Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
cats and puppy dogs - 'you could see the poor creatures hanging,
skinned, in the butchers' shops.' As for Canton, itself, it was 'a filthy
city, full of a seething, dirty population, where smells and sights of
the most disgusting descriptions meet you at every turn.'
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At Johore the Brasseys were the guests of the maharaja, who
gave a state banquet in their honour and, when they left, showered
them with expensive presents - tropical plants, silk sarongs, ele-
phant tusks and a pet lizard. It was at this point that one of the
crew was discovered to be suffering from smallpox. Tom Brassey
changed course for Malacca, where a British doctor was found who
came to the
Sunbeam
with vaccine for everyone aboard. But some
of the crewmen were reluctant to submit to being treated and, after
long argument, two stubbornly held out, one insisting that he had
made a promise to his grandfather that he would never be vaccin-
ated. The Brasseys could not go ashore in Malacca but this did not
prevent them buying more souvenirs from the throng of sampans
that came alongside. Thus were added to the cargo seven monkeys,
about fifty birds and bundles of malacca canes. (Later in the journ-
al Annie casually referred to several birds and animals dying in their
stuffy, cramped quarters.)
A run in sultry heat across the northern Indian Ocean brought
the party to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) where the Brasseys spent several
days in Kandy and the central uplands, visiting friends and seeing
the sights. Ceylon is one of the most beautiful islands in the world
and as such has always attracted discernmg expatriates who have
settled to grow tea or rubber or simply to live in peace and harmony
with nature (the most celebrated in recent times being Arthur C.
Clarke). In 1877 it had the double attraction for the Brasseys of be-
ing beautiful and ruled by the British. The high point of their stay
was a visit to an army friend at Neuera-ellia who took them to see
the regimental sports, followed by a full-dress ball. The gardens at
that altitude (7,000 ft) were aglow with roses and other English
