Following the Equator - Mark Twain (ebook offline reader txt) 📗

Road Again—The Hand-Car—A Thirty-five-mile Slide—The Banyan Tree—A Dramatic Performance—The Railroad Loop—The Half-way House—The Brain Fever Bird—The Coppersmith Bird—Nightingales and Cue Owls


CHAPTER LVII.

India the Most Extraordinary Country on Earth—Nothing Forgotten—The Land of Wonders—Annual Statistics Everywhere about Violence—Tiger vs. Man—A Handsome Fight—Annual Man Killing and Tiger Killing—Other Animals—Snakes—Insurance and Snake Tables—The Cobra Bite—Muzaffurpore—Dinapore—A Train that Stopped for Gossip—Six Hours for Thirty-five Miles—A Rupee to the Engineer—Ninety Miles an Hour—Again to Benares, the Piety Hive—To Lucknow

CHAPTER LVIII.

The Great Mutiny—The Massacre in Cawnpore—Terrible Scenes in Lucknow—The Residency—The Siege

CHAPTER LIX.

A Visit to the Residency—Cawnpore—The Adjutant Bird and the Hindoo Corpse—The Taj Mahal—The True Conception—The Ice Storm—True Gems—Syrian Fountains—An Exaggerated Niagara

CHAPTER LX.

To Lahore—The Governor’s Elephant—Taking a Ride—No Danger from Collision—Rawal Pindi—Back to Delhi—An Orientalized Englishman—Monkeys and the Paint-pot—Monkey Crying over my Note-book—Arrival at Jeypore—In Rajputana—Watching Servants—The Jeypore Hotel—Our Old and New Satan—Satan as a Liar—The Museum—A Street Show—Blocks of Houses—A Religious Procession

CHAPTER LXI.

Methods in American Deaf and Dumb Asylums—Methods in the Public Schools—A Letter from a Youth in Punjab—Highly Educated Service—A Damage to the Country—A Little Book from Calcutta—Writing Poor English—Embarrassed by a Beggar Girl—A Specimen Letter—An Application for Employment—A Calcutta School Examination—Two Samples of Literature

CHAPTER LXII.

Sail from Calcutta to Madras—Thence to Ceylon—Thence for Mauritius—The Indian Ocean—Our Captain’s Peculiarity—The Scot Has one too—The Flying-fish that Went Hunting in the Field—Fined for Smuggling—Lots of Pets on Board—The Color of the Sea—The Most Important Member of Nature’s Family—The Captain’s Story of Cold Weather—Omissions in the Ship’s Library—Washing Decks—Pyjamas on Deck—The Cat’s Toilet—No Interest in the Bulletin—Perfect Rest—The Milky Way and the Magellan Clouds—Mauritius—Port Louis—A Hot Country—Under French Control—A Variety of People and Complexions—Train to Curepipe—A Wonderful Office-holder—The Wooden Peg Ornament—The Prominent Historical Event of Mauritius—“Paul and Virginia”—One of Virginia’s Wedding Gifts—Heaven Copied after Mauritius—Early History of Mauritius—Quarantines—Population of all Kinds—What the World Consists of—Where Russia and Germany are—A Picture of Milan Cathedral—Newspapers—The Language—Best Sugar in the World—Literature of Mauritius

CHAPTER LXIII.

Port Louis—Matches no Good—Good Roads—Death Notices—Why European Nations Rob Each Other—What Immigrants to Mauritius Do—Population—Labor Wages—The Camaron—The Palmiste and other Eatables—Monkeys—The Cyclone of 1892—Mauritius a Sunday Landscape

CHAPTER LXIV.

The Steamer “Arundel Castle”—Poor Beds in Ships—The Beds in Noah’s Ark—Getting a Rest in Europe—Ship in Sight—Mozambique Channel—The Engineer and the Band—Thackeray’s “Madagascar”—Africanders Going Home—Singing on the After Deck—An Out-of-Place Story—Dynamite Explosion in Johannesburg—Entering Delagoa Bay—Ashore—A Hot Winter—Small Town—No Sights—No Carriages—Working Women—Barnum’s Purchase of Shakespeare’s Birthplace, Jumbo, and the Nelson Monument—Arrival at Durban

CHAPTER LXV.

Royal Hotel Durban—Bells that Did not Ring—Early Inquiries for Comforts—Change of Temperature after Sunset—Rickhaws—The Hotel Chameleon—Natives not out after the Bell—Preponderance of Blacks in Natal—Hair Fashions in Natal—Zulus for Police—A Drive round the Berea—The Cactus and other Trees—Religion a Vital Matter—Peculiar Views about Babies—Zulu Kings—A Trappist Monastery—Transvaal Politics—Reasons why the Trouble came About

CHAPTER LXVI.

Jameson over the Border—His Defeat and Capture—Sent to England for Trial—Arrest of Citizens by the Boers—Commuted Sentences—Final Release of all but Two—Interesting Days for a Stranger—Hard to Understand Either Side—What the Reformers Expected to Accomplish—How They Proposed to Do it—Testimonies a Year Later—A “Woman’s Part”—The Truth of the South African Situation—“Jameson’s Ride”—A Poem

CHAPTER LXVII.

Jameson’s Raid—The Reform Committee’s Difficult Task—Possible Plans—Advice that Jameson Ought to Have—The War of 1881 and its Lessons—Statistics of Losses of the Combatants—Jameson’s Battles—Losses on Both Sides—The Military Errors—How the Warfare Should Have Been Carried on to Be Successful

CHAPTER LXVIII.

Judicious Mr. Rhodes—What South Africa Consists of—Johannesburg—The Gold Mines—The Heaven of American Engineers—What the Author Knows about Mining—Description of the Boer—What Should be Expected of Him—What Was A Dizzy Jump for Rhodes—Taxes—Rhodesian Method of Reducing Native Population—Journeying in Cape Colony—The Cars—The Country—The Weather—Tamed Blacks—Familiar Figures in King William’s Town—Boer Dress—Boer Country Life—Sleeping Accommodations—The Reformers in Boer Prison—Torturing a Black Prisoner

CHAPTER LXIX.

An Absorbing Novelty—The Kimberley Diamond Mines—Discovery of Diamonds—The Wronged Stranger—Where the Gems Are—A Judicious Change of Boundary—Modern Machinery and Appliances—Thrilling Excitement in Finding a Diamond—Testing a Diamond—Fences—Deep Mining by Natives in the Compound—Stealing—Reward for the Biggest Diamond—A Fortune in Wine—The Great Diamond—Office of the De Beer Co.—Sorting the Gems—Cape Town—The Most Imposing Man in British Provinces—Various Reasons for his Supremacy—How He Makes Friends

CONCLUSION.

Table Rock—Table Bay—The Castle—Government and Parliament—The Club—Dutch Mansions and their Hospitality—Dr. John Barry and his Doings—On the Ship Norman—Madeira—Arrived in Southampton

FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR