LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

272/372

254 TO EUROPE AND AMERICA AGAIN. churches of European style; these are Catholic. Numbers of natives crowded about us, showing us rec­ommendations in English and Japanese, and saying, •• Other people tell lies, but me tell no lies." They were like flies in midsummer, shameless and bold; they have no sel£-respect and are downright beggars. At the market were many fruits unknown to me; the oranges are not so good as ours. I wished to ask many questions, but we were surrounded by so many shameless beggars and found ourselves amid such bad smells that, after buying some fruit, we cleared out. May 5th. vY e are opposite the island of Soko­tra, which is seventy-one miles long. It is an Eng­lish possession, inhabited by a few Arabian fishermen, and has a few valleys where vegetables can be grown. May 7th. Quite early in the morning we reached Aden, but on account of the quarantine were obliged to remain on the steamer. The town is built on the barren hills; not a single tree in sight. In the after­noon we passed the Gate of Tears and saw the wrecks of six steamers lying not far apart. May 13th. Suez is yet a miserable place. There are few respectable houses, the rest being low Arabian mud houses without windows or tiles. Some of them are not over seven feet high, the roofs flat or like bee­hives, covered with hay and rubbish to prevent leak­age. The railway system is bad. There is no head manager. Near Alexandria our conductor and engi­neer had a terrible quarrel. Everything was in con­fusion. Time is nothing to these Egyptians. May 17th. Arrived in Brindisi and took the train for Naples. The fields .are in a high state of cultiva­tion. Miles and miles of grape-vines and olive-trees. The farmhouses neat and picturesque. The stations

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