But certain formalities have to be complied with before the prospective holiday-maker will be permitted by the Japanese authorities to land at Tsingtao. Two things he must have: one a landing permit; the other a certificate stamped By the local health officials, proving that he has been recently inoculated against cholera, The latter may quite easily be procured through one's own medical adviser or, simpler still, by personal application to the Health Departments of the Councils; while the former demands a visit to the passport bureau of the Japanese Consulate-General in Whangpoo Road. There the necessary form, giving particulars of one's passport, occupation and antecedents must, perforce, be filled in and the inoculation certificate produced. After these simple formalities have been fulfilled the presiding genius at the Consulate politely tells one to return in about one week's time, when the precious landing-permit is usually handed to the applicant without further delay, No charge is made for this indispensable document, Now all that remains to be done is to secure a passage on a north-bound vessel.
I was fortunate in securing a first-class passage on a Japanese vessel at very short notice. It was not until I reached Tsingtao, however, that I realized the full extent of my good fortune. For vessels belonging to Japanese shipping companies are permitted to steam straight into har-hour without the irksome restrictions to which steamships of certain other maritime countries are frequently subjected and which often means a loss of valuable time in coming alongside the wharf. Thus the Tsingtao Maru on which I had taken passage steamed rapidly past the foreign warships anchored off the Strand Beach and carefully picked her way through the narrow opening in the boom which the Chinese hed made by sinking steamships and other craft at the harbour entrance.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.