stage, and then tied up again till early morning, and in two hours reached Port Said. There are many stations along the canal, where the Company’s officers regulate the traffic, mostly by means of signals. Port Said is a well built town, with better shops than in many Australian towns. The European portion is clean, but the Arabian part is very dirty. Here eggs, dates, figs, and oranges are cheap and good. The canal ends in a breakwater built of concrete squares running into the Mediterranean Sea. In Port Said we were mostly interested in the Mohammedan pilgrims on the way to Mecca. There were sturdy men from Turkestan, Kurds, Tartars, Circassians, Athenians, Bulgarians, Afghans, etc., and all were wonderfully dressed, mostly in warm sheepskins. We visited the Turkish Mosque, and they gave us slippers to glide over the carpet to the altar, but there was not much to see. Living is not cheap at Port Said, as everything has to be imported. Here we lost many passengers bound for Jerusalem, Syria, and Cairo; but many others also came on board. Directly we went into the Red Sea we encountered heavy weather, which made all the ladies seasick. On the morning of the 4th March we were roused by cries of “land, land,” and we turned out in the darkness and cold to view it. The mountains towered high and majestic on the Island of Sicily, and the mainland of Italy (Calabria) as we passed through the Straits of Messina. Rounding the “toe of the boot” (Italy) the snow-crowned Mount Etna came in sight, and as the sun rose and showed it clad in its mantle of white, I, who had never seen a particle of snow in my life before, was awed with wonder and delight. We saw also the beautiful towns of Callarid and Messina, and an Australian lady by my side said to me “Can all these people be black and build such mansions?” When we laughed at such a question she said she had seen none but black people since leaving Australia, so she thought the Italians must also be black. We soon came to the Island of Stromboli, where eruptions have lately occurred, destroying many houses. We saw dark places down the sides of the mountain where lava had lately been streaming. It is quite a small mountain island, with a town at its base, and the view was very fine—Mount Stramboli in the foreground and the snow-clad Mount Etna in the distance, with the blue sea stretching far out—that I had to get my pencil and try and sketch it to keep the view in my memory. We strained our eyes for hours, till all faded away in the distance. Later in the day, as we neared our destination, Naples and the Island of Capri came in sight, towering straight up thousands of feet, with a large town on its heights. It had to be wondered and admired. We had to watch both sides of our steamer, and in the setting sun we did not know which to admire most, the islands of and around Capri or the lovely Bay of Naples, surrounded by its castles, towns, and mansions, nestling in the mountains, and Mount Vesuvius, frost covered by a white cloud, but volumes of smoke puffing out at intervals. Later on, as daylight faded into night, this volcano was brilliantly lit up on one side and also at the top, and put me in mind of our bush fires on the Flinders Range, near Laura, S.A. We left the steamer about 8 o’clock p.m. very sorrowfully, as we had been so very happy and comfortable on the Koningen Louise. God bless the ship and all the kind friends we found on board her.

We had to take an old Italian lady and little daughter under our wing in going ashore, as her friends had not met her as expected; but when she brought up only 16 parcels, not including two bird cages and a little dog, we were almost in despair. As my husband told me we were only allowed two portmanteaus besides our rugs, we sent all our boxes on to Germany; and when I appeared on deck with my small packages, some of the ladies told me their husbands would be delighted to shake hands with me, as they never thought it possible for a lady to travel two or three months on so small an amount of luggage. We got the old lady’s packages on to the tender to go ashore; passed them through Customs; and had them put on a big Italian wheelbarrow and carried to our lodgings, which are in an English Mission House. When we came to pay, the porters wanted £1, and threatened to take the old lady and ourselves before the police if we did not pay. However, after a long palaver, in which of course the tongue of the old Italian lady had to do the greater part of the work, we paid 14 francs for the whole load, to mutual satisfaction.

Soon the relatives of the Italian lady turned up and moved her off, leaving us in possession of a highly agreeable lodging. Twelve years ago my husband resided for some time in Naples, and the little Italian language which he then acquired comes back to his memory, and is of great service. He recognises many places he saw before, and says it appears almost as if he had never left Naples. Instead of “all right,” he now says “va bene,” a sign that he is content, and then I also say “va bene.”

H. and F. F. Rieck.