diff options
Diffstat (limited to '282-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 282-h/282-h.htm | 9137 |
1 files changed, 9137 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/282-h/282-h.htm b/282-h/282-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c45ae52 --- /dev/null +++ b/282-h/282-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9137 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Eothen</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.headingsummary { margin-left: 5%;} + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: gray;} + + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">Eothen, by A. W. Kinglake</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Eothen, by A. W. Kinglake + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Eothen + + +Author: A. W. Kinglake + + + +Release Date: August 7, 2008 [eBook #282] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EOTHEN*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed from the 1898 George Newnes edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>EOTHEN—A. W. KINGSLAKE</h1> +<h2>CHAPTER I—OVER THE BORDER</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[2]</a> hung lightly circling round him.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>Asiatic contentment! Yet scarcely, perhaps, one hour +before I had been wanting my bill, and ringing for waiters, in a +shrill and busy hotel.</p> +<p>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:—</p> +<p><i>Pasha</i>.—The Englishman is welcome; most blessed +among hours is this, the hour of his coming.</p> +<p><i>Dragoman</i> (to the traveller).—The Pasha pays you +his compliments.</p> +<p><i>Traveller</i>.—Give him my best compliments in +return, and say I’m delighted to have the honour of seeing +him.</p> +<p><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.</p> +<p><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.</p> +<p><i>Dragoman</i> [is silent].</p> +<p><i>Pasha</i>.—What says the friendly Lord of London? is +there aught that I can grant him within the Pashalik of +Karagholookoldour?</p> +<p><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.</p> +<p><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!</p> +<p><i>Dragoman</i> (to the traveller).—The Pasha +congratulates your Excellency.</p> +<p><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.</p> +<p><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.</p> +<p><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!</p> +<p><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?</p> +<p><i>Dragoman</i>.—No, your Excellency; but he says the +English talk by wheels, and by steam.</p> +<p><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.</p> +<p><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.</p> +<p><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!</p> +<p><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.</p> +<p><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.</p> +<p><i>Dragoman</i>.—The Pasha compliments the cutlery of +England, and also the East India Company.</p> +<p><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.</p> +<p><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!</p> +<p><i>Dragoman</i>.—The Pasha compliments the English.</p> +<p><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.</p> +<p><i>Pasha</i> (after hearing the dragoman, and standing up on +his divan). <a name="citation3"></a><a href="#footnote3" +class="citation">[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!</p> +<p><i>Dragoman</i>.—The Pasha wishes your Excellency a +pleasant journey.</p> +<p>So ends the visit.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER II—TURKISH TRAVELLING</h2> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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 <span +class="smcap">mode of life</span>, 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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER III—CONSTANTINOPLE</h2> +<p>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" class="citation">[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!</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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!</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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</p> + +<blockquote><p> “Striving +to attain<br /> +By shadowing out the unattainable.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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!</p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV—THE TROAD</h2> +<p>Methley recovered almost suddenly, and we determined to go +through the Troad together.</p> +<p>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</p> +<blockquote><p>“Of a Yorkshireman hippodamoio,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>and this enabled him to apply his knowledge with much more +tact than is usually shown by people so learned as he.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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 +Scæan gate.</p> +<p>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 “Poetæ +Græci,” cut up by commentators, and served out by +schoolmasters!</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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!</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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:</p> +<blockquote><p>“ . . . +ποταμους +δ’ ετρεφε +νεεσθαι<br /> +Καρ’ ροον +ηπερ +προσθεν ιεν + +καλλιρροον +υδωρ,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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!</p> +<p>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,</p> + +<blockquote><p>“Μεσσηyυς +Τενεδοιο +και Ιμβρου +παιπαλοεσσης,”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>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!</p> +<p>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!</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER V—INFIDEL SMYRNA</h2> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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 personæ</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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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!</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“E dunque no siete traditore?”</p> +<p>“Possibile, signor, ma almeno Io no sono +Greco.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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!</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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!</p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI—GREEK MARINERS</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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 Ægean 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.”</p> +<p>Such are now the mariners of the Ægean: 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.</p> +<p>With one exception, our crew were “a solemn +company,” <a name="citation12"></a><a href="#footnote12" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII—CYPRUS</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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 <span +class="smcap">her</span>, the hundred altars glowed with Arabian +incense, and breathed with the fragrance of garlands ever +fresh”? <a name="citation13"></a><a href="#footnote13" +class="citation">[13]</a></p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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 “Poetæ +Græci,” sung his best song; I in this latter age +presented my best dagger, and both of us received the same rustic +reward.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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 +Ægean, 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.”</p> +<p>I went to Larnaca, the chief city of the isle, and over the +water at last to Beyrout.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII—LADY HESTER STANHOPE <a +name="citation14"></a><a href="#footnote14" +class="citation">[14]</a></h2> +<p>Beyrout on its land side is hemmed in by the Druses, who +occupy all the neighbouring highlands.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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 prophet</i>.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,—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.</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">“Believe me, sir,<br /> +“Yours sincerely,<br /> +“<span class="smcap">Hester Lucy +Stanhope</span>.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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" class="citation">[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.”</p> +<p>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, +“<span class="smcap">Roll up the map of +Europe</span>”; 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.</p> +<p>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" class="citation">[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!</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[21]</a></p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" class="citation">[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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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!</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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>.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX—THE SANCTUARY</h2> +<p>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!</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER X—THE MONKS OF PALESTINE</h2> +<p>Whenever you come back to me from Palestine we will find some +“golden wine” <a name="citation24"></a><a +href="#footnote24" class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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 +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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XI—GALILEE</h2> +<p>Neither old “sacred” <a name="citation25"></a><a +href="#footnote25" class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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</p> +<blockquote><p>“Soothe him with her finer fancies,<br /> +Touch him with her lighter thought.” <a +name="citation26"></a><a href="#footnote26" +class="citation">[26]</a></p> +</blockquote> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<p>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!</p> +<p>Tiberias is one of the four holy cities, <a +name="citation27"></a><a href="#footnote27" +class="citation">[27]</a> according to the Talmud, and it is from +this place, or the immediate neighbourhood of it, that the +Messiah is to arise.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII—MY FIRST BIVOUAC</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII—THE DEAD SEA</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>We all marched off without hindrance.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV—THE BLACK TENTS</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XV—PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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 formulæ, 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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>Some hours after sunset I reached the convent of Santa Saba, +and there remained for the night.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI—TERRA SANTA</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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!”</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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 performed</i>, is certainly curious, and perhaps not +quite immaterial.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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!</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII—THE DESERT</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[29]</a> more painful to the ear than the most +excruciating fine music that I ever endured.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“Then we die!”</p> +<p>“God’s will be done!”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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?”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII—CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE <a +name="citation30"></a><a href="#footnote30" +class="citation">[30]</a></h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“Arrêtez-vous, monsieur, je vous en +prie—arrêtez-vous; il ne faut pas entrer dans la +ville; la peste y règne partout.”</p> +<p>“Oui, je sais, <a name="citation31"></a><a +href="#footnote31" class="citation">[31]</a> +mais—”</p> +<p>“Mais monsieur, je dis la peste—la peste; +c’est de <span class="smcap">la peste</span>, qu’il +est question.”</p> +<p>“Oui, je sais, mais—”</p> +<p>“Mais monsieur, je dis encore <span class="smcap">la +peste</span>—<span class="smcap">la peste</span>. Je +vous conjure de ne pas entrer dans la ville—vous seriez +dans une ville empestée.”</p> +<p>“Oui, je sais, mais—”</p> +<p>“Mais monsieur, je dois donc vous avertir tout bonnement +que si vous entrez dans la ville, vous serez—enfin vous +serez <span class="smcap">compromis</span>!” <a +name="citation32"></a><a href="#footnote32" +class="citation">[32]</a></p> +<p>“Oui, je sais, mais—”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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!</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" class="citation">[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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>“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.</p> +<p>One or two other boys were tried, but none could “see +truth”; they all made sadly “bad shots.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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!”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>At length the great difficulty <a name="citation36"></a><a +href="#footnote36" class="citation">[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!”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX—THE PYRAMIDS</h2> +<p>I went to see and to explore the Pyramids.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" class="citation">[37]</a> The Pyramids +are quite of this world.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XX—THE SPHINX</h2> +<p>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 Ægean, 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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI—CAIRO TO SUEZ</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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</i>, <i>and no other</i>, <i>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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!</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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!</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII—SUEZ</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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>.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII—SUEZ TO GAZA</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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!</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV—GAZA TO NABLUS</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV—MARIAM</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" class="citation">[41]</a> or the beautiful +morality of “the Table”; 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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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!”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>Thus matters stood when the Christians of the place came and +sought to obtain my assistance.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI—THE PROPHET DAMOOR</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII—DAMASCUS</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII—PASS OF THE LEBANON</h2> +<p>“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.</p> +<p>Come! Baalbec is over; I got “rather well” +out of that.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>I descended and went towards the west.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX—SURPRISE OF SATALIEH</h2> +<p>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" +class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>The town of Satalieh <a name="citation48"></a><a +href="#footnote48" class="citation">[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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>We determined to land.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>Now then, at a time when everything seemed to depend upon the +effect of speech, we were left without an interpreter.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<h2>APPENDIX—THE HOME OF LADY HESTER STANHOPE</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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,</p> +<blockquote><p>“After life’s fitful fever she sleeps +well.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>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" +class="citation">[49]</a></p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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> “<span +class="smcap">The Crescent and the Cross</span>,” <i>by +Eliot Warburton</i>.</p> +<h2>Footnotes:</h2> +<p><a name="footnote1"></a><a href="#citation1" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote2"></a><a href="#citation2" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote3"></a><a href="#citation3" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote4"></a><a href="#citation4" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote5"></a><a href="#citation5" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote6"></a><a href="#citation6" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote7"></a><a href="#citation7" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote8"></a><a href="#citation8" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote9"></a><a href="#citation9" +class="footnote">[9]</a> Marriages in the East are arranged +by professed match-makers; many of these, I believe, are +Jewesses.</p> +<p><a name="footnote10"></a><a href="#citation10" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote11"></a><a href="#citation11" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote12"></a><a href="#citation12" +class="footnote">[12]</a> Hanmer.</p> +<p><a name="footnote13"></a><a href="#citation13" +class="footnote">[13]</a> “. . . ubi templum illi, +centumque Sabæo<br /> +Thure calent aræ, sertisque recentibus halant.”</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—Æneid, i, 415.</p> +<p><a name="footnote14"></a><a href="#citation14" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote15"></a><a href="#citation15" +class="footnote">[15]</a> Historically +“<i>fainting</i>”; the death did not occur until long +afterwards.</p> +<p><a name="footnote16"></a><a href="#citation16" +class="footnote">[16]</a> I am told that in youth she was +exceedingly sallow.</p> +<p><a name="footnote17"></a><a href="#citation17" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote18"></a><a href="#citation18" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote19"></a><a href="#citation19" +class="footnote">[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.]</p> +<p><a name="footnote20"></a><a href="#citation20" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote21"></a><a href="#citation21" +class="footnote">[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.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote22"></a><a href="#citation22" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote23"></a><a href="#citation23" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote24"></a><a href="#citation24" +class="footnote">[24]</a> “Vino +d’oro.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote25"></a><a href="#citation25" +class="footnote">[25]</a> Shereef.</p> +<p><a name="footnote26"></a><a href="#citation26" +class="footnote">[26]</a> Tennyson.</p> +<p><a name="footnote27"></a><a href="#citation27" +class="footnote">[27]</a> The other three cities held holy +by Jews are Jerusalem, Hebron, and Safet.</p> +<p><a name="footnote28"></a><a href="#citation28" +class="footnote">[28]</a> Hadj a pilgrim.</p> +<p><a name="footnote29"></a><a href="#citation29" +class="footnote">[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>.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote30"></a><a href="#citation30" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote31"></a><a href="#citation31" +class="footnote">[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?</p> +<p><a name="footnote32"></a><a href="#citation32" +class="footnote">[32]</a> The import of the word +“compromised,” when used in reference to contagion, +is explained on page 18.</p> +<p><a name="footnote33"></a><a href="#citation33" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote34"></a><a href="#citation34" +class="footnote">[34]</a> Mehemet Ali invited the Mamelukes +to a feast, and murdered them whilst preparing to enter the +banquet hall.</p> +<p><a name="footnote35"></a><a href="#citation35" +class="footnote">[35]</a> It is not strictly lawful to sell +<i>white</i> slaves to a Christian.</p> +<p><a name="footnote36"></a><a href="#citation36" +class="footnote">[36]</a> The difficulty was occasioned by +the immense exertions which the Pasha was making to collect +camels for military purposes.</p> +<p><a name="footnote37"></a><a href="#citation37" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote38"></a><a href="#citation38" +class="footnote">[38]</a> See Milman’s “History +of the Jews,” first edition.</p> +<p><a name="footnote39"></a><a href="#citation39" +class="footnote">[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.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote40"></a><a href="#citation40" +class="footnote">[40]</a> The 29th of April.</p> +<p><a name="footnote41"></a><a href="#citation41" +class="footnote">[41]</a> These are the names given by the +Prophet to certain chapters of the Koran.</p> +<p><a name="footnote43"></a><a href="#citation43" +class="footnote">[43]</a> It was after the interview which +I am talking of, and not from the Jews themselves, that I learnt +this fact.</p> +<p><a name="footnote44"></a><a href="#citation44" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p><a name="footnote45"></a><a href="#citation45" +class="footnote">[45]</a> The rose-trees which I saw were +all of the kind we call “damask”; they grow to an +immense height and size.</p> +<p><a name="footnote46"></a><a href="#citation46" +class="footnote">[46]</a> A dragoman never interprets in +terms the courteous language of the East.</p> +<p><a name="footnote47"></a><a href="#citation47" +class="footnote">[47]</a> A title signifying transcender or +conqueror of Satalieh.</p> +<p><a name="footnote48"></a><a href="#citation48" +class="footnote">[48]</a> Spelt “Attalia” and +sometimes “Adalia” in English books and maps.</p> +<p><a name="footnote49"></a><a href="#citation49" +class="footnote">[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.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EOTHEN***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 282-h.htm or 282-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/282 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +</pre></body> +</html> |