days of absolute misery I
arrived at noon, hungry, footsore and unwashed, at a friend's house in
Tientsin and in time to catch the last steamer, which was sailing
that night.

After a hot bath and a good tiffin I retired gratefully to bed, but,
such is the callousness of human nature, only to be routed out at
three o'clock to play in a football match, which, the Fates be
praised, our side lost.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Pe = North. Nan = South. King = Capital City.

CHAPTER VIII

HERE AND THERE

Of the three routes to China:

1. The overland, by rail through Europe and Siberia;

2. The westerly, across the Atlantic, North America and the
Pacific;

3. The easterly, _via_ the Mediterranean, Suez Canal, Red Sea
and Indian Ocean,

the last is perhaps the most interesting and in many ways the most
comfortable, for it is possible to take a magnificent mail steamer at
an English port and remain on board, surrounded by as much comfort and
luxury as is to be found in a first-class hotel, until you land in
either Hongkong or Shanghai.

The finest of these vessels are veritable floating palaces, the
saloons of which are gilded and decorated regardless of expense,
richly carpeted, illuminated with electric light, cooled by electric
fans, and where meals are served which would not demean any restaurant
in London or Paris. Music-room, library, smoking-room and bar,
laundry, barber's shop and delightful marble baths all find place.

On the crack German boats a band plays at frequent intervals, while I
have actually seen cold stoves in some of the cabins, so that when
passing through great heat in the Red Sea or elsewhere you could close
your cabin door, draw up your chair and have a good cool.

I am not sure how these stoves are worked, but believe they are
connected in some way with the refrigerator, which makes ice for use
on board and provides cold storage for meat and fruits, and that a
current of ether or cold air is pumped through them.

In appearance they resemble a French porcelain furnace, abutting on
one side of the cabin, and by means of a regulator you are able to
reduce the temperature almost to freezing point. Although undoubtedly
very pleasant during intense heat, and invaluable for hospital
purposes, I question if they will come into anything like general use,
for it seems to me that instantaneous changes from a temperature of
perhaps one hundred degrees on deck to say six