“You are mistaken, Rais, I replied, very much mistaken; I love to hear modern miracles vastly, there is always some amusement in them.”—“Aboard your Christian ships, says he, you always have a prayer at twelve o’clock, and drink a glass of brandy; since you won’t be a Turk like me, I wish at least you would be a Christian.”—Very fairly put, said I, Hassan, let your vessel keep her wind if there is no danger, and I shall take care to lay in a stock for the whole voyage at the first town in which we can purchase it.
We passed by a number of villages on the western shore, the eastern seeming to be perfectly unpeopled: First, Feshné, a considerable place; then [109]Miniet, or the ancient Phylæ, a large town which had been fortified towards the water, at least there were some guns there. A rebel Bey had taken possession of it, and it was usual to stop here, the river being both narrow and rapid; but the Rais was in great spirits, and resolved to hold his wind, as I had desired him, and nobody made us any signal from shore.
We came to a village called Rhoda, whence we saw the magnificent ruins of the ancient city of Antinous, built by Adrian. Unluckily I knew nothing of these ruins when I left Cairo, and had taken no pains to provide myself with letters of recommendation as I could easily have done. Perhaps I might have found it difficult to avail myself of them, and it was, upon the whole, better as it was.
I asked the Rais what sort of people they were? He said that the town was composed of very bad Turks, very bad Moors, and very bad Christians; that several devils had been seen among them lately, who had been discovered by being better and quieter than any of the rest.—The Nubian geographer informs us, that it was from this town Pharaoh brought his magicians, to compare their powers with those of Moses; an anecdote worthy that great historian.
I told the Rais, that I must, of necessity, go ashore, and asked him, if the people of this place had no regard for saints? that I imagined, if he would put on his red turban as he did at Comadreedy for my honour, it would then appear that he was a saint, as he before said he was known to be all the world over. He did not seem to be fond of the expedition; but hauling in his main-sail, and with his fore-sail full, stood S. S. E. directly under the Ruins. In a short time we arrived at the landing-place; the banks are low, and we brought up in a kind of bight or small bay, where there was a stake, so our vessel touched very little, or rather swung clear.
Abou Cuffi’s son Mahomet, and the Arab, went on shore, under pretence of buying some provision, and to see how the land lay, but after the character we had of the inhabitants, all our fire-arms were brought to the door of the cabin. In the mean time, partly with my naked eye and partly with my glass, I observed the ruins so attentively as to be perfectly in love with them.
These columns of the angle of the portico were standing fronting to the north, part of the tympanum, cornice, frize, and architrave, all entire, and very much ornamented; thick trees hid what was behind. The columns were of the largest size and fluted; the capitals Corinthian, and in all appearance entire. They were of white Parian marble probably, but had lost the extreme whiteness, or polish, of the Antinous at Rome, and were changed to the colour of the fighting gladiator, or rather to a brighter yellow. I saw indistinctly, also, a triumphal arch, or gate of the town, in the very same style; and some blocks of very white shining stone, which seemed to be alabaster, but for what employed I do not know.
No person had yet stirred, when all on a sudden we heard the noise of Mahomet and the Moor in strong dispute. Upon this the Rais stripping off his coat, leaped ashore, and flipped off the rope from the stake, and another of the Moors stuck a strong perch or pole into the river, and twisted the rope round it. We were in a bight, or calm place, so that the stream did not move the boat.
Mahomet and the Moor came presently in sight; the people had taken Mahomet’s turban from him, and they were apparently on the very worst terms. Mahomet cried to us, that the whole town was coming, and getting near the boat, he and the Moor jumped in with great agility. A number of people was assembled, and three shots were fired at us, very quickly, the one after the other.
I cried out in Arabic, “Infidels, thieves, and robbers! come on, or we shall presently attack you:” upon which I immediately fired a ship-blunderbuss with pistol small bullets, but with little elevation, among the bushes, so as not to touch them. The three or four men that were nearest fell flat upon their faces, and slid away among the bushes on their bellies, like eels, and we saw no more of them.