Here he was received in the most flattering manner by Count Bernstorf, the Danish minister, by whom he was appointed lieutenant of engineers. The rank of captain he modestly refused. Niebuhr was never possessed by an immoderate desire for wealth, and a trait of unpresuming disinterestedness which escaped him during his preparatory studies is at once illustrative of this fact, and of another equally important,—that wealth no less than fame is frequently best won by carefully abstaining from grasping at it too eagerly. The salary granted him by the King of Denmark was probably small, but our traveller, with that repugnance to solicit which is characteristic of superior minds, not only contrived to reduce his wants within the limits of his means, but by rigid economy enabled himself, moreover, to purchase at his own expense whatever instruments he needed. The knowledge of this fact coming to the ears of the minister, he not only reimbursed the young traveller the sum he had expended, but, as a mark of the high satisfaction he derived from so striking an evidence of honest independence, committed to his charge the travelling-chest of the mission.
Niebuhr’s companions were four in number: Von Haven, the linguist, a person of mean capacity; Forskaal, the naturalist, distinguished for his numerous and profound acquirements; Cramer, a physician, devoid even of professional knowledge; and Baurenfeind, an artist, not destitute of talent, but ignorant, full of prejudices, and addicted to the vulgar habit of drinking. Von Haven, to whom a long sea-voyage was disagreeable, obtained permission to proceed to Marseilles by land; and the ship in which the other members of the expedition embarked was directed to take him on board at that port. They left the Sound on the 7th of January, 1761, but were three times driven back by contrary winds; so that it was not until the 10th of March that they were enabled fairly to put to sea, and continue their voyage.
Niebuhr describes, among the singular things observed during this voyage, a white rainbow, which only differed from the common rainbow in being destitute of colours. This, I believe, is a phenomenon not often witnessed; but on the 21st of May, 1830, which succeeded a day and night of tremendous thunder, lightning, and rain, I remember to have myself seen a similar rainbow in Normandy. It was much thicker, but greatly inferior in span, and less sharply defined at the edges than the ordinary bow; and, as the morning mist upon which it was painted grew thinner, the arch decreased in span, until it at length vanished entirely.
Our traveller amused himself while on board in observing the manners of the crew, which he considered manly though unpolished. He likewise exercised himself daily in nautical and astronomical observations; and by his affability and the extent of his knowledge, acquired and preserved the respect of both officers and men. They discovered Cape St. Vincent on the 21st of April, and a few days afterward entered the Mediterranean, where their course was considerably retarded by calms and contrary winds. Meanwhile the weather was beautiful, and their eyes were refreshed with the most lovely prospects, now on the African shores, and now on those of Europe. On the 14th of May they cast anchor in the port of Marseilles, which was at that time crowded by Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Spanish, and French ships, the greater number of which were prevented from putting to sea by fear of the English fleets, which scoured the Mediterranean, diffusing consternation and terror on all sides.
From the agreeable society of Marseilles, rendered doubly charming in their estimation by their previous privation, they were soon compelled to snatch themselves away. On the 6th of June Niebuhr observed at sea the transit of Venus, and on the 14th reached Malta. This little island enjoys, like Ireland, the privilege of being free from serpents, which it is supposed to owe to the interference of St. Paul; though Niebuhr imagines that the dry and rocky nature of the soil is sufficient, without a miracle, to account for the circumstance. The knights observing, perhaps, a peculiar absence of bigotry in our traveller, imagined that this indicated a leaning towards Catholicism, and appear to have been desirous of tempting him by magnificent promises to desert the creed of his forefathers. Though his stay in Malta was very short, Niebuhr was careful to observe whatever curiosities the island afforded: the great church of St. John, enriched, it is said, by sharing the plunder of the knights, with innumerable ornaments, and a prodigious candelabrum of gold; the hospital, where the sick, whatever might be their medical treatment, were served with vessels of silver; the immense corn-magazines, hewn out in the rock; the salt-mines; and the catacombs. For some reason, however, which is not stated, he did not see the Phenician inscription, which was still preserved in the island.
In sailing from Malta to Smyrna he was attacked with dysentery, and began to fear that his travels were to terminate there; but the disorder was less serious than he imagined, and having reached Tenedos, he embarked in a Turkish boat, and proceeded up the Dardanelles to Constantinople. Here, though slowly, he recovered his health, and having remained quiet two months, and provided oriental dresses, not choosing to expose himself in the paltry costume of Europe to the laughter of the populace, he set sail with his companions for Egypt.
On the way they landed at Rhodes, where, for the first time they visited a Turkish eating-house. The dinner, though dear, was good, but was served up in common earthen platters, in the open street. They next visited a Jew, who kept wine for the accommodation of Europeans; and had in his house two young women, whom he called his daughters, who were probably designed for the same purpose. Their reception here cost them still dearer than their Turkish dinner; and as Jews, wine, and the drinkers of wine are held in contempt by all sincere and respectable Mohammedans, this must be considered a highly injudicious step in Niebuhr. The ship in which they sailed had on board a number of female slaves, the principal of whom were lodged in a large chamber directly over their cabin, from which we may infer that the Turks do not, like the Burmese, consider it a disgrace to have women walking over their heads. As there were tolerably wide cracks in the ceiling, our travellers frequently enjoyed the pleasure of viewing these ladies, who, though a little terrified at first, soon became accustomed to their faces, and notwithstanding that neither party at all understood the language of the other, many little presents of fruit and other trifles were given and returned. The mode in which this affair was conducted was ingenious. As soon as the Mohammedans collected together for prayer, the girls gently tapped at their windows, and Niebuhr and Forskaal, looking out of the cabin, beheld the handkerchiefs of the fair held out for fruit. When filled, they were drawn up, and the presents they chose to make in return were then lowered down in the same way. During the voyage, six or eight persons having died suddenly, it was suspected that they had the plague on board; but Niebuhr imagined that other causes might have hastened the end of those who died; at all events, none of the members of the expedition were infected, though their physician had often visited the sick.
The land of Egypt at length appeared on the 26th of September, and on the same day, late in the evening, they cast anchor in the port of Alexandria. Norden, a scientific, but an uninteresting traveller, having recently constructed a plan of the city, Niebuhr judged that he might spare himself the pains of repeating the process, more especially as the Arabs, hovering in troops in the vicinity, rendered him apprehensive that he might be robbed. However, as the eminence on which Pompey’s pillar stands overlooks a large portion of the city, he amused himself with taking several angles from thence, intending to follow this up by taking others from some other positions. While he was thus engaged, one of the Turkish merchants, who happened to be present, observing his telescope pointed towards the city, had the curiosity to look through it, and was not a little alarmed at perceiving a tower upside down. “This,” says he, “gave occasion to a rumour, that I was come to Alexandria to turn the whole city topsyturvy. The report reached the governor’s house. My janizary refused to accompany me when I took out my instrument; and as I then supposed that a European could not venture to appear in an eastern city without a janizary, I relinquished the idea of making any further geometrical measurements there.”—“On another occasion,” he continues, “when I was making an astronomical observation on the southern point of the Delta, a very civil and sensible peasant, from the village of Daraúe, happened to be present. As I wished to show him something he had never seen before, I pointed the telescope of the quadrant towards his village, on which he was extremely terrified at seeing all the houses upside down. He asked my servant what could be the cause of this. The man replied, that the government, being extremely dissatisfied with the inhabitants of that village, had sent me to overthrow it entirely. The poor peasant was greatly afflicted, and entreated me to wait long enough for him to take his wife, his children, and his cow to some place of safety. My servant assured him he had two hours good. He immediately ran home, and as soon as the sun had passed the meridian, I took my quadrant on board again.”
Niebuhr found a number of Mohammedans at Alexandria who understood French, Swedish, and Danish as completely as if they had been born in the countries where those languages are spoken. As most European travellers proceed up the Nile from this city to Cairo, the members of the expedition were desirous of performing the journey by land, but were restrained by fear of the Arabs; and M. Forskaal, who afterward ventured upon this hardy enterprise, was actually stripped to the skin, and with great difficulty obtained back his breeches. Niebuhr now hired a small ship, and embarked on the 31st of October, but was detained in the Gulf of Aboukir by contrary winds. Impatient of delay, his companions proceeded thence to Rosetta by land, with a company of Turks; but our traveller continued his voyage, and reached the city very shortly after them. Though the inhabitants of Rosetta enjoyed the reputation of being peculiarly polite towards strangers, Niebuhr was too impatient to behold the capital of modern Egypt to linger long in any provincial city; he therefore hastened to ascend the Nile, and enjoyed the romantic prospect of fertility, villages peeping through groves of date-trees, and here and there vast wrecks of ancient cities, which all travellers in that extraordinary country have admired. They arrived at Cairo on the 10th of November.
The Nile, like the Ganges, has long been renowned for the daring race of pirates who infest it. Bruce, and many other travellers, have celebrated their ingenuity; but the following anecdote, related by Niebuhr, exhibits their exquisite skill in a still more favourable point of view: A pasha, recently arrived in Egypt, happening to be encamped on the banks of the river, his servants, aware of the dexterity of their countrymen, kept so strict a watch during the night, that they detected one of the pirates, and brought him before the pasha, who threatened to put him to death on the spot. The prisoner, however, entreated permission to show the pasha one of the extraordinary tricks of his art, in the hope of thereby inducing him to spare his life. The permission was granted. The man then took up the pasha’s garments, and whatever else he found in the tent, and having tied them up into a packet, as the Egyptians do when they are about to swim across a river, made several turns before the company to amuse them. He then insensibly approached the Nile, and darting into the water like lightning, had already reached the opposite shore, with the pasha’s garments upon his head, before the Turks could get ready their muskets to fire at him.