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Title: The Young Pilgrim
Date of first publication: 1828
Author: Mrs. Hofland
Date first posted: Oct. 27, 2013
Date last updated: Oct. 27, 2013
Faded Page eBook #20100803
This eBook was produced by: David Edwards, Ross Cooling & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net
"Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country, &c.— And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword." Numbers, xx.
My dear young Friend,
I have great pleasure in dedicating to you, this and the preceding volume of Alfred Campbell's Travels, because you manifest an ardent desire for improvement, and are at an age when the mind, unburthened by other cares, may imbibe the most happy (because pious and moral) impressions, and commit to memory with good effect every species of knowledge. You will perceive, from the perusal of these pages, that nothing in itself valuable is achieved without labour, and enter on the increasing toils of your own education, I hope in the same disposition that my young traveller exhibits, with a resolute heart and manly mind, assured that, whether his fatigues were recompensed or not, your own will certainly be so. The sense of conquering difficulties is itself a reward to a noble spirit, and the acquisition of knowledge is that of the best treasure man can possess on earth next to piety, which it resembles in being also one which "moth doth not corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal;" and, unlike to riches, doth not "make itself wings and flee away."
To you, my dear Boy, this treasure will also become the more sweet from being gathered under the eye, and with the aid of your beloved parents, with your brothers and sisters as companions. More happy than Alfred, you may bask in the sunshine of a mother's smile, in the bleakest deserts of your arduous path, and rejoice the heart of a father as you gaze from the eminence to which he has conducted you.
With every sincere wish for your improvement and happiness, I remain your affectionate friend,
Barbara Hofland.
The Compiler of Alfred Campbell's Pilgrimage, being encouraged by its great success, and honoured by the permission of Captain Mangles to extract from his excellent and unique work, descriptions for a second tour, which could not fail to inform and interest her young readers, now presents them her promised work.
The present volume is indebted to the overland journey to India of Major Campbell,[1] Sir F. Henniker's work, and that of Captain Mangles, who was travelling at the same period with the Baronet. The account of Petra is an abridged narrative of a journey, which, although displaying alike the scientific research of an antiquary, the classical taste of a scholar, the frank simplicity and untamed hardihood of a British sailor, has not yet been offered to the public; and will therefore, it is hoped, be duly estimated by the class of readers to whom it is so kindly conceded by the original writer from the most amiable motives.
[1] It will be evident to those conversant with such subjects, that the name of this celebrated Eastern traveller suggested that of her imaginary hero to Mrs. Hofland—a circumstance she should not have thought it necessary to mention, if she had not learnt that, in one instance, her book was reprobated, for having a name like a novel, and deemed improper as a school-book. Happily for her, those who read know its truth, and those who observe are aware of the interest and the utility of narratives so given to children.
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Introduction—Necessity of Study—Alfred's Friend—Voyage resolved on—The Young Greek—They sail for the Ionian Islands—Arrive at Corfu—Family of Aliakès—The Parguinotes—Their former Home taken by Ali Pacha—General View of the Islands—Departure for Arcos—Sail to Aleppo.
The warm interest taken by Alfred Campbell in his visit to the Holy Land, did not die away on his return to his native country: a circumstance which frequently happens to young travellers. It is true, that the cares still requisite for the completion of his education, and the pleasure of society offered by his beloved family, weaned him from any regret of the places which he had visited; but he retained a great desire to explore those parts which were still unknown to him in the same direction; and in the course of a few years he could not forbear to lament, that a journey of so much interest and importance had been taken by him at so early a period of his life.
When his father sent him to the University of Cambridge, he was introduced to a young gentleman of the name of Clayfield, with whom he contracted a close intimacy, and who, being already acquainted with a young Greek who was residing there, named Aliakès, who had inspired him with a great desire to travel, they were frequently led to talk much on the subject. This was rendered the more interesting to young Clayfield, because he was already a great proficient in the Arabic language, and was extremely desirous of speaking it with fluency. In this pursuit he found a little assistance from our young friend, who possessed a good memory, and a quick ear; but the little he could remember, eventually was found rather to stimulate curiosity than satisfy it.
Under the influence of this desire, which was connected with that of improvement in all the parties, the fathers of both the young men agreed, that, when they had obtained their degrees, they should be permitted to make a tour through the countries now so much the object of attention to enlightened travellers; and, in particular, that they should, in the first place, visit the Ionian Isles with the young Greek, who undertook to be their guide in this new acquisition to British sovereignty.
Mr. Campbell was particularly desirous to impress upon his son, at this juncture, the necessity of withdrawing his mind from the contemplation of this scheme farther than as an incitement to present exertion. He told him, that even the most lawful and innocent wishes must not be indulged at the expense of higher views and more important duties; that the advantages he now possessed in prosecuting his studies, could never be enjoyed again; and that if he did not use them aright, he would be unjust alike to his father and himself.
It will be readily believed, that Alfred attended fully to these suggestions, because his affection for his dear and only parent remained in full force, and his understanding, matured by time, and improved by knowledge, showed him the truth and justness of these observations. He therefore wisely laboured incessantly, and cheerfully, never thinking of the journey in any other light than as the reward of his toils in due season.
The time at length arrived, when, dignified with University honours, and rich in the esteem and affection of all who knew him, he could claim from his father permission to prosecute a plan, which was to prolong his absence, and to expose him to some danger of course, and was so far painful. Mr. Campbell was sorry to part again with a son of whom he was so justly proud, but he gave him leave to go with cheerfulness, saying, "that he had well earned his leisure;" and united with the father of Mr. Clayfield in arranging every thing necessary for the comfort of the young travellers, with the utmost facility.
Under these circumstances they left their native land, and proceeded by sea for Corfu. Their voyage was rendered extremely pleasant by the society of their companion Aliakès, who exhibited by turns every trait they had heard as characteristic of his country. Full of enthusiastic love for Greece, both as she existed in classic lore, with which he was at this period deeply imbued, and from that domestic affection which bound him to his own home, every word and action displayed his delight in returning. Some successes against the Turks had inspired him with the most ardent hopes for the emancipation of Greece, but in expressing this pleasure he would too frequently show a ferocious spirit; and whilst our young Englishmen admired his transport, yet they often found it their duty to press upon him their own sense of forbearance and of integrity.
Alas! he had suffered much: he had seen his family driven from their house, injured in their property, insulted in their persons, and compelled to quit their long-endeared native plains, to take refuge in the Islands beneath the protection of Great Britain; and although his residence in that country for awhile softened his sense of injury, it revived as he approached the shores where his family were exiled.
The weather was fine, the air balmy; and borne forward with a motion almost imperceptible towards Corfu, they saw on either hand the Ionian Isles, so much the object of attention in Great Britain within the last ten years, and so celebrated in Grecian story, as to cast around them a lustre beyond their present interest. It is true the Islands are all fruitful, but they have been so long injured by the base governments under which they have groaned, that the moral character of the natives has deteriorated, in despite of the natural abilities they evidently possess, and it will be only a course of years under the beneficent laws now promulgated for their benefit, that can restore to them, or rather bestow on them, virtue and happiness.
Arrived at Corfu, which is the seat of government, and the most gay and agreeable of these Islands as a place of residence, they were affectionately received by several of their own countrymen; and young Clayfield was particularly delighted with the novelty of all around him.
Aliakès had in the mean time gone in search of his family, who had been formerly Parguinotes, but were now, like all the exiles from unhappy Parga, settled at Corfu, and although deprived of their former dignity, and nearly all their property, were somewhat recovered from their distresses, and looking forward to prosperity through the medium of a son, whose uncommon talents naturally awakened their hopes. In a short time the young Greek came to request their presence to sup with his family; and it may be supposed they would not refuse one so long their companion.
They found on their arrival the members of a numerous family assembled, all eager to pay them respect, and testify gratitude for their friendship towards their young relative. The father and friends of Aliakès were, as they understood, and afterwards saw, a fair sample of their country,—being above the middle size, strong and robust; their costume was an embroidered jacket, full trowsers of blue cloth, with a small red cap. They wore mustachios, and were armed with pistols, dagger, and sabre, adopted as a kind of full dress, in compliment to their guests.
The sisters of Aliakès were very handsome; and their dress, which consisted of cloth, or silk, jackets embroidered with gold, and a long plaited petticoat, was very becoming. Their heads, on the arrival of the strangers, were covered with a large coloured handkerchief, which they laid aside, thereby showing, to the great delight of Alfred, the very coiffure, he had so frequently seen in ancient statues. Long braids of hair parted at the forehead, were entwined with double cords of red silk, and fastened gracefully behind, showing the elegant form of their heads to the utmost advantage.
The conversation turned upon a description of their former home, which was a small town on the coast of Epirus, built on a conical rock, two hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea, and looking over the Ionian sea, as if the Islands that beautify its surface were subject to its dominion. Behind it rose the mountains of Albania, encircling it as if for protection. It was fertilized by rivers and springs, beautified by forest trees, enriched by the vine and the olive, and enjoyed considerable commerce in oil, oranges, citrons, and cedrats. But alas! in one bad neighbour, the Parguinotes, like our first parents, found a devil, who drove them from their Paradise.
This was the renowned and infamous Ali Pacha, whose nephew having been killed in a skirmish with the inhabitants, he devoted them to destruction, and, being unhappily all-powerful, would unquestionably have extirpated them from the face of the earth, if they had not been under the protection of Great Britain, which, having newly obtained the sovereignty of the Ionian Isles, was intreated by Parga to take her also. In consequence of some treaty with the Porte, this protection only extended to the lives, and a small portion of the property; and the whole body of the Parguinotes were compelled to leave their native soil and their patrimonial possessions. It is, however, pleasant to reflect, that the tyrant was disappointed in his views of vengeance; that the blood of these injured people did not pollute their altars, nor slavery to his will torture them with daily deaths. That many have suffered all the sorrows of exile, the miseries of want, and probably the death of despair, we have too much reason to suppose; but it is certain that numbers are settled in the Islands, and in Italy also, in a state of considerable comfort and prosperity.
Our young men lost no time in running about, and afterwards in going from one island to another, in search of all that was curious to the naturalist and the antiquary. They visited Santa Maura, to see the rock from whence Sappho, the Lesbian poetess, flung herself into the sea; and sailed to Isara del Compare, the ancient Ithaca, because it was the island of Ulysses; but they found Zante the best worth seeing of all the Islands, on account of its fruitfulness in currants and grapes, the strength of its citadel, and the agreeable manners of the inhabitants, who are mostly Greeks of lively dispositions, and particularly fond of strangers, but cannot boast of any other virtue.
Aliakès attended them wherever they went, and greatly contributed to their pleasure and their information; nor could he prevail on himself to depart when the time came that they entered on the more serious part of their journey; but having obtained leave to accompany them through the gulph of Corinth, he did not quit them till they arrived at Arcos, where they found a vessel bound direct for Aleppo, in which they immediately secured a passage.
Voyage in the Levant—Touch at Cyprus—Wine of Olympus—Review of History connected with the Archipelago—Interest of the Bible—Arrive at Aleppo—Its beauty and fruitfulness—Convenience and Merchandise—Privileges of Christians—Dress of Chief Men—Coffee-house—Improvisatore—Pleasure of the Turks, &c.
Our young travellers promised themselves much pleasure in crossing those seas, and touching at those islands, so celebrated in ancient story; and frequently did they remember, that
and they more particularly recollected the lays of Lord Byron on subjects of Greek or Turkish origin. These pleasant themes of discourse were, however, much interrupted by the many petty evils which make themselves felt, alike in despite of the buoyant spirits of youth, and the philosophical temper acquired by experience. Their vessel was crazy, ill-manned, ill-managed, and so wofully provisioned, that they had no alternative between starving and living on food inferior to hog-wash at home. There were times when Clayfield could not help wishing himself at home again; but Alfred entered on this beginning of hardships with all the firmness of a veteran traveller; and his cheerful smile, and "Courage, mon ami," quickly restored his friend to his usual spirits.
They put in for a short time at Nicosia on the isle of Cyprus, which afforded them the relief of a little fresh food, and a draught of the finest wine in all the Greek islands, and which, being produced from grapes growing at the foot of Olympus, not only cheered their spirits, but renewed that spirit of classical research, damped by a long and disagreeable voyage.
So far as they could judge, this island realized all the evils every where found under the Turkish government—Nature was abundant in her productions, but man was poor in the midst of them. Oil, wine, cotton, silk, and turpentine, all of excellent quality, are abundantly produced on this fine island, which is one hundred and fifty miles long, and seventy broad. At the time of the Crusaders it was inhabited by Christians, and was a rich and flourishing kingdom. Richard Coeur de Lion subdued it, and affixed it to the kingdom of Jerusalem under Guy de Lusignan, but it soon afterwards shared the fate of all those possessions attained by the Crusaders.
"In this place," observed Alfred, "I may begin my recollections of my former journey, for I touched here on my return from Palestine, which I heartily desire to see again; but with that exception I wish of course to give all possible novelty to my journey; and as the whole is alike new to you, if I promise to conduct you to the principal objects of curiosity in this interesting country, I presume you will be content."
"Undoubtedly I shall, for I have already found out the utter impossibility of exploring every place: otherwise I would have run over every island in the Archipelago, and Levant sea, in the same way we visited the seven Ionian Isles, since they would, I apprehend, have afforded many more antiquities. I should have wished to have climbed Mount Ida in Crete, where Jupiter was nursed".—"You would find it now a barren rock, with no traces of temple or monument to repay your toil."—"I would have gone to Rhodes, though I should not hope to find any remnant of its brass statue, once the wonder of the world; and to Chios, which claims, with six other places, to be the native land of Homer—thence to Samos, which was the birth-place of Pythagoras—to the Cyclades, where Apollo and Diana were born—to Lesbos, where not only Sappho but many other poets and philosophers flourished; and to Tenedos, which, you know, is opposite to the site of old Troy."
"I wish, my dear fellow, we had been able to go to these places together, and on the spot talk over the real or fabulous lives of the personages in question; but we must content ourselves, it appears, with seeing Cyprus only, of all these celebrated Islands, remembering for our comfort, that we are proceeding to that country where Mahomet founded the most extensive empire, and spread a false faith among various nations with a success unrivalled in the annals of human nature; thereby stamping on his character a right to be considered the most powerful and remarkable of men, as being unassisted by God. Thence we shall be led to the land where Moses, the most honoured of mere mortals, exhibited those miracles which enabled him to lead forth a small body from the midst of a mighty nation, and whose remnant, scattered over the wide earth at this very day, are as much separated now, as they were then, though it is now for evil, as it was then for good.
"Lastly, I will bring you to the birth-place of Him before whose great name and glorious ministry, all those poets, warriors, legislators, and philosophers, whom, with justice, we have considered great, become, in comparison, 'lighter than dust in the balance.'"
"My dear Alfred, you need say no more; I am perfectly content to resign all the Ægean isles, but I must insist on seeing Mount Sinai, Mount Calvary, and, if it be possible, Arabia Petrea."
The conversation was interrupted by a summons to the vessel; but, as they walked towards it, Alfred observed:—
"The land we leave is a mixture of many nations, but that to which we hasten will place us decidedly amongst enemies to our faith, and therefore despisers of our persons: we shall be surrounded by native Syrians, intermixed occasionally with Arabians. They hate each other, but they will unite in doing us ill offices: one party will oppress us by their insolence, the other, rob us of our property; nevertheless, we shall find some who are good and faithful, and to them we must trust."
In a very short time our travellers landed at Aleppo, which they found a considerable city, being, with its suburbs, upwards of seven miles in circumference, standing on eight small hills, and crowned on the highest by a castle or citadel. The streets are narrow, but well paved with large square stones, and kept remarkably clean; for although this city cannot boast of wells of water within its walls, yet that great commodity of life is furnished by an aqueduct, four miles distant, erected by the good Empress Helena. The surrounding country is rough and barren, but the gardens near the city are pleasantly laid out, and abound in vines, olives, figs, and pistachios.
But our young men soon observed that the pride of this city was its numerous and magnificent mosques; and they could not forbear sighing when they remembered that they were indeed in a country where the Crescent had triumphed over the Cross, and Alfred nearly caught his old feelings, and wished for a Crusade again; but he did not speak on the subject, being aware that his first business must be to present himself and friend to the British Consul.
Being received with great politeness by this gentleman, who procured them lodgings near his own dwelling, and invited them to his table during their stay, they proceeded to examine every part of the city more minutely. They found the castle a poor place, and the palace, or seraglio, had little of either grandeur or strength; but as the Bashaw, who is the Governor, has the command of a large body of troops which are stationed around him, and his residence looks all over the city, it would be easy for him to descry an enemy, or suppress an insurrection. They were much pleased with the bagnios, or bathing-houses, but still more with the bazaars, which in the length of their long covered streets, the riches they displayed in their various commodities, the neatness, order, and silence which reigned there, (as very important bargains were frequently made without a word being spoken on either side,) offered much that was worthy of admiration.
Returning from their first walk to the house of the Consul, they saw several merchants, their countrymen, who were all handsomely mounted on Arabian horses, attended by secretaries and servants, and making a superb appearance. It is only in Aleppo that privileges of this nature are granted to Christians, so that young Clayfield was fortunate in his entrance into the country through such a medium; and Alfred was glad to find, one place afford an exception to the illiberality of Mussulmen. They were much amused, on leaving the bazaar, by the quarrel of two Turks in the street, who appeared to abuse one another with severe words and violent gesticulation, approaching each other perpetually as if to strike a severe blow, but always taking care to avoid coming in contact. Their long beards, the flow of their garments, their assumed fierceness, and actual cowardice, rendered them a most ludicrous spectacle to the young men, who could talk of nothing else on their arrival at home.
"If you are so much amused with these bearded old women," said Mr. ——, "I must send you to see a circle, whose gravity will, perhaps, be not less ridiculous; but I warn you not to laugh till you are in your own chamber, as it would be considered very ill-bred." In pursuance of this plan, he sent his secretary to conduct them to a kind of coffee-house, where a number of Turks were seated in a circle, and silently taking a cup of excellent coffee, sherbet, or fruit and sweatmeats; but their quiet enjoyment was interrupted, soon after the entrance of the party, by a man, who came with a hasty step, and took several turns in the apartment, with a motion so rapid, and a countenance of such whimsical expression, that they were at a loss whether to consider him a madman, or a fool in office.
At length he stopped short, and began to speak in an agreeable tone, and with a vivacious expression. The countenances of the grave Turks who surrounded him, relaxed as he spoke; their eyes twinkled with delight, their closed lips dilated with smiles. Alfred perceived that he was one of those improvisatori orators who afford to the solemn and stupid Mussulman, that, divertisement sought in Europe from the drama, or the concert; and thought, from his action, that he was relating some portion of the life of Sindbad the Sailor, in the Arabian Night Tales. At all events, he was sensible that he united the humour of Matthews with the energy of Kean; for his countenance and gestures exhibited by turns the utmost archness and drollery—the most deplorable expressions of sorrow and horror, succeeded by the loathings of disgust, and the triumph of escape; and notwithstanding they were ignorant of his language, our young friends were really mortified when this accomplished actor and story-teller suddenly sprang out of the circle in the very midst of his tale, and escaped alike from applause and reward.
"This is always the way with this fellow," said the secretary:—"he leaves off in the middle of his story when he arrives at the interesting part. At such a moment, the improvisatore of Italy would throw his cap on the ground and collect farthings; but our orator is above that, he knows that the same circle will collect to-morrow, and he waits till then for his own satisfaction and theirs."
When our young travellers had seen Aleppo, they became anxious to proceed either to Damascus, whither they knew a caravan was likely to travel soon; or take to the sea again for the purpose of landing at Alexandria or Rosetta. The young gentleman their present companion advised the latter, as the best way of reaching Suez, from whence they might proceed with comparative ease to Mount Sinai, to the convent of which he furnished them with an introduction, knowing it to be an object of their search. "I have myself," added he, "travelled with the caravan to Mecca, and found it extremely disagreeable, and the whole affair of the pilgrimage a disgusting piece of mummery, which it seems surprising even such stupid personages (as Mahomedans generally are) should be submitted to. I went, of course, in disguise, or I could not have witnessed their ceremonies, which I will relate with as much brevity as I can.
"The time of our arrival was shortly after the fast of Ramadan, and before the great sacrifice called the Corban. Before arriving at Mecca, we fell in with two other caravans, making in all a body of upwards of two hundred thousand persons, besides a still greater number of camels, so that altogether we cut a very formidable appearance. After our encampment in the neighbourhood of Mecca, which is a mean, ill-built city, the pilgrims divided themselves into small detachments, and entered the town. They are led up an ascending street until they arrive at a place called the Gate of Health, which they salute with profound respect, saying, 'Salem Alek I ruseul Allah!' that is, 'Peace be with the ambassador of God!' They now mount five steps upon a platform, and offer up their prayers; then descend with silence and devotion on the other side of the steps, towards two arches at a distance from each other, but which they do not pass through until this ceremony has been gone through seven times.
"When this performance is complete, the pilgrims proceed to the great Mosque, within which is the house of Abraham, for whom all Mussulmen profess the greatest veneration; and here they again walk seven times round the little building, saying, 'This is the house of God and his servant Abraham.' They next kiss a black stone, said to have descended white from heaven; and proceed to the famous well called Zun Zun, which, they say, is the same which the angel showed to Hagar when she was distressed in the Desert, doubtless forgetting how near they have placed the house of Abraham to it. Into this well they plunge with all their clothes on, repeating continually, 'Toba Allah! Toba Allah!' 'Forgiveness, God! Forgiveness, God!' They then drink a draught of the water, which is turbid and foetid, and depart; but those who desire to reach heaven before their neighbours, renew the ceremony before they quit Mecca.
"On the eve of the day of sacrifice, our three caravans, ranged in a triangular form, surrounded the mountain, and during the whole night rejoicings were kept up with great clamour, and the continual firing of arms, aided by drums and trumpets. When day broke, perfect silence succeeded, and the people slew and offered up their sheep, with an appearance of profound devotion.
"On a sudden a Sheick, or Saint, rushed from amidst the multitude, and mounted on a camel, which ascended a kind of platform raised for the purpose. He addressed them in a studied oration for a considerable time, at the conclusion of which they all saluted the mountain, and prepared to depart.
"Before my return, I visited a hill called Ghiabal Arabata, or the Mount of Forgiveness. It is about two miles in circumference, and is really a beautiful spot. The Arabs say, that Adam and Eve met here after being separated by God for forty years, and that they formed a dwelling upon it, called Beith Adam, or, the House of Adam. It was the only spot worth seeing in this long and painful journey; for neither Mecca nor Medina boast any degree of magnificence deserving notice."
Thankful for this information, the young men took their departure from Aleppo in a coasting vessel bound for Antioch, from whence they could proceed either to Palestine or Egypt, as might be found most convenient. Their voyage was rendered extremely unpleasant by bad weather, which they now for the first time encountered; and they were driven so far out to sea, as to be obliged to pass Tyre, Sidon, Ptolemais, and Antioch itself, without the power of making these ports, or any other in that line of coast. When at length the storm abated, the master of the vessel, to the satisfaction of our travellers, determined on sailing for Damietta in Egypt.
Here, then, in due time they arrived, heartily sick of voyaging in these seas, but delighted with finding themselves on the banks of one of the mouths of the Nile, in the land once so renowned as the birth-place of science, the scene of miracles, and the existing proof that despotism in rulers, and ignorance in subjects, will reduce the most favoured country far below that to which Nature has denied her bounties.
As there was no inn at Damietta, the English Vice-consul welcomed the strangers, and entertained them most hospitably. Their dinner was served at mid-day; and it was a great treat to them to be provided with chairs, knives, and forks, in a country where such luxuries are almost unknown; as even the son of their host ate with his fingers, tearing the over-roasted meat into scraps with neatness and agility. Cyprus wine, imported in skins, which give it a disagreeable flavour, with pipes and coffee, were served to them after the meat was removed; water was then poured on their hands, followed by eau de rose, by those slaves who attended during the meal to flap away the flies. After this, their entertainer and other guests retired to their siesta; but our young friends were not inclined to sleep, and therefore began to arrange their plans for visiting the most remarkable places on their way to Cairo.
Walking out to observe what was most remarkable at Damietta, which afforded nothing agreeable, they observed rows of pelicans stretched along the smooth surface of the river, which really afforded a beautiful sight, as they resembled swans: part of their plumage being rose colour, glittered in the sun, and produced the most splendid effect. These birds live on fish, and may be purchased for two piastres, (one shilling.)
Having with the assistance of the Vice-consul engaged a Candgy, or little skiff, and two well-armed servants for their protection, they set out for Maturich, on their way to Grand Cairo, with an understanding that they should leave the vessel under the care of a shekh or governor, who was also engaged in their service, whenever their inclination prompted them to visit the shores, or inspect those antiquities which they expected to find on their way.
Notwithstanding these persons had been duly hired as their servants, yet they had each the most decided contempt for their temporary masters, as Franks; and in any service of difficulty or danger, never failed to throw it upon them, saying, "that as they were only Christians, it was better for the risk to be put upon them." Disagreeable as this conduct was, it did not affect our youths with any other sensation than that of ludicrous contempt; but as the party continually quarrelled with each other also, their little voyage was one of perpetual bustle. Laughter and scolding on board, the howl of jackals on shore, and the observation of parties of Arabs and their gipsy encampments, alone varied the scene, till they reached Mansoura.
Arrive at Grand Cairo—Funeral Ululahs—The Pacha—Death of Mamelukes by treachery—Military Procession—Interesting Spectacle—Sacred Camel—Visit the Pyramids—The Sphinx—Alfred ascends the Pyramid of Chephrenes—Magnificent Temple at Dendera—Fine engravings—Head of Isis—Go to Kenneh—to Goos—Arabs—Depart for Thebes.
It was night when they reached Mansoura; and on the sun arising, they pursued their way with renewed hopes, and soon arrived at the head of the Delta, from whence they saw the Mekattan range of mountains, and the Pyramids. The former were like old friends to Alfred, who greatly disliked the flatness of Egypt; and the latter were delightful to Clayfield, as being in a great measure the objects of his journey.
Arrived within two miles of Cairo, they procured donkies, which, together with camels, may always be had on all those occasions for which we use hackney-coaches at home, and on which their luggage was immediately placed, to be conveyed to the Custom-house. Alfred found Cairo as disagreeable as he remembered it to be; and Clayfield thought it very inferior to Aleppo, although larger, and more populous; he observed, "there was not a street in either of them so wide as Cranbourn Alley."
Passing forward to see what would be done with their luggage, they were startled by loud howls and lamentations, and learnt that they were near a cemetery, where hired mourners were uttering ululahs, or mournful sounds, over a person buried there a year before,—a mark of respect to the dead, extremely unpleasant to the ears of the living. On presenting themselves to the Consul, all inconveniences were set to rights, and a time appointed for presenting them to the reigning Pacha, who pays great respect to the English.
On this introduction, the great man received them in the court-yard of his palace. He was seated on a sofa, smoking, and plainly apparelled, as Turks of high rank generally are, except on gala days, when their dress is very gorgeous. The Pacha has a vulgar, low-born cast of countenance, but a commanding intelligent eye. He is known to be treacherous; as he invited the Mamelukes to the citadel, and massacred them all except Ennin Bey, whose horse leaped over the parapet and was killed, but the master, delivering himself to some Arabs, obtained from them promise of safety, which is kept hitherto inviolate. He is also avaricious, and reported to be concerned in the sudden death of his eldest son, who disappeared in a manner likely to create suspicion: but with all this, he is not considered worse than other personages in the same capacity.
Our travellers were fortunate in arriving at Cairo just before a military procession, and the entrance of a caravan from Mecca. In the former, the most remarkable object was the conqueror, who was Ibrahim Pacha; for he was seated on horseback, clothed in a white satin gown, and a high conical cap, looking like a sick girl rather than a military general. The caravan was met, by the same women who sell their grief at funerals, with a loud shriek of welcome; and presented a bustling, interesting spectacle, especially when numerous friends came out to meet their dearest connexions, and make inquiries on which their hopes and their happiness depended. One wretched woman threw herself in the path of the camels; for alas! her one child, her fatherless boy, was dead, and she was maddened with the anguish of the shock.
Turning from this sad spectacle, they encountered that of an idiot, or saint, according to the superstition of the Turks, which was extremely disgusting. He was perfectly naked, but strapped securely on a camel, and formed a part of the procession of the caravan, as he followed the holy camel; so designated, because on going out to Mecca he had carried the offerings of Grand Cairo, which service exempts him from labour the rest of his life. This sacred camel was covered with a green cloth embroidered with Arabic characters; and multitudes who had not been to Mecca, eagerly pressed forward to touch it as a means of salvation; but from this act of pollution they were prevented by the cudgels of those who guarded it.
Having seen the almahs, or dancing girls, they set out for the Pyramids. The Sphinx was, however, the first curious object at which they arrived; it had lately been found to be a perfect figure, cut out of the living rock, but the sand had accumulated again upon it, and only the head and neck were visible. They next visited the largest Pyramid; and Alfred, who was now, like many of his countrymen, extremely tall, found the first step even with his chest; and on standing so near it, found it to have much more effect upon the mind, as a work of stupendous magnitude, than it ever had before. Determined to see all they could, our travellers prepared to enter the galleries of this Pyramid; and as they were surrounded by Arabs, who insisted upon being their guides, this design was put in execution; and the labours of the expedition ended by the ascent of Alfred to the top of the Pyramid of Chephrenes, which stands only one hundred and twenty yards from the highest, and is little inferior in bulk and height.
The ascent of this building was found not only dangerous in the extreme, but so fatiguing, that Alfred sincerely regretted the time and labour it had cost him; and blamed his folly for exposing himself to the chance of a death, which would have been a source of severe affliction, not only to the beloved family at home, but the dear friend and companion who had suffered severely during every moment in which he was taking it, and whom he now promised never to quit on so foolish a business again.
Their next object was the celebrated Temple of Dendera, which, seen from the surrounding plain, appeared to rise from a mound of beautiful verdure, but, on arriving there, was found so surrounded by the mud walls of an Arab village, as greatly to detract from the general effect;—yet there was much on which the eye could rest with satisfaction.
The first object of attraction is a propylon, on the left hand side of which, as you pass to the temple, are inscribed large human figures, while on the right hand are hieroglyphics only, such as birds and other signs. Arrived at the portico, they were lost in admiration: the torus and cornice, all the beauties of Egyptian architecture, were here, with pillars, that in size and number baffle the eye. They found the fabric two hundred and eighty paces in circumference, and with scarcely one spot of either wall, column, ceiling, or staircase, that was not ornamented with lithography. On one wall, less than fifteen feet in extent, were sixty-nine rows of sacred characters, beautifully engraven; and time has so spared this beauteous work, that the finest lines ever formed by the chisel remain uninjured, except by man.
The hieroglyphics are of three kinds—a simple line—bas relief—and a relief in contour. The whole is substantial in the highest degree; the outer wall is seven feet thick, and formed of stones, each of which is seven feet itself, and these are held by ingots of iron. Each stone of the architrave is more than twenty feet in length, and the pillars are twenty-two feet in circumference. On the capital of every pillar there has been the head of Isis, of which the lips only remain, but they are very beautiful.
The chamber of the Zodiac is in the upper part of the building, near to which is a flight of steps, which conducts to the highest roof, or gazebo, which was probably used as an observatory, the study of astronomy being never neglected by the Egyptians.
So long as possible, both the young gentlemen employed themselves in making sketches of these magnificent ruins; but the want of light, and still more of air, prevented their effecting much; and they at last quitted it with regret, that the miserable country in which it stands forbade them to remain, and moralizing on the wonderful change which had reduced a people once capable of such mighty works, into hordes of thieves and beggars.
From Dendera they went to Kenneh, which may be called the pottery of Egypt; thence to Copht, where they saw some stone pillars, the remains of a Christian church. Proceeding to Goos, they found a large company of Arabs assembled under a palm-leaf shed, lighted up by burning sticks, which was evidently a substitute for the English public-house, as they were all smoking, drinking, and talking with great glee. They here found the remnant of a magnificent gate, which, so far as they could judge by torch-light, was little inferior once to that of the temple at Dendera. Not liking the vicinity of the Arabs, and being impatient to get to Thebes, which was their principal object, they soon re-entered the boat which they had hired to take them thither; and about midnight moored in the centre of that famous city.
Thebes—Grandeur of its Ruins—Fine Prospect thence—Freshness of Paintings—The Memnonium—Colossal Statues—Fine Ornaments—Statue of Memnon—Dogs and Filth—Proceed to Esneh—To Eleithias—To Edfou—Fine Ruin at Korm Ombos—Arrive at Elephantine—Women pleasing—Set out for the Cataracts of the Nile—Song of Nubian Boatmen—Pass the Cataracts—Reach Philoe—Astonishing number of Ruins—Ebsambal the finest of all—Prodigious Statues.
After a short but sound sleep, Alfred arose, and called lustily to his companion:
"Sleeper, arise, and behold the reward of thy labours; thou art in the midst of the once mighty Thebes; the Nile, the 'father of rivers,' flows under thee; and the statue of Memnon is before thee."
"Ay," said Clayfield, laughing as he sprang up, "but I fear the statue will not sing to the sun to oblige me; nevertheless, I am ready to run through the city of the hundred gates, as you would wish me."
They landed, and gazed around with inexpressible delight. The face of the country was of emerald brightness, encircled by desert mountains; and the ruins amongst which they stood, although Egyptian in their form and magnitude, were still picturesque. Two colossal statues, the obelisks of Longsnor, the temples, and the tombs, were before them; and after a short time spent in general admiration, they first began to examine the latter.
This was the tomb of a Theban king, discovered by Belzoni: the paintings in it were as fresh as if newly done, and were of gaudy colouring, with little recommendation to the eye of taste, except in the face of Isis, which is always given with an expression of great sweetness, and a peculiar elongation of the eye, which is very pleasing. They found no less than forty of these tombs; but their entrance was opposed by myriads of bats, which seem, like the fabled vampyre, to have taken possession of the dead, and are determined to defend their usurpation.
Their next object was the Memnonium, a prodigious temple, which resembles a mountain of laboured stone. The passage of the gateway is thirty-nine feet high; yet magnificent as it appears, they were not prepared by it for the statue to which it led them. This colossus is unfortunately broken in pieces, but every fragment of it still excites the utmost admiration:—the head and shoulders twenty feet, the chest twenty-two feet, and the little toe three feet in length, bespeak its prodigious effect.
Near to this temple was a smaller of the same description, where they were struck by a beautiful border designed from the lotos flower. They next examined a building, said to have been a palace, which is not of Egyptian architecture. Close at hand was an immense and noble fabric, four hundred and twenty feet long; but nearly half of it was filled to the very roof with sand, and much of the exterior was also hidden by rubbish. In forming conjectures, and decyphering the numerous figures engraven on the walls of this building, they spent the whole day; and at length, overwhelmed with fatigue, surprise, and pleasure, slept on mats under its shadow.
The following day they inspected the two gigantic statues, each of which claim to be the celebrated Memnon: they are situated near each other, are fifty feet high, both in a sitting position, their hands resting on their knees. That on the south is formed of one solid block of granite, the other of various pieces: there is a doubt which of these used to hail the rising sun. On the perfect figure is no inscription; but the broken one is covered with inscriptions, which record the names of those who testify that they have heard it utter miraculous sounds at sun-rise.
The temple of Longsnor they found swarming with dogs, and, from the accumulation of filth, were prevented from examining it; but the obelisks, though half buried, are the finest in the world. The temple of the Dicspolis, four hundred and thirty paces long, was the most magnificent of all, and its walls were, as usual, covered with pictorial ornaments. In many of these representations were seen gigantic heroes, sacrificing numerous victims. The subjects on the gateways were generally battles, chariots, and horses; and the number of these doubtless gave rise to the report of the hundred gates of Thebes.
Leaving Thebes, their curiosity to explore ruins being rather whetted than wearied, our travellers made arrangements for proceeding to the islet of Elephantine; and determined not to return to Cairo, but pass from thence to Suez. They now proceeded to Emsambal, where they engaged a dragoman and an Arab, by whom they were conducted to Hermontis, where they found a small temple; to Esneh, where there is a magnificent portico to a building partly filled with merchandise, but the greater part with dirt. At Eleithias they found a temple, rocks, and a yawning sepulchre dug in the latter; and at Edfou, though seen after Dendera, they found a magnificent temple; and the mole, and its entrance, far the finest in Egypt.
At Korm Ombos, they found a noble ruin, in which thirteen pillars are yet standing, but two are fallen. At this place the crocodile was worshipped, and one of these water-fiends was fastened by a golden chain. He is here personified, seated on a throne and receiving offerings.
The islet of Elephantine is in part covered with palm-trees and corn, and in part with ruins: it is picturesque, and rocks, the harbingers of the cataracts, break the stream on every side. The women here differ much from other Egyptians; for, though extremely shy, they do not wear veils, and have handsome features and graceful forms.
The wind being fair, they now bade adieu to the wonders of art in days past, and proceeded to explore the far-famed Cataracts of the Nile. The crew of their little vessel were in great spirits; the reiss, or "captain of the cataracts," came on board from Essouan, a small town opposite to Elephantine; and they set out immediately.
Granite islets became frequent in their passage, and were strikingly picturesque: the Nile itself assumed the appearance of a lake cradled in granite; and fishermen were seen running on the rocks, or diving in the stream, in all directions; whilst the crew commenced a song, the burthen of which was, "Come, love, to the Cataracts, and you shall be clothed in cashmere; Nubia is the land of roses."
The river now forces its way between a small island and some blocks of granite, which caused a descent of some two or three feet, on which the reiss, with many anticks indicative of power and ability, caused ropes to be fastened to the boat, and gave command to about fifty fellows, who managed the matter so badly, that a considerable quantity of water was shipped. The surface of the stream, which had been rippled for a short distance, becoming smooth, and the bustle over, Alfred inquired "how far they were from the Cataracts?" fearing that they should fare worse when they arrived there. To the astonishment of both travellers, they learned that the Cataracts of the Nile were passed: the whole affair of those far-famed falls was not more formidable than London bridge.
They pursued their way, beneath the pure moonlight of an Egyptian sky, to Philoe, which is, when seen under such soft light, a kind of enchanted island, being covered with temples, columns, and obelisks. The following day showed these magnificent objects more correctly, and proved, that, although every individual part was good, the whole was badly put together. Among thirty pillars, there are not two with capitals alike; that of the palm-leaf is most elegant, but that is inferior to the Grecian. There is a flight of steps here, as at Elephantine, which descends to the river, which Alfred considered to be the ancient Nilometer, since no other has been discovered.
Upon Philoe is found a place resembling a confessional-box, in which some sacred animal was formerly cooped, to be worshipped as a god. The primitive Christians have left traces of their zeal on the island; and the French a record, stating, "that, under General Buonaparte, their army pursued the Mamelukes to the island of Philoe."
After leaving this highly interesting spot, they proceeded to Debord, where they found an unfinished temple; thence to Kardassy, where they found one, small, but elegant; and in the neighbourhood were mummy-pits. The bodies here were hard and dry, and looked like figures made for painters.
At Kalelesky, they found another noble ruin. But the most extraordinary sight in their route was at Gwersh Hassan, where there is an excavation, in which stand six giants, each three times the height of the tallest man. They stand on each side of the entrance, and produce great effect; but, on examination, are found ill done and disproportionate. Whilst here, the natives followed them, crying out becksheesh; but they were driven away, without receiving their demand, since there would have been no end to their extortion, if once indulged.
Arrived at Ebsambal, they alike declared that this was the ne plus ultra of Egyptian labour, and a rich recompense for their own. The first objects of admiration are six gigantic forms, sculptured in relief on the mountain rock; they stand upright, with their arms hanging down. Beneath each hand is also an upright figure, and these, which appear like children, are each seven feet high. The statues in the neighbouring temple are on a still larger scale; but, unfortunately, the sand had covered up the doorway, and the travellers were informed that it would be impossible to effect an entrance. They were both much too enterprising to give credit to the idle natives, and set about removing the difficulties with such spirit, that in a short time they had the satisfaction of entering, when they beheld eight of these prodigious statues, which, like Atlases, supported the roof, and formed a guard of honour, through which they passed. But the difficulty of proceeding was dreadful, from the heat and the want of air; and if they had not been in the vigour of youth, they could not have sustained the intolerable closeness, which was worse than a vapour-bath. It was, however, a great satisfaction, that their journey had been crowned by examining, so far as they were able, the very noblest monument of antiquity to be found on the banks of the Nile, where they had already found so many.
Return to Philoe—The Desert—Arrive at Suez—Beauty of the Red Sea—The Narkous—Set out for Mount Sinai—Arabs and Camels—Desert Breakfast—Sleep in Cave—Conversation—Reach Mount Sinai—The Convent—The Church—Pilgrimage performed—Leave the Convent—Arab's vow—Journey to Palestine—Vale of Ascalon—Jaffa—Jerusalem.
Our travellers were obliged to return to Philoe, and repass many other places, which we shall not now mention, to avoid repetition, in order to their safe arrival at Cairo, which they found it necessary to revisit; after which they lost no time in departing for Suez, where they heard that an English vessel was then lying, likely to convey them to Tor on the Red Sea.
They found the desert from Cairo to Suez very disagreeable, especially as it offered no object of interest on which they could rest; and their attendants and guide were perpetually prophesying some evil from irruption of the Arabs; but they were well armed, and not subject to fear, and the asses on which they rode enabled them to talk over the wonders they had seen, so that this unpleasant journey was got over better than they had reason to expect when they began it.
They found Suez a very tolerable town, considering that it was a Turkish one; for the situation is delightful. The Red Sea, or the Arabian Gulph, as it is now frequently called, appears in that situation as a noble lake, girded with rocks; and when they beheld the British flag waving on its waters, they could not forbear to utter a shout of joy, and think that they had never seen so beautiful a scene before.
All was soon adjusted—the Captain agreed to land them at Tor, from whence they could proceed to Mount Sinai, which was now their more immediate object. Nothing could exceed the beauty of the water when they went on board; and they remarked that it was blue, and the coral which abounds in it was white, so that they could not impute its name to either of those causes. Clayfield observed that it was extremely shallow; to which Alfred agreed, but added, "It is evidently not shallow enough to have become fordable in consequence of a North wind, as some Deists have dared to assert."
In twenty-four hours they landed at Tor, by which they were saved three days' travelling in the wilderness. They found it a wretched place, but, as it boasted a grove of palm-trees and twelve springs of water, it was suitable for the habitation of man. The mountains to the East rose in stupendous majesty, affording strong contrast to the flat and fruitful plains of Egypt. Tor is supposed to be the ancient Elim, as the number of its springs indicates.
About eight miles North from Tor is a phenomenon called the Narkous, or bell, where, the inhabitants say, a bodiless hand was once seen to ring a bell, since which time one of the gaps in the rock utters miraculous sounds. It was represented to our young friends as so loud and striking, that they set out to visit it, but found that report had greatly exaggerated the truth. As, however, they actually heard a grumbling sound proceed from a fissure in the rock, their toil was repaid. Besides, they had a charming ride, sometimes close to the sea, which was beautifully transparent, and at others over ground covered with spicy herbs, the rich fragrance of which told them that they were now
After a day's rest, they addressed themselves to their journey. Their suite consisted of two servants, a dragoman, three stout Arabs, and seven camels. The Arab who took the lead, was gaily dressed, and his camel in like manner ornamented, as the fore-horse of the team, with red and white tassels. They set out through the grove of palms, which they threaded with great discrimination; and then travelled forward till sun-set, when every camel dropped upon its knees, to be relieved from its burden and receive its supper. When this was done, and their forelegs bound to restrain them from wandering, and yet allow them to pick the scanty herbage, supper for the party was provided also.
Our travellers sat down upon the ground close to each other; feeling, perhaps, in this awful solitude, more closely drawn in heart and mind together, than they had ever been before. They conversed on those subjects most likely to present themselves to their minds;—the long wanderings of the children of Israel; the natural powers, and the miraculous gifts of Moses, their inspired leader; and the accomplishment of his promise in finally bringing them, through these awful defiles and frightful deserts, to a land "flowing with milk and honey," a land "of the vine, the fig, and the olive."
Meantime, one of the Arabs collected dry shrubs, and, clearing a bed in the sand, set fire to them: another took from his sack a measure of flour, kneaded it with butter-milk, (laban,) and formed it into a flat cake: the third was at the same time roasting coffee, which he pounded with his bludgeon in a mortar. By the time the cake was made, the shrubs were burnt and the place swept: the cake was then placed in the hollow, and the embers collected and thrown on it, and, although not well baked, it was soon brought forth and devoured, followed by the coffee; after which, the Arabs began to amuse themselves by telling tales.
As, however, the moon was nearly at the full, and the night favourable for travelling, Alfred sought to resume his journey; and, by dint of treating them with brandy, carried his point. The camels were reladen, each appearing willing to comply with his master's wishes, (for there is an extraordinary understanding between the Arab and his camel, or his horse;) and they proceeded to enter a narrow fissure, between mountains whose sides were clothed with rocks that rose to a fearful height, and whose extremity was lost in gloom.
An awful silence sat on all around; and as this fissure, which conducts to Mount Sinai, is only a few feet in breadth, and affords passage to a streamlet, the camels were obliged to walk in water, to which they have a great antipathy. Having wound through this defile about an hour, partially assisted by the rays of the moon, lighting in the most picturesque manner the lofty pinnacles of the steep rocks, and partially descending to the rippling current, they at length emerged into a wider place, and, perceiving a cave in the rocks, they removed their mattresses into it, and resolved to remain there for the rest of the night.
"Ah!" exclaimed Clayfield, "what would my mother and your sisters say, Campbell, could they behold our present situation? How would they contrast this bivouac in the bowels of Stony Arabia, with their own comfortable and elegant bed-rooms! and how would they tremble when they looked on the wild and fierce gestures of our companions, and remembered how totally we are in their power!"
"Nevertheless," replied Alfred, "they might be perfectly easy; for these servants will be obliged to render an account of us at Suez, you know, and surely they are, with our assistance, more than a match for the three Arabs; and I confess the novelty of our situation has great charms for me."
"So it has for me also; but these dear relatives would feel very differently from us: therefore they are happy in their ignorance, as we all are in a thousand instances in our path through life."
After recommending themselves to God in this awful scene of his power, they slept soundly, and the following morning commenced their journey cheerfully. During the whole day they saw not a human being, nor even the traces of man, save that, on the edge of a precipice, the figure of the Cross had been wrought by some zealous Christian, and was here an affecting object.
Late at night they reached the Convent of Mount Sinai. Alfred hailed it with pleasure, not only as the object of his journey, but in remembrance of kindness received on his former journey at various convents, and from the sense of brotherhood in Christian society, in a land of enemies, which is necessarily endearing. As there is neither door, bell, nor bugle, to this monastery, they could only be heard within by strength of lungs, which was not spared; and at length the warder arose, and inquired for their credentials. These were tied to a string, and after examination, a rope was thrown down with a noose, into which Clayfield got, and was wound up into the Convent window; and in due time Alfred was admitted by the same means, together with that servant, who partook all their wanderings as dragoman and interpreter.
The fathers received them with great affection as "Englitz Milordos," and lodged them in comparative comfort. The following morning they examined the Convent, which has much the appearance of a fortress, being indeed protected against the Arabs by two guns. It consists of a large area, inclosed by a lofty wall, into which are jumbled a number of rooms, erected in different periods. There is, of course, a Church; but what struck the strangers as extremely singular, they found a Mosque there also, and learnt that it was owing to the circumstance of its being there, that this little Christian community is tolerated by the Turkish government.
The church is handsomely built in the Greek style, with much gilding and some paintings; and they boast of having the bones of St. Catherine, which are now preserved in a silver case, presented by the Empress Catherine of Russia. Near to her image a lamp is kept burning, which the monks said, "had never been extinguished, as the oil was supplied by Heaven." This the young strangers found to be an assertion made in the figurative language of the East: as their charity was expected, in common with that of all visitants, to keep the lamp burning.
They found also a library attached to the Convent, and expected to find some very curious works in it; but the monks directed their attention, in preference, to some clean new Bibles, sent from the Bible Society, and which they kept carefully put by, as much too valuable for use.
They now joined the fathers at their frugal meal, and found that the society consisted of thirty resident, and thirty travelling or begging brothers. Their diet is limited to biscuits, fruits, and vegetables;—wine and brandy are allowed, and are sent by the Greek Patriarch at Cairo. They have also manna here, which is a kind of honey-dew found on shrubs; and a good garden, with an orchard of olive-trees, is very valuable to the Convent; it has also almond-trees and cypresses, and a shrub said to be planted by Moses himself.
On the second day they began to perform a pilgrim's duty by climbing Mount Sinai. The ascent is calculated at fifty thousand steps; and they found the pilgrimage occupy nearly twelve hours, although conducted by a very good cicerone in one of the fathers. He conducted them first to a small chapel, next to a portal, where it was once customary for the pilgrim to stop and confess his sins. The next object was a large cypress-tree, and a spring of beautiful water, beyond which is a chapel said to be built on the spot where Elijah was fed by the ravens; and certainly a place more calculated for perfect seclusion could not have been found by the prophet in his exile.
They were now led nearly to the top of the mountain, and shown the place whence Moses surveyed the fight between Joshua and Amalek. Soon after they attained the summit, where large masses of stone, lying promiscuously together, form a natural cave, the part which may be called the roof having in it a slight excavation resembling the upper part of a man. This, the father told them, was the impression of Moses's form, at the time when the Lord passed over the mountain,—an assertion to which they gave little heed, aware that, in the mind of the father, superstition and tradition were jumbled with truth. But the general appearance of the mountain at this place, as being scorched with fire at some former period, was exceedingly impressive and awful; and made them feel assured that they did indeed stand on that mountain which was once so signally marked with the Divine presence.
On the very summit are two dilapidated chapels. On one side rises the rock of St. Catherine, more lofty and picturesque than that of Sinai; but all the rest is a sea of desolation. It looks as if it had once been an ocean of lava, to which, when its proud waves were running mountains high, the Omnipotent had said, "Be still,"—such is its tremendous height and absolute sterility.
They descended by the same path as far as the solitary cypress-tree, when they turned towards the Convent of the Forty Martyrs, which is situated on the opposite side of the mountain. They passed in their way several springs, some aromatic herbs, and small solitary cells, once inhabited by St. Gregory and others. Being exceedingly fatigued, they declined going to the Convent of the Forty Martyrs, where they would have been permitted to sleep; and made the best of their way home, winding round the base of the mountain.
They now came to the "stone of Moses," said to be that from which water was miraculously brought by the stroke of his rod; but of the identity of this rock they entertained much doubt, notwithstanding Maundrell (generally extremely accurate in his descriptions, and just in his conceptions) allows it. They then were shown a grotto, once the residence of St. Athanasius; and were taken to a place where the earth opened and swallowed up the worshippers of the golden calf. Here was the brazen serpent erected; and there the calf was molten, the very mould of which the fathers believe they have found, in two pieces of granite.
The day following was spent in sketching the Convent and the mountains; after which, determining to proceed by the desert to Palestine, they concerted through the medium of the monks, to whom they were extremely liberal, the mode of removal, and adopted the necessary disguises. The fathers greatly fear the Arabs, who insult and ill-treat them; but on this occasion they undertook to procure the required escort for their visitants.
Early on the sixth day of their residence, five Arabs and seven camels were under the walls of the Convent, with whom they ratified the agreement made in their behalf. The elder of the party then drew his sword, placed some salt upon the blade, and put a portion of it into his mouth, desiring the travellers to do the same, with which request they immediately complied.
"Now," said he, "sons of my uncle, your heads are on my shoulders;" which amounted to saying, "your lives are as sacred to me as my own." They then loaded the camels with the provision brought from the Convent for the journey; and the fathers from above calling for blessings on them, they departed, much in the same manner in which they arrived.
During twelve succeeding days, they were at several different places entertained in Arab settlements, generally on a boiled sheep; but for the most part they fared, as we have already seen, on kneaded cakes baked in the sand, or the biscuits provided for them in the Convent. On several occasions their Arab guides appeared in great fear from the approaches of other tribes; and there were times when their situation was full of danger, not from the infidelity of their guides, but the superiority of their assailants. They found on these occasions that cunning supplied the place of strength, and that their leader was never at a loss either for words wherewith to elude, or defy, those of whose treachery or ferocity he was in fear.
So long and harassing had their journey been both for their bodies and minds, that, when they had forded the last stream of the desert, and arrived at the top of the ridge of hills from which they saw the sea, such was their delight, that they instantly dismounted, and rushed into each other's arms. They compared their feelings with those of the suffering Greeks, when, in the retreat of Xenophon, they too hailed the element whose waves kissed their native soil, and would bear them thither once more.
Below them lay the vale of Ascalon, enamelled with flowers; amongst which our garden pink occupies the place of daisies. "Surely," said Clayfield, "this land is yet one of beauty and fruitfulness? I never saw any thing more rich and fair than the scene before us."
"It is so," returned Alfred, "and you will find other spots like this in the course of your route; but yet be assured, that the land groans under the curse of God and man, and you will see in a short time enough to prove alike the riches of its past days, and the poverty of the present."
The Arabs stopped some hours before arriving at Gaza, declaring, "that their agreement was now fulfilled;" and insisting that it would be for them a dangerous intrusion to proceed. This was a great inconvenience, as they were obliged to send their man forward to the town to seek the banker, and adjust their accounts, which of course included beckheesh. This settled, they parted amicably, exchanging salams; and mounting the mules brought, together with a guide, by their servant, prepared again to depart.
At this moment, one of the Arabs, who had all along been particularly respectful in his manners, darted after them, and looking earnestly at each, with much emotion exclaimed, "Salam Alekum!" (health to you!) then added in the same language, "May your father and mother be blessed!" with much fervour, and departed with this affecting apostrophe.
This impressive adieu was extremely touching to those whose hearts had been so recently moved with the view of the ocean; and for some time they rode forward in silence, each, undoubtedly, desiring to return to the dear country where those beloved connexions resided, held so highly in the sight of this son of the desert: nor could they muster spirits for conversation even when they arrived at the khan, or inn, of the nearest village, which they found a miserable place, where bread was obtained with difficulty, and poverty was rendered disgusting by filth of every description.
The following day they reached Jaffa, and saw with delight its fruitful gardens, which surpass those of Rosetta. Apricots, figs, and oranges, hanging over the sea, afforded a new and beautiful spectacle to those who had so long trod the barren sand, and gazed on the naked rock. Here, to his surprise and pleasure, Alfred found his old friend Damietta as pompous and outré as he had been six years before, but much more hospitable, and so pleased to see him a second time, as to appear perfectly agreeable in the sight of the youth who formerly laughed at him.
Their national pride was gratified at Jaffa by seeing a small fortification built by Sir Sidney Smith, or under his instructions. In the garden of Damietta they caught that curious animal the chameleon. So far as they could judge, its power of changing colour varied from pale green to yellow, or at the darkest to blue; but they were told that sometimes the chameleon became red.
Their next stage was to the convent of Ramlah, once Arimathea. A solitary monk was the servant, and master, of a place alike deficient in the comforts to be expected from each. From hence to Jerusalem they did not meet a single creature; but Clayfield remarked that the surface of the country resembled that of Syracuse, which he had visited. In one place, they saw the whole side of a mountain covered with roses, which reminded them of the song of the Nubians; but lonely appeared the way to the Blessed City, no longer the "joy of the earth;" and in weariness they entered the undefended gate, which brought them to the Latin convent in Jerusalem.
Received with joy at the Convent—Dissuade them from travelling to Arabia Petræa—Bethlehem—The women there—Kindness to the Fathers—Depart for Hebron in their way to the Dead Sea—Final farewell to Jerusalem.
Whatever had been the previous fatigue of Alfred, and however incapable he had been of awakening in himself or his companion, those emotions of sublime joy and holy rapture which affected him on the first view of Jerusalem; yet, when he was within the convent, they all revived to a considerable degree. Many of the fathers received him with warm affection, and held him to their hearts as a son restored from death, whom they never could expect to have beheld again; and the remembrance of his long wandering on the desert, his dangers on the water, and his perils with the enemies of their faith, rendered his sense of protection in this quiet resting-place a subject of devout gratitude to God, and thankfulness to them.
After the necessary rest of a few days, it became a delightful task to Alfred to show every place of interest to his friend, whose mind was strongly excited, and piously elevated, by visiting all those places memorable for being the scenes of our Redeemer's ministry, his cruel death, and glorious ascension. They found themselves somewhat less insulted by the ignorant and brutal natives, than on their former visit; and were gratified by learning, that the monks were on the whole better treated; but learnt with extreme sorrow and indignation, that a gentleman,[2] who was their countryman, had lately been shot, in the neighbourhood of Jericho, and severely wounded by a large party of robbers.
[2] Sir Frederick Henniker was wounded in the year 1822, and we are sorry to learn is lately dead.
This sad news exceedingly damped their spirits, and caused them to hesitate on that expedition to Arabia Petræa, which had long formed the great object of Alfred's desire. It had been his wish to have accomplished the journey to the wonderful valley (visited by two English officers, who had greatly excited his curiosity,) from Mount Sinai, and to have entered Judea by that route; but it was found utterly impossible to persuade any Arab to attempt it. Our young friends had, therefore, determined to pursue precisely the same plan with the aforenamed travellers, not doubting but they should accomplish it in the same manner, and being willing, with all the spirit and courage natural to their age, to encounter any difficulties they might meet.
But this misfortune having taken place within the last two months, the good fathers lost no opportunity of descanting upon it; and they were the more inclined to do so, from finding that our travellers had performed the pilgrimage to Sinai. As the Turks and Arabs are fully persuaded, that all Europeans visit the antiquities and curiosities of their country in search of gold; so these good fathers concluded that their travels were only to secure heaven, which they considered effectually done already, and therefore they lost no opportunity of insisting on the danger of proceeding farther, and the cruelty of exposing the sons of fathers to destruction. The scheme had, however, seized upon their imaginations too strongly to be surrendered: they remembered the pleasure and surprise they had experienced from viewing the temples of Dendera, Thebes, and Diospolis; the beauties of the Isles of Elephantine and Philoe rose to their memory, combined with recollections of the mountains of Sinai; and as they hoped to find objects of this different character combined in that of their search, they could not bring themselves to relinquish it.
During the time necessary for arranging this, every object of sacred curiosity was visited in the environs of Jerusalem, particularly Bethlehem, with which Clayfield was exceedingly gratified and affected. They remarked at this place several young women, whose features greatly resembled those handed down of the Virgin Mary, but observed that they had not met with any picture which gave the true costume, or the manners of the country.
As Mr. Clayfield determined to visit the Dead Sea, which he justly considered the greatest curiosity in the country, they determined, at all events, to set out for Jericho, taking, of course, a double number of attendants, in consequence of finding the road was more infested with thieves[3] than ever. They yet considered that the circumstance of the late assassination (as it was called all over the country) was more likely to act as a preservative to them than otherwise; for as the sluggish government had been so far roused as to induce restitution of the Baronet's luggage, and otherwise to exert itself against the offenders, it was probable that they might reap the benefit of these exertions.
[3] "A certain man went down to Jericho, and fell among thieves."
The promulgation of this resolution filled the convent with mourning; and they were surprised to see so much affection manifested by men who had themselves renounced all the tenderer ties of life, and who gave themselves up to the contemplation, either of divine things, or to performing a ceaseless round of ceremonies, calculated to wean them from the common cares of life. Our young friends were not aware that vice alone hardens the heart against the general tenderness and friendly interests of our nature; and they were too modest and humble to know that the elegance of their persons, the suavity of their manners, and the knowledge they possessed, rendered them in the eyes of the kind-hearted but ignorant Monks, beings of a superior order, whilst their youth still entitled them to be held in their estimation as beloved children.
The young men paid their respects to the governor on parting, who offered them a Janissary, and accepted the usual presents, an ancient custom the inhabitants of the East seem in no danger of declining. Their next care was to consider the wants of the Convent, where they had been hospitably, though from necessity humbly entertained; and they jointly presented a sum which appeared magnificent to the fathers, notwithstanding they justly observed that a day in London, if spent in the gay world, would have cost more. They also bestowed on their favourites, and especially those whom Alfred had known the longest, some of those small but precious[4] gifts, so dear to the heart as memorials. A few common snuff-boxes and knives, with a pocket telescope for the superior, if they did not remove their grief, at least softened and diverted it. They were indeed much consoled with the travellers having determined to pursue their route to the Dead Sea by way of Bethlehem and Hebron, in preference to that of Jericho; and they bade them adieu with good wishes and prayers for their success.
[4] Every traveller to these countries ought to provide himself with things of this kind as presents.
It was the intention of the travellers, on their arrival at the southern end of the Dead Sea, to engage with some Arabs of a more civilized cast, to conduct them to Petra. For this reason they only engaged a guide and horses besides their servant; but they also bought dresses suited for complete disguise as Arabians, new furbished their arms, and prepared themselves for the difficulties which were likely to attend their future movements, observing that, although the Nubians had been the most ferocious people they had hitherto encountered, yet the Arabs were the most cunning, and, when not secured as friends, were to be held as certain enemies.
They now rode forth from the Convent, but having proceeded about half a mile, Alfred turned round to take a last look at that memorable city, and his companion gladly united in his action and sentiments. The sun now shone upon it in all the splendour of an oriental morning; and as they were sufficiently removed from the many objects which degrade the interior, the whole view presented a noble-looking city, with sites capable of showing the magnificent buildings which once adorned it, to the greatest advantage. Our young Pilgrims alike lamented its degradation, acknowledged the awful hand which had chastened it, and, breathing a devout prayer for its restoration, bade it an eternal adieu.
Dress of the Travellers—Hebron—Its great antiquity—The Sheikh's Civility and Irresolution—Set out for Jellaheen—The Arabs—Approach the Dead Sea—Sleep in a Cavern—Goahnays' Kindness—Melancholy Road—Castle of Kerek—Agree with Sheikh Yousouf—Dine with a Turk—Mode of Cookery.
The dress of our young travellers, adopted for this important expedition, was a frock and drawers of very coarse linen, the frock being fastened round the waist by a leathern girdle four inches broad. Their head-dress was a handkerchief of silk and cotton, with broad stripes of green, red, and yellow. This was doubled into a triangular form, and thrown over the head, to which it was attached by a double girdle of brown worsted rope: one corner of it hung down the back of the neck, the other two covered the ears, and fell upon the shoulders. It is the custom with the Arabs, when the weather is cold, to pass these corners under the chin, and cover the whole face, except the eyes. Over all they wore the abba, or cloak, and they carried their money in small gold coins concealed in leather belts, tied round the waist next the skin.
They proceeded to Bethlehem, which having seen before, they moved forward to Hebron, passing by nine sepulchral caves, and the ruins of a small convent, which the Jews call the House of Abraham. They now passed amidst considerable vineyards, and reached Hebron at night, remembering the account of its antiquity given by Moses, "Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt." Here Abraham, Sarah his wife, and Isaac, died.
The Turks of Hebron having little intercourse with Europeans, are very jealous of them; and they could not, by any effort, gain admission to the Mosque, which is said to be the tomb of Abraham; they considered the lower part of this building very curious, and thought, from its appearance, that it was a kind of cover only to the Mosque itself.
The town of Hebron is populous, but not large; the streets are winding, and the houses unusually high. They found that a party of pilgrims went from hence every year, to fall in with the great body at Damascus; and they learnt from a merchant, that about three days' journey from thence great ruins might be seen in the Desert at Abdi,—information which of course quickened their desires to penetrate into Arabia Petræa.
They had been favourably received by the Sheikh, who entertained them with rice, milk and coffee; but although he spoke on the subject of proceeding to Wady Moussa and Kerek as easy matters in the first instance, he soon afterwards threw many difficulties in the way. In consequence of this change in his manners, Alfred applied to a Jewish priest, whom he thought a likely person to assist in the search for conductors. They found him in a house remarkable for its neatness and cleanliness, and learnt that he was at the head of about a hundred families of Jews resident in Hebron. The governor visited at the house of this priest, who was extremely civil, and offered them letters of introduction to persons in the villages through which they desired to pass: on seeing which, the governor again appeared willing to negotiate, and for five hundred piastres undertook to convey them a part of their way, to which was added a present of a watch; so that, after many disappointments on one hand, and much shuffling on the other, they finally proceeded to enter on their great attempt.
Their first place of halt was near a Jellaheen camp of about thirty tents, situated on a hill, which is contrary to the habits of the Arabs. The harems, or women's portions of the tents, were closely covered, and the women entirely veiled. These people appeared extremely poor, yet they had numbers of sheep, goats, and camels; perhaps the circumstance of being encamped in a country completely desert, accounted for it. They here saw an Arab journeyman tailor, who was employed in making coats of sheep-skins, which he afterwards dyed with red ochre, or some similar substance.
They now tried to persuade these Jellaheens to conduct them to Wady Moussa, offering them a very large sum; but they all refused to accept it, observing, "that the people of Wady Moussa were a treacherous and cruel race, and always attacked strangers by firing upon them from the rocks,"—a method adopted by the thieves, who had in that manner wounded their countryman, Sir Frederick Henniker, on the road to Jericho. This information again caused them to hesitate; but, as they understood that some of the party were quarrelling with others for the chance of accompanying them, they concluded that the danger was magnified, and they recommenced their negotiation, which, however, came to no end, and they finally set out with their original guides.
After they had proceeded a few miles in a very dissatisfied state, they were followed by three of the Jellaheens; and although they affected indifference in order to lessen their extortion, yet they gladly entered into a bargain with them, convinced that, in journeying through deserts, such guides alone can be trusted as are conversant with the way.
Under the new directors, they now turned to the south, and about mid-day saw from a slight eminence the Dead Sea spread out before them; from which view, they did not consider it nearly so large as it had been generally represented. They now began a continual descent into a barren valley full of great stones, and passed a pool of green water, in which an old Turk was bathing; but, little tempting as this reservoir appeared, they were glad to drink of it, and to fill their water-skins likewise. The place was called El Zowar. On leaving this, they passed a gravelly ravine, where there were bushes of the acacia tree, and a plant bearing a small stone fruit, resembling a dried apple, which the Arabs called "doom." In the evening they arrived at the great plain at the end of the Dead Sea.
Every step which brought them nearer to this eternal monument of divine wrath, exhibited the most melancholy dreariness of aspect; but yet, as the impressions of his first journey to this dreadful scene were vividly impressed on Alfred's memory, he thought that the first sight had shown it in a worse point of view than the second. Clayfield, however, found it sufficiently deplorable to affect his spirits exceedingly, and for some time he protested against spending the night there; but this being most convenient, they proceeded to gather wood, which had been thrown up by the lake, in order to make a fire, and bake cakes for their suppers.
The wood was so impregnated with salt, that all their efforts to produce fire were unavailing, and they were compelled to eat their flour mixed with their unsavoury water, then creep into a cleft in the surrounding rocks for the night, surrounded by that scene of comfortless horror, which never fails to impress alike upon the enlightened traveller, and the wandering Arab, a sense of awe the most profound and appalling.
On awaking and emerging from their cavern, they were extremely sensible of the unpleasant smell for which the waters of the Dead Sea have been remarkable, and they gladly left its shores, and had within a short time the satisfaction of entering a wooded tract, diversified by the mimosa, the tamarind tree, and one tree which they had never seen before. This curious tree was here in great plenty, and bore a fruit in bunches resembling currants, of the colour of the plum. They found the taste pleasant, but of a strong aromatic kind, resembling mustard, and producing a similar irritability in the nose and eyes.
"Surely," said Alfred, "this must be the tree to which our Saviour alluded, when he gave the parable of the mustard-seed, and not the mustard of the North?"
"I am entirely of your opinion," replied his companion; "for although, on our way to Jerusalem, we saw mustard-plants growing as high as our horses' heads, yet they were but annuals, and do not deserve the name of trees; whereas here we see that birds do indeed take shelter under the branches of these trees."
Amongst many other curiosities in the vegetable world, they remarked the wild cotton-plant, and soon afterwards found that corn was growing in the space between the bushes. The guides now told them not to talk, lest they should be overheard by the natives; but this request they would not comply with, as they were now extremely hungry, and desirous of procuring refreshment.
Soon afterwards some of these natives appeared;—they were, indeed, a wild-looking race, clad in leather aprons reaching to the shoulders, a dress they had never seen before. They addressed them civilly, and, being told they were soldiers going to Kerek, they wished that more would come amongst them, as they were oppressed by the Bedouins, "who neither feared God nor the saints." They gave them doom to eat, dried and pounded, and afterwards fetched them bread, butter, and milk. They were at this time exceedingly annoyed with large horse-flies, which, they were told, "were a plague sent by the Almighty at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah."
The people they saw here, are called Goahnays: they differ materially from the Arabs, and from the natives of towns, yet they adhere to one place of abode, and cultivate the land in its vicinity. They build huts of reeds, rushes, and canes, and construct their villages in the form of a square, with only one entrance for the cattle, which are thereby kept from straying. They treated our young travellers very hospitably; for, before they left them, they threshed out corn with great sticks for their horses. The women commenced this labour, but, as they could not work and hide their faces at the same time, the men dismissed them, and did it themselves. On taking leave, they were offered a handsome reward, but they absolutely refused it for a quarter of an hour, when Alfred threw the money amongst them, on which they fell to fighting for the prize, and a furious battle ensued.
These people had universally a bad character; it was therefore supposed that it was the fear of the Aga which operated so favourably in behalf of his supposed soldiers.
They now passed along the foot of mountains, rugged and barren in the extreme, but presenting fine specimens of black, grey, and red porphyry, serpentine stones, beautiful black basalt, and many other valuable stones. They did not doubt that from this place the ancients procured materials for the fine columns met with in Turkey and Syria. Our young friends loaded themselves and their servant with specimens; and, after passing Saphy, the honey river, and other places, reached Elderrat at night-fall, in time to make a sketch from thence over the country they had passed.
The following morning they continued a journey altogether rugged and devoid of vegetation. They met four men, two of whom were black; and in their way were startled by perceiving five men, with muskets, peeping from behind a rock at some distance from the road; but they appeared to be moved by curiosity, not ill-will. Their road lay on a terrace on the side of a romantic ravine, where immense fragments had fallen, and fissures were presented, showing that more would fall. At length they came to a small deposit of water under an olive-tree, when the five men followed them, calling out, "that they desired to eat bread with them;" but they considered their conduct as suspicious, and passed forward.
As they advanced, they found themselves in corn-fields, with cattle grazing to the left, on the banks of the river Souf Sussa, which runs towards the Asphaltes, the waters of which were nearly hidden by the Oleander in full bloom, which fringed its edges. The Castle of Kerek soon appeared, to their great delight; but they could not yet see the town, towards which they now hastened with renewed spirits, as forming one great point in their tour.
The ruins of the Castle of Kerek, and a large building called the Seraglio of Melek-e-dahie, are the most striking objects here. Between these, they found the gate of entrance, a narrow arch with an Arabian inscription over it. In their approach to the town, they descended a valley at the foot of the castle hill, where they saw with pleasure a stream of water, and a narrow line of gardens, in which grew olives, pomegranates, and figs. The ascent from hence was steep and toilsome; but they soon found themselves within the walls, and saw from the ruins, that there had formerly been a considerable population. The houses were of one story, terrace-roofed, and so constructed that the roof at the back is, in many of them, not above the level of the ground, so that they are traversed even by persons on horseback, without their being aware of it. The walls of the ancient buildings were daubed with paintings in red and black; but the most remarkable thing they observed, was a Christian church in the very bosom of the castle, constructed in a rude manner with small stones; whereas the castle itself was built with large ones, laid in the Mahomedan manner. The church resembles one at Tiberias, which Alfred remembered; and he remarked, "that, as both were unquestionably the work of Crusaders, and it was known that Godfrey de Bouillon took Kerek, and called it Mons Regalis, so most probably he built this church." On the stuccoed walls were depicted a king in armour, and the martyrdom of a saint by twisting out his bowels. A few vestiges of remote antiquity, particularly a great wing in basso relievo, which they thought had been the wing of the Roman eagle, as they could not trace any remains of the globe to which such wings were attached in the temples of Egypt, were likewise visible.
The women at Kerek, contrary to all others in their route, did not cover their faces beyond the point of the chin; and so far from keeping out of sight, they sat down and conversed familiarly. The travellers and their horses were well fed, without any cost; but they were obliged to remain until the Sheikh Yousouf should return, he being absent at a camp half a day distant, passing the honey-moon with an Arab bride, whom he had lately married.
This period was passed by them in a general inspection of the manners of the people; and they were amused also by the remarks of a great traveller, who came from Damascus on a swift dromedary, soon after their arrival. He said "he had been to Tripoli, Aleppo, and Cyprus, but had too much value for his life to venture it at Constantinople." They found that, at Kerek, few knew the name of the ruling Sultan; but they joined in abusing the Bashaws, and protesting against the degradation "of hiding their hands before them, when they could loll as they pleased in their own houses."
One day they were invited to dine at a Turk's house, who treated them with a boiled sheep, without bread, or any thing to it—a custom which, they afterwards regretted to find, was exceedingly common. They both agreed, that the common method among the Arabs of seething the meat in leban, (sour butter-milk,) was an excellent mode of cooking, as it rendered the flesh much tenderer than by boiling it in water, and preserved all the juices, which, when incorporated with the leban, and poured on pillaw of rice, made also excellent food.
Leave Kerek—Pass Medin, Imriega, &c.—Proceed towards Shobek—Engage Sheikh Sahlem—Pass Gharundel—Reach Shobek—Well received there—Meet Abou Raschid—Menaced by the Men of Wady Moussa—Abou's noble spirit—Large Encampment—Continued Opposition—Peace effected with the Men of Wady Moussa.
On the evening of the fourth day, Sheikh Yousouf arrived, but did not bring his bride. He was a fine-looking man of sixty, with a long white beard; and on hearing the request of our travellers to proceed, he asked roughly, "Whether this was the country of their fathers?" which, to their apprehension, did not augur favourably. Yousouf, however, turned out to be a plain, but honest man, considering his country; and, when the only person in the town who could read, had been summoned to examine their various documents of credentials, recommendations, &c. he gave the matter due consideration. Four hundred piastres[5] were his own demand, as the price of safe conduct to Wady Moussa; but he would not undertake to free them from incidental tributes, though he pledged himself to accompany them the whole journey. During their conference, they saw the dowry of a young woman about to be married, paid down in the Sheikh's house: it amounted to about an hundred piastres, paid in white money of Constantinople. This was understood to be for her head-ornament, as the ladies here decorate their foreheads with dollars, and different kinds of money, sometimes amounting to a great weight.
[5] A piastre is about nine pence.
The following afternoon they set out, leaving Kerek in a direction to the south, passing through a narrow ravine as they left the town. On each side they remarked caverns and wrought tombs, with places intended for sarcophagi; and they did not doubt but this had been the burying-place of the ancient town. They were joined by an Arab who had escaped from the Wahabees, by whom he had been taken prisoner; he was mounted on a light leggy horse, very different from those of the Arabs, and confirmed the account they had received before, that this people feed their horses on camel's milk; he also said the Wahabees preferred silver greatly to gold, but gave no reason for it.
In two hours they reached the camp under the son of Yousouf, where they took refreshment, and then proceeded to a village called Mahana, in ruins. Amongst those ruins was a Christian Church. They then went due west to Medin, whence they saw many sites of places now only distinguished by ruins, as Imriega, Hadad, Skirree, Becklanah, and Mehkill. On every side were stretched fine plains, which had once been covered with noble towns, each of which had been surrounded by a richly cultivated country. The prospect, on either hand, was of a nature to awaken the most lively interest, and the most melancholy reflections.
"Ah!" said Alfred, "we are now in the very land of which Josephus speaks, 'the country of the Nabatheans, the most potent of the Arabs and the Idumeans,' who, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, were almost as numerous as the Jews. How wonderful and how complete has been the destruction given to both: 'the corn that grows where Troy town stood,' is not more decisive proof of its extinction, than the memorials by which we are surrounded."
The following morning they set out before sunrise, and in about a quarter of an hour passed the tomb of Sheikh Jaffa, where some of the party alighted to pray. Most of the inhabitants of Kerek are Christians, but the Turks live with them in great amity, and the present party of guides consisted of both. Soon after, they reached the camp of Sheikh Sahlem, who has great influence over all the country as far as Shobek. This chief demanded two hundred piastres; but as Yousouf had calculated on thirty only, our travellers refused to pay it. He then wished they might be struck with lightning before they reached Kerek; and said, "they would have taken the money by force, had it not been for the presence of Yousouf." When they had ceased to threaten, Alfred gave the chief one hundred and fifty piastres: on which he mounted his horse, and with his son, who was a fine young man, amicably accompanied the party, and took them to another camp of his tribe, consisting of thirty-three tents.
From this camp they proceeded unattended to visit the ruins of Dettrass, but, except some Roman pillars, found nothing of interest. On returning, they saw that the women of the camp had their cheeks covered with blood and scratches; and, on inquiring the reason, were told, "that they had mourned, the day before, for a death in one of the Harems."
They now left far behind the once populous plains, and wound upwards, through a steep acclivity, where the rocks gave signal of former volcanic effects, but still the Oleander, in rich profusion, might be descried in the valleys beneath. After a journey of six hours, they reached another camp, where they were hospitably received, as usual, but robbed of several articles, which they were obliged to purchase from the tribe in the morning, as they confessed to being possessed of the property without hesitation, being anxious only to dispose well of their pilferings. This conduct did not appear in the least surprising to Yousouf, although he was of a very different character. Dishonesty is so common among these people, as to excite little disapprobation even in the best of them; and it is remarkable, that the very persons who will freely feed men and their horses whom they never saw before nor expect to see again, should yet, where money is concerned, be always extortionate and unjust.
Their way now became on the descent, and in about three hours they reached the ruins called Gharundel. They are situated on the slope of a hill, and are of considerable extent. Towards the centre, are the remains of two parallel rows of columns, without capitals; near to these, were fragments of others, the capitals of which appeared to be bad Doric. Leaving the ruins, they proceeded to an Arab camp, of the tribe of Hadjezah; and whilst they were eating with these people, their women gave an alarm, by crying out and waving their scarfs, that an enemy was attempting to drive away their flocks. The whole party within sallied forth, but could not see the offenders.
Again their way lay near a volcanic mount, covered with scoria of a reddish colour; and from three eminences of this description, they perceived the lava that had streamed from them, and formed a kind of island in the midst. Soon after, they found an ancient Roman highway, paved with black stone; and on the right, at intervals, were ruins of square buildings, one of which had a cistern, which indicated that they had been erected for the benefit of travellers. They found three mile-stones, but their inscriptions were effaced; and, following the road to the edge of a deep vale, they came suddenly upon Shobek, or Showbac, which stands like a gigantic mound, the foot of which is terraced round by gardens with fig-trees, at this time full of verdure.
"So, this is the ancient Shobek, mentioned by Nehemiah," said Clayfield, "and probably very little altered since his time.—How is this? are we not to enter the place?" Alfred looked up, and perceived numbers of the natives of the city standing on the walls, and throwing down stones; but they appeared to be acting rather from alarm than defiance. The two sheikhs, Yousouf and Sahlem, proceeded, without delay, to enter by an iron gate; on seeing whom, the inhabitants received them civilly, some crying out to others, "Go and get bread and firewood for these poor fellows, who are come to lodge a night amongst us."
They were then carried to a sort of divan in the open air, constructed upon what seemed to be the ruins of a Church, of Crusade architecture; but the doors and the arch had the air of a Mahomedan building, and Alfred remarked to his friend, "that great changes had been seen there, as at other places, since the time when Shobek was named in the Old Testament; but he was inclined to think with him, the manners of the inhabitants were much the same." This idea was confirmed from the mode of their salutation, in which there was much kissing, first of the right cheek, and afterwards of the left, four or five times. They brought them dried figs, green, and of a delicious flavour; and as, from their exalted situation[6] in the open air, they could see over the whole country, and particularly notice the volcanic mountains, our young men were much pleased with their situation. The inhabitants evinced their good breeding by making no inquiries as to the object of their journey; but it was evident that they were very curious on the subject.
[6] "A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid," were words probably used by our Lord in reference to Showbac.
After resting for some time, they made a diligent search for inscriptions, but only found one, which had happily attracted the attention of Mr. Banks, and been satisfactorily translated by that diligent and learned traveller, proving that the building in which it was found was erected by one of the Frank kings of Jerusalem. The interior parts of this Church (for such it may still be called) are of the pure Gothic, but the construction is more in the Oriental than the Norman style. But in the walls and gates of Antioch the same circumstance occurs, and they too were built by the Crusaders, who probably had good reasons for uniting the different modes.
Quitting Shobek, they wound by a spiral road into the valley which surrounds it, and observed that the road had been, in some parts, cased with masonry. From thence they ascended to the south-west, and arrived at a large Arab camp, where they expected to find the Sheikh Mahommed Abou Raschid, i. e. Mahommed the father of Raschid; but unfortunately he was from home. They were, however, hospitably received, and messengers despatched to inform the Sheikh of their arrival. Whilst they were taking food, a merchant, whom they had seen at Hebron, came into the tent, complaining that he had been robbed of twenty-eight pieces of merchandise; and it was a curious coincidence that during their short stay at Shobek, there had been an alarm in the place, that the Arabs had killed forty of their goats: so that robbery seemed the order of the day.
The following day at noon, Abou Raschid arrived. He was a middle-aged man, of dark complexion and beard, black piercing eyes, and aquiline nose, about thirty. He was evidently full of life and spirits, yet of few words, and of plain unaffected manners. Having first dined with our travelling party, he then gave audience to the Hebron merchant, who pleaded his own case so well, that the Sheikh gave orders "that his goods should be restored." He then entered speedily on terms with the travellers, assuring them "he would conduct them to Wady Moussa, for the sake of Ali Pacha of Egypt, and desire no recompense;" and he had so high a character, and appeared so much a man of business, that they had no doubt he would fulfil his promise.
Soon after a great tumult arose in the tent, Abou Zatoun, (the father of the Olives,) who was the Sheikh of Wady Moussa, declaring with violent gestures, and even swearing "by the beard of the Prophet" and "by the honour of their women," that the travellers should not go forward; and when he saw that they were preparing to mount, he rode forth, uttering threats and execrations, towards Wady Moussa, to prevent them. All the Wady Moussa people in the camp joined in their chiefs hostility, and followed him, exclaiming, "Let the dogs go and perish if they please!" and swearing "they should neither drink of their water, nor pass into their territory." Whilst this was passing, the old Sheikh Yousouf's resolution was shaken, and he tried to persuade our young travellers to give up their attempt of proceeding further; but as their curiosity was rather excited than satisfied by what they had seen, and they were now so near the great object of their search, it will be readily supposed that they combated his suggestions.
Abou Raschid twice dismounted to answer the arguments of his people, who crowded around him, imploring him "not to risk himself for the sake of people who were only Christians;" but when he saw that his arguments had no effect, he seized his spear, and sprang upon his horse, exclaiming, "I have set them on their horses, let us see who will dare to stop Abou Raschid?"
They now descended by a rocky ravine, the people of Wady Moussa riding also in a parallel line with them, keeping to the high ground on their left. In about half an hour, they reached a place called Sammach, where they were joined by a host of armed people, some on horseback, some on foot, also two double-mounted dromedaries. These were all subject to their new Sheikh, for Yousouf and Sahlem remained in the camp they had quitted. On the coming up of his people, Abou Raschid took an oath also, that "by the honour of their women, and by the faith of a true Mussulman, the travellers should drink of the water of Wady Moussa, and go whithersoever he pleased to carry them."
Thus were the two rival chiefs oppositely pledged, and in a manner war declared: which was the more honourably espoused on the part of Abou Raschid, because he had not only not received any promise of pecuniary reward, but made no stipulation for it. As they advanced down the ravine, a wild and romantic view opened before them, terminated by the peaks of the black and rugged ridge of Mount Hor, and by a boundless extent of desert, which they had never seen equalled before, even from Mount Sinai, either as regarded its singularity or grandeur; and despite of the near vicinity of their enemies, they rejoiced in the resolution of proceeding which they had evinced.
From this ravine, they crossed a plain, covered with corn and white-thorn bushes, which conducted them to a valley with the sides prettily studded with turpentine trees, so as to give it a park-like appearance; and they perceived traces of a paved way. At sun-set, they alighted at a camp of sixty-eight tents, pitched in three adjoining circles, on the highest point of a pass.
This encampment commanded a magnificent view, and added much to the wild, romantic character of the scene, which was closed in by mountains of sparry flint, of a purple hue, seamed with wild crevices, intersecting a whitish expanse of country, jutting forward into it like promontories. The violent rains which had happened a short time before, added to this landscape the charm so seldom found in eastern views, for the water formed a line of glittering silver in the distant plain. The furthest range of mountains here pointed out, they were told was Mount Sinai; and to the westward they were shown that peak of Mount Hor, which is said to be the tomb of Aaron: see Numbers xx. 25. A place called Gerige was also named, as lying four days' distance eastward, where there were very extensive ruins. In front of the tent where they slept, were traces of an ancient road, in two parallel lines of low walling. Far below, they discerned various small camps of Arabs, but no town, or village, was beheld through the wide expanse; all was now given to the children of the Desert, the wandering sons of Ishmael.
On the following day they pursued their way unmolested by their opponents, who had withdrawn in the night, but of whose future movements they still remained suspicious. They soon reached a camp within sight of Wady Moussa, which appeared an inconsiderable village, with a few fig-trees about it. Other places were also visible, but they were prohibited from going on the precipice, from whence they could be seen. In this camp were some singular-looking persons, with long hair of a tawny colour, plaited in small plaits in the Nubian manner, with brown handkerchiefs worked with patches of coloured woollen, and so fastened as to stand up high on the head. The women had a peculiar way of plaiting their braided hair across the forehead, giving it the formal air of a wig. The children wore only leathern aprons, ornamented with shells.
They were now apprised that the adverse party were determined to oppose them, that they had removed several of their camps, abandoned their village of Wady Moussa, and intended to occupy a height which commanded it. The tents which they were pitching there soon became visible, and messages of persuasions or threats were continually passing. A party from them once passed their tents, but they refused to come into them; they were suffered to go on unmolested. In the afternoon arrived a large deputation, and a conference was commenced with Abou Raschid, for of the travellers themselves no notice was taken. Much stress was laid by the Sheikh on the boyourdi of the Pashaw of Damascus; but this they refused to observe, saying, "it was a forgery of the Jews." Abou Raschid then roundly asserted, "that they had with them a person on the part of Soliman Pashaw of Acre," and added other falsehoods in argument, urging them by various threats of the anger of different Pashaws to comply. He next desired the travellers to take down the names of the refractory chiefs, in order that they might instigate Mahomed Ali to lay hands upon them, when they should come to trade at Grand Cairo. All he could urge seemed to fail entirely of effect, for they pretended to believe that the strangers intended to poison the water.
In the evening, they had a loud thunder-storm; and as there was neither food for the band, nor forage for their horses, they returned to the camp they had left, where for some hours a cold rain fell, which penetrated the tent. On the morning, a thick fog prevailed, and in the camp noisy councils and altercations were heard on all sides, indicative of approaching war. Our young men, although there had been many times in the preceding day when their hearts had beat high for battle, goaded by the insolence, or vexed by the obstinacy of their opponents, could not bear to think of so seriously involving the lives and comforts of their fellow creatures. This emotion was increased, when they saw a poor woman in tears, with a child in her arms, earnestly beseeching the chiefs to refrain. They assured the Sheikh that they were willing to renounce Wady Moussa altogether; that they had no desire to taste the water, the antiquities which were at a distance from that village being the sole objects. Abou Raschid, however, though a man of few words, stood always to his point; and he now swore, "they should not only see the place, but bathe in the waters," and this, if not accomplished by fair means, he would effect by force.
The messengers who now arrived from the party in opposition, not only renewed protestations against them if they entered their territory, but threatened to cut off their return: of course their situation became very serious. Alfred observed, "that they were in the same situation as the children of Israel, when Edom refused to give them a passage through this country; and that, in fact, they must be on the same spot of land, as the appearance of Mount Hor, the burial-place of Aaron, proved."
About mid-day, when the weather was somewhat clearer, they perceived a number of armed men, some mounted, coming up the valley. The horsemen were the Sheikhs Yousouf and Sahlem, with their attendants: they were followed by a few lances, and infantry to the amount of sixty. They drew up in a line near the camp, and approached it shouting, the women within answering with a scream of exultation; but they were not suffered to stand exposed in the way, for those who ventured out were rudely driven back by the men. The two Sheikhs entered the camp, much dispirited and hurt with this affair, reminding Alfred how strongly they advised him to desist. Old Yousouf, with his long white beard and persuasive speech, exceedingly struck them as resembling Nestor in the Iliad: he dwelt much on what had passed in his youth—dwelt on the wars in which he had been engaged, and the reason he now saw to repent of them. His stories were given with much grave action; but they had more effect on all his hearers, than the spirited young Arab for whom they were designed, who could never be induced to give up a single iota; he maintained, that wherever he chose to carry the strangers, thither they should go.
Another deputation arrived from the enemy; and the old Sheikhs used their utmost efforts to induce compliance on each side, but in vain. Meantime Abou Raschid gained strength by reinforcements continually arriving. The camp began to wear a very formidable character; the spears stuck in the sand, the saddled horses before the tents, with the arms hanging up within, had altogether an imposing effect. Perceiving such a concourse of strangers, and considering the increased expense, the young men begged they might be permitted to pay for their own food and provender for their horses; but Abou Raschid would not hear of it.
Hindi, an Arab chief, of poor appearance, and almost blind, was yet a man of much power, and was said to have the command of two thousand guns. He had formerly been on bad terms with Abou Raschid, but on the present occasion was inclined to favour him. In the course of the day, he made a solemn peace with this Sheikh; and having done so, passed over to the tent of the enemy, as it was supposed, in the character of a mediator.
No answer arrived that night, but there was a rumour in the camp, that opposition would not be offered in the morning, and the chief said exultingly, "that there were some who had the talent of carrying their point with saying very little; while others, who made a great noise, were obliged to give way, and behaved like cattle."
About midnight, as if to complete the turmoils of this memorable day, there was a cry of thieves in the camp; and on examination it was found, that the robbers were quietly seated round the fire; as nothing was lost, no other punishment was given than expelling the intruders.
The following day the fog was still thicker than before; and, as if the weather settled on the temper, our young friends learnt, to their great vexation, that the people of Wady Moussa still declared, "that they should pay with their lives for any attempt to advance within their limits;" and what still augured worse to them, was the absence of Abou Raschid nearly the whole day. On the following, they expected some result would arise from the interference of Hindi, but as they found that two other tribes had joined their enemies, there was less reason to hope. During this day, old Yousouf was particularly eloquent in their behalf, maintaining, "that they were followers of Mahomet, whose only motive in advancing was to offer their devotions at the tomb of Aaron," thus giving a plausible reason for the journey. When pressed farther as to the travellers' faith, he replied, "They are English;" and after a long harangue, which, towards the conclusion, seemed to favour of hostility, he said, "I too could bring out the men of Kerek;" but yet he did not pledge himself to do so. He was, altogether, a wise and wary chief, yet an honest guide, since he in all things fulfilled his original treaty.
In the course of this day, Alfred had the great satisfaction of discovering one of the ruins they so ardently desired to examine, from the mountain where they were encamped. It was discernible through a narrow strait, formed by two craggy cliffs, which gave it a very picturesque appearance; and it will be readily conceived with what eagerness he called for his friend to partake his pleasure. By following the brow of the mountain, they gained also a sight of the Theatre at Petra, cut out of the lime rock, and several of the tombs. These ruins were not discerned without the aid of a spy-glass, but the sight of them not only charmed, but greatly encouraged our young enthusiasts, who conceived it very possible, should other methods fail, to reach them in the night, without passing by the enemy's quarters. Whilst they were deliberating on this subject, they saw a great cavalcade enter the camp, and observed among the horsemen some who wore richer turbans, and more gaudy colours, than are used by the Bedouin Arabs. As this procession advanced, several of Abou Raschid's Arabs went out and led the horses of the chiefs by the bridles into the camp. The whole procession alighted at the tent of their chief, Abou Raschid, and kissed his turban, which was the signal of pacification. Peace was now proclaimed through the camp, and notice given that the men bearing arms, should return to their respective homes.
They now understood that they might set out that afternoon; but by general consent it was deferred. Singing and music took place in the tents; and one of the chiefs who had been adverse, came to pay the travellers a formal visit, and in the course of it affected to examine and approve their papers, though, in point of fact, he was perfectly ignorant of the Turkish language, but on his decision he grounded a claim to money. This claim old Yousouf warded off by saying, "that, for his own part, he had not seen the colour of their gold," which assertion was, in one sense, true, since the money he agreed to receive was lodged in the hands of a Greek priest.
At length Abou Raschid entered to them, and, as he was in high spirits, and all things propitious, they closed the day with hopes that the weather would become as favourable to their design as other circumstances, consoling themselves for the time they had lost, by recollecting, that, for several days past, they could not have prosecuted their journey, even if the people of Wady Moussa had been ever so agreeable; and remembering also, that they had gained such insight into the manners of the Arabs, and the individual characteristics of their chiefs, as could not have been furnished by any other circumstances whatever.
Set out for Petra—Pass the Boundaries of Wady Moussa—Enter the Necropolis—Immense Tombs excavated—Long Ravine—Towers and Temples—Paucity of Inscriptions—Wild Flowers—Murder of Pilgrims—Magnificent winged Statue—Surprising Architecture.
"Now for Petra! the city of the Desert, the land of wonders!" cried Alfred, as he leapt from his hard couch at sun-rise. Clayfield was already up, and examining the weather, which was very tolerable; and in a short time they set out. Their present party were about fifty persons, several of the deputation from Wady Moussa being amongst them, together with some men of Damascus, who had passed the night in the tents of Abou Raschid. The first part of their journey was the same they had passed before; but after some time they turned to the south-east, constantly descending. After a time, the road grew very difficult, passing into a narrow, rocky defile, towards the extremity of which the path branched off two ways. It was whispered to Alfred by their chief, that they would not seem to take any notice, but follow their own guide, who would here lead them to the ruins, whilst the men of Wady Moussa might turn to their own village.
When this point of separation was reached, many of the men proceeded towards Wady Moussa; but others, who saw Abou Raschid's intentions, used their utmost efforts to induce him to go thither, but he now told them, "he had sworn an oath that they should neither eat, nor drink, at their expense, nor within the limits of their territory." This was evidently a mortification, and some of them followed him for a short distance; but, before they had reached the valley of Wady Moussa, all had withdrawn.
The defile brought them now to a place so long and painfully familiar to them. They found it a stony but cultivated valley, at the upper end of which the village was now seen hanging over stages of hanging fruit-trees and gardens. At the point of junction between two valleys, Abou Raschid pointed with a sneer towards a brook they were crossing, saying, "There is the water about which there has been so much contention."
"This stream," observed Alfred to his friend, "has been dignified by Pliny with the name of a river." But Clayfield's attention was given to the people of Wady Moussa, whom they now saw assembled in great numbers to watch them on the side of the hill. As they approached nearer to the village, though still distant enough to prove their intention of not visiting it, they saw that it was a wretched place of only forty or fifty houses.
A few hundred yards below the spring, they saw with a delight the anxious investigator of antiquity can alone appreciate, the vast Necropolis of Petra begin. Many door-ways were visible, cut in the side of the mountain, upon different levels. Towards this part the mountain assumes a rugged aspect; and the most remarkable tombs stand near the road, which follows the course of the brook.
What an idea was given of the past magnificence of Petra to our young travellers, when the burial-place of its inhabitants offered objects to their view so imposing in character as those which every step now disclosed to them! and how light appeared all their past difficulties, when they found themselves on the spot they had so long desired to see, and which had been seen by so few before them![7]—men whose steps it was an honour to follow, and whose pleasures it was a glory to partake!
[7] This journey is referred to in the introduction, as taken by Captain Mangles, R. N. and the Hon. Captain Irby.
The first tomb they examined was on the right hand, and is cut in a mass of whitish rock, which is in some measure insulated and detached from the general range. The centre represents the front of a square tower, with pilasters at the corner, and several successive bands of frieze and entablature above; two low wings project from it at right angles, and present each of them a recess in the manner of a portico, which consists of two columns, whose capitals have affinity with the Doric order, between corresponding antea. Three sides of a square are thus inclosed; the fourth was apparently shut in by a low wall, and two colossal lions on either side, all much decayed.
Proceeding, they now saw on the left a wide façade, of rather low proportions, loaded with ornaments in the Roman manner, but in a bad taste; with an infinity of broken lines, unnecessary angles, multiplied pediments, half pediments, and pedestals set upon columns that support nothing. It struck them as having more the air of a fantastical scene in a theatre, than an architectural work in stone; and they could not help lamenting, that so much labour had been bestowed with so little taste. The chamber to which this unmeaning front was the entrance, had a broad raised platform round three sides, on which bodies were probably disposed. Immediately over this front is another of almost equal extent, but wholly distinct from it, so that even the centres do not correspond; the door-way has the same ornaments, triglyphs over the entablature, and flowers in the metopes; the rest of the design is no more than a plain front, without the decoration of a single moulding. Upon this are set, in a recess, four tall and taper pyramids; their effect is singular and surprising, but combining too little with the rest of the elevation to be good.
Pyramids so applied, Clayfield said, he had read of, as being on the tomb of the Queen of Adiabeena; also on the summit of the tomb of the Maccabees. The interior of this Mausoleum they found of moderate size, with two sepulchral recesses on each side, and one in form of an arched alcove at the upper end, being probably intended for the head of a family and his wives. The exteriors of these tombs,[8] as sketched on the spot, are given in the plate.
[8] Copied from the work of Captain Mangles.
The sides of the valley through which they were proceeding, now became rugged and precipitous to a high degree, so that it might deserve the name of a ravine, with high detached masses of rock standing up here and there in the open space. Of these the architects had availed themselves. In some instances, large and lofty towers were represented in relievo on the lower part of the precipice, and the live rock cut on all sides to make the resemblance complete. The greater part of these present themselves in the high road, but others stand back in the wild nooks and recesses of the mountain. Yet all appeared sepulchral—so far it was a city of the dead; and, like the Pyramids of Egypt, the labours of innumerable living men had been given to forming palaces for corpses.
They remarked, that quadrangular towers for sepulchres had been the fashion in the East. Clayfield instanced those of Jehoshaphat, near Jerusalem; and Alfred remembered, that they abounded at Palmyra, and that the details betrayed an imitation of Roman architecture, but those of Petra bear the marks of a peculiar and indigenous style. They were surprised, amongst such a multitude of tombs, to find so few with any inscription or record for whom they were constructed, as they found two only. From the days of Rehem, king of the Midianites, who passes for the founder of Petra, to those of Alexander the Great, there must have been a long suite of kings, whose tombs most probably lay before them, but whose names and actions were as much lost, as if these ambitious monuments had never been carved in honour of their memory.
One interesting inscription they copied, but the other was too much mutilated. The more perfect one was delicately drawn, and was that which could only be deciphered by Mr. Bankes, as being the most learned of all our Eastern travellers; but Alfred saw that the characters resembled those he had remarked about Mount Sinai.
After exploring many tombs on either side, and frequently pausing in astonishment at the immense labour evinced in hewing out of the living rock such a multitude of works rich in finished ornament, they proceeded towards the eastern part of Petra. As they advanced, the natural features of the defile grew more imposing at every step, and they remarked how much more importance was obtained through the natural situation of the place, than in the most magnificent temples they had visited in Egypt. They soon found the excavations and sculpture more frequent, until the whole defile presented a continued street of tombs, beyond which the rocks gradually approached each other, and seemed all at once to close without any outlet. There was, however, one frightful chasm for the passage of the stream, which furnishes, as it did anciently, the only avenue to Petra on this side.
It is impossible to conceive any thing more awful or sublime than such an approach. The width is not more than just sufficient for the passage of two horsemen abreast. The sides are, in all parts, perpendicular, verging from four hundred to seven hundred feet in height; and they often overhung to such a degree, that, without their absolutely meeting, the sky is intercepted, and completely shut out for one hundred yards together, and there is little more light than in a cavern.
The screaming of the eagles, hawks, and owls, who were soaring above their heads, annoyed by the entrance of human footsteps in this their long-established empire, added greatly to the singularity of the scene, which, in its severer features, was soothed and contrasted by the beautiful vegetation, which grew luxuriantly about the path and in the crevices of the rocks. The oleander, wild fig, and tamarind sometimes hung beautifully from the cliffs; and the caper plant in the coolness of the deep shade found sufficient moisture.
Very near the first entrance of this romantic pass, a bold arch is thrown across at a great height, connecting the opposite sides of the cliff. Our young travellers, alert and indefatigable as they were, could not learn its particular form from examination; but their surprise on beholding so mighty a body far above them, suspended between two rugged masses apparently inaccessible, may be conceived. Immediately below it they saw sculptured niches in the rocks, probably designed for statues, and Alfred thought inscriptions might be found, had it been possible to decipher them. Farther down, on a lower level, there is an object frequently repeated in sculpture, which was therefore probably worshipped at Petra, accompanied by inscriptions, but they were too much defaced to afford light on the subject.
The ravine now presented so many elbowings and windings, that the eye could seldom penetrate more than a few paces; and in the midst of these natural horrors, had thirty pilgrims been murdered, only the year before, by the men of Wady Moussa, as they were returning from Mecca. Never had Salvator Rosa conceived so suitable a scene for the residence of banditti; nor can the human imagination portray a place, where the gaunt forms of the murderers, and the pale horror of their victims, would so accord with the fierce features and death-like silence of the rocks around them.
They followed this sort of half-subterranean passage for the space of nearly two miles; the sides increasing in height, as the path continually descended, while the tops of the precipices retained their former level. Where they are at the highest, a beam of stronger light breaks in at the close of the dark perspective, and opens to view, half seen at first through the tall, narrow opening, columns, statues, and cornices, of a light and finished taste, as if fresh from the chisel, without the tints and weather-stains of age, and executed in a stone of a pale rose-colour, which was illumined, at the moment when our young men espied it first, with the full light of the morning sun. The dark green shrubs that grow in this perpetual shade, and the sombre hue of the murder-stained passage from which they were emerging, added, by their strong contrast, to the peculiar splendour and unique character of this striking scene, which cannot be compared with any other in the world, since there is nothing yet known which resembles it.
Only a portion of a very extensive architectural elevation is seen at first; but it has been so contrived, that a statue, with expanded wings, just fills the centre of the aperture in front, which being closed below by the sides of the rock folding over each other, gives to the figure the appearance of being suspended in the air at a considerable height; the extreme ruggedness of the cliffs below, setting off the sculpture to the greatest advantage. The rest of the design opened gradually as our young travellers advanced, till the narrow defile spread out on either side into an open area of moderate size, whose sides are by nature inaccessible, and present the same awful and romantic features as the avenues which lead to it. This opening gives admission to a great body of light from the eastward. The position is the most beautiful that could be imagined for the front of a great temple; the richness and exquisite finish of whose decorations offer a most remarkable contrast to the savage scenery which surrounds it.
The temple on which they now gazed, was of a very lofty proportion, comprising two stories. The taste was not to be commended; but many of the details and ornaments, and the size and proportions of the great doorway, especially struck them as very noble. No part was built, the whole being purely a work of excavation; and the minutest embellishments so perfect, that our travellers doubted whether any work of the ancients, except some on the banks of the Nile, have come down to our time so little injured by the lapse of ages. There is, in fact, scarcely a building of forty years standing in England, so little injured in its architectural decorations.
The statues here are numerous, and colossal. Those on each side the portico represent a centaur and a young man, but they have been mutilated by the zeal of Christians, or Mussulmen, against idolatry. On the upper tier are female figures: unfortunately, the centre figure, which was doubtless the principal, is much defaced, so that they could not determine to what divinity this extraordinary temple had been dedicated. The principal chamber of the interior is large, and remarkably lofty, but quite plain, with the exception of the doors, which opened into cells. The centre of the superstructure is a circular elevation, surrounded by columns, with a dome supporting an urn: this urn has excited the covetousness of the natives, who speak of it as the deposit of the treasures of Pharaoh, as far as Jerusalem; and it was evident that it has been aimed at by bullet-shot, as they saw the marks of bullets in the stone, and thought, by one perforation, it was possible that it was hollow. Above the monument the face of the rock is left overhanging, and to this they ascribed the excellent preservation of the temple. From the top being finished with eagles and half pediments, they were led to think this great effort of art was finished since the conquest of Trajan.
They now began to climb the steep sides of those rocks, from which such miraculous places had been formed: which was found extremely difficult, and frequently even dangerous. They found several pillars and obelisks, and saw the great vase which crowns another monument to the north-west. The space before the temple is an area of about fifty yards in width, and three times as long, terminating to the south in a precipitous cliff. The defile again assumes its former character, with an infinite variety of tombs, both Arabian and Roman. This pass conducts to the theatre; and here the ruins of the city burst on the view, in their full grandeur, shut in on the opposite side by barren, craggy precipices, from which numerous ravines, like that they had passed, branch out in all directions, covered with an endless variety of tombs and private dwellings. This presented altogether the most singular scene they had ever beheld, as the rocks were tinted with the most extraordinary hues at their summits, tending to exhibit Nature in her most savage and romantic forms; whilst their bases were worked out in all the symmetry of art, with colonnades, pediments, and ranges of corridors, adhering to the perpendicular surface.
"Oh!" cried Alfred in ecstasies, "we were surely right, Clayfield, in concluding, that the wide world could show us nothing like Petra! How strange it is, that Pliny says only, when speaking of it, 'the Nabateai inhabit a city called Petra, in a hollow, less than two miles in circumference, surrounded by inaccessible mountains, with a stream running through it.' Surely he could not know that it contained wonders of Art, still more surprising than those of Nature?"
"I think he could not," replied Clayfield; "but certainly his description of the situation was just, and accords with that of Strabo, who says, 'it lies in a spot which is fortified all around with a barrier of rocks and precipices, within furnished with springs of excellent quality for the supply of water, and the irrigation of gardens.' He adds, 'that one of the royal lineage always resided at Petra.' What a place must it have been, when busy and princely trains were seen to pour down these rocky avenues, and overspread the mighty temple we have been visiting!"
"And think what the effect of a funeral procession must have been, when the long train of mourners were drawn beneath the gloomy avenues we have passed; or when, in a siege, the proud warriors, with gleaming falchions, opposed the enemy in those terrific passes." But, alas! we have no time for the dreams of imagination: Abou Raschid is a very fine fellow, but he will not allow us time for sentimentalizing; he says that two days is the utmost he will remain in this wonderful place.
They recommenced their examination, observing that the ancient geographers were right in their description in the main, as it was an area in the bosom of a mountain, swelling into mounds, and intersected with gullies. Within the actual circuit of the city there are two mounds, which seem to have been entirely covered with buildings, being strewed over with a prodigious quantity of loose stones and fragments of a light and delicate fabric. The bed of the river flows between these two spots: on the left bank of the stream seem to have been some of the principal edifices.
One of these was an archway with pilasters enriched with foliage; in the interior were chambers sixty feet in length; but many dwellings had small mean chambers, like so many pigeonholes in the rock, the fronts and partitions being of indifferent masonry and cement.
Following the defile, the river is seen to flow with rapidity, and luxuriant shrubs surround it, which mingle beautifully with the rocks and ruins, and are doubtless the offspring of those gardens which once supplied the market of this capital of Arabia, decorated the brows of its beauties, and solaced the palates of its princes. The carob, fig, mulberry, vine, and pomegranate, line the river side; and a beautiful species of aloe, with a flower of orange hue, shaded to scarlet in some instances, having upwards of one hundred blossoms upon it, was among the luxurious productions of this curious scene.
Theatre at Petra—Visit Aaron's Tomb on a Pinnacle of Mount Hor—Beauty of Colours in the Rocks—Reach the Tomb—Its authenticity—Magnificent Temple seen from the mountain—Inaccessible—Return safe in the Ruins—Departure from Petra—Bid adieu to Abou Raschid—Accompany Yousouf—Treatment of the Sick—The Dead Sea—Its false Apples—Adders where they sleep—Tiberias—Inhumanity of the Consul.
The theatre was the next object which the travellers examined. It was hewn out of the live rock: the diameter of the podium is one hundred and twenty feet, the number of seats thirty-three; there was no break, and, consequently, no vomitories. The scene was, unfortunately, built, not excavated; the whole is therefore fallen, and the bases of four columns only remain.
The theatre is surrounded by sepulchres; every avenue leading to it is full of them; indeed, throughout every quarter of this city, the depositories of the dead presented themselves continually to the eyes of the living: it therefore appears that the Arabians resembled the Egyptians in their respect for the ashes of their ancestors.
In one magnificent mausoleum, in which were six recesses, three of them had been fitted for altars for a Christian church, and there was an inscription in red paint, recording the date of its consecration. This was the only vestige of a Christian establishment they found throughout the remains of Petra.
The two days given them to examine curiosities, well worthy that of as many months, were too soon at an end. The afternoon of the first had been given to ascending the rugged pinnacle, on the top of which is the Tomb of Aaron. They were the more anxious to examine this edifice, from their increasing conviction of its being indeed the spot mentioned in the Scriptures as the place where the High Priest died and was buried; for they had remarked through their whole journey, that in the writings of Moses, description was always exact, and capable of being traced accurately; to which it might be added, that the situation being without parallel, could not be mistaken for any other.
They rode to the foot of this pinnacle of the mountain, over a rugged and broken track, passing in the way many sepulchres similar to those described; and remarked, on the left hand, a singular monument, where an obtuse cone, standing on a vast pedestal, was obtained out of one of the peaked summits of the rock. They were next struck by the extraordinary colouring of the mountains by which they were surrounded, being sometimes of a deep, then of a paler blue, occasionally streaked with red, and shaded off to lilac and purple. Sometimes a salmon colour was veined in waved lines, and circles with crimson and scarlet; at others, stripes of yellow and bright orange were ranged side by side in parallel strata. It was indeed the peculiar characteristic beauty of Petra to exhibit this wonderful variety of colours; and the façades of the tombs, tastefully as they were sculptured, owe much to the diversity of hues in the stone.
After a time they engaged an Arab shepherd as a guide, and, leaving their horses and servants with Abou Raschid, began to mount the track which led to the pinnacle of the mount, which was extremely laborious, and must frequently be ascended by the pilgrim on his hands and knees. In some places were found flights of rude steps, or inclined planes, constructed of stones, with niches to receive the footsteps cut in the live rock. Many juniper bushes grow on the mountain, and flowers such as they had never seen before, some of which were very beautiful, but they were all thorny. On the top there was an overhanging shelf of rock, which forms a sort of cavern; and here they found a skin of very bad water suspended for drinking, a pallet of straw, with a pitcher, and other utensils, belonging to the Sheikh who resides here. He was a decrepit old man, who had lived there for the space of forty years, and continued occasionally to endure the fatigue of descending, and re-ascending, the mountain.
The tomb itself is inclosed in a small building, not differing in its external form from those which are common to Mahomedan saints throughout every Turkish province, where they have probably been adopted from this; or it may have been rebuilt at no very distant period, as some fragments of granite and marble were lying about. The door is near the south-west angle, within which a constructed tomb, with a pall thrown over it, presents itself immediately upon entering. It is patched together out of fragments of stone and marble, that have been parts of other fabricks. Upon one of these are several short lines in the Hebrew character, cut in a slovenly manner, and proved to be the names of a Jew and his family, who had scratched this record of their visit. As probably no other Jew has visited this spot for many ages, it is now a curiosity. Many rags and shreds of yarn, beads, and paras, have been left as votive offerings by the Arabs.
They were now desired to take off their[9] sandals, and descended by steps to a vault, or grotto, beneath, the Sheikh furnishing them with a lamp of butter. The roof is covered, but the whole was rude and ill-fashioned. Towards the farther end of the vault lie two corresponding leaves of an iron grating, which formerly prevented all nearer approach to the tomb of the Patriarch. They were thrown down, and our young friends advanced so far as to touch it. It was covered by a ragged pall; and in the darkness, they were afraid of treading on some scorpion or other reptile.
[9] "Loose thy shoes from off thy feet." Joshua v. 15.
The view from the summit of the edifice was extensive in every direction; and, with few determinate objects, yet filled the mind by its vastness, and the magnificence of its character. The chain of Idumean mountains which form the western shore of the Dead Sea, appear bare and desolate. Below them spreads a sandy plain, seamed with the beds of torrents; and when this desert approaches Mount Hor, there arise out of it, like islands, numerous lower peaks of a purple colour. Towards the Egyptian side there is an expanse of country without features or limit.
"How wonderfully adapted is this mountain," said Alfred, "to be the burial-place, the eternal monument, of the leader of a great people drawn out by God himself! What a spectacle was once presented from this point in the assembled multitudes below, anxiously awaiting the awful moment when Aaron, their high priest and joint leader, should yield up his soul, and his son receive the sacred stole."
"It is, indeed, a spot unparalleled for such a spectacle," replied Clayfield; "methinks the tents of the children of Israel would fill the long vista below us, leading to Wady Moussa, and the multitude be seen like beams in the sun, blending with the reflected lights of these prismatic rocks. But look at that pinnacle: it is surely finished by Art, and is a monument of extraordinary grandeur."
Alfred's eye followed the direction of his friend's hand, and saw an object which had attracted his attention several times before, when he had been on elevated spots that morning, but to visit which appeared utterly impracticable from the number and intricacy of the valleys and ravines which surrounded it. With the assistance of their glasses, they now made out the façade to be longer than that of the temple at Petra, and nowise inferior to it in richness and beauty. Like that, it is hewn out of the rock, and seemed to be composed of two tiers of columns, of which the upper range is Ionic, the centre of the monument being crowned by a vase of a gigantic proportion. The whole appeared to be in a state of high preservation; and from its situation, seemed likely to have been intended as an ornament to the northern approach to the city. Petra was here intercepted and concealed by the prominency of the mountains. An artist, who would study rock-scenery in all its most wild and extravagant forms and colours, would find himself richly rewarded, should he resort to Mount Hor for that sole purpose.
They now returned to Abou Raschid, as the day was closing, and were reconducted near to the Palace. On leaving Petra, they had remarked with how much care the scanty soil had been banked up into terraces, and disposed into fields and gardens; and they again saw, that every nook which could furnish footing for a plant, had been turned to account. But now the prophecy was fulfilled, the curse was upon it; "Edom shall be a desolation," appeared alike in the barrenness of the ground, and the utter desertion of the ruined capital.
Just as they had repassed the district of the tombs, two men rushed impetuously out, seized their bridles, and insisted on carrying them to lodge with them. They even quarrelled and fought for the privilege of filling their corn-bags, though they had never seen them before. Such is their generosity; but these men on the following day, when they sought to purchase necessaries, were extortionate in the greatest degree with them. Money is with them the root of all evil: it excites every base passion, and blunts every nobler feeling.
A sheep slain, and boiled, concluded their first day at Petra. The second was one of unceasing toil; but, as we have already run over the ground, we can only say, that much effort was made, but without success, to visit the temple descried from Mount Hor, and that, finding it impossible to move Abou Raschid in their favour, they reluctantly returned the second night to the camp they had left.
The day following, they proceeded to Shobek, and, to their great surprise, (it being now the latter end of May,) were distressed with bitter cold. On arriving at Abou Raschid's own camp, they found old Yousouf still waiting for them, and they took leave here of their intrepid friend Abou Raschid, to whom they presented four hundred piastres; to which Alfred added a present of a blunderbuss, which delighted him so much, that he kissed them both at parting.
Most probably this high-spirited chief would have accompanied them on their return, if he had not been engaged with his own affairs; for he was evidently warmly interested in them, and anxious to continue his protection, as he sent with them his mace-bearer, with his iron mace, to ensure them the same reception as if he were present in person. This ancient custom is referred to in Ezekiel, xxxv. 36.
On quitting Shobek, they passed a swarm of locusts, which were settled in a gully, and, making a crackling noise in eating, were heard before they were seen; they were in such numbers as to alter apparently the colour of the rock on which they had settled. In three days they arrived at Wady El Ahsa, and bathed in the hot springs there, which are called by the Arabs "Solomon's baths." Near this they saw shepherd boys playing on double pipes, similar to some which are represented on the tombs of Egypt. Crossing the river and ravine of El Ahsa, the ancient boundary of the Edomites and Moabites, they entered the district of Kerek, and about noon reached the camp belonging to the father of old Yousouf's bride. As they entered the camp, the throats of three kids ranged in a line, were cut before them, to celebrate their return.
The wife of the Sheikh's brother was dying of a fever, and laid in a little room, which was so thronged with persons, as to leave her no chance of life. The women and girls were squatting near, or leaning over so close, that the poor creature, now speechless, could not be seen, and the whole multitude were sending up piercing and piteous cries. Old Yousouf and another male friend were seated in silence near the door; and at Alfred's earnest remonstrance, they expelled the troop of mourners, and gave the woman some peace; and the soldier, their attendant, prescribing chicken-broth, the poor woman took it, and recovered surprisingly.
From this place they made an excursion to the southern side of the Dead Sea, which they had not an opportunity of examining sufficiently on their way; the Sheikh making them pay him thirty piastres for the three men he sent with them as guides. An open grove of the acacia and doom tree was thinly sprinkled on the first portion of their way; but they saw many proofs of former cultivation, such as bricks and pottery, and found some pretty specimens of antique variegated glass, and thought the spot might be the site of the ancient Zoar. Near these remains the river Dara opens from a glen into the plain, and so fertilizes the valley, that many thickets appear; among others, one with fruit about the size of an almond in a green bush. On ripening, this fruit becomes soft and juicy in the inside, like a green gage; but some say it is poisonous, and the smell is sickly and disagreeable.
The weather was now excessively hot; children went naked, and their parents nearly so, in the village of Ghor, which they passed through. Approaching the Dead Sea, they now saw the askar plant for the first time, grown to the stature of a tree, and bearing the fruit so often mentioned by the ancients as apples "appearing beautiful and delicious to the eye, but hollow within, or filled with a disagreeable substance." The natives make use of the filaments this fruit contains, which resemble the down of a thistle, to stuff their cushions, and into matches for their guns, as they are excellent for that purpose. All the foliage near the Dead Sea is covered with a salt dew to a considerable extent, and, from a quantity of dead locusts on the banks, they were led to think it was probable that the assertion, "no living thing could fly over the lake," had some truth in it, more especially as they could not discover any shells, but such as were invariably without fish. This point was however decided by their witnessing a flight of pigeons which passed over the sea. It still, however, held its general character of death and desolation.
They returned to the camp of Yousouf, and had an opportunity of witnessing the Arabian mode of administering justice. Complaint was made of the loss of forty sheep by robbery from his tribe; of course he was at once criminal and judge, and decided by restoring twenty. When much pressed, he said, "It was not the custom of his tribe to relinquish that of which they had made themselves masters." The complainants were exceeding wroth, and threatened "to drag him by his beard to Mezereeb;" but this was idle clamour against the Sheikh of Kerek.
With this Sheikh they now parted. His honesty and promptitude of help in the first instance, the good humour and patience he had afterwards evinced, together with the length of their acquaintance, had rendered him really dear to our young travellers; but they found with sorrow, that the general features of character in his race operated in him also. Not content with their present of two hundred piastres, in addition to the four hundred he raised by agreement, he refused to repay some which he had borrowed, and endeavoured to extort a large sum for the guide he had provided for them last, but in this he failed.
They now crossed the brook Jabbok, or Zerka, the northern boundary of the Amorites; and proceeded to Djerash, where they found ruins of many Christian churches, and a few inscriptions. Alfred remarked, that, according to Eusebius, the Christians fled here during the siege of Jerusalem by Titus. They then entered a beautiful country, varied with woods, composed of laurustinus, arbutus, cedar, and Vallonia oak, forming a strong contrast with the rocky deserts they had travelled through. At night they fixed upon a space in the midst of these beautiful woods, covered with high grass and weeds, in which to bivouac; but they were disturbed by wild boars, who, in their turn, were alarmed by the sound of the horses, and scampered away.
Young Clayfield, in the night, feeling something move underneath him, rose to see what it was, and found an adder rising from under the edge of his blanket, attracted by the warmth of his body; and in the morning another was found close to one of the party. These serpents in the paradise with which they had been so charmed the evening before, hastened their removal; and early in the morning they reached the valley of Rajeh, from whence they descended to the valley of the Jordan, which they reached in two hours.
The following day they arrived at Tiberias; and Alfred took his friend to see Mount Tabor, well remembering the delightful emotions which warmed his heart on visiting that spot so dignified by his Saviour, in company with his beloved father. In a cave on the top, amongst other names they noticed those of Sir Sidney Smith, and Captain Wright, of the Tigre, who afterwards died in the Temple at Paris.
From hence they went to Acre; and during their short stay there, witnessed an instance of unfeeling barbarity, at which their hearts recoiled. Going to breakfast with the Consul, they found his Greek servant, who had been ill some days, lying outside the door; and he actually expired before them, unattended by medical or other assistance. Such an instance of total indifference to the comforts of a fellow-creature, in his hour of sickness and agony—one too, who had "eaten of his bread,"—justly excited alike contempt and disgust towards the master, and even the country where such things could pass unnoticed and unreproved.
"Compared to this inhuman man," said Alfred, "one finds the Arabs (though they are certainly great thieves at times) rise in the scale; and, indeed, we have nothing to complain of, for they lodged and fed us and our party all through the journey for nothing; and our expenses were, after all, a mere trifle; and although they certainly felt great contempt for us, yet I am persuaded, had we been sick, they would have cherished us; and it is certain, that deeming us insulted, they were willing to fight for us."
"True." replied Clayfield, "but yet I do not think they would have hesitated to murder us, under any different turn their quarrel had taken; for it is certain, that when we met with head bodies concealed by them, which, you know, was several times the case, they never appeared to be even ashamed of the horrid deed, much less to suffer self-reproach for it. In our case, both here and at Mount Sinai, they observed the oaths they had taken for our preservation, it is true; but, in point of fact, several Sheikhs were willing to abandon us, just after they had eaten in the same dish with us, which they affect to hold as a tie of brotherhood."
"It is all too true, my dear friend," said Alfred; "but it is a pleasant thing to look on the poetical side of their characters; and remember Abou Raschid, and his gallant bearing; old Yousouf, with his long beard and Nestorian harangues;—even the Wady Moussa men riding in fierce contention above our heads, as we wound round the mountains, has something spirited and romantic in it."
"But there is nothing pleasing in the contemplation of their women, who are mere beasts of burden: they weave the goat's hair, carpets, and curtains for their tents, grind the corn with their hand-mills, bring the water and wood, cook, and, in short, do all the drudgery; whilst the men sit down and smoke the whole day. The little girls that guard the flocks have always a bundle of wool at their backs for spinning, whilst the boys are too idle even for amusing themselves. Then, they are very dirty;—what a wretched time have we both had with the vermin that swarmed in every camp!"
Our travellers having nothing new to see at Acre, and satisfied with having accomplished the great object of their journey, embarked on board an imperial brig belonging to Venice, for Constantinople, a city they earnestly desired to visit, as enjoying the finest site of any metropolis in the world, and being the seat of a government extending over all the places they had traversed.
Set out for Constantinople—Enter the Sea of Marmora—Dardanelles—Beautiful Prospect of the City, Shores, and Vessels—The Grand Signior goes to Mosque—Use of Imperial Turbans—Presentation of British Ambassador—Confused Procession—Janissaries—Dinner—Pelisses—Audience chamber—Throne of the Grand Signior—Pay of Soldiers, &c.
The weather was now very fine, and made them amends for their last voyage by its serenity, which enabled them to see many of the islands of the Archipelago, some of which they touched at, and finally to approach Constantinople under those circumstances which exhibited it in the finest points of view.
The Dardanelles and Sea of Marmora presented a most beautiful sight, which was increased from the circumstance of a large fleet of vessels which had been accumulating for some weeks at Mytilene and the Troad, being unable to ascend the Straits against the Northerly winds, and were now eagerly taking advantage of a change. The width of the Dardanelles, they thought, was about a mile, though Leander and Lord Byron, in swimming, might think it four. After the long prevalence of a Northerly wind, it is considered much easier to be passed, it being only then possible to do so in a direct line.
Every moment which brought them nearer to Constantinople, increased their sense of its vastness and its magnificence. As presented at the same time with Scutari, Galata, and Pera, it offered such an extent of human habitations, crowned by the royal seraglio, varied by mosques and minarets, as to render the whole impressive beyond their expectations. "This was indeed calculated to be the emporium of Europe, the rival of Rome, the mistress of the world!" cried Alfred; but as they approached nearer, he became sensible of that division of parts, which, without much impairing beauty, somewhat decreases the sense of magnificence.
They landed at Pera in the evening; and the following morning visited all that they could see, and in many respects were much gratified, although the general appearance of the city was mean, and altogether below the ideas inspired by its noble situation. Its chief interest arose in their eyes from its ancient splendour, while in possession of the Greek Emperors, and the mart for all the produce of the East Indies. They retraced its memorials in the time of the Crusaders; examined its mosques, so far as they were permitted, especially that of St. Sophia, and visited the Besestin, where the merchants have the bazaars admirably arranged. The Hippodrome, (an oblong square,) the tomb of Constantine, and the burial-grounds of the higher order of Turks, were all explored with diligence and attention.
On the following Sunday they went to see the Grand Signior go to mosque; he was on horseback, that his subjects might be gratified by seeing the royal person, and he was at the same time in state. Those who had any grievances to complain of, or any petitions to present, were arranged by the way side; and every paper that was offered he received, either with his own hand, or by the hand of some dignitary in attendance.
His Majesty was followed by two or three officers, each of whom carried a royal turban: and in the presence of these turbans every head must bow. It happened that when he had passed, a confusion arose among the crowd, from what cause the strangers did not discover—one of the officers held up a turban, every one bowed his head, and the disturbance ceased.
The Grand Signior has no presentations, no levee-days, and an audience is seldom granted without a specific purpose. Our young friends, who naturally wished to see as much as possible of a court so little known, were afraid they had no chance. Fortune, however, favoured them much in this particular, as they had not been a week when one of those rare occasions occurred which enabled them to be presented. This was on the introduction of Mr. Frere, who was (pro tempore) taking the place of Sir Robert Liston; and, in order to increase the effect, was appointed to be received on the day when the Janissaries received their pay. The English residents and visitors were invited, together with Franks of every nation; and it was understood that the ceremony would be august and imposing.
Our young friends and many others assembled at the British Palace before five in the morning. The Turkish guards, carrying torches, were running about in all directions; and the lustre of their arms, the gaudiness of the colours in their dress seen under such a light, produced a fine stage effect, and greatly raised their expectations. They were not kept long waiting, before an officer arrived from the Porte, deputed to act as master of the ceremonies; and, under his guidance, at day-break they set out.
The procession commenced with about an hundred Janissaries on foot—next, the officer above-mentioned, on horseback, attended by his servants on foot—then came, two and two, the servants of the ambassador; and then Mr. Frere himself, in a sedan chair—all the rest of the party followed on foot, and certainly ought to have done so in order; but the secretary, the consul, the dragoman, the merchants, the visitors, and the tag-rag, were all huddled together; and in this manner they arrived at the waters edge, where boats were provided to convey them from Pera to Constantinople, all the Franks being obliged to reside at the former place.
At this moment great difficulty was experienced by those who wanted places; and some of the party were soon knee-deep in mud, owing to the total want of management in the conduct of the affair. Our young friends got over with unsoiled clothes, and found that horses were prepared on the opposite shore, but for them there was another scramble. At length most of the party got mounted, and proceeded onward, until they were requested to wait for the Grand Vizier: on his arrival our party fell into the rear. They saw the street, through which they were passing, was lined with a double row of ragged troops; and at the end of it they arrived at a dirty, dull building, which proved to be the entrance of the Serrail, or Palace. The porch was occupied by a mob of Franks and Turks; and they scarcely knew how they got in, as they were divided from each other, and had completely lost sight of the official personages.
Alfred now found himself in a court yard, irregular in its shape and its buildings. On one side were the kitchens; on the other the Serrail itself; in the centre an avenue of trees; the whole was remarkable only for its general character of shabbiness. Arranged down the avenue was a line of plates, containing alternately pillaw, and a yellow mixture, probably saffron soup. Two or three subordinate officers were keeping guard; and on one side was collected a mob of soldiers, who stood eyeing these luxuries in great anxiety, each with his best leg forward. One or two of these poor hungry fellows rushed forth and made a seizure; on which the sentinels pommelled them with their inkstands, which are of form and size like a hammer, and are often suspended round the neck by a chain.
At length the word of command was given, and the whole of this Falstaff regiment rushed to the attack. The first rank was generally pushed beyond the dishes; the second snatched them up, and they, in their turn, being propelled, both parties were splashed over with the yellow sauce. This treat being over, which it was undoubtedly intended the visitors should witness, they were directed to the divan or council-chamber, where they found already assembled, the Grand Vizier, the Capitan Bassa, three other dignitaries, and our minister and suite. The five Turks were seated on a sofa that stretched partly round the room, the minister had a chair in a corner, and every body else was obliged to stand.
This room our young friends thought elegant, though small; it was fronted with a very handsome gilded grating, the ceiling being a groined arch, at each corner of which was an indifferent picture of inanimate nature.[10] Over the seat occupied by the Vizier, they remarked a neat bay window-grating; and at this it is said the Grand Signior comes to spy and listen, because his pride and sublimity will not allow him to look at a Christian, even during the interview.
[10] The likeness of any living thing must not be represented.
Previous to entering, they could not fail to observe a pile of small leather bags, said to contain the pay of the Janissaries, and to hold sixty thousand pounds sterling. These were now brought in with considerable show, bustle, and delay, and arranged at the feet of the Vizier. One of them was opened, and the contents poured forth upon a salver; and shewed there was no deception, for they really were half-farthings. They were then examined, and highly approved. The bags were then counted again, and laid at the door with the same air of importance; then again handed on through a file of soldiers, and arranged upon the flag stones, a certain number at a time. On each occasion a company of Janissaries was let loose among them, from about two hundred yards distance. Whoever was so fortunate as to obtain a bag in the scramble, would receive, on restoring it to government, sixpence in addition to his pay. The scramble at first afforded the spectators some amusement; but, as it lasted three hours, we may conclude even a Turk would be tired of it.
The next part of the ceremony was dinner. A stool and a tray were placed before the Vizier, another before the Capitan Bassa, a third before the two Turks who sat together, and a fourth before the one who sat alone. Our minister took his place with the Vizier; our Consul at the second table; no stranger was admitted to the third; at the fourth were the Secretary, Lord Charles Murray, and Sir Frederic Henniker. There was no provision for the rest of the party. The first dish brought in was a present from the Grand Signior to the Vizier, and was received by him with much ceremony. Stools were brought the English to sit upon; and a spoon, a napkin, and bread, were placed for each. The dishes were brought in singly, and in lottery order; minced meat, pie, fowl, fish, sweets, fish, fowl, &c. in all twenty-eight dishes. The lookers-on understood that none were bad, nor any remarkably good, except an aromatic cream. The moment a dish was put down, the host dipped his hand into it, and desired others to do the same. Among other things came a roast fowl uncarved, and there was neither knife nor fork. Lord Charles happened to touch it, on which one of the cooks in attendance immediately took it up, pulled it to atoms with his fingers, and threw it down before the party. Our young friends looked at each other, and could not forbear to smile at the effect this might have on this nobleman; the thing had been long familiar to themselves. They yet remembered how frequently they had admired the delicacy with which the Arabs manage a process in itself so disgusting to a British traveller; as also the address with which a number of persons eating out of the same bowl, contrive not to incommode or intrude upon each other.
The lookers-on were not long tantalized with the sight of the Turkish feast; for in ten minutes after their sitting down, the whole vanished, and the stools also were taken away from those who had been accommodated with them. Half an hour was now given them to wash their hands; after which they were called into the court-yard, where they were all kept standing, the minister alone having the option of sitting on a dirty stone. At length there came two people with bags containing pelisses; these were poured forth, and the clothesmen called out the names of such as were to receive them. They were of three qualities, the first edged with sable, the second with ermine, and the third made of a mean coarse stuff. These were destined for the minister and his immediate suite and dragomen, though lent for the occasion to visitors; nobody can be admitted into the audience-chamber without one.
There is a vulgar rumour, that when a Christian wishes for an audience, a message is delivered to the Grand Signior, setting forth, that "a dog, hungry and naked, begs to be admitted;" to which is given this reply, "clothe him, and feed him, and bring him in." It is, however, certain, that a pelisse is a badge of honour in Turkey, as much as court robes are in England; and also that the dress of a Frank is considered as no dress at all, since it is reckoned indecent to make an ordinary visit without that outer garment, which covers a man like a college gown;—even the ordinary dress of the Mamelukes is subject to this conclusion. As soon as they were clothed, there came forth a party of attendants, one or two of whom seized each visitant by the shoulder, and they were thus led through a file of domestics magnificently habited, and then pressed into a small dark room, which proved to be the chamber of audience. Seeing was nearly impossible, for the "brother of the sun" threw no light on his own face, and the persons within were so pressed by their attendants, that before each had time to try to obtain a sight of what was going on, ten minutes were passed away, and the affair was over.
The throne of the Grand Signior is a four-posted bedstead, quilted with pearls and precious stones, and on this his mightiness sate, not in the Oriental fashion, but with his legs hanging down. At the side of the room to the left, were the Grand Vizier and Capitan Bassa; and the embassy were drawn on the left, forming three sides of a square. Every person remained with his hat on; as uncovering the head in Turkey is not a mark of respect, but an insult. The only thing required by etiquette is the pelisse; the only thing forbidden is the sword—a regulation which arose from the assassination of one of the Sultans.
Our minister made his speech in English, which was translated by the dragoman. The Grand Signior, contrary to custom, replied by his own lips, not once turning his head to the right or left, but yet obliquely glancing at the minister. When this was over, they were all soon hustled out; but, before their departure, had the Janissaries with their bags, each containing the half-pints of half farthings, brought before them again.
Happy were they, when at night they enjoyed the hospitality of the Ambassador's palace, and contrasted the mingled magnificence and paltry exhibition of this day, with the solid wealth and consistent grandeur of their own sovereign and their own country. They were yet exceedingly glad to have witnessed it, because they had heard such exaggerated accounts of the splendour and the peculiarities attendant on the Grand Signior, that it was a satisfaction to have been personally enabled to judge of their truth.
They quit Constantinople—Put in at Basilikos—Visit of pompous Governor—Reach Varna—Proceed towards Bucharest—Wretched Accommodations—Bucharest, the carriages, &c.—Reach Vienna—Comforts of Civilization and Religion—Fine City—Travel through the Tyrol and Grisons—Honesty of the Natives—Advantages of Christianity—Conclusion.
Our young friends, having seen whatever was worthy attention in a place where all research is rendered difficult and unpleasant, by the narrow and illiberal notions of the inhabitants, and the suspicious despotism of the Government, began to think of travelling homewards; to which load-star their hearts had long pointed.
"As, in point of fact," said Alfred, "our greatest pleasure, connected with Constantinople, was the approach to it, would it not be desirable to renew that enjoyment, as far as possible, by passing the Bosphorus, and seeing what we can on the other side. I wish, I must own, to sail again for a short time on these beautiful seas, and should like to pass through the Turkish provinces to Vienna; after which, we can consider how to proceed to dear old Britain."
As Clayfield much approved this plan, they hired a large open boat for Varna; and having engaged a new servant, (and sent back the one who had partaken their long wanderings to Damietta, where he desired to go in hopes of gaining a similar engagement, or to engage in other speculations with the wealth he had acquired by their service,) they went once more on board.
The sky was now serene; the water of that pure, deep blue, which best reflects the objects on its surface: and as they slowly cleared from the shore, again the proud Stamboul[11] spread before them as a mighty city, intermixed with gardens and groves: which, blending with its domes and minarets, united, apparently, all that was demanded for magnificence and luxury, and bade them, for a time, forget its narrow streets and wooden houses, its dirt and meanness.
[11] The Turkish name for Constantinople, anciently Byzantium.
The Black Sea could not, like the Archipelago, recall, in every distant and fleeting form, the most striking records of antiquity; but yet every thing around was full of interest in its combinations, or novelty in its appearance. But, unfortunately, they had scarcely cleared the Bosphorus, when the sky gave indications of an approaching storm. They sailed rapidly as far as Basilicos, when the rain beginning to fall violently, they thought it desirable to find a harbour, and were detained there for the following two days.
As hares abound in this neighbourhood, they thought of going out to shoot, but the rain soon compelled them to return; and whilst changing their clothes, they were interrupted by a visit from the Governor of the place, who entered the coffee-room where they were, and ordered coffee and pipes. The same were handed to them; and they were informed that this was a visit of ceremony, and that, according to the Turkish custom among particular friends, he had come expressly "to treat them to a cup." They were not, however, slow in learning, that according to the universal custom, a present was expected, and that their "cup" was to be rendered a very expensive one. The Governor, in stupid parade, great ostentation, and real meanness, no way degenerated from his brethren in rank on the other side of the Archipelago. A poor girl happening to pass, he gave her a trifle, and then held out his hand for her to kiss; and on leaving the room, he threw upon the table a handful of paras.
The weather clearing, they had a pleasant sail to Varna, which they found a considerable fishing-town, with a convenient harbour. They were fortifying it at the expense of the Governor; whose life becoming forfeit to the Porte, he had bought himself off by incurring this debt as a bribe. Alfred observed, that "probably he would live till the fortifications were finished, but not much longer; for no reliance can be placed in any case in the justice of the Turkish Government." The Pachas, or Governors, every where oppress the people; and when, by their extortion, they have amassed great wealth, become themselves the objects of plunder. Sometimes that wealth is used, as in the present case, to purchase indemnity; at others, life is taken, and the effects accumulated are seized, but in no case is restitution made to the injured. Sometimes a powerful Pacha will defy the Government, and the evils of rebellion add to the general miseries of these distressed countries. Such was the case under the government of Ali Pacha, whose cruelties and rapine, though the most notorious of any in our own day, by no means stand alone in the history of Turkish Governments.
Having a letter of introduction to one of the principal personages in Varna, a Greek bishop, they immediately waited upon him, and found him in his warehouse, or cellar. He apologized for not offering them wine, saying, "it had all turned sour, and he was therefore under the necessity of selling it as vinegar." This circumstance showed the situation in which a Christian bishop found himself, in a country where the religion of the Cross once maintained a powerful hierarchy.
Every thing around Varna was dull, and the accommodations very bad, yet difficult to obtain, and they therefore were anxious to proceed; but the Governor insisted on their taking a guard part of the way to Bucharest, because, he said, some years before an Englishman had been murdered on that road. Clayfleld observed, on setting out, "that any man might be killed upon it, even if he escaped murder;" for the wagon in which they now travelled was without springs, and its joltings were incessant and intolerable. Every night, on their arrival at the wretched places which were the only inns, they were compelled to take up their lodgings and sleep in the same room with their host, hostess, children, wagoners, and other travellers, all upon the same floor. This mode of travelling is indeed "a misery that brings a man strange bed-fellows."
On one occasion, Alfred found his mattress spread upon a platform, on which lay a large bundle, that proved to be a poor man actually dying. His wife seemed in great sorrow, but she continued to sell coffee and spirits, and soon afterwards a Greek priest came in, and repeated various charms intended to operate in place of medicine, and for which he received a fee. This man was so conscious of the folly of his conduct, that he apologized to the strangers for adopting it. As soon as he had finished his spells, the wagoners and several neighbours came in; and, despite of every remonstrance that could be made, they got drunk, and danced till morning.
Though Wallachia is a Turkish province, Bucharest is always governed by a Greek appointed by the Porte; and as they advanced towards it, they remarked several crosses erected by the way side, as in the Netherlands. There appeared to be not many Mahomedans in the country; but they remarked that almost all whom they saw, wore a green turban, which they concluded was not assumed as a matter of right, but in pride and bravado. In Bucharest they found the streets not paved with stones, but floored with timber. Society appeared here on a very different footing from all Turkish towns, and every thing bespoke an approach to the general manners of Christendom; they even boasted that there was a ball-room in the town, and that whist parties were not uncommon among the inhabitants. The higher classes here converse in Greek, the lower in a kind of mongrel Latin, which is yet not Italian. The carriages in use among the boyars, or noblemen, are a kind of wagon about three feet wide, and eight feet long, without springs. The body is of wicker-work, and the covering painted canvass; between, or rather over, the wheels, this canvass may be rolled up so as to make a window, and it is generally used as a door also.
On the whole, the people of Bucharest, in their habits and conveniences, approximate more with the Poles, than any other. They found the roads, after they left this city, still worse than they were before they reached it. They were always obliged to have eight horses, and sometimes four bullocks; and though their machine was half filled with hay, the closest packing would not save them from extreme fatigue and inconvenience.
Throughout Transylvania and Hungary, the same inconveniences were in a great degree experienced; and when, on their arrival at the German states, they were obliged to perform quarantine, as coming from the country of the plague, both agreed that a little rest was necessary.
Transylvania and Hungary, through which they were now travelling, belong to the House of Austria, and are inhabited by a brave and independent race of men, who have from the earliest times signalized themselves for military prowess. They profess Christianity under all its denominations; and a considerable number of Greeks and Mahomedans are intermixed with them. The nearer their frontiers approach Germany, the more do the manners of the people assimilate with their general character, but they are yet very distinct from the Austrians, to whose government they pay but little subjection beyond the name.
Arrived at Vienna, our travellers, by comparison, felt themselves at home, and gladly sate down for a week or two, not only to examine the city itself, but to recover somewhat from their fatigues in the Desert, the consequences of which still hung upon them, and had at one time seriously threatened to injure the health of both, particularly that of Clayfield. It was also very delightful to them to mix once more in civilized society, to enjoy the comforts of cleanliness, and the decencies of life, and to find themselves habited as Christians, and living as such; for, although in a Catholic country, they found many Protestants, in whose worship they could join with great satisfaction; and a sense of affectionate brotherhood and pure devotion, which those only can conceive who have been held as aliens and dogs among the unbelievers of the East, cheered their spirits.
Although Vienna appeared to great advantage to our young travellers, when contrasted with the miserable cities they had passed through; and they were fond of the Germans, under an idea that their character much resembled, on the whole, that of their own countrymen: yet in a few days they became impatient to proceed, and therefore determined to visit all in the place most remarkable. They saw several very fine palaces, an excellent university, and Alfred was particularly interested in the circumstance of finding a Scotch convent there, and in visiting a gate called the Scots gate, in honour of some distinguished troops of that nation formerly employed by the Austrians. He had also the satisfaction of meeting with some of his countrymen, who would have detained him, and promised to introduce him at Court. To this offer both the young men replied, "that they had resolved, when in the presence of the Grand Signior, to seek an audience from no other Sovereign but their own, as they thought his gracious smile alone could banish from their minds the remembrance of the Grand Signior's unmoved countenance, his bags of paras, and various proofs of stupidity."
"And really," added Alfred, turning to his friend, "so little and insignificant do these buildings appear in my eyes, although I am sensible they are large and splendid—so completely am I spoiled by the vastness of the Egyptian temples, and the still more wonderful excavations at Petra, that I have no taste, for the present, in examining even that which is excellent. I prefer, therefore, to go home through the Tyrol and Switzerland, to visiting the cities of Germany."
"With all my heart: the Tyrol, as a pastoral country, will remind us of many parts of Judea, without the evils which attach to it; and in the scenery of Switzerland, we are sure to find those features of Nature on which we have long loved to dwell. The works of man may lose the power of novelty and the charm of beauty; but the works of God never cease to astonish or delight us."
In consequence of this coincidence of taste, as well as from the conformity of temper constantly shown by these amiable friends, they shortly departed from Vienna, in a carriage better appointed, but not greatly differing in appearance from the one described. Pursuing their route to Switzerland, they passed through the beautiful district of the Tyrolese, and entered the Grisons, delighted with all they beheld, and feeling the inconveniences which sometimes occurred from the delay of horses, or the awkwardness of their German postilions, rather as amusing incidents, than unpleasant occurrences.
Neither of our young friends spoke German; but, as one was a good Italian scholar, and both understood French, they got on very well; and it was, to them, an absolute refreshment of the heart to find themselves travelling from morning to night among strangers, who never sought to overreach them, who accepted from them with pleasure, and attended to them with that manly civility, alike distant from the degradation of slavery, and the insolence of contempt—an insolence every European traveller must endure in the East, even from those he feels at the moment to be themselves the most degraded and despicable of his species.
They entered a village in the Grisons on Saturday, where, of course, they determined to remain; and on the Sabbath day, when they witnessed the assembling of the villagers at their humble church, bearing in their persons and manners, not less than in their dwellings, all the marks of a well-ordered, industrious, and thriving population; when they beheld them, "in simplicity and godly sincerity," offer up their devotions to their God and Saviour, as those with whom their own hearts could give "the right hand of fellowship,"—tears of pure delight sprang to their eyes, and the voice of praise to God not only rose from their lips, but their hearts.
"Ah, Clayfield!" said Alfred, as in the evening they sate beneath the vine-tree at the door of their little inn, "if in after-life you and I should meet with those who underrate the blessings of Christianity, and think the world little improved by it, because there are some who disgrace the profession, let us never forget, or allow them to remain ignorant of the mighty difference in human nature we have ourselves witnessed. In all places there is much sin—in all perhaps there may be found a little virtue; but it is only when the Christian religion is cultivated, that man becomes as good as he is capable of being."
"Because Christianity alone refines his wishes, purifies his heart, and gives to his natural affections their best influence, by opening views and hopes of immortality. If it were only for the sake of this full conviction, all my fatigues are well repaid. But I confess, that, delightful as this country is, thankful as I am to be once more amongst those I can call brethren, all I now feel renders me but the more impatient to reach my dear country," replied his friend.
The following day they pursued their route; and as the facilities for travelling increased the more populous the country became, they soon found themselves in the midst of those tremendous mountains and striking scenes, which have been so frequently described as to be familiar to our young readers. They were extremely gratified with these beautiful and magnificent views, and not less pleased with the neat commodious towns, and their agreeable inhabitants, whose manners formed a striking contrast, not less than their persons, with those of the naked Nubians, the lazy and stupid Turks, or the acute but fierce-looking Arabs.
Commanding as were the towering heights of the Alps, their forests of deep pine, their rocks, glaciers, and ravines, yet were they so far from effacing the memory of those which they had visited in the East, that they only confirmed their former prepossessions in their favour, as being beyond all comparison wild, terrible, picturesque, and magnificent. Mount Sinai, and Mount Hor, could alone be compared with each other; but to the character of the former, in its pointed pinnacles, immense rocks, and majestic outlines, were added the peculiar charm and variety of colour, which made even the awful become the beautiful, and threw a species of enchantment on the most fearful features Nature has adopted perhaps on earth.
When, in addition to these recollections, Petra arose to their mind's eye in its immense monuments of art, so adapted to the singular facilities of its unparalleled situation, and which had called for the united energies of innumerable persons, continued through successive ages, surprise and admiration rose as strongly as when it was first presented to their view; and they rejoiced in the labour they had accomplished, the curiosity they had gratified. The more they thought on the subject, the more they were convinced that this was the crown of those antiquities so long and justly held in estimation; and Alfred told his friend that it ought to make him amends for seeing neither Baalbec, nor Palmyra, which, though more elegant than either, were not to be compared with Philoe, and Petra, considered as wonders.
We now take our leave of Alfred and his friend, persuaded that every one of our young readers will be enabled, in idea, to follow them to their own homes, and conceive what the pleasure would be of meeting dear parents, friends, brothers, and sisters, after an absence so long, and frequently so dangerous. They will be aware how lovely every thing would appear in their eyes which had been endeared to their memory; and, more especially, how fervently they thanked the God who had so safely conducted them through a land evidently suffering under His displeasure, and stript of all the glories and privileges it once so eminently possessed!
We conclude with presuming to hope that those, whose hearts can so partake the emotions of our young travellers, will also remember their adventures, and find amusement in recalling to mind whatever most impressed them in this description of places or persons: as it is the anxious wish of the author to increase their knowledge in every way which can add to their innocent pleasures, and render them wise and good.
Transcriber's Notes:
[The end of The Young Pilgrim by Mrs. Hofland]