First view of the coast of Judea. Anxieties as we approached. State of the Country. Recent Rebellion. Investment of Jerusalem. Character of the Natives. Earthquakes. Taking of the City. English and American Missionaries. Death of Mrs. Thompson. Defeat of Ibrahim Pasha. Re-capture of the City. Conscription. Strange conduct of our Consul at Jaffa. He is dismissed from Office. Jaffa. Large clusters of Grapes. Eastern Story-tellers. Gardens and Watermelons of Jaffa. The Cactus.
We left the coast of Egypt on the 10th of August. Early on the morning of the 12th we had the pleasure of seeing the hills of Palestine emerging from the waters. What a thrill was occasioned by the sight!
The birth-place of a wide-spread and wonderful religion—the land of a thousand miracles—the original home of a people now spread every where, and every where a miracle; and every where, from Lapland to India, still yearning towards their father-land—the mountains, the plains of Judea were before us. In our earliest infancy we had tried to picture them—they were mingled with the deepest and warmest feelings of our maturer years; in imagination how often had we wandered over the hallowed ground, and here before us was now the reality itself.
A stretch of low and whitish coast gradually developed itself; and beyond this, at the distance of several miles, rose a chain of hills, as our glasses informed us, under pretty good cultivation, and sprinkled with villages. By and by the sun was reflected from a mass of white houses on the shore, encircled with walls and towers; this was Jaffa—the Joppa of the Scriptures, and the ancient as well as the present seaport of Jerusalem. I believe I may say there was a very strong sensation excited universally throughout the ship by the scene before us; for the religion of Judea had at least been that of our childhood, and there was probably scarcely an individual among us, in whose mind it was not connected with the tenderness of a good parent, or the kindness of some early friend still dear to our memory.
Our noble ship glided on, and began to approach the coast. She was the first American vessel that had ever entered these waters; and in her joyous motion, as she pushed the ripples aside, and threw back the morning rays from a cloud of canvass, we could almost imagine a participation in the feelings of her inmates. The stripes and stars were presently replied to by a similar ensign over the house of our consul at Jaffa; and the other consuls following suite, there was presently a display of nearly all the European flags in that ancient city.
The city of Jaffa is built on the side of a hill that rises immediately from the water’s edge; the houses are white, rising tier above tier; many are covered with whitewashed domes; and the white being now relieved by the consular flags, it had quite a pleasing appearance; its walls and towers, and a castle at the upper extremity, gave it also a show of strength; and had we found time for it, this proud array of pennon and battlement, assisted as it was by an encampment of soldiers in the neighborhood, might easily have carried the mind back to the days of chivalry and romance.
But we were occupied chiefly with ourselves; for with our pleasure at seeing the Holy Land was mingled an apprehension that, after all, we should not be permitted to set foot on shore. At Alexandria we had dire accounts of earthquake and war; and, what alarmed us more, of the plague; for although not one of us but would have been willing to meet this disease in his own individual case for the sake of seeing Jerusalem, yet the risk of introducing it into the ship was not to be thought of, and we knew that if there was any danger of this, the commodore would at once decide to have no communication. With these anxieties we approached the coast; and as the ship speeds onward, it may be well to state to the reader what was the state of Palestine at this time.
The ever-restless Pasha of Egypt had, about two years previous, without any warning to his master the Sultan, marched a large army into the country; and, on pretence of settling some difficulties among the natives, had seized on its strong places; after which he set the Turkish power at defiance. The Egyptian soldiers are almost universally men of light, but active and well-knit frames; and are capable of enduring fatigue, and fitted for any kind of warfare. The restlessness of their sovereign keeps them also in a state of constant activity; and many of them, though young, are already veterans in the field. The Turkish soldiers, on the other hand, are unused to motion—are mostly without experience, and lack confidence both in themselves and in their new system, which they but imperfectly understand. They have no particular attachment to their officers; while the Egyptians, though at first disliking military service, are said in a short time to become so fond of it, as to have and to desire no other home than their tent; they feel also, universally, a strong attachment both to Ibrahim Pasha and to Mahomet Ali.
We may find in all this the secret of their success whenever brought into contact with the Turkish soldiery; and there can be little doubt, that if foreign powers had not interfered, Mahomet Ali, if he had chosen, might have seated himself on the throne of Constantinople. Some of the Turkish soldiers taken in the recent expedition toward the Turkish capital, were sent to Egypt as prisoners; and we were informed, excited universal ridicule in their passage through Syria by their sluggish and awkward movement. But I have wandered a little from my subject.
On getting possession of Syria, Mahomet Ali began there the same system that he had been pursuing in Egypt, but without having properly weighed the difference in the native character. He first laid heavy exactions on the purses of the inhabitants, who indeed had little to spare, the country producing scarcely more than enough for their own support. This they bore, though with grumbling: tax after tax was laid, and with difficulty raised; and a general dissatisfaction was the consequence. At length he demanded their sons for his army and navy, and at once, the whole infuriated populace rose into rebellion. “Take our purses,” they cried, “if it must be so; we can part with them; but our children we will not give.” Jerusalem, where the Egyptian garrison was strongest, was in a few days invested by a force of 20,000 men, fierce and lawless people, and now maddened into phrenzy. This was eleven weeks previous to our visit. The rebels were badly provided with ammunition, and had no cannon, but spread themselves over the hills around, hoping, perhaps, to starve the garrison into terms, or succeed by stratagem; or more probably, scarcely knowing themselves what they wanted, or whither to direct their efforts. It seems to have been a sudden and universal outburst of indignant feeling, almost without aim and without hope. The reader, to form a conception of the scene, must fancy a people, in color, costume, and disposition, very much like the Indian tribes bordering on our white settlements; for such, in a striking degree, are the appearance and character of the country population of Palestine.