There was not a year, during our stay in Syria, that some part of Gebel Nablûs was not in insurrection. This spirit of resistance to the lawful authorities we may suppose to be often fomented by persons attached to the government. The rabbin Yudy told me an anecdote in confirmation of this, which was as follows. When Abdallah Pasha was governor of Damascus, an attack was made by one of his officers on a village of about twenty houses in the district of Nablûs, which was unsuccessful. Enraged at this repulse, the pasha in person assaulted the place at the head of seventeen men and took it. He found in it one of his own ammunition chests which had been sold by his gunners to the enemy, whilst encamped before the village. Such treachery the rabbin said was common in Turkish warfare.
On the 15th of August, at sunset, our räis suspected we were approaching the land, and hove the lead to see what bottom it was: by it, and by the freshness of the water, he knew that we were near the Egyptian shore. He accordingly shortened sail, stood cautiously in, and anchored late in the evening in sight of land, which he distinguished, no doubt, easily enough: but my eyes, less used to reconnoitring a flat coast, more especially in the dark, beheld nothing but a heavy sky and a gloomy sea.
In the morning of the 16th, I was turned out of the small boat, which was my berth, just as we were coming upon the bar of Rosetta, and, to lighten the vessel, it was lifted out, and loaded with wood: but, in going over the bar, it swamped, and the painter was cut in an instant to prevent the hindrance it caused to the progress of the shekýf. We touched several times in crossing the bar; and signs were made to us by vessels within that our course was too far south: but the räis appeared to rely on his own skill, and we finally got into smooth water.
The Delta was now flooded, as the Nile was at its height, so that the houses and villages seemed to be inaccessible but to boats. There were, however, children, who kept up with us by the river side, sometimes on a dry knoll, sometimes up to their knees in water, and sometimes wading and swimming over canals, eagerly following us, to catch the bread and other refuse provisions which were thrown to them from the vessel. A cap was handed round to collect coffee-money for the crew, in consideration of our safe passage over the bar.
On arriving at the quay of Rosetta, the busy scene, though not novel to me, had lost none of its attractions. I had seen the Nile before when empty: I now beheld it brim-full, and enlivened with an increased degree of activity from the number of vessels and from the animation that commerce excites.
It was Ramazán time, and I sat on the quarter, smoking, and viewing the scenes around me. But, had the vessel not been from the sea, and of course the passengers considered as persons travelling, I could not thus, in the face of everybody, have presumed to smoke. For travellers and for the sick there is an exemption in the Koràn.[67]
I had sent a letter on shore to the English agent, Signor Lenzi, requesting him to provide me a lodging. His dragoman came instantly down to inform me that the plague was in the town, otherwise Signor Lenzi would have accommodated me at his own house, but that he had secured apartments for me at the Terra Santa monastery, where Padre Luigi would entertain me. To prevent the danger of contagion, the dragoman had provided some rush mats, in which the whole of my baggage was wrapped, and then carried by porters to the monastery, where they put down their burdens at the door and took away the mats. Thus, they having touched nothing that remained, all danger of infection was prevented.
I retired to a gloomy cell, where I was devoured by fleas; and resolved to escape as speedily as possible to Alexandria. So I went to rest, deliberating how this was to be managed; as both land and sea conveyances would expose me to the contact of the infected. In this mood I fell asleep, and was wakened next morning by a violent knocking at my door; when who should enter but shaykh Ibrahim, better known as Mr. Burckhardt, who was on his way from Cairo to Alexandria. We renewed our acquaintance, (which had been but momentary at Nazareth) and agreed to go thither in company. He was glad, I believe, to have me for a companion, as his health was far from re-established since a dangerous fever that had attacked him at Mecca: and, in return, I was pleased to study the character of a man who was reputed to be an adventurous and enterprising traveller, and, moreover, highly gifted with the talents necessary for rendering his researches useful to the world.
As we could not depart immediately, we were compelled to be very careful in our walks and visits about Rosetta.
On the 18th of August, in the evening, we departed for Alexandria by land, mounted on asses. Shaykh Ibrahim had with him a black slave[68] named Fadl Allah, and Giovanni and he, both accustomed to travelling, left us nothing to do but to smoke, eat, converse, and sleep. Arrived at Lake Edko, we hired a boat to cross it, and here I was determined to leave the whole conduct of the passage to the shaykh, who knew so much more of Egypt than I did. But he could not be a match for the cunning of an Egyptian. The director of the ferry deceived him both as to price and as to the nature of our passage. He had bargained for a boat to be occupied by ourselves only; yet, we found, on getting on board, that it was already full of passengers; and, whilst he was charging the director with duplicity and cheating, the boatmen were setting the sail and seemed not to heed us. For, it must be observed, these lakes are very shallow, and a boat that draws only three feet water cannot approach within fifty yards of the shore. Hence it is customary for men to ply at the landing places, to carry passengers and luggage to and fro on their shoulders. They wear nothing but a blue smock frock, and this they tuck up, even if there are females on board, as high as the waist.