Sullivan letter diary, 27 October 1915-9 October 1917 / Eugene Sullivan - Page 88
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[Page 88]
Notes: Durban; Transport "Marathon"; Rickshaw natives.
about the town but my word we were glad to get off the boat for a while. We took a run down to Perth by train, and had about an hour there. It is a large town - almost as large as Sydney. As we only had four hours on shore we could not spend much time looking round. The trains amused us a lot. They were very small and slow and bumped and rattled dreadfully.
Our next Port of call was Durban in Natal. This is where we had the best time of all the trip. We were allowed ashore for half a day and had a great time. The "Marathon" was coaled by blacks natives. The most energetic workers I have seen. They run up and down planks leading to the hold with baskets of coal upon their heads. They make the most extraordinary noises all the while. They work all night with only one spell. Their pay is very small the amount I don't exactly remember. The chief interest to us were the Jimrickshaw.
The natives pulling them were done up most gorgeously with a headdress of Horns gaily decorated and most gaudy Tunics. You bet we had several rides in them although they generally charged us exorbitant fares, easily recognising good marks in the Soldiers. I took some snaps of them but unfortunately none of them turned out very well.
I posted some photographs from Capetown which I hope you received. The Durban people were exceedingly kind to us. As soon as we arrived in the town a lady accosted a party of us and invited us to come on to her orchard. Our party of about twenty eagerly accepted the invitation. The orchard consisted of half a dozen orange, and as many mandarin and lemon trees. After gorging ourselves with these we filled some pillowslips with oranges and brought them on board for the patients.