CONTENTS.

CHAP.PAGE
I.Egypt and the Outward Journey[1]
II.Palestine, Judea, Jerusalem, &c.[49]
III.Palestine, Bethlehem, Dead Sea, Jordan, &c.[91]
IV.Palestine, Samaria, Tent Life, &c.[133]
V.Syria, Damascus, Balbec, Beyrout, Homeward Journey, &c.[172]
VI.Postscript.—Recent Events[238]
Notes—New Route to India—Domestic Life in Turkey[265]

THE EAST.

CHAPTER I.
EGYPT.

The subject of my little book is “The East”—one on which more books have been written, and more lectures given, than any other perhaps which could be named.

Nothing therefore could be easier than to write a lecture in the usual style out of such an immense mass of material—to build, as it were, a beautiful house, with stones already shaped and polished. For that very reason, however, I do not propose to lecture at all, in the ordinary acceptation of that term, but to give, in a number of personal recollections, the impressions produced on my own mind by what I saw and felt in the course of a recent tour. They have no pretension to any merit except that of genuineness; not a note was written during my tour; and as it was entered upon somewhat hastily, no book on the subject was consulted, nor did I carry any with me, for nothing was farther from my intention than writing on this subject. Perhaps these circumstances were not altogether disadvantageous; for if my impressions be sometimes at fault, they ought to be original and fresh, because often obtained from a new stand-point.

I need not describe the journey South, which is already familiar to all who travel. Leaving Forfarshire in the beginning of January, with snow falling and ice on the ground, we passed through France in weather such as the French are inclined to call “English.” It was raining when we entered the Cenis Tunnel, and when we emerged in Italy at the other end it was snowing; and during the journey southwards, and especially during our short stay in Turin and Milan, the weather was very nearly as cold as in Scotland—although certainly much more bright. These two are fine models of Western cities, and altogether, Northern Italy showed ample signs of life and progress with great agricultural wealth, but there was a plethora of paper money and a sad scarcity of coin everywhere evident.