Mount Sinai and the localities designated as the spots where Moses and the Israelitish army crossed, were pointed out and commented upon. As we approached Suez the sea narrows, and a place some thirty miles below, where the water is thirty fathoms, or one hundred and eighty feet in depth, is said by the Arabs to be that where Moses crossed. It is twenty miles wide, and the rise and fall of tide is very small; so that the most sceptical must allow the crossing to be quite as miraculous as the sustaining of vast bodies of people in these arid plains and mountains for a long sojourn. The arrangements are now very perfect in crossing the isthmus, and it scarcely merits the name of desert in comparison with the fifteen days’ journey across the Arabian sands to Palestine, during my former travels in the East.
The Pasha deserves great credit for his transit accommodations. At Suez, a dirty village upon a sandy plain, is a large stone hotel, and in approaching the town a small steamer meets and conducts you to the wharf, where camels in large numbers are ready to convey luggage and cargo across to Cairo, a distance of eighty-five miles. They are started off, and passing us, we are sent in vans with two high wheels, and a double shaft for two horses or mules, with a pair of leaders. These vans contain six persons and their luggages, and are changed every five miles. There are four places for supplies on the desert, where most articles can be obtained desirable for comfort, including couches to repose upon during the halt. I found them so much improved since I was last in Egypt, that I was agreeably disappointed. The road is beaten by constant travel, except that there is heavy sand in some places. The greatest objections are the rays of the sun, and the fiery sand, which affect the eyes; but it is of short continuance, as we cross in sixteen hours. The supply of water, and, indeed, every trifling article, must be carried on the backs of camels. The transit across the isthmus and down the Nile from Grand Cairo to the canal at Atfeh to Alexandria, is in the Pasha’s name; and arrangements are being made for the construction of a railway between the first and last named cities.
At Grand Cairo I found that great changes had taken place since I last visited it, not only in the hotels, but in the general appearance of the city. The most beautiful edifice, or monument, is the new alabaster mosque, with its nobly gilded domes and interior decorations, its lofty minaret towering above the citadel, and inclosing a catafalque in one corner, with the remains of Mehemet Ali, who had massacred the Mamelukes at a spot hard by, one only escaping by a fearful leap, killing his horse under him. I once described to you my visit to, and reception by, this extraordinary man, whose remains I am now gazing upon, while a thousand reflections cross my mind. Turning my eyes from the spot, there stood in the distance the almost imperishable pyramids, and the Nile, flowing without change, bathing the land of Goshen as in days gone by. The bazaars were filled as usual with an immense multitude of men, veiled women, and children, and donkeys, and camels. The streets being very narrow, our carriage was preceded by a runner, cracking his heavy whip to clear the passages. I find small, but not uncomfortable steamers now coming from Cairo to Atfeh, the termination of the Mahmoud canal, making with the current some twelve miles per hour; also barges for passengers, towed by small steamers on the canal, with very fair living accommodations. Alexandria has become more like a European city; the suburbs near the banks of the canal are occupied with the residences of foreigners, and the vicinity of the Obelisk, or Cleopatra’s needle, and Pompey’s pillar, looks less deserted than formerly.
LXXI.
Steamer Severn, Island of Teneriffe, Dec. 22, 1851.
From Alexandria, Egypt, I embarked on board of the steamer for Malta, with the privilege of continuing to Gibraltar or Lisbon, to await the arrival of the steamer from England, on her way to South America. The weather was heavy and boisterous for the first two days, which caused some delay, and required four and a half days to make the passage of eight hundred miles to Malta.
Our leisure time was passed in rowing about the harbor, viewing the English fleet; and I amused myself in the Lazaretto in visiting my old quarters where I was confined in quarantine twenty-one days, coming from Egypt during the prevalence of the plague. The fortifications are very strong, and the island is an agreeable place for sojourn in the winter; the rides to the bay where St. Paul was shipwrecked and landed, and where a chapel is erected on the spot; the so called Grotto of Calypso; the Church of the Knights of St. John; the ancient catacombs; and the general drives and views, make it well worth tarrying at; but having been all over the ground, there was no incentive to remain, so we proceeded to Gibraltar, one thousand miles further, with beautifully fine weather, coasting along the bay of Tunis, with Sicily and Algiers in view, and then branched off to the opposite coast of Spain, passing close to the bay of Malaga, with white-capped mountains in the distance, and the famous quicksilver mines of Adva at their base, until we approached the frowning rock of Gibraltar.
Those of our passengers who had never passed along the Mediterranean, enjoyed all the sights and various changing views; I, however, could not feel the same interest, except in the way of reminiscences of past scenes. Gibraltar, as you are aware, is considered invulnerable; its strength surpasses any fortification in the world, and as long as Great Britain retains her present ascendency, it would be useless to attempt its capture, as starvation of the garrison would be the only successful artifice. We were informed here that the French had just bombarded Tangier, on the opposite coast of Morocco, and knocked down the town about the ears of the Moors. On the opposite side of the straits is Ceuta, a strongly garrisoned fortress belonging to the Spaniards; the straits here are seventy-two miles wide. The current was setting into them at the rate of two miles per hour, and always running in the same direction. The nearest point to the African coast is St. Cruzes, towards Tarifa Light, on the European side; it is seven miles wide.
Gibraltar is considerably improved, many new buildings having been erected, but its contraband trade with the south of Spain is now much reduced, and the people complain of hard times. Trafalgar Bay, famous for the victory and death of Lord Nelson, lies only a short distance north. I don’t recollect, while travelling in the beautiful country of Malaga, Grenada, Seville, and Cadiz, to have said anything of Portugal, to which my travels were also extended, at that time, but at the risk of repetition I must remark that Lisbon is prettily situated on the Douro, about twelve miles from its mouth, and were it not for the dark aspect of the city, the effect of climate upon the sandstone, it would show to great advantage, situated as it is upon an undulating surface, with portions of its pinnacles looking like a tower of stairs. It is much cleaner than formerly, filthy streets then being its chief characteristic. The trade of Portugal has declined, and the government and people have become more and more impoverished. They have had no rain since last May, and the country is suffering. Processions were being held from the churches to invoke the Virgin for refreshing and copious supplies of the vivifying element. One of the most extraordinary mosaic pictures of large size is the Annunciation of the angel to the Virgin Mary; it is here in one of the churches, and is said to have cost a million of dollars. The stone aqueduct which rests upon several ties of arches, and supplies the city with water, is considered a stupendous work; it is much shattered by a former earthquake. The promenades and gardens are tolerable, as are also the quays and public squares, but the port seems deserted by merchant vessels. A part of the English fleet lay in the river, and among the number was one which, although small in comparison with the other craft, had given evidence of her sailing qualities to the world, and all eyes were directed to her. It was the little, low, raking-masted yacht, America.
I found myself once again on board the ship Severn, having made a passage with her in the West Indies, under the same commander, three years since. We had a mixed company of passengers, consisting of duchesses, countesses, not forgetting Lady Wortley, who visited the United States some time since, military and civil officers, South American Spaniards, Portuguese Brazilians, Frenchmen, Germans, and English, some twenty of whom we left at Madeira for the benefit of their health; the rest will continue to Teneriffe, Cape de Verde, Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio Janeiro, &c., where we land and take supplies of coal. The rigid formality of strict English society is confounded with the life and liberty of the different races thrown together, and five languages are continually heard at table.