Wednesday, February 9th, 1898, Bombay, India

Watson’s Esplanade Hotel, Bombay, Wednesday Feb’y 9/98.

This page commences a second diary. I jotted a few lines anent[1] my arrival on the closing page of the first book. After tiffin,[2] 1 p.m. on Sunday, Mr. Gordon & I had a walk, pointing out interesting buildings & incidents by the way, & at night I went to the Scotch Kirk,[3] 6 p.m., not 5 minutes from the hotel, a square structure with a fine spire, all doors & windows open & punkhas going all the while. Wasn’t I surprised when a fellow passenger, the Revd. T. Scott, chaplain Bengal establishment, ascended the pulpit & conducted the service: Scottish hymnal used, text Rev. 5-9. After the sermon, communion, to which I stayed, the resident minister presiding (Revd. Mackay). There was a very good attendance, a few soldiers amongst them. I afterwards saw & spoke to Mr. Scott.

On Monday morning we were up by 7 (Mr. Gordon lives in this hotel & his room is next but one to mine) & out for a walk. This is the fashionable hour for morning exercise & the “Row” is close by. I see it out of my balcony. Cycle riding is a rage here & the roads are conducive. Children (European) with native nurses are there in great numbers. It is moderately cool before 8, breakfast is at 9 to 9:30 – bath after coming in, which is very necessary. After accompanying Mr. G to his office, 10 o’clock, [2:4] I loitered leisurely about sight seeing &c., & during the afternoon rested. After 5 we had a drive through the military quarters to Colaba Point, strongly fortified & a great depót for troops, with apparently every facility for both education & recreation. Just before 5 I had paid a visit to Mr. Plinston, spending only 10 minutes with him, during which he begged me to spend the most of the following day with him, & accordingly the next morning, by agreement, he was at my hotel door at 7 with a carriage & pair, 2 men on the box, & we had a solid 2 hours’ drive to Malabar Hill. Here the Residency is situated & the residences of many wealthy Parsees.[4] Then I was to go to his office, “Bombay Gazette”, at 1:30 to have tiffin with him. During the interval, a most peculiar incident cropped up. Just at 10, as Mr. G. & I were leaving the hotel, a letter was put into my hand addressed A.T. Whitehead Esq.[5] I opened it & found it was from Jeff MacCallum, saying he had seen me driving during the morning with a gentleman & he had an idea Albi was here with me (this was diplomacy) & as soon as “Albi” had read the letter, would he go to the Back Bay swimming bath. I took a gharry & set off, & there he was, the most wretched destitute, blistered-faced creature you could possibly imagine. [2:5] I had anticipated the position & sure enough was right: I said, “Jeff what are you doing here”. “Well sir, I ran away from the ship”. An AB[6] had held out some gold mining prospects & induced him to bolt. Of course, as soon as the man, Barker he called him, got through his rupees then Jeff discovered he had been hoodwinked & distress began. Came of[f] in his uniform, had it to sell, & what covered him wasn’t worth a 1/-. He was very penitent. Couldn’t imagine the foolishness that had prompted him to give way to the idle fellow’s persuasions, however, he had been here in Bombay over 3 weeks, utterly destitute, sleeping on the shore where I found him, his face all broken out & his body too. I got him into the gharry & drove him to the YMCA, got him a breakfast, saw the secretary, & then I off with him to the shipping master at the B. of Trade offices & got him to agree to send him to the sailors’ home & undertake to get him back to the Andorinha at Calcutta. I told him I would look after him till he got away & would write the Captain, which I did, & telegraphed Albion telling him Jeff was here. I went after 4 to sailors’ home & found him quite snug. Saw the overseer as well. I went this morning at 10 & found him in a nice white suit which some officer had given him. There are many in the home [2:6] just now as the British India[7] officers are all out on strike. Jeff, however, was quite cheery & hopeful to soon be back at Calcutta. I reproved him & expressed my surprise that he, a sharp cockney[8] lad, should have been victimized by a half caste sailor. He had no fault to find with the ship beyond the usual grumbling but he said he could put up with all that & but for this character he would have stood by the ship. He had only told Smart, the Cornish youth, that he meant bolting but he was sure he would not tell the Captain anything about it. Jeff had a long letter written to his brother to see if he could send him any help but no money to stamp it. I told him to tear it up as it was useless now. Besides, the less he told them about his position at home the better. This Wed. morning, while at the home, I photo’d him in the white suit & told him to change into the suit I found him in & snapped him in it, but this I ought to have done when I found him but was too much concerned & forgot it. He had been trying to get on to the Plague Staff[9] but I told him it was a mercy he didn’t as in this low & poor condition he would have become a victim. The rest of this incident I will detail to you when at home.

[2:7]

Well, to return to the day’s itinerary, my forenoon was, of course, a blank so far as sight seeing went. I arrived at 1:30 at the Bombay Gazette office & was glad to see Mr. Gordon there. Mr. Plinston had, during the morning, sent him an invite. We had tiffin at his club, a very splendid resort, & remained chatting about W. H’pool till nearly 4. At 5 I had to meet him & we had a drive around. Visited a hospital, a patient who is a great friend was there, then we went to a grand concert at 6 in Town Hall. Lord & Lady Sandhurst was [sic] there (the Governor of the Presidency) & this concert under Lady S’s patronage. She accompanied them on the piano. It was a stylish affair, out at 7:15. Governor drove away in style (bodyguard) then we retired to Mr. P‘s hotel (Great Western) & had dinner, closing a long day, & I was ready for rest. I left at 9:30. This Wed. morning, Mr. G & I had a gharry at 7:15 & visited the native town, where we saw a plague staff, about 20 soldiers searching for victims, & crowds looking on. Several gangs go about all day. The relatives endeavour to secret them but when found are at once removed to isolated spaces, [2:8] segregation camps these are called. Oh, what a calamity. This plague is quite paralyzing Bombay. It’s common hourly to see victims being conveyed away & as common to see the corpse carried to the burning ghat.[10] I’ve twice passed the place & first time looked within & saw all going on. It never ceases night & day all the year round, & the illustration[s] we’ve seen are perfectly correct: piles of burning wood & the corpse laid on top & fired, & the ashes carried to the shore, just a few minutes from the ghat. On returning to hotel, bath then breakfast, & after that I went over to the sailors’ home as I have already said. It has been a most exceptional day in Bombay: very strong wind & an unpleasant dust, besides a partial clouded sky, & tonight it did threaten rain. This at the period of year is almost unknown. The deaths recorded for the past 24 hours exceed the previous record: some 351, & 180 odd stricken. None recover so there’s a nucleus for tomorrow. I have spent most of the day indoors but at 5, Mr. G. & I went for a 2 hours’ drive through the native plague-stricken city, & during our drive we [2:9] passed 4 corpses being carried to the burning ghat. We finished at the bandstand, a very fashionable resort. Numbers of carriages stop during their drive on Esplanade to hear the music. Well now, about Bombay, I am very much impressed, & favourably. It’s certainly a beautiful city. The European part is handsome in architecture: beautiful wide roads, and well regulated traffic considering the kind of vehicular traffic. Bullock carts by the hundred, very good hacking[11], gharrys, beside various other modes of conveying goods, men servants in abundance & private carriages equal to our style with richly dressed attendants, 2 on box & 2 standing behind.[12] The principal buildings I have seen, & they convey to my mind a master hand in architecture. The station is rich indeed & well deserves all the praise I’ve read of it. I have the feeling that wealth here is abundant, only labour is very, very cheap. Then the streets have gardens & beautiful avenues of banyan & palm trees, most lovely some parts are, & enclosures beautifully laid out & huge trees within where fine shelter from the sun may be found, seats provided & fountains playing at evening.

[2:10]

The natives are mostly poor in physic [sic] tho’ very active. They crowd their quarters, very peculiar architecture, variable in style & apparently constructed without any restrictions. Sanitation is bad, very, & smells are abominable, & speaking of the plague, every here & there on house fronts is an O indicating where victims have been found. Then the shop keeping fashion, open front, just dens, & the shop man squatted down, does all his business so, & even in the well worth seeing Crawford Market they squat, all but naked, the butcher sitting amongst the meat, certainly not desirable sight, & such meat: leg of mutton 2 to 3 lbs & poor, poor stuff. Every conceivable article is to be had in the market: birds, monkeys, goats, poultry. In fact it must be seen to be realised. Beautiful fruit & vegetables: these I was interested in, & at certain spots C&Bs & others English preparation, H&Ps biscuits, Swiss milk, Quaker Oats &c. &c. Fish of its kind, this did not interest me beyond disgust. You’ve no idea of the variety & rubbish. This morning we were there at the time when chefs, & ladies too, Parsees & others, were buying for the day, all have coolies with them who carry a round basket on their head & as each item is purchased it is thrown into the basket, & passes onto the next place where other variety is on sale, but these [2:11] sales men & women, it’s enough to turn the stomach to see them handle the food, but the buyers seem to take all as a matter of course.

The harbour is very pretty & a very fashionable resort after evening drive just to rest the horses & get a sea whiff is the Apollo Bunder or “Gate of India”. We went there on our gharry on Monday evening & there were many scores & all top fashion. They get out & walk about, a band plays & all beautifully lighted up. Pity there is no twilight here so that they might enjoy a cool evening. I have taken a few snap shots here & there. I visited a Mahomedan mosque this morning when in the native city & had, of course, to take my shoes off. I thought little of it but fancy it is poor compared with what I expect to see up country. Every here & there are little temples of no importance but tonight we were in a district where we saw some Bhuddist temples, quite different in structure to the Muss[u]lman style.

Now, about my movements: it is my intention to leave here on Sunday night & may reach Calcutta about the end of month. I can’t take a boy from here as they won’t admit them up country, so I must wait till I get to Delhi. I shall have to be examined at the quarantine station a few miles out of Bombay.

I expect Roberts of Liverpool have neglected [2:12] notifying you of “Andorinha”’s arrival, seeing she was at Calcutta on 12^th & I should have known before I left home. I asked Albi to write here. Jeff said he had done so but I’ve not got a letter & have enquired both at Apollo & post office, however he will be writing after having received my wire sent yesterday. It’s 3 days’ post. Unfortunately the post had left here last Saturday & we, as you would see in the papers, arrived on the Sunday, so this can’t leave here till Saturday again. I hope to get my letters & papers from home next Sunday before I leave. It is now 8:33 & your time is 3:44, & it is a very stormy night.

[1] Archaic word meaning “about” or “concerning”.

[2] A light midday meal or snack.

[3] Scottish Church

[5] Albion Tate Whitehead.

[6] Able-bodied seaman.

[7] British Indian Steam Navigation Company

[8] A native of London and especially of the East End of London.

[9] Bubonic Plague, affected Bombay from 1896

[10] In the Indian subcontinent, a place on a river bank with steps down to the water, especially one where people bathe as a sacred rite or one near which the dead are cremated.

[11] Riding

[12] Inserted on facing page: “Some, more wealthy, have two native runners (servants) who run before the horses. Each carries a whisp, & they shout to clear the road.”

Photo Credit: 1896 Published: Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only license CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/