Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/50

 two hours in the shop. So we could not see much of Malta. We saw another church. That too was very beautiful and worth seeing. We had to see the opera house but we had no time to do that. We took leave of the gentleman who gave Mr. Mazmudar his card to his brother in London. On our return, the rogue again met us and came with us at 6 p.m. We reached the coast and paid the rogue, the good interpreter and the carriageman. We had a quarrel about the fare with the boat-man. The result was, of course, in favour of the boatman. Here we were cheated a good deal. The steamer Clyde left at 7 p.m.

After 3 days' voyage we reached Gibraltar at 12 p.m. The ship remained there the whole night. I had a good mind to see Gibraltar, so got up early in the morning and awakened Mazmudar and asked him whether he would come with me to the shore or not. He said he would. Then I went to Mr. Majid and awoke him. We three went to the shore. The time at our disposal was only 1 1/2 hours. It being the dawn of the day all the shops were shut. It is said that Gibraltar being a free port smoking is very cheap. Gibraltar is built upon a rock. On the top is the fortification which to our great sorrow we could not see. The houses are in rows. In order to go from the first row to the second, we are obliged to ascend certain steps. I liked it very much. The construction was beautiful. Roads were paved. Having no time we were soon obliged to return. The ship weighed anchor at 8.30 a.m.

In three days we reached Plymouth at 11 p.m. Now was the proper time for cold. Each and every passenger said that we would die without meat and drink but nothing of the kind happened to us. Indeed it was pretty well cold. We were also told about the storm but could not see the storm. Really I was very anxious to see it but could not. It being night we could see nothing of Plymouth. We had dense fog there. At length the ship left for London. In 24 hours we reached London; left the steamer and reached Victoria Hotel via Tilbury Station on the 27th October, 1888, at 4 p.m.

London
27th October, 1888, Saturday, to 23rd November, Friday

Mr. Mazmudar, Mr. Abdul Majid and I reached the Victoria Hotel. Mr. Abdul Majid told in a dignified air to the porter