FROM BOMBAY TO SUEZ.—THE RED SEA, MECCA, AND MOUNT SINAI.
"Here we are in port again!" said Fred Bronson, as the anchor fell from the bow of the steamer and the chain rattled through the hawse-hole.
"Three cheers for ourselves!" said Frank Bassett in reply. "We have had a splendid voyage, and here is a new country for us to visit."
"And one of the most interesting in the world," remarked the Doctor, who came on deck just in time to catch the words of the youth.
"Egypt is the oldest country of which we have a definite history, and there is no other land that contains so many monuments of its former greatness."
Their conversation was cut short by the captain, who came to tell them that they would soon be able to go on shore, as the Quarantine boat was approaching, and they could leave immediately after the formalities were over.
When we last heard from our friends they were about leaving Bombay under "sealed orders." When the steamer was fairly outside of the beautiful harbor of that city, and the passengers were bidding farewell to Colaba Light-house, Dr. Bronson called the youths to his side and told them their destination.
"We are going," said he, "to Egypt, and thence to the Holy Land. The steamer will carry us across the Indian Ocean to the Straits of Bab-el-mandeb, and then through these straits into the Red Sea; then we continue our voyage to Suez, where we land and travel by rail to Cairo."
One of the boys asked how long it would take them to go from Bombay to Suez.
"About ten days," was the reply. "The distance is three thousand miles, in round numbers, and I believe we are not to stop anywhere on the way."
The time was passed pleasantly enough on the steamer. The weather was so warm that the passengers preferred the deck to the stifling cabins, and the majority of them slept there every night, and lounged there during the day. The boys passed their time in reading about the countries they were to visit, writing letters to friends at home, and completing the journal of their travels. In the evenings they talked about what they had seen, and hoped that the story of their wanderings would prove interesting to their school-mates in America, and to other youths of their age.[1]
COAST OF THE RED SEA.
Soon after entering the Red Sea they passed the island of Perim, a barren stretch of rock and sand, crowned with a signal station, from which the English flag was flying. As they were looking at the island, and thinking what a dreary place it must be to live in, one of the passengers told the boys an amusing story of how the English obtained possession of it.
"Of course you are aware," said he, "that the English have a military post at Aden, a rocky peninsula on the shore of Arabia, about a hundred and twenty miles from the entrance of the Red Sea. They bought it from the Sultan of that part of Arabia in 1839 by first taking possession, and then telling him he could name his price, and they would give him what they thought best, as they were determined to stay. Aden is a very important station for England, as it lies conveniently between Europe and Asia, and has a fine harbor. The mail steamers stop there for coal, and the government always keeps a garrison in the fort. It is one of the hottest and most unhealthy places in the world, and there is a saying among the British officers that an order to go to Aden is very much like being condemned to be shot.
"Soon after the Suez Canal was begun the French thought they needed a port somewhere near Aden, and in 1857 they sent a ship-of-war to obtain one. The ship touched at Aden for provisions, and the captain was invited to dine with the general who commanded at the fort. During dinner he became very talkative, and finally told the general that his government had sent him to take possession of Perim, at the entrance of the Red Sea.
"Perim was a barren island, as you see, and belonged to nobody; and the English had never thought it was worth holding, though they occupied it from 1799 to 1801. As soon as the French captain had stated his business in that locality the general wrote a few words on a slip of paper, which he handed to a servant to carry to the chief of staff. Then he kept his visitor at table till a late hour, prevailed on him to sleep on shore that night, and not be in a hurry to get away the next morning.
"The French ship left during the forenoon and steamed for Perim. And you may imagine that captain's astonishment when he saw a dozen men on the summit of the island fixing a pole in the ground. As soon as it was in place they flung out the English flag from its top, and greeted it with three cheers. In the little note he wrote at the dinner-table the general had ordered a small steamer to start immediately for Perim and take possession in the name of the Queen, and his orders were obeyed. The French captain was dismissed from the navy for being too free with his tongue, and the English have 'hung on' to Perim ever since."
The Doctor joined them as the story of the occupation of Perim was concluded. There was a laugh over the shrewdness of the English officer and the discomfiture of the French one, and then the conversation turned to the Red Sea.
"It may properly be called an inlet of the Indian Ocean," said the Doctor, "as it is long and narrow, and has more the characteristics of an inlet than of a sea. It is about fourteen hundred miles long, and varies from twenty to two hundred miles in width; it contains many shoals and quicksands, so that its navigation is dangerous, and requires careful pilotage. At the upper or northern extremity it is divided into two branches by the peninsula of Mount Sinai; the western branch is called the Gulf of Suez, and is about one hundred and eighty miles long, by twenty broad. This gulf was formerly more difficult of navigation than the Red Sea proper, but recently the Egyptian government has established a line of beacons and light-houses along its whole length, so that the pilots can easily find their way by day or at night."
One of the boys asked why the body of water in question was called the Red Sea.
The Doctor explained that the origin of the name was unknown, as it had been called the Red Sea since the time of Herodotus and other early writers. It is referred to in the Hebrew Scriptures as Yam Suph, the Sea of Weeds, in consequence of the profusion of weeds in its waters. These weeds have a reddish color; the barren hills that enclose the sea have a strong tinge of red, especially at the hours of sunset and sunrise, and the coral reefs that stretch in every direction and make navigation dangerous are often of a vermilion tint. "You will see all these things as you proceed," he continued, "and by the time you are at Suez you will have no difficulty in understanding why this body of water is called the Red Sea."
The boys found it as he had predicted, and the temperature for the first two days after passing Perim led Frank to suggest that the name might be made more descriptive of its character if it were called the Red-hot Sea. The thermometer stood at 101° in the cabin, and was only a little lower on deck; the heat was enervating in the extreme, and there was no way of escaping it; but on the third day the wind began to blow from the north, and there was a change in the situation. Thin garments were exchanged for thick ones, and the passengers, who had been almost faint with the heat, were beginning to shiver in their overcoats.
"A change of this sort is unusual," said the gentleman who had told them of the seizure of Perim, "but when it does come it is very grateful. Only in January or February is the Red Sea anything but hot; the winds blow from the sandy desert, or from the region of the equator, and sometimes it seems as though you were in a furnace. From December to March the thermometer averages 76°, from thence to May it is 87°, and through the four or five months that follow it is often 100°. I have frequently seen it 110° in the cabin of a steamer, and on one occasion, when the simoom was blowing from the desert, it was 132°. Steamers going north when the south wind is blowing find themselves running just with the wind, so that they seem to be in a dead calm; in such cases they sometimes turn around every ten or twelve hours and run a few miles in the other direction, so as to let the wind blow through the ship and ventilate it as much as possible. The firemen are Arabs and negroes, accustomed all their lives to great heat, but on almost every voyage some of them find the temperature of the engine-room too severe, and die of suffocation."
VIEW IN JEDDAH, ON THE RED SEA.
Our friends passed by Jeddah, the port of Mecca, and from the deck of the steamer the white walls and towers of the town were distinctly visible. Frank and Fred would have been delighted to land at Jeddah and make a pilgrimage to Mecca, but the Doctor told them the journey was out of the question, as no Christian is allowed to enter the sacred city of the Moslems, and the few who had ever accomplished the feat had done so at great personal risk.
CAPTAIN BURTON IN NATIVE DRESS.
"The first European who ever went there was Burckhardt, in 1814," said Dr. Bronson. "He prepared himself for his travels by studying the Arabic language, and went in the disguise of an Arab merchant, under the name of Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdallah. Then he travelled through Syria, Asia Minor, and Egypt for several years, and became thoroughly familiar with the customs of the people, so that he was able to pass himself successfully as a learned Moslem. Captain Burton went to Mecca in 1852, and since his time the city has been visited by Maltzan, Palgrave, and two or three others. Captain Burton followed the example of Burckhardt and wore the Arab dress; he spoke the language fluently, but in spite of this his disguise was penetrated while he was returning to Jeddah, and he was obliged to flee from his companions and travel all night away from the road till he reached the protection of the seaport."
"What would have happened if he had been found out?" Frank inquired.
"The mob of fanatical Moslems would have killed him," was the reply. "They would have considered it an insult to their religion for him to enter their sacred city—the birthplace of the founder of their religion—and he would have been stoned or otherwise put to death. Some Europeans who have gone to Mecca have never returned, and nothing was ever heard of them. It is supposed they were discovered and murdered."
"What barbarians!" exclaimed Fred.
"Yes," replied the Doctor; "but if you speak to any of them about it, they will possibly reply that Christian people have put to death those who did not believe in their religion. They might quote a good many occurrences in various parts of Europe in the past five hundred years, and could even remind us that the Puritans, in New England, hanged three men and one woman, and put many others in prison, for the offence of being Quakers. Religious intolerance, even at this day, is not entirely confined to the Moslems."
Frank asked what could be seen at Mecca, and whether the place was really worth visiting.
ENCAMPMENT OF PILGRIMS AT MOUNT ARAFAT, NEAR MECCA.
"As to that," the Doctor answered, "tastes might differ. Mecca is said to be a well-built city, seventy miles from Jeddah, with a population of about fifty thousand. The most interesting edifice in the place is the 'Caaba,' or Shrine, which stands in the centre of a large square, and has at one corner the famous 'Black Stone,' which the Moslems believe was brought from heaven by the angels. Burckhardt thought it was only a piece of lava; but Captain Burton believes it is an aerolite, of an oval shape, and about seven feet long. The pilgrims walk seven times around the Caaba, repeating their prayers at every step, and they begin their walk by prostrating themselves in front of the Black Stone and kissing it. The consequence is that it is worn smooth, as the number of pilgrims going annually to Mecca is not less than two hundred thousand. The pilgrimage is completed with the ascent of Mount Arafat, twelve miles east of Mecca; and when a Moslem returns from his journey he is permitted to wear a green turban for the rest of his life. The pilgrimage is an easier matter than it used to be, as there are steamers running from Suez and other points to carry the pilgrims to Jeddah, and from there they can easily accomplish their journey to Mecca and return in a couple of weeks."
Frank asked how far it was from Mecca to Medina, the place where Mohammed died and was buried.
"Medina is about two hundred and fifty miles north of Mecca," said the Doctor, "and is only a third the size of the latter city. It is next to Mecca in sanctity, and a great many pilgrims go there every year. The tomb of the Prophet is in a large mosque, in the centre of the city, and there is an old story that the coffin of Mohammed is suspended in the air by invisible threads hanging from heaven. Captain Burton visited Medina, and reports that the Moslems have no knowledge of the story, and say it must have been invented by a Christian. The tomb is in one side of the building, but no one is allowed to look upon it, not even a Moslem; the most that can be seen is the curtain surrounding it, and even that must be observed through an aperture in a wooden screen. The custodians say that any person who looks on the tomb of the Prophet would be instantly blinded by a flood of holy light."
VIEW OF MEDINA (FROM A DRAWING BY A NATIVE ARTIST).
So much for the two holiest places in the eyes of the Moslems. Frank and Fred concluded that they did not care to go to Mecca and Medina, and the former instanced the old fable of a fox who despised the grapes which were inaccessible, and denounced them as too sour to be eaten.
As they entered the Gulf of Suez the attention of the boys was directed to Mount Sinai, and they readily understood, from the barrenness and desolation of the scene, why it was called "Mount Sinai in the Wilderness." With a powerful telescope not a sign of vegetation was anywhere visible.
It was late in the forenoon of a pleasant day when the ship came to anchor, as we have described in our opening lines. The Quarantine doctor came on board, and was soon convinced that no reason existed why the passengers, who chose to do so, might not go on shore. Doctor Bronson and his young friends bargained with a boatman to carry them and their baggage to the steps of the Hotel de Suez for a rupee each. The town, with the hotel, was about two miles from the anchorage, and the breeze carried them swiftly over the intervening stretch of water. Half a dozen steamers lay at the anchorage, waiting for their turn to pass the Canal; and a dozen or more native craft, in addition to the foreign ships, made the harbor of Suez appear quite picturesque. The rocky hills behind the town, and the low slopes of the opposite shore, glistened in the bright sunlight; but the almost total absence of verdure in the landscape rendered the picture the reverse of beautiful. Not a tree nor a blade of grass can be seen on the African side of the Gulf, while on the opposite shore the verdure-seeking eye is only caught by the oasis at the Wells of Moses, where a few palm-trees bid defiance to the shifting sands of the desert.
SCENE NEAR SUEZ.
Suez appeared to our friends a straggling collection of flat-roofed houses and whitewashed walls, where the sea terminates and the desert begins. Before the construction of the Canal it was little better than an Arab village, with less than two thousand inhabitants; at present it is a town of ten or twelve thousand people, the majority of whom are supported, directly or indirectly, by the Canal or the railway. There has been a town of some sort at this point for more than three thousand years, but it has never been of much importance, commercially or otherwise. The situation in the midst of desert hills, and more especially the absence of fresh water, have been the drawbacks to its prosperity. There is little to be seen in its shops, and for that little the prices demanded are exorbitant. Few travellers remain more than a day at Suez, and the great majority are ready to leave an hour or two after their arrival.
TRAVELLING IN THE SINAI DESERT.