LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

192/372

176 FIRST VISI7' TO EUROPE. TO MRS. HARDY. LAT. 30° 6' N., Lo:NG. 158° 25' E. November 21, 1874. Hoping ro meet a homeward mail steamer before we reach Japan, I undertake ro write a few lines to let you know how far we are advancing on this wide ocean. We embarked on the Colorado on the 31st ult. Just an hour before she left San Francisco the steward handed me Mr. Hardy's kind letter for my father. When we sailed out from the Golden Gate the day was remarkably bright, and the sea wonder· fully quiet. we found the breeze so mild and agree­able that we could stay on deck quite late in the even· ing without overcoat. A few days after we left we began to seek for our congenial companions. I found the Sabbath the best time to find or rather read the moral and religious character of the passengers. By combining my observations on the Sabbath and week days I can get an approximate opinion of their chief aim for this life. We have forty·five cabin passengers and 230 steerage. The former consist of eleven dif­ferent nationalities, i.e., American, English, Belgian, French, Austrian, Prussian, Polish, Italian, Irish, Chinese, and Japanese, and the latter chiefly of Chi. nese. There are quite a number of opium smokers among the Chinese, and six of them died since we left San Francisco. Is it not a dreadful thing? It is a great curse to the Chinese. Woe 1mto them who first introduced it to that empire. These opimn smokers are not allowed to smoke anywhere, but are compelled to smoke in a large box, the inside of which is lined with tin, once used for keeping ice in. Those who died were mostly aged men. I saw there a man who has not been out of that box since we left San Fran·

※このページを正しく表示するにはFlashPlayer10.2以上が必要です