January 1st.—The siren was shrieking the whole night. I was in a terrible fright all the time lest a boat should run against us in the dark.
CHAPTER CVII
SHANGHAI
We weighed anchor early in the morning, and soon entered the harbour of Shanghai. A little steamer, belonging to the Russian-Chinese Bank, came to take us on land, and moored opposite the French Consulate. We found the Russian Consul waiting for us in his carriage, in which we drove to the Hôtel des Colonies, where we arrived just in time for tiffin. During the meal a large bouquet of heliotrope, surrounded by white lillies, was sent to me by the director of the Russian-Chinese Bank. In the afternoon the Governor of the town, accompanied by other Chinese authorities, came to congratulate my husband on the occasion of New Year’s Day.
January 2nd.—We took our passage on the Salasie, one of the swiftest boats of the Méssageries Maritimes, bound for Hong-Kong. We leave Shanghai in splendid weather; the sea is beautiful, the sky of an azure blue.
We have about two hundred passengers on board. Every one chooses his company according to one’s taste. I have remarked that people on board ship impart their affairs to utter strangers after a fashion that would seem impossible on land. Soon we all became known to one another.
At six o’clock the gong called us to dinner. I was placed just opposite the captain, an experienced mariner who had sailed for the last twenty-eight years in these parts. After dinner there was music in the saloon. The commissaire, who had a magnificent baritone voice, with looks of anticipated success, cleared his voice and began to sing love ditties. His assistant was induced to exhibit his skill on the mandoline, after which the Attorney-General of Tonkin, a creole, born at the Assumption Islands, sang opera airs, all the soprano, tenor and baritone parts, in his basso profundo voice.
January 3rd.—The Salasie is like a splendid hotel on treacherous waters. After lunch we went over the steamer and admired it greatly. The crew is composed of 180 sailors—Chinamen all of them. At six o’clock in the morning they begin to clean the boat, polishing brass things so beautifully that they can easily be used as mirrors.