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diff --git a/old/eothn10h.htm b/old/eothn10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a535dd6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/eothn10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8652 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> +<title>Eothen</title> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">Eothen, by A. W. Kinglake</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Eothen, by A. W. Kinglake + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Eothen + +Author: A. W. Kinglake + +Release Date: June, 1995 [EBook #282] +[This file was first posted on August 3, 1995] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII +</pre> +<p> +<a name="startoftext"></a> +Transcribed from the 1898 George Newnes edition by David Price, email +ccx074@coventry.ac.uk<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +EOTHEN - A. W. KINGSLAKE<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER I - OVER THE BORDER<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +At Semlin I still was encompassed by the scenes and the sounds of familiar +life; the din of a busy world still vexed and cheered me; the unveiled +faces of women still shone in the light of day. Yet, whenever +I chose to look southward, I saw the Ottoman’s fortress - austere, +and darkly impending high over the vale of the Danube - historic Belgrade. +I had come, as it were, to the end of this wheel-going Europe, and now +my eyes would see the splendour and havoc of the East.<br> +<br> +The two frontier towns are less than a cannon-shot distant, and yet +their people hold no communion. The Hungarian on the north, and +the Turk and Servian on the southern side of the Save are as much asunder +as though there were fifty broad provinces that lay in the path between +them. Of the men that bustled around me in the streets of Semlin +there was not, perhaps, one who had ever gone down to look upon the +stranger race dwelling under the walls of that opposite castle. +It is the plague, and the dread of the plague, that divide the one people +from the other. All coming and going stands forbidden by the terrors +of the yellow flag. If you dare to break the laws of the quarantine, +you will be tried with military haste; the court will scream out your +sentence to you from a tribunal some fifty yards off; the priest, instead +of gently whispering to you the sweet hopes of religion, will console +you at duelling distance; and after that you will find yourself carefully +shot, and carelessly buried in the ground of the lazaretto.<br> +<br> +When all was in order for our departure we walked down to the precincts +of the quarantine establishment, and here awaited us a “compromised” +<a name="citation1"></a><a href="#footnote1">{1}</a> officer of the +Austrian Government, who lives in a state of perpetual excommunication. +The boats, with their “compromised” rowers, were also in +readiness.<br> +<br> +After coming in contact with any creature or thing belonging to the +Ottoman Empire it would be impossible for us to return to the Austrian +territory without undergoing an imprisonment of fourteen days in the +odious lazaretto. We felt, therefore, that before we committed +ourselves it was important to take care that none of the arrangements +necessary for the journey had been forgotten; and in our anxiety to +avoid such a misfortune, we managed the work of departure from Semlin +with nearly as much solemnity as if we had been departing this life. +Some obliging persons, from whom we had received civilities during our +short stay in the place, came down to say their farewell at the river’s +side; and now, as we stood with them at the distance of three or four +yards from the “compromised” officer, they asked if we were +perfectly certain that we had wound up all our affairs in Christendom, +and whether we had no parting requests to make. We repeated the +caution to our servants, and took anxious thought lest by any possibility +we might be cut off from some cherished object of affection:- were they +quite sure that nothing had been forgotten - that there was no fragrant +dressing-case with its gold-compelling letters of credit from which +we might be parting for ever? - No; all our treasures lay safely stowed +in the boat, and we were ready to follow them to the ends of the earth. +Now, therefore, we shook hands with our Semlin friends, who immediately +retreated for three or four paces, so as to leave us in the centre of +a space between them and the “compromised” officer. +The latter then advanced, and asking once more if we had done with the +civilised world, held forth his hand. I met it with mine, and +there was an end to Christendom for many a day to come.<br> +<br> +We soon neared the southern bank of the river, but no sounds came down +from the blank walls above, and there was no living thing that we could +yet see, except one great hovering bird of the vulture race, flying +low, and intent, and wheeling round and round over the pest-accursed +city.<br> +<br> +But presently there issued from the postern a group of human beings +- beings with immortal souls, and possibly some reasoning faculties; +but to me the grand point was this, that they had real, substantial, +and incontrovertible turbans. They made for the point towards +which we were steering, and when at last I sprang upon the shore, I +heard, and saw myself now first surrounded by men of Asiatic blood. +I have since ridden through the land of the Osmanlees, from the Servian +border to the Golden Horn - from the Gulf of Satalieh to the tomb of +Achilles; but never have I seen such ultra-Turkish looking fellows as +those who received me on the banks of the Save. They were men +in the humblest order of life, having come to meet our boat in the hope +of earning something by carrying our luggage up to the city; but poor +though they were, it was plain that they were Turks of the proud old +school, and had not yet forgotten the fierce, careless bearing of their +once victorious race.<br> +<br> +Though the province of Servia generally has obtained a kind of independence, +yet Belgrade, as being a place of strength on the frontier, is still +garrisoned by Turkish troops under the command of a Pasha. Whether +the fellows who now surrounded us were soldiers, or peaceful inhabitants, +I did not understand: they wore the old Turkish costume; vests and jackets +of many and brilliant colours, divided from the loose petticoat-trousers +by heavy volumes of shawl, so thickly folded around their waists as +to give the meagre wearers something of the dignity of true corpulence. +This cincture enclosed a whole bundle of weapons; no man bore less than +one brace of immensely long pistols, and a yataghan (or cutlass), with +a dagger or two of various shapes and sizes; most of these arms were +inlaid with silver, and highly burnished, so that they contrasted shiningly +with the decayed grandeur of the garments to which they were attached +(this carefulness of his arms is a point of honour with the Osmanlee, +who never allows his bright yataghan to suffer from his own adversity); +then the long drooping mustachios, and the ample folds of the once white +turbans, that lowered over the piercing eyes, and the haggard features +of the men, gave them an air of gloomy pride, and that appearance of +trying to be disdainful under difficulties, which I have since seen +so often in those of the Ottoman people who live, and remember old times; +they seemed as if they were thinking that they would have been more +usefully, more honourably, and more piously employed in cutting our +throats than in carrying our portmanteaus. The faithful Steel +(Methley’s Yorkshire servant) stood aghast for a moment at the +sight of his master’s luggage upon the shoulders of these warlike +porters, and when at last we began to move up he could scarcely avoid +turning round to cast one affectionate look towards Christendom, but +quickly again he marched on with steps of a man, not frightened exactly, +but sternly prepared for death, or the Koran, or even for plural wives.<br> +<br> +The Moslem quarter of a city is lonely and desolate. You go up +and down, and on over shelving and hillocky paths through the narrow +lanes walled in by blank, windowless dwellings; you come out upon an +open space strewed with the black ruins that some late fire has left; +you pass by a mountain of castaway things, the rubbish of centuries, +and on it you see numbers of big, wolf-like dogs lying torpid under +the sun, with limbs outstretched to the full, as if they were dead; +storks, or cranes, sitting fearless upon the low roofs, look gravely +down upon you; the still air that you breathe is loaded with the scent +of citron, and pomegranate rinds scorched by the sun, or (as you approach +the bazaar) with the dry, dead perfume of strange spices. You +long for some signs of life, and tread the ground more heavily, as though +you would wake the sleepers with the heel of your boot; but the foot +falls noiseless upon the crumbling soil of an Eastern city, and silence +follows you still. Again and again you meet turbans, and faces +of men, but they have nothing for you - no welcome - no wonder - no +wrath - no scorn - they look upon you as we do upon a December’s +fall of snow - as a “seasonable,” unaccountable, uncomfortable +work of God, that may have been sent for some good purpose, to be revealed +hereafter.<br> +<br> +Some people had come down to meet us with an invitation from the Pasha, +and we wound our way up to the castle. At the gates there were +groups of soldiers, some smoking, and some lying flat like corpses upon +the cool stones. We went through courts, ascended steps, passed +along a corridor, and walked into an airy, whitewashed room, with an +European clock at one end of it, and Moostapha Pasha at the other; the +fine, old, bearded potentate looked very like Jove - like Jove, too, +in the midst of his clouds, for the silvery fumes of the <i>narghile</i> +<a name="citation2"></a><a href="#footnote2">{2}</a> hung lightly circling +round him.<br> +<br> +The Pasha received us with the smooth, kind, gentle manner that belongs +to well-bred Osmanlees; then he lightly clapped his hands, and instantly +the sound filled all the lower end of the room with slaves; a syllable +dropped from his lips which bowed all heads, and conjured away the attendants +like ghosts (their coming and their going was thus swift and quiet, +because their feet were bare, and they passed through no door, but only +by the yielding folds of a purder). Soon the coffee-bearers appeared, +every man carrying separately his tiny cup in a small metal stand; and +presently to each of us there came a pipe-bearer, who first rested the +bowl of the <i>tchibouque</i> at a measured distance on the floor, and +then, on this axis, wheeled round the long cheery stick, and gracefully +presented it on half-bended knee; already the well-kindled fire was +glowing secure in the bowl, and so, when I pressed the amber up to mine, +there was no coyness to conquer; the willing fume came up, and answered +my slightest sigh, and followed softly every breath inspired, till it +touched me with some faint sense and understanding of Asiatic contentment.<br> +<br> +Asiatic contentment! Yet scarcely, perhaps, one hour before I +had been wanting my bill, and ringing for waiters, in a shrill and busy +hotel.<br> +<br> +In the Ottoman dominions there is scarcely any hereditary influence +except that which belongs to the family of the Sultan, and wealth, too, +is a highly volatile blessing, not easily transmitted to the descendant +of the owner. From these causes it results that the people standing +in the place of nobles and gentry are official personages, and though +many (indeed the greater number) of these potentates are humbly born +and bred, you will seldom, I think, find them wanting in that polished +smoothness of manner, and those well-undulating tones which belong to +the best Osmanlees. The truth is, that most of the men in authority +have risen from their humble station by the arts of the courtier, and +they preserve in their high estate those gentle powers of fascination +to which they owe their success. Yet unless you can contrive to +learn a little of the language, you will be rather bored by your visits +of ceremony; the intervention of the interpreter, or dragoman as he +is called, is fatal to the spirit of conversation. I think I should +mislead you if I were to attempt to give the substance of any particular +conversation with Orientals. A traveller may write and say that +“the Pasha of So-and-so was particularly interested in the vast +progress which has been made in the application of steam, and appeared +to understand the structure of our machinery - that he remarked upon +the gigantic results of our manufacturing industry - showed that he +possessed considerable knowledge of our Indian affairs, and of the constitution +of the Company, and expressed a lively admiration of the many sterling +qualities for which the people of England are distinguished.” +But the heap of commonplaces thus quietly attributed to the Pasha will +have been founded perhaps on some such talking as this:-<br> +<br> +<i>Pasha</i>. - The Englishman is welcome; most blessed among hours +is this, the hour of his coming.<br> +<br> +<i>Dragoman</i> (to the traveller). - The Pasha pays you his compliments.<br> +<br> +<i>Traveller</i>. - Give him my best compliments in return, and say +I’m delighted to have the honour of seeing him.<br> +<br> +<i>Dragoman</i> (to the Pasha). - His lordship, this Englishman, Lord +of London, Scorner of Ireland, Suppressor of France, has quitted his +governments, and left his enemies to breathe for a moment, and has crossed +the broad waters in strict disguise, with a small but eternally faithful +retinue of followers, in order that he might look upon the bright countenance +of the Pasha among Pashas - the Pasha of the everlasting Pashalik of +Karagholookoldour.<br> +<br> +<i>Traveller</i> (to his dragoman). - What on earth have you been saying +about London? The Pasha will be taking me for a mere cockney. +Have not I told you <i>always</i> to say that I am from a branch of +the family of Mudcombe Park, and that I am to be a magistrate for the +county of Bedfordshire, only I’ve not qualified, and that I should +have been a deputy-lieutenant if it had not been for the extraordinary +conduct of Lord Mountpromise, and that I was a candidate for Goldborough +at the last election, and that I should have won easy if my committee +had not been bought. I wish to Heaven that if you <i>do</i> say +anything about me, you’d tell the simple truth.<br> +<br> +<i>Dragoman</i> [is silent].<br> +<br> +<i>Pasha</i>. - What says the friendly Lord of London? is there aught +that I can grant him within the Pashalik of Karagholookoldour?<br> +<br> +<i>Dragoman</i> (growing, sulky and literal). - This friendly Englishman +- this branch of Mudcombe - this head-purveyor of Goldborough - this +possible policeman of Bedfordshire, is recounting his achievements, +and the number of his titles.<br> +<br> +<i>Pasha</i>. - The end of his honours is more distant than the ends +of the earth, and the catalogue of his glorious deeds is brighter than +the firmament of heaven!<br> +<br> +<i>Dragoman</i> (to the traveller). - The Pasha congratulates your Excellency.<br> +<br> +<i>Traveller</i>. - About Goldborough? The deuce he does! - but +I want to get at his views in relation to the present state of the Ottoman +Empire. Tell him the Houses of Parliament have met, and that there +has been a speech from the throne, pledging England to preserve the +integrity of the Sultan’s dominions.<br> +<br> +<i>Dragoman</i> (to the Pasha). - This branch of Mudcombe, this possible +policeman of Bedfordshire, informs your Highness that in England the +talking houses have met, and that the integrity of the Sultan’s +dominions has been assured for ever and ever by a speech from the velvet +chair.<br> +<br> +<i>Pasha</i>. - Wonderful chair! Wonderful houses! - whirr! whirr! +all by wheels! - whiz! whiz! all by steam! - wonderful chair! wonderful +houses! wonderful people! - whirr! whirr! all by wheels! - whiz! whiz! +all by steam!<br> +<br> +<i>Traveller</i> (to the dragoman). - What does the Pasha mean by that +whizzing? he does not mean to say, does he, that our Government will +ever abandon their pledges to the Sultan?<br> +<br> +<i>Dragoman</i>. - No, your Excellency; but he says the English talk +by wheels, and by steam.<br> +<br> +<i>Traveller</i>. - That’s an exaggeration; but say that the English +really have carried machinery to great perfection; tell the Pasha (he’ll +be struck with that) that whenever we have any disturbances to put down, +even at two or three hundred miles from London, we can send troops by +the thousand to the scene of action in a few hours.<br> +<br> +<i>Dragoman</i> (recovering his temper and freedom of speech). - His +Excellency, this Lord of Mudcombe, observes to your Highness, that whenever +the Irish, or the French, or the Indians rebel against the English, +whole armies of soldiers, and brigades of artillery, are dropped into +a mighty chasm called Euston Square, and in the biting of a cartridge +they arise up again in Manchester, or Dublin, or Paris, or Delhi, and +utterly exterminate the enemies of England from the face of the earth.<br> +<br> +<i>Pasha</i>. - I know it - I know all - the particulars have been faithfully +related to me, and my mind comprehends locomotives. The armies +of the English ride upon the vapours of boiling caldrons, and their +horses are flaming coals! - whirr! whirr! all by wheels! - whiz! whiz! +all by steam!<br> +<br> +<i>Traveller</i> (to his dragoman). - I wish to have the opinion of +an unprejudiced Ottoman gentleman as to the prospects of our English +commerce and manufactures; just ask the Pasha to give me his views on +the subject.<br> +<br> +<i>Pasha</i> (after having received the communication of the dragoman). +- The ships of the English swarm like flies; their printed calicoes +cover the whole earth; and by the side of their swords the blades of +Damascus are blades of grass. All India is but an item in the +ledger-books of the merchants, whose lumber-rooms are filled with ancient +thrones! - whirr! whirr! all by wheels! - whiz! whiz! all by steam.<br> +<br> +<i>Dragoman</i>. - The Pasha compliments the cutlery of England, and +also the East India Company.<br> +<br> +<i>Traveller</i>. - The Pasha’s right about the cutlery (I tried +my scimitar with the common officers’ swords belonging to our +fellows at Malta, and they cut it like the leaf of a novel). Well +(to the dragoman), tell the Pasha I am exceedingly gratified to find +that he entertains such a high opinion of our manufacturing energy, +but I should like him to know, though, that we have got something in +England besides that. These foreigners are always fancying that +we have nothing but ships, and railways, and East India Companies; do +just tell the Pasha that our rural districts deserve his attention, +and that even within the last two hundred years there has been an evident +improvement in the culture of the turnip, and if he does not take any +interest about that, at all events you can explain that we have our +virtues in the country - that we are a truth-telling people, and, like +the Osmanlees, are faithful in the performance of our promises. +Oh! and, by-the-bye, whilst you are about it, you may as well just say +at the end that the British yeoman is still, thank God! the British +yeoman.<br> +<br> +<i>Pasha</i> (after hearing the dragoman). - It is true, it is true: +- through all Feringhistan the English are foremost and best; for the +Russians are drilled swine, and the Germans are sleeping babes, and +the Italians are the servants of songs, and the French are the sons +of newspapers, and the Greeks they are weavers of lies, but the English +and the Osmanlees are brothers together in righteousness; for the Osmanlees +believe in one only God, and cleave to the Koran, and destroy idols, +so do the English worship one God, and abominate graven images, and +tell the truth, and believe in a book, and though they drink the juice +of the grape, yet to say that they worship their prophet as God, or +to say that they are eaters of pork, these are lies - lies born of Greeks, +and nursed by Jews!<br> +<br> +<i>Dragoman</i>. - The Pasha compliments the English.<br> +<br> +<i>Traveller</i> (rising). - Well, I’ve had enough of this. +Tell the Pasha I am greatly obliged to him for his hospitality, and +still more for his kindness in furnishing me with horses, and say that +now I must be off.<br> +<br> +<i>Pasha</i> (after hearing the dragoman, and standing up on his divan). +<a name="citation3"></a><a href="#footnote3">{3}</a> - Proud are the +sires, and blessed are the dams of the horses that shall carry his Excellency +to the end of his prosperous journey. May the saddle beneath him +glide down to the gates of the happy city, like a boat swimming on the +third river of Paradise. May he sleep the sleep of a child, when +his friends are around him; and the while that his enemies are abroad, +may his eyes flame red through the darkness - more red than the eyes +of ten tigers! Farewell!<br> +<br> +<i>Dragoman</i>. - The Pasha wishes your Excellency a pleasant journey.<br> +<br> +So ends the visit.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER II - TURKISH TRAVELLING<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +In two or three hours our party was ready; the servants, the Tatar, +the mounted Suridgees, and the baggage-horses, altogether made up a +strong cavalcade. The accomplished Mysseri, of whom you have heard +me speak so often, and who served me so faithfully throughout my Oriental +journeys, acted as our interpreter, and was, in fact, the brain of our +corps. The Tatar, you know, is a government courier properly employed +in carrying despatches, but also sent with travellers to speed them +on their way, and answer with his head for their safety. The man +whose head was thus pledged for our precious lives was a glorious-looking +fellow, with the regular and handsome cast of countenance which is now +characteristic of the Ottoman race. <a name="citation4"></a><a href="#footnote4">{4}</a> +His features displayed a good deal of serene pride, self-respect, fortitude, +a kind of ingenuous sensuality, and something of instinctive wisdom, +without any sharpness of intellect. He had been a Janissary (as +I afterwards found), and kept up the odd strut of his old corps, which +used to affright the Christians in former times - that rolling gait +so comically pompous, that a close imitation of it, even in the broadest +farce, would be looked upon as a very rough over-acting of the character. +It is occasioned in part by dress and accoutrements. The weighty +bundle of weapons carried upon the chest throws back the body so as +to give it a wonderful portliness, and moreover, the immense masses +of clothes that swathe his limbs force the wearer in walking to swing +himself heavily round from left to right, and from right to left. +In truth, this great edifice of woollen, and cotton, and silk, and silver, +and brass, and steel is not at all fitted for moving on foot; it cannot +even walk without frightfully discomposing its fair proportions; and +as to running - our Tatar ran <i>once</i> (it was in order to pick up +a partridge that Methley had winged with a pistol-shot), and really +the attempt was one of the funniest misdirections of human energy that +wondering man ever saw. But put him in his stirrups, and then +is the Tatar himself again: there he lives at his pleasure, reposing +in the tranquillity of that true home (the home of his ancestors) which +the saddle seems to afford him, and drawing from his pipe the calm pleasures +of his “own fireside,” or else dashing sudden over the earth, +as though for a moment he felt the mouth of a Turcoman steed, and saw +his own Scythian plains lying boundless and open before him.<br> +<br> +It was not till his subordinates had nearly completed their preparations +for their march that our Tatar, “commanding the forces,” +arrived; he came sleek and fresh from the bath (for so is the custom +of the Ottomans when they start upon a journey), and was carefully accoutred +at every point. From his thigh to his throat he was loaded with +arms and other implements of a campaigning life. There is no scarcity +of water along the whole road from Belgrade to Stamboul, but the habits +of our Tatar were formed by his ancestors and not by himself, so he +took good care to see that his leathern water-flask was amply charged +and properly strapped to the saddle, along with his blessed <i>tchibouque</i>. +And now at last he has cursed the Suridgees in all proper figures of +speech, and is ready for a ride of a thousand miles; but before he comforts +his soul in the marble baths of Stamboul he will be another and a lesser +man; his sense of responsibility, his too strict abstemiousness, and +his restless energy, disdainful of sleep, will have worn him down to +a fraction of the sleek Moostapha that now leads out our party from +the gates of Belgrade.<br> +<br> +The Suridgees are the men employed to lead the baggage-horses. +They are most of them gipsies. Their lot is a sad one: they are +the last of the human race, and all the sins of their superiors (including +the horses) can safely be visited on them. But the wretched look +often more picturesque than their betters; and though all the world +despise these poor Suridgees, their tawny skins and their grisly beards +will gain them honourable standing in the foreground of a landscape. +We had a couple of these fellows with us, each leading a baggage-horse, +to the tail of which last another baggage-horse was attached. +There was a world of trouble in persuading the stiff angular portmanteaus +of Europe to adapt themselves to their new condition and sit quietly +on pack-saddles, but all was right at last, and it gladdened my eyes +to see our little troop file off through the winding lanes of the city, +and show down brightly in the plain beneath. The one of our party +that seemed to be most out of keeping with the rest of the scene was +Methley’s Yorkshire servant, who always rode doggedly on in his +pantry jacket, looking out for “gentlemen’s seats.”<br> +<br> +Methley and I had English saddles, but I think we should have done just +as well (I should certainly have seen more of the country) if we had +adopted saddles like that of our Tatar, who towered so loftily over +the scraggy little beast that carried him. In taking thought for +the East, whilst in England, I had made one capital hit which you must +not forget - I had brought with me a pair of common spurs. These +were a great comfort to me throughout my horseback travels, by keeping +up the cheerfulness of the many unhappy nags that I had to bestride; +the angle of the Oriental stirrup is a very poor substitute for spurs.<br> +<br> +The Ottoman horseman, raised by his saddle to a great height above the +humble level of the back that he bestrides, and using an awfully sharp +bit, is able to lift the crest of his nag, and force him into a strangely +fast shuffling walk, the orthodox pace for the journey. My comrade +and I, using English saddles, could not easily keep our beasts up to +this peculiar amble; besides, we thought it a bore to be <i>followed</i> +by our attendants for a thousand miles, and we generally, therefore, +did duty as the rearguard of our “grand army”; we used to +walk our horses till the party in front had got into the distance, and +then retrieve the lost ground by a gallop.<br> +<br> +We had ridden on for some two or three hours; the stir and bustle of +our commencing journey had ceased, the liveliness of our little troop +had worn off with the declining day, and the night closed in as we entered +the great Servian forest. Through this our road was to last for +more than a hundred miles. Endless, and endless now on either +side, the tall oaks closed in their ranks and stood gloomily lowering +over us, as grim as an army of giants with a thousand years’ pay +in arrear. One strived with listening ear to catch some tidings +of that forest world within - some stirring of beasts, some night-bird’s +scream, but all was quite hushed, except the voice of the cicalas that +peopled every bough, and filled the depths of the forest through and +through, with one same hum everlasting - more stifling than very silence.<br> +<br> +At first our way was in darkness, but after a while the moon got up, +and touched the glittering arms and tawny faces of our men with light +so pale and mystic, that the watchful Tatar felt bound to look out for +demons, and take proper means for keeping them off: forthwith he determined +that the duty of frightening away our ghostly enemies (like every other +troublesome work) should fall upon the poor Suridgees, who accordingly +lifted up their voices, and burst upon the dreadful stillness of the +forest with shrieks and dismal howls. These precautions were kept +up incessantly, and were followed by the most complete success, for +not one demon came near us.<br> +<br> +Long before midnight we reached the hamlet in which we were to rest +for the night; it was made up of about a dozen clay huts, standing upon +a small tract of ground hardly won from the forest. The peasants +that lived there spoke a Slavonic dialect, and Mysseri’s knowledge +of the Russian tongue enabled him to talk with them freely. We +took up our quarters in a square room with white walls and an earthen +floor, quite bare of furniture, and utterly void of women. They +told us, however, that these Servian villagers lived in happy abundance, +but that they were careful to conceal their riches, as well as their +wives.<br> +<br> +The burthens unstrapped from the pack-saddles very quickly furnished +our den: a couple of quilts spread upon the floor, with a carpet-bag +at the head of each, became capital sofas - portmanteaus, and hat-boxes, +and writing-cases, and books, and maps, and gleaming arms soon lay strewed +around us in pleasant confusion. Mysseri’s canteen too began +to yield up its treasures, but we relied upon finding some provisions +in the village. At first the natives declared that their hens +were mere old maids and all their cows unmarried, but our Tatar swore +such a grand sonorous oath, and fingered the hilt of his yataghan with +such persuasive touch, that the land soon flowed with milk, and mountains +of eggs arose.<br> +<br> +And soon there was tea before us, with all its unspeakable fragrance, +and as we reclined on the floor, we found that a portmanteau was just +the right height for a table; the duty of candlesticks was ably performed +by a couple of intelligent natives; the rest of the villagers stood +by the open doorway at the lower end of the room, and watched our banqueting +with grave and devout attention.<br> +<br> +The first night of your first campaign (though you be but a mere peaceful +campaigner) is a glorious time in your life. It is so sweet to +find one’s self free from the stale civilisation of Europe! +Oh my dear ally, when first you spread your carpet in the midst of these +Eastern scenes, do think for a moment of those your fellow-creatures, +that dwell in squares, and streets, and even (for such is the fate of +many!) in actual country houses; think of the people that are “presenting +their compliments,” and “requesting the honour,” and +“much regretting,” - of those that are pinioned at dinner-tables; +or stuck up in ballrooms, or cruelly planted in pews - ay, think of +these, and so remembering how many poor devils are living in a state +of utter respectability, you will glory the more in your own delightful +escape.<br> +<br> +I am bound to confess, however, that with all its charms a mud floor +(like a mercenary match) does certainly promote early rising. +Long before daybreak we were up, and had breakfasted; after this there +was nearly a whole tedious hour to endure whilst the horses were laden +by torch-light; but this had an end, and at last we went on once more. +Cloaked, and sombre, at first we made our sullen way through the darkness, +with scarcely one barter of words, but soon the genial morn burst down +from heaven, and stirred the blood so gladly through our veins, that +the very Suridgees, with all their troubles, could now look up for an +instant, and almost seem to believe in the temporary goodness of God.<br> +<br> +The actual movement from one place to another, in Europeanised countries, +is a process so temporary - it occupies, I mean, so small a proportion +of the traveller’s entire time - that his mind remains unsettled, +so long as the wheels are going; he may be alive enough to external +objects of interest, and to the crowding ideas which are often invited +by the excitement of a changing scene, but he is still conscious of +being in a provisional state, and his mind is constantly recurring to +the expected end of his journey; his ordinary ways of thought have been +interrupted, and before any new mental habits can be formed he is quietly +fixed in his hotel. It will be otherwise with you when you journey +in the East. Day after day, perhaps week after week and month +after month, your foot is in the stirrup. To taste the cold breath +of the earliest morn, and to lead, or follow, your bright cavalcade +till sunset through forests and mountain passes, through valleys and +desolate plains, all this becomes your MODE OF LIFE, and you ride, eat, +drink, and curse the mosquitoes as systematically as your friends in +England eat, drink, and sleep. If you are wise, you will not look +upon the long period of time thus occupied in actual movement as the +mere gulf dividing you from the end of your journey, but rather as one +of those rare and plastic seasons of your life from which, perhaps, +in after times you may love to date the moulding of your character - +that is, your very identity. Once feel this, and you will soon +grow happy and contented in your saddle-home. As for me and my +comrade, however, in this part of our journey we often forgot Stamboul, +forgot all the Ottoman Empire, and only remembered old times. +We went back, loitering on the banks of Thames - not grim old Thames +of “after life,” that washes the Parliament Houses, +and drowns despairing girls - but Thames, the “old Eton fellow,” +that wrestled with us in our boyhood till he taught us to be stronger +than he. We bullied Keate, and scoffed at Larrey Miller, and Okes; +we rode along loudly laughing, and talked to the grave Servian forest +as though it were the “Brocas clump.”<br> +<br> +Our pace was commonly very slow, for the baggage-horses served us for +a drag, and kept us to a rate of little more than five miles in the +hour, but now and then, and chiefly at night, a spirit of movement would +suddenly animate the whole party; the baggage-horses would be teased +into a gallop, and when once this was done, there would be such a banging +of portmanteaus, and such convulsions of carpet-bags upon their panting +sides, and the Suridgees would follow them up with such a hurricane +of blows, and screams, and curses, that stopping or relaxing was scarcely +possible; then the rest of us would put our horses into a gallop, and +so all shouting cheerily, would hunt, and drive the sumpter beasts like +a flock of goats, up hill and down dale, right on to the end of their +journey.<br> +<br> +The distances at which we got relays of horses varied greatly; some +were not more than fifteen or twenty miles, but twice, I think, we performed +a whole day’s journey of more than sixty miles with the same beasts.<br> +<br> +When at last we came out from the forest our road lay through scenes +like those of an English park. The green sward unfenced, and left +to the free pasture of cattle, was dotted with groups of stately trees, +and here and there darkened over with larger masses of wood, that seemed +gathered together for bounding the domain, and shutting out some “infernal” +fellow-creature in the shape of a newly made squire; in one or two spots +the hanging copses looked down upon a lawn below with such sheltering +mien, that seeing the like in England you would have been tempted almost +to ask the name of the spend-thrift, or the madman who had dared to +pull down “the old hall.”<br> +<br> +There are few countries less infested by “lions” than the +provinces on this part of your route. You are not called upon +to “drop a tear” over the tomb of “the once +brilliant” anybody, or to pay your “tribute of respect” +to anything dead or alive. There are no Servian or Bulgarian litterateurs +with whom it would be positively disgraceful not to form an acquaintance; +you have no staring, no praising to get through; the only public building +of any interest that lies on the road is of modern date, but is said +to be a good specimen of Oriental architecture; it is of a pyramidical +shape, and is made up of thirty thousand skulls, contributed by the +rebellious Servians in the early part (I believe) of this century: I +am not at all sure of my date, but I fancy it was in the year 1806 that +the first skull was laid. I am ashamed to say that in the darkness +of the early morning we unknowingly went by the neighbourhood of this +triumph of art, and so basely got off from admiring “the simple +grandeur of the architect’s conception,” and “the +exquisite beauty of the fretwork.”<br> +<br> +There being no “lions,” we ought at least to have met with +a few perils, but the only robbers we saw anything of had been long +since dead and gone. The poor fellows had been impaled upon high +poles, and so propped up by the transverse spokes beneath them, that +their skeletons, clothed with some white, wax-like remains of flesh, +still sat up lolling in the sunshine, and listlessly stared without +eyes.<br> +<br> +One day it seemed to me that our path was a little more rugged than +usual, and I found that I was deserving for myself the title of Sabalkansky, +or “Transcender of the Balcan.” The truth is, that, +as a military barrier, the Balcan is a fabulous mountain. Such +seems to be the view of Major Keppell, who looked on it towards the +east with the eye of a soldier, and certainly in the Sophia Pass, which +I followed, there is no narrow defile, and no ascent sufficiently difficult +to stop, or delay for long time, a train of siege artillery.<br> +<br> +Before we reached Adrianople, Methley had been seized with we knew not +what ailment, and when we had taken up our quarters in the city he was +cast to the very earth by sickness. Adrianople enjoyed an English +consul, and I felt sure that, in Eastern phrase, his house would cease +to be his house, and would become the house of my sick comrade. +I should have judged rightly under ordinary circumstances, but the levelling +plague was abroad, and the dread of it had dominion over the consular +mind. So now (whether dying or not, one could hardly tell), upon +a quilt stretched out along the floor, there lay the best hope of an +ancient line, without the material aids to comfort of even the humblest +sort, and (sad to say) without the consolation of a friend, or even +a comrade worth having. I have a notion that tenderness and pity +are affections occasioned in some measure by living within doors; certainly, +at the time I speak of, the open-air life which I have been leading, +or the wayfaring hardships of the journey, had so strangely blunted +me, that I felt intolerant of illness, and looked down upon my companion +as if the poor fellow in falling ill had betrayed a want of spirit. +I entertained too a most absurd idea - an idea that his illness was +partly affected. You see that I have made a confession: this I +hope - that I may always hereafter look charitably upon the hard, savage +acts of peasants, and the cruelties of a “brutal” soldiery. +God knows that I strived to melt myself into common charity, and to +put on a gentleness which I could not feel, but this attempt did not +cheat the keenness of the sufferer; he could not have felt the less +deserted because that I was with him.<br> +<br> +We called to aid a solemn Armenian (I think he was) half soothsayer, +half hakim, or doctor, who, all the while counting his beads, fixed +his eyes steadily upon the patient, and then suddenly dealt him a violent +blow on the chest. Methley bravely dissembled his pain, for he +fancied that the blow was meant to try whether or not the plague were +on him.<br> +<br> +Here was really a sad embarrassment - no bed; nothing to offer the invalid +in the shape of food save a piece of thin, tough, flexible, drab-coloured +cloth, made of flour and mill-stones in equal proportions, and called +by the name of “bread”; then the patient, of course, had +no “confidence in his medical man,” and on the whole, the +best chance of saving my comrade seemed to lie in taking him out of +the reach of his doctor, and bearing him away to the neighbourhood of +some more genial consul. But how was this to be done? Methley +was much too ill to be kept in his saddle, and wheel carriages, as means +of travelling, were unknown. There is, however, such a thing as +an “araba,” a vehicle drawn by oxen, in which the wives +of a rich man are sometimes dragged four or five miles over the grass +by way of recreation. The carriage is rudely framed, but you recognise +in the simple grandeur of its design a likeness to things majestic; +in short, if your carpenter’s son were to make a “Lord Mayor’s +coach” for little Amy, he would build a carriage very much in +the style of a Turkish araba. No one had ever heard of horses +being used for drawing a carriage in this part of the world, but necessity +is the mother of innovation as well as of invention. I was fully +justified, I think, in arguing that there were numerous instances of +horses being used for that purpose in our own country - that the laws +of nature are uniform in their operation over all the world (except +Ireland) - that that which was true in Piccadilly, must be true in Adrianople +- that the matter could not fairly be treated as an ecclesiastical question, +for that the circumstance of Methley’s going on to Stamboul in +an araba drawn by horses, when calmly and dispassionately considered, +would appear to be perfectly consistent with the maintenance of the +Mahometan religion as by law established. Thus poor, dear, patient +Reason would have fought her slow battle against Asiatic prejudice, +and I am convinced that she would have established the possibility (and +perhaps even the propriety) of harnessing horses in a hundred and fifty +years; but in the meantime Mysseri, well seconded by our Tatar, put +a very quick end to the controversy by having the horses put to.<br> +<br> +It was a sore thing for me to see my poor comrade brought to this, for +young though he was, he was a veteran in travel. When scarcely +yet of age he had invaded India from the frontiers of Russia, and that +so swiftly, that measuring by the time of his flight the broad dominions +of the king of kings were shrivelled up to a dukedom and now, poor fellow, +he was to be poked into an araba: like a Georgian girl! He suffered +greatly, for there were no springs for the carriage, and no road for +the wheels; and so the concern jolted on over the open country with +such twists, and jerks, and jumps, as might almost dislocate the supple +tongue of Satan.<br> +<br> +All day the patient kept himself shut up within the lattice-work of +the araba, and I could hardly know how he was faring until the end of +the day’s journey, when I found that he was not worse, and was +buoyed up with the hope of some day reaching Constantinople.<br> +<br> +I was always conning over my maps, and fancied that I knew pretty well +my line, but after Adrianople I had made more southing than I knew for, +and it was with unbelieving wonder, and delight, that I came suddenly +upon the shore of the sea. A little while, and its gentle billows +were flowing beneath the hoofs of my beast, but the hearing of the ripple +was not enough communion, and the seeing of the blue Propontis was not +to know and possess it - I must needs plunge into its depth and quench +my longing love in the palpable waves; and so when old Moostapha (defender +against demons) looked round for his charge, he saw with horror and +dismay that he for whose life his own life stood pledged was possessed +of some devil who had driven him down into the sea - that the rider +and the steed had vanished from earth, and that out among the waves +was the gasping crest of a post-horse, and the ghostly head of the Englishman +moving upon the face of the waters.<br> +<br> +We started very early indeed on the last day of our journey, and from +the moment of being off until we gained the shelter of the imperial +walls we were struggling face to face with an icy storm that swept right +down from the steppes of Tartary, keen, fierce, and steady as a northern +conqueror. Methley’s servant, who was the greatest sufferer, +kept his saddle until we reached Stamboul, but was then found to be +quite benumbed in limbs, and his brain was so much affected, that when +he was lifted from his horse he fell away in a state of unconsciousness, +the first stage of a dangerous fever.<br> +<br> +Our Tatar, worn down by care and toil, and carrying seven heavens full +of water in his manifold jackets and shawls, was a mere weak and vapid +dilution of the sleek Moostapha, who scarce more than one fortnight +before came out like a bridegroom from his chamber to take the command +of our party.<br> +<br> +Mysseri seemed somewhat over-wearied, but he had lost none of his strangely +quiet energy. He wore a grave look, however, for he now had learnt +that the plague was prevailing at Constantinople, and he was fearing +that our two sick men, and the miserable looks of our whole party, might +make us unwelcome at Pera.<br> +<br> +We crossed the Golden Horn in a caïque. As soon as we had +landed, some woebegone looking fellows were got together and laden with +our baggage. Then on we went, dripping, and sloshing, and looking +very like men that had been turned back by the Royal Humane Society +as being incurably drowned. Supporting our sick, we climbed up +shelving steps and threaded many windings, and at last came up into +the main street of Pera, humbly hoping that we might not be judged guilty +of plague, and so be cast back with horror from the doors of the shuddering +Christians.<br> +<br> +Such was the condition of our party, which fifteen days before had filed +away so gaily from the gates of Belgrade. A couple of fevers and +a north-easterly storm had thoroughly spoiled our looks.<br> +<br> +The interest of Mysseri with the house of Giuseppini was too powerful +to be denied, and at once, though not without fear and trembling, we +were admitted as guests.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER III - CONSTANTINOPLE<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Even if we don’t take a part in the chant about “mosques +and minarets,” we can still yield praises to Stamboul. We +can chant about the harbour; we can say, and sing, that nowhere else +does the sea come so home to a city; there are no pebbly shores - no +sand bars - no slimy river-beds - no black canals - no locks nor docks +to divide the very heart of the place from the deep waters. If +being in the noisiest mart of Stamboul you would stroll to the quiet +side of the way amidst those cypresses opposite, you will cross the +fathomless Bosphorus; if you would go from your hotel to the bazaars, +you must go by the bright, blue pathway of the Golden Horn, that can +carry a thousand sail of the line. You are accustomed to the gondolas +that glide among the palaces of St. Mark, but here at Stamboul it is +a 120 gun ship that meets you in the street. Venice strains out +from the steadfast land, and in old times would send forth the chief +of the State to woo and wed the reluctant sea; but the stormy bride +of the Doge is the bowing slave of the Sultan. She comes to his +feet with the treasures of the world - she bears him from palace to +palace - by some unfailing witchcraft she entices the breezes to follow +her <a name="citation5"></a><a href="#footnote5">{5}</a> and fan the +pale cheek of her lord - she lifts his armed navies to the very gates +of his garden - she watches the walls of his <i>serai</i> - she stifles +the intrigues of his ministers - she quiets the scandals of his courts +- she extinguishes his rivals, and hushes his naughty wives all one +by one. So vast are the wonders of the deep!<br> +<br> +All the while that I stayed at Constantinople the plague was prevailing, +but not with any degree of violence. Its presence, however, lent +a mysterious and exciting, though not very pleasant, interest to my +first knowledge of a great Oriental city; it gave tone and colour to +all I saw, and all I felt - a tone and a colour sombre enough, but true, +and well befitting the dreary monuments of past power and splendour. +With all that is most truly Oriental in its character the plague is +associated; it dwells with the faithful in the holiest quarters of their +city. The coats and the hats of Pera are held to be nearly as +innocent of infection as they are ugly in shape and fashion; but the +rich furs and the costly shawls, the broidered slippers and the gold-laden +saddle-cloths, the fragrance of burning aloes and the rich aroma of +patchouli - these are the signs that mark the familiar home of plague. +You go out from your queenly London - the centre of the greatest and +strongest amongst all earthly dominions - you go out thence, and travel +on to the capital of an Eastern Prince, you find but a waning power, +and a faded splendour, that inclines you to laugh and mock; but let +the infernal Angel of Plague be at hand, and he, more mighty than armies, +more terrible than Suleyman in his glory, can restore such pomp and +majesty to the weakness of the Imperial city, that if, <i>when HE is +there</i>, you must still go prying amongst the shades of this dead +empire, at least you will tread the path with seemly reverence and awe.<br> +<br> +It is the firm faith of almost all the Europeans living in the East +that Plague is conveyed by the touch of infected substances, and that +the deadly atoms especially lurk in all kinds of clothes and furs. +It is held safer to breathe the same air with a man sick of the plague, +and even to come in contact with his skin, than to be touched by the +smallest particle of woollen or of thread which may have been within +the reach of possible infection. If this be a right notion, the +spread of the malady must be materially aided by the observance of a +custom prevailing amongst the people of Stamboul. It is this; +when an Osmanlee dies, one of his dresses is cut up, and a small piece +of it is sent to each of his friends as a memorial of the departed - +a fatal present, according to the opinion of the Franks, for it too +often forces the living not merely to remember the dead man, but to +follow and bear him company.<br> +<br> +The Europeans during the prevalence of the plague, if they are forced +to venture into the streets, will carefully avoid the touch of every +human being whom they pass. Their conduct in this respect shows +them strongly in contrast with the “true believers”: the +Moslem stalks on serenely, as though he were under the eye of his God, +and were “equal to either fate”; the Franks go crouching +and slinking from death, and some (those chiefly of French extraction) +will fondly strive to fence out destiny with shining capes of oilskin!<br> +<br> +For some time you may manage by great care to thread your way through +the streets of Stamboul without incurring contact, for the Turks, though +scornful of the terrors felt by the Franks, are generally very courteous +in yielding to that which they hold to be a useless and impious precaution, +and will let you pass safe if they can. It is impossible, however, +that your immunity can last for any length of time if you move about +much through the narrow streets and lanes of a crowded city.<br> +<br> +As for me, I soon got “compromised.” After one day +of rest, the prayers of my hostess began to lose their power of keeping +me from the pestilent side of the Golden Horn. Faithfully promising +to shun the touch of all imaginable substances, however enticing, I +set off very cautiously, and held my way uncompromised till I reached +the water’s edge; but before my caïque was quite ready some +rueful-looking fellows came rapidly shambling down the steps with a +plague-stricken corpse, which they were going to bury amongst the faithful +on the other side of the water. I contrived to be so much in the +way of this brisk funeral, that I was not only touched by the men bearing +the body, but also, I believe, by the foot of the dead man, as it hung +lolling out of the bier. This accident gave me such a strong interest +in denying the soundness of the contagion theory, that I did in fact +deny and repudiate it altogether; and from that time, acting upon my +own convenient view of the matter, I went wherever I chose, without +taking any serious pains to avoid a touch. It seems to me now +very likely that the Europeans are right, and that the plague may be +really conveyed by contagion; but during the whole time of my remaining +in the East, my views on this subject more nearly approached to those +of the fatalists; and so, when afterwards the plague of Egypt came dealing +his blows around me, I was able to live amongst the dying without that +alarm and anxiety which would inevitably have pressed upon my mind if +I had allowed myself to believe that every passing touch was really +a probable death-stroke.<br> +<br> +And perhaps as you make your difficult way through a steep and narrow +alley, shut in between blank walls, and little frequented by passers, +you meet one of those coffin-shaped bundles of white linen that implies +an Ottoman lady. Painfully struggling against the obstacles to +progression interposed by the many folds of her clumsy drapery, by her +big mud-boots, and especially by her two pairs of slippers, she works +her way on full awkwardly enough, but yet there is something of womanly +consciousness in the very labour and effort with which she tugs and +lifts the burthen of her charms. She is closely followed by her +women slaves. Of her very self you see nothing except the dark, +luminous eyes that stare against your face, and the tips of the painted +fingers depending like rose-buds from out of the blank bastions of the +fortress. She turns, and turns again, and carefully glances around +her on all sides, to see that she is safe from the eyes of Mussulmans, +and then suddenly withdrawing the <i>yashmak</i>, <a name="citation6"></a><a href="#footnote6">{6}</a> +she shines upon your heart and soul with all the pomp and might of her +beauty. And this, it is not the light, changeful grace that leaves +you to doubt whether you have fallen in love with a body, or only a +soul; it is the beauty that dwells secure in the perfectness of hard, +downright outlines, and in the glow of generous colour. There +is fire, though, too - high courage and fire enough in the untamed mind, +or spirit, or whatever it is, which drives the breath of pride through +those scarcely parted lips.<br> +<br> +You smile at pretty women - you turn pale before the beauty that is +great enough to have dominion over you. She sees, and exults in +your giddiness; she sees and smiles; then presently, with a sudden movement, +she lays her blushing fingers upon your arm, and cries out, “Yumourdjak!” +(Plague! meaning, “there is a present of the plague for you!”) +This is her notion of a witticism. It is a very old piece of fun, +no doubt - quite an Oriental Joe Miller; but the Turks are fondly attached, +not only to the institutions, but also to the jokes of their ancestors; +so the lady’s silvery laugh rings joyously in your ears, and the +mirth of her women is boisterous and fresh, as though the bright idea +of giving the plague to a Christian had newly lit upon the earth.<br> +<br> +Methley began to rally very soon after we had reached Constantinople; +but there seemed at first to be no chance of his regaining strength +enough for travelling during the winter, and I determined to stay with +my comrade until he had quite recovered; so I bought me a horse, and +a “pipe of tranquillity,” <a name="citation7"></a><a href="#footnote7">{7}</a> +and took a Turkish phrase-master. I troubled myself a great deal +with the Turkish tongue, and gained at last some knowledge of its structure. +It is enriched, perhaps overladen, with Persian and Arabic words, imported +into the language chiefly for the purpose of representing sentiments +and religious dogmas, and terms of art and luxury, entirely unknown +to the Tartar ancestors of the present Osmanlees; but the body and the +spirit of the old tongue are yet alive, and the smooth words of the +shopkeeper at Constantinople can still carry understanding to the ears +of the untamed millions who rove over the plains of Northern Asia. +The structure of the language, especially in its more lengthy sentences, +is very like to the Latin: the subject matters are slowly and patiently +enumerated, without disclosing the purpose of the speaker until he reaches +the end of his sentence, and then at last there comes the clenching +word, which gives a meaning and connection to all that has gone before. +If you listen at all to speaking of this kind your attention, rather +than be suffered to flag, must grow more and more lively as the phrase +marches on.<br> +<br> +The Osmanlees speak well. In countries civilised according to +the European plan the work of trying to persuade tribunals is almost +all performed by a set of men, the great body of whom very seldom do +anything else; but in Turkey this division of labour has never taken +place, and every man is his own advocate. The importance of the +rhetorical art is immense, for a bad speech may endanger the property +of the speaker, as well as the soles of his feet and the free enjoyment +of his throat. So it results that most of the Turks whom one sees +have a lawyer-like habit of speaking connectedly, and at length. +Even the treaties continually going on at the bazaar for the buying +and selling of the merest trifles are carried on by speechifying rather +than by mere colloquies, and the eternal uncertainty as to the market +value of things in constant sale gives room enough for discussion. +The seller is for ever demanding a price immensely beyond that for which +he sells at last, and so occasions unspeakable disgust in many Englishmen, +who cannot see why an honest dealer should ask more for his goods than +he will really take! The truth is, however, that an ordinary tradesman +of Constantinople has no other way of finding out the fair market value +of his property. The difficulty under which he labours is easily +shown by comparing the mechanism of the commercial system in Turkey +with that of our own country. In England, or in any other great +mercantile country, the bulk of the things bought and sold goes through +the hands of a wholesale dealer, and it is he who higgles and bargains +with an entire nation of purchasers by entering into treaty with retail +sellers. The labour of making a few large contracts is sufficient +to give a clue for finding the fair market value of the goods sold throughout +the country; but in Turkey, from the primitive habits of the people, +and partly from the absence of great capital and great credit, the importing +merchant, the warehouseman, the wholesale dealer, the retail dealer, +and the shopman, are all one person. Old Moostapha, or Abdallah, +or Hadgi Mohamed waddles up from the water’s edge with a small +packet of merchandise, which he has bought out of a Greek brigantine, +and when at last he has reached his nook in the bazaar he puts his goods +<i>before</i> the counter, and himself <i>upon</i> it; then laying fire +to his <i>tchibouque</i> he “sits in permanence,” and patiently +waits to obtain “the best price that can be got in an open market.” +This is his fair right as a seller, but he has no means of finding out +what that best price is except by actual experiment. He cannot +know the intensity of the demand, or the abundance of the supply, otherwise +than by the offers which may be made for his little bundle of goods; +so he begins by asking a perfectly hopeless price, and then descends +the ladder until he meets a purchaser, for ever<br> +<br> +<br> +“Striving to attain<br> +By shadowing out the unattainable.”<br> +<br> +<br> +This is the struggle which creates the continual occasion for debate. +The vendor, perceiving that the unfolded merchandise has caught the +eye of a possible purchaser, commences his opening speech. He +covers his bristling broadcloths and his meagre silks with the golden +broidery of Oriental praises, and as he talks, along with the slow and +graceful waving of his arms, he lifts his undulating periods, upholds +and poises them well, till they have gathered their weight and their +strength, and then hurls them bodily forward with grave, momentous swing. +The possible purchaser listens to the whole speech with deep and serious +attention; but when it is over <i>his</i> turn arrives. He elaborately +endeavours to show why he ought not to buy the things at a price twenty +times larger than their value. Bystanders attracted to the debate +take a part in it as independent members; the vendor is heard in reply, +and coming down with his price, furnishes the materials for a new debate. +Sometimes, however, the dealer, if he is a very pious Mussulman, and +sufficiently rich to hold back his ware, will take a more dignified +part, maintaining a kind of judicial gravity, and receiving the applicants +who come to his stall as if they were rather suitors than customers. +He will quietly hear to the end some long speech that concludes with +an offer, and will answer it all with the one monosyllable “Yok,” +which means distinctly “No.”<br> +<br> +I caught one glimpse of the old heathen world. My habits for studying +military subjects had been hardening my heart against poetry; for ever +staring at the flames of battle, I had blinded myself to the lesser +and finer lights that are shed from the imaginations of men. In +my reading at this time I delighted to follow from out of Arabian sands +the feet of the armed believers, and to stand in the broad, manifest +storm-track of Tartar devastation; and thus, though surrounded at Constantinople +by scenes of much interest to the “classical scholar,” I +had cast aside their associations like an old Greek grammar, and turned +my face to the “shining Orient,” forgetful of old Greece +and all the pure wealth she left to this matter-of-fact-ridden world. +But it happened to me one day to mount the high grounds overhanging +the streets of Pera. I sated my eyes with the pomps of the city +and its crowded waters, and then I looked over where Scutari lay half +veiled in her mournful cypresses. I looked yet farther and higher, +and saw in the heavens a silvery cloud that stood fast and still against +the breeze: it was pure and dazzling white, as might be the veil of +Cytherea, yet touched with such fire, as though from beneath the loving +eyes of an immortal were shining through and through. I knew the +bearing, but had enormously misjudged its distance and underrated its +height, and so it was as a sign and a testimony, almost as a call from +the neglected gods, and now I saw and acknowledged the snowy crown of +the Mysian Olympus!<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER IV - THE TROAD<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Methley recovered almost suddenly, and we determined to go through the +Troad together.<br> +<br> +My comrade was a capital Grecian. It is true that his singular +mind so ordered and disposed his classic lore as to impress it with +something of an original and barbarous character - with an almost Gothic +quaintness, more properly belonging to a rich native ballad than to +the poetry of Hellas. There was a certain impropriety in his knowing +so much Greek - an unfitness in the idea of marble fauns, and satyrs, +and even Olympian gods, lugged in under the oaken roof and the painted +light of an odd, old Norman hall. But Methley, abounding in Homer, +really loved him (as I believe) in all truth, without whim or fancy; +moreover, he had a good deal of the practical sagacity<br> +<br> +<br> +“Of a Yorkshireman hippodamoio,”<br> +<br> +<br> +and this enabled him to apply his knowledge with much more tact than +is usually shown by people so learned as he.<br> +<br> +I, too, loved Homer, but not with a scholar’s love. The +most humble and pious among women was yet so proud a mother that she +could teach her firstborn son no Watts’ hymns, no collects for +the day; she could teach him in earliest childhood no less than this, +to find a home in his saddle, and to love old Homer, and all that old +Homer sung. True it is, that the Greek was ingeniously rendered +into English, the English of Pope even, but not even a mesh like that +can screen an earnest child from the fire of Homer’s battles.<br> +<br> +I pored over the <i>Odyssey</i> as over a story-book, hoping and fearing +for the hero whom yet I partly scorned. But the Iliad - line by +line I clasped it to my brain with reverence as well as with love. +As an old woman deeply trustful sits reading her Bible because of the +world to come, so, as though it would fit me for the coming strife of +this temporal world, I read and read the <i>Iliad</i>. Even outwardly, +it was not like other books; it was throned in towering folios. +There was a preface or dissertation printed in type still more majestic +than the rest of the book; this I read, but not till my enthusiasm for +the <i>Iliad</i> had already run high. The writer compiling the +opinions of many men, and chiefly of the ancients, set forth, I know +not how quaintly, that the <i>Iliad</i> was all in all to the human +race - that it was history, poetry, revelation; that the works of men’s +hands were folly and vanity, and would pass away like the dreams of +a child, but that the kingdom of Homer would endure for ever and ever.<br> +<br> +I assented with all my soul. I read, and still read; I came to +know Homer. A learned commentator knows something of the Greeks, +in the same sense as an oil-and-colour man may be said to know something +of painting; but take an untamed child, and leave him alone for twelve +months with any translation of Homer, and he will be nearer by twenty +centuries to the spirit of old Greece; <i>he</i> does not stop in the +ninth year of the siege to admire this or that group of words; <i>he</i> +has no books in his tent, but he shares in vital counsels with the “king +of men,” and knows the inmost souls of the impending gods; how +profanely he exults over the powers divine when they are taught to dread +the prowess of mortals! and most of all, how he rejoices when the God +of War flies howling from the spear of Diomed, and mounts into heaven +for safety! Then the beautiful episode of the Sixth Book: the +way to feel this is not to go casting about, and learning from pastors +and masters how best to admire it. The impatient child is not +grubbing for beauties, but pushing the siege; the women vex him with +their delays, and their talking; the mention of the nurse is personal, +and little sympathy has he for the child that is young enough to be +frightened at the nodding plume of a helmet; but all the while that +he thus chafes at the pausing of the action, the strong vertical light +of Homer’s poetry is blazing so full upon the people and things +of the <i>Iliad</i>, that soon to the eyes of the child they grow familiar +as his mother’s shawl; yet of this great gain he is unconscious, +and on he goes, vengefully thirsting for the best blood of Troy, and +never remitting his fierceness till almost suddenly it is changed for +sorrow - the new and generous sorrow that he learns to feel when the +noblest of all his foes lies sadly dying at the Scaean gate.<br> +<br> +Heroic days are these, but the dark ages of schoolboy life come closing +over them. I suppose it is all right in the end, yet, by Jove, +at first sight it does seem a sad intellectual fall from your mother’s +dressing-room to a buzzing school. You feel so keenly the delights +of early knowledge; you form strange mystic friendships with the mere +names of mountains, and seas, and continents, and mighty rivers; you +learn the ways of the planets, and transcend their narrow limits, and +ask for the end of space; you vex the electric cylinder till it yields +you, for your toy to play with, that subtle fire in which our earth +was forged; you know of the nations that have towered high in the world, +and the lives of the men who have saved whole empires from oblivion. +What more will you ever learn? Yet the dismal change is ordained, +and then, thin meagre Latin (the same for everybody), with small shreds +and patches of Greek, is thrown like a pauper’s pall over all +your early lore. Instead of sweet knowledge, vile, monkish, doggerel +grammars and graduses, dictionaries and lexicons, and horrible odds +and ends of dead languages, are given you for your portion, and down +you fall, from Roman story to a three-inch scrap of “Scriptores +Romani,” - from Greek poetry down, down to the cold rations of +“Poetae Graeci,” cut up by commentators, and served out +by schoolmasters!<br> +<br> +It was not the recollection of school nor college learning, but the +rapturous and earnest reading of my childhood, which made me bend forward +so longingly to the plains of Troy.<br> +<br> +Away from our people and our horses, Methley and I went loitering along +by the willow banks of a stream that crept in quietness through the +low, even plain. There was no stir of weather overhead, no sound +of rural labour, no sign of life in the land; but all the earth was +dead and still, as though it had lain for thrice a thousand years under +the leaden gloom of one unbroken Sabbath.<br> +<br> +Softly and sadly the poor, dumb, patient stream went winding and winding +along through its shifting pathway; in some places its waters were parted, +and then again, lower down, they would meet once more. I could +see that the stream from year to year was finding itself new channels, +and flowed no longer in its ancient track, but I knew that the springs +which fed it were high on Ida - the springs of Simois and Scamander!<br> +<br> +It was coldly and thanklessly, and with vacant, unsatisfied eyes that +I watched the slow coming and the gliding away of the waters. +I tell myself now, as a profane fact, that I did stand by that river +(Methley gathered some seeds from the bushes that grew there), but since +that I am away from his banks, “divine Scamander” has recovered +the proper mystery belonging to him as an unseen deity; a kind of indistinctness, +like that which belongs to far antiquity, has spread itself over my +memory, of the winding stream that I saw with these very eyes. +One’s mind regains in absence that dominion over earthly things +which has been shaken by their rude contact. You force yourself +hardily into the material presence of a mountain, or a river, whose +name belongs to poetry and ancient religion, rather than to the external +world; your feelings wound up and kept ready for some sort of half-expected +rapture are chilled, and borne down for the time under all this load +of real earth and water; but let these once pass out of sight, and then +again the old fanciful notions are restored, and the mere realities +which you have just been looking at are thrown back so far into distance, +that the very event of your intrusion upon such scenes begins to look +dim and uncertain, as though it belonged to mythology.<br> +<br> +It is not over the plain before Troy that the river now flows; its waters +have edged away far towards the north, since the day that “divine +Scamander” (whom the gods call Xanthus) went down to do battle +for Ilion, “with Mars, and Phoebus, and Latona, and Diana glorying +in her arrows, and Venus the lover of smiles.”<br> +<br> +And now, when I was vexed at the migration of Scamander, and the total +loss or absorption of poor dear Simois, how happily Methley reminded +me that Homer himself had warned us of some such changes! The +Greeks in beginning their wall had neglected the hecatombs due to the +gods, and so after the fall of Troy Apollo turned the paths of the rivers +that flow from Ida and sent them flooding over the wall, till all the +beach was smooth and free from the unhallowed works of the Greeks. +It is true I see now, on looking to the passage, that Neptune, when +the work of destruction was done, turned back the rivers to their ancient +ways:<br> +<br> +<br> +“ . . . ποταμους +δ’ ετρεφε νεεσθαι<br> +Καρ’ ροον ηπερ +προσθεν ιεν καλλιρροον +υδωρ,”<br> +<br> +<br> +but their old channels passing through that light pervious soil would +have been lost in the nine days’ flood, and perhaps the god, when +he willed to bring back the rivers to their ancient beds, may have done +his work but ill: it is easier, they say, to destroy than it is to restore.<br> +<br> +We took to our horses again, and went southward towards the very plain +between Troy and the tents of the Greeks, but we rode by a line at some +distance from the shore. Whether it was that the lay of the ground +hindered my view towards the sea, or that I was all intent upon Ida, +or whether my mind was in vacancy, or whether, as is most like, I had +strayed from the Dardan plains all back to gentle England, there is +now no knowing, nor caring, but it was not quite suddenly indeed, but +rather, as it were, in the swelling and falling of a single wave, that +the reality of that very sea-view, which had bounded the sight of the +Greeks, now visibly acceded to me, and rolled full in upon my brain. +Conceive how deeply that eternal coast-line, that fixed horizon, those +island rocks, must have graven their images upon the minds of the Grecian +warriors by the time that they had reached the ninth year of the siege! +conceive the strength, and the fanciful beauty, of the speeches with +which a whole army of imagining men must have told their weariness, +and how the sauntering chiefs must have whelmed that daily, daily scene +with their deep Ionian curses!<br> +<br> +And now it was that my eyes were greeted with a delightful surprise. +Whilst we were at Constantinople, Methley and I had pored over the map +together. We agreed that whatever may have been the exact site +of Troy, the Grecian camp must have been nearly opposite to the space +betwixt the islands of Imbros and Tenedos,<br> +<br> +<br> +“Μεσσηyυς Τενεδοιο +και Ιμβρου παιπαλοεσσης,”<br> +<br> +<br> +but Methley reminded me of a passage in the <i>Iliad</i> in which Neptune +is represented as looking at the scene of action before Ilion from above +the island of Samothrace. Now Samothrace, according to the map, +appeared to be not only out of all seeing distance from the Troad, but +to be entirely shut out from it by the intervening Imbros, which is +a larger island, stretching its length right athwart the line of sight +from Samothrace to Troy. Piously allowing that the dread Commoter +of our globe might have seen all mortal doings, even from the depth +of his own cerulean kingdom, I still felt that if a station were to +be chosen from which to see the fight, old Homer, so material in his +ways of thought, so averse from all haziness and overreaching, would +have <i>meant</i> to give the god for his station some spot within reach +of men’s eyes from the plains of Troy. I think that this +testing of the poet’s words by map and compass may have shaken +a little of my faith in the completeness of his knowledge. Well, +now I had come; there to the south was Tenedos, and here at my side +was Imbros, all right, and according to the map, but aloft over Imbros, +aloft in a far-away heaven, was Samothrace, the watch-tower of Neptune!<br> +<br> +So Homer had appointed it, and so it was; the map was correct enough, +but could not, like Homer, convey <i>the whole truth</i>. Thus +vain and false are the mere human surmises and doubts which clash with +Homeric writ!<br> +<br> +Nobody whose mind had not been reduced to the most deplorable logical +condition could look upon this beautiful congruity betwixt the <i>Iliad</i> +and the material world and yet bear to suppose that the poet may have +learned the features of the coast from mere hearsay; now then, I believed; +now I knew that Homer had <i>passed along here</i>, that this vision +of Samothrace over-towering the nearer island was common to him and +to me.<br> +<br> +After a journey of some few days by the route of Adramiti and Pergamo +we reached Smyrna. The letters which Methley here received obliged +him to return to England.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER V - INFIDEL SMYRNA<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Smyrna, or Giaour Izmir, “Infidel Smyrna,” as the Mussulmans +call it, is the main point of commercial contact betwixt Europe and +Asia. You are there surrounded by the people, and the confused +customs of many and various nations; you see the fussy European adopting +the East, and calming his restlessness with the long Turkish “pipe +of tranquillity”; you see Jews offering services, and receiving +blows; <a name="citation8"></a><a href="#footnote8">{8}</a> on one side +you have a fellow whose dress and beard would give you a good idea of +the true Oriental, if it were not for the <i>gobe-mouche</i> expression +of countenance with which he is swallowing an article in the <i>National</i>; +and there, just by, is a genuine Osmanlee, smoking away with all the +majesty of a sultan, but before you have time to admire sufficiently +his tranquil dignity, and his soft Asiatic repose, the poor old fellow +is ruthlessly “run down” by an English midshipman, who has +set sail on a Smyrna hack. Such are the incongruities of the “infidel +city” at ordinary times; but when I was there, our friend Carrigaholt +had imported himself and his oddities as an accession to the other and +inferior wonders of Smyrna.<br> +<br> +I was sitting alone in my room one day at Constantinople, when I heard +Methley approaching my door with shouts of laughter and welcome, and +presently I recognised that peculiar cry by which our friend Carrigaholt +expresses his emotions; he soon explained to us the final causes by +which the fates had worked out their wonderful purpose of bringing him +to Constantinople. He was always, you know, very fond of sailing, +but he had got into such sad scrapes (including, I think, a lawsuit) +on account of his last yacht, that he took it into his head to have +a cruise in a merchant vessel, so he went to Liverpool, and looked through +the craft lying ready to sail, till he found a smart schooner that perfectly +suited his taste. The destination of the vessel was the last thing +he thought of; and when he was told that she was bound for Constantinople, +he merely assented to that as a part of the arrangement to which he +had no objection. As soon as the vessel had sailed, the hapless +passenger discovered that his skipper carried on board an enormous wife, +with an inquiring mind and an irresistible tendency to impart her opinions. +She looked upon her guest as upon a piece of waste intellect that ought +to be carefully tilled. She tilled him accordingly. If the +dons at Oxford could have seen poor Carrigaholt thus absolutely “attending +lectures” in the Bay of Biscay, they would surely have thought +him sufficiently punished for all the wrongs he did them whilst he was +preparing himself under their care for the other and more boisterous +University. The voyage did not last more than six or eight weeks, +and the philosophy inflicted on Carrigaholt was not entirely fatal to +him; certainly he was somewhat emaciated, and for aught I know, he may +have subscribed somewhat too largely to the “Feminine-right-of-reason +Society”; but it did not appear that his health had been seriously +affected. There was a scheme on foot, it would seem, for taking +the passenger back to England in the same schooner - a scheme, in fact, +for keeping him perpetually afloat, and perpetually saturated with arguments; +but when Carrigaholt found himself ashore, and remembered that the skipperina +(who had imprudently remained on board) was not there to enforce her +suggestions, he was open to the hints of his servant (a very sharp fellow), +who arranged a plan for escaping, and finally brought off his master +to Giuseppini’s Hotel.<br> +<br> +Our friend afterwards went by sea to Smyrna, and there he now was in +his glory. He had a good, or at all events a gentleman-like, judgment +in matters of taste, and as his great object was to surround himself +with all that his fancy could dictate, he lived in a state of perpetual +negotiation. He was for ever on the point of purchasing, not only +the material productions of the place, but all sorts of such fine ware +as “intelligence,” “fidelity,” and so on. +He was most curious, however, as the purchaser of the “affections.” +Sometimes he would imagine that he had a marital aptitude, and his fancy +would sketch a graceful picture, in which he appeared reclining on a +divan, with a beautiful Greek woman fondly couched at his feet, and +soothing him with the witchery of her guitar. Having satisfied +himself with the ideal picture thus created, he would pass into action; +the guitar he would buy instantly, and would give such intimations of +his wish to be wedded to a Greek, as could not fail to produce great +excitement in the families, of the beautiful Smyrniotes. Then +again (and just in time perhaps to save him from the yoke) his dream +would pass away, and another would come in its stead; he would suddenly +feel the yearnings of a father’s love, and willing by force of +gold to transcend all natural preliminaries, he would issue instructions +for the purchase of some dutiful child that could be warranted to love +him as a parent. Then at another time he would be convinced that +the attachment of menials might satisfy the longings of his affectionate +heart, and thereupon he would give orders to his slave-merchant for +something in the way of eternal fidelity. You may well imagine +that this anxiety of Carrigaholt to purchase not only the scenery, but +the many <i>dramatis personae</i> belonging to his dreams, with all +their goodness and graces complete, necessarily gave an immense stimulus +to the trade and intrigue of Smyrna, and created a demand for human +virtues which the moral resources of the place were totally inadequate +to supply. Every day after breakfast this lover of the good and +the beautiful held a levee, which was often exceedingly amusing. +In his anteroom there would be not only the sellers of pipes and slippers +and shawls, and such like Oriental merchandise, not only embroiderers +and cunning workmen patiently striving to realise his visions of Albanian +dresses, not only the servants offering for places, and the slave-dealer +tendering his sable ware, but there would be the Greek master, waiting +to teach his pupil the grammar of the soft Ionian tongue, in which he +was to delight the wife of his imagination, and the music-master, who +was to teach him some sweet replies to the anticipated sounds of the +fancied guitar; and then, above all, and proudly eminent with undisputed +preference of <i>entrée</i>, and fraught with the mysterious +tidings on which the realisation of the whole dream might depend, was +the mysterious match-maker, <a name="citation9"></a><a href="#footnote9">{9}</a> +enticing and postponing the suitor, yet ever keeping alive in his soul +the love of that pictured virtue, whose beauty (unseen by eyes) was +half revealed to the imagination.<br> +<br> +You would have thought that this practical dreaming must have soon brought +Carrigaholt to a bad end, but he was in much less danger than you would +suppose; for besides that the new visions of happiness almost always +came in time to counteract the fatal completion of the preceding scheme, +his high breeding and his delicately sensitive taste almost always came +to his aid at times when he was left without any other protection; and +the efficacy of these qualities in keeping a man out of harm’s +way is really immense. In all baseness and imposture there is +a coarse, vulgar spirit, which, however artfully concealed for a time, +must sooner or later show itself in some little circumstance sufficiently +plain to occasion an instant jar upon the minds of those whose taste +is lively and true. To such men a shock of this kind, disclosing +the <i>ugliness</i> of a cheat, is more effectively convincing than +any mere proofs could be.<br> +<br> +Thus guarded from isle to isle, and through Greece, and through Albania, +this practical Plato with a purse in his hand, carried on his mad chase +after the good and the beautiful, and yet returned in safety to his +home. But now, poor fellow! the lowly grave, that is the end of +men’s romantic hopes, has closed over all his rich fancies, and +all his high aspirations; he is utterly married! No more hope, +no more change for him - no more relays - he must go on Vetturini-wise +to the appointed end of his journey!<br> +<br> +Smyrna, I think, may be called the chief town and capital of the Grecian +race, against which you will be cautioned so carefully as soon as you +touch the Levant. You will say that I ought not to confound as +one people the Greeks living under a constitutional government with +the unfortunate Rayahs who “groan under the Turkish yoke,” +but I can’t see that political events have hitherto produced any +strongly marked difference of character. If I could venture to +rely (which I feel that I cannot at all do) upon my own observation, +I should tell you that there was more heartiness and strength in the +Greeks of the Ottoman Empire than in those of the new kingdom. +The truth is, that there is a greater field for commercial enterprise, +and even for Greek ambition, under the Ottoman sceptre, than is to be +found in the dominions of Otho. Indeed the people, by their frequent +migrations from the limits of the constitutional kingdom to the territories +of the Porte, seem to show that, on the whole, they prefer “groaning +under the Turkish yoke” to the honour of “being the only +true source of legitimate power” in their own land.<br> +<br> +For myself, I love the race; in spite of all their vices, and even in +spite of all their meannesses, I remember the blood that is in them, +and still love the Greeks. The Osmanlees are, of course, by nature, +by religion, and by politics, the strong foes of the Hellenic people, +and as the Greeks, poor fellows! happen to be a little deficient in +some of the virtues which facilitate the transaction of commercial business +(such as veracity, fidelity, &c.), it naturally follows that they +are highly unpopular with the European merchants. Now these are +the persons through whom, either directly or indirectly, is derived +the greater part of the information which you gather in the Levant, +and therefore you must make up your mind to hear an almost universal +and unbroken testimony against the character of the people whose ancestors +invented virtue. And strange to say, the Greeks themselves do +not attempt to disturb this general unanimity of opinion by an dissent +on their part. Question a Greek on the subject, and he will tell +you at once that the people are <i>traditori</i>, and will then, perhaps, +endeavour to shake off his fair share of the imputation by asserting +that his father had been dragoman to some foreign embassy, and that +he (the son), therefore, by the law of nations, had ceased to be Greek.<br> +<br> +“E dunque no siete traditore?”<br> +<br> +“Possibile, signor, ma almeno Io no sono Greco.”<br> +<br> +Not even the diplomatic representatives of the Hellenic kingdom are +free from the habit of depreciating their brethren. I recollect +that at one of the ports in Syria a Greek vessel was rather unfairly +kept in quarantine by order of the Board of Health, which consisted +entirely of Europeans. A consular agent from the kingdom of Greece +had lately hoisted his flag in the town, and the captain of the vessel +drew up a remonstrance, which he requested his consul to present to +the Board.<br> +<br> +“Now, <i>is</i> this reasonable?” said the consul; “is +it reasonable that I should place myself in collision with all the principal +European gentlemen of the place for the sake of you, a Greek?” +The skipper was greatly vexed at the failure of his application, but +he scarcely even questioned the justice of the ground which his consul +had taken. Well, it happened some time afterwards that I found +myself at the same port, having gone thither with the view of embarking +for the port of Syra. I was anxious, of course, to elude as carefully +as possible the quarantine detentions which threatened me on my arrival, +and hearing that the Greek consul had a brother who was a man in authority +at Syra, I got myself presented to the former, and took the liberty +of asking him to give me such a letter of introduction to his relative +at Syra as might possibly have the effect of shortening the term of +my quarantine. He acceded to this request with the utmost kindness +and courtesy; but when he replied to my thanks by saying that “in +serving an Englishman he was doing no more than his strict duty commanded,” +not even my gratitude could prevent me from calling to mind his treatment +of the poor captain who had the misfortune of <i>not</i> being an alien +in blood to his consul and appointed protector.<br> +<br> +I think that the change which has taken place in the character of the +Greeks has been occasioned, in great measure, by the doctrines and practice +of their religion. The Greek Church has animated the Muscovite +peasant, and inspired him with hopes and ideas which, however humble, +are still better than none at all; but the faith, and the forms, and +the strange ecclesiastical literature which act so advantageously upon +the mere clay of the Russian serf, seem to hang like lead upon the ethereal +spirit of the Greek. Never in any part of the world have I seen +religious performances so painful to witness as those of the Greeks. +The horror, however, with which one shudders at their worship is attributable, +in some measure, to the mere effect of costume. In all the Ottoman +dominions, and very frequently too in the kingdom of Otho, the Greeks +wear turbans or other head-dresses, and shave their heads, leaving only +a rat’s-tail at the crown of the head; they of course keep themselves +covered within doors as well as abroad, and they never remove their +head-gear merely on account of being in a church; but when the Greek +stops to worship at his proper shrine, then, and then only, he always +uncovers; and as you see him thus with shaven skull and savage tail +depending from his crown, kissing a thing of wood and glass, and cringing +with base prostrations and apparent terror before a miserable picture, +you see superstition in a shape which, outwardly at least, is sadly +abject and repulsive.<br> +<br> +The fasts, too, of the Greek Church produce an ill effect upon the character +of the people, for they are not a mere farce, but are carried to such +an extent as to bring about a real mortification of the flesh; the febrile +irritation of the frame operating in conjunction with the depression +of the spirits occasioned by abstinence, will so far answer the objects +of the rite, as to engender some religious excitement, but this is of +a morbid and gloomy character, and it seems to be certain, that along +with the increase of sanctity, there comes a fiercer desire for the +perpetration of dark crimes. The number of murders committed during +Lent is greater, I am told, than at any other time of the year. +A man under the influence of a bean dietary (for this is the principal +food of the Greeks during their fasts) will be in an apt humour for +enriching the shrine of his saint, and passing a knife through his next-door +neighbour. The moneys deposited upon the shrines are appropriated +by priests; the priests are married men, and have families to provide +for; they “take the good with the bad,” and continue to +recommend fasts.<br> +<br> +Then, too, the Greek Church enjoins her followers to keep holy such +a vast number of saints’ days as practically to shorten the lives +of the people very materially. I believe that one-third out of +the number of days in the year are “kept holy,” or rather, +<i>kept stupid</i>, in honour of the saints; no great portion of the +time thus set apart is spent in religious exercises, and the people +don’t betake themselves to any such animating pastimes as might +serve to strengthen the frame, or invigorate the mind, or exalt the +taste. On the contrary, the saints’ days of the Greeks in +Smyrna are passed in the same manner as the Sabbaths of well-behaved +Protestant housemaids in London - that is to say, in a steady and serious +contemplation of street scenery. The men perform this duty <i>at +the doors</i> of their houses, the women <i>at the windows</i>, which +the custom of Greek towns has so decidedly appropriated to them as the +proper station of their sex, that a man would be looked upon as utterly +effeminate if he ventured to choose that situation for the keeping of +the saints’ days. I was present one day at a treaty for +the hire of some apartments at Smyrna, which was carried on between +Carrigaholt and the Greek woman to whom the rooms belonged. Carrigaholt +objected that the windows commanded no view of the street. Immediately +the brow of the majestic matron was clouded, and with all the scorn +of a Spartan mother she coolly asked Carrigaholt, and said, “Art +thou a tender damsel that thou wouldst sit and gaze from windows?” +The man whom she addressed, however, had not gone to Greece with any +intention of placing himself under the laws of Lycurgus, and was not +to be diverted from his views by a Spartan rebuke, so he took care to +find himself windows after his own heart, and there, I believe, for +many a month, he kept the saints’ days, and all the days intervening, +after the fashion of Grecian women.<br> +<br> +Oh! let me be charitable to all who write, and to all who lecture, and +to all who preach, since even I, a layman not forced to write at all, +can hardly avoid chiming in with some tuneful cant! I have had +the heart to talk about the pernicious effects of the Greek holidays, +to which I owe some of my most beautiful visions! I will let the +words stand, as a humbling proof that I am subject to that immutable +law which compels a man with a pen in his hand to be uttering every +now and then some sentiment not his own. It seems as though the +power of expressing regrets and desires by written symbols were coupled +with a condition that the writer should from time to time express the +regrets and desires of other people; as though, like a French peasant +under the old régime, one were bound to perform a certain amount +of work <i>upon the public highways</i>. I rebel as stoutly as +I can against this horrible, <i>corvée</i>. I try not to +deceive you - I try to set down the thoughts which are fresh within +me, and not to pretend any wishes, or griefs, which I do not really +feel; but no sooner do I cease from watchfulness in this regard, than +my right hand is, as it were, seized by some false angel, and even now, +you see, I have been forced to put down such words and sentences as +I ought to have written if really and truly I had wished to disturb +the saints’ days of the beautiful Smyrniotes!<br> +<br> +Which, Heaven forbid! for as you move through the narrow streets of +the city at these times of festival, the transom-shaped windows suspended +over your head on either side are filled with the beautiful descendants +of the old Ionian race; all (even yonder empress that sits throned at +the window of that humblest mud cottage) are attired with seeming magnificence; +their classic heads are crowned with scarlet, and loaded with jewels +or coins of gold, the whole wealth of the wearers; <a name="citation10"></a><a href="#footnote10">{10}</a> +their features are touched with a savage pencil, which hardens the outline +of eyes and eyebrows, and lends an unnatural fire to the stern, grave +looks with which they pierce your brain. Endure their fiery eyes +as best you may, and ride on slowly and reverently, for facing you from +the side of the transom, that looks long-wise through the street, you +see the one glorious shape transcendant in its beauty; you see the massive +braid of hair as it catches a touch of light on its jetty surface, and +the broad, calm, angry brow; the large black eyes, deep set, and self-relying +like the eyes of a conqueror, with their rich shadows of thought lying +darkly around them; you see the thin fiery nostril, and the bold line +of the chin and throat disclosing all the fierceness, and all the pride, +passion, and power that can live along with the rare womanly beauty +of those sweetly turned lips. But then there is a terrible stillness +in this breathing image; it seems like the stillness of a savage that +sits intent and brooding, day by day, upon some one fearful scheme of +vengeance, but yet more like it seems to the stillness of an Immortal, +whose will must be known, and obeyed without sign or speech. Bow +down! - Bow down and adore the young Persephonie, transcendent Queen +of Shades!<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER VI - GREEK MARINERS<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +I sailed from Smyrna in the <i>Amphitrite</i>, a Greek brigantine, which +was confidently said to be bound for the coast of Syria; but I knew +that this announcement was not to be relied upon with positive certainty, +for the Greek mariners are practically free from the stringency of ship’s +papers, and where they will, there they go. However, I had the +whole of the cabin for myself and my attendant, Mysseri, subject only +to the society of the captain at the hour of dinner. Being at +ease in this respect, being furnished too with plenty of books, and +finding an unfailing source of interest in the thorough Greekness of +my captain and my crew, I felt less anxious than most people would have +been about the probable length of the cruise. I knew enough of +Greek navigation to be sure that our vessel would cling to earth like +a child to its mother’s knee, and that I should touch at many +an isle before I set foot upon the Syrian coast; but I had no invidious +preference for Europe, Asia, or Africa, and I felt that I could defy +the winds to blow me upon a coast that was blank and void of interest. +My patience was extremely useful to me, for the cruise altogether endured +some forty days, and that in the midst of winter.<br> +<br> +According to me, the most interesting of all the Greeks (male Greeks) +are the mariners, because their pursuits and their social condition +are so nearly the same as those of their famous ancestors. You +will say, that the occupation of commerce must have smoothed down the +salience of their minds; and this would be so perhaps if their mercantile +affairs were conducted according to the fixed businesslike routine of +Europeans; but the ventures of the Greeks are surrounded by such a multitude +of imagined dangers (and from the absence of regular marts, in which +the true value of merchandise can be ascertained), are so entirely speculative, +and besides, are conducted in a manner so wholly determined upon by +the wayward fancies and wishes of the crew, that they belong to enterprise +rather than to industry, and are very far indeed from tending to deaden +any freshness of character.<br> +<br> +The vessels in which war and piracy were carried on during the years +of the Greek Revolution became merchantmen at the end of the war; but +the tactics of the Greeks, as naval warriors, were so exceedingly cautious, +and their habits as commercial mariners are so wild, that the change +has been more slight than you might imagine. The first care of +Greeks (Greek Rayahs) when they undertake a shipping enterprise is to +procure for their vessel the protection of some European power. +This is easily managed by a little intriguing with the dragoman of one +of the embassies at Constantinople, and the craft soon glories in the +ensign of Russia, or the dazzling Tricolor, or the Union Jack. +Thus, to the great delight of her crew, she enters upon the ocean world +with a flaring lie at her peak, but the appearance of the vessel does +no discredit to the borrowed flag; she is frail indeed, but is gracefully +built, and smartly rigged; she always carries guns, and in short, gives +good promise of mischief and speed.<br> +<br> +The privileges attached to the vessel and her crew by virtue of the +borrowed flag are so great, as to imply a liberty wider even than that +which is often enjoyed in our more strictly civilised countries, so +that there is no pretence for saying that the development of the true +character belonging to Greek mariners is prevented by the dominion of +the Ottoman. These men are free, too, from the power of the great +capitalist, whose sway is more withering than despotism itself to the +enterprises of humble venturers. The capital employed is supplied +by those whose labour is to render it productive. The crew receive +no wages, but have all a share in the venture, and in general, I believe, +they are the owners of the whole freight. They choose a captain, +to whom they entrust just power enough to keep the vessel on her course +in fine weather, but not quite enough for a gale of wind; they also +elect a cook and a mate. The cook whom we had on board was particularly +careful about the ship’s reckoning, and when under the influence +of the keen sea-breezes we grew fondly expectant of an instant dinner, +the great author of <i>pilafs</i> would be standing on deck with an +ancient quadrant in his hands, calmly affecting to take an observation. +But then to make up for this the captain would be exercising a controlling +influence over the soup, so that all in the end went well. Our +mate was a Hydriot, a native of that island rock which grows nothing +but mariners and mariners’ wives. His character seemed to +be exactly that which is generally attributed to the Hydriot race; he +was fierce, and gloomy, and lonely in his ways. One of his principal +duties seemed to be that of acting as counter-captain, or leader of +the opposition, denouncing the first symptoms of tyranny, and protecting +even the cabin-boy from oppression. Besides this, when things +went smoothly he would begin to prognosticate evil, in order that his +more light-hearted comrades might not be puffed up with the seeming +good fortune of the moment.<br> +<br> +It seemed to me that the personal freedom of these sailors, who own +no superiors except those of their own choice, is as like as may be +to that of their seafaring ancestors. And even in their mode of +navigation they have admitted no such an entire change as you would +suppose probable. It is true that they have so far availed themselves +of modern discoveries as to look to the compass instead of the stars, +and that they have superseded the immortal gods of their forefathers +by St. Nicholas in his glass case, <a name="citation11"></a><a href="#footnote11">{11}</a> +but they are not yet so confident either in their needle, or their saint, +as to love an open sea, and they still hug their shores as fondly as +the Argonauts of old. Indeed, they have a most unsailor-like love +for the land, and I really believe that in a gale of wind they would +rather have a rock-bound coast on their lee than no coast at all. +According to the notions of an English seaman, this kind of navigation +would soon bring the vessel on which it might be practised to an evil +end. The Greek, however, is unaccountably successful in escaping +the consequences of being “jammed in,” as it is called, +upon a lee-shore.<br> +<br> +These seamen, like their forefathers, rely upon no winds unless they +are right astern or on the quarter; they rarely go on a wind if it blows +at all fresh, and if the adverse breeze approaches to a gale, they at +once fumigate St. Nicholas, and put up the helm. The consequence +of course is that under the ever-varying winds of the Aegean they are +blown about in the most whimsical manner. I used to think that +Ulysses with his ten years’ voyage had taken his time in making +Ithaca, but my experience in Greek navigation soon made me understand +that he had had, in point of fact, a pretty good “average passage.”<br> +<br> +Such are now the mariners of the Aegean: free, equal amongst themselves, +navigating the seas of their forefathers with the same heroic, and yet +child-like, spirit of venture, the same half-trustful reliance upon +heavenly aid, they are the liveliest images of true old Greeks that +time and the new religions have spared to us.<br> +<br> +With one exception, our crew were “a solemn company,” <a name="citation12"></a><a href="#footnote12">{12}</a> +and yet, sometimes, when all things went well, they would relax their +austerity, and show a disposition to fun, or rather to quiet humour. +When this happened, they invariably had recourse to one of their number, +who went by the name of “Admiral Nicolou.” He +was an amusing fellow, the poorest, I believe, and the least thoughtful +of the crew, but full of rich humour. His oft-told story of the +events by which he had gained the sobriquet of “Admiral” +never failed to delight his hearers, and when he was desired to repeat +it for my benefit, the rest of the crew crowded round with as much interest +as if they were listening to the tale for the first time. A number +of Greek brigs and brigantines were at anchor in the bay of Beyrout. +A festival of some kind, particularly attractive to the sailors, was +going on in the town, and whether with or without leave I know not, +but the crews of all the craft, except that of Nicolou, had gone ashore. +On board his vessel, however, which carried dollars, there was, it would +seem, a more careful, or more influential captain, who was able to enforce +his determination that one man, at least, should be left on board. +Nicolou’s good nature was with him so powerful an impulse, that +he could not resist the delight of volunteering to stay with the vessel +whilst his comrades went ashore. His proposal was accepted, and +the crew and captain soon left him alone on the deck of his vessel. +The sailors, gathering together from their several ships, were amusing +themselves in the town, when suddenly there came down from betwixt the +mountains one of those sudden hurricanes which sometimes occur in southern +climes. Nicolou’s vessel, together with four of the craft +which had been left unmanned, broke from her moorings, and all five +of the vessels were carried out seaward. The town is on a salient +point at the southern side of the bay, so that “that Admiral” +was close under the eyes of the inhabitants and the shore-gone sailors +when he gallantly drifted out at the head of his little fleet. +If Nicolou could not entirely control the manoeuvres of the squadron, +there was at least no human power to divide his authority, and thus +it was that he took rank as “Admiral.” Nicolou cut +his cable, and thus for the time saved his vessel; for the rest of the +fleet under his command were quickly wrecked, whilst “the Admiral” +got away clear to the open sea. The violence of the squall soon +passed off, but Nicolou felt that his chance of one day resigning his +high duties as an admiral for the enjoyments of private life on the +steadfast shore mainly depended upon his success in working the brig +with his own hands, so after calling on his namesake, the saint (not +for the first time, I take it), he got up some canvas, and took the +helm: he became equal, he told us, to a score of Nicolous, and the vessel, +as he said, was “manned with his terrors.” For two +days, it seems, he cruised at large, but at last, either by his seamanship, +or by the natural instinct of the Greek mariners for finding land, he +brought his craft close to an unknown shore, that promised well for +his purpose of running in the vessel; and he was preparing to give her +a good berth on the beach, when he saw a gang of ferocious-looking fellows +coming down to the point for which he was making. Poor Nicolou +was a perfectly unlettered and untutored genius, and for that reason, +perhaps, a keen listener to tales of terror. His mind had been +impressed with some horrible legend of cannibalism, and he now did not +doubt for a moment that the men awaiting him on the beach were the monsters +at whom he had shuddered in the days of his childhood. The coast +on which Nicolou was running his vessel was somewhere, I fancy, at the +foot of the Anzairie Mountains, and the fellows who were preparing to +give him a reception were probably very rough specimens of humanity. +It is likely enough that they might have given themselves the trouble +of putting “the Admiral” to death, for the purpose of simplifying +their claim to the vessel and preventing litigation, but the notion +of their cannibalism was of course utterly unfounded. Nicolou’s +terror had, however, so graven the idea on his mind, that he could never +afterwards dismiss it. Having once determined the character of +his expectant hosts, the Admiral naturally thought that it would he +better to keep their dinner waiting any length of time than to attend +their feast in the character of a roasted Greek, so he put about his +vessel, and tempted the deep once more. After a further cruise +the lonely commander ran his vessel upon some rocks at another part +of the coast, where she was lost with all her treasures, and Nicolou +was but too glad to scramble ashore, though without one dollar in his +girdle. These adventures seem flat enough as I repeat them, but +the hero expressed his terrors by such odd terms of speech, and such +strangely humorous gestures, that the story came from his lips with +an unfailing zest, so that the crew, who had heard the tale so often, +could still enjoy to their hearts’ content the rich fright of +the Admiral, and still shuddered with unabated horror when he came to +the loss of the dollars.<br> +<br> +The power of listening to long stories (for which, by-the-bye, I am +giving you large credit) is common, I fancy, to most sailors, and the +Greeks have it to a high degree, for they can be perfectly patient under +a narrative of two or three hours’ duration. These long +stories are mostly founded upon Oriental topics, and in one of them +I recognised with some alteration an old friend of the “Arabian +Nights.” I inquired as to the source from which the story +had been derived, and the crew all agreed that it had been handed down +unwritten from Greek to Greek. Their account of the matter does +not, perhaps, go very far towards showing the real origin of the tale; +but when I afterwards took up the “Arabian Nights,” I became +strongly impressed with a notion that they must have sprung from the +brain of a Greek. It seems to me that these stories, whilst they +disclose a complete and habitual <i>knowledge</i> of things Asiatic, +have about them so much of freshness and life, so much of the stirring +and volatile European character, that they cannot have owed their conception +to a mere Oriental, who for creative purposes is a thing dead and dry +- a mental mummy, that may have been a live king just after the Flood, +but has since lain balmed in spice. At the time of the Caliphat +the Greek race was familiar enough to Baghdad: they were the merchants, +the pedlars, the barbers, and intriguers-general of south-western Asia, +and therefore the Oriental materials with which the Arabian tales were +wrought must have been completely at the command of the inventive people +to whom I would attribute their origin.<br> +<br> +We were nearing the isle of Cyprus when there arose half a gale of wind, +with a heavy chopping sea. My Greek seamen considered that the +weather amounted not to a half, but to an integral gale of wind at the +very least, so they put up the helm, and scudded for twenty hours. +When we neared the mainland of Anadoli the gale ceased, and a favourable +breeze sprung up, which brought us off Cyprus once more. Afterwards +the wind changed again, but we were still able to lay our course by +sailing close-hauled.<br> +<br> +We were at length in such a position, that by holding on our course +for about half-an-hour we should get under the lee of the island and +find ourselves in smooth water, but the wind had been gradually freshening; +it now blew hard, and there was a heavy sea running.<br> +<br> +As the grounds for alarm arose, the crew gathered together in one close +group; they stood pale and grim under their hooded capotes like monks +awaiting a massacre, anxiously looking by turns along the pathway of +the storm and then upon each other, and then upon the eye of the captain +who stood by the helmsman. Presently the Hydriot came aft, more +moody than ever, the bearer of fierce remonstrance against the continuing +of the struggle; he received a resolute answer, and still we held our +course. Soon there came a heavy sea, that caught the bow of the +brigantine as she lay jammed in betwixt the waves; she bowed her head +low under the waters, and shuddered through all her timbers, then gallantly +stood up again over the striving sea, with bowsprit entire. But +where were the crew? It was a crew no longer, but rather a gathering +of Greek citizens; the shout of the seamen was changed for the murmuring +of the people - the spirit of the old Demos was alive. The men +came aft in a body, and loudly asked that the vessel should be put about, +and that the storm be no longer tempted. Now, then, for speeches. +The captain, his eyes flashing fire, his frame all quivering with emotion +- wielding his every limb, like another and a louder voice, pours forth +the eloquent torrent of his threats and his reasons, his commands and +his prayers; he promises, he vows, he swears that there is safety in +holding on - safety, <i>if Greeks will be brave</i>! The men hear +and are moved; but the gale rouses itself once more, and again the raging +sea comes trampling over the timbers that are the life of all. +The fierce Hydriot advances one step nearer to the captain, and the +angry growl of the people goes floating down the wind, but they listen; +they waver once more, and once more resolve, then waver again, thus +doubtfully hanging between the terrors of the storm and the persuasion +of glorious speech, as though it were the Athenian that talked, and +Philip of Macedon that thundered on the weather-bow.<br> +<br> +Brave thoughts winged on Grecian words gained their natural mastery +over terror; the brigantine held on her course, and reached smooth water +at last. I landed at Limasol, the westernmost port of Cyprus, +leaving the vessel to sail for Larnaka, where she was to remain for +some days.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER VII - CYPRUS<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +There was a Greek at Limasol who hoisted his flag as an English vice-consul, +and he insisted upon my accepting his hospitality. With some difficulty, +and chiefly by assuring him that I could not delay my departure beyond +an early hour in the afternoon, I induced him to allow my dining with +his family instead of banqueting all alone with the representative of +my sovereign in consular state and dignity. The lady of the house, +it seemed, had never sat at table with an European. She was very +shy about the matter, and tried hard to get out of the scrape, but the +husband, I fancy, reminded her that she was theoretically an Englishwoman, +by virtue of the flag that waved over her roof, and that she was bound +to show her nationality by sitting at meat with me. Finding herself +inexorably condemned to bear with the dreaded gaze of European eyes, +she tried to save her innocent children from the hard fate awaiting +herself, but I obtained that all of them (and I think there were four +or five) should sit at the table. You will meet with abundance +of stately receptions and of generous hospitality, too, in the East, +but rarely, very rarely in those regions (or even, so far as I know, +in any part of southern Europe) does one gain an opportunity of seeing +the familiar and indoor life of the people.<br> +<br> +This family party of the good consul’s (or rather of mine, for +I originated the idea, though he furnished the materials) went off very +well. The mamma was shy at first, but she veiled the awkwardness +which she felt by affecting to scold her children, who had all of them, +I think, immortal names - names too which they owed to tradition, and +certainly not to any classical enthusiasm of their parents. Every +instant I was delighted by some such phrases as these, “Themistocles, +my love, don’t fight.” - “Alcibiades, can’t +you sit still?” - “Socrates, put down the cup.” - +“Oh, fie! Aspasia, don’t. Oh! don’t be +naughty!” It is true that the names were pronounced Socrahtie, +Aspahsie - that is, according to accent, and not according to quantity +- but I suppose it is scarcely now to be doubted that they were so sounded +in ancient times.<br> +<br> +To me it seems, that of all the lands I know (you will see in a minute +how I connect this piece of prose’ with the isle of Cyprus), there +is none in which mere wealth, mere unaided wealth, is held half so cheaply; +none in which a poor devil of a millionaire, without birth, or ability, +occupies so humble a place as in England. My Greek host and I +were sitting together, I think, upon the roof of the house (for that +is the lounging-place in Eastern climes), when the former assumed a +serious air, and intimated a wish to converse upon the subject of the +British Constitution, with which he assured me that he was thoroughly +acquainted. He presently, however, informed me that there was +one anomalous circumstance attended upon the practical working of our +political system which he had never been able to hear explained in a +manner satisfactory to himself. From the fact of his having found +a difficulty in his subject, I began to think that my host might really +know rather more of it than his announcement of a thorough knowledge +had led me to expect. I felt interested at being about to hear +from the lips of an intelligent Greek, quite remote from the influence +of European opinions, what might seem to him the most astonishing and +incomprehensible of all those results which have followed from the action +of our political institutions. The anomaly, the only anomaly which +had been detected by the vice-consular wisdom, consisted in the fact +that Rothschild (the late money-monger) had never been the Prime Minister +of England! I gravely tried to throw some light upon the mysterious +causes that had kept the worthy Israelite out of the Cabinet, but I +think I could see that my explanation was not satisfactory. Go +and argue with the flies of summer that there is a power divine, yet +greater than the sun in the heavens, but never dare hope to convince +the people of the south that there is any other God than Gold.<br> +<br> +My intended journey was to the site of the Paphian temple. I take +no antiquarian interest in ruins, and care little about them, unless +they are either striking in themselves, or else serve to mark some spot +on which my fancy loves to dwell. I knew that the ruins of Paphos +were scarcely, if at all, discernible, but there was a will and a longing +more imperious than mere curiosity that drove me thither.<br> +<br> +For this just then was my pagan soul’s desire - that (not forfeiting +my inheritance for the life to come) it had yet been given me to live +through this world - to live a favoured mortal under the old Olympian +dispensation - to speak out my resolves to the listening Jove, and hear +him answer with approving thunder - to be blessed with divine counsels +from the lips of Pallas Athenie - to believe - ay, only to believe - +to believe for one rapturous moment that in the gloomy depths of the +grove, by the mountain’s side, there were some leafy pathway that +crisped beneath the glowing sandal of Aphrodetie - Aphrodetie, not coldly +disdainful of even a mortal’s love! And this vain, heathenish +longing of mine was father to the thought of visiting the scene of the +ancient worship.<br> +<br> +The isle is beautiful. From the edge of the rich, flowery fields +on which I trod to the midway sides of the snowy Olympus, the ground +could only here and there show an abrupt crag, or a high straggling +ridge that up-shouldered itself from out of the wilderness of myrtles, +and of the thousand bright-leaved shrubs that twined their arms together +in lovesome tangles. The air that came to my lips was warm and +fragrant as the ambrosial breath of the goddess, infecting me, not (of +course) with a faith in the old religion of the isle, but with a sense +and apprehension of its mystic power - a power that was still to be +obeyed - obeyed by <i>me</i>, for why otherwise did I toil on with sorry +horses to “where, for HER, the hundred altars glowed with Arabian +incense, and breathed with the fragrance of garlands ever fresh”? +<a name="citation13"></a><a href="#footnote13">{13}</a><br> +<br> +I passed a sadly disenchanting night in the cabin of a Greek priest +- not a priest of the goddess, but of the Greek Church; there was but +one humble room, or rather shed, for man, and priest, and beast. +The next morning I reached Baffa (Paphos), a village not far distant +from the site of the temple. There was a Greek husbandman there +who (not for emolument, but for the sake of the protection and dignity +which it afforded) had got leave from the man at Limasol to hoist his +flag as a sort of deputy-provisionary-sub-vice-pro-acting-consul of +the British sovereign: the poor fellow instantly changed his Greek headgear +for the cap of consular dignity, and insisted upon accompanying me to +the ruins. I would not have stood this if I could have felt the +faintest gleam of my yesterday’s pagan piety, but I had ceased +to dream, and had nothing to dread from any new disenchanters.<br> +<br> +The ruins (the fragments of one or two prostrate pillars) lie upon a +promontory, bare and unmystified by the gloom of surrounding groves. +My Greek friend in his consular cap stood by, respectfully waiting to +see what turn my madness would take, now that I had come at last into +the presence of the old stones. If you have no taste for research, +and can’t affect to look for inscriptions, there is some awkwardness +in coming to the end of a merely sentimental pilgrimage; when the feeling +which impelled you has gone, you have nothing to do but to laugh the +thing off as well as you can, and, by-the-bye, it is not a bad plan +to turn the conversation (or rather, allow the natives to turn it) towards +the subject of hidden treasures. This is a topic on which they +will always speak with eagerness, and if they can fancy that you, too, +take an interest in such matters, they will not only think you perfectly +sane, but will begin to give you credit for some more than human powers +of forcing the obscure earth to show you its hoards of gold.<br> +<br> +When we returned to Baffa, the vice-consul seized a club with the quietly +determined air of a brave man resolved to do some deed of note. +He went into the yard adjoining his cottage, where there were some thin, +thoughtful, canting cocks, and serious, low-church-looking hens, respectfully +listening, and chickens of tender years so well brought up, as scarcely +to betray in their conduct the careless levity of youth. The vice-consul +stood for a moment quite calm, collecting his strength; then suddenly +he rushed into the midst of the congregation, and began to deal death +and destruction on all sides. He spared neither sex nor age; the +dead and dying were immediately removed from the field of slaughter, +and in less than an hour, I think, they were brought on the table, deeply +buried in mounds of snowy rice.<br> +<br> +My host was in all respects a fine, generous fellow. I could not +bear the idea of impoverishing him by my visit, and I consulted my faithful +Mysseri, who not only assured me that I might safely offer money to +the vice-consul, but recommended that I should give no more to him than +to “the others,” meaning any other peasant. I felt, +however, that there was something about the man, besides the flag and +the cap, which made me shrink from offering coin, and as I mounted my +horse on departing I gave him the only thing fit for a present that +I happened to have with me, a rather handsome clasp-dagger, brought +from Vienna. The poor fellow was ineffably grateful, and I had +some difficulty in tearing myself from out of the reach of his thanks. +At last I gave him what I supposed to be the last farewell, and rode +on, but I had not gained more than about a hundred yards when my host +came bounding and shouting after me, with a goat’s-milk cheese +in his hand, which he implored me to accept. In old times the +shepherd of Theocritus, or (to speak less dishonestly) the shepherd +of the “Poetae Graeci,” sung his best song; I in this latter +age presented my best dagger, and both of us received the same rustic +reward.<br> +<br> +It had been known that I should return to Limasol, and when I arrived +there I found that a noble old Greek had been hospitably plotting to +have me for his guest. I willingly accepted his offer. The +day of my arrival happened to be the birthday of my host, and in consequence +of this there was a constant influx of visitors, who came to offer their +congratulations. A few of these were men, but most of them were +young, graceful girls. Almost all of them went through the ceremony +with the utmost precision and formality; each in succession spoke her +blessing, in the tone of a person repeating a set formula, then deferentially +accepted the invitation to sit, partook of the proffered sweetmeats +and the cold, glittering water, remained for a few minutes either in +silence or engaged in very thin conversation, then arose, delivered +a second benediction, followed by an elaborate farewell, and departed.<br> +<br> +The bewitching power attributed at this day to the women of Cyprus is +curious in connection with the worship of the sweet goddess, who called +their isle her own. The Cypriote is not, I think, nearly so beautiful +in face as the Ionian queens of Izmir, but she is tall, and slightly +formed; there is a high-souled meaning and expression, a seeming consciousness +of gentle empire, that speaks in the wavy line of the shoulder, and +winds itself like Cytherea’s own cestus around the slender waist; +then the richly-abounding hair (not enviously gathered together under +the head-dress) descends the neck, and passes the waist in sumptuous +braids. Of all other women with Grecian blood in their veins the +costume is graciously beautiful, but these, the maidens of Limasol - +their robes are more gently, more sweetly imagined, and fall like Julia’s +cashmere in soft, luxurious folds. The common voice of the Levant +allows that in face the women of Cyprus are less beautiful than their +brilliant sisters of Smyrna; and yet, says the Greek, he may trust himself +to one and all the bright cities of the Aegean, and may yet weigh anchor +with a heart entire, but that so surely as he ventures upon the enchanted +isle of Cyprus, so surely will he know the rapture or the bitterness +of love. The charm, they say, owes its power to that which the +people call the astonishing “politics” (πολιτικη) +of the women, meaning, I fancy, their tact and their witching ways: +the word, however, plainly fails to express one-half of that which the +speakers would say. I have smiled to hear the Greek, with all +his plenteousness of fancy, and all the wealth of his generous language, +yet vainly struggling to describe the ineffable spell which the Parisians +dispose of in their own smart way by a summary “Je ne sçai +quoi.”<br> +<br> +I went to Larnaca, the chief city of the isle, and over the water at +last to Beyrout.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER VIII - LADY HESTER STANHOPE <a name="citation14"></a><a href="#footnote14">{14}</a><br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Beyrout on its land side is hemmed in by the Druses, who occupy all +the neighbouring highlands.<br> +<br> +Often enough I saw the ghostly images of the women with their exalted +horns stalking through the streets, and I saw too in travelling the +affrighted groups of the mountaineers as they fled before me, under +the fear that my party might be a company of income-tax commissioners, +or a pressgang enforcing the conscription for Mehemet Ali; but nearly +all my knowledge of the people, except in regard of their mere costume +and outward appearance, is drawn from books and despatches, to which +I have the honour to refer you.<br> +<br> +I received hospitable welcome at Beyrout from the Europeans as well +as from the Syrian Christians, and I soon discovered that their standing +topic of interest was the Lady Hester Stanhope, who lived in an old +convent on the Lebanon range, at the distance of about a day’s +journey from the town. The lady’s habit of refusing to see +Europeans added the charm of mystery to a character which, even without +that aid, was sufficiently distinguished to command attention.<br> +<br> +Many years of Lady Hester’s early womanhood had been passed with +Lady Chatham at Burton Pynsent, and during that inglorious period of +the heroine’s life her commanding character, and (as they would +have called it in the language of those days) her “condescending +kindness” towards my mother’s family, had increased in them +those strong feelings of respect and attachment, which her rank and +station alone would have easily won from people of the middle class. +You may suppose how deeply the quiet women in Somersetshire must have +been interested, when they slowly learned by vague and uncertain tidings +that the intrepid girl who had been used to break their vicious horses +for them was reigning in sovereignty over the wandering tribes of Western +Asia! I know that her name was made almost as familiar to me in +my childhood as the name of Robinson Crusoe - both were associated with +the spirit of adventure; but whilst the imagined life of the cast-away +mariner never failed to seem glaringly real, the true story of the Englishwoman +ruling over Arabs always sounded to me like fable. I never had +heard, nor indeed, I believe, had the rest of the world ever heard, +anything like a certain account of the heroine’s adventures; all +I knew was, that in one of the drawers which were the delight of my +childhood, along with attar of roses and fragrant wonders from Hindustan, +there were letters carefully treasured, and trifling presents which +I was taught to think valuable because they had come from the queen +of the desert, who dwelt in tents, and reigned over wandering Arabs.<br> +<br> +This subject, however, died away, and from the ending of my childhood +up to the period of my arrival in the Levant, I had seldom even heard +a mentioning of the Lady Hester Stanhope, but now, wherever I went, +I was met by the name so familiar in sound, and yet so full of mystery +from the vague, fairy-tale sort of idea which it brought to my mind; +I heard it, too, connected with fresh wonders, for it was said that +the woman was now acknowledged as an inspired being by the people of +the mountains, and it was even hinted with horror that she claimed to +be <i>more than a</i> <i>prophet.<br> +<br> +</i>I felt at once that my mother would be sadly sorry to hear that +I had been within a day’s ride of her early friend without offering +to see her, and I therefore despatched a letter to the recluse, mentioning +the maiden name of my mother (whose marriage was subsequent to Lady +Hester’s departure), and saying that if there existed on the part +of her ladyship any wish to hear of her old Somersetshire acquaintance, +I should make a point of visiting her. My letter was sent by a +foot-messenger, who was to take an unlimited time for his journey, so +that it was not, I think, until either the third or the fourth day that +the answer arrived. A couple of horsemen covered with mud suddenly +dashed into the little court of the “locanda” in which I +was staying, bearing themselves as ostentatiously as though they were +carrying a cartel from the Devil to the Angel Michael: one of these +(the other being his attendant) was an Italian by birth (though now +completely orientalised), who lived in my lady’s establishment +as doctor nominally, but practically as an upper servant; he presented +me a very kind and appropriate letter of invitation.<br> +<br> +It happened that I was rather unwell at this time, so that I named a +more distant day for my visit than I should otherwise have done, and +after all, I did not start at the time fixed. Whilst still remaining +at Beyrout I received this letter, which certainly betrays no symptom +of the pretensions to divine power which were popularly attributed to +the writer:-<br> +<br> +<br> +“SIR, - I hope I shall be disappointed in seeing you on Wednesday, +for the late rains have rendered the river Damoor if not dangerous, +at least very unpleasant to pass for a person who has been lately indisposed, +for if the animal swims, you would be immerged in the waters. +The weather will probably change after the 21st of the moon, and after +a couple of days the roads and the river will be passable, therefore +I shall expect you either Saturday or Monday.<br> +<br> +“It will be a great satisfaction to me to have an opportunity +of inquiring after your mother, who was a sweet, lovely girl when I +knew her.<br> +“Believe me, sir,<br> +“Yours sincerely,<br> +“HESTER LUCY STANHOPE.”<br> +<br> +<br> +Early one morning I started from Beyrout. There are no regularly +established relays of horses in Syria, at least not in the line which +I took, and you therefore hire your cattle for the whole journey, or +at all events, for your journey to some large town. Under these +circumstances you have no occasion for a Tatar (whose principal utility +consists in his power to compel the supply of horses). In other +respects, the mode of travelling through Syria differs very little from +that which I have described as prevailing in Turkey. I hired my +horses and mules (for I had some of both) for the whole of the journey +from Beyrout to Jerusalem. The owner of the beasts (who had a +couple of fellows under him) was the most dignified member of my party; +he was, indeed, a magnificent old man, and was called Shereef, or “holy” +- a title of honour which, with the privilege of wearing the green turban, +he well deserved, not only from the blood of the Prophet that flowed +in his veins, but from the well-known sanctity of his life and the length +of his blessed beard.<br> +<br> +Mysseri, of course, still travelled with me, but the Arabic was not +one of the seven languages which he spoke so perfectly, and I was therefore +obliged to hire another interpreter. I had no difficulty in finding +a proper man for the purpose - one Demetrius, or, as he was always called, +Dthemetri, a native of Zante, who had been tossed about by fortune in +all directions. He spoke the Arabic very well, and communicated +with me in Italian. The man was a very zealous member of the Greek +Church. He had been a tailor. He was as ugly as the devil, +having a thoroughly Tatar countenance, which expressed the agony of +his body or mind, as the case might be, in the most ludicrous manner +imaginable. He embellished the natural caricature of his person +by suspending about his neck and shoulders and waist quantities of little +bundles and parcels, which he thought too valuable to be entrusted to +the jerking of pack-saddles. The mule that fell to his lot on +this journey every now and then, forgetting that his rider was a saint, +and remembering that he was a tailor, took a quiet roll upon the ground, +and stretched his limbs calmly and lazily, like a good man awaiting +a sermon. Dthemetri never got seriously hurt, but the subversion +and dislocation of his bundles made him for the moment a sad spectacle +of ruin, and when he regained his legs, his wrath with the mule became +very amusing. He always addressed the beast in language which +implied that he, as a Christian and saint, had been personally insulted +and oppressed by a Mahometan mule. Dthemetri, however, on the +whole, proved to be a most able and capital servant. I suspected +him of now and then leading me out of my way in order that he might +have the opportunity of visiting the shrine of a saint, and on one occasion, +as you will see by-and-by, he was induced by religious motives to commit +a gross breach of duty; but putting these pious faults out of the question +(and they were faults of the right side), he was always faithful and +true to me.<br> +<br> +I left Saide (the Sidon of ancient times) on my right, and about an +hour, I think, before sunset began to ascend one of the many low hills +of Lebanon. On the summit before me was a broad, grey mass of +irregular building, which from its position, as well as from the gloomy +blankness of its walls, gave the idea of a neglected fortress. +It had, in fact, been a convent of great size, and like most of the +religious houses in this part of the world, had been made strong enough +for opposing an inert resistance to any mere casual band of assailants +who might be unprovided with regular means of attack: this was the dwelling-place +of the Chatham’s fiery granddaughter.<br> +<br> +The aspect of the first court which I entered was such as to keep one +in the idea of having to do with a fortress rather than a mere peaceable +dwelling-place. A number of fierce-looking and ill-clad Albanian +soldiers were hanging about the place, and striving to bear the curse +of tranquillity as well as they could: two or three of them, I think, +were smoking their <i>tchibouques</i>, but the rest of them were lying +torpidly upon the flat stones, like the bodies of departed brigands. +I rode on to an inner part of the building, and at last, quitting my +horses, was conducted through a doorway that led me at once from an +open court into an apartment on the ground floor. As I entered, +an Oriental figure in male costume approached me from the farther end +of the room with many and profound bows, but the growing shades of evening +prevented me from distinguishing the features of the personage who was +receiving me with this solemn welcome. I had always, however, +understood that Lady Hester Stanhope wore the male attire, and I began +to utter in English the common civilities that seemed to be proper on +the commencement of a visit by an uninspired mortal to a renowned prophetess; +but the figure which I addressed only bowed so much the more, prostrating +itself almost to the ground, but speaking to me never a word. +I feebly strived not to be outdone in gestures of respect; but presently +my bowing opponent saw the error under which I was acting, and suddenly +convinced me that, at all events, I was not <i>yet</i> in the presence +of a superhuman being, by declaring that he was not “miladi,” +but was, in fact, nothing more or less god-like than the poor doctor, +who had brought his mistress’s letter to Beyrout.<br> +<br> +Her ladyship, in the right spirit of hospitality, now sent and commanded +me to repose for a while after the fatigues of my journey, and to dine.<br> +<br> +The cuisine was of the Oriental kind, which is highly artificial, and +I thought it very good. I rejoiced too in the wine of the Lebanon.<br> +<br> +Soon after the ending of the dinner the doctor arrived with miladi’s +compliments, and an intimation that she would he happy to receive me +if I were so disposed. It had now grown dark, and the rain was +falling heavily, so that I got rather wet in following my guide through +the open courts that I had to pass in order to reach the presence chamber. +At last I was ushered into a small apartment, which was protected from +the draughts of air passing through the doorway by a folding screen; +passing this, I came alongside of a common European sofa, where sat +the lady prophetess. She rose from her seat very formally, spoke +to me a few words of welcome, pointed to a chair which was placed exactly +opposite to her sofa at a couple of yards’ distance, and remained +standing up to the full of her majestic height, perfectly still and +motionless, until I had taken my appointed place; she then resumed her +seat, not packing herself up according to the mode of the Orientals, +but allowing her feet to rest on the floor or the footstool; at the +moment of seating herself she covered her lap with a mass of loose white +drapery which she held in her hand. It occurred to me at the time +that she did this in order to avoid the awkwardness of sitting in manifest +trousers under the eye of an European, but I can hardly fancy now that +with her wilful nature she would have brooked such a compromise as this.<br> +<br> +The woman before me had exactly the person of a prophetess - not, indeed, +of the divine sibyl imagined by Domenichino, so sweetly distracted betwixt +love and mystery, but of a good business-like, practical prophetess, +long used to the exercise of her sacred calling. I have been told +by those who knew Lady Hester Stanhope in her youth, that any notion +of a resemblance betwixt her and the great Chatham must have been fanciful; +but at the time of my seeing her, the large commanding features of the +gaunt woman, then sixty years old or more, certainly reminded me of +the statesman that lay dying <a name="citation15"></a><a href="#footnote15">{15}</a> +in the House of Lords, according to Copley’s picture. Her +face was of the most astonishing whiteness; <a name="citation16"></a><a href="#footnote16">{16}</a> +she wore a very large turban, which seemed to be of pale cashmere shawls, +so disposed as to conceal the hair; her dress, from the chin down to +the point at which it was concealed by the drapery which she held over +her lap, was a mass of white linen loosely folding - an ecclesiastical +sort of affair, more like a surplice than any of those blessed creations +which our souls love under the names of “dress” and “frock” +and “boddice” and “collar” and “habit-shirt” +and sweet “chemisette.”<br> +<br> +Such was the outward seeming of the personage that sat before me, and +indeed she was almost bound by the fame of her actual achievements, +as well as by her sublime pretensions, to look a little differently +from the rest of womankind. There had been something of grandeur +in her career. After the death of Lady Chatham, which happened +in 1803, she lived under the roof of her uncle, the second Pitt, and +when he resumed the Government in 1804, she became the dispenser of +much patronage, and sole secretary of state for the department of Treasury +banquets. Not having seen the lady until late in her life, when +she was fired with spiritual ambition, I can hardly fancy that she could +have performed her political duties in the saloons of the Minister with +much of feminine sweetness and patience. I am told, however, that +she managed matters very well indeed: perhaps it was better for the +lofty-minded leader of the House to have his reception-rooms guarded +by this stately creature, than by a merely clever and managing woman; +it was fitting that the wholesome awe with which he filled the minds +of the country gentlemen should be aggravated by the presence of his +majestic niece. But the end was approaching. The sun of +Austerlitz showed the Czar madly sliding his splendid army like a weaver’s +shuttle from his right hand to his left, under the very eyes - the deep, +grey, watchful eyes of Napoleon; before night came, the coalition was +a vain thing - meet for history, and the heart of its great author was +crushed with grief when the terrible tidings came to his ears. +In the bitterness of his despair he cried out to his niece, and bid +her, “ROLL UP THE MAP OF EUROPE”; there was a little more +of suffering, and at last, with his swollen tongue (so they say) still +muttering something for England, he died by the noblest of all sorrows.<br> +<br> +Lady Hester, meeting the calamity in her own fierce way, seems to have +scorned the poor island that had not enough of God’s grace to +keep the “heaven-sent” Minister alive. I can hardly +tell why it should be, but there is a longing for the East very commonly +felt by proud-hearted people when goaded by sorrow. Lady Hester +Stanhope obeyed this impulse. For some time, I believe, she was +at Constantinople, where her magnificence and near alliance to the late +Minister gained her great influence. Afterwards she passed into +Syria. The people of that country, excited by the achievements +of Sir Sidney Smith, had begun to imagine the possibility of their land +being occupied by the English, and many of them looked upon Lady Hester +as a princess who came to prepare the way for the expected conquest. +I don’t know it from her own lips, or indeed from any certain +authority, but I have been told that she began her connection with the +Bedouins by making a large present of money (£500 it was said +- immense in piastres) to the Sheik whose authority was recognised in +that part of the desert which lies between Damascus and Palmyra. +The prestige created by the rumours of her high and undefined rank, +as well as of her wealth and corresponding magnificence, was well sustained +by her imperious character and her dauntless bravery. Her influence +increased. I never heard anything satisfactory as to the real +extent or duration of her sway, but it seemed that for a time at least +she certainly exercised something like sovereignty amongst the wandering +tribes. <a name="citation17"></a><a href="#footnote17">{17}</a> +And now that her earthly kingdom had passed away she strove for spiritual +power, and impiously dared, as it was said, to boast some mystic union +with the very God of very God!<br> +<br> +A couple of black slave girls came at a signal, and supplied their mistress +as well as myself with lighted <i>tchibouques</i> and coffee.<br> +<br> +The custom of the East sanctions, and almost commands, some moments +of silence whilst you are inhaling the first few breaths of the fragrant +pipe. The pause was broken, I think, by my lady, who addressed +to me some inquiries respecting my mother, and particularly as to her +marriage; but before I had communicated any great amount of family facts, +the spirit of the prophetess kindled within her, and presently (though +with all the skill of a woman of the world) she shuffled away the subject +of poor, dear Somersetshire, and bounded onward into loftier spheres +of thought.<br> +<br> +My old acquaintance with some of “the twelve” enabled me +to bear my part (of course a very humble one) in a conversation relative +to occult science. Milnes once spread a report, that every gang +of gipsies was found upon inquiry to have come last from a place to +the westward, and to be about to make the next move in an eastern direction; +either therefore they where to be all gathered together towards the +rising of the sun by the mysterious finger of Providence, or else they +were to revolve round the globe for ever and ever: both of these suppositions +were highly gratifying, because they were both marvellous; and though +the story on which they were founded plainly sprang from the inventive +brain of a poet, no one had ever been so odiously statistical as to +attempt a contradiction of it. I now mentioned the story as a +report to Lady Hester Stanhope, and asked her if it were true. +I could not have touched upon any imaginable subject more deeply interesting +to my hearer, more closely akin to her habitual train of thinking. +She immediately threw off all the restraint belonging to an interview +with a stranger; and when she had received a few more similar proofs +of my aptness for the marvellous, she went so far as to say that she +would adopt me as her <i>élève</i> in occult science.<br> +<br> +For hours and hours this wondrous white woman poured forth her speech, +for the most part concerning sacred and profane mysteries; but every +now and then she would stay her lofty flight and swoop down upon the +world again. Whenever this happened I was interested in her conversation.<br> +<br> +She adverted more than once to the period of her lost sway amongst the +Arabs, and mentioned some of the circumstances that aided her in obtaining +influence with the wandering tribes. The Bedouin, so often engaged +in irregular warfare, strains his eyes to the horizon in search of a +coming enemy just as habitually as the sailor keeps his “bright +lookout” for a strange sail. In the absence of telescopes +a far-reaching sight is highly valued, and Lady Hester possessed this +quality to an extraordinary degree. She told me that on one occasion, +when there was good reason to expect a hostile attack, great excitement +was felt in the camp by the report of a far-seeing Arab, who declared +that he could just distinguish some moving objects upon the very farthest +point within the reach of his eyes. Lady Hester was consulted, +and she instantly assured her comrades in arms that there were indeed +a number of horses within sight, but that they were without riders. +The assertion proved to be correct, and from that time forth her superiority +over all others in respect of far sight remained undisputed.<br> +<br> +Lady Hester related to me this other anecdote of her Arab life. +It was when the heroic qualities of the Englishwoman were just beginning +to be felt amongst the people of the desert, that she was marching one +day, along with the forces of the tribe to which she had allied herself. +She perceived that preparations for an engagement were going on, and +upon her making inquiry as to the cause, the Sheik at first affected +mystery and concealment, but at last confessed that war had been declared +against his tribe on account of its alliance with the English princess, +and that they were now unfortunately about to be attacked by a very +superior force. He made it appear that Lady Hester was the sole +cause of hostility betwixt his tribe and the impending enemy, and that +his sacred duty of protecting the Englishwoman whom he had admitted +as his guest was the only obstacle which prevented an amicable arrangement +of the dispute. The Sheik hinted that his tribe was likely to +sustain an almost overwhelming blow, but at the same time declared, +that no fear of the consequences, however terrible to him and his whole +people, should induce him to dream of abandoning his illustrious guest. +The heroine instantly took her part: it was not for her to be a source +of danger to her friends, but rather to her enemies, so she resolved +to turn away from the people, and trust for help to none save only her +haughty self. The Sheiks affected to dissuade her from so rash +a course, and fairly told her that although they (having been freed +from her presence) would be able to make good terms for themselves, +yet that there were no means of allaying the hostility felt towards +her, and that the whole face of the desert would be swept by the horsemen +of her enemies so carefully, as to make her escape into other districts +almost impossible. The brave woman was not to be moved by terrors +of this kind, and bidding farewell to the tribe which had honoured and +protected her, she turned her horse’s head and rode straight away +from them, without friend or follower. Hours had elapsed, and +for some time she had been alone in the centre of the round horizon, +when her quick eye perceived some horsemen in the distance. The +party came nearer and nearer; soon it was plain that they were making +towards her, and presently some hundreds of Bedouins, fully armed, galloped +up to her, ferociously shouting, and apparently intending to take her +life at the instant with their pointed spears. Her face at the +time was covered with the <i>yashmak</i>, according to Eastern usage, +but at the moment when the foremost of the horsemen had all but reached +her with their spears, she stood up in her stirrups, withdrew the <i>yashmak</i> +that veiled the terrors of her countenance, waved her arm slowly and +disdainfully, and cried out with a loud voice “Avaunt!” +<a name="citation18"></a><a href="#footnote18">{18}</a> The horsemen +recoiled from her glance, but not in terror. The threatening yells +of the assailants were suddenly changed for loud shouts of joy and admiration +at the bravery of the stately Englishwoman, and festive gunshots were +fired on all sides around her honoured head. The truth was, that +the party belonged to the tribe with which she had allied herself, and +that the threatened attack as well as the pretended apprehension of +an engagement had been contrived for the mere purpose of testing her +courage. The day ended in a great feast prepared to do honour +to the heroine, and from that time her power over the minds of the people +grew rapidly. Lady Hester related this story with great spirit, +and I recollect that she put up her <i>yashmak</i> for a moment in order +to give me a better idea of the effect which she produced by suddenly +revealing the awfulness of her countenance.<br> +<br> +With respect to her then present mode of life, Lady Hester informed +me, that for her sin she had subjected herself during many years to +severe penance, and that her self-denial had not been without its reward. +“Vain and false,” said she, “is all the pretended +knowledge of the Europeans - their doctors will tell you that the drinking +of milk gives yellowness to the complexion; milk is my only food, and +you see if my face be not white.” Her abstinence from food +intellectual was carried as far as her physical fasting. She never, +she said, looked upon a book or a newspaper, but trusted alone to the +stars for her sublime knowledge; she usually passed the nights in communing +with these heavenly teachers, and lay at rest during the daytime. +She spoke with great contempt of the frivolity and benighted ignorance +of the modern Europeans, and mentioned in proof of this, that they were +not only untaught in astrology, but were unacquainted with the common +and every-day phenomena produced by magic art. She spoke as if +she would make me understand that all sorcerous spells were completely +at her command, but that the exercise of such powers would be derogatory +to her high rank in the heavenly kingdom. She said that the spell +by which the face of an absent person is thrown upon a mirror was within +the reach of the humblest and most contemptible magicians, but that +the practice of such-like arts was unholy as well as vulgar.<br> +<br> +We spoke of the bending twig by which, it is said, precious metals may +be discovered. In relation to this, the prophetess told me a story +rather against herself, and inconsistent with the notion of her being +perfect in her science; but I think that she mentioned the facts as +having happened before the time at which she attained to the great spiritual +authority which she now arrogated. She told me that vast treasures +were known to exist in a situation which she mentioned, if I rightly +remember, as being near Suez; that Napoleon, profanely brave, thrust +his arm into the cave containing the coveted gold, and that instantly +his flesh became palsied, but the youthful hero (for she said he was +great in his generation) was not to be thus daunted; he fell back characteristically +upon his brazen resources, and ordered up his artillery; but man could +not strive with demons, and Napoleon was foiled. In after years +came Ibrahim Pasha, with heavy guns, and wicked spells to boot, but +the infernal guardians of the treasure were too strong for him. +It was after this that Lady Hester passed by the spot, and she described +with animated gesture the force and energy with which the divining twig +had suddenly leaped in her hands. She ordered excavations, and +no demons opposed her enterprise; the vast chest in which the treasure +had been deposited was at length discovered, but lo and behold, it was +full of pebbles! She said, however, that the times were approaching +in which the hidden treasures of the earth would become available to +those who had true knowledge.<br> +<br> +Speaking of Ibrahim Pasha, Lady Hester said that he was a bold, bad +man, and was possessed of some of those common and wicked magical arts +upon which she looked down with so much contempt. She said, for +instance, that Ibrahim’s life was charmed against balls and steel, +and that after a battle he loosened the folds of his shawl and shook +out the bullets like dust.<br> +<br> +It seems that the St. Simonians once made overtures to Lady Hester. +She told me that the Père Enfantin (the chief of the sect) had +sent her a service of plate, but that she had declined to receive it. +She delivered a prediction as to the probability of the St. Simonians +finding the “mystic mother,” and this she did in a way which +would amuse you. Unfortunately I am not at liberty to mention +this part of the woman’s prophecies; why, I cannot tell, but so +it is, that she bound me to eternal secrecy.<br> +<br> +Lady Hester told me that since her residence at Djoun she had been attacked +by a terrible illness, which rendered her for a long time perfectly +helpless; all her attendants fled, and left her to perish. Whilst +she lay thus alone, and quite unable to rise, robbers came and carried +away her property. <a name="citation19"></a><a href="#footnote19">{19}</a> +She told me that they actually unroofed a great part of the building, +and employed engines with pulleys, for the purpose of hoisting out such +of her valuables as were too bulky to pass through doors. It would +seem that before this catastrophe Lady Hester had been rich in the possession +of Eastern luxuries; for she told me, that when the chiefs of the Ottoman +force took refuge with her after the fall of Acre, they brought their +wives also in great numbers. To all of these Lady Hester, as she +said, presented magnificent dresses; but her generosity occasioned strife +only instead of gratitude, for every woman who fancied her present less +splendid than that of another with equal or less pretension, became +absolutely furious: all these audacious guests had now been got rid +of, but the Albanian soldiers, who had taken refuge with Lady Hester +at the same time, still remained under her protection.<br> +<br> +In truth, this half-ruined convent, guarded by the proud heart of an +English gentlewoman, was the only spot throughout all Syria and Palestine +in which the will of Mehemet Ali and his fierce lieutenant was not the +law. More than once had the Pasha of Egypt commanded that Ibrahim +should have the Albanians delivered up to him, but this white woman +of the mountain (grown classical not by books, but by very pride) answered +only with a disdainful invitation to “come and take them.” +Whether it was that Ibrahim was acted upon by any superstitious dread +of interfering with the prophetess (a notion not at all incompatible +with his character as an able Oriental commander), or that he feared +the ridicule of putting himself in collision with a gentlewoman, he +certainly never ventured to attack the sanctuary, and so long as the +Chatham’s granddaughter breathed a breath of life there was always +this one hillock, and that too in the midst of a most populous district, +which stood out, and kept its freedom. Mehemet Ali used to say, +I am told, that the Englishwoman had given him more trouble than all +the insurgent people of Syria and Palestine.<br> +<br> +The prophetess announced to me that we were upon the eve of a stupendous +convulsion, which would destroy the then recognised value of all property +upon earth; and declaring that those only who should be in the East +at the time of the great change could hope for greatness in the new +life that was now close at hand, she advised me, whilst there was yet +time, to dispose of my property in poor frail England, and gain a station +in Asia. She told me that, after leaving her, I should go into +Egypt, but that in a little while I should return into Syria. +I secretly smiled at this last prophecy as a “bad shot,” +for I had fully determined after visiting the Pyramids to take ship +from Alexandria for Greece. But men struggle vainly in the meshes +of their destiny. The unbelieved Cassandra was right after all; +the plague came, and the necessity of avoiding the quarantine, to which +I should have been subjected if I had sailed from Alexandria, forced +me to alter my route. I went down into Egypt, and stayed there +for a time, and then crossed the desert once more, and came back to +the mountains of the Lebanon, exactly as the prophetess had foretold.<br> +<br> +Lady Hester talked to me long and earnestly on the subject of religion, +announcing that the Messiah was yet to come. She strived to impress +me with the vanity and the falseness of all European creeds, as well +as with a sense of her own spiritual greatness: throughout her conversation +upon these high topics she carefully insinuated, without actually asserting, +her heavenly rank.<br> +<br> +Amongst other much more marvellous powers, the lady claimed to have +one which most women, I fancy, possess namely, that of reading men’s +characters in their faces. She examined the line of my features +very attentively, and told me the result, which, however, I mean to +keep hidden.<br> +<br> +One favoured subject of discourse was that of “race,” +upon which she was very diffuse, and yet rather mysterious. She +set great value upon the ancient French <a name="citation20"></a><a href="#footnote20">{20}</a> +(not Norman blood, for that she vilified), but did not at all appreciate +that which we call in this country “an old family.” +She had a vast idea of the Cornish miners on account of their race, +and said, if she chose, she could give me the means of rousing them +to the most tremendous enthusiasm.<br> +<br> +Such are the topics on which the lady mainly conversed, but very often +she would descend to more worldly chat, and then she was no longer the +prophetess, but the sort of woman that you sometimes see, I am told, +in London drawing-rooms - cool, decisive in manner, unsparing of enemies, +full of audacious fun, and saying the downright things that the sheepish +society around her is afraid to utter. I am told that Lady Hester +was in her youth a capital mimic, and she showed me that not all the +queenly dulness to which she had condemned herself, not all her fasting +and solitude, had destroyed this terrible power. The first whom +she crucified in my presence was poor Lord Byron. She had seen +him, it appeared, I know not where, soon after his arrival in the East, +and was vastly amused at his little affectations. He had picked +up a few sentences of the Romantic, with which he affected to give orders +to his Greek servant. I can’t tell whether Lady Hester’s +mimicry of the bard was at all close, but it was amusing; she attributed +to him a curiously coxcombical lisp.<br> +<br> +Another person whose style of speaking the lady took off very amusingly +was one who would scarcely object to suffer by the side of Lord Byron +- I mean Lamartine, who had visited her in the course of his travels. +The peculiarity which attracted her ridicule was an over-refinement +of manner: according to my lady’s imitation of Lamartine (I have +never seen him myself), he had none of the violent grimace of his countrymen, +and not even their usual way of talking, but rather bore himself mincingly, +like the humbler sort of English dandy. <a name="citation21"></a><a href="#footnote21">{21}</a><br> +<br> +Lady Hester seems to have heartily despised everything approaching to +exquisiteness. She told me, by-the-bye (and her opinion upon that +subject is worth having), that a downright manner, amounting even to +brusqueness, is more effective than any other with the Oriental; and +that amongst the English of all ranks and all classes there is no man +so attractive to the Orientals, no man who can negotiate with them half +so effectively, as a good, honest, open-hearted, and positive naval +officer of the old school.<br> +<br> +I have told you, I think, that Lady Hester could deal fiercely with +those she hated. One man above all others (he is now uprooted +from society, and cast away for ever) she blasted with her wrath. +You would have thought that in the scornfulness of her nature she must +have sprung upon her foe with more of fierceness than of skill; but +this was not so, for with all the force and vehemence of her invective +she displayed a sober, patient, and minute attention to the details +of vituperation, which contributed to its success a thousand times more +than mere violence.<br> +<br> +During the hours that this sort of conversation, or rather discourse, +was going on our <i>tchibouques</i> were from time to time replenished, +and the lady as well as I continued to smoke with little or no intermission +till the interview ended. I think that the fragrant fumes of the +latakiah must have helped to keep me on my good behaviour as a patient +disciple of the prophetess.<br> +<br> +It was not till after midnight that my visit for the evening came to +an end. When I quitted my seat the lady rose and stood up in the +same formal attitude (almost that of a soldier in a state of “attention”) +which she had assumed at my entrance; at the same time she let go the +drapery which she had held over her lap whilst sitting and allowed it +to fall to the ground.<br> +<br> +The next morning after breakfast I was visited by my lady’s secretary +- the only European, except the doctor, whom she retained in her household. +This secretary, like the doctor, was Italian, but he preserved more +signs of European dress and European pretensions than his medical fellow-slave. +He spoke little or no English, though he wrote it pretty well, having +been formerly employed in a mercantile house connected with England. +The poor fellow was in an unhappy state of mind. In order to make +you understand the extent of his spiritual anxieties, I ought to have +told you that the doctor <a name="citation22"></a><a href="#footnote22">{22}</a> +(who had sunk into the complete Asiatic, and had condescended accordingly +to the performance of even menial services) had adopted the common faith +of all the neighbouring people, and had become a firm and happy believer +in the divine power of his mistress. Not so the secretary. +When I had strolled with him to a distance from the building, which +rendered him safe from being overheard by human ears, he told me in +a hollow voice, trembling with emotion, that there were times at which +he doubted the divinity of “milèdi.” +I said nothing to encourage the poor fellow in that frightful state +of scepticism which, if indulged, might end in positive infidelity. +I found that her ladyship had rather arbitrarily abridged the amusements +of her secretary, forbidding him from shooting small birds on the mountain-side. +This oppression had arouses in him a spirit of inquiry that might end +fatally, perhaps for himself, perhaps for the “religion of the +place.”<br> +<br> +The secretary told me that his mistress was greatly disliked by the +surrounding people, whom she oppressed by her exactions, and the truth +of this statement was borne out by the way in which my lady spoke to +me of her neighbours. But in Eastern countries hate and veneration +are very commonly felt for the same object, and the general belief in +the superhuman power of this wonderful white lady, her resolute and +imperious character, and above all, perhaps, her fierce Albanians (not +backward to obey an order for the sacking of a village), inspired sincere +respect amongst the surrounding inhabitants. Now the being “respected” +amongst Orientals is not an empty or merely honorary distinction, but +carries with it a clear right to take your neighbour’s corn, his +cattle, his eggs, and his honey, and almost anything that is his, except +his wives. This law was acted upon by the princess of Djoun, and +her establishment was supplied by contributions apportioned amongst +the nearest of the villages.<br> +<br> +I understood that the Albanians (restrained, I suppose, by the dread +of being delivered up to Ibrahim) had not given any very troublesome +proofs of their unruly natures. The secretary told me that their +rations, including a small allowance of coffee and tobacco, were served +out to them with tolerable regularity.<br> +<br> +I asked the secretary how Lady Hester was off for horses, and said that +I would take a look at the stable. The man did not raise any opposition +to my proposal, and affected no mystery about the matter, but said that +the only two steeds which then belonged to her ladyship were of a very +humble sort. This answer, and a storm of rain then beginning to +descend, prevented me at the time from undertaking my journey to the +stable, which was at some distance from the part of the building in +which I was quartered, and I don’t know that I ever thought of +the matter afterwards until my return to England, when I saw Lamartine’s +eye-witnessing account of the horse saddled by the hands of his Maker!<br> +<br> +When I returned to my apartment (which, as my hostess told me, was the +only one in the whole building that kept out the rain) her ladyship +sent to say that she would be glad to receive me again. I was +rather surprised at this, for I had understood that she reposed during +the day, and it was now little later than noon. “Really,” +said she, when I had taken my seat and my pipe, “we were together +for hours last night, and still I have heard nothing at all of my old +friends; now <i>do</i> tell me something of your dear mother and her +sister; I never knew your father - it was after I left Burton Pynsent +that your mother married.” I began to make slow answer, +but my questioner soon went off again to topics more sublime, so that +this second interview, which lasted two or three hours, was occupied +by the same sort of varied discourse as that which I have been describing.<br> +<br> +In the course of the afternoon the captain of an English man-of-war +arrived at Djoun, and her ladyship determined to receive him for the +same reason as that which had induced her to allow my visit, namely, +an early intimacy with his family. I and the new visitor, who +was a pleasant, amusing person, dined together, and we were afterwards +invited to the presence of my lady, with whom we sat smoking and talking +till midnight. The conversation turned chiefly, I think, upon +magical science. I had determined to be off at an early hour the +next morning, and so at the end of this interview I bade my lady farewell. +With her parting words she once more advised me to abandon Europe and +seek my reward in the East, and she urged me too to give the like counsels +to my father, and tell him that “<i>She had said it</i>.”<br> +<br> +Lady Hester’s unholy claim to supremacy in the spiritual kingdom +was, no doubt, the suggestion of fierce and inordinate pride most perilously +akin to madness, but I am quite sure that the mind of the woman was +too strong to be thoroughly overcome by even this potent feeling. +I plainly saw that she was not an unhesitating follower of her own system, +and I even fancied that I could distinguish the brief moments during +which she contrived to believe in herself, from those long and less +happy intervals in which her own reason was too strong for her.<br> +<br> +As for the lady’s faith in astrology and magic science, you are +not for a moment to suppose that this implied any aberration of intellect. +She believed these things in common with those around her, for she seldom +spoke to anybody except crazy old dervishes, who received her alms, +and fostered her extravagancies, and even when (as on the occasion of +my visit) she was brought into contact with a person entertaining different +notions, she still remained uncontradicted. This <i>entourage</i> +and the habit of fasting from books and newspapers were quite enough +to make her a facile recipient of any marvellous story.<br> +<br> +I think that in England we are scarcely sufficiently conscious of the +great debt we owe to the wise and watchful press which presides over +the formation of our opinions, and which brings about this splendid +result, namely, that in matters of belief the humblest of us are lifted +up to the level of the most sagacious, so that really a simple cornet +in the Blues is no more likely to entertain a foolish belief about ghosts +or witchcraft, or any other supernatural topic, than the Lord High Chancellor +or the Leader of the House of Commons. How different is the intellectual +regime of Eastern countries! In Syria and Palestine and Egypt +you might as well dispute the efficacy of grass or grain as of magic. +There is no controversy about the matter. The effect of this, +the unanimous belief of an ignorant people upon the mind of a stranger, +is extremely curious, and well worth noticing. A man coming freshly +from Europe is at first proof against the nonsense with which he is +assailed, but often it happens that after a little while the social +atmosphere in which he lives will begin to infect him, and if he has +been unaccustomed to the cunning of fence by which Reason prepares the +means of guarding herself against fallacy, he will yield himself at +last to the faith of those around him, and this he will do by sympathy, +it would seem, rather than from conviction. I have been much interested +in observing that the mere “practical man,” however skilful +and shrewd in his own way, has not the kind of power that will enable +him to resist the gradual impression made upon his mind by the common +opinion of those whom he sees and hears from day to day. Even +amongst the English (whose good sense and sound religious knowledge +would be likely to guard them from error) I have known the calculating +merchant, the inquisitive traveller, and the post-captain, with his +bright, wakeful eye of command - I have known all these surrender themselves +to the <i>really</i> magic-like influence of other people’s minds. +Their language at first is that they are “staggered,” leading +you by that expression to suppose that they had been witnesses to some +phenomenon, which it was very difficult to account for otherwise than +by supernatural causes; but when I have questioned further, I have always +found that these “staggering” wonders were not even specious +enough to be looked upon as good “tricks.” A man in +England who gained his whole livelihood as a conjurer would soon be +starved to death if he could perform no better miracles than those which +are wrought with so much effect in Syria and Egypt; <i>sometimes</i>, +no doubt, a magician will make a good hit (Sir John once said a “good +thing”), but all such successes range, of course, under the head +of mere “tentative miracles,” as distinguished by the strong-brained +Paley.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER IX - THE SANCTUARY<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +I crossed the plain of Esdraelon and entered amongst the hills of beautiful +Galilee. It was at sunset that my path brought me sharply round +into the gorge of a little valley, and close upon a grey mass of dwellings +that lay happily nestled in the lap of the mountain. There was +one only shining point still touched with the light of the sun, who +had set for all besides; a brave sign this to “holy” Shereef +and the rest of my Moslem men, for the one glittering summit was the +head of a minaret, and the rest of the seeming village that had veiled +itself so meekly under the shades of evening was Christian Nazareth!<br> +<br> +Within the precincts of the Latin convent in which I was quartered there +stands the great Catholic church which encloses the sanctuary, the dwelling +of the blessed Virgin. <a name="citation23"></a><a href="#footnote23">{23}</a> +This is a grotto of about ten feet either way, forming a little chapel +or recess, to which you descend by steps. It is decorated with +splendour. On the left hand a column of granite hangs from the +top of the grotto to within a few feet of the ground; immediately beneath +it is another column of the same size, which rises from the ground as +if to meet the one above; but between this and the suspended pillar +there is an interval of more than a foot; these fragments once formed +a single column, against which the angel leant when he spoke and told +to Mary the mystery of her awful blessedness. Hard by, near the +altar, the holy Virgin was kneeling.<br> +<br> +I had been journeying (cheerily indeed, for the voices of my followers +were ever within my hearing, but yet), as it were, in solitude, for +I had no comrade to whet the edge of my reason, or wake me from my noonday +dreams. I was left all alone to be taught and swayed by the beautiful +circumstances of Palestine travelling - by the clime, and the land, +and the name of the land, with all its mighty import; by the glittering +freshness of the sward, and the abounding masses of flowers that furnished +my sumptuous pathway; by the bracing and fragrant air that seemed to +poise me in my saddle, and to lift me along as a planet appointed to +glide through space.<br> +<br> +And the end of my journey was Nazareth, the home of the blessed Virgin! +In the first dawn of my manhood the old painters of Italy had taught +me their dangerous worship of the beauty that is more than mortal, but +those images all seemed shadowy now, and floated before me so dimly, +the one overcasting the other, that they left me no one sweet idol on +which I could look and look again and say, “Maria mia!” +Yet they left me more than an idol; they left me (for to them I am wont +to trace it) a faint apprehension of beauty not compassed with lines +and shadows; they touched me (forgive, proud Marie of Anjou!) - they +touched me with a faith in loveliness transcending mortal shapes.<br> +<br> +I came to Nazareth, and was led from the convent to the sanctuary. +Long fasting will sometimes heat my brain and draw me away out of the +world - will disturb my judgment, confuse my notions of right and wrong, +and weaken my power of choosing the right: I had fasted perhaps too +long, for I was fevered with the zeal of an insane devotion to the heavenly +queen of Christendom. But I knew the feebleness of this gentle +malady, and knew how easily my watchful reason, if ever so slightly +provoked, would drag me back to life. Let there but come one chilling +breath of the outer world, and all this loving piety would cower and +fly before the sound of my own bitter laugh. And so as I went +I trod tenderly, not looking to the right nor to the left, but bending +my eyes to the ground.<br> +<br> +The attending friar served me well; he led me down quietly and all but +silently to the Virgin’s home. The mystic air was so burnt +with the consuming flames of the altar, and so laden with incense, that +my chest laboured strongly, and heaved with luscious pain. There +- there with beating heart the Virgin knelt and listened. I strived +to grasp and hold with my riveted eyes some one of the feigned Madonnas, +but of all the heaven-lit faces imagined by men there was none that +would abide with me in this the very sanctuary. Impatient of vacancy, +I grew madly strong against Nature, and if by some awful spell, some +impious rite, I could - Oh most sweet Religion, that bid me fear God, +and be pious, and yet not cease from loving! Religion and gracious +custom commanded me that I fall down loyally and kiss the rock that +blessed Mary pressed. With a half consciousness, with the semblance +of a thrilling hope that I was plunging deep, deep into my first knowledge +of some most holy mystery, or of some new rapturous and daring sin, +I knelt, and bowed down my face till I met the smooth rock with my lips. +One moment - one moment my heart, or some old pagan demon within me, +woke up, and fiercely bounded; my bosom was lifted, and swung, as though +I had touched her warm robe. One moment, one more, and then the +fever had left me. I rose from my knees. I felt hopelessly +sane. The mere world reappeared. My good old monk was there, +dangling his key with listless patience, and as he guided me from the +church, and talked of the refectory and the coming repast, I listened +to his words with some attention and pleasure.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER X - THE MONKS OF PALESTINE<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Whenever you come back to me from Palestine we will find some “golden +wine” <a name="citation24"></a><a href="#footnote24">{24}</a> +of Lebanon, that we may celebrate with apt libations the monks of the +Holy Land, and though the poor fellows be theoretically “dead +to the world,” we will drink to every man of them a good long +life, and a merry one! Graceless is the traveller who forgets +his obligations to these saints upon earth; little love has he for merry +Christendom if he has not rejoiced with great joy to find in the very +midst of water-drinking infidels those lowly monasteries, in which the +blessed juice of the grape is quaffed in peace. Ay! ay! we will +fill our glasses till they look like cups of amber, and drink profoundly +to our gracious hosts in Palestine.<br> +<br> +Christianity permits, and sanctions, the drinking of wine, and of all +the holy brethren in Palestine there are none who hold fast to this +gladsome rite so strenuously as the monks of Damascus; not that they +are more zealous Christians than the rest of their fellows in the Holy +Land, but that they have better wine. Whilst I was at Damascus +I had my quarters at the Franciscan convent there, and very soon after +my arrival I asked one of the monks to let me know something of the +spots that deserved to be seen. I made my inquiry in reference +to the associations with which the city had been hallowed by the sojourn +and adventures of St. Paul. “There is nothing in all Damascus,” +said the good man, “half so well worth seeing as our cellars”; +and forthwith he invited me to go, see, and admire the long range of +liquid treasure that he and his brethren had laid up for themselves +on earth. And these I soon found were not as the treasures of +the miser, that lie in unprofitable disuse, for day by day, and hour +by hour, the golden juice ascended from the dark recesses of the cellar +to the uppermost brains of the friars. Dear old fellows! in the +midst of that solemn land their Christian laughter rang loudly and merrily, +their eyes kept flashing with joyous bonfires, and their heavy woollen +petticoats could no more weigh down the springiness of their paces, +than the filmy gauze of a <i>danseuse</i> can clog her bounding step.<br> +<br> +You would be likely enough to fancy that these monastics are men who +have retired to the sacred sites of Palestine from an enthusiastic longing +to devote themselves to the exercise of religion in the midst of the +very land on which its first seeds were cast; and this is partially, +at least, the case with the monks of the Greek Church, but it is not +with enthusiasts that the Catholic establishments are filled. +The monks of the Latin convents are chiefly persons of the peasant class +from Italy and Spain, who have been handed over to these remote asylums +by order of their ecclesiastical superiors, and can no more account +for their being in the Holy Land, than men of marching regiments can +explain why they are in “stupid quarters.” I believe +that these monks are for the most part well conducted men, punctual +in their ceremonial duties, and altogether humble-minded Christians. +Their humility is not at all misplaced, for you see at a glance (poor +fellows!) that they belong to the <i>lag remove</i> of the human race. +If the taking of the cowl does not imply a complete renouncement of +the world, it is at least (in these days) a thorough farewell to every +kind of useful and entertaining knowledge, and accordingly the low bestial +brow and the animal caste of those almost Bourbon features show plainly +enough that all the intellectual vanities of life have been really and +truly abandoned. But it is hard to quench altogether the spirit +of inquiry that stirs in the human breast, and accordingly these monks +inquire - they are <i>always</i> inquiring inquiring for “news”! +Poor fellows! they could scarcely have yielded themselves to the sway +of any passion more difficult of gratification, for they have no means +of communicating with the busy world except through European travellers; +and these, in consequence I suppose of that restlessness and irritability +that generally haunt their wanderings, seem to have always avoided the +bore of giving any information to their hosts. As for me, I am +more patient and good-natured, and when I found that the kind monks +who gathered round me at Nazareth were longing to know the real truth +about the General Bonaparte who had recoiled from the siege of Acre, +I softened my heart down to the good humour of Herodotus, and calmly +began to “sing history,” telling my eager hearers of the +French Empire and the greatness of its glory, and of Waterloo and the +fall of Napoleon! Now my story of this marvellous ignorance on +the part of the poor monks is one upon which (though depending on my +own testimony) I look “with considerable suspicion.” +It is quite true (how silly it would be to <i>invent</i> anything so +witless!), and yet I think I could satisfy the mind of a “reasonable +man” that it is false. Many of the older monks must have +been in Europe at the time when the Italy and the Spain from which they +came were in act of taking their French lessons, or had parted so lately +with their teachers, that not to know of “the Emperor” was +impossible, and these men could scarcely, therefore, have failed to +bring with them some tidings of Napoleon’s career. Yet I +say that that which I have written is true - the one who believes because +I have said it will be right (she always is), whilst poor Mr. “reasonable +man,” who is convinced by the weight of my argument, will be completely +deceived.<br> +<br> +In Spanish politics, however, the monks are better instructed. +The revenues of the monasteries, which had been principally supplied +by the bounty of their most Catholic majesties, have been withheld since +Ferdinand’s death, and the interests of these establishments being +thus closely involved in the destinies of Spain, it is not wonderful +that the brethren should be a little more knowing in Spanish affairs +than in other branches of history. Besides, a large proportion +of the monks were natives of the Peninsula. To these, I remember, +Mysseri’s familiarity with the Spanish language and character +was a source of immense delight; they were always gathering around him, +and it seemed to me that they treasured like gold the few Castilian +words which he deigned to spare them.<br> +<br> +The monks do a world of good in their way; and there can be no doubting +that previously to the arrival of Bishop Alexander, with his numerous +young family and his pretty English nursemaids, they were the chief +propagandists of Christianity in Palestine. My old friends of +the Franciscan convent at Jerusalem some time since gave proof of their +goodness by delivering themselves up to the peril of death for the sake +of duty. When I was their guest they were forty I believe in number, +and I don’t recollect that there was one of them whom I should +have looked upon as a desirable life-holder of any property to which +I might be entitled in expectancy. Yet these forty were reduced +in a few days to nineteen. The plague was the messenger that summoned +them to a taste of real death; but the circumstances under which they +perished are rather curious; and though I have no authority for the +story except an Italian newspaper, I harbour no doubt of its truth, +for the facts were detailed with minuteness, and strictly corresponded +with all that I knew of the poor fellows to whom they related.<br> +<br> +It was about three months after the time of my leaving Jerusalem that +the plague set his spotted foot on the Holy City. The monks felt +great alarm; they did not shrink from their duty, but for its performance +they chose a plan most sadly well fitted for bringing down upon them +the very death which they were striving to ward off. They imagined +themselves almost safe so long as they remained within their walls; +but then it was quite needful that the Catholic Christians of the place, +who had always looked to the convent for the supply of their spiritual +wants, should receive the aids of religion in the hour of death. +A single monk therefore was chosen, either by lot or by some other fair +appeal to destiny. Being thus singled out, he was to go forth +into the plague-stricken city, and to perform with exactness his priestly +duties; then he was to return, not to the interior of the convent, for +fear of infecting his brethren, but to a detached building (which I +remember) belonging to the establishment, but at some little distance +from the inhabited rooms. He was provided with a bell, and at +a certain hour in the morning he was ordered to ring it, <i>if he</i> +<i>could</i>; but if no sound was heard at the appointed time, then +knew his brethren that he was either delirious or dead, and another +martyr was sent forth to take his place. In this way twenty-one +of the monks were carried off. One cannot well fail to admire +the steadiness with which the dismal scheme was carried through; but +if there be any truth in the notion that disease may be invited by a +frightening imagination, it is difficult to conceive a more dangerous +plan than that which was chosen by these poor fellows. The anxiety +with which they must have expected each day the sound of the bell, the +silence that reigned instead of it, and then the drawing of the lots +(the odds against death being one point lower than yesterday), and the +going forth of the newly doomed man - all this must have widened the +gulf that opens to the shades below. When his victim had already +suffered so much of mental torture, it was but easy work for big bullying +pestilence to follow a forlorn monk from the beds of the dying, and +wrench away his life from him as he lay all alone in an outhouse.<br> +<br> +In most, I believe in all, of the Holy Land convents there are two personages +so strangely raised above their brethren in all that dignifies humanity, +that their bearing the same habit, their dwelling under the same roof, +their worshipping the same God (consistent as all this is with the spirit +of their religion), yet strikes the mind with a sense of wondrous incongruity; +the men I speak of are the “Padre Superiore,” and the “Padre +Missionario.” The former is the supreme and absolute governor +of the establishment over which he is appointed to rule, the latter +is entrusted with the more active of the spiritual duties attaching +to the Pilgrim Church. He is the shepherd of the good Catholic +flock, whose pasture is prepared in the midst of Mussulmans and schismatics; +he keeps the light of the true faith ever vividly before their eyes, +reproves their vices, supports them in their good resolves, consoles +them in their afflictions, and teaches them to hate the Greek Church. +Such are his labours, and you may conceive that great tact must be needed +for conducting with success the spiritual interests of the church under +circumstances so odd as those which surround it in Palestine.<br> +<br> +But the position of the Padre Superiore is still more delicate; he is +almost unceasingly in treaty with the powers that be, and the worldly +prosperity of the establishment over which he presides is in great measure +dependent upon the extent of diplomatic skill which he can employ in +its favour. I know not from what class of churchmen these personages +are chosen, for there is a mystery attending their origin and the circumstance +of their being stationed in these convents, which Rome does not suffer +to be penetrated. I have heard it said that they are men of great +note, and, perhaps, of too high ambition in the Catholic Hierarchy, +who having fallen under the grave censure of the Church, are banished +for fixed periods to these distant monasteries. I believe that +the term during which they are condemned to remain in the Holy Land +is from eight to twelve years. By the natives of the country, +as well as by the rest of the brethren, they are looked upon as superior +beings; and rightly too, for Nature seems to have crowned them in her +own true way.<br> +<br> +The chief of the Jerusalem convent was a noble creature; his worldly +and spiritual authority seemed to have surrounded him, as it were, with +a kind of “court,” and the manly gracefulness of his bearing +did honour to the throne which he filled. There were no lords +of the bedchamber, and no gold sticks and stones in waiting, yet everybody +who approached him looked as though he were being “presented”; +every interview which he granted wore the air of an “audience”; +the brethren as often as they came near bowed low and kissed his hand; +and if he went out, the Catholics of the place that hovered about the +convent would crowd around him with devout affection, and almost scramble +for the blessing which his touch could give. He bore his honours +all serenely, as though calmly conscious of his power to “bind +and to loose.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XI - GALILEE<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Neither old “sacred” <a name="citation25"></a><a href="#footnote25">{25}</a> +himself, nor any of his helpers, knew the road which I meant to take +from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee and from thence to Jerusalem, so +I was forced to add another to my party by hiring a guide. The +associations of Nazareth, as well as my kind feeling towards the hospitable +monks, whose guest I had been, inclined me to set at naught the advice +which I had received against employing Christians. I accordingly +engaged a lithe, active young Nazarene, who was recommended to me by +the monks, and who affected to be familiar with the line of country +through which I intended to pass. My disregard of the popular +prejudices against Christians was not justified in this particular instance +by the result of my choice. This you will see by-and-by.<br> +<br> +I passed by Cana and the house in which the water had been turned into +wine; I came to the field in which our Saviour had rebuked the Scotch +Sabbath-keepers of that period, by suffering His disciples to pluck +corn on the Lord’s day; I rode over the ground on which the fainting +multitude had been fed, and they showed me some massive fragments - +the relics, they said, of that wondrous banquet, now turned into stone. +The petrifaction was most complete.<br> +<br> +I ascended the height on which our Lord was standing when He wrought +the miracle. The hill was lofty enough to show me the fairness +of the land on all sides, but I have an ancient love for the mere features +of a lake, and so forgetting all else when I reached the summit, I looked +away eagerly to the eastward. There she lay, the Sea of Galilee. +Less stern than Wast Water, less fair than gentle Windermere, she had +still the winning ways of an English lake; she caught from the smiling +heavens unceasing light and changeful phases of beauty, and with all +this brightness on her face, she yet clung so fondly to the dull he-looking +mountain at her side, as though she would<br> +<br> +<br> +“Soothe him with her finer fancies,<br> +Touch him with her lighter thought.” <a name="citation26"></a><a href="#footnote26">{26}</a><br> +<br> +<br> +If one might judge of men’s real thoughts by their writings, it +would seem that there are people who can visit an interesting locality +and follow up continuously the exact train of thought that ought to +be suggested by the historical associations of the place. A person +of this sort can go to Athens and think of nothing later than the age +of Pericles; can live with the Scipios as long as he stays in Rome; +can go up in a balloon, and think how resplendently in former times +the now vacant and desolate air was peopled with angels, how prettily +it was crossed at intervals by the rounds of Jacob’s ladder! +I don’t possess this power at all; it is only by snatches, and +for few moments together, that I can really associate a place with its +proper history.<br> +<br> +“There at Tiberias, and along this western shore towards the north, +and upon the bosom too of the lake, our Saviour and His disciples - +” away flew those recollections, and my mind strained eastward, +because that that farthest shore was the end of the world that belongs +to man the dweller, the beginning of the other and veiled world that +is held by the strange race, whose life (like the pastime of Satan) +is a “going to and fro upon the face of the earth.” +From those grey hills right away to the gates of Bagdad stretched forth +the mysterious “desert” - not a pale, void, sandy tract, +but a land abounding in rich pastures, a land without cities or towns, +without any “respectable” people or any “respectable” +things, yet yielding its eighty thousand cavalry to the beck of a few +old men. But once more - “Tiberias - the plain of Gennesareth +- the very earth on which I stood - that the deep low tones of the Saviour’s +voice should have gone forth into eternity from out of the midst of +these hills and these valleys!” - Ay, ay, but yet again the calm +face of the lake was uplifted, and smiled upon my eyes with such familiar +gaze, that the “deep low tones” were hushed, the listening +multitudes all passed away, and instead there came to me a dear old +memory from over the seas in England, a memory sweeter than Gospel to +that poor wilful mortal, me.<br> +<br> +I went to Tiberias, and soon got afloat upon the water. In the +evening I took up my quarters in the Catholic church, and the building +being large enough, the whole of my party were admitted to the benefit +of the same shelter. With portmanteaus and carpet bags, and books +and maps, and fragrant tea, Mysseri soon made me a home on the southern +side of the church. One of old Shereef’s helpers was an +enthusiastic Catholic, and was greatly delighted at having so sacred +a lodging. He lit up the altar with a number of tapers, and when +his preparations were complete, he began to perform his orisons in the +strangest manner imaginable. His lips muttered the prayers of +the Latin Church, but he bowed himself down and laid his forehead to +the stones beneath him after the manner of a Mussulman. The universal +aptness of a religious system for all stages of civilisation, and for +all sorts and conditions of men, well befits its claim of divine origin. +She is of all nations, and of all times, that wonderful Church of Rome!<br> +<br> +Tiberias is one of the four holy cities, <a name="citation27"></a><a href="#footnote27">{27}</a> +according to the Talmud, and it is from this place, or the immediate +neighbourhood of it, that the Messiah is to arise.<br> +<br> +Except at Jerusalem, never think of attempting to sleep in a “holy +city.” Old Jews from all parts of the world go to lay their +bones upon the sacred soil, and as these people never return to their +homes, it follows that any domestic vermin which they may bring with +them are likely to become permanently resident, so that the population +is continually increasing. No recent census had been taken when +I was at Tiberias, but I know that the congregation of fleas which attended +at my church alone must have been something enormous. It was a +carnal, self-seeking congregation, wholly inattentive to the service +which was going on, and devoted to the one object of having my blood. +The fleas of all nations were there. The smug, steady, importunate +flea from Holywell Street; the pert, jumping <i>puce</i> from hungry +France, the wary, watchful <i>pulce</i> with his poisoned stiletto; +the vengeful <i>pulga</i> of Castile with his ugly knife; the German +<i>floh</i> with his knife and fork, insatiate, not rising from table; +whole swarms from all the Russias, and Asiatic hordes unnumbered - all +these were there, and all rejoiced in one great international feast. +I could no more defend myself against my enemies than if I had been +<i>pain à discretion</i> in the hands of a French patriot, or +English gold in the claws of a Pennsylvanian Quaker. After passing +a night like this you are glad to pick up the wretched remains of your +body long, long before morning dawns. Your skin is scorched, your +temples throb, your lips feel withered and dried, your burning eyeballs +are screwed inwards against the brain. You have no hope but only +in the saddle and the freshness of the morning air.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XII - MY FIRST BIVOUAC<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +The course of the Jordan is from the north to the south, and in that +direction, with very little of devious winding, it carries the shining +waters of Galilee straight down into the solitudes of the Dead Sea. +Speaking roughly, the river in that meridian is a boundary between the +people living under roofs and the tented tribes that wander on the farther +side. And so, as I went down in my way from Tiberias towards Jerusalem, +along the western bank of the stream, my thinking all propended to the +ancient world of herdsmen and warriors that lay so close over my bridle +arm.<br> +<br> +If a man, and an Englishman, be not born of his mother with a natural +Chiffney-bit in his mouth, there comes to him a time for loathing the +wearisome ways of society; a time for not liking tamed people; a time +for not dancing quadrilles, not sitting in pews; a time for pretending +that Milton and Shelley, and all sorts of mere dead people, were greater +in death than the first living Lord of the Treasury; a time, in short, +for scoffing and railing, for speaking lightly of the very opera, and +all our most cherished institutions. It is from nineteen to two +or three and twenty perhaps that this war of the man against men is +like to be waged most sullenly. You are yet in this smiling England, +but you find yourself wending away to the dark sides of her mountains, +climbing the dizzy crags, exulting in the fellowship of mists and clouds, +and watching the storms how they gather, or proving the mettle of your +mare upon the broad and dreary downs, because that you feel congenially +with the yet unparcelled earth. A little while you are free and +unlabelled, like the ground that you compass; but civilisation is coming +and coming; you and your much-loved waste lands will be surely enclosed, +and sooner or later brought down to a state of mere usefulness; the +ground will be curiously sliced into acres and roods and perches, and +you, for all you sit so smartly in your saddle, you will be caught, +you will be taken up from travel as a colt from grass, to be trained +and tried, and matched and run. All this in time, but first came +Continental tours and the moody longing for Eastern travel. The +downs and the moors of England can hold you no longer; with large strides +you burst away from these slips and patches of free land; you thread +your path through the crowds of Europe, and at last, on the banks of +Jordan, you joyfully know that you are upon the very frontier of all +accustomed respectabilities. There, on the other side of the river +(you can swim it with one arm), there reigns the people that will be +like to put you to death for <i>not</i> being a vagrant, for <i>not</i> +being a robber, for <i>not</i> being armed and houseless. There +is comfort in that - health, comfort, and strength to one who is dying +from very weariness of that poor, dear, middle-aged, deserving, accomplished, +pedantic, and painstaking governess, Europe.<br> +<br> +I had ridden for some hours along the right bank of Jordan when I came +to the Djesr el Medjamé (an old Roman bridge, I believe), which +crossed the river. My Nazarene guide was riding ahead of the party, +and now, to my surprise and delight, he turned leftwards, and led on +over the bridge. I knew that the true road to Jerusalem must be +mainly by the right bank of Jordan, but I supposed that my guide was +crossing the bridge at this spot in order to avoid some bend in the +river, and that he knew of a ford lower down by which we should regain +the western bank. I made no question about the road, for I was +but too glad to set my horse’s hoofs upon the land of the wandering +tribes. None of my party except the Nazarene knew the country. +On we went through rich pastures upon the eastern side of the water. +I looked for the expected bend of the river, but far as I could see +it kept a straight southerly course; I still left my guide unquestioned.<br> +<br> +The Jordan is not a perfectly accurate boundary betwixt roofs and tents, +for soon after passing the bridge I came upon a cluster of huts. +Some time afterwards the guide, upon being closely questioned by my +servants, confessed that the village which we had left behind was the +last that we should see, but he declared that he knew a spot at which +we should find an encampment of friendly Bedouins, who would receive +me with all hospitality. I had long determined not to leave the +East without seeing something of the wandering tribes, but I had looked +forward to this as a pleasure to be found in the desert between El Arish +and Egypt; I had no idea that the Bedouins on the east of Jordan were +accessible. My delight was so great at the near prospect of bread +and salt in the tent of an Arab warrior, that I wilfully allowed my +guide to go on and mislead me. I saw that he was taking me out +of the straight route towards Jerusalem, and was drawing me into the +midst of the Bedouins; but the idea of his betraying me seemed (I know +not why) so utterly absurd, that I could not entertain it for a moment. +I fancied it possible that the fellow had taken me out of my route in +order to attempt some little mercantile enterprise with the tribe for +which he was seeking, and I was glad of the opportunity which I might +thus gain of coming in contact with the wanderers.<br> +<br> +Not long after passing the village a horseman met us. It appeared +that some of the cavalry of Ibrahim Pasha had crossed the river for +the sake of the rich pastures on the eastern bank, and that this man +was one of the troopers. He stopped and saluted; he was obviously +surprised at meeting an unarmed, or half-armed, cavalcade, and at last +fairly told us that we were on the wrong side of the river, and that +if we proceeded we must lay our account with falling amongst robbers. +All this while, and throughout the day, my Nazarene kept well ahead +of the party, and was constantly up in his stirrups, straining forward +and searching the distance for some objects which still remained unseen.<br> +<br> +For the rest of the day we saw no human being; we pushed on eagerly +in the hope of coming up with the Bedouins before nightfall. Night +came, and we still went on in our way till about ten o’clock. +Then the thorough darkness of the night, and the weariness of our beasts +(which had already done two good days’ journey in one), forced +us to determine upon coming to a standstill. Upon the heights +to the eastward we saw lights; these shone from caves on the mountain-side, +inhabited, as the Nazarene told us, by rascals of a low sort - not real +Bedouins, men whom we might frighten into harmlessness, but from whom +there was no willing hospitality to be expected.<br> +<br> +We heard at a little distance the brawling of a rivulet, and on the +banks of this it was determined to establish our bivouac. We soon +found the stream, and following its course for a few yards, came to +a spot which was thought to be fit for our purpose. It was a sharply +cold night in February, and when I dismounted I found myself standing +upon some wet rank herbage that promised ill for the comfort of our +resting-place. I had bad hopes of a fire, for the pitchy darkness +of the night was a great obstacle to any successful search for fuel, +and besides, the boughs of trees or bushes would be so full of sap in +this early spring, that they would not be easily persuaded to burn. +However, we were not likely to submit to a dark and cold bivouac without +an effort, and my fellows groped forward through the darkness, till +after advancing a few paces they were happily stopped by a complete +barrier of dead prickly bushes. Before our swords could be drawn +to reap this welcome harvest it was found to our surprise that the fuel +was already hewn and strewed along the ground in a thick mass. +A spot for the fire was found with some difficulty, for the earth was +moist and the grass high and rank. At last there was a clicking +of flint and steel, and presently there stood out from darkness one +of the tawny faces of my muleteers, bent down to near the ground, and +suddenly lit up by the glowing of the spark which he courted with careful +breath. Before long there was a particle of dry fibre or leaf +that kindled to a tiny flame; then another was lit from that, and then +another. Then small crisp twigs, little bigger than bodkins, were +laid athwart the glowing fire. The swelling cheeks of the muleteer, +laid level with the earth, blew tenderly at first and then more boldly +upon the young flame, which was daintily nursed and fed, and fed more +plentifully when it gained good strength. At last a whole armful +of dry bushes was piled up over the fire, and presently, with a loud +cheery crackling and crackling, a royal tall blaze shot up from the +earth and showed me once more the shapes and faces of my men, and the +dim outlines of the horses and mules that stood grazing hard by.<br> +<br> +My servants busied themselves in unpacking the baggage as though we +had arrived at an hotel - Shereef and his helpers unsaddled their cattle. +We had left Tiberias without the slightest idea that we were to make +our way to Jerusalem along the desolate side of the Jordan, and my servants +(generally provident in those matters) had brought with them only, I +think, some unleavened bread and a rocky fragment of goat’s milk +cheese. These treasures were produced. Tea and the contrivances +for making it were always a standing part of my baggage. My men +gathered in circle round the fire. The Nazarene was in a false +position from having misled us so strangely, and he would have shrunk +back, poor devil, into the cold and outer darkness, but I made him draw +near and share the luxuries of the night. My quilt and my pelisse +were spread, and the rest of my party had all their capotes or pelisses, +or robes of some sort, which furnished their couches. The men +gathered in circle, some kneeling, some sitting, some lying reclined +around our common hearth. Sometimes on one, sometimes on another, +the flickering light would glare more fiercely. Sometimes it was +the good Shereef that seemed the foremost, as he sat with venerable +beard the image of manly piety - unknowing of all geography, unknowing +where he was or whither he might go, but trusting in the goodness of +God and the clinching power of fate and the good star of the Englishman. +Sometimes, like marble, the classic face of the Greek Mysseri would +catch the sudden light, and then again by turns the ever-perturbed Dthemetri, +with his old Chinaman’s eye and bristling, terrier-like moustache, +shone forth illustrious.<br> +<br> +I always liked the men who attended me on these Eastern travels, for +they were all of them brave, cheery-hearted fellows; and although their +following my career brought upon them a pretty large share of those +toils and hardships which are so much more amusing to gentlemen than +to servants, yet not one of them ever uttered or hinted a syllable of +complaint, or even affected to put on an air of resignation. I +always liked them, but never perhaps so much as when they were thus +grouped together under the light of the bivouac fire. I felt towards +them as my comrades rather than as my servants, and took delight in +breaking bread with them, and merrily passing the cup.<br> +<br> +The love of tea is a glad source of fellow-feeling between the Englishman +and the Asiatic. In Persia it is drunk by all, and although it +is a luxury that is rarely within the reach of the Osmanlees, there +are few of them who do not know and love the blessed <i>tchäi</i>. +Our camp-kettle, filled from the brook, hummed doubtfully for a while, +then busily bubbled under the sidelong glare of the flames; cups clinked +and rattled; the fragrant steam ascended, and soon this little circlet +in the wilderness grew warm and genial as my lady’s drawing-room.<br> +<br> +And after this there came the <i>tchibouque</i> - great comforter of +those that are hungry and wayworn. And it has this virtue - it +helps to destroy the <i>gêne</i> and awkwardness which one sometimes +feels at being in company with one’s dependents; for whilst the +amber is at your lips, there is nothing ungracious in your remaining +silent, or speaking pithily in short inter-whiff sentences. And +for us that night there was pleasant and plentiful matter of talk; for +the where we should be on the morrow, and the wherewithal we should +be fed, whether by some ford we should regain the western bank of Jordan, +or find bread and salt under the tents of a wandering tribe, or whether +we should fall into the hands of the Philistines, and so come to see +death - the last and greatest of all “the fine sights” that +there be - these were questionings not dull nor wearisome to us, for +we were all concerned in the answers. And it was not an all-imagined +morrow that we probed with our sharp guesses, for the lights of those +low Philistines, the men of the caves, still hung over our heads, and +we knew by their yells that the fire of our bivouac had shown us.<br> +<br> +At length we thought it well to seek for sleep. Our plans were +laid for keeping up a good watch through the night. My quilt and +my pelisse and my cloak were spread out so that I might lie spokewise, +with my feet towards the central fire. I wrapped my limbs daintily +round, and gave myself positive orders to sleep like a veteran soldier. +But I found that my attempt to sleep upon the earth that God gave me +was more new and strange than I had fancied it. I had grown used +to the scene which was before me whilst I was sitting or reclining by +the side of the fire, but now that I laid myself down at length it was +the deep black mystery of the heavens that hung over my eyes - not an +earthly thing in the way from my own very forehead right up to the end +of all space. I grew proud of my boundless bedchamber. I +might have “found sermons” in all this greatness (if I had +I should surely have slept), but such was not then my way. If +this cherished self of mine had built the universe, I should have dwelt +with delight on “the wonders of creation.” As it was, +I felt rather the vainglory of my promotion from out of mere rooms and +houses into the midst of that grand, dark, infinite palace.<br> +<br> +And then, too, my head, far from the fire, was in cold latitudes, and +it seemed to me strange that I should be lying so still and passive, +whilst the sharp night breeze walked free over my cheek, and the cold +damp clung to my hair, as though my face grew in the earth and must +bear with the footsteps of the wind and the falling of the dew as meekly +as the grass of the field. Besides, I got puzzled and distracted +by having to endure heat and cold at the same time, for I was always +considering whether my feet were not over-devilled and whether my face +was not too well iced. And so when from time to time the watch +quietly and gently kept up the languishing fire, he seldom, I think, +was unseen to my restless eyes. Yet at last, when they called +me and said that the morn would soon be dawning, I rose from a state +of half-oblivion not much unlike to sleep, though sharply qualified +by a sort of vegetable’s consciousness of having been growing +still colder and colder for many and many an hour.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XIII - THE DEAD SEA<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +The grey light of the morning showed us for the first time the ground +which we had chosen for our resting-place. We found that we had +bivouacked upon a little patch of barley plainly belonging to the men +of the caves. The dead bushes which we found so happily placed +in readiness for our fire had been strewn as a fence for the protection +of the little crop. This was the only cultivated spot of ground +which we had seen for many a league, and I was rather sorry to find +that our night fire and our cattle had spread so much ruin upon this +poor solitary slip of corn-land.<br> +<br> +The saddling and loading of our beasts was a work which generally took +nearly an hour, and before this was half over daylight came. We +could now see the men of the caves. They collected in a body, +amounting, I should think, to nearly fifty, and rushed down towards +our quarters with fierce shouts and yells. But the nearer they +got the slower they went; their shouts grew less resolute in tone, and +soon ceased altogether. The fellows, however, advanced to a thicket +within thirty yards of us, and behind this “took up their position.” +My men without premeditation did exactly that which was best; they kept +steadily to their work of loading the beasts without fuss or hurry; +and whether it was that they instinctively felt the wisdom of keeping +quiet, or that they merely obeyed the natural inclination to silence +which one feels in the early morning, I cannot tell, but I know that, +except when they exchanged a syllable or two relative to the work they +were about, not a word was said. I now believe that this quietness +of our party created an undefined terror in the minds of the cave-holders +and scared them from coming on; it gave them a notion that we were relying +on some resources which they knew not of. Several times the fellows +tried to lash themselves into a state of excitement which might do instead +of pluck. They would raise a great shout and sway forward in a +dense body from behind the thicket; but when they saw that their bravery +thus gathered to a head did not even suspend the strapping of a portmanteau +or the tying of a hatbox, their shout lost its spirit, and the whole +mass was irresistibly drawn back like a wave receding from the shore.<br> +<br> +These attempts at an onset were repeated several times, but always with +the same result. I remained under the apprehension of an attack +for more than half-an-hour, and it seemed to me that the work of packing +and loading had never been done so slowly. I felt inclined to +tell my fellows to make their best speed, but just as I was going to +speak I observed that every one was doing his duty already; I therefore +held my peace and said not a word, till at last Mysseri led up my horse +and asked me if I were ready to mount.<br> +<br> +We all marched off without hindrance.<br> +<br> +After some time we came across a party of Ibrahim’s cavalry, which +had bivouacked at no great distance from us. The knowledge that such +a force was in the neighbourhood may have conduced to the forbearance +of the cave-holders.<br> +<br> +We saw a scraggy-looking fellow nearly black, and wearing nothing but +a cloth round the loins; he was tending flocks. Afterwards I came +up with another of these goatherds, whose helpmate was with him. +They gave us some goat’s milk, a welcome present. I pitied +the poor devil of a goatherd for having such a very plain wife. +I spend an enormous quantity of pity upon that particular form of human +misery.<br> +<br> +About midday I began to examine my map and to question my guide, who +at last fell on his knees and confessed that he knew nothing of the +country in which we were. I was thus thrown upon my own resources, +and calculating that on the preceding day we had nearly performed a +two days’ journey, I concluded that the Dead Sea must be near. +In this I was right, for at about three or four o’clock in the +afternoon I caught a first sight of its dismal face.<br> +<br> +I went on and came near to those waters of death. They stretched +deeply into the southern desert, and before me, and all around, as far +away as the eye could follow, blank hills piled high over hills, pale, +yellow, and naked, walled up in her tomb for ever the dead and damned +Gomorrah. There was no fly that hummed in the forbidden air, but +instead a deep stillness; no grass grew from the earth, no weed peered +through the void sand; but in mockery of all life there were trees borne +down by Jordan in some ancient flood, and these, grotesquely planted +upon the forlorn shore, spread out their grim skeleton arms, all scorched +and charred to blackness by the heats of the long silent years.<br> +<br> +I now struck off towards the débouchure of the river; but I found +that the country, though seemingly quite flat, was intersected by deep +ravines, which did not show themselves until nearly approached. +For some time my progress was much obstructed; but at last I came across +a track which led towards the river, and which might, as I hoped, bring +me to a ford. I found, in fact, when I came to the river’s +side that the track reappeared upon the opposite bank, plainly showing +that the stream had been fordable at this place. Now, however, +in consequence of the late rains the river was quite impracticable for +baggage-horses. A body of waters about equal to the Thames at +Eton, but confined to a narrower channel, poured down in a current so +swift and heavy, that the idea of passing with laden baggage-horses +was utterly forbidden. I could have swum across myself, and I +might, perhaps, have succeeded in swimming a horse over; but this would +have been useless, because in such case I must have abandoned not only +my baggage, but all my attendants, for none of them were able to swim, +and without that resource it would have been madness for them to rely +upon the swimming of their beasts across such a powerful stream. +I still hoped, however, that there might be a chance of passing the +river at the point of its actual junction with the Dead Sea, and I therefore +went on in that direction.<br> +<br> +Night came upon us whilst labouring across gullies and sandy mounds, +and we were obliged to come to a stand-still quite suddenly upon the +very edge of a precipitous descent. Every step towards the Dead +Sea had brought us into a country more and more dreary; and this sand-hill, +which we were forced to choose for our resting-place, was dismal enough. +A few slender blades of grass, which here and there singly pierced the +sand, mocked bitterly the hunger of our jaded beasts, and with our small +remaining fragment of goat’s-milk rock by way of supper, we were +not much better off than our horses. We wanted, too, the great +requisite of a cheery bivouac - fire. Moreover, the spot on which +we had been so suddenly brought to a standstill was relatively high +and unsheltered, and the night wind blew swiftly and cold.<br> +<br> +The next morning I reached the débouchure of the Jordan, where +I had hoped to find a bar of sand that might render its passage possible. +The river, however, rolled its eddying waters fast down to the “sea” +in a strong, deep stream that shut out all hope of crossing.<br> +<br> +It now seemed necessary either to construct a raft of some kind, or +else to retrace my steps and remount the banks of the Jordan. +I had once happened to give some attention to the subject of military +bridges - a branch of military science which includes the construction +of rafts and contrivances of the like sort - and I should have been +very proud indeed if I could have carried my party and my baggage across +by dint of any idea gathered from Sir Howard Douglas or Robinson Crusoe. +But we were all faint and languid from want of food, and besides, there +were no materials. Higher up the river there were bushes and river +plants, but nothing like timber; and the cord with which my baggage +was tied to the pack-saddles amounted altogether to a very small quantity, +not nearly enough to haul any sort of craft across the stream.<br> +<br> +And now it was, if I remember rightly, that Dthemetri submitted to me +a plan for putting to death the Nazarene, whose misguidance had been +the cause of our difficulties. There was something fascinating +in this suggestion, for the slaying of the guide was of course easy +enough, and would look like an act of what politicians call “vigour.” +If it were only to become known to my friends in England that I had +calmly killed a fellow-creature for taking me out of my way, I might +remain perfectly quiet and tranquil for all the rest of my days, quite +free from the danger of being considered “slow”; I might +ever after live on upon my reputation, like “single-speech Hamilton” +in the last century, or “single sin - ” in this, without +being obliged to take the trouble of doing any more harm in the world. +This was a great temptation to an indolent person, but the motive was +not strengthened by any sincere feeling of anger with the Nazarene. +Whilst the question of his life and death was debated he was riding +in front of our party, and there was something in the anxious writhing +of his supple limbs that seemed to express a sense of his false position, +and struck me as highly comic. I had no crotchet at that time +against the punishment of death, but I was unused to blood, and the +proposed victim looked so thoroughly capable of enjoying life (if he +could only get to the other side of the river), that I thought it would +be hard for him to die merely in order to give me a character for energy. +Acting on the result of these considerations, and reserving to myself +a free and unfettered discretion to have the poor villain shot at any +future moment, I magnanimously decided that for the present he should +live, and not die.<br> +<br> +I bathed in the Dead Sea. The ground covered by the water sloped +so gradually, that I was not only forced to “sneak in,” +but to walk through the water nearly a quarter of a mile before I could +get out of my depth. When at last I was able to attempt to dive, +the salts held in solution made my eyes smart so sharply, that the pain +which I thus suffered, together with the weakness occasioned by want +of food, made me giddy and faint for some moments, but I soon grew better. +I knew beforehand the impossibility of sinking in this buoyant water, +but I was surprised to find that I could not swim at my accustomed pace; +my legs and feet were lifted so high and dry out of the lake, that my +stroke was baffled, and I found myself kicking against the thin air +instead of the dense fluid upon which I was swimming. The water +is perfectly bright and clear; its taste detestable. After finishing +my attempts at swimming and diving, I took some time in regaining the +shore, and before I began to dress I found that the sun had already +evaporated the water which clung to me, and that my skin was thickly +encrusted with salts.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XIV - THE BLACK TENTS<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +My steps were reluctantly turned towards the north. I had ridden +some way, and still it seemed that all life was fenced and barred out +from the desolate ground over which I was journeying. On the west +there flowed the impassable Jordan, on the east stood an endless range +of barren mountains, and on the south lay that desert sea that knew +not the plashing of an oar; greatly therefore was I surprised when suddenly +there broke upon my ear the long, ludicrous, persevering bray of a donkey. +I was riding at this time some few hundred yards ahead of all my party +except the Nazarene (who by a wise instinct kept closer to me than to +Dthemetri), and I instantly went forward in the direction of the sound, +for I fancied that where there were donkeys, there too most surely would +be men. The ground on all sides of me seemed thoroughly void and +lifeless, but at last I got down into a hollow, and presently a sudden +turn brought me within thirty yards of an Arab encampment. The +low black tents which I had so long lusted to see were right before +me, and they were all teeming with live Arabs - men, women, and children.<br> +<br> +I wished to have let my party behind know where I was, but I recollected +that they would be able to trace me by the prints of my horse’s +hoofs in the sand, and having to do with Asiatics, I felt the danger +of the slightest movement which might be looked upon as a sign of irresolution. +Therefore, without looking behind me, without looking to the right or +to the left, I rode straight up towards the foremost tent. Before +this was strewed a semicircular fence of dead boughs, through which +there was an opening opposite to the front of the tent. As I advanced, +some twenty or thirty of the most uncouth-looking fellows imaginable +came forward to meet me. In their appearance they showed nothing +of the Bedouin blood; they were of many colours, from dingy brown to +jet black, and some of these last had much of the negro look about them. +They were tall, powerful fellows, but awfully ugly. They wore +nothing but the Arab shirts, confined at the waist by leathern belts.<br> +<br> +I advanced to the gap left in the fence, and at once alighted from my +horse. The chief greeted me after his fashion by alternately touching +first my hand and then his own forehead, as if he were conveying the +virtue of the touch like a spark of electricity. Presently I found +myself seated upon a sheepskin, which was spread for me under the sacred +shade of Arabian canvas. The tent was of a long, narrow, oblong +form, and contained a quantity of men, women, and children so closely +huddled together, that there was scarcely one of them who was not in +actual contact with his neighbour. The moment I had taken my seat +the chief repeated his salutations in the most enthusiastic manner, +and then the people having gathered densely about me, got hold of my +unresisting hand and passed it round like a claret jug for the benefit +of every body. The women soon brought me a wooden bowl full of +buttermilk, and welcome indeed came the gift to my hungry and thirsty +soul.<br> +<br> +After some time my party, as I had expected, came up, and when poor +Dthemetri saw me on my sheepskin, “the life and soul” of +this ragamuffin party, he was so astounded, that he even failed to check +his cry of horror; he plainly thought that now, at last, the Lord had +delivered me (interpreter and all) into the hands of the lowest Philistines.<br> +<br> +Mysseri carried a tobacco-pouch slung at his belt, and as soon as its +contents were known the whole population of the tent began begging like +spaniels for bits of the beloved weed. I concluded from the abject +manner of these people that they could not possibly be thoroughbred +Bedouins, and I saw, too, that they must be in the very last stage of +misery, for poor indeed is the man in these climes who cannot command +a pipeful of tobacco. I began to think that I had fallen amongst +thorough savages, and it seemed likely enough that they would gain their +very first knowledge of civilisation by ravishing and studying the contents +of my dearest portmanteaus, but still my impression was that they would +hardly venture upon such an attempt. I observed, indeed, that +they did not offer me the bread and salt which I had understood to be +the pledges of peace amongst wandering tribes, but I fancied that they +refrained from this act of hospitality, not in consequence of any hostile +determination, but in order that the notion of robbing me might remain +for the present an “open question.” I afterwards found +that the poor fellows had no bread to offer. They were literally +“out at grass.” It is true that they had a scanty +supply of milk from goats, but they were living almost entirely upon +certain grass stems, which were just in season at that time of the year. +These, if not highly nourishing, are pleasant enough to the taste, and +their acid juices come gratefully to thirsty lips.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XV - PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +And now Dthemetri began to enter into a negotiation with my hosts for +a passage over the river. I never interfered with my worthy dragoman +upon these occasions, because from my entire ignorance of the Arabic +I should have been quite unable to exercise any real control over his +words, and it would have been silly to break the stream of his eloquence +to no purpose. I have reason to fear, however, that he lied transcendently, +and especially in representing me as the bosom friend of Ibrahim Pasha. +The mention of that name produced immense agitation and excitement, +and the Sheik explained to Dthemetri the grounds of the infinite respect +which he and his tribe entertained for the Pasha. A few weeks +before Ibrahim had craftily sent a body of troops across the Jordan. +The force went warily round to the foot of the mountains on the east, +so as to cut off the retreat of this tribe, and then surrounded them +as they lay encamped in the vale; their camels, and indeed all their +possessions worth taking, were carried off by the soldiery, and moreover +the then Sheik, together with every tenth man of the tribe, was brought +out and shot. You would think that this conduct on the part of +the Pasha might not procure for his “friend” a very gracious +reception amongst the people whom he had thus despoiled and decimated; +but the Asiatic seems to be animated with a feeling of profound respect, +almost bordering upon affection, for all who have done him any bold +and violent wrong, and there is always, too, so much of vague and undefined +apprehension mixed up with his really well-founded alarms, that I can +see no limit to the yielding and bending of his mind when it is wrought +upon by the idea of power.<br> +<br> +After some discussion the Arabs agreed, as I thought, to conduct me +to a ford, and we moved on towards the river, followed by seventeen +of the most able-bodied of the tribe, under the guidance of several +grey-bearded elders, and Sheik Ali Djoubran at the head of the whole +detachment. Upon leaving the encampment a sort of ceremony was +performed, for the purpose, it seemed, of ensuring, if possible, a happy +result for the undertaking. There was an uplifting of arms, and +a repeating of words that sounded like formulae, but there were no prostrations, +and I did not understand that the ceremony was of a religious character. +The tented Arabs are looked upon as very bad Mahometans.<br> +<br> +We arrived upon the banks of the river - not at a ford, but at a deep +and rapid part of the stream, and I now understood that it was the plan +of these men, if they helped me at all, to transport me across the river +by some species of raft. But a reaction had taken place in the +opinions of many, and a violent dispute arose upon a motion which seemed +to have been made by some honourable member with a view to robbery. +The fellows all gathered together in circle, at a little distance from +my party, and there disputed with great vehemence and fury for nearly +two hours. I can’t give a correct report of the debate, +for it was held in a barbarous dialect of the Arabic unknown to my dragoman. +I recollect I sincerely felt at the time that the arguments in favour +of robbing me must have been almost unanswerable, and I gave great credit +to the speakers on my side for the ingenuity and sophistry which they +must have shown in maintaining the fight so well.<br> +<br> +During the discussion I remained lying in front of my baggage, which +had all been taken from the pack-saddles and placed upon the ground. +I was so languid from want of food, that I had scarcely animation enough +to feel as deeply interested as you would suppose in the result of the +discussion. I thought, however, that the pleasantest toys to play +with during this interval were my pistols, and now and then, when I +listlessly visited my loaded barrels with the swivel ramrods, or drew +a sweet, musical click from my English firelocks, it seemed to me that +I exercised a slight and gentle influence on the debate. Thanks +to Ibrahim Pasha’s terrible visitation the men of the tribe were +wholly unarmed, and my advantage in this respect might have counterbalanced +in some measure the superiority of numbers.<br> +<br> +Mysseri (not interpreting in Arabic) had no duty to perform, and he +seemed to be faint and listless as myself. Shereef looked perfectly +resigned to any fate. But Dthemetri (faithful terrier!) was bristling +with zeal and watchfulness. He could not understand the debate, +which indeed was carried on at a distance too great to be easily heard, +even if the language had been familiar; but he was always on the alert, +and now and then conferring with men who had straggled out of the assembly. +At last he found an opportunity of making a proposal, which at once +produced immense sensation; he offered, on my behalf, that if the tribe +should bear themselves loyally towards me, and take my party and my +baggage in safety to the other bank of the river, I should give them +a <i>teskeri</i>, or written certificate of their good conduct, which +might avail them hereafter in the hour of their direst need. This +proposal was received and instantly accepted by all the men of the tribe +there present with the utmost enthusiasm. I was to give the men, +too, a <i>baksheish</i>, that is, a present of money, which is usually +made upon the conclusion of any sort of treaty; but although the people +of the tribe were so miserably poor, they seemed to look upon the pecuniary +part of the arrangement as a matter quite trivial in comparison with +the <i>teskeri</i>. Indeed the sum which Dthemetri promised them +was extremely small, and not the slightest attempt was made to extort +any further reward.<br> +<br> +The council now broke up, and most of the men rushed madly towards me, +and overwhelmed me with vehement gratulations; they caressed my boots +with much affection, and my hands were severely kissed.<br> +<br> +The Arabs now went to work in right earnest to effect the passage of +the river. They had brought with them a great number of the skins +which they use for carrying water in the desert; these they filled with +air, and fastened several of them to small boughs which they cut from +the banks of the river. In this way they constructed a raft not +more than about four or five feet square, but rendered buoyant by the +inflated skins which supported it. On this a portion of my baggage +was placed, and was firmly tied to it by the cords used on my pack-saddles. +The little raft with its weighty cargo was then gently lifted into the +water, and I had the satisfaction to see that it floated well.<br> +<br> +Twelve of the Arabs now stripped, and tied inflated skins to their loins; +six of the men went down into the river, got in front of the little +raft, and pulled it off a few feet from the bank. The other six +then dashed into the stream with loud shouts and swam along after the +raft, pushing it from behind. Off went the craft in capital style +at first, for the stream was easy on the eastern side; but I saw that +the tug was to come, for the main torrent swept round in a bend near +the western bank of the river.<br> +<br> +The old men, with their long grey grisly beards, stood shouting and +cheering, praying and commanding. At length the raft entered upon +the difficult part of its course; the whirling stream seized and twisted +it about, and then bore it rapidly downwards; the swimmers, flagged +and seemed to be beaten in the struggle. But now the old men on +the bank, with their rigid arms uplifted straight, sent forth a cry +and a shout that tore the wide air into tatters, and then to make their +urging yet more strong they shrieked out the dreadful syllables, “’brahim +Pasha!” The swimmers, one moment before so blown and so +weary, found lungs to answer the cry, and shouting back the name of +their great destroyer, they dashed on through the torrent, and bore +the raft in safety to the western bank.<br> +<br> +Afterwards the swimmers returned with the raft, and attached to it the +rest of my baggage. I took my seat upon the top of the cargo, +and the raft thus laden passed the river in the same way, and with the +same struggle as before. The skins, however, not being perfectly +air-tight, had lost a great part of their buoyancy, so that I, as well +as the luggage that passed on this last voyage, got wet in the waters +of Jordan. The raft could not be trusted for another trip, and +the rest of my party passed the river in a different and (for them) +much safer way. Inflated skins were fastened to their loins, and +thus supported, they were tugged across by Arabs swimming on either +side of them. The horses and mules were thrown into the water +and forced to swim over. The poor beasts had a hard struggle for +their lives in that swift stream; and I thought that one of the horses +would have been drowned, for he was too weak to gain a footing on the +western bank, and the stream bore him down. At last, however, +he swam back to the side from which he had come. Before dark all +had passed the river except this one horse and old Shereef. He, +poor fellow, was shivering on the eastern bank, for his dread of the +passage was so great, that he delayed it as long as he could, and at +last it became so dark that he was obliged to wait till the morning.<br> +<br> +I lay that night on the banks of the river, and at a little distance +from me the Arabs kindled a fire, round which they sat in a circle. +They were made most savagely happy by the tobacco with which I supplied +them, and they soon determined that the whole night should be one smoking +festival. The poor fellows had only a cracked bowl, without any +tube at all, but this morsel of a pipe they handed round from one to +the other, allowing to each a fixed number of whiffs. In that +way they passed the whole night.<br> +<br> +The next morning old Shereef was brought across. It was a strange +sight to see this solemn old Mussulman, with his shaven head and his +sacred beard, sprawling and puffing upon the surface of the water. +When at last he reached the bank the people told him that by his baptism +in Jordan he had surely become a mere Christian. Poor Shereef! +- the holy man! the descendant of the Prophet! - he was sadly hurt by +the taunt, and the more so as he seemed to feel that there was some +foundation for it, and that he really might have absorbed some Christian +errors.<br> +<br> +When all was ready for departure I wrote the <i>teskeri</i> in French +and delivered it to Sheik Ali Djoubran, together with the promised <i>baksheish</i>; +he was exceedingly grateful, and I parted in a very friendly way from +this ragged tribe.<br> +<br> +In two or three hours I gained Rihah, a village said to occupy the site +of ancient Jericho. There was one building there which I observed +with some emotion, for although it may not have been actually standing +in the days of Jericho, it contained at this day a most interesting +collection of - modern loaves.<br> +<br> +Some hours after sunset I reached the convent of Santa Saba, and there +remained for the night.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XVI - TERRA SANTA<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +The enthusiasm that had glowed, or seemed to glow, within me for one +blessed moment when I knelt by the shrine of the Virgin at Nazareth, +was not rekindled at Jerusalem. In the stead of the solemn gloom +and the deep stillness that of right belonged to the Holy City, there +was the hum and the bustle of active life. It was the “height +of the season.” The Easter ceremonies drew near. The +pilgrims were flocking in from all quarters; and although their objects +were partly at least of a religious character, yet their “arrivals” +brought as much stir and liveliness to the city as if they had come +up to marry their daughters.<br> +<br> +The votaries who every year crowd to the Holy Sepulchre are chiefly +of the Greek and Armenian Churches. They are not drawn into Palestine +by a mere sentimental longing to stand upon the ground trodden by our +Saviour, but rather they perform the pilgrimage as a plain duty strongly +inculcated by their religion. A very great proportion of those +who belong to the Greek Church contrive at some time or other in the +course of their lives to achieve the enterprise. Many in their +infancy and childhood are brought to the holy sites by their parents, +but those who have not had this advantage will often make it the main +object of their lives to save money enough for this holy undertaking.<br> +<br> +The pilgrims begin to arrive in Palestine some weeks before the Easter +festival of the Greek Church. They come from Egypt, from all parts +of Syria, from Armenia and Asia Minor, from Stamboul, from Roumelia, +from the provinces of the Danube, and from all the Russias. Most +of these people bring with them some articles of merchandise, but I +myself believe (notwithstanding the common taunt against pilgrims) that +they do this rather as a mode of paying the expenses of their journey, +than from a spirit of mercenary speculation. They generally travel +in families, for the women are of course more ardent than their husbands +in undertaking these pious enterprises, and they take care to bring +with them all their children, however young; for the efficacy of the +rites does not depend upon the age of the votary, so that people whose +careful mothers have obtained for them the benefit of the pilgrimage +in early life, are saved from the expense and trouble of undertaking +the journey at a later age. The superior veneration so often excited +by objects that are distant and unknown shows not perhaps the wrongheadedness +of a man, but rather the transcendent power of his imagination. +However this may be, and whether it is by mere obstinacy that they poke +their way through intervening distance, or whether they come by the +winged strength of fancy, quite certainly the pilgrims who flock to +Palestine from the most remote homes are the people most eager in the +enterprise, and in number too they bear a very high proportion to the +whole mass.<br> +<br> +The great bulk of the pilgrims make their way by sea to the port of +Jaffa. A number of families will charter a vessel amongst them, +all bringing their own provisions, which are of the simplest and cheapest +kind. On board every vessel thus freighted there is, I believe, +a priest, who helps the people in their religious exercises, and tries +(and fails) to maintain something like order and harmony. The +vessels employed in this service are usually Greek brigs or brigantines +and schooners, and the number of passengers stowed in them is almost +always horribly excessive. The voyages are sadly protracted, not +only by the land-seeking, storm-flying habits of the Greek seamen, but +also by their endless schemes and speculations, which are for ever tempting +them to touch at the nearest port. The voyage too must be made +in winter, in order that Jerusalem may be reached some weeks before +the Greek Easter, and thus by the time they attain to the holy shrines +the pilgrims have really and truly undergone a very respectable quantity +of suffering. I once saw one of these pious cargoes put ashore +on the coast of Cyprus, where they had touched for the purpose of visiting +(not Paphos, but) some Christian sanctuary. I never saw (no, never +even in the most horridly stuffy ballroom) such a discomfortable collection +of human beings. Long huddled together in a pitching and rolling +prison, fed on beans, exposed to some real danger and to terrors without +end, they had been tumbled about for many wintry weeks in the chopping +seas of the Mediterranean. As soon as they landed they stood upon +the beach and chanted a hymn of thanks; the chant was morne and doleful, +but really the poor people were looking so miserable, that one could +not fairly expect from them any lively outpouring of gratitude.<br> +<br> +When the pilgrims have landed at Jaffa they hire camels, horses, mules, +or donkeys, and make their way as well as they can to the Holy City. +The space fronting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre soon becomes a kind +of bazaar, or rather, perhaps, reminds you of an English fair. +On this spot the pilgrims display their merchandise, and there too the +trading residents of the place offer their goods for sale. I have +never, I think, seen elsewhere in Asia so much commercial animation +as upon this square of ground by the church door; the “money-changers” +seemed to be almost as brisk and lively as if they had been <i>within</i> +the temple.<br> +<br> +When I entered the church I found a babel of worshippers. Greek, +Roman, and Armenian priests were performing their different rites in +various nooks and corners, and crowds of disciples were rushing about +in all directions, some laughing and talking, some begging, but most +of them going round in a regular and methodical way to kiss the sanctified +spots, and speak the appointed syllables, and lay down the accustomed +coin. If this kissing of the shrines had seemed as though it were +done at the bidding of enthusiasm, or of any poor sentiment even feebly +approaching to it, the sight would have been less odd to English eyes; +but as it was, I stared to see grown men thus steadily and carefully +embracing the sticks and the stones, not from love or from zeal (else +God forbid that I should have stared!), but from a calm sense of duty; +they seemed to be not “working out,” but <i>transacting</i> +the great business of salvation.<br> +<br> +Dthemetri, however, who generally came with me when I went out, in order +to do duty as interpreter, really had in him some enthusiasm. +He was a zealous and almost fanatical member of the Greek Church, and +had long since performed the pilgrimage, so now great indeed was the +pride and delight with which he guided me from one holy spot to another. +Every now and then, when he came to an unoccupied shrine, he fell down +on his knees and performed devotion; he was almost distracted by the +temptations that surrounded him; there were so many stones absolutely +requiring to be kissed, that he rushed about happily puzzled and sweetly +teased, like “Jack among the maidens.”<br> +<br> +A Protestant, familiar with the Holy Scriptures, but ignorant of tradition +and the geography of modern Jerusalem, finds himself a good deal “mazed” +when he first looks for the sacred sites. The Holy Sepulchre is +not in a field without the walls, but in the midst, and in the best +part of the town, under the roof of the great church which I have been +talking about. It is a handsome tomb of oblong form, partly subterranean +and partly above ground, and closed in on all sides except the one by +which it is entered. You descend into the interior by a few steps, +and there find an altar with burning tapers. This is the spot +which is held in greater sanctity than any other at Jerusalem. +When you have seen enough of it you feel perhaps weary of the busy crowd, +and inclined for a gallop; you ask your dragoman whether there will +be time before sunset to procure horses and take a ride to Mount Calvary. +Mount Calvary, signor? - eccolo! it is <i>upstairs - on the first floor</i>. +In effect you ascend, if I remember rightly, just thirteen steps, and +then you are shown the now golden sockets in which the crosses of our +Lord and the two thieves were fixed. All this is startling, but +the truth is, that the city having gathered round the Sepulchre, which +is the main point of interest, has crept northward, and thus in great +measure are occasioned the many geographical surprises that puzzle the +“Bible Christian.”<br> +<br> +The Church of the Holy Sepulchre comprises very compendiously almost +all the spots associated with the closing career of our Lord. +Just there, on your right, He stood and wept; by the pillar, on your +left, He was scourged; on the spot, just before you, He was crowned +with the crown of thorns; up there He was crucified, and down here He +was buried. A locality is assigned to every, the minutest, event +connected with the recorded history of our Saviour; even the spot where +the cock crew when Peter denied his Master is ascertained, and surrounded +by the walls of an Armenian convent. Many Protestants are wont +to treat these traditions contemptuously, and those who distinguish +themselves from their brethren by the appellation of “Bible Christians” +are almost fierce in their denunciation of these supposed errors.<br> +<br> +It is admitted, I believe, by everybody that the formal sanctification +of these spots was the act of the Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine, +but I think it is fair to suppose that she was guided by a careful regard +to the then prevailing traditions. Now the nature of the ground +upon which Jerusalem stands is such, that the localities belonging to +the events there enacted might have been more easily, and permanently, +ascertained by tradition than those of any city that I know of. +Jerusalem, whether ancient or modern, was built upon and surrounded +by sharp, salient rocks intersected by deep ravines. Up to the +time of the siege Mount Calvary of course must have been well enough +known to the people of Jerusalem; the destruction of the mere buildings +could not have obliterated from any man’s memory the names of +those steep rocks and narrow ravines in the midst of which the city +had stood. It seems to me, therefore, highly probable that in +fixing the site of Calvary the Empress was rightly guided. Recollect, +too, that the voice of tradition at Jerusalem is quite unanimous, and +that Romans, Greeks, Armenians, and Jews, all hating each other sincerely, +concur in assigning the same localities to the events told in the Gospel. +I concede, however, that the attempt of the Empress to ascertain the +sites of the minor events cannot be safely relied upon. With respect, +for instance, to the certainty of the spot where the cock crew, I am +far from being convinced.<br> +<br> +Supposing that the Empress acted arbitrarily in fixing the holy sites, +it would seem that she followed the Gospel of St. John, and that the +geography sanctioned by her can be more easily reconciled with that +history than with the accounts of the other Evangelists.<br> +<br> +The authority exercised by the Mussulman Government in relation to the +holy sites is in one view somewhat humbling to the Christians, for it +is almost as an arbitrator between the contending sects (this always, +of course, for the sake of pecuniary advantage) that the Mussulman lends +his contemptuous aid; he not only grants, but enforces toleration. +All persons, of whatever religion, are allowed to go as they will into +every part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but in order to prevent +indecent contests, and also from motives arising out of money payments, +the Turkish Government assigns the peculiar care of each sacred spot +to one of the ecclesiastic bodies. Since this guardianship carries +with it the receipt of the coins which the pilgrims leave upon the shrines, +it is strenuously fought for by all the rival Churches, and the artifices +of intrigue are busily exerted at Stamboul in order to procure the issue +or revocation of the firmans by which the coveted privilege is granted. +In this strife the Greek Church has of late years signally triumphed, +and the most famous of the shrines are committed to the care of their +priesthood. They possess the golden socket in which stood the +cross of our Lord whilst the Latins are obliged to content themselves +with the apertures in which were inserted the crosses of the two thieves. +They are naturally discontented with that poor privilege, and sorrowfully +look back to the days of their former glory - the days when Napoleon +was Emperor, and Sebastiani ambassador at the Porte. It seems +that the “citizen” sultan, old Louis Philippe, has done +very little indeed for Holy Church in Palestine.<br> +<br> +Although the pilgrims perform their devotions at the several shrines +with so little apparent enthusiasm, they are driven to the verge of +madness by the miracle displayed before them on Easter Saturday. +Then it is that the Heaven-sent fire issues from the Holy Sepulchre. +The pilgrims all assemble in the great church, and already, long before +the wonder is worked, they are wrought by anticipation of God’s +sign, as well as by their struggles for room and breathing space, to +a most frightful state of excitement. At length the chief priest +of the Greeks, accompanied (of all people in the world) by the Turkish +Governor, enters the tomb. After this, there is a long pause, +and then suddenly from out of the small apertures on either side of +the sepulchre there issue long, shining flames. The pilgrims now +rush forward, madly struggling to light their tapers at the holy fire. +This is the dangerous moment, and many lives are often lost.<br> +<br> +The year before that of my going to Jerusalem, Ibrahim Pasha, from some +whim, or motive of policy, chose to witness the miracle. The vast +church was of course thronged, as it always is on that awful day. +It seems that the appearance of the fire was delayed for a very long +time, and that the growing frenzy of the people was heightened by suspense. +Many, too, had already sunk under the effect of the heat and the stifling +atmosphere, when at last the fire flashed from the sepulchre. +Then a terrible struggle ensued; many sunk and were crushed. Ibrahim +had taken his station in one of the galleries, but now, feeling perhaps +his brave blood warmed by the sight and sound of such strife, he took +upon himself to quiet the people by his personal presence, and descended +into the body of the church with only a few guards. He had forced +his way into the midst of the dense crowd, when unhappily he fainted +away; his guards shrieked out, and the event instantly became known. +A body of soldiers recklessly forced their way through the crowd, trampling +over every obstacle that they might save the life of their general. +Nearly two hundred people were killed in the struggle.<br> +<br> +The following year, however, the Government took better measures for +the prevention of these calamities. I was not present at the ceremony, +having gone away from Jerusalem some time before, but I afterwards returned +into Palestine, and I then learned that the day had passed off without +any disturbance of a fatal kind. It is, however, almost too much +to expect that so many ministers of peace can assemble without finding +some occasion for strife, and in that year a tribe of wild Bedouins +became the subject of discord. These men, it seems, led an Arab +life in some of the desert tracts bordering on the neighbourhood of +Jerusalem, but were not connected with any of the great ruling tribes. +Some whim or notion of policy had induced them to embrace Christianity; +but they were grossly ignorant of the rudiments of their adopted faith, +and having no priest with them in their desert, they had as little knowledge +of religious ceremonies as of religion itself. They were not even +capable of conducting themselves in a place of worship with ordinary +decorum, but would interrupt the service with scandalous cries and warlike +shouts. Such is the account the Latins give of them, but I have +never heard the other side of the question. These wild fellows, +notwithstanding their entire ignorance of all religion, are yet claimed +by the Greeks, not only as proselytes who have embraced Christianity +generally, but as converts to the particular doctrines and practice +of their Church. The people thus alleged to have concurred in +the great schism of the Eastern Empire are never, I believe, within +the walls of a church, or even of any building at all, except upon this +occasion of Easter; and as they then never fail to find a row of some +kind going on by the side of the sepulchre, they fancy, it seems, that +the ceremonies there enacted are funeral games of a martial character, +held in honour of a deceased chieftain, and that a Christian festival +is a peculiar kind of battle, fought between walls, and without cavalry. +It does not appear, however, that these men are guilty of any ferocious +acts, or that they attempt to commit depredations. The charge +against them is merely that by their way of applauding the performance, +by their horrible cries and frightful gestures, they destroy the solemnity +of divine service, and upon this ground the Franciscans obtained a firman +for the exclusion of such tumultuous worshippers. The Greeks, +however, did not choose to lose the aid of their wild converts merely +because they were a little backward in their religious education, and +they therefore persuaded them to defy the firman by entering the city +<i>en masse</i> and overawing their enemies. The Franciscans, +as well as the Government authorities, were obliged to give way, and +the Arabs triumphantly marched into the church. The festival, +however, must have seemed to them rather flat, for although there may +have been some “casualties” in the way of eyes black and +noses bloody, and women “missing,” there was no return of +“killed.”<br> +<br> +Formerly the Latin Catholics concurred in acknowledging (but not, I +hope, in working) the annual miracle of the heavenly fire, but they +have for many years withdrawn their countenance from this exhibition, +and they now repudiate it as a trick of the Greek Church. Thus +of course the violence of feeling with which the rival Churches meet +at the Holy Sepulchre on Easter Saturday is greatly increased, and a +disturbance of some kind is certain. In the year I speak of, though +no lives were lost, there was, as it seems, a tough struggle in the +church. I was amused at hearing of a taunt that was thrown that +day upon an English traveller. He had taken his station in a convenient +part of the church, and was no doubt displaying that peculiar air of +serenity and gratification with which an English gentleman usually looks +on at a row, when one of the Franciscans came by, all reeking from the +fight, and was so disgusted at the coolness and placid contentment of +the Englishman (who was a guest at the convent), that he forgot his +monkish humility as well as the duties of hospitality, and plainly said, +“You sleep under our roof, you eat our bread, you drink our wine, +and then when Easter Saturday comes you don’t fight for us!”<br> +<br> +Yet these rival Churches go on quietly enough till their blood is up. +The terms on which they live remind one of the peculiar relation subsisting +at Cambridge between “town and gown.”<br> +<br> +These contests and disturbances certainly do not originate with the +lay-pilgrims, the great body of whom are, as I believe, quiet and inoffensive +people. It is true, however, that their pious enterprise is believed +by them to operate as a counterpoise for a multitude of sins, whether +past or future, and perhaps they exert themselves in after life to restore +the balance of good and evil. The Turks have a maxim which, like +most cynical apophthegms, carries with it the buzzing trumpet of falsehood +as well as the small, fine “sting of truth.” “If +your friend has made the pilgrimage once, distrust him; if he has made +the pilgrimage twice, cut him dead!” The caution is said +to be as applicable to the visitants of Jerusalem as to those of Mecca, +but I cannot help believing that the frailties of all the hadjis, <a name="citation28"></a><a href="#footnote28">{28}</a> +whether Christian or Mahometan, are greatly exaggerated. I certainly +regarded the pilgrims to Palestine as a well-disposed orderly body of +people, not strongly enthusiastic, but desirous to comply with the ordinances +of their religion, and to attain the great end of salvation as quietly +and economically as possible.<br> +<br> +When the solemnities of Easter are concluded the pilgrims move off in +a body to complete their good work by visiting the sacred scenes in +the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, including the wilderness of John the +Baptist, Bethlehem, and above all, the Jordan, for to bathe in those +sacred waters is one of the chief objects of the expedition. All +the pilgrims - men, women, and children - are submerged <i>en chemise</i>, +and the saturated linen is carefully wrapped up and preserved as a burial-dress +that shall enure for salvation in the realms of death.<br> +<br> +I saw the burial of a pilgrim. He was a Greek, miserably poor, +and very old; he had just crawled into the Holy City, and had reached +at once the goal of his pious journey and the end of his sufferings +upon earth. There was no coffin nor wrapper, and as I looked full +upon the face of the dead I saw how deeply it was rutted with the ruts +of age and misery. The priest, strong and portly, fresh, fat, +and alive with the life of the animal kingdom, unpaid, or ill paid for +his work, would scarcely deign to mutter out his forms, but hurried +over the words with shocking haste. Presently he called out impatiently, +“Yalla! Goor!” (Come! look sharp!), and then the dead +Greek was seized. His limbs yielded inertly to the rude men that +handled them, and down he went into his grave, so roughly bundled in +that his neck was twisted by the fall, so twisted, that if the sharp +malady of life were still upon him the old man would have shrieked and +groaned, and the lines of his face would have quivered with pain. +The lines of his face were not moved, and the old man lay still and +heedless, so well cured of that tedious life-ache, that nothing could +hurt him now. His clay was <i>itself again</i> - cool, firm, and +tough. The pilgrim had found great rest. I threw the accustomed +handful of the holy soil upon his patient face, and then, and in less +than a minute, the earth closed coldly round him.<br> +<br> +I did not say “alas!” (nobody ever does that I know of, +though the word is so frequently written). I thought the old man +had got rather well out of the scrape of being alive, and poor.<br> +<br> +The destruction of the mere buildings in such a place as Jerusalem would +not involve the permanent dispersion of the inhabitants, for the rocky +neighbourhood in which the town is situate abounds in caves, which would +give an easy refuge to the people until they gained an opportunity of +rebuilding their dwellings; therefore I could not help looking upon +the Jews of Jerusalem as being in some sort the representatives, if +not the actual descendants, of the rascals who crucified our Saviour. +Supposing this to be the case, I felt that there would be some interest +in knowing how the events of the Gospel history were regarded by the +Israelites of modern Jerusalem. The result of my inquiry upon this subject +was, so far as it went, entirely favourable to the truth of Christianity. +I understood that <i>the performance of the miracles was not doubted +by any of the Jews in the place</i>. All of them concurred in +attributing the works of our Lord to the influence of magic, but they +were divided as to the species of enchantment from which the power proceeded. +The great mass of the Jewish people believe, I fancy, that the miracles +had been wrought by aid of the powers of darkness, but many, and those +the more enlightened, would call Jesus “the good Magician.” +To Europeans repudiating the notion of all magic, good or bad, the opinion +of the Jews as to the agency by which the miracles were worked is a +matter of no importance; but the circumstance of their admitting that +those miracles <i>were in fact</i> <i>performed</i>, is certainly curious, +and perhaps not quite immaterial.<br> +<br> +If you stay in the Holy City long enough to fall into anything like +regular habits of amusement and occupation, and to become, in short, +for the time “a man about town” at Jerusalem, you will necessarily +lose the enthusiasm which you may have felt when you trod the sacred +soil for the first time, and it will then seem almost strange to you +to find yourself so entirely surrounded in all your daily pursuits by +the designs and sounds of religion. Your hotel is a monastery, +your rooms are cells, the landlord is a stately abbot, and the waiters +are hooded monks. If you walk out of the town you find yourself +on the Mount of Olives, or in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, or on the Hill +of Evil Counsel. If you mount your horse and extend your rambles +you will be guided to the wilderness of St. John, or the birthplace +of our Saviour. Your club is the great Church of the Holy Sepulchre, +where everybody meets everybody every day. If you lounge through +the town, your Bond Street is the Via Dolorosa, and the object of your +hopeless affections is some maid or matron all forlorn, and sadly shrouded +in her pilgrim’s robe. If you would hear music, it must +be the chanting of friars; if you look at pictures, you see virgins +with mis-fore-shortened arms, or devils out of drawing, or angels tumbling +up the skies in impious perspective. If you would make any purchases, +you must go again to the church doors, and when you inquire for the +manufactures of the place, you find that they consist of double-blessed +beads and sanctified shells. These last are the favourite tokens +which the pilgrims carry off with them. The shell is graven, or +rather scratched, on the white side with a rude drawing of the Blessed +Virgin or of the Crucifixion or some other scriptural subject. +Having passed this stage it goes into the hands of a priest. By +him it is subjected to some process for rendering it efficacious against +the schemes of our ghostly enemy. The manufacture is then complete, +and is deemed to be fit for use.<br> +<br> +The village of Bethlehem lies prettily couched on the slope of a hill. +The sanctuary is a subterranean grotto, and is committed to the joint-guardianship +of the Romans, Greeks, and Armenians, who vie with each other in adorning +it. Beneath an altar gorgeously decorated, and lit with everlasting +fires, there stands the low slab of stone which marks the holy site +of the Nativity; and near to this is a hollow scooped out of the living +rock. Here the infant Jesus was laid. Near the spot of the +Nativity is the rock against which the Blessed Virgin was leaning when +she presented her babe to the adoring shepherds.<br> +<br> +Many of those Protestants who are accustomed to despise tradition consider +that this sanctuary is altogether unscriptural, that a grotto is not +a stable, and that mangers are made of wood. It is perfectly true, +however, that the many grottos and caves which are found among the rocks +of Judea were formerly used for the reception of cattle. They +are so used at this day. I have myself seen grottos appropriated +to this purpose.<br> +<br> +You know what a sad and sombre decorum it is that outwardly reigns through +the lands oppressed by Moslem sway. The Mahometans make beauty +their prisoner, and enforce such a stern and gloomy morality, or at +all events, such a frightfully close semblance of it, that far and long +the wearied traveller may go without catching one glimpse of outward +happiness. By a strange chance in these latter days it happened +that, alone of all the places in the land, this Bethlehem, the native +village of our Lord, escaped the moral yoke of the Mussulmans, and heard +again, after ages of dull oppression, the cheering clatter of social +freedom, and the voices of laughing girls. It was after an insurrection, +which had been raised against the authority of Mehemet Ali, that Bethlehem +was freed from the hateful laws of Asiatic decorum. The Mussulmans +of the village had taken an active part in the movement, and when Ibrahim +had quelled it, his wrath was still so hot, that he put to death every +one of the few Mahometans of Bethlehem who had not already fled. +The effect produced upon the Christian inhabitants by the sudden removal +of this restraint was immense. The village smiled once more. +It is true that such sweet freedom could not long endure. Even +if the population of the place should continue to be entirely Christian, +the sad decorum of the Mussulmans, or rather of the Asiatics, would +sooner or later be restored by the force of opinion and custom. +But for a while the sunshine would last, and when I was at Bethlehem, +though long after the flight of the Mussulmans, the cloud of Moslem +propriety had not yet come back to cast its cold shadow upon life. +When you reach that gladsome village, pray Heaven there still may be +heard there the voice of free, innocent girls. It will sound so +dearly welcome!<br> +<br> +To a Christian, and thoroughbred Englishman, not even the licentiousness +which generally accompanies it can compensate for the oppressiveness +of that horrible outward decorum, which turns the cities and the palaces +of Asia into deserts and gaols. So, I say, when you see and hear +them, those romping girls of Bethlehem will gladden your very soul. +Distant at first, and then nearer and nearer the timid flock will gather +around you, with their large burning eyes gravely fixed against yours, +so that they see into your brain; and if you imagine evil against them, +they will know of your ill thought before it is yet well born, and will +fly and be gone in the moment. But presently, if you will only +look virtuous enough to prevent alarm, and vicious enough to avoid looking +silly, the blithe maidens will draw nearer and nearer to you, and soon +there will be one, the bravest of the sisters, who will venture right +up to your side and touch the hem of your coat, in playful defiance +of the danger, and then the rest will follow the daring of their youthful +leader, and gather close round you, and hold a shrill controversy on +the wondrous formation that you call a hat, and the cunning of the hands +that clothed you with cloth so fine; and then growing more profound +in their researches, they will pass from the study of your mere dress +to a serious contemplation of your stately height, and your nut-brown +hair, and the ruddy glow of your English cheeks. And if they catch +a glimpse of your ungloved fingers, then again will they make the air +ring with their sweet screams of wonder and amazement, as they compare +the fairness of your hand with their warmer tints, and even with the +hues of your own sunburnt face. Instantly the ringleader of the +gentle rioters imagines a new sin; with tremulous boldness she touches, +then grasps your hand, and smoothes it gently betwixt her own, and pries +curiously into its make and colour, as though it were silk of Damascus, +or shawl of Cashmere. And when they see you even then still sage +and gentle, the joyous girls will suddenly and screamingly, and all +at once, explain to each other that you are surely quite harmless and +innocent, a lion that makes no spring, a bear that never hugs, and upon +this faith, one after the other, they will take your passive hand, and +strive to explain it, and make it a theme and a controversy. But +the one, the fairest and the sweetest of all, is yet the most timid; +she shrinks from the daring deeds of her play-mates, and seeks shelter +behind their sleeves, and strives to screen her glowing consciousness +from the eyes that look upon her. But her laughing sisters will +have none of this cowardice; they vow that the fair one <i>shall</i> +be their ’complice, <i>shall</i> share their dangers, <i>shall</i> +touch the hand of the stranger; they seize her small wrist, and drag +her forward by force, and at last, whilst yet she strives to turn away, +and to cover up her whole soul under the folds of downcast eyelids, +they vanquish her utmost strength, they vanquish your utmost modesty, +and marry her hand to yours. The quick pulse springs from her +fingers, and throbs like a whisper upon your listening palm. For +an instant her large timid eyes are upon you; in an instant they are +shrouded again, and there comes a blush so burning, that the frightened +girls stay their shrill laughter, as though they had played too perilously, +and harmed their gentle sister. A moment, and all with a sudden +intelligence turn away and fly like deer, yet soon again like deer they +wheel round and return, and stand, and gaze upon the danger, until they +grow brave once more.<br> +<br> +“I regret to observe, that the removal of the moral restraint +imposed by the presence of the Mahometan inhabitants has led to a certain +degree of boisterous, though innocent, levity in the bearing of the +Christians, and more especially in the demeanour of those who belong +to the younger portion of the female population; but I feel assured +that a more thorough knowledge of the principles of their own pure religion +will speedily restore these young people to habits of propriety, even +more strict than those which were imposed upon them by the authority +of their Mahometan brethren.” Bah! thus you might chant, +if you chose; but loving the truth, you will not so disown sweet Bethlehem; +you will not disown or dissemble your right good hearty delight when +you find, as though in a desert, this gushing spring of fresh and joyous +girlhood.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XVII - THE DESERT<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Gaza is upon the verge of the Desert, to which it stands in the same +relation as a seaport to the sea. It is there that you <i>charter</i> +your camels (“the ships of the Desert”), and lay in your +stores for the voyage.<br> +<br> +These preparations kept me in the town for some days. Disliking +restraint, I declined making myself the guest of the Governor (as it +is usual and proper to do), but took up my quarters at the caravanserai, +or “khan,” as they call it in that part of Asia.<br> +<br> +Dthemetri had to make the arrangements for my journey, and in order +to arm himself with sufficient authority for doing all that was required, +he found it necessary to put himself in communication with the Governor. +The result of this diplomatic intercourse was that the Governor, with +his train of attendants, came to me one day at my caravanserai, and +formally complained that Dthemetri had grossly insulted him. I +was shocked at this, for the man was always attentive and civil to me, +and I was disgusted at the idea of his having been rewarded with insult. +Dthemetri was present when the complaint was made, and I angrily asked +him whether it was true that he had really insulted the Governor, and +what the deuce he meant by it. This I asked with the full certainty +that Dthemetri, as a matter of course, would deny the charge, would +swear that a “wrong construction had been put upon his words, +and that nothing was further from his thoughts,” &c. &c., +after the manner of the parliamentary people, but to my surprise he +very plainly answered that he certainly <i>had</i> insulted the Governor, +and that rather grossly, but, he said, it was quite necessary to do +this in order to “strike terror and inspire respect.” +“Terror and respect! What on earth do you mean by that nonsense?” +- “Yes, but without striking terror and inspiring respect, he +(Dthemetri) would never be able to force on the arrangements for my +journey, and vossignoria would be kept at Gaza for a month!” +This would have been awkward, and certainly I could not deny that poor +Dthemetri had succeeded in his odd plan of inspiring respect, for at +the very time that this explanation was going on in Italian the Governor +seemed more than ever, and more anxiously, disposed to overwhelm me +with assurances of goodwill, and proffers of his best services. +All this kindness, or promise of kindness, I naturally received with +courtesy - a courtesy that greatly perturbed Dthemetri, for he evidently +feared that my civility would undo all the good that his insults had +achieved.<br> +<br> +You will find, I think, that one of the greatest draw-backs to the pleasure +of travelling in Asia is the being obliged, more or less, to make your +way by bullying. It is true that your own lips are not soiled +by the utterance of all the mean words that are spoken for you, and +that you don’t even know of the sham threats, and the false promises, +and the vainglorious boasts, put forth by your dragoman; but now and +then there happens some incident of the sort which I have just been +mentioning, which forces you to believe, or suspect, that your dragoman +is habitually fighting your battles for you in a way that you can hardly +bear to think of.<br> +<br> +A caravanserai is not ill adapted to the purposes for which it is meant. +It forms the four sides of a large quadrangular court. The ground +floor is used for warehouses, the first floor for guests, and the open +court for the temporary reception of the camels, as well as for the +loading and unloading of their burthens, and the transaction of mercantile +business generally. The apartments used for the guests are small +cells opening into a corridor, which runs round the four sides of the +court.<br> +<br> +Whilst I lay near the opening of my cell looking down into the court +below, there arrived from the Desert a caravan, that is, a large assemblage +of travellers. It consisted chiefly of Moldavian pilgrims, who +to make their good work even more than complete had begun by visiting +the shrine of the Virgin in Egypt, and were now going on to Jerusalem. +They had been overtaken in the Desert by a gale of wind, which so drove +the sand and raised up such mountains before them, that their journey +had been terribly perplexed and obstructed, and their provisions (including +water, the most precious of all) had been exhausted long before they +reached the end of their toilsome march. They were sadly wayworn. +The arrival of the caravan drew many and various groups into the court. +There was the Moldavian pilgrim with his sable dress and cap of fur +and heavy masses of bushy hair; the Turk, with his various and brilliant +garments; the Arab, superbly stalking under his striped blanket, that +hung like royalty upon his stately form; the jetty Ethiopian in his +slavish frock; the sleek, smooth-faced scribe with his comely pelisse, +and his silver ink-box stuck in like a dagger at his girdle. And +mingled with these were the camels, some standing, some kneeling and +being unladen, some twisting round their long necks, and gently stealing +the straw from out of their own pack-saddles.<br> +<br> +In a couple of days I was ready to start. The way of providing +for the passage of the Desert is this: there is an agent in the town +who keeps himself in communication with some of the desert Arabs that +are hovering within a day’s journey of the place. A party +of these upon being guaranteed against seizure or other ill-treatment +at the hands of the Governor come into the town, bringing with them +the number of camels which you require, and then they stipulate for +a certain sum to take you to the place of your destination in a given +time. The agreement which they thus enter into includes a safe +conduct through their country as well as the hire of the camels. +According to the contract made with me I was to reach Cairo within ten +days from the commencement of the journey. I had four camels, +one for my baggage, one for each of my servants, and one for myself. +Four Arabs, the owners of the camels, came with me on foot. My +stores were a small soldier’s tent, two bags of dried bread brought +from the convent at Jerusalem, and a couple of bottles of wine from +the same source, two goat-skins filled with water, tea, sugar, a cold +tongue, and (of all things in the world) a jar of Irish butter which +Mysseri had purchased from some merchant. There was also a small +sack of charcoal, for the greater part of the Desert through which we +were to pass is destitute of fuel.<br> +<br> +The camel kneels to receive her load, and for a while she will allow +the packing to go on with silent resignation; but when she begins to +suspect that her master is putting more than a just burthen upon her +poor hump she turns round her supple neck and looks sadly upon the increasing +load, and then gently remonstrates against the wrong with the sigh of +a patient wife. If sighs will not move you, she can weep. +You soon learn to pity, and soon to love, her for the sake of her gentle +and womanish ways.<br> +<br> +You cannot, of course, put an English or any other riding saddle upon +the back of the camel, but your quilt or carpet, or whatever you carry +for the purpose of lying on at night, is folded and fastened on to the +pack-saddle upon the top of the hump, and on this you ride, or rather +sit. You sit as a man sits on a chair when he sits astride and +faces the back of it. I made an improvement on this plan. +I had my English stirrups strapped on to the cross-bars of the pack-saddle, +and thus by gaining rest for my dangling legs, and gaining too the power +of varying my position more easily than I could otherwise have done, +I added very much to my comfort. Don’t forget to do as I +did.<br> +<br> +The camel, like the elephant, is one of the old-fashioned sort of animals +that still walk along upon the (now nearly exploded) plan of the ancient +beasts that lived before the Flood. She moves forward both her +near legs at the same time, and then awkwardly swings round her off +shoulder and haunch so as to repeat the manoeuvre on that side. +Her pace, therefore, is an odd, disjointed and disjoining, sort of movement +that is rather disagreeable at first, but you soon grow reconciled to +it. The height to which you are raised is of great advantage to +you in passing the burning sands of the Desert, for the air at such +a distance from the ground is much cooler and more lively than that +which circulates beneath.<br> +<br> +For several miles beyond Gaza the land, which had been plentifully watered +by the rains of the last week, was covered with rich verdure, and thickly +jewelled with meadow flowers so fresh and fragrant, that I began to +grow almost uneasy, to fancy that the very Desert was receding before +me, and that the long-desired adventure of passing its “burning +sands” was to end in a mere ride across a field. But as +I advanced the true character of the country began to display itself +with sufficient clearness to dispel my apprehensions, and before the +close of my first day’s journey I had the gratification of finding +that I was surrounded on all sides by a tract of real sand, and had +nothing at all to complain of except that there peeped forth at intervals +a few isolated blades of grass, and many of those stunted shrubs which +are the accustomed food of the camel.<br> +<br> +Before sunset I came up with an encampment of Arabs (the encampment +from which my camels had been brought), and my tent was pitched amongst +theirs. I was now amongst the true Bedouins. Almost every +man of this race closely resembles his brethren. Almost every +man has large and finely-formed features; but his face is so thoroughly +stripped of flesh, and the white folds from his headgear fall down by +his haggard cheeks so much in the burial fashion, that he looks quite +sad and ghastly. His large dark orbs roll slowly and solemnly +over the white of his deep-set eyes; his countenance shows painful thought +and long-suffering, the suffering of one fallen from a high estate. +His gait is strangely majestic, and he marches along with his simple +blanket as though he were wearing the purple. His common talk +is a series of piercing screams and cries, <a name="citation29"></a><a href="#footnote29">{29}</a> +more painful to the ear than the most excruciating fine music that I +ever endured.<br> +<br> +The Bedouin women are not treasured up like the wives and daughters +of other Orientals, and indeed they seemed almost entirely free from +the restraints imposed by jealousy. The feint which they made +of concealing their faces from me was always slight. They never, +I think, wore the <i>yashmak</i> properly fixed. When they first +saw me they used to hold up a part of their drapery with one hand across +their faces, but they seldom persevered very steadily in subjecting +me to this privation. Unhappy beings! they were sadly plain. +The awful haggardness that gave something of character to the faces +of the men was sheer ugliness in the poor women. It is a great +shame, but the truth is that, except when we refer to the beautiful +devotion of the mother to her child, all the fine things we say and +think about woman apply only to those who are tolerably good-looking +or graceful. These Arab women were so plain and clumsy, that they +seemed to me to be fit for nothing but another and a better world. +They may have been good women enough so far as relates to the exercise +of the minor virtues, but they had so grossly neglected the prime duty +of looking pretty in this transitory life, that I could not at all forgive +them. They seemed to feel the weight of their guilt, and to be +truly and humbly penitent. I had the complete command of their +affections, for at any moment I could make their young hearts bound +and their old hearts jump by offering a handful of tobacco, and yet, +believe me, it was not in the first <i>soirée</i> that my store +of Latakia was exhausted.<br> +<br> +The Bedouin women have no religion. This is partly the cause of +their clumsiness. Perhaps if from Christian girls they would learn +how to pray, their souls might become more gentle, and their limbs be +clothed with grace. You who are going into their country have +a direct personal interest in knowing something about “Arab hospitality”; +but the deuce of it is, that the poor fellows with whom I have happened +to pitch my tent were scarcely ever in a condition to exercise that +magnanimous virtue with much <i>éclat</i>. Indeed, Mysseri’s +canteen generally enabled me to outdo my hosts in the matter of entertainment. +They were always courteous, however, and were never backward in offering +me the <i>youart</i>, a kind of whey, which is the principal delicacy +to be found amongst the wandering tribes.<br> +<br> +Practically, I think, Childe Harold would have found it a dreadful bore +to make “the Desert his dwelling-place,” for at all events, +if he adopted the life of the Arabs he would have tasted no solitude. +The tents are partitioned, not so as to divide the Childe and the “fair +spirit” who is his “minister” from the rest of the +world, but so as to separate the twenty or thirty brown men that sit +screaming in the one compartment from the fifty or sixty brown women +and children that scream and squeak in the other. If you adopt +the Arab life for the sake of seclusion you will be horribly disappointed, +for you will find yourself in perpetual contact with a mass of hot fellow-creatures. +It is true that all who are inmates of the same tent are related to +each other, but I am not quite sure that that circumstance adds much +to the charm of such a life. At all events, before you finally +determine to become an Arab try a gentle experiment. Take one +of those small, shabby houses in May Fair, and shut yourself up in it +with forty or fifty shrill cousins for a couple of weeks in July.<br> +<br> +In passing the Desert you will find your Arabs wanting to start and +to rest at all sorts of odd times. They like, for instance, to +be off at one in the morning, and to rest during the whole of the afternoon. +You must not give way to their wishes in this respect. I tried +their plan once, and found it very harassing and unwholesome. +An ordinary tent can give you very little protection against heat, for +the fire strikes fiercely through single canvas, and you soon find that +whilst you lie crouching and striving to hide yourself from the blazing +face of the sun, his power is harder to bear than it is where you boldly +defy him from the airy heights of your camel.<br> +<br> +It had been arranged with my Arabs that they were to bring with them +all the food which they would want for themselves during the passage +of the Desert, but as we rested at the end of the first day’s +journey by the side of an Arab encampment, my camel men found all that +they required for that night in the tents of their own brethren. +On the evening of the second day, however, just before we encamped for +the night, my four Arabs came to Dthemetri, and formally announced that +they had not brought with them one atom of food, and that they looked +entirely to my supplies for their daily bread. This was awkward +intelligence. We were now just two days deep in the Desert, and +I had brought with me no more bread than might be reasonably required +for myself and my European attendants. I believed at the moment +(for it seemed likely enough) that the men had really mistaken the terms +of the arrangement, and feeling that the bore of being put upon half-rations +would be a less evil (and even to myself a less inconvenience) than +the starvation of my Arabs, I at once told Dthemetri to assure them +that my bread should be equally shared with all. Dthemetri, however, +did not approve of this concession; he assured me quite positively that +the Arabs thoroughly understood the agreement, and that if they were +now without food they had wilfully brought themselves into this strait +for the wretched purpose of bettering their bargain by the value of +a few paras’ worth of bread. This suggestion made me look +at the affair in a new light. I should have been glad enough to +put up with the slight privation to which my concession would subject +me, and could have borne to witness the semi-starvation of poor Dthemetri +with a fine, philosophical calm, but it seemed to me that the scheme, +if scheme it were, had something of audacity in it, and was well enough +calculated to try the extent of my softness. I well knew the danger +of allowing such a trial to result in a conclusion that I was one who +might be easily managed; and therefore, after thoroughly satisfying +myself from Dthemetri’s clear and repeated assertions that the +Arabs had really understood the arrangement, I determined that they +should not now violate it by taking advantage of my position in the +midst of their big Desert, so I desired Dthemetri to tell them that +they should touch no bread of mine. We stopped, and the tent was +pitched. The Arabs came to me, and prayed loudly for bread. +I refused them.<br> +<br> +“Then we die!”<br> +<br> +“God’s will be done!”<br> +<br> +I gave the Arabs to understand that I regretted their perishing by hunger, +but that I should bear this calmly, like any other misfortune not my +own, that, in short, I was happily resigned to <i>their</i> fate. +The men would have talked a great deal, but they were under the disadvantage +of addressing me through a hostile interpreter; they looked hard upon +my face, but they found no hope there; so at last they retired as they +pretended, to lay them down and die.<br> +<br> +In about ten minutes from this time I found that the Arabs were busily +cooking their bread! Their pretence of having brought no food +was false, and was only invented for the purpose of saving it. +They had a good bag of meal, which they had contrived to stow away under +the baggage upon one of the camels in such a way as to escape notice. +In Europe the detection of a scheme like this would have occasioned +a disagreeable feeling between the master and the delinquent, but you +would no more recoil from an Oriental on account of a matter of this +sort, than in England you would reject a horse that had tried, and failed, +to throw you. Indeed, I felt quite good-humouredly towards my +Arabs, because they had so woefully failed in their wretched attempt, +and because, as it turned out, I had done what was right. They +too, poor fellows, evidently began to like me immensely, on account +of the hard-heartedness which had enabled me to baffle their scheme.<br> +<br> +The Arabs adhere to those ancestral principles of bread-baking which +have been sanctioned by the experience of ages. The very first +baker of bread that ever lived must have done his work exactly as the +Arab does at this day. He takes some meal and holds it out in +the hollow of his hands, whilst his comrade pours over it a few drops +of water; he then mashes up the moistened flour into a paste, which +he pulls into small pieces, and thrusts into the embers. His way +of baking exactly resembles the craft or mystery of roasting chestnuts +as practised by children; there is the same prudence and circumspection +in choosing a good berth for the morsel, the same enterprise and self-sacrificing +valour in pulling it out with the fingers.<br> +<br> +The manner of my daily march was this. At about an hour before +dawn I rose and made the most of about a pint of water, which I allowed +myself for washing. Then I breakfasted upon tea and bread. +As soon as the beasts were loaded I mounted my camel and pressed forward. +My poor Arabs, being on foot, would sometimes moan with fatigue and +pray for rest; but I was anxious to enable them to perform their contract +for bringing me to Cairo within the stipulated time, and I did not therefore +allow a halt until the evening came. About midday, or soon after, +Mysseri used to bring up his camel alongside of mine, and supply me +with a piece of bread softened in water (for it was dried hard like +board), and also (as long as it lasted) with a piece of the tongue; +after this there came into my hand (how well I remember it) the little +tin cup half-filled with wine and water.<br> +<br> +As long as you are journeying in the interior of the Desert you have +no particular point to make for as your resting-place. The endless +sands yield nothing but small stunted shrubs; even these fail after +the first two or three days, and from that time you pass over broad +plains, you pass over newly-reared hills, you pass through valleys that +the storm of the last week has dug, and the hills and the valleys are +sand, sand, sand, still sand, and only sand, and sand and sand again. +The earth is so samely that your eyes turn towards heaven - towards +heaven, I mean, in the sense of sky. You look to the sun, for +he is your task-master, and by him you know the measure of the work +that you have done, and the measure of the work that remains for you +to do. He comes when you strike your tent in the early morning, +and then, for the first hour of the day as you move forward on your +camel, he stands at your near side and makes you know that the whole +day’s toil is before you; then for a while, and a long while, +you see him no more, for you are veiled and shrouded, and dare not look +upon the greatness of his glory, but you know where he strides overhead +by the touch of his flaming sword. No words are spoken, but your +Arabs moan, your camels sigh, your skin glows, your shoulders ache, +and for sights you see the pattern and the web of the silk that veils +your eyes and the glare of the outer light. Time labours on; your +skin glows and your shoulders ache, your Arabs moan, your camels sigh, +and you see the same pattern in the silk, and the same glare of light +beyond, but conquering Time marches on, and by-and-by the descending +sun has compassed the heaven, and now softly touches your right arm, +and throws your lank shadow over the sand right along on the way to +Persia. Then again you look upon his face, for his power is all +veiled in his beauty, and the redness of flames has become the redness +of roses; the fair, wavy cloud that fled in the morning now comes to +his sight once more, comes blushing, yet still comes on, comes burning +with blushes, yet hastens and clings to his side.<br> +<br> +Then arrives your time for resting. The world about you is all +your own, and there, where you will, you pitch your solitary tent; there +is no living thing to dispute your choice. When at last the spot +had been fixed upon and we came to a halt, one of the Arabs would touch +the chest of my camel and utter at the same time a peculiar gurgling +sound. The beast instantly understood and obeyed the sign, and +slowly sunk under me till she brought her body to a level with the ground, +then gladly enough I alighted. The rest of the camels were unloaded +and turned loose to browse upon the shrubs of the desert, where shrubs +there were, or where these failed, to wait for the small quantity of +food that was allowed them out of our stores.<br> +<br> +My servants, helped by the Arabs, busied themselves in pitching the +tent and kindling the fire. Whilst this was doing I used to walk +away towards the east, confiding in the print of my foot as a guide +for my return. Apart from the cheering voices of my attendants +I could better know and feel the loneliness of the Desert. The +influence of such scenes, however, was not of a softening kind, but +filled me rather with a sort of childish exultation in the self-sufficiency +which enabled me to stand thus alone in the wideness of Asia - a short-lived +pride, for wherever man wanders he still remains tethered by the chain +that links him to his kind; and so when the night closed around me I +began to return, to return, as it were, to my own gate. Reaching +at last some high ground I could see, and see with delight, the fire +of our small encampment, and when at last I regained the spot it seemed +to me a very home that had sprung up for me in the midst of these solitudes. +My Arabs were busy with their bread; Mysseri rattling tea-cups; the +little kettle, with her odd old-maidish looks, sat humming away old +songs about England; and two or three yards from the fire my tent stood +prim and tight, with open portal, and with welcoming look, like “the +old arm-chair” of our lyrist’s “sweet Lady Anne.”<br> +<br> +At the beginning of my journey the night breeze blew coldly; when that +happened, the dry sand was heaped up outside round the skirts of the +tent, and so the wind, that everywhere else could sweep as he listed +along those dreary plains, was forced to turn aside in his course and +make way, as he ought, for the Englishman. Then within my tent +there were heaps of luxuries - dining-rooms, dressing-rooms, libraries, +bedrooms, drawing-rooms, oratories, all crowded into the space of a +hearthrug. The first night, I remember, with my books and maps +about me, I wanted light; they brought me a taper, and immediately from +out of the silent Desert there rushed in a flood of life unseen before. +Monsters of moths, of all shapes and hues, that never before perhaps +had looked upon the shining of a flame, now madly thronged into my tent, +and dashed through the fire of the candle till they fairly extinguished +it with their burning limbs. Those who had failed in attaining +this martyrdom suddenly became serious, and clung despondingly to the +canvas.<br> +<br> +By-and-by there was brought to me the fragrant tea and big masses of +scorched and scorching toast, and the butter that had come all the way +to me in this Desert of Asia from out of that poor, dear, starving Ireland. +I feasted like a king, like four kings, like a boy in the fourth form.<br> +<br> +When the cold, sullen morning dawned, and my people began to load the +camels, I always felt loth to give back to the waste this little spot +of ground that had glowed for a while with the cheerfulness of a human +dwelling. One by one the cloaks, the saddles, the baggage, the +hundred things that strewed the ground and made it look so familiar +- all these were taken away and laid upon the camels. A speck +in the broad tracts of Asia remained still impressed with the mark of +patent portmanteaus and the heels of London boots; the embers of the +fire lay black and cold upon the sand, and these were the signs we left.<br> +<br> +My tent was spared to the last, but when all else was ready for the +start then came its fall; the pegs were drawn, the canvas shivered, +and in less than a minute there was nothing that remained of my genial +home but only a pole and a bundle. The encroaching Englishman +was off, and instant upon the fall of the canvas, like an owner who +had waited and watched, the genius of the Desert stalked in.<br> +<br> +To servants, as I suppose of any other Europeans not much accustomed +to amuse themselves by fancy or memory, it often happens that after +a few days journeying the loneliness of the Desert will become frightfully +oppressive. Upon my poor fellows the access of melancholy came +heavy, and all at once, as a blow from above; they bent their necks, +and bore it as best they could, but their joy was great on the fifth +day when we came to an oasis called Gatieh, for here we found encamped +a caravan (that is, an assemblage of travellers) from Cairo. The +Orientals living in cities never pass the Desert except in this way; +many will wait for weeks, and even for months, until a sufficient number +of persons can be found ready to undertake the journey at the same time +- until the flock of sheep is big enough to fancy itself a match for +wolves. They could not, I think, really secure themselves against +any serious danger by this contrivance, for though they have arms, they +are so little accustomed to use them, and so utterly unorganised, that +they never could make good their resistance to robbers of the slightest +respectability. It is not of the Bedouins that such travellers +are afraid, for the safe conduct granted by the chief of the ruling +tribe is never, I believe, violated, but it is said that there are deserters +and scamps of various sorts who hover about the skirts of the Desert, +particularly on the Cairo side, and are anxious to succeed to the property +of any poor devils whom they may find more weak and defenceless than +themselves.<br> +<br> +These people from Cairo professed to be amazed at the ludicrous disproportion +between their numerical forces and mine. They could not understand, +and they wanted to know, by what strange privilege it is that an Englishman +with a brace of pistols and a couple of servants rides safely across +the Desert, whilst they, the natives of the neighbouring cities, are +forced to travel in troops, or rather in herds. One of them got +a few minutes of private conversation with Dthemetri, and ventured to +ask him anxiously whether the English did not travel under the protection +of evil demons. I had previously known (from Methley, I think, +who had travelled in Persia) that this notion, so conducive to the safety +of our countrymen, is generally prevalent amongst Orientals. It +owes its origin, partly to the strong wilfulness of the English gentleman +(which not being backed by any visible authority, either civil or military, +seems perfectly superhuman to the soft Asiatic), but partly too to the +magic of the banking system, by force of which the wealthy traveller +will make all his journeys without carrying a handful of coin, and yet +when he arrives at a city will rain down showers of gold. The +theory is, that the English traveller has committed some sin against +God and his conscience, and that for this the evil spirit has hold of +him, and drives him from his home like a victim of the old Grecian furies, +and forces him to travel over countries far and strange, and most chiefly +over deserts and desolate places, and to stand upon the sites of cities +that once were and are now no more, and to grope among the tombs of +dead men. Often enough there is something of truth in this notion; +often enough the wandering Englishman is guilty (if guilt it be) of +some pride or ambition, big or small, imperial or parochial, which being +offended has made the lone place more tolerable than ballrooms to him, +a sinner.<br> +<br> +I can understand the sort of amazement of the Orientals at the scantiness +of the retinue with which an Englishman passes the Desert, for I was +somewhat struck myself when I saw one of my countrymen making his way +across the wilderness in this simple style. At first there was +a mere moving speck on the horizon. My party of course became +all alive with excitement, and there were many surmises. Soon +it appeared that three laden camels were approaching, and that two of +them carried riders. In a little while we saw that one of the +riders wore the European dress, and at last the travellers were pronounced +to be an English gentleman and his servant. By their side there +were a couple, I think, of Arabs on foot, and this was the whole party.<br> +<br> +You, you love sailing; in returning from a cruise to the English coast +you see often enough a fisherman’s humble boat far away from all +shores, with an ugly black sky above and an angry sea beneath. +You watch the grizzly old man at the helm carrying his craft with strange +skill through the turmoil of waters, and the boy, supple-limbed, yet +weather-worn already, and with steady eyes that look through the blast, +you see him understanding commandments from the jerk of his father’s +white eyebrow, now belaying and now letting go, now scrunching himself +down into mere ballast, or baling out death with a pipkin. Stale +enough is the sight, and yet when I see it I always stare anew, and +with a kind of Titanic exultation, because that a poor boat with the +brain of a man and the hands of a boy on board can match herself so +bravely against black heaven and ocean. Well, so when you have +travelled for days and days over an Eastern desert without meeting the +likeness of a human being, and then at last see an English shooting-jacket +and his servant come listlessly slouching along from out of the forward +horizon, you stare at the wide unproportion between this slender company +and the boundless plains of sand through which they are keeping their +way.<br> +<br> +This Englishman, as I afterwards found, was a military man returning +to his country from India, and crossing the Desert at this part in order +to go through Palestine. As for me, I had come pretty straight +from England, and so here we met in the wilderness at about half-way +from our respective starting-points. As we approached each other +it became with me a question whether we should speak. I thought +it likely that the stranger would accost me, and in the event of his +doing so I was quite ready to be as sociable and chatty as I could be +according to my nature; but still I could not think of anything particular +that I had to say to him. Of course, among civilised people the +not having anything to say is no excuse at all for not speaking, but +I was shy and indolent, and I felt no great wish to stop and talk like +a morning visitor in the midst of those broad solitudes. The traveller +perhaps felt as I did, for except that we lifted our hands to our caps +and waved our arms in courtesy, we passed each other as if we had passed +in Bond Street. Our attendants, however, were not to be cheated +of the delight that they felt in speaking to new listeners and hearing +fresh voices once more. The masters, therefore, had no sooner +passed each other than their respective servants quietly stopped and +entered into conversation. As soon as my camel found that her +companions were not following her she caught the social feeling and +refused to go on. I felt the absurdity of the situation, and determined +to accost the stranger if only to avoid the awkwardness of remaining +stuck fast in the Desert whilst our servants were amusing themselves. +When with this intent I turned round my camel I found that the gallant +officer who had passed me by about thirty or forty yards was exactly +in the same predicament as myself. I put my now willing camel +in motion and rode up towards the stranger, who seeing this followed +my example and came forward to meet me. He was the first to speak. +He was much too courteous to address me as if he admitted the possibility +of my wishing to accost him from any feeling of mere sociability or +civilian-like love of vain talk. On the contrary, he at once attributed +my advances to a laudable wish of acquiring statistical information, +and accordingly, when we got within speaking distance, he said, “I +dare say you wish to know how the plague is going on at Cairo?” +And then he went on to say, he regretted that his information did not +enable him to give me in numbers a perfectly accurate statement of the +daily deaths. He afterwards talked pleasantly enough upon other +and less ghastly subjects. I thought him manly and intelligent, +a worthy one of the few thousand strong Englishmen to whom the empire +of India is committed.<br> +<br> +The night after the meeting with the people of the caravan, Dthemetri, +alarmed by their warnings, took upon himself to keep watch all night +in the tent. No robbers came except a jackal, that poked his nose +into my tent from some motive of rational curiosity. Dthemetri +did not shoot him for fear of waking me. These brutes swarm in +every part of Syria, and there were many of them even in the midst of +the void sands, that would seem to give such poor promise of food. +I can hardly tell what prey they could be hoping for, unless it were +that they might find now and then the carcass of some camel that had +died on the journey. They do not marshal themselves into great +packs like the wild dogs of Eastern cities, but follow their prey in +families, like the place-hunters of Europe. Their voices are frightfully +like to the shouts and cries of human beings. If you lie awake +in your tent at night you are almost continually hearing some hungry +family as it sweeps along in full cry. You hear the exulting scream +with which the sagacious dam first winds the carrion, and the shrill +response of the unanimous cubs as they sniff the tainted air, “Wha! +wha! wha! wha! wha! wha! Whose gift is it in, mamma?”<br> +<br> +Once during this passage my Arabs lost their way among the hills of +loose sand that surrounded us, but after a while we were lucky enough +to recover our right line of march. The same day we fell in with +a Sheik, the head of a family, that actually dwells at no great distance +from this part of the Desert during nine months of the year. The +man carried a matchlock, of which he was very proud. We stopped +and sat down and rested awhile for the sake of a little talk. +There was much that I should have liked to ask this man, but he could +not understand Dthemetri’s language, and the process of getting +at his knowledge by double interpretation through my Arabs was unsatisfactory. +I discovered, however (and my Arabs knew of that fact), that this man +and his family lived habitually for nine months of the year without +touching or seeing either bread or water. The stunted shrub growing +at intervals through the sand in this part of the Desert enables the +camel mares to yield a little milk, which furnishes the sole food and +drink of their owner and his people. During the other three months +(the hottest of the months, I suppose) even this resource fails, and +then the Sheik and his people are forced to pass into another district. +You would ask me why the man should not remain always in that district +which supplies him with water during three months of the year, but I +don’t know enough of Arab politics to answer the question. +The Sheik was not a good specimen of the effect produced by the diet +to which he is subjected. He was very small, very spare, and sadly +shrivelled, a poor, over-roasted snipe, a mere cinder of a man. +I made him sit down by my side, and gave him a piece of bread and a +cup of water from out of my goat-skins. This was not very tempting +drink to look at, for it had become turbid, and was deeply reddened +by some colouring matter contained in the skins, but it kept its sweetness, +and tasted like a strong decoction of russia leather. The Sheik +sipped this, drop by drop, with ineffable relish, and rolled his eyes +solemnly round between every draught, as though the drink were the drink +of the Prophet, and had come from the seventh heaven.<br> +<br> +An inquiry about distances led to the discovery that this Sheik had +never heard of the division of time into hours; my Arabs themselves, +I think, were rather surprised at this.<br> +<br> +About this part of my journey I saw the likeness of a fresh-water lake. +I saw, as it seemed, a broad sheet of calm water, that stretched far +and fair towards the south, stretching deep into winding creeks, and +hemmed in by jutting promontories, and shelving smooth off towards the +shallow side. On its bosom the reflected fire of the sun lay playing, +and seeming to float upon waters deep and still.<br> +<br> +Though I knew of the cheat, it was not till the spongy foot of my camel +had almost trodden in the seeming waters that I could undeceive my eyes, +for the shore-line was quite true and natural. I soon saw the +cause of the phantasm. A sheet of water heavily impregnated with +salts had filled this great hollow, and when dried up by evaporation +had left a white saline deposit, that exactly marked the space which +the waters had covered, and thus sketched a good shore-line. The +minute crystals of the salt sparkled in the sun, and so looked like +the face of a lake that is calm and smooth.<br> +<br> +The pace of the camel is irksome, and makes your shoulders and loins +ache from the peculiar way in which you are obliged to suit yourself +to the movements of the beast, but you soon of course become inured +to this, and after the first two days this way of travelling became +so familiar to me, that (poor sleeper as I am) I now and then slumbered +for some moments together on the back of my camel. On the fifth +day of my journey the air above lay dead, and all the whole earth that +I could reach with my utmost sight and keenest listening was still and +lifeless as some dispeopled and forgotten world that rolls round and +round in the heavens through wasted floods of light. The sun growing +fiercer and fiercer shone down more mightily now than ever on me he +shone before, and as I dropped my head under his fire, and closed my +eyes against the glare that surrounded me, I slowly fell asleep, for +how many minutes or moments I cannot tell, but after a while I was gently +awakened by a peal of church bells, my native bells, the innocent bells +of Marlen, that never before sent forth their music beyond the Blaygon +hills! My first idea naturally was, that I still remained fast +under the power of a dream. I roused myself and drew aside the +silk that covered my eyes, and plunged my bare face into the light. +Then at least I was well enough wakened, but still those old Marlen +bells rung on, not ringing for joy, but properly, prosily, steadily, +merrily ringing “for church.” After a while the sound +died away slowly. It happened that neither I nor any of my party +had a watch by which to measure the exact time of its lasting, but it +seemed to me that about ten minutes had passed before the bells ceased. +I attributed the effect to the great heat of the sun, the perfect dryness +of the clear air through which I moved, and the deep stillness of all +around me. It seemed to me that these causes, by occasioning a +great tension, and consequent susceptibility, of the hearing organs +had rendered them liable to tingle under the passing touch of some mere +memory that must have swept across my brain in a moment of sleep. +Since my return to England it has been told me that like sounds have +been heard at sea, and that the sailor becalmed under a vertical sun +in the midst of the wide ocean has listened in trembling wonder to the +chime of his own village bells.<br> +<br> +At this time I kept a poor shabby pretence of a journal, which just +enabled me to know the day of the month and the week according to the +European calendar, and when in my tent at night I got out my pocket-book +I found that the day was Sunday, and roughly allowing for the difference +of time in this longitude, I concluded that at the moment of my hearing +that strange peal the church-going bells of Marlen must have been actually +calling the prim congregation of the parish to morning prayer. +The coincidence amused me faintly, but I could not pluck up the least +hope that the effect which I had experienced was anything other than +an illusion, an illusion liable to be explained (as every illusion is +in these days) by some of the philosophers who guess at Nature’s +riddles. It would have been sweeter to believe that my kneeling +mother by some pious enchantment had asked, and found, this spell to +rouse me from my scandalous forgetfulness of God’s holy day, but +my fancy was too weak to carry a faith like that. Indeed, the +vale through which the bells of Marlen send their song is a highly respectable +vale, and its people (save one, two, or three) are wholly unaddicted +to the practice of magical arts.<br> +<br> +After the fifth day of my journey I no longer travelled over shifting +hills, but came upon a dead level, a dead level bed of sand, quite hard, +and studded with small shining pebbles.<br> +<br> +The heat grew fierce; there was no valley nor hollow, no hill, no mound, +no shadow of hill nor of mound, by which I could mark the way I was +making. Hour by hour I advanced, and saw no change - I was still +the very centre of a round horizon; hour by hour I advanced, and still +there was the same, and the same, and the same - the same circle of +flaming sky - the same circle of sand still glaring with light and fire. +Over all the heaven above, over all the earth beneath, there was no +visible power that could balk the fierce will of the sun: “he +rejoiced as a strong man to run a race; his going forth was from the +end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it; and there was +nothing hid from the heat thereof.” From pole to pole, and +from the east to the west, he brandished his fiery sceptre as though +he had usurped all heaven and earth. As he bid the soft Persian +in ancient times, so now, and fiercely too, he bid me bow down and worship +him; so now in his pride he seemed to command me, and say, “Thou +shalt have none other gods but me.” I was all alone before +him. There were these two pitted together, and face to face - +the mighty sun for one, and for the other this poor, pale, solitary +self of mine, that I always carry about with me.<br> +<br> +But on the eighth day, and before I had yet turned away from Jehovah +for the glittering god of the Persians, there appeared a dark line upon +the edge of the forward horizon, and soon the line deepened into a delicate +fringe, that sparkled here and there as though it were sewn with diamonds. +There, then, before me were the gardens and the minarets of Egypt and +the mighty works of the Nile, and I (the eternal Ego that I am!) - I +had lived to see, and I saw them.<br> +<br> +When evening came I was still within the confines of the Desert, and +my tent was pitched as usual; but one of my Arabs stalked away rapidly +towards the west, without telling me of the errand on which he was bent. +After a while he returned; he had toiled on a graceful service; he had +travelled all the way on to the border of the living world, and brought +me back for token an ear of rice, full, fresh, and green.<br> +<br> +The next day I entered upon Egypt, and floated along (for the delight +was as the delight of bathing) through green wavy fields of rice, and +pastures fresh and plentiful, and dived into the cold verdure of groves +and gardens, and quenched my hot eyes in shade, as though in deep, rushing +waters.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XVIII - CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE <a name="citation30"></a><a href="#footnote30">{30}</a><br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Cairo and plague! During the whole time of my stay the plague +was so master of the city, and showed itself so staringly in every street +and every alley, that I can’t now affect to dissociate the two +ideas.<br> +<br> +When coming from the Desert I rode through a village which lies near +to the city on the eastern side, there approached me with busy face +and earnest gestures a personage in the Turkish dress. His long +flowing beard gave him rather a majestic look, but his briskness of +manner, and his visible anxiety to accost me, seemed strange in an Oriental. +The man in fact was French, or of French origin, and his object was +to warn me of the plague, and prevent me from entering the city.<br> +<br> +“Arrêtez-vous, monsieur, je vous en prie - arrêtez-vous; +il ne faut pas entrer dans la ville; la peste y règne partout.”<br> +<br> +“Oui, je sais,<a name="citation31"></a><a href="#footnote31">{31}</a> +mais - ”<br> +<br> +“Mais monsieur, je dis la peste - la peste; c’est de LA +PESTE, qu’il est question.”<br> +<br> +“Oui, je sais, mais - ”<br> +<br> +“Mais monsieur, je dis encore LA PESTE - LA PESTE. Je vous +conjure de ne pas entrer dans la ville - vous seriez dans une ville +empestée.”<br> +<br> +“Oui, je sais, mais - ”<br> +<br> +“Mais monsieur, je dois donc vous avertir tout bonnement que si +vous entrez dans la ville, vous serez - enfin vous serez COMPROMIS!” +<a name="citation32"></a><a href="#footnote32">{32}</a><br> +<br> +“Oui, je sais, mais - ”<br> +<br> + The Frenchman was at last convinced that it was vain to reason +with a mere Englishman, who could not understand what it was to be “compromised.” +I thanked him most sincerely for his kindly meant warning; in hot countries +it is very unusual indeed for a man to go out in the glare of the sun +and give free advice to a stranger.<br> +<br> +When I arrived at Cairo I summoned Osman Effendi, who was, as I knew, +the owner of several houses, and would be able to provide me with apartments. +He had no difficulty in doing this, for there was not one European traveller +in Cairo besides myself. Poor Osman! he met me with a sorrowful +countenance, for the fear of the plague sat heavily on his soul. +He seemed as if he felt that he was doing wrong in lending me a resting-place, +and he betrayed such a listlessness about temporal matters, as one might +look for in a man who believed that his days were numbered. He +caught me too soon after my arrival coming out from the public baths, +<a name="citation33"></a><a href="#footnote33">{33}</a> and from that +time forward he was sadly afraid of me, for he shared the opinions of +Europeans with respect to the effect of contagion.<br> +<br> +Osman’s history is a curious one. He was a Scotchman born, +and when very young, being then a drummer-boy, he landed in Egypt with +Fraser’s force. He was taken prisoner, and according to +Mahometan custom, the alternative of death or the Koran was offered +to him; he did not choose death, and therefore went through the ceremonies +which were necessary for turning him into a good Mahometan. But +what amused me most in his history was this, that very soon after having +embraced Islam he was obliged in practice to become curious and discriminating +in his new faith, to make war upon Mahometan dissenters, and follow +the orthodox standard of the Prophet in fierce campaigns against the +Wahabees, who are the Unitarians of the Mussulman world. The Wahabees +were crushed, and Osman returning home in triumph from his holy wars, +began to flourish in the world. He acquired property, and became +<i>effendi</i>, or gentleman. At the time of my visit to Cairo +he seemed to be much respected by his brother Mahometans, and gave pledge +of his sincere alienation from Christianity by keeping a couple of wives. +He affected the same sort of reserve in mentioning them as is generally +shown by Orientals. He invited me, indeed, to see his harem, but +he made both his wives bundle out before I was admitted. He felt, +as it seemed to me, that neither of them would bear criticism, and I +think that this idea, rather than any motive of sincere jealousy, induced +him to keep them out of sight. The rooms of the harem reminded +me of an English nursery rather than of a Mahometan paradise. +One is apt to judge of a woman before one sees her by the air of elegance +or coarseness with which she surrounds her home; I judged Osman’s +wives by this test, and condemned them both. But the strangest +feature in Osman’s character was his inextinguishable nationality. +In vain they had brought him over the seas in early boyhood; in vain +had he suffered captivity, conversion, circumcision; in vain they had +passed him through fire in their Arabian campaigns, they could not cut +away or burn out poor Osman’s inborn love of all that was Scotch; +in vain men called him Effendi; in vain he swept along in eastern robes; +in vain the rival wives adorned his harem: the joy of his heart still +plainly lay in this, that he had three shelves of books, and that the +books were thoroughbred Scotch - the Edinburgh this, the Edinburgh that, +and above all, I recollect, he prided himself upon the “Edinburgh +Cabinet Library.”<br> +<br> +The fear of the plague is its forerunner. It is likely enough +that at the time of my seeing poor Osman the deadly taint was beginning +to creep through his veins, but it was not till after I had left Cairo +that he was visibly stricken. He died.<br> +<br> +As soon as I had seen all that I wanted to see in Cairo and in the neighbourhood +I wished to make my escape from a city that lay under the terrible curse +of the plague, but Mysseri fell ill, in consequence, I believe, of the +hardships which he had been suffering in my service. After a while +he recovered sufficiently to undertake a journey, but then there was +some difficulty in procuring beasts of burthen, and it was not till +the nineteenth day of my sojourn that I quitted the city.<br> +<br> +During all this time the power of the plague was rapidly increasing. +When I first arrived, it was said that the daily number of “accidents” +by plague, out of a population of about two hundred thousand, did not +exceed four or five hundred, but before I went away the deaths were +reckoned at twelve hundred a day. I had no means of knowing whether +the numbers (given out, as I believe they were, by officials) were at +all correct, but I could not help knowing that from day to day the number +of the dead was increasing. My quarters were in a street which +was one of the chief thoroughfares of the city. The funerals in +Cairo take place between daybreak and noon, and as I was generally in +my rooms during this part of the day, I could form some opinion as to +the briskness of the plague. I don’t mean this for a sly +insinuation that I got up every morning with the sun. It was not +so; but the funerals of most people in decent circumstances at Cairo +are attended by singers and howlers, and the performances of these people +woke me in the early morning, and prevented me from remaining in ignorance +of what was going on in the street below.<br> +<br> +These funerals were very simply conducted. The bier was a shallow +wooden tray, carried upon a light and weak wooden frame. The tray +had, in general, no lid, but the body was more or less hidden from view +by a shawl or scarf. The whole was borne upon the shoulders of +men, who contrived to cut along with their burthen at a great pace. +Two or three singers generally preceded the bier; the howlers (who are +paid for their vocal labours) followed after, and last of all came such +of the dead man’s friends and relations as could keep up with +such a rapid procession; these, especially the women, would get terribly +blown, and would straggle back into the rear; many were fairly “beaten +off.” I never observed any appearance of mourning in the +mourners: the pace was too severe for any solemn affectation of grief.<br> +<br> +When first I arrived at Cairo the funerals that daily passed under my +windows were many, but still there were frequent and long intervals +without a single howl. Every day, however (except one, when I +fancied that I observed a diminution of funerals), these intervals became +less frequent and shorter, and at last, the passing of the howlers from +morn till noon was almost incessant. I believe that about one-half +of the whole people was carried off by this visitation. The Orientals, +however, have more quiet fortitude than Europeans under afflictions +of this sort, and they never allow the plague to interfere with their +religious usages. I rode one day round the great burial-ground. +The tombs are strewed over a great expanse, among the vast mountains +of rubbish (the accumulations of many centuries) which surround the +city. The ground, unlike the Turkish “cities of the dead,” +which are made so beautiful by their dark cypresses, has nothing to +sweeten melancholy, nothing to mitigate the odiousness of death. +Carnivorous beasts and birds possess the place by night, and now in +the fair morning it was all alive with fresh comers - alive with dead. +Yet at this very time, when the plague was raging so furiously, and +on this very ground, which resounded so mournfully with the howls of +arriving funerals, preparations were going on for the religious festival +called the Kourban Bairam. Tents were pitched, and <i>swings hung +for the amusement of children</i> - a ghastly holiday; but the Mahometans +take a pride, and a just pride, in following their ancient customs undisturbed +by the shadow of death.<br> +<br> +I did not hear, whilst I was at Cairo, that any prayer for a remission +of the plague had been offered up in the mosques. I believe that +however frightful the ravages of the disease may be, the Mahometans +refrain from approaching Heaven with their complaints until the plague +has endured for a long space, and then at last they pray God, not that +the plague may cease, but that it may go to another city!<br> +<br> +A good Mussulman seems to take pride in repudiating the European notion +that the will of God can be eluded by eluding the touch of a sleeve. +When I went to see the pyramids of Sakkara I was the guest of a noble +old fellow, an Osmanlee, whose soft rolling language it was a luxury +to hear after suffering, as I had suffered of late, from the shrieking +tongue of the Arabs. This man was aware of the European ideas +about contagion, and his first care therefore was to assure me that +not a single instance of plague had occurred in his village. He +then inquired as to the progress of the plague at Cairo. I had +but a bad account to give. Up to this time my host had carefully +refrained from touching me out of respect to the European theory of +contagion, but as soon as it was made plain that he, and not I, would +be the person endangered by contact, he gently laid his hand upon my +arm, in order to make me feel sure that the circumstance of my coming +from an infected city did not occasion him the least uneasiness. +In that touch there was true hospitality.<br> +<br> +Very different is the faith and the practice of the Europeans, or rather, +I mean of the Europeans settled in the East, and commonly called Levantines. +When I came to the end of my journey over the Desert I had been so long +alone, that the prospect of speaking to somebody at Cairo seemed almost +a new excitement. I felt a sort of consciousness that I had a +little of the wild beast about me, but I was quite in the humour to +be charmingly tame, and to be quite engaging in my manners, if I should +have an opportunity of holding communion with any of the human race +whilst at Cairo. I knew no one in the place, and had no letters +of introduction, but I carried letters of credit, and it often happens +in places remote from England that those “advices” operate +as a sort of introduction, and obtain for the bearer (if disposed to +receive them) such ordinary civilities as it may be in the power of +the banker to offer.<br> +<br> +Very soon after my arrival I went to the house of the Levantine to whom +my credentials were addressed. At his door several persons (all +Arabs) were hanging about and keeping guard. It was not till after +some delay, and the passing of some communications with those in the +interior of the citadel, that I was admitted. At length, however, +I was conducted through the court, and up a flight of stairs, and finally +into the apartment where business was transacted. The room was +divided by an excellent, substantial fence of iron bars, and behind +this grille the banker had his station. The truth was, that from +fear of the plague he had adopted the course usually taken by European +residents, and had shut himself up “in strict quarantine” +- that is to say, that he had, as he hoped, cut himself off from all +communication with infecting substances. The Europeans long resident +in the East, without any, or with scarcely any, exception are firmly +convinced that the plague is propagated by contact, and by contact only; +that if they can but avoid the touch of an infecting substance they +are safe, and that if they cannot, they die. This belief induces +them to adopt the contrivance of putting themselves in that state of +siege which they call “quarantine.” It is a part of +their faith that metals, and hempen rope, and also, I fancy, one or +two other substances, will not carry the infection; and they likewise +believe that the germ of pestilence, which lies in an infected substance, +may be destroyed by submersion in water, or by the action of smoke. +They therefore guard the doors of their houses with the utmost care +against intrusion, and condemn themselves, with all the members of their +family, including any European servants, to a strict imprisonment within +the walls of their dwelling. Their native attendants are not allowed +to enter at all, but they make the necessary purchases of provisions, +which are hauled up through one of the windows by means of a rope, and +are then soaked in water.<br> +<br> +I knew nothing of these mysteries, and was not therefore prepared for +the sort of reception which I met with. I advanced to the iron +fence, and putting my letter between the bars, politely proffered it +to Mr. Banker. Mr. Banker received me with a sad and dejected +look, and not “with open arms,” or with any arms at all, +but with - a pair of tongs! I placed my letter between the iron +fingers, which picked it up as if it were a viper, and conveyed it away +to be scorched and purified by fire and smoke. I was disgusted +at this reception, and at the idea that anything of mine could carry +infection to the poor wretch who stood on the other side of the grille, +pale and trembling, and already meet for death. I looked with +something of the Mahometan’s feeling upon these little contrivances +for eluding fate; and in this instance, at least, they were vain. +A few more days, and the poor money-changer, who had striven to guard +the days of his life (as though they were coins) with bolts and bars +of iron - he was seized by the plague, and he died.<br> +<br> +To people entertaining such opinions as these respecting the fatal effect +of contact, the narrow and crowded streets of Cairo were terrible as +the easy slope that leads to Avernus. The roaring ocean and the +beetling crags owe something of their sublimity to this - that if they +be tempted, they can take the warm life of a man. To the contagionist, +filled as he is with the dread of final causes, having no faith in destiny +nor in the fixed will of God, and with none of the devil-may-care indifference +which might stand him instead of creeds - to such one, every rag that +shivers in the breeze of a plague-stricken city has this sort of sublimity. +If by any terrible ordinance he be forced to venture forth, he sees +death dangling from every sleeve, and as he creeps forward, he poises +his shuddering limbs between the imminent jacket that is stabbing at +his right elbow and the murderous pelisse that threatens to mow him +clean down as it sweeps along on his left. But most of all, he +dreads that which most of all he should love - the touch of a woman’s +dress; for mothers and wives, hurrying forth on kindly errands from +the bedsides of the dying, go slouching along through the streets more +wilfully and less courteously than the men. For a while it may +be that the caution of the poor Levantine may enable him to avoid contact, +but sooner or later perhaps the dreaded chance arrives; that bundle +of linen, with the dark tearful eyes at the top of it, that labours +along with the voluptuous clumsiness of Grisi - she has touched the +poor Levantine with the hem of her sleeve! From that dread moment +his peace is gone; his mind, for ever hanging upon the fatal touch, +invites the blow which he fears. He watches for the symptoms of +plague so carefully, that sooner or later they come in truth. +The parched mouth is a sign - his mouth is parched; the throbbing brain +- his brain <i>does</i> throb; the rapid pulse - he touches his own +wrist (for he dares not ask counsel of any man lest he be deserted), +he touches his wrist, and feels how his frighted blood goes galloping +out of his heart; there is nothing but the fatal swelling that is wanting +to make his sad conviction complete; immediately he has an odd feel +under the arm - no pain, but a little straining of the skin; he would +to God it were his fancy that were strong enough to give him that sensation. +This is the worst of all; it now seems to him that he could be happy +and contented with his parched mouth and his throbbing brain and his +rapid pulse, if only he could know that there were no swelling under +the left arm; but dare he try? - In a moment of calmness and deliberation +he dares not, but when for a while he has writhed under the torture +of suspense, a sudden strength of will drives him to seek and know his +fate. He touches the gland, and finds the skin sane and sound, +but under the cuticle there lies a small lump like a pistol-bullet, +that moves as he pushes it. Oh! but is this for all certainty, +is this the sentence of death? Feel the gland of the other arm; +there is not the same lump exactly, yet something a little like it: +have not some people glands naturally enlarged? - would to Heaven he +were one! So he does for himself the work of the plague, and when +the Angel of Death, thus courted, does indeed and in truth come, he +has only to finish that which has been so well begun; he passes his +fiery hand over the brain of the victim, and lets him rave for a season, +but all chance-wise, of people and things once dear, or of people and +things indifferent. Once more the poor fellow is back at his home +in fair Provence, and sees the sun-dial that stood in his childhood’s +garden; sees part of his mother, and the long-since-forgotten face of +that little dead sister (he sees her, he says, on a Sunday morning, +for all the church bells are ringing); he looks up and down through +the universe, and owns it well piled with bales upon bales of cotton, +and cotton eternal - so much so that he feels, he knows, he swears he +could make that winning hazard, if the billiard table would not slant +upwards, and if the cue were a cue worth playing with; but it is not +- it’s a cue that won’t move - his own arm won’t move +- in short, there’s the devil to pay in the brain of the poor +Levantine, and perhaps the next night but one he becomes the “life +and the soul” of some squalling jackal family who fish him out +by the foot from his shallow and sandy grave.<br> +<br> +Better fate was mine. By some happy perverseness (occasioned perhaps +by my disgust at the notion of being received with a pair of tongs) +I took it into my pleasant head that all the European notions about +contagion were thoroughly unfounded; that the plague might be providential +or “epidemic” (as they phrase it), but was not contagious; +and that I could not be killed by the touch of a woman’s sleeve, +nor yet by her blessed breath. I therefore determined that the +plague should not alter my habits and amusements in any one respect. +Though I came to this resolve from impulse, I think that I took the +course which was in effect the most prudent, for the cheerfulness of +spirits which I was thus enabled to retain discouraged the yellow-winged +angel, and prevented him from taking a shot at me. I, however, +so far respected the opinion of the Europeans, that I avoided touching +when I could do so without privation or inconvenience. This endeavour +furnished me with a sort of amusement as I passed through the streets. +The usual mode of moving from place to place in the city of Cairo is +upon donkeys, of which great numbers are always in readiness, with donkey-boys +attached. I had two who constantly (until one of them died of +the plague) waited at my door upon the chance of being wanted. +I found this way of moving about exceedingly pleasant, and never attempted +any other. I had only to mount my beast, and tell my donkey-boy +the point for which I was bound, and instantly I began to glide on at +a capital pace. The streets of Cairo are not paved in any way, +but strewed with a dry sandy soil, so deadening to sound, that the footfall +of my donkey could scarcely be heard. There is no <i>trottoir</i>, +and as you ride through the streets you mingle with the people on foot. +Those who are in your way, upon being warned by the shouts of the donkey-boy, +move very slightly aside, so as to leave you a narrow lane, through +which you pass at a gallop. In this way you glide on delightfully +in the very midst of crowds, without being inconvenienced or stopped +for a moment. It seems to you that it is not the donkey but the +donkey-boy who wafts you on with his shouts through pleasant groups, +and air that feels thick with the fragrance of burial spice. “Eh! +Sheik, Eh! Bint, - reggalek, - “shumalek, &c. &c. +- O old man, O virgin, get out of the way on the right - O virgin, O +old man, get out of the way on the left - this Englishman comes, he +comes, he comes!” The narrow alley which these shouts cleared +for my passage made it possible, though difficult, to go on for a long +way without touching a single person, and my endeavours to avoid such +contact were a sort of game for me in my loneliness, which was not without +interest. If I got through a street without being touched, I won; +if I was touched, I lost - lost a deuce of stake, according to the theory +of the Europeans; but that I deemed to be all nonsense - I only lost +that game, and would certainly win the next.<br> +<br> +There is not much in the way of public buildings to admire at Cairo, +but I saw one handsome mosque, to which an instructive history is attached. +A Hindustanee merchant having amassed an immense fortune settled in +Cairo, and soon found that his riches in the then state of the political +world gave him vast power in the city - power, however, the exercise +of which was much restrained by the counteracting influence of other +wealthy men. With a view to extinguish every attempt at rivalry +the Hindustanee merchant built this magnificent mosque at his own expense. +When the work was complete, he invited all the leading men of the city +to join him in prayer within the walls of the newly built temple, and +he then caused to be massacred all those who were sufficiently influential +to cause him any jealousy or uneasiness - in short, all “the respectable +men” of the place; after this he possessed undisputed power in +the city and was greatly revered - he is revered to this day. +It seemed to me that there was a touching simplicity in the mode which +this man so successfully adopted for gaining the confidence and goodwill +of his fellow-citizens. There seems to be some improbability in +the story (though not nearly so gross as it might appear to an European +ignorant of the East, for witness Mehemet Ali’s destruction of +the Mamelukes, a closely similar act, and attended with the like brilliant +success <a name="citation34"></a><a href="#footnote34">{34}</a>), but +even if the story be false as a mere fact, it is perfectly true as an +illustration - it is a true exposition of the means by which the respect +and affection of Orientals may be conciliated.<br> +<br> +I ascended one day to the citadel, which commands a superb view of the +town. The fanciful and elaborate gilt-work of the many minarets +gives a light and florid grace to the city as seen from this height, +but before you can look for many seconds at such things your eyes are +drawn westward - drawn westward and over the Nile, till they rest upon +the massive enormities of the Ghizeh Pyramids.<br> +<br> +I saw within the fortress many yoke of men all haggard and woebegone, +and a kennel of very fine lions well fed and flourishing: I say <i>yoke</i> +of men, for the poor fellows were working together in bonds; I say a +<i>kennel</i> of lions, for the beasts were not enclosed in cages, but +simply chained up like dogs.<br> +<br> +I went round the bazaars: it seemed to me that pipes and arms were cheaper +here than at Constantinople, and I should advise you therefore if you +go to both places to prefer the market of Cairo. I had previously +bought several of such things at Constantinople, and did not choose +to encumber myself, or to speak more honestly, I did not choose to disencumber +my purse by making any more purchases. In the open slave-market +I saw about fifty girls exposed for sale, but all of them black, or +“invisible” brown. A slave agent took me to some rooms +in the upper storey of the building, and also into several obscure houses +in the neighbourhood, with a view to show me some white women. +The owners raised various objections to the display of their ware, and +well they might, for I had not the least notion of purchasing; some +refused on account of the illegality of the proceeding, <a name="citation35"></a><a href="#footnote35">{35}</a> +and others declared that all transactions of this sort were completely +out of the question as long as the plague was raging. I only succeeded +in seeing one white slave who was for sale but on this one the owner +affected to set an immense value, and raised my expectations to a high +pitch by saying that the girl was Circassian, and was “fair as +the full moon.” After a good deal of delay I was at last +led into a room, at the farther end of which was that mass of white +linen which indicates an Eastern woman. She was bid to uncover +her face, and I presently saw that, though very far from being good +looking, according to my notion of beauty, she had not been inaptly +described by the man who compared her to the full moon, for her large +face was perfectly round and perfectly white. Though very young, +she was nevertheless extremely fat. She gave me the idea of having +been got up for sale, of having been fattened and whitened by medicines +or by some peculiar diet. I was firmly determined not to see any +more of her than the face. She was perhaps disgusted at this my +virtuous resolve, as well as with my personal appearance; perhaps she +saw my distaste and disappointment; perhaps she wished to gain favour +with her owner by showing her attachment to his faith: at all events, +she holloaed out very lustily and very decidedly that “she would +not be bought by the infidel.”<br> +<br> +Whilst I remained at Cairo I thought it worth while to see something +of the magicians, because I considered that these men were in some sort +the descendants of those who contended so stoutly against the superior +power of Aaron. I therefore sent for an old man who was held to +be the chief of the magicians, and desired him to show me the wonders +of his art. The old man looked and dressed his character exceedingly +well; the vast turban, the flowing beard, and the ample robes were all +that one could wish in the way of appearance. The first experiment +(a very stale one) which he attempted to perform for me was that of +showing the forms and faces of my absent friends, not to me, but to +a boy brought in from the streets for the purpose, and said to be chosen +at random. A <i>mangale</i> (pan of burning charcoal) was brought +into my room, and the magician bending over it, sprinkled upon the fire +some substances which must have consisted partly of spices or sweetly +burning woods, for immediately a fragrant smoke arose that curled around +the bending form of the wizard, the while that he pronounced his first +incantations. When these were over the boy was made to sit down, +and a common green shade was bound over his brow; then the wizard took +ink, and still continuing his incantations, wrote certain mysterious +figures upon the boy’s palm, and directed him to rivet his attention +to these marks without looking aside for an instant. Again the +incantations proceeded, and after a while the boy, being seemingly a +little agitated, was asked whether he saw anything on the palm of his +hand. He declared that he saw a kind of military procession, with +flags and banners, which he described rather minutely. I was then +called upon to name the absent person whose form was to be made visible. +I named Keate. You were not at Eton, and I must tell you, therefore, +what manner of man it was that I named, though I think you must have +some idea of him already, for wherever from utmost Canada to Bundelcund +- wherever there was the whitewashed wall of an officer’s room, +or of any other apartment in which English gentlemen are forced to kick +their heels, there likely enough (in the days of his reign) the head +of Keate would be seen scratched or drawn with those various degrees +of skill which one observes in the representations of saints. +Anybody without the least notion of drawing could still draw a speaking, +nay scolding, likeness of Keate. If you had no pencil, you could +draw him well enough with a poker, or the leg of a chair, or the smoke +of a candle. He was little more (if more at all) than five feet +in height, and was not very great in girth, but in this space was concentrated +the pluck of ten battalions. He had a really noble voice, which +he could modulate with great skill, but he had also the power of quacking +like an angry duck, and he almost always adopted this mode of communication +in order to inspire respect. He was a capital scholar, but his +ingenuous learning had <i>not</i> “softened his manners” +and <i>had</i> “permitted them to be fierce” - tremendously +fierce; he had the most complete command over his temper - I mean over +his <i>good</i> temper, which he scarcely ever allowed to appear: you +could not put him out of humour - that is, out of the <i>ill</i>-humour +which he thought to be fitting for a head-master. His red shaggy +eyebrows were so prominent, that he habitually used them as arms and +hands for the purpose of pointing out any object towards which he wished +to direct attention; the rest of his features were equally striking +in their way, and were all and all his own; he wore a fancy dress partly +resembling the costume of Napoleon, and partly that of a widow-woman. +I could not by any possibility have named anybody more decidedly differing +in appearance from the rest of the human race.<br> +<br> +“Whom do you name?” - “I name John Keate.” - +“Now, what do you see?” said the wizard to the boy. - “I +see,” answered the boy, “I see a fair girl with golden hair, +blue eyes, pallid face, rosy lips.” <i>There</i> was a shot! +I shouted out my laughter to the horror of the wizard, who perceiving +the grossness of his failure, declared that the boy must have known +sin (for none but the innocent can see truth), and accordingly kicked +him downstairs.<br> +<br> +One or two other boys were tried, but none could “see truth”; +they all made sadly “bad shots.”<br> +<br> +Notwithstanding the failure of these experiments, I wished to see what +sort of mummery my magician would practise if I called upon him to show +me some performances of a higher order than those which had been attempted. +I therefore entered into a treaty with him, in virtue of which he was +to descend with me into the tombs near the Pyramids, and there evoke +the devil. The negotiation lasted some time, for Dthemetri, as +in duty bound, tried to beat down the wizard as much as he could, and +the wizard, on his part, manfully stuck up for his price, declaring +that to raise the devil was really no joke, and insinuating that to +do so was an awesome crime. I let Dthemetri have his way in the +negotiation, but I felt in reality very indifferent about the sum to +be paid, and for this reason, namely, that the payment (except a very +small present which I might make or not, as I chose) was to be <i>contingent +on success</i>. At length the bargain was made, and it was arranged +that after a few days, to be allowed for preparation, the wizard should +raise the devil for two pounds ten, play or pay - no devil, no piastres.<br> +<br> +The wizard failed to keep his appointment. I sent to know why +the deuce he had not come to raise the devil. The truth was, that +my Mahomet had gone to the mountain. The plague had seized him, +and he died.<br> +<br> +Although the plague had now spread terrible havoc around me, I did not +see very plainly any corresponding change in the looks of the streets +until the seventh day after my arrival. I then first observed +that the city was <i>silenced</i>. There were no outward signs +of despair nor of violent terror, but many of the voices that had swelled +the busy hum of men were already hushed in death, and the survivors, +so used to scream and screech in their earnestness whenever they bought +or sold, now showed an unwonted indifference about the affairs of this +world: it was less worth while for men to haggle and haggle, and crack +the sky with noisy bargains, when the great commander was there, who +could “pay all their debts with the roll of his drum.”<br> +<br> +At this time I was informed that of twenty-five thousand people at Alexandria, +twelve thousand had died already; the destroyer had come rather later +to Cairo, but there was nothing of weariness in his strides. The +deaths came faster than ever they befell in the plague of London; but +the calmness of Orientals under such visitations, and the habit of using +biers for interment, instead of burying coffins along with the bodies, +rendered it practicable to dispose of the dead in the usual way, without +shocking the people by any unaccustomed spectacle of horror. There +was no tumbling of bodies into carts, as in the plague of Florence and +the plague of London. Every man, according to his station, was +properly buried, and that in the usual way, except that he went to his +grave in a more hurried pace than might have been adopted under ordinary +circumstances.<br> +<br> +The funerals which poured through the streets were not the only public +evidence of deaths. In Cairo this custom prevails: At the instant +of a man’s death (if his property is sufficient to justify the +expense) professional howlers are employed. I believe that these +persons are brought near to the dying man when his end appears to be +approaching, and the moment that life is gone they lift up their voices +and send forth a loud wail from the chamber of death. Thus I knew +when my near neighbours died; sometimes the howls were near, sometimes +more distant. Once I was awakened in the night by the wail of +death in the next house, and another time by a like howl from the house +opposite; and there were two or three minutes, I recollect, during which +the howl seemed to be actually running along the street.<br> +<br> +I happened to be rather teased at this time by a sore throat, and I +thought it would be well to get it cured if I could before I again started +on my travels. I therefore inquired for a Frank doctor, and was +informed that the only one then at Cairo was a young Bolognese refugee, +who was so poor that he had not been able to take flight, as the other +medical men had done. At such a time as this it was out of the +question to send for an European physician; a person thus summoned would +be sure to suppose that the patient was ill of the plague, and would +decline to come. I therefore rode to the young doctor’s +residence. After experiencing some little difficulty in finding +where to look for him, I ascended a flight or two of stairs and knocked +at his door. No one came immediately, but after some little delay +the medico himself opened the door, and admitted me. I of course +made him understand that I had come to consult him, but before entering +upon my throat grievance I accepted a chair, and exchanged a sentence +or two of commonplace conversation. Now the natural commonplace +of the city at this season was of a gloomy sort, “Come va la peste?” +(how goes the plague?) and this was precisely the question I put. +A deep sigh, and the words, “Sette cento per giorno, signor” +(seven hundred a day), pronounced in a tone of the deepest sadness and +dejection, were the answer I received. The day was not oppressively +hot, yet I saw that the doctor was perspiring profusely, and even the +outside surface of the thick shawl dressing-gown, in which he had wrapped +himself, appeared to be moist. He was a handsome, pleasant-looking +young fellow, but the deep melancholy of his tone did not tempt me to +prolong the conversation, and without further delay I requested that +my throat might be looked at. The medico held my chin in the usual +way, and examined my throat. He then wrote me a prescription, +and almost immediately afterwards I bade him farewell, but as he conducted +me towards the door I observed an expression of strange and unhappy +watchfulness in his rolling eyes. It was not the next day, but +the next day but one, if I rightly remember, that I sent to request +another interview with my doctor. In due time Dthemetri, who was +my messenger, returned, looking sadly aghast - he had “<i>met</i> +the medico,” for so he phrased it, “coming out from his +house - in a bier!”<br> +<br> +It was of course plain that when the poor Bolognese was looking at my +throat, and almost mingling his breath with mine, he was stricken of +the plague. I suppose that the violent sweat in which I found +him had been produced by some medicine, which he must have taken in +the hope of curing himself. The peculiar rolling of the eyes which +I had remarked is, I believe, to experienced observers, a pretty sure +test of the plague. A Russian acquaintance, of mine, speaking +from the information of men who had made the Turkish campaigns of 1828 +and 1829, told me that by this sign the officers of Sabalkansky’s +force were able to make out the plague-stricken soldiers with a good +deal of certainty.<br> +<br> +It so happened that most of the people with whom I had anything to do +during my stay at Cairo were seized with plague, and all these died. +Since I had been for a long time <i>en route</i> before I reached Egypt, +and was about to start again for another long journey over the Desert, +there were of course many little matters touching my wardrobe and my +travelling equipments which required to be attended to whilst I remained +in the city. It happened so many times that Dthemetri’s +orders in respect to these matters were frustrated by the deaths of +the tradespeople and others whom he employed, that at last I became +quite accustomed to the peculiar manner which he assumed when he prepared +to announce a new death to me. The poor fellow naturally supposed +that I should feel some uneasiness at hearing of the “accidents” +which happened to persons employed by me, and he therefore communicated +their deaths as though they were the deaths of friends. He would +cast down his eyes and look like a man abashed, and then gently, and +with a mournful gesture, allow the words, “Morto, signor,” +to come through his lips. I don’t know how many of such +instances occurred, but they were several, and besides these (as I told +you before), my banker, my doctor, my landlord, and my magician all +died of the plague. A lad who acted as a helper in the house which +I occupied lost a brother and a sister within a few hours. Out +of my two established donkey-boys, one died. I did not hear of +any instance in which a plague-stricken patient had recovered.<br> +<br> +Going out one morning I met unexpectedly the scorching breath of the +kamsin wind, and fearing that I should faint under the horrible sensations +which it caused, I returned to my rooms. Reflecting, however, +that I might have to encounter this wind in the Desert, where there +would be no possibility of avoiding it, I thought it would be better +to brave it once more in the city, and to try whether I could really +bear it or not. I therefore mounted my ass and rode to old Cairo, +and along the gardens by the banks of the Nile. The wind was hot +to the touch, as though it came from a furnace. It blew strongly, +but yet with such perfect steadiness, that the trees bending under its +force remained fixed in the same curves without perceptibly waving. +The whole sky was obscured by a veil of yellowish grey, that shut out +the face of the sun. The streets were utterly silent, being indeed +almost entirely deserted; and not without cause, for the scorching blast, +whilst it fevers the blood, closes up the pores of the skin, and is +terribly distressing, therefore, to every animal that encounters it. +I returned to my rooms dreadfully ill. My head ached with a burning +pain, and my pulse bounded quick and fitfully, but perhaps (as in the +instance of the poor Levantine, whose death I was mentioning), the fear +and excitement which I felt in trying my own wrist may have made my +blood flutter the faster.<br> +<br> +It is a thoroughly well believed theory, that during the continuance +of the plague you can’t be ill of any other febrile malady - an +unpleasant privilege that! for ill I was, and ill of fever, and I anxiously +wished that the ailment might turn out to be anything rather than plague. +I had some right to surmise that my illness may have been merely the +effect of the hot wind; and this notion was encouraged by the elasticity +of my spirits, and by a strong forefeeling that much of my destined +life in this world was yet to come, and yet to be fulfilled. That +was my instinctive belief, but when I carefully weighed the probabilities +on the one side and on the other, I could not help seeing that the strength +of argument was all against me. There was a strong antecedent +likelihood in <i>favour</i> of my being struck by the same blow as the +rest of the people who had been dying around me. Besides, it occurred +to me that, after all, the universal opinion of the Europeans upon a +medical question, such as that of contagion, might probably be correct, +and <i>if it were</i>, I was so thoroughly “compromised,” +and especially by the touch and breath of the dying medico, that I had +no right to expect any other fate than that which now seemed to have +overtaken me. Balancing as well as I could all the considerations +which hope and fear suggested, I slowly and reluctantly came to the +conclusion that, according to all merely reasonable probability, the +plague had come upon me.<br> +<br> +You would suppose that this conviction would have induced me to write +a few farewell lines to those who were dearest, and that having done +that, I should have turned my thoughts towards the world to come. +Such, however, was not the case. I believe that the prospect of +death often brings with it strong anxieties about matters of comparatively +trivial import, and certainly with me the whole energy of the mind was +directed towards the one petty object of concealing my illness until +the latest possible moment - until the delirious stage. I did +not believe that either Mysseri or Dthemetri, who had served me so faithfully +in all trials, would have deserted me (as most Europeans are wont to +do) when they knew that I was stricken by plague, but I shrank from +the idea of putting them to this test, and I dreaded the consternation +which the knowledge of my illness would be sure to occasion.<br> +<br> +I was very ill indeed at the moment when my dinner was served, and my +soul sickened at the sight of the food; but I had luckily the habit +of dispensing with the attendance of servants during my meal, and as +soon as I was left alone I made a melancholy calculation of the quantity +of food which I should have eaten if I had been in my usual health, +and filled my plates accordingly, and gave myself salt, and so on, as +though I were going to dine. I then transferred the viands to +a piece of the omnipresent Times newspaper, and hid them away in a cupboard, +for it was not yet night, and I dared not throw the food into the street +until darkness came. I did not at all relish this process of fictitious +dining, but at length the cloth was removed, and I gladly reclined on +my divan (I would not lie down) with the “Arabian Nights” +in my hand.<br> +<br> +I had a feeling that tea would be a capital thing for me, but I would +not order it until the usual hour. When at last the time came, +I drank deep draughts from the fragrant cup. The effect was almost +instantaneous. A plenteous sweat burst through my skin, and watered +my clothes through and through. I kept myself thickly covered. +The hot tormenting weight which had been loading my brain was slowly +heaved away. The fever was extinguished. I felt a new buoyancy +of spirits, and an unusual activity of mind. I went into my bed +under a load of thick covering, and when the morning came, and I asked +myself how I was, I found that I was thoroughly well.<br> +<br> +I was very anxious to procure, if possible, some medical advice for +Mysseri, whose illness prevented my departure. Every one of the +European practising doctors, of whom there had been many, had either +died or fled. It was said, however, that there was an Englishman +in the medical service of the Pasha who quietly remained at his post, +but that he never engaged in private practice. I determined to +try if I could obtain assistance in this quarter. I did not venture +at first, and at such a time as this, to ask him to visit a servant +who was prostrate on the bed of sickness, but thinking that I might +thus gain an opportunity of persuading him to attend Mysseri, I wrote +a note mentioning my own affair of the sore throat, and asking for the +benefit of his medical advice. He instantly followed back my messenger, +and was at once shown up into my room. I entreated him to stand +off, telling him fairly how deeply I was “compromised,” +and especially by my contact with a person actually ill and since dead +of plague. The generous fellow, with a good-humoured laugh at +the terrors of the contagionists, marched straight up to me, and forcibly +seized my hand, and shook it with manly violence. I felt grateful +indeed, and swelled with fresh pride of race because that my countryman +could carry himself so nobly. He soon cured Mysseri as well as +me, and all this he did from no other motives than the pleasure of doing +a kindness and the delight of braving a danger.<br> +<br> +At length the great difficulty <a name="citation36"></a><a href="#footnote36">{36}</a> +which I had had in procuring beasts for my departure was overcome, and +now, too, I was to have the new excitement of travelling on dromedaries. +With two of these beasts and three camels I gladly wound my way from +out of the pest-stricken city. As I passed through the streets +I observed a fanatical-looking elder, who stretched forth his arms, +and lifted up his voice in a speech which seemed to have some reference +to me. Requiring an interpretation, I found that the man had said, +“The Pasha seeks camels, and he finds them not; the Englishman +says, ‘Let camels be brought,’ and behold, there they are!”<br> +<br> +I no sooner breathed the free, wholesome air of the Desert than I felt +that a great burden which I had been scarcely conscious of bearing was +lifted away from my mind. For nearly three weeks I had lived under +peril of death; the peril ceased, and not till then did I know how much +alarm and anxiety I had really been suffering.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XIX - THE PYRAMIDS<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +I went to see and to explore the Pyramids.<br> +<br> +Familiar to one from the days of early childhood are the forms of the +Egyptian Pyramids, and now, as I approached them from the banks of the +Nile, I had no print, no picture before me, and yet the old shapes were +there; there was no change; they were just as I had always known them. +I straightened myself in my stirrups, and strived to persuade my understanding +that this was real Egypt, and that those angles which stood up between +me and the West were of harder stuff, and more ancient than the paper +pyramids of the green portfolio. Yet it was not till I came to +the base of the great Pyramid that reality began to weigh upon my mind. +Strange to say, the bigness of the distinct blocks of stones was the +first sign by which I attained to feel the immensity of the whole pile. +When I came, and trod, and touched with my hands, and climbed, in order +that by climbing I might come to the top of one single stone, then, +and almost suddenly, a cold sense and understanding of the Pyramid’s +enormity came down, overcasting my brain.<br> +<br> +Now try to endure this homely, sick-nursish illustration of the effect +produced upon one’s mind by the mere vastness of the great Pyramid. +When I was very young (between the ages, I believe, of three and five +years old), being then of delicate health, I was often in time of night +the victim of a strange kind of mental oppression. I lay in my +bed perfectly conscious, and with open eyes, but without power to speak +or to move, and all the while my brain was oppressed to distraction +by the presence of a single and abstract idea, the idea of solid immensity. +It seemed to me in my agonies that the horror of this visitation arose +from its coming upon me without form or shape, that the close presence +of the direst monster ever bred in hell would have been a thousand times +more tolerable than that simple idea of solid size. My aching +mind was fixed and riveted down upon the mere quality of vastness, vastness, +vastness, and was not permitted to invest with it any particular object. +If I could have done so, the torment would have ceased. When at +last I was roused from this state of suffering, I could not of course +in those days (knowing no verbal metaphysics, and no metaphysics at +all, except by the dreadful experience of an abstract idea) - I could +not of course find words to describe the nature of my sensations, and +even now I cannot explain why it is that the forced contemplation of +a mere quality, distinct from matter, should be so terrible. Well, +now my eyes saw and knew, and my hands and my feet informed my understanding +that there was nothing at all abstract about the great Pyramid - it +was a big triangle, sufficiently concrete, easy to see, and rough to +the touch; it could not, of course, affect me with the peculiar sensation +which I have been talking of, but yet there was something akin to that +old nightmare agony in the terrible completeness with which a mere mass +of masonry could fill and load my mind.<br> +<br> +And Time too; the remoteness of its origin, no less than the enormity +of its proportions, screens an Egyptian Pyramid from the easy and familiar +contact of our modern minds; at its base the common earth ends, and +all above is a world - one not created of God, not seeming to be made +by men’s hands, but rather the sheer giant-work of some old dismal +age weighing down this younger planet.<br> +<br> +Fine sayings! but the truth seems to be after all, that the Pyramids +are quite of this world; that they were piled up into the air for the +realisation of some kingly crotchets about immortality, some priestly +longing for burial fees; and that as for the building, they were built +like coral rocks by swarms of insects - by swarms of poor Egyptians, +who were not only the abject tools and slaves of power, but who also +ate onions for the reward of their immortal labours! <a name="citation37"></a><a href="#footnote37">{37}</a> +The Pyramids are quite of this world.<br> +<br> +I of course ascended to the summit of the great Pyramid, and also explored +its chambers, but these I need not describe. The first time that +I went to the Pyramids of Ghizeh there were a number of Arabs hanging +about in its neighbourhood, and wanting to receive presents on various +pretences; their Sheik was with them. There was also present an +ill-looking fellow in soldier’s uniform. This man on my +departure claimed a reward, on the ground that he had maintained order +and decorum amongst the Arabs. His claim was not considered valid +by my dragoman, and was rejected accordingly. My donkey-boys afterwards +said they had overhead this fellow propose to the Sheik to put me to +death whilst I was in the interior of the great Pyramid, and to share +with him the booty. Fancy a struggle for life in one of those +burial chambers, with acres and acres of solid masonry between one’s +self and the daylight! I felt exceedingly glad that I had not +made the rascal a present.<br> +<br> +I visited the very ancient Pyramids of Aboukir and Sakkara. There +are many of these, and of various shapes and sizes, and it struck me +that, taken together, they might be considered as showing the progress +and perfection (such as it is) of pyramidical architecture. One +of the Pyramids at Sakkara is almost a rival for the full-grown monster +at Ghizeh; others are scarcely more than vast heaps of brick and stone: +these last suggested to me the idea that after all the Pyramid is nothing +more nor less than a variety of the sepulchral mound so common in most +countries (including, I believe, Hindustan, from whence the Egyptians +are supposed to have come). Men accustomed to raise these structures +for their dead kings or conquerors would carry the usage with them in +their migrations, but arriving in Egypt, and seeing the impossibility +of finding earth sufficiently tenacious for a mound, they would approximate +as nearly as might be to their ancient custom by raising up a round +heap of stones - in short, conical pyramids. Of these there are +several at Sakkara, and the materials of some are thrown together without +any order or regularity. The transition from this simple form +to that of the square angular pyramid was easy and natural, and it seemed +to me that the gradations through which the style passed from infancy +up to its mature enormity could plainly be traced at Sakkara.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XX - THE SPHINX<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +And near the Pyramids more wondrous and more awful than all else in +the land of Egypt, there sits the lonely Sphinx. Comely the creature +is, but the comeliness is not of this world. The once worshipped +beast is a deformity and a monster to this generation; and yet you can +see that those lips, so thick and heavy, were fashioned according to +some ancient mould of beauty - some mould of beauty now forgotten - +forgotten because that Greece drew forth Cytherea from the flashing +foam of the Aegean, and in her image created new forms of beauty, and +made it a law among men that the short and proudly wreathed lip should +stand for the sign and the main condition of loveliness through all +generations to come. Yet still there lives on the race of those +who were beautiful in the fashion of the elder world, and Christian +girls of Coptic blood will look on you with the sad, serious gaze, and +kiss you your charitable hand with the big pouting lips of the very +Sphinx.<br> +<br> +Laugh and mock if you will at the worship of stone idols, but mark ye +this, ye breakers of images, that in one regard the stone idol bears +awful semblance of Deity - unchangefulness in the midst of change; the +same seeming will, and intent for ever, and ever inexorable! Upon +ancient dynasties of Ethiopian and Egyptian kings; upon Greek, and Roman; +upon Arab and Ottoman conquerors; upon Napoleon dreaming of an Eastern +Empire; upon battle and pestilence; upon the ceaseless misery of the +Egyptian race; upon keen-eyed travellers - Herodotus yesterday, and +Warburton to-day: upon all and more, this unworldly Sphinx has watched, +and watched like a Providence with the same earnest eyes, and the same +sad, tranquil mien. And we, we shall die, and Islam will wither +away, and the Englishman, leaning far over to hold his loved India, +will plant a firm foot on the banks of the Nile, and sit in the seats +of the Faithful, and still that sleepless rock will lie watching, and +watching the works of the new, busy race with those same sad, earnest +eyes, and the same tranquil mien everlasting. You dare not mock +at the Sphinx.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXI - CAIRO TO SUEZ<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +The “dromedary” of Egypt and Syria is not the two-humped +animal described by that name in books of natural history, but is, in +fact, of the same family as the camel, to which it stands in about the +same relation as a racer to a cart-horse. The fleetness and endurance +of this creature are extraordinary. It is not usual to force him +into a gallop, and I fancy from his make that it would be quite impossible +for him to maintain that pace for any length of time; but the animal +is on so large a scale, that the jog-trot at which he is generally ridden +implies a progress of perhaps ten or twelve miles an hour, and this +pace, it is said, he can keep up incessantly, without food, or water, +or rest, for three whole days and nights.<br> +<br> +Of the two dromedaries which I had obtained for this journey, I mounted +one myself, and put Dthemetri on the other. My plan was to ride +on with Dthemetri to Suez as rapidly as the fleetness of the beasts +would allow, and to let Myserri (who was still weak from the effects +of his late illness) come quietly on with the camels and baggage.<br> +<br> +The trot of the dromedary is a pace terribly disagreeable to the rider, +until he becomes a little accustomed to it; but after the first half-hour +I so far schooled myself to this new exercise, that I felt capable of +keeping it up (though not without aching limbs) for several hours together. +Now, therefore, I was anxious to dart forward, and annihilate at once +the whole space that divided me from the Red Sea. Dthemetri, however, +could not get on at all. Every attempt which he made to trot seemed +to threaten the utter dislocation of his whole frame, and indeed I doubt +whether any one of Dthemetri’s age (nearly forty, I think), and +unaccustomed to such exercise, could have borne it at all easily; besides, +the dromedary which fell to his lot was evidently a very bad one; he +every now and then came to a dead stop, and coolly knelt down, as though +suggesting that the rider had better get off at once and abandon the +attempt as one that was utterly hopeless.<br> +<br> +When for the third or fourth time I saw Dthemetri thus planted, I lost +my patience, and went on without him. For about two hours, I think, +I advanced without once looking behind me. I then paused, and +cast my eyes back to the western horizon. There was no sign of +Dthemetri, nor of any other living creature. This I expected, +for I knew that I must have far out-distanced all my followers. +I had ridden away from my party merely by way of gratifying my impatience, +and with the intention of stopping as soon as I felt tired, until I +was overtaken. I now observed, however (this I had not been able +to do whilst advancing so rapidly), that the track which I had been +following was seemingly the track of only one or two camels. I +did not fear that I had diverged very largely from the true route, but +still I could not feel any reasonable certainty that my party would +follow any line of march within sight of me.<br> +<br> +I had to consider, therefore, whether I should remain where I was, upon +the chance of seeing my people come up, or whether I would push on alone, +and find my way to Suez. I had now learned that I could not rely +upon the continued guidance of any track, but I knew that (if maps were +right) the point for which I was bound bore just due east of Cairo, +and I thought that, although I might miss the line leading most directly +to Suez, I could not well fail to find my way sooner or later to the +Red Sea. The worst of it was that I had no provision of food or +water with me, and already I was beginning to feel thirst. I deliberated +for a minute, and then determined that I would abandon all hope of seeing +my party again, in the Desert, and would push forward as rapidly as +possible towards Suez.<br> +<br> +It was not, I confess, without a sensation of awe that I swept with +my sight the vacant round of the horizon, and remembered that I was +all alone, and unprovisioned in the midst of the arid waste; but this +very awe gave tone and zest to the exultation with which I felt myself +launched. Hitherto, in all my wandering, I had been under the +care of other people - sailors, Tatars, guides, and dragomen had watched +over my welfare, but now at last I was here in this African desert, +and I <i>myself, and no other, had charge of my life</i>. I liked +the office well. I had the greasiest part of the day before me, +a very fair dromedary, a fur pelisse, and a brace of pistols, but no +bread and no water; for that I must ride - and ride I did.<br> +<br> +For several hours I urged forward my beast at a rapid though steady +pace, but now the pangs of thirst began to torment me. I did not +relax my pace, however, and I had not suffered long when a moving object +appeared in the distance before me. The intervening space was +soon traversed, and I found myself approaching a Bedouin Arab mounted +on a camel, attended by another Bedouin on foot. They stopped. +I saw that, as usual, there hung from the pack-saddle of the camel a +large skin water-flask, which seemed to be well filled. I steered +my dromedary close up alongside of the mounted Bedouin, caused my beast +to kneel down, then alighted, and keeping the end of the halter in my +hand, went up to the mounted Bedouin without speaking, took hold of +his water-flask, opened it, and drank long and deep from its leathern +lips. Both of the Bedouins stood fast in amazement and mute horror; +and really, if they had never happened to see an European before, the +apparition was enough to startle them. To see for the first time +a coat and a waistcoat, with the semblance of a white human head at +the top, and for this ghastly figure to come swiftly out of the horizon +upon a fleet dromedary, approach them silently and with a demoniacal +smile, and drink a deep draught from their water-flask - this was enough +to make the Bedouins stare a little; they, in fact, stared a great deal +- not as Europeans stare, with a restless and puzzled expression of +countenance, but with features all fixed and rigid, and with still, +glassy eyes. Before they had time to get decomposed from their +state of petrifaction I had remounted my dromedary, and was darting +away towards the east.<br> +<br> +Without pause or remission of pace I continued to press forward, but +after a while I found to my confusion that the slight track which had +hitherto guided me now failed altogether. I began to fear that +I must have been all along following the course of some wandering Bedouins, +and I felt that if this were the case, my fate was a little uncertain.<br> +<br> +I had no compass with me, but I determined upon the eastern point of +the horizon as accurately as I could by reference to the sun, and so +laid down for myself a way over the pathless sands.<br> +<br> +But now my poor dromedary, by whose life and strength I held my own, +began to show signs of distress: a thick, clammy, and glutinous kind +of foam gathered about her lips, and piteous sobs burst from her bosom +in the tones of human misery. I doubted for a moment whether I +would give her a little rest, a relaxation of pace, but I decided that +I would not, and continued to push forward as steadily as before.<br> +<br> +The character of the country became changed. I had ridden away +from the level tracts, and before me now, and on either side, there +were vast hills of sand and calcined rocks, that interrupted my progress +and baffled my doubtful road, but I did my best. With rapid steps +I swept round the base of the hills, threaded the winding hollows, and +at last, as I rose in my swift course to the crest of a lofty ridge, +Thalatta! Thalatta! by Jove! I saw the sea!<br> +<br> +My tongue can tell where to find a clue to many an old pagan creed, +because that (distinctly from all mere admiration of the beauty belonging +to nature’s works) I acknowledge a sense of mystical reverence +when first I look, to see some illustrious feature of the globe - some +coast-line of ocean, some mighty river or dreary mountain range, the +ancient barrier of kingdoms. But the Red Sea! It might well +claim my earnest gaze by force of the great Jewish migration which connects +it with the history of our own religion. From this very ridge, +it is likely enough, the panting Israelites first saw that shining inlet +of the sea. Ay! ay! but moreover, and best of all, that beckoning +sea assured my eyes, and proved how well I had marked out the east for +my path, and gave me good promise that sooner or later the time would +come for me to rest and drink. It was distant, the sea, but I +felt my own strength, and I had <i>heard</i> of the strength of dromedaries. +I pushed forward as eagerly as though I had spoiled the Egyptians and +were flying from Pharaoh’s police.<br> +<br> +I had not yet been able to discover any symptoms of Suez, but after +a while I descried in the distance a large, blank, isolated building. +I made towards this, and in time got down to it. The building +was a fort, and had been built there for the protection of a well which +it contained within its precincts. A cluster of small huts adhered +to the fort, and in a short time I was receiving the hospitality of +the inhabitants, who were grouped upon the sands near their hamlet. +To quench the fires of my throat with about a gallon of muddy water, +and to swallow a little of the food placed before me, was the work of +few minutes, and before the astonishment of my hosts had even begun +to subside, I was pursuing my onward journey. Suez, I found, was +still three hours distant, and the sun going down in the west warned +me that I must find some other guide to keep me in the right direction. +This guide I found in the most fickle and uncertain of the elements. +For some hours the wind had been freshening, and it now blew a violent +gale; it blew not fitfully and in squalls, but with such remarkable +steadiness, that I felt convinced it would blow from the same quarter +for several hours. When the sun set, therefore, I carefully looked +for the point from which the wind was blowing, and found that it came +from the very west, and was blowing exactly in the direction of my route. +I had nothing to do therefore but to go straight to leeward; and this +was not difficult, for the gale blew with such immense force, that if +I diverged at all from its line I instantly felt the pressure of the +blast on the side towards which I was deviating. Very soon after +sunset there came on complete darkness, but the strong wind guided me +well, and sped me, too, on my way.<br> +<br> +I had pushed on for about, I think, a couple of hours after nightfall +when I saw the glimmer of a light in the distance, and this I ventured +to hope must be Suez. Upon approaching it, however, I found that +it was only a solitary fort, and I passed on without stopping.<br> +<br> +On I went, still riding down the wind, when an unlucky accident occurred, +for which, if you like, you can have your laugh against me. I +have told you already what sort of lodging it is that you have upon +the back of a camel. You ride the dromedary in the same fashion; +you are perched rather than seated on a bunch of carpets or quilts upon +the summit of the hump. It happened that my dromedary veered rather +suddenly from her onward course. Meeting the movement, I mechanically +turned my left wrist as though I were holding a bridle rein, for the +complete darkness prevented my eyes from reminding me that I had nothing +but a halter in my hand. The expected resistance failed, for the +halter was hanging upon that side of the dromedary’s neck towards +which I was slightly leaning. I toppled over, head foremost, and +then went falling and falling through air, till my crown came whang +against the ground. And the ground too was perfectly hard (compacted +sand), but the thickly wadded headgear which I wore for protection against +the sun saved my life. The notion of my being able to get up again +after falling head-foremost from such an immense height seemed to me +at first too paradoxical to be acted upon, but I soon found that I was +not a bit hurt. My dromedary utterly vanished. I looked +round me, and saw the glimmer of a light in the fort which I had lately +passed, and I began to work my way back in that direction. The +violence of the gale made it hard for me to force my way towards the +west, but I succeeded at last in regaining the fort. To this, +as to the other fort which I had passed, there was attached a cluster +of huts, and I soon found myself surrounded by a group of villainous, +gloomy-looking fellows. It was a horrid bore for me to have to +swagger and look big at a time when I felt so particularly small on +account of my tumble and my lost dromedary; but there was no help for +it; I had no Dthemetri now to “strike terror” for me. +I knew hardly one word of Arabic, but somehow or other I contrived to +announce it as my absolute will and pleasure that these fellows should +find me the means of gaining Suez. They acceded, and having a +donkey, they saddled it for me, and appointed one of their number to +attend me on foot.<br> +<br> +I afterwards found that these fellows were not Arabs, but Algerine refugees, +and that they bore the character of being sad scoundrels. They +justified this imputation to some extent on the following day. +They allowed Mysseri with my baggage and the camels to pass unmolested, +but an Arab lad belonging to the party happened to lag a little way +in the rear, and him (if they were not maligned) these rascals stripped +and robbed. Low indeed is the state of bandit morality when men +will allow the sleek traveller with well-laden camels to pass in quiet, +reserving their spirit of enterprise for the tattered turban of a miserable +boy.<br> +<br> +I reached Suez at last. The British agent, though roused from +his midnight sleep, received me in his home with the utmost kindness +and hospitality. Oh! by Jove, how delightful it was to lie on +fair sheets, and to dally with sleep, and to wake, and to sleep, and +to wake once more, for the sake of sleeping again!<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXII - SUEZ<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +I was hospitably entertained by the British consul, or agent, as he +is there styled. He is the <i>employé</i> of the East India +Company, and not of the Home Government. Napoleon during his stay +of five days at Suez had been the guest of the consul’s father, +and I was told that the divan in my apartment had been the bed of the +great commander.<br> +<br> +There are two opinions as to the point at which the Israelites passed +the Red Sea. One is, that they traversed only the very small creek +at the northern extremity of the inlet, and that they entered the bed +of the water at the spot on which Suez now stands; the other, that they +crossed the sea from a point eighteen miles down the coast. The +Oxford theologians, who, with Milman their professor, <a name="citation38"></a><a href="#footnote38">{38}</a> +believe that Jehovah conducted His chosen people without disturbing +the order of nature, adopt the first view, and suppose that the Israelites +passed during an ebb-tide, aided by a violent wind. One among +many objections to this supposition is, that the time of a single ebb +would not have been sufficient for the passage of that vast multitude +of men and beasts, or even for a small fraction of it. Moreover, +the creek to the north of this point can be compassed in an hour, and +in two hours you can make the circuit of the salt marsh over which the +sea may have extended in former times. If, therefore, the Israelites +crossed so high up as Suez, the Egyptians, unless infatuated by Divine +interference, might easily have recovered their stolen goods from the +encumbered fugitives by making a slight detour. The opinion which +fixes the point of passage at eighteen miles’ distance, and from +thence right across the ocean depths to the eastern side of the sea, +is supported by the unanimous tradition of the people, whether Christians +or Mussulmans, and is consistent with Holy Writ: “the waters were +a wall unto them on their right hand, <i>and on their left</i>.” +The Cambridge mathematicians seem to think that the Israelites were +enabled to pass over dry land by adopting a route not usually subjected +to the influx of the sea. This notion is plausible in a merely +hydrostatical point of view, and is supposed to have been adopted by +most of the Fellows of Trinity, but certainly not by Thorp, who is one +of the most amiable of their number. It is difficult to reconcile +this theory with the account given in Exodus, unless we can suppose +that the words “sea” and “waters” are there +used in a sense implying dry land.<br> +<br> +Napoleon when at Suez made an attempt to follow the supposed steps of +Moses by passing the creek at this point, but it seems, according to +the testimony of the people at Suez, that he and his horsemen managed +the matter in a way more resembling the failure of the Egyptians than +the success of the Israelites. According to the French account, +Napoleon got out of the difficulty by that warrior-like presence of +mind which served him so well when the fate of nations depended on the +decision of a moment - he ordered his horsemen to disperse in all directions, +in order to multiply the chances of finding shallow water, and was thus +enabled to discover a line by which he and his people were extricated. +The story told by the people of Suez is very different: they declare +that Napoleon parted from his horse, got thoroughly submerged, and was +only fished out by the assistance of the people on shore.<br> +<br> +I bathed twice at the point assigned to the passage of the Israelites, +and the second time that I did so I chose the time of low water and +tried to walk across, but I soon found myself out of my depth, or at +least in water so deep, that I could only advance by swimming.<br> +<br> +The dromedary, which had bolted in the Desert, was brought into Suez +the day after my arrival, but my pelisse and my pistols, which had been +attached to the saddle, had disappeared. These articles were treasures +of great importance to me at that time, and I moved the Governor of +the town to make all possible exertions for their recovery. He +acceded to my wishes as well as he could, and very obligingly imprisoned +the first seven poor fellows he could lay his hands on.<br> +<br> +At first the Governor acted in the matter from no other motive than +that of courtesy to an English traveller, but afterwards, and when he +saw the value which I set upon the lost property, he pushed his measures +with a degree of alacrity and heat, which seemed to show that he felt +a personal interest in the matter. It was supposed either that +he expected a large present in the event of succeeding, or that he was +striving by all means to trace the property, in order that he might +lay his hands on it after my departure.<br> +<br> +I went out sailing for some hours, and when I returned I was horrified +to find that two men had been bastinadoed by order of the Governor, +with a view to force them to a confession of their theft. It appeared, +however, that there really was good ground for supposing them guilty, +since one of the holsters was actually found in their possession. +It was said too (but I could hardly believe it), that whilst one of +the men was undergoing the bastinado, his comrade was overheard encouraging +him to bear the torment without peaching. Both men, if they had +the secret, were resolute in keeping it, and were sent back to their +dungeon. I of course took care that there should be no repetition +of the torture, at least so long as I remained at Suez.<br> +<br> +The Governor was a thorough Oriental, and until a comparatively recent +period had shared in the old Mahometan feeling of contempt for Europeans. +It happened however, one day that an English gun-brig had appeared off +Suez, and sent her boats ashore to take in fresh water. Now fresh +water at Suez is a somewhat scarce and precious commodity: it is kept +in tanks, the chief of which is at some distance from the place. +Under these circumstances the request for fresh water was refused, or +at all events, was not complied with. The captain of the brig +was a simple-minded man with a strongish will, and he at once declared +that if his casks were not filled in three hours, he would destroy the +whole place. “A great people indeed!” said the Governor; +“a wonderful people, the English!” He instantly caused +every cask to be filled to the brim from his own tank, and ever afterwards +entertained for the English a degree of affection and respect, for which +I felt infinitely indebted to the gallant captain.<br> +<br> +The day after the abortive attempt to extract a confession from the +prisoners, the Governor, the consul, and I sat in council, I know not +how long, with a view of prosecuting the search for the stolen goods. +The sitting, considered in the light of a criminal investigation, was +characteristic of the East. The proceedings began as a matter +of course by the prosecutor’s smoking a pipe and drinking coffee +with the Governor, who was judge, jury, and sheriff. I got on +very well with him (this was not my first interview), and he gave me +the pipe from his lips in testimony of his friendship. I recollect, +however, that my prime adviser, thinking me, I suppose, a great deal +too shy and retiring in my manner, entreated me to put up my boots and +to soil the Governor’s divan, in order to inspire respect and +strike terror. I thought it would be as well for me to retain +the right of respecting myself, and that it was not quite necessary +for a well-received guest to strike any terror at all.<br> +<br> +Our deliberations were assisted by the numerous attendants who lined +the three sides of the room not occupied by the divan. Any one +of these who took it into his head to offer a suggestion would stand +forward and humble himself before the Governor, and then state his views; +every man thus giving counsel was listened to with some attention.<br> +<br> +After a great deal of fruitless planning the Governor directed that +the prisoners should be brought in. I was shocked when they entered, +for I was not prepared to see them come <i>carried</i> into the room +upon the shoulders of others. It had not occurred to me that their +battered feet would be too sore to bear the contact of the floor. +They persisted in asserting their innocence. The Governor wanted +to recur to the torture, but that I prevented, and the men were carried +back to their dungeon.<br> +<br> +A scheme was now suggested by one of the attendants which seemed to +me childishly absurd, but it was nevertheless tried. The plan +was to send a man to the prisoners, who was to make them believe that +he had obtained entrance into their dungeon upon some other pretence, +but that he had in reality come to treat with them for the purchase +of the stolen goods. This shallow expedient of course failed.<br> +<br> +The Governor himself had not nominally the power of life and death over +the people in his district, but he could if he chose send them to Cairo, +and have them hanged there. I proposed, therefore, that the prisoners +should be threatened with this fate. The answer of the Governor +made me feel rather ashamed of my effeminate suggestion. He said +that if I wished it he would willingly threaten them with death, but +he also said that if he threatened, <i>he should execute the threat</i>.<br> +<br> +Thinking at last that nothing was to be gained by keeping the prisoners +any longer in confinement, I requested that they might be set free. +To this the Governor acceded, though only, as he said, out of favour +to me, for he had a strong impression that the men were guilty. +I went down to see the prisoners let out with my own eyes. They +were very grateful, and fell down to the earth, kissing my boots. +I gave them a present to console them for their wounds, and they seemed +to be highly delighted.<br> +<br> +Although the matter terminated in a manner so satisfactory to the principal +sufferers, there were symptoms of some angry excitement in the place: +it was said that public opinion was much shocked at the fact that Mahometans +had been beaten on account of a loss sustained by a Christian. +My journey was to recommence the next day, and it was hinted that if +I preservered in my intention of proceeding, the people would have an +easy and profitable opportunity of wreaking their vengeance on me. +If ever they formed any scheme of the kind, they at all events refrained +from any attempt to carry it into effect.<br> +<br> +One of the evenings during my stay at Suez was enlivened by a triple +wedding. There was a long and slow procession. Some carried +torches, and others were thumping drums and firing pistols. The +bridegrooms came last, all walking abreast. My only reason for +mentioning the ceremony (which was otherwise uninteresting) is, that +I scarcely ever in all my life saw any phenomena so ridiculous as the +meekness and gravity of those three young men whilst being “led +to the altar.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXIII - SUEZ TO GAZA<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +The route over the Desert from Suez to Gaza is not frequented by merchants, +and is seldom passed by a traveller. This part of the country +is less uniformly barren than the tracts of shifting sand that lie on +the El Arish route. The shrubs on which the camel feeds are more +frequent, and in many spots the sand is mingled with so much of productive +soil, as to admit the growth of corn. The Bedouins are driven +out of this district during the summer by the total want of water, but +before the time for their forced departure arrives they succeed in raising +little crops of barley from these comparatively fertile patches of ground. +They bury the fruit of their labours, leaving marks by which, upon their +return, they may be able to recognise the spot. The warm, dry +sand stands them for a safe granary. The country at the time I +passed it (in the month of April) was pretty thickly sprinkled with +Bedouins expecting their harvest. Several times my tent was pitched +alongside of their encampments. I have told you already what the +impressions were which these people produced upon my mind.<br> +<br> +I saw several creatures of the antelope kind in this part of the Desert, +and one day my Arabs surprised in her sleep a young gazelle (for so +I called her), and took the darling prisoner. I carried her before +me on my camel for the rest of the day, and kept her in my tent all +night. I did all I could to coax her, but the trembling beauty +refused to touch food, and would not be comforted. Whenever she +had a seeming opportunity of escaping she struggled with a violence +so painfully disproportioned to her fine, delicate limbs, that I could +not continue the cruel attempt to make her my own. In the morning, +therefore, I set her free, anticipating some pleasure from seeing the +joyous bound with which, as I thought, she would return to her native +freedom. She had been so stupefied, however, by the exciting events +of the preceding day and night, and was so puzzled as to the road she +should take, that she went off very deliberately, and with an uncertain +step. She went away quite sound in limb, but her intellect may +have been upset. Never in all likelihood had she seen the form +of a human being until the dreadful moment when she woke from her sleep +and found herself in the grip of an Arab. Then her pitching and +tossing journey on the back of a camel, and lastly, a <i>soireé</i> +with me by candlelight! I should have been glad to know, if I +could, that her heart was not utterly broken.<br> +<br> +My Arabs were somewhat excited one day by discovering the fresh print +of a foot - the foot, as they said, of a lion. I had no conception +that the lord of the forest (better known as a crest) ever stalked away +from his jungles to make inglorious war in these smooth plains against +antelopes and gazelles. I supposed that there must have been some +error of interpretation, and that the Arabs meant to speak of a tiger. +It appeared, however, that this was not the case. Either the Arabs +were mistaken, or the noble brute, uncooped and unchained, had but lately +crossed my path.<br> +<br> +The camels with which I traversed this part of the Desert were very +different in their ways and habits from those that you get on a frequented +route. They were never led. There was not the slightest +sign of a track in this part of the Desert, but the camels never failed +to choose the right line. By the direction taken at starting they +knew, I suppose, the point (some encampment) for which they were to +make. There is always a leading camel (generally, I believe, the +eldest), who marches foremost, and determines the path for the whole +party. If it happens that no one of the camels has been accustomed +to lead the others, there is very great difficulty in making a start. +If you force your beast forward for a moment, he will contrive to wheel +and draw back, at the same time looking at one of the other camels with +an expression and gesture exactly equivalent to <i>après vous</i>. +The responsibility of finding the way is evidently assumed very unwillingly. +After some time, however, it becomes understood that one of the beasts +has reluctantly consented to take the lead, and he accordingly advances +for that purpose. For a minute or two he goes on with much indecision, +taking first one line and then another, but soon by the aid of some +mysterious sense he discovers the true direction, and follows it steadily +from morning to night. When once the leadership is established, +you cannot by any persuasion, and can scarcely by any force, induce +a junior camel to walk one single step in advance of the chosen guide.<br> +<br> +On the fifth day I came to an oasis, called the Wady el Arish, a ravine, +or rather a gully, through which during a part of the year there runs +a stream of water. On the sides of the gully there were a number +of those graceful trees which the Arabs call <i>tarfa</i>. The +channel of the stream was quite dry in the part at which we arrived, +but at about half a mile off some water was found, which, though very +muddy, was tolerably sweet. This was a happy discovery, for all +the water that we had brought from the neighbourhood of Suez was rapidly +putrefying.<br> +<br> +The want of foresight is an anomalous part of the Bedouin’s character, +for it does not result either from recklessness or stupidity. +I know of no human being whose body is so thoroughly the slave of mind +as that of the Arab. His mental anxieties seem to be for ever +torturing every nerve and fibre of his body, and yet with all this exquisite +sensitiveness to the suggestions of the mind, he is grossly improvident. +I recollect, for instance, that when setting out upon this passage of +the Desert my Arabs, in order to lighten the burthen of their camels, +were most anxious that we should take with us only two days’ supply +of water. They said that by the time that supply was exhausted +we should arrive at a spring which would furnish us for the rest of +the journey. My servants very wisely, and with much pertinacity, +resisted the adoption of this plan, and took care to have both the large +skins well filled. We proceeded and found no water at all, either +at the expected spring or for many days afterwards, so that nothing +but the precaution of my own people saved us from the very severe suffering +which we should have endured if we had entered upon the Desert with +only a two days’ supply. The Arabs themselves being on foot +would have suffered much more than I from the consequences of their +improvidence.<br> +<br> +This unaccountable want of foresight prevents the Bedouin from appreciating +at a distance of eight or ten days the amount of the misery which he +entails upon himself at the end of that period. His dread of a +city is one of the most painful mental affections that I have ever observed, +and yet when the whole breadth of the Desert lies between him and the +town to which you are going, he will freely enter into an agreement +to <i>land</i> you in the city for which you are bound. When, +however, after many a day of toil the distant minarets at length appear, +the poor Bedouin relaxes the vigour of his pace, his steps become faltering +and undecided, every moment his uneasiness increases, and at length +he fairly sobs aloud, and embracing your knees, implores with the most +piteous cries and gestures that you will dispense with him and his camels, +and find some other means of entering the city. This, of course, +one can’t agree to, and the consequence is that one is obliged +to witness and resist the most moving expressions of grief and fond +entreaty. I had to go through a most painful scene of this kind +when I entered Cairo, and now the horror which these wilder Arabs felt +at the notion of entering Gaza led to consequences still more distressing. +The dread of cities results partly from a kind of wild instinct which +has always characterised the descendants of Ishmael, but partly too +from a well-founded apprehension of ill-treatment. So often it +happens that the poor Bedouin, when once jammed in between walls, is +seized by the Government authorities for the sake of his camels, that +his innate horror of cities becomes really justified by results.<br> +<br> +The Bedouins with whom I performed this journey were wild fellows of +the Desert, quite unaccustomed to let out themselves or their beasts +for hire, and when they found that by the natural ascendency of Europeans +they were gradually brought down to a state of subserviency to me, or +rather to my attendants, they bitterly repented, I believe, of having +placed themselves under our control. They were rather difficult +fellows to manage, and gave Dthemetri a good deal of trouble, but I +liked them all the better for that.<br> +<br> +Selim, the chief of the party, and the man to whom all our camels belonged, +was a fine, savage, stately fellow. There were, I think, five +other Arabs of the party, but when we approached the end of the journey +they one by one began to make off towards the neighbouring encampments, +and by the time that the minarets of Gaza were in sight, Selim, the +owner of the camels, was the only one who remained. He, poor fellow, +as we neared the town began to discover the same terrors that my Arabs +had shown when I entered Cairo. I could not possibly accede to +his entreaties and consent to let my baggage be laid down on the bare +sands, without any means of having it brought on into the city. +So at length, when poor Selim had exhausted all his rhetoric of voice +and action and tears, he fixed his despairing eyes for a minute upon +the cherished beasts that were his only wealth, and then suddenly and +madly dashed away into the farther Desert. I continued my course +and reached the city at last, but it was not without immense difficulty +that we could constrain the poor camels to pass under the hated shadow +of its walls. They were the genuine beasts of the Desert, and +it was sad and painful to witness the agony they suffered when thus +they were forced to encounter the fixed habitations of men. They +shrank from the beginning of every high narrow street as though from +the entrance of some horrible cave or bottomless pit; they sighed and +wept like women. When at last we got them within the courtyard +of the khan they seemed to be quite broken-hearted, and looked round +piteously for their loving master; but no Selim came. I had imagined +that he would enter the town secretly by night in order to carry off +those five fine camels, his only wealth in this world, and seemingly +the main objects of his affection. But no; his dread of civilisation +was too strong. During the whole of the three days that I remained +at Gaza he failed to show himself, and thus sacrificed in all probability +not only his camels, but the money which I had stipulated to pay him +for the passage of the Desert. In order, however, to do all I +could towards saving him from this last misfortune I resorted to a contrivance +frequently adopted by the Asiatics: I assembled a group of grave and +worthy Mussulmans in the courtyard of the khan, and in their presence +paid over the gold to a Sheik who was accustomed to communicate with +the Arabs of the Desert. All present solemnly promised that if +ever Selim should come to claim his rights, they would bear true witness +in his favour.<br> +<br> +I saw a great deal of my old friend the Governor of Gaza. He had +received orders to send back all persons coming from Egypt, and force +them to perform quarantine at El Arish. He knew so little of quarantine +regulations, however, that his dress was actually in contact with mine +whilst he insisted upon the stringency of the orders which he had received. +He was induced to make an exception in my favour, and I rewarded him +with a musical snuffbox which I had bought at Smyrna for the purpose +of presenting it to any man in authority who might happen to do me an +important service. The Governor was delighted with his toy, and +took it off to his harem with great exultation. He soon, however, +returned with an altered countenance; his wives, he said, had got hold +of the box and put it out of order. So short-lived is human happiness +in this frail world!<br> +<br> +The Governor fancied that he should incur less risk if remained at Gaza +for two or three days more, and he wanted me to become his guest. +I persuaded him, however, that it would be better for him to let me +depart at once. He wanted to add to my baggage a roast lamb and +a quantity of other cumbrous viands, but I escaped with half a horse-load +of leaven bread, which was very good of its kind, and proved a most +useful present. The air with which the Governor’s slaves +affected to be almost breaking down under the weight of the gifts which +they bore on their shoulders, reminded me of the figures one sees in +some of the old pictures.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXIV - GAZA TO NABLUS<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Passing now once again through Palestine and Syria I retained the tent +which I had used in the Desert, and found that it added very much to +my comfort in travelling. Instead of turning out a family from +some wretched dwelling, and depriving them of a repose which I was sure +not to find for myself, I now, when evening came, pitched my tent upon +some smiling spot within a few hundred yards of the village to which +I looked for my supplies, that is, for milk and bread if I had it not +with me, and sometimes also for eggs. The worst of it is, that +the needful viands are not to be obtained by coin, but only by intimidation. +I at first tried the usual agent, money. Dthemetri, with one or +two of my Arabs, went into the village near which I was encamped and +tried to buy the required provisions, offering liberal payment, but +he came back empty-handed. I sent him again, but this time he +held different language. He required to see the elders of the +place, and threatening dreadful vengeance, directed them upon their +responsibility to take care that my tent should be immediately and abundantly +supplied. He was obeyed at once, and the provisions refused to +me as a purchaser soon arrived, trebled or quadrupled, when demanded +by way of a forced contribution. I quickly found (I think it required +two experiments to convince me) that this peremptory method was the +only one which could be adopted with success. It never failed. +Of course, however, when the provisions have been actually obtained +you can, if you choose, give money exceeding the value of the provisions +to <i>somebody</i>. An English, a thoroughbred English, traveller +will always do this (though it is contrary to the custom of the country) +for the quiet (false quiet though it be) of his own conscience, but +so to order the matter that the poor fellows who have been forced to +contribute should be the persons to receive the value of their supplies, +is not possible. For a traveller to attempt anything so grossly +just as that would be too outrageous. The truth is, that the usage +of the East, in old times, required the people of the village, at their +own cost, to supply the wants of travellers, and the ancient custom +is now adhered to, not in favour of travellers generally, but in favour +of those who are deemed sufficiently powerful to enforce its observance. +If the villagers therefore find a man waiving this right to oppress +them, and offering coin for that which he is entitled to take without +payment, they suppose at once that he is actuated by fear (fear of <i>them</i>, +poor fellows!), and it is so delightful to them to act upon this flattering +assumption, that they will forego the advantage of a good price for +their provisions rather than the rare luxury of refusing for once in +their lives to part with their own possessions.<br> +<br> +The practice of intimidation thus rendered necessary is utterly hateful +to an Englishman. He finds himself forced to conquer his daily +bread by the pompous threats of the dragoman, his very subsistence, +as well as his dignity and personal safety, being made to depend upon +his servant’s assuming a tone of authority which does not at all +belong to him. Besides, he can scarcely fail to see that as he +passes through the country he becomes the innocent cause of much extra +injustice, many supernumerary wrongs. This he feels to be especially +the case when he travels with relays. To be the owner of a horse +or a mule within reach of an Asiatic potentate, is to lead the life +of the hare and the rabbit, hunted down and ferreted out. Too +often it happens that the works of the field are stopped in the daytime, +that the inmates of the cottage are roused from their midnight sleep, +by the sudden coming of a Government officer, and the poor husbandman, +driven by threats and rewarded by curses, if he would not lose sight +for ever of his captured beasts, must quit all and follow them. +This is done that the Englishman may travel. He would make his +way more harmless if he could, but horses or mules he <i>must</i> have, +and these are his ways and means.<br> +<br> +The town of Nablus is beautiful; it lies in a valley hemmed in with +olive groves, and its buildings are interspersed with frequent palm-trees. +It is said to occupy the site of the ancient Sychem. I know not +whether it was there indeed that the father of the Jews was accustomed +to feed his flocks, but the valley is green and smiling, and is held +at this day by a race more brave and beautiful than Jacob’s unhappy +descendants.<br> +<br> +Nablus is the very furnace of Mahometan bigotry; and I believe that +only a few months before the time of my going there it would have been +quite unsafe for a man, unless strongly guarded, to show himself to +the people of the town in a Frank costume; but since their last insurrection +the Mahometans of the place had been so far subdued by the severity +of Ibrahim Pasha, that they dared not now offer the slightest insult +to an European. It was quite plain, however, that the effort with +which the men of the old school refrained from expressing their opinion +of a hat and a coat was horribly painful to them. As I walked +through the streets and bazaars a dead silence prevailed; every man +suspended his employment, and gazed on me with a fixed, glassy look, +which seemed to say, “God is good, but how marvellous and inscrutable +are His ways that thus He permits this white-faced dog of a Christian +to hunt through the paths of the faithful.”<br> +<br> +The insurrection of these people had been more formidable than any other +that Ibrahim Pasha had to contend with. He was only able to crush +them at last by the assistance of a fellow renowned for his resources +in the way of stratagem and cunning, as well as for his knowledge of +the country. This personage was no other than Aboo Goosh (“the +father of lies” <a name="citation39"></a><a href="#footnote39">{39}</a>), +who was taken out of prison for the purpose. The “father +of lies” enabled Ibrahim to hem in the insurrection and extinguish +it. He was rewarded with the Governorship of Jerusalem, which +he held when I was there. I recollect, by-the-bye, that he tried +one of his stratagems upon me. I did not go to see him, as I ought +in courtesy to have done, during my stay at Jerusalem; but I happened +to be the owner of a rather handsome amber <i>tchibouque</i> piece, +which the Governor heard of, and by some means contrived to see. +He sent to me, and dressed up a statement that he would give me a price +immensely exceeding the sum which I had given for it. He did not +add my <i>tchibouque</i> to the rest of his trophies.<br> +<br> +There was a small number of Greek Christians resident in Nablus, and +over these the Mussulmans held a high hand, not even permitting them +to speak to each other in the open streets; but if the Moslems thus +set themselves above the poor Christians of the place, I, or rather +my servants, soon took the ascendant over <i>them</i>. I recollect +that just as we were starting from the place, and at a time when a number +of people had gathered together in the main street to see our preparations, +Mysseri, being provoked at some piece of perverseness on the part of +a true believer, coolly thrashed him with his horsewhip before the assembled +crowd of fanatics. I was much annoyed at the time, for I thought +that the people would probably rise against us. They turned rather +pale, but stood still.<br> +<br> +The day of my arrival at Nablus was a fête - the new-year’s +day of the Mussulmans. <a name="citation40"></a><a href="#footnote40">{40}</a> +Most of the people were amusing themselves in the beautiful lawns and +shady groves without the city. The men (except myself) were all +remotely apart from the other sex. The women in groups were diverting +themselves and their children with swings. They were so handsome, +that they could not keep up their yashmaks. I believe that they +had never before looked upon a man in the European dress, and when they +now saw in me that strange phenomenon, and saw, too, how they could +please the creature by showing him a glimpse of beauty, they seemed +to think it was better fun to do this than to go on playing with swings. +It was always, however, with a sort of zoological expression of countenance +that they looked on the horrible monster from Europe, and whenever one +of them gave me to see for one sweet instant the blushing of her unveiled +face, it was with the same kind of air as that with which a young, timid +girl will edge her way up to an elephant and tremblingly give him a +nut from the tips of her rosy fingers.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXV - MARIAM<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +There is no spirit of propagandism in the Mussulmans of the Ottoman +dominions. True it is that a prisoner of war, or a Christian condemned +to death, may on some occasions save his life by adopting the religion +of Mahomet, but instances of this kind are now exceedingly rare, and +are quite at variance with the general system. Many Europeans, +I think, would be surprised to learn that which is nevertheless quite +true, namely, that an attempt to disturb the religious repose of the +empire by the conversion of a Christian to the Mahometan faith is positively +illegal. The event which now I am going to mention shows plainly +enough that the unlawfulness of such interference is distinctly recognised +even in the most bigoted stronghold of Islam.<br> +<br> +During my stay at Nablus I took up my quarters at the house of the Greek +“papa” as he is called, that is, the Greek priest. +The priest himself had gone to Jerusalem upon the business I am going +to tell you of, but his wife remained at Nablus, and did the honours +of her home.<br> +<br> +Soon after my arrival a deputation from the Greek Christians of the +place came to request my interference in a matter which had occasioned +vast excitement.<br> +<br> +And now I must tell you how it came to happen, as it did continually, +that people thought it worth while to claim the assistance of a mere +traveller, who was totally devoid of all just pretensions to authority +or influence of even the humblest description, and especially I must +explain to you how it was that the power thus attributed did really +belong to me, or rather to my dragoman. Successive political convulsions +had at length fairly loosed the people of Syria from their former rules +of conduct, and from all their old habits of reliance. The violence +and success with which Mehemet Ali crushed the insurrection of the Mahometan +population had utterly beaten down the head of Islam, and extinguished, +for the time at least, those virtues and vices which had sprung from +the Mahometan faith. Success so complete as Mehemet Ali’s, +if it had been attained by an ordinary Asiatic potentate, would have +induced a notion of stability. The readily bowing mind of the +Oriental would have bowed low and long under the feet of a conqueror +whom God had thus strengthened. But Syria was no field for contests +strictly Asiatic. Europe was involved, and though the heavy masses +of Egyptian troops, clinging with strong grip to the land, might seem +to hold it fast, yet every peasant practically felt, and knew, that +in Vienna or Petersburg or London there were four or five pale-looking +men who could pull down the star of the Pasha with shreds of paper and +ink. The people of the country knew, too, that Mehemet Ali was +strong with the strength of the Europeans - strong by his French general, +his French tactics, and his English engines. Moreover, they saw +that the person, the property, and even the dignity of the humblest +European was guarded with the most careful solicitude. The consequence +of all this was, that the people of Syria looked vaguely, but confidently, +to Europe for fresh changes. Many would fix upon some nation, +France or England, and steadfastly regard it as the arriving sovereign +of Syria. Those whose minds remained in doubt equally contributed +to this new state of public opinion, which no longer depended upon religion +and ancient habits, but upon bare hopes and fears. Every man wanted +to know, not who was his neighbour, but who was to be his ruler; whose +feet he was to kiss, and by whom <i>his</i> feet were to be ultimately +beaten. Treat your friend, says the proverb, as though he were +one day to become your enemy, and your enemy as though he were one day +to become your friend. The Syrians went further, and seemed inclined +to treat every stranger as though he might one day become their Pasha. +Such was the state of circumstances and of feeling which now for the +first time had thoroughly opened the mind of Western Asia for the reception +of Europeans and European ideas. The credit of the English especially +was so great, that a good Mussulman flying from the conscription, or +any other persecution, would come to seek from the formerly despised +hat that protection which the turban could no longer afford; and a man +high in authority (as, for instance, the Governor in command of Gaza) +would think that he had won a prize, or at all events, a valuable lottery +ticket, if he obtained a written approval of his conduct from a simple +traveller.<br> +<br> +Still, in order that any immediate result should follow from all this +unwonted readiness in the Asiatic to succumb to the European, it was +necessary that some one should be at hand who could see and would push +the advantage. I myself had neither the inclination nor the power +to do so, but it happened that Dthemetri, who as my dragoman represented +me on all occasions, was the very person of all others best fitted to +avail himself with success of this yielding tendency in the Oriental +mind. If the chance of birth and fortune had made poor Dthemetri +a tailor during some part of his life, yet religion and the literature +of the Church which he served had made him a man, and a brave man too. +The lives of saints with which he was familiar were full of heroic actions +provoking imitation, and since faith in a creed involves a faith in +its ultimate triumph, Dthemetri was bold from a sense of true strength. +His education too, though not very general in its character, had been +carried quite far enough to justify him in pluming himself upon a very +decided advantage over the great bulk of the Mahometan population, including +the men in authority. With all this consciousness of religious +and intellectual superiority Dthemetri had lived for the most part in +countries lying under Mussulman governments, and had witnessed (perhaps +too had suffered from) their revolting cruelties: the result was that +he abhorred and despised the Mahometan faith and all who clung to it. +And this hate was not of the dry, dull, and inactive sort. Dthemetri +was in his sphere a true Crusader, and whenever there appeared a fair +opening in the defences of Islam, he was ready and eager to make the +assault. These sentiments, backed by a consciousness of understanding +the people with whom he had to do, made Dthemetri not only firm and +resolute in his constant interviews with men in authority, but sometimes +also (as you may know already) very violent and even insulting. +This tone, which I always disliked, though I was fain to profit by it, +invariably succeeded. It swept away all resistance; there was +nothing in the then depressed and succumbing mind of the Mussulman that +could oppose a zeal so warm and fierce.<br> +<br> +As for me, I of course stood aloof from Dthemetri’s crusades, +and did not even render him any active assistance when he was striving +(as he almost always was, poor fellow) on my behalf; I was only the +death’s head and white sheet with which he scared the enemy. +I think, however, that I played this spectral part exceedingly well, +for I seldom appeared at all in any discussion, and whenever I did, +I was sure to be white and calm.<br> +<br> +The event which induced the Christians of Nablus to seek for my assistance +was this. A beautiful young Christian, between fifteen and sixteen +years old, had lately been married to a man of her own creed. +About the same time (probably on the occasion of her wedding) she was +accidentally seen by a Mussulman Sheik of great wealth and local influence, +who instantly became madly enamoured of her. The strict morality +which so generally prevails where the Mussulmans have complete ascendency +prevented the Sheik from entertaining any such sinful hopes as an European +might have ventured to cherish under the like circumstances, and he +saw no chance of gratifying his love except by inducing the girl to +embrace his own creed. If he could induce her to take this step, +her marriage with the Christian would be dissolved, and then there would +be nothing to prevent him from making her the last and brightest of +his wives. The Sheik was a practical man, and quickly began his +attack upon the theological opinions of the bride. He did not +assail her with the eloquence of any imaums or Mussulman saints; he +did not press upon her the eternal truths of the “Cow,” +<a name="citation41"></a><a href="#footnote41">{41}</a> or the beautiful +morality of “the Table”; <a name="citation42"></a><a href="#footnote42">{42}</a> +he sent her no tracts, not even a copy of the holy Koran. An old +woman acted as missionary. She brought with her a whole basketful +of arguments - jewels and shawls and scarfs and all kinds of persuasive +finery. Poor Mariam! she put on the jewels and took a calm view +of the Mahometan religion in a little hand-mirror; she could not be +deaf to such eloquent earrings, and the great truths of Islam came home +to her young bosom in the delicate folds of the cashmere; she was ready +to abandon her faith.<br> +<br> +The Sheik knew very well that his attempt to convert an infidel was +illegal, and that his proceedings would not bear investigation, so he +took care to pay a large sum to the Governor of Nablus in order to obtain +his connivance.<br> +<br> +At length Mariam quitted her home and placed herself under the protection +of the Mahometan authorities, who, however, refrained from delivering +her into the arms of her lover, and detained her in a mosque until the +fact of her real conversion (which had been indignantly denied by her +relatives) should be established. For two or three days the mother +of the young convert was prevented from communicating with her child +by various evasive contrivances, but not, it would seem, by a flat refusal. +At length it was announced that the young lady’s profession of +faith might be heard from her own lips. At an hour appointed the +friends of the Sheik and the relatives of the damsel met in the mosque. +The young convert addressed her mother in a loud voice, and said, “God +is God, and Mahomet is the Prophet of God, and thou, oh my mother, art +an infidel, feminine dog!”<br> +<br> +You would suppose that this declaration, so clearly enounced, and that, +too, in a place where Mahometanism is perhaps more supreme than in any +other part of the empire, would have sufficed to have confirmed the +pretensions of the lover. This, however, was not the case. +The Greek priest of the place was despatched on a mission to the Governor +of Jerusalem (Aboo Goosh), in order to complain against the proceedings +of the Sheik and obtain a restitution of the bride. Meanwhile +the Mahometan authorities at Nablus were so conscious of having acted +unlawfully in conspiring to disturb the faith of the beautiful infidel, +that they hesitated to take any further steps, and the girl was still +detained in the mosque.<br> +<br> +Thus matters stood when the Christians of the place came and sought +to obtain my assistance.<br> +<br> +I felt (with regret) that I had no personal interest in the matter, +and I also thought that there was no pretence for my interfering with +the conflicting claims of the Christian husband and the Mahometan lover, +and I therefore declined to take any step.<br> +<br> +My speaking of the husband, by-the-bye, reminds me that he was extremely +backward about the great work of recovering his youthful bride. +The relations of the girl, who felt themselves disgraced by her conduct, +were vehement and excited to a high pitch, but the Menelaus of Nablus +was exceedingly calm and composed.<br> +<br> +The fact that it was not technically my duty to interfere in a matter +of this kind was a very sufficient, and yet a very unsatisfactory, reason +for my refusal of all assistance. Until you are placed in situations +of this kind you can hardly tell how painful it is to refrain from intermeddling +in other people’s affairs - to refrain from intermeddling when +you feel that you can do so with happy effect, and can remove a load +of distress by the use of a few small phrases. Upon this occasion, +however, an expression fell from one of the girl’s kinsmen which +not only determined me against the idea of interfering, but made me +hope that all attempts to recover the proselyte would fail. This +person, speaking with the most savage bitterness, and with the cordial +approval of all the other relatives, said that the girl ought to be +beaten to death. I could not fail to see that if the poor child +were ever restored to her family she would be treated with the most +frightful barbarity. I heartily wished, therefore, that the Mussulmans +might be firm, and preserve their young prize from any fate so dreadful +as that of a return to her own relations.<br> +<br> +The next day the Greek priest returned from his mission to Aboo Goosh, +but the “father of lies,” it would seem, had been well plied +with the gold of the enamoured Sheik, and contrived to put off the prayers +of the Christians by cunning feints. Now, therefore, a second +and more numerous deputation than the first waited upon me, and implored +my intervention with the Governor. I informed the assembled Christians +that since their last application I had carefully considered the matter. +The religious question I thought might be put aside at once, for the +excessive levity which the girl had displayed proved clearly that in +adopting Mahometanism she was not quitting any other faith. Her +mind must have been thoroughly blank upon religious questions, and she +was not, therefore, to be treated as a Christian that had strayed from +the flock, but rather as a child without any religion at all, who was +willing to conform to the usages of those who would deck her with jewels, +and clothe her with cashmere shawls.<br> +<br> +So much for the religious part of the question. Well, then, in +a merely temporal sense, it appeared to me that (looking merely to the +interests of the damsel, for I rather unjustly put poor Menelaus quite +out of the question) the advantages were all on the side of the Mahometan +match. The Sheik was in a much higher station of life than the +superseded husband, and had given the best possible proof of his ardent +affection by the sacrifices he had made, and the risks he had incurred, +for the sake of the beloved object. I, therefore, stated fairly, +to the horror and amazement of all my hearers, that the Sheik, in my +view, was likely to make a most capital husband, and that I entirely +“approved of the match.”<br> +<br> +I left Nablus under the impression that Mariam would soon be delivered +to her Mussulman lover. I afterwards found, however, that the +result was very different. Dthemetri’s religious zeal and +hate had been so much excited by the account of these events, and by +the grief and mortification of his co-religionists, that when he found +me firmly determined to decline all interference in the matter, he secretly +appealed to the Governor in my name, and (using, I suppose, many violent +threats, and telling no doubt many lies about my station and influence) +extorted a promise that the proselyte should be restored to her relatives. +I did not understand that the girl had been actually given up whilst +I remained at Nablus, but Dthemetri certainly did not desist from his +instances until he had satisfied himself by some means or other (for +mere words amounted to nothing) that the promise would be actually performed. +It was not till I had quitted Syria, and when Dthemetri was no longer +in my service, that this villainous, though well-motived trick, of his +came to my knowledge. Mysseri, who had informed me of the step +which had been taken, did not know it himself until some time after +we had quitted Nablus, when Dthemetri exultingly confessed his successful +enterprise. I know not whether the engagement which my zealous +dragoman extorted from the Governor was ever complied with. I +shudder to think of the fate which must have befallen poor Mariam if +she fell into the hands of the Christians.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXVI - THE PROPHET DAMOOR<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +For some hours I passed along the shores of the fair lake of Galilee; +then turning a little to the westward, I struck into a mountainous tract, +and as I advanced thenceforward, the lie of the country kept growing +more and more bold. At length I drew near to the city of Safed. +It sits as proud as a fortress upon the summit of a craggy height; yet +because of its minarets and stately trees, the place looks happy and +beautiful. It is one of the holy cities of the Talmud, and according +to this authority, the Messiah will reign there for forty years before +He takes possession of Sion. The sanctity and historical importance +thus attributed to the city by anticipation render it a favourite place +of retirement for Israelites, of whom it contains, they say, about four +thousand, a number nearly balancing that of the Mahometan inhabitants. +I knew by my experience of Tabarieh that a “holy city” was +sure to have a population of vermin somewhat proportionate to the number +of its Israelites, and I therefore caused my tent to be pitched upon +a green spot of ground at a respectful distance from the walls of the +town.<br> +<br> +When it had become quite dark (for there was no moon that night) I was +informed that several Jews had secretly come from the city in the hope +of obtaining some assistance from me in circumstances of imminent danger; +I was also informed that they claimed my aid upon the ground that some +of their number were British subjects. It was arranged that the +two principal men of the party should speak for the rest, and these +were accordingly admitted into my tent. One of the two called +himself the British vice-consul, and he had with him his consular cap, +but he frankly said that he could not have dared to assume this emblem +of his dignity in the daytime, and that nothing but the extreme darkness +of the night rendered it safe for him to put it on upon this occasion. +The other of the spokesmen was a Jew of Gibraltar, a tolerably well-bred +person, who spoke English very fluently.<br> +<br> +These men informed me that the Jews of the place, who were exceedingly +wealthy, had lived peaceably in their retirement until the insurrection +which took place in 1834, but about the beginning of that year a highly +religious Mussulman called Mohammed Damoor went forth into the market-place, +crying with a loud voice, and prophesying that on the fifteenth of the +following June the true Believers would rise up in just wrath against +the Jews, and despoil them of their gold and their silver and their +jewels. The earnestness of the prophet produced some impression +at the time, but all went on as usual, until at last the fifteenth of +June arrived. When that day dawned the whole Mussulman population +of the place assembled in the streets that they might see the result +of the prophecy. Suddenly Mohammed Damoor rushed furious into +the crowd, and the fierce shout of the prophet soon ensured the fulfilment +of his prophecy. Some of the Jews fled and some remained, but +they who fled and they who remained, alike, and unresistingly, left +their property to the hands of the spoilers. The most odious of +all outrages, that of searching the women for the base purpose of discovering +such things as gold and silver concealed about their persons, was perpetrated +without shame. The poor Jews were so stricken with terror, that +they submitted to their fate even where resistance would have been easy. +In several instances a young Mussulman boy, not more than ten or twelve +years of age, walked straight into the house of a Jew and stripped him +of his property before his face, and in the presence of his whole family. +<a name="citation43"></a><a href="#footnote43">{43}</a> When the +insurrection was put down some of the Mussulmans (most probably those +who had got no spoil wherewith they might buy immunity) were punished, +but the greater part of them escaped. None of the booty was restored, +and the pecuniary redress which the Pasha had undertaken to enforce +for them had been hitherto so carefully delayed, that the hope of ever +obtaining it had grown very faint. A new Governor had been appointed +to the command of the place, with stringent orders to ascertain the +real extent of the losses, and to discover the spoilers, with a view +of compelling them to make restitution. It was found that, notwithstanding +the urgency of the instructions which the Governor had received, he +did not push on the affair with the vigour that had been expected. +The Jews complained, and either by the protection of the British consul +at Damascus, or by some other means, had influence enough to induce +the appointment of a special commissioner - they called him “the +Modeer” - whose duty it was to watch for and prevent anything +like connivance on the part of the Governor, and to push on the investigation +with vigour and impartiality.<br> +<br> +Such were the instructions with which some few weeks since the Modeer +came charged. The result was that the investigation had made no +practical advance, and that the Modeer as well as the Governor was living +upon terms of affectionate friendship with Mohammed Damoor and the rest +of the principal spoilers.<br> +<br> +Thus stood the chance of redress for the past, but the cause of the +agonising excitement under which the Jews of the place now laboured +was recent and justly alarming. Mohammed Damoor had again gone +forth into the market-place, and lifted up his voice and prophesied +a second spoliation of the Israelites. This was grave matter; +the words of such a practical man as Mohammed Damoor were not to be +despised. I fear I must have smiled visibly, for I was greatly +amused and even, I think, gratified at the account of this second prophecy. +Nevertheless, my heart warmed towards the poor oppressed Israelites, +and I was flattered, too, in the point of my national vanity at the +notion of the far-reaching link by which a Jew in Syria, who had been +born on the rock of Gibraltar, was able to claim me as his fellow-countryman. +If I hesitated at all between the “impropriety” of interfering +in a matter which was no business of mine and the “infernal shame” +of refusing my aid at such a conjecture, I soon came to a very ungentlemanly +decision, namely, that I would be guilty of the “impropriety,” +and not of the “infernal shame.” It seemed to me that +the immediate arrest of Mohammed Damoor was the one thing needful to +the safety of the Jews, and I felt confident (for reasons which I have +already mentioned in speaking of the Nablus affair) that I should be +able to obtain this result by making a formal application to the Governor. +I told my applicants that I would take this step on the following morning. +They were very grateful, and were, for a moment, much pleased at the +prospect of safety which might thus be opened to them, but the deliberation +of a minute entirely altered their views, and filled them with new terror. +They declared that any attempt, or pretended attempt, on the part of +the Governor to arrest Mohammed Damoor would certainly produce an immediate +movement of the whole Mussulman population, and a consequent massacre +and robbery of the Israelites. My visitors went out, and remained +I know not how long consulting with their brethren, but all at last +agreed that their present perilous and painful position was better than +a certain and immediate attack, and that if Mohammed Damoor was seized, +their second estate would be worse than their first. I myself +did not think that this would be the case, but I could not of course +force my aid upon the people against their will; and, moreover, the +day fixed for the fulfilment of this second prophecy was not very close +at hand. A little delay, therefore, in providing against the impending +danger would not necessarily be fatal. The men now confessed that +although they had come with so much mystery and, as they thought, at +so great a risk to ask my assistance, they were unable to suggest any +mode in which I could aid them, except indeed by mentioning their grievances +to the consul-general at Damascus. This I promised to do, and +this I did.<br> +<br> +My visitors were very thankful to me for the readiness which I had shown +to intermeddle in their affairs, and the grateful wives of the principal +Jews sent to me many compliments, with choice wines and elaborate sweetmeats.<br> +<br> +The course of my travels soon drew me so far from Safed, that I never +heard how the dreadful day passed off which had been fixed for the accomplishment +of the second prophecy. If the predicted spoliation was prevented, +poor Mohammed Damoor must have been forced, I suppose, to say that he +had prophesied in a metaphorical sense. This would be a sad falling +off from the brilliant and substantial success of the first experiment.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXVII - DAMASCUS<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +For a part of two days I wound under the base of the snow-crowned Djibel +el Sheik, and then entered upon a vast and desolate plain, rarely pierced +at intervals by some sort of withered stem. The earth in its length +and its breadth and all the deep universe of sky was steeped in light +and heat. On I rode through the fire, but long before evening +came there were straining eyes that saw, and joyful voices that announced, +the sight of Shaum Shereef - the “holy,” the “blessed” +Damascus.<br> +<br> +But that which at last I reached with my longing eyes was not a speck +in the horizon, gradually expanding to a group of roofs and walls, but +a long, low line of blackest green, that ran right across in the distance +from east to west. And this, as I approached, grew deeper, grew +wavy in its outline. Soon forest trees shot up before my eyes, +and robed their broad shoulders so freshly, that all the throngs of +olives as they rose into view looked sad in their proper dimness. +There were even now no houses to see, but only the minarets peered out +from the midst of shade into the glowing sky, and bravely touched the +sun. There seemed to be here no mere city, but rather a province +wide and rich, that bounded the torrid waste.<br> +<br> +Until about a year, or two years, before the time of my going there +Damascus had kept up so much of the old bigot zeal against Christians, +or rather, against Europeans, that no one dressed as a Frank could have +dared to show himself in the streets; but the firmness and temper of +Mr. Farren, who hoisted his flag in the city as consul-general for the +district, had soon put an end to all intolerance of Englishmen. +Damascus was safer than Oxford. <a name="citation44"></a><a href="#footnote44">{44}</a> +When I entered the city in my usual dress there was but one poor fellow +that wagged his tongue, and him, in the open streets, Dthemetri horsewhipped. +During my stay I went wherever I chose, and attended the public baths +without molestation. Indeed, my relations with the pleasanter +portion of the Mahometan population were upon a much better footing +here than at most other places.<br> +<br> +In the principal streets of Damascus there is a path for foot-passengers, +which is raised, I think, a foot or two above the bridle-road. +Until the arrival of the British consul-general none but a Mussulman +had been permitted to walk upon the upper way. Mr. Farren would +not, of course, suffer that the humiliation of any such exclusion should +be submitted to by an Englishman, and I always walked upon the raised +path as free and unmolested as if I had been in Pall Mall. The +old usage was, however, maintained with as much strictness as ever against +the Christian Rayahs and Jews: not one of them could have set his foot +upon the privileged path without endangering his life.<br> +<br> +I was lounging one day, I remember, along “the paths of the faithful,” +when a Christian Rayah from the bridle-road below saluted me with such +earnestness, and craved so anxiously to speak and be spoken to, that +he soon brought me to a halt. He had nothing to tell, except only +the glory and exultation with which he saw a fellow-Christian stand +level with the imperious Mussulmans. Perhaps he had been absent +from the place for some time, for otherwise I hardly know how it could +have happened that my exaltation was the first instance he had seen. +His joy was great. So strong and strenuous was England (Lord Palmerston +reigned in those days), that it was a pride and delight for a Syrian +Christian to look up and say that the Englishman’s faith was his +too. If I was vexed at all that I could not give the man a lift +and shake hands with him on level ground, there was no alloy to his +pleasure. He followed me on, not looking to his own path, but +keeping his eyes on me. He saw, as he thought, and said (for he +came with me on to my quarters), the period of the Mahometan’s +absolute ascendency, the beginning of the Christian’s. He +had so closely associated the insulting privilege of the path with actual +dominion, that seeing it now in one instance abandoned, he looked for +the quick coming of European troops. His lips only whispered, +and that tremulously, but his fiery eyes spoke out their triumph in +long and loud hurrahs: “I, too, am a Christian. My foes +are the foes of the English. We are all one people, and Christ +is our King.”<br> +<br> +If I poorly deserved, yet I liked this claim of brotherhood. Not +all the warnings which I heard against their rascality could hinder +me from feeling kindly towards my fellow-Christians in the East. +English travellers, from a habit perhaps of depreciating sectarians +in their own country, are apt to look down upon the Oriental Christians +as being “dissenters” from the established religion of a +Mahometan empire. I never did thus. By a natural perversity +of disposition, which my nursemaids called contrariness, I felt the +more strongly for my creed when I saw it despised among men. I +quite tolerated the Christianity of Mahometan countries, notwithstanding +its humble aspect and the damaged character of its followers. +I went further and extended some sympathy towards those who, with all +the claims of superior intellect, learning, and industry, were kept +down under the heel of the Mussulmans by reason of their having <i>our</i> +faith. I heard, as I fancied, the faint echo of an old crusader’s +conscience, that whispered and said, “Common cause!” +The impulse was, as you may suppose, much too feeble to bring me into +trouble; it merely influenced my actions in a way thoroughly characteristic +of this poor sluggish century, that is, by making me speak almost as +civilly to the followers of Christ as I did to their Mahometan foes.<br> +<br> +This “holy” Damascus, this “earthly paradise” +of the Prophet, so fair to the eyes that he dared not trust himself +to tarry in her blissful shades, she is a city of hidden palaces, of +copses and gardens, and fountains and bubbling streams. The juice +of her life is the gushing and ice-cold torrent that tumbles from the +snowy sides of Anti-Lebanon. Close along on the river’s +edge, through seven sweet miles of rustling boughs and deepest shade, +the city spreads out her whole length. As a man falls flat, face +forward on the brook, that he may drink and drink again, so Damascus, +thirsting for ever, lies down with her lips to the stream and clings +to its rushing waters.<br> +<br> +The chief places of public amusement, or rather, of public relaxation, +are the baths and the great café; this last, which is frequented +at night by most of the wealthy men, and by many of the humbler sort, +consists of a number of sheds, very simply framed and built in a labyrinth +of running streams, which foam and roar on every side. The place +is lit up in the simplest manner by numbers of small pale lamps strung +upon loose cords, and so suspended from branch to branch, that the light, +though it looks so quiet amongst the darkening foliage, yet leaps and +brightly flashes as it falls upon the troubled waters. All around, +and chiefly upon the very edge of the torrents, groups of people are +tranquilly seated. They all drink coffee, and inhale the cold +fumes of the <i>narghile</i>; they talk rather gently the one to the +other, or else are silent. A father will sometimes have two or +three of his boys around him; but the joyousness of an Oriental child +is all of the sober sort, and never disturbs the reigning calm of the +land.<br> +<br> +It has been generally understood, I believe, that the houses of Damascus +are more sumptuous than those of any other city in the East. Some +of these, said to be the most magnificent in the place, I had an opportunity +of seeing.<br> +<br> +Every rich man’s house stands detached from its neighbours at +the side of a garden, and it is from this cause no doubt that the city +(severely menaced by prophecy) has hitherto escaped destruction. +You know some parts of Spain, but you have never, I think, been in Andalusia: +if you had, I could easily show you the interior of a Damascene house +by referring you to the Alhambra or Alcanzar of Seville. The lofty +rooms are adorned with a rich inlaying of many colours and illuminated +writing on the walls. The floors are of marble. One side +of any room intended for noonday retirement is generally laid open to +a quadrangle, in the centre of which there dances the jet of a fountain. +There is no furniture that can interfere with the cool, palace-like +emptiness of the apartments. A divan (which is a low and doubly +broad sofa) runs round the three walled sides of the room. A few +Persian carpets (which ought to be called Persian rugs, for that is +the word which indicates their shape and dimensions) are sometimes thrown +about near the divan; they are placed without order, the one partly +lapping over the other, and thus disposed, they give to the room an +appearance of uncaring luxury; except these (of which I saw few, for +the time was summer, and fiercely hot), there is nothing to obstruct +the welcome air, and the whole of the marble floor from one divan to +the other, and from the head of the chamber across to the murmuring +fountain, is thoroughly open and free.<br> +<br> +So simple as this is Asiatic luxury! The Oriental is not a contriving +animal; there is nothing intricate in his magnificence. The impossibility +of handing down property from father to son for any long period consecutively +seems to prevent the existence of those traditions by which, with us, +the refined modes of applying wealth are made known to its inheritors. +We know that in England a newly-made rich man cannot, by taking thought +and spending money, obtain even the same-looking furniture as a gentleman. +The complicated character of an English establishment allows room for +subtle distinctions between that which is <i>comme il faut</i>, and +that which is not. All such refinements are unknown in the East; +the Pasha and the peasant have the same tastes. The broad cold +marble floor, the simple couch, the air freshly waving through a shady +chamber, a verse of the Koran emblazoned on the wall, the sight and +the sound of falling water, the cold fragrant smoke of the <i>narghile</i>, +and a small collection of wives and children in the inner apartments +- these, the utmost enjoyments of the grandee, are yet such as to be +appreciable by the humblest Mussulman in the empire.<br> +<br> +But its gardens are the delight, the delight and the pride of Damascus. +They are not the formal parterres which you might expect from the Oriental +taste; they rather bring back to your mind the memory of some dark old +shrubbery in our northern isle, that has been charmingly <i>un</i> - +“kept up” for many and many a day. When you see a +rich wilderness of wood in decent England, it is like enough that you +see it with some soft regrets. The puzzled old woman at the lodge +can give small account of “the family.” She thinks +it is “Italy” that has made the whole circle of her world +so gloomy and sad. You avoid the house in lively dread of a lone +housekeeper, but you make your way on by the stables; you remember that +gable with all its neatly nailed trophies of fitchets and hawks and +owls, now slowly falling to pieces; you remember that stable, and that +- but the doors are all fastened that used to be standing ajar, the +paint of things painted is blistered and cracked, grass grows in the +yard; just there, in October mornings, the keeper would wait with the +dogs and the guns - no keeper now; you hurry away, and gain the small +wicket that used to open to the touch of a lightsome hand - it is fastened +with a padlock (the only new looking thing), and is stained with thick, +green damp; you climb it, and bury yourself in the deep shade, and strive +but lazily with the tangling briars, and stop for long minutes to judge +and determine whether you will creep beneath the long boughs and make +them your archway, or whether perhaps you will lift your heel and tread +them down under foot. Long doubt, and scarcely to be ended till +you wake from the memory of those days when the path was clear, and +chase that phantom of a muslin sleeve that once weighed warm upon your +arm.<br> +<br> +Wild as that, the nighest woodland of a deserted home in England, but +without its sweet sadness, is the sumptuous garden of Damascus. +Forest trees, tall and stately enough if you could see their lofty crests, +yet lead a tussling life of it below, with their branches struggling +against strong numbers of bushes and wilful shrubs. The shade +upon the earth is black as night. High, high above your head, +and on every side all down to the ground, the thicket is hemmed in and +choked up by the interlacing boughs that droop with the weight of roses, +and load the slow air with their damask breath. <a name="citation45"></a><a href="#footnote45">{45}</a> +There are no other flowers. Here and there, there are patches +of ground made clear from the cover, and these are either carelessly +planted with some common and useful vegetable, or else are left free +to the wayward ways of Nature, and bear rank weeds, moist-looking and +cool to the eyes, and freshening the sense with their earthy and bitter +fragrance. There is a lane opened through the thicket, so broad +in some places that you can pass along side by side; in some so narrow +(the shrubs are for ever encroaching) that you ought, if you can, to +go on the first and hold back the bough of the rose-tree. And +through this wilderness there tumbles a loud rushing stream, which is +halted at last in the lowest corner of the garden, and there tossed +up in a fountain by the side of the simple alcove. This is all.<br> +<br> +Never for an instant will the people of Damascus attempt to separate +the idea of bliss from these wild gardens and rushing waters. +Even where your best affections are concerned, and you, prudent preachers, +“hold hard” and turn aside when they come near the mysteries +of the happy state, and we (prudent preachers too), we will hush our +voices, and never reveal to finite beings the joys of the “earthly +paradise.”<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXVIII - PASS OF THE LEBANON<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +“The ruins of Baalbec!” Shall I scatter the vague, +solemn thoughts and all the airy phantasies which gather together when +once those words are spoken, that I may give you instead tall columns +and measurements true, and phrases built with ink? No, no; the +glorious sounds shall still float on as of yore, and still hold fast +upon your brain with their own dim and infinite meaning.<br> +<br> +Come! Baalbec is over; I got “rather well” out of +that.<br> +<br> +The path by which I crossed the Lebanon is like, I think, in its features +to one which you must know, namely, that of the Foorca in the Bernese +Oberland. For a great part of the way I toiled rather painfully +through the dazzling snow, but the labour of ascending added to the +excitement with which I looked for the summit of the pass. The +time came. There was a minute in the which I saw nothing but the +steep, white shoulder of the mountain, and there was another minute, +and that the next, which showed me a nether heaven of fleecy clouds +that floated along far down in the air beneath me, and showed me beyond +the breadth of all Syria west of the Lebanon. But chiefly I clung +with my eyes to the dim, steadfast line of the sea which closed my utmost +view. I had grown well used of late to the people and the scenes +of forlorn Asia - well used to tombs and ruins, to silent cities and +deserted plains, to tranquil men and women sadly veiled; and now that +I saw the even plain of the sea, I leapt with an easy leap to its yonder +shores, and saw all the kingdoms of the West in that fair path that +could lead me from out of this silent land straight on into shrill Marseilles, +or round by the pillars of Hercules to the crash and roar of London. +My place upon this dividing barrier was as a man’s puzzling station +in eternity, between the birthless past and the future that has no end. +Behind me I left an old, decrepit world; religions dead and dying; calm +tyrannies expiring in silence; women hushed and swathed, and turned +into waxen dolls; love flown, and in its stead mere royal and “paradise” +pleasures. Before me there waited glad bustle and strife; love +itself, an emulous game; religion, a cause and a controversy, well smitten +and well defended; men governed by reasons and suasion of speech; wheels +going, steam buzzing - a mortal race, and a slashing pace, and the devil +taking the hindmost - taking <i>me</i>, by Jove (for that was my inner +care), if I lingered too long upon the difficult pass that leads from +thought to action.<br> +<br> +I descended and went towards the west.<br> +<br> +The group of cedars remaining on this part of the Lebanon is held sacred +by the Greek Church on account of a prevailing notion that the trees +were standing at a time when the temple of Jerusalem was built. +They occupy three or four acres on the mountain’s side, and many +of them are gnarled in a way that implies great age, but except these +signs I saw nothing in their appearance or conduct that tended to prove +them contemporaries of the cedars employed in Solomon’s Temple. +The final cause to which these aged survivors owed their preservation +was explained to me in the evening by a glorious old fellow (a Christian +chief), who made me welcome in the valley of Eden. In ancient +times the whole range of the Lebanon had been covered with cedars, and +as the fertile plains beneath became more and more infested by government +officers and tyrants of high and low degree, the people by degrees abandoned +them and flocked to the rugged mountains, which were less accessible +to their indolent oppressors. The cedar forests gradually shrank +under the axe of the encroaching multitudes, and seemed at last to be +on the point of disappearing entirely, when an aged chief who ruled +in this district, and who had witnessed the great change effected even +in his own lifetime, chose to say that some sign or memorial should +be left of the vast woods with which the mountains had formerly been +clad, and commanded accordingly that this group of trees (which was +probably situated at the highest point to which the forest had reached) +should remain untouched. The chief, it seems, was not moved by +the notion I have mentioned as prevailing in the Greek Church, but rather +by some sentiment of veneration for a great natural feature - sentiment +akin, perhaps, to that old and earthborn religion, which made men bow +down to creation before they had yet learnt how to know and worship +the Creator.<br> +<br> +The chief of the valley in which I passed the night was a man of large +possessions, and he entertained me very sumptuously. He was highly +intelligent, and had had the sagacity to foresee that Europe would intervene +authoritatively in the affairs of Syria. Bearing this idea in +mind, and with a view to give his son an advantageous start in the ambitious +career for which he was destined, he had hired for him a teacher of +the Italian language, the only accessible European tongue. The +tutor, however, who was a native of Syria, either did not know or did +not choose to teach the European forms of address, but contented himself +with instructing his pupil in the mere language of Italy. This +circumstance gave me an opportunity (the only one I ever had, or was +likely to have <a name="citation46"></a><a href="#footnote46">{46}</a>) +of hearing the phrases of Oriental courtesy in an European tongue. +The boy was about twelve or thirteen years old, and having the advantage +of being able to speak to me without the aid of an interpreter, he took +a prominent part in doing the honours of his father’s house. +He went through his duties with untiring assiduity, and with a kind +of gracefulness, which by mere description can scarcely be made intelligible +to those who are unacquainted with the manners of the Asiatics. +The boy’s address resembled a little that of a highly polished +and insinuating Roman Catholic priest, but had more of girlish gentleness. +It was strange to hear him gravely and slowly enunciating the common +and extravagant compliments of the East in good Italian, and in soft, +persuasive tones. I recollect that I was particularly amused at +the gracious obstinacy with which he maintained that the house in which +I was so hospitably entertained belonged not to his father, but to me. +To say this once was only to use the common form of speech, signifying +no more than our sweet word “welcome,” but the amusing part +of the matter was that, whenever in the course of conversation I happened +to speak of his father’s house or the surrounding domain, the +boy invariably interfered to correct my pretended mistake, and to assure +me once again with a gentle decisiveness of manner that the whole property +was really and exclusively mine, and that his father had not the most +distant pretensions to its ownership.<br> +<br> +I received from my host much, and (as I now know) most true, information +respecting the people of the mountains, and their power of resisting +Mehemet Ali. The chief gave me very plainly to understand that +the mountaineers, being dependent upon others for bread and gunpowder +(the two great necessaries of martial life), could not long hold out +against a power which occupied the plains and commanded the sea; but +he also assured me, and that very significantly, that if this source +of weakness were provided against, <i>the mountaineers were to be depended +upon</i>; he told me that in ten or fifteen days the chiefs could bring +together some fifty thousand fighting men.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +CHAPTER XXIX - SURPRISE OF SATALIEH<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Whilst I was remaining upon the coast of Syria I had the good fortune +to become acquainted with the Russian Sataliefsky, <a name="citation47"></a><a href="#footnote47">{47}</a> +a general officer, who in his youth had fought and bled at Borodino, +but was now better known among diplomats by the important trust committed +to him at a period highly critical for the affairs of Eastern Europe. +I must not tell you his family name; my mention of his title can do +him no harm, for it is I, and I only, who have conferred it, in consideration +of the military and diplomatic services performed under my own eyes.<br> +<br> +The General as well as I was bound for Smyrna, and we agreed to sail +together in an Ionian brigantine. We did not charter the vessel, +but we made our arrangement with the captain upon such terms that we +could be put ashore upon any part of the coast that we might choose. +We sailed, and day after day the vessel lay dawdling on the sea with +calms and feeble breezes for her portion. I myself was well repaid +for the painful restlessness which such weather occasions, because I +gained from my companion a little of that vast fund of interesting knowledge +with which he was stored, knowledge a thousand times the more highly +to be prized since it was not of the sort that is to be gathered from +books, but only from the lips of those who have acted a part in the +world.<br> +<br> +When after nine days of sailing, or trying to sail, we found ourselves +still hanging by the mainland to the north of the isle of Cyprus, we +determined to disembark at Satalieh, and to go on thence by land. +A light breeze favoured our purpose, and it was with great delight that +we neared the fragrant land, and saw our anchor go down in the bay of +Satalieh, within two or three hundred yards of the shore.<br> +<br> +The town of Satalieh <a name="citation48"></a><a href="#footnote48">{48}</a> +is the chief place of the Pashalic in which it is situate, and its citadel +is the residence of the Pasha. We had scarcely dropped our anchor +when a boat from the shore came alongside with officers on board, who +announced that the strictest orders had been received for maintaining +a quarantine of three weeks against all vessels coming from Syria, and +directed accordingly that no one from the vessel should disembark. +In reply we sent a message to the Pasha, setting forth the rank and +titles of the General, and requiring permission to go ashore. +After a while the boat came again alongside, and the officers declaring +that the orders received from Constantinople were imperative and unexceptional, +formally enjoined us in the name of the Pasha to abstain from any attempt +to land.<br> +<br> +I had been hitherto much less impatient of our slow voyage than my gallant +friend, but this opposition made the smooth sea seem to me like a prison, +from which I must and would break out. I had an unbounded faith +in the feebleness of Asiatic potentates, and I proposed that we should +set the Pasha at defiance. The General had been worked up to a +state of most painful agitation by the idea of being driven from the +shore which smiled so pleasantly before his eyes, and he adopted my +suggestion with rapture.<br> +<br> +We determined to land.<br> +<br> +To approach the sweet shore after a tedious voyage, and then to be suddenly +and unexpectedly prohibited from landing - this is so maddening to the +temper, that no one who had ever experienced the trial would say that +even the most violent impatience of such restraint is wholly inexcusable. +I am not going to pretend, however, that the course which we chose to +adopt on the occasion can be perfectly justified. The impropriety +of a traveller’s setting at naught the regulations of a foreign +State is clear enough, and the bad taste of compassing such a purpose +by mere gasconading is still more glaringly plain. I knew perfectly +well that if the Pasha understood his duty, and had energy enough to +perform it, he would order out a file of soldiers the moment we landed, +and cause us both to be shot upon the beach, without allowing more contact +than might be absolutely necessary for the purpose of making us stand +fire; but I also firmly believed that the Pasha would not see the befitting +line of conduct nearly so well as I did, and that even if he did know +his duty, he would hardly succeed in finding resolution enough to perform +it.<br> +<br> +We ordered the boat to be got in readiness, and the officers on shore +seeing these preparations, gathered together a number of guards, who +assembled upon the sands. We saw that great excitement prevailed, +and that messengers were continually going to and fro between the shore +and the citadel. Our captain, out of compliment to his Excellency, +had provided the vessel with a Russian war-flag, which he had hoisted +alternately with the Union Jack, and we agreed that we would attempt +our disembarkation under this, the Russian standard! I was glad +when we came to that resolution, for I should have been sorry to engage +the honoured flag of England in such an affair as that which we were +undertaking. The Russian ensign was therefore committed to one +of the sailors, who took his station at the stern of the boat. +We gave particular instructions to the captain of the brigantine, and +when all was ready, the General and I, with our respective servants, +got into the boat, and were slowly rowed towards the shore. The +guards gathered together at the point for which we were making, but +when they saw that our boat went on without altering her course, <i>they +ceased to stand very still</i>; none of them ran away, or even shrank +back, but they looked as if <i>the pack were being shuffled</i>, every +man seeming desirous to change places with his neighbour. They +were still at their post, however, when our oars went in, and the bow +of our boat ran up - well up upon the beach.<br> +<br> +The General was lame by an honourable wound received at Borodino, and +could not without some assistance get out of the boat; I, therefore, +landed the first. My instructions to the captain were attended +to with the most perfect accuracy, for scarcely had my foot indented +the sand when the four six-pounders of the brigantine quite gravely +rolled out their brute thunder. Precisely as I had expected, the +guards and all the people who had gathered about them gave way under +the shock produced by the mere sound of guns, and we were all allowed +to disembark with the least molestation.<br> +<br> +We immediately formed a little column, or rather, as I should have called +it, a procession, for we had no fighting aptitude in us, and were only +trying, as it were, how far we could go in frightening full-grown children. +First marched the sailor with the Russian flag of war bravely flying +in the breeze, then came the general and I, then our servants, and lastly, +if I rightly recollect, two more of the brigantine’s crew. +Our flag-bearer so exulted in his honourable office, and bore the colours +aloft with so much of pomp and dignity, that I found it exceedingly +hard to keep a grave countenance. We advanced towards the castle, +but the people had now had time to recover from the effect of the six-pounders +(only of course loaded with powder), and they could not help seeing +not only the numerical weakness of our party, but the very slight amount +of wealth and resource which it seemed to imply. They began to +hang round us more closely, and just as this reaction was beginning +the General, who was perfectly unacquainted with the Asiatic character, +thoughtlessly turned round in order to speak to one of the servants. +The effect of this slight move was magical. The people thought +we were going to give way, and instantly closed round us. In two +words, and with one touch, I showed my comrade the danger he was running, +and in the next instant we were both advancing more pompously than ever. +Some minutes afterwards there was a second appearance of reaction, followed +again by wavering and indecision on the part of the Pasha’s people, +but at length it seemed to be understood that we should go unmolested +into the audience hall.<br> +<br> +Constant communication had been going on between the receding crowd +and the Pasha, and so when we reached the gates of the citadel we saw +that preparations were made for giving us an awe-striking reception. +Parting at once from the sailors and our servants, the General and I +were conducted into the audience hall; and there at least I suppose +the Pasha hoped that he would confound us by his greatness. The +hall was nothing more than a large whitewashed room. Oriental +potentates have a pride in that sort of simplicity, when they can contrast +it with the exhibition of power, and this the Pasha was able to do, +for the lower end of the hall was filled with his officers. These +men, of whom I thought there were about fifty or sixty, were all handsomely, +though plainly, dressed in the military frockcoats of Europe; they stood +in mass and so as to present a hollow semicircular front towards the +upper end of the hall at which the Pasha sat; they opened a narrow lane +for us when we entered, and as soon as we had passed they again closed +up their ranks. An attempt was made to induce us to remain at +a respectful distance from his mightiness. To have yielded in +this point would have have been fatal to our success, perhaps to our +lives; but the General and I had already determined upon the place which +we should take, and we rudely pushed on towards the upper end of the +hall.<br> +<br> +Upon the divan, and close up against the right hand corner of the room, +there sat the Pasha, his limbs gathered in, the whole creature coiled +up like an adder. His cheeks were deadly pale, and his lips perhaps +had turned white, for without moving a muscle the man impressed me with +an immense idea of the wrath within him. He kept his eyes inexorably +fixed as if upon vacancy, and with the look of a man accustomed to refuse +the prayers of those who sue for life. We soon discomposed him, +however, from this studied fixity of feature, for we marched straight +up to the divan and sat down, the Russian close to the Pasha, and I +by the side of the Russian. This act astonished the attendants, +and plainly disconcerted the Pasha. He could no longer maintain +the glassy stillness of the eyes which he had affected, and evidently +became much agitated. At the feet of the satrap there stood a +trembling Italian.<br> +<br> +This man was a sort of medico in the potentate’s service, and +now in the absence of our attendants he was to act as interpreter. +The Pasha caused him to tell us that we had openly defied his authority, +and had forced our way on shore in the teeth of his own officers.<br> +<br> +Up to this time I had been the planner of the enterprise, but now that +the moment had come when all would depend upon able and earnest speechifying, +I felt at once the immense superiority of my gallant friend, and gladly +left to him the whole conduct of this discussion. Indeed he had +vast advantages over me, not only by his superior command of language +and his far more spirited style of address, but also in his consciousness +of a good cause; for whilst I felt myself completely in the wrong, his +Excellency had really worked himself up to believe that the Pasha’s +refusal to permit our landing was a gross outrage and insult. +Therefore, without deigning to defend our conduct he at once commenced +a spirited attack upon the Pasha. The poor Italian doctor translated +one or two sentences to the Pasha, but he evidently mitigated their +import. The Russian, growing warm, insisted upon his attack with +redoubled energy and spirit; but the medico, instead of translating, +began to shake violently with terror, and at last he came out with his +<i>non ardisco</i>, and fairly confessed that he dared not interpret +fierce words to his master.<br> +<br> +Now then, at a time when everything seemed to depend upon the effect +of speech, we were left without an interpreter.<br> +<br> +But this very circumstance, which at first appeared so unfavourable, +turned out to be advantageous. The General, finding that he could +not have his words translated, ceased to speak in Italian, and recurred +to his accustomed French; he became eloquent. No one present except +myself understood one syllable of what he was saying, but he had drawn +forth his passport, and the energy and violence with which, as he spoke, +he pointed to the graven Eagle of all the Russias, began to make an +impression. The Pasha saw at his side a man not only free from +every the least pang of fear, but raging, as it seemed, with just indignation, +and thenceforward he plainly began to think that, in some way or other +(he could not tell how) he must certainly have been in the wrong. +In a little time he was so much shaken that the Italian ventured to +resume his interpretation, and my comrade had again the opportunity +of pressing his attack upon the Pasha. His argument, if I rightly +recollect its import, was to this effect: “If the vilest Jews +were to come into the harbour, you would but forbid them to land, and +force them to perform quarantine; yet this is the very course, O Pasha, +which your rash officers dared to think of adopting with <i>us</i>! +- those mad and reckless men would have actually dealt towards a Russian +general officer and an English gentleman as if they had been wretched +Israelites! Never - never will we submit to such an indignity. +His Imperial Majesty knows how to protect his nobles from insult, and +would never endure that a General of his army should be treated in matter +of quarantine as though he were a mere Eastern Jew!” This +argument told with great effect. The Pasha fairly admitted that +he felt its weight, and he now only struggled to obtain such a compromise +as might partly save his dignity. He wanted us to perform a quarantine +of one day for form’s sake, and in order to show his people that +he was not utterly defied; but finding that we were inexorable, he not +only abandoned his attempt, but promised to supply us with horses.<br> +<br> +When the discussion had arrived at this happy conclusion<i> tchibouques</i> +and coffee were brought, and we passed, I think, nearly an hour in friendly +conversation. The Pasha, it now appeared, had once been a prisoner +of war in Russia, and a conviction of the Emperor’s vast power, +necessarily acquired during this captivity, made him perhaps more alive +than an untravelled Turk would have been to the force of my comrade’s +eloquence.<br> +<br> +The Pasha now gave us a generous feast. Our promised horses were +brought without much delay. I gained my loved saddle once more, +and when the moon got up and touched the heights of Taurus, we were +joyfully winding our way through the first of his rugged defiles.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +APPENDIX - THE HOME OF LADY HESTER STANHOPE<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +It was late when we came in sight of two high conical hills, on one +of which stands the village of Djouni, on the other a circular wall, +over which dark trees were waving; and this was the place in which Lady +Hester Stanhope had finished her strange and eventful career. +It had formerly been a convent, but the Pasha of Sidon had given it +to the “prophet-lady,” who converted its naked walls into +a palace, and its wilderness into gardens.<br> +<br> +The sun was setting as we entered the enclosure, and we were soon scattered +about the outer court, picketing our horses, rubbing down their foaming +flanks, and washing out their wounds. The buildings that constituted +the palace were of a very scattered and complicated description, covering +a wide space, but only one storey in height: courts and gardens, stables +and sleeping-rooms, halls of audience and ladies’ bowers, were +strangely intermingled. Heavy weeds were growing everywhere among +the open portals, and we forced our way with difficulty through a tangle +of roses and jasmine to the inner court; here choice flowers once bloomed, +and fountains played in marble basins, but now was presented a scene +of the most melancholy desolation. As the watchfire blazed up, +its gleam fell upon masses of honeysuckle and woodbine, on white, mouldering +walls beneath, and dark, waving trees above; while the group of mountaineers +who gathered round its light, with their long beards and vivid dresses, +completed the strange picture.<br> +<br> +The clang of sword and spear resounded through the long galleries; horses +neighed among bowers and boudoirs; strange figures hurried to and fro +among the colonnades, shouting in Arabic, English, and Italian; the +fire crackled, the startled bats flapped their heavy wings, and the +growl of distant thunder filled up the pauses in the rough symphony.<br> +<br> +Our dinner was spread on the floor in Lady Hester’s favourite +apartment; her deathbed was our sideboard, her furniture our fuel, her +name our conversation. Almost before the meal was ended two of +our party had dropped asleep over their trenchers from fatigue; the +Druses had retired from the haunted precincts to their village; and +W-, L-, and I went out into the garden to smoke our pipes by Lady Hester’s +lonely tomb. About midnight we fell asleep upon the ground, wrapped +in our capotes, and dreamed of ladies and tombs and prophets till the +neighing of our horses announced the dawn.<br> +<br> +After a hurried breakfast on fragments of the last night’s repast +we strolled out over the extensive gardens. Here many a broken +arbour and trellis, bending under masses of jasmine and honeysuckle, +show the care and taste that were once lavished on this wild but beautiful +hermitage: a garden-house, surrounded by an enclosure of roses run wild, +lies in the midst of a grove of myrtle and bay trees. This was +Lady Hester’s favourite resort during her lifetime; and now, within +its silent enclosure,<br> +<br> +<br> +“After life’s fitful fever she sleeps well.”<br> +<br> +<br> +The hand of ruin has dealt very sparingly with all these interesting +relics; the Pasha’s power by day, and the fear of spirits by night, +keep off marauders; and though we made free with broken benches and +fallen doorposts for fuel, we reverently abstained from displacing anything +in the establishment except a few roses, which there was no living thing +but bees and nightingales to regret. It was one of the most striking +and interesting spots I ever witnessed: its silence and beauty, its +richness and desolation, lent to it a touching and mysterious character, +that suited well the memory of that strange hermit-lady who has made +it a place of pilgrimage, even in Palestine. <a name="citation49"></a><a href="#footnote49">{49}</a><br> +<br> +The Pasha of Sidon presented Lady Hester with the deserted convent of +Mar Elias on her arrival in his country, and this she soon converted +into a fortress, garrisoned by a band of Albanians: her only attendants +besides were her doctor, her secretary, and some female slaves. +Public rumour soon busied itself with such a personage, and exaggerated +her influence and power. It is even said that she was crowned +Queen of the East at Palmyra by fifty thousand Arabs. She certainly +exercised almost despotic power in her neighbourhood on the mountain; +and what was perhaps the most remarkable proof of her talents, she prevailed +on some Jews to advance large sums of money to her on her note of hand. +She lived for many years, beset with difficulties and anxieties, but +to the last she held on gallantly: even when confined to her bed and +dying she sought for no companionship or comfort but such as she could +find in her own powerful, though unmanageable, mind.<br> +<br> +Mr. Moore, our consul at Beyrout, hearing she was ill, rode over the +mountains to visit her, accompanied by Mr. Thomson, the American missionary. +It was evening when they arrived, and a profound silence was over all +the palace. No one met them; they lighted their own lamps in the +outer court, and passed unquestioned through court and gallery until +they came to where <i>she</i> lay. A corpse was the only inhabitant +of the palace, and the isolation from her kind which she had sought +so long was indeed complete. That morning thirty-seven servants +had watched every motion of her eye: its spell once darkened by death, +every one fled with such plunder as they could secure. A little +girl, adopted by her and maintained for years, took her watch and some +papers on which she had set peculiar value. Neither the child +nor the property were ever seen again. Not a single thing was +left in the room where she lay dead, except the ornaments upon her person. +No one had ventured to touch these; even in death she seemed able to +protect herself. At midnight her countryman and the missionary +carried her out by torchlight to a spot in the garden that had been +formerly her favourite resort, and here they buried the self-exiled +lady. - <i>From</i> “THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS,” <i>by +Eliot Warburton.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</i>Footnotes:<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote1"></a><a href="#citation1">{1}</a> A “compromised” +person is one who has been in contact with people or things supposed +to be capable of conveying infection. As a general rule the whole +Ottoman Empire lies constantly under this terrible ban. The “yellow +flag” is the ensign of the quarantine establishment.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote2"></a><a href="#citation2">{2}</a> The narghile +is a water-pipe upon the plan of the hookah, but more gracefully fashioned; +the smoke is drawn by a very long flexible tube, that winds its snake-like +way from the vase to the lips of the beatified smoker.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote3"></a><a href="#citation3">{3}</a> That is, +if he stands up at all. Oriental etiquette would not warrant his +rising, unless his visitor were supposed to be at least his equal in +point of rank and station.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote4"></a><a href="#citation4">{4}</a> The continual +marriages of these people with the chosen beauties of Georgia and Circassia +have overpowered the original ugliness of their Tatar ancestors.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote5"></a><a href="#citation5">{5}</a> There is +almost always a breeze either from the Marmora or from the Black Sea, +that passes along the course of the Bosphorus.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote6"></a><a href="#citation6">{6}</a> The yashmak, +you know, is not a mere semi-transparent veil, but rather a good substantial +petticoat applied to the face; it thoroughly conceals all the features, +except the eyes; the way of withdrawing it is by pulling it down.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote7"></a><a href="#citation7">{7}</a> The “pipe +of tranquillity” is a <i>tchibouque</i> too long to be conveniently +carried on a journey; the possession of it therefore implies that its +owner is stationary, or at all events, that he is enjoying a long repose +from travel.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote8"></a><a href="#citation8">{8}</a> The Jews +of Smyrna are poor, and having little merchandise of their own to dispose +of, they are sadly importunate in offering their services as intermediaries: +their troublesome conduct has led to the custom of beating them in the +open streets. It is usual for Europeans to carry long sticks with +them, for the express purpose of keeping off the chosen people. +I always felt ashamed to strike the poor fellows myself, but I confess +to the amusement with which I witnessed the observance of this custom +by other people. The Jew seldom got hurt much, for he was always +expecting the blow, and was ready to recede from it the moment it came: +one could not help being rather gratified at seeing him bound away so +nimbly, with his long robes floating out in the air, and then again +wheel round, and return with fresh importunities.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote9"></a><a href="#citation9">{9}</a> Marriages +in the East are arranged by professed match-makers; many of these, I +believe, are Jewesses.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote10"></a><a href="#citation10">{10}</a> A Greek +woman wears her whole fortune upon her person in the shape of jewels +or gold coins; I believe that this mode of investment is adopted in +great measure for safety’s sake. It has the advantage of +enabling a suitor to <i>reckon</i> as well as to admire the objects +of his affection.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote11"></a><a href="#citation11">{11}</a> St. Nicholas +is the great patron of Greek sailors. A small picture of him enclosed +in a glass case is hung up like a barometer at one end of the cabin.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote12"></a><a href="#citation12">{12}</a> Hanmer.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote13"></a><a href="#citation13">{13}</a> “. +. . ubi templum illi, centumque Sabaeo<br> +Thure calent arae, sertisque recentibus halant.”<br> +- Aeneid, i, 415.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote14"></a><a href="#citation14">{14}</a> The writer +advises that none should attempt to read the following account of the +late Lady Hester Stanhope except those who may already chance to feel +an interest in the personage to whom it relates. The chapter (which +has been written and printed for the reasons mentioned in the preface) +is chiefly filled with the detailed conversation, or rather discourse, +of a highly eccentric gentlewoman.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote15"></a><a href="#citation15">{15}</a> Historically +“<i>fainting</i>”; the death did not occur until long afterwards.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote16"></a><a href="#citation16">{16}</a> I am told +that in youth she was exceedingly sallow.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote17"></a><a href="#citation17">{17}</a> This was +my impression at the time of writing the above passage, an impression +created by the popular and uncontradicted accounts of the matter, as +well as by the tenor of Lady Hester’s conversation. I have +now some reason to think that I was deceived, and that her sway in the +desert was much more limited than I had supposed. She seems to +have had from the Bedouins a fair five hundred pounds’ worth of +respect, and not much more.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote18"></a><a href="#citation18">{18}</a> She spoke +it, I dare say, in English; the words would not be the less effective +for being spoken in an unknown tongue. Lady Hester, I believe, +never learnt to speak the Arabic with a perfect accent.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote19"></a><a href="#citation19">{19}</a> The proceedings +thus described to me by Lady Hester as having taken place during her +illness, were afterwards re-enacted at the time of her death. +Since I wrote the words to which this note is appended, I received from +Warburton an interesting account of the heroine’s death, or rather +the circumstances attending the discovery of the event; and I caused +it to be printed in the former editions of this work. I must now +give up the borrowed ornament, and omit my extract from my friend’s +letter, for the rightful owner has reprinted it in “The Crescent +and the Cross.” I know what a sacrifice I am making, for +in noticing the first edition of this book reviewers turned aside from +the text to the note, and remarked upon the interesting information +which Warburton’s letter contained. [This narrative is reproduced +in an Appendix to the present edition.]<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote20"></a><a href="#citation20">{20}</a> In a letter +which I afterwards received from Lady Hester, she mentioned incidentally +Lord Hardwicke, and said that he was “the kindest-hearted man +existing - a most manly, firm character. He comes from a good +breed - all the Yorkes excellent, with <i>ancient</i> French blood in +their veins.” The under scoring of the word “ancient” +is by the writer of the letter, who had certainly no great love or veneration +for the French of the present day: she did not consider them as descended +from her favourite stock.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote21"></a><a href="#citation21">{21}</a> It is +said that deaf people can hear what is said concerning themselves, and +it would seem that those who live without books or newspapers know all +that is written about them. Lady Hester Stanhope, though not admitting +a book or newspaper into her fortress, seems to have known the way in +which M. Lamartine mentioned her in his book, for in a letter which +she wrote to me after my return to England she says, “Although +neglected, as Monsieur le M.” (referring, as I believe, to M. +Lamartine) “describes, and without books, yet my head is organised +to supply the want of them as well as acquired knowledge.”<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote22"></a><a href="#citation22">{22}</a> I have +been recently told that this Italian’s pretensions to the healing +art were thoroughly unfounded. My informant is a gentleman who +enjoyed during many years the esteem and confidence of Lady Hester Stanhope: +his adventures in the Levant were most curious and interesting.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote23"></a><a href="#citation23">{23}</a> The Greek +Church does not recognise this as the true sanctuary, and many Protestants +look upon all the traditions by which it is attempted to ascertain the +holy places of Palestine as utterly fabulous. For myself, I do +not mean either to affirm or deny the correctness of the opinion which +has fixed upon this as the true site, but merely to mention it as a +belief entertained without question by my brethren of the Latin Church, +whose guest I was at the time. It would be a great aggravation +of the trouble of writing about these matters if I were to stop in the +midst of every sentence for the purpose of saying “so called” +or “so it is said,” and would besides sound very ungraciously: +yet I am anxious to be literally true in all I write. Now, thus +it is that I mean to get over my difficulty. Whenever in this +great bundle of papers or book (if book it is to be) you see any words +about matters of religion which would seem to involve the assertion +of my own opinion, you are to understand me just as if one or other +of the qualifying phrases above mentioned had been actually inserted +in every sentence. My general direction for you to construe me +thus will render all that I write as strictly and actually true as if +I had every time lugged in a formal declaration of the fact that I was +merely expressing the notions of other people.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote24"></a><a href="#citation24">{24}</a> “Vino +d’oro.”<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote25"></a><a href="#citation25">{25}</a> Shereef.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote26"></a><a href="#citation26">{26}</a> Tennyson.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote27"></a><a href="#citation27">{27}</a> The other +three cities held holy by Jews are Jerusalem, Hebron, and Safet.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote28"></a><a href="#citation28">{28}</a> Hadj a +pilgrim.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote29"></a><a href="#citation29">{29}</a> Milnes +cleverly goes to the French for the exact word which conveys the impression +produced by the voice of the Arabs, and calls them “un peuple<i> +criard</i>.”<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote30"></a><a href="#citation30">{30}</a> There +is some semblance of bravado in my manner of talking about the plague. +I have been more careful to describe the terrors of other people than +my own. The truth is, that during the whole period of my stay +at Cairo I remained thoroughly impressed with a sense of my danger. +I may almost say, that I lived in perpetual apprehension, for even in +sleep, as I fancy, there remained with me some faint notion of the peril +with which I was encompassed. But fear does not necessarily damp +the spirits; on the contrary, it will often operate as an excitement, +giving rise to unusual animation, and thus it affected me. If +I had not been surrounded at this time by new faces, new scenes, and +new sounds, the effect produced upon my mind by one unceasing cause +of alarm might have been very different. As it was, the eagerness +with which I pursued my rambles among the wonders of Egypt was sharpened +and increased by the sting of the fear of death. Thus my account +of the matter plainly conveys an impression that I remained at Cairo +without losing my cheerfulness and buoyancy of spirits. And this +is the truth, but it is also true, as I have freely confessed, that +my sense of danger during the whole period was lively and continuous.<br> +<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote31"></a><a href="#citation31">{31}</a> Anglicé +for “je le sais.” These answers of mine, as given +above, are not meant as specimens of mere French, but of that fine, +terse, nervous, <i>Continental English</i> with which I and my compatriots +make our way through Europe. This language, by-the-bye, is one +possessing great force and energy, and is not without its literature, +a literature of the very highest order. Where will you find more +sturdy specimens of downright, honest, and noble English than in the +Duke of Wellington’s “French” despatches?<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote32"></a><a href="#citation32">{32}</a> The import +of the word “compromised,” when used in reference to contagion, +is explained on page 18.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote33"></a><a href="#citation33">{33}</a> It is +said, that when a Mussulman finds himself attacked by the plague he +goes and takes a bath. The couches on which the bathers recline +would carry infection, according to the notions of the Europeans. +Whenever, therefore, I took the bath at Cairo (except the first time +of my doing so) I avoided that part of the luxury which consists in +being “put up to dry” upon a kind of bed.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote34"></a><a href="#citation34">{34}</a> Mehemet +Ali invited the Mamelukes to a feast, and murdered them whilst preparing +to enter the banquet hall.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote35"></a><a href="#citation35">{35}</a> It is +not strictly lawful to sell <i>white</i> slaves to a Christian.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote36"></a><a href="#citation36">{36}</a> The difficulty +was occasioned by the immense exertions which the Pasha was making to +collect camels for military purposes.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote37"></a><a href="#citation37">{37}</a> Herodotus, +in an after age, stood by with his note-book, and got, as he thought, +the exact returns of all the rations served out.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote38"></a><a href="#citation38">{38}</a> See Milman’s +“History of the Jews,” first edition.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote39"></a><a href="#citation39">{39}</a> This is +an appellation not implying blame, but merit; the “lies” +which it purports to affiliate are feints and cunning stratagems, rather +than the baser kind of falsehoods. The expression, in short, has +nearly the same meaning as the English word “Yorkshireman.”<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote40"></a><a href="#citation40">{40}</a> The 29th +of April.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote41"></a><a href="#citation41">{41}</a> These +are the names given by the Prophet to certain chapters of the Koran.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote43"></a><a href="#citation43">{43}</a> It was +after the interview which I am talking of, and not from the Jews themselves, +that I learnt this fact.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote44"></a><a href="#citation44">{44}</a> An enterprising +American traveller, Mr. Everett, lately conceived the bold project of +penetrating to the University of Oxford, and this notwithstanding that +he had been in his infancy (they begin very young those Americans) an +Unitarian preacher. Having a notion, it seems, that the ambassadorial +character would protect him from insult, he adopted the stratagem of +procuring credentials from his Government as Minister Plenipotentiary +at the Court of her Britannic Majesty; he also wore the exact costume +of a Trinitarian. But all his contrivances were vain; Oxford disdained, +and rejected, and insulted him (not because he represented a swindling +community, but) because that his infantine sermons were strictly remembered +against him; the enterprise failed.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote45"></a><a href="#citation45">{45}</a> The rose-trees +which I saw were all of the kind we call “damask”; they +grow to an immense height and size.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote46"></a><a href="#citation46">{46}</a> A dragoman +never interprets in terms the courteous language of the East.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote47"></a><a href="#citation47">{47}</a> A title +signifying transcender or conqueror of Satalieh.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote48"></a><a href="#citation48">{48}</a> Spelt +“Attalia” and sometimes “Adalia” in English +books and maps.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote49"></a><a href="#citation49">{49}</a> While +Lady Hester Stanhope lived, although numbers visited the convent, she +almost invariably refused admittance to strangers. She assigned +as a reason the use which M. de Lamartine had made of his interview. +Mrs. T., who passed some weeks at Djouni, told me, that when Lady Hester +read his account of this interview, she exclaimed, “It is all +false; we did not converse together for more than five minutes; but +no matter, no traveller hereafter shall betray or forge my conversation.” +The author of “Eothen,” however, was her guest, and has +given us an interesting account of his visit in his brilliant volume.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, EOTHEN ***<br> +<pre> + +******This file should be named eothn10h.htm or eothn10h.zip****** +Corrected EDITIONS of our EBooks get a new NUMBER, eothn11h.htm +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, eothn10ah.htm + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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