XXXII.
African Desert, March 8, 1842.
The governor sent us four men, called sailors, to supply the place of six who had absconded; but such a crew I never saw. One was blind of an eye, another lame, the third too old for service. The instructions of the governor, who had forced them on board, were, to continue with us to Siout, the capital of Upper Egypt, where plenty of men could be found. To cap the climax, the next day, while detained by a strong head wind, the lame, blind, and halt took leg bail, unperceived. We made a further application at another village, and succeeded in getting men to go as far as Siout, at which place we wished to stop, to visit Caves, about four miles distant from the river, in the mountains.
Having mounted donkeys, we started for the city, which is situated about a mile and a half from the river; and the road being studded with rows of trees on each side, it was an agreeable excursion.
On arriving within the walls, we presented ourselves before the Effendi, who occupied a handsome house, with a grove of palm trees in the rear. We found him squatted with his officers upon carpets, on a low divan, each enjoying the luxury of a long pipe, with an amber mouth-piece. He desired us to be seated, when coffee and pipes were presented; and, after the usual etiquette had been passed through, our credentials were presented, and our wants made known to the dragoman. He immediately sent his janizary to the governor of the Nile, with instructions to procure us a complement of good sailors, which was effected; and on paying them all they demanded, we succeeded remarkably well.
The streets of Siout are unpaved, narrow, and irregular; the houses are built of unburnt brick, and differ in no respect from the generality of those usually met with on the Nile. During the inundations the whole country is overflowed, and boats of the largest size anchor under the wall of the city, at which time it communicates with the river by an artificial causeway of immense size. The country about is rich and fertile in the extreme, owing to the annual inundations of the Nile. The palace and gardens of Ibrahim Pacha were well worthy of a visit. The tombs and immense chambers which are found in the mountain in the vicinity, are very interesting, but bear no comparison with those of the tombs of the kings at Thebes. On entering some of those gloomy chambers, with our torches, we were beset by bats of enormous size, that literally swarmed there, and afforded much amusement in the chase. On firing a gun in one of the dark recesses, we killed two, and found them to be the most extraordinary animals of the kind I had ever seen, being the size of a full-grown rat, and with much the same appearance, with the exception of the mouth, which was like that of a wolf, and the extended wings. On coming out of the tombs, covered with dust, and fatigued, we proceeded to the city to enjoy the luxury of a Turkish bath. The Orientals enjoy the vapor and hot baths to such an extent, that in almost all their towns and villages they are to be found; but I had no idea of finding such perfection here, and must, for the novelty of the thing, describe it. After passing two chambers, one hotter than the other, we arrived at the third, where the heat and vapor were almost suffocating, and there found half-a-dozen naked Arabs waiting for their three customers; when such a scene of confusion commenced as I cannot describe, to decide who should have the “white skins.” After they had fought it out, and our servants had settled it by agreeing to divide the backsheesh, or gift, they commenced with burning musk and perfume. While the perspiration rolled out from every pore, I was rubbed from head to foot with a camel’s hair glove, and then laid on the hot marble floor, while my arms were crossed upon my back and breast, and almost the weight of the Arab’s body thrown upon me. All my joints were drawn and cracked, while showers of hot water were thrown upon me; and, almost in an exhausted state, myself and my two companions were led into an adjoining room, with white turbans on our heads, wrapped in sheets, where we reposed upon divans for an hour, partaking of coffee, lemonade, and pipes. After this fatiguing, but refreshing, bath, one feels like a new man, particularly when the heat of the day is intense.
On descending the Nile, we stopped at several towns and villages to see the bazaars, and study further the manners and customs of the people, but I cannot attempt a description for want of space. I will, however, mention that we visited the pyramids of Sakkara, and the site of ancient Memphis; but as nothing of interest now exists at the latter, and having described in a former letter the immense pyramids of Ghizeh, I shall not speak of Sakkara, which is smaller, and of less consequence. Near the same site is Abousir, a small, miserable village, situated upon the edge of the desert, where are three pyramids of large size, and many tumuli. Near this place, after an excursion of four or five miles from the verdant banks of the Nile, we found the mountain which contains the famous Catacomb of Birds. With torches, we entered the narrow hole, on our hands and knees, to see places formerly occupied by the mummies. We found passages leading in every direction through the mountain, many fragments of mummies, and many a sarcophagus entire. The entrance to the Catacomb of Birds is by a pit, twenty-two feet deep, at the bottom of which is a horizontal passage, sixty feet long, nearly choked up with sand, dirt, and broken jars, along which one has to creep; but after some distance, the passage is high enough to stand erect, and there are large rooms in which are deposited the jars containing the sacred birds.
We arrived at Cairo on the 28th of February, having had fine winds and a rapid current in descending the Nile, for several days. My great anxiety to visit the Holy Land had been increasing upon me, although it was attended with great fatigue and risk, but my travelling companion, a Prussian nobleman, whom I met in Greece, concluded to accompany me. I took our dragoman, called upon the sheik of the Bedouin tribe, who could furnish us with camels, and with whom I made a contract before the Consul, in Arabic, to cross the desert to Jerusalem in fifteen days, he attending us. No danger was to be apprehended from the tribe, but some alarming events have already taken place, which I will recount in my next letter.
On leaving Cairo our caravan presented quite a formidable appearance, consisting of three dromedaries for ourselves and dragoman, four camels for our tent, water, luggage, and two servants, with five Arabs to drive the camels. For the greater security I had forwarded the most valuable part of my luggage to Alexandria, and myself and companion had an ample supply of fire-arms, and we were also disguised in the Turkish costume, which does not attract so much attention as a European dress. On the second day after leaving Cairo we encamped at Tanta, on the borders of the Delta and the Desert, where we understood Mehemet Ali had retired to his country-seat, and having made the acquaintance of Artim Bey, the first dragoman to his Highness, we were promised a presentation in the evening, our letters of introduction being satisfactory. On arriving at the gate of the wall which surrounds the country palace we were escorted by a number of the body guards, a corps which comprises a select body of one hundred men, to the portico, where were several sentinels with presented arms. Artim Bey here presented himself and invited us in, when we were delighted in seeing the extraordinary man who has figured so largely in Egypt for the past forty or forty-five years. On entering the saloon we discovered Mehemet Ali seated upon a divan which extended around three sides of the apartment. He was dressed in full Turkish costume, with his feet drawn up under him. He saluted us, and beckoned us to be seated, when our conversation commenced on different topics, and continued for half an hour. The subject of agriculture upon the Nile, the necessity of great exertion and labor to prevent the encroachment of the sands of the desert, the introduction of foreign trees and plants into Egypt, in which he has effected much, seemed particularly to interest him. He has yet the appearance of vivacity, is a man of strong constitution, short in stature, with a venerable long beard as white as snow. His age is now seventy-five. His leaning couch or pillow was of crimson, richly embroidered with gold, with long tassels suspended. In front of us on the floor stood two large chandeliers, elegantly wrought; his nephew sat upon the opposite divan, while the interpreter stood at his side, and some fifteen or twenty beys and officers, forming a separate group in a semicircle, following the laws of etiquette, remained standing during our visit.
In all private houses in Turkey and Egypt the pipe and coffee are almost immediately presented on being seated, but at the palace of the Pasha the pipe is dispensed with, and coffee only is presented in small gold and silver cups.
We are now in the solitude of the desert, and feel somewhat relieved from our apprehensions of robbers, with whom we have had an adventure, the particulars of which I must defer till my next. Our little hut in which I now write is about ten feet in diameter, sufficiently large for my companion and myself to spread our mattresses, arrange our private luggage and table, while outside of the tent the camels lie crouched upon all fours, forming a semicircle around a small charcoal fire, around which lie the Arabs stretched upon the sand. Our servants, having furnished us our evening’s repast, and satisfied their own appetites after a hard day’s ride upon the camels, have stretched their mats upon the sand by the side of the interpreter, and all is quiet except an occasional groan from a camel, or the half conscious song of an Arab. Really this travelling in the desert is of the most novel and extraordinary character, and, although attended with great fatigue, one is somewhat compensated by the peculiarity of the voyage, independent of the strong desire to see Palestine.