Letters from Palestine / Written during a residence there in the years 1836, 7 and 8

by J. D. Paxton

Our winds being light, we did not lose sight of Palestine for nearly twenty-four hours after we embarked. We had a pretty good view of the south part of the plain of Sharon and of the hill country that rose behind it. Several villages were seen, surrounded with their olive-trees, vineyards, and gardens. The land at last disappeared, and nothing but water was seen on all sides. Our course brought us within sight of Egypt, east of Damietta. The coast was low, and seemed to be a bed of sand. To the south-east we saw some large buildings that appeared to rise out of the water. We learned that they were forts at the mouth of some inlet. As we passed to the west, our course brought us nearer the shore, and gave us a better view of it. The water had a greenish colour, and such a current set to the east, that during a calm that took place we had to cast out an anchor to prevent our being swept far to the east.

In passing Damietta, we saw several vessels lying off. The shallows and bars at the mouth of the river are such as to prevent vessels from entering, and cause much trouble and delay in loading and unloading at that place. Large lighters are used in passing produce and merchandise to and from the shore. We could not see much of the town. It lies a little back, and the sand hills near the coast tended to prevent a good view of it. From all I could learn, it is a small place, and much on the decline. There are some strong forts at the mouth of the river, and so placed as to command the entrance. The implements of war are everywhere to be met with in the dominions of Mohammed Ali.

Groves of date-trees began to be seen on the coast. This is the tree of Egypt, and is everywhere in Egypt to be met with in greater numbers than any other tree. It has a singular appearance, and not unlike a spread umbrella. The stem is long, and of the same thickness, and has no branches until you reach the top,—then a large cluster of branches, which bend out and hang down their tops, so as to look much like the top of an open umbrella. They often are found together in groves or orchards, and make a very fine appearance.

Along the coast, and near the water, are many sand-hills. They almost line the coast—are of various shapes and sizes. Most of them are composed of white, fine sand, and are utterly destitute of vegetation. In a few places I could see some small bushes about the base of some of them; and through the openings between the sand-hills we could see groves of palms in the interior. In a few places we saw villages; for the most part they appeared small. Some of them had minarets, which indicated Moslem places of worship; and in several places we saw the top of minarets where we could see neither the village nor the mosque to which they belonged.

The minaret, I may here remark, is to the mosques what a steeple is to the church. Instead of a bell to call to worship, the moolah (the Mohammedan priest) mounts the minaret, proclaims the hour, and calls his people to prayer. The minaret rises higher above the mosque than the steeple usually does above the church. It is always white, and has a stairway up in the inside, by which the moolah ascends to the place from which he proclaims the hour and its accompanying duty. Near the top is a door through which he comes out. A little platform runs all round the minaret, fenced in with a low railing. There is a cover over the top, which protects them in time of rain. If I may compare a small thing with a great, I would say that a minaret is much like a tall candlestick, with a long spermaceti candle in it, and an extinguisher on the top of the candle. They have a very pretty and tasteful appearance.

The whole coast from east of Damietta to the west of Rosetta, bends like a bow, the convex part being next the Mediterranean. It is caused, no doubt, in part at least, by the immense deposits which the Nile makes of the mud, with which its waters are loaded. There are, however, some very deep bays on the coast, as the bay of Aboukir.

The coast about Rosetta did not differ much from that about Damietta. The mouth of the river is obstructed with bars, which is much in the way of its commerce. The town lies back, so that we had not a good view of it, at the distance at which we passed. There were once, I am told, many good houses here; the trade was much concentrated here; but since the canal has been made from Atpi to Alexandria, the trade has taken that direction, and Alexandria has been built up at the expense of Rosetta. All along this coast the current seemed to set eastward.

We reached Alexandria on the first of June. It stands on a point of land that projects considerably into the sea, and has a part that turns west like the upper part of a capital T. On this west point stands a palace of the pasha, to which he resorts in summer. There are two harbours, one on the east and the other on the west side of the town; and in each harbour is a Lazaret.

We had hoped, that as we had kept quarantine at Jaffa—as our vessel had little intercourse with the shore, having come from Beyroot, and as the health-officer promised he would state this on our papers, that we would have but little, if any, assigned us here. But we found that all availed not. We had twenty-one days assigned us, and all our entreaties availed not to lessen the number. The Turks, for the most part, take things patiently, and in few things is it more wise to imitate them than in this. We had our place assigned us in the Lazaret of the eastern harbour, and early the next morning the captain had us and all our baggage conveyed there. Our fellow-passengers were all assigned to the same place, while the captain and his crew were allowed to perform their quarantine on board their vessel—one soldier being put with them to see that none left the vessel, and none entered it; while another soldier was assigned to us to have a similar watch over all our doings.

On reaching the Lazaret, we were a good deal disconcerted at finding that all men, women, and children, masters and servants, were to be put in one and the same room. Who ever heard the like! I protested against it, but of what use to protest! We were told the rooms were scarce, and that this was their mode, to put all who had come in the same vessel in the same room. The room was large—about sixty by twenty. Several years' experience had satisfied me that there was more trouble than profit in trying to get Turks and Arabs to think and reason as we do. I therefore set myself to make the best of the case, and set off to examine the premises. At and about the door of the room—for we were not in the open court before it—I met several of our voyagers, who, with much earnestness, urged me not to go in. Angelo, who had just come out, earnestly advised me not to enter, and let me know that the place was literally overrun with fleas. I found them there in great numbers truly. But after having it swept again and again, and using other means to destroy them, we took possession. I had a strong cord stretched across, so as to cut off about one-third, and made a room about twenty feet square. On this cord we hung sheets, and blankets, and bed-spreads, and thus made a private and comfortable chamber. We procured a frame-work of palm wood that was a very good substitute for bedsteads—and some other articles of the first necessity, and did very well; for our room, as we found it, had not an article in it.