第2巻第3章 中国(承前)
友人の中国人たちは,私たちを二日間,西湖(Western Lake)を見学するために,杭州(中国東部の海港)に連れて行ってくれた(松下注:Routledge 版では,Western Lane と誤植)。最初の日は船で,二目目は人力車(多分,「洋車(ヤンチョ)」のこと/右写真:一人乗りのヤンチョ)で西湖を一周した。驚くほど美しいところであり,イタリアさえもしのぐ,古代文明の美を有していた。そこから私たちは南京に行き,南京から船で漢口(Hankow)に行った。長江(揚子江)上の日々は,ヴォルガ河での身の毛のよだつ日々と同じ強さで(ただし正反対の)楽しいものであった。漢口から長沙(Changsha)に行った。そこではある教育会議が開かれていた。その教育会議の関係者は,私たちが長沙に一週間滞在し,私が毎日講演することを希望したが,私たちは,二人とも疲れはてていて,休息のチャンスを得たいと願っていたので,はやく北京に戻ることを熱望した。そこで,湖南省の省長が,個人的に,武昌(Wuchang)への全行程に特別列車を仕立てることも含め,考えつくあらゆる誘引物を提供してくれたにもかかわらず,私は24時間(丸1日)以上滞在することを断わった。 けれども,長沙の人々の好意を無にしないよう私のベストを尽くすために,その24時間の間に,講演を4回,晩餐後のスピーチを2回,午餐のあとのスピーチを1回行なった。長沙には近代的なホテルがなかった。そこで,たいへん親切にも,宣教師たちが私たちを泊めることを申し出てくれたが,しかし彼らは,ドーラはある宣教師グループと,また私は他の宣教師グループと一緒に泊るということを明確にした。(注:結婚していないものを同宿させられないということだと思われる。)それで私たちは,彼らのその招待を断わるのが一番いいと考え,中国の現地ホテルに泊った。そのホテルでの経験はかならずしも楽しいものではなかった。南京虫の大群が夜通しベットをつたって歩いたのである。 |
Our time in Shanghai was spent in seeing endless people, Europeans, Americans, Japanese, and Korean, as well as Chinese. In general the various people who came to see us were not on speaking terms with each other; for instance, there could be no social relations between the Japanese and the Korean Christians who had been exiled for bomb-throwing. (In Korea at that a time a Christian was practically synonymous with a bomb-thrower.) So we had to put our guests at separate tables in the public room, and move round from table to table throughout the day. We had also to attend enormous banquet, at which various Chinese made after dinner speeches in the best English style, with exactly the type of joke which is demanded of such an occasion. It was our first experience of the Chinese, and we were somewhat surpised by their wit and fluency. I had not realised until then that a civilised Chinese is the most civilised person in the world. Sun Yat-sen invited me to dinner, but to my lasting regret the evening he suggested was after my departure, and I had to refuse. Shortly after this he went to Canton to inaugurate the nationalist movement which afterwards conquered the whole country, and as I was unable to go to Canton, I never met him. Our Chinese friends took us for two days to Hangchow to see the Western Lake. The first day we went round it by boat, and the second day in chairs. It was marvellously beautiful, with the beauty of ancient civilisation, surpassing even that of Italy. From there we went to Nanking, and from Nanking by boat to Hankow. The days on the Yangtse were as delightful as the days on the Volga had been horrible. From Hankow we went to Changsha, where an educational conference was in progress. They wished us to stay there for a week, and give addresses every day, but we were both exhausted and anxious for a chance to rest, which made us eager to reach Peking. So we refused to stay more than twenty-four hours, in spite of the fact that the Governor of Hunan in person held out every imaginable inducement, including a special train in all the way to Wuchang. However, in order to do my best to conciliate the people of Changsha, I gave four lectures, two after-dinner speeches, and an after-lunch speech, during the twenty-four hours. Changsha was a place without modern hotels, and the missionaries very kindly offered to put us up, but they made it clear that Dora was to stay with one set of missionaries, and I with another. We therefore thought it best to decline their invitation, and stayed at a Chinese hotel. The experience was not altogether pleasant. Armies of bugs walked across the bed all through the night. |