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diff --git a/43684-0.txt b/43684-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4ebb6aa --- /dev/null +++ b/43684-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9548 @@ +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 + with an introduction and notes + + +Author: A. W. Kinglake + + + +Release Date: September 10, 2013 [eBook #43684] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EOTHEN*** + + +This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler + + [Picture: Book cover] + + [Picture: Eastern Travel] + + + + + + EOTHEN + + + _By_ + A. W. KINGLAKE + + _WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES_ + BY ANON + + * * * * * + + _WITH A FRONTISPIECE_ + _FROM A PAINTING_ + BY THE AUTHOR + + * * * * * + + LONDON + METHUEN & CO. + 36 ESSEX STREET, W.C. + MDCCCC + + * * * * * + + Πρὸς ᾒῶ τε καί ήλἱου ἀνατολὰς ὲποιέετο τὴν ὀδὁν.—HEROD. vii. 58. + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAP. PAGE. + INTRODUCTION vii + PREFACE xxxv + I. OVER THE BORDER 1 + II. TURKISH TRAVELLING 14 + III. CONSTANTINOPLE 30 + IV. THE TROAD 41 + V. INFIDEL SMYRNA 50 + VI. GREEK MARINERS 63 + VII. CYPRUS 74 + VIII. LADY HESTER STANHOPE 82 + IX. THE SANCTUARY 111 + X. THE MONKS OF PALESTINE 115 + XI. GALILEE 123 + XII. MY FIRST BIVOUAC 128 + XIII. THE DEAD SEA 137 + XIV. THE BLACK TENTS 144 + XV. PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN 148 + XVI. TERRA SANTA 155 + XVII. THE DESERT 175 + XVIII. CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE 202 + XIX. THE PYRAMIDS 231 + XX. THE SPHINX 235 + XXI. CAIRO TO SUEZ 237 + XXII. SUEZ 246 + XXIII. SUEZ TO GAZA 253 + XXIV. GAZA TO NABLUS 261 + XXV. MARIAM 267 + XXVI. THE PROPHET DAMOOR 278 + XXVII. DAMASCUS 284 + XXVIII. PASS OF THE LEBANON 293 + XXIX. SURPRISE OF SATALIEH 298 + APPENDIX 308 + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +I + + +_EOTHEN_ is the earliest work of Alexander William Kinglake, best known +as the historian of the Crimean War. It is an account of a tour—or +rather of selected adventures which occurred during a tour—undertaken in +the Levant in 1834, but was not published until ten years later. The +biographical notices of the Author are somewhat meagre, as by his dying +directions all his papers were destroyed. He was born near Taunton in +1809, and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, at which +latter he is said to have been the friend of Thackeray and Tennyson. On +leaving college he started on his Oriental tour with Lord Pollington (the +Methley of _Eothen_), and on returning to England was called to the Bar +at Lincoln’s Inn, and obtained a lucrative practice. But the life was +too tame to suit his taste. In 1845 he visited Algeria, and went through +a campaign with the flying column of St. Arnaud; and in 1854 went to the +Crimea with Lord Raglan, and was present at the battle of Alma. On +returning to England he decided to go into politics, and was elected for +Bridgewater in 1857 in the Liberal interest. He seems to have been a +poor speaker, and to have exercised little parliamentary influence; but +we are told that in 1859 he was strongly opposed to the Conspiracy Bill, +which was introduced after Orsini’s attempt to murder Napoleon III., and +that in 1860 he denounced the cession of Nice and Savoy to France. In +both cases he was apparently actuated by his personal dislike of +Napoleon, which is evident in his historical works. In 1868 he was again +returned for Bridgewater, but unseated on petition, for bribery. One +might have supposed that he had acquired this habit in the East, but his +biographers assert that he knew nothing of the irregularities which were +committed by his agents. But the chief business of his later life was +the composition of the _History of the War in the Crimea_, of which the +first two volumes appeared in 1863, and the seventh and eighth +(completing the work) in 1887. He died in 1891. + + + +II + + +His earlier and less ambitious, though perhaps more charming, book was +rejected by several publishers, but proved an immense success. It caught +the popular fancy at once, and after the lapse of more than fifty years +still maintains an honourable position. In the year after its first +appearance it passed through three editions, containing several +variations from the _editio princeps_ which have attracted the attention +of those who are interested in bibliography. It is only fair to reprint +the book with these corrections, which seem mostly due to the author’s +laudable desire for greater accuracy. For instance, he was apparently +seized with qualms as to his assertion (end of chap. xiii.) that when he +emerged from the Dead Sea after bathing therein his “skin was thickly +encrusted with sulphate of magnesia,” and cautiously substituted “salts” +for the more chemical expression. Yet I observe that the most recent +Encyclopædia states that “the water of the Dead Sea is characterised by +the presence of a large quantity of magnesian salts,” so perhaps his +first statement was not so wrong after all. He also found that he had +talked of Jove when he should have said Neptune in his account of the +Troad, and, conceiving a mistrust of the former deity, removed his name +not only from this passage but also from chap. xviii., in which he +altered “That touch was worthy of Jove” into “In that touch was true +hospitality.” I confess that I think this regard for truth might have +moved him to expunge his account of the advances made to him by the young +ladies of Bethlehem (end of chap. xvi.); I cannot believe that narrative +to be even probable, but anyone may retort that my scepticism is due to +the absence of those attractive qualities which Kinglake possessed. + +In chap. xvi. he says that shrouds are dipped in the holy water of the +Jordan and “preserved as a burial dress which shall inure” (later +editions “enure”) “for salvation in the realms of death.” Some critical +scholar of eminence should be called upon to emend or explain this +mysterious passage. At least, if people are allowed to print such things +in the nineteenth century what right have we to emend the classical +authors when they choose to be unintelligible? + +The truth is that _Eothen_, despite its great literary merits, is often +comfortably slipshod. And very properly so, for if there is to be any +correspondence between subject and style, it must be inappropriate for a +traveller recounting confidentially his diversions and mishaps to adopt +the phraseology of Gibbon. Matthew Arnold, in his “Essay on the Literary +Influence of Academies,” selected the _History of the Crimean War_ as an +example of what he called the Corinthian style. _Eothen_ certainly +presents specimens of this manner, but they are hardly characteristic; it +is often “urbane,” and has “the warm glow, blithe movement, and pliancy +of life,” which, according to the critic’s definition, Corinthians lack. +It is not devoid of unity, but it is many sided and kaleidoscopic. The +author varies from the trivial to the solemn, from boisterous exuberance +to careful austerity, from flippancy to rhapsody, and is perhaps never +quite serious. One wonders whether one is reading a clever but somewhat +slangy letter, or a long-meditated essay polished and repolished by +incessant _labor limæ_. Perhaps between 1834 and 1844 he worked up and +rearranged old spontaneous effusions, as indeed his preface suggests. He +often writes like a schoolboy, and sometimes like a philosopher; he is at +his best when he records what he has seen in phrases not without rhetoric +and not without humour, but distinct and clear as his own impressions. +“The foot falls noiseless in 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.” How vivid and +how true! + +But perhaps the reader may ask, as I ask myself, whether an introduction +to _Eothen_ is really necessary. The book is so simple and complete in +itself that it seems to require no explanation or commentary. But for +the benefit of those who are not acquainted with the Levant of to-day, it +is well to explain that the sixty-four years which have elapsed since +Kinglake made his Eastern tour have brought about important changes in +the extent, and some few in the condition, of the Turkish Empire. The +“unchanging East” is a popular phrase which is only true in a very +limited sense. It has arisen chiefly from the habit of pious publishers +of representing Abraham in the costume of a modern Bedouin Sheikh, and it +is peculiarly audacious to apply it to regions like Constantinople and +Egypt, which have witnessed exceptional vicissitudes and undergone +remarkable changes,—political, religious, and linguistic. It is however +just to say that the Turk is unchanging,—and it is to the presence of the +Turk that are due the peculiar characteristics of the Levant, as the +region visited by Kinglake may conveniently be termed; like the Bourbons, +he forgets nothing and learns nothing; as he was on the day when he +entered Europe, so he was in 1834 and so he is now. The boundaries of +Turkey have changed; there are now no Pashas at Belgrade, or even at +Sofia; and Ottoman territory is no longer plague-stricken. But whenever +one crosses the Turkish frontier, one may find functionaries like the +delightful potentate of Karagholookoldour, and be conscious of effecting +within the space of a few hundred yards a change greater than can be +experienced in any amount of travel in other European countries, +including Russia. One passes from regions where people have roughly the +same habits and ideas as ourselves—where they believe in political +economy, get drunk in public, sit upon chairs, and do not feel there is +anything indelicate in mentioning their wives—to a land where people do +none of these things, where the naked desolation of the country at the +side of the railway offers a startling contrast to the smug prosperity of +the Balkan States, where people prefer to sit curled up on hard sofas, +and where it is bad taste to condole with a man on his wife’s death. + +In 1834, the year of Kinglake’s journey, Turkey in Europe was +considerably more extensive than at the present day. Greece had already +revolted and been recognised as an independent state. Wallachia and +Moldavia were in process of securing their freedom. But the territories +now known as Bulgaria, Bosnia, and Herzegovina were still integral +portions of the Ottoman Empire; and though Servia (in which the scene of +the opening chapters of _Eothen_ is laid) had been constituted a +principality under Milosh Obrenovich as prince, in 1830, several of the +fortresses were still garrisoned by Ottoman troops, which accounts for +the presence of the Pasha at Belgrade. It is interesting to observe that +though our Author must have proceeded to Adrianople straight across +Bulgaria, he never mentions the name of that country. This apparently +strange omission is really quite natural. The Bulgarians, though in some +ways the most vigorous element among the Balkan races, passed through +greater trials than the Servians or Roumanians, and for a time lost their +national consciousness more completely. They were nearer Constantinople, +and therefore any political movement was more easily kept in check; while +all the religious and educational establishments of the country were in +the hands of Greek priests who practically proscribed the Bulgarian +language. I have been informed by a gentleman who has resided forty +years in Turkey, that when he first entered the Ottoman dominions every +educated Bulgarian called himself a Greek, and would have been ashamed to +employ his national designation, which was hardly in general use before +the movement of 1860. Another striking omission of _Eothen_ is that it +contains hardly any allusion to the Sultan. At the present day the +descendant of Osman, who claims to be also the successor of the Prophet, +is a well-known figure to the British public. The _Pall Mall Gazette_ +familiarly calls him “The Shadow.” {xiv} The friends of the Armenians +hold him personally responsible for the massacres; and a modern Kinglake, +even if bent on avoiding “political disquisitions,” would certainly +describe the Selamlik or weekly visit of the Sovereign to the mosque. +You cannot travel in Turkey without hearing the name of “Our Master” +(Effendimiz) or “the Imperial Person” (Zat-i-Shahane) daily mentioned, +and feeling that his wishes (which usually do not coincide with those of +European travellers, and affect the minutest details) are the only real +power in the country. This state of things is due almost entirely to the +personal energy of the present occupant of the Ottoman throne, who for +good or evil has succeeded in concentrating all power into his hands, and +in displaying the greatest example of practical autocracy ever seen. In +1834 Mahmoud was Sultan, one of the most vigorous of Ottoman princes, but +then near his end, and doubtless wearied out by a reign of constant +reverse and ineffectual efforts at reform. + +The Armenian question, like the Bulgarian, is of recent date, and we +consequently find that Kinglake says as little of the one as of the +other; but he often speaks of the doings of Mehemet Ali and his son +Ibrahim Pasha, which at this period formed one of the chief +preoccupations of the Porte. Mehemet Ali was a native of Cavalla who +held a military command in Egypt. In the troubles which succeeded the +French occupation of that country, at the beginning of the century, he +succeeded in making himself head of the popular party in Cairo, ousted +the Turkish Governor, and established himself in his place. He was +recognised by the Porte in 1805, and the Khediviate was subsequently made +hereditary in his family. At this time the Mamluks (or descendants of +the Turkish Guard instituted by the Sultans of Egypt in the thirteenth +century) occupied a position somewhat similar to that of the Janissaries +at Constantinople. Mehemet Ali, like Sultan Mahmoud, felt that this +military _imperium in imperio_ rendered fixed Government impossible, and +determined to consolidate his own rule by breaking the power of the +Mamluks. He did so by inviting their leaders to a banquet, at which they +were surprised and massacred. The Sultan, in return for his recognition +of Mehemet Ali as ruler of Egypt, made use of him during some years to +keep in order various rebellious provinces of the Empire. He was first +ordered to quell the Wahabi insurrection in Arabia, and his campaign +there is alluded to in chap. xviii. These people were a sort of +Mohammedan Puritans {xvi} who had made themselves masters of the Holy +Cities of Mecca and Medina. Mehemet Ali sent against them his son Tosun, +who captured Mecca in 1813, but died, and was replaced by his younger +brother Ibrahim Pasha, who is often mentioned in _Eothen_. He finally +concluded the Wahabi war in 1818, and is next heard of fighting against +Greece, which was beginning the struggle for independence. Mehemet Ali +was again called upon to assist the Sultan in suppressing rebellion, and +again sent his son to represent him. Ibrahim captured Missolonghi in +1825, but was defeated in 1827 by the united fleets at Navarino, under +Sir Edward Codrington, and retired from Greece. In return for these +services Mehemet Ali claimed that the Pashalik of Syria should be added +to his dominions. The Sultan refused the request of his powerful vassal; +but the latter picked a quarrel with the Turkish governor of Syria, and +sent Ibrahim to invade the province. Ibrahim not only made a triumphal +entry into Damascus, but defeated the Turkish Army at Beilan and advanced +into Asia Minor, where he routed a second force, sent against him by the +Sultan, near Konia, in December 1832. The defeated Turkish troops joined +the Egyptians, Ibrahim advanced victoriously to Broussa, and had +Constantinople at his mercy. The Sultan in his extremity called the +Russians to his assistance. The Treaty of Unkiar Iskelesi was concluded +in 1833; Ibrahim was obliged to retire, but the Pashaliks of Syria and +Adana were given to Mehemet Ali, and treated with great rigour, as +mentioned in chap. xv. At the time of Kinglake’s visit to Egypt the +plague seems to have been the one absorbing preoccupation of everyone in +Cairo, and we learn little from him of the normal state of the country at +this period. The most remarkable of his Egyptian sayings is the prophecy +at the end of the chapter called “The Sphinx.” “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.” To have made this +prediction at a time when India was still under the Company, when we had +no interests in North-East Africa or the Red Sea, before the Suez Canal +was a serious project, perhaps before we had occupied Aden, {xvii} is +indeed an example of no ordinary political foresight. + +Such was the political condition of the lands which Kinglake visited, and +of many aspects of which he gives a most living picture. In his +diverting preface he disclaims all intention of being instructive, of +describing manners and customs, still less of discussing political and +social questions. Perhaps his narrative sometimes reminds the reader of +his statement (chap. viii.) that a story may be false as a mere fact but +perfectly true as an illustration. Some great writers impart durability +to their work by selecting from a mass of details such traits as are +important and characteristic, and passing lightly over what is +transitory. For instance, the main impression left by Thackeray’s novels +is not that the life there described is old-fashioned, but that it is in +essentials the life of to-day. So, too, in _Eothen_ a reader acquainted +with the East hardly notices anachronisms. Judged as a description of +the Levant of 1898, it is inaccurate, or rather inadequate, almost +exclusively on account of its omissions. But the principal descriptions, +incidents, and portraits—the Mohammedan quarter at Belgrade, the +conversation between the Pasha and the Dragoman, the meeting of the two +Englishmen in the desert, Dimitri and Mysseri—are, if considered as +types, as true to nature to-day as they were sixty years ago, and +doubtless will be sixty years hence. + +Kinglake treats the Levant in the only way it ought to be treated if it +is to be enjoyed—half-seriously. Those whom business or philanthropy +oblige to devote to it any real exertion, sentiment, or interest, lay up +for themselves nothing but disillusion and disappointment, for, whether +they are fascinated by the picturesque and manly virtues of the Moslems, +or roused to honourable indignation by the slaughter and oppression of +their fellow-Christians, they will find in the end that, as Lord +Salisbury once said, they have put their money on the wrong horse. In +the Eastern Derby there are no winning horses. One after another they +have all disappointed their backers; the faults of Eastern Christendom +brought about and still keep up the rule of the Turk, and few who have an +adequate knowledge of the facts of the case believe either that the +Christians are happy under that rule or that they furnish in themselves +the elements of anything much better. + +Yet this dreary tragedy—this daily round of oppression and misgovernment, +varied by outbursts of interracial fury—has a brighter side. To the mere +spectator, to the intelligent traveller with literary taste and a sense +of humour, the surface of Levantine life is a stream of perpetual +amusement, often broadening into comedy, and sometimes bursting all +bounds and breaking into a screaming farce. The number and variety of +races and languages afford infinite possibilities of misunderstanding and +mistranslation (which it must be admitted are the basis of many good +stories); the Orientalised European and the Europeanised Oriental are +alike inexpressibly droll. Their very crimes have an element of the +burlesque, which seems to disarm censure and remove the whole transaction +to a non-moral sphere where ordinary rules of right and wrong do not +apply. The Turk, if not precisely witty himself, is at least the cause +of wit in others. Extreme Asiatic dignity amidst ludicrously undignified +European surroundings, a mixture of pomp and homeliness, power and +childishness, give rise to humorous anecdotes of a peculiar and very +characteristic flavour, examples of which may be found in several works +besides _Eothen_, notably Robert Curzon’s _Monasteries of the Levant_. +Another excellent illustration is supplied by Vazoff’s _Under the Yoke_, +a translation of which has been published in English. It is an +historical novel, written by a Bulgarian burning with indignation against +the Ottoman rule. Yet the Turkish Caimmakam, as drawn by a bitter enemy, +is no bloody tyrant, but an exquisitely diverting old gentleman whose +every appearance is hailed by the reader with impatient delight. As the +violence of the Turk, so also the dishonesty and corruption of the Rayah +seem to lose their enormity when viewed in this gentle, humorous light. +The swindling is so palpable, and yet so gravely decorous in its external +forms, that it ceases to shock; it is so universal that in the end no one +seems to have suffered much wrong. To vary the celebrated remark about +the Scilly Islanders, one may say that these people gain a precarious +livelihood by taking bribes from one another. Again the elaborate and +ceremonious phraseology essential to all literary composition in the East +enables a writer to make intrinsically preposterous assertions with a +gravity which renders criticism impossible. What reply can be given to +the officials who assert that Armenians commit suicide in order to throw +suspicion on certain excellent Kurds residing in their neighbourhood? or +who when called upon to explain why they have incarcerated a foreign +traveller under circumstances of extreme indignity, blandly reply that +“the said gentleman was indeed hospitably entertained in the Government +buildings”? + +This last instance shows that Oriental travelling must not be undertaken +without due precautions. A certain retinue, and sufficient influence to +secure the courtesy of the authorities (which Kinglake evidently had), +are essential. With them the traveller acquires a feeling, often +manifest in _Eothen_, that he is a sultan possessed of absolute authority +over his surroundings. There is just enough hardship to make comparative +comfort seem luxury, just enough danger to make it pleasant, when all is +over, to hear from what perils one has escaped. Should, however, any +reader be inclined to use _Eothen_ as a practical manual, he must be +cautious in following some of its precepts. Kinglake constantly insists +that intimidation, haughtiness, and defiance of all regulations are the +only means of impressing Orientals; and chronicles with great +satisfaction his own exploits in this line, concluding with “the Surprise +of Satalieh.” What he says is true enough as long as the Oriental +believes that the traveller is a prince in his own country, and that any +interference with his mad whims will bring severe punishment. But +unfortunately the secret is out. Enlightened officials are well aware +that many Englishmen are not cousins of the Queen, and have a shrewd +suspicion that hindrances placed in the way of the prying European are +not displeasing to the Imperial Government. The “Lord of London,” who +fifty years ago obtained a firman which made every provincial official +bow before him, may now be kept waiting days or weeks for a travelling +passport; and, unless he uses tact as well as bumptiousness, may find +himself in a position to write to the _Times_ about the interior of +Turkish provincial prisons, and become the subject of a Blue Book. Still +even now, if travellers will be cautious and polite in dealing with +people of whose language and customs they are profoundly ignorant, and +not bluster unless they know very well what they are about (for I admit +that bluster has its uses), they will find travelling more interesting, +diverting, and enjoyable in the Levant than in any other part of the +world. + +I write these lines as I sit in the hall of the largest hotel in New +York, a newly arrived stranger, somewhat dazed by the bustle and the +glare. The whole establishment is on a greater scale than anything else +in the world—except its own bills. Everything is made of gold and +marble, including, I fancy, the food—at least this hypothesis plausibly +reconciles the quality and texture of the viands with the value the +vendors seem to attach to them. Enormous lifts shoot their living +freights up into spheres unseen, or engulf them in abysmal chasms. All +round people are ringing electric bells, telephoning, telegraphing, +stenographing, polygraphing, and generally communicating their ideas +about money to their fellow-creatures by any means rather than the voice +which God put in the larynx for the purpose of quiet conversation. On +one side an operatic concert is being performed, on the other porters and +luggage jostle a brilliant throng of fashionably dressed people. It is +as if someone had given an evening party at a railway station. “Whirr! +whirr! all by wheels! whizz! whizz! all by steam!” and electricity, as +the immortal Pasha of Karagholookoldour would have said. Now my mind +(like the Pasha’s) comprehends locomotives, and I am an enthusiast for +progress, but amidst all the whizz and whirr and ringing of electric +bells, my memory turns somewhat regretfully to a hotel where I resided +not long ago in the “Exalted Country”—that fine old Stamboul’s jargon is +so much more soothing to the tongue than the strange abbreviations and +initials they use over here—which was certainly more interesting, and +not, I think, more uncomfortable than this Transatlantic Caravanserai. +Perhaps I shall write an introduction congenial to the Shade of Kinglake +(if indeed the Shades are interested in new editions of their works) if +instead of instituting a comparison between the Levant of to-day and of +1834, I recount a journey to the town of Karakeui in the year of grace +1898, and describe the local hotel. Let not the reader in pursuit of +that “sound learning” which Kinglake kept at arm’s length rashly identify +Karakeui with the first town he finds on the map bearing that name. The +Turk has not a great variety of local designations. When possible he +adopts one from some other language, treating it with the scant courtesy +which long-winded, infidel polysyllables deserve (_e.g._ Edirné, Fílibé, +for Adrianople and Phílippopoli); but when forced to have recourse to his +own invention he calls most places Karakeui (or Blacktown), except those +which are dubbed Oldtown, Newtown, or Whitetown. + +It has been justly said that the East begins on the other side of Vienna, +but, out of deference to the susceptibilities of the Magyars, who +consider themselves in the van of civilisation, the Orient Express +affects to be extremely European during its transit through Hungary. It +bustles and shakes, and is very uncomfortable. In Servia it is more at +its ease, though it still makes a pretence of thinking that time is money +by only stopping ten minutes at every station. In Bulgaria it ceases to +imitate Western ways, and becomes frankly Oriental, reposing for half an +hour at spots where there are no passengers and no traffic. The part of +the journey which lies on Turkish territory follows a singularly tortuous +and corkscrew course, across a perfectly level plain which presents no +obvious engineering difficulties. The Porte confided the construction of +this line to an eminent Israelite at a remuneration of so much for every +kilometre built. The eminent Israelite was straightway possessed by the +spirit of his ancestors, and made a large fortune by laying the rails +along a road as lengthy and complicated as that selected by Moses when he +spent forty years in traversing a distance which anyone else can +accomplish in a few days. + +On arriving in Turkey we are at once seized by the representatives of the +Board of Health. After all, times have indeed changed since _Eothen_ was +written. Instead of being put in quarantine by Europe, Turkey now puts +Europe in quarantine. It is true that good Moslems still hold that men’s +souls leave their bodies when God calls them, and count it impious to +suppose that neglect or precaution can hasten or delay the Divine +summons. But though the Porte are not disposed to amend the sanitary +condition of Mecca, they enforce quarantine regulations all round +Constantinople with fanatical rigour. This is due partly to the fears of +the Palace, and partly, I think, to a sense of humour. It is an +excellent joke to apply a parody of European rules to Europeans in the +name of sanitary science: to keep a set of fussy business people waiting +a few days because they have come from a country which has not imposed +quarantine on another country where there has been a doubtful case of +cholera, or to detain a ship with a valuable cargo while embassies and +merchants scream that thousands of pounds are being lost daily. On the +present occasion we are told we must wait a day under inspection, to see +if we develop the symptoms of any terrible malady, and are accordingly +lodged in damp little wooden huts on a muddy plain, where we are +certainly likely to fall ill even if hale and hearty on arriving. +Turkish soldiers prevent us from crossing an imaginary line and +contaminating the surrounding desert. The quarantine doctor, however, +explains to me that he has a peculiar respect for my character, sanitary +and general, and would like to take a walk with me outside the limits of +the establishment. He has a remarkable pedigree. His father was a +Bohemian monk who found convent life too narrow for his taste, and +accordingly embraced Islam. Once within the true fold he made up for +lost time by marrying as many wives as his new liberty allowed, and this +is one of the results. He confides to me that his one ambition is to +wear decorations, and that in return for his civilities strangers of +distinction have procured for him the orders of their respective +countries. The Siamese Minister, who recently passed through, made him a +Commander of the Order of the White Elephant. Could I not obtain for him +the Order of the Garter? Doubtless I possess it myself. With blushing +mendacity I lead him to believe that I do, but explain that the +distinction is only given to Englishmen and not to foreigners. I see +that he does not believe me, and meditates revenge. Before we leave the +quarantine station we have to be disinfected. The doctor attaches a +garden hose to a reservoir filled with a fetid and corrosive fluid. The +victims are led up one by one by the military authorities as if to +execution, and the jet is turned upon them, causing their garments to +burst out into leprous spots. I see by the doctor’s eye that he means to +make me pay for my unfriendliness in the matter of the decoration, and +therefore, casting scruple to the winds, I assure him that if he will +only treat me gently he shall have the Fourth Class of the Garter. He is +at once all civility and consideration, and when I am led up in front of +his infernal machine, directs an odoriferous douche to the right and +left, leaving me unwetted in the middle. + +Truly the way into Turkey is beset with as many difficulties as the road +to paradise. After the quarantine comes the Custom House. The entry of +most things is absolutely prohibited, and those which do enter pay a high +duty. Books are treated with incredible severity. No work is allowed to +pass the frontier which hints that the Turks were ever defeated, or that +the Ottoman Government or the Mohammedan religion have any imperfections. +Turkish officials having found by experience that very little European +literature comes up to their high standard, simply confiscate as +“seditious” every publication which mentions Turkey or the Mohammedan +East. _Eothen_, even without the present highly seditious preface, is +placed on the index, as are also Shakespeare, Byron, Dante, the +_Encyclopædia Britannica_, Baedeker, and Murray. In practice, of course, +certain familiar _argumenta ad hominem_ modify this Draconian system, but +even the golden key sometimes fails to open the door. The officials +watch one another, and know that they are much more likely to obtain a +Turkish decoration by confiscating some infamous historian who is not +ashamed to say that the Turks were once driven out of Hungary than they +are to receive the Garter for letting his calumnies in. But there is an +end to all troubles, even on the Turkish frontier, and at last we are +allowed to proceed to Karakeui, where I ultimately alight at the hotel. + +Karakeui lies on a plateau, under a range of snowy mountains which +glitter with strange distinctness in the pure translucent air. A forest +of minarets bears testimony to the piety of the place. It is the sacred +month of Ramazan, and at sunset they will be festooned with lights and +blaze like columns of fire, while in the mosque below myriads of little +oil lamps will shed their soft glow on the bowing crowds, the plashing +fountains, and the names of saints and prophets blazoned on the walls in +green and red. In the streets is a motley throng of men and animals. +Strings of camels and pack-horses, dogs, sheep, and turkeys are mixed up +with the human crowd. Bulgarians and Servians quarrel in the bazaar, and +denounce one another to the Turks. They each claim exclusive rights over +the only Christian Church, and the Governor, to end the dispute, has shut +it up altogether. A few Greeks are occupied in making large fortunes, +and are ready to expatiate on the Hellenic Idea, and to explain how, from +a certain peculiar point of view, the late war may be regarded as a +victory for Greece. Albanians, armed with many weapons, and with +moustaches as long as their own rifles, swagger through the crowd which +respectfully makes way for them. + +The hotel is kept by an Armenian, who left his native village on account +of what are beautifully termed the “events” which occurred there. Having +been inspired by these occurrences with a wholesome respect for the +followers of the Prophet, he is a little apt to recoup himself at the +expense of his co-religionists; but the local Ottoman authorities, to +whose care I am duly recommended as being “one of those who wish well to +the Sublime Government,” have sternly informed him that I am not to be +fleeced. (I wonder if the Governor of New York would address a similar +warning to the proprietor of this hotel.) The establishment is +constructed in the form of a quadrangle. The central space is a +quagmire, wherein are embedded, and, so to speak, held as hostages for +payment, the vehicles in which the travellers have arrived. The ground +floor of the surrounding buildings is devoted to stabling. Outside the +first floor, and above the aforesaid quagmire, runs a gallery, from which +open a number of cells, bare and whitewashed, devoid of all furniture, +but, contrary to what might be expected, scrupulously clean. A marble +bath is not, as in New York, attached to each apartment, but in response +to a suitable shout a boy brings a brass jug and basin, pours water over +your hands and wipes them on an embroidered towel. There is no table and +no bed. When you are disposed to sleep, a pile of rugs is spread on the +floor. If you want to write, you naturally sit on your heels and hold +your paper in your hand—an attitude which, at least in the case of +Europeans, tends to restrain exuberance and keep literary composition +within due limits. At meal times a little table like a high stool is +brought in. The guests squat round it on their heels, and eat with their +fingers out of a large saucer set on a broad tin tray. Turkish dinners +consist of a quantity of dishes, generally at least seven or eight, and +sometimes as many as twenty; but each is only tasted and rapidly removed. +At first it looks somewhat mysterious when people apparently wrap up some +pieces of string in brown paper and eat the parcel with avidity. But the +string is cheese drawn out like very attenuated vermicelli, and the brown +paper sheets of very thin bread which serve as a tablecloth and napkin as +well as for food. During Ramazan no Moslem may eat, drink, or smoke +between sunrise and sunset. The latter phenomenon is announced by a +cannon, and some minutes before the gun fires a hungry crowd is gathered +round the table waiting for the blessed sound. Then follows half an hour +of rapid, silent nutrition, for Turks do not talk at table. Afterwards, +an hour or more of prayer; and then the earlier part of the night, until +at least twelve or one, is devoted to visiting or attending the puppet +show called Karagyöz. {xxxi} Half an hour before dawn people go round +the town beating drums, and the faithful hurriedly take a last meal +before the morning cannon announces the dawn. + +My neighbour in the room on the right is a spy appointed by the Imperial +Government to watch over my doings. He is a charming companion, and I +fancy has a very pretty talent for the composition of imaginative +literature. My only regret is that I have never seen the daily reports +which he draws up on my conduct. They are, I believe, replete with +incident, and are excellent specimens of a new and interesting variety of +fiction. The room on my left is occupied by the Christian Vice-Governor +of the Province, who was appointed some months ago under immense pressure +from the Powers, met by such resistance on the part of the Porte that one +might have supposed his nomination was a deadly blow to the Turkish +Empire. It is a wise plan of the Porte’s never to make the most trivial +concession without opposing a resistance, which is often successful, and +always seems to enhance the importance of the point in dispute. But the +concession once made, means are soon discovered to deprive it of all its +value, and the positions of victors and vanquished in the game prove to +be reversed. In the present case the Christian Vice-Governor found that +none of his co-religionists were disposed to let him lodgings; and the +local authorities, with a tender solicitude for his welfare, represented +to him that there was a strong feeling against him in the town, and that +he would be much more comfortable in the hotel; predicting (like +Kinglake’s prophet, Damoor) that if he went out into the streets, or +meddled in the administration, he would arouse that excitable sentiment +known as Mussulman religious feeling. Like the Jews of Safet, the +Christian Vice-Governor thought that the predictions of such practical +men were not to be disregarded, and takes his ease in his inn with as +good a grace as he can muster. Another interesting occupant of the hotel +is the Turkish inspector of Reforms. To rightly understand the duties of +this functionary it must be remembered that the Turkish Government is +divided into two parts, which have no connection with one another: +_firstly_, the real Government, which is hard to comprehend, but of which +one gets a dim idea by observation on the spot; and _secondly_, the show +Government, intended to impress Europe, and having as chief practical +result the enrichment of telegraphic agencies. Two common manifestations +of the show Government are circulars to the Powers, and commissions +despatched to the Provinces to rectify abuses. The present Commissioner +has come to inspect reforms, and from the official language used +respecting him it may be supposed that his mission is to tend and water +the new institutions which are springing up like a luxuriant vegetation +in a favourable climate, but at the same time to exercise a fatherly +control, prevent the country from rushing into downright republicanism, +and not permit the Christians to positively oppress their weaker +Mohammedan brethren. He is a very affable man, with a broad, smiling +face, and an amiable rotundity of person which causes his gorgeous +uniform to burst its buttons and gape at critical points. He pays me +long visits for the purpose of political discussion, being, as he calls +it, _tout à fait dans les idées libérales_, and in order that this +outpouring of radical views may not be interrupted, he brings a soldier +to mount guard over the door. No tortures could make me disclose the +Commissioner’s confidences. I will merely observe that the long fasts of +Ramazan are irksome to an enlightened mind, and that liberal theologians +hold that a mixture of brandy and champagne does not fall under the +Prophet’s ban, inasmuch as it cannot accurately be described as either +wine or spirits. + +Very different is the room at the end of the passage. No guard is needed +here. The door stands proudly open, and all the world may see that no +crumb of bread or drop of water enters from sunrise to sunset. In the +middle of a low sofa sits, cross-legged, a Hodja, clad in striped silk. +He is no ordinary country parson, but a noted preacher invited to tour in +the provinces during Ramazan, and hold what in other countries would be +called revival meetings. His thin nervous face shows that he is not a +real Turk. Probably he is of Arab extraction, and in any case he burns +with a Semitic indignation against those who “ascribe companions to God.” +Round him sit in a solemn circle the notables of the town,—stout, devout +men of the churchwarden order, who, to judge from the heavy sighs and +puffs which they occasionally emit, do not share the Hodja’s fierce joy +in trampling on the desires of the flesh. To-morrow he will preach in +the Great Mosque with a sword in his hand, in token that the building was +once a Christian Church and has been won from the infidel. I tell the +Commissioner for Reforms that I think this dangerous and injudicious. He +explains that the whole point of the ceremony lies in the fact that the +sword is sheathed, as a token that religious discord is at an end, and +that an era of mutual love and toleration has commenced. But when I +think of that nervous, fanatical face, the green garments, the ample +turban, the amulets and the sword, I cannot help suspecting that it is +better to be a Christian traveller than a Christian resident at Karakeui. + + + + +Preface to the First Edition + + + Addressed by the + Author to One of His Friends + +WHEN you first entertained the idea of travelling in the East you asked +me to send you an outline of the tour which I had made, in order that you +might the better be able to choose a route for yourself. In answer to +this request I gave you a large French map, on which the course of my +journeys had been carefully marked; but I did not conceal from myself +that this was rather a dry mode for a man to adopt when he wished to +impart the results of his experience to a dear and intimate friend. Now, +long before the period of your planning an Oriental tour I had intended +to write some account of my Eastern travels. I had, indeed, begun the +task, and had failed; I had begun it a second time, and failing again, +had abandoned my attempt with a sensation of utter distaste. I was +unable to speak out, and chiefly, I think, for this reason, that I knew +not to whom I was speaking. It might be you, or perhaps our Lady of +Bitterness, {xxxv} who would read my story, or it might be some member of +the Royal Statistical Society, and how on earth was I to write in a way +that would do for all three? + +Well, your request for a sketch of my tour suggested to me the idea of +complying with your wish by a revival of my twice-abandoned attempt. I +tried; and the pleasure and confidence which I felt in speaking to you +soon made my task so easy, and even amusing, that after a while (though +not in time for your tour) I completed the scrawl from which this book +was originally printed. + +The very feeling, however, which enabled me to write thus freely, +prevented me from robing my thoughts in that grave and decorous style +which I should have maintained if I had professed to lecture the public. +Whilst I feigned to myself that you, and you only, were listening, I +could not by any possibility speak very solemnly. Heaven forbid that I +should talk to my own genial friend as though he were a great and +enlightened community, or any other respectable aggregate! + +Yet I well understood that the mere fact of my professing to speak to you +rather than to the public generally could not perfectly excuse me for +printing a narrative too roughly worded, and accordingly, in revising the +proof-sheets, I have struck out those phrases which seemed to be less fit +for a published volume than for intimate conversation. It is hardly to +be expected, however, that correction of this kind should be perfectly +complete, or that the almost boisterous tone in which many parts of the +book were originally written should be thoroughly subdued. I venture, +therefore, to ask, that the familiarity of language still possibly +apparent in the work may be laid to the account of our delightful +intimacy, rather than to any presumptuous motive. I feel, as you know, +much too timidly, too distantly, and too respectfully toward the public +to be capable of seeking to put myself on terms of easy fellowship with +strange and casual readers. + +It is right to forewarn people (and I have tried to do this as well as I +can, by my studiously unpromising title-page) {xxxvii} that the book is +quite superficial in its character. I have endeavoured to discard from +it all valuable matter derived from the works of others, and it appears +to me that my efforts in this direction have been attended with great +success. I believe I may truly acknowledge that from all details of +geographical discovery, or antiquarian research—from all display of +“sound learning and religious knowledge”—from all historical and +scientific illustrations—from all useful statistics—from all political +disquisitions—and from all good moral reflections, the volume is +thoroughly free. + +My excuse for the book is its truth. You and I know a man fond of +hazarding elaborate jokes, who, whenever a story of his happens not to go +down as wit, will evade the awkwardness of the failure by bravely +maintaining that all he has said is pure fact. I can honestly take this +decent though humble mode of escape. My narrative is not merely +righteously exact in matters of fact (where fact is in question), but it +is true in this larger sense—it conveys, not those impressions which +_ought to have been_ produced upon any “well-constituted mind,” but those +which were really and truly received at the time of his rambles by a +headstrong and not very amiable traveller, whose prejudices in favour of +other people’s notions were then exceedingly slight. As I have felt, so +I have written; and the result is, that there will often be found in my +narrative a jarring discord between the associations properly belonging +to interesting sites, and the tone in which I speak of them. This +seemingly perverse mode of treating the subject is forced upon me by my +plan of adhering to sentimental truth, and really does not result from +any impertinent wish to tease or trifle with readers. I ought, for +instance, to have felt as strongly in Judæa as in Galilee, but it was not +so in fact. The religious sentiment (born in solitude) which had heated +my brain in the sanctuary of Nazareth was rudely chilled at the foot of +Zion by disenchanting scenes, and this change is accordingly disclosed by +the perfectly worldly tone in which I speak of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. + +My notion of dwelling precisely upon those matters which happened to +interest me, and upon none other, would of course be intolerable in a +regular book of travels. If I had been passing through countries not +previously explored, it would have been sadly perverse to withhold +careful descriptions of admirable objects merely because my own feelings +of interest in them may have happened to flag; but where the countries +which one visits have been thoroughly and ably described, and even +artistically illustrated by others, one is fully at liberty to say as +little (though not quite so much) as one chooses. Now a traveller is a +creature not always looking at sights; he remembers (how often!) the +happy land of his birth; he has, too, his moments of humble enthusiasm +about fire and food, about shade and drink; and if he gives to these +feelings anything like the prominence which really belonged to them at +the time of his travelling, he will not seem a very good teacher. Once +having determined to write the sheer truth concerning the things which +chiefly have interested him, he must, and he will, sing a sadly long +strain about self; he will talk for whole pages together about his +bivouac fire, and ruin the ruins of Baalbec with eight or ten cold lines. + +But it seems to me that this egotism of a traveller, however incessant, +however shameless and obtrusive, must still convey some true ideas of the +country through which he has passed. His very selfishness, his habit of +referring the whole external world to his own sensations, compels him, as +it were, in his writings to observe the laws of perspective;—he tells you +of objects, not as he knows them to be, but as they seemed to him. The +people and the things that most concern him personally, however mean and +insignificant, take large proportions in his picture, because they stand +so near to him. He shows you his dragoman, and the gaunt features of his +Arabs—his tent, his kneeling camels, his baggage strewed upon the sand; +but the proper wonders of the land—the cities, the mighty ruins and +monuments of bygone ages, he throws back faintly in the distance. It is +thus that he felt, and thus he strives to repeat the scenes of the Elder +World. You may listen to him for ever without learning much in the way +of statistics; but, perhaps, if you bear with him long enough, you may +find yourself slowly and faintly impressed with the realities of Eastern +travel. + +My scheme of refusing to dwell upon matters which failed to interest my +own feelings has been departed from in one instance—namely, in my detail +of the late Lady Hester Stanhope’s conversation on supernatural topics. +The truth is, that I have been much questioned on this subject, and I +thought that my best plan would be to write down at once all that I could +ever have to say concerning the personage whose career has excited so +much curiosity amongst Englishwomen. The result is, that my account of +the lady goes to a length which is not justified either by the importance +of the subject, or by the extent to which it interested the narrator. + +You will see that I constantly speak of “my People,” “my Party,” “my +Arabs,” and so on, using terms which might possibly seem to imply that I +moved about with a pompous retinue. This of course was not the case. I +travelled with the simplicity proper to my station, as one of the +industrious class, who was not flying from his country because of ennui, +but was strengthening his will, and tempering the metal of his nature, +for that life of toil and conflict in which he is now engaged. But an +Englishman journeying in the East must necessarily have with him dragomen +capable of interpreting the Oriental languages; the absence of wheeled +carriages obliges him to use several beasts of burthen for his baggage, +as well as for himself and his attendants; the owners of the horses, or +camels, with _their_ slaves or servants, fall in as part of his train; +and altogether, the cavalcade becomes rather numerous, without, however, +occasioning any proportionate increase of expense. When a traveller +speaks of all these followers in mass, he calls them his “people,” or his +“troop,” or his “party,” without intending to make you believe that he is +therefore a Sovereign Prince. + +You will see that I sometimes follow the custom of the Scots in +describing my fellow-countrymen by the names of their paternal homes. + +Of course all these explanations are meant for casual readers. To you, +without one syllable of excuse or deprecation, and in all the confidence +of a friendship that never yet was clouded, I give the long-promised +volume, and add but this one “Goodbye!” for I dare not stand greeting you +here. + + + + +CHAPTER I +OVER THE BORDER + + +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. + +The two frontier towns are less than a cannon-shot distant, and yet their +people hold no communion. {1} 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. + +When all was in order for our departure we walked down to the precincts +of the quarantine establishment, and here awaited us a “compromised” {2} +officer of the Austrian Government, who lives in a state of perpetual +excommunication. The boats, with their “compromised” rowers, were also +in readiness. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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, wolflike dogs lying torpid under the sun, with limbs +out-stretched 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. + +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 _narghile_ {6} hung lightly circling +round him. + +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 _tchibouque_ 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 lip +{7} 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. + +Asiatic contentment! Yet scarcely, perhaps, one hour before I had been +wanting my bill, and ringing for waiters, in a shrill and busy hotel. + +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:— + +_Pasha_.—The Englishman is welcome; most blessed among hours is this, the +hour of his coming. + +_Dragoman_ (to the traveller).—The Pasha pays you his compliments. + +_Traveller_.—Give him my best compliments in return, and say I’m +delighted to have the honour of seeing him. + +_Dragoman_ (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. + +_Traveller_ (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 _always_ 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 _do_ say anything about me, you’d tell the simple +truth. + +_Dragoman_ [is silent]. + +_Pasha_.—What says the friendly Lord of London? is there aught that I can +grant him within the Pashalik of Karagholookoldour? + +_Dragoman_ (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. + +_Pasha_.—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! + +_Dragoman_ (to the traveller).—The Pasha congratulates your Excellency. + +_Traveller_.—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. + +_Dragoman_ (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. + +_Pasha_.—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! + +_Traveller_ (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? + +_Dragoman_.—No, your Excellency; but he says the English talk by wheels, +and by steam. + +_Traveller_.—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. + +_Dragoman_ (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. + +_Pasha_.—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! + +_Traveller_ (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. + +_Pasha_ (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! + +_Dragoman_.—The Pasha compliments the cutlery of England, and also the +East India Company. + +_Traveller_.—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. + +_Pasha_ (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! + +_Dragoman_.—The Pasha compliments the English. + +_Traveller_ (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. + +_Pasha_ (after hearing the dragoman, and standing up on his divan). +{13}—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! + +_Dragoman_.—The Pasha wishes your Excellency a pleasant journey. + +So ends the visit. + + + + +CHAPTER II +TURKISH TRAVELLING + + +IN two or three hours our party was ready; the servants, the Tatar, the +mounted Suridgees, {14a} and the baggage-horses, altogether made up a +strong cavalcade. The accomplished Mysseri, {14b} 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. {14c} 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 _once_ (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. + +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 _tchibouque_. 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. + +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.” + +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. + +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 _followed_ 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. + +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 stilling than very silence. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +torchlight; 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. + +The actual movement from one place to another, in Europeanised countries, +is a process so temporary—it occupies, I mean, so small a proportion of +the traveller’s entire time—that his mind remains unsettled, so long as +the wheels are going; he may be alive enough to external objects of +interest, and to the crowding ideas which are often invited by the +excitement of a changing scene, but he is still conscious of being in a +provisional state, and his mind is constantly recurring to the expected +end of his journey; his ordinary ways of thought have been interrupted, +and before any new mental habits can be formed he is quietly fixed in his +hotel. It will be otherwise with you when you journey in the East. Day +after day, perhaps week after week and month after month, your foot is in +the stirrup. To taste the cold breath of the earliest morn, and to lead, +or follow, your bright cavalcade till sunset through forests and mountain +passes, through valleys and desolate plains, all this becomes your MODE +OF LIFE, and you ride, eat, drink, and curse the mosquitoes as +systematically as your friends in England eat, drink, and sleep. If you +are wise, you will not look upon the long period of time thus occupied in +actual movement as the mere gulf dividing you from the end of your +journey, but rather as one of those rare and plastic seasons of your life +from which, perhaps, in after times you may love to date the moulding of +your character—that is, your very identity. Once feel this, and you will +soon grow happy and contented in your saddle-home. As for me and my +comrade, however, in this part of our journey we often forgot Stamboul, +forgot all the Ottoman Empire, and only remembered old times. We went +back, loitering on the banks of Thames—not grim old Thames of “after +life,” that washes the Parliament Houses, and drowns despairing girl—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 +Larry Miller, and Okes; we rode along loudly laughing, and talked to the +grave Servian forest as though it were the “Brocas clump.” + +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. + +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. + +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 spendthrift, or the madman who had dared to pull +down “the old hall.” + +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. {23} 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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. Andrianople 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER III +CONSTANTINOPLE + + +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 +{31} 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 _serai_—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! + +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, _when HE is there_, you must still go prying +amongst the shades of this dead empire, at least you will tread the path +with seemly reverence and awe. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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 rosebuds +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 +_yashmak_, {34} 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. + +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. + +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,” {35} 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: {36} 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. + +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 before the counter, and himself upon it; then laying fire +to his _tchibouque_ 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 + + “Striving to attain + By shadowing out the unattainable.” + +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 _his_ 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.” + +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! + + + + +CHAPTER IV {41} +THE TROAD + + +METHLEY recovered almost suddenly, and we determined to go through the +Troad together. + +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 + + “Of a Yorkshireman hippodamoio,” + +and this enabled him to apply his knowledge with much more tact than is +usually shown by people so learned as he. + +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. + +I pored over the _Odyssey_ 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 _Iliad_. 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 _Iliad_ 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 _Iliad_ 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. + +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; _he_ does not stop in the ninth year of the siege +to admire this or that group of words; _he_ 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 +_Iliad_, 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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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! + +It was coldly and thanklessly, and with vacant, unsatisfied eyes that I +watched the slow coming and 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. + +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.” + +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: + + “ . . . ποταμους δ᾽ ετρεψε νεεσθαι + Καρ᾽ ροον ήπερ προσθεν ιεν καλλιρροον ὑδωρ,” + +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. + +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 coastline, 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! + +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, + + “Μεσσηγυς Τενεδοιο και Ιμβρου παιπαλοεσσης,” + +but Methley reminded me of a passage in the _Iliad_ 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 _meant_ 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! + +So Homer had appointed it, and so it was; the map was correct enough, but +could not, like Homer, convey _the whole truth_. Thus vain and false are +the mere human surmises and doubts which clash with Homeric writ! + +Nobody whose mind had not been reduced to the most deplorable logical +condition could look upon this beautiful congruity betwixt the _Iliad_ +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 _passed along here_, that this vision +of Samothrace over-towering the nearer island was common to him and to +me. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER V +INFIDEL SMYRNA + + +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; {50} 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 _gobe-mouche _expression of +countenance with which he is swallowing an article in the _National_; 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 had 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 {51} had imported himself and +his oddities as an accession to the other and inferior wonders of Smyrna. + +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. + +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 _dramatis +personæ_ 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 ante-room there would be not +only the sellers of pipes and slippers and shawls, and suchlike 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 _entrée_, and +fraught with the mysterious tidings on which the realisation of the whole +dream might depend, was the mysterious match-maker, {54} 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. + +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 +_ugliness_ of a cheat, is more effectively convincing than any mere +proofs could be. + +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! + +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. + +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, etc.), 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 any dissent on their part. Question a Greek on +the subject, and he will tell you at once that the people are +_traditori_, 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. + +“E dunque no siete traditore?” + +“Possibile, signor, ma almeno Io no sono Greco.” + +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. + +“Now, _is_ 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 not being an alien in blood to his consul and appointed +protector. + +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 headgear 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. + +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. + +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, _kept stupid_, 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 +_at the doors_ of their houses, the women _at the windows_, 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 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. + +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 _upon the public +highways_. I rebel as stoutly as I can against this horrible _corvée_. +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! + +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 wearer; {61} 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 longwise through the street, you see the one +glorious shape transcendent 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! + + + + +CHAPTER VI +GREEK MARINERS + + +I sailed from Smyrna in the _Amphitrite_, 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. + +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 business-like 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. + +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. + +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 _pilafs_ 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 lighthearted comrades might not be puffed up with the seeming +good fortune of the moment. + +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, {66} 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. + +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.” + +Such are now the mariners of the Ægean: free, equal amongst themselves, +navigating the seas of their forefathers with the same heroic, and yet +childlike, 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. + +With one exception, our crew were “a solemn company,” {67} 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 manœuvres 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 be 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. + +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 knowledge 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. + +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. + +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. + +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, _if Greeks will be brave_! +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. + +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 Larnaca, where she was to remain for some days. + + + + +CHAPTER VII +CYPRUS + + +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 a 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. + +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 Socrāhtie, Aspāhsie—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. + +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. + +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. + +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 councils from the +lips of Pallas Athēnie—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 Aphrodētie—Aphrodētie, 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. + +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 _me_, +for why otherwise did I toil on with sorry horses to “where, for HER, the +hundred altars glowed with Arabian incense, and breathed with the +fragrance of garlands ever fresh”? {77} + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 other,” 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. + +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. + +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.” + +I went to Larnaca, the chief city of the isle, and over the water at last +to Beyrout. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII +LADY HESTER STANHOPE {82} + + +BEYROUT on its land side is hemmed in by the Druses, who occupy all the +neighbouring highlands. + +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 +press-gang 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. + +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. + +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 castaway 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. + +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 _more than a prophet_. + +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. + +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:— + + “SIR,—I hope I shall be disappointed in seeing you on Wednesday, for + the late rains have rendered the river Damoor if not dangerous, at + least very unpleasant to pass for a person who has been lately + indisposed, for if the animal swims, you would be immerged in the + waters. The weather will probably change after the 21st of the moon, + and after a couple of days the roads and the river will be passable, + therefore I shall expect you either Saturday or Monday. + + “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.—Believe me, sir, yours sincerely, + + HESTER LUCY STANHOPE.” + +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. + +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. + +I left Saïde (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. + +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 _tchibouques_, 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 _yet_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +Soon after the ending of the dinner the doctor arrived with miladi’s +compliments, and an intimation that she would be 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 a +European, but I can hardly fancy now that with her wilful nature she +would have brooked such a compromise as this. + +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 {90a} in the House of Lords, according to +Copley’s picture. Her face was of the most astonishing whiteness; {90b} +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 “bodice” and +“collar” and “habit-shirt” and sweet “chemisette.” + +Such was the outward seeming of the personage that sat before me, and +indeed she was almost bound by the fame of her actual achievements, as +well as by her sublime pretensions, to look a little differently from the +rest of womankind. There had been something of grandeur in her career. +After the death of Lady Chatham, which happened in 1803, she lived under +the roof of her uncle, the second Pitt, and when he resumed the +Government in 1804, she became the dispenser of much patronage, and sole +secretary of state for the department of Treasury banquets. Not having +seen the lady until late in her life, when she was fired with spiritual +ambition, I can hardly fancy that she could have performed her political +duties in the saloons of the Minister with much of feminine sweetness and +patience. I am told, however, that she managed matters very well indeed: +perhaps it was better for the lofty-minded leader of the House to have +his reception-rooms guarded by this stately creature, than by a merely +clever and managing woman; it was fitting that the wholesome awe with +which he filled the minds of the country gentlemen should be aggravated +by the presence of his majestic niece. But the end was approaching. The +sun of Austerlitz showed the Czar madly sliding his splendid army like a +weaver’s shuttle from his right hand to his left, under the very eyes—the +deep, grey, watchful eyes of Napoleon; before night came, the coalition +was a vain thing—meet for history, and the heart of its great author was +crushed with grief when the terrible tidings came to his ears. In the +bitterness of his despair he cried out to his niece, and bid her “ROLL UP +THE MAP OF EUROPE”; there was a little more of suffering, and at last, +with his swollen tongue (so they say) still muttering something for +England, he died by the noblest of all sorrows. + +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. {92} 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! + +A couple of black slave girls came at a signal, and supplied their +mistress as well as myself with lighted _tchibouques_ and coffee. + +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. + +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 were 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 +_élève_ in occult science. + +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. + +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 +look-out” 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. + +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 _yashmak_, 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 _yashmak_ that veiled the terrors +of her countenance, waved her arm slowly and disdainfully, and cried out +with a loud voice “Avaunt!” {96} 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 _yashmak_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. {99} 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 {102} (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. + +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 +dullness 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 Romanic, 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. + +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. {103} + +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. + +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. + +During the hours that this sort of conversation, or rather discourse, was +going on our _tchibouques_ 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. + +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. + +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 {105} (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 aroused in him a spirit of inquiry that might end fatally, +perhaps for himself, perhaps for the “religion of the place.” + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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 _do_ 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. + +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 “_She had said it_.” + +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. + +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 _entourage_ and the +habit of fasting from books and newspapers were quite enough to make her +a facile recipient of any marvellous story. + +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 régime 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 _really_ 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; _sometimes_, 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. + + + + +CHAPTER IX +THE SANCTUARY + + +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! + +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. {111} 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER X +THE MONKS OF PALESTINE + + +WHENEVER you come back to me from Palestine we will find some “golden +wine” {115} 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. + +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 _danseuse_ can clog her bounding step. + +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 _lag remove_ +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 _always_ 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 +invent 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. + +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. + +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. + +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, _if he could_; 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. + +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. + +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. + +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.” + + + + +CHAPTER XI +GALILEE + + +NEITHER old “sacred” {123} 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. + +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. + +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 + + “Soothe him with her finer fancies, + Touch him with her lighter thought.” {124} + +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. + +“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. + +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! + +Tiberias is one of the four holy cities, {126} according to the Talmud, +and it is from this place, or the immediate neighbourhood of it, that the +Messiah is to arise. + +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 _puce_ from hungry France, the wary, watchful _pulce_ with +his poisoned stiletto; the vengeful _pulga_ of Castile with his ugly +knife; the German _floh_ 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 _pain à discretion_ 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XII +MY FIRST BIVOUAC + + +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. + +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 come 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 _not_ being a vagrant, +for _not_ being a robber, for _not_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _tchäi_. 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. + +And after this there came the _tchibouque_—great comforter of those that +are hungry and wayworn. And it has this virtue—it helps to destroy the +_gêne_ and awkwardness which one sometimes feels at being in company with +one’s dependants; 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. + +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 vain-glory of my promotion from out of mere rooms and houses +into the midst of that grand, dark, infinite palace. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII +THE DEAD SEA + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +We all marched off without hindrance. + +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. + +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 +goat-herd for having such a very plain wife. I spend an enormous +quantity of pity upon that particular form of human misery. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Night came upon us whilst labouring across gullies and sandy mounds, and +we were obliged to come to a standstill 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 sandhill, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV +THE BLACK TENTS + + +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. + +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 semi-circular 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. + +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 everybody. The +women soon brought me a wooden bowl full of buttermilk, and welcome +indeed came the gift to my hungry and thirsty soul. + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XV +PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN + + +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. + +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. {149} + +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. + +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. + +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 _teskeri_, 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 _baksheish_, 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 _teskeri_. Indeed the sum +which Dthemetri promised them was extremely small, and not the slightest +attempt was made to extort any further reward. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +When all was ready for departure I wrote the _teskeri_ in French and +delivered it to Sheik Ali Djoubran, together with the promised +_baksheish_; he was exceedingly grateful, and I parted in a very friendly +way from this ragged tribe. + +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. + +Some hours after sunset I reached the convent of Santo Saba, and there +remained for the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI +TERRA SANTA + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The great bulk of the pilgrims make their way by sea to the port of +Jaffa. A number of families 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. + +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 _within_ the temple. + +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 _transacting_ the great business of salvation. + +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.” + +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 _upstairs_—on the _first floor_. 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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _en masse_ 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.” + +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!” + +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.” + +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, {166} 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. + +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 _en chemise_, and the +saturated linen is carefully wrapped up and preserved as a burial-dress +that shall enure for salvation in the realms of death. + +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 _itself again_—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 around him. + +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. + +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 _the performance of the miracles was not doubted by any +of the Jews in the place_. 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 +_were in fact performed_, is certainly curious, and perhaps not quite +immaterial. {169} + +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 +a 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. + +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. + +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 grottoes 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 grottoes appropriated to this +purpose. + +You know what a sad and sombre decorum it is that outwardly reigns +through the lands oppressed by Moslem sway. 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! + +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 playmates, 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 _shall_ be +their ’complice, _shall_ share their dangers, _shall_ 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. + +“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. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII +THE DESERT + + +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 _charter_ your +camels (“the ships of the Desert”), and lay in your stores for the +voyage. + +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. + +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,” etc. etc., after the manner of the parliamentary +people, but to my surprise he very plainly answered that he certainly +_had_ 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. + +You will find, I think, that one of the greatest drawbacks 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 goatskins 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. + +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. + +You cannot, of course, put an English or any other riding saddle upon the +back of a 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. + +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 manœuvre 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. + +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. + +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, {181} more painful to the ear than the most excruciating fine +music that I ever endured. + +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 +_yashmak_ 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 women 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 _soirée_ that my store of Latakia was +exhausted. + +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 +_éclat_. 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 _youart_, a kind of +whey, which is the principal delicacy to be found amongst the wandering +tribes. + +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 Mayfair, and shut yourself up +in it with forty or fifty shrill cousins for a couple of weeks in July. + +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. + +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. + +“Then we die!” + +“God’s will be done!” + +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 _their_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 taskmaster, 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. + +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. + +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 shortlived 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 teacups; 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.” + +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. + +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. + +When the cold, sullen morning dawned, and my people began to load the +camels, I always felt loath 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 daresay +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. + +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?” + +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 a while 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 goatskins. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII +CAIRO AND THE PLAGUE {202} + + +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. + +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. + +“Arrêtez-vous, monsieur, je vous en prie—arrêtez-vous; il ne faut pas +entrer dans la ville; la peste y règne partout.” + +“Oui, je sais, {203a} mais—” + +“Mais monsieur, je dis la peste—la peste; c’est de LA PESTE qu’il est +question.” + +“Oui, je sais, mais—” + +“Mais monsieur, je dis encore LA PESTE—LA PESTE. Je vous conjure de ne +pas entrer dans la ville—vous seriaz dans une ville empestée.” + +“Oui, je sais, mais—” + +“Mais monsieur, je dois donc vous avertir tout bonnement que si vous +entrez dans la ville, vous serez—enfin vous serez COMPROMIS!” {203b} + +“Oui, je sais, mais—” + +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. + +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, {204} 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. + +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, {205} 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 _effendi_, 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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. {207} + +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 _swings hung for the amusement of children_—a ghastly +holiday; but the Mahometans take a pride, and a just pride, in following +their ancient customs undisturbed by the shadow of death. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _does_ 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. + +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 _trottoir_, +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,” etc. etc.—“O old man, O virgin, get out of the +way on the right—O virgin, O old man, get out of 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. + +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), {217} 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. + +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. + +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 _yoke_ of +men, for the poor fellows were working together in bonds; I say a +_kennel_ of lions, for the beasts were not enclosed in cages, but simply +chained up like dogs. + +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, {218} 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.” + +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 _mangale_ +(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 _not_ “softened his manners” and _had_ “permitted them to be +fierce”—tremendously fierce; he had the most complete command over his +temper—I mean over his _good_ temper, which he scarcely ever allowed to +appear: you could not put him out of humour—that is, out of the +_ill_-humour which he thought to be fitting for a headmaster. 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. + +“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.” _There_ 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. + +One or two other boys were tried, but none could “see truth”; they all +made sadly “bad shots.” + +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 _contingent on success_. 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. + +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. + +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 _silenced_. 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.” + +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. + +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. + +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 a 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 “_met_ the medico,” for +so he phrased it, “coming out from his house—in a bier!” + +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. + +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 _en route_ 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. + +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. + +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 +_favour_ 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 _if it were_, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +At length the great difficulty {230} 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!” + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX +THE PYRAMIDS + + +I went to see and to explore the Pyramids. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! {233} The Pyramids are +quite of this world. + +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 +overheard 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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XX +THE SPHINX + + +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. + +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 {236} +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI +CAIRO TO SUEZ + + +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 jogtrot 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. + +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 Mysseri (who was still weak from the effects of his late +illness) come quietly on with the camels and baggage. + +The trot of the dromedary is a pace terribly disagreeeble 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 anyone 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +_myself, and no other, had charge of my life_. I liked the office well. +I had the greatest 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. + +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 +a 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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 coastline 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 _heard_ of +the strength of dromedaries. I pushed forward as eagerly as though I had +spoiled the Egyptians and were flying from Pharaoh’s police. + +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 a 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + + + + +CHAPTER XXII +SUEZ + + +I was hospitably entertained by the British consul, or agent, as he is +there styled. He is the _employé_ 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. + +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, {246} 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, _and on +their left_.” 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 overhead 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _carried_ 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. + +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. + +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 _he should execute the threat_. + +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. + +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 +persevered 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. + +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.” + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII +SUEZ TO GAZA + + +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. + +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 _soirée_ with me by +candlelight! I should have been glad to know, if I could, that her heart +was not utterly broken. + +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. + +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 _après vous_. 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. + +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 _tarfa_. 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. + +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. + +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 _land_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 snuff-box 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 shortlived is human happiness in +this frail world! + +The Governor fancied that he should incur less risk if I 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV +GAZA TO NABLUS + + +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 somebody. 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 _them_, 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. + +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 +_must_ have, and these are his ways and means. + +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. + +Nablus is the very furnace of Mahometan bigotry; {263} 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 a +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.” + +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”), {264} 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 by, 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 _tchibouque_ 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 _tchibouque_ to the rest of his +trophies. + +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 _them_. 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. + +The day of my arrival at Nablus was a fête—the new-year’s day of the +Mussulmans. {265a} {265b} 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV {267} +MARIAM + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _his_ 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. + +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 someone 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. + +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. + +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 +accidently 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 a 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,” {272} or the beautiful morality of “the +Table”; {272} 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. + +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. + +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!” + +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. + +Thus matters stood when the Christians of the place came and sought to +obtain my assistance. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +So much for the religious part of the question. Well, then, in a mere +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.” + +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 Mariam if she fell into the hands of +the Christians. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI +THE PROPHET DAMOOR + + +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. + +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. + +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. {280} +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII +DAMASCUS + + +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. + +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. + +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. {283} 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. + +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. + +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.” + +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 contr_ai_riness, 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 _our_ 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. + +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. + +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 _narghile_; 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _comme il +faut_, 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 _narghile_, and a +small collection of wives and children in the inner apartments—all these, +the utmost enjoyments of the grandee, are yet such as to be appreciable +by the humblest Mussulman in the empire. + +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 +_un_-“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. + +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. {292} 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. + +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.” + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII +PASS OF THE LEBANON + + +“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. + +Come! Baalbec is over; I got “rather well” out of that. + +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 _me_, by Jove! +(for that was my inner care), if I lingered too long upon the difficult +pass that leads from thought to action. + +I descended and went towards the west. + +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—a 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. + +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) {296} of hearing the phrases of Oriental courtesy in a +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. + +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, _the mountaineers were to be depended upon_; he +told me that in ten or fifteen days the chiefs could bring together some +fifty thousand fighting men. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX +SURPRISE OF SATALIEH {298a} + + +WHILST I was remaining upon the coast of Syria I had the good fortune to +become acquainted with the Russian Sataliefsky, {298b} 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. + +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. + +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. + +The town of Satalieh {299} 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. + +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 +a 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. + +We determined to land. + +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. + +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, _they ceased to stand very still_; none of them ran away, or +even shrank back, but they looked as if _the pack were being shuffled_, +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 semi-circular 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 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. + +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. 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. + +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 _non ardisco_, +and fairly confessed that he dared not interpret fierce words to his +master. + +Now then, at a time when everything seemed to depend upon the effect of +speech, we were left without an interpreter. + +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 _us_!—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. + +When the discussion had arrived at this happy conclusion, _tchibouques_ +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. + +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. + + + + +APPENDIX +THE HOME OF LADY HESTER STANHOPE + + +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. + +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 garden, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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, + + “After life’s fitful fevers he sleeps well.” + +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. {310} + +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. + +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 _she_ 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.—_From_ “THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS,” _by Eliot +Warburton_. + + * * * * * + + THE END + + * * * * * + + PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBBS LIMITED, EDINBURGH + + + + +A PROSPECTUS +OF +THE LITTLE LIBRARY + + + I protest that I am devoted to no school in particular: I condemn no + school, I reject none. I am for the school of all the great men. I + care for Wordsworth as well as for Byron, for Burns as well as + Shelley, for Boccaccio as well as for Milton, for Bunyan as well as + Rabelais, for Cervantes as much as for Dante, for Corneille as well + as for Shakespeare, for Goldsmith as well as Goethe. I stand by the + sentence of the world. + + FREDERIC HARRISON + + * * * * * + + METHUEN & CO. + 36 Essex Street, W.C. + + + + +THE LITTLE LIBRARY + + +Pott 8vo. Each Vol., cloth, 1s. 6d. net; leather, 2s. 6d. net + +MESSRS METHUEN intend to produce a series of small books under the above +title, containing some of the famous works in English and other +literatures, in the domains of fiction, poetry, and belles lettres. The +series will also contain several volumes of selections in prose and +verse. + +The books will be edited with the most sympathetic and scholarly care. +Each one, where it seems desirable, will contain an introduction which +will give (1) a short biography of the author, (2) a critical estimate of +the book. Where they are necessary, short notes will be added at the +foot of the page. + +The Little Library will ultimately contain complete sets of the novels of +W. M. Thackeray, Jane Austen, the sisters Brontë, Mrs Gaskell, and +others. It will also contain the best work of many other novelists whose +names are household words. + +Each volume will have a photogravure frontispiece, and the books will be +produced with great care in a style uniform with that of The Library of +Devotion. + +On the opposite page is printed a first list of books, and many others +are in preparation. + +The First Volumes will be— + +Vanity Fair. By W. M. THACKERAY. Edited by Stephen Gwynn. _Three +Volumes_. + +Pendennis. By W. M. THACKERAY. Edited by Stephen Gwynn. _Three +Volumes_. + +Pride and Prejudice. By JANE AUSTEN. Edited by E. V. Lucas. _Two +Volumes_. + +Cranford. By MRS GASKELL. Edited by V. Lucas. + +John Halifax, Gentleman. By MRS CRAIK. Edited by Annie Matheson. _Two +Volumes_. + +Lavengro. By GEORGE BORROW. Edited by H. Groome. _Two Volumes_. + +Eothen. By A. W. KINGLAKE. Edited by D. + +A Little Book of English Lyrics. + +A Little Book of Scottish Verse. Edited by T. F. Henderson. + +The Inferno of Dante. Translated by H. F. CARY. With an Introduction +and Notes by Paget Toynbee. + +The Early Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Edited by J. Churton Collins, +M.A. + +The Princess, and other Poems. By ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON. Edited by +Elizabeth Wordsworth. + +Maud, and other Poems. By ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON. Edited by Elizabeth +Wordsworth. + +In Memoriam. By ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON. Edited by H. C. Beeching. {315} + + + + +NOTES. + + +{xiv} The title “Shadow of God,” or “Divine Shadow,” is really used +comparatively rarely, and only in the Court language. Judged by a strict +standard it is of doubtful orthodoxy. + +{xvi} It is hardly correct to call them the _Unitarians_ of the Moslem +world, as Kinglake does, for Unitarianism, that is Antitrinitarianism, is +the essence of all Mohammedanism. + +{xvii} Aden was occupied in 1839. _Eothen_ must have been written +between the tour in 1834 and its publication in 1844, but there seems to +be no evidence as to the date of composition, and perhaps it was not all +written at once. + +{xxxi} This is + + “The moving row + Of magic shadow shapes which come and go,” + +mentioned in Fitzgerald’s version of _Omar Khayyam_. + +{xxxv} [“Our Lady of Bitterness,” said to have been a nickname of Mrs. +Barry Cornwall, noted for her sharp tongue.] + +{xxxvii} “Eōthen” is, I hope, almost the only hard word to be found in +the book; it is written in Greek _ἠωθεν_—(Atticè, with an aspirated _ε_ +instead of the _ἠ_)—and signifies, “from the early dawn”—“from the +East.”—_Donn. Lex_, 4th edition. + +{1} [This is all changed now. There is constant communication beween +the Servian and Hungarian banks, so much so that Belgrade presents few +national characteristics, and looks quite as much a Hungarian as a +Servian town.] + +{2} 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. + +{6} 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. + +{7} [The wording “amber up to mine,” found in many editions, is +evidently a misreading of Kinglake’s handwriting. He must have made his +l’s rather small and not have dotted his i’s.] + +{13} 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. + +{14a} [A man in charge of post-horses. At the present day most business +connected with horse-transport in European Turkey is managed by Vlachs, a +people speaking a language closely akin to Roumanian, and scattered over +Macedonia, particularly near the Thessalian frontier.] + +{14b} [This accomplished gentleman subsequently became the proprietor of +an hotel, which was long the principal hostelry of Constantinople. The +name still exists, but the building has been burnt down.] + +{14c} The continual marriages of these people with the chosen beauties +of Georgia and Circassia have overpowered the original ugliness of their +Tatar ancestors. + +{23} [The remains of this pyramid, or rather the chapel which is erected +over them, can be seen close to the railway immediately after leaving +Nish for Pirot and the Bulgarian frontier. Only two or three skulls are +now left embedded in masonry. According to the story now told in Servia, +Singelich, a Servian leader during the Karageorge Insurrection, when hard +pressed by the Turks, fired into his powder magazine, and blew up himself +and his followers as well as numbers of his enemies. The Turks, in order +to intimidate the other Serbs, collected the heads of the victims and +built of them a tower or pyramid. In 1878, when Nish became part of the +principality of Servia, most of the skulls were removed and buried, but +two or three remain.] + +{31} There is almost always a breeze either from the Marmora or from the +Black Sea, that passes along the course of the Bosphorus. + +{34} 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. + +{35} The “pipe of tranquillity” is a _tchibouque_ 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. + +{36} [The structure of Turkish can only be said to resemble Latin in the +general sense that the verb comes at the end of the sentence, which can +be swelled out to enormous, and indeed preposterous, dimensions. The +Turk of the old school thinks that a letter or document, and even a +single chapter of a book, ought to consist of one sentence; but in this +respect there has been considerable improvement of late, and modern +newspapers and light literature are written in phrases of relatively +reasonable length,—not longer, say, than German,—and with a much smaller +proportion of Arabic and Persian words. The Osmanli gets few +opportunities for public speaking nowadays, but it is said that the +short-lived Turkish Parliament in 1877 furnished a very creditable +oratorical display.] + +{41} [Since this chapter was written the labours of Schliemann and +Dorpfeld have excavated Hissarlik, commonly considered to be the site of +Troy, though some prefer to identify the city of the _Iliad_ with the +ruins of Bunar Bashi, farther inland. Hissarlik is a huge mound, in a +singularly desolate plain about an hour’s ride from Kum Kale, at the +entrance of the Dardanelles, and is said to be composed of the ruins of +no less than eight or nine cities placed one on the top of the other. Of +the older layers the best preserved are the second and sixth cities. +There are no statues, inscriptions, or other indications, so that the +structure of this pile of dead towns is excessively difficult to +understand, and only becomes intelligible when explained by someone +thoroughly acquainted with the course of the excavations; for in order to +reach the lower layers it has naturally been necessary to displace the +upper ones. The general character of the scene is still excellently +described by Byron’s lines in _Don Juan_, Cant. iv.: + + “Here, on the green and village-cotted hill, is + (Flanked by the Hellespont and by the sea) + Entombed the bravest of the brave, Achilles; + (They say so—Bryant says the contrary): + And further downward, tall and towering still, is + The tumulus—of whom? Heaven knows; ‘t may be + Patroclus, Ajax, or Protesilaus; + All heroes, who, if living still, would slay us. + High barrows, without marble or a name, + A vast, untilled, and mountain-skirted plain, + And Ida, in the distance, still the same, + And old Scamander (if ‘t be he), remain; + The situation still seems formed for fame— + A hundred thousand men might fight again, + With ease; but where I looked for Ilion’s walls, + The quiet sheep feeds, and the tortoise crawls. + Troops of untended horses; here and there + Some little hamlets, with new names uncouth; + Some shepherds (not like Paris), led to stare + A moment at the European youth, + Whom to the spot his schoolboy feelings bear; + A Turk, with beads in hand and pipe in mouth, + Extremely taken with his own religion, + Are what I found there—but the devil a Phrygian.”] + +{50} 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. + +{51} [Carrigaholt is said to have been Henry Stuart Burton, of +Carrigaholt, County Clare.] + +{54} Marriages in the East are arranged by professed matchmakers; many +of these, I believe, are Jewesses. + +{61} 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 _reckon_ as well as to admire the objects of his +affection. + +{66} 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. + +{67} Hanmer. + +{77} + + “. . . ubi templum illi, centumque Sabæo + Thure calent aræ, sertisque recentibus halant.” + + —_Æneid_, i. 415. + +{82} 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. + +{90a} Historically “_fainting_”; the death did not occur until long +afterwards. + +{90b} I am told that in youth she was exceedingly sallow. + +{92} 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. + +{96} She spoke it, I daresay, 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. + +{99} 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.) + +{102} 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 _ancient_ French blood in +their veins.” The underscoring 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. + +{103} 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.” + +{105} 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. + +{111} 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. + +{115} “Vino d’oro.” + +{123} Shereef. + +{124} Tennyson. + +{126} The other three cities held holy by Jews are Jerusalem, Hebron, +and Safet. + +{149} (The tented Arabs are no doubt very bad Mohammedans, but the +assumption which Kinglake seems to make that prostrations are essential +to a Moslem religious ceremony is not correct. The form of prayer called +in Turkey Namaz, which ought to be performed by every devout Moslem five +times a day, does necessarily involve prostrations in which the forehead +touches the ground, but it is by no means the only, though doubtless the +most important, act of worship mentioned by Islam. In the present case +the ceremony was probably a blessing, which is generally given by closing +the eyes and uplifting the arms with the hands bent back and the palms +open. I have often seen such benedictions given when a party sets out +for a pilgrimage or any other purpose.) + +{166} Hadji, a pilgrim. + +{169} [Kinglake might have added that Mohammedans admit that Christ +worked miracles and was miraculously born of a virgin. They do not +however believe that He was crucified.] + +{181} 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 _criard_.” + +{202} 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. + +{203a} 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, Continental English with which I and my compatriots make our way +through Europe. This language, by the by, 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? + +{203b} The import of the word “compromised,” when used in reference to +contagion, is explained on page 18. + +{204} 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. + +{205} [See footnote, Introduction, p. xxi.] + +{207} [Mohammedans commonly believe that the souls of the dead do not +rest in peace till their bodies are laid in the tomb. Hence they bury +the corpse as quickly as possible, and run to the cemetery in order to +shorten the interval during which the departed spirit is kept waiting. +After a few brief prayers at the graveside, the mourners retire forty +paces, halt, and pray again. It is believed that at this moment two +angels visit the deceased, inquire of his religious belief, and, if he +replies in the words of the formula, that there is “no God but God, and +Mohammed is the Prophet of God,” admit him, not exactly to Paradise, but +to a very tolerable section of Purgatory.] + +{217} Mehemet Ali invited the Mamelukes to a feast, and murdered them +whilst preparing to enter the banquet hall. + +{218} It is not strictly lawful to sell white slaves to a Christian. + +{230} The difficulty was occasioned by the immense exertions which the +Pasha was making to collect camels for military purposes. + +{233} Herodotus, in an after age, stood by with his notebook, and got, +as he thought, the exact returns of all the rations served out. + +{236} [The author of the _Crescent and the Cross_, which appeared the +same year as _Eothen_.] + +{246} See Milman’s _History of the Jews_, first edition. + +{263} [Nablus still maintains its reputation for bigotry.] + +{264} 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.” + +{265a} The 29th of April. + +{265b} [This was no doubt the case in this particular, but it must not +be supposed that April 29 is the Mohammedan New Year’s Day. The Moslem +religious year consists of twelve lunar months, and is eleven days +shorter than the Christian year. Hence, if in one year Muharrem (the +first month) falls on April 29, it would fall on April 18 the next. In +consequence of the great inconveniences of this mode of reckoning, Turks +adopt for secular matters another era called the Financial year, which +starts from the Hijra, but has solar months. But feasts and fasts are +fixed by the lunar year, so that the month of Ramazan rotates through all +the seasons.] + +{267} [The statements at the beginning of this chapter are altogether +inaccurate. From the religious point of view a good Mohammedan is as +much, and more, bound than a Christian to encourage any form of +missionary enterprise, seeing that all non-Moslems are destined to +inevitable damnation. From the legal and practical point of view, the +exercise of all religions is nominally free in Turkey and it is therefore +illegal to convert a Christian at the point of the sword, but it will be +sufficient to remind the reader that during the massacres of 1895–96 many +thousands of Armenians turned Mohammedans, and that those who wished to +subsequently return to their old religion found great difficulty in doing +so. + +As a rule Turks despise the Christian races too much to take any trouble +about converting them, but it is absurd to say that conversions are +illegal. On the contrary, they are fairly frequent, and it is only +necessary that the person converted should state publicly that his change +of religion is due to his own free will. Cases of young girls embracing +Islam are not rare. According to the law, minors wishing to become +Moslems must be taken to the house of a respectable person, where a +priest of their own religion can have access to them, and their change of +faith is not legal until they are of age (which means in the case of a +girl twelve or thirteen), but in practice every effort is made to isolate +them in such cases from their friends and surround them with +Mohammedans.] + +{272} These are the names given by the Prophet to certain chapters of +the Koran. + +{280} It was after the interview which I am talking of, and not from the +Jews themselves, that I learnt this fact. + +{283} 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) a 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. + +{292} The rose-trees which I saw were all of the kind we call “damask”; +they grow to an immense height and size. + +{296} A dragoman never interprets in terms the courteous language of the +East. + +{298a} [This place, which is commonly called Adalia (Antalia in +Turkish), is now a port in the province of Konia. + +In the time of the Crusades the name varied between Attalie (or Attalia) +and Sattalie (Sattalia). As it seems clear that it is derived from the +founder, King Attalus, the S must be a later addition, and is perhaps to +be identified with the Greek preposition _els_, which is responsible for +such forms as Istambol (_είς την πόλιν_).] + +{298b} A title signifying transcender or conqueror of Satalieh. {298c} + +{298c} [Sataliefsky is merely an adjective derived from Satalieh, and +means “the Satalian,” just as Zabalkansky (p. 24) means “the +Trans-Balkanic one.” I mention this because in both cases Kinglake gives +the translation “Transcender” of the Balkans or Satalieh.] + +{299} Spelt “Attalia” and sometimes “Adalia” in English books and maps. + +{310} 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. + +{315} In the printed book the last page is a specimen page (34) of +Vanity Fair. It’s been omitted in this transcription on release.—DP. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EOTHEN*** + + +******* This file should be named 43684-0.txt or 43684-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/3/6/8/43684 + + + +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. 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