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E  0  T  H  E  N 


E    0    T    H    E    N 


A,    W.    KINGLAKE 


Tlphs  rj'Ji  re  Kal  7}\iov  avaroAas  eiroteeTo  ttji'  6S6y. 

— Herod,  vii.  58. 


NEW     EDITION 


WILLIAM    BLACKWOOD    AND    SONS 

EDIXBURGH    AND    LONDON 

MDCCCLXXXV 


All  Rinhls  reserred 


PEEFACE  TO  THE   FIKST  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 
journey  had  been  carefully  marked;  but  I  did 
not  conceal  fjom  myself  that  this  was  rather  a 
dry  mode  for  ;i  man  to  adopt,  when  he  wished 
to  impart  the  rtjsults  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;  1 
had  begun  it  a  second  time,  and  failing  again,  had 
abandoned  my  attempt  with  a  sensation  of  utter 


vi  Preface. 

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,  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.  "V^Hiilst  I  feigned  to  myself 
that  you,  and  you  only,  were  listening,  I  could 
not  by  possibility  speak  very  solemnly.  Heaven 
forbid  that  I  should  talk  to  my  own  genial  friend 
as  though  he  were  a  great  and  enlightened  com- 
munity, 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 


Preface.  vii 

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  con- 
versation. 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  ven- 
ture, therefore,  to  ask  that  the  familiarity  of  lan- 
guage 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  towards  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''')  that  the  book  is  quite 
superficial  in  its  cb^racter.  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 


*  "Eothen  "  is,  I  hope,  almost  the  only  hard  word  to  be  found 
in  the  book  :  it  is  written  in  Greek  T\iiiQiv, — {Attict,  with  an  aspi- 
rated €  instead  of  the  tj), — and  signifies,  "from  the  early  dawn" 
— "from  the  East." — Bonn.  Lex.,  4th  edition. 


viii  Preface. 

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  lighteous  in  matters  of  fact  (where 
fact  i:>  in  question),  but  it  is  true  in  this  larger 
sense,- -At  conveys — not  those  impressions  which 
ought  to  hoA'ie  ftt!c?i  produced  upon  any  "well-consti- 
tuted mind,"  but  those  which  were  really  and  truly 
received  at  the  time  of  his  rambles  by  a  headstrong 
and  nut  very  amiable  traveller,  whose  pngudices 
in  favour  of  other  people's  notions  were  then 
exceedingly  slight.  As  I  have  felt  so  I  have  writ- 
ten ;  and  the  result  is,  that  tliere  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 


Preface.  ix 

seemingly  perverse  mode  of  treating  the  subject  is 
forced  upon  me  by  my  plan  of  adhering  to  senti- 
mental truth,  and  really  does  not  result  from  any 
impertinent  wish  to  tease  or  trifle  with  readers.  I 
ought,  for  instance,  to  have  felt  as  stiongly  in 
Judaea  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  disen- 
chanting scenes,  and  this  change  it^  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  de- 
scriptions of  admirable  objects,  merely  because  my 
own  feelings  of  interest  in  them  may  have  hap- 
pened 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  remem- 
bers (how  often  !)  the  happy  land  of  his  birth — he 
has,  too,  his  moments  of  humble  enthusiasm  about 


X  Preface. 

fire  and  food,  about  shade  and  drink  ;  and  if  lie 
gives  to  these  feelings  anything  like  the  promi- 
nence 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 
Kuins  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  seem  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  tlie  proper  wonders  of  the  land, — 
the  cities — the  mighty  ruins  and  monuments  of 
bygone  ages — lie  throws  back  faintly  in  the  dis- 


Preface.  xi 

tance.  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  :  hut  perhaps,  if  you  hear 
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  conver- 
sation on  supernatural  topics.  The  truth  is  that  1 
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  in- 
dustrious class,  who  was  not  flying  from  his  country 


xii  Preface. 

because  of  ennui,  but  was  strengtbemng  his  wiU, 
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  tlie  East,  must 
necessarily  have  with  him  dragomen  capable  of  in- 
terpreting the  oriental  languages ;  the  absence  of 
wheeled-carriages  obliges  him  to  use  several  beasts 
of  burthen  for  his  baggage,  as  well  as  lor  himself 
and  his  attendants  ;  the  owners  of  the  horses  or 
camels,  with  tluir  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,"  with- 
out intending  to  make  you  believe  that  he  is  there- 
fore a  Sovereign  Prince. 

You  wHl  see  that  I.  sometimes  follow  the  cus- 
tom of  the  Scots  in  describing  my  fellow-coun- 
trymen 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 
"  Good-bye  ! "  for  I  dare  not  stand  greeting  you 
here. 


CON  T  E  N  T  S. 


CUAP. 

FACE 

I. 

OVER    THE    BORDER,     . 

1 

II. 

TURKISH    TRAVELLING,             .     • 

17 

III. 

COXSTANTINOPLE, 

36 

IV. 

THE    TROAD,         .... 

49 

V. 

INFIDEL    SlIYRNA, 

59 

VI. 

GREEK    MARINERS, 

75 

VII. 

CYPRUS, 

88 

VIII. 

LADY    HESTER    STANHOPE,     . 

98 

IX. 

THE    SANCTUARY',            .             . 

.      133 

X. 

THE    MONKS    OF    PALESTINE, 

.      138 

XI. 

■  GALILEE,     ..... 

.      H8 

XII. 

MY    FIRST    BIVOUAC,      .        "     . 

.      154 

XIIT. 

THE    DEAD    SEA, 

.      165 

XIV. 

THE    BLACK    TENTS, 

.      174 

XV. 

PASSAGE    OP    THE    JORDAN,    . 

.      178 

XVI. 

TERRA    SANTA,      .... 

.     187 

XIV 


Contents. 


XVII. 

THE    DESERT,       .... 

.       211 

XVIII. 

CAIRO    AND    THE    PLAGUE,    . 

.      244 

XIX. 

THE    PYRAMIDS, 

.      280 

XX, 

THE   SPHYKX,     .... 

.      285 

XXI. 

CAIRO    TO    SUEZ, 

.      287 

XXII. 

SUEZ, 

.      298 

XXIII. 

SUEZ    TO    GAZA, 

.           .      307 

XXIV. 

GAZA    TO    NABLOUS,     . 

.      317 

XXV. 

MARIAM, 

.      324 

XXVI. 

THE    PROPHET    DAMOOR, 

.      336 

XXVII. 

DAMASCUS, 

.      343 

XXVIII. 

PASS    OP    THE    LEBANON,       . 

.      354 

XXIX. 

SURPRISE    OF    SATALIEH,       . 

.      360 

EOT  II  E  N. 


CHAPTEE    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,  T  saw  the 
Ottoman's  fortress — austere,  and  darkly  impending 
high  over  the  vale  of  the  Danube — historic  Bel- 
grade. 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  gunshot 
apart,  yet  their  people  hold  no  communion.  The 
Hungarian  on  the  north,  and  the  Turk  and  the 
Servian  on  the  southern  side  of  the  Save,  are  as 
much  asunder  as  though  there  were  fifty  broad  pro- 
A 


2  Eothen. 

vinces  that  lay  in  the  path  between  tliem.  Of  the 
men  that  hustled  around  me  iu  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  quar- 
antine, 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  reli- 
gion, 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  the  "  compro- 
mised "  ■''^  officer  of  the  Austrian  Government,  whose 
duty  it  is  to  superintend  the  passage  of  the  fron- 
tier, and  who  for  that  purpose  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 

*  A  "  compromised  "  person  is  one  who  has  been  in  contact 
with  people  or  things  supposed  to  be  capable  of  conveying  infec- 
tion. A8  a  general  rule,  the  whole  Ottoman  empire  lies  constantly 
under  this  terrible  ban.  The  "  yellow  flag"  is  the  ensi;;n  of  the 
quarantine  establishment. 


Over  the  Bo7'der.  3 

tiling  belonging  to  the  Ottoman  empire  it  would 
be  impossible  for  us  to  return  to  the  Austrian  ter- 
ritory without  undergoing  an  imprisonment  of  four- 
teen days  in  the  Lazaretto.  We  feltj  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  "  com- 
promised "  officer,  they  asked  if  we  were  perfectly 
certain  that  we  had  wound  up  all  our  affairs  in 
Christendom,  and  whether  we  had  no  parting  re- 
quests 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  let- 
ters of  credit  from  w^hich  we  might  be  parting  for 
ever  ?  ISTo — every  one  of  our  treasures  lay  safely 
stowed  in  the  boat,  and  we — we  were  ready  to  fol- 
low. Now,  therefore,  we  shook  hands  with  our 
Semlin  friends,  and  they  immediately  retreated  for 


4  Eothcn. 

three  or  four  paces,  so  as  to  leave  us  in  the  centre 
of  a  space  between  them  and  the  "  compromised  " 
officer ;  the  hatter  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  vul- 
ture race  flying  low  and  intent,  and  wheeling  round 
and  round  over  the  pest-accused  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  steer- 
ing ;  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 
liyper-Turk  looking  fellows  as  those  who  received 
me  on  the  banks  of  the  Save.  They  were  men  in 
the  liumblest  order  of  life,  having  come  to  meet 
our  boat  in  the  hope  of  earning  something  by  car- 


Ovcj'  the  Border.  5 

lying  our  luggage  up  to  the  city ;  "but,  poor  tliougli 
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  sur- 
rounded 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  some- 
thing of  the  dignity  of  true  corpulence.  This  cinc- 
ture enclosed  a  whole  bundle  of  weapons :  no  man 
bore  less  tKan  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  highly  burnished,  and  they  shone 
all  the  more  lustrously  for  being  worn  along  with 
garments  decayed  and  even  tattered  (this  careful- 
ness of  his  arms  is  a  point  of  honour  with  the  Os- 
manlee ;  he  never  allows  his  bright  yataghan  to 
suffer  from  his  own  adversity) :  then  the  long 
drooping  mustachios,  and  the  ample  folds  of  the 
once  M'hite  turbans  that  lowered  over  the  piercing 


6  Eothen. 

eyes,  and  the  haggard  features  of  the  men,  gave 
them  an  air  of  gloomy  pride,  and  that  appearance 
of  trying  to  he  disdainful  under  difficulties  which 
one  almost  always  sees  in  those  of  the  Ottoman 
people  who  live   and  rememher  old  times ;  they 
looked  as  if  they  would  have  thought  themselves 
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  shoul- 
ders of  these  warlike  porters  ;  and  when  at  last  we 
began  to  move,  he   could   scarcely  avoid  turning 
round  to  cast  one  affectionate  look  towards  Christ- 
endom, but  quicldy  again  he  marched  on  with  the 
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  deso- 
late ;  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  moun- 
tain of  castaway  things,  the  rubbish  of  centuries, 
and  on  it  you  see  numbers  of  big,  wolf-like  dogs 
lying  torpid  under  the  sun,  with  limbs  outstretched 
to  the  full,  as  if  tliey  were  dead ;  storks  or  cranes, 
sitting  fearless   upon  the  low  roofs,  look  gravely 


Over  the  Border.  7 

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  sleep- 
ers 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  "  season- 
able," 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  iipon  the  cool  stones.  We  went  through 
courts,  ascended  steps,  passed  along  a  corridor,  and 
walked  into  an  airy,  whitewashed  room,  with  a 
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  silver  fumes  of  the  narguiU  ■^''' 
liung  lightly  circKng  round  him. 

*  The  narguiR  is  a  water-pipe  upon  the  plan  of  the  hookah, 


8  EotJiai. 

The  Pasha  received 'us  with  the  smooth,  kind, 
gentle  manner  that  belongs  to  well-bred  Osmau- 
lees;  then  he  lightly  clapped  his  hands,  and 
instantly  the  sound  filled  all  the  lower  end  of 
the  room  with  slaves :  a  syllable  dropped  from 
Ills  lips ;  it  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  purdcr).  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 — a  grave  and  solemn  functionary,  who  first 
rested  the  bowl  of  the  tchibouque  at  a  measured 
distance  on  the  floor,  and  then,  on  this  axis, 
wheeled  round  the  long  cherry  tube,  and  grace- 
fully presented  it  on  half- bended  knee.  Already 
the  fire  (well  kindled  beforehand)  was  glowing 
secure  in  the  bowl ;  and  so,  when  I  pressed  the 
amber  lip  to  mine,  there  was  no  coyness  to  con- 
quer— the  willing  fume  came  up,  and  answered  my 
slightest  sigh,  and  followed  softly  every  breath  in- 
spired, till  it  touched  me  with  some  faint  sense 
and  understanding  of  Asiatic  contentment. 

Asiatic  contentment !     Yet  hardly,  perhaps,  one 

but  more  gracefully  fashioned  ;  the  smoke  is  drawn  Lj'  a  very  long 
flexible  tube  that  winds  its  suake-like  way  from  the  vase  to  the 
lips  of  the  beatified  smoker. 


Over  the  Border.  9 

hour  before  I  had  been  wanting  my  bill,  and  ring- 
ing for  waiters  in  a  shrill  and  busy  hotel. 

In  the  Ottoman  dominions  there  is  scarcely  any 
hereditary  influence  except  that  belonging  to  the 
family  of  the  Sultan ;  and  wealth,  too,  is  a  highly 
volatile  blessing,  not  easily  transmitted  to  the 
descendants  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  Osman- 
lees.  The  truth  is,  that  most  of  the  men  in 
authority  have  risen  from  their  humble  station  by 
the  arts  of  the  courtier,  and  they  keep  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  dragoman  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  "  tlie  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 


I  o  Eothen. 

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  x^ays 
you  his  compliments. 

Tro.veller. — 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  tlie  broad  waters  in  strict  disguise,  with 
a  small  but  eternally  faithful  retinue  of  followers, 
in  order  that  he  miglit  look  upon  the  bright  coun- 
tenance of  the  Pasha  among  Pashas — the  Pasha  of 
the  everlasting  Pashalik  of  Karagholookoldour. 

Traveller  (to  liis  Dragoman). — What  on  earth 
have  you  been  saying  about  London  ?     The  Pasha 


Over  the  Border.  1 1 

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  ]\Iountpromise ; 
and  that  I  was  a  candidate  for  Boughton-Sold- 
borough  at  the  last  election,  and  that  I  should 
have  won  easy  if  my  committee  had  not  been 
bribed.  I  wish  to  heaven  that  if  you  do  say  any- 
thing about  me,  you'd  tell  the  simple  truth  ! 

Dragoman — n's  silent]. 

Pasha. — What  says  the  friendly  Lord  of  Lon- 
don ?  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  Boughton-Soldborough — 
this  possible  policeman  of  Bedfordshire — is  recount- 
ing 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  con- 
gratulates your  Excellency. 

Traveller. — About  Boughton-Soldborougli  ?  The 
deuce  he  does  !  — luit  I  want  to  get  at  his  views  in 


12  Eothen. 

relation  to  tlie  present  state  of  the  Ottoman  em- 
pire. Tell  him  the  Houses  of  Parliament  have  met, 
and  that  there  has  been  a  speech  from  the  Throne 
pledging  England  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the 
Sultan's  dominions. 

Dragoman  (to  the  Pasha). — This  branch  of  Mud- 
combe,  this  possible  policeman  of  Bedfordshire,  in- 
forms 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. 

/'as/ia.— Wonderful  chair  !  AVonderful  houses  ! 
— whirr  !  whirr  !  all  by  wheels  ! — whiz  !  whiz  !  all 
by  steam  ! — wonderful  chair  !  wonderful  houses  ! 
wonderful  people  ! — whirr  !  whirr  I  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  tliat)  that  wlienever  we  have  any  disturb- 
ances 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. 


Over  the  Border.  1 3 

Dragoman  (recovering  his  temper  and  freedom 
of  speech). — His  Excellency,  this  Lord  of  Mud- 
combe,  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  rise  up  again  in  Manchester,  or 
Dublin,  or  Paris,  or  Delhi,  and  utterly  exterminate 
the  enemies  of  England  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Fasha. — I  know  it — I  know  all ;  the  particu- 
lars have  been  faithfully  related  to  me,  and  my 
mind  comprehends  locomotives.  The  armies  of 
the  English  ride  upon  the  vapours  of  boihng 
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 


1 4  Eothen. 

ancient   thrones  ! — wliirr  !   whirr  !   all  by  wheels  ! 
— whiz  !  whiz  .'  all  by  steam  ! 

Dragoman. — The  Pasha  compliments  the  cutlery 
of  England,  and  also  the  East  India  Company. 

Tmvcllcr. — 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  exceed- 
ingly 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  foreign- 
ers 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  per- 
formance of  our  promises.  Oh !  and  by  the  by, 
wliilst  you  are  about  it,  you  may  as  well  just  say. 
at  the  end,  that  the  Britisli  yeoman  is  still,  thank 
God  !  the  British  yeoman. 

Pasha  (after  hearing  the  Dragoman),  —  It  is 
true,  it    is    true :    through    all    Feringhistan    the 


Over  the  Border.  15 

Euglish  aie  foremost  and  best;  for  the  Eussians 
are  drilled  swine,  and  the  Germans  are  sleeping 
babes,  and  the  ItaKans  are  the  servants  of  songs, 
and  the  French  are  the  sons  of  newspapers,  and 
the  Greeks  are  the  weavers  of  lies,  but  the  English 
and  the  Osmanlees  are  brothers  together  in  right- 
eousness :  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  Eng- 
lish. 

Travelhr  (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. 

Fasha  (after  hearing  the  Dragoman,  and  stand- 
ing up  on  his  divan)."'' — Proud  are  the  sires,  and 
blessed  are  the  dams  of  the  horses,  that  shall  carry 
his  Excellency  to  the  end  of  his  prosperous  jour- 
ney.    May  the  saddle  beneath  him  glide  down  to 

*  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. 


1 6  Eothen. 

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  tlie  while  that  his  enemies  are  abroad  may  his 
eyes  flame  red  through  the  darkness — more  red 
than  the  eyes  of  ten  tigers  ! — farewell  I 

Dragoman. — The  Pasha  wishes  your  Excellency 
a  pleasant  journey. 

So  ends  the  visit. 


n 


CHAPTER    jr. 

TURKISH      TRAVELLING. 

In  two  or  three  hours  our  party  was  ready ;  the 
servants,  the  Tatar,  the  mounted  Suridgees,  and 
the  baggage -horses  altogether  made  up  a  strong 
cavalcade.  The  accomplished  Mysseri,  of  whom 
you  have  heard  me  speak  so  often,  and  who  served 
me  so  faithfully  throughout  my  oriental  journeys, 
acted  as  our  interpreter,  and  was,  in  fact,  the  brain 
of  our  corps.  The  Tatar,  you  know,  is  a  Govern- 
ment courier  properly  employed  in  carrying  de- 
spatches, 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-look- 
ing fellow,  with  that  regular  and  handsome  cast  of 
countenance  which  is  now  characteristic  of  the 
Ottoman  race.'"'      His  features  displayed  a  good 

*  The  continual  marriages  of  these  poople  with  the  chosen 
beauties  of  Georgia  and  Circassia  have  overpowered  the  original 
ugliness  of  their  Tatar  ancestors. 

B 


1 8  Eothen. 

deal  of  serene  pride,  self-respect,  fortitude,  a  kind 
of  ingenuous  sensuality,  and  something  of  instinc- 
tive wisdom,  without  any  sharpness  of  intellect. 
He  had  been  a  janissary  (as  I  afterwards  found), 
and  he  still  kept  up  the  old  praetorian  strut  which 
used  to  affright  the  Christians  in  former  times — a 
strut  so  comically  pompous,  that  any  close  imita- 
tion 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  iipon  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  the 
attempt  was  one  of  the  funniest  misdirections  of 
human  energy  that  wondering  man  ever  saw.  But 
put  lum  in  his  stirrups,  and  then  is  the  Tatar 
himself  again :  there  he  lives  at  his  pleasure,  re- 
posing in  the  tranquillity  of  that  true  home  (the 
home  of  his  ancestors)  which  the  saddle  seems  to 


Turkish  Travelling.  19 

afiford  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  com- 
pleted their  preparations  for  the  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  laden  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  tcliibouque.  And 
now  at  last  he  has  cursed  the  Suridgees,  in  all  pro- 
per 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  responsibihty,  his 
too  strict  abstemiousness,  and  his  restless  energj^ 
disdainful  of  sleep,  will  have  worn  him  down  to  a 
fraction  of  the  sleek  Moostapha  who  now  loads  out 
our  party  from  the  gates  of  Belgrade. 


20  Eotke?i. 

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  tlie  sins  of  their  superiors  (in- 
cluding the  horses)  can  safely  be  visited  on  them. 
]jut  tlie  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  condi- 
tion, 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  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  cer- 
tainly have  seen  more  of  the  country)  if  we  had 
adopted  saddles  like  that  of  our  Tatar,  who  tow- 
ered so  loftily  over  tlie  scraggy  little  beast  that 
carried  him.     In   taking    thought    for    the    East, 


Ttirkish  Travelliiis^, 


A 


whilst  iu  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  un- 
happy 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  a  very  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  Eng- 
lish 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 
rear-guard  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 


2  2  Eothen. 

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  everlast- 
ing — more  stilling  than  very  silence. 

At  first  our  way  was  in  darkness,  but  after  a 
wliile  the  moon  got  up,  and  touched  the  glittering 
arms  and  tawny  faces  of  our  men  witli  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  deter- 
mined that  the  duty  of  frightening  away  our 
ghostly  enemies  (like  every  other  troublesome 
work)  should  fall  upon  the  poor  Suridgees ;  they 
accordingly  lifted  up  their  voices,  and  burst  upon 
tlie  dreaded  stillness  of  the  forest  with  shrieks  and 
dismal  howls.  These  precautions  were  kept  up  in- 
cessantly, and  were  followed  by  the  most  complete 
success,  for  not  one  demon  came  near  us. 

Long  before  midniglit  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  gi'ound  hardly  w^on  from  the  forest. 
The  peasants  living  there  spoke  a  Slavonic  dialect, 


Turkish  Travelling.  23 

and  IMysseri's  knowledge  of  the  Eussian  tongue  en- 
abled 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  Ser%aan  "sdllagers  lived  in  happy  abun- 
dance, but  that  they  were  careful  to  conceal  their 
riches,  as  well  as  their  wives. 

The  burdens  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  pro\dsions  in  the  "vnllage.  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  per- 
suasive touch,  that  the  land  soon  flowed  with  milk, 
and  mountains  of  eggs  arose. 

And  soon  there  was  tea  before  us,  with  all  its 
welcome  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  door- 


24  Eothen. 

way  at  the  lower  end  of  the  room,  and  watched 
our  banquet  mth  grave  and  devout  attention. 

The  first  night  of  your  first  campaign  (though 
you  he  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  tliink  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  compli- 
ments," and  "  requesting  the  honour,"  and  "  much 
regretting," — of  those  that  are  pinioned  at  dinner- 
tables,  or  stuck  up  in  ball-rooms,  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  ow^n 
delightful  escape. 

But,  with  all  its  charms,  a  mud  floor  (Kke  a 
mercenary  match)  does  certainly  promote  early 
rising.  Long  before  daybreak  we  were  up  and 
had  breakfasted ;  afterwards  there  was  nearly  a 
whole  tedious  hour  to  endure,  whilst  the  horses 
were  laden  by  torch-light ;  but  this  had  an  end, 
and  then  our  day's  journey  began.  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, 


T2irkisli  Travelling.  25 

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  tempo- 
rary— 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  for  ever  recurring  to  the  expected  end  of 
his  journey ;  his  ordinary  ways  of  thought  have 
been  interrupted,  and  before  any  new  mental  hab- 
its 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  be- 
comes 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, 


26  Eothen. 

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,  per- 
haps, 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  w^e  often  forgot  Stamboul,  forgot  all  the 
Ottoman  empire,  and  only  remembered  old  times. 
We  went  back,  loitering  on  the  banks  of  the 
Thames — not  grim  old  Thames,  of  "  after-life," 
that  washes  the  Parliament  Houses  and  drowns 
despairing  girls,  —  but  Thames  the  "  old  Eton 
fellow "  that  wrestled  with  us  in  our  boyhood 
till  he  taught  us  to  be  stronger  than  he.  We 
bullied  Iveate,  and  scoffed  at  Larrey  Miller,  and 
Okes ;  we  rode  along  loudly  laughing,  and  talked 
to  the  grave  Servian  forest,  as  though  it  were  tlie 
"  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  con- 
vulsions of  carpet-bags  upon  their  panting  sides, 


Turkish  Travel lijig.  27 

and  the  Suridgees  would  follow  them  up  Avitli  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  between  our  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  greensward  unfenced,  and  left  to  the 
free  pasture  of  cattle,  was  dotted  with  groups  of 
stately  trees,  and  here  and  there  darkened  o'ver 
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  look  down  upon  a  lawn  below  with 
such  sheltering  mien,  that,  seeing  the  like  in  Eng- 
land, you  would  have  been  tempted  almost  to  ask 
the  name  of  the  spendthrift  or  the  madman  who 
had  dared  to  pull  down  "  the  old  liall." 

There  are  few  countries  less  infested  by  "  lions 
than  the  provinces  on  this  part  of  your  route :  you 


2  8  Eothen. 

are  not  called  upon  to  "drop  a  tear"  over  the  tomb 
of  "  the  once  Lrilliant "  anybody,  or  to  pay  your 
"  tribute  of  respect "  to  anything  dead  or  alive ; 
there  are  no  Servian  or  Bulgarian  littdrateurs  with 
whom  it  would  be  positively  disgraceful  not  to 
form  an  acquaintance ;  you  have  no  staring,  no 
praising  to  get  through.  The  only  public  build- 
ing of  any  interest  that  lies  on  the  road  is  of 
modern  date,  but  is  said  to  be  a  good  specimen 
of  oriental  architecture ;  it  is  of  a  pyramidical 
shape,  and  is  made  up  of  thirty  thousand  skulls 
contributed  by  the  rebellious  Servians  in  the  early 
part  (I  believe)  of  this  century.  I  am  not  at  all 
sure  of  my  date,  but  I  fancy  it  was  in  the  year 
1806  that  the  first  skull  was  laid,  I  am  ashamed 
to  say  that,  in  the  darkness  of  the  early  morning, 
we  unknowingly  went  by  the  neighbourhood  of  this 
triumph  of  art,  and  so  basely  got  off  from  admir- 
ing "  the  simple  grandeur  of  the  architect's  concep- 
tion," 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,  clotlied 
with  some  white,  wax-like  remains  of  flesh,  still 
sat  up  lolling  in  the  sunshine,  and  listlessly  stared 
without  eyes. 


Turkish  Travellhig.  29 

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 
KeppeU,  who  looked  on  it  towards  the  East  with 
the  eye  of  a  soldier ;  and  certainly  in  the  Sophia 
Pass  there  is  no  narrow  defile,  and  no  ascent 
sufficiently  difficult  to  stop,  or  delay  for  a  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.  Adrianople 
enjoyed  an  English  consul,  and  I  felt  sure  that,  in 
Eastern  phrase,  his  house  would  cease  to  be  his 
house,  and  would  become  the  house  of  my  sick 
comrade :  I  should  have  judged  rightly  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  but  the  levelling  plague 
was  abroad,  and  the  dread  of  it  had  dominion  over 
the  consular  mind.  So  now  (whether  dying  or  not, 
one  could  hardly  tell),  upon  a  quilt  stretched  out 
along  the  floor,  there  lay  the  best  hope  of  an  ancient 
line,  without  the  material  aids  to  comfort  of  even 
the  humblest  sort,  and  (sad  to  say)  without  the 
consolation  of  a  friend,  or  even  a  comrade  worth 
having.  I  have  a  notion  that  tenderness  and  pity 
are  affections  occasioned  in  some  measure  by  living 


30  Eothen. 

within  doors  ;  certainly,  at  the  time  I  speak  of,  the 
open-air  life  which  I  had  been  leading,  or  the  way- 
faring 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 
liereafter  look  charitably  upon  the  hard  savage 
acts  of  peasants,  and  the  cruelties  of  a  "  brutal" 
soldiery,  God  knows  that  I  strived  to  melt  my- 
self into  common  charity,  and  to  put  on  a  gentle- 
ness 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  haJdm  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  tliin,  tough,  flexible,  drab-colour- 
ed cloth,  mad^  of  flour  and  millstones  hi  equal 


Turkish  Travelling.  31 

proportions,  and  called  by  the  name  of  "  bread ; " 
then  the  patient,  of  course,  bad  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  travel- 
ling, were  unknown.  There  is,  however,  such  a 
thing  as  an  araha,  a  vehicle  drawn  by  oxen,  in 
wdiich  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  draw- 
ing 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 


3  2  Eothen. 

fairly  be  treated  as  an  ecclesiastical  question,  for 
that  the  circumstance  of  Methley's  going  on  to 
Stamhoul  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  estabKshed 
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,  contrived  to  bring  the  controversy  to  a 
premature  end  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  liis  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  tlie  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 


TitrkisJi  Travelling.  33 

the  lattice-work  of  the  arabci,  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  palpa- 
ble 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, 

c 


34  Eothen. 

we  were  struggling  face  to  face  with  au  icy  storm 
that  swept  right  down  from  the  steppes  of  Tartary, 
keen.,  fierce,  and  steady  as  a  northern  conqueror. 
Metliley's  servant,  who  was  the  greatest  sufferer, 
kept  his  saddle  until  we  reached  Stamboul,  but 
was.  then  found  to  he  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  mani- 
fold 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  caique,  i^s 
soon  as  we  had  landed,  some  woe-begone  looking 
fellows  were  got  together,  and  laden  with  our 
baggage.  Then  on  we  went,  dripping  and  slosh- 
ing,  and  looking  very   like  men   that  had  been 


Turkish  Travelling.  35 

turned  back  by  the  Eoyal  Humane  Society,  for 
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  the  plague,  and  so  be  cast  back 
with  horror  from  the  doors  of  the  shuddering 
Christians. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  little  troop,  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 
Giuseppioi  was  too  powerful  to  be  denied,  and  at 
once,  though  not  without  fear  and  trembling,  wa 
were  admitted  as  fjuests. 


36 


CHAPTER    HI. 


CONSTANTINOPLR. 


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  tlie  fathomless 
Bosphorus ;  if  you  would  go  from  your  hotel  to 
the  bazaars,  you  must  pass  by  the  bright  blue 
pathway  of  the  Golden  Horn,  that  can  carry  a 
thousand  sail  of  the  line.  You  are  accustomed  to 
tlie  gondolas  that  glide  among  the  palaces  of  St 
]\Iark,  but  liere,  at  Stamboul,  it  is  a  hundred-and- 
twenty-gun  ship  that  meets  you  in  the  street. 
Venice  strains  out  from  the  steadfast  land,  and  iu 


Coistantinoplc.  2i7 

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,*  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  Serail 
— she  stifles  the  intrigues  of  his  Ministers — she 
quiets  the  scandals  of  his  Court — 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  vio- 
lence. 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 

*  There  is  almost  always  a  breeze,  either  from  the  JMarmora  or 
from  the  Black  Sea,  that  jiassus  along  the  course  of  the  Bosphorus. 


38  Eothen. 

and  the  costly  shawls,  the  broidered  slippers  and 
the  gold-laden  saddle-cloths  —  the  fragrance  of 
burning  aloes  and  the  rich  aroma  of  patcliouli — 
these  are  the  signs  that  mark  the  familiar  home  of 
plague.  You  go  out  fram  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  breath  the  same  air  with 
a  man  sick  of  the  plague,  and  even  to  come  in  con- 
tact 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  infec- 
tion. If  this  be  a  right  notion,  the  spread  of  the 
malady  must  be  materially  aided  by  the  observ- 
ance of  a  custom  prevailing  amongst  the  people 


Constantinople.  39 

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  li\dng  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  Stam- 
boul without  incurring  contact ;  for  the  Turks, 
though  scornful  of  the  terrors  felt  by  the  Franks, 
are  generally  very  courteous  in  yielding  to  that 
wliich  they  hold  to  be  a  useless  and  impious  pre- 
caution, 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. 


40  Eothe7i. 

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  caique  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  con- 
trived 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  con- 
venient 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 


Constantinople.  41 

able  to  live  amongst  the  dying  without  that  alarm 
and  anxiety  which  would  inevitably  have  pressed 
upon  my  mind,  if  I  had  allowed  myseK  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  in- 
terposed 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  awk- 
wardly enough,  but  yet  there  is  something  of 
womanly  consciousness  in  the  very  labour  and 
effort  with  which  she  tugs  and  lifts  the  burden  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  sud- 
denly withdrawing  the  yaslimak^"  she  shines  upon 

*  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  :  tlie  way  of 
withdrawing  it  is  by  pulling  it  down. 


42  Eot/ien. 

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  "Yumourd- 
jak ! "  (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  briglit  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 


Constantinople.  43 

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  re- 
covered :  so  I  bought  me  a  horse  and  a  "  pipe  of 
tranquillity,"  "'''  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.  lan- 
guage, chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  representing  senti- 
ments, and  religious  dogmas,  and  terms  of  art  and 
luxury,  entirely  unknown  to  the  Tartar  ancestors 
of  the  present  Osmanlees ;  but  the  body  and  the 
spirit  of  the  old  tongue  are  yet  alive,  and  the 
smooth  words  of  the  shopkeeper  at  Constantinople 
can  still  carry  understanding  to  the  ears  of  the 
untamed  millions  who  rove  over  the  plains  of 
Northern  Asia.  The  structure  of  the  language, 
especially  in  its  more  lengthy  sentences,  is  very 
like  to  the  Latin ;  the  subject-matters  are  slowly 
and  patiently  enumerated,  without  disclosing  the 
purpose  of  the  speaker  until  he  reaches  the  end 
of  his  sentence,  and  then  at  last  there  comes  the 
clenching  word  which  gives  a  meaning  and  con- 
nection to  all  that  has  gone  before.  If  you  listen 
at  all   to   speaking   of  this   kind,  your   attention, 

*  The  "pipe  of  tranquillity/'  is  a  tchibouque  too  long  to  be  con- 
veniently 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. 


44  Eothen. 

rather  than  be  suffered  to  flag,  must  grow  more 
and  more  lively  as  the  phrase  marches  on. 

The  Osmanlees  speak  well.  In  countries  civ- 
ilised according  to  the  European  plan,  the  work  of 
trying  to  persuade  tribunals  is  almost  all  performed 
by  a  set  of  men  who  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  coimectedly  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  unspeak- 
able disgust  in  many  Englishmen,  who  cannot  see 
why  an  honest  dealer  should  ask  more  for  his 
goods  tlian  he  will  really  take :  the  truth  is,  how- 
ever, that  an  ordinary  tradesman  of  Constantinople 
has  no  other  way  of  finding  out  the  fair  market 
value  of  his  property.  His  difficulty  is  easily 
shown  by  comparing  the  mechanism  of  the  com- 


Constantinople.  45 

mercial  system  iu  Turkey  with  that  of  our  own 
people.  In  England,  or  in  any  other  great  mer- 
cantile 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  im- 
porting 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  iu  the  bazaar,  he  puts 
his  goods  hefore  the  counter,  and  himself  u^on  it ; 
then  laying  fire  to  his  tchihouque,  he  "  sits  in  per- 
manence," 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  tlie  offers  which  may  be  made 
for   his   little  bundle  of  goods  ;  so  he  begins  by 


46  Eothen. 

asking  a  perfectly  hopeless  price,  and  then  de- 
scends 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  endeav- 
ours 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,  how- 
ever, the  dealer,  if  he  is  a  very  pious  Mussulman, 
and  sufl&ciently  rich  to  hold  back  his  ware,  will 
take  a  more  dignified  part,  maintaining  a  kind  of 
judicial  gravity,  and  receiving  the  applicants  who 


Co7istantinople.  47 

come  to  Ids  stall  as  if  they  were  ratlier  suitors 
than  customers.  He  will  quietly  hear  to  the  end 
some  long  speech  that  concludes  with  an  offer,  and 
will  answer  it  all  with  that  bold  monosyllable 
^"  Yok  "),  which  means  distinctly  "Xo." 

I  caught  one  glimpse  of  the  old  heathen  world. 
]\Iy  habits  of  studying  mihtary  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  foUow  from  out  of  Arabian 
sands  the  feet  of  the  armed  believers,  and  to  stand 
in  the  broad  manifest  storm-tract  of  Tartar  devasta- 
tion and  thus,  though  surrounded  at  Constanti- 
nople 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  stiU  against  the  breeze :  it  was  pure  and 
dazzling  white  as  might  be  the  veil  of  Cytherea, 


48  Eotken, 

yet  touched  with  such  fire,  as  though  from  be- 
ueath  the  loving  eyes  of  an  immortal  were  shining 
through  and  through.  I  knew  the  bearing,  but 
had  enormously  misjudged  its  distance  and  under- 
rated its  height,  and  so  it  was  as  a  sign  and  a 
testimony — almost  as  a  call  from  the  neglected 
gods,  that  now  I  saw  and  acknowledged  the  snowy 
crown  of  the  Mysian  Olympus  ! 


49 


CPIAPTER    IV. 

THE    TROAD. 

Methley  recovered  almost  suddenly,  and  we  deter- 
mined 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 

D 


50  Eothen. 

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  first-born  son,  no  Watts's  hymns — no  collects 
for  the  day;  she  could  teach  him  in  earliest  child- 
hood, no  less  than  this — to  find  a  home  in  his 
saddle,  and  to  love  old  Homer,  and  all  that  Homer 
sung.  True  it  is,  that  the  Greek  was  ingeniously 
rendered  into  English — the  English  of  Pope — 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  tem- 
poral 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  entlmsiasm  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 


The  Troad.  5 1 

human  race — tliat  it  was  history,  poetry,  revela- 
tion— 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  com- 
mentator 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  un- 
tamed 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  tlie  ninth  year  of  the 
siege  to  admire  this  or  that  group  of  words — Tie 
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  pro- 
fanely 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 


5  2  Eothen. 

sympathy  has  he  for  the  child  that  is  young  enough 
to  be  frightened  at  the  nodding  plume  of  a  helmet ; 
hut  all  the  while  that  he  thus  chafes  at  the  paus- 
ing of  the  action,  the  strong  vertical  light  of 
Homer's  poetry  is  blazing  so  fuU  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  Scsean 
gate. 

Heroic  days  are  these,  but  the  dark  ages  of 
school-boy  life  come  closing  over  them.  I  suppose 
it's  all  right  in  the  end,  yet,  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 


The  Troad,  53 

empires  from  oblivion.  What  more  will  you 
ever  learn  ?  Yet  the  dismal  change  is  ordained, 
and  then,  thin  meagre  Latin  (the  same  for  every- 
body), 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  lan- 
guages are  given  you  for  your  portion,  and  down 
you  fall,  from  Eoman  story  to  a  three-inch  scrap 
of  "  Scriptores  Eomani  " — from  Greek  poetry, 
down,  down  to  the  cold  rations  of  "  Poetae  Grseci," 
cut  up  by  commentators,  and  served  out  by  school- 
masters ! 

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  willowy  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  shift- 


54  Eotheii. 

ing  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  the  gliding  away,  of  the  waters.  I  tell 
myseK  now,  as  a  profane  fact,  that  I  did  indeed 
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  pres- 
ence 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 


The  Troad.  55 

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  Sca- 
mander  "  (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  besiegers  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  destruc- 
tion was  done,  turned  back  the  rivers  to  their 
ancient  ways : — 

TTOTa/xovs  5'  (Tpf^/e  veecrdai 
Kap'  poou  T)7rep  irpocrdev  lev  KvWippoov  uSccp, 


56  Eothen. 

but  their  old  channels,  passing  through  that  Hght, 
pervious  soil,  would  have  been  lost  in  the  nine 
days'  flood,  and  perhaps  the  god,  when  he  wdled 
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  south- 
ward 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  iri  upon 
my  brain.  Conceive  how  deeply  that  eternal  coast- 
line— that  fixed  horizon — those  island  rocks,  must 
have  graven  their  images  upon  the  minds  of  the 
Grecian  warriors  by  the  time  that  they  had  reached 
the  ninth  year  of  the  siege  '  conceive  the  strength 
and  the  fanciful  beauty  of  the  speeches  with  which 
a  whole  army  of  imagining  men  must  have  told 
their  weariness,  and  how  the  sauntering  chiefs  must 


The  Troad.  57 

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  Constan- 
tinople, 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 : — 

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,  a  larger  island, 
which  stretches  its  length  right  athwart  the  line 
of  sight  from  Samothrace  to  Troy.  Piously  allow- 
ing that  the  dread  Commotor  of  our  globe  miglit 
have  seen  all  mortal  doings,  even  from  the  depths 
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  tlie  plains  of 


58  Eg  then. 

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,  wlioh  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  deplorably  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. 


59 


CHAPTER   V. 

INFIDEL     SMYRNA. 

Smyena,  or  Giaour  Izmir,  "  Infidel  Smyrna,"  as  the 
IMussulmans  caU  it,  is  the  main  point  of  commer- 
cial 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  tran- 
quilKty ; "  you  see  Jews  offering  services,  and  re- 
cei'ving  blows : '''    on  one  side  you  have  a  fellow 

*  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  pur- 
pose of  keeping  off  the  chosen  people.  I  always  felt  ashamed  to 
strike  the  poor  fellows  myself,  but  I  confess  to  the  amusement 
with  wliich  I  witnessed  the  observance  of  this  custom  by  other 
people.  The  Jew  seldom  got  hurt  much,  for  he  was  always  ex- 
pecting 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. 


6o  Eothen. 

whose  dress  and  beard  would  give  you  a  good  idea 
of  the  true  oriental,  if  it  were  not  for  tlie  gobe- 
mouche  expression  of  countenance  with  which  he 
is  swallowing  an  article  in  a  French  newspaper ; 
and  there,  just  by,  is  a  genuine  Osmanlee,  smoking 
away  with  all  the  majesty  of  a  Sultan ;  but  before 
you  have  time  to  admire  sufficiently  his  tranquil 
dignity,  and  his  soft  Asiatic  repose,  the  poor  old 
fellow  is  ruthlessly  "  run  down "  by  an  English 
midshipman,  who  has  set  sail  on  a  Smyrna  hack. 
Such  are  the  incongruities  of  the  "  infidel  city  "  at 
ordinary  times ;  but  when  I  was  there,  our  friend 
Carrigaholt  had  imported  himself,  and  his  oddities, 
as  an  accession  to  the  other  and  inferior  wonders 
of  Smyrna. 

I  was  sitting  alone  in  my  room  one  day  at  Con- 
stantinople, -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  al- 
ways, 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 


hifidel  Smyrna.  6 1 

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  objec- 
tion. 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  pun- 
ished 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  too 
largely  to  the  "  Feminine-right-of-reason  Society  ;  " 
but  it  did  not  appear  that  his  health  had  been  se- 
riously affected.  There  was  a  scheme  on  foot,  it 
would  seem,  for  taking  the  passenger  back  to  Eng- 
land in  the  same  schooner — a  scheme,  in  fact,  for 
keeping  him  perpetually  afloat,  and  perpetually 
saturated  with  arguments  ;  but  when  Carrigaholt 


62  Eothen. 

found  himself  asliore,  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  negotia- 
tion ;  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,  how- 
ever, as  the  purchaser  of  the  "  affections."  Some- 
times 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, 


Infidel  Smyrna.  63 

again  (and  just  in  time,  perhaps,  to  save  liim  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  ;personce  belonging  to  his 
dreams,  with  all  their  goodness  and  graces  com- 
plete, 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 :  in  his 
ante-room  there  would  be  not  only  the  sellers 
of  pipes,  and  slippers,  and  shawls,  and  suchhke 
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 


64  Eothen. 

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  tones  of  the  fancied  guitar ;  and  then, 
above  all,  and  proudly  eminent  with  undisputed 
preference  of  entree,  and  fraught  with  the  mys- 
terious tidings  on  which  the  realisation  of  the 
whole  dream  might  depend,  was  the  mysterious 
match-maker,*  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 
might  be  supposed :  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  delicatelj''  sensi- 
tive taste  almost  always  befriended  him  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 

*  Marriages  in  the  East  are  arranged  by  professed  match- 
makers ;  many  of  these,   I  believe,  are  Jewesses. 


hijidel  Sjiiyrna.  65 

circumstance  sufificiently  plain  to  occasion  an 
instant  jar  upon  the  minds  of  those  wliose  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 !  ISTo 
more  hope,  no  more  change  for  him — no  more 
relays — he  must  go  on  Vetturiniwise  to  the  ap- 
pointed end  of  his  journey. 

Smyrna,  I  think,  may  be  called  the  cliief  town 
and  capital  of  that  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  char- 
acter. If  I  could  venture  to  rely  (this  I  feel  that 
I  cannot  at  all  do)  upon  my  own  observation,  I 
should  tell  you  that  there  were  more  heartiness 
and  strength  in  the  Greeks  of  the  Ottoman  empire 

E 


66  Eothen. 

than  iu  those  of  the  new  kingdom ;  the  truth  is, 
that  there  is  a  greater  field  for  commercial  enter- 
prise, 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  con- 
stitutional kingdom  to  the  territories  of  the  Porte, 
seem  to  show,  that,  on  the  whole,  they  prefer 
"  groaning  under  the  Turldsh  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, 
&c.),  it  naturally  follows  that  they  are  highly 
unpopular  with  the  European  merchants.  Now 
these  are  the  persons  through  Avhom,  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  in- 
vented Virtue.     And  strange  to  say,  the  Greeks 


Infidel  Smyrna.  67 

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 
\nil  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  ?  " 

"  Possible,  Signor,  ma  almeno  lo  no  sono  Greco." 

Not  even  the  diplomatic  representatives  of  the 
Hellenic  kingdom  are  free  from  the  habit  of  de- 
preciating 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,  a  board  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  remon- 
strance, and  requested  his  consul  to  lay  it  before 
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. 


68  Eotheii. 

Well,  it  hajDpened  some  time  afterwards,  that  I 
found  myself  at  the  same  port,  having  gone  thither 
witli  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  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  treat- 
ment 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 


Iiijidcl  Sniynia.  69 

of  the  Piiissian  serf,  seem  to  hang  like  lead  upon 
the  ethereal  spirit  of  the  Greek.  Never,  in  any 
part  of  the  world,  have  I  seen  religious  perform- 
ances so  painful  to  witness  as  those  of  the  Greeks. 
The  horror,  however,  with  which  one  shudders  at 
their  worsliip,  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  witliin  doors  as  well  as 
abroad,  and  they  never  remove  their  head-gear 
merely  on  account  of  being  in  a  church :  but  when 
the  Greek  stops  to  worship  at  his  proper  shrine, 
then,  and  then  only,  he  always  uncovers ;  and  as 
you  see  him  thus  with  shaven  skull,  and  savage 
tail  depending  from  his  crown,  kissing  a  thing  of 
wood  and  glass,  and  cringing  with  base  prostrations 
and  apparent  terror  before  a  miserable  picture,  you 
see  superstition  in  a  shape  which,  outwardly  at 
least,  is  sadly  abject  and  repulsive. 

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 


70 


Eothen. 


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  diet- 
ary (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  appropri- 
ated 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  fol- 
lowers 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  heipt  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  invigor- 
ate the  mind,  or  exalt  the  taste.  On  the  contrary, 
the  saints'  days  of  the  Greeks  in  Smyrna  are  passed 
in   tlie   same    manner   as   the    Sabbaths   of  well- 


Infidel  SiuyTiia.  7 1 

behaved  Protestant  housemaids  iu  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  win- 
dows. Windows,  indeed,  by  the  custom  of  Greek 
towns,  are  so  decidedly  appropriated  to  the  gentle 
sex,  that  a  man  would  be  looked  upon  as  utterly 
effeminate  if  he  ventured  to  choose  such  a  position 
for  the  keeping  of  his  saints'  days.  I  was  present 
one  day  at  a  treaty  for  the  hire  of  some  apartments 
at  Smyrna  which  was  carried  on  between  Carriga- 
holt  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  Avas  clouded,  and 
with  all  the  scorn  of  a  Spartan  mother  she  coolly 
asked  Carrigaholt,  and  said,  "Art  thou  a  tender 
damsel,  that  thou  Avouldst  sit  and  gaze  from  win- 
dows ? "  The  man  whom  she  addressed,  however, 
had  not  gone  to  Greece  with  any  intention  of  plac- 
ing himself  under  the  laws  of  Lycurgus,  and  was 
not  to  be  diverted  from  his  views  by  a  Spartan  re- 
buke, 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  wlio  preach,  since 
even  I,  a  layman  not  forced  to  write  at  all,  can 


7  2  Eothen. 

hardly  avoid  chiming  in  with  some  tuneful  cant ! 
I  have  had  the  heart  to  talk  about  the  pernicious 
effects  of  the  Greek  holidays  ;  and  yet  to  these  I 
owe  most  gracious  and  beautiful  visions  !  I  will 
let  the  words  stand,  as  a  humbling  proof  that  I 
am  subject  to  that  nearly  immutable  law  which 
compels  a  man  with  a  pen  in  his  hand  to  be  utter- 
ing every  now  and  then  some  sentiment  not  his 
own.  It  seems  as  though  the  power  of  express- 
ing 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  regime,  he  were  bound  to  perform  a 
certain  amount  of  work  li'pon  the,  public  highways. 
I  rebel  as  stoutly  as  I  can  against  this  horrible 
corvSe — 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  watch- 
fulness in  this  regard,  than  my  right  liand  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  ! 

Disturb  their  saints'  days  ? — Oh  no  !  for  as  you 
move  through  the  narrow  streets  of  the  city  at 
these  times  of  festival,  the  transom-shaped  windows 


Infidel  Siuyrna.  y^t 

suspended  over  your  head  on  either  side  are  filled 
with  the  beautiful  descendants  of  the  old  Ionian 
race ;  all  (even  yonder  empress  throned  at  the 
window  of  that  humblest  mud  cottage)  are  attired 
with  seeming  magnificence  ;  their  classic  heads  are 
crowned  with  scarlet  and  laden  with  jewels  or 
coins  of  gold — the  whole  wealth  of  the  wearers  ; "" 
their  features  are  touched  with  a  savage  pencil, 
hardening  the  outline  of  eyes  and  eyebrows,  and 
lending  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  eyes  deeply 
set,  and  self-relying  as  the  eyes  of  a  conqueror, 
with  all  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 

*  A  Greek  woman  wears  her  whole  fortune  upon  her  person,  in 
the  sliape  of  jewels  or  gold  coins.  I  believe  tliat  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. 


74  Eothe7i. 

terrible  stillness  in  this  breatliing  image ;  it  seems 
like  the  stillness  of  a  savage  that  sits  intent  and 
brooding  day  by  day  upon  some  one  fearful  scheme 
of  vengeance,  and  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  ! 


75 


CHAPTER     VI. 


GREEK    MAEINERS. 


I  SAILED  from  Smyrna  in  the  Ampliitrite,  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.  How- 
ever, 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  clin^  to  earth  lilvC  a 
child  to  its  mother's  knee,  and  that  I  should  touch 
at  many  an  isle  before  I  set  foot  upon  the   Syrian 


76  EotJien. 

coast ;  but  I  had  no  invidious  preference  for 
Europe,  Asia,  or  Africa  (I  was  safe  from  all  dan- 
ger of  America),  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  use- 
ful 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  busi- 
ness-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  enter- 
prise ratlier  than  to  industry,  and  are  very  far 
indeed  from  tending  to  deaden  any  freshness  of 
charactei; 

The  vessels  in  which  war  and  piracy  were  carried 
on  during  the  years  of  the  Greek  Eevolution,  be- 
came merchantmen  at  the  end  of  the  war ;  but  the 


Greek  Mariners.  77 

tactics  of  the  Greeks,  as  naval  warriors,  were  so 
exceedingly  cautious,  and  their  habits  as  commer- 
cial marmers  are  so  wild,  that  the  change  has  been 
more  slight  than  you  might  imagine.  The  first 
care  of  Greeks  (Greek  rayahs)  when  they  under- 
take a  shipj)ing  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  Constanti- 
nople, and  the  craft  soon  glories  in  the  ensign  of 
Eussia,  or  the  dazzling  tricolour,  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  grace- 
fully 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  good  ground  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 — a  power  more 
withering  than  despotism  itself  to  the  enterprises 
of  humble  venturers.      The  capital  employed    is 


yS  EotJien. 

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  intrust  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  mar- 
iners 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  prognos- 
ticate evil,  in   order    that  his  more    light-hearted 


Greek  Mariners.  79 

comrades  might  not  be  puffed  up  witli  the  seem- 
ing good  fortune  of  the  moment. 

It  seemed  to  me  that  tlie  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  ;*  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-hke  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  conse- 
quences of  being  "jammed  in,"  as  it  is  called, 
upon  a  lee  shore. 

*  St  Nicholas  is  the  great  patron  of  Greek  sailors  :  a  small  pic- 
ture of  him,  enclosed  in  a  glass  case,  is  hung  up  like  a  barometer 
at  one  end  of  the  cabin. 


8o  Eothen. 

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  fresli,  and  if  the  adverse  breeze  approaches  to  a 
gale,  they  at  once  fumigate  St  Nicholas,  and  put 
up  the  helm.  The  con,sequence  of  course  is,  that 
under  the  ever-varying  winds  of  the  JEgean  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  ^gean :  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 
religion  have  spared  to  us. 

With  one  exception,  our  crew  were  "  a  solemn 
company,"  and  yet,  sometimes,  if  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  tlieir  number  who  went  by  tlie  name  of 
"  Admiral  Nicolou "  (he  was  an  amusing  fellow), 
the  poorest,  I  believe,  and  the  least  thoughtful  of 
tlie  crew,  but  full  of  rich  humour.      His  oft-told 


Greek  Mariners.  8i 

story  of  the  events  by  whicli  he  had  gained  the 
sohrir[uet  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.  The  tale  was  this :  A 
number  of  Greek  brigs  and  brigantines  were  at 
anchor  in  the  bay  at  Beyrout ;  a  festival  of  some 
kind  particularly  attractive  to  the  sailors  was  go- 
ing on  in  the  town,  and  (whether  with  or  without 
leave,  I  know  not)  the  crews  of  all  the  craft,  ex- 
cept that  of  Nicolou,  had  gone  ashore.  On  board 
his  vessel  (she  carried  dollars)  there  was,  it  would 
seem,  a  more  careful  or  more  influential  captain — 
a  man  who  was  able  to  enforce  his  determination 
that  at  least  one  of  the  crew  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,  gath- 
ering together  from  their  several  ships,  were  amus- 
ing 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  %vith 
four  of  the  craft  which  had  been  left  unmanned, 
broke  from  her  moorings,  and  all  five  of  the  vessels 

F 


S  2  Eothen. 

were  carried  out  seaward.  The  town  is  on  a  salient 
point  at  the  southern  side  of  the  bay,  so  that  the 
Admiral  was  close  under  the  eyes  of  the  inhabi- 
tants and  the  shore-gone  sailors,  when  he  gallantly 
drifted  out  at  the  head  of  his  little  fleet.  If  Nico- 
lou  could  not  entirely  control  the  manoeuvres  of 
the  sq[uadron,  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  so  for  the  time  saved  his  vessel ;  the  rest  of 
the  fleet  under  his  command  were  quickly  wreck- 
ed, 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),  lie  got  up  some  canvas  and  took  the  helm :  he 
became  equal,  he  told  us,  to  a  score  of  Mcolous, 
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  find- 
ing land,  he  brought  his  craft  close  to  an  unknown 
shore  that  promised  weU  for  his  purpose  of  run- 
ning in  the  vessel,  and  he  was  preparing  to  give 
her  a  good  berth  on  the  beach,  when  he  saw  a 


Greek  IMarincrs.  83 

gang  of  ferocious-looking  fellows  coming  down  to 
the  point  for  which  he  was  making.  Poor  Xicolou 
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  pre- 
venting litigation,  but  the  notion  of  their  cannibal- 
ism was  of  course  utterly  unfounded.  Nicolou's 
terror  had,  however,  so  graven  the  idea  on  his 
mind,  that  he  could  never  after  dismiss  it.  Hav- 
ing 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 ;  there  she 


84  Eothen. 

was  lost  with  all  lier  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  ex- 
pressed 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  the  rich  fright 
of  the  Admiral,  and  still  shudder  wdth  unabated 
horror  when  he  came  to  the  loss  of  the  dollars. 

The  power  of  listening  to  long  stories  (and  for 
this,  by  the  by,  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  tliat  they  must 
have  sprung  from  the  brain  of  a  Greek.  It  seems 
to  me  that  these  stories,  whilst   they  disclose   a 


Greek  Mariners.  85 

complete  and  habitual  knowledge  of  things  Asiatic, 
have  about  them  so  much  of  freshness  and  life,  so 
much  of  the  stirring  and  volatile  European  charac- 
ter, 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  tlie  Flood,  but  has 
since  lain  balmed  in  spice.  At  the  time  of  the 
Caliphat,  the  Greek  race  was  familiar  enough  to 
Bagdad ;  they  were  the  merchants,  the  pedlars, 
the  barbers,  and  intriguers-general  of  south-western 
Asia,  and  therefore  the  oriental  materials  with 
which  tlie  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.  ]\Iy  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  main  land  of  Anadoli,  the  gale  ceased, 
and  a  favourable  breeze  springing  up,  soon  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 


86  Eothen. 

ourselves  in  smooth  water,  but  tlie  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  gal- 
lantly 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  quiv- 
ering with  emotion — wielding  his  every  limb,  like 


Greek  Marine7'S.  87 

another  and  a  louder  voice  —  pours  fortli  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  he  hrave  !  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  Limesol,  the  westermost  port  of 
Cyprus,  leaving  the  brigantine  to  sail  for  Larnecca, 
and  there  await  my  arrival. 


88 


CHAPTER    Vir. 

CYPKUS. 

There  was  a  Greek  at  Limesol,  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  con- 
sular state  and  dignity.  The  lady  of  the  house,  it 
seemed,  had  never  sat  at  table  with  an  European : 
she  was  very  shy  about  the  matter,  and  tried  hard 
to  get  out  of  the  scrape ;  but  the  husband,  I  fancy, 
reminded  her  that  she  was  theoretically  an  English 
woman,  by  virtue  of  the  flag  that  waved  over  her 
roof,  and  that  she  was  bound  to  show  her  nation- 
ality by  sitting  at  meat  with  me.  Finding  herself 
inexorably  condemned  to  bear  with  the  dreaded 
gaze  of  European  eyes,  she  tried  to  save  her  inno- 
cent children  from  the  hard  fate  awaiting  herself, 


Cyprtis.  89 

but  I  obtained  that  all  of  them  (and  I  tldnk  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  fur- 
nished the  materials)  went  off  very  well.  The 
mamma  was  shy  at  first,  but  she  veiled  her  awk- 
wardness by  affecting  to  scold  the  chil^en.  Tliese 
had  all  immortal  names — names,  too,  which  they 
owed  to  tradition,  and  certainly  not  to  any  classi- 
cal 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  pro- 
nounced Socrahtie,  Aspahsie — that  is,  according  to 
accent,  and  not  according  to  quantity  but  I  sup- 
pose 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 


90  Eothen. 

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 
was  chatting  with  me  (I  think  upon  the  roof  of 
the  house,  for  that  is  the  lounging-place  in  Eastern 
climes)  when  suddenly  he  assumed  a  serious  air, 
and  intimated  a  wish  to  talk  over  the  British  Con- 
stitution— a  subject  with  which,  as  he  assured  me, 
he  was  thoroughly  acquainted.  He  presently,  how- 
ever, remarked  that  there  was  one  anomalous  cir- 
cumstance attendant  upon  the  practical  working  of 
our  political  system  which  he  had  never  been  able 
to  hear  explained  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  him- 
self. Erom  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  an- 
nouncement of  a  thorough  knowledge  had  led  me 
to  expect ;  I  felt  interested  at  being  about  to  hear 
from  the  Hps  of  an  intelligent  Greek,  quite  remote 
from  the  influence  of  European  opinions,  what 
might  seem  to  him  the  most  astonishing  and  in- 
comprehensible of  all  those  results  which  have 
followed  from  the  action  of  our  political  institu- 
tions. The  anomaly  —  the  only  anomaly  which 
had  been  detected  by  the  vice -consular  wisdom 
— consisted  in  the  fact  that  Eothschild  (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 


Cyprus.  9 1 

worthy  Israelite  out  of  the  Cabinet ;  but  I  think 
I  could  see  that  my  explanation  was  not  satisfac- 
tory. 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  con- 
vince 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  very  dear  to  my  fancy.  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 
counsels  from  the  lips  of  Pallas  Athenie, — to  be- 
lieve —  ay,  only  to  believe  —  to  believe  for  one 
rapturous  moment  that  in  the  gloomy  depths  of 
the  grove  by  the  mountain's  side,  there  were  some 
leafy  pathway  that  crisped  beneath  the  glowing 
sandal  of  Aphrodetie — Aphrodetie,  not  coldly  dis- 


9  2  Eothen. 

dainful  of  even  a  mortal's  love  !  And  tliis  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  upshouldered  itself  from  out  of  the 
wilderness  of  myrtles,  and  of  a  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  otlierwise  did  I  toil  on  with  sorry  horses 
to  "where,  for  HEE,  the  hundred  altars  glowed 
with  Arabian  incense,  and  breathed  Avith  the  fra- 
grance of  garlands  ever  fresh?"  '"' 

I  passed  a  sadly  disenchanting  night  in  the 
cabin  of  a  Greek  priest — not  a  priest  of  the  god- 
dess, but  of  the  Greek  Church :  there  was  but  one 
humble  room,  or  rather  shed,  for  man,  and  priest, 
and  beast.       Tlie   next  morning  I  reached   Baffa 

•         ...     ulii  teniplum  illi,  centumquc  Saba;o 
Thure  calent  arre,  sertisc[ue  rect'iitibus  halaiit 

iENEiD,  i.  415. 


Cyprus.  93 

(Paplios),  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  Limesol  to  hoist  his 
flag  as  a  sort  of  deputy-provisionary-subvice-pro- 
acting-consul  of  the  British  sovereign.  The  poor 
fellow  instantly  changed  his  Greek  head-gear  for 
the  cap  of  consular  dignity,  and  insisted  upon  ac- 
companying 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  feeh'ng 
which  impelled  you  has  gone :  in  such  a  strait  you 
have  nothing  to  do  but  to  laugh  the  thing  off  as 
well  as  you  can  —  and,  by  the  by,  it  is  not  a  bad 
plan  to  turn  the  conversation  (or  rather  allow  the 
natives  to  turn  it)  towards  the  subject  of  hidden 


94  Eothen. 

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  mat- 
ters, they  will  not  only  begin  to  think  you  per- 
fectly sane,  but  will  even  perhaps  give  you  credit 
for  some  more  than  human  powers  of  forcing  dark 
Earth  to  show  you  its  hoards  of  gold. 

Wlien  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  to  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  my  faithful  Mysseri  not  only 
assured  me  that  I  might  safely  offer  money  to  the 
vice-consul,  but  recommended  that  I  should  give 


Cyprus.  95 

no  more  to  him  than  to  "  the  others,"  meaning  any- 
other  peasant.  I  felt,  however,  that  there  was 
something  about  the  man,  besides  the  flag  and  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  in- 
eftably  grateful,  and  I  had  some  difficulty  in  tear- 
ing 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  goats'-milk 
cheese  in  his  hand,  and  this  (it  was  rather  a  bur- 
thensome  gift)  he  fondly  implored  me  to  accept. 
In  old  times  the  shepherd  of  Theocritus,  or  (to 
speak  less  dishonestly)  the  shepherd  of  the  "  Poetae 
Grseci,"  sang  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 
Limesol,  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  my 
host's  birthday,  and  during  all  the  morning  there 
was  a  constant  influx  of  visitors  who  came  to  offer 
their  congratulations.     A  few  of  these  were  men. 


96  Eothen. 

but  most  of  tliem  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  o%vn.  The  Cypriot  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 
conciousness  of  gentle  empire,  that  speaks  in  the 
wavy  lines  of  the  shoulder,  and  winds  itself  like 
Cytherea's  own  cestus  around  the  slender  waist ; 
then  the  richly-abounding  hair  (not  enviously  gath- 
ered 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  Limesol — their  robes  are  more  gently, 
more  sweetly  imagined,  and  fall  like  Julia's  cashmere 
in  soft,  luxurious  folds.      The  common  voice  of  the 


Cyprus.  9  7 

Levant  allows  that  in  face  the  women  of  Cyprus 
are  less  beautiful  than  their  majestic  sisters  of 
Smyrna ;  and  yet,  says  the  Greek,  he  may  trust  him- 
self to  one  and  all  of  the  bright  cities  of  the  --^gean, 
and  may  still  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  "  (ttoXitikt;)  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  de- 
scribe the  ineffable  spell  which  the  Parisians  dis- 
pose of  in  their  own  smart  way,  by  a  summary 
"  Je  ne  s^ai  quoi." 

I  went  to  Larnecca,  the  chief  city  of  the  isla 
and  over  the  water  at  last  to  Bey  rout. 


9S 


CHAPTER  VITL 

LADY    HESTER     STAlfHOPE. 

Beyrout  on  its  land-side  is  hemmed  in  by  moun- 
tains.    There  dwell  the  Druses. 

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  af- 
frighted groups  of  the  mountaineers  as  they  fled 
before  me,  under  the  fear  that  my  troop  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  these  last  I  have  the  honour  to  refer  you.''' 

I  received  hospitable  welcome  at  Beyrout,  from 
the  Europeans  as  well  as  from  the  Syrian  Chris- 
tians ;  and  I  soon  discovered  that  in  aU  society  the 
standing  topic  of  interest  was  an  Englishwoman 

*  The  papers  laid  before  Parliament  by  the  Foreign  Office  in 
1840  and  1841. 


Lady  Hester  Stanhope.  99 

(Lady  Hester  Stanhope)  who  lived  in  an  old  con- 
vent 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  with- 
out that  aid,  was  sufficiently  distinguished  to  com- 
mand attention. 

Many  years  of  Lady  Hester's  early  womanhood 
had  been  passed  with  Lady  Chatham,  at  Burton 
Pynsent ;  and  during  tliat  inglorious  period  of  the 
heroine's  life,  her  commanding  character,  and  (as 
they  would  have  called  it,  in  the  language  of  those 
days)  her  "  condescending  kindness  "  towards  my 
mother's  family,  had  increased  in  them  those  strong 
feelings  of  respect  and  attachment,  which  her  rank 
and  station  alone  would  have  easily  won  from 
people  of  the  middle  class.  You  may  suppose 
how  deeply  the  quiet  women  in  Somersetshire 
must  have  been  interested,  when  they  slowly 
learned,  by  vague  and  uncertain  tidings,  that  the 
intrepid  girl  who  had  been  used  to  break  their 
vicious  horses  for  them  was  reigning  in  sovereignty 
over  the  wandering  tribes  of  western  Asia !  I 
know  that  her  name  was  made  almost  as  familiar 
to  me  in  my  childhood  as  the  name  of  Robinson 
Crusoe ;  both  were  associated  with  the  spirit  of 
adventure  :  but  whilst  the  imagined  life  of  the  cast- 
away mariner  never  failed  to  seem  glaringly  real, 
the  true  story  of  the  Englishwoman  ruling  over 


I  oo  Eothen. 

Arabs  always  sounded  to  me  like  a  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,  the  delight  of 
my  childhood,  along  with  the  attar  of  roses,  and 
fragrant  wonders  from  Hindostan,  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 — a 
Queen  who  dwelt  in  tents,  and  reigned  over  wan- 
dering Arabs. 

The  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  famil- 
iar 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  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,  men- 
tioning  the   maiden  name  of  my  mother  (whose 


Lady  Hester  Staiihope.  loi 

marriage  was  subsequent  to  Lady  Hester's  depar- 
ture), and  saying  that  if  there  existed  on  the  part 
of  her  ladyship  any  wish  to  hear  of  her  old  Somer- 
setshire acquaintance,  I  should  make  a  point  of 
visiting  her.  My  letter  was  sent  by  a  foot-mes- 
senger 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  ostentatious- 
ly as  though  they  were  carrpng  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.  "VVliilst  still 
remaining  at  Be}Tout  I  received  another  letter 
from  Lady  Hester;  this  I  will  give  you,  for  it 
shows  that  whatever  the  eccentricities  of  the  writer 
may  have  been,  she  could  at  least  be  thoughtful 
and  courteous : — 

"  Sir, — I  hope  I  shall  be  disappointed  in  seeing  you  on 
"Wednesday,  for  the  late  rains  have  rendered  the  river  Damoor, 


I02  Eothen. 

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  prob- 
ably 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  opportu- 
nity 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  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  don't  of  course  re- 
quire a  functionary  empowered  to  compel  the  sup- 
ply of  horses,  and  you  can  therefore  dispense  with 
a  Tatar.  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  the  whole  of  the  journey 
from  Beyrout  to  Jerusalem.  The  owner  of  the 
beasts  (he  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 
glowed  in  his  veins,  but  from  the  well-known  sanc- 
tity of  his  life,  and  the  length  of  his  blessed  beard. 


Lady  Hester  StanJiopc.  103 

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  diffi- 
culty 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 
well,  and  communicated  with  me  in  Italian.  The 
man  was  a  very  zealous  member  of  the  Greek 
Church.  He  had  been  a  tailor.  He  had  a  thor- 
oughly Tatar  countenance, — a  countenance  so  odd 
and  ugly  that  it  expressed  all  his  griefs  of  body 
and  mind  in  the  most  ludicrous  manner  imaginable. 
He  embellished  the  natural  caricature  of  his  per- 
son by  suspending  about  his  neck  and  shoulders 
and  waist,  quantities  of  little  bundles  and  bags 
filled  with  treasures,  which  he  thought  too  valuable 
to  be  intrusted  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  tlie  subver- 
sion 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  was  sure 
to  be  verv   amusing.     He   always  addressed  the 


1 04  Eothen. 

beast  in  language,  implying  that  lie,  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  ser- 
vant. 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  Saide  (the  Sidon  of  ancient  times)  on  my 
right,  and  about  an  hour,  I  think,  before  sunset, 
began  to  ascend  one  of  the  many  low  hills  of 
Lebanon.  On  the  summit  before  me  was  a  broad, 
grey  mass  of  irregular  building,  which,  from  its 
position,  as  well  as  from  the  gloomy  blankness  of 
its  walls,  gave  the  idea  of  a  neglected  fortress ;  it 
had,  in  fact,  been  a  convent  of  great  size,  and,  like 
most  of  the  religious  houses  in  this  part  of  the 
world,  had  been  made  strong  enough  for  opposing 
an  inert  resistance  to  any  mere  casual  band  of 
assailants  who  might  be  unprovided  with  regular 
means  of  attack :  this  was  the  dwelling-place  of 
Chatham's  fiery  granddaughter. 

The  aspect  of  the  first  court  I  entered  was  such 
as  to  keep  one  in  the  idea  of  having  to  do  with 
a  fortress,  rather  than  a  mere  peaceable  dwelling- 


Lady  Hestey  Stanhope.  105 

place.  A  number  of  fierce-looking  and  ill-clad 
Albanian  soldiers  were  banging  about  tbe  place  in- 
ert, and  striving,  as  well  as  tbey  could,  to  bear  tbe 
curse  of  tranquillity ;  two  or  tbree  of  tbem  were 
smoking  tbeir  tcJiihouques,  but  tbe  rest  were  lying 
torpidly  upon  tbe  flat  stones,  like  tbe  bodies  of 
departed  brigands.  I  rode  on  to  an  inner  part  of 
tbe  building,  and  at  last,  quitting  my  borses,  was 
conducted  tbrougb  a  doorway  tbat  led  me  at  once 
from  an  open  court  into  an  apartment  on  tbe 
ground-floor.  As  I  entered,  an  oriental  figure  in 
male  costume  approached  me  from  tbe  furtber  end 
of  tbe  room,  witb  many  and  profound  bows ;  but 
tbe  growing  sbades  of  evening  prevented  me  from 
distinguishing  the  features  of  the  personage  who 
was  receiving  me  witb  this  solemn  welcome.  I 
had  always,  however,  understood  tbat  Lady  Hester 
Stanhope  wore  the  male  attire,  and  I  began  to  utter 
in  English  tbe  common  civilities  that  seemed  to  be 
proper  on  tbe  commencement  of  a  visit  by  an  un- 
inspired 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  strivod 
not  to  be  outdone  in  gestures  of  respect ;  but  pres- 
ently my  bowing  opponent  saw  the  error  under 
which  I  was  acting,  and  suddenly  convinced  me, 
that  at  all  events  I  was  not  yd  in  tbe  presence  of 
a  superhuman  being,  by  declaring  that  he  was  far 


io6  Eothen. 

from  being  "  Miladi,"  and  was,  in  fact,  nothing 
more  or  less  godlike  than  the  poor  doctor  who  had 
brought  his  mistress's  letter  to  Beyrout. 

Lady  Hester,  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 — highly 
artificial,  and,  as  I  thought,  very  good.  I  rejoiced, 
too,  in  the  wine  of  the  Lebanon. 

After  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  chamber,  protected  from  the 
draughts  of  air  passing  through  the  doorway  by  a 
folding  screen  ;  passing  this,  I  came  alongside  of  a 
common  European  sofa.  There  sat  the  Lady  Pro- 
phetess. She  rose  from  her  seat  very  formally — 
spoke  to  me  a  few  words  of  welcome,  pointed  to  a 
chair — one  already  placed  exactly  opposite  to  her 
sofa  at  a  couple  of  yards'  distance — and  remained 
standing  up  to  the  full  of  her  majestic  height, 
perfectly  stiU  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 


Lady  Hester  Stanhope.  107 

floor  or  the  footstool :  at  the  moment  of  seating 
lierself  she  covered  her  lap  with  a  mass  of  loose, 
white  drapery.  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  command- 
ing features  of  the  gaunt  woman,  then  sixty  years 
old  or  more,  certainly  reminded  me  of  the  states- 
man that  lay  dying '"  in  the  House  of  Lords,  ac- 
cording to  Copley's  picture.  Her  face  was  of  the 
most  astonishing  wliiteness  ;  t  she  wore  a  very  large 
turban  made  seemingly  of  pale  cashmere  shawls, 
and  so  disposed  as  to  conceal  the  hair ;  her  dress, 
from  the  chin  down  to  the  point  at  which  it  was 

Historically  "fainting  ; '''  the  death  did  not  occur  until  long 
afterwards. 
+  I  am  told  that  in  youth  she  was  exceedingly  sallow. 


io8  Eothen. 

concealed  by  the  drapery  on  her  lap,  was  a  mass 
of  white  linen  loosely  folding — an  ecclesiastical 
sort  of  affair — -more  like  a  surplice  than  any  of 
those  blessed  creations  which  our  souls  love  under 
the  names  of  "  dress,"  and  "-frock,"  and  "  boddice," 
and  "  collar,"  and  "  habit-shirt,"  and  sweet  "  chemi- 
sette." 

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  patron- 
age, and  sole  Secretary  of  State  for  the  depart- 
ment 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 


Lady  Hester  StanJiope.  109 

with  which  he  filled  the  minds  of  the  country 
gentlemen  should  be  aggravated  by  the  presence 
of  his  majestic  niece.  But  the  end  was  approach- 
ing. 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,  when  the  terrible  tidings  came  to  his  ears, 
was  wrung  with  grief — fatal  grief.  In  the  bitter- 
ness of  his  despair,  he  cried  out  to  his  niece,  and 
bid  her  "  Eoll  up  the  Map  of  Europe  ; "  there 
was  a  little  more  of  suffering,  and  at  last,  with  his 
swollen  tongue  (so  they  say)  still  muttering  some- 
thing 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  people  when 
goaded  by  sorrow.  Lady  Hester  Stanhope  obeyed 
this  impulse ;  for  some  time,  I  believe,  she  was  at 
Constantinople,  and  there  her  magnificence,  as  well 
as  her  near  alliance  to  the  late  minister,  gained 
her  great  influence.  Afterwards  she  passed  into 
Syria.     The  people  of  that  country,  excited  by  the 


1 1  o  Eothen. 

acliievements  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 — immense  in  piastres)  to 
the  sheik  whose  authority  was  recognised  in  the 
desert,  between  Damascus  and  Palmyra.  The 
■prestige  created  by  the  rumours  of  her  high  and 
undefined  rank,  as  well  as  of  her  wealth  and  corre- 
sponding 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  I  understood  that,  for  a  time  at  least, 
she  certainly  exercised  something  like  sovereignty 
amongst  the  wandering  tribes.  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  tchihouques,  and  coffee. 

The  custom  of  the  East  sanctions,  and  almost 
commands,  some  moments  of  silence  whilst  you 


Lady  Hester  Sta7ihope.  1 1 1 

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  bound- 
ed 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  direc- 
tion ;  either,  therefore,  they  w^re  to  be  all  gathered 
together  towards  the  rising  of  the  sun  by  the  mys- 
terious finger  of  Providence,  or  else  they  were  to 
revolve  round  the  globe  for  ever  and  ever.  Both 
of  these  suppositions  were  highly  gratifying,  be- 
cause 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 


1 1  2  Eothen. 

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  d^ve,  in  occult  science. 

For  hours  and  hours,  this  wondrous  white 
woman  poured  forth  her  speech,  for  tlie  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  obtain- 
ing influence  with  the  wandering  tribes.  The 
Bedouin,  so  often  engaged  in  irregular  warfare, 
strains  his  eyes  to  the  horizon  in  search  of  a  com- 
ing 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  had  this  power.  She 
told  me  that,  on  one  occasion,  when  there  was 
good  reason  to  expect  hostilities,  a  far-seeing  Arab 
created  great  excitement  in  the  camp  by  declaring 
that  he  could  distinguish  some  moving  objects 
upon  the  very  farthest  point  within  the  reach  of 


Lady  Hester  Stanhope.  1 1  3 

his  eyes :  Lady  Hester  was  consulted,  and  she  in- 
stantly assured  her  comrades  in  arms  that  there 
were  indeed  a  number  of  horses  within  sight,  but 
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  quaKties 
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  per- 
ceived that  preparations  for  an  engagement  were 
going  on ;  and  upon  her  making  inquiry  as  to  the 
cause,  the  shells:  at  first  affected  mystery  and  con- 
cealment, but  at  last  confessed  that  war  had  been 
declared  against  his  tribe  on  account  of  his  alli- 
ance 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  sa- 
cred duty  of  protecting  the  Englishwoman  whom 
he  had  admitted  as  his  guest  was  the  only  obstacle 
which  prevented  an  amicable  settlement  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 
H 


1 1 4  Eothen. 

consequences,  however  terrible  to  him  and  his 
whole  people,  should  induce  him  to  dream  of  aban- 
doning 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  dis- 
tricts 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,  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  shout- 
ing, and  apparently  intending  to  take  her  life  at 
the  instant  with  their  pointed  spears.     Her  face  at 


Lady  Hester  StajiJwpe.  115 

the  time  was  covered  with  the  yashmak,  accord- 
ing to  Eastern  usage ;  but  at  the  moment  when 
the  foremost  of  the  horsemen  had  all  but  reached 
her  witli  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, 
"  Avauut !  "  '''  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  gun-shots  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  appre- 
hension 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  mo- 
ment, in  order  to  give  me  a  better  idea  of  the 
effect  which  she  produced  by  suddenly  revealing 
the  awfulness  of  her  countenance. 

*  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. 


1 1 6  EotJien. 

Witli  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  pen- 
ance, 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  doc- 
tors 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  nor  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  day- 
time. 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  sor- 
cerous  spells  were  completely  at  her  command,  but 
that  the  exercise  of  such  powers  would  be  derog- 
atory to  her  higli  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 


Lady  Hester  StanJiope.  1 1  7 

magicians,  but  that  the  practice  of  suchlike  arts 
was  unholy  as  well  as  vulgar. 

Wo  spoke  of  the  bending  twig  by  which,  it  is 
said,  precious  metals  may  be  discovered.  lu  rela- 
tion 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 
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  men- 
tioned, 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  youth- 
ful hero  (for  she  said  he  was  great  in  his  genera- 
tion) was  not  to  be  thus  daunted ;  he  fell  back 
characteristically  upon  his  brazen  resources,  and 
ordered  up  his  artillery.  Yet  man  could  not  strive 
with  demons,  and  Napoleon  was  foiled.  In  latter 
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  sud- 
denly leaped  in  her  hands.  She  ordered  excavations, 
and  no  demons  opposed  her  enterprise.     The  vast 


1 1 8  Eothen. 

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  treas- 
ures 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  macrical  arts, 
upon  which  she  looked  down  with  so  much  con- 
tempt. 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  over- 
tures to  Lady  Hester.  She  told  me  that  the  P^re 
Enfantin  (the  chief  of  the  sect)  had  sent  her  a  ser- 
vice 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  can- 
not 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  an  illness  so 
severe  as  to  render  her  for  a  long  time  perfectly 
helpless :  aU  her  attendants  fled,  and  left  her  to 


Lady  Hester  Stanhope.  1 1 9 

perish.  Whilst  she  lay  thus  alone  and  quite  un- 
able to  rise,  robbers  came  and  carried  away  lier 
property:'^'  she  told  nie  that  they  actually  un- 
roofed 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  tliis 
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 

*  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  ac- 
count 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  War- 
burton's  letter  contained,  and  the  descriptive  force  with  which  it 
was  written. 


1 20  Eothen. 

of;  but  the  Albanian  soldiers,  who  had  taken 
refuge  with  Lady  Hester  at  the  same  time,  still 
remained  under  her  protection. 

In  trutli,  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  inter- 
fering with  the  prophetess  (a  notion  not  at  all 
incompatible  with  his  character  as  an  able  Orien- 
tal 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  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 


Lady  Hester  Stanhope.  i  2 1 

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  then  close  at  hand,  she  advised  me, 
whilst  there  was  yet  time,  to  dispose  of  my  pro- 
perty 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  Spia!  I  secretly  smiled  at  this  last 
prophecy  as  a  "  bad  shot,"  because  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  un- 
believed  Cassandra  was  right  after  all :  the  plague 
came,  and  the  necessity  of  avoiding  the  quarantine 
detention,  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  fore- 
told. 

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  falseness  of  all  European  creeds,  as 
well  as  with  a  sense  of  her  own  spiritual  greatness. 
Throughout    her    conversation    upon    these    high 


12  2  Eothen. 

topics,  she  carefully  insinuated,  without  actually 
asserting,  her  heavenly  rank. 

Amongst  other  much  more  marvellous  powers, 
the  lady  claimed  one  which  most  women  have 
more  or  less  —  namely,  that  of  reading  men's 
characters  in  their  faces.  She  examined  the  line 
of  my  features  very  attentively,  and  told  me  the 
result  :  this,  however,  I  mean  to  keep  hidden. 

One  favoured  subject  of  discourse  was  that  of 
"  race : "  upon  this  she  was  very  diffuse,  and  yet 
rather  mysterious.  She  set  great  value  upon  the 
ancient  French,'"  not  Norman,  blood  (for  that  she 
vilified),  but  professed  to  despise  our  English  no- 
tion of  "  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  some- 
times see,  I  am  told,  in  London  drawing-rooms 
— cool,  decisive  in  manner,  unsparing  of  enemies, 

*  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. 


Lady  Hester  Stanhope.  123 

full  of  audacious  fun,  and  saying  the  downright 
things  that  the  sheepish  society  around  her  is 
afraid  to  utter.  I  am  told  that  Lady  Hester  was, 
in  her  youth,  a  capital  mimic ;  and  she  showed 
me  that  not  all  the  queenly  dulness  to  which  she 
had  condemned  herself — not  all  her  fasting  and 
solitude — had  destroyed  this  terrible  power.  The 
first  whom  she  crucified  in  my  presence  was  poor 
Lord  Byron.  She  had  seen  him,  it  appeared,  I 
know  not  where,  soon  after  his  arrival  in  the  East, 
and  was  vastly  amused  at  his  little  affectations. 
He  had  picked  up  a  few  sentences  of  the  Eomaic, 
and  with  these  he  affected  to  give  orders  to  his 
Greek  servant  in  a  tva  d'apameihornenos  style.  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  coxcomical  lisp. 

Another  person,  whose  style  of  speaking  the 
lady  took  off  very  amusingly,  was  one  who  would 
scarcely  object  to  sufier  by  the  side  of  Lord  Byron 
— I  mean  Lamartine.  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  countiymen,  and 
not  even  their  usual  way  of  talking,  but  rather 
bore  himself  mincingly,  like  the  humbler  sort  of 
English  dandy.''" 

*  It  is  said  that  deaf  people  can  hear  what  is  said  concerning 


1 24  Eothen. 

Lady  Hester  seems  to  Lave  heartily  despised 
everything  approaching  to  exquisiteness.  She  told 
me,  by  the  by  (and  her  opinion  upon  that  subject 
is  worth  having),  that  a  downright  manner,  amount- 
ing 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)  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. 

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.  Lamar- 
tine  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  accjuired  knowledge." 


Lady  Hester  StanJiope.  125 

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  on  my 
entrance ;  at  the  same  time  she  pushed  the  loose 
drapery  from  her  lap,  and  let  it  fall  down  upon 
the  floor. 

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  Euro- 
pean 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  (who  had  sunk  into  the  complete  Asiatic. 


126  Eothen. 

and  had  condescended  accordingly  to  the  perfor- 
mance 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  secre- 
tary. T\Qien  I  had  strolled  with  him  to  such  a 
distance  from  the  building  as  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 
Miladi.  I  said  nothing  to  encourage  the  poor  fel- 
low in  his  frightful  state  of  scepticism,  for  I  saw 
that,  if  indulged,  it  might  end  in  positive  infidel- 
ity. Lady  Hester,  it  seemed,  had  rather  arbitrarily 
abridged  the  amusements  of  her  secretary;  and 
especially  she  had  forbidden  him  from  shooting 
small  birds  on  the  mountaia-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 
strongly  disliked  by  the  surrounding  people,  and 
that  she  oppressed  them  a  good  deal  by  her 
exactions.  I  know  not  whether  this  statement 
had  any  truth  in  it ;  but  whether  it  was  or  was 
not  well  founded,  it  is  certain  that  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  Hesier  Stanhope.  1 2  7 

lady — her  resolute  and  imperious  character,  and 
above  all,  perhaps,  her  fierce  Albanians  (not  back- 
ward 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 
Ibraliim)  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  ]\Iiladi  were  of  a  very  humble  sort. 
This  answer,  and  a  storm  of  rain  then  beginning 
to  descend,  prevented  me  at  the  time  from  under- 
taking my  journey  to   the  stables ;    and  I  don't 


128  Eothe7i. 

know  that  I  ever  thought  of  the  matter  after- 
wards, until  my  return  to  England,  when  I  saw 
Lamartine's  eye-witnessing  account  of  the  strange 
horse  saddled,  as  he  pretends,  by  the  hands  of  his 
]\Iaker  ! 

When  I  returned  to  my  room  (this,  as  my 
hostess  told  me,  was  the  only  one  in  the  whole 
building  that  kept  out  the  rain).  Lady  Hester  sent 
to  say  she  would  be  glad  to  receive  me  again.  I 
was  rather  surprised  at  this,  for  I  had  understood 
that  slie  reposed  during  the  day,  and  it  was  now 
little  later  than  noon.  "  Eeally,"  said  she,  when 
I  had  taken  my  seat  and  my  pipe,  "  we  were  to- 
gether 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,  though  it  lasted  two  or  three 
hours,  was  all  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  Lady 
Hester  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 — he  was  a  pleasant,  amusing 


Lady  Hester  Stajihope.  1 29 

man — dined  together,  and  we  were  afterwards  in- 
vited to  the  presence  of  my  Lady,  and  with  her 
we  sat  smoking  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  ">S'Ae  Imd  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  stron<T 
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  be- 
lieved these  things  in  common  with  those  around 
her;  and  it  could  scarcely  be  otherwise,  for  she 
seldom  spoke  to  anybody  except  crazy  old  dervishes 


1 30  Eothen. 

who  at  once  received  her  alms  and  fostered  her 
extravagances ;  and  even  when  (as  on  the  occasion 
of  my  visit)  she  was  brought  into  contact  with  a 
person  entertaining  different  notions,  she  still  re- 
mained uncontradicted.  •  Tliis  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  scarcely  acknow- 
ledge to  ourselves  how  much  we  owe  to  the  wise 
and  watchful  press  which  presides  over  the  forma- 
tion 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  Chancelloi 
or  the  Leader  of  the  House  of  Commons.  How 
different  is  the  intellectual  rSgime  of  Eastern 
countries !  In  Syria,  and  Palestine,  and  Egypt, 
you  might  as  well  dispute  the  eflQcacy  of  grass 
or  grain  as  of  Magic.  There  is  no  controversy 
about  the  matter.  The  effect  of  this,  the  unani- 
mous, 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 


Lady  Hester  Stanhope.  131 

while  the  social  atmosphere  of  Asia  will  begin  to. 
infect  him,  and,  if  he  has  been  unaccustomed  to 
the  cunning  of  fence  by  which  Eeason  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  "  prac- 
tical 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  (though  their  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  lan- 
guage at  first  is  that  they  are  "  staggered ; "  lead- 
ing 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  "  stagger- 
ing "  wonders  were  not  even  specious  enough  to  be 
looked  upon  as  good  "  tricks."  A  man  in  England, 
who  gained   his  whole   liveliliood   as    a   conjuror, 


12,2  Eothen. 

would  soon  be  starved  to  death  if  he  could  perform 
uo  better  miracles  than  those  which  are  wrought 
with  so  much  effect  in  Syria  and  Egypt.  Some- 
times, 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. 


^33 


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  there 
stands  the  great  Catholic  church  which  encloses 
the  sanctuary — the  dwelling  of  the  blessed  Virgin.""' 

*  The  Greek  Cliurch  does  not  recognise  this  as  the  true  Sanc- 
tnaiy,  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 


1 34  EotJien. 

This  is  a  grotto  of  about  ten  feet  either  way,  form- 
ing a  little  chapel  or  recess,  and  reached  by  de- 
scending 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,  another  column  of 
the  same  size  rises  from  the  ground  as  if  to  meet 
the  one  above ;  but  between  this  and  the  suspend- 
ed pillar  there  is  an  interval  of  more  than  a  foot. 
These  fragments  once  formed  the  single  column  on 
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  hear- 
ing, but  yet),  as  it  were,  in  solitude,  for  I  had  no 

correctness  of  the  opinion  -whicli  has  fixed  upon  this  cas  the  true 
site,  but  merely  to  mention  it  as  a  belief  entertained  without  ques- 
tion by  my  brethren  of  the  Latin  Church,  whose  guest  I  was  at 
the  time.  It  would  be  a  great  aggravation  of  the  trouble  of  writ- 
ing 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  literallj"^  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. 


The  Sanctuary.  135 

comrade  to  whet  the  edge  of  my  reason,  or  wake 
me  from  my  noon- day  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 
liome  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  trans- 
cending mortal  shapes. 

I  came  to  Nazareth,  and  was  led  from  the  con- 
vent to  the  Sanctuary.  Long  fasting  will  some- 
times heat  a  man's   brain,  and   draw   him   away 


1 3^  Eothen. 

out  of  the  world — will  disturb  Ms  judgment,  con- 
fuse his  notions  of  right  and  wrong,  and  weaken 
his  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  tlie  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  bend- 
ing 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.  Im- 
patient of  vacancy,  I  grew  madly  strong  against 
nature ;  and  if  by  some  awful  spell,  some  im- 
pious rite,  I  could Oh,  most  sweet  religion, 

that  bid  me  fear  God,  and  be  pious,  and  yet  not 


TJie  Sanctuary.  137 

cease  from  loving  !  Eeligion  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  tlie  refectory  and  the 
coming  repast,  I  listened  to  his  words  with  some 
attention  and  pleasure. 


138 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE    MONKS    OF    PALESTINE. 

Whenever  you  come  back  to  me  from  Palestine, 
we  will  fi-nd  some  "golden  wine"'^""  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  where  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 
*  "Vino  d'oro  " 


The  IMonks  of  Palestine.  139 

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  Damas- 
cus, 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  in- 
quiry in  reference  to  the  associations  with  which 
the  city  had  been  hallowed  by  tlie  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  joyful  fire,  and  their  heavy  woollen  petticoats 
could  no  more  weigh  down  the  springiness  of  their 
paces,  than  the  filmy  gauze  of  a  danseuse  can  clog 
lier  bounding  step. 

You  would  be  likely  enough  to  fancy  that  these 


140  EotJien. 

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  witli  enthusiasts  that  the  Catholic  establish- 
ments are  filled.  The  monks  of  the  Latin  con- 
vents 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, — punc- 
tual 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  intel- 
lectual vanities  of  life  have  been  really  and  truly 
abandoned.      But  it  is  hard  to  quench  altogether 


The  Mojiks  of  Palestine.  1 4 1 

the  spirit  of  inquiiy  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  gratifi- 
cation, 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 
ffood-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  hu- 
mour  of  Herodotus,  and   calmly  began  to  "  sing 
history,"   telling   my  eager  hearers  of  the  Frencii 
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  de- 
pending   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 


142  Eotheji. 

time  when  the  Italy  and  tlie  Spain,  from  which 
they  came,  were  in  act  of  taking  their  French  les- 
sons, or  had  parted  so  lately  with  their  teachers, 
that  not  to  know  of  "  the  Emperor "  was  impos- 
sible :  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  be- 
cause I  have  said  it  will  be  right  (she  always  is), 
— whilst  poor  Mr  "  reasonable  man,"  who  is  con- 
vinced by  the  weight  of  my  argument,  will  be 
completely  deceived. 

In  Spanish  politics,  however,  the  monks  are 
better  instructed.  The  revenues  of  the  monas- 
teries, which  had  been  principally  supplied  by  the 
bounty  of  their  most  Catholic  ]\Iajesties,  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 


The  Mo7iks  of  Palestine.  143 

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 
couN'ent  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  num- 
ber ;  and  I  don't  recollect  that  there  was  one  of 
them  whom  I  should  have  looked  upon  as  a  desir- 
able 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  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  liis  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 


1 44  Eothen. 

imagined  themselves  almost  safe  so  long  as  tliey 
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  sup- 
ply 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)  be- 
longing to  the  establishment,  but  at  some  little  dis- 
tance 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  tlie  notion  that  disease 
may  be  invited  by  a  frightening  imagination,  it  is 
dijfficult  to  conceive  a   more  dangerous  plan  than 
that  which  was  chosen  by  these  poor  fellows.     The 
anxiety  with  which  they  must  liave  expected  each 
day  the  sound  of  the  bell — the  silence  that  reigned 


The  Monks  of  Palestine .  145 

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  Laud 
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  wor- 
shipping 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  su- 
preme and  absolute  governor  of  the  establishment 
over  which  he  is  appointed  to  rule  ;  the  latter  is 
intrusted  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 — con- 
K 


146  Eothcn. 

soles  them  iu  tlieir  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  tbe  position  of  the  Padre  Superiore  is  still 
more  delicate :  he  is  almost  unceasingly  in  treaty 
with  the  powers  that  be,  and  the  worldly  pros- 
perity of  the  whole  establishment  is  in  great  mea- 
sure 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  Eome  does  not  suffer  to 
be  penetrated.  I  have  heard  it  said  that  they  are 
men  of  great  note,  and,  perhaps,  of  too  high  ambi- 
tion in  the  Catholic  hierarchy,  who,  having  fallen 
under  the  grave  censure  of  the  Church,  are  ban- 
ished for  fixed  periods  to  these  distant  monasteries. 
I  believe  that  the  term  during  which  they  are  con- 
demned 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 


The  Mojiks  of  Palestine.  147 

creature  ;  liis  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  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  con- 
scious of  his  power  to  "bind,  and  to  loose." 


148 


CHAPTER    XI. 

GALILEE. 

Neither  old  "  Sacred  "  "'^  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  an- 
other to  my  party  by  hiring  a  guide.  The  asso- 
ciations of  Nazareth,  as  well  as  my  kind  feeling 
towards  the  hospitable  monks,  whose  guest  I  had 
been,  inclined  me  to  set  at  nought  the  advice 
which  I  had  received  against  employing  Chris- 
tians, 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  in- 
stance by  the  result  of  my  choice.  This  you  will 
see  by  and  by. 

I  passed  by  Cana,  and  the  house  of  the  marriage 

*  Shereef. 


Galilee.  1 49 

feast  prolonged  by  miraculous  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  where  the  fainting  multitude  had 
been  fed,  and  they  showed  me  some  massive  frag- 
ments—  the  relics  (they  said)  of  that  wondrous 
banquet,  now  turned  into  stone.  The  petrifaction 
was  most  complete. 

I  ascended  the  height  where  our  Lord  was 
standing  when  He  wrought  the  miracle.  The 
hill  rose  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,  for- 
getting 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  smiKng  heavens  unceasing 
light  and  changeful  phases  of  beauty ;  and  with 
all  this  brightness  on  her  face,  she  yet  clung 
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."  * 

If  one  might  judge  of  men's  real  thoughts  by 

*  Tennyson. 


150  Eotheji. 

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  Ptome.  I  am  not  thus  docile :  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 — tlie  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 — "  Tibe- 
rias— the  plain  of  Gennesareth — the  very  earth 
on  which  I  stood — that  the  deep,  low  tones  of  the 


Galilee.  1 5 1 

Saviour's  voice  should  have  gone  forth  into  Eter- 
nity 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  loving 
thought  from  over  the  seas  in  England — a  thought 
more  sweet  than  Gospel  to  a  wilful  mortal  like 
this. 

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  people  were  admitted  to 
the  benefit  of  the  same  shelter.  With  portman- 
teaus, 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  strange  orisons ;  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 
^lussulman.  The  universal  aptness  of  a  religious 
system  for  all  stages  of  civilisation,  and  for  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  well  befits  its  claim 


152  Eotken. 

of  divine  origin.  She  is  of  all  nations,  and  of  all 
times,  that  wonderful  Church  of  Eome  ! 

Tiberias  is  one  of  the  four  holy  cities/''  accord- 
ing to  the  Talmud ;  and  ■  it  is  from  this  place,  or 
the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  it,  that  the  Mes- 
siah 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  since  these  people  never  return  to  their 
homes,  it  follows  that  any  domestic  vermin  they 
may  bring  with  them  are  likely  to  become  per- 
manently resident,  so  that  the  population  is  con- 
tinually 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 

*  The  other  three  cities  held  holy  by  Jews   are   Jerusaleiii, 
Hebron,  and  Safet. 


Galilee.  1 5  3 

swarms  from  all  the  Eussias,  and  Asiatic  hordes 
unnumbered  —  all  these  were  there,  and  all  re- 
joiced in  one  great  international  feast.  I  could 
no  more  defend  myself  against  my  enemies  than 
if  I  had  been  " imin  co  discretion"  in  the  hands  of 
a  French  communist.  After  passing  a  night  like 
this,  you  are  glad  to  gather  up  the  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. 


154 


CHAPTER     XIL 

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  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  sitting  in  pews — a  time 
for  impugning  the  foregone  opinions  of  men,  and 


My  Fii'st  Bivouac.  r  5  5 

haughtily  dividing  truth  from  falsehood — a  time, 
in  short,  for  questioning,  scoffing,  and  railing — for 
speaking  lightly  of  the  very  opera,  and  all  our 
most  cherislied  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  bending  your  way  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  congeni- 
ally with  the  yet  unparcelled  earth,  A  little 
while  you  are  free  and  unlabelled,  like  the  ground 
that  you  compass ;  but  Civilisation  is  watching  to 
throw  her  lasso ;  you  will  be  surely  enclosed,  and 
sooner  or  later  brought  down  to  a  state  of  mere 
usefulness — your  grey  hills  will  be  curiously  sliced 
into  acres,  and  roods,  and  perches,  and  you,  for  all 
you  sit  so  wilful  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.  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  larger  stride  you  burst  away  from 
these  slips  and  patches  of  free  land — you  thread 
your  path  through  the  crowds  of  Europe,  and  at 


156  Eothen. 

last,  on  the  banks  of  Jordan,  you  joyfully  know 
that  you  are  upon  the  very  frontier  of  all  accus- 
tomed 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  aching  from  very  weariness  of  that 
poor,  dear,  middle-aged,  deserving,  accomplished, 
pedantic,  and  pains-taking  governess,  Europe. 

I  had  ridden  for  some  hours  along  the  right 
bank  of  Jordan,  when  I  came  to  the  Djesr  el 
Medjam^  (an  old  Eoman  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  people,  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,. 


ATy  First  Bivotiac.  i  5  7 

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  ques- 
tioned by  my  servants,  confessed  that  the  village 
which  we  had  left  behind  was  the  last  tliat  we 
should  see,  but  he  declared  tliat  he  knew  a  spot  at 
which  we  should  find  an  encampment  of  friendly 
Bedouins,  who  would  receive  me  with  all  hospi- 
tality. 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  plea- 
sure 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.  ]\Iy  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  fanced  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 


158  EotJien. 

which  I  might  thus  gain  of  coming  in  contact  with 
the  wanderers. 

ISTot  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  meet- 
ing an  unarmed,  or  half-armed,  cavalcade,  and  at 
last  he  fairly  told  us  that  we  were  on  the  wrong 
side  of  the  river,  and  that,  if  we  went  on,  we  must 
lay  our  account  with  falling  amongst  robbers.  All 
this  while,  and  throughout  the  day,  my  Nazarene 
kept  well  a-head  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  che  day  we  saw  no  human  be- 
ing ;  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  (they  had 
already  done  two  good  days'  journey  in  one), 
forced  us  to  determine  upon  coming  to  a  stand- 
still. Upon  the  heights  to  the  eastward  we  saw 
lights ;  tliese  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 


My  First  Bivouac.  159 

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  myseK  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  be- 
sides, the  boughs  of  trees  or  bushes  would  be  so 
full  of  sap,  in  this  early  spring,  that  they  would 
not  easily  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  sur- 
prise 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 


1 60  Eothen. 

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,  then  more  boldly,  and  the  young  flame 
was  daintily  nursed  and  fed,  and  fed  more  plenti- 
fully till  it  gained  good  strength.  At  last  a  whole 
armful  of  dr}'"  bushes  was  piled  up  over  the  fire, 
and  presently,  with  a  loud,  cheery  cracking  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  deso- 
late 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  tlie  contrivances  for 
making  it,  were  always  a  standing  part  of  my  bag- 
gage.     My  men  gathered  in  circle  round  the  fire. 


]\Iy  Firsl  Bivouac.  1 6 1 

The  Nazarene  was  iu  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  people  had  all  their  cajpotes  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  tlie  good  Shereef  that 
seemed  the  foremost,  as  he  sat  with  venerable  beard, 
the  image  of  manly  piety — unknowing  of  all  geo- 
graphy, unknowing  where  he  was,  or  whither  he 
might  go,  but  trusting  in  the  goodness  of  God,  and 
the  clenching  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  odd  Chinaman's  eye,  and  brist- 
ling, 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  ser- 
vants, yet  not  one  of  them  ever  uttered  or  hinted 


i62  Eothen. 

a  syllable  of  complaint,  or  even  affected  to  put  on 
an  air  of  resignation.  I  always  liked  them,  but 
never  perhaps  so  muph  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  feUow-feeling 
between  the  Englishman  and  the  Asiatic ;  in  Per- 
sia it  is  drunk  by  aU,  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  tchai.  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  way-worn. 
And  it  has  this  virtue — it  helps  to  destroy  the 
gene  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  wlierewithal  we  should  be  fed, — whether 


My  First  Bivouac.  i6 


o 


by  some  ford  we  should  regain  the  westom  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  Pliilistines,  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  shone  on  the  rock  above,  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  quHt,  and  my  pelisse,  and 
my  cloak  were  spread  out  so  that  I  might  lie  spoke- 
wise,  with  my  feet  towards  the  central  fire.  I 
wrapped  my  limbs  daintily  round,  and  gave  my- 
self orders  to  sleep  like  a  veteran  soldier.  But  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 
full  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 


1 64  Eothen. 

boundless  bed  -  chamber.  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  uni- 
verse, I  should  have  dwelt  with  delight  on  "  the 
wonders  of  creation."  As  it  was,  I  felt  rather 
the  vainglory  of  my  promotion,  from  out  of  mere 
rooms  and  houses,  into  the  midst  of  that  grand, 
dark,  infinite  palace. 

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.  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  consci- 
ousness of  having  been  growing  still  colder  and 
colder  for  many  and  many  an  hour. 


165 


CHAPTER    XIII. 


THE    DEAD    SEA. 


The  grey  light  of  the  morning  showed  us,  for  the 
first  time,  the  ground  we  had  chosen  for  our  rest- 
ing-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  be- 
fore this  was  haK  over,  daylight  came.  We  could 
now  see  the  men  of  the  caves.  They  collected  in 
a  body,  amounting,  I  thought,  to  nearly  fifty,  and 
rushed  down  towards  our  quarters  with  iierce  shouts 
and  yells.    But  the  nearer  they  got  the  slower  they 


1 66  Eotheii. 

went ;  their  shouts  grew  less  resolute  in  tone,  and 
soon  ceased  altogether.  The  fellows,  however,  ad- 
vanced to  a  thicket  within  thirty  yards  of  us,  and 
behind  this  "took  up  their  position."  j\Iy  men  with- 
out 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  in- 
clination 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  cre- 
ated 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  re- 
sources which  they  knew  not  of  Several  times 
the  fellows  tried  to  lash  themseh^es  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  port- 
manteau, or  the  tying  of  a  hat-box,  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  sev- 
eral times,  but  always  with  the  same  result.     I 


The  Dead  Sea.  1 6  7 

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  con- 
duced 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  wel- 
come 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  mid-day  I  began  to  examine  my  map, 
and  to  question  my  guide.  He  at  first  tried  to 
elude  inquiry,  then  suddenly  fell  on  his  knees,  and 
confessed  that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  country.  I 
was  thus  thrown  upon  my  own  resources,  and  cal- 


1 68  EotJien. 

culating  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  debouchure  of  the 
river ;  but  I  found  that  the  country,  though  seem- 
ingly quite  flat,  was  intersected  by  deep  ravines, 
which  did  not  show  themselves  until  nearly  ap- 
proached. For  some  time  my  progress  was  much 
obstructed ;  but  at  last  I  came  across  a  track  lead- 
ing 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  Dead  Sea.  1 69 

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  im- 
practicable 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,  per- 
haps, 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  junc- 
tion 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  stand-still,  quite  suddenly,  upon  the 
very  edge  of  a  precipitous  descent.  Every  step 
towards  the  Dead  Sea  had  brought  us  into  a 
country  more  and  more  dreary ;  and  this  sand- 
hill, which  we  were  forced  to  choose  for  our  rest- 
ing -  place,  was  dismal  enough.  A  few  slender 
blades  of  grass,  which  here  and  there  singly  pierced 


170 


Eothen. 


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.  More- 
over, the  spot  on  which  we  had  been  so  suddenly 
brought  to  a  stand-stiU  was  relatively  high,  and 
unsheltered,  and  the  night  wind  blew  swiftly  and 
cold. 

The  next  morning  I  reached  the  debouchure  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  con- 
trivances of  the  like  sort — and  I  should  have  been 
very  proud,  indeed,  if  I  could  have  carried  my 
people  and  my  baggage  across  by  dint  of  any  idea 
gathered  from  Sir  Howard  Douglas  or  Eobinson 
Crusoe.  But  we  were  all  faint  and  languid  from 
want  of  food,  and  besides,  there  were  no  materials. 
Hio'her  up  the  river  there  were  bushes  and  river- 
plants,  but  nothing  like  timber ;  and  the  cord  with 


The  Dead  Sea.  1 7 1 

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. 

kvA  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  re- 
putation, 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  strength- 
ened by  any  sincere  feeling  of  anger  with  the  Naz- 
arene.  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 
\\Tithing  of  his  supple  limbs  that  seemed  to  ex- 
press a  sense  of  his  false  position,  and  struck  me 
a,s  highly  comic.      I  had  no  crotchet  at  that  time 


172  Eothen. 

against  the  punishment  of  death,  but  I  was  un- 
used 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  mag- 
nanimously 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  I  thus 
suffered,  joined  with  the  weakness  occasioned  by 
want  of  food,  made  me  giddy  and  faint  for  some 
moments  ;  but  I  soon  grew  better.  I  knew  before- 
hand 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. 


The  Dead  Sea.  173 

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  incrusted  with 
salts. 


174 


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  harred  out  from  the  deso- 
late 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  don- 
key. 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  fanced  that  where 
there  were  donkeys,  there  too  most  surely  would 
be  men.  The  ground  on  all  sides  of  me  seemed 
thorouglily  void  and  lifeless,  but  at  last  I  got 
down  into  a  hollow,  and  presently  a  sudden  turn 


The  Black  Tenis.  i  75 

brought  me  within  thirty  yards  of  an  Arab  en- 
campment. 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  people  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.  There- 
fore, \vithout  looking  behind  me — without  looking 
to  the  right  or  to  the  left,  I  rode  straight  up 
towards  the  foremost  tent.  Before  it  was  strewed 
a  semicircular  fence  of  dead  boughs ;  through  this, 
and  about  opposite  to  the  front  of  the  tent,  there 
was  a  narrow  opening.  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  Be- 
douin 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  repulsively  ugly. 
They  wore  nothing  but  the  Arab  shirts,  confined 
at  the  waist  by  leather  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 


1 76  Eothen. 

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  spread  for  me  under  the  sacred  shade 
of  Arabian  canvas.  The  tent  was  of  a  long,  nar- 
row, oblong  form,  and  contained  a  quantity  of 
men,  women,  and  children,  so  closely  huddled  to- 
gether that  there  was  scarcely  one  of  them  who 
was  not  in  actual  contact  with  his  neighbour.  The 
moment  I  had  taken  my  seat,  the  chief  repeated 
his  salutations  in  the  most  enthusiastic  manner, 
and  then  the  people  having  gathered  densely  about 
me,  got  hold  of  my  unresisting  hand,  and  passed  it 
round  like  a  claret -jug  for  the  benefit  of  every- 
body. The  women  soon  brought  me  a  wooden 
bowl  full  of  buttermilk,  and  welcome  indeed  came 
the  gift  to  my  hungry  and  thirsty  soul. 

After  some  time,  my  people,  as  I  had  expected, 
came  up ;  and  when  poor  Dthemetri  saw  me  on 
my  sheepskin,  "  the  life  and  soul "  of  this  raga- 
muffin 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. 


The  Black  Tents.  177 

from  tlie  abject  manner  of  these  people,  that  they 
could  not  possibly  be  thorough-bred  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  civilisa- 
tion by  seizing  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  (the  pledges  of  peace 
amongst  wandering  tribes),  but  I  fancied  that  they 
refrained  from  this  act  of  hospitality,  not  in  conse- 
quence of  any  hostile  determination,  but  in  order 
that  the  notion  of  robbing  me  might  remain  for 
the  present  an  "  open  question."  1  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. 


M 


178 


CHAPTER    XV. 


PASSAGE    OF    THE    JOEDAN. 


And  now  Dthemetri  began  to  enter  into  a  negotia- 
tion 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  especi- 
ally in  representing  me  as  the  bosom  friend  of 
Ibrahim  Pasha.  The  mention  of  that  name  pro- 
duced 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.  Only  a  few  weeks  before,  Ibrahim 
had  craftily  sent  a  body  of  troops  across  the  Jor- 
dan. 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 


Passage  of  the  Jordan.  i  79 

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  tlie  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  ani- 
mated with  a  feeling  of  profound  respect,  almost 
bordering  upon  affection,  for  those  who  have  done 
him  any  bold  and  violent  wrong ;  and  there  is 
always,  too,  so  much  of  vague  and  undefined  ap- 
prehension 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  worked  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  Djour- 
ban  at  the  head  of  the  whole  detachment.  Upon 
leaving  the  encampment  a  sort  of  ceremony  was 
performed,  for  the  purpose,  it  seemed,  of  insuring, 
if  possible,  a  happy  result  for  the  undertaking. 
There  was  an  uplifting  of  arms,  and  a  repeating  of 
words,  that  sounded  like  formulae,  l)ut  there  were 
no  prostrations,  and  I  did  not  understand  that  the 


1 80  Eothen. 

ceremony  was  of  a  religious  character.  The  tented 
Arabs  are  looked  upon  as  very  bad  Mahometans. 

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  in- 
genuity and  sophistry  which  they  must  have  shown 
in  maintaining  the  fight  so  well. 

During  the  discussion  I  remained  lying  in  front 
of  my  baggage,  for  this  had  been  already  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  inter- 
ested as  you  would  suppose  in  the  result  of  the 
discussion.     T  thought,  however,  that  the  pleasant- 


Passage  of  the  Jordan.  1 8 1 

est  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  fire- 
locks, 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,  for  it  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  an  offer  which 

at  once  produced  immense  sensation  ;  he  proposed 

on  my  belialf  that  the  tribe  should  bear  themselves 

loyally  towards  me,  and  take  my  people  and  m>- 

baggage  in  safety  to  the  other  bank  of  the  river, 

and  that  I  on  my  part  should  give  such  a  teskeri, 

or   written   certificate   of   their  good   conduct,   as 

might  avail  them  hereafter  in  the  hour  of  their 

direst  need.      This  proposal  was  received  and  in- 


1 82  Eothen. 

stantly  accepted  by  all  tlie  men  of  the  trilje  there 
present  with  the  utmost  enthusiasm.  1  was  to 
give  the  men  too'  a  haksheish — that  is,  a  present 
of  money  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.  In- 
deed the  sum  which  Dthemetri  promised  them 
was  extremely  small,  and  no  attempt  was  made 
to  extort  any  further  reward. 

The  council  broke  up,  and  most  of  the  men 
rushed  madly  towards  me,  overwhelming  me  with 
vehement  gratulations,  and  kissing  my  hands  and 
my  boots. 

The  Arabs  then  earnestly  began  their  attempt  to 
effect  the  passage  of  the  river.  They  had  brought 
with  them  a  great  number  of  skins  used  for  carrying 
water  in  the  desert ;  these  they  j&lled  with  air,  and 
fastened  several  of  them  to  small  boughs  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.  Upon 
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  weU. 

Twelve  of  the  Arabs  now  stripped,  and  tied  in- 


Passage  of  the  Jordan.  183 

flated  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  command- 
ing. 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  down- 
wards ;  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, 
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  shouted  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 


1 84  Eothen. 

raft  thus  laden  passed  the  river  in  the  same  way 
and  \Wth  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 
people  passed  the  river  in  a  different,  and  (for 
them)  much  safer  way.  Inflated  skins  were  fast- 
ened 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  night 
all  had  passed  the  river  excej)t  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  bank  of  the  river.  The 
Arabs  at  a  little  distance  from  me  contrived  to 
kindle  a  fire,  and  sat  all  around  in  a  circle.     They 


Passage  of  the  Jordan.  1S5 

were  made  most  savagely  happy  by  the  tobacco 
with  which  I  supplied  them,  and  they  soon  deter- 
mined that  the  whole  night  should  be  one  smoking 
festival.  The  poor  fellows  had  only  a  cracked 
bowl  without  any  tube  at  all,  but  tliis  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  strange  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  founda- 
tion 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 
Djourban,  together  with  the  promised  haksheish. 
He  was  exceedingly  grateful,  and  I  parted  in  a  very 
friendly  way  from  this  ragged  tribe. 

In  two  or  three  hours  I  gained  Eihah,  a  village 
said  to  occupy  the  site  of  ancient  Jericho.  There 
was   one  building  there   which   I   observed   with 


1 86  Eothen. 

some  emotion,  for  although  it  may  not  have  been 
actually  standing  in  the  days  of  Jericho,  it  con- 
tained at  this  day  a  most  interesting  collection  of 
— modern  loaves. 

Some  hours  after  sunset  I  reached  the  convent 
of  Santa  Saha,  and  there  remained  for  the  night. 


i87 


CHA.PTER   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  rightfully 
belonging  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  Hocking  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  in- 


1 88  Eothen. 

culcated  by  their  religion.  A  very  greal  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 
childliood  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  live^ 
to  save  money  enough  for  this  holy  undertaldng. 

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  Eoumelia,  from  the  provinces  of 
the  Danube,  and  from  all  the  Eussias.  Most  of 
these  people  bring  with  them  some  articles  of  mer- 
chandise, 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  enter- 
prises, and  they  take  care  to  bring  with  them  all 
their  children,  however  young.  They  do  this  be- 
cause the  efficacy  of  the  rites  is  quite  independent 
of  the  age  of  the  votary,  and  people  whose  careful 
mothers  have  obtained  for  them  the  benefit  of  tlie 
pilgrimage  in  early  life,  are  saved  from  the  expense 
and  trouble  of  undertaking  the  journey  at  a  later  age. 


Tcrj'a  Santa.  189 

The  superior  veneration  so  often  excited  by 
objects  that  are  distant  and  unknown,  shows — 
not  perhaps  the  wrong-headedness  of  a  man,  but 
rather  the  transcendent  power  of  his  imagination. 
However  this  may  be,  and  whether  it  is  by  mere 
obstinacy  that  they  force  their  way  through  inter- 
vening distance,  or  whether  they  come  by  the 
winged  strength  of  fancy,  quite  certainly  the 
pilgrims  who  flock  to  Palestine  from  remote 
homes  are  the  people  most  eager  in  the  enter- 
prise, 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 
will  charter  a  vessel  amongst  them,  all  bringing 
their  own  provisions :  these  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  the  ser- 
vice 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  the  endless  schemes  and  speculations, 
for  ever  tempting  them  to  touch  at  the  nearest 
port.     The   voyage,    too,    must    be    made    during 


1 90  Eothen. 

winter,  in  order  that  Jerusalem  may  be  reached 
some  weeks  before,  the  Greek  Easter. 

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  merchan- 
dise ;  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  com- 
mercial 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. 

"V\1ien  I  entered  the  church,  I  found  a  Babel 
of  worsliippers.  Greek,  Eoman,  and  Armenian 
priests  were  performing  their  different  rites  in 
various  nooks  and  corners,  and  crowds  of  dis- 
ciples 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  approach- 
ing to  it,  the  sight  would  have  been  less  odd  to 


Terra  Santa.  191 

English  eyes ;  but  as  it  was,  I  felt  shocked  at  the 
sight  of  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  blamed),  but  from  a  calm  sense  of  duty:  they 
seemed  to  be  not  "working  out,"  but  transacting 
the  great  business  of  salvation. 

Dthemetri,  however  (he  generally  came  with  me 
when  I  went  out,  in  order  to  do  duty  as  inter- 
preter), 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  sur- 
rounded him :  there  were  so  many  stones  abso- 
lutely requiring  to  be  kissed,  that  he  rushed  about 
happily  puzzled,  and  sweetly  teased,  like  "Jack 
among  the  maidens." 

A  Protestant,  familiar  with  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, but  ignorant  of  tradition  and  the  geography 
of  modem  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 


192  Eothen. 

whicli  I  have  been  talking  about.  It  is  a  hand- 
some 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  held  in  greater  sanctity  than  any  other 
in  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  send 
for  horses  and  take  a  ride  to  Mount  Calvary. 
Mount  Calvary,  signer?  —  eccolo  !  it  is  ^up- stairs 
— on  the  first  fioor.  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  (the 
main  point  of  interest),  has  gradually  crept  north- 
ward, 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  asso- 
ciated 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 


Terra  Saiita.  193 

of  thorns  ; — up  there  He  "was  crucifiecj,  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  Mas- 
ter is  ascertained  and  surrounded  by  the  walls 
of  an  Armenian  convent.  JMany  Protestants  are 
wont  to  treat  these  traditions  contemptuously,  and 
those  who  distinguish  themselves  from  their  breth- 
ren by  the  appellation  of  "  Bible  Christians "  are 
almost  fierce  in  their  denunciation  of  these  sup- 
posed 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,  in- 
tersected by  deep  ravines.  Up  to  the  time  of 
the  siege,  Mount  Calvary,  of  course,  must  have 
been  well  enough  known  to  the  people  of  Jeru- 
salem ;  the  destruction  of  the  mere  buildings  could 
not  have  obliterated  from  any  man's  memory  the 


194  Eothen. 

names  of  tljose  steep  rocks  and  narrow  ra\dnes  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. 
llecoUect,  too,  that  the  voice  of  tradition  at  Jeru- 
salem is  quite  unanimous,  and  that  Eomans,  Greeks, 
Armenians,  and  Jews,  all  hating  each  other  sin- 
cerely, concur  in  assigning  the  same  localities  to 
the  events  told  in  the  Gospel.  I  concede,  how- 
ever, 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  fol- 
lowed the  Gospel  of  St  John,  and  that  the  geo- 
graphy sanctioned  by  her  can  be  more  easHy 
reconciled  with  that  history,  than  with  the  ac- 
counts of  the  other  Evangelists. 

The  authority  exercised  by  the  Mussulman  Gov- 
ernment 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  pe- 
cuniary 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 


Terra  Santa.    ■  195 

church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  ;  but  in  order  to  pre- 
vent indecent  contests,  and  also  from  motives  arisin" 
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  all  the  coins  deposited 
by  the  pilgrims  upon  the  sacred  shrines,  it  is  stren- 
uously 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  tlie 
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  priest- 
hood.    Tliey  possess  the  golden  socket  in  which 
stood  the  cross  of  our  Lord,  whilst  the  Latins  are 
obliged  to  content  themselves  with  the  apertures 
in   wliich   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. 

Although  the  pilgrims  perform  their  devotions 
at  the  several  shrines  with  so  little  apparent 
enthusiasm,  they  are  driven  to  the  verge  of  mad- 
ness by  the  miracle  displayed  before  them  on 
Easter  Saturday.  Then  it  is  that  the  .heaven- 
sent fire  issues  from   the   Holy   Sepulchre.     The 


196  •         Bot/ien. 

pilgrims  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,  but  at 
last  and  suddenly,  from  out  of  the  small  aper- 
tures 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  height- 
ened by  suspense.  Many,  too,  had  already  sunk 
under  the  effect  of  the  heat  and  the  stifling  at- 
mosphere, when  at  last  the  fire  flashed  from  the 
Sepulchre.  Then  a  terrible  struggle  ensued  — 
many  sank,  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  him- 


Terra  Santa.  197 

self  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  sol- 
diers 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  be- 
fore, 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  occa- 
sion 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 


198  Eothen. 

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  1  have  never  heard  the 
other  side  of  the  question.  These  wild  fellows, 
notwithstanding  their  entire  ignorance  of  all  re- 
ligion, are  yet  claimed  by  the  Greeks,  not  only 
as  proselytes  who  have  embraced  Christianity 
generally,  but  as  converts  to  the  particular  doc- 
trines and  practice  of  their  Church.  The  people 
thus  alleged  to  have  concurred  with  the  Greeks 
in  rejecting  the  great  Eoman  Catholic  schism,  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  pe- 
culiar 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 


Terra  Santa.  199 

solemnity  of  diviue  service ;  and  upon  this  ground 
the  Franciscans  obtained  a  firman  for  the  exclu- 
sion 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  Govern- 
ment 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  ac- 
knowledging (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  tlie  church.  I  was  amused  at  hearing  of  a 
taunt   that  was  thrown  that  day  upon  an  Engb'sh 


200  Eothen. 

traveller.  He  had  taken  his  station  in  a  con- 
venient part  of  the  church,  and  was  no  doubt  dis- 
playing that  peculiar  air  of  serenity  and  gratifi- 
cation 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,  that  he  forgot  his  monkish 
humility,  as  well  as  the  duties  of  hospitality  (the 
Englishman  was  a  guest  at  the  convent),  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.  Tlie  terms  on  which  they 
live  remind  one  of  the  pecuHar  relation  subsisting 
at  Cambridge  between  "  town  and  gown  ! " 

The  contests  waged  by  the  priests  and  friars, 
certainly  do  not  originate  with  the  lay-pilgrims, 
for  the  great  body  of  these  are  quiet  and  inoffen- 
sive 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 
apothegms,  carries  with  it  the  buzzing  trumpet 
of  falsehood,  as  well  as  the  small,  fine  "  sting  of 
truth."     "  If  your  friend  has  made  the  pilgrimage 


Terra  Santa.  201 

once,  distrust  him — if  he  has  made  the  pilgrim- 
age 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^"  whether  Chris- 
tian 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  ordi- 
nances of  their  religion,  and  to  attain  the  great 
end  of  salvation  as  quietly  and  economically  as 
possible. 

"Wlien  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  Wilder- 
ness 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  sub- 
merged en  chemise,  and  the  saturated  linen  is  care- 
fully wrapped  up  and  preserved  as  a  burial  dress 
that  shall  inure  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 

*  Hadji — a  pilj^ini. 


202  EotJie7t. 

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  sliocking  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  Imrt 
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  round  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 


Terra  Santa.  203 

place  as  Jerusalem  would  not  involve  the  perma- 
nent dispersion  of  the  inhabitants,  for  the  rocky- 
neighbourhood  in  which  the  town  is  situate 
abounds  in  caves,  and  these  would  give  an  easy 
refuge  to  the  people  until  they  gained  an  oppor- 
tunity of  rebuilding  their  dwellings.  Therefore  I 
could  not  help  looking  upon  the  Jews  of  Jerusa- 
lem as  being  in  some  sort  the  representatives,  if 
not  the  actual  descendants,  of  the  men  who  cruci- 
fied our  Saviour.  Supposing  this  to  be  the  case,  I 
felt  that  there  would  be  some  interest  in  knowini: 
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  Chris- 
tianity. I  understood  that  the  ■performance  of  the 
miracles  vjas  not  doiihted  hy  any  of  the  Jevxs  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  enchant- 
ment from  which  the  power  proceeded.  The  great 
mass  of  the  Jewish  people  believed,  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  Ma- 
gician." 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 


204  Eotlten. 

of  their  admitting  that  those  miracles  vjere,  in  fcict 
'performed,  is  certainly  curious,  and  perhaps  not 
quite  immaterial. 

If  you  stay  in  the  Holy  City  long  enough  to 
fall  into  anything  like  regular  habits  of  amusement 
and  occupation,  and  to  become,  in  short,  for  the 
time  "  a  man  about  town  "  at  Jerusalem,  you  will 
necessarily  lose  the  enthusiasm  which  you  may 
liave  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  signs  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  ]\Iount  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  every- 
body every  day.  If  you  lounge  through  the  town, 
your  Pall  MaU  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-foreshortened  arms,  or  devils 


I 


Terra  Santa.  205 

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  Scrip- 
tural 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  sub- 
terranean grotto,  and  is  committed  to  the  joint 
guardianship  of  the  Eomans,  Greeks,  and  Armen- 
ians :  these  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 


2o6  Eothen. 

to  despise  tradition,  consider  that  this  sanctuary  is 
altogether  unscriptural  —  that  a  grotto  is  not  a 
stable,  and  that  mangers  are  made  of  wood.  It  is 
perfectly  true,  however,  that  the  many  grottos  and 
caves  which  are  found  among  the  rocks  of  Judea 
were  formerly  used  for  the  reception  of  cattle ; 
they  are  so  used  at  this  day.  I  liave  myself  seen 
grottos  appropriated  to  this  purpose. 

You  know  what  a  sad  and  sombre  decorum  it  is 
that  outwardly  reigns  through  the  lands  oppressed 
by  Moslem  sway.  The  Mahometans  make  beauty 
their  prisoner,  and  enforce  such  a  stern  and  gloomy 
morality,  or  at  all  events  such  a  frightfully  close 
semblance  of  it,  that  far  and  long  the  wearied 
traveller  may  go  without  catching  one  glimpse  of 
outward  happiness.  By  a  strange  chance  in  these 
latter  days,  it  happened  that,  alone  of  all  the  places 
in  the  land,  this  Bethlehem,  the  native  village  of 
our  Lord,  escaped  the  moral  yoke  of  the  Mussul- 
mans, and  heard  again,  after  ages  of  dull  oppres- 
sion, the  cheering  clatter  of  social  freedom,  and  the 
voices  of  laughing  gii-ls.  It  was  after  an  insurrec- 
tion which  had  been  raised  against  the  authority 
of  Mehemet  Ali,  that  Bethlehem  was  freed  from 
the  hateful  laws  of  Asiatic  decorum.  The  Mussul- 
mans 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   ]\Iahometans  of  Bethlehem   who 


Terra  Sajita.  207 

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  thorough-bred  Englishman, 
not  even  the  licentiousness  generally  accompanying 
it  can  compensate  for  the  oppressiveness  of  that 
horrible  outward  decorum  which  turns  the  cities 
and  the  palaces  of  Asia  into  deserts  and  jails.  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  round  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 


2o8  Eothen. 

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  for- 
mation 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  delight  and 
amazement,  as  they  compare  the  fairness  of  your 
hand  with  the  hues  of  your  sunburnt  face,  or  with 
their  own  warmer  tints.  Instantly  the  ringleader 
of  the  gentle  rioters  imagines  a  new  sin  ;  with  trem- 
ulous 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, 


Ter7'a  Saiita.  209 

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  lier.  But  her  laugh- 
ing 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  van- 
quish her  utmost  strength,  they  vanquish  her  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  shriU 
laughter  as  though  they  had  played  too  perilously 
and  harmed  their  gentle  sister.  A  moment,  and 
all  with  a  sudden  intelligence  turn  awny  and  flv 
o 


2IO  Eotken. 

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  de- 
gree 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  breth- 
ren." Bah  !  thus  you  might  chant,  if  you  choose  ; 
but  loving  the  truth,  you  will  not  so  disown 
sweet  Bethlehem — you  will  not  disown  nor  dis- 
semble your  right  good  hearty  delight  when  you 
find,  as  though  in  a  desert,  this  gushing  spring  of 
fresh  and  joyous  girlhood. 


2ir 


CHAPTER    XVII. 


THE    DESERT. 


Gaza  stands  upon  the  verge  of  the  Desert,  and 
bears  towards  it  the  same  kind  of  relation  as  a 
seaport  bears  to  the  sea.  It  is  there  that  you 
clmrter  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  suf- 
ficient authority  for  doing  all  that  was  required,  he 
found  it  necessary  to  put  himself  in  communica- 
tion with  the  governor.  The  result  of  this  diplo- 
matic intercourse  was,  that  the  governor  with  his 
train  of  attendants  came  to  me  one  day  at  my 
caravanserai,  and  formally  complained  that  Dthe- 


2 1 2  Eothen. 

metri  had  grossly  insulted  him.  I  was  shocked  at 
this,  for  the  man  had  been  always  attentive  and 
civil  to  me,  and  I  was  disgusted  at  the  idea  of  his 
being  rewarded  with  insult.  Dthemetri  was  pres- 
ent 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  construc- 
tion had  been  put  upon  his  words,  and  that  nothing 
was  further  from  his  thoughts,"  &c,,  &c.,  after  the 
manner  of  the  Parliamentary  people ;  but  to  my 
surprise  he  very  plainly  answered  that  he  certainly 
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."  "  Ter- 
ror and  respect !  Wliat  on  earth  do  you  mean  by 
that  nonsense  ?  " — "  Yes,  but  without  striking  ter- 
ror 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  awk- 
ward ;  and  certainly  I  could  not  deny  that  poor 
Dthemetri  had  succeeded  in  his  odd  plan  of  inspir- 
ing respect,  for  at  the  very  time  that  this  explana- 
tion was  going  on  in  Italian,  the  governor  seemed 
more  than  ever,  and  more  anxiously,  disposed  to 
overwhelm  me  with    assurances  of   goodwill  and 


The  Desert.  2  r  3 

proffers  of  his  best  services.  All  this  kindneas  or 
promise  of  kindness  I  naturally  received  with  cour- 
tesy— 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  w^ords  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  drago- 
man 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  weU  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  kind  of  cor- 
ridor which  runs  through  the  inner  sides  of  the 
court. 


2 1 4  Eothen. 

Whilst  I  lay  near  the  opening  of  my  cell,  look- 
ing down  into  the  court  below,  there  arrived  from 
the  Desert  a  caravan — that  is,  a  large  assemblage 
of  travellers.  It  consisted  chiefly  of  Moldavian  pil- 
grims, 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  Des- 
ert 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  bril- 
liant garments — the  Arab  superbly  stalking  under 
his  striped  blanket  that  hung  like  royalty  upon 
his  stately  form — the  jetty  Ethiopian  in  his  slav- 
ish 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. 


The  Desert.  2 1  5 

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  thus  made  by  them  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.  Tour  Arabs,  the 
owners  of  the  camels,  came  with  me  on  foot.  ]\Iy 
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  void  of  fuel. 

The  camel  kneels  to  receive  her  load,  and  for  a 


2 1 6  Eothen. 

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  the  camel ; 
but  your  quilt  or  carpet,  or  whatever  you  carry 
for  the  purpose  of  lying  on  at  night,  is  folded  and 
fastened  on  to  the  pack-saddle  upon  the  top  of  the 
hump,  and  on  this  you  ride,  or  rather  sit.  You 
sit  as  a  man  sits  on  a  chair  when  he  sits  astride. 
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  vary- 
ing my  position  more  easily  than  I  could  otherwise 
have  done,  I  added  very  much  to  my  comfort. 

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  an- 
cient 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 


The  Desert ,  2 1  7 

and  liaunch,  so  as  to  repeat  the  manoiuvre  on  that 
side ;  her  pace,  therefore,  is  an  odd,  disjointed,  and 
disjoining  sort  of  movement  that  is  rather  disagree- 
able at  first,  but  you  soon  grow  reconciled  to  it. 
The  height  to  which  you  are  raised  is  of  great  ad- 
vantage 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,  fresh- 
ened by  the  rains  of  the  last  week,  was  covered 
with  rich  verdure,  and  thickly  jewelled  with  mead- 
ow-flowers  so  bright  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  ad- 
vanced, 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 


2 1 8  Eothen. 

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  head-gear  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  ^^  very  pain- 
ful to  hear. 

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 :  when  they  first  saw  me,  they  used 
tQ  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.  They 
were  sadly  plain.    The  awful  haggardness  that  gave 

*  Millies  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." 


The  Desert.  2 1 9 

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  tlie  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  not 
within  the  scope  of  the  privilege,  and  indeed  were 
altogether  much  too  plain  and  clumsy  for  this  vain 
and  lovesome  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  com- 
plete 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 ;  yet,  believe  me,  it  was  not  in  the  first 
soir6e  that  my  store  of  Latakiah  was  exhausted. 

The  Bedouin  women  have  no  religion ;  this  is 
partly  the  cause  of  their  clumsiness.  Perhaps,  if 
from  Christian  girls  they  w^ould  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,  tliat 


2  20  Eothen. 

the  poor  fellows  with  whom  1  have  happened  to 
pitch  my  tent  were  scarcely  ever  in  a  condition  to 
exercise  that  magnanimous  virtue  with  much  ddat; 
indeed  ]\Iysseri's  canteen  generally  enabled  me  to 
outdo  ray  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  wanderinj^  tribes. 

Practically,  I  think,  Childe  Harold  would  have 
found  it  a  dreadful  bore  to  make  "  the  desert  his 
dweUing-place,"  for,  at  aU  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  cir- 
cumstance adds  much  to  the  charm  of  such  a  life. 

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  ofl'  at  one  in 


The  Dese7'f.  2  2 1 

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  when  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 
vvere  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  enougli)  that   the   men  had  really 


2  2  2  Eothen. 

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  inconveni- 
ence) than  the  starvation  of  my  Arabs,  I  at  once 
told  Dthemetri  to  assure  them  that  my  bread 
should  be  equally  shared  with  aU.  Dthemetri,  how- 
ever, did  not  approve  of  this  concession  ;  he  assur- 
ed me  quite  positively  that  the  Arabs  thoroughly 
understood  the  agreement,  and  that  if  they  were 
now  without  food,  they  had  wilfully  brought  them- 
selves into  this  strait  for  the  wretched  purpose  of 
bettering  their  bargain  by  the  value  of  a  few^jaras' 
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  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  asser- 
tions, that  the  Arabs  had  really  understood  the 
arrangement,  I  determined  that  tliey  should  not 
now  violate  it  by  taking  advantage  of  my  position 
in   the   midst   of  their   big   Desert ;    so  I  desired 


The  Desert.  223 

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  tlidr 
fate.  The  men  would  have  talked  a  great  deal, 
but  they  were  under  the  disadvantage  of  address- 
ing 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 


2  24  Eothen. 

you.  Indeed  I  felt  quite  good-humouredly  towards 
my  Arabs  because  they  had  so  wofully  failed  iu 
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, 
pulls  the  lump  of  dough  so  made  into  small  pieces, 
and  thrusts  them  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  choos- 
ing a  good  berth  for  the  morsel — the  same  enter- 
prise 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 


The  Desert.  223 

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  mid-day,  or  soon  after,  Mysseri  used  to  bring 
up  his  camel  alongside  of  mine  and  supply  me  with 
a  piece  of  the  dried  bread  softened  in  water,  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  dug 
out  by  the  last  week's  storm, — 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  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 
P 


226  Eothen. 

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,  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  for  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  comes  and  clings  to  his  side. 

Then  begins  your  season  of  rest.  The  world 
about  you  is  all  your  own,  and  tliere,  where  you 
will,  you   pitch   your   solitary   tent ;   there   is   nc 


The  Desert.  227 

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  sank  under  me, 
till  she  brought  her  body  to  a  level  with  the 
ground :  then  galdly  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  them- 
selves in  pitching  the  tent  and  kindling  the  fire. 
Whilst  this  was  doing,  I  used  to  walk  away  to- 
wards the  East,  confiding  in  the  print  of  my  foot 
as  a  guide  for  my  return.  Apart  from  the  cheer- 
ing voices  of  my  attendants  I  could  better  know 
and  feel  the  loneliness  of  the  Desert.  The  influ- 
ence of  such  scenes,  however,  was  not  of  a  soften- 
ing kind,  but  filled  me  rather  with  a  sort  of  childish 
exultation  in  the  self-suf&ciency  which  enabled  me 
to  stand  thus  alone  in  the  wideness  of  Asia — a 
short-lived  pride,  for  wherever  man  wanders,  he 
still  remains  tethered  by  the  chain  that  links  him 
to  his  kind ;  and  so  when  the  night  closed  round 
me,  I  began  to  return — to  return,  as  it  were,  to  my 
own  gate.      Reaching  at  last  some  high  ground,  I 


2  28  Eothen. 

could  see,  and  see  with  delight,  the  fire  of  our 
small  encampment ;  and  when,  at  last,  I  regained 
the  spot,  it  seemed  a  very  home  that  had  sprung 
up  for  me  in  the  midst  of  these  solitudes.  My 
Arabs  were  busy  with  their  bread, — Mysseri  rat- 
thng  tea-cups, — the  little  kettle  with  her  odd,  old- 
maidish  looks,  sat  humming  away  old  songs  about 
England ;  and  two  or  three  yards  from  the  fire  my 
tent  stood  prim  and  tight  with  open  portal,  and 
with  welcoming  look — a  look  like  "  the  own  arm- 
chair "  of  our  lyrist's  "  sweet  Lady  Anne." 

Sometimes  in  the  earlier  part  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  hearth-rug.  The  first  night,  I  remem- 
ber, with  my  books  and  maps  about  me,  I  wanted 
a  light.  They  brought  me  a  taper,  and  imme- 
diately 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 


The  Desert.  229 

through  the  fire  of  the  candle  till  they  fairly 
extinguished  it  with  their  burning  limbs.  Those 
who  had  failed  in  attaining  this  martyrdom  sud- 
denly became  serious,  and  clung  despondingly  to 
the  canvas. 

By -and -by  there  was  brought  to  me  the  fra- 
grant 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, — - 
lilve  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  re- 
mained of  my  genial  home  but  only  a  pole  and 


2  30  Eothen. 

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  to  any  other  Euro- 
peans 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  month s, 
until  a  sufficient  number  of  persons  can  bo  found 
rea/^ly  to  undertake  the  journey  at  the  .same  time 
— until  the  flock  of  sheep  is  big  enough  to  fancy 
it<ielf  a  match  for  wolves.  They  could  not,  I 
think,  really  secure  themselves  against  any  serious 
danger  by  this  contrivanc<j ;  for  though  tbf.y  liavi-, 
arms,  they  are  so  little  accustomed  to  use  them, 
and  so  utterly  unorganise^l,  that  they  never  could 
make  good  their  resistance  to  robbers  of  the  slighty 
est  refij^ectability.  It  is  not  of  the  BcdoiiiriH  tbut 
inch    travellers   are   afraid,   for  the   safe -conduct 


laatBTRsg  ant  fflamCTc   ui  tbcoiih:  ierrs      ^     -.-'i»r 
lEorr-  """  'nor'  tf  lay  inoL 


TgP- 


Twiginniu'Tiiif.    'jnesi  ir?-    rr-i^  ,       _    _    _./.OTt 

>E    UTV'rtUt    SUET^raSELQIE.   WI.Jl     -i^ftfTTftf3T     3IIC.  "T^D- 

t4MllilH»^ 

la-    trrtriri     "jart'LV     "O.    "Hfi:    ^^Tinir     —  iC;  -jib? 

^rTTTTTf?wr   jpjniiaiinuc  ^  loc    imn^ 

j:^3£31-.     )nE  Ou..  m  'iiBz  TTIMgn     )r  'Oer  ounE- 


232  Eothen. 

eller  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  places  more  tolerable  than  ball- 
rooms 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  wilder- 
ness in  this  simple  style.  At  first  there  was  a 
mere  moving  speck  in  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 


I 


The  Desert.  233 

one  of  the  riders  wore  the  European  dress,  and  at 
last  the  travellers  were  pronounced  to  be  an  Eng- 
lish gentleman  and  his  servant ;  by  their  side 
there  were  a  couple  of  Arabs  on  foot ;  and  this, 
if  I  rightly  remember,  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  grisly  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  under- 
standing 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. 
Familiar  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  a  single  ser- 
vant come  listlessly  slouching  along  from  out  of 
the  forward  horizon,  you  stare  at   the   wide   un- 


2  34  Eothen. 

proportion  between  this  slender  company  and  the 
boundless  plains  of  sa"nd  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  quite  as  distantly 
as  if  we  had  passed  in  Pall  j\Iall.  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 


The  Desert.  235 

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  deter- 
mined to  accost  the  stranger,  if  only  to  avoid  the 
awkwardness  of  remaining  stuck  fast  in  the  Des- 
ert whilst  our  servants  were  amusing  themselves. 
When  with  this  intent  I  turned  round  my  camel, 
I  found  that  the  gallant  officer  had  passed  me  by 
about  thirty  or  forty  yards,  and  was  exactly  in 
the  same  predicament  as  myself.  I  put  my  now 
willing  camel  in  motion  and  rode  up  towards  the 
stranger :  seeing  this  he  followed  my  example,  and 
came  forward  to  meet  me.  He  was  the  first  to 
speak.  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,  he  at  once  attributed  my 
advances  to  a  laudable  wish  of  acquiring  statis- 
tical 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 


236  Eothen. 

one  of  the  few  thousand  strong  Englishmen  to 
whom  the  empke  of  "India  is  committed. 

The  night  after  the  meeting  with  the  people  of 
the  caravan,  Dthemetri,  alarmed  by  their  warn- 
ings, 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  those  void  sands  which 
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  fright- 
fully 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 ;  ypu  hear  the 
exulting  scream  with  which  the  sagacious  dam 
first  winds  the  carrion,  and  the  shrill  response  of 
the  unanimous  cubs  as  they  snuff  the  tainted  air 
—  "  Wha  !  wha  \- — wha  !  wha  ! — wha  !  wha  ! — 
whose  gift  is  it  in,  mamma  ?" 

Once  during  this  passage  my  Arabs  lost  their 


The  Desert.  237 

\vay  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,  and  of  this  he  was 
inordinately  proud,  on  account  of  the  supposed 
novelty  and  ingenuity  of  the  contrivance.  We 
stopped,  and  sat  down  and  rested  awhile  for  the 
sake  of  a  little  talk.  There  was  much  that  I 
should  have  liked  to  ask  this  man,  but  he  could 
not  understand  Dthemetri's  language,  and  the 
process  of  getting  at  his  knowledge  by  double  in- 
terpretation through  my  Arabs  was  tedious.  I 
discovered,  however  (and  my  Arabs  knew  of  that 
fact),  that  this  man  and  his  family  lived  habit- 
ually for  nine  months  of  the  year  without  touch- 
ing 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,  and  this  furnishes  the  sole 
food  and  drink  of  their  owner  and  his  people. 
During  the  other  three  months  (the  hottest,  I  sup- 
pose) 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 


■0 


S  Eothen. 


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  his  way  of 
living:  he  was  very  small,  very  spare,  and  sadly 
shrivelled — a  poor  over-roasted  snipe — a  mere  cin- 
der of  a  man.  1  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  colour- 
ing matter  contained  in  the  skins,  but  it  kept  its 
sweetness,  and  tasted  like  a  strong  decoction  of 
Eussian  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. 

About  this  part  of  my  journey  I  saw  the  like- 
ness of  a  fresh-water  lake.  I  saw,  as  it  seemed,  a 
broad  sheet  of  calm  water  stretching  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  play- 
ing and  seeming  to  float  as  though  upon  deep  still 
waters. 


The  Desert.  239 

Though  I  knew  of  the  cheat,  it  was  not  till  tlie 
spongy  foot  of  my  camel  had  almost  trodden  in  the 
seeming  lake,  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  gathered  to- 
getlier  in  a  vast  hollow  between  the  sand-hills,  and 
wlien  dried  up  by  evaporation  had  left  a  white 
saline  deposit ;  this  exactly  marked  the  space 
which  the  waters  had  covered,  and  so  traced  out 
a  good  shore-line.  The  minute  crystals  of  the 
salt,  by  their  way  of  sparkling  in  the  sun,  were 
made  to  seem  like  the  dazzled  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  one  soon,  of 
course,  becomes  inured  to  the  work,  and  after  my 
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  dis- 
peopled and  forgotten  world  that  rolls  round  and 
round  in  the  heavens  through  wasted  floods  of 
liglit.      The  sun,  growing  fiercer  and  fiercer,  shone 


240  Eothen. 

down  more  mightily  now  than  ever  on  me  he  shone 
before,  and  as  I  drooped  my  head  under  his  fire, 
and  closed  my  eyes  against  the  glare  that  sur- 
rounded 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  Mar- 
len,  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 
awakened ;  but  still  those  old  Marlen  bells  rang 
on,  not  ringing  for  joy,  but  properly,  prosily,  stead- 
ily, 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  tlie  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  pass- 
ing touch  of  some  mere  memory  that  must  have 
swept   across   my   brain   in   a   moment   of   sleep. 


The  Desert.  241 

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  Aollao-e 
bells. 

During  my  travels  I  kept  a  journal — a  journal 
sadly  meagre  and  intermittent,  but  one  which  en- 
abled me  to  find  out  the  day  of  the  month  and  the 
week  according  to  the  European  calendar ;  refer- 
ring to  this,  I  found  that  the  day  was  Sunday,  and, 
roughly  allowing  for  the  difference  of  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  allow  myself 
a  hope  that  the  effect  I  had  experienced  was  any- 
thing 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  IS^ature's 
riddles.  It  would  have  been  sweeter  to  believe 
that  my  kneeling  mother,  by  some  pious  enchant- 
ment, 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 
beUs  of  Marlen  send  their  song  is  a  highly  respect- 
able vale,  and  its  people  (save  one,  two,  or  three) 
Q 


242  Eothen. 

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 


The  Desert.  243 

together,  and  face  to  face  ;  the  mighty  sun  for 
one — and  for  the  other,  this  poor,  pale,  solitary  seK 
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  sparlded  here 
and  there  as  though  it  were  sown  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  con- 
fines 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  tra- 
velled all  the  way  on  to  the  border  of  the  living 
world,  and  brought  me  back  for  a  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  a  bed  of  deep  waters. 


244 


CHAPTER  XYIII. 

CAIRO     AND     THE     PLAGUE."^' 

Cairo  and  Plague  !  During  the  whole  time  of  my 
stay,  the  plague  was  so  master  of  the  city,  and 
stared  so  plain  in  every  street  and  every  alley,  that 
I  can't  now  affect  to  dissociate  the  two  ideas. 

*  There  is  some  semblance  of  bravado  in  niv  manner  of  talkinsj; 
about  tlie  plague.  I  have  been  more  careful  to  describe  the  ter- 
rors 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  under 
perpetual  apprehension,  for  even  in  sleep,  as  I  fancj',  there  re- 
mained with  me  some  faint  notion  of  the  peril  with  whicli  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  may  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  buoy- 
ancy 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. 


Cairo  and  the  Plague.  245 

"When,  coining  from  tlie  Desert,  I  rode  througli 
a  village  lying  near  to  the  city  on  the  eastern  side, 
there  approached  me  with  busy  face  and  earnest 
gestures  a  personage  in  the  Turldsh  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  pre- 
vent me  from  entering  the  city. 

Arretez-vous,  IMonsieur,  je  vous  en  prie — arretez- 
vous ;  il  ne  faut  pas  entrer  dans  la  ville  ;  la  Peste 
y  r^gne  partout. 

Oui,  je  sais,'"'  mais 

Mais,  Monsieur,  je  dis  la  Peste — la  Peste  ;  c'est 
de  LA.  Peste  qu'il  est  questioiL 

Oui,  je  sais,  mais^ 

Mais,  Monsieur,  je  dis  encore  la  Peste  —  la. 
Peste.  Je  vous  conjure  de  ne  pas  entrer  dans  la 
ville — vous  seriez  dans  une  ville  empestde. 

Oui,  je  sais,  mais — - — 

Mais,  Monsieur,  je  dois  done  vous  avertir  tour 
bonnement  que  si  vous  entrez  dans  la  ville,  vous 
serez — enfin  vous  serez  Compromis  !  t 

*  Anglic^  fur  "je  le  sai.s."  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  com- 
patriots make  our  way  through  Europe. 

t  The  import  of  the  word  "compromised,"  when  used  in  refer- 
ence to  contagion,  is  explained  in  page  2. 


246  Eothe7i. 

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  "com- 
promised." 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  pro%ade  me  with 
apartments.  He  had  no  difficulty  in  doing  this,  for 
there  was  not  one  European  traveller  in  Cairo  be- 
sides 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,^^  and  from  that  time  forward 
he  was  sadly  afraid  of  me,  for  upon  the  subject 
of  contagion  he  held  European  opinions. 

*  It  is  said  that  when  a  Mussulman  finds  himself  attacked  by 
the  plague  he  goes  and  takes  a  bath.  The  couches  on  which  the 
balhiTS  recline  would  carry  infection  according  to  the  notions  of 
the  Europeans.  Whenever,  therefore,  I  took  the  bath  at  Cairo 
(except  tlie  lirst  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. 


Cairo  and  the  Plague.  247 

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  Eraser'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 
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  ortho- 
dox standard  of  the  Prophet  in  fierce  campaigns 
against  the  Wahabees,  the  Unitarians  of  the  Mus- 
sulman 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  Chris- 
tianity 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  hareem,  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  T  think  that  this  idea,  rather 


248  Eothen. 

than  any  motive  of  sincere  jealousy,  induced  him 
to  keep  them  out  of .  sight.  The  rooms  of  the 
hareem  reminded  me  of  an  English  nursery  rather 
than  a  Mahometan  paradise.  One  is  apt  to  judge  of 
a  woman  hefore  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  con- 
demned them  both.  But  the  strangest  feature  in 
Osman's  character  was  his  inextinguishable  nation- 
ality. 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  cam- 
paigns,— 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  hareem ;  the  joy  of  his  heart  still 
plainly  lay  in  this,  that  he  had  three  shelves  of 
books,  and  that  the  books  were  thorough -bred 
Scotch,  —  the  Edinburgh  this  —  the  Edinburgh 
that — and,  above  all,  I  recollect  he  prided  him- 
self 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  interested  me  in 


Cairo  and  the  Plague.  249 

Cairo  and  its  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  beheve,  of  the  hardships  which  he  had  been  suf- 
fering 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  200,000,  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  offi- 
cials) were  at  all  correct,  but  I  could  not  help  know- 
ing that  from  day  to  day  the  number  of  the  dead 
was  increasing.  My  quarters  were  in  one  of  the 
chief  thoroughfares  of  the  city,  and  as  the  funerals 
in  Cairo  take  place  between  daybreak  and  noon  (a 
time  during  which  I  generally  stayed  in  my  rooms), 
I  could  form  some  opinion  as  to  the  briskness  of 
the  plague.  I  don't  mean  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 


250  Eothen. 

morning,  and  prevented  me  from  remaining  in  igno- 
rance 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,  and  hurried  forward 
at  a  great  pace.  Two  or  three  singers  generally 
preceded  the  bier ;  the  howlers  (these  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  pro- 
cession ;  these,  especially  the  women,  would  get 
terribly  blown,  and  would  struggle  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  sol- 
emn affectation  of  grief. 

When  first  I  arrived  at  Cairo  the  funerals  that 
daily  passed  under  my  windows  were  many,  but 
still  there  were  frequent  and  long  intervals  with- 
out a  single  howl.  Every  day,  however  (except 
one,  when  I  fancied  that  I  observed  a  diminu- 
tion of  funerals),  these  intervals  became  less 
frequent  and  shorter,  and  at  last,  the  passing  of 
the  howlers  from  morn  to  noon  was  almost  inces- 
sant. I  believe  that  about  one  half  of  the  whole 
people  was  carried   off  by   this   visitation.      The 


Cairo  and  the  Plague.  2  5  1 

orientals,  however,  have  more  quiet  fortitude  than 
Europeans  under  afflictions  of  this  sort,  and  they 
never  allow  the  plague  to  interfere  with  their 
rehgious  usages.  I  rode  one  day  round  the  great 
burial-ground.  The  tombs  are  strewed  over  a 
great  expanse  among  the  vast  mountains  of  rub- 
bish (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  hatefulness 
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  amuse- 
ment 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,  how- 
ever frightful  the  ravages  of  the  disease  may  be, 
the  ^Mahometans  refrain  from  approaching  Heaven 


252  Eothen. 

with  their  complaints  until  the  plague  has  en- 
dured 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  re- 
pudiating the  European  notion  that  the  will  of 
God  can  be  eluded  by  shunning  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  (how  sweet  it  was  to  hear  his 
soft  rolling  language,  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  in- 
quired 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 


Cairo  and  the  Plague.  253 

settled  in  the  East,  and  commonly  called  Levant- 
ines. Wlien  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  con- 
sciousness 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  hold- 
ing 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  found  out  the 
abode  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  inter- 
change 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  a  good  substantial  fence 
of  iron  bars,  and  behind  these  defences  the  banker 


2  54  Bo  then. 

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  com- 
munication with  infecting  substances.  The  Euro- 
peans 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  lying 
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  con- 
demn themselves,  with  all  the  members  of  their 
family,  including  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 :  these   are   hauled   up   through  one  of 


Cairo  and  the  Plague.  255 

the  windows  by  means  of  a  rope,  and  are  after- 
wards soaked  in  water, 

I  knew  nothing  of  these  mysteries,  and  was  not 
therefore  prepared  for  the  sort  of  reception  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 :  these 
instantly  picked  it  up  as  it  were  a  viper,  and  con- 
veyed it  away  to  be  scorched  and  purified  by 
fire  and  smoke.  I  was  disgusted  at  this  recep- 
tion, and  at  the  idea  that  anything  of  mine  could 
carry  infection  to  the  poor  wretch  who  stood  on 
the  other  side  of  the  bars  —  pale  and  trembling, 
and  already  meet  for  death.  I  looked  with  some- 
thing of  the  Mahometan's  feeling  upon  these  little 
contrivances  for  eluding  fate :  and  in  this  instance 
at  least  they  were  vain :  a  little  while  and  the 
poor  money-changer  who  had  strived  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 


256  Eothcn. 

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  court- 
eously 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 


Cairo  and  the  Plaoue.  2=^7 

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  doe,8  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  dares  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 
K 


258  Eothen. 

death  ?  Feel  the  gland  of  the  othcsr  arm.  There 
is  not  the  same  lump  exactly,  yet  something  a 
little  like  it.  Have  not  some  people  glands  natu- 
rally 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 
tilings  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  dear  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 


I 


Cairo  and  the  Plague.  259 

out  by    the    foot    from    his    shallow    and    sandy 
grave. 

Better  fate  was  mine.  By  some  happy  per- 
verseness  (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  Euro- 
pean notions  about  contagion  were  thoroughly 
unfounded,  —  that  the  plague  might  be  provi- 
dential 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  dis- 
couraged 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  priva- 
tion 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  these  great  numbers  are  always  in  readiness, 
with  donkey-boys  attached.  I  had  two  who  con- 
stantly (until  one  of  them  died  of  the  plague) 
waited    at    my   door    upon   the   chance   of   being 


26o  Eothen. 

wanted.  I  found  tliis  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  wliich  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  deaden- 
ing to  sound,  tbat  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  for  your  passage.  Through  this  you 
move  at  a  gallop,  gliding  on  delightfully  in  the 
very  midst  of  crowds  without  being  inconveni- 
enced or  stopped  for  a  moment ;  it  seems  to  you 
that  it  is  not  the  donkey  but  the  donkey-boy  who 
wafts  you  along  with  his  shouts  through  pleasant 
groups,  and  air  that  comes  thick  with  the  fragrance 
of  burial  spice.  "Eh  !  Slieik, — Eh  !  Bint, — regga- 
lek, — shumalek,  &c.  &c. — 0  old  man,  0  virgin,  get 
out  of  the  way  on  the  right — 0  virgin,  0  old  man, 
get  out  of  the  way  on  the  left, — this  Englishman 
comes,  he  comes,  he  comes  ! "  The  narrow  alley 
which  these  shouts  cleared  for  my  passage  made 
it  possible,  though  difficult,  to  go  on  for  a  long 
way  without  touching  a  single  person,  and  my 
endeavours  to  avoid  such  contact  were  a  sort  of 


Cairo  and  the  Plastic.  26 1 


■i> 


game  for  me  in  my  loneliness.  If  I  got  through 
a  street  without  being  touched,  I  won ;  if  I  was 
touched,  I  lost, — lost  a  deuce  of  a  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  build- 
ings to  admire  at  Cairo,  but  I  saw  one  handsome 
mosque,  and  to  this  an  instructive  history  is  at- 
tached. A  Hindostanee  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  ic  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  Hindostanee  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  uneasi- 
ness,— in  short,  all  the  "  respectable  men  "  of  the 
place ;  after  this  lie  possessed  undisputed  power 
in  the  city,  and  was  greatly  revered, — he  is  re- 
vered to  this  day.  It  struck  me  that  there  was 
a  touching  simplicity  in  the  mode  which  this  man 
so  successfully  adopted  for  gaining  the  confidence 


262  Eothen. 

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  a  European 
ignorant  of  the  East,  for  witness  Mehemet  All's 
destruction  of  the  Mamelukes,  a  closely  similar  act, 
and  attended  with  the  like  brilliant  success  ■^^") ; 
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,  and  gained 
from  its  ramparts  a  superb  view  of  the  town.  The 
fanciful  and  elaborate  gilt- work  of  the  many  min- 
arets 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  woe -begone,  and  a  kennel  of  very  fine 
lions  well  fed  and  flourishing :  I  say  yolie  of  men, 
for  the  poor  fellows  were  working  together  in 
bonds ;  I  say  a  kmnel  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 

*  Mehemet  Ali  invited  the  Mamehikes  to  a  fenst,  and  murdered 
tliem  whilst  preparing  to  enter  the  banquet-hall. 


Cairo  and  the  Plague.  263 

that  pipes  and  arms  were  cheaper  here  than  at 
Constantinople,  and  I  should  advise  you  therefore 
if  you  reach  both  places  to  prefer  the  market  of 
Cairo.  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  story  of  the  building, 
and  also  into  several  obscure  houses  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, 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  selling  to 
unbelievers,''^"  and  others  declared  that  all  trans- 
actions 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  treasure  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."  There  was  a 
good  deal  of  delay,  but  at  last  I  was  led  into  a 
long  dreary  room,  and  tliere,  after  marching  timidly 
forward  for  a  few  paces,  I  descried  at  the  farther 
end  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 
*  It  is  not  strictly  lawful  to  sell  white  slaves  to  a  Christian. 


2^4  Eothen. 

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  ap- 
pearance,— perhaps  she  saw  my  distaste  and  dis- 
appointment ;  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." 

AVhilst  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  ap- 
pearance. The  first  experiment  (a  very  stale  one) 
which  he  attempted  to  perform  for  me  was  that  of 


Cairo  and  the  Plague.  265 

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  consisting, 
I  suppose,  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  continu- 
ing 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  agi- 
tated, was  asked  whether  he  saw  anything  on  the 
palm  of  his  hand.  He  declared  that  he  saw — and 
he  described  it  rather  minutely — a  kind  of  military 
procession  with  royal  flags  and  warlike  banners 
flying.  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 


266  Eothen. 

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  representation 
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  within  this 
space  was  concentrated  the  pluck  of  ten  battalions. 
He  had  a  really  noble  voice,  and  this  he  could  mo- 
dulate 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  man- 
ners," and  had  "permitted  them  to  be  fierce" — 
tremendously  fierce.  He  had  such  a  complete  com- 
mand over  his  temper  —  I  mean,  over  his  good 
temper,  that  he  scarcely  ever  allowed  it  to  appear : 
you  could  not  put  him  out  of  humour — that  is,  out 
of  the  ^'//-humour  which  he  thought  to  be  fitting 
for  a  head-master.  His  red  shaggy  eyebrows  were 
so  prominent,  that  he  habitually  used  them  as  arms 
and  hands  for  the  purpose  of  pointing  out  any  ob- 


Cairo  and  the  Plagtie.  267 

ject  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  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  laugh- 
ter with  profane  exultation,  and  the  wizard  per- 
ceiving 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  down-stairs. 

"  One  or  two   other  boys   were   tried,  but  none 
could  "  see  truth." 

Notwithstanding  the  failure  of  these  experiments, 
I  wished  to  see  what  sort  of  mummery  my  magi- 
cian would  practise  if  I  called  upon  him  to  show 
me  some  performances  of  a  higher  order  than  those 
already  attempted.  I  therefore  made  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 


268  Eothcn. 

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  in- 
sinuating 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  pay- 
ment (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  finished,  and  it 
was  arranged  that,  after  a  few  days  to  be  allowed 
for  preparation,  the  wizard  should  raise  the  devil 
for  £2,  10s.,  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.  Tlie  plague  had  seized 
him,  and  he  died. 

Although  the  plague  was  now  spreading  quick 
and  terrible  havoc  around  him,  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  vio- 
lent 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 


Cairo  and  the  Plague.  269 

affairs  of  this  world  :  it  was  less  worth  while  for 
men  to  haggle  and  haggle,  and  crack  the  slcy  with 
noisy  bargains,  when  tlie  Great  Commander  was 
there  who  could  "  pay  all  their  debts  with  the  roll 
of  his  drum." 

At  this  time  I  was  informed  that  of  25,000 
people  at  Alexandria,  12,000  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  their  habit  of  using 
biers  for  interment  instead  of  burpng  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  accustomed  way,  except 
that  he  went  to  his  grave  at  a  pace  more  than 
usually  rapid. 

The  funerals  pouring  through  the  streets  were 
not  the  only  public  evidence  of  deaths.  In  Cr.iro 
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  approach- 


2  70  Eothen. 

ing,  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  min- 
utes, 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  doc- 
tor, and  was  informed  that  the  only  one  then  at 
Cau'o  was  a  Bolognese  refugee,  a  very  young  prac- 
titioner, and  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  pa- 
tient was  ill  of  the  plague  and  would  decline  to 
come.  I  therefore  rode  to  the  young  doctor's 
residence,  ascended  a  flight  or  two  of  stairs,  and 
knocked  at  his  door.  iJ^o  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, 


Cairo  and  the  Plague.  2  7  r 

I  accepted  a  chair,  and  exchanged  a  sentence  or 
two  of  commonplace  conversation.  Now  the  natu- 
ral commonplace  of  the  city  at  this  season  was  of 
a  gloomy  sort — "  Come  va  la  peste  ? "  (how  goes 
tlie  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  oppres- 
sively hot,  yet  I  saw  that  the  doctor  was  transpiring 
profusely,  and  even  the  outside  surface  of  the  thick 
shawl  dressing-gown  in  which  he  had  wrapped  him- 
self appeared  to  be  moist.  He  was  a  handsome, 
pleasant-looking  young  fellow,  but  the  deep  melan- 
choly 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  al- 
most immediately  afterwards  I  bade  him  farewell ; 
but  as  he  conducted  me  towards  the  door,  I  ob- 
served an  expression  of  strange  and  unhappy  watch- 
fulness in  his  rolling  eyes.  It  was  not  the  next 
day,  but  the  next  day  but  one,  if  I  rightly  remem- 
ber, that  I  sent  to  request  another  interview  with 
my  doctor.  In  due  time  Dthemetri,  my  messenger, 
returned,  looldng  sadly  aghast.  He  had  "met  the"^ 
medico,"  for  so  he  phrased  it,  "  coming  out  from 
liis  house — in  a  bier  :  " 


272  Eothen. 

It  was  of  course  plain  that  when  the  poor  Bo- 
lognese  stood  looking  down  my  throat  and  almost 
mingling  his  breath  with  mine,  lie  was  already 
stricken  of  the  plague.  I  suppose  that  his  violent 
sweat  must  have  been  owing  to  some  medicine  ad- 
ministered by  himself  in  the  faint  hope  of  a  cure. 
The  peculiar  rolling  of  his  eyes  which  I  had  re- 
marked is,  I  believe,  to  experienced  observers,  a 
pretty  sure  test  of  the  plague.  A  Eussian  ac- 
quaintance 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  ward- 
robe 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  wliom  he  em- 
ployed, that  at  last  I  became  quite  accustomed  to 
the  peculiar  manner  of  tlie  man  when  he  prepared 


Cairo  and  the  Plagtie.  273 

to  announce  a  new  death  to  me.  The  poor  fellow 
naturally  supposed  that  I  should  feel  some  uneasi- 
ness at  hearing  of  the  "accidents"  continually- 
happening  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 
tlien  gently  and  with  a  mournful  gesture  allow  the 
words  "  ]\Iorto,  signer,"  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  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  Khamseen  wind,  and  fear- 
ing that  T  should  faint  under  the  infliction,  I  re- 
turned 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 


2/4  Eothen. 

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  percepti})ly  waving ;  the  whole  sky  was  ob- 
scured 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  with- 
out cause,  for  the  scorching  blast,  whilst  it  fevers  the 
blood,  closes  up  the  pores  of  the  skin,  and  is  terri- 
bly distressing  therefore  to  every  animal  that  en- 
counters 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  I  felt  in  try- 
ing 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  priv- 
ilege 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  might  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 


Cairo  and  the  Plague.  275 

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  uni- 
versal opinion  of  the  Europeans  upon  a  medical 
question,  such  as  that  of  contagion,  might  prob- 
ably be  correct ;  and  if  it  were,  I  was  so  thoroughly 
"  compromised,"  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,  then,  as  well  as  I 
could,  all  the  considerations  suggested  by  hope  and 
fear,  I  slowly  and  reluctantly  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that,  according  to  all  merely  reasonable  prob- 
ability, the  plague  had  come  upon  me. 

You  might  suppose  that  this  conviction  would 
have  induced  me  to  write  a  few  farewell  lines  to 
those  who  were  de'arest,  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  compara- 
tively 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 


276  Eothen. 

stage.  I  did  not  believe  that  either  Mysseri  or 
Dthemetri,  who  had  served  me  so  faithfully  in  all 
trials,  "wonld  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  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  omni- 
present '  Times '  newspaper,  and  hid  them  away  in 
a  cupboard,  for  it  was  not  yet  night,  and  I  dared 
not  to  throw  the  food  into  the  street  until  darkness 
came.  1  did  not  at  all  relish  this  process  of  ficti- 
tious 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,  T  drank  deep 


Cairo  and  the  Plag7ic.  277 

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  wliich  had  been  load- 
ing  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  answered,  "  Perfectly  well." 

I  was  very  anxious  to  procure,  if  possible,  some 
medical  advice  for  Mysseri,  whose  illness  prevented 
my  departure.  Every  one  of  the  European  prac- 
tising 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  deter- 
mined 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  tliinking  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 


278  Eothen. 

shown  up  into  my  room.  I  entreated  him  to  stand 
off,  telling  him  fairly  how  deeply  I  was  "  compro- 
mised," and  especially  by  my  contact  with  a  person 
actually  ill  and  since  dead  of  plague.  The  gen- 
erous 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  country- 
man 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'^''  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  grave  elder 
stretching  forth  his  arms,  and  lifting  up  his  voice 
in  a  speech  which  seemed  to  have  some  reference 
to  me.  Eequiring  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." 

*  The  difficulty  was  occasioned  by  the  immense  exertions  which 
the  Pasha  was  making  to  collect  camels  for  military  purposes. 


Cairo  a7id  the  Plague.  279 

I  no  sooner  breathed  the  free  wholesome  air  of 
the  Desert,  than  I  felt  that  a  great  burthen,  wliich 
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. 


28o 


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  hanks  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 
Egpyt,  and  that  those  angles  which  stood  up  be- 
tween 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 


Th  e  Pyrani  ids.  2  8 1 

cliuibing  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 


282  Eothen. 

experience  of  an  abstract  idea)^[  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  Pyra- 
mid,— 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  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  con- 
tact 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  realisa- 
tion of  some  kingly  crotchets  about  immortality, — 
some  priestly  longing  for  burial  fees  ;  and  that  as 
for  the  building — they  were  built  like  coral  rocks 


The  Pyramids.  283 

by  swarms  of  insects, — by  swarms  of  poor  Egyp- 
tians, who  were  not  only  the  abject  tools  and  slaves 
of  power,  but  who  also  ate  onions  for  the  reward 
of  their  immortal  labours ! '""  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  Aboucir 
and   Sakkara.     There  are  many  of  tliese,  differing 

*  Herodotus,  in  an  after  age,  stood  Ly  with  his  note-book,  and 
got,  as  he  thought,  the  exact  returns  of  all  the  rations  served  out. 


284  Eothen. 

the  one  from  the  other  in  shape  as  well  as  size ; 
and  it  struck  me  that  taken  together  they  might  be 
looked  upon  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  ;  and  these 
last  suffgested  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,  Hindostan,  from  whence  the 
Egyptians  are  supposed  to  have  come).  Men  ac- 
customed to  raise  these  structures  for  then*  dead 
kings  or  conquerors  would  carry  the  usage  with 
them  in  their  migrations  ;  but  arriving  in  Egypt, 
and  seeing  the  impossibility  of  finding  earth  suffi- 
ciently tenacious  for  a  mound,  they  would  approxi- 
mate 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  with- 
out 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. 


285 


CHAPTER    XX. 


THE    SPHYNX. 


And  near  the  Pyramids,  more  wondrous  and 
more  awful  than  all  else  in  the  land  of  Eg}'pt,  there 
sits  the  lonely  Sphynx.  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  ^gean,  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, 


286  Eothe7i. 

serious  gaze,   and  kiss  you  your  charitable  hand 
with  the  big  pouting  lips  of  the  very  Sphynx. 

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  in- 
tent for  ever  and  ever  inexorable  !  Upon  ancient 
dynasties  of  Ethiopian  and  Egjrptian  kings — upon 
Greek  and  Eoman,  upon  Arab  and  Ottoman  con- 
querors— 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  War- 
burton  to-day, — upon  all  and  more  this  unworldly 
Sphynx  has  watched,  and  watched  like  a  Providence 
with  the  same  earnest  eyes,  and  the  same  sad,  tran- 
quil mien.  And  we,  we  shall  die,  and  Islam  will 
wither  away  ;  and  the  Englishman,  straining  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  stOl  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  Sphynx. 


28; 


CHAPTER    XXI. 


CAIRO    TO    SUEZ. 


The  "  dromedaiy  "  of  Egypt  and  Syria  is  not  tlie 
two -Lumped  animal  described  by  that  name  in 
books  of  natural  history,  but  is  in  fact  of  the  same 
family  as  the  camel,  standing  towards  his  more 
clumsy  fellow-slave  in  about  the  same  relation  as 
a  racer  to  a  cart-horse.  The  fleetness  and  endur- 
ance of  this  creature  are  extraordinary.  It  is  not 
usual  to  force  him  into  a  gallop,  and  I  fancy,  from 
his  make,  that  it  would  be  quite  impossible  for 
him  to  maintain  that  pace  for  any  length  of  time ; 
but  the  animal  is  on  so  large  a  scale,  that  the  jog- 
trot at  which  he  is  generally  ridden  implies  a 
progress  of  perhaps  ten  or  twelve  miles  an  hour, 
and  this  pace,  it  is  said,  he  can  keep  up  incessant- 
ly, 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 


28S  Eothen. 

■with  Dthemetri  to  Suez  as  rapidly  as  the  fleetness 
of  the  beasts  would  allow,  and  to  let  Mysseri  (then 
still  remaining  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 
disagreeable  to  the  rider,  until  he  becomes  a  little 
accustomed  to  it ;  but  after  the  first  half-hour  I 
so  far  schooled  myself  to  this  new  exercise  that  I 
felt  capable  of  keeping  it  up  (though  not  without 
aching  limbs)  for  several  hours  together.  Now, 
therefore,  I  was  anxious  to  dart  forward  and  annihi- 
late at  once  the  whole  space  that  divided  me  from 
the  Eed  Sea.  Dthemetri,  however,  could  not  get 
on  at  all :  every  attempt  at  trotting  seemed  to 
threaten  the  utter  dislocation  of  his  whole  frame ; 
and  indeed  I  doubt  whether  any  one  of  Dthemetri's 
ao-e  (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  experiment  as  one  that 
was  utterly  hopeless. 

When  for  the  third  or  fourth  time  T  saw  Dthe- 
metri 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 


Cairo  to  Suez.  289 

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  1  must  have  far  out-distanced  all  my 
followers.  I  had  ridden  away  from  my  party 
merely  by  way  of  humouring  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  should  push 
on  alone,  and  find  my  own  way  to  Suez.  I  had 
now  learned  that  I  could  not  rely  upon  the  con- 
tinued 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  Eed  Sea.  The  worst  of 
it  was  that  I  had  no  provision  of  food  or  water 
with  me,  and  already  1  was  beginning  to  feel 
T 


290  Eotken. 

thirst.  I  deliberated  for  a  minute,  and  then  de- 
termined 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  without  a  sensation  of  awe  that  I 
swept  with  my  sight  the  vacant  round  of  the 
horizon,  and  remembered  that  1  was  all  alone 
and  unprovisioned  in  the  midst  of  the  arid  waste ; 
but  this  very  awe  gave  tone  and  zest  to  the  exul- 
tation with  which  I  felt  myself  launched.  Hitherto 
in  all  my  wanderings  I  had  been  under  the  care 
of  other  people — sailors,  Tatars,  guides,  and  drag- 
omen had  watched  over  my  welfare ;  but  now,  at 
last,  I  was  here  in  this  African  desert,  and  I  my- 
self, 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 
worst  of  all,  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  at  length  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  dis- 
tance 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 


Cairo  to  Suez.  291 

that  there  hung  from  the  pack-saddle  of  the  camel 
one  of  the  large  skin  water-flasks  commonly  carried 
in  the  Desert,  and  it  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  face  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  snule,  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  m}' 


292  Eothen. 

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,  she  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  or  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  inter- 
rupted 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  I 
the  sea — the  sea  was  before  me ' 


Cairo  to  Suez.  293 

It  has  been  given  me  to  know  the  true  pitli, 
and  to  feel  the  power  of  ancient  pagan  creeds,  and 
so  (distinctly  from  all  mere  admiration  of  the 
beauty  belonging  to  Nature's  works)  I  acknow- 
ledge a  sense  of  mystical  reverence  when  first  I 
approached  some  illustrious  feature  of  the  globe 
— some  coast-line  of  ocean — some  mighty  river 
or  dreary  mountain -range,  the  ancient  barrier  of 
kingdoms.  But  the  Eed  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  drink  of  water  cool  and  plenteous, 
and  then  lie  down  and  rest.  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  see  any  mark  of 
distant  Suez,  but  after  a  while  I  descried  far  away 
in  the  east  a  large,  blank,  isolated  building.  I 
made  toward  this,  and  in  time  got  down  to  it. 
The  building  was  a  fort,  and  had  been  built  there 


294  Eothe7i. 

for  the  protection  of  a  "well  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,  a  score  or  so  of 
people  who  sat  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  pur- 
suing 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  straight.  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  steadiness 
that  I  felt  convinced  it  would  blow  from  the  same 
quarter  for  several  hours ;  so  when  the  sun  set,  I 
carefully  looked  for  the  point  whence  the  wind 
came,  and  found  that  it  blew  from  the  very  west 
— blew  exactly  in  the  direction  of  my  route.  I 
had  nothing  to  do,  therefore,  but  to  go  straight 
to  leeward,  and  this  I  found  easy  enough,  for  the 
gale  was  blowing  so  hard  that,  if  I  diverged  at 
all  from  my  course,  I  instantly  felt  the  pressure 
of  the  blast  on  the  side  towards  which  I  had 
deviated.     Very  soon  after  sunset  there  came  on 


Cairo  to  Suez.  295 

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  this  I 
passed  by  without  stopping. 

On  I  went,  still  riding  down  the  wind,  but  at 
last  an  unlucky  misfortune  befell  me — a  mis- 
fortune so  absurd  that,  if  you  like,  you  shall 
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  drome- 
dary 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  on- 
ward course.  Meeting  the  movement,  I  mechani- 
cally 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  through  air  till  my  crown 
came  whang  against  the  ground.  And  the  ground 
too  was  perfectly  hard  (compacted  sand),  but  my 


296  Eothen. 

thickly  wadded  head-gear  (this  I  wore  for  protec- 
tion against  the  sun)  now  stood  me  in  good  part 
and  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 
had  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  villanous, 
gloomy -looking  fellows.  It  was  sorry  work  for 
me  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 


Cairo  to  Suez.  297 

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.  Heaven !  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 ! 


298 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

SUEZ. 

I  WAS  hospitably  entertained  by  the  British  con- 
sul, or  agent,  as  he  is  there  styled ;  he  is  the 
employ^  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  where 
the  Israelites  passed  the  Eed  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  Ox- 
ford theologians  who,  with  Milman  their  Professor,''' 
believe  that  Jehovah  conducted  His  chosen  people 

*  See  Milman's  History  of  the  Jews  —  first  edition,   Family 
Library. 


Suez.  299 

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  suffi- 
cient for  the  passage  of  that  vast  multitude  of  men 
and  beasts,  or  even  for  a  small  fraction  of  it. 
IVIoreover,  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  inter- 
ference, 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 
]\Iussulmans,  and  is  consistent  with  Holy  Writ : 
"  The  waters  were  a  wall  unto  them  on  their  right 
hand,  and  on  their  left."  The  Cambridge  mathe- 
maticians seem  to  think  that  the  Israelites  weie 
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  mcie  hydrostatical  point  of 
view,  but  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  it  with  the 
account  given  in  Exodus,  unless  we  can  suppose 


300  Eothcn. 

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  of  Suez,  that  he  and  his 
horsemen  managed  the  matter  in  a  way  more  re- 
sembling 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  commanded  his  horse- 
men 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  de- 
clare that  Napoleon  parted  from  his  horse,  got 
water -logged  and  nearly  drowned,  and  was  only 
fished  out  by  the  aid  of  the  people  on  shore. 

I  bathed  twice  at  the  point  assigned  to  the  pas- 
sage 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  depths,  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  of  my  arrival ;  but 


Suez.  30  r 

the  treasures  attached  to  the  saddle,  including  nay- 
pelisse  and  my  dearest  pistols,  had  disappeared. 
These  things  were  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  Eng- 
lish traveller;  but  afterwards,  and  when  he  saw  the 
value  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  ex- 
pected 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  appeai-ed,  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  basti- 
nado, his  comrade  was  overheard  encouraging  him 


3©  2  Eothen. 

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  Euro- 
peans. 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,  and  the 
largest  of  these  is  at  some  distance  from  the  place. 
Under  these  circumstances,  the  request  for  fresh 
water  was  refused,  or  at  all  events  was  not  com- 
plied 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  our 
countrymen  a  high  degree  of  affection  and  respect. 

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 


Suez.  303 

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  judge,  jury,  and  sheriff — 
that  is,  with  the  governor,  for  in  this  one  person- 
age were  vested  almost  all  the  functions  connected 
with  the  administration  of  injustice.  I  got  on 
very  well  with  my  host  (this  was  not  my  first  in- 
terview), 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.  1  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  numer- 
ous 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  sugges- 
tion would  stand  forward  and  humble  himself  be- 
fore the  governor,  and  then  state  his  views ;  every 
man  thus  giving  counsel  was  listened  to  with  some 
attention. 

After  a  greal  deal  of  fruitless  planning,  the 
governor   directed   that   the   prisoners    should    be 


304  Eothen. 

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  lifted  back  to  their 
dungeon. 

One  of  the  attendants  now  suggested  a  scheme 
— a  scheme  which  seemed  to  me  most  childishly 
absurd,  but  nevertheless  it  was  tried.  A  man 
went  down  to  the  dungeon  with  instructions  to 
make  the  prisoneis  believe  that  he  had  gained  per- 
mission to  see  them  upon  some  invented  pretext 
and  when  the  spy  had  thus  won  a  little  of  their 
confidence,  he  was  to  attempt  a  sham  treaty  with 
them  for  the  purchase  of  the  stolen  goods.  This 
shallow  expedient  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 
that  the  prisoners  should  be  threatened  with  tliis 
i'ate.  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  declared  that  if  he 
threatened,  he  surely  would  maJce  his  words  good. 


Suez. 


305 


Thinking  at  last  that  nothing  was  to  be  gained 
by  keeping  the  prisoners  any  longer  in  confine- 
ment, I  requested  that  they  might  be  set  free. 
To  this  the  governor  assented,  though  only,  as  he 
said,  out  of  favour  to  me,  for  he  had  a  strong  im- 
pression that  the  men  were  guilty.  I  went  down 
to  see  the  j)risoners  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  ended  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 
going  forward  into  the  Desert  the  people  would 
have  an  easy  and  profitable  opportunity  of  wreak- 
ing their  vengeance  on  me.  If  ever  they  formed 
any  scheme  of  the  kind,  they  at  all  events  re- 
frained 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  pis- 

u 


3o6  Eothen. 

tols.  The  bridegrooms  came  last,  all  walking 
abreast.  My  only  reason  for  mentioning  the 
ceremony  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." 


)07 


CHAPTER    XXIIl. 


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  yield- 
ing food  for  the  camel  are  more  frequent,  and  in 
many  spots  the  sand  is  mingled  with  so  much  of 
productive  soil  as  to  admit  the  growth  of  com. 
The  Bedouins  are  driven  out  of  this  district  during 
the  summer  by  the  want  of  water ;  but  before  the 
time  for  their  forced  departure  arrives,  they  suc- 
ceed in  raising  little  crops  of  barley  from  these 
comparatively  fertile  patches  of  ground.  They  bury 
the  fruit  of  their  labours,  and  take  care  so  to  mark 
the  spot  chosen,  that  when  they  return  they  can 
easily  find  their  hidden  treasures.  The  warm  dry 
sand  stands  them  for  a  safe  granary.  The  coun- 
try, at  the  time  I  passed  it  (in  the  month  of  April), 
was   pretty  thickly  sprinkled  with  Bedouins   ex- 


o 


08  Eothe7i. 


X^ecting  their  harvest ;  several  times  my  tent  was 
pitched  alongside  of  their  encampments;  but  I 
have  already  told  you  all  I  wanted  to  tell  about 
the  domestic — or  rather  the  castral — life  of  the 
Arabs. 

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  car- 
ried 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  gain  her  affections,  but  the  trembling 
beauty  refused  to  touch  food,  and  would  not  be 
comforted;  whenever  she  had  a  seeming  oppor- 
tunity of  escaping,  she  struggled  with  a  violence 
so  painfully  disproportioned  to  her  fine  delicate 
limbs,  that  I  could  not  go  on  with  the  cruel 
attempt  to  make  her  my  own.  In  the  morning, 
therefore,  I  set  her  loose,  anticipating  some  plea- 
sure from  the  joyous  bound  with  which,  as  I 
thought,  she  would  return  to  her  native  freedom. 
She  had  been  so  stupefied,  however,  by  the  ex- 
citing 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  was  quite  sound  in  limb,  but 
she  looked  so  idiotic  that  I  fancied  her  intellect 
might  have  been  really  upset.  Never,  in  all  like- 
lihood, had  she  seen  the  form  of  a  human  being 


Suez  to  Gaza.  309 

until  the  dreadful  moment  when  shs  woke  from 
her  sleep  and  found  herself  in  the  gripe  of  an 
Arab.  Then  her  pitching  and  tossing  journey 
on  the  back  of  a  camel,  and,  lastly,  a  soirie  with 
rae  by  candle-light !  I  should  have  been  glad  to 
know,  if  I  could,  that  her  heart  was  not  broken. 

]\Iy  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  in- 
glorious war  in  these  smooth  plains  against  ante- 
lopes 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  hire  on  a  fre- 
quented 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  the  point  (some  encampment,  I  sup- 
pose) for  which  they  were  to  make.  There  is 
always  a  leading  camel  (generally,  I  believe,  the 
eldest)  who  marches  foremost  and  determines  the 


3IO  Eothen. 

path  for  the  whole  party.  When  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  "  apr^s  vous."  The  responsibility 
of  finding  the  way  is  evidently  assumed  very 
unwillingly.  After  some  time,  however,  it  be- 
comes understood  that  one  of  the  beasts  has  reluc- 
tantly consented  to  take  the  lead,  and  he  accord- 
ingly advances  for  that  purpose.  For  a  minute 
or  two  he  marches  with  great  indecision,  taking 
first  one  line  and  then  another ;  but  soon,  by  the 
aid  of  some  mysterious  sense,  he  discovers  the 
true  direction,  and  thenceforward  keeps  to  it 
steadily,  going  on  from  morning  to  night.  When 
once  the  leadership  is  established,  you  cannot  by 
any  persuasion,  and  scarcely  even  by  blows,  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 
this  during  the  greater  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 


Siiez  to  Gaza.  3  r  i 

about  half  a  mile  off  some  water  was  found,  and 
this,  though  very  muddy,  was  tolerably  sweet. 
Here  was  indeed  a  happy  discovery,  for  all  the 
water  we  had  brought  from  tlie  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  hu- 
man being  whose  body  is  so  thoroughly  the  slave 
of  mind  as  the  Arab.  His  mental  anxieties  seem 
to  be  for  ever  torturing  every  nerve  and  fibre  of 
his  body,  and  yet,  with  all  this  exquisite  sensitive- 
ness 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  no  more  than  two  days'  supply  of  water. 
They  said  that  by  the  time  that  supply  was  ex- 
hausted, 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  went  on  ai^d 
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 


312  Eothen. 

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  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  affec- 
tions that  I  have  ever  observed,  and  yet  when  the 
whole  breadth  of  the  Desert  lies  between  him  and 
the  town  you  are  going  to,  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,  im- 
plores, 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  conse- 
quence 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 


Stiez  to  Gaza. 


o»o 


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  befalls  tlie  poor  Be- 
douin (when  once  entrapped  between  walls)  to  be 
seized  by  the  Government  authorities  for  the  sake 
of  his  camels,  that  his  innate  horror  of  cities  be- 
comes 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  natu- 
ral ascendancy  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  feUow.  There  were,  I  think,  five  other 
Arabs  of  the  party ;  but  when  we  approached  the 
end  of  the  journey,  they,  one  by  one,  began  lo 
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 


314  Eothen. 

terrors  that  my  Arabs  had  shown  when  I  entered 
Cairo.  I  could  not  possibly  accede  to  his  en- 
treaties, 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  con- 
strain 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  habita- 
tions 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 


Sues  to  Gaza.  3 1 5 

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  stipu- 
lated to  pay  him  for  the  passage  of  the  Desert.  In 
order,  however,  to  do  all  I  could  towards  saving 
him  from  tliis  last  misfortune,  I  resorted  to  a 
contrivance  frequently  adopted  by  the  Asiatics. 
I  assembled  a  group  of  grave  and  worthy  Mussul- 
mans in  the  courtyard  of  the  khan,  and  in  their 
presence  paid  over  the  gold  to  a  sheik  well  known 
in  the  place  and  accustomed  to  communicate  with 
the  Arabs  of  the  Desert.  Then  all  present  sol- 
emnly 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  gov- 
ernor of  Gaza.  lie  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  t*n 
exception  in  my  favour,  and  I  rewarded  him  with 
a  musical  snuff-box — a  toy  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 


3 1 6  Eothen. 

with  the  gift,  and  in  great  exultation  and  glee,  he 
carried  it  off  to  his  harem.  Soon,  however,  poor 
fellow,  he  returned  with  an  altered  countenance : 
his  wives,  he  said,  had  got  hold  of  the  box,  and 
had  put  it  quite  out  of  order.  So  short-lived  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 ;  this  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,  reminded  me  of  the  figures  one  sees  in  some 
of  the  old  pictures. 


317 


CHAPTER     XXIV. 

GAZA    TO    NABLOUS. 

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  wi-etched  dwelling,  and 
depriving  them  of  rest  without  gaining  rest  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  sup- 
plies,— that  is,  for  milk,  for  bread  (if  I  had  it  not 
with  me),  and  sometimes  also  for  eggs.  The  worst 
of  it  was  that  the  needful  viands  were  not  to  he 
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  A^il- 
lage  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 : 


3 1 8  Eothen. 

he  required  to  see  the  elders  of  the  place,  and 
threatening  di*eadful  vengeance,  commanded  them 
upon  their  responsibility  to  take  care  that  my  tent 
should  be  immediately  and  abundantly  supplied. 
He  was  obeyed  at  once ;  and  the  provisions  re- 
fused 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  per- 
emptory 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  thorough-bred  English 
traveller  will  always  do  this  (though  it  is  con- 
trary 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 


Gaza  to  Nablous.  319 

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  tliem,  poor  fellows  !) ;  and 
it  is  so  delightful  to  them  to  act  upon  this  flatter- 
ing 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  neces- 
sary is  utterly  hateful  to  an  Englishman.  He  finds 
himself  forced  to  conquer  his  daily  bread  by  the 
pompous  threats  of  the  dragoman, — his  very  sub- 
sistence, 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  espe- 
cially 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  day-time,  that  the  inmates 
of  the  cottage  are  roused  from  their  midnight  sleep, 
by  the   sudden   coming  of  a  government  officer ; 


320  Eothen. 

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  harm- 
lessly if  he  could ;  but  horses  or  mules  he  must 
have,  and  these  are  his  ways  and  means. 

The  town  of  Nablous  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  an- 
cient Sychem.  I  know  not  whether  it  was  there, 
indeed,  that  the  father  of  the  Jews  was  accus- 
tomed 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. 

Nablous  is  the  very  furnace  of  Mahometan 
bigotry ;  and  I  believe  that  only  a  few  months 
before  the  time  of  my  going  there,  it  would  have 
been  madly  rash  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,  how- 
ever, that  the  effort  with  wliich  the  men  of  tlie 
old  school  refrained  from  expressing  their  opinion 


Gaza  to  Nablo7ts.  321 

of  a  hat  and  a  coat  was  liorriliy  j^ainful  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  tlius 
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  cun- 
ning, as  well  as  for  his  knowledge  of  the  country. 
Tliis  personage  "vvas  no  other  than  Aboo  Goosh 
("  the  father  of  lies  ")!''  The  man  had  been  sud- 
denly taken  out  of  prison,  and  sent  into  his  native 
hill-country,  with  orders  to  procreate  a  few  choice 
falsehoods  and  snares  for  entreapping  tlie  rebellious 
mountaineers ;  and  he  performed  his  function  so 
well  that  he  quickly  enabled  Ibrahim  to  liem  in 
and  extinguisli  the  insurrection.  He  was  rewarded 
with  the  governorship  of  Jerusalem,  and  this  he 
held  when  I  was  there.  I  recollect,  by  the  by, 
that  he  tried  one  of  his  stratagems  upon  me.      I 

*  This  is  an  appellation  not  implying  blame,  but  merit ;  the 
"lies"  which  it  purports  to  affiliate  are  feints  and  cunning  strata- 
gems rather  than  the  baser  kind  of  falsehoods.  The  expression, 
in  short,  has  nearly  the  same  meaning  as  the  English  word 
"  Yorkshiremau." 

X 


32  2  Eothen. 

had  not  gone  to  see  him  (as  I  ought  in  courtesy 
to  have  done)  upon  my  arrival  at  Jerusalem,  but 
I  happened  to  be  the  owner  of  a  rather  handsome 
amber  tchibouque-Tpiece ;  this  the  governor  heard 
of,  and  having  also  by  some  means  contrived  to 
see  it,  he  sent  me  a  softly-worded  message  with 
an  offer  to  buy  the  pipe  at  a  price  immensely 
exceeding  the  sum  I  had  given  for  it.  He  did 
not  add  my  tchihouque  to  the  rest  of  his  trophies. 

There  was  a  small  number  of  Greek  Christians 
resident  in  ISTablous,  and  over  these  the  Mussul- 
mans held  a  high  hand,  not  even  allowing  them 
to  speak  to  each  other  in  the  open  streets.  But 
if  the  Moslems  thus  set  themselves  abovl  the 
poor  Christians  of  the  place,  I,  or  rather  my  ser- 
vants, 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  be- 
liever, 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  Nablous  was  af^te — 
tlie  New  Year's  Day  of  the  Mussulmans.""'      Most 

*  The  29th  of  April. 


Gaza  to  Nabloiis.  323 

of  the  people  were  amusing  themselves  in  the 
beautiful  lawns  and  shady  groves  without  the 
city.  The  men  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  yashmalcs ;  I  believed  that  they  had  never 
before  looked  upon  a  man  in  the  European  dress, 
and  when  they  now  saw  in  me  that  strange  phe- 
nomenon, and  saw,  too,  how  they  could  please 
the  creature  by  showing  him  a  glimpse  of  beauty, 
they  seemed  to  think  it  more  pleasant  to  do  this 
than  to  go  on  playing  with  swings.  It  was  al- 
ways, 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. 


)24 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

MA.RIAM. 

There  is  no  spirit  of  propagandism  in  the  Mus- 
sulmans 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  one  of  the  most 
bigoted  strongholds  of  Islam. 

During  my  stay  at  Nablous  I  took  up  my 
quarters  at  the  house  of  the  Greek  "  Papa,"  as 
he  is  called — that  is,  the  Greek  priest.     The  priest 


Maria7n.  325 

himself  had  gone  to  Jerusalem  upon  the  business 
I  am  going  to  tell  you  of,  but  his  wife  remained 
at  Nablous,  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. 

xVnd  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  de- 
scription ;  and  especially  I  must  explain  to  you 
how  it  was  that  the  power  thus  attributed  did 
really  in  some  measure  belong  to  me,  or  rather 
to  my  dragoman.  Successive  political  convnlsions 
had  at  length  fairly  loosed  the  people  of  Syria 
from  their  former  rules  of  conduct,  and  from  all 
their  old  habits  of  reliance.  Mehemet  Ali's  suc- 
cess in  crushing  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  spring  from  the  Ma- 
hometan 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. 


320  Eothen. 

But  Syria  was  no  field  for  contests  strictly  Asiatic 
— Europe  was  involved ;  and  though  the  hea\'y 
masses  of  Egyptian  troops,  clinging  with  strong 
gripe  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  Prench  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 — a  state  of  opinion  no  longer  depending 
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  lie  were  one  day 
to  become  your  enemy,  and  your  enemy  as  though 


JMariani.  327 

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  conscrip- 
tion or  any  other  persecution,  would  come  to  seek 
from  the  formerly  despised  hat  that  j)rotection 
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  lie  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  neces- 
sary that  some  one  should  be  at  hand  who  could 
see  and  would  push  the  advantage.  I  myself  had 
neither  the  inclination  nor  the  power  to  do  so ; 
but  it  happened  that  Dthemetri,  who,  as  my  drag- 
oman, represented  me  on  all  occasions,  was  the 
very  person  of  all  others  best  fitted  to  avail  him- 
self 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 


328  Eothen. 

part  of  his  life,  yet  religion  and  the  literature  of 
the  church  which  he  served  had  made  liim  a  man, 
and  a  brave  man  too.  The  lives  of  his  honoured 
saints  were  full  of  heroic  actions  provoking  im- 
itation ;  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  con- 
sciousness of  religious  and  intellectual  superiority, 
Dthemetri  had  lived  for  the  most  part  in  countries 
lying  under  Mussulman  Governments,  and  had 
witnessed  (perliaps  too  had  suffered  from)  their 
revolting  cruelties  ;  the  result  was  that  he  abhorred 
and  despised  the  j\Iahometan  faitli  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  ap- 
peared a  fair  opening  in  the  defences  of  Islam,  he 
was  ready  and  eager  to  make  tlu3  assault.  Such 
feelings,  backed  by  a  consciousness  of  understand- 
ing the  people  with  whom  he  had  to  do,  made 
Dthemetri  not  only  firm  and  resolute  in  his  con- 
stant interviews  with  men  in  authority,  but  some- 
times also  (as  you  may  know  already)  very  violent 
and  even  insulting.    This  tone,  which  I  always  dis- 


Mariavi.  329 

liked,  though  I  was  fain  to  prolit  by  it,  invariably 
succeeded  ;  it  swept  away  all  resistance ;  there  was 
nothing  in  the  then  depressed  and  succumbing 
mind  of  the  JMussulman  that  could  oppose  a  zeal 
so  warm  and  fierce. 

As  for  me,  I  of  course  stood  aloof  from  Dthe- 
metri'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  Mliich  induced  the  Christians  of 
Nablous  to  seek  for  my  assistance  was  tliis.  A 
beautiful  young  Christian,  between  fifteen  and  six- 
teen 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  acciden- 
tally seen  by  a  Mussulman  sheik  of  great  wealth 
and  local  influence.  The  man  instantly  became 
madly  enamoured  of  her.  That  strict  moraliiy 
so  generally  prevailing  wherever  the  Mussulmans 
have  complete  ascendancy  prevented  the  sheik 
from  entertaining  any  such  sinful  hopes  as  a  Chris- 
tian might  have  ventured  to  cherish  under  the  like 
circumstances,  and  he  saw  no  chance  of  gratifying 


330  Eothen. 

his  love,  except  by  inducing  the  girl  to  embrace 
his  own  creed.  If  he  could  get  her  to  take  this 
step,  her  marriage  ^yith  the  Christian  would  be 
dissolved,  and  then  there  would  be  nothing  to  pre- 
vent 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,"  ^^  or  the  beautiful  morality  of  "  the 
Table  ;"'^"  he  sent  her  no  tracts — not  even  a  copy  of 
the  holy  Koran.  An  old  woman  acted  as  mission- 
ary. 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  ear-rings,  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. 

Tlie  sheik  knew  very  well  that  his  attempt  to 
convert  an  infidel  was  unlawful,  and  that  his  pro- 
ceedings would  not  bear  investigation,  so  he  took 
care  to  pay  a  large  sum  to  the  governor  of  Nablous 
in  order  to  gain  his  connivance. 

*  These  are  the  names  given  by  the  Prophet  to  certain  chapters 
of  the  Koran. 


Mc 


ai'iavi. 


At  length  Mariam  quitted  her  home,  and  placed 
herself  under  the  protection  of  the  Mahometan 
authorities.  These  men,  however,  refrained  from 
delivering  her  into  the  arms  of  her  lover,  and  kept 
her  safe  in  a  mosque  until  the  fact  of  her  real 
conversion  (for  this  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  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  enouneed,  and  that,  too,  in  a  place  where 
]\Iahometamsm  is  perhaps  more  supreme  than  in 
any  other  part  of  the  empire,  would  have  sufficed 
to  confirm  the  pretensions  of  the  lover.  This,  how- 
ever, 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  Maho- 
metan authorities  at  Nablous  were  so  conscious  of 


332  Eothen. 

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  aid. 

I  felt  (with  regret)  that  I  had  no  personal  in- 
terest in  the  matter,  and  I  also  thought  that  there 
was  no  pretence  for  my  interfering  with  the  con- 
flicting claims  of  the  Christian  husband  and  the 
Mahometan  lover.      I  declined  to  take  any  step. 

My  speaking  of  the  husband,  by  the  by,  reminds 
me  that  lie  was  extremely  backward  about  the 
great  work  of  recovering  his  youthful  bride.  The 
kinsmen  of  the  girl  (they  felt  themselves  personally 
disgraced  by  her  conduct)  were  vehement  and  ex- 
cited to  a  high  pitch,  but  the  ^fenelaus  of  Nablous 
was  exceedingly  calm  and  composed. 

The  fact  that  it  was  no  duty  of  mine  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  expres- 
sion fell  from  one  of  the  girl's  kinsmen,  which  not 


Maj'iam.  333 

ouly  detennineJ  ine  to  abstain  from  interference, 
but  made  me  hope  that  all  attempts  to  recover  the 
proselyte  would  fail.  This  person,  speaking  with 
the  most  savage  bitterness,  and  with  tlie  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 
lier  family,  she  would  be  treated  with  the  most 
iVightful  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. 
Xow,  therefore,  a  second  and  more  numerous  depu- 
tation 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  tlie  excessive  levity  which  the 
girl  had  displayed  proved  clearly  that,  in  adopting 
Mahometanism,  she  was  not  quitting  any  other 
faith ;  her  mind  nmst  have  been  thoroughly  blank 
upon  religious  questions,  and  she  was  not,  there- 
fore, to  be  treated  as  a  Cliristian  straying  from  the 


334  Eothen. 

flock,  but  rather  as  a  cliild  without  any  religion 
at  all — a  cliild  incapable  of  imagining  any  truer 
worshippers  than  those  who  would  deck  her  with 
jewels  and  clothe  her  in  cashmere  shawls. 

So  much  for  the  rehgious  part  of  the  question. 
Well,  then,  in  a  merely  temporal  sense  it  appeared 
to  me  that  (looking  merely  to  the  interests  of  the 
damsel,  for  I  rather  unjustly  put  poor  Menelaus 
quite  out  of  the  question)  the  advantages  were  all 
on  the  side  of  the  Mahometan  match.  The  sheik 
was  in  a  higher  station  of  life  than  the  superseded 
husband,  and  had  given  the  best  possible  proof  of 
his  ardent  affection  by  the  sacrifices  made  and  the 
risks  incurred  for  the  sake  of  the  beloved  object. 
I  therefore  stated  fairly,  to  the  horror  and  amaze- 
ment of  all  my  hearers,  that  the  sheik,  in  my  view, 
was  likely  to  make  a  capital  husband,  and  that  I 
entirely  "  approved  of  the  match." 

I  left  Nablous  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  de- 
termined 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,   good   store   of   lies   about   my 


Manam.  335 

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  Nablous,  but  Dthe- 
metri  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  villanous 
though  well-motived  trick  of  his  came  to  my  know- 
ledge. Mysseri,  who  informed  me  of  the  step  which 
had  been  taken,  did  not  know  it  himself  until  some 
time  after  we  had  quitted  Nablous,  when  Dthemetri 
exultingly  confessed  his  successful  enterprise.  I 
knew  not  whether  the  engagement  extorted  from 
the  governor  was  ever  complied  with.  I  shudder 
to  think  of  the  fate  which  must  have  befallen  poor 
Mariam,  if  she  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Chris- 
tians. 


33^ 


CHAPTER     XXVI. 

THE  PROPHET  DA.MOOR. 

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  features  of  the 
country  kept  growing  more  and  more  bold.  At 
length  I  drew  near  to  the  city  of  Safet.  It  sits 
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  accord- 
ing to  this  authority,  the  Messiah  will  reign  there 
for  forty  years  before  he  takes  possession  of  Sion. 
The  sanctity  and  historical  importance  thus  attri- 
buted to  the  city  by  anticipation  render  it  a 
favourite  place  of  retirement  for  Israelites ;  of 
these  it  contains,  they  say,  about  four  thousand, 
a  number  nearly  balancing  that  of  the  Mahometan 
inhabitants.  I  knew  by  my  experience  of  Tabarieli 
that  a  "  holy  city  "  was  sure  to  have  a  population 
of  vermin  somewhat  proportionate  to  the  number 


The  Prophet  Danioor.  337 

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. 

AVhen  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  help  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  accord- 
ingly admitted  into  my  tent.  One  of  tlie  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  day-time,  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,  thougli  exceedingly  wealthy,  had  lived  peace- 
ably and  undisturbed  in  their  retirement  until  the 
insurrection  of  1834;  but  about  the  beginning 
of  that  year  a  highly  religious  Mussulman,  called 
^lohammed  Damoor,  went  forth  into  the  market- 
l>lace,  crying  with   a   loud  voice,  and  propliesying 


338  Eothen. 

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  as- 
sembled 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  insured  the  ful- 
filment 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.'"'     "When  the 

*  It  was  after  tlie  interview  which   T  am  talking  of,  and  not 
tiom  the  Jews  themselves,  tliat  I  learnt  this  fact. 


The  Prophet  Daiuoor.  339 

insurrection  was  put  dowTi,  some  of  the  Mussul- 
mans (most  probably  those  who  had  got  no  spoil 
wherewith  they  might  buy  immunity),  were  pun- 
ished, but  the  greater  part  of  them  escaped ;  none 
of  the  booty  was  restored,  and  the  pecuniary  re- 
dress 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,  to  dis- 
cover the  spoilers,  and  to  compel  immediate  resti- 
tution. It  was  found  that,  notwithstanding  the 
urgency  of  his  instructions,  the  governor  did  not 
push  on  the  affair  with  any  perceptible  vigour ; 
the  Jews  complained ;  and  either  by  the  protec- 
tion of  the  British  consul  at  Damascus,  or  by 
some  other  means,  had  influence  enough  to  in- 
duce 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  im- 
partiality. 

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  affec- 


340  Eothen. 

tionate  frieudsliip  with  Mohammed  Damoor,  and 
the  rest  of  the  principal  spoilers. 

Thus  stood  the  chance  of  redress  for  the  post. 
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  Ins  voice,  and  prophesied  a  second  spoli- 
ation of  the  Israelites.  This  was  grave  matter ; 
the  words  of  such  a  practical  and  clear  -  sighted 
prophet  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  Israel- 
ites ;  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,  because  he  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 
conjuncture,  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  ]\Io- 
hammed  Damoor  was  the  one  tiling  needful  to  tlie 
safety  of  tlie  Jews,  and   I   felt  sure   (for  reasons 


llic  Prophet  Davioor.  34  r 

which  I  have  already  mentioned  in  spealdng  of  the 
Nablous  affair)  tliat  I  should  be  able  to  obtain  this 
result  by  making  a  formal  application  to  the  gov- 
ernor. 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  thus  seemingly  opened  to 
them,  but  the  deliberation  of  a  minute  entirely 
altered  their  views,  and  filled  them  with  new  ter- 
ror :  they  declared  that  any  attempt  or  pretended 
attempt  on  the  part  of  the  governor  to  arrest  Mo- 
hammed Damoor  would  certainly  produce  an  imme- 
diate movement  of  the  whole  ^Mussulman  popula- 
tion, and  a  consequent  massacre  and  robbery  of  the 
Israelites.  ]\Iy  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,  there- 
fore, in  providing  against  the  impending  danger, 
would  not  necessarily  be  fatal.  The  men  now  con- 
fessed that  although  they  had  come  with  so  much 
mystery,  and  (as  they  thought)  at  so  great  risk 


342  Eothcn. 

to  ask  my  assistance,  they  were  unable  to  suggest 
any  mode  in  which  I-  could  aid  them,  except,  in- 
deed, by  mentioning  their  grievances  to  the  consul- 
general  at  Damascus.  This  T  promised  to  do,  and 
this  I  did. 

]\Iy  visitors  were  very  thankful  to  me  for  my 
readiness  to  intermeddle  in  their  affairs,  and  the 
grateful  wives  of  the  principal  Jews  sent  to  me 
many  compliments,  with  choice  wines  and  elabo- 
rate sweetmeats. 

The  course  of  my  travels  soon  drew  me  so  far 
from  Safet  that  I  never  heard  how  the  dreadful  day 
passed  off  which  had  been  fixed  for  the  accomplish- 
ment 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. 


o4j 


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  the  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  long- 
ing 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  sliot  up  before  my  eyes, 
and  robed  their  broad  shoulders  so  freshly,  that  all 


344  EotJieu. 

the  throngs  of  olives,  as  they  rose  into  view,  looked 
sad  in  their  proper  dimness.  Tliere  were  even  now 
no  houses  to  see,  but  minarets  peered  out  from  the 
midst  of  shade  into  the  glowing  sky,  and  kindling 
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  Air 
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.'*^  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 

*  All  cnterinisiii;,'  Ameiican  travell.-r,  Mr  Everett,  lately  con- 
ceived the  bold  project  ofpeiictratiiif,'  to  the  University  oJ  Oxford, 
ami  this,  notwithstanding  tliat  he  had  heen  in  liis  infancy  (they 
being  very  young  those  Americans)  a  Unitarian  preacher.  Hav- 
ing a  notion,  it  seems,  that  the  ambassadorial  character  would 
protect  him  from  insult,  he  adoj.tcd  llie  stratagem  of  procuring 
credentialfi  from  his  Government  as  Minister  Plenipotentiary  at 
the  Court  of  Her  Britannic  Majesty  ;  he  also  wore  the  exact 
costtimf^of  a  Trinitarian.  But  all  his  contrivances  were  vain; 
his  infantine  sermons  were  strictly  remembered  against  him  ; 
the  enterj)rise  failed. 


Daviascus.  345 

stay  I  went  wherever  I  chose,  and  attended  the 
public  baths  without  molestation.  Indeed  my 
relations  with  the  pleasanter  portion  of  the  Ma- 
hometan 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  raised  a  foot  or  two 
above  the  bridle-road.  Until  the  arrival  of  the 
British  consul-general,  none  but  a  Mussulman 
had  been  allowed  to  walk  upon  the  upper  way ; 
]\Ir  Farren  would  not,  of  course,  suffer  that  the 
humiliation  of  any  such  exclusion  should  be  sub- 
mitted 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  rayalis  and  Jews :  not 
one  of  these  could  have  set  his  foot  upon  the 
privileged  path  without  endangering  his  life. 

I  was  walking  one  day,  I  remember,  along  the 
raised  path,  "the  path  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  tD 
tell,  except  only  the  glory  and  exultation  with 
which  he  saw  a  fellow-Christian  stand  level  ^vith 
the  imperious  Mussulmans.  Perhaps  he  had  been 
absent  from  the  place  for  some  time,  for  otherwise 


346  Eotlicn. 

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  English- 
man'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  in  liis  pleasure ;  he  followed  me  on,  not 
looldng  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  ascendancy  —  the  be- 
uinninor  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  Euro- 
pean troops.  His  lips  only  whispered,  and  that 
tremulously,  but  his  flashing  eyes  spoke  out  their 
triumph  more  fiercely.  "  I,  too,  am  a  Christian. 
j\fy  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  I  heard  against 
their  rascality  could  hinder  me  fi'om  feeling  kindly 
towards  my  fellow-Christians  in  the  East.  English 
travellers  (from  a  liabit  perhaps  of  depreciating 
sectarians  in  their  own  country)  are  apt  to  look 


Damascus.  347 

down  upon  the  oriental  Christians  as  being  "  dis- 
senters "  from  the  established  religion  of  a  Ma- 
hometan empire.  I  never  did  thus.  By  a  natural 
perversity  of  disposition  which  nursemaids  call 
contramness,  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  in- 
tellect, 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  IMahometan  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 


34  S  Eat  hen. 

Anti-LeVtanon.  Close  along  on  the  river's  edge, 
tlirougli  seven  sweet  miles  of  rustling  bonglis  and 
deepest  shade,  the  city  spreads  out  her  whole 
length.  As  a  man  falls  Hat,  face  forward  on  the 
brook,  that  he  may  drink,  and  drink  again  ;  so 
Damascus,  thirsting  for  ever,  Hes  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 
caf6.  This  last  is  frequented  at  night  by  most  of 
the  wealthy  men  of  the  city,  and  by  many  of  the 
humbler  sort.  It  consists  of  a  number  of  sheds, 
very  simply  framed  and  built  in  a  labyrinth  of 
running  streams, — streams  so  broken  and  head- 
long in  their  course  that  they  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  brancli 
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  chielly  upon  the  very 
edge  of  the  torrents,  groups  of  people  are  tran- 
quilly seated.  They  drink  coffee,  and  inhale  the 
cold  fumes  of  the  narcjuiU ;  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  joyousncss   of  an 


Damascus.  349 

oriental  child  is  all  of  the  sober  sort,  and  never 
disturbs  the  reigning  calm  of  the  land. 

It  has  been  generally  understood,  I  believe,  tliat 
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 — 
T  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 
tliis  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  Al- 
canzar  of  Seville.  The  lofty  rooms  are  adorned 
with  a  rich  inlaying  of  many  colours,  and  illumi- 
nated 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,  and  in  the  centre  of  this  is  the  danc- 
ing jet  of  a  foimtain.  There  is  no  furniture  tiiat 
can  interfere  with  the  cool,  palace-like  emptiness 
of  the  apartments.  A  divan  (that  is,  a  low  and 
doubly  broad  sofa)  runs  round  the  three  walled 
sides  of  the  room :  a  few  Persian  carpets  (they 
ought  to  be  called  I'ersian  rugs,  for  that  is  the 
word  which  indicates  tlieir  shape  and  dimension) 
are  sometimes  thrown  about  near  the  divan ;  they 


350  Eothcn. 

are  placed  without  order,  the  one  partly  lapping 
over  the  other — and  thus  disposed,  they  give  to 
the  room  an  appearance  of  uncaring  luxury.  Ex- 
cept these,  there  is  nothing  to  obstruct  the  wel- 
come 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  im- 
possibility of  handing  dow^n  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  narguiU,  and  a  small 


Damasais.  351 

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 ;  rather,  they  bring  back  to 
your  mind  the  memory  of  some  dark  old  shrub- 
bery 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  Eng- 
land, 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  house- 
keeper, but  you  make  your  way  on  by  the  stables. 
You  remember  that  gable  with  all  its  neatly-nailed 
trophies  of  fitches  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 


352  Eothe7i. 

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  your- 
self in  the  deep  shade,  and  strive  but  lazily  with 
the  tangling  briers,  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  underfoot.  Long 
doubt,  and  scarcely  to  be  ended,  till  you  wake 
from  the  memory  of  those  days  wlien  the  patli 
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 
liome  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  num- 
bers of  bushes  and  wilful  shrubs.  The  shade  upon 
the  earth  is  black  as  niglit.  High,  high  above 
your  head,  and  on  every  side  all  down  to  the 
ground,  the  tliicket  is  hemmed  in,  and  choked 
up  by  the  interlacing  bouglis  that  droop  with 
the  weight  of  roses,  and  load  the  slow  air  with 
their  damask  breath.'^'  There  are  no  other  flowers. 
Here  and  tlu>re,  there  are  patches  of  ground  made 

*  The  rose-trees  wliich   I  saw  were  all  of  the  kind  we  call 
"damask;"  they  grow  to  au  immense  heiglit  and  size. 


Damascus.  353 

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  your  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  the 
sweet  wilderness  a  loud  rushing  stream  flows 
tumbling  along,  till  it  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  wall  the  people  of  Damas- 
cus attempt  to  separate  the  idea  of  bliss  from  these 
wild  gardens  and  rushing  waters.  Even  where 
your  best  affections  are  concerned,  and  you, — 
wise  preachers  abstain  and  turn  aside  when  they 
come  near  the  mysteries  of  the  happy  state,  and 
we  (wise  preachers,  too),  we  will  hush  our  voices, 
and  never  reveal  to  finite  beings  the  joys  of  the 
"  Earthlv  Paradise." 


354 


CHAPTER     XXVIII. 

PASS    OF    THE    LEBANON. 

**  The  ruins  of  Baalbec ! "  Shall  I  scatter  the 
vague  solemn  thoughts,  and  all  the  airy  phan- 
tasies 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  theii'  own  dim  and  infinite 
meaning. 

The  pass  by  which  I  crossed  the  Lebanon  is 
like,  I  think,  in  its  features,  to  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, 
and  I  saw  notliing  but  the  steep,  white  shoulder 
of  the  mountain ;  there  was  another  minute,  and 
that  the  next,  which  showed  me  a  nether  heaven 


Pass  of  the  Lebanon.  355 

of  fleecy  clouds — clouds  floating  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  tran- 
quil 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  sUent  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  and  decrepit  world  —  religions 
dead  and  dying — calm  tyrannies  expiring  in  si- 
lence— 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. 


356  Eothc7i. 

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  the  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  appear- 
ance or  conduct  that  tended  to  prove  them  con- 
temporaries 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  estate,  the  people 
by  degrees  abandoned  them,  and  flocked  to  the 
rugged  mountains  for  protection,  well  knowing 
that  the  trouble  of  a  walk  up  -  bill  would  seri- 
ously obstruct  their  weak  and  lazy  oppressors. 
The  cedar  forests  gradually  shrank  under  the  axe 
of  the  encroaching  multitudes,  and  seemed  at  hist 


Pass  of  the  Lebanon.  357 

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  memo- 
rial should  be  left  of  the  vast  woods  with  which  the 
mountains  had  formerly  been  clad,  and  commanded 
accordingly  that  this  group  of  trees  (a  group  prob- 
ably 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  earth-born  religion  which  made  men 
bow  down  to  creation,  before  they  had  yet  learnt 
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  en- 
tertained 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  Italian, 
the  only  accessible  European  tongue.  The  tutor, 
however  (a  native  of  Syria),  either  did  not  know, 
or  did  not  choose  to  teach,  the  European  form  of 
address,   but   contented    himself  with    instructing 


358  Eoth 


en. 


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 '"')  of  hear- 
ing oriental  courtesies  expressed  in  a  European 
tongue.  The  boy  was  about  twelve  or  thirteen 
years  old,  and  having  the  power  of  speaking  to 
me  without  the  aid  of  an  interpreter,  he  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  hospitable  duties  of  the  day. 
He  did  the  honours  of  the  house  with  untiring 
assiduity,  and  with  a  kind  of  gracefulness  which 
by  mere  description  can  scarcely  be  made  intel- 
ligible to  those  who  are  unacquainted  with  the 
manners  of  the  Asiatics.  The  boy's  address  re- 
sembled a  little  that  of  a  highly  -  polished  and 
insinuating  Eoman  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  1  was  particularly  amused  at  the  gracious  ob- 
stinacy with  which  he  maintained  that  the  house 
and  the  surrounding  estates  belonged,  not  to  his 
father,  but  to  me.  To  say  this  once,  was  only  to 
use  the  common  form  of  speech,  signifpng  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 

.\  dragoman  never  interprets  in  terms  the  courteous  langunge 
ol  the  East. 


Pass  of  the  Lebanon.  359 

his  father's  mansion  or  the  surrounding  domain, 
the  boy  invariably  interfered  to  correct  my  pre- 
tended mistake,  and  to  assure  me  once  again  with 
a  sentle  decisiveness  of  manner  that  the  whole 
property  was  really  and  exclusively  mine,  and 
that  his  father  had  not  the  most  distant  preten- 
sions to  its  ownership. 

I  received  from  my  host  some  good  information 
respecting  the  people  of  the  mountains,  and  their 
power  of  resisting  Mehemet  Ali.  The  chief  gave 
me  very  plainly  to  understand  that  the  mountain- 
eers being  dependent  upon  others  for  bread  and 
gunpowder  (the  two  great  necessaries  of  martial 
life),  could  not  long  hold  out  against  a  power 
occupying  the  plains  and  commanding  the  sea ; 
but  he  also  assured  me,  and  that  very  signifi- 
cantly, that,  if  this  source  of  weakness  were  pro- 
vided against,  the  mountaineers  were  to  he  depended 
upon.  He  told  me  that,  in  ten  or  fifteen  days,  the 
chiefs  could  bring  together  some  fifty  thousand 
fishting  men. 


36o 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

SURPRISE    OF    SATALIEH. 

Whilst  I  was  remaining  upon  the  coast  of  Syria 
I  had  the  good  fortune  to  become  acquainted  with 
the  Kussian  Sataliefsky,""'  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  fur 
Smyrna,  and  we  agreed  to  sail  together  in  an 
Ionian  brigantine.  We  did  not  charter  the  ves- 
sel, but  we  made  our  arrangement  with  the  cap- 
tain upon  such  terms  that  we  could  be  put  ashore 
ujton  any  part  of  the  coast  that  we  miglit  choose. 

•  A  title  signifying  TianscenJcr  or  Conqueror  of  Satalieh. 


Surpj'ise  of  SatalieJi.  36  r 

We  sailed,  and  day  after  day  the  vessel  lay  dawd- 
ling on  tlie  sea  with  calms  and  feeble  breezes  for 
her  portion.  I  myself  was  well  repaid  for  the 
painful  restlessness  occasioned  by  slow  weather, 
because  I  gained  from  my  companion  a  little  of 
that  vast  fund  of  interesting  knowledge  witli  which 
he  was  stored, — knowledge  a  thousand  times  the 
more  highly  to  be  prized,  since  it  Avas  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  main- 
land to  the  north  of  the  Isle  of  Cyprus,  we  deter- 
mined to  disembark  at  Satalieh,  and  to  go  on 
thence  by  land.  A  light  breeze  favoured  our  pur- 
pose, 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  ■"'"  is  the  chief  place  of  the 
pashalilv  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.  These  men 
announced  that  strict  orders  had  been  received  for 
maintaining  a  quarantine  of  three  weeks  against 

*  Spelt  "  Attalia"  and  sometimes  "  Adalia"  in  English  books 
and  maps. 


362  Eothcn. 

all  vessels  coining  from  Syria,  and  they  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  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  sliore  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   ])retend,    however,    that   the 


Surprise  of  Satalick.  363 

course  we  chose  to  adopt  on  the  occasion  can  be 
perfectly  justified.  The  impropriety  of  a  tra- 
veller'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  of&cers  on  shore  seeing  these  preparations, 
gathered  together  a  number  of  guards  ;  these  as- 
sembled upon  the  sands ;  we  saw  that  great  ex- 
citement prevailed,  and  that  messengers  were  con- 
tinually going  to  and  fro  between  the  shore  and 
the  citadel. 

Our  captain,  out  of  compliment  to  his  Excel- 
lency, had  provided  the  vessel  with  a  Eussian 
war-flag,  and  during  our  voyage  he  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  hoisting  it  alternately  with  the  Union- 
jack.      We    agreed   that   we   would   attempt   our 


364  Eothen. 

disembarkation  under  this  the  Eussian  standard 
I  was  glad  to  have  it '  so  resolved,  for  I  should 
have  been  sorry  to  engage  the  honoured  flag  of 
England  in  an  affair  like  tliis.  The  Eussian 
ensign  was  therefore  committed  to  one  of  the 
sailors,  and  the  man  honoured  with  this  charge 
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  sMiffled,  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 
help  get  out  of  the  boat ;  I,  therefore,  landed  the 
first.  My  instructions  to  the  captain  were  at- 
tended 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.      I'recisely   as    1 


Siirprise  of  Satalieh.  365 

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  without  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  Eussian  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  firrave  countenance.  We  advanced  towards  the 
castle,  but  the  people  had  now  had  time  to  re- 
cover 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  (he 
was  perfectly  unacquainted  with  the  Asiatic  char- 
acter) thoughtlessly  turned  round,  in  order  to 
speak  to  one  of  the  servants.     The  effect  of  this 


366  Eothen. 

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  after- 
wards 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  (in  number,  as  I  thought, 
about  fifty  or  sixty)  were  all  handsomely,  though 
plainly,  dressed  in  the  military  frock-coats  of 
Europe :  they  stood  in  mass,  and  so   as   to   pre- 


Surpi'ise  of  Satalieh.  367 

sent  a  hollow,  semi-circular  front  towards  the 
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  Mighti- 
ness ;  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  dis- 
composed him,  however,  from  this  studied  fixity  of 
feature,  for  we  marched  straight  up  to  the  divan, 
and  sat  down,  the  Eussian  close  to  the  Pasha,  and 
I  by  the  side  of  the  Eussian.  This  act  astonished 
the  attendants,  and  plainly  disconcerted  the  Pasha  ; 
he  could  no  longer  maintain  the  glassy  stillness  of 
his  eyes,  and  evidently  became  much  agitated.     At 


368  Eothen. 

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  an  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  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  superior- 
ity 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  conscious- 
ness 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  lauding  was  a  gross  outrage 
and  insult.  Therefore,  without  deigning  to  de- 
fend 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  Eussian, 
growing  warm,  insisted  upon  his  attack  with  re- 
doubled energy  and  spirit ;  but  tlie  medico,  instead 
of  translating,  began  to  shake  violently  with  terror, 
and  at  last  he  came  out  with  his  "  non  ardisco,"  and 


Surprise  of  Satalieh.  369 

fairly  confessed  that  lie  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,  though  at  first  it 
appeared  so  unfavourable,  turned  out  to  be  ad- 
vantageous. 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  my- 
self, 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  Eussias, 
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  interpre- 
tation, and  my  comrade  had  again  the  opportunity 
of  pressing  his  attack  upon  the  Pasha.  His  argu- 
ment, 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, 
2  A 


3  JO  Eothen. 

and  force  them  to  perform  quarantine ;  yet  this 
is  the  very  course,  0  Pasha,  which  your  rash 
officers  dare  to  think  of  adopting  with  us  I — 
those  mad  and  reckless  men  would  have  actually 
dealt  towards  a  Eussian  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 
hi;-  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  deiied ;  but 
lindiiig  tliat  we  were  inexorable,  he  not  only 
abandoned  his  attempt,  but  promised  to  supply 
us  with  horses. 

WheD  the  discussion  had  arrived  at  this  happy 
conclusion,  tchibouques  and  cofl'ee  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  Eussia :  during 
his  captivity  he  could  not  have  failed  to  learn 
the  greatness  of  the  Czar's  power,  and  it  was  this 
piece  of  knowledge  perhaps  which  made  him  more 


Sw'prise  of  Satalieh .  371 

alive  til  an  an  untravelled  Turk  might  have  been 
to  tlio  forc(j  of  my  comrade's  eloqiiencje. 

The  I'aidia  now  gave  us  a  generous  least:  our 
promised  liorses  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. 


THE    END. 


PRINTED   BY   WILLIAM    BLACKWOOD   AND   SONS. 


JiY  ONE    VOLUME.      THE  LIBRARY  EDITION  OF 

STORMONTH'S    DICTIONARY 

OF    THE 

ENGLISH    LANGUAGE, 

PRONOUNCING,  ETYMOLOGICAL,  AND  EXPLANATORY. 

Enibi-aciiig  Scientific  and  other  Terms,  numerous  Familiar  Terms,  and 
a  C'<)])ions  Selection  of  Old  English  Words.  To  which  are  appended 
Lists  of  Scripture  and  other  Proper  Names,  Abbreviations,  and  Foreign 
Words  and  Phrases. 

By  the  Rev.  JAMES    STORMONTH. 

The  Pkonunciation  carefully  revised  by  the  Rev.  P.  H.  PHELP,  M.A.  Cantab. 
Royal  8vo,  handsomely  hound  in.  half -morocco,  31s.  Qd. 


Opinions  of  the  British  and  American  Press. 

billies.  — "  Tliis  may  serve  in  great  measure  tlie  ]>urpo.ses  of  .an  English  cyclo- 
pedia. It  gives  lucid  and  succinct  definitions  of  the  technical  terms  in 
science  and  art,  in  law  and  medicine.  We  have  tlie  e.vplanation  of  words 
and  phrases  that  puzzle  most  people,  showing  wonderfully  comprehensive 
and  out-of-the-way  research.  .  .  .  We  need  only  add,  that  the  dictionary 
appears  in  all  its  departments  to  have  been  brought  down  to  meet  the 
latest  demands  of  the  day,  and  that  it  is  admirably  printed." 

iP^ll  /iRall  (3a3CttC. — "The  pronunciation  of  every  word  is  giv'en,  the  sym- 
liols  employed  for  marking  tho  sounds  being  commendably  clear.  .  .  . 
After  the  pronunciation  comes  the  etymology.  It  has,  we  think,  l)een 
well  managed  here.  And  the  matter  is,  on  the  whole,  as  judiciously 
chosen  as  it  is  skilfully  compressed  and  arranged." 

SC0t6nian. — "Tlierecanbe  no  question  that  the  work  when  completed  will  form 
one  of  the  best  and  most  serviceable  works  of  reference  of  its  class.  .  .  . 
It  is  admirably  adapted  to  meet  the  requirements  of  every  ordinary  reader, 
and  there  are  few  occasions  of  special  reference  to  which  it  will  not  be 
found  adequate.  The  definitions  are  necessarily  brief,  but  they  are  almost 
always  clear  and  pointed.  ...  A  word  of  praise  is  due  to  the  beauty 
and  clearness  of  the  printing." 


STOPvMONTirS   mCTlOl^ARY— Continued. 


Opinions  of  the  British  and  American  -preas— Continued. 

Civil  Service  (3a3ettC.— "  We  have  liad  occasion  to  notice  the  peculiar 
features  and  merits  of  'Stormouth's  Dictionary,'  and  we  need  not  repeat 
our  commendations  both  of  the  judicious  plan  and  the  admirable  execu- 
tion. .  ,  .  This  is  a  pre-eminently  good,  comprehensive,  and  authentic 
English  lexicon,  embracing  not  only  all  the  words  to  bo  found  in  previous 
dictionaries,  but  all  the  modern  words— scientific,  new  coined,  ^d  adopted 
from  foreign  languages,  and  no\v  naturalised  and  legitimised." 

IROteS  anJ>  Queries.— "The  whole  constitutes  a  work  of  high  utility." 

H)Ublin  5ri5b  ZlinieS.— "  The  book  has  the  singular  merit  of  being  a  diction- 
ary of  the  highest  order  in  every  department  and  in  every  arrangement, 
without  being  cumbersome;  whilst  for  ease  of  reference  there  is  no  dic- 
tionary we  know  of  that  equals  it.  ...  For  the  library  table  it  is  also, 
we  must  repeat,  precisely  the  sort  of  volume  required,  and  indispensable 
to  every  large  reader  or  literary  worker." 

XiVerpOOl  /Iftereurg.— "Every  page  bears  the  evidence  of  extensive  scholar- 
ship and  laborious  research,  nothing  necessary  to  the  elucidation  of  pres- 
ent-day language  being  omitted.  ...  As  a  book  of  reference  for  terms 
in  every  department  of  English  speech,  this  work  must  be  accorded  a 
high  place— in  fact,  it  is  quite  a  library  in  itself.  .  .  .  It  is  a  marvel  of 
accuracy. " 

IWCW  JJOrk  Q^ribUne.— "The  work  exhibits  all  the  freshness  and  best  results 
of  modi^ru  lexicographic  scholarship,  and  is  arranged  with  great  care,  so 

as  to  facilitate  reference." 

IWeW  JiOrk  /IRail  an^  JSXpreSS.— "  is  the  nearest  approach  to  the  ideal 
popular  dictionary  that  has  yet  aii]ieared  in  our  language." 

IReVV  liJOrh  Sun.— "A  well-idanncd  and  carefully-executed  work,  which  has 
decidi'd  merits  of  its  own,  and  for  which  tliere  is  a  place  not  filled  by  any 
of  its  rivals." 

iiSOdtOn  Journal. — "A  critical  and  accurate  dictionary,  the  rndmdinient  of 
good  scliolarshij),  and  the  result  of  modern  rtwearches.  .  .  .  It  holds  an 
unrivalled  place  in  bringing  forl.li  the  result  of  modern  philological 
I'l'il  ieisni." 

.■(GOStOn  Gasette.---"  There  can  be  but  litUo  dcuibt  that,  wlien  eonipleted,  llu- 
wnrk  will  lie  one  of  the  most  serviceable  and  most  aceui'ate  that  Englisli 
Ie\ie()gia)ihy  has  yet  i>roduced  for  general  use  " 

^Toronto  Globe.  "  in  every  respect  this  is  one  of  the  best  worhs  of  tlie  Ivinil 
in  tlie  lanL'uage. " 


AM    r.LACKWOOl)    ^:    S()N>i,   EnfNBUuftH  and   TiONiK»f. 


CATALOGUE 


OP 


MESSES  BLACKWOOD  &  SONS' 

PUBLICATIONS. 


PHILOSOPHICAL   CLASSICS   FOR   EWGLISH    READERS 

Edited  by  WILLIAM  KNIGHT,  LL.D., 

Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  in  the  University  of  St  Andrews. 
In  crown  8vo  Volumes,  with  Portraits,  price  3s.  6d. 

Noio  ready— 

1.  Descartes.  By  Professor  Mahaffy,  Dublin. 

2.  Butler.  By  Rev.  W.  Lucas  Collins,  M.A. 

3.  Berkeley.  By  Professor  Campbell  Fraser,  Edinburgh. 

4.  Fiehte.  By  Professor  Adamson,  Owens  College,  Manchester. 

5.  Kant.  By  Professor  Wallace,  Oxford. 

6.  Hamilton.  By  Professor  Veitch,  Glasgow. 

7.  Hegel.  By  Professor  Edward  Cairo,  Glasgow. 

8.  Leibniz.  By  J.  Theodore  Merz. 

9-    Vieo.  By  Professor  Flint,  Edinburgh. 

10.  Hobbes.  By  Professor  Croom  Robertson,  Loudon. 

11.  Hume.  By  the  Editor. 

In  preparation — 

Spinoza.      By  the   Very  Rev.   Principal  I  g^^oN.    By  Professor  Nichol,  Glasgow. 
Caird,  Glasgow.  [ImnuiUately.  1 


FOREIGN    CLASSICS   FOR    ENGLISH   READERS. 

Edited  by  Mrs  OLIPHANT. 

In  crown  8vo,  2s.  6d. 


Con- 
Dante.    By  the  Editor. 
Voltaire.     By  Lieut. -General  Sir  E.  B. 

Hamley,  K.C.B. 
Pascal.    By  Principal  TuUoch. 
Petrarch.     By  Henry  Reeve,  C.  B. 
Goethe.    By  A.  Hayward,  Q  C. 
MoLiERE.    By  the  Editor  and  F.  Tarver, 

M.A. 
Montaigne.    By  Rev.  W.  L.  Collins,  M.A. 
Rabelais.     By  Walter  Besant,  M.A. 
Calderon.    By  E.  J.  Hasell. 


TENTS. 

Saint  Simon.    By  Clifton  W.  Collins,  M.A. 

Cervantes.    By  the  Editor. 

Corneille  and  Racine.  By  Henry  M. 
TroUope. 

Madame  de  S^vign^.   By  Miss  Thackeray. 

La  Fontaine,  and  other  French  Fabu- 
lists.   By  Rev.  W.  Lucas  Collins,  M.A. 

Schiller  By  James  Sime,  M.A.,  Author 
of  '  Lessing  :  his  Life  and  Writings." 

Tasso.     By  E.  J.  Hasell. 

Rousseau.    By  Henry  Grey  Graham. 


Now  Complktk. 

ANCIENT    CLASSICS    FOR    ENGLISH    READERS. 

Edited  by  the  Rev.  W.  LUCAS  COLLINS,  M.A. 

Complete  in  28  Vols,  crown  8vo,  cloth,  price  2s.  6d.  each.     And  may  also  be  had  in 
14  Volumes,  strongly  and  neatly  bound,  with  calf  or  vellum  back,  £3,  los. 

Saturday  Review.— "It  isdimcult  to  estimate  too  highly  the  value  of  such  a  series 
as  this  in  giving  'English  readers'  an  insight,  exact  as  far  as  it  goes,  into  those 
olden  times  which  arc  so  remote  and  yet  to  many  of  us  so  close." 


CATALOGUE 

OF 

MESSRS   BLACKWOOD    &    SONS' 
P  U  B  Lie  A  T  IONS. 


ALISON.     History  of  Europe.    By  Sir  Archibald  Alison,  Bart., 

D.C.L. 

1.  From  the  Commencement  of  the  French  Revolution  to  the 

Battle  of  Waterloo. 

Library  Edition,  14  vols.,  with  Portraits.    Demy  8vo,  ;£io,  los. 
Another  Edition,  in  20  vols.  cro\vn  8vo,  £6. 
People's  Edition,  13  vols,  erown  8vo,  £2,  iis. 

2.  Continuation  to  the  Accession  of  Louis  Napoleon. 

Library  Edition,  8  vols.  8vo,  £6,  7s.  6d. 
People's  Edition,  8  vols,  crown  8vo,  34s. 

3.  Epitome   of   Alison's    History   of   Europe.      Twenty -ninth 

Thousand,  7s.  6d. 

4.  Atlas  to  Alison's  History  of  Europe.    By  A.  Keith  Johnston. 

Library  Edition,  demy  4to,  £j,  3s. 
People's  Edition,  31s.  6d. 

Life  of  John  Duke  of  Marlborough.      With  some  Account 

of  his  Contemporaries,  and  of  the  War  of  the  Succession.     Third  Edition, 
2  vols.  8vo.    Portraits  and  Maps,  30s. 

Essays:  Historical,  Political,  and  Miscellaneous.     3  vols. 

demy  8vo,  453. 

AIRD.  Poetical  Works  of  Thomas  Aird.  Fifth  Edition,  with 
]\Iemoir  of  the  Author  by  the  Rev.  Jardine  Wallace,  and  Portrait, 
Crown  8vo,  78.  6d. 

ALLARDYCE.    The  City  of  Sunshine.     By  Alexander  Allar- 

DYCE.     Three  vols,  post  8vo,  £1,  5s.  6d. 

. ^Memoir  of  the  Honourable    George    Keith   Elphinstone, 

K.B.,  Viscount  Keith  of  Stonehaven  Marischal,  Admiral  of  the  Red.     8vo, 
with  Portrait,  Illustrations,  and  Maps,  21s. 

ALMOND.  Sermons  by  a  Lay  Head-master.  By  Hely  Hutchin- 
son Almond,  M.A.  Oxon.,  Head-master  of  Loretto  School.     Crown  8vo,  5s. 


LIST   OF   BOOKS  PUBLISHED   BY 


ANCIENT  CLASSICS  FOR  ENGLISH  EEADERS.     Edited  by 

Rev.  W.  Lucas  Collins,  M.A.  Coiniilete  in  28  vols.,  cloth,  as.  6d.  each ;  or  in 
14  vols.,  tastefully  bouud,  with  calf  or  vellum  back,  jQ^t  ^°^- 
Contents  of  the  Series. 
Homer  :  The  Iliad,  by  the  Editor.— Homer  :  The  Odyssey,  by  the  Editor.— Her- 
odotus, by  Georse  C.  Swayne,  M.A. — Xenophon,  by  Sir  Alexander  Grant,  Bart. ,  LL  D. 
Euripides,  by  W.  B.  Doiine  —Aristophanes,  by  the  Editor.— Plato,  by  Clifton  W. 
Collins,  M.A  — Luoian,  bv  the  Editor.— .Eschylus,  by  the  Right  Rev.  the  Bishop  of 
Colombo.— Sophocles,  by  Clifton  W.  Collins,  M.A— Hesiod  and  Theognis,  by  the 
Rev.  J.  Davies,  M.A. —  Greek  Anthology,  by  Lord  Neaves— Virgil,  by  the  Editor. 
—Horace,  by  Sir  Theodore  Martin,  K.C.B.— Juvenal,  by  Edward  Walford,  M.A.— 
Plautus  and  Terence,  by  the  Editor.— The  Commentaries  of  C/ESAR,  by  Anthony 
Trollope.— Tacitus,  by  W.  B.  Donne.— Cicero,  by  the  Editor.— Pliny's  Letters,  by 
the  Rev.  Alfred  Clinrch,  M.A.,  and  the  Rev.  W.  J.  Brodribb,  M.A.— Livv,  by  the 
Editor.— Ovid,  by  the  Rev.  A.  Church,  M.  A.— Catullus,  Tibullus,  and  Propertius, 
by  the  Rev.  Jas.  Davies,  M. A.— Demosthenes,  by  the  Rev.  W.  J.  Brodribb,  M.A.— 
Aristotle,  by  Sir  Alexander  Grant,  Bart.,  LL.D  — Thucydides,  by  the  Editor.— 
Lucretius,  by  W.  H.  Mallock,  M. A.— Pindar,  by  the  Rev.  F.  D.  Morice,  M.A. 

AYLWARD.      The    Transvaal    of    To  -  day :    War,    Witchcraft, 

Siiorts,  and  Spoils   in  South  Africa.      By  Alfred  Aylward,  Commandant, 
Transvaal  Republic.     Second  Edition.     Crown  8vo,  6s. 

AYTOUN.     Lays  of  the  Scottish  Cavaliers,  and  other  Poems.     By 

W.  Edmondstoune  Aytoun,  D.C.L.  ,  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Belles-Lettres 
in  the  University  of  Edinburgh.     Cheap  Edition,  printed  from  a  new  type, 
and  tastefully  bound.     Fcap.  8vo,  3s.  6d. 
Another  Edition,  being  the  Tliirtieth.    'Fcap.  Svo,  cloth  extra,  7s.  6d. 

An  Illustrated  Edition  of  the  Lays  of  the  Scottish  Cavaliers. 

From  designs  by  Sir  Noel  Paton.     Small  4to,  21s. ,  in  gilt  cloth. 

Bothwell  :  a  Poem.     Third  Edition.     Fcap.,  7s.  6d. 

Poems  and  Ballads  of  Goethe.     Translated  by  Professor 

Aytoun  and  Sir  Theodore  Martin,  K.C.B.    Third  Edition.    Fcap.,  6s. 

Bon  Gaultier's  Book  of  Ballads.    Bv  the  Same.   Fourteenth 


and  Cheaper  Edition.     With  Illustrations  by  Doyle,  Leech,  and  Crowquill. 
Fcap.  8vo,  5s. 

-     The  Ballads  of  Scotland.      Edited  by  Professor  Aytoun. 

Fourth  Edition.     2  vols.  fcap.  Svo,  12s. 

Memoir  of  William  E.  Aytoun,  D.C.L.     By  Sir  Theodore 


Martin,  K.C.B.     With  Portrait.     Post  Svo,  12s, 

BACH.     On  Musical  Education  and  Vocal  Culture.    By  Albert 

B.  Bach.     Fourth  Edition.    Svo,  7s.  6d. 

•    The  Princiides  of  Singinf:^.     A  Practical  Guide  for  Vocalists 

and  Teachers.     With  Course  of  Vocal  Exorcises.     Crown  Svo,  6s. 

The  Art  of  Sin^in".     With  Musical  E.xercises  for  Young 


People.     Crown  Svo,  3s. 

BALCH.     Zorah  :  A  Love-Tale  of  Modern  Egypt.     By  Elisabeth 

Balcit(D.T.S.)    Post  Svo,  7S.  6d. 

BALLADS    AND    POEMS.      By  Members    op   the   Glasgow 

Ballad  Club.     Crown  Svo,  7s.  6d. 

BANNATYNE.      Handbook   of  Republican   Institutions    in    the 

United  States  of  America.  Based  ujinn  Federal  and  State  Laws,  and  other 
reliable  sources  of  information.  By  Duoald  J.  Bannatvne,  Scotch  Solicitor, 
New  York  ;  Member  of  the  Faculty  of  Procurators,  Glasgow.  Crown  Svo, 
7s.  6d. 

BEDFORD.     The  Regulations  of  the  Old  Hospital  of  the  Knights 

of  St  John  at  Valetta.  From  a  Co])y  Printed  at  Rome,  and  preserved  in  the 
Archives  of  Malta;  with  a  Translation,  Introduction,  and  Notes  Exjilanatory 
of  the  Hospital  Work  of  the  Order.  By  the  Rev.  W.  K.  R.  Bedford,  one  of 
the  Cliaplains  of  the  Order  of  St  John  in  England.  Royal  Svo,  with  Frontis- 
piece, Plans,  &c.,  7s.  6d. 


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BELLAIRS.     The  Transvaal  War,  1880-81.     Edited  by  Lady  Bel- 

LAIRS.     With  a  Frontispiece  and  Map.     8vo,  15s. 

Go.^sips  witk   Girls    and    Maidens,   Betrothed   and    Free. 

Crown  8vo,  5s. 

BESANT.      The   Revolt  of  Man.      By    Walter    Besant,    M.A. 

Eighth  Edition.     Crown  8vo,  3s.  6d. 

Readings  in  Rabelais.     Crown  8vo,  7s.  6d. 

BEVERIDGE.    Culross  and  Tulliallan;  or  Perthshire  on  Forth.    Its 

History  and  Antiquities.  With  Elucidations  of  Scottish  Life  and  Character 
from  the  Biu'gh  and  Kirk-Session  Records  of  that  District.  By  David 
Beveridge.     2  vols.  8vo,  with  Illustrations,  42s. 

BLACKIE.      Lays  and  Legends  of  Ancient  Greece.      By  John 

Stdart  Blackie,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Greek  in  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh.    Second  Edition.     Fcap.  8vo.     5s. 

■ The  Wisdom  of  Goethe.    Fcap.  8vo.    Cloth,  extra  gilt,  6s. 

BLACKWOOD'S   MAGAZINE,  from  Commencement  in  18 17  to 

June  1887.     N03.  I  to  860,  forming  140  Volumes. 

Index  to  Blackwood's  Magazine.     Vols,  i  to  50.     8vo,  15s. 

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The  Provost,  &c.      By  John  Gait. 
Sir  Andrew  Wylie.     By  John  Gait. 
The  Extail.     By  John  Gait. 
Miss  Molly.    By  Beatrice  May  Butt. 


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The  Life  of  Mansie  Wauch.    By  D.  M.      The  Subaltern. 

Moir.  I  Life  in  the  Far  West.    By  6.  P.  Ruxton. 

Peninsular  Scenes  and  Sketches.    By  '  Valerius  :   A  Roman  Story.     By  J.  G. 

F.  Hardman.  I       Lockhart. 

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BLAIR.     History  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  Scotland.     From  the 

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BOSCOBEL   TRACTS.     Relating  to   the   Escape   of  Charles   the 

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BROOKE,  Life  of  Sir  James,  Rajah  of  Sarawak.     From  his  Personal 

Papers  and  Correspondence.  By  Spenser  St  John,  H.M.'s  Minister-Resident 
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BROUGHAM.      Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Times  of  Henry  Lord 

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separately,  price  i6s.  each. 

BROWN.      The  Forester  :    A  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Planting, 

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Inspector  of  and  Reporter  on  Woods  and  Forests,  Benmore  House,  Port  Elgin 
Ontario.  Fifth  Edition,  revised  and  enlarged.  Royal  Svo,  with  Engravings. 
36s. 

BROWN.    The  Ethics  of  George  Eliot's  Works.    By  John  Crombie 

Brown.    Fourth  Edition.     Crown  Svo,  2s.  6d. 
BROWN.     A   Manual  of  Botany,  Anatomical  and    Physiological. 
For  the  Use  of  Students.    By  Robert  Brown,  M.A.,  Ph.D.    Crown  Svo,  with 
numerous  Illustrations,  12s.  6d. 

BUCHAN.  Introductory  Text-Book  of  Meteorology.  By  Alex- 
ander BucHAN,  M.A.,  F.R.S.E.,  Secretary  of  the  Scottish  Meteorological 
Society,  &c.  Crown  Svo,  with  8  Coloured  Charts  and  other  Engravings, 
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BUCHANAN.     The  Shire  Highlands  (East  Central  Africa).     By 

JouN  Buchanan,  Planter  at  Zomba.    Crown  Svo,  5s. 
BURBIDGE.      Domestic    Floriculture,  Window    Gardening,   and 

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and  Arrangement  of  Plants  and  Flowers  as  Domestic  Ornaments.  By  F.  W. 
Burbidge.  Second  Edition.  Crown  Svo,  with  numerous  Illustrations, 
7S.  6d. 

Cultivated  Plants  :    Their  Propagation  and  Improvement. 

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BURTON.  The  History  of  Scotland  :  From  Agricola's  Invasion  to 
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D.C.L.,  Historiographer-Royal  for  Scotland.  New  and  Enlarged  Edition, 
8  vols.,  and  Index.    Crown  8vo,  i,-^,  3s. 

History  of  the  British  Empire  during  the  Reign  of  Queen 

Anne.     In  3  vols.  Svo.     36s. 

The  Scot  Abroad.     Third  Edition.     Crown  Svo,  los.  6d. 

The  Book-Hunter.     New  Edition.     Crown  Svo,  7s.  6d. 


BUTE.     The  Roman  Breviary  :    Reformed  by  Order  of  the  Holy 

CEcumenical  Council  of  Trent;  Published  by  Order  of  Pope  St  Pius  V.;  and 
Revised  by  Clement  VIII.  and  Urban  VIII.;  together  with  the  Offices  since 
granted.  Translated  out  of  Latin  into  English  by  John,  Marquess  of  Bute, 
K.T.    In  2  vols,  crown  Svo,  cloth  boards,  edges  uncut.    £,-z,  2s. 

The  Altus  of  St  Columba.    With  a  Prose  Paraphrase  and 

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BUTLER.      Pompeii  :     Descriptive    and    Picturesque.      By    W. 

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BUTT.    Miss  Molly.    By  Beatrice  May  Butt.    Cheap  Edition,  2s. 

Alison.     3  vols,  crown  Svo,  25s.  6d. 

• Lesterre  Durant.     2  vols,  crown  Svo,  17s. 

Eugenie.     Crown  Svo,  6s.  6d. 

CAIRD.     Sermons.    By  John  Cairo,  D.D.,  Principal  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Glasgow.    Sixteenth  Tliousand.    Fcap.  Svo,  ss. 

Religion  in  Common  Life.     A  Sermon  preached  in  Crathie 

Church,  October  14,  1855,  before  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  and  Prince  Albert. 
Published  by  Her  Majesty's  Command.    Cheap  Edition,  3d. 


WILLIAM   BLACKWOOD   AND   SONS. 


CAMPBELL.  Sermons  Preached  before  the  Queen  at  BalmoraL 
Bj'  the  Rev.  A.  A.  Campbell,  Minister  of  Crathie.  Published  by  Command 
of  Her  Majesty.     Crown  8vo,  4s.  6d. 

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AVellington's  Career  ;  A  Military  and  Political  Summary. 

Crown  8vo,  2s. 

Lady  Lee's  Widowhood.   Crown  Svo,  2s.  6d, 

Our   Poor  Relations.      A  Philozoic  Essav.      With   Illus- 


trations, chiefly  by  Ernest  Griset.    Crown  Svo,  cloth  gilt,  3s.  6d. 
HAMLEY.     Guilty,  or  Not  Guilty  ?     A  Tale.     By  Major-General 

W.  G.  Hamley,  late  of  the  Royal  Engineers.   New  Edition.    Crown  Svo,  3s.  6d. 

Traseaden  Hall.     "  When  George  the  Third  was  King." 

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12  LIST   OF   BOOKS  PUBLISHED   BY 


HARBORD.  Definitions  and  Diagrams  in  Astronomy  and  Navi- 
gation. By  tlie  Rev.  J.  B.  Harbord.  M.A.,  Assistant  Diiector  of  Education, 
Adinirally.     is. 

HASELL.      Bible  Partings.     ByE.  J.  Hasell.      Crown  8vo,  6s. 

Short  Family  Prayers.     By  Miss  Hasell.     Cloth,  is. 

HAY.     The  Works  of  the  Right  Rev.  Dr  George  Hay,  Bishop  of 

Eaiulmigli.     Edited  under  tlit-  Suiiervision  of  the  Riglit  Rev.  ilishop  Strain. 

Witli  Memoir  and  Portrait  of  the  Author.     5  vols,  crown  8vo,  bound  in  extra 

cloth,  ;Ci,  IS.     Or,  sold  separately — viz. : 
The  Sincere  Oliristian  Instructed  in  tlie  Faith  of  Christ  from  the  Written  Word. 
2  vols.,  8s.— The  Devout  Christian  Instructed  in  the  Law  of  Christ  from  the  Written 
Word.     2  vols.,  8s.— The  Pious  Christian  Instructed  in  the  Nature  and  Practice  ol  the 
Principal  E.vercises  of  Piety,     i  vol.,  4s. 

HEATLEY.  The  Horse-Owner's  Safeguard.  A  Handy  Lledical 
Guide  for  every  Man  who  owns  a  Horse.  By  G.  S.  Heatley,  M.R.C.V.8. 
Crown  Svo,  5s. 

The  Stuck-Owner's  Guide.     A  Handy  Medical  Treatise  for 

every  Man  who  owns  an  Ox  or  a  Cow.     Crown  Svo,  4s.  6d. 

HEMANS.     The  Poetical  Works  of  Mrs  Hemans.     Copyright  Edi- 
tions.—One  Volume,  royal  Svo,  5s.— The  Same,  with  Illustration's  engraved  on 
Steel,  hound  in  cloth,  gUt  edges,  7s.  6d.— Six  Volumes  in  Three,  fcap.,  12s.  6d. 
Select  Poems  of  Mrs  Hemans.     Fcap.,  cloth,  gilt  edges,  3s. 

HOLE.     A  Book  about  Roses :   How  to  Grow  and  Show  Them.     By 

the  Rev.  Canon  Hole.      Tenth  Edition,  revised.     Crown  Svo,  3s.  6d. 

HOME   PRAYERS.     By  Ministers  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  and 

Members  of  the  Church  Service  Society.     Second  Edition.     Fcap.  Svo,  3s. 

HOMER.  The  Odyssey.  Translated  into  English  Verse  in  the 
Siienserian  Stanza.  By  Philip  Stanhope  Worsley.  Third  Edition,  2  vob 
leap.,  I2S. 

The  Iliad.     Translated  by  P.  S.  Worsley  and  Professor 

Conington.     2  vols,  crown  Svo,  21s. 

HOSACK.     Mary  Queen  of  Scots  and  Her  Accusers.     Containing  a 

Variety  of  Documents  never  before  published.  By  John  Hosack,  Barrister- 
at-Law.  A  New  and  Enlarged  Edition,  with  a  Photograph  from  the  Bust  on 
the  Tomb  in  Westminster  Abbey.     2  vols.  Svo   j^i.  is 

HUTCHINSON.     Hints  on  the  Game  of  Golf.     By  Horace  G. 

HuTciiiN-soN.     Third  Edition.     P'cap.  Svo,  cloth,  is.  6d. 

HYDE.     The  Royal  Mail;  its  Curio.sities  and  Romance.    By  James 

Wilson  Hyde,  Superintendent  in  the  General  Post  Office,  Edinburgh.  Second 
Edition,  enlarged.     Crown  Svo,  with  Illustrations,  6s. 

IDDESLEIGH.      Lectures   and    Es.*avs.      By   the    late    Earl   of 

Iddkslicicii,  G.C.B.,  D.C.L  ,  &c.     Svo,  i"6s. 

INDEX  GEOGRAPHICUS  :  Being  a  List,  alphabetically  arranged, 

of  the  Principal  Places  on  the  Globe,  with  the  Countries  and  Siibdivisions  of 
the  Countries  in  which  they  are  situate<l,  and  their  Latitudes  and  Longitudes. 
Aiipli<;able  to  all  Modern  Atlases  and  Maps.     Imperial  Svo,  ji]).  676,  21s. 

JAMIKSON.      Discussions  on   the  Atonement:    Is  it  Vicarious? 

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blems in  Philosoi)hy  and  Theology.'     Svo,  i6s. 

JEAN  JAMBON.     Our  Trip  to  Blunderland  ;  or,  Grand  Excursion 

to  Bhindertown  and  Back.  By  Jean  Jamhon.  'With  Sixtv  Illustrations 
designed  by  Charles  Doyle,  engraved  bv  Dai.ziel.  Fourth  Tliousand 
HaiKlsoiiicly  bound  in  cloth,  gilt  edges,  6s.  6d.  Cheap  Edition,  cloth,  38.  6d. 
In  boards,  2s.  6d. 

JENNINGS.     Mr  Gladstone:  A  Study.     By  Louts  J.  Jennings, 

M.l'.,  Author  of  '  Republican  Government' in  the'Unitod  States,"  'The  Croker 
Memoirs,'  ic.     Poj'Ular  Edition.     Crown  Svo,  is. 

JERNINGHAM.      Reminiscences   of  an   Attachd.      By    Hubert 

E.   II.  Jernlsoham.     Second  Edition.     Crown  Svo,  5s. 

Diane  de  Breteiiillo.     A  Love  Story.     Crown  Svo,  2s.  6d. 


WILLIAM   BLACKWOOD   AND   SONS.  13 


JOHNSTON.     The    Chemistry   of  Common   Life.     By    Professor 

J.  F.  W.  Johnston.  New  Edition,  Revised,  and  broujibt  down  to  date.  By 
Arthur  Herbert  Church,  M.A.  Oxon.  ;  Author  of  'Food:  its  Sources, 
Constituents,  and  Uses ; '  '  The  Lal)oratory  Guide  for  Agricultural  Students  ; ' 
'Plain  Words  about  Water,' &c.  Illustrated  with  Majis  and  102  Engravings 
on  Wood.     Complete  in  one  volume,  crown  8vo,  pp.  618,  7s.  6d. 

Elements  of  Ac;ricultural  Chemistry  and  Geology.  Four- 
teenth Edition,  Revised,  and  brought  down  to  date.  By  Sir  Charles  A. 
Cameron,  M.D.,  F.R.C.S.I.,  &c.     Fcap.  Svo,  6s.  6d. 

Catechism  of  Agricultural    Chemistry  and   Geology.     An 


entirely  New  Edition,  revised   and  enlarged,  by  Sir  Charles   A.  Cameron, 
M.D.,  F.R. C.S.I.  ,&c.   Eighty-sixth  Thousand,  with  numerous  Illu.strations,  is. 

JOHNSTON.  Patrick  Hamilton  :  a  Tragedy  of  the  Reformation 
in  Scotland,  1528.  By  T.  P.  Johnston.  Crown  8vo,  with  Two  Etchings  by 
the  Author,  5s. 

KENNEDY.     Sport,  Travel,   and  Adventures  in   Newfoundland 

and  the  West  ladies.     By  Captain  W.  R.  Kennedy,  R.N.    With  Illustrations 
by  the  Author.     Post  Svo,  14s. 

KING.     The  Metamorphoses  of  Ovid.    Translated  in  English  Blank 

Verse.     By  Henry  King,   M.A. ,  Fellow  of  Wadham  College,  Oxford,  and  of 
the  Inner  Temple,  Barrister-at-Law.     Crown  Svo,  los.  6d. 

KINGLAKE.     History  of  the  Invasion  of  the  Crimea.     By  A.  W. 

Kinglake.     Cabinet  Edition.     Seven  Volumes,  illustrated  with   maps  and 
plans,  crown  Svo,  at  6s.  each.     The  Volumes  resjiectively  contain  : — 

I.  The  Origin  of  the  War  between  the  Czar  and  the  Sultan.  II.  Russia 
Met  and  Invaded.  III.  The  Battle  of  the  Alma.  IV,  Sebastopol 
at  Bay.  V.  The  Battle  of  Balaclava.  VI.  The  Battle  of  In- 
KERM.\N.     VII.  Winter  Troubles. 

History  of  the  Invasion  of  the  Crimea.     Vol.  VI.  Winter 

Troubles.     Demy  Svo,  with  a  Map,  i6s. 

Hi.?tory  of  the  Invasion  of  the  Crimea.     Vol.  VII.     From 

the  Morrow'of  Inkerman  to  the  Fall  of  Canrobert.    Demy  Svo,  with  Maps  and 
Plans,  14S. 

History  of  the  Invasion  of  the  Crimea.     Vol.  VIII.     From 

the  Opening  of  Pellissier's  Command  to  the  Deatli  of  Lord  Raglan.     With  an 
Index  to  the  Whole  Work.     With  Maps  and  Plans.     Demy  Svo,  14s. 

Eothen.    A  New  Edition,  uniform  with  the  Cabinet  Edition 


of  the  '  History  of  the  Invasion  of  the  Crimea,'  price  6s. 

KNOLL YS.     The  Elements  of  Field- Artillery.     Designed  for  the 

Use  of  Infantry  and  Cavalry  Officers.  By  Henry  Knollys,  Captain  Royal 
Artillery;  Author  of  'From  Sedan  to  Saarbriick,'  Editor  of  'Incidents  in  the 
Sepoy  War,'  &c.     With  Engravings.     Crown  Svo,  7s.  6d. 

LAING.     Select  Remains  of  the  Ancient  Popular  and  Romance 

Poetry  of  Scotland.  Originally  Collected  and  Edited  by  David  Laing,  LL.D. 
Re-edited,  with  Memorial-Introduction,  by  John  Small,  M.A.  With  a  Por- 
trait of  Dr  Laing.     4to,  2SS. 

LAVERGNE.  The  Rural  Economy  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ire- 
land. By  Leonce  de  Lavergne.  Translated  from  the  French.  With  Notes 
bv  a  Scottish  Farmer.     Svo,  12s. 

LAWLESS.     Hurrish  :   a  Study.     By  the  Hon.  Emily  Lawless, 

Author  of  'A  Chelsea  Householder,'  'A  Millionaire's  Cousin.'  Third 
and  cheaper  Edition,  crown  Svo.  6s. 

LEE.     A  Phantom  Lover :   A  Fantastic  Story.     By  Vernon  Lee. 

Crown  Svo,  is. 

LEE.  Glimpses  in  the  Twilight.  Being  various  Notes,  Records, 
and  Examples  of  the  Supernatural.  By  the  Rev.  George  F.  Lee,  D.C.L. 
Crown  Svo.     Ss.  6d. 

LEES.      A  Handbook  of  Sheriff  Court  Styles.      By  J.  M.  Lees, 

M.A.,  LL.B.,  Advocate,  Sheriff-Substitute  of  Lanarkshire.    New  Ed. ,  Svo,  21s. 

A  Handbook  of  the  Sheriff  and  Justice  of  Peace  Small 

Debt  Courts.    Svo,  7s.  6d. 


14  LIST   OF   BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY 


LETTERS  FROM  THE  HIGHLANDS.      Reprinted  from  'The 

Times.'    Fcap.  8vo,  43.  6cl. 

LIGHTFOOT.     Studies  in  Philosophy.     By  the  Rev.  J.  Lightfoot, 

M.A.,  D.Sc,  Vicar  of  Cross  Stone,  ToJiiiordeu. '  Crown  8vo,  5s. 

LINDAU.     The  Philosopher's  Pendulum,  and  other  Stories.     By 

Rudolph  Lindau.     Crown  8vo,  7s.  6d. 

LITTLE.      Madagascar :    Its  History  and  People.      By  the    Rev 

Henry  W.  Little,  some  years  Missionary  in  East  Madagascar.  Post  8vo 
los.  6d. 

LOCKHART.     Doubles  and  Quits.     By  Laurence  "W.  M.  Lock- 
hart.     With  Twelve  Illustrations.    Fourtli  Edition.    Crown  8vo,  6s. 

Fair  to  See  :  a  Novel.     Eighth  Edition.     Crown  8vo,  6s. 

Mine  is  Thine  :  a  Novel.    Eighth  Edition.    Crown  8vo,  6s. 

LORIMER.     The  Institutes  of  Law  :  A  Treatise  of  the  Principles 

of  Jurisprudence  as  determined  by  Nature.  By  James  Lorimee,  Regius 
Professor  of  Public  Law  and  of  the  Law  of  Nature  and  Nations  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh.  New  Edition,  revised  throughout,  and  much  enlarged. 
8vo,  i8s. 

The  Institutes  of  the  Law  of  Nations.     A  Treatise  of  the 

Jural  Relation  of  Separate  Political  Communities.  In  2  vols.  8vo.  Volume  I., 
price  i6s.     Volume  II.,  price  20s. 

M'COMBIE.     Cattle  and  Cattle-Breeders.    By  William  M'Combie, 

Tillyfour.  New  Edition,  enlarged,  with  Memoir  of  the  Author.  By  Ja.mes 
Macdonald,  Editor  of  the  '  Live-Stock  Journal.'     Crown  Svo,  3s.  6d. 

MACRAE.      A   Handbook   of   Deer -Stalking.      By  Alexander 

Macrae,  late  Forester  to  Lord  Henry  Bentinck.  With  Introduction  by 
Horatio  Ross,  Esq.     Fcap.  Svo,  with  two  Photographs  from  Life.     3s.  6d. 

M'CRIE.     Works  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  M'Crie,  D.D.     Uniform  Edi- 
tion.   Four  vols,  crown  Svo,  24s. 

Life  of  John  Knox.     Containing  Illustrations  of  the  His- 
tory of  the  Refoniiation  in  Scotland.     Crown  Svo,  6s.     Another  Edition,  3s.  6d. 

Life  of  Andrew  Melville.     Containing  Illustrations  of  the 

Ecclesiastical  and  Literary  History  of  Scotland  in  the  Sixteenth  and  Seven- 
teenth Centurie.s.     Cro\vn  Svo,  6s. 


History  of  the  Progress  and  Suppression  of  the  Reforma- 
tion in  Italy  in  the  Sixteenth  Century.     Crown  Svo,  4s. 

History  of  the  Progress  and  Suppression  of  the  Reforma- 
tion in  Spain  in  the  Sixteenth  Century.     Crown  Svo,  3s.  6d. 

Lectures  on  the  Book  of  Esther.     Fcap.  Svo,  5s. 

MACDONALD.  A  Manual  of  the  Criminal  Law  (Scotland)  Pro- 
cedure Act,  1887.  By  Norman  Doran  Macdonald.  Revised  by  the  Lord 
Advocate.     Svo,  cloth.     los.  6d. 

M'lNTOSH.    The  Book  of  the  Garden.     By  Charles  M'Intosh 

formerly  Curator  of  the  Royal  Gardens  of  his  Miyestv  the  King  of  the  Belgians' 
and  lately  of  those  of  his  Grace  the  Duke  of  Buccleuch,  K.G.,  at  Dalkeith  Pal- 
ace.   Two  large  vols,  royal  Svo,  embellished  with  1350  Engravings.     ^4   7s   6d 

Vol.  I.  On  the  Formation  of  Gardens  and  Construction  of  Garden  Edifices  '  776 
pages,  and  1073  Engravings,  Ci-,  los. 

Vol.  II.  Practical  Gardening.     868  pages,  and  279  Engraving.s, /i,  17s   6d 

MACKAY.     a  Manual  of  IModern  Geograjdiy  ;  Mathematical  Phvs- 

ical,  and  Political.  By  the  Rev.  Ale.\:ani>ku  Mackav,  LL.D.,  F.R.g's.  I'lth 
Thousand,  revised  to  the  jircsent  time.     Crown  Svo.  ]>p.  688.     7s.  6d. 

Elements  of  Modern  Geography.     53d  Thousand,  revised 

to  the  jircsent  time.     Crown  Svo,  pp.  300,  3s. 

Tlie  Intermediate  Geography.  Intended  as  an  Interme- 
diate Book  between  the  Author's  '  Outlines  of  Geography'  and  '  Elements  of 
Geograpliy.'    Twelfth  Edition,  revised.     Crown  Svo,'  iip.  23S,  2s 

Outlines  of  Modern  Geography.  176th  Thousand,  re- 
vised to  the  present  time.    iSmo  pp.  nS,  is. 


WILLIAM   BLACKWOOD   AND   SONS.  15 


MACKAY.     First  Steps  in  Geography.   86tli  Thousand.    iSmo,  pp. 

56.    Sewed,  4d. ;  cloth,  6d. 
Elements    of    Physiography    and    Physical    Geography. 

With  Exjiress  Referenne  to  the  Instructions  recently  issued  by  the  Science  and 
Art  Department.  By  the  Rev.  Alexander  Mackay,  LL.D.,  F.R.G.S.  30th 
Thou-iaud,  revised.     Crown  8vo,  is,  6d. 

Facts  and  Dates  ;  or,  the  Leading  Events  in  Sacred  and 


Profane  History,  and  the  Principal  Facts  in  the  various  Physical  Sciences. 
The  Memory  being  aided  throughout  by  a  Simple  and  Natural  Method.  For 
Schools  and  Private  Reference.     New  Edition.     Crown  8vo,  3s.  6d. 

MACKAY.     An  Old  Scots  Brigade.     Being  the  History  of  Mackay 's 

Regiment,  now  incorporated  with  the  Royal  Scots.  With  an  Appendix  con- 
taining many  Original  Documents  connected  with  the  History  of  the  Regi- 
ment.    By  John  Mackav  (late)oFHERRiESDALE.     Crown  8vo,  5s. 

MACKAY.     The  Founders  of  the  American  Republic.     A  History 

of  Washington,  Adams,  Jefferson,  Franklin,  and  Madison.  With  a  Supple- 
mentary Chapter  on  the  Inherent  Causes  of  the  Ultimate  Failure  of  American 
Democracy.     By  Charles  Mackay,  LL.D.     Post  Svo,  los.  6d. 

MACKELLAR.     More  Leaves  from  the  Journal  of  a  Life  in  the 

Highlands,  from  1862  to  1882.     Translated  into  Gaelic  by  Mrs  Mary  Mackel- 
LAR.   By  command  of  Her  Majesty  the  Queen.    Crown  Svo,  with  Illustrations, 
los.  6d. 
MACKENZIE.    Studies  in  Roman  Law.    With  Comparative  Views 

of  the  Laws  of  France,  England,  and  Scotland.  By  Lord  Mackenzie,  one  of 
the  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Session  in  Scotland.  Sixth  Edition,  Edited  by 
John  Kirkpatrick,  Esq.,  M.A.  Cantab.;  Dr  Jur.  Heidelb. ;  LL.B.  Edin. ; 
Advocate.    Svo,  12s. 

MAIN.     Three  Hundred  English  Sonnets.     Chosen  and  Edited  by 

David  M.  Main.    Fcap.  Svo,  6s. 
MAIR.     A  Digest  of  Laws  and  Decisions,  Ecclesiastical  and  Civil, 

relating  to  the  Constitution,  Practice,  and  Affairs  of  the  Church  of  Scotland 
With  Notes  and  Forms  of  Procedure.  By  the  Rev.  William  Maik,  D.D., 
Minister  of  the  Parish  of  Earlston.     Crown  Svo,  7s.  6d. 

MAITLAND.     Parva.     By  E.  Fuller  Maitland  (E.  F.  M.)     Fcap. 

Svo.     53. 

MANNERS.      Notes  of  an  Irish  Tour  in  1846.     By  Lord  John 

Manners,  M.P.,  G.C.B.     New  Edition.     Crown  Svo,  2s.  6d. 

MANNERS.     Gems  of  German  Poetry.     Translated  by  Lady  John 

Manners.     Small  quarto,  3s.  6d. 

Impressions  of  Bad-Homburg.  Comprising  a  Short  Ac- 
count of  the  Women's  Associations  of  Germany  under  the  Red  Cross.  By 
Lady  John  Manners.    Crown  Svo,  is.  6d. 

Some  Personal  Recollections  of  the  Later  Years  of  the  Earl 

ofBeaconsfield,  K.G.     Sixth  Edition,  6d. 

Employment  of  Women  in  the  Public  Service.     6d. 

Some  of  the  Advantages  of  Easily  Accessible  Reading  and 

Recreation  Rooms,  and  Free  Libraries.  With  Remarks  on  Siartiug  and 
Maintaining  Them.    Second  Edition,  crown  Svo,  is. 

A  Sequel  to  Rich  Men's  Dwellings,  and  other  Occasional 

Papers.     Crown  Svo,  2s.  6d.  . 

Encouraging  Experiences  of  Reading  and  Recreation  Rooms. 


Aims  of  Guilds,  Nottingham  Social  Guild,  Existing  Institutions,  &c.,  &c. 
Crown  Svo,  is. 

MARMORNE.     The   Story  is  told  by  Adolphus   Segrave,  the 

youngest  of  three  Brothers.     Third  Edition.     Crown  Svo,  63. 

MARSHALL.     French  Home  Life.      By  Frederic  Marshall. 

Second  Edition.     5s.  ,      .,-,-,.         t^     •     -1         ji 

MARSHMAN.  History  of  India.  From  the  Earliest  Period  to  the 
Close  of  the  India  Company's  Government ;  with  an  Epitome  of  Subsequent 
Events.  By  John  Clark  Marshman,  C.S.I.  Abridged  from  the  Author's 
larger  work.     Second  Edition,  revised.    Crown  Svo,  with  Map,  6s.  6d. 


16  LIST  K5  PUBLISHZD  BY 


:  IL    T- 

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m  Oirer  ra  1875.     Ttj'rjip^—  "ST.  E.  3t05TAi=nL  ;<ffc  BtPjj^lMi^wl^  hiilckiar  tf 

MOXTALEilBEET.      ileinotr  of  Co-imt  de  MoKtakmbeit.      A 

CiiT'er  of  Bejer-  Prsiii  H^s^xrj.     B7  ats  CfczFEAXr,  AoiAiKCf  de  'life 

MLUDOCH.     ^faTTnal  of  tLe  La,w  of  Insc^T^oey  aiiid  BiiLkzi^ieT' : 


'Vaizag-ap  c^  Jeaas-^iiiek  CeHB^i^Kies  m  Sea^nA;  »"  '    i --•^"  - " 
'vsnsas  bsiHvaej'aHL  Tluiltimtey  8fc*taiitB»;  >Mi.  Ttt^i  Jrm.s  : 

sf^fiBxfeie  to 'Oese  aaJbgeets.    '^  J«wtoi  Wi..  mmm -g^  v^— -j-  ----- - 

Proeniasois  ia.  Glasgcnr.    'Frffcn  'F.itri.rNii   Bexsed  '^rt-'  ~' '  ^ _- r  1   Z 

MY  TBIVIAL    LIFE  AXD   MISEOETU^T:      ^    :    :  i;    — :_ 

ao  P55J':  in.  Pars-mlar.    Br  A  Elaxs"  Woatsj.    Se^  Edi^lm,  crcwa.  iTH',  as. 

PCHjE  VFT.T.TT-     s'-S.  pC'StSToT^il  51. 
XEAYES.     SoiLjs  and  Verses,  Social  and  SeiQitr&c-    Br  an  Old 

CoambccEr  to  •  Xaga.'    By  "ihA  'Ssm,  Lord  !jrjLa.TBS-    rata  BL,  feqi.  tun,  4a. 

The  Greek  AntiLologx,    Being  YoL  .X.X.  of  '  Anoeai  CS^ 

NICHOLSON.     A  Manual  of  Zc<Dlcey,  for  tte  r=e  of  Stodaits. 

Wnk  a  G~Ei3^I  T^ — n-.--— ^—   :^  tie  Pfe-iriea  cff  Z.:<2kigT.    BtHssst  Ax.- 
uroTE  XiCHOiLscts,  Ji  I      ,    -        J  T  >  .  F.  G-.  a.-,  RqcSn^  fttAsBCK  <rf  "SaeBssaX. 

HT^r^~ry    ;:^    'CIl-c   T~^'~  -.  ir^IifrrZ-       Sc'W^±&i^    Si£si2BBfty   SEW^tti^   IB^ 

Texc-Bc"C'k  of  Z-;-:^v-i7,  ior'tiie  tTs^;  of  Sctool;?-    Fourth.  Edi- 

Iniro-i-acrory  Text-Ec»ok  of  Zcvlc'^j.  fox  th.e  Use  of  JuBioi 

"I'^tliiics  of  Viniril  Hisiory,  ior  BegrEmers  :  beBg  Desez^- 

Lr     :    i  Pr^ere^sTs  Ssi-ss  of  ZcctogLcil   Ijpes.     ISird  Tinfftiiniitj  "W^A. 

'    —-  '  y-    -  -  -■  -    xr=e  of  Stod^tls. 


rS-  tai- 


-~    7"-e  A^;ient  Life-History  of  the  Earth.     A»  Oat^iBe  of 


18  LIST   OF  BOOKS  PUBLISHED   BY 


NICHOLSON.     On  the  Structure  and  Affinities  of  the  Genus  Mon- 

ticulipora  and  its  Sub-Genera,  with  Critical  Descriptions  of  Illustrative 
Species.  By  Henry  Alleyne-Nicholson,  M.D.,  D.Sc,  F.L.S.,  ^-Y,  •' 
Begins  Professor  of  Natural  History  in  the  University  of  ATierdeen.  illus- 
trated with  numerous  Engravings  on  wood  and  lithographed  Plates.     Buper- 

■'  Synopsis  of  the  Classification  of  the  Animal  King- 
dom.   8vo,  with  io6  Illustrations,  6s. 

NICHOLSON.  Communion  with  Heaven,  and  other  Sermons. 
By  the  late  Maxwell  Nicholson,  D.D.,  Minister  of  St  Stephen's,  Edinljurgh. 
Crown  8vo,  5s.  6d. 

Rest  in  Jesus.     Sixth  Edition.     Fcap.  8vo,  4s.  6d. 

OLIPHANT.      Masollam  :    a  Problem  of  the  Period.      A  Novel. 

By  Laurence  Oliphant.    3  vols,  post  8vo,  25s.  6d. 

Altiora  Peto.    Eighth  Edition,  Illustrated.    Crown  8vo,  6s. 

Piccadilly :  A  Fragment  of  Contemporary  Biography.  With 

Eight  Illustrations  by  Richard  Doyle.  Eighth  Edition,  4s.  6d.  Cheap  Edition, 
in  paper  cover,  2s.  6d.  ,  •, 

Traits  and  Travesties ;  Social  and  Political.  PostSvo,  los.bd. 

The  Land  of  Gilead.     With  Excursions  in  the  Lebanon. 


With  Illustrations  and  Maps.    Demy  Svo,  21s. 

The  Land  of  Khemi.    Post  Svo,  with  Illustrations,  los.  6d. 

Haifa  :  Life  in  Modern  Palestine.    2d  Edition.    Svo,  7s.  6d. 

.     Episodes  in  a  Life  of  Adventure  ;  or,  Moss  from  a  Rolling 

Stone.     Fourth  Edition.     Post  Svo,  6s. 

Fashionable  Philosophy,  and  other  Sketches.      In  paper 

cover,  IS. 

Sympneumata  :  or,  Evolutionary  Functions  now  Active  in 


Man.    Edited  by  Laurence  Oliphant.    Post  Svo,  los.  6d. 

OLIPHANT.     The  Story  of  Valentine  ;  and  his  Brother.     By  Mrs 

Oliphant.    5s.,  cloth. 

Katie  Stewart.     2S.  6d. 

A  House  Divided  against  Itself.     3  vols,  post  Svo,  25s.  6d. 

OSBORN.     Narratives  of  Voyage  and  AdventiU'e.     By  Admiral 

Sherard  Osborn,  C.B.     3  vols,  crown  Svo,  12s. 

OSSIAN.     The  Poems  of  Ossian  in  the  Original  Gaelic.     With  a 

Literal  Translation  into  English,  and  a  Dissertation  on  the  Authenticity  of  the 
Poems.     By  the  Rev.  Archibald  Clerk.     2  vols,  imperial  Svo,  £1,  iis.  6d. 

OSWALD.     By  Fell  and  Fjord  ;  or.  Scenes  and  Studies  in  Iceland. 

By  E.  J.  Oswald.    Post  Svo,  with  Illustrations.    7s.  6d. 

OUR  OWN  POMPEII.    A  Romance  of  To-morrow.    2  vols,  crown 
OUTRAM.    Lj^rics  :  Legal  and  Miscellaneous.    By  the  late  George 

OuTRAM,  Esq.,  Advocate.  New  Edition,  with  Explanatory  Notes.  Edited 
by  J.  H.  Stoddart,  LL.D.  ;  and  Illustrated  by  William  Ralston  and  A.  S. 
Boyd.     Fcap.  Svo,  5s. 

PAGE.     Introductory  Text-Book  of  Geology.      By  David  Page, 

LL.D.,  Professor  of  Geology  in  the  Durham  University  of  Physical  Science, 
Newcastle.  With  Engravings  on  Wood  and  Glossarial  Index.  Twelfth 
Edition.  Revised  by  Professor  Lapworth  of  Mason  Science  CoUcge,  Bir- 
mingham. [/«?/ic  press. 

Advanced  Text-Book  of  Geology,  Descriptive  and  Indus- 
trial. With  Engravings,  and  Glossary  of  Scientilic  Terms.  Sixth  Edition,  re- 
vised and  enlarged,  7s.  6d. 

Introductory  Text-Book  of  Physical  Geography.     With 

Sket(Oi-Maps  and  Illustrations.  Editedby  Charles  Lapworth,  LL.D.,  F.G.8., 
&c.,  Professor  of  Geology  and  Mineralogy  in  the  Mason  Science  College,  Bir- 
uiingham.     12th  Edition.     2f.  6d. 


WILLIAM   BLACKWOOD  AND   SONS.  19 

PAGE.     Advanced   Text -Book   of   Physical   Geography.     Third 

Edition,  Revised  and  Enlarged  liy  Prof.  Lapworth.    With  Engravings.    5s. 

PATON.     Spindrift.    By  Sir  J.  Noel  Paton.     Fcap.,  cloth,  5s. 

Poems  by  a  Painter.     By    Sir   J.   Noel   Paton.     Fcap., 

cloth,  5S. 

PATTERSON.      Essays  in  History  and  Art.     By  R.  Hogarth 

Patterson.    8vo,  12s. 

The    New    Golden  Age,   and  Influence   of  the  Precious 

Metals  upon  the  World.     2  vols.  8vo,  31s.  6d. 
PAUL.     History  of  the  Royal  Company  of  Archers,  the  Queen's 
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Bar.     Crown  4to,  with  Portraits  and  other  Illustrations.     £1,  2s. 

PEILE.  Lawn  Tennis  as  a  Game  of  Skill.  With  latest  revised 
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PETTIGREW.  The  Handy  Book  of  Bees,  and  their  Profitable 
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ings.    Crown  8vo,  3s.  6d. 

PHILOSOPHICAL    CLASSICS    POR    ENGLISH    READERS. 

Companion  Series  to  Ancient  and  Foreign  Classics  for  English  Readers. 
Edited  by  William  Knight,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy,  Uni- 
versity of  St  Andrews.    In  crown  8vo  volumes,  with  portraits,  price  3s.  6d. 

\For  list  of  Volumes  published,  see  page  2. 

POLLOK.    The  Course  of  Time  :  A  Poem.     By  Robert  Pollok, 

A.M.  Small  fcap.  8vo,  cloth  gilt,  2s.  6d.  The  Cottage  Edition,  32mo,  sewec', 
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PORT  ROYAL  LOGIC.     Translated  from  the  French  •  with  Intn  - 

duction.  Notes,  and  Appendix.  By  Thomas  Spencer  Baynes,  LL.D.,  Pro- 
fessor in  the  University  of  St  Andrews.     Eighth  Edition,  i2mo,  4s. 

POTTS  AND  DARNELL.  Aditus  Faciliores  :  An  easy  Latin  Con- 
struing Book,  with  Complete  Vocabulary.     By  A.  W.  Potts,  M.A.,  LL.D., 

Head-Master  of  the  Fettes  College,  Edinburgh,  and  sometime  Fellow  of  St 
John's  College,  Cambridge;  and  the  Rev.  C.  Darnell,  M.A.,  Head-Master  if 
Cargilfield  Preparatory  School,  Edinburgh,  and  late  Scholar  of  Pembroke  and 
Downing  Colleges,  Cambridge.     Ninth  Edition,  fcap.  8vo,  3s.  6d. 

Aditus  Faciliores  Graeci.    An  easy  Greek  Construing  Book, 

with  Complete  Vocabulary.     Fourth  Edition,  fcap.  8vo,  3s. 

PRINGLE.     The  Live-Stock  of  the  Farm.    By  Robert  0.  Pringle. 

Third  Edition.  Revised  and  Edited  by  James  Macdonald,  Editor  of  the 
'  Live-Stock  Journal,'  &c.     Crown  8vo,  7s.  6d. 

PUBLIC   GENERAL    STATUTES    AFFECTING    SCOTLAND 

from  1707  to  1847,  with  Chronological  Table  and  Index.     3  vols,  large  8vo,  £2>  3S. 

PUBLIC   GENERAL  STATUTES    AFFECTING    SCOTLAND, 

COLLECTION  OF.     Published  Annually  with  General  Index. 

RAMSAY.    Rough  Recollections  of  Military  Service  and  Society. 

Bv  Lieut.-Col.  Balcarres  D.  Wardlaw  Ramsay!    Two  vols,  post  Svo,  21s. 
RAMSAY.      Scotland  and  Scotsmen  in  the  Eighteenth  Century. 

Edited  from  the  MSS.  of  John  Ramsay,  Esq.  of  Oc.htertyre,  by  Alexander 
Allardyce,  Author  of  'Memoir  of  Admiral  Lord  Keith,  K.B.,'  &c.  In  two 
vols.  Svo.  U"  tlie  press. 

RANKINE.     A  Treatise  on   the  Rights  and  Burdens  incident  to 

the  Ownership  of  Lands  and  other  Heritages  in  Scotland.  By  John  Rankixe 
M. A..  Advocate.     Second  Edition,  Revised  and  Enlareed.    Svo,  45s. 

RECORDS  OF  THE  TERCENTENARY  FESTIVAL  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  EDINBURGH.  Celebrated  in  April  1884.  Published 
under  the  Sanction  of  the  Senatus  Academicus.     Large  4to,  £1,  12s.  6d. 

RICE.  Reminiscences  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  By  Distinguished 
Men  of  his  Time.  Collected  and  Edited  by  Allen  Thorndike  Rice,  Editor 
of  the  'North  American  Review.'    Large  Svo,  with  Portraits,  21s. 


20  LIST   OF   BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY 

RIMMER.      The  Early  Homes   of  Prince   Albert.      By  Alfred 

RiMMER,  Author  of  '  Our  Old  Country  Towns,'  &e.  Beautifully  Illustrated 
with  Tinted  Plates  and  numerous  Engravings  on  Wood.    8vo,  los."  6d. 

ROBERTSON.    Orellana,  and  other  Poems.    By  J.  Logie  Robert- 
son, m.  a.    F'cap.  8vo.    Printed  on  hand-made  paper.    6s. 

The  White  Angel  of  the  Polly  Ann,  and  other  Stories. 

A  Book  of  Fables  and  Fancies.    Feap.  8vo,  3s.  6d. 

•     Our  Holiday  Among  the  Hills.     By  James  and  Janet 

LoGiE  Robertson.    Feap.  8vo,  3s.  6d. 

ROSCOE.     Rambles  with  a  Fishing-rod.    By  E.  S.  RoscoE.    Crown 

8vo,  4S.  6d. 

ROSS,     Old   Scottish   Regimental  Colours.     By  Andrew   Ross, 

8.S.C.,  Hon.  Secretary  Old  Scottish  Regimental  Colours  Committee.  Dedi- 
cated by  Special  Permission  to  Her  Majesty  the  Queen.  Folio,  handsomely 
bound  in  cloth,  £,1,  12s.  6d. 

R03SLYX.     Love  that  Lasts  for  Ever.     A  Jubilee  Lyric.     By  the 

Earl  of  RossljTi.  Dedicated  by  Permission  to  the  Queen,' on  the  Fiftieth 
Anniversary  of  her  Accession,  and  published  by  Her  Majesty's  Command. 
Printed  on  hand-made  paper,  with  vellum  cover,  is. 

RUSSELL.      The  Haigs  of  Bemersyde.     A  Family  History.     By 

John  Russell.    Large  8vo,  with  Illustrations.    21s. 

RUSTOW.     The  War  for  the  Rhine  Frontier,  1870  :  Its  Political 

and  Military  History.  By  Col.  W.  Ritstow.  Translated  from  the  German, 
by  John  Latland  N^EEDHAii,  Lieutenant  R.M.  Artillery.  3  vols.  8vo,  with 
Maps  and  Plans,  £,\,  iis.  6d. 

ST  LEGER.     Under  a  Delusion.     A  Novel.     By  Joan  St  Leger. 

2  vols,  crown  8vo,  17s. 

SCHILLER.     Wallenstein.     A  Dramatic  Poem.     By  Frederick 

VON  Schiller.     Translated  by  C.  G.  A.  Lockhart.     Feap.  Svo,  7s.  6d. 

SCOTCH  LOCH  FISHING.     By  "  Black  Palmer."    Crown  Svo, 

interleaved  with  blank  pages,  4s. 

SCOTTISH   METAPHYSICS.    Recon-structed  in  accordance  with 

the  Principles  of  Physical  Science.  By  the  Writer  of  '  Free  Notes  on  Herbert 
Spencer's  First  Principles.'     Crown  Svo,  5s. 

SELLER  and  STEPHENS.     Physiology  at  the  Farm  ;  in  Aid  of 

Rearing  and  Feeding  the  Live  Stock.  By  William  Seller,  M.D.,  F.R.S.E., 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  Edinburgh,  formerly  Lecturer  on 
MateriaMedica  and  Dietetics  ;  and  Henrv  Stephens,  F.R.S.E.,  Authorof '  The 
Book  of  the  Farm,'  &c.     Post  Svo,  with  Engravings,  i6s. 

SETH.     Scottish  Philosophy.     A  Comparison  of  the  Scottish  and 

German  Answers  to  Hume.  Balfour  Philosophical  Lectures,  University  of 
Edinburgh  By  Andrew  Seth,  M.A.,  Professor  of  Logic,  Rhetoric,  and 
Metaphysics  in  the  University  of  St  Andrews.     Crown  Svo,  5s. 

Hegelianism  and  Personality.     Balfour  Philosophical  Lec- 
tures.   Second  Series.    Crown  Svo,  5s. 
SETON.     A  Budget  of  Anecdotes.     Chiefly  relating  to  the  Current 

Century.  Compil(»d  and  Arranged  by  George  Seton,  Advocate,  M.A.  Oxon. 
New  and  Cheaper  Edition,  feap.  8vo.     Boards,  is.  6d. 

SHADWELL.     The  Life  of  Colin  Campbell,  Lord  Clyde.     lUus- 

trated  by  Extracts  from  his  Diary  and  Correspondence.  By  Lieutenant- 
General  Shadwell,  C.B.    2  vols.  Svo.   With  Portrait,  Maps,  and  Plans.    368. 

SHAND.     Fortune's  Wheel.     By  Alex.  Innes  Shand,  Author  of 

'Against  Time,'  &c.    3  vols,  post'svo,  25s.  6d. 

Haifa  Century ;  or.  Changes  in  Men  and  Manners.    Second 

Edition,  Svo,  12s.  6d. 

Letters  from  the  West  of  Ireland.      Reprinted  from  the 

'Times.'    Crown  Svo,  58. 

SHARPE.      Letters   from   and    to    Charles    Kirkpatrick    Sharpe. 

Eilited  by  Alexander  Allardvce,  Author  of  'Memoir  of  Admiral  Lnrd 
Keith,  K.B.,'  &c.  With  a  Memoir  by  the  Rev.  W.  K.  R.  Bedford.  In  two 
vols.  Svo.     Illustrated  with  Etchings  and  other  En^Tavings. 


WILLIAM   BLACKWOOD   AND   SONS.  21 


SIM.     Margaret  Sim's  Cookery.     With  an  Introduction  by  L.  B. 

Walford,  Author  of  '  Mr  Smith  :  A  Part  of  His  Life,'  &c.     Crown  8vo,  5s. 

SIMPSON.      Dogs  of  other  Days  :   Nelson  and   Puck.      By  Eve 

Blantyre  Simpson.    Fcap.  8vo,  with  Illustrations,  2s.  6d. 

SKELTON.  Maithxnd  of  Lethiugton  ;  and  the  Scothand  of  Mary 
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of  Shirley.'     Demy  Svo,  12s.  6d. 

SMITH.     Italian  Irrigation  :  A  Report  on  the  Agricultural  Canals 

of  Piedmont  and  Lomliardy,  addressed  to  the  Hon.  the  Directors  of  the  East 
India  Company  ;  with  an  Appendix,  containing  a  Sketch  of  the  Irrigation  Sys- 
tem of  Northern  and  Central  India.  By  Lieut. -Col.  R.  Baird  Smith,  F.G. S., 
Bengal  Engineers.     Second  Edition.     2  vols.  Svo,  with  Atlas,  30s. 

SMITH.     Thorndale  ;  or,  The  Conflict  of  Opinions.    By  William 

Smith,  Author  of  'A  Discourse  on  Ethics,'  &c.  A  New  Edition.  Crown 
Svo,  I  OS.  6d. 

Gravenhurst  ;    or,  Thoughts  on  Good  and  EvU..     Second 

Edition,  with  Memoir  of  the  Author.     Crown  Svo,  Ss. 

SMITH.  Greek  Testament  Lessons  for  Colleges,  Schools,  and 
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Parables  of  our  Lord.  With  Notes  and  Essays.  By  the  Rev.  J.  Hunter 
Smith,  MA.,  King  Edward's  School,  Birmingham.    Crown  Svo,  6s. 

SMITH.     Writings  by  the   Way.     By  John   Campbell   Smith, 

M.A.,  Sheriff-Substitute.     Crown  Svo,  9s. 

SMITH.     The  Secretary  for  Scotland.     Being  a  Statement  of  the 

Powers  and  Duties  of  the  new  Scottish  Office.  With  a  Short  Historical 
Introduction  and  numerous  references  to  important  Administrative  Docu- 
ments.    By  W.  C.  Smith,  LL.B.,  Advocate.     Svo,  6s. 

SOLTERA.     A  Lady's  Ride  Across  Spanish  Honduras.    By  Maria 

SoLTERA.     With  illustrations.    Post  Svo,  12s.  6d. 
SORLEY.     The  Ethics  of  Naturalism.    Being  the  Shaw  Fellowship 

Lectures,  18S4.  By  W.  R.  Sorley,  M.A,,  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
and  Examiner  in  Philosophy  in  "the  University  of  Edinburgh.     Crown  Svo,  6s. 

SPEEDY.     Sport  in  the  Highlands  and  Lowlands  of  Scotland  with 

Rod  and  Gun.  By  Tom  Speedv.  Second  Edition,  Revised  and  Enlarged. 
With  Illustrations  by  Lieut. -General  Hope  Crealocke,  C.B.,  C.M.G.,  and 
others.     Svo,  15s. 

SPROTT.     The  Worship  and  Offices  of  the  Church  of  Scotland  ; 

or,  the  Celebration  of  Public  Worship,  the  Administration  of  the  Sacraments, 
and  other  Divine  Offices,  according  to  the  Order  of  the  Church  of  Scotland. 
Bv  George  W.  Sprott,  D.D.,  Minister  of  North  Berwick.     Crown  Svo,  6s. 

STARFORTH.  Villa  Residences  and  Farm  Architecture  :  A  Series 
of  Designs.  By  John  Starforth,  Architect.  102  Engravings.  Second  Edi- 
tion, medium  4to,  ^2,  17s.  6d. 

STATISTICAL   ACCOUNT    OF    SCOTLAND.     Complete,  with 

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turer, the  Naturalist,  the  Tourist,  &e. 

STEPHENS.     The  Book  of  the  Farm  ;  detailing  the  Labours  of  the 

Farmer,  Farm-Steward,  Ploughman,  Shepherd,  Hedper.  Farm-Labourer,  Field- 
Worker,  and  Cattleman.  By  Henry  Stephens,  F.R.S.E.  Illustrated  with 
Portraits  of  Animals  painted  from  the  life ;  and  with  557  Engravings  on  Wood, 
representing  the  principal  Field  Operations,  Implements,  and  Animals  treated  of 
in  the  Work.     A  New  Edition,  Rewritten,  and  with  New  Illustrations. 

The  Book  of  Farm  Buildings  ;    their  Arrangement  and 

Construction.  By  Henry  Stephens,  F.R.S.E.,  Author  of  'The  Book  of  the 
Farm  ; '  and  Robert  Scott  Burn.  Illustrated  with  1045  Plates  and  En- 
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The  Book  of  Farm  Implements  and    Machines.     By  J. 

Slight  and  R.  Scott  Burn,  Engineers.  Edited  by  Henry  Stephens.  Large 
Svo,  uniform  with  '  The  Book  of  the  Farm,'  £2,  2s. 


22  LIST   OF   BOOKS   PUBLISHED   BY 


STEPHENS.     Catechism  of  Practical  Agriculture.    With  Engrav- 
ings.    IS. 
STEVENSON.    British  Fungi.    (Hymenomycetes.)    By  Rev.  John 

Stevexsox,  Author  of '  Mycologia  Scotia,'  Hou.  Sec.  Cryptogamic  Society  of 
Seotlaud.    2  vols,  post  8vo,  with  Illustrations,  price  12s.  6d.  each. 

Vol.  I.  AgARICUS — BOLBITIUS.      Vol.  II.    CORTINARIUS — DaCRYMYCES. 

STEWART.    Advice  to  Purchasers  of  Horses.     By  John  Stewart, 

V.S.,  Author  of  stable  Economy.'     New  Edition.     2s.  6d. 

Stable   Economy.      A   Treatise   on    the   Management  of 

Horses  in  relation  to  Stabling,  Grooming,  Feeding,  Watering,  and  Working. 
By  John  Stewart,  V.S.    Seventh  Edition,  fcap.  8vo,  6s.  6d. 

STORMONTH.  Etymological  and  Pronouncing  Dictionary  of  the 
English  Language.  Including  a  very  Copious  Selection  of  Scientific  Terms. 
For  Use  in  Schools  and  Colleges,  and  as  a  Book  of  General  Reference.  By  the 
Rev.  James  Stormonth.  The  Pronunciation  carefully  Revised  by  the  Rev. 
P.  H.  Phelp,  M.A.  Cantab.  Ninth  Edition,  Revised  throughout.  Crown 
8vo,  pp.  800.    7s.  6d. 

Dictionary     of    the     English     Language,     Pronouncing, 

Etymological,  and  Explanatory.    Revised  by  the  Rev.  P.  H.  Phelp.    Library 
Edition.    Imperial  8vo,  handsomely  bound  in  half  morocco,  ^is.  6d. 

The   School   Etymological    Dictionary    and    Word-Book. 


Combining  the  advantages  of  an  ordinary  pronouncing  School  Dictionai-y 
and  an  Etymological  Spelling-book.     Fcap.  8vo,  pp.  254.     2s. 

STORY.     Nero  ;  A  Historical  Play.     By  W.  W.  Story,  Author  of 

'Roba  di  Roma.'    Fcap.  8vo,  6s. 

Vallombrosa.     Post  8vo,  5s. 

He  and  She  ;    or,  A  Poet's  Portfolio.     Fcap.  8vo,  in  parch- 
ment, 3S.  6d. 

Poems.     2  vols,  fcap.,  7s.  6d. 

Fiammetta.     A  Summer  Idyl.     Crown  8vo,  7s.  6d. 


STRICKLAND.      Life   of   Agnes   Strickland.      By   her    Sister. 

Post  3vo,  with  Portrait  engraved  on  Steel,  12s.  6d. 

STURGIS.     John  -  a  -  Dreams.      A    Tale.     By   Julian    Sturgis. 

New  Edition,  cro\vn  8vo,  3s.  6d. 

Little  Comedies,  Old  and  New.     Crown  8vo,  7s.  6d. 

SUTHERLAND.     Handbook   of  Hardy  Herbaceous   and   Alpine 

Flowers,  for  general  Garden  Decoration.  Containing  Descriptions,  in  Plain 
Language,  of  upwards  of  1000  Species  of  Ornamental  Hardy  Perennial  and 
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Waters  ;  along  with  Concise  and  Plain  Instructions  for  their  Propagation  and 
Culture.  By  William  Sutherland,  Gardener  to  the  Earl  of  Minto  ;  formerly 
Manager  of  the  Herbaceous  Department  at  Kew.     Crown  8vo,  7s.  6d. 

TAYLOR.     The  Story  of  My  Life.    By  the  late  Colonel  Meadows 

Taylor,  Author  of  'The  Confessions  of  a  Thu-,'  &c.  &c.  Edited  by  his 
Daughter.     New  and  cheaper  Edition,  being  the  Fourth.     Crown  Svo,  6s. 

TAYLOR.      The   City   of  Sarras.      By  U.    Ashworth    Taylor. 

Cro\vn  Svo,  7s.  6d. 

TEMPLE.     Lancelot  Ward,   M.P.     A   Love-Story.     By  George 

Temple.    Crown  8vo.     7s.  6d. 

THOLUCK.  Hours  of  Christian  Devotion.  Translated  from  the 
German  of  A.  Tholuck,  D.  D. ,  Professor  of  Theology  in  the  University  of  Halle. 
By  the  Rev.  Robert  Menzies,  D.  D.  With  a  Preface  written  for  this  Transla- 
tion bv  the  Author.     Second  Edition,  crown  Svo,  7s.  6d. 

THOMSON.     Handy  Book  of  the  Flower-Garden  :  being  Practical 

Directions  for  the  Propagation,  Culture,  and  Arrangement  of  Plants  in  Flower- 
Gardens  all  the  year  round.  Embracing  all  classes  of  Gardens,  from  the  largest 
to  tlio  smidlest.  With  Engraved  Plans,  illustrative  of  the  various  systems  of 
Grouping  in  Beds  and  Borders.  By  Davip  Thomson,  Gardener  to  his  Grace 
the  Duke  of  Buccleuch,  K.G.,  at  Drunilaurig.  Fourth  and  Cheaper  Edition, 
crown  Svo,  5s. 


WILLIAM   BLACKWOOD   AND   SONS.  23 


THOMSON.     The  Handy   Book  of  Fruit-Culture   under  Glass  : 

being  a  series  of  Elaborate  Practical  Treatises  on  the  Cultivation  and  Forcing 
of  Pines,  Vines,  Peaches,  Figs,  Melons,  Strawberries,  and  Cucumbers.  With 
Engravings  of  Hothouses,  &c.,  most  suitable  for  the  Cultivation  and  Forcing 
of  these  Fruits.  By  David  Thomson,  Gardener  to  his  Grace  the  Duke  of 
Buccleuch,  K.G.,  at  Drumlanrig.  Second  Edition.  Crown  8vo,  with  Engrav- 
ings, 7S.  6d. 

THOMSON.  A  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Cultivation  of  the  Grape- 
vine.   By  William  Thomson,  Tweed  Vineyards.    Ninth  Edition,  8vo,  5s. 

THOMSON.  Cookery  for  the  Sick  and  Convalescent.  With 
Directions  for  the  Preparation  of  Poultices,  Fomentations,  &c.  By  Barbara 
Thomson.    Fcap.  Svo,  is.  6d. 

TOM    CRINGLE'S    LOG.      A   New  Edition,  with   Illustrations. 

Crown  Svo.  cloth  gilt,  5s.     Cheap  Edition,  2s. 

TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  HIGHLAND  AND  AGRICUL- 
TURAL SOCIETY  OF  SCOTLAND.    Published  annually,  price  5s. 

TULLOCH.  Rational  Theology  and  Christian  Philosophy  in  Eng- 
land in  the  Seventeenth  Century.  By  John  Tulloch,  D.D.,  Principal  of  St 
Mary's  College  in  the  University  of  St  Andrews ;  and  one  of  her  Majesty's 
Chaplains  in  Ordinary  in  Scotland.     Second  Edition.     2  vols.  Svo,  i6s. 

Modern  Theories  in  Philosophy  and  Religion.     Svo,  15.S. 

Theism.  The  Witness  of  Reason  and  Nature  to  an  All- 
Wise  and  Beneficent  Creator.     Svo,  los.  6d. 

Luther,  and  other   Leaders  of  the  Reformation.      Third 


Edition,  enlarged.    Crown  Svo,  ^s.  6d. 

TWO  STORIES  OF  THE  SEEN  AND  THE  UNSEEN.    'The 

Open  Door,'  'Old  Lady  Mary.'    Crown  Svo,  cloth,  2s.  6d. 

VEITCH.  Institutes  of  Logic.  By  John  Veitch,  LL.D.,  Pro- 
fessor of  Logic  and  Rhetoric  in  the  University  of  Glasgow.    Post  Svo,  12s.  6d. 

The  Feeling  for  Nature  in  Scottish   Poetry.     From  the 

Earliest  Times  to  the  Present  Day.  2  vols.  fcap.  Svo,  in  Roxburghe  bind- 
ing.    15s. 

VIRGIL.  The  iEneid  of  Virgil.  Translated  in  English  Blank 
Verse  by  G.  K.  Rickards,  M.A.,  and  Lord  Ravensworth.     2  vols.  fcap.  8V0, 

lOS. 

WALFORD.     The  Novels  of  L.  B.  Walford.     New  and  Uniform 

Edition.    Crown  Svo,  each  5s. 
Mr  Smith  :  A  Part  of  his  Life.      |     Troublesome  Daughters. 
Cousins.  Dick  Netherby. 

Pauline.  |      The  Baby's  Grandmother. 

History  of  a  Week. 

WARDEN.     Poems.     By  Francis  Heywood  Warden.     With  a 

Notice  by  Dr  Vanroth.    Crown  Svo,  ss. 

WARREN'S  (SAMUEL)  WORKS.    People's  Edition,  4  vols,  crown 

8vo,  cloth,  153.  6d.     Or  separately  : — 
Diary  of  a  Late  Physician.     Cloth,  2S.  6d. ;  boards,  2s. 
Ten  Thousand  A- Year,     Cloth,  3s.  6d. ;  boards,  2S.  6d, 
Now  and  Then.    The  Lily  and  the  Bee.    Intellectual  and  Moral 

Development  of  the  Present  Age.    4s.  6d. 
Essays  :  Critical,  Imaginative,  and  Juridical.     5s. 
WARREN.      The   Five  Books  of  the   Psalms.      With   Marginal 

Notes.  By  Rev.  Samuel  L.  Warren,  Rector  of  Esher,  Surrey  ;  late  Fellow, 
Dean,  and  Divinity  Lecturer,  Wadham  College,  Oxford.    Crown  Svo,  5s. 

WATSON.     Christ's  Authority  ;  and  other  Sermons.     By  the  late 

Archibald  Watson,  D.D.,  Minister  of  the  Parish  of  Dundee,  and  one  of 
Her  Majesty's  Chaplains  for  Scotland.  With  Introduction  by  the  Very 
Rev.  Principal  Cairo,  Glasgow.    Crown  Svo,  7s.  6d. 

WEBSTER.    The  Angler  and  the  Loop-Rod.    By  David  Webster. 

Crown  Svo,  with  Illustrations,  7s.  6d. 


24  LIST   OF   BOOKS,   ETC. 


WELLINGTON.     Wellington  Prize  Essays  on  "the  System  of  Field 

Manoeuvres  best  adapted  for  enabling  our  Troops  to  meet  a  Continental  Army." 
Edited  by  Lieut.-General  Sir  Edward  Bruce  Hamley,  K.C.B.   8vo,  12s.  6d. 

WESTMINSTER  ASSEMBLY.  Minutes  of  the  Westminster  As- 
sembly, while  engaged  in  preparing  their  Directory  for  Church  Government, 
Confession  of  Faith,  and  Catechisms  (November  1644  to  March  1649).  Edited 
by  the  Rev.  Professor  Alex.  T.  Mitchell,  of  St  Andrews,  and  the  Rev.  John 
Strtjthees,  LL.D.  With  a  Historical  and  Critical  Introduction  by  Professor 
Mitchell.     8vo,  15s. 

WHITE.     The  Eighteen  Christian  Centuries.     By  the  Rev.  James 

White.     Seventh  Edition,  post  8vo,  with  Index,  6s. 

History  of  France,  from  the  Earliest  Times.  Sixth  Thou- 
sand, post  8vo,  with  Index,  6s. 

WHITE.  Archaeological  Sketches  in  Scotland — Kintyre  and  Knap- 
dale.  By  Colonel  T.  P.  White,  R.E.,  of  the  Ordnance  Survey.  With  numer- 
ous Illustrations.     2  vols,  folio,  £4,  4s.    Vol.  I.,  Kintyre,  sold  separately, 

£2,   2S. 

The  Ordnance  Survey  of  the  United  Kingdom.     A  Popular 

Account.     Crown  8vo,  5s. 

WILLS  AND  GREENE.     Drawing-room  Dramas  for  Childi-en.     By 

W.  G.  Wills  and  the  Hon.  Mrs  Greene.    Cro^vn  8vo,  6s. 
WILSON.     Works  of  Professor  Wilson.    Edited  by  his  Son-in-Law, 

Professor  Ferrier.     12  vols,  crown  8vo,  £2,  8s. 

■     Christopher  in  his  Sporting-Jacket.     2  vols.,  8s. 

Isle  of  Palms,  City  of  the  Plague,  and  other  Poems.     4s. 

Lights  and  Shadows  of  Scottish  Life,  and  other  Tales.     4s. 

Essays,  Critical  and  Imaginative.     4  vols.,  i6s. 

The  Noctes  Ambrosianse.     4  vols.,  i6s. 

The  Comedy  of  the  Noctes  Ambrosianee.     By  Christopher 

North.  Edited  by  John  Skelton,  Advocate.  With  a  Portrait  of  Professor 
Wilson  and  of  the  Ettricli  Shejiherd,  engraved  on  Steel.     Crown  8vo,  7s.  6d. 

Homer  and  his  Translators,  and  the  Greek  Drama.     Crown 

8vo,  4S. 

WILSON.  From  Korti  to  Khartum  :  A  Journal  of  the  Desert 
March  from  Korti  to  Gubat,  and  of  tlie  Ascent  of  the  Nile  in  General  Gordon's 
Steamers.     By  Colonel  Sir  Charles  W.  Wilson,  K.C.B.,  K.C.M.G.,  E.E. 

Seventh  Edition.     Crown  8vo,  2s.  6d. 

WINGATE.    Annie  Weir,  and  other  Poems.    By  David  Wingate. 

Fcap.  8vo,  5s. 

Lily  Neil.     A  Poem.    Crown  8vo,  4s.  6d. 

WORDSWORTH.      The  Historical  Plays    of  Shakspeare.      With 

Introductions  and  Notes.    By  Charles  Wordsworth,  D.C.L.,  Bishop  of  S. 

Andrews.     3  vols,  post  8vo,  each  price  7s.  6d. 

WORSLEY.      Poems   and   Translations.      By   Philip    Stanhope 

Worsley,  M.A.  Edited  by  Edward  Worsley.  Second  Edition,  enlarged. 
Fcap.  8vo,  6s. 

YATE.     England  and  Russia  Face  to  Face  in  Asia.     A  Record  of 

Travel  with  the  Afghan  Boundary  Commission.  By  Lieutenant  A.  C.  Yate, 
Bombay  Staff  Corjis,  Special  Correspondent  of  the  'Pioneer,'  'Daily  Tele- 
graph,' &c.,  &c.,  with  the  Afghan  Boundary  Commission.  Svo,  with  Maps 
and  Illustrations,  21s. 

YOUNG.     Songs  of  Beranger  done  into  English  Verse.   By  William 

YouNO.     New  Edition,  revised.    Fcap.  Svo,  4s.  6d. 
YULE.     Fortification  :  for  the  Use  of  Officers  in  the  Army,  p 
Readers  of  Military  History.    By  Col.  Yule,  Bengal  Engineers.    Svo, 
numerous  IHustratinns,  los.  6d. 

ZIT    AND    XOE  :    Their   Early   Experiences,      Reprinted    fru.a 

'  Blackwood's  Magazine.'    Crown  8vo,  paper  cover,  is. 

12/87. 


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